The meaning of success...

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.


Got this from somewhere... attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Meaningful... what do you think?

I think I love her

You know who you are...
Thank you for keeping faith in US.

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Dear God,

I am so glad that no matter how far we've fallen or how desolate we feel...

You are still God and You are true to Your word... and "underneath are Your everlasting arms".

Thank You, Father.

Random Ramblings Part 021107

1. End of the year is nigh...

2. I am not an eBay virgin anymore.

3. I only sleep 6 hours a day... despite my best effort to sleep more. Therefore, I am tired.

4. Raising a family is really, really TOUGH!

Boys and Girls

I dunno about you but I feel that there are lots of young people who worry about their face more than their hearts. They may look nice on the outside but inside leaves much to be desired. Sighs...

Pray

Lord,

Honour your servant's faithfulness...

Amen.

He is faithful

I found this song so comforting and encouraging...

It's called He Who Began a Good Work by Steve Green, written by John Mohr and based Philippians 1:6.

(chorus)
He who began a good work in you
He who began a good work in you
Will be faithful to complete it
He'll be faithful to complete it
He who started the work
Will be faithful to complete it in you

If the struggle you're facing
Is slowly replacing
Your hope with despair
Or the process is long
And you're losing your song
In the night you can be sure
That the Lord has His hand on you
Safe and secure
He will never abandon you
You are His treasure
And He finds His pleasure in you

Thank you Father...

That sinking feeling

I don't know about you but I think there are some things that are worse than death...

Its like being alive and yet not living...

I will give thanks to Thee

Give thanks with a grateful heart.
Give thanks to the Holy one.
Give thanks because He's given
Jesus Christ, His Son.
And now, let the weak say I am strong,
And let the poor say I am rich,
Because of what the Lord has done, for us.
Give thanks...

despite of and in spite of how I feel right now.

Give thanks!

Love...

• is patient
• is kind
• does not envy
  
• does not boast
• is not proud
• is not rude
• is not self seeking
• is not easily angered
• keeps no records of wrongs
• rejoices with the truth
• always protects
• always trusts
• always hopes
  
• always persevere
• never fails...

Thank you Lord, for reminding me of this again.

Raining

Its raining heavily now and the air is so cool. Wish I was at home... sighs.

Missing you

My dearest will be leaving for Kuching this evening to visit our friend Sarah's father, who is very ill. Its good that she's going back with the rest of her gang to be with Sarah.

Still... I miss her already. :(

Ball to feet?

If Man Utd manages to get the services of Carlos Tevez, it will be very interesting to see how a South American style of attacking play will blend with the defensive steel of a European defensive line, and how the rest of the clubs are going to cope with that.

Heavy

Lord, my burden is heavy but yours is light. May I exchange it for yours?

I cast all my cares upon You.
I lay down on my burdens,
down at Your feet.
If any time I don't know what to do,
I just cast all my cares upon You.

Quiet

Man Utd is very very quiet again after the shock signings of Nani and Anderson.

They were also very quiet before the signing of the Portuguese-based pair.
I wonder whom will they sign next?

Fishy

I was thinking of commenting on the Altantuya case but I wonder if the Gamen is reading my blog...

I wonder if I would be arrested if I said that the case smells like the a barrel of fish left in the sun for 2 days...

Hrmm...

Gay bomb anyone?

I read somewhere today that the US Department of Defense pondered on creating a bomb that would contain chemicals that would turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals, making them 'irrepressible' to their fellow soldiers. Thus, making them more interested in 'making love and not war'. Heh... :)

Angel?

Am I really an angel?

Sucks like lemon

This movie suck. 'Nuff said.

Death of a blog

I realised that there are dead blog links on my blog and on my browser's bookmarks folder.

Its kinda sad when that happens.

These blogs are going to fade slowly in oblivion, lost and lonely in the infinite space of the Web, with no one reading them any more.

