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

Happy Birthday BRO!

It's my brother Luke's birthday today! So here's a big shout out of HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you! I'll put up pictures of last night's birthday celebration with his cell group later. It's 9:16am now and I've gotta be at church later today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUKE!!!

Re-starting a Life Put on Hold

It's been a long week this week. I've been hanging out late at night chatting with a new friend and venting a lot. At the same time also learning more about what it's like to be free of the shackles of pain that I put myself through over her (her = the girl I was/am in love with). Am learning to let go some more of all the pent up anger & disappointment in me. Am learning also to start living my life again and to lay to rest the hope that she'd open her heart to me again.

Writing these words makes me feel like there's a finality to it all. Maybe God will bring her back to me one day ... maybe there's someone else out there who waiting for me. Whatever it is God has given me hope again. And that's a good thing. It's time to super-glue together my life after 2 years of picking up the broken pieces. I will always mourn the loss of her heart and forever regret my inability to hold myself together in my desperation to want to be with her. All I wanted was for her to love me ... but it's over now. For good.

Anyways, this week has been a solid week. Not as productive as I would like but it was a good week. I caught Transformers again last Wednesday. The 2nd time wasn't as amazing as the first but it was worth a 2nd watch nevertheless. The difference this time round is that I could take in all the detail that I missed when I first watched it. The sound effects in that movie are top-notch & the movie was delivered in true Michael Bay fashion. A stirring score by Hans Zimmer rounds off the package. It most definitely wins my vote for best sci-fi/fantasy/action movie this year.

The evening with my cell members was great & everyone celebrating Ee Von's birthday that night made it a perfect cell outing. It was heart-warming to see her so happy and to hear the laughter coming from all around the dinner table. Aaah ... The simple joys of being a cell-leader. Here are some pictures of our "makan" that day. It was good fun and a proud moment for me being a part of this group. Enjoy!

This is the lot of em' ... THE SALTSHAKERS.
Err ... except for Roland.

This is some weird girl thing ... don't take my picture please?!
Sorry Daph, but I've taken it already!

That's Ee Von the birthday girl looking up at us ...
can you guess which one she is?

That's Lina on the far right, Ling Yew,
Nat (Ling Yew's definite better half ) & Ee Von

That's Elly on the far right, Matt, Angie & Terence.
Sorry Ling Yew ... my camera phone doesn't have a wide-angle lens

Here's a picture perfect shot of Daphne, Ee Von and Lina who is faaaar at the back.
Oh! Lina's from Korea by the way. Can any of you tell?

A Shot of the THREE MOST MACHO GUYS in the SaltShakers!
Can you smell the testosterone?!!

Here's Tim! He's the youngest guy in cell so he's like the small brother in our "family".
Lina says he's adorably cute!

Mr Kenneth looking immensely pleased after a delightful meal of pancakes!

The birthday girl's birthday pancake? STRANGE but TRUE!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ..." Oh! Was I singing too loud?

So there you have it! Happy Birthday Ee Von!!! And may all the blessings and good things we wished for you that night come true ... err ... soon!!!

To cap off this blog entry I'll end off with another movie. Last night I caught Die Hard 4.0 with Ivan & another friend. Die Hard was an action-fest and I loved every minute of it. There were just times when my jaw stayed agape at the reality-defying scenes playing before my eyes. It was most definitely a thrill ride for me.

The week still isn't over. Tomorrow is our regular book study and Ling Yew's cooking lunch for us at his place in Sg Buloh. And on Sunday we're off to Gentings! Hooray! It's gonna be another great weekend! It'd be tiring but good. Can't wait!

Cheers!

Weekend Escape in PD

Here are some snapshots of the retreat that I had with my cell in Port Dickson last weekend. All taken with my trusty and battle-scarred Sony Ericsson K70i. Heh ... pretty nifty. Here's the very first shot I took of Kenneth in his lo fu chi pose. The poor dude forgot to bring t-shirts in his hurry so for our Saturday outing he had to go out in his singlet and shorts. I must say that he looks really cool in an old Chinese sort of way.

Who's the Coolest Chinese Dude in Town?

