[N]arczicated

Light and Stimulation

2010-06-24T13:00:00.001+10:00

What is the similarity between giving an Operations order and Elemental TD? (A map on the RTS game: Warcraft III: Frozen Throne) Let me make your life a little easier and provide you with a hint, Darkness, Light and Earth.

If you answered Captain Planet, you are like 4 elements short. If you answered Armageddon, I can’t fault you completely but no, I’m not referring to Armageddon as well. If you are thinking of something like, “what the hell are you talking about? I came to read your personal blog not to ponder upon questions!” I like your style, really, I do.

In the context of this post, the similarity is Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, in other words, LASER. Laser does play an important in our everyday life. But to keep it short, I shall only expand its usage, or rather, my usage of the laser technology with the above 2 entities.

When I’m giving an Operations order, the laser pointer is, without a shadow of a doubt one of the most important equipment I have. It allows my audience to focus in on important points and make sense on what is presented to them. On a lesser scale, like academic presentations, I also use a laser pointer on key components of my talk as well as to orientate my audience to any diagrams that I might be presenting. Having this simple tool does bring life to a 2 dimensional picture and text based presentation and to certain extends, facilitate interactions between the speaker and audience.

Elemental TD is a single/ network multiplayer game where you prevent a group of enemy from successfully navigating a route by killing them using strategically placed towers. One of the main towers I will build will be the laser tower due to the high damage. This property enables it to have the potential to effectively attrite (on first pass) and finish off (on second pass) creeps when they are passing on towers which are utilized in a 2-pass position. If deployed on a single pass position, it’s a good finisher when supported by a tower which slows/reduces amour of your enemies. Ok, how does this apply to the technology of laser? It’s simple really, the application of fibre optic communication technology to support your network infrastructure.

50 years ago, the first laser was operated. This was made possible by a man by the name of Theodore H. Maiman. This spawned the downstream effects of subsequent mass scale productions and applications of lasers.

Lasers are applied in many fronts in daily life but it is an enigma to me, on 2 fronts of principles and development. I have to admit that I do not fully understand anything of lasers beyond stimulated emissions and it can be attributed on my apparent lack of enthusiasm for the fields of physics. The second enigma on development was more towards who should be accredited for laser? Is it Theodore H. Maiman who built the first laser? Is it Gordon Gould who won the patents for laser? Or is it Albert Einstein who came up with the Quantum Theory of Radiation, laying the foundations for laser?

Enigmas aside, I do agree that Laser has impacted modern science as well as daily life. Indeed, 3 cheers to all the founding fathers who contributed to the development of LASER.

Now if we go all Stars Wars in the future, that would indeed be cool.

BABE-SIA

2010-06-17T23:21:00.001+10:00

If you are wondering if this post will be due to some hot babe I met in Australia by inferring from the title. You are wrong. If you are thinking of pork (which is babi in Bahasa Melayu) you are wrong as well.

The title is in reference to the protozoa Babesia. Slightly more information, Babesia of the phylum Apicomplexa , is a parasite is blood-borne, ixodid tick transmitted parasite.The definite host of this parasite is not a human but a mammal. Humans are considered an incidental host. Hey, you just cannot tell a tick who to bite can you? Now here is a sneak peek into the parasites life cycle. Firstly, the life cycle in a definite host. The tick takes a blood meal and it transfers the Sporozoites (cells that infect new hosts) into the host. The sporozoite infects the erythrocytes and develops into trophozoites. These trphozoites will then develop into merozoites, through binary fission, which reinitiates into the trphozoite replication cycle and/or develop into gametocytes. Another tick will bite the host and the gametocytes will be taken in and becomes a zygote inside the gut of the tick. The zygote will become a kinete and this phase allows the parasitic organism to travel around the tick. Once the kinete reaches the salivary gland, Sporozoites develop after which, this cycle continues.

In humans, we are dead end host. So after being bitten by an infected tick, the life cycle remains pretty much the same except for the fact that gametocytes are not formed. The merozoites will keep on reinitiating the trophozoite replication cycle within the host. Therefore, a human to human transmission route is only possible through blood transfusion.

Ok, I now fresh out of Geeki-ness and shall continue with my post proper.

Last year, I thought it will be the last time I had to have anything to do with Parasitology but, Parasitolgy is not done with me. Ok, I admit I was being daft when I made that statement last year. I’m in the field of microbiology and guess what, parasitology does spill over to the microbiology section so yup, sucks to be me for saying that. It’s not that I do not find it interesting, I did enjoy the parasitology module but it’s just that it is a “neglected” field and the hype wasn’t sustainable. Thinking practically, how am I going to survive in the field of parasitology if I’m back in Singapore?

Was attending a Australia Institute of Food Science Seminar last night. Ok, attending might be a tad bit wrong; it’s politically correct to say, assisted in hosting the seminar. The topic was on Parasitology in Food and the speaker introduced the pathogens as well as plausible control measures. My reflections after the seminar were primarily on the food science industry. Yes, it is true that you here reports of people getting down with diseases due to consumption of unsafe food. The agent responsible for this varies between Bacteria, Viruses, Fungi, Parasites, Toxins and Metals. Everybody is at risk of getting a food borne disease, no matter your diet. Therefore, there is a need to ensure that our food supply is safe; food science has become a necessary science.

It’s necessary science, but it is not exactly a ‘wow’ and ‘hyped up’ kind of science. Compare and contrast between this, Synthetic DNA and coliform count. Guess where the young and aspiring minds will want to be? While the current measures of safe guarding food are somewhat working, things do slip off the cracks. Microbes are not exactly dumb. Ok, maybe a single microbe will be dumb but in a community niche, they kick ass real hard and show us the power of evolution and ultimately, become a survivalist in this world. But with that being said, proper processing, cooking and handling of food can keep the bugs at bay. Only when we goof up, they go rouge. However, I feel that we should not be complacent on this. I personally feel that we know the bugs but we do not understand the bugs, there are biological pathways we have yet to discover, proteins left uncharacterised, genetic elements not totally understood. There is still reason to persist and fund research on these fronts.

This brings me to the point that not much funding is being channelled to these researches. Yes, I did mention that everybody is at risk but due to current food safety regimes, incidence of disease are not really that high and people are not really dropping dead. This is of course relative to killers with a non-communicable status like cancer and heart disease. Money tends to go to research on these areas based on the simple fact that people die more frequently due to these illnesses. It is indeed an altruistic move, I must say.

However, do not quote me on this but at the back of my head I got a feeling for another reason of funding research on killer illness is the want for people to live longer and have quality of health. While this is altruistic, I do view it as the world economy is sustained not by trade, but by people. So if people are falling left right and centre, in a way, the world economy will be shaken. We have all witness the fragility of it (world economy) because we are living in these times. GDP growth seems to be a measure that most countries proud themselves with, but the bottom line is still this, without people, you can forget about GDP growth. Without people, how do big pharma companies stay afloat?

Just to clear the air on the above paragraph if ya’ll got lost in my train of thoughts. Firstly, the research I’m talking about is Food Microbiology and food safety, not Microbiology in general. Secondly, the whole GDP muse thing, I’m not professing a socialist model. Like I said, it is just my personal musing.

It might seem that I’m partial to Food Microbiology. For the record, I am not partial to any sub-field within Microbiology yet, and I must emphasis the word yet. For the record, my stance is pretty much neutral and I’m at the phase where I’m absorbing what I can and as much as I can on various topics in Microbiology. My honours project is a testament to that, a nice blend of Food Microbiology, Microbial Genetics, Bacteriophage, and Bioinformatics and if time permits me, a glimpse into forensic microbiology (Epidemiology and ecology).

In closing, I saw that Orchard road was flooded yesterday. 2 thoughts came to mind. Firstly, was the thought of, “AWESOME, we got a flood? I thought it was mentioned somewhere in the year 1999 that Orchard road was not meant to flood?” The 2^nd thought, which I agree is related to this post and the reason for me to blog and mention the parasitology seminar, was on the protozoa Blastocystis. I’m not really sure on all the parasites that Singapore faces but this is one that comes to mind, apart from Plasmodium. Blastocystis has been detected in Singapore since a long time ago and Research on 2008 with National University Hospital as its sample group show that among that population the most prevalent subtype of Blastocystis is the subtype III, which is a typical human to human transmission subtype. Singapore is an urbanized place hence, it’s not really surprising. It colonizes the gastrointestinal tract, meaning the route of entry is faecal oral. Therefore, with the flooding I’m sure faecal and sewerage water might be washed up as collateral event. So are you feeling safe wallowing in the flood water? Knowing that there might be parasites?

By the way, I left out possible examples of bacteria and other microbes that might be in faces and floating around the flood as well. I saw from pictures that Starbucks was submerged. Are you feeling safe to drink a coffee knowing that the place might possibly be contaminated with faecal material that may possibly carry microbial pathogens?

Be afraid. No, I’m kidding~ or am I?

Cheers!!

Lit review: When Zombies Attack

2010-06-15T21:48:00.003+10:00

Notice any change? Not the usual subtle changes but something akin to a kick in the balls. Indeed, Blogger got some cool, new stuff. Design templates, with the aim of making your blog aesthetically appealing. The wonders shortcut brings. Yes, it’s not something really groundbreaking as anyone who knows a thing or two about Photoshop and CSS can whip up something like this. I do know a thing or two about both but the bottom-line is that I am lazy so I’ve been stalling for a very long time. Kudos to the staff at blogger who made my life easier!

Did minor tweaking as well, mainly pertaining to link validation. Links to friends whose latest post are before December 2009 are removed. Links to blogs that require password are removed as well because I believe you password protected your blog for a reason. Added a few links as well, mainly on sites which I frequent, both geek and non-geek related.

Overall, I’m uber satisfied with the service blogger provided. Now, It’s time for the main post.

This post will be a few personal thoughts on the application of the following paper:

Munz, P., Hudea, I., Imad, J., and Smith, R.J., (2009). When Zombies attack!:Mathematical Modelling of an outbreak of zombie infection. Infectious Disease Modelling Research Progress, p133-150.

Zombies are the current IN thing in the horror genre. I reckon that the fascination of zombies is somewhat co-related to us being aware and fearing our own mortality. My reason for this thought is based on pop culture and a question of “How many films or games out there portray zombies as violent mindless killers as opposed to zombies being benevolent and helping humans after their rebirth?” Supplementary factors include my observation of the zombie genre (Dawn of the dead remakes, L4D and 28 weeks later) was almost instantly revived in the post 9-11 world where apparently fear and death are now being propagated ubiquitously in our daily lives. So is this a Co-incidence or a possible, measurable observation? I leave it to the mathematicians out there to test it out.

The authors came up with 5 Scenarios based on the SIR model. For my readers that are not familiar to Infectious Disease modelling or Epidemiology, the SIR model is a mathematical model to describe the transmission of Disease by an individual. The 5 Scenarios are: 1) Normal outbreak, 2) Outbreak with latency, 3) Outbreak with quarantine, 4) Outbreak with cure, 5) Outbreak with humans fighting back.

All 5 scenarios spell certain doom for the human race with the first 3 seeing the eradication of the human race. The only difference is the parameter of time. The normal outbreak shows the zombies making short work of us, the latency outbreak will take twice as long to eradicate the humans due to delayed ‘Zombification’ and the Quarantine outbreak model accounted for the fact that not all infected can be quarantine and there will be a few free zombies, thus taking longer for human eradication. The last 2 scenarios provide a glimmer of hope for the humans. Firstly the model with a cure does ensure that about 10% of the population remain alive but still susceptible to infection due to the lack of immunity. Humans will co-exist with the zombies but at lower numbers. The last model, which accounts for humans fighting back shows that our chances of survival and eradication of the zombies is directly proportion to our aggression as we attack the zombies.

So the bottom line for your survival will be standing your ground and blowing these undead scums back to their graves. Simple thought but hard to implement in the initial phase of the infection because of one factor, the chaos it brings. When the infection starts, the cute little girl next door ceases to be your eye candy and starts to become a murdering bitch. Most of the infected could be people you know and it’s hard to kill people whom you personally know, even if he’s an animated corpse who only sees you as a piece of meat. The population will be thrown into chaos and people will start dying. By the time rational thinking seeps in, the human population would have already been scattered if not decimated. Therefore I guess it is time to muse on some tips on zombie survival.

Firstly, its all about location, location, location. Your survival depends on where you stay. Never find and stay in a place with no exits what-so-ever. It’s pure stupidity. Cornering yourself is an open invitation to the zombies. Where are you going to run when the horde swarms on you? Also, avoid the hospital like the plague. Where do you think sick people go to? High rise buildings are also not a very good idea as the only way to escape the horde when you are exhausted of rational options is down. Being in a public transport will suck as well; imagine someone on an aeroplane is infected while the plane is mid air. The best place in my mind would be an Army camp with an ammunition dump. That way you can help in the effort of killing the zombies which, in the above mathematical equation, could effectively end the zombie horde.

Next it’s all about relative firepower. The zombies will only be armed with their limbs and teeth. This means you can use range against them, anything to ensure that they do not sink their teeth into your skin. If a firearm is nowhere to be found, alternatives like a crowbar, baseball bat, kendo stick or anything object which you can use which gives the advantage of range can be used.

Cardio. Yeap, this is taken straight out of the movie zombieland. Run and Run like the wind, you might be able to outrun the zombie. Running is a good tactic to employ when you have exhausted your weapons and you refuse to get infected. Just make sure to look at the direct where you are running. It would be pure stupidity to either simply run into the arms of another zombie or tripping on a piece of rock.

Travel in groups. More people, more firepower and more brainpower. Tapping on each others expertise can enable a group to effectively overcome all adversity. The best team I can think of consists of a war vet (who might die later), a manager, a Biker chick and a Prick. Who knows, you might be in a situation where a first aid kit can magically heal all injuries, pistols have unlimited bullets and ammunition magically appears everywhere.

In closing, the main point will still be this, “there is power in numbers”. Scenario 4 and 5, if you have yet to realize, are people oriented and people dependant. There is no way you are going to get a cure if you do not have the medical staff around you. There is also no way in eradicating the zombies through force without having people to deliberately plan an attack and having the manpower to utilize your weapon assets. Never find yourself wondering alone. Always find other survivors and stick with them. Ultimately, if your desire is to see the day that the zombies are eradicated, you should make your way to the nearest active military installation. Who knows, they might be planning an attack and might need volunteers in their offensive against the undead.

I cannot believe I did a 1000 word review on this paper. Oh well, I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed typing out my thoughts.

Cheers.

Money, Must be funny

2010-06-10T12:43:00.002+10:00

I got a feeling, that this week is gonna be a Good week. Long weekend ahead and it shall be the first long weekend for me. The other long weekends before this are spent in the lab. I’m so gonna enjoy this break before working hard again.

Currently I’m facing a little problem in the lab in which 4 bacteria strains are not being as co-operative as I wished they could. I’m going to try out new stuff next week and hopefully it goes well. I’m usually the paranoid kind when it comes to experiments and like to validate my findings and be approximately 99% sure of it before proceeding on to the next step. The conservative method, a trait that my supervisor has that apparently rubbed off to me during these few months. It’s like the pH D paranoid within my honours year. The only difference, they have at least 3 years and can cross validate as many times as they like while multi-tasking with progressive experiments; I only have less than a year and optimization of protocol is essential for a solid result. I do not have the luxury to pursue it as much as I really want and I really don’t wish to make do with what I have now, which appears to be sub-optimal. Sometimes it succeed, sometimes it does not. Scientists do crave perfection in everything they do within the confines of an imperfect world, that’s our “curse”; but I find pleasure and relish every moment of it.

I’m currently in my incubation phase and I got some time to blog before heading into the lab again. During periods like this I tend to just do broadband reading of anything and everything. Generally it spans from Microbiology to Vincent van Gogh’s art pieces. For example, yesterday (09/06/10) I was reading up on the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Military cultures and Traditions as well as an overview on network centric warfare of the USAF. I cannot help it, I am still a Signals Officer (reservist status) and there is something about communications (wireless & wired) that fascinate me. This morning, I came across one web page (http://www.salary.sg/2009/100-best-jobs-in-singapore-2009/). This web page states the top 100 best jobs in Singapore for the year 2009. I am not so sure of the authenticity of the list but it was stated to be referenced from the Ministry of Manpower report on wages in Singapore (2008). Those who have a deeper interest can dwell further in it and purse and peruse the report.

Listed below are occupations, with their rank and related to my academic field that fit into the top 100 best paying jobs:

Ranked # 52: Medical scientist – $6,875
Ranked # 84: Pharmacologist - $5,475
Ranked # 99: Environment health inspector – $5,000

I included Pharmacologist as some mates do take pharmacology and health inspector is added in as a possibility as there is such a field as environmental microbiology. I reckon that medical scientist does not refer to all researchers and that it only applies to the M.Phil and pH D holders.

It’s of no surprise that there is no money in scientific research, at the graduate level that is. But, if money was a main drive in my life I would have gone over to the business field a long time ago. I always believe that a pursuit of curiosity is more valuable than the pursuit for more money. That being said, I also do think about finances as well as it does impact our lives. I do have small investments, mostly on Singapore’s equity. I am very conservative and I do not have a lot of capital to start of with. These are just set aside to combat inflation, something which the banks fail to offer. Looking to make more money out of this investment is not an objective in my to-do list. I will not offer the 5Cs and that is a fact. I still do not believe a country as small as Singapore needs a car. If I am happy enough to travel in Brisbane by public transport where the buses and trains are not as frequent as Singapore, living a small red dot with a frequent and well connected public transport system does not warrant the need for a car which becomes an immediate liability once you start using it. A conclusive statement on the issue of owning a car: “It’s just like a brother spotting Blings, pure aesthetics and it’s no real measure of wealth just like GDP as a measure for quality of life.”

Gold diggers need not look my way, Period.

Art and National Security

2010-06-07T15:30:00.002+10:00

It’s almost the time for most of my friends in UQ to be graduating but one thing still stands in their way; the Semestral examinations. All the best guys! While they are on their final run, I’m halfway through my honours year. 4 Months have passed, 4 more months and I have to stop work and officially start on my thesis. I have already started on my thesis but it’s currently on hiatus. I’m lacking the inspiration for writing. The funny thing is that I am very easily inspired but it’s an “easy come easy go” thing. If I miss that inspiration, it will take some time before I get it back. So if ever you see me throwing aside particular task to start on another task, it’s a sign for you to steer clear of me. As swaying as my inspiration span is, so is my temperament. Ok, enough of all these things about my natural lack-of inspiration.

This week marks an important week in my calendar and I’m kind of pissed that I could not be part of it. The Sharks International conference is currently ongoing at Cairns (6-11 June) and it has a lot of Big names speaking. People like, and not limited to, Barry Bruce from CSIRO, Christopher Lowe from California state university and John West from Taronga zoo, Sydney. All I can do now is to wait for the proceeding papers to be published in Marine and Freshwater Research (CSIRO publishing). Too bad I’m not a Marine Ecology Student or I would have indeed gone up to Cairns. I do find it kind of ironic that I do not feel just as bad for giving the Australian Society of Microbiology 2010 (ASM 2010) conference a miss. There are indeed a few speakers that I really wanted to listen to in ASM 2010 with topics like Phage therapy, Microbial genetics (bacterial ecology evolution from niche environment (water) and metagenomics) and AT proteins. One is of academic interest, one is of personal interest.

I love graffiti art. It’s an amazing display of raw energy, self expression and vibrancy of the tagger. Compared to other art forms, this catches my eye more than the rest. I come from a city with not much graffiti, it is not because our citizens have no talent but rather, it is against the law. However, we got tagged in our own backyard. The Straits Time (4th june 2010) ran a story on one of our Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) being tagged. The funny thing about it is that the incident went unnoticed by the authorities and not reported promptly. There was a video of it being posted on the month of May. It takes one month to publish this piece of news. Amazing, I guess, would be the most political correct word to use here. Remember people, be constructive with your comments (who am I kidding). I remember a case of vandalism earlier this year due to an advertising campaign. If prompt reporting can be done on that part, why can’t this be reported promptly? The first that that came to my mind was national security. In the next paragraph, I will present the sequence of thoughts that went through my head after reading the article.

Lets be honest here, the only way to tag a train is for the train to be stationery. A tag as beautiful as this could not have been in a short time, the tagger must have dedicated a fair bit of time. Therefore, it cannot be done in an interchange and has to be done in a depot. This being said raises the issue on national security. If normal folks with just an artistic intent can sneak in, Tag the train (which will take considerable amount of time) and sneak out without getting caught in a secured compound (important fact) what will happen if it’s an extreme case? Imagine, instead of taggers you have a deliberate attack by individuals with malicious intent. Instead of an article with a train getting tagged, SPH will run articles on body bags being tagged.

I did not mean to incite post-Mas Selamat paranoia. Side track, I shall use this phrase from now on in Singapore’s context when dealing with issues on terrorist paranoia. I reckon that there is no point in using “post-911” as it does not apply to us. This case proves that we have work to do on the front of national security. MRT depots are key civilian infrastructure and if it’s compromised, the results are devastating. I guess I need not elaborate; you only need to search the internet.

Enough of the fear mongering, on a lighter note, the Graffiti looks real good on the train. Admit it people, it sure gave an aesthetic face-lift to our trains. If I saw the clip on you tube back in May and there was no report of this incident in our papers, I would have indeed thought that it was an attempt to push for a campaign of some sort.

Maybe our media agency can learn something from this and consider an advertising campaign similar to this. Of course instead of spray paint we can use design vinyls and most importantly, inform the authorities before executing it, less it backfires.

Peace

Overheard from Australia

2010-06-04T11:13:00.000+10:00

It is shocking to hear certain news back in my home country this week. Before you go around thinking that I am an anti PAP person, I shall honestly state this. I’m not anti –PAP; I am just anti Non & Sub-Democracy. Democracy is not a perfect system and that I agree. But to give the citizens a say in how a country to be run creates ownership which forges a culture of transparency and accountability, I reckon it’s not that bad for governance. I’m a person who believes that liberty and national prosperity can go hand in hand, if we tried. GDP is not the solution for everything and Power of the people should not only be fueled by dissent and the lack of it should not have “not knowing what else is better” being cited as an excuse. Most of us have a minimum of an ‘N-level’ education, which means almost everyone can discern matters intellectually.

The first shock was that the Singaporean team beat the team from China in a game of table tennis. The shock was not from Singapore beating China, these things happen in sports, you can even see Senegal beating France in the world cup. The other shock was that this was to be linked with national pride. Let’s see, Chinese players and Chinese Coach made citizens and playing under the Singapore flag against players who are from their native country. This is Treason in my honest opinion, a denial of your birth right. I would have been proud if there was at least 1 native citizen in the team which brought in the championship, even if she did not perform well. It just feels wrong to be representing another flag and fighting with someone from your native country. It’s like if there is a war and I’m representing another country and I have to fire at soldiers from my native country, it is just not right and I will not be able to do it. To a lesser extend, should I ever decide to move to another country, I will not readily denounce my citizenship so another country can develop my raw talent and I can earn mega bucks. I learnt patriotism from Civics and Moral education and Social studies which are subjects endorsed by the Ministry of Education and it would be hypocritical of me to do otherwise. But enough of the criticism, we should celebrate the efforts of the sportswomen who showed valour and spirit towards their sport, they excelled at what they do. As for national pride, sorry, I’m not feeling it at the moment and this will continue unless the poaching of talent stops. There is a sports school now right? Come on what’s going on in there?

The second shock is the fact of delayed reporting. Singapore soldiers shot by accident during military exercise in Thailand. It happened in March and was only reported on the 26th of May. Have we not learnt anything from the Mas Selamat case? Yes, it is not as serious as an escaped terrorist but this is just as important to report. Our soldiers are someone’s son, brother or friend. We are not exactly a professional army as most of our fighting forces are soldiers on reservist status and those that have been called up/conscripted when they are of 18 years of age. A citizen army warrants a need for a system of transparency. We all know the importance of having our own military force and defending our country, but since we are all mostly conscripted, accurate and timely reporting, in my opinion should be practiced. Are death, stolen rifle and commendations the only reason that military news is reported? Our soldiers train hard to defend our soil and they got injured while training. We are not talking about a simple sprained ankle or heat exhaustion; it’s about our soldiers getting shot accidentally. For the public sake, we all should be reminded of the risk our soldiers go through be it either local or overseas training. For training sake, we need to be reminded that safety is our top priority and safety measures must be in place, especially on foreign soil.

Yes, there are many other articles pertaining to Singapore but these 2 issues are closer to my heart so I’m posting it up here. I know that my post has the potential to influence the mind of my readers therefore; I’m going to leave you with line, “Don’t let me decide for you. Make up your own Damn mind!” That should do it.

