Christianity Has Its Priviledges... & Responsibilities?

Yesterday's experience was totally bizarre.

Was late to meet a friend in Jusco so just as I was turning in to the carpark, I whipped out my phone to ask him where he was. Lo and behold... right before me was an officer of the law. Alamak! Kena tangkap red handed.

The cop came up to me and said, "Cik... ini kesalahan besar tau? Kalau saya saman, mesti kena maksimum RM300 punya. So, saya tolong you dengan RM50 la, ok?" As usual I went on with my strings of "maaflah encik, last chance, tak buat lagi... etc"

The dude actually discounted from RM50 to RM30 and even down to RM20. I was late and really wanted to get it over with but I could tell he really didn't want to issue the saman to me. So I said, "Tak boleh la encik, saya tak boleh buat macam ini."

Then the cop actually asked me this, "Kenapa tak boleh buat macam ini?"

Last resort, this was my answer, "Encik, saya tak boleh buat macam ini kerana saya Christian la."

This... I must tell you. The cop paused a moment, looked at me and said this, "Oh... you Christian ka? Lain kali, cakap awal sikit la. Ok, pergi pergi."

?!?!?!?!?!?!

This reminds me of another time when I was caught speeding on the Karak highway and was stopped. Actually, I got confession to make la... that time, not so principled, so I was prepared to give him RM50 ade. But then the guy saw my IC and said, "Hhhmmm... Christina... you ni Christian ka?" WAH! Bribing at this point was SO NOT gonna happen. So, I said yes and he let me go.

Which makes me think a bit. I often rant about how society holds Christians to a higher moral standard. For example, I've often heard these comments. "Christian also can bribe meh? Eeyer... he's so bad tempered on the road and say he's a Christian some more" etc etc. But you don't hear people saying, "Buddhist also can bribe meh? Eeyer... he's a Muslim but drive so aggressively."

I'm not saying that Christians can bribe or drive aggressively. Instead, I wonder why the same moral standard is not expected of others. Y'know what I mean? We Christians are perfectly clear that we are sinful no matter how hard we try and our forgiveness is purely by God's grace. So where did society get the notion that Christians are perfect?

With that thought in mind, I ask myself, if we have the priviledge of God's grace in our lives, then do we also have a greater responsibility to live up to the expectations of society's higher moral standards - hence, be God's witnesses in this world? I'm not saying God always lets us off the hook. We have to accept the fact that when we do wrong, we have to pay the consequences. If, by God's grace, He let's us off the hook... then it's a bonus for us. Otherwise, we must be prepared to face the music.

So, with priviledge comes responsibility? Hhhmmm... I'll need a little bit more time to ponder over this.

Drowning

It’s a pretty long way down from where I used to be and I can't really see the bottom either.

It's like falling into the ocean and sinking helplessly into a bottomless abyss when I can actually swim. There's a battle between my head that shouts "SWIM!" and my body that refuses to respond. I'm fully aware of where I am, where I should be and what I need to do to get there. Yet, there seems to be a kink somewhere along my synapses and my head can't communicate with my body. It's weird.

It's been going on for some time and I'd better snap outta this quick before I hit the bottom, which I've been warned - is not gonna be pretty.

How did I get from there to here? And so fast? This time... my resolute self is not working.

I think God decided to use Ziggy to teach me a lesson over the weekend in KL. He's been having major separation anxiety and barks like mad whenever I leave him - much to the annoyance of my dad and maybe neighbours.

Funnily, everytime I was exasperated to my wits' end trying to get him to shut up... a small voice in my heart kept saying - Just pray for him. Like I said before, the synapses won’t click and I just couldn't or refused to do it.

But finally, I got the synapses linked and uttered a short prayer for Ziggy. I'm sure y'all know what's next. Yeah, he's been an angel ever since… still yaps a bit occasionally but better. I am a little amused at how God has really gone out of His way to affirm that despite how far I've fallen, He's still just a prayer away... even if it’s for my dog.

So much has been happening at work and it has definitely eaten into me. After my much needed weekend in KL, I came back and realised what a horrible person I've become. There was no love, kindness, patience, grace, understanding... just a nasty, bitter b***h. An ugly person that I don't recognise.

But thank God for this weekend. It was good time away from Ipoh and good time with my closest friends. Friends who spend time to encourage me over coffee on a storming Sunday afternoon that's perfect for sleeping. Friends who try their very best to stay awake to pillowtalk some sense into my head. Friends who are always there, no questions asked. God given friends.

So yeah... it's been an awakening weekend graced by God. I guess it's time to start swimming.

It's In My Genes

Jess met Alice the other day in church and somehow linked six degrees of separation to me. Alice said, "I remember Chris, she is very animated." Anyone reading this who knows me would most probably be rolling around laughing by now.

Yes, I can be quite comical at times. Okay... SOME times. Alright alright... Most, if not all, of the time, ok? Happy now? My mom called me a cartoon when I was a kid. As far as memory serves me, I've always liked making ppl laugh. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's tiring and sometimes it's just plain painful. But when a person laughs... it was worth it. Weird huh?

Which makes me wonder why I do it. I think it's in my genes. No, really. If you've met my family, you'll know what I mean. Since most of you never met my mom, here's a little glimpse at my family that raised the cartoon in me.

This happy couple...

This is actually my mom's 50th birthday. She'd just fully recovered from her first battle with colon cancer.

We invited the whole family, family friends, church friends... basically everybody to celebrate the victory with us.

Spawned these two rascals

This is actually some random shot my mom took of us and then we framed it up and gave it to dad as a birthday pressie. Haha... it's still on display at home. We scribbled some stuff on it. Dunno it you can see it.

