WTF Happened to Road Rash?

This brings back memories of me during my secondary school days...i played road rash 1 and 2 and absolutely was addicted to the game. I could ride a bike and punched the living daylights out of fellow bikers and even police. Read there's going to be a comeback..let's see.

http://www.tweak3d.net/forums/articles/wtf-happened-road-rash-31340

Investing wholeheartedly with God checklist

Read this from the book Every Woman's Battle.

Finding The Love You Want

Maybe you are thinking, Oh, I've been hearing that all my life! The answer to all my problems is "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!!" I know Jesus but i've never felt complete satisfaction with Him, wither! If that's the case, I can understand why you might challenge what I'm saying. But i know from experience that what i say is true, and so do many women i know. And i can't help but wonder if you have really invested yourself wholeheartedly in pursuing a satisfying relationship with God? I encourage you to honestly answer the following questions:

• Have I really invested much time getting to know God personally and intimately?


• Do I read the Bible searching for clues as to God's character and plan for my life?


• Have I given God as many chances as I have given other men?Fantasy?Internet chat rooms?


• Have I ever made the choice to pray or to dance to worship music or to go for a walk with God instead of picking up the phone to call a guy when i'm lonely?


• Are there moments spent alone (masturbating, fantasizing, reading or looking at inappropriate materials, and so on) that I ignore God's presence in an attempt to satisfy myself?


• Do I believe that God can satisfy every single need I have?


• Am I willing to test this belief by letting go of all the things, people, and thoughts that I use to medicate my pain, fear, or loneliness, and becoming totally dependent upon God?

Changing your autopilot

This is extracted from Purpose Driven Life Chapter 23.

To change your life, you must change the way you think. Behind everything you do is a thought. Every believer is motivated by a belief, and every action is prompted by an attitude. God revealed this thousands of years before psychologists understood it: "Be carefully how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts."

Imagine riding in a speedboat on a lake with an automatic pilot set to go east. If you decide to reverse and head west, you have two possible ways to change the boat's direction. One way is to grab the steering wheel and physically force it to head in the opposite direction from where the autopilot is programmed to go. By sheer willpower you could overcome the autopilot, but you would feel constant resistance. Your arms would eventually tire of the stress, you'd let go of the steering wheel, and the boat would instantly head back east, the way it was internally programmed.

This is what happens when you try to change your life with willpower: You say, "I'll force myself to eat less...exercise more..quit being disorganized and late." Yes, willpower can produce short-term change, but it creates constant internal stress because you haven't dealt with the root cause. The change doesn't feel natural, so eventually you give up, go off your diet, and quit exercising. You quickly revert to your old patterns.

There is a better and easier way: Change your autopilot - the way you think. The Bible says, "Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." Your first step in spiritual growth is to start changing the way you think. Change always starts first in your mind. The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel influences the way you act. Paul said, "There must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes."

Your EQ is 140

50 or less: Thanks for answering honestly. Now get yourself a shrink, quick! 51-70: When it comes to understanding human emotions, you'd have better luck understanding Chinese. 71-90: You've got more emotional intelligence than the average frat boy. Barely. 91-110: You're average. It's easy to predict how you'll react to things. But anyone could have guessed that. 111-130: You usually have it going on emotionally, but roadblocks tend to land you on your butt. 131-150: You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin. 150+: Two possibilities - you've either out "Dr. Phil-ed" Dr. Phil... or you're a dirty liar.

What's Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?

Just this morning, as i was reading the Sunday Times, i came across this photo. AHHH i recognized it instantly because i've seen this person at Maxwell Food Center just on friday!


And if that's not enough, cy sent me this. It was taken last week when i was in penang and we had went to a shopping mall to check out the malaysian idols.

Guess who's the introvert.

Excerpt from http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Fenn19.html

There’s intensity, focus, concentration, ignoring unimportant things in the surroundings, self awareness at all time and perhaps a noticeable lack of enthusiasm when social events are proposed. On the other hand, here are some things introverted kids won’t do: mug it up, get lost in the energy of the crowd, react to peer pressure or forget who they are.

Taken from Purpose Driven Life Chapter 16

It is not enough just to say relationships are important; we must prove it by investing time in them. Words alone are worthless. "My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action." Relationships take time and effort, and the best way to spell love is "T-I-M-E."

The essence of love is not what we think or do or provide for others, but how much we give of ourselves. The most desired gift of love is not diamonds or roses or chocolate. It is focused attention. Love concentrates so intently on another that you forget yourself at that moment. Attention says, "I value you enough to give you my most precious asset - my time." Whenever you give your time, you are making a sacrifice, and sacrifice is the essence of love. Jesus modeled this: "Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave Himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins."

You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. "God so loved the world that he gave..." Love means giving up - yielding my preferences, comfort, goals, security, money, energy, or time for the benefit of someone else.

Are you spending time with God and your loved ones?

