bLiNdFoLd3d

Driving On Snow/Icy Road

2011-03-23T02:22:00.000+08:00

Tips on driving on snow, based on my experience:

1. Drive slow (20mph or less).

2. Always give a few hundred yards of anticipation before stopping a car. Means, when you see a red light few hundred yards ahead, begin to slow down the car.

3. To slow down car, use lower gear, and then brake (ABS). Brake is just to help drivers behind know you're stopping. Non-ABS brake will cause car to skid.

4. Never ever rely on hand brakes. It will cause the car to skid for sure.

5. Never ever engage hand brakes while parking. It will be frozen and stuck at wheel.

6. Use chains to help the tire grip onto the snow.

7. If chain links are broken, stop at emergency lane, and find something to cut off / keep the dangling chain links from swinging free. It will damage the axle / mudguard / crucial parts to the live wheels (like, brake fluid cable).

8. Keep one or two spare chains.

9. Never ever park a compact car on a free lot before checking on the heap of ice left on that parking lot. If it is solid ice (normally left by a SUV or truck), it will freeze the compact car to the ground. You will need other vehicles to pull your car free.

10. Automobile Association membership will come in handy.

11. Be alert, vigilant, and calm.

12. Pray.

A Bid Of Farewell To My Super Senior

2010-03-12T01:17:00.003+08:00

It was indeed a shock to me when I get to know that my Super Senior in al-Terror, EC Lim, was resigning, about two months ago. At that moment, my mind scanned through various moments, which I am going to share here.

March 27, 2001
Yep, that was my first day in al-Terror. I still remembered meeting CP, Boon Hoe, Wei Hun, and Lay Kuan in my first ever conference call with San Jose (with Eugene Gomez and Giao Pham on the other side of the line). Okay, this is the team that I would work with closely. Or so I thought - until I heard an unfamiliar name - EC - throughout the conversation. And, after the meeting, as I opened my Outlook mailbox for the first time - voila, this guy Eng Chui Lim (EC lar) sent tons of email, even 3 weeks before I was officially hired (trust me, I still have those emails)! Later did I find out that he was attending some sort of training in Singapore. And, I also learnt that he was our FLEX big brother.

A week later, I got to meet this guy. Man, he was serious and stern looking! Well, as I knew that he is the Super Senior leading a group of Advanced and Junior Engineers, I would expect that sternness. Words like, "have you checked the failure across conditions", "please dispose the lot", "please talk to planner on this and that", etc became routine official conversation. And, being the only family guy in my team (family guy as in having wife and kid), I guess he was a man not easy to befriend with. Or so I guess.

Sometime in September 2001
Al-Terror was going to have a company-wide annual dinner on October 26. One of the events during the annual dinner was the Karaoke competition. I was kinda surprised that one of the participants is - guess who - EC lar... He picked a Mandarin song called "Go Go Cat", and recruited me (together with other 7 colleagues) as backup dancer. We had so much fun! And, that's when I started realize that EC is a person who works hard and yet plays hard too, And so, I began to treat EC as a friend rather than a stern senior. And, of course, on the annual dinner night, we did have fun - with the "Go Go Cat" dance (that got cut off due to technical error), with the cheers for EC, and with beer and dance in Rozel's. (Got hangover, so no more comments)

Some time in early 2006
Through the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality assessment, I found out that I am an ESFP person (in layman terms, it means "Let's Make Work Fun"). As I poked my nose around, I found out a few other ESFP. Guess what, EC is one of them! Yeah man! Let's together make work fun!

Some time in mid 2006
I was caught with one of FLEX issue, while EC was moved out of the FLEX team into the Hardcopy II rollout team. I still remembered that, the issue was so big that additional manpower was being pulled in. And, guess what, EC was back into the FLEX team supporting the debug! In the midst of towering stress, my other fellow colleagues and I were jokingly saying that it is hard for EC to fling FLEX.

Some other memorable moments also slowly popped up in my mind, like:
- Karaoke session
- Day trip to Serdang
- Water polo in one of the quarterly events
- All the todi-drinking trip (nah... I didn't have chance to go for any of them)

Well, all these memories are dug out of my sub-conscious memory for a purpose - to hide the fact that I am gonna miss the person whom I gained the most knowledge from throughout my 9 years working life. Although he has led me in the FLEX team for merely 4 years, his leadership in the team did leave a permanent mark to the existing FLEX team as well as the upcoming teams spawned. At least, he does leave a mark in my life.

I am not going to elaborate much here, or else Google will ban me for using up too much space for a single blog post. My personal message to EC:

"I re-activated my blog site just because of you. You better pay for my air fare if I come to visit you in Melbourne! Just kidding. Do take care, and may God bless you in wherever you and your family go. We are definitely gonna miss you."

Tanging Yaman - Lyrics and YouTube Video

2009-10-20T20:05:00.002+08:00

TANGING YAMAN
Performed by Carol Banawa (with Bukas Palad)

Tagalog:

CHORUS
Ikaw ang aking, tanging yaman
Na di lubusang masumpungan
Ang nilikha mong kariktan
Sulyap ng 'yong kagandahan

VERSE 1
Ika'y hanap sa t’wina
Nitong pusong
Ikaw lamang ang saya
Sa ganda ng umaga
Nangungulila sa 'yo sinta

CHORUS

VERSE 2
Ika’y hanap sa t'wina,
Sa kapwa ko kita’y laging nadarama
Sa iyong mga likha,
Hangad pa ring masdan
Ang yong mukha

CHORUS

English Translation:

CHORUS
You are my only treasure
Which I cannot fully comprehend
The loveliness of Your creation
is but a glimpse of Your beauty

VERSE 1
My heart longs for You
You are my only joy
In the beauty of the morning
I long of You

VERSE 2
I always search for You
You are mine, I always feel You
With Your creation
I still long to see Your face

You Are My God - Lyrics and YouTube Video

2009-10-14T19:04:00.003+08:00

YOU ARE MY GOD
Written by Mark Anderson
Performed by Paradise Community Church Band

VERSE 1
You're my God
I found life in You
You're the only one Who came eternally
To set me free

VERSE 2
You're my God
My life changed when Your victory came to earth
So I forevermore
Will be Yours

PRE-CHORUS
I run to You
'Cause You are the only one
I run to You

CHORUS
Your love has lifted me higher
Higher than the cares of this world
When I'm with You
Your love has set me on fire
And I will lift my voice and praise You
'Cause I love You

TAG
You are my God
Yea-eh-eh...
You are my God
2x

BRIDGE
You reign above
Every knee will bow before You
You reign above
Every tongue confess that You are Lord
3x

TAG
You are my God
Yea-eh-eh...
You are my God
2x

CHORUS
Your love has lifted me higher
Higher than the cares of this world
When I'm with You
Your love has set me on fire
And I will lift my voice and praise You
'Cause I love You

TAG
You are my God
Yea-eh-eh...
You are my God
4x

Voice of Truth - Lyrics and YouTube Video

2009-10-13T18:30:00.008+08:00

VOICE OF TRUTH
Performed by Casting Crowns
From "Facing The Giants" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Based on Matthew 14:23-33, 1 Samuel 17

VERSE 1
Oh, what I would do to have the kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I'm in onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone into the realm of the unknown where Jesus is
And He's holding out His hand
But the waves are calling out my name and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me time and time again
"Boy, you'll never win, you'll never win."

CHORUS
But the Voice of truth tells me a different story
The Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
And the Voice of truth says "this is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth

VERSE 2
Oh, what I would do to have the kind of strength it takes
To stand before a giant with just a sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors shaking in their armor
Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand
But the giant's calling out my name and he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me time and time again
"Boy you'll never win, you'll never win."

CHORUS
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
And the Voice of truth says "this is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth

BRIDGE
But the stone was just the right size to put the giant on the ground
And the waves they don't seem so high from on top of them looking down
I will soar with the wings of eagles
When I stop and listen to the sound of Jesus singing over me

FINAL CHORUS
And the Voice of truth tells me a different story
The Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
And the Voice of truth says "this is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me (calling out to me)
I will choose to listen and believe (I will choose to listen and believe)
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth

END
I will listen and believe
I will listen and believe the Voice of truth
I will listen and believe
'Cause Jesus You are the Voice of truth
And I will listen to You, oh You are...

Compiled from the movie "Facing the Giant"

A Quick Silverish Snippet

2009-05-11T17:56:00.008+08:00

1. A quick message to Madam Hee: "What a joke! Suddenly hotel key, suddenly thumb drive, suddenly pepper spray canister. Suddenly yours and suddenly not yours! Hey, Madam Hee, who are you trying to fool now?"

TOO INTERESTING NOT TO SHARE:
DemonsBane00 Blog

2. Another message to Mr bin A.R.: "You will solve the problem. So, are you saying that the court's decision is a problem? Who are you to question the supremacy of a judicial decision? And, how will you 'solve the problem'? By all means?"

3. Another message to Mr Z.: "Nelson Mandela and Gandhi are revered politician who fights for people's rights. What have you fought for? What are you going to fight for? Our rights? And, what do you mean by upholding the truth? Is it not the High Court's ruling a ruling of truth?"

TOO INTERESTING NOT TO SHARE:
Mob's Crib Blog

The Champion by CHS JY

2009-04-26T18:52:00.006+08:00

It was merely one week before the April 25 JY Gathering, when the team decided to adopt the skit based on Carman's The Champion. With only 4 hours of practice, this was what the team came out. Pretty good. Better still - the JY Gathering attendees were in awe over how Jesus' triumph over evil could be depicted in a boxing match.

View video here (courtesy of 5xmom).

Cast (in order of appearance)
Angel 1... Jaslyn DeWitt
Angel 2... Carina Rebecca Oyog
Angel 3... Michael Loh Yet Mao
Demon 1... John Isaiah Stanley
Demon 2... Adele Khor Li Ying
Demon 3... Mark Joel Stanley
Satan... Benjamin Han
Jesus... Brian John Dorai
God the Father... William Baptist

Slides Prepared by
David Chan Yew Mun

Slide Handler
Kenneth Tan Siew Kheng

"The Champion"
Written and Performed by Carman

Cameramen
Chan Lilian
Felicia Wong Yi Jin

Lighting
Clarence Jude Stanley
Kenneth Tan Siew Kheng

Choreographer
Andre Ong Lay Siang

Directed by
Andre Ong Lay Siang

Produced by
Cathedral of the Holy Spirit Junior Youth

Based on Salvation History written by GOD

Pictures captured during the practice...

The Champion - Lyrics and YouTube Video

2009-04-26T18:42:00.005+08:00

THE CHAMPION
Written and performed by Carman

In the vast expanse of a timeless place,
Where silence ruled the outer space,
Ominously, towering it stood,
The symbol of a spirit war
Between the one name Lucifer,
And the Morning Star, the Ultimate of good.

Enveloped by a trillion planets,
Clean as lightning and hard as granite,
A cosmic coliseum would host the end
Of the war between the lord of sin and death,
And the Omnipotent Creator of man's first breath,
Who will decide who forever will be the Champion.

The audience for the 'Fight of the Ages' was assembled and in place.
The angels came in splendor from a star.
The saints that had gone before were there: Jeremiah, Enoch, Job.
They were singing the "Song of Zion" on David's harp.

The demons arrived, offensive and vile,
Cursing and blaspheming God.
Followed by their 'trophies' dead and gone.
Hitler, Napoleon, Pharaoh, Capone,
Tormented and vexed and grieved.
Waiting for their judgment from the Throne.

Then a chill swept through the mammoth crowd
And the demons squealed with glee,
As a sordid, vulgar, repulsive essence was felt.
Arrogantly prancing, hands held high, draped in a sparkling shroud
Trolled by demons, Satan ascended from Hell.

Then Satan cringed, the sinners groaned!
The demons reeled in pain
As a swell of power like silent thunder rolled
With a surge of light beyond intense, illuminating the universe,
In resplendent glory appeared the Son of God.

Then a Persona, yes, Extraordinaire appeared in center ring.
God the Father will oversee the duel.
Opening the Book of Life, each grandstand hushed in awe
As majestically He said, "Now here's the rules.

"He'll be wounded for their transgressions, bruised for iniquities."
When He said, "By His stripes they're healed," the devil shook!
He screamed, "Sickness is my specialty. I hate that healing junk!"
God said, "You shut your face, I wrote the book!"

Then the Father looked at His only Son and said,
"You know the rules.
Your blood will cleanse their sins and calm their fears."
Then He pointed His finger at Satan and said,
"And I know you know the rules.
You've been twisting them to deceive My people for years."

Satan cried, "I'll kill you Christ! You'll never win this fight!"
The demons wheezed, "That's right, there ain't no way."
Satan jeered, "You're dead meat, Jesus, I'm gonna bust you up tonight!"
Jesus said, "Go ahead, make my day!"

The bell rang, the crowd cheered, the fight was on,
And the devil leaped in fury.
With all his evil tricks became undone.
He threw his jabs of hate and lust.
A stab of pride and envy
But the hand that knew no sin blocked every one.

Forty days and nights they fought,
And Satan couldn't touch Him.
Now the final blow saved for the final round.
Prophetically Christ's hands came down
And Satan struck in vengeance!
The blow of death felled Jesus to the ground.

The devils roared in victory!
The saints shocked and perplexed as wounds appeared upon His hands and feet.
Then Satan kicked Him in His side, and blood and water flowed.
And they waited for the 10 count of defeat.

God the Father turned His head,
His tears announcing Christ was dead!
The 10 count would proclaim the battle's end.
Then Satan trembled through his sweat in unexpected horror, yet...
As God started to count by saying,

"...10..."
"Hey wait a minute, God..."
"...9..."
"Stop! You're counting wrong..."
"...8..."
"His eyes are moving..."
"...7..."
"His fingers are twitching..."
"...6..."
"Where's all this Light coming from?"
"...5..."
"He's alive!"
"...4..."
"Oh - Nooooo!!!"
"...3..."
Oh... Yessssss!!!
"...2..."
He has...
"...1..." (won!!!)

He has won!
He's alive forevermore!
He is risen!
He is Lord!

He has won!
He has won!
He's alive forevermore!
He is risen!
He is Lord!

Proclaim the news in every tongue,
Through endless ages and beyond
Let it be voiced from mountains loud and strong
Captivity has been set free, salvation bought for you and me
'Cause Satan is defeated,
And Jesus is...

THE CHAMPION!!!

'Au Revoir': To our Super Admin

2009-04-17T15:19:00.001+08:00

Today is our Super Admin's last day of working in al-Terror. Super Admin - yes, indeed - as she is the Administrative Assistant to our Penang big boss. She used to handle all the company-wide administrative works. Her name is Liza.

Liza and I, taken in Altera ICE room
My first impression of her was that, she's quite a fierce- and strict-looking lady. I thought, of course ler. Working under Chris (Vice President and Managing Director of Penang Research Facility) would not be easy; must show superiority one. Indeed yes, she is the second employee of Altera Penang, after Chris. What freaked me more was that I heard she had reprimanded some department admins until they cried.

However, when I got the opportunity to travel to San Jose, I dealt with her more often, mostly related to the trip procedures. From Visa application, to flight booking, and even to credit card limit boost, I relied very much on her. After dealing with her, I found that she's a nice and friendly person to talk with - not forgetting being very helpful as well. I still remembered that she taught me to sneak out (of course in a legal way) to Hong Kong during my flight transit from Kuala Lumpur to San Francisco! I heard that it was possible, but I did not expect her to actually encourage me to do so! If she were really strict, she would have barked at my idea first before doing anything else.

I still remembered that, somehow, one personal comment from her struck me. When I decided to have a more committed life towards Christ, particularly in Shalom Youth, she asked me if I were to become a missionary. Well, to answer her question, that was not quite true - but from what happened towards my private life 2 years ago, it brought some resemblance. Could that be a prophecy, or could there be someone else gossiping... Ahh, never mind.

She is indeed a very capable admin. As her boss our MD said: she was a one-lady band wearing many different hats... [having] nurtured our young organization as we took our first small baby steps.

I'm gonna miss Liza, and I'm sure loads of terrorists in the al-Terror compound would miss her too. I am only in Altera for 8 years, and she's been here for almost 15 years. I am sure she has left tons of memorable footprints within Altera Penang. I don't know what else to say already.

All the best, Liza.
May God bless you in everything you do and every way you go.
Till we meet again.
Au revoir.
后会有期.

BLR Avalanche - Aftermath

2009-04-13T20:05:00.007+08:00

Following my previous blogpost: BLR Avalanche, I realized that the financial institution (the one that belonged to the tycoon with the same first name as one of our famous badminton player in the 90s) is not that stupid after all. In order to re-extend my loan term back to 30 years, they reduced my monthly payment amount to RM592. After the readjustment, the graph looks like below. Which means, I still have to pay for 30 years.

DUH!!! On one hand they want us to spend so as to boost the economy, and hence lower down all interest rates (FD, BLR, etc...). On the other hand they reduce our spending by reducing the monthly payment amount. Please la... MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!

Tsk! Screw it! I'm gonna make more partial payments. Hahaha!!!

On a positive note, I can save up additional RM102 per month for other 'investment'!

P.S. In case you all are still guessing which bank I borrowed money from, know that the smasher is called Rashid Sidek. :-P

"I Love You This Much"

2009-04-12T01:03:00.002+08:00

This phrase is a bit old (I heard it for the first time in the 90s, it could be older), but this reminds us that, the span of Jesus' arms represent eternity - the beginning and the end - and His own Paschal sacrifice spans across humankind. Polytheists, monotheists, atheists. Christians and non-Christians. Jews and Gentiles. All of us. Each one of us. The one step He is looking forward from us is our acknowledgement of Him being our Lord and Savior.

I once asked God how much He loves me. He replied, "This much." And He stretched open His arms and died on the cross.

His passion and death brings redemption to each and every one of us. He draws all men to Himself through His suffering on the cross. Tonight, we celebrate His ultimate promise - the Salvation of mankind through His Resurrection.

Wish you all a Blessed Easter!

Special wishes to my friends and relatives who have just been received into the Catholic Church:
- VIRGINIA Tang Ngan Yung
- MARK Ng Ting Kim
- JACK Ong Hock Soon

And a friend who has just been empowered by the Holy Spirit through the Sacrament of Confirmation:
- Dylan TITUS Yeoh Tshen

4-1

2009-04-07T23:36:00.008+08:00

That was the score when Liverpool won Manchester United in the March 14 game.

Today, the score is still the same. 4-1... for Pakatan Rakyat vs Barisan Nasional. The score chart for post March 8, 2008 by-elections by far. What a coincidence... or, is it expected?

Chronology of by-elections after March 8 political tsunami in Malaysia:

August 26, 2008: Permatang Pauh - Anwar Ibrahim (PR-PKR)
January 17, 2009: Kuala Terengganu - Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut (PR-PAS)
April 7, 2009: Bukit Gantang - Nizar Jamaluddin (PR-PAS)
April 7, 2009: Bukit Selembau - S Manikumar (PR-PKR)
April 7, 2009: Batang Ai - Malcolm Mussem Lamoh (BN-PRS)

As usual, I would expect statements resulting from state of denial, and we shall see. *UPDATE* Actually, they already did. Click here for one of their darndest statements of "vote of confidence". My comment - confidence my foot!

(Pictures are courtesy of Malaysiakini)

Sick of McD?

2009-04-03T16:55:00.004+08:00

About two months ago, McDonald's Malaysia launched McValue Lunch™, where all the McValue Meal sets will be priced at RM5.95++ per set, everyday, between 12noon to 3pm. When I first heard of it, I was like - WOW! For lunch, I could now pay RM5.95++ (comes up to RM6.25 la) Double Cheeseburger set rather than pay RM9.45++ (that's RM9.90). After much thought, I started to recall my college era, where Big Mac McValue Medium set used to cost only RM6.20++ (that's RM6.51 - that time 1 sen still counts). Hmm... a case of economic inflation. For lunch, it's deflation! :-D

Anyway, after about a week after it was first launched, I went out with my colleagues for lunch at McD. We arrived at McD Sunshine at 11:55am. So, we went to the counter, and the cashier told me this, "Lima minit lagi." Cool! She allowed us to wait by the counter, since we were the first customers there. And, later on, as we were waiting, people started rolling in. At noon sharp, we placed our first order of McValues, and that time the restaurant was full! It was so crowded - thank God we were early!

Today, I went to Tesco to buy some stuff. After failing to buy what I want, I decided to have McValue Lunch inside Tesco building. I reached the NcD outlet, and, guess what - almost like no customers! I thought the offer was over, but then, I noticed that the McValue Lunch offer was still posted up! Well...

