Thursday, February 28, 2008

another of dad's write-up

BSA – Bad Spellers Anonymous
-------------------------------------

BSA’s La Salle Learning Centre’s Chapter, to date, has only one inveterate bad speller member, Terence Reutens, who feels he is beyond redemption.

Or is he?

While BSA’s very existence stems from the accepted norm for precise spelling, one often chances upon Gems like the following, going against the grain:

i) “English text has been estimated as being between two and four times as long as it has to be for its information content.” - Steven Pinker in ‘The language Instinct”

ii) “Thanks to the redundancy of language, yxx cxn xndxrstxnd whxt x xm wrxtxng xvxn xf x rxplxcx xll thx vxwxls wxth xn “x” (t gts lttl hrdr f y dn’t vn kn whr th vwls r). - Steven Pinker in ‘The language Instinct”

Redundancy and impurity are already embedded in life and taken for granted. So why not bad spelling?

Examples follow:
a) In the human genome one finds a fair number of chromosomes in the DNA redundant or deciphered as gibberish, being evolution’s waste accumulated over generations.

b) Women have the double Y chromosome. Males differ by their X chromosome replacing the Y. To digress, in most species the male is discarded once his functionality is lost. The male does not live as long as the female nor have innate immunity against some congenital diseases. Females have the fallback ability should one Y chromosome become defective or mutates.

c) Engineers always over specify when designing. Example, in the aerospace industry, the built in redundancy and duplication affords a fall back net should any system fail. Remember, what can fail, will.

d) In Civil Engineering, “it is the judicious excess over minimum requisite support…. A good bridge does not crumble when subjected to stress beyond what could have been foreseen.” Quine – Logician.

e) An impurity almost always enhances the original, the trace progenitor. As example, steel with its carbon, magnesium, and other elements, has superior attributes (tensile, shear and torsional strengths) over pure iron and iron’s amenable partner wrought iron.

Likewise over time spelling has acquired redundancies, words have constricted, changed beyond recognition and simplified. For me, the bulk has just remained stoic in archaical pretensions. Being fastidious in precise and meticulously correct spelling takes the fun out of the pun.

Being spot-on in spelling may be desirous, but for heaven’s sake one only needs to be pure of heart, in mind and soul. Life’s more important than a good spelling ability.

For us atrocious spellers – Ça ne fait rien (it really doesn’t matter.)

Ces’t la vie.

From your regular bad speller, Terence Reutens.

lil write up by dad

Discipleship ¨C Skepticism ¨C Revelation
------------------------------------------------
By Terence Reutens

These words describe briefly my journey in discipleship through Bible Study programme.

A true revelation.

Sarah and Theresa approached me after a sunset mass, in the portico of the Chapel of Saints Jacques Chastan and Laurent Imbert, and asked if I¡¯d like to be a disciple through bible study. I was skeptical. Visions of tedious and monotonous study flashed through my mind. The last time I studied the bible was back at school, St. Xavier's Institution, 45 years ago, in scripture class where the Gospel of Saint Luke was forced upon us with unrelenting verse memorizing. For me, Bible Study was just another subject and consequently I approached it the same way I would, the other subjects taught.

This time it would be the same, but on a larger scale; what with 46 Old Testament Books and 27 from the New Testament. What had I taken upon myself??

I was wrong. I soon realized it was a journey. This sojourn touched my human condition for it provided a new perspective from which to read and, in quieter moments, to listen. I now read with curiosity; asking, questioning, studying the assigned weekly passages mapped out. My personal discernment of the Bible is that it is as relevant today as when it was written. As humanity advances, it ironically finds moral, ethical and spiritual situations and dilemmas remain unchanged.

I paid attention to the form of the verse as the meaning exists not only in what was written, but also in the form in which it was written. Our group learnt of the covenant between God and his chosen people. Covenant connotes an agreement entered between two entities constantly needing re-commitment, the re-affirmation of one¡¯s faith. Of Galatians ¨C the pivotal letter setting out the fundamental difference between living by the law and living by Faith.

We allowed the scriptures to speak to us, constantly asking the Holy Spirit help us understand eternal and universal truths emanating from the readings.

Bible study has a collateral effect, in that it forces one, sometimes reluctantly, to be an apologist, a Christian one.

This scrupulous care to preserve the Christian message­. it forces him to face up to the elements in original Christianity which he personally finds obscure or repulsive. He is saved from the temptation to skip or slur or ignore what he finds disagreeable.