Here are shots of Super Ling Yew getting ready to fly out the window. Fortunately Nataly was there to stop him. I think perhaps he would have been able to fly cos' he was super throughout the entire retreat. 3 cheers for Ling Yew!

Here I Come Blue Skies!

Up, Up and Away!

Ling Yew & His BEST "Dirty" Mamak Pose

Here's a pic of Patrick calmly eating his breakfast and enjoying his magazine yesterday. And here's one shot of Terence who hurt his back unfortunately while we were mucking around at Transformers while in the pool on Saturday. The guys were really good though and managed to persuade him to go to the hospital to get his back checked out.

This Magazine's more Interesting than my Food

Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast with a view (Shawn's head & the seaside of course!)

What's Up Doc?

And here's shot of my very cute intern Daphne waiting for everyone to finish up breakfast so we can start worship. You go girl!

Why is every still EATING?!!

I didn't take that many shots really. So here's the last batch of shots I took when the guys had to finish up a carton of milk before we left for home. Here are the contestants for the impromptu milk drinking contest we had. The prize goes to Patrick! Who gulped down an entire glass of milk in less than 5secs me thinks.

Contestant No 1

Our Winner!

2nd Fastest Milk Drinker

PD was most definitely FUN! Wish some of you could have come with me. We had loads of fun and lots of Taboo every single night. We spent a lot of time cleaning too cos' apartments by the beach filled with 14 young adults can get messy. All in all it was a good trip. I'll put up more pix once I get all the pictures from all the hi-tech SLR cameras that 3 of my cell members had.

Cheers!

So Much More than Meets the Eye

TRANSFORMERS totally rocked. It absolutely is the BEST Summer Blockbuster I've seen so far. I doubt that even Die Hard 4.0 would top it (which I'm definitely gonna be watching). Somehow I feel quite a tinge of excitement about it and am nostalgic about the slam bang action fest that the original Die Hard movie was.

My only gripe about Transformers is ... why does the darn website hang my browser all the time?! I use Firefox 2.0 on my iBook and every time I try to look up the Robots subsection on the site it hangs?! It doesn't matter whether I'm in the Autobot or Decepticon portions of the site. Sigh ... I wanna make more wallpaper for my Sony Ericsson K750i and would like to have a Bumblebee wallpaper instead of just modifying the default Optimus or Megatron ones like I did before. It's pretty cool having Optimus on my phone. I'm most pleased by the simple theme that I made.

Anyways, I'm off to Port Dickson in an hour or two from now. I'll be driving down together with Angie. I'm already pretty much packed. I've just gotta put together some Devotional material for my members and I'm good to go. It's been a good day today but I was so tired that I slept a bit just so I'll be more rested for my drive down to PD.

Here's a picture of me and Optimus that my cousin took of me at Robotcon 2007 at Cineleisure Mutiara Damansara. It's supposedly the biggest model of Optimus Prime in the world. Ha ha! What is it with Malaysia and setting records?


Cheers and here's to a FUN weekend this weekend!

I Forgive You

It's easy to say these 3 words but hard to do. So I'm just gonna declare to the world that I forgive you. There'll always be a special place in my heart for you and if you'd only choose me I'd say yes in an instant. I'm sorry I've been more a curse than a blessing in your life. I wish I could take back some of my angry words but I can't. I'm blessed to have had the opportunity to love you; to have felt the way I did for you ... it made me feel alive inside in so many ways. My biggest regret is that in my obsession to want to be with you I got lost along the way; that in the darkness of my hopelessness I turned a good thing into a bad one. I don't expect you to settle for 2nd best so don't let me be 2nd best, a life-partner should be God's best and I wish that for you. I'm sorry for everything. I hope you'll read this one day but I'll leave it to God to lead you to this message. You know who you are. Take care and I pray His face shines upon you all the way. *smiles*

Fasting Ain't Easy ...

I just started on a personal fast yesterday and today is DAY 2! GOODNESS! It's not easy to fast at all. I've not had a bite to eat except liquids and um ... one milkshake. It's been doing me some good and has softened my heart some (must be God at work!).

