Wednesday, March 30, 2011

CF Easter Celebration 2011: Are You Still Waiting?


Are you still waiting? That's a very good question!


That was the theme that Wendy Lee (the organsing chairperson) chose for the Easter Celebration Night held at IDK8 yesterday. A lot of people turned up for the event.


I went there at around 7.30pm after dinner. As I offered myself to do the ushering, I needed to be there one hour earlier. So my duty was to welcome those who came for the event and directed them to the registration counter handled by Carlie and Melody Hor. Of course, I have several helpers with me.


It was very quiet in the beginning as no one was seen around the area. But I carried on with my ushering. I guessed most of the people were still having dinner and probably they will arrive around 8.30pm. Some people turned up early and registered themselves first. But they were told that they will only be allowed to enter at 8.30pm. So some of them went somewhere else instead of waiting aimlessly there.


Approaching 8.30pm, as expected, more and more people came for the event. My friend Ms Elizabeth Lee, a lecturer at FBF faculty, came and dropped by for the event after she finished her class at around 8pm. At 8.30pm sharp, the participants were seen rushing into the lecture hall.


The event was chaired by two lovely girls Melody Leong and Gan Ziyin. They welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming. Then, they passed the time to Wendy to lead in worship. She only chose one song (Who Am I) for this event.


Then it's back to the MCs. Without wasting much time, they handed the stage to the drama team. Ada Yeoh was the director while Shu Jian narrated the story. And the plot was based on the story of the prodigal son found in the Bible.


The story began with a man (Steven Lew) in a wheelchair waiting every day at the window, wishing that his son would return to his side. His children came in and asked if he's still waiting for him. He replied yes and the eldest son Matthew (Roy Ong) commented about what his younger brother Max has done to the family. But the man still treat Max as his son.


The scene changed to a flashback of 10 years ago. Matthew was having a meal with his father when Max (Kelvin Wong) returned with injuries and bruises on his body. Matthew commented that it must be from some "stupid gang fights". Max begged his father to give him money as he was in debts again, owing them $20000. Max even said that his father would share half of his money when he's older. But Matthew strongly objected, saying that he's still behaving as a brat. But in the end, their father had no choice but to give in to Max's request. He wrote him a cheque with a large sum of money.


The next day, Max quickly disappeared from home. He squandered all his wealth into gambling, clubbing and even drugs. And soon he has spent all his money, but he needed more money to buy more drugs for himself. He made a return home.


While back at home, Max desperately search for money in the house. His sister and father noticed him and tried to stop him. They even grabbed him tight but Max struggled to break free from them. When they refused to let him go, Max grabbed a stick and hit his father until he broke one of his legs. He managed to escape.


Max has a little money with him. His friends who used to hang out with him soon left him one by one. Max became a lonely person and soon lived a poor life. He languished around the streets and even got his food from rubbish bins. Poor Max! He also experienced some kind of hallucination because he was too high from taking esctasy pills. Soon, his imagination vanished and he pointed to the sky and said "it's all your fault".


Two police officers who were on patrol finally tracked him and brought him to the police station. Max was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and sent to rehab centre after his jail sentence. Max suffered a lot and he was in desperate need of drugs. And there's one scene where demons came to taunt him. But Max remembered what his father always told about the Heavenly Father and cried out to God asking Him to save him from all the troubles he got himself into. He even promised that he will do good and spread the gospel.


Max was getting much better but soon he has forgotten his promise. And one fine day, he got to know that a pastor (Jensen) came to conduct Bible study and decided to check it out. When he got there, the pastor noticed him and asked him to join in. Max was reluctant at first but the pastor persuaded him to come.


Since then, he has been attending Bible studies. And one day he decided to consult the pastor. The pastor confessed that he was just like Max too at one point. But God saved his life and the pastor believed God will save Max too.


And soon Max was finally freed from the rehab centre. He wanted to get home to see his father but was hesitated to return home. He regretted all his past actions and feared that his family wouldn't forgive him. Anyway, he decided to go home.


