I have been tagged by Politics101 and given the honour to blog the 14th countdown entry towards Merdeka. Nizam Bashir initiated this 50 Posts To Independence series and each tagged blogger had to write anything they want to about Malaysia.

With the recent momentous ruling on a particular case, I couldn’t help but ponder about the true meaning of merdeka. The 31st day of August this year marks our 50th year of independence from the British colonial rule. It is unfortunate that there is no freedom for certain segments of folks here to choose their own faith.

I remember how it was like growing in a somewhat Christian-oriented family. My paternal side of the family are all Christians and my parents thought it would be a good idea to send their kids to Sunday school to get good moral teachings and to improve our English. For some reason, I did not like going to Sunday School. Perhaps I felt that the kids were clique-ish and I couldn’t fit in. Perhaps also it was because of the fierce teacher. Whatever the reason was, every Sunday my teacher would faithfully come to my house to pick us up for Sunday School classes. And every Sunday, I would hide and make some excuse of why I shouldn’t go. I liked Jesus back then but I didn’t really feel at home in that particular church.

My parents gave up trying to force me to go to church after I reached the age of 13. They figured that I was big enough to make my own decisions and live with the consequences. I was grateful for that. I needed the space to think things through, wrestle with difficult faith questions that I had and weighing the other options that are available out there. During those years, I eventually grew to own the faith that was handed down to me. From a second-hand kinda faith, it became a faith to call my own. I was a Christian because I chose to be one.

What my parents did meant a lot to me. It denotes trust that I can make a decision that is best for me. They have done their parts in grounding me in the beliefs and values that are important to them. But when it came to the time that this chick decided to spread her wings and fly, they had to let her go and trust that she will choose the right paths.

This bit on letting go and freeing the person whom they were guarding all this while – this, to me, is freedom. And at 50 years of Merdeka and beyond, this is my fondest wish. Just as my parents allowed me the freedom to decide, I want to see every Malaysian being free and equipped to make decisions that are pivotal to their lives. To see the court of law letting citizens decide upon issues important to them. Yes, we cannot neglect our role to educate and equip our young ones with the life skills and information they need. But we also need to set them free so that they can soar.

And to pass on this baton, I hereby tag my enthusiastic and gung-ho friend Josh who has loads of punty points up his sleeves. Over to you, buddy.

Photo credits

Mixed Fruits Sponge Cake

It’s Wednesday but it sure feels like a Monday. My first day of work for the week. This must be the mid-week syndrome. Sluggish and bleary.

Highlight of the day thus far has to be taking these photos of desserts. The fruit sponge cake above tasted fabulous. Light and fluffy on the inside, crunchy on the outside encased with the sweetness of maple syrup. Not that I’m complaining or anything but now that photo shoot projects are moving on to desserts, I have to watch what I pop into my mouth. Can’t simply eat whatever I shoot, no matter how mouth-watering they look. This may be the most dangerous job I’ve ever taken – an evil threat against my waistline.

Banana Tarts

Some yummy choc thingie which I can’t remember the name of

I so look forward to Friday. Aaaaah.

Just came back from MCCC and boy, my brains are just too saturated by all that I’ve learned these past four amazing days. It can be overwhelming when I think of the vast amount of information and improvement points to implement but I need to keep reminding myself to take things one day at a time. One habit at a time. If I can just implement and practice ONE thing I learn, then it would be great. Better than changing 10 major things all at once and drop them all off because it’s just to stressful to change so much at so short a time. Less is best. Less is more.

Anyway, this morning, I managed to catch up with one of my friends who attended Elijah House. It was wonderful to hear her share of how God had transformed her life lately.

“Ariel, He has dealt with so many things and issues in me. I feel so free and stabilised now. And it all started because I went to Elijah House,” she said with a radiant glow on her face.

“No, my dear. The changes started because of you,” I said. She looked startled for a bit. Then understanding dawned upon her. She smiled shyly.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m passionate about the Elijah House prayer counseling ministry. I promote it almost everywhere I go and to everyone I meet. But Elijah House or any other inner healing or counseling ministries is just a method to help someone achieve breakthroughs from bondages in their lives.

