Not Over Yet

With only a few days before the New Year, most shoppers are probably done with their pre & post Christmas shopping. Some shops are looking rather empty on the shelves while some are still quite packed! As usual, we don't normally do our dash during Boxing Day due to the large crowds and long queues. It's not like we desperately wanted to buy anything but with so many things happening in December for me this year, more new things just come to me! It's not over yet!

Yesterday, we went to the Cantonese service in Crossway Church at 11am. It's Ok, fairly sized congregations but I think most of them are away on holidays still. Seen their creativity in promoting an outing trip and also wishing people a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year (they made a matrix like video of people playing table tennis!). It's a mixture of young and old, typical church settings. Can see from their body language, they yearn to be like their English counterpart which has the largest congregation size in their church. The good thing is, they are not just sitting there waiting for miracle to happen, they actually put an effort to it to be better. Not for themselves, but to be better to be able to bring the good news to the world.

After the service, Yuen Li went to do some shopping herself. She shopped for like 4 hours in Westfield, unbelievable! When I went to pick her up, I was expecting a few large bags where she would struggle to pick up, who knows it's only 2 bags. Should I say, Thank Goodness?! Anyway, she's been thrifty so I wasn't too worried about her spending unnecessarily. She bought me 2 new business shirts because she knows mine are mostly old or too "dull".

Anyway, today is my turn to do my shopping. Not that I have many on my shopping list. I went to MSY for their Nth Melb store opening to get myself some nice IT stuff. I bought a 1TB hard disk and a Microsoft Keyboard + mouse! You know what amazes me? The time I spent there! Not 30 mins, 60 mins but 1.5 hours!~! It's not because I'm browsing through the shelves, it was the waiting time! My gosh!! I had to queue outside the shop before I could get in the shop! It wasn't THAT many people but mainly the shop only open 2 counters to serve people. Not very smart? Normally, people would go in, know what they wanted, then pay for it. It just happens that we have a lot of people asking silly questions! Bugger!
Then I went to Smith Street to get myself a new sport shoes. Went to Adidas, Converse & Nike. My 3 must see shops. In the end, I bought a Nike Lebron V Low. I was going to buy the Air Jordan XX2 (on right) but it wasn't on special! Arghh~! I kinda like that shoes! It has my size as well~! The price is $180.00 so bugger it, can't afford it. Another pair of Air Jordan V that I saw, liked it, on specials BUT no size! Grrrrrr.. I like Air Jordan not because of the brand but because of the comfort and my feet doesn't hurt as much when wearing them. My current Air Jordan lasted me for about 4-5 years now, not bad :) By the way, Lebron V was on special 40% off, so i got it for $84 :) It's worth it ;)


So I spent a total of $263.00 today for the stuffs I bought. Will it be the last for 2008? Maybe, maybe not. Check out the reason why below.

When installing my new hard disk into my PC box, the power supply keeps cutting off after 1 sec. I guess it must be overloaded! Oh No!!! I knew I had some PSU problems previously because each time I add an USB device to my PC, after few seconds or minutes the PSU will overload and shut off. I totally forgotten about it when I bought my 1 TB hard disk! So, I guess I still need to buy a new PSU for my box. Just checked online, it's going to costs me about $134.00. I'll probably buy the Coolmaster Real Power 550W.

There goes my plan of upgrading my PC in 2009. New PSU, new hard disc, new keyboard, new mouse already~! I guess I might need to postpone my upgrades to 2010/11 unless I hit a jackpot or something (I wonder how someone can win if he doesn't buy those things? Found a ticket on the floor? Hmm)!

In the mean time, I just have to stick with my PC which has gone through a few major surgery: Brain (CPU upgrade to C2D, Body structure (Motherboard -actually a downgrade, previous MB damaged so replaced with cheap ones), and eyes (My 256MB display card damaged, replaced with in board graphic card - sucks!).

PIP

One of the greatest 50 players of all time, one of the most versatile player ever. However, today one of his record in the Bulls franchise just got broken.

Ben Gordon made three 3-pointers in the first quarter on Saturday night against the Atlanta Hawks to pass Scottie Pippen and become the Chicago Bulls' career leader in 3-pointers.Pippen made 664 3-pointers in 856 games with the Bulls.

Gordon, playing in his 346th game with the Bulls, began the night with 663 3-pointers. He had 15 points in the first quarter and made all three attempts from behind the arc.

Pip needed 856 games while Ben just needed 346th! Hmm...That's even less than 50%!
Ben greater than Pip? Well, in terms of 3 pointers yeah but in general, I think still far away!

