The Artistic Side of Manford

SONAT LAPAN BELAS


Shall I order a cup of hot teh tarik?

Although I too feel like eating the tempe:

Fast food chain does bring me to dismay,

And long queue in the morning makes me late:

Sometimes the water taste like brines,

And often the hash brown is not trimmed

And the cheese served looks like vaselines,

By all mean I’d say this is not a perfect dream,

But if it is all my fate,

How can I possibly protest?

Fast food chain is like the heaven gate,

Never tired of putting my patience into a test,

So long as my appetite is huge and messy,

So long I will eat what is oily and cheesy.

The Road Taken

I'm suppose to be reading my bio notes now but what on earth am i doin here??!! I must be crazy enough not to study but is that true? Do we really need to study so much just to get good scores and please not only ourselves but also our government (well...only 2.0 wat, no sweat la) and our parents (this is the killer, some demand 4.00, if only it is as lil as $4.00). Owh c'mon, how long do we still have to fight and stay up all night long (i'm speaking on the behalf of those who do so cos I sleep early) just so that we can memorize all the notes and forget every single of them right after the exam? It's so pointless how our education system works. It requires us to be a biological, memorizing creature. I attended a Sunday service 2 weeks ago, it was a wonderful church, full of God's presence, peace and joy. Before the service started, i had a chat with one of the elders there and he ask me this "Manford, how much do you think will apply when you graduate?" I was about to say maybe 10% but I hesitated because I don't really know unless I'm really prepared to become a researcher or a lab scientist who dates the white mouse or worms or frogs more than a human (just one, no fooling around). So in the end, I didn't say anything and when the elder saw me reacted in such a way, he quickly said "I guess none huh" Probably but not certainly.

I believe not all of us wish to be in the majors that we are in right now. Most of us have our own dream, own fantasy (the good ones) and of course our own pursuit of happiness but because of a lot of external factors, we are forced to conform to what we are doing right now. It's like either you do it or you lose it. This is the kinda of mentality that a majority of the students have in high school, college and even in the work place. For example, in high school, you'd better score straight A1 if you wish to secure a scholarship or at least to secure a place in UM (maybe now is USM/UKM). In college, you'd better not only score 3.00 (I'm being generous and abit unrealistic) but also work hard on your networking. Last but not least is in the work place and this is obvious, please your CEO or you will be KO in no time.

So I ask myself, say is this the life that you really want? Are you really sure you want it? I know people who will say hey this is how it suppose to be. We are born to study, work hard and get all the wealth that we deserve from doing that two things. Can I say that they're wrong? I think I can because we all are born with choices (unless you're your parents puppet) and we might not able to live the way we want at high school but we definitely can live the way we want in college or when we're working. Yet, there's a catch. What kind of life am I talking about here? Life that includes parties, night-morning clubs, pre-marital sex, works, and all the worldly things? NO! The kind of life that I'm referring to is a godly life...alright, if I'm right 50% of the readers will be stop reading from this point because they think hey if this guy ain't supporting the kind of life that I want, then why am I still reading all this BS? You better keep going because my godly life is also as awesome as the kind of life that you initially wanted. So DON'T you dare stop reading.

My version of godly life is not a Pope's life. It is a totally renewed version of godly life. There are a few rules in living this godly life.

1.) Put God first in everything that you do, no matter how small and of course how big it is

2.) Include God in everything that you plan and seek His guidance all the time

3.) Believe that everything that He does have a purpose and continue to do so 24-7

4.) Are you still with me? Good, let's jump to no. 5

5.) Give all praise to God and take none for ourselves

6.) Obey His commands and live the way Jesus used to live (not by wearing sandal and wear what He used to wear but the values that Jesus practices)

7.) Grow in faith everyday and encourage others to grow as well

8.) Stop being selfish and think about God and others before you act

9.) Stop having favoritism and love everyone as brothers and sisters no matter how undeserving they are for God loves them too.

10.) Don't listen to worldly music and watch too much movies (the second one is a struggle to me since I enjoy movies so much but I'm working on it)

If you're still with me, you should give yourself a big round of applause because you're the other blessed 50%. But am not saying that the other half wasn't blessed, it's just not their time yet. And you will be blessed even more if you choose to live this wonderful life *mouth wide open* *some starting to sweat* *some starting to giggle and wondering why he/she decided to read on* *some just click on the "x" at the edge of the window* Hey it is a wonderful life ya know and I'm enjoying every bit of it for I'm constantly filled with joy and God's love. Alright...I've written long enough, so I'd type-off now and continue reading my advanced developmental biology textbook now. Think about it lad and lass. You can make a difference in your life, for the better. God bless and Godspeed ;)

