Happy Birthday Jesus! Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday to Jesus!

Happy Birthday to You!

Lord Jesus Christ had already made over 2010 Birthday Wishes & 1 of His Birthday Wishes is hoping that we will always remember that He was born on this day just for you & me. ;)

And it is this day of every year that I receive the Greatest Christmas Gift ever... Have you received your Greatest Christmas Gift yet? What do you think is wrapped inside the beautiful box of the Greatest Christmas Gift? Open up your heart to Jesus & you shall receive it. ;)

What not to do with a blessed testimony production...

If an organization offers me a favor & blessed me with an all costs absorbed production to help me record my testimony, should I take advantage of it & fix a sales price for this end product of my testimony & then make money out of it?

I think my testimony is a gift from God & it should be PRICELESS. I should be thankful & credit the parties involved in making such recordings come true. If I really think my testimony would be helpful to the others, then I shouldn't add a price tag to it but to distribute it freely instead. But of course, it'd be to the individual's discretion if any love offering is offered though. We must always have faith in God in whatever ministry works that we're serving in. Jehovah Jireh! Please read (John 2:13-22).

Kay Foong supports Luwei?... Kay Foong supports ORTV?... Kay Foong supports Oops! Asia?... Kay Foong supports etc & etc...?

No! I'm merely just an incapable individual. Who am I & what am I to say that "I support them"? They all can still do well WITHOUT my supports. I should humble down & say: "Thanks Luwei for helping me grow... Thanks ORTV for letting me serve... Thanks Oops! Asia for letting me collaborate... Most of all, thanks God for everything!"

And it's really very irresponsible to start off "supporting" a ministry project & then pull out half way into the project by giving some crappy self-centered reasons & then go about trying to influence others involved in the project to abandon the same project as well. What kind of ministry worker is this? Would a true God's servant trash God's ministry projects? What can one gain from doing so? Is it for vengeance? Please read (Matthew 5:39) & (Matthew 18:21-23).

We're fighting a spiritual battle here, the more gospel warriors the better, it shouldn't just be a solo hero's act. I simply cannot understand why other's voluntary participations to HELP & to SERVE TOGETHER would threaten an individual till he/she has to pull out from the "battle"... We're not doing things for our own glory, all glory should be to God, ok?

Moreover, most of us are volunteering our services & we're NOT PAID! Even if I think many of us are even more professional and should even more "deserve" to be paid instead. So don't go around boasting about your contributions & that you deserve this and deserve that & blah blah blah... It was a blessing to you, not that you "deserve" it! Please wake up your consciences, correct your attitude & always be thankful if you wanna continue to serve in God's ministry works!

做事情凡事都应该虚心向学，要自量，按部就班，不要还没学会走就想学飞啊！这种妄想一步登天的态度是要不得的！

Sorry that I sounded harsh, but some people are simply too arrogant to see their own problems & the damages they've done & yet still go about instilling bad influences upon others. Most Christians are simply too kind to tell such people off about their problems & so they'll just keep quiet & continue to treat them nicely. But I think keeping quiet & continue to treat such a person nicely will only pamper them & further spoiling them instead, so I think such people must be told off somehow before things get way out of hand. And I'm trying to be nice here by not mentioning names, but hopefully the person whom I'm directing at knows that I'm referring to him/her.

To the person whom I'm referring this message to, I've seen your works and I think you have a lot of brushing up to work on your skills. It doesn't matter if you lack experiences, but if you are really sincere & passionate about Performance Art, please do read up more related materials, attend more workshops / courses & watch more professional productions as references.

想当演员？那就真看，真听，真思考。
想当导演？那就多看，多听，多思考。

What on earth is this???

I recently saw 3 of this creature in a fish tank on display in a soft toy catching machine shop in Narita, Japan... They seem like a cross breed between lizard & fish, also reminds me of tadpoles, but then it's way much bigger than tadpoles & kinda seem like a failed product of some bio-science experiment... They're alive & I witnessed them breathe & swim inside the fish tank. Can anybody tell me what kinda creature exactly is this? I'm very curious...

To hell with your nuclear weapons & technology!