I have seen people coming to Elijah House but leaving it unchanged for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the timing is not right. They are not ready to let go of their baggages, much less even admitting that they have issues. Sometimes they are not comfortable with the Elijah House style. Perhaps another method will work better for them.

Hence my “It is you” remark. My dear friend would not have a shred of hope for changes had she not decided to get help for her problems. She had to acknowledge and accept responsibility for the part she played in relationship conflicts. She had to forgive those who have hurt her and ask for God’s forgiveness for things she had done wrong. She had to let go of her hurtful defense mechanisms and learn new positive ways to relate to people so that she can see different results.

So, it is not Elijah House or the church or a helpful friend, it is you who decide whether you want to be bitter or better. God will make a way for us to be free and put such resources in our way. But we are the ones who choose whether to harden or soften our hearts.

Likewise after a mindset and lifestyle challenging conference, it is up to me to choose if I want to apply the things I learn intentionally and let them change me to be a more effective follower and leader, or to just chuck them all in one corner of my mind, never to be revisited.

For things to change, we must change first. The onus is on us.

I normally finish reading nice murder mystery books within a couple of days. But due to a busy and eventful week, I haven’t been able to indulge much on the current book I’m reading – Agatha Raisin and The Day The Floods Came.

It’s a book about a murder and a flood.

And while I’m reading the book, a friend was murdered and another friend’s office just got flooded. I couldn’t help but think if the book and the lives of my friends were linked somehow. I shared this with two friends.

Friend #1:

“It’s such a coincidence!” my friend with the flood said.

“A tad too many coincidences to be funny anymore leh,” was my reply.

“I wonder what’s next?”

“Gosh, nothing I hope. My book is jinxed lah.”

“Hmmm, did u read anyting about belakang mari… that my car kena accident?”

“Well, in the book, someone tried to run over her. But no, no cars got hit on their back bumpers.”

“Close enough to a car.”

“True, true. In the book, she also met a handsome man. Did you by any chance meet a handsome man this week?”

“The last time I looked into the mirror, I did. ROFL!!!”

“Adei.”

Friend #2:

“Man, don’t read any books about me, ok?” was his response.

“Bluek,” was mine.

Conclusion:

I find that the parenting skills, particularly skills in disciplining a child works on adult human beings as well. People can be trained to do things in a new way, even though it is much more convenient for them to do things the old way. And the effect is quite immediate, too:

• Explain why their change in behavior will benefit the company/organisation. This can be done via email, circulars, meetings, etc.
• Let them know that they are being monitored and should they violate the rules, they will face repercussions. This can take the form of ‘friendly’ reminders, fines, etc.
• Monitor on a regular basis i.e. daily. As soon as an violater is spotted, reprimand them for that particular incident. And remind them to practice the new rules.
• After the new ways have become a habit for them, you may not need to monitor quite so often but it still has to be done regularly. Always remember to exercise Step #3 for rule violaters.

This is how rules are made and adhered to. Without enforcement, most people would not bother obeying rules if it’s inconvenient to them. Without enforcement, fear of breaking the rules and respect for authority is gone. With the upcoming pay hike for our police and armed forces, I hope to see them motivated and taking pride in their very important role of securing our country. That they will enforce the law effectively upon the violaters of our country’s law and criminals.

If parents could discipline their children that way, and if companies could keep their staff in line with enforcement, surely our police and army could keep the country clean.

Heck, with enforcement and constant monitoring from the press and public, perhaps our MPs would also desist from making sexist remarks in their speeches for the benefit of all mankind.

When enforcement becomes the key, what a wonderful world it would be!

After all that has happened to Peng who asphyxiated to death when her house was ransacked, I think that it’s good for those who live alone to have an SMS Buddy system. It works like this:

• Find a reliable buddy who is contactable and responsive via SMS
• Give this buddy a list of persons to call/alert in case of emergency
• SMS this buddy at the end of each day upon reaching home/final stop for the night to tell them that you are back home safe.
• The buddy will alert the persons on the list given if they haven’t heard from you or cannot reach you on your phone within 24 hours

This way, if anything happens to you, it would not take days before someone finds out what had transpired.