The Top 10 Ways to Market to Introverts (you know, the ones with the high income)

Got this from http://topten.org/public/AF/AF633.html

Statistics indicate that introverts make up 10-30% of the general population but as IQ increases, the proportion of introverts rises dramatically. Since there is a correlation between intelligence and income, you target more introverts as buying power rises. The greater the price of the product or service you are marketing, the greater the chance you are selling to an introvert. It pays to understand your audience.

There are some critical differences in the way introverts initiate consumer dialogue, process information, make decisions and put their decisions into dollars and cents.

1. Introverts are territorial. This includes their personal space.

Introverts don't like interruptions, uninvited visits or phone calls. What's new about that? you may be asking. No one likes telemarketers. But here's the difference that you need to know. Whereas extroverts will huff, puff, hit the high blood pressure button, yell, take a drink or hit somebody, they do answer the phone. Introverts get an unlisted number, a fancy answering machine and they turn the ringer off. Also they have no qualms whatsoever about hanging up on you or closing the door in your face. This is the reasoning: if you are rude enough to invade their private space, you are sub human and they treat you that way. Jackie Kennedy was an introvert who hit photographers with her purse when they got too close to her.

I don't have an unlisted number and i don't slam the door on people. And more important i don't hang up on people. I find that so rude. But if you're a stranger getting too close to me, i'll push you away.

2. Introverts love to read.

See that person over there on the cruise reading the small print on the cereal box? That's an introvert. See that woman across the aisle there, actually reading the inflight magazine? That, too, is an introvert. Whoever thought about putting advertisements in elevators and inside toilet doors had introverts in mind. Well ... it's better than having to talk to the other people in the elevator!!

Yeah. It's not just books that i read, but those small stuff...you know..stuff that you can read when you've nothing else to do

3. Introverts, despite appearances, are not shy and they are frequently not braindead just because they don't say anything while you are talking to them.

Never assume you have reached your introverted audience just because you have talked to them. As you leave (and make it quick), put a fact sheet on their desk and tell them you would like to hear from them in a few days if they have any thoughts or interest.

hmm...yeah i do need time to think sometimes.

4. Introverts are not impressed by personality.

Having none ourselves, except the one we drag out on State Occasions :-) we do not put any value on yours. Please don't be cute, peppy, positive, enthusiastic or motivating. Instead, be polite, know your stuff, get to the point, leave written material and invite a response at a later date.

Agree..don't be a fake especially. Be yourself. I see fakeness usually in salespeople.

5. The assumptions, guiding principles, underlying beliefs and expectations of introverts are so different from the extroverted majority that you may not even realize you have a bad map to the territory. May I give you a few examples.

A client of mine recently complained that her husband was impressed with a woman we'll call Monrovia because she hung out with movie stars and threw their names around. My client posed the question, "Why is he impressed with that? We don't even know these people." She was quite serious.

A young man was having trouble with his career and had failed again to establish a permanent position for himself as a commnity college professor despite talent and dedication. A peppy extrovert suggested that he make the best of it. "At least tell people you got a better offer but it won't materialize for a few more months. Do a little window dressing. That way you won't feel like such a loser." His reply: "That's ridiculous. I am very disappointed and what other people think about it makes no difference at all."

I guess i'm like that sometimes..if it doesn't affect me, why bother?

6. Introverts hate being rushed.

This means N O H Y P E. Never. Not ever. No hype.

Not only does it not work, it is exhausting to introverts because we give energy while extroverts take energy. As every introvert in the world is only too aware, people who use hype suck more energy that should be legally possible in 52 states.

I won't say i'm not affected by HYPE, but sometimes i may find it irritating or of no effect. I usually look below the hype to find out the quality.

7. Introverts are greatly afraid of making mistakes in public and of humiliation in public during a learning period.

If you have a new product or service for them to try, make sure they will be able to do this in private. Give clear instructions and a demonstration. Then leave it with them and go!

A brilliant introvert I know has many interests and hobbies beyond her career as an attorney. She is an intense amateur astrologer. As a result of her interest in astrology, she became curious about astronomy and the Night Sky. Her daughter surprised her on her birthday with a gift basket that contained a Night Sky map, a flashlight covered with red cellphane, several printouts about the mythology of the constellations and suggested that take their chairs up on the roof to get at it.

Bad idea. The woman couldn't figure out how to relate the scale of the map to the stars in the sky and became absolutely speechless with mortification and humiliation because of the presence of a third party as well.

Sound ridiculous? Not to your favorite introvert.

true..i like to find things out by myself unless you've the patience and non-critical or prideful attitude to guide me then i'm willing.

8. Introverts hate small talk.

If you would like to make an excellent first impression, be polite and come quickly to the point. Above all, don't ask personal questions and by that I mean things you think don't matter such as how many children I have or what work my husband does.

I find that i don't have an inclination to talk about myself. Most of the time i'll direct the conversation to the other party. Hmmm..i think i should change that.

9. Introverts hate phones and especially cell phones.

Don't expect a return phone call. We figure, why bother someone when we can dash off a note, leave a message on an answering machine or click off an email.

