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I got this today, from a friend in Sydney.
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FIVE BEST THINGS TO SAY IF YOU GET CAUGHT SLEEPING AT YOUR DESK: 5. "They told me at the Blood Bank this might happen." 4. "This is just a 15 minute power nap they raved about in the time management course you sent me to."3. "Whew! Guess I left the top off the Whiteout. You probably got here just in time." 2. "Did you ever notice sound coming out of these keyboards when you put your ear down real close?"1 . Raise your head slowly and say, "...in Jesus' name, Amen."
Me & Melina (both of us Clay events coordinators for this year), had been preoccupied organising the Dialogue Meeting, where we invite our non-Christian friends & relatives to come & listen to a talk on the gospel & they have an opportunity to ask questions pertaining to the talk or any other aspects of the gospel. The date for the Dialogue Meeting was this past Saturday, & the venue was CCCB Coopers Plains. Preparations went well - lots of communication between me & Mel, everything look set to go. Some of us came in early to help arranging the venue for the Dialogue Meeting. Unfortunately, no visitors turned up.
That meant no Dialogue Meeting - the talk (which would have been given by Pastor Steve - it's on "transforming our lives", using Transformers theme) was not given since there were no visitors. Instead, the 25 Clay members who turned up got split into 5 groups, & we talked about the non-Christian people in our lives (friends, relatives, workmates etc) & who among them we see potential to perhaps evangelise to & expose the gospel to in the future. That was Keiyeng's idea. The people in my group was Winston, Ed, Sean & Suzanne (why is it Suzanne always ends up being the only female in whatever small groups she joins?!). We discussed, & then prayed at the end.
I was pretty happy with our group discussion , which I thought was fruitful. Also, since there was no talk, Pastor Steve had an opportunity to rest & save some energy for preaching the next morning. Also, I got a chance to catch up on some of the Southside Clayers. Everyone that turned up seemed to have a good time, & myself & Melina (though she wasn't there on Saturday) were thanked & complimented for organising the event.
Nevertheless, I ended Saturday night feeling somewhat empty, disappointed & discouraged - simply because what we planned for (the Dialogue Meeting) did not take place. Nothing against anyone at Clay - the Clayers did invite their friends, relatives, etc to come, so that's fine. Perhaps it's just bad luck that no one could make it. My issue is, quite a bit of work was put into organising the Dialogue Meeting (lots of emails, phone calls, discussions flew around in the lead up), & after all that, in the end, what happened? No Dialogue Meeting. So who can blame me for being downcast & disillusioned, for feeling that all the planning was "wasted"?? Had I known no visitors would come, I would just have organised a normal Clay social, instead of Dialogue Meeting. And also, I feel bad especially that Pastor Steve has devoted all that time in preparing for the talk that ended up not being delivered. Although, he did say that least he can save the talk for another occasion.
A few Clayers told me not to be discouraged, that I've done all I could & done it well, & I appreciate their advice. I can see their point, & hopefully I will get over this whole episode. I mean, I'm not after praises & compliments & anything like that. I just wanted to do my job, & see what we planned to happen in fact happen. I guess only God would know why things happened the way they did on Saturday night. Maybe I've overreacted a bit & taken things too personally. I didn't mean for this post to sound negative, but hey, it's my honest 2 cents. I should thank God for the discussions that we did have on Saturday night, & hopefully we can think more about evangelism & learn how to be more effective at that.
Short answer: rather well, actually. Mind u, I still miss my PC. And it's got my documents & stuff, & lots of internet bookmarks. Hopefully, everything will be fine & still there when I get it back.
While waiting for my PC to come home, I've been using my brother's laptop which he's been kind enough to lend me. That's why I'm coping rather well. I'm slowly getting used to using a laptop - previously, I've been strictly a "PC man" & never been in a position where I ever had much use of laptops. But now, I will be using my brother's for another week & a bit. It's because I'm starting to like my brother's laptop that I entertained thoughts of buying one (as mentioned in previous blog post). I mean, it's so cosy & comfortable using the laptop while sitting on my bean bag in my room, while the TV in front of me is on.
