The Colours of Life

You know, I have often wondered what it would be like if the world was without colours…

Oh what a dread it would be!

We see colours in our daily lives so often that most of the time we take it for granted. Imagine if our world were in black and white… Oh wouldn’t it simply be the worst place to live in?! Honestly, I cannot imagine what it would be like if our world was without colours. There would be no excitement in life at all.

Oh how great is our God who was so creative to splash His creation with such a variety and fusion of colours! It’s amazing. I wonder in awe how God “programmed” sunflowers to always grow in a bright yellow and roses a deep red. What makes the leaves turn orange, red, and yellow in autumn? Can such wonders be deemed as a random jumble of nature?

Impossible! Randomization isn’t the answer.

God is.

God made the world a pleasant place to live in! How did God do it? He blessed us with a pair of eyes and ears, a nose and tongue, and a gift of touch to enjoy the life around us. Don’t you realize that our five senses connect us so well with nature and people? It’s no wonder I love taking nature shots! They’re the best – literally, the best – subjects to take.

Sometimes it would do us good to draw back from computers and all the technology we’re engulfed in. Staring at the computer for too long hurts my eyes; but going to the park to watch birds and just stare into the greenness of the grass and trees soothes my eyes. God made the skies blue and the trees green for a purpose. Nature indeed cries out God’s wondrous works and His awesome creativity!

And finally, here’s a collection of my best nature shots that portray the "colours of life"… Enjoy! =)

The vibrant orangey, red, and yellow autumn leaves in Korea. It's just so, so lovely. =)

The bright green-ness of a curled-up fern leaf. (See if you notice the little details that make this picture special...)

Pink cherry blossoms in Korea.

A pretty spotted butterfly fluttering around the purple flowers.

The beauty within a red rose.

A beautiful patterned leaf silhouette with the sunset in the background.

A lovely orangey, peach colored flower.

Sweet lavender colored flowers...

An amazing close-up shot of a yellow and black striped spider on bright yellow flowers. (Aw man, how I wish I knew the names of all these flowers! Maybe I should be a botanist some day... :P)

The lush, grassy green with the trees in "alignment".

Oh, the heavenly blueness of the skies above! (And one white cottony cloud... :D)

The never-ending sea reflecting the blue skies above. I like the way this picture makes the sea gradually get lighter as you look farther...

Oh behold the beauty of the pinkish-orangey clouds at sunset!

The blazing yellow sun with dark wisps of clouds.

The eye God created that beholds the beauty of His creation!

Oh I love this picture! Haha. The silhouetted tree leaves at the top, and the green grass at the bottom. =)

The soothing greenness of grass and trees,

The dazzling blueness of the skies above,

The colorful flowers and buzzing bees,

All of it sums up God’s amazing love!

Why So Serious? o.O

Bryan must be thrilled that I used the Joker’s favorite line as my title today. AHAHA. :P

Yes, I’ve finally watched The Dark Knight a week after it was released! Haha. x) My sisters and I followed my cousin Jon Lee and his family out for the movie.

The Dark Knight is by far one of the best movies of the year! I like the way the scenes flash back and forth in different situations. I could feel the “tension” with the people sitting beside me wei. Hahaha. And there were also a few times when I actually thought the movie was going to end, but it didn’t!

Oh and you’re all totally right! The best and most anticipated parts of the movie are taken by the psychopathic Joker. Heath Ledger played the role most splendidly. He was very unpredictable and artfully disturbing. You notice that most people come out of the cinemas talking only about the Joker. Hahaha.

If you were wondering why I haven’t been updating the past four days, I have actually been staying over at my cousins Justine and Jaedon’s house! My sisters and I are staying over cause’ my parents left for Sipadan for a dive trip on Thursday – excluding us… =( But on a bright side, we get to catch up with our cousins again after such a long time! Whoopee. :D

Yesterday, I followed Justine to DUMC’s youth church. They call it XYZ – Xtraordinary Youth Zone. Their youth service is held on Saturday afternoons. It was pretty cool joining them. The peeps there were friendly and fun. :P

In yesterday’s service, they screened a video of an explosive sermon by Pastor Louie Giglou. He talked about God’s astronomical grace and awesomeness! I felt so awed after watching it. Louie Giglio blew our minds away with some real mind blowing pictures (duh...) that were captured in space by the Hubble Space Telescope some thirty billion light-years away. There were a lot of other interesting pictures. I will Google them up and write a full post about what I learned in XYZ soon. =)

So till the next post, have a fabulous weekend y’all. ;)

Rays of Hope

A few days ago, I stumbled upon another splendid photo shooting opportunity!

I entitled this post “Rays of Hope” because the pictures are just full of ‘em.

Aha, with these new captures, my Flickr page is updated again! :D

I love this! The warmth of the sunshine is so delighting.

It took me quite awhile to adjust my position so that the sunrays will appear like this in the picture.

