Sometimes I wonder - it's probably much easier to die for Christ than to live.
It was Saturday and we had some personal sharing after some lessons on Ecclesiastes.
The context was about Solomon, the purported writer of that Book. God told Solomon He would grant him anything he desired, and he asked for wisdom. Thus he was the wisest man under heaven ever. And with wisdom the recognition of the futility and sadness of this world.
So our teacher asked us - "If God would grant you one wish, what would you ask for?"
I asked to go straight to heaven and people looked at me like I was talking funny. Somehow there's a sort of melancholy about the way I see life nowadays. What does it mean to be a sojourner on this earth? Is it possible to take joy and happiness in the things we have now? Can we honestly do that when we know everything will eventually come to nothing?
I've felt it before. When you get so attached to something that you throw everything else out the window... its dangerous what we fix our hearts on.
I want to keep my heart beyond the things of this world. The world is merely for getting by - by the grace of God. Can we boast any bit about our accomplishments, our achievements, our great legacies? It all comes to nothing. Nothing. Striving and labouring... in the end all comes to nothing.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Post-FYP
It's April.
Let's address the items from my previous post.
FYP came and went in a bang. So much for all that. Now it's about whether it's going to pull my grade down or not. But I had fun. The many overnights with Simon redoing and redoing the layout. Heh. Picked up quite a few more InDesign skills and improved efficiency. Somewhat. Have to learn to plan better ahead with more detailed master pages and use paragraph styles.
MOE is settled. Going in on July if nothing else comes up. So far, none of the resumes I sent out has had any sort of reply. *sigh*
Massage was fantastic. Had a sauna then some oil stuff then this mainland Chinese woman gave a very forceful effort with lots of strength. Especially on the calves. What made it really great was that I was having a little bit of leg aching after doing the treadmill the previous day at 2.4km speed for an extended period of time... So it was quite timely indeed...
Too bad its so ex or I'd go regularly. Heh.
Congrats to WJ on his new weekend car. Chevrolet Aveo Hatchback 1.4 with really spanking good looking 14inch rims.
Exams on 23rd and 24th Apr. I'm resuming the last 3 weeks of my NS in May after coming back from Taiwan with Weijian n folks.
Visited the dentist.... after a lapse of 4 years! He says I've been brushing off the enamel of my 2 front teeth... it won't be white anymore. LOL. I wonder if I should go for wisdom tooth extraction and time it with my NS ... HAHA... but its ex... at least $300
Watched "Phantom of the Opera" on Thursday night with my little bro (okay, JC1 is not little)... its just a term of reference. Just like how MTV means "music video" and hence it was ruled mtv.com.sg was not trademark infringement of MTV the company. So in the end MTV had to buy the address from that cybersquatter :)
Filling out some irritating accident report form... i tapped the bumper of someone's Camry the other night on the expressway in a traffic jam... and he was adamant that he was going to send it back to Borneo (motors) to get it checked although the most if could have been was a scratch. Nothing was visible as anyway his car's rear bumper is higher than mine. What could happen at 5km/h anyway?
Yes it's still my fault I know... but he went on complaining about how he just resprayed his whole car (did he just have an accident?) and all that. I said why not you try the reverse sensor but he refused. Anyway I got quite fed up and just told him to claim insurance. Then his wife make so much noise ask me to sign some statement saying its my fault. Really... try to bully me ah... I told her goodbye after exchanging drivers' particulars. So here I am filling this thing up in case he really finds something to repair... and I'm backed up by photos in case he tries to be funny...
I've let ppl who've bumped and scraped my car off at least 4 times when I knew I clearly would have been able to claim money or repair from them... because to me the car is meant to be functional for use... and such things are inevitable... as a daily driver I know things do happen and ppl have been nice to me before... as long as its not substantial or functional damage I just let it off
For the love of God, I don't find happiness in making ppl pay and bleed when its just a small mistake... we must learn not to attach ourselves too much to our precious objects... even our cars :P
But I guess other ppl value different things differently...
Been having talks with various ppl abt God, faith et al. About struggles and stuff. There's also been a lot of reflecting going on after the sober video on Calvinism. About rebirth and salvation. It's hard to be a Christian sometimes, especially when you lose sight of Jesus and heaven. And you get clogged up and muddled in all the confusion in between. But never give up. As long as we obey the Spirit rather than ourselves, it will be all so easy to experience what Jesus promised -
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. - Matthew 11:30
Till next time (which I suspect will be real soon)
Jerry, pest and recalcitrant.
Let's address the items from my previous post.
