on My Lord is my dear friend (主你是我最知心的朋友)

Link

Found this on the bulletin board.

Eh,think it's a home recording. (got ah beng techno tune in the background one ;p) Still, the song was sung with heartfelt praise. May it encourage you this day~

 

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主你是我最知心的朋友, 主你是我最亲爱的伴侣
我的心在天天追想着你, 渴望见到你的面

在我人生的每一个台阶, 在我人生的每一个小战
你的手总是在搀拉着我, 把我带在你身边

告诉我当走的路, 没有滑向死亡线
你爱何等的长阔深高, 我心发出惊叹

有了主还要什么, 我心与主心相连
我已起誓要跟随主, 永不改变

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Translation (My own)

Lord, you're the friend that knows me best; Lord you're my most intimate confidante

My heart follows you everyday, and I yearn to see Your face

 

In every stage of my life, in every little battle

Your hands are always pulling mine, and holding me by Your side

 

Tell me the road I ought to take, and never slide towards death

How deep and how wide is Your love, my heart exclaims

 

What else shall I want apart from having the Lord, my heart is linked to His

I've made a covenant to follow Him, forever unchanging

on dietary jokes....

haha, dug out one of my old e-mail jokes and posting it here. :D

Instead of just being a fad - this diet should really catch on!

The Pasta Diet and Your Health

ITALIAN PASTA DIET -- IT REALLY WORKS!!

1.. You walka pasta da bakery.

2.. You walka pasta da candy store.

3.. You walka pasta da Ice Cream shop.

4.. You walka pasta da table and fridge.

You willa losea da weight!

AND.....

CONCERNED ABOUT TOO MANY CARBS IN YOUR DIET?

For those of you who watch what you eat,
here's the final word on nutrition and health.
It's a relief to know the truth
after all those conflicting
nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat
and suffer fewer heart attacks than
Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and
eat lots of sausages and fats
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION

Eat and drink what you like.
Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

K 登山者

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Comics & Graphic Novels
Author:	Jiro Taniguchi & Shiro Tosaki

Fantastic graphic novel about mountain-climbing. The protagonist, K, is a man who scales and climbs mountain with the most amazing technique. And it's more than just the techniques, it's about a philosophy and way of outlook on life. Can find from Woodlands National Library Board (NLB)

on a nice Friday evening out...

yesterday, took my friend from work to Sunshine plaza. He was looking for a Haruhi figurine, but the comics shops he went to recce were all pretty expensive.

Unfortunately, seems like the models shops at Sunshine plaza are even more pricier. So in the end he went away empty-handed and sad :p

Well, in order to cheer up, we decided to have a good dinner before our soiree. We went to try out the famous chicken rice at David Elias building.

My friend was so sad, he wanted to ask me to share a chicken with him, to have "food therapy". I was like  . Anyway, as you guys know, I'm trying to stave off the extra kilos. In the end, we just shared 1/2 a chicken., with vegetable and gizzards as side-dishes. Then hopped over to the famous "tao hway" stall for a portion of nice-icy beancurd.

Well, after that rejuvenating meal in record time of 25 minutes, my friend's spirits was up again. He then ask me to go to Plaza Singapura with him, to see whether he can make any more purchases. I think God just wants my friend to save up for his impending education, cos' he can't find any nice toys nor DVDs to buy.

Then we went to Lane Crawford, as he told me there's a toy shop there as well. I think it's been too long since I last went to that place.

I didn't even know there was a toy-shop on the 2nd level :p. Seems like people are crazy over Transformers again, as the shop was stacked with lots of them at one corner. Still I find it incomprehensible to pay through your nose (over $60-odd mooola) for a piece of plastics. I mean last time during my days, toys were only from $15 till $30 odd, for the same product line that I saw la. Hyper-inflation? Or just mercenary predation?