The Confession of the Valentine-LESS-ian

Name the first few things that come to your mind when you hear the phrase "Valentine Day". I'm pretty sure love, roses, cards, expensive dinner at a fancy restaurant, presents and perhaps 7-11 are few of the examples that "creative" mind of you can come out with. As for me, when I hear that phrase, I will be like asking, what does it have to do with me? I'm single, no ring, no "report" to send to the Control Queen or whatsoever. Alright fine, I do admit that I, like any of you earthling, too think about roses and cards. Yet, if one is to read the history about this "auspicious" day, he will realize that hey, there's actually nothing romantic about valentine day because it's the day where a great man had a martyrdom. And you know what martyrdom is? According to Dictionary.com, it's an extreme suffering/ torment, associated with death, experienced by a martyr and who the heck is a martyr?? Owh my..Manford's blog is turning in to a SAT-like online class. Well, my apology but hey blog is suppose to be educational, rite? Take a look at most of the blog posted, they all offer us fragments of information...some in a good manner while others are terribly disoriented. Let's not digress any further. So, martyr is, again according to Dic.com means a person who willingly suffers death rather than renounce his or her religion. Alright alright, I'm seeing some understanding eyes now. If you're a college student whose IQ is above 100 (below means you're...say mentally challenged?) you would understand how wrong it is to celebrate Valentine Day thinking about bringing your girl out, have a great dinner, laugh all night long and wake up together the next morning only to nine months thirteen days later find a lil infant sharing the same last name with you. Owh boy, some dudes are reconsidering their plans for tomorrow night huh.

Some of the random readers might say that hey you know wat, you're just a lousy and dateless loser who's going around blogging about how wrong it is to have fun on Valentine Day; Give us a break, will ya? Hmm, lemme see, well I am indeed dateless...not sure about being lousy tho but I can assure you that I'm not a loser. Here's when the famous non-academic Chinese saying come into play: "Hey if I wan ar, I snap my finger already can get 10 guls lining up for me ok, dun ply ply hor" Well..I'm not that great but I'm pretty sure I can get a date if I ask sincerely. Yet, I'm also not that kind of guy who can't live without celebrating Valentine Day or should I say who don't give a...hold on a sec, rephrase: ahem, who don't care. Everyday is a Valentine day if you're really in a relationship with someone. I believe love is something we celebrate every moment in our lives. In fact there are so many kind of love among us. We have the family love, relative love, soul mate love,brotherly love, sisterly love, best friend love, close friend love, same interest friend love, friend love, hi-bye friend too has love and last but hopefully the least same sex love. (note: I've nothing against the gays, peace). Yet, none of them can beat God's love. His love transcend above all and its eternal. His love bring endless joy comfort to those who need Him or soon will be needing Him.

Sometimes I do wonder what should I do, if let say I'm given the opportunity to be a Valentino? What should I do? Bring my precious woman to a restaurant in a limousin and end up crying for help when the credit card bills delivered on the 28th of February? No way! How about...hehe, *super punch* don't even think about going there. To be honest, I have no idea what to do and I believe I will have them ready when the time is right for me to be Mr. Valentino. Having said that, I shall enjoy my tomorrow like any other day without being affected by those couples who are exchanging presents, hugs, roses and kisses. My life as a valentine-LESS-ian is never alone because I do believe that there are still a lot my brothers and sisters in this world who are on the same ship. Nonetheless, let us always bear in mind that this ship shall never sail forever as we will someday disembark to meet him/ her at the shore and may our reunion is celebrated not with sunset but with sunrise so that it will mark the beginning of a wonderful life and may also, when the time comes, we too will together see the sunset and embark another different kind of ship to return to our Creator and Redeemer. Nevertheless, if one of us is to do so earlier, rest assured that I/ you shall be back and wait to greet you/ me at the same spot where our feet once stood.

If you're alone and feel tempted to be in a relationship although the time is not right, please, do join me in this voyage and let us encourage each other to be patience and love each other as brothers and sisters. Peace be with you and happy Commercialized Valentine Day.

New Year Resolutions

My 09’ New Year’s Resolutions

Top 5

a.) Improve my spiritual life:- walk close to Him and try my very best not to give up

b.) Be patient with everyone especially my housemate

c.) Stop studying last minute and start early instead

d.) Stop thinking too much

e.) Smile under any circumstances

These are my new year resolutions and i know its kinda late to blog about it considering the fact it is already Jan 5th 2009 but who cares, i know i dun :P

Positive Thinking

My speechcom lecturer once said that with positive thinking comes positive outcome. Its like if you think of something (evything) in a positive manner, it'll eventually turn out to be ok or at least better than a negative outcome. For the past 9 days, i've put my life is a quite devastating mode, i feel unhappy, discontent and emotionally unstable. Reasons for such random change (if you know manny, u wudn hv guess he has gone thru all that cos manny is the funny nanny) is confidential tho. sorry abt tat. But i feel much better today, maybe because today is Thurs and its my last day of class for the week or maybe winter break is arnd the corner (have to say thr's a big rock, which is the final near that corner), or maybe because I simply feel happy. Countless of maybe(s) but one thing for sure, i'm happy :D

I then wonder if my family members are happy, how about my relatives? (surprisingly i started to care more abt them and i hope this is a bidirectional situation rather than a unidirectional one), my best friends? my brothers n sisters in Christs? my two "kids"? To be honest, i can't be certain that they are happy but one thing that i'm very positive abt is that I've a great God who i can count on to make not only me but also them happy. So yea, i'm grateful for God has been so merciful n nice to me n my close ones.

