These are the "Pinyuts"

From the left:
Mark, Rayner, Ramlan, Riduan, Durie, Me and also Paul at the far right.

These here are some of my friends. It was a hot sunny day when this group of clowns decided to go out for lunch. As we came out of the main entrance, which is the glass sliding door behind us,

one of us saw the chairs arranged in such an inviting manner that all of us just had to strike a pose for the camera.

The chairs were actually for the directors who were at the moment in a meeting, supposedly after their meeting, they were the ones who were to be photographed, well at least we didn't messed the entire place up. Then again I hope they won't mind us "borrowing" the chairs for 2 seconds.

At the same time everyone in the group had the same idea to sit and take a picture, no one had to arrange us, it's all "synchronized madness". All of us understood each other crazy needs. We see each other most of our working hours, and through time, we've developed a bond, so strong, so united, it as though we were siblings in the office. And outside too...

I love this picture, although the rest of the gang were not around at the time, I'm not worrying, surely there will be more opportunity for us to immortalize our presence on line. These are these are my brothers, and with them I will stand till the day I "pencen"...

I'll share more on these people in the future..

Keep me in your prayers as I keep all of you in mine.

Till then...

Let pick-me-up pick you up!

Me, Nova and Yvonne with the first issue of Pick-Me-Up.

How long has it been since the first PMU was handed out to the young adults in church...? Let me see, aah... A good three years ... And counting, I won't say great, the great one will be this year.

First, let just thank God for giving PMU the permission to proceed with this idea to ''Breed Catholic Thinkers''. The team is so blessed to have dedicated hard workers.

I'm the artist behind all the covers of PMU. Good or bad, they're all by me. Enough about me, you could read all in my other entries to find out more about me. Now, it's Nova's turn...

Nova with her cunning words, never failed to impress me. I've always wanted to write like her. Maybe that's why I started to blog. The thing with Nova is, she's a book junky, and I mean that in a good way. And the amount of perspectives she gain by reading makes me want to be a book junky myself, then again I'm too much of a slow reader, I 'feel' too much, but when I do read, my focus is like nobody's business. When I put my speed reading skills into action, I could easily finish from cover to cover within... 2 months. In short Nova is a power house in this area, she writes like Pavarotti sings, effortlessly.

Yvonne, she has a lot to offer to the well being of this publication, but we understand with her commitments towards her "Lifefire Campus Ministry" and her studies, it will be a matter of time when she'll be writing actively for PMU again.

I honestly have high hopes in this sister. Being a debater, she could easily maximize the use of her skills in this arena to so called promote the youths and the young adults of the church.
The voice of this sister will go far. I foresee that.

Then, we have the one who I'd like to call the "Quality Control", the sister whose duty was to keep PMU in that state of sanity, so that it doesn't get derailed. Mirina Lim has been around even before the official launching of the news letter. With her around, PMU has a sense of authority, not because of her presence, but because of the zeal she brings when she comes to the Saturday gatherings that we usually have.

The three of us would travel to the depths of our imagination to ponder on thoughts that only a handful of parishioners would dwell in. Often we'll relate our ideas with the ever changing world that we live in today, the sky's the limit when we discuss topics that would touch lives.

No question was considered stupid, no opinion was lower than the other. We were equals in the place where we gather. And because of this culture, PMU has survived for 3 whole years.


This is one (left) of my favorite issues, handed out in April of 2009. I have to say, I'm happy with the work I've done with the cover for this specific edition. I know it's not as grand as the news letters out in the market today, but for a brief moment on that day, I was smiling seeing my artwork being handed to people.

Not to mention the masterpiece that Nova wrote for this edition, as it says in the cover, "I AM FREE!" Nova left no detail behind when she describe what spirituality freedom means in the eyes of our lord Jesus Christ.

Honestly, PMU needs to go a long way, before it can call itself 'perfect'. Our team's effort can only go so far, and there are time where PMU faces spiritual attacks from the evil one, it's not easy sometimes, even when comes to accomplishing simple tasks like printing, copying etc..


Knowing that PMU never had anyone e-mailing us any sort of opinion can also be seen as PMU not getting enough support from our fellow family and friends.

One more thing, it's saddening sometimes when I see news letters left in the pews of the church along with candy wrappers and empty water bottles.... garbage. Is this what PMU deserves? PMU does not expect to be honored in the highest level of homage, but please, if anyone is reading this entry, next time you get a copy of PMU, you might want to keep it, if not for you, maybe for someone else who cares more for our thoughts.

In the midst of all this attacks, PMU still experience God's generosity, in the coming issues of PMU, there will be a new writer, it's a brother named Lionel Wong, also a gifted soul who has the ability to proclaim God's words in a different level of creativity, how different... You have to find that one out on your own. do wait for the next issue of Pick-Me-Up, and be up lifted. And do give any comments, I welcome any form of opinion...

