My Nieces...

I had so much fun last night, talking to my nieces over the Internet. If you do not have Skype, you should download it and try it out! It's an excellent software! Here are two clips I recorded of my nieces talking to me. Hope you'll enjoy it just as much as I did! Download the audio recordings here!

Lion Sleeps Tonight! and Old Newspaper! They are just sooooooooo adorable! Here are more pictures of them when they were younger.

Poh Ann, Grandpa and Shyen Ann

Poh Ann

Shyen Ann

The 'Oughts' and 'Ifs'

"Is is hard to live in the present. The past and the future keep harassing us. The past with guilt, the future with worries. So many things have happened in our lives about which we feel uneasy, regretful, angry, confused, or, at least, ambivalent. And all these feelings are often coloured by guilt. Guilt that says: 'You ought to have done something other than what you did; you ought to have said something other than what you said.' These 'oughts' keep us feeling guilty about the past and prevent us from being fully present to the moment. Worse, however, than our guilt are our worries. Our worries fill our lives with 'What ifs: 'What if I lose my job, what if my father dies, what if there is not enough money, what if the economy goes down, what if a war breaks out?' These many 'ifs' can so fill our mind that we become blind to the flowers in the garden and the smiling children on the streets, or deaf to the grateful voice of a friend. The real enemies of our life are the 'oughts' and the 'ifs'. They pull us backward into the unalterable past and forward into the unpredictable future. But real life takes place in the hear and the now. God is a God of the present. God is always in the moment, be that moment hard or easy, joyful or painful. When Jesus spoke about God, he always spoke about God as being where and when we are. 'When you see me, you see God. When you hear me you hear God.' God is not someone who was or will be, but the One who is, and who is for me in the present moment. That's why Jesus came to wipe away the burden of the past and the worries for the future. He wants us to discover God right where we are, here and now. "

By Henri Nouwen

I Am Unique Part I...

During my MAG last week, something popped up during our conversation about people being different. Everyone has an innate sense of wanting to be different, unique, significant and special. Firstly, to set the record straight, you are unique! There is only one you. Doesn't that make you feel special? Besides, just differences in our physical appearance, our thought patterns are equally different. Two children born within the same family, with the same amount of care and concern plus the same education and yet they are both different. So what makes us unique? What makes us special? To understand this, we have to first look at Scripture. What does the Bible say about my uniqueness?

¹³For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. ¹⁵My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. ¹⁶Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. (Psalms 139:13-16 NKJV)

I love the way David wrote this Psalm. In v.13, David beautifully describes how a baby is formed within a mother's womb. How God "covered" him in his mother's womb. To cover, is to protect, to overshadow. God was thinking of you while you were being formed in the womb and He was protecting you and overshadowing you. William MacDonald wrote, "In a speck of watery material smaller than the dot over an 'i,' all the future characteristics of a child are programmed – the color of his skin, eyes and hair, the shape of his facial features, the natural abilities he will have. All that the child will be physically and mentally is contained in germ form in that fertilized egg. From it will develop 60 trillion cells, 100 thousand miles of nerve fiber, 60 thousand miles of vessels carrying blood around the body, 250 bones, to say nothing of joints, ligaments and muscles." To illustrate how highly complex protein molecules are: one molecule of hemoglobin, in the blood cell, may have in it 758 atoms of carbon, 1203 of hydrogen, 195 of nitrogen, 3 of sulphur, 1 of iron, and 218 of oxygen, making a total of 2378 atoms. All of the other 100,000 protein molecules are also highly complex and ALL of them are different! Imagine the amount of detail God placed into creating you, YOU ARE INDEED ONE OF A KIND! The second verse, v14 is my favourite. David exalts the Lord and praises God for creating him. That he is fearfully and wonderfully made. In The Message, it reads "I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation!" STOP HERE! Spend a moment to just thank God for creating you. You are wonderfully and marvelously made! You are special and unique! Thank God for knowing you before you were even born, that He has His eyes on you, covering you even before the day you were formed in the womb. Yes, you are indeed special! Praise God that you are different (and that you don't look anything like me! Hallelujah!). I'm just left in awe at our very own creation. Famous author, Henry Miller wrote, "The moment that one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious and awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself". There was once where I was very depressed and upset about myself. I was not happy with the way I looked. I was not happy that I was fat, or not as good looking at the person next to me. In fact, I was not happy that I was not the most popular person around. I could not understand why people didn't share some secrets with me while they shared it openly with other people. Someone once told me, that all of us have handicaps one way or another, physically, mentally or spiritually. I'd like to challenge you today, to praise God despite the handicapness you think you might have. Just like David did, he was a murderer, a liar and an adulterer. He was not perfect, his life was not a bed of roses. Just like yours and mine. But just as God has created him and knew him from the day he was formed, David chose to praise God despite his "disabilities". You can too if you learn to praise God today. Praise God for creating you, praise God for making you unique, praise God that you are special. If there is one thing that I would like to leave with you today, it would be that God loves you and that He knows you way before you were born. He created you. If you do not know Him, it's not to late. Come and experience this marvelous and awesome God!

