The Passage of Love

"¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

- 1 Corinthians 13

Of all people, I think I've the most to learn when it comes to love.

Teach me, Lord, to love like you do.

Contests! Contests! Contests!

I llllooooovvveeeee contests!!! Well, who doesn't? ^-^

Anyway, this blog post about contests serves two purposes:

1. Thank You YourShoppingKaki!!!

No, i didn't win (bummer! :(), but apparently my entry (check out my first post) was shortlisted! Yay! :D Sure, I still don't get anything, but hey... shows I was that close. Makes me even more determined. And makes me feel that the ability to win contests is really not that far out of my reach after all :) Thank you YSK, or (on a more personal note) Sha-Lene, for having given me this opportunity to join your contests and shortlisting me for one of it. It really helped me not feel so useless and incapable :P

Click here to see the contest results

2. Watsons "Share A Smile" Contest

I've been shortlisted for another contest - the Watsons "Share A Smile" Contest! The instruction was merely to send in a photo which will make people smile of laugh. What are the prizes? Just imagine: walking into Watsons. 60 seconds on the clock. To grab anything and everything. Yeah, that's the prize :)

1st Place - 1 minute FREE shopping at Watsons
2nd Place - 45 seconds FREE shopping at Watsons
3rd Place - 30 seconds FREE shopping at Watsons

It's simply i-r-r-e-s-i-s-t-i-b-l-e!! I would REALLY REALLY RREEEEAAALLLYYYY appreciate it if you could spend just a *couple* of seconds to put in your vote for my submitted photo. A couple of details:

- my entry is the one under "Anna Chieng Lin Wen" called "constipation" where it has 3 people in green
- you'll need to register once, then you can just login from there onwards to vote
- you can vote daily from 25/12/2009 - 7/1/2010
- you can vote 3 times a day
- if you vote, you stand to win RM50 vouchers to shop at Watsons! (and they have 10 to give away!! *oh, joy*)

So if you have some time to spare, do spare a vote for my shortlisted photo :)
vote here!

*Special thanks to Khoo Hsien Yew for taking the photo and giving me permission to use it for this contest, Jeh Loh and Peter Yu for being in the photo, and Danny Wang for organising the trip to Penang during which we took the photo!*

My Poor Sandy

To all who showed concern and asked what happened when you saw my Gmail status (which read "my poor Sandy! *sobs*"), thanks. Really appreciate it :)

No, my beloved Sandy's not dead. She was just limping on the night i put up that gmail status. Could be arthritis, partly contributed by her weight. As much as she could, she avoided walking around, and she didn't jump and paw our laps like how she customarily would. And when she was laying on the floor, it'd be extremely difficult for her to get up. She'd take a very long time, starting with the front legs, then slowly (and perhaps, painfully), with the hind legs. Then she'd walk real slow with a slight limp. It was really a sight to cry at.

It's something like in this Youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbohrwy2AAc&feature=related), at the last part when the dog was walking slowly.

But surprisingly, she was completely fine the next day! Runnning and jumping about as usual. But a few days later, mom said she limped a bit again. Then she was fine again. I guess it's just arthritis gradually happening.

Sigh... My poor Sandy...

Solution to swine flu...

source: http://imgrr.com/x/10zutkg.jpg

Something i got off my friend's blog. Couldn't resist it. *shrieks!!*

I'M ON BLOGSPOT!!!!

Check this out. I've FINALLY got a blog. Yea. Pigs are flying.

And what prompted the pigs to fly? This -> The Big Bang contest: http://yourshoppingkaki.blogspot.com/search/label/Big%20Bang

Instructions:
1. Blog about your 3 Wishes [for products from How2Shop: http://how2shop.blogspot.com]
2. Facebook it!
3. Tweet!
4. Tell us [yourshoppingkaki and how2shop]!

Blogspot and Twitter all in one day. Yea. The pigs are really flying.

Call me a cheapskate or an opportunist if you like, but times are hard and my parents have worked hard enough to give me more than just a comfortable life. I've grabbed (or at least attempted to grab) any and every contest opportunity that has come my way, ever since i realized that they're not impossible to win. I want not only to be able to do something for myself and, in a sense, support myself (or rather my shopping needs :P), but I also love to see the look on my parent's faces when i tell them that I've won something, or better still, if i've won something for them. It saves them their hard-earned money (think 'sikit-sikit lama-lama menjadi bukit').

I'm not a very smart or capable person you see, so to be able to win something makes me feel a *lil* bit more able to give something back to my parents, in return for all they've done for me. So Ma and Pa (particularly Ma, since the products are all for females :P), this goes out to you :)

Presenting...

- Anna's Wishlist -

I don't believe in Santa, so...

Dear yourshoppingkaki/how2shop,

Wish #1 - A Coach Signature Denim Tote (Style # 12877)

- Picture courtesy of how2shop -

Mummy's such a thrifty person that she avoids buying new bags so long as hers is still usable. It's so old, torn and tattered, but yet she refuses to spend on a new one, though i think she should. Even when the zipper could no longer work, she rationalized that it could still hold necessities inside. When the straps broke, she argued that she could still clip them under her armpits. When there's a hole, she'd merely patch up and sew up the hole.

She even took in my old bag which i no longer use. The outer layer of the material is already tearing off, and the inner material has a big hole at the base (things get lost in there!). She says that it's still perfectly functional and plans to use it once her current 4-year-old bag spoils.

Please grant her this beautiful bag, because i not only want her to have a new, in-good-condition bag, but a nice one at that. Mummy deserves something nice every once in a while :)

Wish #2 - Christmas Special Sale - Coach Ali Leather Small Wallet (Style # 2644)

- Picture courtesy of how2shop -

My AUD$9 wallet is becoming like my old bag. It's starting to have holes on the outer layer material and it's also looking torn. It's turning dirty too.

I guess because it's a rather cheap wallet, it might not have been designed properly. Some of the card-holding compartments are so tight that it's extremely difficult to take out the cards. Whereas some of the other card compartments can't even hold any card at all because it's just sewn a tad bit too small!

I've never gotten anything branded before, because i always thought they were too expensive (I am my mother's daughter after all! :). No Coach, no Liz Claiborne, no Gucci... not even MNG and Topshop! It'd be nice to have my very first branded item. It'd be like a little treasure that i'd take extremely good care of :)

Wish #3 - Victoria's Secret (Ultimate Make-up Kit)

- Picture courtesy of how2shop -

This is something that mummy and I will be able to share, together with che che 1 and che che 2. It'd be a product that would be put to good use :D

Mummy sometimes has low self-esteem because she doesn't think she's pretty. When she was younger, she hung out with a (then-not-yet) Miss Malaysia, and thus always lived under her shadows (thank God for Papa who saw more than just skin deep and into her beautiful soul :). Also, before she began working, she always only got hand-me down clothes which didn't even fit properly, and she never knew how to put on make-up, always sticking only with the basic eyeliner and lipstick (even for special functions).

I, too, walk my mother's path. I've been called ugly and was told before that I look like a witch! It crashed my self-esteem, which took a good few years to heal (though still not completely). Like every other girl, I do want to look beautiful, if not decent.

This gift would thus be very valuable to the both of us, in terms of helping us to enhance our self-image, and we would also be able to practice putting on make-up together with che che 1 and 2. So all of us can look and feel beautiful. Yes, this would be a very nice gift.

---------------------------------------

*holds the wishlist close to chest and closes eyes extremely tightly*... please, Please, PLEEEEAAASE...