tired

So many assignments. Pretty much got one or two assignments due every week till the end of semester. Can't believe I'm so flat out with three subjects only. Its the busiest I've ever been in my whole university history. I guess that's what happens when you do three programming subjects.

Can't wait till this semester is over. Only a thesis remains that stands between me getting a very expensive piece of paper from university. No official contact hours as well next semester. Should be interesting.

Can't wait.

Skype Me!

So I went out on a electronics splurge today. Woke up at 9.45am after suffering from the cold night. I thought I had frostbite on my toes as I only had my summer blanket on (blanket with holes). Perhaps I should get out my dooner tonight. Weather's getting cold. Anyways, went out with Nath to get a 7-port usb 2.0 hub and a Philips VOIP 321 cordless phone. Cost me $145 all up.

Turns out that I need a telephone line connected to the base component for it to perform as a normal telephone as well. Thought I could call out normally through the usb connection. Guess I was wrong. Too bad that I've only got one working telephone socket at my place and the rest are duds. Hopefully Rach (my house mate) will go into bitch mode and hassle the real estate agent to fix it up.

The reason for the sudden splurge was that I wanted to try out this VoIP technology which I've been hearing so much of. I've also made a Skype account, so add me if you're on Skype as well! If you're a random, most likely I won't authorise you. I've already got 2 random people from China trying to add me on Skype ever since I put on my Skype widget on this blog.

Princess, I didn't know you made VoIP phones? Very impressive.
:)

[edit] - 14/05/07

Oh mad! Figured out how to make outgoing calls with my Skype credits and I don't need a telephone line. Turns out that I just needed to add the numbers I want to call out in my Skype contacts so that my phone can retrieve it.

People have said the sound quality is pretty good and it seems pretty decent to me as well. So far so good.

[/edit]

USB Ass Stinger!

Argh!!! My recently acquired usb stick died again, along with my important files that I forgot to backup (ie. resumes, cover letters, job application details etc.). The stick was brand new too! This is the second time my ass has been bitten by my stupidity of not backing up every single file. I bought an 320gb external hard drive a couple of weeks ago after my first ill experience. I suspect my university computer labs somehow zap my usb sticks with fluctuating higher than normal voltages as my usb stick felt hot after I plugged it in. My first one also died in my university computer labs. However, that's kind of dumb. Shouldn't usb stick devices have some kind of protection mechanism that stops higher than normal input voltages? Ah well...

Anyways, sorry I haven't been blogging much. I've been so busy with uni assignments/assessments and also recently went to CeBIT Australia 2007 at Darling Harbour since I work for the organisers. Will post pictures and all that another day. Just having my rant because of what happened today. Lucky my flip-flops are still intact.

Greetings from Melbourne...

Just thought I'd say hi! In Melbourne University's architecture computer labs at the moment, using the internet. Flew down here on Friday night and will be here till Wednesday night. Meeting with princess rain cloud (prc) for these five days and I'm staying at North Balwyn with my mum's friend, Auntie Jun. Turns out her son, Eugene is an avid WoW gamer hehe. Level 70 alliance warrior. Hardcore compared to me.

Anyways, will update this blog with pictures once I get back to Sydney. Having a great time here at the moment with prc. Lots of food and more food! A lot of walking involved as well in Melbourne. So unlike Sydney.

paint ball battle scars

I'm trying to procrastinate from doing my uni assignment which is due tomorrow. ::sighs:: My usb memory stick died today, along with all my uni files from first year till now. Also my thongs broke few couple of hours ago as well. Sad day :(

Back to school

My first day of uni today. Total of 3 hours with a lecture at 7-9pm, grrr! Ah well, I've had a long holiday. Most of it was working though. Should be fun :)

EDIT:

Oh no! Got a Chinese lecturer. A "me no speak engrish" type. So typical of engineering. ::sighs::

Bed of Manure

Whenever I walk out of my house, this is pretty much what greets me. A bed of manure. Seems like they've dug out all the plants and replaced them with manure. Hopefully they'll plant some nice flowers soon to replace the eye sore. I pity Larrie. Her room is downstairs and I guess the odour from outside must permeate her room. Ah well, at least its not my room :P

Optus to Voda

I've changed my phone network now from Optus to Vodafone for 'special' reasons ;) So all you voda users out there, don't be tight and give me a call soon :P

Finally, princess arrives...

