Temporary Home

The weather during these past few weeks emits a gloomy doomsday feel. During the day, the hot scorching sun makes me squints my small eyes further. Come evening, dark ominous clouds gather and give a sudden burst of rainfall causing flash floods, traffic jams and havoc to people below. The sudden changes of the drastic weather create an uncomfortable feeling.

However, life goes on. People go on with their lives. Perhaps the best analogy to use is how we look at the trail of ants carrying food from the source back to its nest. We may pour water on some ants and break the path. We may stomp on some of the ants. The rest of the ants would still go round the water and divert elsewhere to continue their journey. I wonder if God looks at us like how we look at ants.
I wonder… does this signal the end times?

As I typed this, a loud thunder roars above head. The skies have turned dark and it’s only 4.30pm. I dread the traffic home. Rain has started. I know the road home will be wet and certain parts flooded.

In a daze, I wonder what the point of this routine rush is back and fro through the harsh weather. What’s the point of getting stuck in traffic and worrying about the safety of the drive home?

I guess it’s only right to say I feel off-the weather about all this and have started to question the point of the mindless repetition of life. (Oh no, not again). But then I try to remember. This is just my temporary home. This is not THE END. This is just the transition before we go back to God.

I catch the lyrics “This is my temporary home” on the radio the other day and decided to google about it. It is a song sung by Carrie Underwood. When I watch the video clip, I felt touched… the portrayal of the “temporary home” for 3 scenarios: an orphan being adopted, a single mum looking for job/place for her and her daughter, and the dying man telling his loved ones that this is a temporary home.

In the bible, we are always told "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19 NIV). Hence, hearing this song reminds me so much of this verse as it reminds our impermanence in this world which most people forget in the midst of the rat race.

Enjoy the lyrics!

Temporary Home (sung by Carrie Underwood)

A little boy, six years old
A little too used to being alone
Another new mom and dad
Another school, another house that will never be home
When people ask him how he likes this place
He looks up and says with a smile upon his face

This is my temporary home, it's not where I belong
Windows and rooms that I'm passing through
This is just a stop on the way to where I'm going
I'm not afraid because I know
This is my temporary home

Young mom, on her own
She needs a little help, got nowhere to go
She's looking for a job, looking for a way out
'Cause a halfway house will never be a home
At night she whispers to her baby girl
"Someday we'll find our place here in this world"

This is our temporary home, it's not where we belong
Windows and rooms that we're passing through
This is just a stop on the way to where we're going
I'm not afraid because I know
This is our temporary home

Old man, hospital bed
The room is filled with people he loves
And he whispers
"Don't cry for me, I'll see you all someday"
He looks up and says
"I can see God's face"

This is my temporary home, it's not where I belong
Windows and rooms that I'm passing through
This was just a stop on the way to where I'm going
I'm not afraid because I know
This was my temporary home

This is our temporary home

Lazy Song (Bruno Mars)

One Saturday morning, as I was driving to an extra class about 8am, I felt if only I was back in bed. It had rained earlier that morning, making it a cloudy cooling day - nice to stay in bed.

Then this song came into the airways from the radio... the first few lyrics echoed what I felt at that very moment

Today I Don't Feel Like Doing Anything
I Just Wanna Lay In My Bed
Don't Feel Like Pickin' Up My Phone
So Leave A Message At The Tone
'Cause Today I swear I'm Not Doin' Anythin'


Song by Bruno Mars. Who is Bruno Mars? He sang the song "Billionaire" with Travie McCoy which has the catchy lyrics.

Angry Birds Attack Piggilot...

One day, my bf suspiciously took out something from a bag.. and threw it at me.

Lo and behold... Piggilot gets attacked by Angry Birds!!

Aren't they adorable? I remember checking them out in the Rovio website and wondered if I should even spend the money getting them.

Image borrowed from http://shop.angrybirds.com/

I thought of comparing my plushies with the ones from Rovio but am too lazy to do it now.. haha

Piggilot = Pig
So I would have preferred the green pigs which people might not want, because they're so evil and mean for taking the birds' eggs.