Sad huh. :/

Recovering

I am currently recovering from flu. It was so bad that I ached all over and had a fitful night on Wednesday... drifting in and out of sleep.

It was so weird cos I had all sorts of weird dreams.

I hope I can be back to full health soon. I hate being sick.

Brazilian styled Man Utd

Looks like we are going to have a growing Portuguese-speaking contingent in Man Utd with the likes of Nani and Anderson joining Cristiano Ronaldo.

I really am drooling over the prospect of a South American-style attack and a European-style defence combining with great effect. I mean, its the best of both worlds.

I forsee Man Utd going for a 4-2-3-1 attacking formation in the near future. 2 central midfield strongman supporting the 3 attacking midfielders who will interchange with each other, using Rooney as the pivot.

Can't wait!

Weekend Summary

Eventful trip.
Fun time bonding and fellow-shipping.
Tired body.
Realisation, again, that I am blessed with a wonderful partner.

Good weekend overall.

Wembley Stadium Design - Bland and Generic?

Do you realise how the Wembley stadium looks so much like Arsenal's Emirates Stadium? The styles of each stadium looks so so similar.

They should take a look at new stadiums such as Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena or Beijing's new Olympic Stadium. Even the renovated Athens Olympic Stadium or Berlin's Olympic Stadium looks much better. As for older stadiums, have a look at Camp Nou and the San Siro.

Have they run out of ideas in making each stadium unique? I guess why the atmosphere at Man Utd's Old Trafford stadium is so different from its city rivals. Old Trafford was upgraded bit by bit, and so even after the renovations and expansion, it still managed to retain most of its character and uniqueness.

Oh well...

Chicken Breast

The Hokkien word for chicken breast is "Heng Kam Bak"... and don't you forget it! :)

Whome should Man Utd get for the next season?

A left-back = Gareth Bale?
A right-back = Micah Richards?
A defensive midfielder = Owen Hargreaves?
A left-winger = Nani?
A striker = David Villa/Fernando Torres/Dimitar Berbatov/Michael Owen?

Congratulations Man Utd!

After 3 years of waiting... Man Utd has finally won the Premiership title again!

It is no mean feat considering the quality of the opposition, especially Chelsea.

It took the whole team all of their skills, understanding and effort to be at the top this season.

The young 'uns came of age this year: Rooney, Ronaldo and even Fletcher... and the old ones, its was as if they found their 2nd wind and had a great indian summer: Van der Sar, Solskjaer, Larsson, Neville and especially Scholes and Giggs.

And of cos... the way Sir Alex put all these elements together, persuading Ronaldo to stay, recruiting Carrick to protect the back 4 and kept the team playing attacking, exciting football that sometimes put our hearts in our mouth, and other times lifting us up to "7th" heaven!

Lets hope they have enough in their tank to finish with a bang and end the season with a double. Here's to the next season!

New member of the family...

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... the latest addition to the Chen family!

I present to you... err...

(please ignore the lard of fat carrying her)

Urm... we haven't come up with a name for her yet (Edit: we finally came up with Ashe, which is a nice name). Yes, its a she and she's a Korat cat (at least we are 99.99% sure she is a Korat cat!).

Korat cats belong to one of the oldest breeds of cats in Thailand and apparently, they are given as a pair to newly-weds and prominent dignitaries as a symbol of good luck. So they are known as the "good fortune cat" in Thailand...

She's a beauty isn't she?

Depth of squad...

The problem with Man Utd this season isn't not having a great 1st team, its not having a good 2nd team. With a long, tiring league like the Premier League, you need to have at least 2 good first teams in the squad if you want to succeed on all fronts.

With 1 domestic league, 2 domestic cups and 1 European league to compete for, you need a really big squad, comprising of a good mix of youth and experience, with at least 2 players per position in the team. However, as with every big squad, the biggest headache is to make sure that everyone is happy and that morale is high. The cost of maintaining such a big squad is also enormous.

Unless Man Utd's owners can back the manager is maintaining a big squad and ensure that each player recruited are skilled, team players, an assault on 4 fronts is near impossible.