Cheers!!

Control

2010-04-27T10:52:00.000+10:00

We all love to have control, be it in situations or with people. It’s hardwired into our being with individuals expressing it at a basal level (planning and co-ordinating of events) or at an extremely high level (dictatorship) Wired into our DNA, not so sure, I’m don’t really read up that much on epigenetic to find the link. So I shall maintain it as hardwired to our being.

For this couple of weeks I found myself to be in a heighten state of wanting control especially pertaining to my research work. Do not get me wrong, this control is not the feeling of wanting to be given more freedom. My supervisor is a very kind person who really gives me the freedom to analyse the data for myself as well as to plan my own work flow with regards to my results. Of course, I will still fall back upon his guidance on the future steps. I am indeed very blessed to have him as my supervisor.

The control is referring the bacteria that I want for my experiments. I will not go into the finer details here but suffice to say it did not grow/transform well enough in the initial phase. This week has shown promising results and I guess I can be free of this bottleneck soon. The Exploitation of natural pathways to ensure that the Bacteria become THE lysogen that I want is my aim for these few weeks. It’s like playing God, on a microbial scale. Things look under control now.

For some reason, when I talk about dominance, it always draws me to a reversal of perspective which is the trait of altruism. It is doctrinal in Christianity. But I guess I’m not really high on this trait especially if someone crosses me big time. I guess its part of my rationale nature to draw a line for everything. Of course, this line is to safeguard certain core values that I hold dear and I don’t really like to compromise core values as it forms the foundation for an individual. Lose your foundation, you lose yourself. That’s all there is to it.

So the questions remains, do you let your situations control you or are you controlling the situations? With that being said, all situations should be considered even in the dodgy and grey line situations where morals, values, religion, etc are challenged?

Just grab your Ideas and Double Click

2010-04-13T11:42:00.000+10:00

'I was shocked when I saw the flier. I think it is not appropriate for such content to be circulated this way. It's one thing seeing such things on the Internet, but another seeing the hard copy.' Word for word reproduction, see the link below.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_511975.html

While studying in Australia, one naturally misses home. I really think the Internet is a wonderful technology as I can be updated on local news even if I’m not physically there. I read from a myriad of sources since it’s hard to get unbiased news on either front due to the fact that the press is not an independent entity. It would be wise to read the above article before moving on.

I would really like to see the contents of this letter. I mean if the political leaders of the GRCs can come out comments like, ‘it looks like someone wants to have a head start this time.', the contents should post no viable threat to the current administration. I know there is no way to publish word for word the contents of the flyer as materials like this are deemed “confrontational”. It would be nice to summarize it into little bits and pieces so we can be informed.

According to Socrates, patriotism does not require one to agree with everything that his country does and would actually promote analytical questioning in a quest to make the country the best it possibly can be.

I see it this way. If a main political party is to be criticised, there could be something lacking in the current system. If so, as a citizen I will want to know what is lacking and also, if I am in the same situation as the dissidents. I want my country to be the best it can be. Comments like, “its good for you.” might work on me if I was still in Primary school. Education demands that I know what is going on in the world around me. I’m a Scientist-in-training, but it does not mean that I have to only appreciate the situations pertaining to science. Apart from being a Scientist, I hold other social portfolios as well. I’m a Reservist soldier; I must defend the constitution of Singapore, not just a portion but the whole 14 parts of the constitution. Keep in mind that the constitution is not a person, it is an ideal for Singapore and I believe in protecting this ideal for in it lays our countries’ legacy. But before that, I am a Citizen and I want the best for my country be it economical improvement, social improvement or political improvement. Lastly, I’m human and I believe in fundamental human rights. Link all these up and you can see where I am heading.

A letter like this can cause widespread discontent. But, let us view it rationally. If nothing was really lacking in the governance of Singapore and the contents are deemed false, releasing it will not hurt your stance. Our people are educated enough to discern for ourselves. However, if the inverse is true, then I will understand why the letter was not published.

These are mere speculations and if speculations are allowed to be on a cliff-hanger status, more and more people will fall into dissent and the “negative camp”. So I wonder, does it really hurt to publicise this?

I know my blog is tucked in one corner of the World Wide Web and it’s hard for my views to be seen by all except my loyal viewers, if there are any, that is (If you are out there, show me some loving on the tag board).

In closing, I refer to my first paragraph. What in the world did she mean by that line? If it is posted on Internet its fine, but if it is printed out as a hard copy its wrong? That makes no damn sense at all. Internet has the capacity to reach into million of viewers, internationally and locally alike. A hard copy distributed in 2 GRCs will be able to reach an audience which in comparison to the Internet is mere ‘Peanuts’. Plus there are many online community groups which can actively circulate provocative ideas among its members. There is nothing symbolic about the flyer it’s a piece of paper, no need to be overtly shocked by it.

Let us play a scenario here consisting of 3 social groups after reading the flyer with such confrontational contents: The Pro-government, The Pro- Opposition and the Neutral people (Bull-shitters in my opinion). The Pro-government group will simply scoff at it saying it’s a bunch of lies. They will not be overly affected by it for they know and they trust the good reputation of the Government. The Pro-Opposition will rejoice as their ideals are being transmitted and heard by the public. This will inspire them onwards in trying to bring change into Singapore. Now those neutral people, they can illicit 2 kinds of response which are pseudo responses of the 2 extreme groups.

The pseudo-Pro Government group will be overly affected by it and make all sorts of noise and commotion. If you are in a contested GRC I guess you must be the kind of person that vote out of convenience without hearing rallies, without listening to both sides and just decide based on something like, “MY LIFE IS GOOD NOW AND I AM HAPPY WITH MY LIFE. I LIKE MY ESTATE TO BE UPGRADED, I DO NOT WANT MY ESTATE TO END UP LIKE PART OF A HISTORY TEXT- WHO CARES WHAT THE OTHER PERSON SAY, I HAPPY CAN ALREADY!”

The Pseudo Pro-Opposition Group will be overly happy that this is happening and be come even more overly critical to the government to the point that they hate this government. The intent to see change will be overwhelmed by the desire of discontent and anger. These people will have strong emotions for the opposition cause, but equally capable of cowering once their political stance is being questioned and they will always answer in a manner that is overly angry to the Government.

The above responses are general breakdowns of responses and I do not deal in absolutes, so can also exist different responses within the various groups. So where does her stance lie? I cannot confirm, I can only speculate.

I still think hard copy is the lesser of 2 evils for this case and that is why I am not distributing this blog post to anybody’s mail box.

Peace~

Love, on her Fins: When the buying stops, the killing can, too

2010-03-21T12:35:00.001+10:00

I admit, I am ignorant on cultural traditions to a certain extend. I’m the kind of person who will wear black on Chinese New Year and wear Red to a Chinese funeral. Downright disrespectful, plain oblivious or somewhere in between, I’ll let you have the final say.

In Chinese culture, “saving face” is an important element, so as not to get spit upon our family name. One method of “saving face” is serving Shark Fin soup on major celebrations and wedding dinners. It’s basically something that reeks of status and wealth. This dish was made popular during the Ming dynasty and usually consumed by royalty. In the current world, many people in countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan enjoy this dish. Any Chinese chef worth his weight must be able to whip up a good Shark Fin soup. But, should we strictly and blindly follow traditions even if it meant the overexploitations of an animal for our greed?

I can never stress this point enough. It’s all about economics. Once caught, the Sharks are pulled onto fishing boats where the fins are cut off. Less than 5% of the shark is fin but due to basic economics, the bodies are thrown back into the sea where those that were still alive are now left for dead. Shark meat needs refrigeration which requires space on the boat and does not fetch a high price. The fin on the other hand, can be cut off, bundled and hung to dry. This will save space, which in turn increases the amount of sharks being killed and have their fins removed. Ultimately, this brings in the money to both the fisherman and all the corporations that act as the middleman between the fisherman and consumer. Humans get the money; the sharks just fall into the abyss and die.

Now, let’s picture a future where sharks are extinct (Come on guys, from the way things are going its not too hard. Dig out your innate exploitation instinct). When sharks are extinct the supply of shark fins will disappear (Duh~). So how are the future generations going to “save face” in those celebratory events? Maybe they will find new things to save face with but effectively, we have negated and defiled a tradition set forth by our forefathers in China. Please explain to me (by leaving comments or tagboard please) on how we can be in touch with our cultural roots when this happens.

Guess what? When this does really happen, the future generations will indeed bring shame to our family name based on the shark fin soup perspective. The best is yet to be- They fucked up because of people like us in this current age, fucked it up for them!! Shit flows downwards, future generations will pay for our mistakes and we will be remembered as “fuck-tards” (A term I coined for “fucking- retards.”). Sure people will spit on our family name but our own blood will spit on our graves. All you cultural lovers like the idea of that?

This future looks extremely bleak and for the more sensitive readers, I apologise for offending you. I did get carried away with my words and neglected censorship. However, if you do feel offended based on the intent and subject matter of this post, I will not be apologetic.

Traditions are good in the sense that it bestows upon us heritage and a sense of belonging. But senseless traditions that cannot be sustained should be further reviewed and scrutinized. I understand that it will be hard if it’s based on religion but the tradition of drinking shark fin soup is man-made. I sincerely believe, “Whatever man creates, another man can challenge and break it”.

Of course there will be people and corporations that will play the numbers game and challenge statistics. The sad truth is that currently there is a lack of knowledge, operating procedures and surveillance in terms of determining shark populations. In any given area, no one can give a definite number of shark species and shark population. At the most, we can only say that the population is observed to declining in terms of fishery catch statistics and observations by SCUBA divers. Everyone knows the world is 70% water, 30% land and by this ratio, any profiteer will argue that the sharks are not declining and they are out there somewhere. To me, their reasoning is scientifically sound based on the geographic segregation of land and water mass. But I do not see you people funding a research team to determine that numbers are not diminishing. Bring on all your statistical tools backed with observational data and publish it on a peer-reviewed paper. That’s the only way to be convincing instead of fiddling with your abacus.

But for now, let’s keep to the basics. Simple law of supply and demand actually; let us say No to Shark fin soup for when the demand for it stops, the killing will follow suit. Let us stop staining the earth with anymore blood for our own (species) greed.

Love, on her fins: Majesty of the White Pointer

2010-03-14T21:29:00.004+10:00

Ever since I was a little boy I loved reading about animals, specifically on snakes, crocodilia and sharks. I will always remember buggering my mum to get these books for me so I could read up on them. Some things do not change after 23 years. The only thing that changed will be instead of my mum buying the books for me, I can get it myself.

Living in Australia presented me with opportunities to get up close and personal with these childhood favourites. There’s the Australian Zoo with a fantastic collection of reptiles, Crocodile tours in the Northern Territory and Diving in the open waters. I’ve done 2 out of the 3 and hoping to try the croc tour sometime soon or in the later part of my life.

Diving in Australia presented me the chance to view 2 specimens in the wild. First up will be the wobbegong. The wobbegong is a carpet shark and it dwells in the seabed of shallow waters. It poses no threat to humans but may bite if you intentionally provoke it.

The second specimen would be the Great White Shark. They can be found from central Queensland around the south coast to as far north as the North West cape region in Western Australia. The Great White is however more common in the southern part of Australia. The Neptune Islands of South Australia is populated by New Zealand Fur seals and the endangered Australian Sea Lion and this is reason enough to find Great Whites hanging around here.

I was on an ECO tour with the company Calypso Star which offers a 1 day shark cage diving experience. Of course with diminishing shark populations and the randomness of nature, there might be days where you may not see a single shark. I was fortunate enough to be on a tour where 2 Great Whites were around and exhibiting 2 different, yet expected behaviour. When I was topside, a great white was actively investigating the cage as well as pursuing the bait. However, when I was in the cage, I was greeted by another Great White. This Shark however was a little shyer but at the same time very curious. This shark circled the boat, possibly intrigued by it and disappeared into the deep blue. It emerged from the deep blue some time later and continued surveying the action. This happened for quite some time before she came closer and pursued the bait. Really interesting behaviour I might add and it is especially interesting to see the curious side of this predator. This somewhat made me establish a link (hypothetically, of course) between the curious nature of the shark and the nature of shark attacks.

If you really liked the movie Jaws and you are into extreme activities, I would recommend this tour. Imagine the initial chill you get when you first lay eyes and make visual contact with the shark and reminding yourself of all the vicious scenes in all those Shark attack movies. After which, the Shark mainly goes around showing us that it is not a cold blooded, blood thirsty man eater but a majestic apex predator . The shark knows that we are there but made no attempts to charge at the cage but rather, the bait. The way it charges at the bait also demonstrated the way in which it hunts and attacks. It prefers a powerful ambush attack to incapacitate its prey and it is doing that while going after the bait. A simply marvellous exhibition from a apex predator.

Entering the water with a potentially dangerous shark is a scary affair. But I reckon that is one way of really understanding the shark. Well, at the basal level that is. But hey, every journey begins with a single step. It has been a very educational and beneficial experience for me. I do hope I can have another opportunity for a trip out to the Neptune Island again. In closing, here are some pictures of the trip as well as some souvenir pictures given to us by Calypso. Pictures have been edited of course as red essential disappears underwater. Cheers Guys.

Love, on her fins: Operation Genesis

2010-03-11T12:01:00.005+10:00

I haven’t been doing much “Love on her fins” posts lately or even blogged that much lately for that matter.

Looking back at my few “Love on her fins” post, I realized something. I did not mention what this phrase meant in its entirety. Of course, this phrase warrants explaining as if it is perceived wrongly; it could look like I’m promoting the consumption of shark fins. The chances of that happening lies within the 0.0001% region but you never know as there are really some dense people out there so I’m not going to risk it.

One glance at the phrase “Love on her Fins” and a few of you might find it looking similar to the group “To write love on her arms (TWLOHA)”. TWLOHA is my main reference for coining up this phrase which I use in my blog.

Why just the fins and not the whole shark might be the question some of you have in mind. My initial plan was to use the phrase “Lovin’ on the Shark”. It sounds much more jovial then the current don’t you think? A nice sweet name that rolls off the tongue that everyone can enjoy. But I’m not the kind for sugar-coating. I hate the terms and actions done in the name of “sugar-coating” and “being politically correct”. The dorsal fin of the shark enables most people to effectively identify a shark and also, the fin is also a prize of man’s greed and exploitation (Shark finning). To some people, the identity of the shark is associated with fear due to Jaws and other related shark-fearing media. With the association of both identity and hurt, I decided to use fins instead of shark. Effectively, “Love on her fins” stands for the covering of love over the sharks and the appreciation of the animal in the wild instead of fearing and exploiting them.

One of the objectives of this series is to highlight the plight that the sharks are facing. Most of their plights are caused by Humans, leading to the decline of the species. Shark hunters, the want of Shark Fins by the Chinese Community, Long line fishing and the want for shark based health care products. I believe that humans were created and given dominance of the animals around the world. I also believe that when man fell from grace, all creation fell from grace as well. But I still believe that as the dominant species on this planet, we should continue to have dominance over these creatures. By dominance I mean the fair ruling of these creatures to ensure their survival, not one of exploitation. Our species have driven many animals to extinction by messing up the ecosystem. Something needs to be done here.

The posts will not be a very technical and full of scientific jargon but rather, a bite size post with an average of about 500+ words. Also, do not expect prim and proper English from me as I like my blog to be really casual. Think of it as a small chat between me and you in a coffee place. Some times it might seem that I’m forcing my ideals down your throat and I apologise as all my post are dictated as I “speak” to my laptop screen.

There you have it, the Official genesis of this series. Let us look forward in saving these wonderful creatures

It all started....

2010-03-07T11:39:00.004+10:00

The pedestal formation was quite dandy I might add. The more I think, the more it felt like a situation out of a Chinese drama. It started with a nice little take care sms. Off to wet and Wild. 2 missed calls due to not being able to pick up the phone while walking in the rain. called back.. "oh hi, why call me at a time I'm having my dinner" den boom, the smackdown was delivered. Followed by sorry I'm going back to dinner... den another SMS.

Oh yeah, everything should turn out fine right? Just punctuate the "cut me wide open" phone call with a sms like that. What is that? a suture made of barbed wire and dipped in lime? I know you feel bad about it as well by just sending an sms but seriously...

Of course nobody want to think of giving up there and then for just one long distance obstacle. Of course the best case scenario would be to forget it and move on. Oh yeah, by doing so its the ONE thing that both of us do not advocate. From what I gathered all these years was that we both do, to a certain extend, believe in the need for human liberty. Isn't it a spit to human liberty to just say "ok lets move on"

I will not use God as an excuse here. All I will say is that He knows what I'm feeling but I'm not totally spiritually able to receive the whole answer. Yes I still will choose to believe in the future. But now, It's another anger issue that I would need to settle spiritually as well. And as pathetic as it sounds, the route that was shown to me was to concentrate without distractions. Some wounds can only be healed by THE healer. period. I'm still undergoing healing and comfort from this. Sorry if I rather focus on whats good and edifying for me this period than try to actively mend anything from the grounds of defeat and anger. Call me selfish, useless and all that, I will not hold it against you. If both parties lose conviction, then its a doomed cause I'm still not ready to give up my conviction.

Your Godma also knows about the SMS, I already forwarded it.

But amidst all this, I still thank God for both the gifts of the stitch doll and the utensil set. They gave much comfort. The wonders kids bring.

Shits Bleak

2010-01-31T01:06:00.003+10:00

Kinda bad title I agree but after seeing and hearing something today I just got to get down to writing.

So I was like walking to my grandparents place when I overheard this girl talking to a group of boys. Firstly, she's Jail bait if you know what I mean. Secondly, she was telling them her experience and how she allegedly whore herself out. Of course, being civil minded, a part of me wanted just to head to her direction and tell her to shut the hell up. With her being young and all, I dun feel comfortable with her telling the whole world about it. The catch is this, she was with 4 boys and that apparently perturb or in a way curb the notion to tell her off. Its not that I'm afraid of them, younglin's need to be taught a lesson on how the old ones did it in their time, but I shall not go into that. Also, I do not like to apologise to 4 parents for broken bones and split domes. Plus, getting my Australia visa revoked due to it being a possible conviction case.

This brings me to a poem in which I was reading a few weeks back. The poem was tittled, "First they came" written by Pastor Martin Niemöller. In a nutshell, its about the failure of the (german) intellectuals of that time to act. It goes:

"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out."

How many times have we got away with the thought of that "someone, somewhere out there will speak up for them" or "not my problem, its theirs"-when we are in fact disturbed by it.

Personally it was many times for me.

Equality, always mentioned but seldom practiced. Sometimes we fail to notice the worth of another. So if another person is of "another camp", his business is none of my business. Admit it we all live in SG here, come on. Deep down inside us, you know its there. Sorry for nit-picking but..you know.

We see injustice being done everyday. From small matters like not signalling while driving to large scale matters involving politics. But how many of us make it a point to be aware and speak up?

It all boils down to personal interest. We place ourselves higher than other things and essentially forget that we all bleed red. I too have let injustice happen in front of me but because of personal interest, decided not to act or to be over compromising. I'm still young and still growing, but I've adopted setting a "safe limit" to deal with matters like this. For instance, if a guy were to hit a lady and I know about it. Prepare to get some, slowly but surely. Or in a Chinese restaurant when the waiter is being pushy in asking me to partake shark fin after i decline, I will give him a good long lecture and see if management throws me out.

I'm human, I know I cannot stand up for every injustice, only for those that blatantly exceed the threshold. Back to the girl in the earlier part of the post. The main reason why I did not stop her was that she noticed me overhearing and instead of running her mouth at me like all typical ah lians, she had that look in her eyes that she knew she was in the wrong and felt disgraced and stop talking about it. Sensing that, I let her go. Like I said.. all within a "safe limit"

Deal or no Deal

2010-01-17T01:52:00.003+10:00

Crabs...

No, I'm not referring to Phtirius pubis (crab louse for my non-athropod/parasitology inclined readers) but the decapod crustacean Scylla serrata (aka Mud crab). I'm such a Geek.

Let me sidetrack a little, I think its good to be a Geek but not to grow into a geek. "Ain't they the same thing? "will definitely be the first question to come to the person's mind. To be a geek means to in build within oneself the mental state of the geek. The thirst for knowledge, the drive to seek answers and actively engage in peer discussion/appraisal/critic. All this traits within a person but not at the expense of conforming to a stereotype and losing your individuality. Growing into a geek means having the traits of a geek and actively conforming to what society deems as the "Geek Image" Yes a thin line separates these 2.

The funny thing about myself is that when opportunity (Clashes pertaining to personal character growth, Values, Morals) arises, I like to dwell in the thin grey line. Not because I'm unsure of my decision but it is in this position that a path of either "Conviction and Excel" or "Tempted and fall". Face it, we are all aware of these points in our lives. But what men are already aware, I wanted to be aware more. Not because of wanting to forge my own destiny but to see what lessons DaddyGod has for me in my life and how through him that I can overcome.

Ok, I really side tracked alot...

Anyway, yesterday's dinner was at melben seafood (Ang Mo Kio) and today mum bought black pepper crab for dinner. All Crabed out boy. Yesterday was the first time I tried melben. I usually eat at uncle leongs which is just opposite and it is started by the brother of melben. Honestly speaking, they are the same. Period. The taste is identical so why is one place getting the mad publicity while the other usually do not have a queue?

I love crabs. In fact I love seafood. Now in this sense I find a need to justify myself. Yes, I love marine life as well. You can start to label me a hypocrite. No worries, I will not blame you cause you guys would not necessarily know how I approach the seafood matter. Let me sum it up in one word - sustainability. I do make an effort to identify which seafood is sustainable for consummation as I believe in making informed decisions. No action is without thought/conviction/rationale/driving force. The phrase "I don't know why I did that" is utter bullshit. I too will blurt out this phrase on certain occasions but it is really because I do not really have the guts to say out the real reason. Fear governs that line. Ok, its all personal opinions and you guys need not accept my words as doctrine. But I do welcome confrontation to my opinion.

Heck I really side track alot. I dun really plan my blog entry, I just type what comes into my mind at the moment so yeah, bear with me.

Back to the crab restaurant issue. We all want to eat the best crab there is. That is our utopia. But did we ever stop to notice that underneath all the want for a chilli crab fix, butter crab fix or Crab bee hoon fix, the common factor is still the crab? It is the inert taste under the shell that we really enjoy. The sauces and way of cooking are just the wants. What's real is that we just want the meat. period.

We all want to chase utopia. We have our wants but let us remember this. Never chase at the expense of the current. I like making plans and considering all options. Hey, you are reading the blog of the man who can play out a plan with success on both side 6 months prior. Ok, I do not mean to boast on it but you catch my drift. No plan is also ever without its contingency so I like to look into every possible scenario regarding my plans. Once the planning is done, I keep it at the back of my head and see how things go. Understand that these are all paperplay and things can change in the ground. So i just leave it all to THE ONE who has been to my future, I just hold onto him while he takes me for a walk through it. I may have my plans, but DaddyGod's plan will always be the best for me. There are times where HIS plan will clash with my plan, I'm only human and there's a limit to how much I can plan my life.

In all, the only deal is not the 'Ideal' or the 'Real Deal' its 'DaddyGod's Deal'

10-O.. What a 10

2010-01-14T17:50:00.004+10:00

How time flies. 10 years ago, in the dawn of the new millennium, I was just starting my academic year of Secondary 2. Young fresh and wanting to take over the reign of the school. I was a rebel then. No worries, I was not the in your face "Ah Beng" kind of person but rather the kind of person that sought after power. Yes, in my younger days Power does have hold on me. Many of my goals did centre on "Power" and "Position to influence". Now hitting 2010, I think it is a good time to reflect back on certain goals.

Firstly the goals. These goals consist of both long term and short term goals. These goals are:
- Own the Secondary School, in essence
- Power
- To be a Biologist.
- To enter a Poly instead of JC for exposure to the practical aspect.
- A position to influence - OCS for my army days.

