The year so far...

There were a number of things I wanted to blog about before the end of last year, but this year came and after a very hectic January, I find myself barely hanging on to February's soon-to-be-breakneck speed.

Last year's stories, hopefully, will find expression here in the days to come. Certainly the trips to Sabah and Penang rank among my most memorable ever, and to think two of my closest guy friends and two of my closest girl friends were a part of those trips! And then there was December, one of the best Decembers ever...

* * * * *

So here are some glimpses of the year so far.


Ironic that after such a pleasant reunion dinner, the year 2008 had to end, and the new semester begin, with such an unfortunate incident.

But God saw me, saw us, through it. Praise Him.


At dawn, a purple sky slowly gives way to orange; it is the reverse at dusk. Pink is transient, and to me that makes it all the more special a colour in the sky.

I still seek the cotton candy sky over dandelion fields.

(Shot outside college the morning of Ai Wei's first day at work.)


The class had some fun extracting DNA from onions during our Genetics and Evolutionary Biology lab on 23 Jan.


Yet on the whole, smiles and occasional laughter aside, the year so far has been a draining attempt at finding ways out of various predicaments.

I seek an exit; there must be a way out of all this.


Looks like the VI still has quite a few bright ideas! Jon suggested I send it to The Star, which I did. It was published, but lost out on the RM50 prize to a picture of a tree whose 'leaves' were gold angpaus.


Jon and I returned to Scrabble after a four-year hiatus and, despite finishing only in 7th place in the Astar-NST Scrabble Challenge International organised by First College, managed to hand defeats to Khoo Beng Way and his teammate, some of the better young players in the local Scrabble Masters circles.

We've been encouraged to keep playing Scrabble by our competitors, and their friends and parents. I guess our paths have led us to other things, but we'll never forget our Scrabble roots!


I was born, more than 21 years ago, into this house. Some reflections will continue to echo in our lives even as we move on.


A pair of birds made their nest in Popo's house at the very end of January. The two hatchlings are doing quite well now.

I have yet to ascertain the species.


Wahid's Café at the Linguistics Faculty gave away angpaus when school reopened after the Chinese New Year break.

CNY was somewhat special this year as I was able to catch up with a couple of old flames. *wink*


Pastor Stanley shared this Benjamin Franklin quote: "If you do not want to be forgotten upon dying, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing about."

How shot this, shaking his head. "Bendahari, Bendahari..."

(I was trying to recapture the stalk-eyed fly that escaped. They were extremely hard to trap using the aspirator.)


How's white damselfly mysteriously 'resurrected'. This happened the week before Thary left for Antarctica.

One theory is that it was left in the oven way too long (three weeks), but Thary suggested that it must've been the Jesus of the damselflies, and the following conversation ensued:

Ben: "Have you ever seen a white damselfly?"
Thary: "Yes, just the other day... oh wait, that must've been it!"


The first phase of covered walkways is complete. It actually works; I was kept dry in the lightly falling rain. Haven't tried walking in a thunderstorm yet, though.


Marshmallows in beef stew: recipe for disaster or brave gastronomical adventure? Perhaps some things shouldn't be mixed, or at least not too much.

We hurt each other, then we do it again; U2, 'One'