She wanted it.

You see, there's this girl named Eulene.

She fell in love with James's (uhm. what's the diff between a DSLR and an SLR? i think it was a DSLR but i'm clueless about photography so let's just call it a...) camera during youth service.

And she wants the photos of her with the... camera.

Only two, but.. Eulene oh Eulene.

And so that I don't have to wait for her to come online and so that I'll have an update for you dear readers and so that she'll get the photos (it's a triple win situation!)...

...hence this post.

Right then, to the point.

Perfect angle to show how big James's... camera was compared to her.

And for the sake of her facial expression :)

Uh, yeah.

That's about it =D

Dear Mother Nature,

I really don't get you.

Humanity unites to vote in favour of your kingdom (the Earth)...

...and you prove to us that your clouds can hold more liquid than every living person's urinary bladders put together, plus an elephant's one too (just for the fun of it).

You ordered your minions to deploy rain - it was pouring cats and dogs and frogs!

You even go to the extent of flouncing nature's terrifyingly beautiful fireworks dozens upon dozens of times.

No, wait, I don't think you were fecklessly showing off.

I rephrase:

You even go to the extent of helping unwilling/undecided souls participate during Earth Hour, by kindly short-circuiting the electric supplies to their homes (therefore effectively offing their lights for 'em), with the help of the lightning from those cumulonimbus clouds of yours.

Too bad Tesco Extra had a backup power supply, eh?

I mean, you started lightning-ing homes to cut off their electricity (and blacking their houses out for 'em in conjunction with Earth Hour) even though there was a comfortable hour left before 8:30 p.m.

How kind of you.

Another one of your mercies (also to do with that lightning of yours) was to light up the sky (very momentarily though) with white flashes so the good people'd have some light while their houses remained dark.

But, uh, you do know that lightning's really dangerous to us bipeds, don't you?

One strike can send I-don't-know-what-the-exact-number-is-but-I-know-it's-very-very-big volts through a human. Deadly.

So, um, please tell your clouds not to aimlessly shoot their missiles at some ignorant pedestrian.

Anyhow.

My point is: you just had to organise a lightning storm over Penang during Earth Hour.

I Like...

To further picture-fy this blog and to pointlessly entertain you readers, hence this post.

What I like a lot (some DEFINITELY more than others; love, maybe?), in no particular order:

Messenger. Makes your life a whole lot easier and better.

Chocolate honeycombs.


Floorball. (this most definitely!)

Oreo cheesecake.

Free time.


Pug. (no that's not mine lol)

Pride and Prejudice.

Marley and Me. (more to book than movie)

Frontliners FC. (I actually miss and want to go for another training with)

All 'em fireBRANDS. (yes, eulene, including you, you horrible little girl. hahaha jk)

He asked for it.

In order to make tim happy (pictureless blog lol) and because I'm kinda free now to crap a li'l, I will post up a picture.


Happy now? haha.

Gosh you ppl. lol.

Stupid, stupid, stupid...

Careless mistakes!

you gotta hate 'em.

PHYSICS
i read the micrometer screw gauge WRONGLY.
ohmygoodnessgraciousme.
it's one of the basic-est things in physics i tell you!
i know i know how to read it.
careless, cuai, lalai..

ADD MATH
i could've gotten 100%.
if only my 1/(2m) didn't suddenly transmogrify into (1/2)m
gosh.

Nevertheless, I'm still satisfied with my results :)

How to Write a Karangan

Ceritakan pengalaman kamu sepanjang cuti akhir tahun yang telah kamu alami. Panjang karangan ini hendaklah melebihi 350 patah perkataan.

Looks easy.

Looks are deceiving.

Khai (on Msgr): karangan kamu, senang saja

With all the eksposisi, perkembangan, konflik, klimaks, peleraian crap it needs? I wish.

So let's try out a few rangkas. (sounds like Adibah Amin)

1. The Japan Trip
Eksposisi: PMR over.. go Japan
Perkembangan: I... left on a plane? And I... went touring?
Konflik: I got sick.
Klimaks: I got better and toured somemore.
Peleraian: I went home.
nope, that'd never work.

2. AYC '08
Eksposisi: I become group leader.
Perkembangan: Preparations.
Konflik: A lot of preparations.
Klimaks: AYC came and it went pretty smoothly? Well kinda.
Peleraian: I went home.
not this one either.

3. The Very Clichéd I-went-to-the-beach Story
Eksposisi: A surprise trip. Packed.
Perkembangan: Left.
Konflik: Car broke down.
Klimaks: We called AAM. They came. They repaired. We continued.
uh.... Penyambungan: We had fun at the beach.
Penyambungan Penyambungan: We did this. We did that.
Peleraian: We went home.
maybe, just maybe. not like there's anything else to write about.


I. Will. Never. Do. Karangan. Cerita. In. SPM.

Gosh.

Was watching Al-Jazeera's 101 East.
(no, i did NOT choose the channel! haha. but it was interesting.)