Ok, i'm happy now...so what? Anyone can choose to be happy or he/she can choose to be bitter. True enough but the word happy itself can be defined in numerous ways. A true happiness is hard to find but a superficial one is abundant, probably more than the stars in the sky. If one ask me, have i found any true happiness in my entire 20 yrs of life? (alamak, turning 21 soon...fuh~~fuh~~ positive thinkin, think abt Andy Lau, more popular when he's old) I think i did and still am finding. Let see, i have my awesome parents, great siblings and fantastic friends but I still have some pieces missing. What are those missing pieces? You can guess it yourself, ain't telling but i know you'll find out sometime later in your life. ;)

Out of the few missing pieces, there's one that is very important. The real matter lies not on how to find it but more to how to obtain that particular piece. Apparently it's really one hard piece to get and it can be quite tiring sometimes when i'm trying so hard but still feels nothing much has changed. I think that's usually the time when i've all sort of negative thoughts and subsequently become emo. Yup surprise, manny can get emo too, dun be deceived by his smile cos at times, beyond those sweet smile lies a pile of bitter bile.

So what should i do about tis? Obviously i need to do smtg, rite? Hence, i've decided to think more positively, have deeper faith and always smile truthfully. Mayb i'll even start to read more jokes or watch more comedy series/ movies (what a smart way to surf hulu.com.) Or i cud simply believe more in God, believe in His will and plan, believe that He'll give me the best ever in my life. Wah, sounds so easy huh, wish my final ques will be this easy, imagine tis:

Q1.) What you should do when you encounter obstacle in your life

(A) Belive in God
(B) Stop believe in God

Ans: A

I might ace in it. But reality is it doesn't go that smooth. I don't think i need to explain how hard it is to accept the fact that you're not gettin the things that you desired most just because God doesn't want you to have them. It seriously hard and one might even go to the extend of rebelling and defying God to achieve what they thought they deserved. As for me, i do think i deserve it though i'm still not getting it. Yet, i definitely dare not to go against God. I still believe in Him, owh c'mon He has been giving me all sort of awesome gifts all this while, what else can i ask for, okok, maybe this missing piece and a positive mind cos like i said, with a positive mind comes positive outcome. :)




p.s. eh then if one enter a 4-D shop with a super positive mind, does tat means he'll tiok ban ji? cautiously maybe....nah, God doesn't like those who gamble but i know, you'll say this is some kind of investment, rite?

Grades

When i was in my elementary school, i hardly concentrate on grades simply because i was too "stupid" to know how important they were in my future. I still remember my first mid year exam whereby i got no. 10 in my class and some nice as well as bad grades written on my report card. after my dad went to collect and view that blue-colored book, which of course referring to my dearest report card, he sort of congrats me cos hey i'm the top ten in the class ya know. "wow". but wat i said at tat time made my dad laugh cos i said "huh!? only 10 ar? then i wanna get 100th, then only i'l be the best ma." Apparently i thought the higher ur position goes, the better you are...wat a naive kid (back then, now...not sure).

In my entire life, in fact not only mine but also most of the students in Malaysia (not all but quite a large number of them, some simply don't care cos thy have ppl who can help them to succeed while the portion tat i meant needs to count on its own to succeed) need to work extra hard to score the best grades in everything, ranging from a simple quiz to a vital exam. And in order to score obviously we need to know more than a lot of things but the problem is students nowadays don't really know what they're reading since they are more to memorizing what they're reading. Don't believe me? Try to ask your frens who score strings of A's in SPM o STPM and ask them to explain certain pathways or mechanism or certain let say terms and don't just test one or two, test more than 10 (its easier if u concentrate on SPM students). I bet $1 at least 50% of them has already forgot about not what they have learnt but what they have memorized last time. The students' habits of memorizing facts and figures make me believe that our education system has a deep flaw. We are expert in theories but not in practicality. Maybe i'm wrong but thr's a faction of truth in my opinion, at least i believe so.

Our grades are categorized to several alphabets such as A, B, C, D, E, and last but definitely the least favored F. The +/- signs usually accompany the top 3 grades, they're like the grades' mates. + means u're in gd hand, - means a broken marriage. So what do all these grades mean? Well, i've come out with my own definitions for them.

