samedi, juin 30, 2007 St. Nicholas Girls: FIVE Tales (updated) one:In debates, there are good days, and there are bad days. It's the same with debate coaching: you win some, and you lose some. Today was a cute day: while dealing with teens stressing out preparing for the impromptu debate I had set them, I told the oppo team (prepping at the canteen) that the debate would start once I had finished my orange bowl noodles. Seeing that I only had three strands of guotiao and one fishball left, J screamed from across the aisle: "EAT SLOWER! I BUY YOU ANOTHER BOWL!" two: Being an hour early for dinner at Central with L, S and YL (also known as the SNGS Class of 1996's 10 Year Anniversary Reunion Committee) allowed me time to sit for an hour by the Singapore River, watching the sun go down. I love the fact that I could sit by the river and just hang there, listening to my iPod. The place is pretty, nobody bothers you, and between 7-8pm, the weather is excellent for just sitting and taking in the beauty that is the city. And it is beautiful!  .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) This spot is also a spot where you can simply sit down and (if you tilt your head up a little), have a relatively clear view of the sky. three: Finally finally FINALLY meeting up with Yunyu. Seeing as how she had three concerts at the Esplanade which I couldn't attend, and that she was here for a month while I was in Cambodia, our paths only managed to cross at 830am on Wednesday morning, just before she left to go back to Australia. .jpg) She claims to be "batshit crazy", but honestly, I love this girl not for the insanely fantastic music she produces, but for the fact that in Sec 1, she sat beside me and basically saved me in chinese class. I would ALWAYS be called on to read from the textbook, and it would INEVITABLY be the "x.4"th chapter in the 课本, which WOULDN'T HAVE ANY F**KING HANYU PINYIN, and she would mutter the entire paragraph two words ahead of me so that my poor brain didn't explode in the classroom. four:  Meeting YY, my primary 3 best friend of sorts, after about... a decade of not seeing each other? She and I would both hang out together, our parents would send each other back home, and the shared history together meant that we both remember each other's FULL addresses, especially since both our postal codes were the same at that time - 2057! The catching-up was extremely fun, and I was only sorry that her family didn't join us, but when they move back to the YCK area, I'll definitely go bother them for a dinner or something.  six:It's amazing how little we change: K just sent me this via email, with the message: "this is so you", and you know what, she's completely right because I am loving it like nobody's business. Bad boys bad boys! Libellés : personal, school, singapore [St. Nicholas Girls: FIVE Tales (updated)] |
 I've bitten the bullet and finally made the change to the "new" and "upgraded" blogger, recently out of beta, but I'm really not happy with the level of control that has been wrest away from my html-happy fingers. I've been squinting away at the new blog template, seeing if the tags still make sense, but blogger seems to have moved from being something easy to use and fully customisable, to a huge monster that doesn't allow you to do anything you want.Take, for example, the links on my sidebar. Once completely independent of my post settings, their attributes are now joined with the posts. If the posts are in Arial 8pt, they too, must follow suit. If my post font colour is grey #666666, they too, have no choice but to be grey #666666, even though they might have theological issues with the hexadecimal colour. I cannot control how my header looks like - not unless I completely screw up the editing of the original template, and then what's the point of using the template in the first place? I wanted to stretch the header to 100% width, and 250 pixels in height, with 0 margin left right up down. If the new template were truly user-friendly, it would allow me to do this with a click-and-drag action. I'll be moving back to my old 3.2 template soon, except maybe upgrading it to 3.3 or something. Goodbye lpsd 5.0. It's been a pain. Libellés : technology [oh dear, what's to be done] |
mercredi, juin 27, 2007 as we all fall downlet's find a way to fall such that we prop each other up. as tears roll down let's find a way to cry such that we land on each other's shoulders. as life passes by let's find a way to live such that we live with each other and not just by(e), and hi(gh-rise) we're just damaged people learning damage control without the instruction manual test-driving together except this is not a test this is not a test this is not a test not a drill as we all fall down let's find a way to fall such that we prop each other up. Libellés : literature, personal, thinking [As We All Fall Down] |
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iPhone: 2 More Days Before Launch  I'm not really one to be running after the latest technological gadget (unlike some of my other ICM honours gang, wink wink, nudge nudge, you know who you are), but I have to say that the iPhone is giving me a bad case of tech lust, especially since initial reviews have been downright glowing.Not much news about its debut in Singapore though, and the WSJ's con list pretty much sums up the problems I'm likely to have with the phone. That, in addition to the network problems that I'm sure the phone will have, will probably kill tech lust in a jiffy, since I'm sure the complaints about network jumping will multiply tenfold in intensity once it hits our shores. But who knows? Our green-orange-red competition might surprise me... Libellés : technology [iPhone: 2 More Days Before Launch] |