MSY - Nth Melb

North Melbourne (CBD) Opening Special Promotion

These 50 Special Promotion Items last for 29th , 30th , 31st 2008 3 days ONLY

Limited 2 (Max. QTY) Per Customer Per item Per day. While Stock Last!



Printer
Lexmark Z1300 Colour Inkjet Printer $15
Up to 22ppm Black and 16ppm Colour Printing
Borderless Photo Prints up to 5"x7"

Memory - Retail Packing
TEAM 1GB DDR2 800 RAM $13
TEAM 2GB DDR2 800 RAM $23
G.SKILL NT 1GB DDR2 800 RAM $15
G.SKILL NT 2GB DDR2 800 RAM $23
G.SKILL NT 4GB KIT (2X2GB) DDR2 800 RAM $48
Kingston 2GB DDR2 800 RAM $28
Kingston 4GB KIT (2x2GB) DDR2 800 RAM $51
Kingston 2GB DDR2 SODIM Notebook RAM $28

Boxed CPU
AMD 5200+ Boxed CPU $79
AMD Phenom x4 9550 Boxed CPU $189
AMD Phenom x4 9950 Boxed CPU $275

Hard Disk Drive
Western Digital 320GB SATA Hard Disk $64
Western Digital 750GB SATA Hard Disk $105
Western Digital 1TB SATA Hard Disk $154


Flash Products-Retail Packing
Kingston 4GB Flash Pen Disk $11
Kingston 8GB Flash Pen Disk $22
Kingston 16GB Flash Pen Disk $42
Kingston 4GB SD $10
Kingston 4GB Micro SD $10


Keyboard-Retail Packing
HP PS2 Keyboard $5
Samsung SWT1000 PS2 Keyboard $7
Microsoft Retail X6 Sidewinder Keyboard $69
Desktop (Keyboard + Mouse)-Retail Packing
ASUS Retail KM-63 Desktop (USB Keyboard + USB Mouse) $15
Microsoft Retail Desktop 500 $19
Microsoft Retail Desktop Business Hardware Pack $25
Microsoft Retail Desktop 1000 Cordless $35
Microsoft Retail Desktop 3000 Cordless $45
Microsoft Retail Desktop 7000 Cordless $91



Mouse-Retail Packing
Samsung Pheomax SPM-710B PS2 Mouse $6
MSI ES-101 STAR MOUSE - Laser Mouse $10
Microsoft Retail 1000 Comfort Optical Mouse $12
Microsoft Retail 3000 Comfort Optical Mouse $16
Microsoft Retail 3000 Wireless Notebook Mouse $22
Microsoft Retail 4000 Wireless Notebook Mouse $28
Microsoft Retail 7000 Wireless Laser Notebook Mouse $49
Microsoft Retail X5 Sidewinder Laser Mouse $49
Microsoft Retail Mobile Memory 8000 Laser Mouse $59
Microsoft Retail ARC Wireless Mouse $69
Microsoft Retail Bluetrack Mini. Mouse $69
Microsoft Retail Bluetrack Explorer Mouse $89



WEB Camera-Retail Packing
Web Camera with Night Vision $9
Microsoft Retail Lifecam VX500 Web Camera $18
Microsoft Retail Lifecam VX7000 Web Camera $59


Power Supply-Retail Packing
A-POWER 650Watt. Single Fan Power Supply $17
A-POWER 720Watt. Dual Fan Power Supply $25
A-POWER 860Watt. Tri. Fan Power Supply $32
Asus Z-45FP Power Supply $44


Internet Headset-Retail Packing
A-POWER Singleside Headset $5
A-POWER Stereo Headset with Volume Control $8

====================================================================
(Business Hours : Mon-Fri 10:30am-6:30pm Sat. 10:30am-2:00pm)
(Melway Ref. 43 D5 or 2A G9 - where the old IT Supermarket shop is)

653 Queensberry Street
North Melbourne VIC 3051 Australia

Tel : (03) 9328 2029, (03) 9328 2377 Fax : (03) 9328 3523

Where's The Good Samaritan?

The Chronicles Of The Puppet Master

To celebrate my 100th post in this blog, I'll be summarizing how 2008 has been for me. It's just a coincident that the 100th post is so near to the end of 2008. No better time to look back and evaluate on what I've been through in 2008.