FYP came and went in a bang. So much for all that. Now it's about whether it's going to pull my grade down or not. But I had fun. The many overnights with Simon redoing and redoing the layout. Heh. Picked up quite a few more InDesign skills and improved efficiency. Somewhat. Have to learn to plan better ahead with more detailed master pages and use paragraph styles.
MOE is settled. Going in on July if nothing else comes up. So far, none of the resumes I sent out has had any sort of reply. *sigh*
Massage was fantastic. Had a sauna then some oil stuff then this mainland Chinese woman gave a very forceful effort with lots of strength. Especially on the calves. What made it really great was that I was having a little bit of leg aching after doing the treadmill the previous day at 2.4km speed for an extended period of time... So it was quite timely indeed...
Too bad its so ex or I'd go regularly. Heh.
Congrats to WJ on his new weekend car. Chevrolet Aveo Hatchback 1.4 with really spanking good looking 14inch rims.
Exams on 23rd and 24th Apr. I'm resuming the last 3 weeks of my NS in May after coming back from Taiwan with Weijian n folks.
Visited the dentist.... after a lapse of 4 years! He says I've been brushing off the enamel of my 2 front teeth... it won't be white anymore. LOL. I wonder if I should go for wisdom tooth extraction and time it with my NS ... HAHA... but its ex... at least $300
Watched "Phantom of the Opera" on Thursday night with my little bro (okay, JC1 is not little)... its just a term of reference. Just like how MTV means "music video" and hence it was ruled mtv.com.sg was not trademark infringement of MTV the company. So in the end MTV had to buy the address from that cybersquatter :)
Filling out some irritating accident report form... i tapped the bumper of someone's Camry the other night on the expressway in a traffic jam... and he was adamant that he was going to send it back to Borneo (motors) to get it checked although the most if could have been was a scratch. Nothing was visible as anyway his car's rear bumper is higher than mine. What could happen at 5km/h anyway?
Yes it's still my fault I know... but he went on complaining about how he just resprayed his whole car (did he just have an accident?) and all that. I said why not you try the reverse sensor but he refused. Anyway I got quite fed up and just told him to claim insurance. Then his wife make so much noise ask me to sign some statement saying its my fault. Really... try to bully me ah... I told her goodbye after exchanging drivers' particulars. So here I am filling this thing up in case he really finds something to repair... and I'm backed up by photos in case he tries to be funny...
I've let ppl who've bumped and scraped my car off at least 4 times when I knew I clearly would have been able to claim money or repair from them... because to me the car is meant to be functional for use... and such things are inevitable... as a daily driver I know things do happen and ppl have been nice to me before... as long as its not substantial or functional damage I just let it off
For the love of God, I don't find happiness in making ppl pay and bleed when its just a small mistake... we must learn not to attach ourselves too much to our precious objects... even our cars :P
But I guess other ppl value different things differently...
Been having talks with various ppl abt God, faith et al. About struggles and stuff. There's also been a lot of reflecting going on after the sober video on Calvinism. About rebirth and salvation. It's hard to be a Christian sometimes, especially when you lose sight of Jesus and heaven. And you get clogged up and muddled in all the confusion in between. But never give up. As long as we obey the Spirit rather than ourselves, it will be all so easy to experience what Jesus promised -
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. - Matthew 11:30
Till next time (which I suspect will be real soon)
Jerry, pest and recalcitrant.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
life without you
fyp's picking up.
finally. I've been skiving so much with so many things going on.
So has the sending out of CVs and cover letters.
I'm going to do two things tomorrow -
1) attend MOE appointment briefing. They're only offering me a 1 yr teaching contract.
2) FREE $120 back massage at this Spa place voucher courtesy of Ning heh. Thanks lots. Let's see if its worth $120
3) tuition
I'm trying my best to busy myself for now... Don't know how to get the closure... or whether I really want to...
hai. does it have to be this way?
*silent confusion*
finally. I've been skiving so much with so many things going on.
So has the sending out of CVs and cover letters.
I'm going to do two things tomorrow -
1) attend MOE appointment briefing. They're only offering me a 1 yr teaching contract.
2) FREE $120 back massage at this Spa place voucher courtesy of Ning heh. Thanks lots. Let's see if its worth $120
3) tuition
I'm trying my best to busy myself for now... Don't know how to get the closure... or whether I really want to...
hai. does it have to be this way?
*silent confusion*
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Be a Barnabas
Sometimes, those little nuggets and hidden facts from the Bible really amaze you. And no its not trivia, but rather, a small little fact with really profound implications and of great teaching and encouragement value... Thanks Wing for sharing this!
