My Life
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Monday, March 30th, 2009Well, for the first time all year, I am two days late on my weekly post. I do, however, have plenty of excuses to throw up in my defence, which you will soon hear whether you want to or not:
Sunday I was sick! I don’t get sick very often, and when I am sick, it really tries my patience. I really don’t like being sick. It all started that restless night in an Inn in Bintulu…
Saturday night in Bintulu I was exhausted from traveling all week AND had just gotten back from seeing my friends in Sungai Plan Flats (perhaps for the last time for a while more to come) and when I got back to the Inn, I just laid down on the bed and fell asleep (after helping Sharon grade her papers for school). It was nice and peaceful — UNTIL 11 PM WHEN I WAS AWOKEN BY LOUD DANCE-HALL MUSIC WHICH HAD A CONSTANT POUND-POUNDING OF HUGE BASS SPEAKERS. It was coming from the club which was situated -to my dismay- right next door to the Inn. We’re talking about 1 door (the door to my room) being the only thing separating me from the crazy dance music. Well, how long could it last, I thought. Give it a couple hours and it will quiet down.
5 AM. I had been awoken numerous times during the night by the incessant pounding of the music. I swear they were playing the same songs over and over. At about 5:45 the music finally stopped, and I was able to sleep for a couple more hours before getting out of bed. When I woke up in the morning I discovered that my throat was raw and sore from the aircon which had been blowing on me all night. That was the start of my sickness. Sunday morning we went to the Bintulu 2nd Branch for sacrament meeting, where I was able to see all of my friends for the last time before heading back to Miri.
Wednesday Night we flew in to Kuala Lumpur for Sharon’s Visa Interview. We landed late and didn’t get to our hotel until about 1 am. The desk person was very rude and smoked like a Steam Train. We slept well for a few hours, then got up at 6 am to get ready for the Interview.
Thursday we went to the Interview at the US Embassy after eating Breakfast at McDonalds (yay!). Immigration has been hasseling me because my Passport was full and there was no more space to stamp in it, so I got some extra pages put in at the US Embassy as well. Once Sharon submitted all of her papers, she was told to return at 1:30 pm for the interview. That meant we had about 3 hours to kill. So we went to KLCC to window shop (well, Sharon bought some makeup stuff) and eat lunch (A&W!). Then we went back to the Embassy for the Interview. This was the part that had us most worried, because if the Embassy Worker didn’t accept my Affidavit of Support, we wouldn’t be able to get the Visa. This was in all of our prayers for the past two months. I actually make enough at my current job to pass the minimum amount required by the Affidavit, but since I am self-employed, we were afraid it might cause problems.
Fortunately, the worked was very nice and we felt very comfortable during the interview. She accepted the Affidavit and we were told to come back the next day at 3 pm to get the Visa! Wow! We had gotten it! We were so excited. It was pouring down rain outside but we ran to the taxi stand (getting mildly wet) and flagged down a taxi. This was the answer to our prayers.
On the way back to the Hotel, we somehow managed to get a Crazy Indian taxi driver. He was literally insane haha! Or at least eccentric. It made for an interesting ride. He was a nice guy though and was the most honest driver we had in KL.
That night we went to see a movie at Times Square: Confessions of a Shopaholic. It was a good movie.
Friday we had some time to kill in the morning so we went back to Times Square and ate breakfast at… WENDY’S!!!! Wow, I was so excited to find that KL now has a Wendy’s! It is my favorite fast food restaurant, and I was happy to eat there. We then bought tickets to see another movie, returned to the hotel to check out, and went back to watch ‘Race to Witch Mountain’. It was a good movie as well, we enjoyed it. After the movie we took a taxi to the place we were supposed to pick up the Visa. There was a long line so I was worried at first, but it actually went by pretty fast. After we got the Visa (YAY) we took a taxi to KL Sentral, then a bus to the Airport. Our flight was delayed by 2 hours so that stunk, but luckily we were able to watch ‘The Office’ and play some games on my laptop. We didn’t get in to Miri until 12 am. When we got back, we went right to bed so we would be ready to go to Bintulu the next morning for Sharon’s interview with President Skelton for the Temple Recommend.
