Quik Customer Service

I'm writing with some glowing praise for customer service that I've gotten recently right here in Malaysia. I gave Panasonic a call last week about my TV which was on the blink and guess what? They responded almost immediately and just this week on Monday, the technician dropped by and made off with the innards of my 29-inch Tau Giga TV.

My TV! It looks healthy doesn't it?

Not quite! It's all empty inside! An empty shell ... heh heh!

Imagine my suprise this morning when Panasonic gives me a call again to tell me that they've fixed the problem! Oowah! Awesome no? Unfortunately for fixing the problem they are charging me:

• RM80 - Service fee
• RM62 - For the component
• RM25 - Delivery charges
  

All in all the repairs on my TV is gonna cost a whopping RM167. Crappola! That's a lot of money!!! Sigh ... I wish I could earn more money. Anyone got any freelance copywriting jobs out there? I've won a few Kancils you know? Hire me ... please? Anyways, Panasonic has really been very good to me ... even when I had problems with my DECT phone. Kudos to Panasonic's Customer Support department!

Another glowing report about customer service here in Malaysia involves Maxis. About a month or so ago I also made service complaint to Maxis and imagine my surprise when they actually sent someone to check out the reception in my apartment. The tech guy was in my apartment for a good 30 minutes before leaving with all the data he collected. I still haven't heard from Maxis yet so I guess it's time to make another call to them.

The one thing I've learnt in the past few months is this ... quit complaining about things to people who can't make a difference. If you have an issue with something bring it UP! My friend Paul Gan told me this ... if you don't inform Maxis or whomever about your problems they won't know. And if they don't know how can they fix it? So my advice to all of you out there is to VOICE OUT and don't just RANT OUT!

On another note my dad's old bike got stolen in Bentong last night! Sigh ... thieves really are desperate these days. I hope the police can locate it. A moment of silence please to my dad's faithful bike ... it really was a workhorse bike! It's gone everywhere ... well almost everywhere in the Klang Valley PLUS it's even travelled from Bentong to KL & back. I remember riding with my dad all the way from KL to Bentong on that trusty steel horse! If the police can't find it I will miss it so.

Till next time!

Remember, Remember the 11th of September

I woke up this morning and again battled through my hurt but it was a bit different today as I read Our Daily Bread. It's September 11th today and it just seems like so long ago that the World Trade Center was taken out in New York in 2001. Has it really been six years? I remember watching the events on TV back at my first job in Arachnid and it seemed like a waking nightmare. The world has in a lot of ways moved on but in my own pain it seemed as if God was prompting me to pray; to pray for comfort for all those who lost someone in the attacks. And so I did just that.

Remember those who were lost

For the rest of us, these events seem so far away but it's very real. Pain & suffering is real. The question is; are we doing anything to reach out to touch lives? I find myself being so self-centred at times and it is a struggle to care for others when I'm hurting too. I do the best I can and I guess I still believe very much that this world would be a much better place if we all just looked beyond ourselves and cared for others.

Let's spend a minute in silence for those who lost their lives today. For the victims & for the rescue workers. And for the families who miss someone that was taken from them. I pray for God's comfort on you.

On another note, I was surfing through Apple Trailers today and lo & behold the Iron Man movie has a trailer out! The closing bits brought out the fan boy in me but somehow the trailer didn't do that great a job in exciting me at the start. Whatever it is I'll still catch it when it releases next year especially since Iron Man is playing such a crucial role in Marvel's comic books since Civil War last year.

Check out the trailer here. That's all from me today.

Cheers & spend a bit of time today thinking about what you can do to make a difference in someone's life.

Elusive Freedom

Hi everyone, I've been battling my thoughts & emotions a lot especially in the last 2 weeks. It's tough when I don't really understand why my heart still hurts after so long. My best bud J-son tells me that I know what I need to do and perhaps I do. But it just seems like such a chicken & egg thing cos' it's hard to ignore the hurt that's so palpable when I get up in the morning. It's FRUSTRATING!!! Sigh ...

