Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
A dog's life.
Mom and Jean
So now... everyday Jean poos and pees at least twice per day.
Either she's urgent and runs to the toilet, or we randomly bring her there to see if she wants to do her business.
She's gloomy when she knows we're all leaving the house and that she'll be home alone. haha, sometimes she looks like she's sulking and i feel bad for having to leave the house. She's such a joy to have around the house. She's ever so excited when anyone comes home, she's even excited when strangers visit us. Such a friendly dog, can't be a guard dog. haha.
Her leg's improving, walking up the living room platform now... still abit scared to come down, but sometimes she succeeds.
She's been eating well, bit greedy sometimes when we're eatin fruit especially. She'll try to 'manja look' and get some pity morsels. =)
on weekends when i'm sleeping in til 10 she'll lie in my room til i wake up... haha cute girl. and i brought her out for a short walk the other day with a leash. She likes walks! haha. We shower her twice a week on weds and sundays. I clean her eyes everyday, and her butt when she poos.
Her head tilts when we talk to her. haha... she recognises words like "let's go" and "toy". hehe.... such a darling.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Compassion
An incident which happened in class yesterday made me really think.
You know, i wasn't expecting to be blessed with a job so early in my summer break. Sometimes the more i think about it, i guess it was sort of in a shocking manner 'thrust' upon me. Maybe that's why it took me til today to realise i didn't mentally prepare myself for the challenge. Or maybe i never could have been prepared, and this is just the beginning of something God is revealing.
Basically, the students i teach are sitting for their O and N levels as private candidates. We run the learning centre very much like a normal school- polo tees for uniforms, recess breaks, no dyed hair etc etc. Thing is, many of the students are here either because they have bad records in their schools and can't go to government schools or they're re-taking their examinations, or in some cases like my brother and a few, have had their education elsewhere and now need to obtain a Cambridge certificate to move along the singapore system.
I didn't realise my attitude was bad til yesterday. (don't worry, i didn't do anything bad) It's just that an incident (involving a student who was rude to me) made me think, and i revealed my innermost thoughts. maybe alot of times i thought that i could be doing better things, other things rather then in a classroom with rowdy students, or maybe i thought that i should, or deserved to teach students who were 'easier' to teach. It was eating me up.
Bottomline is: You can't be an effective teacher if you don't respect and love your students. You cannot teach if you are not teachable yourself.
The word of God reveals the hearts of men in amazing ways...when during my QT i realised that i was tired, angry and frustrated at myself, a huge surge of compassion overwhelmed me from the top of my head to my toes. I felt like weeping. I felt ugly for all the things and all the pride that i had shown in dealing with kids who simply needed love and acceptance. I thank God for giving me the time and oppurtunity to touch all these individual lives and faces who have potential and hope in Him.
You know, i wasn't expecting to be blessed with a job so early in my summer break. Sometimes the more i think about it, i guess it was sort of in a shocking manner 'thrust' upon me. Maybe that's why it took me til today to realise i didn't mentally prepare myself for the challenge. Or maybe i never could have been prepared, and this is just the beginning of something God is revealing.
Basically, the students i teach are sitting for their O and N levels as private candidates. We run the learning centre very much like a normal school- polo tees for uniforms, recess breaks, no dyed hair etc etc. Thing is, many of the students are here either because they have bad records in their schools and can't go to government schools or they're re-taking their examinations, or in some cases like my brother and a few, have had their education elsewhere and now need to obtain a Cambridge certificate to move along the singapore system.
I didn't realise my attitude was bad til yesterday. (don't worry, i didn't do anything bad) It's just that an incident (involving a student who was rude to me) made me think, and i revealed my innermost thoughts. maybe alot of times i thought that i could be doing better things, other things rather then in a classroom with rowdy students, or maybe i thought that i should, or deserved to teach students who were 'easier' to teach. It was eating me up.
Bottomline is: You can't be an effective teacher if you don't respect and love your students. You cannot teach if you are not teachable yourself.
The word of God reveals the hearts of men in amazing ways...when during my QT i realised that i was tired, angry and frustrated at myself, a huge surge of compassion overwhelmed me from the top of my head to my toes. I felt like weeping. I felt ugly for all the things and all the pride that i had shown in dealing with kids who simply needed love and acceptance. I thank God for giving me the time and oppurtunity to touch all these individual lives and faces who have potential and hope in Him.
