Chin Hong's Cosy Corner

Watch This Space...

2009-12-12T19:00:00.003+08:00

Hi there!

It's really been a while. After a hiatus of 2 years, I'm penning down my thoughts again.

Took the last 2 years off to concentrate on my career, but ... Well, I guess it's time to really reconsider what I really want in life. I guess I love to create, and I love to write, so here I'm back again.

Anyway, I'll be posting pictures of my recent Japan trip here soon, so watch this space! :)

An Important Lesson

2007-11-15T21:40:00.000+08:00

The world had taught me one lesson: If you are nice, you'll get bullied by everyone else.

I had learnt this the hard way. I used to treat people nicely; I go out of the way to make people happy, and when people try to contend with me, I take a step back and try to appease the situation. And in the end, what did I get? Some people took advantage of my meekness and hurled abuses at me, bruised my ego and even tried to cheat me of my money.

So, these days, I retaliate. When people shout at me, I shout back, and I make sure I shout louder. When people stir up a fight against me, I fight back, and I fight to win.

And so, I've won... Or have I?

Despite "winning", I'm not happy. Instead, I've become empty, bitter, cynical, impatient, contentious and easily irritable. More than just that, I have noticed that lately I've been arguing just for the sake of arguing. Many of the "reasons" I bring up in my arguements I know are just plain excuses deep inside, but I don't care. I just want to win; I just want to be right.

So these are the consequences of winning?

No, in fact, I have lost. I have lost against the principalities of this world.

Jesus did *not* say "When your enemy slaps you wrongly, slap him back and make sure he hurts more! Muhahaha!" He said "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also." (Matt 5:38-39) I had done the exact opposite; I had given an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Jesus went on to say "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." (Matt 5:43-44) How many of us can do this? Man, look at the words in italics!

The mark of a true Christian is love. It is our duty to love people and not condemn them. Vengeance is not ours, and we don't have the capacity or wisdom to judge people, and say they are wrong and we are right.

Everyone has a story to tell, and every coin has two faces. However right we think we are, in God's eyes, perhaps both parties are right is some ways, and wrong in others. We are usually biased against ourselves, as we are all born selfish. Just because people ill-treat us, should we turn nasty? Of course not! Why shortchange the rest of the world for a handful of people who mistreat you?

And thus, I am making a statement here: I reject this worldy principle that I have learnt, and henceforth, I want to be loving, not right.

Was it right for a Man who knew no sin to die for all who have? No, it was love.

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matt 16:26, NKJV)

Meeting with My Former Boss

2007-11-15T21:39:00.000+08:00

Met up with my former big boss J last Thursday and had a super long talk with him. He had wanted to see me, to exchange perspectives, and I saw this as a opportunity to clear things up, so I complied.

Basically, they were very upset because they felt the work I had left behind (based on what they thought I did) was just terrible, and from the way I denied their claims, they felt that I did not even want to take responsibility for the mistakes I've made. They found my tone offensive, for someone who "needed help from them" (was asking them for money). They felt that I took their good will to let me go for granted, and felt that I did not deserve to get paid the rest of my dues.

I told him I was upset because I felt that after agreeing on my departure terms, they had chosen to go back on their word and refused to pay me what they had agreed to pay me. I felt that they still did not take responsibility to get their accounts right, and on top of that, they did not think and evaluate why people left, and kept pinning the blame on the people who left. I found their tone offensive for someone who owed me money (for a couple of months already). I felt they took my good will to wait for them to sort out their accounts for granted, and were acting like big bullies.

I think you can notice the similarities in the emotions experienced by both sides. It's really quite interesting how both parties can feel the same thing about the same situation albeit from two jarringly different perspectives. The differences did not just stop there.

He told me that the management had protected us from a lot of nonsense from the clients. I told them that we, the workers had protected the management from a lot of rubbish from the customers and from a lot of rude people looking for them.

He told me that they had taken a risk and were doing me a favour by allowing me to do sales. I told him I was doing them the favour, and they had told me they needed someone to do sales.

He told me they had not grumbled when they let June and I go for our long leave during our wedding. I told him we did not grumble during the times when we did not go on leave just to finish up the projects that we were doing.

He told me they had not grumbled when we came late and left early. I told them we had not grumbled when we stayed late into the nights and even overnight to meet a deadline.

There were more. I just highlighted these few to show the similarities, and how things were more or less balanced from God's point of view (since He knows all things).

It was a fruitful meeting I suppose. Although I felt it was a petty squabble from pent up frustration (very much like lovers who had just broken off and went blaming one another for the split), we both had the opportunity to lay out all our cards on the table. Being able to voice everything out was a release for the both of us.

After the meeting, I can appreciate why they are acting like this. However, it still did not change my perspective on who's right or wrong. I guess we all are biased towards ourselves in some way or another. We all have a fallen nature, and being self-centered and selfish comes to us naturally I suppose.

Finally! A Chance to Blog!

2007-11-15T21:35:00.000+08:00

It's my off day today! Finally had a chance to blog! :P

Many thanks to all of you who have expressed your concerns and empathy over my situation. Really appreciate them. :)

I have long since forgiven them already, so please do not be too alarmed. :)

The situation has not been resolved yet, but it's close to. I've learnt a very important lesson from the whole issue, and due to the lengthy nature of it, I've split it into 2 posts (following this post).

The first article (Meeting with My Former Boss) is a preface to the main article (An Important Lesson), and may be skipped if you can't stand my longwindedness. :P

(Was 5th Nov when I wrote this, but I couldn't complete the whole post until 15th Nov)

Bad-bye!

2007-10-18T17:41:00.000+08:00

Received a couple of ugly emails from my former bosses yesterday, and they've got me very infuriated. Never been so angry for a very very very long time. (I can't remember when I was last this angry.)

I had been very careful not to say anything against them because:
1 - They were an authority set over me.
2 - My colleagues do read my blog.
But now they are my former bosses, and after this post, I would have severed all ties with the company (not my former colleagues), so forgive my bluntness.

Basically June sent an email to our former bosses asking when our last payslips would be ready, and my former boss B sent me a mail saying they're still working out my pay for August due to major issues with my code in the last few months. He then stated a few problems in my projects, questioned my professionalism, and said I imposed problems on the team due to piling resource issues at that time.

(This is my August pay mind you, and they haven't even paid me my pay adjustment for June yet. I don't remember anywhere in my contract that says my salary was negotiable, based on performance.)

Well, it turned out that most of problems were either not caused by me, or were inherent in the old systems. So, I wrote back and addressed the issues, and reminded them that I had announced my intention to leave in early June (or maybe May), so they should have had two months to look for a replacement for me. Furthermore, he himself said I could go, and I could work while I was clearing my leave.