The long awaited day has finally arrived since I parted with Hong Yi on the 10th of December 2006. After endless hours on the phone, connecting to the distant and somewhat foreign land of Sabah where the trees reign and the reception is poor, it seems surreal that she is actually sitting beside me. I must say it has been an interesting past 3 months as I wasn't really used to the long distance thing, but it was well worth it.

Beep beep. Damn. Alarm clock, 6am. Oh wait, I have to pick up princess from the airport at 7am. Shower. Get dressed. Make sure I look good, hehe. Drive to the airport. Stuck in traffic. Panic. Arrive at the international terminal at 7.10am. Check board for flight number. Brunei airlines arrives at 7.25am. Relief. Look left, look right, look forward. Repeat.

8.10am. So as I was waiting, there comes princess strutting out in style, carefully poised as she pushes her trolley full of luggage. Stumble. Oops! Hehe, I saw that! Quickly she recovered and continued her elegant walk towards the assembly area. I stealthily stood next to her as she continued to circle her head, in search of someone. Seconds later, she found that someone and I extended my arms, inviting her to feel each other's heartbeat. Damn guitar. I was expecting a soft surface for my arms to wrap around, but I guess her shoulder guitar bag got in the way. Oh well, can't complain.

The first moment I saw her was bliss. Seeing her digitally on my 22" computer monitor is incomparable to seeing her in real life. The way she smiles, the way she laughs and the way she that is. I guess my monitor doesn't do that. Funny though how I picked out a bar code sticker stuck to her hair while we were walking to my car. Wonder what price she registers.

Its a real shame that I have to continue working for my summer vacation work experience for the next few days which means I won't get to spend time with her during the day time. Grrr! Ah well, at least she's keeping herself busy with her cousins and her Sydney friends. Its amazing how many accommodation offers she received while she was here.

Day One: I was planning to bring her to a restaurant in Bondi for dinner but auntie Elaine snapped her before me! Unfortunate too that I finished work late because I went to work late that morning, hehe. After munching down my meat pie, corncobs and potatoes, I hurried to Maroubra to pick her up and take her out to cockle bay wharf. Funny how auntie Elaine offered her house for us to hang out. Politely I declined and dashed out the door. Well, not exactly dashed but I thought of it. I wanted some a-lone time, hehe.

Whilst driving around Chinatown looking for a park, we drove down I think it was Goulbourn street (where Golden Century is) where we saw lots of flashing lights, policemen and camera men. Somewhere among the sea of on lookers, we saw a glimpse of two bloodied bodies lying on the floor. OH MY GOSH! What a way to start the first night. Grrr!!! Quickly I conjured up a memory erase spell and cast it on Hong Yi. Well in my mind anyway. Finally decided to park at Wilsons parking and head over the bridge to cockle bay wharf where we enjoyed drinks and ice cream at the Blackbird café. After that, we walked around the darling harbour before finding a spot to sit and talk, with the colours of the city light reflecting off the soft ripples of the water.

Day Two: Beep beep. 7.30am. Work. Gay! Fast forward. Drove to Ant's place around 7pm as she's been hanging out with him during the day. She had the sleepy look on her face. Kind off hot, hehe. Drove to Artamon, to 'Sexy Steak' otherwise known as Yakiniku for some Japanese. Met up with Jacqui, Shez and Mark. Vicki, Carina (my sis), Noelle and David was there as well. We had raw salmon and kingfish, as well as karaage chicken. Also had these barbeque things which I have no idea what they're called. Perhaps Shez will be able to fill you in as she's the one who ordered. Jacqui introduced me to the 'rain dance' as well. Haha, no not the weather nor the Korean performer. Symbolic meaning :) Anyway, the food was ABSOLUTELY delicious. Hoi-shi!