Above all else, do not use your cell phone in our presence. Introverts are hysterically vexed by what we consider this ultimate rudeness. If you want me to give it you straight, we also think you are pathetic because you can't be alone for a moment with yourself.

well...if you come out with me for 2 hours and spend 1 hour talking on the phone, then i'll be pissed unless you've a good reason why you did so...for eg..sweet talking your gf when she's angry, counselling a person against suicide or saying your last words to your dying loved one.

10. Introverts say what they mean.

No means no.

Not really...i'm flexible with changing my answers if i find a better solution.

Toughest Car

When you think about fast cars, you think about Ferrari, Lambhorghini, Porsche. When you think about reliability, you think about Renault, Audi. But when you think about Toughness, what car comes to mind?

Putting God First

Just this morning while chatting with chew yan, she suddenly raised the idea about Putting God First. The following are my thoughts so far on this oft-quoted christian cliche.

I hear countless times about the need to Put God First in our lives. It becomes a cliche somewhat and after a while, when i hear it, it becomes of no effect. I hear so much of it that i don't even question the fact that we need to put God first. It's like a McDonals ad where it keeps bombarding people on the media. It's so effective that even though i might initially don't have a preference for McDonalds (the fries are too salty, the pattis not that fantastic, the bread abit plain), i have come to treat McDonalds like a friend because of all the hype about it. Even though i don't know what exactly is so great about it, but it's become my friend. So so what? Whenever i'm in need of a drink of a snack and an outlet is nearby, i just head to it without hesitation over other fast food outlets. It's similar to the phrase "Putting God First". It becomes your friend coz you hear so much of it. But the problem is, do you really understand what it means to Put God First? Do you really know what's so great about McDonalds?

Being the inquisitive sort, i found a new challenge and that is to find out what it really means. First, i decided to put my work last to pursue this new challenge.(hopefully my boss doesn't see what i'm doing) Second, i began to think how exactly i Put God First in my own life. What came to mind was Obedience to God. But what does that mean? It means being who God wants you to be.(And, i just realised i'm doing circular thinking) Third, i started to search online for answers.

Putting God First:

1) Regular Devotional time with God. This includes reading the Bible, prayer and meditation on His word. You can get up 15 mins earlier for this purpose. For me right now, i've been getting up at 7am so i can have a quiet time of about 20-25 mins before i head to the bathroom. I've been memorizing some bible verses so part of my devotional time is in meditation on those verses. You can also have a nightly devotional time too before you sleep. Make sure you end your day earlier so you can have those minutes of quality time.

2) Communicate with God throughout the day. God loves us and He always wants to communicate with us in some way, any way. And whenever we turn our attention to Him, He drops everything He's doing and listens. A bad monday morning at work? Talk to God about it, complain, ask for strength or if you can even, give thanks. Facing a crossroad and you don't know what to do? Seek God for advice. Tell Him about the possible options and ask for wisdom. Having a happy time? Don't forget God! God wants to be a part of the fun too! Thank Him for allowing you to experience a happy time.

3) Serve in ministry/ies in church. In an environment where nearly everyone believes in God, it's where you can work together in daily church activities. And it's not just the act of serving, but the effort you put inside that matters too. Give not only quality time but quality results as you serve. If you're in charge of taking video for the whole worship service, do it well. Remember that what your viewers ultimately see is in your control! Represent the sermon well. Keep the speaker always in your camera screen. In charge of the PA? Make sure to turn on the mic when someone wants to use it otherwise he will keep testing 123. Focus your attention on what you're doing and do it well. Even if people come and talk to you, don't let it distract you from what you're doing. But if you find that you're ignoring a great deal of people because of the many ministries you're in, then you might want to change that by re-arranging your priorities.

4) Serve others. "Husbands and wives can listen to each other. Parents and children can be attentive to one another. God cares about how we are with each other." God feels hurt when we treat someone else with disrespect or if we have fights because He knows that things doesn't have to be this way. Have a car? Help transport people home sometimes becauase they live far away and it's late. Have money? Donate to charity knowing that it'll help someone or donate to someone you know in need of it like if they need to fund their studies. Be kind to people. Say nice things and compliment them to lift up their spirits. God loves it if people are happy. See litter in the church sanctuary? Pick it up and get rid of it. See the aircon and lights not off when everyone's not needing the room? Turn them off. See the tap running in the toilet? Turn it tight or go down and turn the valve off.

5) Serve yourself. Plan to take care of yourself. It makes sense that if you want to serve well in any way, that you need a good body and mind. Just as we set aside time for people and God, we must also set quality time off for ourselves to eat and rest. It's not healthy to sacrifice sleep and food even though you may be doing church work. God wants you to be healthy, happy people. So you need to eat well and rest well so you can be fit enough to continue the first 4 points above with the right attitude.

In conclusion, the "Putting God First" principle is summed up this way:

Matt 22:37-40. Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.(NKJ)

Now if you excuse me, i need to put my work first.

love and commitment

Got this from Mei Jye's blog.

Love is really a commitment not just excitement, a decision not just passion, a covenant set in God's presence before the fall not just a twosome fulfillment.