As you would notice, my sis' hair has a funny colour. This was the tail end of her James Iha wannabe blonde top hair that shocked my parents into oblivion. Years later, I chopped off my hair to the spiky look and home-coloured it shocking red-pink. Dad almost had heart attack. Naturally, it was sis who did the bleaching and colouring. She's bad influence *tsk tsk tsk*

Lemon Meringue Pie

My mom baked her famous lemon meringue pie for one of my dad's birthday. Is my dad so happy 'cos his beloved wife slaved in the kitchen to bake this insanely tedious pie?

Not really. She always baked cakes for OTHER people's birthdays. Then my dad would come home, smell the wonderful freshly baked cake and just when he's about to pinch a piece. "Mike! That's for so-and-so's birthday! Don't touch!"

So this is like "Finally, she baked for ME!" Later on, my mom felt a little bit remorseful and everytime she baked, she'd pour out a small portion of dough to make a small, mini loaf for the family. Dad was happy with that.

My birthday

I quite remember this birthday 'cos I'd just woken up and walked downstairs groggily to find everyone sitting around the dining table, minding their own business and a nicely wrapped present on the table.

I think it was the year before, my 16th birthday, when my mom bought me my Ibanez acoustic guitar. I still play it today and it's priceless. Then this year they got me this killer Fender coiled sensor external pick-up. It totally rocked and was great for playing with the church band.

Mom's buddies

L-R: Auntie Hong Meng, mom, Auntie June, Auntie/Dr Helen.

Looks familiar? Guess who was the zanniest of the lot? They had a ladies group that did Bible Studies over tea. Syiok, right? Many a times, my sis and I wormed our way into these meetings to whack the goodies. Auntie June was my mom's best buddy. Mom probably spent more time with her in person and on the phone than with any one of us.

One buddy missing here is Auntie Lalita. She's my mom's wonderful prayer partner. After my mom passed away, she asked if she could have my mom's collection of prayer journals. You see, my mom wrote down every prayer request and wrote down the answered prayer in red in a column on the right. Needless to say, the right column was jammed full of red scribblings. I found them... there were at least 3 books. What an encouragement of God's faithfulness and Auntie Lalita cherished it very much.

Sweetheart Darling

This is Auntie June's daughter, my mom's god daughter and our god sister - Min Shen. This talented, funny, zanny, gifted little... well, maybe not so little anymore... 'girl' almost never came to be because some stupid doctor couldn't pick up a heartbeat during one of the routine pregnancy check ups. But, side by side... my mom and Aunty June prayed and cried, prayed and cried, and prayed and cried out to God some more.

She grew up in my house half of the time. My mom was ALWAYS feeding her until the time she learned to speak, the first thing she called my mom was - Aunty Mam Mam 'cos my mom was constantly asking her, "You want to mam mam (eat)?" When she was a toddler, we even fed her dried sotong. Haha!!! Oh crap... Auntie June and Min Shen don't know this! Oh well, now they know.

Every year, on her birthday, my mom would take Min Shen out on a date. It was amazing. You'd see this 5 year old kiddo joking and laughing with a 40 year old lady over cakes and desserts. Then she started calling my mom her 'sweetheart darling'. Kiddo... YOU are our sweetheart darling. Sis and I still try to take her out whenever we're in town. We're so proud to have this little sister who's grown into a fine young lady with a pet rabbit named Char Siew. Haha!!!

The last birthday...

This is the last birthday my mom celebrated. It was her 51st. She passed away about a week or 2 after.

She's wearing what we called the Paddington Bear hat. Sis got it for her since her hair didn't quite grow back after we stopped the chemo. Despite the pain and imminent death lurking just round the corner... my mom still smiled wide... always. Of course, her tea buddies celebrated with a spread of tea and cakes - and the two rascals still wormed their way through the treats.

It's in the genes

So you see... my zanny character is a colourful inheritence from these two wonderful people who are my parents. Laughter is the DNA of my family - peptides and nucleotides of loving experiences, double helixed into the person that I am today.

This is probably the most romantic picture I have of my parents. My dad was never very expressive in his affections. I don't remember ever seeing my parents walking hand in hand but their love was displayed in a wealth of invisible ways:

My parents hosted Christmas dinner every year. Dad would spend a bomb on roasted turkey, gammond ham and my mom would slave in the kitchen for hours to cook the sauces, salads and the rest of the feast. My mom remembered everyone's birthday by heart and she would have a personalised gift ready. I don't know how she did it. Walking around a shopping mall. she'd spot something nice for someone. Everywhere my parents went, they'd pick up stuff for friends and family back home. If anyone was in financial need, my dad always said, "Just take first." Oh, there is so much more.

So, everything that I am today, mostly the good and some of the bad, is inherited - either genetically or just by the blessedness of having been raised by mom and dad.

Next up... I'll try to post something on my extended family of aunties, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews... all lah!

Future, Present & Past

I've just realised that I haven't posted anything in a looooonnnggg time. Most people have probably given up visiting my blog. Haha... but here's to the faithful who check in from time to time! So here's a little update about the future, present and past.

Well, one of the reasons why I've been ignoring my blog is because I've been hooked on Facebook. It's my virtual social land where I have an aquarium where my fish don't die (Scarlet died and Jade is sick), I have a pet dragon (not quite as cute as Ziggy though), my egg hatched into a poison frog and I've met many many old and new friends. So, yes I blame it on the social tool of the future.

Presently, I am addicted to Grey's Anatomy. The editors are evil I say... Satan's little minions; temptresses of entertainment gluttony. The end of every episode just strikes an auto-neuro response to start the next episode of complex surgeons fumbling into new ways to literally screw up their lives. Purely involuntary. Haha!!!

Putting the addiction aside, Grey's Anatomy has been good for me, in a sense that it has awoken this vocabulary wit that I've lost for some time now. Yeah, being stuck in Ipoh for 4 months kinda does that to you. No offense to Ipoh people but it is the truth of reality for me. Ho-hum conversations, small talk everytime I meet someone new, pointless corporate bickerings, futile fumbling Cantonese conversations... all have cumulatively massacred my usually perky mojo. Can't you tell? Yup, here's where I am, presently.