After eating to our hearts content, we bid farewell and especially to Shez who obviously has had too much to drink although I could've sworn we didn't order any alcoholic drinks. Drove back to Ant's place but Ant hasn't arrived yet as he was dropping off other people. So we decided to walk to the park nearby and hang out. Bzzzzz....smack! Damn mosquitoes. Copped a few bites on my left arm. Hopefully they didn't get to princess before me! Haha, just kidding :P

Day Three: Beep beep. 7.42am. Last day of work. Woohoo! Gay. Fast forward. Go back from work around 6.15pm. Showered. Looked hot. Catch a train to Eastwood for Korean at Mi Rac. Snooze. Wake up. Snooze. Damn train rides are boring. Snooze. Ring ring. Princess calls, allllllright :) Got off the train and asked the station dude where's Rowe Street. Apparently it runs on both side of the station. Asked him again where's the Korean side. According to him both sides are Korean. Obviously he's wrong. If you didn't know, apparently at Eastwood station there's a Korean side and a Chinese side. Called Wei for directions. Power walked. Hot princess waiting for me by the side of the road. Stealth mode. Our eyes met. Prolonged hug. No guitar bag this time, yesss!

So I arrived an hour later than the appointed time and everyone was still waiting for me. That was pretty cool. Whole bunch of student life who went to MYC was there, as well as other people I'm too lazy to mention now. Getting sleepy typing this :S Had some really nice Korean food which Wei ordered and I have no idea what they're called. Spicy as well. Nose dripping-licious!

After dinner we headed back to Wei's place for some ice cream where we all hung out for a bit before Wei booted everyone else out as she had to work the next morning. However, Hong Yi and I were allowed to crashed over and this time Wei wasn't the third wheel by herself. Jane (her housemate) was there as well! We chatted for a bit and went through some photos on Wei's computer before it was time for her to hit the sack (life of a working class person). Hong Yi slipped into something more comfy, a oversized t-shirt. I thought I'd never say this, but wow she looks hot in it, haha. There's just something magically about a girl in an oversized t-shirt. I can't explain it. We went to the backyard and laid on the brick laid steps, gazing into starry sky. When asked if I knew about astronomy, I quickly pretended I did and presented some of my bogus theories. I got caught out quickly too, hehe. Smack! Scratch. Damn ants. Headed back into the house and safe on the sofa. That's all you need to know :)

Day Four: Beep beep. 8am. Work. Oh wait, I don't have work. Woohoo! Had to wake up early as Wei had to go to work but she had already left, and Jane had to go to the city. Hong Yi sat on my bed as I was in the process of waking up. Its true that waking up is a process. Had a quick breakfast before we drove to Mellor's place as he was going to drive us all to the city. Went into Mellor's place for a bit as he had some stuff to print out before we hit the road.

Got dropped off at Sydney Uni and I showed her a glimpse of what my university was like. I could tell she liked it, hehe. Gave her the tour and showed her where some of my lectures took place when I was in first and second year. Headed back to my place for a quick shower while she mingled with my house mates, Rach and Tiffo. After that, we drove back to her to auntie's place where we hung out for a bit. Apparently you need an engineering degree to figure out some display settings on a tv which I had the privilege of configuring her auntie's tv as she had problems viewing it in wide screen mode. I felt so useful, hehe. Got to hang out a bit with Chris (Hong Yi's childhood friend, auntie Elaine's son) as well. We then had lunch at a Thai place at Kingsford with Chris and Norman, and then headed back to my place to grab her shoes. The plot thickens.