Long before I heard of the 5 years plan of the USSR, I had, within me felt an importance of 5 years plan. True enough, after looking back, from 2000 to 2010, it has been split into two 5 years plan. The amazing thing is both 5 years had in store things that I could not foresee at that time, Plans for my life in which blessed me greatly. I have been drawn to the number 5 ever since I entered Secondary 1 and the only meaning I knew of the number 5 was "The Boys' Brigade Fifth Singapore Company"

2000-2005. Most of my goals that I had in my secondary 2 days were met in this period. For owning the school. I endevoured to show people what I can do. I was placed in many leadership roles namely, Class monitor, a prefect, Prefectorial board Executive committee, Peer Support Leader, Peer Support Leader Committee and Company Sergeant Major of the BB. Yes, indeed I had the position to own the school with the "power" I wield. I also studied to get to the class with the subjects I wanted. To further position myself in knowing those 2 subjects more, I spend more time in it and got to be a peer tutor in biology and a group leader in Chemistry. Got into a course I wanted, All poly offered the same course but I appealled to get into NYP. Not because I cannot get in but it was nearer to me and as much as I liked the hip culture of TP, travelling is a killer, especially with the "unity, justice and equality" in transport fare between JC and Poly. Alot of effort was put in, alot of the "I" factor. Face it I was at the top of my game, I owned it as long as I work for it. Constant Strife, constantly expoliting what I can expolit.

2005-present. I like this era. My personal Golden era or the Grace Era. It was this period that I heard the Grace message that I see many good this happening. Firstly as a student, my grades showed improvement. If you see my studying patterns, you will really wonder how I can get this kind of grades. Not only in poly but in Uni as well. Ok, I do not wish people to follow my studying methods But it was really grace that allowed me to absorb things and concepts fast. My speed reading improved as well with more retention of information. Its really not what I can do naturally, Indeed these are my gifts from Grace, nothing short of a miracle. 10 years down the road and now I'm a graduate. My strive for power was also taken in hand. The first good thing that happened was the removal of my post as a "president-to-be" in the NYP primers. Of course when it happened it was not cool. But that taught me one good lesson. Power is not gained, power is not earned. True Power is worked out from the heart or in the layman term, ture power comes from within. My days in NS was also nothing short of grace. I wanted to be an officer. I was posted to Ninja Coy for my PTP/BMT. The toughest there is. But it was not without a reason. OCS, it is easy to get in but the journey is a hard one and its easy to fail. My service term in OCS was really good. The placement at Ninja BMT enabled me to be physically fitter and have a clarity of mind even when fatigued. DaddyGod knows my heart. He knows that I crave action and education for the 2 years and he has supernaturally placed me in places where my NS objectives are met. Firstly a placement to be a signal cadet which allowed me to see a wide spectrum of ops apart from my infantry counterparts. Nearing the end of the course, I scored high in course standing and it is very likely I will be sent to a active Battalion. But my posting was to be kept in the insititute. This posting allowed me to see the SAF in a wider spectrum. Although lacking in the command tour, this was made up by the invaluable experience of seeing and participating in many Exercises.

By self effort I can meet my Goals through a route of hard work and stress. By Grace, He super exceeds my expectation and I rest in his finished work. I don't know about you guys but Imma be sitting in the Grace Camp.

Only by Grace.. can one experience True Happiness which is Given by Love (Jesus). This is a year of restful increase and indeed, Peace Keeps what Grace Gives. Nothing But LOVE and LOVE Crucified.

N.T.E

2009-12-09T23:43:00.003+10:00

The latin Phrase..."Nihil Timendum Est"

Its been ringing in my head when I was at sydney. Loosely translated it means "To fear nothing".

I'm the person that likes to anticipate future events and seeing how things unfold. It sounds kinda like Saw but I never 100% really believe the line that "if you are good at anticipating the human mind, you live nothing to chance." I only agree on it to a certain extend, something like a 99.99%. There still ain't no absolutes yeah~

But still, what is that 0.01% ?

Something new? something strange?

Quoting Richard Wright," This is life, new and strange; Strange because we fear it; New because we have kept our eyes turned from it... men are men and life is life, and we ust deal with them as they are; and if we want to change them, we must deal with them in the form in which they exist"

A case of realism really, Endless battles, Resisting of temptations, embracing of circumstances..

Still.. N.T.E.. A Fearless Approach. Its true that it ain't always fun and games when you put yourself through it. But nevertheless..

Forecasting..

2009-11-15T14:12:00.003+10:00

Forecast for this Week:

Monday (16/11) : Microbes and human health exam.
Tuesday (17/11): Human molecular genetics and disease.. (zZzzZ.. shag Balls man)
Wednesday(18/11): Attempting past year papers for Ecology of Disease.
Thursday (19/11): Ecology of Disease Exam (Very possible the last exam of my life)
Friday (20/11): After Exam party.. Its time to break out the drinks.
Saturday (21/11): Gold Coast surfers paradise.
Sunday (22/11) : Gold Coast's Wet n Wild.
Monday (23/11): Gold Coast's Dreamworld...

Before the fun, comes the exams.. Back to microbes..

Women have the monthly thing, I have the Yearly thing

2009-11-06T17:50:00.004+10:00

Hola mis amigos..

OK, its kinda like what my title says. But this yearly thing is not regarding any biological function within my body. Ever since I had my first website back in the early 2000s, I have always dedicated some time every year to "do things better". Face it, we are constantly learning stuff and a "doing things better" mentality serves as an avenue to test us on certain things. It started with a simple HTML before progressing to Javascript. Flash followed suite and subsequently using photoshop to enhance the visuals of the website.

Ever since last year, HTML has become a thing of the past for updates so I can focus more on learning photoshop. Hence, the move to blogspot.

This time around, I decided to do a visualization of the ideals of blog into the new banner. Something that shouts "ME!!" Its the Ris Low thing going on in my home page yo. Yeah the banner is new and the jukebox is new. First up, the jukebox. Yes it can be silenced but I guarantee you, with the music selected on the playlist coupled with the background and font color certain parts of a post will be viewed with the true intent. But its up to you to discover it, so if it does not work on you.. one word, "Dense" nuff said. Dun give me the crap that the lyrics of some sounds might not make sense because that's not what I am driving at.

My favourite visual change to this blog, which I think I will keep for the years to come will be new banner. The blogs MO, my ideals, my interest are all reflected in colors and objects in the montage. And Yes, to really see through some of the points, you need to have the playlist on...I simply enjoy torturing my audiences I admit. But if you guys are really not interested , you can run the risk of misinterpretation my posts. That I kid you not. I never like my audience to read the lines but to find my intent behind all the words. Each post is deliberated, I kid you not.

Well, that's the end of today's post.

Adiós a mis amigos

1 to the 3 to the 4,5,6

2009-11-04T23:41:00.004+10:00

"Dr. Gordon. This is your wake-up call. Every day of your working life, you have given people the news that they are going to die soon. Now you will be the cause of death. Your aim in this game is to kill Adam. You have until 6:00 on the clock to do it. There's a man in the room with you. When there is that much poison in your blood, the only thing left to do is shoot yourself. There are ways to win this hidden all around you. Just remember: 'X' marks the spot for the treasure. If you do not kill Adam by 6:00, then Alison and Diana will die, Dr. Gordon. And I'll leave you in this room to rot. Let the game begin." (John Kramer,Saw, 2004)

Watching the movie Saw has become an annual thing. Every Halloween since 2004 debuts a sequel of this brilliant movie. Yes, it is gory and grotesque to a certain extend but the way the story progresses is nothing short of brilliant. The storyline twist and turn to every possible angle and it resulted in me following the series, just to fill in the loops left by the previous film.

Year 2009, we get Saw 6. This is the projected end of the 2nd Saw Trilogy after the death of Jigsaw and it comprises the most elaborate elements inside the Main Game. Since its still early as a cinema feature, I shall not spoil the story for you guys. All I can say is that it's worth the money if you are an old fanboy of Saw. If you are a "new believer" or never watched any of the Saw Movies before, I might not recommend it to you but if you are a Die-hard Gore Junkie, yes there will be blood.

Apart from the anticipation of Saw,I also look forward to getting the mystery of Dr. Lawrence Gordon solved. He sawed off his feet at the end of the first movie. Yes, logically speaking he would have died due to losing massive amounts of blood. There are many references to him for the subsequent films but none confirming he is dead. It is indeed frustrating to be watching this kind of movie with twist and turns galore and you are left with a cliffhanger issue of a main character. Well, I toyed with the idea and came up with a few possible scenario pertaining to the state of this man.

#1. The easiest scenario. He died. Face it, that tourniquet will not help stop the bleeding. But if this is true. Where's the body? Jigsaw's MO does not include clearance of the bodies just the removal of a piece of skin shaped like a Jigsaw. Therefore, Where is The Fricking Body?

#2. This is to explain the missing body from scenario one. He got lost and died in one corner... fair enough. We all get disorientated once in a while. More so if you were bleeding like crazy.

#3. This used to be my thinking until Saw III. He survived was rescued and send to hospital . Nah. I'm just bull shitting now as Saw III evidently stated that he is still missing.

#4. Amanda Killed him... Bwahaha

#5. Following the twist and turn of the Scriptwriter of Saw. Dr. Gordon crawled out of the room. However he cannot get far due to his pain from the amputated leg. John Kramer left the room not long after Dr. Gordon crawled out. John would have bumped into Dr. Gordon. Although Dr. Gordon did not fulfil the objectives of the game, he showed the will to survive. This is reason enough for Dr. Gordon to be saved John Kramer and he now works for Jigsaw. The basis for this would be medical equipment from Saw 3 and traps that require surgical procedures like the Face trap in Saw 2.

Anything is possible at this point really. If there were to be another addition to Saw, I do hope that this point can be answered. But then again, if it was really answered then to me, one of the reason to watch Saw is gone.

In Closing, A Movie is still a Movie... But the suspense is killing me.

Love, on her fins: Fishing jump over its boundaries...That's what it should be called.. not buddha jump over the wall.

2009-09-15T17:34:00.006+10:00

Its been some time since I last did a Love on her fins post. Its not that I have lost my love for the creatures. I still love them wholeheartedly and the mesmerizing sight of the Great white shark is still etched in my memory.

We have all been introduced to Food Web during some point of our life. Complicated networks, these web present, no doubt about that. The connection, yes, everything in this world is indeed connected. Sharks, beautiful creatures, generally function as the apex predator. So what happens if the apex predator is removed? Its not rocket science and a 5th grader would confidently tell you that the all animals below it will have their population affected.

Shark Porn. No, I'm not talking about riding a shark or going down on it. Rather, a term used for things that demean the sharks. Sex is beneficial for the propagation of the species and the peak of intimacy between married couples, therefore sex is good. But now we see pictures and videos of the internet showing everybody screwing anybody or any rubber object. Therefore Porn is bad. But isn't both essentially in its foundation the same thing? Its just a perversion in Man's mind that forces a distinction between the 2. Sex is intimate, but porn depicts it as a free for all cum-fest, causing a devaluation of it. The same with sharks, These are gentle creatures, they do not want to purposely eat you. I was in a shark cage off Port Lincoln looking eye to eye with one of the most ferocious sharks and the Great White did not charge at me for a bite. Jaws, Deep blue Sea and Open water has stirred an irrational fear of the creature within the general public. These creatures have a slow growth rate, late sexual maturation, lengthy pregnancies and small litters.This make sharks among the most biologically vulnerable animals in the oceans. Imagine if you remove a whole lot of them from the food web....

It might not make sense to most people, the detriment effect of overfishing that is. Most people are just contented with have their fish served on their plate without questioning where it came from. Most Chinese people will happily gulp down their shark fin soup and ask for more without thinking of how the fins were painfully removed from the sharks. Ecology is not important to most people, the only thing that is important to these folks is that their children's marriage get blessed. But divorce cases are increasing over the years.

The world is cruel, Man is Selfish. The Shark finning industry is a lucrative trade. There are countries who will pay top dollar for the fins. Kinda obvious which countries they are. There is a demand for fins. The fisherman knows this. They also know that their total catch of the day is limited by their boat size. Sharks are Big, only their fins are profitable. Guess what they do to save space..Remove the fins and let toss the shark back to the sea.

Money is not important. Many will say that. But subconsciously we all know that the importance of money is on the same level as oxygen. We are also selfish buggers who do not know how to work together. Ask your closest colleague if he/she will take a bullet for you in order for you to promote. If the person is willing to do that, that person is either an unconditional lover or a plain jackass only wanting to suck up to you. Its a dog eat dog world out there. The overfishing of sharks leads to the abundance of skate, rays and small shark species. In the U.S. east coast, Bay Scallop industries have been devastated due to over-predation by the cownose ray. The one reason is that they are left to proliferate without predation due to the sharks being over-fished. No love in the world of man. It only takes a spark to get the fire going. It only takes a CpG dinucleotide change to yield a different protein. It only takes the removal of an apex predator to change the ecology of the oceans and the world.Earth is practically 70% water and its these places that forms the life support of the world. Now do you really want to mess with that?

It might look as if I do not love my own kind. I do love Sharks and I do want to see them being protected so future generations can enjoy their presence. I believe that conservation efforts are not for the sake of the present individual but for the future generation. We messed up, our forefathers messed up. Where is the love? should we continue messing things up down the generations? We all want the best for our future why not think collectively as a single human species?

So what can we do as an individual to help stop overfishing? We live in a Democratic world don't we. We voted for people to represent us in state affairs and that's one way to voice our concerns. Voice to our leaders and let them act upon it. We gave them the power, let them use it. This goes for all matters that you think that can affect the community or the state. We voted these bastards to represent us. If they do not do a sufficiently good job, during the next election, vote these bastards out and elect a new group of bastards to do the Job. People should not fear the government and the government should not fear the people. Let us all try to keep this balance.

Overfishing due to greed and profit has caused shark populations to decline and thus affecting our planet's ecosystem. I'm not asking everyone to act upon this cause blindly as personal conviction is needed. I'm only here to make you guys aware of the situation we are in. If you see as I see and Feel as I feel. Spread the word around.

Mad About Mambo Jambo.

2009-09-07T22:20:00.005+10:00

We can dance when we want to...

I heard a rumor. There was a time where I can indeed dance when I want to and Blame it on the boogie. When La Luna is up in the night sky, The Sign is out and its off too Funky Town. Its usually on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Wednesdays at Zouk's Mambo Nite and Saturday at DBL O's retro night, both in the confines of a square room. Its kinda wierd to have Mambo Always on my Mind and even though I'm approx 7000km away, I still Can't get you out of my head . Like a energy surge of electric blue, I got my Mind set on you. With that thing you do, You came with the old school disco hits and You Spin me right round and I wanna dance with Somebody under the Summer Rain. I Just can't get enough. When i was back in SG, I did not miss a single mambo night as I really wanna Get the Party Started and Let the Music Play. 2 Mambo session was indeed short and I wanted to Stay (a Little longer) and Cherish the Love that is Mambo. I guess That's What Love can Do , Leaving a Light on every Wednesday, and Sending all my love to the dance floor. Indeed Love in the Degree. It might be childish to say but I think I'ma Never gonna give you up. And If I can't have you, I will indeed hate myself for Loving you. But We didn't start the fire, Sipping a glass of red red Wine, You to me are everything in this what I might call True faith. Let's play the Funky Music till I die.

Let us Learn form the most powerful in the Free World. President Barrack Obama. or should I say OBa-MaMBO. Cheers:)

Now and Forever : a (x3) 5 Bar Freestyle

2009-08-25T18:57:00.007+10:00

(of Loyalty to the cause)
Welcome back to the Narczi city.
To the age when all twits were done by a bird named tweety
Fo Sheezy brother it's easy to beef lets get low down sleezy
Throwing them punches so fast you barely see it
Knocking you out so fast you best believe it.
Just like that In the Zone, with a wrench to yo dome,
Impact so hard your brain fell outta your fricking asshole
We've all been told its always bros before hos
I got your back even if ya on a MFF run yo
on the real, whats the 10 digits for the ladies in yo area code?

(of reasoning without Knowledge)
Check it, In an Insane world with nothing to gain
A sane perspective ain't a commodity
no co-relation but I think I murdered the Child Prodigy.
No Legacy with nuthin' much to see what I'll be
But Probably a schizophrenic rhyme bustin' dude I'll be
A rhyma-matic prick, To this tune I'm an Addict
Cause a panic when these rhymes go up in yo attic.
Spewing these words frantic, on the mic set pace to automatic
Dishing them lines after lines dissing you while I'm at it.
And I'd be dropping bombs on you like a comedian with his antics, you can't handle it

(of Innate Split Personality)
Yo, I can't believe it.
2 years silent and now I'm back at it
Mad at it?
Nay, Imma welcome it.
My take on it , be what you wanna be even if the odds are stacked
Bullshit to all ya'll trying to hold me, man cut me some slack.
with the bass still pumping, damn you know there be no lack
of words for me to use against you, yo head be cracked
my advice, best be out 'fore I take you out man Imma lovin it.
A Resurrection after 2 years underground and I'm back now, You best Believe It.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It Never Left, It Never Left... Welcome Back. We Missed You

Love, on her Fins: Lets not be indiscriminate

2009-06-21T19:13:00.004+10:00

I know the Effects of a landmine. I know its tactical advantages in the field and the psychological trauma it can have on soldiers. The landmine is an indiscriminate killer. It doesn't matter if you are the enemy or a unfortunate-disorientated ally. Step on it and off goes your limbs or your life. A perfect counter mobility tactic in warfare.

Cambodia was one of the countries that I have the opportunity to visit. Some of the beggars I saw on the streets of Siem reap have missing legs, some of them are just kids. This is an example of the post war onslaught of landmine usage. War has ravaged Cambodia (Cambodian Civil war and Vietnamese-Cambodian war) for the past few decades and landmines are planted in any possible land space for the attrition of enemy forces. Now, years after that, Civilians pay the price, especially kids. Looks like this was one of scenarios not foreseen during the conflict period. It is just unfair to see these kids suffering for wars in which they had no part in.

Shark nets are deployed at beaches populated with bathers. The reason: To protect bathers from shark attacks. At a point of time, This was considered good and it ensured the safety for the bathers. Overtime, These nets are proving to be indiscriminate, becoming more like a "fishing equipment" rather than a protective device.

The principle is as such. Shark nears the beach. The shark will then get caught by net. Being caught in the net and being unable to swim backwards, shark dies. Therefore by killing the shark, the chances of shark-human interaction is reduced. This reduction protects people. However these nets do not enclose the beach ( from surface to seabed to the extreme left and right), which means the shark can still get into the beach. Studies have also shown that sharks are usually caught on the beach side of the net rather than on the outside. Safety barrier? I don't think so.

By catch are common. Other sea creatures like turtles, dolphins and whales can also get tangled and drown in these nets. I know protection of the human species is important but at the expense of others who also aid in the building of the ecosystem? Think about it, if the main priority is the protection of humans, why is there a need to kill/ cull an animal population? Is indiscriminate killing of other creatures justifiable for our own survival? Think about it. We humans have a long sad history of genocidal events to animals as well as to our fellow men and it does really make me wonder: "is killing all we are ever good at?"

The link listed below is an online petition for the removal of Shark nets in KwaZulu-Natal. I will not be forcing you guys on this but if you want to make your stand. This is one good avenue.

http://www.removethenets.com/sign-the-petition

Till the next time. Peace.

Love, on her Fins : Humans are dangerous

2009-06-20T12:23:00.005+10:00

It has been an annual thing for me to spend some time to blog about shark conservation. From my old website to this current blog, the period between June - August would be my main choice. Reason being that these are the months leading to discovery channel's shark week.

I was hit by an "epiphany" of sorts recently while I was researching articles for this years blog. "Why can't everyday be Shark Week?"- That was the question that popped into mind. If I can stop eating Shark Fin Soup for the rest of my life on a personal level. Why not take it to a Higher level? Why Not use this blog not only as a vessel of writing about my life, my thoughts, my spiritual walk but also,an avenue to spread a little marine conservation message? Hence from today, a new tag line for my blog is formed : Love, on her Fins - dedicated to the creatures whom I grew to love over the ages.

The First Post under this tag line: Warning to Sharks, Humans are Dangerous.

There are many documentaries themed on shark attacks and surviving it. While these documentaries are good and all for education in the possible event you find yourself in a situation like that. These documentaries fail to remove a social stigma to it's target audience which is "sharks are dangerous killing machines."

If sharks are really all that would we not be maul by them every time in the water? From data collated at ISAF (International Shark Attack File - http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/statistics/statsw.htm) 2008 saw 59 attacks with 4 being fatal. From 1990 its like an average of 57 shark attacks per year. However, 73 million sharks are killed each year to satisfy the shark fin industry. This is also inclusive of illegal Shark Finning Trade. The numbers do not quite tally eh? looks oddly balanced to me. Seems to me We humans are the real dangerous son-of-bitches. Hello Chinese people, for a soup with a tasteless core ingredient? I got something else by the name of "mazini lotion" which has more taste and I think could jizz on your wedding day soup without the fin and it still taste great. Fishing the shark, finning it and tossing the body back to the sea (just to save cargo space for more fins while the creature sinks and dies) just ain't justifiable for a soup on your wedding day.

The Fear we have for Sharks are irrational. Our Human actions, especially with the shark finning, are the main contributors to the general disappearance to this species. Therefore, for those who feel as I feel and see as I see. Take up your moral courage and say no to shark fin soup and shark finning.

Saatchi & Saatchi South Africa Came up with a brilliant and radical marketing campaign for the save our seas campaign. Check it out.

Picking up the beat.

2009-06-09T21:44:00.005+10:00

I know I did say that I will not blog until after my papers (24/06/09). But you know, one needs an outlet amongst the studying and this is my outlet. Managed to read through Virology last night. Now for one more round or a few more rounds. Its a tad bit hard to remember everything but I guess it can be possible.

Both Psalms 23 and Psalms 91 are my favourite movtivational chapters from the Bible and it gave me strength when I really needed it and to see me through certain situations. The knowledge that there is someone with you in the midst of your situation, someone who comforts and delivers you from trials, can really calm your spirit.

Recently there's also another motivational phrase. This phrase is two years old now exactly on this date in which I must add, without the above 2 chapters, This Phrase would not have meant anything. The Phrase is 'To Lead, To Excel, To Overcome"

I am an Officer of the Singapore Armed Forces

My Duty is to lead, to excel, and to overcome.

I lead my men by example
I answer for their training, morale, and discipline

I must excel in everything I do
I serve with pride, honour, and integrity

I will overcome adversity with
Courage, fortitude, and determination

I dedicate my life to Singapore

It has been 1 year now. 1 year after my active serivce life ended that is. From the very first introduction to it as a cadet in Golf Wing to reciting it proudly during the comissioning parade, This creed has made itself significant in almost everything. Up to date, these words still resonate strongly inside my heart.

I know its been two years but I still like to look at the pictures below from time to time.

65/06 SOCC PL 1 Contigent doing the march past.

Mum affixing the Rank on my Shoulder.

With my Mum.
My Grandma, Aunt and Uncle was also there.With Lydia, a Great Sister-in-Christ.After the parade, with my family and the SAFTI tower. With Lydia, after the parade.

The Creed still stands. In everything I do. The creed Still Stands.

Same Song and dance

2009-06-07T22:16:00.004+10:00

Lets see, Exams are like in a few days time. Its gonna be shift up on high gear from tomorrow onwards. Most of the marks of the semestral assessment are back and If I can maintain those grades with my finals, Its gonna be real Sweet.

I reckon, the lectures on origins of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells are gonna be a tough nut. If it comes out, that is. Honestly I wasn't really sold on that topic as it's the whole evolution over creation thingy all over again. Putting religion aside(in this context,that is) I still don't quite feel him. Yes, the whole primordial soup thing and the first thing that crawled out of the water wasn't really my cup of thing. Also, A "soup" which has an environment capable of somehow spontaneously spawning nucleic acid from molecules? Its like the soup resembles a Car parked in a remote romantic spot.

Imagine this, If you found out you were a child that was not planned and somehow you found out you were an "accident". How will you feel? Feel a little low and "valueless" perhaps? Yeah, I guess that's what you be feeling. Sorry but there's really no offense intended if you are in this position.

Back to the contents of the primordial soup. Lets say if 3 Carbon atoms met 5 Hydrogen atom and they had a Baby. Meanwhile another 2 Carbon atoms and 5 Nitrogen atoms met and had a Baby. And by some chance these 2 babies met and F*cked. You get Adenine which base pairs with thymine in DNA or Uracil in RNA. We all know that the basic building blocks of life is DNA so there you go, we are products of spontaneous Baby F*cking. Kinda takes away the value of Life ain't It?

Face It, I'm the kind of person who places value on value. For example, all my friends have a value affixed to them and I treat them individually based on this value. But no worries, I still cherish all my friends around me.

But with all said and done... There's still a need to Study it.

Cheers Ya'll
Be back bloggin after my papers..

THE NEXT BIG THING!!!! DIVING WITH GREAT WHITE SHARKS 28th to 30th June.. Sweet

Snake eyes..

2009-05-12T20:45:00.004+10:00

It's been a while..

