Drudgery of Life?

2 weeks of work have gone by and I'm starting to feel that old drudgery coming back to play. You know, that feeling when everything is an old boring routine of life and really nothing exciting ever happens. Which is completely false - scroll down to the post below! - and you'll see that my life is never short of craziness. But it just feels like that!

Before I go into an elaborate discussion about the drudgery of life, which I do indeed plan discuss in much further detail - don't run! It'll be interesting, I promise - here's what I've been doing at work:

It started with nothing but a whole bunch of 2D floor plans, a software I'd never really used much of before, and a huge stack of construction documents... to this:

And then I added slanted columns (huge achievement!) and windows and such:

And then I rendered it:

Huge leaps, I know, but I'm actually doing work here, not documenting my every move. I'm pretty impressed with my own skills though, if I may add humbly. ;)

One more tangent, and then I promise you I'll get to the subject:

The other day in the elevator (I guess its just the location of all my excitement!), I found myself going up to work with an Indian lady. She said something long to me in a string of Malay to which I simply replied, "I'm sorry, I don't speak Malay." She then paused to try to figure out how to convey what she wanted to say in English and all she managed was, "Philippines." I laughed and quickly assured her I was actually Malaysian Chinese and she was like, "Your face, looks like from there." So now I get it. I don't look like I'm from here, and I definitely don't sound like I am either. The Managing Director at my work also asked me the other day, "You're not from here right?" Um, yea technically I am? Looks like I have a talent of sticking out.

So today I was reading out loud from My Utmost for His Highest and it really just hit the spot. Oswald Chambers spoke about 2 Peter 1:5 and how we are to "add to your faith" and form godly habits. Allow me to quote some of it:

We are to "add" to our lives all that character means. No one is born either naturally or supernaturally with character; it must be developed. Nor are we born with habits - we are to form godly habits on the basis of the new life God has placed within us. We are not meant to be seen as God's perfect, bright-shining examples, but to be seen as the everyday essence of ordinary life exhibiting the miracle of His grace. Drudgery is the test of genuine character. The greatest hindrance in our spiritual life is that we will only look for big things to do. Yet, "Jesus... took a towel and... began to wash the disciples' feet..." (John 12:3-5) (Emphasis mine.)

We all have those moments when there are no flashes of light and no apparent thrill to life, where we experience nothing but the daily routine with its common everyday tasks. The routine of life is actually God's way of saving us between our times of great inspiration which comes from Him. Don't always expect God to give you His thrilling moments, but learn to live in those common times of the drudgery of life by the power of God.

Wow. That speaks for itself. I know that personally I find when I have those drudgery moments, my character sort of fades. I was just reminding myself of the new life God has given me (Ephesians 4:22-24), that I've already received, and start living it out. How? By renewing the mind, by forming those godly habits, and by developing my character. To be seen as the everyday essence of ordinary life exhibiting the miracle of His grace.

Disclaimer: this is definitely still a work-in-progress.

And so I'll leave you with that as I conclude this post and go sit in front of the air-conditioner because its a 90 degree day. Knowing me, I can't really stay indoors for long and so the last couple of days, I've gone outside after work and kicked a soccer ball around for about 30 minutes, coming home a ball of sweat. Literally. Nothing else. If I were a bottle, I would read, "Ingredients: sweat. Made in Malaysia."

Never Short of an Adventure

I apologize profusely for not updating more. I've started more than a few drafts and never got around to finishing them because, knowing me, I'm a perfectionist and don't really finish what I start. So who knows whether this will get posted or not. I have full intentions as of right now to post it, but you never know what will happen in thirty minutes. I'm pretty fickle too.

Anyway, the last time I posted, I was back in Australia, living a happy life of rainbows and unicorns. Turns out, I had to leave happy land, and although it took me about two weeks before I finally left for real, it was good while it lasted. Those two weeks composed of hanging out with friends, redesigning my living room and painting (still in progress!), exercising to my leisure, and doing whatever I pleased. So it happens, adventure does not ever leave me behind.

+ Note to self: do not go running with your iPod Touch in your pocket ever again. Everything went fine for the first six laps and then I decided I wanted to sprint. I take off at like 30mph, not even exaggerating, and my iPod Touch stays behind. On the ground. With it's screen shattered like it didn't have a care in the world.

+ So what if you're the only girl in all of Asia who plays soccer. If you love it, want to play it, than do it! And that's exactly what I did. Sunday evening, called an old friend, convinced my daddy to come along, showed up and played with all these random boys. Didn't even give the ball away once. Made some great passes. Shouldered up to the guys and defended. Headed the ball away! Big whoopie, I have never EVER done that before. Surprised all the boys at how well a girl could played. Scored. A beautiful goal.

+ Don't ever go into an elevator without a phone and without being able to say "Elevator is broken. I'm stuck." in the language of the country you reside in. Thankfully I had the former if not the latter. I was simply trying to leave work when the elevator stopped on me and I was stuck on the 10th floor. In a box. Alone. It was an adventure to say the least. I stayed calm for about the first 30 minutes. By the 50th minute, I was in tears. Finally, I got out after an hour.

