O Let My Thoughts Speak...

Commander 7th Fleet Band Music Performance

2010-04-08T22:24:00.013+08:00

Wow..it's been ages since I last posted something here.

I received an e-mail from a friend in Facebook telling that there was going to be a music performance by the US 7th fleet Band. As a music lover (and brass music admirer too), I went to watch them performing on Easter Sunday (April 4th) at Palm Square, Centre Point, Kota Kinabalu and at City Mall 2 days later.

A great performance from the 7th Fleet Band. :)

Pax.

Let's Forgive

2009-10-13T22:14:00.005+08:00

I was browsing on one of my Facebook friends' Wall Post. I saw this video and I thought I want to share with you all. Credits to Brother Gregory Chan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW759z7HsTw

When deep injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive.
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.

-Mary Karen Read-
(Mary's final journal entry prior to being killed in the Virginia Tech shooting.)

Pax.

Congratulations Rev Fr. Rayner!

2009-09-16T21:30:00.003+08:00

Congrats Tongkin! (Now kena panggil dia Fr. Rayner suda. hehehe) It was only last year's (2008) December that he was ordained deacon and now, he is a Priest! This makes the total priests (from Penampang area) into 10.

Pax.

A Song to share

2009-09-09T18:59:00.007+08:00

Hi all! It's been ages since I updated this blog. Kalo diikutkan, 'bersawang' dah ni blog (credits to Tity for the term. hehehe).

I want to share with you a song by Whitney Houston, which has been an instant favourite of mine. I heard this song in the radio while I was on the way to the airport to re-confirm my flight ticket last month (i.e. August). I found that the lyrics have a very significant meaning to myself in times of distress. I dedicate this song to all of you and that may you always believe and trust in God, no matter how hard it is to go through all the difficulties that you have to face.

I Look To You

As I lay me down
Heaven hear me now
Im lost without a cause
After giving it my all

Winter storms have come
And darkened my sun
After all that I've been through
Who on earth can I turn to

I look to you
I look to you

After all my strength is gone
In you I can be strong

I look to you
I look to you

Yeah

And when melodies are gone
In you I hear a song

I look to you

After losing my breath
There's no more fighting left
Sinking to rise no more
Searching for that open door

And every road that I've taken
Lead to my regret
And I don't know if Im gonna make it
Nothing to do but lift my head

I look to you
I look to you

Yeah

And when all my strength is gone
In you I can be strong

I look to you
I look to you

Oh yeah

And when melodies are gone
In you I hear a song

I look to you

(my levies have broken, my walls have come)

Coming down on me

(crumbling down on me)

All the rain is falling

(the rain is falling, defeat is calling)

Set me free

(i need you to set me free)

Take me far away from the battle
I need you
Shine on me

I look to you
I look to you

After all my strength has gone
in you I can be strong

I look to you
I look to you

and when melodies are gone
In you I hear a song

I look to you

yeah

I look to you
oooooooh
I look to you

Pax.

An Unusual Way of Trapping Mosquitoes.

2009-03-24T22:40:00.003+08:00

I got this from an e-mail forwarded by a friend. It's worth a try.

It’s just a mix of water, brown sugar and yeast!

1. Cut a plastic bottle in half, keep both parts.
2. Take the lower portion of the bottle. Dissolve brown sugar in hot water. Let it cool down to room temperature.
3. Add yeast. A small amount of carbon dioxide will form (this will attract the mosquitoes).
4. Place the top portion upside down like a funnel into the half part of the bottle.
5. Cover the bottle with a dark wrap. Place it in a corner in your house.

In 2 weeks, you will be surprised by the number of mosquitoes killed.

Pax.

Food As Medicine

2009-03-22T23:47:00.004+08:00

I got this from a friend in Facebook. Credits to Uncle Richard. :-)

HEADACHE? EAT FISH!
Eat plenty of fish -- fish oil helps prevent headaches.
So does ginger, which reduces inflammation and pain.

HAY FEVER? EAT YOGURT!
Eat lots of yogurt before pollen season.
Also-eat honey from your area (local region) daily.

TO PREVENT STROKE, DRINK TEA!
Prevent buildup of fatty deposits on artery walls with regular doses of tea. (actually, tea suppresses my appetite and keeps the pounds from invading....Green tea is great for our immune system)!

INSOMNIA (CAN'T SLEEP?) HONEY!
Use honey as a tranquilizer and sedative.

ASTHMA? EAT ONIONS!!!!
Eating onions helps ease constriction of bronchial tubes. (when I was young, my mother would make onion packs to place on our chest, helped the respiratory ailments and actually made us breathe better).

ARTHRITIS? EAT FISH, TOO!!
Salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines actually prevent arthritis. (fish has omega oils, good for our immune system)

UPSET STOMACH? BANANAS - GINGER!!!!!
Bananas will settle an upset stomach.
Ginger will cure morning sickness and nausea.

BLADDER INFECTION? DRINK CRANBERRY JUICE!!!!
High-acid cranberry juice controls harmful bacteria.

BONE PROBLEMS? EAT PINEAPPLE!!!
Bone fractures and osteoporosis can be prevented by the manganese in pineapple.

PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME? EAT CORNFLAKES!!!!
Women can ward off the effects of PMS with cornflakes, which help reduce depression, anxiety and fatigue.

MEMORY PROBLEMS? EAT OYSTERS!
Oysters help improve your mental functioning by supplying much-needed zinc.

COLDS? EAT GARLIC!
Clear up that stuffy head with garlic. (remember, garlic lowers cholesterol, too.)

COUGHING? USE RED PEPPERS!!
A substance similar to that found in the cough syrups is found in hot red pepper. Use red (cayenne) pepper with caution-it can irritate your tummy.

BREAST CANCER? EAT Wheat, bran and cabbage
Helps to maintain estrogen at healthy levels.

LUNG CANCER? EAT DARK GREEN AND ORANGE AND VEGGIES!!!
A good antidote is beta carotene, a form of Vitamin A found in dark green and orange vegetables.

ULCERS? EAT CABBAGE ALSO!!!
Cabbage contains chemicals that help heal both gastric and duodenal ulcers.

DIARRHEA? EAT APPLES!
Grate an apple with its skin, let it turn brown and eat it to cure this condition. (Bananas are good for this ailment)

CLOGGED ARTERIES? EAT AVOCADO!
Mono unsaturated fat in avocados lowers cholesterol.

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE? EAT CELERY AND OLIVE OIL!!!
Olive oil has been shown to lower blood pressure.
Celery contains a chemical that lowers pressure too.

BLOOD SUGAR IMBALANCE? EAT BROCCOLI AND PEANUTS!!!
The chromium in broccoli and peanuts helps regulate insulin and blood sugar.

Kiwi: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, Vitamin E &fiber. It's Vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.

Apple: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low Vitamin C content, it has antioxidants &flavonoids which enhances the activity of Vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.

Strawberry: Protective fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits &protects the body from cancer causing, blood vessels clogging free radicals. (Actually, any berry is good for you..they're high in anti-oxidants and they actually keep us young.........blueberries are the best and very versatile in the health field........they get rid of all the free-radicals that invade our bodies)

Orange: Sweetest medicine. Taking 2 - 4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessen the risk of colon cancer.

Watermelon: Coolest Thirst Quencher. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene - the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients
found in watermelon are Vitamin C &Potassium. (Watermelon also has natural substances [natural SPF sources] that keep our skin healthy, protecting our skin from those darn SUV rays)

Guava & Papaya: Top awards for Vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high Vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber which helps prevent constipation.

Papaya is rich in carotene, this is good for your eyes. (also good for gas and indigestion)

Tomatoes are very good as a preventative measure for men, keeps those prostrate problems from invading their bodies.

Pax.

Zoom!! (KK City Treasure Hunt 2009)

2009-02-23T17:29:00.009+08:00

I'm back! I know, I know. Long time didn't update kan? Guess what. I participated in the KK City Tourism Treasure Hunt 2009 together with 2 of my friends - Harold and Adrian. This is the first time I joined in such hunt. This event was part of the program in Zoom! Malaysia.

We attended the briefing on Saturday February 21st (first time juga la masuk Auditorium Pejabat Pentadbiran ni. Very nice that venue). When it comes to the explanation part, my head started to lose its fuel. Mmg bikin pening tu contoh-contoh soalan dia. How should I say, my brain was so 'hungry' after the briefing. Then I started to feel a bit of fear because I don't know what will the questions look like the next day.

We stayed at my family's weekend apartment in Bandar Sierra so that we don't have to wake up so early to get to Nexus Karambunai Resort - the Hunt's flag-off venue. That Saturday night, we put on the sponsor stickers on the car. We also configured 3G connection using my sister's cellphone and Adrian's laptop. In the end, we don't use Adrian's laptop at all (sorry Addy, susah2 ko bawa, last² nda juga terguna. Tp because of your laptop, I know how 3G connection looks like. TQ TQ). We slept a bit early, somewhere around 11:00pm because we need to get up at 4:30am on Sunday. The registration of teams started at 5:40am at Nexus.

There was some cars by the time we reached Nexus Resort Karambunai at 5:40am. We're not too far from the starting point. We had a good workout exercise before setting forth, much like those we do at Core Fitness. The Flag-Off was a bit late though (7:45am).

(Prior to the race, the 3 of us made an agreement that whoever quarrels will eat the 'Cili Padi'. hahahaha..). Our team (Team No.3 out of 120 teams) flagged off at 7:48am. The race began.

First part of the Leg - We were given questions to solve, venue guide together with a Treasure Hunt passport. Plus, we need to find 'treasures' - things that we need to look for to bring back at the end of the hunt. There are 6 places we need to go to get the passport stamped - DBKK, Gaya Street, Terminal 2 Airport, Mari Mari Cultural Village, Inanam, Sabah Tourism Board, and Hyatt Roundabout. We missed getting a stamped at Mari-Mari Cultural Village in Inanam because that place was quite far (9km from Inanam Town) and the time doesn't allow us to go there. Besides getting passport stamps, clue findings awaits us in Api-api Centre.

We searched for an item that will be used for the 1st challenge (at Teluk Likas beach) firstly at a sundry shop at University Apartment. We were needed to get 600ml of Spritzer water bottle refilled. But no luck there - they don't sell Spritzer Mineral Water. So we went off to Kingfisher Park's 7-Eleven's. Yes! They do sell Spritzer 600ml. We got off quickly and went straight to Teluk Likas beach to do our 1st challenge - one person pours water to the cupped palms of the 2nd person, and the 2nd person pours into another bottle which the 3rd person is holding. Happy juga la bila dorang kasi tau yg team kami yg first sampai utk bikin tu challenge. Ahaks..

We splitted in Gaya Street - Harold doing the passport stamping, Adrian finding treasures at 7-Eleven, and I, parking the car and wait inside. Driver kan. Hahaha.. Upon reaching Api-Api Centre we need to find clues. The clues given during the race are in many different forms - Anagram, Knowledge-based, missing letters, complete sentences, etc). Completing clue-findings in Api-Api, we went to Double-Six at Sembulan. There are not so many clue-findings here, yet the questions are not that easy to be solved. Some answers are founded on the menu - so small that you really need to look closely.

Next, we went straight to Terminal 2 airport where we need to get a passport stamp. We dropped Adrian at somewhere near Tg. Aru Plaza to search for the wanted treasures while Harold and I drove to Terminal 2. We picked up Adrian on the way back.

Next - Petagas War Memorial. The clues are very straightforward here. You just need to fill in the blanks and answer a general knowledge question. Done with Petagas, we went to KDCA to check in. We need to get there before the time limit of first leg of 10:45am. There's also a challenge in KDCA - finding the cultural houses names by referring to snapshots on aclue paper given.

For the 2nd leg, we headed to Lok Kawi Animal Park. RM5 is the entrance fee for a team (mo bayar juga oh..). Not really difficult for us because we've been here before. The clues are not that difficult except for the Bornean Gibbon and the 'No KK gang beats up this creature' question.
After Lok Kawi Animal Park, our next stop is at Alamesra - finding clues on one row of a shoplot.

Then, we head to 1Borneo. We splitted up here to do the question - quite a challenge here because we need to find specific kinds of shoe to answer the Adidas challenge, the Cultural question challenge which involved SMS-ing the answers in 90 seconds, and clue-findings on 1Borneo main driveway.

We reached Nexus Resort Karambunai at exactly 1:48pm - 6 hours after we set off. The high tea was good, our team didn't get any lucky draws (ouch!), we didn't place in the top 20 (sigh..) and we're extremely exhausted. But we've gain so much in this treasure hunt. We also managed not to quarrel during the hunt, though there are times when we're in total dispute among each other. As for myself, I learnt how to drive fast (kidding!!). nda ba.. I learnt to work as a team - I've often work in teams, but this challenge really shows what teamwork really means. I'm glad to have both the navigator and the passenger. Next year kita try bikin sejarah k? hahaha..

Pax.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2009-01-27T03:10:00.003+08:00

Happy Year of the Ox!

I was with Harold during Chinese New Year eve, somewhere in Luyang area waiting outside the car to watch fireworks at the strike of midnight. Below are some fireworks snaps I've taken using my digital camera.

Pax.

Oh no, a snake!!

2009-01-27T02:50:00.003+08:00

I went to a Brothers' Camp at Kionsom Baptist Retreat Center at Inanam organized by Lifeline Ministry of Sacred Heart Cathedral on January 16th-17th. This camp is to gather all male members who were serving in Sacred Heart Parish of Kota Kinabalu where they will get to know each other and learn how to journey together with other brothers from different youth Ministries. During the night, there's an unexpected guest, resting in front of one of the hostel dorms. Mhmm..a snake! Black in colour with bright yellow stripes. I learnt that the brighter colour (e.g. yellow, orange, red, etc) of a reptile/amphibian, the poisonous it is.

We had to kill it though. Otherwise, one of us might got killed during the night. (Sorry mother nature..) huhu..

Malang Tidak Berbau - Be careful when you're driving!

2009-01-04T23:30:00.005+08:00

I took these photos near the rear side of Sacred Heart Cathedral's back entrance, right after the Sunday morning English Mass (January 4th, 2009 - The Epiphany of The Lord). It was about 10:35 when this accident occurred. I was standing outside the side entrance of the Cathedral giving way for the altarboys, communion ministers and the priest to proceed their way to the church when suddenly there was a great bump sound coming from the road. It's more like an explosion, but with a skid sound. So many parishioners came to the fence to look at what happened. Thank God, the driver was alright - only with some bruises. To all readers who are driving, please be extra careful when you're on the road, k..?

Pax.

Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009!

2008-12-31T19:35:00.003+08:00

I guess this year (2008) has made a great impact to me. From ministry to friends, and from church to real world. There was almost an event happened at any month of 2008. Time really flies fast and when you know it, it's already New Year's eve.

There're so many ups and downs that I've gone to this years. Sepa2 yg rapat sama sia mmg tau apa2 yg sia lalui la ini tahun. hehe..dun worry, teda juga la yg melanggar peraturan hidup. Cuma sesuatu yang mengajar bagaimana kita mo menghadapi hidup. Yet, experience is the best teacher. And when you have friends to go on with you, you suffer less. Thanks to them, I'm grateful forever.

Apart from being able to witness all these things, I'm so grateful to have God's greatest gift to me - Love. From love, you have friends. From friends, you have companies. From companies, you have charity. From charity, you got family. My friends played a major role throughout my 2008 journey. I cannot thank you enough for that. Kalo mo kasi list down nama kawan² sia sini, sampai New Year pun sia masi terperap sini krusi ni. hahaha..

To all friends, old, new, close, not too close, kenal gitu² ja - I wish you all a very Blessed New Year. Let's make 2009 another year to be remembered!

I'm looking forward on what's there in 2009.

Pax.

Go South, or Go North?

2008-12-31T12:00:00.006+08:00

I was with a friend of mine planning on where to go before celebrating New Year's day. So we've planned to visit Kudat (Tip of Borneo to be exact). But we've set off a bit late and somehow changed our way going South. We stopped at Gunung Emas, Tambunan and trying to get hold with Fr. Rudolf, who serves in St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Keningau, but cannot get through to him. So my friend suggested Kundasang War Memorial. We've visited War Memorial in Labuan, now it's time to go to another site of WWII remembrance in our own Sabah soil.

