the unearthly hour

How does yours truly end up wide awake at four in the morning, and furthermore having had been so for the past twenty or so hours? How is it that from one look at his face he looks like a long-abandoned castaway on Survivor? How is it that he has not brushed his teeth in two days, nor eaten any dinner the previous night apart from five cream crackers?

It's a real long story you know, but to cut it short - it all has to do with that old bugaboo - moving house. Every new day, its annoyances unfold. Filling my mind, with more grumbles untold (well, at least until now, although i shall keep it real short since now i do feel sleepy again...)

It's been a real tiring couple of days for us all,
with Bingo not being an exception...

By the end of moving most of the stuff to the new place,
this is what greeted me when i tried to enter my room.
"How do i enter thee? Let me count the ways... Eh, none!"

Hmm maybe i'll elaborate more once this day's sleep catches up with me...

Ma vie dans les images...

Not even sure if the French is correct (think it's wrong...) but anyways...

In just about two days' time, i should be leaving here...

In order to spend the first of countless nights over here...

While still occasionally wishing i was still staying here...

Go figure...

nyet, not yet...

The other day the family went down to Borshch in Serangoon Gardens for dinner. Once upon a time we used to go there at least once a month, but that ritual ended when we moved over to the East, and it's been years since i last went there... But going back there reminded me of the umpteen times i'd go there and order the same thing time and time again - the $12.80 (now $13.80) set dinner with appetiser choice of shrimp cocktail or caviar with egg (no prizes for guessing which one i went for); soup choice of borshch or cream of mushroom (choosing the former is a no brainer - if they name the restaurant after the dish then it had better be good...); main course choice of several things which i barely remember cos my eyes would almost always automatically be drawn to the sirloin steak (first medium, then later in life, medium rare after i discovered the joys of semi-bloody meat - and i never contracted mad cow disease or salmonella, dun worry); drink choice of coffee, tea, coke or sprite (almost always took sprite - though now they've switched allegiances and offer pepsi or 7up instead); and dessert choice of fancy pancake or peach melba (and with the 'fancy' part of the former amounting to it being filled with banana, i'd automatically go for the latter...)

Um, looks like i got carried away there heh... But my point is that the food is not exactly the best around. It's really just above average at best (one thing that never changes is the ever-yellowing newspaper article from some time in the 80s promoting the restaurant, proudly displayed on one of the walls). But the draw of the place (such that by the end of the visit i resolved to go to the place a little more regularly - at least once a year...) lies for me purely in the nostalgia value that it holds. I've been going to that place since before it moved and was about half the size of what it is now - which is probably like since p1 in 1990 (which i now realize is a heck of a long time ago - after finding out that Keisha Castle-Hughes, the once 13-year-old star of Whale Rider was both born that year and also had her first child a couple of months ago) or even before that, and those memories all came flooding back when i went back there... Like how that's the only place i recall ever having eaten frog's legs (tastes like chicken). To top it all off, one particular waitress whom has been there for as long as i can remember took one look at me while we were ordering, and then before she left asked if i was the small boy who once upon a time was half my present height and who once frequented the place...

It's all but confirmed that this thurs nite will be the last night spent at my old house. However, that's dependent in large part on whether i can muster up the necessary willpower to pack everything by then. Sheesh. In the meantime, i'm continually unearthing stuff postmaturely like quiet time material that i had thought had not arrived but in actual fact was hidden under a pile of paper on a shelf somewhere, or old vouchers that expired months, if not years ago... It's almost like i'm conducting some sort of archeological dig...

Really need to settle travel details - i was just wondering if i might need to take a new passport picture, but i guess the aforementioned waitress recognizing me from more than half my life ago puts paid to those thoughts... Just hope that when i go through immigration wherever i am going to, no one will think i'm a terrorist...

Of moving near and far...

So moving has been going along really slowly - i don't recall taking so long to move stuff the five previous times - but then again i'm not complaining cos 1) i'm still reluctant to finally leave the old house n 2) in that vein i've been taking ages to pack things up.

After one grueling morning of emptying cupboards and binding random flat-surfaced thingies up with raffia string, i took a quick scan of the room only to realize that it looks almost exactly the same as it did previously. Which means that there's still an awful lot of packing to do. Methinks that when push comes to shove i'll do just that - shove any possession of mine that has to be moved into any available container which looks able to carry the stuff without damage over to the new place. That may be a little tricky, considering especially the sheer amount of clothing there is to handle. Most of it is stuff that i never even wear and hence perhaps is more suited to be given away (and why do we only give away used/unwanted clothes to say disaster-ravaged people in a less wealthy country and not brand new stuff? But that's another issue for another day). And i am so certain that once the shift is complete i'll look at all the random bundles and boxes stacked all around my new room and have no clue where i put this and that, ending up having to ransack everything again in order to find the stuff... Ah the joys of moving house...

While doing this there have also been various meetings to go for along with other ancillary activities. They might take up more time but i actually look forward to each one of them in a sense, since they imply time away from the boredom of packing stuff. So they feed my procrastinator's nature perfectly. Eh which also means more last-minute moving stuff to be done...

