マンゴ スティキー ライス

So now that I have a bit of time, I shall try and recollect some of the fun stuff we did in Phuket.

Naturally, we wanted to do many things while we were there. We wanted to have some time to relax, to go about and sightsee and do touristy stuff, to go shopping, etc etc. But as the title says, what we really wanted to do was to go there to eat mango sticky rice, which if you don't know, is one of the best foods on earth, right along with donuts and ramen from that place in Ikebukuro.

Well anyway, we left somewhere in the late afternoon-evening of the 24th of March. Before the plane took off, while we were at the Budget Terminal's waiting area, I found the cool thing that can let me get power from different power sockets. Bought it from a shop in the terminal.

The cool thing. Photo-copyright: McKal.

The short flight was rather uneventful, and we touched down safely, even though it was really cloudy, so booking the window seat facing the sunset was really an exercise in futility. I couldn't get any good sunset pictures bah.

To get to the hotel from the airport requires a drive of roughly 45 mins. And with all our barang and the number of people we had, we had to rent a van and an MPV (a Toyota Wish). It took quite a while to settle the renting and allocation of seats for people, but once we got on the road, that was when the fun started.

See, IL had decided to drive the Wish himself, and he would follow the van driven by a local guy. And I'm not sure what that local guy was thinking, but he decided that 45 mins was too long a time to take to get to the hotel, and drove like he wanted to get there in 15.

He drove at 140km/h.

In the rain.

So naturally, IL did his best to keep up with him. Kudos to IL actually, since he did manage to maintain contact with the van until just before we reached the hotel. I always felt that the plane ride was the most dangerous part of any journey, not the car ride to the hotel, but, you know, I may have to change my views now.

Anyway, we got there safely, and after dumping our stuff in our rooms, we quickly went out to the market at the back to eat dinner. Here's a picture of my first dinner there:

Clockwise, from bottom right: Duck noodles, chayen, mango sticky rice

Naturally, it contained the very essence of our trip there, though what with economic downturn and inflation, the mango sticky rice now cost us 50 baht instead of 40 the last time we went there. The other items remained the same price though.

Next day was touristy day. We drove all over the place, ate some good food somewhere, and went to the beach to take a look. Not long enough to go and play in the water and all, unfortunately. We all wanted to, of course, because it was so hot (all of us got burnt except SP, I think), but we just had to content ourselves with eating more nice food and taking good photos. Here are some samples:

From bottom left: my coconut, the prata with bananas, chocolate sauce and condensed milk, and SP's coconut

And here are some of the photos we took at the beach:

Oooh! Postcard picture!

Oooh! Another postcard picture!

Oh yay. Another one.

Of course, we weren't just all taking postcard-esque pictures. We took other pictures too! Like:

Arty pictures!

Moving-from-car pictures!

Cloud pictures!

Food pictu... wait a minute.. this looks awfully familiar...

On thing's that's pretty cool about Phuket is that they have all these overhead cables. I know they could be dangerous and all that, but they do make for some rather good photo opps. SP certainly thought so, which was why you can get photos like this:

SP using his cool film camera to take arty shots (hur hur)

Naturally, I wanted to take my own arty shots to, you know, feel all nice and arty inside of me. So here's what I got:

Attempt 1: No real focus, nothing to gauge perspective, FAIL.

Attempt 2: Wooden supporting beam too far left to be focus of photo, and too far right to make photo artistically asymmetrical. FAIL.

Attempt 3: Photographer has obviously been distracted by friend making V-sign, which while being perfectly permissible for a tourist shot, has made this photo an absolutely un-artistic one. PHOTOGRAPHER FAIL.

Attempt 1 by JT (after 42 attempts from author): Excellent artistic photograph. The sepia tone adds an old school feel to the photo, while the wooden post in the background provides a wonderful contrast to the wooden post in the foreground, which is obviously the object of the photographer. The focal point of the photo makes it tastefully asymmetrical, yet at the same time, provides a subtle parallel to the background, both displaying the post-modern nature of the image, and reflecting a hint of nostalgia the photographer has for days gone by. Photo courtesy of JT, all rights reserved.

Ok, I totally don't understand a word I said. Many thanks though, to the good doctor, who's description of various aspects of our trip has helped inspire my photo analysis.

Some of JT's artistic-ness must have rubbed off on me, because I started taking better artistic shots after that. And one more thing I realized is that shots of Phuket, if done in a certain way (read: black & white), can look like those pictures of Singapore from the 50s that you can find in your old Sec 2 Social Studies book:

Old Singapore Shot!

This one especially reminds me of the social studies book photo. Just that Toyotas weren't that sleek in the 50s.

Old Singapore coffee shop shot!

We found this dimsum place near the hotel when we went out one to explore one morning. Pretty decent food, and everything was served on small plates, and we had to eat with small forks, and even the straws were downsized.

