A time to be quiet

Life does get noisy. routine drowns out the brilliance, rushing stifles the creativity. 5 weeks now has passed. and its time to quieten down and ask "where am i going this semester". hints points to the drain. going through the motion of yet another semester in school has to come to a halt. the only lessons i prob enjoy are the ones on thomas hobbes. because it makes people think - hard. the first take home is about how people often mis-interpret his text and generalize that he holds such a dark view of human nature. how man without a authority over them would create the state of nature and fuel bloodlust. literally abusing his phrase 'the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.' yet altogether missing the crux of the message - his benevolent attitude towards these desires of humans. he probably sees man as children. their misbehavior can be pardoned due to their naivety. children who just need supervision. to digress, i was led to think recently how great it was to be a kid. how innocent and care-free the life was. the simplicity, and the easy contentment with life. yet now how as a grown-up we are thrown into this society with complexities, inequalities and the whole works of nasty things that are going on. so now i shall look to my 'eskimo friend', learning how to wake up each morning with the perception of leading a new life. and to be accurate, looking to Jesus who gives us His word that His love never fails and is new every morning. that is probably the only thing that i can cling on to when life goes down, down, down.

Why Our Studies Count for Little

In the period of high stress, and of teeth-clenching and lip biting anxiety, it will be good to assure myself why studies will count for little.

Not that they are unimportant, neither should it be neglected and cast aside. But in "meritocratic" Singapore where grades literally determines everything, we need to begin to start to think otherwise, beyond the scope and years of socialization has taught us.

I want to believe that if my role is just to study and do my best. Yet, doing our "best" at times seem ambiguous. For me, doing my best means being conscientious in my assignments, being genuinely interested in the content, having a true spirit of education marked by a hunger to learn, doing about all i can to prepare for exams (not at the expense of health).

And at the macro level, these are the reasons why our studies count for little:

1/ We are living in the "end of the end times" as pastors would put it. Look at the Swine Flu (which actually is an erroneous terminology - the flu strain is far more complex than just being swine-related). The frequency of earthquakes that is ravaging cities and villages. The increasingly occurring freak weather; those we observed in singapore are just but the tip of the iceberg but it gives a good "introduction" of what impends.

2/ More importantly, i'm not determined or neither am i valued by my success/ failure. God's love remains the same.

Where is the faith?

Let Every Word Tell

This blog is really getting boring. Eekks.

The key lesson i am learning in life is on how to MERGE! integrating areas of my life together so that i can remain focused! abstract? okay for example, using one notebook for EVERYTHING in life. so in my little muji there will be school notes, bb meeting minutes, sermon pointers, random scribbling yada yada. And today i started this new discipline. inspired shortly after buying this awesome set of 52 colored cards at page one called "crucial jazz licks" which has a except of a jazz standard on one side and a short write up about the artist and the musical interpretation. in order to make sure i use them, i use it as bookmark in my morning devotion. so the plan is: do devotion with oswald chamber's classic and then move on to practicing that utterly crucial jazz lick. and each bookmark will last for 2 days.

Once practiced with the piano, the other with the guitar. euuuurekaaa! okay lets see how long this lasts. it takes at least, according to sociologist, 2 weeks to form a habit. 

So since i cant multi task i have to learn how to incorporate!

Then life doesnt seem so conflicting anymore! everything is one. one is everything.

Okay. now for the main bulk of the reason for blogging - to exercise Strunkian english methods.

Its high time to brush up on my english, in fear that my poor command of english would leave me at a severe disadvantage to the other "players".

In summary, the classic "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White can be summed up in the following abstract:

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

Let every word tell. No frills. Gathered that it would be worthwhile going thru this short but powerful book before getting down to writing my essay. So help me God. 

It's Been Awhile

Its been awhile 

Sorry i kept you waiting...

-Britney Spears

How apt it is to revive the blog with a quote from britney. 

Okay its not intentional. but when i tot of the words its been awhile i sync-ed it to the song i played for the introduction of my birthday party. 

Sept 21 2008 

The deep serene that lasted 3 months. and 4 days to be exact. 

The date was marked sept 21 because it was the period of time work started to pile up in school. and while academic thoughts floated in my mind i had no motivation nor inspiration to type anything worth reading into this blog.

Results were released on my birthday 2 days ago. What can i say other than God is Good! heh heh. i dun say this with smugness on my face but humility in my heart. I really did try my best. and God did the rest for me.

For a science student and a person that does not write much or read much, i must say that its a mini miracle. Enough to give thanks for.

This is a correspondence brought to you from KL malaysia. Starbucks.

As we know, globalization has plagued every city and brought about a transculturation.

BEEP. cut the crap! hahaha enough of globalization. oh wait i cant get enough. im going to need that word for exams and essays next year. how could i forget.

Mom is perming her hair. Delphne is highlighting her hair. Dad is looking for shorts. I am warming my butt at starbucks, starting into their huge logo to seek inspiration. The woman in the centre might have some magical powers or something. Surely. I recall oh i recall just a few weeks before that i sat in at starbucks from morning till evening till night to STUDY. oh we love you.

As the year end draws near. Its time for a personal AAR. how the year has been. how have i changed. how have i grown in love and in faith.

But if i were to re-name the theme of the year i probably wouldn't have called it the year of the sabbath. But then again. Sabbath doesnt mean just stoning at starbucks and zoning out. Its about NOT DOING WHAT WE PLEASE.

okay and yes. i've been doing alot of things that i don't want this year. 

Isaiah 58:13 (New International Version)

 13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath 
       and from doing as you please on my holy day, 
       if you call the Sabbath a delight 
       and the LORD's holy day honorable, 
       and if you honor it by not going your own way 
       and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

therefore, the measure of whether this year has been a sabbath is not only based upon the number of hours spent meditating beside the swimming pool in trunks but upon the number of ways we have honored God by NOT GOING OUR OWN WAYS boys and girls. heh heh.

hmm i din want to go for reservist this year becos i JUST ord-ed. does that count? hmm okay maybe not.

But there was something i truly wanted to do - a dream.

A 1 x solid power pack gig on my birthday

And though many times prior to that i felt like its not going to work out... It did.

I have no regrets now. 

Bottoms up for a new year. Bird out!