Wedding Report and More

Oh Yeah! Back from Jon and Jen's wedding and no time to post a report, until now. This is more of a photojournalism kinda thing. Enjoy:)

We left for Langkawi on friday afternoon on March 7th from the old subang airport(terminal 3), to take MAS Firefly. The guys were fascinated by helicopters, observe Eu-jynn.
The girls were mostly not bothered(Haha, that's an exaggeration), actually we were all trying to kill time before the flight. These pix were taken after we checked in already.
Got a chance to take a picture with my housemates...

We're ..Leaving on the jet plane, the extremely tiny jet plane. Above pix shows Gloria and Esther and Jeremy (a.k.a. the wedding planners), holding the cupcakes that got into some trouble with customs.Check out Soon Yen's pose in the bottom pix lar!(i just had to put this picture). We wedding guests filled up half the plane.

Arriving at Langkawi airport. Ellen seems to have something to say...Hmm?



Managed to capture this really sweet moment while walking behind Xiao and Judah(a.k.a. Mr.and Mrs Cheah, who are celebrated their anniversary in january)
That night all the girls gathered to give Jen a Hen's party (what's that? Ans:It's like a bachelorette night) The guys were in the next room with Jon.

Yes, laugh now, you never know what will happen next....Like having to see your future husband in ..ok..let's not say it.

Yea..that's right, chained together for life.The next morning (eh..wedding day already) a bunch of us went island hopping.The package included 3 islands, and a really wet boatride.First stop: Pulau Dayang Bunting

There was a fresh water lake there and we took some time out to go splashing and walking on this wooden walkway surrounding the lake.

As the pictures prove, Ellen has major phobia of wooden walkways, so we had to perform 'refugee rescue' when getting her off it. In her head, they're as scary as hanging bridges. Don't ask..just accept. Sometimes God gives us weird friends to make our lives more colourful, ne?Haha. We love u Ellen.

Amy was busy taking pictures..of trees. (Bottom pix courtesy of LamyLong)

The boatman took us afterwards to see the pregnant lady that gave the island its name. In my opinion, she's not pregnant lar..just maybe have some weight issues,that's all.(so bad)

2nd stop was Pulau Singa to feed the eagles, but couldn't get any good pix. The birds were too fast. 3rd stop was Pulau Bras Basah. The beach was super beautiful, water crystal clear, sand was white and clean.Couldn't resist it, so I went swimming in my T-shirt and shorts, and let myself dry out in the sun before heading back.

To prepare for the wedding....

Beautiful. They had it in Frangipani Beach Resort, 4 star place. Obviously not where we stayed. Couldn't afford to stay in places like these.Managed to catch the nervous groom offguard before the ceremony. All of us had to be on duty either as usherers or etc. I was doing doorgifts.Do you so and so, take so and so...Check out the natural sunset backdrop.This is one wedding I almost cried. I said almost.You may now kiss the bride..Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mr and Mrs Jonathan Yap.*applause*
Even Charis was having a good time. Thank you Lord it didn't rain until the ceremony was over. They shifted us indoors for the wedding reception. The staff were very efficient, they ta-paued all the chairs, tables, whatnot in a flash to the indoor hall.We actually wanted to capture Pastor. D drinking booze, but too late, he put the glass down already.

Jasmine sick of her job.Wants to murder collegue. Poor thing wasn't even given a break when her boss gets married*sigh*You know you're a workaholic right, Jas?

Anyway, we went back to our hotel right after the reception in order to follow the latest results on the election. Stayed up until about 2am to learn that my hometown constituency is back to DAP after 5 years.Leaving Langkawi on Sunday afternoon.Jacky wishes he was flying business class. So do the rest of us.Managed to get this pix of Penang island as we flew over it. Penang had just fallen to DAP at this time.

So that's it . A weekend in pictures.

Life's Never Boring

Heya, We're back from CNY break and I still feel sluggish and unproductive. The 12th Malaysian General Elections are coming up and my name is on the electoral roll, meaning I can vote for the 1st time. However, amy got this on her car which we(my housemates and I) car-pooled to church last Sat.
Eh,Saman...? Upon closer inspection....

Ya..............the date is 8th March.........oh No.

Actually, we already knew about the wedding since September last year, so when Pak Lah announced the polling date,...what a disappointment.*sigh*.

I've decided to go to the wedding, even though I really really am wanting to vote. For these reasons

1) Jon and Jen only get married to each other once. I can still vote in the next General Elections.

2) Already bought our flight ticket to Langkawi on March 7th. MAS does not give refunds.

3) Hotels have been booked, transport in Langkawi has been booked..you get the picture.

Here's the back of the wedding invite, which is a sunset beach affair by the way:

Life will never be boring when you have housemates who take afternoon naps like this: (She's not posing, she's really sleeping)

And a god daughter who's a cutie:Plus YUI songs to drive home to:

YUI has done some marvelous duets. She's here with Tokunaga Hideaki (Song:Sogsugyo Shashin live on Our Music Sept, 2007)


And another one with Sugo Shikao in 2006 ( Yozora no Mukou or Beyond the midnight sky.

That's it for now. I suppose I'll write again after Langkawi. By the way Yune,

the retreat pictures CD is empty. Error in burning perhaps?