Speedily we made for the train to circular quay at Redfern station. Phew. Only a 3 minute wait. 3.45pm. Darn, need to be at that place by 4pm. Got off at circular quay. Walked along George Street. Climbed a flight of stairs which led to Campbell Street. Walked up another flight of stairs which led to the undesired destination. Crap. Don't know where I'm going. Called Ji Hao. Walked further down Campbell Street. Under the bridge. Crap, where's this place?!? Dialled some numbers. Walked 20m back to where we were before. Ah, the entrance.

So yeah, the surprise was that I was taking her to the Sydney Harbour bridge climb for her belated 21st birthday present. After all that walking and panicking about whether we'd make it in time, my back t-shirt got a bit wet from sweat. Yuck. She too was sweating. The sweat drops that trickled down her soft cheeks glistened, leaving trails of lustrous patterns across her face. Wow, hot again. I can't explain it, hehe. We proceeded to the change rooms where it was just a spacious area, with curtains that could be pulled across a certain area of the room. We had to strip down to our undergarments to wear the dorky jump suits they provided us, and all of us were encouraged to share change areas wherever possible. Hehe, well we didn't share just to let you know. Don't think it would've been very appropriate :P

We then continued to the equipment area where we were briefed about safety and various devices was attached to our suits. By the way, the climb group was just us two and a company group that was working for an engineering company called Transfield. Our climbed leader teased us a lot such as informing us the engagement statistics on the bridge climb. It was such an exhilarating experience climbing up the harbour bridge with someone special. We had a scenic 360 degree breathtaking view from the bridge. The Queen Elizabeth was also there to greet us. You just have to experience it to understand what I mean. It kind of puts into perspective on how little we are in this very big world. Yet despite how insignificant we might feel about ourselves, we are significant before God's eyes.

As we made a descent on our climb, I managed to have a little chat with one of the company group members. I told them that I was studying engineering and will be looking for a graduate position for next year. One of the them immediately offered to give her business card so that I could apply to their company for a graduate position. Wow, climb the harbour bridge with a hot chick and getting a possible job prospect at the same time. God, you are amazing.

After a 3 and a half hour experience, I am buggered. Remember that we were awake since 8 something in the morning. Hungry and tired, we needed food. Off to pancakes on the rocks for some ribs and pancakes. I got beef ribs while she got the pork ribs, accompanied by our ice lemon tea and apply juice drinks. By the end of it, I was so bloated from ribs and could only manage a couple of ribs from her plate as she couldn't finish it. Then our Hot 'N' Troppo dessert came, which was delicious. Mmmm...what a yummy night.

We strolled along the quay enjoying the night lights, the salty breeze and the gentle crashes of the water. There were a couple of acoustic guitarists basking, playing romantic love tunes. We finally settled down on a bench near the ferry wharf, keeping each other warm and exchanged gazes and words for some time. The night was still young, but our energy levels were not. We then made our way back to my place, then drove to Ant's place to watch some Heroes. She fell asleep. I watched her breathe softly and gently. Beautiful. After a couple of hours, I took her home back to Maroubra. Before we bid goodnight to each other, we rested on each other in a standing position, arms around.

Day Five: Beep beep. 1.30pm. Wow, that's the latest I woke up on a while. Did my laundry and ironing before heading out to Maroubra to help her with her luggage. Chris' parents were there as well as his house mate, Byron. Auntie Elaine offered me some rock melon which was cold, sweet and juicy. Mmmm, nice and refreshing. Byron asked me if I came over just to help her pack. Haha, now that was funny. Chris' parents were there as well. I couldn't really explain to him what my primary purpose was. Felt awkward, hehe. Said that I was taking her out later on as well, hehe. After that, I began to load her luggage into the boot of my car before saying our goodbyes.

