life as i know it

My neglected blog. Sign of a healthy, busy life, no?
But before I continue:

SELAMAT HARI JADI MALAYSIA!!!
Ah tanahairku..di mana perempuan yang pakai Versace makan bersama Ah Beng di gerai rojak tepi jalan ;)

I kinda...love this country. Don't really know exactly why..but I do.










2+ weeks more of work to go. Looking back, this year (its been almost a year!!!!!) has been just touch-and-go. Never quite 100% sure of where I was heading, or what I was going to do.
It seems that God has just been working in me to release control to Him...because, nothing and i mean nothing has gone according to plan.

There've been so many months where I just felt like I was literally in a freefall, not knowing howwherewhatwhen.

And it wasn't just about my plans for tertiary studies.
Relationships with people, with family- just weren't working out.
And I was getting even more cynical and hard spiritually.
Emotionally spent with no re-fuelling stops in sight.

Somehow, somewhere 2 months back, everything just fitted into place. So neatly,quietly and quickly!
It's hard to put it into words..but there's just this sense of peace and joy that's taken root in me.
A kind of release :)
Long, long story.

So maybe its just some temporary high. Remnants of a fun and interesting events.
But, yea....I don't think so :D

gringrin?

So I've been finding me smiling by myself quite often these days. I wonder what it means. :D

If I had 9 lives..

I wanted to be a designer...and then I realized,I could never release my creations..

Amazing Juggling Finale, Chris Bliss

So now that I can do a 3 ball cascade..the world's my oyster!! :P Who says clowning around never brought in big bucks? p/s Watch with speakers turned on-otherwise you won't catch what's going on.

Things

And so I wonder, what's the difference between ignorance and innocence?

...and then i discovered it was a lie.

Meeting place

My cell group sometime meets at Mint-Hope (the church's outreach ministry to cancer patients).

Its a refurbished town-house/shop. Currently being used partly as an exhibition place for a few local artists..it's ..nice.
I really like the high ceilings, the wide open spaces and how its built for 'community' living.

My kinda stuff

Now art like this I can appreciate...

A is for excellence..

So I've been learning a lot about patience these past few months...
I waited for my exam results
I waited for plans to come through
I waited for my university application
I waited for people to talk to me
I waited to talk to people
I waited for paint to dry
I waited for errands to be done
I waited for the day to go by
I waited for a job
I waited for a million other little things
I waited and waited and waited

I hate uncertainty, there's this small part of me (okay..maybe not that small) that's this psychotic control-freak that MUST have complete and utter power over what is going on for her.
okay..so that last sentence did sound a tad psychotic.

So yea..as I was saying,
Waiting.Patience.
Waiting patiently.
It's not hard to wait..actually its impossible not to wait. But waiting patiently is another thing.

Oh the lessons I have to learn Lord...will I ever ever get through them all?

By any other name..

i call you sister
you who irritate
and frustrate me
while breaking into
peals of laughter
together

i call you brother
as you calmly
dismiss my hard-won
battles
with a wave of your hand
which holds me
protects

i call you beloved
when you shun my
weaknesses
which lay bare
your own

i call love
ridiculous
and i cling
dearly to it
as a limpet
on a storm tossed
rock

Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah

I've been working for 5 months. At the same job. Somewhat the same job.
Is it possible that I've actually done some growing up?

Sailing, sailing home..

Am back from the 13 days of doulos-ing :P
But no-lah, didn't get to sail home to Pasir Gudang from Port Klang, too much hassle with immigration stuff :( Ah well...
It was an awesome experience!
I worked with a zany bunch of volunteers which consisted among others,of 5 koreans, 2 other Michelles and 2 Angelene/ines.

Ultimately, people were what was best about the entire experience.