We took the Tambunan-Ranau route. This is my very first time using this road. Short cut you can say, wait till you see the road's condition - gravelled (well, at least most of them were sealed. Other wise we'll only reach Ranau at dusk. huhu...). Upon reaching Ranau, we stopped for a while in Ranau Town for lunch and at the same time, looking at St. Peter Claver's Church - so many memories especially during Sabah Youth Day -2. After lunch, we go straight to Kundasang.

Lest We Forget - a dedication to 2500 Australian, British and New Zealander soldiers who perished during the Death March in the time of World War II.

Pax.

Christmas is here, bringing good cheer..

2008-12-29T03:00:00.008+08:00

Sacred Heart Cathedral English Choir & Friends

Indulcians a.k.a 8-member choir

Christmas is here again. As usual, the SHC English Choir and friends performed a rendition of Carols (mostly unusual ones plus different arrangements on common carols) before Midnight Mass begins. This year, the theme was 'A Saviour Is Born' and some carols were taken from performances back in 2006 and 2007, which are believed to be one of the most difficult pieces every arranged. Praise the Lord that many were touched; I myself enjoyed even though the soles of my feet shook during the singing of Hark The Herald Angels Sing (performed by 5-Male choir group). Visit Harolicious blog for the song list.

There was also a Nativity Play by the SHC Children's Liturgy Ministry some time before SHC English and friends enter in. I didn't get to see them performing because we need to warm up our voices outside the Blessed Sacrament Chapel (behind the Cathedral).

Supper after Midnight Mass at Promenade

Choir members' Christmas Gathering at Joanna's

Pax.

The Candy Cane Story

2008-12-14T23:52:00.008+08:00

Legend has it that in the 18th Century somewhere in Europe any public display of Christianity was forbidden. No crosses or Bibles were allowed and the Christians were greatly oppressed. One old man, a candy maker by profession, was particularly distressed by this. He loved the Lord with all of his heart and couldn't stand to not share that love with the world. His heart especially went out to the children when Christmas drew near and no one was allowed to have a nativity scene (or crèche`) on display in their homes. He prayed for God to show him some way to make Christmas gifts for the children which would teach them the story of Christ.

The answer was the candy cane. The candy cane was in the shape of a shepherd"s staff to show them Jesus is our Shepherd and we are His flock. A sheep follows his own shepherd, knows his voice, and trusts him and knows that he is totally safe with him. The sheep will follow no other shepherd but their own. This is how we are to be with Jesus if we truly follow Him ( John 10:11; Psalm 23:1; Isaiah 40:11)

Upside down the candy cane was a "J", the first letter of Jesus' name. ( Luke 1:31) It was made of hard candy to remind us that Christ is the rock of our salvation. The wide red stripes on the candy cane were to represent the blood He shed on the cross for each one of us so that we can have eternal life through Him. He redeems us and cleanses us with His shed blood - the only thing that can wash away our sin. ( Luke 22:20) . The white stripes on a candy cane represented the virgin birth, sinless life and purity of our Lord. He is the only human being who ever lived on this earth who never committed a single sin. Even though He was tempted just as we are, He never sinned. ( I Peter: 22) The three narrow red stripes on candy canes symbolized that by His stripes, or wounds, we are healed and the Trinity - the Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit. Before the crucifixion Jesus was beaten; the crown of thorns was placed on His head; His back was raw from the whip. We are healed by those wounds. He bore our sorrows and by His stripes we are healed. ( Isaiah 53:3) The flavoring in the candy cane was peppermint, which is similar to hyssop. Hyssop is of the mint family and was used in Old Testament times for purification and sacrifice just as Jesus sacrificed His life for ours. ( John 19:29; Psalm 51:7)

The old candy maker told them that when we break our candy cane it reminds us that Jesus' body was broken for us. When we have communion it is a reminder of what He did for us. ( I Cor. 11:24) If we share our candy cane and give some to someone else in love because we want to, it represents that same love of Jesus because He is to be shared with one another in love. ( I John 4:7,8) God gave Himself to us when He sent Jesus. He loved us so much He wants us to spend eternal life with Him... which we can do if we accept Jesus in our hearts as Savior and Lord. ( John 1:12; John 3:3,16) Some people believe this story of the candy cane is just a legend. Others believe it really happened. We do not know for sure exactly how the candy cane was invented, but there is one thing for certain... it is an excellent picture of Christ and His love for you.

Pax.

Christmas Invitation

2008-12-10T09:53:00.007+08:00

The Sacred Heart Cathedral English Choir & Friends invites all for the Christmas Eve Carols (December 24th) at 8:00pm in Sacred Heart Cathedral, Kota Kinabalu. This year's theme is 'A Saviour is Born' - a rendition of Christmas Carols proclaiming the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mass at Christmas Eve will be followed shortly after Carols at 9:00pm. As usual, there will be a large crowd attending this event every year. So please come early to avoid traffic jams and dissapointment.

2 Deacons!

2008-12-07T01:53:00.006+08:00

The Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu rejoiced as two seminarians (Rayner N. Bisius and Isidore G. Gondilou) were ordained deacon today (December 6th, 2008). I was fortunate to witness this ceremony because we ourselves (KBHK choir) served in the choir for the Holy Mass of this Deaconate Ordination. As for myself, I was indeed grateful not only because the whole Mass flow went well, but also happy to see that our friend (Si Bro. Rayner) had made it to this level. About 500 turned up for this event, including some priests from Keningau and Sandakan Dioceses.

Pax.

Sing for Him! - Cathedral Choir of the Risen Christ, Singapore

2008-12-05T23:26:00.006+08:00

I was one of the working committee during a concert in Sacred Heart Cathedral performed by the Cathedral Choir of the Risen Christ, Singapore. Having been performing in various countries around the world, and even performed twice for The Late Pope John Paul II in 1985 and 1997, this is the first time they ever performed live in Sabah.

Established in 1970 by its Founder-Director, Sir Peter Low, The Risen Christ Choir served at the Parish of the Risen Christ, Singapore for 32 years.

The performance? wow.... It made me stand in awe and deep peace. You all should listen to their singing.. :)

I and Sir Dr. Peter Low, Founder-Director of The Cathedral Choir of the Risen Christ

The Tenors

Some of the Working Committees

Pax.

Aled Jones - Always There

2008-12-05T23:03:00.002+08:00

I came across this video when I was searching for Aled Jones' video clips. Nothing grand, it's the lyrics that hit me and the melody soothes my mind.

Pax.

Jalan-jalan in Labuan

2008-12-03T01:49:00.005+08:00

3 of my friends and I went to Labuan last Friday (Nov 28th) untuk me-release stress. haha, kidding.. Mo jenjalan ba. Maklumlah first time sia pijak ni pulau. Smart ni tempat walaupun panas (ada sikit sunburn sia ni), tp sia puas hati la dpt jenjalan sini.

Sia kira mo jumpa si Bambangan ba waktu sia pi sini. Tp dia balik KK waktu ni. Bila kami balik KK, dia pula balik Labuan. aduu..ndada jodoh mgkali. wakakakak.. nda pa la bro. Next time buli jumpa jg kan. at least ada juga sia terjumpa org2 Blessed Sacrament Church, and pigi Mass di sini . Happy juga la. To all BSC members (Si Esmone, Si Genie, Si Frezer, Si Sandra, etc etc - sorry kalo terlupa nama), thanks for your company during our stay.

Pax.

Congratulations Batch 6!

2008-11-26T00:24:00.005+08:00

Never did we realize that Sacred Heart Cathedral's Lifeline P&C program has already attained it's 6th batch graduands. Congratulations! Although we have a humble celebration, each of those who were present were touched by prayers and the worship session. Thumbs up for Jeshua for officially leading his first worship session. Bro, I know you had a rough day before coming to graduation nite, but your worship leading was so great, even si Bro. Rayner pun tia dpt tahan menitiskan air mata. Bukan dia saja oo, most of them. Sia pun terberhenti skijap dari mengambil gambar. Praise the Lord!

Somehow, I began to realize why God sometimes gave us so many big crosses in our lives. Mcm tu lagu si Siska Valentina yang ada lirik berbunyi begini - "Hendaklah bersyukur, Dia melakukan semua kerana cinta, supaya kau peroleh hikmah dan jadi sempurna sepertiNya".

To all granduands - Joannes, Conchita, Ester, Nova, Egn, Teresa, Lillian, Jill, Phrysilla (ngam ka ni? haha), Margaret, Haley and Jeshua, and those I haven't mentioned - Continue to serve the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. Praying for you all!

Pax

Congratulations Vince and Sam!

2008-11-20T22:24:00.005+08:00

Vince & Sam has been my favorite race team since the first episode of The Amazing Race Asia Season 3. Started as underdogs, they endured so many obstacles - grueling, scary, tiring. They might not have much of a spark or X-Factor like some other teams have, but Vince & Sam are one of the most seldom get-into-quarrel team in this Season of TARA. I like the way they supported each other throughout the race, not forgetting Sam has phobia on something that flaps (like the chickens in Vietnam..haha); Vince had to take out most of the chickens from the coup. Friendship does count in making a good team.

Congratulations also to team Malaysia (Ida & Tania) for making it into top 3. There's always a Malaysian team in top 3 on all 3 seasons of TARA. While others are rushing to the pitstop, Ida & Tania enjoyed the whole scenery as well as the racing itself. :)

Yet, the best buddies had won the race! Congrats again to Vince & Sam and good luck to both of you.

P.S. I heard they were last minute participants of the show because one team were removed from the cast by an unknown reason. hmmm...

Pax

Who likes Doraemon? Me!! I mean, I do.

2008-11-15T00:56:00.013+08:00

I watched a Doraemon movie last night in Astro Ceria. (Ya,,call me tingu channel budak². tp syok ba..haha) Man, surely it brings back some happy childhood memories. I still remembered my dad banned the whole siblings from watching Doraemon on TV when we were in our Primary school years. The reason? Dia tia mau kami malas mcm si Nobita, yg slalu dpt 0% dalam exam (nda juga kami jadi malas pun..hehe). Nevertheless, pandai juga ni adik-beradik semua. Just when my dad is not around on Saturdays (ni dulu2 punya hari dia main di TV1 jam 7:30pm), or he might be taking an afternoon nap and not yet woke up, trus semua duduk depan TV, switch to TV1, kasi pelan² tu speaker. Komik Doraemon pun mcm tu juga. Kena main tapuk² baca. Kalo kedapatan, naa..abis kena sound. huhu..

What I like most about Doraemon is, of course, his futuristic gadgets lah. hehe.. Made in the 22nd century, although they're mostly cheap gadgets of that era, they're somehow miraculous. Byk lagi tu..

This cartoon teaches many, many moral values. Although you will see Nobita being so super-duper lazy and Jaian (Giant) with Suneo being so a bully, there's always a consequence at the end of each story/episode. Nobita usually goes too far, despite Doraemon's best intentions and warnings, and gets into deeper trouble than before. Sometimes, Nobita's friends (usually Jaian and Suneo) steal the gadgets and end up misusing them. However, by the end of the story, there is usually retribution to the characters who end up misusing them, and a moral is taught.

Other than those miraculous gadgets, Doraemon shows what friendship really is. Kalo kita tingu kan, setiap kali pun si Nobita mintaaaa ja benda untuk kasi senang hidup dia. Tp si Doraemon tidak putus² mo tulung kan? Si Doraemon senantiasa buat apa yg dia rasa terbaik untuk si Nobita. Walaupun begitu, si Doraemon tidak akan suka² kasi keluar gadget dia kalo dia tau itu akan bawa mudarat sama si Nobita. Ada masa si Doraemon marah sbb si Nobita malas buat kerja sekolah atau tidak pandai dingar cakap. Dia juga akan marah kalo ada ketidakadilan berlaku. In short, he also cares for Nobita even though he knows Nobita has a lot of defects. Kadang², dia yg terima kemarahan org lain on behalf of Nobita..

I've tried reading other comic books, but Doraemon is still my favourite. Although I seldom read them nowadays, Doraemon always reminds me of my childhood and taught me of what friendship is all about.

"When you start to get to know somebody, you have made a simple relationship. When the relationship gets stronger, you will start to appreciate them. And when the appreciation gets higher, a great bond of friendship is formed."

Pax

I've been tagged..!!

2008-11-13T00:38:00.011+08:00

Naa..si Bossing tag sia pada pukul 5:43pm, November 12th. 2008 (according to jam di blog sia). Ini post dibikin pada jam 12:39am, November 13th. Mau nda mau, kena post gambar juga. Adui..gambar sblm mo o-oi lagi ni. haha..

1.Take a recent picture of yourself or take a picture of yourself right NOW!
Suda..

2. DON'T change your clothes, DON'T fix your hair... Just take a picture.
Suda.. (ni juga baju yg sia pakai pi Speech Night SRS Datuk Simon Fung tadi).

3. Post that picture with NO editing.
Suda.. (teda edit ni. Tp tangan gatal btul mo buka Ulead Photo Express).

4. Post these instruction with your picture.
Suda..

5. Tag 10 people to do this. Erm.. sepa ah? antam ja la..
1. Charlene Dawn
2. Dorothy Wong
3. Nova
4. Charleston
5. Jacinta Juin
6. Eric Constantine
7. Rachel Jane
8. Margaret
9. Yvonne Lim
10. Didi

Suda..

Semuanya dari Alkitab..!!

2008-11-10T11:19:00.013+08:00

Sedarkah kamu bahawa Perayaan Misa banyak sekali menggunakan kutipan-kutipan yang diambil dari Kitab Suci. Jika saja seseorang mempergunakan stopwatch untuk menghitung banyaknya waktu yang dipergunakan untuk mewartakan Kitab Suci selama Perayaan Ekaristi berlangsung, ia akan mendapati bahwa mulai dari Salam hingga Pengutusan, lebih dari 25% waktu yang dipergunakan untuk merayakan Misa dipergunakan untuk mewartakan Kitab Suci. Kita lihat beberapa contoh bahagian dalam Doa Ekaristi (Mass parts) yg sering digunakan semasa Misa.

Atas nama Bapa, Putera dan Roh Kudus.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Matius/Matthew 28:19

Tuhan sertamu.

The Lord be with you.

Rut/Ruth 2:4

Amen.

1 Tawarikh/Chronicles 16:36 (dan di sepanjang Perjanjian Baru/and throughout the New Testament.

Tuhan, kasihanilah kami.

Lord, have mercy.

Mazmur/Psalm 123:3,

Yesaya/Isaiah 33:2,

Tobit 8:4

Kristus, kasihanilah kami.

Christ, have mercy.

Matius/Matthew 20:30-31,

Lukas/Luke 17:13,

1 Timotius/Timothy 1:2

Kemuliaan kepada Allah di surga,

dan damai di bumi bagi orang yang berkenan kepada-Nya.

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to His people on earth.

Lukas/Luke 2:14

Terpujilah Allah selama-lamanya.

Blessed be God forever.

Mazmur/Psalm 68:36

Semoga persembahan ini diterima demi kemuliaan Tuhan..

May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands

Mazmur/Psalm 50:23

Kudus, kudus, kuduslah Tuhan. Allah segala kuasa.

Holy, holy, holy Lord – God of power and might.

Wahyu/Revelation 4:8, Yesaya/Isaiah 6:3

Inilah tubuh-Ku yang dikorbankan bagimu.

This is my Body, which will be given up for you.

Lukas/Luke 22:19

Inilah piala darah-Ku, darah perjanjian baru dan kekal, yang ditumpahkan bagimu dan bagi semua orang demi pengampunan dosa.

This is the cup of my Blood, the Blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shared for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.

Matius/Matthew 26:28

Marilah kita maklumkan misteri iman.

Let us proclaim the mystery of our faith.

1 Timotius/Timothy 3:16

Sungguh kuduslah Engkau, ya Tuhan, sumber segala yang kudus..

Lord, you are holy indeed, the fountain of all holiness..

2 Makabe/Maccabees 14:36

Bersama dan bersatu dengan Kristus dan dengan perantaraanNya..

Through Him, with Him, in Him.

Roma/Romans 11:36

Bapa Kami yang ada di syurga..

Our Father in heaven..

Matius/Matthew 6:9-13

Damai Tuhan kita Yesus Kristus beserta kita.

