Thinking Aloud

Cos I have to take my Logic exam tomorrow.

Bleah….

If there’s one thing I want to do after exams….

is to go back home and eat JAGOYA!!

Been hearing so much about this huge, japanese buffet restaurant, about how fresh the food is, how much variety there is and how…(add in your favourite superlative)

Wah!

Btw…is there a JAGOYA outlet here in Singapore? Should have rite?

Took this some time ago. Putting it up here so that my readers can enjoy.

Here’s another

I like this picture (above) because of the auroralike effect it has.

Till the next post, chiaozz…

I spent the whole day doing only ONE!!! miserable number theory question. Not because I was lazy, but simply because I was blind.

Sobs, I’m so going to die on wednesday (next week!)…

and I haven’t even revised Logic yet.

Recieved some sad news today. One of my choir members passed away.

I decided to treat myself and try Pepper Lunch at Orchard.

It was interesting. I ordered a simple beef meal. I liked it. Next time, going to try other dishes. Next time, I’m bringing along…

But oooh, how I wish I had the time (and money!) to go makansutraing.

Go and try out Pepper Lunch (jialat, doing free advertising for them). Maybe treat yourself as a post-exam-relieve stress-session with your friends. Everybody order different sets to try…den onli syok mah.

Exams start today. All the best to the set of NUS students intersecting with the set of the readers of my blog.

Whew, that was verbose…

And how did I spend the whole day?

Reading this…

which has no relation at all to my examinable subjects.

I’m committing intellectual suicide here.

(for those who know, this little excerpt refers to the sheafification construct of a presheaf. We just look at the continuous section of a stalk which is the direct limit of of presheaves on a system of open neighbourhoods about a point x in a topological space X.)

Math’s galore…I’m mad already…hehe…

Who ever knew algebraic geometry is so botanical…sheaves, stalks, sections :S

Haven’t been posting anything substantial here lately. Actually a lot has been happening. Just that I don’t feel like putting it down. Exams are round the corner and I just finished some heavy stuff on homology. Don’t feel like studying later tonight.

This morning saw me meditating on love. How sacrifice is a defining quality of love. What drove me to that strain of thought was the cross-Christ would choose to take our sin upon himself, even when we didn’t ask for it.

This struck me as mind blowing. Being brought up in a Chinese culture, the idea of unmerited love is hard to swallow. Human love, is given subject to terms and conditions. And this is so pervasive in my culture. We could only have a glimpse of what true love ought to be.

But with Christ and the cross, we see true sacrificial love in blood and flesh, in its tears and anguish. That this love is lavished upon us even when we didn’t deserve it tells me that there is another way. It is possible to love even the unlovable. And it is the only way to love, to be truly human.

Just the thoughts that could feed the hungry soul.

Finally they made the announcement.

For those who know, Singapore will be having its GE on the 6th of May 2006. That day will be declared a public holiday.

Since I’m speechless, I only want to share these few verses.

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
12That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

If you happen to know more verses in the same vein, leave a message on the tagboard.

After 3 years serving me faithfully, my watch has finally stopped ticking.

Things do get old, I guess. Nothing lasts forever.

I’m just waiting for that spark of inspiration.

I need to write a ‘fierce’ cover letter. Dun pray pray, MNC leh, cannot sui bian, sui bian zuo…

Still waiting for my muse.

As I was looking at JobsDB.com I realized something.

Most companies that advertise there are looking for Singaporean/PR.

But I can’t become a PR unless I secure a job first!!

Isn’t this ironic…

Suddenly this feels like chicken and egg situation.

Just got the keys to my new place. If you’re interested to come and visit, give me a call first. =)

Here’s the address:

Blk 608 #10-77,
Clementi West Street 1,
S120608.

And here’s a map of where the place is.

At this moment in time, I just look back and whisper, ” Time really flies.”

But then again, isn’t it true that yesterday seemed like a dream from a century ago?

It was just last semester that I first stepped into the world of ‘real’ (being relative) mathematics, but now that dream is going to be cut out from me?

It is really in moments like this that my capacity to trust Him is tested to the limit.

If only the Maths Department would hurry up and tell the results of my application.

Tunggu, tunggu, tunggu…leceh betul lah.

Haih….

This fella here.

who came knocking at my door at the unearthly hour of the night saying, ” Can I have a look at your camera?”

I replied, ” You want to see my camera for what?!?”

Haih, it was a surpise birthday celeb.

Who would have thought that these bunch of sweet people would surprise me with a homemade pineapple strudel. (Is that how you spell it?)

Anyways, thanks guys for the time and effort spent. As you can see, I’m wearing my birthday present in the picture.

When God’s people pray, great things happen.

I’ll be leaving the ministry that means so much to me in a couple of weeks.

Student ministry has given me a taste of what God can do when people pray.

But perhaps even more meaningful are the friends that we make during our short sojourn in VCF.

Friends, everyone including those not represented in the photo above have added much colour to my life. They are the reason, why we stick on in student ministry, even when we are tired and dissappointed.