Well, I was supposed to post something about my past and I was gonna blog about my mom but I can't seem to upload the pictures and I gotta go home and play with Ziggy before I head off for dinner and movie with my CG. Oh well, another time then.

Catch y'all again in the future!!!

Zig-a-zig-AH!

Hello everybody! Meet Ziggy! Just got him yesterday and he's cute little Mini Schnauzer. He doesn't quite fit my finicky requirements exactly... but he tugged really hard at my heart strings. Plus I've seen two of the pet shop lady's pups that have grown up beautifully.



I'm a little worried about his face markings 'cos it seems a little greyish but there's white fur underneath... so I guess it's slowly growing out. If all the grey parts turn white... he should be a really handsome dude.

Fella's really calm... was a bit of a nosey puppy in the car but after about half an hour, our friend nicely curled up into a ball to sleep all the way back to Ipoh. This is him a little lost in his new home.



Poor fellas was howling in the middle of the night yesterday. I guess he missed his siblings left in the petshop. So, picked him up and let him cuddle in my lap until he was reassured to go back into his play pen. Didn't hear a squeek from him since. Aaahhh... nice...

Quite smart fellow... he chewed up his newspaper lining when he first got into the playpen but after a few smacks... he stopped. Aaahhh... nice...

So, look out for more stories on Ziggy... coming soon =)

Jesus In Cinemas Near You!

There's much criticism about Evan Almighty. Christian viewpoints say it's blasphemic 'cos of a few 'Oh my God' expressions, Noah's Ark is about God's wrath and intolerance towards sin and not a love story while mainstream critics ignore the message about God completely.

Sigh... people... aren't we missing the point here? Come on... let's not nit-pick and look at the big picture. It's Hollywood! If you wanna get a movie into cinemas filled with people... the world has to wanna watch it. (Of course need to have audience la... if the movie is screening in an empty cinema also no point ma)

If it's a Christian's pleasure but the world's poison - what's the point? It's not the Christians who need to know that God chose all of us for salvation not just a select few, that God does everything because He loves us, that God answers prayers although not always in the ways we expect, that we need to be obedient despite persecution and God will supply us with all that we need to get the job done. It's for the rest of the world out there. Christians are supposed to ALREADY know it because we've received and experienced it.

As it happened in Passion of Christ - I ask the Christian critics this - Can you tell hundreds of thousands of non-church going people that Jesus loves them? Plus they even have to pay for their own ticket. If you've got a better way, I'm all ears.

Plus, I've always tried to explain to people the unseen circumstances in Noah's story. Imagine these facts - Can a guy in the middle of a desert, who has never seen more than a glass of water in his life, understand what a 'flood' is? How on earth would he even know what a 'boat' looks like, what more to build one? I mean this ain't Pirates of the Carribean with pirate ships sailing sand dunes y'know. If that's not frustrating enough, imagine telling other desert people - for 100 YEARS (it took that long for Noah to build the ark) that you're building a 'boat' because there's gonna be a 'flood'. I mean, I'm sure Noah must've thought, more than once, that he really was looney bin as everyone mocked him. Go sit in a corner and think about that for a while =)

So, go watch Evan Almighty. You can critique all you want - just don't miss the golden nuggets behind God's story about Noah building a boat in the desert.

New Fishies, Old Fishies

My fishies, the ones I posted a while ago, died yesterday morning. Yeah, I think I ter-poison them while trying to treat them for fin rot and fungus. The fish shop guy gave me this dark purple solution, much like the iodine thingie that schools used to bathe our wounds with, which must be used with some salt and it turned my whole tank purple! Maybe I put too much.

Sigh... so I went to check out this betta breeder that the guy recommended. Apparently this breeder has half-moon bettas. Checked it out and it was a kid who was breeding these fishies! And he just hatched a school of half-moons so I gotta come back in a month's time to check it out.

Anyways, I saw these two veil-tails and they were irresistible! So, I guess, I replaced my old fishies faster than I could say "My fishies died". Haha!

Asked the fish lady (little boy's mom) why my fishies keep dying. All her fish are an in algae infested containers, so green you can hardly see the fish and they're fine and fat... while mine are in clear water that I change weekly and yet they keep getting all sorts of funny problems. Then she asked me "What do you put inside the water?" I said, "Err... nothing." "Nothing?!?! No wonder your fish die la! Cannot wan! Come la... I give you some A-PO... FOC for you to try. Just change water every week then guarantee OK ade. The fish also I give you RM8+RM10=RM10 la. Then next month, come and buy the half-moon, OK?" Damn, she's a good.

Well, let's see how well this magical A-PO thingie works. Looking out for the half-moons next month. Hhmmm... my colleague just suggested putting one of these beauties in the office. Hhhmmm...

STUCK!

Thought I'd share how a sticky situation today got me thinking.

Was walking around the back area of the factory today, trying to do some investigative work on our drainage system when I got STUCK! Yup, how typical of me, eh? Well, as I was walking nearer the bund, the clay material they dug out yesterday (Sunday) looked the same way it always looks.

But in my haste to get a better look at the bund, I stepped ankle deep into super sticky, mucky mud. Then as I leaned on my other foot to take out the ankle stuck one - it started sinking too! Oh crappers!! Took me a couple of tugs, pulls and grunts to get both feet out without having to leave my shoe behind but they finally popped out with a loud *SCHPOK* sound. Haha!

So what did it get me thinking of?

Everyday, day in day out, we pretty much live life in a predictable routine with the terrain looking pretty much the same. I guess it's when we take the familiarity for granted that we sometimes get ourselves stuck in sticky situations.