The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you (us) always.

1 Petrus/Peter 5:14

Anak Domba Allah, yang menghapus dosa dunia.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.

Yohanes/John 1:29

Berbahagialah kita yang diundang ke perjamuan-Nya.

Happy are those who are called to his supper.

Wahyu/Revelation 19:9

Ya, Tuhan, saya tidak pantas Engkau datang kepada saya, tetapi bersabdalah saja, maka saya akan sembuh.

Lord, I’m not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.

Matius/Matthew   8:8

Pergilah dalam damai untuk mencintai dan melayani Tuhan.

Go in the peace to love and serve the Lord.

Lukas/Luke 7:50

Syukur kepada Allah.

Thanks be to God.

2 Korintus/Corinthians 9:15

Pax.

Friends Are Friends Forever

2008-11-06T15:51:00.003+08:00

One of the greatest musicians of all time - Michael W. Smith singing Friends Are Friends Forever. Untuk kawan² semua.. :)

Pax.

Mobile phone - Original or NOT?

2008-11-03T23:53:00.012+08:00

How do you know whether your mobile phone is original or not?

Press the following on your mobile *#06# and the-international mobile equipment identity number appears. Then check the 7th and 8th numbers:

Digit position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7 th	8 th	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Phone serial no.	x	x	x	x	x	x	?	?	x	x	x	x	x	x	x

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 02 or 20 this means your cell phone was assembled in China which is low quality

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 08 or 80 this means your cell phone was manufactured in Germany which is fair quality

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 01 or 10 this means your cell phone was manufactured in Finland which is very Good

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 00 this means your cell phone was manufactured in original factory which is the best Mobile Quality

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 13 this means your cell phone was assembled in Azerbaijan which is very Bad quality and also dangerous to your health.

Sebelum dan selepas kahwin..

2008-11-01T08:58:00.004+08:00

Ni sia copy dari kawan sia punya blog. So funny, kamurang baca la.. ;)) Credits to Emmanuel..

Teruna: Ya!! Akhirnya inilah saat yang aku tunggu sekian lama~

Dara: Apakah kau rela kalau aku pergi?

Teruna: Tentu tidak! Jangan sesekali kau berfikiran begitu!

Dara: Apakah kau mencintaiku?

Teruna: Tentu! Selamanya akan tetap begitu!

Dara: Apakah kau pernah berlaku curang?

Teruna: Tidak ! Aku tak akan melakukan hal seburuk itu!

Dara: Mahukah kau menciumku?

Teruna: Ya!!

Dara: Sayangku....!

"Sesudah 5 tahun perkahwinan... Kamurang baca dari bawah ke atas.."

Makan apa, bos?

2008-10-29T10:49:00.004+08:00

Pada suatu ari, ada ni urang pi satu kadai kupi mo order makan. Dia panggil la ni pelayan kedai. Dgn gayanya yang mcm malas2 mo cakap...

Pelayan: Mo minum apa bos?
Urang: hmmm...beer lah
Pelayan: Mo makan apa bos?
Urang: Tausa lah

Lepas tu, limpas 10 minit dah tp nda datang2 order dia. Dia panggil la ni pelayan dan bertanya kenapa order dia nda sampai².

Urang: Moi, knapa order sia blum sampai² ni? Mo dekat 10 minit suda sia tunggu.
Pelayan: Eh, ko ada order ka? Sbb tadi sia tanya ko mo minum apa, ko bilang 'biarlah'. Sia tanya mo makan apa, ko bilang 'Tosa' (tak usah) la..

Moral of the story: Cakap terang² supaya nda lain maksud. ;))

Catholic Student Group Mass

2008-10-27T10:55:00.008+08:00

I served with the Catholic Student Group of Universiti Malaysia Sabah last Friday (October 24th) for their Student Mass. Walaupun hujan lebat, dorang masi juga bersemangat ni. Sia yg demam² pun hilang demam sementara (ahaks..). Man, it was great playing music with them. Choir dorang hebat tu malam, especially when it came the time for them to sing the Thanksgiving Song (Alleluia to the Lamb), waduhh..kembang bulu roma sia. Nasib nda terlalut. Masi maintain juga tu jari² di organ. Hahahahaha.. Anyway to all UMS students as well as students from other universities/colleges, good luck on your exam. Praying for you all.. :)

Pax.

Someone's having a birthday today!!

2008-10-21T13:51:00.006+08:00

Yup. It's Harold Lojinon's birthday (Oct 21). Ada kamurang wish dia ka? ;))

Blessed b'day, Boy. I guess the real clock tidak buli lawan biological clock ko. Anyway, your presence in our midst is truly a treasure and I thank the Lord for that. Whatever you did for us and others, although some you might not remember, sedikit sebanyak menolong diri kami dalam meneruskan kehidupan yg penuh pancaroba ini (adui..jiwang..haha). Keep on smiling, mcm si Bossing bilang, senyuman ko membuatkan ko nampak muda. heheheh.. God Bless you Bro. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Pax.

So beautiful..

2008-10-19T09:44:00.003+08:00

Percayakah kamu, ni penari-penari dia ni handicapped (i.e. bisu & pekak)? Dorang kena guided by two coaches - kiri dan kanan pentas. Sangat menakjubkan tarian dorang. Walaupun ada kelemahan atau kekurangan, masi juga dorang dpt perform sebegini rupa. Kagum sia ni..hahaha.

Pax.

Tell your age by... (cool arithmetic formula)

2008-10-15T01:08:00.003+08:00

Don't tell me your age; you probably would tell a falsehood anyway-
But your waiter may know!

YOUR AGE BY DINER & RESTAURANT MATH

This is pretty neat

DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!

It takes less than a minute. Work this out as you read .

Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!

This is not one of those waste of time things, it's fun.

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to go out to eat.

(more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1758...

If you haven't, add 1757.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number
<>
The first digit of this was your original number. ( I. E., How many times you want to go out to restaurants in a week.)

The next two numbers are

YOUR AGE!

THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2008) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS

Lawak skijap (Part 2)

2008-10-15T00:51:00.004+08:00

Satu pagi di stesen keretapi, ada satu makcik tu dia tanya petugas
kaunter...
Makcik: "Anak, keretapi sampai jam berapa??"
Petugas kaunter: "Jam 2 Kedah, jam 5 Kelantan, jam 1 Penang, jam 7 Gemas. Makcik nak pergi mana?.."
Makcik: "Makcik nak melintas saja."

***

Bidin melihat rakannya, Wafdi, sedang membuat kopi. Kemudian dia memasukkan sebiji ubat panadol ke dalamnya. Hairan, Bidin bertanya kepada Wafdi...
Bidin: "Kenapa kau masukkan panadol dalam kopi tu?"
Wafdi: "Kopi ni panas.. bagi panadol.. kurang sikit panas dia.."

***

Suami isteri bertengkar. Tiba-tiba isteri terus kemas beg.
Suami: "Kenapa?"
Isteri: "Dah kahwin 10 tahun, rumah ni tak pernah aman. Saya dah tak tahan. Saya nak tinggalkan rumah ni!"
Suami kemudian masuk bilik dan keluarkan satu lagi beg.
Suami: "Betul juga cakap awak. Saya pun fed-up dengan rumah ini. Saya ikut sama, boleh?!"