Next stop, my parent's place. Upon arrival, I could smell and taste the familiar saltiness in the air again. I introduced her to my mum, Jeff and my brother. She then gave my mum some pineapple tarts and some Sabah tea. The pineapple tarts were quite nice. My mum then started to ask the usual formal questions to find out more about Hong Yi. After a few minutes, it seemed like it was more like an interview as my mum asked questions, and she answered. Hehe, hope Hong Yi wasn't too freaked out. I then gave her the tour of the house and the backyard. As I was in the middle of explaining to her about something, I got lost in thought and words as I just stared at her. Hehe, kind of funny. We then headed to the Signature café at Brighton le Sands for a nice meal, overlooking the Botany bay.

When we got back, I took her for a walk along Dolls Point beach which is like one minute away from my parent's place. It was a bit windy as well that evening, but I guess I became her jacket for her, hehe :) We walked along the shoreline, feeling the cool wind brushing against our face and the thought of her flying back to Melbourne kicked in for me. Oh how I wished I was like Hiro Nakaruma from Heroes where I could stop time. But I'm not in a tv show am I? Hehe. We sat on a bench and gazed into the starry night once again. I've waited two and a half months for this, and now its going to come to an end in two hours. Beep beep. 9pm. Darn, have to take her to the airport now.

Well, terminal 2 seems pretty empty. In fact, no one. Checked her flight itinerary. Terminal 3. Ah. She checked in at around 9.40pm. Gate opens at 10.05pm. I have 25 minutes left with her. Once again we found a bench seat in the airport terminal, reminiscing the times we spent together for the past week. We were locked arm in arm, and I gazed into her eyes many times. Before she disappeared into the tube which leads to the air plane, I gave her a few more hugs and said my goodbyes. She was gone.

A sense of calm and peace came over me as I walked back to my car and I thanked God for giving me this opportunity and time to spend with her. This is definitely not the end, but only a glimpse of the beginning. Hopefully I'll get to see her again in Melbourne, but I need to find a job first, hehe. Pray for me :)

Princess visits Sydney

Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb 07

testing 123...

Boo! I have to do a test report for the code that I've written at work. Not quite complete yet but most of the main functions should be working fine enough to deploy it as a pretty decent prototype. ::sighs:: Never did like doing test reports at uni. Guess I can't escape it even in the workforce.

:(

Oh happy 21st princess! :)

Because you're worth it.

Rendering table in IE using DOM

So I thought I'd share with people who would be interested in these sort of things (programming), especially dealing with JavaScript's Document Object Model (DOM). I came across an annoying bug that has bugged me for the past few days which turned out to be quite simple.

First take a look at the following JavaScript:

var container = document.createElement("div");
var table = document.createElement("table");
var tr = document.createElement("tr");
var td = document.createElement("td");
var text = document.createTextNode("This is a test.");
td.appendChild(text);
tr.appendChild(td);
table.appendChild(tr);
container.appendChild(table);
document.body.appendChild(container);

When you go alert(container.innerHTML), you will see that the DOM is created correctly but for some reason it is not showing up. Even by inspecting the DOM using IE7's add-on, IE Developer Toolbar, you will see that the DOM is constructed correctly. When running this on Firefox, the code seems to work the way you want it to. So what the heck is the problem?!?

Well after many hours of googling, I came across an article that helped me solve my problem. Apparently, a tbody element is required within the table tag which is interesting because according to the HTML4 Standard, a tbody isn't required within a table. Adding a couple of lines will fix this rendering problem:

var table = document.createElement("table");
var tbody = document.createElement("tbody"); <--
var container = document.createElement("div");
var tr = document.createElement("tr");
var td = document.createElement("td");
var text = document.createTextNode("This is a test.");
td.appendChild(text);
tr.appendChild(td);
tbody.appendChild(tr); <--
table.appendChild(tbody); <--
container.appendChild(table);
document.body.appendChild(container);

Hopefully you won't spend as much time as me trying to figure out this problem.