Saturday was Zone Conference in Bintulu, so we got to see all of the missionaries. Sharon passed the interview (no surprises hehe) and we were now all set. I had bought the plane tickets to return to the US earlier that morning, so we now had everything we needed! We were so happy!
Sunday night when I checked my email, there was a message saying there was a problem with the airline reservation and that I would have to call immediately to clear it up. It had been sent right after we left for Bintulu on Saturday Morning. I quickly called the number (despite being sick) and spoke with an agent who said they needed to mail the tickets to us since it wasn’t an e-ticket flight. This really had us worried since Malaysia’s post system is notoriously slow, and we were leaving Friday morning for KL. I tried to see if there was any other way, but the guy kept reassuring me that it would get here on time since it was being shipped by FedEx Second Day mail. We were skeptical but we really had no choice, so we agreed. Thus began the worrying over the plane tickets.
Monday morning I received another email saying I needed to call immediately about the Reservation. To make a long story short, here is a transcript of my final call with their Agents this morning (Tuesday Morning):
Ma’am, I realize this isn’t your fault, but let me explain my situation:
This is the eleventh time in the past 2 days that I’ve had to call this number and speak with an agent. I’ve been told all kinds of different stories why my tickets could not be ticketed, and have had to change my itinerary 5 or 6 times. I’ve been told to wait 3-4 hours on two occasions, and 4-6 hours on two other occasions and they all promised me the confirmation would be sent within that time. Needless to say, after more than 24 hours of waiting for this confirmation message, I still haven’t received any. I called an agent last night (it is morning time here) and she promised me that my trip would be ticketed and I would receive the confirmation email within 4-6 hours. That was 9 hours ago now.
My fiancee and I are flying to the USA to be married, so these tickets are very important to us. My fiancee is very nervous because the trip has not been ticketed yet, and I’ve been sick the past few days so it has been a nightmare for us. I promised her last night that the trip would be ticketed by morning because of what the agent promised me, and now it has still not been ticketed. I really can’t wait any more, I need to get this situation resolved now. We cannot go on like this.
I am calling you to find out why my our trip has not been ticketed yet like the agents have told us it would be.
Wow. So much worrying and so many times I had to call them. I have their hold music memorized. I spent about $15 on the calls. I was told to wait 4-6 hours so many times. Even the last time I called this morning that was her answer. Our flights had been changed so many times. Anyways, just after lunch time, I received the long-awaited confirmation email that our tickets had been confirmed! Finally! Sharon and I were both really happy. I will be returning to the USA this Saturday, flying in to the Las Vegas Airport with my darling Sharon. I am still a bit sick and I have a ton of work to do before then, but I’m hoping that I will get feeling better before we fly, and that I can finish a lot of my work first. I guess all’s well that ends well, so we are happy to be COMING BACK TO THE USA!
As a side note, I was looking at my site stats and it said that someone found my site by searching for D&C 90:24. Sure enough, when I searched google, my study journal was on the first page. Some other wierd searches include:Singapore Airport Electric Shaver, and Iban Alcohol Problems. Haha
Another Sidenote: If you read a post, comment on it! I always comment on posts when I read them, and it really is nice to see what other people think. There’s a comment form just right down below this, just enter something and press Submit! It’s not going to explode your computer, I promise*!
* Promises made in a sarcastic tone are not binding in a court of law.
In Kota Kinabalu Again, and I’m almost an Illegal Immigrant ><
Sunday, March 15th, 2009Well, another week has come and gone and Sharon and I are that much closer to coming back to the USA. We really can’t wait, and we are crossing our fingers and praying that all will go well with the interview. If any of you who read this want to help, please pray that we will be able to pass the interview and get the Visa with no problem. You may think that the previous sentence is somewhat haughty since I assume people actually read my blog, but the truth is that I have this power. I can tell whenever someone reads my blog. For example, I know that YOU are reading THIS right NOW. Was I right? I know I was. Hehe. Plus I have my stats that show me who visits (I have your IP addresses – BEWARE!) haha.