***

Seorang pemburu bertembung dengan seekor singa. Terperanjat, dia tak sempat mengangkat senapangnya.Tiada pilihan, pemburu itu bertadah tangan dan berdoa.Ketika pemburu itu menjeling ke arah singa, dia ternampak bahawa singa itu juga sedang berdoa.
Pemburu: "Ah leganya........singa baik rupanya. Selamatlah aku."
Singa: "Ya.......singa yang baik selalu baca doa sebelum makan."

~~~

An older lady gets pulled over for speeding...
Older Woman: Is there a problem, Officer?

Officer: Ma'am, you were speeding.

Older Woman: Oh, I see.

Officer: Can I see your license please?

Older Woman: I'd give it to you but I don't have one.

Officer: Don't have one?

Older Woman: Lost it, 4 years ago for drunk driving.

Officer: I see...Can I see your vehicle registration papers please.

Older Woman: I can't do that.

Officer: Why not?

Older Woman: I stole this car.

Officer: Stole it?

Older Woman: Yes, and I killed and hacked up the owner.

Officer: You what?

Older Woman: His body parts are in plastic bags in the trunk if you want to see.

The Officer looks at the woman and slowly backs away to his car and calls for back up. Within minutes 5 police cars circle the car. A senior officer slowly approaches the car, clasping his half drawn gun.

Officer 2: Ma'am, could you step out of your vehicle please! The woman steps out of her vehicle.

Older woman: Is there a problem sir?

Officer 2: One of my officers told me that you have stolen this car and murdered the owner.

Older Woman: Murdered the owner?

Officer 2: Yes, could you please open the trunk of your car, please.

The woman opens the trunk, revealing nothing but an empty trunk.

Officer 2: Is this your car, ma'am?

Older Woman: Yes, here are the registration papers.

The officer is quite stunned.

Officer 2: One of my officers claims that you do not have a driving license.

The woman digs into her handbag and pulls out a clutch purse and hands it to the officer.

The officer examines the license. He looks quite puzzled.

Officer 2: Thank you ma'am, one of my officers told me you didn't have a license, that you stole this car, and that you murdered and hacked up the owner.

Older Woman: Bet the liar told you I was speeding, too.

Q & A (Bhg 1)

2008-10-10T21:27:00.010+08:00

I read this while waiting my student to finish his essay. Terfikir juga sia mo share sama kamu. Translated from English to BM.

Soalan:
Jika Tuhan tahu akan semua hal, sudah tentu dia akan tahu sama ada kita akan berakhir di syurga atau neraka. Bukankah ini akan mengambil kebebasan yg telah Dia berikan kepada kita, sebab kita tidak boleh mengubah apa yang Tuhan tahu akan berlaku?

Jawapan:
Hanya kerana Tuhan tahu di mana kita akan berakhir sama ada di syurga atau neraka, tidak bermaksud dia menyebabkan kita pergi ke salah satu tempat tersebut. Perlu diingat: Tuhan adalah abadi. Dia tidak dibatasi oleh masa seperti kita manusia. Bagi-Nya, tidak ada dahulu, kini dan akan datang, hanya "sekarang". Agak susah untuk memahami perkara ini, jadi dilampirkan satu analogi yg dapat membantu.

Fikirkan seorang manusia yg sedang duduk di tingkat paling atas sebuah bangunan tinggi, melihat keadaan bandar. Daripada pandangan jelasnya, dia dapat melihat sesuatu peristiwa sewaktu ia berlaku. Pada satu masa, dia nampak dua kereta dipandu dengan laju di mana akan bertembung sesama di suatu persimpangan. Kedua-dua pemandu kereta ini tidak sedar akan kereta yang satu lagi kerana masing-masing tidak dapat melihat di antara mereka. Apakah pengetahuan orang yang berada di atas bangunan itu menghadkan kebebasan kedua-dua pemandu itu? Sudah tentu tidak. Kedua-dua pemandu boleh memilih untuk segera mengurangkan kelajuan kereta mereka dan menghormati peraturan jalan raya.

Walaupun kehadiran Tuhan di dalam hidup kita adalah berbeza daripada cara orang yang melihat bandar dari bangunan itu, analogi ini dapat membantu kita untuk memahami bahawa walaupun Tuhan tahu akan kesudahan pada semua perkara, Dia tidak akan menyingkirkan kebebasan kita dalam memilih sama ada untuk mengasihi Dia atau menolak cinta kasihnya. Tanpa kebebasan tersebut, kita tidak akan mempunyai kebolehan untuk memilih mengikuti Yesus ke syurga.

"Men, as intelligent and free creatures, have a journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love" (CCC 311).

Ehsan: "Did Jesus Have A Last Name? And 199 other questions from Catholic teenagers" oleh Matthew Pinto dan Jason Evert, Ascension Press, 2007

Pax.

Alamak, got presentation today!!

2008-10-09T14:51:00.003+08:00

I was awaken by a phone call from a friend of mine, telling that I should do a presentation on Champs in SK Bukit Padang. Baru jam 7:20 tu, and therefore that phone call served as an alarm clock. ;)) At first, mmg mcm nda mau ni, sbb last minute, and I have some other plans during the day. But cannot be blamed la, sbb the company yg mau, and the school which I'm going suda agree mo bikin at 10am. Pa lagi, rushing la pi mandi, pack my laptop, review my notes and off I went to my friend's house to take all the packages - Emulsions, leaflets, fridge magnet and so on. Jln pi tu skul pun ada lambat sikit, ditambah lagi jalan raya yg sedang construction (kami guna Jln Bundusan). Sampai ja tu skul, pi jumpa la the Penolong Kanan and tanya di mana itu tempat kami bikin talk/presentation nnt. It was a two-classroom, merged into one (buka itu partition door). I told her that we're going to start at 10am and needed to be hurry setting up all instruments, technical things, etc. Nasib baik la itu skul punya time rehat ialah jam 10-10:30 pagi. sempat juga mo setup everything.

The talk went well. I gave what I can. sia rasa nervous juga la. ada la tarajun sikit sbb not fully prepared. Sia guna ja presenting skills I learned during my university years and in church. Sia managed juga give a sense of humour to the students who attend, so that they won't feel bored.

Bsuk ada lagi 2 skul. Lagi awal dari ni ari. Wish me the best kio..

Pax.

I listened to a fruitful sharing..

2008-10-08T23:57:00.006+08:00

I was on the phone talking to a friend of mine yesterday morning. At first, sia mo tanya pasal lirik lagu, then sharing takes place. I don't mind one of my sim card abis kredit, or even my hp habis bateri (sampai guna fon rumah lagi. hahaha) bcoz sharing dia sangatlah membuka mata sia dan membuatkan sia berfikir. Sia rasa tu org tau sepa yg sia maksudkan bila dia baca ni. hahaha. Nama di-confidential-kan.

It all started about sharing of what we're doing at the moment. Then came my share about what I'm having in church this week. Then came his sharing. I don't quite remember the dialog, but it resembles something like this. I only take a portion of the dialog. (sorry kio kalo ada perubahan perkataan, yg penting msg dia sampai. 'Ko' ja yg faham.thx for your sharing :):)

Dia : Bagus oh kamu. Byk aktiviti. Ntah bila la sia dpt join kamu ni.
Sia : Hehe..pelan² ba. ko join ja bila kami ada aktiviti. kalo ikut dari dulu pun, sia memikir-mikir juga mo ikut atau tidak. Tp bcoz of satu 'langkah berani', skrg sia serve d SHC punya youth ministry.
Dia : Ok la mcm tu. one day sia akan join kamu juga. Kalo la di kg. sia ni ada belia² mcm kamu, best ni. Sia ada tulung² sini juga everytime sia balik kg.
Sia : Eh, setahu sia, kalo di kg., belia dorang mmg kuat iman. bukan ka? Especially kalo sana punya area..
Dia : Manada. Paling² pigi church, balik rumah. Lain masa buat hal sendiri.
Sia : Btul ba? Jd, apa la aktiviti dorang slalu?
Dia : Jalan², minum², pukul org...
Sia : Wah..pukul org? You mean cari gaduh gitu?
Dia : Mcm tu la. Byk lagi la dorang bikin. mostly dorang menuju kepada duniawi. Masing² buat hal sendiri. Bukan tu saja. Even kalo ko lama tia dtg pi gereja pun mmg kena cakap². Mana la kita tau kan seseorang itu mmg lama suda tidak pi church atau tidak. manatau dia pi church lain sbb kerja atau study di KK atau lain tempat.
Sia : Aduu..kesian. Sedih oh sia dingar. Honestly, sia ingat di bandar ja ba belia² mcm tu. Rupanya di kg. pun mcm tu juga. Tp, kalo ikut btul, mana² pun gitu ba tu kan. Ada belia yg lebih mementingkan hal keduniaan daripada kerohanian dorang.
Dia : Gitu la tu. Sia tulung stakat mana yg sia buli tulung..

The day didn't end there. At night, we had our P&C batch 6 session. I was supposed to facilitate a ministry friend of mine, but he couldn't make it that night. And so, Mirina decided to mix groups during group sharing. Soalan² dia bertanya mcm mana kita sebelum menerima Yesus, bagaimana/bila kita menerima Yesus, etc.. There were 4 of us; I'm being the only guy la dalam tu 4 org. Sia suruh dorang start the sharing la since I'm afraid my sharing will be long, and they don't have a chance to say. Akhirnya di penghujung masa, walaupun lepas kena kasi extend, tidak juga sia ter-sharing.

Kamu mo tau..sia SANGAT² BERSYUKUR sbb Tuhan TIDAK memberikan sia masa untuk bercakap. Their sharing was one of the most beautiful sharing I've ever heard. Mcm mana past lives dorang sblm mengenali Yesus dgn lebih dekat dan selepas menerima Yesus di dalam hidup mereka. Ada drpd dorang yg masi struggle utk memahami tindakan mereka, tp bagi sia, itu adalah satu pencapaian dlm hidup org itu. Lebih baik mencuba daripada duduk diam (ngam kai ni cogankata? ahaks..) Anyway, I owe them one sharing. haha...

As I drove back home, I reflected on what had happened the whole day. Maybe God wants me to listen more than to talk more. Mcm itu story Maria sama Marta, di mana si Maria duduk mendengar ajaran Yesus manakala si Marta sibuk jalan sini sana sbb byk kerja (Lukas 10:38-42). Kadangkala, kita perlu berhenti seketika dari kerja seharian kita dan mendengar apa yg Tuhan ingin perkatakan kepada kita. Tuhan tidak sejauh mana, bukankah Dia berada di dalam kita semua? Salah satu cara Tuhan menyampaikan mesejnya kepada kita adalah melalui org² yg kita kenal, seperti kawan² kita. God works in a very mysterious way, and sometimes it's hard for us to understand why. Whatever it is, our youth nowadays needs help. Kita hanya perlu langkah berani lebih sikit.. :)

Father, bless those friends of mine whom I talked to or listened to yesterday, either by phone or by face-to-face, for your message was delivered to me through them. Amen.

Pax.

Funny letter from Ah Beng.

2008-10-08T01:28:00.006+08:00

Aduiii..sakitnya perut sia katawa lepas baca ni surat. Enjoy!

Dear Ah Lian,

Thanks you for your letter. Wrong time no see you. How everything?
For me, I am quiet find.

You say in your letter your taukeh soh want you to chain your look?

Somemore you must wear kick kok soo, hope you can wok properly.

You know, Ah Kau Kia working in a soft where company
now. Last week, he take I, Muthu & few of his friend to May Nonut to eat
barger. After that he take we all go to kalah ok. Muthu sing and sing no
stop until the sky bright.

Next week, my father mother going to sellerbread 20 years annie wear
sari.My father mother going to give a fist to all the kampong people. So you
must come with your hole family.

I only hope one day we no need to write and send letter to you and to me.

Better I e-meow you, you e-meow me.

I will ketchup with you soon. And when you got time, please few free to call me.

Goo bye.....

Worm regard,

Ah Beng

Lawak skijap.. :)

2008-10-02T23:54:00.004+08:00

Murid : Selamat pagi, cikgu.

Cikgu : (Menengking) Mengapa selamat pagi sahaja? Petang dan malam awak doakan saya tak selamat?

Murid : Selamat pagi, petang dan malam cikgu!

Cikgu : Panjang sangat! Tak pernah dibuat oleh orang! Kata selamat sejahtera! Senang dan penuh bermakna.Lagipun ucapan ini meliputi semua masa dan keadaan.

Murid : Selamat sejahtera cikgu

Cikgu : Sama-sama, duduk! Dengar sini baik-baik. Hari ini cikgu nak uji kamu semua tentang perkataan berlawan. Bila cikgu sebutkan perkataannya, kamu semua mesti menjawab dengan cepat, lawan bagi perkataan-perkataan itu, faham?

Murid : Faham, cikgu!

Cikgu : Saya tak mahu ada apa-apa gangguan.

Murid : (senyap)

Cikgu : Pandai!

Murid : Bodoh!

Cikgu : Tinggi!

Murid : Rendah!

Cikgu : Jauh!

Murid : Dekat!

Cikgu : Keadilan!

Murid : UMNO!

Cikgu : Eh, salah!

Murid : Eh, betul!

Cikgu : Bodoh!

Murid : Pandai!

Cikgu : Bukan!

Murid : Ya!

Cikgu : Oh Tuhan!

Murid : Oh Hamba!

Cikgu : Dengar ini!

Murid : Dengar itu!

Cikgu : Diam!

Murid : Bising!

Cikgu : Itu bukan pertanyaan, bodoh!

Murid : Ini ialah jawapan, pandai!

Cikgu : Mati aku!

Murid : Hidup kami!

Cikgu : Rotan baru tau!

Murid : Akar lama tak tau!

Cikgu : Malas aku ajar kamu!

Murid : Rajin kami belajar cikgu!

Cikgu : Kamu gila!

Murid : Kami siuman!

Cikgu : Cukup! Cukup!

Murid : Kurang! Kurang!

Cikgu : Sudah! Sudah!

Murid : Belum! Belum!

Cikgu : Mengapa kamu semua bodoh sangat?

Murid : Sebab saya seorang pandai!

Cikgu : Oh! Melawan!

Murid : Oh! Mengalah!

Cikgu : Kurang ajar!

Murid : Cukup ajar!

Cikgu : Habis aku!

Murid : Kekal kami!

Cikgu : O.K. Pelajaran sudah habis!

Murid : K.O. Pelajaran belum bermula!

Cikgu : Sudahlah, bodoh!

Murid : Belumlah, pandai!

Cikgu : Berdiri!

Murid : Duduk!

Cikgu : Saya kata UMNO salah!

Murid : Kami dengar KeADILan betul!

Cikgu : Bangang kamu ni!

Murid : Cerdik kami tu!

Cikgu : Rosak!

Murid : Baik!

Cikgu : Kamu semua ditahan tengah hari ini!

Murid : Dilepaskan tengah malam itu!

Cikgu : (Senyap dan mengambil buku-bukunya keluar.)

Sebentar kemudian, loceng pun berdering. Murid-murid berasa lega kerana guru yang paling ditakuti oleh mereka telah keluar. Walau bagaimanapun, mereka merasa bangga kerana telah dapat menjawab kesemua soalan cikgu tadi, tetapi esok masih ada.

Hey, wake up!

2008-10-02T23:09:00.004+08:00

I bet everyone has some sort of inspirational mails forwarded by their friends. Sia kurik² terjumpa satu mail ni, kira long time ago jg la. Just want to share with you all, the first time sia baca ni mail, trus banjir mata sia.

Who said only human know what is love

Yes, animals are more deluded because of their capacity of their physical body, but
occasionally some of them might be able show us the love that we have forgotten on
our 'busy road'.

Hey, wake up! wake up!

A dog was knocked down by a car and died on the middle of the road. Later, another dog is
seen beside the corpse of the dog, he tried to wake his friend up using his leg.

Let's move to the safer side of the road...i will move you to the safer side!

When his attempts to wake his friend failed, he tried to push his friend to the side of the
road. But the weight of his friend was proven too heavy for him.

Anyone help, tell me what to do.

Though the traffic is busy and dangerous, he just will not go away from his friend. Just
stand beside his friend howling and crying.

A lot of people saw this incident and feel very touched. How even a dog can show his loyalty and love to his friend.

Pax.

Song Sharing about friendship..

2008-09-30T01:18:00.007+08:00

I heard this song sung during the WYD in Sydney, Australia (erm, melalui internet live broadcast la, sia ndada terpigi sana. hehe..). Quite an old hymn, but the melody and the lyrics especially really touched me deeply. I thought I want to share with you all. From a friend to a friend, here it is, dedicated to all my friends. Enjoy..

THE SERVANT SONG

The Servant Song (Click on Play)

Will you let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you?
Pray that I might have the grace to let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey, we are travellers on the road.
We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you in the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping, when you laugh I'll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow till we've seen this journey through.

Will you let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you?
Pray that I might have the grace to let you be my servant, too.

Pax..

Powerpuff Kambings

2008-09-22T11:14:00.007+08:00

I copied this from my old blog in Friendster. I still found it funny although I've read it a few times. Ada susah sikit mo buka FS blog sia. So I decided to copy it to this blog utk tatapan bersama. Cerita ini dikarang oleh dua org penulis yg sedang boring tunggu orang siap exam paper..

***

Pada suatu hari, tiga ekor kambing berwarna Pink, Hijau dan Purple berjalan-jalan di sawah gandum. Tiba-tiba si pink terhairan. "Eh gandum itu disaluti cokelat lah".

Si Pink pun lari menuju ke gandum itu. Datanglah raksasa menyerupai babun kacuk tapir gunung di depannya. Pink pun terkejut. "Oh my gat! BABUNPIRNOCEROUS!!", jerit si Pink. "Jau! Ple! (shorter version of Hijau and purple) jerit Pink mewarning rakannya. Mereka bertiga berlari dengan pantasnya untuk menyelamatkan diri. Babunpirnocerous menembak. Pink, Hijau dan Purple membengkokkan badan Matrix style. The bullets missed them…

Without further ado, the 3 heroes pun mengeluarkan senjata lalu melepaskan berdas-das tembakan susu kambing ke arah B-Rex itu (macam dalam filem Kung Pow). "Aduh!!", kata Babunpirnocerous. "Susu ini sungguh asam pedas!". Dia tidak mengaku kalah. Kuasa seterusnya - "Dengan kuasa bulan, datanglah!" (Sailormoon)

"Alamak. Kuasa Bulan! Jau, tingkatkan kuasa asam! Ple, tambah kuasa pedas! Saya akan tambah kuasa pancutan ke 9000HP. Ayuh! By the power of THAI TOM YAM!! FIRE!!!". Target kena di mata.

Thai Tom Yam tidak menyakiti mata Babunpirnocerous kerana dia memakai contact lens special yang diorder dari England Optical Karamunsing Branch. Apa lagi. Dia pun mengaum dengan bunyi yang enak untuk menakutkan 3 kambing pingitan itu. "Alamak. Fresh Look Colour contact lens lah dia guna", jerit mereka. Thai Tom Yam teda guna. "Ayuh, activatekan KUASA TAI CHI, TAI FUN & TAI KU BEBAU!!"

"Uii..abis idea suda kah ni sampai mo guna TAI KU BEBAU? HWAHAHAHAHAHA..". "ROLLING ON THE FLOOR!", jerit si Pink. Yang lain pun ikut. Sedang mereka berrolling, si Pink dengan paniknya menjerit, "Argh!! Babunpirnocerous telah memacak pisau daging!! It’s too late. We’re gonna die!" Pink memesan kepada rakan-rakannya. Jau mendapat satu idea. Dia meminta orang yang sedang menonton cerita ini untuk merewind video. Reverse-golekleh mereka. Untuk Shot Take 2, lagu Kuch Kuch Hota Hai digunakan.

"Alamak. Rewind function rosak lah! It’s too late.. Argh!! No!! Tidak! Nehi! Ayoyo!". Slash! Slash! Slash! Babunpirnocerous terkejut melihat lalu tersenyum. "Hmm.. Lamb Chop..!! Oh no! Lupa bawa mint sauce ku!! Argh..!!

And Babunpirnocerous’ stomach lived happily ever after.

END-

Goodbye SYD-2 Ranau!

2008-09-21T23:46:00.009+08:00

We just had our Sabah Youth Day-2 post-mortem meeting in Catholic Diocesan Centre today and was attended by some MOTs, one LOT and some SOTs (menurut si Harold, SOT stands for Sub-Organizing theme. bukan the other 'sot' k..haha). Many were said, some affirmed and some said it out. Whatever was done is done. There's no point of complaining at this moment because SYD-2 in Ranau is over.