Dah dua bulan makan kat McD tiap-tiap hari, mestilah jelak!

LOL!

BLR Avalanche

2009-04-01T18:00:00.009+08:00

When I first came to aware of the term Base Lending Rate (BLR), it was at 6.00%, which was way back in year 2004. I was oblivious of the fact that 6.00% was the lowest BLR at all times 5 years ago, and that the BLR used to be as high as 10.50%.

I bought an apartment in Mewah Court in June last year, when the BLR was at 6.75%. Details as follows:

Price: RM145,000
Loan financing: RM130,500 (up to 90%) for 30 years from RHB Bank
MRTA: RM959
Interest rate: BLR - 1.90% (equivalent to 4.85% that time)
Monthly repayment: RM694

Although having two separate lawyer firms handing my Sale & Purchase Agreement and Loan Agreement (which I would advise against, for it caused me much delay, inconvenience, and of course double-charged legal fees), I am quite happy with the home loan plan. I was actually looking forward to top up at least RM1,000 every month for partial payment to speed up the reduction of the outstanding loan every month, so that I could shorten my term by a few years.

And, as we all know, it happen that the time for my first loan repayment (November 2008) coincide with the dawn of the coming great recession. Still, RM694 does not cost much damage since I have no dependents :-)

On the other hand, the recession caused the BLR to gradually plunge in the following manner:

November 7, 2008: 6.75%
December 1, 2008: 6.50%
February 5, 2009: 5.95%
March 3, 2009: 5.55%

Now, my effective interest rate is 3.65% p.a.! With the reduced BLR and fixed monthly repayment, Bank Negara Malaysia has helped me reduce my term to 23 years! Yahoo!!

I could only wish either the BLR is maintained at its current level for a longer time, or the BLR is reduced some more. :-)

For information:

Latest Malaysia BLR

History of Malaysia BLR (1989 - Jan 2009)

A Day Of Ups And Downs

2009-04-01T00:00:00.003+08:00

Saturday, March 29, 2009

It had been a series of low-stamina-high-fatigue for me. I have had an average of 5 hours sleep every night for 2 weeks, and Saturday became one of my moodiest day. Well, moodiest in terms of mood swing, from euphoric to dejected.

I went out for a bread-and-half-boiled-egg breakfast with BK at 8:45am in the morning. Nothing much other than fellowshiping with BK and filling my stomach. Knowing that I need to get back to the office to get some stuff done and to collect something, I went back home and get prepared to head to office. However, looking at the bright sunlight, I changed my mind to have my laundry settled first, hence delaying my trip back to office. While waiting for my washing to complete, I dozed off, and by the time I woke up, it is already half past 11! Darn, I'll be late!

So, in a rushing mood, I hung my laundry, and quickly drove off to office. By the time I settled everything, it was already 1pm. And, as I promised earlier, I went from Bayan Lepas to Farlim to fetch a friend, and rushed to church for the Shalom Psalmistry Musicians meeting at 2pm. I hit right into the jam at Green Lane and Batu Lanchang Highway, delaying my trip by 15 minutes. Duh!

Due to the Psalmistry meeting, I had to skip the Junior Youth meeting (sorry guys!). I was nevertheless enthusiastic to learn to play a new song (Your Grace Is Enough) with other musicians. I was doing well when I started playing on the church's Clavinova. However, soon enough I realized that I was actually banging my fingers so hard until I eventually felt a slight cramp on my left wrist. And, as a result, all my timings went haywire (I was bad at timing, but the wrist-fatigue made it worse)! I was a bit frustrated and also disappointed at myself for causing so much mistake and at the same time screwing up other musicians' practice session. Sigh...

Then, I had to leave the session early (4:15pm) in order to prepare for the Form 2 Catechism in the classroom where they have the JY meeting. By the time I reached there, they were cleaning up stuff, and I found my usual space to setup the projector and laptop.

In the next classroom, all the Form 1 through 3 students were gathered for a short Praise session led by Pedro. When I eventually get my setup ready and joined them in the Praise session, what made me appalled was when some of the girls within my vicinity were oblivious of what's going on (c'mon, it has been 4 times we had such Praise session). While the guys on the other side of the room were jumping and praising God, those girls were doing nothing. So, I tried to lead them by jumping and yelling at them "Let us praise our Almighty God!!!". Guess what... still no response! I was like - praising God and screaming at their indifference at the same time! What a rojak feeling I had.

The Catechism went well. As usual, I liked Andre's session of having one or some of the students involved in the story telling (this time, is the story of God calling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac - Genesis 22).

Andre as Abraham. Bryan as Isaac. Hahaha!!
And then, after the class, I was like super tired, thinking of just drop on the floor and doze off. Anyways, I got to get something to be printed in the church office. Thus, after loitering around in the classroom, I went to the office. There, I told Andre that I felt bad during the practice, and Andre simply just said, "You are just not used to it yet." I don't know why, but it was so much consoling, and of course, at much peace. So much peace that I was not really feeling angry when I was told of a mis-behavior of one of the youth.

And, soon enough, it was 8pm. Andre, Boris, Kevin, and I rushed to Sing Kah Poh for a quick dinner, so that Andre and I would be back to church for Shalom Psalmistry official meeting at 8:30pm. Well, at 8:30pm we were still in Sing Kah Poh, because we were watching live telecast of the Earth Hour event in KL. 8:30pm - all lights off! That was on the TV screen. The restaurant was still filled with light! Anyway, I understood - they need to continue their business what...

The church was almost dark, except for a few flourescent lights still being switched on. As for our Psalmistry meeting, we were having a short worship session with candlelight - with 6 pieces of white tiles arranged to the shape of a cross, with candles lit on them. Beautiful.

Christ be our Light, amid the darkness lurking around during Earth Hour. :-)
Later that night, I went to participate the Keep Hope Alive Street Walk, where we are supposed to give the homeless food and drinks. We were briefed by Fr Fabian not to judge at a person's outlook or physique in order to justify whether we should give or not. So, we went out and reached Prangin Mall at 11:30pm. Although it was raining a bit, it was okay, considering the rain was nothing to me compared to the suffering of the homeless.

While I was serving the street-bound loiterers, something struck me - the words of Fr Fabian. I truly understood what it means by "judge not".

1. Not all homeless wanted food. Catherine shared to me, that, instead of having the food, they were also considerate to look at the needs of others who did really need the food.

2. Trishaw riders are homeless. Most of the time, I tend to overlook them, until that night. Rather, I never thought that they were I would see trishaw riders in a different way now, not as a nuisance of someone blocking my way while driving, but someone who's striving for two meals (and not even a place to stay).

3. They are honest people. When they already have food given to them, they would refuse additional food instead of having us give them more. There was also one old lady who at first refused additional food, but when I asked her if she wants more, she nodded. She only accepted when I was willing to offer. That was touching!

4. They are also like us, craving for junk food. Most of the time, the people who received a pack of rice, a bottle of water, and a packet of junk food, will first rip open the packet of junk food first. That is quite funny yet poignant.

Such an experience had indeed uplifted my mood for the day. After all, whatever I experienced throughout the day was nothing compared to those who strive so hard and yet ending their day on the streets.

While I was participating in the street walk, the rest who went for Psalmistry meeting and did not participate in the walk were already having supper in McDonald's Green Lane. When I was done with the street walk, it was already 1:30am. So, after reaching McDonald's to join the Psalmistry gang (who was already done with their food), I went to order one burger. As I sat down, the gang pretended that they were leaving the place. Although I was slightly shocked, I didn't bother much, partially because I was slightly aware of their tricks, and partially because I was too famished and struck with emotional ups and downs to respond. So I just said, "Don't be like that la...".

No offense - I did enjoy my day. Rather, I decided to enjoy my day!

P.S. I have effectively taken only 2 photos amongst all that happened in a day. Too bad, no mood to take. Also, it is not nice to take pictures during the street walk. We are instead supposed to help.

Hilarious Comment for the Dentist

2009-03-31T13:32:00.005+08:00

I was reading a Malaysiakini news titled "Khir blames Pakatan for his defeat". The best comment I could give Khir Toyo is "sour grape". A blame game that is NOT. A forced connection (牵强) that ends up causing himself a laughing stock throughout the world. Indeed a case of sour grape that becomes hilarious.

Today, I happened to browse through Malaysiakini's Vox Populi page, and I truly ROTFLMHO! This is how Mooshie Mooshie put:

"So, now Mohd Khir Toyo is blaming Pakatan for his losing his Umno election?

As the Chinese saying goes 'When one cannot pass motion, one blames the ground that is too hard'.

On Khir's complaint that the Pakatan governments are blacklisting BN contractors, he should not complain because during his time he also blacklisted contractors in favour of his cronnies.

So, what's new?"

Hahahahahahaha!!!
屙屎唔出赖地硬!!!
Hahahahahahaha!!!

Malaysiakini Not Friendly

2009-03-25T01:40:00.008+08:00

A title extracted from an official report from Malaysiakini website. You can read for more details in the hyperlink above.

Guess what that implicates. It means, these fellas do not like this media, hence they would boot them out from giving official reports on their general assembly. It also means, they only want pleasing words to reach out to the people through 'friendly media'. Well, it can also mean something else. Very simple - to the millions of people that do NOT cast their vote for these fellas, you will be booted out.

These fellas just don't get it. It is perfectly fine and perfectly legal for a person to hate another person. And furthermore, it is perfectly fine for a people to hate someone that they did not vote for. And, guess what? There are millions of them.

Is this what we want these fellas to rule and take control of your life? Fellas that do not care of the minority? Fellas that only hail words of praise? Fellas that make so much fuss about God's Name and then rob due praise from God? Fellas that never listens to criticisms and hence yearn to seek for improvement? What is the use of a group of people who does not want check and balance, who does not listen to both sides of the story, who does not want even though what it does is wrong?

Liberation

2009-03-23T18:33:00.005+08:00

Just found out one crucial information today, an information related to one of my deepest corner of my senses. And, of course this information is very personal (means, DON'T ASK ME WHAT IT IS!).

I felt liberated. Truly liberated.

And, praise God for having inspired and strengthen me in making tough decision. Although the decision might lead to severe consequences and damage, those many years of doubts and worries were eventually answered. Today, a real breakthrough has happened.

Amen!

:,-)

Peace Maker - Lyrics and YouTube Video

2009-03-23T08:00:00.000+08:00

PEACE MAKER
By Greg Ferguson

VERSE 1
Peacemaker, Fear Taker
Soul Soother, Storm Smoother
Light Shiner, Lost Finder
Cloud Lifter, Deliverer
Heart Toucher, Truth Lover
Who other could be?
Fear Taker, Peacemaker to me

VERSE 2
Mind Clearer, Sigh Hearer
Hand Holder, Consoler
Wound Binder, Tear Dryer
Strength Giver, Provider
Heart Healer, Kind Father
Who other could be?
My Saviour, Peacemaker to me

CHORUS
Let Your peace rule in my heart
Let Your kindness fill my thoughts
Let Your strength secure my soul
Let Your peace take hold of me
Let Your wisdom guide my will
Your compassion fill this place
Let my anxious thoughts be still
Let Your peace rule in my heart

I need You (Let Your peace rule in my heart)
I need You (Let Your kindness fill my thoughts)
I need You (Let Your strength secure my soul)
In my life, Lord (Let Your peace take hold of me)
I trust You (Let Your wisdom guide my will)
Believe You (Your compassion fill this place)
I need You (Let my anxious thoughts be still)
In my life I know (Let Your peace rule in my heart)

END
Heart Toucher, Truth Lover
Who other could be?
Fear Taker, Peacemaker to me

Bad Day - Lyrics and Music Video

2009-03-23T07:52:00.001+08:00

Dedicated to Wilson (Demon's Bane). Part of what has happened is my fault, though he said its no one's fault. Anyway, I do believe God is stirring something, for the good cause of course. For "even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good" (Gen 50:20). :-)
_______________________________________________________

Bad Day
Written and Performed by Daniel Powter

VERSE 1
Where is the moment when we need it the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
They tell me your blue skies fade to grey
They tell me your passion's gone away
And I don't need no carryin' on

VERSE 2
You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee to go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces every time
And I don't need no carryin' on

CHORUS
Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

VERSE 3
Well you need a blue sky holiday
The point is they laugh at what you say
And I don't need no carryin' on

CHORUS
You had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day

(Oh.. Holiday..)

BRIDGE
Sometimes the system goes on the blink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong
And I'm not wrong

VERSE 4
So where is the passion when you need it the most
Oh you and I
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost

CHORUS
Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
You've seen what you like
And how does it feel for one more time
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

END
Had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day

Financial Testimony

2009-03-17T16:21:00.007+08:00

Another testimony for the Glory of God!

Last Thursday during Intercessory Meeting, we interceded and claimed financial blessings for SWYF and all SWYF members. It was a fantastic meeting - we prayed, interceded, praised, worshiped, and claimed abundant financial blessing that was poured onto us.

On the next day, during our regular SWYF meeting, Andre gave a talk related to the "Giving Till It Hurt" series. The talk was centered on the story of Elijah asking for food from a poor widow (1 Kings 17:8-16). The widow had just enough food for one meal (for herself and her dying son) in the midst of drought, and they would be waiting to die after the meal. Yet, she obeyed Elijah and gave him a small cake. What happened was, the jar of flour, oil and water (required to bake bread) never went empty - though not lavish, God has blessed with enough food to carry on in the midst of drought.

Learning from the widow, we should offer up to God whatever we earn as a sacrifice, and no out of convenience. This was paralleled with the poor lady offering her only two coins, and Jesus placed her higher than the rich who offered buckets of coins (Luke 21:1-4). Which means, we should tithe to God, even in the midst of recession.

That Friday night, I actually planned to sell of all my ALTR ESPP shares, because of two reasons: I noticed the closing price at a high point of USD16.87 the day before - an uptrend for two consecutive days; and I need the money. So, I thought of going online after SWYF meeting, and look for a handsome price to sell off my shares. It ended up that I was so tired that I totally forgot about going online!

So, I slept. The next day, I realized that the stock price went up to USD17.50! I was overjoyed, but kinda worried, because the stock price might drop on Monday. So, with a certain confidence (and a little bit of don't-care feeling), I did what I had never done before - go online and set to sell all my shares at market price. I thought - whether it is going up or down, I must sell it off.

And come Monday night. I never bothered to check the stock price. So, I slept and checked what happened this morning (Tuesday already). What happened was, when market re-opened on Monday, ALTR went up to USD17.63 before dropping all the way down to USD16.62 and close. My market order was filled when it was going up, at USD17.59 to be exact! Cool!!

The interesting part is, I saved up the energy of having had to monitor the trend, and set the 'right' limit order. I was able to catch my sleep, and earn a handsome amount! Rather, God gave me rest and money! Thank you, my Lord Jesus!

I guess I have to tithe my earnings. :-D

De-jargon - Tithe (n.) literally means ten percent. To tithe (v.) means to pay a tenth of one's earnings. In Judaism and Christian terminology, to tithe means to set apart a tenth of our earnings / first fruits as an offering to God.

God Saves

2009-03-16T22:47:00.004+08:00

Have you ever experienced that God truly saves your life? I did. For my first time as a Christian!

I was driving my friend's car - a manual-transmission Myvi - back to the office from lunch. I was fetching 3 colleagues who were fast asleep after lunch - you know, high carb diet kicking in. So, while driving along the coastal highway heading to FIZ Phase 4, I was listening to a secular song named "That's The Way It Is" by Celine Dion. I was then contemplating on only one part of the lyrics, which is: "Don't give up on your faith". Yes. Amen. I thought. A short thought it was.

There was a point of our journey back to Altera where we need to make a U-turn on the coastal highway. And, soon enough I reached the U-turn point. I was waiting at the edge of the divider, waiting first in line for a U-turn opportunity. On the other side of the road, there were a lot of vehicles passing by. Amid the streak of fast-moving cars, I noticed that there was a gap between two fast-moving cars, and, since I was driving a manual car, I thought I could make it in time to do a U-turn safely between that two cars.

However, I felt a slight nudge (remember, all my other colleagues were having forty winks). It prompted me not to do a U-turn, but wait. So, I waited. The two fast-moving cars zoomed past. And, a minute or so later, it was clear for a slow and steady U-turn. Only by that moment I realized that the car was engaged to level-2 gear, and not the lowest gear!! My God! If I were to do a U-turn earlier, the car would not have speed to brush past the first car and avoid the second car in time. I would have kena banged sideways by the second car!!

Just by my acknowledgment of the little faith that I should have, God have protected me and my colleagues through his soft prompting! Thank you, my Lord Jesus!!
________________________________________________

Psalm 91:9-12
Because you have made Yahweh your refuge,
And the Most High your dwelling place,
No evil shall happen to you,
Neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.
For He will give His angels charge over you,
To guard you in all your ways.
They will bear you up in their hands,
So that you won't dash your foot against a stone.

Judge, Dread!

2009-03-16T18:40:00.007+08:00

This is Lady Justice, or in short, Justice. An icon for judicial system that is and should be executed without fear or favour.

The first time I took notice of this iconic figure was when I watched the movie "Judge Dredd", a story of a futuristic hero named Joseph Dredd, a Judge, convicted of a murder he did not commit, and sent to the deserted "Cursed World" outside populated megacities. In a scene in "Cursed World", a statue of Justice was shown in a deserted building which I presume used to be a courthouse. Chief Justice Fargo was telling Judge Dredd that the new judiciary system comprising of judges had robbed her of the role of justice.

--Quote--
Chief Justice Fargo: The blind lady.
Judge Dredd: Who is she, sir?
Chief Justice Fargo: Justice before your time. We should never have taken justice out of her hands.
Judge Dredd: You put order to chaos, sir.
Chief Justice Fargo: Yes, we solved many problems, but created many more.
--Unquote--

I won't explain more about the movie. Get yourself a DVD or go here to find out more.

Next is the Hong Kong TVB Drama "File of Justice (壹號皇庭)", where, in the opening titles of each episode, the iconic Lady Justice standing above the Hong Kong Supreme Court building is shown.

Much recently, I found out that, the original statue of Lady Justice was not blindfolded. In order to portray justice being impartial and applies to everyone, a blindfold was added - to show that Justice sees no color, language, religion, nor party (this word is open for interpretation). More info could be found in Wikipedia.

Without Fear or Favour. I still remember this phrase being the motto of the Prefects Board in my old school ACS Ipoh. A phrase that we stood for, and I hope the ACS Prefects now still stands for. I remembered clearly that, despite reluctance, I had to reprimand a student who was then our famous national swimmer (yet a humble boy indeed - he forgot about his name tag and left it in his school bag). That's one of the without-fear-or-favour in action.

Looking at our not-so-far-away land, I am extremely disappointed at what had already happened. It seems that in the current political situation in our country, I cannot fit in the words "without fear or favour" anywhere anymore. Isn't that sad???

I believed in the law - but it is written on stones, and is dead. Alas, now I even doubt I can believe in man who can ever "uphold" it here.

Spring in Penang

2009-03-11T08:55:00.004+08:00

One of the seasons that truly uplifts my mood is spring, where I can actually see blooming and beautiful flowers amid green fields and above trees. I first witnessed (not via pictures, but with my very own eyes) such a beautiful view when I was on my business trip to San Jose exactly two years ago. Come March, the dull green field by McCarthy Blvd became filled with bright yellow flowers. Sadly, I did not take any pictures of those beautiful scenery there.

[ And I totally missed visiting Lombard St, San Francisco in spring! ]

I used to think that, as long as I am in the hot and humid rain-forest country of Malaysia, I would never ever experience truly the four-seasonal scenery. I was wrong. I was shocked to see MPPP people sweeping fallen petals from the trees by Medan Bayan Lepas while on my way to work yesterday!

Strange, eh... 迎春花 in hot-and-humid Penang!

Flickr

2009-03-11T08:48:00.003+08:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

From now on, I will use Flickr to upload my photos. Thanks to Wilson for teaching the way. :-)

Pondering over statements pertaining to the Silver State

2009-03-04T16:37:00.004+08:00

Been too busy to blog, but somewhat found it worthwhile to scribble down.

The following was extracted from MalaysiaKini online:

" The judge had also ruled yesterday that Sivakumar could not be represented by any private lawyers and can only be represented by the state legal advisor as the "speaker was part of the government". "

So, points to ponder:

1. Does that mean the judge acknowledge that V Sivakumar is still a legitimate speaker for DUN Perak?

2. Does that mean the judge acknowledge that V Sivakumar is part of the government, and since V Sivakumar is a Pakatan Rakyat ADUN, Pakatan Rakyat is the legitimate government, and because of that, Barisan Nasional state 'government' led by 'Mentri Besar' Zambry is illegitimate? [ By the way, we MUST understand that in the Westminster system, Legislative component is NOT the Government, but Executive component is. ]

Well, don't shoot at me. I am just trying to interpret what the judge had said.