A(+/-) : Alternatives since A's can give ur future employers a good impression, thus allow you to have more options than B's owners

B(+/-) : Borderline and that means you're in between the good and the bad.

C(+/-) : Challenging since there're so many A's and B's in today's world.

D(+/-) : Done cos you'll always lose up to A's, B's and C's

E : Exit and i don't have to explain to you why.

F : Farm cos that might just be the place where you belong.

That's the english version, now check out the msia version

A(+/-) : Amboi sebab gempak result

B(+/-) : Boleh-lah

C(+/-) : Cukup-makan

D : Dahsyat

E : Ehhhhh apa ni

F : ...(yet to figure it out)


How about some with foul language? Whoops, can't do it here because i promised some1 not to curse o swear but i think you guys can figure them out pretty quick. Ahh, don't say no, i know how teenagers' minds work. So back to the topic about grades. you know, for half of my life (startin in high skol) i've been working quite hard for my grades. it's not that i love A's a lot, i just want to score as high as possib...fine, i admit i do love A's, are you happy now!!?? i mean who doesn't, alrite pls ignore those who can't score A's (wasei controver-sial ad leh) but seriously almost everyone wants the best in his/her life. Its part of our human genome and its also what has kept us alive up till today. with grades come GPA because our grades determine our GPAs.

It is true that we can score the best grades in this world but how about in the kingdom of Heaven? Do we have the same drive to score when it comes to the test set by God or do we simply give up? I've been tested by the Lord a lot in my life and i'm not ashamed to say that i did fail at times. Yaya, i was weak (i guess 6-packs wont help when it comes to dealing with God's test) and vulnerable but i know i can do anything but give up because when i give up, i will not progress, i will not grow and i will not see the light in this dark world. I love A's but i love He, the one who gives me those A's more.

sense of insecurity

If u ask me whether i've ever felt insecure before, I'd say, well a lil bit but bottomline is yes i did. i used to think that i'm short (still one) when i was in high school cos thr were so many long, owh wait, tall kids around me. feel kinda jealous and wondering why God gave me short body/ legs instead of long ones. then i heard my eldest bro say that plyin basketball can make me taller, i know it doesn't make sense but when u're insecure n desperate, anythin makes sense to you. so i join the basketball team (partially also because i love the game) and the result is...i'm the tallest in my family and when compared to my other close relatives. muahahaha. yet mayb its because they are not tall, that's why i look tall among them...hmm, nooooo, shudn have these "negative" thoughts. i am tallER than them, that's a "positive" thinking.

After growing taller, did my sense of insecure faded away? nope, in fact, it grew when one day my sis, she came up to me, grabbed my belly and said, what a good "spare tyre". Wargggghhh, at that time i felt like as if an atomic bomb was thrown right to my face. It seriously got me so worried because i hate spare tyre though i do need it when my car tayar pancit (LOL, i jz love using these malay words randomly.) And i think is was my sis who first make me feel like working out and perhaps she's the reason why i have six-packs now instead of a sim-pack. Thanks sis and dun wrry, i still work out here, tho its once in a blue moon.

When plyin basketb, i sometimes will feel insecure too especially when thr're better plyers in the court. I will feel like as if thr's ntg that i can do to beat those dudes and that i'm jz gonna lose up to them. What a pathetic thoughts but that's when i was still a naive, young boy. This is not to say that i'm a mature, old man now, i'm still learning evyday.

How about education? Hmm...i do worry about grades, owh c'mon, who wudn right? well unless you come from a billionaire family, you will and definitely should be worryin about your grades. But funny thing is I hardly feel insecure when i got bad grades, mayb because i know that i can actually do better, jz lazy a lil bit.

I'm 20 now, turning 21 soon (next Feb 27th, hehe, remember it ya) and all the insecure feelings that i used to have seems to have disappeared. I no longer worry about my height, i no longer believe that 6-packs is a mz in evy man, and for sure i no longer doubt that i can ply basketb with the blacks (jz assume that i'm stereotyping that blacks are the best basktb in this mother earth).

A good question is how? How did i come to discard all these insecurity? Its easy, hire a bodyguard. wahahaha *blank, blurry, lamo stares from the readers* okok, bad joke, sory about that. I did it with God's strength because with His strength, evythin is possible. The best, yet toughest part is i jz have to believe in Him. God has given me so much that i'm overwhelmed by His kindness n mercy.

Yet, because i'm just a human, thr're still times when i'll feel insecure over certain things, some are small, trivial matters while others can be serious and concerning issues. I guess that's the reason why i pray evy nite to God for His strength, comfort and wisdom. so, are you feeling insecure? hire a bodyguard then. :D and start praying.