So, who knows, if I succumb to the temptation, I might end up with a laptop sooner rather than later. But until that happens, I will be focusing on other things - as mentioned in previous post, I got other priorities, much more pressing than getting a laptop. Then again, if there are good laptop deals out there.....
Those of u who read my previous posts will note that my PC was "ruined" last Monday nite by the storm. It's currently in a computer store, in the process of being repaired & it should be ready sometime next week. The guy at the computer store said a number of PCs & laptops have been brought in to the store for repairs, due to the Monday storm. So my PC will be in good company!
There'll be a number of parts (including the motherboard) that will need replacing - not just the power supply as originally thought. That's why the repair cost will be more than initially anticipated. But oh well, such is life.
I did consider the possibility of getting a new PC - the computer store guy gave me quotes for repairing my PC & getting a new one. But I decided against buying new PC. I can afford getting one, but I didn't think I really need a new PC. Besides, there's a considerable difference between the cost of getting the new PC & the cost of repairing my existing PC. If we're talking about a couple of hundred dollars difference, then I won't mind going with the new PC. But the difference is a lot more than that. Sure, the new PC will have more features, more power, more this & more that. But do I really need all that stuff, & will I really be using all that stuff? No. So, there's no need to fork out more to get what I don't really need. So instead, I settled on repairing my existing PC. New PC can always wait another time, when it's really really necessary to get one.
As a thought, with the money saved by not buying new PC, I can add some more to that & get myself a laptop. Then, I will have 2 computers - my current PC & the laptop. But hey, that's just a thought. Getting a laptop is not top priority at the moment. I can think of other things I intend to get before getting a laptop. One big purchase in particular. Those who know me personally & have been paying attention to what I've been saying these last few months will know exactly what I'm talking about!
My blog at Multiply is where I store photos. I previously said I was going to provide the link to that blog as soon as I posted photos of the Toowoomba day trip, Mid-Autumn Festival & Sharon's wedding, all of which took place last month in September. Well, I've already posted those photos on that blog. So, here's the link: http://mrdt.multiply.com/
Go there if u want to see my photos. I've got quite a few albums. I'm certainly not an expert in photography - my photo technique is mediocre at best. That being said, surely there would be some photos that u viewers might enjoy, no? ;)
Well, go & have a look if u really want to. Do have a look at Valerie (my dear sister) & Andrew's wedding photos in March 2007 - I took almost 200 photos, & I would surely have taken more than 200 if my camera did not run out of power. My brother's baptism photos are also there. Look at the Toowoomba day trip album if u like flowers - some nice pics there, if I may say so myself. Enjoy your viewing. And feel free to leave some comments. :)
SBS shows the documentary Dateline every Wednesday night. I managed to see this past Wednesday's edition - the first one I've seen for a long long time.
Among the stories featured was "Jailhouse Rock", which featured the prison inmates of the maximum security prison in Cebu, an island in the Philippines. Most of the men there had violent criminal histories & are among the most dangerous criminals in the Philippines. However, there's 1 thing unusual about these inmates - they perform synchronised dance routines every day. It's not the sort of thing that one would associate with maximum security prioners. But it's true - the prisoners do the synchronised dancing daily. And they seem to love it!
The person responsible for introducing all that dancing is Byron Garcia, the Cebu prison's overseer. He was actually the security adviser for the Cebu provincial government - his sister, Gwen Garcia, is the Governor of the Cebu province & she gave him that job. Upon his appointment, the first thing he did was to clean up the Cebu prison. He made sweeping changes, which included getting rid of the corrupt prison guards, changing of the prison security program whereby different guard report to different commanders & also closer monitoring of visitors to the prison. He also isolated prison gang leaders from the rest of the prisoners, so no more trouble can be stirred inside the prison. Then one day, when he observed the prisoners marching, he came up with the idea of intoducing music & dance to the prisoners. So there you are - the prisoners of Cebu are now really into the synchronised dancing. Every day, they would do various dance rehearsals (which looked quite difficult) & exercises in harmony with the music that was playing. There's even a prison choreographer to look after all the dancing!