I've just been asked to get my whole cell group to sit together in a cluster and the possibility of having HER around is eating me up some. It's hard being asked to think about the group and to have a Kingdom mentality. Feels like I'm being asked to put duty before self every time. I've always put others before me and foregone personal comfort in a lot of my decisions and I feel very unappreciated in doing that. Does anyone ever think of me and my own comfort? I know ... sounds selfish, but that's a struggle that I'm faced with every time it comes to her.

I want to do the right thing and I will but I've had to harden my heart a lot in order to be strong. To push her out of my heart so that I don't have to keep on loving someone who does not appreciate those feelings. I had to choose to hate when all I had was love. I don't know how to fix things between us anymore. I don't even know anymore what I want. I wanted to be a blessing in her life. To be someone who could be there for her ... to be a friend and to love her. But she's just been so critical of me. Maybe I've got self-esteem issues. My best friend tells me that I've got it all but why is it that I'm still single then? That's the million dollar question ain't it? Another question that bugs me now is do I still wanna be with her? I guess I do but what's the point if I'm going to be 2nd-choice? Yeah ...

Well, dear reader ... I don't want to depress you guys so here's a low down on my SUMMER MOVIE sojourn. I've been watching at least 2 movies a week and it's been awesome. Here's my take on all the movies I've caught over the past 2 months.

• Spider-Man 3 (2 & 12 May 07)
  Really awesome movie this one. I watched it twice and only made up my mind that I liked it after the 2nd watch. It's melodramatic but I must say that it made sense that Spidey could turn arrogant and shirk the help of other "lesser" beings. It's a great watch and I'm definitely getting the DVD when it comes out. The villains were pretty disappointing though; mostly because there were too many of them and unlike the previous two movies I couldn't emphatise much with the villains as people. VENOM looked really cool but was very under-utilised.
  

• Next (14 May 07)
  This one was an OK watch but had a very disappointing ending that made the whole movie feel like such a waste of screen-time. I wouldn't recommend this movie.

• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (25 May 07)
  Pirates was an action-packed romp through pirated-infested waters! I enjoyed it thoroughly and Johnny Depp was brilliant. I mean ... if ever there were a crazed pirate who wanted immortality ... Jack Sparrow's it. The action sequences are over the top and it was a BLAST to watch. I loved every minute of it. AVAST me hearties!
  
  
• Shrek 3 (2 June 07)
  Shrek 3 was a good watch. It was funny but it did get a little bit draggy especially with the whole Shrek turning into a father-like, advisor figure to King Arthur. The supporting characters are great; especially Gingerbread Man and Pinocchio.

• Blades of Glory (4 June 07)
  Good, mindless fun ... that's all I can say. I had a blast watching it and it made me really happy. I laughed and laughed. The jokes weren't cerebral but that's exactly what I was looking for. It certainly made my day!
  
  
• The Last Mimzy (8 June 07)
  This one was a pleasant surprise. The child leads were really good. A definite feel-good movie that brings you back to more innocent days when we were kids.
  
  
• Priceless (9 June 07)
  A French romantic comedy. My first international flick in ages. It was funny and most certainly different. Twisted morals but it had a happy ending. I'd recommend it to those looking for something different.
  
  
• Ocean's 13 (11 June 07)
  I liked this one more than Ocean's 12. But less than Ocean's 11. It was entertaining and I had good laughs with my brother and my friend Ivan who watched it with us. And it's always cool to see a hypothetical crime being pulled off.
  
  
• The Namesake (13 June 07)
  Mira Nair's a brilliant director and this one really touched a chord in my heart about being Asian. It's a wonderful story and really speaks about our culture and how so often we lose it in the face of modernity and especially so with Western influences. We are so much less Asian that it's pretty sad. A must watch for those looking for something out of the ordinary.
  
  
• Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (16 June 07)
  Way better than the first movie. And the Silver Surfer is really cool. Buff too. All the girls who watched it with me were swooning over him. Gah! Ha ha! Too little Doctor Doom though. Not the best comic book adaptation this summer, I'd say Spider-Man 3 tops that one in my book. Another comic book movies to watch out for is Iron-Man which has got Robert Downey Jr in the title role. How cool is that?
  