So I told my former bosses that we have been very patient with them. They had caused June enough emotional trauma during her resignation, and I've had enough of their nonsense.

I told them under Ministry of Manpower's law, salaries need to be paid out on the last day of employment if required notice has been served, or seven days of the last day of employment if notice period has not been served. Either way, they have exceeded this period by a couple of weeks/months for both of us at least.

And I told them under the same act, they are not authorised to deduct my pay apart from a few special conditions, which I'm sure I had not violated.

I said we've many opportunities to ask the MoM to act on our behalf but we did not want to, and asked them not to push it.

So my former big boss J wrote back saying a couple of things, amongst which was this:
"Please do not threaten us. We have restrained ourselves from taking legal action against you, because we do not want to affect you or your future career."

Wow, that's great isn't it?! I got their agreement to let me go work while clearing my leave BEFORE I had even signed anything or gave a verbal agreement to my present company that I would start working. If this is not called underhandedness, I don't know a better term for it.

(It's a good thing I've kept all my mails.)

I just wanted to tell them that we are not ignorant and neither do we like being bullied. If we had wanted to threaten or get MoM to execute, we could have done so long long time ago, and would have saved us a lot of time, trouble and heartache. This is how they show their gratitude. Well done.

My boss B then came back to me with another mail accusing me of several more things that I had failed to do, and it turned out that even more of those were not my fault. So all the projects that were handed to me because other people left becomes my fault?

He even said my report works only for 3 months while the reports done previously worked for 2 years. Right! Before I left I spent several days overtime fixing the discrepancies in just those reports that "worked for 2 years"! They themselves know about it!

Hey, I completed everything they asked me to do for my handover, and I even did a few more things for them because I thought it would be helpful to them. I even helped one of my colleagues recently to set up one of the mac mini machines that was down. So much for appreciation!

(I don't know who started the rumour that I was supposed to do MIRS documentation before I left. I was not supposed to. The project was still pending customer changes when I left. How to do documentation?)

I wrote back once more to address the issues and left 2 thoughts with them, which I hope they will take seriously:
1 - Reflect and see why people have been leaving one after another.
2 - Appreciate people by remembering the good they've done.

Saying that you appreciate people and then start digging at their faults seems very hypocritical to me. (I didn't put this in the email.)

They have since deleted my company mail with them. Good. Good riddance. That'll be the end of our relationship.

It's no more goodbye, it's bad-bye!

Birthday Wishes :)

2007-09-23T17:55:00.000+08:00

Hee... Birthday's here, so time to make new resolutions. :)

I like to make resolutions during my birthday, since it's really the day of beginning for me, and it's a good time to start over again what I had failed to achieve in my new year resolutions.

For the past week or so, I've asked God what my direction should be for this year, and He told me that the past year has been one of change and maturing for me, and since things have stabilised, it's time to dig deep. So this year for me, I have three birthday wishes:
1 - To grow deeper in knowledge and love for God
2 - To develop the creative nature God has planted in my heart in the area of songs and graphics
3 - To grow deeper in love with June and learn how to communicate better with her

This year's birthday was a pretty good one. It's my first one as a married man, and it was really great to have June with me for all 24 hours of the day. Really glad to spend quiet and quality time with her. :)

Had quite a fair bit of birthday presents this time round, and I even got presents from my in-laws (quite a bit of clothing actually). :)

Looking forward to the new year with hope. Will show you all my report card next year. It'll be a good one. :)

(With this post, I've cleared all my back log of blog posts already. Yay! A new year awaits! :))

Cry Me A River

2007-09-16T15:57:00.000+08:00

Service today was simply awesome! God really moved in a very powerful way!

Pastor Derek preached today, and after the sermon, he gave an altar call for members who were weary, and wanted a touch from God; members who needed God's anointing, love, peace and joy, and needed an expansion in capacity. I really felt this was the call for me, all 100% of it, and so I went down.

I had been rather stressed up for a while I guess. There's so many responsibilities that I have to shoulder, especially so after marriage, that the burden has been bearing down on me. I had not noticed increased weight as they accumulated little by little over time. There were so many things that I had to attend to and so many trivial matters had taken up my time and attention that I had no time left to do what I wanted to do, to do what I know God had called me to.

As I stood in the front, pouring my heart out to Him, God came and spoke 5 very simple words to me: "Go on; I love you."

At those words I just broke down and wept. Tears flowed so freely; it was as if I wanted to dehydrate my body of every ounce of water. Even as I went back to my seat, those words kept ringing in my mind, and I wept again.

It felt so good. The burden was gone, and joy just came. It's a very complex feeling - crying and smiling at the same time.

The Lord of all loves me, and He told me that personally. What more could I ask for, what more would I need? :)

Thank you Lord, for Your love.

Our Bangkok Trip!

2007-09-08T16:40:00.000+08:00

June and I just returned from our trip to Bangkok (02-Sept-07 to 06-Sept-07), and we have some photos to share with you all. :)

We decided to go for a short trip to unwind a little. (Work related stress was piling on us for a while.) This trip was more of a shopping trip rather than a sight-seeing trip, so there isn't much photos this time round. :P

Thank God for His blessings on our trip. For some strange reasons, it only rains at night, and in the day it was slightly cloudy and pretty nice to walk. Bangkok's temperatures were supposedly hotter than Singapore, but to me, it was definately cooler there than it was here. :P

Also, we didn't get conned by any taxi drivers while we were there. I had a map on my hands, but so many little streets were not documented and street names were mostly in curly fonts, so it was a little hard to know if the driver is taking you on a visual tour of the city. Our cab fare from and to places were almost the same, and the routes taken were similar. :)

We also managed to get the better deals each time we were undecided to buy stuff too. Haha, too many examples to quote. :P

OKies, enough of talking. Here's the pictures! Enjoy! :)

Before take off from Changi Airport, Budget Terminal! First time riding on a Tiger... :P

Arrived at Bangkok. Picture taken inside the airport, and just outside of it. It's quite a contrast to see such backward residences just outside the modern airport building.

The famous Chatuchak weekend market. Only had 1 photo cos was busy buying stuff. :P We thought we had missed it already, as it was supposed to close at 6pm (it only opens on weekends.) It was already 430pm after we had checked in to our hotel on Sunday. A couple of taxi drivers had refused to take us there, saying that it'll close at 5. And guess what? The place was still booming with people when we got there, and when we left at nearly 730pm, there were still shops opened! We managed to get quite a fair bit of clothing here and went back to our hotel happy. June bought a really cute piggy bag here too. Ask her to show you. :P

Here's a view of our Baiyoke Suite hotel room. It was actually made up of two rooms. The first photo shows the hall/dining area you see when you open the hotel room. From there, you open a door to the bedroom itself, which you see in the second photo. (I didn't take a photo of the attached bathroom.)

