was lost but now found!

I found my iPod nano!!!

*big sigh of relief*

If I were to lose it, there'll be a lot of angry people taking turns to scold me for being so careless. Which I am, most of the time. Which is why I thought I had lost it on Tuesday, somewhere on the way from home to Meridian Mall. I had even copied down the serial number and contact numbers of the local police stations to call tomorrow.

Just now, I decided to tidy my room up a little- mainly arranging my bags (which had piled up on the couch), emptying their contents. Lo and behold, I found the iPod in one of the bags!!! I didn't bother checking that bag earlier as I remembered NOT using it on the day I lost it- must be the short term memory which comes with old age. OR maybe it just means I have too many bags, about 10 last I counted. HMM.

Lesson learnt:
I shall NOT be so careless next time.
I shall keep my bags tidy and organised.
I shall stop buying so many bags. Sigh how to resist pretty ones?

I need to book my flight from Christchurch to Dunedin in Feb SOON. While it's still cheap. Oh well, AFTER I pay off the current credit card debt.

I want to travel!!!! Mum and dad said we might travel (within Msia though) after my work placement in mid February. YAY!! Kota Kinabalu is the current destination of choice. Then can climb Mount Kinabalu, take pretty pics with my fabulous camera, go scuba diving, not forgetting eat good food!

Speaking of which, Agnes and Davina came back from their Europe trip buying LOTS of souvenir for every one! So generous! They gave me a bar of neuhaus Belgium chocolate, a (violet) very huggable and cuddable pillow, a masquerade mask from Italy, and a key chain from the van Gogh museum at Amsterdam! =)

now I know why Belgium chocolates are the best

so pretty!!! now find an occassion to wear it to!

glitter!

hand painted! WOW

cool keychain

Looking at the photos that they've taken, I'm even more inspired to go to the far west for a visit SOON.

thank YOU for the music

I'm glad I decided to go to the Alabaster Box concert at Southlife (Apostolic) church last night. There wasn't a lot of people there though, 50 at the most (including at least 10 from Cityside, haha). The youth band alone is already so talented, doing the riffs 100% according to album recordings. I was really impressed by the bassist; she had to be 13 or younger, with a red bandana tied around her forehead- she has the rock star look, no doubt about it.

Naarah managed to sing 2 songs before passing the mike to Tim. I like her sharing on how talent alone is not enough to sustain us- that's where faith and patience come in. She talked about how the band used to have bread with peanut butter and jam for 3 meals when they first started touring around Aussie, and being the only girl in the band, had to do the grocery shopping and cleaning up. But look where they are now- a highly successful band doing worldwide tours, meeting people from so many countries, seeing new places, influencing so many lives. That, I envy.

all I want to do
is bring a smile to you
and hear you say "well done"
~"New York"

I'm sad to see them leave. How many times do we actually get to have a decent conversation/make jokes with a visiting band, take photos, and talk about how to do cool keyboard-playing poses? They're just so down-to-earth. I'd love to see them perform live again in the future, at a different place maybe. wink wink. Anyway, wishing them a safe trip to Aus, Hawaii, then back to the States- gosh, I can just imagine the jet lag.

Final group pic with the guys.
Top left: Tim, Josh, Brett, and the drummer so paiseh can't remember his name Eric. Yes I know I look VERY happy here.

So my new camera (Canon Powershot SX110 IS) arrived on Monday! Been busy so only had the chance to have a proper chance to try it out yesterday afternoon at the botanical gardens. Here are some of the pics I took- more on facebook.

Forgot to raise the flash.

ducks. see how clear the reflection off the water is!

one of my favourite shots.

budding

Of course, more practise is needed! I have yet to try the full manual settings, will need advise from other people OR find the time to go through the 200+ pages of manual.

I love my new camera! =)

Blast it!

Alabaster Box rocks!






A few songs by them for a quick listen. I like "New York".

I admit, it was so scary walking into church this morning and seeing the band looking so professional and serious while they were doing their soundcheck. But as time went on, I felt more at ease; they even made jokes about one of the band members, Tim's (bassist & vocalist) American accent. I even felt less pressure when we had to OUR soundcheck after theirs, but I was reminded that we're playing and performing not for people, but for the man above.