P.S. My heart is painful over the situation of my home state.

Today is a good day to fight

2009-01-17T08:55:00.002+08:00

Wallau! It has been nearly two months since I last wrote my blog! Nearly lost all the blogging spirit after being down with a cold, healed, busy with Advent and Christmas, another round of flu, and get healed. What a time wasted!

Well, today is indeed a big historical day for Malaysia, as we will again see a 3-corner fight between BN, PR and an independent part in Kuala Terengganu. Since the sudden collapse and death of the former Kuala Terengganu MP Deputy Education Minister Razali Ismail passed away on November 28 last year, this is the day that both BN and PR are looking for.

Since the nomination day, many things have happened, which include:

- Sudden inflow of money to some Terengganu businessmen
- Permit to campaign by PR leaders denied
- Journalists receiving envelope with money
- Poll analyst Ong Kian Ming giving his piece of analysis with poll results would swing in PAS favor
- Our "beloved" current DPM and PM in-waiting is seen extra busy, not with his Executive portfolio, but in a by-election (oops... he did it again, first time being in Permatang Pauh)
- And many more. I don't have to mention in detail. In fact, I don't even follow the news very very closely.

Hmm... makes you wonder who to believe and trust, and makes you ponder why certain people are easily irritated when accused of being involved in "money politics" eh...

Well, if you are asking me personally which one would I prefer, no doubt I want PAS to win. This would be like a slap on BN's face once again - hopefully, and God-willing (:-)) they will realize that arrogance doesn't pay. Well, don't expect much from post by-election analysis of theirs, they could once again fall into the state of denial by bringing up blames and finger-pointing actions in their post-mortem. I would also want to see PR maintain her number of representatives in Parliament at 82 (at least for now), so that the giant's irritating an favored voice would be continued to be suppressed with the same amount of strength.

In general, I pray that all citizens under the Kuala Terengganu constituency would vote wisely, that God will give them wisdom, courage, and foresight of who they want as their representative and voice in the People's Chamber (Dewan Rakyat lar...)

Eunoia

2008-11-24T21:33:00.005+08:00

A friend of mine came about and shared with me one interesting website, called Eunoia. This guy, Christian Bök, has written 5 chapters on Eunoia, namely Chapters A, E, I, O, U. In each chapter, only one vowel is used throughout the entire chapter. And, as you might have guessed it, Chapter A contains words with only one vowel, and that is "A", Chapter E with "E", and so on.

To find out more, click here!

Just to get it going, here is a small portion of Chapter A.

CHAPTER A
for Hans Arp

Awkward grammar appals a craftsman. A Dada bard as daft as Tzara damns stagnant art and scrawls an alpha (a slapdash arc and a backward zag) that mars all stanzas and jams all ballads (what a scandal). A madcap vandal crafts a small black ankh - a hand-stamp that can stamp a wax pad and at last plant a mark that sparks an ars magna (an abstract art that charts a phrasal anagram). A pagan skald chants a dark saga (a Mahabharata), as a papal cabal blackballs all annals and tracts, all dramas and psalms: Kant and Kafka, Marx and Marat. A law as harsh as a fatwa bans all paragraphs that lack an A as a standard hallmark...

Tok Kok Furore

2008-11-23T23:33:00.006+08:00

Mr Shxt What is indeed hopeless and beyond repair. Every word uttered is full of malice, lies, stupidity, self-centered, egoistic, and total nonsense. I mean, EVERY WORD. No word that exhibits care for the country and rakyat. I don't think patriotism is in any of his genes.

I am going to extract the whole MalaysiaKini news, and insert some texts for almost every crap Mr Sinister said.
___________________________________________________________________

Code of ethics for bloggers mooted
Andrew Ong | Nov 23, 08 6:47pm

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar has suggested that a code of ethics be drawn up for bloggers in the country in order to safeguard the nation from racial or religious conflict.

Speaking at the Bloggers Buff 2008 in PWTC yesterday, Syed Hamid said the code was necessary as some blogs contained libelous and sensitive racial and religious materials.

“The Internet is bringing people into the world of written reporting who have had no training; have no one to learn from; no sense of responsibility; and no sense of their place in the reporting ecosystem.
[ No training - yes, no training is required to write something in the Internet. If server owner feels appropriate, they can remove questionable articles. Simple.
No one to learn from - Bloggers know how to use a PC to voice their opinions. Bloggers learn from what they feel.
No sense of responsibility - First ask yourself the same question.
No sense of their place in the reporting ecosystem - Blogs are not reports, duh... ]

“A code of ethics will serve as a guide. Even professional journalists are guided by their own professional code of conduct. I see no reason why citizen journalists should not want or need one,” he told a crowd of about 40 bloggers.
[ Professional journalists needs code of conduct. Freelance bloggers are not even a journalist. How can you equate bloggers as the so-called "citizen journalists"? Are you trying to confuse the Cyberspace users? ]

However, he said that he was not suggesting new laws adding that “this country has enough laws”.
[ Yes. So, scrap new ideas of laws. Scrap new drafts. To start with, why not scrap the DNA Identification Bill? ]

Syed Hamid’s role as a keynote speaker was a last-minute replacement for former prime minister-turned-popular blogger Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

‘10 years behind time’

On how blogs had an impact on politics, Syed Hamid said the Barisan Nasional coalition was “10 years behind time” when compared to the use of the Internet by its critics.
[ No, Barisan Nasional is not behind time. Proof: The Multimedia Super-Corridor was masterminded by your coalition, by Dr Mahathir, in the 90s. It is your coalition's wastage of resources and ignorance of the importance of Information Technology that make it appear as if you are the 'victim' of inadvancement in Cyberspace. It is your evil deeds of trying to bar truthful information from being transmitted to the public. People wants to see truth and 100% truth, not a biased 'truth'. Is it not an understatement that, in the early 90s, people already knew that information is the most powerful tool? People already knew that long time ago. Btw, I think you personally are behind time. ]

He said that since the 1998 Reformasi era, dissidents had been using the Internet to attack the government right up until the March 2008 election.
[ Why? Because all voices from the dissidents are being silenced. Because only certain voices are heard through mainstream media! That can be easily proven just by looking at today's newspaper - how many percent on Barisan Nasional, and how many percent on opposition. There is no check and balance, even when something has gone wrong! ]

“This was partly due to the liberal government policy towards the Internet. This was probably a fatal mistake of the government,” he said.
[ Liberal simply because Cyberspace belongs to everyone. The only fatal mistake that a government could make and as a result bring itself down is to not listen to the needs of the rakyat, and to have impatrotic leaders - leaders that always think of their own benefits before the needs of others. ]

Yet, Syed Hamid believes that the tide is beginning to change as more BN elected reps and leaders have taken up blogging which also allows them to solicit views from the public.
[ Good! It is never too late to start. However, are they really soliciting any views from the public? After soliciting them (if any), what are they going to do? Act on what the public needs, or shove them under the carpet? ]

“Interestingly, (now) cyberspace is no longer the private domain of the anti-establishment and cyber activists who sympathise with the opposition. Nor are they limited to opposition politicians.
[ Duh... it is never a private domain!!! It is called World Wide Web! Go and read some books about what www is all about before saying anything that belittles your extent of knowledge. ]

“Moreover, access to the Internet is no longer limited to the urban and sub-urban electorates, as was the case in the run-up to the 12th general election,” he added.
[ Everyone knows that the state capitals are most developed spots that have easy access to the Internet compared to rural areas. And, all constituencies that encapsulate state capitals are won by Pakatan Rakyat in March 8 election. Does this fact tell you something? ]

Internet news portals

In his speech, Syed Hamid also touched on the commercial viability of Internet news portals.

“The ones making money are not the socio-political bloggers but news portals that have emulated the likes of Malaysiakini. These portals include The Nut Graph, Malaysian Insider, Agenda Daily, and Malaysia Aktif.

“None of them needed a license from the Ministry of Home Affairs to operate. All they needed was, perhaps, an ordinary business license,” he said.

The minister noted that these news portals were self-financed through advertising and sponsors and were administered by former mainstream media journalists.

“To me, what is mainstream is no longer mainstream. They so-called alternative media is now the mainstream,” he said.

During the question-and-answer session, Syed Hamid was asked by a participant why the government banned popular website Malaysia Today despite the Multimedia Super Corridor Bill of Guarantee which includes a clause stating that the Internet would not be subject to censorship.

“I think everybody gets into an euphoria over the Bill of Guarantee. Under the bill, you have the right to do anything you want, so long as you don’t breach the law,” he replied.
[ I thought "the right to do anything as long as it is lawful" is applicable on ALL BILLS? Do you implicate that there are any exceptions, perhaps to some groups who think that they are beyond law and can even challenge the court's decision? ]

Rakyat In Trouble

2008-11-21T11:01:00.004+08:00

You would know that the Bolehland rakyat are in deep trouble when:

1. The people voted by rakyat do not listen to the needs of the rakyat.

2. You need police's permission to talk. [here]

3. The federal government earns money not solely by federal tax payed by taxpayers (rakyat who earn above a certain bracket of amount per annum), but also by the net profits earned from the sales of (naturally-resourced) commodities to the rakyat. [here]

4. Bolehland rakyat start to consider traveling away from their own country, across Thai and Singapore border to get cheaper gas.

5. The Judiciary faction is being challenged by the Legislative/Executive factions, and that the supremacy of a judicial decision is being questioned by a mere minister. [here and here]

6. The Home Minister says he did not know anything about what police is planning to do or has already done.

7. The world except Bolehland is declaring recession.

8. In the midst of recession, the federal government encourages the rakyat to spend more for something that cost much less (see point 3 and 4), as well as to ignore soaring inflation rate by reducing EPF contribution by 3% (hence the rakyat has 3% extra to spend every month, a compounded 3% less for their retirement, and some additional 3% more to pay for federal government taxes). [read here for more rants]

9. History and live footage is being 'erased' and 'changed' by authorities. [here]
--> I guess one solution is to wire all inputs to video cameras to headquarters and back it up in a secret location, so that in the event the casette is tampered, the headquarters can still have at least an archive of the LIVE footage.

10. People regard ISA not as a way to protect the rakyat from communism and terrorism, but as a modern day Crucifixion of the righteous.

Permit To Not Breathe

2008-11-20T19:21:00.003+08:00

I was actually too tied up with 'official stuff' to write any kind of interesting happenings on Bolehland (my, I missed so much). However, looking at the text below just made me feel funny and at the same time outraged. I have not much to say, just wanna rant...

The following are the excerpts of one of the MalaysiaKini news.
_________________________________________________________________

Last Sunday, some 200 individuals took part in a candlelight vigil at the Petaling Jaya civic centre in support of the dismantling of the Internal Security Act (ISA).

A police permit was issued to Petaling Jaya city councilor Richard Yeoh for the event and twelve conditions were imposed as part of the permit. A full list is reproduced below:

- Organisers are responsible for the safety of the participants.

- Permission to use the venue is the responsibility of the organiser.

- Crowd must not spill onto the road and cause traffic obstruction.

- No form of political or racial speeches allowed.

- No use of fireworks or explosives, unless explicitly allowed by the police.

- No use of dangerous weapons.

- Organiser must ensure that there is no burning of candles to protest the ISA.

- Organiser must ensure that participants do not wear clothes which call for the abolishment of the ISA.

- Organiser must not hold any activities which show support for ISA detainees.

- Banners and fliers calling for the abolition of the ISA are forbidden.

- The police are free to make audio and video recordings of the event.
_________________________________________________________________

I understand quite well that the first 6 points serve to maintain order, harmony, and peace during the gathering. No one would not accept it, particularly during a peaceful candlelight vigil. However, the next 4 points are simply stupid. What's wrong with wearing something against the ISA? What's wrong with the rakyat standing up against something that is threatening their freedom and rights?

Why not simply include the following clause in the permit?
- Organiser must not allow participants to breathe throughout the gathering.

Is it not the same as killing a person's freedom of expression? Where is Article 10?

If a person think just by distinguishing our candles would make us eventually give up, I can say that the person is so wrong. And, so much so that the Light of the world that has been there for 2000 years has never and will never be extinguished. The Light that is always with us and would keep burning till the end of age (Matthew 28:20).

Ahh... on the last point, if the police are free to make audio and video recordings, then I must say reporters can also the same. Well... it is basically an understatement that a reporter (who is my nature neutral) can make any kind of footage about what is happening in the world. Indeed, it is the job of a reporter - to report the truth. And that is particularly the reason why reporters can risk their lives to record live footage in the midst of a war, and every reporter who hails truth understands that it is his noble task to do so. So, what on earth is going on when you run amok at a person who caught you 'playing' with water cannons!?!?

Btw, I would say bloggers can do the same as well. :-P

Lastly, there is absolutely nothing wrong with me re-posting the following:

The Altera Bridge

2008-11-14T06:36:00.014+08:00

The semiconductor company that I am working in - Altera Corporation - is soon to have her fourth building (labeled as Building 3 in Wikimapia as shown below) up and filled by end of this year.

The original Altera campus, sandwiched by Medan Bayan Lepas, Dynacraft, and Motorola, comprises of the main building (1 and 2), a multilevel car park, and an open air car park. With the expanding amount of employees hired, Altera definitely need another huge building, too huge that the original campus is not able to fit in. And so, the big bushy area across the road need to be 'transformed', as witnessed below.

"~~Autobots~~ ALTERA, transform and rollout!!"

WW15 2008

WW16 2008 (April 14)

WW28 2008 (July 8)

WW43 2008 (Oct 20)

In order to keep all buildings connected to each other, an overhead bridge is required to connect the multilevel car park and the new building, across Medan Bayan Lepas. And so, the 'gateway' is being constructed!

The bridge construction pictures above were captured yesterday (WW46 2008, November 12). The construction is expected to complete by end of this year. With the completion, Altera will be the first company in Bayan Lepas Free Trade Zone to have an overhead bridge across a trunk road! Which makes me proud of being part of al-Terror! And, for heavy vehicles taller than 4.5-m, sorry la... no passing, please.

Kee Hsiao Part 2

2008-11-12T12:58:00.002+08:00

Another round of kee-hsiao-ness... :-P

This time, it started with my own Facebook shoutout.

And, while chatting with BK, he mentioned the "pizza dissection". And so, it went on... Quite a disgusting conversation though. LOL!

Kee Hsiao

2008-11-06T22:30:00.004+08:00

It means gone crazy.

It all started with Wilson's Facebook shoutout:

Then, having stuck at work, I simply replied as above. As if the response was not fast enough, I used al-Terror's in-house messaging system to ask. And, somehow, our conversation went haywire.

A tiring day at work indeed. Sigh... I pray it'll be over soon.

WRK

2008-11-05T13:09:00.004+08:00

I just came back from a free lunch :-), and after parking the car, I walked past one of my colleague's car with registration number WRK xxxx. Three thoughts popped up in my mind:

1. There are so many demands for KL car. Wonder if the demand is still the same amid the coming recession.

2. When will it reach WYY? And, what happened to the next KL car after WYY 9999? WAAA 1, or perhaps WAA 1 A?

3. Cit!!! Buy car also must think of work... even the number plate also consists of WoRK... Haihz...

[ No offense to my colleague... :-P ]

Still, I would prefer buying KL car compared to Penang car. Less depreciation, and less volatile (I am not a Penang local... see my number plate... wakakakakak!!!)

Offering - Youtube Videos and Lyrics

2008-11-05T02:04:00.005+08:00

OFFERING
Words and Music by Paul Baloche
© 2003 Integrity's Hosanna! Music

YouTube video here and here.
Youtube video (Christmas version) here.

(Christmas Verse)
Over the skies of Bethlehem appeared a star
While angels sang to lowly shepherds
Three wise men seeking truth traveled from afar
Hoping to find a child from Heaven
Falling on their knees
They bowed before the humble Prince of Peace

CHORUS
I bring an offering of worship to my King
No one on earth deserves the praises that I sing
Jesus may You receive the honor that You're due
O Lord I bring an offering to You
I bring an offering to You

(Normal Verse)
The sun cannot compare to the glory of Your love
There is no shadow in Your Presence
No mortal man would dare to stand before Your throne
Before the Holy One of heaven
It's only by Your Blood and it's only through Your mercy
Lord I come
____________________________________

Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. - 1 Chronicles 16:29 NIV

Surrender - Lyrics

2008-11-05T01:55:00.006+08:00

SURRENDER
Words and Music by Jaye Liubinskas
© 2007 Paradise Worship administered by Word Publishing Australia

Verse 1
Everything that was
Is in Your hands
And all that is to come
I give to You
Take control

Verse 2
This life belongs to You
Forgive me Lord
For walking my own road
Take control
Jesus take control

Tag
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
Now and forever

CHORUS
And I surrender
Oh I surrender
Oh I surrender
To You
To You

Bridge
That I may hear Your voice
That I may know Your heart
That I would see Your world
Through the eyes of hope
This my prayer oh God
This my prayer

P.S. Hyperlink to the album Only By Grace is here.

Creed - GodTube Videos and Lyrics

2008-11-05T01:46:00.004+08:00

Having problems remembering the Nicene Creed? No problem, we have the Apostle's Creed.

What? Having problems remembering the Apostle's Creed??? NO PROBLEM!!! The late Rich Mullins can help you. No... it's not talking to the dead. It's through his song!!!
__________________________________________________

CREED
Rich Mullins, David (Beaker) Strasser
© 1993 BMG Songs, Inc. (ASCAP) / Kid Brothers of St. Frank Publishing (ASCAP)

[ GodTube video here. ]

Verse 1
I believe in God the Father Almighty
Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth
And in Jesus Christ
His only begotten Son, our Lord
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
Born of the Virgin Mary
Suffered under Pontius Pilate
He was crucified and dead and buried

CHORUS
And I believe what I believe
Is what makes me what I am
I did not make it, no it is making me
It is the very truth of God
And not the invention of any man

Verse 2
I believe that He who suffered
Was crucified, buried, and dead
He descended into hell
And on the third day, rose again
He ascended into Heaven
Where He sits at God's mighty right hand
I believe that He's returning
To judge the quick and the dead
Of the sons of men

CHORUS

I believe it, I believe it
I believe it
I believe it, I believe it

Verse 3
I believe in God the Father Almighty
Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth
And in Jesus Christ
His only begotten Son, our Lord
I believe in the Holy Spirit
One Holy Church, the communion of Saints
The forgiveness of sin
I believe in the resurrection
I believe in a life that never ends

CHORUS

I believe it, I believe
I believe it, I believe
I believe it, I believe it

The Last Message (天才与白痴)

2008-11-05T01:28:00.004+08:00

I cannot tahan how funny this classic Cantonese song is (released in 1975), until I have to create a blog post for it. A big salute to Samuel Hui for his talent in blending his sense of humor into his own creativity. Yes... this song is 33 years old!!!

[ WARNING: The YouTube video might be cartoonish but it consists of uncensored images. View at your own risk!! ]
_____________________________________________________

天才与白痴
作曲：许冠杰
作词：许冠杰/黎彼得

[ Youtube video here. ]

呢个世界上
有精仔有懵仔有叻仔散仔赌仔重有戆居仔
有衰仔有好仔反骨仔癫仔蠢仔重弊过败家仔
细蚊仔臭飞仔招积仔靓仔打仔乱咁出刀仔
问你点敢乱生仔

边个係天才 (天才)
边个係白痴 (白痴)
扮懵定蠢材
冇咁易会知阿茂至知
天才与白痴你痴定我痴
天才与白痴冇咁易会知
天才与白……痴

呢个世界上
有冤鬼有哗鬼有奸鬼赌鬼盏鬼重有咸湿鬼
有衰鬼有烟鬼摄青鬼生鬼撞鬼撞着个冒失鬼
醉酒鬼吊靴鬼丑死鬼假鬼真鬼乱咁鬼打鬼
问你究竟搞乜鬼

乜鬼係天才 (天才)
乜鬼係白痴 (白痴)
扮懵定蠢材
冇咁易会知阿茂至知
天才与白痴你痴定我痴
天才与白痴冇咁易会知
天才与白……痴

呢个世界上
有坚嘢有流嘢有精嘢喎嘢喳嘢重有大镬嘢
有衰嘢有好嘢有顺嘢贵嘢贱嘢最划忌就瀨嘢
醒胃嘢林婶嘢正斗嘢靓嘢杰嘢最爽就捞粗嘢
确係认真唔少嘢

乜嘢係天才 (天才)
乜嘢係白痴 (白痴)
扮懵定蠢材
冇咁易会知阿茂至知
天才与白痴你痴定我痴
天才与白痴冇咁易会知
天才与白痴天才与白痴天才与白痴
_____________________________________________________

[SPOILER]

The English title for the movie of the same Chinese title (literally means "The Genius and The Idiot") is so named because of the Morse-code message that was embedded in the brain signal of a person who's already dead, hence the last message. Yes, it IS a spoiler, yet you're forewarned. Who ask you to read? :-P

A Day Out With The Form 3's

2008-11-04T02:29:00.003+08:00

After 1.5-month long preparation and a week of Lower Secondary Evaluation (Penilaian Menengah Rendah, PMR) exam, it was over (on Friday, October 17, 2008). For us the tutors (Andre, Sharon, Aaron, and I), we have promised to bring the PMR teens (consisting of Adrian Oyog, Ashleigh Dibble, Benjamin Han, John Stanley, Joshua Joseph, Nicholas Chin, Nicholas Choong, Jaslyn DeWitt, Li Ann Tan, and Rachel Lim) for a day out for picnic on the Sunday after their end of exam (October 19). And, so be it!

