Monday, June 16, 2008

Basketball

Today (rather, yesterday, since it is now past midnight) I had a lot of fun playing basketball with A, Davis family, JRoldan, Ling, B, Kev, Bobo and Dell guy. It was the first time I truly learn and practise how to play basketball. Surprised huh - a 30 year-old learning basketball. Well, frankly, I played when I was in Form 1, but I didn't really play as a team (rather, I was merely playing around with the ball). I sucked big time then. I stopped attempting to play, and here I was, a noob in basketball.

In the beginning A invited me to play 3-on-3. But after one game, I was like going to die from being out of breath. Of course la... with the fact that I did not work-out for 2 weeks, and my stamina was low, how could I tahan running 10 minutes non-stop?? So, after a game, A taught me the proper shooting method. First he taught me how to use one hand to aim and shoot from the inner free throw arc, and then he taught me how to use the additional aiming hand together with the dominant hand for better shooting method on the free throw line. I occupied the next court and practised alone. It was fun! I never had imagined that I scored so many times from the free throw line before. With the right techniques, I'd made it! Anyways, the price of playing and practising for 2 hours - blisters on both feet. Need more practices to thicken my skin!

I will join them again next week for another game. Sad thing is, Ling is returning to Melbourne this coming Saturday morning. So, we shall play again in September!!
_____________________________

After the game, we went to TGIF Queensbay Mall for free-flow drinks and dinner! The portions were indeed much smaller compared to 1.5 years ago when they first opened in Penang. Anyways, it was a hearty meal and we had much fun fellowshiping! The Davis kids were funny as they posed with their Batman and Spider-Man suits sweaters. See below:



B was funnier. He was craving for his fresh lemon served together with his bottomless iced lemon tea. And there I caught this poser with his lemon!

Friday, June 13, 2008

In Christ Alone - YouTube Videos and Lyrics

In Christ Alone
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music



In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow'r of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Full Tank Agony

One full tank would normally last me for a week, and I used to pay an average of RM70 per week for my full-tank of petrol. With 40.6 percent increase of Octane 97 petrol price, things are much more different and difficult now. Last Saturday (June 7) marked one of my first ever experience - paying RM100 in a single payment for a full-tank of Octane 97 petrol. RM100!!! My gosh! I'm gonna spend RM400++ a month!

Well, I'm not the only one suffering. Frequent bus travelers are equally suffering. Bus ticket prices have been immediately increased since the diesel price hike on June 5. As I was traveling back to Penang from Singapore yesterday, I got to observe the bus being filled full-tank with diesel. Guess how long it took? 15 minutes. And how much does it cost? See below. Shockingly unbelievable!!!


I HATE it when people's voices are not heeded. Period.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Meat Dumpling

My boss bought a 'ba zang' (meat dumpling in Penang Hokkien dialect). Yep, one 'ba zang' for the team of 20 people!! It's HUGE!!! Not to mention delicious! :-)




端午节快乐!!

RM2.70

June 4, 2008, Wednesday

I left office at 9:29pm. I was planning to go to church to meet Ling, but because I know there were traffic jams all over, I gave up and headed back home. And, because of the stupid jam of people hogging around gas stations, I reached home at 10:08am. I couldn’t even connect to the Internet. I only got GPRS connection which was damn slow. So, I wrote this in my phone… and still not yet finished…

An uneasy balance begun
Setting on the price of depleting energy
Harnessed for convenience sake
But played and tossed around by many
Year by year the price soared
And people are paying more and more

And there came the crazy goliath
Wanting to soar even higher
And thus a word was spoken
Waging gas by three quarter
The sheep and dwarfs gagged in disbelief
Left with frustration no one can relief

And hence all hell break loose
As panicked sheep dashed out with their carts
Gas price is gonna inflate soon
There is no time to waste or lamenting buts
Better get a good deal of goods
Before the inflated price stay for good

In no time roads were blocked
As all vendors were heavily flocked
Even the cops were summoned…

…I DOZED OFF… :-P

Woke up by a SMS at 12:08am. At that time, I realized it’s over… :-(

Well, what to do? The next day mah go buy petrol at RM 2.70 lor!

