23rd Birthday!

It has been such a long time since I have had any spare time to blog! Work has been very hectic, and saying hectic almost seems like a serious understatement. Overnights after overnights really took its toll. Since today is my birthday, I decided to put all things aside, slowly enjoy my day, and at least see-saw it back a bit on the sanity edge.

As it is a Sunday today, I kind of celebrated my 23^rd birthday and 1^st year re-birth day at church as well. Well just a year ago, I have gotten baptized (thus explaining my re-birth day =D). Though no one explicitly celebrated for me at church, I know that my Lord is happy for me and I could feel him celebrating it for me. =)

When I got home, my mom popped the question, “High tea?” I was like thinking, “Oh yeah sure!” Got myself washed up and together with my parents and brother, we started heading our way there. It was a terrible traffic jam along the way (not to mention the parking lot ordeal), we finally reached Fortuna Hotel (near Bugis).

I was so hungry by the time we got there, I gobbled as much food as I possibly could within that one and a half hours. Here’s the list of things that I ate if I did not remember wrongly:

• 2 Bowls of Laksa
• 2 Bowls of Pork Porridge
• 2 Mini Soon Kway
• 2 Mini Ou Kway
• 2 Crystal Dumplings
• 1 Bowl of Fruits Cocktail
• 1 Mini Chocolate Brownie
• 1 Spring roll
• 1 Glutinous Rice
• 1 Pork Bun
• 1 Slice of Crispy Crust Pie
• 5 Scoops of Chocolate Ice Cream

By the end of the wolfing session, I was so full I could hardly move! It has been really long since I last allowed myself to indulge in food, and it’s quite disturbing actually, that I can feel my tummy again. Of course, I’m not the only one. My mom, dad and bro were satiated too. Gluttony seems to run in our blood all of a sudden. =D

It was near evening by then, and was time to head to Esplanade Theatre. My God-mom, Kamee, has been kind to give my bro and I a treat to watch a performance by The Philharmonic Winds, which was conducted by John Boyd, with special appearance by trumpet player, Dai ZhongHui. She has always told me that watching live orchestra performance is very different from hearing it from a compact disc or computer speakers. I believe that’s the reason why she wants to bring us to this performance.

Though it was not the first time I attended a musical, I must say that today’s event felt very different. It was the first time I entered into Esplanade’s main theatre concert hall, and it looked grand in full splendor. I got seated in one of the best seats that I could possibly wish for, thanks to Kamee and Uncle Dan for booking it way beforehand.

John Boyd is a fantastic conductor. I can see from the way he moves his stick that it was flowing with passion. Dai Zhonghui is a genius with his trumpet. His solo performance of Alexander Arutunian still resonates in my head. The orchestra couldn’t have performed any better. Putting all that together, in the best seats we could have, I believed we all enjoyed it. It was a great performance, and it was rare too, that even my bro enjoyed it (he always enjoyed rock and rap songs).

We headed to Häagen-Dazs right after the musical, and ordered something that I’ve always seen people eat yet never had the chance to taste.

CHOCOLATE FONDUE (Another sin!).

The presentation itself was tantalizing my inner senses. A warm pot of rich, dark Belgian chocolate sets itself in the middle, surrounded by four different flavours of ice-cream balls, chocolate chip cookies, love letters, bread cubes, green apples, bananas and strawberries. Using the fork, I picked up a macadamia ice-cream ball and dipped in the dark chocolate pot, and brought it to my mouth…

WOW! An atomic explosion of taste and richness flowed from my mouth to the rest of my body when the ice-cream entered my mouth. What happened later was as natural as water flows from the river into the ocean. Different assortments and combinations of food dipped in chocolate and almond chips went down that chute of mine and I just could not control!

Though I am at home now, writing this blog, the day's happenings are still generating endorphins in my brain. I really want to thank my family members, Ma, Pa, Kamee, and Bro, and also Uncle Dan, for making me feel special and pampered today.

Extended thanks go to Shu Ling, Yen Lin and Sharon for their birthday wishes via SMSes, and my colleagues Arul and Bijesh for their birthday wishes via gTalk drops.

New Blog Sites

After a day of tweaking and customisation, I've finally created the following blogs to follow up on my new year resolution. The links to all my blog sites are also located at right pane. You can follow from there. =)

Blog for Our Daily Bread
http://flashmechchristianwalk.blogspot.com

Blog for Learning Language
http://flashmechlanguage.blogspot.com

Welcome, 2007!

Being a new year, I decided that since I’ve started blogging, I might as well pen down some new year resolutions.

Blog for Our Daily Bread
Not entirely as what you think that this is. No, I’m not copying the Our Daily Bread text into the blog and posting it as my own. What I intend to do is, spend some time writing my thoughts after reading each entry daily. I believe this will be a good and consistent way to grow in faith in my Lord.

Read the bible in a year
This might be toughest to accomplish, with compliments to my job that is. Haha.. It will be a huge commitment on my part, but still I’ll keep to my Lord, for He makes all things possible.