Oh, and I managed to get nice sunrise shots one morning when I woke up early. Here's one:

From my hotel room window.

We also went shopping one of those days to this place called Central Festival, that is like a major shopping mall that is on the outskirts of Phuket town (I think). Lots of nice things there, though a lot of the shops were the normal atas western places (think Levi's, adidias, Lacoste etc), which made the place remind me of Marina Square. Did manage to get some souvenirs there.

So on the last day, we left the hotel and went back to the airport (at a normal speed of about 80 km/h), and that was about it.

Goodbye Phuket! The airport is actually really scenic. Think it's located next to the sea or something.

Or is it? The post would not be complete without returning to the main objective of going to Phuket: Mango Sticky Rice.

While at Central Festival, I got it in my head to see if I could bring some of the MSR home, since I knew brother really liked the stuff, and I wanted to do it for the sheer novelty of it.

So I bought a Tupperware.

The MSR in the kitchen at home in Singapore. In brother's own words, as quoted from the Facebook comments, he was "hysterically happy :)".

Cheerio!

ただいま！

Ok, got back from the short holiday from Phuket about 2 and a half hours ago, and decided to just post up a spot before going to koon. At any rate, I feel the need to use my laptop for a while, since I went by for almost a week without using computer/internet, which I thought would be really difficult, but was actually really easy.

And I can't believe that while I was away, the Bucks lost like three matches. This is sad.. I thought this year, they may have had the chance to get to the playoffs (even though that would mean being cannon fodder for the Cavs, probably), but they manage to lose three in the past week. Bleah.

So anyway, I shall probably update a bit more and stuff later on, as I am feeling really zoned out from traveling.

Cheerio.

Infans

At today's JPM, I had the privilege of praying with two people.

The first person, SQ, is somewhat new to the church. She joined the CG, but has only really been around for less than a month. So along the way, I had to explain some church stuff to her. Not even spiritual stuff. Just, you know, church things. Like what JPM was. But, I was really impressed that she was willing to come down. And also that she was willing to pray, even though I think she's not too comfortable praying out loud with people.

The second person, WT, is the one I want to talk more about though. She's kinda of a funny person. Like, she brings entertainment with her. Even though I suspect she doesn't like the idea that she brings entertainment with her. And she's always bickering with me. I don't know why, since she always loses. Even if she tries to bring up my poor Chinese skills.

And at JPM, there was one section where they were asking the congregation to pray for the people going to East Timor, a little later this month.

So anyway, WT decided to pray for me. It started off with being about the other trip, but then she started going on to praying about me going to Japan (which is still not quite upon me yet). So here's a short excerpt of what I can remember from the prayer.

WT: ...and Lord, I pray for Daniel here, that he's going to Japan. And Lord I pray that You will help him improve his Japanese, because his Japanese is not good enough for him to survive there, and he'll be all by himself so no one will be able to take care of him when he's sick...
Me: *laughs*
WT: Hey! Why you laughing! I'm praying for you ok!
Me: *laughs some more*
WT: Hey! *hits me*

I started laughing because it really sounded quite funny. Part of it I guess, is that my Japanese is not quite that bad. Ok, well it is, but to be unable to survive because of that is pushing it a bit far. And hearing the bit about having no one to take care of me if I fell sick just sounded so....child-like.

And that was when I realized how wonderful her prayer was. Before that, during an earlier prayer, I was thinking to myself as she was praying (which I really shouldn't have been doing, but well) that her prayers were very nice because they were so earnest. Her words may have been simple, and her grammar slightly off, but it was the sincerity of her prayer that really struck me.

So that is where the beauty of her prayer is. It was in being child-like before God. And her heartfelt prayer would have been more beautiful to God than the carefully-worded liturgy of a priest.

So to WT, thank you for the prayer. And I hope we can all learn to be as child-like as you are when you are praying to God.

Cheerio.

も一回

Once again, I just had to leave it till the end of the month in order to post to save the at-least-once-a-month record. Hard to imagine that the last time I posted was almost a month ago. Seems so much less.

The past month has been really kinda busy. In a way. I have now got a new-found respect for the people in the newsroom who cover school sports. Mainly because I had to do a bit of it, and there's really very little to show for the amount of work that you do. So if you ever go to the Straits Times Online and see all those scores for school sports, appreciate it, because the journalists who handle it have to call many different people to get information, and are usually swamped with the amount of data they do get after that.

I guess the most blog-able thing I have got today is that I left my job. Not because of school sports. I actually didn't mind it. But my contract ends today, and I chose not to renew it.

Even though it was such a short time, and I wouldn't exactly call myself close to my colleagues, it's still kinda hard to leave. For the past half a year, I've been going in every morning at about 10.55, dropping my bag, sitting in my chair, and logging onto my computer. And the process is always the same: Log into computer, log onto Lotus Notes, log onto Hermes, and then open up the Unisys Explorer, and then the Unisys Newsroom. Then start up Firefox (used to be IE, but then realized there was Mozilla in the comp), scan CNN, and then go to Yahoo Sports' NBA page.