And together with all of this i've been trying to plan any sort of trip that will take me out of this island (ok not any sort of trip - have turned down enough other options to make that statement terribly untrue). There's the oft-mentioned frequent flyer miles that i can use, but of course i'm having so much trouble trying to use them for the trip that i want, which means that i may have to redeem them elsewhere, which means another trip later in the break (basically whenever's not taken up by CF activities/planning for them). Looking through all the travel sites, i'm reminded of how while at UNC i did so much air ticket shopping online as well - and now how in comparison the destinations that i've to choose from are so much less appealing than the ones in the States were. Chicago v. Hong Kong, Washington D.C. v. Bangkok, Atlanta v. Ho Chi Minh. How to compete (eh i know i'm not a fan of travel to Asia so maybe to most sure can compete)? Yup for me, i sometimes wish that S'pore were nearer some more attractive (to me) places so travel to them would not have to be so expensive... Then again, i guess many people in those parts that i am really interested in visiting might wish the same for places in Asia...

Here's something to put you (or maybe just the guys) off your breakfast - i still squirm just thinking about it...

My Room, or The Veritable Dust Warren

We've finally plunged into the moving process, which means that i've finally had to step up and stop dreaming that my room will pack itself.

In the process i've discovered that my room has a latent alter-ego, that of being a sanctuary for scores and scores and then some of dust bunnies. Be they feeding off the dust stirred up by the fan, breeding by the dozens in some dank corner, or hiding in some remote cranny; in trying to pack things up i've realized that they indeed do lurk everywhere. If i were asthmatic i predict that i'd have already been in hospital by now. And i wonder if standing by a bus stop downwind from a smoker would do less damage to my lungs than merely clearing my room. At the least, i've definitely sneezed more in the past 24 hours than i have than in the rest of the month.

The actual process of packing is a bit tricky too. Yest i cleared one desk of everything, since today it was bundled over to the new place. But then again, it was not so much clearing as taking all the mess that was on/in it and transferring it to another piece of furniture that has yet to be cleared. So if i continue this pattern throughout the moving process, chances are that by the time one piece of furniture is left, it will be precariously stacked sky-high with stuff, amounting to a stuff avalanche red-alert having to be called.

Making things worse is the fact that i tend to hoard, such that sometimes even the most useless junk is stil worth keeping in my eyes. This practice of mine has undoubtedly contributed to the mess that is my room today, and it looks like a pattern that is unlikely to be broken anytime soon...

S'porean Wasp?

Last night i went for the second of three weddings i was invited for over the course of this week. This one was somewhat different since it was not a CF but rather an army affair. One of the fellow specs from my platoon in unit, to be exact. I got to see several people (including the groom, actually) for the first time since ord, which was quite cool. Apparently i look way different from a mere three years ago, since Hong Lee (the groom) gave me a weird stare and thought i was an intruder when i said hi initially, took him a couple of secs to realize who i actually was, which was quite farny...

The wedding itself was a great experience for me. For starters, it was the first non-Christian wedding i recall ever attending, so i found things quite different and unfamiliar. Furthermore, after three long years i was suddenly thrust back into a generally local mandarin/dialect speaking environment - apart from David, another spec at the table, everyone else was far more comfortable talking in the aforementioned languages. It made me recall how much people last time had to accommodate me language wise, since it was only then that i realized that the majority of Singapore does not speak English as the first language of choice, and therefore only then that i made a conscious attempt to try and better my command of Chinese languages (to little success, might i add)... Yeah so all in all it made me realize that my social circles still largely are of the Christian, English-speaking variety, which gave (and still is giving) me a lot to think about... (but then again, i'm not exactly of the elite, uncaring face variety so maybe that's a step in the right direction...)

Added to that was a simple question that Derrick, another spec, asked me while he was giving me a ride home. He asked me something to the effect of "eh Matthew, i noticed something. How come last time you never invited us to church?" Oh boy and if i could just describe the sheer impact of the figurative tonne of bricks that fell on me when he asked that... I didn't even know how to answer him.

Yup, a short three years ago i really was a totally bochap Christian who would not even consider inviting anyone to come to church. My involvement in spreading the Gospel at that time was strictly limited to the (and i hate this term) 'lifestyle' school. But then again people may have known i was a Christian then, but upon closer examination the 'Christian' nature of my lifestyle then came into serious question... A poor testimony. Something i'm definitely regretful about till today. Anyways, things may have changed somewhat since then, but still, i'm not too sure about inviting people down. The importance of sincerity, intentionality, and a Christlike love in so doing is really ringing across my mind now, three things sorely lacking in then. Yup anyways that was a very timely God-given wake-up call for me i must say...

It turns out that Bingo's little fit yesterday was not a once-off, as today the same thing happened yet again, albeit not as seriously as it did the first time. I'm starting to have serious doubts about his level of health, but as i've said previously, we'll just see what happens...

Packing has been going pretty well - today i doubled the amount i've packed. But then again, that equals to filling up the other half of the small box of files i started with like two weeks ago... At least i've more time to pack, since i just received word that we only can move in from the 15th onwards, which gives me one more week to settle stuff.

