More Thrashings

For my latest dose of intense disgust towards a certain person... you know where to find it if you know where to find it. If not, good!!

The New Mr. and Mrs. Victor Gonzalez

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow again. Can't stop wowing.
Pastor Victor and Anusha's Wedding was AWESOME. Not only because it was so beautiful, but maybe because I was involved in it? Hehe.





As I mentioned earlier, I was supposed perform with the church's Youth Alive (aka youth group) but had a bad case of flu and running nose. I took Loratadin, an anti-allergic medication which causes dry mouth so my chances of singing well looked slim. The song was (so very) high (Made to Love by Tobymac)... but thank God, I managed to pull it off quite well (I think - people say lah) so ... all praise to God!!
Hope to get married soon! Hehehehee... XD XD

For more pictures, go here for the classic version or here for the blogger-friendly version...XD

A Cold Day

It is so immensely irritating that after THREE MONTHS of seemingly vanishing or just contented passiveness and inactivity, the flu bug that had tormented me for so many years until the end of December last year decided to attack again - but of all days, it decided to choose THIS VERY DAY - and it may cost me a lot more than you would expect.


It started this morning, a bright and sunny morning - a Saturday morning, for goodness sakes! - and students from all over Malaysia (I would imagine) made their way to school to replace the Friday we missed because of the elections. Damn the elections. Did you know how many people from my class came this morning? I counted 13. That's right, 10 girls and 3 boys out of 40 students. I was damn shocked, I tell you!!


Apparently it has been a culture of MES students to not come to school on Saturday replacement classes. This has got to do with a few factors, like the lack of rule enforcements, i.e. no demerits for playing truant, the bad attitude students have towards exams and classes and such things, as well as the fact that it has been done as long as they can remember, I suppose. It was quite surprising because I would expect schools from West Malaysia to be more kia-su than schools in Sarawak of all places, but in Banting... they couldn't care less...? If it were to be, say, Batu Lintang, I'm sure everyone would have attended school. I think.


Anyway, my wretched day started with standing ALONE (the only non-prefect boy in my class who came to school) in my class' line during assembly. Because there were so few students, the PK1 decided to combine all the classes to become 6 classes for Form 3,4 and 5. All the Form 5 Science stream classes joined my class, and the Arts stream joined 5 Smith, and so forth. It was so very odd. Because most of the teachers did not come or did not teach becasue of the number of students, I just went down to play chess and watch a basketball match. Later, I slept through BM and Maths, but I was really sick at that time. *achooooo*


However, the most painful thing about this allergic reaction a.k.a flu a.k.a common cold is that... today is Pastor Victor Gonzalez's wedding day! (He's the English pastor of Grace Family Sanctuary) I'm to sing and play keyboard tonight at his wedding dinner, a song called "Made to Love" by Tobymac. The chorus and bridge is damn high, and during practices I can just barely belt out the song. But tonight, with my flu, ... I can't bare to think what would happen. Am I going to ruin everything?



...God help me??!!!!

An Outcry of Disdain - revamped

I decided it was too risky to post something, so... if you've been reading my blog you'd know where to find my latest unreadable-by-some post...

Smoking

I saw this sign on a blog of a friend who saw this sign somewhere in Penang, I think. Anyways, I would like to throw in a piece of my mind about this terribly irritating addiction called SMOKING.

How would you like to have a burning stick filled with tar, lead, and 4000 toxic chemicals just waiting to burn you to hell? I sure wouldn't, but there is an amazing multitude of people who do it everyday and actually claim they enjoy it!

I do realize that some people just can't stop. It's the chemicals in the smoke, like nicotine, which causes the addiction, I suppose, but I feel so much pity and yet resentment towards these people because they make life so difficult for those who love life and love their lungs, like me! I also realize that those chain smokers probably know inside out the ill effects of cigarette smoke but they cannot stop because they are addicted and/or they don't really care too much about their health. Therefore, I don't think I'll put my time and effort into making them feel any more guilty or less worthy of living than they already feel by lecturing, but I would just like to say...

I wouldn't for the life of me ever smoke. I'll kill myself first.