We went to Tanglin mall after that, to meet up with our colleague, before heading off to the Regent for a night of chilling-out to Jazz music. We were supposed to be hearing the maestro Jeremy Monteiro, but seems like last minute he had some "urgent matters" to attend to.

No matter the drinks were great (the mellow yellow, non-alcoholic Becks, the Hoegarden and Paulanger, and the 2006 Black Label Shiraz ), the waitresses were attentive, and the replacement musicians were actually not bad. After 2 hours of enjoyment, we went off to finish the night with a round of supper at Newton Circus.

On the whole, it was a good night chilling out...

on slow morning on the way to work...

yeaps, yesterday, the traffic was crawling all the way from the start of the BKE till about the start of the PIE*. I didn't realise how bad the jam and the snail pace until i noted the bus took 25 mins to clear a stretch of road it usually did under 10 mins. The reason for the slow-down? People were driving slower past the site of an accident. It was quite a serious one, as the front of the car was smashed in.

After that stretch, traffic was smooth-sailing. I really don't get the mentality of the motorists who slowed down to take a look. Were they trying to find out the licence number of the damaged car so that they can buy 4D**? Or were they just gawking at the scene of carnage?

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*BKE = Bukit Timah Expressway; PIE = Pan-Island Expressway. Sorry for all the acronyms and abbreviations. Singaporeans are practically fond of dropping these all over in their speech and writings. :P

** Singapore lottery

on need to cut my weight...

 

Just now as we went for lunch, i told my colleagues to go ahead to look around as I knew what I wanted for lunch already. One of them asked me what did I want, and I replied "char qway tiao"/ 炒馃条. He immediately pointed out that I need to watch my diet, since I'm fast approaching the 90 kilo mark :P

Just a stark reminder, above is my BMI score when I went to check it out here.

Well, ideally I should be around 65-70 kil range. That means I have about 10 kilos to shed... Tragic~ *sobs sobs* Au revoir, my "bak ku teh", and "chee cheong fan", and "lor mai kai"; Adios to doritos, cheese and nachos. Goodbye to "chai tau qway" and "char qway tiao"!

on halo over the skies of Bedok...

yeaps, as we were having lunch just now, we saw tons of pedestrians craning their necks and shielding their eyes and looking upwards at something in the skies. Well, as people starts to take out their handphones and started to take pictures, curiosity got the better of us and we got out and take a look for ourselves.

 

Turns out there was a circular rainbow, or halo that appeared in the skies. It was still quite vibrant in colors at first, but as the sunshine got stronger, the multi-hued-band grew fainter and fainter, until it became a band of white light around the sun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_%28optical_phenomenon%29

on the blessings of pain...

yeaps, was leading CG last week, so I started off with a little ice-breaker. I got everybody to complete the following sentence, " God has blessed me this week by...". When it came to my turn, I complete the sentence by saying "... by allowing me to feel pain in my body." This caused a few eyebrows to be raised when I said that.

Not trying to be cheeky or masochistic, but am truly thankful. What happen was I had over-exerted myself in wanting to start back on my physical regime. I swam consecutively on 2 days, but my body started to have all these aches and pains. My shoulders ache a lot whenever I raised my arms above shoulder level. So all in all, my body was telling me that I had over-exerted myself.

But I guess it was the abrupt and awkward way which I expressed this that caught everyone off-guards. One of the sisters shared that it's kinda weird to be thankful for pain. Hers sentiments are she knows that sometimes God allows us to go through pains and suffering i.e. the pits, but she don't exactly give thanks for the pits.

 

Well, no matter what, through pains or joys, know that our God is faithful, and be thankful.

on dependence on technology may not be such a good thing...

Yeaps, our office ran into some hiccups with Internet connectivity issues a couple of days last week. Apparently it was due to our Skype program acting with hiccups after an unplanned Windows security update.

