World Cup Champion Italy !!!!!!!! GO Azzurri !

Aren't those great pics?

ITALY just snatched a glorious win over the one Cup that everybody has been vying for the past month - the golden World Cup. What a win over France that was - played to the full 120 mins including extra time and then the penalty shoot-out with a scoring of Italy's perfect 5 against France's 3. I have always been a huge fan of team Italy ever since I watched World up in 1994 (I was still in early secondary school back then) due to the generous amount of hot guys in the team :D, but also because I've always believed in their capabilities and skills as well. Too bad they did not have good results in World Cup 1998 and 2002, but 2006 proved to be a totally different ball game for the Italians and I cheered for them all the way from quarter finals until yesterday and they have done it!!!!!!

Whenever I asked people ever since the beginning of World Cup season from June 9th, that who they think will win the cup this year, the answer will forever fall between the likes of Brazil, Argentina, Germany, France or Portugal. I was a bit setback by the fact that nobody would say 'Italy!' affirmatively at all. But still, I had faith in Italy and somehow felt confident that they will go very far this time around.

My dad was even more 'psychic' - even before the quarter finals came, he was already telling me all these things 'everybody thinks Brazil or Germany the host or France will wint he Cup, but I see the way Italy plays it - they might even bloody win the Cup and upset everybody - supporters and all the bookies around the world, when nobody expects to even see them into the finals. And how right he was :) and how much I hoped it will be the fact as well.

When I saw how Portugal played against England with Ronaldo's flaring episode causing Rooney out of the game, I had hoped for France to win against Portugal to step into the finals and going against Italy, and my request was fulfilled. I could still remember setting alarm clock for 3am in the morning to watch Italy's semi-finals match against Germany, and though having confidence in Italy, it was Germany's home ground and that might make a huge difference - but Italy proved they are stronger than the home crowd and marched into the Finals with 2 goals.

Coming into the finals with France, my take on the game was that it's anybody's game - Italians with strong defense and young players vs. France's strong striker Zidane and more 'matured' players; with France winning Italy in Euro Cup; but my dad said the Dog Year (this year) will be Italy's year and they will win the Cup - it's a Feng Shui thingy; so there was nothing we could do but to wait anxiously for the showdown.

Highlights of the game
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A goal scored from France with a free kick on the 7th minute of the game, slightly dampening Italy supporters' spirit, dreading the fact that history might repeat itself from Italy's defeat to France in Euro Cup.

Italy's not gonna let France go with that goal and scored an equaliser goal with a corner kick on the 19th minute, tallying the score with France. You Go Italy!

I forgot whether was it 2nd half of the game or during the first period of extra time, France's Zidane nearly scored a goal but was viciously saved by the towering Gianluigi Buffon - dubbed as the World-Class goalkeeper and indeed he kept up to its name - even winning the coveted Lev Yashin Award, given to the best goalkeeper at the FIFA World Cup finals. Such a gracious save that was - and clearly Buffon was indeed proud of that save for the team, leaving Zidane very frustrated as to how that goal didn't manage to get through.

The 1-1 scoreline never budged from the 90 minutes hence the game extended into extra time, with both teams having a go at one another ever more competitively; unfortunately France's Henry was substituted along the way; and then came the drama of the World Cup Finals shortly after the 2nd paeriod of extra time started - Zinedine Zidane used a headshot and pounded against Materazzi's chest, after a light hug from the latter, where Zidane actually walked away but all of a sudden decided to head butt Materrazi! It was a shock to the whole world where we watched in horror how this possibly could have happened - nobody could justify for Zidane's foul and compulsive behaviour - and how he could jeopardize a glorious retirement to his peak performing professional career - it was inexcusable, under whatever grounds it may be. Nobody knew what was actually in Zidane's head to allow that to happen.

The worst thing was, the main referee Horacio Elizondo didn't see the episode unfold at all, it was Buffon and some other Italian players that urged for him to come by as Materazzi was literally knocked off pretty badly with Zidane's chest hit, I was very very concerned as it looked as though Zidane would have gotten away with what he did if the referee didn't see it, but after strong insistence from the Italians, Elizondo went over and consulted the referee on the side line and had a positive verification, he immediately drew out a red card from his back pocket and headed towards Zidane - sending him off to a walk of shame, with Zidane ironically walking past the Cup on his way retreating inside. Another France player (I forgot who he was) could've argued with Elizondo's decision and he too, was handed a yellow card on the spot.