I don't know if I still want to be with her or if I just want to move on and be with someone else. The worst part is that I don't know how I can be with anyone else with such damaged emotions. When I sit down and close my eyes; a picture of my heart appears and I see it still bleeding & hurting. It's sad that the people you love have such power to hurt you. For the most part I've succeeded in not looking back at things but it's just come back all of a sudden with a vengeance in the past month or so.

At any rate I've had a huge measure of peace today after attending church at our brand new Dream Centre. It was strange being in such a huge place and at the start I felt so overwhelmed by all the people. I feel that DUMC as a whole is such a big place and I'm glad that at the very least we have cell groups that meet and minister to the needs at a micro level. It's awesome being a part of this church and I'm a bit sad that with all my disappointments & heartache that I'm just not able to contribute to the church but I hope to be up & running soon. There is a part of me that just can't wait to write a new stageplay and to take up cell leadership again. For now I guess I just gotta receive and really get deeper into God in this difficult period of my life. Here are some pix I took of our brand new sanctuary ... AWESOME no?

My view from upstairs. Huge ain't it?

Presenting the DUMC Dream Centre!

There! I've gotten all of my negative thoughts out of my system, it's time to get back to some Metroid Prime 2: Echoes after finish Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Wii. In time I hope to really live life out there with more freedom in my heart. Pray for me guys ... in the meantime I wish everyone out there happy thoughts and lotsa love! I leave you guys with this cute picture I took of some kids playing at 1U in the concourse area ... they made me feel happy cos' life is good really isn't it?

Life's full of colour to a child

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

Did you know that Tunku Abdul Rahman shouted Merdeka seven times at Stadium Merdeka when we achieved independence in 1957? I betcha you many don't know that cos' I thought he only did it 3 times till 3 days ago. Ha ha ha ha ha! How sadly unpatriotic I am but nevertheless I love Malaysia to bits. I doubt I'd ever leave this the Asian Garden of Eden that's full of such delicious delights!

It's been a wonderful Merdeka weekend that started with Juwita performing at IKANO's Golden Merdeka Celebration Street Party. That was a blast and I got to meet Zainal Abidin, Reshmonu & Vince! We hung out with Vince & his sister Vanessa most of the day and chatted and chatted and chatted! It was fun! Got to meet Hannah T too and she's like super nice! I don't have any pix of myself though but that's generally the case when I wander around snapping shots with my camera phone.

Ju singing "One Golden Celebration"

Fireworks at the Stroke of Midnite!

On Merdeka day itself I spent half of my day at The Curve cos' we needed to complete our registration for the Gemilang Merdeka Race which a bunch of us had entered together. Managed to catch some of the festivities which included a marching band all dressed up in kilts! It was good fun and we waited for a balloon drop but unfortunately none of us won the iPod Shuffles that were up for grabs. Gah!

The Curve Marching Band!

And just today 6 of us made it into the finals for the Gemilang Merdeka Race! Yay! Hopefully my team-mate and I will be able to do our best and perhaps win the Macbooks! It'd be so nice to have a new laptop. My iBook's getting a wee bit old.

The Curve Gemilang Merdeka Race 07 Gang!

After the race the boys and I went over to Subang for some paint-ball & we shot some pool to celebrate Shawn's upcoming wedding to Jac. I'll put up shots of us in our get-up but needless to say it's been a good weekend. I found myself thinking of "her" some but I guess we just gotta move on and live life right?

Boys' Nite Out!

The weekend's still not over yet though! We've still got the race tomorrow and I'm gonna fill up more time and live life as full as I can. Maybe I'll spend a bit of time on the Wii as I just picked up a copy of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption plus I just figured out how to buy Wii Points online so we (my brother & I) can now download Virtual Console games! Heh heh! It's been a good weekend so far and I just thank God so much for life and for being able to enjoy it more even though I still wake up most mornings with such a deep ache but He's been there and He always will. He makes my days better! Definitely!

