Boleh-wood

And the peace of God...

2011-12-13T10:08:00.005+08:00

Philippians 4:4-9

New International Version (NIV)

Final Exhortations
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Shu Jun, my cell group leader shared this http://odb.org/2011/12/12/a-growing-belligerence/ on FB today, and I felt compelled to share this with everyone as well.

For a few months now, since my return from London ( Yes, I was away for 2 months, and I'll talk about it sooner or later in the future ), everyone would be asking me, "So... What did you learn from your trip?"

One main thing that I can say that I've learnt from my trip was LOVE. It was as simple as that. Of course I've learnt and observed many a things over there, but the one thing that I treasured the most was LOVE.

Not that I didn't know what love was, but experiencing and witnessing it was a totally different thing. Now when I say love, it ain't that BGR ( Boy Girl Relationship ) kinda thang... But something deeper... and well simpler. It's love for your fellow man, loving everyone else as God loves us, as we love ourselves, loving your enemies ( Which I might add is easier said than done ). To love unconditionally and to be prepared to forgive... Pendek kata, jadi Kristian bukan senang (for my UK friends... Being a Christian ain't easy)

It's hard work, and as usual, you will always be discriminated for one thing or another. Jesus had tons of haters, being his followers, we should expect the same... Yet still love 'em haters all the same. (Sorry, I realise I'm bein' really street right now... ain't nothin' but a thang yo)

But it's true, worst yet, sometimes, actually most of the time, we have to be the peacemakers. I have always been the one who started it up in here, ya know what I'm sayin'... "Better yet, I always say" you may have started it, but I'm going to finish it.." Yea.. big man talk, but in all truthfulness, it doesn't take a big man to talk like that, I find it that it takes a Bigger man to keep quite and it takes an even Bigger man to defuse said tense situation, to step back and think, hey... let's solve this rationally, we're better than this.

I believe strongly that we should tell the truth, but I realise now there are better ways to do it. It is a constant battle for me to be kind/nice/ considerate, I've always been rather rude and straight forward to everyone, and being in Malaysia doesn't help either. My
experience in London or rather HTB was truly a humbling experience for me. From the office to the church I often hear nothing but encouraging words, no matter how small the task, they encourage you, thank you,and truth be told truly appreciate you doing what you do.Perhaps we do have the capacity to do the same, perhaps we have been too busy achieving excellence, and not realising all the feet we've trampled along the way. Perhaps all we need is to slow down a bit and appreciate the little things... Will this slow down progress? I think not.. Will this decrease productivity? On the contrary.

From personal experience,working with HTB London for 2 months, I have never been as efficient and happy. They appreciate your hard work and what's more, they respect your working hours, 9 to 5 means 9 to 5. Whatever extra curricular activities you might have after that is your own business, but I recall times in which I stayed on for even an extra half and hour, and they would constantly pester me to go back home and have a rest. Because rest is important, and prioritising your work is important. Knowing when to do what is truly important. Jesus himself had times of rest and times of work did he not? Who better should we model our lives to than Jesus himself.

Because of understanding, tolerance, patience, and most importantly, Love, I see people working hard and smart, with passion and perseverance and every hour, every minute used to its full potential. Truly all we need is Love, even if just a little.

Let our gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present our requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

Makes sense doesn't it.. and all I did was change "yours" to "ours". And it s clear and evident of what we should do, how we should react...

Then maybe...maybe, we can finally have some peace...

Till next time hommies, God bless !!!

Disturb us, Lord

2011-09-28T21:34:00.003+08:00

Prayer of Sir Francis Drake

Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

Chris Lee shared this to us during one of our Staff Meetings at HTB few weeks ago, I felt really strongly that I should share this with everyone. My first instinct was to first share this when I go back to FCC, Malaysia, but today I feel I should spread this everywhere as much as I can.

I feel very strongly that God wants us to be more than we can be, to do more than we can do. It's not that we are incapable, usually we're just really comfortable. Comfortable in where we are, what we do.

" Oh, it's ok God, I am alright where I am, no I don't want to be involved in those things, let's just stick to what I know here, I'm good here."

This prayer by Sir Francis, is something that I am usually afraid of. it's that first step that you take, and once you take it, you know it's too late to turn back. But God has chosen us to be leaders, and to be leaders, we should always be in front. Any leader who refuses to move, will find his or her followers waiting at the back, never having the chance to move on.

A church that is comfortable, having a pastor who is comfortable, will find the church going no where.Sometimes, there are followers who realise this, and they have had enough of it, they decided to move on, to break free and move ahead of the leader, but not being the leader, never having the understanding, the adequate know how of things, he ends up in the middle of no where , lost and confused. And if anyone thought of the same, they'll follow that man as well, and they will all end up lost, lost in the desert, going round and round until they dry up.

Coming back to the unmovable leader in the church, that church will end up spiritually dry. Yes, some may argue, God's work will never stop, and that is true. But if we won't do it, God just might never use us again. Logically speaking, a useless hand phone charger should be thrown away and replaced with a new one.

I am afraid of that. I am afraid that one day, it is enough, that my life is enough, that what I am doing for God is enough, and I will be content.

I refuse to be content. Even from a non Christian point of view, being content leaves you without a fight. I am always fighting with my weight issues, because if I quit or nicely put, if I am content, that's it then. Imagine if you quit breathing... Obviously that's not a good metaphor, but fat fighting should be a good one. hahahaha...

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

And it's true, a lion would not attack unless the pray is relaxed and thinks it's safe. Don't believe me watch National Geographic again, wait, I think it should be Discovery Channel now.There you go, something to share to everyone.

That's it for now, Till next time, God bless!!!

Captain America: The First Avenger

2011-07-31T18:07:00.006+08:00

This shall be my last post before I leave for KK tomorrow (1/8/11)to continue with my Moore College studies. Nothing much, I thought I'd just have a light post, a movie review of Captain America.

I've always been a fan of comic books. Specifically Marvel comics. I started by reading X-Men, after having seen the first film, I bought my first Marvel comic. I've always been a big fan of Wolverine and the X-Men, never into anything else. By the time I entered The One Academy as a student. I bought a copy of Secret War, this is the 2003 story, not to be confused with the old Secret Wars. Anyways, from this comic itself, I realised that this one character, Captain America was a man to be reckoned with. He's not a mutant, yet he fights with precision, he has strong values, and he's one heck of a leader. I was always wondering why everyone had such a high respect for him. Of course eventually I have had the chance to read mire and more stories of him, and Captain America became one of my favourite comic book heroes of all time.

Imagine my glee, yes, I'm using the word "glee" when I found out that a movie about said character was going to be made. I was optimistic with the actor they chose, and everyone else seemed to look the part. And I was also nervous that the director might screw up the film. to be fair, every comic book geek would feel the same way.

I had the opportunity to watch Captain America The First Avenger with my cell group last Thursday. It was something I wanted to do with them before I leave for 3 weeks.

How was the movie? For those who just want to know the ratings, I'd give it a 4.5/5. Yea, I'm that serious.

Why? Overall, I'd say it was a safe film. Nothing much to complain about, they did everything safely and perhaps some might even say that it was not ambitious enough. Either ways, it was all fun for me. Action wise I believe they did alright, though like I said before, it does look like the;re playing safe with it, so everything kinda looks calculated. I also wished that the fight between Captain America and the Red Skull could've been longer and more exciting, it reminded me of the final fight between Thor and Loki,everyone knows that Thor would win, so why bother ...hahaha... But Red Skull is actually similar to Captain America, so one would expect a little bit more.

The fact that a bulk of the movie happened in the 40s', it gave me a weird sense of nostalgia. Even though I was nowhere when all those things happened. I felt like I was there and was experiencing the whole thing. What can I say, I am just a sucker for old films and anything vintage.

I must comment on the dynamic between the characters. All the actors played their roles perfectly. Though I would just be commenting on two for now.

It would only be fair that I comment on Chris Evans, who is the actor for the title character, Captain America. many had doubts about him holding this film but I'd have to say that I was one of the few who didn't have much doubts on this guy. He did a great job in showing that though he was a weak man, physically, but has a set of moral values that is admirable to anyone. Not to mention he's physic post-serum, and I'm commenting on his super soldier body, this guy is just an inspiration to all unfit, unhealthy lads out there...hahaha... But overall, he did a great job, and it seemed like he could really pull off the role as a leader, knowing that Captain America will eventually lead the Avengers, obviously consisting of some of the biggest characters in Marvel, played by some of the biggest actors and actresses in Hollywood, so kudos to Chris Evans.

Next one, obviously I'm going to refer to Hayley Atwell, who plays the love interest of Captain America, Peggy Carter. For those who do not know, Captain America will eventually be dating her grandniece, yes, if it sounds weird, watch the movie, and it will make all the sense in the world. Hayley At well, is by herself a force to be reckoned with. I'd have to admit I am beginning to like watching these English actresses more and more. Hayley Atwell being the obvious choice, then of course there;s Alice Eve, which ironically was also in the running for the character of Peggy Carter before the role eventually went to Hayley Atwell. So far, the relationship dynamic between Captain America and Peggy Carter is by far the most convincing, in comparison with all the romantic connections of our heroes in the previous Marvel movies. Before I go there, I'd just have to comment on what a wonderful actress she is, it is truly a fine line to walk between sophisticated, sensual lady and independent, tough woman. But she did it perfectly. I have to admit that I am currently quite infatuated by her.

The romance between them was so convincing, that when they had to part, yes, major spoilers for everyone, I left the cinema feeling rather dissatisfied. It wasn't much about dissatisfaction for the movie, but it as that bitter sweet feeling I had for the characters. I actually seriously felt for these characters,a nd coming from a comic book movie, that says a lot.

Overall, Captain America, The First Avenger, is a fun entertaining movie, with good acting, a fair plot, and basically a movie for all to enjoy. Oh, and did I say that it was quite funny as well? Seriously, it is. So there you go, my review for the movie. I could've written a lot more, but my laptop battery is dying out so this is what I have so far.

I hope everyone catches this movie cause well, it's just awesome. Or maybe it's just me.

Oh and seriously, wait for the credits to end for a very interestingly awesome clip... Guys, you don't want to miss this...

Till next time, God bless guys.

The Return Part 1

2011-06-30T01:30:00.003+08:00

So many things, in such a short little time... WHAT?!! 2 blog posts in a day, Yo must be crazy fool... Yes , I be...

It's 1.30am, so excuse me if this entry is a little nutty, my mind is not exactly sound enough to put things and events in it's chronological order, so please, bear with me...

First thing that comes to mind is the David Choi concert. Before I left for Tawau and KK, I asked a friend of mine to help me purchase 2 tickets for the concert, moments later he called me back and told me he not only got exactly that, but they were the last 2 tickets as well... Excited as I am, it's gotta wait, I was going away for about 2 weeks, so let's just keep it on hold, I told him. 2 weeks later, I called him again, he told me have to come all the way to PWTC, which was where his office was located to collect the, hence the previous entry, I was there ( PWTC ), and Pavilion and so on. For those of you who has never tried it, don't ever take a cab from Sunway to PWTC, well, if you really have to, then of course there's no choice, but man was it expensive, RM 40 for a cab ride... yea... To add the cherry on that delightful cake that was my day, the friend who was to join me for that concert backed out at the last minute, I was so bummed I nearly sold my tickets. Long story short, I still ended up going there and hey, I still sold one ticket to yet another friend who was equally as excited to watch the concert as I am, so I guess that turned out alright. The concert was great, though I realised everyone was a bigger fan than me, they all knew the lyrics to the songs and were singing to it, even the guys there were going nuts, seriously. The only video I could take was while we were waiting for the concert to start, and we were still standing outside the door, cramped up with everyone else... My phone just couldn't adjust to the dark setting inside the hall, and all the pics were crazy looking... I even got a pic of a ghost that slightly resembles Phoebe but that picture "mysteriously" disappeared...hahaha ! It was a great experience, and yea, gotta go to more concerts when I have the chance and the munnayss !!! Oh and here's the vid...

(i know, my hair's kinda funky over here... was sweating...come on...)

Recently celebrated the wedding of my cell group member, Felicia. So if she's reading this, and I doubt she will, Congrats Feleh and Rick !!!

Truth be told, I belive there should be more than to this entry... so let's just call this Part 1...

Stay tuned for Part 2 !!!

Till then, God bless...!!!

Belated post...

2011-06-17T14:26:00.003+08:00

2 weeks ago , I started writing a blog entry... in the busyness and haze of things, I forgot to finish it it... But Im still postin' it up anyways...

Understand that when I wrote this, this a was at least 2 weeks ago... so yea...

... and I am back...

I apologise for not appearing in the blog-sphere for about a month now, partly due to preparation for my exams, and some traveling which kept me away from KL for at least 11 days.

but I am back now, bigger than ever... seriously, staying a few days in East Malaysia just got me bigger and fatter. Example, I packed 2 sets of jeans when I travel, one which I wore to Tawau, but when I wore the other one in KK, I could hardly breathe comfortably in it, yes, that drastic of a change.... sigh...

Anyways, the past few days have been an on and off for me, mood is kinda going south so I decided to do what I do when I need to relax. I went and had a walk in a shopping center. Actually a few shopping centres.

On Sunday, was at Empire Shopping Gallery, Tuesday I was at Mid Valley Megamall, Wednesday I was at The Mall (PWTC), Pavilion and Fahrenheit. Of course, Sunway pyramid is not mentioned, since I do walk there almost everyday.

A friend pointed out me being upset to the distance I would walk, or perhaps the number of Shopping Malls I would walk in. In a way, he is right. I don't really need to buy anything, I just need to walk, in shopping malls in particular, sometimes it can be anywhere else. Case in point, there was a time in which I nearly went all the way to Melaka to clear off some steam...

Wednesday was of course the worst of it. Upon reaching Pavilion, I decided that I would watch Pirates of the Caribbean, came out , walked around a bit and went back to Sunway. Of course that was not the end of it, I decided it was too early to go back home, and managed to convince my sister and housemate for a sitting of Green Lantern that very night at 11.45pm. Was my mind messed up ? Yes... But it's not something I'd like to mention now. Having said that Pirates of the Caribbean was quite a good movie, and for Green Lantern...nah... don't feel like commenting too much on it, maybe I'll write a review about them later.

Thusi, Kosh and Meth.

2011-05-05T19:10:00.003+08:00

Having woken up at 5am, I was still very much groggy. No one was to be blamed, twas my choice to once again sleep at an exceptionally late hour knowing very well the hour of which I need to be up is early.

But it was a very important day, nay, an important moment. We were going to send Thusi and her sons to the airport. They were leaving for their hometown in Sri Lanka, moving back to where they came from.

It was not so long ago that I was introduced to them by Pastor, having told that Thusi needed help in locating for a place to stay as she and her family were moving to Malaysia. We helped, as much as we could, and I still remembered the time when both pastor and I visited them with pizzas and spoke to them of their plans in Malaysia. And I remember picking them up the week after for service as well.

Truth be told I cannot remember how long they've been a part of FCC, let alone been a small part of my life and others in Malaysia. But having them around always reminds me of the reality of our ministry. That we are fishers of men, not just around Sunway, or Malaysia, but around the world. People come into our lives every now and then, from everywhere, and what do we do about it? It is a challenge to love others like we love ourselves, and most of the time, it aint easy.

I cannot say that I did my best to accommodate and help them with their needs while they were still here in Malaysia, though I did try, to the best of my abilities and limitations. During their stay here, I wonder how many people have they come to know and how many people have come to know them. To this very second that I am typing this post, how many of you actually know who I have been talking about all this while?

I realise that if I continue writing in the manner that I have been writing, this would become more of a rant, rather than a farewell post. More and more negativity coming in... Perhaps Im feeling bad. Bad in a sense that I have not done my best to accommodate them, that I haven't done my best in introducing them to others and making them feel at home, perhaps it's just the fact that I have just sent them off to Sri Lanka, and I might never have to chance to see them face to face again.

The simplest fact is , I miss them, the whole lot of them. And I pray that God will keep them safe and keep them close, for as long as He is with them and them with Him, it'll be alright. I pray for nothing but the best to Thusi and her family in all their en devours. Amen.

Kosh, and Meth, sorry, we never had the chance to hang out in KL as I promised earlier on. Take care guys and take care of your mom.

Good bye and God bless guys.

Of Weddings, Pirated dvds and Love Rhythms...

2011-05-02T00:04:00.003+08:00

Firstly, Congratulations to both Yvonne and Ernest on their wedding !!!

Had the opportunity to celebrate this joyous occasion with them last Saturday. The first among our group to be married,Yvonne has always been the gung ho one about getting married. Perhaps it was the fact that she was the only girl in the group, not that there were no other girls gracing their presence in our small little band of misfits, but she was the one with permanent membership...

Funerals and weddings... all of which , interestingly led me to Cheras, what's up with that?

Looking around, more and more of my friends are getting married, there will be at least 3 more that I have to attend this year itself. Well, better weddings than funerals I guess. Few things came across my mind as I contemplate these events (weddings I mean)...

One, I am not young anymore. Sooner or later , the bitter truth of our temporary residency in this place we call earth will start to sink in. Not that this has never occurred to me before, but every once in a while, we are reminded of the time we have in this world, or rather the lack of it.

Don't get me wrong, I am not going to rush into a relationship just for the sake of "running together with the crowd", but it's good to know that one has reached a certain stage in their life, and to me, marriage is one of them.

But enough of that, one can never finish talking about relationships. So just leave it at that... haha...

Just to add a little to the point above, everything that we have is temporary, yes, even what we have now, till death do us part, remember... Which makes the relationship that we have with Jesus Christ all the more important, all the more intimate. For we have been promised everlasting life, to be with Him in glory and fellowship... Amen

Went to Taipan for some errands. It has been awhile since I've been to Taipan. For those of you who don't know this, I used to stay at USJ 11, which is right across Taipan for the first 4 years of my life here in Selangor. My uncle provided the house and food, and all I had to do was be there. Such a life of a student. I am currently looking for a new place I can call "my habitat" and it somehow led me back to Taipan. After visiting said house, we (myself and Tim) decided to have our dinner in Taipan itself.

Immediately, memories came flushing in. All those years as a TOA student, even my life as a lecturer, the travels from Sunway, the yellow buses, the traffic, the solo walks I use to have in Summit and the solo trips to KL. It all came back to me in that short walk.

I like Taipan, in a sense, it has a lot of things, but having stayed here in Sunway here for about 2 years now, I sort of prefer Sunway. I like the freedom and the ability to just walk to Pyramid as I like. The fact that home is so close to church. The fact that Starbucks is just 2-3 minutes away, by foot.

As I walked pass the shops that I used to enter, I came across this particular shop that I was so fond of, a pirated DVD store. I do not know who the owner was, neither do I know the name sof the workers, but there was one particular worker who was always friendly to me, I'd visit the store often and he'd know me well enough to know the kind of movies or even the genres I like, he knwos that if I don't have enough money to buy the dvds, I can always come back to pay him, cause he knows I am good for it. Such comradeship is hard to find. Perhaps he was just a smart businessman, but those were good times. Having said that those days are long gone, no longer do I enter said shop and buy all that I can buy, no longer do I enter said shop and find movies that I would hardly watch yet buy them to study different genres of it.

"Hey, long time no see, been a while, go ahead, find what you like, can give you discounts again."

I smirked, a bit... Nah.. not this time, perhaps not ever. Gone were the days...

I left my old life, I don't really feel like going back there again. Perhaps I will in the future, but not yet...

I'd like to leave you all with Clara C and Joesph Vincent's cover of Rhythm of Love by Plain White T's .. been listening to this song, and this cover is just, well.. fun..Enjoy...

God bless you all...

For Asgard !!!

2011-04-29T10:34:00.008+08:00

Odin's beard !!!

Had the chance to catch Thor on screen yesterday in the highly over criticized Sunway Pyramid's TGV cinema. Of course, I was the one who highly criticized it. Surprisingly, yesterday wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, sound was just nice, but to me it was still overpriced.

Now to the things that actually mattered. I'm going to make it easy for everyone here by giving my rating earlier on in the post, so if you like what you saw (the rating), then you can go ahead and watch it yourself, however, if you don't mind a bit of movie analysis and of course the spoilers that come with it, do continue reading and let me know what you think after your own viewing of Thor.

I rate this movie 8/10, preferably I'd give it a 7.5/10, but today I'll give it an 8/10.

________________________________________________________

Now on the the SPOILERS...

I'll start with the Storyline

It is rather straight forward, nothing too fancy if you ask me. Of course I do to a certain extent have some knowledge about Thor prior to the movie itself for I am a comic book fan as well.

I believe if you've never read the comic book before, this movie will be a great place to start as it will discuss the origin story of Thor and of course his delightful household, well basically him and his brother and of course their tumultuous relationship with each other.

Here you will learn of Loki's disdain for his brother and his rather interesting past which fairly contributes to his future.

To me the storyline was easy to understand and fun. I love how the director could bring us from Asgard to Midgard( Earth) back and forth without the audience feeling any sense bewilderment even with the extreme change of setting that occurred onscreen. Perhaps it was the rather exciting earlier scene depicting Thor's coronation, or was it the not so small battle that ensued in Jutenheim between Thor's small band of warriors and the Frost Giants themselves. Either ways, all those events have prepared us enough to see Thor traveling to Earth through the Bifrost as nothing but a door to another world, not much different from a normal door, only a lot more intimidating and the landing looks a lot awesomer..Oh yeah !!!

It just felt a bit weird that Thor due to his own arrogance, banished to Earth by his father, Odin himself, so that he would learn humility. And that he did. After being hit by a car or rather the same car quite a few times, having been tasered and beaten up, after having many a cups of coffee, Thor became a good boy. And all this within the span of a week. I say a week because it wouldn't make sense if it were longer than that. Now, how do we wrap around that idea, Thor son of Odin, arrogant as he was and childlike as he was, learnt manners on Earth and became a good man? In his defense, I do not believe that he behaved too badly while in Asgard, it was only the fact that he had a black and white view in regard to anything in his life. If it's bad, I hit it, if it's good, we drink ale with it... Simple viking way of thinking.

Perhaps it was the fact that Odin wanted his son to learn how to be a King and not just a warrior, tactics and diplomacy comes with the crown after all. I guess that is why it befuddles Loki why he was not chosen as the successor. In a normal world, Loki would have been the perfect politician, smart, charismatic, wily, not afraid to get his hands dirty, Sounds like a shoe in for a politician in our own country. Hahahaha... Nothing worse then when a reviewer includes his country's politics into a movie review...

Coming back to the point, it's a wonder that Thor having come to Earth would learn to be humble. How about those who spent their whole lives on earth, have they not learnt anything yet? Perhaps it was the whole duck out of water experience that changed him. Thank God Thor landed in a small town and not some war ridden place like Eastern Europe or even Iraq, God knows what would happen to his morals had he landed there.

The dynamic between Thor, his father Odin and his brother Loki was also well done. Here it was very clear, the tension between the father and the sons, the love which they crave from their father, and how small acts could trigger or cause such unhappiness or distress or even rejection the other child. Loki was suffering from all sorts of rejection factors, his past, his abilities or rather lack of it, perhaps even his looks, all cause him suffering, pain and dissatisfaction. Not able to resort to physical strength, he relied on his wits. to quote from Tyrion Lannister of The Game of Thrones:" A mind needs books like a sword needs a wet stone." Sharpening his mind and bidding his time, it was only a matter of time before he took the chance to prove himself worthy of the crown, or more importantly of his father's love. Sometimes, we have such disdain for ourselves, that we disregard the love from others around us, casting aside the love that actually matters. it was obvious that his parents loved him, even Thor himself loved his brother, but Loki kept it all inside, and bad things happen when you keep things inside...

The relationship between Thor and Jane Foster was believable, albeit the short time that they spent together. I was convinced that in such a short span of time, that they actually were interested at each other, kudos to both actors for making it so. You could actually feel the electricity ( no pun intended) between the two of them. I rather felt bad for Lady Sif, knowing very well, that in the comics, she was Thor's love interest as well, even before Jane Foster. So yea, herself being cast aside just like that, sad...

Another underrated character which I enjoyed watching was Heimdall, didn't expect much from this character but he carried such respect and power even for a gatekeeper. My hats of to him. The Warriors three have always been a delight to watch, Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg just adds flavour to the whole movie, though I personally feel that Volstagg should have been a lot fatter, but that's just me. I just love how the shield agents called Sif, Hogun and Fandral as Xena, Jackie Chan and Robin Hood... hahaha...Truly made my day with that comment.

Acting

Anthony Hopkins of course as usual, brought it, which of course prompted both Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston to bring it as well... Natalie Portman needless to say was perfect as ever. Idris Elba did a great job as Heimdall.

All I can say is, they did a great choice selection for the cast of this movie, everyone played their part well enough and they all brought their characters to life.

Special nods to Stellan Skarsgard, Renne Russo and even Colm Feore for their roles as Doctor Eric Selvig, Frigga and King Laufey.

Also want to acknowledge Jeremy Renner who appeared briefly as Clint Barton aka Hawkeye.

Design and Effects

The FX was superb, as I have really wondered how they would depict the rainbow bridge and they did an awesome job with it. Asgard looked like a cross between Lord of the Rings' Minas Tirith, Lothlorien and Star Wars' Naboo. I just love the whole design. Should I buy the artbook? I wonder...

FX not really my department, but I'd say it was convincing. I thought the Frost-giants were awesome and once again, I realise I just went back to the design aspect of things...hahahaha

Overall

It is an awesome movie, I will definitely watch it again, cause I'm sure my sis will drag me to it or I'll never hear the end of it...

Guys, go and watch it, cause Darren said so...

Till next time , God bless...

Of singing, driving and toastmaster demos...

2011-04-20T11:32:00.003+08:00

Wow, it's been nearly a month since my last post.

What more is there to say.

Many a things be happening on my side of the world these days.

FCC had just had it's first Toastmasters meeting/demo last Saturday, more updates on that soon enough. All I can say about it is, I am glad to be a part of it and I hope more would join us, not for the churches benefit, but really for your own good. Toastmasters has always ever been a platform for any person professional or otherwise to equip themselves the right know how on speaking, presenting and even leading in their respective positions in life. Rather than a classroom environment, Toastmasters believe on a hands-on approach, a meeting like setting, where individuals are invited to come up front and present their topics and so on. One would also be given small responsibilities to which will prepare them for bigger and more important duties in the future, I believe this is where the"leadership" aspect of Toastmasters comes in.

Therefore I urge all who are reading this, to come, join us at Toastmasters in FCC, for more info, just email me at Darren323@gmail.com.

I was planning to just mention about Toastmasters but it turned out to be a pitch, nvm then..haha

Been learning a lot in Faith Music, Faith Vocal to be exact. Theory wise I'm still a little weak, but I am slowly working on it. Good news is that I had my first full band performance/ practice, for our upcoming "examinations" I guess. A few creases to iron out,but I believe I am getting there.

I will also be performing in our upcoming Good Friday service, am nervous about it, but I am looking forward to it as well.

Few weeks ago, or was it a month ago, shot a video along with other staff members for a song we wrote and performed in congratulating Good Samaritan church on their 25th year Anniversary. Looks good, I hope..hahaha

So there you go, I've been rather busy in them secondary talent department.

Moving on, I just went through my first practical driving lesson last Thursday, though my instructor looked afraid and frustrated the whole 4 hours of my training, I believed I did well enough considering it was my first time driving.

"Don't let go of the clutch.... Don't you know how to drive straight... I said balance..balance..."

Well .. If I knew all that, I wouldn't be taking lessons would I... But I digress. Truth be told many individuals, friends of mine even, have had driving experiences before they went for their first class.. Oh you know that old wives tale, their parents were not around, they found the car keys, started the engine, next thing you know, they put the gear in reverse, and before you know it, they were driving around their house without the knowledge of their parents, or for those who have seen better days, have had small accidents like banging into their neighbour's car, or even their own gate. I happen to be one of those who aren't like that. I was trapped at home for the bulk of my youth, and I distinctively remember my mom's car to always be in the driveway, but I never drove it.

People question me or sometimes even ridicule me for not driving it around. It's not like it had never occurred to me to do so, but I have certain principles that I like to live up to. We live in a world where temptation is all around us, and most of the time, we fall victim to them, therefore, consciously, if I could've prevented myself from committing anything bad, even in the slightest of ways, I would try to do so. It gives me pleasure in knowing I have self control over such things. A certain ego boost, you might even call it.

Don't get me wrong, I am not going to judge those who did it, if you felt judge than perhaps you would admit at being guilty..haha... but the point is, I have my principles and I live by them. Regardless how it might seem to be a disadvantage.

God has constantly been faithful in guiding me, even though for the past few weeks, I felt like I have distanced myself from Him. Time and time again, God has brought me into situations which reminds me of of His goodness and grace, He has surrounded me as well, with people who constantly assure me of my faith. And for that I thank you Lord !

This stuck with me during one of my devotions last week. Thought I'd share it as well.

Phillipians 2:14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”[c] Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life.

It's hard being a good person, let alone being a Christian. No matter where you go people will judge you, atheist or not, people expect nothing but goodness from you, and the slightest fault will just cause you to be bombarded with accusations and expectations. I find myself to always be given unrealistic expectations, just because I am a Christian does not mean I won't be angry, or so on. We are told to be like Jesus, not be Jesus. Face it, we're all humans and we make mistakes, even the best of us.

