of such essence: November 2008

a re-freshened outlook

following last week, emotions were left on a high. while i've always been emotionally adept, it came to a point that i had to make some serious changes. see, for the years that gramps lived with us in perth, he had used my room. i was quite a pain about it. i know i complained to so many people about my "space" issues and most of you would know heaps about my apartment/house hunting for the most of this year. so having my room back at first felt quite weird. now as blunt as this is going to sound, i'm glad that gramps didn't die in my room.

it's bad enough that for the whole of last week, every time i walked into my room or just stood at the doorway and looked at my bed, i would see him lying there like he had done for so long. i would see him and even hear him breathe really loudly and make those really weird dream grumbles. but then. on saturday last week, that's when the image association started. every time i saw my bed, by association i'd see gramps in bed at the nursing home. then again by association, i'd see him how we first saw him when we went to view him that morning after he passed.

so call me weak, call me sensitive.

either way, each time i walked into my room, i'd feel sad.

so over the weekend, i finally decided. no more. i needed to make a change. for the longest time, i've always wanted to paint one wall in my room white. i always thought that it would open up the room a lot more, make it not so hot in summer (because of the dark colour) but just not too cold in winter (there's still the three walls of dark colour left).

so that's exactly what i did! now i'm really only responsible for providing the paint. thanks to shell who dutifully came over on friday/saturday to help me paint - because she's totally the arty one. haha.

now i would take a picture of the finished product, but i'm going to wait 'til all the other elements of my room change are completed. :)

but the night before, on friday night, we had ourselves quite an adventure. with me being fickle about deciding what to eat, it took a drive through northbridge, leederville and innaloo to decide that we'd rather cook ourselves. so! precedent prevailed and we made the best takoyaki ever:

and yes, we were all smiles about it, because even our first batch turned out peachy!

but following this phase of "re-freshening", mum and i went to the city on saturday after church. there's nothing quite like $150 worth of dvd boxsets, cake and coffee, and quality time with mum.

me with cheesecake and iced chocolate

mum and her massive melting moment

now i gotta say, the cake and coffee was pretty average, so just a recommendation for those of you who ever have the need to stop for coffee in northbridge, you might want to consider not going to vultures cafe. you could tell that the lemon white choc cheese cake was store bought and the extent of the "white choc" was just a dot of cream-like topping. also, the melting moment didn't really melt - it sorta... disintegrated... in a really strange way. and the iced choc would have been smashing, provided that it wasn't 75% icecube (which was not blended).

but all in all, and semi-dodgy afternoon tea aside, the weekend was pretty fulfilling.

and you'll be glad to know that i can now sleep in peace. :)

a tribute to gramps

so sad news guys.

last saturday morning at 5:50am, my gramps was called Home to be with the Lord.

okay, so sad news for me, for us. but good news for him. he's been in perth, living with us for about 2 years now. and i'm really really really glad that he came here. it gave me a chance to hang out with him, play mahjong with him, cook for him, eat with him, and just get to know him.

he's the only grandparent who i can say i actually knew. i knew what kind of food he liked, what he didn't. i knew what kind of tv he liked watching and where on his back he liked to be massaged. i knew how he liked his coffee and that he had a really really sweet tooth.

but what was even better, was that as soon as they heard, all the family from mum's side flew down from singapore. we've never particularly been close to all of mum's family, so it was a little bit nerve racking at first just to see how things would go! but, the Lord is good. it turns out that His master plan all this time was to bring the family back together. gramps would've been pleased. happy. contented. and at peace. it was one of his "last wishes" to see the whole family reunited. so to have it happen (and for EVERYONE to fly down at the last minute), it was really a blessing.

it's also times like this which make you realize the brevity of life. but it's not just about making some sweeping statement like "living life to the full", but it's more about living life well. and i think gramps did that. i mean, i've heard lots of stories about him growing up, and really, he didn't get saved until he was in his 70s. but nevertheless, there are so many things which we can all be thankful for and there are also countless things which i've learned from him - through his example.

last weekend (through to wednesday) were probably the most hectic and sleep-deprived days that i've lived through yet. from little to no sleep on most of those days, God still provided. He kept me safe when I was driving (tired... yes), but He also opened my eyes to see that love and faith are two things which i need to work on keeping close to my heart.

but all in all, gramps' funeral wasn't sad. at first i was sad that people weren't getting sad. but then, i realized after a bit that you know what? really, what is there to be sad about? gramps lived a full life here on earth, but he's gone on to a place which is awesomely better than here! i mean, c'mon the streets ARE lined with gold and everyone lives in a humongous mansion! it's a pretty sweet deal. so you know what? it's not and was not a time of grieving. but rather, it was a celebration. =)

SUNDAY

the first lot of family landed on early sunday morning, so sunday night dinner called for a good ol' aussie bbq... :)

MONDAY

the two sisters saying goodbye

chucking all-nighters to get the video presentation up to scratch!
but yes, i realize that the clock says 12 noon, but hey!
i hadn't slept yet!

playing keys: getting ready for the vigil service

quick lunch before rushing off to finalize everything

the beautiful wreaths

consoling mum

the vigil service in action, people paying their last respects

we were tired... so of course, there's funny faces on the couch

TUESDAY

a family portrait before the herse left for the crematorium

after the reception, such a catalogue shot

< L to R: benedict (aka da ge)|raph|mum|aunty siew tin|me|rach|dad >

nice one of the three of us

one last meal: the family at the atrium restaurant, burswood

five trips in two and a half days...
thankfully, petrol prices went down to 120!

and finally, we have a nice family shot for mum's side!
see what i mean? family unity all the way! =D

so a celebration indeed.

but nevertheless, it doesn't meant that we won't miss him.

coz i will.

dearly.

*kudos to both jerry and uncle albert for the courtesy of some photos*

suprize

wow. the past few weeks have flown by! study, work, study, work. and then yes... it is birthday season. last week was raph's, today is dad's.

things were quite funny with raph's actually. wednesday came and went. no traditional family dinner. no traditional gift giving. no nothing. just a hug and a smile. hahah. and oh boy, was he sad. (though he doesn't quite admit that). little did he know, that all along, we were planning to throw him a surprize party! hardeharhar.

we kept the secret well... except for a one VERY close slip-up by rach... hahah. we had to explain a few tricky things too. i.e. why lil and shell came to sleepover, why lil and i made 2 litres of mango pudding, why we were making cellophane windows (which we used for our buzz game) and why we were cleaning the house randomly!

thanks to raph's blessed case of slight "thickness", we managed to pull it off. hehe.

but here's some pictures and a vids!

the *surprize* golden-moment