Merdeka

49. A year before we celebrate our 50 years of independance. A year I await as a Malaysian. Visit Malaysia 2007. It is simply an awesome experience being a Malaysian. To be in a country of much diversity is one area I am truly grateful. Mixing with people of various races and cultures is an awesome experience. I am fortunate to experience this first hand with my group of friends which I meetup frequently. Chinese, Indian, Malay, MalaysianThai and at times a Sarawakian seems to complete the Malaysian theme.

In the land of of diversity, I have come to enjoy staying here. Its surprising how many people venture outstation in search of better life. This could be due to the discrepancies seen in the country. Discrimination. Corruption. Unfairness. For me, this are just but small issues that I can seem to overlooked. Life is still good here. Great food. Good weather. Relatively low cost of living. Guess there is no perfect country to live in and one would need to make the best of it whereever one is. Leaving a country because of certain may not be the best solution as one will meet other problem in that country unless leaving is due to a life treatening event eg. war, famine.

One of things I truly enjoy is the art scene in Malaysia. I believe that diversity have help strengthened the art scene. There was a time that many weren't aware of the potential we have until Yasmin Ahmad's film "Sepet" brought diversity to the masses and make in popular. Films in Malaysia have began to excel. "Gol and gincu" is currently my favourite series. I can't wait for "Realiti" which would be premiering on 8TV this Sunday. Shows that I anticipate this year would be Bernard Chauly's Goodbye Boys (Trailer) whereby a friend of mine is acting in, and Dukun (Trailer), the story of the infamous Mona Fendy. Theatre have also been rather interesting ever since the establishment of KLPac in Sentul. The place is simply an eye to behold especially the colonial of railway station relics in Sentul. Puteri Gunung Ledang -the Musical was a great hit and would soon be crossing borders to our fellow neighbours in November. All this simply excites me the potential that Malaysia has to offer.

Happy Merdeka!

Twisted

Crack! A familiar sound. My knee gave way. Fallen on the ground I was. There was no tackle. No going after the ball. Just a sudden turn that displace my body weight awkwardly which lead to my knees unable to support the weight that followed. I knew then that pain will follow thereafter, just like my injury that happened two months ago.

Steven again came to my rescue, checking the injury that I had succumbed. This time, it wasn't checking the injury or trying to get some spray to soothen the pain. A prayer was all that was offered. I began to pray as well hoping for not the worse. As I slowly walked out of the pitch, I could only believe that this was to happened for a reason. Despite not being able to continue with the game, I sat happily enjoying the games displayed on both side of the courts. It was a trilling sight as I saw movement and goals that looked pretty similar to the weekly EPL matches.

It will be awhile before I start putting on my boots again. I will indeed miss the game despite only coming back after coming back from a lengthy break. Guess will need to find new avenues to loose some weight. Darn, I'm fat!

One Year

Today mark a year of service for the Royal Dutch Shell. Its been a good year. A great year I must say. Mainly because I enjoy my work. Not because of the nature of the work but the freedom of working. Had much fun working with a lot of great people. People plays an important role in a job. Its interesting to see how each work. Food seems to be a common ground for most of us especially the basket of food that sits on top of our cubicle where we would indulge ourselves in it each time we want to have a breather. No wonder I have been growing enormously this past year that seems to take a tool to the pants I wear to work. Guess I need to start a habit of gym in order to stay in shape.

One of the things I enjoy working in Shell is the ability to do other things besides work. It seems like being in campus all again as there are many acivities being held. There are even activities which we are able to plan as well. I had the priviledge of planning for a dinner at Saujana Impian and a team building trip to Genting Highlands not too long ago. At the moment, I am planning for a Movie Marathon that is being planned to be held in October. These activities have strengthened by enthusiasm in event management, an avenue I enjoy getting involved in despite the intense pressure that comes with it.

As I look and reflect the past year, I encovered many things about myself. Know where I am good at which I can go to in my career advancement and what that I am not good in. For sure, I am no techie as I do not possess the technical skill to be good in it. Even if I do possess the skill which could be learn, I don't think I am able to competant in it. I like planning, managing, strategising and creative thinking. Business is something I would like to know more in depth considering the advantage that is attributed to it for future consideration.

