Merdeka

It is on this faithful day – August 31st 1957 when Tunku Abdul Rahman bellowed out the word Merdeka three times from what I remember from the video they showed us without fail in primary school. And thus began Malaysia’s independence from colonial rule. So happy birthday Malaysia.

The word merdeka is kinda cool I reckon. It’s Malay for independence. It’s kinda like Mel Gibson as William Wallace in Braveheart yelling FREEDOM! But in my childish immaturity, upon my return to Malaysia after a brief spiel at primary school in Australia, it sounded like “My Dick ah!”

Them speech bubbles took freaking ages to make in Ms Paint and they just look like such a chopshop job but that just reflects how immature I can be… HAHA

In all seriousness I love Malaysia for what it is superficially worth at least. Don’t know too much to say anything deep about it. Especially in regards to its political climate which is probably the focus of many discussions when talking about Malaysia. It’s quite interesting though, especially from an expert raconteur such as Tan.

It is the home of all good food. Do not believe any Singaporeans that claim they have the better food. It’s only because they try to be all cool with this shop having the best bak kut teh, and that one with the hokkien mee and what not. Just eat in Malaysia, everything is bagus regardless where you go. And not to mention a lot more better value than Singapore. I remember the first time I had Prata in Singapore it was like a tiny piece that is probably the size of my palm for a dollar. In Malaysia (where it is correctly referred to as Canai)I was buying twice the size if not more of that for 50sen.

I will not apologise for the inevitable comparison to Singapore. Must be because they’re actually just a much better run country than Malaysia. I could have been born in Singapore for all I know, my mum was working in Singapore but living in Johor Bahru at the time she was pregnant with me.  But what do I care, I’m in Australia and loving it. So allow me this one time, to have the Merdeka to propagate the superiority of Malaysian food.

Filed under: Birthday, Life, Malaysia

Psalm 10

Psalm 10 is often considered to be an extension of Psalm 9. The idea behind this is that because both Psalm 9 and 10 are acrostic poems, and it doesn’t finish at Psalm 9, but rather continues on in Psalm 10. Not really important to what I want to write about anyway. Just wanted to say that because of that reason, I had every intention of posting Psalm 10 a few hours immediately after Psalm 9. But that didn’t happen. Oh well

Psalm 10 begins with the question that I’m sure we have all asked God at one point in time:

“‘Why are You doing nothing?”

In light of all the unfairness in the world. The evil that runs rampant. Diseases that plague the undeserving. Death and killings of the innocent. That question is the dealbreaker for many. I can understand if a non-Christian questions God like that. But is it right for us Christian to do it? That is, do we have the right to question God’s actions, or rather lack thereof? Or could that just be plain ignorance on my part, because I’m scared that it may make God ugly.

David asked it.

Well just because David did doesn’t mean we should. Or does it? After all he is human just like us. However David does come to a realisation about God’s seemingly nonchalant attitude towards the wicked of the world. He realises who God is, and what God can and will do in context of the unfair oppression. And because he is one of our forefathers who has dealt with this question, for me at least I can put this question to rest and know that I have no need to bring it up ever again and I hope that my mini exposition on this Psalm may do that for you to.

14 But You have seen, for You observe trouble and grief,
To repay it by Your hand.
The helpless commits himself to You;
You are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man;
Seek out his wickedness until You find none.
16 The LORD is King forever and ever;
The nations have perished out of His land.
17 LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble;
You will prepare their heart;
You will cause Your ear to hear,
18 To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
That the man of the earth may oppress no more. (NKJV)

Let’s start with who God is. It’s sort of interspersed among these few verses. But the main point is that God is the helper of the fatherless, and He is eternally King. However the only way any of us can come to this realisation of who God is, is by actually committing ourselves to Him and Him alone. Not only that, we have to admit that by our own strength we are actually helpless. Only with such humbleness can we approach God for help.

Only then, can we realise what God is capable of accomplishing. And that in God’s own way He will prepare the hearts of those who have humbled themselves before God, and God will hear their plea. And I think the beauty of why God has to prepare the hearts of the individual first is because He has a unique way of dealing which each individual’s allotment of injustice.

And I think that’s why David’s petition is not one of “KILL THEM ALL! ALL THOSE THIEVING, SLANDEROUS, MURDEROUS SCUMS!”. Rather David’s request is that the wicked’s arm be broken. This allows the wicked to have their chance of restoration, if only they would humble themselves too. Of course there will be consequences to their previous actions. However, God sovereign intention is for the wickedness in their hearts be completely removed. God will seek it all out till there’s none left.

Which ties in with v16 how “the nations have perished out of His land”. [I do apologise for jumping here and there.] To understand what I mean please read this: “A negative object lesson: Review of Cragie III” by Greg Boyd. However the main point if you really cannot be bothered reading it is, I quote the combination of Greg reviewing and quoting Cragie himself:

“According to Jesus,” he says, “the Kingdom was not to be a nation state, but a realm within men’s hearts” (80). It was Israel’s defeat in war that “terminated the outward form of the old covenant, the nation state…” and that forced people to “ponder the covenant and to seek a solution to the problem of man’s nature and the manner of God’s dealings with man” (80).

His land is really our heart, the nations representing the world. Reminds me of the “be in the world but not of it” concept found in John 17:15-16. Hence kingdom living is meant to reflect that. Thus I’ll turn the original question to God on to myself and you my dear reader, why are you doing nothing?

Should we not be doing something to expand God’s kingdom? To extinguish the worldly living from our inner beings and to live out His? We are after all an extension of God’s goodness, and cloaked in His righteousness. And God has enabled us with the authority, coupled with the discernment of the Holy Spirit to fulfil His works.

It’s not a matter of questioning why God isn’t doing anything. Maybe it’s just the simple matter of allowing God to prepare your heart to do something.

