Blast from the Past

11 February 2007

Best Ramen in Singapore

...without a doubt. Yeah, that's a sweeping statement alright. Go taste and see, and I dare you challenge this judgment.

A Mess of Thoughts (Again)

It's always remarkable to see where I am standing at at any point of time, look back at what has been going on, and see how much God has provided for and sustained me.

Studying studying studying

Studying is depressing. Especially when you know you are studying not for knowledge, but for grades. That's not what studying is supposed to be, right? It's supposed be for the thirst of knowledge, furthering the expanse of your mind, all that jazz. Not just to get an alphabet and points that stare you in the face and mock you.

I'll be back.

OARFC: Tauhuey!

Sure, we've had many troubles with our new Circle Line system. Though it's a lot faster to travel around, I still have a fear that the train might just die on me one day and leave me trapped deep underground with limited oxygen and yes, sure death.

Nevertheless, new MRT stations means new locations to be discovered - and new locations made available means new food to be found! This series will explore Dakota MRT station - or more specifically, OARFC: Old Airport Road Food Centre! Hurray for food near MRT stations (or food near Circle Line)!

Being Alone / Being A Community

^{Life is never as we want it to be. Simply because our lives are not our own. Still, I can't help but wonder sometimes.}

I need more time to ponder this. But first, a few thoughts: 


¹⁸ The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Libraries Aren't What They Used To Be

As I sat at a certain library studying this week, it struck me how vast the difference was between the libraries of ye olde day and currently. Perhaps this might not be applicable to all libraries in Singapore. But it annoyed me to no end that particular day.

University: Chiong or not?

There's been a lot of discussion going around lately about University in general. The bulk of them revolve around this central question:

Is it worth it to slog through University? 

Think you can Make a Shake?

This post marks the start of my food posts! Now, I've always wanted to do food posts. Just never had the time nor cash to do so. I still don't have the cash - but it suddenly dawned upon me that I'm not young anymore and blah blah blah, I decided to start, right here, right now! 


Also, I'm far too busy to form a coherent thought outside of NUS, so... let the pictures speak for themselves :)


And let the Food Posts begin!

FOOOOOOOOOOD

I have been running into a bunch of excellent food and drinks in the past few weeks, so I shall be starting to post food items up here. Keep a lookout :)

Jump Jump

Apparently, the gravity at Marina Barrage is slightly lesser than normal places. Enjoy!

Dream

I want to travel the world, and live off the land. Not to aim for some sort of economic or social security, but to go where God leads and live as the land is. To truly experience freedom on earth - freedom in Christ, in being his workmanship.

Dreams. To be fulfilled?

The Road Less Taken

Would you pursue a job as a lowly-paid photographer, for the sake of passion?

Or would you be pragmatic, as our society so greatly values, and join the other 80+% of our unhappy working population?

Sadly, most would do the latter.

Baby II

It's been a while since I had any intimate relations with her... She's been spending her time holed up her in church (even more so than me!).

Welcome Back, Baby

Welcome back, baby

Oh, how I've missed you.

Blessed

When you want to complain, remember those who aren't as fortunate.

Darkness vs. Light

Listen to this: "Darkness cannot put out the Light. It can only make God brighter". 

As an observation, I've seen how people take a turn to the dark side (everyone does, me included) and how it just serves to illuminate how much more they need God. And when they return to Him (praise the Lord!), the presence of God is so much brighter in their lives.

Thank God for that. It gives me hope for tomorrow.

Bright Lights

Illuminating the path ahead.

Looking for an Easy-to-Make Portfolio?

Or even just any website you'd like to publish, in general? Check out www.weebly.com. Kudos to these guys - they've really made the job so much easier for us tech noobz.

Web Creation made easy as taking candy from a baby

I created a simple portfolio in a matter of hours! The interface is really simple to use, and most of the free functions are sufficient for the average user. Awesome stuff!

Asian is the New Western

...and thank God for that!

I must say, the West really dropped the ball. Suddenly, everywhere in Singapore you see Korean fashion and music, Japanese food, China goods etc. Asian pride TTM, yo!

Today is dedicated to Asians, from an Asian who's proud to be one. So we may be shorter and smaller, but God is fair.

<3

Yummmmmmm

Yeah, China can "re-create" a whole Apple store. Wadup.

Who Deserves More?

While I was at Neon Tree's concert last night, thanks to Fever Avenue (which was quite awesome, btw), I noticed something that startled me. When the crowd began to raise their hands to some of the hit songs, I was struck by how similar it was (so it seemed, to me) to the excited youth congregation in worship at their various churches.

Crowd going wild at Neon Trees concert

But this isn't going to be a rant on true worship.

I was immediately reminded of our own youth congregation in my church. We're not the expressive sort. Raising hands or kneeling on the ground was reserved for events where the Spirit Himself comes so strongly that everyone has no choice but to do so. (believe me, I've felt that)

But I wondered: If we could accord our favorite pop stars or celebrities such honor, why do we hesitate to do so for our great God? Obviously He deserves far, far more. Shouldn't we be as extravagant in our worship, and accord all the glory to Him as He deserves?