There are few things close to my heart that I hope in future I am able to venture in. At this point, they will remains as plans or dreams as there is much more to learn from where I am in. It be interesting to see where I will be in one year time. Till then.

Church Camp

Malacca Water City. A pretty interesting name for a resort in one of the hottest state in the country. It was the site for Agape's Annual Church Camp. It was a year ago that I attended camp and I decided to attend it again this year. Initially, I was excited about signing up. However, upon actually wanting to sign up, I had some hesitation. Not sure why but I ended up listening to my heart and proceeded with the initial plan. Mum came along with me as well.

An Englishman bythe name of Mike Watson was our camp speaker. Many of us were familiar with his name as he had spoke for our previous camps back in 1993 at Genting Awana and another year in Genting View Resort. His message on "Rajawali Terbang Tinggi" was still fresh in many of us yet I could not recall. The only thing that I could remember of him was his ability to speak fluent Bahasa Indonesia. Hearing him speak may put to shame many of us who would be able to speak in Bahasa Melayu. His ability to do so was because of his missionary days in Madura, Indonesia. He shared to us many poignant stories of his life in ministry. One that brought us to attention was how his wife and himself went through an ordeal whereby their young daughter of 6 years was kidnapped and murdered by radical religious group.

One of the key messages during the camp was about the beattitudes. Matthew 5:3-12. However, not all of the beattitudes were discuss during the four days of camp, mainly from verse 3 to 8.

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

A more interesting version of this passage can be found in The Message, a version that I have always been looking out mainly because of its layman term interpretation of the Bible.

There were a couple of verses from the passage that brought get interest to me namely verses 5 and 8. The definition of meek as mention by Pastor Mike is "great power under control". It does not mean that one is a coward, a scaredy cat, a "chicken" or a weakling. It is simply human to react to situations. One such example can be seen on the road when we would horn the car in front of us if he or she were to cut in front of us or break suddenly. It would human to retaliate either verbally or physically when someone have spoken bad about us or our family member. It is simply understandable that such actions be made and I too carry out such actions at times. It is a very hard thing not to. Mainly because of pure instinctive reaction and the energy that comes with it, meekness is indeed a hard to accomplish. A promise of earthly inheritance follows the act of meekness. An example of a man that displayed meekness was Abraham. I totally am not in the position to display meekness as I would normally respond when face a situation as such. Its mainly a cause and reaction scenario. However, I notice that in my dad at times and understand why at times he just does not respond when face with a situation at home. Many times I thought that Dad just didn't bother but now I reliased that he maybe trying to display meekness in such situation. Many times things can be resolved without any respond or resolution. Arguments can be easily resolved by not responding back.

Purity. A subject that I have always wanted to achieve yet always fail to accomplish. The mind is always challenged in many ways. Various modes of distraction may at times sway us away from purity. That could be a reason why at times we fail to see God in situations that seems uncomprehendable. God is always there but many times we failed to see him standing by, watchning us by the sideline and trying to help us in our adversity. How would God look like? A question that many of us asked yet can only get an answer when we reached heaven. Its not about us seeing him visually with our naked eyes but seeing him from within with a heart that is pure.

Camp was indeed good yet I did not sense much of God this time. I believe the approach this year to be different in certain aspect. There were times when I was struggling to bring worship into a higher level yet saw it fizzle out many times. It just didn't feel special. This could be due to various reason whereby I could be a reason as well. I ask myself if I had fallen away. The passion that used to be within me at times feel like a void. A void that always remain a question for me. I believe this could be a transition period between study and work which I am still trying to acclamatise despite a year of working.

Reminiscence of the Malaccan Empire

Reminiscence of the Malaccan Empire. The theme for the Shell IT annual dinner which was held at the Palace of the Golden Horses. More than a thousand staff were to cogregate at this venue for a time of eating and entertainment. The response was so overwhelming that many had to be put on waiting list just to be able to attend the dinner. Many people came dress to the occasion with some in tradisional customes that were close to reflect the Malaccan days. One guy came dress as a Rajah. It was interesting to see people you may usually see in the five foot ways or corridor of the office make head turn. Some were impressive, others were simply beautiful. It was a sight to behold especially the line that many of us had to line in to get our door gift. It was an interestin door gift as the basket that held the goodies were made my an underproviledged that actually made it out of newspaper and magazine.

