Ever since I was young, I was facinated by this little tool of tools. My uncle first showed it to me when I was about 8. Little did I know that the concept of this tool would end up partly defining my life and the way I see myself and how others see me.
I love tools, and I always try to use the right too for the job. When I used to live in California, I could just wander the Home Depot store isles for hours just looking at the different tools and parts that were there. I think it's something I picked up from my dad, cos he would be stuck there for hours as well.
I strongly admire people who are really, really good in what they do.... the concert pianist, the brilliant filmmaker, the architect who conceives of the bridge to cross the body of water, and many many more. Unfortunately, I am nothing like any of them. I probably don't have the patience to sit in front of the piano day after day practicing or to have the marriage of artistic feel of space and the concepts of how structures work. What I end up doing is learning a little bit about many different things. I learn a little music, a little video and film making, a little of business and finance, a little of IT, a little of real estate, a little of human resource and psychology, and anything else that pricks my interest. I could never be considered an "expert" in any of these areas, but I can do something with what little I know. In this way, I'm like that little Swiss Army knife. Each little tool representing a little skill or knowledge that I've been blessed with. None of them a real proper tool in itself, but able to be used when in a desperate or unexpected situation.
So what does a little Swiss Army knife want to be when it grows up? I recently found this unbelievable new tool available from Wenger - the people who make the Swiss Army knife. I couldn't believe it when I saw it and everyone thought it was a joke. Here it is .... the giant knife.
Don't you hate it when an expected bill comes in the mail that you thought that you had already taken care of a long time ago? Well... I'm paying the household bills, and it's the time of the month you don't want to mess with me.... ;) I just got this bill from my conveyancing lawyer for the apartment we bought almost 2 years ago now.... and it's finally catching up with me. Thank God for CPF and bank subsidies. I'm just poorer by almost $500 now after deducting the subsidies from the original lawyer's bills. At least I can thank God that I have my name on an apartment.
When people go through natural disasters and their homes get destroyed either by earthquakes, fires, floods or other calamities, the most important thing that they look for when they can get back to their destroyed homes are photographs... snapshots of moments in time, captured onto little pieces of paper. Everything else is gone, but photos are the only thing they can carry with them to remember the good times - a comfort in difficult times.
In this digital day and age of the digital camera, we seldom print out pictures anymore. All our memories are now stored on hard drives, flash drives, CDs, DVDs etc. So what happens when technology lets us down? A friend of mine lost all her precious photos when she accidentally formatted her iPod with all the digital photos stored inside. Some people might think... yah it's just a bunch of photos.... but in reality, quite often it is the only link left with people you've invested time with, who now live far away, or you don't get a chance to meet so often. So I can feel and share the pain of that loss.... hopefully she'll be able to find a way to recover the files.
How many of us really back up our digital data? I'm also guilty of that... doing it once every month or so if I can. The digital parts of our lives are becoming so much of our reality that we will be lost without them. Recently, I accidentally deleted all my MSN contacts when I was resetting my temporary phone..... unfortunately, it also resulted in my entire online MSN database being deleted and my losing all my friends online.... It was such pain... like losing loved ones... So I had to go back to asking people to give me their contacts and added them again one by one until now where I have about 80% back.... maybe I'll never get the remaining 20% back...
Me with Bernard Lee from Navigators Singapore looking at something in the shot
Everyone's looking forward to tonight, Friday 24 Oct 2008. It's where all the long hours in class dealing with writing stories, acting, camera, lighting, editing and the hard work of 3 full days of shooting all come together. Tonight is the final film showing and graduation for the 13 students from all over East Asia including 4 from Singapore who have come together for this 2-week intensive media training course. We are all eagerly anticipating the first time the 3 short films produced in the past 2 weeks are shown on the big screen.
For me, these past 2 weeks have been very rewarding and an answer to a prayer when I first went full time. I asked for 3 things. 1. To be able to train others to produce and use media to connect to the lost 2. To be able to have an impact in and beyond Singapore 3. To work with and to speak into the lives of young people This is the week that I saw all the above come together. I'm so thankful to see this happen. PTL!!