I know I for one can be quite difficult to work with. Sometimes, my anger gets the better of me, and I will always speak my mind and the truth and for that reason I get into trouble. There's a back story to why I don't lie and why I hate liars, but that's for another day.

Perhaps its the way the truth is delivered that needs to be changed. That Conan in your face truth can no longer be used in this world, a world of back talking and whispering, where men and women cower behind their lies and judgements, two faced agreements and corner cutting ways. They have a word for that, and they call it being "diplomatic" or perhaps "wise".

But being a Christian means understanding all this and handling it in a better way, for we should not conform to the ways of the world, for even though we are in the world, we are not of it.

God help me to be that person that I should be.To be put right with You. To find the "balance" in handling all things. Amen.

Till next time, God bless

It's not a complaint, just a comment.

2011-03-24T11:48:00.002+08:00

Did some reevaluation on my life...

Yea yea, I've been doing that quite often already... But this time is a little different, I had a plan for my plan, and I drew a life plan for myself, so I'm quite proud of myself now... First step... done.( Pats on back...)

It feels good to know that we have a certain degree of control over our lives, though we know ultimately it is our Father in Heaven who provides for us and watches over us.

Have you always been the complaining type of person? Do you seem to complain about everything around you? Do you find yourself dissatisfied with life and constantly feeling rejected and deprived of many life's privileges?

At one point in my life, I used to complain a lot as well.. I blamed everyone for my shortcomings and sometimes it was true, but most of the time, heck it's just life. But understanding what I understand now, there really is no point in blaming others for your misfortunes and lacks but to get up and get on with life. Do something about it I always say.

Some may concur and disagree when I say I don't complain much anymore. Well, I still complain, once in a while, then I go fix the problem lah, bad habits die hard.. haha.. Sorry to those who had to put up with my rants all this while, I'll try to make up for it guys.

Actually it's much more of commenting, the Mr. Know-it-all in me just loves commenting on everything I see, and for that I apologise. Usually, it's only at the end of the day that I realise my faults and by then it's already too late. As they say in Bahasa Malaysia which I shall delightfully translate, the rice has already become the congee... hahaha... I am working on this as well, as I sometimes find myself irritated by my own comments..haha... came back full circle.

Coming back to the topic. There are many options to which you can choose on what you can do with your current life situation.

I know of some who pick themselves up, dust off and go on with their lives. Some tend to analyse the mistakes they made, sometimes a little to long, but they make sure they rectify the problem and solve it the best way they can. Then there are those who choose the more depressing route. They dwell on the problem at hand and just look at it, and think about it, asking questions of why did it happen, or why did it happen to them. Over and over again they do this to themselves without realising how much this affects them as well as those around them. Sad.

I've always seen such people as a black hole. They're depressed, they blame the world, themselves and just sit there for attention. Their sadness attracts attention, which is what they wanted, people come share their thoughts and their ideas, people involved get pulled into their lives, and now these new people, people who care are starting to be depressed as well because they've connected with said depressed person. It's a sad sad situation.

Pulling myself out of such a depressing track. I'd like to share a passage that has been shared oh so many times by so many individuals before me,

Luke 12:22-31 (New International Version, ©2011)

Do Not Worry

²² Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. ²⁴ Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! ²⁵ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life^a]">[a]? ²⁶ Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

²⁷ “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ²⁸ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! ²⁹ And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. ³⁰ For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

It is obvious that my observation above is just a general, light, not so in depth overview of things. Of course there will always be other factors put into the mix which makes life a little bit more complicated. But don't let that pull you down, and if it does pull you down, don't stay down, get up and fight back.

I hope it helps. I have faith that no matter what we choose to do, as long as we know and believe and follow God's guidance, we can achieve it. Key word is, Let God take control. Man this feel like previous post..hahaha

God bless guys

Movies ?

2011-03-12T11:08:00.007+08:00

It's been awhile since Darren talked movies...

Yes, the movie buff in me is crying out for attention... and Darren shall answer...

A few movies have come to my attention which are in my must watch list for the season, and I urge everyone who reads this and are interested to come and join me as well in this Celluloid Celebration !!!

First movie,

Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa

I'm not much of a Malaysian film buff, I am a supporter of good films. Therefore usually my cinematic instincts will forgo any blind patriotism towards Malaysian films. I do not watch Malaysian films just to support them. Come to think of it, most of the Malaysian films I watched were paid by others, like Kinta, and Tiger WooHoo. The only Malaysian film I remembered watching and paying for was Puteri Gunung Ledang, because I believed that the movie would be good and that there was potential in it. Of course the outcome was so so, but the Malaysian in me will say that it was a nicely made high budgeted movie with nice effects but with slight cinematography setbacks and choppy dialogues.

I was very skeptical about this movie as well. But every once in a blue moon, the Malaysian in me will cry out and I will heed it's cries. It makes sense that I would be even slightly curious to watch this movie seeing as too how high the budget was thrown in to create this movie.

I am just curious as how everything would turn out to be. The worst that could happen is that it would be like that Thai Langkasuka movie, and if Malaysians would watch that, why not our own...

Second movie to watch.

Rango

Rango is one movie that grows on you, even before you watch it.

I've seen the trailers before hand. And it's just weird. The whole lizard in Texas is just not really convincing to me, or perhaps I was just not in the mood for it. But lately, after watching the 2nd trailer and even a short clip on the shooting of the movie, I believe we may have something special on our hands.

And so, I will watch it.

Third movie,

The King's Speech and The Fighter

For these 2 movies, I put them side by side because I want to watch it but not now.

Fact is both movies are great movies, both with winner's in the latest Academy Awards, and for certain, both are what I'd call "Heavy" Movies...

"Heavy" movies are just movies which to me are long and takes a lot of time to enjoy and just listen and digest, and for now, I can't handle it. I find myself rather tired these days so I'm all up for comedies and action films.

But I am still interested to watch it, perhaps in one of my alone, contemplation times will I go and watch these films...

Before I end this entry today, I am excited to announce that Conan the Barbarian movie teaser trailer is finally online.

Anyone who knows me well enough , knows that I have always been a huge fan of the Conan character, and I mean the sword slashing one, not the Japanese short midget detective.

If the young of today reads Twilight, Harry Potter, or even Dungeons and Dragons, then mine would be Robert E. Howard's Conan chronicles.

I have to admit the first time I was exposed to the whole Conan lore was in my younger days. Days of which there was still the Dunhill movie special on TV2. I remembered vividly the final scenes of which the evil wizard turned into an ugly monster or rather an ape like one, similar to the stories of "Rouges in the House". And even the final scene in which when a horn was attached to a statue, it turned into a huge sea creaure, in which Conan had to kill it by removing the horn.

Such were the stories of Conan. But as I grew, I started reading the novels, written by Robert E. Howard, and I realised Conan was so much more. He climbed mountains, and trees like a panther, moved swiftly in the jungle without the sound of a crushed leaf, slept in the snow bare naked and so on...

The Conan depicted in the movies, played respectively by Arnold, somewhat fit the description, but anyone with the right mind could tell you, he was too slow to run swiftly or even too heavy to climb trees or mountains. No, Arnold did not look like a man born in the battlefield but instead looked like a man who trained for bodybuilding. One such example I could give is King Leonidas in 300, played by Gerard Butler, now he was quick and swift, someone who could do real damage in the battlefield. Which is why I was happy with the choice that they made selecting the new actor Jason Mamoa for the role of Conan, my first choice has always been Dwayne"The Rock" Johnson, but hey... this is good enough.

So I leave you with this teaser trailer of Conan the Barbarian.

Tentación...

2011-03-10T14:35:00.002+08:00

The beginning of Lent... Oh yea...

Tis the time for Christians to put aside more time for God, contemplating, meditating, reading and understanding the word of God. In short, it is a time for us to spend more time with God, and be more fervent in our walk with Him.

Like the title says, life is full of temptation...

I find myself in such difficult positions some time... Situations in which I really don't know what to do. Logically, there is always a solution for any problems. But I am a passionate man, all artists are.. haha... and with that passion, we tend to wear our hearts on our sleeves. And it is with that heart on my sleeve that I based my decisions upon, most of the time.

I have decided to give up... No, don't get me wrong... this isn't one of them suicide notes... I am not giving up on life, haha.. not mine to give up bah... hahaha.. But I have to decided to just step back and well, give up for now... seriously running out of vocabs man....haha...

For now, there are a lot of things in which I need to focus on, my-future-depends-on-it kinda things. My studies for instance, I have not been a good student so far, Bishop, if you're reading this, sorry ah... Be back on track ASAP...

Then I have some of the ministries given to me. Like Welcome Team and Faith Station, 2 very important ministries mind you, and I'd like to know I will do my best in it, as much as I can, after all, the task at hand is given based on our capabilities, but it's up to us to initiate and run it. Lately I have been neglecting these ministries quite a bit, due to some acceptable and some illogical personal reasons. But reasons are alasans, still the same thing..haha... And God's ministries waits for no man, therefore personal issues must be put aside to be dealt with, or ministries can be handed over to someone more suited for it. I for one, am not giving up on this yet.

Thirdly, Faith Music. This year I have finally decided to join Faith Music. Joined last year but did practically nothing.. hahaha... Guitar is still collecting dust at home and until I can save up enough money to fix the machine head and the neck or buy a new guitar, guitar classes are just a no no for me , for now... Therefore, only other option is vocal class... Yeap, you heard me, Vocal Class. Finally joined it, and I am quite glad I get to learn a bit about singing techniques and voice control and so on... Hopefully will learn more on the basics, which my trainer sudah promise... haha... For now, kena surih nyanyi, lantak saja, harap harap tidak out cukuplah... haha.

So there you go, and of course, among The Big 3 ( reasons) of course, there are always smaller ones here and there, like driving license and drama classes and the ever so important hanging out and catching up with friends.

Of course, one very important factor is, that I realise I have not been as close to God as I used to be. Sure, head knowledge is still there, perhaps even more, but I have not been walking with God for awhile. You know how it is... let me explain how...

Women, married of course , always complain about this, and I hope my future wife won't have to.

Before they get married, the husband (then boyfriend), would hold her hand, walk side by side, perhaps even a small hug around the waist, wherever they go, she'd be a little slow, and he'd wait for her, walking to the rhythm of her foot steps. Time slows down, and it feels like it's only the two of them on that quiet Chow Kit road...

But fast forward 30 years later, the wife is way behind, dragging her groceries in one hand, and balancing her purse in the other, whereas the husband walks right on front of her, way ahead of her actually, and turns around and says :" Why are you walking so slow ?"

I feel like the husband now, and God is the wife, I know I know, but in this scenario, God is... I felt that I have neglected God way behind me, and I'd occasionally turn back and ask :" Where is He?"

Aren't we all sometimes like that? Instead of walking with God, we walk before Him to find our way, letting God carry everything for us, but not wanting to walk side by side with Him.

And here we are singing that oh so famous hymn which has been made famous once again among FCC-ians by Jon Tse, I Have Decided to Follow Jesus...

The world behind me, The cross before me...

Sure or not... Last time I checked, God was right behind you...

Therefore my friends, as we begin our season of Lent, let us slow down for awhile. Take it slow, and spend more time with God. I promise you it will be worth it. It always is. Temptation may come and go, but God will forevermore be there for us, so hold fast in your faith and never let go, cause God never will.

Oh, forgot to mention as well, when I mentioned giving up, I meant relationship wise.. And it's not really the giving up that you;re thinking about, I am giving it UP to the Lord... and for now, I am free.

Till next time, God bless guys !!!

Flu, Headaches, Valentines and Prayer Meetings...

2011-02-24T12:57:00.000+08:00

Almost the end of the month now, how time freakin' flies...

In my current state, I am rather sleepy and slightly dizzy, with slight flu and sore throat... It sucks to be sick... even if it's slightly. Looking around I realise everyone else is as slightly sick as I am, though truth be told that does not give me any form of comfort at all...

It's been almost a month since I came back from my Moore College Studies and I can tell you it ain't easy at all... I find it really hard to get into my study mode again and it has occurred to me I really need a studying environment again. I need a study partner, that's what... A study partner.

But let's keep it real. How many people around me are doing the same course with me... not so much, especially corresponding ones. Looks like I am to walk this path by myself for now.

God help me to be disciplined in this... Pry my hands and my being away from the dastardly machine that is my laptop, that I may escape it's unholy grasp on me, if only for a few hours and concentrate on learning and studying Your words. Plus, exams are coming and I'm freaking out !

Having said that, life once again has been good. Had my first Valentine's celebration with some friends.. Well, I don't know if you can consider this a celebration, but it was a gathering and a fun one at that, with wine and champagne and all the good company that comes with it, and it's on Valentine's day... so yea, Valentine's Day celebration !

It's a lot better than what I did last Valentine... nothing ... unless you see lying on the couch till I doze off as an activity...

Had a conversation with a friend of mine regarding relationships not so long ago, in fact it was just the day after Valentine's. Still slightly groggy from the night before, we were talking about love and it's affect on people, and they do after said affect. One of the most common questions that a man can actually ask a friend, man or woman is, When should I tell her, 2nd question, How should I tell her. The sequence of said questions does not really matter, but be rest assured they will be asked.

Everyone have their own theories on such things and everyone claims to be a Love Guru in one way or another. I myself, of one that has hardly been in a full relationship would often put in my 2 cents on the subject matter, since usually the questioner would accept any form of advise and work through it afterward.

I can't possibly tell when a person should express their feelings, understand that everyone is different and different women operate differently depending on their current situation or current emotional state. Giving a time would just clash with my whole "Every woman is different.." idea.

However, what I can give is this. Regardless of how she feels or is at any current situation, whether she's ready or not, a man should have ( If I may) the balls, to put himself out there. in other words, express himself to the chosen fairer sex. Of course, I assume that I will be under immediate fire after making such statement, especially the "Regardless of how she feels or is at any current situation.." part.

Once again, said man should be able to discern the right moment.

For instance, if you were to introduce a food product into the market, there are many things that could be done, advertising, food testing and so on and so forth. But one of the most important aspect is the placement of the product on the shelf. Regardless of whether a customer were to buy said product, they must first be aware of it, then make the choice of whether to purchase it or not. If not, the interest or even the slightest thought of buying the product would cease to exist, since the product had itself ceased to exist in the customers view.

I hope the women reading this are not offended by the example which I have just given. I am just trying to justify and explain my point in the simplest manner possible.

Will the customer buy the product? No one knows, only the customer does. And what if the customer doesn't. well, then it's alright, there will always be someone else interested in said product. Perhaps it might even be his or favourite for a time being.

Simple. Yes ? Maybe not. Choosing a spouse is not exactly buying canned food. Canned foods can't fully represent a man, men have hearts.

Dang, this metaphor seemed almost perfect... haha... back to the drawing board again I guess...

Anyways, just had the opportunity to lead a church wide prayer meeting, it was awesome and tiring. Have to really thank God for giving me the strength to do that just now. To think that just half an hour before that I was having a headache and bad flu and the moment before I went onstage I was feeling all feverish inside.

It's good to see the church moving towards the vision that was given. I would encourage everyone to give their best if not their all in God's work for His glory.

Till next time. God bless guys !!!

Of Moore and Lehbits !!!

2011-02-07T18:34:00.002+08:00

Been back from KK for a few days now, settling back into my KL lifestyle once again.

After a 4 week absence from KL, I am glad to be back home. Note that I actually came back from "home" which is KK, but I have grown so much accustomed to my life in KL, that I have now regarded KL as my "home". Obviously, the phrase " Home is where the heart is" comes to mind once again.

4 weeks in KK meant 3 weeks doing my Moore Theological Studies as well as an extra week spent with my family celebrating Chinese New Year.

I really thank God for the opportunity to spend this time with my family. It's been awhile since we've all been together under one roof and just spent some time together. May not be as long and as fun, but family time is family time, and I still appreciate it.

After such a long time, I finally had the chance to go for CNY Night Market, I've mentioned this before, but for those who have just started reading this blog, let me clarify some things for you.

Back in KK, I don't want to saya Sabah cause I doubt that I can speak for the whole of Sabah, we have night markets during CNY. You must think to yourself, yea, there's night market here in Klang Valley all the time, but our's only happens once a year, Night market I mean. Other than the normal tamu/pasar pagi in certain areas of KK, we also have Gaya Street market, Tamu KPD ( farmer's market of sorts ) and so on. But once a year, there will be certain areas in KK, like KK Town itself, Foh Sang, and Lido, which will open a 12 hour round the clock market the night before the Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner. This is the time, for all the aunties and uncles to come out and buy all that they need for their reunion dinner.

This year, we went to 2 Night Markets, Foh Sang, then Lido. We didn't really buy too many things, when you really look at it, we only bought ingredients for one particular dish, hahaha, everything else, we already have back at home. But it was more of the atmosphere, the lanterns and the chinese new year songs playing in the background which we like, one can say that we went to the CNY Night Markets to capture the feel of CNY...

Other than that, it was rather typical for me in KK. Spent the bulk of my time watching Fun Asia or Fun Taiwan ( Janet Hsieh is unbelievably attractive to me, for the life of me I dunno why.. hahaha ), and also Australia Junior Masterchef ( I'll explain more about this later ).

A lot of shops were closed, but a lot of shops were opened as well. When you live in a small town, where most if not all shops are family owned, the shops or restaurants will usually be closed during the first 2-3 days of CNY. But now with all the development and progress in our "Shopping Mall Industry", quite a lot of shops are still opened, albeit the fact that there aren't many people in them. So I spend my days walking around shopping malls, sitting in cafes and going online with my laptops whilst contemplating my future in my career as well as my own personal endeavors.

Australia Junior Masterchef could most probably be the latest craze for me and let me tell you why.. You have kids from the age of 8 - 13 all competing in a cooking competition, and you must think," Awww, that's so cute.." Yes, most of them are, but the dishes that they come up with are way beyond their years. Most of the time, their dishes put our own culinary students to shame, and these are children who learnt cooking from their parents or grandparents. Words like duxxel, truffles, reduction and baklava are used, and all this while, I've just been making spaghetti or maggee goreng mamak. It's time to up the ante and start doing some serious work in the kitchen Darren...

Speaking of food, I think I just got a little fatter...again, I still don't understand how some people can eat so much and still maintain the same weight. A friend of mine lamented that instead of getting fatter, she got thinner,even though she ate so much more than she usually does, mind boggling isn't it... I guess it's only proper then since when I was in KK, I have rekindled my interest in both cooking and exercising, let's just make sure that there's a balance in both these things.

Till next time then, God bless...

ps: I've been meaning to try rabbit for quite some time now, anyone care to join me ?

Kerinduan yang tak terhingga kerinduanya...

2011-01-23T16:55:00.002+08:00

Sementara aku duduk duduk di luar kafe Wisma Anglikan, bagus aku update aku punya blog dulu...

Wahai pembaca pembaca blogku yang dikasihiku dengan sepenuh penuhnya kasihku yang tak terhingga ini... Sudah masuk 2 minggu sudah sia di KK ni... Buat apa si Darren di sana ditanya-nya? Keberadaan Darren di KK adalah untuk menjalani Moore Theological Studies dan juga menyambut Tahun Baru Cina bah... Terkena training pun 3 minggu dan lepas tu Cina New Year lagi, alang alang bagus 4 haribulan Febuari baru balik KL lah...

"I believe you really miss KL..."

Itu pula si Bishop cakap sama saya...

Memanglah I miss KL Bishop, tapi study tetap studybah, kerja tetap kerja... Sebenarnya sia sudah expect memang satu hari nanti kena shift juga sia ni pigi tempat lain, Sandakan kah, Tawaukah, entah entah Rangsit lagi... Memang sudah nature kerja bah, tiada apa apa yang perlu terkezut lagi...

Tapi adakah anda bersedia untuk pindah? Ada bagasi bagasi yang perlu ditinggalkan? So far, tiada jugalah. Paling paling pun ministry juga, tapi ministry bukan kita punya juga, Tuhan punya, jadi kalau kehendak Dia sia pindah, memang Dia sediakan pengganti, mungkin lagi cun lagi... hahaha... GF pun belum ada lagi, jadi perasaan pemindahan pun tidak begitu berat lah... ada juga kebaikan jadi bujang ni.. haha.. tapi kalau tidak mau kena pindah, cepat cepat kahwin oh, ni tips ni..hahaha (Matilah kalau bishop baca ni..hahahaha)...

Ada juga chan aku main bola itu hari, sama Archdeacon, Canons, Pastors dan Bishop lagi, sudah betahun tidak main, spotting orang pun tidak dapat, memang memalukan. Diorang goreng bola pun lincah pula, siapa sangka... Bikin malu orang muda saja sia ni.. tidak apa, aku training lagi, next time habis lah korang kena slide ni...

Ada beberapa kali sudah aku visit Karamunsing, waduh, betapa rindunya perasaan ku, trus trus aku pigi Hollywood Music, cari guitar, macamlah pandai main...hahahaha... Tapi minat tetap adalah, jadi nanti balik KL, akan ku perbaiki guitar usangku... Lepas discuss discuss sama si Danny pun, sia sudah made up my mind lah, balik nanti ikut Faith Vocal, bagi memperbaikan pitch dan intonasi saya, dan meniggikan peringkat vokalku ke tahap terunggul, kasi upgrade dia...haha... barulah lead worship di Share Group lagi Ooommphh!! Pancing ceweks pun lagi senang, daripada melukis saja..hahaha.. Sambil lukis sambil nyanyi, barulah padah...hahaha... Double edged sword dipanggilnya...hahahahaha...

Tapi apabila berjalan jalan di Karamunsing, perutku berdangduts... Laparlahtu, lalu ku mencari itu Tarap Foodcourt, tempat makan yang sering ku visit waktu zaman remajaku. Mungkin makan claypot chicken rice lah ni sia pikir...Tetapi sekali sia masuk, punya lah menyedihkan... First time saya punya air mata mau mengalir pasal satu tempat... Rupa foodcourt tu... haii, kalau foodcourt tu ada perasaan, memang perasaannya emolah, bukan saja emo, macam mau bunuh diri saja tempat tu.... Teruk dari sarang penagih dadah... Macam tandas penagih dadah bah... Kalau penagih dadah masuk pun rasa malu aku rasa... Mungkin sama sama lah kita berpeluk dan menangis, lalu melancarkan gotong royong membersihkan dan memperbaiki foodcourt ni... Hahahaha... Cakap pun terlanjur juga aku ni, punya lah dramatik, macam sendiwara semasa... Tapi memang sia rasa sedihbah nampak tempat tu, si Danny pun sedih bila dia nampak, disturbed betul feeling kami... haiii.....

Memang tiada benda yang berkekalan, itu satu fakta yang tidak boleh dinafikan. Hanya kasih Tuhan yang selama lamanya...

So far pembelajaran sia di Moore ni memang seronoklah, susah tapi seronok, baca alkitab pun lebih bermakna sudah. Lepas belajar pun macam boleh berkhutbah sudah..haha.. Cewah... Berkhutbah di Share Group dulu bah...Sia memang berterima kasih dapat ni chan belajar di sini, banyak lagi jumpa kawan baru... Kawan lama pun ada jumpa bah, si Adele, si Chok, geng geng lama di Good Sam, Kawan kawan di ASC... Terjumpa lagi kawan lama dari SM All Saints, si Rismaria... Memang berkat Tuhan lah semua ni...

Semasa sia taip taip blog entry yang terkini ni, sia sedar berapa rindunya saya sama KL sekarang, tapi nanti, bila sia balik KL, rindu pula sama KK... Tidak apa, masih muda lagi, banyak lagi tempat untuk dirindui... hahaha...

Bah, until next time... God bless...

Chillin' with Elijah under the broom tree...

2011-01-15T14:33:00.002+08:00

Elijah was scared, he had lost all hope, he no longer believed in himself.

Ironically, this was the same man that not so long ago challenged the prophets of Baal and Asherah to a contest, to see whose god is the true god. Obviously, Yahweh proved Himself the true God, and Elijah commanded the people to put all the prophets of Baal and Asherah to the sword. And now just because of one woman, he was running away for his life.

As he reached a broom tree, in the dessert, he took rest.

Our tutor, Archdeacon Moses stopped right there,

" I like this part.." He said.

" In everything that we do, sometimes we might get tired, or overwhelmed by circumstances, or you might just need to take a short break... Elijah took his under the broom tree... Where is your broom tree ? "

This threw me aback for a while, just the 2 weeks ago, I was planning for my own broom tree, this of course was Melaka. Melaka was not exactly the perfect broom tree for me, I can't keep going to Melaka every time I need to unwind or run away from it all. Running away is not exactly the perfect term as well, of course I explained it along the lines of "blowing off steam". Positive as I may try to put it, it was a rather difficult time for me, and running away just felt like the best option. Once again , running away is a bad sounding word, it's hardly a run away when one takes leave for it, hahaha...

But, it was the reason of the escape which mattered. No point in me stating the exact reason now. Simply put, I was searching.

Searching for answers, searching for something that could put my mind at ease, looking to God for answers, hoping that He may have something new for me, a new understanding, a new explanation, a new revelation perhaps, anything, anything that can put me at ease.

Elijah was in the same situation as well. he went to Mount Horeb ( Better known as Mount Sinai ), looking for answers. There were fire, earthquake, and great wind, all parallels to the days of Moses, when Moses met God on the mountain. But God was not in the earthquake, nor was He in the fire, or even the wind. Then God called Elijah in a gentle whisper. God was in the gentle whisper.

It literally meant "crushed silence". Of which was so significant, because the silence indicated one sure thing, that God had no other revelation for him, but the one he had already given.

At that moment, I realised my mistake. I was looking for a means to escape from reality, maybe just for a while, but God's work still needed to be done, life goes on, and His commission still stands. There is nothing new, only what He has given. I was looking for new frills, and in doing so, I neglected God's work, or in a better term, put light of the seriousness of the task that He had given me.

I was blessed to be invited to Danny's cell group in KK on Wednesday, his cell group leader, Annabelle , I think that's how you spell he name lah.. haha.. asked the oh so expected question.

" What are your new year's resolutions ? "

Answer remains the same,

" God has blessed me through and through in 2010, but lately, I've concentrated more on His blessing than He himself. And in doing so, I find myself further away from His grace and even His understanding. Consequences to which I have no one else to blame but myself. Not this year. "

Lord, I can only promise my best to You, which is still flawed in so many ways. But through Your grace, I pray that you be merciful and put me back on the path to which you have prepared for me. Amen.

Therefore, new year resolutions:

1 Find my "broom tree" ( realistic one )
2 Thank God for His blessings and spend more time with Him than his blessing.
3. Realistically lose more weight, and gain muscle..muahahaha...
.
.
.
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More to come...

Till next time, God bless guys...

2 more days to go... or is it 1...

2010-12-30T11:16:00.002+08:00

30th of December now... 2 more days before a whole New Year. Time for new resolutions, new perspective in life(If the old one seems useless and a tad illogical), and everything you can think of.

But of course, if the old ways are good enough, it's time to upgrade it's level of awesomeness !!!

Looking back, this year has gone by fast enough. People come and go in our lives that we hardly remember them a year later, or the impact they've caused us the year before. Of course, I am over exaggerating said fact, and I am sorry if you've somehow for a moment there, felt a certain sense of meaninglessness due to the statement which I've made beforehand. You still matter to me, seriously.

The point is simple, so many things-a-happenin' that we could hardly have time to look back and dwell on our problems and such. Which I must truly thank God for this... Thank you God !!!

And now that we ( Malaysia ) have won the AFF-Suzuki Cup, and have been rewarded by our PM a public holiday on the 31st December, apparently we do have time to look back and dwell, if just a short while on our pass win and loses ( In life lah, not the Malaysian football past, which is so depressing)...

1. I have officially worked as full time church worker for a year now.
2. No longer staying in USJ but in PJS 9.
3. Have acquired my L license and will begin my driving lesson in the new year.
4. Have gained 3-4 kgs since last year.
5. Have traveled more than I have ever did in a year my whole life.
6. Have yet to learn the guitar.
7. Have seen Paramore live before they broke up and became Para-No-More.
8. Have met some of my long not so lost friends.
9. Have reaffirmed my direction and vision in life.
10. Have been rejected twice in a year ( Yea, in the spirit of truth and honesty in my blog, kinda have to reveal this as well...sorry ladies.. hahaha ).
11. Have found my God brother, God sis and God mom on Facebook... Yayyy !!! (Come to think of it, should've gone to Penang instead of Melaka, dang...! )
12. Have led Faith Station TOA.
13. Have joined the first Alpha TOA.
14. Have seen my students graduate (Well technically not seen, but met them and congratulated them is well enough. Very proud of them ! )
15. Have seen our Share Group grow from what it was to what it is, which is quite big now...
16. Have found the best Pork burger and Ramli Burger.
17. Have finally changed my handphone of 4 years.
18. Have worked for 2 different bosses in one year... yeap...
19. Have sung onstage..muahahaha...
20. Have witnessed a robbery and yes, have called the police as well.

I'm going to stop at 20, but truth be told, there's a lot more to be thankful for. Count your blessings and name them one by one as the song says.

I consider everything on the list to be a blessing regardless of it's nature, because that is what made me today, and God has led me through it faithfully in the chance that I will learn from it and gain wisdom from it, which I have, thank You Big Guy!!! We need to collaborate a lot more this coming year.

2010 has been a thrilling roller coaster ride for me, it's up and downs, twist and turns have at times driven me sick and even mentally unstable ( hahaha ). But, it is so far the best year of my life.