My workstation

The routine is so...routine, and I guess I'm quite comfortable with that. I'm not so comfortable with other parts of the job, like you know, talking to strangers, but generally, I think I really enjoyed my time at SPH.

When I started to pack up today, it seemed like only a few days ago, I was moving my stuff into the workstation.

Oh, one curious thing is that the first few days I was in, time seemed to crawl. And then after the F1 weekend, it suddenly sped up. And now, just as I'm leaving, it's crawling again.

So anyway, today, I said bye to the people I met, from the pix desk, from CCAB, from the PR companies, and even two friends I met from my first day during the training session.

And of course, I wrote a short farewell note on Lotus to the good people at ST Sports desk, who have had to keep an eye on me and make sure I don't make them look like the New Paper.

Naturally, it was a bit sad, but the good thing is that unlike in army, I can get in a lot easier. And I will probably take advantage of this feature, even though the sports desk told me not to return without food.

View from the roof, near the cafeteria

So it was a great experience being there. Now I'll just need to go off and do some other things first.

Cheerio

P.S. I'm so used to writing the articles that after finishing typing this post, I started to look for the 'Spell Checker' tab. Looks like I'll have to use manual version for a while.

回想する

Was talking to my friend A last night, and he remarked that I hadn't blogged for a long while. The reason I gave him was that when you're doing a job that requires you to write articles, you kind of lose interest in blogging, mainly because you are forced to use your literary energy to write those, so there's less for blogging.

But since I had a long break over CNY, and I don't want to miss out another month like I did last year, I shall now write an article so that I won't miss Jan 2009. And it shall be a reflection on 2008, which had several major happenings which I shall try to recall.

Let us start with going to Phuket for a trip in March (I think). What makes this trip so special, is that this is one of the few times I really cut class to go for it. I mean, I have skipped some lessons before, but it was always like one lecture, and my parents don't know about it. This time, I went for a week, and my parents knew about it, but they did not kick up a fuss. I mean, they would have (trust me, even though I am 24, they would kick up a fuss if they know I cut class), but I was going to do a job. Sort of. So it was all cool.

Next big thing that happened was that I went to Japan, and led a team. You can read about the trip here, and here, and here, and here, and here. Personally, I am not really a 'leader' person. I would definitely have preferred playing a supporting role, and let some proper 'leader' persons lead. But the trip went pretty well. I'm guessing if a proper 'leader' person led, it would have been a lot better, but well. Made some new friends, got to know other friends even better, and met up with several old friends again. Plus, it was the first time I really lived by myself. Which didn't turn out too well, since I recall eating Pocky and Pringles one night for dinner (and promptly getting scolded by almost everyone who heard about it).

I also graduated. I remember meeting up with H (since she was the only history major from VCF who attended) and going up to receive my certificate, and also remember Prof L giving me a slight smile (he's a really cool guy. He taught me in HY 1001E and also for History of Christianity. Plus, he speaks like 15 different languages or something). I also realize I didn't post up anything on that.

H and me. Sole VCF history representatives.

While it was nice to graduate from uni and all that, somehow, the graduation ceremony didn't feel quite as good as commissioning parade at OCS. Even though it was a rain out then. I guess there are different values in a way. While the degree will be my ticket to jobs and all that, I felt like I really had to earn my commission, so maybe that's why I felt a greater sense of accomplishment on the parade square at OCS. Plus, my mortar board was a bit too small. Bummer.

Next big thing was that I found a job, working at Singapore Press Holdings. It's quite an interesting job, and I quite like it. Plus, it has forced me to become a bit more active and outgoing, since the nature of the job requires me to be like that. Still need to work on that though. I always feel so paiseh to talk to people. Still, it has been quite fun. Started on the 1st of Sept, and have met quite a few friends there, both inside and outside office. The colleagues are also really good people. A couple of church people also found jobs at SPH recently, and once, the two of them robbed me of my candy. Even though they asked politely.

Guess the biggest event that happened was that my Gramps passed away. He had been deteriorating for a while now, and in early November, he was admitted to hospital. After a few days, he was discharged, but less than a month later, he was re-admitted, and he went to be with God on the 4th of Dec. There are quite a few things I shall remember about him, but the three that stuck most with me (which I told myself I had to post) during his last few days, are here.

1. He kinda got dementia, so his mind started to become simpler, but he would always remember the sound of our voices. And everytime he heard us greet him when we were at home, he would have this really big smile come on his face, and he would return the greeting.
   