Political Corruption?

from http://sobnation.wordpress.com. I hope that with the rise of the opposition making history in Malaysia, we will hear and see none, or at least, less of this - and not because the government will control the media even more, but because our politicians will have integrity and accountability to serve the nation... aduhh why I become so political liao horr...

Too Many Dreams, Too Many Choices

One may say I have too many hobbies, some may say I am over-ambitious, others may say I am a "jack of all trades, master of none few", and my mother would say I am mutli-talented no matter how much I beg to differ, but I always, always get a major headache everytime someone asks me "What do you want to study in university?" or "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Many adults think these questions are fairly simple and straightforward and thus bombard little kids with them. While many teens have made their minds firmly on what their ambitions are, be it medicine or engineering, I have come to a conclusion that most kids my age cannot perform the task of deciding what they want for their future careers any better than I can. But why is that so?

I attended a seminar in school several weeks ago done by some people from Sunway University. It was called "Mind Makeover". This is what they said about the reason why many people don't know what they want to do:

1. Fear - eg fear of failure, not knowing if they are capable or not.
2. Uncertainty - too many courses, too many choices - what to do??!!
3. Dependant on others - many prefer to stay in the comfort zone.
4. No power - eg financial constraints, no family support...

The solution? Mapping your future:

1. Change your mindset - stay positive!
2. Self-assessment
- personality - must enjoy what you do
- passion - the things that push you forward (like in Happy Feet, find your heart song!)
- strengths
- values - belief system (work for money or service?)
3. Research occupations - education pathway, salary, work conditions, future outlook
4. Set your career goal - plan ahead
5. Research on potential institutions
6. Check financial aids

So I took their advice and assessed my abilities and passions, and then I got an even bigger headache... crap!!

(I) ARTS

1. Arts
Arts here refers to the area of drawing, painting, sculpting and stuff that gives pleasure to the artistic eye. I have always dreamed of being a famous artist like Pablo Picasso and Da Vinci, but I have seen too many talented street-side artists barely making a living because of lack of opportunity and business strategies.

2. Music
Lately another one of my dreams would be to become a famous musician in a Christian band like Hillsongs or Planetshakers. When I was younger, I thought I would like to be a professional pianist, but I realized that only the most gifted prdigies can make it to the top, so I changed my mind and now I want to play for God. In fact, I am already playing for God but I'm referring to my dream of doing it as a career. I also want to be a songwriter, and currently I have 9 complete songs as well as a whole file of unfinished songs that I hope to work on after SPM.

3. Design
I dream of being a designer - interior and exterior designing as well as electronic designing, internet designing and fashion designing. During my weeks of study before PMR, I would doodle on pieces of paper, drawing houses and clothes and whatnots when my parents were not watching because I couldn't stand studying for long periods of time.

(II) LANGUAGE

1. Believe it or not, one of my dreams is to become a teacher - an English teacher at that. While I wouldn't mind teaching Science or Maths, I dream of taking up English and education because I love the language and the people who teach the language. This desire was mainly fueled by my father who is also an English teacher, as well as my favourite English teacher of all time, Mdm Anita Wee from SMK Batu Lintang. Nevertheless, I also dream of taking my PhD in this field and become an English Professor with the title Dr. Samuel Lis!

2. Literature
Ever since I was very young I have begun writing poems and short stories for the reading pleasure of the people around me. Sadly I have never kept most of them because I either gave them to people or I decided that most of them were too childish, but now I regret it. Now, the poems I used to write were simple ones that were strcutured and rhymed properly like a Malay pantun but of late I like writing poems with no definite structure.
I also have another file of many pieces of paper that contain many, many ideas for stories and novels that I have never had the chance to start. I have only one semi-novel which is called Warflare but it's too cluttered to be called a finished product. I also hope to work on them after SPM.
My parents keep telling me that this hobby can be done to complement a "proper and more stable" career, but I dream of being a famous writer of best-selling novels anyways.

(III) BUSINESS

While this is not so much of a dream than just a side thought, I may end up starting my own tuition school to teach high-level English to school students who find their English syllabus boring and unchallenging. I may also open a bookstore or music store or art store filled with all imaginable art supplies. There really is an endless possibility in the field of business because just about everything and anything is or can become a big money-making business.