Now, if only Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Laksmi Mittal and Ingmar Kampard would be persuaded to buy Man Utd from the Glazers...

Too good to be true

They were poor. The very game Man Utd were expected to stand up and be counted for, they did not turn up. :/

At least Fergie had the guts to say that they were poor. Jose, you sore loser, learn from him will ya? :P

Oh well... there's always next season...

Now that Rooney's no longer ignorable...

Whom will be Man Utd's wild-card this time? Scholes? Carrick? Fletcher? Giggs? Even Ronaldo maybe? Hmm...

As for AC Milan, Man Utd have to watch out for Filippo Inzaghi though. That guy's a poacher par excellence... but I really hate the way he behaves on the field... whining and moaning, diving and asking for a yellow card to be issued to the opposition. That is just not cool, no matter how many goals you score. That's why I prefer Pele than to Maradona. I really hope Cristiano Ronaldo will start to lose those bad, bad habits soon.

Anyway, about 2 hours to kick off. Add oil, Man Utd!

Reading between the lines

I just read an article from the Daily Telegraph which had an exclusive interview with Kaka...

Now if I read the article correctly, and I am doing a bit of my own speculation here, there is might be a possibility that Kaka may be interested in playing in the Premiership and more specifically, Man Utd!

Imagine the prospect of lining up an attacking force of Rooney, Ronaldo and Kaka! If we get a world class centre forward to complement them (Zlatan Ibrahimovic maybe?)... what a dream lineup that would make.

My ideal handphone

I've been thinking of the kind of dream handphone that I'd like to have and I came up with this:

It should be a handphone that is built for an active lifestyle, something similar to the Nokia 5500 and it should contain features such as a
- shock-, dust-, scratch- and splash-resistant body,
- torchlight/emergency light - from flash function,
- FRS walkie-talkie function (especially useful when you are out of phone range),
- sports tracking software including heart-rate monitor, calorie meter, pedometer etc,
- GPS system, digital compass, altimeter, barometer and thermometer,
- multiple individual daily alarms,
- countdown timer with multiple timers and alarms,
- 1/100 sec. stopwatch with lap memory,
- world time - individual cities time,

...as well as more common features such as:
- hi-resolution, auto-focused, flash camera,
- hi-resolution video camera,
- 2nd hi-resolution camera for video calls,
- PIM including to-do list, calendar, reminder, journal/notes, calculator and converter,
- multi-band radio, and
- stereo media player.

Yeah!!! :)

Nokia or SE, are you reading this???

Oh well, back to work... :/

Should I say: I told you so?

Hmm... I wonder if Sir Alex Ferguson was reading my blog yesterday or did he have the same idea as I did: Put heaps of attention at Ronaldo and keep a tight lid on his plans for Rooney...

It worked didn't it? Hmm... looks like I may have a future as a football pundit. ;)

No one's looking at Wayne...

It seems like the whole focus on tonight's match between MU and Milan is on MU's defence, Ronaldo and Kaka. Hmm... interesting... where is Wayne Rooney figuring in all this?

If I was Sir Alex Ferguson, I'd have a word with Rooney and tell him that no one is really looking at him and it is a great opportunity for him to take the game by the scruff of the neck and shine while all the focus is on Ronaldo and Kaka.

Wad'ya think?

My deepest wishes...

Deep down in my heart, I have been harbouring a few wishes... hoping they will come true but most likely they will not.

The 1st wish would be to give Su Yin her dream wedding.
The 2nd wish would be to visit Japan, my dream country to visit.
The 3rd wish would be to produce a full-length animated movie. Maybe I can get someone to fulfill my 2nd wish??? After all it is the land of Anime?
The 4th wish would be to build my dream home.
The 5th wish would be to get all the boy toys I want (maybe I should write another post about this...)
This 6th wish would be to watch a MU match in Old Trafford.