It needs cultivation and nurturing so that it will blossom and bear fruit. Through the wings of storms, love grows stronger and firmer.

Alot of times, couples would find it tough to stay together in a relationship. In this article, it says:

You may wonder, “Are we still in love?” or “Is this relationship still worthwhile?” If those thoughts don’t come up, that’s a red flag.

As quoted earlier on, love is a commitment. It is also a choice to stay committed to a person and not even thinking about getting together with someone else. After all, the grass might not really be greener on the other side.
Even though it's frustrating and painful at times, it's the level of openness the couple has to discuss things with each other to explore on how to improve on the relationship. Ultimately each person would love to marry someone who is in tune with each other's likes and dislikes, and knowing exactly which buttons to push to make each other happy. Growing a relationship needs time to nurture and much effort. Time, because every learning process takes time. Effort, because to not take each other for granted, to see the other in a fresh perspective everyday, to remind yourself of the good points of your partner even though the bad points seem so glaring.

Most importantly, the key to a loving relationship is having a good spiritual life and an ever open heart towards each other.

Learn something new each day for a week

This is my post to learn something new each day for a week. Certain things i put may be too boring to readers but i just want to see how it goes as i try not to take my daily life for granted and pause and think what i have learnt today. Of course i would expect to learn more than 1 thing, but i'll just include what i feel comfortable to include here.

Sep 13: Found out how to get from singapore to senai airport. Take bus 170 blue plate from kranji mrt to kotaraya II terminal or take CW-1 which is about $1. Go to City Lounge and buy a bus ticket for the Senai airport bus(RM8) which has intervals of about 45 mins average. Get an updated schedule before you go. This one is correct as of 13 Sep 07. It took me 1.5 hours to get from Senai Airport to my home at Sunset Way, Clementi.


Sep 9: Learnt how to play sardines. It's something like hide and seek except there'll be one person in a group chosen to hide somewhere of his own choosing and the rest of us has to find him. Once a member of the group finds him, he will join him in hiding. It goes on like this until the last member finds him and gets to be the next person to hide.
Sep 8: Cadaver. A dead body, especially one intended for dissection.

Farewell class

Yesterday was my last day of Advanced Korean course. I had waited for this day to come as i longed for the freedom that i could have from weeks to come. I would have more time rather than go to class each week and to study at other times. I would also be able to re-align and adjust my priorities ever since i started learning korean in January. What needs my attention is currently church work and my own relationship with my gf. Both of which probably hasn't got my quality attention as much as i wanted. And since i'm in a long distance relationship, it makes it even more necessary to make sure whatever i do is thoughtful for her as we're not physically nearby so we don't get to enjoy the interpreting of other communication cues.

Close to the end of the class, katherine (our teacher) brought out 2 korean language books and mentioned that we have only covered the equivalent of half the first book. All along i've wondered why this course was called Advanced when it wasn't really Advanced. She said that it was about Beginner III instead. And as usual, she wanted me to join for Advanced II or whatever the school calls it. This time i had less interest to sign up as i had longed for this day of freedom and the idea of continuing wasn't that appetizing. And she was quite persistent as she tried to get the girls to persuade me to join the next class and asked Andrew to join too so i would have more reason to join. This morning she had personally emailed me and andrew persuading us to sign up.

She's a wonderful teacher and very concerned about the student's korean language proficiency and i would join if i had a longer break between courses or more time. But they only announced a 1 week break before the next class and i thought i couldn't spare the time so right now i'm determined not to sign up. Also, the fee has increased by $40 to $340. Apparantly it's still much cheaper but still to me it's not about the money but the time that i so dearly treasure. I do hope that i'll be able to tutor under her if i get back to continue my korean study as it doesn't seem that she has any intention to teach Advanced II at a later time. It's almost as if once she teaches this class, she's out of here. But i think i might be wrong again. She tell us that she's teaching another class, maybe intermediate and in there there's an american guy who is in that class because he had a korean girlfriend. It's understandable that when you have a partner, you'd want to use all ways and means to connect with her. At the end of the class, we were treated to her home-cooked korean "chap chay"..that's supposed to be in korean but i can't korean in this blog...well someone said it's vermicilli. And it was supremely delicious!! I've not had such delicious noodles in a long time. It's something like glass noodles but it's slightly thicker and softer. She put alot of sesame oil which made it so oily..but i loved it still..lol. Also inside were some small sliced onions.


And here's the one and only shot of me and the teacher.

It's important to have plans and goals in your life. And the most immediate goal is to plan what we're gonna do once she and her family comes down next week. argh!!!!so fast!!so little time!!!parents coming too!!streeeeeeeeesssssssssssss!!!lol...just kidding...

I think for a start, i should be more conscious of how i live my daily life. So often i take for granted that the usual day has passed me by without any fan-fare. This time i will try to blog each day of 1 new thing that i have learnt. Let me see, i'll give a trial of 1 week.

Before i showered, i thought i'll take the wonderful sky out the window..but apparantly it didn't turn up so well in picture.