Also, if Peng had not suffocated because of the duct tape that was placed on her nose, she would be immobile and helpless being bound tightly hand and foot. After three days of lack of food and water, she may have suffered severe health problems or even death. So it’s still best if single people living alone establish this SMS buddy system. It helps knowing that there’s someone out there who cares and who can take quick action in case of emergencies.

Spread the word around.

** Updates on the wake at the bottom of this entry **

Peng making PaulOS look like an elderly daddy

I was happily lost in the middle of my latest read yesterday – an Agatha Raisin murder mystery. She was in the midst of investigating the murder of a girl whose body was swept by the river currents under the bridge.

It was then that my phone buzzed.

“Peng was found dead and murdered in her apartment just now. No details yet.”

I couldn’t believe what I’ve just read. It took about a minute for the facts to sink in. A cold hand gripped my heart and my stomach felt twisted in knots. The bubbly and chatty Lovena Loo Thing Peng dead?? Not only dead but murdered in cold blood, too. It must be some kind of twisted joke. Real life murder wasn’t as nice and juicy as the books portrayed them to be.

I felt like calling her up just to verify that she was still alive and well. Still up to tackle life in that gutsy way of hers.

But the sms came from a trusted friend. As much as I wanted it to be otherwise, it can only be true.

And I did the only thing I could do. I prayed. I asked God to forgive the sins of our nation. To bring justice to the person(s) who did this to Peng. To comfort and protect her bereft family. Perhaps I did ask God why didn’t He protect her. It was a horrible, horrible thing to happen. I wouldn’t wish it on my enemies. Least of all, a friend.

But the friend who buzzed me did say that we cannot take God’s protection for granted. And we should do all we can to be cautious. A single girl living alone in a notorious area like Peng and who comes back at odd hours because of work and ministry is a prime target for criminals.

Today we her friends are morose. Shell-shocked. Still coming to grips with what had happened. I’ve only spent time with her during our numerous Punctuation productions. She was there for all of the productions that I was involved in. Always a cheerful chatterbox who doesn’t mind travelling a great distance just to help us out and lending her gifted hands to make us all up. She was a whiz at transforming youthful people into stooping wrinkly old prunes. Making devils out of respectable looking citizens. And making me look maternal in my motherly roles.

It’s hard to accept that we’ll never ever see her in that basement room dolling us all up. Or be greeted by her cheerful smile as an usher at the church foyer.

Peng, may you rest in peace and may your murderer be brought to justice.

For more details, please visit Josh’s blog. PaulOS blogged about Peng here, Grace here and Anson here. Friends who like to share their thoughts and photos of Peng, please head here. The pics here are taken from that site. Thanks, Josh.

Happier times with Peng

Updates on Wake on 23 May: The wake was a sober affair. About 200 people turned up. Because of the time limit, only a few people were able to give eulogies but they shared with us the other facets of Peng that we didn’t know. Her cg leader’s wife, her school’s Vice Principle, her Punctuations Ministry leader and her cell member told us about her love and passion for God, cooking and being a blessing to the people around her. From what I gather, though she may not be wealthy, she was so rich in the many, many friendships and lives that she has invested in.

Pastor Allan led the service in a sensitive and timely manner. And though it was a difficult message to preach Pastor Seng Fei reminded us of the legacy that Peng left behind and spoke of her last words in CG where she shared that if Jesus were to appear, she would want to bring Him back home to her family dinner and let them get to know the God she loved. They were aided by two Mandarin translators – one guy and Emily who did a great job.

Her family was devastated by the loss of a filial daughter and loving sister. Because of the decomposed state of the body, we were not allowed to pay our last respects to her. If we, her friends feel robbed of that opportunity, her mother felt so much worse not being able to take one last look at her beloved child.

There were a lot of familiar faces around from near and far. Some whom I haven’t seen for a long, long time but who turned up to give support to Peng’s family. Her brother, visibly overcome by grief, thanked everyone for coming and urged us to pray together with the family to see the murderer apprehended and brought to justice.