But pigs are cute too!! :p

Hence, if you're really crazy about Angry birds and don't mind the cheap knock-off... go check out the garage sale in some of the forums around which are selling them. Mind you, since they're "hot items" now... it might be a little pricey for such plush toys but if your're a fan... it's nothing! Lol

Meanwhile, the birds are securedly arranged in my shelf to avoid unnecessary hostility in case they get angry and attack me... Hope they won't attack my other pink pigs in my shelf! Lol! If not imagine this..

Relationship with God

I admit that sometimes with the hustle bustle of work and life; I tend to back-slide and lose focus on God.

I decided to put a devotional book in the car to read during those horrid traffic jam and today I flipped towards this page with the verse:

He went a little farther, and fell on the ground and prayed. (Mark 14:35 NIV)

The devotion focused on the night Jesus spend in scared prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and the different responses he got from the people:
1. Indifferent - those who are unaware of Jesus' presence in the garden
2. Selfish - Judas who was too busy with his own schemes to join Jesus
3. Unfocused - the other disciples who joined Jesus but were distracted by sleep.
4. Unaware - the inner circle of disciples who did not comprehend when Jesus told them the urgency of the hour.

The phrase used "Ultimately, Jesus prayed alone. He went farther than His disciples and prayed longer. At the greatest moment of intercession in human history, there was no one willing to go with Jesus and watch with Him" (Experiencing God by Henry and Richard Blackaby, page 84)

The following phrases touched my heart: "at the greatest moment of intercession" and "no one willing to go". Ironically, it is not that "no one" wants to go but it is more like unaware of the importance to want to go. If they knew it was the greatest moment, everyone would have flocked with Jesus.

But the important lesson is, that we will never know when the greatest moment will arrive.
We will never know that slight prompting by the Holy Spirit is actually to tell us the time has come.
We will never know that the one time you decided to forsake God for your own activities, it was that moment.

What I know is that there is many examples in the bible which reminds us to always be ready; to always prepare the lamp for the groom (Matthew 25).

We must continue to deepen our relationship with God so that we will be more alert and aware to His calling. For we will never know when, how and what will happen in future. The only thing that is constant in our lives, is the presence of God.

Eskimo kiss

Long time ago, my bf told me about "Eskimo kissing" and I just believed him.

Don't know why, the phrase popped into my head which made me asked him today, "Is there such a thing as eskimo kissing?" Obviously, he ignored me and I told myself I have to google to double-check. Never know, he might have been pulling my leg.. :P

Okay.. guess you should have taken a bet with me.. :p

Excerpt taken from wikipedia:

The act known as eskimo kissing in modern western culture is loosely based on a traditional Inuit greeting called a kunik. A kunik is a form of expressing affection, usually between family members and loved ones, that involves pressing the nose and upper lip against the skin (commonly the cheeks or forehead) and breathing in, causing the loved one's skin or hair to be suctioned against the nose and upper lip.

Kunik

 A common misconception is that the practice arose so that Inuit could kiss without their mouths freezing together. In fact, it is a non-erotic form of greeting that serves as an intimate way of greeting one another for people who, when they meet, often have little except their nose and eyes exposed.

Misconception

When early explorers of the Arctic first witnessed this behavior they dubbed it Eskimo kissing. In its western form it consists of two people rubbing noses together.

Western form of Eskimo Kiss

Hence remember, it's a form of affection like pursing a kiss on the forehead and not only rubbing your nose together.