So yeah, Josh is the keyboardist. He even brought along his Roland Fantom-x7, which was packed into a $500 heavy duty case for touring around. So expensive just for a case! It was even spray-painted with the band's name, so cool. Felt so honoured having him play my humble keyboard; he offered his for me to play but I just used mine- his was set up too high and gosh, I have no idea how to play on 2 keyboards at the same time.

The drummer (Gary?) played Tai's drumset, on one condition: Tai wanted them to sign his drumset! Naarah, the female lead singer, was sick so Tim had to do the singing. The cds and tee shirts were on sale after service; I bought a red one which had "rocker chick" written in front. Daniel bought the same one and wore it straightaway -___-

Tim on the bass.

Josh playing Waszowski!!!
I look so awestruck happy.

Naarah sharing.

They're having another concert at Apostolic church this Tuesday night, door sale tickets are selling for $10 I believe. To go or not to go?

Music my muse

My new camera is in Auckland now! Which means only take up to Monday or Tuesday to get to me! =D Too bad I'll have to sell my old Casio Exilim, which I've grown quite attached to since my parents first bought it for me in 2005 before I came to NZ. I love the leather casing too, which I had it painted with butterflies (and glitter!) when I was holidaying in Chiangmai earlier this year. It only costed less than RM5, but sigh sentimental value and I doubt my bigger camera bag given now would be as nice as my current one. Oh well.

Tracking by Fedex. My camera has travelled a long way.

Alabaster box is coming to Cityside this Sunday!

So if you're in Dunedin, come by at Cityside (Union hall, Uni of Otago) at 11.15am to catch them live! Or watch me play keyboard as well (with a very sia soi face playing in front of music professionals, eeeeeks!)

From wikipedia:

Alabaster Box is 6-piece, female led rock/pop band from Australia's Gold Coast, now based in the USA. The band became a full-time music ministry at the beginning of 2000. Since then, Alabaster Box has won awards, delivered singles to Australian Christian Radio and toured in Australia, New Zealand, England and the USA.

I just got news that they're wanting to use my keyboard (waszowski!!!) to play at Cityside! haha, no special reason except that Waszowski is an 88-key full length keyboard and church's one is a shortie. Woo, a multi-award winning band playing my keyboard, so flattered! *must get their autographs, haha!*

Searched around and found out the keyboardist actually plays a Roland Fantom-X7, a 76-key workstation. They even have a facebook group with lots of photos. Ok I REALLY should stop surfing and finish up my report.

of food and money

The pancake was so good! I even skipped breakfast (dare not skip coffee) for it! =P

We ordered one chocolate gourmet pancake + 1 cup of peppermint tea (note to self: stay away from tea, stick to the hot chocolate/coffee next time), then had a "Chyi talk". By the time we left Capers around 1, the place was already packed with hungry people. Increase in price, according to Chyi, from 10 to 12 bucks. Oh well, at least the petrol price is dropping to (just) below $2.

A volcano of yumminess.

My *new* Karen Walker tee bought from Bellebird! I love love love it! =)
Been wanting to get one since my 2nd year here, but didn't as it is kinda pricey for a tee shirt- $90 each- and it NEVER goes on sale. haha.
But something got into me today and I ahem *needed* to buy it. So if the weather's good tomorrow, you might just see me wearing this with my matching Karen Walker baby robot necklace! =)

I did feel a little guilty when I came back as it costed 9 hours worth of work- and what's more, I'm not even working anymore now. No complaints as I'd willingly quit. But guess what, just minutes ago when I checked my bank account, I saw that Recruitments (the recruiting agent for ACC) had just deposited more than $400 into my bank account!

WALAO. That's like me working 40+ hours a week! Gosh. I was only expecting $100 plus as I'd worked just over 10 hours the last week I was at work. But yea, this is truly an unexpected blessing (and comfort) to me! Could it be some sort of leaving salary thing or more like a paid leave? Anyway, who cares? That's almost enough to cover for my new camera! =D

Steak/laksa night tomorrow night at the Gn's place, can't wait!