Xin Nian Kuai Le! Wan Shi Ru Yi! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Here are some of the snapshots of our recent spectacular Chinese New Year! 

i sooooooo enjoyed myself ;)

Some of the views in labuan.... give and take some photoediting ;)

i just had to put this in.. get it? "Views" in labuan ;) hehe

okay maybe a lot of editing ;)

i must be dreaming...

Not too sure if i've mentioned this before but i dream a lot.

Seriously.

Now i don't mean the aspirations and ambitions kind of dreaming but the kind that you get when you sleep and believe you me, i dream sooooooooo often.

in fact, i would go so far as to say that every single time i sleep (even if it's just a nap or i happen to doze off like on the plane or something) i am bound to dream about something or other.

Can't remember the last time i slept without ever having a single dream!

Is it just me?

Is my brain playing tricks on me and going into overdrive when it should be using the time to recuperate and rest instead??

Is it a manifestation of some unsettled and unresolved 'issues' within my subconscious that's crying out for attention?

Is it some sign or gift of foretelling what things may come?

i honestly don't know.

All i know is that i've been having this 'problem' ever since i was a teen or younger and it hasn't let up.

Maybe its getting worse cos' these days i seem to be having a whole bunch of dreams all wrapped in one during those few hours of sleep that i get.

Sure, it's interesting i guess but i do wake up the next day feeling kind of worned out because of all the 'activity' in my dreams. You know, some of them can be pretty physical (i know what you're thinking.. i don't mean that!)... like running and swimming and even flying!

Sometimes i revisit 'old dreams'.

Sometimes i dream about something.. suddenly get up.. and when i get back to sleep my previous dream continues from where it left off.

What's going on with me?

Previously i used to think that most if not all of my dreams had some kind of significance attached to them. Either they were a way of 'warning' me of what's impending or a clue as to what i'm thinking and feeling deep inside that i may not want to come to terms with.

And perhaps sometimes they are.

But now, more and more, as i notice that my dreams are becoming pretty absurd and illogical i'm thinking maybe there is no basis for them at all... maybe they don't mean anything.

i know of people who take their dreams pretty seriously and perhaps even read too much into them. Maybe it's because they don't dream too often and so when they do get that occasional dream they feel almost certainly that it has to carry some important message or sign with it.

But how about the people like me (if there really are people like me) who dream all the time?

It can't be that every single dream has a hidden meaning right? And what if those dreams contradict each other? What if there's more than one... which one carries more importance?

*sigh*

i think too much.

Behind the shroud of anonymity...

My previous post sparked an interesting comment from an anonymous person (not that i'm surprised) which i thought would be interesting to highlight.

Here it is:

Anonymous said -

"I bet you must be asking..'God.. why am i here for??'every single day in Labuan.if God says 'with a purpose my son'would then your days/weeks/months/years be 'freaking...' still??what would God's response be then?"

To which i replied -

"To anonymous:Point taken (in fact, it's been noted ever since i came to know Christ quite a while back - cos' i've had my share of 'pits' and 'prisons' and 'Potiphar's house').
Yet,knowing God and trusting Him doesn't necessarily mean we don't 'feel' the way we do and ask the questions we feel.
Remember David.
Remember even Jesus.
But what matters and means more is that despite the questions and feelings ... we still choose to trust and follow Him.
You may think that better is the man who never asks questions, i say better is the man who asks and yet obeys."

Discovery

i've discovered new units of measurement that apply and are of particular relevance to Labuan.

it's called 'freakin-months', 'freakin-days', 'freakin-weeks' and 'freakin-years'.

i.e.
i've been working here in Labuan for the past 9 'freakin-months'.

hehe

sorry la... i've got to vent out somewhere right?

Along the same lines...

My previous post sparked an issue which i thought was worth a bit more investigation and here's what i came up with:

The McClintock Effect

or sometimes known as 'Menstrual Synchrony' (also sometimes known as the 'Dormitory Effect')

So yes, as the name suggests (and i've sort of got wind of such a phenomenon prior to this) is the hypothesis that the menstrual cycles of women living together for example in prisons, convents, dormitories and the like tend to become synchronized over time.

This 'phenomenon' which sometimes has been referred to as the 'social regulation of ovulation' has been postulated to have a pheromone basis by a psychologist named Martha McClintock.

Having said all that however, apparently there have been deficiencies in the theory and study as propagated by McClintock and generally speaking the scientific community has sort of discounted the 'phenomenon' as invalid.

*most of the information is what i made sense out of an article in Wikipedia.. like i said i just did a 'bit' of investigating ;) *

women.
*sigh*

;)

NORMAL???

Don't people have an inkling anymore of what can be vaguely considered as normal and what definitely raises an eyebrow (at the very least)!

i mean of course not everyone is expected to know exactly what's wrong or right with themselves or someone else, most if not all of the time, but surely there are instances when you just know something must be wrong.... RIGHT???

yesterday, i had a young girl whom i saw in the accident and emergency department after being referred by my dear wife after she saw the patient in the clinic.

When i saw her, she was pale as a ghost!

and after talking to her just a minute or so longer, it came to my attention that for the past 5 months or so she had been having her period for 2-3 weeks straight each month! The most recent being for the ENTIRE month of December right into January! Everyday requiring 2-3 pads which were fully soaked with blood clots!!

Let me repeat myself.

She had been having her period for EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR MORE THAN 1 MONTH!!!