Now, for all these wishes to come true... we come to my final wish:
Get Bill Gates to donate US$ 1Billion into my bank account.

Ya... that would do just fine. :)

Callous

I think the showing of the video of the Virginia Tech gunman over and over again just reeks of sensationalism...

It was done callously and without any thought for the ongoing investigation and for the grieving family.

It was the very thing the killer wanted the NBC to do. They just played into his hands...

Why should we glorify his actions? He was a sad and disturbed guy with lots of issues. Sighs...

Tagged: 6 weird things about me...

I have been tagged by Alvin to blog about 6 weird things that you might or might not know about me.

Okay...

Right...

Hrm...

1. I play Football Manager with a passion that sometimes drives Su Yin up the wall.
   
2. I love adding vinegar to my Penang Hokkien Mee (Spicy Prawn Noodles).
   
3. My nightly dreams are in Technicolour, Dolby Digital and also is so 'virtual' I can smell and taste the food I eat in my dreams.
4. I listen to BBC World Service radio. Have been doing it since I was 13 or 14.
5. I like both Classical Music and Dance Music.
6. I have watched the first Die Hard movie at least 25 times (Watched it in the cinema 3 times).
   

I am really an ordinary guy. Really... Don't know what I did this :)

Anyone else want to join Alvin in his madness? Post it up on your blog. I am not going to bother tagging someone else. Yes... I can't help it. I am too lazy. :P

Down with Nike

I hate the new NIKE "Nike Plus" advertisement.
Its so intrusive and irritating and its in Windows Live Messenger.
I wouldn't mind if you have to click on the image to access the advert but this one is so, so intrusive as the advertisement, which comes in the form of an video ad, is triggered every time you roll your mouse over the ad image.
This is so irritating!

I say "DOWN WITH NIKE!"

Hmm... maybe I should boycott Nike?

Watch your mouth!

It is one of the hardest things I have to do...

Help me in my weakness, Lord.

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart,
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer." - Psalm 19:14

"Can God make a rock so big that he cannot move it?"

During the CG meeting last night, one of our members brought out this question and we had a short discussion on this question.
This is a question often ask by people who wants to trap Christians because either "yes" or "no" would somehow make you and God look bad.

I did a bit of searching and found this on the Web...

"Can God make a rock so big that he cannot move it?"
Think about it:

If we answer yes, then there’s something that God can’t do: He can’t move the rock
If we answer no, then we’re saying that God can’t build the rock either way, we are forced to put limits on God’s power.

So what’s the answer?

The answer is to admit that there are some things that God can’t do:

• He can’t do the logically absurd or the contradictory, e.g. God can’t make square circles or triangles with four corners.
• He can’t sin.
• He can’t die.
• God cannot act against his holy nature.
• He can’t fail to do what He has promised.

In fact, there are some things that you can do that God can’t do:
You can be illogical,
you can sin and
you can die.

When we define omnipotence, and say that God is able to do all things, what we mean is this:

God has infinite power over his creation. Nothing stands out of the scope of His sovereign control. God’s will is never frustrated. What He chooses to do, He accomplishes, and He has the ability to do it.

(Psalms 115:3) Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases Him."

Good answer this.
So ya, there are things God can't do... and aren't you glad that He can't?

Hot

Anyone who dares to dispute the existence of global warming should come to my room and stay in it in the afternoon.
It is so hot that you still sweat in an air-con room.
There must be something we all can do to elevate the problem... :/

Postings

I think I've got bloggotitis = a disease that afflict bloggers, causing them to be lazy and not blog.
Symptoms = apathy, laziness, general tidak-apaness
Cure = None so far. Scientists are working on a cure and vaccine but efforts so far have been futile. :/

Pray

I went for 201 Class on Sunday and I learned about this template for daily prayer...
Pray according to the day of the week:

M - Missionaries/Pastors/Workers
T - Tasks (job/studies/errands/housework/ministry/volunteer work)
W - World (Different countries)
Th - Thanksgiving
F - Family (including extended)
S - Saints (Christian friends and acquaintances)
S - Sinners (non-Christian friends and acquaintances)

You just pray the topic for the day and any other needs.
Even if you only pray a minute a day, you'd pray for each topic for 52 minutes already.

