Anak TEE

Okay we have started a page called "Anak TEE", on this auspicious day of the Advent!
Originally we were going to call it - Anak TEE-iri. In our National Language it is supposed to mean 'step-child'. Long story as to how it came about! If full time students have their grouses of pastoring, mentoring etc... can you imagine what happens to us part-timers and how we feel!

Guess we are more focused! Most of us are already serving in various ministries, and just want to enhance our ability to do God's work. It does not matter whether our original objective for attempting any TEE is 'a calling'. After the required hours of lectures, we all return to our own homes, churches, work and families. We are all VERY MUCH ALONE.

Hence Anak TEE is a place to simply connect and share our notes, references, books and even our trial and tribulations. Think we could do away with the term of mentoring etc.... But we do really need our fellow students to edge and encourage one another.

After going through the grind, I can testify that it is only through the knowledge of His Word, do we really know our God. We need to digest His Word ie think, question and mull over what we read, then regurgitate and express?. Believe me you, while you mull over what you have read, the Holy Spirit will speak to you.

We will see how the response will be like! God-willing, we hope to encourage and guide our fellow anaks to finish their studies.

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Mulan

The first big screen, traditionally costumed movie 花木蘭 (Hua Mu Lan) have had left a life-long impression on me.

She was the heroine that I would like to grow up to be. I have had always tried to emulate her. Consciously or unconsciously, it provided the 'spiritual strength'. At my lowest ebb, I remember how she rose above great difficulty, in the battle field. At my high, I am 'Hua Mu Lan', taking on my male colleagues, on equal grounds, in their domain. At a cross road, it is to choose 'family' verses personal glory!

My grandmother, or is it my parents, took me to watch the movie at least three decades ago. Since then Disney has produced two carton version. It was great. But it did not provide the 'human' face or connection, hence reality. I am so glad it is now re-made again. I hope it will provide the same inspiration to many more generations of females!

History: The time setting of the story is uncertain. The earliest accounts of the legend state that she lived during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). Apparently the story was expanded into a novel during the late Ming Dynasty (1386-1644). Over time, the story of Hua Mulan rose in popularity as a folk tale among the Chinese people on the same level as the 'Butterfly Lovers'.

Go bring your daughters and even wives to see it!
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2012 - another aspect....

I recently heard another view of 2012!

Do you know why so many animals needed to be brought into the ship? It is to ensure that there is enough food for the Chinese! Otherwise the Chinese will starting eating the rest of the two legged animals in the 'ship', when the four-legged ones run out!

Quite a possible thought! Especially when one is innundated by the recent documentaries on how the sharks in the world are being depleted, by the desire for Shark's fin soup!

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2012 - the celebration

Had a dinner last night! Good to catch up! We are now on the verge to moving on to the next project in our lives! Something to look towards!

Then arriving home, I heard that a friend died in Hong Kong last night. First he was hospitalised, discharged and then found motionless in bed, in a hotel, by the concierge, a few days later; all within a week!

Then this morning the papers reported that H1N1 has now mutated in the cold weather. There were four victims to date. Whether my friend is one of them, we have yet to know!

It does hit a cord. Went through almost the same thing; even with the concierge calling to check if I need room service as I did not leave room for two days!

Yes, I have been blessed that the weather held out till I left. It was hovering around 23-26 degrees Centigrade; although Beijing was hit by snow storm. The weather has plummeted since; hovering at 10 degrees in the day. It is also fortunate too, that this mutation have had not occurred two weeks ago. The thousands of exhibitors and visitors were from all over the world, literally. We would all have been carriers! Imagine, as I write, now, hardly three weeks later, 2012 would have had arrived at our shores.

So, do we really need to worry about 2012? There are more pressing and real issues at hand which would have brought the same consequences.

Vanity! Vanity! All is vanity! We know this well from Ecclesiastes! Why worry about the future if we cannot appreciate the present! Why worry whether we do not want to be like this or like that; or registered with this institution or that; or this church belongs to this clan or that.

Please, let us focus on and celebrate, the Blessings and the Life, we currently have at hand!