Looking forward to what God has in store for me next year.

Take care, God bless and Happy New Year !!!

Home is where the heart is

2010-12-24T23:38:00.002+08:00

We were on our way back from our dinner.

Chris Tan, Chris Lo, and myself were in the car discussing, a topic of home came about, and it was only time before I mentioned the oh so wonderful quote...

"Home is where the heart is".

" That's a great saying," Chris Tan replied, "I've never heard of it"

" Neither have I, " said Chris Lo.

Is it from a movie, or a song? Where did it come from? Did you make that up?

Ah the questions that came about... But good question, where did this quote come from ?

Did some research at it actually acme from Pliny the Elder (23-79) , who was a Roman encyclopedist. His greatest and only surviving work, the "Natural History", has been called one of the most influential books ever written in Latin.

There you go, origin , done.

This quote means a lot to me these days. Home really is where the heart is, or perhaps, where the heart is , is where we feel most at home.

It's my first time being away from home during Christmas. I have never failed to be in KK during Christmas, no matter how short the holiday was, I'd be home. I believe being in the line of work that I'm in, this is just the beginning. But, there's no denying , I do miss home, or rather the idea of going back during Christmas.

Subjects of the heart has always been a rather complicated matter. If home is where the heart is than my home is neither in PJS 9 or KK, but somewhere else entirely.

Though I must thank God for everything. I may not be with my family back in KK, but I have my family in Christ here with me in KL, and here, we will celebrate the birth of Christ together.

Till next time, Merry Christmas and God bless.

I Ter-on just now..

2010-12-20T16:18:00.003+08:00

It's bloggin' time... yay!!!

Feels like awhile since I blogged, guess I was just trying to organise my thoughts so it may be legible enough for ya'll to read.

The last meeting with bishop left me quite shaken... a bit... another piece of the puzzle has been put into place, picture seems clearer, I have to roughly figure out the shapes and colours hat goes with it, but the vision is never lost.

Thank you God for never leaving me by myself.

Now it's all about the timing.

Just watched Tron btw, wrote a whole lot about t here but I deleted it, just didn't feel like it at the end of the day.

Till next time, God bless guys..

Of Youth Camps and Soda Limes

2010-12-03T14:36:00.004+08:00

DEYC, Diocesan English Youth Camp 2010.

Hard to imagine that was my first youth camp experience... ever...

Yeap, childhood was a little lacking in the fun department so I guess I'm making up for it now... Just glad that God gave me the opportunity to do so.

It was an amazing experience, different from the DYAC, most probably because youth camps cater to well.. youths...

I'm not a very physical man myself, but hey, did a lot of physical things over there, and no regrets whatsoever. Wish I had more time to spend with them friends over there, but at the same time, really missed KL as well.

How was the lessons you say? It was good, we were encouraged to read the whole book of Hebrews, to better understand the lessons during the camp. Having have to finish off some slides for FCC and other things, I found it difficult to finish the book, just reached Chapter 8 of the book itself, I promised myself I'll finish the rest of it soon enough. At least before the end of the year.

Found it really hard to concentrate during the camp itself.. haha.. ini personal issues bah ni.. haha... But out of it, I believed I benefited a lot, and I hope that the group that I was leading benefited and learnt a lot from the camp, especially during our discussion time together.

I pray that it would not be our last camp together, that we can one day come back and enjoy each other's fellowship once again, and that what we learnt will be used for the good of our friends and family as well as for the glory of God. Amen. Take care Group 32.

Till next time, take care and God bless.

Isaiah 40: 12-26

2010-11-23T10:46:00.002+08:00

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
¹³ Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD,
or instruct the LORD as his counselor?
¹⁴ Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?

¹⁵ Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
¹⁶ Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
¹⁷ Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.

¹⁸ With whom, then, will you compare God?
To what image will you liken him?
¹⁹ As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.
²⁰ A person too poor to present such an offering
selects wood that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
to set up an idol that will not topple.

²¹ Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
²² He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
²³ He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
²⁴ No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

²⁵ “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

Had this in our corporate devotion this morning. And as we were sharing, I was reminded of the conversation that I had with a friend the night before.

I have been going through something really heavy these days, she commented that her friend was going through something similar as well, and so was her other friend, perhaps a different case but the same "weight" by itself. And as we spoke and shared of the difficulties that we're going through as well as others, the conclusion that I could come up with, is that hey, we all have our issues. It's not a life changing revelation, neither is it original, so don't start rolling your eyes and make unwanted comments in your head just yet, because that's very unoriginal as well...

The point is that we all need each other, more than we can ever imagine or care to acknowledge. And by caring for the needs of others other than yourselves, you realise that you're not alone, and as broken as we all may appear, our broken pieces might just be the missing piece our friend needs.

But I am suggesting that we look at this from another point of view as well. This morning's devotion reminded me of the awesomeness of God,of His provision and blessings upon each and everyone of our lives. It also reminded me of how insignificant each of us are, that we are but a spec of dust in comparison to God himself.

I would like to pick a quote from one of the best movies of all time , Casablanca.

"..I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that..."

And that's how it is. Many love to spend their time, convincing others how different they are, and how big their problems are.

" You don't understand what I'm going through, once you go through the same thing then you'll understand..."

That's the definitive quote of every emo person I know. I have to confess I myself, have my emo moments, but I can't and I never will say that a person does not understand what I am going through. Because I believe that is a complete disregard to whatever it is that they've been through, which may even be bigger than what you are going through now. Saying such things just shows how selfish one can get and how oblivious he or she may be to the conditions of the world around them.

The best part is, that we may be insignificant, we may all be the same. But God loves each and everyone of us, He knows us by name, knows the amount of hair we have on our head, He cares enough about us to send His own son to die for us, just so that we can come closer to Him again. Knowing that, realising that, we must then acknowledge how much He loves us and do the same to others as well.

I'm not saying be in love with everyone, I'm saying love one another, help one another, at least care for one another. You don't have to be a Christian to agree with the fact that helping people feels good.

Im suggesting this, to all my emo prone friends, that if you find yourself in the verge of emo-ism, don't lock yourself in a room and sit at the corner listening to your emo mix cd. You need to go out and see the world, take a walk, go for a jog, heck just take a bus to anywhere in KL and you'll see there are needs greater than yours.

Too much problems that you lost your appetite? Look around you, those people have nothing to eat whether they want to or not. And perhaps that dose of reality would be good enough to slap some sense into your life.

I'm sharing this not to belittle anyone. I hope this doesn't come across as an attack on anyone and I apologise if that's what it felt like.

But I am writing this because I have seen God's greatness in my own life, and of His love as well. And when I feel emo, I gotta look up, cause I know only God can give me strength to go on. And I strongly believe if you look to Him, He will do the same for you as well.

Till next time, God bless

Emotionally Compromised

2010-11-19T17:52:00.003+08:00

In the latest installment of Star Trek, of course the one by JJ Abrams. We are introduced to a new term, Emotionally Compromised. I call it new because it was only then that I first heard of the word.

In the movie, Spock, could no longer function as Star fleet commander because he could not perform his duties well enough due to the fact that his emotions were in the way of his decision making.

I find myself in a similar predicament.

Recent hodgepodge of events have caused me to lose sleep and it has affected me well enough. It's hard to sleep when you have so much to think about and solve, while at the same time trying to keep your emotions in check so you do not go over the boundaries of what is considered normal in life. Things left unsaid have always been a kryptonite for me and I am basically suffering from the full blown effects of it.. Ah the irony....

Never the less, life goes on, and I have only God to protect and accompany me in this road that I am now walking. It's always great to have people around supporting you and all, but at the end of the day, it's always about choice, and having to make that choice... sucks. But it can also be fun... depends on how you look at it.

Having said that, I do feel nuttier now....

The Cheese Creature

2010-11-18T16:28:00.002+08:00

Sam did this for the Pizza Hut Extreme Cheesy 6 Blog Contest.

Thanks for the video man!!

and also thanks to Phoebe for being soo sporting !!

Quite fun though.. Enjoy...

Edisi Bahasa Sabah...

2010-11-10T01:51:00.003+08:00

Sudah pukul 1.51 pagi...

Sepatutnya sudah tidur bah ni... tapi susah juga lah...

Baru saja balik rumah.. lepas tu cakap cakap sama kawan lagi... lepas tu surfing net lagi... Penyakit remaja di bandar bah ni... macammana mengantuk pun mati mati masuk Facebook juga... Bikin panas.

Jangan khuatir, ni masih si Darren lagi... Tapi saya perasan kan, sudah bertahun ni blog beroperasi.. tapi saya belum pernah berbahasa Sabah.

Memang sudah tibalah masanya untuk entry serba-Sabah ni.

Dalam beberapa minggu ni, si Darren agak beremosi sedikitlah boleh diakatakan bahkan. Banyak bah barang yang happening ni. Ada lah berita yang menggumbirakan, adalah kes kes yang agak menyedihkan, ada juga situasi di mana hati terdegup degup tanpa henti.. kalau henti sudah tu, bikin takut juga bah kan.. jadi zombie sudah bah... muahahaha....

Tambahan lagi lagu yang kudengari ni punyalah emo, lagilah perasaan dan emosi dirangsangkan ke peringkat terunggul. Waduh, tersentuhnya sanubariku...

Memang banyaklah perubahaan dalam hidup. Tempat dudk di ofis pun kena tukar sudah. Dulu duduk di pisuk pisuk lagi, sekarang sudah ganti tempat si Dannylah. Lagi besar meja, bererti lagi banyak sampah lah atas meja..muahahaha...

Lagi lagi bulan-bulan ni banyak pula kes di mana kesihatanku dicabar. Dah-lah demam, selsema, lepas tu kena migraine.. ada lagi kena gastrik... bikin panas..

Kena lagi si Pastor tegur during meeting,

" Biasanya orang yang sakit sakit ni disebabkan oleh sakit di hati bah ni.. banyak perasaan terpendam..."

Cis si Pastor.. Cis...!! tapi ada logik jugalah.. jadi aku tarik balik satu cis tu...haha

Apa lagi yang boleh cakap... Bah.. aku baaaruuuuuu saja balik dari Ipoh, tolong si Tim di dia punya concert di Ipoh sana. Boleh tahan juga lah, syiok memang syiok, banyak makan lah... ni bertambah gemuk ni, tak boleh accept ni... Apamacam mau tackle aweks kalau boroi? Hahaha...

Sekarang baru saja berita aku perlu pigi Tawau untuk tu Youth Camp, Looking forward to it juga lah... harap harap boleh bawa balik Tarap lagi.. hahaha..!!!

Tapi memang saya punya main purpose pigi sana untuk talk about FCC and so on lah... Generasi baru kita ni mau dibimbing juga bah, manalah boleh biar saja. Diorang sesat nanti siapa juga yang susah. Memang hanyalah dengan kekuatan Tuhan Yesus segala boleh dicapai , segala masalah ditumpaskan. Hanya dengan darah Yesus kita boleh bermula dengan hidup yang sempurna dalam bimbingannya.

Ni minggu ni ada Celebration weekend, jadi these few days macam tidak cukup tidur saja mau prepare event ni kan. Tidak juga begitu teruk lah, kalau kita semua ramai ramai tolong dan juga dengan kekuatan Tuhan Yesus, saya percaya event ni memang successfullahkan.

Pas tu Thursday ada lagi Drivers law test.. Belum start baca lagi tu.. memang mau kuat sembahyang lah.. Takut juga ni...

Inilah dikatakan hidup yang living to the full bah...

Memang sia senang hati lah nampak banyak orang datang Campus Alpha di TOA... Banyak diorang punya sharing. Thank God kita semua ada ini peluang untuk berinteraksi bersama sama. Memang harus kita doakan mereka continue datang dan share lah...

Bah.. ini saja lah for now..

Payah lagi mau pikir pikir apa mau cakap...

Till next time... Tuhan Berkati !!!

Aren't you glad...

2010-11-03T00:18:00.002+08:00

Eason Chan - Aren't you glad

aren't you glad you didn't stay with me
bohemian life and instability
you went off to university
and you took your love away from me
endless nights lovers friends and fun
big-city lights your new life had begun

--Chorus--
and as the world turns on and on
love is lost and love is won
laughed and cried when we were young
you went your own way I survived
and did you ever see everything inside of me
----------

(music)

so now you live your life in luxury
double glazing turbo washing machine
and your fiance is boring as hell
you never laugh you're both professional
you know that film that I'd started to write
it's a box-office smash and I'm on the next flight
to get my award on TV tonight
looking back I think I've done alright

Repeat Chorus
Repeat Chorus

oh aren't you glad you didn't stay with me
oh aren't you glad you didn't stay with me
oh aren't you glad you didn't stay with me
you didn't want my love
so aren't you glad
aren't you glad aren't you glad
aren't you glad aren't you glad

Was talking to a friend of mine quite recently, actually more recent than that.. like 15 mins ago.

We were talking about music and somehow it led to Chinese songs... So we sent each other songs that we're familiar with or what we thought was good.

I have to state the fact that I was chatting, not talking, my apologies, as some people tend to correct me on that every time I say that.

Which somehow led me to this particular song. Was introduced to me by one friend of mine who was then my colleague back in my TOA days. I used to say Chinese singers can't really sing English songs and if they did, it wouldn't be as good. Of course he countered me with a whole collection of Chinese singers all of which were able to hold up their own whilst singing in English, that shut me up for awhile.. haha..

This particular song stuck with me for quite some time though. It was a good song, nicely written, sung well enough for me to enjoy over and over again. Felt a connection to it.

Sad.

Cause this song was so depressing, and I must confess I was in an emotional state at that time, or as the kids would call it, emo. Was in a messed up relationship, had no idea where to go, what to do... Basically, I was not sure what and how to feel.

Listening to this song brings back memories, the fact that it's almost Christmas and Starbucks having Christmas inspired drinks brings more memories as well. Ah, the source of my addiction to that ice blended caffeine in a cup, a TALL cup they'd like to call it. But that's for another day.

It's almost a year now and I thank God for what I've been through and I've achieved. It is obvious that I wouldn't and couldn't have made it had it not been His guidance to me through His word or even my family in Christ.

Just like that oh so infamous Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
(Psalm 23:1-3)

Till next entry, God bless guys...

Of Orange hair and Orange mics...

2010-10-21T18:10:00.013+08:00

Badababadababada!!!

Oh yea ... You know what Im talking about.

Paramore, live in Kuala Lumpur, Stadium Bukit Jalil, on the 19th of October.

History was created on that day since it was their first gig in Malaysia, and guess what, I was part of that history, along with 8000 others....

If one word could sum up my whole Paramore experience, it would be AWESOME, with a capital everything !!!

I've mentioned this many a times with people around me, I still couldn't believe that I was at a Paramore concert. Seeing Hayley jumping and rockin' on the stage was like being in a dream, an awesome orange-haired dream.

What more can I say... They played all their best songs, cept' for one, Halleluyah... but hey... the rest was still there... My favourites like Crush crush crush, and Only Exception were played. Not too mention they opened with my all time favourite Ignorance, and even closed with my second all time favourite, Misery Business... Can still vividly remember when they intro-ed the last song...

"We have one last order of business.. and I am sure you can guess what kind of business this is!"

"Misery Business!!!!!!" I screamed..

Knowing full well, my screams are just but a muffled whisper from where I was standing. But who cares, this is where you scream, not yell, there's no room for yelling in a Paramore concert.. just screaming... muahahaha!!!

Of course, I didn't go alone, this whole thing has been pre-planned since the first time we heard they were coming. In the gang was Tim, Annette(my sis), Diana(her friend), Melanie(Interesting way as to how she joined the gang), and of course, myself.

Took quite a few pics, but with my camera phones, not as good as what I could find online, so I'll show you better ones( which I found on the internet ) on my blog, and for my own check it out here.

I thank God for this awesome experience.. Thank you God ! Seriously, head banged soo much I sweated all my toxins away, and I am healthy now.. hahaha

Take care , God bless and rock on guys!!!

Of Birthdays and Chou Tofus

2010-10-21T07:23:00.003+08:00

Where do I begin...

Few weeks ago... well, actually last week, was my birthday.

Yeap, Darren is now 24.

I have to say that this year, I was really blessed. Looking back at it, I thank God for the path that He had led me to, for the people He had put in my life, and even for the emotions that He had put me through...

Yeap, many things can happen in such a short period of time. This year, the road in my life seems clearer, the way brighter, and the women, prettier.... hahaha...

The day before my birthday was the real celebration...

Pastor, Tim and I went to Lot 10 to try the newly opened Yellow Cab pizza restaurant, and yes, by far still the best pizza I've ever had. After a whole few hours of walking around Starhill and Pavilion, we decided to go back home since we were all tired and we wanted to beat the KL traffic.

On the way back home, Victor called and asked me to join him to buy some stuff fro No Apologies, yea .. why not ... I said to myself.. It is my birthday anyways, and in October.. anything goes.

So, having not rested for more than an hour at home, I left for my next destination, Sunway Pyramid. On the way to Pyramid, Victor suggested that we go straight to Connaught, Cheras for the Pasar Malam right after. I declined at first. But after their persuasion, including pastor himself(Yes, pastor was still with us, travellin' around and enjoying himself), I said why not.

So I went to Connaught for the second time in my life.

Just for your information, Connaught Night Market is said to be the longest in Malaysia, though I am not too sure of the validity of that statement but after an hour or so of squeezing yourself and sweating mixed in with the fumes and smells and oils of hawker food being prepared around you, might convince you otherwise.

You know when your body gives you signs that it's tired and it needs to rest, and you ignore it, yea, sooner or later it's gonna break down, regardless of it being your birthday or not. And I, being the smart man that I am, ignored the pleas of my body and went on ahead buying fried foods and what not in the night market.

Needless to say, when I woke up the next morning, I felt feverish. Great, wake up on your birthday sick... Nice one Darren.

I still tried to deny that fact and went on my life as usual, even bringing the leftover pies from the night market and eating them at the office. It went on until I couldn't take it any longer and I went to the clinic. That was a Saturday morning.

This is where the fun begins.

You see, having bought the meds from the clinic, I had to rush back to the office and settle what needs to be settled before DT and the service. I'm not clear as to what really happened, but right after I took my meds, I got gastric.

Yes, it's official. My first encounter of gastric at the age of 24.

So now to recap. I am now 24, my body is aching, I have sore throat, slight flu and now I have gastric.

You see how ironic it gets?

"Darren, how are you, you don't look good.."

"oh , yea, Im kinda sick now, sore throat and all... been taking some honey for the throat.."

"Really? You should take it with Lemon too, it's good for the throat..."

"Yea, but I kinda have gastric now, so lemon is out of the question..."

"Oh, then you should take honey.. just honey.."

"Yeap...I am..."

That night, I went to Carl's Jr.

One would have thought I learnt my lesson, but noooo, I had to order a burger(set) with .. wait for it, iced lemon tea.

I have no idea how it would ever feel like to give birth nor will I ever know how it feels like, but I think I've got the gist of it when I drank that lemon tea. Ladies, my hats off to all of you...

Felt like I was having contraction every 3 minutes.

So there you go... one bad decision after another, all because I went by this one phrase, "It's October , anything goes.." Haha.. Apparently so did my common sense and judgment.

Oh no, Im not down with the sickness just yet, haha.. Not that easy to keep me down.

But through all this, where was God?

He was right there, guiding me through everything I had to do, keeping me sane.. haha.. Thank you God!!!

Of course there was still No Apologies and Paramore...

Of the latter, next post...

Till next time, God bless

Of Young Adults and Paramore...

2010-09-22T22:08:00.002+08:00

I am a young adult.

Not exactly too young, that's why we have the adult there.

Since the last DYAC (Diocesan Young Adults Camp), I changed the focus of my life, quit my job, and started working as a full time worker in my church, FCC. Though it came as a shock to many especially my parents, who seemed to be the last individuals to know about it.

I cannot deny, that many questioned my motives, my purpose and my calling in life, truth be told even I myself, did so.

That is why I thank God for the opportunity of being sent once again to this year's Young Adult's Camp in Kokol Retreat Centre at Menggatal, Sabah.

It was the initial idea of Rev. Lin Khee Vun that I lead 30 of our members to the camp itself, but on 15th of September 2010, only 11 signed up. Partly due to the fact that most universities or colleges either start their semester that week itself, or the students will be sitting their exams on that particular week. Let's also not forget about the air fare, flying from KL to KK is no laughing matter, so yea, those might've been the factors stopping them from attending said camp.

However on the 18th of September, it became apparent to all campers that hey, their friends, really did miss out on this. It wasn't so much as to the awesome cold, foggy weather we had there, wasn't much because of the awesome food we had, neither was it about the uber awesome sunset and sunrise we get to witness almost everyday. But it was the fellowship, it was the sharing, and of course not to mention the sermons that was given that really helped and guided us in learning how to and also grow closer to God.

One of the first questions asked was, "Do you know God".

In order to experience God, you do have to know Him.

Often people find themselves, knowing of God rather than knowing Him. It doesn't take a Christian to know of God. Throw a stone in the middle of KL, and you'd find a handful of people who know of Him. They know the story, they know about Jesus, they know about Christians, but at the end of the day, that's the most they know. Oh yea, there are those who know the history of Christianity, but seriously, that's all they have. They have the history of people who worship God, the history of Kingdoms who worship God, and they judge Christians based on that.

Tell me, what part of Christianity is that? Christians don't worship history. We don't base our lives on the victories or defeats of the crusades, neither do we live our lives by the burning of witches. People change. God does not.

Until one understands that Christians are not Christianity itself, then he will never understand God. It is the experience that we have with Him, the connection that He has with us that counts.Without God leading us, speaking to us, Christianity is just yet, another religion.

I challenge then my fellow friends, Christians and non Christians alike, don't talk too much unless you've experienced God yourself. If you haven't search for Him, do so and I am sure you will find the answer to your question one way or another.

Side-tracked for a while there...

Had a talk with my Pastor right after the camp, future made even clearer since then, I will reveal to you about it soon enough... But not now. Though I must say I am really excited about it.

Coming back from the camp, other things are made clearer to me as well. I don't know how it happened but it just did, I hope I am not wrong about this, will need God's help on this matter. Seriously Big Guy, need your help on this one. Confused yet focused, I am, Yoda would say... haha...

Now that DYAC 2010 is over, I can really look forward to Paramore!!!

Tickets are safely kept, and I am really excited about this. Those who are reading this, well, I hope you guys join in as well, we'll meet up at the stadium and rock out!!

A friend of mine said that it's cheaper to watch Paramore from the Rock Zone , which costs RM 360, rather than buying a ticket all the way to the US and back.

I agree with that. But I have another thought following his thought, it's better to watch at the Rock Zone in Malaysia than in the USA, cause chances are, you might be at the front, but everyone else might be a lot taller than you.

It would've been great to watch it from the Rock Zone but for now, all I can afford is the PS 3 seats, which is good enough for me lah.

Well till next time, God bless!

Darren

This sucks...

2010-09-08T03:11:00.002+08:00

Common sense dictates that one should sleep when it's raining outside, because of the drop of temperature and the coziness the comforter brings to you at such a degree. Also let's not forget that it freakin' 3.19 in the morning...

Yet here I am typing away.

I can't believe it's been 4 days and I still can't sleep.

Sorry.. Exaggeration on my part.. I slept well enough the first 2 days, just started having trouble sleeping past 2 days.

I wonder if this is affecting her as much as it is me. This sucks.

I still need to wake up early tomorrow for Pork Burgers and a whole day of activities.

This sucks...

..and now I am starting to feel hungry... crap...

Of Bisons and White Rhinos

2010-08-18T23:51:00.003+08:00

I had a rather peculiar dream right before I woke up this morning.

Just like any dream I don't remember how I got there, I just was.

In the white mansion, which started out looking like a well furnished beach house slowly turned into a lavish yet plain looking space. 2 floors, I counted it myself.. haha...

In the dream - I woke up early in the morning, walked to the balcony and surveyed my backyard which was attached to the front through a small pathway beside our kitchen. I remember I caught sight of that beast, huge and majestic, in awe and fearful of it at the same time, I remember asking my parents," Is that a rhino?" " Yea. your dad just got it, it's a white rhino."

Ok.. I thought to myself, no big deal. Just remember to walk slowly and not cause any trouble everytime I walk to the backyard. White Rhino's part of the family now.

Then I started thinking to myself, these animals are dangerous, they can crash through our walls easily had they wanted to. Knowing that the walls of our mansion was made of wood (Apparently, in my dream, mansions are made of wood).

CraShhh!!!!!

That's it there goes the white rhino, not even house trained yet. I better find a safe place to hide. But wait, the rhino's still there, under the tree, eating grass, useless rhino, should at least defend his new masters. Wait, defend us from what?

From the corner of my eye I saw them, quick as they were I could still make out their shape. They stomped and they snarled, crashing wall to wall. Crashed right through the house and back in again. First they were on all fours, then they started running on their two hind legs.

By now I was right outside the house watching them from the window as they were still inside doing their crash dance, then they crashed through the wall beside me.

The larger walking bison looked at me all angry, then there was a sense of calm.

He then spoke to me " I want you to meet my daughter."

"Yea, why not, maybe tomorrow at dinner, you can bring her over."

" Alright, see you tomorrow then."

And they disappeared into the woods which once was my backyard.

Where's that White Rhino when you need him...

The Bigger picture...

2010-08-15T23:09:00.002+08:00

Reading blogs or basically note entries from a couple of my friends reminds me of the time which I decided to leave my then current job and become a full time worker at church.

No, their blogs were not discussing of the same topic as I am about to do now.. neither am I going to discuss it, blogs, sadly, is not really a communicative instrument, no one on one interaction, everything is properly placed, properly arranged, none of that "organic feel" that I love so much. So for now, you, my friends will just have to read, yes you may reply or leave a comment, but that's it.

Coming back to where I began, it was a not a pre-planned decision for me to go "full time". No, it only came later, near the end of the year 2009.

What made you change your mind Darren?

For this, I have to go all the way back to my childhood days. Days in which I consider myself closer to God. Not really a well known fact, but at some point of my life as a child, I made a promise to God, saying that I would serve Him as a priest.

Somewhere along the line as I was growing up, things changed, I changed. I became bitter, depressed, alone. I guess it all stemmed from the primary school days, too much pride, too much let downs, heartbreak and all... But I believe the most interesting part was the fact that I changed my mind because of a girl... Come on, guys you know what I mean, who's never done that before.. haha... My decision back then, sadly, just changed my whole outlook on life... haha.. sad little fat boy...

But I thank God that as left God and my promises to Him, He has never left me. I convinced myself that my talent was God given to do what I am supposed to do in life and so I pursued arts as an occupation. And there it was, The One Academy, seemed like a dream come true. Still I remembered my promise to God hoping that He would have forgotten my promise to Him or at least understand my situation and just letting it go.

Never the less He pursued me, and just like Noah , I was finally caught in pursuit. All those years having left God, I had no idea He was preparing me for something else. I just thought He was ok with the idea of me being an Illustrator.

Every time when I look back, I see how God molded me, step by step, breaking me, rebuilding me into who I am today, and that I consider a great miracle by itself. I guess I was too young to understand His plan for me, too young to see the big picture.

As, I am typing this very moment, I am beginning to lose the details which I had in my mind. Guess I'll cont this entry some other time then...

But before I leave, for those who are still looking for their "purpose" in life, there's only one certain way of finding that answer and that is through God. For He is the Lord of all as well as the Lord of our lives. Pray to Him, speak to Him, and all will be revealed unto you. don't be like me, I had to learn it the hard way, or at least my lesson in life took a longer route. For did He not say " Ask and you shall receive...Seek and you shall find.."

Till next time, God bless

A dream in a dream in a dream....

2010-07-21T18:51:00.002+08:00

I don't blog much...

Not like I used to..

Neither do I watch movies, as much as I used to...

Guess I really am changing.

But there is one movie worth mentioning, and today, it is Inception.

Twas a momentous occasion for myself today, for in my 6 years of living in Selangor, never have I, Darren C. Edward, movie buff, watched a movie in Mid Valley.

Today, it was Inception.

Having arrived late to the cinema, I had no choice but to have 2 Kit Kats and a bottled water as my breakfast. Yea, desperation.

Inception is undeniably, a good movie.

The plot, the idea, the concept itself, man, was I blown away. Many have given rather favourable reviews regarding this movie but some however described the movie as a bastardised version of the Matrix and Stanley Kubrick.

They might have a point there, but I for one enjoyed this movie's concept much more than the Matrix, so nuff said.

The movie itself, or rather the concept of the movie itself, is layered so perfectly, that, I would describe it as a Pyramid maze.

The maze, being of Pyramid in nature, gets bigger and more complicated as you venture lower and deeper into it. Making it more and more difficult to get out. And before you know it, what turned out to be a simple albeit difficult mission, gets even more difficult and complicated.

What I love about the movie is that every character has a part to play, and each character is as important as the other one. Making them almost invaluable to lose.

I find myself rather quiet after said movie as I was replaying the scenes over and over in my head, asking questions and answering them at the same time. The plot of the movie, is simple. Enter a person's subconscious mind, and plant an idea in it. Yet there are just those small little things that causes such nuisance, that you realise most things are meant to be dealt with right away.

The main character, Cobbs, played splendidly by Leonardo DiCaprio ( I really felt this character was a distant echo from his character in Shutter Island), could never really move on, since the death of his wife ( Oooops, spoilers.. haha). Which puts himself, and even occasionally his team mates in danger.