The man who yields to that temptation never progress in Christian Knowledge
C. L. Lewis ¨C Christian Apologetics"

The law of love Jesus expounded "To love one another as I love you" has profoundly changed me for therein I find my quintessential Catholic faith. It makes me unique and, like the Christian Community, set apart.

I now have to brave and reach out to those who have heard the word of God but choose not to listen and to those that hunger for the word but can't find it.

I will pour out my spirit all flesh;
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men
Shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions¡±
Joel 3:1

I have seen mine. Have you, yours?


Terry Reutens

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

notes on updates

ok ok ok.. so i've been neglecting my blog..
here's some notes on posts that i should put up (and WILL be putting up):
- work updates - Annual Appraisal
- looking forward for Easter hols back home
*meeting up with TC
- road trip to Putrajaya with TC and Daisy
- makan-makan - Delicious, Yee Sang, some Thai restaurant... etc
- swimming
- stuffs done/modifications to the room

Thursday, February 14, 2008

housewarming

one weekend...(i can't remember now..) my colleague - Noreen invited me and daisy to go for her fiance's housewarming bbq party.... so i thought, hey... daisy and i had nothing else better to do... y not! at least get the chance to know more of kl roads (the hse was in sunway/pj area) and well, maybe meet new friends...

managed to find the place and the hse was a corner lot, it was a bathelor house and surprisingly it was... err... looking new and neat... heard that the landlord painted the whole house just for them and they just moved in... so, guess at the beginning it'll be neat.. hahahah....

we were abit early but there was already quite a number of ppl there... ate first before the crowd came and the BBQ was wonderfull!!! the best BBQ i've ever had.... had to admit that mine would come in 2nd... :( but anyway, there was choc muffins, custard caramel, jelly, spagetthi and punch...

towards later in the night, more ppl came and the place was packed... could easily say about 100 guest! i wouldn't know... noreen's college friends were hilarious though at times i didn't understand what they were joking about because they had the malay slang which i'm not too sure off.. but when they explained it! hahahahha.....

i believe daisy enjoyed herself too...

what's interesting was that me, noreen and her fiance - Wan... we were all in pink!! hahhaha

anyway, thanks noreen for the invite, i had a great time!

delicious..... yummm

here's something i was wanting to write about.... it was that outing i had with rosie pig when she came to stay with me one weekend in kl...
of all days, i brought my camera but WITHOUT the memory card- supergenious uh? and of all days she HAD to bring to one of the best place in town for food... sigh... i was so mad at myself that day! i had a WONDERFUL day, but i couldn't use my camera...
anyway, she took some and made into a collage... thanks babe!




see my matching baju with the colour theme of the restaurant?

big difference

*warning - pointless post - don't bother...
what difference?
the difference between staying in penang and kl.... what's so different? well, i just realised it's the food...
ok, in penang... by the road side, coffee shop, you can get chicken rice... let say RM3.... then if u want high class abit, chicken rice in food court in a shopping mall, RM 4.50 or abit more.... that's like extra 1+ buck more than the normal...
in kl leh? coffee shop type of chicken rice... RM 4+...... and food court shopping mall chicken rice? bloody RM6+ !!!!!!!! tha'ts like nearly double the price i tell u!!!
when i got here to kl... i try not to compare pg prices and kl prices... cause i know it'll be heartbreaking... just like going to singapore or aussie or overseas where u calculate in your head the currency exchange...
but, i had to calculate, that day when i was craving for chinese food... i was just walking around in a mall and thought - hey, lets see if the chicken rice is nice... mana tau... RM6!!! not to say got taugeh and stuff... just chicken, rice and like 3 slices of cucumber... soup also dun have...
i told myself, no more food court shopping mall food... if want hawker food... go to the ACTUAL hawkers!
the difference between going to a hawker place in pg and kl...
in penang, you know where the back lane alleys to park, you know the corners and what's important is that you know WHERE the good food ones are....
but in kl? u have NO bloody idea where the good hawker places are, you don't know where to park, and even if u know where to park, do you know IF you can find a space to park? nnooooooooooo...... so reasons like that... i just eat at home, magee, sandwiches.... lame food... i know i love to cook.. but i don't have the proper utensils and the SPACE and the freedom to cook...
..... stress.......
maybe i should just find a place on my own and live on my own... watdya think?

