Grace & nothing

Not too long ago I listened to a sermon that really spoke to me. I said so because I don't have a great memory. I tend to forget the sermon points the moment the preaching is over. :-p

It was a simple message yet very real.

The pastor mentioned that sometimes the meaning of grace has been altered/diluted

It has become something that always comes with "but you must/should do this this this and this..." It's almost like there is a condition to receive grace. It was never about what we can do but what he can do through us (Phil 2:13).

God's grace is unconditional. Whatever you have done, when you come to Him and repent sincerely, He will forgive you. It is not because of what you have or can do but because he has done all the work. But this does not mean we can continue to do things that are against Him. Instead, because of God's love, we would have this desire in us that will want to please Him and not go against Him.

Human has also created a lot of laws upon ourselves. You can't wear jeans, you MUST wear tie to church, you MUST serve, we must maintain our posture for fearing that others might look down upon you (sounds like david)... c'mon, chill. Whatever we do, whether it is praying for a specific item, reading the bible or serving, we should never do it out of guilt but because we sincerely want to.

Health

I am not sure if it was my near death experience or was it the doctor's report early this year that states I have excessive body fat and overweight. Maybe it is because I am aging! But gradually health has become something that I kind of put more priority in these days.

I have been a little more careful on food than I used to. When I was younger, I used to eat anything and everything and any amount. Haha.

I exercise more these days as well. I have always wanted to join a gym to push myself to work out. Couldn't afford it during my college years and still could not afford when I started working. But almost 2.5 years ago, I had a great offer to join a gym. Told myself that it was now or never. Was pretty afraid that I couldn't keep to it and have to quit. But I reminded myself that it is for this body that God has given me and it is my responsibility to take care of it well. So, it was not because of trend nor pressure of any kind that I signed up.

I am a member of Fitness First ever since. I didn't push myself much and was not very consistent initially. But slowly, I have began to arrange my schedule to ensure that I do work out a min number of time a week. It is challenging as I somehow have pretty much of my week day nights occupied by cell, rehearsal and meetings.

After I realized that I haven't been pushing myself enough, I started attending group classes. Well, those have pretty good so far. I haven't lost tens of kgs but I do feel stronger and healthier than before. Hopefully I can keep this up long term. I am sure that God has always planned for us to be healthy and fit. We human just aren't very good at taking care of it. :-p

God is with us

Andrea and myself had our own set of drama when noise and smoke came out of her bonnet on Nicole's wedding morning itself. Since we had a tight schedule, we decided the leave the car and get all the important things done... we just had to put this aside and figure it out later.

Good thing Andrea's Dad insist that we got it fixed as most mechanics don't work on Sun. It was a challenge as we do not know many people in Ipoh and we barely know our way around town. But by God's intervention, Andrea managed to get hold of a mechanic through a friend. It was really God with us as by the time we took the risk (somehow there was no more smoke when we tried to drive it in the evening) to drive and search for the workshop using only the GPS and landmark told by the mechanic.

We reached the workshop and their shutter was almost down. They waited patiently for us. A few of them work together to check on the car. They discovered that the problem was with the alternator. We were told that it can break down anytime for any car and there is no way to check it in advanced. Thank God they have a replacement and they didn't charged us unreasonably as we were recommended by one of their frequent customer.

The mechanic also told us that we would never had make it back to KL with a faulty alternator. Praise God that the car didn't break down during our journey there and back. It would have been a lot worse.

By the time the alternator was fixed it was around 6.50pm. I thought we were going to missed the march in for the dinner (it was supposed to start at 7pm) We did try calling Peter's friend to shoot if we couldn't make it. We reached the restaurant at 7.15pm. The dinner was delayed to start at 7.45pm.

We made it! Haha. God is good.

Nicole & Peter

10th October 2009

Nicole served with us in dew crew for quite a number of years. She was one of my 3 team members who dated someone from the worship team ;-D I remember sometimes we had all 3 girls serving in crew and all 3 bf serving in worship team on the same weekend. Cool eh. This is like the "wedding year". All 3 of them decided to get married this year. :-D

It was great to be part of her wedding helper team. My role was something I don't normally do - which was pretty challenging but this was for Nicole :) I guess I'll do almost anything for any of my crew if it means a lot to them... it won't be the best but the best of my ability.

Nicole is one of those really rare cool bride. She adapted to changes, accepted the challenges and remain cool and most of all enjoyed her wedding all the way.

