boon's log 0407.07: Refreshed and Renewed...

I was digging thru my pile old CDs and was deciding what to listen to and I bumped into this '96 Hosanna! Music album - He Will Save You with Bob Fitts. 10 years old and still what an amazing album (!!!). I put it on and was immediately and immensely and totally lost in worship. What an amazing album. If you have the chance, I do strongly suggest that you get it and you will agree with me on the power of the presence of God in the worship.


He Will Save You with Bob Fitts

It's hard to really pick out which songs are good (as I think all of 'em are great), but to mention a few, they are (1) This Is The Day, (8) He Will Come And Save You, (10) You Are My All In All, (11) O Lord To You.

"... May our praise arise as incense, O Lord to You,
May our worship be a fragrance, O Lord to you..."

What a strong refreshing sense of renewal and affirmation after listening to the CD. If you are feeling down and out, and you need a confirmation that you are not going through your toughest part of your life alone and that He is just a prayer away? This CD IS for you and you will not regret getting it.

All glory to God.


boon out...

boon's log 0407.03: Andy&Tony vs Matt&Leonardo - A far cry...

We managed to catch The Departed during the long weekend that just past - Monday was a replacement holiday.


The CopyCat...

I have to say that the movie was a total disappointment(!!!). At first, I thought it was probably because I had high expectations for the movie - you know, being Made-in-Hollywood and all that. But then, again, I don't think so. This movie didn't even come close to the orignal one - the Infernal Affairs trilogy. It's like comparing Heaven and Earth...


The Original...

I guess that should always the case, right? I mean, when you try to copy something that has already been achieved - you need to make doubly sure that you make improvements and set higher targets than what you are trying to copy from! Hello? it's evident that this not the case... again I say, what a total disappointment. I thought a movie with such a "rich" cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg and Jack Nicholson), it can't be THAT bad, right?... but trust me - if you have not watch this movie, you are better off watching your washing machine!

There are some effort to change the script a little, but not a really good effort - like combining Sammi Cheng's Character with Kelly Chan's - which kinda defiled both Sammi's and Kelly's ethical and honorable character in Infernal Affairs. And there is way too much cursing in the movie. Especially the character played by Mark Wahlberg (yeah, de bubblegum pop star). I mean, what are they trying to prove that the Massachusetts PD is filled with foul-mouth cops? Is it supposed to be something "cool"? Sigh...

All in all, the movie is in quite a mess, perhaps it is also due to the fact that they try to fit the entire Infernal Affairs Trilogy into one movie. IL said that she need to watch the entire trilogy again in order to purge The Departed from our memory(!!!). Overall, 1.5/5 stars...

boon out...

boon's log 0407.01: Like filled quivers...

Do you still remember how they used to (or very still do) teach about how important it is to keep your "quivers*" filled in church?

Psalm 127:4-5 (New International Version)
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.
5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

*quiver - noun. a case for holding or carrying arrows.

How true it is, that prior to going into any battle (in the days of old), that we need to make sure that our quivers are well equipped and filled with arrows - now we just need the dough to buy enough ammo before going into battle - but same concept.

AND, how true it is, that at home when "battling" with erm... your baby's discharges or excretions, you will need to make sure that you are fully geared and equipped for the multiple battles that you are going to face. Well, you basically have three types of arrows or ammos, and here they are...


Disposable [click for larger view]

First up you have the disposable option. Though it can only be used once, but within a single use, the diaper is easy to use and is able to withstand up to 5 small charges and 1 major frag-grenade. Due to the high impact capacity, the diaper is slightly higher priced that the following options.


Recycle-able [click for larger view]

Next up is the Napkin or locally known as lamping("g" is usually silent). This piece of equipment is very volatile. Engaging the Napkin may need special attention and training, and may prove to be a hassle to some, but the attractive characteristic of the Napkin lies in that it is recycle-able. The other drawback is that it can only be used once, everytime it is "re-charged". Cost is also another attractive reason for choosing the Napkin.

NOTE: So far, the first two gears introduced above have a similar "PLUS" characteristic - that is, they are able to handle the "attacks" almost real-time. The following, however, you will need to have a special-ops officer that is able to predict accurately when the charges will be released and when to engage the weapon.


Fire-in-the-hole [click for larger view]

And last but not least, the bomb-charge-disposer. This gear can be re-used as many times as you want, and it's cheap, and easily acquired. This C4-type-protection equipment is able to withstand the most nasty of "bombs". You will however, need to summon the bomb-squad afterwards to safely dis-arm the bomb.

