Nov 9, 2006
Nov 7, 2006
i have come to believe that the single most important criteria for doing well in examinations is divine inspiration. not that i can tell my students that, i think.
and so it comes to that time once again, where i find my own strength insufficient. i look at my efforts, and see how dismal they are. i am surrounded by supermen, but i am only clark kent and nothing more.
truly good grades are a gift from the Lord, and no-one else. let no one boast in this. if He wills to be gracious to you, that is good. and if He chooses to give you some other good gift instead, that is good too. what have we to do, but to be faithful in what we do daily.
Take my heart it is Thine own
it shall be Thy royal throne
and so it comes to that time once again, where i find my own strength insufficient. i look at my efforts, and see how dismal they are. i am surrounded by supermen, but i am only clark kent and nothing more.
truly good grades are a gift from the Lord, and no-one else. let no one boast in this. if He wills to be gracious to you, that is good. and if He chooses to give you some other good gift instead, that is good too. what have we to do, but to be faithful in what we do daily.
Take my heart it is Thine own
it shall be Thy royal throne
Bird-watching
gotten quite enthusiastic about birdwatching of late... it doesn't take much effort. just look around when you hear them calling. but you usually have to spend quite abit of time looking... birds tend to be fairly small. and then you go look on the internet and in books and stuff to find out what they're called.
i saw a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo in Macritchie three times... i think it was probably the same bird, on three different occasions. I saw a pair of Magpie Robins and a pair of Black-Naped Orioles hanging around FASS, a small group of Olive-backed Sunbirds hanging around near Physics, and a pair of Common Flamebacks (beautiful woodpeckers with bright orangey backs) behind PGP. thinking about joining some of the Nature Society (Singapore) excursions.
also saw a skink wander across the track in Macritchie and a kingfisher in Bishan Park
useful links:
www.nss.org.sg
besgroup.blogspot.com
www.pulauhantu.org
i saw a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo in Macritchie three times... i think it was probably the same bird, on three different occasions. I saw a pair of Magpie Robins and a pair of Black-Naped Orioles hanging around FASS, a small group of Olive-backed Sunbirds hanging around near Physics, and a pair of Common Flamebacks (beautiful woodpeckers with bright orangey backs) behind PGP. thinking about joining some of the Nature Society (Singapore) excursions.
also saw a skink wander across the track in Macritchie and a kingfisher in Bishan Park
useful links:
www.nss.org.sg
besgroup.blogspot.com
www.pulauhantu.org
Nov 4, 2006
Giant Alien Bug Found In Germany!!
http://googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=1082&c=&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=18&ll=48.857635,10.20529&spn=0.002527,0.005032&t=k
Satellite photo of giant alien bug found recently in Germany. very authentic, very cool. Satellite photos don't lie, do they?
i just recently subscribed to the google earth sightseer e-magazine thingy, and this appeared in the first issue. quite fun.
Satellite photo of giant alien bug found recently in Germany. very authentic, very cool. Satellite photos don't lie, do they?
i just recently subscribed to the google earth sightseer e-magazine thingy, and this appeared in the first issue. quite fun.
Oct 31, 2006
Oct 26, 2006
Can
just had a two hour long dinner with the captain doctor president scholar.
i have a hunch that those four words may actually be specific to only one person in the Singapore context, or perhaps two. but anyway.
i strongly believe that every person can do amazing things in their life, given the right inspiration. i believe that if you give someone a cause to believe in, they will live their life for the cause. i believe that if you challenge a person to do something great, more often than not they will surprise you. i believe that alot of the things that hold people back in their daily lives are actually just obstacles in their mind. "i can't do this" is a lie.
i guess we found a bit of common ground to talk about, in how to develop people. we agreed on certain things. like how alot of the time, we as people have certain beliefs in our mind which prevent us from doing things. The eye-fo was a case in point - much of the event planning was done by a trio of 19-year-old girls, and the event was acclaimed as the best ever by many. if i had been approached to take it up, i dare say that my first reaction would have been "This is too big for me. I can't do this." As it is, i only got involved because i thought (quite correctly) that my role was small.
i wonder if those three ladies would have taken up this role if they knew how big it was going to become...
and the truth is, they did a marvellous job of it. having been entrusted fully with the responsibility, they rose to the occasion and did hugely amazing things which i never imagined possible for a bunch of girls fresh out of JC.
i think that if you fully take on a responsibility, you will grow into it. if you embrace it as your own responsibility, and set about to accomplish it as best as you can, you will do a pretty good job of it. even if you don't have the talent and the skills to get it done, once you have acknowledged that it is your responsibility and no one else's, you will go and find people who can help YOU to get it done YOURSELF.
i believe that youth nowadays have too few responsibilities. school hardly counts, honestly. young people don't believe that anything they do actually matters, and hence they spend their time doing things that don't matter. if you believed that you could make a difference, would you?
one big change in my life these past few.. months? year? i believe i can make a difference.