All of us attended Mass either on Saturday evening or Sunday 7am, so that we could leave early for the picnic. We met in church at around 9:30am. As I arrived, I was shocked to see the amount of food they brought. Each of the teens brought food worth for 10 people. Yes.... sandwiches, lots of sandwiches, plus fried chicken, fried rice, and I-dunno-what-else...

We left church at about 10-ish. Since we went with different cars, all of us reached Miami Beach at around 11am. Helena and Adeline joined us as well.

The boys were extremely excited. After about 10 minutes of loitering they were in the water!

Next were the girls... dunking each other at around 11:30am.

I guess they enjoyed getting wet so much that they gathered in a circle... hmm... perhaps having some secret discussion.

Well... with the teens in the water and adults by the beach, at once you would have guessed what would have happened next. Helena became the first victim! She got carried by the teens, and into to the water she was thrown!!

With captions...

Next, they tried the trick on Andre, but it was proven that 10 of them would not be able to lift Andre by an inch. Wait... they did! As a result, (I think) Andre lost some armpit hair... Hahaha!!!

I was then not in a proper attire - was wearing khakis shorts that time. And, I did not like the idea of getting wet with such an uncomfortable attire. So, I changed into my swimming shorts. And, as I was spotted then, I was approached by the teens. So, being sporting, instead of fighting back, I carried Adrian back into the water!!! Hahahah!!! Yeah, I finally got myself wet with the not-so-clean Miami Beach seawater!

We spotted a couple of sea otters resting on a rock about 100 feet from the shore. So, Aaron and I took a couple of shots. Since Aaron's camera is a SLR, of course his picture quality is far much better la. So, here is the photo of the sea otters with Aaron's camera.

We also managed to 'bury' Benjamin and Jaslyn.

After the 'burial' and lunch, Benjamin, Adrian, Choong and I swam towards the rock. Upon arriving at the rock, there was a great stench of fishy smell (I guess from either dead fish or the sea otter itself). And, on the rock, we spotted a pile of droppings. So, the sea otters were not simply sunbathing after all. The rock was filled with dead corals which made the rock surface quite rough. We all were cut while holding on to the rock. Nevertheless, Benjamin and Adrian managed to get onto the dry part of the rock and posed for some pictures!!

There were much fun by the seaside despite the dirty waters.

Next, we went to Tropical Spice Garden, where the teens were invited by UnoQuest lady boss Christine Ho (Chin's mom) for some teamwork-based games. They were "Code Silence", "Nine Inch Nails", "10 Grams", and "Handcuff". The explanation is as follows (I hope I won't get condemned by UnoQuest for leaking their games - they were pretty basic games anyway).

Code Silence - Each member of a group is required to line up. The person at the end of the line must pass a code comprised of a series of numbers by drawing/tapping on the back of the person in front of him. After the last in line completed the passing of message, the next person need to continue the step towards the person in front of him, and this goes on till the first in line returns the correct message to the facilitator.

Nine Inch Nails - An set comprised of 9 pieces of nails and a styrofoam base (with a nail hole) was given to each team. The team needs to balance 8 nails on the 9th nail which is to be affixed on the styrofoam base.

10 Grams - A set of 2D geometric cards (of different shapes and sizes) is given to each team. Each team has to use ALL the cards to form specific complex shapes provided by the facilitator.

Handcuff - Team members need to arrange themselves in a circle, and each member is handcuffed by tying a piece of string around both wrists. The string of each member needs to be intertwined with the string of the persons next to him. The task - unlock themselves from the intertwined strings. The cuffs must not leave the wrists.

The fun was to watch them struggle while trying to accomplish all tasks and solve problems given to them. It is indeed great to see them work as a team. Although they were having though and frustrating 2 hours to finish all the tasks, they were having a lot of fun and enjoyment from the teamwork activities.

And lastly, the debriefing by Christine...

During our time in Tropical Spice Garden, we met the lovey-dovey couple - Benignus and Patrice. They were there to help out the teambuilding with UnoQuest customer earlier that day.

At about 5pm, we left Tropical Spice Garden, and at the exit gate, we managed to snap a group photo (Helena left early, even before the teambuilding, so she was not there).

We had an early dinner at KFC, before we headed for Batu Feringghi night market for DVD, games, and clothes shopping. It was indeed a tiring day (can see from some faces in the following picture), but it was also a great gettogether activity amongst the teens - far much better than spending the day on the Internet, or worse, in the Internet cafe.

Some of the fun photos captured.

Arsenal vs West Ham Utd

2008-10-27T01:59:00.007+08:00

Nope. I am not a hardcore Arsenal fan, nor West Ham fan. I am NOT even a hardcore football fan! But I find this hilarious.

I was watching two friends watching the match. One is an Arsenal fan, and the other anti-Arsenal.

The Arsenal fan went like this:

And, the anti-Arsenal:

Result:
Arsenal 2 - West Ham Utd 0

P.S. I know the TV screen kinda betrays me. Just for the fun of it la... :-D

Lockup For 6-Year-Old

2008-10-24T19:58:00.004+08:00

Dear Mr. PM,
On the 27th October 2008 Hindus in malaysia would be celebrating Deepavali-a festival to mark victory over evil.
This celebration does not mean anything to us so long as my Lawyer uncles are in prison,uncle RPK and all others are in prison under ISA.
Please release them as Divali Gift for all Malaysians.
Happy deepavali.Please visit my house for Deepavali. I will wait for you with Flowers and cakes.

Your loving daughter

Vwaishnnavi (signed)
6 years old
_________________________________________________________________

You write such a letter and try to send this to our deaf and blind PM, you will go to jail!!! On Thursday, October 23, 2008, as this 6-year-old girl Vwaishnnavi was trying to hand this letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi together with 11 adults (one of them is her mother), all the 12 of them was caught and sent to lockup. Read MalaysiaKini news here.

I know that many people have bombarded the PM, the police, and Syed Hamid on this matter. I just want to post this into my blog so that more people would be aware. I would not elaborate this. I just want to end this post with this message of mine:

6 years old is your current record. I am wondering if you are considering arresting 5yo, 4yo, 3yo, 2yo, 1yo, or toddlers. You may say that you are not actually arresting the girl (the girl is cared for by her mom), but she had indeed spent her day in the lockup. Everyone in the world saw a 6yo in lockup. Thank you very much, for once again showering shame on Malaysia!!!

P.S.

1. Thanks to MalaysiaKini for putting Vox Populi free. Everyone can read the frustrations of the rakyat for free. Read here

2. Vwaishnnavi was released later on the same day, but the damage was already done.

3. I purposely spelt the name Vwaishnnavi 3 times (not including the letter that I copied and pasted), to make a point that the authority has made a shameful limelight towards this little girl, and everyone including myself (I am bad at names) would remember this incident FOR LIFE!

Birthdays

2008-10-24T01:16:00.001+08:00

I was sending messages through Facebook Walls for the past few days - yes, birthday wishes. As a matter of fact, I sent 3 Wall messages on Wednesday, and another 3 on Thursday. On Friday, I am expecting to send another 3 Wall messages. And, when I launched my Firefox browser for my Facebook updates, guess what I found? I got 6 friends celebrating birthday on Saturday, and 7 friends celebrating on Sunday! See the following snapshots. I am not going to grey it out - so there would be no anonymity.

The following is the expanded view of birthday babes from October 22 to October 26.

The last week of October is indeed a very special week - and a very 'productive' one. And, September 22 is not that special after all (although that day is the most special day for me). :-P

My Delayed Pod Birthday Gift

2008-10-22T00:30:00.011+08:00

I backdated this blog post for two reasons. First, October 22 is a significant date... it's a month after my birthday. Second, I want to spread my posts, so that it doesn't appear so sporadic... LOL!

I received this in the airport, on the day Ian flew off to Melbourne. This was so sweet of my pod members - Gino, Ian, Ben, and Daniel. Thank you so much for being the younger brothers that I never had. With you guys, I feel like 20 even though the fact is I'm 30. :-) Indeed, 10 years means nothing to God (it might just mean a split-second to Him) - we are all indeed brothers in Christ.

My birthday card and present (Don Moen's latest album)

The card and CD

The close-up of the card (with messages from my pod members)
The following section contains some of the photos taken during pod gatherings. A great collection of moments we had amid our sharings, worshipping of the Lord, and talking craps. The last one was taken during Ian's farewell party, when Ben was off working in Kuala Lumpur.

Taken after one of the pod meeting (worship and intercession) in Ian's bedroom - Ben, Gino, Daniel, Ian, David

Taken at Cafe de Toilet, after our ~~first~~ second pod meeting - Gino, Ian, Ben, David, Daniel
[ First meeting was at Laksa Shack, Queensbay Mall. ]

Taken in Starbucks E-Gate, after Ian's birthday dinner - Daniel, Ben, Ian, David, Gino

I like this photo. Ben sent his double portion of YCF spirit during his absence!! Bwahahaha!!!

[Forwarded Mail] Financial News From Japan

2008-10-17T10:35:00.003+08:00

Regret more bad financial news.

Following the problems in the sub-prime lending market in America and the run on Northern Rock in the UK, uncertainty has now hit Japan.

In the last 7 days Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches. Yesterday, it was announced that Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will likely go for a song while today shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived. While Samurai Bank are soldiering on following sharp cutbacks, Ninja Bank are reported to have taken a hit, but they remain in the black. Furthermore, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank where it is feared that staff may get a raw deal.

Epilogue?

2008-10-17T02:24:00.006+08:00

All dogs go to Heaven.
So does Josephine.
Murderer and suicider goes to Hell.
So do inciters who kill, steal, and destroy.

[ I think a reminder of what I have learnt is needed here. ]

Period.

Against Comfort Zone and Fear

2008-10-15T23:32:00.009+08:00

[ In due respect to all parties, I would make the people mentioned in this article as anonymous as possible. And, mind you, since I have stopped using pseudonyms, A is NOT Andre, and B is NOT Ben. :-P ]

Today marks a month since our church (the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit) launched the Anti-ISA campaign. Alarmed by the arrest of one of our fellow Catholic MP for Seputeh constituency YB Sdri Teresa Kok last month, our church has responded with a Mass for Peace and Justice - inviting all the faithful in Penang Island District to come together, followed by the calling for prayer for anti-ISA, followed by exhibition booths for sale of Aliran magazines and anti-ISA badges, and distribution of yellow and purple ribbons as a sign of the anti-ISA spirit.

In order to further deepen the awareness amongst the parishoners, Assistant Parish Priest Fr Fabian Dicom deliberately put up his reflection into the first column of the weekly bulletin, titled "A Matter Of Conscience". I will not post the reflection here because you can find it in 5xmom's blog.

While some of us are pro human rights activism, we also found out that there are some who called themselves Christians are against the anti-ISA movement. There are anonymous feedbacks (actually, it is not that anonymous, if we really trace who received those feedbacks first-hand) that:

1. Comments that politics and religion should not be intermingled.
2. The parish priests are just too much, causing chaos more than peace.
3. Certain parishoners group together to pray so that the priests could stop the campaign.

Well, to the anti anti-ISA people, a few points that I want to elaborate here so that you can re-consider your stand. By the end of day I really hope that you could proudly proclaim with your heart that "you are a Christian".

Number 1. I am going to echo what has already been shared by two of my friends in church - with more elaboration, of course. Imagine this hypothetical dialogue:

A: I strongly disagree that Fr Fabian went that far, and now mingle into politics. Politics and religion CAN NEVER be mixed like rojak!
B: Tell me, what if one of your family members are caught by ISA?
A: Aiya, that can never happen la... we never talk politics, sure we won't kena, why bother?
B: Are you sure?
A: What do you mean?
B: Tan Hoon Cheng was doing her job, reporting the truth. Like that she also kena caught. Are you sure you will never kena?
A: Haiya... who ask Tan Hoon Cheng to become a reporter?
B: So, A, that means you despise Tan who speaks the truth la... and you don't want to tell the truth la, so that you won't have any shxt on yourself la, am I right?
A: ...

Well, I guess we all know that this conversation will lead to two Gospel passages. One is the infamous dialogue about the denial of Jesus by Peter (Matt 26:69-75, Mark 14:66-72, Luke 22:54-62, John 18:25-27), while the other is about Jesus denying in front of the Father those who deny Him (Matt 10:32-33). Well, you might think that denying Jesus is an accusation to those who talks like A. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). If a person calls himself a Christian, but doesn't want to talk about the truth, isn't he denying Jesus?

Number 2. We all should be aware of the current ISA detainees who are now suffering in Kamunting just because they speak the truth. And they were agonizing in pain just because they have the guts to fight for justice and fairness. Justice and fairness that we are still enjoying at the moment. You can read about one small part of their agony here (feasting on barbecued snake and birds).

If we say that the church should only focus on Christian rituals and rites, then we have missed three points. First, Jesus came to give us life to the fullest (John 10:10b), and to declare a 'year' of jubilation in the person of Himself (Luke 4:18-19) - NOT to bind us with rites and rituals! Second, who are we to tell others "padan muka" when we do not have the guts to speak for our own freedom? Third, WHERE is our sympathy? Where is the charity? Where is the brotherly love that we Christians are called to manifest? Are we going to be the Jewish rabbi that ignored the injured or the marginalized, or be a much hated yet good Samaritan that lends a helping hand from the bottom of his heart?

Our church calls us to put our faith in action. A faith based on the Truth which is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Many times, Jesus calls us not only to have faith, but to do His work according to our faith in Him. If we are to play safe and avoid doing things that might harm our comfort zone, whatever comfort we have could be taken away from us. Remember the one talent that the servant buried (Matt 25:24-30)? Being afraid is NOT an option. Jesus is also called the Lion of Judah. If we have faith that the Lion will save us, why are we afraid?

The least that we can do is to pray for justice and hence the abolishment of ISA. And, the least of the least that we can do is to pray for the same intention at home. Only God knows and listens. The "special guests" (who are special guests? read here) do not even know! So, why complain while you still can do it comfortably?

Number 3. If we pray for the priests to stop the campaign, we would be telling God, "God, please stop Your holy men from speaking about Your Son Who is the Truth!" Do you think God would answer such prayer? If you do, then you seriously do NOT know God.

One point that we ought to remember. 2000 years ago, Jesus could have just said in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Father, I don't feel like it. Dying for the people... uh uh, I don't think so!" He did otherwise. He did complain (by requesting the chalice to be taken away from Him), but he obeyed the Father ("Thy will be done"). Are we going to respond by telling the priests, "Praying for abolishment of ISA... uh uh, I don't think so"? Or, are we obedient enough to echo, "Fiat" - "be it done according to Thy will"? Are we willing to fight for the life and freedom that Jesus freely gave us through the shedding of His Blood?

P.S.

1. I categorize this post as Amen (it means Christian Faith lar...) and Rakyat, and not Politics. This is simply because the anti-ISA campaign is a campaign to fight for human rights amongst the rakyat.

2. I think the following event needs some publicity, so that we know how crafty those "special guests" could be. During the Gospel Reading on the Mass for peace and justice, there were people who came late for the Mass, and wanted to go into the church to catch what the priest has to say during the Homily. The "special guests" told them off, saying that "there is nothing happening", and shooed them and told them to go home. I'm very sorry to the "special guests", but the message would still go through.

College General Bicentennial Celebration

2008-10-14T18:50:00.022+08:00

About two weeks ago, on October 2, 2008, College General (the Catholic Major Seminary in Penang) celebrated its 200 years of anniversary. In order to give our thanksgiving to God for having blessed us with a faith formation center as well as a 'training ground' for thousands of holy people, a Mass was celebrated on October 2, 2008.

During the Bicentennial Mass, there were 6 archbishops, 7 bishops, about 100 priests, and 800 attendees present. I did not actually count the people; all figures were reported by media. ;-)

I am glad that I got to serve as a small instrument within the choir team. Although I did not actually see the whole scene (I was sitting at the 3rd row from the stage), I learnt from friends that the Mass was majestic. The entrance procession of the holy men (archbishops, bishops, and priests) were awesome! I really, really thank God for giving us all the opportunity to give the bit of ourselves to make the celebration a successful one.


The altar, with archbishops and bishops	The priests and congregation

Fellow bloggers' blog posts on the event:
5Xmom [1]
Andrew4JC [1][2][3]

At the position I was sitting throughout the Mass, I was at one of the best location to take photos of the altar and the bishops on stage. The following are some of the pictures I captured.


LCD screen for slideshow / video	The choir and musicians (From CG website)

The string triplet, plus the guitarist	The poser drummer :-)

Choir lazing around before Mass	Me with Brs Greg and Kevin

Male choir posing	Female choir posing

Caught Gino and Ian :-O	Me with Ian and Gino

Crucifix	Table of (un-consecrated) Host

The Mass


The Mass began (Altar with many bishops and archbishops)	The commentator


Main Celebrant Rt Rev Antony Selvanayagam	Lector for 1st Reading	Lector for 2nd Reading

Gospel Reading	The Homily	Eucharistic Prayer


"This is My Body..."	"This is My Blood..."

"Through Him, with Him, in Him..."	"This is the Lamb of God..."

The Speeches


Most Rev Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio (Apostolic Delegate)	YB Sdr Chow Kon Yeow (representing Penang Chief Minister YB Sdr Lim Guan Eng)	Rev Fr Edwin Paul (Rector of College General)

Some additional pictures taken the evening before the Mass, which is during the rehearsal.


College General Hall launching plaque	The Stage as the altar

Statue of Vietnamese martyrs (Saints)	CG Martyr memorial plaque

Scenic view of Tg Bungah from CG	Portrait of Priesthood

Stage/Altar decor	Stage/Altar decor


Br Kevin with his handycam	Emilio the guitarist	Glenn the photographer


Andre the organist	Aaron the drummer... erm, drummer missing

Andrew the violist	Brs Kevin and Greg the psalmist

Victorious Life

2008-10-11T20:15:00.008+08:00

Last Wednesday, SWYF had its regular biweekly Intercessory Meeting. This meeting was a bit different from the previous meetings. The worship lasted for about 2 hours, where God decided to open the spiritual eyes of some of the people who attended the meeting. Thus, God led us into deep worship, and He revealed Himself to all of us. The following are the testimonies of the night (made anonymous):

- Jesus appeared as a shepherd, with a lamb by its side, running around the group of attendees and back to Jesus.
- Cloud of Glory hovering above the center of the circle, with dusts of gold falling
- Jesus walking in front of the people in the circle and ministering each of us
- Jesus frantically talking baggages from our outstretched hands
- Mother Mary lifting up a basket of written prayers and petitions (co-held by one of us) towards Heaven, making the basket to be light.
- Chariots of horses and angels joyfully gliding around the center where the glory of God appeared.

From the sensing and discernment of some of us, the SWYF weekly meeting on the coming Friday (3 days from the Intercessory meeting - yesterday) would be a ministering night.

And so, on Friday, as Stephen led the congregation to worship in the beginning, I could feel the touch of God right at the beginning. Only one song was used - Hear Our Praises. As the word in the bridge i.e. Hallelujah was sung, the glory of God could be immediately felt! And, the anointing appeared as something like a whirlwind on the spot of the ceiling about 1 meter away from me, at 4 o'clock from my direction.