You will need to make sure that you are fully loaded with one of the above (if not all of them), in order to sustain the "flaming arrows" that are going to be aimed at you...

It's very hard to have a favroutite equipment comparing the three above as each has it's own individual pros and cons. Like for example, the napkin is more breathable compared to the diaper (while the potty is totally breathable, right?) but when the baby goes to sleep at night, it is more convenient to have her wear the diaper to avoid waking her up everytime for a nappy change. Cost, of course, is another driving factor. As the babe grows older, obviously the potty would be the best choice (if not the actual toilet itself). But that's a story saved for the future, ain't it?

So, get 'em quivers filled up, mate!

boon out...

boon's log 0307.07: One small step...

We took one tiny little step (of faith) and brought AB out to GP last weekend (not the one that just passed). Everyone was pretty excited about bringing her (finally) to the public. We'd figured GP would be a good place since most of the Penangites would probably be at Queensbay Mall. Well, partially correct - GP still maintained "her" crowd and shoppers; seems like QBM did not do much damage to GP's popularity. There are still those who prefer to shop in GP.


AB's first mall-excursion

Anyways, it started off well. We got AB well-prep'ed, making sure that she has had her feeding so that it won't be for another ~3hrs before her next feeding. She slept all the way to the mall, we even got to walk around for a bit (daddy (a.k.a "me")) was shopping for a new cellphone.

***slight cellphone diversion***
Yup, the good old K500i finally gave way and I had to get a new one - well, actually, the "joystick" was the one that gave way after repairing it once (and it cost me 70 bucks for that little piece of component). Anyways, I am not complaining - the phone has served me well and I really liked it - if only the joystick did not crap up on me (...).


The decommissioning of the HMC K500i

Was looking for a flip-phone (more well-known as clamshell), but still liked the Sony Ericsson system. So, I decided to go for the Z610i. And would you believe it - most of the shops that I went to in Penang ran out of Black! They only have either Blue or Pink. Blue was okay if not for the white borders - which made it look kinda like a toy while the pink one will probably suit some certain Singaporean blog-star. Anyway, zero on black. Had to call for reinforcement from Ipoh to get it. And it was cheaper in Ipoh as well. Ipoh Rocks!




Sony Ericsson Z610i

The Z610i's a pretty cool phone. I quite like it. Only drawback, well, as far as I am concerned, is that it does not have IR (infrared). Caused me quite some hassle to transfer the contacts from the K500i to the Z610i. But once that hurdle was overcome, the rest's good.

***end of cellphone diversion***

Anyway, after a disappointing visit to the cellphone shop, we decided to have lunch and headed down to Ipoh Street (or something like that). That was when AB knocked out of her slumber and started her "soparano piece". All of a sudden, all eyes were on our table. Her meal-time-alarm went off (!!!). So we made some milk for her and fed her. She took it quite okay, but still rather uneasy and we sensed that it was probably best that we hit the road - didn't want to over-do our AB's first mall-excursion. :) She's probably overwhelmed with the busy-ness and noises in the mall. Takes a little "getting used to", I guess.

Well, it was a real excursion - alright! With all the bags and thermos, and stroller and cameras... gosh! By the time we reached home, both IL and I were actually quite beat. Not sure when will be our next excursion - probably during CNY - definitely not in the near future :P

boon out...

boon's log 0207.07: Growing and growing

AB's growing real fast, almost at a rate of 1kg per month - and that should be okay. And together with the physical growth, she has also grown to learn how to get what she wants, according to her many moods! :) Like where to sleep (i.e. either in her cot or on the bed or... in your arms. Yup! Demanding little fellow.

And when she wants her milk, man, does she really WANT her milk! She will make sure that your entire neighborhood knows that she wants her milk! Demanding AND impatient. What a "nice" combination. That's been draining the juices out of her parents.

Bowel movements are still irregular at this moment. Sometimes, she can stand without going for 2-3 days. According to the docs, as long as it does not exceed 4 or 5 days. But at Day3, you ought to pay more attention or at least try to induce her to pass motion.


Babe-mon

And in order to keep track of her cries and making sure that the "princess" is okay all the time in the room, while we are not in the same room, we are thankful for technology once again. We got this Fisher-Price Baby Monitor from the States and it's been serving us (or AB) well. Essentially, it is a one-way walkie-talkie. I also find it useful when I am in the room with AB while IL is in the kitchen, I can use that to ask her to bring me a beer glass of water... or the babe a her bottle of water.