Back at home, his father was still waiting for his son's return as usual. And suddenly he saw someone familiar and asked, "Max? Is that u?" Max was standing at a very far distance but he rushed to his father's side. But he was shocked that his father was sitting on a wheel chair and asked why. But the man replied that "it doesn't matter and the good thing is that u're finally came back, Max". Max asked for forgiveness from his father but his father has already forgiven. Max wondered "how could this be? After all that I done to u, u forgive me just like that?"


Max's father said he always told Max bedtime stories where he mentioned about Jesus Christ dies on the cross and forgives all those people who has sinned. In the end, the man sang the song So You Would Come and the rest of the cast soon joined him in singing the song, while Max continued crying. The drama came to an end with Steven getting up from the wheelchair and he bowed together with the drama team. Well done, peeps! U all did a splendid job!


Actually the whole drama was recorded and uploaded to YouTube by tyshu.



Then, Ziyin was back again and she introduced the speaker for the night and welcomed Pastor Nicky Ling of Praise Community Centre to share his sermon. Pastor Nicky has nothing much to share and he showed a video of who God really is. Then he received a token of appreciation from Mr Andrew, CF co-advisor. Oh, another advisor Bro Marn Foo was there too but not Mr & Mrs K. Then there was a dance performance by some of the dancers.


Then several annoucements were made by the MCs before refreshment time. All the students and lecturers were mingling around and chatting with one another while enjoying the sandwiches, hot dogs and the drinks. Crazy photo sessions even took place mostly outside the lecture hall while some photos were taken in IDK8. Several EL students were seen interviewing some people for their newspaper assignment. For more photos of this event, pls refer to the following albums by CF Kampar: Easter Celebration part 1 and part 2.


I was touched while watching the drama. I almost cried but managed to hold back my tears. The drama reminded me of the Easter drama which I was involved in Campus Connect 2 years ago. The storyline of the drama was exactly the same one from the Bible and slightly more simpler than the one mentioned above. I was taking up the role as the elder son to a rich tycoon (Richard) in Kampar that sells min bao kai (a famous delicacy in Kampar) while Eugene was the younger son. Shirley Lee was the narrator.


That's all I have to say about the CF Easter Celebration.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Another first time

Wow... I have another first-time experience in my life: being a secretary.

Yup, u heard that right. I become the secretary of a meeting, taking down minutes of what's going on during the meeting. It is actually one of my assignments this semester which is documentation of meetings. And this assignment is to be done in groups of 3 or 4.

I am in the same group with Eugene and Monica. And we're given the topic on Writing in Workplace. We discussed about our roles and it is supposed that Monica will be the secretary while GG and I are the ones presenting on our topic. But, I volunteer myself to be the secretary as I want to get experience of fitting in the shoes of a secretary. Both my group mates accepted my suggestion.

I worked on the memo of the meeting and first sent to Eugene for him to check if there's any problems. He said no problem after reviewing it and gave me the green light to send out the memo to the rest of my coursemates, which I did on the day I received his approval.

Our meeting is held during the Prof Writing lecture and it is a great one. Eugene and Monica present on their respective sections while I take note of the flow of the meeting and take down relevant notes. During the meeting, what I notice is that Eugene, as the President of our company Coveright Surfaces (M) Sdn Bhd, interacts well with the employees by asking them questions. Then he passes the time over to Monica for her section, followed by Q & A session. Meeting's over when there are no more questions from the floor.

(By the way, Eugene isn't the one who comes out of the name of our company, I do. He says it doesn't matter anyway, so I just simply choose one name for our company since I'm sending out the memo to my fellow classmates few days before the meeting.)

It is indeed a great experience for myself taking on the role of a secretary for the first time in my life. I don't have the chance to be appointed to the post in any of the clubs and socieities that I've joined both in secondary schools and also here in Utar. Since this is a golden opportunity, I just grab it and get some experience.