Friday, January 19, 2007
= )
Got this from Lewis.
If you leave a comment on this post:
1. I'll respond with something random about you
2. I'll challenge you to try something
3. I'll pick a color that I associate with you
4. I'll tell you something I like about you
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of
7. I'll ask you something I've always wanted to ask you
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on yours
If you leave a comment on this post:
1. I'll respond with something random about you
2. I'll challenge you to try something
3. I'll pick a color that I associate with you
4. I'll tell you something I like about you
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of
7. I'll ask you something I've always wanted to ask you
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on yours
New vision
Had my lasik surgery done at Eagle eye centre by Dr Julian Theng in Mount Alvernia yesterday at around 3pm. =)
Everything went smoothly and the whole op only took 10 minutes! The quick and simple procedure really helped with the 'laser to my eye' pre- surgery jitter.
I have good, clear vision now. Even the sunlight glares that i'm supposed to have post-op are fading away already. Doc said my vision will only keep improving for the next week or so, then i'll have to look after my perfect eyesight- don't read in the dark, resting my eyes after working at the computer for long hours... etc.
Highly recommended!
Everything went smoothly and the whole op only took 10 minutes! The quick and simple procedure really helped with the 'laser to my eye' pre- surgery jitter.
I have good, clear vision now. Even the sunlight glares that i'm supposed to have post-op are fading away already. Doc said my vision will only keep improving for the next week or so, then i'll have to look after my perfect eyesight- don't read in the dark, resting my eyes after working at the computer for long hours... etc.
Highly recommended!
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Personality vs Principle- based Character
Was reading the first few chapters of Stephen Covey's '7 Habits for highly effective people' on the journeys back from work and realised something that stood out biblically in his book. He talked about many 'quick fixes' to today's problems found in self-help books which addressed 'personality' issues.
He stated that "Success became more a function of personality, of public image, of attitudes and behaviours, skills and techniques, that lubricate the processes of human interaction." Positive mental attitude slogans like "Your attitude determines your altitude" or "Smiling wins more friends than frowning".
Not saying that any of the above are wrong, some have contributed to defining the principles in alot of people's successes, but some parts of this personality approach are clearly manipulative, even deceptive, encouraging people to use techniques to get other people to like them, or to fake interest in the hobbies of other to get out of them what they wanted, or to intimidate their way through life.
'Today we come across a person who behaves like an automaton, who does not know or understand himself, and the only person that he knows is the person that he is supposed to be, whose meaningless chatter has replaced communicative speech, whose synthetic smile has replaced genuine laughter, and whose sense of dull despair has taken the place of genuine pain. Two statements may be said concerning this individual. One is that he suffers from defects of spontaneity and individuality which may seem to be incurable. At the same time it may be said of him he does not differ essentially from the millions of the rest of us who walk upon this earth.'
-- Erich Fromm
Addressing the 'Principle' issues however, touches the essence of who we are. Principles are like lighthouses which ground us. Covey talks about principles like making them natural laws in our lives which cannot be broken. Which i believe he was referring to biblical principles (honouring your parents, tithing, the fear of the Lord, etc) that are enduring and have permanent value to be used as basic guidelines in our lives.
So are you personality geared or principle centered?
He stated that "Success became more a function of personality, of public image, of attitudes and behaviours, skills and techniques, that lubricate the processes of human interaction." Positive mental attitude slogans like "Your attitude determines your altitude" or "Smiling wins more friends than frowning".
Not saying that any of the above are wrong, some have contributed to defining the principles in alot of people's successes, but some parts of this personality approach are clearly manipulative, even deceptive, encouraging people to use techniques to get other people to like them, or to fake interest in the hobbies of other to get out of them what they wanted, or to intimidate their way through life.
'Today we come across a person who behaves like an automaton, who does not know or understand himself, and the only person that he knows is the person that he is supposed to be, whose meaningless chatter has replaced communicative speech, whose synthetic smile has replaced genuine laughter, and whose sense of dull despair has taken the place of genuine pain. Two statements may be said concerning this individual. One is that he suffers from defects of spontaneity and individuality which may seem to be incurable. At the same time it may be said of him he does not differ essentially from the millions of the rest of us who walk upon this earth.'
