William Chong

This year I’ve grown taller.

It’s mainly as a result of wearing shoes to work. When I take them off I am my normal height, and my normal self. In 2008 I chose to start a career, and it’s been a year of learning, phone calls, research and writing, business meetings, commuting.

This year I spent 20,000 km in traffic. And about 500 hours listening to equal parts stilted conversation, heartfelt fellowship, irate talkback, devotional nudgings, head-banging tracks.

This year I left New Zealand. But then I came back. The trans-Tasman travel I’ve done this year has been purely work-related. It’s almost like a cheap thrill – perhaps less cheap and more thrill – to fly on account of someone’s credit card. It’s almost like a free gift, grace.

This year my sister joined me in the amazing race. I’m still buzzing about it.

This year I started a countdown. Today it’s at 402. And when it counts down, there’s a cord of three waiting; my best friend will become my best friend with a different name.

She’s the love for a lifetime.

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This year was filled with new experiences. A new job. A new church. A renewal of my walk with God.

This year I ran my heart out. It was hard, but it was good. I made new friends, both online and offline. I kept old friends close, or at least tried to. Sometimes you have to accept that you’re thereabouts, but not in there.

I went tramping, and fell in love with New Zealand all over again.

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And now, for a Special Paperclip section!

Open with care: fragile! And thanks for the dinners and the everything.

As a reminder to how we’ve changed through the ‘ears:

LIST OF PREVIOUS Y/EAR IN REVIEWS

Cheryl 2007

Dennis/Ethan 2005
Ethan Waters 2006/07
Ethan Waters 2007/08
Ethan Waters 2008

Henry 2005
Henry 2006

Helen 2005-2007

Kat 2007 (kinda)

Ray 2005
Ray 2006
Ray 2007/08

Sonny 2007

William 2007

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Happy New Year everyone; thanks for reading and sharing life together!

On Boxing Day, a group of us went tramping up the Pinnacles, in the Coromandel Ranges. We stayed overnight at the Pinnacles Hut and made a couple of good attempts at the Kauaeranga trail that takes you right up to the summit of the Pinnacles. The views from the top were stunning, and the tramp featured some heartfelt EGC moments amidst the huffing and puffing, the encouragement, and the character-building.

We left Auckland at 9am and took State Highway 2 and 25 towards the township of Thames. After some last-minute food purchases, we drove along the Kauaeranga Valley Road to the start of the tramping – tucked in a good 20 km into the heart of the Coromandel Ranges.

Tramp and trail

There are a few tracks around the Kauaeranga Valley area that can potentially take you to the summit. The most popular (and easiest) route to the Pinnacles Hut is the Webb Creek track, which takes about 3 hours. The first half hour was pretty easy going and weaved about the Kauaeranga River at a number of places (including a 30m-high swing bridge).

The track got significantly steeper about the first hour in, with the introduction of crude stone steps. These were cut way back in the 1870-1920s by kauri-felling opportunists who needed to carve a route up the Pinnacles to reach the valuable kauri trees – the entire area is now under Department of Conservation (DOC) protection.

Were they difficult? Let’s just say that I’ve seen enough stone stairs to last me a good while.

There were plenty of photo opportunities along the way as the trees would, on occasion, part to reveal stunning views of the rugged and mostly unspoiled Coromandels.

After the second hour of stair climbing, we were all elated to finally reach flatter terrain that followed the Hydro Camp checkpoint. The last part of the Webb Creek track we’d been following gradually morphed into a stony track, with vegetation that was more untamed scrub, and less lush native bush. When tramping, it’s always fascinating to observe the flora and fauna patterns change as you move up and down a mountain – the Pinnacles was no different.

From Hut to the top

The Pinnacles Hut is a most atypical DOC hut. It’s got 80 bunk beds, gas cookers, running water, chemical toilets, cold showers and even a fully-equipped BBQ. In comparison, staying in of the more remote backcountry huts will pretty much guarantee you a roof over your head, and nothing more.

We had a fantastic dinner, where everyone selflessly shared whatever food they brought with them. It’s not too often you will have cold spaghetti, cheesy sausages, spam, chicken kievs, potato soup, focaccia bread and hot pepperoni slices all in one meal. Even if you did, it probably wouldn’t be in a dining room overlooking the majestic Coromandel ranges. After dinner, some of us slept early/collapsed with exhaustion while others stayed up playing card games.

Most of us made the effort to wake up before the crack of dawn (5 am) to make a bleary-eyed attempt at the summit. There’s a strangely refreshing sense of isolation shuffling up step by step to a peak that’s shrouded in low-lying cloud. The air isn’t quite rarefied, though there’s a sharp scent of nature mixed with the moisture of the mists.

While the advertised time from the Pinnacles Hut to the Pinnacles is 50 minutes, I think that the modernisation of the track (DOC have replaced the old rope and rock systems with steel ladders, rungs and well-spaced stairs) made for a significantly easier ascent. Most of us were at the summit ledge admiring the misty views within 30 minutes of leaving the hut.

On a clear day at the summit (altitude: 759m) you can see the Pacific Ocean in the east, and the Firth of Thames to the west. Being perched on the roof of a mountain and looking out across the Ranges is quite an experience – put it on your bucket list, if you have one.

All in all, it was a pretty decent tramp. We didn’t get the best of viewing conditions due to the cloud cover, but that will only motivate each one of us to go again!