And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. - Acts 4:36-37
The case of the Levite Barnabas
At the end of Acts Chap 4 verses 36-37, it talks about a Levite Joses whom the apostles surnamed Barnabas - a Levite.
Now a Levite is of the priestly class in Jewish society - they're the sons of Aaron. They were called by God to be His priests and were to have no land inheritance.
So this Levite, having had land to his name was probably a very comfortable and well to do priest who had slacked off and decided to get some earthly wealth and inheritence of his own by buying some land, rather than fulling depending on God.
But then, upon hearing about the gospel of Christ preached by the apostles, he gave up this land, sold it, and laid it at the apostles' feet for redistribution amongst those in the young church.
It must have been initially ironic and perhaps embarassing for Barnabas to go to the apostles and admit that he had land to sell in the first place! But its in true humility, repentance and turning from the old ways to Christ's call that he did it, and its truly of the Holy Spirit~
Even for this Levite who had gone worldly, upon conviction by the Holy Spirit of truth he took action to cease his worldly ways and return to the faithful service of God.
It's quite a wake-up call for myself and perhaps those who feel like me in some ways too.
We know what its all about, the saving grace, peace and true joy and happiness. And once we gloried and went on in it. But somehow being in the world dulls our fire and enthusiasm and somehow, 1 foot gets stuck back into some of the worldliness that surrounds and permeates us.
Admitting which parts of our lives is compromise of God's standards is hard. We don't want to see it, or admit it, or draw the line.
But hey, a persecutor of Christians like Saul could become a Paul, a lukewarm Levite could become a Barnabas. We must never give up.
:)
And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. - Acts 4:36-37
The case of the Levite Barnabas
At the end of Acts Chap 4 verses 36-37, it talks about a Levite Joses whom the apostles surnamed Barnabas - a Levite.
Now a Levite is of the priestly class in Jewish society - they're the sons of Aaron. They were called by God to be His priests and were to have no land inheritance.
So this Levite, having had land to his name was probably a very comfortable and well to do priest who had slacked off and decided to get some earthly wealth and inheritence of his own by buying some land, rather than fulling depending on God.
But then, upon hearing about the gospel of Christ preached by the apostles, he gave up this land, sold it, and laid it at the apostles' feet for redistribution amongst those in the young church.
It must have been initially ironic and perhaps embarassing for Barnabas to go to the apostles and admit that he had land to sell in the first place! But its in true humility, repentance and turning from the old ways to Christ's call that he did it, and its truly of the Holy Spirit~
Even for this Levite who had gone worldly, upon conviction by the Holy Spirit of truth he took action to cease his worldly ways and return to the faithful service of God.
It's quite a wake-up call for myself and perhaps those who feel like me in some ways too.
We know what its all about, the saving grace, peace and true joy and happiness. And once we gloried and went on in it. But somehow being in the world dulls our fire and enthusiasm and somehow, 1 foot gets stuck back into some of the worldliness that surrounds and permeates us.
Admitting which parts of our lives is compromise of God's standards is hard. We don't want to see it, or admit it, or draw the line.
But hey, a persecutor of Christians like Saul could become a Paul, a lukewarm Levite could become a Barnabas. We must never give up.
:)
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
up early
(something's weird with this new upgraded blogger on my PC. No matter how many times I click "remember me" after typing in my login details the cookie will somehow forget me the next time I try to logon to it again...)
Was trying to resolve the inability to logon my brother's laptop onto the windows workgroup last night when I KOed in the aircon room on the bed... that must have been before 10pm but thank God I slept all the way and awoke at 5am... at least 7 hours of solid uninterrupted sleep amen!
Went for a jog to Red Swastika and halfway back... quite slow but okay I covered more distance than I did my previous round more than a week ago...
Had a New Year mahjong session at Jan's place... combined with betty to win $1 after playing... 2 winds I think. Her hand is super lucky and we were actually quite up until the final round when we got killed by Sam. Somehow, the thrill is kinda reduced when you win and you gotta keep checking with others as to how much you've won... but that's how lousy we are :P
watched "Just Follow Law" at bishan GV after that with the same gang @ $6 per pax... initially I found it quite clique with the usual stuff like lame jokes, stereotypes, a softporn scene.... but hey... its supposed to be a fun movie and maybe I'm thinking too much. Fann Wong is really hilarious being a guy but I suppose Gurmit had the harder job of trying to be a "niang niang qiang"... but he was quite good as an ah-beng initially gotta give him credit and noone really remembers he's not actually Chinese ? The product endorsement was way too obvious... just like the American Idol judges sipping fluids from their big "Coca-Cola" cups...
