MIKE TING's space

It's the time for us to bid farewell to Year 2009 while welcoming Year 2010. Like most you, there were ups and downs for me throughout the year. Despite of all those disappointments , I will still never forget to count all those blessings that have been showered upon me and on those who are close to me. I appreciate every single bit of it. This year, the welcoming of new year was a little bit different from previous years as it has been done in the church. We, parishioners, are asked to stay at the church to celebrate and observe the countdown to Year 2010 together right after the Thanksgiving Mass, which ended at around 11:30pm. It has been a great experience as we mingled around and wished each other Happy New Year. Even though there were only handful of us, we still managed to create and feel the merriment in the air. I know it'll be a brand new year and I believe it'll be a new hope for me as well. Life is short, simply too short for us to grumble at it. It would always be good for us to move on and face every single day brave-heartedly.

 

Now, it's raining outside. Two more nights, I'll be going back to that 'eventful' place again. At times, I'm really dreaded by the thought of leaving my family and my cocoon again. But, luckily, there are friends out there, who are so supportive and encouraging and most important, there is a loving God, who is always there to share your burdens and worries. With this in mind, I no longer need to fear and worry about what that the future hold for me. Inevitably, I would definitely miss all those comfortable days and nights at home. Like it or not, life must go on and so must we. Lastly, I would like to send my heartiest regards to each and everyone of you. God Blesss~

 

Should I sigh or simply be glad that the Year 2009 is coming to an end soon? Time flies as I always say. This, indirectly, has also reminded me of the approaching Christmas Celebration. I think that I would be really glad if only Christmas would be the only thing that I anticipate. Sadly, this will be hardly possible. There will be lots of things that come along as we move on; things and stuffs that will make us strong. So, Christmas has always been a great and wonderful time for Christian to reflect on oneself since its signification is far more than a mere celebration.

 

There are times where I always take things into my own hands. Naively believing that I can do everything without expecting any help from anyone. Somehow, as time goes by, I truly experienced the dread feeling of helplessness and despair. Even though I might look pious enough to convince one that I have strong faith, I'm also betrayed by my own humanness and sometimes even lose faith in God. Thanks God for not giving me up and constantly guide me all the way. Eventually, I realise that there is only the Lord, the only one can fulfill all my needs. Without denial, I also constantly struggle with jealousy, ungratefulness, impurity and so forth. It's hard to keep ourselves away from sins, but I believe, we can do it with the grace and help from God.

 

As the Christmas is just around the corner, it'd be the best time for us as a Christian to reflect on oneself and set a new determination or goal while preparing ourselves for Christ to enter into our lives for this coming new year, turning into a more joyful, grateful, blessed person. Believe me, you would never encounter any great disappointment in your undertakings if you always place Christ in the first position in your live. The same apply when it comes to relationship. SO, let us all have a blessed Christmas this year.. At the same time, please do allow me to share a nice Christmas song here that is introduced by my ex-teacher.  God bless~

 

 

 

Time flies. Without realising, one week has just gone like that. As you can see from the title of this entry, I am ging to write religion stuff again. ^^ Somehow, religion has always played a big role in my life. Life is brief; religion is something more than a life. If you notice, a few entries prior to this, I wrote a sharing regarding other churches. Well, I want to apologise if I do sound harsh as I, later, realise that it would never be nice to do so even if I want to relay my points of view. There are other ways that are much better. One of them will be sharing what I know about my own church--Catholic Church. Sometimes, it is hard to talk about things like religion, even with close friends. But when I writing it down, it would sound more appropriate as one can choose to read it when you feel like doing so. All I share here are merely based on my personal understanding and a better explanation from more knowledgable people will be definitely needed if you want to know and understand in more details.

 

I'm kind of shocked to learn that Catholics are always regarded as serious and solemn or even dubbed as saddish people. Ya, it is true that we kind of serious during the Mass, especially during the liturgies and the Eucharist, since believe what our faith teaches us and we try to profess it through the actions. But I quite disagree the term 'saddish' and I suppose we can be as rock as anyone of you if we want to. ^^ Don't get me wrong, what I mentioned here will be done without the intention of boasting about my church whatsoever. Let me first explain what does "Catholic" mean. Perhaps one or two of you will have a different perspective about Catholic faith. Colloquially, it means universal and this term is included in the Apostles' Creed. Every Sunday, we profess that 'I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the resurrection of the body, and the live everlsting. Amen'. However, I do admit that it would be an uphill task when it comes to live up our faith.

