Being Thankful: Days 52, 53

Due to the shortage of time, I'm cheating by combining days of thankfulness.

I'm thankful for:

1. the days passing by so fast (it's good and not so good in different ways). Faster to happy times. Lesser time to settle all the outstanding stuffs.
2. last minute packing and transferring everything to another luggage. Female scatter brain. Yes, yes bring along a foldable bag just in case.
3. checklists.
4. the funny thing that I'm more motivated to do something when time is running out. Pressure creates passion?
5. being able to handover all my outstanding matters, I think it should be all. Oh well, they'll have to make do without me.
6. half a day more!

Being Thankful: Day 51

This post is postdated for Tuesday, 11 March 2014.

I'm thankful for:

1. the muscle fatigue is starting to fade away.
2. the camaraderie in our team is at its peak. Some are back from their self declared rest day, bringing in more holiday mood.
3. work seems to be looking manageable.
4. another 2 days to the event of the year (well, at least for me thus far).

Being Thankful: Day 50

This post is postdated for Monday, 10 March 2014.

I'm thankful for:

1. being able to wake up for work.
2. the banter where everyone (including boss) had fun. Boss said he'd like to have another teambuilding with the Captain next year. Initially, we were told that the teambuilding frequency would be once in two years.
3. my first real class session for book of Matthew - although it takes a lot out of me to drag myself there, I always end up not regretting attending the sessions. Ah devil, get behind me!
4. finally getting some plans and bookings finalised and paid for.
5. pleasant Skype chat and getting into the mood! Oh gosh, just a couple of days more!

Being Thankful: Day 49

This post is postdated for Sunday, 9 March 2014.

I'm thankful for:

1. going out with my friend for dinner the night before - I avoided food poisoning from the BBQ dinner. Poor colleagues had it bad.
2. playing paintball for the first time! Never thought I would be this ganas. All of us save one were new to paintball. Took us 4 games to finish our pellets. It was a tiring experience but really fun. The thrill of avoiding getting hit and trying to shoot others was really something new. Being hit was painful but nothing too bad that would scare me away from a second time. Btw, I got hit on my collarbone but it was buffered ever so slightly by the edge of the protective vest.
3. being the flag grabber for the 2 last games! Our team won all four games! It did help that I was the smallest size and I was coincidentally wearing green, which was pretty much like camouflage.
4. the funny part where the only person I could aim at was the other team's team leader. The others were well hidden behind the tin barrels from where I was hiding. So I kept trying to shoot his butt but only got so close as to graze his shoe. I don't think I actually hit anyone else.
5. going back home. So tired. So sleepy. So pain. And a blue black that looks like a love bite (as some people keep saying).

Being Thankful: Day 48

This post is postdated for Saturday, 8 March 2014.

I'm thankful for:

1. our XXX challenge - with two teammates backing out, we were left with 8 ladies to complete the task. We did complete it, although the last team to do so with quite a lot of hiccups, but we did it nevertheless. Many had to overcome their fear of water and test the limits of their physical strength and mental strength. And what seemed to be an innocent wooden box tunnel to crawl through ended up as a fear factor challenge. I came face to face with a huge snake in the box, unexpectedly, and funny thing was that I just started cursing but hurried on with the task and ran out of the box with a water bottle in hand. I thought I would've freaked out and turn back, but I didn't. Which makes me wonder now, what am I really scared of? (always had a horrible fear of snakes). I only have a theory in mind that my real fears have gone when I started to know Him - for He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world!
2. our classroom session - we had to construct the tallest stable straw tower, a polystyrene aeroplane that can fly and land the furthest, three funny hats and a hole from an A4 paper which could pass through 10 persons head to toe. We had split the tasks among ourselves and I was in the group who had to construct the aeroplane. In the end our aeroplane and hats won the best marks. Our straw tower flopped when tested by fanning with a polystyrene board and we gave up on the paper hole task (only 15 minutes given) although I had a vague idea of how it should be cut.
3. our team winning second place overall.
4. impromptu plans and good friends. It's good to know that some friends are still willing to meet up although we've parted paths a long time ago.
5. completion of our aborted plan from last year - night hotspring!
6. my faux crocs lasting through the two full days of activities with it's crocodile front opening! Goodbye, you have served me well - through two years of teambuilding and some more.

Finally the faux crocs became a true pair of crocodiles

Being Thankful: Day 47

This post is postdated for Friday, 7 March 2014.