I hugged a few girls who were in tears. “She asked me out for dinner but I was so busy with my exams,” said a girl in regret.

And in the eulogy her cg leader’s wife Edna said that for the past two weeks, Peng was not able to attend cell meetings because of her sprained ankle. But in response to Edna’s sms, she turned in cg last Friday dressed in her favourite party dress. She looked beautiful. She sat at the dining table where they were having Tom yam for dinner and declined to eat saying that spicy food wasn’t suitable for her at that moment.

She looked at Edna and asked her to sit next to her. “Aunty Edna, I want to talk to you,” she said. Unfortunately, Edna was not able to talk much to her because she was busy preparing for the cell meeting that was starting soon. One of them sent her home after cell. After three days of not hearing a word from her, they got worried and went to her apartment. The door was locked. So they called Peng’s family who broke into the place and found her body. Edna said that the words “I want to talk to you” will always ring in her ears… If only she wasn’t busy… If only…

After months of shooting, we’ve finally managed to get over 200 items shot for our spanking new menu coming out next month. It promises to be a mouth-watering eyewash.

Of course the job comes with some cons. I go to the Jap restaurant 2-3 times a week and I get to eat most of what I shoot. So, I’m kinda sworn off raw Jap food for the next couple of weeks. There is such a thing as an overdose of raw salmon, salmon eggs, Saba fish, tuna, sea urchin, etc. These things are meant to be eaten fresh from the sushi bar. After a couple of hours of photo shoot, they are virtually inedible.

Anyway, here are some of my favourite photos. I can’t wait to see the full blown pics decorating the new menu. Patience… patience…

My personal favourite – Kanpachi Teriyaki

Hotate to ebi kushiage – Japanese Satay?

Gindara yukimi nabe

Ramen – or shall I say Japanese Wan Tan Mee?

Salmon Maki

Salmon Carpaccio

Dobin Mushi

Oroshi Ikura

Sake – nice looking bottles, but lethal to drink :P

Tako no yawarakani

Renkon Senbe

Hotate Kaninabe – hmmmm… Hokkien speakers, don’t think serong ah!

Here are some of the pics I took during a cell group outing last month. Since it’s Visit Malaysia Year 2007, we wanted to do something locally flavoured. At the very least, we hope to increase our knowledge of what’s good and what’s not in Malaysia so that we can be better tour guides to our foreign friends when they drop by to visit. Ok, so now onto our adventures at the Sungai Gabai waterfall and Haji Samuri’s Kajang Satay.

What’s Not – The Waterfall

Initially, we wanted to go to the Sungai Tekala falls. It was supposed to be near two other waterfalls around the Ulu Langat area. But after a long drive through the rather remote area with lots of winding roads and thanks to the lack of proper road signs, we decided to stop at the very first waterfall we spotted – Sungai Gabai.

“Haiya, no point going further lar. One waterfall should be the same as the other,” we all said and drove into the very narrow dirt road heading towards the falls. To our amazement, the road leading to the falls was filled with lots and lots of cars. A middle-aged Malay man was directing traffic and instructed us on where to park our van.

“RM2, Encik,” he said to Eugene, the driver who paid him and was duly issued a receipt by the Penghulu of the kampung (village head). We were impressed by the enterprising village head who must have made quite a fortune for the village by providing parking spaces for the hoardes of tourists to this rather popular area. And if the parking attendant was indeed the village head (he did have a dignified look), then he’s humble as well.

We trooped out of the car and walked towards the falls with great expectations. We were looking forward to a peaceful time spent in cosy fellowship and being surrounded by the lush green nature and the soothing sounds of the cascading falls. Aaaah…

Excited about what lies ahead

When we stepped into the area, we were immediately lambasted by the song “Winds of Change” being played loudly. What the hey?

To our horror, these enterprising folks have rigged up a karaoke booth at the entrance of the falls. For RM1.50 per song, anyone can be a rock star for a few minutes. The din was awful. So much for a zen-like atmosphere at the falls.

The toilets were in a horrible state as well. No water at all. Makes you wonder why they charge RM0.30 per entry. Bleh.