By the way, I think I should just leave my poem unfinished just like that. As a sign of frustration and silent protest towards the petrol price hike!!!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

2 Chronicles 7:14

DISCLAIMER: For those of you who has not watched but really want to watch the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, I advise you not to read this article until you have watched it, because this article may contain many SPOILERS.

Last Friday, I did not go to SWYF meeting because I was attending my company's departmental outing, and after the buffet dinner, I was dead tired and went back to sleep. That night, A conducted the sharing, and followed by what B called - the "fifth wave" (read the first 3 waves here, and the 4th here). I missed all these, but regained part of it on Saturday, the day I watched Narnia.

A's sharing was focused on the scripture verse 2 Chronicles 7:14, which sounded like this: "[Yahweh said to Solomon] If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." This, according to A, shall be our response to God's past anointing in SWYF - that we shall be humble, pray to Him, seek God's face, and repent. With that, we shall inherit the promise of God.

I watched Narnia the next day - it was a good movie. I could see that Lucy Pevensie was earnestly and humbly searching for Aslan and seek help and refuge in him - and that is why Aslan appeared only to her and not the rest, not even her own elder siblings. This is how God would appear to us - that if we earnestly search for Him, He is always there. As famously preached by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: "Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you." (Matthew 7:7)

Later that night, I met with Ling who has just returned from Melbourne, together with A and B. There A told me of 2 Chronicles 7:14 that he shared. When he was finished, I said, hey, I skipped Shalom meeting and yet the next day I was getting the same message from God through Narnia!! Praise God!


In the beginning of the movie, Lucy was able to see Aslan, but not the rest. Lucy was humble and earnest to seek Aslan's face again, and that is why Aslan appeared only to her. What about the rest? Lucy pointed out a possibility to Peter, saying that maybe Peter did not really want to seek Aslan. Also, Lucy always hoped and prayed that Aslan would be with them. She even dreamt of Aslan!! How could we be as humble, prayerful, and earnest in seeking the face of God?


And at last - repentence, or turning away from wicked ways. Nikabrik misled Prince Caspian by saying that the Kings and Queens of old Narnia failed him, and then tempted him to call upon the evil power of the old - the White Witch! Caspian, and much later, Peter himself, nearly fell flat into this big temptation which would destroy not only Miraz, but also entrap Narnia once again. Edmund, having fallen to the White Witch's temptation in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and yet redeemed by Aslan, did not fall back to temptation, but turned away from the wicked. He stabbed at the White Witch trapped behind the ice wall and drove her back to underworld. How much courage will we humans have to avoid temptation and destroy evil for the sake of our love to God?


And, at last, Lucy rode all by herself, to seek Aslan's help. Her faith in Aslan was the only thing that she had. At last, Aslan appeared. By his roar, the powers of nature (trees and water) were summoned, and at last, evil was conquered. Peace in the land of Narnia was restored. Harmony between Narnians and Telmarines were developed. All because of Lucy's little faith in Aslan. How much do we rely on God - that if we are humble, pray, seek His face, and repent, God will hear us, and with the roar of the Lion of Judah, our sins forgiven, our land restored, our life be in peace and harmony?


God is good, before we even know Him. Now it is our response to his goodness and love.

Wiki source is here.
My review is here.
Movie database is here.

Monday, June 2, 2008

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - A Review

Willian Moseley
Anna Popplewell
Skandar Keynes
Georgie Henley


These names might not be familiar with you, but when we were talking about the Pevensies, they are the actors and actresses that play the Pevensies siblings - Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy respectively. Yes, the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve were back! The second movie installation of Narnia is out.

