"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverence the race marked out for us." (Hebrews 12:1, NIV Bible)

I was at Port Dickson last Saturday, and one could not ask for better weather conditions. The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, and I had a very good run at the beach that evening. After the run, some of us hung around at the beach to witness one of the greatest shows on earth: the sunset :-) It was beautiful. Praise our Creator God.

One thing I've noticed about sunsets is this: it doesn't just end with the sun going down over the horizon. After the sun goes down, it continues to leave a trail of sunrays that light up an amazingly coloured sky behind it. What a symphony of mesmerising colours.

In the morning of that same day, I attended a funeral in Melaka. It was heart-warming to listen to the eulogies, and how much impact this person that went to be with God had on the people around her. And this impact will continue to live on even though she's no longer here.

I'm reminded of that as I beheld the sunset that evening. Just like the sun that leaves a trail of colour even after it sets, likewise, when we leave this life for the next, we will leave behind a legacy that will live on. The question is, whether we will leave behind a positive legacy that contributes or a negative legacy that detracts.

Yes, to live life like the sun. While it runs its course, it gives light, provides and blesses the earth. As it finishes it's course and sets over the horizon, it leaves behind a legacy that lights up the sky and earth with colour.

Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

Let us run the race not only for the prize,

But as those who've gone before us,

Let us leave to those behind us,

The heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives...

After all our hopes & dreams have come & gone,

And our children sift through all we've left behind,

May the clues that they discover & the memories they uncover,

Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find...

(Find Us Faithful - Steve Green)

Yesterday I attended a public forum on climate change. I'll blog about that soon.

the call

I just got an interesting phone call this morning. No number appeared on my mobile phone, and when I picked up it was a chinese lady...as in, chinese lady from China. The whole conversation was in Mandarin:

China gal: Do you speak Mandarin?

Me (suspicious as always at mystery calls): Yes. Who is this?

China gal: This is ***(I can't remember her name)***. Can I know what your phone model is?

Me (suspicion grows): Why do you want to know?

China gal: I just want to know, and to see whether you are happy using your current model.

Me: For what purpose?

China gal: We want to invite you and your friends to a special function.

Me (what the huh? Suspicion fully inflated): You know what, I'm not interested. Thank you. Bye.

China gal: What's your name?

Me (???!!!): Ok thank you, bye!

*click*

Another one of those scams? Perhaps. Be wary of the mysterious China gal call!

bliss

Recently, I've been reminded of something that gives a great feeling of relief.

Removing a plaster from a wound.

You've been out the whole day, and you've had the plaster on the whole time. You get back home at night. You remove the plaster...and as you do so, the wound is slowly exposed to the open...the cool air sweeps by it...the wound feels like it stretches out in syok abandonment...ahhhh, a feeling of freedom....

What bliss....

Dateline: Tioman Island, October 2007

I'm back from a 3-day dive trip to Tioman!

On the day that we took the ferry over to Tioman, there was another ferry which caught fire and sank (ours was a different ferry service departing from a different port). Apparently, they were operating without a license and there weren't enough life jackets onboard for everybody. 4 deaths and 3 missing, one of whose body has just been found yesterday.

As much as we are thankful for our safe journey, we're very saddened by this tragic incident. The sadder thing is, the deaths could really have been avoided. I've much on my heart and mind about this incident but I'll hold my peace at this present moment. Thank you, those of you who called or sms-ed to check on whether we were ok.

Divers, if you're really into macro stuff, Tioman's the place to go. A good variety of nudibranches can be found especially at Batu Malang. We even saw a Spanish Dancer! :) Beautiful lil' fella. Of the 7 dives we did, I enjoyed Chebeh and Batu Malang the most. These two places were like a huge marine garden teeming with life. It's great to just dive through the "park", swim with the turtles, snappers, trevallys, barracudas...did a few swim-throughs...at Chebeh, there was this part where the rock were beautifully littered with sea fans. The dive at Tiger Reef was also memorable in that it ended pre-maturely :P One of my buddies almost hit decompression limit, so we had to surface (yes, we leave no man behind on the boat) after a half hour's worth of diving. And we surfaced to rain and choppy waters (woo hoo!!!)

On one of the evenings, I went snorkelling with Guatz. I was not wearing fins. So there we were, snorkelling around. I showed Guatz the sea urchins (plenty of them where we snorkelled) and warned her about getting in their way. Almost right after that, I conveniently forgot to check behind me and I fumbled into a few of them. So them urchins stung me nice and good on my feet. One of them gave me a pretty nasty gash, for which the doc had to give me a tetanus jab just in case. (I only saw the doc after I came back to KL...I was still diving after tap dancing on the sea urchins :P )

Walking with a slight limp, this man is very, very happy with his dive trip to Tioman. Sorry I don't have undersea photos to show because I don't have underwater photography equipment...yet :) In time, God willing. In the meantime, I'm quietly grateful to the Almighty Creator for being able to enjoy His colourful underwater handiwork and star-filled nights on the island, which I rate as the greatest shows on earth that I've been able to have the privilege to enjoy, next to shooting stars, mountain-top views, sunrises and sunsets.

Sea urchin (photo by Jeff Tham)

Hmmm...

I'm diving Tioman this weekend with two of my dive buddies, Jeff and Alex. The group going to Tioman consists of 3 of us divers as well as our loved ones. Here's the make-up:

Jeff the diver, and his non-diving wife & kids.

