Jarod Yong

The year 2008 marks my return to Malaysia after 2 fulfilling years overseas studying in Wellington, New Zealand. I have returned from a land of green green pastures to a developing nation requiring my services in bringing the new generation forward in their thinking as well as in their ability to use the all so international English Langauge. ~~~~ At my age, I realise that my days are drawing short... Such a transition in life, from uni to pre-working life, will definately be accompanied by many many sleepless night wondering & pondering about the short & long term future that is drawing ever closer with each passing minute... Taken from Photographycorner.com I want every second to count... I want so much in my life... Am I able to be successful in my career? Will I be able to achieve my millionaire dream? How will I go about materialising that dream? Will I retain my honour & integrity? When will I get married? Who will be my bride? Will I be a good

picture taken from andybatt.com Life back in my hometown is sweet... Free food... Free board... Free transport... Met up with old friends... Visited the good old favourite food spots... As well as some new ones... But best of all... I played lots and I mean LOTS of futsal ! Almost 2-3 times a week! It truly is a wonderful adaptation of the beautiful game... Scaling it down has made it more accessible to non-football players as well as more challenging for those who frequent the eleven a side game. I'm having a lovely time playing with different opponents as well as having different teammates in every game... Some times we work well together & have chemistry... Some times the team breaks down & we fail... Here is what a typical futsal game in Kuching , Malaysia is like: There are usually 3 teams. 5-6 players a side. 2 teams enter the court or pitch first and compete to stay in the court. The third team rests. In the court, the team that manages to scor

This lexical chain has been repeated more times than required but it does retain a very profound truth... I'm a Malaysian born in the city of Kuching in the state of Sarawak. I have just returned from my studies overseas in Wellington, New Zealand. Anywhere in the world, when you meet new people... one of the top 10 questions you will be asked is "where are you from?" besides "what is your name?" & "do you have a quarter?" In New Zealand, I sometimes feel a hint of shame to say, "I'm from Malaysia." Mostly because the enthusiasm shown by the person asking the question will drop sharply after you answer honestly. As if my country was not good enough for him/her. Well, I do feel that my country is not good enough when comparing it to some of the Japanese & Koreans people I meet. Even when I was studying in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I experienced this... "I like the way you look... Where are you from?" "I'm from Kuch

After reading an article by a health educator in ChristianPost.com, I learnt a lot & changed some of the concepts I had about muscle & fat! I shall summarise my findings here... Fat & muscles are two completely different tissues. Muscle metamorphosis is untrue. Fat cannot turn into muscles through exercise nor muscles turn into fat via lack of training! The ammount of fat in your body is determined by how many calories you consume minus how many you burn up. Calories can come from protein, carbs or dietry fat. Muscles are made up of thousands of individual cells. The ammount of cells in each muscle cannot increase nor decrease! However, each cell has the ability to grow in size, density & efficiency. Changes in either quality is influenced by the ammount of stress put on them. This is assuming the person has a well-balanced diet. Now I have a better idea of what is going on in my body... I can train muscles & see no effects because the fat is covering i

Since our introduction in 2004, I have been an avid fan of this football manager game... It has kept its gameplay realistic and well balanced throughout the years... one day it will be just like the real thing... There is no greater feeling than to watch a team you nurtured & loved win game after game after game... There is no greater glory than to win a trophy with your favourite club... There is no greater pain than to suffer defeat at the hands of a bitter rival... There is no greater joy than to have your players praise you & follow you... There is no greater game than the beautiful game... There is no greater simulation than Football Manager... Football Manager 2008 is just out! If you love football, you will love this game! Here is a poetic trailer to the game that captures the very essence of being a football manager...

My university life in Victoria University has finally come to an end with the completion of today's exam. In a months time, I'll be on a plane leaving this city I've grown to love & appreciate... ~~~ What Did I Plan To Do this Year? Have I Done It? My goals for NZ 2007: - complete a North Island tour - complete my degree courses - have more wasabi - up my contribution in church - take my relationship with my Lord Jesus to a deeper level - speak Japanese fluently (for a foreigner, of course) - do more one-off jobs to enrich my experience - make the best of the time i have left! RED: I have always had it in my heart to dig in deeper with my saviour but somehow never got around to doing it. I'm just going with the flow... but I know in my heart that I want to know Him so much more... This recap is a good reminder that I should start today & I will! YELLOW: I am able to speak some basic Japanese & pronounce some words close to native-like b