After a short introductory praise and worship, Andre led us with a short session of exhortation. The content was based on the conversion of St Paul. Many of the people would think that Saul (pre-conversion name of St Paul) was evil and a bad man. However, according to him, he was living in the era of the Pharisees, and, being a Pharisee himself, he was actually doing what he thought was right - destroy the group of "heretic" people who called themselves Christians, and restore the Jewish faith to God of Abraham. He also pointed that many of us in the present would behave the same as well - an example is the Hindu society in India is actually using the similar torture and death threats to the local Christians. In the eyes of Hindu, they are right. However, God took charge of the conversion of Saul. During the conversion, Saul experienced 3 days of darkness, before the direct Word from God about Ananias healing Saul's eyes came and pass.

Coincidentally, there were some who experienced difficulty and reluctance to come of the Intercessory meeting, and there were some who experienced hindrances from Wednesday and Friday. It resembled the 3 days of darkness in Saul's conversion, and more so, 3 days of darkness from Crucifixion to Resurrection!! And hence, we claimed the promise that then the 3 days of darkness of nights would end with a dawn - a dawn where breakthrough happens.

Indeed, Friday was the night where every person who attended was ministered by God Himself! I could not tell how others felt, but I do feel that, after the meeting, I became ultra-sensitive. I felt like I was touched even when the "Penitential Rite" (I Confess) was being recited. I watched "Mama Mia!" for the second time just now, and (while I did not feel touched during my first time watching), I shed tears when Donna was dressing up for Sophie's wedding.

I have also faced with a small miracle just now. I was on my way to Gurney Plaza for "Mama Mia!" after Mass, and while I was driving, I felt that I wanted to park outside (it cost me RM1.20) as compared to inside the Gurney Plaza car park (which cost at least RM4). So, I was driving around the busy Gurney Drive, and just muttered a short prayer ("I want a car park."). Miraculously, on second round I found a car that was about to leave. Amid the busy and seemingly no-carpark road there was one available at the right moment (if the car left slightly earlier or later, I would not have spotted it). Praise God!

Wait, the miracle has not ended! Half an hour before the movie started, Andre called me and told me that he was stuck in Pulau Tikus (5 minutes away from Gurney Plaza), because his car's alternator malfunctioned, causing his car to 'die'. So, I gotta leave my lovely car park in order to fetch him and his passengers! I thought - why did God give me a nice car park and yet took it away from me. After that thought, I decided that I gotta praise Him no matter what. So, praising God, I drove off. While I was on my way to Pulau Tikus, a sensing suddenly struck me. If I had not have that car park, I would have driven up to Gurney Plaza car park, and that would be much more difficult to get out - we all might be late for the movie (I was holding ALL the tickets!!). And so, praise God that I got the nice car park, that I would be able to fetch Andre and his gang and still able to be on time.

I am further reminded that Jesus came to give us victorious life. Indeed - victorious in MANY MANY ways... even in the very small aspects of our lives. Amen.

Majesty, Power, Love

2008-10-06T01:43:00.006+08:00

Yep. That's Jesus.

I was listening to Paradise Church's Power In The Name on my way from basketball to dinner place. At first I sang along (I was fetching Ian and Kevin, and they were listening and singing along too). Then, I sort of went into moment of worship, and the first line of the chorus hit right into my heart.

"Majesty, power and love"

I wept. So majestic and powerful He is, on the Throne of Heaven, yet, because of His overwhelming love, He came down to earth as man, and died for all of us. All. Everyone. Sinners. Unworthy, yet saved by One.

Never underestimate the Name of Jesus. It means Savior. Savior to all mankind.

Power In The Name
Words and Music by Ollie Sebastian
© 2002 Paradise Music

Isn't there something beautiful when you call you that Name
Isn't there power amazing when in unity we say
"Jesus Your love upon that hill means we are saved"
Jesus there is power in Your Name

Majesty, power and love
Holiness, peace from above
With me in mind, Lord You took the blame
Jesus there is power in Your Name

Lunch @ Bon Appetit

2008-10-01T22:09:00.002+08:00

I owe this blog post to Patrice. It has been 3 weeks late. Sorry, ma'am... ;-)

Every Thursday Patrice and her coursemates would go through something like a practical, to put their skills of preparing and serving food to customers in action. And, I felt guilty for not able to make it one Thursday noon to witness Patrice in action, so I decided to make it up on the Thursday 3 weeks ago (September 11). I was accompanied by Ben.

We reached KDU's Bon Appetit at about 12:05pm, which was 5 minutes late. We were quickly served by Patrice's colleague / coursemate. Ben ordered a Teriyaki Chicken Rice set, while I ordered Tandoori Chicken Rice set. Each came with appetizer, fruits and coffee/tea, and cost RM12 per set.

The food served was not bad, considering that the cooks were all students. The best was the appetizer - tomyam chicken pai tee (Patrice, please correct me... LOL). It was fantastic.

The service was okay too in overall. There were 5 waiters/waitresses serving our table! LOL! Perhaps by Patrice's command... just kidding. I could sense that the service was provided in a very cautious manner. The few comments that I have:

- Perhaps the entree could be served in a smaller (rectangular) plate. The reason was that the table was small, and the portion was less than half the size of the plate.

- A waitress accidentally removed the dining spoon from Ben's seating. Ben had to sit there for a minute after entree was served before he could "itadakimasu" (:-P).

- [This was from Ben] The bill should be shown only to the one who called the bill (me... :-)). [This was from me] The bill should be held horizontally and not slanting (coins or notes would fly off).

Hmm... too bad Patrice was not serving us. Nevertheless, we got our sole entertainment - Lim Mei Mei was around! Hehehe... Patrice, you are free to share this post with your coursemates. :-)

Some pictures on food and funky (funny) Ben...

Funny Ben with the appetizer (pai tee)

Ben's teriyaki chicken rice

My tandoori chicken rice

A serving of fruits after meal

30

2008-10-01T14:56:00.013+08:00

September 22, 2008 marked the end of my 20's. Yes, it was my 30th birthday! And, having to put the first step into the 30's made me think of a lot of things. The thing that I thought most was the time that I have wasted for 30 years of my life - like spending 7 years of my life with the same job in the same company (don't get me wrong, I don't mean I dislike my job... hahaha), wasting 3 years being with someone that I eventually found out that it was far from suitable, being too extravagant that I did not manage to live in a self-owned property, and being not extravagant enough to travel (especially to other countries).

Well, amid the not-so-good things that was in my mind, I felt blessed that I get to live, love, and being loved for 30 years (and the clock is still ticking). Well, I do actually feel blessed with the sweet and bittersweet experiences that I had! Yep, blessings are what I should count, not woes.

Now, the memorable parts. I had spent a total of 5 occasions of birthday treats. Cool eh... hahaha...
- Sep 8: Cantor's group co-celebration with Ben
- Sep 19: PE POG group lunch (co-celebrate with Jessie, Whee Yan, and Chia Ling)
- Sep 21: Co-celebration with Ben (again) and Songxin by bball gang
- Sep 22: PE NPG group lunch (co-celebrate with Swee Aun, Weng Hong, KH and Ai Choo)
- Sep 30: Another co-celebration with Ben, by Andre, Gino, and Ian (to my dismay - in TGIF!!!)

Apart from that, I received:
- 33 greetings in my Facebook Wall and 3 in my Friendster Comments
- 10 SMS greetings
- Innumerable phone calls wishing me birthday

Thank you everyone for all your warm wishes and treats... ;-)

Some of my memorable shots...

[September 21]
Location: Secret Recipe, Belissa Row, Pulau Tikus
Time: 10:30pm

[September 22]
Location: The Dome, Queensbay Mall
Time: 1:00pm

[September 30]
Location: TGI Friday, Queensbay Mall
Time: 1:30pm

P.S. A prize for those who read till the end. At this point I'm sure you know what my primary love language is! LOL!

Stalled Postings

2008-09-26T10:31:00.002+08:00

I have not been posting anything about myself. Including some overdue posts on my trips, good, comments, reviews, and even my 30th birthday! Well, gotta give way to something more important ma... human rights and freedom! Hahaha...

Will update my blog post as soon as I can. :-)

It's Not Over Yet

2008-09-20T15:14:00.009+08:00

Yes, Teresa Kok was already released since yesterday afternoon. All cases against her was dropped. Our prayers for Teresa are answered. Yet, it is not over.

Other than a Mass for peace and justice, the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit will also be launching a prayer campaign, calling for continuous prayer for peace and justice in our beloved Bolehland. Or rather, an anti-ISA campaign. I was in church this morning (actually I am still in church now :-P), and took some photos on the banner being hung and setting up of the candle place.

Banner being hung and balanced. 4 youths were helping that time. With due request, I did not put the pictures with 4 heads sticking out. :-P

Another landscape banner beside the Holy Spirit Hall

Job done!

A 'cupboard' for placing candles from the faithful

[ Updated 8pm ]

Faith in action - Parishoners began flocking around the candle place, lighting candles and storming Heaven with a common prayer and petition

Assistant parish priest Fr Henry Rajoo seen in action

Beautifully lit. More importantly, many prayers were offered up.

I hope the cupboard would not be incinerated! Well, it could be, considering God did send fire and accept Elijah's offering 2500 years ago.

Something to tell the gomen that "WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!!!"

916 Movie Awards

2008-09-19T08:51:00.009+08:00

The following are all written in Chinese. I got it from one of the recent forwarded emails. It was hilarious!! I tried to translate it, but due to the way it was put, and due to my half-past-six Chinese, I was not able to do it. Can someone help? LOL!

916 电影展

最佳电影：《308之夜》
最佳导演：安华《916之梦》
最佳男主角：伯拉《梦中人》
最佳女主角：郭素沁《监狱风云之火箭十三妹》
最佳男配角：阿末伊斯迈《寄人篱下》
最佳女配角：陈云清《洗冤录3》
最佳新人：赛夫《股惑仔之后庭开花》
最具人气：柏特拉《光头博客》
最佳外国电影 / 最佳编剧 / 最佳特效 / 最佳剪接：纳吉《人肉叉烧包之蒙古碎尸》
最佳本土电影：《林甘正传》
最佳成人电影：《老蔡传奇之同一个房间》
最佳悬疑片：《C+侦探之一切由失踪开始》
最佳恐怖片：《午夜凶令之ISA》
最佳旅游宣传片：《远走高飞之台湾考察团》
最佳电影主题曲：行动党《改变》
最佳服装设计：黄燕燕《透明睡衣》
终身成就奖：马哈迪《黑马王子之重出江湖》
评审团：大马人民

P.S: Nope. I don't think I want to translate that, or else I will either be making a new movie called 《大伟蒙眼博客》, or become a "ke-le-fe" in the Best Horror Movie.

9 Days Of Worship

2008-09-18T08:36:00.007+08:00

September 7, 2008 (Sunday)
Attended Holy Mass. Yes, the Holy Mass, formally called the Eucharistic Celebration, is the highest form of Catholic worship. That weekend, I served as a cantor for the Mass - yep, our cantor team (led by Andre) were singing.

September 8, 2008 (Monday)
Cantor's practice. Every Monday we practise songs that are to be used during the coming Mass(es). By training our voice and musical talents and offer it up to God during Mass, it is indeed a form of worship - to show the worthship of God by giving the give He has entrusted us back to God for the building of His kingdom, and to be God's instrument to minister to His people through His songs.

September 9, 2008 (Tuesday)
A session of intercession of worship. Enough said (some privacy for myself).

September 10, 2008 (Wednesday)
A session of general intercession of worship. We prayed for various areas within Shalom Working Youth Fellowship, as well as for the church and country. The whole session lasted for almost 3 hours. Worship and intercession were great. Felt energetic and empowered by God throughout the session, but was dead tired after that.

September 11, 2008 (Thursday)
Went to IC Shalom in Church of the Immaculate Conception, Pulau Tikus. Praise and worship was good. The sharing given by Andre is about "Sent by Christ the Word", where he broke the word in the Gospel passage about the man possessed by Legion. He compared Legion (multitude of evil spirits possessing the man) with the many hurts or Chaos that we humans collected through time, and how Jesus the Christ come to cast out the spirits/heal our hurts, and how we as healed Christians are Called to testify the goodness of God. With an overtime, he ended the talk and proceeded with another sesion of worship and ministering. I could feel the strong (manifested) presence of God at the center of the church, and the ministering session touched a few individuals. I was helping in laying hands onto an elderly man, and I could not hold my hand still... the presence was strong!! During the same session I got to know the coordinator for IC Shalom - Glenn (Michelle's husband - I met Michelle during the Paradise Workshop and Concert).

September 12, 2008 (Friday)
As usual, Friday is Shalom Working Youth Fellowship night! We were having a great time worshiping. And, after worship, there was a session of ministering for married couples. This session was consistent with the burden that we felt during the intercessory meeting two days earlier (see above). I was moved to tears when one of the couples were being prayed over. During the sharing, Leoreen introduced the 5 languages of love (as written by Gary Chapman) - words of affirmation, quality time/moments, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. She explained that it was necessary for a person to not only know his/her own language of love, but also learn the language of the person that he/she loved.

September 13, 2008 (Saturday)
Meeting for Psalmistry ministry members (comprising of SWYF worship leaders, musicians, backup singers, backup dancers, and slide handlers). The word that was broken by Andre was on an Old Testament reading. It was about how Elisha focused on the God of his master Elijah, and how Elisha had his first-hand experience of the presence of the Lord when Elijah was being taken up to Heaven. He shared that we in the ministry need to have and dive into this first-hand experience in order for us to understand what we are doing and hence know how to testify to other SWYF members. The time of worship was indeed awesome! Although the awe initially came as my own response of diving into the worship, the awe of God's presence was strongly felt when we were broken into smaller groups of three. I could feel that Jesus was in our midst, and, as we were holding hands, I could envision the sign of heart/love being formed amongst our bound hands!

September 14, 2008 (Sunday)
Attended Holy Mass. Yep, time of the highest form of Catholic worship.

September 15, 2008 (Monday)
Attended the Mass for Peace and Justice. I was amazed that the number of people attending this Mass could be compared to normal Sunday Mass - the church was almost packed! Well, we had one common intention during the Mass - to celebrate the goodness of the Lord, to acknowledge His promise of the Beatitude, and to pray in one voice for the abolishment of the draconian ISA.

Nine consecutive days of worship! It was synonymous to a novena to the Holy Spirit! Amen!

Beatitudes Of All Times

2008-09-17T18:38:00.010+08:00

Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the hill. There He sat down and was joined by His disciples. The He began to speak. This is what He taught them:

"How happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy the gentle; they shall have the earth for their heritage.
Happy those who mourn; they shall be comforted.
Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right; they shall be satisfied.
Happy the merciful; they shall have mercy shown them.
Happy the pure in heart; they shall see God.
Happy the peacemakers; they shall be called sons of God.
Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; that is how they persecuted the prophets before you."

The above Scripture passage (from the Gospel according to Matthew 5:1-12) is the core of the meekness and humility that every Christian inherits. It is none other than the introduction to our Lord Jesus Christ's Sermon of the Mount, called the Beatitudes. Rather, this is the promise that God gives us if we walk the land with the love of Christ, amid all kinds of suffering. A promise that not only stood true 2000 years ago, but also true here right now.

The above passage was also chosen as the Gospel reading for the Mass for Peace and Justice last Monday evening in Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. It was a Mass celebrated with a special intention - which is to pray for the abolishment of the draconian Bolehland law called the Internal Security Act (ISA). The ISA dragnet on last Friday which involved the arrest of blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, journalist Tan Hoon Cheng, and opposition MP Teresa Kok has called an uproar amongst the society, opposition leaders, and even amongst the government ministers and leaders within the ruling coalition!

Amid all the chaos and uproar, Home Minister Syed Hamid first proclaimed that the arrest was championed by the police without his consent, and that one of the arrests was of goodwill which is the provision of protection. The very next day the same minister dropped hint that he was only doing his job (pertaining to the so-called 'security threat' by the arrested trio).

And so, "WE ARE FED UP. WE ARE ANGRY. WE WANT CHANGE!" One of the introductory words to Fr Fabian Dicom's sermon. [I felt the same, and am tired of all the lies.] Fr Fabian began his sermon with the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World which is as follows:

"The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ."

He highlighted that we were tired of the suppression of truth, how ISA caused misery amongst the arrested, and how ISA has caused so much nonsense in the society. As ISA breeds injustice and violation to human rights, we as Christians need to respond instead of being complacent. We are called to make a difference, and hence we need to put our faith in action, be it active in prayer for peace and justice, or bold and courageous to speak against injustice. We were now probably one voice away from making a difference in our country Malaysia, and we need that once voice to get Malaysia back. [A Malaysia with peace, justice, credibility, accountability, and transparency.]

During the Thanksgiving Hymn, the song "Be Not Afraid" moved me to tears. It was a message that God is always with the oppressed, and God will always be before us if we have faith in His promise amid all persecutions. And yes, the song also marks Scripture promises that we the faithful need to claim.

Prior to the end of the Mass, there was a simple candle light service. Each parishoner and priest was given a candle (free) that was lit from the Paschal candle. Within seconds the whole church was lit only by candle lights (all church lights were switched off, with the exception of the tabernacle and Word of God column at the altar). As a gesture to provide spiritual support to all ISA detainees, all of us raised and waved our candles while singing "We Have Overcome", "Lagu Rakyat", "Suara Rakyat", and "Prayer For Peace".

At the end of the service, Fr Francis Anthony gave a short speech, and at that time he deliberately "welcomed" certain special "guests", which he said he was sure (and I believe true) they were indeed present there. And, in front of the special "guests", Fr Francis reminded us that we are called to be peacemakers and NOT peacekeepers.

And, at the end of the Mass, a strong message embedded in the Final Hymn "Go Tell Everyone" was sung. When Jesus resurrected 2000 years ago, not even the Roman Empire could hide it from the world. In the same way, I believe and have faith that the strong message of anti-ISA could not be hidden as well. And I do hope that our special "guests" receives this message (specially from all of us the parishoners) well and with open heart. I do pray that God would touch the hearts of the "guests", as well as those who has already wronged so many rakyats.

By the way, I totally agree with Fr Fabian that the arrest of RPK, Tan and Kok could be labeled as the silliest accuse in the Guinness Book of Records.

Notice of the special Mass, risalah (brochure) and anti-ISA tag that I bought (for mere RM1)

Parishoners and priests lifting their candles
Blog posts of some of my fellow blogger friends:
http://www.chanlilian.net/2008/09/15/reason-why-teresa-kok-is-detained...
http://anilnetto.com/christianity/catholic-cathedral-in-penang-denounces-isa/

For the gomen fellas that still support ISA and might be reading this, the following is a small token from me:

[ ISA is in block letters, and it means Internal Security Act, not Nabi Isa. ]

Peace Vs Chaos

2008-09-13T02:24:00.006+08:00

For the past 3 weeks, a very hot and sensitive topic was discussed across Bolehland. It is none other than Ahmad Ismail reportedly saying that Malaysian Chinese are mere squatters during a by-election campaign. As a result, we have several happenings, listed as follows:

1. PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi saying on Ahmad Ismail's behalf that the latter did not mean what he said.
2. DPM Najib Abdul Razak apologizing on Ahmad's behalf.
3. Ahmad denied apology and remorse, and warned Chinese not to be like American Jews.
4. One UMNO leader tearing Gerakan leader Koh Tsu Koon's poster.
5. Ahmad suspended from active politics for 3 years.
6. Arrest of a journalist under ISA.
7. [ Rumor ] Call to boycott so-called petrol station owned by Ahmad and Nasi Kandar chains that supported Ahmad.

Looking at the rumor alone, we might think that... Alamak... Penang is in danger. Many have recommended that Chinese should not wander around streets of Penang at night. Well, come and think about it. If the rumors are true, and if all Malays in Penang are like the one who did the poster tearing, we would indeed be in grave danger!

Anyway, today at about 45 minutes past midnight, I went to a Nasi Kandar stall, filled with Malays, to buy two packets of nasi lemak. I walked past the seated Malays, approached the stall manned by Mamak (Muslim Indian), and ordered two sets of nasi lemak to go. After that, I walked past the seated Malays again towards my car. Then, I drove away. Guess how I felt? I felt the presence of peaceful and calm Malay and Indian buddies. Well, I would call them buddies because from a quick glance, I could see kindness and friendliness in their eyes. Peace, my brethren.... peace.

I sort of have a conclusion. While a remnant brethren want chaos, almost all want PEACE. So, what are the remnants actually fighting for?

Too Hilarious Not To Share

2008-09-01T09:49:00.006+08:00

Last week I encountered something hilarious, twice.

First, "the USB multi-funcfional"... haha... sounds weird? Yes, it was called such way. It was actually a multiple-channel (or to be spelt correctly, multi-functional) USB hub. The following pictures will make your stomach burst ("pecah perut" as labeled in the most recent Senario movie tag line). I did ROTFLMHO!! Wakakakakaka!