The event started around 8pm and went up to almost 1am. A lengthy affair filled with many activities and not forgetting the much anticipated lucky draw, a main prize of an 42' LCD TV. There were not one but two lucky draws, one for the dinner and another for charity. Alan Bligh, the familiar voice that we used to hear over our then Radio 4 was the MC for the night. Presentation from fellow Shell staff were presented. The display was simply professional as mentioned by the MC as they were well choreographed and well dressed as well. The stage reflected a "bersanding" made for a Sultan. There was also a performance by sultrous and simply outstanding Adibah Noor which blew me away with her vocals as she render a Malay song written for the underpriviledged and "Memory" from the acclaimed Cats. A collection for charity was also colected as well with the managers coming up on stage and eating sirih that were priced at RM500 each. I guess they collected almost RM5K from that event which was quite interesting considering the Malaysian aspect to it.

Food was quite good as we were served some tradisional Nyonya dish. My table was hardly full and we had so much food that much of it had to be gone to waste though I wanted so desperately to not waste any. Looking at myself, I rather not indulge less I grow any bigger and not fit into my pants.

It was a great affair to say the least. Can't wait for the SMT dinner at the end of the year. Dinner after dinner, food after food. My initial act of going to the gym may not help in keeping my body in shape.

Moving On

FLASH!FLASH!FLASH!

A sea of crowd. A description that best explain the atmosphere.

Friends. Family. Vendors.VIP. Groups of people congregating to make this affair meaningful yet auspicious. Shout of celebration. Message of congratulation. Flashes of memoirs. Sticky sweaty bodies. Ewww!

It was a moment of accomplishment as I witness friends who had walk in as freshies a couple of years ago, standing tall in front of the chancellor dressed in fine robes with a tupee over their head receiving what is to be an acknowledgement of their well fought success. Well fought may remain subjective to individuals. Despite of the various paths taken, it is the end that matter. Some had pass through with flying colours, others had to slought it out. Stepping out with a degree in hand would be enough just to see smiles across their faces.

I was reminded a year ago when I was in their shoes. It was indeed a moment to savour. To see fellow peers walk unto the stage and receiving the scroll of a succesful career ahead. A scroll in which we had parted three or four years of our life just to earn it, in hope for a better future. Some may follow the continue the path that they had walk during the past few years, many would venture into greener pastures. I was one of the latter. A pathway that I had not imagine myself getting into. It seems closest to the path I had taken and so far, it has been an enjoyable journey. Despite the comfort, there is indeed a tingering sensation within me to venture into industry which I dream of constantly yet I will wait for the time to come.

As I began to convey my congrats to the ones who were the star of the day while snapping a picture or two as rememberance, I began to reflect on the times spend together.

Immature they arrived, Influence they have imparted;
Uncertainty implanted, Giftings unconvered;
Unbelief they had within, Confidence they had developed;
Strangers they were, Friends they had become;

It was a proud moment to see many of them grow up to be individual that will impact their community in future.

It was a happy moment to know that many whom I had known remain close. Some had unfortunately fizzled and become distant.

Life goes on. As we venture into different paths in life, things change. People change. Situation change. At times I wish it will remain the same yet what would life be if it isnt changing. I too have change, hope for the better.

I wish those who will step out into the rat race to discover who they are and follow their heart in whatever endeavour they pursue so long as it is according to the plans that He has laid for them. Finding for it may at times be difficult but always hear the tugging of the heart and faintless whispers of the One who have the best laid plan for them if they will only listen and ask of Him. Enjoy work as you enjoy life because life would not be what it is if work becomes a chore and routine cycle. Break the cycle creatively with events that would allow you to appreciate life as what God had intended man to enjoy. Be steadfast in faith.