Flee......!

I've heard it many many times before. People always tell me "Go overseas to study, there's no future in Malaysia". Well guess what? I found my future. Right here, at home.

Also, whenever something bad happens (such as the recent religious issue), friends will be saying "I think it's time to leave Malaysia".

But I was thinking, why should I? Why should I leave HOME? Wouldn't that be a cowardly thing to do? And what if the place I fled to have more trouble? I flee AGAIN?! I'll end up running away from problems all my life.

To me, if Malaysia's in trouble, all the more I must stay. Even if I can't physically lift a finger, I can do the best thing there is.. pray. And I know, God will deal with the rest. This is my home, and I'm staying put. Though I can't foresee what's going to happen next, but I know that things are going to be better. Nothing happens without a reason... perhaps in the wake of the disaster, a new hope will arise.

A different kind of music

I know usually when people think of Christian music, they think of hymns, boring slow songs, some choir. Recently, I found certain musicians that reminded me of the ones in mainstream. Actually, these Christian musicians are MUCH better because.. well, they're just more talented and their lyrics make more sense. 

B. Reith




 To me, he sounds like Jason Mraz. Except that Jason Mraz does not rap as well as he does (I am a big fan of Jason Mraz btw). Not every song of B. Reith's is Christian-ish, but he's :
good to listen to..




Jonny Diaz

Now this guy, reminds me of Jack Johnson-Jason Mraz. I love them both, and when I heard Jonny's music, I was like.. man, this is my kind of music! And it's all for the Lord as well, so it's even better :) Take a listen :



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Last but definitely not least.............

Coffey Anderson

This guy is so cool! He takes mainstream songs and does a "Christ mix" i.e. changes the lyrics. He kinda looks like Chris Brown (Coffey is better looking though) , but more than that, he's better than Chris Brown! And not to mention... his name (Haahaha reminds me of my fav drink). So here's his song.. Umbrella (Christ mix)



so that's what I've been listening to.. it's good to have a break from crappy mainstream music, and once in awhile listen to music that is nice to listen to and yet uplifting. :) Btw, I had a super busy week, will probably post about that soon.. I decided to do this first since I was so excited over it. HAHA.

In the midst of it all..

If you're a Malaysian, you probably heard of the news of churches being burned down. In fact I think the news has gone international..

When I first heard of the news, I was shocked, a little doubtful, and a whole lot fearful. But then I thought.. my God is the God of the Universe, He is the King of the Ages, and He is the Lord of lords. He will prevail.

Sure, I feel helpless. Sure, I feel a little fearful at times. But I also know that no harm and no evil and come upon me, nor on my family. And the Prince of Peace Himself will turn things around and make something good come out of this all. Buildings were destroyed, but as the people turn to the Lord, faith will be built up. :)

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." - Isaiah 41:10

Hello 2010!

What can I say, 2009 had been a blessed year. Well, my whole life has been blessed actually. For someone who goes day by day not knowing and not planing for the future, I have come really far! And yet again, I know, I have been named Grace for a reason. :) 2009 had been a year full of ups and downs, but I am glad I've passed that way.

The same time last year, I did not know what I was going to do, and where I was heading (at that time i only held a part time job). This year, I feel the same way. Yes, I'm doing my masters. Yes, I'm actually pressured to finish (with a scholarship and a promise my supervisor made to the Ministry of Higher Education, I HAVE to finish). But thoughts have run through my mind lately.  what if I don't have the ability to complete what I've started? what if I am not focused enough?

But then.. I will keep pressing forward. I don't know where I'm going, neither do I know if I have the strength to finish this journey. And that's why, I need the Lord. By His strength and by His wisdom, I will finish. And I will do it better than I would if I do this alone.

2010. A year that's going to be full of GRACE :) For His grace is sufficient for me.

Happy new year!

The crime that shook my world

 http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Crime/Story/A1Story20091228-188335.html

I always wondered how it is to have someone I know be on national news. It did happen, but honestly, not the way I'd expected to be. My hairdresser TJ as we all call him, died on Saturday. Though the rule it out to be an accident, I still think there's something really suspicious about it. And where is his car? It's yet to be found. Of course, maybe the ones who were with him might had panic and took his car and ran, but I still think it's more than meets the eye (I guess that might be the cause of CSI overdose). Even though I've watched many real crime stories on tv and as much for being an avid crime stories fan, I am still shook by what took place. I wanted to do my work undisturbed yesterday, but I guess I was so shaken up by the whole thing, I couldn't even concentrate. 

Mom and I were talking about how TJ has lost his touch (though still swift, he no longer has much of a flair), and plus, he gets engrossed in watching tv while cutting our hair! But we just laughed at how funny he looked when he was engrossed and still go back for our haircuts.


I was really thinking of switching hairdresser for awhile, since I wasn't quite as happy with his styling. But now, even if I wanted TJ to cut my hair, it will never be possible anymore. So I'm glad that I went back for the last haircut. I guess I never really gave TJ a second thought. He was just this guy whom I get my haircut from regularly. This guy who knew exactly how we wanted our hair to be cut, and knew that my mom would only want to use her own comb. But somehow, since his demise, I've been thinking. Maybe I should have talked to him more, maybe I should have prayed for him (maybe then this wouldn't have happened).The usual shoulda coulda woulda. This teaches me to never take anyone for granted, even if they're not a big part of my life.