I could guess that the stadium in Berlin must've been loaded with majority of France supporters more than Italy as the former literally cheered whenever the ball was with France and immediately boo-ed whenever Italians took over the ball. It was such a disgrace but I guess it's the number game playing - and all the more reasons and determination for the Italians to win the Cup!

After such a hoo-ha, the game went on with the score line still at 1-1 after the extra time and then came the moment of truth - penalty shoot-out. The Italians were never fond of penalty shoot-outs but had to do it - I was very very concerned on this and really wanted Italy to win this one - each of Italy's shot has been perfectly executed and I cheered so loudly for their every goal! And was even more ecstated when France missed their 2nd shot! This is the opportunity for Italians and they must not miss any shots and indeed, they never let all their supporters down on their 3rd goal but France never gave up and rebounded with their 3rd shot, scoring their 2nd goal. Italy's 4th and determinant shot came and if they get this one, the Cup is theirs! Fabio Grosso, the young defender was the shooter for Italy's last shot and casually, in the ball went, into France's net! The Italians went crazy as their fight was finally over and they have emerged as the World's Best, after long, gruelling matches and drama, I actually had tears rolling in my eyes as I could still vividly recall how disappointing it was back in the year 2000 where Italy lost to France. But they did it this time around - and the FIFA World Cup golden trophy has been earned rightfully by the Italians.

I'm proud of you team Italy! And I'm sure proud to be your supporter.

Re-cap
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The Cup that has been causing all the hoo hah for the past month














The Stadium where the final show down will determine who takes away that Cup














The special Golden Ball - only used in the final game














The line-up of Italy - these are the men who will be fighting til the very last minute














The 1-1 scoreline kick-starting the Extra Time














Zidane's controversial Red Card at the 19th minute of ET














Zidane's walk of shame, ironically past the World Cup trophy itself














France misses it's 2nd penalty shoot-out!!














Italy team hung onto one another as they watch each shoot-out...














The moment of truth - Fabio Grosso ready to deliver the determinant last penalty shoot-out...














............ And a WINNING kick it is!!!














What a contrast between Italy's rejoice and jubilant vs. France's great disappointment and grief












The Stadium immediately lits up with colourful fireworks for the birth of World Cup 2006's winner Italy!














Official announcement : FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 Winner - ITALY!














Let's give the Cup an Italian hat shall we?














World-Class Goal Keeper Gianlugi Buffon - for Italy
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Deservingly, Italy goal keeper clinches the coveted Lev Yashin award as a recognition for his outstanding performances, contributing to Italy's World Cup win, marvellous job, Buffon!



















p/s : article above & crystal clear pics all from fifaworldcup.com, the amateur ones were taken by myself during the live broadcast

My 20++ birthday celebration(s)

Prologue
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I've fast forwarded everything a bit to skip my company F2F (Face to Face) Hadyai trip & my personal Genting trip posts, coz I just can't wait to blog about my birthday celebrations! They're all not big but I treasure them just as much...

PART I
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I celebrated my birthday this year last Friday and I didn't expect much from my bf, due to financial limitations (we lost to Uncle Lim at Genting you see, hehe), so I didn't want my bf to spend a lot for my birthday as well. I woke up in the morning of my birthday at about 10+ am (it was my off day) and felt a
bit weird, coz I felt hot and sensing the beginning of the symptoms of a running nose. Uh-oh, it wasn't a good start to my birthday but I wasn't letting this dampen my spirit for the day! Coz my bf did promise to bring me for a nice dinner either at Evergreen Hotel's buffet dinner or steak at Victoria Station.

So I called Evergreen to ask about the buffet - what's the theme and how much per pax and was told it's seafood buffet for the night, and it costs RM65nett per pax. I thought to myself that it's pretty pricey for a buffet so I called him and told him we can actually go for steak instead.