I think for any lady who intends to get married, the most important thing is to expect that her wedding day will not be perfect. THEN, things will just somehow be okay. Maybe what Debbie told me is true - wedding day is overrated by the people in the industry. It's just ONE day. What is most important is the marriage life :)

Congrats Nicole & Peter and continue to grow in love with each other and with God ;-)

Kevin & Brenda

On the 21st September 2009, the sound guy and the sound girl got married!

Congrats to our 2 dear dew crews. ;-D

It is privilege to be your friend and to serve in this wonderful ministry together!

Stuff SonyEricsson should have

After using the phone for a week now, there are some things that irk me about my new SonyEricsson W705 phone.

There are certains things that I liked a lot about my old Nokia phone that is not here.

1. can't group my contact above a certain number. Can't remember what was the limit. It is definitely less than 20.
2. can't assign a group tone neither can I assign a group picture. I had to do the assignment one contact at a time.
3. can't assign photo to a contact if the photos is NOT saved in picture folder. but can be done if i open the photo and assign it to a contact. weird.
4. can't make the sms font any smaller. i prefer to be able to read as much as possible on 1 page.
5. can't set the limit of sent and inbox message so that it will overwrite to old ones.
6. it does not show me the number of sms that is in my inbox, sent, draft. hv to make sure i delete before it takes up all the space in my phone.
7. i can't assign the different profile with different ringtone.
8. the calendar does not show me a preview of my appointment.
9. i can't set auto delete to old appointment made in the calendar.
10. can't customise the number of seconds before the phone goes on standby.
11. can't customise the number of seconds before the phone auto lock. i can't lock it by pressing any button. it has to autolock or i have to slide open and close to lock.
12. can't assign the short cut key directly to compose sms. (it's a 2 steps now)
13. generally the phone is slow in response. there is almost a 2 seconds delay to enter into contacts.
14. can't customise contact view.
15. can't customise the 2 buttons on the phone.
16. can't save photo to any other folder.

But it has the following features that my old Nokia phone does not have

1. contact image pop up when sms is received.
2. love how the sms can be viewed as a conversation.
3. multiple setting for alarm.
4. shortcut key to silent the phone.
5. animation wallpaper.
6. an indicator icon that show that i have replied or forwarded a sms.
7. it shows a count time when a call is answered so i don't have to put the phone to my ears and listen to irritating caller ringtones. (the screen looks the same when a call is answered on my old nokia, never know when the call is through)

A decade

It's been a decade now that I've been using mobile phone. It is amazing how much technology has advanced in 10 years.

Nokia 5110 (2000-2003)
Mum bought this for me. I was a student then and this was the best phone in the market! The phone and the sim card cost her RM699! I remember it was with me on the eve of the millenium. Snake game was fun. Screen & button failed me at the end of it's life. Surprisingly I never broke the antenna.

Nokia 3300 (2003-2006)

Although a couple of hundreds were paid to the telco for this Linkin Park contest, but this was a music phone... a rare breed then. But learned my leason never to try this again. Too risky. In the end, the buttons failed me. I had to apply so much pressure just to hang up!

Nokia 6280 (2006-2009)
This was a timely blessing. Can't find any fault with this phone other than the fact that every time I connect it to a PC, it seems to hang and I can't seem to edit contacts either. Was hoping it would stay with me longer but it was the last straw when someone called me for an interview and I can't hear what on earth he said to me.

One day...

One day, I want to go to a U2 concert. One with the massive monter set up! This is "The Claw". 50m high crablike monolith with rotating stage, moving bridges and 360° giant digital screen projecting montages and images...

This photo was shot by Dave.

Check out the rest of the photos of the concert.

Dew Crew Retreat 2009

Photo by Jon Khoo

30th Aug - 1st Sep 2009
Another great getaway with the best crew! :)

This year, we had minimum program. We just wanted to had a relaxing trip so went to Kampar and Ipoh. Had a short tour in Gua Tempurung and Lata Kinjang. And we ate and ate (shamelessly!)...in Ipoh. The Grand Kampar Hotel is pretty nice. But the shops around it isn't fully occupied so it is rather quiet which is really nice. Most of us don't fancy hearing cars everywhere. We also met up with Sharon who is based there working with Malaysian Care.