If we suddenly sink like a rock, we'd panic and shock ourselves into fight or flight mode to get out as fast as possible. But the real danger is when we sink slowly - the world around us looking just the way it usually does eventhough we're sinking. I guess that's the way the world gets to us - a few 'close one eye' compromises, a few exchanged quiet times for a more snooze time, a little bit of closet sin...

How does this relate to me? Well, life here in Ipoh hasn't been easy. On the outside, everything looks fine and dandy... but looking inside, I'm a little bit stuck. I'm at the stage where I'm trying to pull my legs out but it hasn't quite gone *SCHPOK* yet. Perhaps after speaking to me gently over the last couple of weeks, God decided to up the volume a bit and show me through the physical. Haha!

Ok ok God... I get the point =)

Cute Me

Remember earlier on when I said I don't have a picture of myself to post on my profile?

Well, Choon Ean came up to Penang with Grace one weekend and she decided to go on a frenzy of capturing all the expressions that I have. The resulting Cute Chris Collection of 50+ pictures was hilarious... apparently... to Choon Ean and Poh. And so their itchy-fied, cheeky selves decided to create this animated gif.

Even I have to admit it's quite funny. Some were done on purpose... but to my surprise... quite a number of them were captured while I was talking naturally. Maybe I'm not all that surprised. You too? Haha!

And so... go ahead, have a few laughs on me =)

Back With Fishies

Ok ok... I've heard many mutterances that my blog is SO outdated. Apologies for that, didn't mean to leave y'all out of the orchestra of my life.

Lots have been happening. I'll save the story about work for later. Now, let me introduce you to my 2 fishies! Yes, sad as it sounds... they're my after-work companions.

Fighting fish (i.e. beta) are very pretty and quite interactive too. Very responsive to anything that moves.

Here they are, having a litte face-off.

Yes, it sounds a little sad that these two fish are my primary source of entertainment. That's why I'm looking out for a Schnauzer puppy! Preferably black and white with the white burst around the muzzle area - so cute! Will definitely keep y'all posted once I get the little cutie. The hunt is ON!

OK, I'm skiving off some work time to do this so... gotta be quick. Look out for the pup soon... I hope.

LIVE from Ipoh!

Halloo halloo!!! Yup... after a month of being a bum, I've finally started my job in Ipoh. Was terribly anxious before I left KL but God has been great - just lovingly reassuring me. Aaahh... =)

Anyway, I'm here at the primary factory that crushes the rocks that come straight from the quarry site. It's dirty, hot and terribly dusty with calcium powder - so it sorta 'snows' in the factory. Btw, our products are all snow white materials. Hahaha... I went up to the higher levels of the plant this morning and man... it was really a winter wonderland up there. Bet I can make snow angels. Hhmmm... maybe I should try... Hahah!!!

People are nice and friendly. A big shift compared to my previous office. Not that they weren't nice and friendly... but everyone was so busy over there - you need to book people's time to discuss stuff and you'd better be quick about it. Over here... everytime I ask if I'm interrupting their work and I can come back later if they're busy and they're like "no no... come come... let me cerita how this thing works..." So that's great.

My only concern is the dust here. Didn't wear a mask yesterday so when I went home, I started coughing quite a bit and had a very slight wheeze in my lungs. So, I grabbed a mask today. Hopefully, it'll help.

Oh and I must say God has been fantastic in preparing a place for me to stay. Am staying with Siao Ping's parents and they're REALLY nice. Yeah... and her mom keeps offering food and hot drinks to me. No wonder Pete looks a little chubbier after each visit to Ipoh. Yesterday, she cooked me dinner too! Wow... a pleasant surprise. Then I took her along with me to hunt for houses and then to Tesco.

So yeah. I'll be going off to the quarry site in a while. That's always interesting. Get to play with rocks and see what their plans are since we can start a blast next month. Cool!!! Ka-BOOM!!!! Will try to get some pictures to help you fellas visuallise where I'm at now. So, look out for it.

Ok, I gotta go and read a bit more of the manuals before Thomas comes to whisk us off to the quarry site!!!

Oh ya... another funny thing is meeting people like Thomas - whom I've known since I was a kid and now I'm working with him. It's really funny.

Ok... really gotta go. Byee!!!

farewell & goodbye...

I can't thank God enough for dragging me to this little island 3 years ago, assuring me that He'd be with me each step of the way - Through It All. It is here that I learned...
God's love is the reason I am ALIVE;
God's grace makes up for all I am not;
God's faithfulness never fails;
God's awesomeness captivates my heart to worship;
God's promises are my keys to victory;
God's sovereignty establishes the work of my hands;
oh... and so much more than I can say.

Take God away from these 3 years and it would have been a total waste of my time.

God knows that I love the play of words. He sealed these 3 lines of divine wisdom in my heart for my time in Penang:
Be still and know that I am God
Be still and stop trying to be God
Be still and let Me be God

It has been a sad week. So many goodbyes... so many last moments. Who would've thought that I'd ever leave Penang kicking and screaming? Surely not me.

Though my heart aches and tears flow everytime I think of crossing Penang bridge tomorrow... I really am bursting with joy and thankfulness for all that He has done (and will do) for me, in me and through me.


Yo dudes and dudettes on da island... Chrisso is outta here! But I'll be back!!!

And here I come... Ipoh mali... Ipoh, Ipoh mali! (check out the new Too Phat song)

goodbye... Passion style

I love my cell group - Passion. The name Passion describes them so accurately. Indeed they are SO Passionate about saying goodbye to me in the most memorable way. Haha! I've got to give them A+++ for love, ingenuity and effort.

Yup, it was a great night of fantastic food barbecued with generous portions of tender loving care. Fantastic! You guys are da BOMB!

But what's a farewell without a couple of pranks? Here are snippets of their fun.


AARGHHH!!! Sausages stuffed with wasabi and belachan... whoah mama... nasty stuff!!!