Not bad huh? Start praying then.

Got it wrong...

The Oscar people made one boo-boo last night: They said Infernal Affairs was a Japanese movie! :/

Of Valentines, CNY and MPPP

Valentine's day... over-rated.
Chinese New Year period... over-crowded.
MPPP or State Government... over-stupid.

How can they think of digging up the roundabout in front of McD's Gurney to replace it with a traffic light junction without thinking that there will be 2 full blown festivals (Thaipusam and CNY) coming up and don't even bother to make sure that they are up and ready quickly?

CNY is coming and I can bet with you the whole island will be jam-packed with cars. This madness is going to be compounded by the fact that the entrance to one of Penang's most famous tourist spots, i.e. Gurney Drive, has been turned into a chaotic construction site (they are nicely spending their time decorating the place up instead of putting up the necessary traffic lights that will make it functional) and the diversionary route put up is so grossly in adequate that things will come to a standstill. This is not helped by the numerous tour-buses that double parked in and around the Gurney Drive area.

Thank you whoever is in charged of this fiasco for making life in Penang really 'nice' for us all! :P

Vegetarians

I was reading Genesis this morning and I found out a very interesting fact...

Did you know that God had originally intended mankind and every other living creature, be it on land, water or sky, to feed on plant life for our nourishment?

Hmm... makes me wonder what am I really doing to my body. :/

As for you veggie haters, all I can say is for you to start getting used to eating your brussel sprouts and broccoli like your mum asked you to, cause heaven's buffet line is one big salad bowl. :)

I believe

I know times are tough but I believe in YOU...

What would you do?

What would you do if you find out that YOU are the very burden that's weighing someone else down?
That you are the very person who is stopping him/her from flying high, soaring to where he/she wants to be?
What would you do?

Stay or Go?

Recently, one big question occupying my mind constantly is whether I should stay put or seek new pastures elsewhere. This question's weight is so great that sometimes I am so stressed out by this.

My whole being is willing me to go but somehow God reminded me of Joseph and the way he followed God... I am sure he had questions and fears when he was sold as a slave or when he was thrown into prison but he never doubted God. Instead he stayed focused and faithful, knowing that God has already predestined great things for him. He bid his time and allowed God's plans to work and come to fruition, knowing His timing is perfect.

I wonder if this is the same test that God is giving me right now. All I want to do right now is to get this right and wait upon Him. I have screwed up so many times by being impatient. So now I will try my very best to allow God to lead me to where is wants me to be, be it here or somewhere else.

I am where I am for a reason and I pray that God will give me the peace, strength and courage to see this through. Amen.

Laughter, the Lord and Little Things

Yesterday's Our Daily Bread talked of this old lady (104 years old, I must add) who credited "laughter, the Lord and little things" for her longevity.
You know what? She is right.

Its the joy of God within us, its outward radiance on our faces and its multiplying effect on others.
Its the Lord's hand of grace, guidance and favour on our lives as we make Him our all and...
its our enjoyment and appreciation of the simple, little things in life that will allow us to keep going on and on, day by day, regardless of the circumstances around us.

Let's constantly keep that in our mind, okay? :)

Know what and why you believe...

I just heard a comment from a colleague of mine that she knows almost nothing about her Catholic faith.
I don't know about you but I thought your faith/religion is central in guiding your moral principles.
If not, what is it that drives you on day by day?
Do you know what you believe and why you believe what you believe?
Confused? Not me.

Things I must have on my computer

This is a list, by no means comprehensive, of software I'd install on my computer and they were what I installed when I got my laptop's HDD up and going again after it crashed last Tuesday.

Here goes:

1. Windows XP (have to lah... no OS, no computer).
2. NOD32 - the 2nd thing I install, by far the best anti-virus program I've ever used.
3. TweakUI - minor tweaks here and there makes my computing experience more enjoyable.
   
