before i make some lame joke about muggers, here's the first ever multimedia content on this blog!
nothing much to note, except the hilarious moment when Craig Bellamy, missing an absolute open goal, stands there with his head in his hands while teammate Mark Gonzalez rifles home the rebound. (roughly 51st and 57th second of the video)
In the words of Homer Simpson, "Doh!"
Anyway, it's a very interesting point to note that the word mugger has a very different meaning in Singapore compared to the rest of the world. In Singapore, it refers to someone who studies very hard - elsewhere, it refers to someone who hides in dark alleys at night, bonks you on the head and takes your wallet.
I imagine it must cause some confusion when Singaporean students go overseas...
Roles:
Singaporean Student Complaining About Competitives School System (SG)
Clueless Ang-Moh Trying To Decipher The Intricacies Of Singlish (AM)
SG: Yah lar... how to be the top of the class in Singapore... whole country full of chao muggers
AM: *has the strange mental picture of innocent students being waylaid by miscreants*
Sounds like decent material for a mrbrown.com podcast, actually.
Bet the foreigners will start wondering how true Singapore's reputation for low crime is, if we're "full of muggers"
I mean, all the top muggers from the surrounding countries come here lor... worse still, the government sponsors some of them...
SG: "Yah man, NUS is the worst place lah.. like, every single person there is a super-mugger"
AM: *thinking that it must be quite hard to study if you're beaten up and robbed every single day*
therefore, for those people going overseas to study, please be aware that using the word mugger in a foreign setting may lead to international misunderstandings. =)
Sep 24, 2006
Sep 8, 2006
Sep 7, 2006
faith that brings freedom
"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."
I learnt something recently about faith, that's been quite freeing.
Sometimes it's hard to have faith in God for miracles. Hard to believe that miracles happen in this day and age, although i've heard so many testimonies of it happening. In the back of my mind is always the thought, "What if I ask for this, and it doesn't come true? What does that say about my God?" God knows its happened often enough. Prayers rejected, sometimes many in a row, leave me wondering where my faith is. I hate the doubting, so sometimes I don't dare to ask.
something i learnt recently... not sure where from. perhaps it was revelation. no bible references either.. =).. so terrible.
what is our faith based on? ponder this for a moment.
our faith is not based on God's past faithfulness, even though this may provide a very convincing case by itself. No, our faith is based on who God is, who by very nature is as faithful as man is faithless. If I ask God for something, and it does not come true, it no longer shakes my faith, because my faith is not based on God's track record. and so I have become emboldened to ask for things, and in yet another counter-intuitive result, my prayers are now answered more often than not. How i never have to wait more than a minute to get a seat in Science canteen at lunch hour, or never fail to get a seat on the train when i really want one.
tomorrow's Nav rally is on faith. think i'm skipping cell again to go and listen. sigh... not really sure where my priorities lie now... physics pracs again next week!! oh nose!!
I learnt something recently about faith, that's been quite freeing.
Sometimes it's hard to have faith in God for miracles. Hard to believe that miracles happen in this day and age, although i've heard so many testimonies of it happening. In the back of my mind is always the thought, "What if I ask for this, and it doesn't come true? What does that say about my God?" God knows its happened often enough. Prayers rejected, sometimes many in a row, leave me wondering where my faith is. I hate the doubting, so sometimes I don't dare to ask.
something i learnt recently... not sure where from. perhaps it was revelation. no bible references either.. =).. so terrible.
what is our faith based on? ponder this for a moment.
our faith is not based on God's past faithfulness, even though this may provide a very convincing case by itself. No, our faith is based on who God is, who by very nature is as faithful as man is faithless. If I ask God for something, and it does not come true, it no longer shakes my faith, because my faith is not based on God's track record. and so I have become emboldened to ask for things, and in yet another counter-intuitive result, my prayers are now answered more often than not. How i never have to wait more than a minute to get a seat in Science canteen at lunch hour, or never fail to get a seat on the train when i really want one.
tomorrow's Nav rally is on faith. think i'm skipping cell again to go and listen. sigh... not really sure where my priorities lie now... physics pracs again next week!! oh nose!!