Think i've decided to forgo catching pirates 3, owing to both bad reviews and laziness... Well, i'm sure if and when pirates 4 comes out channel 5 will trot pirates 3 out as it's latest tv premiere blockbuster... So that still leaves me with only one movie caught this year... Heh.

Am starting to narrow down possible destinations for trip. Parents are going to HK, which i've chosen to avoid like the plague, so no go for that. Phuket/Khao Lak is a big possibility, but even if i go for that i've still some expiring miles that need to be used. Maybe Manila is an option... Ah well. A positive dilemma, i call it, so can't complain...

CCC 101

Was watching a Frasier DVD just now over lunch when i heard a squeal coming from the dining room, where Bingo was loitering about. Figured that it was just one of his routine muscle-aching moments (at his age, they seem to come pretty regularly nowsaday, especially if he has just accidentally slipped or something), so i didn't give him much notice. But then he continued to squeal and squeal (usually it's just a once-off thing) so i went over to take a look at him. Turns out his right rear leg was probably seizing up for some reason or other (cramp, sprain etc...) and he was hobbling around the house and unable to even lie down, cos whenever he tried to do so, he'd just aggravate the pain and howl even more...

Eh so i really had no idea what to do as he went on like this for the next five minutes, beyond laying on of hands and prayer (seriously). He seriously looked to be in great agony, and i hadn't a clue as to what else to do. Heck, i didn't even have the number of a vet with me, nor could i bring him over to one since i can't drive.

Yup so as i was saying, the best i could do was pray that the pain would go away... And thankfully after five minutes or so he finally calmed down and appeared to be in less pain, another five minutes and he was lying down once again, as if nothing had happened...

In retrospect, i was somehow reminded of MEET and all that was said about effective communication and contextualization. Obviously my skills at canine communication and contextualization are sorely lacking, which turned out to Bingo's detriment since he could not convey to me what the problem was, nor could i try and massage his leg or do anything that in my eyes constituted as treatment as he would not understand that it would be for his own good and hence would probably try and bite me. Any desparate attempt at barking and head nudging on my part in order to let him know what i wanted to do would probably not be well-received by him at all...

And bringing this into a missions context, it reminds me of the futility of trying to share the Gospel to a foreign people group sans at least some knowledge of their language/culture etc since if i tried to do so my attempts would fall on deaf ears. I'd really have no other recourse than to pray for a direct revelation of the Gospel Message via the work of the HolySpirit. But the effective communication barrier would still be an issue whatever the case. Similarly, all i could really do for Bingo was to pray for the end to his pain by the grace of God as without proper communication, nothing else was a possibility. So when all things are considered, i guess my point is that ultimately our human efforts are finite, and it is God who is in control of everything... He succeeds where we fail, and the opposite is never true.

Hmm and where Bingo is concerned, i seriously dunno how things will be in the future, especially after we move and if he ends up still with us... Ah well, that's all in God's hands as well - we'll see what happens...

Yesterday we had a MEET Prathet Thai reunion thingy with Alan, Bessie and Hannah, with whom we spent a month with exactly a year ago. Went along with the previous team, like mine also amply stocked with thursday cg peeps. Anyways, it was great to catch up and remember some of the things we did back there. Haha those were some crazy times, but at the same time the lessons that i've learnt from way back then still have had an impact on where i am today by God's grace. It was really that trip that got me thinking that missions (on a longer short-term/long-term basis) is something that i'm actually open to, as the Lord leads, something cemented by my time at Urbana. Yup of course the mechanics and all of that stuff of it is still very very fuzzy (for starters the earliest i'd probably consider actually doing so would be after my bond is up - which is in 2013 so wait long long ah...) but well, if it's something the Lord wants of me i'm sure things will become clearer in His time... Dai mai? Dai!

All of us who were there yesterday - we ended up at Va Va Voom Vietnamese

let's pick cherries

well actually i dunno why i am posting anything here other than to add "juin 2007" to my archive list on the right - super boliao i know - think it arises from just coming back from a camp where there was so much to do practically all the time and then now finding myself back at home and with relatively nothing much to do (i could pack my stuff though, but i shall continue to procrastinate for that one).

So - LPC - a camp which all of maybe two or so weeks ago i was content on not attending, wanting to continue my streak of never having attended a single one before, but, owing to rather recent developments, i really had to attend at the end of the day. Furthermore, i'd be attending it not as an ordinary camper per se, but rather as one with a relatively active role to play. But, you know, quite like so many things that i'm initially unenthusiastic about but somehow the Lord wills it that i have to go for, i'm glad that i did end up at LPC, even if it means breaking my streak (and i'm one for nonsense streaks like that).

One cool thing about the camp was how it formed yet another step in my journey of getting reacquainted with VCF as a whole - think i've gone on ad libitum about being sorely out of touch with CF as a whole since coming back from exchange, which was inevitable really... And the past couple of weeks or so have served to exponentially (side note: methinks it was only this year that i realized that the word is 'exponential' and not 'expotential' - just imagine the number of essays in my student career where i may have been marked down cos of spelling errors owing to this...) increase my appreciation of the inherent dynamism and diversity of the corporate CF body, which is really in a sense a microcosm of the situation of the global body of Christ. And i guess being placed in a position when one has to try and help to convey a sense of this to others only served to bolster this appreciation...

