Denique

I have finally got my charger back from the workshop! Haha... Even though I wasn't like without internet access, or like had no computer to use, I still felt somewhat handicapped that I could not use my own laptop to do my stuff. Especially since I use an iBook G4, while both my dad and brother use the new MacBook (I am fonder of my keyboard), and my sis uses the family... dare I say it... PC... (*shudder*) haha.

And since all my links are on my laptop, and the keys are customized to what I like (especially when I press 「apple-space」to change my input method from English to hiragana) and other little preferences that make me more comfortable with my own laptop, it feels good to be able to get back to using it.

Now to put up the pictures of past events...

Cheerio

Olympics Basketball Update: You know something's wrong for Team USA when they put Michael Redd in with 4 minutes left in the first half.

Olympics Basketball Update 2: It may be a little hard to visualize, but Chris Bosh really looks like a Raptor.

昔の時

Today I ate lunch with my grandparents. Sounds kinda odd when you think about it, since my paternal grandparents stay in the same house, but today there was fried rice for lunch, and usually, if brother and me aren't like, obviously waiting for lunch, we'll just sort get a bowl each and eat wherever we were, like in front of the comp, or while watching TV.

But today, I thought it would be good to eat with them, since I hardly eat with them, and in fact, hardly talk to them. Which can be a whole story by itself, but that's not gonna be the focus here. So I took my bowl and joined them at the table, and brother also ate there.

Through most of the meal, nothing much happened, except that my grandma mistook some luncheon meat as lup cheong and tried to throw it in my bowl (cos she uses dentures and she doesn't find it easy to eat that sort of stuff), and so we all ate. Then after I was done, she told me that I could go and do my own stuff since they (Gramps and Gran) ate really slowly. But I told her it was ok. It actually sounds somewhat different when it's in Chinese, but that was essentially the core of the conversation. So I just sorta sat there and continued to talk to Gran, which takes some doing on my part, since I am not exactly proficient in Chinese.

And then Gran started reminiscing about like the past. I mean, it all started out because of the lup cheong, as she found some in her bowl, and then it progressed to how it was good to be young, and then she said the best part of her life was when she was taking care of me and brother when we were kids. (Sister wasn't born yet). When I was about 8 and brother was like 5. She was talking about how he would go to kindergarten in a bus and she would send him off, and then I would come back from school, and he would come back from school, and then my parents would come in from work and go to her place for dinner before Dad took us back to Bukit Batok.

And as my Gran continued talking about the past, I suddenly remembered two events that are somewhat related. One was when my Gran and my aunt (who's about 10 years younger than my dad) took me to a shopping center. I don't remember when, I don't remember which shopping center, but I'm guessing it had a Metro inside, cos I clearly remember the white tiling that Metro always has. And my Gran bought me a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figurine, and one for my brother, which for us was a big deal since my parents refused to buy anything like that for us. (Dad was always a firm believer in buying gifts of practical value, so he would give us useful things for birthdays and Christmases. Like... socks....).

And so this memory popped right back into my head when she was talking about all the old times. And then it went even further back when she started talking about how dad's friends were good kids too and told me that when I go visit friends, I should make friends with the parents too etc etc.

But it was a really nice conversation to have over lunch, to be able to talk to my Gran (Gramps isn't a very talkative person right now), and to remember good memories of the past on a rainy Thursday afternoon.

Cheerio.

Oh, and that other thing I remembered up in Paragraph 5 was when I met J on Tuesday, and she asked about my grandparents. Don't know why this memory popped in though. Must be a grandparent thing.

Ustulo

Gah... I don't know how it happened, but the cable on my laptop charger was burned through. Bother it all. Like the insulation is melted and I think the wires are touching each other and so they don't allow current to flow or voltage to pass through or whatever. I mean, I don't know. Ask the Physics experts.

So because I didn't know, I continued using my laptop, and there's not much battery left. I mean, if the battery was dying (like it had been), then I can still charge the laptop itself, even if the battery is not inside. But now I can't even do that. Bleah.

And even though both my brother and dad use Macintosh laptops too, their's are the new generation ones, so they use a different sort of charger. So I can't borrow from them either! Crap.

Anyway, I will upload some pictures of recent happenings soon, as soon as I get my laptop charger fixed. Hope the Apple iCare thing is still valid, and will be valid for burnt laptop charger cables. Haha. Cos my photos are all on my laptop.

Went LAN with brother, F and G today. Not sure how we did it, but we got down by about 10.30, and played till evening. With breaks of course. Then went to see PX play volleyball, and V joined us. Ended up coming home and watching more volleyball (Olympics) where Japan beat Venezuela in straight sets (replay).

Oh and in line with the title, I recall this incident that happened not too long ago in church:

Random church person: Hey Fr! So dark, from soccer is it?
Fr: Yeah. I got porched.
RCP: ?!?

Probably an amalgation of torched and poached, and maybe parched. I don't know.

JMT dinner yesterday will be talked about, as mentioned earlier, when my laptop is back up and running. So WT, don't complain if nothing gets posted up for a while.

Cheerio

Alius

When going through today's Psalm (37), I saw a verse that PS used to needle me. I mean, it seems to give us single guys in church hope, even though I would personally think that would be taking the verse out of context, and I was somewhat amused that this verse was in my reading this morning.

However, while this is usually something that makes us feel slightly better, I realized that the verse prior to that, Psalm 37:3, actually had more impact on me this morning. It says "Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture." And it kind of speaks to you on a different level than verse 4. That verse seems to imply some sort of exchange of services/rewards or something of that sort. Verse 3, on the other hand, simply tells us to remain on the safe side, and that we will be there if we do what God wants us to do, and to trust in Him.

And then, when you see verses 23 and 24, it gives you even more confidence to simply focus on what God desires, not what you desire.

So in a strange way, even though many times we scan through the Bible to find Psalm 37:4 as a form of encouragement to people, I actually feel more encouraged by other parts of the Psalm.

And sometimes, in a strange way, I find the greatest joy during QT can be from different sources. Sometimes, it's the Bible passage. Sometimes, its in the understanding I find when I read a commentary. Just the other day, I found that one of the songs on my iTunes list (Sanctus Real's I'm Not Alright) spoke to me more than the Bible passage.

It's like in Japan, when I mentioned that we had to keep our senses open so that we would be able to see God in different things, in small things.

I don't know. I just had to put that down in words.

Anyway, last night was the semi-meeting of the JMT. Some of the team managed to go down to Orchard Road to meet D&J who were in town for a short break. Then we went to OMF building for the prayer meeting. Not so good, for me, because I don't know why, but I was so sleepy that I heard only half of what HC was saying there. But when we were praying, more of it made sense, since we had gone through some of the stuff, and knew quite a bit about what was going on in Tokyo region.

So anyway, they flew back to Tokyo early this morning on the Northwest flight, to Portland via Narita, if I remember correctly. It was nice being able to see them again, even though it was really rather a short time.

Gonna head out and do some random stuff soon. Supposed to eat lunch out, but lunch has been cooked at home, so guess I'll have to eat some here. Oh well.

Cheerio.