a new home for the Js!!

After 5-years-and-seven months, I decide to move to a swankier new `home'!

Click here and visit `The Owl and 3 Js'!

Ciao! ;)

December summary and (just some) new year thoughts..

Looks like my blog is heading towards a natural demise.. but i'm reluctant to let it really die..

SO MUCH had happened in December but I didn't get to blog about it.. and now we're in the 2nd day of a brand new year, or should I add, decade - 2011!

Well.. perhaps I could just summarise - more for the sake of reminding myself of the more significant things and events that took place.. all in the month of December!

• Singing and performing 3 concerts with Cantus Musicus - Christmas Tree lighting @ Equatorial KL, Nine Lessons and Carols @ St Andrews Church, Weihnachtskonzert (German Speaking Society of Kuala Lumpur) @ Bukit Nanas Chapel. Each of these concerts were followed by sumptuous (free) meals!!!
• Three new gadgets that keep me pretty occupied - Lumix Panasonic Semipro camera, iPad and iPod Touch! Ok the first was bought end of Nov. by myself , the icing of the cake must be the iPad - a birthday present from dad and mom that arrived 10 days before my actual birthday, and finally days before Christmas, got the new generation iPod Touch by a generous friend - a real nice surprise!
• My birthday new haircut - made up my mind to chop off the hair to a short bob, and did it on the day itself! Feel fresh and had quite a lot of positive feedback. Well, a change after 4 years or so of long hair!
• Birthday dinner with parents @ Hakka Republic and visited SkyBar - first time for all of us.
• Watched `Follow the Light' with friends - and after, the cast to sang happy birthday song - very nice harmony - to me! Also watched `Celebrations' by PAN production and caught up with some friends.
• Work wise - two interesting interviews - 1. with four talented performing artistes (my recorder failed me but thanksfully could be salvaged!), and 2. with YB Teresa Kok in Shah Alam.
• A busy Christmas week and weekend which involved 3 rehearsals (didn't make one cos zonked out!), leading songs for 3 services - Christmas and Sunday service on Boxing Day.
• Three dinner parties over Christmas and Boxing day - the annual Christmas party with the Boeys, my CG Christmas Party and the worship ministry Thanksgiving dinner - had to split myself for the latter two. All were really fun!
• On new year's eve, had a wonderful excursion to Bentong Farm Sanctuary - an animal haven that had so many dogs able to roam and run freely in the vast nature land.. also visited Bentong town and had nice lunch and ice-cream. (this event deserves a blog post to itself)

Of course, the above were just some highlights that came to mind.. there were many other interesting things that happened and December was definitely an eventful and exciting month..

And I'm really looking forward to the first few months of 2011 with some exciting plans installed.. details later (so I have the reasons to carry on blogging..)

Well, for a bigger picture, I have always at this time of the year, do a reflection of sort and then set out my new year resolutions.. but strangely, for some reasons unknown, I have not even given it any thoughts so I guess I won't be blogging on them as well..

Or maybe I'm just slow.. as it still hasn't sunk in that we're in 2011 already!

Having said that.. I still believe it's good to have some kind of `wish' or `direction' or whatever you choose to call it for a fresh new year, so that you start the year with a right set of mind to want to improve yourself.

So, besides the list of unwritten down resolutions which I already know I should do. ie. exercise regularly, sleep earlier, do regular quiet time (yes all these I endeavour to do) more importantly, I want to just remember this `principle' every minute, every day in 2011:

To glorify God by doing the best in whatever I am to do, and to be the `salt and light' that He calls us to be - ie. making a difference in the lives of people.

And I will say `Amen' to it. :)

Little Jam with his elder siblings - and photo gallore!

Jam has been here for six days already! I've changed the title of this blog - well, it's only appropriate.. So, now it's officially `Jess' three Js'!

It's quite funny to see how the two Js got on with him.. Of course the initial reactions were curiosity from both Jojo and Jelly. But soon, Jelly somehow had an adverse `feeling' or should I say `reaction' of Jam! Well, I think party she feels jealous and her `queen' status threatened, but also because Jam loves to `terrorise' her!!

He is really quite active and is at a stage of teething so anything becomes his `target' - not only he likes to nibble at our feet or fingers but he also always chasing Jelly to bite her tail!