All these would've never been made wonderful without the help of the Spiritu Sancti a.k.a Holy Spirit and I'm grateful for being so paracletive to us. I couldn't say much here because this is my first experience on such large gathering. Some points that have been discussed during the meeting were these: Communication, Commitment, Manpower, Support and Understanding. For me, the first two were the most important ones, including Support. Without communication and commitment, you can't even do the simplest task. No communication, no understanding. No understanding, no commitment. No commitment, no support. No support, no manpower.

Nevertheless, the LOT's have done a great job, even though there were lack of support.

There are so much to be learnt from SYD-2 in Ranau. As the saying goes 'Learning from mistake is the best form of learning.' Kalo pepatah Melayu bilang 'buang yg keruh, ambil yg jernih'. I hope the SYD-3 in Tambunan will be another great success. Congratulations to MOTs, LOTs and ehemm..SOTs. :) May the good Lord our God bless us all.

As at Sunday, September 21, 2008 at 5:45pm, the SYD-2 Main Organizing Team was officially disbanded.

Sed accipietis virtutem supervenientis Spiritus Sancti in vos et eritis mihi testes..
(You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will become My Witnesses - Acts 1:8)

Pax

ACTIV8 2008 - LifeLine Conference + KL Tour

2008-09-19T20:33:00.006+08:00

Aha..the following week after SYD-2, I went to KL for the ACTIV8 2008 Lifeline Conference held in the Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre in Jalan Robertson, Kuala Lumpur. 6 of us went a day earlier to setup and soundcheck while others came the following night. The conference started on Aug 30th, where is was divided into two streams - Good News about Sex conducted by Family Life Singapore, giving us a course on Theology of the Body. The other one is Supernatural, conducted by Jude Antoine - a very renowned Catholic speaker and Evangelizer. I chose Good News about Sex because I've waited long for this topic to come by. There were so much explained during the sessions, all about sex in God's plan, contraceptives, abortion, finding the right dating partner, choosing your vocation and many more. What I can summarize from the whole session is - I will not view sex the same way again! haha.. Believe me, it was very worthy to be in the conference. Other than that, there were praise and Worship sessions, and KK Lifeline was invited to lead most of the Praise and Worship sessions. I met new friends from the Peninsula, and some of them were from Sabah but studied or working in KL. besa la, kalo terjumpa org sebumbung tu, mmg loghat akan kluar kan? hahahah.. The final day dihabiskan dengan berjalan-jalan cari baju. Malcolm mo cari Happy Sim Card but the nearest place available is in Tmn. Connaught in Cheras. We finally decided not to go there but explore KL instead. bukan slalu ni dpt pi KL. Mo balik sabah ada trouble juga sikit. Kaki si Malcolm bengkak, so he cannot walk properly. Sikit lagi kami kena kasi tinggal kapal terbang bcoz kami lambat board. nasib tu cabin crew baik hati. (tengkiu²) :) Next year mcm ada lagi conference. Harap tia kena hari² bekerja/belajar.
Click here and here for photos.
Pax

Sabah Youth Day - 2

2008-09-19T20:33:00.003+08:00

Gosh..! Sia rasa bersarang labah² dah ni blog ni lama nda kena update. Anyways, there's so much to tell and to write. I just don't have the time to do this. But right now, I'll be free the whole (today's) night. So, fingers..do your job :)

Three of us (Charleston, Harold and I) arrived in Ranau 2 days prior to SYD2 to observe and do some last rectification. Thanks to Ben of SPCR for allowing us to use the Parish Youth Office as our Web Room and providing us a 1Mbps Streamyx Broadband connection during the whole SYD2 event. This was my first ever Sabah Youth Day, yet I'm not a participant. Working as a Sub-MOT for thematic concert and Co-Web team, this is first-hand experience. and yes, first time celebrate Birthday luar hometown ni. Got Charleston and Harold singing the birthday song on midnight August 18th. Bikin live broadcast lagi tu. Thanks guys..:) The b'day wishes continued sampai la tgh malam the next day - ada org nyanyi live, ada shake hands, ada SMS, including si Fr. Wilfred, all the way from Rome dia SMS. Terharu juga sia..ahaks..

OK. Let's go back to the title..

I was in the web room most of my time. So I wasn't familiar with what's happening outside. The Welcoming Night (Aug 19th) pun ada problem di hujung2 konsert. Just before dorang abis, the whole of Ranau blacked-out. Gelap gulita jadinya. The only light available was from my laptop, bcoz we were broadcasting the opening at that moment. Yet, the participants continued to sing the theme song - Jadilah SaksiKu (Be My Witness) in the pitch dark.

The next day was a tough one, for us yg terlibat sama Konsert Tematik. There were many obstacles, so many that some wanted to give up on their task. Kami mmg tidak terkecuali la. Waktu participants yg terlibat sama Tematik mo kluar pun tidak kena kasi benar because prior to this, ada some participants yg curi² kluar - pakai nama one of our MOT. Sampai di Dewan Masyarakat pun blum abis lagi tu problem tu.. One of the two projectors cannot output the laptop signal, audio connection ada masalah, believe it or not - there were no run-throughs (in which we planned to do it as soon as the Debate session ends), no video test, no sound check and no lighting practise because of lack of time. The only thing that we can at that moment is pray. I guess the Holy Spirit must have worked with us the whole night. 4 parishes worked as a team. The outcome - two thumbs up! The message had gone straight to thousands of participants watching. It was a relief that it was over, and it was an experience! Mengapa Ini Masih Berlaku - that's the title of the concert.

Not much I can say about the other days, but truthfully SYD-2 was a blast, although I'm not participating it. Find out more on the SYD-2 website at www.syd08.org. I hope SYD-3 will present a greater message to all our youth.

Click here and here to view the photos.

Pax.

From 'Amazing Race Parody' to 'Amazing Race Reality'

2008-06-21T02:43:00.008+08:00

I'm sure most of you had watch the AR Parody on Youtube (starring yours truly - Moi the Driver, Keith the impatient race pair, Harold the cameraman and Marianna as the unseen backseater supporter). Last night was a test of a real race!

Harold and I attended Life Nite with the intention mo jenguk2 what's going on because I haven't had my dinner yet (so was Harold) and we're suppose to go off just before the activity starts. I remembered Charlene have told earlier that there was an treasure hunt a la 'Amazing Race' during Life Nite this week. So, ada naik sikit la tu semangat mo join. Denis being the person in-charge with this activity, went in front of all to give the instructions. He called for drivers to the front (the job of the driver was to drive their group members to locations outside church using a car). When they started to call by numbers, I was set as number 8. But I went to group because of 2 reasons - group 8 cukup org suda and Group 10 (which is where Harold was in) has only 3 members, where this group had no vehicle yet. At 1st sia heran knapa si Boy volunteer mo jd driver but he followed me to church. (After the game was over, he then told that he thought a driver was just a navigator for his/her members in the group e.g. Blindfold game) Anyway, we settled down, registered our names, and called ourselves the Fantastic Four (kah kah kah...).

Capturing some handy clues

It started of with showing some clues on the projector screen - pictures and some bible verses as clues. Harold took some while I went down to make sure my car wasn't blocked by other parishioner cars. The locations of clues can be found on church compound, Damai, Bornion and Foh Sang area. (refer to Harolicious blog for some of the clues in picture). Plus, we have to buy something on list in order to finish our task. OK. Green light! We decided to go out of church compound to finish the clues in that three latter areas first before completing the church's clues. I was the driver, Harold being the co-pilot/navigator, and Yvonne and Jay being the clue-cracker/tukang tingu papan tanda. Started of in Bornion, pusing2, then Foh Sang then Damai. The clues were not that easy to decode if no teamwork was involved. So the 4 of us teamed up our memory of all 3 places. Mana2 yg ring-a-bell punya question, answer immediately. We actually took 20 minutes just to finish Foh Sang and Bornion area. Clues and answers are interconnected - numbers, letters, etc (for example - a small market started in 1935, up by one year every year until 2008 = 73 Mini Market in Bornion area). As the driver, I stayed in the car driving for the whole of our journey outside the church. I can see some other groups parked their car and went out looking for answers by foot. Not forgetting, I actually langgar anak panah jalan..kami2 ja yg tau tu..hehehe

The team car

Yen Ai Cafe - One of the answers to the questions

The questions

The driver and his co-pilot/navigator

Having completed clues from outside church compound, we have another 15 minutes to complete clues inside the church compound. Yvonne Teo send a text message informing that we will receive an extra 10 points if we could make it by 10:25pm. We searched far and near - counting rocks near the grotto, counting parking lots in front of SHPC, finding out what Station where Simon of Cyrene took up Jesus' cross, and even finding out The Late Bishop Datuk Simon Fung's date of ordination as a Bishop of KK diocese.

We didn't get the extra 10 points but we managed to send the answers on time. Tied with group 11, we made it to the top. I thought we're in the middle rank. Miracle. Yay...!!

The race was short, but I enjoyed it. Teamwork counts, and I'm happy that this group (Fantastic Four) really showed what it's all about. What I learned from this activity is that tolerance and co-operation is the key to good teamwork. Never took things for granted, even though the slightest things you see in front of your eyes. They'll become handy one day.

Fantastic Four
Standing: Harold, Yvonne.
Below: Jay, Fabian

Pax.

Freedom Camp '08!! (and welcome back writing..)

2008-06-19T00:01:00.012+08:00

After so many months of blog-hibernating, finally I have something to write about (ya..dikatakan blogku ini sudah bersawang, so kena diisikan dengan isi2 penting. chewah..) I'm currently not happy with my Broadband connection. Pagi2 teda connection ni. malam2 baru ada..waduh..apa kena sama ni provider ni?! Plus, blogger punya website pun tia buli buka. I'm using notepad to write this thread before transferring it to blogger.com.

Anyway, starting afresh, after so long, I want to write about what happen during last weekend (June 13-15). It was Freedom Camp '08, which occupy my whole weekend. We started departing from KK at around 3pm, and reaching BCCM at around 6pm because we stopped by at Kundasang for a little fresh cool air and some snacks. Nothing much happen during the first day, though. bagi2 kumpulan and some Ice-breaking session.

Early in the morning of the 2nd day, the 'FAH-Fitness' founders woke up at a very early morning, only to find out that no water was running in the shower or tap. So they decided to go for an early morning exercise - walking down the hill and running up the hill. Next, they went to the open area near the radio tower to continue with their exercise, but this time using the bodyjam technique. Some of the participants are watching from far away looking at what are that three guys doing dancing simultaneously. They came back only at around 7:15am and finding out that water is by then available. So they couldn't make it to quiet time - on time.. (ahaks..)

Early morning walk..

Not so early morning walk..

Radio tower near BCCM Kundasang

Well, Jude Antoine, the speaker for this year's FC, always impressed me. I never get bored on his talks and sharing, even though I've heard them more than once. Matthew 4:4 was the theme verse for this year (check you bible for the wordings). We had workshops and talks, just like previous FCs. I was put into a group of new faces (to me la..sbb lama nda pi lifenite) with Lidwina and Joshua Sum as our Faci and Assistant Faci. I enjoyed being in this group. Thanks for the sharing and co-operation and sharing. It really opened my eye a bit.

Eh oh...Blindfolded. Don't worry, this is part of the workshop :)

There was a reconciliation session just before siesta, and Fr. Johnny Raju (the new assistant Rector in Sacred Heart Cathedral, KK) was the one who gave me absolution during confession. Before he say the prayer of absolution, he shares something that has to do or connected with the sins I confessed. It somehow opened my eyes, although his sharing was short, but I can feel God is actually "completing a sentence" on life's questions I've been asking. My heart burden was lifted. I think that's the reason why I didn't cry during the nailing of my bondage-and-sins-on-paper to the wooden cross. The night of El-euther-oo went well and I can see many faces was filled with joy. :)

Participants..

Then came the final day of camp. Fr. Wilfred was the one who said mass. I realized that this is his final mass with the SHC youths. I held up the sad feeling inside, but tears started to fall when Dot started her prayer for Fr. Wilfred's safe journey and good study in Rome. I couldn't held my cry because of reminiscing Fr. Wilfred's good deeds for the church and his closeness to the youth. The feeling was like you will never see him again. I could hear those who were near the musical instruments (musicians and worshippers) started to cry too. Most participants who were sitting at the floor were wandering why are these youths crying on Fr.'s leaving..

(Friends, if you know Fr. Wilfred well, you realized that he is more than just a priest. He could be your friend, an ordinary friend, in which you always share your thoughts, tell jokes, pray together, bring him out for a game of bowling, bawa pi kedai kopi, or even just sit down together and talk about dogs. He always had his hands full of tasks, but he always have time for all..)

The camp ended well. Just before lunch, all participants + FCs were given a new spiritual name each - each has it's own meaning. I got the name 'Micah', which means 'Image of Christ'. Sounds awesome? Hmm....I don't know.

We went to church later in the evening to participate in the farewell of Fr. Wilfred and welcoming of Fr. Johnny.

A photo of I and Fr. Wilfred

A photo of some SHC youths and Fr. Wilfred

The rest of the pictures I've taken can be viewed in my Facebook Photo Gallery. Click here.

Pax.

I'm back..and I'm in Chinatown..

2007-12-14T23:00:00.000+08:00

I mean Chinatown in Petaling Street, not China punya Chinatown..ahaks.. I'm on my way to receive my first degree scroll, which will happen this sunday, December 16th.

The journey here was quite exhausting, 2hrs 15mins of flight and 2hrs of bus ride. I was told to take the Air Asia Skybus, but I discovered that there's a shuttle bus that leads to Chinatown. So I bought a ticket. The bus ride is OK, but slow bcoz of the traffic jam (besa la kan time² rush hour), but yg bagusnya sia sampai Petaling Street at the cost of Skybus from LCCT to KL Sentral. I felt a bit dizzy bcoz lapar sejak dari dlm kapal lagi..

Upon reaching Petaling Street, sia jumpa la si Lidz..which happened to wait me there. Then I check-in to my room, then we both do some shopping at Mydin. Si Lidz went bace to her hostel while I stop ad McD for a quick dinner..Yay..terjumpa juga college mate sia which happen to stay the same hotel where I am - Stayorange.com - A hotel which is orange in color...ahaks..My room's quite small and no window, but I have my own bathroom..so ok juga la.

How I wish I can bring all my closest friends pigi my graduation day. But time doesn't allow dis... I miss carolling also as i cannot fully join them go carolling on all carolling days..

To be continued...

Pax.

Last week..

2007-07-17T08:53:00.000+08:00

I'm back again after a long period of 'blog-hibernating'. haha..tidaklah.. slalu lupa bah ni..anyway, I want to write about my last weekend..

Bro Don Franciscan called me the other day. It seemed to be an emergency call. They need someone to play the keyboard during their outreach on Saturday. Their keyboardist grandmother had just passed away and he should go back to his hometown to pay a last respect. At first I turned down the request because I have something to do in school on Friday and Saturday. But I just couldn't help thinking how will the people sing without music. So I cancelled my Saturday function to join the Franciscan Brothers. The practice was at 10am Friday and ends at 1pm because I need to go to school, not for class but for the English Week. hahaha..You guessed it. I join Spelling Bee for the third time..

Here's what happened. There are 17 of us participating. The words to be spelt? SUSAH! Very technical and scientific words. You'll only recognize the way it's spelt when you're into Romantic languages (Latin, French, Spanish, etc). I've won two competitions already. And for this 3rd time of mine, I lost to my friend who spells 7 words correctly while I only got 6. Disappointed? Ada juga sikit² sbb tia dpt mengekalkan kejuaraan. But one thing I learnt from here is that winning isn't everything. It's the experience that counts. And I feel that God really wants me to go outreaching with the Franciscan Brothers because if I got 1st in the Spelling Bee, I have to attend the prize giving ceremony the next day (Saturday). So, until there ja lah k story from school...

The next day I woke up at 5am as I need to go to the Franciscan House at 6. I parked my car there and follow Bro Claurence car to Limbahau together with Bro Don. Upon reaching Holy Rosary Church, we change vehicle and follow Bro Gerald's 4x4. Upon reaching St. Peter Chapel, Balatik, we arrange the instruments that we'll be using throughout the sessions. The chapel was full and there are even some seated outside. This shows how much these people thirst for Christ's love. The talks are very good, even I was only there to play music, I learn something from the sessions. During healing, Bro Don asked those who wanted prayover to sit at the front. Nearly half of the people in the chapel went and sit at the front. WAhh... takut juga sia dingar org berteriakan..memang luka batin dalam ni...We finish at 4pm and no time mo singgah² bcoz I have LifeMass to serve in SHC at 6pm. I reached KK at 5:20pm. Thank God sempat juga..

On Sunday, I went to the 1000 Voices Mega Concert for Peace organized by the Adventist Development Foundation. The singing was superb. I heard dorang mo bikin Malaysian record for the the largest choir (5500 members) singing at once.