Financially
The year of the Rat also the first animal sign of the Chinese zodiac, promises the following:

In the "Year of the Rat", we can expect 12 months of plentiful opportunities and prospects not to mention being relatively free of turbulence, (which is great to know especially if you're planning on making some long-term investments, starting new projects, or keeping the home fires burning brightly).

Surely enough there were lots of opportunities that existed or missed by me. Done quite a bit of first time investing in currency, shares, properties, etc. There're all long term investments anyway so not reaping anything anytime soon. However, the last 1/4 of the year was not without turbulence as the world economy collapses and might last well into 2010 before it recovers! Nonetheless, as previously stated before, crisis also bring opportunities along. So, I'll be looking for more opportunities in the years ahead. Looking for business partners as well, anyone interested? :)

By the way, I don't believe in all those zodiac stuffs nor am I superstitious!

Church LCEC
Anyway, in my church I guess is where all the dramas are. I started out as the Chairperson, trying to bring some changes and reforms as we desperately needed them. Met with quite a few large oppositions as we all know, human are against change most of the time. So, I voluntarily gave up the position to be just a normal member to avoid more "confrontations". A lot of unexpected things have happened for the church as well. For good or bad, it's too early to tell. Nonetheless, my efforts and sacrifices are not totally wasted though for some people, they might think I've over-reacted. Someone also labelled my movements as "Shawnism". Ha Ha!
Gospel Camp 2008
Have led a bunch of young kids in organising the Gospel Camp for 2008 as well. I think it should be one of the most successful one ever as we had about 20 or 30 (can't remember now) non christian friends with us in the camp. Also, we had a few that accepted Christ in the camp. By the way, my role was an advisor in the camp. Maybe I advised too much in some sense, other leaders who are not in the camp committee felt like I'm the puppet master controlling the minds of the young kids! Ha Ha! Nonetheless, all credits due to those young boys and girls who spent about 12 months preparing for it. Hats off! :D Are they ready for the next BIG one? 2013?
Work
After a year in the Hawthorn Office, I feel like it's time to move on to greater challenge in work. I heard about Micasa8 coming online in 2009, so I thought I might give it a try! Most people would have preferred Hawthorn as it's less busy and more relaxing! However, I know the directions I'm going and where God wanted me to be. So, City here I come! Finally move to the City office around December 2008. It has only been less than a month, but I'm loving it! I had to give up an hour's sleep though! All worth it~ :)

Spiritual Life
The 11/12 months of 2008 has been a great year for me. Spiritually growing with minor setbacks. However, December has been really slack for me. I hardly read the bible or talk to God. I don't really know what He wants me to do in this month. Not that I asked Him anyway :P Maybe I haven't adjusted to my new lifestyle working in the City as it can be very tiring. Or perhaps because of all my prayer group members have gone back to Malaysia? It's hard to be one man standing these days! Was hoping to end 2008 on a high note but I guess a streak must end somewhere, and it just ended right before the year ends.

However, I know I'm ready to make a comeback. My determination and love for God should be able to overcome my laziness & slackness. Looking forward to another breakthrough in 2009. Had some plans in mind, now I just need to organise it with a few friends and we should be able to do more things for the people in the City of Melbourne!

Conclusion
There're so much more that I can share but I thought I better keep it short. Some of my 2008 memories can be found by reading this blog.

Anyway, if you asked me, what would I change if I can go back into time? Probably I'd say....I'd be more firm in my decision making as the chairperson to avoid the mess that has happened today.

2009 here I come!! Before that, I'll be going away on the 30th Dec to 1st Jan, so won't be posting anything then.

Micasa8 Preview

Due to popular demand, here you go...some actual photos of Micasa8. Please note the building is still in constructions! So, the photos are not perfect.


















All apartments have doubles bed except 2 of them. All have flat screen TV with free satellite channels! The building also has a theatre room for students to use.

The photos is taken from a standard apartment, about 23sqm.

Season's Greetings

Ho Ho Ho~! My break officially started on the 24th at 12 noon. It's hardly we ever finish on time on the 24th, as over the years, we normally worked till 3-5pm! Nonetheless, this year has been better, probably thanks to the email server which went down on the 24th! So, I only had 3 emails from previous day! Woo hoo!!

On my way back to Box Hill after work, along Alexandra Parade while waiting at the lights, I felt something hit on top of me. Well, on top of my car to be exact! I thought it was some drunk dudes playing games spilling beers on top of my car. Then again, 12.30 pm seems too early for drunk people! After a while, I just realised it's bird's shit! Argh~~~~ How lucky I am!! Quite a big one too~! Must a be a big bird. I just looked through my side window, the shit just melting down & down. Once I got into the freeway, the 100km/hr force push some of it sideways too!


