mercredi, août 30, 2006 What's worse than realising that you actually own a matching pair of shoes and bag?Answer: Finding out that you HAVE ANOTHER PAIR OF SHOES THAT MATCH THE BAG.   Is this stitching thing very "in" right now? Because these fashion choices weren't really choices - I bought all three items (the two shoes and the bag) under duress. [Worst(er) case scenario...] |
lundi, août 28, 2006 So what's really a threat now? The Straits Times, p.11 today: "Message in a bomb: Watch out, Thaksin"Subtitle: Security experts say the partly built-bomb was meant as a veiled threat to the Thai PM" "Veiled threat"? I'd say that a partly-built bomb IS a threat. Or are we at that point in the fight against terrorism that we have so many differenciated levels of threats that it no longer has any meaning? [So what's really a threat now?] |
dimanche, août 27, 2006 Is it too early to be excited about Christmas?Because I am. :) [Too early?] |
jeudi, août 24, 2006 If I ever get married, I'll probably throw economic caution to the winds and have like, five kids or something, in the hope that they'll all turn out as cute/ adorable/ handsome/ beautiful as these four: I particularly love Nathan's expression - what on earth was he thinking? And Aaron looks handsome enough to star in Tokyo Drift!Can you imagine if two of them had been twins? This picture would have burst from the screen in excitement! [Jody's kids] |
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World Bank Youth Open Space Dialogue  World Bank Youth Open Space Dialogue:How do we create a better future? The issues and opportunities Date: Saturday and Sunday- 9 and 10 September 2006 Time: 9.00am to 5.00pm Venue: The Plaza, National Library join la... [World Bank Youth Open Space Dialogue] |
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Doing the tango while refilling at a Shell station. With Alan Rickman. Yes, this is Sexy. [The Sexiest Music Video Ever.] |
mercredi, août 23, 2006  Ah huey in the making? Or cool chick?(Yes, those are my sunnies.) [Sunglasses] |
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I have never bought a working handbag that cost more than $20. Voila! My handbag from URS: $49.90 (but at a 10% discount, so I felt a little mollified.) Not to mention that my ALSO NEW Bata shoes ($39.90) match the stitching pattern. My bag and my shoes match - so according to Sex and the City guide, I'm done! [/bimbo] [head bowed] My bag and my shoes match. *groan* I'm becoming one of Them... I'm becoming one WITH Them... [Working life changes you] |
dimanche, août 20, 2006  Well, thanks to Jo, we all went dragonboating last Sunday with sava. It was a crazy experience - taking the bus from church to Kallang, then getting off and walking the "dangerous" path to the boat area (breaking our journey halfway because of the sudden heavy downpour), then getting our briefing, getting into the boat, getting training, then getting completely soaked in crappy sea water in Kallang Basin because of water fights, then two races between our three boats.We all came back completely black, of course, except for those people who slatered slimy sunblock on their bodies as if their lives depended on it. And I think we hid from the rain for nothing - we were ALL dripping with crap water at the end of the 2.5 hr session. Altogether a perfect way to spend an afternoon.        
