ANNA BLIGH: AUSSIE'S 1ST ELECTED FEMALE PREMIER

Writing this rather late into the week, but ok, known fact .. the Labour party won a fifth consecutive term in Queensland last week, in a historic vote that handed Anna Bligh the honour of being Australia's first elected female premier. She said she grew up at a time when Queensland was considered a 'backward' state but her win has proven people wrong. She thanked Queenslanders for entrusting the state to her amid such tough economic times, vowing "to stare the global financial crisis in the face and to bring Queensland out of it stronger, not weaker". "Queenslanders, you can count on me."

ABOUT FRIENDS

Had been mulling on the issue of friends lately. In this new place , I 'suss' out people and my conclusion is that friendships and true relationships are not made overnight. It takes years of building trust, and many trials and errors later to see who stands with you and who fades off. Over here, have met some really nice people. The people I look for that relate 'heart' are few, and as one guy put it to me, "You know we are not as openly warm or supportive the way Malaysians may be, but you know you can call us, anytime." ...and that's the way it works, mate...

Psychology courses have taught me every relationship is reciprocal. Even when you give to charity or do good, you kinda expect something back too, don't kid yourself - the 'feel good' factor of 'personal satisfaction' is the kickback you want. You must get something when you give out. Otherwise the relationship can't last too long. So if you have friends who are vacuum cleaners, empty inside but suck the daylights out of you, time to discard them....The same holds true if you turn out to be the vacuum cleaner itself, you will find yourself in the bin... give and take, the name of the game. Personally, I am blessed to have true friends who relate 'heart' who stand with me in my weakest moments who love and pray with me when I need it. Whoever reads this, u know who u are and it has been my joy to walk with you. Distance is no barrier, as long as the heart is willing to commit.

So, I know my son has a long way to go in learning about friendships and trusting the right people. As I guide him to adjust to school life and making friends, it can sometimes be difficult. "Choose your friends carefully, don't just do things for them because you want them to like you, do things WITH them, laugh WITH them, help each other,

..and if they don't want to play with you, move on to other people, there are lots of nicer people out there even not in your class who can be good friends too. You know you are special", ...dadida.. had to itemise my examples to my little 'thinker' boy why he can be likeable... But talking out issues of the heart really helps kids to adjust.... I hope it does.....

HELLOO.... THANKS FOR VISITING,, WHOEVER YOU ARE...

what's happening here? Yesterday, 18 March, this blog posted the highest no. of hits per day ever - 81 visitors... just by posting the queensland elections. Didnt know politics here generated that much interest, and I mean like from all over the world even to places like China, Greece, and Turkey....man, scary who looks at your stuff....

QUEENSLAND ELECTIONS 2009

MARCH 21ST--> The Queensland elections. If you are a citizen and don't vote, you get fined.

There are 2 main political parties vying for ruling party- the Liberals (LNP) headed by Lawrence Springborg and the Labour party (the ruling party at the moment) - headed by Premier Anna Bligh. But to date, it looks like the Liberal party may sweep the votes.

The Liberals are sorta like the Democrats in America, but not quite- they believe in tax cuts and less infrastructure spendings. Many feel that the Labour party are spending way too much money on economy stimulus, community and development projects,,, but then the majority of Queenslanders may still vote for the Labour people as the economy takes its toll on the state and as more people lose their jobs, the crutches the government hand out to the people will be rather welcomed. ...

21K subsidy off your first house purchase if you buy it 100% new or build your own home b4 June 30th is pretty good incentive. Seniors were handed 1.4K cash b4 Christmas last year as part of the economy stimulus package. .. so who will Queenslanders vote? The Liberals have edged ahead of Labor for the first time in the Queensland election campaign. In what may be a significant turning point in the campaign, a Galaxy poll has the LNP leading Labor 51-49 on a two-party-preferred basis, which raises the prospect of Queensland having a hung parliament as the state tries to respond to the economic crisis.

However. most research on voter perceptions ahead of the March 21 election has found Queenslanders still expect Labor to win a fifth term in office.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABE!

My hubby of 11.5 years, he turns 43 today. Sadly he cannot be here to celebrate his birthday with us,... but we hope to have him home soon. Miss him like crazy.

So, babe, Happy Blessed Birthday dear. Come back quick, before we forget how u look like...

'THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW' STORM IN GOLD COAST

Now, does that look like a disaster movie or what? SOMETHING like 'THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW' kinda storm, that's what happened yesterday. Storm clouds descended upon the Gold Coast yesterday afternoon in a scene that looked somewhat like that film. Then heavy rain struck after 5 pm. At least 1700 homes and businesses were without power from about 4.30pm, with the Runaway Bay and Hollywell areas hit worst. About 1000 homes and businesses had their power cut off in the area for three hours before it was restored at 8.24pm. An electronic sign at Robina's Easy T Centre and a power pole in Carrara also caught fire due to lightning strikes about 4.45pm. So now... I realised what happened to my oven. It got zapped too.. can't bake dinner anymore....boo hoo..