-- Erich Fromm
Addressing the 'Principle' issues however, touches the essence of who we are. Principles are like lighthouses which ground us. Covey talks about principles like making them natural laws in our lives which cannot be broken. Which i believe he was referring to biblical principles (honouring your parents, tithing, the fear of the Lord, etc) that are enduring and have permanent value to be used as basic guidelines in our lives.
So are you personality geared or principle centered?
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Chronicles of Jean
Check out my new haircut, my clean ears and my trimmed nails! 
What are you staring at?! Don't i look more and more like a floor rug with each passing day?
This is my favourite toy! 
My new bed! i cuddle up and sleep here every night~
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Seeing God.
Met up with my girls for dinner today... Seeing them grow and bloom in the Lord becomes one of my key reasons for serving.
Each of them very special in their own unique way....
Averil: Even tho you won't be with us next year... u're always a part of us. Keep fighting the good fight. In the marketplace, may God give you favour and blessings!
Alicia: Always on your feet! haha, have fun teaching this hols... we can share classroom stories when we meet soon!
Faith: haha tootface, u're such a joy to have around. Bit noisy, but u're being transformed in His image every day. haha. since the many years ago that i've known you... =)
Side note: Learning and teaching biology has really helped me to see God's creative side.
Amazing.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Camp 5
Hi all! We're back from Camp 5 in KL. yes, Asia's largest indoor rock climbing gym. It was heaps fun, plenty of pain... sweat and well, more pain. haha... it was super fun travelling with yingzi and mari... hanging around foreign places with them. Pictures r up on Flickr... do go see.
Work's been fun, but really tiring. I'm teaching 'O' and 'N' level biology at Touch Youth Learning Centre for a short stint. The hours are pretty alright.... about 10-3pm average every day. =p Need to drink more water, cos i'm talking quite a bit in class. *yikes* Hope everyone is moving their gears in the new year!
Friday, January 05, 2007
Mere Christianity
Thanks Derek...
"Or again, suppose a person who knew nothing about salt. You give him a pinch to taste and he experiences a particular strong, sharp taste. You then tell him that in your country people use salt in all their cookery. Might he not reply 'In that case I suppose all your dishes taste exactly the same because the taste of that stuff you have just given me is so strong that it will kill the taste of everything else.' But you and I know that the real effect of salt is exactly the opposite. So far from killing the taste of the egg and the tripe and the cabbage, it actually brings it out. They do not show their real taste till you have added the salt. (Of course, as I warned you, this is not really a very good illustration, because you can, after all, kill the other tastes by putting in to much salt, whereas you cannot kill the taste of a human personality by putting in too much Christ. I am doing the best I can.)
It is something like that with Christ and us. The more we get what we now call 'ourselves' out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become. There is so much of Him that millions and millions of 'little Christs', all different, will still be too few to express Him fully. He made them all. He invented - as an author invents characters in a novel - all the different men that you and I were intended to be. In that sense our real selves are all waiting for us in Him. It is no good trying to 'be myself' without Him. The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires. In fact what I so proudly call 'Myself' becomes merely the meeting place for trains of events which I never started and which I cannot stop. What I call 'My wishes' become merely the desires thrown up by my physical organism or pumped into me by other men's thoughts or even suggested to me by devils. Eggs and alcohol and a good night's sleep will be the real origins of what I flatter myself by regarding as my own highly personal and discriminating decision to make love to the girl opposite to me in the railway carriage. Propoganda will be the real origin of what I regard as my own personal political ideas. I am not, in my natural state, nearly so much of a person as I like to believe: most of what I call 'me' can be very easily explained. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.
At the beginning I said there were Personalities in God. I will go further now. There are no real personalities anywhere else. Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found most among the most 'natural' men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints.
But there must be a real giving up of the self. You must throw it away 'blindly' so to speak. Christ will indeed give you a real personality: but you must not go to Him for the sake of that. As long as your own personality is what you are bothering about you are not going to Him at all. The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether. Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange? The same principle holds, you know, for more everyday matters. Even in social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will really be yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, lonelienss, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."