Anyways, Sharon and I are in Kota Kinabalu again. We flew in from Miri this morning. We have to come so that Sharon can get her Medical Checkup and since there aren’t any approved doctors in Miri we had to fly to KK. On the way to the airport I was looking at my passport and discovered that I had only been given 1 month last time I got my passport stamped. I had just assumed that I would get 3 months since I always had in the past. I got my passport stamped last when I came back to Malaysia from Brunei on February 14th. Luckily February was a short month so my 30 days isn’t up until March 16th (tomorrow) ><. So I was able to come here fine but the immigration officers looked skeptically at my passport before stamping it. My options are running out now since I only have one day to get my Visa taken care of. I have 3 options: Fly to the Philippines, Fly to Brunei, or get my visa extended at the Immigration Office. I will try the extension first, but depending on how much it costs (or even if they will do it) it may be cheaper/easier to just leave the country then come right back. We’ll see how it turns out… I’ve always wanted to go to Manila >.> Haha
Speaking of my passport, I am running out of space! I only have two more squares for people to stamp, which may be gone after tomorrow. I will have to get additional pages put in when we go to the American Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Especially since my passport doesn’t expire until 2015.
Depending on the blood tests, we may have to stay here in KK for 4-5 days, but we’re hoping we can get the results back before then. Hopefully Sharon doesn’t have anything bad, like HIV or some other STD >< 
. But I’m sure she’s just fine 
We slept most of the day today, which for me is odd, since I don’t usually take naps (Sharon takes naps often though). We watched the Office season 1 and had a good laugh. We also got all caught up on Heroes and Criminal Minds. We may be a bit behind on Gossip Girl, but we’ll get that fixed soon I bet.
Nikki Yoder, one of our good friends, made us some really nice Wedding Invitations. If you are one of those lucky enough to receive one (insert evil laugh here*), you will see what I mean. She has been really helpful in many other things too, giving us valuable tips and pointing us in the right direction as we are preparing for our reception and wedding. If you’re reading this Nikki, let me just say, thanks a million!
Memories – Honolulu Airport
Saturday, March 7th, 2009Well, I’ve decided to start writing various memories I have that are important/interesting which I haven’t written in my journals. This memory is regarding the Honolulu Airport. There are two major times that I was at the Honolulu Airport (not including return trips).
The first time I was there was in the Winter of 2004. I was attending Dixie State College in the Fall of 2004, and I had applied to BYU-Hawaii. To my surprise, I was accepted for admission. My parents agreed to pay for my plane ticket, so I decided to go. I flew out from the Las Vegas Airport a couple days after Christmas (I think the 28th). I missed the plane I was supposed to take from Las Vegas, so I had to take the next one. This presented a problem, since I had arranged with the Coconut Express to take me from the Airport to the campus and I was hours late, so I missed it. My plane arrived in Honolulu late that night and I ended up having to spend the night there in the Airport. I found a place to sit and just sat there next to my luggage the whole night. I didn’t sleep, partly because I was afraid someone might try to steal my luggage. I just sat there listening to my CD player until morning. In the morning, I was able to meet up with the Coconut Express and go to the School. Once I got to my dorm, I slept most of the rest of the day.
The second time I was in the Honolulu Airport was when I was going back to BYU-Hawaii. I returned home from my mission to Singapore in September, 2007. I then went to Florida to work and save money so I could return to school. This time I flew out just after New Year 2008. I had arranged for one of my friends who I knew from Kuala Lumpur (Royce and his wife Melanie) to pick me up at the Airport. Everything went smoothly with the flight, but when we landed and got to the Baggage Pickup, there was no baggage. We had to wait almost 2 hours before our baggage finally came onto the Baggage Train. Not sure what the problem was with that. When I finally got my baggage and made my way out to the pickup area, I saw Royce calling me from the curb. So I brought my bags over to his car and got a surprise: Sharon was there in the car with them! She had come along with them to pick me up! I had actually secretly been hoping that she would, and she did! Haha. It was strange though because she was totally shy the whole ride home. She didn’t really say anything to me haha. Royce, Melanie and I got caught up so it was nice to be able to talk to them. They took me to my off-campus housing and I gave Sharon a hug before going into my new home for the next 5 months.
The Birds are chirping…
Saturday, March 7th, 2009As I am writing this, there are birds outside the window chirping. It is Sunday Morning, nice and sunny, and there is the faint smell of Pancakes in the air. Oh, let me introduce myself. My name is Leighton Whiting and I am the luckiest man in the world! At least that’s how I feel right now. Sharon has promised me pancakes this morning, and I am salivating already. Usually I don’t hear many birds here, but it reminds me of home.