Today we went to Crossway Church as previously mentioned. It's only a 5 minute drive from my place. Was expecting a large crowd as Crossway is a big church, but parking was ample which is always good. Nonetheless, the auditorium was a full house! The last time I went there was for the Stream of Praise concert few years ago. Also met a friend whom I haven't seen since I last work in Prime Estate International! His name is Kar Seng. He has his own accountant business here in Box Hill. Very honest guy! So, those who are looking for a honest accountant or audit, do look for him. His office is on 17 Market Street, Box Hill! :D
Crossway also raised fund for Symbiosis work in Bangladesh. Their aim was to raise $200,000 today. The offering was collected during the Christmas Service, people can donate via credit card, cheque or cash. Within 45 minutes or so, they have already reach $150,000+. Amazing! Some people are not too impressed as we all know Crossway is a big church with strong financials. However, let's not forget the donation comes purely from the congregations on the spot (if I'm not mistaken!). Say we have about 500 attendance today, that's about $300 per person! In times of poor economic state, it's still quite impressive if you asked me! Apparently, this is one of their cultures. Each year during Christmas, there'll look for a non profit organisation and support their works in less fortunate countries. Keep it up, Crossway!

Anyway, preparing for potluck dinner tonight. While cleaning up, I saw some ants! They're really hardworking! Working to steal my stuffs even on Christmas day!! By the way, the white stuff is actually to kills the ants, they eat it, bring it to their nest and KABOOM!! Like a timebomb :D

I think we're going Mount Dandenongs tomorrow? Weather forecast tomorrow is 29 Celsius, just hope those annoying flies will stay away!

By the way, can anyone guess where this picture is taken? ;)

My Update

I know a lot of people have been wondering where have I been for the past week, no posts, hardly on MSN, just basically nothing. Well, I've been extremely busy and tired most nights. After I get back from work, I just have dinner then sleep (sometimes forgot dinner!).

Micasa8 just launched last week and I had to be there for inspections almost daily from 4pm to 6pm on average. The response for the building is very good, in fact beyond our expectations! At the moment, I would say the building is near 2/3 full! Considering that open for inspections just started last week, to be accurate 7 days only, we had more than 130 applications already! The numbers just increases by the hour! I don't dare to imagine how will my email inbox looks like after the Christmas break! On daily average now, I get about 80+ which is considered Ok, not too many.

Anyway, I know some people who did search for Micasa8 on google will get to my blog. If you're thinking of applying, please fill in your application in FULL! Attach all relevant documents (student card, bank statement and copy of your passport)! Get parental guarantee (yes, it doesn't matter if you're 30+ or 50+ years old! It can be guardian or spouse or next of kin). Most importantly, don't annoy me!! I'll process your application ASAP, in fact, the average processing time for a complete application is less than 30 minutes on average! ;) Just checked with those who submitted how long before they get a pre-approval from me. If you annoyed me, you'll be waiting, waiting & waiting! Show me that you're a responsible person before you tell me you're going to be a responsible tenant!

Talk about waiting, I'm still waiting for my full set of stationary? Hopefully I get it in the first week of Jan! Oh well, at least she got me nice hot chocolate powder & full cream Pura Milk for now! :D
Ok, enough about work.

Haven't been involved in church much. Mainly no time. Didn't join the Christmas Carols as well, not sure how it went? Didn't hear any news about it. This Christmas I'll be going to Crossway Church in Burwood East. Hope to see something different there.

For the weekly gatherings, not sure if i'll join.......the person leading seems :S...ermm....anyway, maybe I'll use "tired" as an excuse not to go! Waiting for the fresh start! Time come to me, quick!!

Just need to work half day tomorrow and will be off until 5th Jan! Hopefully can make full use of the holiday :)

Keep you guys updated!

How To Save

Never before have we seen so many stuffs on the market that we can buy. So many choices, so many varieties, so many temptations, etc. In times of recession or poor economic state, it's often wise to save. However, it's wiser to have save before hand!

