Look what came in the mail!

Ok, this was send about 2 weeks ago but as usual, my updating is pretty slow.

Isn't the card cute???? The middle part is transparent and the picture of the kids is super cute. Not to mention, racially and politically correct as well.

This is my new favourite card, apart from my unglam photo.

Yay!

Art and craft

I love ART.
I used to love drawing, designing, cutting, pasting, planning, colouring and admiring my handiwork.

But as years go by, I find little time to do it or close to none at all because I need LOTS of time. When I start something, I pour my heart and soul into it and get so engrossed in a small little piece of drawing that it takes me hours to finish it. So, I don't start.

Which is why I haven't done anything "artsy fartsy" since...forever.

But when Jade came home with her short new bangs the night before she was flying back to China for holiday, I felt the urge to make her a card. It was to wish her bon voyage, to thank her for all the times she's been there for me as housemate and friend, to tell her I miss her, and to also pay homage to her super cute hairstyle she cut that day!

So there I was planning, drawing, cutting, colouring and writing all the details in. It took a few hours (as usual) but tadah!..below is the card I presented her with lots of love.

Its not particularly her style (cause she likes flowers, pastels and cutesy stuff), but its mine (black, bold and a tad edgy) and its made with lots of love.

So I hope she liked it. =)

Heavy weight

I try to do my bit here and there. Do little things that I can do.

Be a bit more helpful in other people's lives.

So once in a while when I'm over at Genetics to take my food, I'll help bring other people's food over too.

Bet you're a bit confused.

Well, I work in a building called Bio21 that is a good 5 mins walk away from the University. I work under the Genetics department which is situated in the University. The food I mean is food for my fruit flies!! They get cooked at the department so we have to trottle over whenever we order them to bring them back for our beloved flies. This food come in trays of 100 vials and I bring over mine and other people's too - as much as my hands can take. =D

Working with Children Check and a bit about me.

Recently, I enquired about volunteering at the Down Syndrome Association.

I got hooked up to their volunteering department which told me to get my Working with Children Check and Police Check done before I could do any work.

Here in Australia, you need to apply for a Working with Children Check in order to work with children, volunteer or not. It is how the Australian government protects its young ones. So thats what I did!

I like working with children.

Well, most of the time..except when they run all over me and start pulling my hair.

But usually, working with them brings me great joy. I guess you can say I feel very "motherly" or in another perspective, "clucky".

I grew up as the eldest sister looking after two very naughty little brothers. Not to mention, I am ranked 5th in the hierarchy of cousins from my father's side. There are 16 of us, of which most of the younger ones I saw grow up. I like and still love my role as bigger sister which brings me to my next point.

The reason I picked the Down Syndrome Association rings close to my heart.

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The one thing I regret about coming to Australia is missing out on my brother's life. The brother that frustrates me sometimes, makes me ecstatically happy the next, and lets me sit back and wonder most of the time whats in that little head of his.

His name is Luke. He's the middle child. He's down syndrome and autistic. And I love him to bits.

Being here, so many miles away from home, I don't regret leaving Singapore, I don't regret leaving my family and friends behind, but I do regret not being there for Luke. It pains me to know that I can't rejoice in his every improvement; the new word he learnt, the sentence he haphazardly strung together, the new ideas he formed in his head. I'm sad that I'm missing out on all that. His hugs, his grumpiness, his laughter, his hand movements, his OCD, his no-urgency walk as if nothing else exists in this world except for him and his toys even if his life depended on it!

I miss him.

Sometimes, I wish I could do more for him. When I'm back home for holidays, I want to spend time with him but its hard. Luke likes his solitude. Nothing irritates him more than if you disturb his nice little perfect world.

I guess I'm not doing this cause I feel obligated to Luke. No, no. But I think I take it more as a dedication of my time in Luke's name. Plus I think it'll be exciting to relive those moments I've had with Luke in those little kids lives!

I'll blog about it when it happens!

Sidenote: This volunteering thing is actually pretty hard because their bulk of volunteering happens during my work hours! Ahhhhhhh!!!!!

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Anyway,

Dear Lukey,

If only you'd know that you inspired me to do this. And that I'm dedicating this volunteering in your name!

Miss you and Happy Belated 19th Birthday!!

Love,
Jie jie =)

Here are some photos I dug up taken wayyyyy back in 2004!! We look so young then!!

Mozzy Love

I don't have a penchant for buying bracelets/bands in support of organisations or causes because I usually don't know what to do with them after! I know I'm a bit of a hoarder so I try to stay away from things that turn into junk!

But this one attracted me like a bee to honey.

1) Because if you know me by now, I'm a person who absolutely ADORE colourful things and this one has just the prettiest colours!

2) Ever since my Honours year researching on mosquitoes, anything to do with these little biters brings up a fire in me like no other. Maybe cause I got to know them just a little bit more better? I don't know.

So as my bit for the world, with this little bracelet I hope somewhere out there, there's a little child whose risk for malaria is lowered because she's got a mosquito net to sleep in. =)

Gold coins

Remember I once said that I had difficulty giving my gold coin to the homeless man on the street?

And that I would rather offer him a meal so as to prevent those that use my money for other "luxuries"?

Well, I gave a gold coin away one of the days.

I'm pretty proud of myself still.

Previously, I wouldn't have bothered but this time, I decided to give.

I was in a bit of a rush, and truthfully, was more scared to offer him a meal than to drop him a gold coin.

Oh well, next time.
It'll only get better.

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I did drop another gold coin recently too.

But not into the hands of a beggar, but into a guitar case.

A guitar case of a busker giving out her all on Bourke Street, Melbourne.

Strumming away, belting out the blues, and swaying to the tune of her own song.

A gold coin for encouragement I say!

Bravo!

A New Direction

So, for the month that I was away from this blog, my Project of Love took a different direction.

When I first started this project, it was to "do random acts of kindness each day" in order to make somebody smile.

After a month's trial, I found it a little too restrictive for my liking.

When I first envisioned this project, I saw myself volunteering, helping out people in need but I didn't think out the specifics of my project properly. Yes, I saw images of those people that I helped smiling but it didn't occur to me then that I could expand my service territory to those out of my reach. That my Project of Love didn't have to be restricted to the immediate people around me, but also to the ends of the earth, directly or indirectly.

How? In so many ways. The easiest one I can start with is to support various causes/disasters/foundations around the world that I feel passionate about, like when I donated to an aid in Haiti after the earthquake. I do not know what happened to that money; whether it was to buy a family food and shelter or whether it was to supply medical equipment or whether it was even used at all. But I would still like to think that I made a difference somewhere. That my money was used to buy a smile out there, half way across the globe. Which is why I've decided that "making somebody smile each day by doing random acts of kindness" is not enough.

That this Project of Love is now here on expanded to "doing acts of love". It has become more ambiguous and I like that. That I am not bounded by definite boundaries but released to do whatever I want, however I like it.

That "Project of Love" has ceased to be restrictive but has become all encompassing.