OK, you possess strong development of nuclear weapons & technology, so what? Do you intend to declare "End of the World" or "Judgement Day" with it? Anyway, that doesn't give you the right to kill the innocents & then boast about your barbaric actions & misused power! In case your crazy mind fooled you into thinking that you're the only one who can build nuclear weapons, I must remind you that all the other big brothers also have technologies advanced enough to do so, ok? And if you must start another war with such massive destruction, you'd better consider about the possible consequence of getting yourself wiped out entirely, ok? And I must remind you that you do not own the world no matter what kind of idiotically inhumane nuclear weapons you possess and you certainly do not own any innocents' lives for you to take them away whenever you like! You've already committed an act of man-slaughtering, you bloody devil! You killed lives, burnt homes and didn't dare to admit your mistake but kept pointing fingers & blaming others for it, you chicken shit! This isn't child's play, so please grow up & take responsibilities of your mistakes!

What's good in all these for you? Do you think that makes you feel more superior & that's why you are taking pride in killing the innocents? I'm frankly telling you that YOU ARE WRONG!!! You should be ashamed of yourself! Your actions & attitude will only make you more Hitler-like & earn yourself despises from the whole wide world. And if you do not repent, apologize & stop all your nuclear bullshit soon, I'm pretty sure that you & all your nuclear weapons & technology are going to HELL! And by then, I'd be extremely hysterical looking down at you from up above, laughing at how you strive to be superior by slaughtering the innocents but then ended up pit's bottom-ly inferior, you little mingy bastard. So, to hell with your nuclear weapons & technology!

3 Statues I'd be interested to visit...

WARNING & REMINDER to self: If 1 day I do visit any of these statues, make sure I only visit them with the same attitude/mindset just like how I visited the Merlion Statue in Singapore's Sentosa Island or even the Statue of Liberty in New York, USA (though I've yet been to the Statue of Liberty)... They're all merely tourist attractions, I should never ever pray to any of these statues or I'll be breaching Commandment Number 2...

Commandment Number 2:

"You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."

Exodus 20:4-6

1. Christ the Redeemer (statue)

The statue is 39.6 metres (130 ft) tall, including its 9.5 meter (31 feet) pedestal, and 30 metres (98 ft) wide. It weighs 635 tonnes (700 short tons), and is located at the peak of the 700-metre (2,300 ft) Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city. It is one of the tallest of its kind in the world (The statue of Cristo de la Concordia in Cochabamba, Bolivia, is slightly taller). A symbol of Christianity, the statue has become an icon of Rio and Brazil. It is made of reinforced concrete and soapstone, and was constructed between 1922 and 1931.

World Famous "Christ the Redeemer" statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2. Cristo de la Concordia

The statue is 34.20 metres (112.2 ft) tall, on a pedestal of 6.24 metres (20.5 ft), bringing its total height to 40.44 metres (132.7 ft). The statue is slightly larger than Christ the King in Świebodzin (if the 2 metres (6.6 ft) high crown of Christ the King is not counted) and Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, making it the largest statue of Jesus Christ in the world. It is also the largest statue of any kind in the Southern Hemisphere. Construction of the statue began on 12 July 1987, and was completed 20 November 1994.

"Cristo de la Concordia" statue on San Pedro Hill, Cochabamba, Bolivia

3. Christ the King (statue)

Latest attraction, completed on 6 November 2010. The statue is 33 metres (108 ft) tall, the crown is 2 metres (6.6 ft) tall. It weighs 440 tonnes. It was built on a 16 metre embankment of stones and rubble. Christ the King has a height of 33 metres, symbolising a traditional belief that Jesus' age at his death was 33. The Crown of the temple is 3.5 metres in diameter and 2 m in height, and the whole is gilded. The head is 4.5 m tall and weighs 15 tons. Each hand is 6 m in length and the distance between the ends of the fingers is 24 metres. It is composed of plaster and fibreglass.

"Christ the King" statue in Świebodzin, Poland

Anyway, the "Christ the Redeemer (statue)" was proposed by Catholic priest Pedro Maria Boss and the "Christ the King (statue)" project was conceived and led by Rev. Sylwester Zawadzki, a retired Polish Roman Catholic priest... (I couldn't help but wonder what's Rev. Pedro Maria Boss's & Rev. Sylwester Zawadzki's understanding from Exodus 20:4-6, I'd be really interested to hear their definition for these 3 verses...)

The Spirit of Australia...

