Tuesday 4 November 2008
My Cats
My cats, "Ah Boy" and "Ah Girl". Yeah, I know, lame name but there wasn't any suitable names when I adopted them. They don't seems to like the name too, response better when being "meow" at. Weird cats...
Tuesday 29 July 2008
Deaf Art Expose 2008
There will be a Deaf Art Expose 2008 coming soon in August (1st - 3rd Aug, 2008), which will be launched by YB Tuan Teng Boon Soon, Deputy Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage Malaysia.
Come and join us if you're looking paintings for home or office, best still, to experience the Deaf world and check out the activities provided by the organizer. An opportunity to mingle with the Deaf!
Come and join us if you're looking paintings for home or office, best still, to experience the Deaf world and check out the activities provided by the organizer. An opportunity to mingle with the Deaf!
Monday 28 July 2008
Interesting cat
Today after grocery shopping, I went to pick up my car. On my way, I saw a cat sitting by the side of the corridor, somewhere near the parking, turn its head 90 degrees and look at a place. I've been observing it because no matter who or what passed by, it doesn't move nor its head move abit! I purposely walk near it to see if it'll move, guess what, even I "meow" at it, it doesn't move at all! Same as its head, keep at 90 degrees, watching at the same spot. I thought it's interesting, look at what it's looking at, it's nothing! I only see road, car, grass... probably my eyes are not sharp enough to see what it sees. First time I saw a cat so concentrated on something that it didn't care what's coming next to it. Too bad I don't have my camera with me, otherwise I would have snap this cat's moment.
It makes me think of my 2 cats back in my home town though...
It makes me think of my 2 cats back in my home town though...
Graduated!
Looking at the certificate, though it's just a basic sign language course, I could not hide my excitement. For now, I'm having basic skill to explore into the Deaf world! 10 weeks to learn the sign language is not a long period, however, the bond and the fun that the course brings are nothing can be described by words.
I still remember the last day's presentation that all of us need to present, most challenging is without words, all done in sign. We created lots of laughter until face and stomach ache!
I missed the time already. But it's not the end, it's just the beginning...
I still remember the last day's presentation that all of us need to present, most challenging is without words, all done in sign. We created lots of laughter until face and stomach ache!
I missed the time already. But it's not the end, it's just the beginning...
Tuesday 22 July 2008
Sunday 6 July 2008
Seriously disturbed...
Today supposed to be a happy day, but I'm seriously disturbed after seeing this:
Bali's ritual slaughter of the magnificent green sea turtle - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e47ez1V_-4
Bali's ritual slaughter of the magnificent green sea turtle - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e47ez1V_-4
Monday 30 June 2008
No grammar in Sign Language?
Last Saturday, I asked my instructor what's the grammar like in Sign language. She told me Malaysian Sign Language is not like English or other verbal language. She gives me an example:
English:
May I know where is the toilet please?
Sign:
TOILET WHERE?
See the difference? The challenge is to tell story with sign so that other party can get a picture rather than "speak" proper sentences with sign. They will not understand if I sign the full sentence with proper grammar. Next week I'm going to tell story with proper signing!
English:
May I know where is the toilet please?
Sign:
TOILET WHERE?
See the difference? The challenge is to tell story with sign so that other party can get a picture rather than "speak" proper sentences with sign. They will not understand if I sign the full sentence with proper grammar. Next week I'm going to tell story with proper signing!
Sunday 22 June 2008
Psalm of Confession by David Chin
He is certainly talented and amazing! Met this fellow friend at a conducting camp back in year 2004, now seen he has done so well in his studies, many congratulations! Well done, David!
Original Composition of David Chin (winner of 2007 Pensacola Christian College original composition contest).
Original Composition of David Chin (winner of 2007 Pensacola Christian College original composition contest).
Saturday 24 May 2008
A blessed wedding...
It's 5pm here and it's raining now. Looking outside the windows, whole scenery somehow turned greyish blue with little brown peach trying to steal the main character of the scene, not too strong, very light brown peach. Wanted to relax under the weather but the smell of the rain isn't the same anymore. Where has the smell of the rain gone? I missed the nice smell of the rain...
This afternoon I went to attend Joshua and Lee Yee's wedding, conducted 3 songs at the church wedding ceremony. During the last song, which is the most difficult one, I accidentally push off the score stand at a Fortissimo part. Definitely not the right time to steal the bride and bridegroom's limelight! But then, somehow the fall of the score stand creates loud bang and caught many attention towards my direction. Got panicky a little, thanks to the pianist, she laughed, that calms me down somehow.
