happy birthday to ........me!

yeay!


But I am now still officially 26, because I was born in the afternoon of 31/3/1981, plus it was in Malaysia of which the time is 2.5 hrs slower than here. So theoratically I will only turn 27 in the late afternoon tomorrow :) good, I AM STILL 26 now.


Too tired to say anything now, my boss gave me some homework hence I have been spending my whole night in front of the computer doing research on a project that I will soon commence.


Will post tomorrow :)

It's like a game

www.siewwai.zenfolio.com


By the way, the photo is just a random display:)








I am already very tired. But just wanna encourage a few ppl who have been reading this blog.



I am very glad I can do whatever that's in my capacity to encourage you. Be it a word or a photograph , if there's anything that God will use, then I'll let God use it for His glory.



All of us are on the journey of fighting numerous battles and climbing mountains of immeasurable height.It is a life long journey, just the thought of it is already very daunting.



I've learnt (and am still learning) to just focus on fighting the daily battle. Yesterday's victory does not guarantee today's success, neither does yesterday's failure makes me a looser today; but it taught me how to trust in God a lil more than yesterday.



I've come a long way to learn this: How do we get there to the promised land? There is no magic here. It is by daily obedience, daily devotion, daily renewal of hope, etc etc...Every step counts. Just like I said, through every failure I learn about my limitation, and through every success I learn about God's majesty.




It's like playing a game...I told my sister, this is a game of a lifelong process and I am having fun in it. The funniest part is, everytime when I think I've already acquired a lot and bcome quite good in one level, the referee of this game steps in and says 'hehe, you are not quite there yet, wait till you come to the next level.'



Then as I come to the next level, the game gets harder and harder. I've embarassed myself by assuming I will win as long as I adopt the same skills and attitude of the previous level. Of course it's not true.



Fun. I hope I am not the only clown who loves a game as such.

A picture

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A snapshot of two chairs in the garage of an office block just across the road. The setting sun cast its shadow on the wall.

What came to your mind when you saw this photo?

I painted a very beautiful picture in my mind just when I saw this. I am sitting on the chair closer to the shadow, and God sits on the other one. And we are talking and laughing like good friends, or , Dad and daughter. The shadow shall not be cast on me because I am sitting close to my God.

I asked myself a very random question, what would I have thought about this photo 5 years ago, before I met God? I would probably be overwhelmed with a sense of hopelessness rooted deeply in my soul.

Where would I be without God? What would I be doing now without Him? I can't bring myself to even think about it. It would be awful. I dun wanna go back to where I was.

He has literally RESCUED me.

How is my hope renewed on a daily basis when everything seems mundane? By remembering His grace.

Without God, I would probably think, awww what a depressing photo.

With God, I think, hmmm I wanna sit on that chair right next to Him, and enjoy the spectacular sunset .

Adelaide Kite Festival

This photo is available on www.siewwai.zenfolio.com














This photo is also available on www.siewwai.zenfolio.com








And this, of course is on www.siewwai.zenfolio.com.









One of my fav shots.

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www.siewwai.zenfolio.com again...man I feel as though this was a commercial site.

The event was proudly sponsored by the Malaysia Airlines! yeay!

Our national pride in the Aussie sky !:) www.siewwai.zenfolio.com

The Aussies call this Wau Kite...

Just a random snapshot.

More photos of course are available on www.siewwai.zenfolio.com

I was completely blown away by what I saw at the Semaphore Beach.



And it was for the first time that I heard about the Kite Flyers Association. These are professional kite flyers and they are zealous in what they do. I thought kite flying was like a kiddie game that I sort of tried when I was in primary school. These ppl fly internationally to various kite festivals! And some have 20 years experience in kite flying and are well known internationally.... Huge applause for them.

17/3/08

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www.siewwai.zenfolio.com

www.siewwai.zenfolio.com

They said a painting tells about the painter...likewise a photo reflects the photographer, he/she presents what he/she sees thru his/her eye.



I wonder what people tell about me, from my photos.



Some say my photos can be very cold, some say my photos are story telling, some say they are filled with melancholy and loneliness . I dunno. What do you think?


To me , photography is an art, it is not about how expensive the gear is, or how many pieces of lenses/accessories I've acquired. Too many ppl do photography just because they are obssessed with the collection of the equipment but have neglected the art of it.


To me, photography is all about capturing the moments/details that are unseen by the human eye. Simple. I believe this is something I can use to serve the purpose of God.

Calm

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www.siewwai.zenfolio.com

www.siewwai.zenfolio.com

Yeap, in the midst of my troubles I AM STILL walking around with my camera :)

Check out www.siewwai.zenfolio.com

I AM AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT!

This is real. ( And, in retrospect, I am seriously very amused by my life stories , I feel like a clown :))


This afternoon I received an email from the immigration department of Australia saying that I am currently not covered by any visa, and they would not grant me a bridging visa because I lodged my visa application offshore (I did that while I was in Malaysia, 2 months ago).


By the way, my previous visa expired a week ago, but I DID notify them about this earlier on and received no response from them.


Now they are telling me that they have not received my medical examination reports, resulting in the delay of processing the visa; and blaming me for not notifying them about the expiry of it.
And they will charge me with something called 'unlawful and xxxxx' (see, I can't even remember the whole title of the charge )


Clearly this is NOT true. I have done everything that was required, and wasted my 2 months for nothing.