Orange and Blue
a month of school has come and gone...
over a month, probably, since i put anything here of any worth. i wonder why the same few people keep coming back, when this is so rarely updated. i wonder why i still receive feedback on what i write nearly immediately after it gets written.
thanks peeps.
so. a month of school. just about went nuts the first two weeks, trying to remember how to cope with school again. i've conveniently forgotten these past couple of years that my JC life was blessed beyond belief - teachers who didn't believe in collecting tutorials/assignments; teachers who were absolutely brilliant at doing what they did - training me to take my exams and take them well.
that's partly why i want to teach.
but it's a whole different kettle of fish here at NUS. no one's really gonna take care of you; sink or swim by your own merits. just keeping track of the various tutorials/lecture notes/lab manuals/random announcements and other random things for six separate modules is more than one consciousness can handle. i've settled down, after i concluded that being a science geek, all that really matters are the tutorials and labs... if i can do those, i should be fine when the exams come around. although i'm absolutely lost as to what i should do for those non-science modules which don't have tutorials... owell.
I've settled into digs at PGP, which is 5 minutes by shuttle bus from where all my classes are held. i've taken my room and made it look like my own, replete with love notes from gf. i've got stuff put away neatly in files, i've got a stack of CDs waiting to be recorded into the laptop, i've got several books waiting for me to read them.
i'm really enjoying myself here... it just seems easier to focus and get my work done when i'm always conscious of the fact that hey, i'm still in school! i thank God for the scholarship that has made all these things possible.
it wasn't school so much that was stressful. i stressed myself out, really. my goal, my aim, is to take this time that i have here, alone and away from the distractions of home, to really make good use of my time. to be a good steward of this precious resource God has given me. and so i filled my days with endless activities, not least of which was quiet time in the morning everyday sometime before 10am, which is when my first lesson starts everyday.
i guess i burnt out. i still look on in envy at the people who put 12 hours in everyday running about and seem to be still so full of energy at the end of it - who do their work on buses between destinations, or do tutorials while simultaneously paying attention to the lecturer. who don't ever seem to need time to wind down and rest except at the end of each day when they go to bed. i'm jealous. maybe it's my diet, or my lack of exercise, but i can't keep up with them.
it's a hopeless battle, perhaps. i've given in, and spent the last 2 and a half hours playing FM2006, and i feel better. but in little mood to work. don't think i'll do anything tonight.
-) <---- that's a cyclops smiley face
i guess that at heart i don't believe that God can work though my personality to do good works that someone designed otherwise cannot do. my belief is that my personality is a hindrance brought on by challenges which i ran from when growing up. how does God work through the person who sees a familiar face, and walks in the opposite direction because he's often not fond of company? we were made for fellowship!
i find meeting new people so tiring. it's such an effort to make small talk at the beginning of a relationship - i much prefer it when there's an excuse such as work, to keep the conversation going. so much so that i tend to avoid acquaintances, and choose to only talk to established friends. and i'm guesssing that people think i'm conceited, which may not be too far off the mark. what can i say? i'm too lazy to make the effort to get to know someone whom i believe i will never meet again, and in a small country like Singapore, that choice often proves to be a poor one. God work through this? more like God work to change this, i think.
so many things i want to say... but so lazy.
a friend posted the lyrics to a song that i heard once before, which i want to learn. but i'm against piracy, which means that i've got to splash out 20-30 bucks to pick up the CD... doesn't seem worth it, somehow. haven't bought a CD in months, or maybe even years. i keep telling myself God honours those who honour Him... and i know that i can live without having all the latest songs, or even the most inspiring songs. remember that Lucifer was supposedly the angel of music.... puts me in mind of Phantom. -)
over a month, probably, since i put anything here of any worth. i wonder why the same few people keep coming back, when this is so rarely updated. i wonder why i still receive feedback on what i write nearly immediately after it gets written.