2. The first time he was admitted in early November, he was surprisingly sentinent, and once, when I visited him, he said three words to me: "Take a seat." It was surprising, because of the dementia, but those few words, even though it seemed like nothing to make a fuss about, stuck with me. Fyi, this was during an orange time.
3. The last was a lesson I received from him, which I have mentioned before in passing. Strange thing was, he wasn't even conscious. Anyway, what happened was that when he was admitted a second time, he was not breathing properly, and was really weak. Now, for background, my grandfather is the kind who can panic if things happen that are not within his control, so being in such a weak state, struggling to draw in air and all, I could feel that he was scared. Can't really describe it, it was just a sort of instinctive understanding, that he did not know what was going on, and he was definitely frightened. And if he was at home and was awake and frightened, we could easily calm him down, since we could talk to him, but since he was unconscious, there was really nothing we could do. Then I remembered this verse: Psalm 139: 7-12. It's not like I remembered the exact words of the verse, but I remembered there was such a verse around. And it reminded me that when God is everywhere, it's not just in the physical world, but even within the mind of Gramps, God was there comforting him, and that made me feel much better.

I have one last point regarding the past year. I only cut my hair once in 2008. First time such a thing has happened. It was in July I think, just before I started applying for a job, as I don't think I would have made a good impression with long hair in an interview. Plus J told me I look better with short hair anyway.

So now, this year, I have got several other things to look forward to, to plan for and to prepare. I already have one big move that I hope to be able to make, but guess I'll just have to see how things work out from here. And trust God to guide me and do the rest.

Cheerio.

Valeas

The slanting rays of the setting sun felt good on his face. The orange glow covered him in its warmth as the cool evening breeze rustled through the grass, bringing with it a freshness, a certain fragrance that he had not experienced in a long time.

He breathed in deeply, then exhaled, delighting in the ease at which he accomplished so simple a task. It was so different from what he could recall, but the anachronism did not bother him, as he sat on a rock, leaning back on straightened arms.

He looked up to the sky and caught sight of the riot of colours filling it. The hues seemed so much brighter, so much more vibrant, so... alive. And even though he was alone in the wide grassy expanse, he felt so at ease. And so he closed his eyes and sat, just a tired old man admiring the beauty of his surroundings...

"Hello, grandfather."

The pleasant voice gently brought the old man out of his reverie, and the old man cracked open one of his eyes to find the source of the words.

There, standing in front of him was a youth, a young man who looked no older than twenty. Yet, as the old man peered closer, the boy seemed so much older than his years, so much wiser, as if he had gone through more than the old man ever had.

He looks so familiar, thought the old man. But he definitely was not one of his grandchildren, despite the boy's greeting. In fact, he did not even think he had seen the boy before.

The old man's confusion must have shown on his face, for the boy smiled disarmingly back at him.

"You may not remember me, but you accepted me, and I remember that. I told you back then that I would never forget you."

And as the old man looked into the youth's clear eyes, the old man suddenly knew who he was. And instinctively, he knew why the boy was there with him.

"Is it time to go already?" asked the old man. He did not really want to leave his seat on the rock. It felt comfortable, and so much more known that wherever it was he was supposed to go with the boy.

The youth smiled again, a wide smile that reassured the old man.

"I'll be bringing you somewhere better, but no, we're not leaving yet. I've got a request asking to let you remain awhile more."

The old man sighed in relief. The thought of going somewhere better sounded good, but he also felt that something was not quite ready, that he could not leave, that there was something in him that was holding him there.

"Take a seat," invited the old man.

As the boy sat down, so many questions rose in the old man's heart, so many answers that he wanted to hear from the boy. But when he looked at the young man sitting on the grass besides him, smelling a flower, a lily, he realized, the old man realized his questions were not important, and that he would have plenty of time to ask them later on.

So the two of them sat there, watching the golden fields around them, silently contemplating the wonder of their world.

Abruptly, the boy stood up. The old man looked up in surprise, as the youth took his hand.

"Hold on, grandfather. You'll have to go back for a short while."

The world went dark. The old man suddenly smelt the sterile smell of the hospital, felt the unwelcome feeling of tubes, tasted the odd plastic flavour of air that comes through a breathing mask. And he realized it was difficult to breathe again, almost panting as his body tried to draw in life-giving oxygen to lungs that were not working efficiently.

He started to panic. He couldn't see, couldn't move, couldn't even breathe properly... then he felt the warmth of the boy's hand in his, and as he gripped tighter, his fear subsided. Then, he noticed the presence of others around his bed.

One of the presences leaned over, and gently shook his shoulder.

"Grandfather? We're all here, don't worry."

He recognized the voice, and the old man wanted so much to open his eyes. To take a look at the face of his granddaughter, and see her dimpled smile one more time. To look one more time at her two brothers, who, he could sense, were standing stocially to one side trying not to cry. He wanted to see his youngest grandson, who was sitting in the chair, sleepily trying to stay awake for his grandfather.

He wanted to see the maid, who had taken care of him so well the past few months, and to thank her. He wanted to see his son and daughter, and their spouses, who he could sense were maintaining quiet vigil by his bed.

