On Resisting Temptation

It was wednesday night, Jia Xian led the discussion for Youth Councellor cell group on Purpose Driven Life Chap 27-28 about resisting temptation. He opted for a 'free sharing'. I'm nvr good at 'free sharing' cuz in the first place, i had not revised the chap in advance and even if i had, i wouldn't want to repeat whatever that has been mentioned in the book. As youth councellor, i'm sure everybody could at least read and comprehend the contents.



So, when it's my turn to share, i threw out a question.



You are a senior government servant and has the authority to approve a competitive tender. One of the applicants send in documents with two boxes, a box of money, and a box with a gun inside. Meaning approve the tender and take the money. If not, the road of death is awaiting you. What would u do?



The standard answer is to return the money and only approve the tender if it fits the requirement. Jian An, the new believer wants to take the money and return it back to the applicant to buy better building materials. Jian An has a wife and three kids, so his life is much more precious than most of ours.



Sensei Ye rebutted Jian An's reasoning with a real life story. Mr Chung (Reverend Chung's father) visited one the churches in Indonesia and met the Elder. The Elder has two wives. Bible does not approve polygamy. The Elder then told his story of how he obtained god's consent on having his second wife who was previously his secretary at work. The night before his wedding day, he prayed to god, " God, please let me die if you do not agree to me marrying the lovely lady tomorrow." He woke up the next morning and declared that god has blessed his second marriage. Sensei Ye stressed that this is seriourly wrong. The lesson, do not test the lord your god. God would not stop human from doing anything. It's His original will that human shall have freedom to act. However, the wrong-doer will have to bear the consequences.



Although i know the standard answer, i really can't tell wat i'd do if this happen to me in real life.i guess i'm the 'takut mati' type. Take the $$ and retire at some faraway land. The discussion went interesting and far. We even discussd about whether to take up jobs or career path that opens up ur eyes to temptation almost on a daily basis. Examples of this careers are police and custom officers. I think this should be avoided. How many times of temptation could you resist if the amount goes up from 1000, 2999,3000,4000,10000, i'm sure u'd surrender if the amount gets big enough, wouldn't u?



Sensei Ye gave a very good conclusion about this story with a parable:



One day, devil came to knock on a your door. How'd you answer? Ask Jesus to answer.



Moral of the story, know god's word and this will give you the reminder and strength to ride through temptation.

The Raya Confusion

Hari Raya is around the corner again. And this time round, i'm going for a trip to Masilau departing on coming saturday. Ken will be driving with nine other families.

Yesterday, Mr Kow, my boss wrote a message on the board informing us to take note of the news tonite to confirm whether Raya will fall tomorrow (12/10) or as printed on calender (13/10). This is important since if Raya falls tomorrow, then i gotta be back to work on monday, also means i have to take a day of leave (The booking at Masilau cannot be changed). I'm worried cuz i don't feel like losing one day of pay.

This afternoon, one of my colleagues told me that most probably it'll be tomorrow since from her past experience, the Malays 'study' the moon on the first day of lunar month. And she claimed that the government used to declared Raya to fall on the following day. Then, another colleague told me that the the date stated on the calender is always correct.

I'm confused..... and wished my students 'happy holiday'. Shouldn't have done that since Raya day is not confirmed. How stupid i'm! I hope they'd take note of the news tonite.

It's 6.54pm now.... and i'm still feeling 'nervous'....... may Raya fall on saturday!

可以吗。。。？

这几天，有人向我迎面走来。。。却当看不见我。。我跟她打招呼，她勉强的笑了一下。。。

这几天，有人向我撒娇。。。告诉我他不会做这样。。害怕那样。。。我知道他想怎样，我觉得有点恶心。。。

很多时候，我希望我苯一点。。。 这样我可以什么都不知道。。什么都不去在意。

很多时候，我希望我苯一点。。。这样我可以不明白人脸上的表情，喜欢我的表情，讨厌我的表情。

上帝，我可以苯一点吗？

When You are on Budget at KL...

When i mention about guesthouse, backpacker lodge or budget accomdation, the first response that i receive is normally as follows, "huh.... is the place alrite, will there be prostitutes or gangster hanging around..?????", or " you sure it is safe..??". According to some info that i've just managed to gather from a website, Jalan Alor was Red Light District in the 70s (no wonder some people think it may be dangerous).


well.... the place is ok.... and it's quite safe although i won't guarantee that it's 100% safe..


Let me explain...


The area of Bukit Bintang is flourished with all types of accomodation for business and leisure travellers. I went to KL recently and stayed at Anjung KL 2 (there are 2 locations for this guesthouse, Anjung KL1's just a stone throw away), a guesthouse at Tengkat Tong Shin, Bukit Bintang. Anjung 2 is located at Tengkat Tong Shin, and has been renovated just recently. The owner modified the structure of an old chinese shop house into budget accommodation.





The look of the guesthouse is exactly as displayed of above..:) (exterior and interior). The design is comtemporay, simple yet stylish (as described in anjung's homepage). There are three storeys and the rooms are equipped with aircon. I stayed in a double bed aircon room with window. I won't describe too much about the guesthouse, the rest of the details about rates and location could be obtained from their website http://www.anjung.com/.

I love the area where anjung is located. Alor Street, the famous makan street is just minutes of walk away.


Jalan Alor is full with large and small eateries. Sorry, i don't have a photo which shows the whole street in action at night. This photo is 'grabbed' from other website and it's a day time view of the makan street. My point is, you won't need to worry about getting a place to fill ur stomach. But you might need to worry about which stall to choose. erm... could consider doing some online reseach before going there..

Besides, Anjung KL is also very closed to the the famous shopping place at Bukit Bintang, Sungai, Lot 10, Times Square are all within 15 minutes walks away. You could find a good mix of people from different countries, local malaysians, ang mos, Japanese, Indian.....a mini united nation.



However, i do have one negative point about Anjung. The staff don't seem to be really friendly towards the locals. I sensed an obvious different between the tone of voice and facial expression when they are speaking to the ang mos and myself.


To me - load voice, with impatience shown on face


To Ang mos - smiling face, soft and sweet tone of voice (so hypocritic.....especially the lady with whole bunch of curly hairs tied in a pony tail!)

Anyway, if you don't like Anjung, you could still choose from a list of budget accomodations along the same street (Red Palm and The Eight both have good ratings). Info could be obtained from http://www.hostelworld.com/ (this website even provide you with an overall rating of the hostel ).

P.S. Keep your valuables in a safe if you are staying in a budget place. During my stay and Anjung, an Angmo complained about a pair of stolen shoes at The Eight.