All I Want For Christmas Is...

How many times have you received a gift and had this thought:

"Why not just give me the cash instead?" or "What am I supposed to do with this?" or "What a waste of money?"

Don't get me wrong I am not ungrateful, just being honest here. Don't lie to me, I know we have all had that experience. Then some of us hold onto the gift for another year or two and then "re-gift" it to another poor soul (or someone else who would actually appreciate it).

So far my philosophy for Christmas gifts is this: "if I wouldn't like to receive it, I won't give it". Maybe this might help some of you.

For me, the best thing to do is to give a "group gift", which means getting a few mutual friends (a term I learnt in Facebook) together and give something more significant. It will cost you the same, but the gift's value (not just monetarily) will grow exponentially. Although this would require some extra planning and organizing.

With Christmas looming and the prospect of having unwanted "surprises", I have created this "wish list" for those of you who genuinely love me but face the challenge of expressing your love through your Christmas giving. Hopefully this will make your Christmas shopping (for me) less stressful and more enjoyable (for you). Prices for the items on my wish list range from as low as RM2 to more over USD2,000. So go ahead, get a few guys together and do some planning/organizing!

Note:

* This is just a wish list, you know what wish means? Anyway, these days I'm dreaming big and I am not going to apologize about it. Hopefully they are God's dreams as well...

** This is not an exhaustive list, but a guide. I'm sure some of you have some great gift ideas for me, can't wait for Christmas...

Samsung Omnia

The all-in-one

Last Christmas, when Mikayla was born, for some unknown reason my pocket PC of almost 5 years died on me in the hospital. Since then I have been jumping from phone to phone, just borrowing people's cheap backup phones. I am currently using Osbourne's old and reliable Nokia.

The Omnia is really an all-in-one gadget. It has the usual Phone and PDA functions (i.e. calendar, to-do list, making and receiving phone calls, SMS, etc.). On top of the usual stuff this baby also has a built in GPS and AGPS, not to mention the HSPDA (3.5G) connectivity, also useful as a PDA and also as a thumb drive/external hard disk.

My life has really been a blur since my trusty O2 XDA II konged out. I feel a need to get my life back on track as I begin to build my ministry next year.

Mic Stand Pick Holder

The standard mic stand pick holder

I have a tendency to drop my picks when I play guitar, especially on fast songs (I think I just can't keep up with the tempo). Anyway apart from my efforts in practice, this item will come in helpful during those embarrassing times.

Similar but different

Outdoor Crocs (Red/Black)
With my faithful green pair of crocs wearing out, it is getting hazardous for me when it gets wet. Maybe I should just slip, fall, then sue Crocs for a new pair of Crocs?

My current Beach Croc is in the size of Men's 8-9. So might as well try the outdoor crocs this time around.

Red/Black colour is the best of the lot

A Taylor Guitar (814 or 914 series)

Not just another guitar, a Taylor 814... *drools*

Hope agianst all hope, but I just heard a message from a CD in Sarah Tan's car. The speaker excouraged us not to limit God. God has no limits, only we limit God by putting him into a box. So I decided to put this up as well. This is definitely out of the box.

As all of you would know guitars is a real passion of mine. I can't play it as well as I wished I could, so I resort to just loving the whole concept and idea of a guitar. This guitar would be more than a music instrument, it would be more a piece of art. I am currently tracking several auctions on Ebay. It is MUCH cheaper in US, since these babies are made in US. Currently the most attractive is this Taylor 2006 814ce Fall Limited Edition with sitka spruce top and Madagascar rosewood sides and back. Check this baby out! That's what I call a sexy back... yea...

The Madagascar Rosewood back

Sexy back... yea

Paul Gilbert Guitar Picks

Any color will do.

So far, I have found these to be the best picks. The size is right, the shape is right, the texture is right, the tone is right, even the colours are right. These are the only guitar picks I use, I exclusively use Paul Gilbert picks. I stumbled upon these picks one day when David Yeoh lent one of his picks to someone during worship practice, since then there was no turning back.

Recently I went to get myself a few more of these picks. I seldom lose my picks nowadays, unless I borrowed them to someone else, then they lose it for me. However these picks are currently dried up in Malaysia, all stocks are sold out, that is how popular these picks are. Anyway those still in my possesion are getting worn out. They are getting blunt on the tip from strumming, and getting holes on the sides from scrapping the strings. Time for a bunch of new ones. Think you can find some?

Clip On Guitar Tuner

This is the Intelli IMT-500, available at The Guitar Store.

There are many types of tuners out there, but the ones I am interested in are the clip on time. The clip on type don't require a guitar jack plugged in to them to start tuning. These also do not need silence while tuning because they are not reliant on the mic to pick up the guitar's pitch. These clip on are based on vibration that the guitar emits to determine the pitch of the guitar. These clip on type tuners are also generally smaller, for me, that's a plus.

This is how it is used.

Mikayla Harness

That's NOT Mikayla

With Mikayla turning 1 this Christmas season, she should very soon be running about. So as parents our job is to spoil her fun by putting her on a leash... A baby harness should allow both Melanie and I, and Mikayla some freedom and room. A simple one would be great. Not some "cute" bulky one.

Definitely not a fan of lugging more weight around.