For more pix click here! Cheers everybody and happy 50th Merdeka to all my fellow Malaysians! MERDEKA!!!

Road Closures @ Mutiara Damansara for 30th Aug 2007

Hello everybody! Here's the latest on road closures at Mutiara Damansara for those of you planning on hitting the IKANO Golden Celebration street party tomorrow evening. I just got an update from the event organisers so check out the map below. Join Ju & me as IKANO kicks off our 50th year of independence. Cheers!

IKANO Golden Merdeka Celebration this THURSDAY

Hi everyone,

This is a shameless plug for Four Forty Records but do join us at IKANO's Golden Merdeka Celebration where Ju (my business partner & good, good friend) will be performing. She'll be joined by other talented individuals in the local scene - Reshmonu, Vince, Zainal Abidin & Fish Leong will be bringing their own unique flavour to the evening's festivities.


So swing by IKANO Power Centre for the biggest & ONLY Merdeka Street Party in Petaling Jaya on the 30th of August from 9.00pm onwards. There will be road closures so I'll keep you guys posted as soon as I get more details.

Cheers & happy 50th Merdeka everyone!

My Indonesian Experience

Being brutally honest is very hard for me because in general I don't like speaking about bad experiences especially if it's something as sensitive about our homes. And so for the first time in my life I'm gonna make a very public statement about something that really wasn't a very good experience for me.

My cell member Jac booked tickets for Bandung, Indonesia ages ago and I was quite looking forward to the trip. I fantasised of nature spots and a picturesque city in my head but reality has a rude way of interrupting sometimes as you will soon hear about in this post.

Flying into Bandung & stepping out onto the runway of the quaint airport was nice and our first meal at this nice restaurant was a pretty good start to the trip but things soon started to take a turn downhill. It took us ages to find a hotel and driving around the city was horrendous due to the one way streets and heavy traffic. Plus Indonesia in general is a pretty dense place and the country overall isn't very well to do which didn't make it very picturesque.

The streets of Bandung

I didn't take any shots of the poorer parts of the city that I got to see but for the most part Bandung looks very much like the shot above. Sigh ... Just being there and seeing the sights & sounds made me appreciate Malaysia very much. It was also strange to see rich structures amidst the overall poor portions of the city. I stepped into a "posh" shopping mall in the southern part of the city and boy was it a very different place compared to most of Bandung. It just made me realise that the disparity between the rich & the poor is huge in Indonesia. It must be such a struggle and when I thought about it I wouldn't even know how to bridge that gap if I were in government in Indonesia.

The Paris Van Java mall

To be fair we did have one highlight and that was the trip up to Tangkuban Prahu where we spent a couple of hours looking at volcanic craters. The experience was marred somewhat by peddlers hawking their wares and doing their utmost to hit our pity nerve (which they did succesfully) but other than that I loved every minute on the volcano. That was the one thing that made my trip to Bandung worthwhile. Our guide was a pleasant chap and I learnt a lot about the volcano and the legend surrounding the formation of the mountain. The hike made my legs ache but it was worth it.

Kawah Ratu - the main crater at Tangkuban Prahu

To be fair to the city, one of my acquaintances whom I met in Singapore last month was a very pleasant chap and he kept SMS-ing me things to look out for which was really nice of him. I wish the other nature sights were nicer but Maribaya waterfall was dirty (at least the part of it that we saw) and we accidentally went to theme park of sorts instead of the Ciater Spa. I guess for me it was an eye-opener because I experienced for myself what life was like to the average Indonesian and it's a difficult life with not much luxury.

The food wasn't that great to me cos' in general Javanese/Sundanese cuisine has a lot of raw vegetables and the average warung or stall doesn't keep their food heated up. A lot of the stuff is just laid out on plates and served cold which didn't make food very appetising. Veggies were served ulam style and eaten raw with chilli. The fried chicken was good though but overall I didn't really enjoy my meals. I guess I've been spoilt somewhat by the variety of Malaysian food ya?