If you look on the left, there's a new twitter box. So if I ever go missing for extended periods of time. You can look there to check out my whereabouts.

There's a recent trend in facebook and its taking over the cyberspace. I call it Quizi-itis. The taking and creating of quizzes. I myself have been bitten by it. It's what you call, an outlet when studying.

I know it's not like me to create a quiz on myself. I never liked things like that although I admit I'm kinda of a narcissist. Anyway, back to the topic of the quiz. Yes, I created one with a tagline->free drinks for anyone who get 100%. But, the catch is, the highest possible mark for anyone who knows me for any period of time will be 67%. That is, of course without random guessing. It was a heinous tagline I know, but It just goes to show that these quizzes cannot tell you how well you know the person.

For me, knowing a person is about knowing the person to a degree that you know the person's every intent. Not just social peculiarities or favourite hobbies or favourite food but what drives the individual, what holds the individual, what motivates the individual. That is, I guess, my own defination of "knowing a person".

I'm a person who takes a gamble.

Not a gamble as in a casino. But a gamble at certain situations put forth in situations I do not understand/completely apperciate. It can relate to my studies here at QLD, especially the recent Molecular Cell Biology paper I sat for last week. It was a killer. Nuff said. never ever trust the tips.. If the paper is rescheduled due to a fire.

Another gamble was on a more personal level. Then again, 'gamble' might not be the correct word, in its entirety to describe it. There were adequete levels of controls and planning. But time and time again I was provoked to lose my cool. hence a gamble of sorts. I guess leaving all these faces in my dreams...should be a decent memory. At least in there, all is beautiful and peaceful.

Anyway.. Cheers:) Immuno Time

The Next Saturday

2009-04-21T16:47:00.004+10:00

Vernon set up a blog last week titled the Next saturday @ www.thenextsat.blogspot.com.

This is the exact re-post that I wrote over at the Blog.

Cheers Mate
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Firstly, Many thanks to Vernon for inviting me to be a contributor to this blog.

My posts might be a little harder for Singaporeans to relate to as I'm currently residing in Brisbane, Australia for my studies. Studying in a foreign land does give me the opportunity to check out various fun-spots and tourist spots. Ultimately, I do hope my posts can help those who are keen on having a vacation in Queensland , Australia- namely in Brisbane. Hence, the Headline for my post will be "Saturdays @ QLD".

(18/04/2009) Unlike Singapore, the easter holidays here span for a week. This week is used mainly for rushing of reports and preparation for mid semester breaks. Last Saturday, we decided to try our luck at winning air tickets back to Singapore at the Conrad Treasury Casino.

With over 80 gaming tables and 1300 gaming machines, this casino is the biggest in Queensland. The Casino is located at William Street inside the Central Business District. It is easily accessible by Bus services, trains and the CityCat (Ferry service on the Brisbane river). If you are staying at the suburbs and want to take a cab, do share it with your friends as the cab fare can be quite high. From where I'm staying (St. Lucia), the 10 minute Taxi ride can amount up to AUD $16.00.

The Conrad Treasury Casino

Inside the casino, expect a good table gameplay. From a traditional round of Blackjack to the current hot favourite- Texas Hold em up. Just dun ask for a Big 2(Dai dee) table, nothing will happen. Different tables have different minimum bets ranging from AUD $5 for the casual gamer to the AUD $50 for the high flyers.

No, I did not win an air ticket back as I did not play. For those who feel that gambling is not their thing, there's a nice bar and a live band area. I'm not so sure about the prices of the drinks as I did my drinks out of the casino. The outside the casino can get a tad bit rowdy due to 2 bars being near the casino. There is a never ending line of Taxis in that area so getting back to your accomodation should not be much of a problem.

Till the next Saturday..Cheers Mate

Just a little like this, like that and like this and er.. like this?

2009-04-05T14:31:00.004+10:00

A continuation of the 6 day showers down here at Brisbane, this is the 4th day. The initiation of the season change I reckon.

Went for a dive at flinder's reef yesterday. It was what I call a challenge. I never had sea sickness before and I thought that it should be alright for this trip. How nice of the ocean to always have an element of uncertainty. The waves here are indeed pure madness. With boat inclinations varying from 45 degrees to 60 degrees, its hard not to feel seasick. Also, there was a dick move on my part. I was inside the toilet when the waves start picking up. It was not fun, I gurantee it. Being tossed and slammed to the toilet wall and the door. I now know how a tossed salad feels like.

The First Dive was a good refresher. My bouyancy was still more or less unhindered by the 4 years of non-diving. The only tiring part was when my tank was less than half that I had a harder time making myself neutrally bouyant. The Australian's were all shocked that I managed to descend with only 2 weights with a 4mm full suit. I guess I was indeed well trained. The highlight of the dive is seeing 2 sea turtles playing under water. Too bad the Camera was not with me.

For the second Dive, I buddied with Terence as he did his Advanced Openwater. The sea current was a challenging one. The tossed salad feeling was back. The plus point for this dive will be the emergence of more marine creatures. More fishes were swimming around the anchor and they were curiously swimming up to us as we were on our safety stop.

It's good to feel the sea and saltwater again. As for the boat rocking "Rock the boat..dun tilt the boat baby"

For a few years, I have been doing some reading on color wheels, color spectrum and absorbtion under water. The reason- to post process underwater pictures. For those who bring down a compact camera for your dives, you will know that the pictures tend to be washed out. For the physics geeks, you will know that by 5 metres, the color red is gone. Images tend to look like this at around 16m underwater:

I was tinkering with photoshop a few times and I found this method to be the easiest way to correct underwater pictures. Not much photoshop experience needed as it is mainly using fills and blending modes. Here are the steps:

Before opening up the picture to edit. Change the foreground color to red using this values R:255, G:0, B:0.
Open the picture of interest.
Duplicate the layer 2 times. Yielding 3 layers in your layers tab.
To the second layer, go to Edit-> Fill. Select 50% Grey
To the uppermost layer, change blending mode to Luminosity. This will yield a b/w picture but without changing the saturation of the upper layer.
Merge down the top 2 layers.
Create a new layer and fill it with the foreground color. Edit-> Fill. Select Foreground color.
To this new red layer, change blending mode to multiply . This essentially embeds the red color into B/W picture.
Merge down the top 2 layer. Yielding one red layer above and the original layer below as seen from the layers tab.
To the above red layer, change blending mode to screen. This step is to light up the lower layer with the brightness of the upper layer. In this case to fuse the color red into the picture.
Merge the 2 layers together.
To further refine the effect, go to Image-> adjustment ->auto-levels

The Image will look something like this, with the red color restored:

Hope the above tutorial can be of use to those who are interested.

Take care of yourself when you run ya. And also during this period of high stress due to work commitments and study commitments. Know that DaddyGod is with you and he is the best present help during this Period. God Bless:)

Aussie aussie aussie....oi oi oi...

2009-03-24T22:40:00.005+10:00

I don't really watch TV back in SG. Back in SG, I only watch streaming videos over the net and Taiwan dramas over dinner, especially the in-laws series. Over here, I watch with a greater intensity. Simpsons and 2 and a half man has become a staple viewing pleasure. Coupled with this frenzy are the reality program Aussie ladette to lady and the obstacle game show, Wipeout.

I was asking myself last week, "Am I going through Aussi-fication?" The sole reason for asking this question was the fact that I was starting to subconciously control my tongue movement while talking. I just hope the controling of the tongue thing stays in the context of speech and not overflow to other aspect. This question followed me to sleep and I had a perculiar dream. One which I do find it hard to forget.

It goes a little something like this. I was like standing on the bridge connecting Vivocity to sentosa and looking down at the straits. But the bridge does not look like the one in SG but the one connecting north quay to southbank in brisbane. Looking up, there were cable cars. Looking Down, jet skis. Looking further into the water. I saw shadows which looks like crocodiles. A little later and a school of fish was seen inside the water followed by sharks. Looking towards the ends of the beach and I saw the merlion and vivocity. This was too much to handle- I woke up, for Immunology lecture of course. The scary thing is... some of the visions did happen this week. I was on that bridge on sunday and the news today featured sharks at the gold coast.

I was humming 2 songs for duration of last week until this week. 2 very catchy songs i might add. The first one is rock the boat:

Rock the boat by Hues Corporation
So I'd like to know where, you got the notion
said I'd like to know where, you got the notion

to rock the boat, don't rock the boat baby
rock the boat, don't tip the boat over
rock the boat, don't rock the boat baby
rock the boat-t-t-t-t

Ever since our voyage of love began
your touch has thrilled me like the rush of the wind
and your arms have held me safe from a rolling sea
there's always been a quiet place to harbor you and me

Our love is like a ship on the ocean
we've been sailing with a cargo full of, love and devotion

So I'd like to know where, you got the notion
said I'd like to know where, you got the notion

To rock the boat, don't rock the boat baby
rock the boat, don't tip the boat over
rock the boat, don't rock the boat baby
rock the boat-t-t-t-t

Up to now we sailed through every storm
and I've always had your tender lips to keep me warm
oh I need to have the strength that flows from you
don't let me drift away my dear, when love can see me through

Our love is like a ship ...

The Second song is Nothing can stop us now by jefferson's Starship:

Nothing's gonna stop us now by Jefferson's Starship
Looking in your eyes I see a paradise
This world that Ive found
Is too good to be true
Standing here beside you
Want so much to give you
This love in my heart that Im feeling for you

Let em say were crazy, I dont care about that
Put your hand in my hand baby
Dont ever look back
Let the world around us just fall apart
Baby we can make it if were heart to heart

Chorus:
And we can build this dream together
Standing strong forever
Nothings gonna stop us now
And if this world runs out of lovers
Well still have each other
Nothings gonna stop us, nothings gonna stop us now

Im so glad I found you
Im not gonna lose you
Whatever it takes I will stay here with you
Take it to the good times
See it through the bad times
Whatever it takes is what Im gonna do

Let em say were crazy, what do they know
Put your arms around me baby
Dont ever let go
Let the world around us just fall apart
Baby we can make it if were heart to heart

And we can build this dream together
Standing strong forever
Nothings gonna stop us now
And if this world runs out of lovers
Well still have each other
Nothings gonna stop us, nothings gonna stop us

Ooh, all that I need is you
All that I ever need
And all that I want to do
Is hold you forever, ever and ever, hey

And we can build this dream together
Standing strong forever
Nothings gonna stop us now
And if this world runs out of lovers
Well still have each other
Nothings gonna stop us
Nothings gonna stop us, whoa
Nothings gonna stop us now, oh no

Hey baby, I know, hey baby, nothings gonna stop us
Hey baby, woo, nothing, hey baby
Nothings gonna stop us now yeah

Its been a long time since I last heard those 2 and yeah, feels nice to be humming to the tune.

Now with Immuno Presentation out of the way.. its time to hit on the Virology Report..

Ba de ya - Say that you remember

2009-03-14T17:51:00.005+10:00

Currently at UQ using the Internet. A little of anime watching and finding articles for my Immunology PBL presentation. How will I know that Internet is a Life Saver. Guess you only know it when there's a pressing deadline. Now, LPS is floating everywhere around me.

How Will I Know..

How Will I Know..

How will I know if he really loves me
I say a prayer with every heart beat
I fall in love whenever we meet
Im asking you what you know about these things

-How will I know by Whitney Houston

I could not resist the about line. There is a lack of Mambo around here and they do love to play retro songs over the radio. Just like yesterday, they were playing Together in electric dreams at ribbets. Ribbets is a all you can eat rib place located at Dutton Park, Brisbane. If you love ribs, you should head there.

Took this picture at my balcony last Wednesday where the guys were having a "pressing the issue" and geometry talk over beer and cake:

This week has been a good week. But I do wonder, what exactly attributes a Bad week? My table has indeed mutated and expressing new surface receptors. It used to just be my laptop, and clock 3 weeks back. Now it has notes cluttered everywhere. It begins.

I also remembered drifting during one of my Molecular Microbiology Lecture this week. I was day dreaming of ways to counter a viral infection with another virus. Firstly a retro virus. a little something like HIV, with its reverse transcriptase and ability to incorporate into the host genome. But than again, mutation can't be controlled. Than came the thought of a rabies virus. Thanks to the developers at valve for L4D that got me thinking of this virus..but yeah, I did not think long on this as I dun understand this family. Another was using a virus that can be hidden inside the CNS of a host e.g. Herpes Simplex.. that would be fun. Imagine programming it so that once it senses a stimuli it can be expressed to counter the virus. Yeah, Novel Methods but day dreams nonetheless.

Rest well for your sub Urban run Tomorrow sweets:)

Lights on but nobody's home.

2009-03-11T15:13:00.003+10:00

Sometimes I do hate to sleep or rather, dream. I do not claim to be a pre-cog but there are certain things that happened exactly as in my sleep. I really thought I was over that phase for some time but I guess it's back again. The feeling does kinda suck. Do not ask me for winner numbers though.

I do wish that certain things, when seen, is a reflection of a comprehension in my part but for most of the count it is not. There were times where I thought, events could be changed through this but as it appears nothing changes and I just flow through it. How I wish it can lead to a vision of my exam papers.

Choice seems, to be rather, a coefficient, a constant in an equation which never balances itself fully and there is a need for a simultaneous equation to find out the unknown for it is not the choices we make that really matter but finding the reason why we made a choice. I guess this is the journey of life. We make the choices instinctively and/or deliberately and we find our self immersed in a maelstrom of the reason behind the choice.

No, I'm not bitchin' on my choice to study in UQ. I really like it here. Although I do not belong to the Gifted Asian Category, I'm being offered to do something I really enjoy. Its a challenge to really remember things that were taught for more than 3 years but Its not a challenge that I would back down from. Its fun, really to slowly unlock these tidbits of gold. But I do need to speed up a little too.

I'm also not bitchin' on my promise to you. The future does seem to be uncertain, but I know my choice and on my end, I'll fight for it.

So what am I bitching about? come to think about it....

6 Brooks.

2009-03-04T16:44:00.003+10:00

For 2 years, a man's holds his rifle.
After 2 years, he returns his rifle to the armskote.
What ever he may do with his hands after that
Furthering his studies,
Finding a Job,
Holding his Women.
His hands will never forget, the 2 years with the rifle.

Today was the first practical session in a long time. A virology practical. Nothing new actually just some normal Purification of a Tobacco Mosaic Virus and a Side Mutangenesis of a protein fragment from the West Nile Virus. It does feel weird touching the lab apparatus after 3 years. I kid you not, using the pipette doe feel like igniting a claymore mine. Guess this pair of hands cannot forget the 2 years.

I also recall a paragraph I made earlier this year about a scientist with regards to his ideal state and his antimony. A scientist, without a benefit of a doubt craves the knowledge and understanding of his field of interest. The desire to know everything, The drive to reach the state of perfection in his knowledge. He also know that once that is achieved, a part of his being will simply fade away. Joy is only found with new discoveries made in the course of pursuing his ideal. Therefore he will make progress and find utmost ecstasy in every discovery made but feeling the void as he thinks of the end. Joy and Despair reeking from the same source. At the end of the 6 Brooks, is the train to wonderland there? A scientist dilemma

Staying in Brisbane does feel like that. The Joy of knowing about your life, feeling your happiness as you score a distinction in your latest semester. And yet, the down side of not being able to celebrate it physically there. heh, an application of the antinomy of being. But no matter the distance. I will still be there.

Through the Looking Glass

2009-02-27T11:59:00.007+10:00

25.02.2009 was the Faculty of Science welcome in UQ. Its really mainly targeted for the year 1 students with minimum mention on things like honors program. It does feel different here as the students are more vocal than what we have back home. Typically, SG students tend to be less vocal and less keen on enquiring during lectures. These students here are really keen on clearing their doubts. Guess SG students have this pride issue and inferiority/superiority complex issue. I shall not dwell into this, I'm just gonna leave it sink.

25.02.2009 is also Market day at UQ. Lots of things around campus. They got club sign ups, performance by local musicians, free Frisbee and Fowling tryouts, Stalls selling ornaments and Cheer leading Display. Real Cool stuff if I might add, A really cool carnival feel. Signed up with the Singapore Association- just to mingle with fellow Singaporeans Down-under. Also Took a free Try out for the Lifestyle programs in UQ. A Physically Fit Body is just as important here. Posted below are also some Pictures Taken in Market day:

The Market day banner:

Zero Sugar, the drinks I mean:

In Front of Faculty of Law:

In front of Faculty of Law:

Sweets,
All the Best for your interviews later. Looks like your dream of promoting sports and fitness is coming through with the 2 positions offered to you. Hope the interview with the surgeon went well. Really happy to see that your dreams and visions are also being realised:) Tomorrow is also the start of your semester. I pray that you will also do well for this semester. Just a little more and you will achieve your BSc. You can do it:)

Baby its you

2009-02-24T12:42:00.006+10:00

Just finished a Safety Down-under talk in the Uni. Let's see, 3 shark attacks within 24 hours just this February. Scary, but I guess I will still head to the deep blue when the time permits. I mean, we do not usually see a Bull Shark, Tiger Shark or a Great White near our SG or even in Malaysian waters. A Chance to see them in the wild is indeed priceless. If you're thinking a little out of the box- No, I do not have a Death wish when I say that. It just mean I have a greater interest in these things over you.

I still wanna go ahead with cage this year. An experience up front and personal with a Great White will definitely be a crescendo souvenir of sorts, a pinnacle of take-away for my stay here.

There are also a few activities that I am dreaming for as well. Visiting the Australian Outback, Sky Diving, Great Barrier reef dive, Whale watching and bush walking, just to name a few. Lets see how many of them turn into a reality. Of course, without killing my studies in the process.

In closing, Safety-No Fooling around applies..heh

It ain't wrong, It's just different.

2009-02-23T11:40:00.004+10:00

Back at University of Queensland again, not only for the Internet access but for O week as well. Yeah the Big O, now to be mistaken for the other big O- that one is in the bedroom- But O for Orientation. School's Gonna start next week. Anxiety building as the mode slowly starts turning in the low down study mode.

It ain't wrong, it's just different. A little phrase for travellers. For example, we are all used to our own version of hainanese chicken rice where the rice is cooked in the chicken oil. The other day I had chicken rice here in Brisbane and I got a shock. The rice is actually cooked in coconut milk. Imagine the rice being a more potent version of the nasi lemak and served with steamed white chicken and the whole plate is covered with oil. So what do we do? Do we revert to the 'when in Rome, do what the Romans do' mentality and say that we should only hit on beef steaks, lamb chops here? Or, do we take on a new approach with 'It ain't wrong, Its just different'? Its not wrong to serve chicken rice like that, it's just different. Really, just different. But for me, I doubt I will be hitting the joint anytime soon, not because it is wrong, but I doubt my body can handle a constant diet like that. No matter what, we are still responsible for what we eat. *haha, But I still do miss having you around as a nutritionist when we eat..heh*

Caught a brochure on the various lifestyle activities that they provide in UQ. Time to fit that into my time table. For fitness and social reasons of course. There is a need to keep in shape over here, I still have IPPT to clear for my 2009 window. There is also a need to socialise a little over here. I dun feel like being the Asian Phantom of the class who just retreats to his room to study. And I also dun wanna be the hitting the clubs too during school term. Therefore, a healthy body, a healthy mind, a healthy life... all in the secular sense of things. True and Divine Health only cometh from DaddyGod:)

Remember, It ain't wrong, It's just different.

Aussie Aussie Aussie..Haha..Yeah

2009-02-20T14:36:00.009+10:00

Finally, I have an Internet connection. No, It’s not at home but in the university. Thank God for UQ Connect. I guess in this age and time where everyone is wired over a network that we do feel left out if internet is not readily available. I have a need to be network...seriously. Thank God for GSM too. At least I can Connect Back to SG with that.

The Flight on the 9th of Feb was a mental and emotional journey. There was alot of anticipation on the things to come and the starting of university life overseas. Also, living overseas, settling up a 'home' draws alot of anticipation as well. Emotional would be described as 'It’s not what you leave behind, its what you will gain in the days to come' kind of a scenario.

It’s been 2 weeks in Brisbane and I guess the settling down process has been good, less the phone and the Internet line. Since the university life has yet to commence, most of the days are spent exploring the nearby suburbs and watching TV. Up to date, places that we have been exploring are Brisbane City, Toowong, Indoorophilly and the Australia Zoo. TV watching has become part of a routine too. Sources include DVD, by which Terence brought a bunch of them over for our viewing pleasure. Up to now, we have completed heroes season 1 and 2, Pirates of the Caribbean: curse of the black pearl and Dead man's Chest. Another source will be local television with either international programs like '2 and a half man' or local productions like, 'Aussie Ladettes to ladies'- a program where out of control Aussie Girls are sent to England to train to be like ladies and 'wipeout'- a physical obstacle course game show. Yeap, a laid back life for these 2 weeks.

Anyway, here are some pictures for these 2 weeks here:

The Manors, The Place I Stay:

My Room:

The Kitchen:

The Living Room:

Walkway leading to the bed rooms:

My Study Table:

My Bed:

The Closet:

Double Quarter Pounder from Macdonalds

New Kitchenware, check out the pink utensils:

This is how the University looks like:

City Cat Station at the University, A quick way to the city:

Onboard the citycat:

This is how a citycat looks like:

City Cat entering Brisbane city:Home Cooked Pasta with Roasted Chicken from nandos:Toowong Station:

At Toowong Station:

Its not Burger King here, Its Hungry Jack'S:

The Best Fish & Chips around (Hawkins Drive

Home of the Crocodile Hunter, The Australia Zoo:

Riding a Replica of a Deinosuchus

HELP!!!!!

For More Pictures of the Australia Zoo, Please visit my Facebook Album:

The Great Escape

2009-02-09T18:48:00.003+10:00

It was wierd. The feeling that is, after alighting from 53 early in the morning.

This is it. Today, a new journey unfolds it self.

Flight will be at 2105H.

Thank you all for your well wishes. See you guys (physically) during Dec.:) Will update once internet is up in Australia.

*take care*

There..I'll come for you.

2009-01-31T04:05:00.005+10:00

There's 15 days... therefore... HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!!!

"Ah..la luna la luna"

Just got back from a "reunion" with the NYPP people. Not many attended today's gathering and there was an overflowing amount of food leftover. Despite the leftover food, I think the gathering was still a success as people managed to come together and interact.

The same goes for every Chinese New Year. A reunion dinner on the eve and visitations on the 1st day. I have a small family, therefore everything can be covered in one day. The main difference would be the well wishes before I embark on my overseas studies.

The 2nd and 3rd day was spent on studying. Was hitting the books with Eunice over at MacDonald. Yes, there is indeed a need to study before heading to Australia. 2 years is enough to create a void and inhibit memory of things once learnt. Since she was covering on nutrition, It also gave me an opportunity to revise on the Kreb Cycle, Gluconeogenesis and some biochemistry pathways. Coupled with some reading up on microbiology and Structural and Functional genomics, from 2359H to 0610H, It's time well spent.

Well, we do have short breaks in between. Chatting on a variety of topics and also cam whoring on the Glofiish. This is what happens to us at 0400H and suffering from information overload:

Its scary, yet exciting. The countdown meter is now stuck at 9 days.

Mamma Mia

2009-01-21T01:57:00.005+10:00

This might not be an appropriate title. More on this title later in this post.
'Too many Broken Hearts in the world So I won't give up the fight for you' - Jason Donovan, too many broken hearts

This portion of the song was resonating when we were visiting the Museum of Broken Relationships. A short run down of this exhibit, It's basically a collection of items that signifies a broken relationship. The donors of the items are from the general public, sharing a sad story of sorts. Indeed some were downright sad while some were really touching. A really emo exhibit and I must add -what's with Singaporeans and writing pad? Ok, I am also guilty of this writing pad thing but I guess we really need to upgrade to a better quality paper soon. There's also a book to record down your past experiences or venting out your frustration. Truth be told, I resisted the urge to write something down there. Compared to the rest of the exhibit its nothing much and I'm not a hard up self pity emo kid so yeah, let the urge pass.

We headed to JuJu for dinner after that. A quaint establishment at paradiz centre. It's highly recommended by vernon and after the dinner, Pretty much all 3 of us were singing the same song. It's value for money and extremely filling. Not to mention delicious as well. There's not much choices if variety is your thing but the available selection is enough to blow your taste buds away. By default and without the option to choose, the starter is a 70% cooked egg, Tuna sashimi and a clam. For the main dishes, Vernon had the fish platter, Nicholas had the Mutton platter and I had the Ocean Catch. We all selected Soba for our side dish and a clear soup for the hot pot. They also provided a potent Ice cold plum juice. Tequila, I can handle. Ice Cold Plum, that's a whole new ball game man. Its hard to visualise with all the text so let the pictures do the talking:

The Starters:

Vernon's Choice:

Nicholas's Choice:My Choice:The potent Plum Juice:

We proceeded on a small walkathon around the orchard area. we walked from Selegie to far east plaza, Crossed the bridge and headed to orchard tower to catch some 'sights'. After a short sight seeing, we proceeded to coffee bean at the forum to have a rest a cuppa coffee. We than headed to balcony for another short chill out. Brandy coke with wedges while discussing about issues of life pertaining to NS, relationships and Guys Stuff was indeed a good mix.