So when thinking back on all this i really do see the Lord's hand working in this area - that the initial out-of-touchness with VCF that i experienced upon coming back still served a purpose in eventually helping me to better appreciate the united diversity of the ministry that He has blessed us with in VCF. To meet people from all over, hearing their own sharings on their respective ministries and therefore observing the differences between groups, yet still recognizing how we all serve the same God - fwah - that really blows my mind...

stocktaking

I'd been saying to people all the way from even the beginning of the past sem that i'd be prepared to see my cap drop significantly, since i predicted (all too correctly, might i add) that this sem right back from Carolina be a tough one.

Well, as they say, it's one thing to say such things, but another to actually see it for yourself.

Yup so my prediction came true, and this sem's results have been my worst ever - as a result i now am precariously situated a hair's breadth clear of slipping to second lower range.

But even as i did take in the full extent of the results and what they could possibly mean, i somehow felt that, even as i definitely fully deserved the grades i've gotten this time round, this was also the Lord's way of preparing me for the upcoming year - that in the midst of honors and possible thesis-writing and substantial commitments on the CF side - the only thing i can really bank upon is His presence beside me at all times, and it is upon the Lord alone that i can draw my strength to get through what is shaping up to be the most challenging (academic) year i'll have by far... Going out with a bang, so to speak...

At the same time, when i looked at the individual grades i received, actually there's a lot to be thankful for. Such as that my 15% D+ for one hist test got somehow evened out as the sem went on so that i managed to squeeze by with a B- overall, and the unexpectedly high grade for another hist class, undoubtedly buoyed by having a great project group to work with (and incidentally, i saw my prof for that class at holland v right after checking results)...

Oh, and my posting of grades here is definitely not for any purpose of self-promotion (there's little to promote in any case as far as they are concerned heh) but rather for people to note and remind me wherever necessary next year if i start to get obsessed with the magical number four again, to snap me back into reality, stop looking at grades and cap per se, and really to go back to God whatever happens, and especially what degree i graduate with in the first place...

And take this whatever way you want to, but don't you find it just a tad ironic that the same day that results come out we receive this email in our inbox?

Dear All,

The Counselling Centre will be closed for a staff retreat on Monday, 28 May 2007.

In the event of a life threatening emergency, please call Lifeline NUS: 6516 7777.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Regards,
Counselling Centre
University Health, Wellness and Counselling Centre

packing room and random birds - a (largely) photographic essay

Well the date of moving house isn't getting any further (eh actually it is - just found out that the house will only be ready for moving in on the second week of June - but this is just to create a sense of panic in me) which means that it's about time i started packing my room. Here first is a quick snapshot (or rather a series of quick snapshots) of how my room looks like at present [and yes i know this is super boliao but well moving house is such a rare event (well, except for me though hmm...) and is therefore worth documenting...]





Well suffice to say my room's currently a big mess - and all this will have to be cleared out within the next couple of weeks (ok not all of it, like half of the furniture came with the house), so needless to say i've a big task ahead of me - and...

But no one's gonna do it if i don't, so the other day i decided that i must get started with packing - and i did - i went downstairs, found one empty box, and brought it up to my room. Well, and that was it for the day...

And the next day, i figured i had to do something more. Yup. So this is the result of that new resolve:


Three files worth of old school work... Yay... That's like 0.05 % down, 99.95% more to go...

Recently have been seeing quite a few birds around, and since one of the random things that i happen to be relatively familiar with is local bird identification, thought it would be good to document this as well... So for a start we have the following:

Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) outside my window

White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) at Pasir Ris Park

Um, just two disclaimers in conclusion: 1) I'm a terrible wildlife photographer, i'll admit that. 2) These are both common species so it's not as though these pics signify some groundbreaking development in local birdwatching circles...

20160 minutes

Was just thinking that in the span of the past above mentioned period of time there's been a 180 degree turn in what i had intended for the upcoming year ministry wise. On the night of Sunday 6 May 2007 i don't actually recall what i was doing but i'm pretty sure it didn't involve any preoccupations with what the (academic) year ahead would bring. Yup for all intents and purposes, two weeks ago my last two sems at nus in terms of CF commitment at least would revolve solely around the informal, providing whatever insights and help a CF member with three years of CF experience (and a gem of a semester away on exchange) could as a (love the term, btw) supportive senior whenever such insights were called for. The more i thought of it, the more i relished the idea.

Then within the span of the past fourteen equatorial days worth of daylights, sunsets and midnights (and no cups of coffee thank you very much - some tea though, dunno about inches and miles, lots of laughter and a fair dose of strife the situation has changed so dramatically and suddenly all my dreams of a nice, easy and relaxed final year at NUS came to an abrupt halt. Looking back (and it only really hit me just now as i finally got to talk to someone about it) fwah the Lord has definitely shown me that He has other plans from what i would have liked to do, and indeed, this means that the concealed reservation that i held in my heart that my joy at being able to just sit one corner and shake leg next year was not joy at all but rather more of a self-centered glee was indeed a reality...