No wonder she couldn't stand him.. in fact, she runs away from him and at times even growls at him.. :(

Jojo, on the other hand is always his gracious self. Like how he welcomed Jelly as his sister, so he seems to be quite to have the company of little Jam too! And he doesn't seem to feel threatened at all by Jam's presence. In fact, he seems to adore him and always getting near him..

For the first 3 nites, Jelly refused to come into my room to sleep like she usually did! Reason being Jam is inside with me. But for the last few nites, she came.. and made sure she is a good distance away from her younger brother..

As we can see from the photographs - it's quite an interesting `triangular' relationship the 3 Js share.. well maybe things will be different later.

At first Jelly was very curious and was trying to sniff Jam out!

Jam sleeping in his bed next to my bed.. :)

2nd night - taking photos with Jam!

Jelly is so reluctant to have her photo taken with Jam!!

Finally a more decent one where Jelly succumbed to struggling!

look how grouchy Jelly is! :S

The next day getting all the three Js together!

Yes you can see Jojo is quite taken by Jam still!

The diva looking unhappy :p

Jojo welcoming Jelly at his side

But Jelly rather stays a distance from him!

Wither de blog?

I have been blogging for five years now.. and I sigh at the pathetic state of this blog in its current form..

Looking back to the beginning, when I started this blog out of impulse and dedicated it to my two pooches - hence the name `Jess' two Js'.. I blogged enthusiastically and tirelessly, for the first couple of months, everything about my two dogs - including half-baked doggerel.

Then, as I ran out of things to talk about my dogs, it became my own blog - a `lifestyle' blog as it is known.. I blogged very frequently - at least twice or more a week, on everything mildly interesting that happened in my life - thoughts, events, food, travels etc.. and I took great pride in my blog.. as it has more or less chronicled all the worth-while memories that I would like to remember..

I don't know since when I have lost steam.. I even considered a couple of times in the last two years, taking a hiatus, or even stopping to blog altogether.. But of course I didn't give up. And at least there would be a couple of entries in a month or so.. But i must admit sometimes I kinda `forced' myself to come out with something to write, just for the sake of `updating' my blog!

I had wanted to do a `commemorative post' of sort to mark the 5th anniversary of blogging - which actually fell in the beginning of this month. But I forgot.. and many personal things had kept me occupied so much that the only blog post this month was something quite heart-felt.

Anyway, whey am I writing this post? I don't know.. in a way, as a freelance writer whose job is quite unstable, I really begin to feel that I have lost my flair for writing. For about half the work I do is monotonous, non-creative type of writing. And on the other hand, I have neglected this blog, which could serve as a platform for a more free flow type of writing. Sigh.. I am seriously beginning to doubt myself as a writer. Can i really write??!

Ok, self-pity aside, and since I'm an optimist, I can foresee there will be some topics worth blogging about. Actually I started a blog post last Thursday morning, when I was flabbergasted with American Idol's finale result! I was rooting for Crystal Bowersox - who undoubtedly was the most outstanding contestant for the insipid Season 9. And she performed very well on the finale performance show.. but again, almost repeating last year's shocking result, she lost to a guy who is pretty good, maybe more marketable, but definitely less brilliant than she was. And not mentioning bordering a boring personality. Here were the few lines I began with but had lost the steam to complete it...

I was holding my breath when Ryan Seacrest was about to announce the winner of American Idol this morning..

And I couldn't believe my ears!! Although deep in my heart I already had this hunch.. Again, for the 2nd year in a row, the clearly better contestant was robbed of the crowned!!

Ok, this was by far the most bored Idol seasons in years.. but amidst it, Crystal Bowersox was a sparkling star and had been consistently good with her choice of songs and her crystal clear, powerful vocals...

Oh well..

June is around the corner! And what's a bigger thing than the once-in-four-year Fifa World Cup? Yup, I am a World Cup fan although I don't watch much of other footballs including the Premier League. But since 1986 when the amazing Maradona led Argentina to win the Cup, I was hooked.. And had been following diligently the game of one-month every four years.. So ya, guess that would be something that I would blog about!

I guess the irony that although there may be things I would like to write about, I know there will be audience and sometimes I self-censor, especially something quite personal like relationships..