Calcutta is Everywhere

This is the best spiritual thought i've had in months.

"Suffering here(Calcutta) is much more physical, much more material. But in some other places where our sisters are working, suffering is much deeper and also it's more hidden. You can find Calcutta all over the world if you have eyes to see. Not only to see, but to look."- Mother Theresa.



"Unto each one of us He has given us a special gift. Maybe i can peel only potatos. And i must put that peeling of potatos beautifully. That's my love for God in action. It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. That's more important to Almighty God and to ourselves."- Mother Theresa.

I posed myself this question yesterday. "What is my passion?". This is not the first time i'm asking myself this. I've been asking myself this question over the recent months and the reason why i keep asking is because i haven't found the answer..yet.

To start off, i went to Answers.com

pas·sion (păsh'ən) pronunciation
n.

   1. A powerful emotion, such as love, joy, hatred, or anger.
   2.
         1. Ardent love.
         2. Strong sexual desire; lust.
         3. The object of such love or desire.
   3.
         1. Boundless enthusiasm: His skills as a player 
don't quite match his passion for the game.
         2. The object of such enthusiasm: Soccer is her 
passion.
   4. An abandoned display of emotion, especially of anger: 
He's been known to fly into a passion without warning.
   5. Passion
         1. The sufferings of Jesus in the period following 
the Last Supper and including the Crucifixion, as related in 
the New Testament.
         2. A narrative, musical setting, or pictorial 
representation of Jesus's sufferings.
   6. Archaic. Martyrdom.
   7. Archaic. Passivity.

Before you start to xiang wai, i shall say that i'm referring to point 3, boundless enthusiasm.

I believe everyone is unique in his/her own way. Some people might be very passionate about a certain aspect of life such as photography while some others don't have any particular passion but is still useful to society by knowing abit of everything. I feel i'm more towards the latter. There are also another 2 types of people. Those who remember useless information like the battle field plan of a WWII platoon in Normandy and those who just know enough to get by in their own practical living. Again i'm more towards the latter. I know what i need to know. This means i don't bother to remember how old is Susilo Bumbungyodhoyono and what his hobbies are or even how to correctly spell his name! It also means i don't remember the place where they sell the best coffee and the number of scoops of sugar the uncle puts in! I also don't bother knowing how old is bill gates or how much wealth he's accumulated. Why do i not remember all this and how come others can? It's something to do with passion.

There are different degrees of passion and passion can make you do things others don't. Just for simplicity of thought, i've classified the degrees of passion into 2 - lesser and higher. My lesser passion is to know how to do abit of everything. It's just my higher passion which i haven't came to know yet. One way of finding out your passion is to get clues from how others view you. hmm.....so readers, what do you think my passion is or can be?

Talking to a brick can be most satisfying

Got this from somewhere.

Talking to a brick can be most satisfying. These are the top ten reasons why a conversation with a brick is at least as pleasant as talking with some folks. � You know who they are, don't you?

1. A brick doesn't get agitated and never yells.

2. A brick doesn't interrupt you.

3. A brick doesn't disagree or argue.

4. A brick doesn't think it's smarter than you are.

5. A brick doesn't roll its eyes and look at the ceiling.

6. A brick is trying to be helpful or at least to not screw things up.

7. A brick is not in a hurry and trying to rush you.

8. A brick doesn't care if you interrupt your conversation to take a phone call.

9. A brick is always there when you need to talk.

10. A brick isn't trying to get you to do anything.

ok i had one of the weirdest dreams i ever had. Basically i got to use a watch which could tell when someone was thinking of me. So the situation was, i was waiting in a school courtyard and so i looked at my watch and realised that the hands moved faster whenever someone thought of me. Don't ask me how i know it's a thought-detector watch, i just knew it somehow. So it was pretty interesting. I walked to an area where there were less people so that means i would stand out more and true enough, the hands of the watch moved almost every second. And i managed to determine that an average person who thinks of me, thinks of me for 5 seconds. lol. Ok, so i brought the watch to show someone(think it was my gf) and i tried to impress her with it. It didn't move faster for a while. All it needed was someone to think of me and she wasn't at that moment! So i had to prompt her abit. Then something unexpected happened, the hands tilted a little to the side and i guess that's enough for her to make her freak out. lol. Ok, then i went to a shop and this guy claims to be selling magical items. I asked how much he was selling the ink and he said $235. I then bought it. So the guy used the ink to print on a piece of paper..and it came out nothing. But the guy told me to think of a place..for eg..to check jurong east food court seating layout. Once i thought of a place, the paper just filled up with the place layout. cooool...ok..so my dream ended there.

