A friend of mine was nearly mugged yesterday. She was walking in a shopping mall, absorbed in the task of sms-ing a friend on her phone when the would-be thief made a grab on her phone. Thankfully, because she had both hands gripping the phone, the thief was unsuccessful and fled the scene.

In the space of a month, me and three of my friends encountered thieves, and two of my friends’ close relatives were seriously injured by blade wounds in separate robbery attempts. That’s like 6 people I know in a month. That’s a heck of a high statistic, if you ask me.

And because robbery and muggery and the like is so rampant here these days, it pays to be extra vigilant when you are up and about.

This verse takes new and very relevant meaning to me nowadays:

But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into ~ Matt 24:43

In this verse, Jesus was cautioning His listeners to be vigilant, alert and constantly on the watch because a thief’s most effective weapon is the element of surprise. And so it is with our local thieves. They target potential victims who are busy with something else and forget to grip their possessions tightly to themselves in a most paranoid manner.

Guys are not exempted from thieves. In fact, they get it even worse than the girls. I’ve heard of cases where the thief will chop the guy’s hand or thumb off first so that the victim will not resist. And then only will the thief confisticate the victim’s belongings.

So in the spirit of wanting my blog readers to survive the upcoming New Year with their limbs and lives intact, here are some tips on how to be vigilant:

1. Do not yak or sms on the phone when you are walking on the streets or even the shopping malls. If you must communicate, keep it brief and make sure that your eyes are constantly scanning your surroundings.
2. Always keep your belongings close to yourself and not within easy reach of random strangers i.e. on table tops in the coffee shop or on the sales counter when you are busy entertaining customers or being attended to by the sales assistants.
3. If a stranger asks you for direction, make sure you keep a respectful distance from them. It’s sad but my friend’s dad got slashed when he got close to a thief who pretended to ask him for directions. I hate it when people exploit human kindness. Hate it, hate it, hate it.
4. As much as possible, do not walk on quiet streets alone. Park as close as possible to your house or the place you are visiting, scan the area for any suspicious characters and walk briskly to your destination. Do not tarry any longer than necessary.
5. Travel light. This means leaving big bags, gold chains, etc at home whenever you don’t absolutely require them. Do not be a temptation to thieves.
6. Keep belongings in your car out of sight. An acquaintance had his windshield smashed up when the thief saw a bag on the front passenger seat. The cheap bag was stolen but it was empty. So he basically lost nothing much but had to bear the costs of repairing his car.

Please add on to the tips if you have any to share. Have a good and safe holiday, people. Remember, be vigilant!

Everything was fine and dandy until my boss dropped the bomb that my 2-week leave to Australia might be cancelled. All due to some delays in the project I’m working on that was not caused by us.

Really, it’s just a typical episode of the longest running series in this reality show – “Who Says Life’s Fair?”

Other recent episodes include the unexpected flooding in Johor which claimed lives and caused massive damage. Not forgetting the earthquake in Taiwan which disrupted communications in epic porpotions. I was unable to access my own blog most of yesterday. I can live with that, although there were reports of bloggers who were emotionally affected by the inability to blog or leave comments.

I know my episode is not as catastrophic as the others. But it still sucks. Big time.

There’s yet a sliver of hope left that the project will be further delayed in time for me to come back from my holidays. I frevently hope so. For this is more than just a holiday. This is my best friend’s wedding.

Pre-Christmas

Celebrated Annie aka Bambi’s 25th birthday at TGIF with the DASHYAT+Renee+Paul gang. It was also a pre-Christmas gathering with some of my favourite people. It’s not often that all of DASHYAT+Renee+Paul are able to meet in one-go like this. I would think that it’s the first time ever in history that we congregated under one roof. So it deserves special mention.

As usual, here are the 3 monkeys doing what they do best – TRYING not to do evil.

