Thinking Aloud

Will be going back for the New Year tomorrow. Don’t think will be posting much for the moment.

Wishing all friends a Blessed Chinese New Year…tong tong tong chiang!

Things aren’t going for me….

…not in a very happy mood.

Imagine having a lecturer tell you that you are possibly better than all those high flyers out there, but that your scholarship application may not go through because of a low CAP score.

Everything just feels so, so….like that lor.

True friends tell you the truth that hurts.

It just means they care enough for me to point out my character flaws.

Because we all believe that growing into Christ-likeness is of ultimate value, all other things pale in comparison.

This post is dedicated to those who have chosen to help me become a better person.

Thanks.

My midterm progress talk will be on the

25/1 Wednesday at 1200 pm- 1245 pm.

Keep me in your prayers.

Mengapa Dirindu

Anak punai anak merbah
Terbang turun buat sarang
Anak sungai pun berubah
Ini pula hati orang
Mengapa dikenang

Asal kapas jadi benang
Dari benang dibuat baju
Barang lepas jangan kenang
Sudah jadi orang baru
Mengapa dirindu

Kasih yang dulu tinggal dalam mimpi
Kasih yang baru simpan di hati
Kasih yang dulu tinggal dalam mimpi
Kasih yang baru simpan di hati

Selat teduh lautan tenang
Banyak labuh perahu Aceh
Jangan kesal jangan kenang
Walau hati rasa pedih
Mengapa bersedih

Kalau pinang masih muda
Rasanya kelat sudahlah pasti
Kalau hilang kasih lama
Cari lain untuk ganti
Mengapa dinanti

Patah ‘kan tumbuh hilang berganti
Akan sembuh kalau diubati
Patah ‘kan tumbuh hilang berganti
Akan sembuh kalau diubati

Sayang mengapa dirindu

-Song by Ahmad Wan Yet, lyrics by Zain Mahmood, sung by Uji Rashid.

Here’s a rough translation into English for the benefit of my singaporean readers.

The punai and merbah,
flies down to nest.
Even streams change,
what more the heart of man.
Why remember?

From cotton to thread,
From thread woven into clothes.
What has past, don’t remember.
Once a new man,
why miss the past.

Leave your old love in dreams,
Keep new love close to heart.
x2

Shelter in the straits, the peaceful sea.
Many are the Achenese ships in port.
Don’t regret, don’t remember,
even when the heart stings,
why be sad?

If the pinang is unripe,
it is sure to taste bad.
If old love is lost,
Find new one to replace it,
Why wait?

What is broken will grow, what is lost will be replaced,
What has been treated will heal.
x2

My love, why do you miss the past.

********************
Malay is a beautiful language, English cannot do this song justice.

JAWI can have my middle finger…

FT Religious Department wants to go ahead with its snoop squad

For context, this is a related news article

For those who have been following my blog…

…you will know that I wasn’t in a mood to celebrate Christmas.

An msn message and email from hold informed me that one of my church youth was (is now) undergoing treatment for leaukemia.

He is in good spirits. No news so far, and all that can be done now is to wait and pray.

Wait and pray. Living in tension, it is especially painful for Aunty Annie who watches her son (Ju Liang) go through a life threatening crisis.

I had an epiphany while taking a walk just now….

Being spiritual does not mean the pain of disappointment is taken away. One must hope against all hope, pray the very heart out for healing and expect that God will act mightily.

We are only human…to even ask the question, ” Is it God’s will?” is a mockery of our humanity.

I sincerely hope and believe that Ju Liang will be healed…

I need to admit something embarassing.

I’ve been hooked to Class 95.0 FM, weekdays night show….*blush*

Yeah, thanks Faith for intro me to the station yah…

Proof (2005)

Boy ‘o boy!

I still remember Proof fondly. As cast members of Epilogue 03, Hui Ling encouraged us to watch the version of Proof put up by local talents.

It was my very first venture into theater. Definately eye opening experience and all the more poignant as it was about mathematics…
*wink*

Will I catch it? Hmm…..

The Dilbert Blog: Men Versus Women

Go to the link. How true is this?

Haven’t been blogging for the past two days.

It’s Hallplay Weekend, next week will be Spa retreat and the week after, CNY. And well, that’s January for you…

Am still waiting for the email from the Department telling the final year students to book a timeslot for the mid term progress talks.

Have absolutely no mood to do work today. Maybe, I’ll Mozart away. Feel like taking a stroll in Orchard again. Nope, won’t be buying anything. Just a walk (and dinner)… but then again, Esplanade might be a better choice.

I think I’m ready to post my meditations on time. But I’ll let it ruminate for a little while longer.

And to remind myself: All good things are worth waiting for.

WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear
May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be no need for prayer
Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there.

Jo­seph M. Scriv­en

Two phycists, Mr. Brown and Mr. White and a logician Mr. Orange are wearing hats. They know that the hats are either white or black but not all are white.

Mr. Brown can see Mr. White and Mr. Orange hats.
Mr. White can see Mr. Brown and Mr. Orange hats.
Mr. Orange is blind. (poor him!)

Each are asked whether they know the colour of their own hats. And they each answer

Mr. Brown: “No.”
Mr. White:” No.”
Mr. Orange: ” Yes!”

So what is the colour of Mr. Orange hat, and how on earth did he know!!