ok, i guess i should update this with something. yesterday my dad had an accident which was not his fault. Yesterday morning he was waiting for us in the carpark when some other car (Toyota) turned in and grazed the corner rear bumper. I had just got out of the lift when i heard a loud bang and was wondering what happened. Only then when i saw ppl staring at another car and when my dad got out was when i finally realised that we had a situation. Ok, so the car didn't stop and continue its way which bewildered us alot for a few seconds. My dad told us to get in and chase the guy. And it was the first time i've seen my dad drive so fast in the carpark..i think it broke my speed record too. Luckily as we were coming out of the HDB carpark, there was a traffic jam so we parked on the side of the road, got out and confronted the guy who acted like he didn't know anything. He basically looked at his own car bumper and came over to look at ours and gave his namecard. Of course we took down the license plate number which was the most important. Ok to cut a long story short, this morning he went to visit the guy who was in the next block with a bunch of documents which he got from the insurance company. So that guy didn't want to pay for fixing at the Nissan workshop so bo bian lor, got to have insurance settle it. Well, moral of the story?? You never know the proper procedure for handling car insurance claims until you kenna or you bother to study it first. And a bigger moral is, even if your car is stationary, YOU STILL CAN GET ACCIDENT! Ok, i thought of an even bigger moral. My dad handled the situation very well. He was calm and didn't try to provoke the other guy or get into an argument. And thankfully i heard from him that the other guy was quite gentlemen too this morning. So, ya, that reminds me of a text.

NASB: A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1

So, when you meet such injustice in your life by ridiculous people, the right way to handle it is to be calm and allow God to handle it through you.

Olympus E500 for sale

Ok, i'm really tempted to sell my camera (Olympus E500). That's because the E510 just came out and it has inbuilt image stabilizer and it has live view too. It costs about 1.3k i think. Ok, i'm selling off my camera and 14-45mm kit lens, 1GB CF card and tripod provided for $900. I bought it in February this year and so there's a few more months for the warranty.

This afternoon after lunch the young adults went to sungei buloh for a walk. However, halfway through it started to rain but thankfully we were close to a shelter so we just waited there. Well, we spent the time playing games and when we were done, it was time to go back and the rain had subsided a little. Here are some of the best shots i took. It was too dark so i was a little disappointed i couldn't get sharp shots as a result.

Actually before we left for the hike, i rushed up to celebrate Joel Xiang's birthday in one of the classrooms and took this series of shots.

Apparantly boon was leading the way and i think the rest couldn't trust him so they had to double check with boon on where exactly he intended to bring us.

Suddenly some of the saw something lurking in the waters....

Can you spot the thing that is catching everyone's attention?

This is the photo of the day. Boon, as usual trying to be funny with the branch he plucked from somewhere.

Finally we had dinner at bedok market. We ended at 8pm and went home. And amazingly i was sleepy and tired...getting old..or i think i need a new mattress...grrrr...

Today was a rather eventful day and thus i have brought my camera and 2nd lens to church. Firstly, the sermon was about converting to be sauls and leaving paul behind. I think i gotta make an effort to remember sermons coz 1 of the visitors (teen) asked me and i had to take some time to remember. Oh well, i took some shots during church service and my favourite shot of the day was during that time. It's a shot of Andy doing his job as a videographer.

After that i was introduced to a korean guy that was studying in Canada. Cool..this is the 2nd korean guy i met in church and the first one was about 6 years ago. We chatted abit and though i knew some korean, i didn't want to lose face in front of the master..lol. Ok after that we had the mission college choir come down to have a 1 hour concert. But first, we needed to prepare the stage and all that and i took a picture of this kind auntie adjusting the waterfall while the group practised beforehand.

So the concert started and i took a couple of shots but unfortunately it was pretty dark so the shots didn't turn up too well. One of the best shots was this. Apparantly it also caught Jeffrey chatting up an unidentified lady.

Ok, at night we had our inaugural talent extravaganza. Took some shots and this is one of my fav. Interestingly, someone that looked like the kind auntie earlier on was caught in the picture too.

Ok to cut it all short, it was time for the audience to vote and so we were entertained by Pik Yee who sang us a rendition of Teresa Teng's famous number which i don't know the exact title.

Ok, this is the final shot for the day.

Sitting on the cupboards are the first prize winners. 2nd prize was a filipino guy who sang a song i never heard before. And third was kelsy who did a dance item. The ninja you see in the picture is the one who was the most deserving of an award but didn't get any. Yup that's all. Gonna chill now.

I got back my health check results and Thank God i'm perfectly healthy! It was definitely a relief after thinking for 2 months that i had high blood pressure. And guessing that it probably had to do with my kidney or liver. I happened to see a doctor beforehand and asked him about it and he advised whenever i cook instant noodles to put 1/10 the seasoning. When i heard that it sounded crazy. Might as well don't put at all lor. But he did have a point, so from then on, i only pour in half the seasoning. Of course the soup didn't taste so salty, but at least i know i'm taking care of myself. And knowing my results today won't change this habit. Well, i'm real thankful. BTW, i found out something, the doc told me that if you want to be able to measure an accurate blood pressure reading, you gotta use the mercury type and the stethoscope to hear it accurately and not depend on the machine to determine the pressure. I have a digital one at one and she said it would give a higher reading. Oh just in case anyones curious, my reading earlier on was 110/70. It's super low compared to the 135/85 i got last time. Yes, it's more accurate to measure it a few times, but i'm thinking if it's low, then it's low.

