My Customary Once A Year Post

As above. Yup. =) Gonna graduate soon. Hopefully.

My... Right

There's no more fun in being right anymore. I always thought that truth in itself would be a delightful thing. That people sought after truth. That truth in its purest and most concrete form would banish all lies. Why then does it seem that now, the more truthful you become, the more the lies seem to shout louder?

As Christians we are told to "speak the truth in love" but then it seems that nowadays, truth is only chiefly concerned with hurting someone, or tearing them down, or only spoken when it affects you directly. Is that the way things are supposed to be? On the flipside though, why does it seem that people these days are so afraid to change? To accept constructive criticism?

I guess a lot of it has to do with my previous thought. They are so used to the fact that truth is used as a weapon that they assume that everything people say which is true about them is going to be used sooner or later to attack them. Sigh. I. Don't. Know. Anymore.

So where does that leave us then? How are we to reach a generation of people who have so twisted ideas about truth, honesty, about friendship? I always thought being a true friend meant that you genuinely cared for that person and would be willing to "rock the boat" so to speak, when you see your friend spiralling out of control, or you see him/her doing something which might be detrimental down the line.

On a side note, I am really excited about Windows 7. I have been playing around with the Beta quite a bit (in-fact I installed it on my sister's laptop and its now her primary OS and things seem ok. At this point in time, its even better than Vista. Though I still prefer Mac OS X (no danger in me uhm "backsliding" :P) but still I'm glad that PC users will finally have a good alternative or at least I hope nothing goes seriously wrong with it from now till its released.

My Welcome, and Goodbye

Well 2008 has officially passed and as we usher in the new year, I would like to spend some time to reflect on the year that was 2008.

2008 was a good year for me. Well mostly, that is. It was a year of great changes and new experiences. It was a year where I learnt a lot of things. Not only academically but also life-lessons, what it means to be an adult, and not forgetting spiritual lessons as well.

2008 was the year that I finished my tertiary education. Where I graduated to move on to the next phase of my life. It was also the year when I learnt the intricacies of human relationships and I'm still quite perplexed with it but hey, life goes on. You live, and you learn. It was a year of ups and downs. Of really being able to see God's hand moving and guiding me along the path in which I should take. It was a year of rekindling old friendships, of forging new ones. Of learning how important family is and how at the end of it all, family is really all you have.

And so now that 2009 is here, and the horizons are open to me once more. I can't help but wonder what lies ahead of me. As I push ahead to whatever it is I'm supposed to do, I can only hope and pray that the Lord will continue to guide and provide me strength to go through the year 2009.

Here's to a great 2009! :)

My Point Is...

...that life isn't as complicated as we make it out to be. Honestly most of the times when we accuse other people of being childish, immature, inconsiderate, unforgiving, aren't we guilty of the same crimes? Lets face, every one is the same. Everyone goes through the same problems and difficulties. We might like to think that our problems are new, that they are unique to us but they aren't. Everyone is the same. So in light of this what then can we do? Are we all destined to live our lives all emo and depressed all the time? Well no, part of the solution of anything is to understand the problem. I will list out 4 things that may help in identifying where problems lie and hopefully be able to give a kind of a general solution to them.

1. People are selfish

Yes they are. And yes you and I are. And no stop saying you're not selfish because you are period! Even Jesus Christ himself gave over briefly to His humanity while at the Mount of Olives and asked "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." (NIV Luke 22:42) Obviously though Him being the Saviour of the world and all that He submitted his will to the Father's and the rest as they say is His-story. So there, people are selfish. Get over it and stop whining that people are selfish. You can never change that fact. What you can change though is your reaction to it and your perception on it. Knowing that people are ultimately thinking only of themselves affords you the nice tool of being able to adjust your expectations so that you don't always feel you are short changed.