  
• My Neighbor Totoro (DVD - 17 June 07)
  I've heard so much about this movie and finally managed to watch it after splurging RM200 on a boxed Studio Ghibli set. Am very much in support of buying original stuff ever since I started working in the music industry. Main reason why I got the set was cos' of Spirited Away which I wanted to screen for the Film Appreciation class. Anyways, back to My Neighbor Totoro ... TOTORO is waaaay cool. He's huge. Furry and a hit with the girls. The depiction of love between siblings is presented in a very special way here and reminded me about my own fights & play-time with my brother when we were younger. This movie warmed my heart and gave me the izzy fuzzies.
  
  
• Surf's Up (22 June 07)
  I bought tickets twice for this one cos' I missed the 5pm show due to an over-run in a work appointment. I had good laughs in this one and the animation was superb. Made me feel like I wanted to be a surfer dude and travel the world to look for choice waves. Totally radical man ...
  
  
• Children of Men (DVD - 23 June 07)
  I picked up a copy of this after hearing about it while doing research for the film appreciation class I took over for my friend Choon Ean. It was pretty depressing to watch but brilliant. The sound design was amazing and the way it was shot made me feel like I was right there with Clive Owen in the middle of an oppressive version of England in the future. It made my Saturday drab but definitely worth a 2nd-watch (when I'm not depressed of course).
  

That's it from me, you have my thoughts on all the films that I've caught in the past two months. I believe Transformers is gonna rock! Michael Bay! Optimus Prime! What's there not to like? I've got my very own ticket for this Thursday. Anyone care to join me? :)

New Video Games & So MUCH More

Wow ... I've decided to finally do a bit more blogging this year especially in the wake of all the new things that have been happening in my life. PLUS not just a boatload but a shitload of video game updates.

It's 8:26pm now. I've not had dinner and have been going at Puzzle Quest on my Nintendo DS for the past 2 hours or so I think. Last I remember it was 6:30pm and had just climbed a top my loft bed. I played & played till the battery on my DS died and so I've been forced out of my Puzzle Quest! Ha ha! I'm hungry now so I better go scrounge out some food. Looks like it's gonna be good old "sambal-flavoured" Indomie! Yums! My absolute favourite.

Some gaming updates! My brother & I picked up a Nintendo Wii last month and it's been good fun. We've even gotten our dad hooked on it; it's mostly the tennis mini-game in Wii Sports though. I picked up a copy of Super Paper Mario too but haven't dug my teeth into that game properly yet. The bundle came with Marvel Ultimate Alliance which was pretty OK and even though I wasn't too impressed at first I found myself going back to it again & again for more mindless beat em' up action.

I've also been picking up lots of original PS2 titles whenever I visit Singapore and am the proud owner of quite a few titles. I'm particularly pleased with Guitar Hero II which is super good fun. Since I play the guitar pretty OK, getting through the game is quite alright but am stuck on the Hard setting which requires a lot of dexterity. The Expert setting almost killed me and made me feel like I suck at guitar (I don't in real life)! Ha ha!

On a more serious note, things are picking up for me. Being able to blog again is good since it must mean that I'm not feeling too depressed anymore. 2-and-a-half years of pining for one girl certainly takes its toll on a person. I've started a new music label with Juwita called Four Forty Records, I've been meeting many local celebrities in my work and my cell group in church is really growing. Things are picking up definitely and just recently I've decided to just forget her and move on with my life. It's hard having to stop loving someone who has chosen to ignore all that's good about you in favour of someone else whom you know doesn't match up in so many ways to you but that's just life. I honestly don't know how I can be friends with her again but I guess I'll just have to leave it to God to work that out. Right now it's time to glue back all the pieces of my broken heart and to enjoy what God is blessing me with in the here and now.

I've gotten a Sony Ericsson K750i but Blogger doesn't have that much space for pix. I'll have to figure out how to get more space so I can put up pix of my room and also all the video game stuff that I've gotten in the past 2 years. In addition to that I've been to lots of places too! And also I wanna give everyone on the World Wide Web a glimpse into the always exciting & never dull moments of my life (it can get tedious but I must say that's it's always interesting!).

I'll drop a post sometime tomorrow I guess. Time to look into how to get more webspace for pictures!

Cheers!