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the otnaicus daily

Edition 229 – Christmas At Chang’s

That’s the title of this year’s Christmas production. Had the first full-day reherasal yesterday. Only managed two runs but I hope we’ve managed to plot the majority of the shots. Today will be a day of fine-tuning the shots and will be hearing a lot of “We’re doing this for TV”… But the drama looks simple enough from TV’s perspective. Hope they don’t ask for the world.

Yesterday, in between rehearsal runs and after dinner, JH managed to find a DVD that contained last year’s Christmas production, which was entitled The Kefira Show. Brought back a lot of memories. Also brought home the fact that one year has passed. One year… Gone just like that… And I wonder what I have done with that year. Time to sit down for a spot of reflection. But no matter what, thank God for being with me through the ups and downs of life.

Today’s rehearsal got pushed from 10am to 2pm. Thank God for the extra time to sleep in and recharge. But starting late equals to ending late. So definitely going to have a longer night today. But the drama team seems to be having fun and they come well prepared to last the long day. Armed with laptops, internet connection, snacks, drinks and plenty of fellowship, they’re ready to take on what the day can throw at them. Really proud of these guys who take time out from their schedule to help out with the production. They come and they tough it out, through the long waits and frequent shouts over the comms.

Gotta get ready to go out now. Long day ahead and want to have a proper lunch before I get to Expo. I don’t know how late dinner is going to be today. My guess is they would want to get in some proper runs before they end the day. So until the next time, cheers… :Þ

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the otnaicus daily

Edition 228 – Christmas

Somehow, it doesn’t feel like Christmas this year again. But the fact is that Christmas is just around the corner. Next Tuesday to be exact. And I just don’t have that Christmas feeling. Busyness of work? Perhaps. I hope that feeling rolls around soon. Maybe it’s a choice to make to have that Christmas feeling. Oh well….

This year’s Christmas production is pretty good. Been through 2 rehearsals already and it’s shaping up to be pretty good. Getting a bit nervous though as I’d need to start directing come Thursday. It struck me that I haven’t directed a drama in ages. I pray that God will guide me and everything turns out well. I want to play my part to make this year’s production the best yet. It’s going to be a long Thursday and Friday as the drama team moves in to Expo. There’ll be lots of tech runs and full-dress runs and definitely a lot of waiting time in between. But like every drama, I’m looking forward to the fellowship and the fun the drama crew will have together.

Went for a jog yesterday night after ages of not jogging. Now my legs hurt. Well, not hurt until I can’t walk, but still I can feel the pain when I walk. But it was good. Felt very refreshed after that jog although I couldn’t jog as far or keep up my previous pace for obvious reasons. Going to try to get in some more sessions before I start flying to Taiwan again.

Going to head back to work now. Will update again when I have the chance. I will try to get a post in or two in between runs at Expo. It’s going to be like camping there. Haha… Until then, cheers… :Þ

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the otnaicus daily

Edition 228 – Back In Singapore

Well, almost a week has passed by since I got back to Singapore. It has been a busy weekend and a pretty busy week here so far. But all is good. I’m enjoying life back here in Singapore. And I have more than one week to enjoy.

Work’s good and busy. Somehow, I feel that I’m more productive here in Singapore than in Taipei. So far, I’ve stayed back in the office late for two days. In Singapore, late means staying at least 7.30pm. And in Singapore, I start work earlier than in Taipei. So doesn’t that make me more productive? There are some work that can be more conveniently done over in Taipei as compared to here. But I’m not complaining. I’m just enjoying life in Singapore.

Christmas is rolling in pretty quickly. I had a rude awakening yesterday. Why rude? Because the late nights are going to start this Thursday. Late nights? Yup.. As usual, for the Christmas Drama production. Two rehearsals this week, two next week and we’re into the Christmas weekend. Is it going to be tiring? Definitely. But is it worth it? That’s for sure. I’m just thankful that I get to be back here in Singapore for Christmas and being able to serve and help out.