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2012 the movie

Latest show and talk in town.

Well our club helped organized a charity film premier. As it was a two and a half hour block-buster, it has been quite successful in the fund-raising aspect. None of us have tickets to spare, as it was sold and re-sold for charity!

The movie, 2012, of course, has renewed talks of End times; especially among the adults, religious or otherwise. I remember I was fearful when 1984 was approaching. That's because I read George Orwell's 1984 - which speaks of a thoughtless, conforming society! Total contrast with 2012 - total annihilation of the world through 'natural causes'; latter being highly contributed by man though!

However, I would like to register how my fourteen year old nephew's take on the movie. When asked what he thinks about the movie - he said it is about Noah's Ark.

Great! So - 2012 is the next generations modern interpretation of Biblical stories! Much like we read DC comics - Danny and Beano, they read Mangga comics and watch anime films!

I am glad that in his youth and innocence, he has not realized the issue of how the ice-cap is melting and the world will probably go through another ice-age. I am also glad that his Sunday School teacher has probably not told him anything about End-times! If the scientists are correct, it will probably be during his life-time. However, if he does not know about that, it could also mean that we, the adults, have failed to teach him much about greening the world.

But this is another and more positive take on the movie:-
Let us interpret 2012 as a "celebration of our young ones' innocence and youth"!

Let them, or at least my nephew, retain his innocence for as long as he can.

Let his priority be - how to get a girlfriend; his favorite song being - 'my first kiss' (or something to that effect)!.

Let us, the adults, worry about another 'End Times'!

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compartmentalizing.......

I have downloaded the necessary documents for theology.

I have to get people to sign and write 'nice' things about me in order to go for further studies. At this level, it would have had to be an educational pursuit and not so much of a pastoral evaluation! Correct?

Of course, I said that with sarcasm! I could understand that we need to weed out the tares and check if one is a 'qualified' wheat for the Course. No doubt, one could get a 'pseudo' certificate. But hei, we are talking about a Certificate, from a respectable institution and highly qualified lecturers!

So tell me, how can I not 'compartmentalize'? Mind you it is not just in Paul's world, but within our Christian Society, that it would be necessary! It is necessary because we have to live within the System; so we abide!

I have oft been called a 'rebel'. But no, it is not a rebel per-se, but a dangerous thinker! When one thinks, one questions! Take for example, this statement from an admired knight - 'I am not against you, neither do I agree with you'.

Only problem with that statement is - one will never be viewed as a true blue blooded team-player! Why? because one is only luke warm. Even Jesus said that "if you are even luke warm towards me, I will deny you in front of my Father".
So if one is viewed as such, forget about trying to climb the ladder, within or without Paul's world.

So tell me, how do we not compartmentalize, eh?
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mild concussion..

Right I am playing catch up!

I just found out that we will be having a public holiday on and each Friday from next week to the 1st of January 2010 (except for the 4th of December). The last time it happened in my working life, is because I need to clear my Annual Leave.

Imagine that - a long weekend for the rest of the year! I really need that. Though there is a lot of work like the budget to be done! Yes, I am just starting. Then again, I could take a rather flippant attitude of 'Hallo it is just figures'! Like the Chinese man said 'better for the sky to count than man'.

But I really do need the long weekends! I fainted or should I say I lost consciousness in the toilet of the plane on the way to Hong Kong. Yes, I agree it could well be because I was really trying to do a lot, as I will be away for more than a week. I flew on a Saturday. In the five days before, I was trying to do two weeks work in one!!

Then the fainting could be a fault of a turbulence. I definitely hit against the door and lost consciousness! In fact there was a distinct mark of a door knob on my cheek and the pattern of the carpet on my forehead. Apparently some one heard the fall. I woke up to some one knocking on the door. When I answered, I was left alone. Imagine being wedged between the door and the toilet seat. Must have fallen like a bag of potatoes. Anyway I did managed to extradite myself; walked to my seat.

