Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Today--
I always found the Decepticons way cooler than the Autobots. Coz Megatron transformed into a real gun! And the toys back then...woohooo...really transformed into a life sized gun. One of the coolest and more expensive transformer toy then. My cousin had it. I so longed to play with it.
Decepticons also were mostly the fighter planes! Yeah!!! Though I didn't like Starscream with his cowardly wails and pleads in the cartoon series. Planes are always cool in my dictionary when i was a child. hee...
I also finished the story book I started yesterday. It was thrilling. Easy to read, cut to the chase...page turner..ge intro-ed a good first book to start with. I was glued to the book (let's jsut say i even used my toes -- clean one k-- to turn the page while my hands were busy eating chips.)..hahaha...
OK should go sleep liao...one big morning meeting that i dunno what to make of...haiz..ah wells. Nites!
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
To not dwell
Heading home I kinda thought about it...hahaha...but dunno where it came from -- it was quickly replaced by a 'actually it doesn't matter' lah. Which is true. =) this session was not meant to be a feedback session etc. and really, I possibly would be burdened with more things to think about the more he said!...hahaha
so yeah...it doesn't matter, because it won't change some basics, which is to do well. No one ever said it was going to be easy.
And my boss's character is that he only hopes to give what is best for us and the org, whether we like it or not (and that's his job). And whether he gets it right or not, (which is often)...haha...it's about the substance inside. =)
Judging by the fact one of my staff is still around..haha..its a kind of 'proof'..=)
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Last weekend Pastor Tan preached along the line of how our heavenly father, have and will always, hold back/ do not allow some of the things we ask for because he loves us and only wants to protect us. And being 'children' we'll never understand why it can't be fulfilled now/ ASAP.
He gave the analogy of back when he was in his teens. He asked his dad for a racer bicycle ( you know the type with the super thin tube tyres?) yep, understandable in his day, it reflected that you were a real cyclist enthusiast and of course a good/cool thing to have!
He asked his dad for it, saying that he wanted to go night cycling with his friends. The answer was 'No. You can always go to East Coast and rent a bike and cycle for those few hours.'. Still Pastor, like any persistent teen pestered his dad. Finally his dad told him, that if he could cycle without holding the handlebars, he could have his racer.
So Pastor trained...every other day after school, he'd rent a bike at East Coast and practiced. He returned home with bruises and cuts from his failed attempts. But he wanted the racer. So he kept going. Finally one day, he suceeded! And could do it with confidence and pomp! Wah....
Eagerly, he went to prove it to his dad. But the answer was 'NO.'
Hahahaha...painful....=) and pastor shared that even after all thse years he still remembers it. A mark in his teenage life...LOL...of course lah, happen to me also i'll remember man!
Pastor then rounded up by saying that now, he's grown up with his own kids. And of course, he still remembers his own bike incident. But if his childrens came up to him with the same request, his answer would be -- No.
Hahaha...coz a father wants NO HARM to come to his children. As kids, we don't see what our earthly father sees, what more we don't see what God sees!
So as we grow in God, and slowly mature as christians, we start to see what our heavenly father sees...and understand His ways from there, because we are in tune and walking with him.
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What jumped out for me in service was when He talked about the necessary trials and tribulations in our lives. and he immediately talked about perseverance, building character, and character, hope.
Yep, a familiar verse right, but I never saw the progression/link between character and hope in the way pastor described. Which suddenly made sense of it all...I mean, the perseverance, building character it's a logical understanding....but next is hope? Huh?....why not strength, love or faith??? These link after character building...Why hope???
verse recap - NIV - Romans 5:3-4 "....we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."
Character leads to hope. Coz our character is built by God...having been tested, we persevere and learn/ hang on, time and again...not knowing why, but hanging on and leaning on to Him. And in time, as we journey with Him, and our character is built so that we are 'like God' and, if I can borrow a term ' same frequency' with Him.
And because we are this journey of being in the 'same frequency', we also know that we have to wait on God for many things. And in this waiting aspect. Therein is Hope...=)
isn't that cool? hee...
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Secondary to Love, Hope is impt to me...especially when things get challenging. Because without it...it's so hard to see the end of the tunnel/ a possibility/ the miracle. =)
Lately, I've been led to think about the hope that I have in areas of my life. And the immense fear that comes to swallow it up.
Hearing this verse, is like God assuring me of -- "See it's all part of the plan girl..."
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It was Fathers' Day.
