Yuen Hsiang's Kitchen Get-Away

A Revival: Going Vegetarian for UNICEF

2011-08-03T10:40:00.002+08:00

Craving: Salt Baked Crabs/Lobster/Prawns

A Revival! Woo hoo! After almost 2 years since my last post, I'm back. I've decided to revive this blog all in the name of charity. Yup that's right, as the title says, I'm going vegetarian for UNICEF. I have always felt that there are many children and youth across the world who are in need and so now I'm trying to do my part. Please visit my donation page at http:////www.simplygiving.com/sugoingvege. For every RM100 you donate, I'll go vegetarian for a day! It may not seem like much but if you know me it truly is an enormous sacrifice. I kid you not.

Come and join me in supporting the children of the world!

The Great Kiwi Adventure Day 5

2009-11-28T17:32:00.005+08:00

Craving: Maggi Goreng Tak Mau Pedas

So it's the last full day in Kiwi-land. Min wasn't coming along with us this time as she was heading to the south to walk on a glacier, so we said our goodbyes last night as I wouldn't be seeing her anymore before I left. We started out really early today for the 3 hour drive to Te Puia in Rotorua. We left about 8am and arrived there about 11. Te Puia is the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute, but the main attraction really stinks.....as in it reeks of rotten eggs kind of stink. No it's no that the performances are bad, it's just that....oh well maybe you should just see for yourselves.

Dad and I at the Te Puia Entrance

How did the Maori ever fit in here?

One of the many mud pools

Various pics of the Pohutu Geyser

A boiling pool of water

A Maori lady welcoming us

A Maori warrior running out to greet us

Part of the performances

Me with the Maori

A little kiwi named Rigor...or is it Mortis?

I'm really gonna miss New Zealand, It is a beautiful place and I will really make it a point to come and visit as often as I can. I was great for the family to be all together again before my sis starts working. It's been an awesome time. Loved that I got to meet up with relatives as well and got to see my cousins, some of whom I haven't seen in almost 10 years! Thanks Dad! Thanks Mum! Thanks Min! Thanks all of the Su clan (and Khoos as well :) ) for making this an amazing stay! God Bless!

The Great Kiwi Adventure Day 4

2009-11-28T02:28:00.002+08:00

Craving: To cook a Lobster

Today was a more relaxed day. Slept in till about 10:30am, then lounged around a bit after a simple breakfast before heading out to do some shopping. Was my first real walk about the city in the day and it was great. The weather warmed up quite a bit so it wasn't quite as chilly anymore. Had dinner with relatives and basically just spent the evening and night chatting away. :)

The Great Kiwi Adventure Day 3

2009-11-26T20:19:00.000+08:00

Craving: Scotch Egg

Whoa..what a day! Min was feeling much better so she took us to visit the awesome Muriwai beach, followed by dim sum and capped off by a trip to One Tree Hill (No. It's not the one in the show). It's late here so not much to say but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves :). First up Muriwai Beach.

Absolutely breathtaking

You'll notice that our hair is all over the place. That's how windy it really is.

Mum and Dad

There are hordes of gannets on that plateau.

A video of Muriwai and the Gannets

Next up....One Tree Hill. Sadly, there is no tree on One Tree Hill at least not anymore. It was chopped down a few years back by the Maori in protest and apparently they are still debating what is the right tree to plant up there.

These are the sheep

This is me trying to get close to the sheep.

As you can see the sheep aren't being very cooperative.

The obelisk on One Tree Hill. It's really windy up here.

There used to be a tree here. Apparently it's not the stump either.

View from the top of the hill and the little red number we came in.

The Great Kiwi Adventure Day 2

2009-11-25T17:44:00.006+08:00

Craving: Grilled Cod Seasoned with Salt and Pepper

So it's the end of day 2. This time around I have some pictures to show, courtesy of my sister's camera. Here's some shots of yesterday's walk at night.

Mum, Min and I by the docks

Beautiful colours of the dusk sky

Another of me by the docks

Amazing feat of engineering. May post up the video of this later.

Sky Tower all lit up

Sky Tower from the roof of the apartment building

Nightview of the city from the roof

And so that was last nights walk about. Today started a little slow. I'm still not really adjusted to the time difference yet. I'm a fan of nice relaxed holidays anyway so I took my time getting up. Strangest thing though...I actually got up later than expected because I actually had a dream about me getting up!!! So anyway once I've gotten my morning rituals out of the way I started cooking myself up some breakfast. I rummaged around in the fridge and cooked up a plate of pork sausages with pepperoni, scrambled eggs and bread. A nice hearty meal to start the day. After some more lounging about we headed out to the beaches. Sadly my sis was feeling under the weather so she had to stay home and rest. Especially with her glacier walk coming up!

Well we hit quite a few beaches and it was really a big difference to the beaches I am used to back home. Where the beaches in Malaysia are usually quite big with a very long stretch, here the beaches were quite small and the expanse not so wide. However the water is so clear and the deep blue is so inviting. It really makes me marvel at the awesomeness and the power of God when I see these things.

Mum and I at the beach

Look at that beautiful blue expanse!

The weather was also sort of a contrast to the way it was back home. Though it was sunny out, the weather was still quite chilly. In fact it has felt like I'm in Cameron Highland's on a cold day for the time I've been here. As you can see by the jackets in the picture below, the wind can really be quite chilly.

Mum and Dad standing out against the blue

The absolute closest I could get to a gull

Sea all the oysters stuck to the rock? I'm told people actually crack them open to eat!

Once we were done with the beaches, we decided to drop by and visit the aunts and uncles. For some strange reason my dad feels it's fine to drop by without calling, supposed to be a generation thing I think. Since it was a working day and other's were away....we only managed to catch hold of Jie Yang at our first stop. Our luck was better at the next stop when we managed to catch up with ber kor and Hui Yen. Would have managed to catch Jian Wei as well but he didn't wake up the whole time we were there.

Shhh......don't tell my aunt I put this up. She'd skin me alive!

It was great catching up. I was also introduced to my aunt's famous lemon tree. Famous because it produces lemons the size of grapefruits! And apparently, those are the small ones!!!!! Will be trying to bring back a few, hopefully they'll keep :)

Yes, this is too small to be plucked!

Roses from ber kor's garden

After we left their place we headed to do some grocery's from Pak 'n Save and Taiping (the asian grocer). Didn't get much, but I managed to get a loaf of Sourdough! Oh how I miss sourdough. Too bad it's almost impossible to find in Malaysia. Headed home for a simple lunch and rest for the afternoon. Dinner time came around again and this time we headed to Tony's Lord Nelson for steak. It was just the three of us as sis was still sick so she had to sit this one out. It was a just a short walk from the apartment, which is very nice especially in this kind of weather. We all had the soup of the day which turned out to be Clam Chowder, which was very very nice except that it was a little bit too salty. For the mains, Dad had a Fillet Provencal, which was is a fillet steak with Claret and Bone Marrow sauce. Mum had a Carpet Bag Steak, which is a steak stuffed with oysters, and boy were those oysters large! As for me, I had a huge 20z T-Bone steak which was grilled to perfection, albeit a little under seasoned. All in all it was a excellent meal and I was not disappointed. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures until I had finished half my steak, but I then I took some anyway. Also unfortunately, its all in my handphone and I won't be able to post the pictures of all the food I've had till I get back.

After dinner, we took a stroll around town where I had a minor altercation with a local. We were walking up the street minding our own business when our attention was drawn to this man who seemed to be drunk and was making lots of noise. His friends were calling up to him but he just seemed to be steam rolling along his way. For some funny reason he decided it would be fun to body check me as he walked past. Fortunately I saw it coming and was able to cushion it. Didn't bother with him too much and didn't respond and just continued walking. His friends seemed really embarrassed and apologized profusely. Really stupid, the things that people do while drunk. Wasn't a very pleasant encounter but I didn't dwell on it very long.

We continued our stroll up Queen street and saw this amazing storefront display. It various, holiday season scenes, but entirely done with puppet mice. It had music, lights and everything. Was really very nice. We then stopped by Borders. Didn't get anything, but I was sorely tempted by this series I saw "Vampire Academy". Looks like sort of a Harry Potter meets Buffy meets Blade kind of story. Was sorely tempted to get the series, but it would definitely be cheaper back home. Hopefully I'm right. Called it a night after that and headed back to the apartment. So till tomorrow. Ciaoz!

500 days of Auckland

2009-11-24T10:44:00.007+08:00

Cravings: Ham, Pesto and Tomato Muffin

Greetings from Kiwi-land! I just touched down in Auckland, NZ just a couple of hours ago and I'm loving it so far. My sis took me for a quick lunch and then we were off to Mt. Eden. Beautiful place! It's a crater from some dormant volcano apparently. Too bad I forgot to bring my card reader, so I can't post up the pictures I took with my phone. The scenery was amazing and I just love the weather. In fact I lingered on the hill a little bit more just so I could enjoy the nice breeze more. I would love to take a book up there one day and just spend the day reading :)

On another note-I finally watched 500 days of Summer. I caught it on my flight over here. It's a great show and I think the Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel really pulled of their parts well. I also think I can identify with Tom in the movie, maybe my autumn is around the corner :) Liike I was saying to Chin Mei over lunch yesterday, getting away from it all will be good.

And that brings me to something trivial...Zooey Deschanel.

How hot is she?! At the same time she has this eerie look. I think it has to do with those piercing blue eyes of hers. Her only down fall? She is a VEGAN and is GLUTEN and LACTOSE intolerant (something I discovered by watching Top Chef Masters)!! No offence but I need my meats, cheeses and rice :P

Edit: My mistake. She's Vegan (So no meats, fish, eggs or dairy), Gluten intolerant and doesn't take Soya products.

You are my strength

2009-11-15T00:03:00.003+08:00

Cravings: Spinach and Bacon Quiche

You are my strength
Strength like no other
Strength like no other
Reaches to me

You are my hope
Hope like no other
Hope like no other
Reaches to me

In the fullness of Your grace
In the power of Your name
You lift me up
You lift me up

Unfailing love
Stronger than mountains
Deeper than oceans
Reaches to me

Your love O Lord
Reaches to the heavens
Your Faithfulness
Reaches to the skies

You are my strength
Strength like no other
Strength like no other
Reaches to me

Two Dinners

2009-06-08T10:30:00.002+08:00

Cravings: Ice cold Lemonade

Cooked dinner for friends over the weekend. Took the opportunity of having the house to myself (on account of the folks holidaying in China) and YF being on recess to treat my friends to some home cooked dinners. :) Had two groups over, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, but unfortunately I have no pictures to show you guys of the food.

Cold storage has become my new favourite place to do my groceries. There is just so much stuff and I think I may have over did my shopping spree. Hehe.

On Saturday we had a group of 6 diners, and I went for asian fare. Cooked Hainanese Chicken Rice, Roast Pork Loin and Stir-Fried Mix Veggies. I started my preparations by boiling a whole chicken in a pot of water with some garlic and salt. As the chicken was boiling away I got to work on my other prep. I diced a large red onion, a few cloves of garlic, and sliced up some garlic and then fried them together with my rice. Once that was done I put it into the rice cooker and added the stock from boiling the chicken along with some salt and let the rice cooker do the rest of the work. I also tried my hand at roasting a pork loin. Used a simple seaoning of salt, 5 spice powder, dill and pepper. Tried to score the skin of the loin, but that didn't turn out too well as my knives weren't sharp enough :(. I rubbed the seasoning over the pork and set it on a bed of fennel to bake. For the stir-fry I went with brocolli, carrots and red and yellow peppers.

All in all it turned out well. One of my better estimates as the quantity of food was just nice. Too bad the skin of the pork was inedible as it was too rubbery, but the meat was cooked just nice! Chicken and rice turned out well. As did the veggies. My chilli sauce for the chicken rice failed though, I don't eat the chilli sauce with my chicken rice so I was basically winging it for that one. Thank goodness my other sauce for the chicken turned out alright :). (Just like mum used to make).

Sunday night was a dinner for only 4, and I went for a more western theme. I went for lagsana with mash potatoes. There were a couple of firsts for the lagsana. Went with a mixture of lamb and beef for the meat, and cheddar for the cheese sauce. Usually I just go full beef and mozzarella. Ommitted capsicums this time around too as some of the diners didn't like the green peppers. Also went with San Remo fresh lagsana sheets for the first time and I have to say it worked out pretty well. Garlic, mushrooms, onions, fresh tomatoes, tomato puree and herbs rounded of the meat sauce. Butter, flour, cream and water all contributed to the cheese sauce with the cheddar. Layered the lagsana starting with the meat sauce, then the cheese sauce, then lagsana sheets and kept on piling, ending with cheese sauce topped with grated mozzarella and cheddar.

For the mash potatoes, I boiled the potatoes, deskinned them (once again coz some diners don't like potato skin) and mashed them together with salt, pepper butter and fresh parsley. Did a rough mash leaving some bits of potato here and there to give it some bite. Over did the estimation this time around and there were left overs but my friends ta pau home the left overs and all was good. Now I really regret not taking pictures of the food. Must do that the next I do something like this.

Leap of Faith vs Taking a Risk

2009-05-31T00:02:00.002+08:00

Cravings: Devil's Chocolate Cake

I have been pondering about leaps of faith lately. I can't help but wonder about the differences between "Taking a risk" and "Taking a leap of faith". I mean they're both essentially the same thing. I agonize over this because a leap of faith is supposed to be something that you do because you are unsure but you know God will see you through. Taking a risk on the other hand...it is supposed to have a more secular connotation. I guess my biggest question is how do you know for sure when you're doing something, if you're relying on God or not. I am facing such a decision right now...and all I can do is pray for guidance and courage.

Joke of the Day

2009-05-19T17:38:00.002+08:00

Cravings: Cheese On Crackers

Please let me introduce you to the latest sensation that will be sweeping the internet in a short while. Read this. I'm sure that most of people who have some Chinese/Asian knowledge will be shaking their heads and wondering just how something like that made it on to the Microsoft website. The second paragraph of the page is especially funny.

A Rant

2009-05-07T23:58:00.002+08:00

Cravings: Funnel Cake

I just got back from a time of hanging out with Amy and Jee Leng. It's been ages seen we've hung out together and it was a good time of catching up and fellowshiping. We talked about all sorts of things and of the things was how hard it was finding help to organize the OA camp this year. Appalling isn't it? A church of 300 - 400 people and yet it is so hard to find workers. And it is not only for this ministry too. All ministries are facing problems with finding people who are willing to serve. Common excuses are "I'm too young.", "I've just started working", "I'm too busy with my job", "I'm too busy with my family", "Not now", "I'm too old", etc. The list just goes on and on. Finding time to serve is all about prioritizing. If you don't prioritize serving God, you'll just find something else to fill up that time and you'll never be free enough to serve. Speaking for experience, I can say that I'm busier now then when I first started to work. If I didn't make it a point to serve in the YF when I first started out, I don't think I'd be serving now. It would definately be harder for me to start now, when I've so many more responsibilities. Also we can't always be serving in the place we want. God calls us to where ever He wants us to be. There is this verse in the song "We are the body" by Casting Crowns that goes...

Jesus paid much too high a price,
For us to pick and choose who should come.