FYP's moving very slowly... that's what happens when you're too dependent on too few sources... but on the printing side I've gotten some quotes so that's not too bad. Ok there's still hope! :) *2-side saddle stitch gibberish blahblah etc*
Car-speak
Tested and proven - listening to Jay Chou while driving makes you drive faster lol
yesterday was Jay Chou on the way to simon's place... and back... zipping through traffic and taking the curves without a flutter.
The new shocks are good although I should have specified new springs to go along with it... the old ones are just not progressive enough and still exhibit too much float for my liking. Maybe in the very distant future.
The suspension helped a lot with grip but reduced fuel consumption efficiency by a little because of a better contact patch.
Still getting used to the small spec tall sidewall tires - but I'm not willing to change the 13inch alloys already in place... so maybe at the next tyre change I'll get the grippiest 13incher I can find :) but the reduced rolling radius also helps fuel consumption
Manual is excellent for speed control around curves without resorting to braking and frees you to power exit heh. The moving off from stationary is still irritating though with the clutch linkage/warp? problem... but that's still something quite distant in the future
The light weight does wonders for the acceleration which is very brisk due to little transmission loss and there's hardly a need to step too hard on the gas because the 1.5litre engine has plenty of pulling power
Brakes-wise the stopping power is terrible especially since it's so easy to speed in this car... can't help going fast...! lol. Rotors which are quite grinded need to be changed when the pads wear out
I like my tinted windows :P
Maybe I should send the car in for soundproofing also...
Btw, my car stereo sucks big-time ... even a newly burnt CDR also can skip... sianz... but stereos are expensive to change... just have to live with it
Ok... back to InDesign
Seeya around!
Was trying to resolve the inability to logon my brother's laptop onto the windows workgroup last night when I KOed in the aircon room on the bed... that must have been before 10pm but thank God I slept all the way and awoke at 5am... at least 7 hours of solid uninterrupted sleep amen!
Went for a jog to Red Swastika and halfway back... quite slow but okay I covered more distance than I did my previous round more than a week ago...
Had a New Year mahjong session at Jan's place... combined with betty to win $1 after playing... 2 winds I think. Her hand is super lucky and we were actually quite up until the final round when we got killed by Sam. Somehow, the thrill is kinda reduced when you win and you gotta keep checking with others as to how much you've won... but that's how lousy we are :P
watched "Just Follow Law" at bishan GV after that with the same gang @ $6 per pax... initially I found it quite clique with the usual stuff like lame jokes, stereotypes, a softporn scene.... but hey... its supposed to be a fun movie and maybe I'm thinking too much. Fann Wong is really hilarious being a guy but I suppose Gurmit had the harder job of trying to be a "niang niang qiang"... but he was quite good as an ah-beng initially gotta give him credit and noone really remembers he's not actually Chinese ? The product endorsement was way too obvious... just like the American Idol judges sipping fluids from their big "Coca-Cola" cups...
FYP's moving very slowly... that's what happens when you're too dependent on too few sources... but on the printing side I've gotten some quotes so that's not too bad. Ok there's still hope! :) *2-side saddle stitch gibberish blahblah etc*
Car-speak
Tested and proven - listening to Jay Chou while driving makes you drive faster lol
yesterday was Jay Chou on the way to simon's place... and back... zipping through traffic and taking the curves without a flutter.
The new shocks are good although I should have specified new springs to go along with it... the old ones are just not progressive enough and still exhibit too much float for my liking. Maybe in the very distant future.
The suspension helped a lot with grip but reduced fuel consumption efficiency by a little because of a better contact patch.
Still getting used to the small spec tall sidewall tires - but I'm not willing to change the 13inch alloys already in place... so maybe at the next tyre change I'll get the grippiest 13incher I can find :) but the reduced rolling radius also helps fuel consumption
Manual is excellent for speed control around curves without resorting to braking and frees you to power exit heh. The moving off from stationary is still irritating though with the clutch linkage/warp? problem... but that's still something quite distant in the future
The light weight does wonders for the acceleration which is very brisk due to little transmission loss and there's hardly a need to step too hard on the gas because the 1.5litre engine has plenty of pulling power
Brakes-wise the stopping power is terrible especially since it's so easy to speed in this car... can't help going fast...! lol. Rotors which are quite grinded need to be changed when the pads wear out
I like my tinted windows :P
Maybe I should send the car in for soundproofing also...