22" of Pleasure

No no, I'm not that well hung believe or not. I finally got my 22" Chimei monitor and it is sweet! Oh man what a delight it is to have a 22" widescreen with dual monitor capabilities. You might think I'm like out of date with technology (which is partially true at the rate it is growing), but I simple am still stoked about having dual monitors! Playing my bloodelf rogue (WoW) on a 22" is simply amazing, accompanied by 5.1 speakers!

Oh, noticed my desktop wallpaper? :)

WoW: Burning Crusade

Woot! Another 53 minutes till Burning Crusade comes out at Broadway EB Games. Can't wait! I've upgraded my graphics card (thanks to Tow or Tao :S) and getting my 22" Chimei monitor tomorrow! I've quit WoW for some time now. Nearly 8 months to be completely precise. Thought I'd get back into it again since I'm on holidays and I got nothing else better to do besides work, hang out and talk to someone special :)

Hope there's no big queue though. I have go get back to work tomorrow ><. Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm. Can't really complain though that I have a job after watching 'Pursuit of Happyness'. I guess a lot of people out there are desperate to even have a job while I sit here and tell you my sob stories. Hmm, I guess I should really count my blessings and give thanks to God. :)

EDIT:

Got it! Woohoo! 4 cds to install...urgh :S So late and I need to sleep ><

Firefox rox, IE is evil!

Urgh...I'm so frustrated creating web applications at work that works perfectly fine on Firefox but stuffs up on IE. Darn Microsoft, why you gotta go make things complicated!?!

Anyways, I'm just venting out my frustration here because I don't get why Firefox can get the value from the hidden field, __EVENTARGUMENT while IE can't seem to get it. I mean, they both work fine with __EVENTTARGET but for some retarded reason the other doesn't work. This happens after I call JavaScript's postback method, __doPostBack(eventTarget, eventArgument).

Oh how I wish Microsoft's IE market dominance fall below 1% and Firefox gained 99% of it. Then I don't have to create web applications to cater to IE's lameness! Argh, how I wish.

EDIT:

Well I've managed to fix the bug! Apparently for each postback that occurs on the page, ASP.NET calls the postback function and set's the id of the control that triggered it to __EVENTTARGET. However, I still don't get why __EVENTARGUMENT is not accessible though. Perhaps the value gets overwritten due to postback in IE, and thus would explain why I'm not getting the values I passed to it. Weird though how it works fine in Firefox and not IE. Instead I created my own hiddenfield in the aspx and used that to store my value obtained from JavaScript's prompt box. Viola! Works like a charm.

Merry Christmas and a Happy Boxing Day

Yes yes yes...I know I've been a slack arse for not updating my blog since I left to Lorne for summer projects but ever since I got back I haven't had the chance to catch my breath yet. After a 9 hour drive back to Sydney from Melbourne (thanks Wei for driving all the 'wei'!), I found myself back in the familiar neighbourhood with the smell of Sydney's 'busyness' in the air. Life wasn't going to be the same as it was for the past 2-3 weeks.

I won't elaborate too much what happened during summer projects as it will take forever to mention everything. Perhaps another post. But I will mention a little bit of my 'personal mission' down to Melbourne which involves a particular gorgeous looking girl whom I met 6 months or so ago in a country town called Albury. Boy oh boy is she gorgeous, or have I mentioned that already? Hehe. Spent an amazing 4 days hanging out with her in total, exploring the sites of Melbourne and tasting the vast amount of foods that Melbourne has got to offer. To the valleys of the Yarra, to the mountains of Dandenong, I was in ecstasy just being with her.

I'm at my parent's place at the moment so I don't have access to my pictures back at home. Will post some pictures when I get the chance to do so. Oh yeah, to some she's known as 'Rachel' and to others she's known as 'Hong Yi'. To me she's known as 'princess'. Haha, yes yes I know. Corny. :: Anime sweat :: But heck, its true :P

Anyway, I must've digressed from the what I was meant to post about (see post title). Christmas seemed a bit empty this year since my siblings are spread across the globe (Malaysia, China and Tanzania). It was good though to have ham and turkey for dinner with lots of booze. Red wines and a newly discovered beverage for myself called 'Little Creature - Pale Ale'. Pretty nice, you should check it out. I got a cool shirt from Vicky, toblerone, and some cash from my parents which I've spent most of it on shopping.