Breakfast at Baiyoke Suite is served on the 43rd (top) floor! It provides us with a magnificent view of the Bangkok city. (Baiyoke Suite used to be the tallest hotel in Bangkok, until it's brother Baiyoke Sky took over.) Breakfast was pretty tasty, better than what I had expected. :P

Our second day out! We went to Chinatown (Yaowarat) in the morning. Pretty interesting sight and sounds there, with all the chinese banners and the honking traffic. :P They've got pagoda shaped telephone booths along the streets (pict 19). :P There's also this speciality shop that sells tons of Hello Kitty bags (pict 22).

We went to the wholesale market (Baiyoke Market) around our hotel in the afternoon. There were a lot of people here, and it we had our hands full with our purchases, so no photos. :P We really bought quite a lot of clothing from here.

Here's a shot of our hotel. It's pretty easy to recognise given it's height and it's rainbow colours. The other photosare views from our hotel room. There are a lot of half completed buildings in Bangkok city overgrown with weeds, lichen and vine. Looking at the building in the first photo, you can guess that the decripit building's been left there for years, if not, decades.

McDonalds! With Ronald McDonald in the standard Thai greeting pose. :) McDonalds in Thailand is under the McThai company (printed on our receipts). The meals there are definately cheaper and bigger than local versions, but the fries there are pretty soggy; compared to local food pricing, it's pretty expensive. We ate here once cos we couldn't find proper food to eat around our hotel. The food court in the same shopping centre had little variety and a strong pork smell. Food courts in Bangkok have very strong pork smell for that matter, and you can most certainly smell a food court before you can see it. The Thais eat a lot of pork, in many different ways! :P One of the 7-11 stores we visited had cup noodles in two flavours - Tom Yam and Mince Pork. :P

Next stop, Mahboonkrong or otherwise known as MBK Centre. MBK is located at one of the ends of the shopping belt. We ate at a Japanese restaurant there. The taste isn't as good as the ones we have here, but the portions are HUGE. I couldn't find my set meal, and this was the first one I couldn't finish. I conquered the huge sets at Ichiban Boshi, but this was waaaay bigger.

Some random shots at Siam Centre and Siam Discovery Centre. There were a lot of high end shops here, so we didn't buy anything in the end. Sorry about the absense of photos of them from the outside. They were linked at certain storeys so we didn't really get to see what they looked like on the outside. :P

Some shots of the Siam Train Station outside Siam Paragon. Paragon here looks much more expensive than the one in Singapore. Super expensive looking deco, and super high ceilings (really very high). Needless to say, the stuff here's much more high end, and we went home only with photos. :P

(Made a short trip back to MBK cos we forgot something. :P)

Last of the shopping malls that we visited, the CentralWorld mall. This is supposedly the largest shopping mall in South-East Asia. I didn't manage to get a photo of it from the pedestrian walkway. It's pretty interesting how they linked all the shopping areas with sheltered linkways. Some of the linkways are really VERY long, very much like a pedestrian expressway. There were many soldiers in ceremonial attire walking around the place. We didn't stay to find out what was going to happen there. CentralWorld was really huge, and we got tired, so we didn't explore the whole place.

Our last day at Bangkok.Some final shots of the view from our hotel's restaurant. My camera batt went dead after that, so no pictures of the wholesale market we revisited (again).

It's home sweet home after that. We really missed the comfort of our own home by then. :P

You can also view these photos here

Apologies for the Absence

2007-08-07T20:47:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone, sorry about the long absence of posts. I've been kept very busy lately with the new job and all the handover stuff which ~~I'm (still) trying to complete by the end of the month (July)~~ I've just completed.

I've got a long list of posts that I've been dying to put up - there's a lot that I've wanted to say lately - and I've written them down on paper (since I didn't have access to the internet for quite a while). And guess what? I lost the papers... :(

I'm trying to reconstruct the posts and I'll try to put the posts up here as soon as I can. There's 7 of them, in chronological order: A Tribute to June, Vacation in Greenland, Woohoo 2!, NDP 07-07-07!, Jenesis Lost?, Farewell My Friends, A New Beginning.

Be sure to catch them all! :P

A New Beginning

2007-07-29T17:27:00.000+08:00

My first week at DSTA! I can't show you any photos cos I'm not allowed to bring any photo capturing devices in. :P

Contrary to my beliefs, things moved pretty fast here on my first day. Guess they've had so many new recruitments that they've really streamlined the process. I had my staff photo taken in the morning, along with a stationery pack, wind-breaker, polo tee, then issued with a table, and a few cabinets. Collected my staff pass in the afternoon and my own laptop too! It's a dual Core 2, 2GHz machine with 1GB RAM. Woohoo! Cool stuff! :)

Met a lot of people on my first day (about 50 I think), and I only remembered a couple of names. :P

Initially I thought they had taken in the wrong person as I was supposed to do system design and hardware procurement on top of development. In fact, development was more like a side task. I later realised that the job scope of a senior software engineer here and back at my old company's quite different.

Well, it's kinda stressful here, doing things I'm foreign to, but I guess it's a good learning experience. :) There's a lot of specialised stuff here, so that means a sharper learning curve I guess. :)

At the end of the day, it's a brand new beginning! Time to do well and excel here, and avoid making the same mistakes that I've commited. :)

Farewell My Friends

2007-07-22T16:29:00.000+08:00

This has been one of the most difficult blog entry to write for me perhaps. This is the final goodbye from me, to my old company and everyone there. Thanks for the memories, and everything I've learnt. Here's the photos from our farewell dinner at Nirai-Kanai Okinawan Restaurant on the 15th of July. :)

I know my departure would mean a shortage of manpower, to the already very short pool. As much as I would have loved to help, I can't. I now have a family to feed, and I cannot do as I like when I was single. Even if I have to go hungry, my wife cannot go hungry.

Moving on wasn't as easy as everyone probably would have thought. This is, after all, the place I grew up in. I've had many memories here, memories of every shape and size...

I know I might not have lived up to everyone's expectations, but I did give it my best shot. I kinda screwed up the sales position that I took up, but I take comfort in the fact that I stepped up to the position at a time they needed it. The sales position was so demanding that I could not do any of my programming work at the same time, and guess what? The delivery got delayed and I scored another own goal... Haha... So much for trying to help...

Anyhow, I've done up everything that my boss told me to do for my handover and I even did up a few extra user guides for some of the past projects that I've done so whoever's taking over would have an easier time. I didn't have to do it, but I did it anyhow. The last project that I did wasn't complete (the customers still had things to add), so I didn't do up the documentation (I wasn't told to do it anyway). Everything else is there, and I can sleep peacefully at night knowing I don't owe anyone anything... :)

I would just like to end off with a thought. If you feel that the grass is greener on the other side, either take a brave step to explore the other side, or start watering your side. Doing nothing and hoping things would turn out for the better needs nothing short of a miracle. :)

Jenesis Lost?