(IV) SCIENCE

Notice how I placed this option as the last one? Because this is not exactly my dream, but an ambition seemingly forced upon me. Now, it's not that I'm not interested in Science, because I am, but I have come to resent it slightly because my parents keep telling me to do science, "must become doctor!!"

I have grown in an environment of health science because my mom used to be a nurse and is now a lecturer, so most of the shelves at home were filled with books on health, the human body and biology. When I was little boy, bored and restless with no computer games or TV, (my parents disapprove of electronic entertainment) I used to open those anatomy and physiology books and read through everything although I had no idea what they meant. Now, as I study Biology in school, I begin to understand more and more, and so I was nurtured to have an interest in human health. Naturally, I would seem to be on a direct express train to doing medicine just like my two elder sisters - three doctors in the house!

But no, I decided long ago that I have a "Science brain but an arts heart". I may be able to do Additional maths easily or solve Physics problems with one eye closed but I have never really enjoyed doing Science. OK, so that's a small lie to convince myself that I do not like science, because in reality I enjoy doing differentiation and graphs, and I love Chemistry because it explains so much about everyday life, from rusting to polymers and fats. However, I dislike Bio for the one reason that it takes so much memorizing to score, and I don't like memorizing at all! Also, for some reason, I feel so stressed when I do Physics. I don't know why.

In conclusion, I will definitely not do Engineering, I think. I might, however do architecture as it involves drawing. I might do something related to Chemistry, or I might do medicine after all because it is soooo noble to provide treatment to the sick, but... I might not?

So, there you have it, my passions, abilities and ambitions. Too many choices! Besides, I am studying in Science stream right now, so if I were to study arts for tertiary education, it would be a difficult shift.

As the poet Robert Frost wrote in the poem "The Road Not Taken":
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could do not travel both...

Trip To Penang

On Sunday afternoon, 9 March 08, a group of eight adventurers consisting of two clans - the Lee and the Lis families (four members each), went aboard a travel cruise (an Unsa) heading towards Penang. Coincidentially, both our families are similar. The young Lees consist of two girls and one boy, so are the Lis family's children. I have the same name as Uncle Samuel Lee and the Lee's youngest girl is Esther, like my eldest sister. So cool right? Then, there are four of us whose ages can be combined to form a short arithmetic progression - Matthew Lee (16 yrs old), me (17 yrs old), Serene Lee (18 yrs old) and Hosanna (19 yrs old)...!!

Ironically, we drove through the states currently ruled by opposition after the 12th general elections - Selangor, Perak, Kedah and Penang. I pray that this change of government will be for the better and that God will be the King of the nation... I find it odd that for the first time, I am not under BN. Xo Is it a good or bad thing? We'll have to wait and see. (I don't like politics, so spare me! During the trip our parents and their hosts kept talking about the elections while Matthew Lee and I kept complaining about it!)

First stop - 1 Utama! It was so big that I wasn't able to walk through everything in the one and a half hours we were given but I managed to play in the arcade as well as look through the biggest bookstore I have ever seen - MPH!! Matthew Lee was unusually kind to buy me a glass chess set as a belated birthday present... I wonder what alien abducted the real Matthew Lee?? Anyhow, I fell in love with it when I saw it in the S&J store, so... thanks, Matthew's impersonator!!

We initially intended to go all the way to Penang on Sunday night, but by the time we reached Ipoh (Perak), it was already about 10 pm, so we decided to spend the night at Heritage Hotel, Ipoh. We ate dinner there... tauge ayam!



Hosanna in the middle and Esther Lee on the right



The tauge was especially nice - rumour has it that it's because of the limestone around Ipoh. For the same rumoured reason, many Ipoh people are as fair as snow and their teeth are stronger than average thanks to the calcium carbonate which is found in abundance around the Ipoh hills. XD Anyway, superb chicken...

Moving on, we drove up to Penang on Monday afternoon and booked into the Copthorne Orchid hotel overlooking a beach. Very nice beaches they have. Then we ate one of the most delicious dinners at one of the hawker stalls in Penang. There was even a Roti Babi (Pork Roll??!!)...!!! We also met up with our old friends, Auntie Thok Seng's (something like that lah) family from Penang, and later also with Uncle Joel who was my godfather when I was little. I suppose he still is? I haven't seen them since I was about 5 or 6 years old... (11 years since I was in Penang!!)