When I saw all that, I laughed. It was hilarious watching a bunch of prison inmates dancing here & there. It's certainly very unusual. But hey, they're all happy & they really like it. As a result of Byron Garcia's sweeping changes (capped off by the synchronised dancing), the Cebu prison is a much happier place - no more fights, no more argument between inmates, all get along with each other & all seem to live in peace & harmony. What the prisoners are doing is apparently making headlines in the province & the country, & is gaining such popularity that there's talk of the President of the Philippines visiting to watch their dance performance! Byron Garcia thinks the prisoners are happy being in the Cebu jail, & as both the Dateline reporter & Garcia agreed at the end of the story, perhaps it's the happiest prison in the world.
One other thing I should mention - some of the Cebu inmates are Christians! Yay! Those inmates who are Christians hold daily evangelistic-style church service, & it's often packed. It seems Byron Garcia is also behind all this - he's got one of the prisoners, an ex-cop named Leo, helping him out introduce system of discipline that is based on Christian principles. Leo is one of the service leaders for the Christian prisoners. As a Christian, I'm encouraged by the sight of the Christian prisoners singing & giving praises to God. I saw Leo say the following prayer (something along these lines): "God, we ask that the hindrances in our hearts, sinful & evil, be washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ. When you are in jail, the world thinks that you are bad. We want to show the world that it is not too late to change". Very heartening indeed. It reminds me of God's love & grace for humans, that He would sacrifice His Son Jesus to pay the price of sin that humans were meant to pay for. Jesus died (& was later resurrected) for everyone, including myself & those Cebu prisoners. Watching the Christian prisoners reminds me that salvation can never be beyond anyone who truly want to repent from their sins, no matter how grave the sins they have committed. That's certainly the case with those Christian prisoners - one day, I will get to meet them in heaven :)
To quote Dick Dastardly: drat, drat & double drat. I say that because my PC at home is bust. It just won't start. I noticed some "weird, erratic" behaviour with my PC on Monday night, not long after the modem played up. But that didn't mean they are linked - PC was still working when modem played up. Was it anything to do with the storm that night? I dunno.... I have doubts because my brother's PC still functions as normal. Anyway, now I got to get my PC fixed :( That's one more thing on my plate. I hope it won't cost a bomb to fix the problem(s). Anyone got any good computer shops to recommend, let me know. At this stage, I think I'll be looking at computer shops near where I live. We'll see how we go. Hopefully, everything will be resolved this weekend. In the meantime, I'll be relying on internet at work ;)
Remember the Championship Manager 5 game that I blogged about a few days ago? About how I was playing in season 2026/2027 & the Dutch football club I'm coaching, Vitesse Arnhem, was gunning for 3 trophies in that season?
Well, Vitesse did win the Dutch Eredivisie championship - so champions of the Netherlands once again! Our nearest rivals Ajax Amsterdam finished second in the Eredivisie ladder. Vitesse also won the Dutch Cup, beating Ajax 3-2 in the final. But 3 days after that, Ajax gained revenge by beating Vitesse 3-0 in the UEFA Champions League final. Scoreless at half-time, Ajax got a penalty & opened the scoring, then added 2 more goals in the last 10 minutes to seal the Champions League trophy.
That means I got 2 trophies out of 3. Ajax got the biggest prize - the UEFA Champions League, making them club champions of Europe. I was disappointed with the Champions League defeat. Ai yah, I guess u win some, u lose some. I had a couple of key players missing through injury, & they could have made the difference had they been available. However, I don't want to dwell on those missing players - after all, I did win the Dutch Cup without them, & so perhaps should have been able to cope without them in the Champions League final. Anyway, I'll try again next season to see whether I can go 1 better & make a clean sweep of all trophies that Vitesse compete for.
My brother BT found the defeat "amusing", & did not hold back in poking some jokes about my Vitesse team. He just loves bagging my team.