2007-07-10T21:38:00.000+08:00

07-07-07 came and went, and so where's Jenesis?

Sorry folks, Jenesis got delayed. I couldn't deliver.

I was trying my darndest hardest best to squeeze something tune out during my two weeks vacation in Greenland, but nothing came out of it. I wrote some words and I sketched out some pictures and that was it.

Naturally, I was disappointed. This was the first major project that I was to undertake after my wedding, and I messed it up. Messing it up was expected though. I didn't do much to make it come to pass.

In my disappointment, God showed me a vision of Genesis; how from nothingness He created everything and made the Earth and made man to populate the Earth. It was God's intention to create us from the very very beginning, but He did not create man first, then worry about where to put him. God created the paradise that man would live in, and every little thing that man had needed, every little thing that He had intended man to have dominion over before He even created man.

I had attempted to build my Adam without first building the Garden of Eden. I was very ill prepared to take on the task.

After consideration, I would attribute my failure to two major factors:
1 - Failure to have detailed plans
2 - Failure to act on my plans

I did plan to release the single waaaaay before my wedding even, so technically, I had about 7 months to write the song. I had plans to release the song on 7th of July, but I hadn't made detailed plans to execute the plan. I had not broken down the task into little milestone tasks to accomplish along the way, and I had not factored in the unplanned matters that had eaten up my time (eg. job changing, house maintenance etc).

I need to start taking actions, no matter how rough my plans are. Leaving everything til the last moment and hoping for something good to come out of it requires nothing short of a miracle and a tremendous amount of faith. :p I would really need to invest time and attention to pursuing the goal instead of hoping that I could somehow download a new song from God.

Fail to plan, plan to fail. I'll be making new plans for this and I'll make sure I break it down to manageable and measurable milestone. I will discuss the plans with June so she can be participate in it, and I can be accountable to her to make it come to pass.

We should make plans - counting on God to direct us. (Prov 16:9, TLB)

NDP Preview 07-07-07

2007-07-07T22:30:00.000+08:00

Just went for the NDP (pre-)preview for this year, and I must say it's really good!

As the national stadium's no more, this year's NDP is going to be held at the floating platform off Marina Bay! Everything seemed so much prettier with the night cityscape and the Esplanade as a background. Many of the displays made good use of the surrounding water, especially the Navy. This is the first time I've seen the Navy showcase their prowess on a National Day Parade.

Well, as this wasn't the actual preview, there weren't any goodie bags. But well, there were still the fireworks! :) (My sis went for a later preview; they omitted the fireworks! -_-")

Here's the pictures (taken by June and myself)! Enjoy! :)

You can also view these photos here

Woohoo!!

2007-07-06T23:25:00.000+08:00

Got a litte surprise waiting for me when I got back from reservist... DSTA offered me a job! What's more, they're offering to pay me some 50% more than what I had gotten in my last pay cheque! WOOHOO!!

The journey here has really been quite incredible, and it could only have been possible because of God. :) Just to tie up everything together, let me tell you the whole story all over...

Towards the end of April, I decided that it was time to move on, and so I started on this job seeking saga. For all my applications, I took a huge step of faith and put an expected salary that was 20% more than what I had been getting. It was a huge leap for me, but I felt the peace of God as I wrote it down, so I left it as that. This was the exact figure I wrote down when I applied for DSTA then.

I sent our my application to a couple of companies, most of them being big ones (thinking they can afford to give me a more competitive package). One week passed, then two, then three, and then a full month. No one contacted me, not one. I had thought I put a value too high.

To be honest, I was a little surprised, yet not surprised when DSTA contacted me for an interview a month and a few days after my application. Surprised because some one had finally thought my request was reasonable, but yet not surprised because I somehow knew it was coming. It's really difficult to explain, but I wasn't the least bit worried that no one had contacted me after one month, and I wasn't worried even though I had somehow convinced myself that I had put a value too high.

And so, I went for the interview, and to my utter surprise, they said my expected salary was a bit low. That nearly caused me to fall out from my chair! The interview went pretty smoothly, but I wasn't adequately prepared for it as it was my first interview in a long time. Nonetheless, I had a pretty good feeling about it, and I wrote a blog entry on it. (Read Bittersweet Goodbye for details.)

One week passed, then two, then three, and then a full month again. I had not heard from DSTA (though I've gotten another interview in the mean time). I thought perhaps I fumbled during the interview and I didn't make it through. But then again, I had the same peace that I felt when I put down my expected salary earlier. Inexplicably once again, I wasn't the least bit worried that I didn't get the job although I had convinced myself that I failed the interview. (When I wrote the entry Bittersweet Goodbye, I wrote it as if I had already gotten the job and was saying my goodbyes already.)

Looking back, I could only say that it was God's faith and God's faithfulness at work in my life. So many times I could have given up and settled for something lower, but God gave me peace, and gave me much much more than I could have asked for. Praise God!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Eph 3:20-21, NIV)

Vacation in Greenland

2007-07-06T20:00:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone! I just came back from my vacation in greenland, and here are some photos I'd like to share with you!

(Oops, can't bring camera into camp...)

I just finished 2 weeks worth of reservist training - this being my very first - and I must say it was not quite what I have expected it to be. Let me run through my training with you.

Day 1:
Day 1 can simply be summarised in 2 simple words: "I waited."

Seriously, I didn't have anything to do for the whole day. Did my in-processing late (because the taxi driver couldn't find the camp **see foot note for details), and did nothing the whole day. I was supposed to have some training, but they couldn't find the person in charge, they double booked the training room so the whole bunch of us got chased out and had no where to go.

Made three friends who were also having their first reservist, and the bunch of us "idled" the whole day away. Well... actually, I didn't idle the day away. I spent the day memorising the set of Hiragana (Jap) characters and memorised about 75% of them.

Since, no one knew we existed, we booked out at 530pm and returned home. It was good to go home. I thought I wasn't able to see June for 2 weeks straight, and the thought of it really irked me.

Day 2:
Day can be summarised in 4 simple words now: "I waited some more."

The admin people still couldn't find the person in charge (I don't think they even know who's in charge to begin with).

Spent the whole day doing memorising the rest of my Hiragana character set and did up my homework. Quite a feat memorising 46 foreign characters in 2 days. Thank you tax-payers for contributing to my education in Japanese. Your contributions have not been in vain and are not forgotten. :P

Day 3:
Day can be now be summarised in 6 simple words: "I waited for half a day."