Yup this is perhaps an incomplete rambling, but well guess the moral of the story is that you never know what the Lord may have in store for you... Ultimately, however, we are to follow His call whatever it is - so keep on praying about it man...

In largely unrelated news, went for some ultimate with the All Saints people who meet every Sun (which reminds me, poor Suns - that rule stinks methinks...) apparently to play. Had a great time - i do miss the (relatively) vibrant ultimate culture back in UNC - i dare say after i've come back that i've been American-trained (though the result isn't much better i must admit =p) but anyways yup basically it was great. Wish we could have more of such thingies - but the (relative) lack of enthusiasm here (or at least in my circles) makes it hard...

while the rain continues to fall...

I was intending to get out of the house for a spot of cycling this afternoon, since i've been finding myself rather free and lounging round the house doing nothing much more than sitting in front of the com, eating and sleeping for the good part of the last couple of days. But then the sudden afternoon downpour has put paid to those plans so here i am back in front of the com again... Meanwhile Bingo sits outside in the hallway after i chased him out of my room and closed the door cos he was affected by the thunder and hence was drooling all over my floor.

Well, since i've not been doing much i've actually not much to say heh. Let's see - what was there? Oh yeah i finally got to eat at Astons yesterday and it was well worth the wait. I can't believe i've stayed so near to this gem of a restaurant for so long and have only been to it now. And how convenient that just as i finally experience for myself what so many people have been raving over that i find myself not more than three weeks away from shifting out of this house...

Anyways i decided to try their much ballyhooed (and very tackily-named) ieatSuper Burger and it more than lived up to its billing. Methinks it can compete with the Sutton's double bacon cheeseburger (the one on my current fb profile pic) back in Chapel Hill for the title of best burger i've ever eaten, although admittedly they're of two separate pedigrees. And how ironic that both these burgers have medical affiliations - the Astons burger being put on the regular menu at the recommendation of a local doctor, and Sutton's being a diner that is fronted by a drug store. Whatever the case, if anyone would try these two burgers for themselves, i'm sure they would not question me anymore as to why i've resolved never to eat McDonald's ever again... Aiyah really so wasted that i'm moving house leh - think even after i move i'll be wanting to spend time in the east. Got ecp, got Astons, got friends - that's three up on what i've at my new place...

I've been sorta figuring out what to do traveling wise, as i really have to get out of S'pore for at least a bit before the new school term starts. Have been keeping the option of following the parents to Japan (cos they've to use their miles as well) but well, they're moving at a similar pace of procrastination as i am (now i know where i got it from) so i can't confirm anything on that side. There's also lots of other possibilities but i'm rather fussy when it comes to choosing a holiday destination which hardly helps matters. This holiday also appears to be lacking in enough big blocks of time available for me to be away for. Ideally, i'd like to be away for at least a week but depending on how things go such an extended period out of S'pore may be impossible in July (which is when's best cos there's probably more options available than say for June). Ah i shall just comfort myself by assuring myself that something will work out...

I do wish that i was more daring when it came to planning holidays - like to go to new places which don't speak English, possibly alone, and for an extended period in time. Have been looking at Greg's awesome Eastern European graduation trip itinerary and wondering if i'd have the guts for something like that next year. Of course a trip of that scale would only be possible next year [since think that graduation is one of those life events that warrants one times tua zhong (sp?) trip like that] - the problem being that the dear folks at you-know-where appear to want all those moving on to nie to be available from mid-June, and even for stuff in May, which leaves me with precious little breathing space in terms of planning a big trip of say a month's duration... There's also matters of finding people (if there's any), funding, carbon emissions etc...

Hmm so that's holiday plans for ya. One more pertinent matter at this point in time of course what to do in the year ahead. Hopefully decision for that will eventuate within the next couple of days...

Trust no one will read this before then, so suffice to say be prepared for a big shock if you're watching idol results tonight. I know on my part that i'm done with watching the show for the season =(...

revolving around raffles

Sat evening i went down to church for a lecture (and i wish they'd give it a different name apart from lecture - the negative connotations that it brings to this nus student are both manifold and unappealing) by the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan 'no-i-am-not-mr-bean' Williams who so happened to be in our neck of the woods over the weekend. The topic was Christianity: Public Religion & the Common Good. I wasn't expecting much out of the lecture especially since it was obviously intentionally not overtly Christian in nature ("with special reference to Christianity" was how the lecture was billed) and also since my previous experience with the public speaking of archbishops-cum-theologian/academic people has not been an entirely positive one.

But anyways, since it was the Archbishop of Canterbury after all, i did a bit of advertising for the lecture so a handful of thursday people past and present came down - specifically two dinos (Kevin n Eunice) and two year ones (or as they are so upliftingly titled in the states, rising freshmen - Grace Koh and Pheobe).

And the lecture actually went far better than how i'd thought it would - he addressed many pertinent issues that immediately struck a chord with me since he basically focused upon the role of the Christian in society. At the same time however he was careful not to strike any raw nerves with regards to so-called sensitive topics such as the evolution-ID debate and homosexuality when they came up during Q&A time, and also with regards to other religions. Can't fault him on that though...