[Dragonboating] |
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The Fast and the Furious III: Tokyo Drift  How cool is this show? Cool cars and hot girls - if it weren't for the need of a flimsy plot, we wouldn't even need the guys in there.Plot: Little boy in the USA totals his car in an illegal (is there any other kind?) street race and gets sent off to his dad's in Tokyo Japan to avoid juvy. First day in and he meets the girl, gets into a street race, totals another car, makes a new enemy, and racks up a huge debt for the totalled car. Blah blah blah Yazuka get involved, and the whole thing culminates in a drift race (read: apply the brakes and skid smoothly round crazy hair-pin bends) on a mountain. Of course the little boy pulls through and gets the girl - but not before a mentor figure gets killed, and he reconciles with his dad in an attempt to right his wrongs. There's a little too much close-up racing - I wanted to see more long shots where I could see the track they were running, instead of the shaky-camera cinematography which we were treated to. But other than that, the movie was 1h45m of pure fun. Fetishisation of Jap culture wasn't too badly done either - the cosplay and massive number of people, plus the complete lack of space was just presented as matter-of-fact, and there wasn't too many "look here! THIS IS JAPANESE!" shots to irritate me. [The Fast and the Furious III: Tokyo Drift] |
jeudi, août 17, 2006 Counting life... having it to the fullest  John 10:10 - "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."My life is indeed full, and I am thankful to my Jesus that I am doing a job which I love, with people who are NOT irrational nor stupid, who hate bureaucracy as much as I do (you should hear my big boss bitch!), who are very laisse-faire, and (thank heavens) can think independently, and trust me to do the same. My life is full to the brim, and I am thankful to God for all the fun things happening with church, with plans for children's camp in church, band performance (tentative) in December, youth camp 2007 preparations, regular worship leading, young adults cell group starting. My friendship cup runneth over, and I am grateful to Jesus for all the friends that I have made, and have managed to keep in touch with, like Kris, Ron, CK, like Mich and Rie, like Ade, like Kor, like Mer, like Evan. I am thankful that my time in that far away uni wasn't wasted because I met so many wonderful students there, many of whom have become friends, like Dong and Jae. I am grateful also for friends lost and found again, like Yayi, like Wenli, like Tina, like Jamie. I am happy also to find that I can still make friends, like Jamie, Chelsea, Priscilla and Gabriel from diving. Ben says that he's gonna keep my MSN messages to him so that he'll show them to me when I get down in the dumps again. I'm sure I'll find myself there one of these days, but until then, I will praise the Lord! And even then, down in the dumps, I will look for God, and I will praise Him there as well. [Counting life... having it to the fullest] |
mercredi, août 16, 2006  Look closely. [Flight Plan] |
While looking through Ron's 3 week Spain photos, I was simultaneously repulsed and attracted to Gaudi's light fixtures: A sea of mouths open up to you as you gaze at the ceiling Blinking, winking, pulsing, beating - they wait till you're asleep, and then... It attacks!There's something about it which unsettles me. Could be the fact that the light is INSIDE the ceiling, could be because of its organic shape vs mechanical/industrial nature, could be because it looks like something just burst forth, or got hatched from it. *shudder* [Gaudi's weird light fixtures] |
lundi, août 14, 2006 Tips for spending time with God throughout the day  I've forgotten where this came from, but it has helped me immensely:1) Learn to pray while on the go. 2) Let God into your daily problem-solving activities. 3) Acknowledge to others your need of divine help. 4) Expect God to act outside your limited perspective. 5) Keep reflecting on a specific biblical theme. 6) Be encouraged that Jesus has promised to stay with you in all of life's circumstances.  Luke 24:50-53: The Ascension (of Jesus into heaven - this is after the resurrection, which is why we say our Jesus is a living God cos He didn't die again after the resurrection)50 When he (Jesus) had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. Praise Him in the morning, for tall and lofty trees, and praise Him in the evening, for children on their knees. Oh and praise Him in the noon day, for gentle birds that sing - oh praise Him all ye people, praise the King!  And praise Him for a peaceful porch, and rocking chairs that sway. Praise Him for the rolling hills, where children laugh and play. And praise Him for the wandering soul, that never lost their way - Oh praise Him all ye people, praise the King!Praise the King! Praise the King! Let it ring! Praise the King! And praise Him for the blood that fell, and bloomed a rose that day. And praise Him that He suffered through the guilt, the grief, the shame - Oh and praise Him that His tender love will still forgive today... Oh praise Him all ye people praise the King! - Praise The King (Cindy Morgan) ETA: I'm not normally one for kids, but you cannot help but be enthralled by them when you're part of their lives - from birth to birthday to birthday. This is Kaleb, on a green singlet day. [Tips for spending time with God throughout the day] |