One thing I learnt from the trip was that company makes a world of difference and my travel mates Diani, Jac, Shawn, Sanjay & Abner certainly made the whole thing fun. Guys, if you're reading this ... you guys RAWK! I loved hanging out with you ... and ... shhh ... drinking too. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Love you guys!

For a glimpse of the more scenic shots I took, check out my photo album by clicking here! All taken with my brand new W810i.

Cheerios!

Travel Fever 2007

The past few months have been filled with lotsa traveling. I feel really blessed to be able to go to so many different places and to be able to enjoy myself without pining for someone all the time. I thank God so much for how He's been working in my heart but there's still a long way to go to recover after all the hurt that's been inflicted upon me.

Anyways ... just thinking about the places I've been to in the past few months amazes me lots. Here's a list of places that I've hit since the start of 2007! I'll try to put it in chronological order as best I can.

• Ipoh
• Singapore (3 times already so far, once for Phantom of the Opera, once for our Esplanade gig & last month for Eagles Leadership Conference)
• Port Dickson
• Cambodia
• Malacca

And in a few days time I'll be off to Bandung, Indonesia! Yippee! This will be my first time in Indonesia and I am most looking forward to it! I'll get to see a real live volcano!

It's been a tiring August filled with travelling plus I've been consolidating stuff for our label Four Forty Records. At the same time I'm working through a lot of my personal issues with Ps Mike & my buddy J-son. There's just so much to do and at times I wonder how God's gonna fix up the mess in my heart. I memorised Romans 12:12 and have been repeating it to myself daily to help me get through the times when I struggle with hopelessness & the pain that revisits me time & time again. The verse gives me strength and I'm thankful that I have God's Word to hide in my heart.

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction & faithful in prayer."

Depressing thoughts aside ... I had a very memorable weekend hitting Malacca and hanging out a bit with some local celebrities during a shoot with NTV7 on Sunday. Anuar Zain is such a cool guy and it was easy chatting with him while we were eating lunch and waiting for rehearsals to start. I didn't feel at all uncomfortable and it made me realise that celebrities are just people like you and me. ;)

I got to meet Sheila Majid again (last time I met her was at the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 launch) and she's very, very nice. I am truly privileged to be a part of the music industry and in some ways I still can't believe I get to meet the very people I used to watch on TV or listen to on the radio. At the same time I'm finding a new faith & belief in Malaysian singers & musicians. I feel ashamed to have not paid more attention because we have such wonderful talent right here in our own backyard ... I wish our radio stations would do more to give room for the English scene to grow. We're missing out on a lot of good music in favour of all the Akons, Gwens & Avrils! We really should give local music a shot cos' there are real gems there!!!

Cheers & do remember to check out Juwita & the other local artistes I met on TV this Merdeka! Tune in to NTV7 at 8:30pm on the 31st of August to catch the Nite of Soulful Stars Merdeka Special!

That's enough from me today-lah. Click on the pix below to check out some of the shots I took over last weekend & share a bit of my life in the Malaysian music scene.

Ju @ Last Weekend's Salvation Army Fund Raiser

DiGi CelebriTeen Semi-Finals, Malacca

Ju, Anuar Zain, Kathy Ibrahim, Datuk Shake & Sheila Majid

Multiplication & the Start of Something New

We just had our multiplication party last night and the Salt Shakers are officially retired. Two new cells now exist in its stead:

• The Faith Healers led by my buddy J-son

J-son getting his feet washed by Choon Ean

• The Star Blazers led by Daphne

It's Daphne's turn now

It was a wonderful evening filled with food, chatter & laughter. We had a great encounter with God in worship and it was a humbling experience to have our feet washed by our leaders. It is a true mark of Christian leadership that we are servants first rather than the head of anything.

New pathways & adventure awaits both cells and I can't wait to see where it'll all lead to. I've just set up a new Multiply account for the new cell and hopefully I'll be able to manage both accounts (mine & the Faith Healers) properly. My idea is that we do it together at cell to share a bit of our lives to everyone we come in contact with. I think it'd be a wonderful way to connect to people. Won't you come join us on this ride?

