Belgium Music :)

Last Sunday, Shikha (one of my friend from church) called me at quite a last minute and said there will be some music band coming over for a small performance at Freie Christengemeinde Church in Linz. I don't usually prefer going to Linz few times over the weekends from Wels if there aren't anything bcos it can be costly for the train tickets if I go even twice. It's 5.40Euro (two-ways) hence, if I were to go twice it'll be 10.80euro (RM46+). I used to overlook such thing ya no spending on travelling or pay for the sake of getting an easier way out kinda thing but right now, when I'm here earning my own euro, every cents count!! Yeah, call me money-minded but that's what I have to do. I think it's not that bad after all to be thrifty and start thinking before spending.

Anyway, the point is last Sunday, I went to Linz twice again (attended service on Saturday too) and I'm glad I did. At first, I thought it'll be some sort of a worship night or so but it turned out to be a whole night music performances. I am totally thrilled by the music band from Belgium!! Hands down to all of them especially the bassist. It was my first time watching a bassist solo performance and he was flipping his hands on the string like it's so soft and who cares about blisters right. lol most of all, I love the song he played, they were great. For one moment, I couldn't blink. haha Overall, the whole music performance was amazing. I had a good night of music :)

I'm a little lazy to write more. So, here goes the photos..

the backup singers joined in later with amazing voices too :)

It was a two-tier hall which can fit hundreds maybe. But for such size of a church to have such great sound system like the one we had back in Glad Tidings Klang is beyond speechless. I mean they have quite a good quality speaker and instruments for worship. That's just great.

The pianist, which truly plays wonderfully :) I've always have a soft spot for a guy pianist :')

Some of the church members joined in as a small choir group at the end.

Truly a great start for the week :D

My new working area

My sv has been constantly telling me there will be a new laptop for me to use for the project development since the first month I'm here but due to some technical or delivery error, somehow it got stucked somewhere. Finally, after 3 months my new special ordered laptop arrived. According to my sv, they have some problem getting the specialised internal hardware and hence the delay. But anyhow, it was quite a good timing because these 3 months I have been doing a lot of research downloading and installing various softwares for trial to find the best solution and it wouldn't be good to do it on a new laptop. So, yeah.. after 3 good months, I've finalised on the software and plugins to be used for the development of the project and now with the new laptop only important documents and softwares are installed. In fact, the old laptop has developed some virus and bug but who cares.. it's old.. haha

Left: My old laptop for the pass 3 months Right: My new laptop for the next 3 months :)

It's a HP Elitebook. I'm glad I'm the first user for it *grins* and the technical department even configured it to English for me which is much easier for me to work with. Despite that, the keyboard key is still in German. Luckily I'm used to using English keyboard that at least I know where all the symbols are. Sounds like I'm typing blindly but I'm surprised I can rmb it well or at least my fingers rmb them. My sv on the other hand is confused when he tried to use it haha

I thought having this new laptop to work on is great enough but little did I know the next day, my sv brought in some boxes into the office and gave it to me. It was a docking station with a widescreen LCD display desktop!

Fixing the station was a breeze and kinda excited because after 3 months of using the small screen laptop it's really eye-straining to do programming the whole day. Most of the time, I'm looking like a dork in front of the laptop. lol

Taking it out slowly fixing every wire correctly. After all, it is still office property, I should be careful enough not to spoil it at firsthand. haha

Tadaa.. the new desktop is up :D Not quite sure how many inch that is but it sure is big enough to see everything even from few metres back lol Now, I have to get used to using the big screen. I just don't quite like the angle of the monitor screen cos it is fixed and not adjustable which is a pretty bad design.

Good thing is that I don't have to strain my eyes anymore. Bad thing is I can't open facebook and view photos or chat anymore. it'll be so obvious lol But this screen is definitely good for watching movies :D Maybe one day, I'll just stay back in office just to watch a movie after work. hehe (what a reason to stay in office)

So now my working table has got one laptop and 3 monitor screen lol but I'll only be using these two for the project and another monitor for printing.

Wish myself all the best in completing the project within such a short time >.<

Bad condition

Last Friday, it was another usual day. Go to work till 1pm then, head to town to get eis (ice-cream) I love Fridays: it just mean I get to work lesser hours and get myself a treat on ice-cream after a hard long week and start my weekends :)

But last weekends were not that good for me although I enjoyed on the first night at the Octoberfest. It was awesome with all the fun rides in this small town called Wels and the beer festival they put up just like in Munich. I don't fancy big hectic towns with traffics everywhere but Wels is just the perfect size for a peaceful living town to be in. So to have such a festival here I'm surprised :) They even have fireworks the next day.