It was great fun simply because we had such a great group of people. The after effect of the trip is fun too - looking at all the photos we took and tagging them in facebook & writing narrations for the funny ones.

Mesra Usia Emas and Tawas

I felt the urge to blog about this because many seems to be unaware of the benefits as a citizen. When I first receive an email on this, I was very skeptical. But here are some sites with more information about Mesra Usia Emas and Tabung Warisan Anak Selangor. Unfortunately the official website is only in BM. The page is not translated.

Selangor Gov Site on Mesra Usia Emas
Selangor Gov Site on Tawas
TheStar Newspaper

A new challenge

I wanted to get my room painted. And I'm proud to say I did it...myself. Took me 2.5 days. It isn't perfect but neither am I. I consider it an achievement.

Debbie & Hoi Hian

It is an amazing thing to see 2 friends come together in marriage. I've been friends with Debbie & Hoi Hian ever since they joined us in Dew Crew. I got to know Debbie a lot better when she took up the role of Media Director in DUMC a couple of years ago. I guess Debbie started noticing Hoi Hian more when they started serving together in our Nepali Fellowship. :) We have all became close friends as we serve together in these 2 ministries.



It was a simple wedding holy matrimony and chinese dinner. All of us had a great time taking photos of ourselves and entertaining ourselves! Fui Ping, Steph and myself even managed to squeeze in some time for a free make over by Bobbi Brown. :)

A Live Mix

Long ago, I mentioned in a post about what I spend most of my time doing in church... I wish it was praying but it is not la. Hahaha.

Occasionally, I lead a team of volunteers to do live audio visual work. That includes sound, cameras, live multi camera mix and lyrics/powerpoint. Most of the time I do audio stuff - which is either stage i.e. ensuring the band/speakers on stage can hear themselves or FOH which controls what everyone else in the audience hears.

Sometimes I wonder why I'm so intrigued by this particular work. :-p I mean there are many areas which I can serve God every week as well, but maybe I fell in love with it since having the opportunity to learn something so unique (at least i think so) compared to what most of us do at our day jobs. I am one of those who are a bit more (okay, it' waaaayyy more) enthusiastic and excited about doing this then my paying job. :-p

Maybe it is the "live" thing. Getting it right at one go, on the spot and getting adrenaline rush because it's LIVE! Maybe it is simply because I love music. Maybe it is an opportunity to express whatever little creative juices I have.

Maybe it is just the bunch of ppl that I have worked with so long that I've grown overly attached with. Love them so much! We used to serve for 4 sessions of celebration back in DSP, the older building. Currently at Dream Centre, there are only 2 sessions but with many other events around the facility. I think sometimes we see each other more often than we see our family members. We have currently expanded our live work into lighting even more with the purchase of the new Robe moving heads and Avolites mixer. More cool stuff to learn!

Loud Concert 2009

Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to be part of team in supporting DUMC's annual youth event - Loud 2009. On top of the indie bands and other activities, we had a main concert with percussion group – Junkyard Invaders, Cheer team, dance team – Real Ink Crew and of course a live band as part of the evening concert. All very impressive work by the young people. Great job especially by the leaders who put this whole thing together - Leroy, Jon, Ben & Daryll.

Of course as usual, we cannot resist not having a picture the live crew. :) Love serving the Lord with you cool & fun people.

Who is Yasmin Ahmad?

I do not know Yasmin Ahmad personally but I do know she is a director who has done excellent work in film and tv ads. Not sure why she was often accused of producing controversial work but maybe most of the accusers were just "sesat" case. Her works were very moving and thought provoking. How often do we come across someone like her, who voices her mind even as we are surrounded by people who are in constant denial.

Malaysia lost one of her most precious gem yesterday. I heard the news from radio this morning. It was 2 days after she suffered a stroke.

As the news spread, there were many testimonies about her work and her life. Newspaper reprinted interview and tributes to this amazing, inspiring person. Many blogs also have featured a post on her. Here's one with a recent video by a friend. Just google her up for more.

Vaccines

My understanding of vaccines are jabs you take to prevent ourselves from diseases. I remember taking quite a few when I was younger – rubella, BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin) and chickenpox. I remember the first 2 pretty well because it was compulsory in school. Unless we have a letter from our parents that we will take it at our private clinic, we have to take the jab. Honestly, I had no idea what were the jabs for until I read them online. I’m sure I had lots of other vaccination that I can’t really remember but was probably adviced as necessary by our family doctor.

