And Now

Time for an update I suppose :D

So I finally got over the whole fiasco about my results. Many thanks to all of you who have either said something or did something at some point in time :)

Now I'm moving on to that troublesome phase of scholarship-hunting again. I did it for SPM and didn't quite like the fact that I had to photostat so many copies of seemingly unimportant documents (koku certs especially). This time around however, I found it pretty distressing that I no longer qualify for a good portion of the scholarships out there like I did previously. The standard requirement is 3.5 CGPA for STPM. Okay lah, so maybe they want quality. But it's kinda ridiculous that things are the other way round with SPM requirements. Credits and passes would suffice for many of them. So I found myself mostly overqualified in SPM but under qualified in my STPM.....nuts. I scratched my head asking why they would demand super-achievements in STPM whilst only wanting mediocre results in SPM, but in the end I that's the way things work I guess.

I've managed to narrow down my choice of courses and have even submitted my online application already, though I still have the chance to make amendments before the 24th. To be exact I only have 3 real choices that I seriously considered, but I filled in the extra 5 places with secondary options anyway to make full use of the 8 slots that they gave me. Initially I did have trouble trying to place my first 3 courses in order (they go by order you see, if they can't allocate the first choice for you then they'll have to look at your second one and so on so forth), because I had to choose between USM (penang), UPM and UKM (here). I wasn't sure actually which uni offered the better course, since I applied for environmental studies in all three. But the way I see it, it's kinda like how Uncle Kong Beng had put it during our CG meeting last week: of the many aspects that we weigh and consider when deciding on our career (satisfaction, money, practicality, making a difference in the world), what's more important is that we ask God where He would call us to be.

I decided to make that my guiding line, and so I am trusting Him to decide the fate of my uni application. I put the first 3 choices in the order I listed above, since Penang sounded like a good idea but ultimately God would decide which part of Malaysia would be the hunting ground for pursuing my degree. Of course, there's also the possibility that I don't get any of my first 3 choices, or any of them for that matter (hope and pray not ler) but I don't think I would be doing myself any good to worry and fret about that now :D

"So do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own." - Matthew 6:31-34

To Think About It

The dust has finally settled, and by this time every single SPM and STPM soul would have retrieved their respective result slips. Some would be rejoicing in 'surprise', some would be satisfied and still some would be gripping their fists and wallowing in silent bitterness..

When I tore open the punch-holed sides of my piece of gray paper yesterday, I had very clear expectations in mind. 1A and 3Bs, I told myself. I was with my friend, and as he opened his one, he soon became ecstatic and people swooned to congratulate him for his achievement, a straight set of As. I was there, holding my results slip half-opened. It was kinda anti-climatic I suppose, since I was secretly hoping for the impossible, that I might get something closer to the top. Alas, I was greeted by my own expectations. Calculate calculate, my CGPA was 3.085. Just barely enough, for the course that I was eyeing. "Okay, that's great", I said to myself. "Now it's much easier for me to decide what I should be pursuing."

So we went for minum and laughed about it all. Upon getting home however, I just sat there with a somewhat blank mind. After a while, I realised that deep inside I was feeling really horrible, and another friend of mine felt the same way. I didn't do anything, save for printing the list of offered courses for local universities. Other than that, I just didn't know how to deal with that gut-wrenching feeling and the mind-numbing experience. So I plonked myself down on a chair and played some games to while away the time.

Only at night when the effects had worn off a little could I reflect a little bit more on the real issue. While I'm 'happy' in many ways of how things turned out (just like I asked for), the soul-sucking factor came from how I seem to have been wired into the straight-As mould. I passed UPSR, PMR and SPM with more or less the best results that I could've obtained and with that I carried along the notion of just succeeding all the way. I suppose you can say that I don't know what it feels like to not obtain perfect or near-perfect results for major examinations. Sorta like not having 'lost' a battle before. I've never thought of it this way, that the deepest part of my conscience cannot live with not having aced my STPM. It was mentally-draining, but on the good side I believe that this was a serious issue which I had never noticed all along and if I had taken it further (imagine failing at uni) it would've been too overwhelming for my fragile inner-self to bear.

At least, this is roughly what I gleaned from probing my own thoughts from since yesterday. And I just wanna say thanks to NeoHusky and Simmy who took the time to come out for yamcha at night. Really helped to cheer me up. Especially since today is a normal working day..thanks guys!

Now to go through that long list of courses...

The Result

I don't feel like writing about it now..see how lah later :/

To Encourage

An excerpt from Philippians:

I thank God everytime I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (v3-6)
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness, that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God. (v9-11)

Ever so often I find myself in need of some encouragement to get me going in the right path and to remind me of the more important things in life. I've always considered myself more a listener than a talker, so I hardly know how to dispense words of encouragement to myself even, much less to other people. But God never fails to show me that He is always there to look after my needs, and it always amazes me how little things that brighten up my day could all be part of God's bigger purpose in trying to get a point across to me. If anyone knows how to say something without actually saying it, it's got to be God ;D

I vaguely remember that we were asked to write letters to ourselves while in HCC. I can't quite recall what I wrote, and in fact I had actually forgotten about the whole matter if not for a letter that turned up in my mailbox this morning. I wasn't very eager to read it so I left it aside until late in the evening when I finally decided to see just what I had wanted myself to read one month down the road.

But surprise surprise :D


I for one do not own any sort of purple-colour ink pen, and my handwriting was certainly much bigger. And I wouldn't have addressed myself as...the..way I was addressed in the letter *ahem* :) The contents really amused me, but more than that I was deeply encouraged by what the author penned down on a simple piece of foolscap paper. Even the opening was taken from Paul, fuh :D Thank you to 'you' out there who had finally decided to get off your lazy bum, haha. I'm sure that all the others who received it would be equally as delighted and grateful as well, if not overjoyed and grinning from ear to ear. And oh, right-handed people open their letters from the right hand side, if you didn't realize.