Check out the brand new Faith Healers Multiply site at http://faithhealers.multiply.com for more pix of our multiplication and also to keep updated on our going-ons & activities!

Cheers!

DiGi CelebriTeen 07!

It's pretty cool that DiGI really does all kinds of stuff to really connect with their consumers. I think the whole DiGi CelebriTeen thing is such a wonderful idea. Maxis?! What the heck are you guys doing? Just having a dumb tagline like No 1 and most number of subscribers in Malaysia ain't gonna cut it. There's practically no value-add to using Maxis' services. I'm seriously thinking of moving to DiGi next year once number portability hits. Why bring up DiGi now? Well cos' I'm playing a small part in this year's CelebriTeen contest!

Ju & this year's semi-finalists

DiGi offers so much more to consumers. For eg. I was at Good Charlotte just a few months ago because I got an invite from MTV Asia and I was so envious of the DiGi customers who got to go into better viewing areas. The thing that slightly irked me was ... hey! I'm in the industry and here I am out here with the rest of the world? What gives? Oh! My point really is that DiGi really gives back to the consumer. When was the last time Maxis ever gave anything free to their consumers? No free concerts. No nothing. I have personally not gotten a single privilege from Maxis that made me feel like a valued consumer. All we get from Maxis is bills, bills, bills! What a sucky thing it is to be a Maxis subscriber.

On a more positive note, it's always wonderful to see Ju work with talent. Some of the kids really had a good thing going. There was this one kid Ashraf who had such a cool rock tone to his voice. He's this small sized dude but man ... the rock tone was just amazing. He's my personal favourite of the lot. Here's a pic of him doing his Ramli Sarip thing! Coolness!

Up, Up & Away Super-Ashraf!

At any rate we'll be seeing more of them at the Semi-Finals that's coming up on the 18th of August at Mahkota Parada Malacca. If any of you happen to be there swing by. I'll be there with Ju and she'll be guest judging. As a treat she'll also be performing some songs for all of ya. Check it out!

For more DiGi CelebriTeen goodness click here!

Early Morning Airport Drive & Spidey 3!

It's 9:30am and I've been awake for 5 hours! I had the opportunity to bless J-son and accompanied him to the airport this morning so I could drive his car back. J has been such a great friend to me and I recall all the different things he's helped me out with in our friendship. He's such a great support to me and definitely a great encourager.

I'm sitting here in McDonald's Centrepoint now and will be dropping by OCBC to bank-in some cheques and cash for my start-up, Four Forty Records. Then it's home sweet home to catch up on some zzz's followed by some catch up on work & looking up chords for worship tonight at cell group. :)

On a lighter note, the Spider-Man 3 DVD is hitting stores October 30th and I can't wait to pick up a copy for myself to complete the trilogy on DVD. Maybe I should pre-order it with that DVD store I frequent in Cineleisure.

Spidey 3 on DVD! Coming REAL Soon!

Cheers and have a great rest of the week to everyone who is reading this. I just heard on the radio that some people hate Wednesdays cos' they feel it's neither here nor there so here's a big big shout out to everyone to smile & be grateful for all the good things you have in your lives now; both big & small.
Adios.

An Eventful Weekend

I've just had such a weekend. It all started with PC Fair on Friday with Nataly & Ling Yew where I spent all day walking around the exhibition halls over at KL Convention Centre. Check out the link below for pix of our PC Fair adventure.
Quickly snap the picture-lah!