I find myself being able to relate to said character, and I truly believe everyone else do as well. That's why we have such a thing called Deep and Strong.

Moving on is such a hard subject to practice. I'd be a hypocrite to tell others to move on knowing I haven't entirely myself, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong.

We like to do that don't we, calling others hypocrites, just to feel less bad about ourselves. "Welcome to the club.." you might say, but that doesn't negate the fact that you weren't supposed to be in that club in the first place.

I believe I have once again strayed from the topic which is Inception.

But I have already said too much.

I encourage those who haven't watch Inception to watch it. For most people, being able to understand that movie makes them feel smarter, go figure... I thought it was simple, yet intriguing. and I give it a 10/10. Why, because today it's a 10/10, ask me again next week, you might get a different number.

One last thought, I have had a dream in a dream, but never a dream in a dream in a dream ...

Till next time, God bless.

You gotta be "Karate Kid-ding" me...

2010-06-09T23:53:00.002+08:00

8th of June. Star Two released an article on the Karate Kid, at the right hand bottom corner, a coupon. 2 free passes for each coupon.

I thought, why not, Lily mentioned that she wanted to watch it a few days ago. I am free on Wednesday, 2 free sneak peek passes, seriously, why not.

Going to 1 U itself wasn't really easy at all, it was raining rather heavily hours before that, so I decided to sleep. By the time I woke up, the time was just right, though it was raining a little. Called a cab, but non would come, only other way was to walk to Pyramid itself for a cab.

Problem was it was raining, and it was 6.20pm already. By the time I reached it was already 7.10pm. and the free movie pass ticket counter was closed.There goes Karate Kid.

We had dinner then, chat and so on. It was good. Even managed to get The Simpsons' pasta from Cold Storage.

Now this is where it got really interesting. Just as I accompanied Lily towards her car, I met LCK and Hui Jing, both my ex-colleagues from TOA. They offered me a ride home but before that we had Hokkien mee at Kota Damansara.

All I can say is that God has been so gracious towards me and He has forever more provided me with the necessities in life. He truly is Jehovah Jaireh, my provider.

Till next time, God bless..

Sick

2010-05-22T09:57:00.002+08:00

It has been a while since I got sick

2 days ago I walk up with a runny nose. This is not good, I thought. Nevertheless I went on doing what I do, go to work and so on.

The next day, running nose was not there. Yes! But I feel uneasy, my throat and all. All and all, I would say my body was heating up. Hmm.. Not good, but not too bad either, and I went on with my day.

That night, Stanley Cheung night. This man was coming to the church to share his testimony and all. And there I was with runny nose and a feverish look. That's it, I am going home.

I was at home lying on the bed, thinking how did I get sick. I have a reputation to keep. haha.. But truth be told, I seldom get sick. The last time I was sick was when I went to Philippines, and that was last year. So yea, it shouldn't have happened.

I then realise that it's because of stress.

Let me prove my case.

Back in 1998, my father suddenly surprised my family telling us that we'd be going to KL the very next day for holiday. It was a Thursday night that he told me that. I was so excited , the next day I told all my friends in class, which was not many at all, about the trip and the next thing I know, I had to go home early that day, because I caught a fever.

I spent the whole trip while I was in KL in the hotel with panadols and a blanket. Such lethal was stress to me. But some may argue that wasn't stress, that's excitement. Yea, you're right, let's just say I get sick when I think too much, stressed or excited.

Same as I am right now.

On Monday, my pastor told me something that got me both excited and stressed. Ha, combo sudah.

Excited because I was very excited about the news and where I was going to be sent, and stressed because I knew exactly what my parents were going to say about it.

Long story short, I got so stressed about it now I am too sick to be sent to where ever it is now.

2 things I learn from this event.

1. Don't let stress get the better of you.

2. I must be firm in what I choose, even if it displeases my parents.

3. God has a purpose for everything. Even right now, as I am typing and snorting every once in awhile, there is a reason why I am here, there is a reason why I wont be going there tomorrow, there is a reason I had just went through World War 3 with my parents yesterday. Which is why, I am now in peace.

Ip Man and Iron Man drinking coffee...

2010-05-03T07:20:00.004+08:00

I have been contemplating on whether to update for my blog for quite awhile now.

Simply put there have been many exciting things happening in my life so far, just that I am not exactly sure how to put them in words. Funny isn't it, coming from me.

Let's start from 2 weeks ago. Had the chance to watch Kick Ass with Wei Joo, Lily and Johnny on Tuesday. Watched Kick Ass with Tim on Wednesday right after our Prayer Meeting. Also watched The Loserswith Wei Joo and Cong and after that nothing much going until the next week in which we both went to Bangsar Village on Tuesday night and Sungai Wang/ Pavilion on Wednesday.

Yes, it was a whole lot of walking and movie watching.

God help me that I do not waste so much of my money that I prayed and worked so hard for.. hahaha...

That beings aid, I really did enjoy going to Bangsar Village and KL the next morning.

Bangsar Village because I had the chance to go there fr the 2nd time in my life. haha... First was with Jan Faye, because we were looking for a comic shop, Comics Corner to be exact. had my chance to go there the second time and well it didn't disappoint. I realise now I didn't love comics as much as I love it then, but I do have a new appreciation for Boardgames, Thanks to Faith Board Games from FCC, they have really shown that Boardgames does not equal to Bored- games anymore, and I am considering yo buy one for myself. Sadly, the only one I wanted to buy was Age of Conan, and that itself would cost me RM 336. Oh well, won't be wasting my money on those things for now.

It was also my first Illy Cafe experience. Hearing so much about it, I just couldn't resist ordering a cappuccino and an Italian toast just to get a feel of. Needless to say, one of the best coffee experiences I've had and I am definitely coming back again, whether it's the Bangsar branch or Pavilion.

Th next day was walking in KL day. Tim had to send his guitar for repairs and we took the opportunity to basically enjoy ourselves whilst we were there. Went to Pavilion and first and was greeted by Tony Stark aka Iron Man's own Spyder at the entrance. I am not much of a car guy, but that was one sweet ride.

We wlaked around a bit but got seriously annoyed when they did a fire drill in Pavillion at 11 o'clock in the morning. The screeching sound was too much for me that after a while I felt a little dizzy... Nevertheless we soldiered on and had San Francisco Extra Buzz Ice Blended which was a little disappointing since I don't really feel the " Extra Buzz" anymore.

Next stop, Sungai Wang.

Reached there with the best intentions of not buying anything, but I ended up spending quite a bit on that day. Found quite a few cool t shirt shops and I took the opportunity to buy a few for my sister and myself. After that , found a place where they were selling toys and I managed to get myself an Iron Man Figure for RM 30 even though the market price out there was RM 45.90. Muahahahaha.... After that, I was all about saving my money and I nearly bought yet another figure, had it not been for my sheer discipline to save up for a new hand phone.

Speaking of hand phone, my old one keeps dying and resurrecting every chance it gets. It's an old phone, so I guess it's understood and expected that it has become rebooting friendly.

The next day was Felicia's House blessing, went all the way back to bangsar, since here house was somewhere near there, and shared the special occasion with Rick's share group. Had a great fellowship and we even went for yamcha session right after that at the Oldtown Cafe nearby which was by far the best looking Old Town kopitiam I have been to , hands down.

Friday comes after Thursday and nothing much happened on that day itself, until when I agreed to watch Ip Man 2 with Danny and his share group members. Initially the tickets were all sold out at TGV, and we ended up just having dinner at the IKEA.

On the way back from IKEA, someone suggested that we check 1 Utama if there were any seats left for the movie and we did exactly that. At first GSC too had no more tickets but Grace suggested we try TGV, and lo and behold, the booked seats were just opened, and we watched Ip Man 2 at 11.50pm.

By the time I reached home, was so tired, I could barely wake up the next morning, which was ironic enough because I still woke up at 7 am. It seems like a norm now, that I would wake up before my alarm clock rings or beeps or whatever you want to call it.

This week was also the final week of our Join a Small Group Campaign. As excited I was a bout it, I am also glad that it's over. It's time for some well deserved rest.

That being said, I now realise that it's been 5 months since I started working full-time in FCC. Life has been great so far. Sure, I have my ups and downs but who doesn't.

I have now reached a crossroad in my life. Of course, it can be said that life is a series of crossroads, but I am focusing on this particular one right now.

Where to go. What to do. Who to choose.. Cewah... decisions, decisions.

It has recently dawned upon me that I have been thinking a lot about marriage these days. why I am not exactly sure. It doesn't take a genius to find out that I am still single.. haha... Maybe it's being surrounded by all them kids in Faith Kids. Maybe it's the fact that I keep on hearing about engagements from all around me. Maybe I am just fulfilling my purpose as a man, in life.

To Work. To worship God. To Love. To have dominion over Nature.

I have a great job, I am happy where I am. ( / )

The conditions of my job, makes it hard for me not to worship God. ( / )

I am about to but an environmentally friendly Hand phone ( / ) haha.. I need to do more lah for sure.

And of course to love, not just for that for that special person, but even for my friends and my family, which I must confess I am lacking of these days.

One more purpose to fulfill ...

That's it for now.

God Bless

Lost it

2010-04-09T17:25:00.005+08:00

I basically lost it. Waited too long before I updated my latest entry .

So now, I am just not going to finish it.. haha....

Partly contributed by the fact that I had to repeat that story soo many times I just got really really tired of it.

haha.. sorry guys..

God bless

Darren

Platinum Suites - Part 1

2010-03-31T17:32:00.002+08:00

Was a long day yesterday, long yet fruitful.

I thank God for such days, days which I will remember all my life, until I die, or the day senility sinks in.

We had a staff meeting in the morning, cause Pastor just came back from his trip to Thailand with Uncle Stephen. Meeting was fruitful as usual, covered a lot of ground, solved a lot of issues as well as addressed some important ones.

After that, most of us went to IKEA for lunch. One of our staff will be leaving us to pursue his studies, so we decided to have our Last Lunch with him at IKEA since he's never tried the meatballs there. Then we went back to the office.

The moment I reached home from work, had a 15 minute rest, got up , bathe and prepared for my second trip, to IKEA.

Yea... I know.

Well, it's not IKEA to be exact. I have agreed to bring a couple of my friends to watch How To Train Your Dragon. I picked Cineleisure cause it's right beside Bentley's, and also basically it would be convenient for most people to join.

Both Wei Joo and I came out from the taxi and went straight to Cineleisure. It was nearly 7 pm.

" How to train your dragon for 8.50pm please."

" Sir, we don't have the normal showing for that time."

" Is it 3D?"

" No sir. It's Platinum"

I should state that prior to this "incident", there were 5 confirmed people watching the show.

5pm- Tham pulled out, had extra work to be finished for the class on the following day.

7pm- Yvonne pulled out, had to rush for work as well.

5.15pm- Lily confirmed that she'll be joining.

Lily juga harapan bah.. haha

7.15pm

"Lily, apparently there won't be that dragon show at 8.50pm. They have Alice in Wonderland though, at 8.30pm, you ok with that?"

"Nooo, I don't wanna watch Alice..."

"Uh, actually they have it at 8.50pm, but it's Platinum, that means each ticket is RM 25. You ok with that?"

"I'm ok if the rest of them are ok."

(Looks at Wei Joo, he nods) " Yea, we're ok with it if you're ok with it"

" Im ok"

"Ok, 8.50pm, Platinum then."

7.25pm

" 3 How to Train Your Dragon for 8.50pm show please."

"Are you sure sir? It's Platinum"

" Yes"

" That'll be RM 75 please."

7.35pm ( IKEA)

" Hey Wei Joo, did I just pay RM 25 for a cartoon?"

" Yes you did man, yes you did."

To be continued ...

a lot

2010-03-01T23:46:00.002+08:00

Today we had one of the longest meetings at the office... ever.

But I would say that it was a rather productive one, and I am glad that I was a part of it.

Pressure is really beginning to build up and at times, I feel as though I am too small for the tasks ahead. But I thank God for my brothers and sisters in Christ whom has always backed me up and encouraged me to push myself harder. I'd like to personally thank Sarah Yon for helping and teaching me in organising my action plans and time lines. I must confess , I rather suck at it. But you have got to start some where, and I am up for the challenge.

I have been too used to working alone that I forgot how to work with people. Having constantly reminded that whatever I do is a group effort and not mine alone.

" Doing everything by yourself is gonna kill you," Sarah said.

Non the less I am excited of the new work which I have been given and am really excited of how the outcome will be. i am not in the liberty to say what I am doing now, as usual , everything is P and C, but I trust that you'll know soon enough.

______________________________________________________________

We just had our Faith Music Launch last Saturday. I wouldn't say that things went on without a hitch and yes we must learn form our mistakes. But either ways, I thank God for those who participated and signed up for the classes. I am sure with the tutalage of our faith Music trainers, these first timers will play awesome tunes in no time.

Initially I signed for the Acoustic guitar classes, but I now realise I have more important things to attend to, guess I'll just have to be home schooled then. That's the good thing about having Tim Lim as your house mate.. muahahahaha!

_______________________________________________________________

Having said that, I have just got back from my second trip to Bentley Music Store. Got my guitar a new "jacket".. muahahaha...The old was literally falling apart in my hands. Ashes to ashes , dust to dust.

I have always loved visiting music instruments stores. Though I may not have mastered any of the instruments, I cannot hep but marvel at the beauty of these instruments.

How men have discovered melody or rhythm or tempo. How with a few clashes of cymbals and plucking of strings can they create such music , such melody.

Surely music was a gift from God... Cultural mandate anyone?

_______________________________________________________________

My Faith Kids' experience has been interesting thus far. These past few weeks of serving in the children ministry has opened my eyes to quite a number of things. I have always been good with kids, but sometimes, oh, sometimes, they can be soo overwhelming. Well, at least I am now equipped with some knowledge of bringing up children. Let's just say this is training for future purposes, hahaha...

_______________________________________________________________

Have been rather tired lately, as my mother came to visit for a few days. Brought her around for shopping around KL. There was a day that we went to Pavilion in the morning and 1 Utama in the evening. As tiring as it was, it was worth it.

_______________________________________________________________

Also, it was Chinese New Year Valentines yesterday. Happy Chap Goh Mei guys!

No I didn't do anything valentine's related yesterday. it's been a full week last week and I was rather tired and sleepy when I reached home. Slept for an hour before waking up again to catch the Manchester United game against Aston Villa for the League Cup final.

Man U won 2-1.

Met a couple of my ex-students today.

" Wah Darren, lost weight again, got girlfriend is it?"

Truth be told, I realised that most guys who have girlfriends just get bigger and bigger, and I don't mean the buff kinda big. Haha

That being said, life has been very interesting for me in this department so far.

Have met quite a few characters. Some in which we became really good friends with and some that could just never work out.

Either ways, whomever it is that I am considering, 3 qualities must remain, and this I confess, I stole from Jonathan Tse's blog.. haha

- Beautiful ( Darren C. Edward's standards of course)
- Chemistry
- Christian..

Till next time, God bless!!

Daddario and Multi Tasking

2010-02-24T08:08:00.002+08:00

Just watched Percy Jackson about 2 days ago with 2 of my housemates, Tim and Wei Joo. Couldn't believe I actually did that because it was such a long day for me. How? Let's see shall we.

I woke up at about 6 am, prepared myself and and all, went to the airport and checked it by 8am. The plane departed at about 9.45am and reached KL by 12.30pm. In which then I took a cab back home, left my bags, and walked to Sunway's Ming Tien and had my lunch with my housemate. After that went straight to meeting in the office, which roughly ended at about 4.30ish I think. Left the office and went straight to Faith Station at TOA which finally ends at 7 pm.

The day could've ended for me then, but I had to go and open my mouth, " Hey, you know what would be crazy, is if we watch Percy Jackson right after our dinner..."

There was a short silence in the car right after that statement, cause truth be told, they wanted to do that to, hahaha... And so we did...

So how was the movie? I give it a 6.5 out of 10. Not because it was bad or anything. It's an average movie, with average effects and average fight scenes. An average storyline with average actors but not so average supporting actors. I don't have much to complain about actually, nit's just one of those short , and fun movies that we all need once in a while.

Wei Joo asked me, " Would you watch this movie again, as oppose to Avatar?"

The answer is a resounding yes.

Now many of you will question my logic in this but be rest assured the answer is quite logical.

Avatar in essence is a good movie. Not a great movie, but just a good movie. Yes, we have to give the director credit for coming up with this mammoth of a movie with a mammoth budget and mammoth CGI effects to go with it.

But let's face it, Avatar is Pocahontas set in outer space. Or if you want me to be all specific, it Dances with Wolves set in outer space. People will remember this movie for its believable CGI effects. But as we can all see, animation evolves rather rapidly each year, just when you thought they did an amazing job with Gollum, then comes King Kong, and Davy Jones and now the Navii. So for me, it is understood that the CGI effects would be good. If it wasn't then my goodness are they in trouble.

The story itself would not be able to carry the entire movie. Sooner or later another movie with great CGI effects will appear and Avatar will be just another CGI action film. It's sad but true. Let's not also forget that this movie takes 3 1/2 hours of your lives every time you watch it , so yea, it's quite a "heavy" movie.

So in conclusion, I will watch Percy Jackson anytime in compared to Avatar.

Oh, another good thing about that Percy Jackson movie? Alexandra Daddario.

Which brings me to my next topic. Just bought meself D'addario guitar strings for my guitar and yeap, will start taking up guitar lessons frpm my housemates soon. Of course the upside f it is that I get to jam with my friends but it would also enable me to serve for in the church like Faith Kids or even my Share Group, so yea, guitar lessons.

Speaking of lessons, I will be taking my driver's lessons soon and I am really looking forward to it.

I just hope I will be able to do all these things as I have just been informed in our meeting yesterday that I have been given quite a lot of tasks .

It didn't really occur to me, well actually it did, on how much responsibility there is on my shoulder now. I only fully understood the gravity of the situation when I saw the bullet chart, oh the dreaded bullet chart. But truth be told, I am really quite excited about these new tasks. Gives me a chance to learn new things and reorganise my life. So yea, am excited but a little afraid now, but hey" Don't tell God how big your problems are, tell you problem how big your God is" is what I always say.

I have been having certain doubts on my choice of occupation right now, especially since my last trip to Sabah. But yesterday's meeting has really reassured me of my being there and what I can contribute and do for Christ.

I pray for God to continually guide me and strengthen my faith, especially in this Lent season.

Till next time, God Bless.

Of Wolfman, Valentine's and Coffee...

2010-02-12T02:14:00.004+08:00

It is now 2:14 am and I am not yet asleep.

Just got back from the late screening of Wolfman, and I must say that I am impressed. It wasn't exactly the best movie ever, but it is a good one. Well, at least for me, cause I have always been a fan of werewolves rather than vampires.

The Wolfman delivers almost everything that I expected from the movie so I must say I am a rather happy chap for now. Action thriller with a generous sense of logical gore, and of course the slightest bit of romance, not too much, just enough to tone down the graphic of the movie.

This movie will somehow make you think about the concept of a man being trapped in a beast's body or a beast trapped in a man's body. Many a times, we as human beings find ourselves in situations where our integrity is being challenged, a lesser man might have find himself difficult to keep his composure and more inclined to release the "beast" within. Juvenile as it may be, many men will find it difficult when put in such situations. It further reminds me of God's grace, that through Him, everything is possible, even in controlling our urges, whatever they may be.

Lately I have been going through what I would consider a series of tests of faith. where I have really been put in situations which I have no idea how to react to. New territory as some may put it. Like any adventurer, I would poke and prod my way through this uncharted territory, only to find myself in trouble more than once. And would end up lost and dumbfounded in the middle of nowhere cracking my brain in figuring where I am.

So it is time that I put my foot forward and have Faith in the Lord to guide me to my destination through this new world I am venturing. Through thick and thin we shall go and no matter what comes my way, we shall triumph over it because I have one heck of a guide, God.

Chinese New Year is coming up and so is Valentine's. Will be going back to KK but not as soon as I've hoped. Either ways will have good time spending it with my sister in the oh so deserted shopping complexes of KL.

Valentine's day will not go as I have planned, so I guess I'll just have go on Valentine-less for another year. Am curious what next year will bring. God, if you're reading this, it's all up to you Man... hahaha... though I am willing to be involved in the process, cewah...

Have recently been addicted to coffee, more specifically ice blended ones. I have decided to refrain myself from said beverage till after Lent season. I'll be fine, coffee after all, does make me sleepy and it'll help keep me from donating exorbitant amount of money to the good people of Starbucks. (though I do wish I had bought the Tiger mug).

Will start weightlifting again, which means more house cleanings to be done. Yeap there's no better weight to carry than your own is what I always say( Ok , fine,. I never said that, but I will from now on).

Am looking forward to returning home this Chinese New Year and spend time with my family and long lost friends}. See you on the other side guys!!

Till next time, God Bless!!

New job

2010-01-18T23:33:00.002+08:00

I have just realised that most of my students had no idea I no longer work at TOA, haha, sorry guys... Next time yamcha lah...

As of now I am a full time worker at Faith Christian Centre. I have decided to serve God in the best way I can in whichever way I can. Please don't ask me which department I'm working in, we don't actually have that much departments like back in the college guys.

But I can say that I have been keeping myself busy with a lot of things, mainly being s student again, learning about HTMLs and CSSs. There are many areas in which we can serve the Lord, so i find it pointless for me to state them one by one right here right now.

Will I still be practicing art? Yes, actually. I already have some art projects in mind so keep an eye out for some new things from Darren.

Well, I'm running out of things to talk about my work for now... So if you have any questions you know what to do....

Till then, God Bless!

Lawrence

2010-01-18T16:25:00.003+08:00

I woke up today, early as usual, turned on my laptop, and went straight to Facebook.

Yea, addicted, I can't help it..

One of my primary school friends invited me to our Primary School reunion. and I realised I haven't met them for 12 years now. Yes, it's been awhile. Had it not been for websites like Friendster or Facebook, I wouldn't even know if they were alive or dead.

Which brings me to my next point.

It was when I clicked to the link of our Primary school account, that I found out that one of my ex-classmates had passed away, 3 years ago...

I thought it was just some random guy, but then I realised it was Lawrence.

I have always said that I got to know of football and loved it when I was in Primary 6, World Cup France 98.

I remembered that it was Lawrence who encouraged me to join them for a game of football and from then on, I was hooked.

I was never really the outgoing guy back then so it was Lawrence that taught me what i know about football. He was the goalkeeper and I was the defender, and I basically followed every instruction he gave me on the field. He was the one who taught me how to slide, the one thing I am soo proud of today, how to guard and so on... No, I am never really good at football, even now I am still bad at it, but what I know I owe it to that boy.

I said boy, cause that's how I remembered him. Hell, that was the last image of him that I remember. He was always the cheerful guy and was always in high spirits. The fact that he died the way he did, that was not the Lawrence I knew. Yes, I am very distraught over this news. Not having met this friend of mine for more than 10 years, and only to find out about his death today.

It was my fault that I had not kept in touch with most of my primary school friends. I sort of disappeared from their radar. Not their fault though, I had issues of my own.

I am reminded of how fragile our lives are. Most of the times, most of us, even the so-called "religious" will be caught unawares by a situation, then the question will come," What are you going to do about it?".

From our Faith Station gathering today, I've learnt that, there is no use sticking to the past, or any "tragedy " that might have occurred in our lives. What's important is that we look forward to the future and what God will bring us.

Sure, everyone has problems, like my Faith Station leader would put it " Welcome to the real world.." and he's right. The question is what are you going to do with the situation at hand? Sounds a lot like what I said before doesn't it... yea, I know...

I may feel bad about what had happened to Lawrence, but non of that is going to change anything. I 'll just have to get used to describing him in the past tense.

What I shall do is present him with a Salute ( which at this very moment I am saluting at the screen for 10 seconds) and bid him Adieu...

I am sorry my friend, for not being there for you like you've had with me and may God have mercy on your soul...

______________________________________________________________

AVATARIZE YOURSELF

2010-01-12T11:59:00.001+08:00

Excess Baggage

2010-01-03T20:27:00.005+08:00

There's only 30% of stuff left in my room now.

But I've still managed to make my room messy with the 30 % that I have left. Congrats Darren.

I spent the bulk of my previous week packing my things which I have accumulated in 5 years and shifting it to my new place in Sunway. Yes, I finally understand how Sio Yean feels. Packing is a b%*^h...

I'm a sentimental guy. Yea. You can laugh all you want later, just bear with me now... When I pack I'll start to reminisce about the time I bought that "stuff" and so on, which makes it harder for me to pack as fast as I was supposed to.

One thing I realized when I was packing, is that over a span of 5 years, I've collected a lot of junk. Magazines that I most probably used just once or twice for sketching references, art books, art supplies, old assignments which I keep for nostalgic reasons and so on.

It's a curious thing, that I've always tried to keep my room neat and tidy ( Cough, cough...) But I never realized I had soo much junk in my room. Talk about sweeping dirt under the carpet. Thank God I don't have a carpet..really...

I then realised how much money I could've saved had I not buy all these things. Money which can be used for the new house. I could've bought a stove, kettle, cutlery, knife set, dustbin and so on.. basically things that are needed in a house. Had I not spend like an idiot all these years, I could've had a field day in IKEA by now. But alas , it's too late, Nasi sudah jadi bubur, bubur jadi Tapai... Mmmm, Tapai....

It's a lesson I'll never forget. As much as I try to live my life without regrets, this is one thing I regret. But enough of this coulda, woulda, shoulda crap. We must look ahead and live through this life God has given us. Amen..

Then one must ask himself/herself, if he or she had been living their life that is full of junk.

We are so into the life that we are living now, that sometimes we never realized that there are quite a lot of unfinished business that needs to be dealt with. Hence there is such things as Deep and Strong, ahem ahem (Free advertising for FCC).

I for one must confess that I have a lot of excessive baggage ( not just physical) in my life. And, well, I've been trying to solve/remove them one by one with God's help, which by the way is essential in baggage removing process. Through Him I have been able to live a new life, for a new purpose and for a new Master. Yes, you heard me, Master.

I know, there are some of you who'll start rolling your eyes and say that " I am the master of my life, I don't need anyone to master over me, God is just extra help..."

A servant cannot serve 2 masters, or at this point, a servant cannot serve himself, that's why he's called a servant, it's just logic that way. But of course, if you're insistent of that lifestyle, by all means, but please, please do not blame God for not helping you or not being there when you're in trouble. It's like blaming your neighbour for not paying your bills when you're clearly the "master" of the house.

I consider myself lucky to be in the position I am right now, cause I'm surrounded by problems.

At this point of my life, right now as I am typing these words, my life is in utter chaos. Well, actually that's too dramatic. But I do seem to be more serious these days.

I feel like Conan, with his furrowed brow, contemplating on his enemies and the manner of their demise. Should it be decapitation or feeding to crows, hmm.. decisions, decisions....

So please forgive me, if these few days I do not seem to have a welcoming face, it's just me thinking too much. But it's OK, we have to acknowledge that God is mighty and He will never give us something we cannot handle.

Yes, it may seem weird for you to hear I am happy to have these problems, but I'm glad cause this is rather humbling. I will forever look to God for strength and wisdom to guide me in my storm.

and with that I bid you adieu...

Till next time, God Bless

The Day After Yesterday

2009-12-26T18:56:00.002+08:00

Another Christmas has gone by, and for those whom I didn't wish it, Merry Christmas and God bless!!

How would I describe my Christmas this year? Well, it certainly was different from the year before. But come to think of it, it was different but not so different at the same time.

I am now in KK, Sabah. Spending my Christmas with my family. More specifically I am now in a cyber cafe, reading my overdue emails and ressurecting my Cafe World which I neglected for a few days now. I don't have interenet at home you see.

I wouldn't really say that it was a joyous and wonderful Christmas that I had yesterday, but it was memorable non the less...

It was the first time I came back to my old church in KK in 4 years. I was glad to be thereaccompanied by a certain sadness by the fact that I was not there all these years to see the changes and growth which the church had gone through. Meeting some old friends really brought back old memories.

After that, my mom, sis and I went of to Fook Lu Siew. Yea, big difference right there.

For those of you who are from KK, you know exactly what and where I am talking about. It was a sad occasion as one of my distant relatives had passed. Though old as he may be but it was in a tragic manner, we were there for the wake. Funeral's in a few days time.

Yes, my Christmas was rather bitter sweet.

I found out about my relative's death somewhere on Christmas Eve evening. Was quite troubled about it, knowing the manner of his death and all. I was thinking about how hard it must be for his children to lose their father just like that. No one was prepared for it. No one ever is...

That night I had a dream ... or was it a nightmare? Let's just put it this way, it started of beautiful but I woke up sweating and I couldn't sleep after that. It was just disturbing for me. Was it connected to the death of my realtive, yes .. and no. I've been praying that God will reveal to me the meaning of said dream, but nothing yet so far. I just hope it's one of those ridiculous dreams that one has when they're stressed and not one of those prediction kinda dreams, those are just... Well, let's leave that for another post.

Whatever it was that dream really got me thinking of the choices I am going to make this coming year, 2010 to be exact. There are just some things that I need to handle/solve /get out of the way with. It's now or never Darren, I just pray that God is with me no matter what happens.

By now, you would've realised that I hardly talked about my Christmas, and truth be told, there's hardly anything to talk about. Perhaps Christmas has never changed, only me...