(See http://www.hinduonnet.com/2007/08/22/stories/2007082256282200.htm)

It didn't help that we are now in the midst of our busy season. Thank God our IT people are really a bunch of tech whiz who are gracious with our multiple calls and questions. This week, our Internet connectivity is up again, so things are slowly resuming to normalcy.

Well, technology certainly can help us in accomplishing more each day, but take care of your personal response to others when technology does a hiccup.

on fewer posts this period...

well, the usual, Not because I'm giving up on this "narcissistic habit" :p Rather, just that time of season when work starts to get busy. Revelations and inspiration don't stop coming, just because there's more work. :P But I must be a wise steward of the time that GOD has given to me, and blogging does take a bit of time and effort.

 

on achy joints and irritated throat...

yeaps, that's what happen to me yesterday. Think I caught a chill, as I was caught in the rain riding my bicycle back home on Sunday, as well as caught in that drizzle yesterday morning. POW! Double whammy - made my immunity system went down. 

As I was going to CG, was having that floaty sensation. So went to my friend's place, passed some messages before excusing myself to go home and rest. Popped a flu tab before I hit the sack. Am feeling much better now. Hmm, maybe should accelerate by going onto orange juice therapy :D

 

Aladdin 3150

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/396167
Great flash animation of a futuristic fable...

on funny stories said over the pulpit...

Yeaps, some of the funny stories that got stuck in my head, courtesy of my pastors...

 

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3 visitors came to an art museum and were admiring an art piece depicting Adam and Eve in paradise.

The first man, a Briton, said "Look here, chaps. See how serene the countenances of both the people are in the picture. Surely Adam and Eve must be British of origin?"

The second man, a French, replied, "Non, non, messieurs. These two people are naked and totally at ease with it. Moreover, they are in Eden, the most romantic of all places. They most certainment are French, oui!"

The third man, a Russian, looked hard at the picture and replied non-committedly, "Comrades, these two people have no clothes on their back, have only a fruit to share between them, and are told they are in Paradise. They surely are Russians..." 

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Once upon a time, there lived a man in a small town. He paints houses for a living and he got exceeding rich from this. Not because he was holding a monopoly, but because he was cheating on his customers - instead of painting their houses with proper paint, this man will mix in a lot more thinner together with the paint. So he cuts his costs in painting per house, since thinner is cheaper than paint.

One day the man was asked by the church to repaint the whole church building. This was a mega project and he had to hire workers to erect scaffolds and paint all the way up from the ground up to the church tower. It was a huge project, and this man used his usual practice of mixing more thinner with paint to cut his costs.

On the last day of the works, the man was standing right at the top-most scaffold to finish painting the tower. Just as he was putting the finishing touches, a sudden storm brewed out of nowhere and it started to pour cats and dogs. It rained so hard that the man was washed down from the scaffolds, and yet miraculously he was unharmed. Moreover, all the thinned paint he had used on the church walls was completely washed off. As the man looked at all the paint that was running down the walls, he was struck in his conscience, and absolutely convinced of his sins.

He cried out to the Lord, "O God! What must I do to redeem myself from this?"

These are the words that came back to him from heavens,

"REPAINT! REPAINT, and THIN no more!"

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*Painting of Adam and Eve taken from http://www.abcgallery.com/S/scorel/scorel1.html

Farewell Party15 Aug '07

We bid farewell to Rick, a colleague from the Americas office, and Rachael, a volunteer with our Singapore office, yesterday after our staff meeting.

on getting my swimming stamina back...

well, it's been mighty hot these past few days. So decided to go to the pool to cool down last Saturday. The public swimming pool near my place was still under renovation, so had to travel all the way out to Yio Chu Kang for a dip. I thought there will be less people since I chose the middle of the day to swim. Well, seems like a lot of people also had the same idea, so in the end I ended up in a crowded pool again.

But I was more aghast at how unfit I had become. Hadn't exercise in the longest time, and it shows. I only swam breast-stroke for 30 mins, and it was at a leisurely pace. But somehow couldn't push myself to swim further than that. Cooled down in the pool and went off after that.