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NZ singer-songwriter Brooke Fraser’s sophomore album “Albertine” has been picked as the best Christian album of 2008 by a US evangelical website.

Christian Music Today, the online music website for ChristianityToday.com, recently published its selections for the Best Christian Albums of 2008, an annual list that is regularly one of the year’s most-read articles on the site:

Online music editor Russ Breimeier says the following about Brooke Fraser’s work:

Admittedly, it seems kind of strange to top our list of the Best Christian Albums of 2008 with an album that originally released in 2006 and has already sold extremely well. Of course, those stats pertain to the release in Brooke Fraser’s New Zealand homeland and Australia. It took another 2 years for Albertine to come up from down under and finally receive American distribution: and we’re so glad it did. Fraser has been steadily gaining attention as a worship leader through Hillsong, regularly touring with the increasingly popular United band. However, the 24-year-old shifts gears dramatically for her solo material, unveiling a remarkable writer behind the passionate voice. There’s an elegance and maturity to her alt-pop style (rightfully earning comparisons to Sarah McLachlan, Nichole Nordeman, and Sara Groves) as well as her expressions of faith through song. It’s particularly astounding that this artist has found success and worldwide acclaim when most of her songs are clearly derived from her Christian beliefs. But then it helps when the music is credible, honest, relevant sounding, and created with artistic excellence. Fraser is further proof that artists don’t need to water down the gospel to be heard in the mainstream, that smartly written Christian music can find an audience outside of the church, and that God can be glorified through music that isn’t specifically intended for worship.

Of course, it’s a bit odd for those of us living in New Zealand that it’s taken this long for the US market to see how awesome Brooke’s music is. But it’s nice to see good Kiwi musicians walking the talk, and being rewarded for it; to me, Brooke is as much a success story as Flight of the Conchords.

N.B.: According to her myspace, she’ll be back into the writing groove in 2009 – definitely something to look forward to for the new year.

This is a more overtly Christian contemporary song – clean chords, a standard verse-chorus x2, bridge chorus x2 structure and distilled lyrics in a humble attempt to be clear-cut.

The song is a metaphorical sketch of my own (and others, no doubt) experiences and challenges in presenting the gospel to a generation that’s largely apathetic or hostile to the thought of being accountable to someone other than themselves. The start of verse two references Philip Pullman, though I’ve used it as a reminder to myself re: accountability.

I have to say that using something like Garageband made it much easier for a soundtech-illiterate guy like me to put songs together. I’m now onto using Logic, which is an entirely different beast altogether.

As always, all songs are available for downloading, thanks to metatoaster’s generous hosting. Comments/feedback/critiques are always welcome: either by using the comments box, or by flicking me an email).

Have a good day everyone!

 

 Save Our Souls [3:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Downloads 1

Save Our Souls – WILLIAM CHONG
I can see the fiction in their eyes
As they talk towards their prison
They don’t know that He has risen
Yea they ask me why I’m saved inside
Why do I claim that I’m born again?
Well undying love’s the reason

What would you know about heaven’s gold?
He’s on his way today or tomorrow
What would you do if you knew the truth
the proof is right there waiting in the living Word
He’s the one who saved our souls

A subtle knife to bleed your purpose dry
Can you trust your worldly arrow
When it all comes down tomorrow
I’d rather have my trust in Jesus Christ
With the anchor that was Calvary
What a joy He rescued me!

Made us whole
He took us home when he saved our souls

I’ve been questioned on authenticity
and endured the worldly shame
Accusations, inconsistencies
Yet the logic’s still the same

Kiwi fans of the CBS’s Emmy award-winning show, The Amazing Race, will be pleased to know that New Zealand has been featured again in a leg of the race. In the recently-concluded Season 13, the 4th leg of the race saw remaining teams shuttle into Auckland and Te Puke.

In between shooting footage for the race, NZ-born host Phil Keoghan dropped into Burger Fuel for a spot of lunch:

Either they really really like BurgerFuel, or someone paid for a bit of product placement in Phil’s travel diaries.

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On Monday I blogged about the Christmas Tui billboard and lamented the fact that the tongue-in-cheek description of our priorities for the Christmas season is pretty accurate.

Since then, someone’s thought of a witty comeback to the billboard behind the Ellerslie Squash Club:

(It wasn’t me.)

While I’m not encouraging vandalising property to make a point (Romans 13:1-2), the whole episode’s got a bit of Monty Python-like humour (a la “Life of Brian”) to it – I can just imagine Brian painting all that anti-Roman graffiti!

Have a great day everyone!

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(UPDATE: Thankfully I’m not the only one who’s feeling a bit aggrieved today.)
Driving to work today, I saw the latest Tui billboard – and I’m a bit angry about it.

I haven’t got a picture of it, but if my memory was correct it read something like this:

(Created using: Interface 7 Tui Billboard)

I’m upset not because of any moral outcry or thought of blasphemous affront. I’m upset because it’s a sorrowful sign of the times, where less and less folk actually understand the reason for Christmas in the first place. And it doesn’t take a theologian to figure out that “Christmas” refers to Jesus Christ.

A couple of other signs of the times:

• Calling for a godless holiday: AHA ads
• You can’t call them Christmas trees anymore

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Happy holidays Season’s greetings Hello thar Merry Christmas, everyone – can you think of a slogan in response/reply?