I had the opportunity to teach camera and lighting classes, as well as to be Director of Photography on 1 staff film called The Blue Elephant. The staff film is designed as a real life demo for the students on how films are shot, the different production roles, and how a set is run. The staff also split into 2 groups to assist the students as they developed their own script and shot their own films over 2 days. Looking at the crazy schedule, it was quite incredible and definitely God's provision that all of us were able to not only survive the long, long hours but also to be able to finish and deliver the films on time. I was personally very impressed with the quality of the scripts and production for these first time filmmakers. I think they will go far if they continue to make their films as they return to their own countries and places of work.
I also had a chance to develop friendships and spend some extended time with several of the younger staff to learn about their own journeys in ministry as well as the struggles that they face. I was especially touched by how some of them have parents who are not believers who may not fully understand their reasons for choosing this path.... I am now so thankful for the support that my immediate and extended family have given to me to do this at this point in my life.
Fred (left) director and acting class instructor, and Karl, New Zealand staff based in Hong Kong await the start of the dinner
Well, it's 7pm, and the guests are slowly starting to trickle in, hampered by bad traffic on the way. The staff and trainees sit in the room set for 60 people for a buffet dinner eagerly awaiting the start of the event. A few of us are busy trying to solve some projection issues that is making the films come up looking like someone went through them with a shredder horizontally. After panicking for awhile, and trying to recompress the files and changing the projection settings, we finally found a setting that would minimize but not totally remove the problem. This will have to do for tonight.
We finally started at 720pm for dinner. Various VIPs from our regional office came to officiate and to see the results of their investment in the training. We showed the 3 films in between testimonies from the students in their various native languages with translation to English. Some of them were really touched our hearts.
My son Matthew acted in the Blue Elephant film. It's about a boy who is looking for that perfect present for his father for Christmas. He goes into the second hand store and the storekeeper recommends him a most unexpected but "really special" item.
I was very proud as I watched the films - some of them for the first time - and as I listened to the testimonies. I finally felt that all the tiredness is all worth it. As the students went up to receive their certificates from the Regional director, I was a little like a proud parent... giving wings to them to fly for the first time.
After the event, we all took the obligatory photos with everyone, and promising to continue to keep in touch. I'm sure some deep cross border bonds have been built in these 2 weeks. Only God knows what can happen after this.
We shot a short film this past Saturday called The Blue Elephant. It's about a boy who is looking for a special Christmas gift for his father when the shopkeeper suggests an unusual "special item" - a Blue Elephant stuffed toy. The father didn't seem impressed, until he accidentally found out the special power of this unusual present. It was a busy and tiring day as we had a very rushed schedule shooting at 2 locations - the Salvation Army Thrift Store at Upper Bukit Timah and my colleague's home in Clementi. This film is part of the 2 week short film production training that I've been helping out and teaching at. At this shoot, the students from around Asia had a chance to witness and learn from the staff as they produced the film. In the next 2 days, they will then shoot their own short film, edit it, and screen it on Friday night - the last night of their training. Very exciting, and very tiring. I think that the course should be renamed Short Film Production Boot Camp instead... but maybe people will be too afraid to sign up if we call it that. I don't know when we will be doing another course... maybe next year. One thing for sure though, we'll be saying goodbye to 2 of the staff when their internship ends at the end of this year...sob sob :(
Went to the Wayne Wang lecture this morning at GV Vivocity. Wayne is an Asian American director famous for films like Joy Luck Club, Maid in Manhatten, Eat a bowl of tea etc. Wayne has spent time both in San Francisco and New York and has particular interest in Asian American women's stories. He went through the journey of his life and films. What's interesting about him is that he has made both indie productions all the way to major Hollywood productions. In comparing indie to Hollywood productions, he said that while Hollywood has big budgets, he is very limited in what he can change as any changed from the approved script needs to go through several layers of approval from the studio before the change can be made. On the other hand, as an indie director, he makes all the creative decisions and can really shoot the film by the seat of his pants.. actually building the story as he goes even. Since I don't have experience shooting Hollywood films, I guess I'll just treasure the flexibility we have now in our small shoots.