I got back to the beat and continue conducting without the stand and scores. The memorization of the scores eventually put to a test! Choir members are steady. We manage to get to the end of the song smoothly. Phew! Now trying to recall, I didn't know what happened. A choir member told me my hand touched the score and the whole stand just fall off. So, I must have done the Fortissimo stronger than I thought!
Thinking back of my conducting experience, pushing off the score stand is the first time it happened during an actual conducting session. Some might thought that I do it purposely to create more "emotion"! Yeah, actually fortissimo can be quite intense but then ... it's not a bad idea too to be more expressive!
Definitely something to learn... either keep a distance from the stand or make sure I kick the stand real hard so that it fly away! No.. that can be dangerous. My teacher will sure scold me to have such thought! Well, anyhow, I'm glad that another story has added to my conducting life, a good one to laugh at too.
Lastly, I wish Joshua and Lee Yee a wonderful life together and may the life after marriage brings lot of stories that could bless others in their circle of life, continue to shine as a body of Christ...
This afternoon I went to attend Joshua and Lee Yee's wedding, conducted 3 songs at the church wedding ceremony. During the last song, which is the most difficult one, I accidentally push off the score stand at a Fortissimo part. Definitely not the right time to steal the bride and bridegroom's limelight! But then, somehow the fall of the score stand creates loud bang and caught many attention towards my direction. Got panicky a little, thanks to the pianist, she laughed, that calms me down somehow.
I got back to the beat and continue conducting without the stand and scores. The memorization of the scores eventually put to a test! Choir members are steady. We manage to get to the end of the song smoothly. Phew! Now trying to recall, I didn't know what happened. A choir member told me my hand touched the score and the whole stand just fall off. So, I must have done the Fortissimo stronger than I thought!
Thinking back of my conducting experience, pushing off the score stand is the first time it happened during an actual conducting session. Some might thought that I do it purposely to create more "emotion"! Yeah, actually fortissimo can be quite intense but then ... it's not a bad idea too to be more expressive!
Definitely something to learn... either keep a distance from the stand or make sure I kick the stand real hard so that it fly away! No.. that can be dangerous. My teacher will sure scold me to have such thought! Well, anyhow, I'm glad that another story has added to my conducting life, a good one to laugh at too.
Lastly, I wish Joshua and Lee Yee a wonderful life together and may the life after marriage brings lot of stories that could bless others in their circle of life, continue to shine as a body of Christ...
I want to buy his album (if there's any out there)!
Amazing acoustic fingerstyle guitarist from South Korea, Sungha Jung - 11 year old kid!
With or Without You - Sungha Jung
Missing You (Thomas) - Sungha Jung (2nd time)
With or Without You - Sungha Jung
Missing You (Thomas) - Sungha Jung (2nd time)
Sign Language
Few weeks ago, a dinner brought me to meet the RC Deaf Missions Malaysia group at Amcorp Mall. At first I was attracted to the cards that they're selling. A few are in Batiks and very beautiful. All painted by talented Deaf artist. When further chit-chatting with them, found out that they conduct sign language classes as well. I was immediate interested and further find out more about the sign language class. Below is an email replied by one of the Directors of the group:
"The Deaf Tutors will be teaching BIM - which in English means Malaysian Sign Language. A fair bit of Malaysian Sign Language was adapted from American Sign Language. You can never really do away with the historical roots. 60% of ASL has its origins in French Sign Language. Alphabets are the same manual alphabets in most countries except for some differences in for example Japan or India (India uses British Sign Language). I only quoted two countries here but does not mean it is only two countries.
When Malaysian Deaf people meet Japanese Deaf people for example, they too will undergo some language challenges. They get around it by using more visual gestures.
There is one form of international sign language but it is only and usually found when there is an international conference. International sign language or gestuno incorporates some of the signs from each country. But it is not a commonly used language across the world. Yet, Deaf people who come to such large conferences would prefer still their own interpreter because it does not mean that if there is an international sign language, that all Deaf are able to follow.
Language and community and culture go together. There has been an evolution of signs over the past 20 years when Deaf people in Malaysia felt they needed to have their own identity. Singapore uses Signed Exact English. You can get by with BIM in Singapore, and possibly Philippines and of course throughout Malaysia. One point to note is that in the way we speak our national language in KL, the people of Kelantan speak the national language with different phonetics. So, within the countries itself, there will also be differences."
Needless to say, I've signed up for the 10 weeks course. Just like the excitement I have when exploring the underwater world, I'm looking forward to explore the Deaf world.