Decided to go swimming the next day to get my swimming stamina up again. Again, have to go to a far far place*, and again the same crowded situation. This time, "lagi" worse, only 25 minutes before I "puncture tyre" liao. Singaporean parents are crazy to make their children go for swimming lessons at 12 noon in the day. Don;t they know the hazards of skin cancer?? :D

Well, be swimming more often these next few weeks. Maybe I'll go and swim before CG tomorrow... bwahahahah~

Went to Chao Chu Kang. Yea, cos' after church mah, that's the "nearest" pool i can think of...

Mario Strikers Charged マリオストライカーズ チャージド Mario Sutoraikāzu Chājido (2007)

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Video Games
Genre:	Sports
Console:	Nintendo Wii

hahahah, played this for the first time at my friend's place. The Mario franchise is a timeless classic. Even for an avid Sonic fan like myself still got a kick out of this superbly fun game. The controls are not that intuitive though... or maybe because I'm not a soccer person :P


http://wii.nintendo.com/site/mariostrikerscharged/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Strikers_Charged
http://wii.ign.com/objects/846/846913.html

When Good Ghouls Turn Bad (2001)

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Kids & Family

Watched this on the morning of National Day last thursday. Not a bad show - long time since i enjoyed a film with old-school puppetry. Supposedly it's based on a children's horror book by R.L. Stine. Maybe will go and read the book and see how close the film follows the narrative...

one thing though, Christoper Lloyd is a superb actor!

on boozing in ancient times...

http://2002.imj.org.il/archive/?archaeology/wine
Oh hai DEE HAI dee HAI dee HaI DeE hai dee HAI DEE hAi~ :D

My friend sent me this, knowing that I'm an keen drinker~ Cheers!

Mel's Birthday Celebration 08 Aug '07

Celebrated Mel's birthday in office~ Photos courtesy of Eddie (ThankZ YouZ!)

on sending sms-es to brighten the day...

Well, it's my turn today to send out morning sms to my regular people. Was reflecting on the Sunday sermon preached in church so decided to send out the following sms:

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"I ask God for all things so that I may enjoy life;

God gave me life, so that I may worship Him

& enjoy all things in Him! 0:D

Verily, verily I repeat unto you,

Dun live by roti* alone;

rather, eat of the bread of heaven,

the manna of life from our Father's banquet."

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Usually I don't get response and replies one, but today was special. Here are some replies:

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"Would u seriously trade ur lifestyle now for live in desert with manna?"

This comes from a dear brother who always challenges us to think further and beyond mere mouthing of the words we were taught in church. Well, I replied back:

"Well, as Adonai Jesus has prayed, "Father, ... not my will but Yours be done." Think the question here is how far we will trust Him."

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"Amen. Amazingly I came across this same saying fr a christian poster tt my fren bought on mon, wh struck me deeply. 1st time seeing it twice in a wk."

This comes from a sister who's drawing closer to God these past 7 months. Yea, our Abba is wonderful, sometimes He'll just bring constant reminder on certain promises and messages He has for us. I replied her thus:

" It's a sign!! :D Do take time to meditate on it some more this week"

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"Yea, do not live by bread alone, must also eat prata! :D"

This comes from a sister who's usually quite serious - wasn't really expecting this from her :D think must be stressed out by her work schedule. So I replied her:

"Eh, Bible got mention prata meh?? Must be your special IDT version la... :D"

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* Malay for "bread"

on a nice night-out at Dempsey...

Went out for a nice dinner and chill-out session with my colleagues last Friday night at Dempsey Road. Me being the mountain turtle that I am, gawked at everything even as we got down from cab. Yeaps, it's truly an inaccessible place unless one drives*.