Destroyed: One of the engine of the Qantas A380 appeared to have exploded. The pilot, who was flying the plane to Sydney, was forced to make an emergency landing in Singapore

4Nov2010 Australian Qantas Airbus 380 heading from London to Sydney, carrying 466 passengers made an emergency landing at Singapore Changi Airport due to an explosion of 1 of its Rolls-Royce Engine... Debris from the engine fell all over Indonesian Batam Island, ripping walls...

Hole in the wall: The 6ft gash the wall of a family home caused by debris from the Qantas A380

5Nov2010 Australian Qantas Boeing 747-400 heading from Singapore to Sydney, carrying 412 passengers, 3 pilots and 16 cabin crew made an emergency u-turn back to Singapore Changi Airport because 1 of its Rolls-Royce Engine went into flames...

Engineers inspect the port engine of a Qantas Boeing 747, flight QF6, at Singapore's Changi airport

"A third Qantas aircraft make a priority landing at London’s Heathrow airport on Nov 5. The pilot had received a warning that there may be a problem with the hydraulic fuel system, Simon Rushton, a spokesman for Sydney-based Qantas, said by phone today. After landing, it was discovered the system was working normally, he said."

Quoted from a Bloomberg Report

Qantas 747 Jet Suffers Engine Flameout a Day After A380 Blowout

By Sarah McDonald - Nov 7, 2010 9:20 AM GMT+0800

A380 is a very new aircraft model and B747 is a relatively much older aircraft model. These 2 incidences doesn't seem to be the fault of Airbus nor Boeing, and it's hard to believe they're just sheer coincidental incidences... Both involves Qantas(Destination: Sydney) & Rolls-Royce Engine, and both happened just a day apart... What is it telling us?

Investigations are going on, and hopefully the results of the investigations will be made known to the world when they're concluded... But for now, I can't help but be skeptical over whether if it was Rolls-Royce Engine's flaws to be blamed? Or was it that Qantas engineers/technicians hadn't been diligent & thorough with their aircraft service checks & maintenance? Or could it have been an act of sabotage? Whatever it was, nobody would have expected a 2nd "Qantas Engine Problem Scare" to happen again in just a day's difference. No doubt nobody was hurt in these 2 incidences, but it is still plunging faiths in their flight safety, and I'd say no Qantas flying for me for a long time...

Upset Passengers from Qantas flight QF6 on a Boeing 747-400 passenger plane make their way out of Changi International Airport's terminal after their aircraft returned to Singapore's airport shortly after take off

"THREE mid-air emergencies in as many days have left more than 1200 Qantas passengers stranded, thousands more affected by flight delays and cancellations, and the airline's boss defending its increasingly shaky safety record.

The pilots union has accused all airlines of lowering safety, maintenance and training standards and said safety incidents were occurring more frequently, placing additional pressure on staff.

But Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce yesterday defended the company's safety record and maintenance practices and ruled out sabotage as the cause of two of the emergencies, both of which involved engine failures just minutes after flights carrying a total of more than 800 passengers left Singapore."

Quoted from a The Sydney Morning Herald Report

Qantas party crashed

Ruth Williams and Rachel Brown

November 7, 2010

After a horrendous 48 hours for Qantas with two engine failures, the national carrier celebrated its 90th anniversary on Saturday 6Nov2010 with the help of brand ambassador John Travolta

P.S. I miss you, Grandma...

我最亲爱的张锦桃婆婆：

这两天虽然没做很多事，但却觉得非常的累，也没能睡好。每天睡醒的心情都沉重得很。洗脸之后，第一件事就是想看看您睡得好不好。今天，我特别的想您，我有好多话想跟您说，我见到每个人都说声早安，但见到您静静地躺在那里，我却什么也说不出，只顾回忆童年时您是何等的爱我和照顾我，不自觉的双眼就开始朦胧了起来，脸颊也都湿了，鼻孔也因突然涌出的鼻水被堵塞着而呼吸困难。婆婆，我好想您，我真的真的好想您。我很想跟您说说话，就只闲聊而已，但也许这个要求对安息着的您来说是太过份了吧？ 

真不好意思，我边写边哭，所以花了很长的时间来写这封信给您，让您久等了。不过就算写完了信，也不知道应该寄到哪里去，因为没有人能够告诉我您的新住址，所以我想我只能把信放在您身边好了。