Drinks, wedges and pressing the issue:

Anyway, About the Title. This is what was going down with it:

1. Put iTunes/Napster/Zune Player/WinAmp/etc on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag 10 or more friends who might enjoy doing this as well as the person you got it from.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Electric Blue (12" remix)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Love in the First Degree (How true..lol)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Like a Prayer (another true statement)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Dancing Queen (Queen? come on...)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
This time I know its for real

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Don't you want me baby (Yes, I know I am irresistible)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
La Luna (Yeah, I only see my mum in the AM when she leaves and at night when she returns)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
The Sign ( Now what sign could that be?)

WHAT IS 2+2?
Sending all my love (no, I hate math)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Summer Rain (OMG)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Can't Take my Eyes off you ( How true..)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
I Should be so lucky

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
I heard a rumor (..like what?)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Heaven is a Place on earth

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Funkytown

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
She drives me crazy (yeah..I think I will Mambo to it)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Mony Mony (hey MF!! hey hey MF!!)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Mickey (oh mickey you so fine)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
I hate myself for loving you (how un true)

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
The Safety Dance

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Give it up (haha)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Room at the Top (????)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
True Faith (Yes, the MTV does make me laugh)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Big in Japan (maybe sharking in Japan)

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Together Forever (These questions have a way of answering themselves)

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Dying inside to hold you

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Play that Funky Music (Like..Totally Unrelated)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Venus (hmmm.... )

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Love changes everything

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Mamma Mia (here I go again)

Now you know the reason for the title.

These past 2 days can quite possibly be one of the best time of life thus far.

It starts with..

2009-01-09T01:54:00.003+10:00

I've recently developed a love for one of our crustacean friend. This crustacean friend mixes well with pork ribs and bean sprouts, the good old prawn noodle. I kid you not when I say that I had it for dinner 2 nights in a row. I am so gonna miss this dish when I am in Australia. I think I'm going to overload myself with it for the coming weeks. With that said and done, I just have to try the one at Pek Kio Market. I have been 'Living' to eat that dish . One of these days, It will find its way into my stomach.

Blessed 2009 everyone. I know I am like 8 days late but it's always better to be late than never right? Looking back at 2008. 2 resolutions made and both have been fulfilled, at least in my opinion.

The first one was to actually have a positive NS experience. 2 years of NS came and go and I have to say that I greatly enjoyed these 2 years. 2008 presented itself with many opportunities for me to have a fulfilling time as a signal officer. The chance to conduct an IPPT, the chance to plan and co-ordinate local and overseas exercises and the chance to be involved in local and overseas evaluations have etched many learning lessons into my heart and mind. The friends made and the mambo sessions are also never to be forgotten. Here's a public service announcement, " NS is not a waste of time. It is up to you grab every opportunity there is. You can indulge in self-pity and misery but the 2 years is here to stay. Make it Count."

The second resolution is to have a fruitful time spent before heading down under. Its not exactly a high paying job but presents a nice environment. Yes, the work can be routine and patients can be a tad bit inpatient. But, the presence of peers and co-workers in Admissions Office make the whole stay fun and exciting. Not forgetting the nursing side too especially with WD76, WD 44A and URO OT. Thank God I chose this one over the NKF offer.

I have 3 resolutions for this year and they are:
1) Australia...Make it Count
2) Do things Better
3) Do Better Things
Yes, I love Complexities in Simple statements.

I always like the period leading up to the new year as there will indefinitely be 2 celebrations back to back. Firstly, Christmas. Indeed the season for the reason of living. Secondly, the new year itself. The period of fun and laughter, the secular way of beating stress, that it is. Here's a short run down.

Christmas
The eve of Christmas was spent at Mambo. Snowy Zouk. Who can resist? It was also that night that some poor fool could not resist and jacked my camera. Bless his soul...its the season. For Christmas day, It was Dinner for 2 at the Straits Cafe with Eunice. It was also my first time at this place and I left with a good impression of that place. A Must Try, If I might add.

New Year
New Year's eve marks my last day at SGH. Had a small celebration filled with Eclairs, hor fun, cheng teng and Cake. Followed by a small gathering at Astons. After which, I went home to prep for countdown. Met up with Eunice and headed out. Our destination was supposed to be marina barrage but it was full, so we had to find our way to City Hall area to catch the fireworks. We ended up at a location between The Esplanade and Marina Square. After the display, we headed to Lau Pa Sat to grab some food and proceeded to vivocity to eat. Spent the night at a corner pillar while waiting for the first transport home. Spent the whole day sleeping. Yeap, a good start for the new year..at rest:)

This is a long post and I regret not having any pictures here to lighten the load. Well, you can always head to facebook. The pictures are all there.

In Closing, I was pondering about something last night at her place. We were looking through her Glutamine Project and this dawned on me. Perfection and its attainability in the field of science, an old cliched. Perfection, scientist all over crave and seek it. Perfection brings despair as there can be not added to further research. It is always the case for a scientist to find joy in his work while suffering in his antinomy.

But, There is only one true instance of perfection. In an imperfect world, There is a Perfect Saviour who saved us Perfectly:) No matter what circumstance, DaddyGod holds my year and I know it will be a year filled with his peace and blessings:)

Whispering our goodbyes (SGH) waiting for a train (or rather flight, to UQ)..

2008-12-18T02:31:00.004+10:00

.. I was dancing with my baby, in the summer rain.

The monsoon season is upon us and tropical storms are inevitable in this time. The rains are all around but inside of me, I long for the summer rain in Australia next year.

The year is ending and I can say that its been a great year. Yes there are ups and downs but the whole joy ride is a testament that DaddyGod is ever present and He has constantly provided me with a way, where in the natural, there is no other way. Now I really know what it means to really let Jesus take the wheel. Where all self hope is gone and there is no other way, He has never failed to show me He is the way and miracles happen, bondage's are broken and situations healed and turned around. He's the unshakable super hero. He is the God Man.

Gonna say goodbye to SGH real soon. Its' only a temp Job but I was really able to make alot of friends there. 10 more working days for me. Yes the days are long and the work can get tiring and there are times where patients really wanna make say," Patients please be patient." But, overall, its been fun. Its the theory of averages in play. Looking back, I guess this is the place where I am supposed to be in, for this period of time.

9th of Feb 2009, here I come...

Let me see you click your heels

2008-11-30T23:47:00.004+10:00

11 weeks.. that's all there is... 11 more weeks.

Ok, it started off just a little too emo...

Anyway, my shopping list for the year has finally been cleared. I can officially leave for Australia a happy man, In terms of things to bring over that is. Went to SITEX with Eunice yesterday and boy, was there alot of people. I guess someone forgot to let Singapore know that we are in recession. I'm not so sure about the rest but for me, I know, " The Lord shall supply all my needs, according to his riches and glory" We both bought the Glofiish X650 PDA Phone. Its not as well established as brands like HTC but for us, it serves its purpose as a phone and as an organiser. It's good enough really, for what we need it for, that it does. *oh look at me.. I started yoda talk again*

If there is an obstacle in your way. Should our response be like," Oh its here for a reason, to teach me something. I don't know why its here but there should be a reason for it here in the sweet by and by?"

Faith is Aggresive by nature.... Have Faith and Do not Doubt.. Fight from victory, not for Victory.
Moutains will be thrown to the sea.

11 more weeks to go...

Balance or the lack of it.

2008-11-24T00:29:00.008+10:00

We are told in biology that homeostasis is the thing. It is what keeps things working properly in our bodies. Balance or equlibrium, is the key to maintain things in optimum condition. Too much of a good thing may not be good and definately the lack of something essential is bad. But what about balance in life? Is there supposed to be a balance in life? Should Good and bad co-exsist? Is there a balance of good news and bad news? Something I was pondering on the last week.

Come to think about it. There is no such balance of good and bad news. The scale is tipped towards the Bad news side. You hear of economical downturn, political unrest, new Ebola virus strain, white tigers being baited to maul. The funny thing is that it sounds so natural that good news sound strange. Come on, all this sad stuff gets mad publicity to the point that many people overlook/did not report on the tequila news. Why? Because fear sells and without a doubt fear will cause people's attention to be glued on a certain subject matter. How many heard of the Tequila News? Come on now.. admit it.

I thought the only good thing associated tequila is Sauza gold and Tina Tequila. Now they can synthesize small scale diamonds from Tequila. To me, This is the kind News that we should focus on. Good news, I mean. diamonds from Tequila? Man, I'm so gonna learn the process and if it's possible, to make myself a couple of Blings Blings to get all iced out.

Especially in times where everything is shaken and bad news are sprouting out everywhere. I am glad that the Holy Spirit taught me through a span of 3 days starting last friday on the Principal Consideration in life.

My previous week has seen the worst of my frenzy of temper throwing for a long time. Using my throat infection as an alibi is also a lame excuse. Its really a lack of feeling of love and feels like some things were robbed. It felt alot like the white horseman was trampling all over and slapping me in and out.

Wisdom is needed. I say again, Wisdom is needed if you are facing a White Horseman this day for it is Written:

Proverbs 4:7-8 (Amplified Bible)

7 The beginning of Wisdom is: get Wisdom (skillful and godly Wisdom)! [For skillful and godly Wisdom is the principal thing.] And with all you have gotten, get understanding (discernment, comprehension, and interpretation).

8 Prize Wisdom highly and exalt her, and she will exalt and promote you; she will bring you to honor when you embrace her.

Wisdom is the Principal Thing. Principal as in "there ain't no other". Godly Wisdom comes from the Bible. The Bible aint just a storybook. Its the Word of DaddyGod. Its our handbook to reign in life. To live Great and in fullness of life. Wisdom can only be attained from the Word and as it is written:

John 1:1 (Amplified Bible)
1 IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.

John 1:14 (Amplified Bible)
14 And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth.

Godly Wisdom is the Principal Thing. Godly Wisdom comes from the Word and the Word is Christ. I.e. to say, Christ is the Principal Thing. There aint nothing else. Only Christ. Seek first his kingdom, and all the things the pagans want will be added. Like what Pastor Peter Youngren said last week. Jesus+Nothing=Everything. Its all and only about Jesus. The Only Good news is in The Lord.

Even when I have failed last week, I am glad that DaddyGod strecthed out his hand and pulled me out of the storm and comforted me with these 2 verses which resonated deeply inside of me:

Isaiah 59:19 (King James Version)
19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him

Isaiah 58:8 (Amplified Bible)
8 Then shall your light break forth like the morning, and your healing (your restoration and the power of a new life) shall spring forth speedily; your righteousness (your rightness, your justice, and your right relationship with God) shall go before you [conducting you to peace and prosperity], and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Like the encampment of the Israelites at rest. Facing inwards to the Tabernacle. That's the revelation I got. Be at rest, Face Inwards to the Most Holy Place (Chirst) The Glory of the Lord is my Rear Guard and when the White horsemen strides in, I am confident to know that he will be met with a Lion. The Lion of Judah who prevailed!!

Its time to tip the balance through Christ!!
--------------------------------------------
My Last Post Was on Ellenborough Market Cafe. Here are the some pictures from that night:

Crabs and Durains.. ain't nothing better and more Singaporean

The Crayfish that I have been Living to try

You need Sunday Greens for a Balanced Diet

The Birthday Girl with her Cake..Chocolate Orange

We Decided to be Tourists For the night

Inside the Boat

Clarke Quay

Floating Platform and the Flyer
This is a reminder.. Christmas is Coming

Welcome to Clarke Quay

--------------------------------------------

Only Through Jesus, I know that my Week Ahead Will be a Blessed and Fruitful One.

Onwards

2008-11-13T00:13:00.003+10:00

There is a need to get used to the 800 x 600 resolution on my laptop. Yes, I'm still using it in safe mode after the great blue screen of death. And there are pics that I so wanted to transfer out from my camera to my HD.. guess this might have to wait for a while.

Went to Ellenborough Market Cafe at Swissotel Merchant Court for dinner last night. This month is a month for crab lovers. For those of you out there who enjoy crab, crayfish and durians you must really try this place out. HSBC cardholders have a special rate for 3. It was a cozy and enjoyable dinner, good food and most importantly, good company:) Headed down for a short river cruise after the dinner. The cruise indeed made us feel like we were tourist in our own state. Seeing the singapore river in the perspective of tourist was really refreshing. Moreover having a gentle sea breeze blowing at us, divine, I tell you. Man, How I missed a good gentle sea breeze.

Having a little throat infection and that is a fact. But the truth is "By his stripes I am healed!!"

Ain't no Stressin, Ain't no Self watching

2008-11-10T23:03:00.006+10:00

My laptop is feeling a tad bit suicidal these few days and I'm running on safe mode. No more MSN, you tube for me until I replace this laptop. Come to think about it, this laptop has indeed served me well for the past 4 years. Its been my mobile workstation at labs and many other places. In the lab, it served as an electronic lab log, chem structure sketch, molecular weight calculator and all things chemistry. I was doing a Chemistry FYP and I would have been dead without this trusty equipment by my side.

Its now on its last legs and I am not sure how much longer it can survive. But, If the old do not go, how can the new come? haha. Yes, I am eyeing the HP DV5...Sitex here I come.

Was at DBL O on saturday with the guys. A mix of MB0301 and SI comrades. Time really flies and another 2 of my Specs will be joining us in the civilian circle. Feels really much like yesterday when we were out in the field feeding the mosquitoes and being baked by the sun. 5 months have passed and I have another 3 more months before I start school again. Like you said,
"3 months may be a short time but It can also be a long time."

Been working out again after some time. No its not that I was lazy after ORD but medically I could not because of my feet condition. Now that its healed in the Name of Jesus, I can resume some routine workout:) Fitness cometh from exercise but Divine Health is from the Lord, Whee!!

We live in a totally insecure world and for the past week I've had the super overwhelming feeling of insecurity at work. Yes, I'm just a temp staff but hey, I'm also human. Its like I'm watching my back in everything I do. Its super tiring to keep on watching my Back. But I thank God for the word given to me that hath broken the chains:

Isaiah 58:8
"then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard."

Ain't no stressing of the things in life for my righteous one will go before me and the glory of the Lord is my rear guard. No only is my back being watched, things in the future are also being taken care of. The Super abundance of DaddyGod is indeed great as some of my trying issues are being turned around. The looming insecurity I had at work has been totally lifted, All praise to DaddyGod:)

There are things in the present that I may not understand on why certain things happen. I do not know about tomorrow, but I know who holds my Tomorrow. I also may not comprehend why certain things happen but I know that In the name of Jesus, all things will work together for Good. Forward and onwards with a Christ Centric Life:)

Say I love you with a neon sign

2008-11-04T00:42:00.003+10:00

S'Been a long time coming and this blog has been faithfully collecting dust. Its not that I have nothing to write here but I have been rather lazy and busy at the same time.

I remember months back when Yvonne Phan was saying about how she is addicted to traveling after her trip to Hong Kong. Recently, I finally understood the principle on how she arrived at that sentence.

Yes, after a long time. I finally went on an overseas trip to Hong Kong. Actually my mum had to go for a HR conference so I conveniently tagged along. Also, I wanted a nice little break for work as well. Stayed at the Excelsior hotel for one night before transferring to Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. Accommodation was really good. I shall post up the pictures after I post process (actually just resizing and level adjustment). I had the opportunity to visit Juice and see their CLOT SALVATION ARMY (C.S.A) line and also the new OriginalFake merchandise. Sadly I did not get pictures as the salesman prohibited it.

Apart from shopping in places like Mong Kok and Causeway Bay, I managed to visit the Peak, Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland as well. The peak was cold and windy but also houses the wax museum. Yes, I was a cam whore inside there. Ocean park houses a beautiful aquarium, but They need to really makeover that place. Hong Kong Disney land is a smaller scale theme park compared to the rest. Although it was small, It was still very refreshing as halloween was incorporated into the park. Imagine having a haunted hotel attraction where actors dressed as zombies lurked in every corner and hoping to scare you out of a years growth. For shopping wise, I Bought a few stuffs like appareals and footwear but I guess one that needs to be mentioned will be the Diana F+ with fisheye. Gonna try out Lomography from now on together with my Cam.

Its the thrill of relinquishing control and going with your instinct that maketh lomo fun. Finished my first roll of 12 last Saturday. Went snapping away after watching tropic thunder. Who can ask for a better model than you? heh heh...Hoping that some good shots can turn up on wednesday.

Yes, I can say I am hooked unto travelling. I intend to go for 1 more trip before Australia next year. Lets see if time permits.

Anyway, signing off now with the hopes on keeping this place alive.

The Thrill

2008-10-10T00:48:00.003+10:00

They like to say, "Good Things come in 3." Check it, Who is 'they'? and why do 'they' like to say things like that?

Gave mambo a missed yesterday, which turned out to be a good choice for 2 reasons. Firstly, to go out with 76 to vivocity for dinner and ice-cream. On the real, The board shorts I saw, I think its worth the money to buy ~temptation temptation~. Anyway, it was a very fun night out. Secondly, I got to be in a proper state of mind when the prep for Kingfisher kicked in. No, I did not do much but it did exercise my comms and signal knowledge acquired in the pass 1 year.

I kid you not when I say that today reminded me of my days as a signal officer. Getting to see the radio net diagrams again brought and worked out an insatiable thrill from within. Somehow I felt alive. I kid you not, I was indeed re-vitalized at that point. No matter what, I guess the Green will always be a part of me as I firmly believe," The greatest honor of a citizen is to be able to serve the country." Sign on? It was indeed very tempting during the 2 years in service. But I guess I was and am still holding on to my dream and aspiration from my lower secondary school days.

Its gonna be a fun experiential ride this Saturday.

Pizza over F1

2008-09-29T00:32:00.004+10:00

Now what did I say earlier about the sandwich theory? Hamilton pulled through with 7 points over F. Massa." Go Go McLaren!!- next stop->Fuij" Even as F. Alonso stole the show, Hamiliton prospered, that's all that matters.

Its the first night race and the first F1 Grand Prix in SG and I am glad that the organisers pulled off a good one. More good action for F1 in SG please!! I take back what I said earlier about F. Alonso not being able to take it home tonight. He nailed it superbly. I also did predict that he will have a good run and he did showed us his technical skills as a F1 driver tonight. Well done, one year after the last win and he nailed it at the first night and SG race. Team Ferrari on the other hand, was really a case of misadventures starting from the crash of N. Piquet. Leading to the fuel hose incident which resulted in a 50mph drive thru penalty. Followed by 2 turns executed haphazardly. After which another butt smash to the wall at the drive through. Topping it off was K. Raikkonen "kissing the wall goodnight". In a nutshell there you have it, Team Ferrari's series of unfortunate events. I will be lying if I were to say I did not cheer when these happened. *sorry Ferrari fans* All in all in the sweet by-and-by, I did feel a little disappointment with Team Ferrari's performance tonight.

As you know we do not get to see F1 a lot in SG. For the deprived few like myself we have to find alternatives to see it through the years. I guess my way is the most boring way. I will open up the F1 website and also this website http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/low/motorsport/formula_one/default.stm . This website gives frequent updates as the race is progressing. Together with this update and the Grand Prix map from the F1 website, I had to slowly piece the race like a jigsaw. Boring right? come on now, agree with me.haha. But that's the case with SG, we tend to enjoy soccer more than any other sport. More often than not its these soccer supporters that comment,"what's so interesting about motorcars zipping around circuits?" If you ask me, that is a dumb comment as I too, do not see anything interesting about 22 man eyeing or chasing a ball. Men are not made to chase balls, we chase skirts. Need a class in homo-phobic 101. Psych I Joke. But before we mouth off at each others preferred sport do remember every nonsensical comment has a comeback line so lets just respect each others preference aight?

Something over this week has been a main motivation for me. Its actually something a person said and that person is none other than the "Giant Killer" -David. It was something really powerful that taught and blessed me last week.

1 Samuel 17:26
"26 David asked the men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"

David was conscious of his covenant with our ABBA Father. Why? because he used the word uncircumcised. A sign of the Covenant at David's Time. Because of his covenant consciousness, He was able to stand up against the Giant, while the whole of Israel was in fear of that Giant and able to bring down the Giant and took the Giant's Head. Everyone in Israel had a covenant with DaddyGod, but they were fearful. David was covenant conscious he feared not.

Hebrews 10:15-18
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16 "This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds."
17 Then he adds:
"Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more."
18And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

Indeed the Holy Spirit taught me this, A Christ Centric Focus even in the midst of Giants in my Life. For He will guide me to topple the Giant. No only that, He will cause me to get "a head in Life!!" Pardon the small pun there. ~haha~

Amen, Miracles did not "petered- out" for there is not such thing as a Day of Miracle. There is only a God of Miracles:)

Go Go McLaren!!

2008-09-28T21:05:00.004+10:00

Its England vs Brazil half and hour later.

I remember cheering and throwing my packet of chips in the air when the engine conked out at Q2. That's for beating Mclaren at the best lap time on Friday and Saturday for the practices. But a part of me still feel his disappointment. He might not take it home tonight but with his consistent performance for the practice rounds, I am still positive he will deliver a good run in the SG Grand Prix.

Now we have the Ferrari/Mclaren sandwich. F. Massa at the pole, L.Hamilton 2nd and defending champ K. Raikkonen on 3rd. Subway can use this as an inspiration and create a new 'Ham' sub, instead of the tandoori chicken sub for the F1 SG Grand Prix. But as with all subs and sandwiches, the one who delivers the final flavour is the patty and ingredients inbetween the bread. Therefore, L.Hamilton will be the one to deliver tonight.

Final words before I update again later: "GO GO TEAM McLAREN!!"....sounds like a speed racer kind of cheer ain't it?

To write love on her Arms

2008-09-22T00:24:00.003+10:00

No I am not a sadistic freak who have a keen fetish for writing things on people's arms. I leave that for others to do. It's a website that I stumbled upon. Yeah its a depression help-line. No I do not suffer from depression, Its just that the T-Shirts they offer are really cool. But seriously, Its indeed heart-warming to see these things being put in place to offer solace to those under the pressure.

3 times is indeed too much and like what I said to Faye and KJ during service, Imma going abstinent from DBL O Saturday nights for this month. 1 month is a good period of time and I like to use a month as a gauge for a little "selah". Nothing is wrong with going to DBL O, Its fun all these 3 times, but I just wanna ensure that when I go its really for enjoyment and maintaining a social circle with friends rather that a "damn, I'm bored, let's go DBL O." It ain't cool if its going just for the sake of going. I hath taken a liking to this phrase," You do not need to, but you get to." Personal conviction of mine as I really hate making things routine. Exercise your right of enjoying the things you enjoy. In a nut shell, Prevention is better than cure, the main object of this month. But do things really change after a month?

F1 upcoming, Shouts" Go McLaren, We are number 22!!!" lets hope Ferrari just stays second.

Its gonna be a Good Week Ahead

Ah la luna la luna

2008-09-17T23:47:00.009+10:00

There is a need to know the dates of traditional Chinese festivals. Can you believe that I did not know that last Sunday was the mid Autumn festival? Ok, KJ did remind me after service that it was but I seem to have wiped it clear from my memory once I hit the train. The following monday, I was given a moon cake by my colleague and I remembered that Indeed, sunday was the day. Yeap, call myself a chinese, oh wait- I'm a hybrid and that's my alibi.

What do I have to say about the Mid Autumn festival which had gone?

"On and on the night was falling
Deep down inside us
On and on a light was shining right through

Ah la luna la luna
The night that we fell under the spell of the moon
Ah la luna la luna
The light that will being me back to you
The light of la luna"
- La luna, Belinda Carlisle

It's dangerous to post lyrics of songs like this on a wednesday. It's been a long time but guess not tonight. Work on thursday, professionalism is mandatory. Also, the past 2 Saturday nights was spent at DBL O, so yeap. here are some of the pictures

060908

130908

Guess 1 more to go to make it a "turkey"

Here it comes, wrapped by His Stripes

2008-09-17T00:05:00.004+10:00

After 1 month, I have finally decided to see a Doctor with regards to my feet. You know, the funny thing is whole of 2 years in the Field I have yet to get an infection and this time around I get it in a hospital. Makes you think that the Jungles and Forests are indeed cleaner.