The story began as it ended in The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, where the Pevensies were back from Narnia to the real world. One Earth-year has passed, but that is equivalent to 1,300 Narnian years. In Narnia, the creatures were almost extinct, and the Telmarines, led by the legendary King Caspian I, has conquered Narnia. Now, King Miraz (Sergio Castellitto), uncle of Prince Caspian X (Ben Barnes), was the de facto monarch, and was blessed with a newborn baby boy. Since Miraz had his own heir, he was all out kill his own nephew and usurp his throne. With the help of Doctor Cornelius the tutor (Vincent Grass), Prince Caspian had to flee for his life, away from his throne which he rightfully owned. During the pursuit, he blew Queen Susan's horn, summoning the Kings and Queens of old - the Pevensies. magically transported from Earth to Narnia in a train station, the Pevensies found themselves in a realm unknown, or rather the ruined future of narnia they once ruled. Now the Pevensies have to look for the one who summoned them - Prince Caspian, so that the latter could regain his kingdom and restore peace to ten land of Narnia. However, how could they do so, since Narnians are almost extinct and vastly outnumbered by Miraz's army? Do they need to call upon the mystical and mysterious Aslan, the mighty creator of Narnia? How? How would ever he reappear, since he was so remote? Or was he really so?


The first movie was filmed in 2002, and released in 2005. During the release of The Lion, the 'kids' were aged 18, 17, 14, and 10 respectively. Now, three years later... you do the maths. In Caspian, Skandar Keynes' voice obviously broke, and I could hardly recognize Georgie Henley! Wow! That was what "one year" had done to them (The Lion and Caspian was set one Earth-year apart).

Nevertheless, this movie has the Andrew Adamson feel. I mean, both background and environment settings, as well as the atmosphere, are more or less the same. Just like the Chris Columbus feel in the first two Harry Potter movies. Too bad the third installation: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (scheduled to release in 2010), is not going to be directed by Adamson anymore! Which means, The Voyage might appear lousy. And I wonder how much more the "Pevensies" could have changed/grown!

I was watching the movie with my non-Christian colleagues. And, immediately after the movie, one of my colleagues started to ask questions about why the story was set like that. Then I answered: It is simply because it is related to Christianity. Okay, further elaboration of our conversation will lead to spoilers. Nevertheless, later on the same day I realized that the Bible quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 was in a way elaborated in this movie. And, indeed, Christians could quickly relate Aslan to the Lion of Judah!


Of course, being a Disney movie, certain characters that are not deserved to die will not die in the end. Nevertheless, talking about a war between Narnians and Telmarines, it was expected to have body counts and casualties during the battles. And, Disney had all its way to make all animals, particularly the minute ones, "cute"!! Yesss... to those who have watched it, yes, I mean Reepicheep the talking mouse!!

And mind you, Warwick Davis was indeed cast in the movie. He had taken a role totally different from his past roles. No more Willow, no more Leprechaun, no more Professor Flitwick. He's Nikabrik the black-Dwarf, who stood by Prince Caspian, fighting against Miraz, but... not gonna mention here lest spoiler leaks.

A slightly below nine out of ten is my rating. Again, this movie would be one that I would not mind watching more than once.

Awesome God - YouTube Videos and Lyrics

Awesome God
Written and Performed by Rich Mullins



Verse 1
When He rolls up His sleeves He ain't just putting on the ritz
Our God is an awesome God
There's thunder in His footsteps and lightning in His fists
Our God is an awesome God

And the Lord wasn't joking when He kicked 'em out of Eden
It wasn't for no reason that He shed His blood
His return is very close and so you better be believing that
Our God is an awesome God

Chorus
Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from heaven above
With wisdom, power and love
Our God is an awesome God

Verse 2
And when the sky was starless In the void of the night
Our God is an awesome God
He spoke into the darkness and created the light
Our God is an awesome God

Judgement and wrath He poured out on Sodom
Mercy and grace He gave us at the cross
I hope that we have not too quickly forgotten that
Our God is an awesome God

Chorus
Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from heaven above
With wisdom, power and love
Our God is an awesome God