We're lucky God doesn't think like us. If He did, we would still probably be waiting for the Messiah. I'm sure Jesus didn't enjoy going to die on the cross. He probably had plenty of better things to do then to come to earth and die to save us. The great thing is, He did it anyway. And if we are the body of Christ, why aren't we doing the same?

Sorry...Just needed to get that rant of my chest.

1 Minute 30 seconds - My Heart Bleeds

2009-05-07T09:24:00.003+08:00

Cravings: Bacon wrapped sausages

One and a half minutes was all that was left to joy, but agonizingly it was all ripped away. In that one moment of madness, all was lost. Inestia had scored for FC Barcelona. I saw it all happen as if in slow motion. The ball knocked into the Chelsea area, Belleti missing the ball in his attempt to clear. I think it was then I knew...the Catalans were gonna score. It was crazy. Barcelona hadn't had a shot on target the whole night! 13 shots on goal not a single shot on target... until then. Sigh...I don't even know why I watched the match. I was sound asleep and then suddenly woke up at 4 something. I was drawn to check out the scoreline and saw to my great joy that Chelsea was 1-0 up. I didn't want to get my hopes up though, so I just continued watching the report from my computer, until with 10 minutes to go I gave in and went out to turn on the TV. That's all it to took shatter my dreams and the dreams of Chelsea fans world wide, a goal with one and a half minutes to go.

Well then

2009-04-06T11:02:00.002+08:00

Craving: Bovril Drink

Well then. What a weekend. I tell you, saying that this past weekend has been a rollercoaster of emotions is an understatement. In the end I am really thankful. I thank God this things happened now and not a few weeks or even a month or two ago. I'd probably be in pretty bad shape then. As it stands now. I'm pretty ok I think all things considered :)

P/S: On a seprate note. I've been meaning to post up pictures of my youth class this year, but I haven't gotten to it just yet :P

A Break in the Clouds

2009-04-01T12:09:00.002+08:00

Craving: Bacon wrapped pork sausages

Things are begining to look up a bit I think. I'm begining to see the break in the clouds where the sunlight streams through. I can tell you it is a pretty good feeling to have :)

Steeling...

2009-03-15T11:09:00.002+08:00

Craving: Cheese and crackers

Looks like one of the days which I've been dreading is approaching. I've told myself and others that I want it to come to pass...but....it doesn't mean I've got to like it. At least I won't have to suffer anymore right? Oh who am I kidding...I'll be crying inside.

Keeping the Ties

2009-03-14T22:19:00.002+08:00

Craving: Good food. Any good food.

We've just ended a prayer session here at camp and I've just been hit by a few thoughts that I wanted to blog about. We prayed for many things during the session and one of them was about friends. Aliza was mentioning during the session about how she, Yueen San and Amy share this close bond and how they pray together every week. I can't help feel a pang of regret each time I hear this. I think about the prayer group I used to have. How Tim, KP, Shaun and even Kev (though he usually couldn't make it) would meet up for prayer. I feel regret cause I wish I had faught to keep it going more. That I should have kept with it praying in my house instead of going to church for Prayer Meet. Sounds bad I know...but I think it would have been better for all of us. I think maybe that is one of the things I lack in my life....a real group of people I can bring my prayers before and be accountable too. I really wish that I had tried to keep it going more....maybe.....sorry Lord for not fighting for it harder. I'm so sorry.

Fraying

2009-03-10T16:09:00.003+08:00

Cravings : Bacon

I think I'm currently in one of those spots. Been feeling my "singleness" pretty keenly over the past couple of months. The fact that almost all of my close friends are attached (or soon will be) plays a part in this as those the not so subtle jabs and pokes from family. To be honest I sometimes dread going to gathering's with my friends, not through any fault of their own... but when we're together... I can't help but realize that I when I turn to my side all I see is an empty space. It's been a bit sucky too as it sorts of spills over into other stuff. Just the other day I wasn't invited to watch a show with some friends, which was understandable coz well I was watching another show. Somehow however, I felt this incident very keenly. Perhaps because I had wanted to watch the show and mentioned it a few times, or maybe it was because I knew I wouldn't have anyone else to watch the show with, or just maybe coz I felt that I wasn't even thought off...I don't know. Felt pretty darn sucky....luckily by the end of lunch I had managed to shake myself out that stupid mindset.

I think part of my current predicatment is that I have quite a few close friends of the opposite gender, and when they get attached we sorta lose the closeness. Which is understandable, coz there are new boundaries that have to be drawn. I'm happy for them at the same time a little sad coz I know things aren't the same. Also my issues with my trying to move on from my past interest hasn't been going all that well. Sigh...sucks to be in this melodramatic, emo kind of mood. Hope I get out of it soon. I mean just reading the Naruto chapter where I thought Hinata died (which still may happen, but the next issue gave some hope for her survival), I couldn't sleep till 4am. Sucks man.

Square 1? Hah! Fat Chance

2008-10-30T09:39:00.002+08:00

Craving: Still Lagsana

Well yeah, so getting back to square 1 is looking like heaven at the moment. I guess it's like ppl say, no risk no gain. Although I really do wonder if I risked too much this time around. *sigh* nothing much more I can do though, except pray and 'try and talk' and pray summore.

Taking a Leap

2008-10-28T11:16:00.002+08:00

Craving: Lagsana - One that is at least an inch and a half thick

Well I've gone and done it. Done something impulsive and crazy. Taken the proverbial leap of faith. This past weekend quite a few myths have been debunked. Now I'd like to debunk a myth of my own. Sometimes getting something off your chest doesn't neccessarily make you feel better. I thought about it, prayed and then took the step. Mind you this isn't that big a thing in the first place, but still a significant step. Anyway, I don't actually feel that much better. I guess it's good to finally get certain things out in the open, but I just can't help and feel aprehensive. Oh well. It's out of my hands now I guess. For better or worse Lord, I trust in you. It's in your hands.

Quickie

2008-10-13T08:40:00.002+08:00

Cravings: Celery Sticks with peanutbutter

I have been pleasantly surprised the past few days. It's seems there are alot more people looking out for me than I thought, or at least looking out for me in a manner which I didn't expect. I found it funny but was at the sametime quite touched and encouraged. I actually have been a bit down the past couple of days. Nothing sersious, just one of those moods. Looks like God just knows what I needed :)

A Cappella

2008-09-10T01:59:00.003+08:00

Cravings : Red Wine Mee Suah

A couple of years back, I tried to start up a regular prayer group among my peers for the guys. I thought it would be good that we had a group where we could share one another's burden's and pray for one another. Sad to say it didn't work out too well and everything sort of fell by the way side. It is definately something I miss. I do wish we had managed to see it through. I wonder if things would be so very different for all of us.

On another note. Been really hung up on a cappella lately, and these are a few of my favourite you tube vids. I though I'd share them with you guys. Really awesome stuff. The groups are called On the Rocks(Men) and Divisi(Women). They are a cappella groups from University of Oregon in the United States. Check out their websites at www.uoontherocks.com and www.uodivisi.com. Really inspiring to hear them sing. I just imagine if we could pull this off in church.

There are times....

2008-07-20T22:10:00.002+08:00

Craving : S'mores

Well we just got back from the A.D. performance in Cheras tonight and it was a blast. The choir and drama team performed well and really did good. Better than the performance in TLC I think. Though for some strange reason I'm feeling abit ..... bleh .... Sometimes, when things just seem to start caving in, or when there just seems so many things to think about and I allow my thoughts to run, I just get into one of those moods. And then I'll go off and be by myself, I guess I have a lot of stuff running in my head and heart too. I guess this is one of those times.

Ramblings

2008-07-10T15:06:00.002+08:00

Craving : Baked Crabs

Been lazy. Been really lazy. Therefore my blog is in the sorry state that you see it in now. I am barely in the mood to update these days. However I thought I'd write an entry today.

Lots of things have been on my mind lately. Lots of things to do. That's what really worries me. I'm worried that I'll get so caught up in the doing of things that I lose sight of what God actually wants me to be. Sigh. It's a struggle, and I sure hope I struggling in the right direction.

Some things are old struggles that I've been trying to let go off for a long long time. Some other times it just all the stuff that comes about. Sigh.

But the really great thing is that God is really good. He's blessed with a good job, with great friends, and an even greater family. Sometimes, even when I think I am alone, or I start feeling down, He reminds me of what I really have. :)

Cherating!

2008-06-05T09:38:00.002+08:00

Craving: Baked Crabs

Just got back from church retreat last night. Cherating was a really nice place to be and I would love to go back there again some day. Just a really nice place to chill and relax, especially with so many friends around. Got to know some people I didn't really know before as well as spend great time in fellowship with friends. The beach was great (except for the jellyfish). I can't remember the last time I went to the beach and really swam in it. Kites, turtles, beach volleyball, beach to swimming pool to beach and back, all in good fun. I could just write so much about it, but that would just take too long and make an essay out of this post. Suffice to say I enjoyed myself. Even got to squeeze in a game of Settler of Catan while we were there.

This being a church retreat I feel like I need to mention some other stuff too. After all we were there to learn as well right? Hehe...The speaker as alright, speaking on our camp theme of "Transformed to Make a Difference". Content and the points he made were great, my only grievience was that the delivery was very monotonous. Hard a hard time following the messages all the way through. Discussions were lively though, especially in my group. Was interesting to listen to the opinions and views of people I don't usually do bible study with.

Kudos to Sylvia and her fun night theme as well. It was a fun time and I think all groups enjoyed themselves. Really brought the groups together, young and all. I'm just a little peeved that my group could guess the words but couldn't sing this line from a song

"And hands that flung stars into space,
To cruel nails surrendered."

Hehe. Just kidding, you all did great! :P

Oh well enough words...now for some pictures!

Campers on the beach!

Ying Ying, Sam and Greg. Glad you guys could make it! :)

The Wesley Methodist people and I.

The younger Low and I

The older Low and I

Erwin, Federick and Mah Pung

Mr. Yap Hock Hoe thought Su Ming was my sister :P

Mr. Yee and I

Washed up jellyfish

The young ones :P

Zen and I at sunrise

Peter "The Man" Lim pumping iron.

Peter "The Man" Lim in need of sleep

Lounging by the pool.

Ms. Photogenic

Fun Night 1st Runner Up

Lameness Personified

My Passengers!

Around the lunch table with comments.*Please Click*

Words not spoken

2008-04-16T18:07:00.002+08:00

Craving: Lobster Thermidor

2 Corinthians 12: 7-10
⁷To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

It's surprising sometimes, how God can just use a few words like that to lift you up from the depths that you were in. :)

Confusion

2008-03-31T11:24:00.002+08:00

Craving: Caviar on crackers with cocktail shrimp

I'm been heck of a confused recently. Even more so over the past couple of days. I've been asking God "Why?" alot. "Why now?", "Why is this happening?", "Why why why?". Well He hasn't answered me yet though, but He did give me this verse this morning which once again reminds me to trust in Him. Also I'm reminded of part of yesterday's message..."Never say never".

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed,
for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
- Isaiah 41:10

P/S: Thanks lots for being there, and just talking with me. It helps more than you know :)

Just a little tidbit

2008-03-18T10:43:00.003+08:00

Craving: Stuffed Roasted Quail/Cornish Chicken

So I was just looking my friend Shelby's blog when I came across this little snippet.

"But, of course, actions speak louder than words. When a person gets in the 'zone' of still having a goofy grin 10minutes after reading an sms, or dives for the phone with hopes that its him/her, you just know."

She was speaking about one of her friend's interest in a person of the opposite sex. When I read these words immediately my mind was drawn to a friend of mine who has been reacting just like this recently to sms and calls from a certain someone. Person in question ofcourse denies it all...but the signs are all there. I'm sure there are others that share my opinion too...hehehehehe.

Be Still Oh My Soul

2008-03-17T08:12:00.003+08:00

Craving: Ox Tongue Sandwiches

Be still my soul
The Lord is on your side
Bear patiently
The cross of grief or pain
Leave to thy God
To order and provide
In every change
He faithful will remain.

Be still my soul
Thy best, thy heavenly friend
Through stormy ways
Leads to a joyful end.

Be still my soul
The waves and winds still now
Still know
His voice who ruled them
While he dwelt below.

Oh what peace we often forfeit
Oh what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.

I woke up this morning and these words came to my mind "Be Still Oh My Soul". I don't usually wake up with such thoughts on my mind, so I decided to blog about this while it was still fresh in my mind. I couldn't find the lyrics of the song I was actually looking for, but I think this song I posted above is more than apt. Recently God has really showed His presence to me, and I there have been a couple of emo times. Though there was a tinge of sadness and apprehension, I was very happy as well. I think the words of the song above is really so suitable for the situation, applicable to most of us really. A reminder that what ever we may go through, no matter how hard, how impossible, how confusing....you can always commit it to God :)

"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass."

- Psalm 37:5

"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him: fret not when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes"

- Psalm 37:7

Stones in a river

2008-03-10T17:21:00.002+08:00

Craving : Foie Gras

Have you ever thought about how interesting a river actually is? It's got so many different elements going on in it at the same time. There is change - the water that flows through out. There are constants - the many rocks anchored in the river. There is balance - the diverse ecosystem of life that lives in it. There is chaos - the flood waters that crush all in its path.

Seems like life doesn't it? This weekend itself has been a crazy one. A wave of change swept across Malaysia during the elections with the opposition winning big, capturing 5 states and denying the ruling coalition a 2/3 majority. And yet even within this change, there are constants. It is the same people living and working in the country. It is the same roads they travel to work. It is the same families and loved ones they go home to.

The stones in the river. I wonder have you ever looked at a solitary large stone in the river? Standing defiantly against the river's flow. It looks so sturdy and strong, a constant in a river of change. Yet slowly but surely, the incessant battering of the flowing river will wear away the stone. That is also how it is sometimes. Sometimes you look at someone and think, "Nothing, phases that person" or "He/She seems to have no problems". Sadly this is sometimes just facade that people have. This facade that sometimes builds up a barrier between them and others. Even then, whatever they may be facing is always beating down on them cracking the stony exterior they put up. That's where friends come in. Sometimes even the biggest, hardest stone needs some one to help bear the brunt a little bit or to even just pick it out of the water giving it some respite or just to let it know...it's not alone. Really bad analogies I know, but I think it gets the point across well enough :)

And for some happy news...congratulations Adrene and Jason! May the Lord continue to bless you both in your lives together!!!!

In the Middle of the Night

2008-02-24T02:55:00.002+08:00

Craving : Hotplate seared beef

Sometimes....God just amazes me. I was faced with simple decision today which basically go and play games or hang out. I chose hanging out and that actually put me in the position to be there for a friend later on in the nights. Really so shocking and surprising that it turned out that way. Guess God must have been prompting me in that decision :)

Stardust

2008-02-05T09:47:00.000+08:00

Craving: Roasted suckling pig

I finally watched stardust the other day, and I have to say it lives up to all the hype. I had originally planned to watch stardust in the cinema, but either the showtimes weren't right or there were no tickets. Even when I bought the DVD I was thwarthed on my first couple of attempts at watching it. The first time I tried watching it on my laptop only to discover that the sound was too soft. A couple of days later I tried to watch it again, but halfway through i got called out for dinner. Finally later that night I sat down with a couple of friends and finally managed to watch the whole movie. I definately was not dissapointed in it. It had things I always like in a movie.