Doctor Lee saw it and he said that it was indeed a fungal infection and also hypersensitivity. He commented that my immune response was just too high and as a result, its literally eating me too. It was then i realized that indeed other symptoms I had in my body occurring this 1 month was, in scientific fact, an act of hypersensitivity. I kid you not, this month has been a month whereby any foreign particulate can be easily expelled from my body. Its like an army ready for its operation, always operationally ready, ready to strike, so to speak. An injection was than done to suppress my immune system. Like they say, "some things cannot be too Ga-rang". Now I am left to wonder, "who is 'they' and why do 'they' always say things?" Can someone enlighten me on this?

It is a fact that I need to apply the cream regularly and take tablets to help with these conditions. Its a scientific fact, you know, the amount you need, the minimum dosage, how long the drug can stay localized or how long before it gets metabolized all that?. But, as believers, we all have a choice to make, a choice from the realm of the natural 5 senses or from the tree of life. My final trust is in the Truth for it is written:

Isaiah 53:4-5

4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

Amen, By His Stripes I am Healed!!!

The Ox, The nail, The Man

2008-09-14T23:22:00.006+10:00

Blessed 74th Anniversary BB 5th Coy!!

It was a blessed ride with the 5th coy for me. A good 7 years spent in the Company. A share of good times, tough times, fun times and sad times. Memories of company camps at school and P. Ubin are really unforgettable. Who can forget walking in the middle of a storm in P. Ubin, I know I can't. Memories of Drill competition training, PT-kit with boots sure caused a fill giggles round the school compound. Those 7 years had indeed taught me alot but the best takeaway is still the words from a man whom I truly respect in my years of service in the company. From Mr. Low Choon Yong, "4 years in BB, if you miss Jesus, you missed everything." A statement in which impacted me all these years.

"Abba Father, I thank you for raising and guiding the 5th Company through all these years. I know that everything that happened in the company thus far is through your loving kindness and Grace. Daddy, I pray for the leaders in the 5th that every single one from a NCO to an Officer, will receive a fresh revelation of your Grace, Wisdom, Goodness and Love to lead the company. Daddy I also pray for all the Boys that your Grace will touch their lives and they will be transformed by your love for them. Sharpen each and everyone in the 5th to be arrows that hit the mark, now and forevermore. In Jesus mighthy name, Amen!! "

It has been raining the past few days in the natural. But do you believe that even during the rain, the son is still shining? No, it is not a spelling mistake, I really do mean 'son' instead of 'sun'.

Genesis 1:3-4 (Amplified Bible)

"3And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.

4And God saw that the light was good (suitable, pleasant) and He approved it; and God separated the light from the darkness"

On the first day, God said let there be light. Notice this, the sun was only created on the 4th day. so what is this light? I was searching through and I found the hebrew character for this word light. For the benefit of those who do not have a hebrew enabled browser, please peruse the picture below. Also for first timers in seeing these characters, you do not read it from left to right but from right to left.

At the top is the word for light consisting of 3 characters, alef, vav and resh. Further examination to the early Semitic script in which genesis was written, shows an ox, nail and a head of man respectively. Literally it means,"Leader of man who was nailed". This true light existed even before the creation of the sun.

God send his Son to be the light of the world (John 8:12). Jesus came to earth perfectly man under the line of King David, conceived by the holy spirit so that the adamic blood does not run in his vein. Jesus walked on earth as 100% God as well as 100% man, Perfectly sinless and sinlessly perfect. He was nailed on the Cross, bearing the weight of all our sins. His work was perfectly finished, one sacrifice for all as he sat down at the fathers' right hand. Jesus is our high priest(Hebrews 5:9-10). A high priest makes intercession for the the whole nation of Israel on an annual basis as animal blood were never enough, giving them a 1 year term before it expires. With Jesus as our high priest, Christ's sacrifice once and for all is valid and has no expiry date (Hebrews 10:12-18). Therefore all the Blessing of obedience Deuteronomy 28 is for us because as Christ is, so are we, in this world.

See the true light in every trying situation, Your situation will change. Even if the situation involves a dear family member and it is affecting you, Daddy can turn it around for you!

Ready, Aim

2008-09-07T23:59:00.003+10:00

When you begin to take an interest in Notebooks, that's the time that you know the student in you is waiting to be unleashed. Time to save up for it. I tend to be very picky when it comes to Tech Gadgets and this is one area where practically rules over current trends. Tech Gadgets, in my opinion are meant to be, for a lack of a better word, exploited by the user. I see it pointless to get a high-end hookup when you only use a mere fraction of its capabilities. Yes it might look and sound good with all the specifications but if it is not utilized to a certain extend, I call it scrap metal.

Caught Death Race on Thursday. For people who enjoy twisted metal and GTA, this is the film for you. The death scenes were somewhat spectacular and the way they armed their rides, unbelievable. RPGs and 50 Cal. mounted on a ride? That's one solution for our CTE and PIE jams. Apart from Death Race, there are a few more movies that I wanna catch for this season listed below.

1) WALL.E
2) Star Wars: The Clone Wars
3) 4-Bia
4) The House Bunny
5) The Days
6) Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Before Signing off, I proclaim: "Its Gonna be a Good Week Ahead!!"

Now and forever I am righteous by your finished work at Calvary
Your Love for all too see
The Truth inside of me
Says you'll never, no,no,no
You'll never forsake me!

Dovxa

2008-09-03T23:16:00.005+10:00

Hej Hej.

Its like been ages since I last touched my Paralytic Shellfish Poison. PSP for short. My PSP became a paper weight since early this year when my start button ceased to function. Finally, It has been restored back to its formal Glory. Now, I am hooked unto patapon. Yes I admit, the game is like so last season, but its still fun to play. Mindless, rhythmic button mashing after a day's work is the bomb. Who can ask for a better gaming relaxant than that?

Its been months of talk and finally today we get to see the new Army uniform. Unlike the patches of green, black and brown, the new design is more pixelated, making it easier for us to blend into our surrounding. Back then, there were discussions saying that it ain't gonna be nice and that the current number 4 looked way better, more style, they say or so they believe. I did not want to comment at that time as I have yet to see it being donned on the field. After seeing it today on Channel News Asia, let me put it this way,"If I were to choose between aesthetics and practicality, I go for the option where I do not get to see bullets flying my way. I cast my vote for the practicality of camouflage "

No I did not purposely commit a typo error with my opening line. Its Swedish for "Hello". Its really fun to explore into different languages.

On Saturday, I did not know why I included that line at the end of my post. Somehow, I did not feel a peace for deleting it so I just left it there. Come Sunday, Pastor Julia was preaching on Good Opinion as well. Indeed, A timely word for the season:)

Carrying on from my previous post:

In Jesus prayer for the believers at the Garden of Gethsemane,

John 17:22-23
"22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me"

I was brought into reminder of what Pastor Shared the last time on the word: Glory. In the Greek, the word for glory is Dovxa and this is the definition of the word from Thayer's and Smith bible dictionary is as follows:

1) Opinion, Judgment, View
2) Opinion, estimate, whether good or bad concerning someone
a) In the NT, Always a Good Opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honor and glory
3) Splendour, Brightness
a) of the moon, sun, stars
b) magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace
c) majesty

Yes, In the NT, ALWAYS a Good Opinion concerning one. The Good Opinion that DaddyGod has for Jesus, Through the finished work of Jesus on the cross, we have this Good Opinion as Well:) More than that, Its the same Good Opinion, not a second hand one, but the same one that Jesus has from our heavenly daddy:)

Have you ever been complimented before? Imagine a person compliments you but he/she is speaking from a position of weakness. Feels like the words does not carry that much weight right? Now Imagine another person compliments you. This time around, this person is standing on assured ground and speaking from a position of strength. I tell you, when he/she speaks, you will indefinitely feel flattered and somehow, you are raised up to a new height and somehow, your opinion of yourself changes and you see yourself in a different light.

Now Imagine this compliment comes from Daddy God himself:)

I love you Daddy:)

X-clusive

2008-08-30T20:51:00.004+10:00

They call it plus (+) factor or the X- factor. They cannot explain it. But they use it nonetheless. They also use it as if they were in 2 different terms. Saying that this person got the plus factor but missing the x factor. It really baffles me. Isn't the Plus Factor and X factor the same thing? Just rotate either 45 degrees clockwise or counter-clock. Hope this clears the block in your cerebellum.

The above was spawned when someone approached me this week on a topic of old-fashioned outlook and being conservative. For the benefit of everyone, there is no crime in being old fashioned. Period. If it was a crime to be old fashioned or being caught in a out-of-season fashion trend, The whole island of SG will stand guilty in the first degree. But seriously, fashion is subjective to the individual. Personally, I do go for Brands. I do eye the latest of trends. But You do not see me perpetually changing my wardrobe to meet the trends. I only get items in which I know I can pull off. What for buy the 'In Thing' but you have no confidence in wearing it? True it may look good but if you are lacking confidence and feeling uncomfortable, Ya'll gonna blow it.

I remember close to 1 month back at wala wala. MX was commenting on a certain lady at a corner. Quoting here word for word,"She looks beautiful and she Knows It." I got to agree with her statement, That lady knows she's got it. The lights was dim so I could not see her face properly. She was just sitting there wearing a normal dress, but she sends out signals in all the right directions. I call it the omni-directional charm. Full of confidence and full of good opinion of herself, that indeed, the lady has.

Let us now put a word to the term x factor and/or + factor. The Word is Good Opinion. Face it, confidence is just the tip of the ice berg. One cannot have confidence without a Good Opinion of oneself. That's why the opposite of Confidence is Low-Self esteem. Only by having a Good Opinion of Oneself, can confidence flow.

And as it is, This Post is also the tip of the ice-berg.

He Knows, He Conquered, That's all that matters.

2008-08-27T00:32:00.005+10:00

Yes, No outward circumstance can have hold. No way, no how. In my previous post, once Jonah prayed and finally said "Salvation is of the Lord" He was vomited out after the Lord commanded the fish. It does not stop there, Jonah was vomited to Dry land. This is indeed the magnificence of our heavenly father. How many of you know that even if the fish were to vomit out into the sea, Jonah might still be in trouble? But once DaddyGod commanded it to be so, Jonah was put out of his dire straits and put into Dry Land where He can rightfully Stand.

DaddyGod is indeed wonderful:)

Yes I know there have been situations where you feel as if you are really in and under the circumstances. I felt that way recently too. But all Thanks and Glory be to DaddyGod for showing me this verse when I really needed it.

Hebrews 4:15 (amplified bible) 15For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.

He understands us during our times of weaknesses. Yes, Circumstances can be right smack in your face. But he understands as he went through it as he is born fully man, he was in all points tempted as we are. Even the accuser of the brethren failed to tempt Him. Once again I was brought to the high priest garments:

Exodus 28:9-14 (NKJV)
"9Then you shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel: 10 six of their names on one stone and six names on the other stone, in order of their birth. 11 With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall set them in settings of gold. 12 And you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. So Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders as a memorial. 13 You shall also make settings of gold, 14 and you shall make two chains of pure gold like braided cords, and fasten the braided chains to the settings."

He understands us during our times of weaknesses. As our High Priest, he bears our names on his Shoulders. He affirms us with His strength. Even in trying moments where everything comes smacking down, Jesus as our High Priest Knows our afflictions. More than that, we are upheld by His strength. Think about it, we are upheld by the one who overcame Death, the last enemy to be put under Jesus Feet. So how can any weapon forged against you prosper? He Knows and he conquered the wages of missing the mark. That's all that matters:) I love you DaddyGod:)

"When I was Lost, In love you searched for me and found me"

Set apart

2008-08-26T01:15:00.005+10:00

I wonder why they call it the fireworks festival when all I see are umbrellas popping everywhere. Yeah, I call it the umbrella-works festival. Anyway, The festival was good. I mean, how can it be compared with the display of the recent opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics? My camera died halfway as I took out the wrong battery pack so I was like, "Damn~, so what now?" Fairly fast, a thought came shooting into my mind, "Isn't it better to stop and admire and take in the beauty instead of using effort and try to capture it?" Instantly a light in my heart as I stood and enjoyed the rest of the display.

Proceeded onwards to supper at Lau Pa Sat. Its been like ages since I last went there. The previous time was also after the fireworks celebration of year 2004. Man, time really flies. I was utterly shocked at the aroma that hit my nose the moment I stepped into the place. A rather nostalgic smell of "smelly tofu". Man, I tell you, I missed this dish since I returned from Taiwan earlier this year. With nothing further to say, the dish was placed in front of me, together with a bowl of oyster vermicelli. An upheaval of emotions to return to Taipei was strong, but with the upcoming Hong Kong trip, finances are gonna be tight. I'm like so gonna visit JUICE there. Street wear enthusiast in the house. Psych, I diverted, anyway, Left Lau Pa Sat for a small quaint establishment beside brewerks called Cafe Iguana. The nachos and salsa really hit the spot. So ya, If you are in need of trying to bribe me, do it with nachos and salsa. Who knows, you may not enjoy it so don't try it. Left at around 2am for home.

Along came Sunday with the SGH post JCI celebration at st James powerhouse. The emcee was really like Russell Peters, in both looks and sense of humor. 2 words to describe the event, "Help, Nurses!!" I might be exaggerating over here so yeah, for those who have wild imaginations, keep it in check.

Its nearing a month since I started working at SGH. Despite long hours, I do feel that there is a reason for being placed here. First and foremost, Sleep. Though sleep was a natural issue due to time and space, almost all the time I can wake up afresh screaming" I feel good" and at night, I can fall into peaceful slumber saying,"Man, I feel good" and caressed by the kisses and love of DaddyGod:)

More often than not as I walk around the wards. I see sickness, weakness and disease. Yes, I did afflict me when I see all the above mentioned. Its so easy to feel natural when you see all the circumstances. Everything makes you feel common. From personal experience, even a sore throat can make a mind wander. I mean, if you studied Human Biology and Diseases, things like tonsillitis comes to mind. Really maketh me feel under the circumstance but thanks be to Daddy God for assuring me that His word of salvation will allow me to be removed from any circumstances.

Jonah 2:9-10
9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the LORD."

10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Even though deep in dire straits, The Word of Salvation will cause my circumstances to expel me out and I will be delivered. Yes, I believe, Even though in a place when commonness is in abundance, I know, Grace Super Abounds. Yes no evil shall befall me. I believe in the Perfect Love of DaddyGod and the Perfect work of Jesus on the cross. Yes, righteously, set apart from all commonness. I am set apart to be uncommon:)

Memory Lane

2008-08-22T02:09:00.004+10:00

24 hours has passed since the long walk up the hill.
How I wished time would halt and at that moment, lay still.
The button seemed too far away, none that I wish to press.
The Door hath opened, a step in, not my heart desired progress.
As our tears flowed, Our prayers resounded, not our will but YOUR will.

I believe that this time around, the memories we had. The moments we spend together were really different. At the 7th year, finally we know what its like to have DaddyGod within our midst. These moments are indeed precious and are dearly engraved, deeply cherished and will forever be etched into my heart.

The words were hard to say, yesterday night, was hard...

But, lets keep our faith in HIM for ," not our will, but your will be done, in our lives". Stitch and the cross is with me as the eeyore and the bookmark is with you.

Your Presence, I keep, Hanging on my Neck, close to my heart.
Till the day....

Webster anyone?

2008-08-19T23:48:00.005+10:00

I reckon that the readers here have at least taken a ride in an elevator once in their life. Imagine an elevator jam packed with commuters. Now, imagine you are at the rear of the elevator and you reached your level. Think for a moment, "what is the first word that comes out from your mouth?"

Keep that word in mind.

For most Singaporeans, I dare to say that the first word will be "sorry". That's very polite in my opinion, but the thing is this. Most people stop at "sorry". I mean, what is there to apologize man? You need to go out, and I might be the one blocking your way. I find that there is no need to apologize if that is the case. Do not be lazy and cut syllabus when you want to speak. "Excuse me" will be a much better word to use. 3 syllabus compared to 2, yes, it is indeed easier on the tongue and you might argue with me that the words make no difference. I always have this catch phrase which goes, "I do not know about you, but for me..."

I do not know about you, but for me, words are tools of intentional expression.

So the next time in an elevator and someone gives me that sorry bit just to find passage to the door. I am so going to stand my ground and say, "you are forgiven".. nah I am just kidding, or am I?

F.R.O.G

2008-08-18T01:31:00.006+10:00

Yesterday was my second time at Tony Romas. The food was indeed good and I was left pondering on "why did I not patronize there often?" It was indeed a blessed time spent there with the Cheahs. After which was a trip down to prata house to meet up with KJ, Agnes, Jian Min and Eunice. I was like so craving for the kambing soup but I guess they forgot that order. So Imma left with the Bomb Prata and the usual Milo Dinosaur. Man, keep up this diet and I might one day kiss fitness goodbye. Went up to Jian Min place for a few bouts of Big Two and MTV watching before embarking on a 'sending the ladies home' walk. I reckon that this walk did burn some calories. From shunfu to Toa Payoh and back to Bishan. It was a nice walk in a cool weather. Reached home about 5am and popped straight to bed.

Today was the first day in my 22 years that I saw a 'ge-tai' for myself. The experience was refreshing and I am amazed that I can really understand hokkien better than mandarin. Also, I finally got the Kambing soup that I was craving since the day before. Sweetness.

Work too has been good. There are times that It was like a roller coaster, full of ups and downs but thank God that I sustained by DaddyGod's Strength:) Been catching up on some reading prior to going Australia. My reading consist of mostly cancer papers. I do not know why but there is this supernatural hatred for Cancer inside me. Seriously, I hate that disease. Period.

Everyday last week, I was reminded time and time again on the colors but this time, I was reminded more on the color of white. White is comprised of all colors of the spectrum. Refraction of white light produces colors which consist of red, orange, green, blue, yellow and indigo. More than that, I was too see myself in that color, See myself in white for the manifestations of the other colors come from within. Also to see myself in the color white as He Lives in him, for it is written:

Galatians 2:20-21
"20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

I was also taught of another color last week and the color was bronze. In the Greek, the word for Bronze is Chalkolibanon (xalkoliðbanon). It is a compound word, comprising of 2 words:
1) Chalkos (xalko/v)
2) Ibanos (liðbanov)

Chalkos conveys and idea of hollowing out as a vessel and Ibanos means frankincense. After the study of the words in the compound. I thank God for the guidance that followed. I was brought to a question of why hollow, In regards to the word chalkos. My answer came in the form of a picture in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Main trees there are the olive trees and olive trees are hollow by nature. From the olive tree bears the olive fruit and the fruit produces the Olive Oil. A picture I received, Olive oil and frankincense from the compound word of Bronze. Instantly the following verse came into mind:

Leviticus 6:14-18 (NKJV)
14 ‘This is the law of the grain offering: The sons of Aaron shall offer it on the altar before the LORD. 15 He shall take from it his handful of the fine flour of the grain offering, with its oil, and all the frankincense which is on the grain offering, and shall burn it on the altar for a sweet aroma, as a memorial to the LORD. 16 And the remainder of it Aaron and his sons shall eat; with unleavened bread it shall be eaten in a holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of meeting they shall eat it. 17 It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of My offerings made by fire; it is most holy, like the sin offering and the trespass offering. 18 All the males among the children of Aaron may eat it. It shall be a statute forever in your generations concerning the offerings made by fire to the LORD. Everyone who touches them must be holy.’”

The revelation I had with the color of bronze really tied up itself to the message preached by Pastor 2 weeks back. Indeed, The Finished work of Jesus presents a sweet aroma to DaddyGod and Jesus is Indeed the Bread of Life (John 6:35) :)

Olive Oil and Frankincense added to the fine flour. A sweet aroma to the Lord when it is burnt.

Jesus is our High Priest, for it is written:

Hebrews 4:14
14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

Bronze also speaks of Strength and with Jesus as our great High Priest. The garments of the high priest came to mind and this flashed out boldly and caught my eye

Exodus 28:9-14 (NKJV)
"9Then you shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel: 10 six of their names on one stone and six names on the other stone, in order of their birth. 11 With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall set them in settings of gold. 12 And you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. So Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders as a memorial. 13 You shall also make settings of gold, 14 and you shall make two chains of pure gold like braided cords, and fasten the braided chains to the settings."

Names are engraved on the onyx stone and placed on the shoulders of the high priest. In the same sense as Jesus who is now our Great High Priest, has our names, engraved in the stone and placed on his shoulders. The Shoulders speak of strength and we are placed, position and sustain by his strength:) It is His strength that carries us and our names are beared before the Lord as a memorial.

This experience was nothing short of a miraculous journey and a powerful revelation for a course of a week. It is true that last week did have certain moments where affliction was felt but this I now know and believe, "Upheld by His Strength, I can boldly face the new week with a confident expectation of Good Things to happen in my Life:) Praise the Lord!!!"

Flowers in the Sky

2008-08-10T23:08:00.004+10:00

Blessed National Day Singapore!!!

Yes Its one day late. But I did not have a chance to blog yesterday so yup, making it up for it today. This is one day where you cannot help but feel a sense of utmost patriotism for your country. Indeed, Singapore is a Blessed Nation.

As with all National Day, one of the main attractions which gets many people attention will indefinitely be the fireworks display. Somehow, the fireworks never fail to amaze people, myself included. Truth be told, I often wondered about this phenomenon of people being glued to these attractive display, but for a long time of cracking my head, I still do not know.

Came yesterday, as I was on my lunch break (yes I do work on Saturdays) eating the wonderful ayam penyat from SGH's Kopitiam, I began to ponder again on the fireworks thing. This time, a clear audible voice spoke forth and told me to go and seek the colors of the fireworks. Being the non-chemist that I am after 2 two years, I went back to the office and looked through a few articles on fireworks and colors. And This is what I Got: Flame test. You know, the flame test in which you can determine the presence of metal ions?

Basic ingredients of a pyrotechnic star are the fuel, oxidizer, coloring compound, binder and a chlorine donor. The coloring compund contains the metal ions to give a specific color when ignited. The following are some of the more common colors of fireworks display and their constituent metal ions. (also you guys can take some time into revising a little bit of chemistry too)

1. Red -Strontium (intense red) or Lithium (medium red).
2. Orange - Calcium
3. Yellow - Sodium
4. Gold - Iron, Charcoal or lampblack
5. Green - Barium
6. Blue - Copper Halides
7. Purple - Potassium or Strontium + Copper
8. White - Aluminum, Titanium or magnesium powders

Hope the above is helpful for secondary school level chemists.

Anyway after finding out all this, I heard the audible voice again saying,"They are all part of creation. Now This is what I want you to see and know it beyond knowledge." I was brought to the internet again, this time, DaddyGod directed where I should go as he expounded on the various colors of the common colors of the fireworks.

Red. A relation to Blood. Which represents Life, Covenant, Sacrifice and remission of sins. Also a picture of Wine. "23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Orange. A relation to Fire. The burning bush in which never burns ( Exodus 3:2) and "For our God is a consuming fire ."(Hebrews 12:29) speaks of the presence of God.

Yellow and Gold. In parting Knowledge and Wisdom for those who wishes to hear " like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold is a wise rebuker to an obedient ear" Proverbs 25:12
Faith and Acceptance " I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich and white garments that you may be clothed" Revelations 3:18

Green. The color of nature- Fruits " The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law"Galatians 5:22-23

Blue. Used in the same way as purple. Speaking of the holy things in the service of DaddyGod. 1 "Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim worked into it by a skilled craftsman. "32 Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. 33 Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the Testimony behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place." Exodus 26:31-33

Purple. Royalty "Mordecai left the king's presence wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration." Esther 8:15

White. Purity " Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Psalms 51:7

Praise the Lord for an awesome time of revelation. There is indeed no end to his goodness and tender mercies. Fireworks looks the best at night, where there is darkness. The Spirit Said to me," Even In your darkest times, The Glory of the Lord is still beautiful!" The last thing I heard in the afternoon is this," It does not matter what other people seek but this is what I want you know and this is what you need. I will supply all your needs according to my riches and glory" Thank you DaddyGod:)

Indeed DaddyGod knows what I need even before I know I need it. Last night as I was on my way home, there was a sudden bout of oppression that hit me. But All thanks to DaddyGod who reminded me of the lesson that was taught to me in the afternoon. "Even in your darkest moment, His Light shines forth with supernatural beauty." Just the sheer focus on his Beauty, cheered me up supernatural and there was much love felt on the way home:)

Another verse that was popping up a lot of times is the following verse.

