an ill deserved break

the very initial plan for today afternoon was to meet up w claud for some one on one time, since i haven't been spending enough personal time w my girls. but i really felt that my mind and heart weren't up to it - was abit drained. so then i thought i'll use the afternoon to study instead, since i've been pretty lagging in readings. but in the end, i ended up cycling :D

DG today was especially refreshing I think. A simple thing like praying can have pretty deep associations. why do we pray? if God's will will be done anyway, where's the role of free will? since God alrd knows, why then do I pray? and the qns that is still unanswered as of now, what's the relationship between our desires and the will of God? I'm really thankful for such a wise SM. :) n also adora n sue jen, who always push further than what is on the surface, and ask cheem questions.

then when i got back home, decided to finally go see the sunflower that has bloomed at the cai yuan. i bugged my dad to plant it for me, so i was really looking forward to seeing it, but had no time to do that until today. then, since i was alrd on my bike, might as well go cycling right! haha. so i cycled to the dam near seletar country club. the wind there was super shiok!

such a great getaway, amidst all the stuff to be done. not that sch's been busy - it hasn't. but, there seems to be alot of stuff to be done in terms of ministry. but then again, maybe it's just the heart space that's being taken up.

oh well, took some photos on my phone. :) too bad i didn't bring my camera along w me.

now, i'll better go get some sch work done :) 

Read more...

here and now

Here and now, here in this moment
Here and now I turn to You
All that my searching heart has longed for can be found 
'Cause You're in this moment, here and now


What majesty, what mystery,
The God of all eternity
Stepped into time and gave His life for me
Your hand is seen in galaxies, 
Yet Your Spirit dwells in me 
So vast and yet You're still within our reach



There is nowhere You can't be found
Nothing on earth could ever keep Your Presence out


Here and now, here in this moment
Here and now I turn to you 
All that my searching heart has longed for can be found
'Cause you're in this moment, here and now

Read more...

prof. sighs.

i get highly amused by this corporate finance prof. he's chinese, n he has an accent that is quite funny. He's got an american slang, n his english is pretty decent most of the time, but sometimes pronounciation of certain words is just funny. like,

significant - sigernificant

lemon - leemon

n, he gets confused by his own explanation. he was explaining the solution to a problem halfway when he just stopped, and said, you know what, i'm getting confused by this. you can just go and read the solution on your slide. (he said it w a smile. i think he amuses himself too)

!!!

so that's what we pay fees for. -.-

and, he just put up his feet on the table to tie his shoelaces. i'm a pretty unglam person, but there's a diff between unglam n uncouth...

Read more...

food

I'm spending more mealtimes in school this sem, so expenses are gg to go up. sigh. n it doesn't help that sch food is not student price la! the pain of studying in town. it promotes spending, what with more expensive food and shopping centres so near.

at least this makes me look forward to internship a bit more. though pay generally is pitiable, but at least it's still money :D

Read more...

simple pleasures in life

east coast starbucks w pear

hanging out at fort canning park alone for half an hour while waiting for adora

looking at dabestclique's photos (the new yr countdown ones) on fb (again)

even though there's a quiz tmr. but still, :)

Read more...

LOL

i got such a kick reading this post by this person who I don't even know. it was a link from MrBrown's site, and I just loved it! the blogger, Kitchen Tigress (i dunno why she named her blog that -.-) blogged about her attempt at getting a birthday cake from ocbc on her birthday.

i've always been interested in ads, and having taken a mod on advertising, i'm even more interested in ads. (tho that doesn't mean i'll want to work in an ad firm)

recently i noticed two ads that made me ultra skeptical. in kitchen tigress's words, the ads are deliberately misleading. The first one i noticed was the one by ntuc, where an ntuc staff helped an old lady with her grocery. even my niece said 骗人的！when I asked her why she said that, she said ‘ah ma 去NTUC 的时候都没有人帮她’. even though my mum's really not old and fragile enough to radiate 'i need help' vibes to others, you get the point. i was surprised my niece was so observant and smart.

then came the ocbc ad, in which this little girl was there drawing a birthday card for her mother while waiting for the mother to be done at the bank teller, and the ocbc staff realises that its the lady's birthday, and got a cake to surprise her! after watching that, i really wondered to myself what will happen if i went to ocbc to ask for a cake on my birthday. but it was such a dumb and irritating (to the staff) to do, so the thought just stayed as a thought. but i didn't know there'll be an adult prankster out there called kitchen tigress who'll do that. haha!

for the account of her experience, go to http://kitchentigress.blogspot.com/2010/01/ocbcs-birthday-cake.html

exaggeration is a technique used by advertisers, but it really just backfires when the exaggeration is something tangible and very possible. i mean, it's one thing when an ad exaggerates that the iron is so powerful that it can even straighten stairs - thats something impossible, so we all know it's just for exaggeration purpose. but exaggerations of POSSIBLE benefits like having staff who help the elderly, or staff who are kind and considerate enough to give clients a birthday surprise are just so unwise. that's because it is something that could actually happen. i mean, why not? if the company is sincere and serious enough about the message that it's getting across, the said scenarios could happen. therefore, when the benefit doesn't materialise (when it is something realistically achievable), it becomes that much clearer that the company isn't sincere in its claim.

viewers (even kitchen tigress) all understand that ads are not always true representations of the products. but, it doesn't mean that viewers will let it go. i'm glad there're people free enough, thick-skinned enough, and care enough (cos unfortunately i'm not one of those) to kick up a fuss in response to 'lying' ads. HAHA. more of these people and we may finally get to see more quality ads in Singapore.

Read more...

wise words

i think i've got really wise parents. really thankful that they've always taught me not to make others' problems my problems - i should listen, lend a listening ear, help where i can, but not be distressed by it. I've nv really understood the importance or the need for it till recently. if the problem becomes my problem too, it'll be 2 distressed people instead of 1. n then i won't be of any use, unable to help stabilise the person's emotions, unable to give advice, unable to formulate clear thoughts for the one who really is facing the problems.

与哀痛的同哀痛，但是也必须存有智慧的处理
当我把他人的问题当成自己的问题时，很自然的就想要向身边的好友倾诉，征求他们的意见。但是，还是把话收了回来，因为那不是我的问题，我必须尊重对方的隐私，也只能尽我所能够的来给予帮助，关怀。神必赐智慧，也更加相信神始终是掌管着一切的。

Read more...