They informed me that I would be having a refresher course at 930 in the morning, and lo and behold, it did start on time. That was something I didn't quite expect, and I must applaud the greenlanders for breaking the tradition of making sure their servicemen have enough rest at the lecture venue before beginning the lesson proper.

After the 1 hour lesson, they had no idea where we were supposed to go again, so I spent the rest of the day resting away in the officers mess with my new found friends. The greenlanders really treat their soldiers well, giving us ample time for rest and bonding.

Day 4 - 6:
I'm a lost sheep no more! :) Managed to find my flock this morning and got to know a few old birdies in the same company. Spent the next few days preparing and setting up our equipment for the major 3-day exercise next Mon - Wed. (Won't be called a high key reservist without the exercise.)

Had a bit of training in Big-2 (I only played when there was no money involved), and got to know them pretty well through the games and the interactions.

Day 7:
Had to book in at night because of the exercise tomorrow. Sleeping alone on an unhygenic, cold single bed felt so odd and uncomfortable.

Day 8 - 10:
Spent 3 days out in the field for the exercise, and it was more fun than I thought it would be! There wasn't the usual "wait to rush, rush to wait" anymore. We did things at a more relaxed pace, and everyone helped each other out. For the first time I saw team work in action. In the past, it used to be chiong to finish what you need to do, and then mind your own business (and avoid arrows as much as possible.)

The exercise itself was pretty interesting. I'm not at liberty to disclose the details, but quite a fair bit of scenarios were played out, and quite a few technologies were used. (Could roughly work out the storyline because I was manning comms at HQ for most of the exercise.)

The food was good too. You can't believe what we ate there. One of my camp mates actually brought in a gas stove (yes, a gas stove; not a bunsen burner mind you, a real gas stove, with a gas canister for fuel, and knobs to adjust the intensity of the fire) and a cooking pot to cook for all of us. So he managed to whip up hainanese chicken rice (with chinese sausage), chicken porridge, sharksfin soup (yesh, I know this one takes the cake) just to name a few. There was the usual canned food, and instant noodles to supplement the meals, and they really tasted pretty good. (Although anything would taste good compared to rations.)

This year they compressed the exercises a bit, and the second deployment ground was just next to my reservist camp, so we managed to wrap everything up in 2.5 days. Had a nice shower and headed back home to meet June. (Yay!)

Day 11:
Returned all our stores today. Wasn't too difficult. Tearing things down are always much easier than setting things up. :P Had a bit of rest in my bunk before the appreciation dinner that evening.

They shifted the dinner to Thu night from Fri night, which I think was a pretty good choice. Previously my camp mates had a mandatory one day rest to wait for the dinner before they could do their out processing.

Day 12:
Came back to do a survey, waited for them to check through the stock (which took quite a while), and did my out-processing. Managed to escape the lunch provided for us. The one thing that hasn't changed much is the quality of food served in camp. Depending on which layer your rice is, it either is too soggy or a little uncooked (same applies for vege and meat). The portions are just simply pathetic.

All in all, I would have to say that reservist was much more fun than I had expected it to be. There was the usual mandatory rest periods which let your brain cells degenerate rapidly if you were not careful, but it was still a pretty pleasant experience. Though I'm not exactly looking forward to the next one, I definately do not have as much ill feelings towards it as I used to.

** My S*F100 - the piece of paper they used to summon me into my greens - said I was supposed to report to A**C at Kr*nji Camp 2, but we simply couldn't find the place. Passerbys gave wildy differing instructions, and it took the driver some half hour and lots of turns to find the place. In the end, we found out that there was NO camp 2 (or there was camp 2), and A**C is in camp 3.

Interestingly, when I got to my admin office (after being directed from place to place), the admin staff asked me when I was supposed to come. Thinking that I've gotten myself into trouble, I muttered a sheepish, "Urm... 730?". The guy looked at me for quite a while before he said, "Oh, today ah?". So they were just expecting me to come in some time that day? :P

A Tribute to June

2007-06-25T21:31:00.000+08:00

Been wanting to write a tribute to June,
But wandering words just can't justify (her loveliness).
So singing here I am with my little tune,
Hoping something will come out soon.

OKies... That's just an excuse... :P I'm late in writing this tribute for her on her birthday, but guess late is better than never. :) (I've already written a little something for her on her birthday, but that's private, and if you think I'm going to tell you here, you can wait long long... :P)

Well, I guess the most amazing thing about June is her drive for perfection. She know she's not perfect, but she tries to be as perfect as she can be. The perfect wife, the perfect companion, the perfect partner.

It's not easy to live with someone, and I must say I'm not exactly the nicest man on earth to live with. I know I can be petty and sulky on days, and I can get depressed from time to time, and I think the worst thing about me is I can get really messy if left unchecked. All these she has taken in her stride, and I think it's not a very easy thing to do. For one, June is a very organised and merticulous person - her things are always neat and tidy, mine looks like a couple of tornadoes just ran through them. (Well... I'm trying my best to be neat and tidy now...)

There's a lot of accomodating to do living with one another, a lot of give and take. Some things do not come naturally, but she tries her best. There are really much more things than you can imagine really. For example, June is used to watching TV in the dark, but I can't do that because my eyes will hurt against the constrast, so we light up our hall a little when we watch TV. June walks very much faster than me by default, and she makes a concious effort to slow down, while I make a concious effort to speed up *pant pant*.

I think married life has been really wonderful, and I'm really blessed with a wonderful wife... I really think God pampers me a lot... ;)

Of course both of us are going to work on bringing the marriage up to even higher grounds. For me, I guess this means learning to really accept each other for the person they are, learning to honour and respect each other, learning to appreciate and encourage one another, learning to love and to cherish each other.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (1 Cor 13:4-7, NLT)

Woohoo!

2007-06-25T10:09:00.000+08:00

Posted this entry the first moment I got it!

I've gotten a major pay increment of 20%! Now my current pay is quite close to the $3.2K that I've been asking for in my job applications!

Really thank God for the increment. June and I have been struggling with our finances since a long time back, and our polite negotiations with our bosses for increments had been turned down many times. We tried once earlier this year, but to no avail.

Earlier this month, I had a major "argument" with my bosses regarding my pay. (In case any of you are wondering, I wasn't nasty; I was just very strong, firm and truthful. For more details on this, please read the earlier post "Bittersweet Goodbye".) I was thinking, "Well... I'm going anyway... Nothing to lose... No harm telling them we've been shortchanged in our remuneration for quite a long time already... At least after I go, they'll appreciate the remaining staff a little more, and perhaps pay them a little better so the people won't keep slipping away..." (Two of my colleagues left earlier this month, one left for another company, another didn't want to renew his contract.)