C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity
"Or again, suppose a person who knew nothing about salt. You give him a pinch to taste and he experiences a particular strong, sharp taste. You then tell him that in your country people use salt in all their cookery. Might he not reply 'In that case I suppose all your dishes taste exactly the same because the taste of that stuff you have just given me is so strong that it will kill the taste of everything else.' But you and I know that the real effect of salt is exactly the opposite. So far from killing the taste of the egg and the tripe and the cabbage, it actually brings it out. They do not show their real taste till you have added the salt. (Of course, as I warned you, this is not really a very good illustration, because you can, after all, kill the other tastes by putting in to much salt, whereas you cannot kill the taste of a human personality by putting in too much Christ. I am doing the best I can.)
It is something like that with Christ and us. The more we get what we now call 'ourselves' out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become. There is so much of Him that millions and millions of 'little Christs', all different, will still be too few to express Him fully. He made them all. He invented - as an author invents characters in a novel - all the different men that you and I were intended to be. In that sense our real selves are all waiting for us in Him. It is no good trying to 'be myself' without Him. The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires. In fact what I so proudly call 'Myself' becomes merely the meeting place for trains of events which I never started and which I cannot stop. What I call 'My wishes' become merely the desires thrown up by my physical organism or pumped into me by other men's thoughts or even suggested to me by devils. Eggs and alcohol and a good night's sleep will be the real origins of what I flatter myself by regarding as my own highly personal and discriminating decision to make love to the girl opposite to me in the railway carriage. Propoganda will be the real origin of what I regard as my own personal political ideas. I am not, in my natural state, nearly so much of a person as I like to believe: most of what I call 'me' can be very easily explained. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.
At the beginning I said there were Personalities in God. I will go further now. There are no real personalities anywhere else. Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found most among the most 'natural' men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints.
But there must be a real giving up of the self. You must throw it away 'blindly' so to speak. Christ will indeed give you a real personality: but you must not go to Him for the sake of that. As long as your own personality is what you are bothering about you are not going to Him at all. The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether. Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange? The same principle holds, you know, for more everyday matters. Even in social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will really be yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, lonelienss, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."
C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Humility
Humility doesn’t mean you think less of yourself but that you think of yourself less.
-Max Lucado
-Max Lucado
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Time out
It's really good spending time alone.
Took a train down to Bugis yesterday... walked down Bugis St with all the street shops and all the fruit markets. I bought a packet of 8 durians. hhaha and i ate it all. i was walking and eating and people were staring at me. weird.
My bro claims that all singaporeans like to stare, regardless of what you're doing that may seem out of place. haha. i think it's a strange phenomenon.
But the New Year is here... yes, i have to sign off on cards the digits 2007 already.
Like Nikki mentioned in one of her posts... we have the freedom 'of' choice, not the freedom 'from' choice. Even inaction is considered a choice. the fact that we did not do anything, or that we had allowed something to happen. That in itself is a choice. My attitude towards people, things.... it is a conscious choice. Yes, we do not dictate circumstances... but we can't say things like 'i didn't have a choice', or when asked to take up a responsibility we can't say something like 'does it look like i have a choice?' God has given us free reign on the choices we make, since genesis... since Adam and Eve. Every thought, every word, every action is a choice. Your choices determine you.
Jean is an extremely smart dog. Behaves exactly like a little girl. Sometimes she pouts and drags her feet around... haha, and she dreams! haha kicks the side of my bed at night, makes squealy noises. got a shock last night. but she was just having a bad dream. hehe. so now she's all camped out on the floor.... groggily passing the afternoon like every other day. It's a dog's life! i wish i were a dog. haha.... she gets her hair brushed... her paws wiped... =) gets hugs and kisses from us... Thing about her is... she loves people. she'll only be in a room if there's somebody around. She doesn't like to be alone. Like if i'm typing on the computer... she'll be lying here next to the chair. when we're watching tv... she'll lie in the living room. haha... and she only barks when other dogs bark in the faraway distance. Or short barks if she brings the toy to you and you ignore her. haha... so cute right?
Ziii...Quick come and see her!
Took a train down to Bugis yesterday... walked down Bugis St with all the street shops and all the fruit markets. I bought a packet of 8 durians. hhaha and i ate it all. i was walking and eating and people were staring at me. weird.
