Of wedding and reunion...

I was down in KL last weekend for a friend's wedding, a close friend who was my course mate back in university. Since then, I already warned her to better invite me to her wedding or else... and she did of course.

I must say though, it felt a little weird watching a good friend walking down the aisle. It's like a reality check to remind me that I'm way past my very much cherished student life - I'm in fact an adult. A good reminder. Ah, but on the other hand, it was really nice to be able to witnessed her wedding too along with my other ex-university mates :)

Speaking of which, that was a highlight too. To be able to meet up with everyone for the first time since graduation is a real gem. We were known as the "Muhibah" group due to how multi-racial we were. It was really nice to be able to catch up with them and to know that everyone is doing well. Nowadays, I have to really pick which weddings to attend... But if anyone of us gets married the next round, I'll surely try to be there ;) Till' then, hidup USM! Keke.

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Final Entry

This is my "last" entry that will wrap up the past 3 years of my university life.

It was slightly short of 3 years ago when I first received news I've gotten USM, Penang and 'English Language & Literature Studies' (ELLS) as the course I was destined to take.
I was rather sceptical and yet excited at that time.
Sceptical because I've not heard news about USM before and that doubted my integrity for this unheard of northern university.
Excited because the very first person who knew about it was my childhood friend, Shelby. Call it coincidence, fate or destiny, but right after I checked the posting and course, she checked hers and lo and behold~ Not only did we end up in the same university but we also ended up as coursemates!
And that marked my very first step into the following 3 years of what I would regard as, as of now, the best years of my life.

* University: University Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang.

Having been here for 3 years, I've definitely experienced both its' nice and not so nice path.
Without a doubt, I'd say USM has got one of the most strategic location amongst other government universities in Malaysia. Compared to many other universities around, USM has got everything you need around it. You want MacD's, KFC, Pizza Hut, Chinese/Indian/Malay/vegetarian food, cyber cafe, stationery shops and of course shopping malls. We've got it all here.
Its landscape is another breathtaking feature to be bragged about. There are several scenic and serene spot to catch the sunrise as well as the sunset.

The dislikes?
One thing is for sure - I simply can't stand the security guards in USM.
Most of them, not all, are inconsiderate and worst of all very rude and lack the ability to communicate in a more friendly approach. Of course, I've encountered with several really nice Pak guard but somehow my encounter with not so nice ones are more predominant.

* Course: English Language & Literature Studies

My course is rumoured to be one of the most relaxing and stress-free course in USM...
It's true.
I can attest to that... Hehe.
I'm not saying it's easy just cause I'm from an English speaking background but also because of the course outline.
Most courses need to go through industrial training/practical training, well we don't.
In the final year of most courses, final year projects are instilled in the course outline, if not thesis or some sort of a heavy assignment is given... Well, we don't do those stuff.
We do what we do for the past three years.
Coursework and exams... coursework and exams... coursework and exams...
It's both good and bad I guess... Can be quite tedious sometimes.
But that's not the best part of my course.
The best part of it all is that we're a small bunch... in total, 28 of us.
That makes us a very close-knitted group.

I really love my bunch of course mates because we are all so different yet very much united. There's no racial discrimination nor segregation. Malay, Chinese, Indian, Punjabi, Iban, Bidayuh, Scottish-Chinese or Chinese-Islam, we just love each other to bits.
If my course mates and I were to open a mamak restaurant, we would name it "Muhibah".
Hehe...
Some of my course mates are going to get married this year. I'm so looking forward for their wedding! It'd be a really nice celebration as well as a reunion for all of us ;)

* People

It's never easy leaving people whom you've shared part of your life with and moving on seems to be the gloomiest phase right now.
I've met wonderful people who along the way have changed and impacted my life.
ELLS, PKA, FES and floorball are the places in which I've forged many meaningful friendships.
As much as I would love to continue keeping in touch with friends, in reality however, I know things will never be the same again. Even if you meet up with people once a year or maybe slightly more frequent than that, as time goes on people change.
Things change.
Before you know it, there's no common ground left in which we can relate to.
That's a fear I know exists in most of us who are leaving.
For now, we still have USM and the experience here to relate to but in time, we all develop new experience which in a way will replace this memory of USM.
I'm not being pessimistic but rather realistic.
Having said all that, I'll definitely try to keep in touch with as many people as I can.
I'm truly blessed by people who have crossed path with me and made a difference in my life.