Guess what? My bosses decided to up our salaries across the board this morning! Talk about impacting the marketplace! :D There are many smiles in the office today, and the atmosphere isn't gloomy anymore. It feels so much better working in a happy environment, where everyone's morale is high. Really motivates me to work harder. :)

I do not claim sole credit for this increment though. I know many of my colleagues have expressed dissatisfaction with their pay to our bosses for a while too, but I do know that I've had a part to play in this, and I'm really happy that my actions have brought positive benefit to my colleagues, or rather, I'll like to refer to them as my friends and war buddies. :P

To my colleagues who are reading this, you guys are the sole reason I have not yet left. You have made a huge difference in both the lives of June and I. We love you guys!

OKies, time to work! がんばってください! (Gambatte Kudasai!)

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (Eph 3:20, NLT)

Bittersweet Goodbye

2007-06-16T14:27:00.000+08:00

I had wanted to post this a long time ago, but I've been kept occupied by work that I had to clear before my ICT on 26th Jun. This entry is post dated as such, to the date I intended to post the entry. :)

Recently June said my blog's too salty already, so I decided to add two more flavours to this blog. (See title.) :P

I know my colleagues are reading my blog as well, but I think it's time they knew too.

I'm on the verge of leaving, and it's a really bittersweet goodbye.

I've gone for an interview with a relatively large local company on the 8th of June, and during the interview they asked me why I am leaving my present company. I truthfully told them the remuneration isn't competitive (on top of other things). They then commented that their pay is only average, so I though, "Gone... Sure under 3K le..."

At the end of the interview, they asked if my expected salary of 3.2K is what I really wanted. (I prayed about this figure, and I felt the peace of God writing this down though it's a big jump from my current salary.) I told them honestly, yes this is what I want.

To my greatest surprise, they told me in a matter-of-fact fashion that 3.2K is a bit low, they will adjust it accordingly if they take me in. I nearly flipped from my chair!

I'm really glad I went for the interview. It really opened my eys to my true value, and how much I've been underpaid. June and I have been unhappy about our pay for some time already, since we know some 3 or 4 fresh grads making 2.6K to 2.8K as their starting pay! I've got 3 years experience, and I'm earning lower! Atrocious!

So based on these, I've engaged both my bosses in a rather "heated" discussion. In short, I had told them the market rate for fresh grads is now 2.7-2.9K (as reported in the newspapers), and I did tell them truthfully about how much the other company was offering me, and how I would go once they confirmed me. They then promised me they'll look into this matter.

Well, I don't think they would match up to the 3.2K I expected, but at least when I go they'll appreciate the remaining staff a bit more, and hopefully raise their pay as well.

So I guess it's goodbye from me, it's been such a great ride with you all! :)

Sigh... I had the same bittersweet feeling during our company outing on Vesak Day. I really had so much fun with the shopping and karaoke at JB. (Our M'sian friend became our tour guide for one day. :P) But at the end of it, I was feeling a bit sian, knowing this could be the last time we went out like that.

June cheered me up saying we still can go out together even after I leave, but I couldn't help feeling a bit sad. Well, all good things have to come to an end, and when it's time to go, I'll make a graceful exit. :)

Pass the Salt Please...

2007-06-04T20:30:00.000+08:00

Think many of you have wondered why the number of posts these couple of days have exceeded my total number of posts for the past year.

Well, the truth is, my emotions are on a roller coaster ride lately, and writing makes me feel better. Just want to put my thoughts down so it doesn't keep churning away in my mind. Actually, this wasn't the initial cause, but it's soon becoming the primary cause.

I started writing this series of blog entries because my vocal teacher said my singing was bland. No feeling, no emotion, no packing, no decorations, just raw voice.

That set me wondering, what happened to my emotions?

I used to scrap through auditions for public performances by the way my songs felt. My singing techniques weren't good then, and I don't think I sounded very well, but I could sing until I nearly cry. I really could feel the song, and I think the audience could catch it too.

So what happened to the flavor? Why did it become so bland?

After careful thought, I've come to realize that throughout the years, I've shrugged off too many hurts, instead of dealing with them. I thought I was cool, but these hurts have seared my emotion, and made me a bitter cripple.

Throughout the years I've tried to decipher the meaning behind harsh words. I took "You cannot make it leh!" to mean "I think you could do better in this area.", "You very slow leh, hurry up!" to mean "We're late. Maybe we could walk faster?" etc. I tried to take the negative words out, and seek the intentions of the speaker.

Lately, it's been increasingly difficult for me to do this. I don't know if my patience is running low, stress is high, or I just simply couldn't pretend that it doesn't hurt anymore. Words do hurt.

So here I am, writing about my emotions. I was hoping that by identifying my emotions, and writing them down, I would bring myself to realize that I'm only human and I have emotions, and I have an ability and a right to feel. When I'm hurt, I can say it hurts, and not shrug it off.

What Pst Kong said is right. You can't shut down a certain faculty of your emotions, and leave the rest on. It just doesn't work.

So pass the salt here please. I'm tired of being bland.

Let the weak say, "I am strong." (Joel 3:10b, NKJV)

We're 5!

2007-06-03T19:11:00.000+08:00

On the 23rd of May this year, June and I celebrated our fifth anniversary! It's been five good years since we've started dating, and it's been an incredible journey. Thank you dear dear for such wonderful times together. :)

Our relationship had it's ups and downs. The honeymoon period, the period of stagnation, the period of trials, the period of questions, the period of preparations, marriage etc. We been through so much together that I'm glad we both arrived at the same new starting point all over again. I know she's glad too. :)

Now, I'm looking forward to life with much anticipation. I know life will bring on a new set of challenges, but I know hand in hand we can conquer anything. June, Jinhong and Jesus!

This picture was taken on our anniversary, back at our home, after a nice cosy (warm) dinner at Ichiban Boshi, Great World City.

June was on her second day of MC on that day actually. She had a bad throat infection the day before, and the doctor gave her a 2 day MC. :(

I dropped by for a surprise visit during lunch hour on the first day of her MC, and bought her a bouquet of flowers (the ones you see in the picture). It cheered her up quite a bit, and cheered me up too. (I really missed her very much.) We shared a nice bowl of porridge and then I went back to work.

She took really good care of me the week when I was sick, and now it's time for me to take good care of her!

Walking in the Light

2007-06-01T13:03:00.000+08:00

This is an update to the earlier post, in case anyone of you got worried. :P

Both of us have apologized to each other and things have gone back to normal. :)

Looking back, it strange how we tend to do silly things when we get angry. It felt good to lose your temper, but after a while, it just seems irrational and insignificant. No wonder God's Word says "Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires."

This is very much like sinning. It brings short term pleasure but long term pain. We really need to guard our hearts to stop ourselves from doing stupid things.

