N2

You know what? I haven't dived at all this year. Not even once. The deepest I've been is 1.8m, in a swimming pool.

The only island I have set foot on is Penang. Taiwan doesn't count, because I didn't even get out of the airport.

I'm feeling some nitrogen deficiency withdrawal symptoms now. This is the opposite of nitrogen narcosis, which is caused by too much nitrogen in the blood.

My blood is short on nitrogen, and I need a good dose of vitamin sea.

Or maybe God is healing me from an addiction to breathing compressed air. As they say, SCUBA = Self-Confessed Underwater Breathing Addict. :P

AMBER Alert

In the light of the recent tragic abduction and murder of poor little Nurin Jazlin Jazimin, numerous opinions have been aired and debated. Perhaps when the dust has settled, everyone should consider some concrete measures to prevent or at least reduce the occurrence of such atrocities.

Firstly, the police have to get their act together and be more proactive. How about taking a tip or two from the Americans, who established the AMBER Alert system.

Secondly, we have to vote out dense politicians who make inane and insensitive comments.

Thirdly, parents have to teach their kids to take care of themselves. This is a most unfortunate reality of today.

Fourthly, parents have to be more vigilant about their children, but without being paranoid. This is another unfortunate reality of today.


The AMBER Alert System began in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children. AMBER stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response and was created as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and then brutally murdered. Other states and communities soon set up their own AMBER plans as the idea was adopted across the nation.

This is what AMBER does: When someone reports a missing child (below age 17), the police will follow a standard screening procedure. Once law enforcement has determined that a child has been abducted and the abduction meets AMBER Alert criteria, law enforcement notifies broadcasters and state transportation officials. AMBER Alerts interrupt regular programming and are broadcast on radio and television and on highway signs. AMBER Alerts can also be issued on lottery tickets, to wireless devices such as mobile phones, and over the Internet.

AMBER has been effective in recovering abducted children, and in deterring abductors. AMBER Alert cases have shown that some perpetrators release the abducted child after hearing the AMBER Alert on the radio or seeing it on television.

Find out more here.

iBridge Camp 2007

Go here or there to find out more and to register.

This is one of the best camps in the universe. But don't take my word for it, go and see for yourself!

Venue: Cameron Highlands

Date: 13-16 Oct (Sat, Sun, Mon and Tue) - Mon is a public holiday

Cost: RM199 (excluding transportation)

Closing Date: 30 September 2007

Baaaa

Where do sheep study?

In the ewe-niversity.

Kota Kinabalu

5 reasons why I like KK (in random order):

1. Everywhere in KK is reasonably near to everywhere else.

2. It's got some pretty happening churches.

3. It's got good dive sites within 15 minutes of the city centre. If you have a long lunch break, you can go out, do a dive, and be back in office by 2PM. You can wake up on Saturday morning, do 3 dives, see some turtles and be back home by 7PM.

4. The sunsets are consistently gorgeous. The sky is actually blue.

5. The mountains are less than 2 hours away. And I mean, real mountains. Not hills. Need some exercise? Just climb Mt Kinabalu.

6. The different ethnic groups are better integrated compared to Peninsular Malaysia.

7. The seafood is pretty good. Well, I'm not sure if it's harvested from sustainable sources, or bombed out of the sea.

8. The diesel is cheaper. Well, not really cheaper. Just subsidized more. Thanks to Petronas!

Of course, the grass is always greener on the other side... :)

Carbon Playwright

How do we know that Shakespeare used pencils to write his plays?

Because he said, "2B or not 2B? That is the question."

Chris Tomlin

I love this guy's music.

Indescribable


Forever


Here's the studio version of Made To Worship,

You may also want to check out the "music video" of this song.

And here's the live recording of the same song...


Oh, and I love this one too, although it's not by Chris Tomlin... this is Majesty (Here I Am) by Delirious?

Calvary's Love

We sang this song this morning...

CALVARY'S LOVE
Greg Nelson & Phill McHugh

Calvary's love will sail forever
Bright and shining, strong and free
Like an ark of peace and safety
On the sea of human need
Through the hours of all the ages
Those tired of sailing on their own
Finally rest inside the shadow
Cast by Calvary's love across their souls

Calvary's love, Calvary's love
Priceless gift Christ makes us worthy of
The deepest sin can't rise above
Calvary's love, Calvary's love

Calvary's love can heal the spirit
Life has crushed and cast aside
And redeem till heaven's promise
Fills with joy once-empty eyes
So desire to tell the story
Of a love that loved enough to die
Burns away all other passions
And fed by Calvary's love, becomes a fire

Calvary's love has never faltered
All its wonders still remain
Souls still take eternal passage
Sins atoned and heaven gained

Earthquakes?

The earthquake off Sumatra last week jolted (pun intended) my mind to the events mentioned in Matthew 24, that passage in which Jesus talks about the end times. Earthquakes are specifically mentioned in verse 7. So, is this earthquake another sign that the end is near?