Notice the sparkle of sunlight beaming through the leaves? It's a pretty small detail at the bottom corner, but yet it contributes so much to this picture. Without it, this would be less than ordinary.

The whole "mood" of the picture suddenly changes, huh? For me, it suddenly feels so bland and monotonous in B&W. I suppose nature shots are still at their best when the picture's in full colour!

The sun gleaming through the silhouetted leaves.

Reach to the skies!

The sun between my two fingers.

Ooh I simply love the dazzling sunrays captured in this shot!

A plant under the blazing sun. I had to bend so low to get this. Haha, but its all worth it once the perfect picture is finally snapped!

While bending down to snap the previous shot, I noticed the stalk of the plant had four tiny water droplets on it. You can see in this macro shot that the droplets are aligned so perfectly. I wonder how it ended up this way. And you wonder how I actually noticed such tiny details. Hahaha. (Considering how blur I am usually...)

I suppose I'm not blur when it comes to photography.

Can't be. :P

MAN, I LOVE THIS MACRO SHOT!!!

A white butterfly posing with a bunch of purple flowers. I waited more than half and hour outside in the garden until I managed to take a perfect still-shot of this flittering butterfly.

People ask me how I take such pictures. Man, I tell you, its not as easy as it looks. Sometimes, its an easy shot. Sometimes its a fluke shot. But most times, I have to plan the picture and visualize how I want it to look like in a frame. It usually costs me a lot of time and patience to stay put at that one spot until the perfect-est picture is snapped!

Yeah, you bet I can be such a perfectionist when it comes to photography. Ask my sisters. I always, always insist that every photo must be in the right angle, composition, and lighting. I usually come up with multiple shots of the same subject. Then in the end I'll delete all the "less-than-perfect" ones and finally end up with only ONE shot that I think is the perfect-est of the lot. Hahaha.

I added to this picture the verse from Colossians 3:2.

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

Hope you were "enlightened" by the pictures. Have a splendid day. =)

The Invincibles

Wahooooo, I’m back from Treasure Quest 2008!

Man, I tell you, my group comprised of the awesomest teammates I can ever ask for! I love ‘em all and they totally rocked my socks off! =D I’ll never forget the fun memories we had.

The name of my team was “The Invincibles”. (Hey, it’s original! :P) Other groups were teasing us and calling us the “invisibles”. Pfft. But in the end, The Invincibles didn’t turn out to be invisible after all. Guess what, we landed in the Top 3 list! :D

Before you enjoy the pictures, I’d like to name my teammates one by one and include a snippet of how much they meant to me in the team. =)

The first person whom I called to join me was Joshua Chin – he was awarded “Mr. Most Animated” at the finale! Ahahaha. Really, he did brighten our group and made the race fun with his friendliness and good-humored attitude. A lot of the riddles were also solved after he sparked ideas. Man, I’m so honored to have him in my team. ;) Hey Josh, you the man, man. :P Har har.

My other bestie was my good ol’ poser-pal Shaina! ;) Oh I enjoyed her company so much! She enlightened me in so many ways when I was blur. :P Shaina was also my helpful “secretary” – she organized the notes and money so well! I felt encouraged when she was so enthusiastic about being in the team. Shaina’s one awesome chick. =)

Not to forget our pro runner, Michelle Yeoh! (I’m glad to say that my team comprised of fit and healthy and quick-to-go people. Ahaha.) Of course, we also had the brains la. :P Michelle was supportive and fun. After the race, she sent me an sms saying, “Y’all rock man. I had fun all the way!”

There was also a newcomer in our team – Pravin! He’s one sporting fellow who gave me a lot of helpful ideas. It was fun having him. I’m glad that he played a good part in the team and mingled well with us even though we were only meeting for the first time.

Finally, the two kiddoes who were a big help with the coloring and cross-word puzzles were Jon Lee and Hannah Chin! Boy, am I glad they were in my team. Jon and Hannah were so bright and helpful. They listen when it’s time to listen, and give their two cents worth at the right time. :D I must really commend them for running with us till the finish line! ;)

Up next are the pictures we snapped on the way and those taken at the finale. Have fun seeing all the fun we had! Teehee. :P

Yu Tjin (Flying Nachos leader), Zack (Farthanique leader), and I. Our teams were the first three to be flagged off!

Jon, Pravin, and Hannah solving the Tangram.

Our first LRT ride from Paramount station to KL Sentral.

Michelle, Me, Shaina, Jon, and Hannah's eyes. :P

Trying to figure out the riddles in KLCC. The lady in yellow was Aunt Jacqueline, our team marshall. She was so nice to us! Offered to buy is donuts and ice cream on the way. :D

We still had time to pose even while rushing for time! Hahaha.

Getting a local guy and a Caucasian to pose with us for a requirement in the clues paper.

Pravin, Shaina, the Caucasian guy, Mic, the local guy, me, and Hannah. Hilarious bunch! :P

Doing the "Pharoah, Pharoah" Sunday school song in the middle of Mid Valley.