In the letter, the topic of STPM was brought up, and the timing was impeccable, seeing that the results would be out in a little less than 4 hours. Gosh. Sure is nice to know that someone who's facing the same thing (albeit a day later) can take the trouble to comfort others instead. Interestingly, about an hour later my ex-youth advisor (aunty collene) called me up to let me know that she would be remembering me in her prayer. These are gestures that really tug at my heart, and indeed I cannot thank God enough for placing such kind and caring souls in my midst..

Speaking of which, I would try my best to post my results out as early as possible. Of course, that depends on whether I would faint and need to be admitted to the General Hospital or not... xD

Saturday

With about an hour left until the election results are fully out, I figured that now's the time to do some updating..

On thursday, I woke up super-early to attend my second class on driving theory at Damansara. My instructor picked me up and he drove pretty fast that day. Just when we were roughly 100 meters away from the driving school, he suddenly realised that the brakes weren't really working. Now I don't know about you guys but I think malfunctioning brakes ought to warrant some degree of panicking..we weren't going very fast thankfully but it wasn't long before even the acceleration pedal seemed to have joined the brakes. *floors the pedal, engine vrooms but car can't move* When we got down to see what was wrong, the left wheel in the front was kinda popped aside, which explained why the car suddenly stopped moving. My morning exercise that day was car-pushing and it was excruciatingly difficult because of the mis-aligned wheel. But the interesting bit was that the car broke down right after we came out of the busy highway into the smaller roads around the housing area with much fewer cars, which meant that we were really really lucky. I take it that it was a blessing, because to have a car break down in the middle of a highway would've been suicide. So yeah, thank you LORD!

Even more surprising was who turned up there also. I was expecting a very boring day (3 hours lecture + 3 hours practical lessons) but when a white van loaded with other students pulled over in front of me, I could immediately recognise the two familiar faces in it:

Don't ask me why they came together xD

Well, at least we had the chance to do a little catching up over a cup of tea at the mamak there. Rachel's doing Mechatronics (to my surprise) at UTAR I think, while Jon's gonna move to Nottingham and pursue Finance. Kinda wish I could tell them where I was planning to go but alas, I could only come up with a vague answer about considering Environmental Science..

You can clearly see that the three hours of 'car talk' had taken its toll on us..

But moving on to the next day, I took up Simon's offer for real this time (I was genuinely interested the last time, Simon :D) to take a trip all the way to the ends of the earth to help out for an afternoon in SPICES. In case you don't already know what it's all about, just check out the quote from Simon Sim below:

"No, it's not a restaurant as I initially thought. It's a centre run by some really great, commited people of Emmanuel EFC, down in the heart of Wangsa Maju, I do believe it stands for Support Parents, Infants and Children through Early Services (right, Sue Ann?). It's a centre that teaches children with learning disabilities, like autism and Down syndrome. It sort of helps these kids with all sorts of basic skills, like reading, writing, coordination and morals. Something truly very admirable."

And in case you don't know what autism really means too, here's a quote from Wikipedia:

"Autism is a brain development disorder that impairs social interaction and communication, and causes restricted and repetitive behavior, all starting before a child is three years old."

I went over to Simon's house at 10.45 and we left at about 11.30 from the KTM in Subang.

We took a train to Sentral, and then hopped to LRT and stopped at Wangsa Maju, and clutching a map that Ann Sue gave us we walked for some distance.

Apparently Ann Sue's face was plastered outside as 'Dilarang benarkan pelajar ini masuk'. Hmm, wonder what she did here...haha.

SPICES is pretty well tinted (for privacy) and you could easily mistake it for an illegal arcade centre of some sort when they have the locks on outside..

Much to my chagrin, we DIDN'T get lost or anything, and even arrived half an hour earlier. So we bummed at a nearby mamak instead, which is really near Ann Sue's church like she always says.

If you had not had the chance to see autistic or Down Syndrome kids up close and interact with them before, you could forgiven for thinking that they either bite people's ears or poop and pee all over the place, not unlike old people who had gone senile. The media hardly shows these kids for who they really are, and I think they often wrongly paint a picture of suffering parents and dirty houses. But having spent the whole afternoon observing them (and occasionally helping out), I found them to be pretty much who and what they are: kids. Okay, so one of them was cock-eyed. One was hyperactive. One kept crying for no reason. One seemed to live in Dreamland and hummed all the time. Not 'normal' in most sense of the word, but they were kids just the same. It's not something that you can easily describe but I think if you were there that day with me and Simon you would definitely be amused by these chirpy kids and their funny antics.

Because autism can manifest in degrees and various forms of disorder, teaching them requires special one-on-one attention in most cases and this means that it is more difficult to teach three autistic children than it is teaching an entire class of blind or deaf or mute kids. Special schools like SPICES are quite rare, and few would do it for money. It's a labour of love for the most part, and it's sad that there's obviously not enough love going around, if what the supervisor at SPICES said were to be taken seriously: "We've got a long waiting list actually..."

While we didn't really do much there, we tried our best to learn whatever we could about dealing with autistic children from observing how the teachers taught the lessons. We didn't become teachers overnight but I believe the experience alone was worth the long journey there, which isn't really that long when you have someone to accompany you. Right, Simon?

On the way back we stopped at Sentral because Simon was busted from his hunger and we decided to grab something at Sentral's McD. Some pretty funny moments ensued (which I feel should just be left between ourselves) but in the end we managed to get our hands on Fish Fillets.

It's great that they had just only reduced the price to RM4.

After wolfing it down we got our buttocks back to Subang Jaya's KTM station and my dad picked us up. In his cab. And unfortunately for Simon my dad had to ferry four or five of his regular customers around before he could Simon back home. Simon ended up going straight to caregroup/cellgroup and had to forego his dinner. Sorry Sim! :(

Meanwhile, I treated myself to a nice supper to celebrate the wonderful day that went by:

What's better than wantan mee? Fried-wantan mee with kari ayam, that's what (^.^)

Thank you LORD for the journey mercies and the great fun that we had that day, and not to mention the chance to spend time with the kids at SPICES, who touched and blessed each of us in their unique ways.

Robot Chicken

They say too much of a good thing is not quite a good thing. Or..something along those lines I suppose.