The whole troupe of diners consisting of 4 whole families!!

Auntie Thok Seng's family

Auntie Thok Seng's family with my family and Uncle Joel at his pizza stall

Uncle Joel and I

The next morning, which was Tuesday morning, we had to wave goodbye to Penang as we had to go back to Banting. (All because of Matthew who had some table tennis practice or whatever in school... hmmph!!) We ate lunch with another old family friend Uncle Joe Foo's family at a famous chicken rice place called... Fatty Loh...!



Uncle Joe's family and my family

Michelle Foo, Hosanna and I

After that, it was another 5-to-6-or-more-hours drive down to Banting, stopping by at Ipoh again for dinner. It was terribly taxing especially to my ass (sit so long and not much space to move my legs arr!) and my sanity. (so damn boring you know! If it wasn't for Matthew's silly handphone games, I would die...) By the time we arrived home, it was about 11pm already!!

Although the travelling by road was rather tiring, I would have to say I liked this trip - not so much because of the beautiful place but because of the food (of course!!), the old friends and the company. Mark Twain wrote: there ain't no better way to know if you like someone or not than to travel with him. Travelling with the Lee family was fun - but as for the crazy boy, Matthew Lee, who is one year younger than me but thinks he is older... I have nothing to say...

Relief For My Restless Fingers

(tagged by Anders to post in third party)

Samuel is currently feeling it very difficult to blog because of this style of writing, but for the sake of honour to the name of blogging he shall persevere and do his best.

Samuel is feeling so very excited and happy today. Words can hardly describe in full detail how this piano fanatic is feeling today. His father has (finally) come to Banting with a Casio CTK-700 keyboard. Although it is not exactly the keyboard of his dreams, Samuel feels very, very contented that he can have a keyboard of any kind to play with. When he touched its keys for the first time, he could feel bursts of bliss in his ears and fingers.

However it cannot compare to the magnificent richness of a grand piano. Samuel wishes that he could touch a real piano of which he adores very much. This keyboard does not have many functions that Samuel desires like damping, touch-sensitive keys (to differentiate loud and soft) and sound combinations. It is a fairly simple device with fairly simple sounds. He wants to have a synthesizer or at least a good electronic piano if he were to get an electricity-powered musical device, but at the moment he will make do with what he has and try to make beautiful music with it.

No More Tennis For A While

On the 6th of March 2008 (yesterday), my two weeks of intense tennis games that have turned my skin as well as the skin of all those involved very much darker than it was before, has come to a conclusion.

On Wednesday, my partner and I managed to reach the semifinals with a first-round bye (which makes us rather "lucky") and a fairly easy win over a pair of lousy players from SMK Sungai Manggis. However, as "luck" would have it, yesterday, our semifinal opponents were none other than the two players from SMK Telok Panglima Garang who beat both Nathanael Long and I individually in singles. It was a chance for me to avenge my crushing defeat as well as Nathanael's - but it was not to be. We lost to the said team, who went on to become the U-18 doubles champion. In singles, the guy who beat me was champion and his doubles partner got second. As for my partner and I, we got third place (a bronze medal!! woohoo!), tying with the doubles pairing of Nathanael and Wee Onn.

This time, however, I don't feel too bad because Lik Pin and I tried our best but our opponents were just too good. I think I will correct my statement the day before that I could beat my singles opponent that day - he was actually pretty damn good, only that I wasn't up to it to provide a strong challenge for him to show his skills.

Overall, I am very happy to have joined this tournament. I got third place on my first time joining a tennis competition, so I am very thankful. I also had lots of fun, because I got to play everyday for two weeks not needing to wonder when the next game will be. Most importantly, I made lots of new friends and got to know many others a little bit more. One of these people would be myself. I realized that I need to fight and stay focused to win, and always stay positive. During the doubles match with the eventual champions, I was serving to stay in the match and Lik Pin was telling me, "Hey you have that look again. We can do this!" I realized I was being negative and it showed on my face, so I got myself together and smacked down a good unreturnable serve (the only first serve I got in). But we still lost to a better team - oh well!

