Maggie Mee

Last night I was pooped out from my days work.

So we went to watch ice age 2. It was okay-la....

But what was even better when Liping made Asam Laksa Maggie for me. She makes the best maggie! I'm very biased. :)

some updates:

Hey there,

I'm doing well. Thanks for asking! How are things with you? Anything new? What are you busy with these days and what are you looking forward to?

Suddenly, I feel like typing.. so here goes! lol

Besides being busy with wedding plans and the biz, there is little time for music practice. I feel that I've been deproving for the past few months after the busy period of December. All those motor skills gone!

I've got a gig this weekend for CCM with Liang and Jac and I find myself practicing with my old friend- the metronome. Shucks. I'm planning to keep it simple and tight. But I hope I practice on a more regular basis, I feel very discourage when I don't improve... or maybe playing the same lines over and over and over again bores the heck of of me, or maybe I feel that stagnation of skills isn't worshiping Him (in eph, it says play with all your skills!). One thing still stays the same, playing music make me happy. It's weird. I'm weird.

In this year, I hope I'll be able to train up my ears a bit more. Learn more transcription skills. I'm a hopeless case in that! Oh btw, I've been experimenting on the minor harmonic scale. Sounds awesome.. hehehe.. if only I can get my fingers to move now...

On other stuff, it's pretty exciting. I have no experience in getting married so.... :P You dating anyone? You're not young anymore too!

On work, super stressful. But I love it... and love is not a 'feeling' word, it's an action word! ahahaha.. I'm getting so much white hair these days. Recently, I'm in the mission to tell those I see who don't enjoy their work to realised that we spent the majority of our waking hours in work. "Church" happens more in our office more than in 'ministry'.

As for cars.... arrggh I was eying the Honda City! hahaha sleek, not too expensive rm70k+ and very good on fuel consumption. So what do I do? I try to make some money and pray! But God seems to be saying no! arrgh. I'll keep praying. For now, it's the kancil and the bug. Have you got your Satria yet?

Okay you take care now.

Eric

Problems organising camps?

Hi there,

Organising a camp can sometimes be tough. Small meager budgets, demanding campers, high expectations for food and 'quality' tshirts. Satisfying all needs is as much a pain as the organising itself!!

Allow Johnny to the rescue- vely fierceZZZ, Johnny do Bestz!

You can now zhng your camp

http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2006/03/zhng_my_camp.html

We're gathered here today to remember...

... GIGS (of emails... 3 yrs worth)

bytes to bytes
gigs to gigs
we hereby say our farewell to the many gigs that has been lost in this terrible tragedy today
the words in the gigs has shown me that tho they are no more,
their meanings are still here to stay
their purpose we remember.

I will certainly miss you, Gigs of Email (son of Thunderbird)

***title here***

Just watched a Scott Henderson instructional video and then another - Tommy Emanualle.

Both monster players makes me wanna quit playing right now!

On the same time, both are simply inspiring... for me to just play and worship.

For music is a gift to worship without words.

How weird am I?

You Are 40% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

Your Observation Skills Get A B-

Your senses are pretty sharp (okay, most of the time) And it takes something big to distract you!

How Observant Are You?

Work break musings....

Thanks guys for commenting on the last entry.

1/12 of 2006 is almost over! Wow that's fast! I hardly feel time 'moved' and 1 month's over. It's a good reminder that we need to use time wisely- doing things that will give us the best returns.
I think using time is like investments. What's the ROI? What's the return? Short term or long term? What can we do that no one else around us can do better? Why the heck am I not thinking more in terms of this lines.

When I start to think in terms of this, I realised my life is much simpler. There's just that few things I need to do and it helps me prioritise. Makes my life simpler. For those things I need to do, I'd gotta be responsible for them.

Problems come when I stop to think. I do things for the sake of doing it. Sounds simple? Yet so difficult. After doing some things for like the 100th times, I forget the 'why'. I go on an auto-cruise mode - without much goal or objective - simply because I have to.

Being in auto-cruise mode is easy. I just go with the system. It 'feels' that my life is safe and secure -- which is plain stupidity! Because I was merely wasting my time doing things for the sake of doing it and adding no value to me and to the ppl around me. (since I'm hitting 30 soon... time has a new meaning)

Having asked myself many brutally honest questions, Im glad I've made some changes in my life this year already. The changes are not easy and its impact to be measured at the end of the year.