By the time evening came, I showered, changed, put on some make up, blush and accessories and ready to go, totally forgetting the fact that the symptoms of fever and flu have worsened a bit. So there I was, sitting in my living room, waiting for my bf to call me to go downstairs, and all of a sudden, I saw a figure appearing at my doorstep, calling my name.... and there he was- my bf, carrying a bouquet of red roses in his hands! It was such a surprise! I could still vividly recall him having a broad but cheeky smile on his face while waiting for me to react... I was so touched that I had tears rolling in my eyes; coz all the while I loved to have my loved one give me flowers coz I'm a sucker for drop dead type of romance and have always complained that he was never romantic enough to buy me flowers...

When I brought the flowers into the house my grandma asked who gave me those as she didn't see my bf standing at the door outside, she thought that he was the flower delivery guy (hah!), and commented that it must cost a bit for that bouquet. So after admiring the flower a while I put it in my room, on my bed coz we were ready to head out for dinner.

I was such a happy girl coz this was only the second time I had a loved one present me a bouquet of roses since my first ex, who asked one of his friend to order one and have it delivered to my house on my birthday itself (he was away that time). But to receive it in person, from my honey, on my birthday meant so much to me! We kissed passionately in the lift on our way down to the car park... it was such a sweet moment indeed...

So here we go, admire my red roses! :D

Overview 360 degree shots:-














































From top:-

From the side:-














The wrapper with heart and dove details:-














The ribbons:-














Finally, a close-up shot where you can see the glittery bits on the roses!
















PART II
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In the end, my bf really wanted me to have a nice dinner for my birthday and so we went to Evergreen Hotel for their seafood buffet. We reached there around 8pm and the Cafe was already packed, nevertheless there was still a table for us.














We didn't waste time and headed straight out for the seafood galore - there were prawns, fishes, calamari, lobster, sashimi, stuffed crab, seafood lasagna, seafood salads, shark's fin soup, even with a complete "steamboat" station for patrons to help theirselves with!

As for dessert, due to the wide variety of seafood occupying the main buffet spread, they have toned the usually big dessert table down - but still, I was impressed by their wide variety of topping offerings to go with the ice cream.

This was what I started with:-














Clockwise from 12 o'clock:-
Stuffed crab : this was a bit huge in portion, but not very good in texture and flavour
Seafood lasagna : this was very good - soft and full of seafood flavour - with prawns, fish, etc in it
Chilli prawns : the prawns were awful as they were not fresh
Calamari - Ahhh... my favourite - the first batch tasted pretty good even not very warm, but the second batch, although just cooked, didn't tasted as good as the first one
Crabmeat seafood salad - this was done just right - right amount of dressing, crabmeat and finely sliced cucumber
The nicest of all - Lobster! This was just nicely marinated and roasted slightly but the juiciness were intact - Yummmmmmy! (A lot of people just go for these by platefuls - such typical Malaysians)
Poached fish - this is good stuff I tell you - cooked perfectly - not overly, but just nice to taste the tenderness of the meat

Of course, we had the shark's fin soup as well - mind you, we didn't see much of shark's fin inside, merely tonnes of cuttlefish slices in a thickened shark's-fin-like concoction. Also, we had sashimi as well coz I knew how good the sashimis at their buffet are, and he wasn't keen on trying it out since they're raw, so I cooked up some Japanese soy with wasabi, then dipped a slice of sashimi in, then asked him to try it out; and sure enough, he liked it and we had a couple more slices afterwhich :) he agreed that the sashimis were really fresh and it made it very welcomed to our senses. Mind you, we had our money's worth coz I went for 2 ice cream helpings - both with one each of corn and yam flavoured ice cream with chocolate flakes & blueberry sauce toppings. The blueberry sauce turned out to be really good coz it wasn't too sweet at all and we can taste blueberries in it too.

During dinner he asked me did I liked the flowers, was I surprised coz he wanted to give me a surprise as he knew how much I liked flowers and wanted to personally give it to me... he told me he felt a bit shy carrying a bouquet of flowers, walking out from the florist, and the girl at the florist told him it's very normal nowadays for guys to carry flowers to give to their lovers; and when he took the lift to come up to my house, there
were 3 indian guys with one of them asking him are those real or fake? Well of course they are real!