Good ol' Days...

Was cleaning my room in Ipoh and I came across my old BB uniform and all my badges. Man, it really brought back memories. "The Object of the Boys' Brigade shall be the advancement of Christ's Kingdom among Boys and the promotion of habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect and all that tends toward a true Christian Manliness." Haha, I still remember our objective after so many years. If you take a knife and cut a Boy's hand, he'll bleed blue or so they say.

I have to say that BB has been a milestone in my life. If there's one thing that I remember about school, it has got to be the Boys' Brigade. We had so much fun together. I miss you guys man, Kah Jin, Fooji, Ah Yat, Beng Kuin, Kin Hoe, Poong, Desmond, Kay Keat, Ah Kai, Edwin, Chee Wyai, Wah Hoo, and the rest. You guys really left a mark in my life. Thanks for making my secondary school life so special. Pray that you continue to impact lives around the world wherever you are. I think I might have some old photos stashed somewhere. I'll see if I can find them and post them up.

I'm Back...

Hey people! What an enjoyable 11-day break! Finish watching Alias Season 3 and 24 Season 3 within a week, paid about RM500 to get my car fixed, ate lots and lots of good Ipoh food and the list goes on. Thanks people for dropping by eventhough I've not been writing much. One of the reasons is because I really want to take a break from my daily routine. I'm glad to be back now! -wen-, thanks for dropping by! Just another 8 more months. It's a blink of an eye away. *blink* *blink*. And yup, I love poems! But I love reading them more! Anyone wants to write me a poem? "Ian, so leng chai, so handsome, Ian,..." Desmo, all the best in your last paper tomorrow! See you this weekend man! Can't wait to catch up with you. Love ya, man! Josh, when you are back, dinner's on me! Deb, checked out your blog dy, did you give Tots a b'day kiss? Bwahhahaha! Still working on your Think mag? Yup, I'm a busy bee, so much to catch up and so little time. sighz Jeff, was nice seeing you again in Ipoh. Give me a call when you are back dude. Eric, the nigga's here man, the nigga's here! See you this weekend! Will burn the Joe Pass video for you dude. Christine, guess you won't be reading this. But if you do, all the best in your exams! Keep the fire burning!!!

The Priceless Gift...

The priceless gift of life is love,

For with the help of God above

Love can change the human race

And make this world a better place.

For love dissolves all hate and fear

And makes our vision bright and clear

So we can see and rise above

Our pettiness on "wings of love".

Helen Steiner Rice 1900-1981

Holiday...

Wooohoooo! At long last, an 11-day leave to take time to rest and recuperate from my hectic schedule. I'm back in Ipoh for a couple of days just to spend time with my parents. Hope everyone is doing okay, will write more soon! Right now, I'm gonna go out for some good Ipoh food! Bwahahahhaha!

Are You A Loyal Friend?

I came across this interesting subject while reading John Maxwell's Your Road Map For Success. It talks about being loyal. So what does it mean for others to be loyal to you? They love you unconditionally. They accept you with your strengths and weaknesses intact. They genuinely care for you, not just for what you can do for them. And they are neither trying to make you into someone you're not nor putting you on pedestal. They represent you well to others. Loyal people always paint a positive picture of you with others. They may take you to task privately or hold you accountable, but they never criticise you to others. They are able to laugh and cry with you as you travel together. Loyal people are willing and able to share your joys and sorrows. They make the trip less lonely. They make your dream their dream. Some people will undoutedly share the journey with you only briefly. You help one another for a while and then go your separate ways. But a few--a special few--will want to come alongside you and help you for the rest of the journey. These people make your dream their dream. They will be loyal unto death, and when they combine that loyalty with other talents and abilities, they can be some of your most valuable assets. If you find people like that, take good care of them.

(excerpt from John C. Maxwell's Your Road Map For Success) I was once asked this question, "Who would be the 6 people that would carry your coffin when you die?". Those 6 people are usually the closest, the most loyal friends. During that time, I realise that I could not find 6. Like most of us, we do not many true, loyal friends in our lives. I have made a decision many years ago to invest in lives and to be a loyal friend to people around me. Occasionally, I might stumble but I thank God that I learn from every fall, every experience. How about you? Have you been a loyal friend lately?

My Weekend...