4. MS Office - need to work, so I need to have this.
5. CCCP - this codec pack is essential for viewing anything on the comp. There are plenty of codec packs out there but this is my personal choice.
6. Spybot/Ad-aware - either one of this is sufficient, I prefer Spybot cos it is more proactive in checking for spyware.
7. Spyware Blaster - keeps out spyware before it gets to you. Works together with Spybot/Ad-aware.
8. WMP 10/Realplayer/Winamp - for my listening pleasure. WMP10 I like cos it allows you to add the currently playing item into the playlist, thus useful for my radio listening habits.
9. Foxit Reader - CPU-friendly alternative to Adobe reader, works just as well.
10. uTorrent - must have for downloading stuff

This list will continue to grow :)

Har Har...

Silly me.

I thought no one actually reads my blog until I crashed my computer and had to restore some of my bookmarks.
I realised that the Haloscan comments had not been working very well and so I decided to access my account to check and guess what?
I found out that I had not moderated any comments all the time I had my blog!
Sighs... :P
No wonder my blog is so quiet!

Thanks to all who responded. I will try and keep this blog alive for you ok? :)

Things I need on my Firefox

People put up their Top 10 lists of extensions to recommend it to others.

Me? I do it because I want a record somewhere just in case my HDD crashes again...

So, here goes:
- Adblock Plus
- Add Bookmark Here
- British English Dictionary
- Customise Google
- Download Manager Tweak
- Enhanced History Manager
- Firefox Extension Backup Extension
- FlashGot
- Forecastfox Enhanced
- FoxClocks
- Gmail Notifier
- IE Tab
- More Tools Menu
- NoScript
- ReminderFox
- Restart Firefox
- Tab Mix Plus
- Update Notifier

This list will be updated periodically.

Oh yeah, I dunno if the extensions here are good but I like them...
so if you disagree with me, go make your own list lo... :)

Crashed

My laptop HDD died on me yesterday morning.
I lost all my personal files, work files, pictures, photos, music and audio files. Everything!
Sighs...

Then I bought a new HDD last night = RM230
There goes my savings... :(

Only got it up and going at 2.30am this morning.
So sleepy now.

What to do... Murphy likes me... :(
but I thank God for His strength and peace.
I din feel panicky... a little sad, yes, but not panicky...

Its okla... At least I can use my computer again. :/

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Its my dearest's birthday today...

So I guess its only appropriate for me to say:
Happy Birthday, sweetheart!

May you continue to grow ever more beautiful, within and without, than you already are this year.

Have a great year ahead and may God's promises to you all come true to you at its appointed time as you allow Him to guide your every step.

I love you! :)

Compassion

"God does not just want us to tell people that He is a compassionate God...
He wants us to show compassion to others instead." - Father Gregory J. Boyle.

Profound...

Exiled gripe

I just watched the made-in-HK movie Exiled with my long suffering dearest last night... and I must say Johnnie To has done it again.

A pure, guy-movie, it has everything you want in such a movie:
COOL guys carrying COOL guns firing them off in a COOL but realistic way.

Not much dialogue but most of what needed to be said was said without words...

COOL!

Only ONE gripe though...
I noticed that in some scenes, the guns the guys were packing changed from one scene to another...
Come on Johnnie, for such a good movie, you could have just ensured some consistency in your props! :P

Ok, that's all... for now... KA-POW!

Sensitivity

Sometimes we as Christians are not very sensitive to other people's feelings.

I am guilty of that too.

In our eagerness in bringing the gospel to others.
We forget that we are sharing a message of love and hope,
and not condemnation.

Holy Spirit,
remind us to be gentle in spirit,
and sensitive towards others needs and feelings.

Happy New Year!

Yeah, yeah...
3 days late but still its only 3 days old...
so here's to all of you.

Happy New Year and may God bless your plans and your actions.