thanks peeps.
so. a month of school. just about went nuts the first two weeks, trying to remember how to cope with school again. i've conveniently forgotten these past couple of years that my JC life was blessed beyond belief - teachers who didn't believe in collecting tutorials/assignments; teachers who were absolutely brilliant at doing what they did - training me to take my exams and take them well.
that's partly why i want to teach.
but it's a whole different kettle of fish here at NUS. no one's really gonna take care of you; sink or swim by your own merits. just keeping track of the various tutorials/lecture notes/lab manuals/random announcements and other random things for six separate modules is more than one consciousness can handle. i've settled down, after i concluded that being a science geek, all that really matters are the tutorials and labs... if i can do those, i should be fine when the exams come around. although i'm absolutely lost as to what i should do for those non-science modules which don't have tutorials... owell.
I've settled into digs at PGP, which is 5 minutes by shuttle bus from where all my classes are held. i've taken my room and made it look like my own, replete with love notes from gf. i've got stuff put away neatly in files, i've got a stack of CDs waiting to be recorded into the laptop, i've got several books waiting for me to read them.
i'm really enjoying myself here... it just seems easier to focus and get my work done when i'm always conscious of the fact that hey, i'm still in school! i thank God for the scholarship that has made all these things possible.
it wasn't school so much that was stressful. i stressed myself out, really. my goal, my aim, is to take this time that i have here, alone and away from the distractions of home, to really make good use of my time. to be a good steward of this precious resource God has given me. and so i filled my days with endless activities, not least of which was quiet time in the morning everyday sometime before 10am, which is when my first lesson starts everyday.
i guess i burnt out. i still look on in envy at the people who put 12 hours in everyday running about and seem to be still so full of energy at the end of it - who do their work on buses between destinations, or do tutorials while simultaneously paying attention to the lecturer. who don't ever seem to need time to wind down and rest except at the end of each day when they go to bed. i'm jealous. maybe it's my diet, or my lack of exercise, but i can't keep up with them.
it's a hopeless battle, perhaps. i've given in, and spent the last 2 and a half hours playing FM2006, and i feel better. but in little mood to work. don't think i'll do anything tonight.
-) <---- that's a cyclops smiley face
i guess that at heart i don't believe that God can work though my personality to do good works that someone designed otherwise cannot do. my belief is that my personality is a hindrance brought on by challenges which i ran from when growing up. how does God work through the person who sees a familiar face, and walks in the opposite direction because he's often not fond of company? we were made for fellowship!
i find meeting new people so tiring. it's such an effort to make small talk at the beginning of a relationship - i much prefer it when there's an excuse such as work, to keep the conversation going. so much so that i tend to avoid acquaintances, and choose to only talk to established friends. and i'm guesssing that people think i'm conceited, which may not be too far off the mark. what can i say? i'm too lazy to make the effort to get to know someone whom i believe i will never meet again, and in a small country like Singapore, that choice often proves to be a poor one. God work through this? more like God work to change this, i think.
so many things i want to say... but so lazy.
a friend posted the lyrics to a song that i heard once before, which i want to learn. but i'm against piracy, which means that i've got to splash out 20-30 bucks to pick up the CD... doesn't seem worth it, somehow. haven't bought a CD in months, or maybe even years. i keep telling myself God honours those who honour Him... and i know that i can live without having all the latest songs, or even the most inspiring songs. remember that Lucifer was supposedly the angel of music.... puts me in mind of Phantom. -)
Sep 4, 2006
Liverpool over Chelsea, no doubt about it
This is the wrong place to put this, but i need some place to remember this link by.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=291830&cc=5739
The relevant quote from Mourinho being, "Liverpool over Chelsea, no doubt about it." =)
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=291830&cc=5739
The relevant quote from Mourinho being, "Liverpool over Chelsea, no doubt about it." =)
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