So, in the meantime, I guess I would not even call myself a blogger anymore.. unless I am once again inspired to really keep this blog as a close friend, whom I would like share my life and happenings and everything else that matter to me..

Till then..

Just ONE specific resolution but but there are some plans and wishes

Since I promised at my `year in review' post that I'll talk a bit about my aspirations and resolutions for 2010, so here I am although I don't feel so inspired to write about it as I did for that post!

You know, I always believe in setting resolutions for a new year.. although I always wrestle with them as well. And so in the last four years that I blogged, I have dedicated a `resolution post' marking a new year here, here, here and here. However for 2009 I realised I didn't really write much about any resolution.. could it be because of that I have not really achieved anything significant - albeit it was an eventful year! ?

And if you read these year-end/beginning post on resolutions, you'd realise there were some similar patterns.. I could easily take the resolutions for 2008 and `rehash' them for 2010.. because honestly I haven't achieved almost all of them saved the `diet and slimming' bit. And really they are all important too.

But today after chatting online with a friend, I was inspired to not be `greedy' and focus on just ONE resolution that I really feel is vital for me to want to fulfill. And somehow I believe if I could realise this resolution, my other sub-resolutions from years back could gradually fall into place..

And I'm dedicating and committing this resolution to God Himself.. for I know if I do it, He would be pleased and my Christian walk would be even more fulfilling. Actually it's a basic prerequisite of living a Christian life which I have failed so badly all the time especially in the last year!

So my one only resolution which I am putting down in black&white to remind myself is:

To have my daily devotion with the Lord - i.e. setting apart 15 mins or so (can be more) to read and meditate on Scripture, to pray and to listen upon the Lord.

Only 15 mins a day, and you would wonder how difficult that could be?! Sigh. because of my lack of discipline and self-control, I'm always being distracted by other things esp. the Internet! And doing my Q.T. (quiet time) has sadly been neglected and even forgotten at some stage!

If you're not a Christian, let me explain why doing our devotion is important.. It's basically an intimate time you spend alone with your God. If you're devoted to your spouse/parents/children/bf or gf you would want to spend some quality time communicating with them daily. It's the same with God. I know I could call on Him anytime if I need to but I believe He would be more pleased if I set aside time to have an `appointment' with him daily.. reading what He wants to tell me and conversing with Him through prayers..

And doing devotion regularly actually benefit us not God.. we are the one who need guidance and constant teaching and surely our spiritual life will feel dry if we do not have this relationship with our God through our personal devotion..

Of course, I have other wishes and plans.. one of which is to travel to the U.S. - which I have longed to do so for more than 3 years now. I really really want to visit NYC but I probably will go look for my friend in SF and we can go together to the Big Apple. I know the trip will cost a bomb - and I would need to `eat into' some of my non-cash savings.. But this is the desire of my heart and I know God is faithful if He feels I deserve this journey, I know I will get to go.. if really not this year then soon..

Work wise, I have made a decision on NY eve. I'll register my own enterprise under sole proprietor ship next week, and also to reprint my card and set up a work blog. I even thought of the name already but will disclose a bit later. The reason being I feel I want to treat my freelancing writing career more seriously. Especially since now I've diversified to other forms of non-editorial writing. There is a market as long as I work harder to expand my network and try to clinch more jobs. I know God has been providing and there are doors opening already. So yes, lets pray and hope 2010 will be a even better year, or even a turning-point for this freelancer.

Other plans and wishes? There are of course but I feel I don't really need to list them here. Maybe one of them is that I should blog again more regularly. This would also spur on my inspiration and flair for writing. Facebooking and getting addicted to FB games doesn't really help!

So, I hope that at the end of 2010 when I review this post, I can truly say that yes, I've managed finally to have achieved my new year resolution.

Maybe it's about time.. for now..

Somehow I just don't have the inspirations to blog anymore..

No, life is not uninteresting.. in fact, many things are happening this month. Singing, travelling, family time, more singing.. and my `social calender' (no not that type of social but..) looks pretty packed till end of the year too..

And then there's the dreaded milestone to come.. trying not to think about it.

Fact is, less and less people are reading this blog.. some read cos i link it to Facebook and I happen to have many friends there.. to think of it, has FB killed my blog? :S

Maybe I should go back to doing a private diary of sort.. only between myself and God so I can be free to write whatever I feel like it and not to worry what people think of me.