I know I have hairy legs but... come on!!! Waxing them with tape?!?! Is mercy one of the fruits of the Spirit? God should add it in there...

Hah! Their mega water balloon trick was foiled! The balloon burst and well it made a pretty cool new head gear. You know what's in next season =)

They may have missed the chance to get me into the pool voluntarily... but look at them ganging up on me!!! Look at all the big burly men surrounding this poor damsel in distress just waiting to dump her into the pool!!! Which they did... of course.

Hmmm... strange... I added in pics of them singing their own rendition of Stevie Wonder's That's What Friends Are For and their pressie to me. But it didn't load. Anyway... thanks guys... so much! I paid for the nasty sausages the next morning but no doubt... my heart was touched that night. I love y'all so much and I'm gonna miss all you Passionate Ones!

doll maker

Hey guys... check out my cool hand-made doll from super talented Yin Yin! Yup... it's a little farewell gift from her. The side you're seeing is the scary me... i guess it was her first impression of me (note I said 'was'). But the other side is a real sweetie... so, I guess that's the real me =)

I promised that I'd do a little promo for her here on my blog so... if you wanna check out more of her unique hand-made dolls... go check out her blog at wretch.cc/blog/clockscient

Yup, each doll is unique and one of a kind... you'll never find another like it anywhere in the world.

Siaran Tergendala

Hellos peoples!

Yes, I haven't been updating my blog. That's because I'm busy packing. As you can see the pictures of my room below... it's a total mess and it needs to be cleared ASAP! Yups, so please do bear with the lack of new postings until I sort out my stuff.



See that little empty space in the middle of the chaos? That's where I park myself to sort out all the stuff.

It's my final week here in Penang, so yeah, there have been lotsa goodbyes, hugs and tears. I've got a couple of cool stuff to post - like my farewell by my dearly beloved cell, my personalised hand made doll from Yin Yin and so many more. I'll try to post them up by this weekend, once I get the mess into their respective boxes.

Oh ya, the month of May will be a bit sparse because I don't have internet connection back in KL and then I'll also be travelling to Singapore to visit my sis. So, yeah... I'll try my very best to blog.

around the world...

We FINALLY gave Choon Ean her birthday pressie... after a wild goose hunt across the world, literally. I kid you not.

It all started with Poh finding out that Choon Ean was on the lookout for a new mp3 player... specifically - Creative and 2GB. We thought "Hey, since her birthday's just around the corner... why not?" That was the goose that began our hunt.

Firstly, of ALL the Muvo range - only the S100 model has 2GB memory. Since Nita was coming up to Penang for Easter weekend - she can get it for us in S'pore (Creative's country of origin) at perhaps a cheaper price AND get it to us in time to give Choon Ean when she's up in Penang that same weekend. Brilliant idea? Yes, only the idea was =P

Sis calls from S'pore and says NOBODY stocks that model and who on earth buys Creative anyway? Then offers to get Jo Dee to buy an iShuffle while he's in New York. Ok, not a bad idea. Then Poh says PC fair is on during Easter weekend. Try there. OK!

Choon Ean comes up for Easter, pops by and sees the ZEN model she wants on Sat... but still needs to consider... while Poh prays like mad that she will decide NOT to buy it so we can go back later and buy it. Thank God Choon Ean decides No - we still have hope. But no one else is going to the PC Fair on Sunday so cannot tumpang beli, Poh can't shake Choon Ean off to sneak away to get the merchandise and I've gotta get my sis to the airport! Apparently Peter is working at PC Fair - he can't get it 'cos they can't sell it to other exhibitors. Arrgghh!!! So near yet so far!!!

Nevermind, there's still dinner on Mon night and Peter said the distributor is in Gurney. Perfect! Dinner at Food Loft and I can sneak off to buy. Guess what?! DON'T HAVE!!! Can you believe that?! They have everything except what we're looking for. Great... we're all at dinner with a cake to celebrate and NO mp3 player!!! We admit defeat.

I guess God saw the desire of our hearts... Poh happened to walk past a shop in Midlands and saw the same flyers as the one in the PC Fair! Lo and behold... There lay before her the ZEN that Choon Ean was eye-ing at the PC Fair!!! Thank you GOD!!! It's blue but Poh grabs it anyway... Yay!!!

So here's Choon Ean... finally receiving her birthday pressie in KL. Even that - it was good timing that Poh was going down to KL to edit stuff with her.


Happy Birthday babe!

With much love from from Junie, Jocelyn, Poh and me.

I Got Tagged

I got tagged for the second time by Jess. I was excused from the first tag since I didn't have a blog then. And now I do, so here goes...

Part 1: on the outside
name : christina cheah su-ann aka mak fung tchai, chrissy, christochrome, babe, hot chic, ann (family ONLY)
date of birth : 6 July1979 (when I was 10 yrs old it was 6/7/1989/10... cool huh?)
current status : single and beginning to accept the fact that real men have gone extinct
eye color : dark brown i think
hair color : black, thick and in dire need of a haircut
right of left handed : i'm a righty
zodiac : crabby cancer

Part 2: on the inside
my heritage : believe it or not, i'm 3 part chinese and 1 part japanese (mom's a pure chinko, dad's half jap)
my fear : that i would live my life and miss the point completely
my weakness : food. orh chien outside RGBC is ultimate SIN!
my perfect pizza : Guess it has to be the romeo special at pizza uno

Part 3: yesterday, today & tomorrow
your first thought waking up : damn, i thought i just went to bed?
tomorrow : oh Lord, grant me the grace to not kill stupid people
your bedtime : thank you Lord that I am still sane
most missed memory : my mom

