How Does Mars Look Like

Google is teaming up with Arizona State University's Mars Space Flight Facility to produce the cool and interesting Google Mars. It is basically a mapping tool that allows browser to view and scroll across the surface of Mars, in the same way that Google Earth helps us to explore the earth.

If you click on the link above, you will notice apparently the website is at preliminary stage. I presume in future we can get more and better images that fully illustrate the surface of Mars. If you carefully analyse the map, you can actually tell where are the mountains, canyons, valleys and so on. I suppose this imaging technique will tell the experts and the geologists a lot.

Many places (highest mountain/deepest valley in Mars) will soon be named after those who discover them. Who will own the land in Mars in future? In fact, one can start buying the land on Moon, Mars and Venus from this website. Hmmm...interesting, people can come out with various ideas to make money.

When I was young, one of my ambitions is to own many lands.......: )

Premier League

Yaayy!! Our Imperial College Badminton Team has promoted from First Division League to the Premier League next year!!!

Well, you might wonder what's the big deal. Basically, almost all sports system in the UK works quite similar to the preminent English football game. The most prestigious is so called the Premier League, then followed First Division, Second Division and so on. England is famous for its FA Premier League, but nobody cares about badminton or table tennis.

Each year a few teams will be relegated from the Premier League, and substituted by a few teams from the First Division. It works the same between the First and the Second Division.

Apparently, we are the only sports team in Imperial College who qualifies for a premier league system at the moment. We also broke the club record and history for being the first team to jot the university name in a premier league table, since the badminton league exists.

Kind of glad for our achievement, didn't waste my effort throughout the year though (even sometimes I have to skip my work). We went all the way to Cardiff yesterday to play with our opponent UWIC. Have to be frank, they are great players, but....we are better...wahahahah...end result, they get relegated from the Premier League. Too bad, that's how the secular world works I'm afraid --- natural selection :p

An average FA Premier League footballer get paid like £10,000 per week, but for badminton we get nothing, probably some T-shirt sponsors. Should have "invested" my time on football rather than badminton since young....haiii...wrong strategy.

Daylight Saving

Daylight saving was first invented by William Willet (indeed he's British from Kent, only British can think of this kind of thing :p), but it was only first put into practice by the German government during the World War I, between April and October 1916. Unfortunately, William Willet died in March 1915 and didn't manage to watch his idea being implemented.

It's quite interesting to read the history and origin of the idea of daylight saving. The idea was promoted to save more coal during the coal crisis in the World War. The savings are spent on more evening activities which get more daylight, rather than being wasted during the sleep past dawn, in other way, they claim by implying Daylight Saving, more energy can be saved.

Apparently there are many debates on the pros and cons of the Daylight Saving. One funny point that was raised is what would a doctor do when a pair of twins were born during the autum daylight saving period (when the clock turns back from 3am to 2am). It will be really confusing if Baby A was born at 2.55am and Baby B was born at 3.10am. Will the doctor take that as Baby B was born at 2.10am, if that's the case then Baby B will be elder than Baby A...hmmm..interesting...

Okay..got to pack my stuff now....sneaking off....

Getting It Right

I used to have this ambition to master so called "Science" when I was young, but the more I study, the more I realise how naive I were. I remember I still had that passion during my undergraduate, and to no surprise, I opt for the PhD "road" before I graduated from university.

Thank God for letting me to fulfill my dream, for giving me the opportunity to taste a doctorate life. I think PhD shouldn't be named "postgraduate", it should be called "pre-scientist" (that's why I still won't call myself as scientist) , or with this cool name ---"pre-pre-professor" (abbreviation PPP)

I seriously can't foresee myself being a "Professor". I think these people seriously deserve the title. It's not all about how brainy you are, it's about the committment, the passionate research attitude, discipline and determination, and ultimately, is the endless-diligent-hardwork that count. My view is you can excel in any research field, no matter what sort of topic, or which research department, as long as you hold these characteristics that I mentioned.

