Illusion of Words

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World

There’s the book, but I’m talking about the TV show.

Season 3 just began tonight on TV3, after an one-and-a-half year break. My siblings and I used to watch it, but now, as I’m watching while typing this, I think it’s very silly. How stupid they are! Especially Veronica-the-savage-girl. And Lord Roxton the dummy who always has to look so dumb.

Now they’re having the ghost ship crisis. Not sure what is going on, but I know that Veronica-the-savage-lady (my mom just called her the beast lady…) is chasing the poor ghost-captain of the airship. And being so beastly and savagely and bad. Poor ghost-captain. I pity him. If they torture him and put him back into place, I’m going to hate them all (including silly Marguerita and weird, beady-eyed Challenger). Hey, I actually remember their names!

Frankly, I don’t think that they are very good actors. Oh yes, I forgot to mention Malone the dummy reporter who looks and acts so dumb. I hope he’s dead for good.

Yeah, and I remember the ‘a-goong’ (old man) from season 2, Summerlee, who is actually the only more normal one.

Now, Veronica-the-beast-girl is being really bad. Argh.

Well, forgive me for this uncivilized rant, but I really can’t help it. It’s annoying. Let me give you a picture.

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Malaysian Idol 2 Results

Last night, we gathered around the television, our hearts beating fast, the finalists on screen looking nervous, the emcees gripping their cards…and the sentence begun………..

“And our new Malaysian Idol is…………..*everyone holds breath except me*…………DANIEL!!!”

“Gasp!” was my sister and GL’s response. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!”

You see, they are anti-Daniel, because they think Nita sings much much better. I for one don’t really care who wins. The judges were happy that Daniel won, not because they like him better, but because, well, both of them can win.

Nita might have won in terms of singing, but Daniel has a fan base of 1.2 million, mostly consisting of little screaming girls, who think he is cute. Which I think is the most absurd thinking in the world. You call a guy like that cute?? Those little girls must be short-sighted.

But in any case, the fact can’t be changed. Daniel is our new Malaysian Idol, whether we like it or not. While I don’t think he at all deserves to be the new Idol, but the little girls have too much money to keep SMSing for him. Daniel received a whopping 68% of the votes.

And Malaysian Idol season 2 is over. I shall miss dashing home after Youth Worship to catch the show. I shall miss hearing Jien’s annoying words: “Malaysia, you vote, you decide…” and the rest of those similar sentences. I shall miss the three judges, namely Roslan Aziz, Fauziah Latiff, and of course, Paul Moss.

Rating-in-whole: 6/10

Daniel crowned Malaysian Idol (thus MI). Although that’s not the results show picture, I find it VERY difficult to get pictures of MI.

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Malaysian Idol Grand Finale

23/9/2005, after four months, Malaysian Idol Season 2 Grand Finale was aired live. Why it must be called ‘grand’ I can’t understand. It wasn’t too grand in any way.

The final two are Nita and Daniel, representing two different races. They presented three songs each yesterday night at Genting Highlands Arena of Stars, and as it is with finales, they performed much better than usual.

If I am to be honest, I think Nita should be the Malaysian Idol. After all, I cannot imagine a little kid being the Idol. Even though Daniel is extremely talented, I don’t think he has matured enough to be the Idol, representing Malaysians.

Yet I’m rooting for him. Why? Because I don’t fancy Nita and as a result of that, the race factor sinks in. Daniel is a Chinese, and that is why it’s Daniel all the way. Well, most of the way anyway.

Coming to the songs. Paul Moss was indeed quite ‘high’ that night, giving positive comments like never before. I missed Jaclyn Victor’s wowing performance last season. Both contestants failed to reach her standard, in my opinion. Of course, each of them have their own field and talent, and sometimes, it really is difficult to compare. Daniel had to go first, possibly because he lost the coin toss (and those who lose the coin toss are bound to go first in such competitions). His first song, Mimpi, was quite disappointing.

Round one went to Nita, without a doubt.

Then the second song. Daniel sang his ‘theme song’, ‘Heaven Knows’ by Rick Price. Much better. I like that song anyway, and Paul was displeased with Daniel not having much eye contact with the cameras. Nita sang the song she did best. And in a way, round two goes to her, subject to opinions.