Less than twelve hours later i found myself back in the same place for service, after which went with the family over to the British Club, where my aunt had organized a Mother's Day family lunch thingy (which my mother could not attend cos of speaking engagements). Incidentally, i just so happened to bump into Jeremy from UNC who had just arrived back less than a week ago - that was really so coincidental - apparently my extended family knows his - which just about further extends the intriguingly large circle of people whom i know and who also know people in my extended family in some way or other...

Anyways it was an appetizer and dessert buffet coupled with a choice of main course. I chose the Sunday Roast Beef with au jus and Yorkshire Pudding - and by the end i felt like one of the five thousand that Jesus fed cos the three slices of beef on my plate had been supplemented from two more plus lots of veggies from my lola who could not eat any more. This coupled with the more-than-ample appetizer and dessert spreads left me really bloated by the end of it...

Some people obviously were a tad overeager at the chocolate fountain...

So what better thing to happen than Steven, my monthly buffet buddy calling me to go for dinner that night. After some delays owing to restaurant closures and Mother's Day mark-ups (and finding myself back at Raffles City for the third separate time in 24 hours) we ended up at Pariss (and what a stupid name btw) at Marina Square. I'm not usually one for eating there cos of the preponderance of seafood that is precisely what makes the buffet as expensive as it is. But well, the price was relatively reasonable and there was enough non-crustacean seafood around for me to eat (though i'm beginning to have issues with eating some kinds of fish because of overfishing of certain stocks - but i couldn't go up to the sashimi and ask it whether it came from sustainable fisheries could i?), along with lots of other food too of course, so i went ahead and proceeded to stuff myself for the second time in the same day. I'm sure all that would have been more than enough to disqualify me from the under-60 club...

Anyways, two successive heavy meals in a single day was enough to strengthen my resolve for a run today - my first in more than a month if i'm not wrong, and hence i really felt like i was troddling along at a snail's pace. Managed to make my usual route though - from Amber Road up round the cable ski lagoon and back - in 48 minutes - which is super slow i know but well it's been a month... Now i'm just wondering where i can run after i move...

partial recall

On this note of my less-than-effective guard dog, here goes a mundane recap of the past week plus or so since exams ended...

Think that everyone had a good time over at night cycling last week. I must say that i was a little intimidated at first as to how to get everyone organized and ready, but things really worked out well in the end by God's grace. Weather was great, fellowship was great, route was reasonable, food was ... erm relatively missing but still ok lah... Overall hope that the tradition will continue cos think it's more than worth it to do so...

Over the weekend i also finally got my hands on it - a little on the expensive side maybe, but worth it especially in the long run methinks... Maybe she's a bit too fat for my liking, ah but i'll get used to it...

Mon was games day - and once again we had great weather. Think i was so un-used to such perpetual sunniness that i had a bit of a headache for the rest of the day - dehydration maybe... But anyways, had a great time playing ultimate and captain's ball - a good way to destress after exams that's for sure.

After arts fg (which i've been missing for quite some time already), it was agm time. Glad that things went far more smoothly than last year's did. I definitely don't recall laughing so much at an agm of any sort before (and many thanks to people like Ade Fam, Debs and Evan for that - and guess what? Their initials spell ADE - incidentally the chief unintentional inducer of amusement - think she must have set some sort of a record for non-exco member whose name appears most often in the agm report...)

One thing i've noticed is that since i've come back, every time after i get a hair cut i see people i hadn't seen since before i left, and people still remark on how my hair has grown so long and therefore i was hard to recognize - at agm was no exception...

There also was pecop, which was a great experience i thought. All the fun that XK and i had preparing for our nonsense songs aside, the whole concept in itself was a refreshing one, and it did work well, by God's grace. Um and i thought i'd be far more verbose over here but somehow nothing comes to mind so i shall leave it at that...

Went to cycle and think some things through the other day - decided to take a route i haven't taken in maybe nine months - up ecp and the airport-hugging road to Changi Village and back. That road in particular, come to think of it, has remained remarkably free of roadkill in the ten or so times i've gone past it (save for a solitary snail at last year's night cycling), and i was just thinking that when what else should i chance upon but a squashed monitor lizard. And in fact, before i had reached Changi Beach Park, i encountered one more squashed monitor lizard and two squashed snakes. - enough to make at least one handbag methinks... Then i was lamenting to myself that i was glad that i didn't see any live snakes, so what should i encounter mere minutes later but a snake slithering away from me as i cycled past. The anti-cherry on the cake was when i was back at ecp and noticed a parrot chick that must have fallen from its nest onto the bike path just in time to swerve to the side to avoid squashing it. I then continued another twenty minutes or so before turning back and thinking of putting it to one side, when who should appear but a less keenly-eyed cyclist who must have run the chick over, since i heard a loud squeak and him breaking suddenly =( I honestly felt guilty for the next ten minutes or so, but odf course i didn't want to go back and see what actually happened to the parrot so i cycled away...

Well, the past few days i ended up at a place i originally had no intention of being at, but at the end of the day i guess i'm glad i did go in the first place, even if i haven't arrived at any decision even now. We'll see how things go lah...