USB hub casing, front view

USB hub casing, back view, with description of usage

Due to my cell phone camera not able to auto-focus, the picture was a bit blur, so was the wording. So, I retyped as follows:

"When you are traveling,Do you bring the very more USB cable?Is it very trable?Now, you have the USB multi funcfional,the door is throw wide open to your."

??? ---- !!! ---- Wakakakakakaka!!!

Second, a banner I saw in Mayang Mall. It was located outside a job-hunting company, where they have this banner looking for Production Operators for certain companies. Read the wording carefully. The English translation was supposed to be "Production Operators, Female or Male". Because of forced simplicity in wordings and punctuation, I myself at the first glance interpreted it as: "Female / Male Producing Operators". Hmm... Mass production of human clones?? Muahahahahahahahahh!!!!

Permatang Pauh By-Election

2008-08-27T00:36:00.016+08:00

The result was out (9:50pm - MalaysiaKini, 11:00pm - TheStar). Anwar Ibrahim (PR-PKR) got 31,195 votes. Arif Shah Omar Shah (BN-UMNO) 15,524 votes. Hanafi Hamat (Ind-Akim) 92 votes. 599 votes were ruled to be spoilt. This sum up to 81.1% voter turnout, or 47,410 out of 58,459 registered voters.

The support for Anwar and PKR has not changed so much. Rather, there were more support shown in the by-election, as Wan Azizah's majority vote margin of 13,388 in March 8 was broken by her husband's 15,671 majority vote, amid the sodomy allegation against him. Anwar was combating on a non-level playing field at PKR's disadvantage, and yet able to win. The ultra intensive attention poured out by BN, particularly Najib Abdul Razak who spent most of his time campaigning for his comrade (Arif Shah), was useless. All the campaign ceramahs, money, and tactics poured by BN to discredit Anwar seemed not helpful at all. The people in Permatang Pauh who have voted against BN have, in one voice, spoke directly to BN that all the efforts to fish for votes do and will not work. And more importantly, BN need to be receptive of these many-fold messages.

To many people, it was malicious to have the polling day set on Tuesday rather than on weekend. This decision by Election Committee had indeed created a major hindrance to the voters in Permatang Pauh, compromising the basic citizen rights of 58,459 registered voters. As an ultimate counter-action to safeguard their citizen rights, Penang CM Lim Guan Eng, with his power in his office, declared a holiday on the polling day. And, salute to the voters, the turnout rate was slightly better than March 8 election. Imagine, more voters are willing to turn out at polling stations on a weekday. The have chosen to rank their basic rights above anything else!

One person I would really salute: Hanafi Hamat. Having harvested only 92 votes throughout the polling hours, he was doomed to have his deposit lost in the by-election. Yet, he was there during the official announcement of the final results. He stayed at the battle till the end, even though it was obvious that he was going to lose - I guess throughout the 4-hour vote counting period, by the 3rd hour he should have known that he's lost. Salute to him!

On the other hand, it was reported that Arif Shah was nowhere to be found during the official announcement. Where was he? Why did he disappear instead of facing the truth there and then? Although he's lost in the by-election, he is still a legitimate state assemblyman of N10 Seberang Jaya constituency. The best that he could actually do was to show face, and let the voters that voted for him now as well as back in March 8 felt that he was still a hero and a sporting contestant among them. His very action of disappearing would cost him a disaster in his upcoming career as an assemblyman, as he had failed to honor the votes that has been cast for him. I do not know how Seberang Jaya voters would feel, but out of empathy, I would feel disheartened to have such an assemblyman.

Well, I guess the one person that did turn a sour face was Najib. Najib ranted that he was disappointed at the action of aggressive stopping of 5 buses by PKR supporters, who believed that those buses ferry phantom voters. According to Najib, the buses are supposed to ferry BN supporters. He also added that PKR did bring in supporters from outside. Well, one thing sure is that, the police had announced a day earlier that non-voters were advised not to step into Permatang Pauh. Which means, be it BN supporters from outside or PKR supporters from outside, they were not supposed to be there. In addition, even if the 5 buses contain phantom voters or BN supporters, it would not improve much on BN's vote count. Rather than feeling disappointed, Najib should gracefully accept the defeat, and spend some time pondering how he could listen more to the rakyat's needs and fulfilling it. In any case, the win by Anwar does pose a great threat to Najib, as both are called prime minister in-waiting.

Throughout the 10 days of campaigning and polling, Malaysians could see from different angles the true colors of many politicians and supporters, and experience one of the greatest political wrestle for votes of all times. It is indeed the mother of all by-elections.

Picture above is courtesy of MalaysiaKini.

The Magic Charm For Fuel Price Drop

2008-08-26T13:06:00.005+08:00

I was reading one of the most recent vox populi (voices of the people) compilation from MalaysiaKini, and was amused at one of the response. It sounded like this:

Jo Dumas: As if March 8 was not enough evidence, the lowering of oil prices is again a sign of Anwar being a lucky charm for this country. He's not even in Parliament yet and he has been able to lower oil prices. Just imagine what this country would be destined for if he was in parliament, or even if he was the prime minister. This proves scare-mongers and doom-sayers like Khairy wrong.

Hey, it is a good reverse psychology, voiced out by a true intelligent Malaysian! Well, if the non-intelligent people can use reverse psychology to hand out bogus pamphlets, what the more intelligent rakyat can do!

How true it is, that Anwar is, even right now, in control of the direction the fuel prices are going. If there is no by-election, our 'beloved' PM would have kept his promise in reviewing fuel prices after Sept 1, and not announced price slash on Aug 22. Cool! Anwar is indeed powerful.

Haiya... I should not have puked on number four. It is indeed a good sign anyway. Thanks for the reminder, Jo Dumas. And, thanks to Pak Lah for giving us back 15 sen and helping us know who is more powerful!

Shameless Ng

2008-08-24T23:56:00.006+08:00

Today, another fresh news from MalaysiaKini stated that Women, Family and Community Development Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen openly handed out envelopes containing RM200 to 156 Chinese elderly at a function in Permatang Pauh. In addition, Ng called on those present to support the BN as she emphasised that the ruling coalition was a government which took care of everyone.

As reported in MalaysiaKini, she denied the money she gave was a form of bribery, and she stressed that neither was it a form of election goodies. She said the money was given out by the National Welfare Foundation, a government-linked non-profit organisation she heads. According to her, it was a mere coincident that the financial aid came in at the sensitive time of the by-election. She added that it was an annual activity organised by the foundation.

When I read the news, I thought right away: Wah, she really did that ah? Nope, I have not puked anything yet, although I just had a heavy dinner.

Annual activity? It is indeed a low-profile annual activity indeed. Other than the over-publicized annual activity that happened to happen today, I have not heard of the foundation doing any charity work. Never have I heard of the foundation giving out money to the elderly.

Having said that, if the money is for welfare purpose, it should be done in sincerety. Means, you give and never ask anything in return. Anyway, it's not for this particular case - so much insincerety as perceived from MalaysiaKini's report.

Now the questions: What the heck was she doing when she talked about supporting BN? What is government taking care of everyone gotta do with the donation receipients' rights to choose their wakil rakyat? Why was the money from a welfare foundation given unwillingly? Why do you tell the receipients to support BN if the money is given for welfare? Why bother asking the receipients do this and that - why do the receipients need to fill up forms, photocopy their IC, and give their thumbprints? What kind of form is that? The rakyat want to know! And, do you ever request signature from a person receiving donation from you? Rubbish!!

Coincidence? I also want that kind of coincidence, especially on money matters, or else I would not be painstakingly blogging!! Really... you think we Malaysians are stupid ah? How can she expect everyone to be stupid?

I really can't believe it! She dares to do that - what a shameless act!!

Enough said. My breath is not smooth now (我好唔顺气). I just want to ask Ng Yen Yen one more question... Do you know how to write "shame" in Chinese characters (知道<丑>字怎样写吗)?

My number six (topping up the earlier five). UEKKKKKKK!!!

Basketball And TGIF Again

2008-08-24T23:30:00.006+08:00

Last Sunday's basketball turnout rate is kinda disappointing, as there were only 6 of us: Andre, Derrick, Jorge (Davis), Boris, Kwok Weng, and I. It was kinda expected, as the dark clouds were hovering above the sky - just like the gigantic saucer in ID4. :-P

As expected, when we were about to start our 3-on-3, 8-point, best-of-5 game, it started drizzling. There are pros and cons playing in the rain. Pros - it was cooling, we did not get tired or thirsty that easily, and it slowed down the game. Cons - it was bad for catching a cold, and it was too slippery that we might end up tripping or spraining our ankles.

The team setting was like this: Andre, Derrick, Kwok Weng vs Jorge, David, Boris. My team won two games, but due to my many mistakes, we lost two games thereafter. On the fifth game, we were leading with 7-6, when we were kicked out of the court, firstly because it was late (about 8pm), secondly because the rain was getting heavier. Unofficially we won. A tiring game indeed - my inner thighs are still aching now.

Next, we had dinner in TGIF. We happened to know that day itself, that it was Kwok Weng's birthday. Since it was Kwok Weng's first time in TGIF, he was not aware of what he would go through. We knew... heheh! And so, Kwok Weng ordered a serving of chicken fettucini... (sorry, Andre, what was that sauce?), while the rest ordered hamburgers with fries. What a hearty meal! We were also busy watching Astro sports channel on the Closing Ceremony of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. I was also doing something online with my wife (my laptop lar...).

And finally, the show began. The TGIF waiters and waitresses, 4 of them altogether, came and presented Kwok Weng with a chocolate cake for birthday. With a price - to stand on the chair and sing a song in front of everybody, and to blow the candle from a distance of, like, 2 metres. He was very shy in the beginning, but after much nudging, he sang at last - the first two lines of the chorus of the song 童话 (by Michael Wong). We forced him to encore (so bad are we). After that, it was the usual birthday presentation by the TGIF people. It's quite fun watching them do it, and that time I was video recording it using my cell phone!

According to Kwok Weng, that was his first ever birthday celebration. I'm so glad that I gotta celebrate his birthday together with all of us bunch of new friends (with the exception of Boris). Yep, I only knew him for barely one month. Hope that we could celebrate with him in future. Ahh... perhaps next celebration with either Boris or Kevin (passed liao)... in TGIF again! Muahahahah!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KWOK WENG.

Kwok Weng forced to stand and sing, usual trick by TGIF on birthday babes

Kwok Weng with his birthday chocolate cake

The bball gang: [From left] David, Boris, Kwok Weng, Jorge, Derrick, Andre

Sub-Zero Reputation

2008-08-24T16:11:00.003+08:00

Yes... From zero to sub-zero. I'm on one side of my mind impressed on the fed gomen's action, showing their nothing-to-lose desperation. On the other side, I feel disgusted at the extent of their action - foul and filthy. When I finish this post, I'm gonna puke.

UEKKKKKK!!! Oops... sorry! Can't hold on any longer. Hope August 26 pass with a smooth and gracious combat.

Why am I impressed and disgusted at the same time?

1. Usage of an un-investigated sodomy case as "hujah" for by-election campaign. Everyone knows that, in the name of Madam Justice the Blind, a person is innocent unless proven guilty. Some of our fed gomen leaders even voiced out this point (as if nobody knows). However, there are some jerks out there hailing "sodomy" during the by-election campaign. Sodomy - Is this word relevent? A country led by a sodomite - Is this not a statement of prejudice? Where is "innocent unless proven guilty"? Is it not childish? Extremely, I dare say.

By the way, in due respect to the departed ones, I do not agree with the yelling of the name "Altantuya" during the campaign neither. Let her rest in peace, guys. And, one note - two blacks do not make a white.

2. Having full-force concentration on Permatang Pauh. Cool... Imagine - all the big shots, including our "beloved" DPM and even our "beloved" PM, paid a visit to a constituency 400 km from their administrative base. So much time to help in the campaign... C'mon la... put more time on something more important... Wait, having a swift win in Permatang Pauh is of course important! Eesh... what am I talking? By the way, I am not at all surprised that KJ was there. I am also not at all surprised that our Olympic silver medalist Lee Chong Wei was invited there (although this part I do feel disgusted... yes, I do, and not I did, because I am still wanting to vomit... wait... UEKKK!!!).

3. The efficiency of ACA... in being so fast in investigation and charging of the two Perak Excos (PKR state assemblymen). I'm just wondering... why not only one, and why not three? Well, perhaps it is just coincident that they found two and exactly two PKR assemblymen involved in bribery, and have nothing to do with 31-28 becoming 29-30 (hopefully not). On the other hand, I am also curious... I remembered that there are also fed gomen people, including the big shots, being reported to ACA for having involved in pribery. What happened to the cases? Missing files? Where are the investigative efforts on them? Oh ya... some of the efforts went to Perak.

4. This part I really wanna puke. It has been said that there will be no fuel price slash till before Sept 1, and it was announced by our 'beloved' PM twice, on Aug 14 and Aug 20. SURPRISE!!! Fuel price slash on Aug 22. Although I am one of Malaysian citizens that is more than glad to have to pay less for my petrol, I am very disgusted at the action taken - a nothing-to-lose kind of action. Well, our 'beloved' PM has done it before what - never keeping integrity of his words. C'mon, why so desperate? Do you think you can really win people's votes just by doing this? People can expect you would continue to eat your own words in future.

Although I really wanna puke, I gotta say that I am kinda expecting it to happen anyway. As I said, it has happened before what... Now, I have all the reasons to not believing in fed gomen people anymore. How could we cast votes to people whom we cannot trust? So, save my puke for next time.

5. Bogus posters, offensive and containing reverse-psychology words, were put up around Permatang Pauh. Wallau... this is new! I am amazed - I don't expect those banner creators are that clever to do that. Reverse psychology needs extremely clever people in order to make the words effective. Anyway, I am very very glad that these banners has no party logos and name of the banner printer. As quoted in MalaysiaKini: "All the banners did not carry a party logo and the name of the printer. This breaches election laws and the Elections Commission can actually take action to have them removed." We shall expect to see EC people to remove it immediately.

There are many points, but five is enough. No point wasting time on childish matters and matters that concern people with sub-zero reputation.

UEKKKKKKKK!!!!!

Prayer For Permatang Pauh By-Election

2008-08-24T14:25:00.003+08:00

O God, we acknowledge You today as Lord, not only of individuals but also of nations and governments.

We thank You for the graces You have given us to exercise our political charity in Malaysia.

We also thank You for the opportunity of free choice offered to the people of the constituency of Permatang Pauh for electing a leader.

Lord God, give them the courage to exercise their solemn duty as citizens of Malaysia to vote on behalf of the whole nation!

Guide those voters with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit so that they may choose a suitable and trustworthy candidate to become the next member of Parliament for Permatang Pauh.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

September Twenty-Second

2008-08-24T00:46:00.006+08:00

Yes, it is 30 days from now... Nope, I'm not predicting the future. I'm just trying to talk about how special this day is, and hence do a bit of self promotion. :-P

September 22 is indeed a special day. Special in many ways, as I'm gonna list down as follows:

10. It is the day of Autumn Equinox. A day where the length of daytime reduces most drastically (for countries north of the Equator). A day where the weather is supposed to change most drastically from warm to chill (again, for Northern Hemispheric countries). It is mid-autumn day... No, no, no, I'm not refering to Mooncake Festival that's based on Lunar calendar - I'm refering to the Gregorian calendar.
[ How about Southern Hemispheric countries? Vice versa lar... ]

9. September 22 means there is only 100 days left till the end of year.

8. It is the day mentioned in many movies. I really forgot which movies... I will update here if I remember.

7. It is the day of birth of the fictitious characters Frodo and Bilbo Bagginses in Lord of the Rings. Strange, even the land of Middle Earth used the Gregorian calendar! Haha...

6. It is the day of birth of the famous scientist Michael Faraday (year 1791).

5. It is the day of birth of a young artiste Tom Felton (year 1987), made famous as Louis Leonowens in Anna and the King and Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter movies.

4. It is the day of birth of the famous Brazilian football player Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima, or famously known as Ronaldo (year 1976).

3. It is the day of birth of my sifu who taught me something valuable couple of months back (year ???? - he kept it secret).

2. It is the day of birth of one of my coursemates (year 1977).

1. It is the day of birth of one of my colleagues (year 1985).

And most importantly (that's why I don't number it):
It is MY BIRTHDAY!! (proudly, born in year 1978) :-)

Paradise Worship - Part 2

2008-08-23T13:19:00.007+08:00

Thursday was a fantastic day. It was the day that I witnessed for the first time the strong presence of God in a live worship concert by Paradise Worship! There were around 500 youths (perhaps more, I just threw in some numbers) in Shammah Hall, PCC. That was excluding some older people (perhaps the parents of the teenagers).

Although I have seen via DVD videos of live worship concert (that was Hillsong), I have never felt as much in awe as I was on that night. The atmosphere of praise and worship was strong, as almost everyone rushed to the open space between the stage and the seats, and began praising and blessing the Lord, jumping and hailing His name!

The worship team were exceptionally good in bringing up ourselves to praise and worship the Lord! Just like the 5-minute session. Of course... they are themselves worship pastors and leaders. They used a few songs from their latest album "Only By Grace", including "Across The World", "My God & King", "You Reign", and "Surrender". In fact, they also borrowed some other songs like "The Stand" and "Take It All".

Matt Heins, the Senior Executive Pastor, later came up to give a sharing followed by an altar-call. He shared that the God that we worship is the God of the breakthrough, based on Luke 11:2-9. The passage was about Jesus teaching the disciples how to pray (the short version of the Lord's Prayer), followed by a parable of persistent friend requesting for bread in the middle of the night. He pointed out that, when Jesus told the parable, He emphasized that, Jesus was bringing out a situation where it is natural, logical, and factual that the man in the house would not get up in the middle of the night to help his friend; but because his friend was boldly and shamelessly persisting his request, it was granted.

He pointed out that God would grant us what we ask for if we keep on knocking, and the criteria that we need to have are boldness and shameless. (Well, that's not because God is granting unwillingly, and that's not the case where we can ask for anything, even if it is wrong.) He also emphasized that the two aread that persistent prayers would break through, which is:

1. Natural, logical, and factual barriers - that when it seems that it is natural, logical, and factual that something would not happen, God WOULD make it happen if we pray persistently, bold and shameless.

2. The volatility and unpredictibility of life

After the altar-call, the worship session was wrapped up with the same songs as mentioned above. The whole session lasted for about 2 hours, and yet it was an amazing and fantastic experience that I had.

The stage of Shammah Hall PCC, fully equipped with musical instruments

Me, Gino, Kenneth, and Andre (Clockwise from top-left)

The congregation, before concert began

Worship leader and musicians on stage

Youths praising God

Group photo with Paradise Church Senior Executive Pastor, Matt Heins
[From left] Kenneth, Ben, Sharon, Matt, Andre, Geraldine, David, Aaron

P.S. I was told by Andre that the second day of workshop was great. I missed a whole lot of it I know, but what to do... cannot just walk out of the office just like that (unless I am not working for food... lol!)

How Rude!

2008-08-20T22:46:00.002+08:00

I posted a comment in my friend's blog post in LiveJournal, but I forgot to enter the word verification (what's that? see below).

The following is what I got:

How rude! Hahahahaha! Anyway, my bad...

Paradise Worship - Part 1

2008-08-20T21:50:00.007+08:00

Today I attended the first day of the Paradise Church's National Worship Conference (hosted by Assemblies of God of Malaysia, held in Penang Christian Centre). I was able to apply for a half-day emergency leave, so I was only able to attend half of the conference as the sessions are spread across working hour. I attended only two sessions, or rather, workshops, which was Vocal Techniques and Keyboard Techniques. The speakers were Chloe Moldovan and Jaye Liubinskas respectively. Both are leaders of Paradise Church in Adelaide, Australia.

Chloe was very good in sharing the ways of breathing, the ways of projecting our voices at different pitches, and most importantly, in getting our mood to practice what she taught, hence bringing the workshop lively. She shared the most basic and important way of breathing, which is through our diaphragms. Also, she shared on how we position our projected sounds in our mouth, treating it as our bathrooms (bathrooms form an environment that naturally create echoes, forming a natural microphone to ourselves). To tackle higher pitched voices, we were taught to use twangs and append it to our natural voices - which is great for we learnt how to avoid falseto. Not forgetting breathing intervals being essential in buying us time to change our voices into twangs.

For Jaye, she shared on the importance of keyboards with good sound, the usage of keyboard sounds in Praise, Worship, and Alter-Call sessions. She also shared on the proper chord progressions and dynamics used in P, W, and AC. Most importantly, she also shared that a keyboardist must not be a distracting factor, and always be aware of what the worship leader is doing so as not to disturb the flow of the worship - be spiritually and physically aware of the surrounding. As a matter of fact, all these were in fact applied by Andre during Shalom meetings!! Something that I should have known - just that Jaye had put it into words for better understanding.

