quick blog post before the excitement wears off. on the way home from jarret's house (which we found without directions) a bunch of us were in my car heading to kelana jaya on the ldp when my car started to shudder. it felt as if someone opened a door while the car was at top speed. i pulled over to discover we had a flat rear left tire.

thanks to wei ran, patrik. jo, rachel and evonne for sticking around and helping me change the tire. wei ran, letting down the hand brake was genius. would have never thought of it. thanks patrik, you were more than an extra pair of hands. thanks to the girls for keeping the atmosphere light. it was midnight on a saturday night and yet you guys stuck around. really appreciate it

so for all the above, thank you. it was worth the experience

1/3 manlier,
nick

hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates. i realise thanksgiving was ages ago, but xanga just didnt let me post for the longest time, and by the time it did, i had run out of stuff to say. okay, not really. i've just been wanting to get a few picture posts up, but havent found the material to do so.

so just updates on me. i'm writing this post on my new laptop. a dell inspiron 1525. i'll take this time to bid farewell to fellow identical laptop owner and long time xanga friend wei li who has migrated to blogspot along with countless others. xanga just doesnt treat us malaysians very well. hope your new blog brings you as much if not more joy than your previous one.

honestly i thought of moving too, but i'm a bit lazy to build a new page. and really, i do like xanga. although it's not as post-friendly as blogspot, this place is a real community (i dont suppose you guys visit the home page www.xanga.com) and i enjoy the occasional guilty pleasure of reading featured posts from datingish and revelife. (datingish is a blog that writes about every dating issue under the sun, and revelife is a christian issue blog) i always find i was better off not reading in the first place, but that's not the point. it's just fun being part of something big, you know?

on this migratory note, i felt guilty this week during my trip to hong kong. i'm truly sorry to all migrators out of our malaysia if i've ever secretly condemned you guys. i actually felt at home in hong kong, and when my dad asked me if i would consider living in HK, i actually answered "sure, if i spoke the language". later i kicked myself (i havent found a way to do this literally) for saying that, cos i'm still loyal to malaysia. it was like a holiday fling. it was weird, because i did have a pretty large culture shock on my first vacation to a chinese-speaking country. okay cantonese, if you're being specific. the sea of people my own race overwhelmed me. it was almost monochromatic.

okay now i'm just being racist.

i did enjoy my trip. for photos, you can check facebook. now i don't quite need to worry about uploading vacation photos. my mom's on facebook and she uploads photos and tags me regularly. something to be happy about

new year's resolutions. right. i was going to sit down to list them out, but i'm just going to write them here. and once again let the net hold me accountable.

let's start with success stories, i'm always encouraged when i think of them. glory to God for helping me with these. for a couple of years already these two sentences have been plastered to the top of my blog. be happy and don't be bored. and i have to tell you, it's working out pretty well. not being bored is just a matter of decision i think. there's loads to do if you just get to it.

i think we'll change the be happy tagline to be joyful. my dad said something on the pulpit today which i appreciated. he said: joy is not developed on holiday, but in times of suffering. and for some reason, that resonated with me. last year had hurts and tears. actually more than any other year on record. but yet i think i came out of the year joyful. which didn't necessarily manifest as laughter, or happiness for that matter. just peace and contentment, which i can smile about. note: is that joy? cos it feels like it. feel free to correct me

now for this year

over the year, i've been writing my thoughts into this notebook, on which i always hang a pen. maybe you've noticed it. it's green and yellow striped. so now i'm going to read through it and decide what lessons i can apply. by thoughts i dont mean all thoughts like a diary, i just mean ideas i've heard in church or stuff i've learned in quiet time with God. and i wasn't consistent, so.. let's hope i am more this year. i already have a new notebook. blue and purple stripes.

here's what i have in summary for lessons learned and trying to be applied

1. we must always have hope. and God is the source
2. be sincere in everything you say and do

lessons heard with elusive application

1. a spirit of excellence does not mean just doing your best at that time. it means preparing before and really thinking things through
2. we must set our standards too high

sub-point to point number 2. i set myself a principle last year, which i have told no one. it is to live and learn as if i'm going full time someday. i'm not sure if it's biblical. it's just a way for me to tell whether i'm doing the right things with myself and my time. but still.. elusive.

i dont remember much of pastor kevin's (city harvest church pastor) sermons, but he's a friend of hock (my youth pastor) so i remember once a few years back the leaders got to go backstage and listen to a few words from him. he told us to live a life beyond reproach. which at the time i thought... sure. but now i'm thinking. wow.

now i realise i havent quite stated resolutions, but we'll go with new year's applications. and i know, most of it are intangibles. but i think i'll know if i've done it. and so will God. i give you guys permission to check up on me once in a while.

okay i better get off. everyone in the blogging world, i'm enjoying your posts on your various blogs. i know mine are few and far between. but i hope

i'll talk to you guys soon

nick

yeah, i know you guys are right. i've always known. doesn't mean i agree to it. i still think it's a completely unproductive numbing process which is ultimately a waste of time. but yeah, i do get the enjoyment. and i'm currently flirting with it.

who ever knew to be or not to be was a valid question?

anyway hey guys, i'm back from thailand. big communication issue here with more or less everyone. i went to the border of thailand and *ahem* northeast thailand. look it up on a map. actually got to see the cryptically mentioned country from my perch on a boat along the mekong river. but of course we couldnt get there without a visa. i'm sorry i dont have any pictures. but my mom earlier took her camera to canada and i was left with only my phone as my visual memory aid. still, i didn't take any pictures. figured being in the moment and remembering was the best way i could appreciate this trip.

wanna thank God for bringing me home safely. i was really sick starting day 2 of the trip. i think it was some horrible viral flu. after hours of muscle aches, vertigo and a major headache, i swallowed my pride (can someone say segamat?) and asked a doctor on the team for medicine. after a 4-5 hour nap, i promptly stepped out of my room to find out everyone knew. talk about humbling. i had people asking me if they worked me too hard (remember i was a stranger to these people) and i had to keep answering i was already sick in the morning. dont know where i picked up my bug from. but i thank God i'm alive. night 3 was pure torture. and doing the chicken dance while light-headed and aching is not a good idea. thought i should point that out.

back home, today was the most holiday-like day i've had in months. i played fifa (3-1, 3-1, 3-1) watched 4 episodes of it started with a kiss (next episode is loading as we speak) and watched countless other tv shows. some i didn't even like. like the uefa champions league magazine show. they have a magazine show on tv. i dont get that, i really dont. i must have watched the highlights for west ham vs sunderland 3 times. and there was only 1 goal scored. 1 GOAL. and it wasnt that impressive. deflected and i dont even remember the player's name.

ah yes. holidays. good times.

feel like my blog posts ARE getting a bit more.. how to say. thought-filled lately. i'm not sure if i'm into that. but till i get pictures, i'm not very motivated to tell stories. suffice to say, the past few weeks after the exams have been good. they really have. thanks to everyone who was involved in it one way or another. i'm sure we'll have a holiday to remember this time.

okay i am going to hit to showers, get out and watch more of this taiwan drama. i bet with all my readers if i do cry at any point in the show.. my next blog will be a video blog. not that big a deal. but different. pray for some good episodes!

nick

ps: first paragraph was about being emo