There have been people who have nothing better to do but try to predict the future. Sadly, such leaders lead their followers on a wild goose chase, and some even end in tragedy. The bottomline is, no one knows when the Second Coming will be, except the Father. It will happen like a "thief in the night", i.e. it's unpredictable, so we must keep watch and be ready (Matt 24:42-44).

My personal view is that we've been living in the end times since Jesus' Ascension 2000 years ago. There is no extra special "end time". We're living in just a part of the continuum of the end times. Yes, if you consider the increasing severity or frequency of the signs happening, it looks like we're living in the end of the end times, but no one knows exactly when it will be. Next year? Another 10 years? 50 years? The signs are here, but similar things have been happening throughout the past two millenia.

In case you're wondering, my eschatological viewpoint, as of right now, is amillenial, post-tribulation Rapture (1 Thess 4:13-18). What's your stand? Does it really matter? Well, yes, but it's not the most important matter. What's most important is, Are you ready? Will you be ready when Jesus comes again? And, for heaven's sake, what are you doing on earth now?

Here's a classic song, "I Wish We'd All Been Ready", written by Larry Norman in the 60's and remixed by DC Talk. The song describes a pre-tribulation Rapture (which I don't subscribe to). But the question of readiness is infinitely relevant regardless of which end time stand you subscribe to. You don't want to be caught with your lamp out of oil (Matt 25).

Undying Love

We sang this song in church last last Sunday...

LOVE CRUCIFIED AROSE
Michael Card

Long ago, he blessed the earth
Born older than the years
And in the stall, a cross he saw
Through the first of many tears
A life of homeless wandering
Cast out in sorrow’s way
The Shepherd seeking for the lost
His life the price he’d pay

Love crucified arose
The Risen One in splendour
Jehovah’s soul-defender
Has won the victory!
Love crucified arose
And the grave became a place of hope
For the heart that sin and sorrow broke
Is beating once again!

Throughout your life, you felt the weight
Of what you’d come to give:
To drink for us that crimson cup
So we might really live
At last, the time to love and die –
The dark appointed day
That one forsaken moment when
Your Father turned his face away

Love crucified arose
The One who lived and died for me
Was Satan’s nail-pierced casualty
Now he’s breathing once again!
Love crucified arose
And the grave became a place of hope
For the heart that sin and sorrow broke
Is beating once again!

MIFC 2007

Team Malaysia
Grand Opening
18 August 2007

Still learning to shoot fireworks with remote-controlled bulb shutter... my timing was out.

****************************************


Team Japan
Merdeka Eve
31 August 2007

The best of the three shows...




























****************************************


Team Global
Grand Finale
2 September 2007

I didn't get many good shots this time... I even pressed the remote control button wrongly on the last 4 frames.




















*The last 3 photos were taken by Daryl

Scenes

Took some shots at the Kuala Terengganu airport while waiting for the flight back to KL last Monday. We missed the standby for the 5PM flight, so we hung around for our scheduled 8:50PM flight. It was delayed by 1 hour due to bad weather in KL. An amazing thing happened. The Air Asia plane, which was also delayed, arrived from KL 5 minutes after the MAS plane, but took off close to 10 minutes BEFORE the MAS plane. Their turnaround time is incredible.

* * * * *

The following shots were taken somewhere in the Klang Valley. Guess where?

Hint: This is not the fireworks

Hermosa Beach

This is probably the last of my US travelogues...

Since I had a 9 hour stopover at LAX on the way home, I decided to do something more productive than just sitting in the airport lounge. There were not many options. Earlier I had entertained the thought of dropping by Malibu or Hollywood, but alas, Jessica Alba said she wasn't free to pick me up from the airport, so I had to do the next best thing: take the bus. Well, there was another fella who offered to take me on a "tour" of LA. He came up to me at the arrival hall, amid the chaotic crowd, and started speaking in Mandarin, the very biao jun tongue-rolling thick accent type. I guessed he was from Taiwan. Anyway, I probably looked every bit the traveler on transit, so he offered to take me on a quick tour around LA. He said we could go to Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard, Mann's Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame, and a number of other famous landmarks. But I was getting suspicious. He didn't look like an authorized tour guide. Finally I asked him how much. He charged per hour... $35 per hour, minimum 3 hours. Negotiable. I said maybe I'll think about it, and promptly went downstairs to look for directions to the bus.

Destination : Hermosa Beach, about 10 miles south of the airport. Hermosa means "beautiful" in Spanish. Hermosa Beach is sandwiched between Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach. Bus fare: $1.

The bus station

LAX is a very busy airport. At one point, I saw five planes all queuing up to land, just minutes apart. The bus driver said he once counted 12 planes lining up in the sky to land. No margin for error.

The Pacific Ocean at the end of the road lined with expensive beach villas


The bus driver told me that these little ocean-view houses cost > $1 million.

The first thing I saw when I got down from the bus

The beachfront promenade called The Strand. The sea is more than 100m away.

The Strand at Hermosa Beach

A statue in memory of some surfer dude who contributed much to the development of Hermosa Beach

Baywatch?!