Last week, for 5 days, I was at Tawa College for school obsevations. My final school observation in NZ. This time around I decided to proactively interact with students in the classes I observed... Often helping the teacher with answering questions students had while they were doing exercises as well as positioning myself near students that were being disruptive. Let me give you some highlights of my week there. I found a very special disruptive student... I was following this year 9 class that day & it was a class with hyperactive & noisy students... Throughout the day, in all the classes, the boys would be noisy & attempt to disrupt the lesson with pointless questions & quarreling with each other... During one of the last lessons of the day, a Mathematics lesson, I decided to sit beside the noisiest boy. He was mostly quiet during my stay; which was good. But most surprisingly, when everyone was told to do exercises from a workbook, he finished all of it

Miss Leow was an amazing lecturer in IPBA who is as cunning as a fox but as innocent as a dove... hehe... I adore her! I want my future wife to have some of her attributes! She inspires her students with her positive outlook, wisdom & cunning when dealing with "problem" students. I remember many many funny stories! hehehe... She is also an advocate for the Christians on campus. She is a shoulder to lean on for each of us & she also oversees the IPBA ChristianFellowship. The CF has had a profound impact on my life. The relationships I built in the CF edified by faith & inspired me to draw closer to God. I have also served regularly in the CF & found truth in the saying "it is more blessed to give, than recieve." She is truely one of the many people in my life worth remembering & paying tribute to! A few weeks ago, I was invited by my senior, Nicholas , to produce a 1 minute video that will be put into a DVD that will be presented to

As many of you would know, through my spamming of MSN & YM... Last weekend, I had small slots for performances during both the Mooncake Festival Celebration by Arise Church International Lifegroup & the Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration by the Chinese Students' Association. 中秋节 Mooncake Festival Celebration by Arise Church International Lifegroup This event was a huge success due to the large turnout & awesome blessing from above! Internationals from all over the world & even some kiwis turned up for this event. I was there to set the place up & found it a gigantic challenge because most of the sound equipment was missing but God was good... In the end, we were able to make the best of our limited equipment & there was miraculous provision for missing essential equipment! **sigh of relief** The trademark of international lifegroup events has always been the generous amount of good multi-cultural food! That night did not lack in amazing mul

It's always great when monkeys get together. It was great when we got together in Malaysia. It was great when we got together in Australia. And it was great when we got together in Wellington! Even though we were 2 man short, we were not short of creativity & fun! Guna & Syahir dropped by for the weekend. Guna stayed with us & hung out with us while the snob, Syahir, chose to stay with Hadi and refused to hang out with us! He'd rather have the PS3 & flat screen TV! **HUH** We had fun without him anyway... lots and lots and LOTS of fun! Go Monkeys! I prepared 2 dinners for Guna during his stay. He chose to go for a vegetarian diet to mourn the loss of his grandmother so I whipped him up a nice vegetarian dinner not once, but TWICE ! On Friday night, we went to the well-known dessert restaurant, Strawberry Fare , for dessert after a fabulous vegetarian dinner I prepared. However, the restaurant dissapointed. Check out their reviews on dineout.c

Last weekend I had the rare opportunity of watching a rugby game at a severly discounted price. Furthermore, I also had the opportunity to watch a football game for free in the same weekend! Both games were at the majestic Westpac Stadium in Wellington CBD. The Air New Zealand Cup Rugby Match: Vodafone Wellington Lions vs North Harbour Rugby Union I watched the rugby game on Friday evening. I got tickets that were usually worth $40 for $10 through the subsidising of the International Student Council . Going to the rugby game was one of the many events organised & subsidised by the council. This is how a rugby pitch looks like... There are two sides in the game; both sides fielding 15 players. The objective of the game is to score tries. To score a try, a player has to bring the ball past the opposite end of the pitch; pretty much like scoring a touchdown in American Football. To be able to do that, you have to overcome certain obstacles, like the opposing team &a

During the latest two week holiday off university, I had 4 things in mind. I wanted to (arranged in level of urgency): Do A Hot Springs Trip Do A Ski Trip Have an Idle Day or Two Finish the Linguistics Assignment due the Monday after the holidays In the two weeks, I managed to complete 3 out of my 4 objectives. Guess which ones I chose to complete as I describe each completed objective... My Hot Springs Trip The weather in Wellington was absolutely positively horrible during the month of August. It was cold & chilly with strong gales all day & night. I got worse as the end of winter drew near as the winds started to get stronger & cold hard rain started pouring. After hearing a few Japanese 人 rant about the weather & how 気持ちいい it feels to soak in a hot spa, I decided to try it out myself. After doing some research on the internet, I found that the best or most reputable place to do this would be in Rotorua, a small town in the middle of the North Island,

