Reflecting back on 2008

The day has gone past pretty fast these days and now it's the end of another year. It was both a good year for me and also a difficult one. Today I would like to share my exciting moments and memories of 2008.


Family

It has been 7 years already that I've been living in other city far away from my family and this year I live together with them again under one roof.

Celebrate my brother's birthday.

Photo courtesy of Virtual Tourist.
Went for beach retreat with my family at Sematan Palm Beach Resort.

Play bowl with my family.

Partied with my cousins at Sematan Beach.

Friend

Visited my university mates house during Hari Raya.

Joined Swinburne's outdoor activity for the first time. Beach Bash '08 at Permai Rainforest Resort!!!

And won 3rd place in Treasure Hunt!!!

Having high time at the beach and get myself wasted.

Myself

Celebrating my 23rd birthday with my family.

Learned how to steam fish.

Learned how to cook chicken curry.

Worked as an intern at Konsortium Bumi Consultant and Services.

Permed my hair for the first time.

And the second time.

Broke up twice...

Weighted 76kg!!! Broke my previous record - 71kg.

Transformed into a vampire on Halloween.

Photo courtesy of Jungle Mike's Site.
Experienced kayaking for the 1st time.

Photo courtesy of Swinburne Sarawak Football/Futsal Club .
Participated in Swinburne's Futsal team selection. Just made it through the 1st wave.

Get on board on one of the oldest ship - The MV Doulos.

Well I have plenty sweet memorable moments throughout the year and of course I did encountered few problems and some painful memories. But I don't want to dwell upon the past or blame the whole year because of some difficulties. Instead I need to learn from my mistakes and the experiences that happened to me. I really appreciate and grateful with the happy moments and the experiences with my wonderful family and friends.

Was 2008 a good year for you?

Happy 2nd Bloggivesary Eli Shares!!

On January 11th, 2007 was when I officially started Eli Shares. It has been 2 years and I feel great about it although I just manage to publish 31 blog posts. Wasn't a great number though because I've done a blogging mistake but the site meter proves that Eli Shares is going back to the right direction again.

This is the visits and page views graph bar for the year 2008 and January 2009.

Reflecting back 2008

Traffic
During the two final months I've started to post more and be more active in the blogosphere community. I've started to comment and communicate with other bloggers and promoting my blog in my social network profiles. The promotion did really pays off with the visits and page views increased rapidly!!

Content
Posting frequency was improving compared to the previous year. Over the year I've published 21 blog posts and most of them are about personal development and Eli Celebrates His One Year Smoke Free has the most comment. The about me page wasn't that impressive and out of date. I didn't really care much about it at the first place but actually the 'about me' page is one of the most important component of the blog - who's the author, what does the blog offer, how to contact the author etc.

Layout and Design
First of all, I want to express my gratitude to Design Disease for providing free premium blog templates. I've been using this blog template since March, although I was having a bit problem using it because it's a Wordpress template and I manage to fix the problem. I've also added a chat box for me to communicate and Feedjit to track the location of the visitors.

Monetization
I've added AdSense into my blog and I only earned $0.12!! Anyway I'm still new with AdSense so I need to learn more on how to generate more income.

Eli Shares 2009 Resolution

+ Improve the blog content
   - Publish at least 15 blog posts per month
   - Write more useful content
   - Write remarkable content
   - Adding appropriate hyperlinks
   - Relevant use of categories/tags

+ Improve the blog community
   - Write an about me page
   - Compelling author information
   - Compelling contact information
   - Encourage blog comments
   - Giving remarkable comment on other blog

+ Improve the blog traffic
   - Hits 10,000 visitors on the site meter
   - Promoting the blog in social media site and forum
   - Submitting the blog in blog rings and networks
   - Use Technorati

Well, as a start this is my first post for this year and it's a fresh new start for the blog. I need to do a lot of improvements and accomplish the goals and milestones that I have set.

Getting ready for a better, bigger and awesome Eli Shares!!!

MV Doulos - The Floating Bookstore

A chance in a life time that I can't miss to experience and behold the oldest passenger ship, the MV Doulos.

I've heard about the floating bookstore years back when I was a kid but I didn't have the chance to see it. So this is an opportunity that I couldn't pass as the MV Doulos is going to retire in 2010

A bit history about MV Doulos ...

• She was built back in 1914 and was named the SS Medina.
• In 1948 she was acquired by a Panamanian company and renamed her the SS Roma.
  
• In 1952 she was again resold and this time acquired by an Italian company. They converted her from a steamship to a motor vessel and renamed her the MV Franca C.
• In 1977, she was acquired by a German charity organization GBA and renamed her the MV Doulos (Greek for servant).

I felt so excited as I arrived the dockyard. I can feel the blood rush in my body, my heart is pumping harder and faster, witnessing the remarkable ship that has sailed across the ocean for 94 years (2 years younger then the Titanic). I just can't get my eyes off the ship, it's so huge!!! This is my first time ever to witness a huge ship like this. Amazing!!!

Hopped out from the car and went straight to the parking attendant for a family picture with the ship behind as the background.

As we walk in, we pass by a row of paintings welcoming the MV Doulos to Kuching. I didn't really take a look on those beautiful paintings because my attention is only on the ship. One thing in my mind is I wanna get on-board as soon as possible and check out the book - The Alchemist.

Time to get on-board. The journey into the ship wasn't easy for those who has fear of heights like me. But that doesn't stop me from climbing up the rocky stairs and I made it.

"Enjoying" the view of Sarawak river from the bow of the ship. Actually there's nothing nice to see though, all you can see are the floating houses across the river and few cargo ships.