To those who are wondering what's CM5 is about (one church brother asked me on Sunday): Well, I think I blogged about it previously a few months back. CM5 is a soccer management game, & you pick a club side & manage the club. You buy players, you sell players, you hire the coaches to train the footballers, you hire the physios to look after the players when they get injured. You create a training program for the club. You select your line-up for the team's matches. On match day, you watch how the team you select perform, & you can make player substitutions or change the team tactics as you see fit.
It's different from such soccer games like FIFA2008 or Winning Eleven, that you see on PC or XBox or PlayStation. CM5 is different from those soccer games, because in CM5, you do NOT control the player movements & you don't make the players on the screen pass, tackle or shoot. In CM5, you simply manage the club & do all the things I talked about in the preceding paragraph. It's fun!! Do try it if u are up for it & if u have the time to do so :)
Arrgggh, drat. Internet access is down at home :( That's why I couldn't surf the net last night, & couldn't add more photos to my Multiply blog (which I only use to store pictures). Apparently, the internet unavailability has something to do with the modem. Goodness knows when the modem (&/or whatever else that's preventing internet access) will be fixed or replaced. It means at this stage, I can only access internet at work. So don't be surprised if my blog posting is irregular over the next few days. Until we get back the internet access, it looks like any posts over the next few days will only take place during my lunch break at work. Anyway, those of u who have been visiting my blog, thanks for popping in. Keep coming. Feel free to drop a comment as you see fit. If you show your blog when posting the comment, I will visit yours too :)
Those of u who know me well would know that I'm rather heavily addicted (some say too heavily addicted) to the PC football management game, Championship Manager 5. The team that I manage on CM5 is Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem, & I use the name Roger Van Haaren - a fictitious, cocky Dutchman.
I'm currently in season 2026/2027, & Vitesse are chasing honours on 3 fronts.
Firstly, Vitesse are top of the Dutch Eredivisie (the top league in the Netherlands), lying 9 points ahead of Ajax Amsterdam with just 4 matches to go. That means that 4 more points from the remaining 4 games will be enough for Vitesse to clinch the Dutch championship.
Secondly, Vitesse are also in the final of the Dutch Cup, & their opponents are once again those aristocrats from Amsterdam. The Dutch Cup final is scheduled on 23/5/2027, after the Dutch Eredivisie has concluded.
Thirdly, Vitesse are also in the final of the UEFA Champions League. Guess who are their opponents in the final?? Yep, Ajax Amsterdam once again!! The Champions League final will be played on 26/5/2027, just 3 days after both sides contest the Dutch Cup final. The winner of the Champions League final will be crowned champions of Europe.
So if Vitesse wins all 3 trophies, they will win the treble for the third time in the CM5 history.
By the end of the Champions League final, both sides will be absolutely sick of the sight of each other. For the last number of seasons on CM5, Vitesse & Ajax have been each other's major & bitter rivals, particularly in the Dutch Eredivisie. In real life, there's no real rivalry between these clubs. But on CM5, the rivalry is huge, thanks to me! Ajax regularly finish second in the Eredivisie behind my team Vitesse! So, I wouldn't think Ajax are especially fond of Vitesse & manager Roger Van Haaren. The rivalry can be considered to have reached unprecedented heights in the current season (2026/2027) because both teams will face each other in the Dutch Cup & UEFA Champions League, on top of being in the top 2 of the Eredivisie.
So what are Vitesse's chances? Well, they are likely to win the Dutch championship, because the gap is 9 points & Vitesse' has a far superior goal difference than Ajax. As for the Dutch Cup & UEFA Champions League, well, they are one-off games, so anything can happen. Even if Vitesse wins the Dutch championship, there's no guarantee they will win those 2 cup finals. The fact that Vitesse have not lost to Ajax in the Eredivisie in the current season (played Ajax twice, drew one, won one) may be seen to give Vitesse a psychological edge going into those 2 cup finals. But as stated earlier, cup finals are one-off games, so anything can happen. Needless to say, I will endeavour for Vitesse to win the treble. Go Vitesse!!