Anyway, to cut the long story short, the only thing they can do is to give me a bridging visa that only allows me to stay in Australia for 28 days. And in this 28 days I will have to justify my purpose of living in Australia (that involves a lot of paperwork again), they will decide whether to grant me the real visa or not.


The worst case senario will be I might have to depart from Australia. Not sure if they will give me a visa to come back. And because of this , there will certainly be a delay in PR application and I might again miss the application for surgical training next year.


What a mess. I am an illegal immigrant!


But I AM NOT worried or upset about this for I am very certain that my future is in God's hand. God is in control of everything. If there is a delay of going on the surgical path for a purpose, then let there be a delay.


It might be an attack/distraction from the enemy, it might even be a test from God, or a process that God wanna bring me through to strengthen me and teach me something valuable. Just the other day I became so convicted about living my life to worship Him, and the reversal happened today.


Will my world crumble? No!
Will I still trust in God and love Him? Definitely!
Will I still be filled with joy and peace? Oh yes :)


What can strike down the Mighty Mouse? :) If God is for me, who is against me...even if I will have to leave Australia, I will still praise Him.


So today as I had to rush off from my work place for the immigration, my colleague asked why I was still laughing? If it was him, he would be jumping up and down.

Yea, I am a clown :) And I am more amused myself than feeling annoyed.

Stay tuned...

ultrawide angle

(It feels cold but the actual temp was 38C)

(As I peeped through a squared hole outside a construction site)

I am in love with my ultrawide lens. They said serious photographers are usually put into two distinct groups: the telephotists and the wide-anglists. I have both lenses and used to think I certainly belong to the telephotist's group, until I started to learn a bit more about ultrawide angle.

Sometimes it is not necessarily good to zoom in and focus on something thru a pin hole. I have begun to like the 'wide-ness' and the expanded horizon that I see thru a wide angle.

And I just love the distorted edges of the image, they call it barrel distortion.

The item that currently tops my wishlist is a fisheye lens :)

My Birthday is just around the corner...maybe I should get myself a present.

This summer

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It is madness. 41 C. And the ultimate madness was that I walked to the gym in MID DAY , under the scorching sun. I felt my whole body was cooked inside out. Especially my brain, I could feel the brain juice was going dry and gradually my brain was shrinking and shrinking...




That might have contributed to the madness.








Then all of a sudden I caught this vision of two aboriginal kids playing in the pool/fountain. Looks like people are more disinhibited in extreme weather. And true, who could resist the temptation of having fun in the cool water in summer? At this point all my brain cells were fired up by this unusual sight and came to life again.



With my zoom lens I still came close to the fountain and snapped snapped snapped (yea i bring my camera wherever I go). Snap, snap and snap again... Suddenly I felt the weight of a hand upon my shoulder. I turned around and saw an aboriginal adult stood right next to me (When did he come so close to me????)



The next thing he did was asking me for money because I took the pictures of his children!
By now, I realised I was in a disadvantaged situation and not too far away there were a big gang of aborignal people. I saw that right in the beginning but I just could not resist the temptation of taking those photos.



What do think I did at the end? :)

Daddy and son

(photo taken by SW on 28/2/08, King William Street)


My Heavenly Father will always watch out for me. At the cross road, He stops me and makes sure the road is hazards free, then He says, 'Now son, we will walk.'


Then He bends down to my level, holds my small hand gently in His, and walks with me. He lifts up His left foot, and I imitate Him. But my stature is short, I make the biggest step I can, yet I am never able to catch up.


I am wobbly and unsteady on my feet! I am scared. And the other side of the road seems impossibly far.


But my Father is patient with me. He never rushes me because He knows I am small.


He says,' It's ok , son. I AM here. Don't be afraid. I am holding your hand and walking with you. I will never leave you in the middle of the road. '


It's a cold day, chilled wind is blowing in all directions, all against my lil body. But my Daddy's body is strong and His grasp is firm. His palm makes me warm.


I squint at Him and ask, 'Daddy, does your back hurt from bending over?'


He smiles and shakes His head, 'No, son, I've endured a pain greater than this. '


Eventually we make it to the other side of the road. I know He could have carried me on His shoulders, but He wants me to learn and walk this journey with Him. He could have abondoned me so that He could have reached there without any delay, but He loves me too much.


:) There's no love greater than the Father's love.

hope you like it

Of course, more photos on www.siewwai.zenfolio.com






My craziness for photography kicked in again. Torrens. Beautiful sunset and weather in the end of summer. This is why I love Adelaide.

Thank you

Today I had a big surprise when I checked my email inbox. It was an email from my dad!!


Of course, thanks to the ever improving technology, emailing has become one of the necessary means of communication. It is so easy for any of us here to just turn on the computer, get connected to the internet, click a few buttons and send an email.


But not for my mom and dad! Especially mom, as curious and interested as she may be, she has a kind of fear for computer that I find very amusing, as though the computer might break down anytime if she presses the wrong button.


So it was really something big and exciting when I received my dad's email!
And I was so touched. so touched. so touched.



This was what he wrote,



' what are u doing now it is 3am now you must be sleeping i just learned how to e mail mun mun taught me and mama also learned but mama is lazy nevermind i will teach her. now you are in your new job and a lot of pressure bear with it you will get used to it,and we all will be behind u and support u fully. dont drink too much coffee it will affect your stomach .I asked mama is there any thing to say she is already asleep. thats all for the time being, good night we all love u. bye bye.'



Just a very simple email. But it means everything to me.


Thank you, thank you , thank you. I miss you.