*****
What's a good/great Christian?
Thanks ppl for your comments! They are awesome. While I also dunno the answer....

but a christian is firstly a follower of Christ- a lover, a friend, a servant...etc In the whole equation, relationship is key. What's a good christian to me? one that has good relationship with God. What's a great Christian? One that has a great relationship with God. Tada! :))
*****

In the early part of the year I was also thinking: if I'm not doing any 'churchy' stuff, what do i do that defines me as a Christian? :)


*****

Early this week a very close friend gave me a line which stuck to me:

The spirit of excellence has nothing to do with being perfect.

Good to Great

I have been pondering what is a good christian?

We go to church, pray, do our quiet time. We lend a helpling hand. We study the word of God. I guess we are.

What will make us great christian? or better written as great followers of christ?

Share your views.

***
Martha's a good follower but, paraphrasing our Lord, "Dont' stop Mary, she has chosen the better..."
***

A friend

Johann says:
the metronome is your friend
Johann says:
:)
eric - says:
and my worst enemy!
Johann says:
it is the cruellest of critics
Johann says:
the harshest of teachers
Johann says:
and your most faithful friend
Johann says:
if you want someone to be honest with you about your playing... ask a metronome
Johann says:
lol

Trip to Klang Wesley

I played for Juwita & Liang last weekend in a concert for the closing of a youth camp. It was very fun to see the youth enjoying themselves. Most of all, I have the pleasure to meet Francisca Peter -- the singer that did SETIA. Yes that song we sang in school day after day, week after week.

She was there in Klang Wesley as well doing a couple songs. I used to watch her on TV everyday when I was in school and can still remember the blue baju kebaya (is that how you spell it?) In person, Francisca is very fun to be with, down to earth and simply nice. She's also got a warm and infecteous smile. Most of all, she's an incredible singer.

Lucky for me, the organisers requested that she did SETIA for us and we were all pulled on stage to sing the song with her. It's school time all over for me. This time I'm on stage (thankfully not for public punishment!).

I'm trying to upload the clip for you or find a friend who can help me upload it. But here's a pic of me and her :)



Merry Christmas!

my singapore trip and skirts

Last week, I went to Singapore. It was a great trip. I had lots of work done. I met up with many old friends.

So much to update....

One of the things I notice about Singapore is the girls! :) They are all very well dressed and well verse with the use of make up :) They also like wearing skirts. I mean those short skirts. Which I happen to like. Funny thing is, when you have the whole Orchard road wearing that, it doesn't seem so nice already... it's like uniform. Where's the fun in that?

A finally met Don and Jon and the whole Choo family. In many ways, I feel like I'm part of the family. Aunt Florence aka my Godma, took care of me like one of her own! As usual, this trip, she made sure I was well fed, have tissue whenever I go out, have umbrella if its going to rain, and ask me if I'm coming 'home' for dinner.

I also get to meet Don's lovely wife Steph and Jon's wife Mary Ann.

Bumped into a super old pal- Edwin Teoh. Ed, you're still the same man! Just, 'twice the man' you use to be. It must have been 10 years since we met, at that time he was courting this chick.... which is another long story altogeter.

Lastly, friends, I met an old friend. Say hello to the 'Bumblebee' :)






























Since I'm on an slight uploading spree, here's the gears I'm using. I new GT8 and Bandit 112 (currently sponsored by Johann. Thanks buddy!) They sound pretty good together and are my gigging partners :) Can't wait to use the bee soon. They have super hot Dimazio pickups!

Furthering music

In recent months, I have been blessed to be given the chance to play more with my guitar. It's amazing that what I have only dreamt of doing last year is coming came true now. I really owe to God who is my provider and Liping who is a constant support to me in every area of my life. In fact, I believe I owe it to Liping who always encourages me to play more and go beyond my comfort zone.

I've been going out to play some gigs on weddings and to some clubs to do some jamming (3sets of jamming whole night! hahaha). There are often humbling experiences as I found myself to be lacking in so many ways musically.

Most of the time, I'm faced with playing songs - jazz, oldies, pop - that I don't know. Everyone in the band seems to be able to pick up the tune on the spot or at least know the song.

Solo-ing over these songs is also a challenging matter. I guess in jazz one can 'hantam' and get by but I'm convinced that I should know how to hantam be it playing 'in' or 'out'.

Either way, I'm so challenged to keep pressing on for improvement.

The other thing that I realised right away about these musicans are that, generally, they are humble, approachable, friendly and helpful. I'm stereotyping but the greater players are more humble and more friendly. It really confirms what the bible teaches about humility and its relation to wisdom.

Jesus made 1/2 ton of wine!

Some interesting info I came across as I read the bible:

from the revised std version (http://www.bibleontheweb.com/Bible.asp)

⁶ Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast." So they took it. ⁹ When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine

1 gallon is equivalent to about 4 litres (depending on whether it is UK, US or dry but average to about 4. Check this site out http://www.digitaldutch.com/unitconverter/). I am also assuming that the gallon referred to here in the rev std version is the one Im converting.