Many people tried to convince me that PhD graduates will end up staying in the academic field or at most become a professor in a uni. My answer to that now is "I don't think I'm good enough to be the so called "professor". I'm far too lame in the world of Science. I need another 20 years to be the expert."

With God's grace, if I were to serve God one day, I will make sure that I'm equipped with the "professor's attitude". I seek for the truth, and I pray for the "fire"--- the truth that connects human to God, the fire to keep me going...

Rev Foo has been serving the Lord for about 40 years (I hope I'm right). I can't imagine myself studying crystal engineering and drugs characterisation for 40 years, nor working in IBank counting money for 40 years ---- What sort of things I can do for 40 years and never get tired? Please help me Lord...

I will give up anything if I found one....I'm serious.

Have you found something that you would like to do for 40 years?

The Heart Of Worship

Lyrics: Michael W. Smith 

When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless Your heart
I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

Chorus:
I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You,
It's all about You, Jesus
I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You,
It's all about You, Jesus

King of endless worth
No one could express
How much You deserve
Though I'm weak and poor
All I have is Yours
Every single breath
I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

The Sin Offering

I must admit that it is not easy being a Christian at all....it is not about following the rules or actions, but what I mean is, there is never a day goes by that I am struggling to receive mercy and forgiveness, and to just 'let go' and let God lead.

Before Jesus died for us, everytime we sin and aware that we have sinned, we go to God and bring Him a sin offering of a female goat without defect. Through that we will be forgiven.
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Leviticus 4: 27 " 'If a member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD's commands, he is guilty. 28 When he is made aware of the sin he committed, he must bring as his offering for the sin he committed a female goat without defect. 29 He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering. 30 Then the priest is to take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 31 He shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. In this way the priest will make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.
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I don't know about you, but if Jesus has not died ONCE and for all for our sins, I am pretty sure that I seriously need more than a herd of healthy female goats. Can you imagine having to sacrifice female goats everyday...

There is nothing more perfect than the sacrifice Jesus has done for us. And it hurts me to pieces when I feel that I have failed and dissapointed Jesus. When Jesus died, He took all our sins away....which means no more sins.... but why sin is still so real in my life right now?
Today someone told me, everytime I pray to God that I will try not to sin again the next time, I am only allowing the power of sinning to grow. Because each time I try harder not to sin, I am only focusing in using my own strength to overcome sin but not with God's strength...obviously I can't do it. All this sounds a bit confusing to me at first, but I realised that what he said does make some sense. It is really hard for me to figure this out. I must come to term that Jesus has taken our sins, and I have to learn to let go and accept His mercy and forgiveness in my life. And it is all about You.

The Heart of Worship
I'll bring you more then a song
For a song in itself
Is not what you have required
You search much deeper within
Through the ways things appear
You're looking into my heart
I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the things I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about You

~totoro~

The Hot Topic Recently

Received a phone call from the Recruitment Coordinator again this morning. Quite please to know that my future working place is confirmed to be in Amsterdam (Holland), but there are many uncertainties yet to be finalised. Things like when can start I working, which research division I'm interested in, employment with Shell Europe or Shell Malaysia (in other way this will determine whether I will return to Malaysia in 5 years time), do I see myself in Exploration & Production division in future (coz they want to make sure both SuLee and I will have same vision in long term).

All these little questions will affect my career in long term, and most importantly, it will seriously change many circumstances that are directly related to my serving to God. Up to a point, I'm aware that to serve the Lord is not just constrained by activities in the church or relationship with the church members. My involvements in King's Cross church have seriously enlightened me that the Kingdom of God is so amazingly wide and at the same time diversified.

If you gonna ask me whether I will miss King's Cross church in future, my straight forward and instinct response would be "Of course I do, especially the junior youth and the youth fellowship".

But I'm also excited (at the same time I will wait patiently-- kinda of dilemma) to see how God will guide me to serve him in a totally different environment. I truly believe there's a great reason behind when He wants to place me in Holland with my beloved girlfriend, although at this moment both of us can't see the whole picture.