The final song, Nita with ‘Mimpi’, the winner’s single, and Daniel with ‘Angin Malam’. Both were equally good. Paul Moss was literally ranting about the cameras while commenting Daniel’s performance.

Perhaps Malaysian Idol is much deeper than it looks. A battle between two dominant races, both who have always been suppressed by each other in different ways? I shouldn’t think too much, but one has to wonder, especially since the Chinese and Malays have not always been good buddies. The winner will be representing all Malaysians. I wonder whether there will be any manipulation, which I do hope not.

Daniel

Nita

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Seminar

There was a Youth Ministry Training in Wesley. Literally it was for adults who are ministering to youths, but because of the embarassing lack of participants, the youths were dragged into it too.

Of course I had to go. Twice in the week people called to remind me about the training. I promised to go once Saturday afternoon, even though there were three sessions. I wasn’t about to torture myself with so many sessions that frankly, has nothing much to do with me.

So sitting there in the little chapel, with less than 50 people sitting around, I felt a little sorry for the speaker. Not very nice when you’re speaking in a seminar to so few people.

(Cut to say that the USB port is so stupid!!!! The computer man came twice and it still can’t work!!!!)

Anyway, the speaker is from West Malaysia, a Dr Herbert Tan, who reminded me somewhat of the tour guide we had during some trip, who was disliked by everyone. Of course, this speaker has nothing to do with tour guides, and everything to do with youth ministry.

He was talking about generation gaps and stuff like that. Doing youth ministry has become a cross-cultural mission, because the adults and the youth belong to two different generations and two different cultures. To reach out to the youths, we have to learn their language, and stuff similar to that, just as what cross-cultural missionaries usually do. Talking about SMS and chat language, I’m not sure where I fit in those. I’m a youth, that’s for sure, if you know my age. But I don’t chat, I don’t SMS, and I’m quite anti ‘bad English’, as used in such areas by most teens. I prefer using the normal English.

(Cut again. The USB port isn’t dumb anymore, it worked perfectly, but my mom deleted my pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Back. Which makes me wonder where do I actually stand in all this adult and teen stuff. Teens love movies. I don’t fancy them, as I don’t really have the time.

In any case, I still have some characteristics of today’s youth. Is that to be a comfort?

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The Missing Terrapin

We keep two terrapins in my home. One male, one female, with two totally different personalities. The male, called Sir Big, is huge, hungry, and timid. The female is called Lady Green. She’s small, doesn’t care much for food, and is brave and adventurous. When you think about it, Lady Green’s IQ is probably double of Sir Big’s.

Lady Green always escapes. It isn’t the first time she escaped today. Everytime she happens to be in the container with shorter walls, she always climbs out and runs away. One would think that Sir Big, being bigger, would climb out more easily. Truth is, I haven’t seen him climb out once. He’s too clumsy, in my opinion.

They always have a special container to be fed in, in order to prevent contamination of their tank’s water, and that container has much shorter walls. My mother fed them in the morning, and forgot to put them back.

And so, when she checked on them, there was only one terrapin in the small container. Lady Green was gone! My mother searched around the area, along with my sister and, for a while, my father. My little brother and I were both in school at that time.

In the afternoon, we searched high and low. Even braved ourselves (and our respiratory system) to search in the ‘Place of Darkness and Shoes’. That place belonged to our neighbour who takes one of the six apartments on the floor we live. And that place is definitely where you do not want to be, yet Lady Green was found there a couple of times.

It seems like the only person destined to find Lady Green will always be GL. Everytime Lady Green goes missing, she comes out to help us find, and in the end, it is she who will cry out, “I found her!”

Lady Green was found behind the luggage, a dark and dusty place. She was covered with sand. Our hearts were warmed and we were so relieved; it was like the parable of the lost sheep that Jesus told. We were like the shepherd in that story, searching for the lost sheep (except that in this case it’s a terrapin). Even though it has been many times she was lost and found, each time we wonder if it’s the last time we’d ever see her, and each time we find her, we’re so happy and angry at the same time.

I guess we can taste a bit God’s feelings when we repent and are found again. So after hours and hours of disappearance, and after a full hour of a search and rescue mission that almost left us in despair and without hope, Lady Green is back, swimming in her tank where she belongs.