Alex the diver, and his non-diving wife.

Colin the diver, and his non-diving girlfriend.

Note the progression? :P

Mindless blogging on Friday, 12 October 2007...last day of the work week, eve of a long Raya weekend. :PP

Rugby World Cup semis being played this weekend while I'm 80 feet underwater...anybody can sms me the results? :PPP

Salam Aidilfitri

Hari Raya's just around the corner. I sent out an email to all my Muslim colleagues to wish them and I did that by composing a simple pantun for them. Boy, it sure started a whole barrage of pantun emails. After I shot out mine, one-by-one my colleagues just started replying in pantuns, and it went on and on for quite a while :-)

Here's what I sent out to them in the first instance:

Kalau berpeluang pergi ke Kelantan,
Singgahlah sebentar di Kubang Kerian,
Sepatah dua ingin Colin ucapkan,
Sepantun dua ku sampaikan untuk kalian.

Ke sana ke sini merentasi benua,
Kalau sudi bercutilah di Tasik Bera,
SELAMAT HARI RAYA diucapkan kepada semua,
Semoga anda diberkati sejahtera.

I wish I could post up my colleagues' subsequent pantuns as well, but there are too many of them. From Raya greetings, we proceeded to pantun about Raya cookies, Malaysia's first astronaut, even about nationalism :P

Speaking of which, it's great that we have our first Malaysian in space! Let's pray that Dr SMS will have a good outing and a safe trip. I hope this will be the beginning of a lot of good for this country, instead of just another thing we do to get attention or respect. Space exploration holds potentially unknown benefits for our nation and mankind as a whole if followed-up and worked on properly. For instance, from previous space explorations by NASA in the US, we've had space technology transferred to benefits such as insulating materials, more advanced firefighter suits, shock-absorbing sports shoes, scratch-resistant coatings on eyeglasses & watches, implantable heart pump, etc....the list goes on.

To all my Muslim friends, Selamat Hari Raya, and happy holidays to all! I'm off to Tioman in the meantime... :-)

Ka Ora

Against all odds, it happened: the two great southern hemispheric rugby nations of the world lost to their respective northern hemispheric quarterfinal opponents. The 2007 Rugby World Cup quarterfinal results read:

Australia 10 England 12
New Zealand 18 France 20

Interestingly, both the Wallabies and the All Blacks lost by the same margin.

(digression: if the matches were fixed and the whole world finds out, wouldn't that have some serious repercussions in the sport? And in ALL sports? :P )

I studied in Australia, so naturally I tend to root for the Wallabies. This is a doubly painful loss for the Aussies, given the fact that it was also England who beat them 4 years ago in the World Cup final then. Ouch ouch. Wanted to stay up to watch the delayed telecast late on Saturday night but I was too zoinked that night after a whole day taking parents out and supper with friends.

The mighty All Blacks tamed. Wow. France must have put up a brave fight. In fact, they came back from 13-3 down to win the game. When the All Blacks did their pre-game Haka dance, the French team even deliberately stood just inches in front of the All Blacks to "face up" to them.

And so the All Blacks-slaying France will take on the Wallabies-conquering Lions in the semifinals, while the Springboks face-off with the Pumas.

Such is life: one can never be 100% sure about anything. There's always that element of uncertainty. Some blame bad timing while others blame an "off-form" moment. Some call it fate. Some call it luck.

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." (Proverbs 16:9, NIV Bible)

In honour of the two great rugby nations, I give you...the Haka:

Ka mate, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora,
Ka mate, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora,
Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru,
Nana i tiki mai whakawhiti te ra,
Upane upane, upane kaupane,
Whiti te ra!

Translation:
It is death, it is death, it is life, it is life,
It is death, it is death, it is life, it is life,
This is the hairy man,
Who caused the sun to shine again for me,
Up the ladder, up the ladder, up to the top,
The sun shines!

It's Been A While...

I've left this place dormant for a very long time...in view of ongoing reconciling efforts, this is where i'll be blogging from now on.

Blog...weblog...a log on the web to log my ramblings on everything under the sun and stars...which hopefully will be beneficial in some way to readers...

So what's been happening lately? I've shaved my head :) Some of the responses i've been getting:

1. "Waaahhhhh...you going to Myanmar to support the monks ah?"

2. "I hope this has nothing to do with a change of faith."

3. "Wahhhh...is this the style nowadays ah?"

4. "Is everything ok? Are you ok??"

5. "Wahhh....ya lah, nowadays very hot la."

6. "Yerrrrrr....not nice la."

7. "You have a nice head shape."

8. "This is what I call a close shave!"

9. *blank...wide-mouthed*

And things have been overwhelming...crime rate in Malaysia, questionable judiciary, major discrepencies in handling of public funds which have been going on for so long and brought up time and time again but nothing's done about it, progressing industry/technology-wise but digressing in humanity & morality, brutality against the innocent, poverty & the seemingly insatiable needs everywhere...AC Milan doing badly in the league... :P

Nonetheless, if I may borrow a hymn's verse, "This is my Father's world, o help me never forget, that though the wrong seems oft wrong, God is the ruler yet..." Just offer my 5 loaves & 2 fish worth and let God do His thing. Live upright & godly. And battles need to be fought on our knees.

And I'm diving Tioman next weekend...can hardly wait :)