On Boxing Day I had a little barbeque gathering with some mates from church and uni. Also had 2 surprise visitors from Melbourne whose names are Carmen and Sarah. They were hanging out in Sydney for a few days before heading to a place 800km or so west of Brisbane to do missions work. Cool bunch. Hung out with them and Anthony for the past few days watching a movie and shopping. Oh don't forget the endless nights of watching the tv series, Heroes. Awesome tv.

Alrighty then, I guess that's it for now. Tired from typing. Recommence full-time work on Tuesday. Heading to Canberra tomorrow for a science exhibition. Doing something for new years eve. Happy holidays, have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Something to think about: What does Christmas mean to you? Presents? Family gatherings? Santa Clause? He's just a fat-ass dude who I find unimaginable that he can fit through chimney openings. Jesus? :: hint hint ::

Melbourne...Lorne...Here I Come!

Wish I had more time to do a proper post, but didn't realise packing my bag was so time consuming last night. Its 5am and I'm about to embark on a journey down south, to the distant land called Melbourne. Hehe, not so distant really. Well, kinda is. Anyways, I'm going down to Lorne in a few days time too for summer projects. Managed to raise all the funds and more for it! :D

Keep me in prayer as I drive down. Hopefully no kangaroos decide to hop onto the path of my speedy camry! Vroomm!! Hopefully I will be able to keep you guys updated while I'm down there. Over and out.

21

So I turn the big 21 today. Wonderful thing about it is that I'm studying for my last exam on Tuesday, Real Time Computing. Ah well, I remember spending my 18th birthday studying for Physics. The fate of having birthdays during exam periods as long as I'm a university student.

So 1 year older, 1 year wiser and 1 more year spent walking with God. Look forward to the adventure up ahead. The big 21 is just another number by the way.

:)

Before and After

At times like these I try,
To mend it all inside,
By my own I keep falling down aside.

When my worlds collide,
Feel like giving up the fight,
Surrounded by the dark I try to hide.

You are near me now,
You are dear to me,
You are all I need,
You're everything to me.

The scarlet snow turns white,
All the stains are made bright,
So take my hand and show me the way.

The crimson rose nailed tight,
Forgiven, now I know why,
I'll put my cross now, I'm here to stay.

Never leave my side,
Precious one of mine,
I'll give you all of me,
I am yours to keep.

Remind me of the times,
Your gracious plans are made right,
In my life you restore my faith.

When things seemed to have gone wrong,
I'll put my trust in you,
Magnify your faithfulness.

Fill me with your love,
Find myself in you,
And I will follow you,
Jesus Christ my Lord, my Lord.


- Danny

Rest In Peace Ahma

Last Friday I received news my grandma had passed away. Although I'm sad, I am happy too that the Lord has taken her to a place where pain and suffering is no longer and that she now dwells in the house of the Lord forever. She was 90+ years old and has been unable to walk due to her frail strength. Last time I saw her was last summer where I was in Penang, Malaysia, spending Chinese New Year with my relatives and eating lots of food. The photo above was taken then. It was pitiful to see my grandma unable to walk and restricted to the compounds of her bed. All she did was sleep, wake up to eat and maybe chat a little before going back to sleep again. I can't imagine how boring that must've been, watching time ticking by the second, as the sun and moon take turns beaming up from the heavenly skies.

We, her children and grandchildren, used to spend every Chinese New Year playing "Sah Ki" with her as it was her favorite card game. She was well known for her love of playing cards and take shots of brandy to keep her body warm. Ahma left her legacy with 5 daughters, 4 sons and countless grandchildren. She has lived a wonderful 90+ years of her life and has also gotten to know of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We will miss you.