I'd like to quote here the words from the adidas ad that ran here some time ago, with apologies to adidas.
Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary.
Impossible is nothing.
If you believed that you could make a difference, would you?
i have a hunch that those four words may actually be specific to only one person in the Singapore context, or perhaps two. but anyway.
i strongly believe that every person can do amazing things in their life, given the right inspiration. i believe that if you give someone a cause to believe in, they will live their life for the cause. i believe that if you challenge a person to do something great, more often than not they will surprise you. i believe that alot of the things that hold people back in their daily lives are actually just obstacles in their mind. "i can't do this" is a lie.
i guess we found a bit of common ground to talk about, in how to develop people. we agreed on certain things. like how alot of the time, we as people have certain beliefs in our mind which prevent us from doing things. The eye-fo was a case in point - much of the event planning was done by a trio of 19-year-old girls, and the event was acclaimed as the best ever by many. if i had been approached to take it up, i dare say that my first reaction would have been "This is too big for me. I can't do this." As it is, i only got involved because i thought (quite correctly) that my role was small.
i wonder if those three ladies would have taken up this role if they knew how big it was going to become...
and the truth is, they did a marvellous job of it. having been entrusted fully with the responsibility, they rose to the occasion and did hugely amazing things which i never imagined possible for a bunch of girls fresh out of JC.
i think that if you fully take on a responsibility, you will grow into it. if you embrace it as your own responsibility, and set about to accomplish it as best as you can, you will do a pretty good job of it. even if you don't have the talent and the skills to get it done, once you have acknowledged that it is your responsibility and no one else's, you will go and find people who can help YOU to get it done YOURSELF.
i believe that youth nowadays have too few responsibilities. school hardly counts, honestly. young people don't believe that anything they do actually matters, and hence they spend their time doing things that don't matter. if you believed that you could make a difference, would you?
one big change in my life these past few.. months? year? i believe i can make a difference.
I'd like to quote here the words from the adidas ad that ran here some time ago, with apologies to adidas.
Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary.
Impossible is nothing.
If you believed that you could make a difference, would you?
Oct 24, 2006
a matter of perspective
i thank God for perspective.
so i only took like the longest time today to get into school. it normally takes me anywhere between half an hour to an hour to get into school from jill's place, depending on waiting times - half an hour is with zero waiting time. usually if i take an hour to get in, i get pretty annoyed...
it's the waiting i can't stand. you can't do anything while you're waiting for the bus - half your attention needs to be on the road, lest your bus goes past you while you're engrossed in something else. given a choice between waiting half an hour for a fifteen minute ride, and not waiting at all for an hour long ride, i'd choose the latter - at least you can sleep on the bus.
but of course, that never happens, because you never think you're gonna end up waiting for half an hour, right?
walking to the bus-stop opposite jill's, i saw the bus i needed to take zoom past the stop. cue 15min wait. upon arriving at the holland V interchange, i saw BOTH buses i could take leaving. simultaneously. it always happens somehow; there are two different services i can take there, but i always end up waiting 15 minutes anyway.
so i walked to buona vista, hoping to catch a different service going the same way. didn't work. waited 15min for a 95, which i could have taken from the original bus stop anyway.
arrived in NUS. saw the internal shuttle leaving the bus stop. waited half an hour for the next one to arrive. i think there was only one bus on duty tonight - and it was probably alternating between the A1 and A2 routes. i mean seriously - after i had waited 10 minutes, i saw the A1 pass by on the opposite side of the road, but i decided not to take it since it takes a route about 5 times longer than the A2 to get to hall. but on hindsight, i guess i should have. on hindsight, i shouldn't have taken the 95, but should have taken the 92/200 which would have probably arrived within 2 minutes.
one hour of waiting, for about half an hour of travelling. normally i'd be screaming mad by now. i mean by about half an hour ago. but i thank God for perspective.
it's easy to blame God when these things happen. If you believe that God is omnipotent and in control of all things, if you believe that nothing is coincidental, but everything is planned by God, then God has to take the blame for these things. I was trying very hard not to think about that, but half an hour of waiting is abit much. the most i've ever done before is 45mins, but thats because the buses were full and wouldn't stop.
so i was asking God why He was wasting my time like this, and what could possibly be the reason for making me wait so long. and i remember that i haven't exactly been very faithful in how i use my time either. playing abit too much dota these past two nights, eating into my sleep time. other things too, internet etc. been quite ill-disciplined this past week.
and what came to me was this: if all i'm gonna do with the time God gives me is fritter it away frivolously, then God might as well not give me the time, and take it away in even more frivolous things i.e waiting endlessly for buses.
it reminded me of the parable of the talents, somehow. the guys who put their talents to work ended up receiving more from God, but the one who didn't bother using his talent had it taken away from him.
so here i am, frittering away some more time frivolously, blogging. but i hope it's not a frivolous activity. i hope you learn something from it.