FYI, since I'm talking about kiss, "Spiderman kiss" is kissing upside down. Further explanation can be found in this urban dictionary:

Spidermann kiss = an exceptional kiss in which one person kisses the other in an upside down position, resulting in your top lip kissing their bottom lip and vice versa; works best when one person is already reclining on a couch or lying completely horizontal (unless you can hang upside down from webbing)

Happy rubbing! Don't try kissing upside-down like Spidey okay.. (feels like such an outdated topic.. lol)

Upcoming reviews

Last few months were fantastic and memorable. Just lazy to face my netbook to blog about it.. lol

1. Hotel review: Doubletree Hilton, KL
a) Deluxe room

b) Deluxe suite

2. Valentine's day Dinner at Social@KL, G Tower

 

Stay tuned.. :_

Game review: Angry Birds.... vs Green Pigs

Seriously, ask anyone who owns an Iphone what do they think of when they see pigs? "Angry birds"!!

My friend introduced me to this aps on her new Iphone last year whereby the aim of the game is to sling shot birds into green pigs in elaborate structure(to kill them). Why? Take a look at the trailer below to find out the history of the angry birds...


The clip shows three birds adoring their little nest of 3 eggs while at the background, 3 green pigs (one of them is a king presumely with the crown) eating grass and hating it.

The King pig spied the eggs and suddenly salivates at the thought of omelette and decides to steal the eggs when the birds silly enough got so angry over a mosquito touching their eggs. And there begins the vengence of the Angry Birds vs the pigs.



The aim of the game? In Angry Birds, players take control of a flock of birds that are attempting to retrieve eggs that have been stolen by a group of evil green pigs. (taken from wikipedia).

The birds come in 4 variation according to my own description.. lol :
1. The Red bird which goes "huaaa heee" when sling-shot into the target.(Power: Average)
2. The Blue bird which goes "thud tweeet" when activated and separates into 3 little birds (Power: Multiple targets)
3. The Yellow bird which tweets when activated and accelerates into the target (Power: Kinetic force)
4. The Black bird which goes "weee" when activated becomes a bomb. (Power: Explosive)
5. The White bird which goes "weee thud" when activated drops an egg bomb and flies away to safety. (Power: Drop grenade) - only bird which does not do kamikaze.
6. The Green bird when activated boomerangs into the target. (Power: Angled shot)

These different "ammo" is important to defeat the pigs especially when they have elaborate structure in timber, steel, stone and ice with helmet as armour from the vengence of the Angry birds. Lol

And when all fails, the players can always opt to buy the secret weapon known as the "Mighty Eagle". Watch it at play in the trailer below:



The craz of Angry birds can be seen with other clips: Angry Birds Peace Treaty, and references made about it. I was surprised to see the host, Neil Patrick Harris (better known as Doogie Howser MD) in the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards doing a demo of "Angry Birds" live. Real life pigs painted in green appeared on the stage and Neil was about to launch a real-life rooster into the pigs when the director voiced over and said "Listen, PETA called, we gotta shut this down."

There are fans out there who built their own Angry Birds model and a life sized game of it... Just google to find out more stories.

Well, ironically, I don't even own an Iphone or an Ipod/ Ipad or the application itself and I'm hooked on it! So far, I've played occassionally on my friend's Iphone and one night, I've played few hours straight on my bro's Ipad. Hence, yes, it is fun, addictive and frustrating when you can't get the 3-stars-leveled but when you win, you'll shout a loud "Yes"! ;)

p.s. My ringtone is the song from Angry Birds. Lol
Can anyone get me one of those green pig plushie for my pig collection? Lol

Movie Review: 127 Hours (spoiler alert)

I won preview tickets to watch this movie and The Rites on the same day! So since I vaguely remembering 127 hours being nominated for some award earlier this year and is based on a true story.... I chose it.

Last Wednesday night, I went to watch 127 Hours without really reading up much about it. The weekend before, a friend caution me about a scene about the character cutting his own arm... I decided to forewarned my fellow friend who was watching with me.

127 Hours in a nutshell... IMHO

It started with a confident, nonchalant guy, Aron who goes around making a "simple trip" over the weekend to mountain climb in the Canyonlands by himself without informing anyone. It shows how he packs his food and gears very simply without worries. He even left his trusty Swiss army knife because he couldn't reach it. He ignores phone calls from his mum and didn't inform anyone of his plans.