Anyway, after that night, I got quite a bad sore throat. The next morning I woke up, it was soring so badly that I don't feel like talking. So, at first, I thought it was just a sore throat. Then, I went to the supermarket to get some sweets/lozenges/ bonbons(candies in german). For the second time, when I'm trying to look for a particular thing, I kinda forgot i need to look out for German words before I buy and I thought I could guess it a little bit. But then, there are so many types of sweets packets on the shelves. I just stood there staring thinking should I just forget it. lol But in the end due to the pain, I just need to buy it so I go through row by row and finally decided to choose the packets with many herbs pictures on it. lol it just shows that it's some kind of medicinal sweets. So yeah.. just buy it.

It says kräftige halsbonbons mit Vitamin C (Strong throat candy with vitamin c) =b

Oh well, it didn't get any better the next day. Instead, my mouth started to sore. Red spots are all over my mouth =.= yikes, it sores so badly I could hardly eat =( And of all the times, I have to suffer the sore while doing my progress report. damn. For that 2 days, I've been staying in the room like some nerds, staying in front of the laptop for the whole day just to finish the report. Also, I just don't feel like getting out of the room to meet ppl cos it just hurts talking to ppl. That's how bad it is. I can't even smile. It's like I have force a fake smile to each ppl i meet =.=

Yesterday, the sore doesn't get any better and today I went to see the doctor the second time in this month. First, was to get some cream and gastric pills. Now, to cure my mouth soreness. They must be thinking what a weaklings I am. lol Thank God for medical card I only pay for medicines at half price. Consultations are free. The doctor said the soreness was due to some virus from the environment or people. I began to think if it was because I greet too many people on the mouth/cheek. hmm. But luckily it was not that serious.

Medicines from the doctor: Xylocain-viscos for mouth and that Pantozol for gastrics.

I have to gargle one spoon of the Xylocain-viscos oral and spit it out. That med just look like a bottle of glue you can get at the store. lol Seriously, I hated the taste so much. It almost get me vomited due to its medicinal taste. yikes. Few seconds later, my mouth is numb. I learned that it is actually used as anesthetic for dental purpose. It is just to relieve my pain. The doctor said I can only wait for it to be gone by itself. How sad when I hear that. I really hope it will be gone soon. I want to eat like normal and talk as usual. >.<

On the other hand, you know when you get sick or heaty like this, the chinese will always opt for herbal tea (liang sui). So, I got myself some Lo Han Kuo on the way back from work. Hopefully all this just help speed up the recovery >.<

Generally, most of the herbal stuff are green. So, you can just guess it. haha

Sigh. It's just too terrible to be sick when you're away from home =/

Over the weekends :)

I had another bbq last weekend. This time with some friends from church in Linz. I had an awesome time with them. We had it over at the big park in Linz (forgot the name) You see how much I love Linz, this place made me love it even more because of its serenity and beauty and how we could do everything at one place.

There is bbq sites for anyone who wants to have a bbq party or even just to barbeque for dinner. You could play basketball, volleyball, table tennis and even football. You can go for biking around the park. And then, you can swim over at the lakeside or if you prefer lying down on floating boats at the lake, reading some books under the sun or just merely sunbathing anywhere near the lake. If you have some breadcrumbs, you can just feed the duckies. Or else, you could just go for a stroll around the park or simply, sit on the bench and start feeling the tranquil of the atmosphere. Definitely the best place to hang out :))

Just being around these people is enough to end a great week :D

But having said that, all was good until that night when I got my first fine in Europe when taking a tram to the train station on my way back. Fined 56euro for buying the wrong ticket. Nothing is good all the time. Having too much fun will indeed require some balance of the pitfalls. Till that, it will then hit you on the head to remind you to be realistic a little bit.

Cheers, everyone.

Have a great week ;)

Verse of the day

This is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long, but they will produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So we don’t look at the trouble we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.

(2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT)

Stand for what you believe in.

"When you make a decision like that, I think it's really hard to regret it. You just have to follow what you believe and believe that when one door closes, another door opens and it's only going to lead to great things. I don't regret it."

- Cameron Mitchell

Cameron Mitchell from the Glee Project 2011 has definitely touched me in many ways for what he stood for. It was definitely not an easy decision but what he said really change my thoughts and thank God for speaking to me through this. Cameron is truly an inspiring christian that stands out for God =) You may want to read his story here or just go watch that tv show.

Indifferent?

Sometimes when the world is suppressing you, things are all messed up, you’ve lost for words and all you think is to cry and pour it all out, then you see a new day with new hope and move on. But what if you can’t even cry it all out? You can’t tear it out and comfort yourself. You can’t even feel upset about it. You know you have to do something but what?! You’re stucked in that situation all through the day, you just feel like a robot doing your same old routine but ur soul and mind were just not there. You don’t really care what’s going on. You don’t feel like taking another piece of crap. You have no idea why u’re even there. Is that what they called it indifferent?