Chinese New Year

Is about family






























































Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts. (Anon)

And shall I fear
That there is anything that men hold dear
Thou would'st deprive me of,
And nothing give in place?

That is not so -
For I can see Thy face
And I can hear Thee now:

"My child, I died for Thee.
And if the gift of love and life
You took from Me,
Shall I one precious thing withhold -
One beautiful and bright,
One pure and precious thing withhold?
My child, it cannot be."
- Betty Scott Stam

It's 4.14 a.m. here in Hentian Kajang. I'm still up because of some teh tarik kurang manis just now. I thought I'd blog about the night we went up to Genting spontaneously.



















We got lost going up, it was fun though. I think. We saw a drunk ghost-man on the way.
Disclaimer : Joanne and Mark thinks it was a 'ghost', but I think it was a drunk man wearing white - can't a drunk man in white walk the roads at 2 am? Besides, if it was a 'ghost', how come three of us could see him? Lisa was lost in her thoughts, and Lai Yee was fast asleep, so they didn't see the drunk ghost-man.
We finally reached, and it was tootin cold! But, mind over matter! Joanne's teeth were chattering because of the cold, because she was wearing a minimini skirt ;), so I bravely gave her my shawl. Mind over matter! Cehh.
Lisa and I were the only ones - in the whole Genting - without extra cloths. So we were both walking along the sidewalks wearing only our very beach wear-like dresses. If you understand Hokkien, you would know what siao char boh means.

We did nothing in Genting,














and reached incredibly hot PJ at about 6.30 a.m. We were the only ones in Paadi's having breakfast. Boy, do they open early!



















It was pretty fun going up to Genting spontaneously. You guys should try it sometime. These kind of things can only do when you're young and crazy one, and not anymore when you're old and crazy. :D

Lilies, Love Story

I really like this song...I don't usually like songs like ...like nowadays song - haha, yes, age is catching up :( I listen to Mix Fm alot more now. :( :( Anyway, I really like this song...its so romantic :) makes me think of white lilies.

Taylor Swift - Love Story
We were both young when I first saw you
I close my eyes
And the flashback starts
I'm standing there
On a balcony of summer air

See the lights,
See the party, the ball gowns
I see you make your way through the crowd
You say hello
Little did I know

That you were Romeo you were throwing pebbles
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet
And I was crying on the staircase
Begging you please don't go, and I said:

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting all there's left to do is run
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess
It's a love story baby just say yes

So I sneak out to the garden to see you
We keep quiet cause we're dead if they know
So close your eyes
Escape this town for a little while

Cause you were Romeo I was a scarlet letter
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet
But you were everything to me
I was begging you please don't go and I said:

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting all there's left to do is run
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess
It's a love story baby just say yes

Romeo save me, they try to tell me how to feel
This love is difficult, but it's real,
Don't be afraid
We'll make it out of this mess
It's a love story baby just say yes, oh,

I got tired of waiting
Wondering if you were ever coming around
My faith in you was fading
When I met you on the outskirts of town I said:

Romeo save me I've been feeling so alone
I keep waiting for you but you never come
Is this in my head, I don't know what to think
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring

And said:

Marry me Juliet you'll never have to be alone
I love you and that's all I really know
I talked to your dad go pick out a white dress
It's a love story baby just say yes

:D
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So..updates : School's started again...and this sem's classes are like, way early. Ish.
There's a new nasi lemak stall near our mini-house in the morning. I liked the nasi lemak for awhile, I had it every morning for four mornings. I don't go there much anymore, I've gotten jelak.
Tis time to change (no I haven't switched providers, am still loyally being conned by Ananda Krishnan). I'm trying hard to go for all my morning classes, and so far I've been quite disciplined :) Yay!
It has also been a time of Good Waiting, of Big Decisions and one that Requires Wisdom. To those who asks for it, God gives wisdom generously, without finding fault. Praise the Lord. I'm thankful for you, too.

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Sonnet 11, Monna Innominata

Many in aftertimes will say of you
"He lov'd her"--while of me what will they say?
Not that I lov'd you more than just in play,
For fashion's sake as idle women do.
Even let them prate; who know not what we knew
Of love and parting in exceeding pain,
Of parting hopeless here to meet again,
Hopeless on earth, and heaven is out of view.
But by my heart of love laid bare to you,
My love that you can make not void nor vain,
Love that foregoes you but to claim anew
Beyond this passage of the gate of death,
I charge you at the Judgment make it plain
My love of you was life and not a breath.

Christina Rossetti

Yesterday I saw a really, really fat woman smoking

and I was wondering, "ei? how come?"

Now I know :

Teen girls smoke now, pay with larger waistlines as adults.

Girls who smoke 10 cigarettes per day or more are at greatest risk, particularly for abdominal obesity. Their waist sizes are 1.34 inches larger than nonsmokers’ waists are as young adults, according to the study in the February 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

But smoking in adolescence did not necessarily predict weight problems for men, according to the study.

Scientists know a correlation exists between women’s weight and smoking, said lead study author Suoma Saarni, a researcher with the Department of Public Health in Helsinki.

However, she added, “We do not know why smoking did not affect men’s weight, as we do not know why smoking affected women’s weight.”