2. Communication is Key

And no I'm not just talking about the occasional (or frequent) chats on MSN or sms' or telephone calls asking about the other person's day or talking about your favourite subject like Macs or football or whatever. But communication is very important in any kind of relationship. I once attended a wedding ceremony where the pastors sermon was this very topic. His main points were that we should communicate often, communicate clearly, and communicate encouragingly. The first point I'm sure is self explanatory, one should be in the habit of communication in the first place. The second point talks about how in communication sometimes we take for granted that we know someone or that they mean it in a certain way when in actual fact we don't or we miss the point (this is especially true for communications between guys and girls). So in lieu of this we must always seek to clarify. Its better I think to be labelled "long-winded" or even" unromantic" rather than having an issue over some misunderstood communications. The third point is especially relevant especially in our Asian culture. Face it, we as human beings always tend to look at the negatives in any given circumstance. We tend to harp on a persons shortcomings rather than give praise where praise is due or encourage one another when they are down. We tend to be extremely judgmental and cynical to everything around us. You know its true, I know its true, the person down the street selling the newspaper knows its true. So why aren't we doing anything about it? Remember the Bible says "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measures you use, it will be measured to you." (NIV Matthew 7:1-2)

3. Remember the Golden Rule

No its not some mystical and unknowable thing. Its not some super spiritual, super impossible thing to do. It just says *DO* to others as you would have them do to you. (NIV Luke 6:31) I know a lot of times people use this verse to justify their feeling unfair or short changed but if you read the chunk of Scripture, take the whole thing in context you would realise that it doesn't say anything about getting back what you expect from doing unto others. No, it goes on to say "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that." (NIV Luke 6:32-33) and so on. So our job is to do. Not to expect good things done back to us because ultimately our reward is from heaven. So whenever we do something good, or treat someone nice we should not expect anything in return. I know its easier said than done but we should learn to move away from this Asian thinking of tit-for-tat or "You do something bad to me, I will avenge myself and do something bad to you" or "I do something good for you so in return you must do something good for me". We have to move away from thinking like that because ultimately people will disappoint us (refer to point number 1).

4. Running Away Never Helps

I know that a lot of us tend to think that if there is a problem the best thing to do is leave it alone and somehow things might get better. Well they don't. And things don't magically fix themselves. It takes time, effort and understanding on both sides to resolve issues. While I do agree that sometimes you do need to take a step back to look at the whole situation (as is when two party's are quarrelling or there has been a misunderstanding) ultimately there must be set in place an avenue whereby both party's can come back and take positive steps in reconciling or resolving those issues. Now I'm not taking the other extreme either or the "power through" method where you stick to each other even though you can't stand each other but a balance between the two must be struck. The thing to remember here is to keep lines of communication open (refer to point 2) and not force things. Its easy to get caught up in the moment and be all emotional and do stupid things but running away from the problem will not make it go away. It will come back to bite you in the ass someday.

So there you have it, life can be very simple. Its up to us whether we want to react in a way which creates all these difficult and complicated scenario's. At the end of the day, complications only lead to more complications. What does this all mean? It means we are human and we can feel like shit sometimes and God knows that. It all depends on whether we want to wallow in self-pity, feeling all pitiful and depressed and emo about it blaming other people for being "immature" or somehow ask God for the strength to carry on. To do things even when things seem impossible.

My Friend Says...

Love at first sight, break at first fight.

Interesting, discuss :)

Me

Have you ever got the feeling that something profound was going to happen in your life but you couldn't put your finger on it. You have this sense of excitement about something, but you don't really know about what exactly. Well, I have been having this feeling for awhile now. And its really weird. I mean the "anticipation is killing me" so to speak. I'm the type of person who doesn't really like surprises because I like my life to be orderly and predictable. Call me boring, but thats just who I am. I like to be able to see ahead and know for sure whats coming up ahead. But its just not possible at the moment. Well here's to more days of uncertainty and hopefully I will learn to trust in the Lord more.

My Views On Love

Well ok, so not actually my views. But what Paul had to say about love. And I think this is the standard to which we should all strive.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
[1 Corinthians 13:4-8]

This is the kind of love that I want to have. Be it to my family, friends, or even to someone special. This is how I want to love. It is not easy I know, but then again nothing in this life really is.