And he wanted so much to see his wife, who he knew would be worried. He wanted to hold her one last time, and tell here everything was ok, but though she was calling his name, his body just would not respond.

He felt so frustrated. He could feel them, but he was unable to respond to them, and he was so upset he wanted to cry. But the strong grip of the boy's hand in his quickly drained all the despair out of him, and he relaxed again.

He sensed his daughter-in-law bending over him.

"Don't worry about us dad. The kids are all grown up, and we can take care of ourselves. Rest easy," she whispered into his ear. Her voice cracked on the last few words, and he knew she was crying.

And even through his laboured breathing, he also heard his two older grandsons praying over him, asking God to take his hand, and give him peace. He smiled to himself at that, for he knew he already had.

The youth's hand tightened around his, and he could see again, back in the golden field, breathing freely, bathed in the amber glow of the evening sun.

He was standing up too, on good, strong, healthy legs that he had not had for years.

In the distance, a bell tolled, as if signaling an end to the day.

"Is it time to go now, my Lord?" asked the old man again.

This time, the boy nodded.

"Where are we going?" The old man looked around, then saw a city in the distance. It glittered as it caught the rays of the setting sun, and the fading notes of the bell appeared to come from within its walls. "Are we going there?" pointed the old man.

The boy nodded again, then cocked his head as if listening to something. He turned to the old man.

"Your grandson asked me to tell you that he'll be meeting you there someday soon."

Happiness flooded the old man's heart, even as tears welled up in his eyes, as he knew he was being apart from his loved ones temporarily. The youth continued to hold his hand, leading him to the city.

"Come on, grandfather. You've finished your journey, and I've prepared a place for you, to welcome you to my Father's place. You're finally going home."

At this, the old man smiled. And he walked off with the boy, hand in hand, to the eternal city.

* * *

Good bye, grandfather.
Rest in peace.
4/11/1927 - 4/12/2008

Tepidus

One of my favorite movies is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Really nice show, very touching, and with an ambiguous conclusion that allows you to have your own ending if you want.

So anyway, in one of the scenes, in a restaurant, Joel realizes he does not find his relationship with Clementine as fun or as exciting as he once had. And as he looks around the restaurant, at the other diners who also appear to have lost the spark in their relationships, he starts to see himself as part of a group he has a certain disdain for.

"Are we like couples you see in the restaurants? Are we the dining dead?"

So today I met PI, and we had a decent talk over breakfast. Some of it was really interesting, and some of it was a little bit painful. And through it, I suddenly started to realize that I was becoming something that I did not hold in very high regard, and that I really did not want to become.

"Am I like those people who have lost their fire? Am I a lukewarm Christian?"

And just after I was taught a major lesson in Christianity by my grandfather, even though he's one of the newest Christians in the family, and he isn't even exactly sentient right now.

Must. Get. Back.

Unicus

While going to work today, I was just reminded of a Bible study session my CG had a couple of weeks ago. It was led by E from my CG, and even though we were using the CCC guide, we did not really follow the questions inside. Which is ok, since sometimes, the questions are repetitive, and sometimes they don't really help.

So anyway, the topic was about the uniqueness of Jesus. So he compared Christianity as a religion against other religions to draw some examples. But the whole purpose of the discussion stuck.

So the question of the day is: How is Jesus unique to you?

Let's think on that a bit now, shall we?

Cheerio

Cogitatio

I am in an odd position, not knowing whether to be angry, or to laugh at the lack of logic.

See, I was just surfing along CNN one day, looking at various interesting things, as well as various not-so-interesting things, when I came across an unusual article on the CNN website. If you haven't read it, you should take a look.

At first, I just sort of scanned it over, and didn't really give it much thought. But after a while, I started thinking a bit (something at least one idiot in the article didn't do), and well, it made me sort of upset/amused.

Now, part of it stems from the fact that I am a Christian. I know I am far from the 'model' Christian, and very often, I haven't been leading the Christ-like life I have been commanded to lead, but I am very much a believer in Christ. And religion can sometimes make me a bit prickly.

But let us start with another part of this issue.

Basically, the American Humanist Association has this ad campaign for Christmas that has a tagline of "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake". And their spokesperson came out with this statement to the press.

"Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of nontheists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion."

There are two things about this statement that I'll like to point out.

First of, the world is only 33% Christian. And this is including all Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox, and all those fringe cults. I'm not sure about you, but usually when about 2/3 of the world don't feel the religious attachment to the holiday, I would think it would be pretty hard to feel lonely.

Second, this sounds like something I would expect to hear from a 5-year-old. I mean, seriously. 'Feel a little alone'?

And then there's the issue of the campaign itself. Are you going to tell me next, that you'll be running a similar campaign for all those other religious holidays? Like Vesak Day (Birthday of Buddha), or Eid-al-Fitri, or Hanukkah, that there shouldn't be religion involved with those holidays as well?