Fantasty? CHECK
Interesting Storyline? CHECK
Humour? CHECK
Happy Ending? CHECK

A real must see if you haven't already. Oh and in case I don't blog again anytime soon.....

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!

God is in charge

2008-01-29T00:24:00.000+08:00

Cravings: Roti Daging Special

Been awhile since I've blogged. I just haven't had the mood or just put things off for too long. Tonight though, something happened that I just wanted to blog about. A group of friends and myself met up for drinks and the session just turned out to be so much more. Turns out one of my friends was struggling with some issues and through God's guidance and providence we broached that exact same subject tonight, purely by accident. Looking back, as one friend said, tonight's meeting was really planned by God. All of us had at some point an opportunity to not turn up at the yum cha session but decided to turn up anyway. Temptations almost kept a couple of us away too but in the end we were there and managed to have a serious talk with the friend that was struggling and I hope we were able to encourage that friend. It was truly God's hand that moved us today and for that I am in awe and amazed at how God moves. Hallelujah!

A whole bunch of stuff

2007-11-13T10:29:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Grilled baby back ribs, seasoned just with salt and pepper

Phew it has been a busy busy month and so much has been going on. With the end of the year coming even more stuff is approaching even as I type this post.

The year end is coming and YF camp is drawing closer. Its only a month away and still so much has to be done. This year really feels like everything with the camp is very last minute. Alot of things still need to be done, and not many have signed up for the camp yet. So many hurdles have been thrown in the path. We're not even sure we'll have enough student leaders for the discussion groups. So I have this feeling that either the camp is going to be real flop, or it's gonna be awesome. I guess it all boils down to whose strength we're depending on.

There is lots of fun associated with the camp too. The fund raising just this last week was lots of fun. The car wash was good and I think it really helped the fellowship among the youth. It was great to see Keen Wai there too. Good to know you're still with us bro!

On another note one of my friends from ISU just got married. Congrats to David and Cola! The wedding was great and it was good to see everyone again. Can't believe that even bridgette took the trouble to fly over from US for the wedding. I haven't seen some of these guys for over 5 years, especially the penang people. Lets not wait for another wedding to meet up again eh??? :)

Troubled

2007-10-22T17:15:00.000+08:00

Craving: Salt Baked Crabs

I'm troubled. Something was brought to my attention lately and it has made me look at and evaluate myself.....

Sometimes I just wish there was a gadget who could warn me when somethings are getting out of line....sigh...

Rocks, Hard Places and more

2007-10-08T16:51:00.000+08:00

Craving : Red Wine Mee Suah

There are times I just don't know what to do. Have you ever been in a position when you were stuck between two people? Stuck between two friends? Haih...I had to make a decision on that last night and I still don't know if I did the right thing. On hindsight I probably should have straight away backed out of the situation, but how can I turn away from a person who is in need of comfort? What kind of friend would I be? All I can do now is pray that I did the right thing and hope that even if I didn't, God will work it out anyway....

Sometimes I think this is why I feel the longing for a special someone in my life. There is something comforting about knowing that you have someone that is there for you, who will hold, who will put you first even though you will never expect them too, but that's why they do it. Sometimes I look around at my friends and think to myself, "Why can't I have what they have?". I know God has his plans and timing, but I sometimes can't help but ask..."Can't we speed things up a little eh Lord?" :)

But I guess this is why having good friends are so important. I've been blessed with many and I'm thankful for them. In times when you can't talk to one, there is always another you can turn to. I talked to one such friend like that last night for over 2 hours, and even though I didn't mention any of the above, just the talking itself was enough. You know who you are. Thanks, and dun feel sorry, I didn't want to talk about it, but I just wanted to talk. You did plenty. Thanks.

Earthquake?

2007-10-05T16:11:00.001+08:00

Craving : Read post below

Just felt a sustained tremor for about 1 - 2 minutes. Could it be an earthquake? I'm not sure. But the vibrations were pretty large, obvious enough that everyone in my office felt it. Checked the web, but there is nothing about an Earthquake in the Malaysia region out yet. Anyone with news please let me know.

Cheatin' Orange

2007-10-05T15:35:00.000+08:00

Craving : Double Chocolate Chip Milkshake

This is anything much, but I came across this picture on the web and thought I'd share it with you. I think it's quite well done :) Hehe.

Cute eh???

My Wish.....

2007-10-01T18:18:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Prawns wrapped in bread and deep fried.

Time really flies. It seems like september flew by in a blur and I'm way behind in my work. Sigh. Need to get back on the ball quick and fast.

Watched "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" yesterday, and it's an excellent show. If you haven't watched it yet and are looking for a funny feel good kinda movie, I highly recommend it. I enjoyed it alot and was laughing most of the film. Also see if you can spot Rob Schnider in the film, I recognized him, but as the rest of the people I watched with couldn't recognized him it must be pretty hard to spot.

On another note, this weekend has been a good one. I a long talk with a good friend, something we haven't done in a long time. Like I was lamenting during our conversation, we guys haven't been out just to talk about serious/personal stuff in awhile, and it was good to have that kind of conversation again.

Hope....wishes...they are about the same....I have many hopes and dreams, but one in particular....even though it may seem pointless and stupid, but I still hope on. Doesn't make sense but then again these things rarely do.

In a similar vein, I look at some people and I wish I could just take away their pain. Make them feel better. Unfortunately there is not much I can do most of the time except listen. So sorry I can't do more.

Updates

2007-09-19T09:21:00.000+08:00

Craving : Smoked Salmon on Focacia

Okies so here goes. Some quick updates on what's going on (and also to keep this blog alive). I've been super busy with all sorts of stuff over the last month or so, and to top it off, eventhough there is so much to write about I just haven't been in the mood.

But let's see. Last month consisted of alot of ice cream outings. Even one when I was in the firing line of sorts. Then there was that getting "sacrificed" a couple of times by a friend who wanted to deflect attention away. On top of that I was bullied by a not so "innocent" girl while on an A&W outing. Sad rite? Terrible i tell you. It's all because I'm such a nice guy :P

Hehehe..It's all in good fun. The food was good, the fellowship was good, and no one got hurt. Excellent. Also I watched two movies I really enjoyed, "Evan Almighty" and "Ratatouille" (And Siew Ching....The concept is not disgusting!). I especially liked Morgan Freeman's line as God in Evan Almighty and that is what I shall leave you with to think about.

"Let me ask you something.
If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience?
Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient?
If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage,
or does he give him opportunities to be courageous?
If someone prayed for the family to be closer,
do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings,
or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"

Weekend Mission

2007-08-27T11:18:00.000+08:00

Craving : Lagsana (Maybe I'll make one this friday or something :P)

Phew....what a long month. It's been weekend after weekend of activities. First there was the Orphanage Visit, then the OA camp, and now just this last weekend, the Youth Fellowship sent a small team up to Taiping and Kuala Kangsar to take their Youth meeting and Sunday School for the weekend. Sort of a mission trip for the youth. Seven of us made the trip up, three teachers and four youth. Those who made the trip were Zhi Hao, Kylie, Bryan, Esther, Amy, Weng Soon and myself. I have to say the trip was a good one and en experience for all of us. I believe it was a real eye opener for the youth as well. There is quite alot to write about but below is just a brief summary of what we did there.

We started out on saturday afternoon and headed up to the GLO School in Taiping. There we had lunch (at KFC) rested for awhile, cleaned up our rooms for the night and then headed over to the church building to get ready for the youth meeting. It was a larger then usual crowd that day of about twenty youths, larger then usual because the average attendance of the youth there is less then ten people. I did the ice breaker which was followed by Zhi Hao's worship leading with Esther on the piano. It got off to a shaky start as the youth there didn't really know the first song, but the rest of the session went pretty well. Weng Soon then gave a talk on guidance after which we went out for a game of touch rugby. That was when the walls were really broken and the youth really just mized around and had fun. My team lost, but I blame it on my star player *cough* Esther *cough* who became my star liability..hehehehe. It was all in good fun. A BBQ followed and as per the usual TLC way, the best fellowship came over food.

That night after all was said and done, we had a briefing for the next day with Eugene Yapp and it was really an eye opener. We discovered we weren't really prepared in many areas for the next day. Our dress code for one wasn't actually formal enough. Most of us had no idea that the men had to all wear shirts and slacks and the ladies were required to wear blouses and skirts. So in the end, only Amy, I think was properly attired, while the rest of us had to make to do with a barely acceptable dressing of collared t-shirts and a jeans/slacks. Then the issues just came rolling along, Sunday school songs weren't chosen yet due to a miscommunication, we didn't know we had to make our own transparencies and the clincher....one of the guys was supposed to give a sermon on sunday. *insert ominous revelation sound here* Eugene said he could bail us out if need be, but after alot of silent prayer and thought, I decided to give it ago. That night all of us really pulled together in preparing for the next day. We burned the midnight oil and just worked at getting everything done. Thank God we did, and I'm extremely grateful to all the help I got while preparing the sermon, especially to Amy and Esther who gave me ideas and helped me look for verses.

Next day we all got up late and rushed to the church which was about 30-45 minutes away. I was feeling quite relieved when we got to church, because in light of my formal attire, Eugene was going to speak instead. Esther was also brave enough to take up the challege of playing the piano for morning worship which she did well. Zhi Hao also chose a song for morning worship which was good. Now so there I was at the end of worship, eyes closed, head bowed, during the prayer of thanks for the offering when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder, then I heard Eugene's voice saying "I will go up and say a few words first, then I'll ask you to come up.". Now the nervousness kicked in. I really thank God I managed to pull through that sermon.

After the service we had a delicious brunch after which we got started with Sunday School. I really have to hand it to Bryan and Kylie for really getting the children into it during the worship, and Siew Ling's suggestion of "Making Melodies" at the end was great too. The sunday school then broke up into two groups divided by age. Zhi Hao and Kylie took the older group, while Esther and Bryan took the younger ones. Weng Soon also went with the older group while Amy and myself stayed with the younger ones. As I wasn't with the older ones, I cannot comment on how Zhi Hao and Kylie did although I heard they did well. Esther and Bryan however, really did good with the younger ones. You could really see how much they loved those children and I feel that one day those two are going be really awesome in children ministry. I was really proud of them, seeing them being able to handle the class like that. :)

And after all that we started our journey home. There is just so much to talk about and so much to say yet so little space. :) My thanks to Eugene and Siew Ling for having us and to Weng Soon and Amy for really pushing for it on our side. It was a lovely experience and Zhi Hao, Kylie, Bryan and Esther....if you're reading this I want you guys to know that it was a real encouragement serving with you all. I could really see the potential that the Lord has cultivated in you guys and I just pray you will keep on shining for Him. You made all of us proud and it was definately a well run leg of the race for God :).

Closure .... The end of an Era

2007-08-23T00:07:00.000+08:00

Craving : Bacon

It's the end of an era. Finally closure. I'm so freaking estatic, and No. It's not what you guys are thinking. I've just watched the very very very last episode of friends and I'm so happy. Ross and Rachel end up together in the end. I mean I knew they would, but to watch it happen....so so so nice. Oh man...this is so embarassing. But I can't help it..."Woo hoo!"

Fighting Fire, Spreading Thin

2007-08-21T13:29:00.000+08:00

Craving : Burchetta Ham wrapped sausages

Phew! It has been a tiring yet fulfilling weekend. Just had the 4th Anual Orang Asli youth camp in church over the weekend and I am dead tired. If I thought I could get away with another day of leave, I'd be sleeping like a log at home. The OA youth were definately of a different bunch this time around. I wasn't around the camp last year, but compared to two years back, this group was a lot more out spoken and weren't as shy as those previously. It was good spending time with the OA youth, although in the end I didn't spend as much time with them as I would have liked. I also feel that as a whole the helpers this year seemed to spend less time with the youth then we did in the previous camp I was involved in. This was pretty apparent at meal times when not many of the helpers actually sat with the OA youth. I think the camp committee was really discouraged by this and actually kept reminding us to spend time with our youth. In the end though, I'm happy that I seemed to have been able to get to know some of those youth better, and that even after 2 years some of the guys still remember me :). Lots of them were non-christians this year, and I hope that some how even with the limited time we had, God was able to work through us and helped them along the road to becoming part of His family.

Now, on to other things. Recently I been feeling tired. Not only physically, but emotionally as well. I often feel that there is just so much to be done and that I really seem to have no time to myself. So to remedy this I'll actually be taking a leave of absence from some activities this year, namely VBS and Teenstreet. YF camp (and maybe choir if they'll take me :P) will be enought for this year end :). Physical drain though can easily be remedied with a good rest.

More then the physical drain though, is the emotional one. I feel like I'm constantly fighting fire within the ministries I'm involved in. Some more then others. Maybe because I have this ideal of everyone being happy and pulling in the same direction, especially when they're working in the same committees. I see good, committed, mature and steadfast Christians getting discouraged with one another or just getting disillusioned and I try to work on the sidelines sometimes to smooth things over. It really hurts me when I see the state in which certain things have drawn to, and sometimes I don't even know what to do. All I can do is continue to pray, that God will work things out. That he will grant the wisdom to someone, may it be me or someone else to help work all these things out. That I'll have the emotional strength to keep at caring and being optimistic....and most of all to just keep walking the walk even during the times I really really don't feel like it.

You're ......

2007-08-07T00:02:00.002+08:00

Craving : Marble Cake

I'm really amazed at what some online quizes think they can garner from just a few questions. I would love to be this book, coz well I really like Anne of Green Gables. Ever since I was a kid and saw the video and read the books. There is just something about the character of Anne Shirley that just calls to me.

You're Anne of Green Gables!

by L.M. Montgomery

Bright, chipper, vivid, but with the emotional fortitude of cottage
cheese, you make quite an impression on everyone you meet. You're impulsive, rash,
honest, and probably don't have a great relationship with your parents. People hurt
your feelings constantly, but your brazen honestly doesn't exactly treat others with
kid gloves. Ultimately, though, you win the hearts and minds of everyone that matters.
You spell your name with an E and you want everyone to know about it.

Sadly however that is not me. Instead this is the book that I'm supposed to be...never read it before though.

You're A Prayer for Owen Meany!

by John Irving

Despite humble and perhaps literally small beginnings, you inspire
faith in almost everyone you know. You are an agent of higher powers, and you manifest
this fact in mysterious and loud ways. A sense of destiny pervades your every waking
moment, and you prepare with great detail for destiny fulfilled. When you speak, IT
SOUNDS LIKE THIS!

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Food Glorious Food!

2007-07-30T09:50:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Te Kar Lau Chor (Stewed Pig Trotters with Vinegar)

I finally went to Jagoya last night for dinner. It was definately the best Japanese buffets I have ever been too. There was a pretty good spread in quality, quantity and choices. The oysetrs were freaking huge! I had two and I that was enough oyster for the rest of the night. The coconut drinks were great too. I tell you I'm not much of a coconut fan, except if I'm by the seaside, but those coconuts were good. There was abalone (which one of my friends "sapu" the whole plate), shashimi, teppanyaki, dim sum, geo duck, tempura, grilled stuff, etc. Even the desserts were heavenly. Unfortunately this all comes at a heafty sum of RM101 perperson.