What I was amazed most was the 5-minute wrap-up session, where the invited session presenters from Paradise Church (led by their Senior Executive Pastor Matt Heins) lead the short worship session. As they took over the musical instruments and began playing the song "The Stand", I could feel God's strong anointing amongst the musicians, and it flowed towards and across the congregation! The 5-minute worship, though brief, was truly intense, and the manifested presence of God is so strong that I nearly burst in tears.

That was 5 minutes. I am actually very excited at the Live Concert tomorrow!

Next Time

2008-08-19T13:24:00.004+08:00

LEE Chong Wei (MAS) lost to LIN Dan (CHN) 12-21, 8-21, in less than 30 minutes. There goes our dream of Malaysia's first ever gold medal. Nevertheless, the 12-year Olympics medal drought has ended. Word of encouragement - we Malaysians are proud of you, Chong Wei, for being the first single player to obtain a medal. Till the next round, Chong Wei... though very unlikely for he'll be in his 30's if he ever makes it to London in 2012.

P.S. Ya, I've been shooting at fed gomen people like mad, but that doesn't mean I'm not patriotic. I still love Bolehland, and I really wish we could be proud of a medal. I just hate the way the gomen people (whom I never vote for) ruin the whole country.

Tonight

2008-08-17T19:08:00.004+08:00

Awaiting the great match tonight. LEE Chong Wei (MAS) vs LIN Dan (CHN) in Badminton Men Singles Final (Beijing Olympics 2008). If Lee wins, Malaysia will grab her first ever Olympics Gold medal.

Ganbatte, Chong Wei!!

IQ Test

2008-08-11T00:02:00.005+08:00

Recently, I was invited by Wilson to his blog for an IQ Test. According to the originator of the test, the one who partake the test needs to have IQ score above 140 in order to get the answer correctly. Haha... tell you what, my Facebook's IQ Test application states that I have a score of 143. I was indeed able to answer it, but it took me one day! With two tries. Wilson got the answer within 2 minutes, and he said his IQ score is below 140. I guess there are a few explanations to it:

1. Wilson is lying on his IQ score.

2. Wilson did some similar test(s) before, so this one - sap sap sui la...

3. This is very true... I actually ignored part of the dialogue, the part where Q said he knew that P didn't know. Yes, I ignored it, and screwed up my first try. After getting past the understanding of the whole dialogue, then only I could solve it. Lesson: Never ever ignore the details of every IQ question - be vigilant.

In order to give credit to Wilson's blog, I would not post it again here. Go and visit his blog in the above hyperlinks.

WYD Sydney 2008

2008-08-07T22:59:00.009+08:00

I missed a great deal of the World Youth Day (WYD) events. I did not even log in to EWTN to witness the event live. I was a poor Catholic who was oblivious of what had actually happend in Sydney. I felt bad, very bad.

However, I got to know a little bit about how God worked on the youth through Andre's sharing during SWYF meetings. According to his summary:

1. There were peace across the whole city. The police was on the alert and standby, but they were amazed that, with a million Catholic youths gathering at teh city, there were a record of low crime rates during the WYD week. Only 2 recorded incidents happened - a Catholic assaulted WYD protesters, and a seminary was broken into due to teh reason that all seminarians were out attending the WYD events.

2. Priests were hearing confessions across the streets of Sydney. People were seeking repentence and reconciliation everywhere.

3. Every event seemed like a charismatic event. People are experiencing the strong manifested presence of the Holy Spirit everywhere in Sydney. Even through the monitor screen can the presence be felt.

These testimonies did increase our faith on how God worked on the youths who, of every nation and tribe, were united under one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, under the leadership of none other than our Pope Benedict XVI. Definitely the work of God brought alive through the willing hands the faithful ones who does according to His will.
______________________________________________________

Many anti-Catholic people out there were quick at spotting things that are seemingly pleasing to them in heavily attacking the Catholic Church. One particular attack comes right on the WYD website being an OCCULT website. I happened to notice it (quite some time ago) when I posted "Receive The Power" YouTube Video. This YouTube user by the name of "whilechildrenstarve" has seemingly justified himself in using the website's CSS code to sort of "reveal" all "OCCULT" numbers within the website. You can view the YouTube video here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdXbKzdwCEM

Well, I could say that the "revelation" is bullshxt. Just to begin with, the number six is NOT a Satan's number. It is a mere number created by God. You may then argue, simply by quoting the infamous Scripture verse from the movie "Damian: Omen 2", which is Revelation 13:18. The number 666 is there. Well, many people have been caught up with the reverse hence the wrong order of cause-and-effect argument. We know that everything God created is good. Numbers are created by God. Thus, there are no particular numbers that is marked as a "bad" or "occult" numbers. We all know that God created the universe in 7 days. God supposedly created everything in 6 days, but creation is not considered complete without a rest day, or a holy day (of Sabbath). With this, the Hebrews have been observing the number "7" as a number symbolizing completion or perfection. "6", being a number short of "7", symbolizes a step short of completion, or rather, incompletion or imperfection. Satan, being the fallen angel Lucifer, who always wanted to be God, can never be perfect because of his pride, hence eternal imperfection - we use "6" to symbolize Satan. See the cause-and-effect argument?

WRONG: 6 = Satan's number/Number of Satan. 6 was created for Satan, hence called Satan's number.
CORRECT: 6 was created by God, hence it is good. It is just being used to symbolize Satan for being an imperfect trying to be but can never be perfect.

Cannot accept it? Think of another way. We all know that in Genesis 3, the serpent symbolizes Satan. However, in Numbers 21, Moses was commanded by God to place a fiery serpent on a staff, so that those bitten, by looking at it, would not die. Can we say that serpent = Satan? Definitely NOT! It is just a case where Satan appearing as a talking serpent (in Genesis 3)! God created serpent not for Satan's sake. It is Satan's choice to appear as a serpent.

So many numbers that was being put up in the video, including 3, 9, 11, 13, and even the letter "F". For God's sake, every single website contains CSS code that contains "FFFFFF"! It is a 24-bit color coding for white background! Tell you what, YouTube uses white background. The video was posted into a white background. And guess what... you are attacking the so-called occultish website using a website that contains the "occultish" "FFFFFF" coding. Gotcha... Sorry pal, all websites are full of 6's and F's! 毋上网啦,笨!

Saying "3" as an occult number is a blasphemy. One true God in 3 persons - Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What say you? 毋信天主啦,笨!

Saying "11" as an occult number means that the 11 Apostles who does not sell Jesus to the Pharisees form an occult. Don't ever use font size 11, moron!

Saying "13" as an occult number means that you are demanding God to stop blessing us with sunshine and rain whenever Friday the 13th occurs. Why not just erase Friday 13th from your own calendar, moron! Btw, there were 13 people at the table of the Lord's Supper.

To a skeptic, every number is cursed. Living a life like that, a life that constantly avoiding numbers, man, is a suffering. An unnecessary suffering which was supposed to be taken away by Jesus' suffering on the cross. Rather, an unnecessary agony at things that are created by God - things that are supposed to be used to glorify God.

The video also asked to "boycott WYD08, feed starving children instead". Isn't it the same argument of the disciples when the woman anointed Jesus' head with an alabaster jar of ointment (Mark 14:3-9)? The disciples argued that the expensive ointment could be sold to get money for food for the poor, but Jesus refuted them. She had just done great work for the Lord. And, with the youth willing to give to the Lord by going to Sydney to do great work for the Lord by serving in WYD, is there not a revival happening?

And one last thing. In Acts 1:8, Jesus promised us to receive the power from the Holy Spirit. Never does the WYD theme state that we receive the power from WYD! Get your facts correct, moron!
____________________________________________

Just to recap, the testimonies shows that it is through the Goodness of God that all these things in WYD happen. It is out of God's love that He works in awesome ways. The love that only God can give. The love that Satan can never be capable of giving.

Stewardship / Longing For Jesus

2008-08-06T04:26:00.006+08:00

Last Friday, during SWYF sharing, Andre talked about stewardship - how we Christians are appointed mere stewards of God. This is an interesting topic especially in an era of materialistic world, where we Christians tend to forget that we do NOT actually own whatever we are having now.

He began with mentioning that he is proud of himself being a Chinese, especially after watching the movie Red Cliff, which talks about loyalty, courage, and teamwork. He also mentioned that he is also proud of being a Catholic because of what Aussie people in Sydney experienced during World Youth Day - there were peace across the land, and signs of revival were observed in the land. And, all these happen because people are willing to give themselves to the church.

However, many Christians do not understand the art of giving. As observed in the local churches, many Christians concentrate in receiving or wanting to receive the blessings from God. Most of the time, we would see people holding on to what we already own, as if the very thing we own gives us comfort - sometimes we cast blame on God for failing to achieve what we seem to be rightfully ours.

This led to the sharing of a Scripture verse - Deuteronomy 10:14. It stated that "Behold, to Yahweh your God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is therein." The direct meaning to the verse is simple. Everything belongs to God. No exception. Period.

So, who are we in terms of our relationship with our property? Do we really own the pocket money we earn every month/week? Do we possess our apartments? Do we really possess our own car? Deuteronomy 10:14 says all these belong to God. So, who are we? We are mere stewards. If I die tomorrow, I will leave all my 'posessions' behind - nothing will I bring even to the grave.

Fast-forward to Sunday Mass. During the Homily, a visiting priest - Fr Mark - told us a story that went like this. There was an elderly man who had a vast collection of beautiful paintings from some renowned artists. He had a son who was out in the battlefield. The son eventually died because he had saved the life of one of his comrades. Later, this soldier who was saved came to this old man's house, and out of gratitude of the old man's son having given his own life to save himself, he handed the old man a portrait of the son that he painted. The old man wept, and yet he thanked the soldier for his mindfulness. He hung his son's portrait in front of his house, and would invite his visiting friends to admire the new portrait before he allowed them to look at the rest.

Later, the old man passed away. He left a will, where it stated that all his portraits was to be auctioned. The auctioner, acting on the will, began with the auctioning of the amateur painting of the dead soldier - the old man's son. The guests were appalled at the decision, for they thought that they should not waste their time placing what was seemingly worth least to be auctioned first. The auctioner just responded that it was part of the old man's will. At last, the portrait was sold to a poor farmer sitting at the back of the hall - the farmer could only offer a small amount of money, which was apparently whatever he had. After that, the auctioner closed the auction session, and revealed to the rest of the outrageous guests that, in the old man's will, whoever takes possession of his son's portrait would inherit his entire collection of portraits.

And this is the message - the person who receives the Son, receives everything (from God).

It is amazing that, under God's providence, the talk during SWYF meeting and Mass Homily were pretty much connected! We do not own anything. Rather, we owe our stewardship of worldly material to God. However, if we long for Jesus Christ, we would receive everything from God! Rather, we would be entrusted with many things from God.

Our challenge is how are we going to use the everything that God provided. Use it for the building of the Kingdom of God, or just leave it there to rot? Multiply the gifts, or leaving it alone? Allowing the gift to benefit others, or holding on to it as if it is too precious to be let go?

The parable in Luke 16:1-12 stated clearly that the one who invest the gifts (talents) and multiply it will be entrusted with more by God. However, there is also a danger - if one is unwilling to invest the gifts and make it fruitful, God will take it away from him, and God will keep His presence from him forever (eternal separation, Hell, gnashing of teeth...).

Pseudonyms No More

2008-08-04T17:28:00.004+08:00

I have been having problems creating funny names for my friends in my past blog posts. And I think I want to stop it, due to five reasons:

5. I want to give credits to the people that I blog about, especially those who gives great impact, positive or negative, to my life.
4. A person should be proud of his/her name, so hiding real names kinda dishonor him/her.
3. I'm lazy to think of pseudonyms.
2. I'm lazy to think of pseudonyms.
1. I'm lazy to think of pseudonyms.

Yeah... and did I mention I'm lazy? I am indeed! So, no more false names. From this blog post onwards, I will use real names. So, to my fellow brothers, sisters, friends, acquaintances out there, please let me know if you want to remain anonymous - I will continue crack my head and give funny names or just ignore you in my blog posts. :-P

3x3 Rubiks Solution

2008-08-04T08:17:00.012+08:00

Before reading, you need to understand some notations that I use here. This notation is actually borrowed from the contents of the leaflet found in a 3x3 Rubiks Cube that I bought from Toys R'Us.

[ In addition, I have posted some pictures below, in between the steps. for easier illustration. ]

Diagram	Notation	Description
	F	Turn the front face clockwise (if you have the cube in your hands so that that face is towards you - this also applies to the turns below).
	F'	Turn the front face anti-clockwise.
	R	Turn the right face clockwise.
	R'	Turn the right face anti-clockwise.
	L	Turn the left face clockwise.
	L'	Turn the left face anti-clockwise.
	U	Turn the top face clockwise.
	U'	Turn the top face anti-clockwise.

There are 12 steps to solve a 3x3 Rubiks Cube, which are listed as follows. And mind you, one step does NOT mean one movement on the cube!

Step 1:
Make one side same color. Also, make the row nearest to the side same color.
FYI, no specific formula to this. In short, you have to think 3-D!! :-P

Step 2:
Make the center of the 4-sides same color as the row nearest to the side that you fixed in Step 1.

Step 3:
Make one of the center cell in row furthest to the side you fixed in Step 1 same color as the center in Step 2.

Step 4:
Use this formula to make the cell in Step 3 fall in place.
- U’ F’ U F U R U’ R’ (Frontside's top row center cube falling to Frontside's center row rightmost cube location)
- U R U’ R’ U’ F’ U F (Rightside's top row center cube falling to Rightside's center row leftmost cube location)

U = Upside, R = Rightside, L = Leftside, F = Frontside. With prime (‘) counter-clockwise.

Step 5:
Continue step 4 till the row that crosses the center of the 4-sides have the same color.

Step 6:
There must be an L-shape with same color on the Upside. Orientate the L so that the edges of L is pointing Leftside and Backside.
- If there is no L, but an “I”, skip steps 6 and 7. The “I” must be horizontal and pass through the center of the Topside.
- If there is 4 L’s (a cross), skip steps 6-8.
- If there is no L, nor “I”, nor cross, add one additional step 7 to form an L or a “I”.

Step 7:
Use this formula to make a horizontal “I” that passes through the center of the Topside.
- F R U R’ U’ F’

Step 8:
Use the same formula in step 7 to make 4 L’s (a cross).

Step 9:
Make one leg of the cross match its side. Then, use this formula to rotate the other 3 to make the 4 legs of the cross match their sides.
- R U R’ U R U U R’ (counter-clockwise)
- R U U R’ U’ R U’ R’ (clockwise)
- Tip: 2 counter-clockwise = 1 clockwise

Step 10:
Find one corner where the 3 sides of corners have same color with their corresponding sides. If all corners are found to match, skip step 11.

Step 11:
Orientate the corner in step 10 so that it is on your top-right-front. Rotate the other 3 corners to make them match by using the formula:
- U R U’ L’ U R’ U’ L (counter-clockwise)
- L’ U R U’ L U R’ U’ (clockwise)
- Tip: 2 counter-clockwise = 1 clockwise

Step 12:
Use the following to rotate 2 corners at the same time.
The 2 corners must be on your top-right, one front, one back
- L U L’ U L U U L’ R’ U’ R U’ R’ U’ U’ R (front clockwise, back counter-clockwise)
- R’ U U R U R’ U R L U’ U’ L’ U’ L U’ L’ (front counter-clockwise, back clockwise)

P.S. I was caught in action solving the 3x3 cube. :-P

Unbelievable I's

2008-08-02T18:17:00.010+08:00

I was working halfway on one fine Friday (yesterday lar), when my colleague sent me a hyperlink to one of TheStar news, which stated that MIMOS will be launching the Bolehland's basement priced laptop and PC, named i-Dola and Jean-i respectively. I read and re-read the news, and ended up having stomach muscle cramp laughing!

For those lazy to click, let me quote the news here. I hope I won't get charged for copyright, the website is FREE anyway!!

--Quote--

LUSAKA (Zambia): Three months from now, Malaysians will be able to buy the i-Dola laptop and Jean-i personal computer (PC) at basement prices.

Mimos is now ready to licence the production of the Malaysian computer codenamed Mak Cik, which it took two years to develop. The laptop and PC are named after the Prime Minister and his wife.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili said the laptop would cost RM1,000, and the PC RM500.

“I have tested the computers and am happy with their performance,” said Dr Ongkili, who was here to attend the Global Southern Africa International Dialogue.

“They are wireless, Internet-based designs and need not be connected to fixed lines. To reduce costs, they do not have hard discs. You use a thumb drive instead.”

It is understood that the i-Dola and Jean-i will be as fast as computers using Intel Pentium 4 processors.

Dr Ongkili said that the King and Queen have already been presented with a pair of i-Dola laptops, which were previewed at the WCIT in Kuala Lumpur recently.

He added that several manufacturers were keen to make the computers, and were targeting selling about a million of them.

“The computers require broadband access and I have told the relevant bodies to speed up the roll-out of broadband coverage,” Dr Ongkili said.

He said the computers are targeted at students, businesses and housewives.

He revealed that Zambia and five other African nations have expressed interest in making the computer. In Zambia, laptops cost as much as US$3,000 (RM9,600).

--Unquote--

Here, I just want to talk about the thumb drive thing. Since there are many blog posts 'hantaming' the notion on some other aspects, I won't be embarking on their same aspects of other bloggers in due respect. Let me elaborate how stupid is the thumb drive idea. The next four paragraphs would be an elaboration on my 4-fold points of the stupidity of the above idea.

I am working in a semiconductor company - although the product I am working on is not of Flash technology, I know a bit here and there from my other fellow colleagues on how a Flash write-read operates. Also, I had obtained a Certificate degree in a computer systems and programming course when I was in my high school, so I can still remember how fast a RAM, magnetic storage devices and EEPROM/Flash can store data. From what I learnt, Flash is super slow as compared to magnetic storage device. Which means, thumb drive is a snail as compared to a HDD. If you don't believe me, try copying a video, say 20MB of size from a your HDD to a thumb drive, and then copying the same video from your HDD back to your HDD. See which one is faster!!

Also, a HDD in a system (PC or laptop) uses the IDE transmission cable (or rather, ATA cable if you feel that the term S-ATA is more familiar). An IDE cable is made of 40 parallel cables. So, naturally I would assume that the IDE transmission bus would consist of >1 data lines... which means 8 at least, perhaps 16 or 32. I know, I should have done more research on this before I compose, but I just want to make a quick comparison. Meanwhile, a USB (short for Universal Serial Bus) is a 4-connection bus. And guess how many data lines are there? Make a wild guess. See, it is named serial for a purpose - all data is serialized. So, the answer is one. One data line. So, in comparison, IDE is faster than USB.

Third, we are talking about a gigabyte or even terabyte storage device. In current market, it is easy to find a 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB thumb drives. 16GB is rare, yet it is possible that we start to hear people talking about it in near future. On the other hand, HDD capacity ranges from 80GB, 120GB, 160GB, 250GB, or even 750GB. Well, it sounds like in terms of capacity, thumb drive is out of the question. However, people do use thumb drive for two reasons - portability and convenience. If you want to store a PDF, or even a couple of folders of audio files, you would choose a thumb drive rather than a black box of mounted magnetic disks. On the other hand, if you want to install a software or game, say Warcraft III - do you use a 16GB thumb drive? No... You would no doubt install it in your C drive (HDD lar).

Lastly, price comparison. Just a quick assumption on local computer market (no research done). An 8GB thumb drive would cost, say, RM80. A 250GB HDD would cost, say, RM250. Well, these figures appear reasonable at this point of time, right? No? C'mon, just a few bucks difference. Now, let's do a simple calculation. RM80/8GB thumb drive, so, RM10/GB for a thumb drive. RM250/250GB HDD, so, RM1/GB for a HDD. Wow!!! See what I got? The storage of a thumb drive is relatively 10x more expensive than that of a HDD!!! Why? Simple - thumb drive storage is made of Flash, which is a semiconductor (you know, p-doped and n-doped silicon); while HDD is made of magnetic disks, which requires the technology of magnetic coating, and magnetic head reader. The latter technology is, no doubt, cheaper to-date.