Now, i could deal with the whole fact that she wasn't so sure herself whether it was normal or something to be worried about cos' young girls often have very irregular and abnormal patterns with regards to their menstruation (still it should have raised suspicion).

BUT,

What i couldn't deal with was that her mother (who obviously have been having her periods for far longer than her daughter and should by now have an idea of what's normal) when made aware of the condition of her daughter and her prolonged and heavy menses, actually didn't think much of it (i.e. to her mom.. it was nothing to be worried about.. i.e. it's NORMAL).

NORMAL???!!
NORMAL??!!

Hello?
Anybody home?

Okay fine, i'm a doctor and i know definitely it's ABNORMAL but hey, wouldn't you be worried at least slightly when you're bleeding from an orifice for 2 whole weeks???

Her haemoglobin level was only 6g/dl which was less than half the normal.

*Sigh*

i don't get it.
i just don't get it.

Sir Winston Churchill once said...

"If you're going through Hell, keep going."

Apt.
Very apt indeed.

We all are a little obsessive-compulsive... or aren't we?

Here are just some of the many traits that probably fit into the aforementioned category and perhaps cross-over into a few others ;)

1. i usually need to double check that my car doors are locked, even if it's just immediately after i press the remote to lock them.

2. i, more often that anybody should, check that all my windows are wound up... sometimes up to 3 or 4 times while driving.

3. i also have this sense (that usually proves false... but ocassionally proves true.. which only worsens matters) that one or more of the car tyres have run out of air or is/are punctured.

*why are there so many involving cars?*

4. i have this urge/need to check my 'fly' every now and then. It stems out of a pretty irrational fear that somehow it has been left open or has come undone on its own.

5. i always (and i mean ALWAYS) keep my sms inbox, sent folder, deleted messages folder and even saved messages (i hardly save any) clear and empty.

6. Same goes for my e-mail.

7. When birds are in the vicinity, i feel like i'm going to be the target of attack... as peculiar as it sounds i know.

8. i used to defragment and do virus scans on my laptop more frequently than any normal person should (this was when i used a PC).

9. i scan my thumbdrive everytime on my PC for viruses before inserting it into my Macbook although i know that the viruses won't take effect on my Mac (or would they???)

10. i always (well, maybe not always) feel like there's 'gunk' in the corners of my eyes (just typing it made me check...twice).

There's probably more... but i think i've freaked out whoever's reading this enough ;

so that'll do for now.

Thank God i'm married.

And my wife loves me just as i am... obsessiveness and all.

then again, she has her share too ;)

i also think...

The Fear of The Lord prospers...

i think...

Fear paralyses. Faith propels.

God is good ;)

See anyone familiar in this month's issue of FEMALE BRIDES?

So that's why....

When a person sneezes all bodily functions momentarily cease
- including the HEART


Bless you!

New Year's Resolution

1. To Love God More = To Obey Him More


2. To Love My Wife More


3. To Love People More

The Recent Christmas…

i tell you the recent Christmas holidays was nothing short of fantastic for my wife and i. And this time round, it was as ‘packed’ as it could get.

We didn’t make any concrete plans or anything in advance but our family, friends and loved ones were all equally eager as we were to spend time together and as such plans were made for us ;)

So ya, our breakfast-es, lunch-es and dinner-es and even ‘in betweens’ were fully booked most times and if not we spent the time just resting at home =)

Fruitful indeed =)

And of course, needless to say, we squeezed in as much shopping as we wanted ;)

Ahhh… soooo looking forward to Chinese New Year ;)
hehe

Mini food blog :)

just a few of the 'indulgences' over the recent Christmas holiday...

Okay.. seriously.. no more toys ;)

What can i say? My phone has been giving me trouble for quite awhile now and yes, i've been wanting to change to something 'simpler'.

i mean what's the point of having such a 'canggih-fied' phone which has all the capabilities when those capabilities overlap with the other gadgets you own that do those task all the better?

So ya...

i tried to drag it on as much as i could but just problem after problem kept creeping up and it was evident that my phone was dying a slow and somewhat 'natural' death.
So, i sent it for repair (not too sure how much that would cost and if it's even worth repairing) and in the meantime...

Can't say i didn't try ;)

the cost of INTEGRITY

RM599.

Yup, that's right. That's how much the Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 costs. 

As compared to...

well, i didn't really check but i don't think i would be too far off the mark in venturing a guess that it probably only costs RM5 at a nearby pasar malam. 

Perhaps with more thrown in too  ;)

Like, i said... integrity has its costs.

feelings...

One of the many areas that i know i need to work on is having my ‘head screwed on tight’.  Well, at least tighter than it used to be ;)

i think it is a problem of mine (and I would like to think most people…hey, i’ve got an ego too you know… hehe) that i get a tad bit too ‘emotional’. Now, i don’t just mean the whole “i cried watching that scene” (although that does tend to happen to me more often nowadays than before come to think of it). What i do mean is that more often than i would like, my feelings seem to motivate and drive my course of action. They attempt to overrun my logical and very rational thought processes. They tempt to derail me from what i believe and know to be true.

‘Mischief-makers’ they are sometimes.

i can relate to that portion of scripture where the Apostle Paul talks about the dichotomy of what you ought to do and what you actually end up doing. A seemingly losing battle between what the mind firmly belives and stands to and the almost opposite direction feelings take us.

My battleground is on the field of my soul where my flesh and Spirit war for my compliance that i may yield and follow suit.

Just obey, i say to myself.

Just obey.

 

   

and i thought i had a big appetite