Every year, on this day, I will hear pastor at the altar call, he calls every one to close their eyes and bow thier heads in prayer. He mentions about 'Fathers that were not there' or 'Those that never knew their father, or had an abusive father, or those that never felt love from/ ill treated by their earthly fathers, etc.'
With my eyes still closed and head bowed, I acknowledge silently to God in my heart, that I'm one of the above. Every year, without fail. I just go -- "That's me."
Because with that acknowledgement, I feel His love for me flood my entirety. To feel so completely empty, yet overwhelmed. To tear, and yet smile.
Hi girl, I found you again. =)
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Burying...
There's a part of me that tells me not to make a big deal out of things in my life -- there's always someone else worse of/in a deeper shit than the life that I'm having. I try to count my blessings and remember that I've got opportunities that many would like to have too. I grew up thinking this way just to make each day pass a little easier, and I guess that developed in me an auto-response to listen to others problems more.
Much has cumulated in my life, especially feelings, that dangerously pile up into struggles and resentment. The danger with me is that it's so latent, I dont' realise the warning level it has reached, until I reach a 'face-it' or 'suffer' point. That is, God comes over lovingly and tries to work it out with me.. because he'll take the time to run through lessons with me and manage inside battles.
I've stopped apologising as much to Him, for being this way, because He assured me that it's not my fault coz it's ingrained in me by circumstance. An ironic thing He had to tell me coz I think wallowing in self pity brings nothing. But He needs me to be selfish so that He can show me...to see in order to understand...
Too much trauma....too much uncertainty...too many choices...it was all i knew then...
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For those that know me, I'll tell you not to let what other's think of you/ say about you dictate your life, because at the end of the day, you'll have to see yourself when you look in the mirror. Otherwise, years on, you'll wonder who you are and really, that's worse. But of course, if you're sold and ready for the change, go for it...but don't let their expectations have a rule over you. It's the expectation you have of yourself. And if you're a Christian, please remember to include God in the ride. =P
Hahaha...thinking back, that's probably the reason for my perceived rebel side when I argued matter of factly with those that try to corner or I simply walk away from them, becasue they do not understand.
It's something I try to live by coz I cannot afford to regret my choices. Therein lies the problem too...
In the past year, it has grown harder for me to balance the above. Which leaves me in alot of conflict. It's a combination of self expectation, the stupid background noise of reality and the growing reponsibilities as an adult that sprout like damned fungus overnight!!! ....and becomes a sort of colony in several weeks...haiz...
Righto..that's all for today. These are hard things to write...haha..
Sunday, 14 June 2009
The Encore!
I've laid them out below in completely random order. I just seived through all the photos again (including some from my mobile) and picked out mostly a handful of photos that never made it to my photo-story...but they've all got great/silly memories to go with it.
So here we go and I hope you have fun!
Yeah!! La Tour Effiel bathed in blue! It's so pretty and I'll always remember it this way, with it's beautiful sunset views along the Seine river...
Believe it or not, I've been contemplating building the Lego version of it! (which reaches your shoulders)One of the views from my bed in Frankfurt. It's the sharing table between the beds. -- and as you can see, Ge and I are just (organised) messy slobs. -- Which to me was a relief! =P
I took this pic while Ge was showering...Oh, and i never told you that the hotel's bathroom heater runs by a circular dial timer that switches off every 10mins. The dial timer is located OUTSIDE the loo...so it was quite amusing coz everytime I reset the timer for Ge, I felt as though I was setting the oven/ microwave to cook a chicken (in the loo)...hahaha...once you turn the dial to set it, there's a ticking sound as though it's counting down the seconds! LOL!
Good thing there was not 'ding' sound to mark the end of the 10mins!! HAHAHAHA....
Ballooon Dog in Versailles --- Cute...I still love it...
Loved it even more the way it was portrayed in Night in the Museum 2, because it really illustrated how I feel inside whenever I see this Balloon Dog sculpture! (Go watch the show!)
I always remember she was the one who pointed them out to me outside the church ah...I was like "Gargoyles!?!?! HERE!?! I thought they were only on Dracula's castle!!"
Arc de Triomphe! It was triumphant last stop we chionged to go see after a long day at Montmartre that was topped off in a hunt for a Gucci bag for my mum...=)
The transit at Doha airport on the way back to SG. We had a Root beer float with a 6 pc nuggets and fries. -- an amazing price of S$30 in total! Heh...and that's Ge with her JD Robb book she bought in Galleries Lafayette, Paris...a real import! =P
We got around Paris by train all the time! =)
In the tour around Romerburg (Frankfurt) -- Clear skies and what looks like a rocket?!? Can a plane go straight up like that?