I have had a good week this week, did a lot of work and got things accomplished. The days are getting busier and the time is flying by. Sharon and I already have most of our days planned out from now until after the wedding. It is going to be pretty busy, a lot of traveling, trying to get things ready for the Visa. This week I missed another day, somehow Thursday got away from me and in my mind we went from Wednesday to Friday. I was none too pleased about this, since I value my days haha.
Plans are moving along for the Wedding, we are getting ready to print the invitations this week and start sending them out. That will be a relief to get them sent. We are planning on only having seating for 100 people, since the reception area is a bit small, so if you get an invitation, be sure to RSVP. The Reception will be formal and guests should plan to be on time. It is going to be lots of fun and very nice.
I am really excited to be going back to the USA again. I’ve been here now for more than 7 months, and that is a long time in Leighton-Years, considering I’ve only stayed in one place for at most 7 months during the past 5 years of my life. This is about to become my longest area of residence within the past 5 years. I’ve been busy and traveled to many places, but I am happy and healthy, so that’s good. I’ve been craving American food more and more, since most of the time it’s just rice or noodles here. I can’t wait to get back and have a nice Wendy’s meal.
I’ve begun looking for a decent car I can buy for (hopefully) under $1500 so that Sharon and I can have transportation when we get back. I was thinking about buying one through CraigsList, since that is how I got my last car in Hawaii, and I was very satisfied with that. Among the criteria I have are:
1) Must look decent/nice (no paint chipping, nice interior)
2) Must have no major fixes needed.
3) Must have A/C and Heat (since Utah is pretty extreme sometimes)
4) Must be Automatic Transmission (since I’ve never really learned Manual adequately)
So wish me luck and I’ll keep searching CraigsList. I’ve found a few good potentials, and I figure if I start looking now I should be able to find one before we get back in early April.
Once we get back, I will continue working during the summer and then attend school in the Fall, probably at Dixie. I love Dixie, I really think it’s a great school. Then for the Winter/Spring semester, we were considering heading back to Hawaii. We’ll see how that turns out. Sharon and I both love it there in Hawaii. I’m sorry I haven’t posted any pics in a while, but I don’t really have anything new yet. We should be having tons of pics to post around the Wedding and Reception time, so just wait^^
April 15th is the ‘Big Day’!
Saturday, February 28th, 2009Well, Sharon and I have been engaged for a long time, but whenever anyone asks us ‘When is the big day?’ we always had to reply ‘We don’t know yet, we are still waiting for the Visa’. Well, the time has now come (finally) where we can say that April 15th is the day that we are going to get Married, Sealed for Time and All Eternity in the Bountiful Temple. We are way excited about it and have been planning everything out. We’ve been ordering a lot of things online since we are still in Malaysia.
Sharon’s interview date at the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur is on March 26th, and we should get the Visa the next day. We are planning on returning to the USA in the first week of April. Then we will waste no time in tying the knot. Sharon’s sister and mom are flying in to see the wedding as well, so that is exciting. Doreen, one of Sharon’s best friends, is also flying in. We are planning the days leading up to and following the wedding as well. The Reception will be that Saturday (April 18th) at the Lichfield Pond House.
This is officially the call to all my relatives and friends who wish to attend to start clearing your calendar. We are planning on sending out invites soon, so if you don’t get one and think you should have, then be sure to email me so I can tell you personally that you didn’t make the list (haha, j/k ^^)
In other news, this is my 100th post on my blog! I’ve been writing now for over two years, and it’s kinda sad I’m only at 100. I’ve decided to start posting things for my Web Design business in another section, the Wildkatana Design section. I will post tutorials, portfolio entries, remarks about projects, and anything else that would be too boring for you the ‘once-a-week-reader’ of my blog. Don’t worry, you won’t see those posts on the main page, they are well hidden and can only easily be found by searching on google.
I’m thinking about doing the same thing for my study journal, but am too lazy right now and besides I only have a couple posts about my study journal.