On too other things. There have been lots of things running around in my mind recently. Some of it personal, some of it to do with church, particularly the YF. There is just so much to do in some areas, while I'm still seaking God's wisdom and guidance in others. Another thing is time....it just seems that there is not enough time in a day..hehehe...I'm sure many of you feel the same way. This is why many of us try to stretch the day by sleeping later and later. Truth be told there is just so much I want to do with so little time. I've got to make time for my family, as well as make time for church and as my dad doesn't go to church, this is something I have to juggle as well. Then there are those whom I care about and minister too, I try to make time for them as well, so many people to talk to and so little time. Then there is ministry as well as the friends out side of church..sometimes I really don't know what to do. Plus there are also those times when I just want to be alone.

I've been thinking alot lately about ministry, and I see all these youths and their need. A friend of mine who is working with young people told me recently that "When all your time is devoted to them, then you get to really get to know them and make and impact" and I feel this is so true. Sometimes I just wish I had the time to do that....:) So pray for me yeah? I just really need guidance in all of this.

Ankle Sprain

2007-07-17T21:08:00.000+08:00

Craving: Pizza!!!!!

So here's the thing. Last saturday was Copa IBA and the Life Chapel contingent did the best they have ever done in recent years. A couple of the teams got up to 2nd Place and the rest weren't too shabby either. The great thing though was that everyone seemed to have fun and I do think we had pretty good time there.

Now the sad thing was this. We had a couple of injuries. Habib twisted his knee and was in pretty darn bad shape. I do hope he recovers soon. I on the other hand was also injured, even though I didn't even play a single game. * Sob *

You see there was this foosball area with some square metal tubing around the area on the floor. It was hard to see and a couple of people had already almost tripped over it. Well yours truly had to take the plunge and fall. Sigh it was bad and my ankle ballooned. Had to hop around for a couple of days. Only good thing? 2 days MC.

Transformers and Taylor Swift

2007-07-11T10:45:00.000+08:00

Cravings: Steak and Kidney Pie....Actually any kind of pie will do

So........I guess most of you already know this but........Transformers rocks!!! Sure there were more then a few inconsistencies (ie Bumblebee and Devastator), but my goodness was it an excellent show! I relived my childhood dreams right there during those two hours....whoa...seriously whoa. I may even go watch it again in the cinema ...hehehe...And can anyone confirm this for me, but is the person who did the voice for Optimus Prime in the movie the same as the one in the original series? Because they sure sound darn alike!!! Autobots, roll out!

Not sure how many people know this but I'm a really big fan of country music. Some of my favourite artists include Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire, Johnny Cash, Deanna Carter, etc. Not only is the music good, but the artists usually don't have all the problems associated with other industries. I mean look at Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. Taylor Swift is the latest plus to this list, not only can she sing and play the guitar well, but she's a straight A's student as well as hot! I mean look at her! :)

P/S : I'm thinking of buying a guitar and seriously picking it up, wonder if I should.

God Inc.

2007-07-10T16:33:00.000+08:00

Craving: Subway Southwest Steak On Sourdough

Some of you may have heard me mention this mini-series on YouTube called God Inc. Basically it portrays God as the head of a large corporation which overseas the running of the world. It doesn't then come as a surprise that the departments in the corporation are named things like Population Control, Natural Disasters, Miracles, etc. Almost everything has to go through submissions and approvals. There is even the patented stereotypical asian femenazi manager, Piper. You really have to watch it for yourselves to see what it's all about.

Now the things is this, steadily from the first episode to the last, the Miracles department has been getting down sized. I guess it's the producers way of showing how we don't really believe in miracles anymore. So in the last episode we see the final guy in the department, Austin, getting the boot by Piper. The thing is though, just as Austin is leaving the building, the submissions department find a overdue submission from the Miracles department. In a rush, they approve it lest their lax ways are found out and lo and behold the northern lights are seen over Florida. This ofcourse eventually leads to Austin retaining his job showing that miracles really do still exist. Now I don't know why, and I'm probably not doing the whole situation justice, but I really really enjoyed that episode. Sorta gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside you know..:)

Lyrics say it all

2007-07-09T18:13:00.000+08:00

Craving: TGIF Mud Pie!

Been talking with a few friends over the past few days of last week and I've just been thinking....

Sometimes I close my eyes 
And imagine you're with me 
Chasing passion into the night 
All tangled in a dream. 

Oh if you could see my heart 
The way I feel inside 
You would know just how far 
I'm willing to go to get to you 
There is nothing I won't do. 

Show me what its like to lose control 
Free the desire in your soul 
Oh oh let me love you. 

Let me take you to a place like no where else 
Show you the things you never felt 
Oh oh let me love you. 

Oh I want to taste your kiss 
Be the reason for your smile 
Touch the magic on your skin 
Be the one that drives you wild. 

Oh if you could read my mind 
You'd know you're everything I need 
You'd see yourself through my eyes 
You may understand what I'm going through 
Just how much I want you. 

Show me what its like to lose control 
Free the desire in your soul 
Oh oh let me love you. 

Let me take you to a place like no where else 
Show you the things you never felt 
Oh oh let me love you. 

Let me love you. 
Let me love you! 

Show you what its like to lose control 
Free the desire in your soul 
Oh oh let me love you. 

Let me take you to a place like no where else 
Show you the things you never felt 
Oh oh let me love you. 

Oh I love you. 

Show you what its like to lose control 
Free the desire in your soul 
Oh oh let me love you. 

Yeah baby. 

Let me take you to a place like no where else 
Show you the things you never felt 
Oh oh let me love you. 

Let me love you. 
Let me love you. 
Let me love you.
Let me love you.

So So Many happenings

2007-07-06T10:27:00.000+08:00

Craving: Funnel Cake

Whoa! There has just been so much going on over the past couple of weeks (Hmmm...I seem to be starting alot of my posts like this don't I...need to think up new and exciting intros!) Actually it's mostly to do with last week.

First off I had the opportunity to stay in the recently opened 5 star One World Hotel last friday.

Located next to the One Utama shopping mall, it is so new that parts of the deco and one of the restraunts were not ready when I was staying there. I was staying there as part of the hotel's trial run, courtesy of a friend who is working there. I have to say I quite like the place. There were quite a few of us initially, and so we had two ajoining rooms. The girls took one room while the guys took the other one. We had a mini party up there and brought blue drinks and all sorts of tidbits up there. Spent the night chatting away and had lots of fun. (I wish I could convey better how much fun I was really having!!!!) Next morning we had a complementary breakfast, and though the spread was good (there was salmon and delicious cold cuts, beef bacon, dim sum and more!), there were certain areas that could be improved. The omelette was slow in the making though there were only two of us waiting and flies were seen in the pastry section.

So after breakfast Yueen San and myself headed off to meet up with another group of friends for a trip to Malacca. There were nine of us and we drew lots to split up into two cars. Josh, Shelby, Yueen San and myself in one car, while Sam, Jee Lee, Li Yee and the Wengs were in the other car. And so at 8:45am or so (45 minutes past our designated departure time) we left for Malacca. Now on the way there, we recieved a phone call from Aliza who had just check out of the hotel. Apparently, this left over monopoly money that we thought was just junk could actually have been used at the hotel!!!! RM300+ down the drain! *Sob* Oh well..what a wasted opportunity of the life time. Hehehe..

Ok back to Malacca. The trip was basically one long long long makan trip. Even before we were done with one meal, we were thinking of the next. We had Chicken Rice Ball, Cendol, Nonya Laksa, Baba Laksa, Satay Celup, Dim Sum, "Char Kueh", Roti Canai, Cincaluk Omelette, Pongteh Chicken, Sambal Squid, Tofu, Cookies, and I'm sure some other stuff that I missed out. It really was great fun though especially with all nine of us crammed into one room. Even getting the room was an adventure in itself. Hahaha. It really was an experience. Definately one for the memories, thanks for inviting me along guys. I was actually gonna give a more detailed version of the happenings in Malacca, but I just got too lazy...hehe. :P

Aches and Pains

2007-06-21T10:03:00.000+08:00

Craving: Deviled Eggs

Arrrghhh! I'm in pain. I must have slept in a wrong position last night because this morning I woke up with a terrible kink in my neck. It is super irritating and whenever I make sudden turns with my head, or I turn too many degrees beyond straight ahead, I get this sharp pain in my neck. It's gonna be a long long day I tell you.

Sigh...And there's just so much to do. I've got to run through quite a bit of stuff at work, as well as this Saturday's YF worship special and the YF lesson plan for the next couple of weeks to handle. Gonna need alot of strength and endurance here. So please please please keep me in your prayers yeah?

God bless.

Raindrops keep falling...

2007-06-18T14:02:00.000+08:00

Cravings: Steamed eggs with minced meat

It was a nice weekend. It really was, had lots of fun. Maybe too much fun. Sigh....you know....sometimes I just wonder why I keep doing this to myself. *Bleh

2007-06-12T09:51:00.000+08:00

Craving: Porridge with "yau char kwai"

Ok, so see. Here's the deal. I actually meant to post an entry last week. Infact I even wrote up the entry, i just didn't get around to posting it up. Time has passed though, so I'll have to retailor my post a little. I'm gonna split this post into two parts though, each for a different weekend.

Part 1 : TLC Retreat: Fraser's Hill

Though a little shorter then I would have liked, I still enjoyed my time at the retreat. The speaker was excellent and though he was probably a little too intellectual for some, I think most of us at the retreat benefitted from his talks. Mr. L.T. Jeyachandran didn't just give a one way talk as it usually is during sermons, but instead challenged us to think. It was this that gave the talks a refreshing change from the usual ones we, well at least I am used to.

There was also good fellowship up at the retreat. I got to spend time with different people and especially enjoyed the corridor talks and the captain ball game in the rain. It has been awhile since I've played a game of captain ball with the youths and I am looking forward to doing it more often.

I've always been sort of a hill top kind of guy, as in I enjoy cold climates and an being on a mountain much more then being by the beach. It just gives me a kind of peace and solitude you know. If I could have that kind of weather everyday, I'd be happy..:)

Part 2: Cacassone Marathon

Just this past weekend, I spent sometime hanging out with Heidi, Joseph and Shalom. We had lunch with Tim, Liz and Shaun at Marche, then proceeded back to my place for a Cacassone marathon. 3 freaking rounds I tell you. I used my experience to grab the first game but the other three soon caught up. Shalom was utterly demoralized by Jo in the second game, as he was faced with a never ending castle. Heidi and I in the meanwhile just quietly built our empires, unfortunately for me, a whopping 5 cloisters put Heidi far beyond the reach of any of us. Third game was a lot closer. With all of us tired, and Heidi having used up all her brain juices, the strategies were going crazy. However Joseph's farms finally won it for him in the end. Sadly poor Shalom was stuck in last place all three games. Hahaha. But it was all good fun. Really enjoyed spending the day with them....eventhough I found out that Heidi and Shalom had actually ditched me seperately to watch Shrek 3 earlier with their respective friends. Terrible people I tell you!!

Interlude

2007-05-30T11:06:00.000+08:00

Craving: Caviar with crackers

It's been a quite couple of weeks. I haven't really had much to blog about. Life has been pretty mundane. Highlight will probably have been watching Pirates of the Carribean 3 with the gang. I do think that I'll have to stop making a habit of that though. Being the only single among couples is sometimes trying. This is through no fault of their own though, it's just that seeing them all together, sometimes just makes me feel lonely. They don't alienate me though, in fact it's far from it, but I guess it just makes me realize what I don't have. Oh well.

That movie night was divided into a row of guys and a row of girls though, and no it was not my suggestion. However I think there were some among us who were not too happy with the seating arrangement. Sad to say I over heard some people saying it was because of me that the seating arrangements were such, and it really pissed me off. Firstly because it wasn't my suggestion!!! Sure I egged some ppl about it but it was all in good fun and nothing too forceful. Secondly because I was ok either way, after all I agreed to go watch movies with you guys, hence I would have expected the usual couple seating arrangements. Thirdly you guys asked me to come along, if you feel like I'm cramping your style or your "phak tor" session then please don't ask me along. I think you will be doing us both a favour. Fourth if you didn't want those seating arrangements, you could have said so! We asked if everyone was ok with it. Many times. Not happy, then just voice your opinion.

Sheesh....there I go ranting away again. I apologize to whomever the above post may offend. I just needed to get it off my chest. Just sometimes I get peeved about this you know. No worries though, friendships are all intact and there was no confrontations. Just the heat of the moment thing I believe.

Had a nice chat with a Christian brother last night. It was really good getting to share about my life and hearing him share in return. It was very encouraging for us both and it was great to be able to pray for each other. God always knows our needs and our lives are all in His hands. Place your trust in Him. God Bless.

Interesting Music

2007-05-10T11:05:00.000+08:00

Craving: Sang Yu Chuk (Haruan Fish Porridge)

I was reading some of the fan fiction on my favourite Harry Potter fan fic site, PortKey when I came across these two little links of music. Infact I thought all the music on the page was hillarious. Go ahead and have a try, and the link will auto play the song, don't wonder which one it was..:)

udder won - Harry Potter

see dee - Star Wars

Enjoy!

Barley

2007-05-08T15:10:00.000+08:00

Cravings: Caviar on Crackers

So I'm back from Bali. My company sent us on a holiday trip there just this last weekend, and I'll have to say it was a soso trip. Soso because even though there were some fun times, I ultimately didn't get the chance to spend time on the beach. This was all due to some mix up in our tour schedule. On our second day which we were supposed to get time off in the afternoon for our own activities never materialized.

First off our guide from Malaysia was very inexperienced, even though she claims she has been to bali five times previously, it really seemed like she was there for the first time. Many things she didn't know, and every where we went she was taking pictures as well. Sheesh....anyway it seemed there was some miscommunication with the local guide and instead of our time off, we got booked for a spa instead. Not many wanted to go for the spa, and because of that a big ruckus ensued. The local guide was upset because he said the spa would charge him instead, so he asked our guide from Malaysia to go explain, and guess what....She refused!!! My goodness so unprofessional. One of the managers had to ask her forcefully to go explain before she would. Terrible.

All was not lost on the trip though. The scenery was excellent. Both at Tanah Lot temple and at the Kintamani Volcano. Got to enjoy a great time at "The Wave" bar in the Kuta area as well. The drinks there were cheap only RM10 for a glass of Barcadi Mix, and they were very generous with the Bacardi too. The bar was quite cool, with quite a nice band, as well as this bar top dancing girls (Which I suspect aren't actually girls if you catch my drift....)

There was alot of cheap stuff there as well. Bargaining everywhere you go is a must. Where ever you go you should be aiming for 60% - 70% discounts. It was ridiculous. Some places you can get down to 10% - 20% of the original price. Crazy, and really a shopaholics paradise.

Alright that's enough of my stories..on to the pictures. :)

Just arrived, my face is hidden though..:(

At Tanah Lot, the water temple. I found myself singing about God's creation when I saw the scenery.

Nuff Said

Partying at the Wave

Guys or gals? Magic 8 ball says "Answer hazy, ask again later"

Kintamani Volcano, still active.

Dinner on the beach. Lobsters are the highlight.