I'm glad there's peace now. Thank God for peace. :)

Well, in my earlier post I had a picture of Darth Vader, so now that I'm back in the Light, here's a picture of Jedi...

TADA!

Haha... I did this a very very very long time back when I had nothing better to do. I hope my brothers don't kill me for this.

PS: See how much Jinyi has grown. Yesh, the guy with the purple lightsabre is him. :P

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matt 5:16, NKJV)

Turning to the Dark Side

2007-05-30T18:05:00.000+08:00

This is probably going to be quite emotional (read: incoherent) post. Got lots on my mind, guess will put them down here to release a bit of steam.

I lost my temper today; and it felt really good. (Sigh... I'm turning over to the dark side...)

Guess I couldn't take it any more.

I've always prided myself being a patient person, but I know there's two trigger points in me that can bring my tolerance level all the way down. I hate it when people do these to me:
1 - Accuse me of something that I didn't do.
2 - Shoot me down without being giving me a chance to explain my actions.

The second trigger caused me to explode today. I shall not go into the specifics. Some words were said which hurt me deeply, and the frustration of not being able to explain myself drove me up the wall and I said some nasty things back.

The temptation to be childish and give him back a taste of his own medicine is really great. No one's perfect, it's always possible to nit-pick and find a fault to throw back. (Argh... Argh... I'm getting darker...)

But I didn't. I held back, but I'm seething rather badly underneath.

God help me. Help me to mend the hurt and release forgiveness. It's really strange how easy we can devise evil words so easily and require so much effort for encouraging words. Think it's our sin nature at work.

In my rage, I stumbled upon these verses from the Bible:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Cor 13:4-7, NIV)

Dear God, help me to love.

It's so hard to obey God's Word sometimes, but each test that comes along the way just goes to shape your character and strengthen your resolve.

I will not turn over. The devil will not win. God always does.

P.S.: I'll find a chance to apologize and explain myself later, in a nice calm way, when the flames die down. Pride is telling me to ignore the person, but I won't let pride stop me.

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. (Jas 1:19-20, NLT)

Up Against Serious Opposition

2007-05-18T22:57:00.000+08:00

Hey, guess what? I only worked 2 days this week. More accurately, I went to work for 2 days this week, and spent another 2 working at home.

I had a total of 3 days of MC this week, on 2 separate accounts, courtesy of a terrible strain of the flu virus.

It started on Monday, just a day after I wrote the previous entry. Went to see the doc, (had to wait for 2 hours,) and he decided that it was so bad that it warranted a 2 day mc. The first day, I had fever and headaches so bad that it kept me awake in the day and through the night. I had to take my medication at 8 hour intervals, but the medicine wears off in 3 short hours, leaving me in agony for the rest of the 5 hours. Terrible ordeal.

After my 2 day mc, my throat infection didn't get any better; it just got worse.

So early this morning I went to see the doctor again (after I exhausted my antibiotics), and had another day's mc. The doc gave me stronger medication this time round; medicine that made my stomach churn and gave me bad diarrhea every time I consumed it. Sigh.

Guess I'm on the verge of doing something really revolutionary, and "someone" isn't too happy about it. No matter, he can try, but we'll always win in the end. We're more than conquerors in Christ! :)

"No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me," Says the LORD. (Isaiah 54:17, NKJV)

What's in a Name?

2007-05-13T19:22:00.000+08:00

I think June has briefly mentioned this in her blog, and she's urged me to expound on this, so here I am. :)

In line with our music making goals, June and I have formed a productions company by the name of Jenesis Creatives.

The word Jenesis is a variation of Genesis (pronounced the same way), the beginning of all things. June's name starts with J and my name starts with J, so we decided to replace G with J.

But why Genesis of all names?

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness." (Gen 1:1-4, NKJV)

I remember Dr A. R. Bernard said that this was an illustration of a sinner being saved. The sinner is like the earth, without form and in darkness, and the Spirit of God hovers over the sinner. When the sinner received salvation, God gave the Word and light came into the sinner life, and a new being was created, and separated from the darkness into His light.

This is how we would like our music to be also, to bring light into the darkness, and illuminate the lives of the many lost ones out there. We want to change the musical world with a new breed of songs, to showcase God's creative power through these new songs, and eventually to give God all the glory and honour. :)

I'm not talking about creating new songs in the current genres, I'm talking about new genres of songs. Songs people would not know how to classify. Songs that stand out from other formats.

Why Creatives then?

Creatives stands for the creative nature of the songs, and the creative nature of God. When put together with Jenesis, the acronym formed is JC, the acronym for our Lord Jesus Christ. :)

So you have it, Jenesis Creatives. :)

Our current plans as as follows:
1 - Release Jenesis Creatives website on 7th July 2007 (777, the number for God)
2 - Release album single on 7th July 2007
3 - Release album on 8th Aug 2008 (888, the number for Jesus)

The album single is tentatively titled: "Remember Me" (keke, subconscious programming)
And for the album, it'll be made up of stories, ideas from Genesis (without direct references)

Alrighty, that's all for now. Stay in tune! :)

The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever - do not abandon the works of your hands. (Ps 138:8, NIV)

The Pursuit of Happiness

2007-05-13T00:37:00.000+08:00

"The proof of your passion lies in your pursuit" - Dr A.R. Bernard

I think you all probably have heard this many times over, but this one's really stuck with me, and it struck me again during cell group meeting today.

Passion. An intense emotion, strong feeling, great devotion, intense conviction which fills or motivates us towards compelling action. A fervent devotion to a cause.

What are you passionate about? More importantly, what are you doing about it?

It's no secret that I'm passionate about singing, about making music, and in the near future release a few singles and albums that would change the music scene, and touch millions of people out there. Not difficult these days, considering how connected we are.

I have taken steps to make this a reality. I've taken up vocal lessons (together with June), I've set up all the hardware and software needed to make music, and even took steps to ensure that my music room contains everything I need, and nothing else to create the music that I want. I've got visions, ideas, concepts, and even plans and dates in mind. (OK, I'll need to start writing all these down.)

But... I haven't been making much progress...

As much as I want to move on, I'm held back by a weakness I'm constantly struggling against - discipline.

Discipline. I've been struggling against ill-discipline for a long time. Many times the things I've wanted to do are delayed due to ill-discipline, an inability to move against the inertia, and an inability to move along with what's started by putting in constant effort. You don't need to be a physicist to understand Newton's first law of motion. :P

I've been struggling to get up early each morning to do my quiet time, and to practice singing. In fact, I don't think I've managed to practice much singing since I've set my heart to do it. And sometimes, not often though, I even snooze past my quiet time. Really need to start discipling my flesh.