Sharon and I went to see The Pink Panther 2 at the theater last night. We wanted to see Bride Wars but it was only playing in the afternoons, so we bought Pink Panther instead. It was hilarious! Steve Martin did an excellent job and Sharon and I couldn’t help but laugh hysterically the entire time. It’s good to get a good laugh from time to time.
I’ve been working hard on a new project this week, and it’s almost done. This site is my nicest one yet, and I am quite pleased with how it turned out. It’s a culmination of everything I’ve learned over the past 6 months of doing this.
My portfolio will officially be posted in a portfolio category on this blog, which is not made yet. But I promise to make that this week, including screenshots and commentary.
Save the Cereal, Save the World!
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009Well, another week has gone by, and I’ve procrastinated until it is {almost} everlastingly too late to write on my blog. I can’t lose the habit, so here is my mandatory post. I actually have some cool things to write about this week. First cool thing is: TYLER IS BACK FROM FRANCE!
I am really excited about this one. It is crazy how fast time flies by. Tyler flew in to St. George Thursday night (Friday morning for me) and was so tired he went right to bed. I spoke to him the next day on msn and then called him. It was really cool to hear his voice again. It is really nice to have him home, and I can’t wait to see him again once I get back. I am really proud of him – he returned with honor.
Another thing that happened that I haven’t really written about is Valentines. Sharon and I kinda celebrated Valentines all last week. Sharon made me a card in her Art class (seriously, it’s her class, she teaches it) and gave it to me. I was really excited when she gave it to me since it looked so carefully made. I hurriedly opened to read the sweet message that was inside but… it was empty? Well, what do you do if life gives you an empty card? You give it back a couple days later after writing in it. Haha, this is probably the reason she gave it to me empty anyways. Sharon is the coolest girl ever and we have a lot of fun, and I love her very much. Can’t wait til we get the Visa and can return to the US (crossing our fingers*).
So, what have we been up to all week? Well, we helped the missionaries teach a lady and we’ve been trying to be better at reading the scriptures and praying together every night, and it’s been good so far (well, maybe we need to read more often still). But if you ask either of us what we’ve really been up to, we’ll tell you we’ve been binging on Heroes. We watched all of Season 1 (23 episodes) last week, and then this week we watched all of season two and we aren’t stopping tonight until we’ve watched til episode 8 of Season 3. Yeah, we’re obsessed. But we can’t help it, it always ends at such a strategic point to make Sharon always without fail say ‘Ness One!!!’ even if it is already 1 am in the morning. I usually have to make her stop, or else we’d stay up all night. We went and bought the Season 2 and 3 dvds at the local pirated movie store, since the internet has been going slow and we couldn’t download all of them fast enough. But we’ve watched all of them now just in the past 24 hours… Crazy.
Anyways, that’s it for this week, oh and my portfolio is still the same as it was two weeks ago >< dangit I need to really do that. Sorry for all you people out there who I know are just dying to see it (*insert cricket chirping here*)
Oh, some pics for this week:
Electric Relationship
Light and Dark...
Our secret...
Wedding Looming…
Saturday, February 14th, 2009Okay, I know that sounds a bit foreboding, but it’s the word that came to mind. I usually don’t think about the title of a post until I click in the box to type and then usually just type the first thing that comes to my head. I make it a goal to write every Sunday, so whether I have something incredible or not, I know there will BE a post, I just don’t always know what it will be ABOUT. Anyways, this week flew by as well, just like last week. I took extra care to keep track of the days but I was still surprised at how fast it went. My visa here in Malaysia expires on the 16th, so I had to go to Brunei yesterday and get it renewed. I can now legally stay in Malaysia for another 90 days (yay!). I could probably stay here indefinitely, since the Brunei/Malaysia border is only 30 minutes away and I get 90 days every time I cross over. So I would have to make a thirty minute drive 4 times a year to stay in Malaysia for a year. Nice…
Well, we are also involved in getting Sharon’s K-1 Fiancee Visa. We have everything now and are just waiting for the Embassy to contact us for an interview date so we can go to KL. We are anxious to hear when the interview is so we can get a better idea of when our wedding will be. Right now we are looking around Mid-April, in fact I made a mock-up of a wedding invitation for Sharon’s sister to use when she goes to get her Visa. The date (April 15th) is more of a goal and not set in stone, but for anyone out there reading this, check your calendars and see if you can make it or not. I won’t post the picture since it may cause misunderstanding (DISCLAIMER: We will not be held responsible for incorrectly scheduled airfare hah).