After four long years...finally to taste Krispy Kreme again.

A Long Time Coming

2007-04-20T09:57:00.000+08:00

Craving: Deep friend prawns wrapped in bread

So I've been getting compalints recently about how lagging my blog has become. I understand that my last post has been more then a month old but real life and procastination has really been bogging me down. :P

As you can imagine, a lot of stuff can happen in one month, so brace yourself for another long and long winded post from yours truly,

First up is Easter. It was pretty packed and hectic last couple of weeks in March and even during the frist week of April leading up to Easter. The script was a short one about the walk to Emmaus and how Christ walked with Cleopas and his companion and yet they did not realize it was him. There was also a physical theater presentation as well as 3 other monologues in the whole presentation, two by Jesus and one by John the disciple. We didn't have too much time to put the whole thing together, only about a month or so i think, we were even making changes to arrangements and such on the very last practice itself! However, by God's grace we managed to pull through.

It was great fun working with this bunch and we even managed to discorver new mamak stalls along the way. I tell you Roti & Rice makes a mean garlic butter cheese naan. :) This production was also the debut of none other then Samuel Khoo. I think the kid is a natural comedian and he took well to his first role in the lime light.

However...on another note, there were some people who shall not be named (*cough* Heidi *cough*) who was supposed to come for Easter but didin't, and this is after she abandoned our ice-cream date too! Too much I tell you some people. Tsk Tsk.

The following week it was YF outing week. So my group as usual, (trust me it is as usual, since my group constantly reminds me how usual it is) had a food related outing. We had a brief try at breaking the mould and shooting for an ice-skating but sadly that plan fell through due to various reasons. Instead my group and a few from Weng Soon's group congregated at my house for some pizza and games. It was supposed to be Pizza, Ice-Kacang and games, but I couldn't find an ice-kacang machine.

Anyhow, Esther, May, Peter and myself went shopping before the outing and got the ingrediants. We spent a couple of hours foraging through Carrefour for toppings and what not. In the end we got some pork sausages, minced pork, onions, fresh button mushrooms, cheese and ice cream. Yum Yum. So we had delicious pizzas, played twister (which put me in positions I never want to be in again) and this assassin game I learnt from my NET in Teenstreet. Good fun, and good food. I wish I had pictures to show you. Nigel and Esther, I want those pictures!!! There was however more to follow.

Later that night after the youth had all left, Tim, Liz, Shaun and myself went to Hilton Sentral for a Chocolate Buffet. At RM 48++ it was no cheap affair, however the fare was limited and overall I did not find it all that worth it. There were lots of different chocolates and cakes, but the highlight was definately the sweet savouries. They had beef with chocolate sauce, scallops with chocolate sauce, duck wraps with chocolate sauce, and partially seared tuna with, guess what, that's right chocolate sauce. It wasn't all that great but it was an experience though. Thumbs up to the ambience especially. Beautiful place, and really condusive to just while the time away over good conversation and tea. The four of us sat there and chit chat into the wee hours of the morning. It's been awhile since my friends and myself have sat down and just chatted, and it was good catching up with Shaun too. maybe we'll go there another time, minus the chocolate buffet..:)

Ok I think that's all the updates I can cram into this one post. It's getting busy at work so my posts will definately be sporadic, but I'll try to post as often as I can. Woo hoo!

Faith

2007-03-12T12:10:00.000+08:00

Craving: Lobster Thermidor

Every since I started going to church I've heard about "Faith". We are always told to have faith in everything we do, and to just trust in God. However I know there were many times for me, when faith just wasn't enough. I had to plan and make sure everything would be alright, or maybe make a move instead of waiting for God's timing.

These days however, I sorta view things differently. When dealing with YF issues especially, I rarely feel unsure or worried anymore. Even when faced with the daunting schedule and work load Youth Fellowship has laid out for us teachers, all I felt was a sense of calm. A sense of "Don't worry, God will see us through this." . I admit, I 've been selfish in not sharing this feeling with my fellow teachers, perhaps because I am afraid it's going to sound cheesy, but it's truly the way I feel. I'm not telling this story to blow my own horn or anything, but...it just hit me the other day, this must be just a glimmer of what it must be like to have faith like Paul, like the apostles. Cheers and God Bless.

A Myriad of Activity

2007-02-27T09:30:00.000+08:00

Craving : Beer batter fish, prawns, anything...:P

Wow. Really need to start forcing myself to blog more regularly. Then I won't have to try and cram a weeks plus full of stuff into one posting, each which could have taken up a whole post by itself. It was really great having one week off for just fun and relaxation. In fact, the activities even started on the eve of the eve of Chinese New Year. I know I wasn't too optimistic about how my Chinese New Year celebrations were gonna pan out, but in the end, things turned out pretty well.

So let's get the ball rolling shall we? The Friday before CNY was a pretty special occasion. My niece whom I haven't seen in years was back for CNY and actually had time to meet us for dinner! Woo Hoo! So the gang got together and we had a makan at "Sam You" restaurant in PJ State. Expected about 11 people, but only 9 turned up so the food was a bit much. Was abit on the pricey side too. The catching up was nice and the fellowship was great. It's always good to see friends again, and to know that after all those years apart, you're still friends. Also to top it off, an interesting piece of news regarding one of the couples was revealed. We'll not so much revealed as "bounced" into revelation. So to those two I say "Congratulations!". I don't have a picture of everyone who was there, so instead I'll just attach a picture of myself with my niece.. :)

She had to leave after dinner though and so she couldn't join us for the next part of the night. Usually after dinner activities with my gang consists of Magic: The Gathering. This night however it was different. We had planned to watch a movie, but on the way there, we saw a massive jam and took a detour to a friend's place. All set for another night of cards, right? Wrong! Well at least not in the normal MTG sense and this is because we had...tada! Casino Wong!

Serious. No joke. It was a portable Casino, with roulette, bacarat, black jack, poker chips, everything. I think everyone who was there was just as surprised. So needless to say, that was what kept us occupied the rest of the night. And though no money changed hands, it was truly lots of fun.

Ok so on to CNY eve. I had been expecting a pretty quiet family dinner with only Mum and Dad and myself. Dissapointing for a CNY eve dinner. Especially if you are used to really large noisy, bustling family gatherings. However I was informed that a couple of families were coming over for dinner! What a pleasant surprised. The food fare wasn't the standard without the loh neng (braised egg), loh ak (braised duck), te kar lao chor (stewed pig trotters with vinegar), te tor teng (pig stomach soup), phak cham kai (boiled chicken), hai siem (sea cucumber), etc. but it was pretty special too with great veggies and a roast goose and a suckling pig. Even though the number of people there were smaller then usual, but at least there was some semblance of the CNY mood, and for that I'm truly grateful. CNY just isn't the same without family.

The next day was a quite dinner though. With just my parents and myself. We were lazy to cook or have left overs so we went in search of food. Surprisingly, we actually managed to find an open Chinese food store. Prices were jacked up by 28% percent!!! Better then nothing I guess. Interesting deco though, which is why my parents seem to be in Hong Kong instead of a table.

Next day was my birthday. Yay for me! A quarter of a century old with still so much more to do with my life. My birthdays are generally quiet events. This is because it usually falls during the CNY period or holidays or there abouts. So people are are usually busy with CNY and my birthday passes by quietly. This was especially true during my schooling days. With my birthday falling on the 2nd day of CNY this year. I fully expected it to be a quiet affair. I was asked out to a movie and Yam Cha by Weng Soon. Declined the movie but decided to go for the yum cha session. I got there early, read some books. When Weng Soon, Mun Onn and Mun Fai finally arrived we chatted a bit and they bought their tickets. Then we proceeded to the go yum cha. Imagine my surprise when I rounded a corner then suddenly heard a bunch of fellas singing happy birthday! I turned and there was Joshua, Li Yee, Shelby and Yueen San hiding behind the corner. I was shocked and I was happy. Thanks a lot you guys. We later ajourned to paddingtons where this pics were taken.

Later the group broke off. Some went for the movie, while others came over to my place. Where we played a really stupid drinking water with cookies game. It was all in good fun though.

The day after I managed to meet up with and old friend who was back from the states for CNY. Still as skinny as ever with the same mannerisms I present to you Kelvin.

Went for a drink with him and Kev and did lots of catching up. After which we actually went jalan-jalan in Atria to see how the place was now these days. Most shops were closed though, although we found an open remote control store and had some fun with the cars in there.

As you can see my narrations are getting shorter and shorter, this post is also pretty darn long by now. But there is just one more bit to go. The friday before the holidays ended, Charles, Serena and myself spent most of the day together. After someone made a purchase that made someone else grin like a Cheshire cat for the whole day...we later decided on a whim to cook dinner. Well actually Serena said "We go to Charles' house then I cook larr". So we said ok. Somewhere between that and the getting the groceries it became "Su can cook also right?" and after groceries it became "Su is the head chef".

The cooking was fun, I got to open an almost 10 year bottle of wine, just for marinade. Charles also kena con and got involved in the cooking. Pretty much I did the lamb chops while Charles and Serena did the rest. There were plenty of hillarious moments, quite a few that came from banana flavoured milk. Suffice to say, lucky we caught it in time or our mashed patatoes would have been mashed banana flavoured potatoes. In the end we had, Salad with coleslaw dressing, Mushroom soup with extra mushrooms, mashed potatoes, lamb chops and pink guava juice. Everyone was involved and it was great fun, really must do it again. Yay!

Chinese New Year

2007-02-16T13:51:00.000+08:00

Craving: "Loh Neng" @ Stewed Eggs

The chinese new year season is back again. There are mandrin oranges, red packets, money, gold, lion dances, loud music, fire crackers, the colour red in general...all have returned to Asia. The best part of this time to me though, is the good food and the reunions. It's always so fun to meet up with family and friends and just spend time partaking of good food and fellowship. Best thing is gatherings like this keep the family together, and it is this part of CNY that I miss the most.

My dad's side of the family used to gather quite often in a year, not only on CNY. The adults would gather for coffee and "yiu char ke" and just talk. The younger ones would sitting around playing cards and just chatting, and the family was really just so close. All of this has changed however. Most of them are overseas now and CNY just isn't what it used to be.

This year is just going to be my parents and myself for the reunion....quite sad considering we used to have 30-40 people at the family gatherings. I'm exceptionally sad about this, because this will be the 6th year that the gatherings have shrunk. I was away for studies for 3 years, and then when i finally came home, half the clan had already migrated. This season is about family...and it just doesn't seem right without everyone together....

A Wolf Patronus!

2007-02-09T14:26:00.000+08:00

Craving : Lemon Jelly

So this is who'd be if I was in a Harry Potter book. I actually considered doctoring this information with my HTML knowledge, but decided against it. I mean I could have made my self a Seeker, an Auror or made Defence Against the Dark Arts as my best course at Hogwarts, but staying through to the quiz won in the end. Yeah, so my last couple of posts have been lighter on substance and such, it's a phase I'm going through. So to those who are complaining...too bad! :P

Fan Fic Romantics

2007-02-06T13:48:00.000+08:00

Cravings: Buffalo Wings

Some people already know this but I enjoy reading Harry Potter fanfiction. I know I've blogged about this before but bear with me. I am extra partial towards Harry/Hermione story pairings and the reason I am is because I feel there is a sort of romanticism to the whole idea. The whole best friends for ages and ages, being able to complete each other's sentences, knowing how the other is feeling just with one look kind of thing finally being topped of by falling for each other. It's the stuff of romance novels and romantic comedies/dramas.

So why do I enjoy all this stuff? I think I have figured it out. (And no it is not due to loss of any manliness on my part) The reason is that I think that sometimes these stories portray my idealistic view of romance. Having someone who really complemented you 100%, someone whom you've shared so many experiences with. A relationship where both can be their own person and yet have a 'we'. Being able to care for someone that way and being cared for that way....perhaps it's only the stuff of dreams, but one can pray can't they?...:)

Fellowship

2007-01-28T00:44:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Gyros

It's like 12:50 am in the morning, and I'm wide awake. I just got back home from a yum cha session and am as we speak copying stuff from my friend's hard drive to mine. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to blog. Have had quite a few interesting chats this week and have done some sharing as well as listened to other's share. I truly feel that God has blessed my fellowship this week, as the time spent has just been so awesome. To all of those who have shared those times with me this week, I really thank you for your sharing, and for trusting me enough to share. I pray God will continue to grant us many times like this. :)

P/S : It was just brought to my attention that my comment posting function on my blog was busted. It's been fixed but the comment posting has been reverted to the standard blogger format. Thanks to Heidi to pointing this out..And here I was wondering why there were no more comments on my blog :P

Thank You

2007-01-19T15:33:00.000+08:00

Craving : Pork Satay

A sort of revelation hit me the other day. Well it didn't actually hit me. It was more like it had been knocking at the door of my brain for so long, but I just was ignoring it. As some of you know, I've been having this on and off infatuation kind of thing going for about 3 years and maybe a little bit more now. I've talked of letting go a few times before I think, but I've always harboured a little hope that maybe someday....*sigh* That just sucks, trust me I know.

Then at the turn of the new year a friend asked me a simple question. "So masih ada feeling ke?" I being the evasive one, just brushed it of and did the standard "Don't know", shrug shoulders kind of answer. Thing is this, when I actually thought about it over the next couple of weeks I came to a realization and was able to admit to myself that really there wasn't any feelings there anymore. I was just clinging on to hope for the sake of hope. You know that clinging on just because if I let go then there was nothing for me to hope for anymore, because "I'd be more alone then I am now". Thank God, He sent my friend those simple words to wake me up.

That truly allowed me, to for the first time in a long time, take that step forward. So to that friend, I hope you know who you are...Thank you.

PS: I got lazy of labels. So not including them anymore.

Housebreaker

2007-01-11T10:31:00.000+08:00

Craving : Caviar and Crackers

Arrrrgghhhh...this is so demoralizing.....I don't know if I've mentioned it but some members of the fairer sex seem to believe I am good boyfriend material. Now normally this would be a good thing. Unfortunately for me, it seems that the only ones who have this opinion of me are already attached!!!! Sigh....Just earlier today a female friend of mine expressed that same opinion..and guess what? That's right! Bingo! She's attached too. Not that I harbour any romantic inclinations towards her or anything like that is just that, this kind of situation happens quite often. I think I definately must be doing something wrong. It's either that or maybe I got to stop doing so much damage control work....yeah right..as if that's gonna happen.

Untitled

2007-01-09T17:39:00.001+08:00

Craving : Midwestern Chilli

My eyes have seen the day,
My heart now knows the way,
But it all seems such a shame,
That I feel so alone in this game.

Around I look and see,
Many people who walk beside me,
Too bad it seems that lines are drawn,
With me just beyond.

And there are times down this path,
Where weariness pours over me like a bath,
And when I turn for a shoulder to lean on,
It always seems I cannot find even one.

I have that strong hand from above,
And that always open ear I serve,
So sometimes I wallow in solitude,
Though I know it's probably just the attittude.

Tell me why is this so,
Through many barriers are still no go,
No where to turn or hide,
To none is the quality of my walk tied.

Spoken words from my bowed head,
Is a hopefull parade,
Of change in time and space,
Of the way I run this race.