 

There are 7 sacrements: Baptism, Reconciliation(Confession), Eucharist, Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders and Extremunction or Anointing of the Sick. But today I'm going to talk about the Eucharist. The mystery of the Eucharist summarizes the whole mystery of our redemption. Through the Eucharist, we union with Christ who is the source of all grace for us. HOWEVER, the Eucharistic meal can only be prepared in the sacrifice of the Mass and, of course, there are some reasons behind it. I suppose it has something to do with the doctrine of the church itself. I would like to highlight that Eucharist is surely not something for the purpose of symbolism. There is something to do with the spiritual union with Christ. SO, don't surprise if you notice catholic church constantly reminds that only those who practise catholic teachings are allowed to receive Holy Communion(Body of Christ). This Sacrement is holy an sacred indeed. That's why one need to attend certain catechism classes before one is allowed to receive Holy Communion. Of course, there are some arguments out there, disputing about the reason why other christians are not allowed to receive the Communion in catholic church and so forth. In my opinion, one of the reasons would be hoping that the Sacrement will not be taken for granted by the people.

 

We, as catholic, believe that the bread and wine is actually transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ while the Priest consecrates it at Mass. There have been occasions where the consecrated Host changed into human flesh and blood, proving that such things do occur at the Mass. These Eucharistic Miracles not only confirm the Real Presence of Christ but also prove that Jesus Christ remains with us. Here is the link where you can read more about such occassion: <http://www.acfp2000.com/Miracles/eucharistic.html>. Hopefully, with such information, you will be able to understand why I am so serious when it comes to Eucharist and learn to appreciate such a great gift that Jesus Christ has offered to each one of us.

 

There are actually lots of sharings regarding this sacrement. If you are willing to put a little bit more effort, you can easily find it on the internet. In short, I just know that the faith I am practising is rich in its history and beautiful rituals. There are still a lot of things that wait me to discover in my faith. Only when you understand the rituals and teachings, the mass itself will be able to touch the very core of our hearts and transform the essence of our lives. I firmly believe that I would never stray far as long as I keep my faith strong and so do you. God bless~

 

 

 

 

Yoo~ As I said before, I'll be going to share about my trip at Langkawi, Kedah. This is the very first time in my life to leave my carbon footprint on that Jewel of Kedah. In return, the island itself has left some unforgettable memories in my life. I would say that our trip to langkawi is more inclined to adventure one. NO Underwater world, NO crocodile farm, NO bird park. Here it goes.

 

As planned before, ten of us gathered at the KLIA on that saturday morning. Some of them used taxi while others carpooled to reach the airport. Well, we had choosed to use flight since it saves time and less tiring. Don't worry, I'll do some rough calculation in the end of this entry to give you some insights into how much I spent. It took us around an hour to reach there. On the flight, the operator had 'boasted' about the 'highness' of the island. The only thing that I learned about Langkawi from the operator is that the Langkawi has been given a World Geopark status by UNESCO. Of course, I am repeatedly told that Langkawi is a collection of around 100 islands. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the flight as we were served with a packet of peanut that complemented with a cup of fruit juice since we were using MAS to go there.

 

Everything went smoothly until we reached at the Langkawi airport. Guess what? Since the school holidays not yet started during that time, we thought renting cars would not be a problem for us. Ya, it was not that hard to get a car or two there. However, it was hard to find a suitable car with satisfactory rental fees. We were offered a SAVVY and a china-made kancil-size car for RM80 per day. But how is it possible for ten of us to squeeze into such two small cars. NO way, man. If we agreed to rent that car in the first place, don't be surprised if I become smaller in size due to the squeezing after the trip. Haha. Luckily, we don't. We decided to have our lunch first since it was lunch time already and waited to see whether there were other alternatives. We had our first meal in Langkawi at Kenny Rogers. Can you roughly guess how much i spent if I told you that we ate, at least one meal everyday, at the places where the prices of the food are comparable with Kenny Rogers? Haha. Anyway, our patience paid off. In the end, we got a KIA car and a proton wira for around RM100 each per day.

 

We stayed at the Helang Hotel, which is just a stone's throw from the airport. I wish I can stay at Four Seasons Resort or Tanjung Rhu Resort but NO money. Basically, the first day ended without any visiting to any places of interest except we loitered at the Langkawi Fair and had the dinner at Kuah. Of course, for us, the night would always be young until 2 o'clock in the morning. On that particular night, there were some funny things going on. Unfortunately, I can't talk about it here.

 

The second day started quite late due to over-excited in the previous night. Everyone woke up late. We went to the Langkawi Cable Car. It was an interesting ride. However, we were not that fortunate as we were greeted by the mist. Basically, we didn't have the chance to enjoy the nice view of Langkawi for the hilltop. Worse still, it started to rain no long after we reached up there. However, this time, I didn't felt any great disappointment as I always do when it comes to such situation. Perhaps I have got used to this unpredictable situation after the last unsuccessful Redang Trip. Somehow, I felt that it is better for us not to have too much expectations when we travel. Just enjoy it and accept whatever it is. After all, we go to travel is to relax and gain some experiences. After that, we went to Cenang Beach. It was not bad since we all enjoyed the banana-boat ride although some claimed that it could be more exciting than the one we had. At there, we did managed to snap some interesting photos with the sunset as the backdrop. Sorry as I don't have the picture with me now. So, it will take some time before I can share with you all lo~

 

