Family Cookout 29-07-06

Marmite chicken in 45 mins










by: Odd-inary us




















the 3 judges and the MC









the rest of the other dishes...








Group name: Odd-inary us

Dish name: Marmite Dynamite

Cooks: A scientist & an architect, part-time graphic designers

Judges' Comments:
'hou-hou sek, I've been programmed...'
'a healthy dish with low sodium' &
'not too bad...edible'

Verdict: Great fun albeit a tiring evening with the clean-up.

Thanks! ^^

星期五

So it is, Friday! Lol! How can I share my joy with you for all that Friday holds and promises, and the weekends that follow it? Anyhow, it’s just a day. While I relish in the passing hours of Friday, this dawns on me, ‘what have I done since Monday to rejoice in the coming days of rest?’ Do I really deserve the rest?

Days are fleeting, ephemeral as my watch shows that the sun has once again risen and set to mark another day. While I don’t always keep watch of the sun, activities and events chart my course through each week. Looking at the expired days on the calendar does render life pessimistically purposeful-less. Some days even pass by seemingly without me noticing it. And I might not be the exception, for my colleague came in late today and said that she thought that it was already Saturday and therefore overslept. How we just long for the weekends!

But as it is, I have 7 days a week. And while the childish side of me would dearly like to fast forward all 5 days, we have a Sunday School song that goes ‘This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.’ Well, it’s almost always sung on a Sunday morning after all, which makes rejoicing all the more apt for the day that the Lord has made! Well, try singing it on Monday then!

My ramblings come to a halt at this juncture. The thought of making each moment count spring to mind as I turn my attention back to the days since Monday. Did I stop to smell the flowers on my hasty journey to the weekends? Was there rejoicing for each and every day that the Lord had made? I did however have a wonderful week, considering the events that happened and the time spent with good friends. Friends make life meaningful.

But escape not this topic…WORK. What about work? Isn’t Work the pencil that crosses out each weekday once its passes 6pm for me? How much have I done and produced to earn 6pm each Friday? It is the four letters of the alphabet W.O.R.K which differentiates the weekdays from the weekend right? So is this positive attitude towards Friday a good one or a negative one? Should I be happy to end the weekdays just because of work?

星期五. Days in the Chinese language are nameless numbers from 1-6. Today is day 5 of the week. Work, rest or play, it is the Day that the Lord has made that causes me to rejoice and be glad in it. Work, rest and play, are blessings from God. To work, rest and play on any day then, is a double blessing from God. But let’s just face it, I’ve been working for 5 days in a row and 2 days of rest and play ahead are more than just a big welcome. T.G.I.F!

Putra Heights at night

This is Putra Heights, or at least a part of it which boarders Alam Megah, Shah Alam. To those who's yet to travel through valleys and mountains to get here, this is a night view from Don's old room. As you can see, I have been toying around with my camera since the last trip to Malacca. Doggy pictures these are though...hehe...I need to get my mini tripod up the next trip down.

To those who are interested and keen on photography (plus, with some real skill and talent la...lol!), Digital Camera Malaysia's July mission is to capture 'City Life'.

Submit one picture per email between 1.5MB and 2.5MB, with 'Your mission: City Life' in the subject line and email to: mission.dcm@velocity-media.net by 31st July 2006.

1st prize: a SanDisk 1.0GB Ultra II memory card and a SanDisk 12-in-1 card reader.

Well, all the best. For me now, it's the Family Cookout this sat at 7.30pm ^^.

Silhouettes in the setting sun

The weekend which has just past was a great one indeed! Went back to Malacca with Dutt and sis. We had breakfast at Sri Petaling and after dropping off my sis’ housemate, Huay Yin (whom we knew since they were classmates from Std 1 to form 5), the three of us headed south. Reached home at 12 noon. The greeting by mum and dad was as warm and jubilant as always. It was great to be back. Home.

We had guest this time round. And it was Wong Dutt Way, some unemployed/yet-to-be employed scientist I found waiting at the lobby of some Condo in Sunway with some bags around him at 9.05 am. He looked like he was heading somewhere…so, after being freed of his ‘perils of a student’, he finally managed to tag along with us….hehe!