Till next time, God Bless!!

Reckless Ice Cream Soda...

2009-12-18T18:37:00.002+08:00

Ah... refreshing. It's been awhile since I had ice cream soda. I love ice cream soda but I don't really go for carbonated drinks. But I don't just go for any ice cream soda, it has to be F&N Ice Cream Soda, cause it's colourless. I just have an obsession with things that are white and pure, like for instance Vanilla Ice Cream. Which would be a surprise for those who know me long enough because I used to wear nothing but Black...

The reason for me to suddenly break into the carbonated drinking habit was because I was tired, or perhaps "recklessly" tired .

Why recklessly tired ? Well, cause Ive been cleaning my room rather recklessly and I've realised that it's been awhile since I've done this much cleaning in one setting. Actually I have, but this room is bigger than the one I used to live in so yea, it's double the recklessness.

To tell you the truth I'm not even sure if the word "reckless" is suitable for this situation but I'm feeling rather reckless today, hence the reckless usage of said word.

Everything was done rather recklessly as I recklessly woke up and took my reckless shower and as I brushed my reckless rebellious teeth. Put on my reckless Star wars T-shirt and went to Sunway to have a recklessly made canai with my not so reckless friend. We then headed to my recklessly new house to check out the items that needed to be bought and went to Sunway pyramid to recklessly browse for the items. I had to stop and think for while if my bed was a King size or a Queen as I was too reckless to check the measurements. In which then I recklessly told myself I'll be back another day to buy the bedsheets together with the pillows.

Headed back home and started cleaning my bedroom and recklessly shifting the furniture around. " this was a really reckless day.. " I thought to myself. Funny then that I realised that the day would have been different had I gone to Pavilion today. Absent would be these feelings of recklessness, until I come back to Sunway.

And I thought to myself again, if only I could drive. Oh the joy of driving , recklessly. Lights would've been recklessly run through, drivers recklessly scolded. Look out Sunway, there's a reckless driver on the loose! But alas, those reckless dreams will have to pass, till they let this boy gets his driver's licence, only then will his recklessness be made to last.. haha..

This boy took the bus to his Taipan home. He ran as it was raining recklessly, changed his clothes and sat, recklessly releasing those reckless thoughts from his head.

Till then, God bless.

Deathsss... part 2

2009-12-07T10:30:00.003+08:00

It is official, all my fishes are dead...

Let's have a recap.

The first died because I overfed it.

The second dies casue it got stuck in the plastic tree.

Now, the C.O.D ( Cause of death) for the last 2 fishes is still in debate but so far, I have to leads.

Cause no. 1: The water

We all know how unhealthy and unclean our water is, even our drinking water, mind you Im not as stupid as to put my fish into distilled water or boiled water, I just gave them water, at least filtered drinking water.

I washed the aquarium once every 3 days and fed them once a day. There were occasions where I skipped a day( Sunday0 but they are always alright even after that. i have discussed this with others and they've agreed it's alright if the fishes missed a meal or 2.

One think that didn't cross my mind was the chlorin content of our drinking water.. Could it be too much, to an extent that it killed my fishes?

But I've had them for a few months now and if they were to die because of this they would've months ago.

Which leads me to my next cause...

Cause no. 2 : Natural causes aka. Age

When I bpught the fish, the shop assistant told me that the lifespan for these fishes were 6 months. Of course, common sense will tell you they were ot newly born fish so they must've been at least a few months old, and by sseing the time I've had them, I am assuming they could've been 4 months old.

In other words, I bought these fishes in their autumn years.

Which only made sense that they died seeing they've lived a full life.

But, there's always...

Cause no. 3: A Crime of Passion (Spanish accent needed)

Alehandro and Maria grew up in different tanks, their families though the same breed were at war with each other ( Don't ask me how). I was their luck that they were brought to the same shop, sold to the same person (me) and kept in the same tank alongside Marcel (Surviving fish after the first one died).

Marcel still grieving his late wife Christina was often comforted by Maria. Alehandro being the gentleman that he is wasn't jealous at all, knowing and believing that their love for each other was stronger.

Having felt the love and care of another woman,Marcel began to fall for Maria. He confessed his feelings to Maria in which she politely rejected as she knew he was still hurt from his lost and he has a troubled mind.

Marcel driven mad by jealousy decided to take things into his own hands. While everyone was away for the weekend, he called Alehandro out for a chat, into the woods he said, we need to talk . Alehandro was late that day, he was spendng his time with maria that he forgot his appointment with Marcel.

"Madre Dios, Marcel must really be mad" and he quickly rushed off to their rendezvous.

H reached their place of meeting, but Marcel was not in sight.

Suddenyly he felt a strong blow to his head, the cruel sting of jealousy has finally found it's victim. And out of the shadows came Marcel, rock in hand, gloating at his success.

" Now, she will be mine..."

lifting Alehandro's corpse, he stuck it between the trees to make it look like an accident and he then went back to tell Maria of the news.

Maria grieving as she was did not shed a tear. Funny, he thought, looks like their love wasn't strong afterall.

The next day, Marcel wore his best clothes and went over to Maria's.

the door a was opened, someone had broken in, but if it was so, the locks would've been broken, who else could it be?

He searched frantically for Maria but she was no where.

Then he saw her, lying lifeless on the floor. She must've killed herself knowing she could never live without the love of her life, Alehandro.

Strickened with regret, Marcel banged himself againts the glass wall,

" How could I have done this" he asked himself. Again and again he drove himself to the glass wall.

With his last breath he reached out for Maria... " Forgive me...."

Yup, It's definitely Cause no. 3

Death...ssss

2009-11-16T14:07:00.002+08:00

There have been too much deaths recently, and I don't just mean the deaths of famous stars...

It came as a shock to me when I found out the Dean of Studies in TOA, Ms. Veronica Ho, has passed away due to an illness. The nature of the illness itself is of course,not important and I find no reason to reveal such information to everyone else.

I was never really close to her, I've never even talked to her. All I know is that she's the Dean of Studies and that she makes an appearance every now and then. So when I heard of the news , I basically shrugged it off and continued living my life.

It was only today, when my students asked me of her death, that I felt the impact of her absence in our lives. I acme back to the office, and my colleague asked me,

" So, Darren, you going tonight?"

" Going , where?"

"Veron's funeral.."

" I can't, I have Marriage Course....."

Halfway through to explaining my reason, I realised how selfish had I become. There it was , the last chance for me to see her, and I was going to the Marriage Course.

It was really ironic, the fact that I was talking to a friend of mine about her just last week, we were talking about her well being and health. I as usual, being the heartless man that I am, couldn't care less, but she said she was sad, that Veron might not have the chance to be saved. And when I mean saved I don't mean, rescue from danger save, but to be saved in Jesus Christ saved. Which when come to think of it, is rescue from danger save...

I was ready to leave God's work purpose for me, for my own needs and wants. How could I have been so selfish.

It is not easy being a Christian, as I was discussing with another friend of mine just yesterday, to leave everything that we have, and to follow Jesus, is always easier said than done.

Death comes to us all, one way or another, it happens...

But death just seems to be coming too often these days... This would be the 4th funeral I'm going to this year.

I'm running out of things to say now, evrything is o jumbled up in this head of mine...

sigh...

I just suck at goodbyes...

Flush Away

2009-10-21T21:56:00.002+08:00

I went to the gallery, cause that's where we'll have our annual gift exchange. I was holding a bag and so was she, a paper bag of course... It looks suspicious.

" Here you go Darren, you have a responsibility now. Make sure it doesn't die"

I handed her the book, and took the paper bag from her hand. What living thing?

" Now you have to feed them once a day and pour out the water once every 3 days but not the whole thing, just half of it, then you'd have to pour in water again..."

Wait..wait wait... them? How many are they, and what are they?

Fishes.. 2 of 'em.

I walked back up to my office, removed the fish and put it in the aquarium she got me.. Nice, now I have living things to take care of. You can't mess this up Darren, this will be the proof of how responsible you can be.

Just to be clear I asked her again..

" 3 small pallets per fish..."

3 ? that's soo little, I know these guys are small and all, but 3 is just starving them, I took a pinch and scattered the on the surface, seeing the fishes scurry for food is just fun for me. Yes, grow big and strong... Be fruitful and multiply!!!

oh, it's 1.30pm, lunch time.

I went down to Ming Tien, had my lunch, went back up to check on my fishes.

Aww, look, one of them is doing a trick. He or she is playing dead...

The other one was swimming frantically. What will you do if the lifeless body of your friend was floating beside you, stomach up?

AH, crap, I just killed it...

Took it out, the lifeless body looking at me. Was hoping that at any moemnt it would jump up agian, sorta like a joke.

" You've been Punked, my new owner..muahahaha!"

It didn't happen, Ashton Kutcher was nowhere to be seen. It still wasn't breathing.

I let it go. Flush.

I just flushed my first fish.

23

2009-10-15T01:10:00.003+08:00

Hmm... What can I say... Here I am a year older than I was.. last year, man that sounds weird.. haha

So what's new about Darren C. Edward? What has changed since last year? Was I any different? If you have been reading my blog for the past 3 years, well, yea, perhaps there has been some changes in my life, minor ones and some major ones...

For this particular year, there's been too many changes, to me of course. Since my last birthday , I am now a Junior lecturer, was a tutor back then, so yea, life's a bit different right now. My journey of self improvements has been really interesting for me. In my quest of searching God and myself, I have encountered obstacles and even unforgettably joyous occasions.

I cannot help but acknowledge God for all the good things He has done for me even including the bad ones. I feel as though I've grown so much more than I have these past few years and I cannot really express how grateful I am to Him for that.

Since last year, I've been talking about my true purpose in life and all. It's seems rather difficult for most people to find their true purpose in life, or like some might call it, their vocation in life. But there are some who find it rather easily, good for them. I find myself falling in the 1st category. For quite some time now my friends have been asking me to well, find a different job, look for other opportunities someplace else, and I myself have been contemplating furthering my studies in the US.

I am proud to announce that yes I have found my calling, or rather my vocation in life. I will announce this when everything is in black and white, though some of you may already know what it is. I urge those who do to please keep it to yourselves till I announce it myself. Not like I'm selfish or anything, that's just how I roll baby.. haha...

Well how did I celebrate my birthday?

I woke up feeling fresh but sort of tired since I slept really late the previous night. Went to college. Turned on my facebook account and started replying all the birthday wishes from my friends. God bless them. Went to Sunway Pyramid to check out the price of Tuxedo for Bard, came back and marked my students' works. Finished work. Went to have Bah Kut Teh with both Victor and Tracy. Went to Prayer Meeting. After that went to Snowflake and enjoyed their specialty. Then ended the night with Ganja Burger Special with Tim and Garry...

That's how my birthday was. I wish I could've typed in more things, exciting things, like, today is my birthday and I stopped a robbery.. Now that would be cool, but no, my birthday was plain and simple.

Was chatting with a friend of mine and he asked me what're my plans for the night, I told him I had non and he asked why not ask the gang out to some kinda activity. My reply was simple. Why should I, it would be ridiculous for me to organise something just to celebrate my own birthday.. Nah, a simple one will do. When you come to think about it, you'd be the only person excited about your birthday since to everyone else, it's just yet another day.

So that's it for my 23rd birthday. Like I mentioned in facebook, I am now and older man, but am I a better man? I believe God has made me so, I believe so.

Till then. God Bless!

BTW: here's my previous posts for my previous birthdays:

Tumblr: Used

2009-10-08T00:50:00.002+08:00

Yeap, I officially have a Tumblr account.

I have decided I will still keep my Blogspot, there are just some things that Tumblr cannot provide, so yea, I'll keep both, though I have decide to compartmentalise my blogs.

Gothallica:Noir will be for Art, Movies, Music. Basically things that I enjoy and have an opinion on, and yes, that includes comic books and TV Series.

Boleh-wood will be for everything else

That's it for now, God Bless!

Tumblr

2009-09-20T18:54:00.001+08:00

Tumblr looks nice, might move... might...

I dislike sunsets

2009-09-13T00:31:00.005+08:00

Semester just started, which means there are more and more things for me to concentrate on.

First of all The One Academy new semester has just started. New classes to teach, new subjects to teach, tons of assignments to mark....

First XEE training semester has just started, a lot of sacrifices to be made, phone numbers to be called, and people to bless...

Everything in my life seems to be running all at once at the same time. Sometimes "I feel like thinly spread butter on too much bread." (Quote taken directly from Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of The Rings motion picture..ps..LOTR rules!!!) So many things to handle, so little time.

Yet it is not a time from lamenting, but rejoicing. As Rev. Khee Vun had mentioned today in his sermon, just like the psalmist in Psalms 22, we must always have balance in our lamentations. We know we have hardships ahead of us, yet we rejoice in God for it. Did He not help us in our time of need? Did He not guide us through the thick and thin of our lives? Before we were even born He knew us and cared for us, surely that is proof enough that He will never leave us.

I am afraid and excited at the same time. Same way that I've felt hosting Tim Lim's debut album launch.

Nervous as I was, I think I did ok for my first hosting gig.. haha.. Yes, there were a lot of hiccups. I stood outside of the spotlight, I forgot to introduce myself, I stuttered and messed up my lines. But all and all, I'm glad I took the opportunity when it was presented. I have to thank God for giving me the boldness and courage and wisdom to do what I did, surely everything comes from Him and of His own do we give Him. I'd like to thank Tim too for considering me as his M.C for his album launch, hope that we have the chance to work together again in the future. And finally how could I forget all those who've supported me and encouraged me. My family and my friends, of which whom always supported me in this. Hitz.FM here I come..haha...

A friend of mine recently suggested that I should be doing traveling shows, where I get to travel around and talk about the places and meet new people. Yea, that sounds like the dream job right there..haha.. Though I would have to be very famous and devilishly handsome to be considered for the job. One more to go to my dream job. haha.

Another friend of mine just left for her studies not few days ago, she came by the college to say her goodbyes, we hugged and she left. I suck at goodbyes.

Sometimes I wish I was more articulate. Though most will wish I was less...haha.. but I always had a weakness in goodbyes. What does one say to someone you might not see for a long time, or perhaps never again?

See you later?

Safe Journey?

I'll miss you?

Au revoir?

No, I don't think any of those are good enough for goodbyes. To express oneself or perhaps the hole in which was left due to the departure of said friend takes more than words to express. At least for me.

So I will always find myself looking dumbfounded, looking at said friend getting visually smaller and smaller. This is of course due to diminution of size which occurs when a subject is shifted further and further away from the viewer. Leaving a rather lukewarm feeling among both of us. Which is always the worst way of saying goodbye.

So, it may be safe to say that if I care enough for someone I will find it harder to say goodbye to him or her. Or I may not say goodbye at all, just a shrug will do, or a nod, followed by me walking away.

I just suck at goodbyes.

Perhaps that's why I dislike Sunsets. Beautiful as they are, they always give me a sense of ending. The end of a holiday perhaps or the end of beach party. Not saying goodbye will not stop the sun from setting, neither will it stop your friend from leaving.

From my busy schedule to sunsets....

Well, till next time , God Bless!!

I'm Filipino!!

2009-08-29T16:29:00.003+08:00

Ha...that's a very strong statement to make..

21st of August, I took a 7 day 6 nights holiday to Makati Philippines with my mother, uncle and his Godson. My uncle wanted to go for a trip, and I decided to tag along, since it's been awhile since my last holiday. the last being The Redang Trip last year.

This was my uncle's 3rd trip to Philippines and after hearing all the nice things he has to say about the place, I've decided to give it a try. Well was it good?

First of all, I have to admit, we didn't really go there for the sightseeing. Though many may argue that there are tons of places with breathtaking scenic views, my family prefers to shop..Yeap, you heard me , shop. The exchange rate is RM7.77 for 100 Pesos. So you can imagine how much cheaper things are over there...Now things didn't really get all too cheap like what you're thinking now... the stuff over there is basically at least RM 5- RM 10 cheaper to what we have in Malaysia, which when you come to think of it, is quite a whole lot.

When I joined in the trip, I had no idea where we were going to stay, and later I found out, neither did my uncle. Well, he knew where it was, but he had no idea what that place looked like, was there shops nearby, was it a nice neighborhood, or whatever. The worst part was that he said we were going to a hotel...

Yea, it wasn't.

All the while I thought the taxi had taken a wrong turn since we were getting further and further away from the city and into the under developed areas. Suddenly it looked like I was in Inanam or Tuaran but worse, like way worse. The taxi stopped and as we looked out, we were in front of the quaint motel my uncle had booked for us , which he so conveniently declared to be a hotel. Can't imagine how big a difference could one small little letter make..haha..

Either ways, I reminded myself that hey, this is just yet another interesting experience for me and I dragged our bags out of the taxi. We were greeted by the workers at the motel/ apartelle, then their dog, yes, there was a dog there, a Sharpei, for those who have no idea what a Shar Pei is, its that Chinese Bulldog. Very cute yet kinda big for its kind too. I was told that she was blind, that's why she didn't notice us when we came in, but she did take a good smell at each of us, then she continued sleeping.

I was disappointed, for that one brief moment, or at least perplexed or dumbfounded, or whatever you wanna call it. Right there and then I thought, oh crap, what else didn't my uncle tell us. I had planned how I was going to spend my time over in the Philippines. Shopping in the daytime, trying their many delicacies, spending time in the hotel pub getting to know the locals and share interesting stories with each other. I basically painted a mental picture of it. Yet, as soon as I stepped out of the taxi, everything just went "POOF!".

But in time I enjoyed my stay there, yes it was located in a dreadful looking neighbourhood but it was the best looking place in that area. They have a very charming looking rest area, the place is very clean, the people, very friendly.

We did however try looking for another place to live in, thinking that we can do better. We stopped by this one apartment which turned out to be a nightmare. The place was really dark, even though it was 10 am in the morning, the hostess showed us around, the corridors were ark and shady, at one point we couldn't see where we were walking cause there were no lights, she showed us the room, and man was it bad. This sad looking room, with a bed and a table and a toilet and that's it...It looked like a set for that horror film Hostel. Right there and then, we knew that Makati Apartelle was the place for us and we never second guessed our first motel again.

Maybe I should list down the things I like about my trip in Philippines:

The people are kind

and I really mean this. It was weird and it took me quite some time to take it all in. The whole time we were there we could not stop but acknowledge how kind and well mannered the Filipinos were. Foreigners say that Malaysians are friendly people, but what they don't know is Malaysians are only friendly towards foreigners not among each other.

The Exchange Rate

It makes buying things a lot easier, yea, not kidding. I didn't really go all out on the spending, cause well, I just don't do that. But I can show some comparison.

1 Marvel comic book roughly costs RM 16 where as it cost RM 11 over there.
GI Joe action figure costs RM 49.90 here but it cost RM 32 over there.

The best part was when my uncle and I bought some pastries form the local bakery, we purposely chose the most expensive items that they had , bought about 8 different buns, and it cost us RM2.. yea...

This is of course just a rough comparison of the cost of things but I hope you get the gist of it.

It's Safer

It would be unfair for me to claim this seeing that I was only there for 7 days, but Philippines did give me that impression. Remember I was staying in a very run down area and at night it just gets worse. People washing their clothes and taking their baths in the sidewalks, children running around naked, some playing with tyres, people living on boxes and so on. Yet never did my and uncle and I feel unsafe among them, though I would not bring any female companion walking around that area at night, it's just common sense.

Did I mention they have security inspection in every entrance in any shopping center? There would be 2 security guards with drumsticks, and they'd use it to poke around your bags if you have any to check for any weapons and such, felt weird at first but got used to it. Some shops even check your temperature before you enter. Yet in Malaysia, where H1N1 cases are rising in such an alarming rate, no one's temperature is checked. There are no hand sanitisers prepared in the toilets and so on. So much for our developed country.

The Women

I'm a guy, so yes, I observe such things, it doesn't help that I'm an Illustrator too, we have a radar for beautiful people. Now beauty is very subjective, one who seems beautiful to many might seem so so to me, and vice versa. In that case, I must say that I have a taste for Filipino women. By now I'm sure that the whole female population of Malaysia are jeering at me, seething and fuming at the remark that I had just made. No I did not claim that Malaysian women are uglier or less attractive in any way. In my defense I have fallen in love with many Malaysian women. I'm just stating the fact that they have a higher ratio of beautiful women, or women that I would deem beautiful in the Philippines. And it's not just me, even my mother keeps on saying that. It is undeniable, they are everywhere. and mind you, they're not even models, these women are just shopkeepers, cashiers and salesgirls.

Pork is everywhere

Oh yes, Pork is everywhere. No, they're not hidden in a corner in bags sealed soo tight you can hardly recognise it. There, pork is displayed so beautifully, with different cures and marination, a wide variety of sausages, and so on. One food that I see every where, is what they called lechon something.. yea, I could only remember half the name, haha.. Its basically roasted pork or to be more exact piglet. It's what we call Shao Rou over here. Sad thing is I didn't get to try it. But I did get to try their Adobo Pork and barbecued baby back ribs( pork) and man was it good ....

The TV

Is good, or rather the shows that they have over there. Most American shows that we've been deprived of in Malaysia, they have over there. For instance, Attack of the Show and even The Price is Right. Not to mention they have a show called Fox Crime where you have nonstop shows of CSI Miami, New York and Las Vegas and any other crime related shows. One more thing I realized was that the movies that they show are actually in Hi-Def, unlike our low res Astro movies...

They have Christian Channels. Even though I missed church the Sunday I was there, I still managed to listen to talks and preachings on TV which was really good. Thank God for this chance.

Their Jeepneys and Tricycles

I'll post some pictures and you'll see what they look like..

I must say I find the jeepneys to be very ugly the first time I set my eyes upon them. There were soo many of them, but soon I started to like how different they looked, all with their own individuality. Yes they may look cheap and ugly, but some how drove the drivers themselves to decorate their jeepneys in ways they see fit, showing their personalities in the process.
___________________________________________________________________

With all these things listed down, you might think, wow, why don't you just move there. Well, I have no intention of moving to Philippines at all. Just think of how much( or how little) you'd be earning with the exchange rate over there.

Seeing those things just made me wish that Malaysia was more like Philippines so many ways, but I cannot deny that Malaysia does have it's own qualities. While conversing with some of the locals, we came to realise that they very much admire Malaysia, " I like Malaysia, you guys are sooo focused in everything you do, we Filipinos have no idea where we are going. The country is lost."

This made me realise what I have in Malaysia. Yes, we might have many problems with the current governing body of this country. Yes, we have problems with the policies and the corruption and all that, but we should still love our country, I know I do, I love my country not my government.

That being said, I actually felt more at home when I was in Philippines. Could've been the fact that I look like them, and everywhere I go, they speak Tagalok to me, which I then have to explain my country of origin and they would later sheepishly comment on how much I look like them.

Perhaps it's the fact that in my own country people have no idea if I'm Chinese or Malay, or even anything else. Over there I'm , well, one of them.

I am planning to go back there again, and I might just wanna go back to the same motel/apartelle. But I'll have more things to do next time, more plans.

Wow...that was a long post. Actually I have a lot more to talk about...but hey, I, sleepy. Will post the pictures in Facebook soon...

Till then God Bless !

Call me Snake Eyes

2009-08-11T01:49:00.003+08:00

It's 10 minutes to 2 a.m . I'm still awake , obviously.... It's been awhile since I've had a good night's sleep. Always finding myself sleeping at the back-side of the clock.

Weird enough I've been having the same dream for the past few days, not everyday but recurring almost every few days. Well, to be exact it's not exactly the same dream, but at least the same situation. Not exactly a good situation, some may even call it a nightmare, but hey, a dream's a dream...same thing to me.

Nope this was not the thing that's been keeping me up these all this time.

Some may actually say 2 a.m is still too early to sleep, perhaps not too early , but I believe the point they're making is they slept later than that. I recently found out a few friends of mine actually slept at 6 a.m and woke up at 8 or was it 9 a.m ... Either ways, that's just wrong, yea...but who's never done that.

I told my colleague I overslept because I forgot to reset my alarm, both my alarms actually. He said "Well, that's the side effects of insomnia..haha"...

Am I suffering from insomnia? I doubt it, if I was I know tons of people who share the same fate. Recent events have got me thinking about my life a lot more. By now I know most of you feel like you've read this before..haha.. Yes, Darren always rethinks about his life in a span of a few weeks.

I have to thank God for that. For moving me and molding my life in ways I could've never comprehended. In situations that I would've often disagreed with. I often find myself changing my mind over and over again. It's nobody's fault, it's who I am. Guess that's why I keep rethinking my life again and again. I can only pray that God does what He sees fit for me.

Guess that's why my life seems to be in overdrive right now. People complain of having nothing to do. They complain of being bored with their lives. My life's packed.

XEE training preparation, connect activities, Faith Station, Share Groups, Moon cake Festival Drama practices... and so on.. My week is fully booked. Of course except for my weekends, but I'm sure I'll think of some ways to reoccupy myself.

Now this is what I call a full life. A life in which I can live to the fullest of my potential. Which comes to the question,what's my full potential? What am I passionate about?

The truth is, I do not know...

So while I'm figuring that out, I might as well keep myself busy and if I'm keeping myself busy, I might as well be doing God's work. Because no matter what I choose to do, it is for His glory. Amen.

I'm sure by now, you'd ask, is Art not your passion? It was. It was before I came to TOA. It was before I graduated. It was before I started working at TOA. But art is such a wide subject, and being the indecisive man that I am, I just do not know.

Having seen so many things that I've seen while working at TOA, I cannot stop but stress on the fact that you need passion for your work.

You may argue that you work for money, but then don't you see that your passion is Money, and that's a good enough reason to be doing what you do. To some it might be enough, but not for me.

If any of my students are reading this, I hope you could ask yourself why you're doing what you're doing. The answer may be a really good one, it may be stupid, it might even really funny. I don't need to know what it is. Just as long as you believe your answer full hearted-ly. And no one else can tell you otherwise.

It is a comfort to know that I'm not the only one figuring out his life. Some people die without ever doing what their hearts desire most. never having the chance to fulfill their "destiny". Which is why I've been going around with this quote by Zach Braff

"Our body goes through puberty in its teens, and the mind goes through puberty in our twenties..."

Yea, I know... It's true though.

For those who's gone through all this, congratulations! The rest, well " You'll never walk alone..." ( Liverpool FC theme)

Am I writing all this to get your attention? No I'm not fishing for your sympathy, nor am I showing you any new age way of thinking.

Friend of mine revealed to me why she wrote on blogs. "To let it all out.." that's what she said. I guess.. To find an oulet for everything she's going through at that moment of time. Seems like exactly what I'm doing right now.

Like I mentioned, I change my mind quite often. Just reading this post of mine, you'd realise that I've changed the topic of discussion several times now. It's just how I roll baby... haha. But the wonderful thing about this is, I'd end up where I started, usually, not always. "What you've been searching has always been there all along" its a cliche, but it' usually is true. I feel like the guy who trashed his whole house looking for his watch only to realise he's been wearing it all along.

Truth be told, I started off thinking about reviewing G.I Joe, which was actually quite a good summer movie. Which is why I mentioned Snake Eyes.

Which actually got me thinking. Do snakes have eyelids?

Answer:

A snake's eyes are rounded and with lenses adjustable for distance vision. With the exception of the blind snakes, the eyes of a snake are permanently covered and protected by a transparent lower eyelid (called a spectable or brille). The fusion of the eyelids does not allow a snake to blink or close their eyes. Since the snake lacks external ear openings and eardrums, they hear by using their head to pick up vibrations and sounds from the ground. Experiments have shown that snakes can hear airborne sounds as well, although not well.

Its, 2.45 a.m now, I'm sleepy, but I can't sleep. Which makes me feel like I just can't close my eye lids. As if my eyes are always open.

hence,

Call me Snake Eyes.

RIP: Ellie Frazetta

2009-08-06T13:10:00.004+08:00

There I sat, tired and bewildered, tired of the marking of papers and the writing of comments on my students works. Tired of the constant beeping of our door alarm which never seemed to be fixed. Tired but happy of the Connect Activity that I did with Lafir yesterday.

So tired that I decided to read, of all the books that I have in the office, I picked up Frank Frazetta's Testament, of course a compilation of his greatest works and also his biography.I have to confess I have read this book countless times over. His energetic strokes, the way he presented his characters in gestures which made them look like they're constantly moving, the vibrant palette that he uses to paint these masterpieces. I was introduced to his works around 2 years ago, right after I completed my diploma, stepping into my working life, and I remembered how I wished I had known about him a lot earlier , I would be able to use his "style' for my final art assignment.

I connected to Mr. Frazetta's work on a personal level. For those who know me, I have always been a big fan of Conan and his many adventures, and to my knowledge, Frank Frazetta does the best interpretation of Conan. You can always judge or rather know about an artist through his artworks, and from where I was standing, Frank Frazetta is a force to be reckoned with, he is the kind of guy who does what he wants and when he wants with all that he is. And as I read his books countless of times, I eventually realise that Eleanor "Ellie' Frazetta has been a true force behind all his success.

Eleanor ‘Ellie’ Frazetta, the wife of celebrated artist Frank Frazetta, passed away today to be with the Lord after a courageous one-year battle with cancer.

Eleanor Kelly was born in Massachusetts and moved to New York where she married Frank in November, 1956. She acted as his business partner as well as his lifelong companion. Known for her feisty personality as well as her intuitive business acumen, she was instrumental in successfully establishing record prices for Frank’s work throughout her life.