This of course, leads me to my next point.

The holiday is called Christmas for a reason. I don't know about you, but I think if you look close enough, you may just be able to notice the fact that the first six letters of the Christmas spells out CHRIST. It's a RELIGIOUS holiday. You may not believe in a religion, but this holiday is there because it is RELIGIOUS. You want to take away God from this picture, there's now no more reason to celebrate Christmas, is there?

And he has the gall to say they did this for the following objective.

"...we are trying to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people's minds."

Right.. great move, Sherlock. You managed to accomplish that alright. I'm now thinking critically of you, questioning if you have the concept of rational thought in your mind.

And I'm not even saying anything about the logical fallacy of morality without God (which you can read in the article), or on what the true meaning of Christmas is.

I don't have anything against atheists. Several of my good friends are atheists, and I know I would have willingly fought and died alongside those I met in army. But this guy is just ridiculous.

There are some things I will never be able to comprehend. Like what contains the universe. Or how long is eternity. And the sheer absurdity of the comments made by this guy.

Cheerio

つ．か．れ．た．

Today was a rather... off day, to put it mildly. And it also puts a pun on the word. Whoopee.

It was supposed to be an off day, but duty called, and I had to go and do some work at the Barclays' Singapore Open. Not that I had to meet anyone, or had any appointments, but I was looking forward to chilling out for a bit.

So I reached office first, and made a call to some guy that I was supposed to call today, however, things didn't work out, so I didn't really get to talk to him. So scratch one objective for the work day.

Then I went down to Serapong to try and get another guy I was supposed to talk to. While there, I was assigned some more work to do, and then the guy I was supposed to talk to was unable to help me find what I wanted today, so we agreed that I would come back tomorrow.

And then, I went back to office, to return a pass I borrowed. Where I was assigned to write a story on something that I had covered awhile back that I thought was to be put on hold for a while longer.

While I'm not complaining about all the work I got, it is starting to get a bit heavier. And coupled with the fact that I can't write articles very fast, plus these articles all are coming out sort of at the same time, and that I did not manage to accomplish anything that I had sacrificed my off day for, can make it somewhat depressing.

The sort of depressing that makes you wish there's a girl who would ask you "how you doing?" and listen to how your day's been, just so that you can get it out. Unfortunately, there's no girl who will ask me how I'm doing, so I have to use the blog.

Oh, and I fell down today. At the golf course, along the road or something. Bother the rain. I was walking along the road, when this golf buggy was coming along. So I (cleverly) stepped onto the green curb and took a few more steps. Then I slipped. Not like major injury or anything, but I skinned the skin on the second finger joint of my third finger of my right hand. I dislike injuries on joints, cos it's bothersome. And my left wrist feels stiff. Gah. Moral of the story: Don't walk on the green curb after it rains.

But on the train ride back home, I was thinking of some stuff that I had to do over the weekend, and I was reminded of what I wanted to use. Which is to continue giving praise to God, even if you're not exactly happy.

"I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips." -Psalm 34:1

Naturally of course, verse 2 makes me feel a bit better, since I feel afflicted. And also the fact that the Bucks beat the Spurs. But that's another story.

And if you do look hard enough, you can always find the good side of whatever happens to you. In fact, you don't really have to look hard. It's just a choice. And that can make it easier for you to praise God, whatever your day is like.

Even if it's as draining as this.

Cheerio.

Aurora

I shall dedicate this post to one of my friends. Not like in this previously mentioned case, but merely for the sake of some entertainment.

So in line with the title (which incidentally, has the same meaning as her name), here are some pictures! How fun!

From Telunas '06. 'Tis a nice place.

This one is from Telunas '07. Note the similarities.

Ok, so maybe this is more morning that dawn, but hey, I like the picture.

I'm sure I used this somewhere before... Oh that's right! Here!

Guess where?

This one really is like a starting phrase from one of those Greek literature pieces. If you've read the Iliad or the Odyssey, you'll know what I'm talking about.

And yes this doesn't seem to have any relation to the above pictures, but it does. Trust me. haha.

On an aside note, however, these pictures do show the wonder of God's creation (yes even the hamburg steak. I'm sure brother would attest to that). Like I told my JMT on the first day of the T, if you bother to look, you can see God's wonders everywhere.

Cheerio

空港

In the previous post, while looking for a link to put up, I inadvertently started to read some of the older entries I had put in. Now of course, as you all know, I get easily distracted, so although that post was a serious one, before I really got into it, I was just reading all my articles about what it was like in Tokyo. So that sort of sets the tone for what went on today.

See, I had to go to Terminal 3 for an assignment for work today. Since the meeting was at 12, I decided maybe to just go a little earlier and maybe do a spot of QT there, since I hadn't exactly been having a very good QT recently, though the past couple of days was a lot better. In fact, I even brought along my grad present from Mr. K (JC GP tutor), which was a book by a certain Philip Yancey on the subject of prayer. The book is quite good. I mean, not that I read very much Christian literature, but really, the book is good.