So that gives:

20-30gallons x 6 = 120 - 180 gallons = 480 - 720 litres of wine.

Jesus made an average of 600 litres of wine, more than half a ton!

If you read the scipture, he made the wine AFTER they ran out. Which means they drank the good wine first, then the bad wine. Why this order? This is so because they expect people to be less able to tell how bad the bad wine really is after finishing up the good one. I'm tempted to infer that at this point, much wine has been drunk already because it's a wedding, people will try to prepare more than enough on such occasion. The host seems to have servants, so I'm guessing that they are not poor either.

No matter how you look at it, that's still a lot of wine - even if you're doing a chinese wedding with 100 tables!

So...
Would we say that Jesus 'stumbled' people then?

Would we still argue whether drinking can or cannot be done?

One would say, there would be (and there should be) more wholesome things to be done than drinking on a wedding? Why make wine and so much of it?

What is the principal behind this that we can all learn?

If it's not about the wine then what is it about?

Words

The good book talk about our tongue so much. It has the power of life and death! A wise word at the right time is like (something very very good)!

Indeed.

Speech, is probably the first thing we learn and a subject we never finish learning

And in the past month, I've been put into situation to learn about this more and more - again and again. Obviously, the guy upstairs know that I haven't quite grasp the lesson. (Even while writting this entry, I find it a challenge)

Firstly, I find it difficult to put my thoughts and concept into words. Even more so to structure them in accurate, concise form.

Second, is the tact and art to saying the right things at the right time to the RIGHT people in the right way.

I guess I'll just have to keep practice 'speaking' better now. Practice don't make perfect, it makes permanent... and I'll permanently continuosly improve on it.

Son-day

My sunday was awesome.

A cg member got baptised. While he invited all of us to lunch to celebrate his 'birth', God let me in on his plan in leading another person to Christ. Who am I to be worthy of it? :) I'm simply overjoyed to be part of it.... as heaven rejoices!

Later in the day, I picked up Johann, an old friend, from Sentral. It's his annual trip back to KL from London. I'm quite happy to see him again. We have so much to talk about about God, theology and music. I also got educated about what F1 is about over dinner.

I just want to pen down this quote which Johann said (he can't remember who it was from). I like it so much and it has been ringing in my head since sunday.

"Preach the Gospel always. Use words if necessary"

Don't you think it speaks volume?

We spent a lot of time talking about this: what can christian offer non-christians?
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Give a pause and think about it if you are reading this. If you are working, what do you think you can offer your non-christian colleague? If you're a student, what can you offer your classmate? What is it that a christian have or should have so that s/he can offer others? What makes christian so special?

MSC status

Today the star paper wrote an article on the MSC status of penang (here). Seems pretty impressive doesn't it?

Let me bring your attention to:

Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC) officials said some of the means that will be explored include the creation of high-value jobs, shared services and outsourcing opportunities in Malaysia.
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He said the most significant achievement of the MSC is that it has laid a solid foundation for the nation's hopes of achieving an information-rich and knowledge-driven economy.
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“A survey conducted by Deloitte Consulting notes that Malaysia is one of the likely beneficiaries of about US$250mil (RM950mil) worth of job shifts from the United States to other parts of the world.



I believe I have been reading 'high-value- job since the beginning of the creation of the MSC 10 years or so ago. Apparently today, we are still talking about generating such jobs... what is the result of it?

The result is that not so recently, we found out that our nation has the highest concentration of contractor. (... and unofficially, people not happy that the government is not spending on building anymore!!)

To be fair, there has been some high value jobs created. I just wonder what % of increase is that compared to 10 years ago and compared to other nations like south korea or china or india or japan?

Indeed the most significant achievement of the MSC is laying the foundation of future hope. Perhaps that's all there is - a foundation of hope. To be fair again, there is also some infrastructure laid down. But after 10 years, we're still talking about a business potential that the MSC could possible provide. That to me is a rather dubios measurement of success.

A survey by a consulting company indicates that there are a great potential out there. Which is great. Last year the internet generated 22billion (if I'm not mistaken) and Malaysia is really in position to take a piece of that cake. Well so is the rest of the world. It really doesn't mean anything when we say there's such an amount there waiting to be grabbed. However, what I feel would be more meaningful is how well positioned is Malaysia up for the outsourcing job? Are our people more skilled? Can we add more value? How are we compared to our competitors. Saying that there are outsourcing opportunities out there just meaningless.