Happy 2007

2007-01-03T13:59:00.000+08:00

Craving : Turkey stuffing with gravy

Oh man...another year has passed. Can you believe it? Happy New 2007 everybody!! Looking back at last year, I have to say they have been plenty of ups and downs, but I've truly been blessed by God in many ways. Looking back at my blog, I see I seem to have lost part of the "realness", maybe because I made that fatal mistake on day one of actually using my real name on the blog. Not very easy to blog about what one actually feels and thinks and all that when everyone knows who you are. Still I hope to remedy this in the new year, to start blogging more frequently once more and to be more me on my blog once again. Well that's it for now...so Happy New Year once again!

Just so real

2006-12-18T09:30:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Christmas cookies, turkey stuffing and gravy, minced pies, and other Christmas goodies

Phew! What an amazing week and a half it has been. Just so many things have been happening and there is just so much to write about!

I went for Teenstreet Malaysia 2006 slightly over a week ago, and I'll have to admit I didn't really feel like going for it. I was tired, with work and church stuff and I just felt like it was another thing to do. There some apprehension as well. No youth guys from my church were going for teenstreet this year, and I was going to get a net of strangers. I didn't think I had prepared all that well for all this year either and I was really nervous. So when I headed to Teenstreet with only my fellow coach in the car, I couldn't help but think how different it was from last year when we had 2 cars of noisy teenagers.

God had a plan however, and He really showed me that he is in charge. This year my net was from Brunei, which was interesting. They are great kids, but man....they are just so rowdy and hyper. Almost every net time was a challenge. Even now I don't know we got through the six days...God really just gave me the patience and just got us all through. I felt that God brought me to Teenstreet for that net. The guys came from a very conservative church and I felt that coming from Life Chapel helped me to empathize with them when they got their taste of charismatic worship. God was working there too and after a couple of days most of them were able to worship. I also some how was able to connect with them. I still am not too sure if I was able to help them improve their relationship with God, however I can at least take heart that I challenged them and said some things which needed to be said. I wasn't sure if I did the right thing after that, I mean that was a pretty blunt wake up call. Through a couple of unexpected messengers, I think I sort of got God's confirmation that it was the right thing to do ( Not to mention the "interesting letter" on the last day)

Another amazing thing was that I met not 1, not 2 but 3 ex schoolmates at Teenstreet. Something pretty amazing because when we left school two of them weren't Christians, and now today both are serving Christ. I wanted to get a picture of us 4, but sadly we had no camera..:(

We had lots of fun too. I mean when one gets to Teenstreet and finds out that your surname has been switched with a fellow coach's name...it's got to be interesting. There was the "Teenstreet Taboo" game. Which is basically Taboo, but with customized, more Christian cards. It was hillarious. I wish I could get a copy of it. It really tests the bounds of your Bible knowledge. We actually ran through the game twice, once as taboo, the second time as charades....let's just say people can get really creative when you can't speak. There was also the 5 Be's we learnt in the guy's only session. We learnt the world has stolen our middle finger, so now instead to us it represents "Be Real". Lol I don't quite think the rest of the ppl are quite ready for that yet...hehe.

I could just talk more and more, but let's just move on to after teenstreet. Last friday I went for the Planetshakers concert, mostly just to meet up with my net people. Even got laid hands on, was pretty hillarious though, because I think this guy who was praying for me kept expecting me to "be slain by the Holy Spirit" and I just didn't fall. Did feel a bit weak kneed at one point, but that is probably because the guy was rocking me back and forth slightly too. One highlight was that the message that night echoed the message during the guy's session at Teenstreet and I was really blowned away. Be strong. Stand for God. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego what awesome people. Daniel 3:8 - 4:3.

Then on saturday was my company paintball trip to Bukit Tinggi. Long story short...my team won! Woo Hoo! The course we played was amazing. It was called the Vietnam Paintball. One team had to defend a village, while the other attacked. with 10 on each side it was pretty tough going. I really felt like I was in a war somewhere, the atmosphere was just that good. My team defended first and managed to hold out for the 20 minute limit. Second time around, we attacked. I sneaked all the way around and into the opponents area, only for my gun to jam, which was ok because my opponent was out of bullets. But then as I rushed in to look for the flag (which would give us the win), I was felled by friendly fire. Sigh....it's a sad sad thing. But we still won in the end, we found the flag with 2 seconds or so to go. No kidding.

On last thing though...the view that morning at the Japanese Teahouse in Bukit Tinggi was amazing. Maybe I'll post up some pictures at a later date. The fog was around us and it was just so beautiful. So serene and sureal. As if we had been transported to some fantasy land. God really is an awesome creator. HE created all of that...so what is it that he cannot do.

Of Fondants and Fond Don'ts

2006-12-01T16:28:00.000+08:00

Craving : Shrimp fried in bread

Phew...there is just so much that has happened since my last entry. There is the good, there is a the bad, and there is the ugly. But before that, other stuff. My tag board is gone as you can see. It wasn't working anymore and sorta died. Anybody got a suggestion for a good one just let me know. Alright..now on to the main course.

The good. VBS was fun. Darn tiring but fun. I do think however the kids get harder and harder to please each year. I blame it on the now ridiculously short attention spans. Still it was a great time and I think volunteers and xpos both had lots of fun. The Alpha Youth training in PD was good too. Those of us who went definately came back with a clearer picture of the program and how it fits in our church. Got to meet alot of new people and even learned quite a bit about charismatics and roman catholics. But the training was pretty light and there was lots of food. So for the first time in ages I dipped in the sea and played beach volley ball and flew a kite. Had plenty of quality time with those whom attended too. We got to chat about all sorts of stuff and I think bonded a little bit more.

The bad. Things coming to an end. Maybe I'll elaborate on this sometime in the future, but right now is just not the time.

Th ugly....I really wanted to put a picture of something really ugly here. But I'm just to lazy...:P

Holy Matrimony

2006-11-15T12:17:00.000+08:00

Craving: Teh Tarik .... good Teh Tarik

Wedding bells are ringing. Well actually they rang. Well not for me. And there weren't actually any bells either. But there was a wedding! Oh well not much today, just wanted to post up a couple of pictures from the wedding. Had lots of fun and it was great meeting up with everybody again! Even all the way from SR Taman Megah! (Even though I was the only one from SETIA there.) No pics of the bride yet though. Will post that up later.

Without ado, the pics.....

The Beautiful Ladies

The Dashing Men

Now I wonder which one is next....?

Do you doubt?

2006-11-07T09:22:00.000+08:00

Craving: Mini Minced Meat Pies

God is good, all the time. This statement is never more true to me then when the last couple of months in the year comes about. I'm frequently worried about being able to take leave for all the church camps and church activities that happen around this time. God has been very good to me, in that I have been able to take all the leave I needed for church ever since I started working. Last year, there was some opposition, but still He made things fall into place. This year, things seemed to be going off without a hitch. I had my leave approved for Teenstreet and VBS without any problems even when I hadn't been confirmed yet. I was already thanking and praising God at that moment, when suddenly a couple of weekends back, I was suddenly told there was something else I need to go for. A monkey wrench thrown right into the cogs of my well oiled scheduling machinery. The Alpha youth was on the Sunday to Tuesday after VBS. What was I going to do? I couldn't possible ask more leave could I? I have barely been working 4 months! (Actually I think I'm not even there yet). I was crestfallen. I knew I could most probably move my leave around so I could got for the Alpha Youth training, but I would probably have to give up VBS. Quite a hard decision to make, considering the aticipation for it that I was feeling. To top it off, my boss was away and I couldn't even see him about leave until he got back. I'm ashamed to say that the mantra "Nothing is impossible for God" was very far from my mind. Little be known to me, God was going to show me how true that mantra was. Two days before my boss came back, I shared my disgruntledness at been told last minute of decisions and such with a prayer buddy and we committed it to God. Just asking him to take away this feeling of resentment that I had. Strangely, the next day I began to actually feel optimistic about not only moving my leave about, but asking for an additional day too. The more the day drew on, the more confident I became of making the request. This is a confidence that could not have come from myself, but only from God, because in light of all the work that I have piling up and my whole situation at work, I would never have dared make such a request. The long story short (Ok, so this has still been a long story) , I asked my boss about my leave the day he came back, and he had no objections. Leave application has never been so smooth. And now VBS, Alpha Youth Training and Teenstreet will all have me in attendance.

God's timing is not our own.
Nothing is impossible for Him.
God is good all the time.

Part Time Spammer

2006-11-02T17:09:00.000+08:00

Craving : Pumkin Pie with Whipped Cream

It's 2 days after Halloween. There was no significance to that statement. Just made it just because. I'm in an interesting mood today. Been pretty hyper and I don't really know why. Maybe I had a good dream last night which I can't remember. Anyway what ever the reason it's been a fun day.

Started off by spamming a friend's yahoo messenger. She left her messenger on while she was asleep, so I spammed her with about 3 - 4 hours worth of absolute nonsense. Would have ended earlier, but she just wouldn't wake up....tsk tsk, the lazy bones. I won't say who she is to save her the embarassment, but I will tell you that she's one of the people in my friends list. She posted the spam on her blog too, although I'm sure people will all forget that once they see my picture. Hee Hee.

Started watching the Hard Gay series on U-Tube today. It's really hillarious! Oh man! If you haven't watched it, you guys should start. The Yahoo one is just awesome. I promptly blame Shaun, Shalom and Heidi for this addiction and for the loss of many minutes of my life. So it's all your fault, Hoo!

On a sadder note, my tag board is dead. I think it's because well,Tagboard is dead. So I'll probably be taking it down soon. If it doesn't start working by my next post. Down it comes.

Thoughts a Tempting

2006-10-30T11:39:00.000+08:00

Craving : Fish Fingers....lots of them!

Another week has passed and it really has given me lots to think about. I think I've been getting emotionally drained lately. Possibly a combination of alot of work, and just having so much to do. It also seems I keep running into these obstacles, that just take the wind out of me. At work it's things like me finishing a project only to have new requirements come in and without any extentions on the datelines. Even in church I sometimes come up against it. I had my heart set on VBS and doing the games and such, but just yesterday I was asked to go for this Alpha youth thing. Which causes me problems with my leave. So I have to give one up, and I know VBS has to go cause the Alpha Youth training is really more important. The thing is I wish the people in charge could have told us earlier about this. Then I would have had my heart so set on VBS. Sigh.

So it's things like this that drain me. The ironic thing about me is I really don't have anyone to turn to. There is just no one I can go to and just sit down and share my problems with. Sure I share with a couple of people here and there, but no one really knows the full story. I mean, who is there I can just go to for a hug and just sigh about the VBS and Alpha youth delima? Oh well...maybe it's just me being in one of those moods again.

On the brightside, been having some good food fellowship lately. Had a great time at Peng Chui's birthday party, all I do believe most of us made fools of ourselves on the karaoke machine. Perhaps the drinks were spiked??!?! Next day had lunch with Heidi and Shalom, with a little cameo act by Martin and Sarah. Was good chatting with them, and even though I once again did not manage to join them for a movie, I thought we had a pretty good time. I'm sure we'll make the movies one day or the other..:P

Oh and last but not least a very happy birthday to Miss Serena Sit Pei Shan, who turns a year older today! Yay!

Baby Steps

2006-10-19T09:20:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Turkey Stuffing and Gravy

It's been awhile since I've been able to feel uplifted by my walk with God. Most of the time when I blog about it or think about it, it's been about struggles and trying to be consistent and trying to spend time with Him. I'll have to be honest and it's been a real struggle over the past couple of years, and there has been lots on my mind, but for the first time since I was in the states, I've been having constant quiet time and prayer. It's been going on for a few weeks now too! Little by little I've been seeing how this affecting my life daily as well. The feeling is also truly amazing, I really don't know how to explain it, even prayer is a different experience. Maybe this is how Jacob felt after he wrestled with God and was renewed.

Been thinking about the church and YF alot recently. Even had a chat about it with grace the other day. Church and the YF as a reflection of that is pretty luke warm. There are people who are serving and who are on fire for God, the overview is just lukewarm, if not worse. Been wondering why this is so, and I think it's because there really is no unity in the church, not in the sense of conflicts and such, but that we are not all pulling together for one cause. Every sunday morning we sit in the hall and all we have to do is to look up and see the church vision "Unto the glory of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and unto the furthurance of the Gospel". And that should be what the whole church should be striving towards! Unfortunately many people don't want to take up the cross, they don't want to walk the road let alone go the extra mile. Everyone is just too comfortable. Life is just too comfortable and Satan is holding many in his "plushy grip of death". Ok so maybe that's just being dramatic. I look at other churches and I wonder sometimes, why is that church growing, why are their people so vibrant, why are their youth so dynamic? Why? Why? One day I pray that our church will be like that too. All of you out there, pray along with me yeah? And ask God to do a good work in it. Let's not forget our first love.

On another note, my leave for VBS and Teenstreet '07 Malaysia has been approved! Yay! Looks like I'll be able to be involved in all of that after all. Have to say was a little apprehensive about asking for the leave because I wasn't confirmed yet and it was for quite a few days, but thank God there was no hassle in getting it at all. Next on the plate...planning for all those little tykes at VBS : Arctic Edge (No. There is no sumo this year.)

P/S : Chelsea 1 - 0 Barcelona .... WooHoo!
P/S : Sorry If I offended anyone with this post, it's just something that I felt had to be said.

Sleep + Monetary Deprived

2006-10-09T09:44:00.000+08:00

Cravings: Roasted Turkey and Stuffing

Phew! What a weekend! It was all a blur to me. Not to mention a really tiring one too, but God got me through it all somehow. Started out with a friday night birthday dinner for Liz and Rach. Went to Teluk Gong for seafood (Again). So my cholestrol gonna shoot through the roof, but it was fun and there we had a pretty interesting talk about crab and eel hunting. Probably a conversation that should not be repeated any time soon....those who were there, you know what I mean. Hehehe...dinner wasn't the end of it all though...all of us the headed over to Charles' place for our very first Time Spiral draft, and this was at 2300 hours ++. Had a blast eventhough I lost, and I can't wait for the next one! Since we started so late however we only ended at about 4:30am after which I promptly drove home and slept only to wake up at 9:30 - 10am.

Thus starts the second day. Got up, cooked some breakfast, then got started on finishing up the talk I was going to give later that evening to the YF. God really spoke to me at during this time and I took much shorter then I expected. I by His grace managed to arrange all my thoughts in that sleep depraved mind of mine and was able to firm up the structure and the points. Took an hour and a half or so to get it done and then settled down for some anime watching. At which point I got a phone call from a person in need. So I dusted off my armor, took a couple of minutes to buff it up and give it a little shine, then headed of to rescue the damsel in distress.

Returned home an hour later and swapped cars with my dad so my car aircond could get fixed, then took an hour nap after which I headed to YF. Got there and prayed. Even during most of the worship session I was outside praying. I was that nervous. I'm not much of a public speaker. I get really nervous in front of crowds, even when I'm worship leading. So you can imagine teaching God's word is even worse. God really gave me strength to do it though. I just cannot believe how I got through it all. Even though there were somethings that didn't go as planned but I'm glad that the discussions seemed to go well and that God seemed to speak to the youth. :) So thank God for that.

