..my battle stance..

There was a time when we would discuss (or argue) over the above terms for days. Well.. not anymore. Some of the male participants (read: diver) have successfully reached the bottom of their ocean. And some of the female participants (read: ocean) have gladly embraced their diver. The coconut trees? Well gotta ask bombie for that. And what about the lost divers and undiscovered oceans? Well.. it ain't matter anymore for them as well. So reading someone's blog (unsurprisingly, a 20 something girl) on relationship.. it made me smile. She could go on and on and on about every aspect of relationship. But this wanderer has run out of words. I don't think she will get it now either. Let it be. I just want to say.. I am thankful today. Thankful to see how some of my friends are celebrating their anniversary. And I am praying tonite.. that decades later.. if facebook is still around.. and alive.. I will still see them posting happy anniversary photos on their wa...

Simply.. grateful. This is a good day.. after all.

I think this is good. Watched this with Andreas just now. And then I decided to share it with that special person that came to mind. And now.. I hope you find it useful too. *psychologist note (thanks to Andreas): A genius is said to have IQ 2 standard deviation up from the mean (average IQ of normal people). So having your IQ reduced by two standard deviation means you are no longer gifted at best. Or in worse case.. you are intellectually challenged.

Wow wow... “If you get rid of unfair practices,      quit blaming victims,      quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry      and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,      your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go.      I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—      firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden,      a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,      rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,      restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,      make the community livable again. Isaiah 58 (The Message)

When ika told me her cell group friends had been discussing myers briggs test.. I was like.. Hmm.... This sounds familiar. Yes.. our subroto family fa were discussing it too. in 2005. but i totally forgot what were being said or my result even. I remember darvin said that myers briggs result tend to change overtime. And my tung ling friends too. they said that the DISC test were more reliable. so i didn't give it a thought. but blogwalked to kim's blog and behold.. another one taking the test. It tickled me. like.. damn.. what was my result again? yeah.. i took the test lah~! and ... INTP. The Engineer -___- I was like.. what??? I thought i would be INFP? (with 53-47 ratio between F and T.. you can say I am in between). Well.. the En-gi-neer.. so what the %#$@^ am I doing for the last 5 years++ marketing property right? I was a computer scientist to begin with. I switched. Hah. Could have been the guy who founded twitter or instagram. Unable to acce...

What a revelation from this daily verse. Paradise.. we are not there yet. This is a battefield. Paul is ever eager to remind us that truth.  [ A Fight to the Finish ] And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an i...

Probably.. in all these years of listening to Chinese songs.. This song is one of the most brilliant love (if you may call it so) songs ever written. To me at least. And the singer.. is one of those singers whose voice I fell in love with at first hearing (thank you 93.3) I don't own the below translation. All credit goes to this blogger: http://derangedsheep08.blogspot.sg/2012/07/meiyou-name-jiandan-its-not-that-simple.html for the fabulous translation 作詞：姚若龍 作曲：蕭煌奇 沒那麼簡單 就能找到 聊得來的伴 It's not that simple to find someone to converse with 尤其是在 看過了那麼多的背叛 Especially when you've seen so much betrayal 總是不安 只好強悍 (There is) always unrest, without another option, (one must be) brave 誰謀殺了我的浪漫 Who killed my romance? 沒那麼簡單 就能去愛 別的全不看 It's not that simple, to be able to love, without looking 變得實際 也許好也許壞各一半 Maybe it's good, maybe it's bad, maybe 50-50 不愛孤單 一久也習慣 (Even if you) don't like loneliness, after a while you'll get used to it 不用擔...

The moment before dawn. Every time I was awake at such a time I would be at home. Not  today. Not here. I am standing outside of my cottage, overlooking the world famous lake that has somewhat been forgotten since the 90s. Just like my peaceful childhood memories. It was 1990, or thereabout. I moved to the capital then. From that moment on the memories have slowly but surely faded away. As I begin to ponder the past a voice suddenly interrupts my thought. 'Come.. walk with me.' it says. I nod. I slowly begin to walk. Aimlessly. 'I haven't told you where to go.' 'You rarely do.' I can sense the responding smile. Somehow. 'You rarely ask, really ask for it.' it says. I chuckle. 'I guess so. But there were times when I really did.. and you..' 'Sometimes it has to be that way..' the voice speaks calmly 'Are you not well after all.. ?' the voice continues. Am I well? 'Well.. I mess up a lot.. y...

Seems like a good day for another post. January 21st, 2013. When you are hurt and broken, you are at the best time to write. Charles Dickens channeled his depression into writing. So did Chairil Anwar as he penned his most famous poem, Aku. And so did Qu Yuan as he penned his final poem before he drowned himself into the river. And thanks to him we got zhong zhi aka 'ba cang' today. Twenty one. When I was that age, there were a few of our friends who I kind of thought were.. attractive. I remember discussing them with bombie as we went on long journey from NUS to the city. I particularly remember talking about this person with bombie. Using my head I thought she must be the one I should pursue. But my head didn't win the vote back then. Funnily. She was the one I think.. I never really pursued. But we were all good friends. Somehow when you are twenty one, you can maintain such relationship with people. It's like you are free to walk into any door...

You said if I kept quiet you would not know what I wanted. I kept quiet simply because your acts show that you don't even care enough about what I wanted.