He makes his way to the destination by himself. As the movie progress with picturesque views of the canyons and a silent journey of a confident guy through the lands, one feels his confidence and a little cockiness as he hops around the canyons like a mountain goat.

He meets 2 girls along the way who were lost and offered to be a "tour guide" to their destination and showed them a brave memorable time jumping through rocks into the underground water. Here, the movie makes me feel in awe of the freedom and fun potrayed here.

He parts way with them confidently by himself and that's when the unexpected happens, a large boulder dislodged and landed on his right hand which traps him in a canyon below - unseen from above.

The next few scenes are memorable. It showed Aron still being confident and unfazed by what has happen. He unpacks his essentials from his backpack : "China-made pen knife", a 500ml bottle of water, a pack of sandwich, climbing rope, camera, video cam and I think some climbing gear.

He tries to dislodged his arm by chipping away the boulder with his blunt knife. At a moment, he thought of cutting him arm but the knife was too blunt. He created a pulley with his rope and tries to use his weight to dislodged the boulder but to no avail. Mind you, he was only using one arm to do all this.

I thought, "Wow.. he doesn't show fear and is still determined to pull himself out of this jam".

However, after a few days, the reality sank in and as he talks to himself in the video cam, Aron shows remorse for the things he done in the past and wished he spent more time with his family. The trailer shows the scene where he makes a morning radio show interviewing himself about the silliness of not informing anyone of his whereabouts so no help was coming until it will be too late.

A few scenes would shock you but the main scene was Aron being stuck in the canyon through the harsh cold (he wraps the climbing rope to keep himself warm), 15 mins of sunlight - heat, rain and starvation. He rationed his water to the extend of saving his own urine to avoid dehydration. He talked to the video cam to keep his sanity.

I guess James Franco deserved to be nominated for his performance as you feel his agony and remorse through these scenes. However, it has to be noted - he showed Aron as still having a strong will to live even facing the possibility of death.

In the end, Aron broke his own arm and then cut if off to free himself from the boulder. The scene of him poking his arm with blood dripping out is not a scene for the queasy. But I forced myself to watch it to appreciate the acting and potrayal. The music selected for this scene was piercing and makes one feel the pain of Aron.

The scene does not end there. Aron still has to climb out and abseil 65 foot of wall and hike over eight miles before he was rescued. (figures obtained from wikipedia).

Wow... the movie ended with the scene of the real Aron with his arm/stump left. He shows him swimming confidently in the pool. The short description tells he still continue mountain climbing and doing extreme activities. He met his love of his life and have a child now.

The spirit and will power to live is vividly and well-shown in this movie. Bravo to Danny Boyle, James Franco and the rest of the crew. It has made me want to read the autobiography "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" to see what other details and reality had happened.

So my advice, go ahead and watch this to see the willpower of someone who wants to live to the extend of helping himself since there is no one around. And yes, you will pick up an important lesson too: "Always let someone- a person to know your whereabouts in case something happens to you, at least people would know where to look" and the epitome of "Where there is a will, there is a way".
For those who can't stomach blood, just close your eyes and let the music make your own imagination go wild during the scene of cutting the arm.. Enjoy! ;)

Trailer below...

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Been occupied lately. Better post up the CNY greeting before it ends.. lol!! :)

Gong Xi Fa Cai!! Hope it is a good one this year! :)

Bunny Year

How has 2011 been to me so far?

The prolonged inevitable "train crash" has come tumbling in. (Obviously this has to be work-related rantings)....

CNY holidays passed by in a blissful week and here I am back again to work. Trying to pick up the pieces of the wreckage...

Hence, time passes even more quickly as you dread a day and hope it goes on swiftly... then you always look for a respite on weekends away from all the gloom.

Yes, it's still CNY mood but alas, a gloom lingers on my face. Sad!

Again, I remind myself... This Bunny year should not be about work,work, work! Bunny O' bunny - cute and cuddly... give me a year of bountiful joy and fun with lots of white fluffy laughter.

Once, I feel more human again, I'll upload my CNY food pics!