Today starts a week-long school break - but actually, the past two weeks had felt like a holiday to me, so next week would just be an extension! My body needs rest,though, so maybe I'll try table tennis (it's really popular here) for a while... Cheers!!

Pics:

Disappointment

Today has got to be one of the most disappointing days of my 17 years of life. (Possibly with the exception of the day SMK Batu Lintang Choir lost the state level choir competition in Bintulu last year, but this time, I am standing alone.) I lost my singles match against a guy from SMK Telok Panglima Garang (which is reputable for producing very strong tennis players). The score was 6-0. That's right, I got a nice, big, fat egg and I ain't proud of it.

If I were to say I did my very best but lost with honour, I would say it with all the cheer in the world, but no - I didn't do my best at all, which is why I am so bitterly disappointed with myself today, and will probably regret it for a long, long time. The guy from SMKTPG was actually quite good - better than the other players, in fact, which makes me rather unlucky that I had to face him in the first round, but I think I could have beaten him if I had been playing as well as I have done the past week or so during practice. However, today, I couldn't, and I think I know why.

For one thing, I was very nervous. This is actually the first time I'm playing in an actual sports event. The past week or so was the first time I had even played a match of tennis at all! So it's no surprise that I would be jittery and nervous about playing.

Secondly, I wasn't ready for the match. I hadn't warmed up before starting the match. My opponent wanted to start the match after we traded about 3 or 4 strokes, so I, the ever-obliging boy, started the match without warming up. My body and arms were still cold; I had no energy to strike the ball. This was sort of my fault as I didn't practice on the wall, but there were too many people there...

The sun could have been a factor, too. This may or may not be a mere excuse for my unexcusable failure, but I had to wait from about 8am to almost 3pm for my match to start (alost 7 hours of waiting!) so by the time I started, the beautiful sunlight and heat had drained all energy from me. Probably.

A slight boost to my morale would have been my mother coming to watch me play. However I was distracted when she spoke to the teacher-in-charge of whom many people dislike for undisclosed reasons. I was very tense and I didn't really have the mood to play after that.

All this could just be excuses, for I don't think I can justify my severe loss. I definitely didn't try hard enough - not at all! I just gave up mentally when the score was 2-0!! I stopped trying, I just played simply to quickly finish the match and go home with my tail between my legs, because I did not believe that I could make a comeback. I probably couldn't have done so, given the state of my physical and mental readiness, but I could have at least tried to fight back!!

Nevertheless, I hope to do much better tomorrow for doubles. I do not want to disappoint my partner, Ong Lik Pin, so I will try my very best to try my very best, if you get what I mean. Whatever the outcome, I know my worth and identity is in Christ Jesus and not in the success of this world. Nothing and no-one can take that away from me!!

*sob*

I am feeling so friggin annoyed and sad right now because:

1. One of my best friends from Kuching arrived in KL and then to Penang today. Why am I not happy? Because he wouldn't take the effort to drop by at Banting while he was there. He's going back on Friday and again doesn't want to take the trouble nor inconvenience to meet me. But I shouldn't blame him because it's not like he can actually do anything about all this, but I'm just so damn annoyed with the circumstances. Crap.

2. Someone I know just got a new dog - my favourite, the cutest of all, a beagle!! - from someone else I also know who also knows I loved the dog very much (I think) but didn't think of giving it me. I was so friggin jealous of the dog's new owner but not anymore. I do miss my dog in Kuching, Baby, very much, though. *sob*

3. The first (as in the debut service) second (as in youth) service of Emmanuel Baptist Church started yesterday evening and from what I heard it was really good - I prayed really hard for the service - but oh how I wished I was there! Why did it have to start when I'm not there?!

On the contrary, however, I do have some things to be cheerful about, which is:

My father is coming again on Friday, and he will most probably be bringing a Casio CTK-700 keyboard here!! Although I would much rather have a real piano or a synthesizer, I'm quite happy that I can have a keyboard - of any kind! - in the house.

Wish me luck for the tennis competition starting this Tuesday!!