Growing and growing...

As said, she's been growing. We found that there are some of the clothings that are already a little to tight/small for her. I was telling them that it's okay, since the fashion, nowadays, for girls is getting something a size (or two) smaller. Ha ha! Cool babe...

My parents were in town again this weekend. They've been pretty consistent in visiting with the arrival of AB. They cannot wait for AB to talk so that they can converse with her. Hmm... I guess I know where got her impatience qualities from... But anyway, I have a feeling that once she starts talking, there is no stopping her - just a hunch, daddy's hunch - we'll see.


Gifts..

We've also spend the last weekend opening all AB's Full Moon presents. So much of them. We were told or forewarned before that we need not buy so many of those baby essentials at first because we will get 'em from the baby-gifts, But we did not realise that it can be so much... But honestly, some of the feeding bottles that were in those hampers could have been used by a calf (!!!) - the milk gushes out of the "nipple" so fast that it almost choked poor AB. We decided to just keep it until when she's older (perhaps when she's the size of a new born calf :P). Anyway, we'd like to thank all who've been so generous with the gifts. It's been truly a blessing, we are extremely grateful...

boon out...

boon's log 0207.04: Lullaby

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Lullaby (1875)

I must say that this is the most amazing song / lullaby ever - Brahms Lullaby. It has it "magic touch" in getting the babe to slowly, but surely doze off. Sometimes, you will just need to increase the volume a little when the babe is bringing the house down with her super-power-cry, and then decrease the decibel as she quiets down.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Lullaby and good night, with roses bedight
With lilies o'er spread is baby's wee bed
Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed
Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed

Lullaby and good night, thy mother's delight
Bright angels beside my darling abide
They will guard thee at rest, thou shalt wake on my breast
They will guard thee at rest, thou shalt wake on my breast

(original German)
Guten Abend, gute Nacht, Mit Rosen bedacht,
Mit Naeglein besteckt, schlupf unter die Deck'
Morgen frueh, wenn Gott will, wirst du wieder geweckt
Morgen frueh, wenn Gott will, wirst du wieder geweckt

Guten Abend, gute Nacht, Von Englein bewacht
Die zeigen im Traum, dir Christkindleins Baum
Schlaf nun selig und suess, Schau im Traum's Paradies
Schlaf nun selig und suess, Schau im Traum's Paradies

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Yup even the sax-version of it works, i.e. the one by Kenny G. We put it over our home system and it still does the "trick", with his jazzy variation of the age-old lullaby.


The rain cometh

The rain has finally arrived after hearing so much of unfortunate events of rain floods happening to our friends down south. The company even issued a memo just before the weekend saying that there my be potential flooding in Penang. But it did not go to that extent, but it did rain for almost 2-3 days straight. Cars that did not get washed during the dry-spell, got polka black dots on the body of their car.

it was a very refreshing few days where the rain just washed all the dusts and haze away. Even until today, the weather has been favourable, with low heavy hanging clouds and cool wind - just great.

the word "refreshing" reminds me of a Praise and Worship song we used to sing some time back by Marty Nystrom and Don Harris, Times of Refreshing, by Hosanna! Music.

"Times of refreshing, here in Your presence
No greater blessing than being with You,
My soul is restored, my mind is renewed,
There's no greater joy, Lord, than being with you..."

boon out...

boon's log 0207.01: Skidmarks...

We've been hearing the term Mat Rempit eversince the movie hit the silver screen some moons ago.

It's been in the newspaper and the 7 o'clock news, 12 o'clock news, coffee shop chit chat, office gossips, YouTube, public toilet door graffiti, i-hate-rempit-blogs etc...

It's EVERYwhere! It's a hit! Way to go! We've successfully super-over-glorified this public menace! We've gladly welcome the plague into our society! I support the statement made by North Seberang Prai district OCPD Asst Comm Wan Abdullah Tuanku Said, "Branding illegal racers as Mat Rempit has emboldened them to carry out their activities."

