Sunday, October 30, 2005

notpron

what i've been up to these past few days? Well, lets see...clerking patients, sleeping in lectures, cooking super chun dishes, meeting new ppl in CU and bouncing off ideas in student fellowship on how to best present the idea of "new birth" to a group of people who are half jaded and half new believers...

In between watching others nod off in lectures and playing the odd game of dota(owned with lion last thurs in 3v2 insane!!) have been occupied one hour a day playing this game called notpron..

Tagline : "The hardest riddle on the internet"

premise : 138 levels to go...how far can you go without resorting to spoilers from forums/friends? over 5 million ppl have started playing , with only 70 ppl completing it without spoiling the experience by CHEATING!

Position : am currently at level 8! Am either really blur, or just too fanatical about finishing the game BY MY OWN!!!

Weird huh? normally I wouldnt blog about my gaming experiences...(as dota crazy as i've been, i've never considered it worth my while to put it down on electronic paper..) BUT in this case, I think, I must make an exception...As the name states...this is notpron (a healthy alternative to some of the more salubrious sites available) Plus, while solving the puzzles, you'll (among other things) gain knowledge of such obscure but interesting topics like different types of candy bars available in the uk, what is ASCII all about, how to use adobe photoshop, the meaning of anagrams and many many more.... (images below taken from google earth - another program needed in notpron..)


Photo courtesy of benny liew...Sitiawan by satellite vision!

And, I know this will prob be on M103's blog..seeing as how jack, hsu pheen and I searched like crazy to find it, but its going up here, cos we wouldnt have been able to do it without my laptop!

IMU Bukit Jalil with vista ABC !

Friday, October 21, 2005

Something else I heard

Heard this on Wednesday at CU..

Taken from an actual passing out police exam:

You're a police officer reaching a bus station where a bomb has just gone off. A huge crater has formed in the middle of the road. At one end of the crater a bus has tipped over, with its' passengers crying out for help. At the other end of the crater a motorcycle has just plummeted over, unable to stop itself, flinging its' rider head over heels. The bomb blast has damaged some stores nearby and some people are helping themselves to the contents which are exposed. Nearby, a mum is shouting frantically, "Where's my son? Has anyone seen him?" while amidst the dust, you begin to make out survivors of the blast moving painfully, their cries insistent.

What do you do first?

One cadet wrote simply -

"Take off my uniform quietly and mingle with the crowd."


I find I'm like that sometimes. A hard choice is presented, and I immediately begin assessing my options for the soft, safe way out. As the end of the Harry Potter trailer puts it, a choice between 'what is right, and what is easy.' To add to the problem, the easy way out often seems to be not wrong at all. No one's going to die because I display a nonchalant attitude towards sin. No one gets offended, either. Seems a good trade off?

How about whether to speak about God in a situation when you'd be in trouble politically and physically?

"The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadduccees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people...They seized Peter and John and....put them in jail till the next day." (acts 4:1-3)

While being questioned, Peter and John, the same men who'd run for their lives when Jesus was captured, now stood up for Him. "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (acts 4:12)

"When they saw the courage of Peter and John, and realised that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they TOOK NOTE THAT THESE MEN HAD BEEN WITH JESUS."(acts4:13, caps mine)

People just can't help but draw the connection to something greater than ourselves when we stand up for God.

It's something which I'm challenged with every time I go out here.

Lord, help me keep my uniform on.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Something I heard

Went for a discussion just now and heard an illustration from a video we watched..Can't remember the speaker's name, so I trust he won't sue me or anything...my parents have a big enough debt as it is...


Well, I went to this bay in Australia with my friend, and it was a fine day. The bay was quite empty and few people were around. It seemed a fine opportunity for a dip, so I began removing my shirt.
"What in the world are you doing mate?" asked my friend incredulously. He turned me around and pointed at a large sign that said:

DO NOT SWIM!! THIS AREA IS FULL OF SHARKS!!!

"Oh well, "I said, "I'm sure they won't get me. I'm only going in for a short while anyway."

"Well, just making sure you know, that's all." responded my friend. "I'm also sure that you're aware that over 220 swimmers have died from shark attacks in this area over a period of 10 years. After all, you're of age, and able to make your own decisions." he said as he walked off.

Sheepishly looking around, I began to put my clothes on again.


For those who haven't made the connection yet, it's basically a case of Do we realise the danger we are in? Jesus came with a specific message to show us why we were in trouble and how He could get us out of it. He leaves us with a choice that we have to make, a choice that is present whether or not we agree on evolution or the rights and wrongs of abortion. And, as he put it, we're 'of age and able to make our own decisions'.

Do we choose Him or reject Him? For there is no middle ground. To choose Him may seem a huge leap of faith, a decision not to be taken lightly. Fair enough. But it would be wise then, not to delay, for none of us really know how long more we'll be around, do we?

Personally, I sometimes find it hard to remember the danger I'm in, of not being able to remain in God's presence when I die, of dying and remaining like that forever. It's hard to remember such realities when I'm walking down Bold Street with a bag of groceries, struggling against the cold sharp wind so prevalent in Liverpool. But therein lies the danger, and the great deceit and pleasure of the Evil One, for he would like nothing better than to draw our thoughts farther away from the truth of true death.

Do we realise the danger we are in?

Are we willing to search for the truth to verify this danger?

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Who's who

Well, the 2 groups of ppl that have intruded into my life:-) here's a brief intro on who's been writing on the page called New Creation...