Someone once said, "It's better late than never!", however, most people forgot the last part of the sentence, "but it's best not to be late!". So for those who hasn't been saving much throughout the years before recession, let me share some of my tips in savings. :P

1. Groceries
   - Buy things that you need only.
   - Buy things on discounts or marked down only
   - Always look for "buy 1 get 1 free" or similar
   - Buy in bulk if cheaper
2. Electronics
   - Compare prices among major stores (Harvey Normal, Clive Peters, etc)
   - Buy things on discounts
   - Exchange things from credit card points (I have 2 digital cameras, Ipod, few cooking equipments, etc from it!)
   - Always get "extended warranty" where possible
   - Try EBAY but not 2nd hand items!
3. Misc
   - Met tickets: pre-purchased, especially stock up for 2009! Prices will go up again
   - Mobile phones: Optus prepaid is pretty good (lots of free calls, my credit almost go untouched each month!)
   - Internet: Go for unlimited download with no extra charges. Check here
   - Credit card: Get those with points rewards & 55 days interest free. Check here
   

Bottom lines:

• Always get discounted items
• Compare prices
• Bargain where possible
• Get freebies where possible
• Subscribe to discount/freebies newsletters! e.g: http://www.ozbargain.com.au
  

Good luck to all of you!

Rocky Horror Show

Just went to our company Christmas party tonight. The whole event was kept as a secret by the "organising committee" with only a few "not so helpful" clues given each week. Most of us are guessing on the right track anyway, a theatre or theatre restaurant. Probably because the drinks were at Coopers Inn (in the corner of Lt Lonsdale st & Exhibition st - where I always park my car on weekends :P), and nothing much is available there except theatres!

Anyways, thanks to the "organising committee" for their effort in keeping it a mystery and gave us a good time. If we were told, no proper meal before hand, that'd be much better! :P By the way, according to the ticket, it's not cheap! It's amazing so many still can go and watch it! Global recession? Not in Melbourne!!
The theatre show is something new to me. About 9 years I've been in Melbourne, never had I step my foot into a theatre, not even using its' toilet :P Tonight was my first time. Well, if you asked me whether I enjoyed it, probably not. I didn't know what the story was about and not too impressed with the theme. I believe this would be my first and last time to a theatre! Just wouldn't bother wasting my own money to it. Nonetheless, Rosa enjoyed the most that night, especially the "giant penis"!! :D Too bad she didn't get the front row seat!

Back to work tomorrow morning, another early morning start! Oh well, life goes on! Just hope I have good news for Micasa8. The last I heard, more delays! Yikes!!

By the way, I went to see Dr Scott Ling around lunch time. Had my lower back acupunctured & cupped! hopefully it'll fix my back and reduce the soreness!

Talk Is Cheap?

One of the common phrases we always heard is "talk is cheap" or "talk only, no action". However, lately I've been thinking about the problems we faced in CLMC. As we all know, we need to identify the cause or root of the problem before coming up with a solution(s). Otherwise, we'll be shooting in random and hoping to hit the bull eyes.

Surely, we all knew what the main problem was, it was "settled" in some sense, don't know for better or worse. We also knew what the secondary problem was, that has yet to be settled. Even though the top 2 problems are identified, it's still not enough as we see things are still deteriorating. I'm not saying about things like leadership or management at this point. It's the simple heart to serve or willingness to serve.

One of the reasons I found out is: We don't talk about it much.

How often do we hear people sit in groups talking about ministries or church stuff? Maybe we can hear more gossips about who is dating who, who is next leader, etc more than the positive sides that we desperately need people to talk about. Most of the times, it's "cold jokes" or "guessing games" during the dinner talk.

The interest on this topic no longer exists! It's very awkward for us to even start a conversation about church ministries. Sometimes when we did talk about it, it wouldn't last a few sentences and the topic get changed. So, how can we grow the right habit or attitude towards church ministries?

We need to be able to sit down and chat comfortably about God's ministries & plans for us. Gone are the days where leaders sit together and plan together. Gone are the days where leaders sit down and talk to their members about church's plan.

I remember long time ago when I was having a dinner with Ye En together with a pastor, we were talking about church ministries. However, the pastor mentioned "why talk about it, just go out and do it". It seems right in some sense but for me, the pastor seems to neglect the importance of communication. If you are doing the ministry as a single person, then sure just do it but if you are doing it as a unit or team, we need to talk about it. We need to get everyone to know and understand where we are heading towards. Without it, how can we go forward? Like rowing a boat, if nobody is communicating, everyone would be rowing in the directions of your choice, how can they go forward in the fastest speed or achieve uniformity?
Some might suggest pulpit ministry be the main & only means of communicating the directions for the church. I wouldn't deny pulpit ministry being a very important factor but we shouldn't neglect the importance of small "chit chat" about ministries as well. The small "chit chat" enables people to understand deeper and question deeper towards the ministry. It's a similarity to why we need small groups as well, not just Sunday sermons weekly. Without directions, it's very hard for people to keep up the pace, not to mention increase the pace.