Life ain't fun unless there's a little bit of adventure, and I've certainly got my fair share of that the last two weeks. I may have left happy land and entered the land of a working woman, day in and day out in the office, but adventure still hasn't left - and I'm glad. It is my constant companion. Until later - with more adventures!

Land of Kangaroos

Travel Blog #1

Australia. The 6th largest country on planet earth. A continent. Probably another huge melting pot where all Asians migrate to because its the closest Western civilization around. Another check off the list of places to go, another continent I've been to.

What brought me to this beautiful place was the fact that my family hadn't been all together as a whole cohesive 4 piece unit since July of 2010 when my sister moved to the States for her undergraduate degree and I followed the year after. It was high time for a family vacation - and this time, that meant a caravan in the land of kangaroos.

Meet kangaroo.

It took awhile to get my sister adjusted. She grabbed a handful of food and the kangaroo comes up to her more than eagerly and all she could do was scream, "Hazel! Help! How do I feed the kangaroo?"

And then came the kisses. My sister was a natural at getting them, while it took me about a million tries before little Roo decided that I could have a kiss too.

But the most amusing thing ever was my dad on his Samsung Galaxy tablet, taking continuous shots of us interacting with the kangaroos, while himself staying as far away from the hopping creature as he could. That resulted in some very curious animals approaching the man with the big box in hand... and a few dozen shots of the same exact thing. Or a motion picture, literally.


Yea, I am a woman of many poses.

Of course there were other animals at Caversham Wildlife Park and I was one of those tourists who takes pictures of all the animals, but really, who wants to see pictures of animals? Rather, just go to the zoo yourself.

I did discover that llamas and I have a mutual understanding...

... koalas are the cutest little things ever and if it was possible, I would want a koala bear instead of a teddy bear.

... I often feel like a bunny: short, small, but adorably cute ;)

... and well, I have a gift in taking pictures of floating animals.

Of course, that wasn't all we did in the five days we were there. We went kayaking down the Swan River (where apparently a good deal of dolphins reside, we didn't spot any). Raced my sister around the lake and she went straight into the pole thing that marks the ends of different zones. Don't tell, but I think she knocked one partly done. Of course, that led to bumper kayaks. That didn't work out so well. Us Chang sisters have craziness in our bones. We also don't look anything alike or like any of the same stuff. Guess the only mutual thing is the craziness.


Visiting a chocolate factory, wine tasting, going to the famous local ice-cream shop were things also on the agenda. Oggies Ice Cream Cafe turned out to have a lovely outdoor section with a playground, lots of grass, and would you know! Soccer balls! Turns out I'm pretty great at playing soccer with an ice-cream cone in hand. We had a mini family competition to see who could kick the ball between two really close stumps with the least amount of attempts. Reigning champion, hate to brag, me! ;) It took me only three attempts while the dad took 7, the mother, 8, and the sister, 9. In all fairness, my mom had a handicap and was allowed to shoot from a closer range.

As for wine tasting, that was interesting. Ended up we liked some and actually bought a bottle which was consumed later....

..by me!

Not really. I had about three small sips that were more like drops and called it good.

In every trip, there is one day when its rainy and foggy and you just kinda do absolutely nothing but still have fun. That day to us meant making a trip to Mandurah, south of Perth, having some great fish and chips at Cicerellos, and taking pictures at the bay. We then went to the caravan park for that night really early in the afternoon, sat in the caravan through a really intense rain, while my sister was stuck at the bathroom. She revealed to us that she was trying to figure out how to get back to the caravan and considered using a plastic chair as an umbrella but decided that would look too weird. Later on that day, the dad went to grill burgers for dinner and got caught in the rain as well and literally used a plastic chair as an umbrella and appeared at the caravan looking like a strange creature with a huge plastic hat. I'm pretty sure we got our craziness from him.

You can tell who's the loud one.

Back to the dad, here's another shot of him taking photos. Notice the orientation of the tablet and how it varies. He tries.

To end the trip, we traveled back to the Swan River to go catamaran sailing. That by itself was quite an adventure. Firstly, once we were situated and sailing out into the open, there was absolutely no wind and so here we are going at like 5mph. Of course my sister, being such a huge mathematic junkie, gave us a running commentary on her estimated speed of travel. We caught some speed and after awhile decided it was time to attempt turning the boat around. We did everything our instructor told us to do yet the boat was not turning. My sister's giving her suggestion, my dad's putting in his input, nothing's working and I'm like, "Y'all. Let's think this through logically. Physics, people, physics." And finally we turned. And made it back to shore. My family are hopeless scientists, but thankful someone on board had a minute understanding of physics.

Behold, the Chang family.

(Pictures taken from three different cameras so you get a full perspective. View Facebook album here and leave comments!)