First of all, a great big thank you to everyone who sms'ed me about what happened in DUMC over the weekend. Oh, how I wished I was there!!! Thanks to Punctuations for showing the ever adorable Pat & Stanley who inspired the birth of Abimelech, the hippograffe. Words just can't express my gratitude to Pierre Coffin for inspiring me to love hippos and giraffes... Talking about hippos and giraffes, I had this weird dream on Friday. All I could remember was that I was on a business trip and it was a weekend. I was strolling down the streets of this country and just enjoying the cool breeze. Taking pictures of everything that I thought was funny. Suddenly, out of no where, in the middle of the road, I saw what was like a parade going on. To my amazement, I saw that it was a giraffe parading on the streets. Walking down the street as photographers were taking pictures of it. It was a unique giraffe, because it was huge! It was probably more like a dinosaur rather than a giraffe. As I got closer, I got ready my camera and started taking pictures of it as I found it rather fascinating. All I could remember was the hair on the giraffe... it was exactly like Abimelech's! Gosh, this shows how much I love my soft toy... hehe... he's right beside me right now. *grin* It was indeed a busy week for me. Didn't have the luxury of visiting FREO for the past week. Yeah, sorry, Jeh! I miss my favourite hangout spot in 1U! Anyways, I was suppose to follow my CG members to Johor for one of my CG member's wedding dinner. However, there was a change of plans because my customer needed me to work on Saturday as they were going live on Monday. Going live means that the system that we have been implementing for months would be going public on Monday. Well, as usually, being the self-sacrificing person I was, I told my project manager that if she would fly me down to JB to attend my friend's wedding dinner, I would definitely be at my customer's place at 9am sharp on Saturday. So that was what she did, I got a free air ticket to JB. The day was pretty hectic for me as I had to rush to work and then rush to go home to pack and iron my shirt and pants. Flew down to JB and to my horror, I found out thing about JB the moment I arrived. The jam was horrible! Yeah, might sound a bit funny for those who don't live in KL or had experienced the hustle and bustle of city life. I arrived just on time at 7.15pm but the dinner only started at 9pm. Gosh, it has gotta be the longest wedding dinner I have ever attended with at least 800 people present (including a movie star *wink* *wink*). All tired and exhausted, I went to sleep bout 2am. Sunday! Had a great time in JB and it was time to go back to KL. Arrived bout 3.30pm and I was rushing to get to my customer's place. Yes, I have to work on Sundays as well. How horrible. But that's just the beginning. I was asked to complete a certain task and I pretty much planned out what I needed to do on that day. But when I arrived, the customer was asking me to do this and that and petty lil' things that could be done on another day once I have settled what was important. But unfortunately, just like all customers, they think they are always right. And Miss K, was shouting and demanding that I completed what she asked me to do. "I don't care! I the customer, you the vendor. If I, customer say you must do, you must do! The customer is always right! You still want be in this project?" shouted Miss K in front of everyone with her poor Chinese-England. I was fuming and I could not control myself anymore because I felt that I was being taken advantage of as I know that I would not be able to finish my work for the day if I followed everything she said. We ended up having a quarrel and both parties raising their voices. What made matters worse was that my manager was just standing next to me when it happened. In my head, I felt that I have sacrificed a lot just to be back in KL to make sure that things were done correctly and that everything would run smoothly by Monday. But things had to turn out that way and it really spoilt the rest of my day. I was pratically fuming when I stomped out the conference room to cool down. Thanks to those who tried to comfort me, you guys were great! After thinking through what happened today, I felt that I should not have lost my composure. Whether how reasonable or unreasonable the claims might be, I should have kept my cool. Not very good when you have just finished reading a book called "Attitude 101" by John Maxwell earlier of the day! Well, this has been a turning point for me because I know that I have to change the way I think. I'll take this as a lesson and I will aspire to improve on it and the next time I meet a similar challenge, I would be able to rise above it and keep my composure. This really brightened my horrible day. Thanks cousin Raymond! Samy Vellu was visiting India when he fell and broke his jaw. He was unable to speak. Being the great leader that he is, he continued his grand tour. On the last week of his visit, the RTM crew was present for his press conference. Although unable to speak, Samy insisted on sending a message home to his Cabinet colleagues. Samy caught a chicken and showed it to the camera. Next he took a goat, and showed it to the camera. Finally he took a bag and displayed it in front of the camera. Dr Ling was the first to see the video clip.. He said, "Samy is telling us that India has insufficient food because he showed us a chicken and a goat, and he wants Malaysia to donate bags of rice. " Mahathir watched silently then said, "No lah....what Samy is trying to say is HE IS COMING BACK. The whole cabinet was puzzled and look to the old man for an explanation. Mahathir reasoned, "AYAM KAMBING BAG." (I am coming back in Indian accent).