Keep me in your prayers as I keep you all in mine.

Till then...

The Bandung Proposal

Last year, me and a few friends went for a trip in Bandung, Indonesia. I'd post pictures of the trip, but most of you have probably seen the site in Bandung, so I guess one picture of us would be enough, besides you can see the pictures in my facebook account.

That's Anne by the way, she's my fiance. The picture was taken after we left the church where we went to celebrate The Eucharist that Sunday morning.

About a month before the trip to Bandung, I had this foot reflexology session with Derek Chong, the youth coordinator of Sacred Heart Cathedral. Derek loves his foot massage, and I thought it was a good idea that I got one myself. little did I know that this one hour session would be the longest, most painful, most tortured one hour of my life.

Derek was the first victim, I meant patient. He made it seemed so fun, chit-chatting with me as the blind masseuse rubbed his oily feet. Derek asked me a question

"can you imagine a life without Anne?"

That got me realizing that Anne has been always there for me. She laughs at my stupid jokes, she will always be the one who will give very good advice when I'm dealing with my daily problems. and so much more, for Derek to asked me that question, the guys gave me this revolutionary vision and that I must do something with that state of relationship that we currently have. If not, there will be no more Anne.

I'm a very visual person, for me to imagine the "Anne-less" life was easy, but when I do see the that thought, it's very lonely, and painful, so painful the foot reflexology we had would seem like a joke.

The thought remained in my head for a few weeks, and every time I get to meet Anne, I asked myself "If she's not here today, how would the day be?"
The more I think about it, there more "nuts" I became. Till one day I decided to pop the big question to Anne, but first, I had to get myself a ring.

Picking up jewelery is really not my specialty, so for that occasion I brought along with me Brenda, Mark and Jill. Jill had no idea where we were going when we picked her up from her campus, she stopped breathing for a few seconds when all of us walked into a "kedai emas" "jewelery shop", She realized I was going to pop the big question.

After a few days of searching, finally we got the perfect ring for "The Proposal".

I didn't have a clue what kind of diamond was on it, what carat, what clarity,what market value..... all that was important to me was it was the right size, and it is shiny. So with that, I came, I saw, I paid... Then I went, hoping that I will Conquer.

So the Big day came, we were celebrating mass in this cathedral called Katedral Santo Martinus, which was actually the first cathedral in Bandung, Indonesia. I want to tell you how great mass was there, but we can do that in another time.

As the priest gave the final blessings, my heart was pumping like mad, I was more nervous than anyone in the pews, I had two photographers ready to document the event: Rayner and Cynthia, both armed with their cameras.

I needed a pick-up line to start the momentum, trying to come up with a line for a chick to go out with you would be hard but pick-up lines for a proposal is impossible. no one in the right mind can come up with sweet words in a matter on minutes. It's a good thing I'm not in the right mind. And also the priest was giving a homily about the movie that was currently showing in the cinemas around town, 2012.

He asked the congregation "What would you do if you know the world was going to end?"

So, I borrowed those lines from the priest,I waited for mass to finish, I heaved a great amount of oxygen, I grabbed Anne's hands, marched to the altar, Anne thought we were going to just take pictures at the altar, she didn't have any idea what was going to happen in the next few seconds.

At last we were at the altar (at the side to be exact, there were tourist taking pictures at the front of it) The walked to the altar took a thousand years. I turned to Anne and repeated what the priest asked a few minutes ago, "Sayang, what would you do If you know the world was going to end?".

She replied "Go home lah". It wasn't the answer that I was expecting, I thought she'd say something like "I pray that we'll be together when we die." Then again any answer would do I really didn't mind what she was going to say, then came then next question, the big one.

I got down on one knee, held her hands in mind, I asked "Mary Anne K Baltazar, if I knew when the world will end, I only want to know one thing from you...." By now she knew what was I up to. So, she looked at me and whispered,

"Egn, not here, there're lotsa people around looking at us!"

Again, not the answer I was looking for, but the thing is, I haven't asked the question yet. that was it, I couldn't wait any longer.."Anne, would you marry me?"

Rayner and Cynthia were clicking cameras by then, and I was trying my best to have a good post for them, so hard, that I didn't even heard that Anne actually said "yes". Foolishly I asked the second time. she answered

"Egn, you didn't hear what I said, I said yes bah!" oops..

So there, we're now officially engaged.ever since that day, I've been appreciating every moment that I have with her.

Yes, we fight...alot. but it doesn't mean that we can't work things out, I believe that both of us are still in the process of maturing. If you asked me whether we are ready for this, I'd say we'll never ever be ready for this if we don't face it head on. We all need to be a bit crazy to live life.

Keep me in your prayers as I keep you all in mine.

Till then...