Check out the website if you're interested to explore in sign language area too. :)
"The Deaf Tutors will be teaching BIM - which in English means Malaysian Sign Language. A fair bit of Malaysian Sign Language was adapted from American Sign Language. You can never really do away with the historical roots. 60% of ASL has its origins in French Sign Language. Alphabets are the same manual alphabets in most countries except for some differences in for example Japan or India (India uses British Sign Language). I only quoted two countries here but does not mean it is only two countries.
When Malaysian Deaf people meet Japanese Deaf people for example, they too will undergo some language challenges. They get around it by using more visual gestures.
There is one form of international sign language but it is only and usually found when there is an international conference. International sign language or gestuno incorporates some of the signs from each country. But it is not a commonly used language across the world. Yet, Deaf people who come to such large conferences would prefer still their own interpreter because it does not mean that if there is an international sign language, that all Deaf are able to follow.
Language and community and culture go together. There has been an evolution of signs over the past 20 years when Deaf people in Malaysia felt they needed to have their own identity. Singapore uses Signed Exact English. You can get by with BIM in Singapore, and possibly Philippines and of course throughout Malaysia. One point to note is that in the way we speak our national language in KL, the people of Kelantan speak the national language with different phonetics. So, within the countries itself, there will also be differences."
Needless to say, I've signed up for the 10 weeks course. Just like the excitement I have when exploring the underwater world, I'm looking forward to explore the Deaf world.
Check out the website if you're interested to explore in sign language area too. :)
Thursday 1 May 2008
Sun Bear
On one of the weekends, I visited the National Zoo, just want to see how a sun bear looks like. Below are some pictures taken by my friend:
Sun bear is the smallest in the bear family and is classified as an endangered and protected species. They can be found in tropical to subtropical regions of Southeast Asia, for example, Borneo, Sumatra, Peninsula Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, and possibly southern China.
When I was in the zoo, I saw other bear species as well, but sun bear is really so small compared to the rest. According to the source, they could grow to approximately four and a half feet in length and average weight is less than 100 pounds. Most of them have a 'U' shape yellowish patch on the chest. In folklore, this yellow crescent is said to represent the rising sun and is apparently the origin of the name sun bear.
They are omnivorous. They eat small vertebrates such as lizards and nesting birds and fruit. They are also very fond of honey. The one I saw in the zoo however, very fond of peeling tree trunk skin. During the time when I visited them, one of it is biting the skin. Few hours later when I go back and visit them again, one of the bears already resting while the other bear still biting the skin. I saw the tree trunk is almost naked! Good jaw muscle and claws. It must be really enjoying its "toy" ... :)
To find out more about sun bear, visit this National Geographic link. Please help save this animal whenever you can.
Sun bear is the smallest in the bear family and is classified as an endangered and protected species. They can be found in tropical to subtropical regions of Southeast Asia, for example, Borneo, Sumatra, Peninsula Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, and possibly southern China.When I was in the zoo, I saw other bear species as well, but sun bear is really so small compared to the rest. According to the source, they could grow to approximately four and a half feet in length and average weight is less than 100 pounds. Most of them have a 'U' shape yellowish patch on the chest. In folklore, this yellow crescent is said to represent the rising sun and is apparently the origin of the name sun bear.
They are omnivorous. They eat small vertebrates such as lizards and nesting birds and fruit. They are also very fond of honey. The one I saw in the zoo however, very fond of peeling tree trunk skin. During the time when I visited them, one of it is biting the skin. Few hours later when I go back and visit them again, one of the bears already resting while the other bear still biting the skin. I saw the tree trunk is almost naked! Good jaw muscle and claws. It must be really enjoying its "toy" ... :)
To find out more about sun bear, visit this National Geographic link. Please help save this animal whenever you can.
Tuesday 29 April 2008
WWF
As a WWF contributor for half a year, initially just thought to contribute monetarily however recently the urge to know more and find out how to contribute by involving in a project physically is getting bigger. Unfortunately, things are getting in the way. Probably it's just a matter of re-priotize priorities in life...
A short introduction about WWF (adopt from the website itself):
WWF stands for World Wide Fund For Nature. It was formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund but adopted its current name to show that it also works on other environmental issues, and not just wildlife.
Check out the How You Can Help, especially Volunteering section.
I couldn't find anything more fulfilling than sharing life with others and help to the best I can while I'm still able to. 2 funerals got me into thinking whether I want to keep it to myself or share it. You probably already know what my answer is...
A short introduction about WWF (adopt from the website itself):
WWF stands for World Wide Fund For Nature. It was formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund but adopted its current name to show that it also works on other environmental issues, and not just wildlife.
Check out the How You Can Help, especially Volunteering section.