Well, much to Dutt's motto of Rest and Relax (or simply R&R), we couldn't just let the sun go down on idleness…and no we didn’t! One of the highlights of the weekend was the time spent in Klebang beach, with some photo-taking toys and the setting sun. ‘Silhouette’ was the main theme. I’ve included some photographs here taken with some adjustments made to the settings of my KodakEasyShare C360. Thanks to Dutt for his advice and well…modeling? Lol! I needed a subject anyhow…

The setting sun . . .




















A figure in the landscape





















Silhouettes

Friends forever

Tens of thousands souls with limbs
The eyes that see
The face that speaks
The legs that walk
The path of life

A breeze now blows
A few leaves fly
Leaves the leaves the trees from high
Fluttering from the forest’s sky
On to the ground

A gale then sweeps
The forest floor
And two leaves sit
Beside no more
Brown and dry
Succulent and green
Mind not the trees
For leaves are leaves

What comes will go
If go does come
But gone it isn’t
If today’s the present

A gift it is to know your name
Among tens of thousands
You aren’t the same

The eyes that see
The face that speaks
The legs that walk

As to the forest – leaves
As to the beach – sand
As to each sad heart – songs
As to all fond memories…

Eyes can see
Face can speak
Legs can walk
Upon life’s path
Friends are friends
Forever.

~ h u i c h u a n ~

Spirited!

After a solid week of late nights and being deprived of sufficient sleep, I finally managed to chalk up 10 hours of glorious slumber last night! The feeling of being recharged once again is simply exhilarating, exonerating all mental and physical fatigue left built up over the days that consolidated into the week gone by! It is like brushing teeth in the morning, or like having cool crystal clear water lapped on the face after reaching a mountain peak…It is like hearing a rousing applause from the floor after an apprehensive presentation, good news to cheer the soul after days of silence…a porcelain bowl of steaming chicken soup after shower on a rainy day…a smile of a child with a twinkle in the eyes running forth with arms wide open to lavish an embrace…it speaks life into being once again. And I feel spirited! Yeah! :)

Kesaksian ku

It’s Friday today! Friday again! Friday, yes, but with a different flavour and anticipation as the hour unpacks itself to reveal the weekends….soon. ‘KasihMu tiada duanya’ is playing on my pc now, channeling through my earphones into my soul. It’s an Indonesian-produced album with great worshipful music and song. Borrowed it from Judy as I was preparing to lead with Yann Nong for Saturday’s cell meeting. The music is setting the tone and mood for me now as I write.

My task for the weekends in Batang Melaka among the indigenous people isn’t much. Apart from co-leading worship in a cell fellowship, I’m to assist Derek and Esther on Saturday and Shin Yee on Sunday with the children’s ministry. I managed to write a song for this trip. Have not written one since the last farewell song for Headstart Melaka 2005. Shin Yee wrote the lyrics and the tune came at night whilst I was driving back from my sister’s place. All credit goes to God actually, for all songs that I’ve written so far come from Him. That I know, as I could not write anything unless I feel the burden and inspiration to do so and have committed to Him before hand.

I’m here to write a testimonial in the Malay language actually. Terk has asked me to prepare one…you-know-lar…the ‘just in case’ scenario. Terk and Shin Yee would be sharing. Well, no harm preparing one actually. It takes great effort to switch tongue though…

Kesaksian ku.

Tuhan yang Maha Berkuasa juga merupakan Tuhan yang penuh dengan kasih sayang, dan kasih sayangNya tidak tertakluk kepada sesuatu bangsa, kaum atau sesetengah individu sahaja. KasihNya menyeluruh, penuh dan berkekalan.

Beginilah antara kesaksian-kesaksianku tentang kasih sayang dan kesetiaanNya yang berkekalan diingatanku sehingga ke hari ini. Kerap-kali ku berpendapat bahawa masalah-masalah yang dihadapiku dan cabaran-cabaran yang harus ditempuriku terlalu remeh, tidak mustahak, tidak bermakna langsung bagi sesiapa pun, tetapi Tuhan tahu. Tuhan memahami dan Dia menjawab.

Pada suatu petang, selepas kelasku tamat, ku berjalan pulang. Keadaan pada masa itu sudahpun gelap, dan bintang-bintang sudah kelihatan di langit yang kian malam. Ku berjalan keseorangan, diiringi kata-kata cikgu yang kedengaran berulang di cuping kepalaku. Lukisan dan hasil kerjaku kurang memuaskan kali ini. Dalam kekecewaan, perasaan kesunyiaan mula mencengkami jiwaku.