您知道吗？来临的星期五是屠妖节，这一区的印度家户一到晚上就会放烟花提早庆祝，而且他们喜欢放一些像“响天雷”那一类巨响无比的烟炮，就在您开始安息的第一个晚上，我因实在忍受不了隔几间的印度家户放那些巨响的烟炮放个不停而去跟他们理论，请他们不要太吵闹，免得打扰您安息。他们虽然有点不高兴，但还好也始终停了下来，并改换放一些比较安静的烟花，那样可好多了。

大舅的家人说，门外这几天前来了两头野狗，可恶的是，它们在您安息的这两天里一直不停地跑来我们在屋外搭起的铁篷下胡乱大小便和交配，再惹得邻居的狗吠个不停，真气人。还好，对面的回教堂似乎也忍受不了而叫捉野狗的人今天早上来把它们给捉走了。

这两天来了很多亲戚和远亲来看您，我也很久没见他们了，和他们叙旧时，很多时候都会提到您是多么好的一个人，心肠很好，很为别人着想，在医院临终前还不时在懵懂中要四姨记得多奖赏10块钱给照顾您的佣人，Sil，您真伟大。婆婆，我会永远记得我小的时候您是如何的爱我和照顾我，我会记得您要拉我去冲凉我却任性得要拿石头打您，我会记得您在雅达屋的水井旁如何细心地帮我洗澡，我会记得您叫我要珍惜碗碟里的每一颗米饭，我会记得您教我要多做善事，要乐于助人，我会记得许许多多和您一起的点点滴滴。我会永远想念您煮的饭菜，尤其想念您特别为我煮的多汁咕咾肉。您永远是我最棒的婆婆。

 非常爱您的乖孙，

勤仔字

2010年11月1日

Love Letter to Grandma...



World's Greatest Grandma Award Winner, Grandma Chan Kam Toh @ Cheong Kam Toh


我最亲爱的张锦桃婆婆：

虽然您没能见到，但是您所深爱的子子孙孙又再次地从世界各地特地回来看您啦。我们大家都很想念您，是非常非常地想念您啊！虽然有几位亲人没能回来看您，但我很肯定他们也一样的很想念您呢，因为您在我们大家的心中永远都是位非常贤良淑德的妻子，最伟大的妈妈，最和蔼可亲的婆婆，最正义最勇敢的老HERO，最慷慨的圣诞老人，最慈祥最善解人意最为他人着想的侠女，我们大家都很爱您。

很遗憾也很抱歉，我们许多人都回来得太迟了，没能让您再享受全家之福，我们也不能再见到您那么灿烂的笑容和听您述说您以前的趣事，我们只能看到您很安祥地睡着... 我们只能把我们对您的爱慕化为思念，再把我们对您的思念化为泪珠，但愿我们在您身边哽咽抽泣的时候您能够感受到我们对您的爱慕，对您的孝心，对您的思念而让您得到安慰和幸福。您知道吗，今天下雨了呢，因为这个世界又少了一个大好人了。

您请放心，我们虽然伤心地哭了，但我们同时也从您那安祥的睡相得到安慰，因为我们知道您不会再为所有子子孙孙的事而忧虑和操心，也不会再因为您衰老欠佳的肉体而强忍疼痛，而且您连曾孙也都抱过了，您这一生走来也还算蛮幸福的吧？

对了，大约再过两个星期后，您的外曾孙女就要出世了，我想您一定会很高兴，很兴奋吧？只是她的出世和其他孙子孙女以后的婚礼和曾孙的出世会因为少了您的出席见证而会很遗憾呢。我们会继续地惦记着您，不过请您放心，我们大家都会好好地过着，您只要好好地安息着就可以了哦。我们爱您，我们大家都爱您。好想再抱抱您，亲亲您，不过还是不要打扰您安息的好吧。请您放心，请您安息。

非常爱您的乖孙，

勤仔启
2010年10月30-31日

My Review on "Perfect Wedding"

Perfect Wedding

A good light-hearted romantic comedy with many gorgeous babes & creative wedding plan ideas... The movie starts off with a very interesting "lady picking-up gent" scenario. Then with numerous over-the-top wedding plans, it's simply hilarious and may also influence you with wild & creative imaginations for a wedding... Highly recommended for those who're in a relationship or planning for a wedding. The movie promotes relationship between an elder lady and a younger gent, and it also reminds us to treasure our love ones and not to vent our anger or jealousy on our love ones or it may cause disastrous hurt that may ruin the whole relationship or any advancement opportunity. It's a hilarious movie, and worth to watch.