Part 4: your pick
pepsi or coke : Of course Coke la... DUH!
mcD or burger king : BURGER KING rulez! When will a rich tycoon in Penang come to his senses and buy the franchising rights in Penang? Ho seng li, lu mm ai ah?
single or group dates : what does it take to get a little privacy around here?!
adidas or nike : i like adidas but i think the tagline - just do it - is absolute genius
lipton tea or nestea : processed tea is processed tea la... unless you're talking about real tea leaves
chocolate or vanila : chocolate. If they use real vanilla seeds then it's vanilla
cappuccino or coffee : as long as there's caffeine

Part 5: do you...
smoke : does it make sense to burn money?
curse : well, depends on what you classify as cussing. but I'm trying hard to be a good girl {=

Part 6: in the past month
drank alcohol : this would've been a hard question to answer over the CNY holidays
gone to the mail : i snail mailed cards to encourage choon ean and poh sim in KL! *pat on my back*
been on stage : i'm striking those guitar strings every Sunday man!
eaten sushi : i'm giving this a rest after the overdose in Japan

Part 7: what were you doing
1 minute ago : writing the top portion of this tag
1 hour ago : watching the Delirious - Now Is The Time DVD - awesome stuff!!!
4 1/2 hours ago : eating hokkien mee and reading Rich Dad Poor Dad (it's got some pretty sound financial advise in there)
1 month ago : ho hum... nothing much
1 year ago : editing the RGBC welcome video (i think)

Part 8: finish the sentence
i love : my God, my family, my friends
i feel : icky... haven't showered after work
i hate : being alone... except rare occassions when I need my space
i hide : my honest thoughts and troubles except from a select few
i miss : my mom
i need : divine inspiration to know what to prepare for the Nepal mission trip

Part 9: tag five people
1. John
2. Marcus
3. Min Shen
4. May
5. hhmm... who else ah?

Ok, come on people, let's keep the tag going!

Nita and Jo Dee

Ok, here's Nita and Jo Dee.

Let's start with Nita, my sis who's now happily married and living in tight ass Singapore. She's an awesome chick. We used to hate each other. I USED to call her 'che che' until we had this huge fight and I said I'd never call her 'che che' ever again. Well, it kinda stuck and now it's weird to call her that. I tried it once, and we both thought it was weird.

Anyway, yeah, it was the yellow Volkswagon that saved us. That chugger had no radio and we were stuck in it for many hours travelling around for all our MYF activities. I guess we didn't have much of a choice but to talk and so we did and we have never stopped talking since then.

She took me to my first bar when I was 16 and Jo Dee bought me my first cocktail - a dry martini 7-up. That was the first of MANY bars and clubs that she smuggled me into and later on legally when I turned 18. She rocks! Btw, my parents knew about this all along. Is my family cool or is my family cool?!

She has always looked out for me in so many ways. Always this pillar of strength through the toughest of days. I still respect her for holding it together when she delivered my mom's eulogy. She cracked immediately after but hey, who could've lasted that long?

I remember the day we received my mom's ashes in a box. I took it from the man and stood at the door. She asked me, "What's that?" I said, "It's mom." We stood there for a while, looking at the green box not knowing what to do. Then she asked, "What does she feel like?" I said, "Err... kinda light?" Then I placed the box on a cabinet in our livingroom. We stood together again, looked at each other and said, "This is weird." Then we sat on the couch together looking at the box... it was really strange that my whole mom fit into that 1' x 1' green box.

Yes, she was always the stable one. Even at her wedding dinner, she had to take over the thank you speech from half drunk hubby who couldn't read the paper. On several occassions when I lost my head, she smacked it right back to where it belonged.

Of course, there were the good days too. Staying up throughout the night helping her build her model for assignments and getting my fingers stuck together with UHU, backpacking in the UK and then New Zealand, sharing a beer out on the porch while aunties and uncles threatened to bring my house down with their animated story telling. The Saturdays when she'd take me - the dorky, lab dwelling, insect counting science geek of a sis, to the coolest cafe's and restaurants in town, chattering endlessly over a nice cuppa tea and sharing desserts. I used to dread it when she'd have to 'pop by the site' for a SHORT while to check on the contractors. Those would end up being terribly irritating waiting games under the sun. But, nevertheless, she brought me to all sorts of places from fancy spots to the quaint little setups like teapot cafe, SS2 chicken porridge at 3am, asam prawns at Jalan Alor and laksa at O&S after church. She showed me the world.

She's my best friend, my travelmate, my teacher, my reality check, the mediator between dad and me, the saviour of my non-existent fashion sense... Oh there's so much to tell about Nita. Our stories together are endless. She can't possibly fit in a BLOG!!!

And that's Jo Dee, my brother-in-law. For those whodon't know, their fairytale lovestory unfolded over 10 years. At least they are living happily ever after all that drama. He's a real joker. The best way to describe is that he's a five year old kid stuck in a big man's body. Oh, did I mention that they are a marriage of two giants? Bugger... he's 6' 2" and she's 5' 9"!!! I already feel like midget walking with them, I can't imagine how tall their kids are gonna be. I love the fact that they're married to each other. No one else would do.

They are a funny FUNNY couple. There's never a dull moment around them... except when they're in the mood vegetate in front of the TV. Then, nothing... I mean, NOTHING can make them move. I'll introduce their doggie next - little Bijou.

Meet My Family

Thought it would be great to introduce you guys to the different people that are the centre of my life - my family and my friends. They are the best gift God has given me in this life on earth. So, let's start!


Ok, here's the three of us. That's me, dad and sis (Nita). It was my 26th birthday (darn, now you know my age) and my dad's 62nd birthday. We're born exactly 36 years and 21 days apart - we;re both bloody stubborn goats. Nita is 3 years older than I (haha! So now you know my sis' age too) and she's a fantastic sis. Well, dad is too. Aiyah... they're all great la. I love my family.