Saturday 29/9/07
I was out for much of Saturday. A few of us (myself, Winston, Eilen, Maria & her friend Jen) went to Toowoomba to visit our dear friends Hung, Stella & their baby Nathaniel. Thank goodness we arrived safely, although the day almost started badly with our car (we took Jen's Honda CRV 4 wheel drive - Maria was driver) almost got hit from behind as we changed lanes on the Ipswich Highway roundabout.
We arrived at Hung's place (some sort of villa/townhouse? it was nice) just before mid-day, when Hung was out working. He returned home shortly after, & we all headed out to the city for lunch at The Deli Cafe. After lunch, Hung took us to a couple of parks: Laurel Bank Park, & then Queens Park. My goodness, such beautiful flowers!! Both parks are beautiful, & there was a sizeable number of visitors, though not overly crowded, which was good. I don't think both parks were that different from each other, really - though I recalled Queens Park had tulips but not sure if Laurel Bank Park had tulips. Oh well...what the hey, they were both nice. I certainly appreciate flowers more than when I lived in Toowoomba many many years ago (when I was a "teenage geek").
From Queens Park, Hung then directed us to the residence which had the Prize Winning Garden (annual garden competition in Toowoomba). We drove past my old church (Toowoomba Gospel Chapel), upon entering the Prize Winning Garden, immediately understood why the won. Hung told us that the owner apparently took some 27 years to construct such a garden. That's remarkable. He sure did a good job, & deservedly won the prize.
I took so many pictures, mostly of the flowers in Laurel Bank Park, Queens Park & the Prize Winning Garden. I'm not a "flower person", but on this occasion got carried away with my camera, & kept snapping shots after shots. I certainly enjoyed every minute of the day trip to Toowoomba, & I heard that everyone (including Jen) did too. I will post the photos in my Multiply blog.
We rushed back to Brisbane in the evening, to get to our church's Mid-Autumn Festival, which the church held to essentially celebrate Chinese culture (at the same time, give thanks & praise to God for blessing the church). It was good, too. The food was quite nice - lots of nice curry dishes (of course, I'd say that, given my bias towards spicy food). There were lots of items, such as Sunday School children singing, a play (Chinese opera style) on Sodom & Gomorrah, kung-fu/martial arts presentation, & Chinese choir. Have I missed anything?? Anyway, they were all good. I got to eat some mooncakes, too.
So, all in all, one of the best Saturdays in memory. Thoroughly enjoyable, & I praise God for the day.
I will provide the link to my Multiply blog, once I put the photos there. Here are some of them:
These are the people we visited - Stella, baby Nathaniel, Hung - such lovely people!
That's us at The Deli Cafe!
Flowers from Laurel Bank Park
Another view of Laurel Bank Park
Tulips from Queens Park
Queens Park - nice, eh?
A glimpse of the Prize Winning Garden
Sunday 30/9/07
On Sunday afternoon, I attended the wedding ceremony of my friend (Sharon, formerly of YF & Clay), at Eight Mile Plains Methodist Church. The crowd was sizeable, but not overly huge. I didn't know most of the people there. The exceptions were Pastor Steve, Keiyeng & Ray Fong (who knew Sharon's husband Andrew from uni) - them & myself were the only Clay contingent. Also saw Euan & Selena, who I see from time to time at various functions (like BLT). Yi (also formerly of YF) was the maid of honour. But yeah, apart from that, I don't know anyone else.
Anyway, the ceremony was good - short & quick. Like many weddings, the pastor's message covered the Christian view of marriage, & he covered how it mirrors God's relationship with the church, how marriage should not be entered into lightly, bla bla bla, you get the idea. There were some nice snacks & refreshments after the ceremony. Sharon & Andrew, I thank God that He has brought u both together. May He bless your future richly.
Again, photos will be posted on my Multiply blog. Here are some:
Newlyweds - Andrew & Sharon
Whoops, he blinked
The Clay contingent who attended - Ray Fong, me, Keiyeng, Steve