Oh man...there is just so much more to write and I haven't even finished saturday yet!!! Crazy...well I'm getting lazy and so I'll just give you the gist of it all. Slept at 4am for the past 3nights. So am very tired. Car air-cond repair cost RM1000++ so I'm poor. :( On the brightside had a pleasant surprise on sunday. Jen May was back! Yay..and she brought Hersey's Special Dark Chocolate and 3 Musketeers too!! Ahh,....brings back memories of my lab days. Well it's been a darn tiring weekend..but I'm happy. Was able to have little chats with different people that I don't spend all that much time with like Heidi and Yueen Mun (and YM and I finally had that friday lunch). So all in all it was a great weekend which left me sleep and monetary deprived..:P Thank goodness tomorrow is a holiday!

Interview with a Penguin

2006-09-28T12:00:00.000+08:00

Craving: Cheese with bacon bits

Things are really busy at work now, and on most days I get home pretty late. Not as late as some ppl but 8-9pm plus 4-5 days a week is pretty late for me. You see I'm a strong believer in not doing OT. Which means I don't stay back late just to look hardworking, instead I strive to finish all my work during regular working hours so I can go home and actually have a life. So having to stay back because of datelines is really cramping my style. On top of that I have other projects out side of work on my mind, the foremost of which is me having to give a talk to my Youth Group in about a weeks time. Sad thing is I haven't had time to do any preparation yet so I'm really just going by faith here. Hopefully I'll be able to get some stuff done over the weekend.

I had a chat with my favourite penguin yesterday. Was on my way home yesterday when I realized i hadn't had a chat with her in awhile. So I decided to give her a call, twice! Too bad she didn't pick up her phone. The nice thing was she called back about an hour or so later and we had a nice long chat. There was a little akwardness in it all since well, we both have so different lives now but we still managed to have an enjoyable chat (for me at least!). Alot of the closeness was still there and the chat really made my day. Too bad the situation isn't the same with all of my previously close friends overseas....(Niece! Are you reading this??? It's a blatant hint!!! *HINT* *HINT*)

Busy Busy Busy

2006-09-20T16:12:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Sausages, salami, peperoni and more of the same

It is going to be a crazy next 2 - 3 weeks for me. I've got to finish up modifications to a program that I am not familiar with and do it urgently as well. This is on top of the other stuff I already have on my plate. I'm not to miss my other datelines as I'm doing this too. If I somehow manage to push through this, I'm guessing the rewards should be good. Interestingly however, that isn't my drive behind this. Somewhere along the way, I'm not where, I decided I want to make this happen without affecting my service in God or my spiritual walk. This is so He will be glorified, I would love to show people that with God anything is possible. I would love to be used by God to show those people who say they want to concentrate on their career first and serve God later that if you follow God's plan and trust in Him, he can make things happen, even if you don't expect them to. That is truly a dream of mine, to live my life such that those around me can see God in me, that He is glorified through me. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what it is exactly I'm trying to get at. But I feel it inside me, and it's all there, but I just don't know how to put it into words. Basically I'm just saying that I'm putting God first in my life and then just trusting Him to get me through the rest, failures and successes, whatever His will is. May His will be done in my life as it is in heaven.

Blinky

2006-09-11T09:50:00.000+08:00

Craving: Salt and pepper squid

So I took a page out of Heidi's journal and decided to adopt a virtual pet. I had many choices to choose from and was actually leaning towards an all time favourite of mine the wolf...until I saw this. It was just to tempting to pass up. So without further ado, please welcome my new pet...blink182.

Gut Smacked!

2006-09-04T10:51:00.000+08:00

Craving: Lobster baked with salt, pepper, butter and herbs

I fulfilled a couple of my cravings the other day. Discovered a new "fast food" kind of pie shop in One Utama, and to my surprise they had *GASP* Steak and Kidney Pie! Amazing! Couldn't believe it! Never thought I'd see it here in Malaysia so it was truly a pleasant surprise. I've also cleared up my crab and steak cravings for quite a long while. Last week was a pretty good week in respect to food and I had many many delicious dinners...and not a single trip to the gym...*sob* So it's back to the gym for me this week.

Made a commitment the other day. Am signing up for the 2nd Annual Teenstreet Malaysia. Once again going as coach. Not sure how I'm going to get my leave and all but I'm gonna go by faith in this. Last years experience was awesome and I'd definately want to be part of this year's trip. If any of you are between 13 - 17 years of age? I'd strongly recommend you sign up for it as participants. If you are older then that then come as part of the Service Team or as a Coach. It is a wonderful thing to get to see God work in the lives of the youth. Be a part of it!

On another note, have you ever lived in denial of something for a long while, only for reality to land you a good smack in the gut? It sucks. Especially when reality only serves to complicate matters and to throw you on another emotional rollercoaster. *Sigh*

Contemplations

2006-08-25T15:05:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Pork sausages with djion mustard

*Sigh* .... I'm in one of "those" moods again and I blame it completely on fan fiction and spending way too much time then it is healthy with couples. Yup it's time for me to feel lonely again. What can I say after 24 years of being single you'd thing one would get used to it. Doesn't help that my mum likes to give me the occassional prod on getting a girlfriend. Worse thing is my beautiful theory has been foiled. You see, I had this theory that my guy friends (those at my age) were getting attached by order of age, those with birthdays latest in the year got attached first. So this theory has been holding true for a bit as relationships gradually worked their way nearer and nearer to my turn. Unfortunately with only one more person between me and possible companionship, the couple at the very begining of the order have decided to call it quits, leaving me quite sadly back at square one. Ofcourse I know that all of this bull, but it was fun to have a theory for awhile. Gripe as I do, I'm pretty darn glad I have God with me. I am going to leave it all in His hands, and though I'm sure I'll crack at some point and try to hurry things along, I'm have faith that God will be there to pick me up when I fall flat on my face..:)

100th Post!

2006-08-08T18:03:00.000+08:00

Craving: Stuffed Peppers

Woo hoo! It's the 100th post on my blog. What a milestone! Well in actual fact I should have passed this milestone months ago..would probably be cresting on my second century if I weren't so lax in posting. But oh well.

Had an interesting dream the other night. Probably one of the wierdest I can remember too. Pretty surprising for me. It was one of those dreams when you wake up and still remember parts of it and you think to yourself "Where did that come from?!?!?" Won't be thinking too much about it but still..it really was something I'd never have ever imagined.

Four Walls

2006-07-27T09:09:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Pancakes with Ice-Cream and Blueberry Syrup

It's beautiful outside right now. Just the kind of weather to be outside and just enjoy nature. It's just about to rain outside. Infact I think it may already have started, but you know the kind of weather I'm talking about. When the skys are clouded and overcast, long lulls of calm followed by nice breezes, freshness in the air, the impending rain moisturizing the air....it's just wonderful weather. Too bad I'm stuck inside my office just staring at the four walls!!! Sigh....

At this job of mine, everyone needs security passes. They get you past the front gate and are used for touching in and touching out. I have just recieved my pass on tuesday after going about a week and a half without a pass because they needed to process one for me. Well in the words of my HR "Aiyar! Those people arrr...process wrongly larr!" And I couldn't agree with her more. My name is now "Hsiang SY" and my job description is "Analyst Processing". Yay. Happy. Happy. Joy. Joy. ...

On another note, finally got my small men's prayer group started last night. It took a while to take off considering I wanted to start it at the begining of the year. Thank God it has happened now. Only three of us right now, and that's ok because I'm want to keep it small. Not because I want to be exclusive or anything like that, but because I just feel it is really hard to be real and open when there are too many people in the group. We had a great time sharing a praying together last night and hopefully the Lord will bless this group even as we strive to be closer to HIM.

Side Note : I STILL haven't watched X-Men 3 or Superman Returns....*sob* *sob*

Back at work

2006-07-17T10:30:00.000+08:00

Cravings: A nice juicy carpet steak

Ok so it's my first day at a new job. Looks pretty fun so far. I've even got a new Laptop. Well sort of anyway cause I can't actually do all the fun stuff with it because it's purely only for work. Oh well. At least it is something..:) It also looks like I'm gonna be thrown right into the deep end, I've already been given my first dateline and it's before Hari Raya. I'm also supposed to be stablizing some application which has been giving plenty of problems. So lots of fun eh?

...

This has been my first entry in ages and I have to say it was not because I had a lack of time, I guess I was just plain lazy. However today looked like an interesting milestone I think it is good to commemorate it with an entry. Don't you agree? Hopefully regularity will return to my entries now.

Odds and Ends

2006-06-15T10:12:00.000+08:00

Craving: Haggis

Guess what. I'm back at work. Well sorta...I'm actually replacing the overdrawn leave at my old company. It's really a drag to be here, coz there really isn't much for me to do. But they want me to come back so what's a man to do. Sigh....I mean I'm seriously bored. I'm tryng to figure out how long I should wait before telling them the work they had me do over two days is done in about an hour and a half. Eeeesssh....sienz!!! And on top of that my body is aching all over. That's good though coz it actually means that my workouts at the gym are being effective. No pain no gain eh?

I want to cook! Yes I do! Been really waiting for an opportunity but have been either too lazy or too busy. Hopefully I'll find some time to do it this weekend or over the next couple of weeks. I just have to manage my time alot better. There are just so many recipies I want to try out!!! No to mention I owe the Yees a meal..:P

2006-05-31T09:18:00.000+08:00

Craving: Frogs Legs

*NOTE : This entry was written on monday, but internet problems stopped me from posting it up till today.*

It was a pretty eventful weekend for me. First I went on this chase an hour and a half before YF on saturday to look for Tanah Liat or clay. Drove around and around and was actually headng to a field to try and dig up some, when suddenly I noticed this newly covered patch of roadside. Stopping my car I quickly determined it was what I was looking for. So then driving my car around the other side, I proceeded to dig up some of it and headed off to church. Now on the way to church I some how had some issues with my brakes and to avoid hitting the car in front I swerved and colided with a concrete electrical pole instead. Needless to say the pole laughed at my car's puny attempt to knock it over and now I'm filing an insurance claim. Thank God no one was hurt and the police report and fine part was taken care off without too much hassel.

By the grace of God, somehow even after the accident, I was still able to make it to church for YF where we were having a prayer walk event. A prayer walk was where groups of students move from one prayer station to another, with each focusing prayer in a different method and experience. I felt it was an awesome experience when I went through it with my NET at teenstreet and those of us who had experienced it, felt it was an experience to bring to the YF. I felt some youth were seriously impacted and God willing they will all have learnt and experienced more about their relationship with God thtough that.

On a side note...I'm without a car for the next few weeks and I still haven't watched X-Men 3. *sob*

Arrrrgghhhh

2006-05-25T10:21:00.000+08:00

Cravings: Turkey Stuffing

Have you ever been irritated by someone you were trying to help before? Maybe because you felt they were taking you for granted? Well that's how I feel right now! Arrrggghhh! It's been simmering inside for a few days now and I'm just really pissed at the whole thing. I really really dislike it when people just tell me to do things for them just assuming I'll do it. Come on! What ever happened to A-S-K? Eeesssh! And then they want to follow it up with a guilt trip....grrrr.....you know what's worse? It's one thing when some girls are really moody and pms-sy, but it really sucks when a guy acts that way. Sheesh...! Don't act like that just because you don't get your way, it's just plain childish! eeeeesh!

Blacking Out...Almost

2006-05-17T11:28:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Funnel Cake

I almost blacked out yesterday. It was dang scary too. I was in the gym for my second and final appointment with my personal trainer. Started abit late because she was with another client, so I started some warm ups by myself. Soon however we got started, did another quick run on the treadmill then went on to squats and lunges. Lunges are tough..especially with weights. Next we wanted to do some cable pulls to work the chest muscles, however the machine had other ideas and was acting up instead. So we moved on to another machine that worked the same muscles. This is when all the drama started.

I did a couple of pulls and then didn't feel so comfortable. There was irritation at my lower back and it didn't seem to want to go away. I asked for acouple of minutes and then I noticed my vision begining to blur. I started to feel numbness in my face and hands too. My personal trainer was getting freaked out and asked for help. I can tell you I was freaking out myself. I thought I was having a heart attack or something (even though I would expect a heart attack to actually be painful...rest assured though. I did NOT have a heart attack.) All this while I was praying. Soon my vision was gone and though my eye were open I could see squat, I could sense my conciousness flying away as well. Fortunately other trainers came by to help. They laid me on the floor and raised my legs, then slowly I began to regain my vision and in less then 5 minutes I was able to sit up and have a drink. In about 10 to 15 minutes I was even able to resume my training. Scary...apparently because I hadn't eaten a thing since lunch and I wasn't breathing properly during my exercises, I had a lack of oxigen to my brain, hence the blacking out. *shudder* It was sort how I think death must be you know...with the darkness creeping in and not being able to do anything about it. Thank God it was just a case of over exertion. *phew*

The day after D-Day

2006-05-08T14:39:00.000+08:00

Cravings: Onion Soup (Homemade)

So it's the day after D-Day. The first magic Dissenssion Draft was between Charles, James and myself. Lots of fun building a deck on draft and I am definately looking forward to doing it again..:) It was a pretty close run. We played a race to 2, round robin style and both my matches went down the wire. Fortunately for me I managed to grind out the wins and was crowned the overall champion! Woo Hoo! Ofcourse it's only a imaginary crown but a very real free meal is still good enough a prize hehehe! Can't wait for the next draft...:P

Malaysia lost in the Thomas Cup on friday, and only now can I bring myself to talk about it. It is not so much the fact that we lost, but rather how we lost. Kuan Beng Hong should be shot! Ok maybe not shot but at least banned from playing for the national squad! After the first four exciting matches and being tied 2-2 with the Danes, it was Malaysia's hopes on Beng Hong's shoulders. Sad to say he floundered, and floundered bad. Infact he rarely showed any spark of spirit or fight. It was like he was a deer in headlights. Sheesh..all that hard work by our doubles teams only to go down like that. I'm not saying Lee Chong Wei and Hafiz are any less to blame...but at least they put up a fight! However kudos to Chong Ming - Koon Kiat and Tan Fook - Wan Wah. They put on an excellent performance and tied it all for us...now if only the whole team could perform at the same time...

Aches and pains

2006-05-05T01:58:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Bulgogi Pork for Little Taipei

Well I'm lying in the title. I'm not really aching or feeling too much pain right now. However I am sure it will change once I wake up tomorrow, therefore I'm trying to put of sleeping for as long as possible. Went to the gym today, and I tell you going with friends can both be a blessing and curse. Blessing because we can push each other. A Curse because we push each other. As for me I went to the gym with two friends today and we were going at it challenging each other on weights and number of reps. I just know I'm gonna pay for it tomorrow. Especially since my muscles haven't really recovered from tuesday's work out. Yeowch....I'm really dreading tomorrow. I hope I won't be sneezing cause that really sucks...