Something along the lines of:
- the yet-to-be-completed Bakun dam in S'wak and the further 12 (or was is 11? I forgot) dams in planning
- the plight of a Penan longhouse-village which'll be completely submerged in water by the dam(s)
- S'wak's 30-years-in-power MB's family connections to some companies (Titanium and some big cement one which were awarded lucrative contracts by the state government)

SO there was this interview between Al-J's reporter (she's pretty good I must say) and the Land Development person-in-charge (James Masing).

And when they were talking about the effects of the building of so many dams, Mr Masing remarked that he "didn't believe in environmental fallouts." (i think those were the exact words; though i might've it paraphrased a li'l)

Al-J's reporter immediately was like: The 10,000 people being displaced?! The virginity of the forests [being threatened]?

Goodness me.

Ivy was right when she chose those Penan ppl lol.

Time and tide wait for no man

I'm squeezing out every single last drop of it. (Or at least I'm trying to)

You wish you've more time.. when you suddenly realise the holidays're all over.

And you wish you've more time.. when you suddenly realise it's already past midnight and it took you THAT long just to split up 10 ladies into 2 teams and make up a rational explanation for it to appease all parties, and convince yourself.

And when you know you have to practise, practise, practise! so you don't perform lousily again.

And when you get nagged about studying.

And when there're things you've to do.

And when you feel like taking a step back and spending a huge chunk of it thinking.

And when you know there's still that thing to memorise and that thing to write and that thing to complete.

And when you want to blog-hop.

And when you want to get a good night's worth of sleep.

And when you want to practise somemore.

And when you want to carry out those duties and responsibilities you know you must perform.

And when you dread going back to school cuz now you've to add that to the already-not-very-time-free equation.

And when you want to finish reading Mr Darcy's Diary.

You wish you've more time.. when you need it just to... waste it.

the tide abides for, tarrieth for no man, stays no man, tide nor time tarrieth no man
Doesn't say anything about women now, does it?

Awesome God.

Our God is an awesome God.

And I know that with absolute certainty.

Here's a testament to that!


So we (Ephraim - the name of our cell group) were having a meeting, like every Friday, at Ming Yen's place.

Usually it'd be worship then how's-your-week then sharing then eating.

And this time, instead of HYW? and sharing, half-an-hour was dedicated to seeking and listening to God as to:
a. what He wants Ephraim to do.
b. where He wants Ephraim to go.

'Seeking and listening' basically means finding your own corner or getting together in a group and just quietening down and praying and... listening to God lahh.

So, after half-an-hour, what we heard from Him.

Eulene
- making right with God
- taking baby steps
- starting by bringing friends

Shiau Xian
- taking away bondages (God told her Lamentations 5:8)

Debra
- getting involved in World Vision (adopt child)
- go to orphanages

Ming Yen
- friends
- start with where you are: reach out to friends
- between God and herself, is it okay?
- influence friends around

Khai Hern
- starting in the home
- respecting and honouring parents

Louis
- schoolmates
- start with friends first, instead of missions
- God placed you here (in school), so do something about it

Beverly
- helping out friends if they need help

Ruth
- fundraising for needy, sick
- new hope

Wei-Lynn
- heard the bridge of 'You'll Come' (chains be broken, lives be healed, eyes be opened, Christ is revealed)

Leanne
(believes God used things around her to speak to her)
- sound of ppl playing basketball (behind Ming Yen's apartment) made her think of sports, activities
- sound of a baby screaming made her think of fear, taking away fear
- sound of aeroplane made her think 'go far'
- sound of vehicles made her think 'moving'
- seeing plants made her think 'growing'
- seeing the toy boots made her think 'one step at a time'
- toying with the broken tupperware cover tab made her think 'mend broken hearts'
- got an impression that we need roots and foundation

Julia
- friends
- God showed her those businessmen in the malls that go after you advertising things to you
- we are like that (telling our friends about the Gospel)
- fundraising, charity

Tania
- God showed her a big tree (represented Ephraim)
- tree needs roots, foundation
- reach out to friends, bring 'em to cell group
- make cell a place where we can actually bring friends (through activities, maybe?)
- grow together in cell (number-wise, spiritually)

Believe me, we got that individually by listening to Him, and didn't talk to each other before sharing it out to everyone.

So the recurring themes were noted, and Ephraim has a vision (Foundation, Friends, Family) and a strategy (Foundation: making ourselves right with God; Friends: bring friends to cell group through activities).

All that remains now is to execute it!


And to make that notice-board thingy (displaying our vision, strategy, and members) that we didn't have time to do. Pfft.

Semangat Muhibbah

You want muhibbah?

You want helping each other?

You want every person, regardless of race and religion working together to achieve something, to pull each other up?

Take a break from cluster schools, and those overly-politicised multi-racial events.


Go travel on the highway.

There you'll see the citizens of Malaysia giving each other a helping hand..

..by warning 'em of police checks.

So it may not be the most morally-upright thing to do (it totally defeats the purpose of having a police check in the first place - or maybe it doesn't cuz it does get ppl to slow down, after all, though just for the sake of escaping the summons) BUT it's still considered helping kan?

It's kinda cool too.