But the stuff I got from the book, or the QT I did, or the assignment I covered, or even the coffee I drank (which was way too sweet and which necessitated my running to pee an hour later) is not the issue here. What I wanted to talk about was what I was thinking while at the airport. Which I had thought before, but had not really told anyone. Except maybe A. And S from Japan.

Now I'm not sure how many of you have gone to Changi Terminal 3. It's quite new, quite nice, quite empty. There are a total of 7 floors (I think): from B3 (which is all parking I think), to 4 (which is really only a small floor with the viewing gallery).

Now I'm also not sure how many of you have gone to Narita Airport's Terminal 2. And for the number of you who have gone there, I'm not sure how many have actually explored the place. But I have. This all happened because when the JMT 08 first touched down way back on the 9th of June, I went to meet them there. And because I can sometimes be such a stickler for being on time, I made sure I got there early.

It was actually a bit too early when I got there, since my paranoia apparently also managed to affect my judgment. Plus the plane landed a bit later than normal. Or something. So I actually had a massive amount of time just hanging around there.

Now being such a caring leader (and knowing that R is a bottomless pit, and that they would all prob be a little hungry), I figured maybe the two packets of bread I bought was not enough, and so I started walking around the airport looking for snacks to purchase. It was not a very good idea, mainly cos there was not very much of the sort of snack I was looking for. I think I bought a few muffins, but that was it.

But anyway, I managed to explore most of the airport while waiting for the team to arrive.

And this is what I sort of remembered when I was walking about in Terminal 3 this morning. Because Terminal 3 has very much the same sort of layout that Narita 2 has. Especially the Departure hall and the small shopping arcade on the 3rd and 4th floors.

If you haven't been to Narita 2, just go to Terminal 3. And imagine a smaller, slightly older, less futuristic-looking version of it, without the viewing gallery, and you've got Narita 2.

Yup. The whole long post, just to tell you I think T3 and Narita look somewhat similar.

本当だ。いじょうです。

Cheerio

いち ゼロ ろく

Today I read a Psalm (in line with the one-Psalm-a-day policy I've been trying to follow), and it really seems to be a parallel to my life. As in the title (for those of you that don't read Japanese), the Psalm in question is 106, and it was like a crash course in history for the nation of Israel during the Exodus, which is really quite a common theme.

However, because this history was nicely summarized in today's Psalm, it started to seem very similar to what I am going through. Not sure how to explain it, but I'll try. See, if you read the books of Exodus to Joshua, that takes quite a long time. And you'll read so much about the Israelites, about what they were doing, about how they lived... in fact, you will get inundated by the details, so it becomes very much a story about them, with you as an observer.

On the other hand, when it is so neatly summarized into 48 verses, it becomes a lot easier to notice that what the Israelites were doing/going through seems suspiciously familiar. And I'm not talking about going through trials and tribulations (though they did).

Essentially, what the Psalm is talking about is the cycle of sin and faithlessness that the descendants of Jacob had with regard to God. The beginning was praise to God, but then the Psalmist starts talking about how the Israelites always forget the goodness that God has shown to them.

As I have mentioned, this is very much like what I'm going through on a regular basis. As a Christian, I should be completely free from sin, and living a life that is pleasing to God. Yet, for too many times, I have chosen to neglect God, or to turn away from His advice, to choose to go my own ways, and do what I want, even though it is obviously abhorrent to Him.

Each time, I try to promise to not do it again. But too often, I start sliding back down into the depths that God has pulled me out from. Too often, I forget what He has done for me, how He rescued me, how He has blessed me, and I turn back to the sludge of sin. Too often, I have made a mockery of my faith. As my Lord tries to release me from my chains, I try to put them back on again.

And honestly, I am like crap. I have a God who willingly died to set me free, and offered me salvation. I have a God who is supremely powerful, yet exceedingly patient with my failings. He is the Creator of the Universe, but He also has enough time to listen to me whenever I call on His name.

Even though I only call on His name when I need His help, He quickly comes to save me. If someone only turned to me when they needed me for help, I would be pretty pissed. But Jesus just picks me up, washes me clean, and sets me on my feet again.

And this is what verse 44-46 is all about. He hears my cry to Him, and He answers.

This is what gives me hope. Reminding that He is still there, and will always be there for me.

I long for the day when I can repay His everlasting kindness by living in a way that pleases Him. It will never match the value of the gift He has given to me, but I wish just to show Him that His confidence in me is not misplaced. It sounds theologically incorrect, I know, to repay God, but it is not about me 'buying' my salvation.

Right now, I really want to just make my Father happy.

悲しい代用教員

This post is for one of my friends who is a little burned out as a relief teacher.