Today I had wanted to type out my resume/curriculum vitae/whatever it's called so that I could get it verified at school a few days later, and not to mention get some 'serious' work done. Not that any of that took place of course..

Behold: ROBOT CHICKEN!

If you're ever into the whole claymation/stop-animation/weird-moving-talking-toys kind of show, you're bound to love this American series called Robot Chicken.

RIGHT.....

I was brave enough to give Season 2 a try and having watched a total of 10+ episodes in one go (they're not too long), I must say that Robot Chicken is only good in teeny-bitty-eensy-weensy fun-size (sorry Elena xD) portions and nothing more. It was a lot of crass humor, and involves mostly nonsensical jokes like (WARNING, RETARDED HUMOR BELOW):

Son Goku describing the terror of the Nutcracker..

Scissors, paper, ROCK *auff*

The sorting hat is used to see who is still a.. go figure.

"Oh my *****! Why would anyone do this to my *****!!" Bah...

I'm sure today would've been much better spent volunteering at SPICES or something..still, I hope I get to go there this Friday, and stay off the mind-mushing stuff like Robot Chicken. I believe you can find some videos on YouTube, but you'd be better off doing just about anything else xD

Beginning of March

As usual, I'm caught by surprise as to how quickly time passes me by just when I least expect it. The period of Dec 26 till Jan 31 was unbelievably long for me for more reasons than one (the cold air was probably one of them) but looking at the date now more or less the same amount of days had come and gone and I could really imagine that it was only yesterday that I came back home from graduation night at PJGH...(don't mind me if I had said it before ya). I just don't feel like the past month had been the best of times..

But that said, I know that it's gonna be a rough ride for me this year. So many things to accomplish, but so little motivation to get me going. I suppose it could be a side effect of having studied in kebangsaan schools: I can't really seem to handle stress all that well. Admittedly I have a pretty low level of tolerance for work of any kind and always need to 'relax' in one way or another. Of course, it doesn't take a sage to tell that I'd either make a successful Internet billioinaire or an utterly horrible 9 to 5 office boy..and the odds favor the latter unfortunately xD

The results are gonna be out soon, and then there would be the mad scramble for scholarships and that kind of thing. I'm not so intrigued however by whether I'd make it into uni, but rather what it would feel like to take some time off to go into mission or church work full-time..the Footstool Players needed more help the last time I heard and Simon and I would jump at the chance to be on the team actually, if not for the long commitment needed and the timing: September. If Simon had his way, he would've postponed his tertiary education till October I'm sure (right sim? ;D). Sabrina's more or less the youngest full-time church worker that I know of right now so I'm pretty interested honestly to know what it's like to forgo the conventional 'school-diploma-degree-job- model so early in life and work for God instead.

Earlier during RBS, I had lamented in my journal that I should be 'living out my faith to the fullest'. I had this impression, you see, that we should all take the likes of missionary giants like Jim Elliot and George Mueller as a yardstick in the way we live. Which more or less means the 'selling everything and give to the poor' kind of reckless abandon that puts everything at stake. I was troubled the whole day, to say the least and I wrote close to 4 pages of ranting and self-reasoning in my journal. Thankfully, I had to submit it to Eu Bing that day for comments and I picked up a lot from the two sticky-notes that he wrote on. In one part he wrote:-

"...if all of us were to then live this 'full faith' by becoming like Jim Elliot, then who would become senders? We all have our roles to play due to God's calling to us, based on our circumstances and where He has placed us. Just as the jungles and dangerous tribes pose their threats and troubles, so does the mission in other places where God has placed you to be : schools, work, places, friends and yes, even the little things like shopping complexes etc. All these places require you to still live out your faith to the fullest, regardless of where you are."

It is moments like these that make me realise how much God had been trying to reach out to me through the people around me and also the circumstances that cropped up (me mission team leader? oh my goodness...) along the way. The journal proved to be a valuable treasure trove of memories, experience and also sound advice from someone a lil' older than me who has gone through much more both in life and in faith.


Ah, so much for an update. I've got more stuff to write on actually but don't have the materials yet. Maybe in a day or two lah :)

On a Wednesday

Okay, so I'd be the first to admit that I don't really have any real blogging material to serve you guys. Nothing remotely intellectual or reflective enough that would make you adjust yourselves in your seats and put your fingers to your chin pondering about the wisdom that you've gleaned from what I've written (not like that's what really happens anyway but ;D). Still, I just thought I ought to make use of the free time I have on my hands to blabber about something, in the spirit of 'making my views as a youth count' kind of thing...

Some of the 'you knows' that I came up with a little while back :

YOU KNOW you have too much time on your hands when you have to visit a friend who lives nearby whom you had not even thought about disturbing before this for the lack of time. Thanks Simon for entertaining me the other day xD

That's Simon in his house looking at a photo of..well, not Ann Sue definitely. Nah-ah xD

YOU KNOW you have too much time on your hands when you decide to return the favor of the friend who had visited you earlier by dropping by at his/her home a few days later. Thanks for entertaining me again today Simon, and this time in the comfort of my house :D

And here's Simon at MY house. He came with a mission in mind. Well, he HAD one. Until I decided that we should be playing a horror game instead xD

YOU KNOW you had been squandering your Sundays (or any other day for that matter) when you suddenly realise that your Sunday (or any other day for that matter) had been spent doing something that's actually quite useful and practical, like learning how to wrap those Chinese dumplings that usually crop up around this time of the year.

Not quite Hell's Kitchen, but it was loads of fun trying to make dumplings that actually look the part. My workmanship was poor to say the least, what with all the anorexic dumplings that needed emergency reconstructive surgery to make sure that they didn't turn out to be square or something. Thank you Crissy for the educational and wonderfully spent Sunday (^.^)

YOU KNOW you are actually wasting your time trying to study and get a good education and hopefully get a good job with a good income when the 'secret' or in this case 'rahsia' to financial independence is really just a flyer away :D

No comments necessary.

YOU KNOW someone is really committed to buying something when it involves long and hefty discussions bordering on the level of doing thesis papers on engineering breakthroughs.

