Tales of my life

So it's been a while.. :)

Got to say I return home this time with a new breath of life, eager and expectant for what is to come. Looks like things are heading in the right direction. We'll see what happens in the next month or so. Slowly, I'm watching everything starting to unfold (EXCITING!)

Well New Zealand, it's been amazing to say the least. Yes, a big part of me still wants to stay and enjoy being there. Whenever I reflect on NZ, I just wanna go back and do lots of stuff. So much to do with so many cool people. I'm missing the tramps, road trips, fishing trips and most of all, all of the people to do them with (hint: come visit me in kuching!). But, that's ok. It's been crazy amazing but I have to close that chapter so that something even exceedingly more amazing could come into being..

Herm, I think I'll leave you with that for now. Better things are yet to come ;)

Some reflections over the past week

• Already halfway through the holiday..man its going by real quick
• I'm now a certified first aider!!
• There's some hurdles to go through with my final year project..Time to improvise and make things happen :) In the process of submitting a paper for a conference. Exciting!
• More project work to be done this week. Can't wait for Hamner on Thursday!
  
• Futsal tomorrow! Yeay!
• Paul and Tanya coming back on Thursday!
• Malam Malaysia last night was alot of fun.. Good work Gloria in making it happen! :)
• Played tennis today. First time since end of summer! Welcome good weather!!
• Life is exciting!! Loving every moment of it!! :D
• MERDEKA!! Happy Birthday Malaysia. May you grow into a great nation..
  

Was emailing this guy and sharing with him whats happening in my life. Here's some interesting stuff that he mentioned.

• Run towards something, not away from something.
• Girls.. they all get old! Find someone that will love you and be faithful. Don't find one at all until you're ready to be faithful to her!!

Just some gold nuggets of wisdom to share :)

Due to the number of response I get in my last post, I felt it's only right to write on what I've learn in my journey so far.

• Get to know the girl first and ask the BIG question when you know its not just infatuation and you are prepared to take the relationship up another level
• It comes down to a point where you just have to take the risk. Just a note for the girls out there, when a guy decides to pop the question, it takes tremendous courage. He is putting himself on the line..pride and dignity, something we value alot! (But obviously you are worth alot more than that, so we'll gladly take the risk ;) ) So even if the guy is rejected, kudos to him for taking that brave step.
  
• The guy has to always be one step ahead of the girl in the relationship. Take the lead and make her feel special :)
• Respect her as though you would respect a sister. Also, don't mess with her, she could be someone else wife in the future!
• Have a group of man that would pray for you as pursue that special one. (I'm glad there are plenty of guys I can talk to and be vulnerable with in this matter. Thanks for the support buddies!!)
• If she is uncomfortable with the whole thing and just wants to remain friends, respect that! Again.. RESPECT the girl!!
• Make sure the lady shares the same values. Very important that both have their priorities right.
  
• Pray, pray and pray more! Right now, I'm praying that that lady would grow closer to God and somehow thinks that I'm ridiculously good looking ;)
  

This post serves as a reminder to myself, to keep me in line with my belief and moral. You have total right to disagree. Post a comment and I would love to hear from you :) Thanks to those who responded to my last post. There are lots more points to consider in regarding to relationship, but these are just the few that I need to remind myself at this stage. So please don't take this as a blueprint on how to pursue a lady :)

Disclaimer: This post is just a current flow of thoughts. On another note, I feel the need to say that happiness doesn't come only from being in a boy-girl relationship.

So I was reading this post on How To Pursue A Young Lady. The question I have in mind is, when do you start pursuing? Is it when...

• When you think the girl is hot?
• When you know you want to be in a relationship with the girl?
• When you just want to get to know her a little better?
  
• When you feel that you enjoy spending time with her?
• When you think that marriage is a possibility? (I guess if you know for sure you do not want to marry the girl, why get into a relationship in the first place? AND I'm definitely not saying that you should only go into a relationship knowing you want to marry her!)

I guess it depends alot on the culture you are in as well. Then there is the question, how do you ask a girl out (just to get to know her better) without misleading her?

So girls out there, help me out here. At what stage do you want to know what the guy is feeling? When he is slightly interested, when he "loves" you or somewhere in the middle.

After church the other day, Josh came up to me and ask if I would like to be there for his baptism. It's difficult to express how I felt at that moment. Honored, joyful, happy and proud. Yeah, a mixture of those and alot more.

So it made me think, it doesn't take much to make me happy. Here's a few things that would make me smile..

• seeing friends I walk with grow to be a better person (what a great investment!!)
  
• a simple acknowledgment (recently a friend thanked me for all I've done..guess what, it made my day!!)
• hugs from friends that cares for me
  
• a smile from a friend sitting at the other side of the hall
• a word of encouragement

I need to stress that I don't do the stuff I do expecting people to repay me in some ways. Even if it goes unnoticed, it really doesn't matter.

So tomorrow we're driving out to the Waimakariri River(picture) and I get to witness a brother make a public proclamation of the love and saving grace of God and the life he has choose to live!

He told me,

My grace is enough; it's all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

It's amazing how refreshing just a few days in the midst of good company can do to you. After 2 hard tough weeks in uni, the weekend getaway was very much welcomed. I went to Kaikoura with mates from church for a Leadership Camp/hanging out time. Wasn't so much a camp as most of the time was just hang out time. I guess good leadership can only come from good relation between the leaders. Was great to strengthen relationship with the guys and also to get to know the new boys. Feeling so much more recharged and ready for the year ahead! I guess the picture below represents the weekend very well. Its the view right in front of the bach we stayed at. Simply amazing :)

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!! Don't drink too much but party hard!