Another area I need to discipline myself is in the area of time management. I'm sick and tired hearing myself makes excuses that I can't do this, I can't do that because I have no time.

I really need to make more time, and I believe focus is the key.

There are certain things in my life I can change to bring it into clearer focus. I believe I can put in additional effort to concentrate on my work in the day, and get more my work done without having to OT (and thus reduce the amount of time I have at night). I believe in the little time I have in the morning and in the night, I can make it count.

This will probably make me very tired, but I'm trusting on God to give me strength to go on. :)

I know you probably got things you want to go for too, so let's all fight the good fight together!

My prayer for this season:
"Lord, give me the strength to overcome the inertia of starting new things, and give me the strength to overcome the friction that impedes my progress by giving me the strength and the discipline to keep pushing. Help me to stay focused on the matters on hand, and help me to put away distractions and temptations that take away my attention. Enlarge my capacity, that I might be able to maximize my time, to achieve the best I can be, in the shortest time possible."

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. (Jam 1:12, NIV)

Photo of Note

2007-05-13T00:20:00.000+08:00

Wanted to share this photo with all of you before it gets really stale. Quite stale le already. :P

This is one of my favourite shots from my wedding. What makes this photo so outstanding amongst the thousands (OK, just hundreds) of wedding photos?

Anyone noticed the time on the clock? Reads exactly 2:02:02pm. Was this a result of impeccable timing, or mere coincidence? I like to think it's the former... :)

Think this is a classic case of a moment frozen in time. Many thanks to Gary for such fantastic shots. Now, who's going to take his wedding photos for him? :P

Moving on...

2007-05-02T18:59:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Haven't been blogging in a while, been kept quite busy lately, primarily with work related stuff. I'm currently wrapping up a few projects that I've been handling over the past few weeks, giving a good end before I leave my present company. It's time to go le, I'm already late... (More on this later...)

I'm actively seeking employment too, so have been busy doing up my documents, emailing a few companies. If you have a job opening for a senior software engineer (specializing in RFID), pls let me know. If not, you could help me by praying with me for a good job. Your prayers are much appreciated! :)

I've also updated my blog, adopted a little tiger on my blog (in case you haven't already noticed), and I've shrinked all the thumbnails of the photos in my entries. My blog should load 7 times faster now... Kekeke... :p

Moving on... I've more or less settled into married life... :)

Life's a bliss being married to June. Not to say we didn't have any friction, but we always managed to stay as a team and work things out together. She's really a wonderful woman, and the more you know her, the more you'll love her... :P

It's a great experience to share a life with someone, to share everything (including housework) with each other, and it's a most magical feeling to kiss your most loved one good morning and good night, to eat the dinner she prepares... (Awwww... Envious hor?)

Just about a month ago, we went on a date and we had the chance to recount the experiences we've shared with each other. We've been together for nearly 5 years already, and looking back, we've really come a long way.

But things have only just started to get even better. We're moving on to greater romance, greater love. :)

Thank God for June. The most wonderful person in the world (to me). :P

Moving on... I've more or less unsettled myself from my current job.

The time has come, and I've made the decision to move on. I don't know where I'm going yet, but I'm not staying anymore.

It hasn't been quite an easy 3 years for me at my present company. True, there were good moments there, and I cherish the moments being able to see June at work, being able to go to work together, lunch together and go home together. But we both decided it was time to move on.

To be perfectly honest, I haven't exactly been getting great reviews at work. I've really tried very hard, put my sweat and blood into my work (June can vouch for it), and I've come home drained. But at the end of the day, much of my effort goes unappreciated; my boss even told me that they were tempted to let me go a couple of times.

I was really discouraged for a period of time, wondering why I kept getting negative feedback though I worked hard, and a couple of times I just felt like giving up, and not bother working. But I didn't.

In my discouragement I sought God, and He told me that I was not placed where He wanted me, that's why I didn't prosper the way He would have intended me to, that's why my abilities are not maximized and recognized. In recent meetings with God, He told me that He would be opening doors for me, to bring me to a more glorious place. With faith I hold on to this promise, and with hope I trust in God. God is a good God. :)

Move on... Move on... It's time to go... God keeps moving, so we should keep moving as well... :)

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. (Heb 11:1, NLT)

Wedding Photos (Morning Activities)

2007-03-23T12:34:00.002+08:00

Hi everyone! I'm back with the wedding day photos as promised... :)

Special thanks to Gary for such fantastic shots!

These are the photos from the morning activities. The photos are taken at June's place first, then my place:

You can also view these photos here

Wedding Photos (Holy Matrimony)

2007-03-23T12:34:00.001+08:00

These are the photos from our Holy Matrimony at City Harvest Church (Jurong West):

You can also view these photos here

Wedding Photos (Banquet)

2007-03-23T12:31:00.001+08:00

These are the photos from our wedding banquet at Dragon Gate Restaurant (HarbourFront):

You can also view these photos here

Our Wedding Album

2007-01-11T21:16:00.000+08:00

Just thought I'd upload our wedding album here as well, for all of you who missed it during our wedding. :)

This album was made at Th*ms*n Bridal, and we seriously advice you **AGAINST** going there.

The photography is quite good, the editing is pretty OK, and the staff are generally OK as well, but the bosses are... well... simply **TERRIBLE**.

They are overtly pushy when asking you to select photos, and if you don't pick as many as they would like, they become very insulting with words (which is quite strange for a service oriented industry, but they do it anyway).

Even my really good-natured sister vowed never ever to go there again after just a single session. Haha... How's that for service?

What's more is they really charge you an arm and a leg for their services, and their timetabling is really terrible. Lots of last minute changes and inflexible schedules. I nearly didn't get this album in time for my wedding. I collected it on the night just before my wedding.

Oh well... We forgave them le... But I guess we don't want anyone else to forgive them again unnecessarily... :P

You can also view these photos here

My Wedding Video

2007-01-03T12:33:00.000+08:00

For all of you who've missed my wedding, or want a recap, here's the video highlights from my wedding

If the video's no longer available, you can download the video from here. You'll need a DivX player (like VLC Media Player) to view the video.

Special thanks to Edwin for helping us get the video editing done. We really loved this highlight! :P Your works are really legendary! :)

Special thanks to Jiahao also for helping us shoot the raw footages. We really liked the moments you captured! The footages and angles are great, and your hands are super rock steady!

Pictures from Taiwan! :)

2007-01-03T12:28:00.000+08:00

Happy new year everyone! I'm back! :)

After a year and a half of marriage preparations, I've finally settled down (with the most lovely woman in the world)... Keke... :) It was pretty tough, but at the end of it, it was worth it all... :)

I love you June! It's great to have you as my wife! :)

Here's our collection of photos from our honeymoon in Taiwan... Enjoy!

You can also view these photos here