It's 630am in the morning and this the is the scene outside my bedroom. With the deep blue pre-dawn sky and the warm yellow street lamps, it's a rare time for me to be awake at this really peaceful time of the day.
I'm now listening to this old 1978 favourite of mine called Reminiscing by the Little River Band, and realising that this song is 30 years old.
Indeed this has been what I've been doing these last 2 days.... After several postponements and missed opportunities, I finally met up with 3 old friends. Two were from Temasek Junior College days and one from my very first Christian rock band in the mid 80s. We've been talking a lot about old times, people we knew and what they were doing now, remembering some who have passed on at a young age etc. I guess at 40 I finally have enough of a history to spend more than an hour reminiscing about the good times we've had. Through this, I also realise how God has been so faithful to me all these years.
I can see how God has taken us through our different journeys in our work, marriages, kids, spiritual journeys etc. I realise that as we get older, our circle of good friends usually get smaller and smaller. The incredible thing in recent years - and I thank God for it - is facebook. It's incredible how many long lost friends have been found and reunited. I'm sure there are also many stories out there of long lost sweethearts finding each other again..... In the good old days before facebook, it would be a one in a million chance of finding each other. This song by Dan Folgerberg has been one of my old old favourites. I didn't quite relate to it so much when it was popular in the early 80s, but I sure felt many of the feelings and related to many of its wonderful images brought up by this song called Same Old Lang Syne.
This year, in December, I will celebrate 30 years since I became a Christian. Wow.... time really flies. It was in 1978 that my whole extended family on my dad's side, save for my one stubborn uncle Phil, came to accept Jesus Christ as our personal saviour at the Billy Graham Crusade at the Singapore National Stadium. Through the 5 days of crusade, we all came separately in small groups, and all gave our lives to Jesus..... what a wonderful testimony to His goodness to us. In December this year, the Billy Graham crusade organisation will celebrate this milestone with a project called MyHope Singapore which will bring the gospel into the homes of hundreds of thousands of people.
Talking about my uncle Phil, it's an incredible journey for him. 20 odd years after Billy Graham, he is still the only one in the family who has not made a decision for Jesus. In 1989, my grandfather passed away from a heart attack at the airport. Being the filial son and the only person in the family without a church to go to, he decided to now be responsible for bringing my grandma to church every Sunday. She attends a Chinese service, and since his Chinese was probably one of the better ones in the family, it made sense to him. Well after some time of that happening, his heart was finally open and he accepted Christ and was baptised!
Yesterday morning I visited this same Uncle Phil in the hospital where he's just been moved to the ICU. Apparently, his small intestines were blocked and his stomach had bloated big and hard and was causing a lot of pain. Normally it would be a rather simple affair to have surgery to remove the blockage, but for his medical condition... a weak heart.
More than 10 years ago, we almost lost him to a heart attack. He had collapsed at the airport like my granddad and was warded at Changi hospital in a coma and the prognosis was not good. We thought that he we were going to lose him. Well, the family gathered around and prayed like we never prayed before..... he was transfered to Glen Eagles hospital where he was operated on and after a good number of days, he miraculous survived against all the odds!
Well, back at this same hospital surgery and ICU area after all these years certainly brough back memories of that time. There I was with my Aunty Jane - Uncle Phil's wife and Aunty Anne - another aunt of mine. Uncle Phil had just been moved to the ICU and I took some time off from work to go visit him. He was definitely in pain and was coughing a lot, thirsty but could not drink as the liquid cannot drain through his stomach. He had a tube in the nose to drain the stomach, and another tube to provide oxygen. He was still able to talk and I was so happy to be able to pray for him together with Aunties Jane and Anne. The doctor said that they cannot operate because his heart was failing, but the condition of the intestines will get worse if they don't.
I left after awhile for another meeting, and in the afternoon, I received an SMS from my dad saying that Uncle Phil's heart has stabilised enough that they would proceed with the operation to unblock the intestines at 530pm and to pray. Praise God. Pray I did. At about 630, I called my dad who was at the hospital and found out that God has been gracious again.... my uncle had appendicitis (inflamed appendix) that was causing the block. Had they not operated then, it could have burst and caused poisons to flood inside his body. However, this is a common surgery and they were able to quickly and safely remove the appendix. Praise God. This morning, I'll be visiting him again.
