Eyes wide open

2015 ... 2016. Just a man-made demarcation of 366 days?  Big smile to end the year 2015!! It’s been a blessed year, from beginning to end. Saying goodbye to old friends and saying hello to new ones. Moving from Ipoh to KL, travelling to places I’d never been to before. Doing new things, experiencing new adventures, all with people I love. Highs, lows, ups, downs; God has kept me from stumbling to the point of not being able to pick myself up by His strength. Walking into the new year praying to be equipped with a heart of love, a spirit of faith, strength & courage from the Saviour alone. New years are about fresh starts and new beginnings. There are myriad things we can do to make 2016 a year that will close with “I’m happy with how the year went”. Whatever these things are and whichever we’ll focus most on, we have to remember: Life is so much more than just being comfortable with where we are now. Life is dynamic. It doesn't call for us to stay put and go stagnant. ...

[Not in order of priority] Food  Can't deny its goodness Music Okay, maybe not quite relevant to music... until I tell you that this selfie was taking at the rec hall piano, yay!! Family / throwback never changes <3 Friends Fireworks Happy Diwali :) Pools Endurance body aches, inconsistent with the serenity of the sunset, little animals and trees minding their own business in the breeze Cars Brickfields traffic jams = kinda appropriate selfie time (?) 'Sanctuaries' Clearwater Sanctuary (Golf Resort), Cgkt. Larang 09.11.15 Best Friend, Father, All in All - the ONE TRUE SANCTUARY sanc·tu·ar·y  (săngk′cho͞o-ĕr′ē) n. a place of refuge or safety  Lord You're always breaking through the dark Breaking into lives and healing hearts Your Love has torn the veil Your Love can never fail Your Love is making all things new. Bethel - Breaking Through

And finally after weeks of enshrouding haze, the winds and rains and forces of nature, by God's hand, have cleared the air. The toxic embrace of smoke and grey has released its insistent clutch, and has freed the city like a bright relief. The sea of masked faces like expressionless robots flowing passively down pedestrian lanes can now reveal their radiant smiles and chattering lips. The capital city skyline that spans far beyond my windowsill once showed myriad layers of murky haze, not simply like a faded painting but rather like a dull grey paint diluted and strewn across an artist's masterpiece. That watercolour accident of a city view has restored itself and the two thick twin spears grasped by sky clouds - iconic gems of the Kuala Lumpur skyline - can be seen during the day with an almost terrifying clarity, and during the night by its glimmering bedazzlements. As the haze leaves the city in all physical senses, well let's also hope the haze leaves us ...

Saturday, 12 September 2015 | Methodist College KL Refugee Carnival It is often considered cliche to say that we take our privileges and blessings for granted. Though we acknowledge its truth, we stubbornly let that unhealthy mentality persist. I say this about myself as well, and what has triggered me to write about this is a reminder of the reality of the less privileged people of the world, which came across through the refugee children who visited college for a special carnival last weekend. The girl in the picture is Beram. She's from Myanmar. Playing the Maths game we organised for the children, she skilfully calculated and derived correct answers, all the while with a radiant smile across her face. One could see so much joy in her as she played that game and subsequent games, and as she laughed mirthfully with her friends. Her happiness came across even in the way she so readily smiled for the picture here.  Unfortunately she was born into such circum...

Awkward thoughts from Kalumpang, in rhyming couplets. Though the waters are clear as flowing springs  And swirl in euphony, with gentle music rings,      The bed of the brook - that murmuring gush -       Hides pits and abysses beneath their pleasant rush.      They dip and swallow such unsuspecting ones      In the invisible maelstrom that beneath clear waters runs;      Subjected are they to tumult and torment Until the waters are at peace, and the waters are dormant. But he who walks steadily, upon that rocky bed, By grace, by the currents, gently he is led;       Careful is he as he curbs such traps,      Graceful and placid as the clear water laps.      Though he may slip and fall hard in a hole,      Help comes - so divinely - in the strongest shoal; As he is carried back upon the rock so secure, His...

I really thought I had deleted this blog. But I hadn't. And I haven't written for over a year. So, here goes! 28 June 2015 /   The day she moved to Kuala Lumpur was a rush. With a suitcase full of clothes, bedsheets, keepsakes from home and other essentials, the 16-year-old girl from Ipoh moved to Brickfields, KL. It was her first actual home away from home, and with a small spark of adventure she hoped for the best. 3 September 2015 / Two months later she looks back at that day she moved and sees how that 'small spark' has kindled into a great fire. So many additions have been made to her life: Friends to treasure, Polaroids to keep, memories rendered to her mental collection of life stories. God has been faithful. He has been faithful indeed. Adventures worth telling I didn't know what to anticipate when I moved to KL. Even though I considered this capital city my second home, it was really nothing more than my birthplace, place o...

In my toddler years I was a little girl with dark brown hair tied in two symmetrical pig tails, growing up in the city of Ipoh in the country of Malaysia. And then I progressed to my kindergarten years, which were mostly the same thing. I was a little girl in a kindergarten classroom learning one plus one, and enjoying the satisfaction of knowing that two plus two is four. And I was no different from any of the other students in my kindergarten class. Then when I got to primary school, I began to crawl out of the protective shell of my ignorant mind. I began to truly grasp the fact that there’s a world out there waiting for me. I can go explore it later on if I want to, or I can stay here if that be my wish instead. I realized how I was not really confined to the city of Ipoh forever. The doors of the city say goodbye to girls and boys and men and women every year. So I started to think about my future. It was all very blurry, and very fantasy-like and unrealistic. Ther...