..my battle stance..

The painted boat is punted in to where the flowers are thick. Fragrance floats round golden cups, Mist and rain are so, so fine, In a snatch of pipes and song I drunkenly return - Ouyang Xiu they certainly don't understand the thickness of the forest, the depth of the coffin. if only they could see it they will know that you couldn't even move an inch.

among several memorable birthdays that I had, there was one that kinda stuck in my mind as far as friends are concerned. tried to look for the photos. finally found it. and so happen. it was 2005. been a helluva decade, I guess! :) yeah, some things never change. my horrible hair. the messy room. and these people.. their preciousness in my heart,  but some things.. change. our then and our now. inevitably. naturally. :) and here we are now. 2015. two persons were ever present thru out. well done dian & rimbun! this kinda post is so not me. but once in ten years time is okay rite? :)   there are so many stories within these photos. so much smile and silliness. and while i am at it, allow me to be thoughtless. once in ten years time. that year, 24 may 2005, i also planned the birthday surprise for a certain someone. my favorite person of all time. it was a birthday surprise. it was a farewell too....

this chubby human being.. is good! and she can definitely act.

Unless you appreciate Mandopop you may want to skip this. This song just have to feature as we are talking about rooftop here. If you watch enough Japanese, Korean or even HK drama, you will be familiar with those memorable 'rooftop scenes'. A asks B to meet him/her at the rooftop, or somehow A just bumps into B at the rooftop while both are looking for some solitude moment. Whatever the background, meaningful moments would ensue. Some lover fights, or some awkward confession, and then some eternal touches. And I only have one question every time such inevitable rooftop scene appears. Why do we not have such rooftop here? Be it my apartment, house, or office. Or even my church. And especially SCHOOL (though that one is too late anyway) There is NO such rooftop. What's wrong with our city? That kinda reduce our chance of romantic occurrence by 30-40% I reckon.

this manga is good :D

Jesus, upon receiving news of John the Baptist's death, went to a desert to pray. (Matthew 14) Who knows what was on His mind. John the Baptist was many things to Jesus. John was the Elijah, the forerunner for Jesus. You could say that they were the comrade duo sent together for a grand mission. And John was his cousin too. John prepared the way. He was to be born, to minister, and to lay down his life before his Master did. Jesus acknowledged John to be the greatest among all the saint who came before Him. And yet, John had his doubt in Jesus towards the end of his life. He sent his disciple to ask Jesus if He was indeed the One they were waiting for. You will find this strange considering how John declared Him the Messiah when John first saw Him. But such is the world. With all the wind and waves that toss us around. John was imprisoned and awaiting imminent death. Jesus didn't seem to turn Judea upside down the way John expected Him to. Where is the God w...

It is just a casual spot really. A non descriptive moment. A regular day with chance of whatever. But this is somewhat perfect. A cup of koi milk tea. A sequence of good songs. And a reflection. Yeah a reflection on the mirror. Of a she.. a beautiful nobody. Chatting and smiling away. just like that.. this spot is perfect. Random wonder of life.

Came across this drama and I saw this girl on the left. I was like.. wah.. she is so pleasant to look at somewhat. and then after a moment I realise.. it was aragaki yui. used to be quite a big fan of her after watching my boss my hero. That dorama is a must watch. hilarious. but having not seen her for a couple of years, i was smitten all over again like the first time i saw her. i wonder if it would happen too in real life. that would be beautiful. having been separated with someone for so long.. and when you finally meet again, you fall in love all over again. resurrection, so to speak. the girl on the right is erika toda. also very attractive, but not in the same soothing way. her Liar Game is a must watch too. code blue is rather remarkable with its female leads. but story-wise it's not that great.