As I get older, I get more aware of the frailness of our bodies here. I am so thankful that as Christians, we have the hope of an eternal life and new unperishable bodies when we get to heaven. No more pain... how nice that would be.
It was 2 years ago today that the terrible accident happened where my friend Irene went home to the Lord and my son Matthew and I were injured in a car accident while crossing the street in San Mateo, California. This morning Matthew and I said a prayer of thanksgiving to God for saving us, and also prayed for His continued protection in all we do. We also prayed for Irene's family. For those of you who have not read it, here's the account of what happened http://harrychua.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html
Here it is... it's official. Today, Sept 28, 2008, I turn 40. I've been wondering what to make of this milestone in life.... the mid-life.... will there be a crisis coming? I've been thinking about it this past week or so.
Crazy week Am I trying to prove that coming to 40, I'm still able to go all out with a crazy schedule? This past week is as crazy as they get. List of things I did 1. 4 day recording session for the song Thousand Faces from Sunday to Thursday morning, including one overnight session. 2. Spent 30+ plus hours in one go, even sleeping in the office 3. Playing piano for Worship for work on Tuesday morning, including rehearsal on Monday afternoon. 4. Helping to colour correct and master the sound for a couple of short films 5. Authoring a DVD for a customer 6. Helping colleague design DVD menus for our own DVD 7. Rehearsal on Monday night and Saturday afternoon for church choir performance on Sunday morning 8. Rehearsal on Saturday morning for church worship service on Sunday 9. Rehearsal on Saturday night for Soul2Soul band performance on Sunday afternoon. 10. Doing sound for choir and worship for 2 services on Sunday morning 11. Doing sound for Soul2Soul band on Sunday afternoon 12. Shoot staff video interview on Thursday afternoon 13. Recce venue on Friday for Soul2Soul performance on Sunday 14. Lead vision dinner team meeting on Wed afternoon
I'm getting tired just looking at the list.... hopefully next week will be much better.
Weddings and funerals It seems that I've been attending a disproportionate number of weddings and funerals these past few months. It's great attending weddings, and they are usually well planned ahead.... but the funerals get to me. Thank God there weren't any who were directly related or personal friends. Mostly close relatives of colleagues, church mates, business contacts. There's a period in life were we tend to have a bunch of weddings of friends of our own age. That period is mostly over for me. However, now that I work with younger people, I am going through another round of weddings. However, my peers are now at that age where their parents or even older siblings are passing on. It's really an emotional roller coaster sometimes, and makes me think about my own life journey.
So what lies ahead after 40? I don't know. I don't even know what I'm going to do next year after my time with SCCC is done. That's life.
7 years ago, I arrived in New York city on September 10th 2001, ready for a series of meetings in NY and Boston. After that, my dad and I planned to travel to Vancouver to visit my sister there. Little did we know how our plans would be radically changed.
The next morning, we went out early for breakfast at one of the numerous New York eating places. We were close to the southern end of Central Park, on the Avenue of the Americas, or 6th Avenue. When we got out of the restaurant, I got a call from my mom on my phone saying "The World Trade Centre is on fire". I immediately thought it was the world trade centre in Singapore. Little did we know that the first plane had struck while we were in the restaurant. We quickly found a TV and watched with unbelief as the pictures unfolded onscreen about the NY and Washington strikes. We walked back to 6th Ave were we could look straight down about 4 miles or so to where the WTC was actually burning. As we were watching from quite a distance, our friend saw a big fireball. Little did we know that it was when the second plane hit. We were quite traumatised and went back to our hotel to just watch the TV. We tried to call home, but all the phone lines were not working. Finally I managed to connect to a local dial up internet number and sent messages that we were fine through that. Thank God for the resilience of the internet...
This year, in February, I went back to the 9/11 memorial when I was in New York for a conference. It was the first time I've been back since 2001. It was quite a moving experience as I watched, read and learned about what happened that day as we watched from 4 miles away.
This event has affected everyone in different ways. For me, being there on that day, made a special connection for me with the people of NYC as we have a strong shared experience.