My Review on "Detective Dee-The Mystery of Phantom Flame"

Detective Dee-The Mystery of Phantom Flame

Another wonderful, should not be missed, Director Tsui Hark's work of art. The movie is a combination of Chinese History (with some creative fantastical twist), Chinese Tradition, Majestic Architectures, Spectacular Sceneries, myths & mysteries, crime solving, and lots of KungFu actions and stunts... Simply Magnificent!!!

Kudos to Producer Director Screenwriter Tsui Hark

The mystery of the "Phantom Flame" seems to have adopted the idea from the mystery of Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC), and the scene of sailing in the Black Market kinda reminds me of a scene from "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" where Percy Jackson and friends took a sail to hell, but nevertheless, the scene was equally spectacular...

I really like the idea of introducing the Dragon Mace as an imperial weapon gifted to Detective Dee from the deceased former emperor, it kinda brings Detective Dee's status in the dynasty to a higher level, as a Chinese Mace is a weapon which looks more like a cubical metal rod without any sharp edges as it wasn't meant to cause much harm but supposedly used as a disciplinary tool for advisory personnel or wise men. And Sammo Hung did another great job with another fight choreography again. Like a kid, I almost urged myself to imitate those impressive kicks & punches while I was sitting there watching the movie.

Sammo Hung, masterful KungFu Choreographer, despite his age & physique, he is extremely agile...

The makeup artists & costume designers had also done a great job, especially with Carina Lau's character as Empress Wu who appeared with several superb looking hairdo, though sometimes her eyebrows makeup looks funny. In my opinion, these costumes could have been great trend setters during that era...

All the acting was great. I've watched numerous shows by Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Li BingBing and Tony Leung Ka-Fai before, but I didn't have any impression of Deng Cao's shows, and am impressed with his acting in the movie too, he did really well in it. Li BingBing is as beautiful as ever, love her sweet gorgeous looks, and she acted well with those emotional struggles of her character in the movie. Andy Lau played well, nevertheless with his star qualities, portraying a handsome looking Detective Dee who's very intelligent & also good in KungFu, but overall, I'd still prefer the Detective Dee played by Kent Cheng in the HongKong Drama Series "盛世仁杰" as the character of Detective Dee in the TV Drama actually focus more in Detective Dee's intelligence instead of any good looks or good KungFu, which I think was more down to earth...

To sum it up, go watch the movie, it's a good movie & well worth your time & money.

Kent Cheng played a well-fed & KungFu-less Detective Dee

My review on "Charlie St. Cloud"

Just watched "Charlie St. Cloud". A rather unique story with the combined ideas of brotherly love, romance, the moral of keeping promises, ghostly spirits, chasing dream and the spirit of adventure. I've enjoyed that movie much. The story is easy to understand and it has a clever twist towards the end.

The movie revolves mainly around Charlie St. Cloud and his little brother Samuel St. Cloud (Charlie Tahan), and the female lead Tess Carroll (Amanda Crew) actually had a much lesser screen time in the movie. Though Zac Efron didn't showcase his talent in singing in the movie, but I thought he had been given lots of opportunities to showcase his marvelous skill in acting. Zac Efron had numerous silently emotional / reaction scenes in the movie, though those moments came without any dialogues, but Zac Efron was able to pull off those internal emotions rather well, showcasing the cool and melancholy side of his character, I must admit that it made him look really charming. He had 2 extremely tensed scene, 1 in the ambulance & the other was when Charlie St. Cloud went totally devastated & started wrecking his house, you could notice all his veins popping up on his arm, Zac Efron really lived out the character well... Charlie Tahan who played the little brother Samuel St. Cloud also impressed me with a solo scene of his sympathetic love for his brother towards the end of the show.

I also loved the romance scene from Charlie St. Cloud's dinner with Tess Carroll till the close-up shot of the goose. Their romance scene had managed to tease the audiences quite a bit, stirring audiences' emotions, it was really a job well done by director Burr Steers. Hence, my kudos to Zac Efron.

Gospel Magic / Object Lesson with Rubber Bands

I've known this trick for years, the ever so famous Crazy Man's Handcuffs. It can be performed anywhere anytime with just 2 commonly found rubber bands. Though many layman already know the secret of how it's done, but not many take the time to practice & perform it, and so many had forgotten about it after some time.

