Dear friends

Dear friends, if you happen to land on this blog, please not that due to my lazy nature, I have decided to limit my blog post to http://extremeweight.blogspot.com. So if you have bookmarked me on this link previously, please kindly change the link, in order to receive regular blog updates from me. Sorry for the inconvenience, but trust me, its worth it! lolx.

How Cultured Must I Be?

I got elected as the UMSA Cultural Officer! Don't know whether it is a blessing or a torment in disguise. But I look forward to working more closely to different type of people, secular, non secular, Chinese, non-Chinese, fussy, lazy, open-minded, conservative, authoritative, submissive, etc. etc. I guess that my previous experience in drama teams and societies and communities exposed me to the ugliness of human behaviour in working and living together. But I hope I will learn something from the people I am going to work with, to learn to communicate with people better, to learn to be assertive without being prideful, to learn to refrain from speaking when it is not time, to learn to be less prejudiced, to learn to submit to leadership, to learn to listen more and talk less, to learn the lesson of humility when I am clearly wrong, to learn to say sorry, to learn to be less rigid and organised, to learn teamwork, to learn how to involve others, to learn how to motivate, to learn to develop life-long friendships with people I meet, to learn to touch the lives of people around me, to learn to creatively portray the Good News, to learn to defend the weak, marginalised, lonely and despised, to learn to glorify God in everything I do, and to learn to impact the world for Christ.

Oh my gosh, I can't even dance! I gotta go back to Malaysia and take some short course on Malaysian folk dance then. lol. But most probably the cultural stuff that I will do is to have more makan time. haha... One fella told me, "there is no Malaysian culture, only makan". That is so true. There is nothing that can beat food in bringing in crowds, especially when its free, and its delicious, and when you don get to eat the stuff you eat everyday once you are stuck in such a place like this!

Probably I'll try to set up a drama team to do a 30minutes performance. Haha, or film a movie. I never done this before but I don't mind trying! Photography would be nice too...

Can't wait to be the drama producer-director for the 4th time... :P

I wonder whether will I have time for everthing?

Friends

excerpt from Scot McKnight

The conversation of friends, the great Samuel Johnson once said, is nothing more than a “calm interchange of sentiments.” And Joseph Epstein, in his Friendship: An Expose, devotes an entire chp to the talk of friends. Here’s how he defines such talk:

“At the heart of most friendships is something much simpler: talk and, going on beneath the talk, understanding, preferably easy, immediate understanding” (166).

Which means that true friends enjoy one another’s presence: “You like your friends, in other words, for what they are and not for their use to you, however useful some of them may also, on unexpected occasions, turn out to be” (167).

But here’s a comment — what do you think of it? “A person’s opinions are perhaps the least important thing about him” (173). Genuine friends are not simply those who agree with us, but those with whom we want to spend our afternoon talking.

Which also means that sometimes the conversation of friends goes nowhere and has no purpose and doesn’t solve anything — all the conversation did was put spirit next to spirit for a time together.

Which also means good friends listen to one another. Some I know don’t have any capacity whatsover to listen; others don’t often hold up their end of the bargain in talk. Friends listen and hear — and that means they can carry the conversation forward — not according to a plan but by responding to what is being said.

Endless Hope

Berpegang pada diri sendiri ialah jalan buntu,

tetapi dengan Tuhan ianya harapan yang abadi

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Bila Kumelihat palang ajaib,

Di tempat Putra agung mati,

Kekayaan ku telah buang,

Ku malu keangkuhan daku,

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

Haramkanku dari takbur,

Kecuali pengorbanan Kristus,

Segala yang menarik hati,

Ku korbankan dalam darah Dia,

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Lihatlah ubun, tangan, kaki,

Duka dan kasih berlinangan,

Mampukah keduanya bersama?

Mahkota diperbuat duri,

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Merah sungguh s'luruh badan,

Tergantung di atas 'pokok',

Dan ku mati kepada dunia,

Dunia t'lah mati kepadaku,

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Walau kum'liki s'luruh s'mesta,

Tapi masih kurang bernilai,

Alangkah kagumnya kasih-Nya,

Kuserahkan jiwa ragaku,

Isaac Watts, 1707

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Pantun Malam

Jauh berlayar ke negri Jawa,
Bawa bersama si buah pinang,
Resah hatiku gering dijiwa,
Duri tercucuk darah bergenang,

Berlayar jauh bilakah sudah?,
Banyakkan bersabar sampai jua,
Dekat sekali gigi dan lidah
Lambat laun tergigit jua

Datang shahbandar datang menteri,
Turunlah Raja mencemar duli,
Sahabat sejati sukar tercari,
Seribu tahun hanya sekali,

Tunduk hormat tiada terkata,
Takut melihat panglima perkasa,
Takbur meraja hati dibuta,
Jari ditunding menang terasa,

Berdagang saudagar kayu jati,
Emas perak habis dicari,
Berkecai seribu retak dihati,
Redha Ilahi disini kucari

Malaysia Untuk-Mu

Malaysia UntukMu

Verse

Malaysia, tanahairku
Malaysia, ciptaanMu
Malaysia, penuh dengan keindahan
Kami bersyukur kepadaMu

Malaysia, tanah cintaMu
Malaysia, diberkatiMu
Malaysia, negara tujuanMu
Kami menyerah kepada namaMu


Chorus 1

Ya Tuhanku, curahkan rahmatMu
Di atas negaraku
Curahkan cinta suciMu ke atas bangsaku
Ya, curahkan kebijaksanaan
Kukuhkan kerja tanganku
Agar Malaysia penuh dengan kemuliaanMu
Dan menjadi keharuman padaMu


Repeat Verse


Chorus 2

Ya Tuhanku, beri perlindungan dan juga keamanan
Teguhkan kebijaksanaan ke atas pentadbiran
Ya, kekalkan seri kemakmuran
Jalinkan perpaduan
Agar Malaysia penuh dengan kemuliaanMu
Dan menjadi keharuman padaMu


Repeat Chorus 1


Malaysia UntukMu
Malaysia UntukMu
Malaysia UntukMu

2003, Jenny Liew

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