 My life is busy now, but it's immensely rewarding. If you've been asking me out, and I've been saying "I'll let you know", I apologise, but God has been blessing me with more friends, and more activities, and more stuff!1) School's starting - Mondays and Wednesday nights are completely out, plus a blockade on dates during examinations in early November. 2) Work's starting - which means September is completely d.e.a.d. month. 3) TRBC Youth Camp 2007 - planning starts NOW. Give me your ideas, people! Locations, games, how much you're willing to pay, how long do you want the camp to run... 4) CEC - Need to get started on preparations for music station NOW. Recruitment and song selection, not to mention practices! 5) CEC - decoration. SX has kindly agreed to help plan and implement again, and I love her for her willingness to offer her talent to the kids this way! 6) CEC - follow-up activities for Christmas. Oh dear. I'm not anywhere near this. 7) Mission trip wrap-up - video presentation, written report, thanksgiving newsletter, burning DVDs for everyone. Oh dear oh dear. 8) Nineteen Ninjas has potential customers on the sidelines already, and my web creation price plans are not up yet! Plus I have yet to create an invoice so that I can bill Rie, which would help ease my finances a little after I pay school fees! 9) SNGS 10th Yr Reunion wrap-up - online survey form not created yet. Database not created yet! Darius told me once that I have "too many ECAs", and I'm very inclined to believe him. There's just so much life to lead, and so little time. But I wouldn't change things for the world. I hope I never lose my sense of wonder at the world - I complain a lot, but I think that life is worth living despite all the crap that goes on. Perhaps a few years of work will squash out my idealism, but I will hold off that day for as long as I can, because although life is short and we are here but for a passing breath, God's creation is still wonderful, and I'm determined to carpe diem my ass off. This is a good point in my life, and I will praise the Lord. [To-Do list] |
samedi, août 12, 2006 Shaking something other than your bon bon: Planetshakers  Needless to say, it was awesome. Short, but awesome. I'm slightly disappointed with the sound; the singing wasn't very clear, and we often had to strain to listen through the bad sound plus the Australian accent, which occasionally made it impossible to pick out any words.The songs were (as usual) generic stuff; Planetshakers hasn't really impressed me with their lyrics, but their heart for capturing the youth crowd is there - all the tunes are youth-friendly, lots of cool basslines and the occasional in-built shout-lyrics (like Running After You, and Jump Around/Get Your Praise On). However, despite the cool-factor, the only redeeming grace for songs like Evermore and Always and Forever are their tunes. I hate to be harsh to a band which I rather like, but the truth of the matter is that they've got a long way to go before they find better lyrics than constantly rhyming "Lord" with "God", "today" and "say" and "obey" and "way" or "ray" etc.  Starting from the beginning, SX, X, Ed, JJ, Bev and Ben arrived there first, meeting YX, who opted for the old-person's seating waaaaay in the far side of the Max Pavillion at Expo. The setup was simple - a stage, a large area for jumping around (not quite the equivalent to moshing), and about two hundred plus raised seats. What stood out in the setup were two mini bungees (which I forgot to take pictures of), which were supervised, and which you could try out for free. I came late and there was too long a queue, and after a hard day's work, I didn't have enough energy to strap that thing around my waist and try to turn myself upside down.We each exchanged our tickets for a glow stick and a goody bag, which contained a noisemaker, a whistle on a string (you twirled it around on a string until it goes fast enough to make a whistling sound), a balloon, and a small stick of facepaint, which we promptly took out and started vandalising each other with. Ed was particularly traumatised as we tried to draw on his face. "I don't like the smell!!!" he doth protested. That's him being tortured on the left.  