Shubz is the girl 2nd from the right..She poses like that for most of the photos..when she's willing to be taken, that is..Right beside her is squeaks, actually hsu en, right till you hear her voice.. The guy in the purple shirt is daniel, my ex housemate, and also the one who taught me how to play pool! (no matter what he tells you) Behind her is Siew Lian, ex prayer coordinator of IMU CF and Jane beside her, the Sarawak super tennis player who is a self-confessed chocoholic. Beside jane, the girl in white with specs is Siew Lee, normally quiet and reserved but now being driven up the wall in med school in Seremban...And beside siew lee the guy who looks a bit like elijah woods is Ne Jia, who's very into nice house designs and landscaping. Joy is beside Ne Jia, the computer whiz of our batch, while David, beside Ne Jia is, as always, partially obscured by Jimmy, the gym rat and macho man of the group.. The 3 girls in front beside Daniel are Elaine(in red) whose birthday we just celebrated, Rani, who knows more football players than I do, and Wen Chyi, who's into anime and manga..There's lots more but you guys will just have to wait cos I dun have all day for this! hah!

Ok, the weird guy at the top left hand corner is Sieh Jin..sometime temp teacher, now currently youth counsellor at the Methodist Boy's College in Brickfields..Able to eat things mixed together for a price is his forte, besides basketball and piano, both of whom he wishes he was much better at..The girl beside him is Sieh Ping, his sis who currently works for thestar as a writer for Youth2...her nick is Irene Kiew(bit of publicity for you there...haha). Across Sieh Jin, is Wai Hong, anyone know how he is now? Working already? And beside him is Yong, ex star student of our form five, indeed of our secondary school career...The only guy to get full marks in the killer AddMaths exam where most of us were counting how many marks we were away from failing..now currently a budding engineer in Germany(and aspiring football commentator!). Beside her is Yoke May, whom david knows as Jocelyn, since she is her aunt! Weird huh? Coming from a family of 5 sisters, all of whom sound alike on the phone...she's now an electronic engineer in Penang...comes complete with her own CAR! The rest will just have to wait for some other time to be introduced!

So yup..now you all know each other, go have some coffee and biscuits and relax..make yourselves at home. I'm going to go mingle..see you.

Monday, October 10, 2005

IT's always hard to say goodbye...


This post is dedicated to an old friend. We've known each other for 2 and a half years, almost 3 years now. Come to think about it, since I've been in IMU. Through that time, we've gotten to know one another really well. We'd meet every morning, and even when I have PBL and need to rush, somehow we always find time to meet. Whenever I'd plan to have an extended studying session, we'd meet up again...sometimes staying together till 3 in the morning(though those were fairly rare occasions). We'd not stop meeting together when exams drew nearer, on the contrary, we'd meet even more. And when I went to the UK, what was more natural that I thought we should continue on as friends.

Alas,we did not last long in the UK. I woke up one fine morning and decided to have a glass of milk. Since it was a cold morning, I decided to warm up my millk in the microwave. One moment of carelessness ruined everything.

And so it was, being made of plastic, rubber and steel, my friend perished in flames which took alex some time to put out. And the microwave took some time to be cleaned out as well....plus the smell was terrible.

Leaving me to search around for another mug, a wiser and more careful guy.

Losing friends is never easy, especially when you''ve spent so much time together you practically and literally know one another inside out.


In happier days...my blue friend in the foreground next to the cheap plastic water bottle..

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Thoughts

Just the other night, I was walking to a bus stop feeling frustrated. Went to a meeting spot for ppl attending hall meetings for Christian Union about 10 mins late. My fault, I know, but I was cooking that night and not being a very good one, ended up prolonging the process.. So having reached the chaplaincy(thats where we were supposed to meet) and finding no one there, I decided to go to Asda to get a cake.

Which brings me to the scene that I brought up above... a slightly begruntled young chap with his collar turned up from the cold and having a slight cold himself, walking towards a bus stop on a chilly evening.

Probably due to my grumpiness and my inner desire to not go home without having done something purposeful...a thought came in; whoever is at the bus stop, I'm going to try to be friendly to him/her....maybe tht's why I didnt get to go for the hall meeting...cos there's someone that needed a friendly ear at the bus stop. (Ok, hold your comments till the end of the post, k?). So with these thoughts in my mind, I reached the bus stop.

The wierd chant reached my ears before my eyes looked up to behold an old woman with a bright pink wig and really hard plastic shoes. She was chanting what sounded like a movie soundtrack 'ba ba ba dum dum dum' and another, younger lady was chanting with her, smiling at her as if to pacify her. Besides the two of them, there was an old man with a disfigured mouth looking like it needed a set of false teeth badly, and two other young men warmly wrapped up against the cold.

The old lady was trying to get the old man(whom apprently seemed to be her husband) to sit next to her, But he kept declining. And as I neared the scene, a wierd smell reached me. It smelled like leather gone bad from having being left in the rain, togther with some other scent which I tried in vain to identify. First impression: a very incongruous scene...I found myself shying away from the woman even though she'd not said anything to me yet. I managed a smile at her but inwardly I was hoping she wouldn't ask me to sit beside her. It was quite a long wait for the bus. The old woman gabbled on to the younger woman beside her who obviously knew her, though what she was saying was anybody's guess. From time to time she would break out into the chant I'd heard at first.

And as I stood slightly out of the circle of light thrown out of the bus stop, thoughts just came in.

Why was it I found it so hard to love ppl like these?

Why in the world am I being so put off by wierd smells and wierd chants and wierd looking wigs?

And here I am with all my talk about going into the mission field as a doctor...while I'm having difficulty loving ppl not 500 metres from my flat..

Will I be able to love ppl the way Jesus loves them?


I'll admit a lot of what I was thinking was not really justified and that I'd no right to second guess God and His plans for me and feel bad about doing so.. But the picture of the woman stayed with me after I'd got the cake and gone home and sung happy birthday with the rest..

Jesus loves her too.

How far will I actually dare to go for Him?