And now what - the i-Dola and Jean-i are not using HDD, and instead we use thumb drive (Flash). Imagine, having our Operating System and all other necessary software in a Flash!! The system takes forever to boot up man!!! Also, do you really think that a Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 could fit into a 16GB thumb drive? Yes, in Dreamland, perhaps. Or, perhaps students, businesses, and housewives, which comprises of the market, would be advised to only use MSDOS and WordPerfect - oh my... you are asking people to time-travel back to 20 years ago!!! Sorry, doc, you are 20 years behind time!!! No wonder the code name Mak Cik (means auntie) came out.

And, what a bullshxt to say that thumb drive is used in order to save cost. Read above once again and find out yourself!

I don't want to talk about the Intel Pentium 4 microprocessor. Okay la, talk a bit. People are now talking about Intel Core 2 Duo, moron. And you are still comparing with Pentium 4. What la...

What a disgrace to our 'beloved' PM and First Lady, by naming a cheap and lame system after them! And what a dishonor to our late First Lady, as if those who are dead should be forgotten!!!

And oh, I forgot that I did mention that, to some Bolehlanders, Bolehland is Dreamland. Anyway, sorry la brader, this is not Dreamland. So wake up! As an ultimatum, I will not buy i-Dola or Jean-i. Try imposing difficulties in sales of ASUS, HP, Compaq, Dell and Acer - Malaysians will end up hogging Sim Lim Square!

Some other blog links:
http://www.chanlilian.net/2008/08/01/siapa-nak-beli-komputer-i-dola-dan-jean-i/
http://cry4freedom.fm/blog/2008/08/01/i-dola-and-jean-i/
http://mrbadak.com/2008/08/01/mimos-to-produce-cheap-computers/

Street Wars Aftermath

2008-07-29T18:09:00.008+08:00

A continuation of my previous post (scroll down below or click here). One of my colleagues suggested posing like the characters in the infamous Hong Kong breakthrough movie Infernal Affairs 《無間道》. Another suggested a pose with black coats. Another suggested pistols and knives. One even suggested wearing our laboratory smocks, and let the temperature forcer (the elephant in this blog post) blow away the fringe of our smocks!

Anyway, I prefer keeping the previous picture its same way. The al-terrors are always unique - we should be proud of ourselves.

香港無間道
AL-TERROR 無間道走廊
To TKD guy, NO, we are not going to be J, K, L, etc... :-P

To Wiwi, in order to honor you, I will retain the wiwi picture. :-)

Facebook App: Street Wars

2008-07-25T20:51:00.012+08:00

Yes. The Facebook Application's Street Wars, or 古惑仔 ("Goo Waak Jai" in Cantonese). An text-based game application that makes everyone addictive, especially amongst those Cantonese-speaking people. So, what the heck does it mean??

古惑仔 is a term for member of underground society, or literally - "Black Society" (黑社会), or in short, triad. The term was originated from none other than Hong Kong, and was made popular through the Hong Kong sextet saga Young And Dangerous (《古惑仔》 in Chinese, of course). It literally means a scheming guy - scheming being a characteristic necessary for survival in Hong Kong underworld.

As in Facebook, the Street Wars application/game is a role playing game, where a player can:
- perform tasks and gang-fight in order to gain experience, level (from 1 to 35), and money
- buy properties in order to generate income
- buy items to enhance attack and defense strength (some items need money for maintenance)
- invite other friends to join so that they can become part of a gang. The more people a player has, the stronger the player become during gang-fight
- bank in the money into an underground bank

Since gang-fight is one of the money earning channel, naturally, if two are involved in a gang-fight, the winner gets to snatch away 5% of the opponent's cash. Nevertheless, to safe guard the money lost from gang-fight challenge by someone stronger, a player can choose to bank in the cash at the expense of 10% of the amount being banked in - the banked money could not be plundered from gang-fights. Or, a player can go ahead and attack until the health level drops to red level (there are 4 levels: green - healthy, yellow - lightly injured, red - severely injured (less than 20 hit points), and purple - coma (0 hit points)), then the player is not allowed to attack or be attacked.

As a player soars in his level, more advanced tasks (that can generate more money at the expense of gang members and attack/defense items), attack-enhancement and defense-enhancement items will be unlocked. Also, a player can upgrade 3 attribute ticks (out of 5, which is max hit points (+10), max task strength (+1), max attack strength (+1), attack damage (+1), and defense damage (+1)) As such, many players will try to gain as much experience as possible to advance into higher and higher levels.

One thing that make the game very addictive the the rate of refreshment of attributes. The income generated from properties will be automatically updated every hour. So, right on the 0-th minute, many players will log in to the game to ensure their money is safe-guarded from being lost to gang-fights, either by spending their cash buying items or more properties or save into the bank, or whack other players until they themselves are in the red health zone.

In addition, other attributes like hit points, attack strength, and task strength are updated every 5 minute (5pts, 1pt, and 1pt respectively). So, for every tick of the clock, players will hog into the server for some action. Many times this causes the application to lag while loading, or worse, hang. I for once yesterday could not log in to Facebook properly because of that!!

This game is indeed very popular amongst Hongkie Facebook users. How do I know? Just by the players' names and nicknames in my list of people for gang-fight target. The names are very Hongkongish i.e. Liu, Lam, Tse, Leung, Tsang, etc... And the nicknames are typed in with traditional Chinese characters (only in Hong Kong and Taiwan where traditional Chinese characters are still being used). Yes... nicknames for players with Level 11 and above can be customized into what the player wants (Level 1 through 10 nicknames are pre-assigned). I myself am trying to imitate being a Hongkie, by nicknaming myself 榴蓮地炒蟹集團老鼎爺! Hahaha!!! Just wanna clarify that the phrase "fried crab" is not intended as a pun for some Cantonese vulgar words. :-P

Our gang who are now playing this game in Facebook has become a bit crazy. Just by their nicknames, I can tell they "short-short dei":
攞你命3000
蛊惑佬
你老豆
叫聲大飛哥
挡我者。。。死
笑面虎
龍威

We also become crazy while being in the game:

[ Hitting a female player repeatedly until she fell into "coma" ]

As well as outside the game:

[ 5 of us happen to wear black T-shirts, look like members of triads that normally wear black, so decided to pose for a "beautiful handsome" picture... LOL! ]
One of us wore a T-shirt with a big traditional Chinese character 龍, meaning "Dragon", a mythical creature amongst the Hong Kong society used to represent triads.
Yes. We are indeed addicted to it. Deeply addicted!!!

Hyperlink to the application: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=17326627347&ref=mf

Another My Foot!

2008-07-20T01:00:00.007+08:00

"The authorities require a fresh DNA sample from Anwar Ibrahim because the sample extracted 10 years ago is too old."
- Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, July 18, 2008

I am not concocting this statement. Believe me. Percayalah!!! Tak percaya, bacalah sendiri [TheStar dan MalaysiaKini]

I am not a forensic expert, nor an expert in DNA profiling. I am a student who scored poorly in Biology. So, I dare not make any comments without doing some background study. And thus, I made a quick research minutes after reading the news, and the following is what I have found:
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/othernews-nfrm/050606_bear.htm

I quickly read and found that scientists do have the ability to chart a 40,000-year-old DNA sequence, and determined it to be a cave bear. I thought, wow... cool! 40,000 years old DNA and yet can tell it's a cave bear. Not bad!! More importantly, after all the 40,000-year long erosion factors (climate, seismic activity, chemical, biological, and possibly radioactive interference)... the DNA is not so deteriorated - remember, the scientists can still tell it's a cave bear!!!

So, I can quickly tell that it is close to impossible for DNA to be deteriorated after 10 years. In other words, DNA would NOT "grow old" after 10 years!

So, what has our 'beloved' PM just said??

As I say it again, the world is watching and listening!!! Stop making stupid statements, say what is proper, use brain to analyze what other people said, and, if necessary, question the validity of the information received. Most importantly, stop making we Malaysians ashamed of ourselves. We may have biggest, highest, the first, the grandest, and what not, but we are not ready to be called stupid because our leader is so!

And, indeed yes, the world is watching. Tak percaya? Percayalah! Masih tak percaya? Cuba klik sini!!!

And, btw, I was one day behind in posting this blog post, and already there are many people lambasting at the statement above. Try Google "DNA sample too old" and see what you get? The quote above was indeed named as a joke. See here.
_____________________________________

Actually, I already got pissed off one month ago, when our 'beloved' PM said something which is inappropriate and yet interfering with the supremacy and independence of court judges, by saying what his belief in a crime which has not even been tried, let alone judged.

"I don't believe that Najib and Rosmah are involved (in the 2006 murder of a Mongolian woman)."
- Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Jun 25, 2008
[ see here and here ]

And now, one month later, comes another round of bullsxxt. Now, I really do feel ashamed!!! Darn!!! I need to scurry, looking for a rabbit hole!!!

Kuala Lumpur Trip, June 28-30, 2008

2008-07-19T00:31:00.006+08:00

One word for me to summarize for the trip. Enjoyable. The following was the full actual itinerary, as far as I could remember.

Jun 28
0505 Wake up...
0620 Leave from Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, heading towards Ipoh
0830 Reach Ipoh Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant
0930 Leave Ipoh (kena saman from DBI... darn), heading for KL
1140 Reach KL - Segambut Yu Ai Seafood Noodle Restaurant
1250 Reach Renaissance Hotel, Jln Ampang
1335 Got our room (# 2511) - Dell Guy, B and I to stay in the room
1420 Leave for KL Convention Center (Dell Guy did not join us)
1455 Seated in KL Convention Center for Beauty and the Beast Musical
1610 After 1:10 delay, the musical began!! Sigh...
1845 Leave KL Convention Center (A left for Kristus Aman, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, the rest leave for Happy Hour in Renaissance Club Floor)
1920 Reach hotel - Happy Hour!
2030 Leave hotel, take Monorail heading to Bukit Bintang
2045 Reach Bukit Bintang's new Pavilion Mall
2105 Begin fish spa
2135 End fish spa
2220 Dinner at Planet hollywood
2340 Return to hotel
0040 ZZZZ
0130 Wake up for a moment as Dell Guy called for help on the air con :-P

Jun 29
0730 Wake up...
0810 Gym
0905 Breakfast
1050 Leave for Mass
1130 Reach Church of St Francis Xavier for 11:30am Mass... right on time
1245 Leave church for KL Sentral
1310 Reach KL Sentral, drop MissG so that she could take transport to KLIA
1345 Reach Sunway Pyramid
1425 Begin ice skating on Pyramid Ice
1610 Leave the skating rink
1655 Leave Sunway Pyramid
1730 Reach hotel for cocktail - Happy Hour again!!
2040 Leave hotel for KLCC
2330 Leave KLCC and head back to hotel
0045 ZZZZ...

Jun 30
0730 Wake up
0820 Gym
0950 Breakfast
1110 JRoldan preparing to take an early leave, heading back to Penang. Stupid tang1-tang5-tang4-tang1 people called him urgently to look into issues... sigh...
1130 Go swimming
1150 Go for spa
1220 Finish spa
1315 Head towards Berjaya Times Square, Imbi Road
1600 Reach hotel for (late) checkout
1700 Leave KL... phew... avoiding the jam...
1900 Reach Ipoh for Low Wong Beansprout Chicken
2020 Leave Ipoh
2200 Reach Penang (back to church before the gate is closed)

The most enjoyable part is, no doubt, the musical. Taking off the two setbacks, the musical was entertaining, funny, touching, and awesome. B, can you comment how much you enjoyed the musical here? Hahaha...

The ice skating session was good. Other than jam-packed with hundreds of people (kids, teens, and adults - uncles), the skating session was fun. B managed to transfer some of his normal roller-skating skills for his new ice skating technique, making him less awkward. Within minutes, he managed to skate without holding on to the side of the skating rink. JRoldan was a bit less fortunate - he need to hold on to the side almost all the time, until B and I encouraged him to let go. Indeed, he tried, and all was well - he's able to grasp part of the techniques before feet pain and fatigue took over.

The fish spa was one of the most funny and ticklish experience. Imagine having hundreds of small fish nibbling at your feet and calf. I began the spa with laughing and giggling out of ticklish feeling all over my feet. Even the non-ticklish B was giggling. Anyways, after a few minutes, we quickly got used to it. Result - our feet got smoother and fairer - yeah, the fish had practically eaten our dead skin away!! For RM30 per half a hour, it is considered a good deal - imagine, we were in Pavilion!! I suppose it could be more expensive, considering the rental, maintenance, and constant re-purchase of the fish (this type of fish never breed in captive, according to A).

The Times Square Indoor Theme Park was the worst experience throughout the trip. I thought of wanting to have fun with the roller-coaster. For two rounds B and I rode on it. After the second round, my motion sickness took over me. Perhaps I had too much food during breakfast - I felt nauseating until I threw up a bit. Other than the Bumper Car session after the throw-up, the rest of the time we spent in the theme park loitering. During that time, we stopped by a wax sculpture stall, and it ended up that each of us bought wax sculpture of our own hands. LOL!

[ Picture to follow ]

The experience on the Renaissance Hotel Club Floor was awesome and wonderful. One of the best thing in the club floor facilities was the room. The room that we had was spacious, and the bed was - ahh... I attempted to act according to Ling's response upon lying on the bed (during the previous trip of A, B, D and Ling, without me), and B felt disgusted... Hahahah!!!

Next, the breakfast buffet was fantastic - I couldn't describe it much. We went to the West Wing breakfast buffet on the 2nd day, and the East Wing one on the 3rd day. Look at the pictures. Btw, beef bacon, turkey ham, bread, and yogurt would be my most favorite food there. Yummy!!

Second day breakfast - West Wing
Third day breakfast - East Wing
The cocktail - I have not had so much alcohol for so long. I did not have a liking of alcohol because it would cause me to have headache. However, looking at the variety of types of cocktail they served in the Club Floor, I went ahead and tried some. The Tequila Sunrise was the killer. I had 1/3 glass, and guess what - I was drunk, and headache took over! LOL!

Tequila Sunrise - The cocktail that made me drunk
And finally, the recreational facilities:

1. Gymnasium - it was fully equipped with treadmills, cycling machine, free weights and complete set of workout machines (there are at least 20 of them!!).

B showing off and Dell Guy posing :-P
2. Swimming pool - huge... I think the length was about 50 metres. Yesss... huge for a hotel swimming pool... normal depth of 1-m to 1.5-m (not as deep as the one in Bayview Hotel, Penang - 4-m :-P)

3. Spa and sauna room - a place for relaxing.

[ No photos for #2 and #3 - completely forgotten to take them ]

The one great food outlet that we enjoyed in KL was the seafood noodle in Segambut. There were 3 flavors - plain soup, tom yam, and curry laksa (in KL, curry with santan is called "curry laksa"). I loved the last one the most. Btw, the bowl was huge... Each large portion cost RM16, mind you.

Other than that, all other food that we had was nothing exceptional. Although I managed to have my delicious Burger King's Whopper Jr. in KLCC, B, Dell Guy and JRoldan did not agree with me. They ordered something else and it was pathetic. Sigh... what to do? After a not-so-good experience of food in Planet Hollywood, here comes another round of disappointment. Btw, Planet Hollywood used to serve great dishes 4.5 years back! Deterioration - probably an effect of inflation... Sigh again...

The Ipoh passing-by food experience - I couldn't comment much because I am an Ipohite, and I always love Ipoh food. A, B, A's mom, Dell Guy, MissG, and JRoldan did enjoy the dim sum in Foh San very much. Let me guess their favorite dishes - yam kuih (芋角), fried carrot cake (炒萝卜糕), glutinous rice with chicken (罗米鸡), braised-pork bun (蓝乳饱), char siew bun (叉烧饱), and prawn dumpling (虾饺 / 虾卖). I am not denying - I love all of them!!

And, because of MissG and JRoldan having to return earlier than the rest, they were not able to savor the beansprout chicken and hor fun in Low Wong. Again, not much comments - not because I don't like it, but rather because I love it very very much!! Okay la... a few comments. I always liked the spring onions mixed with beansprouts and mixed sauce (soy sauce, sesame oil, and some of the 'chicken essence' - boiled chicken soup I guess), seasoned with cut red chili and pepper. Slurp... My family used to order 2 portions of beansprout whenever we went there.

Looking forward to another eat, play (and sleep) trip!! And I'm definitely not talking about Redang here. :-)

Beauty And The Beast - YouTube Video and Lyrics

2008-07-18T00:22:00.002+08:00

Beauty And The Beast
Written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman
Performed by Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Cvq416zuQ

Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly

Just a little change
Small, to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared
Beauty and the beast

Ever just the same
Ever a surprise
Ever as before
Ever just as sure
As the sun will rise

Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong

Certain as the sun
Rising in the East
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the beast

Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the beast

Beauty And The Beast - Broadway Musical

2008-07-18T00:08:00.002+08:00

Note: This is not a review, as I am not very good in reviewing musicals. This is only a record of my experience.

Yes, the musical is in town! Not in Penang though (of course la, Penang where got place for stage musical one, somemore from Broadway!!).

I went to KL Convention Center on Saturday, Jun 28, to watch the matinee (3pm show). There were six of us: A, A's mom, B, JRoldan and MissG. For me, I was very anxious and excited about it. I've had a great experience watching The Phantom of the Opera in Singapore, and I was keen in watching another musical this round. And, knowing that this musical originated from the Disney animated movie of the same name, I was keen to find out how the animated scenes were portrayed live!!

Each of the tickets cost RM 212.50 (RM250 with discount 15%). Expensive but worth it.
I used to have a video casette (yes!! the one that needs rewinding one...) of the movie, dubbed in Cantonese. I used to watched it every other weekend, and yes, I watched it umpteenth times! So, I knew the story inside out. Nevertheless, when I watched the musical, I was completely marveled and overwhelmed by the ability of the crew to act, portray, arrange, and supply the music that once again re-capture the moments and feelings I had when I watched the movie last time. Moreover, I was watching in awe of the ability of bringing myself back to when I was a teen.

There were several scenes which were added into the musical, including:

1. Gaston singing while proposing to Belle
2. Belle singing while missing home, with Mrs Potts consoling her
3. Gaston and Lefou singing during the bribing of Monsieur D'Arque scene
4. Belle reading the story of King Arthur to Beast
5. Beast singing "If I Can't Love Her". Yes!! Beast can actually sing!!!

And scenes removed (I understand, not practical to act it out):

1. Snowballs on Beast, birds eating from Beast's palm.
2. Trapping of Belle and Maurice, and saved by Chip.

There are two scenes that touched me. The first one is, no doubt, the dance scene. Although interrupted by the crazy guy sitting right behind me (read below), I was nearly in tears, for Belle had given Beast a second chance. I did cry when I watched the movie.

The second one would be - in the middle of the show, Chip asked Mrs Potts in a very poignant manner, if he would ever be a boy again. And, when, at the end when the enchantment was broken, Chip appeared on stage as a boy and no longer a teacup, everyone cheered!! Chip, a minor character, stole all the limelights! I felt touched at the reunion of Chip and Mrs Potts as persons and not objects anymore.

The arrangements of props were truly amazing. I was brought to my senses that props in a skit or musical is equally important as the performances from my experience in "Watch The Lamb" played in church. I am further convinced that that was right. The props arrangement was flawless. Distinct scenes of the town, forest, and castle was shown on the backdrop and on the translucent cloth that covered the entire stage. The flashing lights showing the enchantment. The bar tables, couch, Belle's house, dancing cutlery during "Be Our Guest". The most amazing part is the transformation from Beast back to the Prince!! Awesome, amazing, and unbelievable!!!

I gotta agree that - Lumiere was the most dangerous character. He needed to control the jet of fire coming out from his enchanted handheld candles, synchronize the jets according to the music, and avoid the fire from actually burning himself and another character!!

The one that still puzzled me was the falling of the petals from the enchanted rose. I wonder... and still had not figured that out. A, any idea??

During in-between acts, I bought myself a T-Shirt, a programme book, and a CD of the Musical, performeby by original Broadway casts. Spent RM180 on the merchandise. Expensive, but worth the price.

B, JRoldan and I posing in front of a banner.
______________________________________________

There were only two setbacks:

1. The musical, scheduled at 3pm, was delayed for 1:10!!! Screwed up all our plans in the evening.

2. The crazy guy behind me. He was sitting on LL37, 3pm show, Jun 29, 2008 - I need to remember that, so that if he ever reads this blog post, he would need to be reminded what a nuisance he is. He laughed at scenes not worth laughing. He even laughed at a poignant scene. Lame!! And, just because of an accidental flash by my friend, he went berserk, yelled "Don't want!!!" and "LIGHTS!!!", and slapped on my friend's back and the head of another friend! He is TOO MUCH!! Well... I guess he is a bit not sane - and that's forgivable. But, if ever he did that because he was drunk - then may God bless him - he'd meet with someone who might actually beat him up.