During the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final in Germany between France & Italy, an incident occurred where legendary French footballer Zinedine Zidane was sent off with an immediate red card following his headbutt of Italian defender Marco Materazzi . This occurred after both players exchanged a few words. There has been a great ammount of controversy regarding the discourse that occured because neither men revealed what was really said. Various newspapers even hired lip readers to find out what was really said. There was never anything concrete because different lip readers would interpret different things. Zidane said that it was an insult to his family while Materazzi only revealed that it was an insult & appologized. Only recently was the truth disclosed! As publicity for his autobiography, Materazzi revealed that he has recorded the incident in his soon to be published book. A news report tells us the whole story... Materazzi was tugging on Zidane's shirt while defending as

One week ago, from the 10th to the 12th of August, I took part in the 2 days 2 nights 2007 Church Camp run by Arise Church Wellington. The guest speaker for the camp was Pastor Phil Pringle of Christian City Church in Australia. The church he leads has got a great vision to build 1000 churches with an average of 500 people all over the world. After listening to him speak, I find that he is a great speaker with profound understanding of God's character. He spoke about the 7 keys of faith during camp. What struck me most from what he said during camp was what he said about God's perspective on time and God's desire to give us our heart's desires. He used a simple illustration with his hands to describe how God views time in an individual's life. I will attempt to illustrate it with this picture. God views you life like that. He sees the whole thing at once. He knows the start of your life until the end of your life. So if God declares you a warrior when you a

namewee (明志) recently posted a song he created based on the Malaysian national anthem on the internet and recieved great criticism from the Malaysian media. While doing the research on the negarakuku song, I found that the national anthem could be based on the tune of Mamula moon . The Malaysian media claims that he has insulted nation, race, religion and might have even broken some Malaysian laws. His response on his blog was an apologetic one trying to get people to understand that his song was not created to insult the nation. Read it by clicking here . I don't think people should be insulted by his form of statement of fact. Among the issues brought up are the traffic policeman who are corrupt, government workers who are lazy, Azan singers who go out of tune, Malays who abuse government support & systems where a single race is favoured more than others. These people should not feel insulted. They should admit to what they are doing and seek to improve themselves. I dont li

Photo by Tom Eklund taken from this website . みやびさん, Your voice is like sweet honey it fills my soul with a resonating sensation Your laugh is like a refreshing breeze it lifts away all the heaviness in my heart Your happiness is a revealing taste of what God's purpose is for me in this life Your perfect in all you are the way you are みやびとしあわせですよ

For those of you who don't know about Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan ... Good for you... I had high expectations for this film because I greatly enjoyed Sasha Baron Cohen 's Ali G film, Ali G Indahouse . I was really excited about the Borat film & went to watch it as soon as it came out paying full price for the movie. However, after sitting through this film, I deeply regreted & felt like I wasted my time & money. I did find it funny but it's just that somehow I did not enjoy it that much. My favourite joke is the joke about his retarded brother. The picture below is a snapshot of the joke. hehe... it caught me off guard... I laughed my head off.. If you enjoy low-level homour or the most basic kind of jokes in society (for example, sexual jokes & jokes from just being plain dumb or daring), this film is for you. On the other hand, if you enjoy a view of America at it's most extreme, this

Behold, thou art my sweet Gentle, soft yet incomplete from thy head unto thy feet Oh, how I long for us to meet As I lay in disarray Finding circumstance in our way Our hustling and bustling everyday Oh, how I long to go away Just for a day or even two Finding isolation plus inclusion too Dancing about to our lovers' tune Oh, how i long for this to be true Behold, open your heart and see Engaged as i am found to be in my heart thou art constantly Oh, how i long for you and me Painting by Pamela Williams taken from allposters.com

Just like the South Island trip, the North Island was awesome! And just like the South Island trip, the North Island trip had only 3 monkeys. Nesa, Guna & Myself. We were 2 man short but not 2 short of creativity & fun! We drove around most of the locations in the North Island and had a peak at almost everything. Here are the highlists in our 8 day trip... ~~~~ Day 1: Hawke's Bay We rented a Nissan Pulsar GTI from NZ-Rent-A-Car for NZ$54 a day (including $10 insurance). The owner of the Wellinton branch is a nice Malaysian Indian man from Seremban. Our highlight for our first day was the Church Road Winery , Napier. Church Road is one of the well known & popular New Zealand wineries. We signed ourselves up for a winery tour at NZ$10 each. We were shown around the winery & told about the wine making process. We were also told a little bit about the history of Church Road. During the tour, we learnt that the wines produced in New Zealand in