lundi, juin 25, 2007 Campus Crusade for Christ: A Cause, A Call, A Community Just as I wrap filming for one project, I find out quite accidentally, that another project I was helping out with has put their product on YouTube.And in the eternally true words of everyone who's not a size zero and sees themselves on tv: OMG I LOOK FAT. Libellés : christian [Campus Crusade for Christ: A Cause, A Call, A Community] |
jeudi, juin 21, 2007  There was lots of Chinese memorisation that I did in St Nicks which I didn't completely understand, like learning the school song and the national pledge, as well as other random songs here and there. It's a testament to the power of the education that I got in that school that I am now slowly but surely rediscovering the little nuggets of "Chinese" which I absorbed like a sodden sponge - my Tang Dynasty poems (all five books of them!), the idiom dictionary that we literally had to study cover-to-cover from Sec 1 to Sec 4, and the songs.A friend recently asked me for this song, which I couldn't find in my old songbooks, but I dug it up online... while trying to recall the lyrics for the Chinese (!!) google search (I'm slowly getting better at this), I realised that what I used to think was a cheesy "if" song is actually a really beautiful one which reminds us to praise God, whatever our situation in life is, using whatever God himself has given us. 若 ╭╮３｜５０ ５３｜６０ ３２｜１０ ２１｜３０ １ 若 我 是一 朵 路旁 的 小 花， ２ 若 我 是一 隻 林中 的 雀 鳥， ╭───╮ １｜２．２ ２３｜５ － ４３｜２－－｜２－ 開 放 在 陽光 下 樂無 涯， 飛 躍 在 樹梢 間 多逍 遙， ╭╮ ╭╮ ３｜５０ ５３｜６０ ３２｜１０ ２１｜３０ 我 要 活潑 地 吐 露 芬 芳， 我 要 盡情 地 歌 唱 讚 美， ╭───╮ １｜２．２ ２３｜５ － ２３｜１－－｜１－ 讓 人 知 造物 主 的偉 大。 讓 人 知 造物 主 的奇 妙。 ╭╮ ． ．╭╮ ╭╮ １｜６．６６７｜１．１７６｜５．５３２｜１－ 祂 既 不輕 忽 那小 花 的榮 華， 祂 既 不輕 忽 那雀 鳥 的曲 調， ╭╮ ． ． ． ． １｜６．６６７｜１．１７１｜２ ７ ６｜５－ 必 然 更將 我 的生命 看 為 可 誇。 必 然 更將 我 的生命 看 為 重 要， ╭╮ ３｜５０ ５３｜６０ ３２｜１０ ２１｜３０ 若 我 是一 朵 路旁 的 小 花， 若 我 是一 隻 林中 的 雀 鳥， ╭───╮ １｜２．２ ２３｜５－ ２３｜１－－｜１－∥ 我 要 對 人說 主 的偉 大。 我 要 對 人說 主 的奇 妙。 Libellés : christian, music, school [若] |
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Idiosyncracies of the Singapore transport system .jpg) It's a well-known urban legend (mostly true) that SMRT buses (or TIBS or TransIsland buses) are generally faster than SBS buses, due to the ... shall we say, ENTHUSIASTIC driving skills of their bus captains. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had the satisfying experience of sitting in the bus in a rush, silently urging the bus driver to go faster faster fasterfasterfaster please, and when he actually DOES.However, there are some strange behaviours of SMRT bus drivers which somehow NEVER get replicated on SBS buses (or at least, none of the rides that I've taken!) Take, for example, the picture on the left. Taking the 167, this lovely bus went all the way from Newton Life Church through Newton Circus, to the Newton MRT bus stop - with the bus door open. Fun? Fun. Libellés : singapore [Idiosyncracies of the Singapore transport system] |
mardi, juin 19, 2007 So you mean we don't get to be Luke Skywalker? Charlie Stross has written a very informative and very seriously tongue-in-cheek article on why the human colonisation of other worlds isn't feasible. He calculates, with words like Heliosphere and Joules and Oort Clouds and Starwisps, just exactly how unfeasible space colonisation is.A sample: "But Proxima Centauri is a poor choice, if we're looking for habitable real estate. While exoplanets are apparently common as muck, terrestrial planets are harder to find; Gliese 581c, the first such to be detected (and it looks like a pretty weird one, at that), is roughly 20.4 light years away..." Libellés : technology [So you mean we don't get to be Luke Skywalker?] |
mardi, juin 05, 2007  Well beautiful people,I'm off to Cambodia for a spell - 5-17th June 2007. The regular once-a-year mission trip, this time to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (-ish), ministering to a secondary school and building partitions for a wall there. If you wish to pray for me, you can of course! If I've promised to email you, call you, meet up with you, send you minutes, send you pictures, send you death threats, send you spam - it'll have to wait till after the 17th, I'm so sorry. But you can leave a comment to remind me! My comment provider recently died, and now I have zero comments left... and my online soul shrivels at the thought of all that goodwill and love just LOST like that. My phone's roaming, so if you feel like sending me a shoutout, please do! It's always nice to have home contact when you're away. “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 If I don't come back because I've decided to stay there forever, know that I love you people! AS 31/97 - keep staying antisocial... :-) BMI people - Mich says keep away from her Vitamin B Complex pills, she needs them Crusade people - everyone whom I know reads my blog is going with me on the trip... Church people - enjoy church camp and take lots of pictures! Everyone else - please remember: Fruit and berries on strange planets either make you live or make you die. Therefore the point at which to start toying with them is when you're going to die if you don't. That way you stay ahead. The secret to healthy hitchhiking is to eat junk food. - HHG2G A bientôt! Libellés : christian, church, humanitarian, personal, travel [Off to Cambodia for a spell] |