<click here for more>

I'm sure some of you have read about the Ipoh Policemen performing Mat Rempit stunts in Ipoh in the Star on Dec 17. They actually had the picture of 2 Policemen demonstrating the "... Scorpion stunt, where the pillion rider bends over backwards until his helmet touched the road." If you can try to remember the picture (sorry I could not get it in here, since Star.com did not publish the picture)... Anyway, just imagine the rider doing a "Wheely, where he lifts the front tyre of the motorcycle, with the pillion rider bending backwards with his head (helmet on) touching the floor). All our two stunt riders had on them were their helmets as safety / protection gear. As far as I remember, even those kids on TV who does skate-board stunts or BMX-stunts, wore more protective gear than these guys. So question is:

1/ Is the local authority promoting these Mat Rempit Stunts?
2/ If so, is the local authority promoting risk taking? These two policemen, only clad with their motor helmets(!!!).

Goodness gracious! We've even talked about building a freaking race-track for them! Using the tax-payers' money and build a legal-illegal-race track! What a load of crap!

"A spade is a spade. They are illegal racers and a road menace. They ride their motorcycles dangerously, disregarding the safety of other road users." - OCPD Asst Comm Wan Abdullah Tuanku Said

For me - Crap is crap. They should be called Sampah Masyarakat (Society's Crap). They've not only rule and terrorized the roads in the middle of the night, they've also cause a lot of other unnecessary nuisance and troubles.

In the words of White Goodman (Ben Stiler) of GloboGym in the movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (yeah, I caught it over on CineMax last weekend; a B- movie, but I thought it was pretty entertaining, though) - they are the skidmarks on the underpants of society (S.U.S.)!

Why am I so frustrated with them? First of all all the news about people's cars getting smashed, policemen being assaulted with rocks and stones, thefts, sleepless nights because of the super loud exhaust pipes of these S.U.S.

AND

my latest brush with these skidmarks on the Underpants of Society...

On the Saturday before the new year, I was traveling back from Batu Ferringhi at 3AM after a chit-chat session with my relatives at my parents'. Upon reaching the Tulang Korner area, there was a bunch of these hooligans (I reckon about 20 of them) riding their bikes in front of me. I trusted my senses not to drive too close to them and let them have their way - they practically occupied the whole road, anyways.

Suddenly, one the last ones in the pack threw something out from his right hand - something that seemed to have a fuse attached to it. As soon as my reflex action kicked in, I jammed on my brakes, with that projectile exploding just a few feet in front of my car! And the group just speeded away and took a right turn at the Island Plaza traffic lights. Thank God that I did what prompted in my heart, not to drive too close to these *idiots*.

I could not imagine what would have happened to me if I were to have driven a little faster / closer - the firecracker would have blown up the windscreen and caused a bad accident on the road in effect or if it exploded underneath the engine, it would have made things much much worse...

Don't get me wrong, I do not hate them as people - but the things that they do and their selfish acts, disregarding the safety of the people around them (let alone themselves) just puts me off and they should be removed from the roads and have their licenses confiscated permanently.

What could we do? I've thought of keeping a camera in the car and snap a photo of these menace when it happens again - but then again, what would happen next if you were to have taken their photo? Would you even get the chance to get to the nearest police station? Or would you have been hunt down by these folks and bashed up so badly, you cannot even live to tell a single soul?

Is it safe anymore to travel along our streets at night? Honestly, as much as we can do as a community, i think we really need the help of our Police Dept to step up on reducing (if not eliminating) this sort of menace and have the media or any other authorities stop glorifying and indirectly promoting this sort of activity.

boon "glad-to-be-alive" out...

boon's log 0107.04: Random stuffs...

Oh-kay... here're some random stuffs I collected across the past few weeks, captured with my still-faithful Sony Ericsson k500i.

Random Stuff #1:
In the spirit of loving our Bahasa Malaysia, I managed to capture this while (again) shopping at our local Tesco stores. We've been living in times where we are losing the language game. What we are doing is just taking an English word and then change the spelling and make it a Malay word. Here's an example...


Beras Super Spesial

We are losing the authenticity of the Bahasa Malay(sia). Whip out a Berita Harian and you can find 'em everywhere: automotif, diet (yes, the same spelling as the English one), destinasi, adaptasi, landskap, kontemporari, enterpris, Arkib, Redaksi (no idea what this one is...), dekor, edisi... and the list goes on - this reminds me of that joke about how English will be the official language for the EU (instead of German) but some improvements needs to be made. The very same thing is happening right before our very eyes. Bahasa Manglish. Cuba try...

Random Stuff #2:
Next, this scene is no alien to us; I am sure most of us have seen this before all over Malaysia. Our local cow-herders (or cow-boys), perform this stunt every other day, to bring in fresh greens for their cows...