That, up there, is the face of commitment and dedication to perfection. Not just doing homework mind you, but writing down notebook specifications to compare and to converse in elaborate jargons. Trust me when I say that's hard work ;D

YOU KNOW your Form Five days are more or less long gone when you have not really seen or kept in touch with 90% of the people in your Form Five class in the last year or two. Where are you guys??

The ones who 'glow' are the ones whom I had at least seen or talked to last year. Not many, I know.

YOU KNOW that the whole fuss about youths 'always having something to say about everything under the sun and that they're not being taken seriously' thing is overplayed and exaggerated at times when some people would put themselves as being more.... 'correct', so to speak in their views than the 'adults' who are often labeled as crooked or old-fashioned or having narrow perspectives. I'm one of these people, and I think it's about time that I put more thought into my.. thoughts before trying to pass off my mere opinions as bold and revolutionary statements that demand the utmost attention and compliance of the immediate world around me.

Okay, 'nuff said.

Stupid Tabblo x (

See my Tabblo>

Took me a whole entire HOUR just to get the photo placings right. Or maybe it was just me, but the interface for Tabblo was just absolutely horrible. Oh yea, if you do decide to pay the Flickr -clone Tabblo site a visit, you can sign in to the username rbs08 with our principal's name (name+surname) as the password ;D I uploaded some photos because I was too bored but the weird photo-management interface drove me nuts, so feel free to sign in and have a go at it. The only great thing is unlimited photo upload (for the moment lah at least).

Kampung Putat Again Part 2

Now where was I...

Talking about serving in such a ministry in church, it really required me to give a 110% commitment, as I could see how dedicated they were, the 4 uncles and 2 aunties who went. It takes a lot of time (a whole entire weekend) to be engaged in the OA work, and I really wonder if I'd have the time to continue on in the following months..

Again, this is one area that RBS has helped me to really grow in. I've never dreamt of actually going to these 'ulu' places, let alone leading a mission team there; always thinking that they're a bunch of people left out of society and the modern times. In fact, I have to admit that my impressions of these 'ulu' people were totally different from what they actually turned out to be: ordinary everyday people just like us. They eat, sleep, laugh and cry too. Sometimes I wonder how they can make do without the things which we have come to consider as necessities like constant water supply and a nice decent toilet/bathroom, and yet they get by just fine. We're all just too spoiled I guess..

I went through some of the videos that we took during our mission trips in Tapah and Temerloh and I really miss the friendship and fellowship that we shared with one another. I could see now that at that time we only had one focus in mind and that was to serve the OA people, and that made all the difference in what we did and how we did it. God blessed our time there, and I'm sure we all felt it at one point or another.

The best of times in our OA trip

Stubborn Love

After a good day tinkering around the web and with my PC, I finally got my hands on the original song sung by Kathy Troccoli. Kinda different from what I had in mind but it's still the same song basically. Hope you guys like it :D


I am an ex-RBS member and I'm only going to get this song for my own personal use :D

Kampung Putat Again Part 1

If you didn't already know, for RBS one of the things we did was to visit an OA (orang asli) village to teach Sunday School. We visited 3 of them in fact, and one of them was Kampung Putat. Yesterday, I had the chance to join the church's OA team to visit this kampung again, and after some consideration I agreed to tag along with two aunties (pardon the term) and my cousin :D

We followed the people from Sungei Way church, and fortunately the four people (Uncles Haw, Chris, Chandran and one more whose name I'm not sure how to spell) who drove us there were such a nice bunch.

I didn't realize it during the mission trip, but the journey from USJ all the way to Kampung Putat is actually one heck of a long ride! I estimate it to be around 4 and a half hours, driving at breakneck speed along the Karak highway. Luckily we went there in a cozy MPV, so I can't complain or anything, haha.

The minor details aside, going there this time as a church team was different from going as a mission team, just as I thought it would be. It could be that I was only there to help this time around instead of leading the a team, or that you guys were not there with me (haih~), either way I couldn't really tell. That's not to say the OA trip was horrible (just very quiet), on the contrary I actually picked up a lot of stuff both from the OA people and the adults (I don't think I can call them that for long, since I'm no more a teen myself :D) who went.

Speaking of which, one incident really got me pondering and thinking a lot about myself. It happened the night we arrived at the kampung. While waiting for the Bible Study class to start, we were suddenly called to a house nearby to pray for a baby. I didn't know what was going on, so I just followed along to see what was happening. We came to this couple, and the wife was holding in her arms what seemed to be a sick baby, with a feeding tube attached to the nose. The mother told us about how the baby is sick but the exact sickness is unknown, and had visited several hospitals to no avail. She requested for prayers, and we talked a bit about her baby, asking a few questions before praying together.

Looking at the baby, I couldn't help but to think that...all this while, it's so easy to forget that the very fact I'm alive and well is reason enough to thank the LORD from the bottom of my heart. My heart wrenched, as I saw the baby gasping for air, seemingly struggling to hold on to dear life itself, and looked just about to give up at any moment. She (the baby) is only 8 months old, and cannot even so much as to mutter a word, and yet there she laid in her mother's arms, suffering for reasons unknown even to us. I really wished, at that moment, that I could know what it must have felt like to be in her shoes. What could possibly had run through her mind? It's wishful thinking on my part, but still, what I would give to just glimpse a little into her soul and mind..

I have so much to be thankful for each and every day that I breathe through, but unfortunately I find that my actions often betray my deeper intentions, one of ignorance and indifference to the world and the people around me. How am I thankful for the blessings in my life when I always hunger for material things? How am I grateful for what God has given me, when I seem to crave wasting away my time chasing after silly errands? RBS had popped open the shell of my own comfort zone, but I find myself now unwilling to step out of that very same shell...

Stand Aside, St Valentine : D

Without realizing, it's Valentine's Day again. The time of the year when school clubs go out in full force trying to pry the the cold hard pocket money out of the hands of pitiful students (like me) by coming up with 101 ways to either send a message, send a flower or send a box of something. They earn a lot, I'm sure, in this age of unabashed self-expression that tells you to always 'go for it'.