I've seen the Reverse Crazy Man's Handcuffs performed by 2 magicians long ago, ST Tang & Priscilla Khong, but I had never really practice it much as I find the moves more difficult than the original one, thus my moves are still rather slow with the reverse part. Nevertheless, I love the fact that it can be performed very much impromptu, thus I thought it'd be great if I can apply a Gospel message to it, thus I've been trying to come up with a suitable Gospel Application to it and here's my attempt.

And here's my patter:

Here is a rubber band, representing each & everyone of us, individually.

And we all know very well that everyone of us had done some wrong deeds at some point in our lives. And we call these wrong deeds "SIN".

Whenever we sin, we are trapped as sinners, and there's no escaping from it. And the wages of sin is death.

And death is often represented by bleeding (or shedding of blood), thus that is where sacrificial ceremonies came about when mankind slaughter animals to try to favor God to release themselves from their sin.

But these sacrifices only dismisses them temporarily. And so they are prone to sin and be trapped again very easily.

Then God came up with the best plan to help release us from sin forever with the ultimate sacrificial ceremony.

This is when Lord Jesus Christ came.

He sacrifices Himself on the cross to save all of us. Forever.

But under 1 condition… If only we believe in His salvation and let Him be our Savior...

Anyway, magicians equip themselves with impromptu magic tricks so they can perform anytime anywhere with any object available. So it'd be good as disciples of Christ to be able to readily share Gospel anytime anywhere too. And studies had proven that object lessons or visual lessons are very effective and impacting in passing a message across. Please feel free to use this idea to share Gospel.

If you don't know how the trick is done, simply Google "Crazy Man's Handcuffs" & you can easily get lots of references... I'm sure it would be a good trick to equip yourself with for your future mission trips. Never mind if you do not know how to do the Reverse Crazy Man's Handcuffs, just casually put the rubber bands back in interlocked positions again & continue from there. But please make sure you practice well before you try to perform it. ;)

Kay Foong's Official Website

Been dreaming about it for years, and finally get myself to work on designing & building it, and it's finally up and running. Yippee!!! Hope you all will like it, though it has been noted that it is a Flash site with huge media files which may cause slow page loading, but I hope your systems would be powerful enough to view the site at ease. Do visit it at either:

Kay Foong's Official Website

or

Kay Foong's Alternate Domain

or

Kay Foong's Webdesign at Wix.com

Kay Foong's Official Website

Watch the website, for here is a to do list for myself to add onto the website in the near future:

Add More Showreels Titled:

Tiramisu

Oli's Wild Adventure

迷云二十天

奶爸百分百

左麟右李之我爱医家人

小孩不笨2

钱不够用2

我在政府部门的日子

I may also replace some of the photos on the website too. I've been having lots of fun working on this website, I hope you'll enjoy it to. Do click on the Facebook "Like" button on the website if you like my website, you may also email me your feedbacks too. It'd be most appreciative if you have suggestions to advise me on how to improve the website, for this is the 1st and only website that I've built, thus I'm lacking experiences & am very weak with HTML or any other web building languages. Thanks. ;)

You can never please everybody...

Many times in life, we'll be caught in dilemma and be torn between decisions, not knowing what to do or how to proceed in order to try to please everybody... We always try our best to make things into a win-win situation, but most of the times, it is rather impossible to derive so.

Galatians 1:10 says "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."

"No matter how hard you try, every decision you make will alienate someone in your organization. If you try to please everyone, you are pleasing nobody. Paul reminds us that ultimately, if you please God, either the truth will speak for itself or you will at least be doing the right thing in the sight of God. It takes wisdom and experience to know how much and how far to exercise this principle, but it is a good piece of advice that will serve us well."

Quoting from Dr. Albert Ting

Principal of Singapore Bible College

Note to self: "Whatever decisions you make, do take into consideration of whether would it be pleasing to God"...

Japanese Crab Hot Pot

This is really uncannily funny...

I learnt from a Japanese that "Crab" in Japanese is called "Kani" (蟹, pronounced Ka-Ni)

And "Hot Pot" or "Steamboat" in Japanese is called "Nabe" (鍋, pronounced NA-beh)

And so it is not at all vulgar of you to go to a Japanese steamboat restaurant and order yourself a Kani Nabe... ;P

Kani Nabe... Oishi (给他死)!!! LOL ;P

What is Theatre?