My Melancholy

The world looks bleak. Nuff' said

My Evil Twin

Ok, well maybe not evil twin as in evil twin but sometimes when you're all alone like in the car driving alone with nothing but your own thoughts running through your head don't you get like weird ideas on how to get back on people who annoy you or just piss you off? Maybe its just me, but I don't think so. Anyway, today as I was driving back from university I had a very wacky idea. (Wacky being a relative term because I realise that what is funny to me might not be to you) So anyway, it was already like 10pm as I was travelling along the MRR2 and I was in the "fast lane". Mind you traffic was quite heavy and so I couldn't really travel that fast and there along came this big-ish SUV which highlighted me asking me to move out of the way. Now at that particular moment, I was taking a bend and the lane next to me was already full of cars so I really couldn't do anything nor get out of the way, but this guy still kept high-beaming me. Then it struck me, I probably should install flood lights at the back of my car along with an LCD screen at my rear mirror and flash like "It isn't nice to high-beam people" in 3 different languages just so they get the message before flooding them with my flood lights :P Ooooh that would be fun :)

My Life... So Far...

Well lets see. To all those keeping score these past few days/months/years have been phenomenal for me. Lots of changes, lots of new stuff to cope with, new challenges, new experiences (not all good, mind you), new stresses, new people, new everything. So what's up you say? Well I don't know. Its just that as my time in university draws to a close, I can't help but to be circumspect and reflect on these past 3 years that I've spent in Nottingham. It has been a good solid 3 years I have to say, and the friendships and people I've met and got to know has really and truly made my life more interesting. Its just really sad that it is going to end really soon. Seems like just yesterday I stepped into the Semenyih Campus with hopes and dreams high only to face reality and my own short-comings.

So what has happened in this past 3 years? Lets see. I met some really nice people over at Nottingham whom I am proud to call my friends. I became a Mac user for real. (Yes yes before this I was just a Mac-User wannabe but now muahahaha I've loosed the shackles of Windows!) I moved church to Canaan Church (well ok, maybe not moved but sort of like officiated my relationship with them LOL). I have had amazing times with my best buds The Kash, The Chay, and The Maestro, The Noob, and all the other people over at Glo.

If you haven't noticed yet, yes I am in a very melancholic mood (translated: emo) so yeah. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what God has in store for me.

Ps: Is it just me or does the working world really scare the crap outta you >_<

My Reason For The Season

Well, of course Christmas time is a time filled with joy and laughter. Where we remember the birth of our dear saviour Jesus Christ. Where even the shopping malls are decked to the brim with Christmas deco, and are blaring Christmas carol's. Christmas is the one time where Christians can actually act all "Christian-y" and no one would care. Its the only time where even public places proclaim the Good News. But behind it all, I think the reason why people have become so deaf to it is because of all the commercialisation that's been going on. Seriously, the devil is one smart person. If you stop to think about it, Christmas is the one time where we can talk and sing openly about Jesus Christ and no one seems to mind. But what does "he" do? Well "he" just goes along and takes that from us. "He" says, I will commercialise and rob Christmas of its true meaning. I will put the focus on presents and gifts and the spirit of getting instead of the spirit of giving which is what God the Father did for us that fateful day. Now, I had not intended this post to be a rant about Christmas, but it ended up that way. Oh well, so now I ask you. What's your reason for the season?

My Identity Crisis

I think the title of my blog is really misleading. I mean, for the past like year or so I haven't really touched a PC and this is supposed to be a blog of my "Frustration/Disgruntleness". When I started I had these like really grand idea's of doing epic posts with PC vs. Mac or something to that effect but now, I have become complacent because Mac's are really that stable. I have had no really big problems on my Mac thus far and computing for me has been smooth sailing. So I ask myself, can I really qualify my blog title or should I change it. What say you, my faithful(?) readers? :P

Women Like Girly Men?

Well according to this article here that seems to be the case. It seems men with more feminine looking features are more committed and less likely to stray according to the article. It seems though, that whatever the features, women tended to like healthier looking faces i.e. better complexion etc... Well maybe I should start using more facial products and start taking better care of my face then haha.

Much ado about religion

What is it about Christianity that makes it special? What makes Christians differ from the rest of the world? Everyone else now seems to be using "Christian" means and methods of outreach/evangelism. We Christians are using the worlds methods for evangelism. In short, we're cross pollinating. So, any cynic can say that Christians don't hold an exclusive right to the truth, although we know we do. How do we, tell people we love about the gospel and not offend them? How do we spread the Good News without seeming close-minded and backward thinking? How do we make Biblical truths relevant to today's society?

Malaysian Aunties

Now here's a thought to ponder, one stupid auntie driving a big SUV type vehicle can block the whole road. Imagine 3 on the road...