Write-ups on other DASHYAT members’ blogs:

1. D
2. T
3. H
4. H’s videos

Christmas Day itself

Ate lots. Slept a lot. Read an awful lot. Spent time with the people I love a lot. In other words, it was a perfect Christmas :D Also, am getting better – cough’s abating. Yaay!

Decided to give Baby a Christmas break and thus only utilised my handphone’s camera.

Only four working days till the New Year long weekend comes. I’m so in a holiday mood already. But don’t let my boss hear that :P :P

This must be the year where I feel decidedly un-Christmassy. So many things are going on at work, socially and in my newfound photography hobby that I didn’t realise that ’tis the season to be jolly.

“Yaay, next Monday is a public holiday!” a colleague said joyfully.

Took me a while before I realised why. “Oh, yeah. It’s Christmas, isn’t it?”

A couple of friends asked me what my plans for Christmas are and I just thought of how wonderful it would be to just do nothing for once. Well, not exactly nothing. Curling up in bed with a good book and recovering from my cough would be the main agenda for the day. That is, if nothing urgent crops up. Yes, I haven’t fully recovered from my cough and now it rears its ugly head again. Bleh. Or shall I say, “Humbug?”

Anyway, turns out that Christmas would be a cosy day spent with my family members. We’re going to church to worship as a family. Haven’t done that in yonks – since my siblings and I are all attending different churches. And a nice Chinese Christmas lunch thereafter. I guess there’ll be no turkey this year. But it’s no big loss. Turkeys are overrated, if you ask me.

Turkey or not, it’s going to be a nice warm day. I’m really looking forward to it. Merry Christmas, everybody.

At least that’s what Pastor Chris called Jon when giving the wedding sermon.

“My children always called Jeanine ‘Beauty’. So I guess you must be ‘The Beast’, eh Jon?”

It was a huge wedding. The attendance itself was akin to one of the church’s celebrations.

Huge though it was, it was very moving and meaningful. Both the bride and the groom were visibly touched by the vows made to each other.

“Jeanine, I pledge my ears to you whenever you need someone to listen.” Awwww….

“Jon, I’m so proud to be standing here with you now. We’ve come so far…” Double awwwwww….

From this day onwards, they are no longer two, but one…

And now, here are some fun shots taken at their neighbour’s house. Plus some sappy lines from my overactive imagination :D

Wow… we are truly married now. Someone pinch us!

Ah, but reality soon sets in. For Jeanine, anyway :P

“Now that we’re married, pour me a cuppa tea like a good wife!”

“How quickly you forget the first time we met?”

“Nay, I did not forget. For I fell down like a sap.”

“A more beautiful sight I have yet to see…”

“I knew then that it was time to cast my singlehood away.”

“For this is where I’ve found my home. My love. My joy.”

My heartfelt congratulations, Jon & Jeanine!

I have a bone to pick with our Home Ministry people. In the name of censorship, they have confisticated the shipment of one of the books I ordered from a local online bookstore. Simply because it had the word ‘Kiss’.

Gimme a break, Home Ministry people. There are heaps of porn out there in the form of lurid romance novels and you have to ban a book that has a simple word ‘Kiss’. The other book by the same author which had the word ‘Wedding’ got through alright. I guess in their minds, ‘Wedding’ sounds more respectable and decent as compared to ‘Kiss’.

Not only that, the photography book that I so badly wanted to purchase was not made available in Malaysia because it has some photos of nudes in it.

Hello?? It just doesn’t make any sense at all. Do you think that people will become perverts just because they see a few artistically arranged nude photos in a photography lesson book? And if sexual perverts were to look for a fix, would they go looking at ‘Nature Photography’ to satiate their needs?

Things like these just makes me livid. I see the value in censorship and all. But I believe that it must be done with just cause and reason. And not at the expense of depriving us from quality books that have some valuable knowledge to impart. Most of us Malaysians are not as gullible as you think.

Geez.

"Let’s watch Cinta," mom said casually the other day.