Anyways, Sharon has been really and I mean REALLY busy planning out the reception. It is hard since we are here and aren’t sure exactly how the place will look or what the weather will be like, but she has made extensive plans and it is pretty impressive. We are shooting for an outdoor reception, but I guess that’s all I should say for now. Suffice it to say that the theme will be ******. (censored)
In other news… well I guess there isn’t any other news… I promised to have my portfolio done but well it hasn’t happened yet, although I did make the site for it, just need to add things to it now.
PS We’ve been watching Heroes Season 1, and it is really cool. We keep having the ‘watch one more’ reaction after the episode is done, so we’ve watched I think 16 episodes this week alone. Crazy. This leads us to the question: If you could have a super power, what would it be? I think I would probably choose the power of Telekinesys (SP?). The other powers are really cool but I’ve always been a Star Wars fan and want something like the force haha. Plus I think you could use it to fly if you mastered it. Okay that sounded really geeky, but well, it is what it is. Haha. Another power I would like but they didn’t mention is the ability to save and load times, kind of like a video game. You can save at a save point, then go back if you screw up. Think how cool that would be, to save just before you ask some really cute girl to go on a date with you, then if she says no, just load it! Or save before doing something crazy like jumping off a building. So many different applications for a power like that. Reminds me of Groundhog Day but only able to be controlled.
Okay, one more thing I just remembered. Yesterday was Valentines day and I got to go out and eat with Sharon to Soho’s. It was nice and we got a delicious meal. Sharon got me a nice shirt for Valentines day, and I got her some lip gloss from Paris, some Lancome thing that she really likes. It looks good on her. I can’t wait til we get married!
Oh and one more thing. My brother gets home THIS WEEK! Crazy how fast time flies by. I wish I could be there. I love you Tyler.
Oh yeah, and some more random pics for this week:
Me in St George with my Sword and Long Hair. This was over 4 years ago, when I was attending Dixie.
Sharon and I at the Beach in Hawaii. Good times…
Two Years Ago Yesterday, Tyler Entered the MTC
I want my Friday back!
Saturday, February 7th, 2009Okay, this week went by WAY too fast. It went pretty normal-y, Sharon goes to teach at school and I stay home. Then Thursday night I wanted to watch a movie with Sharon, and she said she didn’t have school tomorrow so I asked, “Oh, you get a holiday eh?” and she said she had to teach on Saturday. So I said well let’s watch the movie then (Blast from the Past) and we stayed up late 
. The next day, I went to work while Sharon watched Canada’s Next Top Model 10 episodes in a row (okay, maybe not ten, but it seemed like that much). Okay so maybe I watched a couple too, but that was just to scoff and sneer (as is my custom when watching these reality-competition type shows.) Anyways, about halfway through the afternoon, Sharon asked me where we should eat that night. I was thinking, strange that she wants to go out and eat on a Friday night, since it is usually our custom to eat on a Saturday night. But I didn’t say anything, cause I don’t mind going out no matter what night it is. Anyways, I finished up my work and then we went out to eat. At the restaurant, we were talking and she mentioned we have church tomorrow, and I was like, no, it’s Friday. And then she said no, it’s Saturday, why else do you think I didn’t go to School today? She had to prove it to me that it really was Saturday. In the end I felt somehow cheated as if someone had stolen a day of my life. I don’t know how I could have missed a day. Sigh… Guess I’m getting old.
As a side note, more and more often Sharon will say something that I laugh at and say is wrong, only to be proven wrong by her. Like last night, she was grading papers and she remarked how one student misspelled ‘hamster’ as ‘hampster’. I laughed at her and said ‘Actually that’s right, it does have a p’. She said it didn’t, so she looked it up and soon it was evidenced that I had been spelling HAMSTER wrong my whole life ><. Haha. Well, I guess it’s always a good thing to marry someone smarter than you, she was the one who got the short end of the deal here.
