Little things that count

Some dates that I bookmarked in my calendar for these 4 months are:

June 22

My family had never taken any family photo in a studio, by a professional photographer before. We really wanted to try it at least once, so we decided to do it in conjunction with my graduation photoshoot. Out of many studios available in Ipoh and Kampar, we picked Christal’s Dressing Room because the lady sounded very friendly and helpful over the phone; furthermore, we found a promotional coupon on Groupon for this studio, which made the whole deal incredibly sweet and affordable.

Upon arrival at the studio, Christal gave me a full face makeup. After that, we went straight to the photo shooting session. Instead of getting our photos taken in front of the traditional fake bookshelves backdrop, my family decided to have our photos taken at the set prepared for indoor wedding photoshoot. The photographer, Jacky, was very patient with us. We looked very stiff in front of camera, so he kept teasing and joking with us to get us loosen up. Besides that, he allowed us to use any props available in the studio that we like to help with the photoshoot.

After the shoot was completed, we stayed back to pick out the photos that we want before we left. The whole process took around one and a half hours. The photos were ready for us to pick up within a week.  The outcome was nice: everybody looked natural (even after the editing) and genuinely happy in the photos, and the background was simple yet classy.

Picture above: A little of "behind the scene". Picture below: One of the final outcome.

Overall, my family and I were happy and satisfied with the service, so we would highly recommend this studio to the others.

July 21

My dad work in the construction industry and I have always loved how he involve us in his job. When we were still little, he would bring my sister and me to the construction site so that we could bike on the new tar roads. When he worked in other states, he would try his best to plan a vacation with the family at the state he was in. So growing up, I have seen (and played in) lots of showhouses, and I have played with many tools used in construction.

This time, I learnt how to use an optical level, an instrument used during the early stage of surveying, before any building process could take place. Optical level is used for elevation check and alignment; in layman’s term, optical level is used to measure how tall a ground is at a specific point, and how much its height differs from the height of another point on the ground.

After leveling is done, the workers could theoretically put sand or whatever it is on the ground to make every point on the ground the same height, so that the building is built on a flat surface.

It was pretty easy to learn how to function an optical level; the challenge was how to read the scale accurately. Just like in any sciences, precision and accuracy are highly emphasized in practical work of construction. I mean, do you think it’s an acceptable mistake to have a dangerous building built just because the architect or engineer or site manager missed a decimal somewhere in the process?

August 12-14

If you follow my blog or my FB, you might recall that I was in Hatyai during these three days. I did a short video about the trip, you can watch it here, but I want to highlight a particular moment in this post:

On the second day in Hatyai, we went to a shopping mall and my mum and E were busy picking and buying some cosmetic in a beauty store. My sister and I were bored while waiting for them, so we used some of the product testers available in the store to create a burn wound. We had tons of fun making it and scaring my mum and E with it. They thought the wound was real at the first glance. Ha!

We learnt how to make fake wounds from our high school St. John casualty stimulation course. Burn wound is one of the easiest wounds to make. Here’s the outcome:

The beauty products that we used were:

(I’m sorry, I accidentally deleted the list so I don’t have the exact products’ name and price with me)

Egg peel off mask – to replace glue in the making of the affected skin area

Various shades of lipsticks – to replace fake blood made from food coloring

Eye shadow – to replace 8B pencil in the making of the burn skin

August 21

Y was in town for the weekend! So N, Y, and I had a girls’ night sleepover at my house. We watched the Olympics badminton final match, chatted, and tried out some snacks and drinks N brought back from her study abroad trip. The next day we went to a tourist spot which I have always wanted to go: Lost World of Tambun!

We kick started our day in the waterpark by soaking in the 38, 40 and 45 degrees Celsius hot springs. Then, we moved on to the slides! There were only 2 types of slides available: the Cliff Racer and the Tube Raiders. I liked the Cliff Racer because right after you raced down the initial slope, the momentum will push you up to another slope, and finally you will slide down backwards.

The Tube Raiders was a lot of fun too! There are 3 kinds of slides that you can choose: the semi-open slide, the closed slide, and the dark slide. We tried all 3 and my favorite was the dark slide because it felt like I was traveling through space when I was sliding down the almost pitch-black tunnel. I checked the website and apparently Tube Raiders is the longest inflatable tube ride in Malaysia.

Besides hot springs and water slides, there are roller-coaster, carousel, pirate ship pendulum ride, and swing ride in the park. We tried all except the carousel because we were too tall. Oh come on!

In the late afternoon after lunch, we watched an animal show. After that, we watched a dance concert while soaking in the jungle wave pool. I was hyped cheering for the dance teams while getting gently pushed by the artificial waves. It was definitely a fun time at Lost World but I wouldn’t go there often because the ticket is pricey.    

Sept 6

Y, N, Q and I went on a roadtrip to Putrajaya. I think the last time all four of us travelled together in a car was during Thanksgiving 2015 when we went to Wisconsin Madison? Boy, that was so long ago! N drove throughout the whole 2D1N and I am so proud of her. Driving long distance in Malaysia and driving in the chaotic KL area are two very stressful tasks. But she did it!

I met some of my INTEC (preparatory college) friends during the meet-up in Putrajaya. Things have changed and I know we will grow further apart as time goes. I might not be able to meet some of them ever again. Or I might meet some of them again after years, perhaps in another country or city. Who knows what the future holds?

Let’s just be thankful that at this point, I still keep in touch with some of my high school, INTEC, and IU friends. I hope that in the future if we ever meet again, we will not be stranger to each other; instead, we can still hug and have tea (or coffee) together.

Picture above: Night view of Taylors College 

(the preparatory college N, Y, and Q went to).

Picture below: View of Putrajaya from 7th floor of the building we went to for meeting. 

Before I end this post, I want to tell you guys, one of the reasons why I started blogging:

Why do I blog?

I bookmark these happy moments, tough journeys, sad feelings that I encountered in my life through blogging, so that I can come back and visit them during the days when I feel down and intimidated, or during the days when I am frustrated and ungrateful.

Why do I revisit my own blog post?

Each time as I read through these blog posts, or those Excel files which all my finance, involvements, and achievements are nicely categorized in, I am reminded that God is with me, throughout every seasons of my life. He will not forsake me; instead, He will lead me through every mountains and valleys.

These posts remind me of my friends and family as well. They are my faithful travel mates; furthermore, they lovingly tolerate my quirkiness.

Overall, these diaries and records are constantly reminding me to be grateful and be observant, because a lot of times it's the little things in life that count. God has guided me this far into the journey, not to perish, but to overcome.