What's up with Federer?

recovery process

Exams are over after a very disjointed period of two weeks. Well, had like 60% of them in the past 36 hours so that about says how disjointed things are... Hmm anyways end of exams = mood for randomness so here goes:

Took this on the way to school one day

- one of those "the heavens are opening" cloud formations...

After my two papers yesterday, i decided to take a breather from studying in school cos i couldn't focus anymore in the snug smc behind area anymore (and that was a matter of 'when' much more so than 'if'). In any case, i was already very much in holiday mood, if you can call it that cos after two papers in a row, that's basically how anyone would feel methinks...

So i randomly (never have i been as much a fan of randomness than this sem) decided to head over to ecp to read my Cold War book in prep for today's paper. Needed a different setting and the fresh (albeit occasionally sea-stinky) air there is a great improvement from the stuffy recycled air of smc (and had just finished Global Environmental Issues paper, of which one thing i learnt was that indoor air is actually less healthy than outside air). And the sound of the lapping waves beats that of the photocopier hands down...

Walked up ecp from Fort Road - never have i seen this stretch completely empty before...

The first two souls i encountered there...

My view...

Yeah so things worked out well - at least while the rain clouds held up. Didn't manage to get in more than one chapter before the drops became more steady and the clouds became darker, after which i retreated to Parkway Coffee Bean where i managed to finish the book (or at least the relevant chapters of it). But anyways, my point is that the beach is a nice place to read a book (not studying per se cos the constant sea breeze would pose a problem to notes). Too bad i realize it all the more only when i'm about to move...

So by the time today arrived i'd already practically become physically impossible of squeezing in even one moment more of productive studying, so i basically just hung until the paper itself. That was good, and the paper at the end of the day didn't turn out too bad... (only thing interesting to note is that this was the third time out of my five exam seasons at nus that i ended my papers in mpsh5 - hate that place, though at least now it's renovated)

Ah so fast they came, and so fast they're over...

Am listening to Norah Jones' latest album on my com now (obtained via free legal downloading, thank you very much) and have arrived at the conclusion that virtually all her songs have the same effect on me, which is to lull me to sleep... Which means there's no need to buy this album since the other two that i have would do just fine...

Up next, Daughtry =)

Primate Aping Politician

Ok i so have more constructive and fulfilling things to do than this but just humor the one who's just finished two papers this day... (And one more to go!)

Look familiar to anyone?

Maybe it's easier to recognize here...

If you recognize who i'm referring to, great - but keep it to yourself... If not, well do continue to live in your blissful ignorant world, you're probably the better for it ;-p

Frayed

Well, so far the latest exam season has gone on pretty smoothly for me actually. Think the many free days available for studying this sem have made things much more flexible for me than any other exam period in nus as far as i can remember. This has been especially timely for me cos this sem, more than any other, i've felt the need to take (very) frequent (but relatively brief) breaks from studying to spend time away from everything but God (um, and also to pee, but that's another story altogether). And better many frequent breaks than one whole prolonged period retreating from civilization like last year methinks... Yup, which explains why i'm just as likely to be found out of my seat than in it if you're looking for me...

And in terms of the exams themselves, well, while initially i was somewhat apprehensive (first exams in this disgustingly rigid exam environment after a year) about getting used to how exam conditions here would be like (at UNC it was a breeze), at the end of the day things have worked out alright thankfully... Um, i do know that my name won't be appearing on any Dean's Lists anytime soon, but i also do know that the rest of the exams will go alright too =)

One regret i've had though, not having much time (or motivation) to exercise, given the fact that for the past two weeks, i've tended to eat two full dinners in a day, one at sixish in school, and the other at tenish at home...

In totally unrelated news, the latest chapter in the ongoing torture that i'm subjected to on an almost daily basis at the hands of tv mobile features reruns of pck, which i had previously mistakenly believed to have wisely been put out of its (and my) misery by mediacrap once and for all. To make matters worse, the reruns are not of the initial seasons (i.e. before the titular character had to go and take BEST English classes at the suggestion of none less than the now sm, this plot development basically killing whatever salvageable bits of the show there ever were), but of the latest season when the show was already at the tail end of its slow death.

Just to prove my point, the middle shelf of this trolley
features all the volumes that the bizzare xerox-crazy girl zapped in just ONE DAY...

The latest wildlife specimen i encountered at engin bridge,
a really big Atlas Moth, though it was dead by the time i took this pic...
The giant spider's still there, btw, if you'd want a look for yourself...

This song has been regularly playing in my mind for the past month or so methinks, and today during one of my contemplative walks it hit me - sometimes i feel like i'm living it first-hand. Ok, not all of it, maybe specifically the second verse more than the rest, yup but anyways it hit me all the same. Hope things won't come to the stuff in the chorus though...

awareness?

I was ruminating a bit upon the events of the past Monday and Tuesday and was somewhat troubled by that, and then we had prayer on Friday morning when Kumuthan brought up that very point that had been troubling me as he was praying. And think it bears mention here, so here goes (even if it's a couple of days late...)