The falls looked pretty good though. Tall and majestic. The only problem was, there were oodles and oodles of people milling about the place. We decided to go up to the higher levels in hopes of quieter spots there.

The bottom of the falls

The second level had very few folks but the place was very slippery and thus, a hazard. None of us wanted to make the falls our final resting place and so we moved on. It was a most tiring climb. Most of us were panting like dogs and wheezing like geezers by the time we reached the third level. There were a lot of people there but we vetoed the idea of going further up. This is where we will plonk our tired selves on and hopefully enjoy the experience.

The third level had a nice flat bed of water and large smooth rocks. Ideal for waterfall surfing. Quite a number of daring people did what the guy did below.

Waterfall surfer

But we were contented to just sit and soak our feet there. We observed a number of folks washing their hair with Palmolive shampoo just a few metres from us. Rather uncivic-minded to drown the poor water creatures and other waterfall bathers with their shampoo suds. Also, the air would have been fresh and pristine had it not been for the many smokers in the area. Thanks to them, the whole place smelled like Gudang Garam and Malboro Lights.

Soaking our feet is ok, but swimming is out of the question!

Still, the place looked quite idyllic in certain spots.

Crossing the bridge

An idyllic moment

My baby, the Nikon D50 generated quite a lot of interest in the crowd. Strangers would pose and smile as I shot scene after scene. Notice the smiling dude behind Cassy.

Cassy and her new friend

JR pondering on life

Under the bridge

JR whipped out his guitar and we sang some songs, ate some snacks and chatted to while away the lazy afternoon. After a few hours, we were ready to leave the place. For good.

The whole place was littered with fresh rubbish from this crowd. We saw the parking attendant picking up the litter and cleaning up the place as we made our way out to the car park. Thanks to his hard work, the whole place looked decent. But we couldn’t understand why is it so difficult for the crowd to pick up after their own litter?

Disgusted and jaded, we trooped out of the place. We couldn’t wait to get to our next destination.

Bye Bye Sungai Gabai

What’s Hot – Kajang Satay

The highlight of the day out has to be this. All Malaysians know that the best place to go for satay is Kajang. I received directions on how to go to Haji Samuri’s from my Kajang friend all the way in Edinburgh. Dude, the satay is fabulous! Big portions, not much fat on the skewered meat and oh so yummylicious. Thanks for the recommendation!

Walking towards the satay place

The satay

Satisfied smiles after the yummy dinner

Needless to say, the satay washed away the bad aftertaste of the Sungai Gabai waterfall :)

A friend who keeps in touch mainly by reading my blog complained that I haven’t been blogging much recently. “Age catching up with you, izzit?” the cheeky girl said. *Dushum*

Well, it’s more like work and life are catching up on me and squeezing my blogging juices dry. I’ve been putting in nearly 12-hour days in the recent months. There are so many things going on and to complete. Also been busy with Elijah House, catching up with pals and other de-stressing activities. Not to mention coping with what happened to my mom recently, and having quite a number of relational issues popping up like mushrooms after the rain. Blogging took a back seat during these hectic times. I couldn’t summon enough energy to reflect much upon all these things that are too close to heart and share them in a way that builds people up, and not tear them down. I’ve been writing them on my personal diary though and man, it’s so therapeutic. One day, perhaps I can share the lessons I’ve learned from them here publicly.

I’ve also lost count of how many times I mentioned, “Ooooh, I’m so gonna blog about this or that!” whenever I encounter things that endear my heart or are just darn interesting. Like this dude called Jouvarn whose idea of relaxation is to check the daily progress of expeditions in planet Mars and Pluto via a website every single day. Or how much my mom means to me this Mother’s Day. Or how yet another new friend guessed that I could actually be a lawyer. How blessed I am by the kindred spirits in my life. How bezzie and I are making a long-distance friendship work in spite of the miles between us. And how I’ve been taking food photos like crazy. Will post up some of my favourites soon :) The coffee pic above was taken today.

With the Jap restaurant menu pics all taken and other communications stuff resolved, I hope to have a little more respite and a little more time to blog.

And to my cheeky blog reader, thanks for telling me that you missed me. I’m back :)