It was fun all the way!!! =D

Finally, we arrived at Italianies after checking in our answers and making up a song based on the theme verse, 2 Corinthians 2:14-15.

Tired out. Haha.

Getting the food! It was YUMMY. We had Carbonara Fettucinni, fried calamari, fries, fried chicken, and bread pudding!

Enjoying our lunch after a hard day's race. =)

I was posing with Shawna, Xin Hui, Lynne (all 3 from the Rubberduckies team), Zoe, and Hannah.

Jirene was in Renee's team.

Our hardworking commanders busy marking our answers until they had no time for the good food!

Aww. The three angels in the Invincibles. :P Ahahahaha.

Teehee. :P

My team was practicing the song we created our of 2 Corinthians 2:14-15. Guess what, our song was actually voted one of the best! (We took one minute to make it up and just sing. Hahaha.) And here they were practicing because Cmdr Terence actually wanted us to present at the finale. But too bad, I guess they didn't have the time, so we didn't get to. =(

Cmdr Peter (the one with 5 kids :P) sharing a short message.

You can see three people clearly in this shot. One is Janna, and then there's Mei Jean. The other one is Jon Chin! Hahahaha. At the far left of the picture. He probably was praying very hard that his group (Farthanique) would win! :P

Appreciating the marshalls. That was my uncle Rodney Lee (Jon Lee's dad). He was team marshall for "Freedom".

Aunty Jacqueline, our awesome marshall who managed to run along with us till the finish line!

Cmdr Terence revealing the answers to some of the most impossible riddles of the quest.

The clue: Uncle Tan insulted me.

The answer: Tenmoku Pottery.

Don't get it?

Ten (Tan) Mok (Mock - insult) U (me).

*rolls eyes*

All of us were so bummed wei! AHAHA.

Josh Chin, our Mr. Most Animated! Har har har. :P Eh, not bad wei, he won some vouchers for Chilli's.

Cmdr Darren and Cmdrs Melissa, Piaree, and Esther. They were the ones who planned the riddles. We all wanted to tembak them after the impossible answers were revealed to us! Hahaha.

And finally, after Cmdr Darren announced all the consolation winners, my heart was pumping away like mad already! My team was still not called out yet!

The Top Three groups up on stage. Shawna's "Rubberduckies", Kah Heng's "The Mavericks", and my "Invincibles".

The Mavericks won 1st Runner Up! Cheers to you, Kah Heng!

My happy team.

Josh, Jon, and I. My uncle was handling the camera while we were on stage. Haha, only Jon's looking at the cam now.

Oh oh, guess what? The Invincibles won 2nd Runner Up! Wahoo!

Cmdr Brian giving out our prize.

Josh: Can I ask you a question?

Josh: Why do you always take off your specs when taking pictures? Is it like automatic or something?

Me: *rolls eyes* I don't like it when my specs reflect the camera flash la!

You can see a perfect example in this picture. HAHA.

Our team was given Haagen Dazs, Nike vouchers, and cold cash! :P

Oh yeah babeh, 25 bucks worth each voucher for Haagen Dazs!

Kah Heng getting his 1st Runner Up prize.

And for Treasure Quest 2008, Shawna's team - the Rubberduckies, were the CHAMPIONS!

They screamed. :P

Photoshoot of all of us. This year, there were about 130 of us who were part of the quest! 30 people more than last year!

The cmdrs were really such awesome planners for this year's Treasure Quest. Everything went so smoothly and thank God, the riddles were far less stressing compared to last year's. x)

My awesome, schmosome team! Michelle, Josh, Hannah, Shaina, Me, Pravin, and Jon.

Hahaha, you notice Josh's posing while on the phone.

Getting ready to jump the victory jump. :P

Halfway there...

Victory to The Invincibles!

You wonder what's Josh doing.

Sister and brother ruining our picture. :P (Hey, it rhymes!) xD

Now its Zoe's turn to pose while on the phone. *rolls eyes* Haha.

The four lovelies with the thorn among the roses. Haha, kidding.

Lynne and I. Whoopee, did I tell you we're "Blogger-Made friends"? :P

Shawna, Lynne, and I. :D

JusTea fans.

Shin Yiing and Janna. Hannah and Jirene - they were halfway through a happy catfight. Whatever that means. :P

Shin Yiing was in Janice's team - Amplified.

Hannah and I looking real lime green.

My sisters and I.

Janna, Cheng Ean, and Ashley goofing around in the LRT on the way back. (Plus Jirene halfway lecturing someone. :P)

This is dedicated to my teammates:

“WOW!” is the word I’d use to describe what I feel when I remember all 6 of you. Yes, you guys make such an amazing bunch when put together! I thank God so much for the opportunity to work with each one of you. I sure did get to know y’all better. Being the team leader, I must commend you all for demonstrating such energetic enthusiasm, cooperation, and unity! We were definitely one jolly and unique bunch. =)

Cheers to The Invincibles! =D