I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning at 6am. Did my Quiet Time then messed around with Multiply a bit before quickly packing some cleaning utensils and a change of clothes for the Dream Centre clean-up. I also packed up the items that I needed to send off through the Youth Team over to Yin Meng in Cambodia. It was wonderful working together with so many people in cleaning up the church premises. I felt privileged to be there and I guess that I've been feeling more & more privileged to be a part of God's work in the midst of all the messed-up-ness of my life.
Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It's Off to Work We Go

After cleaning up the section of church that was assigned to us Nat, Ling Yew, Tim, Kenneth & myself headed to Chow Yang and had brunch. The wantan mee I had was pretty good and Tim generously ordered some popiah to share out with the rest of us. It was Nat's first time having popiah and I think she quite liked it. WIth brunch done and out of the way we went to Angie's place to shower before Patrick came over to lead us in our book study. It was a hot and lazy afternoon but we persevered through it! Ha ha!

Nat, Ling Yew, Tim & I then hit Children's Church. I helped out a little with the song lyrics for worship and was just in awe as the kids worshipped. There was just something about their voices that made it special.

The Kids in Worship

We stole off for a bit at around 5 and went to this awesome pan mee place nearby. YUMS! The day did not end yet as there was still church after and dinner together with Jac & Shawn. I was really blessed to have had so much company over the weekend.


Pan Mee
Sunday was good too! I did a lot of chores in the morning. I swept and mopped the whole apartment, wiped the TVs, wiped the fan in my room and also wiped the book compartment that was on my loft bed. I then cleaned the sink, toilet bowl and scrubbed the floors in the shared bathroom outside. Oh! I also folded my laundry too! I then had some time to play a bit of Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition after lunch. I rested a bit this afternoon but just couldn't sleep and lay there in bed with my eyes closed.

I got up at around 3-something and played some more RE4 before pushing off for the SIB KL BM fund-raising dinner at Golden Palace Seafood Restaurant on Jalan Pudu. It was nice being there and experiencing how they celebrated their upcoming church building. The evening was full of dances and singing. Although the speeches were kinda long. Ju sang 6 songs for them; Shackles, Teman Sejati, Sambutan Gemilang, Satu Suara, One Golden Celebration & Belaian Jiwa. I never tire in hearing Ju sing the same songs all the time cos' I just love her voice. It reminds me why I continue to work with her and to support her cos' I really believe that her voice is used by God to touch people in their hearts.

The SIB KL BM Dance Team in Action

So that was my weekend this week. Exciting huh? But it has been tiring and this week marks another step closer towards the end of 2007. Time really does fly. It just seemed like yesterday that I had just gotten back from Singapore!

I hope everyone of you had a good weekend just experiencing all that God has for each of you.

Vote for JUWITA on the Hitz.fm MET10 Chart

Hey everyone!

Vote for Juwita on Hitz.fm's MET10 chart. She's currently now at number 4 with "Walk Away"! If you love her music then please take some time to cast a few votes for her at the Hitz.fm website.

Check out the charts and vote for it at http://www.hitz.fm/05/charts/mytop10/

Cheers!

A Tribute to Roland

I caught up with my buddy Roland last Thursday after shopping and picking up stuff for Yin Meng (the stuff gets sent to YM in Cambodia when the youth mission team flies there this coming week) over at Mutiara Damansara.

We had dinner at this place called Empress Cafe over at the Curve which had a food menu that strangely enough did not fit in with the decor. Check it out if you don't believe me. It had posh stylings but the menu had pizza and indonesian dishes. I didn't really like the food that much but maybe that was also because I was feeling kinda full.

Nevertheless, company always makes a difference so Empress Cafe turned out not to be so bad cos' I had good company. It was good catching up with him over food and just being comfortable with a good friend. There were laughs and cheeky retorts but mostly it really felt good to be hanging out with someone with whom I could just be myself.

My friend Roland

Anyways, Roland has been a good friend to me and when my buddy J-son cannot be there for me I was hanging out a lot with Roland. There was one time when we went all the way to Berjaya Times Square and back just cos' I felt like I didn't want to watch a movie in the end. Heh heh ... sounds like something a girlfriend would do. But Roland totally understood and we ended up playing some Nintendo Wii that evening. Good ol' Roland. Thank you so much for being such a friend.