I've learnt something new last night. Thank You.

How Awesome is Holga

Just saw this online (I think I'm outdated) and what an amazing idea this is! If I could find one in Singapore I would snatch it up immediately. Making Holga, Diana and Lomo photos instant was a stroke of brilliance. Check out the Holga Instant Back:

I would love to have one of these to attach to my current Holga:

Doesn't it look so sad and lonely?

Please let me know where I can find this. I'll pay you.

Edit

I've made more space at my blog posts area so my photos look nicer. Check them out!

And the greatest of all these is

And the greatest of all these is Love

And the greatest of all these is Love.

It took me a long time to truly accept and come to terms with the true meaning of love. Our Lord demonstrated this perfectly with his one perfect act of love on the Cross. Not once did He ask for anything in return. Point: Love is always and irrevocably for the other party, and not for yourself. I don't hug that I might be hugged back, but I hug to demonstrate and pass on that measure of love to the other party.

It's hard to accept though. Hollywood is the greatest culprit in propagating the mainstream romance we see on movie and TV screens. Do not be fooled. Love is so much more, and so much less.

Heat, oh heat, why

Singapore weather really, really leaves much to be desired. As I type this, I sweat, despite having a fan blasting moderately warm air at me from about 20cm away. No, I do not have an air-con in my room.

I need this:

Bladeless Fan - Spiffy.

Or this:

Water cooling fan - how cool is that?

Or I could simply move to a country where the climate is less erratic.

Spirals

Spirals up, spirals down

Entered this photograph for the Noise Photography Competition! Some publicity for our church too, heh.

Oh, be nice, go there and say something nice about my photograph too :)

Three Things I Wanted To Be As A Boy

1) Professional Basketball Player

Those were the days of the legendary Michael Jordan: The man who could defy the very laws of gravity. I owned a small basketball hoop which I hung at a comfortable height on my door, and proceeded to re-create those vanilla dreams (together with my own commentary on my own incredible play). Sticking my tongue out, I destroyed all rival teams with ease. Of course, I played the sport outside in real life, in my school's basketball team, but it was never as fun.

2) Policeman

The cool men of the night. Running after bad boys, beating them up, throwing them into prison, telling the media about the treacherous and dangerous chase. Being the cowboy of the town. All in a day's work.

3) Professional Musician / Rock Star

Long flowing mane. Fingers that flowed freely over the fretboard. Riffs and melodies that make girls swoon and guys rock out. And finally, jumping into the crowd at the end of the show and body-surfing over the crowd of adoring fans. Signing autographs after the show. Yes, I had my own private concerts in my bedroom and bathroom, and my stuffed toys adored me.

Now? All but obscure dreams. Reality is such a bummer.

Feet Off The Path

Somewhere along the way, we wander off the path. 

Goals (that I probably will never reach, but it's always good to have some)

For this coming semester:

1) Academic - pull up my CAP

2) God - hit consistent and meaningful Quiet Time time, and journal that down

3) Writing - read up more on writing techniques (which I will do as part of NM2220, actually) to improve my writing ability, and source for more good stuff for Fever Avenue

4) People - spend more quality time with special people around me, intentionally

5) Fitness - endeavor to exercise at least 3 times a week (cardio + gym in any order)

Oh, that is such a tall order.

Feveravenue

Some of you know I write for Feveravenue - for those who don't, now you do! I think really exciting things are happening there, and I'm quite hyped up about it! Had a meeting with lady boss today and it seems we're really going places.

Do support by checking us out (especially the all-new, spick and span and revamped Entertainment column where I write at!).

Things I won't forget

Almost forgot about this - beautiful.

Taken from Beerfest Asia 2011

Worry me not

It's almost impossible not to worry. Yet worry stems from our own tendency to make our own plans - which always have a chance of failing.

Trust in God's plan, and there's 0% chance of that failing. Satisfaction guaranteed.

Lean not on my understanding

Hi all! I know I said I would do a reflective post on the camp. However, I haven't found the time to really sit down and think about it, and I feel a slipshod writeup on it wouldn't do justice to it! So... it will have to wait.

For now though, here is my recent train of thought.

I have been pondering about our motivations in life. Christians, non-Christians, actually it turns out a lot of us aren't so different after all. No matter how much Christians say they would like to 'follow God's plans', it still turns out we use our own common sense and label it as 'God'. Of course, we justify it by saying that we 'feel' it's what God wants us to do. But is it, really? I really cannot tell.

One thing I do know, however - our motivation should really be to devote ourselves entirely to Him. Often, we lean on our own understanding, but we need to really trust God with all we have and do. And when I say all, I really mean ALL. No joke - entirety. It seems an impossible feat for us, sure. But I believe that's something we should all work towards.