God Bless.
May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart
Bless Your name, bless Your name, Jesus
And the deeds of the day and the truth in my ways
Speak of You, speak of You, Jesus
For this is what I'm glad to do
It's time to live a life of love that pleases You
And I will give my all to You
Surrender everything I have and follow You
I'll follow You
Lord, will You be my vision, Lord, will You be my guide
Be my hope, be my light and the way
And I'll look not for riches, nor praises on earth
Only You'll be the first of my heart
so i only took like the longest time today to get into school. it normally takes me anywhere between half an hour to an hour to get into school from jill's place, depending on waiting times - half an hour is with zero waiting time. usually if i take an hour to get in, i get pretty annoyed...
it's the waiting i can't stand. you can't do anything while you're waiting for the bus - half your attention needs to be on the road, lest your bus goes past you while you're engrossed in something else. given a choice between waiting half an hour for a fifteen minute ride, and not waiting at all for an hour long ride, i'd choose the latter - at least you can sleep on the bus.
but of course, that never happens, because you never think you're gonna end up waiting for half an hour, right?
walking to the bus-stop opposite jill's, i saw the bus i needed to take zoom past the stop. cue 15min wait. upon arriving at the holland V interchange, i saw BOTH buses i could take leaving. simultaneously. it always happens somehow; there are two different services i can take there, but i always end up waiting 15 minutes anyway.
so i walked to buona vista, hoping to catch a different service going the same way. didn't work. waited 15min for a 95, which i could have taken from the original bus stop anyway.
arrived in NUS. saw the internal shuttle leaving the bus stop. waited half an hour for the next one to arrive. i think there was only one bus on duty tonight - and it was probably alternating between the A1 and A2 routes. i mean seriously - after i had waited 10 minutes, i saw the A1 pass by on the opposite side of the road, but i decided not to take it since it takes a route about 5 times longer than the A2 to get to hall. but on hindsight, i guess i should have. on hindsight, i shouldn't have taken the 95, but should have taken the 92/200 which would have probably arrived within 2 minutes.
one hour of waiting, for about half an hour of travelling. normally i'd be screaming mad by now. i mean by about half an hour ago. but i thank God for perspective.
it's easy to blame God when these things happen. If you believe that God is omnipotent and in control of all things, if you believe that nothing is coincidental, but everything is planned by God, then God has to take the blame for these things. I was trying very hard not to think about that, but half an hour of waiting is abit much. the most i've ever done before is 45mins, but thats because the buses were full and wouldn't stop.
so i was asking God why He was wasting my time like this, and what could possibly be the reason for making me wait so long. and i remember that i haven't exactly been very faithful in how i use my time either. playing abit too much dota these past two nights, eating into my sleep time. other things too, internet etc. been quite ill-disciplined this past week.
and what came to me was this: if all i'm gonna do with the time God gives me is fritter it away frivolously, then God might as well not give me the time, and take it away in even more frivolous things i.e waiting endlessly for buses.
it reminded me of the parable of the talents, somehow. the guys who put their talents to work ended up receiving more from God, but the one who didn't bother using his talent had it taken away from him.
so here i am, frittering away some more time frivolously, blogging. but i hope it's not a frivolous activity. i hope you learn something from it.
God Bless.
May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart
Bless Your name, bless Your name, Jesus
And the deeds of the day and the truth in my ways
Speak of You, speak of You, Jesus
For this is what I'm glad to do
It's time to live a life of love that pleases You
And I will give my all to You
Surrender everything I have and follow You
I'll follow You
Lord, will You be my vision, Lord, will You be my guide
Be my hope, be my light and the way
And I'll look not for riches, nor praises on earth
Only You'll be the first of my heart
Oct 13, 2006
Word of God spoke
so there i was, back in my hostel room last night. the door was closed, the lights were off, the blinds were up, and the night sky was beautiful. my girlfriend was with me, and we were just lying on my bed, talking about stuff.
and then i was tempted, as i often am, and perhaps i might have fallen, except for this song which had been stuck in my head the whole night, which i was still humming to myself even as i lay there.
Word of God speak
Won't you pour down like rain
Washing my eyes to see
Your Majesty
To be still and know
That You're in this place
Please let me stay and rest
In Your Holiness
Word of God speak
Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Ps 51:11 (After David had committed adultery) Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Haven't been blogging much of late. NUS is working me quite hard.
and then i was tempted, as i often am, and perhaps i might have fallen, except for this song which had been stuck in my head the whole night, which i was still humming to myself even as i lay there.
Word of God speak
Won't you pour down like rain
Washing my eyes to see
Your Majesty
To be still and know
That You're in this place
Please let me stay and rest
In Your Holiness
Word of God speak
Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Ps 51:11 (After David had committed adultery) Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Haven't been blogging much of late. NUS is working me quite hard.
Sep 24, 2006
mugger = ?
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. =)
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. =)
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