It's kinda pathetic. I have started writing at least three posts and feel there's no steam to continue..

Well.. just see how long this `hiatus' will last.. maybe my Shanghai trip will be exciting enough to spur me to do a proper post.. else I'm just ranting and blabbering again.. and I call myself a writer.. sigh.

Have I Lost It?

It's the eve of CNY and I have a relisation. I think I've lost it as a blogger.. :(

I don't know whether it's to do with other distractions - like Facebook's Pet Society, or that I have lost the passion for writing, or I've just have no inspiration to blog altogether because my life is getting so mundane..

I really don't know..

I think the only thing I could do is just to leave it and spare all the torture of incoherent boring ranting of nothing significance at all..

Sigh..

Well, it 's CNY after all.. So, to those of us who are celebrating the new year of the Ox, Jess' 2 Js wishes you Gong Xi Fa Cai and and a blessed year ahead..

Hope to see you soon..

Presenting another new look! :)

Yes, I changed the layout again because I needed to!!

I didn't know that people using I.E. browser could not view my blog for the last three weeks after I changed it - to the chihuahua with specs background.. I don't know why. But when more than three or four ppl told me the same thing, I think something must be wrong. So finally I checked using I.E. and yes, the text was all missing!!

Sigh.. so sorry if you were trying to read my blog for the last couple of weeks..

So ya, I needed to even put aside work (well, it's Sat after all) to fix my blog..

Can't believe I spent 3 hours selecting a new template for my blog.. I had trouble with certain downloads - could not open zip file or just having errors with the HTML code.. but finally found this gem of a site that has some of the most lovely templates by this lady called Lena. There were so many very pretty ones so I had to try out quite a few.. Best is, the HTML code work!! Good things meant to shared so go here if you wanna change your template for Blogger!

I really like this template and everything is quite clear - not like the previous one though cute - the doggie was kinda in the way as the text bit was translucent..

Went for karaoke earlier in the evening - my first time to Pavillion's Redbox Plus. I think the last time I went to karaoke was last Dec for my birthday! All in we sang for five hours! I realise how old and out I was when the younger among us could sing all the new songs and I had to sing songs from the 80s and 90s (both Chinese/English) . And though it was easier for me to reach higher notes but still not very happy with my vocal.. especially now that I am gearing for my first vocal examination next May.. a lot of work needed!

But ya, had a good time singing.. its a good stress-reliever. And much thanks Wisun and Christine for their generosity and company! :)

Argh! now I'm faced with those deadlines and I've only 10 days before I leave for China.. :S

p.s. oh, hope u like this new look . I'll likely stick with it for a while..

funny how...

Funny how sometimes something that at first pisses you off can turn into something `enjoyable' and positive.. in the way I see it.

After writing the post last week about me going on my first short-term missions trip, I got a `rude surprise' in the form of a comment from someone I know pretty well - (i shall not go into our `relationship' - no NOT that kind of relationship la) I felt it was quite uncalled for the way he seemed to `attack' my faith. Of course i replied to retort and even told a friend online about it so she also wanted to share her piece.. which was quite long

And then all was quiet. The first commenter didn't comment anymore. I thought he just couldn't be bothered - not that he was scared or ran out of words - but maybe also busy and think it's not worth pursuing.

And there weren't anymore comments. I guess most of my Christian (or even non-Christian) readers are all peace-loving people who dislike religious debate.

Then today, I found out he actually commented but Blogger didn't register his comment. So I personally invited him to comment again.. and he did.

This time, I was much less annoyed as he also toned down his words .. and as I began to reply him, I realised, hey, he is actually giving me a good opportunity to share my faith and belief - or in Christian jargon - doing apologetics (ie defending your faith) Ya, I realise I'm pretty long winded though I hope to make it readable for him as well as others.

So, I must say thank you to Douglas Yau - an aetheist/Buddhist whose starting point I was told was to `help and save' us Christians from our belief, for giving me the chance to say so much about my faith!

Read this post and comments if you haven't already, and feel free to add on your thoughts - I welcome all sorts of views as long as you're reasonable and do not use profinities!

Ta Da! But You're at the Right Place!

Hope this new look to my blog will inject some inspirations for me to blog now!

But it's really late now so I will just do a short one to announce the `birth' of another phase of Jess' two Js!