Bullied and Bludgeoned

These few days have been difficult. Some things have been happening that dragged my spirit down, and made me ask why this world is so unfair...
but then, I know the answer..
In our weakness He is made known.In our sorrow, The Truth will shine brighter.
That the answer. So simple. Should have known it at once.

Yaa..2 weeks ago UPM CG from Tertiary Students Fellowship went to Golden Sands PD for a retreat. I hope to post pictures soon (Yune is hording all of them). We also took some crazy videos on Sat night. They're being edited by Jasmine at the moment.

Also right now I'm plodding through the book "Why I am A Christian: Leading Thinkers Explain Why They Believe" edited by Norman Geisler.deals with difficult questions in our lives(e.g. is there a God? Why do Christians claim to have the ONLY truth? What about evolution, isn't it proof that there's no GOD?)It's very profound, deep and makes me think all the more harder.Basically, its a collection of testimonies, but like I've never seen before. The contributers are academicians, and therefore there is Philosophy strewn all over the place. I've never been a humanities student, so the terms they use makes reading really hard. My only comfort is that the rest of the TSF leaders are also plodding through the book with me. CG for the coming 3 months will be based on this book.Already there has been many theoretical,difficult questions coming up among the students last Sat when we did our sneak peek CG session.

Currently reading:
Chapter4-Why I'm not an atheist.(the most difficult chapter. What are plausibility gambits?)
Chapter 5- Why I believe God exists.


I'm personally glad that TSF has adopted the vision of going deeper into the word, and not stick to all the superficial stuff. Here is something really solid. I'm really into the idea of not practicing dependant religion (where we only listen to the Pastor preach and accept everything he says). We must begin to educate ourselves and start to think.

Fighting! Gambate! Lets complete this!

Something interesting:
My favourite ~YUI is sometimes a real punk rocker chick. Check her out having fun on stage (At her tour concert last year)



She's getting more comfortable and better at live shows.Her voice used to shake and go out of pitch all the time. This is Highway chance( Isn't she cute when she screams?) Haha.



However, most of the time she sounds more like this:( She only goes into the punk thingee once in while, when the inspiration hits her.)

Listen: Can you hear her say "I want to fry whale?"
Hahaha
Its actually "I want to fly well". It's a YUI habit to scatter english phrases all over her songs. But the thing I like about asian artists, and why I like her particularly is because her lyrics are so encouraging. It's always " I wanna move forward" " I won't give up" " From here on its a straight road" " I can change my life".
You hardly ever find that in western artists today. I find a lot of them very self-absorbed and pessimistic.
One of the most emotionally honest things Yui has sung is "TOKYO" ,written when she had to leave her hometown of Fukuoka for the big city after she signed a deal with SONY Japan.(ps-She grew up in a single parent home like me. Maybe dat's why I can relate. She had to drop out of High school due to finances and signed herself up for guitar and song-writing classes before she auditioned for Sony)

Favourites

Helloo.. Here is Michelle's picks for favourite songs over the past year(in no particular order)

1) Songs by YUI (~Life is my no1, but here's another nice one as well)


YUIs' rather versatile.The following one is an instrumental she wrote.


2) Songs by Uverworld(not all, but D'Technolife and Colors of the heart particularly)



3) From the Inside out (Hillsongs, Australia)


4) Lingkupiku (Indon version of Hide me now)

As for the best stuff I've seen this past year:

- Nodame Cantabile

-Coffee Prince

- Bleach

Ha.. Yes, that's THE list of best pastime killers.

What 'bout you?

True beauty.

Its a new year, time to leave the past behind.Stand up, brush away the dust and get on with life. Yes, Father, I know its not going to be easy.Your love keeps me going. I thank you because you've kept me even though I've dissappointed You time and again.
Who am I, that you take time to invest in my life? But You do it anyway. You are God. You could easily do anything for yourself.You can raise up rocks to sing your praises if you like. You don't need me at all. Nothing I can do for you is of any value, and nothing I can give you, you cannot create by yourself.

Yet You choose to keep me. You're awesome.

On a lighter note:
I'm currently listening to Han Hong, a chinese tibetan singer. She's not your typical slim, pretty little thing. But her voice is like drops of gold. The first time I heard this, my eyes were wet.



In celebration of the truly beautiful, this woman is an original.



The TSF leadership's getting bigger becuse of all the little additions last year.
Top: l-R, Soon yen holding Joshua Rohan Zhu-tian, Mel holding Charis, Ellen holding Tiffany and Q(arlene)








Bottom: my god-daughter Charis Selvyna Raj

Pinecones for my rainy days

The end of another semester is here, and Christmas is coming. I'm moving to Sri Petaling next month. There are many changes. My friends help me pass them and push through another season. Thank you fellow singing pinecones for helping to ease the tension that comes with the end of the year, where there are so many datelines and expectations. I will never say I cannot or I don't have any abilities,or I'm tone deaf, or not musically inclined. I will continue to believe that I have what it takes to go through. We will be ok, we'll work harder and remember our parts. Christmas is the time....may the Lord use us to His glory, to bring the real message of the season.

Currently listening to: Life~ a single by YUI


as well as Rolling Star, best heard live


Both of these singles were the closing and opening of Bleach, respectively. I like her because she's fresh and she's all about the music, not the gimmicks,not the image, not the sex.