By constantly talking about it, it increases people's interests and burden for God's ministries because they will understand more. We can also identify problems earlier and eliminate ministries' risks before it affects us.

Can we afford not talking about it? I don't think so~!

So, I'm reiterating that we need to have a culture of talking about church ministries and not be ashamed of talking about it. We need everyone to start talking about it and be part of it. Enough of the cold jokes and empty talks.
Talk only is cheap, but actions without talking first will be an expensive lesson to learn~!

Generation Z: On The Move

The current generation is called Generation Z (a.k.a Generation C). They seems to be better than the Gen-Ys according to some sources but it's too early to confirm.

Generation Z (2000-Present)^[1] is the generation of people living in Western or First World cultures that follows Generation Y. According to Phil Ruthven of IBISWorld, who provides market research analysis, Generation Z,(typically the offspring of Generation X) are currently in grade school or younger. While Generation Z, or as Strauss and Howe defined them the, New Silent Generation, has yet to be defined the generation begins sometime after 2000. ^[2]

A number of different traits have been ascribed to the generation. It is claimed that members of Generation Z are very active consumers, with a high degree of influence over their parents' purchasing decisions,^[3][4][5] They are highly connected, having had lifelong use of communications and media technologies such as DVDs, the World Wide Web, instant messaging, text messaging, iPods and cellular phones, earning them the nickname "digital natives".^[6][7][8]

They have grown up in a world with widespread equality of the sexes at work and at home, and where single-parent or same-sex parent families are commonplace, as are two-income families.^[9][10][8]. Their lives are full of structured activities, and a number of social researchers anticipate members of Generation Z will have a strong social conscience and work ethic – though researcher Hugh Mackay disagrees, saying that Generation Z is more indulged and anti-social than Generation Y. More.^[8]

Found this on the Herald Sun:

THEY'RE responsible, care about climate change and have been raised by guilt-free working mothers in frugal households.

Meet the young teens of Generation Z. They will know tough economic times and will show greater job loyalty, and will be dubbed "the new conservatives".

Demographers have found that Gen Z tweens are far more dependable than their 20-something Gen Y predecessors who were indulged by baby boomer parents and have known nothing but economic prosperity.

Gen Zs were born from 1995 onwards, but the change is being seen among tail-end Gen Y-ers, who are in their mid-to-late years of high school.

They are street smart and tech-savvy and save cash given to them for Christmas or birthdays - and, while they'll go out and drink till they're sick, they're less likely to engage in risk or violence.

It's not unusual for these teens to chide parents for placing rubbish in the wrong colour bin.

Demographer Mark McCrindle says baby boomer parents of Gen Y children are carefree in their parenting style, while Gen X-ers were more disciplined - reflected in their responsible Gen Z children. More

Will be exciting to see how the Gen-Z will turn out to be. For good or for worse, time will tell.

God In Schools? Fat Chance!

We have heard this news many many times. Previously it was the separation of the State & God, now soon to be approved, God & schools. What's next?

VICTORIAN state primary school students will soon have an alternative — religious education lessons taught by people who do not believe in God and say there is "no evidence of any supernatural power".

The Humanist Society of Victoria has developed a curriculum, which the State Government accreditation body says it intends to approve, to deliver 30-minute lessons each week of "humanist applied ethics" to primary pupils.

Accredited volunteers will be able to teach their philosophy in the class time designated for religious instruction. As with lessons delivered by faith groups, parents will be able to request that their children do not participate.

Victorian Humanist Society president Stephen Stuart said: "Atheistical parents will be pleased to hear that humanistic courses of ethics will soon be available in some state schools."

But the body that accredits Victoria's 3500 Christian religious instruction volunteers, Access Ministries, says humanism is not a religion and so should not be taught in religious education time.

Access Ministries now teaches in about two-thirds of state primary schools. Other accredited instructors teach Judaism, Buddhism and Baha'i.

The Humanist Society does not consider itself to be a religious organisation and believes ethics have "no necessary connection with religion". Humanists believe people are responsible for their own destiny and reject the notion of a supernatural force or God. More

It'll be harder for people in the developed countries to accept God as time progresses. In fact, the number of Christians I believe will drop significantly from developed countries where as the numbers will increase tremendously from the developing and 3rd world countries.

Slowly, Christianity will be kicked out of any major fields in the world. Perhaps, no God in sports, no God in entertainment or even no God in Church!