She is survived by her husband Frank, her four children, Frank Jr., Billy, Holly and Heidi, numerous grandchildren, and many friends.

One of many life long dreams is to actually go to the Frazetta Museum. To meet with this great artist that has soo influenced my life and my art these past few years and to just tell him, thank you. I couldn't help but feel sad for his lost. I have read blogs on entries from people who have been to the Frazetta Museum and their encounter with the curator heself, Mrs. Ellie Frazetta, and how she brought them around and regailed them with "tales and adventures" of her husband and of his working habits.

In Testament, Ellie has been described as Frank's biggest fan and valued critic, his most trusted advisor and his one-woman pep club, his occasional model and frequent inspiration...

Of course it's much longer than that.. But from what Ive read so far, she seemed like the perfect woman, perhaps even the perfect wife..haha.. Yea, being an artist myself, the mind tends to drift once in a while.

I couldn't help but be pissed off by the fact that I only knew about this today... Like I mentioned before, I couldn't help but feel sad for Frank Frazetta's lost. I have to confess, not even Michael Jackson or Yasmin Ahmad's death had affected me this much.

My heart and prayer goes out to the Frazetta family for their lost and may God's grace and glory be shown to them during this difficult time.

Thank God

2009-07-21T18:25:00.003+08:00

Once again God has shown me that He's always there to guide me and help me in my life.. Thank you God! This is truly a life fulfilled...

Oh... Found this new singer. Saw her video like around few weeks ago, very attractive and well, the voice isn't bad as well... enjoy... Oh, her name's Pixie Lott.

Blessings...

2009-07-10T23:35:00.007+08:00

Truly, truly I have been blessed so much these past few weeks.

I know I have not been blogging for quite some time now, but yea, cause I have been really busy, with work and play ...

Play...maybe not that much, but for the past few weeks I have kept myself busy with projects upon projects of my own. The designing of my friend's Christian Band logo, the designing of the icons for Change The World website, the illustrating of children stories for a friend of mine. Yes I have been busy.

But don't get me wrong, these are not freelance works. I don't get paid for this, but I'd gladly give my time for such things. To be given the opportunity to serve and contribute for God the best way I know how is surely a blessing.

When I do these things, there is no doubt in my mind I am truly happy with what I'm doing. You can even say that I'm living a fulfilled life. Cause I'm living that purpose that God has given me, and I am living it to the full.

I have also been busy searching for the passion that I've longed for and so far I came across some really interesting ones, one being t-shirt design and the other comics... We'll just have to see how it goes.

One last thing before I end this.

I recently attended the XEE training programme, and yes, God has further blessed me even more in those 3 1/2 days. It really transformed me in my understanding of evangelism and reaffirming my faith in the Lord. I pray that I may utilise and implement this in my church in order to spread the glory of God.

I didn't really get to take too many pictures , but I did manage to get a lot during the graduation night of XEE. You can actually find them in my facebook account.

All who participated in the XEE training ( Trainers and Trainees alike)

I truly enjoyed the experience that I had in those 3 1/2 days, and I have made quite a lot of new friends in that short period of time. I have to confess I am really starting to miss them already. I pray that the guidance and help that they have given me will never be forgotten and that I may use that new tool to its full potential. Darleen and Stephanie, thanks for everything, and God Bless you! Not to mention my prayer partner for the whole programme, Poh Chin, God Bless you too!

Well, that's it for now . Till then, God Bless

SHADOWssssss

2009-06-05T19:50:00.004+08:00

Good Friday, we had a drama. FCC had a drama( performance). Yes, I was involved, as I've mentioned soo many times before. I am beginning to sound like a broken record.

Speaking of records, you know how they say " So and so has broken yet another record!!!" I used to think someone actually up and broke a record, by record I meant those big black discs our parents used to listen to lah. Actually I used to listen to them to,and I still have a collection of them..haha.. Yea, I thought they were breaking those things I called" Piring Hitam".

Sorry, lost track.. Anyways, Shu Jun has been kind enough to post the Good Friday performance on Youtube.

The first time I heard it, I couldn't believe that's what I sounded lie, I know I ahve a deep voice, cause that's what everyone has told me, but this is well, I find it funny lah..hahaha..

Anyways,do check it out...

Let's see if you could spot my voice...

The drama hasn't even started yet..hahaha

Check out the rest on youtube lah..not gonna post everything for you...haha

Till hhen, God Bless!!!

Acoustic Session witb Alarice

2009-05-30T02:13:00.003+08:00

I just came back from an Acoustic Session... or perhaps what my friend's church would consider Track of Talents. What is T.O.T? Well is a day every once a month where they will organize an event showcasing new and young talent, not just in music but also other things like graphic design, flash animation, dance and so on.

This was my first time at the event and my first time at my friend's church, my friend being Daniel Krishnan and his church being Eagle Point Christian Fellowship (ECF).

It was a really a surprise when the first person they introduce was Yap, another friend of mine from FCC, my current church in Sunway, he was presenting his portfolio. Then they presented a Ugandan named, James K. I believe, he demonstrated his skills on the keyboard and man was he good... really good... hard for me to explain how, ask me and Ill describe it to you... Then there was this young boy who could play bass, haha..but I forgot his name, sorry boy...

Oh, before I forget, I got to see my friend's band perform 2 of their songs before they introduced the first person, which is Yap..

Now to the important part, the reason why I went to the event.

Daniel informed me about this at the last day which was yesterday, meaning Thursday night which somehow cause me to reschedule my Share Group appointment , sorry guys..haha..

Anyways, he told me that there was going to be this international Christian singer coming to perform in this event. Her name was Alarice ( Eh- Luh- Reese). Yea , I thought it was like Ala- Nasi...haha.. I checked her out on her site, and yes, she's attractive, that's the first thing that caught my eye, give me a break I'm a guy. But I also realised that she has a good voice, nice song and all that..sort of the complete package, worth checking out I said to myself..

So, back to the event, it was finally her turn, she performed about 5 songs I think. I sort of lost count when I started sketching, yes, I was sketching her. Come on, I'm an illustrator, I sketch when I can, and her singing and looking good makes me want to...sketch..hahaha

I can't remember my favorite song that she played cause I wasn't really listening to the titles and all haha, but she did play a really good rendition of Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson. I remembered when I bumped into her right after she finished performing and we talked a bit, mostly me doing the dumb talking but hey, when you have the chance, just do it... haha.. Yes, Darren soak it up, these moments don't come as often as they think...

Bought her CD, cause well, she can sing, and had it signed, yes , I am a happy man now..haha. Too bad she's taken already, cewah...

All and all, it was a great night, with great performances, really glad I get to join in the event, made new friends, met new people, had interesting conversations and most importantly, got the chance to catch up with my old friend Daniel, it's been awhile man.

Well thats it for now, will paste that sketch I drew of her soon, for now , you'll just have to do with her website..haha

guess what I found...

Till then, God Bless!!

Singing In The Rain

2009-05-22T13:20:00.005+08:00

It was quite a different night for me.

I have been watching some really great movies for the pass few days..perhaps even weeks..some are blockbuster ones, some old cult ones, some of them sheer classics. But most of all, the movies which Ive been watching were sheer violent, Graphic goriness in full technicolor...that's how I would put it..hahaha.

Let's see, there was that ear cutting scene in Reservoir Dogs, the soldier killing and decapitation in Apocalypse now! , There was that crazy axe scene in The Shining, the human burning and eating in Doomsday.... well, Let's just say Ive had my fill of blood lust lah...

Yesterday I watched Singing In The Rain. Why, well, the song was stuck in my head, right after I've watched Clockwork Orange. Clockwork Orange was yet another sick movie, but still very good, hahaha..

Anyways, I didn't know what to expect when I watched it, all I could say was I am quite familiar with the song and nothing else.

What I must say, it was actually really entertaining, I never expected myself to be soo entertained by it.. So far, the one musical that I've been really familiar with is Sound of Music, and I liked it, but now not as much as Singing In The Rain...

I suggest that you watch it for yourself. I actually wanted to post a clip of the lead actor , Gene Kelly singing the main title song, but as I was writing this post, I decided against it, I believe that it is best you watch the whole thing fresh, and decide for yourself.

I like it, I think Ill watch it again tonight...

I wish I could sing in the rain, but well:

1. I can't sing
2 The weather is just too hot now in Malaysia to rain.
3. If it did rain, I wouldn't want to climb up lamp post and all, not with our lightning storms in KL.

Oh hey, this isn't the original clip but a tribute done by Usher...not bad..but of course you can't beat the classics, but it was good though.. enjoy..

Till then, God Bless!!

Something to share

2009-05-20T19:44:00.000+08:00

Materialistic World

An eighteen-year-old girl tells her Mom that she has missed her period for two months. Very worried, the mother goes to the drugstore and buys a pregnancy kit. The test result shows that the girl is pregnant. Shouting, cursing, crying, the mother says, "Who was the pig that did this to you? I want to know!"

The girl picks up the phone and makes a call. Half an hour later a Ferrari stops in front of their house; a mature and distinguished man with grey hair, impeccably dressed in a very expensive suit, steps out of the car and enters the house.

He sits in the living room with the father, the mother and the girl, and tells them, "Good morning. Your daughter has informed me of the problem. However, I can't marry her because of my personal family situation, but I'll take charge. If a girl is born, I will bequeath her two retail stores, a townhouse, a beach villa and a $1,000,000 bank account. If a boy is born, my legacy wil be a couple of factories and a $2,000,000 bank account. If it is twins, a factory and $1,000,000 each.. However, if there is a miscarriage, what do you suggest I do?"

At this point, the father, who had remained silent, places a hand firmly on the man's shoulder and tells him, "Then you try again."

I am a CD-42-ian

2009-05-20T01:03:00.005+08:00

I have been chatting with Bard, an old friend from TOA quite often now, guy has always been one of my closest friend back in TOA..

Lately one of the things that we have been chatting about has prompted me to check out Friendster. Now I used to have an account but I deleted it since the emergence of Facebook. So basically there was now point of me having both those accounts..

However , when I searched up Friendster, I suddenly realised I had another account, which I created for my class back when I was a monitor in TOA...

Yes, I was the monitor(Class President), for CD 42 back then... For one whole year I carried so called responsibilities of being a monitor, though when I looked back at it, I really didn't do much, though I should've, always felt that I let my class down on this one.

Anyways, I tried remembering the account, and the password. Took me a few tries to figure it out but in the end , I was in...

The last message on the site was in 2007, sent by Melissa, it was right when we graduated.

The site has been dead for 2 years now..

I decided well, it was time that I actually did something about it, technically, one never retires from monitory duty.

So I sent them a bulletin, I have no idea if they will receive it, all 34 members, all 34 of them, but I hope they do... It never really occurred to me the importance of having this site back then

Back then this account was just for me to inform my classmates on the home assignments and messages from the lecturers, which I never really did..haha...

But now, after soo many years, this is all we have left.. I am sure almost everyone of us wouldn't have kept our works back in 1st year... perhaps only some significant ones...but everything else well, mostly will be burnt or thrown away.

Sure, we still have the alumni. we all write blogs, we all have our Facebook accounts, but this is where we all started, fresh faces all scared and terrified, uncertain of the future which awaits us. Unknowingly, we have all been thrown into the same class, a melting pot of personalities and attitudes and styles. A hodgepodge of the grandest proportions.

I believe this solely to be the work of God, or for those who don't believe in Him, Fate.

Maybe it was not known to most of you but I was never supposed to be in that class. The day you met me I was just 2 days away from the last day of NS. I was supposed to join the January intake but I had to defer to the May Intake because of it.

If I had the choice to do it all over again, I wouldn't have wanted it to go be any different. We had all kins of weird people in it, The Anime freaks and the Anti- Animes were constantly at war..haha, There were the break dancers, the hip hop dancing crew, there was the music group who used to hang out almost anywhere in TOA with a guitar and their tags as campfire, and there were those who just did not care...

It was a crazy class. It was the perfect class.

Till then , God Bless

The Red Shoes

2009-05-18T14:07:00.003+08:00

Tis a short story written by Hans Christian Anderson.

I suggest that you read the story by yourself no point for e to explain the whole story here..

It was first told to me last Friday, during our Share group session.. We were discussing about forgiveness and the common man's mistake of not really meaning it even though he has asked for forgiveness, which applies to our spiritual life...

and Felicia brought this up... It was then that she told us this story..

I was unfamiliar with this story, but I have heard of that Korean Horror film with he same name.

It started off just like any children's fables then well, it just got weirder and weirder... and it got eerie... Yes, I am one of those people that find children stories eerie... Remember that old animation on RTM? The one with the monkey and the mousedeer, where the mousedeer was persuading the monkey not to eat the chillies... I remember closing my eyes whenever that animation comes out...There's something really eerie about that cartoon... Same thing for that disney Jungle Book...

And this story gave me the same feeling.. That disturbing feeling you know... It wasn't horrifying, blood doesn't have much effect on me, and goriness can only do so much...but this, this was something else... maybe for now I can't really explain it, maybe I will when I can.

Anyways, I was inspired to create somewhat of a movie poster. should this story ever be fully adapted into a movie...

Yea, I know, really looks like Devil Wears Prada... but hey, that's the first design that popped into my head...I still have some other ideas in my head, will post that up some other time...

The story, just like any other has a moral to it, or many morals, Im not exactly sure. But try reading it and let me know what you think, I have already gotten a few ideas about the morals..

I envisioned the movie, if it were ever made, to be directed y Tim Burton..Oh yes, lead female role...hmm...who could it be? Too early to tell..

Well...that's it for now... God Bless...

Updated....

2009-05-12T23:00:00.008+08:00

It's been weeks since my last post...really?...Not really sure about that but it feels like it..

Been very busy these past few weeks...apparently Ive been typing the same reason for quite a while now, but hey, what can I say, it is true...

Alright just to recap a bit what I've done since the weeks before.

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Yes, Darren has watched Wolverine, twice... I have a loyalty that Id like to maintain for Marvel movies, even if they're sub par to what I expect...

Was Wolverine ok? well, yea, in way , I did enjoy it...

The first time I watched it was with Johnny an Chris, it was Wednesday, the day before ITEL...I decided to watch it on that day, cause I knew that if I didn't, Id be thinking about Wolverine the whole time in ITEL..so yea...watched it with the guys, and enjoyed ITEL the whole week, win win ...

The second time I watched Wolverine was with some of my FCC friends...was hoping top catch the second surprise ending...but hey..it was still the same one..Yea, there's a surprise ending ...2 actually... So on this particular Wednesday itself, it was Adele, Sam, Victor, Timothy and me. Had Nando's before that, should be the 3rd time I ate Nando's ..ever...still have the same comment about it, dry....

Wolverine 3/5

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Ok...

next movie which I watched... Star Trek.... dum dum dum....

I watched this movie last Saturday at GSC Summit, by myself, yea...kinda sad isn't it, but hey. everyone else was busy with their mother's day celebration and the rest of my friends wanted to watch it on Wednesday, which I couldn't due to my latest teaching timetable, so yea, why let a few bumps on the road stop me from watching a movie, never did before anyways...

So how was the movie?

Star trek, to me was AWESOME, The AWESOMENESS that can never be explained well enough is what it is for me. This is from someone who's never watched an episode of Star Trek before in his life cause Star Trek looked boring as hell for him...

Star Trek wasn't really just a cinematic experience for me, it was an ADVENTURE, I might want to watch it again this Saturday morning, those who are interested do let me know....or maybe perhaps we can watch it on Sunday...

Star Trek 5/5

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It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, it's a new semester again, and I have new classes to teach again...Timetable is killing me in ways I can't explain in civil minded words...but hey, take what you can and learn from it... I shall man up to my responsibilities, To my movie watching buddies, sorry guys...but I won't be watching movies on Wednesdays again...of course, when I can I'll let you know lah.

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I've been on a movie watching spree these past few days, heavy movies that is.

Been watching some really great works by Stanley Kubrick, Clockwork Orange, The Shining.. bought myself a copy of his 2001 Space Odyssey, will watch that when I free...

Watched Apocalypse Now...Great movie from the director of my favourite movie, The Godfather...Mr. Francis Ford Coppolla. Crazy war movie it is... And not to mention great performances by Robert Duvall, Lawrence Fishbourne, Martin Sheen and the highlight of them all, Marlon Brando...

Clockwork Orange 4/5

Apocalypse Now! 4/5

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That's it for now...God Bless....

ITEL

2009-05-05T21:52:00.003+08:00

Try to see if you could spot me, and yea, got this from the church site...

It happened last Thursday, right after work I met up with Shu Jun. Had dinner. We were supposed to attend ITEL, Intensive Training for Emerging Leaders. Yeap.. it's a 3 day boot camp at church.

It's to basically equip ourselves to be better leaders and better Christians.

Here's the funny thing, I'm not exactly sure who put my name in the registration , since Shu Jun didn't put it there herself. Might be Sio Yean, but hey, I just don't know, might ask him that tomorrow.

To keep things short, yes, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing, never had I joined anything like it, cause well, I never did join any youth camps before.

I didn't really feel tired until the very last day of it, actually the day after that.

I woke up feeling fresh and all, still very passionate and strong..haha, did my devotion , mandi and went to college.

It was only at college where I felt soo tired, apparently I wasn't the only one, Sio Yean looked exhausted too...

But on the whole it was a great experience, learnt a lot from it and made a whole lot of friends. And I even got the chance to do the announcement on the Saturday Night service. Felt soo nervous the day before and on the day itself but minutes before the service they prayed for those involved in the service, and the fear and nervousness just went away.

It was hard for me to believe it but that's what really happened, felt nothing but peace and confidence when I went up the stage. Truly it was a testament to what God had said that He will never abandon us in our time of need, and it just made me felt like crap since I knew I shouldn't have been afraid since He's always there to guide me.

Suddenly I felt like the disciples when they were all freaked out cause they were caught in a storm in the middle of the sea even when Jesus was chillin' in the same boat with them.

Did the best I could with the announcement though I knew I could've done better. There were quite a lot of things I would've done differently, but hey, what's done is done, and I thank God for the opportunity.

For now, I will try my best to maintain a strong faith in the Lord, to continue to meditate in Him and be faithful to him. I pray that what I've learnt from ITEL will never leave me, but constantly remind me of the leader that I could be. I pray that I can use whatever that I've learnt in those 3 days and utilize them in Faith Station. I pray that God will use me for His purpose , whatever it may be, and I pray that you who are reading this will experience what I've experienced for those 3 days and still experiencing now.

I pray for all this in the name of Christ, Amen...

40 days

2009-04-19T23:54:00.002+08:00

Was just about to sleep when I realised I never did mention about Holy Week...

Happy Belated Easter everyone!!

Ive mentioned before how I was going to spend my 40 days of Lent so I find no point of mentioning it again..

Holy Monday, I went to church for practice, well, actually there were no practices for the readers but I decided to join in and help Sio Yean with the acting practice and such. This was also the day that I started with the prop making for the " Crown of Thorns".

Tuesday = Rest day.

Wednesday , full dress rehearsal. Finally got the chance to see the actors in the costumes we loaned. But I was more excited to see the Roman Soldiers don their costumes for the first time.. It looked funny seperately but when put together , man it looks good. We had our final practices onstage and went back home. This was also the day Sio Yean told me that he wanted me to do the bible reading for Good Friday

Thursday= Maundy Thusrday. There was a service on that night. By this time the lights were really dim as it got closer to Good Friday. It was ahrd for me to sleep on that night knwing what was going to happen on the next day.

I mentioned to Shu Jun on Thursday night, that I was very nervous, and I believed everyone involved in the performance was feeling the same. I recalled describing it like having an itch in my heart and me wanting to put my hand in and scratch it.

Friday= D-Day... Good Friday. There was a Good friday service in the afternoon, attended it. After the service, had small dinner and had a mini practice for the last time before the service starts. Met Karen Lai, a childhood friend from Sabah, glad she could make it. Spent the whole night either backstage or on the stage.

The Good Friday play was a success, or so I've heard. I am not really sure about it 'cause we were all back stage. But I am glad to be given the opportunity to serve God and doing something for His purpose and nothing but His purpose for a change. and I hope to include myself in such activities again if such opportunities presents itself.

The day before Easter was supposed to be a solemn day, but I was actually spending my whole day at Aquaria for the SketchCrawl event. and to top that off, I watch fast and Furious right after that..soo yea, tiring day and nothing really solemn about it...

Our Saturday night service was shifted to Sunday for the Easter Service so I had to wake up early for it.. It was a great service, and full of rejoicing . There were a lot of people and it was a happy occasion to share with everyone.

I haven't been to a Sunday church for almost falf a year now and I forget that people usually dress up for Sunday services. Which kinda made me feel out of place and underdressed cause I do have like shirts and ties at home, but on that day itself, I just wore t-shirt and jeans. A very old t-shirt at that. Of course one would say, "Hey man, it's not about what you wear"...true very true, but I like to look smart when I can...haha..

Till next post...again...God Bless...

Darren's Infinite Playlist

2009-04-19T22:00:00.005+08:00

Yea, basically ripped that straight our from that movie, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist...

I just finished watching that movie, which was a huge contrast from the Curious Case of Benjamin Button...Which I watched a few hours ago before Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.

All and all, I like it...But it made me think what's my playlist? Do I have a playlist soulmate? hahaha yea, screwed up thoughts a-brewing at this time of the night.

By now I'd like to warn you this is not a a post with meanings and ideas to be discussed, just something I'd like to share or put in my blog. I don't have a diary you see, I figured a blog is a place where I can store my memories..

Continue....

I realised how I've "evolved" if I may say so myself in terms of the music which I listen to.

It was only when I was 11 that I started getting interested in bands... Which sad to say, I started of with boybands, yea, I was one of those guys. Favourite band in 1997, Backstreet Boys. Don't laugh. Not exactly my fault, it was the same year I got introduced to the word 'crush', both meanings of it...

Moving on, went to high school, SM All Saints, and started to listen to rock... Basically what was on air during that time..

Started of soft with Sugar Ray, then Lifehouse, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Disturbed, Payable On Death, System of a Down, Foo Fighters, Incubus, Metallica, Evanesence, Michelle Branch, Avril Lavigne, Papa Roach and so on...

As you can see, I was pretty much into the whole rock genre. Of course there were a few softer ones..but hey mostly very hardcore.

Oh, I did forget to mention, before I was into rock, I was actually into rap, Nelly, that was the only rap album I ever bought, oh...and also Outkast.. Well that makes two... It was from there that I shifted to rock...

I was heavy on Rock for quite a while, same time I started wearing nothing but black. I started of with a black t-shirt I found lying aroudn in my closet, which I later found out was bought for a funeral. Each trip to Petaling Street , I will come back with yet another black t-shirt adorned with logos that I like, Heineken should be the first, then Jack Daniel's, Zildjian, Tiger Beer, Fender.... Well the collection really expanded over the course of 3 years. So now you guys know why I have been wearing all black my whole 3 years in TOA. It was really just me tripping being a rocker, but I can't play the guitar for nuts, I can tell a story with it though..haha

I wasn't really just limited to those kind of rock too, for a while I was into Classic Metal, Deep Purple, Scorpions, Def Leppard, White Lion, Aerosmith, Eagles and so on...and believe me, they still rock.

Local Rock did manage to join my CD collection, Naked Breed, Love Me Butch, both really good local bands, I suggest everyone to listen to it, Of course the mellower one would be Naked Breed. Butterfingers is also quite good. Then there's the Malay rock, Amuk , Salim and so on...

But while in college , you start to listen to a wider range of music, rock just doesn't cut it all the time, cause you have to have different emotions when you create art.

So I started to listen to Michael Buble', Frank Sinatra, Sarah MacLachlan, Jason Mraz, John Mayer and so on...

Now I have a whole different list of favourites... KT Tunstall being at the top with Foo Fighters and Rilo Kiley, and everything ele which I could get my hands on... You'd be surprised to hear what I have in my playlist.

I believe I have a pretty decent playlist, could be because of all the songs I downloaded from either the OC, Chuck or House, they have a really good collection of music. Especially Chuck.

I kind of stopped listening to "angry white boy music" ( Nu-Metal), cause well, I have nothing to be angry about anymore.

and for sure Im not listening to " Crying/complaining white boy music" ( Emo rock).

I realised I kinda stopped listening to male vocalists as well, it never bothered me before but lately it does. Hey , it's just me, I have a problem with guys singing love songs to me...

Of course I do still listen to them lah, Jason Mraz, David Cook...they have good songs .

I realised I listen to bands that I have never really liked before, and Im loving it, Coldplay being one of them and there's Weezer, Beatles also

Well there you go, Darren's evolution in music...maybe I should draw a picture for that..One of those evolutionary drawings that starts of with a monkey than ends with a man..so cliche' but it works all the time.

I'm sorry for those who have been reading this hoping to have a peek at my playlist but not finding any...

Well, I'll do it on my next post.

Till then , God Bless....

Drink and Draw 4.0 results...

2009-04-18T22:38:00.002+08:00

I know I know...

Its loong been overdue...

15th April 2009, was the day of Drink and Draw 4.0...

I was a little late in reaching Italiannies cause well, I was just a little late...actually I was eraly, but late compared to Rizal..That guy's is always early...good job Rizal..

Anyways, one by one, everyone else joined in, Marianne, Carson, Nabilah, Jarold, Charmaine, Meng Guan, Yvonne, Johnny, MD, Albert, Nabil, Cha Hui, Cha Hwang and Chea Hong..

Including myself, there were 15 of us..

Im too tired to talk about the details, but I must say, our latest additions were quite interesting. Thanks Marianne for invitingthe rest of them.

There were still a couple of other people but they couldn't make it , well..it's alright, there's always the next one.

I must admit that this is by far the Best Drink and Draw we've had. Great to be able to share it with all of you.

I hope that next event will be an even more successful one.

Sorry about the restaurant by the way, I'll choose somewhere cheaper next time, maybe we should give Asia Cafe another try...maybe. Of course, if you have a better idea, please for goodness sake share it with us...

I will upload the artworks soon, so please send me your works.

Send it to darrencedward323@yahoo.com

Too bad I didn't atke any photos, was too busy drawing and talking..hahaha...

Till next time, God Bless

Drink and Draw 4.0

2009-04-14T14:38:00.003+08:00

Alright, final results...

Drink and Draw 4.0

Date: 15 April 2009

Venue: Itallianies, Sunway Pyramid

Time: 7.30 pm

See all of you there...

Drink and Draw , Sketch Crawl and Waffles

2009-04-06T11:55:00.004+08:00

So, First thing's first

Drink and Draw, the latest Drink and Draw will be held on the 15Th of April, Wednesday.

7.30 pm-11.30pm

Venue?

Sunway Pyramid.

I'm still; contemplating about the restaurant but I seriously considering Michelangelo's cause I kinda like the outside/ veranda view that they offer. Or perhaps it could be Tony Romas, or even Itallianies. Will set up a poll soon so please , vote the place which you would want the DnD to be held, the restaurant with the highest votes will be the venue.

For those who are joining please send me your email address so that I may send you any information regarding the event. this will be more convenient and less costly than having me calling you guys one by one...damn!! ..haha..

Oh yea, my email is darrencedward323@yahoo.com

For those who are new to this event, Drink and Draw is an event where artists from different backgrounds can come together to Drink, Eat and Draw together. This will be a great oppurtunity for you to get to know each other especially those who are already working in the industry. Whether it's sharing trade secrets or just catching up with old friends, the main idea of this is always to mingle , make new friends, and of course draw.

There are no requirements for tools, anything and everything is allowed. of course, if you have the idea of bringing your laptop and wacom ..well.. let's try to keep this a traditional event, so the basic paper and pencil are always the best.

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Sketch Crawl

Sketch Crawl is yet another sketching event , organised by Sandra Khoo.

You can check out my previous posts regarding this event.

Yes, I will be attending as I am curious to see how it works out. Plus its good to surround yourself with new people.

The event will start at 11 am sharp at KLCC Aquaria, Entry is RM 28 each unless there's more than 20 of us which makes it RM 24 each.

Event is supposedly from 11am till 7pm, but its always up to you how long you wanna stay and sketch over there.

My plan is to go there start sketching till I can sketch no more..than go to Kino to find some books. Simple yet satisfying.

Anything after that will be based on my spontaneity( is that even a word), as you know how spontaneous Darren can get.

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Just a short rambling about the latest sketch practice,

Sketch practice( a different kind of sketch, as in Drama sketch), has been good , OK , so so, in other words it has it's ups and downs.

But that's not the point of this post.

Sketch practice was at 7.30 pm last night. And as for dinner, I decided to be smart and ate waffles. Which is quite a good idea. But Darren decided he wanted 2 waffles.

So apparently the whole night of practice all I wanted to do was barf waffles ..yea that's how bad it was .. felt soo sick about it, and had quite a few mistakes during practice.

I love waffles, but it was just too much of a good thing. Never let your stomach do the thinking...

On that note, I don't think I'll be having another waffle till next month..Have to detox waffles for now.

Till then, God Bless.

Milk and Socks

2009-03-30T10:56:00.006+08:00

Yea, just came back from Parkson and Giants with my supply of milk and socks...

Well, that's not the point of today's post at all.

Today's post just like any other post, will be as pointless as the one you'll be reading next week..

So why am I posting a useless post?

Cause I want to keep this blog alive that's why.

and after one week, here I am yet again.