Coincidentally, I received birthday wishes via sms on my mobile during dinner, it was from my God Sis, to find out that she's actually just upstairs at the ballroom having a friend's wedding dinner. So later in the evening she came and joined us at our table, we chit chatted a bit and went over to Gurney Drive and hung around a while more before going home.

I took the pictures of my roses non-stop at home *giggle* as well as having my bf take pictures of me and the roses together, as well as him and myself with it on the next day as well, yeah yeah, I AM a sucker for flowers, so what? I love them!

PART III
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I was a little disappointed since none of my colleagues wished me, when they celebrated all of the rest's birthday, while I do understood that I was off shift that day, so they postponed it to Monday where they bought an awfully nice blueberry cake and sung Happy Birthday at my desk! Though it was a belated mini celebration, nevertheless it's the thought that counts - too bad it was a terribly busy day at work that day for all of us, but it was a nice gesture, thanks girls! (Turns out that the guys were off shift that day)

Here's the yummy cake! btw, that's Lynn - she came by just to join in the mini celebration - thanks!




























All in all, it was a very warm, romantic, and happy birthday this year - though I was not in prime condition - feeling sick and all; but my heart was indeed full - thanks to everyone who remembered - my family; my honey; siew moi moi(thanks for such a beautiful virtual cake), Dorene, Ling, BLeng, my God Sis; YL; and the girls in the team. You've all made my birthday memorable.

Baby Pineapple growing in my balcony!

But of course, the pineapple plant has been constantly taken care of by my dad and my grandma to have a baby one popping out!

A new baby pineapple is growing and it's so cute! The last time we had a baby pineapple growing from a different plant as well so this is our second 'baby' already!

This was shot on 22nd of April:-















Orangish in colour

3 weeks later on May 15th, it's grown bigger already:-

Yellowish prime colour

And now, after another 3 weeks (June 9th), look at how big the upper portion has grown into! But judging by the pale greenish colour it's currently adourning, I think it's quickly coming to and end :(

Corner-ish shaped work desk

So this is my desk at my current work place. I didn't actually capture the left most or right most of the desk, otherwise there will be a clearer picture of my entire desk's workspace I have.

We sit 2 persons to a cubicle and it's opened in the middle, unlike the conventional ones which has only 1 open and sits 2 persons on the left and 2 persons on the right; and notice our partitions are relatively low in nature compared to most other floors or departments where the partitions go up to as high as an average person's neck. Low partitions are good for us as we can communicate (read : gossip & yacking away) freely to the persons on the other sides of the partition, etc.

Notice the presence of a relatively huge phone? Due to the nature of my job, hence reason for such a phone, but the ironic thing is, we hardly pounce on the other 21 option buttons on the right of the phone except for one - dialling; and another one for re-dialling the last number; so it still puzzles me to this day why we need such a huge phone with all the confusing buttons for.

When I first came in and saw how many buttons there were on the phone, I got really terrified coz I was thinking to myself how on earth will I be able to be competent enough to simply USE the darn phone! Luckily 2 buttons are the only ones I had to know *whew*

Also we get an flat screen monitor coz we had to do batch monitoring as well, though we have a dedicated workdesk just for batch monitoring just across the corridor (will snap a pic and post later on), we can actually opt to monitor batch jobs from our desk if we want - that's what one of the other team is doing right now.

Lately I've not been spending time at my desk at all as I had to do batch monitoring and next week will be the same. I missed my work desk and I enjoyed working at my desk yesterday when it was actually my off day, I just thought of doing up some work notes and organising them into files.

MNG selling their mannequins?

Nah. I'm kinda impressed with the huge shopping bag though. Where on earth did they source it from?

Anyway, the bags are kinda cool. I like 'em.

Can't imagine having one of those at home. What oh what should I put inside?

Some *relaxing* updates (and some not so... )

What's going on?

I'm going to Hadyai this Saturday - it's a company trip thingy but the company is only paying RM 75! (What the f**k?) and I had to fork out RM300 for the renewal of my passport (dead since beginning of the month) when the initial plan was to go to Langkawi! Damn...