The study followed twins born between 1975 and 1979 with questionnaires mailed shortly after their 16th birthdays. Researchers collected more data on the 2,278 women and 2,018 men when the twins were in their 20s.

Scientists looked at twins to take into account familial or genetic factors affecting smoking and weight gain, Saarni said. Half of the participants had never smoked, and 12 percent were former smokers in adolescence. About 15.5 percent of men and 9.4 percent of women smoked at least 10 cigarettes daily.

By the time participants reached their 20s, weight problems became evident. By age 24, roughly 24 percent of men and 11 percent of women were overweight. However, male smokers were not necessarily more prone to become overweight than nonsmokers.

The young women who smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day were 2.32 times more likely to become overweight than nonsmokers, according to the study.

The difference could be either biological or cultural, Saarni said. Biologically, it might be that tobacco and gender specific hormones interact differently in girls and boys in ways that affect appetite and fat distribution.

“My hunch is that women are more likely to smoke for weight control, especially in adolescence,” said Sherry Pagoto, assistant professor in clinical psychology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. “When people do quit smoking, one of the reasons they gain weight is that they increase their consumption of foods. They’ll start snacking at the times they used to smoke.”

ScienceDaily, Jan 6 2009

Take the selfish, take the weak
And all the things I cannot hide
Take the beauty, take my tears
The sin-soaked heart,
Make it Yours

To love You, take my world apart
To need You, I am on my knees
To love You, take my world apart
To need You, broken on my knees.

Good Morning!

Today Dr. Mus Chairil said, "Love is a verb"

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

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.

Love never fails

----------------------------------------------------------------

I grew this heart into a drifter
never felt the roots I bare
sold my sight, oh, brother, sister
for a mountain of fool's gold, it's gone
only God knows, God knows where

soul was restless for redemption
feet were lookin' for a place to stand
well, I ain't got no life
and you know I ain't got no money
just the faith of an empty hand, empty hand

Amazing Grace, I feel you comin' up slowly now
like the sun is risin', heat on my face
oh, love that keeps on shinin', don't let the shadow come
you know I gotta feel your healin' rays

hitched a ride; I was a beggar
and I had murder on my hands
needed water to rinse these stains
but only blood could remove what's spillin'
and pardon me to blame

Amazing Grace, I feel you comin' up slowly now
Amazing Grace, I feel you comin' up slowly now

Amazing Grace, I feel you comin' up slowly now
like the sun is risin', heat on my face
oh love that keeps on shinin' don't let the shadow come
you know I got to, yeah

see, I gotta feel your healin' rays
you know I gotta feel your Amazing Grace

I am the only one to blame for this
Somehow it all adds up the same
Soaring on the wings of selfish pride
I flew too high and like Icarus I collide
With a world I try so hard to leave behind
To rid myself of all but love
To give and die

To turn away and not become
Another nail to pierce the skin of one who loves
More deeply than the oceans,
More abundant than the tear
Of a world embracing every heartache

Can I be the one to sacrifice,
Or grip the spear and watch the blood and water flow?

To love you - take my world apart
To need you - I am on my knees
To love you - take my world apart
To need you - broken on my knees

All said and done I stand alone
Amongst remains of a life I should not own
It takes all I am to believe
In the mercy that covers me

Did you really have to die for me?
All I am for all You are
Because what I need and what I believe are worlds apart

I look beyond the empty cross
Forgetting what my life has cost
And wipe away the crimson stains
And dull the nails that still remain
More and more I need You now,
I owe You more each passing hour
The battle between grace and pride
I gave up not so long ago
So steal my heart and take the pain
And wash the feet and cleanse my pride
Take the selfish, take the weak,
And all the things I cannot hide
Take the beauty, take my tears
The sin-soaked heart and make it Yours
Take my world all apart
Take it now, take it now
And serve the ones that I despise
Speak the words I can't deny
Watch the world I used to love
Fall to dust and thrown away
I look beyond the empty cross Forgetting what my life has cost So wipe away the crimson stains And dull the nails that still remain So steal my heart and take the pain Take the selfish, take the weak And all the things I cannot hide Take the beauty, take my tears Take my world apart, take my world apart I pray, I pray,

I pray Take my world apart

Jars of Clay, Worlds Apart

Thinking of you, and all that was, and all
That might have been and now can never be,
I feel your honour'd excellence, and see
Myself unworthy of the happier call:
For woe is me who walk so apt to fall,
So apt to shrink afraid, so apt to flee,
Apt to lie down and die (ah, woe is me!)
Faithless and hopeless turning to the wall.
And yet not hopeless quite nor faithless quite,
Because not loveless; love may toil all night,
But take at morning; wrestle till the break
Of day, but then wield power with God and man:--
So take I heart of grace as best I can,
Ready to spend and be spent for your sake.

Time flies, hope flags, life plies a wearied wing;
Death following hard on life gains ground apace;
Faith runs with each and rears an eager face,
Outruns the rest, makes light of everything,
Spurns earth, and still finds breath to pray and sing;
While love ahead of all uplifts his praise,
Still asks for grace and still gives thanks for grace,
Content with all day brings and night will bring.
Life wanes; and when love folds his wings above
Tired hope, and less we feel his conscious pulse,
Let us go fall asleep, dear friend, in peace:
A little while, and age and sorrow cease;
A little while, and life reborn annuls
Loss and decay and death, and all is love.