The 'dash' between Dome and Crypte is deceivingly simple here on the signboard. In reality, a few hundered stairs...*gulp*...we came- we conquered!
After we wormed our way to get a good view in front, Ge hit the video record button, only to have the SD card run out of memory after 3 seconds! GAK!!!...the poor girl scrambled, dug and loaded a new card and restarted the camera. The whole time, we mused "Wouldn't it be just 'great' if he stops playing just when you start recording again?"....yeah..that pretty much happened lor..HAHAHA..he actually played his last note when it started recording and we were hoping, that maybe, just maybe he'd play another one...haha...dashed hopes..=)
It's cold enough to leave your beverages outside our Paris hotel window to chill. =) Lemon Lime Bitters schweppes which I realised can't find in SG! =(
Friday, 12 June 2009
Mobile Phone archive
It was for my first mobile phone! I was never gian-ed for one. If you've known me all these years, I'm pretty much not the kind to run for the first new and upcoming thing. So I was happy with my pager and felt that the phone was not necessary, especially with the price plans back then, it meant my parents would have to spend more monthly. And seriously, you dont' need one lah!! -- back then, almost none of my friends had a mobile -- so call who other than home right!?
Ironically, it's my mum who wanted to get the phone for me. I'll never forget, I was even disuading her not to get me one as we stood outside the shop. Hahaha...I was out to watch a movie at GV with my mum at the old marina square. Yeah, back then it was all the hype of a 10 cinema in one..haha...It was an offer at Bossini. There were long queues. All you had to do was to buy a tee or something, pay an extra $50 and you'd get a free phone with a basic singtel plan.
I guess June 1998 was the month just before I went into Uni, and it was a convenience more than anything, though I'd plan to sign up for a phone service to my hostel room already.
So here it is! -- The Philips Twist!
It served me many years, though many have asked me why i wouldn't change my phone to the newer sleeker ones though my contract expired, practical me said -" it still works and serves me well." Ok, it can't sms and is a green digit like screen - but it's still working!"
I'll never forget when I was in the midst of my final year, i was in a single room by then in hall, and like always, burning the midnight oil over tutorials. I believe I was studying for exams lah. Anyway, the story goes that my calculator and philips twist was side by side, and guess what, i grabbed my mobile phone to use as a calculator!!!..hahaha...
I think the phone lasted me till end of 2002. The only reason why I had to let it go was because my two batteries (got a spare one from a fren who got a new one) were dying due to the common Nihum battery problem of batt life with repeated charges.
I opted for a Samsung - N620. I possibly spent 200 odd on it. It had way better functions and had polytronic ring tones, coloured screen and a flashing LED light, PLUS the antenna was very small. (ok ok, this is a generational gap thing so some of you jsut do not know what a big WOW it was back then..last time a ring tone was really...RING RING lor!!!)
My friends were actually jealous of my samsung, coz the screen was alot better in resolution, my number pad had a blue colour (the std nokia one was white) and had a multi flashing LED that rang to the beat of the ring tone! I had a unique choice of ring tones. Nokia had 5 ring tones to choose from -- and if EVERYONE carried a nokia, guess what happnes when the phone rings?? hahaha
This one gave me problems with the number pad and it was getting harder to sms, which forced me to have to change phone lor..i think I changed in March 2005
Yeah, my phones usually lasted more than the 2 year "plan" period then, so I could've changed service provider then. But i was loyal to singtel coz it gave me good subscription loyalty rebates lor.
It was the latest samsung phone lor..that's y the price (but it hasn't changed much hor, for thier premium phones) . This was considered one of the premiums in it's time. It was the first flip phone with NO antenna, two scrrens, and dual function camera. AND, the multishot function. heh...cools!
Next up, my Samsung z720 in May 2007 (last one had a screen death again!!! and according to the people at the shop, it's never worth paying to change LED screen...sigh..)- by then I'm a loyal smasung user liao and wouldn't mind paying the bit for the coolest model -- ie. the SLIMMEST SLIDER phone! The Ultra Slim range! Hee...
I bought the silver version -- the less common one again! had a hard time finding! hahahaha
this was the season everyone carried black/ dark phones so..the rebel in me came out again..hahaha
I'll never forget that my silver one died a strange death WHEN I was only a year into my contract which left me having to buy a phone with no contract.
You see, it was a week or two before the BIG singapore airshow when i had like a trillion activites plus the career show in march. 3rd day of chinese new year, and after helping my mum cook lunch for relatives and toil at the sink for 5 hours, I came up to my room for a breather, only to find that my screen had cracked. No idea how it happened.SIGH...