Potential and opportunities are just there, always there.

******

At this moment, Malaysia has less then 2% broadband penetration rate. That's really bad. What happened? This is not just bad it's almost shameful. Some parts of KL/PJ can't even get connected to. And TM remains - TOMORROW... you call balik tomorrow k? No, TM reported a growth in their profits for the last ending fiscal year, so they are not running into a problem where they can't afford the hardware setups. Perhaps they should further decentralise the monopoly that TM has, so as to increase competition. TM has just done a very bad job.

If I mentioned Singapore for us to compare, we'll all be crying foul because it's just a small city, okay how about comparing it to countries like south korea which is having 70-80% penetration rate. How about Japan? USA? Australia? Okay, how about China and India?

Besides the infracstruture, our local industry is saying that we don't have enough knowledge workers. (I thought Malaysia's an education hub?) . The star reported this a couple months back too. What happened? Is that a reflection on the standards of our local universities?

We started MSC earlier or about the same time as many countries. I think it's time we compare ourselves with other better countries and raise our level of competitiveness as a nation.

My merdeka

I just got back from Cameron Highlands, a tourist spot in Malaysia, famous for its lush green tea plantations and it's nice cool climate.

The place is about 3 hours of drive away from KL. 1 hour of highway driving. 1 hour of dizzy winding roads and 1 hour of stopping by the road side looking for good local food.

This trip is rather special. Not because it's the 48th anniversary of our country's independence.

It's special because, it has been a long time since I've taken a trip with my parents just to go travel. I think the last time was probably when I was still in Uni or something. Incredibly, there was also no arguements during the entire trip. I actually had fun talking to them.

Nothing like spending some quality time with family.

God is really good to me.

I'm so tired right now after the drive. Going to sleep for a bit before dinner.

The Weather Man sent me an email!!

Hey all,

The weather today in KL is gloomy. However thank to the ever shinning 'son', it's a lovely day here over in emailsville. Grace and Mercy came by this morning to said hi and gave me a new ALL-DAY-PACK... lovely.

I also had a kiss from the friendly Ghost Mr. Holy. He is my cup of coffee-- always waking me up.

Don't forget ppl, if you have any request at all, do tell it to Mr. Holy, He delivers. period. If you are not sure, read your Word, or you can also find it in the ALL-DAY-PACK. (to those who haven't collected their PACK, you're advises to spend 5 mins in a quiet place to pray. Comes Free with every vist from the friendly ghost!)

Yours Truly,
Weather Man

Job offers

I know each blog should have it's own unique theme. This one kinda don't have one. If there ever was a theme in this blog, I hope it adds value to your life simply by reading it. :)

For this entry, I'm putting up 2 job offers.

No, I'm not hiring but I have been asked twice this week about keeping an eye open for good people. Since there are good friends and I promised them to spread the word, I thought I'd put it up here.

The 2 job offers are from 2 establish company here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. If you're interested just send me a comment here with your email and indicate which job you like. (job 1 or job 2 or both). I'll get the employer to contact you where you can get more details from them.

Okay.. here are some details on the job (with less than perfect english)

job 1:

description:
mobile content acquisition, product management, partners liaison

more description:
....interesing job... in an expanding company.. they're looking for someone with experience.. even better if he/she is a sport fan

requirement:
half a blain, can speek good england, no how 2 use the computer, know the industry.. preferably 1-2 years (ie. if you don't know what mobile content is about, it's not you), young at heart

office at:
PJ Philleo

job 2:

description:
A UK-based content company is looking for a Creative,Motivated and Articulate person who knows how to create ringtones and color images for mobile phones.

Requirement:
IT-savvy and know how to use software programs to create ringtones and color graphics in appropriate formats for phones with different operating systems, or for different content-hosting platforms.
Also, england must be ok. No need powderful but fluent. Walau, yuo have to talk to ang mo what!

Office at:
KLCC

We're going to die....

Casey Liew (SPARKY cAsEY) says:
Eric
Casey Liew (SPARKY cAsEY) says:
u there?
Casey Liew (SPARKY cAsEY) says:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/8/11/nation/20050811130555&sec=nation
Casey Liew (SPARKY cAsEY) says:
take that result and plus 80-100, thats the API at this current hour
eric - help im choking says:
yes
Casey Liew (SPARKY cAsEY) says:
port klang exided max edi
Casey Liew (SPARKY cAsEY) says:
we are gonna die!!!!
Casey Liew (SPARKY cAsEY) says:
die!!!!
Casey Liew (SPARKY cAsEY) says:
i am so sad
Casey Liew (SPARKY cAsEY) says:
havent find gf yet