My jaw dropped. This is from a lady who listens to Chinese songs every morning and is glued to Korean serials dubbed in Mandarin almost every night. The one who stays up late to catch the English news rather than tune in to the Malay news aired during prime time.

"You are serious about watching a Malay movie?" I asked her, just to be sure. I had planned on watching it since I am curious to see how a what-I-think-was-Malay-version-of-Love Actually would turn out to be.

"Why not? I’m intrigued by the 5 love stories in 1 theme. It should be a worthwhile watch."

"Ok, I’m gamed!" I said and so last Tues, we watched Cinta.

We were the only two Chinese faces there in a sea of cinema viewers, most of them were clad in tudungs. And before the show began, we were bombarded by previews of the latest Malay movies in town. Something I don’t get to see when I watch English shows. From the previews, I gather that Cicakman has a downright creepy- and garish-looking red costume (yeeech!) and that Misi 1511 is an interesting looking and ambitious production. The girls around me were all excited about the dashing looking hero in Misi 1511.

"Eh, eh… apa cerita ni? Nampak best!*" one girl gushed. What can I say? It certainly looks quite impressive.

And then, Cinta began. From the moment it started, I was amazed by the beautiful cinematography. But the best part was the very very dear and familiar scenes of KL city. There really is nothing like seeing one’s own so-called-almost-backyard right up there on the big screen. I felt so surreal seeing Central Market, KLCC, KL Sentral, etc.

Prior to the show, I was very careful not to read reviews of this movie. After all, I already made up my mind to watch it, regardless of the outcome. Plus I’m the type who hates knowing spoilers of any kind in advance. So, I went into the cinema as clueless as anyone can get. But I’m glad to say that I was not disappointed in the least. Warning: spoilers ahead!

The five stories featured and my personal ratings are as follows (* – really bad, ***** – excellent):

1. Extraordinary ****- A tale of love between two seniors, one of whom suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. I loved this story for the great and poignant acting. The tale of an elderly lady’s decision to care for a man who is unable to remember her long enough to return her love was wonderfully portrayed. Who says love is a bed of roses all the time? More often than not, it requires the dying of one’s self and putting the loved one’s needs above ours. It’s more of a willingness to sacrifice rather than getting the other person to fulfill our needs. It is a decision. A choice.
2. Unexpected **- Love blossoms under romantic settings between a rich eligible bachelor and an MPH bookstore assistant. The man was so overly romantic and cheesy that I was surprised that the street-smart-looking bookstore assistant couldn’t see him for what he was – a fake. Of course he did a turnaround later on but I actually expected more from the heroine. Instead I see her whimpering her double "OKs" at predictable slots of the story. I also expected worse stuff from the rich spoilt dude. You know, like a hidden other-girlfriend or being forced to get engaged with a rich girl of a family friend. But I guess there wasn’t enough time to fully flesh out this two-dimensional character of a man. Ah well. No loss there.
3. Eternal ***- The chronicles of the relationship between two siblings. The stormy relationship that they share and the subsequent sacrificial act by the sister really pushes the point that sometimes, the person that we love the most is also the person that we find it most painful to relate to. And that when we feel helpless in changing our own life situation, we sometimes go and try to fix someone else’s problems. I also love the busker featured here – he was a natural comic relief!
4. Unconditional ****- A man is left shell-shocked when his wife leaves him for another man. How does one cope when the world one loves and thought to be ideal turns out to be nothing but a facade? The little girl who acted in this story was really talented. She made me bawl the most. Rashidi Ishak plays Harris, the broken-hearted husband and father so well, it’s hard to believe that he was just acting. What I didn’t get was how the woman could be willing to break the hearts of her loving husband and innocent daughter just to be with another man? Yeah, I’m an idealist, that’s what I am :P
5. Pure * – An out-of-town girl comes to the big bad city in search for her boyfriend. She lost everything when her bag got snatched but gained all she ever wanted in the heart of a kind and friendly stranger. All well and good, except that it’s KL that we’re talking about here. You just don’t expect a total stranger of the opposite sex to open his home for weeks on end and provide everything for you without expecting something in return or without a single complaint. And that a bad hat of a boyfriend would perform a near-turnaround just because of a phone call from the said kind stranger. It’s hard to buy that, really. It would seem that this story was just added as an afterthought to make up the final fifth story to the ensemble.