"1The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
2He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
3He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name's sake.
4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
6Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." - Psalm 23

Inconceivable

So I've got some bloody great news! Been praying to God for the past two months or so, asking God to provide me a summer vacation engineering job to fulfill my university requirements (12 weeks practical experience) and also to be able to go on summer projects with Student Life during the vacation period. For two months, I didn't get any answer except horrific interviews and rejection letters, and the deadline for support raising is due very soon (10th of November)! Back of my mind, I was so worried that I won't be able to find a job during summer, which would suck because I'd have no money to enjoy the summer holidays and I'd have nothing really productive to do for 3 months+. The down side to getting a job as well is that if I were to find a job, there's a high possibility that I won't be able to go to summer projects due to work, which would suck majorly.

So this dilemma continued until a few days ago where I received an email from an interview I went to couple of days earlier saying, "IES is pleased to be able to offer you a position for student employment during the coming summer vacation period....". H-O-L-Y COW! Usually most companies close their summer applications like in late August/early September. I only found out about this company advertising summer work last week and applied to it on the same week. Couple of days later, I received an email asking to attend an interview. On that interview day, I ended up being late 10 minutes! Grrrrr @ taxi drivers! Walked out of St Leonards station asking a taxi driver to take me to the office, but he told me I was on the wrong side of the road. So I went on the other side but couldn't find a taxi so I decided to start walking along the main road. 10 minutes later, I was running late and had no clue where I was. Called up the office and found out I was walking in the wrong direction! Ahhhhh, bloody hell...late for an interview...again! Hailed another taxi asking him to take me to the office. The taxi driver told me that the other taxi driver must've not wanted to take me to the office because it was close by and he wouldn't have made much money, so probably sent me on the other side of the road. Cut things short, got there late 10 minutes and explained myself. They seemed cool with it and the interview went terrificly! Turns out the chairman of the company has been to Malaysia and likes Malaysian food very much. Part of the interview was talking about Malaysian food and how nice it was, hehe. Hilarious, I know.

So great, I've got the job which I've prayed my ass off for, but there's still one more problem. Summer projects. Will they let me start work later and allow me to go? I was a bit nervous to let them know my plans for summer, not knowing if they'd let me go or not. So I emailed them anyways, letting them know my plans and requesting if it is possible for me to start later. The next morning they replied saying, "We are happy to delay your start date to 11 December as requested." Haha, God is good!

"If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." - Luke 9:26

So yeah, basically God answered two very important prayers last minute. At times like these, you just laugh to yourself how amazing God is and how good He is.

"1Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'

4"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "

6And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" " - Luke 18:1-8

With two big prayers answered, there's one big prayer left to be answered. I will need to raise $1300 for my missions trip to Lorne, Victoria and I've only started support raising on Friday since I wasn't able to do so earlier as I wasn't sure of my plans yet. The due date for it is 10th of November, so basically I have 5 days left hehe. However, after what's God done in the past few days, I can't seem to imagine that God wouldn't want me to go to summer projects.

To shed some light on summer projects, summer projects is a missions trip that Student Life (Christian society on campus) organises each year for students to go places to share the gospel to those who want to hear about it. I have been to summer projects last year to Monash University, and it has been one of the best experiences in my life. This year we'll be going down to Lorne, Victoria to talk to local Aussie beach goers and also to people celebrating their schoolies there. This project goes for two weeks, 25th of November till 10th of December. Therefore, I'm looking for financial and prayer partners who are willing to be in partnership with me in this ministry. If you would like to be in partnership with me in this ministry, please email me at dannynsl@gmail.com

Below are the details of Campus Crusade for Christ Australia's (CCCA) if you would like to support me. Just use 'Danny Ng' as the description.

Account Name: CCCA
BSB: 064433
Account Number: 10577799

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" " - Romans 10:14-15