My last deal in 2011 took place the night before the scary ABSD kicked in. My first deal in 2013 took place the night before the even better version of ABSD kicked in. Basically still ABSD, but bigger and more fearsome. I was involved in a project launch at Sengkang. It was chaotic. Everyone fighting to enter the show flat and get their hands on the property they wanted. Coz by today ABSD version 2 effect would have kicked in. There were loud verbal fights, there were women screaming ( I dunno whether they got pushed or what lah ). People were at their barbaric best. It was the scene of capitalist society.  But I am glad my client was well mannered. Thank God.. pheww... Seriously.. people would have thought it was LV selling at Export (merek tas sekolah Indo buat yg ga tau) price kinda sale. Or there was a naked Just In Bie Beer inside. Well.. You got the picture. I left the place at 4 AM. and people were still there. Yeah so 2013 has been kinda.. like.. wow.. I am s...

I made a promise to write more this year. So here we go. First post in 2013. Let me begin by telling you this.. I haven't had such a roller coaster start to a year for the longest time. It drains me. But of course, as the old man says.. don't be too fast to conclude whether it's good or bad. Let's just say that it happens. Only time will tell whether it's good or bad. Now.. 2013. I am sorry. I am at loss for words at the moment. There is anger, there is disappointment, there is hope too. Patience.. patience.. One thing I learn though. No matter what we choose to do, there will always be doubters. there will always be oppositions. And sometimes they are from our inner circle, sometimes they are our fellow believers. Therefore I will only try to do what my heart believes is right.

I thought I would have blogged more this year. I was wrong. I expected a challenging year. I was right. A friend tweeted that 2012 has been her best year yet. And how often do I wish this for others on new year. But 2012 isn't my best yet. It is memorable though. And thru it all, God's been good. He preserves me and my family. And the highlight at the end of this year is definitely my brother's job. That's gotta be 'the' Christmas present. So here we are. The last day of 2012. God has left us with more questions than answers at this juncture. So much so that I am not sure what I need to pray for first this morning. In a simple imaginary world of mine, I wish I would land a job in Jakarta that earns $20-30k a month tomorrow. I wish I would start planning with my life partner too tomorrow. I wish at least one of these come true for goodness sake! Our friend Pi would have wished to be stranded on Pacific Ocean with his dream lover too. But s...

seems like the world's not going to end today. which means many things. for some of us who haven't got a single clue yet on our life partner, well... the search is back on. for some of us who are planning for their wedding days, well.. glad for you! the party is on. if, hypothetically speaking, you can choose whether or not the world ends today.. what would you choose? setting aside all the issues of fulfilling our destinies, calling, the unsaved, etc etc.. I kinda go for the end of the world scenario.

That's the theme of Mr Taleb's new book. Mr Taleb, of course, is the guy who shot into fame with his book 'Black Swan'. One way to be anti-fragile is to be receptive of change. Whatever it means. To accept that your beloved's feeling could change one day. To accept that that your feeling could change one day. To accept that everyone and everything could and would change.. one day. And that one day can be as random as it gets. Then you embrace that randomness as the beauty of life. That way your system would not break down when that change and thus disappointment kick in. Your damage will be minimal. Which reminds me of a quote from that movie "Turn Left Turn Right". That certainty is beautiful, but uncertainty is more beautiful still. So Mr Taleb is not that original after all. So I have learned this years ago. Unfortunately I have yet to master this. I don't know about you. And I wonder..  what is the strength behind anti-fragi...

I am about to move company with my friend, Brother John. I have been speaking to few of the leaders in our next company as we need to decide which division to join. At one point John asked me if we would offend one of the divisions. Because we initially seemed to be keen in joining them. But we gave up on the idea. Well.. what I like about working with John is that we are quite similar personality-wise. This is one of the examples. We tend to be over-concerned about how others would feel. But of course the good thing about working with others is this thing called feedback. So i told him not to be worried. Coz the other party may not be that bothered after all. But there are many situations where I can't rely on someone else for feedback. So I have to tell myself not to be worried too much for what the other party feels. Because while I am sitting here being concerned, that person may just be in the midst of having good time and well.. that sucks, folks :)

you should not care too much for anything, else you'd risk giving up on that very thing you care too much for.

“Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. God himself is Fire!” Hebrews 12:28 MSG Somehow the messages for the last few days have something to do with worship. Hmm...

Say no to wrong.      Learn to do good. Work for justice.      Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless.      Go to bat for the defenseless. (Isaiah 1) Ouch.. 

My 'Clash of Clans' game has turned Christmas with the snow effect and some Christmas special potion thrown in. Changi has been playing Christmas jingles. Haven't been to Orchard but I think the trees would've been lighting up by now. It has been almost a year since our Na Xie Nian trip. I still have not fulfilled the white Christmas wish. But it was a good winter trip. Still wish I can somehow buy last minute tic to somewhere with snows and wonderful Christmas atmosphere. Well.. there is Israel too. That is yet to come true. The radio dj was saying today that she noticed many people got engaged or married in Nov/Dec period. She thought maybe coz of Christmas effect. It just seems like a good time for a good thing to happen. I pray then for all of you my close ones that good things happen to you in this season of grace. it's not about whether we've been good this year. but coz He's been good to us.