But that's not the case this time. I've left school for good (well, high school la at least) and I didn't have to worry about sending flowers or anything to anyone of any sort (now now, don't get the wrong idea here), but something way better was planned for today, and that is Shirtliff's maiden get-together! Muahaha, I'm pretty sure that we're the first team to have done it (it helped that all the members stayed in the same state) and yea, it was really fun.

No pics here, since I didn't take along my Powershot A10, just check out Ann Sue's blog for that. It was at Sunway Pyramid, and though all we did was eat, eat, talk, eat, talk, walk around and talk, I think we really enjoyed each other's company. I was thinking of either bowling or skating, but Jill was wise enough to have come in nice-looking dress. Nuts. Oh well, no biggie.

Although two people came down with sickness and couldn't make it, I really appreciated the lengths that all them (Shirtliff members) went to just so that they could make it for the reunion. Ann Sue braved 20+ LRT stations ALONE early in the morning, while Kelvin had to skip a class at noon. Kit Meng too came from the ends of the earth and Aunty (oops) Yoke Kheng took time off from her busy schedule just to be with us for that 3-4 hours. Thank you so much ya all!

And we missed you, Maggie and Jon! You guys better make it for the next one, heheh.

The interesting thing that me and Simon decided to do was to escort our Miss Taman Melawati back to her home place, seeing that it was still early when we left Pyramid. This is roughly our travel route. We left Pyramid at around 4.30+ on a Rapid KL bus to Kelana Jaya LRT Station. From there, it was:

We first went to followed Ann Sue all the way to Wangsa Maju


Then it was back to Sentral for us.


From Sentral, it was the usual KTM ride back to Subang KTM Station.

.......

All together, we actually sat through a total of 40 train stations! Could hardly believe it myself. Reached Subang at about 7.30. It was almost like going all the way to Thailand...but we had fun, and now we know how to get to Wangsa Maju from Pyramid, haha.

Reunions come and go, but I do hope that we'd still be able to keep touch with one another later on throughout the year. There'll be work, exams, results and everything else to get in the way of doing that, but hopefully in midst of our busy lives we'd find the time to remember each other, both in meeting together and in prayer..

So back off, St. Valentine. Feb 14 2008 wasn't Valentine's Day, it was proudly Shirtliff Reunion Day : D

The Little Things That Count

Come every festive season, there's bound to be an influx of text messages that arrive at my phone. I'm sure you know what I mean, with all the funny 'bear bear' (no no, don't get me wrong Ann Sue) semi-pictures, the 3-page greetings, and all sorts and manners of text messages that are sent out en masse all the time. Sure enough, our penchant for sending out cutesy messages have funded many a BMWs for those big shareholders in Digi Maxis and Celcom without us realizing.

Not that I despise these messages (I mean, it's nice to get them every now and then) of course. They're a friendly gesture, and a means of saying something to all 365 millions of the contacts in your phone book in just a few clicks on the button pad. But what you end up getting is kinda like an impersonal message that doesn't really convey much. When I think that there are 700 people out there who had received the very same message, it starts to look and feel like just...spam. I know I'm treading on thin ice here (and risk being stoned by you guys xD) but I would really wish that we take the time to send more personal messages to the people closer to us, instead of just forwarding the teddy bear/shooting star/christmas tree/what-have-you messages around.

At the end of the day though, I hope I did not come across as too critical or harsh. If I had, then you're entitled to a packet of complimentary Ken Kee salted nuts, heheh.

I was much surprised actually, that I received real greeting cards for Chinese New Year. You know who you are la. It really means a lot, to be able to read the few lines that you people penned on the cards. It's not much, but it's the little things that count :D




And I also just want to commend Ann Sue for sacrificing her money and time (especially time, since she could've been studying) to make sure that all of us gets at least one piece of developed photo from her. I was impressed, to say the least that she willingly developed so many pictures for Shirtliff members (puts the mission team leader here to shame, haha). In fact, for the mission team members alone she must've developed close to 100 pictures. Bravo! A nice big of box of Ken Kee Cashew Nuts is now on its way to your house (^.^) Thanks again!



Oh yea, one last thing. Hope you have fun in Claypot, Justin Lee Ju Wei! I know you're gonna do a lot of great things there, so make sure to keep us updated on your blog :D We'll all miss you (I think) and make sure you bring us back nice expensive souvenirs ya. Kay la, just kidding. Nice can already, no need expensive xD

Kuantan :D

If there was one thing that I regretted not bringing to RBS, it would be a digital camera. Yup. That rectangular piece of megapixel-cruncher that people tote around in their fancy pouches *ahem* and dish out for those trigger-itchy "hey let's take a picture together" shots. I've missed out on a great deal of Kodak moments up in HCC and had to make do with leeching other people's cameras, stealing a shot here and another there. "Oooh, taking picture there leh?!" *sprints to the back and poses* The end result is me ending up with no real pictures to call my own...

So imagine the surprise I got when I went back home that day after graduation. My aunt actually gave me a digicam! But my enthusiasm was doused upon learning that it was a pretty old unit. I mean, it's in brand-new condition, but it's old. For those of you familiar with the Canon Powershot series, the one that I have with me now is a Powershot A10. The latest one is Powershot A710 I think, so that leaves me like 700 Powershots away xD



Yes, you got that right. 1.3 megapixels it is. My brother roared in laughter when he saw that...understandable la, since most handphones today have more megapixels than that. However, they say that megapixels only count for so much and once you hit 5 and above, you don't see any real improvements anymore. So I decided to pack this antique back with me to Kuantan. It uses 4 AA batteries, and I first bought a pack of Eveready from a Petronas station along the highway. Silly me couldn't even milk 10 shots from the camera before the batteries died-ed. I was super-annoyed to say the least...here's one the shots that managed to take.

Back in Kuantan, I spent a bit more and got myself a bunch of Energizer e2 (boo sama Eveready!) Managed to take a good number of shots (way more than 10 lah) and here are the photos on my trip back to Kuantan:

Here's where my grandmother's house is :D

My sis and my cousin (the blue Nintendo DS is hers!!)