Then we proceed to the bookstore. It was so crowded inside. Even the old folks doesn't miss the chance to get on-board. I was wondering how on earth did they climb up the stairs.

In the bookstore, they price-tag the books using "unit" and then convert it to the local currency.

100 UNITS = RM 8.00
200 UNITS = RM 16.00

It was really hot inside and everyone's sweating, a cup of ice cream and lemonade might help you to cool down a bit.

As we're about to go home I saw some of the crews are selling tickets. There's an event going on inside the ship. Luckily that we didn't leave so soon or else I will miss the chance of a lifetime to get into the ship. They only have events like this on Saturdays and I'll be leaving Kuching the following Saturday. Should I pass the chance? NO, gimme the tickets I'm going in!!!

We're a bit late and the show has already started. It's an international cultural show where you were entertained by the crews with cultural dances and musical performances.

Dance from Mexico.

This guy is blessed with the special ability to play guitar and harmonica at the same time. I can't even sing while playing guitar.

Gum Boot dance from South Africa.

While enjoying the shows, I've talked with some of the crews sitting nearby me. They happily shares their experiences during their service on the ship. It blows my mind when I learn that they're working in the ship as volunteer and they even have to support themselves financially on their own. Most of them whom that I talked to are 18 years old, I was really surprise and admire them that at this young age they leave everything behind (families, friends, college opportunities, luxuries) and become a missionary and reaching out people out there and change their lives. RESPECT!!!

After the show's over, I grab this opportunity to take a photo with these two young missionaries, Kaitlyn from the United State and Liesl from South Africa.

The book that I wanted is not available in the ship. So I browsed for other books and got myself these two books that really interest me. 24 Keys That Bring Complete Success and Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success Playbook. Something unique about the books I've bought in Doulos is that they also includes Bible verses in it. It is something rare to have in a normal bookstore.

It Pays to Get Up Early in the Morning

Photo courtesy of Amelia PS.

Surprise surprise... I woke up surprisingly early today around 5 in the morning!!! I went to bed quite late last night, just 3 hours back before I greet the day. Amazingly I feel great and normal like a fully charged battery. Was wondering what has interrupted my sleep but I can't find a clue.

Today is the first week of my holiday and I'm awake so early in the morning. I never woke up early like this during the semester even though I have early morning class.

Still lying on the bed with my eyes tightly closed, I forced myself to get back into sleep but my attempt failed. So I decided to stop wasting my energy on forcing myself back to sleep and start the day.

Waking up early today...

I found quietude. Everything is so peaceful and so quiet. In the early morning like this there's no cars, no bikes, no yells, no musics, no TVs noise. I truly enjoy this time of peace, it's the time for me to plan ahead on my goal today.

I see sunrise. I can't recall back when's the last time I saw sunrise. I'm a night-owl so it's rare for me to experience this greatest feat of nature - the transition of day. Where you can see the dark blue sky lighten up by the glorious morning star and slowly turns the sky light blue like a lamp dimmer. I can't imagine how if earth is square shaped, we might experience the day and night like the the on/off lamp switch at home.

Breakfast together with my parents. Having the most important meals of the day a little chit chat with my parents did boost up my day - mentally and physically. Cracking some jokes in the morning is a good way to jump start the day and lighten up your day with a good mood.

Goal time. After enjoying the quietude, the sunrise and filled my body with breakfast, now it's the time for me to review my plan of "my goal of the day" and execute it. To be a productive person, it's very important to have at least a goal to accomplish for a day. My goal today is to clean up my room.

Waking up early today really benefits me a lot - it's a godsend.

Eli Celebrates His One Year Smoke Free

Photo courtesy of The Civil War

Today, I would like to celebrate my 1st non-smoking anniversary. I've reached 1 year milestone!!! I didn't really know when was the exact date of my quit so I've decided to mark my first year of gratitude on the 3rd December although I've announced TAK NAK! around November last year. Today I'll treat myself and my family a nice dinner to celebrate my accomplishment.

Quitting smoking is easy. You just need to reprogram yourself.

Smoking is a habit, so the only way to break this habit is through hypnosis and meditation. It has proven to be the most successful method to quit smoking cold turkey. I didn't use any smoking cessation aids such as the nicotine gum, inhaler and patches in the process. I just quit smoking abruptly.

It's like a miracle, since after my self hypnosis session I never crave and have an urge for a bloody stick of fag. I reprogrammed myself and created a new identity to be a non-smoker, someone who never smoke before, effortlessly. It has cut off all the smoking habitual cues such as: in the morning, in the car, toilet, after meal, alcohol, chatting with friends, etc.

No substitution of habit is required because I've reprogrammed my subconscious mind and it will actively support me being a non-smoker. That's the reason why I can quit smoking effortlessly. The withdrawal symptoms were also greatly reduced through hypnosis method. This helps me to relax and reduce stress.

I still hang around with my friends who are smoking like dragon without worrying that it will trigger a cue for me to smoke back. I remained smoke-free around the others who're still smoking.

My experiment on smoking
But one thing I need to admit is that I did tried smoking once. It's just an experiment on myself just to see how my body reacts after a few puffs because it really intrigues me. This experiment is just on half stick of fag. So the aftermath of the experiment:
1. My body system turns upside down and I got sick.
2. It suffocates me.
3. I got sore throat for almost a month.
4. Cough for a month.
5. I almost puke, the saliva floods my mouth.
6. Catch a flu.

The conclusion of the experiment is NO SMOKING

I would like to thank those who've supported me and I really appreciate it and also a big thanks to myself for making quitting smoking a reality. Now I'm living a smoke-free life.