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Massive Pillow Fight in Canada!  The Canucks are always getting it from their Southern Neighbours, but seriously, I'd brave a flurry of ammunition from a pillow-fight than a gun fight.Sam at TopLeftPixel is one of my favourite places to visit on the web. His pictures are always composed beautifully, and the colours are so crisp I can almost taste the air there. He's got a good eye for the occasional absurd thing that crops up in life, which makes his pictures stand out. (This photograph was farked.) [Massive Pillow Fight in Canada!] |
dimanche, juin 03, 2007 .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Libellés : church, personal, random [Scary Faces @ United Square!] |
 My second wedding of the day - my primary one best friend, Su-Lynn, and her husband, Daniel! Running from two weddings is hectic, but I managed to meet long-lost friends from church, from SNGS...This has been happening more and more often as I meet up with people, and it's amazing how many people I actually know - although I might just be flattering myself with the idea that I know a lot of people. One thing's true though - Singapore is very, very small. Libellés : personal [Su-Lynn and Daniel's Wedding] |
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Saturday: Huifen and Mervin's Wedding I was jiemei to Huifen at her wedding yesterday - and boy, was it a huge undertaking! I really never realised how much energy and time goes into getting married. And how many people it takes to get married! No wonder my mom told me to just elope if I do decide to get married!.jpg) I reached her place at about 715am in the morning - and let me tell you, taking a bus and an MRT in a satin gown and a clutch bag at 6am in the morning will incite stares and raised eyebrows, although I have to say that it's quite fun to see sleepy-eyed commuters do a double-take that early in the morning.Her photographers were pretty good - they took the essential shots, and her parents were very excited, like in this shot of them putting the veil over Huifen. They did it three times, once in slow motion so the photographers could capture them properly. .jpg) One of the tekans was for Mervin to sing Adam Sandler's "I Wanna Grow Old With You" to Huifen, and so here I am dutifully tuning the awfully out of tune guitar for him to use!.jpg) At about 830, the groom and the brothers came....jpg) ... and the session started. This is Mervin being kissed by his brothers, as well-wishes. The suan-tian-ku-la session only managed to make it to the suan-tian, because Huifen's family said the marriage must be tian-tian-mi-mi only, cannot have ku and la. So the sisters were thwarted! ( They had prepared wasabe ice-cream.)Huifen's family was completely unhelpful during the session. Only her mother was willing to play along - her father, grandma and grandpa were all so soft-hearted and wanted to let Mervin in early. In the end, there was a betrayer in the house - her brother opened the window in another room, and let him climb into the house! .jpg) Here is a very smug Mervin, sweating like a pig but extremely pleased with himself, after like a thief, he stole into the house to carry Huifen off. But there was still the matter of the door to the room....jpg) ... so here he is, serenading Huifen. She failed the first attempt, so he had to do it again!.jpg) Arriving at their new house in Seng Kang (accessible by 163! Woo hoo!).jpg) Hamming it up for the cameras back at her parents place for the tea ceremony.jpg) I told her to pose like for a jewellery commercial toshow off the inherited gold that her parents gave her. .jpg) Finally made it to the altar! :)Libellés : personal [Saturday: Huifen and Mervin's Wedding] |
vendredi, juin 01, 2007  Best deal ever.TENQIUK MICH FOR BRINGING ME TO WAREHOUSE! I would have never stepped in on my own. Libellés : singapore [The Great Singapore Sale] |
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Shhhh, Shhhh It's, oh, so quiet It's, oh, so still You're all alone And so peaceful ... Or so Bjork sang. Things are kind of busy with the mission trip to Cambodia coming up, which is taking up a little bit of time and energy to plan the programmes and such. But it's all good! Things are also busy with UNYAS coming up and launching in August. Plenty to keep us busy till then as well, so long as we get registered soon! But it's all good. Debate season is coming up! More information downloading is going to take place, when I have no time. I'm going to die juggling both things. But it's all good! I'm mildly sick with a touch of the stomach flu. But it's all good! And OMG, CAVIN AND JESS GAVE BIRTH! Mackenzie Koh was born in Seattle, USA, on the 31st of May 2007. She's gorgeous! It's bizzare and great though - this is a guy who used to tease me mercilessly about my pimples (he needles me about other things now), and OMG he's a daddy! CHERYL KOH! STOP COOKING! YOUR NIECE NEEDS A CHINESE NAME!
Left: Mackenzie Koh [It's Oh So Quiet] |
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Libellés : bizarre [Towel Day!] |
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