Btw, my car stereo sucks big-time ... even a newly burnt CDR also can skip... sianz... but stereos are expensive to change... just have to live with it
Ok... back to InDesign
Seeya around!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
My new ride with tinted windows @@
Toyota Soluna GLi (1st gen)
Yr of mfg: 1998
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Mileage @ handover: 144500 km
Date of ownership: 23 Jan 2007
COE expiry: Dec 2008
Chassis: AL50
Kerb weight: 880kg
Length: 4175 mm
Width: 1660 mm
Height: 1380 mm
Wheelbase: 2380 mm
Clearance: 150mm
Engine: 5A-FE (EFI)
Displacement : 1498 cc
Power: 93.8 hp @ 5600rpm
Torque: 12.6 kgm @ 4800 rpm
Displacement : 1498 cc
Power: 93.8 hp @ 5600rpm
Torque: 12.6 kgm @ 4800 rpm
Fuel tank: 45 litres
Brakes: Ventilated discs / drums
Suspension: MacPherson strut / Torsion beam
Shocks: Monroe spec
Tyres: 185/70R13 85T M+S
Alloy rims: 13 x 5.5 JJ
Thursday, February 22, 2007
anal
Some people, it seems, in spite of all the consumer education and common sense in the world, will still have irrational tendencies. Especially when it comes to money.
They're the type who would happily scrimp as much money as they can get their hands on and hide it under their pillow. Cash is king. So to speak. Even if its at the opportunity cost of something worth more.
Take X. X has 2 options, a salary raise, or a brand new company car. Even the lousiest new car is going to cost at least $400/ month in installments. But no, X wants a measly raise of $300/mnth. Which works out to just a $260/mnth after our paternalistic government's intervention. Instead of something that would have been worth at least $400 /mnth. Why? Is there an intrinsic value with holding more cash in hand only to spend it away? Maybe. Who knows....
Of course liquidity is best. But is it worth sacrificing something potentially worth 30% more in value just for the sake of liquidity? How about the time value of money? Ah.... X didn't consider that having more of a lesser amount's worth of cash on hand rather than in kind means more depreciation on X's hands.....
Well.... I'm done ranting... heh
And btw, X would rather make 3 people take public transport that comes once every 20min and takes a long snaking half an hour route for a 10 minute commute by car because X is too.... lazy to drive.
Journey by public transport:
83 cents x 3 = $2.49 x 2 trips = $4.98.
Journey by car:
Shortest route (one-way) = 4.37 km (5 km after generous allowance)
So, travel 10km at a conservative fuel consumption of 13km/litre (my car's average is usually 16km/litre) = 0.78 litres of petrol
0.78 litres x current price of petrol @ $1.30/litre = $1.00
So, $1 petrol + $2 parking (assume we stay 2 hours there) = Grand total cost=$3
Time saved: Priceless
Sorry. I just had to do it. Hah. Hah. Hah.
They're the type who would happily scrimp as much money as they can get their hands on and hide it under their pillow. Cash is king. So to speak. Even if its at the opportunity cost of something worth more.
Take X. X has 2 options, a salary raise, or a brand new company car. Even the lousiest new car is going to cost at least $400/ month in installments. But no, X wants a measly raise of $300/mnth. Which works out to just a $260/mnth after our paternalistic government's intervention. Instead of something that would have been worth at least $400 /mnth. Why? Is there an intrinsic value with holding more cash in hand only to spend it away? Maybe. Who knows....
Of course liquidity is best. But is it worth sacrificing something potentially worth 30% more in value just for the sake of liquidity? How about the time value of money? Ah.... X didn't consider that having more of a lesser amount's worth of cash on hand rather than in kind means more depreciation on X's hands.....
Well.... I'm done ranting... heh
And btw, X would rather make 3 people take public transport that comes once every 20min and takes a long snaking half an hour route for a 10 minute commute by car because X is too.... lazy to drive.
Journey by public transport:
83 cents x 3 = $2.49 x 2 trips = $4.98.
Journey by car:
Shortest route (one-way) = 4.37 km (5 km after generous allowance)
So, travel 10km at a conservative fuel consumption of 13km/litre (my car's average is usually 16km/litre) = 0.78 litres of petrol
0.78 litres x current price of petrol @ $1.30/litre = $1.00
So, $1 petrol + $2 parking (assume we stay 2 hours there) = Grand total cost=$3
Time saved: Priceless
Sorry. I just had to do it. Hah. Hah. Hah.
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