On the bright side...finally managed to find phyton soup again! Yay! And the shop is just nearby at Chow Yang. Pretty reasonable prices too...will definately be going back for another bowl..:)

Lethargy on a Tuesday

2006-05-02T09:32:00.000+08:00

Craving: Still Queso and Chips

Sigh the Tuesday blues. Normally, I'd be over the blues by now, but since this is the first day of work in this week, i'm entitled to a little sluggishness and blues don't you think? Especially right after a long weekend. It was labour day yesterday and I spent most of the day sleeping, managed to run a couple of errands, but mostly I just slept. So nice and relaxing...I wish I could do that everyday. Unfortunately the monetart laws of the world dictate that I need moolah @ cash @ money to survive, so here I am in the office. There is really not much point to this entry really, hahaha just a random bluesy tuesday gripe.

Oh and the cat's out of the bag. A single person has spotted my newly revived blog. Oh well secrecy was good while it lasted. I wonder how long before the others find out?

In search of Velvetta Cheese

2006-04-26T11:21:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Nachos and Queso

Arrrgh!!! *pulls out hair* I can't believe it! Foiled before I even begin! Arrrghhh...How am I supposed to make queso (Cheese Dip for Nachos) when there isn't a cube of velvetta cheese in the whole of Malaysia?!?!?!!?

As most of you can probably tell from this blog, I'm a person who loves to cook and who loves to eat as well. Not only that, but I'm a person who likes to try and experiment with new foods and recipies. As such one of the greatest challenges I face living in Malaysia, is locating western or european ingrediants. Especially the cheeses. You can imagine the dissapointments I have faced when getting all excited to try out a new recipe, only to have my hopes dashed by the lack of ingrediants. Not for the lack of searching for them...but by pain simple fact that the ingrediant is almost impossible to find! Granted there have been vast improvements in this area over hte past few years or so, but there is still lots to be done.

Oh for the days when I can get buy gyros, velvetta, and more just off the shelves. Till then Brie and Mozzarella will have to do...

You know your'e pathetic when...

2006-04-25T09:33:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Siew Yuk (Roast Pork)

Ok so I've actually decided to blog a little differently then the title of my entry, but I'm gonna leave it there as a reminder of what this entry could have been. Hahahah. So any hoo.. (any hoo? Who says any hoo?) one of the youth from church passed me two free tickets to watch any GSC movie I want. Catch is it expires today. The pathetic part was gonna be that I'm taking my friend's girlfriend to the movie. Well actually its not bad, since we friends for 8 years or so before they got together. But still! The implications of it all!!! Well I did ask one other person..but well she couldn't make it. Any hoo...(There's that phrase again) it should still be a fun night...you wouldn't believe how hard it is to get people go watch something like "The Wild".

I'm also supposed to find out how I did on my job interview any day now. For those who don't know, I'm leaving my job at the end of May. Letter has been submitted and everything. Idealy I get to take a month of before resuming work. But let's see how God leads in this...:)

A Fresh Start

2006-04-21T13:12:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Garlic Shrimp

Looks like I'm gonna give this blogging thing another go. Probably going to last all that long...but we'll see. Just been feeling that I need an outlet once again. Added bonus is, it's been so long since I closed down the blog, that I doubt anyone I know checks this anymore. Hehehehehe...

On another note...Magic the Gathering is burning a hole in my wallet again. After 8 or so odd years of not buying any cards seriously I seem to have started up again. No thanks to my buddies who have been bitten by the MTG bug. Lots of money going out, including the RM300 I'm gonna be spending for a box of cards in May. Oh well. Everyone has their vices...I just like to diversify mine.

Oh as an FYI...I seem to have taken my "brightness" to a whole new level. I am now approximately 50% brighter then before the blog went down. Even my mum is giving me pressure about this bachelorhood thing. Although I have to admit that dinner last night sorta underscored the fact that I should really start minimizing the time I spend with the "couples" until at I pair up myself. This is through no fault of their own...but sometimes I just can't help feeling like a sore thumb, like I'm a by-stander watching love pass me by. I've got great friends who still try to include me in most things we do, but the fact is it still bugs me. Not much, and not all the time...but there are moments when i look around and I wonder to myself...where is my hand to hold?

Pulling the curtain down

2006-01-24T16:14:00.000+08:00

Craving : Buffalo wings

I'm closing down the blog. It's been a great couple of years or so, but I just seemed to have lost the passion for blogging. Perhaps when the blogging bug bites me again, I will start this back up. But for now it is goodbye, and thanks to all of you who have been reading this blog frequently. Take care and God Bless.

The first of '06

2006-01-10T23:17:00.000+08:00

Craving : Lagsana

The new year however short it has been, has already been filled with its share of happiness and saddness. In the span of this one and a half weeks, I've attended a wedding, in sharp contrast to the funeral I attended exactly a week after. God gives and He takes away.......

On another note, I'm feeling more relaxed and carefree then I have had in ages. Some how some where over the holiday period, I for the very first time commited all my burdens and troubles over to God and I really was able to let go. I don't even know how it happened...but one morning I woke u and I felt so light. I don't think I even noticed it at first...but one day it just hit me and I'm glad. :)

I've also sort of realised that I'm a hopless romantic. I'm really a sucker for "awwwwww...." situations. This has been further reinforced by my recent addiction to Harry/Hermoine fanfics. It's gotten to the point where I'm actually contemplating printing and binding my favourites so I'll be able to read them like a book. Though I realise that this is one relationship that ain't gonna happen in the J.K. Rowling sactioned timeline. (along with a sinking suspicion that Neville may end up being the real "chosen one" instead of Harry). At them moment I'm even contemplating writing my own fanfic or creating a little flash/music video thingy. But if I'll get it done still remains to be seen.

One last thought...I think my posts have become more superficial don't you think?

Updates

2005-12-29T09:02:00.000+08:00

Cravings : Steak and kidney pie (I just love pies)

Ok so I've been slacking off with my blog posts again. I guess 2 camps, a working trip to kedah (on which I drove alone) and a busy Christmas can really do that to you....bad excuses I know...have actually been wanting to blog quite a few times...but I'm always too lazy to sit down and start writing. Laziness is going to be the bane of me one day.

So Christmas was excellent, the performance went of smoothly and to top it off two people accepted Christ! Thank God! With Christmas being that time of the year, I was busy running around and catching up with various people...sadly because of that I didn't get to spend as much times as I would have liked with some groups of friends...sorry guys..will try to make it up to you. I also noticed I've been very slack this Christmas...didn't wish many people I should have Merry Christmas...to be honest wishing people sort of just slipped my mind unless it was in person that is.

Other interesting things about me is that I've suddenly had this facination/obession with Harry Potter getting together with Hermione Granger. Up to the extent that I've actually bought books 1 to 5 and will probably be getting the 6th one soon. Yeah yeah...I know that the books actually point to Hermione and Ron pairing...but I just find the Harry-Hermione one more appealing. This probably has got to do with the fanfics I've been reading on the subject. (As a side note...there are some pretty good fanfic writers out there.) Now to some of you this may be surprising, as some of you may know I never even read a single Harry Potter book before this, let alone watched a movie. I actually kept away from it all...even though I am a pretty avid fantasy reader. I had my reasons too. But I blame this change of heart on the recent Harry Potter movie. Went to watch it with friends as a way of hanging out and I guess that just started the thoughts rolling. Oh well...guess I will have to wait till the last book is out to see the author's version of how the love life at Hogwarts is gonna turn out.

Refuge

2005-12-17T11:08:00.000+08:00

Craving: Pai Kuat Mi (Pork Chop Noodles)

This is really a crazy month for me. Camp after camp..followed by a work engagement up in Sg. Petani. Turns out I'll be driving alone...tomorrow which is really kinda sad and boring coz' driving 4+ hours by yourself is really no fun. Also means I'm gonna have to miss out on watching the choir in Malacca...so I guess no chicken rice balls for me. On the other hand I'm sure some of the girls should be pretty relieved that I won't be going...that way they gonna get to concentrate when they sing "It's a baby, in a manger...." instead of trying not to laugh...hahaha.

I'm currently covered in mosquito bites, a by product of the recently concluded YF camp. For those who don't know...I'm probably the best mosquito repellent you are going to find any where....cause if I'm near...they'll just skip you and come for me....those bloody blood suckers! *shakes fist* So that can really be irritating...dang itchy..it's been 3 days since camp..and still I'm itching! Other then the mozzies, the camp was fun..enjoyed myself treamendously..proabably was the most relaxing camp I've been to in awhile...kudos to the Student Comm for doing such a good job...you guys really are a blessing to the YF and it really is amazing to see HIM working through you all this way.

On another note...a friend of mine of 7 years accepted Christ sometime during the year...although I only found this out recently...so I'm really happy! She's also coming to church this weekend, so hopefully she won't get a culture shock during the TLC worship....since she used to attend a charismatic church and all. God is also moving alot in my life. Someone close to me heard the gospel and actually initiated the conversation...not with me but with someone else...and it truly is a miracle cause that is probably the last thing I would expect. To top it off..this month itself I have seen old friends and finding out that they have accepted and are now actively serving is even more of a joy...sorta shows..that God will always move even if you don't.

Double Vision

2005-12-08T23:54:00.000+08:00

Craving : Real Food!!!!

Phew! What an amazing 6 days it has been. I've just gotten back from Teenstreet Malaysia today, and what an experience it has been. I've been able to see God work in the lives of so many youth and got to meet so many great and wonderful people. Dan and Suzie Potter along with Curt and Nikki really brought a new way of challenging the youth with their dance and drama, and I think many of us who were there are able to better remember the teachings with the concept of the Kingdom code.

Going as a coach, I was excited and nervous. This was the first Teenstreet in Malaysia and I really wasn't sure what to expect. I knew that my NET or care group during the camp was going to be a pretty diverse one. I was going to have only 5 youths under me, 2 of which came from my church. The other 3, came from different churches and I had never met them before. I was so afraid they wouldn't get along together, but turns out...I was wrong and most of the group gelled pretty well. I have to confess there were many times when I felt unsure of myself and it just felt like I wasn't getting through and the youths weren't sharing, when suddenly one of them would say something that totally blew me away. I may not have seen it then, so blinded I was by own worries and rely on my own abilities that I wasn't seeing God working in their lives. Looking back now, I can fully appriciate and see the little victories in each of their lives. So Peter, Jian Sheung, Eu Jin, John, Bryan...I'm praying for you guys. Thanks for being an awesome NET!

The past 6 days have also been a time of soul searching for me. There has been so much that I have had to deal with. I went as a coach expecting to faciliate the youths, and found myself being challenged and being forced to deal with issues myself. I've had to re-examine my life and my walk, questioning if I really have been heeding God's call and if I truly have been allowing God to work though me. I have begun to see the importance of having a NET of my own, a group of my Christian peers which will keep me accountable to them. Hardest of all has been the issues I have had to confront in my own personal life. Sometimes what God asks of us is not easy, and I have had to make a couple of those decisions over the past days, and I tell you it is hard. It is not easy letting go, trusting God to be in charge, especially when it comes to friendships. Because you never know when God says, "hey...I don't think you should be so close anymore" or "I think it would serve my purposes better for you to go seperate ways" or something along those lines. It's painful, I would be lying if I said it wasn't, but maybe God had already being giving me signs.....and I just didn't want to take it. That been said...I guess I am once again learning about unconditional love....and about caring for people eventhough they don't respond, or they don't care about it. He really is an awesome God...and following Him is not easy...I can only pray that I can keep to the narrow path...by HIS strength.

So much to do, so little time

2005-12-01T14:01:00.000+08:00

Craving : Foie-gras (Goose Liver)

It's been a really crazy past couple of weeks. Haven't had the mood to blog, or rather have just been too tired to blog. There were a couple of times last week when I actually posted something up. But I removed them later in the day. Somethings I felt shouldn't be put online anymore...Crazy last week though...waking up to headaches and going to sleep to headaches really sucks...guess there just wasn't enough rest. So much to do in so little time...teenstreet is coming up and I'm just finishing reading the coach's manual. I'm really excited about it and yet I am abit afraid and nervous. I'm afraid that I'll go there and try to do things with my own strength and not rely on God. I'm afraid that I'll lead those under me astray...I'm afraid my focus will be wrong. But at the end of the day, all I can do I guess is just pray about it and let God take charge. Other than that I'm looking forward to teenstreet and meeting new people. After that there is YF camp...which I'm looking forward to(Kudos to the student comm for doing a great job)...followed by work in sungai petani which I'm not so looking forward to. To make things worse...My 'niece' and my favourite penguin are also coming back from australia for hols and I don't know if I am going to get the chance to see them..:(. Hopefully things will all work out.

On another note..my heart had been pretty troubled for a few weeks now, especially during last week and early this week. Relationships can really get to u at times u know...and I was at my wits end. So I went to God in prayer and just committed it all to Him, asking him to grant me peace. (I'm not too proud that I went to Him only as a last resort). And I didn't notice it at first...but it hit me yesterday, that he put alot of my fears and anxiety to rest..granting me the peace that I wanted. It was really so awesome...and I truly thank Him for that! You are the best Lord! Thank you for loving me although I fail you so very often.

Ooops! Silly ol' me...

2005-11-18T09:39:00.000+08:00

Craving : Frogs legs

Eeeek! It's 9:40 in the morning and it is pretty clear that I'm not all that awake yet. Why? Well it is because I'm am still dang blur! I recieved this email this morning from http://www.acrushonu.com. Now..it is not the first time I've gotten this mail, and I knew how it works, but curiousity got the better of me and I decided to try and guess anyway. So what happens is an email comes in and tells you someone has a crush on you and it invites you to try and guess by keying in the email address of said person. What it doesn't tell you is that every guess you make actually sends an email out to that person telling the person that "someone has a crush on them". So the cycle continues. Having done this before, you would think I would be wiser. Well, first I tried to test out if it actually sent out emails by using my gmail account. Checking my gmail, I found that there was no email! I even waited a few minutes. So then..with no mail in sight I decided it was safe to try by typing in emails and guessing. After about 30 or so email addresses, I decided to check my gmail again. I opened it up and still no email. Phew....but then it hit me...it could have been spam!!!! Oh no! And there it was..sitting in my spam folder. So I the website had just sent 30-odd emails to girls I know, informing them that someone has a crush on them, and if any of them is as blur as myself and starts guessing....well you can see the consequences yourselves. Well it gives a good laugh I supposed...and to all those girls who got mails...errr...don't get curious..I'll give you the answer..it was from me...hahaha.

Revelation

2005-11-16T10:34:00.000+08:00

Craving : Beef tongue sandwiches

Given the stuff I have been doing over the few days, or even weeks I would have expected myself to be thinking about BGR quite abit. But the truth of the matter is that while I do think about it abit, actually alot at certain periods, I find that I have sort of settled in a sort of stable state where I have become a bit indifferent to it all. Maybe I have been fooling myself in to thinking I like certain people when there isn't anything there. Well at least I don't think so. Anyway..right now I am back in that state of a couple years back, where I wasn't looking nor did I want to look. A lot of the wait and see philosophy...and I guess with everything that has been going on...it is probably for the best.

Harry Potter Meme of All Memes by Osaku
Name/Username
Age
Gender
House	Gryffindor
Wand	Ebony, 10", Unicorn Hair
Best Course	Arithmancy
Worst Course	Ancient Runes
Pet	Egyptian Mau cat
Patronus	Wolf
Quidditch Job	Common Spectator
Wizard Candy	Blood Lollipops
Profession After School	Daily Prophet Reporter