* Pitfalls

There have been many downhill roads I've taken.
From trying out smoking to getting drunk...
Been there and done that (No worries, I vowed never to do those stuff).
Falling into a pit is more or less inevitable...
Getting out of the pit, however, is a different issue.
Fortunately for me, I managed to get out of it because of Him.
I always ALWAYS thank God for keeping me intact with PKA and church no matter how guilty I've felt or no matter how lost I was back then.
In retrospect, God has definitely disciplined me and shaped me into a better person (I hope) since going through those rough bumpy roads. It was not easy.
And I always tell this to my juniors, whatever crap you may be in, whatever stupid decisions you've made, never ever leave PKA and our church because that's exactly what the Devil wants you to do and the moment you decide to stop attending PKA or church because of guilt and shame, that's when you've lost the battle.
If there's one thing I've learnt about the Big Guy in the past 3 years, it'd be that He never gives up on us no matter how far or how bad we've become.


Now even as I'm still here in Penang, things just doesn't feel the same anymore.
Good friends have left.
I've gotten a new place to stay as well.
3 years of hostel life was fulfilling and it was quite poignant leaving my room for the last time.
Everything will begin from scratch again from henceforth.
The past 3 years have been so significant to me.
It has shaped and mold me to a better person (I hope).
Now that I'm finally walking through the path of adulthood, I'm sure the Big Guy will look over me and hopefully make this path as memorable as the past 3 years of my life.
Above everything else,

Thanks Dad.

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Wordlessness

Tears are falling.

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A Tribute: The Tekunites

After many weeks of grappling with the whole saying our goodbyes and farewells, the time has finally come to part for good.

Sigh.

Painful. Sad. Bitter sweet.

It's really tough now that everyone is really actually moving back home. Many of my close friends are back home already. The more I think about it, the more I feel how unfair life can be sometimes. It took a lot out of us when we first came to USM, to assimilate to the place and people here. 3 years and now that we're one, it's time for us to depart. It's almost as if we didn't really have enough time.

For me, leaving the boys would be the hardest.

Mervin, Kash, Wud and Troy; They are definitely the closest bunch to me throughout my uni life.

Man... It's hard.

I can honestly say that the friendships that I've made with these people though may seem shallow to many, are in fact fruitful in many ways.

They run deep.

What makes us special, I feel, is the fact that we're all very diverse.

One Cina dude (me), one Malayali who's mandarin is better than mine (Merv), one Iban who looks more cina than me (Troy), one Punjabi who's a joker (Kash) and one Siamese who looks like a Malay (Wud), despite all these differences, we gel so well that other people finds it weird.

That's priceless to me.

One of the boys already left last week. In few days time, another good friend will be leaving and in time, I would be the last one standing in Penang.

Crap.

I made plans with the boys last week, promised to bring them for a makan session before we all depart our own ways.

Our destination - Seoul Garden. It was a place filled with many happy moments together.

So I figured, it's only appropriate that we have our farewell lunch there.

As you all know, we are all a glutton. Apa lagi... whack all the food lar...

It was a place that served Korean food buffet style... So the boys really glutton their way through... Can't blame them... It's not often they get to eat these kinda food you know ;)
After lunch, with our bellies all spilling out, we decided to spend some "guy" time at the arcade.
Main gila gila...
It's always fun to play Daytone with them... Half of the time we will be laughing rather then playing lar.. Haha... Crashing into each others car just for the heck of it... Keke...
Then Merv and Wud tried on their biking skill...



Troy on the other hand, wanted to burn some of the calories from all the lunch by dancing... Hehe... So he tried the para-para game thingy... It was fun looking at him strutting out his dancing spirit Iban style.. ;) We all just gave him moral support from the sides.. keke..

It really was a well spent day with the boys. It may seem superficial but it's not always like that. At the end of the day, it's the frienship that matters. They made a difference in my life's journey and for that I'm thankful.

I'm thankful to God for providing such friends.

And of course, I want to thank these guys -

Dudes, you guys rock lar... Tekunites forever! Hehe. We'll keep in touch I'm sure. If getting married, make sure one of us becomes the best man... Er... or at least driver lar.. hehe.

Above everything else, thank you for the friendship.

You guys made an impact in my life.

From L-R: Tirawud, Mervin, Troy, Me & Kash.

The Tekunites.

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2nd Time Round

About this time last year I've received the confirmation for this trip...
















Yesterday I received the call again.

Sarawak, here I come again.

S.T.O.M.P 2008

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"LAST" Final Exams

So many things to blog, so little time.

For now, it's all about exams, exams and more exams...

Four papers.

First paper tomorrow.

Die.

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Un-Elijah-ed

Like I've said, there would be a lot of "LAST" entries and this is just another one of them.
Please bear with me people.

I finally stepped down from my role as a Cell Group Leader (CGL) last Thursday.
After a year long of leading a band of brothers and sisters in Christ, it was time for me to dismember this group of people, a cell group called ELIJAH
(Which btw, would be my son's name if I were to have any sons lar. I'm publicly owning that name now before anyone else... Hehe...)
It has been a privilege for me to take up this leadership role and I must say, it was a little hard letting it go.
I don't mean the role of CGL but the people.