So yeah, Had to buy a new phone and coz i didnt like any other phone then, I went back to get my z720, but in Chrome Silver, which I think to date is still a cool combi for a phone! heee...just like ge's E71 lah....which was the first colour they released. =)
Though I got it for $280 off a seller on ebay, it was in good condition and only bought for about 3 months.
Irritatingly, the screen suddenly in Feb this year 2009. Sheesh...and the warrantly expired the month before! GAK!!!
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So ends my story....and yeah,...I own a NokiaP now...hahaha...the story is a post on my blog you can go click back and read...heee...
And you know what...even though so many people use the phone..haha..mine still unique, coz i swapped the back panels!! which no one else has!! =P
Hahaha...my friend couldn't identitfy my phone lor...wondering how come it's a E71 but not of any colour he know of..WHAHAHAHA...
*smug look*
I'm pathetic huh...LOL!!
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Someone probably thought...
Then again. Why assume? Haha..so I'm sharing my idea here and you can feel free to tell me what you think. Of course, if you ever do succeed in making the idea a reality, do at least give me the appropriate $$$$. LOL!
If on an average of about 2 million passengers per day travel globally on just US flights alone, think about the real numbers of travellers who would benefit from my product!
This is especially so for the business traveller, who cannot afford to waste much time and must at his/her every meeting and appointment be at their best.
In the midst of doing work at this stupid hour, it just popped into my head that there will be a HUGE market for my product..hahaha
If people who travelled to another country, can take a sort of sleeping pill and after..say a reasonable 6 hours of sleep (definite sleep coz of the pill effects), the person will wake up with the body refreshed and in tune with the new time zone!
Yep! No jet lag or having to adjust, no loss of appetite etc. You're thoroughly adapted! Just maybe having to suffer for the few hours after the plane touches down and the traveller has a proper room/ place to sleep in.
I initially thought that the pill be taken just before flight take off and when awakened at the end of the flight, your body will be in tune. But I decided against this, as it would mean the loss of many jobs in the airline/ aviation industry..hahaha...besides, we all want to enjoy our inflight entertainment taht we paid for too mahz. =) In addition, I know some travllers like to take the opportunity to catch up on work, or read up on their sight seeing trip on the flight. (i'm one of them..hee)
Also we may have security issues. E.g the person awakens and finds things missing etc. or terrorist/ opportunists may have other ideas given the entire flight is zonked out, since a flight is still a public affair.
So the best would be when the traveller has the first opportunity to rest privately and safely. =) That was why i mentioned earlier that the person has to perhaps suffer after the plane lands till he can sleep proper.
Of course, there must be variations in the pills for different time zones, such that this can be a worldwide marketable pill, and can be calculated based on the time difference between your country of origin and destination etc. and from there you take the correct pill.
And the same can be done when you return home.
Side effects? Well, since this is still an idea--- ideally no side effects. hahahaha!
Even flight attendant and pilots will benefit from this! Wah....=)
Not bad hor?
Hee...
Friday, 5 June 2009
Shhh..officially at work..but just had to come post -- SAA 2009!
This was really the end, when you're dog tired and easily persuaded to pose for silly shots in a public place and really...after all that...no one would blame you. =) I probably hugged Ge a zillionth time coz I was so relieved and happy...=)
ASX and SAA 2009...
God, thanks for your faithfulness and giving us more than we could ever ask or imagine. It all really would have been nothing without You. The impossible made possible because you are one of miracles.
It was not perfect, with some setbacks. But You blessed even the smallest stuff and your grace covered the things we couldn't control come to fruition. You took charge to make sure that what truly mattered was taken care of. When there was a problem, you showed a way.
For sending angels to surround and guard the ones we love...and thinking back, there were body pains and the food poisoning. *yecks*...but we didn't fall horribly sick in the last one month running into the D-days! Though many a time we felt that way...=)
For collecting our tears and giving strength to heavy and weary hearts.
For lovingly teaching Ge and me in a HDB wilderness wandering that I'll never forget and blessing us at the end of that day. =)
I love you..=)
Just here to =)
Am still gathering up the newspaper prints of the two biggie events, ASX and SAA to put up here. Ya...lesson learned. Cannot blog it as a full post with the wordings. Too many key repeat words and I'll end up on the google search...eeps!