For the first time, this I.T. idiot of me tried out other templates on the world wide web, instead of limiting to the default Blogger templates on Blogger.com. I have always wondered why other ppl have unique layout on Bloggers.. yeah, i know i'm slow..

Anyways, since this blog is indeed inspired by my two Js.. what more fitting to get a layout with dog in it! I thought this is quite cute.. not sure whether it is easy to read :p

But in changing to this new look, I had lost all my `widgets' or whatever on the sidebar. Sigh.. all my blog links are gone - so are some items and my pathetic blog advertisements which are just useless anyway..

Oh, I welcome feedback (if any) of this new look..

This blogger's block lingers...

I am mourning for the sad state of this blog at the moment.

The truth is I hadn't been doing much of what I vouched to do in the last post. But just that suddenly I lost all the inspirations and motivations to blog! No, things have been happening - there was a nice wedding, the passing and funeral of a dear friend's mom, a new rather `impulsive' purchase of a new notebook, going to be 3rd-time bridesmaid, some interesting work and social related stuff etc..etc... but yet, I didn't feel like blogging about anything!!

So ya, i've broken my record of not blogging for the longest period in my 3-years-3-months..

Now, I just want to say I'm still alive.. and that this blog isn't dead.

Just be patient (if anyone is still coming here!) and hopefully my blogger's block will be over soon!

Time to take action

It's been a week since I got back from my holiday..

It has been quite `happening' - got sick, interviewed 3 women and chased two deadlines (one still working on), birthday dinner, `reunion dinner' with friends, watched a musical, many Starbucks sessions.... Definitely there were some noteworthy topics and events to blog about. Only problem is, I feel no inspirations..

In fact, I am tempted to even take a hiatus from blogging... although I don't know how long it will last..

Today, I caught up with a good friend who I've not seen for a few years as she is furthering her studies in U.S. We talked about many things.. her life, our views on certain things and on our spiritual walk.. Then it jolted me how slack I've been in my personal devotion. Not that I don't know but I think now I really want to do something about it.

And I know the no. 1 `enemy' that takes my time away from more important and meaningful things to do (ie. devotion, reading and others..) is my time on the Internet!

This is nothing new of course. For I am a self-confessed Internet addict. But may be it's time to really do something about it.

No, I'm not saying I'm going to go `cold turkey' (like how one quits smoking!) for I still need the Internet for work and correspondence of course.. Just that I think I will make a conscious effort to prioritize my free time - and keep `leisure Internet activities' ie. reading blogs, blogging, Facebooking, chatting etc... to just a limited time and only AFTER I've done the more important things..

Just imagine, I haven't completed reading a book since the Harry Potter last year. I could spend some time playing the piano, doing a bit more exercise, or even watching the DVDs I bought two years ago!! (ok, the latter not significant but u know what i mean..) :((

I know some of you who know will probably snigger at my (futile) attempt yet again. But hey, success sometimes only come after a few times of failure..

So yes, I'm now announcing officially that I'll only blog as and when, and I will cut down on other Internet activities. But I hope my regular readers (if there are any) will understand and still come back to check this site once in a while.

And perhaps, by then, there will be some interesting things to read.

Tata for now..

Jess' two Js Makeover - again! ;)

Yes, as you (those of you who are regulars) would have noticed.. I've just changed my blog template and layout again!

I think the last time I changed was barely a year ago when i decided to go dark for tha background.. but the more I looked I it the more I disliked it so here is my new layout!

Again, i have to rely on Blogger's template (cos I still don't know how to design my own) and merely play with the colour and font a bit.. And I must say I am quite pleased with this one... :)

However, the only problem was I had to spend like 2 hours to change the font colours of close to 300 posts!! Because my earlier layout had a dark background, I was using very light colour font and even converted some of the earlier ones as well..

Thus, I had to post by post manually changed everything back to dark colour font! Talk about tedious and time-wasting!!

I've decided from now on, I will stick to light background.. it's really a pain to go through what I had done again!

Anyways.. let me know what you think of this design, k? ;)

NEW LOOK! (again but after some time)

Suddenly I got bored of my blog template layout.. I have been sticking to the same look for more than a year now!

Although Blogger isn't offering any new template design but I have figured out how to change colours and stuff so I just experimented with it. I had to try out three different templates to finally get it `right' and satisfied.

