Sticky Post: Pushing the Impossible

(Sticky post means that this post will remain as the first post until the scheduled date and time. All other blog updates will appear below this post. I was exposed to this feature through a fellow blogger. Instructions can be found HERE)

NanoWrimo's Logo

I stumbled across this in Cybermate's Dungeon and thought it's an exciting event. It's the National Novel Writing Month (abbrev. NanoWrimo). Below is the description of the event which I copied from Cybermate (which she extracted from NanoWrimo's website):

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly. Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap.

And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down. As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2008, we had over 119,000 participants. More than 21,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

Under ordinary circumstances, I might just join in the fun. However, this is no ordinary month as I am pushing myself to finish my thesis (and Mr Lethargy's daily visits arent helping!). Therefore, instead of challenging myself to write the novel, I will use it to drag myself over the edge just to graduate this year. And while doing that, I hope to "encourage" Cybermate with her attempt to write (another) novel. So...check back on 30th Nov to make sure we havent gone over the cliff! :D

It is BACK

The annual pepper sauce-dripping, fresh onion-filled, succulent beef patty of Prosperity Burger is BACK! WOOHOO :D Cant wait to sink my teeth into it. Until then, I'm going to keep drooling over the pics and ads! :P

Beyond Hope

Genesis 18

Abraham Pleads for Sodom

¹⁶ When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. ¹⁷ Then the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? ¹⁸ Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. ¹⁹ For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him."

²⁰ Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous ²¹ that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."

²² The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. ²³ Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? ²⁵ Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

²⁶ The LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."

²⁷ Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, ²⁸ what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?"
"If I find forty-five there," he said, "I will not destroy it."

²⁹ Once again he spoke to him, "What if only forty are found there?"
He said, "For the sake of forty, I will not do it."

³⁰ Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?"
He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."

³¹ Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?"
He said, "For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it."

³² Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?"
He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."

³³ When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

Genesis 19

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

²⁷ Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. ²⁸ He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

Such a Time - As This

It has been a tremendously difficult time lately at home. It has been an overwhelming period filled with anger, fear, shock, disappointment. It has been nightmares in my sleep. During the days, I wish to stay in the uni for as long as I can. During the evenings, I dont want to go home at all as the whole house seemed to be exerting negative aura.

Yet, despite all these, God has been speaking in comforting little ways through images and key words. They are (in chronological order):




For personal reasons, I will not elaborate on their meanings here. Perhaps I have done so in my earlier blogs but at this point of time, I dont feel it's necessary to holler about it.

In another event, I was given this verse today. Apparently, it is the verse that came with my birth date:

Hebrews 9:14 NIV
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

This is probably the highlight of my day. The verse seemed to speak directly into the deepest part of my heart.

If you are interested in finding out your verse, visit HERE.

It also reminded me of the verse that came with my name.

Joel 2: 26
You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.

If you would like to find yours, visit the nearest bookstore and see if they sell Christian bookmarks with your name printed and a bible verse attached.

This evening, Amelia and our Philippino friend, Brian, had dinner together. After that, we sent him back to the college where he's staying. In the car, he let us listen to a music clip in his mobile phone. The name of the song is Fly by Jason Upton. My first impression of it was that this is a very free-flow worship - I was quite expecting a conventional verse-chorus-verse song. And I admit, it made me eerily uncomfortable. After hearing the song, Brian told us that it was a vivid recording of angels singing with Jason Upton. Apparently, in certain parts of the song, one can hear other "voices" which Upton and team claimed to be of an angel. Immediately when he said that and re-played the music clip, I felt a chill running down my whole body. As I type now, I still feel powerfully uncomfortable and afraid in a haunting way. Back home, I searched the story up and found some references to it. You can listen to the song with the lyrics HERE. You can listen to one of the recording team testify HERE. You can also read more about Jason and his encounters HERE. Honestly speaking, I am feeling more disturbed than peaceful.

For all the the events happening, expected or not, they have succeeded in getting me shivering and trembling from the surface of my skin to the inner part of my bones. The pouring rain is not helping.

It's just one of those times...except this time, life seemed to be at its bleakest.

Light A Candle - Avalon

The New Currency

I saw this in a blog I happen to visit and thought it's really a creative piece. However, through history and experience, we all know that utopia doesnt exist.

Disclaimer: this entry is in no way supporting the alcohol beverage that the advertisement carries.

Yesterday and This Morning

On Monday morning, I was told that I was asked to attend a course on Tuesday. Apparently the letter arrived on Friday but I didnt check my post-box because we were so enlightened by the PM's wife visiting our faculty that evening. Anyway, I found a thick letter which contained a letter that stated I have to attend a QMS (Quality Management System) or otherwise known in the Malay language as SPK (Sistem Pengurusan Kualiti). This course is organized to help us understand the procedures involving the Standard MS ISO 9001: 2008 (scary-sounding title, isnt it?).

Anyway, so we went with the campus bus to Ayer Hitam Reserve Forest in Puchong Saujana which was considered the only virgin forest still available in the Klang Valley. I'm sorry that it's not open to the public as it's owned by our Forestry Faculty and only staff and students of the university are allowed to enter for research and other official purposes. It's a nice and cozy place with two office chalets and three dorms. Each dorm has 16 beds (I didnt go in and check them out because I was afraid I wouldnt be able to resist the beckoning bed which may result in my missing of the second half of the course). There were also walkways and lamp posts which looked somewhat like the one in the Chronicles of Narnia.

Upon reaching the place, we were first fed with breakfast (#1 rule in Malaysia: feed us well and we'll be more than happy to comply to almost anything). Full and satisfied, we proceeded to the training room for the courses which included Quality Manual, Compulsory Procedures, Support Procedures, RMC Procedures, Document Control Procedures, Record Control Procedures and Journal Publishing Application Guidelines. Some of the things we learned:

i) ISO stands for International Organisation for Standardisation (founded during WWII)
ii) SIRIM stands for Standard & Industrial Research Institute Malaysia
iii) NCR stands for Non-Conformity Report (ie. you have broken the rule BIG TIME!)
iv) We are to fulfill 7 days of courses / training every year
v) Renewal of contract must be made 3 months before it expires

In order to obtain ISO certification, an institution / organization has to comply to SIX compulsory procedures which involves Document Control, Record Control, Internal Audit, Product Non-Compliance Control, Corrective Action and Preventive action.

Of course there were many more issues that were discussed which may be P&C and hence, they will not be exposed here. For a 1 day 5 talks course, we were given a bag which contained a stack of papers almost as thick as a bible. Overall, it's a very eye-opening course to the procedures involved and the only conclusion I have come up with is that official matters a COMPLICATED! But that's where the colours of life comes from. :)

When we finally arrived at the campus (I totally slept off in the bus and another participant had to wake me up when we reached the faculty), I took a 1 hr breather before heading off to the library and then travelled to KL. This morning, as I travelled back to campus, I noticed one of the stickers on the train's window that went (translated from Malay language) "My sons are Gerard, Torres and Keegan. Family name Sivaramakrishnan". That tells you how POWERFUL the influence of football is in our country; it's almost like a cult.

And that wraps up the news for yesterday and today. Here's wishing everyone a productive and fulfilling day ahead as I prepare for a meeting tomorrow and contemplate to send in my Notice of Thesis Submission Form.