Anyways, as we were leaving Cineleisure after watching Disturbia we caught a glimpse of this car that had something really cool on it. Check out the pix below to find out what it was.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No ... its ...

Heh heh ... can you see who's cool?

Who's cool?

What a coincidence huh? But yeah I fully agree that Roland is cool. Maybe we should check out the website and see what's going on there. Let's all click on www.rolandcool.com shall we? So yeah Roland. This blog post is for you. Thank for being such a friend to me especially when I needed company the most. I hope things work out for you with your promotion. Thanks bud! You are the BEST!

Heavenly Sword: The Demo

I stopped by my regular gaming haunt (Gamer's Hideout) at Cineleisure today and had the chance to play the Heavenly Sword demo. The graphics are awesome but the gameplay leaves much to be desired. I mashed buttons all the way through the short demo and am not too impressed by it. If this is what next-gen gaming is all about then Sony's really got a lot of catch up to do to get to where Nintendo is at. I'm having loads of fun with my Wii despite the fact that it's not a graphical powerhouse compared to the Playstation3 and the Xbox 360.


The above is an image of Heavenly Sword that I got off the official site. The pic features Nariko, the hot red head who is the heroine for the game. Incidentally the game features tonnes of motion capture work done by Andy Serkis (Gollum in the LOTR Trilogy) and his team of actors & animators. Hollywood is crossing over into video games in a big way but having all this motion capture work doesn't do a thing to evolve video games at all.

Give me my Nintendo Wii any day. Oops ... the Wii isn't really mine. It's shared with my brother. So give US our NIntendo Wii any day.

What an AWESOME Day

I had such an awesome day today. I mean it's just such a joy to have had a good day and to have been pretty productive too.

I got up on the morning. Prepped the photos that I promised to make into prints for Yin Meng & the kids in Cambodia. Hit the gym, had a simple breakfast of 2 roti canais & some mutton curry then sent off a document to RIM (the recording industry association in Malaysia).

Then I finally got around to editing the recessional track for my cell member Jac's wedding which is happening real soon in September. I got that done ... sent out some work-related emails to follow-up getting distribution for Juwita's album in SIngapore then I pushed off for Mutiara Damansara where I picked up some stuff for Yin Meng & also got the prints done. I'll send all these items back with the August youth team from DUMC who'll be flying to Cambodia on Monday.

The best part today was just having an epiphany of sorts. It's been a struggle holding the fort at Four Forty Records and I believe God's been preparing me a lot since I left my first job at Arachnid. I'm more prepared now to do this. To go the extra mile for Four Forty Records, I know that I must be prepared to make hard decisions and to even work extra hours. Right now the biggest challenge that we have is monetary and a small opportunity has opened up that might possibly allow for me to get a full-time position at my old ad agency Mantra. If that happens then it'll solve my own personal finances while at the same time free up what little resources we have over at Four Forty to expend it on a proper accounts person to help us out part-time. If any of you are looking for a part-time accounts thing do feel free to drop me a line.

Anyways, I've been very wordy in this post. It has been a good day and it still hasn't ended yet. I'll be meeting up with my good friend Roland to catch up a bit over dinner & then it's off to the movies. There's nothing much on now so I'm relegated to watching DIsturbia which I hope will be good. That kid from Transformers is in it and he's a decent actor. Of course I could be very much be influenced by some of the write-ups I've read about him.

That's all from me today. Here's to hopefully me returning to Mantra and also to have some of the flexibility I need to keep doing Four Forty Records and to grow it further.

Cheers!

My Movie Hit-list: Ratatouille

I am so looking forward to catching Pixar's latest animated flick Ratatouille. Directed by Brad Bird (who also directed Finding Nemo & The Incredibles) I am sure it'd be as heart-warming and visually gorgeous as his previous two movies. I've replaced my Transformers wallpaper on my iBook with Ratatouille wallpaper in anticipation of the movie. It's gonna be good fun. Wait for my review when the movie opens on August 16th.