One thing I wonder: Will she ever learn to stay in her tank? The dangerous world outside is not for tiny terrapins.

(By the way, I would post some pictures, except that the camera has gone a little bonkers, but the main problem is that the USB port is……)

Yay, a picture:

The camera that takes ugly pink pictures…

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Lab Torture

Probably when you see ‘Lab Torture’, your first thought may be dissecting poor little animals, or anything, as humans are indeed capable of thinking about everything.

Anyway, the torture here refers to the torture of students, including me. Our class was ‘kicked away’ from our classroom, because the senior 3 students had to have their trial exam. And of all places, we were sent to the physics lab, which had just undergone a renovation.

The number of students in my class is overwhelming. 54 kids can definitely wipe out a poor teacher. And because we were too big a number, the only place left for us to go was the physics lab. This morning when I arrived at school, the class monitor was struggling with the keys to the lab. A group of classmates stood outside, obviously not very happy.

All the more reason to be upset when we stepped in and found the ground covered with brown sawdust and the room stuffy. One boy broke a glass pane when trying to open the window, which was very unfortunate.

For the rest of the day, we suffered. The ventilation was horrible, everyone was so hot and sweaty, the sun happened to be in a ‘hot mood’, and the fans just weren’t enough to keep us happy. Worse of all, the stools. Those tall wooden stools that literally tortures your butt. Sitting on it for a long period of time is unbearable. Standing up was such a relief.

The teachers too understood our pain. But what can be done? If it had been just one day, great! But the problem is, we’d be here till next Wednesday! How long can we survive? May the Lord have mercy on us.

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SH/Moon

I admit, I regretted badly that I did not buy both volumes of the complete set of Sherlock Holmes when I was in Hong Kong earlier this year.

And I admit, I love the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Thank God for free online e-books! Although the enjoyment of reading it on the computer screen is half of reading it in black and white, at least I can read. The ‘death and resurrection’ of Sherlock Holmes, the two stories that I wanted to read but was not included in the volume I have.

I really admire Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories that never fail to make me wonder at the flawless endings. And Sherlock Holmes’ almost supernatural powers of deduction makes me wish I had them too. I’ll never again have to wonder who borrowed my stuff! Mathematics will probably become a piece of delicious chocolate cake that I’d never have to rack my brains over too much. Then maybe I’d go for a career in crime-solving, in which I’d make a great, famous name for myself. And hopefully I would overcome my adversary like Sherlock Holmes did to Professor Moriarty. Except I think I’ll pass the weirdness of Holmes’ character.

Keep on dreaming…

By the way, today being the 18th of September is the Mooncake Festival, where I get to eat delicious mooncakes. The funny thing about our family is that we never buy mooncakes. They come to our door eventually, given by well-meaning people eager to serve their pastor. Mooncakes are really expensive anyway, especially the good ones. And looks like we’re out of lanterns to play with, and out of people to join in ‘lanterning’. Why on earth did the festival had to be on a Sunday, when everybody is so busy?

The moon is round. Really really round. Why is it that round? Because it happens to be closest to the Earth during this particular day called the Mooncake Festival. There are many stories surrounding the festival, from the lady-in-the-moon to the guy-who-can-never-stop-chopping-the-tree (if the story really belongs to the festival). I’ve heard of silly stuff like ‘don’t point at the moon because your ear will be cut off’, which is downright senseless.

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Sunday Sermon

Today’s Sunday worship service we had this guest speaker called Pastor Pax Tan. He was weird, and mostly funny.

I had to listen to him preaching in two services. The first time I heard him begin the sermon, I sighed and thought it was going to be an ‘err’ sermon because he erred, like every two sentences. But just five minutes later all the ‘errs’ vanished and were replaced by ‘hellos’. As in, ‘Hello?’ which was really weird and somewhat annoying after one too many times.

During the Youth Worship Service he preached on the passage of sheep and goats. In the beginning of the sermon he had all the acknowledgements: Thanks to all the auntie and uncles from the bottom of my liver…

Which he explained that his heart had been taken by his wife so only can the liver. Everybody was laughing so hard but I don’t think most caught the joke. ‘Hati’ in Malay is usually used for heart, but technically and biologically, it means liver. So literally when you’re thanking someone in Malay from the bottom of your ‘hati’, you’re thanking them from the bottom of your liver.