View from grandstand

Eh eh..Marsha pun pigi tingu juga..hehe

See how big the stage was..

That's for it now. I'll post again soon..

Pax Vobis..

I'm back again...

2007-05-27T00:34:00.000+08:00

I'm back.. Got some things to write here. It's 43mins past the hour of midnite and I need to sit down and post this entry before it drifts away from my mind. This day was full of surprises, funny yet interesting, happy yet giggling. hahaha.. Here it goes..

Our friend, Clarice is getting married on this day and the Mass, as it was told in the invitation card starts at 9am. The night before, we planned to meet up early at St. Thomas church (8am) so that we could go and have breakfast before the wedding mass starts. That night, susah sia mo tidur. I don't know why but I realized that I only dozed off at 4am. Next thing was that my alarm clock berbunyi..dua-dua lagi tu (my table alarm clock and my cellphone's alarm) and I didn't hear anything. To my surprise, I woke up at 8:20!! Oh me God..lambat lah sia ni. Janji with Keith that I will leave house at 7:45am. Apa lagi, lompat dari katil, blanket pun tidak lipat, cuci muka tapi lupa berus gigi, ganti baju (nasib lah the shirt yg sia pakai is made from a non-iron fabric), pakai lens, pakai kasut and trus masuk kreta. I brought my pouch bag in case sia perlu apa2.

Then pasal drive kreta, mmg illegal way of driving lah waktu tu. Jalan bengkang-bengkok pun buli sampai 70km/h. Apalagi jalan lurus. Mcm mo terbang sia rasa. Tapi pecah rekod jugalah pi rumah Keith from my house - 14 minutes. Usually 18-20mins. Dalam hati, mmg sia expected Keith mo marah that time because sia tidak tepati janji and datang pun lambat. Kesian dia suda satu jam grooming. Sampai rumah dia, heran juga sia tingu dia turun dengan penuh gaya, slow2 lagi tu. Masuk ja kreta, dia bagitau 'Jason ada call tadi. Invitation card says 9am. But Mass starts at 10am'. Trus my driving bertukar menjadi ala2 pigi vacation..

Sampai ja di Kepayan Ridge, Keith and I pigi breakfast with other of church youths. Banyak juga org yg pigi jam 9 tapi kecundang (itu si Jason punya term tu..). So, most of them p breakfast dulu before masuk church. Masuk ja church, I can see three pairs of chairs in front of the altar. Wah..3 couples at once! Jarang2 nampak gini. Tp si Clarice and his hubby juga lah di tengah2. I understand that couples who are getting married are tend to get shaky, scared and uneasy because they do this kind of ceremony only ONCE in their whole lives. A not so long time ago, Keith did tell me there's once a wedding where the bride's ring fell down on the floor. Sejarah berulang kembali and I can see them (Keith and gang) at the church bench with faces red because they're trying to hold their laugh. hahahhaa..Tp mmg cantik lah si Clarice on this day and her hubby pun good looking juga.

Clarice and the girls

Clarice and the guys

Then after attending the wedd mass, some of us go for yimcha skijap di Plaza Grand Millenium. Then balik rumah rest skijap before attending sunset mass at 6pm.

The mass today was a charismatic mass and was organized by the CCR community. Since it was charismatic, I bought myself my 2 pairs of castanets since Charlene mo main. haha. Keith and Ah Boon went to the instruments store room to borrow Lifeline's Maracas, shaker and tambourine. I have to tell you that I've never experience such mass. The music is very simple, not too loud not too soft. Rancak juga but just nice for your ears. Tapi..kembang bulu roma sia waktu dorang worship. You can actually feel the Holy Spirit coming down. In short, it was a WOW.

We've been invited by Chris' Dad to pigi makan2 at his office at MAS hangar near Tg. Aru. Thanks Chris' bapa for inviting us..lupa pula sia say goodbye. Then, go to tg. aru pi yimcha. Actually byk lagi benda happen ni ari. Tapi cannot post all. sbb kalo post all di luar tingkap ada cahaya matahari suda.

'Mo kumpul crita dulu ni, nnt sia kasi tau lagi'.

Pax Vobis.

I'm back!

2007-05-17T09:31:00.000+08:00

Allo! I'm back after a long break of blogging. Many things happened and some of them are making me feel 'heavy' inside. Some of you know what I'm talking about. Not to elaborate more on that as putting those in blog might not be a good idea..

Haha..enough of that, let's change the topic. I've just completed my final exam paper last Sunday. Man..it was harder than I thought. Skrg fingers crossed ja ni and hoping for a pass on that paper. Now on school break, I still have that feeling mcm mo pi skul, padahal cuti dis.. every day in front of laptop lah ni..No lah..not good for the body and soul. Patut mo kluar2 juga menikmati alam sekitar.

Guess I'll stop here because my head is still in the mood of slumber although my body is eager to face the day...hahaha. More things to come and I hope I'll get it posted in the blog.

Pax vobis.

Cool website..

2007-02-01T03:06:00.000+08:00

I came across this awesome website - www.myheritage.com and I was so fascinated with the 'Face Recognition' section. Apa lagi, main lah sampai pukul 3 pagi ni.. cari satu² muka sia to find which celebrity do I look like.

http://www.myheritage.com

Tiring, but enjoyable week :)

2007-01-30T10:02:00.000+08:00

Haha...Posing with the 'Orang Utan' goodie bag.. ;)

On January 21st - 26th, I was involved with the organizing team for the IBM ASEAN/SA Software Group 2007 Kick-Off Meeting held in Nexus Karambunai Resort. It was a big event with more than 700 delegates from many countries across ASEAN, South Asia, and a few from USA, Australia, China and other countries. Here are some of the experiences I wanted to share with you all..

My Day 1 begins with the setup. A few guys help with the setup. Buntings and window stickers put to place. Some of the buntings, especially the ones that we put outside the ballroom had to be stick onto the floor with tape because it might fall down as a result of windy conditions. A bit tired at the end of the day because some of the buntings are quite heavy. At the end of the day, the grand ballroom looks like an IBM showroom as IBM stickers and buntings are everywhere.

Day 2 was a full day meeting of the delegates (I wasn't involved with the registration i.e. Jan 22nd). I started the day at 7:00am. We were informed about questions that people always ask such as the way to the restroom and to the restaurant/dining area. The full day meeting was held at the grand ballroom. My tasks was to usher them inside, open doors for them, show the way to the restroom and usher them to their designated restaurants during lunchtime. There are more tasks I've done during this day, but I just want to give a glimpse on what are the tasks I did mostly during this day.

The agenda was awesome. The delegates even had 'Human Rhythms Session' at the beach. What they do here is that they were given each of them, either a bongo or a plastic tune tube. Their seats were partitioned into three sections (3 groups altogether). They had an instructor on a stage, giving signals on what type of beat they should do. It's easy to do one type of beat together. But when it comes to synchronize 3 types of beats, you tend to be carried away by the other beats. The session was very interesting, until I couldn't miss out the action. Some of the tourists in the resort stopped for a little while to watch the session. In the end, the instructor gave a quick saying "IBM has many different departments and software. If you could work together, despite of your differences, you will create a greater success, a greater product just like the beats you created just now". After the delegates left for their session at the grand ballroom, the guys helped in packing up the bongos and tune tubes. We also had a small chat with the Human Rhythms instructor. A very nice day indeed with the beautiful scenery of Karambunai beach. I signed off at 6:30pm.

I started at 7:00am on Day 2. This day, I was given a task as a track manager. The job is to monitor the Track Room you're assigned to. There are 7 track rooms altogether (Coverage, Websphere, Information Management, Rational, Lotus, Tivoli, Software Group Services).I was assigned to monitor the Rational Software track room. Here, I act as a time-keeper for the presenter and as a runner to get the things the presenter needed for his presentation. While being a track manager, I have to listen carefully to instructions on the walkie-talkie from our supervisors. One thing I like about track managing is that you don't move much, but you have to stand most of the time. I actually learnt something through the presentations in the track room although I'm on duty.

Day 3 is almost the same as Day 2. What makes it different is that the Rational Team are only conducting a meeting, which track managers need not full monitoring of the room. Some of the figures they show on the LCD projector are only meant for the Rational Team. So most of the time, I waited outside of the room during this day. Well, most of the delegates depart from the Resort at this day, and so most of the buntings and signages are taken down, leaving only some 'Peak Performance' and India Team buntings.

Day 4 was a bit relaxed, since the only delegates left was the India Team. Upon the arrival of the Indian delegates to the grand ballroom, we handed them the Indian Flag to each of them as this day (Jan 26) was India's Republic Day. The meeting went on until evening. The remain buntings and window stickers are being taken down. The grand ballroom returned to its normal state. Before I sign off, I look at the ballroom foyer for the very last time. Suddenly, I realized that there's something on the wall that is not part of the decoration. I went near the wall and saw an A4 paper stuck on it. There are some writings on it. I began to read and realized that the note was from an Indian Team member. It was written there that he thanked the Nexus staffs and Event crew for such a fantastic event organization. It really touches me to read that note. I quickly call the other crew members to read the note. Indeed, they are very happy to see it.

It was an eye opener for me to work in this kind of environment. I thank you all. I hope that I can apply all that I learn from this experience in the future.

Pax vobis...

First Blood Donation

2007-01-15T16:29:00.000+08:00

I started off my day today attending registration for new semester at my school. Hopefully my project paper proposal will be approved, so as to be the last semester of my undergraduate years. Ya la..half of my batch suda grad, sia masi stuck sini bcoz of the project paper.

When I was queueing to get to the registration counters in the hall, I saw an announcement on the wall, summoning all students who had blood type A or O to donate as one of the students will go a major neuro surgery and he needs at least 8 pints of blood. The blood donation drive was carried out in one of the tutorial rooms. By the time I finished registering, I saw 3 people in the room. UNITAR staffs lagi tu, blum ada students lagi. Beforehand, ada tutor encourage students yg sedang berbaris untuk derma, and most of them all seemed to be frightened, ya la..jarum, darah, siapa ndak takut kan..? Ok..sia pula, ragu² dis at first bcoz ni sia punya first time. Bila sia nampak ada org masuk, tulis borang..hehe..sia pun ikut lah. Bah..control cool tu sana, saja ndak mo kena nampak fear on my face. After completing the form, I brought it to the counter where the medical staff is ready to perform a few test. 1st² kena check blood pressure dulu. 125/80. OK sihat tu doctor bilang. Then kena check blood type. Confirm 'O'. Then comes the scary part. Tu nurse kasi keluar the pint tube..sendiri angkat lagi tu pigi bed. Lagi la bikin nervous dis.. Then, sia start baring, and the nurse start bagi bius..AARGHHH...OUCH.....mmg sakit. Tapi skijap ja lah. Tu bius utk kasi hilang sakit when the jarum yg lebih BESAR utk ambil darah kena insert. WAH...bukan main besar lagi tu needle...sia pun tingu siling ja waktu kena insert itu needle...Okay......that was not so bad after all..but ada sikit problem at the beginning. Itu darah sia skijap flow skijap tidak tu the pint tube. So the nurse kasi adjust sikit..then baru jalan...HAHAHA..I couldn't imagine mcm mana feeling sia waktu tu. Mo ketawa ada, takut pun ada. Pump..pump..pump..after 8 minutes, the pint tube full...uinaa...macam terhuyung-hayang tu badan lepas derma darah. syok juga lah. SO kawan² di luar tu..donate blood. It saves lives. Do you know that 1 pint of blood saves 3 lives?

Blood was drawn from my right arm..hehe..sempat lagi ambil gambar.

That's all for today. Ada big event lagi ni. Nanti sia update you all kio....

Pax Vobis.

It's now 2007!

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

Goodbye 2006 (yet not to be forgotten) and hello 2007!

2006 has been a great year, full of challenges, new things, ups and downs. But nevertheless, it has nurtured me to the extent, in which I should realize that some things are not meant to be taken for granted. Gosh!! I'll miss going out with friends jalan² in the morning, since dorang semua balik kerja dah this month. Life mass and Life Nites pun mo start ndak lama lagi. Other church ministries pun akan kembali beroperasi mcm slalu.

I had such a great time the final months of 2006. Even though it was tiring and exhausting, when your spirit is energetic, your body flows with it. Mmg syok kerja di ladang Tuhan because you experienced God's love here. I couldn't believe the many praises that we've received from the congregation of our choir performance during Christmas Eve. We received many, day by day and some even requested for the same songs and hymns for next year's Christmas Cantata. Such a great joy that I myself do not have the perfect word or sentence to describe it.

Before I end this first post of the year, I would like to express my gratitude to God for letting me becoming His instrument. I thanked Him also for giving me such wonderful friends (you know who you are). If I ever kasi sakit hati kamu, whether verbal or non-verbal, mentally or physically, sia betul² minta maaf dari hujung rambut sampai hujung tapak kaki. I enjoyed journeying with you all. I'm looking forward what 2007 has in store for us.

Till then, blessed New Year everyone!

Pax Vobis.

December it is...

2006-12-12T00:52:00.000+08:00

Wah...so long oredi since I last posted. Busy bah dis..banyak aktiviti. Sampai TV pun rindu sia suda. Ya lah, no time oredi mo watch TV. Kalo bukan school work, church work. Kalo bukan church work, school work. To date, the longest duration of me watching TV is only 45 minutes since the last 3 months.

To tell u all kan, baaaanyak benda happened throughout the times when sia ndak post anything on this blog. I'll let u see some pictures lah kio...yer lah..a picture is worth a thousand words.

Leading SHC Silver Jubilee Dedication Morning Mass - di gambar looks normal, but very takut ni..

Testimonies at Lifeline Booth...

At Lifeline booth

At KBHK booth

Nah nah...with the 'Spirit of Commendatore' (Don Giovanni play at KDCA November 28th)

Nampak relax ja dorang ni..tak takut ker...?

With Don Giovanni...

Potter and Clay 2006 grads.

Here we go a-carolling....

Banyak lagi gambar and banyak lagi crita..but have to stop here bcoz byk benda mo dibikin and exam is around the corner..I'll write again soon...

Pax vobis.

B Square...you're team Number 107.

2006-11-13T00:32:00.000+08:00

#107 out of 887 teams

Kan bagus kalo Phil Keoghan or Allan Wu yg cakap gitu, tapi without the 2 final digits lah. hehe...

As mentioned in Harold's blog (http://harold78.wordpress.com/2006/11/07/welcome-to-my-new-home-ahh-finally/ ), he and I was participating AXN's Online Amazing Race. The Online version of AR has the same concept as those you watched on TV. We finished #665 on Tuesday (Nov 07, 2006). The first part of the race was quite challenging. You need to find route markers on every clue you've been given. One thing that held us up was the route where you need to wait for the website to be opened as one of the route markers was in there. terpaksa mo tunggu ni becoz the website is only opened at 11:34pm to 2:00am daily. Not a good website to be viewed actually. (If you've seen Girl From Hell on ANIMAX, you know what I mean). Altogether we took 1d 27h 4m 25s to complete part 1 of the race.

We had our 2nd part in my room on Saturday where we connect both our laptops to my router. The 2nd part was a bit ndak syok ooo... AXN Asia punya website ah....susah mo access ni. Begini crita dia - First² kan, Harold dapat login, sia ndak dapat. then he gets the first clue and answer it...sia masi ndak dapat. try balik².......then baru dapat...lain lagi soalan kena kasi tu..ndak sama ni. then, kena bagi link to a pop-up. ROAD BLOCK!! Mo tau apa game dia? SNAKE AND LADDERS..!! Harold's browser suddenly link dia ndak working..

I begin lah my part first since both of us need to finish it until you reach 100. (tau bah kan snake and ladders punya game...hahaha). A few minutes later sia sampai 100 while Harold is still strugling to get the link work on his browser...NDAK buli sia kasi tau kamu..mcm jam abis itu website on that hour (12pm). so i guna Harold's ID utk kasi jalan S&L piece dia. Sampai ja 100, trus cannot get through ni....link rosak pun sia ndak tau...TERPAKSA start tu game balik...

Abis ja main, a pop-up message kluar...'YOUR TEAM IS IN RANK #107. Gembira lah kan dapat kasi abis Road Block..disebabkan mo cepat, trus sia tekan tu button CLOSE. Then kan.... no response... so kami try login balik...then the message 'YOUR TEAM HAS COMPLETED THE ONLINE RACE'.

'WHAT THE.....!!!!' itu saja??!! (Macam si Charlene slalu bilang 'that's it'??!!' mo tau...itu lah 2nd part online race dia - main snake and ladders ja...Adduuuuuu....ndak challenging langsung...check² ranking lagi kami tu...in the end...confirm #107.....*sigh*... terbang itu $2000...tapi buli bangga juga lah (siiiiiiiiikit...) sbb dari rank 665 naik pigi 107 out of 899 pairs of team all over Asia..

Wondered how we got our Team name? That's for us to know and for you to find out...huahahahahaha. Ciao!

Pax Vobis.

It's going to be a busy week ahead..

2006-11-07T01:10:00.000+08:00

Yep. The title says it all. Whatever it is, I pray that the Lord our God will give me strength to go on with my daily life. I know it's going to be packed, but for the Lord - penat tu blakang kira.. :)

I realized that I've barely watch TV these days. For the past 2 months, the longest duration of me watching TV is half an hour. I don't recall watching any TV programs last week. Ada la terlimpas itu TV yang berpasang sbb my mum tgh watch. Itu pun buli kira brapa saat ja sia nampak. Ntah apa jadi sama sia ni. Mcm bukan manusia zaman moden (chewah)...