EPISODE 21: LOST & FOUND

Have you ever bumped into anyone and suddenly you feel that it was divinely orchestrated? See, I never expected to see this woman called Ingrid again after we met at retail training class last year. She is from Peru, South America and been living here with her daughter and hubby but rather lonely and I think quite socially isolated because of her thick accent.

Well, today, I was debating whether to hop into Varsity College for a while to buy Jordie a new hat (he lost his... AGAIN!).. so I finally did cause strangely there was a nice parking spot for me. So after dropping off Jordie, I hopped down and then there she was... and she looked very surprised and happy to see me. She had moved to Robina nearby and her daughter is now attending Varsity College. She gave me her number and we hope to meet up for coffee soon. I do believe this wasn't by accident. I hardly ever come into school grounds at that hour. Perhaps this is God's way of telling me: you got another chance now to touch her life, do it. So, this time, I will....

SIMPLY 'THAI'

Went for lunch after church today and spotted this new outlet called "SIMPLY THAI"

Ordered green curry chicken with rice ($8.50) and a mixed platter for Jordan ($7) The girl cautioned me that the green curry was the hottest they had, I said, nah, I'm Malaysian, no worries, it won't hurt me. When it arrived, sure enough, it was like,"You call this hot?" I wasn't too impressed with it. Too salty, and not much of a kick in it. In fact I think their name should be called 'LUANCHU THAI' (in hokkien, it can mean simply cook thai, or simply overcharge, either way you pun it, haha!)

Mixed platter was fairly ok only. Jordan liked the satay but not the peanut sauce on it...Crispy popiah and samosa but flavour pretty bland for popiah or samosa contents. Oh well... that's simply put, not the best fare for Thai I've tasted by far...

GENESIS CHURCH: 10TH ANNIVERSARY

Genesis church, that's where we are at the moment, Genesis........ Their 10th anniversary of church building was today and they had combined service. The place was packed, never usually see it so packed as we attend the 2nd worship at 10:30am so less people go there. The 8:30am service is an older crowd and the 10.30am service has more of the younger crowd and families. Jordie took part of the 'pirates for Jesus' dance and he had a blast. The eye-patch was home-made, everything else was just plucked from home. ..

Pastor Len and wife Helen cutting the 10th anniversary cake.

It was nice listening to various members sharing about their experience at Genesis and how God had blessed them through the years with being at Genesis. Genesis believes in releasing men and women with mission for kingdom purposes, so I do appreciate the fact that the leaders are very open to blessing individuals to serve in ministries outside of the church. Some members are serving in worship leaders capacity for churches without people of that calling, some are called to apostolic ministries in Fiji, Cambodia and other parts of the world, some are chaplains for high schools, some are in government, some are doing community outreach. Pastor Len is very supportive of them and helps to publicise their efforts for corporate support in prayer and finances. That's what I call true demonstration of a secure leader.

They had a nice morning tea-break for everyone to sit down & fellowship after the meeting. Got to catch up with Kerrie, Caroline and Karen as well as Leanne. We didn't stay for sausage sizzle though. Decided to go for a quiet lunch, me and Jordie as hubby still isn't back yet...just felt like some spicy Asian stuff...

CYCLONE HAMISH

Yup, almost bashed our shores, this naughty boy,, Cyclone Hamish is his name, but today thankfully it, was downgraded to Level 2 (DANGER GRADE) from Level 4 just a couple of days back. It was expected to hit southern Queensland shores and northern NSW and huge ocean swelled along the state's southern coast. Evacuation plans were already underway. Beaches were closed in Gold Coast and to remain closed until the weekend. There has been severe erosion of Sunshine Coast beaches from the wild weather, with Mooloolaba and Noose beaches the worst affected. But thank God the biggest danger has passed. Sad though, some fishermen on their trawlers were lost at sea though, survival chances slim.

This land and its extreme weather makes me dizzy......

INDIANA LIM on the loose...

Jordie found a piece of cable somewhere in Tugun and decided he wanted to crack it like Indiana Jones. I made sure I stayed pretty far and safe...a kid's gotta have his fun, a mum's gotta have her safety.

THAT HANGING THANG...

Saw this funny thang or shall I say thong? at Tugun beach on the way back from the airport one morning after dropping off a friend.... swim trunks hanging from a tree, great way to airdry. ...somebody 'plucked' off theirs and decided the tree was the best hanger in the beach area....