my days on paper

i believe

My dreams and passion for singing grew. Yep, it actually got bigger, and more intense. Don't know how, but it did.

I don't think I've blogged about this before: I'm taking singing lessons. You know, like paying for it and everything. It's been going on for 6-7 months (with a long break in between when I was back in Malaysia). And I love it. Not because it is fun - and it is - but because I'm actually learning heaps from it. i believe that I had improved in terms of singing too... give me two more years, and i believe that I will be ready for bands and gigs.

I was practising to the song I Believe I Can Fly, and realized (for the hundred-th time that year) that my voice sounds incredibly childish. Man, it's going to take so long before I can really do this song...

"If I can see it
Then I can do it
If I just believe it
Then I can sing this song"

i believe. I wanna start writing songs!

Anyway, I think it's time to change the layout of my blog. It's getting really dry. God, please grant me the time and creativity and skill to do so...

Something tells me that that's not the best way to do it. *sigh*. I need help.

Oh well. i believe.

Home but not ready

Yeaaa I'm hoooome~!

Been doing lotsa chores since I got back, and I'm still not finished. I got the essentials done though...

I just can't decide which looks better(when my Sony Ericsson was in its prime)

Been waiting for a new phone since forever(after I realized four months ago my Optus contract plan was expiring). Now, after some 'obstacles', I finally got it. The new phone. I hope the $0 upfront contract plans never ends.

Not the only thing that's new though... After all I did brought a LARGE empty luggage to KL, and came back with a full one.

Notice anything different?

No, I didn't dye my computer black... I bought a new one! Too bad my room was so dark(light bulbs blew again - which happens as often as I eat) that I can't see the details of my new (sleek, black) computer on my CRT monitor. Maybe you LCD-ans can see it?

Can you identify the biggest(bigger than my CRT monitor) computer piece in the picture? It's that big black thingy beside my CPU casing. That's the subwoofer of my dream-speakers Logitech Z5500 5.1 that's THX certified, with built-in Dolby Digital Prologic II and 96/24 DTS decoders. Basically, it's amazing. Oh, it has a remote control too.

Here's some more stuff I brought back with me...

Just small stuff for memento(though not intentionally brought back)

Those coins were Singaporean and Malaysian. When I first arrived back in Melbourne, I didn't have time to organise my wallet, so for two days I was carrying a wallet with three currencies in it. I remember dreading the time I had to take 20 Aussie cents out of my wallet.

My MAS boarding pass(part of it)! I was sitting between two chinese-malaysian girls on the plane, who were friendly enough for a comfortable trip. No, they weren't particularly attractive, Dave. And they weren't "friendly" either, so knock it out of your head.

The large steel nail-clipper somehow managed to slip into my laptop bag right before I left the house. I hope my sisters wouldn't mind the smaller, 70% plastic nail clippers that were left in the house. Good thing their nails were a lot softer than mine - I broke nail clippers before... more than once. Anyway, I really didn't intentionally take the nail clipper with me. Really.

Well, when I thought I had done nearly everything(with the exception of washing my bedsheet, pillow sheets, grocery shopping etc since they weren't critical), I found out that my new mobile phone service STILL hasn't commence, my Optus mobile service is still connected, and the power supply for my computer casing isn't working properly.

Do you think I'm able to fix everything in one day? Uni's starting next week.

Dengue Fever

My sister has it. Please pray for her.

I've done an internet research on it(for my sis' sake), and found out that Dengue aren't all that dangerous. Most types are in fact, harmless - which is the type I hoped that my sister has got. If her platelet-count dropped any lower she had to be admitted into the hospital, but for now, aside from the weakness, rashes and fever, she's pretty normal.

One of the more dangerous types of Dengue, is the Hemorrhage(aka bleeding) one. This one basically causes the patient to bleed more frequently, which had to be countered by blood transfusion(my mom and I has blood-type O, so she'll be fine). But I'm more afraid of the other - which is the most dangerous type - called the Dengue Shock Syndrome. This one tend to happen to patients under ten(fortunately, my sister is comfortably above ten). Patients with this can have fever one minute and then hypothermia the next. This condition may put the patient into shock. Once the patient is in shock, the chance of fatality is beween 10% - 45%.

That's why I hope that my sister got one of the harmless strains, which she most probably do. But please pray for her anyways, thanks.

The Phuket Incident and Miracles

I just read a forwarded email from Joy Chang: a testimony by two siblings from Selangor, regarding their experience in Phuket during the recent tsunami incident. If you are an ACCF-er, I'm pretty sure you received it. I still have the email in my inbox if otherwise.

It's amazing to read a testimony of a fellow Christian. It was so vivid - the emotions, the pain, the chaos. And yet, the siblings were able to remember God and his cause, praying even for others, and even bringing a local and several foreigners to Jesus. They were afraid, yes, but their faith held them together.