We had the 2nd last choir and musician practice for SHC silver jubilee. Everything went well except for the collection song, which will be sung in Mandarin. Ndak familiar sia tu lagu. Intro pun lupa2 suda padahal last week baru blajar. hmm hmm... Thank God the Chinese Hymn book ada notation dia. itupun in Chinese notation (instead of C D E F G, dorang guna 1 2 3 4 5). It somehow reminds me the first time sia blajar main keyboard waktu kici². Ada rasa nervous juga sikit dis sbb main music for a grand celebration. FYI, I always have this nervous feeling everytime mo main waktu mass. Ya lorr...main brapa kali suda untuk Life Mass, tapi masi ada rasa takut ni. Ni lagi main untuk larger congregation. WAHHH....!!! Tapi nda apa. Experience juga ni.

Mo train sikit ni tangan kanan ni. Ada sakit sikit lepas main tu concluding song (Mamarayou) because I have to create the gong sound continuously using keyboard from the beginning of the song until it ends.

OK lah. Stop sini. mo tunggu event or inspiration yg 'happening' ni...hahaha

At SHC P.A. System.

The Beatitudes of Friendship

2006-10-27T17:03:00.001+08:00

Blessed are the friends with a joyful spirit,
for their joy shall be shared and multiplied.

Blessed are the friends who offer good advice and counsel,
for their wisdom shall be appreciated.

Blessed are the friends who truly listen and understand,
for theirs is a rare and special gift from heaven.

Blessed are the friends who provide solace and comfort,
for their kindness shall never be forgotten.

Blessed are the friends who help us in need,
for they are friends not just in word,
but in deed.

Pax vobis.

Yay!!!

2006-10-23T01:52:00.000+08:00

I went out with Danny and Harold today in search for my hp's battery. We planned to look for it at KK plaza but the situation there didn't seems to allow as cars are queueing for parking. Not forgetting that I made an illegal U-turn at a particular junction with police traffic officers nearby. Nasib dorang ndak nampak. Kalo tidak, dapat 'surat cinta' suda.

We searched nearly all hp shops in Asia City area. Most of the shops there were closed due to festive seasons. Some of them were open, including a few hp shops. I asked each shop if they're selling Sagem hp battery. Sama lah mcm waktu kami round CP the night before. Teda ni...*sigh*. Then, Dot called to get a birthday cake for a choir member. After purchasing the cake, we went straight to church for Christmas choir practise.

Just before we went for lunch, I brought Danny to the spot where I lost my hp battery. I took out my torchlight to see how my hp battery is doing down there in the drain. To my surprise, there was no stagnant water inside and my hp battery was still there, all by itself. We found out that the cement that was used to cover the drain was not intact with the cement floor. Danny tried to live it up and he managed to lift it a few centimeters up. So we used a metal placard signs nearby and place it between the opening of the cement cover. It didn't work as the cement cover is too heavy. Danny decided to use all his strength to lift it a few centimeters more upward. This time, he held the cement cover so that I could go inside and get the battery. Finally, I got it and it was still in good condition. YAYYY!!! PTL!! I gave Danny a big hug for all his effort to lift the cement so that I could get my hp battery from down there. Because of his help, I could get my hp back into business again. :) To you Danny - THANK YOU!!!

Alamak. It's 2:20am. Better get some sleep now. Nanti tidak buli bangun awal. Hahahaha. I'll write again soon.

Pax vobis.

Long day-out

2006-10-22T00:11:00.001+08:00

I woke up at 5:20am today. Early is it? WRONG. I have to bring the spring roll and Keith to Dot's house at 6. Every second counts!

We started preparing food for today's picnic on Oct 20th night. Half of us went for LifeNite while the rest help with the preparation at Do't house kitchen. Oh yes, at the strike of 12, the date changes into Oct 21st - Harold's birthday. They've surprised me during my birthday, and so we (Marianna, Jane and I) bought a slice of chocolate cake for that 12am so-called 'ambush' :). It was kinda last minute because we (who went for LN) wasn't actually planning to do so because we thought we might end at 10:30pm. Instead the LN session went on for another 1 hour. At least we made it on time (5 minutes after 12 to be exact..hahahha). We sang the birthday song upon reaching the kitchen.

Back to the early morning of Oct 21st, I helped with the others who stayed at Dot's overnight to prepare the rest of the food. Being in an early state of morning mind, I easily commit terminology errors on my conversation. Compact pun jadi 'impact'. There's another one but I don't quite remember what was it, and both happen at the same hour.

Upon reaching church, I phoned a former classmate of mine who once served in St. Paul Dontozidon enquiring if they have either organ or keyboard in that church. There's a keyboard he said, but I need to get permission by one of the nuns who are working there. Danny reached the place earlier and informed Jude that there's nobody in the church during that moment and all the instruments he can find is a set of drums and an organ. I thought "Organ?! buli lah tu". Upon reaching St. Paul's, I quickly went inside the church to see what brand was the organ. To my surprise, it's the same organ I saw in Catholic Youth Center of Papar. Two of it's bass pedal were not working. The keys do not have Touch Response (upon pressing a key - the softer you press, the softer the sound the organ will produce. The harder and swiftly you press, the sound becomes loud) and looks like it hasn't being used for a very long time.

Well, the choir went well, although we played-out a bit, but still it's nice. We later went to the beach at about 15 minutes later, just in time to watch the youths trying to bulid the tallest monument from sand. Then it's time for lunch. Rayner chose me to say grace. I added the grace prayer with a short prayer dedicated to Harold thanking God for giving us a good brother in Christ and asked Him to shower His blessings to him during this special day of his. (Harold's the one who said prayers during my birthday. So today, I took the opportunity to do the same thing he has done for me.) The food was so nice until all dishes habis ni... Oh ya...kena sunburn juga lah sbb ndak pakai sunblock awal2 ni. But it's not that serious lah sampai mcm itu Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer lah. hahahahaha...(If ada org terasa, sorry ah..ku tak bermaksudkan mu...)

Before sunburn: Me, Dot and Harold

Harold cutting the birthday cake with Danny holding it.

It was already 2:45pm when we left the beach. So I decided to freshen up at Dot's since I won't make it on time if I go back home to change clothes. Luckily I brought a spare shirt for Mass. Dot made us a drink yg bikin buang panas badan before kami jalan pigi church. Then suddenly, I received a phone call on my hp - an unknown KK number. Bila sia angkat..OH NO!!!!! That GUY!! Burden came back!! How did he know my hp no.? I called home as soon as possible, asking my sister if she had given my hp no. to this guy. She said yes....I couldn't blame her on this because she didn't know what's going on. And then kan, this 'burden' kept on calling me a few times. And most of the times I let Dot answer the phone for me. MAAAASIHH juga tidak serik2 itu guy. I started to feel the heavy inside of me again. I cannot explain that 'burden' in detail because it's quite confidential. Right now only a few close friends know. Don't worry, I didn't break law ah... I'm not involved in any gambling or hutang with anyone. Dot told me to switch of my hp, in which I forgot to when I reached church.

Here's the fun-but-sad-yet-unusual part. I was checking for an SMS message. A friend came over and I asked her if I could borrow the Church bulettin. She let me hold it while she went into the church to take the Sing Your Praise To God hymn book. >>>I didn't know how I actually slipped the phoneoff my hand. It fell down into the cement floor, disassembled into three pieces - Front cover, back cover and hp battery. The battery was bouncing until it fell into a drainhole. WAHHHHHH...ABIS LAH.. the drain is deep and wet. Looks like I won't have a chance to take it from the drain because it was covered with a strong concrete block. My phone was without batteries then. :( Tapi ada juga lah kebaikannya, the B-guy ndak dapat kacau sia during Mass). All these happened less than a minute before the Rosary recital ends.

A bit sedih juga lah dis. Right now pinjam Dot punya other phone supaya buli communicate while I go to look for the Sagem myx5-2 battery the next day before going to Christmas Choir morning practice. Kedai di CP semua tidak jual sagem punya hp battery ni. Mo cari in other places lah ni.....

Pax vobis.

P & C

2006-10-14T01:33:00.000+08:00

Yup! It's Friday the 13th - there are two F13s this year. Believe me. Good things happened to me this day.

P & C stands for Potter and Clay. A few of us from 3 SHC Youth Ministry were invited to join this course on October 7th. It's a course to train potentials on how to become a good leader. We had an overnight stay at Likas Square, attending sessions for the first couple of chapters of the course. It's a very rewarding 'camp', as we all discuss and share about our faith and the mission that God wants us to do.

Yet, we still have to go on every Tuesdays until we complete all chapters of the course (8 if I'm not mistaken). It covers different and yet interesting topics from Purpose to Worship, from 'small to BIG to Good News.

God has a plan for each of us. Each of them will in return glorify and bring people to get closer to Him.

Breakfast in Room 512 - From left: Me, Danielson, Rayner, Charlene and Dorothy

Now I'm a bit worried about the 'speaking in front' thingy, which they called the 'Kerusso Slot'. 3 persons will be asked to give an 8-minute talk on any topics in the Catholic Faith. OK..Not so much time. But I'll be giving a talk on a topic, which is actually a bit scary but an eye-opener. Why I say this because this topic, after some readings, it has actually open my eyes too. I don't know whether I'm fit enough to talk about this, but I'll give it a try and I'll will try to give my best presenting it. Still a long way to go - November 21st is my slot.

It's been a long time since I had our photos taken in Salim (the place where everyone loves to go for supper). From left: Lidwina, Me, Dorothy and Danielson.

More about P&C coming soon to a Computer-monitor-screen-with-a-System-Unit-with-Internet-Connection near you.

Pax vobis.

Fever...2nd time this year

2006-09-28T01:16:00.000+08:00

I remembered the first time I had fever this year is when I was diagnosed with a so-called 'tuberculosis lymphadenitis' back in February. One part of the neck is swelling and I cannot do much work. Thank God it was over!

Last Sunday, I'm beginning to feel that there are symptoms of me having a sore throat. Indeed I am. Luckily, it wasn't that bad because I still can sing for today's (Wednesday) choir practise. But yesterday was tougher than I thought. The last body temperature I recorded was 38.9'C. It went up higher during the night. Some of my friends called me on the the handphone asking how I am doing. Well, it's not their fault that they couldn't recognize it was me whom they're talking to. My voice was lower-than-bass pitched. They asked me to see the doctor, but yet I refused. It's because that I believe that when I had fever, I just lay on my bed for24 hours straight and make yourself sweating (to get rid of the toxins). But still the pain would not go away. I just continue my sleeping (and still have time for dinner. ;)) )

It's quite a miracle because the recovery time was too short. I was feeling better the next day's morning itself. Body temp had also run down. PTL!! I'm still alive hahahahahah.

Now I'm getting sleepy. Need to have enough rest so that I could be recovered 100%. Till then, Pax Vobis...

(P.S. HAZE is back in KK. Be sure to get a view of it live from everywhere. And don't forget to drink lots of water.) wakakaakakaka

Last week..again

2006-09-19T11:08:00.000+08:00

Friends come and friends go, but one day you'll meet them again. This what happened to me last week. 3 former classmates, whom I haven't seen for so long, tiba² timbul balik ni. Peter - my classmate from Form 1-2, suddenly sent me a message to my Friendster account. Ni org suda 9 tahun sia ndak jumpa dia, but still he remembered most of the Form 2 batch 1997. Below is an excerpt of YM chat between him and I (note: amazing_race83 is my username in YM)..

amazing_race83: where are u now?
Peter Young: im now at kuching
amazing_race83: ah...
amazing_race83: studying, is it?
Peter Young: ya..
Peter Young: long way to go
amazing_race83: what are you taking?
Peter Young: i jus started my degree
Peter Young: haiz.. old liao but still study.. civil
amazing_race83: me still study also mah
Peter Young: last year?
Peter Young: what course?
Peter Young: where?
amazing_race83: i'll be graduating next yr's september
amazing_race83: Bachelor of Information SYstems
amazing_race83: in UNITAR
amazing_race83: i'll be finishing the whole course next april
Peter Young: wow.. thats nice
amazing_race83: but most of my frenz will be graduating this week
Peter Young: u get to make money sooner than me
amazing_race83: hahahahah
Peter Young: ah.. nvm jus a matter of 6month
Peter Young: its ok what
amazing_race83: :)
amazing_race83: Nicholas - his face hasn't changed since secondary school
amazing_race83: that's why it's easy to recognize him
Peter Young: ya.. that's true..
Peter Young: still that handsome..
Peter Young: heheh
amazing_race83: and fit
Peter Young: ya i agree
Peter Young: how bout noel?
Peter Young: my best fren
amazing_race83: there are not so many Bahang classmates in my FS
amazing_race83: nope, i don't have Noel
Peter Young: when did he left the school?
Peter Young: earlier than me?
amazing_race83: yes
amazing_race83: somewhere between February or March 1996
amazing_race83: during form 1
Peter Young: wow.. what a superb memory..
Peter Young: thats why ur the top student
Peter Young: hahhaa
amazing_race83: no lah, i'm no longer the top student lorr
Peter Young: is it.. so who is.. i heard sim is..
Peter Young: is it?
amazing_race83: yup
amazing_race83: he's the top
amazing_race83: during form 5
Peter Young: ah.. and during year 2000 i met rose at labuan
Peter Young: we had a short chit chat then
amazing_race83: she's fine, although long time no see her
Peter Young: but no contact
amazing_race83: rose?
Peter Young: and my favourite teacher
Peter Young: what's her name liao
Peter Young: the chinese teacher
amazing_race83: Daisy?
Peter Young: not the butter teacher ar.. what's the butter teacher's name? margerine is it?
Peter Young: oh daisy.. ya i remember now
Peter Young: that daisy ar.. i didnt miss her
Peter Young: haha.. but she's a good teacher
Peter Young: not daisy
Peter Young: what pei pei or ching ching oledi..
Peter Young: cant really remember. the one with the red cheek
amazing_race83: felicity chung vyun vyun?
Peter Young: yaaaaaaaa.... that's her
Peter Young: im so happy to get back all my frenz
Peter Young: we didnt really appreciate friendship when we're young
amazing_race83: ya lorr
amazing_race83: we each had our own gang bah
amazing_race83: but when it comes to reminiscence, then only we started to appreciate each other
Peter Young: ya that's true
Peter Young: hehe
Peter Young: who else is in our classmate list?
Peter Young: refresh me.. i want to find it
amazing_race83: starting from 'A'?
amazing_race83: ;))
Peter Young: ok
Peter Young: i'll get a pen and paper.. im ready
amazing_race83: Abraham Beretus Cyril, Benethy Robert,
amazing_race83: Julia Yusup
amazing_race83: Michelle Melissa De La Harpe
amazing_race83: Eric Constantine
amazing_race83: Fabbie Ailon
amazing_race83: Harvey James Logijin
amazing_race83: Immanuel Marthen Luther
amazing_race83: Nicholas Yap Gin Hee
amazing_race83: Sim Zeh Shing
amazing_race83: Chau Kim Ta
amazing_race83: Norsuziliana Mohd. Nuh
amazing_race83: Raja Lydia Sophia
amazing_race83: Siti Nur Munira (sth sth i don't remember)
amazing_race83: Stella Fu Sze Soon
amazing_race83: Sheila Joanna Sampil
amazing_race83: Josie Lasius
amazing_race83: Annie Tan Chih Hui
amazing_race83: Noraini Saripudin
amazing_race83: Emi Zaimah Mohd. Lazim
amazing_race83: Mohd. Hazril bin Bulat
amazing_race83: Daniel Liman
amazing_race83: Calvin Chang Yee Tswen
amazing_race83: Cerezo Gitom
amazing_race83: .............alamak...forgot oredi oo
amazing_race83: need to look at some pictures first
Peter Young: wow.. superb memory..
amazing_race83: not that superb
Peter Young: erm, mayb its bcoz i didnt really remember their name gua..
amazing_race83: hmm hmm
Peter Young: but i still say that u got a good memory
Peter Young: haha
amazing_race83: thx
Peter Young: haiz.. i never took a single pic with u guys
Peter Young: back at them camera was not widely used
amazing_race83: Peter, i've to go now...got some work to do here
amazing_race83: next time when we meet each other, bring camera k..?
Peter Young: ok fab.. thanks for the info
amazing_race83: y'welcome
Peter Young: so wait for my good new bout the gathering
amazing_race83: thanks for the chat, hope to meet you again one day
Peter Young: ya that's rite
Peter Young: thanks.. see you take care
amazing_race83: you too..take care.
Peter Young: me too..
amazing_race83: bye
Peter Young: miss u all
Peter Young: bye

Actually panjang lagi, tapi mcm di waktu sekolah menengah - perlu dirumuskan menjadi kurang dari 100p.p (duhh...ndak buli guna ni statement, baru tu chat transcript pun suda lebih 200p.p...hahahaha).

Then, Si Peter also connected to a friend thru Friendster, who is also a former classmate of mine. Nicholas - i haven't seen him since the day we finished Form 5. But he still have the same appearance - muka ensem dia masi sama, bentuk badan yg fit masi sama, masi pakai spectacles; mungkin ketinggian dia ja yg lain.

***********

Last week's Saturday, we've been invited to Fr. Jasery's Priestly ordination anniversary at Peter Suking's residence. Since Keith and I were serving in the Mass on that day, we decided that we will only go after mass. Hujan lebat kuat bagai anjing main lawan kung fu sama kucing bah tu ari. I suspected mmg macam sungai lah jalan sana Minintod tu. Mimang btul sbb most of my friends, who were supposed to attend the mass at Peter Suking's residence couldn't make it because of the heavy rain. Instead, they went for sunset mass. (observe...observe...WAHH..satu baris dorang duduk di seat atas).