I'm negotiating with our photographer on how to get the photos too..=) just too many, too big...and he also has not enough time at present to sift it all out for us. He actually sent me the downsized compressed version for preview. But the two events added together implies a download time of over 5 hours lor! Hmmm...so am going to be leaving my home pc on overnight. My old office lappie will not be able to bear the strain of such a task..haha..=)
Left office pretty late the past two days, not sure why too. Some of them staying in late too. I guess it adds up here and there, the few minutes you spend on the phone clarifying something. Worse is the kind you type the e-mail halfway and realise why not just call?...haha...Also have to decide what to do with one particular staff...and how to split the rest of the work load.
Just feeling weird lately. Can't explain it. But it's an uncomfortable apprehensive feeling. Hope it passes soon. God I pray everything's ok.
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
tuesday night
well, ge is right, thank god blogs are easy to move. Just change the address in the settings page. Thank God she called me too on sunday afternoon about what had happened and i could act quickly. Haiz...
I shan't go into detail as it would probably leave me boiling again. But this idiot sent to my boss and some colleagues by blog link among other links in an e-mail. I had put up several posts about the event coz i was happy and spent the time digging out the articles online. Little did i know a moron would use a blog post as a 'credible source' ...sigh...and it's NOT the first hit when you google the event name lor...it was on the 6th page...sheesh...
whatever the case, my blog is still in hiding. However, ..hahaha...god gave me an idea late on sunday night. since i didnt want to lose my blog address, no one said i couldn't HOG it like what many other people do. then maybe in due course, when my other colleagues think it's a dead link they'll even stop clicking. hahaha
So yes, I quickly registered it. And left it completely plain with the header 401 WEB ERROR on it...hahahaha...trying to be authentic here. =P
Unfortunately as it's linked to my main blogger account, i've had to hide my profile and actual blogs from my blogger page. But it's an inconvenience for the time being. Now I'm 'PWINTS' not 'PRINT'...=)
Ok, moving on to other topics. The weekend was recovery days after the events. Saturday was spent phasing in and out of zzz time, till late evening when I went with boss and two others to visit ge at her granny's wake. i was back at work on monday, but primarily to do clean ups. only half the office was there. The other half had chosen to take one of the 3 days (that boss granted) off. we were all still slightly dazed after the big events and things moved amusingly still at a recovery stage for all of us. Even boss was on half functional mode.
But i did spend some time having to handle our magazine matters due to it's failure to be launched with our events. 1) the direct staff involved. 2) indirectly dealing with the unhappy client. 3) the sales person who had previously dealt with the unhappy client.
All in all i think i took about 3 hours altogether talking to these people. haiz...my wouth was so dry at one point, for (30 i actually told her, my mouth dry liao, nothing more to say, let's leave it as that and ended the call lor...I talked to her on the phone for a good 50mins can?!....sometimes, I kick myself for being so 'accommodating' and 'explanatory'.
After that i went with 2 of my colleagues who haven't gone to the wake yet. It's not an easy place to find. So since i've the car, it's better i bring them bah, especially since the younger one is pretty much afraid of the dark..hahaha...really wanted to stay/ come back later...but was barred from doing so...haha...ok lah..was bit sad..but am ok, coz Ge's intentions are always good and I recognise and appreciate it...I had good intentions that just clashed lah...=)
I decided to rest home today. Tuesday. I'm almost tearing my hair at times over the sudoku i'm doing now. I've reached level 4 of 5...raaarr...I actually can't finish the puzzle in one sitting now. I actually need to break it up, by doing something else for a while then coming back to it lor...lotsa liquid paper marks all over it now..hahahaha
Had a short chat with Ge earlier. Which reminded me -- and I thank God for bible study!! -- about the verse that goes along the line of "..everything that does not come from faith is sin.."....And I'd have to take this opportunity to thank the Holy Spirit for putting that in my mouth. HAHAHA....coz really, I had the rough idea...but when I blurted, the right verse came out..hahaha...=) He's kind lah...
Romans 14..This chapter is usually used to teach about drinking alcohol and wondering whether we can eat 'stuff that has been prayed for' or food that our parents get from altars.
Every case varies, but the few key points is that if your brother is unsure, best that he/ she does not, as God does not want us to condemn ourselves after we 'approve' and do an act. (vs 22)...
At the end of the day, it's about doing things by faith and not fear and having peace with God about what you do. Everything can be argued..everyone will have an argument.... But you can say all you want, it'll all go down to what's between you and God..=) and He sees your heart. =)
Okies...see i get carried away again..hahaha...
Am watching Star Trek: First Contact now...wooohooo...hope it loads fast...zzz time soon...
Byes!