I never realised how powerful faith was. I always thought it was weak, and was unable to help in needed times. But, I was stupid - it's faith after all. We may not sense God through the mass & media of the Phuket incident, and may not see his miracles anywhere in the news, but He definitely was - is - helping every individual involved or not with Phuket. I just understood:

God is not a superstar.

He doesn't show himself on the media like the famous actors and singers. Instead, he helps each one of us as an individual. He's not an idol that we see on television. We could worship and declare our love to our favorite Hollywood idols all day, but we'll never get the chance to talk to them. God, on the other hand, we never see him making big visual miracles during disasters. Instead, he helps each one of us by hand.

Nope, He has no interest in producing extravagant miracles so we can awe at his works. It was us that He wants - for us to be so close to Him, that we bring about little miracles through Him in our world. It's the difference of knowing an image and knowing a heart. God loved us enough to offer us his heart instead of his image. Love ya.

Chirstmas... trees viewed by kg

Singaporeans really took effort to make impressionable decos in their malls.

In the famous mall of Takashima (I think), where we would normally unable to afford any of its clothing(top-end designer clothes, what do you think), a magnificent three-story-tree stood proud and erect. I actually had to get to the highest floor to take a picture that would fit the entire tree. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to turn off the flash.


The un-flash-ed version - I reckon this one is less cool, but at least it showed its true colours. I want to have one like that in my house... but I'd have to remove my roof first.


"I'm, dreaming, of a white, Christmas...."
Such a sweet tree. This one was from Guess Kids, Paragon Plaza. While the others were browsing the kid's clothes for their cousins (and themselves - advantages of being little), I only awed at this tree, thinking of the song 'White Christmas'. I really want to go to London for Christmas.

I saw this hilarious quote on the Orchard Road of Singapore:
The joy of Christmas giving begins with shopping.

Man, that's really too much!

*sigh*

My days have been uneventful, in case you've been wondering why I haven't blogged. I'm only blogging now because some people are getting a little 'restless' - with a not-so-subtle 'warning'. Remarkable, ain't it?

Haven't been doing much (or anything at all), apart from going to Singapore (and back), eating around several places in (and out) Selangor, caving in Bukit Teringgi (or was it just Tinggi?), mutiple vists to Lau Yat, Mid Valley, KLCC, and the cinemas in them, etc, etc, etc. Uneventful, right?

Oh a cousin of mine got Denggue('Denggi' in Malay, carried by the Aedes mosquito) recently, not surprising because I heard stories like 'whole family but one got infected in Taman Desa(where I live)'. It's the Denggue season now, apparently. We visited her after she left the ICU(Intensive Care Unit, which means like the name suggests) - she looked so stoned and pale, which was apparently better than before, when she was bed-ridden and spoon-fed. She was smiling, and could still make jokes, so I guess she'll be fine. Just glad she hadn't got Denggue when she was pregnant. THAT, would be a disaster.

My elder sister got a BBC boyfriend. Like 'ABC', it stands for 'British-Born-Chinese'. He certainly had the English accent. Wonder what's with the 'BCs and heavy accents. He seemed like a nice fellow(he's here for holidays for a month... no doubts just to see my sister), and he gets along with my younger sister and I. While some people don't believe in long-distance relationships(even Malaysia-Singapore), both of them actually managed to pull it off for six months! London and Selangor's nearly opposite ends of the globe man...

I just read a few more fiction - Lady Gil by Rebbecca-something. Love the wry-humor.

My-Card Registration

Some things never change.

Yesterday my family woke up early in the morning and arrived at the My-Card registration booth(?) at about 9am. However when we were there they told us that it is 'full' and we had to come back some other time, and also told my elder sister that her hair needed to be of the natural colour (black). Dissappointed, we went home.

Next morning, we woke up earlier (by only a slight) and arrived the booth at 8:30am. This time we got a number... with about two hundred people waiting before us.

That guy then pointed at my younger sister and said "Dia next year September baru buat. Kalau buat my-card sekarang untuk dia tak guna."

Obviously since my sister was already there, we protested, but he insisted that they won't do it for her, and that she returns there after her 18th birthday. Funny thing was they never had that policy before that. Man, don't they have a place where the complete requirements of the My-Card to be displayed? Its just terrible that they keep sending people home a few times because of some hidden requirements...

Anyway, that guy told us that our turn won't arrive until after 9:30am for sure (one hour), so we went for breakfast. Fortunately for my sister we had just enough time to send her home. I remember trying very hard to sleep when we got back to the booth, and only after two very painful hours, my turn arrived. I've forgotten what it was like to be a Malaysian...

Then everything was a flash. They even gave me a temporary IC (since mine was stolen), but I had to pay RM20 of course. They took a picture of me in a nice black shirt (which I'll never ever wear in Malaysia again. Long sleeved black shirts aren't the most climate-smart choice for Malaysians). But the picture turned out to be stretched sideways, making me look roundish. Or am I roundish?

I so hope I don't have wait this long for my new driving license...

(Call me crazy, but long queues has become one of Malaysia's most endearing trait.)