The fuss and real consequence came about when I woke up from a nap and threw up. Despite the number of miles I have flown, I have never needed to use the 'bag'. Take my advise, learn how to open it before you need to use it. It was a miracle that I managed to throw most of the breakfast into the bag. For that matter, I seriously think that all passengers should actually check or actually use it and not assume that there is a life-jacket under the seat, until an emergency!

Now the real story begins! I had a lot of attention - including three doctors who were on board. Apparently I could be having a mild concussion! Incidentally, I now know that the worst and most silly thing to do was to ask a 'patient' how and whether they are alright. It so happened that there was a flight operations executive on board. Yes he was concerned, asking loads of question. Got me a bit irritated. I turn around and told him that he should know better what to do as he would have had more experiences with cases like mine and would like to know my rights as a passenger ie to sue MAS or what. Yes, I had the presence of mind to ask if I could sue - always the rebel!

Well, I was given a ride on the wheelchair to the airport doctor. It was rather embarassing as the lady who pushed me was much smaller in size! Glad I did take the ride cause my head was spinning looking at the carousel for my luggage. Oh, though one may not be too conscious, but there I was wheeled through a special immigration check.

So the airport doctor thinks I should have Xrays done at the local hospital.

Oh! I have to record this. Not sure whether it is my concussion; but I thought the doctor's name was Greek; Cause his name was very wriggly! Apparently Doc said he is from Adelaide and not Australian! Suppose it is true that Adelaide-ians are more refined with all those vineyards around??? See the irony?

The next big excitement is - I was taken to the Princess Margaret Hospital in an ambulance. Oh I did have the presence of mind to ask the ambulence personnel to take a picture of me in the ambulance, because I need to blog it.

After four Xrays and a ecg, I was declared fit. I refused a blood test as it is already 4pm. That would mean my dear friend Daisy Wong would have to wait for another four hours. Daisy was already with me from 2pm. Also I was worried I would be left without a hotel room. Hotel room would be difficult to find during a Convention.

Cost of hospital bill was HK$570. This was as compared to the Airport Doctors bill of HK$400.00. Was told by the rest of the Honkees that I should have taken the blood test for two reasons. One is that the bill is so cheap; apparently the ecg itself would have cost HK$1000.00. The other is that they have had paid so much through various taxes; at least a friend benefited!

Well the rest of the story is - I slept through the weekend literally. Just before the I fell asleep, I messaged my siblings. I slept through the phone calls and that caused a worried furore back in Malaysia.

But the Lord was with me! Managed to get through the rest of the week! Went to work and picked up some necessities!

Moral of the story? That's it! Will take things easy! Whatever is in store, my priority is to learn more of my God. I will be doing Theology!
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so much happenings.....

Well, I still have no computer at home. However, it just means that my virtual farming is now done at work! But there is good in having no electronics at home. Managed to study for two Greek tests! Probably won't get an apple, but should at least give a better average than the first three - which was disgraceful.

I just received the quotation of a lenovo, hardware itself cost four grand; inclusive of the other legal copies, final amount is seven grand. A hp is a couple of hundred cheaper. Perhaps a alcheapo nameless taiwanese brand should suffice!

What else? Plenty has happened. Where do we start? Some we can't talk about! Some we don't want to talk about! Some are just too silly to even consider talking about it.
Yes, it has bothered me for a while. End of the day, I am just amazed at how naive we could possibly be.

All things considered, I really believed that most of the happenings and consequences that we encountered could be avoided if we have been a bit more discerning, smart and even be a bit more open about things.

Being a bit more open about things mean - sharing with some one who will probably give another point of view. I mean, if we do fall ill and the doctor say you have developed cancer. Honestly even if we pray about it, the chances are to go to another doctor for second opinion.

But what if it is something which is related to our ego or our principles? So we adopt a stringent life style, keeping away from the vices! Some even keep away from people. But we are not forest monks. We can't even be concrete monks. Not sharing means we are not honest about ourselves.

We can be worried and hide our weaknesses and failings from our fellow beings. But we can't hide from our God you know. Then the other question is - if we can't be honest about ourselves with our fellow sinners, how could we ever pretend to be honest with God?