My bro claims that all singaporeans like to stare, regardless of what you're doing that may seem out of place. haha. i think it's a strange phenomenon.
But the New Year is here... yes, i have to sign off on cards the digits 2007 already.
Like Nikki mentioned in one of her posts... we have the freedom 'of' choice, not the freedom 'from' choice. Even inaction is considered a choice. the fact that we did not do anything, or that we had allowed something to happen. That in itself is a choice. My attitude towards people, things.... it is a conscious choice. Yes, we do not dictate circumstances... but we can't say things like 'i didn't have a choice', or when asked to take up a responsibility we can't say something like 'does it look like i have a choice?' God has given us free reign on the choices we make, since genesis... since Adam and Eve. Every thought, every word, every action is a choice. Your choices determine you.
Jean is an extremely smart dog. Behaves exactly like a little girl. Sometimes she pouts and drags her feet around... haha, and she dreams! haha kicks the side of my bed at night, makes squealy noises. got a shock last night. but she was just having a bad dream. hehe. so now she's all camped out on the floor.... groggily passing the afternoon like every other day. It's a dog's life! i wish i were a dog. haha.... she gets her hair brushed... her paws wiped... =) gets hugs and kisses from us... Thing about her is... she loves people. she'll only be in a room if there's somebody around. She doesn't like to be alone. Like if i'm typing on the computer... she'll be lying here next to the chair. when we're watching tv... she'll lie in the living room. haha... and she only barks when other dogs bark in the faraway distance. Or short barks if she brings the toy to you and you ignore her. haha... so cute right?
Ziii...Quick come and see her!
Monday, January 01, 2007
2007
Usually i make my new year resolutions at Christmas, because for me that's when i feel a new year starts... but this year, i suppose i'll start the year proper (not that the other years were improper). Sat down to think and ponder. So many things to thank God for... of course there are regrets, dissapointments, joys and sorrows. But above all, He is still walking beside me. And i am continually amazed by that. Sometimes i ask God why? not the 'why do bad things happen' question, but the 'why God are You still so faithful when i grieve you?' question.
It is something when friendships over a long time never change. But it is more astounding when Jesus promises that He is the same yesterday, today and forever- and He delivers. All the time.
Had a bashing new year at the Tan's residence. It's a yearly event. We gather round a table to talk, laugh, eat and play.... Texas Hold'em Poker. hhah.. this year we upgraded from that to Taboo- guys versus girls (singaporean version) with words like HDB, Eric Khoo and Orchard Road light-up. haha. Back to my roots, i say. Best line of the night i think was.... Person A describing ' Tommorrow going you know...' and the guys went was like 'Macdonalds!!' haha the girls were stunned, it took me a while to get that it was an advertisement line. haha.
I think we did pretty darn well too.... eve was describing ' i'm talking...' she didn't even finish her sentence and i simply shouted.... 'nonsense!' which happened to be the answer... haha, that was the funniest telepathic moment. haha. We discovered Sarah is a serial word killer. She keeps quiet and all of a sudden she shouts the right word. One word, one hit. haha... ggrrreat.
ok going to play with Jean now... =)
To all you people! have a Happy new year and remember to finish well!
It is something when friendships over a long time never change. But it is more astounding when Jesus promises that He is the same yesterday, today and forever- and He delivers. All the time.
Had a bashing new year at the Tan's residence. It's a yearly event. We gather round a table to talk, laugh, eat and play.... Texas Hold'em Poker. hhah.. this year we upgraded from that to Taboo- guys versus girls (singaporean version) with words like HDB, Eric Khoo and Orchard Road light-up. haha. Back to my roots, i say. Best line of the night i think was.... Person A describing ' Tommorrow going you know...' and the guys went was like 'Macdonalds!!' haha the girls were stunned, it took me a while to get that it was an advertisement line. haha.
I think we did pretty darn well too.... eve was describing ' i'm talking...' she didn't even finish her sentence and i simply shouted.... 'nonsense!' which happened to be the answer... haha, that was the funniest telepathic moment. haha. We discovered Sarah is a serial word killer. She keeps quiet and all of a sudden she shouts the right word. One word, one hit. haha... ggrrreat.
ok going to play with Jean now... =)
To all you people! have a Happy new year and remember to finish well!
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