And no doubt, the post of a secretary is usually taken up by females. But this is not true all the time. Imagine a society or club which have only members of the male gender, who's gonna be the secretary in this case? Take for examples, the societies or clubs in my alma mater SMJK Sam Tet which is a school for boys. Girls can be spotted around the school but with only a small number of students. If that's the case, who's gonna be secretaries in situations like this? There aren't no girls to fit in those roles in this case (if you leave out those pursuing Form 6 in the school). So boys have to step in to take up the challenges.

Well, as for my case, I don't really have to be one cause Monica is in our group and she can handle that. But I dare to be different by choosing to be the secretary to break the chain of having all females as secretaries for this assignment as the rest of the groups are all females except ours. Another reason is that I find Monica is better at talking than writing while I'm the other way around. She managed to speak well in all her previous presentations as far as I notice, whereas for myself, sometimes I tend to get stuck when I'm unable to find the right words to get the meassge across. But if I'm well-prepared, I wouldn't face such a problem in most cases. As for writing, Monica's language is quite understandable but she needs to improve on her language as sometimes I don't really get the meaning of what she's writing. As for myself, I find that my language skills and vocabulary is quite good (not boasting here). So I think it's better for me to use my advantage to the fullest in this situation.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Passion - We Are Hungry

Verse 1
Lord, I want more of You
Living water rain down on me
Lord, I need more of You
Living breath of life come fill me up

Chorus
We are hungry, we are hungry
We are hungry for more of You
We are thristy, oh Jesus
We are thirsty for more of You

Verse 2
Lord, I want more of You
Holy Spirit rain down on me
Lord, I need more of You
Living breath of life come fill me up

Bridge
We lift our holy hands up
We want to touch You
We lift our voices higher
and higher and higher to You

Psalm 37:4

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (NIV 2011)

Thursday, March 10, 2011

CF Camp 2011

Yay!! The annual CF camp is here again. Here are the particulars of the camp:

Date 24-27 May 2011 (one week before May 2011 semester)
Venue Harvest Haven, Gopeng
Speaker Elder Jimmy Ho (pastor of Elim Gospel Hall)
Theme Alive in Christ
Fees RM140/=

I really excited about this camp cos it will be my last one before I graduate from Utar. The campsite is really nice as I have been there once three years ago during Campus Connect's S+URGE camp 2008. It'll be good to make a return there again to see if the place is different from the last time I was there. Oh yeah, this time, Foundations students will be joining us this time around as they've missed out the previous one due to last minute change of their schedule. And one more thing that brightens me is that it won't clash with any CGBC camps this time, unlike the past 2 years. But I'm not sure if there's any other events that will take place within that period, but hopefully there aren't. Anyway, I'm SERIOUSLY looking forward to this camp!!!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

A Tribute To All Women

Every year, March 8 marks the International Women's Day. Women have been playing significant roles in this world, be it in communities or at homes.In the modern era, women are no longer confined to just the home but they can go out to work or even become leaders. They prove that they can be as equal as their male counterpart.

Besides living their own lives, women are also important in the constitutions of families in which they have the role of mothers lying on their shoulders. Women enter the world of motherhood when they experience 9 months of pregnancies and later endure hardship when they're in labour. The reason why women have to deal with suffering and pain is because of Eve who was deceived and become a sinner. But women will be saved through chlidbearing--if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety (1 Timothy 2:14b-15). After giving birth, their next responsibilities is to take care of the new lives that they've brought into this world, raising them up and showering them with love and care.

Apart from that, women usually take care of the household in which they are responsible of making their residences a better place of living for the comfort of their respective families. Without their contributions, everywhere in the house would be in a total mess. Therefore, being a woman is not easy as you think. Therefore, a special day is dedicated to women in recognition of their tireless efforts and the significant roles they've played. I sincerely wish all the women around the world a Happy Women's Day!

In conjunction with the International Women's Day, there's one meaningful story which both the genders should read. The following story instils better understanding on women's role which is beneficial to both the males and the females. Enjoy reading! And have a good laugh, ladies!