Hermosa Beach pier.
I would have walked to the end if not for the fact that I had all my luggage with me. I probably looked like a fish out of water. All the folks around me were in their beach attire, and there I was, towing my wheelie suitcase. There is no luggage storage service at LAX, coz they are afraid people might leave bombs behind. There were a few companies that provided the service of collecting your luggage and taking it off-site for storage, and bringing it back to the airport when you called them. All for $10 per piece of luggage. But I figured that was too much of a hassle.

Hermosa Beach is the beach volleyball capital of LA. I saw more than two dozen courts set up on the beach, which was really wide.

My dinner of swordfish pasta, at Scotty's

I took some shots while waiting for the last bus at 8PM. If I missed this bus, I would have had to take a taxi, which would have done some serious damage to my wallet.

Can you see me?

Since I was the only passenger on the half-hour ride back to the airport, Kevin the bus driver and I had an interesting time chatting about stuff... he asked me about my camera, I asked him about the Governator. Kevin said life wasn't easy in LA. The cost of living has gone up, gas (petrol) prices have gone up, property prices have skyrocketed, but salaries remain the same, and many double income couples are finding it difficult to make ends meet.

Back at the airport bus station

Back at the terminal

A bunch of Taiwanese high school students going home after some sort of field trip to LA. Same flight as me, since we were stopping in Taipei.

Taking off into the moonlit night

Merdeka reflections

Merdeka/National/Independence Day this year came and went with not much fanfare, at least on my side. My past three Merdekas were spent in Pulau Perhentian. So this is the first time in four years that I was in KL for the occasion. I was at Putrajaya for the fireworks show. The pyrotechnic display by the Japanese team was dazzling, although I was hoping for a few big bursts instead of many small flashes. It took two hours to get home, thanks to the traffic jam. I didn't know Putrajaya had such a bad traffic dispersal system.

My brief reflections the nation as we pass the 50th anniversary of independence from the British:

1. Malaysia has done far better than other developing countries, but the point is, we could be doing better. We shouldn't make direct comparisons with Ghana, which achieved independence on the same day as Malaysia. They have their issues to grapple with. We shouldn't compare with others just to feel smug about ourselves. We should benchmark against ourselves, and see how much higher we can actually jump.

2. I still can't get over the fact that ordinary Malaysians could be owning Toyotas, Hondas and Nissans, if not for Proton. A Vios would be the entry-level basic car for the man on the street, instead of being a dream. I don't believe in status symbols. Cars should never be status symbols. What's the big deal about having a national car? A Perodua is essentially a Daihatsu. A Naza is a rebadged Kia. A Proton used to be a Mitsubishi. Do you think Americans are any less patriotic just because they like Toyota more than Chevrolet? And I wonder if Malaysia's auto industry could ever catch up with Thailand's.

3. A lot has been said about the issue of freedom of religion and speech. All this is the result of the weakening of social institutions and political structures brought about by the lopsided policies of the past administration, and conveniently continued by the present regime. The development of human capital and civil society were overlooked in the headlong rush for modernity. So now, with things slowing down a bit, and FDIs being channeled elsewhere, it's time to ask where we're going next. Siapa makan cili, dia rasa pedas. You reap what you sow. Granted, Malaysia is not in immediate danger of sinking, but the ship is definitely leaking in critical areas.

4. After all the hype about the IT boom, we're still short of real IT engineers. Industry still complains that the education system is not producing the people they need. And suddenly we've realized that we have neglected agriculture. Like, we can eat computer chips? But developing agriculture is not just about building a research institute here and there, only to be staffed by foreign researchers. It's about growing our own technology. In plantation crops, Malaysia is a world leader. But in food crops, I'm afraid we're playing catch-up with other "less developed" countries.

Now now, it's not all gloom and doom. I'm still glad to call this place home. I mean, where else in the world can you get durians and sambal petai udang? It's just that, this home could do with some improvement. How?

1. Register as a voter and make sure you make your point in the next elections. Some of the present politicians have exceeded their shelf life and should be replaced before we get into further trouble. We need to give them a run for their money, since they are making us run for ours.

2. Be part of the solution, not the problem. Deal with the log in your eye before harping on the speck in your neighbour's eye. Mix with your friends of other races and cultures. Convert the extremists with your broader-minded thinking. This is a global village. There's no room for isolationist thinking. Stamp out your own prejudices. Well, if only it were that easy. Truth must be spoken in the streets, not swept under the carpet. Speak the truth with love. I believe in affirmative action. When someone does well, we should affirm them.

3. Say no to corruption, and yes to integrity. The rule of law must prevail. Fine, if you want to drive above 110 km/h, go ahead. But please pay your dues when you're caught. The problem with bribery is that the highest bidder wins. So, who's gonna defend you one day when the crooks can pay the higher price? On that note, buying pirated DVDs is an indirect way of funding criminals. I know, this is a tricky issue. Should you give your money to the rich fat Hollywood studios, or to the scrawny peddler on the sidewalk? The web thickens.

4. Pray for righteousnss and justice to prevail at the highest levels of the government. The fear of God is lacking among certain sections of the ruling elite, sad to say. And after you have prayed, act on it.

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go practice what I preach. :)