My macho grandpa

Cousins from my father's side of family

The great food!

Err..no caption needed for this ler xD

Notice the bunch of people there engaged in a friendly game of mathematics.
"Okay okay, 12 multiplied by 7 divided by 4 is the square root of?"

Visited some old high-school friends too.

And of course, got a stack of ang pows to settle my growing debt with Justina :D

Kuantan had been my home for 15 years and everytime I come back the place still feels practically the same. Every year when we drive past the same ol' roads the familiarity is just there, Kuantan will always be my Kuantan I guess. I'll save the thought-provoking err..thoughts for some other time la I guess. And oh, did I tell you I have my own line of snack food now?

Back to Home

I'm back!!

It's been a good 37 days spent at Cameron Highlands, and I must say that I loved every single moment spent there during RBS.

From the first day onwards, I felt right at home up there at HCC (Highlands Christian Centre). Sure, the weather was quite unnerving for the first few days but it turned out that the highlands' dry and cool air suited me the most. No more sweaty palms and oily faces, haha. And the fresh air did wonders to my sinus problems, I hardly remember having sneezed at all while up in HCC. And the bed. Queen-sized. Sweet.. (I won the bed from a game of Cho Tai Ti, heheh). Best of all was the food. Aunty Kam Yoke (hope I spelled it correctly) and Kak Tutik are absolutely the bomb when it comes to serving our hungry stomachs. I'm sure she must've cooked like 70+ different dishes throughout our one-month stay there. "Kah-fan" became the most spoken phrase during meal times and trust me when I say that I've eaten more than my fair share of her scrumptious dishes :D

Like any other camp (or in this case 'school') the daily routines flew by very quickly and while we were never short of things to do (book reports, classes, assignments and those kind of things) I still found that entire weeks just zipped by me and before I realised it we were already preparing to leave HCC for our mission trips. The passage of time in the highlands seemed somewhat linear, and everyday I felt like I had only just arrived there at HCC.

That aside, I can't possibly elaborate on everything we did during RBS because a blog post simply can't do justice to relating the RBS experience (I'm sure all RBS-ers would agree) and I don't have any pictures with me yet save for the one below. I'll update when I get the pictures but in the meantime, this picture aptly speaks of our Orang Asli mission trip experience in Pahang:

Back: Maggie, Me, Jon, Kit Meng
Front: Jill, OA girl, Nurul, Jessica, Ann Sue, OA girl, Desiree
Shining Face in the middle: Simon Sim

RBS Awaits!

Merry Christmas to everyone who might be reading this on Christmas day :D

Sorry I have to say that I didn't have the time to complete my end-of-year recap super-post that I promised I would come up with. The thing is, the bulk of what took place throughout the year can scarcely be described with just words alone. I cannot begin to recall how the year started, because right from the night we had Watchnight service during New Year's Eve, 2007 spun like an olden day camera that captured many aspects of my own character, my values, my integrity and what-not all on miles and miles of photographic film.

I made new friends, I lost contact with some, I did things I never thought was possible , and discovered many different facets of myself, both as a fallen person and a rescued son of God at the same time. Every time I think that I've made progress, I find that I only know so little. But for every obstacle that came, there was a reason behind it.

Along the way, God led me through the dense jungle of self-doubt and apathy to do things that would have certainly warranted a good 'No way that's gonna happen' from me just a year back.I had to take a deeper look at relationships, and see who are affecting me in the way I carry myself, and take charge of friendships that seemed to spiral out of control. It's scary sometimes, I have to admit. But I've made more than my fair share of wonderful new friends, and among them quite a number made a difference in my life.

Even now, so many problems remain unsettled, but I have to leave for RBS already. I haven't an inkling what would take place at HCC in the coming month, but I am eager, to see, hear and feel, just what God has in store for me because I thought NS was spiritually-challenging enough already. I pray though, that I would be able to adjust myself because my sleeping patterns had been off the charts of late due to the holidays. Even today I'm still sleeping late ;D Guess I'll have to replace my lost sleep during the trip up to HCC. One more day! RBS? Let's go!

So It's Finished

And so it's finished. Habis. The END..I guess I've just reached a point where I cannot imagine myself not lying in wait of the dreaded four-letter word (you know which four :D) anymore. It's kinda odd really, since most of my friends' first few reactions were "what am I gonna do now?" and "so what now?", right after the last of the Bio papers were collected.

It's over, settled and done with, and with that, I suppose I can have the luxury of spending a few days to think back upon this wonderful year that just flew right by me. The torrents of time that struck me many times over, the drownings, the days when the sailings were smooth, the good times, the great times, and the awful times. Much had been said and done, but even more was left untouched and undisturbed.

I think...I had a great year. No, superb. Or even extraordinary :D Not in the sense that I won a million dollars or that I was bathing in euphoria everyday, but in the way that this is the year that I would probably look back and say hey, THAT was the year that defined me in many ways.

The promised recap won't be out in print for a while though, since I'd be on my way back to the idyllic town of Kuantan in an hour's time :D Haven't been back in a while , so it's a nice opportunity to visit the fantastic teh-C-ping restaurant and get my fill (^.^) Once again now, STPM is officially a past-tense for me..save for the worrying-about-results part, of course xD

Ah ha!

The title being somewhat random, there won't be any real posts until I finish my exams and all (one down, seven more), just to let you all know so you don't have to keep coming to check :D (assuming, of course, that my blog is as popular as I think it is, haha). There will be, however, an end-of-year recap sort of stuff, I hope, come December time. Seeing how this year had been an interesting one (in many more ways than you'd like to know), the post would probably stretch to Christina's-emo-marathons kind of length. So there. You've been warned (^.^)

This is...

Tetris

For those who missed it on Jane's blog, I'm posting it here just to make sure I don't leave out the other Tetris fans out there :D if you've played Tetris, then you gotta watch this guy, Jin8 play it on an arcade machine.

-click on image-

Stardust

There are good films, and there are bad films. Occasionally, you might get a really a good film, and similarly a really bad film.