Here’s a post dedicated to all Cfers-past, present and those to come-pray! And pray together with friends. This is where great things happen.

I remember wetting the matress.

I remember the time when I would cup my hands together to say Muslim grace before eating tea in my Tabika (kindy)

I remember lining up in pairs for ‘perhimpunan’ (morning assembly) and holding hands with a girl for the first time, to the chorus of much teasing walking back to class.

I remember buying food from the ‘makcik’ in the canteen for the first time. I nervously handed over 50 cents for a curry puff.

I remember the bunch of us boys talking about sex in standard six. We were 12 at that time and girls started to look appealing.

I remember I was an introvert in secondary school. Strange, cos I was quite a naughty kid.

I remember staring at her as she walked out from the school compound from the third floor library. I wrote her a letter and sneaked it in her desk, she never replied. I was an idiot.

I remember waiting for number 59 minibus or 121 Tong Fong. 60 cents to Sri Petaling. Sometimes, waiting for either was too long. I would take another bus to Salak South and walk 2 km back home.

I remember buying the super soft and smooth tau fu fa at the busstop.

I remember stepping into a CF for the first time in MBS and guess what I saw from the classroom: A couple of thugs beating up a prefect.

I remember waiting for my mother to pick me up after school and wonder who were those strange people sleeping by the roadside. I realized later they were drug addicts.

I remember Suresh. He was my best friend. We would watch movies together and study Bible Knowledge under Miss Moey. Form 4 and 5 were the best years of my life (so far).

I remember going for my first CF camp organized by SU. It was in Cameron Highlands, and I will always remember the time God touched me in such a special, personal and powerful manner. I think that was the one experience that changed my life.

I remember all those CF activities. The sharing, the nonsense, the mamak, and the never ending fun we had doing everything else but sharing the gospel. We got excited when girls from CBN would join us. We we’re shallow.

I remember learning what ‘obscure’ really meant-covering up for a friend who played truant. This was the unspoken code of ethics.

I remember hating prefects. I have something against authority figures.

I remember obtaining my STPM results, my sadness at seeing Maths Lanjutan: C. I swear it was the most disappointing moment of my life.

I remember the mission trip to Taman Chempaka Baptist Church in Ipoh. The accident and the big cock up by the ambulance crew transporting my brother and Yee Bing back to KL. I panicked but forgot to pray. God saved anyway.

I remember sitting in the train staring out into the morning that was rising over Singapore. My father was with me. I couldn’t decide what to feel.

I remember Prologue and dancing for the first time.

I remember my first hallplay, standing out in front of a crowd of about 700 ppl, saying the words,” Welcome ladies and gentlemen…”

I remember hanging out in John Tey’s room, drinking chicken soup he cooked. This was someone I looked up too.

I remember confessing my feelings to a girl for the first time.

I remember the confusion of second year and the drastic drop of my CAP score. I swear that was the worst time of my life.

I remember learning speaking to Dr. Tan for a honours project and suggesting a report on Lie algebras. I was hooked, and God-willing, I have found my niche.

I remember the new year. I remember from 1982 -2006, 24 years of my life. All the events, all those and more unsaid, that have made me what I am today.

6th April 2006.

Where have I been?

Eaten by this monster of a beetle?…

I found this little critter struggling in the toilet bowl. Picked it up and made several photos of it. Unfortunately they didn’t come up quite right, which is such a pity. Here’s another view of it.

Anyways, the interview with Dr. Albert went well. He was friendly and thank God I didn’t tense up. Did my best. See how things go…

This prayer helps us to put ourselves at God’s disposal. St Ignatius describes this ‘Preparatory prayer’ as asking for the grace that all my intentions, actions and operations may be directed purely to the praise and service of the Divine Majesty. (The Spiritual Exercises, no. 46) You might try these words:

Lord, I so wish to prepare well for this time.
I so want to make all of me ready and attentive and available to you.
Please help me to clarify and purify my intentions.
I have so many contradictory desires.
I get preoccupied with things that don’t really matter or last.
I know that if I give you my heart
whatever I do will follow my new heart.

In all that I am today, all that I try to do,
all my encounters, reflections - even the frustrations and failings
and especially in this time of prayer,
in all of this may I place my life in your hands.
Lord, I am yours. Make of me what you will. Amen.

Taken from Sacred Space.

Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:

6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

I just realized something….

I used to sing Wawasan 2020 (Vision 2020) for the Monday morning assemby. (I realized how chillingly brain washing it was but that’s another matter.)

We used to joke about how old we would be by the time it was 2020. For the ‘82 babies, we will be 38.

I’m 24 this year.

Oh my gosh! You are telling me that Malaysia is supposed to race to become a fully industrialized nation in 14 blardy years!

Don’t mean to be negative, but we (M’sians) just don’t have that mettle and mentality (not to mention hard work) to make it happen. You just open the newspaper and something just hits your right in the face….

…the utter lack of DRIVE.

We have (almost) lost our vision and direction.

Sad.