For more Ratatouille goodness and wallpaper check out the official site at http://disney.go.com/ratatouille/

Say Cheese!!!

Cambodia, ELC 07 & NECF Dinner Pix

Here are some links to some photos I took while I was in Cambodia, Singapore and at last night's NECF dinner! Check it out ...

http://wengyuen.multiply.com/photos/album/2

http://wengyuen.multiply.com/photos/album/3

http://wengyuen.multiply.com/photos/album/4

Enjoy!

Breaking My Dead Silence

I've been super silent these past few weeks cos' I've been doing a lot of traveling. I was in Cambodia and that was followed up by a recent trip to Singapore for Eagles Leadership Conference where I was thoroughly inspired by all that I heard there. In case some of you don't know who Joni Eareckson-Tada is here's a link to her website. I've been very touched by her sharing of her life to all those who attended the conference.

Here's a pic of Joni I pulled off the web

I have had the privilege of listening to her 3 times in the past few days and I look into my heart and I realise that the disabilities I have are far worse than Joni's quadriplegia. The one thing that strikes me most is the pure joy that emanates from her and I shared with Juwita that I'll miss hearing that. I am more disabled than Joni in her wheelchair. I am bound and trapped by my own selfishness, self-centredness and by self-pity. I'm not being who God wants me to be and I'm thankful that He shows me right now in this time of my life.

I have had to make hard choices in this past month especially. I have to let go of someone who has become very close to me and to trust God to bring her back to me if it's within His plan but more importantly I have to right now work on things in my own life that I've struggled with immensely all this while. I want to lean on God in my weaknesses and come out of this strong and totally dependent on Him. I understand now that the pang of loneliness in my heart is one that is crying out for God. Even though I've known Him for almost all my life I have yet to totally give my life over to Him. I'm just as stubborn in having my own way as any other person. To be fair to myself I have grown a lot and learnt how to give up things to Him but I guess being human it takes us such a long time to really learn how to trust God completely with our lives. A very good friend of mine once said to me that the problem with being a living sacrifice is that we tend to wander of God's altar. How true that is. How true.

I've got a few pix to post on my recent trip to Singapore. I'll drop a link to them later tonight once I've uploaded the pix. Right now I just wanna close by thanking God for Joni Eareckson-Tada and the inspiration that she is to so many; that she allows God to use her and in her humility to not let her suffering become a crutch but rather a strength that gives God complete glory. I was just telling my business partner Juwita that I'll miss hearing her voice because it has become so familiar all throughout the conference. There is such joy that emanates from her and I thank God for someone like Joni who can rejoice because of her suffering.

That's all from me. Keep an eye out for my pix soon. I've gotta get em' off my phone and upload em' in a bit.

Cheers!

Good Lord! Nintendo has just announced a brand new video game that actually benefits our health! The game helps players build up their fitness and it's called ... *drum roll* ... Wii Fit! I've been reading online previews on GameSpot & GameSpy plus caught some videos at Nintendo's official site and it's gotten me very excited about how beneficial it'll be.

The game really looks awesome and would be good fun for the whole family. I'm definitely picking up a copy of the game when it comes out. It'd certainly make my daily work out a whole lot fun although I still would be hitting the gym for my 30-minute treadmill sessions. I don't think this game would help me in getting my heart rate up! We still need our cardio workouts yeah?

KUDOS to Nintendo for making video games not just a mental exercise but a physical one as well. I must say that I do not regret picking up my Nintendo Wii. It's been a good companion and has gotten me & my family together in some ways to do something fun & simple together!

Here are some pix I got off Nintendo's website to give you guys some idea of what Wii Fit is gonna be like. I hope Nintendo doesn't sue me for using these pix ... I'm giving them free publicity-lah!

YOGA anyone?

I can seriously see how push-ups would be more fun with Wii Fit!

NINTENDO truly ROCKS! Check out the official site by clicking on the link below to catch a great video of how Wii Fit actually works.

http://e3.nintendo.com/wii_fit.html