This better be a good one coz .. I'm the only one who had to renew passport!!!!! And NO, I ain't gonna stay 3 girls to a room coz I want 2 to a room to have a good night's sleep there. One thing I'm looking forward to though, is the Thai Girl Show (a.k.a. Tiger Show, dubbed 18SX in our trip's agenda LOL).. Let's see.. I gotta get some bak hoo tiao's for Dorene, some Black Golden Mangoes (that's what my mom told me) coz it's the mango season now; something for my dear honey and his family; and see what I manage to get for myself :)

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Another trip which I'm REALLY looking forward to is just 2 days apart from Hadyai's return - my trip to Genting with my dear honey... It's been appx. 1 year since we've had a break and really need one badly - his working environment is demotivating him and mine.... let's just say I purely, SO in need of a break - from all the evil users and some people who's constantly pissing me off.

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Had a good turnaround with my boss 2 days ago - but the challenges are getting higher - I'm slowly getting the hang of 'managing' him - as in playing for what he's interested in and the qualities he looks for in his staff. Managed to capture some hints here and there as in what he'd like me to approach and go into so as to be able to 'be seen' and 'be heard' as well as 'standing out', and for the sake of preventing me to forget, I'm just gonna list it down here so I can refer back if I happen to forget :-

1. show him I have good presentation skills;
2. show him I'm able to scan, observe and come up with better matrix training framework other than the 2 being implemented;
3. take up the challenge of preparing a flow diagram of all the components in SAP's different pipes - but a surprise is underway coz I'm going to 'innovate' it into a flow diagram that relates more at a team level, i.e. how the applications we support inter-connect with one another;
4. refer back the DISC I've done previously to improve on character building - improve on low score areas with aim to pull it up hence achieving the optimisation effect.

For those who don't know what the hell I'm talking about - no worries coz I was merely talking to myself; for those who understood - cool! Probably you can give me a hand there :)

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A colleague is definitely pissing me off currently - always late to work - don't bother to call and all of us need to cover her in one way or another; don't particularly like the way she talks - always in a 'tho kong' (blunt) kinda tone most of the time; and the thing that pisses me off the most is, she can agree with what we told her today and totally say the opposite the day after - that really made me so upset that I didn't wanna touch the issue that I was following up on right after she said that.

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Great changes so far and I just can't wait for the Genting trip to arrive - it's gonna be a good one - coz I've got the only company that I truly need - YOU, my dear.

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SMM, this one's for you - not sure if you miss Gurney Drive or not but here's a picture I took on a bright sunny afternoon:-

Fireworks marking the start & end of CNY 2006

Yet another backdated post on fireworks which went off on the 29th Day prior to our Lunar Chinese New Year and also the fireworks for the Chap Goh Meh(15th - last day of Chinese New Year) celebration, arranged by the residential committee where we stay.

First up - this year's Chinese New Year reunion dinner arrangement was a bit special as normally we will have our reunion dinner at our own home with all 5 of us - Grandma, Mom & Dad, my brother and myself only; whereas this year, we had to go over to my 3rd Uncle's holiday condo right across the road as all of my 2nd uncle and 3rd uncle's family members are all there, so they've all decided that it's more 'lau juak' to have the whole pack of family members over there for the reunion dinner.

Well, in the end, it was more like a reunion-help-yourself-buffet-style dinner with a widespread varieties of goodies like the ever famous Jiu Hoo Char (a Hokkien delicacy which has vegies, meat and cuttlefish strips in it) - with the recipe and execution being passed down from my grandma to my mom now; Pao Hoo Tu Tor Th'ng (Abalon and Pig's stomach soup); Sio Bak (Roasted pork); curry chicken; and many more....

So after enjoying a damn good and filling dinner we get to enjoy some fireworks that a close-by apartment community have put up - but I just managed to get 2 shots coz my cousins were all busy cam-cording away..

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As for Chap Goh Meh, our community arranges fireworks display every year and residences can contribute financially to the fireworks session which lasts for about 5-10 minutes. Names of the residants who contribute are all posted on the glass panel for all to view the total being accumulated.