And like they always do when someone passes, the last thing he said to me was  " Merry Christmas" (ironically, Christmas was about the time he left this world).

RIP TJ. Gonna miss your haircuts.

Lost

I was so lost recently. First, I got lost in terms of work. After a month of not being able to meet with my supervisor, I sorta wondered what to do and how to progress... now that's the worst. Wanting very much to do some work (I know, Grace and work are not synonymous) but didn't know what to do.. all I could do was wait till my supervisor came back. That's one..

If that wasn't enough, I went to China again. I hate China (I know 'hate' is a tough word, but really.. I'm not going to mince my words here). I don't care what people think of me.. yes, my ancestors are from there, but it's them who are from there.. not me! Anyway, here's why I hate going to China (Shanghai especially):

1. Lost in translation - they can't understand me, I can't understand them. I'm feel like a complete illiterate when I'm there, and therefore, that's a whole big problem when going and getting to places. (They couldn't even understand us when we said Carrefour!)

2. People are uncivilized - I know how Shanghai got its reputation as a metropolitan city, but the people? civilized is not what I'd use to describe the people there:

• They spit all over the place 
• their toilets are dirtier than Malaysia's (that's REALLY bad). And some of them don't even shut the door when doing their "thing" (surprise!)
  
• they shout at you for no reason, and ruin your perfectly chirpy mood. Actually, they shout all the time. Their "joking tone" and "arguing tone" sound the same. Trust me, I've tried analysing their talk the whole trip (and thus eavesdropping). 
• the ULTIMATE : They can't follow traffic rules (i.e.they misinterpret traffic lights..  red=green, green=green, yellow= green.. hahahah), they go counter traffic, they honk when it's in fact their fault, and they drive as if it's some emergency. That's the experience I got from sitting multiple taxis. REALLY scary.

3. The food is bad -  When I thought of going to China, I thought to myself "OH NO. THE FOOD SUCKS". Shanghai wasn't as bad as Beijing, but I think I won't be able to survive their food in the long run. Their milk tastes weird, their plain "white" bread is sweet, their dishes are very salty and very oily.
But hey, their white rice is nice though, and I love their hawthorn berry dipped in sugar syrup (now THAT I can eat everyday ;)  ). Oh, and I found a pancake that somehow looked and tasted like roti canai, I found out  that they copied that from Taiwan, but I'd bet if you trace it down.. the origin would be from Malaysia! Hehe, but it made me miss home even more!

4. Facebook - I was happy to know that my hotel had free internet. But guess what?! China banned Facebook! And Twitter! I found out that it was due to some riot, but I didn't bother to find out more. Now THAT is being really disconnected and lost!

Anyway, to top it all off... I lost my digital camera. Well, not mine, it belongs to my family, but I definitely had something to do with it. And the worst thing? I can't even remember what happened! :(
**Update: at least we got back some pay-out from the travel insurance :) it makes it a little better.


So, I know what you're thinking. All my complaints about China? Is Malaysia that perfect? I'm not saying that. Malaysia is not perfect, but it's my home. Perhaps I'm the type of person who no matter where I go, I will still think of my perfectly imperfect Malaysia. I belong here, and so it's here that I'm staying :)

Facebook accounts and names

I would have to admit that even though there's much hype surrounding Facebook (aka FB), it can't hold much of my attention these days. Sure, I have stuff to do, but when I have a little time on my hands, FB is no longer my idea of leisure. However, whenever I am on FB, I found out that there is a fun thing to do. And no, it's not the various game applications that FB has to offer, but rather.. it has to do with real people, and real names. Yes. In awhile, you'd realize that however weird those names are, people have adopted them as their English names. And note that I only deal with English names (which strangely is somehow always attached to a Chinese surname). Not of other languages (because I can't speak much of any other language).

With that silly, rather boring intro.. I now present to you names that I found amusing/silly/funny (you'd have the task of figuring out which name belongs to which category).

Firstly, those of the food family...


Milk Lin
Lollipop Tan
Porridge Chew
Orange Cham
Raisin Wu
Tay Melon
Pineapple Ng


I know you might be hungry by now, but I'm not done yet! And now, for those of the animal kingdom..

Bunny Yo
Sheep Yang
Pony Wu

And well.. everything else...

Wood Ding
Focus Wu (probably was distracted all the time...like me)
Light Wang
Relex Eng (did he really mean relax or rolex?)
Accept Zhang
Petty Lin (I think she meant.. pRetty)
Decade Loh
Flame Ng
Boredchild Lek

These are REAL names. Check it up on FB if you don't believe me :p I actually just wanted to put their first names but thought it won't be believable. Anyway, this is suppose to be a private blog so I guess I'm kinda almost free to say whatever I want.. hehe.So next time you're bored.. do what I do, go to FB fan pages (especially those which will appeal to Chinese teenagers), and take a look.. you'd be amazed :)