Christmas Eve Cantata

24 Dec (Thurs) - The Wesley Methodist Church's cantata on Christmas Eve entitiled "Love Beyond Measure" was a resounding success. Under the capable choir conductor S.T. Cheong (she improves with each passing year), the choir performed beyond expectations.

Pictures from top:
1. The interior of the church which was beautifully lit to give one the special magical feeling of Christmas.

2. Young Life presented a spirited pantomine "Glory To God" which had a bit of everything - dance, drama, song, comedy.

3. Part of the choir. On the left (in black coat) is Dr. Lim Boon Hock, the narrator. Age knows no bounds when it comes to being a choir member; you can see that the choir consisted of the very young as well as the er... "more experienced ones". Victoria is standing second row third from left. On that night, she looked as if she had such flawless porcelain skin, like one of those Korean actresses! I have to learn some makeup skills from her...

Here we go a carolling...

Photos from top

1. Tues 22 Dec - At Ailin's Home. You can't help but feel sorry for the aged over there. The elderly lady in the middle (in floral blue print) is Mui Jie who spent a large part of her life as a cook at the Shellabear Hall hostel for girls.

2. Part of the carolling group - at the Everly Resort, Tanjung Kling.

3. Wed 23 Dec - Victoria (first from right) at Dr. Francis and Gillian Yip's residence in Taman Sentosa, Bukit Baru. Since Chiangmai 2008, she's lost about 15 kg, all thanks to a healthy diet, exercise and an iron will to be "The Biggest Loser".

4. William (second from left) at the residence of Jerry and Karen at Pertam Jaya.

Far from the madding crowd

14 - 17 Dec 2009 (Mon - Thurs) My idea of a dream holiday - one that is unhurried, unharried, with lots of time at hand to sit and stare. I found all these in Lake Toba, Indonesia. By about 3.30 p.m. each day, after a little sight seeing and shopping, we had the rest of the day to sleep, watch satelite TV, go for walks, and live a life like Thomas Wilson in 'The Lotus Eater' (Somerset Maugham).

Pictures No. 1 & 2 - The hauntingly beautiful Lake Toba, Parapat. It's the largest volcanic lake in the wolrd.

Picture No. 3 - At the Siposo Waterfall area, where one gets a last view of the lake

Picture No. 4 - Beautiful flowers in Brastagi

Picture No. 5 - The Sultan's Palace in Medan. With me is a fellow tourist Mrs. Goh from Singapore. In her 60's, she's cool and she rocks!

Verdict: A good holiday with lots of time at hand to do nothing but marvel at God's magnificent handiwork. The lake is beautiful but the towns of Parapat and Brastagi are dirty and there is poverty everywhere. Makes us appreciate all the comforts that we have back home.

Early Christmas cheer 2009

11 Dec (Fri) - Christmas came early to Wesley Methodist Church, Melaka at a combined Senior Citizens, Baba Gathering and Methodist Women party.

Photos from top:

1. The audience was entertained by Ng Kong Peng's sharing. They were far from bored, judging by the looks on their faces.

2. Pastor John Baru (left) receiving a gift from Senior Citizens' president Mr. Lee Char Kuen. This will be Pastor John's last Christmas with us as he'll be leaving for another post in Ipoh Wesley next year.

3. It's not Malaysia if there is no makan (feasting) at any get-together, be it a sad or happy occasion!

4. The Myanmese in their colourful traditional costumes entertained us with their songs and dance. Although we did not understand a word that they sang, their lively music captivated us. It was proof that music transcends language and culture.

5. Where there's Methodist Women, there's line dancing led by Rosalind Goh (front in black). Without her, most of us would have been lost! I blame it on age for my inability to remember dance sequences. The Myanmese were real sports and joined us in the dances.

Verdict: It was a fun night, with a good message from Kong Peng, good food, good sing-a-long and entertainment, good dancing, good everything...

Golden 50th Muar 7678 Reunion

12 Dec 2009 (Sat) - It's been ages since I last updated my blog. I had thought of giving up blogging but what encouraged me was the many comments I got from ex-MGSS Melaka girls that they had read my blog, so how can I not go on?

On 12 Dec my class/schoolmates got together at D'99 Hotel in Muar, Johor to celebrate our joint 50th birthdays (although some of the old boys and girls had already reached the 51st milestone as they had spent one extra year in remove classes). For quite a few, it was their first get-together as they had missed the one held two years ago.

It was a good thing that we had name tags for everyone on that night because truly, it was sometimes hard to make out who's who, after so many years. Moreover, being "golden" girls and boys, our memory often fail us! The event helmed by KC (Tan Kee Chung) and ably assisted by Chua Chor Kuan, was a memorable one with karaoke (or rather croak-aoke; at 50 years, we couldn't be bothered if we were tone deaf; we just sang with gusto), a "Got Talent" contest and a "star" among us Shieh Pay Tee (Astro Golden Voice contest finalist) serenading us with Mandarin and English oldies from yesteryears.

What struck me after the evening was that many of us have changed in appearance - more portly, rotund, with wrinkles (wisdom lines) - but essentially, we are still the same - Michael Chong as entertaining as ever; Hui Chen aka Nora Meow (soon- to- be cast of 'Gossip Girls') still the reliable source of information if you want to know the latest about old friends; the old boys KC, Chor Kuan, Venu, Hiang Choon, Woon Han, Su - still as charming; Margaret Ngiap still her health conscious self; and my gang from the old days like Magdalene, Linda Bee Ling, Angie Siew Kieok, still as fun loving. Sigh... north, south, east, west, old friends are still the best!

Photos from top:

1. My friends and I (from left) - (Terrific) Teresa Tan, me, (Attractive) Angie Siew Kieok (she's already a grandma!), (Marvellous) Margaret Ngiap, (Amazing) Angelina Lee Poh, (Energetic)Evelyn Hwee Yong, (Lovely) Lily Low, (Magnificent) Magdalene Ng

2. Pay Tee (right) and me - I won the "Got Talent" contest ("I never knew I could dance like this...") and a RM1.00 contract to perform at the next reunion.

3. The golden girls and boys

4. It was a tad difficult to pop those poppers

5. That's KC (in blue with mike) lecturing us on why we should make it a point to attend the next reunion in 2011.