Serenity, Courage, Difference

To all my muslim friends,

MojaAmin, Uner, Achmed, Gnome, and others…

Selamat Menyambut Ramadhan dan Berpuasa! May Allah give you the strength to spend this blessed month for change and purification.

The greeting card depicting the mosque is the courtesy of NoktahHitam.

I just can’t wait for the next installment of the Heroes series. My pal, Backline media, has informed that Heroes Season 3 will be broadcast on September 22.

You are indeed very special, and you need to be strong for what is to come!
Angela Petrelli

In this season, no one is safe! Sylar is back. Hiro has a new bane. Peter Petrelli is going to explore many sides to his psyche. Mohinder loses his voiceovers. Matt has a newfound power. There is a Level 5.

Is Nathan Petrelli history? Was Niki buried in the fire? What has become of Clare? What is Maya doing with Mohinder? Seriously, I don’t know. It is for us to uncover all these in the new installment.

“Villains” will take center stage in the upcoming episodes, as well as the nature of these villains being set loose. “It will be really clear who these villains are,” says Executive Producer and Director, Allan Arkush

The month of September is a great one. With so many events coming up. My birthday is just around the corner. Our choir group is going to be one year old. Our annual mooncake festival is happening this Saturday. Heroes Season 3 is up.

Had no intention to blog today, but the thoughts of me seeing someone recognizing plagiarizing my work made me furious and infuriated. I am going to disclose one of the most shameful acts done by one blogger Jolene. See, I am not going to recognize her work as it was mine afterall, I am not going to have her blog url pinned here.

If you could still recall my merdeka post, written on a faithful Friday, I featured a picture with flag and fireworks plus modifying a quote from Gandhi. The flag was enhanced with the firework background as I thought it better resonance the Merdeka mood. The quote from Gandhi which I modified was given all credit to the great man.

A silly and non-standard copy cat blogger, so shall I refer to as copy blogger, stole my work! I am darn pissed off now. I am not sure if this is a blessing in disguise or what. I try to comfort myself saying “Oh Daniel, people plagiarized your work because they recognized you”. But heck, wouldn’t it be better if that copy blogger would trackback or even mentioned me is she chose to use my work?

To prevent this series of unfortunate event from happening, I have decided to put watermark to good use. From now on all my photos which I took or images which were enhanced by me shall bear my watermark. Phrase which I quoted and most pictures (if not all) which I grabbed from the Internet has always found its source to the owner. This is the proper way to give credit to the original owner.

It is a very bad habit to just ripped off someone’s works. Not only you give others the impression that you have no credibility but also brainless. No credibility in the sense that you take and you don’t give, this world is about give and take, not just taking and receiving. Brainless in the sense that you are running out of creativity juice and you do not think of the consequence that the original author may stumbled upon your blog just to find out you copied his work, in the case of copy blogger Jolene.

Jolene, if you are reading this post, I hope you repent and promised not to do this again. You should read #5 of the Top 5 Mistakes Done by New Bloggers.

Sorry guys, if I made you suffer with me on this beautiful morning. Although I watermarked my picture, should you need the original one you can just send me a message and I am willing to share with you at your request.

PS: Robin always did that when I requested the original pictures from him. He’s such a kind guy.

PS: Jolene has sent me an email to express her regret for what she has done. I know I shouldn’t be that harsh but I was harsh because this is about integrity. Nonetheless, I have accepted her words and hopefully both parties can put this matter to rest. Interestingly, we both have something to learn!

JOHOR BAHRU: Daniel Liew reporting live from Skudai. The hottest event in Johor Bahru was reportedly happening in the Church of Immaculate Conception in downtown Johor Bahru.

CIC Family Day 2008! Held to celebrate three important events, firstly our nation’s 51st Merdeka, secondly to bring families closer and third to celebrate Fr Paul Wong’s ordination as a priest (four years old).

The century old church (built in 1883) started the Family Day tradition a few years ago. Ever since, this tradition has been able to bring families of different speaking groups closer and closer. The Bahasa, English, Mandarin and Tamil groups worked together to make this event a success.

Parishioners started flocking the church compound when all the stalls started operating in the morning. By 10 o’clock, the crowd was just as big as the one shown in the below picture.

Rev. Fr. Michael Mannayagam, our Parish Priest, officiated the Family Day right after the Mass ended at 1130 o’clock. Our national anthem - Negaraku, was sang with all our might.

Right after the opening ceremony (no pictures to show), the organizer invited Fr Paul Wong, our assistant Parish Priest to come forward to celebrate his fourth year as a priest. He’s a very young priest, a priest whom kids, teenagers and adults find easy to get along with.

Out of a sudden, the weather man was playing trick on us. Rain started pouring. Nevertheless, the rain did not dampen the mood of the parishioners. Activities and performances still went on as if the rain was invisible.

Children, pure in the sense that their thoughts are not yet complicated by adult life, hold the Jalur Gemilang with great pride! They hold the flag because this is the country they were born and will continue to prosper it. To them, Malaysia is a country which belongs to all of us and not of a single race.

If you like poems, I would like to refer you to read Arthur’s To know Malaysia is to love Malaysia….

The crowd were also entertained with traditional dances despite the gloomy weather. The music just ligthened everyone’s heart. Seriously I enjoyed the dances from Indonesia and Sabah.

At the end of the day, there were prizes given to the best decorated store. If you wonder how a beautiful stall looks like, here you go! You need to have big visible signboard, beautifully laced table, and flowers to freshen people up.

But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.
Matthew 6:33

I hope you won’t be disappointed because you are not getting the chance to see my face in this post. The reason I am reluctant to appear in photographs nowadays is mainly due to the fact that I am getting rounder and rounder each day. Wait for me to slim down to the usual figure, give me two weeks!

This is a very nice shirt which I initially thought of giving it to one of my friend who likes white colour a lot, I noticed that most of his shirts are white. But then, I can’t find any reason to give him so I decided to keep for myself. Lol! This will be my very own birthday present.

That’s all from Daniel Liew, a very short report on the CIC Family Day 2008. God bless!