Wanted to update my blog yesterday, but hey, wouldn't you know it, both my mouse and keyboard doesn't seem to work at all. Go figure..

So last night, I was actually surfing the net with my Wacom. So for now, won't be answering any MSN chats unless you don't mind me writing my chat to you with the scribbling tool.

Those who know me will be quite aware that these past few weeks has been quite tiresome for me.

I'm sure by now a majority of my students will be rolling their eyes in disbelief whilst saying to themselves, 'You have no idea what tired is..."

Well I have earned the right to not be tired as you are right now.. Plus, working life tired is different from studying tired.

Its the final few weeks for the term and yes its time for a lot of marking and counting .For those who think that your passing or failing is in my hands, well you're just not smart enough to realise you are the ones controlling you're fate, I'm just the guy calculating the outcome.

The past few weeks, I've been practicing for my church's Good Friday sketch..No , I am not acting, just voice acting..haha.. Come to FCC on Good Friday to view the whole performance LIVE !!

I have to admit , I pretty much enjoyed all the sketch practices that we have been doing , really takes me back to my Drama Class days... But at the same time, it really has taken quite a toll on me, as I always go home late at night tired and exhausted... but happy.. haha...

Yes, that's how it should feel praising the Lord.
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Slumdog Millionaire

I've mentioned before that I will only watch movies on one day of the week, so, Ive finally watched Slumdog Millionaire..,

Yes, yes, its that English speaking Hindi movie that one soo much awards and raved by everyone who watched it. So how do you feel about it Darren?

Well, truth be told, I think its a wonderful movie, I like the story, the direction and all...

BUT, it wasn't exactly THAT good...

People talk about the acting and how good the story line was and all that, and I'm just thinking to myself, man you guys never really watched Bollywood films did you...

Im sorry to say this, but the story is as typical as any Bollywood film out there..Its the same formula..

1) Boy meets girl

2) Boy looses girl

3) By some work of fate, boy meets girl again and losses girl again. But not before running around and enjoying themselves, they hang out long enough before they lose each other. Long enough for them to have new memories of each other to reminisce when they are apart.

4) Boy lives his life believing that they'll one day meet each other again, by fate/destiny. He's not exactly going to look for her, he's just gonna live his life normally and wait for that moment to come... and during his free time, he's gonna look for her..when he's free lah, cause looking for the girl is Fate's job..

5) Boy and girl finally reunites and both claim it was their destiny to be together. Then they take the train to the nearest hill to run and dance together.

I'm not trying to make fun of the Formula, cause this Formula works all the time.

I'm just kinda bewildered by people who love the film but has never watched a single Bollywood film because they thought it was pointless and repetitive.

There's nothing much special about the film. It is special in its own way. In fact it is as special as the other trillion films Bollywood has been churning out each year..

So is Slumdog Millionaire good? Yes, for sure... But not as good as many claim it to be.

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Word of the week

In the midst of our sketch practice I have created a new word .

Tungry- ( tongue- gree)

This is to better describe our current state of being Tired and Hungry.

Tungry helps you to describe how you feel without having to speak too much as you are tired...

example:

Ali could not concentrate in class because he was tungry.

So yes, say it with me... Tungry

22nd World Wide Sketch Crawl, KL 11th April 2009

2009-03-22T22:54:00.002+08:00

Saw this on Sandra Khoo's blog and couldn't wait to inform everyone about this.

She'll be organising this event, which apparently is happening around the world. Of course she'll just be organising the Malaysian punya lah.

Seeing this, remind me of our own Drink and Draw event, which btw seems quite dead right now..ahaha..nolah, just in slumber mode.

Drink and Draw will be held this coming April, time and date has yet to be set.

But for now, I am really psyched out about this event, am gonna join it.

Anyone who wasnt to join please let me know, because the venue will be at KLCC Aquaria, and well, the entrance fee will be cheaper if we enter in a group of 20 pax and above.

Here's a link for more information on this event, Sandra's blog .

Please do check it out, I feel my post does not do much justice in explaining anything about this event, but at the same time I am just too lazy to type soo much..

Keep you scheduels clean for the 11th of April guys, and see you there !

Myself?

2009-03-17T20:45:00.003+08:00

Found this survey around a week ago, Kin Kiat was the one that sent it to me first I think, on Facebook, didn't really wanna bother too much about it.

Then I saw it on Rick's post again, and I got curious.

So here it is.

About the accuracy of the survey, I must say, just like Rick I found it to be at least 90++% true... I mentioned ++ because Im not really sure bout the rest of it.

Your view on yourself: Other people find you very interesting, but you are really hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are a good listener. They'll probably still love you if you learn to be yourself with them.

The type of girlfriend you are looking for: You like serious, smart and determined people. You don't judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren't necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people's eyes.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship: You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love: You like to flirt and behave seductively. The opposite sex finds this very attractive, and that's why you'll always have admirers hanging off your arms. But how serious are you about choosing someone to be in a relationship with?

Your views on education: Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you: You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success: You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go at the career you would like to have in case you don't succeed. Don't give up when you haven't yet even started! Be courageous.

What are you most afraid of: You are afraid of things that you cannot control. Sometimes you show your anger to cover up how you feel.

Who is your true self: You are full of energy and confidence. You are unpredictable, with moods changing as quickly as an ocean. You might occasionally be calm and still, but never for long.

Once a week

2009-03-15T23:48:00.006+08:00

It's been a week now...hmm...what to update on..

I just realised one, all these few days I had soo many things to blog about ..soo many thinsg to share about, and when the time comes..I ahve nothing..

Which is how I came to the revelation, I talk too much...Dammit Darren, you do..!

So what to fill you in on...

I just had my minor operation last Friday, which means 3 days ago.

Yes, I am fine, thanks for caring ..haha..

What's the operation about, ingrown nail(s)..yes..more than one..

On my right foot that is, right toe to be exact..

For those who has never realised, I have been suffering from this all through my 3 years in college as a student...even up till now...suprisingly it took me quite a while before I had anything done to it..

Which is partly why I never really joined in any sports activities and avoid running as much as I can...

It can get pretty bad, cause every step I take will be hellish even if its from my office to Sunway Pyramid.Not many of you will realise that I was in pain because Darren soo cool about it. Darren macho mah..

So yea, I finally had my operation few days ago... let 's get to the details or step by step

First, the nurse would come in and prep my toe, clean the foot and apply iodin all around my toe and the surrounding toes

Then, the doctor comes in, does his inspection, tells me that he needs to remove the ingrown nail from both sides of my big toe

Then he does the local anesthetic. On both sides of course, which he will then leave for 5 minutes while I watch my blood trickle from the injection wound.

He then returns and start poking certain areas of my toe to see if I feel any pain, to see if the anesthetic works fast enough or if I need more.... yea..haha..

Later, he picks up a metal tool or whatever you wanna call it, starts digging around my toe nail and loosening it up.

Which he then procedes to take out the wire cutting looking tool and cuts my nail of..maybe a few milimeters of it right straight to the roots.

You'd expect him to pull it out but no...he turns it until it comes off and later shows me the nail..hahaha..yea..looks kinda cool and long actually.

He does the same for the other side of my toe..

If by now you're imagining that my toe must be drowning in blood, well, it's cause I forgot to tell you he actually tied a tourniquet around my toe before proceding to do anything to it... so yea..no blood..

When the ingrown nail is off, he starts digging around again to "clean" it up.

He picks up a syringe which he told me was filled with some form of acid which will be used to kill the roots of my toe nail..not all of it, just the ingrown parts, so this will never happen again, I asked him is this 90 % certain? "98%" he said... cool

He carefully applies the acid in which after that he procedes to spread it out across my nail by using the same metal thing he used before. Can see him just filing away at my toe , poking it, doing all sorts of things to it, and all I could think of was Thank God for anesthetics..

By now my toe has been "asleep" or dead for almost 10 to 15 minutes. It looks so pale, like that toe that belongs to that dead body that we always see in House or CSI..

After he's done with everything, he removes the tourniquet so that" your toe will wake up"

As he leaves my toe for it to awake from its slumber, both him and the nurse were preparing gause and what not to cover up and bandage my toe.

Just as the water gushed out of the rock as Moses struck it, so did blood gush out of my toe when it woke.

" Ah, it's awake!" This is good he said, 'cause the blood will flush out all the chemicals that was applied before. I on the other hand was watching a stream of blood tricle its way down creating a pool of blood underneath my leg... Don't get woozy yet, wasn't that much blood...

"Try to rest your leg, don't do too much walking , you need to let you blood stop flowing so try lifting your leg up for a whil when you get back home"

"I'd get home earlier before the anesthetic wears off"

That was my que to leave, of course not without paying at the counter first.

Reached home realised that I have no sandals that could fit my toe...

So borrowed one from my uncle.

Don't be surprised if you see me with a giant mummified toe walking around the college area

So yea, that's how it went.

Sorry, I am not a medical student therefore I was really using Layman's terms to explain to you the procedures, I just hope that it was enough..haha..

That's how big it is..hahaha..yea..

That's me, with my toe...

Pictures were taken by Queenie, thanks!

Till next week, God Bless..!

I am watching the Watchmen

2009-03-08T22:31:00.021+08:00

Watched , to be more precise...

Today, 7th of March 2009, Nabil, Johnny, Rizal and I went to Summit to watch WATCHMEN, THX theather babe..muahahaha...

What? How was the movie?

I've refrained myself from watching any movie for the past week, so basically I have come across quite a few reviews concerning Watchmen from all around me. There has been quite a few excellent reviews and even some bad reviews, I remember coming across one that states Watchmen as being the first flop of 2009. And I started to think to myself, could it be that bad?

I've always believed that you can't exactly judge a movie, unless you've seen it yourself, and so I did.

I must first of all, state that I have read the comic, around 2 years ago. Downloaded it, read it, and after the first reading, I really couldn't figure out what is was about, It was the first time I read a comic that has soo much words in it, the drawing was very very normal, nothing too special about it, but I knew there must be something I've missed, I mean this was written by Alan Moore, one of the best comicbook writers of all time, and it was voted as one of the best American Literature ever.

Took me quite a few reads to finally fully understand what the whole comic was all about, and when I finally got it, it blew my mind...Well, not in a crazy sort of way, but I must say I really enjoyed the complexity of the plot, the realness of the problems faced by the masked heroes, and so on and so forth. So when there was news of a live action movie in the making, I was excited.

I was worried on how they were going to bring the costumed heroes to life, 'cause I must admit, the costumes in the comic was ridiculous, well maybe it'll work, back then, in which I mean 1985. One character which I was afraid they might mess up, was my favourite, Rorshach. The rest, well, I'll just have to have faith in the costume designers for the movie.

Comic to movie.

Having watched the film, I must say that they've stayed true to the spirit of the film. Though the ending may be a bit different from the graphic novel itself, it still carries the weight of the plot. Almost all the scenes were shot beautifully, usually quite accurately according to the graphic novel itself. This of course, was maybe to make the fanboys happy, and yes I am.

The Comedian, Silk Specter(Second one), Dr. Manhattan, Ozymandias, NightOwl(Second one), Rorshach

The casting, well, I am very happy with the casting. I think the whole cast did a great job in bringing their characters to life. Many have expressed their discontent with certain characters, or perhaps certain actors who were not able to fully understand or flesh out their characters. I find myself in the position of defending them, I feel that they were not given enough screen time to fully utilise their acting abilities. Though to me, they did do a terrific job with what they have.

Rorshach was of course the highlight of the movie. To see my favourite character being brought to life and in action, well, Jakie Earl Haley did a great job in portraying Rorshach. I'd even go as far as to say that his potrayal was on par with Heath Ledger's Joker. The only thing that made him better that Heath, was the fact that he's still alive. So we can still anticipate great performnaces from him in the future.

I'd continue on talking about each and every character, but I am kinda tired, so to know more about the rest of the characters, just meet up and ask me.

Some people actually lamented about the flashback sequences, they said that there were too many of it. I must once again defend the movie. To me, it was perfect, it actually followed the comic book, scene by scene.. and of course, without the flashback sequences, the movie will just be yet another hollow action packed superhero movie, like say, Ironman or Hulk. Yea, Im dissing both those movies in favour of Watchmen. One of my favourite shots was actually the opening sequence of the film, the way it was shot, it was like looking through the muzeum glass windows, where the wax dolls were arranged to potray a certain significant event.

Night Owl kicking ass...

The fight scenes, well, it was good... Bloody good actually, and I don't mean that in a cursing sort of way, but it was a good amount of blood used, not too much, not too little, just nice.

I understand that some people couldn't accept the "idea" of the film. Yes, it can be quite disturbing, especially with an ending like that. But, I like it, I've always thought that hey, that's what makes the graphic novel interesting. The world never works the way we want to, you win some , you lose some. And I believe thats why most cannot accept the movie. Movies are always a form of escapism, this movie just somehow showed the ugly reality and potential for our world had everyone driven themselves away from God and His purpose. That's why I symphathise with characters like the Comedian, knowing how the world is and understanding it, he became a parody, a caricature of the world, and to have no one understand him, understand the joke, he was a lonely man. Same thing for Rorshach, "God didn't do this, we did.." and he's right, we as humans are all given a choice, free will, to do as we please, to follow Him, to ignore His existence, and when all's said and done, we will all have to answer for it. All of us. Even in the face of Armegedon.

Holis Mason(First Night Owl)and Dan Dreighberg(Current Night Owl)

Of course, there were quite a few things that I wished they could improve on. I wish that more scenes were given to the actors, especially characters like Laurie Jupiter (Silk Specter), Daniel Dreiberg (Night Owl), Hollis Mason (Old Night Owl ,you'll know once you've read the novel). I wish the blue tiger wasn't there, (you'll have to read the comic to understand why). I actually wished they had a longer scene between Rorshach and the psychiatrist. And of course I wish I could see The Black Freighter.

If the director was to have all the things I wished for, the movie might take 4 hours to finish. By now you'll realise I could only wish or the movie to be longer. And this is why I agree with Alan Moore when he said that this story was unfilmable, too many details, to many subplots, side stories and so on and so forth. BUT, and I caps-ed my but, this is still a good movie. So Mr. Moore, if somehow, you're reading this, just watch it, and when you're done with that watch that other movie, V for Vendetta

Yea, silly(But I like it)

I love this movie from it's silly costume, to it's cheesy yet predictable soundtrack, even to Nixon's purposely faked nose. Perhaps it was the fanboy in me being soo happy to see all these characters come to life, or the satisfaction that even though the story wasn't exactly like the original graphic novel, it still stayed faithfully true to it.

To consider that people will only like this movie for it's special effects, I find it as an insult. To watch a movie just for the effects is just for people who don't understand english, and I don't mean that in a critisizing way. Movies these days, with the technological advancements in our animation softwares, it is only expected that the best was given. Animation should not be the main draw for a movie, if anything it should only be a tool to convey the story.

It is obvious, that I , Darren C. Edward, definitely have postive reviews for this movie, for all it's faults I still consider it to be one of the best comic book movies I've seen. Therefore I'll give it an 8.5/10.

Take care , God Bless.

Lent and a watching of men...

2009-03-04T21:24:00.002+08:00

So, it has been quite a while since Ive updated my blog, Especially since last week, I have already promised myself to only update my blog once a week.

What happened last week?

For those who didn't realise this, last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, which means the begining of Lent season. It is usally in these 40 days to Easter that a Christian will spent their days fasting.

Fasting? Yes, that means depriving themselves of food or even something that they like for the next 40 days, and at the same time use that time to meditate and build a closer relationship with God.

This sholuld be my first time, fasting... From what exactly? Well, I have decided to fast movies. Yea, you've got that right, movies. Seems like nothing to most of you, but for anyone that knows me well enough, you'd know that I spend most of my time watching something. Some movie which Ive justv downloaded or if not, Ill just pick one from the collection I have from all these years of contributing to the DVD Pirates of Malaysia (DPM).

So yea, apparently I chose a wrong time to do so, since Watchme movie is coming out, like tomorrow. So here I will be, at home, itching to watch that movie.

As it turns out, I actually miscalculated, from Wednesday onwards till Easter, it will actually be exactly 46 days, counting in the other 6 days which happens to be Sunday(s). According to my pastor, to my surprise, on Sundays, we are able to break our fast till the next day, which is Monday. Turns out I do get the chance to watch the Watchmen after all. Thank you God.

Does this mean Darren will be fasting from movies for 6 days in a week and indulge himself with movies every other Sunday? No. I have come to realise that it is such a privilage to be able to break my fast on Sunday, so I have made yet another promise that Watchmen will be the only movie I watch for these 46 days to Easter. And what's more I'll watch it once, for I do have a tendency to watch a movie in the cinema twice or sometimes thrice...

After having read Rick's entry , I have also come to realise that there is another thing which I need to fast, the usage of internet. Therefore, I wll not use my internet unless it is of something important or checking my email or such. In other words, I will try to use it at a minimum, giving me more time to meditate on the Word. So please understand, that I will only Blog once a week, and reply whatever tags after Easter. So yea, Facebook, once a week too.

I hope that in this 40 days, my realtionship in God will be stronger, that my understanding of Him will be deeper, that at the end of these 40 days, we will be more like Him, even if it's just a little bit.

I pray that we all have a meaningful Lent. God Bless!

PS: I'll be watching Watchmen this coming Sunday, 8th of March. Most probably. Anyone/Everyone's invited to join of course, though I may have no idea where I'll be watching it.

Wild At Heart by John Eldredge

2009-02-17T23:12:00.004+08:00

Wild at Heart , I know the title sounds like the sequel to Gone with the Wind, hey, two different things. Completely.

Maybe I wouldn't say "completely" because I've never actually watched Gone with the Wind.

Anyways, not to be confused, Wild at Heart is actually the title of a book. No, it's not fiction, it's not about a man who became wild ot anything like that.

If you have a copy of it, you'll realise the sub-title : Discovering the secret of a man's soul.

I am proud to announce I have just finished reading this book 10 minutes ago, and what a read it has been. I have spend the last 9 days reading it whenever I find the time to do so. In the bus, at the office, at home, before I sleep. To put it simply, as often as I can.

This book was introduced to me by a friend of mine , Jan Faye (if you're reading this right now, stand up and take a bow, yea, don't bother about others seeing you, just do it.) around last year, or was it the year before. Well, the point was I received this book from her 9 days ago, and now here I am.

Back to the point of this post.

Wild at Heart isn't exactly a guide on How To Be A Man... It actually discusses man's true identity, the creation (man) in which God createdin His image, the purpose which he was created for, the passion and the savagery that lingers within our hearts and how so many men around us have, lost it.

I must say I thought about adding a lof of facts from the book itself into my post today. I thought about sprinkling clever sounding quotes from the author or maybe some short real life (changing) expereinces faced by his friends or himself. But I realised its best that you read it for yourself.

This is a book, for men who needs a deeper understanding on why they long for adventures and battles and a Beauty --- and why God made them just like that.

But of course, women, you're also invited to discover, the secrets of a man's soul, if you dare...haha.. But yea, The way to a man's heart is through his soul, if you still think it's his stomach, you're an idiot ( Especially if you can't cook ).

This should be the first book that Ive ever "reviewed" about, and Ive chosen to not reveal more than is needed.

I hope that you do buy this book , I hope that you do take time reading it page by page, and I hope that you too will feel what I've felt, discover what I've discovered, and find what I've found, in myself and in God.

My brothers, there is no greater joy, than to find the true identitity which God has created you for.

Till then, God Bless.

The Greatest Pick-up Line ...EVER...

2009-02-08T23:44:00.000+08:00

courtesy of How I Met Your Mother

Favourite Programmes

2009-02-07T23:33:00.002+08:00

I feel like its time for another blog post..again..

But I have nothing to talk about...

Maybe Ill just list down tv shows that I enjoy watching or maybe used to enjoy watching...

Now this list is by no means according to my preference...it's just a list of TV shows..

House
Chuck
How I Met Your Mother ( Current Favourite )
The OC (So sue me, nothing wrong with watching rich people having tons of problems, kinda therapeutic actually, and the songs are good )
Prison Break ( Used to )
Boston Legal ( Rhona Mitra was there )
The Simpsons ( Why Not )
Ed
Scrubs
Wonderfalls ( What happened to that show )
Rome ( Not a show to watch with your family )
Carnivale
CSI : New York
CSI : Miami
NCIS
Mind Your Language ( Sheer Classic and still loving it )
Happy Days ( Yea, I know...But that's what happens when you spend 2 weeks at home with the measles)
Terminator : Sarah Connor Chronicles ( sorta enjoyed it for a while )
That 70's Show ( The 70's is cool )
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Saved By The Bell ( I can't even remember it anymore but I know I used to watch it when I was too young )
Beverly Hills ( Old one, and yes, same like no.21, I have no idea why I watch it )
The Office ( US )
30 Rock
Arrested Developement

Ha...Cantik-cantik 25 ...

Get a magazine

2009-02-05T18:47:00.003+08:00

I still remembered back when I was still a student...Or should I go further back.

Back then, there was no, Eat shop, or the previous Wo Lai Ye, it used to be an Ahoba shop, I can't exactly explain much about said shop. Why? Because in my 3 years as a student there, never have I stepped into that shop , not even once.

Well, did I ever enter the Wo Lai Ye shop? I did once, bought some Bah Kua to bring back to KK..But other than that, that was it. Can be said I don't really care much about what's around me. Maybe , maybe not, but that's not the point of this post today.

What I am going to be talking about, is the magazine stall right outside Maybank. It was there when I entered The One Academy, it was there when I was still a student, and it is still there right now, when Im working.

I met the uncle who owns the stall today, It has been a while since Ive seen him. The truth is I don't even know his name, I've known him for such a long time but I never knew his name, maybe I did but I don't remember it now. So I have always refered him as Uncle Macha.

Back when I was still a student, I remembered my lecturers always telling us to get the best reference we can get. We were always told to find magazines like GQ, or Vogue, or basically anything that has good Figure Drawing potential. and where else would we get them if not from Uncle Macha.

I recall as the years go by, more and more students opt for printed references from the internet. I can't blame them, I know and I understand that finding the right picture is really tough, to find the exact thing or prson that you'd like to draw is very tough indeed, but that's still not a good enough reason to get printed references.

Do I really have to explain why? Anyone who's been a student or are still a student will know the reason, and I just dont feel like typing them down. But due to this sudden change of preference in reference finding, our Uncle Macha is begining to suffer.

Yea, haha.. I know, he's been there for quite a long time, but all good things, must come to an end. Websites now do provide high res images for almost anything, and I mean anything that you feel like searching for. Other than that, there's always the option of taking photo of your friends and family and draw them instead. Yes, the 2nd hand magazine business, is going downhill...

Uncle Macha approached me today asking if I have any Art books that Id like to sell. Which is quite impossible because I love all my artbooks. I don't buy them if I don't want them, simple as that. But it's obvious why he's opting for this direction, since most or all students would rather find their reference needs somewhere else. If Im not mistaken , Uncle Macha even used to have files of A4 sized cut out reference for students to select from because he knows that's what we're searching for.

To see him at this condition , well, it's just hard to see him like this.

I still remember how long we use to spend at his stall just searching for "the" reference, of course what I am refering to was our Liv Tyler phase. There was a term or two when most of my classmates were obsessed with Liv Tyler, myself included. There would be like some kinda unspoken rivalry as to who will get the best reference of Liv Tyler, cause well, she's hot..haha..I know. Potraits that were hung on the walls back then , 80 % of them were of Miss Tyler, and at some point yea, it did stop. Why? because we have found all the references that we could get our hands on.

It wasn't who could draw the best, who had the best stroke or who did the best compostion, it was more like,

Where did you get that reference man?

Oh, from Uncle Macha.

You sure, cause I was there for like 15 minutes and I never so this one...

Ha, it's cause I bought that book before you did, and it was the last one...

You Son of a Bi$%h!!

Yea, good times...

The way I see it , it won't be long before Uncle Macha would have to close up shop. Times are hard, and after the recession, it's gonna get worse. Who's gonna have the money to buy those magazines, even if they're 3 for RM 10...

Buy a magazine, Save Uncle Macha ...

back from KK...( dong dong qiang )

2009-01-31T01:00:00.004+08:00

Yea, Happy Chinese New Year...

I wouldn't say belated yet, cause well, its not over ...yet...

Yea, have been absent for the past 8 days, Im quite well aware of that, but if you like myself have gone back home town, and your howmtown does not have an internet connection like mine, at least my house lah, then it wouldn't have made a difference for you guys.

What to type, what to type, I don't have much to talk about what happened at my hometown during CNY.

I can tell you what didn't happened though, there wasn't any lion dance troupe that came to my taman, at all..which is soo screwed up, cause they usually come house to house.

Such a let down for a lion-fan such as I...

Yea, sounds ridiculous to most of you but hey, you didn't grow up where I grew up.

I must say that we take our lion dances pretty seriously, or maybe just my family.

I still remembered back when I was introduced to the existence of Lion dance, my mother or my uncle would actually drive both my sister and i around town and " hunt" for the lions..

That would be a common practice for us every CNY, whether it's an invited show or just house to house, we'd tail the lion troupe until we found better troupes.

We would drive around houses and start searching for these " Beasts".

The windows would be rolled down, just slightly, so we could hear if there were any beating of drums nearby.

For provisions . we have a tin full of eggrolls. Sometimes 2.

We were fully equipped.

Yea, I know, could've made a documentary out of this...should've... instead of ghost hunters you have Lion hunters....

Such a fun practice, perhaps I'll continue doing that with my kids, if I do have kids..haha..

Anyways, you can see why I get frustrated, all I could get was the distant drumming of some Lion troupe playing at somewhere far far away, soo dissapointing..

I'll stop bitching about the lion dance now..

CNY was spent mostly at my hometown and by that I mean hometown hometown, Tuaran, or more specifically Mengkabong, so yea, a kampung CNY, which was not bad at all...

I had the intention of smuggling Taraps for my West Malaysian friends again, but hey, got ripe on the day I was travelling back so yea, can't, has a very very potent smell, not everyone can take it...

Sorry guys...

Other than that, my holiday was spent watching and reading.

Watching what?

Watching that comedy that I just bought meself before travelling back, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

How was the movie?

Id say it was funny, real funny actually, but very raunchy as well.

I think I got the unrated version of it, cause there were several parts of the movie where one could actually catch a glimpse of the main character's privates, a short second of it...

It was quick but could have quite an effect on anyone.

It's like you being slapped. in the face...

Have you ever been slapped in the face before? Like it happened soo quick that you weren't sure if you were slapped or not.

Like , wow, did she really slapped me?

The only hint you have is that itchy and painful after effects of the slap, followed by a handprint on your face, usually small handprint since the one doing the slapping are usually girls, or in some cases for some people, guys with really small soft hands..hahaha..

Then, as your eyes look towards the person who had so generously given you the slap, you see satisfaction, at first. Then fear, fear of retaliation...hahaha...

Either ways, thats how it was.

You'd see it and go like...

" What did I just see...?"

" Did they really show his dick?"

and the curious part of you kicks in, and you reach for the remote and rewind the DVD to further confirm your suspicions.

and finally you're left with the thought of why did you rewind the DVD. What possesed your hand to act in such a way. Hey if it isn't curiosity.

Yea, those things aside, it was a fairly interesting movie, which means it had caught my interest.

Watching that movie made me realise how much I wanted to go and visit Hawaii, but that's like almost impossible for now. So I guess I'll just settle for Langkawi.

You hear that guys? Next trip Langkawi, we'll have Drink and Draw, Langkawi edition, cewah..hahahaha

What did I read, I actually read this one book that I bought very recently, ORCS.

Yea, I know, people would go like, Darren reading that?

Well I am a fan of fantasy , not uch on high tech science fiction. I did finish Lord of the Rings, and Hobbit..

Orcs, I saw that book at Borders while I was browsing for a Christmas present.

The cover caught my eye, I could see the word ORCS printed so gloriously with its capital letters.

What took my interest was the face that was printed on the book, I know it was going to be about Orcs, quite straight forward I must say, but the was something familiar about that face, there was something about it that gives me the impression that hey, Orcs do feel, they do have a human side to them, or one might say, there is a part of Orc in all of us.

Here, the orcs are the protoganists, humans being the antagonists.

It was an interesting departure from the Orcs from JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth.

Here, the Orcs are given personalities, more so often heroic ones. It would even come to a point that if one was heroic and fearless and noble and all that jazz, you might be considered to have Orc-ish traits..haha..yea, I've kinda gone too far, but hey, thats how I feel about the book so far, haven't finished it yet.

but, yea, I bought it because of the cover, you can say that Im a sucker for good covers, sometimes even something as simple as a straight up in your face potrait.

I am usually a big fan of portraits, for those who have no idea about this now you do.

Especially those passport looking ones, haha, I know many lament the fact that they do not get the chance to pose or look "cool" or whatever.

But I like it that way, I find this is you at your purest form.

Poses to me are basically nothing but shields or advertisements of what we want people to see in us. We advertise ourselves through our "best" looks, our better looking side, parts in which we wouldn't want the world to recognise will be hidden beneath those layers of smiles and hand gestures.

We tend to forget after all those gestures, at the end of the day, what matters most is the essense of who you are.

Whats the point of posing and all if you cant even look straight at the camera and smile... is it soo hard?