We went there in two separate cabs, cos' there were too many people to squeeze into one**. My group arrived there earlier, so we took some time to walk walk around.  Went into an art gallery, Linda's Gallery. Saw a lot of interesting Chinese paintings and sculpture. Got my friend to take below pic:

After that, we went for a great meal at PS Cafe. The concept is good, and the ambiance is cool. I think our organiser did the wise ting in calling up early and made the reservation for the right time-slot. We got to enjoy our meal when the daylight fades into the cool darkness of night. We shared a bottle of red Argentinian wine ~ some of us found it too mild at first, but it got better and better as time passes. We all decided cos' we didn't let the wine "breath" enough. :D

After the fulfilling meal, we went for a slow stroll to work off that "stuffed" feeling. :p We walked all the way to Angel Share. Alas, we didn't make reservation for this, and thus we couldn't get a chance to enjoy the outdoor scenery. Nonetheless, we had a good time chatting and chilling out inside the pub section.

haha, looking forward to next time to jio-ing my other friends to go there!

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* Or stay within Orchard area :p

** unless we all do the circus clown thingie la...

For those who wants more info on Dempsey:

http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/about_singapore/ezine_home/Jun06/60_seconds/Dempsey_Road_.html

http://www.dempseyhill.com/main.htm

on the 1st Internet article that made my Tues morning...

Switched on my comp in office and wanted to look for update on the hostage situation in Afghanistan this morning. Seems like not much update in the situation, as the Taliban and South Korean delegates ar e still at an impasse... 

Then came across this bizarre news on CNA:

Hello Kitty to punish bad-boy Thai police
Posted: 06 August 2007 1451 hrs

BANGKOK : Thai police said Monday they have recruited Hello Kitty, the moon-faced global icon of cuteness, as a new disciplinary tool for officers found engaging in "inappropriate" behaviour.

Officers who speak too aggressively to civilians, who fail to turn off their engines when they park their cars, or commit other minor violations of proper conduct will be forced to wear bright pink Hello Kitty armbands as punishment, police Colonel Pongpat Chayaphan told AFP.

Previously such offences were punished by a written reprimand, but Pongpat said that seemed to do little to deter future breaches of conduct.

He said he hoped the Hello Kitty armbands would shame officers into shaping up.

"I chose this symbol because it is pink and easy to see," he said.

In addition to wearing the cartoon cat on their sleeves for one day, the officers will also have to be accompanied by whoever is the deputy chief on duty for the day, Pongpat added.

"This is intended to engender their feelings of guilt," Pongpat added.

Second offences will be dealt with by a disciplinary panel that could decide to detain the misbehaving officers, he said.

Taken from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/292488/1/.html

Super surreal! :D

on making the most out of our days...

Had to lead in morning devotions today. Wasn't really sure of what to share until after hearing my fellow colleague's sharing about time, and the concept of God's timing on Wednesday's morning devotions.

I guess my sharing was more of an extension of his, reflecting on whether I had been a good steward of time God has given to me. To put it another way, had I let God being God of my time, or had I played god over my own schedule. Is time my god i.e. reacting to the various events that happened these past few days, or had I still let God be God over my life?

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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.

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Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were born
         Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
         Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
You turn man back into dust
         And say, "Return, O children of men."
For a thousand years in Your sight
         Are like yesterday when it passes by,
         Or as a watch in the night.
You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
         In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
         Toward evening it fades and withers away.
For we have been consumed by Your anger
         And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.
You have placed our iniquities before You,
         Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
For all our days have declined in Your fury;
         We have finished our years like a sigh.
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
         Or if due to strength, eighty years,
         Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
         For soon it is gone and we fly away.
Who understands the power of Your anger
         And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
So teach us to number our days,
         That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

Do return, O LORD; how long will it be?
         And be sorry for Your servants.
O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,
         That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
         And the years we have seen evil.
Let Your work appear to Your servants
         And Your majesty to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
         And confirm for us the work of our hands;
         Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

                                                                   - Psalm 90 (NASB)

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