1 John 2:15 - 17 (Amplified Bible)
"15Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

16For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one's own resources or in the stability of earthly things]--these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself].

17And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever."

Thank you DaddyGod for always reminding me of this. That I am from the world but not of the world. That I do not need to fight for the smallest of my desires But you love me lavishly and you supply all my needs according to your riches and glory:) In you DaddyGod I am Whole and without lack. Thank you DaddyGod for using this month as a month of experiential knowledge of you. Thank you DaddyGod for teaching me of my identity in Christ. Indeed today being the 10th of August, Thank you DaddyGod for constantly assuring me that I am In Christ. Indeed, Thy loving kindness is better than life. I love you Daddy:) for you first loved me:)

M.E.R.C.Y

2008-08-06T23:45:00.004+10:00

You know you have a withdrawal symptom problem when your hands start to move to a tune you listen to on your Ipod or a radio. I call it the "PARA-MAMBO-ONIA". Yes, for the past 15 mins I was playing the song 'mercy' on my laptop and my hands were flying in every possible know direction. No, I haven quite get the song yet as I did not attend the 6th anniversary. Waves to Gerald and Weiliang who are both there now. Enjoy the night dudes.

My membership to the 22th year is now officially 3 days old and I am proud to be 22 years young. Yes, 22 years young as my strength is re-newed like the eagle:) It was a fun day on the 2th, having family and friends that have been around to join in the festivities at my place and as well as at DBL O. Pictures will be up soon on once I get to post process it.

A special shout out of thanks to the people that came:

Family: Steady la, my 3 aunts all came in uniform. Did you all pre-arranged it? Thanks For provide the support for this event, especially Mum. Thanks for helping me co-ordinate things when I was at work that AM. Love you all lots:)

4 Peace, Class of 2002: Kerjin, Clement, Peter, Jianmin, Kwan Yee and Melissa. Thanks for being here for the celebration. Let us all not "break contact" with each passing year:) Also , Shout outs to Meilinda, Agnes, Pei Yun, Sufi and Diana for trying to 'sabo' me at timbre.

The Tubz: Lydia, Alex and Roslyn. Funny how we coined up that name during year 2003. Thanks you guys for being good buddies all these years. More meet-ups will come. This fellowship shall not fall:)

The Lone "Truth" and Dive Buddy: "Coolness", yes the Mazini Speaks like that. Enjoy yourself in Melbourne Sherilyn. Lets meet up with the rest during my term break next year all right? True be told, we need more dives. haha:)

MB0301: Muru, Terence, Faizal, Wei Liang, Khai and Charlene. Thanks for being here. Been a long time since we last went for movies and Company of Heroes. WHY SO SERIOUS EVERYONE? Terence and Khai, Quickly ORD and we all can get to laugh at Muru together. Terence and Muru, Lets Do Australia, Old Skool MB0301 style.

Flags of our Brothers: Just Something I coined up for all you Guys. Nicholas, Vernon, Yap, WeiLiang and Peng Keong. Let us all continue to feel the love for Mambo in the First Degree. "Remember Remember the 31st of December, My last day of Work, A Mambo Plot. I see no reason why the 31st of December, should ever be forgot!"

The Cheahs and Friends: William and Jodi, Esther and Ruth. Sharon , Ivy. And Yvonne. Thanks for being there that night and getting shocked at the purple room. Thanks for being good listening ears and I am truly blessed to have people like you guys around. Most Importantly, Thank you for the STITCH. I really loved it alot :)

Thanks once again you Guys. Truly Made the 22 B.C event a fun one:)

Guess there are also some things DaddyGod is imparting to me especially as a prelude to my 22nd Year. Had a Chat with a precious sister 2 days back. Its really amazing that she said the exact same thing Daddy has revealed to me, a message that is etched within my heart. "In the world but not of the world" The Life I had in the world has passed away. I died with him and I am Now in Him(Galatians 2:20). I am in I AM and so I am, Right now, in CHRIST:) As the years come, I know good things will come my way through HIM, according to DaddyGod's riches and glory:)

P.O.R.K.Y

2008-07-31T23:26:00.007+10:00

Firstly, Sorry ladies and (1x) Gentleman for not being able to mambo yesterday. Need to work la so ya. Cannot go. Hope you people had fun!!

I was eyeing the kway chap that one of my colleague was eating at lunch today. It looked real good and I almost wanted to trade my vegetarian meal for his kway chap. I simply love kway chap and the occasional char siew in my diet. If I am in taiwan, give me the

But it was not always the case. Years back I was forbidden to eat pork due to my hybrid birth. Yeap, when my friends are happily consuming 'porky pig', I was stuck with 'cow and chicken' . On the real, there were occasions that I still secretly tried a little pork here and there. Cannot blame me man, I am still half Chinese. So yeap, occasionally eating pork at that time is considered a treat.

And yeap, It all changed when everything was denounced and reversed legally. So now I can freely eat.

Porky Pig is cute, so are the three little pigs. Yes the original three little pigs, not the ones in the fables comic.

Timely as it is, with all the pork circulating in my mind, I was brought into this verse:

Deuteronomy 14:8
"8 The pig is also unclean; although it has a split hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses."

Yes the OT has a mention of pork eating. Rather, non-pork eating. Thus said the Law. Its also no scientific doubt that the pig is dirty and carries diseases that is easily transmitted to man. Look at Xenotransplantation. If our body can accept the organs of a pig, does it not mean that the same diseases can be easy transmitted to man as we do share certain similiar structures that prevent rejection. Pigs are dirty. Scientific Fact, that it is. I am also interested in science. My whole student life thus far is made up of science, namely life sciences and more biomedical to come next year. Scientific facts are everywhere, visible to the realm of the 5 senses. But my heart still belongs to the TRUTH.

Tonight, the holy spirit brought me beyond the verse under the New Covenant. The main focus will be the chewing of the cud. In layman terms, cud is vomit. Yes there are animals which regurgitate their food from their stomach and chew on it before digestion. No, I am not recommending that you be a bulimic, do not get me wrong here. Chewing aids digestion and digestion is essential for the extraction of nutrients from solid food. These animals that chew the cud do not have the enzymes necessary for breaking down cellulose in their diet. But within their reticulorumen resides microbes that can secrete these enzymes to breakdown cellulose. Hence a symbiosis is formed between the microbes and the animal. The regurgitation and chewing part aids the breakdown of solid food, ensuring a bigger surface area for the enzymes to act upon.

I am not sustained by bread alone, but by the word of God which is the bread of life. I was born again legally by the love of DaddyGod and the finished work on the cross and denounced my old identity. I am a New Creation. The Bread of life is my food and I partake of this food. Before I was born again, I lacked the 'enzyme' to aid in the extraction of this food. Once born again, the 'enzyme' who I now affectionately call, the Holy Spirit, dwells in me. The Holy Spirit is the one who aids in the extraction of the wonderful nutrients of the Bread of Life. But it does not stop there. In secular terms, chewing the cud means to meditate. And to further extract the goodness of the Bread of Life is through the meditation of the Bread of Life, Seeing Jesus as the Focal Point. With Jesus finished work being meditated upon, the goodness will 'sozo' you.

Yes, the pig has a spilt hoof. The hoof is a separation of the ground to the animal. This hoof signifies the separation from the world. Set apart from commonness. Although we are in this world, we are not of this world. Indeed all those who touches of the fine grain shall (definite article) be made uncommon. The hoof is also split, making it possible for light to shine trough to the ground. As it is written:

Matthew 5:14-16
"14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Light of the world, we are called to be. To let the world see the light. Not the light of my works but to let the world see the true light (john 1:9). The holy spirit has indeed unveiled my puzzlement on why the the spilt hooves and that's why split hooves are considered clean. I was utterly set free from this puzzlement. All praise be to Jesus!!

Ultimately, my main learning point from this is to feed on teachings that unveil more of Jesus and his finished work. My main diet is the Bread of Life!! I love you DaddyGod because you first loved me:)

Days before work commences

2008-07-27T03:36:00.007+10:00

Its been a fun-filled week. Good way to get all the fun out of the system before settling down with the "mundys" at work. For the ill informed, I will be starting work at SGH. Nothing fancy since I only have 6 months to work. So yeah, Minimum Wage got my adrenaline enraged. But as with all things for survival here, some income to spearhead some plans I have so minimum wage might not be bad. Yes, I am laid back, but not to the extend of not having a goal in mind. I am more of what you might call a modular planner. I like to plan long term but there are different modules involved. Guess this allows flexibility and also allow other people's plan to be assimilated into my own plans. But, In all the planning, My final trust is still in DaddyGod. The world likes to say "the only constant is change".How true, the manifestations of 5 senses are indeed temporal. But my personal conviction is "the only constant is the perfect love of DaddyGod for me:)"

Wednesday night was crazy. Totally Madness. I call it the last mambo of the season. Well technically it will not be the last as I will go for 1 more before I go down under next year. But It was a fun time spent with friends. Honestly, I cannot recall most of the night due to savoring 2 jugs of my favorite tea. But it was still good fun. Especially hanging out with friends I seldom meet and also with my buddy PAY, who left for Australia. Its also a Buddy Night at Mambo too, in more ways than one Anyway, Here are some pictures from the night:

With my BMT Buddy:Secondary School Friends: This is my dive buddy: Group Shot:
With the Sons of the Sea: With Nicholas, my mambo buddy:

The days after Wednesday were also fun filled. Things like drinking Milk in Swensons, strolling down Haji Lane and the frequent Icekimo and Prata House trips. It was indeed good time spent catching up with secondary school friends and also to interact with those who are leaving SG soon.

Was lying down on the bed yesterday afternoon. My nelson's study bible was on my hands and I was asking DaddyGod to show me something that I need. My hand flipped to Song of Solomon, the best long song ever written. This spoke out very clearly to me and stirred a renewed revelation:

Song of Solomon 1:5-8 (New King James Version)

5 I am dark, but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
Like the tents of Kedar,
Like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not look upon me, because I am dark,
Because the sun has tanned me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
They made me the keeper of the vineyards,
But my own vineyard I have not kept.

(To Her Beloved)

7 Tell me, O you whom I love, Where you feed your flock, Where you make it rest at noon. For why should I be as one who veils herself By the flocks of your companions?

THE Beloved

8 If you do not know, O fairest among women, Follow in the footsteps of the flock, And feed your little goats Beside the shepherds’ tents.

I am dark but lovely. Dark like the tents of Kedar but lovely like the curtains of Solomon. I felt it was mentioned personally to me especially for this week as there were indeed times where I just felt so dark and DaddyGod was like far from me. But there are other times I spent basking in the love he lavishly poured on me, lovely like the curtains of Solomon seeing myself in the purple, red, white and blue. We live in a physical world of the 5 senses. The funny thing about certain negative circumstances that you can see, hear, feel, touch, smell and taste is that it has an adverse effect on a person at that certain period of time. Indeed at that split moment, a slight schizo feeling surface and lead to the dark and lovely part.

But, Praise be to DaddyGod. verse 8 was the first utterance of the Beloved of the Shulamite and it starts off with him saying "if you do not know, O fairest among women, " The Beloved sees the Shulamite as fairest among women. Even with the daughters of Jerusalem in the palace around, The Beloved sees the Shulamite, who was tanned by the sun, as Fairest among women.

Even in split moments of the schizo light and dark part, DaddyGod still see me as fairest. Praise the Lord!! No matter what doubts may befall on me, DaddyGod still see me as fairest. I do not have the privilege of ever experiencing a father's love for me to know what a father love really is. But, now I have my heavenly father who loves me so much that he send his son as a appropriation for my sins. Yes, I am taking it personally. DaddyGod Loves me:) Even in moments I do not feel right with and in him, He still loves me unconditionally. His Perfect Love for me, Drives out all fear far away from me:) Literally Speaking, he love the 'hell' out of me. Haha:) I am so blessed to be embraced by the Perfection of DaddyGod's Love for me.
I look a whole lot better In CHRIST than outside him:)

Don't be Shy, Just Try

2008-07-23T13:56:00.003+10:00

"I CAN'T STAND...MY..POOR..ENGLISH!"
"I WANT TO CHANGE MY LIFE!"

If the above 2 phrases resonate in a familiar tune deep in your cerebellum. That's a sign you've been in the movies recently. The above 2 phrases, heck, even the title for this post are extracted from the Official Theatrical Trailer of 'Mad About English'. Yes you might snicker at the trailer as it is indeed hilarious in nature. But Its still great to see a nation get prepared for the Olympic games.

A Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. True to its essence, that's what the movie portrays. A nation predominately of non-English speaking locals learning to speak a internationally accepted language. Indeed, small steps for a long journey.

Just like a 7 mile Journey which started with the closing of eyes.

Watching the eating. A hidden M.O for a time like this

2008-07-22T01:28:00.005+10:00

Cheetos rocks. No doubt about that. Thanks KJ for bringing one of it yesterday. Also thanks for the shot container and the "grow a girlfriend". One size fits all, how misleading can it get? But thanks once again!

Had been eating a little too much for the pass few days. First it was yesterday. Lunch @ Thai express. I hate spicy food for the very reason that I cannot take spiciness, but I love the rush I get. This is how the term "glutton for punishment" came about in my context. Next was Anderson's Ice-cream. Super sinful can!! 5 scoops shared with 4 people topped with fudge. The sinfulness continued with chippys curry cheese fries. As if the sinfulness could not stop, 1/2 hour later came dinner and it's off with another high carbo diet.

Today after my interview, went down to Holland V to meet Clem, KJ and MX for dinner at sushi tei. This was the healthiest food of the night. After which we adjourned to Wala Wala for a time of chilling. Happy hour maketh one happy, but guess this time not in the mood for drinks as I will be having another interview tomorrow. 1 Bacardi neat and 1 Sauza Shot to quench the thirst. Add in another white wine, all thanks to MX and KJ, to wash away the liquor from my taste buds. Along came deep fried chicken wings and we left after 531 entertained us with a few songs. Icekimo was next (sorry MX) and the night was topped off with a ice cream waffle. With all this put away, I reckon that my walk home really ain't enough.

Truth be told, Its not always about how much you eat, but rather, are you eating the right stuff? People will tell you to eat this, avoid this, eat this in moderation. It's a certified correct concept by the world, "watch what you eat." I bet even your mum tells you that, if not, hmmm.. Shan't dig into it. The concept of watching what you eat is to ensure you focus more on the beneficial stuff from the category know as food. Every Thing about food is good, but there is a need to know what is beneficial and what is not.

Food for thought: "Does this concept apply to everything you eat?"

I do not know what tomorrow holds, but I know I am the beloved of the one who holds tomorrow, the one who first loved me.

Colossians 1:16-18

"16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy."

There is also something said by Pastor during the end of the service yesterday that spoke out to the situation that I am in. "Good", says Pastor. Yes, It did sting. But its the truth that I know and its the truth that will set me free. I am DaddyGod's Beloved:)

Lets Put a Smile on that face.

2008-07-20T02:08:00.003+10:00

"The Latest Craze in the cinema"

The above title goes to the Dark Knight. The latest craze indeed. First thing to note, its a long movie. Secondly, It tops any super hero movie ever made. In my honest opinion, It topped Iron Man. Iron Man was already the coolest thing to hit the big screen this year. Plus, Iron Man is one of my favorite childhood hero. With the above mentioned, I thought that nothing was ever going to top Iron Man as the best superhero flick ever made thus far. And along came the Bat.

Truth be told, I did not catch Batman Begins. Honestly, Batman forever and Batman & Robin kinda turned me off the whole Batman thing. Come Batman Begins and I was skeptical. I chose not to watch it, even with the enticement of the lovable Katie Holmes. On the real, the Batman franchise lost its appeal at that time.

Came Dark Knight. You would have thought the lost appeal would have kept me from the movie. Yes, it did prevented me from wanting to watch the movie to a certain extend. The main draw to this movie was the Joker. I fell in love with the first movie due to the Joker. So with that reasoning, I went ahead with viewing the movie. Within the opening scene, I fell in love with the movie. That's the way a true Batman Flick is supposed to be. I will not go into any details regarding the movie except that its a must watch. Even without any discount with my UOB card, I will still want to catch it again on the big screen. Its that worth it.

*Disclaimer--- People movie experiences do differ. Just like that, erm..what do you call her.. oh yar, the movie critic in the paper who wrote that it was too long. Food for thought, movies aren't just about the stars allocated from one person.

These hands.

2008-07-18T02:32:00.004+10:00

Keeping fit after NS is hard to do. Gone are the days where by there is a fixed time to work out, now its all about personal discipline. Been doing a little cross-training this week. Running, Jogging, swimming and a little mix of statics. No, not in the consideration for weight lost but for the sake of maintaining a certain level of fitness. Especially for the group that belongs in the Operationally Ready category.

Never been swimming for ages and last Tuesday was the first time I hit an over sized chlorinated bath tub. From the expression, I guess you all know how I feel for a pool. Not much would be the answer. Just give me good old seawater any day. But I am still thankful for a pool for its training purposes. Yes, I am way slower compared to last time, time to work it.

Apart from all the mundane running are the statics.Static Station always lead me to the chin-up bar and I kid you not, I really hate doing chin-ups. I do have a perfectly justifiable reason as to why I hate Chin-ups. It's because Chin Ups has always been the spoiler of a 25 points Gold for IPPT. Psyche, I joke. Its not the points but rather the fact that among all my muscle groups, the grip of my hands are the weakest. I kid you not, I do have trouble griping things like the chin-up bar and the swing trainer for prolonged period of time. Truth be told, this grip problem did cost me some sadness and grief in the first degree during cadet days.

But I am glad all things worked out good and that there are lessons to be learnt. I am really thankful for my NS days as in hindsight, there are many lessons that are drawn from it. Those are the days in which I am too blind to see at that time.

Sunday Night/ Monday early morning was a power-packed experience. It was a period of intense teaching through the word. Its really an awesome feeling just to sit at Jesus Feet and let him teach through my personal experience and the word.

It was raining at that time and DaddyGod brought me 2 years back when I still had hair but holding an 11B at P. Tekong. It was raining as well. Not too big a shower, just a mild rain.Next, another vision flashed into my mind. 3 months later as I was posted to OCS, It was raining. The next flashback I had was prior to the 24km route march before my Senoir bar presentation which did not happen. Like the previous 2, It was also raining. Last Vision I had was during my Commissioning parade. Before the parade formed up. Guess what? It rained. Co-incidence? I used to think, but Daddy opened up 2 parts of the scriptures for me which cancelled by thoughts of it being just purely coincidence.

Deuteronomy 28:38-42

38 You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. 39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. 41 You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. 42 Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

and

Joel 2:23-26

23 Be glad, O people of Zion,

rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given you
the autumn rains in righteousness. ^[a]
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.

24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

25 "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm ^[b]—
my great army that I sent among you.

26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.

The first is with regards to the curse of disobedience in the OT and the second is the answer to the army of locust. It is also important to note that in Joel 2:23 rains of righteousness /or/teacher for righteousness.

In my visions, these 4 are the low times of my army days. Firstly at P. Tekong, that was the day in which I first enlisted and I know that I am going to Ninja Company. Super low feeling as I have heard many stories about this company. Secondly, entry to OCS. I had doubts on my abilities to be an officer at that time. Thirdly, Prior to the route march. Reservations on the future during professional term. Lastly, Commissioning Parade. I was worried that I might screw up during the parade. Yes, 4 different time but 4 similar fears and doubts. For the events that happened after the first 3 visions at that time, I became a self made man. I trusted alot in my abilities. Indeed alot of trust was put on myself. I wanted to prove that I can do it with my own hands. But with all this self trust and self effort to excel, I began to feel overwhelming bouts of despair, frustration and anger. Its like no matter how much I seek to do things, It does not always turn out the way its supposed to be. After a while, self condemnation kicks in and a whole new point of lowness just manifested and soon, I began to entertain thoughts like going OOT. This led me to doubt things that are to come. Its really like the first scripture in Deuteronomy 28:38-42, No matter what I do, It just ain't right.

But there was 4 things that was constant during this low times. Rain was constant. In Joel 2:23, the rains can be also said as teacher for righteousness. At all my lowest moments, Daddy sent signs to assure me that Its all taken care of and that I should be assured that I am already made righteous and all of God's promises are Yes and Amen. Indeed I was too pre-occupied with myself to see and understand this assurance from DaddyGod. He was always there to remind me of righteousness and He was always there to show me that all the achievements I had are all through him instead of self effort. I passed out of BMT with good opinions. I made it to Service Term and Professional Term and lastly Commissioned as an Officer. My Breakthroughs in NS are the times I had totally given up on myself and literally cried out for help. Only when I give up on my own strength and said a short prayer that I really made it through certain hard times like SOC, IPPT and certain exercises. All thanks to Daddy God and nothing from my own hands that I can boast about:)

I chose the long and hard way when Daddy has constantly assured me of an easier way. I am sure glad that Daddy taught this to me so I will not end up "wandering for 40 years", sallowed by my outward Circumstance. But to live life in the full realization that I am indeed a Child of God:)

Indeed I can do everything through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13)

Circle in the Middle of the Week

2008-07-16T17:12:00.004+10:00

If there is a Wednesday in which I will regret it would be last Wednesday. Call myself a Mambo Fan and I was not there to celebrate mambo's 16th Anniversary. Hope the King will pardon me if he sees this. Its the money part that is holding me back every Wednesday now. But, by saying that, I will still go if invited by people.

Wednesday always bring out the Mambo Spirit in me. Too Bad I ain't going tonight due to a BBQ cohesion event. I was packing through my stuff this morning and I found a lighter in my SBO. A Burning Mambo Spirit plus a lighter? Next thing I knew, I got on my laptop and this Song started resonating within the confines of my home. The Vid is just below the lyrics.

Belinda Carlise - Leave A Light On
Take my hand
Tell me what you are feeling
Understand
This is just the beginning

Although I have to go
It makes me feel like crying
I don't know when I'll see you again

Darling leave a light on for me
I'll be there before you close the door
To give you all the love that you need
Darling leave a light on for me
'cause when the world takes me away
You are still the air that I breathe

I can't explain I just don't know
Just how far I have to go
But darling I'll keep the key
Just leave a light on for me

Yes I know
What I'm asking is crazy
You could go
Just get tired of waiting
But if I lose your love
Torn out by my desire
That would be the one regret of my life

Just like a spark lights up the dark
Baby that's your heart

I Particularly enjoy songs by Belinda Carlise at Mambo Nights, especially Summer Rain. This reminds me, Its been ages since I last went prepared for this song. Time to remember to pack a lighter just for this song.

Now I wonder, how in the world will I go through time in Australia without mambo? ..... Oh Well, Just Leave a Light on for me!!

Absolute Hybridization - is it ever possible?

2008-07-13T23:01:00.008+10:00

For the non-scientific crowd out there:
" Hybridization is the process, discovered by Alexander Rich, of combining complementary, single-stranded nucleic acids into a single molecule."

Remember the post in which I mention of the LV and CDG collaboration? If you do, good for you! Anyway WWD Japan did give a sneak preview of the designs of this collaboration in their july addition. I know this is kind of a late notification as I know some of you "HypeBeasts" out there already saw this news like way back last week. But, It is still timely to notify the non-"hypebeast" crowd here on this. Now, by writing a cheque that I can cash, here's the link: http://hypebeast.com/2008/07/comme-des-garcons-x-louis-vuitton-2/

Truth be told, I tend to be have a better opinion of collaboration products. No, its not because I am of a hybrid birth, but rather I am inclined to the complimentary nature. For most things in life, I like a complimentary approach where the strength from one is built upon the strength or another or even using a strength of one to cover a weakness of the other. All designs/products have their selling point but also there is another part that render it imperfect. A collaboration , most of the time compliment each other strengths and mask each other weaknessness , making the product more versatile and viable. Let me draw my personal example from1 collaborated product. I will not include the picture here so for those really interested in how it looks, do goggle for the design. The Product is CLOT fantasy x Originalfake Hsu Chi T-Shirt.

For those who do not know. CLOT Fantasy is a minor clothing series within CLOT which specializes in having models, actresses and sex symbols as their main theme. For this Tee, The main focus is on Hsu Chi. Yes, she is a representation of what you will call an Asian sex symbol. So having Hsu Chi in a sensual pose might be a turn off for Guys who prefer minimal sexual expressions in a Tee. OriginalFake has been established in the personification of fun and playfulness and its usually typified by a Cartoon Character. Now add in a cartoon Character wrapping around Hsu Chi. The fun and playful tones of OriginalFake is now been added to the sensual part of CLOT fantasy. This established playfulness tone brings down the sensuality and now, people who will usually shun the sensuality of CLOT Fantasy will be drawn to this T-Shirt as the Sensuality is toned down. The positive outcome? A product for a wider audience.