For people interested in joining short-term programmes on Doulos, there's the STEP one which is 2 months and the DEEP/Port Volunteer one which is for two weeks. It's something you'd want to try if you're interested in committing to 2 full years on board. :P

Just more info before the pictures:
There were around 40 volunteers in my phase. The age range was really wide, the youngest being 17 on a gap-year and the eldest volunteers being a husband and wife team in their 50's (?).
Port Volunteers are divided into 4 departments:
Accomodation/Hotel Services, which is where I worked
Galley/Kitchen Staff,
Book-Ex Staff and
Programme Room.

Accom always finishes work early (around 2+) which was great because I got the chance to ke-poh in the other departments....the toughest department? Had to be the galley work..its neverending! (Makes mental note to appreciate food no matter what in the future)

The MV Doulos is one grand ol' dame at 92 this year...amazing huh? Even more amazing...it has only ONE engine. ONE SINGLE ENGINE.
There's approx 300+ crew from over 40 countries on board at any given time, with Douloids leaving and coming all the time.
Other than the well-visited book store, teams are sent out on church ministry, evangelism teams, practical work and they have on board programmes as well.

The ship kind of shrinks after the first few days on board. It's hard to find a quiet spot somedays yo.
I didn't realize how very small Doulos was until Star Cruises' Virgo docked alongside one day.
Its has to be at least 4 time the size of the Doulos! It's also the largest ( I was told) cruise liner in Southeast Asia.

I found it so ironic that both were docked alongside each other that Thursday.
Doulos, the servant, tiny and old beside the gleaming Virgo, an epitome of complete human indulgence.

It just struck me so strongly seeing them side by side. So alike to what Christ calls us to while living this human life on earth.

But yea, okay..enough babbling...pictures!
(Almost all are stolen off my friends sites because I didn't take very many..more inside pics to come soon!)















Part of the long, long walk from the terminal to the ship.

Going up!












The kitchen area of PKGH-celebrating a double birthday, we celebrated 4 the entire duration of DEEP!
Most of us stayed at the Port Klang Gospel Hall, which was very generously provided for us for free! 12 nights on the floor with the sleeping bag. After the second night, I could sleep almost anywhere!
















Angelene's E-day on board the ship..it was a programme for kids from an orphanage I think.

Uniforms! From left: Galley, Book-Ex and Accom.
The Galley and Accom staff wear an entire uniform of the shirts you see and long/short khaki pants with the most horrendously heavy safety shoes. But being clumsy me, those weights saved my toes more than once!
















The forward/volunteers lounge. If you notice, everything in the ship is my size :P I can touch ceiling without even being on tip-top...one if the rare occasions I was glad to be kecik! Hehehehehe The cabins are reaaal small tho'
















The queue at lunch, singles go on one side and families and couples on the other. Same goes for tables, some tables 'belong' to a family...so don't go taking those seats ya..We volunteers sat at the director's table for a few days before someone explained things to us. It was a good thing the director was away...:P
Mealtimes there are a bit off...lunch at 12 and dinner at 5.30. As for the food...Christian ASIAN Chefs! Think about serving on doulos okay?














My E-day! I joined a few Douloids, STEP-pers and a guest to go paint a mural of the world map at City Harvest. Was awesome fun and I couldn't have asked for better! I totally indulged that day, just painting and painting and painting.
















I had the privilege of joining (impromptu) a church ministry team to play Captain ball on a futsal pitch with people from Bandar Sunway Gospel Centre. Totally hilarious. By the second round, I had no idea who was playing..there were people everywhere!
The left pic is of 3 other DEEP volunteers whom I went with and the right pic is a song and sign-language performance the American-Koreans put up later that evening during the service.
Oh..and we won second place...out of 2 teams playing :P

Random pics:















Me and 5-second-delay-Angelene :p













Quayside ministry...I was one of the clowns one of the days.Awesome fun :D I'm sure you can tell which one I was...the 'superstar' glasses were really quirky!
















DEEP2 group pic! Two of the Korean chaps left earlier to go back on vacation to South Korea. Missing a few volunteers tho'
















The Doulos mission-bringing Knowledge, Help and Hope....posing girls not included