The only problem is, since the main background is now dark, some of my previous posts won't be legible if they're in dark text (I was posting against white background). Wonder who many people do read my backdated post though.. I may have to manually change the colours of those text to make them visible!!

Anyway, I like what I'm seeing..these are some of my favourite colours.. and I feel kinda creative, although I was just playing with colours only.

I hope you like it too. If not, tough luck! :p

update: June 08: This template mentioned above has been changed again!!

no more anonymous comments

I will have to wait till the weekend at least to blog about my `exciting' shooting assignments.. gosh never been so hectic and stressed!!

In the mean time, just want to say that an annoying episode has caused me to decide to change the comment status. Not that I have that many comments to start with ..and I have always welcomed friends and other bloggers to read my blog as well as to comment.

And this `open system' has been working ok for the last 2 1/2 years.. (the only episode I got abusive and obscene messages on my tag board - which no longer is here - 2 years ago which i suspected was someone I knew..)

But when someone hides behind `anonymous' so that he/she thinks no one knows his/her identity so that he/she can write whatever nasty things.. then I think it abuses the system. And it's also unfair to the blogger..

Also, i reply to most of my comments.. and I don't like replying to a unknown `entity', ok person.

For the first time I must confess that I deleted one comment.. but that comment came after a series of judgmental allegations from an anonymous who does not even know me. (I left the earlier ones there but the last one I must show this person it is MY blog after all)

So following this, I changed two things. 1. No more anonymous commentators. 2. Comments moderation is on - I do check my blog daily (a few times) when I'm at home but I sometimes travel so I guess I just want to be more cautious.

I hope this move won't deter my blog friends commenting in the future...

Update: after a couple of weeks, I decided to allow back anonymous comment because if not, non Blogger members would not be able to comment. Mainly because my sister falls into that category! Anyway, I still leave the comments moderation on, just to be cautious.

Women Bloggers United! ;)

Being a blogger, I know the joy when your blog is being publicised!

Last month, I had the pleasure of interviewing five women bloggers.. They may not be the most high profile bloggers but I think they have their own forte and their blogs are interesting. All the interviews were conducted via e-mail so making things much simpler.. I had some pretty good answers.. after all they're all good writers!

So, the article appeared today, and I'm quite pleased with it. Nothing much was changed and the layout nice.

I can in a way relate to them for I am a blogger too. These women are definitely proud to be a blogger and are passionate in doing so whether it is political commentaries, food reviews, musing on languages, talk about the latest beauty products and malls in town or just a journal or sort..

I must say that of the many many people I've interviewed, I got most `thanks' from these bunch of interviewees! ;) Not only that, they posted on their blog about the article, mentioned me and even linked my blog url! How cool is that.. hehe, I get more than monetary rewards from this article!

And another good thing that came out of it is I've made a few more new friends! So, it kinda prompted me to blog about this although you know I hardly write much about my work/articles I write.

Oh, if you're wondering where the article appears? It's in Clove, The Star today (Wed Oct 3). But if you miss it, there's still the online version

Check it out and also check out my fellow women bloggers' blogs! ;)

Blog addict who finally completes HP7

65%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Seattle Singles from Mingle²

The result is not surprising.. actually i thought i would score higher!! but i guess i'm not tech savvy enough to be more `addicted'! hehe.. anyway, not something to be proud of.

On a separate note, I FINALLY have finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the first day of August! Which means it took me 10 days to finish the 607-page book. FYI i only read before I sleep.. cos I wanted to savour it slowly.. it's the last book after all!

And being on the Net and reading blogs also slow down the process.. :p

The last few chapters were pretty engrossing and since I only started reading after midnight.. for two nights, I slept only at 5am as it's hard to put it down! So I really need to sleep now.. But I still take my hats of to those who could finish it in 1-2 days!!

Too tired to give my views on the book but suffice to say, I think it's much better than the previous two.. It's quite action-packed and dark - not a children's book anymore! Somehow I wasn't very satisfied with the ending, especially the epilogue! Pretty cliche and a bit daft if you ask me..

I don't consider myself a hardcore fan of HP but I have enjoyed reading the whole series very much - so I'll definitely consider buying the complete box set when it's available - yeah i have a few books missing!! :(