**********
Let me assure you that this has a valid answer, and I know it.

I was never good at parrallel parking, I’ll admit that.

I’m not hopeless at it, just not too good. The car will always stick out a little into the road. And that’s when, as the title puts it, ” A little more to the left.”

Hmm….

Maturity. I guess maturity, apart from the major overhauls, also comes from those, ” A little more to the left” kind of changes.

As I continue to grow in Christ, may He show me the places where overhauls are needed. May He also give me the grace to make those little left’s so that I may be truly mature.

For near to 12 hours already.

Can you believe it? How can the clouds hold so much water? Oh well….at least I won’t have switch on the fan.

On an unrelated note. Go to Ghim Moh, the central market area and find the indian curry store selling tosai. It’s 1.60 for two pieces. Eat and be satisfied.

Since I had nothing to do after finishing the gruelling task of TeX-ing my thesis, I decided to pop by KR to watch the badminton rounds.

We tried, we rallied and won little skirmishes….though we lost.

But we left with out heads held high.

God job Ke7 Badminton
***************
On an unrelated note:
I don’t care already, I need my movie fix …..

I recieved an epiphany just now during dinner…

God and I may agree on many ideals, but we may not always agree on the method to achieve those ideals.

Sigh…

God still gots lot of work to do with me, still an unfinished sculpture.

The weather is acting up. Was swimming just now when it started rain.

Ok, not a problem, after all there was no thunder or lightning.

By the time I got back and had dinner, it was 600, and boy was the sun shining.

Isn’t life like that?

Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership

Go to this website…

Now here’s the biggie…

Did ‘we’ Christians hijack the idea of servant leadership to interpret the bible?

or

Is this a secularized version of Mark 10:41-45?

What is round, comes round and about again?

A list of the modules I’ll be taking this semester.

Graduate algebra,
Intro to analytic number theory,
Mathematical logic.

So now I’m an algebraist, number theorist and logician. So tell me, what is truth?

Here’s a quick puzzle.

A man goes for a sex-change operation and marries the guy of her dreams. Unfortunately the government of a certain country doesn’t recognize the union. In legal terms, they are not married.
Media reports it in the national paper and readers write in; whilst bloggers mope about it.

(This is an old tomato, and those in the know will identify what I’m alluding to)

People of various convictions present their opinions and here is the puzzle.

When does standing up for a belief become bigotry?

Wah..quite accurate leh…(except the last one, its soooo false)

This struck me as I was taking a walk.

Jesus didn’t just come to save our souls, in a deeper sense, he came to preserve our vernacular.

It came to me in the form of a question: Why do bible translators slog day and night, struggle to learn an obscure tribe’s language so that they can translate the word of God into their own language?

Acceptance. Probably. But I suspect also that the translators are convicted the Gospel transcends culture. Transcends Jewishness, transcends the West or the East cultures. The Gospel is about man and God, and God reaching out to man, as and where he is.

Culture is lost when a language is lost. And many languages are going extinct, thus many people groups are being dissolved into a homogeneous soup. The Gospel doesn’t come to erase culture but to redeem it, to redeem its language, to create for it literature if there isn’t one.

Christ came to unite, not homogenize and to bring together people differentiated by the curse of Babel. Unity in Christ, I guess, is not so much about tolerating differences, but a singular vision on the Gospel which allows us to celebrate diversity.

The critically acclaimed trilogy by Philip Pullman.

I first heard( read about it) actually from an essay by Bishop Robert Solomon. How absolutely ironic!

It is an exciting read! Although I got lost somewhere in the middle of the narrative of the third book.

But I enjoyed it. Nice plot, with a bittersweet ending. A true work of imagination.

p/s Read it with an open mind. You and I may not agree on the central message of Pullman’s book, but it still a wonderful story to read.

If you are M’sian, you might be able to identify the following joke:

2005 was indeed a strange year with the Army getting into the business of religious conversions; the National Airline in artworks; with the Art gallery not knowing if its treasures are missing; the PM apologising to China for atrocities against his own citizen and we still have one day to go.

I got it from Screenshots…
a forwarded SMS circulating in Malaysia. On the last day of the week, of the year 2005.

For humour, perhaps to lighten up and not take ourselves too seriously.

A great way to start the new year is perhaps to remind myself that as an adult, there is world out there with responsibilities, not only to my family (i.e. brothers and sisters and parents) but to my country as well.

It may not be the perfect place to live, but its still home. I may not always agree that same leaders are worthy of respect, but people still elected them nonetheless.

Malaysia may not be as cool, snazzy, efficient and comfortable a place to live in compared to Singapore, but as they say in malay, it’s tanah
tumpahnya darahku.

I met my Saviour and Lord as a Malaysian, and my role models were mostly Malaysian. I may not return to stay in KL, but it doesn’t matter, we still have world class highways.

Though the future is uncertain, and with my training as a maths graduate, job opportunities will be tough to come by in M’sia, but once I’ve dispensed with my obligations to my host country, I believe the Lord will lead me back home to M’sia.

p/s Isn’t it ironic that we can only pen this sort sentimental stuff when we’re overseas.

2006 2.17.59

USA launches Vanguard II weather satellite.

Interesting how things tie together. Pastor Shi Ming’s message of hard right on the mark. But I’ve done my business with God, and the perspective is there. Life still goes on.

Welcome to the new year!