Blog for Learning Language
Having started to learn Japanese recently, I find that I’m so forgetful. Maybe I’m getting old? I decided that another blog should be maintained, so that after every lesson, I can post up the new words that I had learnt. In this way, I have access to them whenever and wherever I needed them.

Flash Expert Certification
Though I know there’s still a lot for me to learn, I intend to get my expert certification this year. It has been a long term goal for me back in the days of Flash MX, but since I had to go for National Service, that goal waited till today. One variable still remains though, as Adobe announced that Flash 9 will be shipping this year. Guess I have to study even harder then! =P

Japanese Language Qualification
Though it seems lame, but still I hope to get some qualification for the effort I’m putting in to study my Japanese. Still have no idea where and how at this point in time, but well, when the time comes, you will know it from my blog. =)

Well, I’m sure as the new year comes along, there’s still plenty more things that I want to do and accomplish, but let this be my commitment for now.

As the saying goes, “Even if you do not meet your goals in time, you’re never too far behind”.

Goodbye, 2006!

Another year came and went, and now it’s finally the last day and into the final hours. As a recollection, here are the things that I’ve done that meant something to me, chronologically order:

Jan 21 – Baptism in Christ
Declaring my faith, trust and love in Christ was a huge way to start the year of 2006. Not to mention the fact that 21 January is also my birthday!

Apr 3 – Driving Test
After long and hard hours were being spent at the driving lessons at Singapore Safety Driving Centre, 3 April was the faithful day I took my test. I can never forget how edgy I was on that day, and it had been 50% skill and 50% luck I will say. The cut-off point that I need to get was below 20, if not it will result as a failure. Well, I got 10. Haha…

May 6 – SAT Test
Since the beginning of the year, I had wanted to get into the renowned university, Digipen Institute of Technology. One of their criteria though, is the SAT. Wanting to pursue my dreams, I went ahead and register for one. May 6 was the faithful day, if I remember correctly. Well, it was a most grueling session that I had, and I got my results at June 2. I did fairly, mainly because English language was never strong.

My results are as follows:
Critical Reading 580
Math 660
Writing 490

May 6 – Singapore Government Voting Day
At the age of 22, I was legal to vote for who will be taking on over the Singapore Government for the next 5 years. Is it the People Action Party (PAP), or other parties, such as Working Party. As I stay in the area where I was legible to vote, I went ahead after my SAT test that day. It was a good experience though, seeing how the things are set up, the entire process as well. I never knew that I will actually be interested in the political scene until I needed to vote. =D

Jun 12 & 26 – Wisdom Tooth Operation
These are the 2 most traumatizing day of the year 2006. Had my wisdom tooth extraction operation on both dates, a pair on each side at one time. During the operation, though I don’t really feel anything, the pulling and pushing action that the dentists were doing will stay with me vividly. Post operation, it was bleeding so much from the wounds that I cannot even open my mouth at first, as when the gauze moves, the bleeding will be gushing. It took me 5 days to recover from side.

Jul 13 – Canada Trip
The long waited holiday! It was a great trip and I’ve experienced so many things. Travelled to Edmonton, Banff, Drumheller, Vancouver and Victoria Island during the tour, and it was such an eye opener. Spent a good 2 weeks to visit the area, eat great food, and enjoy the summer sun of Canada before returning back to Singapore on the 27 July. 2 weeks was not enough, and I really wished for a longer stay, but being restraint as I’m still a National Service man (NSMan), I had no choice.

Sep 29 – ORD Lo!
After serving 2 years to the nation, I’ve finally ORD lo! I’ve been looking forward to this day every day ever since I entered service. I believe this should be a mentality that most Singaporean guys will have. Nevertheless, these 2 years had been an excellent experience as I learnt the ways of a soldier. It is the kind of thing whereby you will not be able to experience it anywhere else.

Oct 16 – Found my dream job!
After several weeks of job-hunting followed by a couple of interviews, I’ve finally found my a great job with the dream scope that I had in mind at Radixs Pte Ltd. I am employed as a Flash engineer, and it has ever since been a great joy, working on my favourite program and programming language. My skills are still green though, and there’s so much more to learn on a daily basis.

Nov 7 & 8 – Adobe Max 2006 Singapore
With Adobe Max 2006 being the first conference that I had officially attended, I must say that it was a most enriching and invaluable source of experience. I had definitely learnt a lot during that 2 days, and I totally enjoyed myself, not to mention the food as well that Grand Hyatt provided. =D I learnt more about the upcoming Flash 9, codename Blaze, Flex 2, Actionscript 3, Apollo, the new products’ integrated workflow since Adobe bought Macromedia over, and especially the inspirational Flash presentation by Erik Natzke.

Dec 17 – Christmas Comes Early
Another first as well, this was an event organized by my Church that was about distributing food to the less fortunate so that they may experience the love of Christ. It was a heartwarming session when we brought food to them, and seeing their expression of gratitude. It was a win-win situation, as the families are being touched by us, and I personally, touched by God. My faith definitely thickens.