Oh, in case some of you are wondering although most of you already know, my mom's not in the picture because she passed away on 11 Nov 2000. Yeah, the cancer came back and hit her right smack in liver. She was an awesome babe too. I don't have a digital picture of her... so maybe I'll tell her story in another blog. Will have to go home and dig up some of my old pics, scan them and load 'em up here. Hhmm... since I'm going through all that trouble, I might as well do a tribute too. Hhmm... that'll have to wait till my next trip down to KL.

Anyway... ok, my dad. He's a really cutie with gynormous heart. Friends call him Fred Flintstone. Check this out for freaky similarities - Fred is fat, so is my dad. Fred works in a quarry, my dad owns a quarry. Fred loves playing golf, my dad is married to his golf set. Fred loves food, my dad loves food. My mom was not at all amused when she went to an "appease the wives" dinner by my dad's golfing friends and they called her Wilma. That's how we found out about the Fred Flintstone thingie. Sis and I were so amused that we got 'Michael Flintstone' embroidered on a towel for his next birthday. Haha! Hey, he liked it.

Another funny thing. Dad loves this fishball noodle shop in Subang Jaya. So one fine day (some 10 years ago) my sis went to the shop to buy noodles and the guy said, "Oh! Lei hai fei lou Cheah ge loi hor?!" My sis was mortified and came back absolutely flabbergasted at the fact that we were known as "fat man Cheah's daughter" at our kampung fishball shop. Pengsan!

Oh, my friends love him too. The girls think he's cute. My friends always thought I had the coolest parents. Yup. Once, over Christmas buffet dinner at the Raffles Singapore, my dad casually asked us whether we tried Ecstacy before. To which my sis and I immediately replied "Of course not! We party like animals but we know better than to mess with our brains!" Then dad said, "Hhmm... I heard it feels good. Would you girls want to try? Hey, Nita, you got any suppliers:?" My bro-in-law looked at my sis with a look of utter 'is your dad for real?' disbelief. Haha... that's my dad who apparently was a weed smoking hippie. Can't imagine huh?

Dad sometimes shows his love in most bizzare and irritating ways but we always have to remind ourselves that he yells because he loves us, he's sometimes a little overprotective because he loves us, he drops his golf appointments to get dragged around shopping malls when his two daughters come back to visit because he loves us and he nags us (Dear God, it's as if he's got an accumulated daily quota to meet sometimes)... all because he loves us. We love you too dad, though we don't say it. Sigh... curse of the Chinaman culture.

Busy Busy Bee

I was a small kid. I was so small... and cute (ahem!)... that my nanny called me 'mak fung tchai' which means 'little bee'. So cute right? I know... I know... =) But all that little disappeared when I had the mumps. My mom claims that my whole body swelled from the mumps but the swelling didn't go away after the mumps did. Hmm... mom figured 'Maybe that wasn't swelling after all". Haha... hence that was the beginning of my fat childhood days where I was aka moonface. From little bee to moonface... how did I get there?!?!

Anyway, what's that little reflection gotta do with this post? Well, right now, I'm 'pretty busy bee'. Hahah!!! I think 'pretty' is putting it mildly... it should be 'crazy busy bee'.

Yes, I haven't posted anything new in a loooonnnnggg time 'cos I had a mad Easter weekend. Sis and Jo Dee were up and I had to balance that with Good Friday and Easter Service and cooking chicken stew and celebrating a small Passover meal and then the next day going to Ipoh and back the same day to celebrate Choon Ean's very belated and very disastrous birthday.

Highlights of the Easter weekend.

Oh, after spending the whole Saturday with Nita and Jo Dee and sneezing my head off, I get back to the apartment to find out that I have to clean 3 chickens for Sunday's stew. Bugger! I tell ya... once you've cleaned chickens, you'd think twice about eating the fatty bits on your KFC. Shites man!!! That stuff is nasty. Anyways, I pop a sneeze pill... or at least I guessed it was my sneeze pill and started on the chickens at 1am. Which idiot would clean bloody chickens at 1am?!?! Yes, me. Sneeze pill took a while to kick in so... maybe a few 'salty droplets' that escaped my sniffling probably helped marinate the chicken. Then cousin Mei Yee calls and I can't talk to her 'cos I'm yanking off chicken fats and got bits of liver and kidney under my nails. Sorry coussie... it was nasty.

Then whole freaking Penang doesn't sell McCormick's Beef Stew packets. Dei! I see it everywhere on normal days and when I NEED it... they all disappear off the shelves!!! It's a conspiracy I say! Went to Cold Storage (Gurney), Giant, Jusco (QB) AND Tesco!!! All don't have!!! How bizzarre?! Piss me off. I tried to piece together some sort of chicken stew la. How did it turn out? Ask those who ate la. Guess I'm comforted by the fact that Ash ate 2 (or 3) bowls of potatoes and carrots while Poh's mom ate 3 bowls! Plus no one threw stewed potatoes at me so... no one was terribly upset with the food la.

Passover meal was very interesting. Had to make many throaty hacks and gurgles to pronounce Hebrew words but all was fun with the 'eat/drink reclining to the left'. Hahah!!! Many of the items were very symbolic in meaning but I'm not gonna talk about it here.

Oh then went to Ipoh on Monday. Was very interesting. Wasn't used to talking in millions of Ringgit and thousands of tonnes. Best part is this:

Me: Pa, where exactly is the factory?
Dad: Bercham
Me: Err... I don't think many people know where Bercham is. What's the nearest landmark?
Dad: Tanjung Rambutan
Me: *Jaws drop and eyes pop in utter horror*

Hallo!!! Ada ke?!?!?! I mean, it's bad enough that everytime I tell people that I'm moving to Ipoh, they immediately "GASP!' followed by the following reactions:
A. You gotta be joking!
B. What is WRONG with you?!
C. What the hell/f***?!
D. Who's the man?