Happy V Day!

to all my dudes and dudettes...
HAPPY
VALENTINE'S
DAY !
thank you for your friendship and love
thank you for the ups and downs
thank you for the guidance and advise
and thank you for showing me that there's hope out there
without you, i wouldn't be me
muacks!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

dlinkers @ Port Dickson

it happened on the last weekend in jan, the team had acquired some $$$ to be spent for the team, so the organising committee had come up with a 1 night stay at PD! yeay! i haven't been to PD so it was an experience for me.. hehehhehe
being a "sibuk" i offered to marinate a # of pieces of wings for the BBQ and i ordered cuppacakes just for the heck of it... just thought of a good jesture to the team... then the planning of transportation to PD, got two who were staying nearby to follow me, Jismin and Fendi... at least i wouldn't be driving there alone. after work on sat, it was still early, so i went home to rest abit before the drive... fortunately these two kept me awake all the way to PD - thanks guys!

on the way to PD - see the white cooler box - BBQ wings!

the beach at PD is very wide and long... so i didn't really go to the shore to see if the water was can-see-feet water... though from far it seems the sea is blueish-greenish... it was very hot that day... and just before this weekend, i had my tan at tioman.. so the sun-tanning mood was still there! hehehe...

i was enjoying the sun where everyone else was complaining yet being happy to be at the beach... i guess spending 9hrs everyday in the office and air-con just makes everyone deprived of the sun, sand and sea (and sweat!) heheheh...

we had some telematch going on - first it was running up to a plate full of flour and hidden sweets and trying to pick up as many sweets as possible with our mouths - face full of flour, then 3-legged race and finally the "ski" race where you have 4 ppl on 2 planks trying to move from one end to the other end.... so farny!!

flour face!

3-legged race!

ski race

so after the telematches we all rested abit, then headed towards the apartments and cooled down.. we had a fridge full of drinks and drinks! hehehe... some of us slept.. some of us started to get drunk and some of us went swimming in the pool...




while nicely swimming and enjoying the pool, it started to rain, everyone was worried cause if it's raining... where to do the BBQ!!!!! but eventually the rain stopped when everyone went back to change...

what was nice on this trip is that, it didn't feel like a rush to do this and do that... everything was planned so well that we had time to rest, relax, bathe and some even had time to take naps! hahahah....

came about 7pm... the BBQ started....

that's MY marinated chic!



everyone started to eat, goofed around, trying to get each other drunk, chit chat and hung around untill everyone was full, food nearly finished and tired from taking many pictures... the next agenda was karaoke...

some joined some went to sleep, some just... i didn't know what the rest were doing... but i had a jolly good time at the karaoke.. NOT that i sang.. but hearing the others sing... hehehe


me and my Dubai bag! thanks Lynn! :D


i like this pic!

by midnite or so, everyone started to get tired from all the games, swimming and eating and laughing... we all retired to our own apartments to get some sleep... boss has a meeting for us at 11am and breakfast is at 9am....

would you think that EVERYONE would have been ontime for breakfast? NOOOooooo but surprisingly, those who were up LATE karaoke-ing, drinking and getting drunk were ON TIME but... the rest who slept right after the BBQ, came late 1 hr for breakfast... hmm... wonder WHAT they were doing...

so after breakfast... we had our meeting... it was on overall team performance, thanking the agents... bla bla bla.. and what's in the future.... then the trip was over after the group picture..... sigh.. so sad...



PD is a nice place if u know where to go in PD and what is there to do there... if not, u'll be bored... TC said it's a good fishing place... i... wouldn't know.. hahahah

TC - u wanna go PD to fish?

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Happy Rat New Year

Happy Chinese New Year all!
May the RAT bring you
happiness, prosperity and love

this year i won't be eating CNY foods or collecting angpaus from my chinese peeps... cause.. me working.. :( will only be back for Easter in march... though i did come down briefly for the weekend just to see my parents... mum gave angpau... wonder if it's bad luck to give angpau before CNY (but i didn't open it yet heheh)
been wanting to post up my 2 weekend getaways.. but somehow i didn't have the mood to be online and upload pics... but will do it soon, dun worry! hehehhe (and also updates of my dept outing to PD)
... and.. congrats to my beloved cousin for the good news though there wasn't much details about it... but anyhow, i'm so happy for you! *hugz*

Monday, February 04, 2008

Mersing-Tioman-Melaka

TC and i did some how planned for a beach or island quick holiday but didn't really plan where exactly... and since i really wanted to go to Tioman, we decided to go there... we googled and found the routes to take driving there, and we managed to reach Mersing...
we left saturday early morning - estimated bout 5 hrs to get there... and when we did at 8.30+ am we found out that we missed the one and only boat to tioman.. damn.. so.. what the hell to do in mersing the whole day? so near and yet so far... it's the monsoon season so, most of the hotels are closed and boat rides are once a day...