Filed under: God, Life, Psalm

Application

I admit is not something I have practiced in relation to the nuggets of truth I have discovered in my supposedly Psalm a day journey.

But that is not the point of this post. HAHA

What I’m really referring to is the process one undertakes when selling oneself for a job etc. Recently, I came across an a program by AusAid called Australian Youth Ambassador for Development (AYAD). Visit the link for more info, but basically they deploy Australian volunteers throughout Asia in an effort to foster relationships and exchange skills and knowledge for the betterment of the relevant nation. All that sounded cool when I came across it.

There was an information session last night to give potential applicants a better insight into the going ons of it. But wasn’t any more informative than the website. Nonetheless, the assignments for this current intake is now live for me to choose from. And as expected, I will need to fill out an application form.

What has taken me by surprise is that, the application form is massive! It is meticulously detailed. I dare say it’s even more so than the ASIO (or was it ASIS… can’t remember ) application form when I had an attempt at applying for a job there last year. The only difference between last year and this year is that, I should be better prepared to fill out the application forms and source the appropriate attachments. I did the ASIO application probably about 1-2 days before it was due and had to platinum express post it to guarantee it arrived on the due date.

Anyway, It’s crazy that a person so young like me (nearly 21… hint hint) would have enough experience to sell himself. Be it professionally, or voluntarily. I am definitely grateful for the few mission trips I’ve been on that has been extremely beneficial, however, some of the experience may be irrelevant. I hate the vicious cycle of needing previous experience to gain experience, and thus wanting experience to attain experience so that when you do need to demonstrate experience you have the experience. HAHA

I heard a story of a friend’s friend who is an extremely capable and intelligent person. You have to be if you went straight into the Psychology masters program at UWA after graduating with top of the class honours. The story is that she needs to get work placement or something like that to gain experience, but the psychology program in Australia is so messed up, she needs previous experience to gain entry into the relevant organisations for placements etc. Maybe it’s just the psychology course and it’s skill/career/professional/education tree that’s extremely messed up.

If you’re interested and want to study to be a psychologist, you sure as hell better be prepared for the craziest ride of your life that might ultimately lead you nowhere. Which means you have to constantly try and look for other avenues to where you can apply yourself to.

If only life was an application. I could have Ctrl-Alt-Del and end process.

Filed under: Uncategorized

T’ was Lost

Now found.

Well not quite amazing grace and Christiany this post will be.

Rather it serves to highlight the state of my thoughts which has manifested itself in the way I organise and keep track of my things.

As I grow up, I collect more and more stuff. Being the natural junk rat I am, it is invariable that my room reflects that.  A lot of junk. And it does not help that I naturally hate organisation and that I am very comfortable in the fact that I am able to keep a mental snapshot of all my stuff and where I last placed it or where it should be despite the mess.

Well in the past year, that skill of mine has degraded. Not just a bit, but significantly. Thus the formula could be said that with age the amount of stuff I have is inversely proportional to my ability to recall where all my stuff are.

Anyway the point I’m trying to make here is that over the past few months I’ve lost some stuff which I place value in despite knowing that it’s materialistic, and holds no real sentimental value to me at all. Maybe just a bit. Namely, the few things are my Halo 2 soundtrack, my coin purse, a pair of really comfortable black socks, my glasses and a red velvet Swatch watch.

I’ve pretty much just stop caring about it. Then as time went on, I find one item at a time to my pleasant surprise. And today was no exception. I found my pair of glasses! Albeit with a broke err side thing, dunno what they’re called? Arm maybe? Yerh, found it at the bottom of the passenger seat of my car today when I finally decided to clean out the interior of it! It wouldn’t have been broken if I removed the set of ankle weights that was rolling around there too. Oh well. I might just be able to fix it with enough care and expertise.

But right now I’m just waiting for my red velvet Swatch watch to appear. The last time I lost it was because Alyssa my dear sister had it misplaced in a bag of hers. But this time she claimed she didn’t take it. I really hope this watch isn’t lost cause it’s so pretty! No real point to this post though. But let’s hope that all that is lost shall be found!

Filed under: Uncategorized

Amy Freakhog Lee

It was her birthday yesterday.

She is now 20.

No longer a teen.

I got a special mention on her blog for reminding her about that fact on the eve of her birthday.

And because she is one of the minority that updates her blog semi-regularly among a minority of friends that blog, she deserves a whole post dedicated to her and her imaginary friend.

Her imaginary friend is red and laughs a lot.

Her imaginary friend has been embodied by a toy called TMX Elmo.

I was and still am insanely jealous of her when she received a TMX Elmo.

I remember watching leaked videos of TMX Elmo before it was released and was immediately fixated by it’s incessant laughter and ability to literally ROFL.

Would have bought one when it was released had I had the cash.

If I had bought one,  I might have been Amy’s best friend.

Well… rather she might have used me to get to TMX Elmo.

So I’m glad I didn’t get one, because I’m cooler than Elmo, and I don’t like being used.

But I doubt Amy would misuse and abuse her endearing charm to pry what may have been my TMX Elmo out of my clutches to satiate her Elmo appetite.

I sincerely do hope that Amy and I share something more than a mutual love for Elmo.

At least I think so anyway.

Sadly, I cannot love Elmo the way Amy does.

Maybe I should render my Chicken Dance Elmo to her.

I think I’ve talked more about Elmo than Amy.

Missing the point entirely.

Which is sad, cause it’s impossible to miss Amy.

Because it’s Amy Freaking Lee.

Well on my phone it’s Freakhog, because Sony Ericsson’s predictive text function generates freakhog when you type freaking.

And Amy just got a spanking new Sony Ericsson for her birthday.

Oh yes, I forgot.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY LEE!

Filed under: Birthday, Friends