Having gone through a whole year together, friendship has grown into that of a greater relationship.
What's more significant is the fact that people grew and it was obvious to many.
As a leader, it doesn't get any better than to see your konco-konco grow.
Being the last CG meeting as ELIJAH-ans (& it being my last CG meeting as an undergrad), I wanted it to be meaningful for both myself and my members.
And so, Kian Mei and I prepared beforehand what our meeting should be like.

The first part of the meeting was of course worship. Twas a very short one.
Then we moved on with sharing.
Our sharing consisted of two parts; Our experience being in Elijah and a word of encouragement.

Kian Mei, my assistant cell group leader, sharing.
Thanks Kian Mei for everything!
Especially for all those reminders... Keke...
I have a gold fish memory man.

Everyone took turns to share.
After which, we gave them each a memento/challenge card.
A card consisting of a photos of themselves, a CG photo, a bible verse and a challenge for them even as they move on from Elijah.


We then asked them to swap cards around and write a short message at the back of the card.

Last but not least, we had a symbolic moment. Ceeeeh...
Can't help it, I'm a Literature student... Gotta apply what I learn in class. ;)

Kian Mei and I thought that it'd be good for us to challenge them to move on from Elijah and that it was time to seek a new fellowship.
And thus, we took our CG flag and asked them to cut a piece of their signature to officiate that they are now, as I put it to them, UN-Elijah-ed.


This is my piece of the flag.
It's really hard leaving these people and the bond that we have.
But it's been a fulfilling one year with them.

Thanks guys.
Elijah rocks! ("Elijah" as in my CG, not my future son)

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Class of 08'

In my next few entries, let me pre-warn you that I will be over-using the word "last" a lot.
So if you do have any hatred against the word "last", read no further.

LAST week was my final week to be attending classes as an undergrad.
What seemed to be a dreadful thing, waking up 7.30am for morning lectures don't seem too bad after all.
This week will be my last study break/week before my final exams.
I won't be having any study break for a long, long, long time after this.
Everything that I've treasured in my uni life is slowly and inevitably slipping out of my grasp.

It's that time of the season no doubt... The jiwang season.
No matter how much people say or do to NOT feel the "jiwangness", I'd say that's all just bull.
I don't see why we should hide and not show our "jiwangness" especially since we're in a period of time when it's actually ok to be jiwang.
So why let all that jiwangness germinate inside?
Let me be the first to admit, I am one jiwang dude right now.

Last Thursday, after having my last lecture, one of my lecturer was so kind enough to host us a luncheon as a farewell thing for my batch of course mates. The funny thing is this, I used to dislike this particular lecturer, however, having gone through this semester with all the "hoo-ha" of certain incident in my class, I'm glad to say that my perception of her has changed for the better.

Anyhow, the luncheon was a memorable one.
It was just a simple catered luncheon in one of the rooms in our school, the school of Humanities.
I really and truly appreciate all of my course mates, though some I know I'm not close with but I think we all make up quite a muhibah and family-ish group of friends.


Some of my lecturers, who really are like our friends, that came for the luncheon.
They are just simply the best... Of course, along the way I've said some not so nice things about them buuuuuut, at the end of the day, I know that they rock no matter what. ;)

It was really just a nice simple lunch with the usual curry that goes with anything kinda food. The essence of the whole gathering was really just a short two hours of truly spending time, appreciating and of course, taking photos with one another.
To me though, the two short hours was a time of acceptance.
In that two hours, I think I managed to capture faces of my mates having a blast, a time that would past by and soon be just a memory...
And for me, it was to get that reality down my throat.
Acceptance was hard...
But had to be done sooner or later.

One of the things that I won't regret leaving USM and leaving my course is the fact that I know I did put effort in spending time with my Malay course mates, people who I know were struggling in this course. They rock. The time spent laughing, whacking rendang in their house during Raya, catching a movie in Queensbay and so one really adds on the sentiment of my uni life.

The other interesting fact about my class is that there are only 5 of us.... Guys.
Yes, there are only 5 existing guys in my course. The girls were unlucky but we enjoyed it thoroughly... Hehe...
The truth is though, it really didn't matter at all - that's the other thing I love about my mates.
Guys or gals, we just gelled together really well.
Guys we treat like gals and gals we treat like guys... Hehe.

Time really does fly by so quickly, 3 years just whisks past.

Long live the class of 2008...
And mind you, English Language and Literature Studies is the BOMB ok...
Don't patronize just cause we're studying something not "professional"...
I'll beat you up until you breath your last...

One for the family!

English Language & Literature Studies
Class of 2008
(2005-2008)

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The Last Lunch

Just attended my last PKA meeting this afternoon.
Had my final usual after PKA "Bakti" lunch too.
Sigh.

3 years.

It's time.

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PKA Farewell Night 2007/2008

And so the night has ended.
OUR night has ended.