Some unwritten highway code in Malaysia:
When you see a police check on the opposite lane, FLASH your HEADLIGHTS to warn the oncoming traffic about it.

These ppl are so cooperative!

So there we were, driving up to Penang, then some cars in the other lane travelling south started having their headlights on, for no apparent reason (it was in the morning, perfect sun, and it wasn't raining).

So, obvious conclusion: Police Check Ahead.

I think about 1 in 15 cars bothered flashing their headlights to warn us.

And, sure enough, somewhere at Kilometer 297 of the North-South Highway (or Expressway, whatever): a police check.

How kind of 'em.

Puckering Up.

I have no idea where someone gets all these phrases from! Haha.

Still.

So I went to Klang, being a good kid and all, knowing that that was what God'd want me to do, although I had a choice, and although I knew I'd miss the Youth Encounter Homecoming AND Firebrands vs Dalat Falcons + PFL '09 Closing Ceremony.

The latter I felt the worst about missing out on: I was dying to go!

The first night away I was thinking a lot about missing it.

I badly wanted to go to Dalat on Tuesday night! Seriously!

Real badly.

I wanted to watch Firebrands against Dalat.

I wanted to be there for the closing ceremony, where everyone involved in PFL '09 would be.

I wanted to go.

Namun begitu, no one was willing to fetch me from Klang to Dalat. (400 km.. I don't blame them lol)

I spent Sunday and Monday well, including bugging Sonia, Kutu, Eulene (i think?) and Khai about Tuesday. Darn.

Tuesday itself I thought about the match all the more, and was introduced to the phrase 'pucker up' by James.

We shall skip to the part when I was in Cold Storage in MidValley Megamall, looking at all the interesting food..
..and constantly messaging Kutu about the match (I sincerely hope DiGi's SuperSMS works nationwide).

Then we (me, mom, mom's friend, aunt, uncle, cousin) walked around in The Gardens (mall adjacent to MidValley), and by then the match had started.
Or so I thought - Kutu suddenly stopped her messages so I messaged Sonia instead (she uses Maxis! darnnnnn gone la my credit), from whom I got a very steady stream of messages.

I was eating fish 'n' chips (didn't have a very good appetite for anything like nasi kandar or teppanyaki or chicken rice - I was still thinking too much about the match, hoping, praying) and still sms-ing Sonia like mad, waiting for update after update.

I was brimming/drowning with anticipation!

1st message from Sonia:
Currently 5-1 to dalat. I'm thinkin still 1st half. Ky is ref! Lol..just detailed report.
okay okay, still got hope! firebrands'll never give up :)

2nd message:
Half time. 5-1 everyone seems 2 b supporting firebrands.seems like everyone is here!
can survive can survive

Next message:
Goal 2 dalat. 6-1.
bronze?

Then:
Another goal. 7-1. Man that dalat lady is ganas
goodbye bronze.

[...]

Kutu:
10 to 1. Game ended.
next year, next year..

Pfft I know this post doesn't do enough justice to that night.

Sorry Kutu, I could not forget about the match!

I still enjoyed myself though.

Went to four Adidas stores on the same floor with my cousin.

I like Adidas more than Nike cuz Wei-Lynn, Sharon and Beverly like Nike.

The prices are horrible though.

Intro.

Where do I start?

Let's start with the plain obvious.

The URL.

You see, I was mulling over getting a blog (never have I been so tempted...) on the highway.
And when there's a blog there must be a URL right?
So I mah think lor.
You know I wouldn't go for: tania-lurrveeees OR justthattaniayoulove OR tanialsm OR anything along the thought lines of relative-insignificance (however nice that sounds).......
........actually I didn't know what I'd go for either.
Remember I was on the highway?
This sign passed by: Hentian Sebelah Taiping.
Awesome. Crisis solved. World peace prevails :)
[yes i do know hentiansebelahtaiping.blogspot sounds like one of those true blue Malaysian politicky life-and-times kinda blogs. haha.]

Right. Next up.

My posting name.

M'sian Rice.
Guess what?
It's from one of those harmless billboards along the North-South Highway.
It was advertising Beras Jati, I think.
So, lesson learnt: You never know what'll happen if you advertise along the highway.

What else...?

Why?

Never have I been so tempted and never has the thought of having a blog prevailed on me such as this. I vouchsafe: I had much to write!
[sorry it's the effects of reading too much Pride and Prejudice.]
But of course there's one problem with blogs: they're so (almost too) public!
So I shall try to keep the posts discreet and not too deep.
And I'll blog as I want (keeping within the ranges of the law and of the stringency of the ISA, of course - no I don't think I'll be blogging about politics lol) for my own entertainment and happiness.
None of those for-the-sake-of-updating posts please!
Blog is not burden. Blog is not burden.

Is that all?

Oh i nearly forgot.
I can now smirk at myself cuz I know the usernames and passwords to 4 blogs.
Oh, what joy!

Then the doors are open, and all four corners of the world will converge onto this awesome blog, and there will be flooding - it will be ugly - but oh well. Wat to do. This blog so awesome everyone wanna see. Hahaha.