Ok, the other thing is i'm almost done watching "Super Rookie" and it's a very very very nice korean drama. In case you're bored and have some free time, i'd recommend it a hundred times over because it's not the typical korean drama where it plays with your emotions...i hate those dramas so i don't watch those. Rather, it's a feel good drama and talks about this "academically challenged" but street smart guy on how he got into the biggest corporation in korea by accident and the experiences he went through. Alot of good values are depicted in the show and that's another plus point about it. Also, this is the first time i'm noticing, that for the typical hollywood films, when a guy meets a girl and they end up connecting very well..the next scene usually has them playing in the bed. This drama doesn't show that..instead it shows each individual on the bed thinking (and not playing with someone else) and it also gets you thinking about the emotions that are going through them. That's one reason why korean dramas are quite slow (eg..jewel in the palace). You have many instances where the camera is focused on the subject for a few seconds and the audience has nothing else to do but to wonder what the subject is thinking about. And this kind of stop-go-stop script is good in a way. It's more realistic to the pace of real life rather than it being a non-stop how-did-he-manage-to-do-everything-like-clockwork or why-are-the-items-placed-so-strategically-for-him kind of show. Christon mentioned something interesting to me too as he compared taiwanese and korean dramas. He said that taiwanese dramas usually have a love triangle whereas korean dramas have a love square(or whatever you call that). Anyway i greatly digress.

My point is, i love super rookie's soundtrack. It's got to be the best soundtrack i ever heard for a drama. Not only are the songs good but the songs are played at strategic points of the show to emphasize the emotions going through each scene. To me it's perfect placement. I don't have the full soundtrack and have been searching high and low for it. Was at Orchard and went to centrepoint, HMV, orchard midpoint and they all don't have it. The closest was at HMV but they had sold the last copy in January..shucks. So today during lunch after going to the library i headed for gramophone at Taka hoping to get my hands on the soundtrack. But alas, i was sorely disappointed. Shucks....i guess the only option is to get it only and the cheapest i found was $33. I'll see how...

And i'm so glad that Andrew is signing up for intermediate korean with me! At least i'll not be the only guy there. Last week, the teacher asked me a few times during the lesson to sign up for the intermediate class as there are no guys yet. Yeah, i'm signing up because i feel the teacher is good. Well frankly, i don't think she's an expert in the language because she said because of me, she had to study more on korean grammar. It's like asking me to teach english and when students ask me about grammar i would have to refer to the english books because i've taken grammar and sentence structure for granted. Anyway, she's good because she points out the common phrases and common ways it's said. IOW, she points out the formal and casual sentences. This is good because you don't want to keep speaking formal in front of koreans..sounds weird. The other reason is i think there's some kind of passion in her to teach korean to us. And lastly, i get to learn alot of useful phrases which i have yet to put into memory. Ok, that's it for me today apart from work. Until next time..

Oh btw, i keep forgetting to put this picture up i found somewhere on the internet. I like it alot because it not only has a very photogenic subject, but it shows the composition and the depth of field(i think the blurness is faked but still) that makes this image beautiful.

Sentosa

Last sunday we had intercell group outing at sentosa. It was a gathering of cell 2 and 3 and it was supposed to be a free and easy outing. Thus, i had brought along my camera AND 2nd kit lens (40-150mm) for the sake of trying it out for the first time outdoors. Though i didn't participate in the games they had, but i had alot of fun taking pictures. For those who are looking for voyuer pics or pics of babes/hunks other than my cell members, too bad. (I had noticed an angmo lying near us taking discreet shots of the girls beside him.) I got a zoom lens but i'm not going to abuse my power. ;)

This is my favourite of the lot. I managed to capture the right moment and that made andrew look like a prawn being hauled out of the water by wayne.

This is probably my 2nd favourite of the day. All because of the moment and the expression.

I was about 80 metres away at the shelter when i heard some commotion at sea. I realised what was going on and swiftly brought up my cam, zoomed in and took a few shots of the action.

My favourite group shot of the day

After taking the LRT back from Sentosa, we were sitting down after an exhausting day with some of us getting sunburnt. Andrew took this shot of me with some of the rest.


And i'll just like to end off with this:
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5

Happy Sabbath to all! ;)

Cell outing at Clementi

We had teens cell outing to botak jones at clementi..but it was closed on mondays. So we headed off to Sumo House instead. Guess it wasn't a bad idea since it was air conditioned which provided abit of relief for the extremely hot temperature plaguing Singapore right now. As always with outings, i brought my E500 and took some shots, of which the first 2 photos below were my favourite as it captured the moment.


Looking intently into each other's eyes...


Apparently they didn't like each other that much.


The thing about Nicholas is that he's so unpredictable. You never know what he'll do next and this is what happened.


And again, the ever present Nicholas as i prepared to take a shot. He sauntered past and stared at the camera as i pressed the shutter. I was startled abit when he did that thus the pic wasn't that clear.

earthquake?