Change, Change, Change

With so many changes lately, it doesn't hurt to add a few more. Just changed hairstyle few days ago and will be packing up our office as we'll be moving to a new office (again) on Monday, 15th. The new address is 575 Elizabeth St, just beside Lexus! Cool huh!

Last night just had dinner with Adeline's family at Sung's Kitchen and went to Max Brenner next. Food is nice, would be better if the place turn on better A/C. I was sweating all night! It wasn't that hot at night though, probably 26 Celsius? Anyway, the drinks in Max Brener, I must say, quite creative. With all simple ingredients plus a bit of packaging, it made something out of nothing! Though the prices are too high for me. I'm too old fashioned & poor, still suit "Kopi Tiam" or Mamak stall more.

By the way, we decided to call off the Friday prayer gathering for this year as Sin Yee, Nexus & Oliver are going back soon. It's time for us to shift the leading roles to the leaders of our church now. We shall be followers. Let's wait till March before any actions begin.

With unusual free Friday & Saturday nights, not sure what should I do? I got tonight planned, going to badminton with a new group in Wantirna South. Still not sure about tomorrow yet...Hmm...

Sleep Mode

Almost all modern laptop these days have the "sleep mode" function. It's called differently according to the O/S.

Sleep mode can go by many different names, including Stand By (Microsoft Windows), Sleep (Mac), and Suspend (Linux). When placed in this Sleep mode, aside from the RAM which is required to restore the machine's state, the computer attempts to cut power to all unneeded parts of the machine. Because of the large power savings, most laptops automatically enter this mode when the computer is running on batteries and the lid is closed. More

Most people today hardly shut down their laptops instead they have it on sleep mode to save power and faster reboot. Depending on laptops, I think shutting down & turning power on is quickly than coming back from sleep mode?

Anyway, haven't been touching about CLMC for quite a while now. Things have been rather quiet after the big news. Christmas is just around the corner, where it should be the busiest time of the year for Christians & churches, it just seems to be one of the quietness time of the year for us. Previously, there were talks of possible large bilingual celebration in the Melbourne Town Hall, Christmas Shoebox thingy, etc. However, it seems all just gone into smoke as usual. All talks, no actions?

Looking on the bright side, I heard they are organising or should I say looking for volunteers to help the Salvation Army to get donations for Christmas. It's good that something is being done but how many will actually get involved? 5? 10?

Wait a minute, what about the rest of the church members? I think only 1 small group is operating now, instead of the supposed 3. What's happening? Nobody cares? Nobody knew about it?

I smell lack of responsibilities here? Can't blame the new Zone Leader for it as he had just "taken office" plus, not officially announced yet! As far as I know, the previous Zone Leader has been reminded months before summer actually begun. I can't think of any good & reasonable excuse for letting such things happened except lack of responsibility. It's not too hard to understand why people wouldn't want to step up & fill the gap. Some even want to stay away from it.

When will our people learn about responsibilities and not just having the authority to act without responsibilities? How can we entrusted them with greater roles that demands more responsibilities? Is this what Christian leaders are? By God's mercy, we'll be forgiven so we have no fear or guilt for our wrongdoings? Or are we not doing anything because we didn't hear what God wanted us to do? *Hellooooooooo*

Some people might say this is summer period, so things do get a bit slow & slack. For me, it's not acceptable to just go with the flow, we must work against it especially if it's a bad flow. Let's just hope our "Sleep Mode" will wake up well when the time is right. Sometimes, my laptop will give me a blue screen of death after waking up! Hopefully we won't have to see that. However, our system is definitely not stable now, too many software crashes. :P

Fix it before it's too late. Be Responsible & Accountable.

The Victorian State Government made a mistake in predicting growth, causing massive transportation problems for the state. Now, Victorians are asked to be patience for another 6 years minimum for the West Gate Alternative to be built. Probably another 30 years before things get back to normal again.

Victorian Waiting Game

Recently we have heard a lot of news especially about how things around us have slowed down considerably. Economies are slowing down fast, housing sales have slowed down, peak hour traffic average speed has slowed down, etc. Also, in the news not too long ago were about Victorian doctors, especially younger ones are working longer hours than their counterparts interstate. It also mention the shortage of doctors in Victoria, the ratio of doctors to patients are not at a good level.
Today I was accompanying my wife to go for a check up in one of the medical centres in Brandon Park. The appointment was at 8pm, sure enough she finished work late today and only reach Mont Albert around 7.50pm. By the time we reach there, it was 8.15pm. So she has to go in a queue before she can see the doctor. The queue was quite long, all the seats in the waiting area are full with patients waiting. Some fall asleep!