Last night I also taught her how to play ‘Go-Fish’ and she beat me all three rounds we played ><. I even developed a system of how to hold my cards to improve my chances, but she is just too lucky! Haha. Speaking of games, Sharon and I learned how to play Mahjong (not to be confused with Solitaire Mahjong, which still confuses me) during Chinese New Year at her cousin’s house. Their 10-year old kid taught us in Chinese (so I pretty much learned by trial and error, playing a domino and seeing whether or not people laughed at me ><). But in the end Sharon and I each won a round, so we are now semi-pro. We want to buy a set here in Miri, supposedly Sharon’s Mom used to be the Mahjong Queen. I think we can play with 3 players but it is better to have 4.
Another cool thing that happened this week was the letter from the embassy came (albeit smashed up by the postman, much to Sharon’s chagrin). It gives instructions on what forms we need to send in and so we got started on all of that. Sharon needs to go renew her passport first since it expires this November. We both filled out a few forms though so progress was made.
My visa is about to expire (February 16th) so I will need to go to Brunei soon to do a Visa run again. I am also planning on going back to Bintulu this week, since I’ve been promising my friends there that I would come. I’m excited, I think I’ll go while Sharon is at school, on a weekday, and then be back in time for the weekend.
Work has been good, I’ve gotten caught up on a number of things that I was constantly behind on. I can breathe a bit easier now and I can also spend some time on my personal project. I may start looking for more clients next week as well, we’ll see how that goes. I need to work on my portfolio first, however. I think my portfolio will be hosted at http://portfolio.leightonwhiting.com , so you guys can check that in a week if you want.
On a side (and geeky) note, I made a bot last week for <a game I play> which made me tons of in-game money. I did it for the stats though, and I made a web site to display the stats. It wasn’t just a complete waste of time, since I learned how to make flash charts that are dynamic (something I will be using for my personal work project mentioned above).
Tyler gets home on February 19th, which is literally less than two weeks away, so I am excited about that. Wish I could be there to see, but I really do wish him all the best and a safe flight home.
Sharon and I (okay mostly just Sharon) have been making plans for the reception, talking about food, decorations, place, what we will do, etc. I am really excited about getting married to such a wonderful woman soon.
Random Photos of the day:
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| From Kendo |
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| From Kendo |
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| From Family and Home |
Chinese New Year Continued
Sunday, February 1st, 2009Well, I promised I’d post some more about Chinese New Year, so since pictures say a thousand words, here goes:
Sharon was sad I was taller
Sharon’s Cousins
The fireworks I bought for 80 RM (about 25 USD)
A firework. There were so stinking many of them that night.
I burned myself while shooting off a bottle rocket from my hand. That wasn’t such a great idea. Sparks flew up my sleeve and I got burned all down my right side. Now I see why they are illegal in the USA, haha.
Sharon posted a really great post about CNY and she posted some cool pics, so to hear more about what I did, go check it out: Sharon’s Blog: Chinese New Year
I had a lot of fun, ate a lot of Chinese Food, and experienced a lot of new traditions. Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Pre-Chinese New Year
Saturday, January 24th, 2009Well, I am in Sibu now, I had an 8 hour bus ride yesterday from Miri. Sharon went to Sibu on Tuesday early in the morning, because her Great Grandmother died, so she went to the funeral. I stayed behind to feed the dog and finish up my work before Chinese New Year. I really missed her during those 4 days of not seeing her. Anyways, now I am in Sibu and we are preparing for the Chinese New Year celebration tonight. I went to buy some fireworks yesterday night because no one else bought any, so we are ready to light up tonight. I am excited. We are going to Sharon’s other grandma’s house to eat the dinner with them, then we are coming back to town to do the fireworks at 12 am tonight. I will take some pics and post them on my next post, which I will likely post tomorrow.
Chinese New Year is according to the Lunar Calendar, so that’s why the date changes every year (a lunar month only has 29 days). Every few years they have to move it back a month by making it a 13 month year rather than a 12, so that it stays about January-February ish. Some of the traditions include giving ‘Hong Bao’ (red enevelopes with money inside) to family and friends, singing lots of songs about luck and money, wearing brand new clothes for the first week, going home to be with your family, and shooting off tons of fireworks. Good traditions if you ask me (except for being so obsessed with money haha). I will update tomorrow with what went down (or up!).
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