I decided to have some fun (come on, you're only young... er, young-ISH once...), and painted my eye area white. Too bad our group got stuck with only white; we would have had fun with colours. That's me (and my eyes) on the right. Even though the tickets weren't sold out today, there was still so many people! The emcees played a game while waiting for the band to come on stage: they requested the pastors/youth pastors who were there at the concert to come up and play soccer... which just meant that they kicked a soft soccer ball off the stage and everybody else tried to keep each ball up in the air, depending on which "team" they supported. That didn't work very well because nobody could tell which ball belonged to which "team". The game eventually fizzled out (note to self: must plan good games if emceeing), and the pastors danced the Chicken Little Dance, which was hilarious. Even more for us because we were all busy imagining our staid, starched-white cotten shirt-and-collar pastors doing the Chicken Little Dance. Not. Gonna. Happen. :) The concert finally started at 8pm, and went on till about 9pm, when the "sermon" came into play. This time, it wasn't about how God worked to bring a child into a barren couple's womb, but about how God can satisfy the deepest cravings of your heart: when you have to have noise and people around you constantly, and when you do know ABOUT God, but you do not KNOW God personally. The example given for this was in Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 to 23: 21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'In this simple sentence, the greek word for "knew" isn't about head knowledge - it's not the knowledge of an acquaintance, or the knowledge of a book. It's about a relationship. The dangerous thing for any Christian to do is fall into complacency - do you really have a relationship with Jesus, or is your apparent "relationship" just a passing acquaintance that you could live without?  It was a wonderful message, and I think that it was presented thoughtfully, albeit in a little bit in a rush. But I think they've done their homework on this (or it could be at Lawrence Khong's request and/or suggestion) as the basic message was not to new believers, but believers who have been in the church a long time, for christians who know ABOUT God because they grew up in a Christian home, but who do not KNOW God and Jesus.The concert ended with one last rendition of Get Your Praise On, and then even though we shouted ourselves hoarse for an encore, none was forthcoming. We met up with the rest (Beverly had semi-passed out in the middle of the concert, and Ed took her to the first aid area for some R&R), and decided to queue up to meet the band (since we were accidentally near the front of the line.) Bev and I decided to take photos with the band members, which have been stored in her phone, hence you don't see it here. I'll bet she's still squealing over the keyboardist.  After that, we ended up in our Rochor Road Soya Bean, now almost a ritual after concerts. 4 taohui, 1 chinchow, 1 youtiao. Yum! Good friends, good food - the perfect end to a really good day.
[Shaking something other than your bon bon: Planetshakers] |
vendredi, août 11, 2006  I am sorry for your loss. Your whole family must have loved her a lot. Her smoking pictures should be made into a stamp or something, cos she just looks so cool. 
[Condolences] |
lundi, août 07, 2006 One of my debate kids sent this to me. I fear I have infected them with nonsense.Recently too, I feel like I'm typing to a void. THE RED HERRING (George Macbeth) There was once a high wall, a bare wall. And against this wall, there was a ladder, a long ladder. And on the ground, under the ladder, there was a red herring. A dry red herring. And then a man came along. And in his hands (they were dirty hands) this man had a heavy hammer, A long nail( it was a sharp nail) and a ball of string A thick ball of string. All right. So the man climbed up. the ladder( right to the top) and knocked in the sharp nail; Splunk! Just like that. Right on top of the wall. The bare wall. Then, he dropped the hammer. It dropped right down to the ground. And onto the nail, he tied a piece of string, a long piece of string, and onto the string he tied the red herring. The dry red herring. And let it drop. And then he climbed down the ladder( right down to the bottom), picked up the hammer and also the ladder(which was pretty heavy) and went off. A long way off. And since then, the red herring, the dry red herring hung on the end of the string, which is quite a long string, has been very very slowly swinging and swinging to a stop. A full stop. I expect you wonder why I made up this story, such a simple story. Well, I did it just to annoy people. Serious people. And perhaps also to amuse children. Small children. [The Red Herring] |
dimanche, août 06, 2006 I think I know what vnfan felt when she finally took a picture of the Sirius bike - because it was a heart stopping ten seconds as I saw the billboard from the taxi, scrabbled for my camera, willed it to boot up quicker, and FINALLY snapped three pictures in quick succession as my taxi made the roundabout in the crazy, crazy Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) traffic.Anyhow, I'm back! Food was excellent, traffic was crazy, friends were wonderful, and oh my goodness, bargaining is a pain in the nether regions, but the shopping was worth it. Shoes, bags, Áo dàis - you name it, they have it. I discovered also that the Áo dài is pronounced "ao yai" in the South (HCMC), while I was pronouncing it the wrong way "ao zai", which I had learned in the North, when I was in Hanoi. Apparently the pronounciation of the 4th and 5th tones (hỏi/'asking', which is heard in a dipping-rising tone, and (ngã/'tumbling', which is heard in a breaking-rising tone) are inconsequential in the South, but very important in the North. Confusing, but fun. The food is WONDERFUL. I am in love with Vietnamese food now. ETA - okay pictures are not coming out, but it's late and I'll fix them tmrw. [Back from HCMC] |