As mentioned above, I felt that two of the stories were rather cheesy and unreal. And most of the guy actors were portrayed as wimpy dandies. But the remaining three stories were touchingly good and made me bawled my eyes out. The girl next to me wept her heart out as well, but my mom just kept her eyes glued on the cinema screen – totally enraptured by the movie.

Oooh, and I remembered thinking how alike Syarifah Amani (the heroine in Eternal) and the elderly lady (in Extraordinary) were – looks-wise. Later on, I read that the two are actually real-life mother and daughter. Amazing, ain’t it?

Anyway, overall I give the movie 4 stars. Watch it if you can as it’s one of the better local productions to grace our screens. Let’s support the Malaysian arts scene!

When I see this everyday, I am reminded to love…

Bought a camera on my dad’s behalf a couple of months back. My friend was trigger happy that day and made a collage of the day’s mooning-over-gadgets adventures. So here it is fresh from the mailbox, I present to you …. GADGET GIRL

When Nianci and Eugene first came to the cell, I knew at once that they would fit in well with us. Both are crazy, fun loving and so passionate about God and His kingdom.

Their love story began many years ago, when she was 15 going on 16 and he was 16 going on 17. Theirs is a love that transcends the passage of time and the challenges of being geographically apart when he went to Australia for further studies. Without their strength of characters, support from their family members and friends, commitment to one another and firm faith in the One who brought them together, it would have been an impossible feat.

So it was with much joy that we celebrated their much-anticipated marriage on 16 Dec. Here are some of the upbeat highlights.

Pastor Chris conducted the wedding ceremony and solemnisation

Watched this for the first time over the weekend. One word: AWESOME.

The whole production was amazing and the story came alive to me. You actually feel for each of the main characters and the Lun Bawangs. To me, the most challenging role to portray would be the good guys. How do you make a goodie character real and not two-dimensional? Take for instance the missionary. It would have been so easy to let the character appear super spiritual and fake. But Ryan Landis who played the role of missionary Frank Davidson did it so well. His love and passion for God and the Lun Bawangs shone through in a very real and moving way.

Another good person character worth mentioning would be Agnus Tebangan played by the talented Evelyn Kew. She was so inspiring as the loving mother and first person who embraced the ‘White man’s religion’ in the village. The part where she sang a duet with Frank was so nicely done and their amazing vocals blended well together.

And of course, what would the good characters impact be if the baddies did not exist? The village witch – Dayung (played by See Mee Gee) – was deliciously eerie and evil. Her screeches and cackles of laughter is bound to give anyone nightmares. The remaining cast and actors also did a good job and the team work shown was excellent.

Moving on, the score and lyrics of the production were really stellar and top-notch. A major part of the storyline was conveyed through the songs. Kudos to Isaac Chia (main composer) and Sharon Toh (main lyricist) and team for a job well done. There were some words that were not clearly sung by the actors but overall, I could understand what was going on stage.

Last but not least, the sound, video and lighting was superbly done and were on queue. This aspect has a special spot in my heart since some of them are my friends and one of whom, Calvin helped me get a replacement ticket for the one I lost when my bag was snatched. Without his kind help, I would not have gotten a seat since it was full house. Thanks, man!!!

Anyway, the cast and crew are going to KK for the next show on 21 Dec for their last performance this year. Those of you who are in KK, do not miss out. It’s well worth the ticket price (and beyond)! Give yourselves a big pat on the back, SIB KL!