GreenStunt

What's missing is just a picture of cows crossing the road... (I promise to bring that in when I get it)

Random Stuff #3:
And then there's this one... We went to QueensbayMall last weekend (so was everybody, it seemed - the place was jam-packed). If you were one of the millions that were there, you'd have probably seen this (or the like).

Q: How do you know that a shopping mall is too freaking big?


Zzzzz... (disclaimer: I do respect the privacy of the individual, thus, I've black-ed out some portion of his face, but I can assure you that his eyes were CLOSED)

Ans: When people start to doze off while shopping in it.

I hope that this interesting scene does not get out of hand. Else a couple of things will happen...

First of all, all the seats will be occupied by our tired shopping-friends who feels like taking a nap.

Secondly, some may decide to take it to the next level by rubbing the area between their toes (while having their feet up on the bench) and smelling the finger afterwards.

And thirdly, some may even decide to just call it the day and lay down and sleep their tire-ness away...

*~end of random stuffs~*

Woah! the first week of 2007 just flew past at Mach-7(!!!). 51 more weeks to go...

boon out...

boon's log 0107.03: Happy New Year 2007

Happy New Year to all!

As what someone mentioned to me recently, the new year just passed like it was any other day. No big celebrations or major countdowns (unlike my buddy WH [countdown at SOHO Penthouse]). We just ushered in the New Year the same way we celebrated Christmas 2006 - we just hung around AB.

Oh did I mention that my dad (yeah, the proud grand-daddy) actually wanted to get a Christmas tree for our home so that AB can enjoy Christmas better - as if she will be able to tell the difference between a Christmas Tree or the kayu-dad that's trying to communicate with her. Anyways, I still remembered way, way back when I was still a little kid, I used to pester my dad (a.k.a. Santa, sorry to disappoint you kids, but let the truth be told, there ain't no Santa!) to get us a Christmas Tree.

"No-lah, what for? Waste money," came the reply while mom added, "Yalah, collect dust only. Who's gonna wipe it? No place to store. Not practical."

I think they should send their list of reasons for NOT getting a Christmas tree to David Letterman for his "Top 10 reasons for Not Getting A Christmas Tree for Christmas." Fwah! Really double standard, I tell you. Now, it's my turn to re-cycle those reasons - muahaha! - when we were looking at Christmas trees at this gift shop at Gurney. Dad & mom just laughed while openly acknowledging the double standard... sigh.

Anyway, so, no Christmas tree. I did want to get a nice wreath to hang on the front door though - that's as much decor as I planned for Christmas. But even that did not materialize.

AB turned 1 month last weekend. Yeah, we had a little celebration / get together with the families and relatives at Forum. We had much fun. Waitaminute - it was her Full Moon celebration, but we were having all the fun (???). Well, but of course she was the star, I believe she had loads of fun too - getting all the attention, changing from one pair of hands to another (collecting germs, ha ha).

Surprisingly, she took the crowd pretty well - trust me, the crowd WAS noisy; when there's food and alcohol... sorry, when there's Chinese, food and alcohol... we can tear the whole house down! :P Well, yeah, she took it so well, so much so that when we arrived home, it was too quiet for her and she started crying! Wow, party animal! Yeah, babe!

As with the typical Chinese FullMoon tradition, we had a couple of "rituals" that we need to execute. Like trimming the hair (traditionally, we were supposed to go-Kojak with her - yeah, totally bald, but we opt for the modern approach, just trim) and cutting the nails before the official FullMoon Bath with flowers and Pomelo leaves(yeah, we are dead serious about this Full Moon business).


Trimmed hair from the back of the head


The bathtub - looks inviting, almost like that Spa advertisement from Rasa Sayang Resort (!!!)


IL cutting AB's fingernails

We also distributed some yellow-ginger-rice sets to our close friends and relatives while our colleagues at work received gift certificates (as with the office-full-moon tradition) So many traditions and standard operating procedures to follow! Man, you wouldn't believe it. It's almost like getting married all over again!

Well, that's my log for 2007's New Year Celebration - 'twas priceless... for everything else, there's MasterCard. More AB-blog coming up. I will try to blog about other stuffs too along the way - ha ha! Anyway, for all boonspot friends and readers - Hope your New Year celebration was enjoyable and meaningful and may '07 be a fruitful and blessed year for all of us! God bless y'all!

boon out...