seemed that there's alot of hotels in mersing too... and the journey to those hotels are weird too.. you gotta go through kampung villages, one lane dirt road, passing through paddy fields.. like if there's no signboards you have no idea that there could be a hotel/resort nearby... interesting.. very impresive too!

so we found Fishing Bay Resort and checked in, eventhough it's about 11am.. they checked us in cause it's quite empty and its off peak season - the beach that this resort is on is Pantai Buih... why buih (bubbles) cause when it's mating season, a certain type of crab will start mating and when they mate they make bubbles... so, just imagine the whole beach u see bubbles.. tht's why they call it Pantai Buih... but when we were there.. it's not the mating season... so no bubbles to see

once we've checked in, we walked around the area and saw this bridge out to see, guess it's for fishing.. true enough there were 3 locals trying to fish for something but the whole hr or so we were there, they didn't catch anything... view was wonderful, fishing village type of scene.. so different from the life in the city

Fishing Bay Resort came with breakfast... so cute eh! heheh

so after breakfast we managed to be on time to take the one and only boat to Tioman at 9 something in the morning.. it was packed!!! but we had tickets already so, we have our seats.. the boat is like the boats u take to langkawi so it's good - air con, tv...

the trip there was abit rocky, half way to the island both of us felt sick and knowing TC was a sea-person (who loves the sea) who actually felt abit sick, that shows that the boat was really rocking!

finally we reached the shore and i just fell in love with the water there... its so blue like the sky and TC told me that when it's blue - it's can-see feet water!! i went yeay!!!! finally! hahhaha...

so, we checked in (Berjaya Tioman Beach Resort) , early again and they upgraded our rooms.. heheh cause it was monsoon season and it's off peak.. so double yeay!! and quickly changed and went to soak in the pool first...

i know afternoon sun is bad but i really want my tan.. it's been a while since i had some colour on me.... so soaked abit in the pool and also had lunch by the pool... tht's life isn't it? heheheheh

then after lunch we decided to check out the beach.. wanted to go to another island for snorkeling but we missed the boat - we were having lunch.... so we just strolled along the beach and TC went off alone snorkeling in the middle of the sea... me - still learning to snorkel.... so what i did in the mean time? enjoying the can-see-feet water! .... u know even when i'm chest deep in the sea, i CAN STILL SEE MY FEET!!! yes.. it's THAT clear! heheheh


walk way by the beach - private road in the hotel




the coral and the crabs that stuck to it - TC got it for me :)

after spending the whole day at the beach, i finally got my tan.. and after nearly a month, i still have abit only.. my tan doesn't lasts... dinner was nice, they had the usual in-house band playing, a few hotel guests dining and drinking and just enjoying the holiday and both of us were just quiet enjoying our dinner... hahaha we were sooo hungry!!
slept early as we got to get up early the next morning to catch the 7.30am boat back to Mersing... terrible la... imagine u getting up at 6.30am to pack and get ready to sit on a lil shuttle to the jetty to get on a boat for an hr+ ride to mersing.... sigh....


found out that we could sit at the roof of the boat for fresh air... think if we sat inside, we would get sick again.. but the weather's good, so the ride was not that rocky... slept most of the time cause i was soo sleepy... heheheheh....

when we reached mersing... it was about lunch... wanted to try mersing seafood but somehow ppl there don't really eat lunch so early... in the end we ate their chicken rice... sorry to tell u TC, that, i think it was just so-so... not that great... guess i'm too trained for the Penang taste.. hahaha...

was to go back to KL, but the day was still young and i didn't feel like going home - yet... so i thought hey! y not go to melaka for cendol?!! since it was on the way.... we made the detour and first stop was the Bee Muzium... hahah that was an experience.. didn't know that there was so many types of bees and many types of honey... was quite an interesting find... thanks to TC...


after the bee tour, we headed to jonkers walk and went straight to the cendol place... melaka is HOT... hotter than tioman, hotter than kl and even hotter than penang... and i thought penang was hot! hahahha... we were there for cendol and that's what we got.... didn't do much shopping but it did bring back memories on my trips to melaka....




thanks soo much to TC again for taking some time off to follow me on my holiday cravings... i really appreciate it :D
where to next? hehehehe


for more pics : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26309&l=7b2c6&id=582853661