I couldn't find anything more fulfilling than sharing life with others and help to the best I can while I'm still able to. 2 funerals got me into thinking whether I want to keep it to myself or share it. You probably already know what my answer is...
Monday 21 April 2008
take me to Asia
Today when update some info on my Facebook account, I saw this ad - Take me to Asia, specifying volunteer work. Out of curiosity, I clicked on it and to my amaze, never thought that there'll be an organization would do such an arrangement - vacation via volunteer work. This is something I've been considering to do! Now, since the channel is already opened, what say you? (this is a question I asked myself) ...
Check it out people, if you're into volunteer work. ; )
Check it out people, if you're into volunteer work. ; )
Monday 31 March 2008
What happened to Malaysia's Taxi system?
I remember those days when I take taxi few years back, they charged at pretty reasonable rate, or follow the meters. Just recently, I found that the taxi driver started to charge at random rate. From a place to another, different taxi's cost could be different up to 100% margin. How can that be?
It seems like nowadays the taxi driver could charge at any price that they want. Even when they're using the taxi meter, at the end of the destination, they'll mark up the price and charge at a higher rate. This happened when I was on my way to KL Sentral early March for an oversea trip. From my house to KL Sentral, the meter says about RM22 but at the end, the taxi driver charge me RM27 instead. Not to mention I have to pay all the toll fees that the taxi driver pass by! When I returned from my oversea trip, take taxi from same place, they charged at RM35!
Some people tells me the taxi driver used to do that to foreigners only, but nowadays, they do it to anyone, and surprisingly, happened in anywhere too. From KL to PJ, not sure about other places, these are the area where you can get taxi charge at random rate. I was wondering what happened to Malaysia's taxi system? Aren't there any cost control on this? This is really putting our country's service to a shame to have such unethical charging just simply the taxi drivers feels like it.
With that, everyone now are encouraged to find out roughly what charging will be from a place to another in order to negotiate with the taxi driver and not to get charge at unreasonable rate. For a local like me that doesn't take taxi that much already feel the frustrating, don't mention those who really need the taxi services. What can we do? Is it something the government could look into?
What do you think?
It seems like nowadays the taxi driver could charge at any price that they want. Even when they're using the taxi meter, at the end of the destination, they'll mark up the price and charge at a higher rate. This happened when I was on my way to KL Sentral early March for an oversea trip. From my house to KL Sentral, the meter says about RM22 but at the end, the taxi driver charge me RM27 instead. Not to mention I have to pay all the toll fees that the taxi driver pass by! When I returned from my oversea trip, take taxi from same place, they charged at RM35!
Some people tells me the taxi driver used to do that to foreigners only, but nowadays, they do it to anyone, and surprisingly, happened in anywhere too. From KL to PJ, not sure about other places, these are the area where you can get taxi charge at random rate. I was wondering what happened to Malaysia's taxi system? Aren't there any cost control on this? This is really putting our country's service to a shame to have such unethical charging just simply the taxi drivers feels like it.
With that, everyone now are encouraged to find out roughly what charging will be from a place to another in order to negotiate with the taxi driver and not to get charge at unreasonable rate. For a local like me that doesn't take taxi that much already feel the frustrating, don't mention those who really need the taxi services. What can we do? Is it something the government could look into?
What do you think?
Tuesday 11 March 2008
Saturday 8 March 2008
Malaysia Election Day - 8 March
Today is my country's election day. I went to the election hall with a blank mind. Until I received 2 sheet of papers with some names on it, and I'm standing in front of a table, covered with box fences. I'm thinking, who should I vote? What do I know about the individual and the party itself? What do I know about Malaysia's politics?
To my regret, I do not know enough to confidently vote anyone. I put down my choice with my limited understanding. After I walked out from the hall, I feel abit regret of the choice I made, "best" still I'm going to stuck with it for 5 years. Great..
Do I want to be more involved as a Malaysian? I asked myself. If so, the next 5 years I should start observe the government, the parties, the politics of this country. Otherwise, if I'm still in Malaysia in the next coming election, I'm going to face the same situation again - simply vote.
That's definitely not going to happen.
To my regret, I do not know enough to confidently vote anyone. I put down my choice with my limited understanding. After I walked out from the hall, I feel abit regret of the choice I made, "best" still I'm going to stuck with it for 5 years. Great..
Do I want to be more involved as a Malaysian? I asked myself. If so, the next 5 years I should start observe the government, the parties, the politics of this country. Otherwise, if I'm still in Malaysia in the next coming election, I'm going to face the same situation again - simply vote.
That's definitely not going to happen.
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