From the above, you might think That I am all for things like Hybridization and complimenting each other. Yes I am for this. BUT, to a certain extend. Complimenting each other is good in relationships with one another, product designs, genetics etc. Its all good for things like this. There are really no absolutes with regards to the principality of this world. As good as the "hybridization" concept is, It cannot be appiled to everything as the direct opposite of this concept is a sure sign of schizophrenia. Indeed, not all things are meant to be mixed.

I might be a little radical from here on, so If any feels strongly about it do email me at real_slim_shady8986@hotmail.com.

Matthew 9:17
17Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved

The context on the above is on fasting. But the relevation I received was not on fasting but rather on the Mixture of the new and old covenant and it tied up perfectly with today's sermon. We cannot mix the Old and New. Period. I am the Righteousness of God by Faith, not by works that I can boast.

I had an experience once. I was feeding on the Covenant of Grace for months, close to year. Indeed I was deep rooted in the Message of Righteousness by faith in the new Covenant of Grace. Came one day, I heard on teaching elsewhere. That teaching made me feel sin conscious, a guilt trap I might say. It made me feel like I have suddenly lost the glory that was given to me because of something that I did the day before and even a few moments before. Months of Establishing myself in the Message of Righteousness through faith was totally negated with one teaching that made me sin conscious. It was devastating and I fell back to the Old System of wanting to do Good and a mentality of Do good get good, Do bad get Beat. I have to admit for a period of time I had forgotten that I am Righteous by Faith.

Luke 5:39 (Amplified Bible)
39And no one after drinking old wine immediately desires new wine, for he says, The old is good or better.

Brother Jesus is wise and he warned us in the above. The dangers of falling back to the old system of doing Good as we will indefinitely forget the New.

I must make a stand right now less I be a stumbling block for others. The Law is pure, the law is holy, the Law is Just. But the Law cannot save and Man is not to eat of this. I am not against doing things out of a nature established on the Grace of God, which is the essence of the new covenant. But , Something is wrong when we do good just to establish our righteousness or to give others a good opinion of oneself. We are all made Righteous by Faith through the Finish work of Christ Jesus on the Cross!!

In Summary, there is no such thing as absolute Hybridization. Before I end this post. I will like to post a question to readers here. "What do you think is the equivalent of the evil of doing wrong?"

Have a Blessed Day everyone.

To Know.

2008-07-11T22:51:00.005+10:00

In a fast craft towards a nostalgic island, many thoughts flashed into my mind. The good, the bad and the ugly. Memories of the 3 months in that island just flowed in my head. Looking at KC as he went through Clement's personal bag one last time before we dock at P. Tekong was indeed a hilarious scene. This time around, I was to go through the tour in which my family went through 2 years ago. I was touring a different company line this time around, but, the individual bunk still sparks memories as if it was the one I slept in last time.

I remember 2 years ago. The very first night I slept in a room with 12 strangers. 3 months later, on our last day at the island, I woke up with 12 comrades. 12 comrades who went through basic soldiering with me. 12 comrades whom I will gladly give up my life if the time comes. Ninja 2 Section 4 03/06 BMT. Believable? a claim as extreme as this during peacetime? They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but for me, I also say that believe is also in the mind and heart of the beholder. So as it stands, make your choice on my above statement.

I was corrected of a usage of an erroneous statement yesterday. Really all thanks to Daddy God who unveiled this to me. Lets start with a story:

There was a boy and his mum. The mother loved the boy and that's the truth. From young she showered her tender, loving care to him. For years, she had been doing this relentlessly provided food, education, allowance and security for his well-being, the boy just carried on with his life and took all the loving for granted. Once this boy reached his teenage years, he met up and associated with a group of friends. This group consist of the rude and the crude. They are the "Ah Bengs" of our times. Once with this group, the boy picked up all possible vices associated with this group. Apart from the moral degradation this boy is getting from this group, he was also assured constantly by this group. They will call him brother and accepted him. It was not long after that this boy's mother found out what he was doing. When being told to never speak to this group again, the boy lashed out at the mother saying, " Why should I, these people like me for who I am, they accepted me. They love me more than you can love me. You have no right to tell me what to do under your matriarchal tyranny!" The Boy stormed out of the house, filled with rage.

John 8:32
32And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.

Yes indeed. I used to quote the later half of this verse by saying the "truth will set you free". But but doing so, I did not release the full power of this verse. The power lies in the first part of this verse "and you will know the truth". Its only by knowing the truth that will set you free. This knowing is not something like grasping the concept but rather a firm believe. The truth can be placed right in front of a person's face but if the person does not receive it, nothing is being set free. However, if a person were to know the truth of Grace, by faith. The truth will indeed set the person free.

Drawing analogy from this story. The Mum loves the Boy. That is the truth. But the Boy did not know of this love. The friends does not love the boy like the Mother but the Boy thinks that they love him more than his mum as he believed them when they call him brother and accepted him. If only the Boy had personally known the truth.

Indeed, only a small step like knowing and believing, makes the difference.

Daddy God, thank you once again for correcting me on this point.

Where should we be looking?

2008-07-10T01:29:00.004+10:00

I love to nap, but who ever heard of a nap before turning in for the night. Its like a sudden surge of energy was drawn away from me at around 7:30pm. It like I only had enough strength to barely stand and I just fell back on my bed and literally unable to get up. This period of tiredness lasted until 10:30pm. Its kind of freaky. But anyway, on to today's post.

Had a wonderful dinner at Shashlik Restaurant yesterday. Boy do I miss that place, although the last time I went was like 3 months ago. But I am a sucker for good food. The Escargots were great. Yes I admit, i do rather enjoy eating snails. The fresh oyster soup was kinda ordinary but the main course was the bomb. The Beef Shashlik is one dish that can tingle every taste bud to a mini orgasm in your mouth, especially if you top up the hot plate with the Russian salad provided. Man, I would love to go back there again in the months to come.

Bumped into Shao Yu on the way home yesterday. It was like his last night as a civilian as he will embark on this 2 years national service today. This co-incidental meeting led to a small supper gathering with Swee Kiat, Yong Cai, Joel and Frederick at the Bishan RK House. After which was another supper gathering with Stanley and KC at the 284 Kopitiam. Yeah man, 3 suppers in one night. Yes, 3 as in counting the chilli cheese melt hotdog I had before RK house. Man I am such a glutton.

Somehow or rather as I made my way home early this morning, I was reminded of my last night before I enlisted 2 years ago. It was an emo night as I recalled. Did not want to go home early and having an upheaval of thoughts. Yes I was that emo and entertaining thoughts like "welcome to the SUCK", as inspired by the book and movie, JARHEAD. Now, I wondered how i survived that emo night, it was indeed dark and depressing.

I remember my trainee days. Yes, I have to admit, there isn't a single day that i wished for it to end. I did entertain thoughts of pre-maturely ending the training phase. It was a stupid thinking and these erroneous thinking did make my trainee life a little hard, especially on the emotional side. I was looking and giving weight to my outward circumstances. I was conscious of what I was going through instead of what has already been laid out and provided. I was giving weight to the pain of training and the aim to strive instead of relying on the strength of Daddy God, in essence, taking light on abundance of Grace. Yes, too much of a self consciousness for that one year. This led to 1 year of struggling, self doubt, pain, despair when all along in the beginning Daddy God assured that all will be Good. I just had to look to him at every circumstance but I choose to look at my circumstances instead, leading to a emotional and spiritual upheavals and "wandering around the wilderness for 40 years before going into the promise land".

Daddy God also brought the flashback to a close by reminding me on this:

Matthew 4:4 (amplified bible)

But He replied, It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

Indeed I am reminded and convicted by this, to live Christ Centric Life. Not by my own efforts but in reliance of his strength now and forevermore.

Mazini : Snake Hunter

2008-07-07T01:35:00.005+10:00

Psalms 23:5
"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows."

Readiness is essential. I learnt this from the Army. I recall my cadet days whereby we will have repetitions of certain combat drills to ensure that we are proficient in it. A classic case of "I rather have it and not need it than need it but i don't have it". Readiness is indeed of utmost importance.

I have received a set of teachings during these past few weeks through a detailed and patient explanation by Daddy God. Teachings were about the armor of God and its really very timely as I embark on a trial for this period. I know that I might be under influenced quite greatly during this period, especially through fear and uncertainty. But, 1 thing is for sure, yesterday, today, forever Daddy God is the same! I also thank Daddy that through the messages preached by pastor, I am able to gain more insight into certain matters by being Christ Centric. Although its a topic that has been shared and explained to me quite a few times before, it was only last week where a powerful revelation was poured forth. All thanks to Daddy God:)

The timing of it was perfect as for the past 2 nights, I had a recurring Nightmare. It was really scary. Its like a Spirit of fear was relentlessly attacking me, especially on a particular area. A 'What if' and 'if only' mindset started to form and I guess this formed an opening for fear to kick in. It was quite a short nightmare. I recall it was dark, and a hissing sound was heard. Next thing I knew, I was struck on the neck by a Serpent. I Jumped out in cold sweat. The bite was in the dream but the fear was real. I stood in fear for awhile and went back to sleep. The dreams after that were all random dreams but somewhat disturbing in nature as well.

Last night after DBL O, I could not get to sleep as well due to the image popping into my mind. I was tired, but I just could not sleep. I just tossed and turned for awhile. At somewhere around 6 - 7 am, I started to hum myself the song Psalms 91 and surely and clearly this was flashed into my heart.

Psalms 91:1
"You shall tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the serpent shall you trample underfoot."

Yes, Daddy God Spoke through his written word to me. Trampling the serpent underfoot. 2 key words, Trampling and underfoot. Daddy God also continued to speak to me through his word with the following.

Genesis 3:14-15 (Amplified Bible)

14And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all [domestic] animals and above every [wild] living thing of the field; upon your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust [and what it contains] all the days of your life.

15And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring; He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel.

This has brought forth a power that stirred in my spirit. I was literally robbed and lied to on that nightmare. The Serpent does not strike the neck, the serpent strikes the heel. How great was this perversion of the truth that kept me in fear. With the word Daddy God Spoke, the fear was broken. Daddy God spoke to me again saying, now that i have the power to break it, here is the power to destroy it and he showed me this verse.

Ephesians 6:15 (Amplified Bible)

15And having shod your feet in preparation [to face the enemy with the firm-footed stability, the promptness, and the readiness produced by the good news] of the Gospel of peace.

The Serpent strikes only at my heel but with a feet fitted with the Gospel of peace, fear, will be driven far away!!. Thank you once again Daddy God for this victory!!

Above all things now, I Just want a Christ Centric Experience, now and forevermore.

Making Sense of Sense Making.

2008-07-03T22:15:00.004+10:00

I came across this short story. Beautiful by nature, Powerful by content.

A Short Story by Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun.

Once upon a time there was an old women who used to meditate on the bank of the Ganges. One Morning, finishing her meditation, she saw a scorpion floating helplessly in the strong current. As the scorpion was pulled closer, it got caught in roots that branched out far into the river.The scorpion struggled frantically to free itself but got more and more entangled. She immediately reached out to the drowning scorpion, which, as soon as she touched it, stung her. The old women withdrew her hand but, having regained her balance, once again tried to save the creature. Every time she tried, however, the scorpion's tail stung her so badly that her hands became bloody and her face distorted with pain. A passerby who saw the old woman struggling with the scorpion shouted, "what's wrong with you, fool! Do you want to kill yourself to save that ugly thing?" Looking into the stranger's eyes, she answered, "because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting, why should I deny my own nature to save it?"

( J. Chittister in F. Franck, J. Roze and R. Conollt (eds.), What does it mean to be human? Reverence for Life Reaffirmed by Responses from around the world (New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2000), 151. )

Face it, we all want/wish to make sense of things. Be it something as complex as the Human Genome or something as simple as why can stingray be cooked in other ways rather than sambal sauce. Come to think about it. While we are busy making sense of things around us we tend to lose our own focus in life.

I remember a breakfast a few months back. A Sister of mine reminded me of a simple fact. "we are God's Child". Indeed it was not just a textbook model answer. But rather, a Truth. I asked myself around 16 hours later that day, 30,000 feet in the air, have I been lost in the process of sense making that I can overlook simple truths like that?

We all like to have a process of sense making. Be it for our own goals, satisfying our curiosity or elevating our doubts. Its time for people to be making sense of Sense Making. Especially if we are trying to make sense of ourselves. As we make sense of ourselves, let not distractions pull your concentration but put on the belt of truth. I have learnt it the hard way by literally "wandering for 40 years" and I do not want anyone I know follow in that footstep. The Truth will set you free!!

I remember this small parable

Judges 9:7-15 (Amplified Bible)

7 When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood at the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, Hear me, men of Shechem, that God may hear you.

8One time the trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, Reign over us.

9But the olive tree said to them, Should I leave my fatness, by which God and man are honored, and go to wave over the trees?

10Then the trees said to the fig tree, You come and reign over us.

11But the fig tree said to them, Should I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go to wave over the trees?

12Then the trees said to the vine (grapevine), You come and reign over us.

13And the vine (grapevine) replied, Should I leave my new wine, which rejoices God and man, and go to wave over the trees?

14Then all the trees said to the bramble, You come and reign over us.

15And the bramble said to the trees, If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

This is indeed the by Product of Positive of Sense Making in the Truth. The Olive tree and the Grapevine understood their purpose for existence. They were sure of their nature. And they can make decisions based on the knowledge of who they are as opposed to the bramble who make decisions based on what it wants. I don't know about the rest of you but I rather be making decisions on assured and affirmed grounds:)

Let us all Make Sense of Sense Making.. the Correct Way:)

The Chic and Chick Factor.

2008-06-30T13:17:00.003+10:00

Before starting the post. Apologies to members of the Female Lib movement for the word Chick in my title. Its not meant to be degrading but rather something to match with the word Chic. So do not sue me.

Firstly, the Chic Factor.

Mention the word LV and straight away everyone knows that it's referred to the French luxury brand Louis Vuitton. Designs from this brand are indeed beautiful and a work of art. I am not an LV fan. But I do admire the designs and the products as it boast a harmonious blend of sophistication, character and style.

Comme des Garçons or CDG as it is commonly known here also dishes out designs that are really cool and sometimes bizarre. Remember the 1997 spring/summer collection of "lumps and bumps"? Do not ring a bell? How about the bug eyed heart shape youth street wear that some SG youths are sporting? you know-PLAY CDG?

Anyway, Imagine a Collaboration between LV and CDG this September in Tokyo. I do not know about you but I am intrigued as to what kind of designs that this collaboration will put forth. No sneak peeks as of yet but the next 3 months will be one of anticipation.

Now, the Chick factor.

Originally I wanted to post this yesterday morning. But due to time I could not and i fell asleep early last night too so yup, it has been delayed till now.

Guess age is catching up to me when i say this. "I wanna get married at the age of 25 and have kids at the age of 28". Yes, that is what I am praying for. And by saying this, means gone are the days of trying my luck with a girl with the meanest curves but rather, here are the days where the criteria is more stringent. Prepare to be judged... thus says the Mazini.~ haha, just kidding.

Most people will think I have low expectations after this line. I only have 2 Criteria and expectation of "the one". Yeap, 2 Simple Expectations.

Expectation #1. She must be a Believer in DaddyGod. In my opinion, no 2 ways about this. The First Cut, so to speak.

Now, ponder upon the below.

Proverbs 31:10-31
"10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.

14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.

18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.

19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.

21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.

25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate."

Guess everyone yearns for a"Proverbs 31 Women". Why do we have the reason not to?

Indeed,at the end of mortal life here, It would be good to look back that you are with someone like this. But the above verse is not in its entirety- my principal for my second expectation.

My Second Expectation lies in verse 28 and verse 31. The "one" must be someone whom i can sing praises about and love.Even in events like enduring/and or going through tough situations and circumstances in life, that there is an unforced rhythm of Grace present that guides and allows me to shower love upon the person. Indeed, someone whom I can see and focus on the Gold rather than a speck of wood even when the/a Bad Day comes.

Other things like can cook, can sing, can dance, smart. Does play a part like a 0.001% bonus point. Other than the principal 2 expectations, the rest are really just Good to Have.

Yeap, my 2 Expectations laid out in full view on the table.

"And the person is You, love"

In His Time (eye 2 eye)

2008-06-24T02:08:00.005+10:00

Here's a Song to start off this post.

In His Time
In His time, in His time,
He makes all thing beautiful in His time.
Lord, my life to You I bring,
May each song I have to sing,
Be to You a lovely thing, in Your time.

In Your time, in Your time,
You make all thing beautiful in Your time.
Lord, my life to You I bring,
May each song I have to sing,
Be to You a lovely thing, in Your time

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (Amplified Bible) "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."

A sweet song, A sweet remembrance that indeed DaddyGod Maketh all things beautiful in his time

On Sunday, I was watching Grey's Anatomy. Maybe, accompanying someone to watch might be more accurate as I do not follow the series. One perculiar thing happened during the course of the show. I was talking to another friend who was doing some ironing. So picture this. I was on the left hand side of my friend who is watching Grey's and Talking a another friend on the right of the 'Grey's Watcher'. Of course the conversation irritated her and she gave a stare at me. Something as simple as this stare or a eye to eye connection was enough for me to know her intent. So naturally shifted my position. Well, after 2 times of the stare that is.

On Monday, There was a learning lesson that was re-enforced to me and its something like the scenario on Sunday.

Psalms 32:8-9 (Amplified Bible) "I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Be not like the horse or the mule, which lack understanding, which must have their mouths held firm with bit and bridle, or else they will not come with you."

I was reminded on the fact that we needed to have an eye to eye connection with DaddyGod throughout the activities of our lives. We are not to be like the horse or the mule, needing a bit and bridle. The Bit and bridle is the one tool that enforces the riders will on their steed, so as to get the control he needs. These animals cannot control themselves. The main problem will be that the Horse is just way too fast and in need of slowing down. The Mule is slow and needs to be pulled.

We cannot be like the horse, being too fast. DaddyGod has his timing for everything. His timing is perfect. We cannot have the "hagar will do mentality", in the interest of our own time.

We also cannot be like the mule, being too slow. Worst of all, holding on to a "what if" mentality. Afraid of the things to come.

We Should have an Eye to Eye connection with DaddyGod. That's when we find the assurance. By looking him in the eye also means that you are concentrating on him. One can only focus on the eye if he concentrates on the whole being. This is how we know, his Ideal Intent for us and in his perfect timing. His ways are indeed simple. In the natural, a small step of faith as looking into his eyes. In the Supernatural, a Giant leap for his wonders to perform. Praise the Lord!!!

DaddyGod, Guide and Remind me. Let me Flow in this unforced rhythm of your Grace. I want to have this eye to eye connection with you.

Love Changes Everything

2008-06-20T11:27:00.007+10:00

The Human body is a fascinating organism, capable of surviving dangerous blows and capable of repair after damage is done. Train and bulk up on your muscles and you can endure even greater trauma. Its like Superman you know? the Ultimate fantasy of a Man of Steel. Strong, Bendable but not unbreakable.

3 Rs. I remember. Respect, Reflect and Reciprocate. Spoken by a Commander whom I admired during my NSF days. Respect- respect every individual, Reflect- Reflect on the things done and have an utmost desire to improve. Lastly Reciprocate- unto others, impart the same goodness that has been imparted to you. I have to admit, these 3Rs have been another pillar to me during my staff tour. Yes, its secular by nature, but we too, as believers can pick up secular aid, provided its been validated and substantiated by the word.

National Service. To me, I see it as an opportunity for character molding and learning experiences. However, I guess I have failed what I set out to do. These 2 years passed by fast and I had achieved alot of things through it like commissioning as an officer. Outwardly with that bar on my shoulder it might be a testament for my ability, but did it fully represent what is within me? The Bar might make people look at me, but, i do not want people to look at me, I want people to look In me. The outer form might just be a facade for the manifestation of the flesh always lie within, deep behind close doors.

Romans 6:1-2 "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?"

Speed through Skills. Indeed, with the highest degree of professionalism, there is no limit to the things one can do or the efficiency of a person. But there was another phrase that caught my attention and that is "Man of Steel". And a phrase by Dr Goh Keng Swee, Minister of defence, spoken on 1967,"The Tempering of Steel is a lengthy process and the Men of Steel you must be, anything less has no place in the Singapore Artillery."

Romans 6:3-4 "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."

Tempering is a heat treatment technique for metals and alloys. In steels, tempering is done to "toughen" the metal by transforming brittle martensite into bainite or a combination of ferrite and cementite.

Romans 6: 5-8 "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. "

Character Molding is like the Tempering of steel. For myself. I have walked on the grey shades of life for far too long. Threading on the thin line between right and wrong. Even after my baptism, I still find myself threading on Grey, although for some time it was all the way into the shadows. Its something I do not want to carry on anymore. Why should someone in the "light of the world" be engulfed in the shadows of the world? It was a painful journey. It makes Self Mutilation/Mortification seem like child's play. Do not get me wrong, it is painful only because the thoughts of the flesh put forth alot of obstacles and worst of all, personal memories to come against me. I guess, someone does not want me to walk in the light, But Through Daddy God, all things are possible and i know by faith I will reign in life. The Journey of rejuvenation by the spirit has been on for some time and its still continuing as every day present a new challenge, and with every challenge, the Work and reassurance from Daddy God flows even greater than my adversity. Indeed, no greater love than this :)

Romans 6:12- 14 "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."

This is one road trip that I am so going to enjoy. It will be tough, but DaddyGod is Tougher than all my adversities for my entire life put together. Like the process and outcome of tempering. I know I will be what he wants me to be and altogether, the ultimately with Him guiding me through. I shall be destined to reign in life.

Thank you Daddy God.

The Choice.

2008-06-17T16:51:00.004+10:00

"Things that I once had seen before their time, I choose, within the last year to see it no longer. For if it is not substantiated, It brings misery "

I remember the stretch of road I saw before I ever set foot on it.
I remember the pain I felt on the land in which I stood , Exactly on same day, 1 month before it was washed away.
I remember the desperation felt when the winds stuck.

I remember it all too well and altogether with other things that I did not pen down as they were a little too personal to be written here. Its not the first time I am writing about this but I guess for a long time coming, I will not be writing about all these. Some things that are seen and are substantiated by lessons and the written word are all right. However, once it pry into a person's private life-be it mine or another, and revealed to be true in the near future. It really does get to be a burden and not to mention a real pain. Its like the heart of those close to me are opened up in a flash.

Supernatural in its making, but I guess its not for me to handle as "The end is not for me to see, nor is it for me to say."

I know Time and space happens for a reason. I just intend to keep it that way, that's why- the Choice.

side track- The slides you made that time really brought back memories from 2 years ago. Its really sweet even after viewing it 2 years later.

Man in the Mirror

2008-06-09T01:51:00.003+10:00

These past few weeks, I had a prominent question being posted to me. Really funny question I kid you not.

It goes, "I thought you listen to predominately Hip-hop/Rap music, why 80s songs as well? Influence of Mambo in your life?"

Yes, I do listen to Rap music predominately. Since young, i have taken a liking to Rap Music. But it ain't always the case. I mean, which kid at a tender age of 7 will be blasting N.W.A's 'fuck the police' without getting murdered by your parents in SG? All right, maybe not the youths of today but back in those days where parenting was a little more strict than usual. I guess you get the picture. It actually started out with the 'King of Pop- Michael Jackson'. Yeah, he started the whole thing on me listening to music by the African Americans. Since then, I had the mindset that if it ain't black, it ain't music. Rap only came in with the introduction of NWA's Straight out of Compton. Where the famous 'fuck the police' still rings as an anthem to me. From then on, bases are loaded. I was hooked unto the Rap Genre. It was one love affair to the other, From the Chronic to the Re-up.

80s music. yes, I do admit Mambo Night had a small part to play. But, one thing many might not know was that during the years 1997-2001 I was also hooked on dance music. And there were many remix on 80s songs during this period. That played a part too. However, the Main reason will have to be the lyrical content of the songs. Rap is cool, but the lyrics tend to dwell alot on what OUR society deems as unethical, rude and downright filthy. 80s Music tend to be more on the happier tone. Moreover, this period in time is one in which I need some inner peace so I can't afford to dwell too much into the music I love and enjoy, the music you accuse the MC that they are trying to destroy. I still listen to Rap, but, like I said, I also need a detox. My detox shall last till Dr Dre comes up with the next DETOX album.

Yup, its the happy tune and I might say, that it is rather refreshing, even though the lyrics may suggest otherwise but the happy tune is all I need.