And now, on top of that I have to say that I'll be working in Tanjung Rambutan?!?! Dear God... have mercy on me, will ya?!

Anyway, gotta stop now. I'm supposed to be preparing my training materials for my Media training tomorrow morning. It's 1am and I've done jack so far. Crap! See ya!

Bloody me

Finally! After wasting 2 hours of my precious Saturday... I finally managed to load my profile picture - thanks to my dear and very smart God-sis who introduced the simple imageshack.us to me.

Stupid Blogger recommended me to download Picasa and even after all that bla bla bla... NOTHING! Using imageshack... it was so easy! Eww... I sound like some cheesy radio ad. Pengsan!

Anyway, guess what I'm holding in the pic? My FIRST (and, so far, only) bag of blood for donation! It was during the RGBC Carnival in 2005 and that's really my blood in there!!! And it was still kinda warm. Holding that bag gave me a warm fuzzy feeling... literally. I actually asked the blood guy if I could take a picture with my pack of blood. That was probably the weirdest request he ever got on the job... but he obliged nonetheless.

You may wonder why I'd put such a weird pic on my profile. Well... after searching long and hard through my gallery of photos... I realised that I don't have any pictures of myself ALONE. Every picture either has someone else in it... or is entirely about someone else. Haha!

I'll upload a more recent picture when I find one. Oh ya! My phone! Hhhmm... let me search through it see if I can dig anything out. Until then... enjoy the bloody pic.

Lessons learned from 300% beef, braun and testosterone

Firstly, digress sikit, I can't believe 300 got bumped off the Box Office by... of all things... the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Imagine all that Spartan macho-ism getting bumped off by 4 mutated kura-kuras. Sigh... just when I'm about expound on 300% absolute MAN-liness.

Ok, ranting over. Now, let's get down to business.

Lesson 1. My Lord, my King. The sense of adoration the warriors had for their King that it was their pride and honour to fight alongside the King they love - Leonidas. I love that line, "Your Highness, it is an honour to die at your side" (or something like that) and Leonidas replied, "And it is mine, to live by yours." Phoah! Sungguh man! But what really struck me was this - although we declare our God the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, I don't think we really understand the full extent of what it really means. Y'know, we watch movies like 300 and the King-ly figures beckon such a reverance and awe, even from us, the audience. Then what about us? How do declare our King of Kings and Lord of Lords?

Lesson 2. Leonidas never left his men. In fact, he was always in the front. That's very much like our Heavenly King. He goes before us - paving the way. When he yells, "PUSH!" - He pushes back the Enemy and strikes them straight in the heart. Unlike the Persian King, Leonidas fought shield to shield and smelly ass to smelly ass with his men. And that's the Heavenly King we serve too, of course without the smelly ass bit la. Proven throughout the Bible, God is always ahead of us. The victory is ours but the battle is the Lord's! We just gotta learn to trust Him.

Lesson 3. The Spartans knew their purpose and they lived it to the fullest with passion and... ok la, I admit, lots and lots of hormone driven, macho-istic Spartan pride. But still, you gotta give them some credit for not shitting in their iron panties at the sight of the Persian army approaching in waves. Maybe it was just scriptwriting genius, but when the narration went on about the Spartans doing what they were born for... it just struck me that most of us today haven't even got a clue what we were born for. But yet, God says that every day of each of our lives was ordained before we popped outta mommy. And sadly, most of us never find out.

Oh... and I almost forgot, Lesson 4. King Leonidas didn't want any commemorative festival, monument, poem or song. He just wanted his people to remember the 300 Spartans and what they died for. Humility... humility...

Yes yes... all that I have mentioned is necessary, movie-making over-exageration for theatrical entertainment purposes. But let's set our cynical selves aside for a while, ignore all that and just wonder how different our lives would be if we could really grasp the magnificence of our Heavenly King, the humility of our Servant King and the agelessness of our Sovereign King.

Call me crazy, weird or whatever... but this is what I learned.

Can't beat 'em, join 'em

Firstly... THANKS FOR TUNING-IN TO MY BLOG!

Yes, after many moons of trying to figure out the 'addictive' factor of blogger-mania, I decided to heck it and give this blogging thing a try. As the saying goes - if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

It has been touted to be therapeutic for people to vent out stress, liberating for those who express their skeletons-in-the-closet in anonymity and a whole lotta other reasons that man can conjure out of thin air.

For me, I finally decided to start this blog because of the impending major shift in my life - my move to Ipoh. As if moving from KL to Penang wasn't painful enough, now it's on to Ipoh - God can sometimes have a cruel sense of humour. But I am very thankful that He has been gracious enough to give me a 3-year stop-over in Penang first before booting me off to Ipoh. For if He sent me directly from KL to Ipoh - I surely would have died upon arrival.

Through my time here in Penang, it has been increasingly difficult to keep in touch with my 'kei sap lien pang you' gang in KL and, soon, my family of friends in Penang as I move on to Ipoh. When I first left KL, I was ridiculously rajin to keep in touch with each friend via email - to keep the personal touch. Obviously, that proved to be psychotic.

So now, with the modern invention of blogs - I will try to make this sorta like my bulletin board where everyone can tune-in to what's happening in my life. Hence, the name - tune2opus. People say that life is life a roller-coaster. I'm not a fan of heights - in fact it turns my legs to jelly. But I am huge fan of music. So, I kinda see the drama of my life unfolding like an orchestra. Actually, I don't like classical music. Just that my favourite nick name is opus and it so happens to mean an orchestraic musical arrangement.

Ok ok... lari topic a bit there. Anyway, that's why my blogspot is named - tune2opus = tune-in to the orchestra of my life.

Whoah! It's 1am already! Damn Old Town White Coffee... hope I have enough winks before Sunday Service tomorrow. Ok, this is my brief intro. Hope I'll post again soon. Nitey nites... 3-2-1-lights out...