PKA Farewell Night 2007/2008

It's kinda surreal thinking about last night. Everything happened so fast.
I mean, I can still remember so vividly the 1st farewell night I attended during my first year.
Last night, it was our turned to be celebrated for.

Persaudaraan Kristian Agape (PKA)...

This society, or should I say family, holds great importance in my uni life or life for that matter.
Like I've shared last night during my speech, PKA has been the one thing that has kept me rooted in my spiritual walk with the Big Guy. Being in Penang for 3 years, I've gotten out of line in my personal life so many, many, many times before (NOTE: MANY) and PKA has never failed to be my "spiritual conscience" that straightens my path each time it goes crooked. I thank God for not allowing Satan to use guilt and anguish to rob me out of PKA.
For that very reason, I'm truly thankful for PKA.

Not forgetting of course, the friendships that I've formed with the people in PKA has a special place in my heart. They are without any doubts, my brothers and sisters. Definitely there are people that I've shared a closer bond with but that doesn't mean I've minus out the people I'm not close with. Each and everyone of them played a special part in PKA to form this truly amazing family of Christ. To me it's not the memories of my uni life that I'll miss most, but it's the people - The people that has sketched out every detailed experiences and memories that I have here in USM, Penang.

Last night reminded me of two things - The beginning and the end.
The beginning because sitting there and enjoying what the first year's have prepared for us reminded me of how when I was in my first year preparing PKA farewell for my seniors back then.
And it reminded me that it's the end because as much as I don't want to grow old and grow out of uni life, I was reminded that I'm now called to move on. How appropriate the theme was last night - You Are Called.


Oddly enough, not many people cried. The boys and I were placing bets on who would cry first. HAHA!
I mean, come on, it's a farewell after all... ;)
On a serious note though, I was crying inside definitely
(Not that I was afraid to cry publicly lar... it just didn't happened that way... hehe!).
It's truly a great pain having to leave these people.
Sigh.

It's a tradition here in PKA for us to pass down the mime "Find us Faithful"
to our juniors.
This time round though, the mime was dedicated to us and that sparked the jiwangness in me.

Ok, ok, aside from all the jiwangness, we had a blast last night.
Having been to 2 other farewell nights for the past 2 years, I can safely say that last night's venue was by far the best. The food was awesome too!
The performance, well, it was a good laugh. Haha!
Like I said last night, I believe one cannot truly appreciate the importance and the essence of this farewell night until you're the one being celebrated for, only then can you savour every little moment of it like a good age-old wine.

Everyone look good last night and that calls for a cam whore session!
We all went kodak... ;)

My beloved C.G - Elijah!

The two person I regard as my "ah ka", Annie, and "jie jie", Tzyy Ling.
Hehe.

Mervin, me & Troy.

This dude is definitely my closest friend - Mervin Menon.
Also, the person who introduced floorball to me.
;)

Ok, this is a random photo.
Li Yee and I trying our best to impersonate "Hairspray".
Haha!

To all 1st and 2nd years PKA-ians,
thank you so much for the effort you guys put in to prepare the Farewell Night for us. It's definitely something for us to remember and cherish for a very long time.

To my batch mates/kaki lang/ old farts/ final year,
thank you for being there since day one.
You guys are the bomb lar! Don't know how else to put it in words... keke.

The Final Year Students -
BFF? Hehe.

One for the family!

With love,
Christopher Koh a.k.a Chicken Backside

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Season of Change

Greetings people!

So here I am with my first entry and back to my roots - Blogspot.com!

Strangely enough, I must say that I felt a tinge sadness leaving my xanga account behind.
It has been good to me.


Many memories have been put into words there since I started using it in my 1st year.
With all the talk about being a final year student and how I should move on here after, I felt it was time for me to switch back to blogger.
Also, blogger is definitely more user friendly now that is has been upgraded.
No need to go through the hassle of learning the HTML thing! :)

In 2 weeks time, my stay here in USM as an undergrad student will be over
(how time flies -bleh).
Honestly, it's starting to bite me up bit by bit emotionally.
I guess the hardest part about moving on in this phase of my life is the fact that I would be leaving certain friendships behind.
Although efforts can be made to keep in touch, it'll not be the same as when you're together here as USM students.

Sigh.
Yes, yes, I'm in the jiwang zone now.

Tonight I'll be going for PKA Farewell Night.
Yup, this time around I'll be the one being celebrated for.
For the past two years, I've been the one listening to goodbye speeches by seniors and now, it's my turn to give the speech. Man...
As sad as it may be, I'm sure the night will be fun!
I'll make sure I have a heck of a time with my batch mates tonight.
It's OUR night ;)

The goodbyes will be hard though.

Last year's PKA Farewell Night (2006/2007).
With my Ex-CG members.
Tonight will be a blast.
I'm sure it will.

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