I'm thankful for:

1. waking up early and being one of the first to arrive at office!
2. my stash of digestives - saved my rumbling tummy.
3. being able to fit everything into my bag! And I just found out that it is a ladies backpack - funny but true. Cool!
4. fun times beginning. The Captain really gave us a lot of laughs - it's really inspiring to see how some people can handle people of all levels so well and with just the right balance of humour, leniency and sternness. Everyone had fun - from the tea lady to our boss.
5. what we did today at teambuilding:

• coming up with our team name, totem pole, mascot (yours truly) and war cry - we went from vikings to jolly bunny (because the headgear started looking like bunny ears instead of horns) and had the cutest (in a funny way) war cry that the facilitators kept laughing at! 
• minefield - test our instructional skills by leading a blindfolded partner across a plastic tupperware minefield. The funniest things were said - apparently a colleague was yelling and pointing in frustration "kaki letak sini! sini!!" (place foot here! here!!) forgetting that her partner was blindfolded and couldn't see where was 'here' was! The way the Captain reenacted it really made me LOL. Seriously.
• constructing pole - our group failed at this, mainly because the leader did not ask or listen to our opinions on how to construct the PVC pipes into a tall tower held erect only by strings held by the members. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see which leadership styles worked well.
• hornet's nest - we had to repeat this three times as a combined team. Being one of the smaller lighter ones, I got carried probably around 5-7 times, put through raffia string holes. In the last round, we managed to work as a team and got everyone out of the hornet's nest in an average of under 1 minute per person. Not bad. Again, we were caught saying the strangest things - I don't want this lubang, this hole is too small for me, this is E's lubang, stop putting your finger into the lubang! We all laugh-die when the Captain reiterated our words later.
• the mole - for the night classroom session we had to complete drawing a maze and at the same time weed out the mole(s) - apparently there were 5-6 around. For some reason, I vaguely remember playing such a game somewhere and figured that the mole was probably a myth. Turns out I was right haha. Our team did not surrender anyone, but the other teams expelled quite a number of their teammates, and one of them was our boss! The excuses given later were hilarious - he/she smiled strangely, he suddenly became talkative, he looked weird, she stood in the corner and didn't do anything, etc. Some were focusing more on catching the mole than the actual task. In the end, our team had only 1 minor mistake in completing the maze, whereas the other two teams had more than 2 major mistakes and a large number of members banished to the jail with funny epitaphs.

It really was a fun day of activities.

Being Thankful: Day 46

I'm thankful for:

1. digging and finding stuff that I thought I'd thrown away (although it was not everything I was looking for).
2. packing, packing, packing!
3. honey butter biscuit. A ball of heart attack.
4. the excitement.

n.b: shamefacedly, my discipline is starting to lag on this daily posting thingy... Nevertheless, I'll try to make it to a hundred days! :)

Being Thankful: Day 45

I'm thankful for:

1. finishing my board survey report... and only 8 pages! Half the amount of pages from last year's.
2. first dose of 1,000 mg Vitamin C - finally after advise from a friend, boss and doctor.
3. planning is finally in progress. 
4. a fruitful Skype call.

Being Thankful: Day 44

I'm thankful for:

1. feeling on the ball again.
2. steady workflow again. Things are starting to pick up and I hope I'll be able to make enough preparations by these two weeks.
3. debts settled. Only IOUs left.
4. fellowship with a friend. Interesting how the more we talk, the more I see. It makes it all the easier to fall back into reality.

Being Thankful: Day 43

I'm thankful for:

1. arriving at office safely although I was practically sleep driving.
2. no acute asthma attack although it was one of the haziest days I've ever seen.
3. the doctor giving me an MC for the rest of the day - usually they don't give any unless there is signs of fever.
4. sleep, real uninterrupted sleep.

Being Thankful: Day 42

I'm thankful for:

1. coconuts - twice in a day after our craving for coconut shake was not satisfied due to the dude not opening his stall!
2. black sand and the incongruous smoke pumping factory in the horizon. 
3. driving around the island and getting lost.
4. chocolates! We had a round 2.
5. that bag was calling me, so I went to fetch it home.
6. sambal udang pizza at Artisans Pizza.
7. an effort made to keep in contact.
8. getting home safely although after the witching hour.

Being Thankful: Day 41

I'm thankful for:

1. being able to meet up with a friend on a last minute basis.
2. being able to introduce the two friends who reminded me of each other... and they managed to hit it off!
3. waking up feeling like shit but that gradually went away as the day progressed.
4. really yummy breakfast - I think it's called "Farmer's batch" from Red Tomato, Pantai Chenang, Langkawi - mushrooms, egg, potatoes, tomatoes, cheese and brown bread!
5. seeing that bag again - it's like fated or something.
6. seeing the fishies! and eating the fishies and crabs...
7. and laying on the beach at night with friends and a new found friend... and his Cinderella story and 'after drink water also feel fat'! funny.