Let me tell you why the background is like the ugliest blue you've ever seen, it's so that people can actually focus on your face, that's the whole point of it, to not be distracted by the interesting background, but to do nothing but foucus on you, on who you are, and not who you look like.

Imagine there's a girl who poses with the whole cute look, with the peace hand sign and the top view angle thing goin on,

you ask her, Why did you take your pciture like that?

" Cause it looks cool that way'

It does? How does that show you being cool?

"It doesn't just show me being cool, but Im also going for cute.."

Uh-huh, I see.. But do you really have to do the hand gesture?

" Yea, well, cause if not, that would just be me smiling and I would look boring.."

So you mean without the hand gesture, you wouldn't be cute or cool at all?

"Well, if ?I don't do that, I'd just look plain and boring and no one would notice me.."

So basically you're just a cute girl with low self esteem , did I get that right...

There you go, the purest form of you...

I have no idea of how I got from Chinse New Year to passport photos..

But this should be no surprise for you..

Bye and God Bless...

As promised..

2009-01-22T00:51:00.008+08:00

Here are some pictures on the TOA Annual Dinner 2009.

Theme: Masquerade.

Let it be known, that I have no reason to publish pictures of everyone at that dinner, nor do I feel that it is necessary to do so.

To view other pictures , perhaps you should try searching for them in Facebook, quite a number of them are actually online, these pictures are actually taken from pictures that were taken by other lecturers and employees at the dinner. Thanks guys!

Ok, enjoy.

The guys decided to take a group photo while we're waiting for the dinner to begin.

Your's truly

I can't really remember what we were waiting for

Oh yea...Lucky Draw... got meself something...

Illustration group photo, all of us with our prizes.

No, not gonna reveal the prize just yet, for those of you who already know, I would really appreciate if kept under wraps. Thank God about though.

All and all, it was a good day, a productive day I might add.

Stupidest?

2009-01-20T00:44:00.002+08:00

Stupidest...is that even a word?

Have you ever did something stupid without realising it, and moments later you ask yourself "What the hell? "

I just did that tonight, my goodness was that stupid or what.

No, I won't be sharing this with anyone , for now....yea, gonna let it settle for a while.

But, what's done is done, just goes to show that no matter how much you think you might know, there's always something new to learn. Sometimes you just gotta learn it the hard way.

Peace out.

Masquerade ?

2009-01-19T01:38:00.006+08:00

Yea, Annual dinner, who would've figured...

TOA just had its Annual Dinner yesterday, or was it the day before yesterday, either ways, it was an interesting one. It being my second Annual Dinner I had no idea what was going to happen.

The theme of course, as the title "suggests" is Masquerade.

By definition that actually means, those who attend should attend with whatever best outfits that they have, formal would be appropriate, and at the same time donning a mask, because if not the whole theme would have lost its purpose.

Well, there are many styles and fashions for masks, but there isn't much or may I say none for those wearing spectacles.

Of course there would be some who said, hey you can hide them under your mask and yea, it might be a bit troublesome, but you know, we don't have much of a choice.

I refuse to be subject to such trivial thinking, somewhere along the lines Im sure there would be someone who thought of a mask that caters to our four-eyed needs.

At that very second the first thought in my head was Hannibal Lecter.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the character, Dr. Hannibal as he would like to be called, is actually a movie character. More specifically, Silence of the lambs.

To be more specific , the character was actually from a book, or several by Thomas Harris.

Mr Harris himself has written quite a few books in which chronicles this character itself . Such books are Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and Hannibal Rising,which actually serves as a prelude to Red Dragon, but was actually the lst book written and made into a film.

And yes, I only knew about the character after watching the movie itself, which was awesome!! Haha, yea, some do consider me to be slightly" sick" to enjoy such films.

But I see no fault in that. Hannibal the Cannibal, yes is a murderous monster, yes, he does eat his victims sometimes even before killing them, but he is also a brilliant man. Smart sophisticated, suave, gentile, knowledgable, I would almost describe him as a Reinassance murderer.

What I find most intriguing about said character was the way he chooses his victims. He doesn't just eat anyone he seeses or meets. He would usually weed out the bad and immoral of society, those in which he would consider "rude" and to him he just might be performing a social service by ridding off his victims from the face of the world. Of course there are quite a few of innocent bystanders who tasted his wrath, but other than that, he kills only those to his dislike.

Don't get me wrong, I am not sympathising the character, nor do I agree with his methods of turning this world into a better place. But it's interesting to know that characters such as these, as colourful as they are in the movies, actually do exists in this world, and they are all around us.

It intrigues me to find out how could a brilliant man such as he, could have such a twisted mind at that, how could say another character such as Dr. House, be soo brilliant at what he does and yet lacks social skills that even a 5 year old might possess.

And what's more interesting to know that all of them, or usually most of them, were not born murderers but were actually molded into what they are through years of conditioning. It actually goes to show that all of us, and I mean all of us, are actually capable of such monstrocities.

And what drives them to perform such terrible acts, and reasons could they have for such madness. By now, the word Madness, in my opinion can not really be used. I believe the word might be Obsession.

We might like something or maybe even someone, and if that's all we have it becomes nothing but a momentary fad for us, a phase as most would call it. But what keeps us awake at night, what makes us do crazy things, things that we would never have thought or considered doing. What is it that gives us the drive to surpass our physical limitations and outdo ourselves in whatever manner we can think of. Obsession.

By now I have no idea how many times I have typed the word"Obsession " but Im begining to feel like Im selling that "Obsession " perfume, free promo by Darren and his Blog.

It is their obsession that keeps them going. it was Dr. Hannibal's obsession with perfection, with despatching the evils of the world that made him who he is, of course not forgetting his rather "special" appetite.

How is he any different from lovable characters like House, or Sherloke Holmes, or perhaps even ourselves.

I think I know why we could actually " symphatise" such characters, though they may be cruel, or rude, or just extremely weird, they somehow have the guts to go through everything they they had gotten through to getvwhat they want, and I must state that only a few would have ventured into that path. And we symphatise with them because we somehow wish we could do the same, to grab life by the balls and show'im who's boss.

I believe we also might feel sorry for such characters because in some weird unexplainable way, they remind us of who we are, who we might've become. We like to believe that these characters have some good in them, that they, ultimately are good people, just that they were screwed up when they were growing up, we'd like to believe that somehow there may be hope that they might one day change. Hope that gives us hope, that we ourselves might one day change for the better.

One such example, is how Frodo actually sympathises with Gollum, as he does not see Gollum as an ugly gangly creature, but rather a grim reflection of himself. this of course is not a true story, but it is actually qite a good literary reference. Both Frodo and Gollum are characters from The Lord of The Rings by the way, just incase somene might be confused or lost as to where these charcaters came from.

By now you would have realised how this particular post have turned from The One Academy's Masquerade ball into a special insight on Dr. Hannibal. Well Im sorry about that, but that's just the way I type. I don't really have a basis of what Im about to type, I prefer to go with the flow, where my mind takes me , there I will be.

Oh where was I, Obsession. Yup that's the word.

But what I feel that we all should be obsessed about is to be better, better at work, better at our studies, better as a human being, better than our past, better than others and Most importantly better in our spiritual lives.

It is by my own experience that by having an obsession for God, a hunger for God, a hunger to be who He wants us to be, that we may actually have guarunteed satisfaction. That we can finally be whole. Hey it's just my opinion, maybe you should try it out and prove me wrong.

To be obsessed about something, could make us greater than whatever we may ever be, or it could also lead to our downfall. To be obsessed with something or even someone, will change us in ways we could never comprehend, we may be turn out better in some aspects of our lives, but ultimately, we all lose a part of ourselves in the process. But it is a guarentee to have an obsession for God, one can never go wrong.

Alright..I feel like I've cheated thsoe who's been reading this post into thinking that this was a post about the Annual Dinner. Well Im sorry, I promise that by the next post you'll see pictures of me with that mask of mine..

Till then, God Bless.

Faith Station New Year Celebration Pot Luck

2009-01-16T23:13:00.002+08:00

Yea, you read that right.

Faith Station TOA will be having a Chinese New Year Celebration Pot Luck this coming Monday which is basically on the 19th of January, 6pm-8pm.

Everyone is invited, everyone from TOA that is, hahaha...So yea, anyone who's reading this, any TOA-ians, feel free to join us for free food and free company.

Well , see you there!

The Vine Band

2009-01-13T17:46:00.003+08:00

Yea, I'm sure this has been long overdue.

Last Friday, The Vine Band came to FCC.

Who are they, well, just the most awesome Christian Hong Kong Band I know, which makes them the only Kong Kong Band I know.

Well, yea, but they are awesome. It wasn't my intention to attend the concert on that day, since I have not been feeling well for the past few days and that day was actually the worst of it.

So basically the whole day I was bombarded by" Darren, are you going to watch The Vine Band?"

That evening I felt much better, so I went.

I didn't really know what to expect cause I have never heard of them, but the music was good, the band was awesome, the presence of God could definitely be felt, strongly at that. So all and all, it was a successful night for the band and a fruitful night for all those who've attended.

Those who did not? too bad ...

After the concert, had the chance of having supper with the band and hanging out with them, very interesting bunch of people I must say.

All and all, it was a really good experience, yes I said experience cause music shouldn't just be heard, it should be Experienced as well.

God Bless, peace out.

Maybe later...

2009-01-08T22:05:00.003+08:00

Maybe later, I'll start on that comic I've always wanted to draw,
Maybe later, I'll create that blog for Drink and Draw,
Maybe later, I'll organise a gathering for my old friends back in KK,
Maybe later, I'll practice speed painting,
Maybe later, I'll read the Bible,
Maybe later, I'll pray,
Maybe later, I'll start excersizing in the morning,
Maybe later, I'll get a haircut,
Maybe later, I'll buy that mask for the Annual Dinner,
Maybe later, I'll buy those Lanterns my mother has been asking for,
Maybe later, I'll finish that Conan novel that I've read halfway,
Maybe later, I'll do some life sketching to improve my observation skill,
Maybe later, I'll clean up my room again,
Maybe later, I'll take a rest and watch Asian Food Channel,
Maybe later, I'll get my driver's licence,
Maybe later, I'll read that book I just bought,
Maybe later, I'll pay back my friend the money I owe him,
Maybe later, I'll have my devotion time,
Maybe later, I'll organise the 4th Drink and Draw,
Maybe later, I'll start my online Drink and Draw entry,
Maybe later, I'll work on my portfolio,
Maybe later, I'll tell her everything,
Maybe later, I'll brush up on my human anatomy again,
Maybe later, I'll start another series of Darren's Brushwork,
Maybe later, I'll belanja Soon Seng for helping me with the OTP( thanks man),
Maybe later, I'll take a long nap,
Maybe later, I'll reconnect with my NS friends,
Maybe later, I'll get my sister her Birthday Present,
Maybe later, I'll give away the old magazines I have in my room,
Maybe later, I'll get that Bone comic book collection,
Maybe later, I'll get that Fables compilation collection ( TPBs of course, not CBR files),
Maybe later, I'll actually use those Imagine FX books that I have lying around here,
Maybe later, I'll get myself a new com,
Maybe later, I'll get myself a new handphone,
Maybe later, I'll get my dad those samurai movies he's been asking for,
Maybe later, I'll get a tattoo,
Maybe later, I'll start playing drums again,
Maybe later, I'll take up ballroom dancing,
Maybe later, I'll buy that Ikea table I've always wanted,
Maybe later, I'll make that Ikea table I've always wanted,
Maybe later, I'll bring my family on a Euro Trip,
Maybe later, I'll have a backpackers' trip across Malaysia,
Maybe later, I'll start using a Peronal Planner,
Maybe later, I'll try that Xiao Long Bao at Dragon-I,
Maybe later, I'll add some of my works into my dusty DeviantArt account,
Maybe later, I'll post some artworks on my blog.
Maybe later, I'll visit my old arts teacher,

So what am I doing now?

2009 or was it 2008...

2009-01-02T23:00:00.002+08:00

Ya, it seems that Darren will be bloggng bout the New Year....

Maybe, maybe not... we'll see...

Everytime, people will start of by explaining how much things have changed the past year, how much their lives had changed, how much suffering they had to go through, how much they hope the next year will be different.

Common sense will tell us that this happens every year,, things change. So stop analyzing how much changes you have in your life in the past year, and start picking out all the things that has not change about you, and contemplate on whether you want it changed or not...

Now, just humor me for a second, if everything changes every year, then that actually means every year, there are changes, not matter what you do, there'll always be changes. Which makes every year almost the same, 'cause if people ask you,

" Hey , how was last year, how was 2008 for ya'?"

" Well, there were a lot of changes in my life, good and bad., and you know what.."

" Wait a sec, you mean to tell me that your life 2008 was exactly like 2007, and the years before?"

" Uhh...not exactly...There has been a lot of differences compared to the years before.."

"Yea, exactly. Just like last year..."

"No! That's not what I meant..."

By now you can see where Im going with this...haha...

Wouldn't it be cool or weird if nothing about you changed at all in a year.

Now that would have been different.

"Hey man, how was 2008 for ya?"

"You know what, it was exactly like 2007."

"Woah, that's like soo weird man, Now that's different ..."

Yea, Im sorta farting out of my mouth here, but it is sort of interesting to think about.

When everyone tells you to think out of the box, you'd realise that no one is thinking inside the box.

Here's another one, a very simple concept, If everyone is special, no one is.

But then again, as boring as it may be, everyone changes each year, not dramatically for some, but yea there are minor tweaks in our lives, for good or bad.

I certainly have had quite a few dramatic moments in 2008. Which I have to say was almost like 2007, see...boring....

If you read someone's blog, and they talk about how much changes or trials they've endured the past year, try checking the blog entry 1 year before, I bet it sounds almost exactly the same.

But it gives me comfort to know that whatever changes I went through in my life this past year, it was by God's grace that it happened. And with that knowledge I know Im going the right way.

For me, every year is actually almost the same.

You'll always have problems, and sometimes they're exactly the same, they just like to disguise themselves so you wouldn't recognise them.

Problem are like maths, its basically the same formula, just different numbers.

To me, the only change that you will see from this is how you handle that problem each year.

Yes. Maturity, that's the word...

That's the thing that seperates the Men from the Boys, the Ladies from the Girls.

Someone asked me, what do you wish to do or have in this new year, 2009...

I always answer the same thing, " Well. I am supposed to get thinner but I didn't really work on it..so.."

Yea, funny...

But for me the most important thing that one could ask, or it may just be me, is Maturity

The way I see it, if you're mature enough, things will fall into place for you.

Not just mature physically or mentally, but more importantly spiritually.

So yea, ask me what I want for this New Year?

Maturity with a dash of wisdom ...

But wait, you can't be mature if you don't have wisdom...

So in that sense, Maturity will be fine...

Desktop

2008-12-18T01:44:00.002+08:00

This is what my desktop looks like now...

Since Im such in a Christmas mood...

..and no, I didnt draw this, this is done by Ed McGuiness.

10

2008-12-17T23:51:00.007+08:00

What is there to blog about these days..

I have nothing new or much to say or even discuss about..

Maybe Ill just make a list of things that has happened for the past few days..

1. I recently started listening to Lene Marlin again. Who that?
She's that girl who sang Unforgivable Sinner and was like at the top of the charts back in 1999.

Yea, that's quite a while back.

I've always liked her songs. Or more in particular her few top hits lah. like Unforgivable Sinner, and Sitting Down Here. But she's more famous in Europe.

I remember looking for that CD of hers for quite some time all over KK back in 2000-ish, both my sis and I.

And finally we find it, in KL, or more specifically at Taipan, this was back when we have our Christmas at KL with my uncle. It was expensive, RM 46...soo mahal for a student, RM46? you know how many chickens you can buy already kah, that's what our uncle always said.

Few days ago, or was it a week ago...can't remember again, Cong came back, yea, mentioned that already. As he was driving me back home, he was playing that song of hers, or more importantly her album, Playing My Game, that album which Ive been loooking for all my life, ceh..hahaha...

Then he told me that his friend introduced Lene Marlin to him, and now he has her CD... Ini mana boleh, that Kiasu part of me woke up, and immedietly, a few days later..haha, I went to that old CD shop at Taipan , where I saw that CD soo loong ago, to check if they still had it...

As I walked into that shop, I realised it was till the same lady owner behind the counter, I don't think she still recognised me. that was practically my second time in that shop in 10 years.

The shop was still the same, selling really old CDs, CDs like Take That and 911 were still on the shelf, that kinda old.

As I frantically searched the shelves, Lo and Behold, Lene Marlin was there. Playing My Game was staring me straight in the face, all these years, she's been waiting for me to get a job and buy her...man that sounds soo sick..hahahahaha...

Well, long story short, I am now enjoying that CD everywhere I go, which basically means my home and college lah.

2. Drink and Draw cancelled... Damn!

Yea, I know, I was really excited about it myself too, but hey, I have a valid reason for it.

I'll let you know by the next DnD.

3. I watched quite a few movies these days, especially those few days I had my sick leave. 2 of which I will be mentioning are Kite Runner and Namesake.

Both are really good movies in their own right. However they were actually novels, so I suggest everyone to get their hands on these novels, cause usually novels are always better than the movies.

But why did you watch it without reading the novel first Darren?

That's because movies like those were created for people like me, people who couldn't care less about reading before watching. I'd actually prefer doing it the other way round, watch then read, then I would never be dissapointed...

4. I rearranged my room. No, that's a lie, I cleaned it up a bit, but before you go all " Darren can we visit your 'clean' room?". My room is still off limits , because there is still so much more to do.

Now Im considering to repaint my room, and fill it with Ikea furniture.

People will go like,oh come on man, Ikea's not nice, you dont have to have a room like them, but seriously, be truthful, everyone wants a room like those Ikea showrooms, EVERYONE...

5. I have finally completed counting all the marks for the classes Im teaching. Thank God.

6. I'll be missing that Christmas Musical/Play that my church will be having this Christmas Eve, and Sio Yean keeps rubbing it in my face, or maybe he just forgets, Ill be missing it cause by then I'd be in KK, with my family, so yea, can't come oh well, you win some you lose some, after all, family comes first.

7. Downloaded a bunch of Christmas songs, by Jim Reeves, Henri Mancini, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Dave Koz, Micahel Buble' , Josh Groban and believe it or not Hillsong.

They'll be keeping me company in the plane on my way back to KK.

8. Here's something to think about.

This has not happened yet, it's just something Im planning to do whe I get back form my trip to KK. When I come back to KL, I want to learn driving.

Yes, finally...they say..

FINALLY, Darren will be learning to drive and by God's grace get his licence, and by God's grace not get hit or hit anyone in a span of 2 years.

people have been bugging me about this the moment they learnt I don't have a driver's licence, worst of all, Wen Yi.

Those who were in CD 42 might remeber her, eh, Johnny.

The worst part was when she went like " You dont drive? You don't ahve a licence? But Darren, you're a guy..."

Im like thinking "What the hell is being a guy has got to do with any of that"

Well, as it turns out, a lot..

Yes. Wen Yi, in some twisted logic, you're right, wherever you may be ..haha..

So there, one more thing for you guys to bitch me about...

9. Few days ago I realised something..

You know that Christmas jingle, 12 days of Christmas ? The one about the true love giving the singer gifts everyday for 12 days?

I just realised if I were at the receiving end of the gifts, I wouldn't be able to accept at least half of them, those who know me well enough will know why...

10. I just received this from Marianne. Made me miss those days when I used to breakdance..

Hahaha.. yea, right... Darren, breakdance...

haha, But yea, watching this video does make me feel like "breaking" .

There you go, 10 things from Darren.

Till then, God Bless...

Kinta

2008-12-08T11:41:00.007+08:00

Managed to have my KL visit yesterday, and by that I mean walking around Bukit Bintang and taking pictures of Christmas decorations and such

I've learnt 2 things on my travels yesterday.

The first is that people no longer decorate their malls lavishly as they do years ago.

Second, I might've come to early to enjoy their decoration, I mean it is just the first week of December. So can;t judge the yet...

Anyways, todays post is not about my KL trip, Ive taken some pictures and have my friend Cong take more pictures for me, so that'll be on another post.

Today's post is about that movie. That first Malaysian Kung Fu flick that all country loving kungfu practitioners have been talking about, KINTA.

Now, after my incident with Muay Thai Chaiya, Ive been very skeptical when it comes to watching "martial art" flicks when I go to the cinema. But the Malaysian in me tells me that we should support our local movies, once in a hwile, and I have heard rather decent reviews about this movie.

Just so happens, that friend of mine, Cong, is a kung fu practitioner. And he happens to have a sifu who happens to have a few free tickets for the 2.25pm show at Pavilion. So yea, why not. So it seems my first movie at Pavilion would be Kinta.

How was the movie. Yes, I have to agree with a lot of reviews that Kinta is like Ong Bak mixed with 300.

Wow....is it really that cool? No, visually they try to make it look like so, but you know about trying to hard, you either succeed or fail. And I have to say its the latter, visually of course.

Maybe Im being to harsh on our Malaysian cinema, maybe Darren is just being biased. Maybe I am, but if I could complain about one thing in this movie, one thing that I could remove from this movie, is that 3D blood splatter.

Yes, you heard me, 3D blood splatter. Someone thought that it would look cool that in every big punch, digitised blood would look good on camera, it wold actually, if it was made like 300. But it looked soo fake, as fake as fake could've been.. The fake-est blood Ive ever seen,

Have you ever played those games where you kill the monster or aliens and blood just splashes all over the screen, polygon blood that is, That's what it looks like.

Now I know they want to make it look good, make it look contemporary and cool, but its just too much. I would much prefer if the director came up with a DVD that has the movie without the 3D blood, and for sure, I would support our local movie industry, I will buy the original DVD just for the sake of supporting. But that blood just puts me off...

Another problem which I have with this movie is the story telling. Im sorry Mr. Director man, but you have to work on that story telling of yours. Flashback scenes keep on appearing without actually giving depth to the characters, and if they have a flashback for a fight scene, it's the exact same fight scene, exact length of time, but in black and white, and the best part is, the 3D blood is in glorious crimson red.

It's painful enough to see 1 or 2 pointless flashbacks, but its worse to see several. and it gets better, the fact that a lot of people were unaware that those were flashback scenes was like the icing on the cake.

The story line was a very simple story, with plot twists that can be written by a monkey, cause that's how easy it is to write a story for this movie. The characters were underdeveloped, even with all the flashbacks I have yet to understand and know at least one of the characters intimately, cewah, intimately some more. But yea, at some point the movie seemed to have lost its direction, and I'm sure you will think that the only thing that could've save d this movie was the kung fu...which comes to my next point.

The kung fu, was good. Wasn't great, but good.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate all those involved in the fights cause they were actually quite good, believable and realistic.

Sadly, its lacks the certain Ooomph that could be found in most martial arts flick. I believe that it boils down to the director once again..

Im sorry but the director will be receiving quite a lot of crap from me today. But I sincerely believe better camera angles could've been taken, better scripts could've been written, better storytelling could've been achieved for this movie.

Why ? Cause I believe Malaysia is better than this. I believe we can do better than having a character jump out and rescue one of the heroes and disappear without even a trace of his identity. You know how empty that feels? How dissatisfied one gets when not being able to know what's going on? People pay money for this thing and that's the best you could do?

By now you'd realise that as much as I like to watch effects driven films, I am ultimately a very simple film lover. I like films which I can relate to, films which have heart, films that can make me think and contemplate on life, films which questions my beliefs and my actions , films that inspires me , films that challenges me, films that makes me laugh, films that can make me cry, films that have an identity of its own, films with a purpose, films that could bring me to another world without me having to step out of my house... and the list goes on.

If these are the films which I like, you'd realise that today, there aren't many films which are like that anymore, sadly films these days are merely made to make money, made merely to be excite us, just for a short time, for a short while. Films today, are just Visual Pornography.

Back to Kinta...

Thank goodness all is not lost, there is still some saving grace in this film, though it may be hard to identify. Or perhaps its just the love of my country that prevents me from butchering this film with my words, I don't know.

But now I find myself compelled to congratulate the director for taking such a bold step, yes, this is our first Kung Fu flick in Malaysia, and yes you are the man who's done it. For all it's faults I cannot deny all the hard work which was put into this film, all the blood, sweat and tears that was involved to make this film possible.

In the end I have must confess I love this film. I don't love it because of the cast, I hardly know them, I don't love it because of the fight scenes. Neither do I love it for it's storyline. and don't get e started on that 3D blood again.

I simply love it because it's Malaysian, and I can proudly say to all non Malaysians "It may not be the best KungFu flick you've ever seen, it may not even be in your top 10, but dammit, we tried..."

Here are some sites which you can check out more about this film

Official site
Official KINTA blog

Eeeww, that's soo oily....

2008-12-06T22:02:00.003+08:00

It wasn't but a few days ago, had a lunch with a friend of mine, the kopi of kopisusu. Basically she was introducing to me this new health shake drink or whatever you call it. But that's not the point of the conversation, it was lah..but it somehow led to the talk about my lifestyle and my eating habits.

I know Im not exactly what one would consider healthy, neither is my lifestyle, but during the conversation, something in me clicked, and I decided I have to start eating healthy again...Hahahaha...not like I ever ate healthily anyways, but yea the point is , have to jaga my permakanan lah...

So where are you going with this whole conversation Darren?

Very simple. I have to make sure I don't take food that are considered to be unhealthy. Such as oily food, fried food, junk food, and the lists goes on.

Of course this does not mean Darren is going to deprive himself of all the good food in the world, but it just means I have to be careful with what I eat. Have to have less mamak visits.

No longer can I go in and order Purri or teh tarik... For now those food are considered illegal to Darren..hahaha...

Does this mean Darren will never again take rich and fulfilling food...like ever? No, once again you're wrong. There will be occasions where I will let the fat guy in me let loose again, not crazily but on a leash lah, such occasions will be Christmas, my birthday, Drink and Draw and other special occasions...

To prove how serious I am about this, I am glad to announce that for the past 2 days, I have not been ordering anything fried or oily, of course some oil is involved but its not deep-fry-me-twice-just-in-case kinda oily lah ... So far Ive been ordeing a lot of Qing Tang (Translation, Clear Soup) kinda meals lah... and if Im hungry, I'll be drinking water or have my occasional pear. Yes, Darren is a fan of pear..Pear goooddd....MmmmMMmmmmmm.....

And yes Im sure many will say, Darren you need to exercise too... Yes, I will start doing that too.

Im just posting this info on this blog today just so anytime anyone sees me slacking off on this,
I hereby give you the power to bitch to me about healthy living and all that jazz, so take this oppurtunity and cherish it. The offer will only lasts as long as Im fat .... hahahaha

Darren , out!

The Christmas Song...

2008-12-01T19:00:00.003+08:00

Feeling rather nostalgic these days...

I guess it all happened last Saturday when I was walking with my share group in Sunway Pyramid.

Now, I know you are all well aware that I work just right beside Sunway Pyramid, which makes Sunway Pyramid my second home, but lately I've been awfully busy with random things and I tend to not notice the decorations which they have put up.

Yes, I saw the decoration and the lights at the entrance and the fountain, Im well aware that they have Santa Claus in green everywhere... Which makes him look like Baba Raya.

Anyways, my point is, I have not really seen the decorations which they have set in the new wing of Sunway Pyramid.

It was on that day that I really get the chance to look at all the decorations and ornaments set for Christmas. Immedietly "the Christmas Song " was playing in my head.

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice song. I like it, I actually love it.. But as much as I like it, I always feel sad when I hear it. Why?

I find that "the Christmas Song" is one of the perfect holiday songs that can be played. It gives you the feel of Christmas, the ambiance that it creates, the simplicity of it, it's a simple song describing the many delights of Christmas and it ends with a simple Christmas wish. What more can you ask for.

I remember the first time I heard this song, and I meant really heard it, and listened to it. I have to go sooo far back in time, when I was in primary 4 I think ...Its too far back...

Back then my family never took family trips, so when all of a sudden my father decides that we should celebrate our Christmas in KL, well you can only imagine how excited me and my sister can get.

KL was everything that we heard from our friends about, and more... It was beautiful, there were tall buildings everywhere, each and every shopping mall that we visited were heavily decorated with Christmas ornaments and trees... Back then they never compromised in decorating, it's like they'd dump everything on a tree, its seems that the trees were all ready to collapse due to all the ornaments hung on it, but we didn't care, it was still by far the most beautiful tree we've ever seen.

I remember we were walking in Star Hill, before it became what is is today, and while walking and just enjoying ourselves, "the Christmas Song " was playing. And at that moment I realised, all these things, all this excitement, all this new found joy will be over in a few days.

In a few days, we will be going back to KK. In a few days, Ill have to go back to SRJK (c) ST.James and go through another year of torment. If only that feeling could last, it only that moment would last. But of course, as we all know, nothing lasts. The flight back was the longest 2 and a half hours of my life.

I guess the only consolation that I could give myself, was that Christmas will come again, and if everything goes well, dad will bring us to KL again.

As we get closer and closer to celebrating Christmas, let's remember the true purpose of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a wonderful thing to celebrate the birth of Christ. But I believe that it also important for us to know that He will be coming to our world for the second time.

When ? I'm not exactly sure, who knows, He is supposed to come like a thief, and like out pastor said, if we knew exactly when He would be coming, that would be the exact time that He would not be coming.

The same way as I was waiting for Christmas to come all those years ago, I am now waiting for Jesus to come again to this world, and that by itself, is a rather comforting thought.