So much for that.

There were funny stuff sprinkled throughout, but came one part when he actually burst out singing the first line of ‘I Feel Good’. Yeah, that silly song, which so happens to be the theme song of NTV7. In fact, he sang quite well. If only he sang the whole song.

Really, sermons aren’t all about laughter. There are also serious stuff, and I gathered that the main point was doing good works, because it is our duty after being saved by grace. At the end, one of the advisors asked whether we would like him back to preach. As expected, everyone shouted ‘Yes!’, except for some, including me. Have you ever heard people shouting ‘No!’ when asked such a question? It’ll break the pastor’s heart, or rather, liver. The problem was that he sidetracked a little too much. Sidetracked in a way he was still talking about the correct stuff, but it’s still called sidetracking.

Anyways, I did learn quite some. You’re saved by grace to do good works. Well, you say you don’t wanna do good works? Then you probably didn’t have a genuine heart in accepting Christ. After all, a genuine heart means you’ll definitely do good works as it’s your duty.

Sometimes it’s a little confusing. If I type anymore about that, I’m really going to get more and more confused.

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Happenings

I changed the header pic, as I was sick of looking at the default one. But I’m not satisfied with the pic, I’d change it when I have the time. That is, tomorrow.

My sister, Jan bought her dream cage today. Yup, her cage. For her hamsters. Personally, I never really cared for animals and I don’t think I can stand taking care and feeding pets everyday.

The hamsters were only recently given by a friend, and my sister, being experienced with mice, wasn’t pleased with the tiny tiny cage given alongside it. So she looked around for dream cages, and finally found one, which she bought today. With her own money, spending about RM50. She almost went for the RM90 one, complete with tunnels and such. That would be a real horror.

But anyways, she smiled so brightly when the cage was brought home. The hamsters were put in, and she watched them run the little wheel, playing with them for nearly an hour, along with my little brother. Good for her (and her hammies).

The teen Chinese magazine ‘Beyond’ should be out in a couple more weeks. When it comes out, make sure to get a copy and read the English story (the only English column). You can get one at most Methodist churches in Sarawak, hopefully. Or just order one by calling the Methodist Message office, whatever the number is. And yay, I’ll add another small prize thingy to my collection.

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The ‘Emergency’ Prefect Meeting

If anyone knew I am disclosing the meeting facts to the public, I’d be fried. Literally.

Anyway, this morning there was this prefect meeting. From the contents of the meeting, I judged it to be sort of an emergency because of the deterioration of the whole prefectorial board.

So they (the head prefects) started the meeting 5 minutes later because of late-comers and was chewing us out. About how irresponsible and careless we are. And how the blah, blah, blah. All you need to know is that we’re getting worse and bad and everything else negative.

One of the head group, despite the look which is everything but strict, is always the one to do the scolding. He doesn’t scream, but just babbles on quietly. I was starting to get impatient and my neck was stiff from staring at him. I don’t know if anyone was ‘touched’ by his message.

They were talking about student issues, about our lousy attitude. On and on about how everything goes back to our attitude towards prefect duty. I thought one thing (at least something) was quite good. The deputy head prefect (or whatever the post is called, I only know the Chinese term) said that if we can’t even do two years’ work properly, wholeheartedly, how are we ever going to work for years in the future with our company?

At the end of the hour, they got the prefects asking questions eagerly (excluding me), creating a less pressurizing atmosphere. Questions like, how can we chase the students who run about during recess? and also, why do have to care about the students who run about playing? To which the answer was because if an accident happens, fingers will point unhestitatingly at the prefectorial board. Which, if you think about it, isn’t good. So I suppose they can’t be allowed to run.

They mentioned that we were lucky. Not having to beat students up like prefects in other schools. Just a simple sentence usually puts the more obedient students back to place, while the older, impossible ones, we just hand in their names.

Everybody was on a high when the meeting neared the closing, probably because they were either happy to get out of the room, or they really wanted to change. The speeches kept on being interrupted by the drilling sounds, which was really annoying, but it finally ended after an hour.

So, I went home. And typed this. It really isn’t too revealing, in the end.

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