While I was chatting away with a friend who called for some mental consultation on his relationship problem, suddenly the fireworks came up! It was so damn loud and cracked right in front of the window of my room! I quickly asked my friend to pause and used my phone to capture all the fireworks clearly displayed right in front of my room.. they're beautiful; although they're nothing compared to the ones I've seen in Brisbane which is much more massive and grand in both in scale and in complexity; but this will do it, coz it's very rare to see fireworks in SUCH CLOSE UP! ANd the feeling is overwhelming.. it's just like lots of rainbow appearing continuously in different shades of colour right in front of you....

Enjoy!

Aww.. You're so sweet yoshi!

Received a very warm snail mail from a my dear Japanese pal - Yoshi in January and it was very heart-warming indeed. The feeling of still being remembered, being missed and just simply to hear what a friend has to tell you - no matter what it is - the feeling is really heart-warming... just indescribable.

The envelope and stamps are really nice.. Australian Post has come up with artistic envelope covers, stamps and this is yet another great combination of vibrant colours and wordings telling about Australian Christmas.

You know, actually I really like snail mails, coz it really shows the effort and heart that one puts in, and also I just like the feeling of holding something physical in my hand, one that I can keep and look back maybe few years later and still have the warm feeling..

Unfortunately, people no longer write snail mail nowadays, even personally written 'Hi How are you' e-mails are getting rarer and rarer. I know I'm one of them, but I'm really beginning to feel that there's too many things to do with too little time. Yoshi has left Australia in the beginning of March though, and she deliberately IM-ed me just to ask have I received her letter, for fear that it might already lost-in-transit
due to my inability to reply her in any way at all. My bad really. I've really wanted to write her a long and nice one but... somehow... one way or another it didn't seem to come along.

As Yoshi is returning to Japan (after many years in Australia) I've asked her to give me her mailing address in Japan so I could still write her the snail mail I promised her. Just really hope I could send her my reply before this month end :)

NOT a Walk In The Park

My new job really isn't a walk in the park, more like a pressure pot. I guess I'm not too sure if I've made the right choice afterall. But one thing I'm sure of is, I WILL live up and stand by to my decision and play it the way the environment wants me to. Of course, I'm still the same 'ol me, grabbing hard to my principles in life such as being ethical, professional as well as not being one of those people who will step on others to go on top; stroking manager or upper level's ego just so they look good in front of them, the list goes on.

I've had my fair share of downs especially in the early days in my job. The training and strong feeling of being out of place and unwelcomed into the team made me sad. Hurtful comments being thrown at me point blank made me depressed until I cried my heart out the minute I reached home and locked my room door. It was intense. I seeked my God Sis' comfort; as well as my best pal who's currently working in an even more stressed environment just upstairs from where I sit; and even an old friend from my previous temporary job tried to pull me together. My ex-lecturer, also a 9-year long employee in my company helped me to shed off the unnecessary worries, depression and advised me to ignore those who try their best to bring me down, to de-motivate me in any way. These are the people who sincerely hope for my success; and wish for a positive outlook in my career. Many heartful gratitude for them, as it was not for them, I have even thought of giving up, and felt I didn't belong in this company, in this job.

Now my second hurdle is my manager's negative feedback towards my progress - whether or not it is intentionally political for him as a manager to push me forward or not, now I found that I have gained strength to pull my act together and deliver to his expectations, and I know I Will, eventually surpass his expectations. Of course I'm playing to his cards but it's something that is mutually beneficial - I get what I want - a well lit career path; and he gets what he wants, i.e. a teamplayer who will reflect well on HIS OWN performance.

I do admit that I was really un-organised - too many e-mail communications, too many notifications, too many roles to play, too many procedures, too many politics, too many things to absorb - and unfortunately, with too little time.

Finally today, I've mapped out what I'm going to do about all of the above and my company laptop just hanged while I was in the middle of doing something at point where I should have stopped to take a break - and it was most welcomed as I just forced the system to shut down and here I am, updating my blog - doing something that I enjoy; that will at least give my mind a rest.

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I really hope I can make it. I really do. Please give me strength for me to help myself.