Do we not know that we are no where near 'holier than thou' just by having a stringent life-style. There is still a black spot in our heart, to which we consciously do not want to face or accept. We can't even pity ourselves for another's treatment of us. To what depth do we know the meaning of the hymn 'I surrender all'?

But we cannot say the above to one who really needs to hear! Why? because we have ears we don't hear with. Instead we adopt a defense - a wall we hide behind.

I seriously believe that the thicker the wall, the harder the trials and tribulations we will have to face. Like a parent, sometimes, we just need to watch the child totter and fall. We can't even pick them up as the child need to learn by themselves how to get up from a fall and take the next step.

All part of growing up - whether as a human or a christian!
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trying too hard....

So we have been meeting yearly...

So we see one another age physically .... develop idoisyncrasies... but there should be a limit... and yet one cannot but must hold one's silence...

First - dinner at this place which was owned by a few partners - some where at Kung U Fong, some where in Central. Don't even know the name of restuarants! Partners must have travelled aroung Asia. We had a fried fish, which was really cheap when we were young! Then we had a version of fishcake with salted fish! To finish we had kei-chee ice cream with some fruit which I do not know of. All in all we had something like 18 dishes; but such small portions so we were relatively full. It was not a big deal, at least to me, as I have tasted the original in its own country. The only memorable and mentionable is the pigeon smoked in a mixed variety of chinese tea, which was the most impressive.

But the sad thing is - trying to equate a wine with each dish! That was a bit sad! It would be very condescending if I say:-
one do not need to put on airs or adopt a fascade - to make sense of life or as an alternative to the pressures of the current life.

We just need to have a 'quiet confidence, resting in the Lord'.
Maybe I am the lucky one! Neither did I try to evangelise! Just a little prayer of thanks to my God!

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whew......

okay, it is nearly ten days since I wrote. Loads have happened.

First we have had our annual dinner! Then it's mid Nov. What is done for the year is done! If one had not reached the target, it is too late! But it does not stop some from trying to return, close and cut loss as much as possible.

For me:-
a. I have agreed to take some one on! Yes, if we do not put ourselves in situations, we will never learn - for better or worse! (This is as opposed to trying to stumble another - if we put them in a situation)!

b. I think I have had taken too much on my hands! Thought I was still that young! Is mentally but evidentally not physically anymore.

c. So I am back in my annual Hong Kong Trip, doing my normal stuff....

Otherwise, I believe we need to put ourselves on trial all the time, so that we would not be bored; know our threshold and even know our limits!

Yes, it is a 'never say die' attitude. Otherwise I would have die many times over, literally!


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neighbour...

My neighbour's renovation is finished. I am now living next to a 'white palace'. It really looks good! However, there will be not be a blade of grass within the grounds! Every available space is cemented or tiled! Sigh - talk about greening the world! Never mind, I will try to make up for it by maintaining my little patch of green!

Honestly a little patch of green does a lot. Under my patch of a Henna tree, hibiscus bush and a Surinam Cherry (Eugenia uniflora); I could grow ferns and even temperate plants like Azalea and tea-roses, in an equatorial climate. That should proof to any one that trees are necessary?

This is how a Surinam Cherry looks like. The family of Tree Shrew (yup, there is a family of them) loves it! In fact they ate most of it, before I could have any!


Needless to say, renovation affects my 'space' too. The back roof is leaking, it has not happened before. Cleared a bucket of sand and gravel from the drain. My pots and plants were cemented literally! Hence I have spent the weekend clearing the drain and re-potting! Not complaining as it was good physical exercise. Got any and every dormant sweat glands working as I was totally drenched after that.

My rather elderly, toothless gardener came and mowed my little patch of 'lawn'. Actually I was contemplating replanting the cow-grass to the taiwnese-grass. Don't have to worry about mowing, with the latter. However, the thought of a monthly, toothless smile has delayed me doing it. Moreover, he needs the money!

The raining season is upon us. So took the opportunity to trim the trees and bushes too! They would sprout quite quickly with the amount of rain water we will get.

That's it! We are now ready for the festivities and the brand new year of 2010!
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