I beg to differ from popular belief that all we do is for ourselves to improve and be more Christ-like, or all we do is for the people around us - the needy, the poor, the lost. I believe that is more of the overflow or outcome of what we do. But it should not be our motivation. Confused? I believe unequivocally that we need to do all things only and only for Jesus alone, because of our devotion and love for Him. It is something that I have only recently learnt - we do not because we can, not because we should, but because of Him.

I hope that makes sense.

Recently, I've been meaning to quit from my current place of work. I've been having a bad experience - not much to learn, not many friends, simply a drag to work there. I even made arrangements to change job as soon as I could, if I could. Yet, today was quite a big change, after we moved office. I felt I enjoyed my work a lot more due to the change. And my misery was lifted. God did something that I never expected, with my own limited common sense.


And I hope I continue to lean on His understanding rather than my own.

Post-Camp

D'Anchor BMT (Be Missionally Transformed) 2011 Youth Camp has finally come to an end - and what an exhilarating journey it has been! As part of the program planning team, I've experienced the ups and downs of the roller coaster that is the planning and execution process, and come out the other end with many lessons and thoughts in mind. I shall jot this down at a later time when I have gathered and formed out my thoughts, but regardless, I must say it was an excellent time for the youths and us as the committee alike, and I thank God for the opportunity to touch these youths' lives. :) All in all, praise God for all things that have happened and is going to happen!

Yes or No? This or That?

Yes, I'm back! After Year 1 ended, it's been a crazy ride of non-stop action in various avenues. Finally, I find a pocket of fresh air to breath in - for now, anyway.

I've been considering the whole paradigm of making a choice. Essentially, there are only two choices we need to make - yes or no. This came up as I considered my roles in my church and where I was going with them. For each, I had to ponder their continued existence in my life - yes or no?

Logically, it's an extremely difficult choice. 50-50 aren't great odds by any means. Thankfully, I can consider environmental factors. Yet, such environmental factors are tainted by bias and influence from others and upbringing. For example, I might want to continue in my role in a certain organisation because of the influence of a leader or the ideas I have been made to believe growing up in the same environment. So how do I determine if my choice is the right choice or 'right' choice?

I pondered this as I did my quiet time a few nights ago. My conclusion, two points: God has a reason and purpose for wherever you are, whatever you are doing, so essentially there is no wrong choice; with God, under no circumstances should I worry - all things work out for the good of those under His umbrella of Grace.

This doesn't make my choosing any much easier, but it does give me peace in that whatever I may choose, I am not wrong, and I should not be convinced otherwise.

SOTD 22032011

WHAT??? Joe Satch, Chad Smith?!?!

NOOOO WAYYYYYY

Thinking

So here I am, examinations looming, and I am blogging.

To be more accurate, I'm thinking out loud, I just can't bear not sharing my pent up thoughts.

So many questions, as a 21-year old living in an incredibly pampered yet competitive island nation.

Like this: When do we truly transition from child to adult? In America, it's safe enough to say that as a 21 year-old, you're old enough to go out into the real world, rent an apartment with a bunch of like-minded friends, make merry and have unprotected sex every other night, and be entirely responsible for whatever repercussions that might have.

In Singapore, up to a ridiculous age of 25-26, we live with our parents. Sure, we are legally 'responsible' - in truth, our parents take the bullets for us and give us an allowance. I'm safe in my cocoon, as a 'young adult' caught in transition. How awkward.

How about this: Does me getting a stellar educational record play an important role in my future? So I get my Bachelor's. I go into the workplace, my colleague tells me the next level of management are all Master's holders - minimum requirement. Where does it end?

When it comes down to it, what are we slugging it out for?

Is there really freedom when it comes to job selection? Or are we, as able men, limited by social stigma and hard pressed to get jobs that men should get - lawyers, doctors, journalists? House-husband: smirks and chuckles around town; get a real job, honey.

Thinking is utterly depressing.

Appreciation

I think in the midst of all things, it occurred to me that if you just look hard enough, you can see all the good works that God is doing day by day, minute by minute, in our lives.

You just have to look hard enough.

Smile like you mean it

I recently wrote an article on Happiness for the NUS school magazine, similar to the recent blogpost I put up here (or not-so-recent). My Chief Editor gave me an example for an NUS student's happiness:

1) Having an active social life - This requires us to engage in clubbing or being in team sports or being involved in dancing or generally doing something that has a group-oriented setting and we aren't happy until we find a group that accepts us and that we want to be accepted by. The only solution is to be patient as you will find the group/club/activity that you want to do with others but also we should be adventurous and try things we haven't tried before. 

I thought, 'Yeah, that's pretty true. A lot of people are trying out new things to fit in. But, how far would they go? Would they engage in something that they find immoral or uncomfortable just to fit in?'

On the heels of that thought came another, 'Is that really happiness?'

Honestly, there really is no point fitting in with something or somewhere that does not make you happy. Even belonging to something that accepts you. At the end of the day, you yourself will have to attribute a value to your happiness in different circumstances - how far would you compromise your happiness to be... happy?

Tread lightly.

I'm back!

...but not for long.

For this semester holds many things and happenings of great consequence. Must concentrate.

I will return once in a while.

Adios for now!