I guess that’s about it for now. Going to relax a bit, maybe read, before I retire for the night. Until the next time, cheers… :Þ

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the otnaicus daily

Edition 217 – Back In Taipei

Well, a week flies by so so fast. And it’s already the second day back in Taipei. As usual, lots of work that needs to be done. And the pace when I’m back in Singapore and when I’m here is so different. And hence, the need to readjust again. All in a days work… Haha..

Enjoyed my week back in Singapore thoroughly. Parents came down to spend some time with me, although I feel kind of guilty for not being able to spend as much time as I would want with them. Of course, time spent in church and with friends. And definitely, fantastic to be able to see Debbie after 4 weeks. That’s just simply indescribable.

The week went by pretty normally until Saturday, 10 November 2007. I shall immortalize this date in my blog. This was the day that time stood still for me (at least for a moment or two). This was the day where something that nobody thought would ever happen, happened. This was the day that Cam 1 toppled over while it was in the least risky part of setup: during the roll-out to the platform. My jaw dropped and I was at a total lost and in a total state of shock.

First thing that ran through my mind: where to get a replacement lens? Cam 2 just ain’t gonna cut it for tracking. And Pst. Ulf was preaching some more. Well, suffice to say I recovered. And thank God that the lens on cam 1 seem to be alright, although the casing was dented quite badly. But for the rest of Service 1, it developed a back-focus problem that rendered the lens partially useless and I had to swap my cam 1 person over to cam 2. Just a very, very eventful day. Unfortunately, just not the type of events that I would want to have.

Exaggeration and jokes aside, this incident really brought home to me (and I hope to the rest of the TV Ministry) of how much we sometimes take things for granted. When a particular incident hasn’t happened before or hasn’t happened in a long time, we take for granted that it will never happen or will never happen again. And this is when things get dangerous. We start to slack in our attitude towards things to a point that a mistake gets repeated.

And that’s where we start to think: are we good stewards? All the members’ sacrifices are just flowing back out into the world because of our carelessness. Why can’t we adopt a more responsible attitude and prevent something from happening in the first place? Yes, mistakes do happen and humans are not perfect. But if mistakes happen because we haven’t exercised due care, doesn’t that amount to irresponsibility?

I do hope that we, as a team, myself included, will begin to see that we have a stake in the ministry we serve in. We have a stake in the equipment that we use week in and week out to serve. And we have a responsibility to the church to use the equipment properly and to maintain it because the church has a stake in the ministry and the equipment we use too. We owe it to the church. It is a responsibility that’s placed upon us.

Wow… A post that’s supposed to be light-hearted turned out to be pretty serious. But that’s just some of the thoughts that are on my mind after what happened. Just thought that I share my two cents worth.

Until the next time, cheers… :Þ

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the otnaicus daily

Edition 213 – Weekend

Finally!!! The last week of the current stay in Taipei is here!!! And I’m so so happy to be able to head back next Friday. Can’t wait!

I’ve just done what I’ve been putting off for the longest time, and that is to upgrade the software that runs my blog. So my blog is now running WordPress 2.3. And because of that, I have that tag cloud on my right hand bar. I wonder if the tag cloud is the type that shows bigger words to indicate the relative number of posts that has that tag. Anyway, just another nice-to-have on the blog.

The week has been pretty productive and eventful. Lots of things to troubleshoot, lots of testing, and also lots of coding. The project is now headed into the final phase, which includes plenty of testing and getting the system ready for launch commercially. Going to have another round of changes and stuff coming up but more on that when I’ve finalized the details. For now, I just want this part to complete ASAP.

Majority of this weekend should be spent in church. Haven’t seen the TV people here for about a month already so it’ll be great to meet up with them. Speaking of church and TV ministry, I miss my home church and my own TV ministry back in Singapore. It’s going to be so nice to be able to go back to CHC when I reach Singapore.

Pledging weekend is next week. Just nice when I’m back in Singapore. Trouble is, I have no idea how much to pledge yet. Gonna have to sit down, pray and look through my budget and see how much to stretch my faith this year. But whatever the amount, I’m looking forward to it. And I’m looking forward to the day we have our own stadium.

I’m going to stop here for now. I gotta head to slumber land soon. Until the next time, cheers… Þ