A recent visit to another doctor’s clinic (company panel clinic) opened my eyes to the many different vaccination available. At the clinic, there were numerous posters promoting the various vaccination.

Just last week, my company offered free flu vaccination to all our staff. It was optional but most people took it because it was free. I was skeptical so I opted not to.

Why? Well, there is no guarantee that one fully immune to flu. I wasn’t going abroad and putting myself at risk to the H1N1 anyway. So, it didn’t seem necessary to get the jab. Like any medicine, I feel that we don't need to take them unless we really really need to.

I remembered watching Oprah with Jenny McCarthy as her guest on the show. It was actually the first time I heard of vaccination issues. She believes that her son’s autism was the cause of vaccination and was raising awareness on this. She also mentioned a lot on how she is bringing up her son with special diet and even wrote a book on how her son is recovering from autism.

Today, if we search online, there are numerous information/debate/findings about this. There is no widely accepted/proven case of major negative side effects of vaccination. I haven’t done a thorough research about this but my current stand is not take vaccination unnecessarily. To be rational about it, our parents and their parents lived many years probably without any vaccination and are healthy and well. I’ve read somewhere that our body develops immunity against the disease that we get. That’s why we don’t get stuff like chickenpox twice in our lives. By preventing the disease, we sometimes prevent our body from generating such immunity.

Creativity, Passion & Making a difference

As I watched Chopped on Asia Food Channel, it reminded me about how creative food can allow a person to be. This show is about 4 contestant (who are normally executive chefs) challenging each other to prepare a 3 course meal within a given time with secret ingredients that will only be revealed right before they start cooking. Instant creativity required!

Cooking/baking is really a fun and creative thing. It is improvisation that makes a dish unique and memorable. So much can actually be done in cooking as the slightest additional amount of a single ingredient or the adding a teaspoons of ingredient or the smallest differ in method of mixing can greatly change the taste and the final look. I would love to spend more time in this and work my right brain.

Jamie Oliver is probably one of the most famous chef around today. It is really a joy to watch him cook for the people around him (ya, i know he gets paid to cook for all his shows) He always look like he is having soOooo much fun! It's amazing to do so many shows on cooking and write so many recipes. Seems to be a never ending of ideas and possibilities.

Passion take people to great extend. He left school to join catering college at 16. Most Asian parents would probably faint at the thought of it. But just look at what he has achieved today! Because of his campaign to ban unhealthy food in schools, he got the government to spend more on quality food. I thought the idea of training the fifteen disadvantage young people was great because it was definitely life changing for them. What a difference he has made in those young lives.

That's real passion doing what you love...oh and making a living out of it!

GSC at Tropicana Mall

I somehow had the idea that the new GSC cinema at Tropicana Mall would be less popular but possibly more confortable. I was right that it was still possible to get tickets for Transformers but the hall was terrible. Hall 5 was a smaller hall but never would I thought they would make the seats so near to the screen. At 5th row of the 10 rows in the hall, it was straining. Yup, this is nothing like the one in 1Utama. So, forget the movie if is it in this smaller hall. Not worth it unless you got the row against the wall.

The movie is great in many ways but my experience was spoilt by mutiple vertical lines for a long period of time!

Another irritating note was the censorship. It was so bad a short part of a scene actually repeated. Someone needs to go for editing class 101. Wonder who filem negara hires to do this.

Michael Jackson

His music continues to live on.
1958-2009

Vision for life

It is 2 years now that I am specs and contacts free. I'm so thankful for the surgery. It made climbing Mt K easier since my eyes get dry very easily with contacts. I didn't have to worry about them falling out during water rafting - a girl's contacts did came off when her raft overturned. :-p

Went for my annual check today. I thought my vision was not as sharp as it was last year. From the test, there is a very slight power on eye and very slight astigmatism as well. It could go back down since our eyes power can change slightly if our eyes are tired. So glad the conclusion is just tired and dry eyes. Must rest my eyes more.

Really don't want to go back to specs or contacts anytime soon. Neither do I want to go through the procedure again if possible. (As long as I got my eyes checked annual, Optimax will correct any shortsightedness for free).

I found out that up to today, Optimax is still the only Lasik centre in Malaysia with ISO certification. I guess it is important with more and more different outlets offering this service. Hey, it's our eyes! What if the centre is run by people who are not exactly qualified or equipment that are not well maintained?