She said she was feeling tired cos of a bad day (I'm guessing it was more than just one day) at school, and the kids were bothersome, and they always went to her to solve all their problems, and she had a long day, and had to give tuition after school, and to top it off, she was sick. Which can be rather disconcerting, I think. Plus there's lots of other things going on in her life which I shall not elaborate on, since that's her story, not mine to tell. And I wouldn't know much anyway.

So I decided to be nice and dedicate a small part of my post to her. Because she regularly stops by at my blog to take a look. Even though she really irritates the crap out of me at times. それで、彼女は「ピーマン」と同じだ。Haha... Still remember when A told me what it meant. Totally hilarious.

So here's a picture for you, to help you remember when you had fun with kids:

子供が大好き．．．でしょう？

Work has been ok, even though the F1 weekend was kinda crazy. Everyday start work later, but can end at like 12 plus, mainly cos we were just waiting for the stories to go through. And I wasn't even writing the stories. The 拘禁組 was helping one of the senior reporters to collect quotes from random fans around the circuit area.

Oh and on Friday, I realized that too much loud sounds can actually make you feel sick. I mean, at first, I was mildly irritated by the sound of the F1 cars zooming past, but after about 10 minutes, I actually felt a bit nauseous.

Still, overall, it was pretty exciting. And we were working from the Swissotel, since they nicely offered the media the use of the an executive meeting room to be like a mini-media-center. And on top of that, they provided food and drinks. Talk about hospitality.

Basketball season is drawing closer, less than a month more... woots!

Cheerio

タクシー

Now, some of you may remember this incident where I came back from Japan and was sort of mildly irritated at the amount of money I had to pay for my cab fare. I considered it sort of like a moment of remembrance, since even now, more than 2 years on, I still remember it. Sometimes, it's hard to imagine time passing by so quickly... but it does.

So anyway, today was another taxi-time, a meter-moment, a cab-construed-chronological-circumstance.

You see, today, I went down with a colleague to cover some event at Timbre @ The Arts House. The trip there itself wasn't the issue, apart from the fact that some of the roads around the Marina area are blockaded for the F1 race this weekend. So we dropped off at the Fullerton Hotel, and then we went to the event.

While it started there, the event was really the launch of a river taxi (again! that confounded construction!) service that would ply between Fullerton and Clarke Quay, along the Singapore River. The ferries themselves were pretty neat, I thought. No photos, though. I was on duty, so it would have been rather un-professional to take photos.

But anyway, we ended up at Clarke Quay area. Now for those of you who know me, I rather like the Clarke Quay area, since 1) Central is there, and 2) Meidi-ya under Liang Court is there. And if I am in sudden dire need to purchase Japanese stuff, that is a good place for me to go. Another would be Bishan, or Taka, but that's another story.

So anyway, the whole event ended at Clarke Quay. My colleague and I then went to look for a cab since she had to rush back to office to file the story. We managed to get one at Liang Court, and then we zipped back up to the SPH media center at Braddell.

What I found appalling was... no, it wasn't that the driver drove the way my brother drives on Need for Speed. So like I was saying, what I found most disturbing... no, it wasn't that there was a massive jam along the CTE that makes the trains in Japan look spacious.

What really irked me this time was that the taxes I had to pay for my cab ride was higher than my cab fare. See, I shall give you a breakdown of what I paid for in my 20 minute ride.

Cab fare: $7.80
ERP: $3.50
City Area Surcharge: $3.00
Diesel Surcharge: $0.30
Peak Hour Tax (35%): $2.75
GST: $0.30

So what this adds up to is:

Base Cab Fare: $7.80
Taxes for Cab Fare: $9.85
Grand Total: $17.65

Bother inflation.

Cheerio

仕事

I started work 3 weeks ago on the 1st of September.

I went for two days of training, then reported to the Sports desk to do work.

And I thought I had reached a major milestone last Sunday when I sort of started work at 11, and ended at 10.45. I was joking with one of the editors that it would be my first 12-hour work day.

Hard to imagine that exactly one week later, I did manage to clock my first 12-work day. I worked from 11.45 Sunday morning to 12.20 Monday morning. Ooooh.

And I would probably talk about how it's like working, but I'm zoning out in the feeling-tired-but-not-feeling-sleepy sort of way. I'm sure if I go and lie down on my bed, I will be able to fall asleep. But I'm not on my bed now, and I'm actively typing something so I am not that zoned. Not that that will always work. I can fall asleep at my computer. Just not now.

On an aside note, I have been thinking about Japan a bit more now. I don't know why.

Oooh Japan....

I really should spend time to post up those JMT dinner photos, but I'm starting to feel tired now.

Cheerio.

P.S. The wonderful thing about blogging is that unlike when I'm writing articles, I can use all the contractions I want. So I'll use words like I'm, and I'll, and you'll, and can't, and shouldn't, and it's, and we're, and....

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.