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Back from Mission Trip in Vietnam!  Vietnam was spiritually refreshing for me - I feel more sleepy than usual, but I don't feel weary or tired. And this after waking up three days in a row at 4am (we were with Ks) to pray and do prayer walk every morning for ministry! Only God could refresh me like this.The long and the short of the trip: 3 days of ministry, 5 doctors, 8 non-medical staff, seeing 2000 patients in Vietnam. Due to some problems along the way, this worked out to approximately 140 patients a day per doctor. To give you an idea of how heavy this load is, polyclinic doctors consider seeing 50 patients a day a "killer day". You should have seen the way that our doctors looked at the end of each day - wilted, faded, yet all still so joyful. It was a very, very good trip for me - my body is aching and my back is rather sore from hauling around medicine, and from bending over trying to explain prescriptions in broken Vietnamese, but ministering to the people there has been extremely rewarding despite the cultural and language differences.  It was harder than my regular trips too, with the Ks in the mix - there were so many different groups there! There was our team, then there were this group of Ks from EA who spoke K and Chinese, then there was another group of Ks from K itself, and they spoke ONLY K, then there was a group of Vietnamese who spoke Vietnamese, K, and English! Translations could be done three or four times (because there were some (NOT ME!) in the group whose Chinese really cannot make it), so it could occasionally run from Viet > K > Chi > Eng!Despite the crazy translations, it was a beautiful sight to behold. It's an amazing thing to see so many people coming together as one - I thought it was a glimpse into how the body of Christ functions, but this is only three countries in the world coming together to work together. How much more beautiful would it be to behold the sight of the real McCoy?  After three full days of ministry, we bid goodbye to the patients and ministry, and went off to enjoy our final last free day in Ho Chi Minh City. But before we managed to lay our heads down to rest (after a hot shower), we had to handle a miscommunication with our hotel - we had paid a deposit, but when we got there, there was no room at the inn! After about half and hour of wrangling by our guide, Barnabas, we managed to get rooms at another hotel about 200m walk away. Talk about living the great adventure! (And this after the excitement of getting our medicine confiscated and having the police hanging around every day!)Ho Chi Minh CIty is a beautiful place, with lots of noise and bikes everywhere - though not everyone's cup of tea. It's really chaotic, so people who like order will find it immensely nerve-wracking. There are bikes everywhere, and nobody obeys traffic signals. Check out this very Harry Potter bike - it's REALLY called Sirius! Potterites will know that Sirius Black rode a BLACK motorbike in the HP books, so this is really cute.  We visited the Reunification Palace, which has been the location of some crazy scenes- imagine being bombed by American B52s, then having two Soviet tanks storming your gates, headed for lunch at this place recommended by Lonely Planet (Quan An Ngon - SUPER DELICIOUS and we all had a full meal, drinks and dessert for only S$5!!!), then went to the post office and the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was located across the road from the Madonna statue. It is said that the Madonna statue occasionally weeps, and the Vietnamese take it as a sign that calamity is about to befall their country. I asked our guide when the last time it wept was, and she said it was earlier this year (2006.)After the Cathedral was shopping at Ban Thanh market for an hour and a half, where I managed to replace my dying sports shoes (bought on my last mission trip to the Philippines), a waist bag which I've wanted for about 2 years but couldn't bear to spend S$80 on, and a bunch of other presents and stuff. And then it was off for a final dinner and cruise with the Ks, and then it was back to the hotel for a 2 hour long evaluation session. The next day was a last walk around the vicinity of our hotel, and a quick stop to eat pho, and that was it, we were back at the airport, back in the plane, and then back to Singapore. Thank you for all your prayers and SMSes - we really NEEDED and appreciated them over there when so many crazy things were happening. Thanksgiving newsletter coming up soon, so if you're interested in getting one, SMS or email me. [Back from Mission Trip in Vietnam!] |
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