KL, home really?

My plane bumped on KLIA's runway at 5:45am yesterday, and I thought to myself, 'I'm home'. Actually the feeling came earlier than that - when I stepped in the MAS airplane back in Melbourne, it was like stepping into Malaysia. Malay steward and stewardess. Malay language first on every announcement, then the English version after like an after-thought. Chinese, Malays, Indians, and Singhs at every angle from where I'm sitting, and not a single caucassion in sight. Gosh, I felt like a foreigner! Wait...

Heard of the fiction 'Airframe'? Dave might have, since he's getting free copies from newspapers. Bet'cha've been reading more of Crichton than the newspapers themselves right? Anyway, since I had three hours before the plane takes off, I got myself that book for entertainment. I knew what it was about, but I had not realised its 'relevance' until I saw Jeremy.

---

I looked up to rest my eyes after reading ten pages of Airframe when I saw Jeremy Ngoh. He saw me as well and waved. He and his mum was sending their cousin off, so we talked for about five minutes. Right before Jeremy and his mum left, he pointed at my book and said, "I've read that book."

"Really? How was it?"

"It's a really good book. Highly recommended reading."

"Good thing I bought this," I replied excitedly and grinned. Looks like I'm going to have a good time.

"Yep," he said and turned away. Just as he was about to leave, he turned to me again. "But don't read it before you get on the plane!" he warned suddenly.

Then I realised it. "Oh." The book was about planes. Crichton writes thriller/horror fiction. And I was getting on a plane. "Crap."

---

So when I did get on the plane, I watched a movie instead. I chose to watch 'The Terminal', since it was a Tom Hanks movie. When I told my sister much later, they told me they found the fact that I watched 'The Terminal' on the plane funny, since that the movie was about an airport. I couldn't resist telling them about 'Airframe'.

I reached home at about half past seven, and my sister was already awake. We ended up talking a lot about movies, waking up my elder sister just to get the movies, and then the three of us talked some more. Sensing the oppurtunity, I showed off my iPod and Airport Express, which they turned out to be less impressed that I had hoped. Oh well. Then wanted my help to set up a wireless for their laptop. Since they already had a wireless router, it was easy to set up. However the signal was too weak upstairs, so I told them to buy a signal booster. They showed me some hillarious clips they got from the net, and I downloaded 'Gemilang' for them. Then we went for breakfast and I showed them some songs while they updated me on the 'must-watch' movies.

When my elder sister went back to sleep, and my younger sister went back to her room to study for her SPM, I sat down in my room, cherishing the temporary solitude. I looked at my watch and saw that it was 10:30am. I lay on my bed and I remembered thinking to myself that I had been here for too long - it's time to go back to Melbourne.

Yes, I miss Melbourne already. But I guess while I'm here, let's make the best out of it yeah? Home isn't too bad after all - it's good to be here, catching up with my family. Except that I truly felt more like a Melbournian than a Malaysian. I went to Mid Valley today and when I remembered thinking that the shop owners were very 'foreign'.

These three months is going to be so 'exciting'.

home for a 1/4

Whew, now that I'm done with exams, I have to do my long overdue room-tidying thing. I'm flying at 00:30am on Monday!

The thought of being home in Malaysia for 3 months still haven't really sunk in yet. I feel like I'm leaving home for three months instead. Man, who's going to take care of the house? What's gonna happen to the choir when everyone goes back? Is there anyone from the sound team who's still around?

And I don't even have a church in Malaysia... guess I'll go to SIB again. But, it feels so different... going to a church in KL is like going to a foreigner's church. Strong Malaysian accents, shorts and sandals the staple fashion, more hymnic songs etc. I've never been a fan of Hillsong or Planetshakers, but I'm already missing their music. Three months! What am I gonna do??

Anyway, thanks to Dave, I've become a semi-fan of Robbie Williams. He's such a brilliant swinger, and love his song 'Hot Fudge'. I still remember disliking him when I first saw him on MTV - the weird chain-mail-shirt that's partially see through and him singing as though he was about to eat the mic instantly made me turn away from him. So when I saw him in a suit I was really impressed.

By the way, if anyone knows what time service starts in SIB KL, and its direction from federal highway, I would appreciate you putting it somewhere I can see. I remember driving up University Road to a round-a-bout.

Semester 2 Exams '04

15.11.04 // Electromagnetism and Relativity
19.11.04 // Software Design
24.11.04 // Logic and Computation

---- - ---- - ---- - ----

I don't feel too well...

At least I know that I should pass the first one, unless something went horribly wrong and I didn't realise it... like a mistake somewhere at the start of my 34marks question...

My next paper is on Friday, and I'm already losing the 'fire' I had for studying; suddenly the idea of not getting a 'H' is not so appalling after all...

God, please don't let the fire die... I still have another paper after that one

::Self promise::
Will never take clashing subjects ever, and will study continually throughout semester

(Wait, didn't I say that last semester and the semester before?)