College Group's special for this month was to go for a movie (the initial plan for a One Tree Hill marathon was wisely scrapped), and the task fell on the hands of Daphne and me. So we discussed, and called up a few people, and discussed, and booked tickets, and called up the people again, and even booked the tickets another time. It sorta (roughly lah) went like this on the phone:

Me: So, what should we watch? I mean, Judith's watched Bourne already, and so did Crissy.
Daph: Erm..that's why. But you and Justin haven't watched it ma.
Me: Nah, I'm okay with anything.
Daph: What about Shoot 'Em Up? They seem to be promoting it on GSC.
Me: You can call the shots.
Daph: Okay lah, then I'll book.

Next day...
Me: So Crissy, you wanna come for Shoot 'Em Up?
Crissy: Huh? No lah..I'm quite picky with my shows. If Stardust I come lah.
Me: Har? Oh, okay then. I'll see how.

Later
Me: Crissy will only come if we are watching Stardust.
Daph: Aiya..(checks the showtimes) okay lor. Stardust lah then.
Me: Okay then (I've already booked the tickets just in case). But what is it about?
Daph: (Starts reading the synopsis) ..... and like that lah.
Me: (Didn't quite understand) Oh I see. I'll tell Justin lah.

Justin: So we're watching Stardust?
Me: Yea, cause Crissy suggested it ma. Any idea what it's about ah?
Justin: Nope.
Me: Okay.....

When I mentioned to Crissy that we've changed to Stardust and asked if she would wanna come, she said she couldn't make it because of work. Many others were busy too, and me and Daph wanted to cancel it but since we've been planning it for two days already, we went along with the movie anyway. And it was eleven bucks! Like, Sunway's really ripping us cinema-goers off. But then again, the cinema was new and clean, so no complaints la.

So there we were at the cinema, wondering what on earth Stardust might be about. I had neither seen a trailer on tv, nor read about in on the newspaper. There weren't even any pictures of it in the cinema section of The Star. It was an absolute zero-expectation kind of thing, so for that very reason, I chose not to post any sort of pictures or videos whatsoever. I won't even say whether it was great or lousy, just go and watch it for yourselves. The less you know, the better, I feel.

Thoughts

With hardly a month left to STPM (or SPM with the 'T' as Tina would call it) most of you who are reading my blog now would probably wonder where I find the time to do so. Simon's blog had been eerily quiet, a sure sign that he's been putting more hours into his books lately. So where does that leave me? I'm guessing that most people would be thinking along either of the two extremes below:

a) I'm wonderfully prepared and extremely ready to face whatever those people up at the Examinations Board can cook up, so now I can afford to hang around online more, and hence the quicker blog updates. OR

b) I'm so hopelessly under-prepared that it wouldn't matter much if I put in one hour or even one day less of studies. Since I can't save it anymore, why bother? Blogging's so much more fun...

Honestly speaking, if (b) was what you thought of me, then you're pretty much correct. The past one month was a challenge in so many ways that I cannot even begin to find a way to describe it properly in the context of a blog. And I say challenge because I was pushed out of my comfort zones, far out into what you would probably call the 'I'm totally lost and have no idea what to do' zone. I was broken along the way, and even now I continue to struggle with very personal issues, like ************ and ******** ** *** (You can only see it if you close one eye, hold up two fingers and try to read the stars through the two fingers).

In the midst of the confusion and fear though, I did realize that whatever I had been going through, and am still facing; would undoubtedly mould me into a better person someday. I've come to accept that no one can stay the same forever and that change is inevitable. When the storm strikes, what would you do? When the rain falls, where do you run? At this point, I understand that while no one likes to change, or to be changed for that matter; you would only grow as a person by changing your ways. I could say that I've been stunted for a while, so it's kinda painful to be 'growing' again.

Having thought about it more, I'm starting to relish having been put through so many things this year though. I'm actually somewhat excited, deep in my heart, because it seemed like God had cleared the mist that had shrouded my path for quite some time now. I moved on from the previous checkpoint where I stayed for very long, through the treacherous and narrow road littered with loose rocks and sharp stones here and there. I've not reached the next checkpoint yet, but I'm eager to keep moving forward. I am.

I'm starting to kick into exam gear now (a tad bit late, I know), so I pray that in the next four weeks left, I would be able to not only put some genuine effort into my STPM, but also get nearer to that elusive next checkpoint. Onward!

I do like to thank someone though, whose one phone call had made a whole lot of difference to me. I was saved from certain doom (yeap, doom), and the timing couldn't have had been more precise. God's timing, I was sure. But thank you so much, ****** for taking the trouble to call me..

Will I ever change my ways?
Good intentions never saved the man...
Is this all that life is meant to be, surely there's more.
If I don't go where my destiny's calling me,
obviously I'll never know~ Juwita Suwito - Destiny's Calling

Yay For Juwita!

When Jon brought to church the CDs that he bought for the TRU audio library today, the only artiste that I was familiar with and actually fond of was only Juwita Suwito. I loved her Visit Malaysia song, with its catchy tunes and slick vocals and all. Only In The Dark was my favourite among the songs in a special Tsunami compilation. Her songwriting always caught my fancy, and I was really eager to borrow the CD once they put it up in the library.

But just a few minutes ago, I was looking for the Tsunami compilation CD because I wanted to rip Only In The Dark again. I couldn't find it, so I went to google instead. Lo and behold, this guy called DBCHING had all the songs from 2 of her albums. Yes. But that means pirating. Noooo.

I downloaded anyway, having to swallow the guilt of pirating from an artiste that I like, and Christian some more...nuts. Then I poked around this Ching guy's MULTIPLY blog (the songs were there) and found out that hey hey, he works with Juwita! Not sure in what area, but I suppose it's in distribution and that kind of thing. And you know what's even better? The Ching guy said "Thank Juwita & everyone else at Four Forty Records as they're the one who made the songs possible to be shared". Brilliant stuff, that Juwito. Brilliant :D


If you wanna listen, then head on to http://dbching.multiply.com/music
You need to sign in though. Or register if you're not already a member.