    In general, theatre simply means a venue of usually large scale live entertainment. The first drama in recorded history - 8th century B.C, were from Greece. Greek Drama, closely associated with religion - stories based on myth or history, were performed for special gods worshipping festivals. Singing had been an important part in Greek Drama & that actors and playwrights competed among one another for prizes. Then Rome borrowed Greek ideas & improving on them, thus creating Roman Theatre whereby Julius Caesar built the 1^st Stone Theatre in 55 B.C. and enjoyed entertainments more than just plays. It was also used for acrobatics, gladiators, jugglers, athletics, chariots races, animal fights and many circus-like performances. It could be a place of genuine cruelty and violence.

    But as mankind evolved into civilization, many of such actual cruelty and violence in theatre has been submerged from the public. I used the word "submerged" here because I do not forsake the possibility of underground theatre of such nature. Though there might still be violence in the public theatres of today, but I have strong reasons to believe that they're mostly the art of “Stage Combat”, a series of pre-planned, safely executed moves for fight scenes which are choreographed and executed after careful rehearsal, so as not to hurt one another at all. Careful designs of safe weapon-like props have also contributed to the realistic violence in theatre, e.g. retractable knives, wax beer bottles, artificial blood & etc. All these are done purely for the virtual pleasure purposes in theatre.

    In another sense, as nowadays theatre are more commonly used for plays or dramas, theatre is a museum of the art of performing, and a venue for storytelling to a variety of many other forms of entertainment. It is a "small world" that houses the lives and spirits of producers, directors, scriptwriters, actors and all personnel involved in staging a play, and not forgetting to include all the other performing art lovers as well.

    The word "theatre" is also commonly used to refer to plays. Many referred theatre and drama as the same subject, but my personal definitions for these two words are that drama means a short (usually around 30 minutes) and small scale play (small venue for audiences of about 20-30), but theatre means a much longer running (usually may reach up to 1-2 hours) and larger scale play (large venues for audiences of near hundred and above). As a result, I often regard a theatre as a major production that involves a large crew of people with heavy commitments, intimate cooperation, intensive rehearsals and that it is highly disciplinary demanding. Personally, I feel that a good theatre play should always have a good storyline of moral or message to share with the audiences.

    Theatre has long been evolved into movie theatre or so-called screen plays in cinemas. From a performer's point of view on theatre, in terms of acting for a theatre productions compared to screen productions, a significant difference is that the style of acting in theatre is more exaggerated to accommodate the audiences seated far away from the stage. Another major difference is that there are no retake of "shootings" in front of the live theatre audiences should any mistakes occur. As such, sufficient rehearsals are mandatory, and that theatre performers should be quick-witted and always ready to accept and adapt to any unforeseen circumstances during actual performances. Thus it is critical for theatre performers to be equipped with good improvisational skills.

    Today, theatre has also evolved into musical theatre whereby audiences are virtually more demanding as in enjoying a combination of good storyline, live music, songs, dances, acting, magic, masks, laser art, animation, sand art, audience interactions & etc, and there seems to be a never ending possibilities of art forms to add on. This is becoming mentally and physically more challenging for performers, producers and directors alike. Personnel of performing arts are seeing the importance of equipping themselves in such area of skills in order to bring theatre to a higher level of entertainment value for their audiences. No doubt, theatre has evolved well and has lasting global influences on mankind's lifestyles.

Simple can be nice | Simple can be boring...

Yesterday was quite a peaceful & lovely night, though there wasn't much activities, but all just felt rather nice & sweet. Went to church and Daddy reminded us about our duties through 1 Corinthians Chapter 7. Enjoyed a wonderful teppanyaki dinner and then bought a very beautiful designer watch for yxy... It wasn't any special occasion, I guess I'm just too pampering, but I feel blessed, for it is more blessed to give than to receive. The evening followed with a stroll in a "Pasar Malam" (Night Market) and the day ended well… Sometimes a simple lifestyle would be more than sufficient when you spend it with someone special...

Today is another boring day. I've been trying to keep my loneliness occupied by exploring & enhancing my new blog page. Found some nice classic games among the gadgets, and these games brought back many happy memories. But then I've decided not to add most of them to my blog as they either come with background music which cannot be turned off or they come attached with loud ads which does not complement my blog but does the otherwise instead. I guess I've decorated my blog enough for today & I'll work on it again another time.