On the third day, we had decided to go for the island hopping instead of the mangrove tour. Of course, there were some disagreements before we came to that decision. For me, it is normal to have some disagreements as long as the friendship grows stronger and we, at the same time, learn how to cope with it. Anyway, I never regretted of going to the island hopping tour and this, of course, doesn't apply to everybody. We embarked on the tour from the jetty. First, we were dropped at the Pulau Beras Basah, which has nothing much interesting in sight. Later, we were brought to eagle feeding. The sight was indeed awesome and magnificent. Seeing the eagles dive for the foods on the water was indeed enough to make one to gasp in awe. Somehow, eagle has always been some kind of elegant animal. I really admire them for some reasons. Before we headed back to the jetty, we were brought to the Pulau Dayang Bunting, where the Tasik Dayang Bunting(Lake of Pregnant Maiden) locates. Believe me, there is one angle of the island that completely resembles a pregnant lady lying flat on the island. Of course, there are other stories and mysteries about the island and the lake itself. The locals do believe that the water of the lake possesses a mystical power that help barren women to conceive. I am not going to judge how true is this statement but to relate more about the coolness and freshness of the lake water. I'm sure you will fall in love with it once you reached there. There are so much unspoken feelings while one soaks oneself in that peaceful ambience of the lake. HOWEVER, I did felt guilty for neglected some of the group members while I myself enjoyed so much. I really feel sorry as this trip, supposedly to be the nicest among all, had turned out to be the worst for his or her. From here, I hope that I have learned something in order not to repeat the same thing again in the near future.

 

In short, there were really a lot of happenings on the third day; both sweet and sour. I had lost my slipper on this fateful day as well. They all assured me that the eagle had took it while we went to the eagle feeding tour. I could do nothing except being speechless and tried to make myself believe it... =.= Haha. Before heading to Tanjung Rhu as the last place to visit of the day, we wandered at the Langkawi Eagle Square and snapped some nice photos for sure. Again, I loved the feeling of sitting alone at the beach while indulging myself in the sea breeze at Tanjung Rhu. This time I had the opportunity to do so as others had gone in sight to take a stroll along the Tanjung Rhu Beach and leaving me behind mercilessly to take care of their belongings. ==" Hahaha. Anyway, I do gain something valueless that makes my 'sacrifice' worthwhile.  

 

On the last night at the Langkawi, the sense of excitements had gone and nowhere to be found. Most probably, we all realised that our trip would come to an end soon. So sad.. haha Everything that is nice always seems to end extraordinary fast or even at breakneck speed. Somehow, this does urge me to appreciate things and friends that are around me more. Soon enough we all will be parting and heading on our own journeys. I believe it would be an emotional parting again. Life must go on no matter what. Memories will always remain as memories. I know this have been a long long post but I still want to jolt it down for my own sake. Who knows, I might want to read it and recall in 10 or 20 years time.

 

Lastly, here is the rough calculation for the money I spent throughout the trip:

Flight ticket: RM 130++ (to and fro)

Car Rental: RM 85 (include petrol for 3 Days ride)

Food and personal expenses: RM 100

Entrance fee and tours: RM 60

 

In conclusion, it is a worthwhile trip after all. So are you moved and wanted to go there as well? Hahaha. It is hard to say whether I'll be going there again for the second time. It all depends. But what I know for sure is that, I'll never be able to be going there with the same group of people again. The possibility for this to happen is nigh impossible. Anyway, I still wish all the best to you all and congratulation for having the patience to read this post until the end... Hahaha

 

Phew~ It had been a hectic semester. I had struggled all the way, just hope that everything would turn out to be fine. Basically, there are a lot of happenings throughout the whole semester, some are sweet while others are heart-wrenching. But I'm still glad of what I have been through. It would be my life-long experiences. Very often, I tried to be as optimistic as I can. I am a human also and there are really a lot things that need me to work on it. Just hope and wish that there is someone mighty and loving would be there guiding me all the way. Lord, I can hardly imagine my life without FAITH. Anyway, I need to apologise if I do sound too formal while writing my stuffs here. It is because practising my english would always be one of the purposes that urge me to write blog. Just bear with me lo.  

 

Last night, I barely closed my eyes for an hour. It is really tiring since I just came back from Langkawi Trip with some of my friends. We stayed there for 4 Days 3 Nights. In short, it was an exciting trip as I get to know people more and, in some ways, foster a better rapport and friendship with them.. And most importantly, I have released all my tension. Anyway, I will share my experiences of my trip soon, hope with some nice photos as well since our trip organiser cum photographer needs to plan for his next trip and most probably he will have no enough time to do the photo editting works, It is just the matter of time. Now, I need to think how am I going to compensate all the sleeping hours that I have owed to my body and mind.. Gosh~ haha

 

Before I end this entry, I would like to share a song that a friend of mine had shared with me. Believe me, it is a nice song. After all, life is full of give-and-take. Have a nice holiday to those that are having holidays; All the best to those who are having their exams. God bless you all~