Maybe in 20 years time I will see the whole picture, or maybe longer... then I could tell you a story, provided if you wanna listen. : )

New Orientation

Woke up at 8am this morning. Didn't really sleep well since Tuesday, because my mind was always thinking about the preparation of the interview and felt a bit stressed during these days (coz I was hoping desperately for the job, up to a point I think I will be really disappointed with God if I didn't get it, I know it's bad :< ) . But I still didn't get good sleep yesterday (at least for a person like me who need 9 hours sleep a day)

My mind is thinking how on earth I'm going to finish my PhD before October if I'm gonna start working by then, what shall I do on July (whether to leave London for writing up in Msia or Holland), how shall I talk to my supervisor and etc etc... too many things for me to think about now and to plan properly....I know all these seem to be huge problems, but I'm convinced that God will actually guide me.

I think I've experienced a transition of journey of faith, from disorientation to new orientation. I know it's nothing compare to what the psalmists have experience in the book of Psalm. Anyhow, I've learnt to embrace the art of spritual from the book of Psalm during the bible study with Rev Ho last year. It seriously strikes me a lot until now, whenever I read Psalm.

From Old Orientation to Disorientation, from Disorientation to New Orientation. Basically the flow is simple:
Since young or since you believe in God, people around or the old folks will tell you "no matter what would happen, God will provide everything that you need", so called "Old Orientation" ----> then one day you realise God is not actually doing what you feel He should do, especially when you desperately need for help, but yet God seems not doing anything, even sometimes you think God make things go worse (well, theologians argue God allows this to happen :>), up to a point we feel like giving up or even argue with God. At this time, we fall into a situation called "Disorientation" ----> Finally, one day God participate in the "right time and right place" according to His will (well, I never understand this to be frank), and He overturns the situation completely, and prove to us how naive and simple are humans, how weak is our faith. We feel re-orientated and lead us to "New Orientation". We then tell others the same story (testimonials) and it becomes theirs "Old Orientation"...and it goes on and on....

Hold this principle and then read Psalm 1 (Old Orientation), Psalm 13 (Dis-Orientation) and Psalm 23 (New Orientation). I hope you will start to embrace the psalms like I do. You will seriously learn something out of it, I promise.

And finally, pray for enlightment after that. Thank you Lord. : )

~~~Amazing Grace ~~~~

Ohhhhhhhh!!!! I'm soooooo glad and thankful...... Vicky the recruitment coordinator from Shell just called me just now. She said I've passed and did very very well in the Recruitment Day !!!

What an amazing grace !!! A miraculous day !!! An unexpected plan from God upon me !!!

I seriously don't know what to say now...I've been looking for job for sooo long, and praying for direction, wondering what will God want me to do after my PhD. I feel just soooooo blessed that God has prepared a job that I think I will love and passionate, a post called Shell Global Solution --- a post that required technical + research skill.

So many things that I want to share regarding the process of my job hunting and the results of it, it seriously is a miracle !!!

Miracle in the sense that I will most probably be posted in Holland (don't you think everything comes into play???!!!), plus I'm given this Global Solution post that normally people with working experience will only be employed, and finally miracle in the sense God provide me the hope when I was almost hopeless !!!

I seriously feel so thankfulllllll and blesssssssed !!!

Thank you Jesus for everything, thanks for everyone's prayers as well....I know it's not the end, but it's only the beginning. May God keep guiding me to go through this, till the end. Amen.

Bird Flu

http://www.hkbirdflu.com/sadchick.htm

(It might take some time to load)

Funny flash, although the song isn't very nice, but it successful depicts the "expression" of being a chicken, cool flash work.

Saturday Morning

Woke up at 8am this morning, but was lying on the bed till 9am. So many things were in my mind recently, I think the most important thing will be the event on this Thursday. That's why I'm now in the uni preparing for the presentation on Thursday. Wish me luck...

My girlfriend's in London since Thursday night. Can't really spend much time with her this time. Kinda of feel guilty. Hope she will enjoy her shopping later and the weather --- what a sunny Saturday!! Later I will be joining her for Dim Sum in chinatown for lunch.

Better get my work started..... all the best everyone.