After mass, we went straight to Fr. Jasery's. Then, lepas makan, ada lah minum². Ada lah yg merah muka hampir (or mmg pun) kemabukan. hahaha..Not much lah kami minum. Giler ker..?! nanti siapa mo drive? hahaha... Oh ya...during this time pun, terjumpa lagi satu former classmate ni - almost 7 years ndak jumpa. Nasib lah mata dia masi sama. Lain² bahagian badan ada ubah siiiiiiikit. Suara pun lain, hampir ndak dikenali. We had a short chat then, asking him what he's doing now, where did he work..etc etc..

So altogether, it was mostly about meeting old friends. It was like a blast from the past. I'm glad to meet them again. And to all the friends I have now - jauh kaaaa, dekat kaaa, jangan lah kita lose contact. Walaupun berjauhan nun di saaaaaaaaaaaaana, ingat² lah juga kio...

Dot, Jane, Charlene and me (muka selepas dinner..HIKK!!!)

3 spontaneous poses by Harold and me (credits to Charlene's new HP's camera)

Pax vobis.

Dzień dobry

2006-09-12T13:21:00.000+08:00

It means 'Good morning' or 'Good afternoon' or 'Good day' in Polish. Last night we had a short session at Room F11 Jude Antoine (yay!!) and his friend Fr. Paul Nawalaniec, who hails from Poland and now based in England. Fr. Paul once worked with the charismatic renewal in Poland with young people and continues to do so in England. The meeting session with these two men was great and delightful. Although it was short, I gained some valuable information from both of them. I was planning not to go for the session yesterday because I had something to do at home. Then, Jude called me saying that Felix needed help on music for praise & worship and during ministering. I believe God planned this to happen because he wanted to say something to me through the session last night.

Fr. Paul described his country's and England's church condition. There are many churches he said, but there are lacking of people attending Mass. Poland's population is >95% Catholic, yet only about 30%-40% went to church every Sunday. It contradicts the encyclopedia that I've read before, stating that about 70% of the country's Catholics attend mass, but it follows the information of one my Polish friends, saying that youths are not attending mass as they used to. In England, Fr. Paul works among Polish in London. And yet, youths are the ones that is very difficult to invite them to Mass. These happens because of the modernization and the changes of culture and mind-sets of an individual.

I couldn't say that our church here in Malaysia is still free from these conditions, because there are symptoms, which displays that there might be a potential for our church to be just like those in Europe. One of the main causes I can see after attending talks like these and asking questions to friends from abroad - lacking of faith in God.

Lacking of faith in God can occur to individuals, especially when they came from a non-practicing families. Charity begins at home, that's how the saying goes. When parents do not care about sending their sons and daughters to Sunday school or teach about faith, their children will end up to be like them, perhaps double the impact. I remembered once that my parents does not fully practice their faith, and only leave us siblings to search for truth from books until one day when attending mass, the priest gave a homily that changed their mind sets forever. I'm not so sure what the homily is about, but God's message does came across their mind.

It was not long ago when I first joined ministry in SHC and become active in church activities, especially in playing music and singing in the choir. Here, I begin to feel God's love flowing through me and I really grateful to God for giving me such good friends. As I said in my earlier blog entry - God lives among us. When somebody cares and supports you, you are actually receiving God's love. DO NOT ignore their advice especially, and their support. What there're telling you might be from God's inspiration. The Holy Spirit will tell you. When an advice fails, it does not mean that it was useless. God is giving you a new experience so you can build a mature mind.

I remembered one saying, in which I don't know where it came from. It goes something like this - 'You cannot live as a Christian all by your own. You need someone whom you can hold on to'. Just like you cannot live by your own self in this world without having God in your heart. That's why it is important for us all to journey together in this life with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Alamak...jauh suda sia menyimpang ni...HAHA (nah kan, terkeluar suda bahasa Sabah sini) ;))

Anyway, It was very surprising to hear that Fr. Paul could sing in Malay. Before a short ministering, he taught us a Polish song, together with a dance..something like a Jewish unity dance...(yg berkambai-kambai tangan tu buat bulatan..Mcm tu tarian Hiney Ma Tov)..

Below are the lyrics for the Polish song we learnt yesterday.

JEZUS CHRYSTUS MOIM PANEM JEST

JEZUS CHRYSTUS
(Jesus Christ)
MOIM PANEM JEST, ALLELUJA
(He is my Lord, Alleluia)

ON KOCHA MNIE
(He loves me)
ON KOCHA MNIE
(He loves me)
ALLELUJA
(Alleluia)

Sempat lagi mo ambil gambar.. nasib ada bawa kamera di pouch sia.

Me with Fr. Paul

Jude Antoine, Fr. Paul and the gang...

Habis ja session, most of us went to Salim. Satu kali tingu, Jude and Fr. Paul pun ikut sama. Wah....dorang pi tempat hang-out kita...;))

Some of us went to Mass at the chapel of Daughters of St. Paul in the morning where Fr. Paul is presided the mass. Before that, sia fon Danielson, but he's tired because he had to stay awake until 4:00am to finish his homework. (It's OK Danny. I understand. No worries k...?). Ada juga lah sia call si Titty (bukan nama sebenar)...mo 9 kali baru kena sambut. Panik suda sia teda kawan mo pigi. Luckily, dia di Lido sama si Nova, on the way mo pi chapel. YAY!!

Then, after mass, we went for breakfast at DP. I came a bit late because mo antar si Jocelyn pigi tempat kerja dia and ended up sitting between Jude and Fr. Paul. Syok juga crita sama dorang ni. We chatted during our breakfast and we found out that Fr. Paul loves movies, especially Forrest Gump. Jude said he kept on citing some of the movie lines again and again. Life is like a box of chocolates...itu lah yg sia ingat. hahahaha...By the way, Fr. Paul is a bit shy at first we met him, but later we found out that he's friendly. Sporting lagi tu..!

We left DP at around 10. Si Donovan bawa dorang pigi sightseeing around KK before boarding the plane to the Philippines at 1:30pm.

Such a great experience although the time taken was short. Hope to meet them again one day. Till then, do zobaczenia (see you again).

Pax Vobis.

A bit of yesterday

2006-09-09T14:46:00.000+08:00

The photo above was taken during Life Mass Prep on Friday, September 08, 2006. (chewah, mcm berita. HIHIHI...HIKK!!)

Gini lah every 2nd and 4th week of every month on Thursday and friday nights. Sounds like hardwork, right? Actually it is, but in the midst of that being hardworking, there's always enjoyment. Betapa susahnya itu lagu pun, if we do have the will to go forth, sinang jadinya. hmm hmm..ndak buli bikin ini ---> ';))' punya symbol sbb ni blog tidak kasi tayang YM punya emoticon. Huahahaha.

Ah yes, ada kek bah yesterday for September borns. Sedap lagi tu... tapi 2 org ja lahir bulan September semalam - si chon² sama si Adrian Simon. A bit kezutan juga lah, sbb lagu Happy Boffday berkumandang ke udara sekali lagi for these 2 guys. Happy Belated b'day to you too (although sudah wish, tapi mo tulis juga sini...).

For today, ada wedding blessing di Blessed Sacrament Chapel (blkg SHC) and we're serving in the choir for the service. First time lagi sia sentuh tu organ sana. BARUUUU lagi tu. Mcm ndak pernah kena sentuh. Tapi syok bunyi dia..HAHA. First time main tu lagu Benediction. Ada lah terple'ot sikit tu chords, tapi org suka juga.

OK lah. Got to end this post here. Waktu menunjukkan pukul 3:05pm and I have to get ready to go to church - mo set up instruments for LIFE MASS! Boy (bukan nama sebenar) is back in action. YAY!! Till then, God Bless you all.

Pax Vobis.

God lives in everyone of us

2006-09-01T09:49:00.000+08:00

Where is God?

Such question often echoes in one's mind as they go along with their day. Burden seems to be piling up like there was no ending to it. Last night's Worship Growth session was an eye opener to me, even though there were only 8 of us, it went out great. Not to mention it went all the way from 9pm until 11:45pm.

Hearing people's problems is common to me. Everyone, including myself has their own problems. But when it came to hear a person's problem, in which it was the same or exact problem as yours, you tend to listen more.

Sharing problems with someone brings relief, and it lightens the burden weight. God is present in everyone of us and everytime a person receives consolation and comfort from someone, he or she is actually receiving God's love. Mother Teresa of Calcutta's quotes - "Take care of every people you see, he or she might be Jesus in disguise". These words often utter in my mind every single day, but I admit that it was not an easy thing to do. Everytime you help someone, you're actually showing God's love to them.

"Jesus said 'I give you a new commandment: love one another; you must love one another just as I have loved you. It is by your love for one another, that anyone will recognize you as my disciples' ". (John 13:34-35 JB)

Pax vobis.

Kaingaran - Spiritual Youth Camp

2006-08-29T10:24:00.000+08:00

Wajah² ceria peserta-peserta SYC.2006

Born with sensitive ears, I need to turn down the music volume so that I can think of what to write. That's a fact that you readers need to know. When God gave you an extra boost on one of your 5 senses, it does not only helps you to learn something new using that particular sense quickly, but there are some side effects that you need to live with it, whether you want it or not. God works in mysterious ways..:)

OK. Back to the topic - Kaingaran - Spiritual Youth Camp. I've had one of the most memorable and yet spiritual uplifting experience in my whole life. It started with our arrival there. The road that leads to the Pertapaan was like a never ending path of sand and rocks. Berterbangan habuk, abis my mum's car dilitupi pasir. HAHAHA. Okay. During registration, our HPs and everything that connects you to the outside world were confiscated (not really confiscated lah, kena serah sama AJK ja) because such things might interfere during the sessions.

Jauh kan? This is only 1/3 of the pathway...

We found out that the boys' dorm is far away down below turun gaung...another never ending pathway. Dah lah teda communication device, how can we communicate with our female friends, whose dorm are just a stone throw from the chapel..? Ya..Boy (bukan nama sebenar) started to complain and complain. Mmg betul juga lah sbb jauh bah gia tu.. Sampai ja di dorm, we found out that among us 3 - Boy, Egn and me, I'm the only one yg suda kena assign room with org² yg sia tia kenal. Luckily, ada a few rooms yg belum ada org. So, we negotiate with the staff whether we could stay together in one room. Berjaya..!!! We took C15 - 6 beds altogether. Sampai di bilik, we found out that the matress was far to thin, even the bed punya papan di bawah pun buli rasa ni. Boy went to the bathroom to take a quick shower and came back to the room with another complain. The water was a bit mirky he said. Well, complaints went on until the 1st day expired. By the way, we had our first mass at 5pm. Teda bench kama chapel dorang, duduk di lantai macam Taize session ja. Wow...a new experience for me. Then, ada lakonan dorang bikin itu malam. Smart lah dorang act, macam betul.

Again, God works in mysterious ways. It all happens here during the spiritual camp.

The next day, I woke up at 4:20am (tidak sengaja ni) and go straight to the bathroom to take a quick shower. SEJUKKKKKKKK gila air dia (Mo cramp kepala si Egn bilang). after abis mandi, I had myself groomed and prepared while waiting for the 5am siren. I waited on my bed, watching others still in their slumberland and hearing them snoring. I talked to God, what is He going to show me that day. Then the siren began to throw its sound. I quickly call each of the my roommates' names to wake them up because the bathroom will be packed full by that particular time.

Going uphill at 5:30am was quite excruciating because of the cold weather. Sejuk dan jalan agak jauh. The only thing that lifted my spirit up is to see that the religious brothers and postulants walk uphill without a single complaint from their lips. How can they tahan? The Jesus' Prayer started at 6am in the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene. Wah, during chanting the prayer, my stomach started to grumble, 7 times to be exact. Breakfast only started at 7. Then, session after session during the day. Syok tu mmg syok, although kami satu clan duduk belakang. HAHAHA.

This second day of the camp has brought a new experience for me. It has also taught me not to take things for granted, even religious things. What made me say so? Taize was supposed to be calm but an unexpected event occurred. (don't worry, there wasn't any physical fight or something). If you want to know more, feel free to write because this thing deserves reflection and might not be suitable to be posted.

I realized that Boy's complaints gradually withered as we went back to our room for a night's rest. God is really working on this guy. I set my alarm clock so that I could wake up at 4:30am again. Instead, the next day was quite a disaster for me. The alarm clock went on ringing (tit-tit-tit-tit...mcm tu lah sound dia) for more than half an hour without my realizing it, although the clock was very close to my ear. Yer lah...ada masa deria kita pun shut down, mcm komputer juga kan...HAHA....And I woke up just a few seconds before the siren begin to sound. Apa lagi melompat lah sia dari katil. Terbiasa suda kan, pernah tinggal hostel and every morning berlumba mo pi bathroom.

The most memorable event was the concert. I mean, kami macam org yg 'terlebih HS' di sana. Lompat² kegembiraan mcm kanak² ribena. Hwaahahahahha..HIKKKKKKKKKK!!! (nah kan. terkeluar suda Jess' vacuum laugh). I've never dance sebegitu kuat dan bertenaga. Everyone (the participants) had a good time. Mimang a good experience..

The final day came to soon without us realizing it. Nda tau kalo² sia chance lagi mo balik ni tempat. Memang syokk. Religious brothers and sisters dia pun, wah...very sporting and friendly. Tidak pernah sia jumpa org² macam dorang ni. One thing about this Pertapaan yg sia sangat² kagum is that they make use of the technology for the good of all. I recommend to all of you di luar sana yg belum pernah pigi ni tempat, supaya pigi the next time ada camp. Have I changed in terms of my spirituality? I could say yes...God had answered my prayers..

Clockwise from left - Me, Harold B, Rayner, Harold R, Eusebius and Josue

We also developed a strong bond between each other of us youths. Macam family suda kami sana. Sama baju each day...My roommates are the best. Bercerita b4 sleep, itu yg paling syok sepanjang kami berada dlm itu bilik. Alamak...sia lupa minta our Tambunan roommate punya address. His name is Eusebius Micle. Eusebius, if you happen to read this blog, please leave your email address or alamat surat menyurat in the comments because sia mo hantar ko gambar kita 6 org teman sebilik.

Pax Vobis.

One of the best August I've ever had...

2006-08-27T21:53:00.000+08:00

I've had one of the best August in my whole life. It started during August 17th, shortly before midnight when two of my friends excused themselves to go to the loo. Lama juga diorang balik...Then, my cellphone rang - a call from a friend. I know they wanted to wish me Happy
birthday, so I put my cell on loudspeaker. Then, they (friend on the phone) started to sing the Happy birthday song. To my surprise kan...ada kek di sebelah sia.!!! Then the whole Salim punya kedai makan started to sing the song...WAHHHHHHH....Experience beyond great kama tu...!!!

The following day was as surprising as the day before. I invited some of my friends to have pizza at Dot's house - mo blanja dorang makan since it was my b'day. Thx very much to Dot for letting me use her house utk jadi tempat gathering. As I entered the entrance of Dot's house, I saw two of my friends' cars, thinking baru diorang yg sampai. Then, I was asked to go straight to the kitchen. Gelap pula bila sampai kitchen...knapa tutup lampu? Then, turning the lights on, I can see a dim vision of people sitting at the dinner table. WAHHHHHHHHH....Happy b'day to you (again...) they sang. This time, lagi banyak org dia....then datang lah kek coklat yg diminati....sungguh terharu sia..Everything was beautiful that night. I'm so grateful to God for giving me such friends...(ok...tahan. jan kluar air mata). HAHAHAHAHA. Kenyang gila itu malam..

Next, on the 19th, shortly after mass, Cindy gave me another b'day surprise. Kena bagi dlm church lagi tu....but she asked me to open it in the Youth Room..Well....surprise after surprise....mmg pun sia surprised...MARCH OF THE PENGUINS!!!!!!!! I was looking forward to watch this documentary then suddenly was given to me as a b'day present.. WAHHHH...sungguh terharu sia....:)

Hehehe...that's all for now..nanti sia tulis lagi pasal kami waktu di Kaingaran...terlara bah ni post ni. I should write before i went to the Youth Camp. Tapi nda pa lah...

Pax Vobis

2006-08-14T01:51:00.000+08:00

It's 2:15am and I'm writing this post for my blog. Aduss..terlambat bangun lah ni mo fast for Mid-East conflict and Kaingaran Youth Retreat.

Thinking of what and where I am now leaves me speechless, hard to smile and hard to get to sleep. Maybe it's because of what I say and what I've done during these few days, whether it affects a person's feeling or not, all of those are taken to my account. I could say that I'm too careful with what I do, because I'm concern of people around me rather than myself. Be it done unto me all the hardships and sickness, but show me not sad faces and heartbroken of those people whom I loved and cared so much. For me, there's no greater relief than to see people smile and happy.

As I was writing this post, I listened to this song - Benediction by Curtis Stephan, which has been my recent favorite. Susah betul mo cari ni album sini. Lirik pun masi tidak dapat² (main dingar and tulis ja lah. Ada sebilangan tempat tia dpt comprehend apa yg kena sebut. Maklumlah, Texan English accent bah the singer guna. ;)) ). The lyrics are so very touching; the music is so uplifting and soothing. I'm sharing it with you all. Hopefully one day buli bawa ni lagu during Life Mass. To listen to the song, go to my Friendster's account at http://www.friendster.com/fabian83 . I'm still looking for the lyrics. If you people tau, kasi tau sia ah..:) TQ..

Pax vobis.