Well, as you might have gathered, i felt rather affected by the VT shootings, which saw a total of 33 dead, on Mon; and more so than the average person here since i was, albeit only for a semester, a college student in the US myself. And then, i forget how, but anyways i came to hear about the series of bombings in Baghdad that happened soon after in which nearly 200 people lost their lives. And the very fact that i forgot how i learned about the latter incident suggests how relatively insignificant the news was compared to the VT massacre, at least as portrayed by the media. Also, the very fact that i'd to source for a link to the news of the bombings on wikipedia rather than on a news site suggests how quickly this tragedy has faded into the background, especially when compared to what happened at VT.

I definitely have no intention of taking anything away from what happened at Blacksburg - such a tragedy simply cannot be brushed over. Nor am i suggesting that comparing the number of fatalities should be a gauge of how 'serious' a tragedy is. No matter who and how many people die, the effect upon those concerned is still something no one would want to be put through. But why is it that we (myself included) pay so much attention to one event, when the other, which i'd argue deserves more than a mere mention, seems to have become a mere footnote in comparison to the former? The close to 200 people killed in Baghdad by Sunni extremists were no less deserving of a tribute to their tragic and unnecessary deaths than the 32 who lost their lives at the hands of a lone gunman. Is it because violence has become such a way of life in Iraq that the latest bombings serve as nothing more than an added chapter to the basket case that is what the 'American-liberated' Iraq has become, whereas in the states with such incidents being relatively few and far between any such occurrence deserves greater mention? Or is it because we can identify more closely with the victims of the VT massacre than we can with those in Iraq? Whatever it is, such reasonings really cannot hold water, and yet this is the sad reality that we are faced with.

Come to think of it, how much of the sufferings in the world are we aware of and are interceding over? The horrifying situation in Darfur comes to mind. I myself knew next-to-nothing about what has been going on over there until i was at UNC and there were some IV thingies going on to pray for what has been going on over there. In fact, at this point in time, i'll admit that i still know little about what has been going on. I'd like to attribute it solely to the lack of media coverage but it goes further than that - my own apathy. But just take a look - the estimated number who have died as a result of what has been going on over there ranges from 200000 to 450000. How can i, especially as a Christian who is constantly reminded of God's undeserving sacrificial love for all of us, and His call for us to love others as He has us, not bother about a situation of such magnitude at all?

It's a struggle, i'll give you that. I still struggle too. But i guess the point i'm getting at is that, no matter how hard the struggle is, we need to be more aware of the things that have been going on in this fallen world, and actively intercede for them. God has put us here for a reason - i'm always reminded and remind people of that. May we never become so cosy with where we are that we forget of those around us, be they nearer or further away, and the fact that we all are equally in need of His grace and mercy.

SMC - Some Minor Confusion

Mugging at smc recently has thrown up some interesting and confusing thingies:

1. Dummy Bell


I can't figure out why the library would want to spend good money to install a dummy bell, unless it's for those dummy fire alarms that they seemed to have ever so often (like once a week) last year when the thing would go off for minutes on end before finally being switched off, only to be followed by an announcement accrediting the false alarm to some technical fault - think if and when an actual fire comes, no one would actually heed it...

2. Who was raising the raisins?


That small yellow box you see on that whatever-you-call-it is a box of raisins that inexplicably found its way up there, which is virtually impossible unless someone threw it up from below since the only windows above this thingy are sealed shut and so no one can throw anything from them... Just found that rather intriguing...

3. The bizarre xerox-crazy girl

Ok not very nice to secretly take a picture of her to post here, so needless to say, in the two weeks or so that i've been hanging at the rear of smc, right by the copiers, i (and others) have noticed the same girl appear everyday to zap books (and i mean books) worth of newspaper clippings for some strange reason. She must spend at least three or more (today it was six) hours a day doing this, and i really can't figure out why. I'm tempted to ask, but think i'd better not eh - she might hit me with one of her stacks of papers...

Hokies...

I heard about the Virginia Tech campus shootings last night, but that was still when news just came in, so details were still rather sketchy, and eventually i fell asleep before finding out what actually went on.

Then this morning i heard over the news how bad things were, and it really troubled me for some reason. I don't know anyone from there, and neither have i visited their campus before. In fact my knowledge of VTech is limited to watching the UNC-VTech football game at Kenan Stadium and gathering that their marching band performs the hokey pokey (cos that's their nickname, the hokies) at half-time; and concluding that they must have a pretty good bball team cos they frustratingly swept the season series against us. If i'm not wrong they're relatively near (by American standards - maybe a couple of hours away Northwest) to UNC as well, since they're just in the next state up near the Appalachians.

My views on gun control aside, it's a real unfortunate incident, to put it very lightly, and i can't imagine what the students there must be going through. Maybe it strikes closer to home than the average S'porean cos i've experienced American college life in a school quite like theirs (good state school located outside of any big built-up urban area, good sports teams - and both in the ACC to boot, tremendous school spirit etc) and so i can identify somewhat, i dunno... The thought that a gunman, and a fellow student at that, can just come along and cause so much carnage among his peers and teachers is so surreal, so hard to grasp; and yet this did happen, and there are thousands upon thousands directly affected as a result. Gosh. So anyways, even though none of you will read this, my prayers go out to you Hokies...