I've also somewhat completed designing a website for myself, but I've yet to publish it onto the domain I've bought. I'm flying away tonight, so am thinking of adding a few more stuffs to my designed web when I come back, before I publish the website. So watch this space for updates. ;)

Anyway, out of my boredom, I conveniently picked up yesterday's Xin Min Daily Newspaper and read that there's a Singapore Chinese Performing Arts Association organizing a Singing Course, I've never heard of the association before nor the names of the committees in it, could it be me being outdated? I know bringing up this newspaper article seems a little out of context here, but I'm really interested to find out more about the association & hope someone can tell me more about it. Perhaps I'll to give them a call to ask about the association when I'm back in town again…

Singapore Performing Arts Association?

So here's me signing off for today. Sayonara...

Is money the root of evil?

I was giving thanks over a packet of rice vermicelli from the hawker, and as usual, I gave my pretty much well-practiced "standard" prayer of thanks, rather briefly… When I'm done with saying my grace, I suddenly paused & pondered… Hmmm… Was I really serious & sincere about giving the thanks that I had just given? Or was it merely just a daily chore or a habitually meaningless routine? I felt sorry… I started to think, how much time did I really spend seriously & sincerely talking to Daddy? I had been unknowingly neglecting Him… I had been taking things for granted… I had been so ungrateful… I hadn't been showing my gratitudes full-heartedly…

Ever since I started the current job, due to time constraints from the job nature & many other restrictions, I had kind of dropped out from all ministry activities and found myself spending most of my time at work. And I spent almost all the remaining of my free time on personal lifestyle including spending it with my love… Thus, the main focus in my life has been work, work, work & money, money, money… Saying goes that:

"Money is not everything, but without money you can do nothing",

"Money makes the mare go",

"All things are obedient to money",

"Money is the key that opens all doors"…

No work = no money... No money = lots of worries… Thus, work has been very important and I've been spending lots of time at work… Am I really seeing $$$? But I seem to merely bring home just enough moolah for my love ones & myself… So I'm rather helpless and have no choice but to spend this much time at work… Unless I quit? But how can I let go this very essential part of my life… In fact, many colleagues had been encouraging me to spend even more time & contributions at work… And the more I work, the more imbalance I am with my personal lifestyle, love life & family. It's really tough juggling the priorities... I missed childhood…

Is money really the root of evil? "Time is money" & in this fast-paced era of ever advancing technologies, everything just seemed so rushed & competitively stressful… Even meals have to be "supposedly" taken hurriedly most of the time. You can never have enough time & you can never gather enough dough… I must agree that avarice increases with wealth…

"Money makes the world go around."

"Those who believe money can do everything are frequently prepared to do everything for money." Over centuries, some mankind focused so much on gathering quick bucks and lost their humanities for drug dealing, kidnapping, human trafficking, prostitution & etc… Offspring would kill their parents over a surprisingly small sum… Couples parted due to financial issues…

Money is merely a lifeless worldly material created by mankind, so how could it possibly be responsible for all the evil things we've done & being named the root of evil? I guess it'd be easier to understand if we name "Greed" as the root of evil, wouldn't it? But even so, I'm still not convince enough that "Greed" is the root of evil… Why would there be greed in the 1st place?

"Wealth makes worship."

The book of Matthew 6:24 says "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

What would become the basic principle in a person's life if this person lives a godless life? Would life be short-lived, meaningless & hopeless? If so, I could only imagine that such lives could only be driven by nothing else but as much self-contentment as possible within this short life-span on earth. “人不为己，天诛地灭。”(Every man for himself, and the devil takes the hindmost.) And if self-contentment is the only thing I care about in my life, then why would I ever have to bother about any other human being in this world? I wouldn't have any need to care for the others unless I'll be getting any form of favorable benefits in return, as I'd only view others as a tool to satisfy my needs in my life, thus greed & selfishness came into lives, and it becomes a "dog-eat-dog" world of backstabbers, and it is a very contagious chain reaction… It has been said that the word "sin" is clearly spelled with a letter "i" in the middle, hinting the focus of "me", "myself" & "I" in the center of everything else. Now, if everybody lives a life that only revolves around themselves, wouldn't it be really pathetic & ugly? These would turn into guilt & sculpt us into better person if only we would submit ourselves to God and repent.

As such, I'd like to deny money as the root of evil, but regard the absence-of-God-in-life as the root of evil. Often, we're so engaged in our worldly lives that we've sinned by neglecting God from our lives and fell for the many temptations around us… Please forgive me Daddy, for I have sinned…