I was just minding my own business in the office when just a few minutes ago my chair started to rock back and forth. Earlier in the morning i had to give a sample of blood so i thought my heart started to beat vigorously thus causing the shake. I paused for a moment and composed myself but i felt fine. I looked at the computers coz i tot it might be the computers acting up. But no it's not. Then suddenly i was IMed by my 2 colleagues asking me whether i felt any tremors...confirm liao. Then i got news from other friends that tanjong pagar area felt the tremors and there were ppl who went off for early lunch. Then even more amazing, someone in KL felt it too. I think it's a huge earthquake to affect that kind of range..let's wait and see what's going on.

Andrew, Christon, me and mandy met up for our monthly(supposedly) cell group 2 leaders' meeting. There, i got a few pictures and this was my favourite shot. Framing is as it is and i tweaked the brightness and sharpened it.

I took this in my office. It's a sheep magnet and i was experimenting with macro shots and depth of field.

Humor, 2008 Election, Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton goes to a primary school in New York to talk about the world. After her talk she offers a question time.

One little boy puts up his hand. The Senator asks him what his name is.

“Kenneth.”

“And what is your question, Kenneth?”

“I have three questions: First - whatever happened to the medical health care plan you were paid to develop during your husband’s eight years in the office as President? Second - why would you run for President after your husband shamed the office? Third - whatever happened to all those things you took when you left the White House?”

Just then the bell rings for recess. Hillary Clinton informs the kids that they will continue after recess.

When they resume, Hillary says, “Okay, where were we? Oh, that’s right, question time. Who has a question?”

A different little boy put his hand up. Hillary asked him what his name is.

“Larry.”

“And what is your question, Larry?”

“I have five questions: First - whatever happened to the medical health care plan you were paid to develop during your husband’s eight years in the office as President? Second - why would you run for President after your husband shamed the office? Third - whatever happened to all thosethings you took when you left the White House? Fourth - why did the recess bell go off 20 minutes early? Fifth - what happened to Kenneth?”

Happy Chinese New Year!

I got a new toy!!! It's my most expensive toy to date. It's none other than the Olympus E500. Why have i got this instead of the D80 as some of you thought i was eyeing for? Coz firstly, it's almost $600 cheaper and secondly it comes with an extra lens. That means less heartpain if something drastic happens to the camera (which i hope not) and an extra lens to keep me occupied longer. I like to take indoor shots without flash but a pity it's a difficult skill to master unless i use a tripod. Anyway, this is the photo i just took. It's the final day of the chinese year and this is my wish to friends reading my blog.

February 2007

It's february already and i haven't updated this blog..oh man..ok..a few weeks ago, i did a quiz posted by Andrew Phua. I thought the banner looked pretty cool and the description somewhat fits me..so here is the result of the quiz i did.

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Introvert/Unique
Want to know a secret *giggles*? This is one of my favourite results!
Dosen't it happen that you're a noticeable unique person? If you answer is 'no', then take a good look at how people look at you and maybe you'll notice. You have something that makes you alluringly beautiful, but there's also a vibe that tells people to stay away. You like your privacy and expect others to respect it also, a thing that could sometimes make you look quite agressive.
Unlike other people, you learned to deal with loneliness, by necessity or plain desire to do so.
You have wounds though, that might not be seen by others, but that you feel at the most unsusual of times.

P.S: If you're willing,please take a look at my other results and if you feel that the quizz and I deserve it,rate!



7127 other people got this result!
This quiz has been taken 38798 times.
18% of people had this result.
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Ok, it's a month into the new year so the question i ask myself is, what do i want for 2007. First off, i realise that i don't seem to have a desire to own a car anymore. That desire kinda sizzled after i came back from my korea trip. It's weird. Probably i became more practical and realized the enormous money needed to maintain the having-a-car lifestyle. So now, if i had the money, i would get a condo first before getting a car. On the other hand, i've developed a liking for photography/design. Photography would be my hobby as i haven't got a DSLR camera yet and design would be my profession hopefully after this job. I know i may get a pay cut once i switch jobs, but i feel it's important to do what you like doing. My ideal job probably would be the work for the church as an IT person who would have the chance to work with the various church websites and also publicity materials. Why the church? Because i believe that there is nothing better than the satisfaction you get when you feel you have utilized that power inside you to help others. In a company this is not always possible. You work hard for a company and the satisfaction you get is you finished your job and the company gets more deals/sales. But when it comes to the crux of the meaning of life, helping people has to be part of the equation. Some people would say the church won't be a nice place to work in. I believe there are not nice places everywhere whenever people are present. The difference is that you're working for an organisation that has a different goal than mere monetary gains. If there are mean people in the church office, you don't have to get affected by them. I'm not saying to bo chap them and wage a cold war on them coz i personally do not recommend doing that for the sake of your own sanity. Rather, put on thick skin and just continue working in that environment. Communicate as usual and depend on God for strength. Coz the world doesn't need more unkind people.

Besides, where money is concerned, there is more than 1 way to earn money.