Advertorial

Okay, so this is not quite a real post or anything, but I was asked (*cough*offered*ahem*) by See Huang, our resident Gaming Executive IN-CHIEF (I'm sure those of you who know him would more than agree :D) to post up a little advert for his garage sale. Only he's not selling pots and pans and broken lamps but rather some pretty nice...stuff. Read on.

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Hi guys. Here's an updated list of the garage sales.

Game Machines
1) Playstation Portable (Silver), Earliest Firmware (1.5) - nearly MINT, just used it for 5 minutes before it became bricked. Not for sale until fixed. See me in perhaps another 2 weeks. ~ RM 550 Original Price RM 690
2) Playstation Portable (Black), Latest Firmware (3.52) - secondhand, but fully functional Value Pack. Comes with free original game (Loco Roco), battery, 32MB Memory Stick, earphones, pouch, and remote control.. MADE IN JAPAN. ~ RM 450 Original Price RM 1000

Unbuilt Models
1) 1/60 scale S.E. Type-R13EX Test Type Combat Robot Phantom Labor (From Mobile Police Patlabor) Model. RM 30
2) EX Model 1/1700 Mobile Ship Albion (From Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 Stardust Memory) Model. ~ RM 70
3) 1/60 Wing Gundam 0 (From Mobile Suit Gundam W) Model. RM 50

Hotwheels Racing
1) 1:18 Hotwheels Diecast Ferrari F2002 Michael Schumacher Limited Edition (only 25,000 produced). Boxed, complete ~ RM 70
2) 1:18 Hotwheels Diecast Ferrari F2001 Micheal Schumacher Boxless. RM 50

Assorted Animes DVD
1) Bleach Episode 1-60, 6 discs, Chinese & English Sub RM 20
2) Bleach Episode 41-87, 6 discs, Chinese & English Sub RM 20
3) Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1, 14 episodes (Recommended!)Japanese, Mandarin & English Audio. Malay, Chinese & English Sub RM 25
4) Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa Movie, Chinese & English Sub, RM 15
5) Escaflowne (A Girl in Gaea) Movie, Chinese & English Sub, RM 10
6) The Vision of Escaflowne (Series) 26 episodes Complete, Chinese & English Sub, RM 25 (2 Available)
7) Genesis of Aquarion (Series) 26 Episodes Complete, Chinese & English Sub, RM 12
8) Record of Lodoss War (OVA) 13 episodes Complete, Chinese & English Sub (Warning: Poor literal English Sub), RM 12
9) Cowboy Bebop, 26 Episodes, Chinese & English Sub (Warning: Poor literal English Sub), RM 12
10) Zone of the Enders, Chinese & English Sub, RM 12
11) Neon Genesis Aquarion Series plus 2 movies, Chinese & English Sub, RM 30
12) Genesis Climber Mospeada (aka ROBOTECH The New Generation), 25 episodes Complete, Chinese & English Sub, RM 20
13) Ghost in The Shell Movie 1, Chinese & English Sub (2 available), RM 15
14) Transformers the Movie, English Audio, VCD, RM 5
15) Transformers: Super God Masterforce (PAL Region), 42 Episodes Complete, English and Mandarin Audio, RM 20 (Japanese Anime spinoff after the original 80s Transformers)
16) Transformers Victory (PAL Region), 36 Episodes Complete, English and Mandarin Audio, RM 20 (Masterforce Sequel)

Macross DVDs
1) Super Dimension Fortress Macross (aka ROBOTECH The Macross Saga), 36 Episodes Complete, Chinese & Literal English Sub, RM 20
2) Macross: Do You Remember Love? Movie, Chinese & English Sub, RM 15
3) Macross Zero (OVA) 5 episodes Complete, RM 15
4) Macross 7 Volume 1, Episode 1-26, VCD, Chinese & English Sub, RM 20
5) Macross 7 Volume 2, Episode 27-49 VCD, Chinese & English Sub, RM 20
6) Macross 7 the Movie: The Galaxy's Calling Me! Chinese & English Sub, RM 157) Macross Dynamite 7 (OVA) 4 Episodes Complete, RM 15

Gundam DVDs
1) Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (OVA), 11 Episodes Complete, Chinese & English Sub, RM 20
2) Mobile Suit Gundam, 43 Episodes Complete, Chinese & English Sub (Buy at your own risk, English translation very poor!), RM 10
3) Mobile Suit Gundam 0080 (OVA), 6 Episodes Complete, Chinese & Literal English Sub, RM 15
4) Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 Stardust Memory (OVA), 13 Episodes Complete ( Recommended!) Japanese & English Audio. Chinese & English Sub. RM 25
5) Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 Stardust Memory The Movie, Chinese & English Sub, RM 15
6) Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, 49 Episodes (corrupted final episode), Chinese & English Sub, RM 15
7) Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam, 47 Episodes Complete, Chinese & Literal English Sub, RM 15
8) Mobile Suit Gundam F91 Movie, Chinese & English Sub, RM 15
9) Mobile Suit Victory Gundam Volume 1, Episode 1-26, Chinese & English Sub, RM 20
10) Mobile Suit Victory Gundam Volume 2, Episode 27-51, Chinese & English Sub, RM 20

DVD Movies
1) The Lord of the Rings The Two Towers (US Region), RM 30
2) The Others (US Region), RM 20
3) Spiderman 2 (Malaysian Edition), RM 5

Assorted Original Video Games
1) Kingdom Hearts 2, PS2, (US Region), no cover, RM 15
2) Shadow Hearts: Covenant, PS2, (US Region), RM 50
3) Virtua Fighter 4, PS2, (JAP Region), RM 50
4) SSX, PS2, (JAP Region), RM 50
5) Megaman ZX, Nintendo DS, (Region Free), RM 50
6) X-Box 360 Asian Region Crackdown, RM 50

Guys, as I've said, everything here are in very good condition. Please forward this email to any of your friends who you'd think are interested. If you're interested, please reply me or just text me to 017 6761920.Thanks.

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Okay, back to the books then...