A man was SICK and TIRED of going to work every day while his wife stayed at home. And he's further jealous of her as she receives a lot of Women's Day wishes and complements.

He wanted her to see what he went through. So he prayed:

"Dear Lord, I go to work every day and put in 8 hours while my wife merely stays at home. I want her to know what I go through. So, plase allow her body to switch with me for a day. Amen!"

*poof* God, in His infinite wisdom, granted the man's wish.

The next morning, sure enough, the man awoke as a woman while his spouse fitted into his body.


He arose and made breakfast for his mate. After his mate left for work, he awakened the kids

.

He dressed them up with their school uniforms and fed them breakfast.


He even packed their lunch and drove them to school.


Then he came home and sent some clothes for dry cleaning before dropping by the bank to make a deposit.

Afterwards, he went shopping for groceries.

Then he drove home to put away the groceries.

He settled the bills and balanced the cheque book.


He cleaned the cat's litterbox and bathed the dog.


Then, it was already one o'clock in the afternoon.

And he hurried to make the beds....

...do the laundry...


... vacuum, dust, sweep and mop the kitched floor.


At 2:30pm, he made his way to the school to pick up the kids and got into an argument with them while on the way home. Later, he prepared milk and cookies for tea time...


...and got the kids organised to do their homework.

Then, he set up the ironing board and watched TV while ironing.

At 4:30pm, he began peeling potatoes and washing vegetables for salad.

He rolled meatballs and snapped fresh beans for dinner.
At 7:00pm, his mate returned from work and had dinner with him and the children.

After dinner, he cleaned the kitchen and ran the dishwasher.


He then folded laundry, bathed the kids and put them to sleep.

At 11:00pm, he was exhausted. And though his daily chores weren't finished, he went to bed where he was expected to make love with his mate, which he managed to get through without any complaints.

The next morning, he awoke and immediately knelt by the bed and said:
"Lord, I don't know what I was thinking. I was so wrong to envy my wife for being able to stay at home all day. Please, Oh! Oh! Please let us trade back. Amen!"

The Lord, in His infinite wisdom, replied:
"My son, I feel that you have learnt your lesson and I will be happy to change things back to the way they were. But you'll have to wait NINE MONTHS though. You got pregnant last night."

Moral of the story
Do not ever underestimate women in any circumstances.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

EL Pre-Graduation Photoshoot

My fellow lovely classmates (clad in traditional attire) in their pre-graduation photoshoot. But where is me?

U would be wondering where am I. Well, speaking the truth, I am supposed to be with them but sadly, I'm not. The reason is because I've taken a break from my studies last year due to some personal reasons. I really wish that I could be with them and graduate together with them but my wish ain't gonna happen as I've just resumed my studies in Y3S1 while they're in the final semester (and they'll be handing in their hard-bound and comb-bound project soon).

Anyway, it's indeed my pleasure to accompany them along the journey from the very first semester in May 2008 until now. We have great time studying and having fellowship together. It is indeed a great honour to be in this wonderful and wacky EL group. Through thick and thin, we managed to overcome challenges and obstacles we face during our pursuit of a degree in English Language.

Thank you, Eugene & the 28 lovely girls! Meeting all 29 of u is indeed a blessing for myself as u all have different personalities of your own. Although we'll parting our separate ways after this semester, let's not forget our friendships with one another after graduation, even though I won't be graduating with u all.

I sincerely wish all 29 of u a happy graduation after this semester and all the best in all your future endeavours. Let's hope that we'll be able to meet up (and have gatherings if possible) again in the future. U're all about to finish this chapter of life and getting ready to move into another chapter of your lives. Hope u all have a bright future ahead & may God bless each and everyone of u! And Happy Graduation!

As for myself, if everything goes smoothly, I'll be graduating together with Daryl's batch in March 2012 (i.e one semester later than Eugene's group who will be having their convocation in August 2011). All I need to do now is to concentrate on my current semester and think about graduation (cos my turn will come) and career later. And for now, I'll be focusing on all my assignments this semester and also my FYP (which I've submitted my proposal few days ago).