To the new year!

A Lovely Christmas

This had been a very meaningful Christmas for me this year, and I really want to thank God for it.

God said that we are the light of the earth, so our purpose as Christians is to bring the light to as many people as we can, dispelling the darkness that the devil so loved, so that people around us may see and experience the love of God themselves.

I finally answered to God’s calling a few days ago, and called up my God-mom and brother and invited them to church, since there’s an evangelistic drama that’ll be staged by the drama department of our church. Thank God that both of them responded positively. Indeed, our Lord answers if you knock on his door! I need to emphasize though, that both of them are non-Christians.

Hence this early morning, on the 25th of December, we set off to church and for the first time, I feel this happiness that was overflowing overwhelmingly in me. This Christmas drama unfolds God’s greatest present, especially when a person is going through an adversity. Three angels are sent to three distraught families as they go through their respective sorrowful trials. Through it all, each family discovers that God’s greatest present is really His presence.

Seeing how it touched my heart and how my God-mom cried (if I’m not mistaken, as it was pretty dark), I really felt that God used me to bring His word and light to them. Feeling used by God is such a wonderful feeling. Maybe I’ve procrastinated for far too long myself, but today, is definitely a good start.

It had been a long while since the last occasion I spent time with my God-mom. It was great. I have always hoped that being a lighter for Christ, I may one day bring my entire Buddhist family to Him. There’s this message that I will always remember in my heart, which was given by my pastor, “If you are saved by Christ but do not bring the good news of salvation to your family members, you’ll be all alone when God’s kingdom comes.”

With no intention of allowing that to happen, one of my new year’s resolutions this coming year will be to bring my family to church as often as I can. I know for sure that since I ask, God will provide, in His infinite ways for our ultimate good, for His love transients all understanding.
If you know me, and read this blog today, and one fine day I come and ask you to come to church with me, please do not be surprised. For it is out of my love for you that I want you to know of my God’s love for you.

Happy 2006th birthday to my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Thank you God for loving us, for You first loved us, so we can learn to love you. For it is You who found us, when we are like lost sheep without our shepherd. I will praise Your name forever and always.

Isaiah 9:6
Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

2 Months @ Work

How time flies!

It still almost seems like it is yesterday when I had just ORDed (Operational Ready Date, when we have officially served the duration for our nation) from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), looking and seeking for my first job. I went to several interviews, trying to find the perfect working environment that has both the combination of opportunities to learn and grow.

Viola! It is 2 months at my current company already! What a joy ride it has since been. I have come into contact with so many people, people with distinct leadership qualities, people with exceptional skills and knowledge, and I find myself in a huge industrial university where there is so much to gain knowledge of.

Being a flash engineer, I get in touch with what I love best, pure ActionScript. It always seems strange to me as I started out learning flash on a self-taught basis. I never expected it will blossom into a full-time career. My diploma in digital media design seems to be on the road to rust though. But I'm not complaining, yet! =P

What make me even more excited are the things that are lined up for me in the months to come. One of them is this. Although the official reason for the purchase of Swift3D is for the company’s production purpose, they are designating me to be the one to create the contents! I've always wanted to learn Swift3D since a couple of years back, so this is really an adrenaline rush to me when I heard the news.

I guess I'll not be able to have such great opportunities anywhere else, and so, I really want to thank God for all of these. =)

Over The Hedge

Over The Hedge focuses on how a group of animals, after hibernating from winter, found that the forest that they used to know is no longer as it had been. We see things from the animals point of view as we saw their fear when a long wall of bush (hedge) was been erected ever since they had hibernated.

Being the usual forest-type animals, they had no idea what this "hedge" is, and upon walking over, discovered a whole new whole, the world of humans. Humans had cleared away their only source of food with their settlement, and survival became a problem. Right at this time, another character, the raccoon, came into the picture to "educate" them the new way to survive, by stealing food from the humans.

What the others do not know though, was that the stash that they stole from the humans was actually for the raccoon's own survival. Because of this, they ended up in a lot of intense stealing and escaping schemes that often put you to the edge.

Personally, I think partly the reason is that the animals are so cute and you just feel for them and hope nothing wrong happens (they are really cute!). The humans being portrayed in the movie are of an evil nature and it certainly contributes to us siding with the animals.

Storyline aside, the movie was very well animated. There were several instances whereby they exaggerated things, like when a packet of nachos was opened, they portrayed it as an atom bomb explosion of senses. It was so funny but I can definitely relate to the fact that forest animals had never tasted snacks like nachos before. =P

Seeing from the animals' perspective is really unique. It is both realistic and hilarious, especially on the way we handle food and our way of life. You'll be guaranteed to have a good fun-and-laugh session.

There are a couple of lessons to be learned here though.

• Humans' acts of deforestation are affecting the survival of forest animals.
• To accomplish big things, cooperation is essential.
• Being in a family means looking out for one another.