‘Ku kena balik masak ni...masak sendiri, makan bersendirian. Selepas itu, kenalah aku memperbaiki lukisan-lukisanku...’ Keluhan jiwaku ini...

Aku menetap di rantau asing pada masa itu, jauh dari kampung halaman, jauh dari segala yang sudahku biasakan diri dengan.... di tempat baru, sekolah baru...kepada siapakah yang dapat saya mengadu? Kawan-kawan pun semuanya baru dan tinggal di tempat yang lain. Kesunyian yang telah mengundang rasa kasihan pada diri sendiri memjadikanku berasa rendah diri. Tiada sesiapa pun yang tahu. Tiada sesiapa pun yang kisah.

‘Adakah Engkau memahami perasaanku ini, Tuhanku?’ Aku menyoal Tuhanku.
‘Temanilah aku dan hiburkanlah hatiku sekarang...datanglah....Namun, Tuhanku, apalah masalahku ini berbanging dengan masalah orang lain? Siapalah aku ini yang harus Engkau mengambil kisah tentang...Engkau di syurga...’

Tiba-tiba, telefon bimbitku berbunyi. Salah seorang daripada kawan baruku yang tinggal di asrama sekolah menelefonku. Katakannya bahawa juru kantin itu tidak mengambil tiketnya walaupun dia sudah mengambil makanannya dan kini tiket itu boleh digunakan lagi untuk mengambil makanan percuma.

‘Cepatlah datang,’ pelawanya.

‘Kenapa aku?’

Jantungku tiba-tiba berdenyut pantas. Debaran yang dicetuskan rasa gembira berpilin rasa kurang percaya!

‘Adakah ini benar? Aku tidak perlu balik masak, makan keseorangan lagi?’
‘Adakah ini benar? Bahawa Tuhanku, Engkau benar-benar memahami perasaanku ini?

Luarbiasa!

Mukjizat!

Terima kasih, Tuhanku.

Semanjak hari itu, perasaan sunyi dan keseorangan diri telahpun berubah wajah pada diriku. Aku kini yakin bahawa Tuhan benar-benar memahamiku dan mengambil kisah tentang diriku ini. Aku yakin aku tidak keseorangan diri lagi, biarpun di mana jua kerana walaupun Tuhan menetap di syurga, Dia juga berada disampingku setiap masa.

Tuhan yang Maha Berkuasa juga merupakan Tuhan yang penuh dengan kasih sayang.

The rocking chair

There’s this rather cool saying which goes, ‘worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but doesn’t really get you anywhere.’ And that’s probably the only graffiti that I brought back with me as part of my memories of University days. It sounded witty and catchy, and I liked it a lot.

Let me confess, however that worry hasn’t been my forte in the repertoire of my emotions and feelings. It’s something quite uncommon to me. Yet let’s not make a fuss about it and generalize me as a care-free person, one of which I dare think, I am not. While anxiety and the brew of worry haven’t been fermented in amounts harmful to me, the germ of it, thinking has. In immeasurable boughs and doses, it has engulfed me. Is thinking too, like a rocking chair?

Worry, after all, is a negative by-product of thinking. It is thinking infused with doubts, skepticism and blindness to Hope. It is thinking after eating the forbidden fruit. It is always laced with lies and has traces of disbelief in it. For all the gray hair it is worth, it is not what proper thinking should funnel into.

Well then, would seeking be the antonym to a thinking going no where? We have examples of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. In each separate case, it goes,

‘Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?’

‘Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?’

‘But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.’

There’re much nuggets to harvest from these short, but profoundly life-equipping stories from the Author. Spoken by the Way, the Truth and the Life, surely there must be answers in them. Well, even if it isn’t clearly in them, it surely is in Him.

It takes a different attitude and approach to seek, from just mere thinking. How much can my thoughts amount to, anyway? Time for something more pro-active…

Seeking would be like a chair rocking…it makes you think why it rocks and even if it goes nowhere by rocking, you’ve gone somewhere by finding out why it rocks. I’ve got to start seeking…