Oh, by the way, two more days of work and then it's holiday for me!! Looking forward to a good break and being back in Christchurch! Also I received a great news yesterday. I might be able to work on something very close to my heart for my final year project. Continue to pray hard people. Help me make a difference. =)

I'm not a big fan of ballet and I won't pay to watch one (under normal circumstances), but this is worth checking out..



read the story as posted by sharon here

one single thought came to mind...how many times we give up when it seems too hard..seems so easy to indulge in self pity and let circumstances dictate how we live life..

time to dream big and reach for it..

you were meant to live for so much more

-Switchfoot

So I've been back from what could be the best weekend of my life! Yeah, thats a big call I know, and as I'm writing this entry, I struggle to find the right words to express myself. 4 days, over 40 bands, 9 stage and 25 000 people!! And thats the number of people camping over the weekend.. Thousands more came for the day for the main bands namely Switchfoot, Hillsongs United, Israel, Leigh Nash and a whole lot more.

Highlights of the festival for me :

• Imagine this..25 000 people all dancing and singing their hearts out.. wait, maybe you don't get me.. I mean EVERYONE, all the 25000 people there! At one point during one of the main sessions, I turned around and I dont see a single person standing still. Such a joyful atmosphere..
• Leigh Nash was just soooo lovely. For those who don't know her, she is the lead singer for Sixpence None The Richer (and she broke the news to us that the band is coming back together).
  
• It's amazing how all the bands are just so humble. Leigh Nash in particular kept saying thank you and you just know how much she means it. If she was 10 years younger, I'd ask her to marry me! lol.. Switchfoot are cool too, they're so passionate bout what they do.
• It was a good time catching up with friends from Christchurch. A total of 15 of them made the journey up here

I think the main highlight of the festival for me was going through the Mission Experience (something like One Life Experience).. It gave me a renewed sense of purpose.

Copying the Mastercard advert:

Parachute ticket: $140
Food over the weekend: $20
The joy and fun : Priceless.. :)

more pictures available here

So far 2008 looks like it’s going to be amazing. The fact that it could be my final year as a student adds lots of excitement and anticipation to it. I found myself asking this question.. What do I want to see happen this year? A great guy once said this, “to see extraordinary things happen, one have to do extraordinary things”. Can’t get the real quote, but you know what I mean :P I don’t believe life is meant to be ordinary. So why live a mundane routine life?? This year is going to be life changing with lots of big decision makings that would orchestrate my path for the next 3-5 years at least!!

So here are a few stuff that I want to see happen (call it my new year’s resolution if you like)..

• End uni with a bang! That means to do well in my studies..
• Build relationships that last. It’s sad (and also exciting at the same time) to know that after this year, most of my friends would go our separate ways. It’s been cool rubbing shoulders with you guys so let’s make this year a memorable one.
• Live a healthy life. That means working out, exercise and healthy eating. Note that that doesn’t mean in any way that I’m going on a diet. Hahaha, that would be the joke of the year if I ever do go on a diet. Sports, sports and lotsa sports
• Be more active in church. Had always wanted to get involve with sound and with Paul moving to Aussie, there’s no better time than now! Quite keen to see small group move up one level as well.
• Find my soulmate – haha, what a joke ;)

Nothing really extraordinary there just yet but check with me again at the end of the year. I’ll tell you the great things that took place ;)

Let me end with the quote thats on my page :

"The future belongs to those who believes in the beauty of their dreams"

I have a dream.. and it's purposeful and beautiful :) How bout you?

It's been a week now since I reached Tauranga. Other than the early morning starts, I guess everything has been pretty good. Been waking up at 7 every weekday now...Not that I could sleep in much longer anyways since sunrise is like 5.30.

Stuff I've done over the last week:

• been compiling a data book on a chemical filling facility. Darn thats a boring tedious job, been doing that for the last four days so today I decided I had enough of it. So today, I started going to the project manager after I did every section he told me to and ask for what should I do next on it. Haha, guess what.. After 3 or 4 rounds of that, he got quite sick of me coz he couldn't do his own work so he told me, "I guess theres really not much you can do on that anymore". Lol.. I was struggling to contain my joy and tried hard not to smile.. Hahaha.. Then I was told to check some calculation on a pressure vessel coz the number doesn't adds up and I manage to find whats wrong ;)
• Hang out at the beach with Tim after church on sunday. Man, the beach stretch for miles and what beautiful waves... Might learn how to surf if i get the chance
• Went to a small group. Quite cool bunch of people. Played touch with some of them today as well. Darn my fitness is real bad. Time to work on it

Stuff to look forward to

• BECA Christmas Function tomorrow! It's at the golf club at the Mount so should be quite posh. Free food...what more can a poor student ask for ;)
• Camping at coromandel? Well, dunno just yet. The small group i went to plan to go i think in 3 weeks time... We'll see how i connect with them over the next few weeks.
• BBQs..BBQs..BBQs..
• Probably gonna head to Auckland for one weekend soon..Would be good to visit some friends especially since its only 2.5 hours away

Well, till then... SEE YA!!

*darn..why did the bullets turn out so girly?!! Anyone know how to change that?
01/12 - bullets corrected.. thanks cy

Finally succumbing under pressure, Raymond has a blog now!!! How awesome is that? ;) So what do I do from here? What do I post? As you can see, I don’t really know what to do. The layout of the page itself is halfway done. Thought I try my hand on posting an entry as I’m not sure on how to further improve the layout of the page.

Few things to look forward to:

● BBQ tomorrow – more chance to hang out and chill with people I love!!

● Driving up to Tauranga on Tuesday!! Epic journey of more than 12 hours on the road and 3 hours on water..figure that out ;)

● First day at work on Friday!