The amazing thing is, the wait time is nearly 1 hour and the consultation is only for 10 minutes max for most patients. Now, if this is not considered a bad situation, I don't know what is! Is Victoria really in short of GPs? After hours medical centres? I know most people wouldn't die of sickness but most likely died waiting. :P

Even if she was on time, I think she would have needed to wait 45 minutes minimum as those people are already ahead of her when she arrived unless the GP was planning for a minute for each patient?

We are so used of waiting, waiting & waiting. Everything has become slower than before when with modern technologies today, things should have been faster!

The state Government just unveiled the $38billion plan to counter the transportation woes. From the looks of it, it seems pretty good. It's better than nothing. Sure enough we have lots of criticisms from parties here & there because their "personal" needs are not taken care of but we have to be grateful that the Government is at least trying their best. Not to mention the limited funding right now after the economic downturn. Maybe that's what we called "ungrateful"?

Few days ago, the State Government also announced that they'll open more areas particularly in the West to cater the unexpected growth. Good news for investors out west!

Is Melbourne really ready for the growth? Is Melbourne really ready for the challenge of the 21st century? Will Melbourne continue to be one of the most livable city in the world?

At least Melbourne is trying, not just hoping for miracles out of the skies.

Just looking around

By Tan Sing Chee
Dated: 30/11/2008

I just came across a reference to this church: http://www.docklandschurch.org.au. Basically - it's an Anglican Church that was started up in docklands a few years ago, with a membership of 12. Now they currently have a membership of over 200 - not bad I reckon.

I know that we shouldn't compare ourselves with others, yadda yadda, but I think the contrast between our City Light Methodist Church and the Docklands Anglican Church is too striking to ignore.

You see, we have here two churches, situated literally next to each other. They both start out small, and are both part of very similar traditions (the Methodists are offshoots of the Anglicans).

Yet, over time, both have taken very different courses. Our church at the moment is still struggling with membership, funding, pastoral leadership, organisation, etc. Our brothers/sisters next to us, however, seem to be chugging along at a nice and healthy pace. Why? Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that they're really working with the Docklands communities, and targeting their activities as such ( they have "Sex in the City" Seminars and hold Bible Studies in local pubs - need I say more ?).

Now, I don't believe that growth is necessarily the definitive sign of the health of a church, but with the church leadership mulling over how to grow our church, I don't think we can ignore and shut ourselves off from what's going on around us. In fact - sometimes looking at others leads us to reflect long and hard on ourselves. Perhaps this is something we need to do a bit more :P

What Else Is New?

I just bought a new pair of badminton shoes today, the SHB100M. Costs me AUD130.00, according to the supplier, his price is pretty good! Oh well, I've been getting lots of stuffs from him anyway, so no bother. On the Internet, prices range from AUD140-160 excluding delivery. If you guys are interested about the stuffs he sells, go to www.jtultra.com.au (free promotion for you guys!)

My old shoes, SB99 Limited Edition is getting "old"! My feet hurts each time I used it and the grips are no longer working well. I had to use my hand to wipe it after each play to get a good grip! I was supposed to get SHB99 Limited Edition but somehow my friend couldn't get it for me, so I stick with SB99 LE instead. Guess the difference without a "H" in the middle makes a big difference. No power cushions, heavier, etc.

New shoes is very light, I was surprised when I tested it just now. It almost feel like I'm bare footed. Now just hope my feet can get used to it sooner. Otherwise, I'm going to continue to "skate" or walk like an old man on the court!

My wife also bought a new pair leather shoes (Julius Marlow) few weeks ago. My previous shoes is also the same brand. I only wore it once to my brother's wedding. Initially, I was going to use it after I shift from the Hawthorn Office (lots of sands and dirts in the Hawthorn car park). Now, I'm reluctant to use it because my new building, Micasa8 is still under constructions and I have go there almost daily soon for inspections!
Probably I'll wait till the new year before I use the new shoes. At the moment, just need to stuck with my old working shoes. It's really in bad shape! Don't dare to upload it. :P

By the way, talking about shoes, one of my friends is really upset about it because someone stole his new white Nike shoes and slippers! Just happened recently! He's very distressed about it. If you guys, remember who is Nexus, that's him! His photo is in my previous posting.

Oh by the way, add on to the things of "What's new..". New badminton shoes, new work shoes ;) So many new stuffs!! Excited!