Are we friends? Or are we foes? That kind of thing you decide for yourselves! - Luffy, One Piece. For some reasons, I feel like starting off with this cool line from Luffy. Long post ahead! My fb wall was hot with this salvation issue yesterday. because apparently some pastors seem to embrace this idea that we could lose our salvation if we don't keep up to the required standard of living. and then there is this issue of what kind of home we will be dwelling in when we reach heaven. (chicken barn or Tony Stark style villa). Personally, I am more intrigued with the predestination issue but that's for another time. I am not a theologian. But I am a seeker.  So this is just my own rumblings. There is a reason why this topic remains in debate over centuries. So please don't quickly undermine others who share different opinion with you. Let's try to be humble and kind. And above all, let's continuously seek (Mat 6:33) and desire to know Christ (Phi 3:8...

i was laying down. on Sunday nite. just being silent. and ask Him 'what would You like to tell me?' a year ago.. i was afraid. afraid to ask and to get an answer. i didn't want to hear it. i had it back then. and i lived as if i would lose it. rather.. i sensed that was coming. now I don't have it.. but i live as if i have always had it. and will always have it. i just closed my eyes. listening.. and realising something. there is no fear in me. just a divine calm.. and assurance. the deadlines, the dead ends the sickness, the lacking it's not that they have vanished. they simply have lost their terror. speak Lord.. your servant is listening. i wasn't able to utter those words with such conviction a year before. but on that Sunday nite, i was able to be honest and true and naked. and realise that there was no fear within. it was liberating. such freedom.

One Piece : Trafalgar Law with Chopper by Sa-Dui on DeviantArt Was about to sleep but this wonderful storm and rain is just too irresistible! How can you not dream awake on such a night? But lets do away with the heavy topics. Manga talk now. Finished my One Piece marathon too. Totally not happy with Ace's death but at least it didn't break my heart the way Naruto did with Jiraiya and Itachi's death. DAMN IT HOW DARE HE KILLED OFF JIRAIYA!! The thing with One Piece is that.. you almost never see its characters die. Even the enemies. (And this manga has got  A LOT of fights and A LOT of characters) Basically as long as you don't see their corpses being double certified as dead, the chance is that the guy is still alive. I was rather happy with that. BUT! One fine day this author, Oda sensei, decided that he would kill off two protagonists at one go. And there went Ace and Edward Newgate. Sigh.. Anyway.. glad that at least up to today, Trafalgar Law...

Been contemplating on writing (like really write) about this one day. Heck even this introductory post took me weeks to settle on. You know... King Arthur's story? Those knights of the round table? They were his best knights. There was the famous Lancelot who had an affair with the queen. And Galahad, Lancelot's illegitimate child, would turn into one of Arthur's finest knights. He was one of the three knights who achieved the holy grail. And then there is King David. He got the legendary Three. Who would be the equivalent of the sannin in Naruto. Or the five tiger generals in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. "The Three are   Ishbaal the Tachmonite ("thou will make me wise"), Eleazar ("God has helped") son of Dodo ("his beloved") the Ahohite ("brother of rest"), and Shammah son of Agee the Hararite." (source: wiki) And he also got his order of Thirty finest warriors. (Uriah being among them). Now this is my...

Damn it. Blood boil. But since I dunno the guy directly, and well.. I shouldn't be in the know of their past too.. so I just can't say this on fb. I know this is none of my business. I am just a common friend anyway. But this guy... really piss me off. This is what we call "si beh du lan". Seriously dude.

you asked me if there is nothing a girl can do then, (other than to just wait) well.. i dunno. i would have said that she can choose to courageously love. (against the odds) because a girl with genuine love and courage is truly formidable. but i suspect that will be the wrong answer. all i know is this. boys could just be as helpless. in a different way. (and we have no privilege of just waiting) it's a fair game really. where nobody really knows the answer or shortcut to their destination. (nobody have a damn clue) i'd play this song now and then. because it captures beautifully the beauty of uncertainty. that feeling when we take this aimless walk. hoping for serendipity to cross paths. we will gaze and see no clue. but we will not lose our sense of hope. because we know that if there is one thing certain about love.. it is this- love is patient.

"A man forgives a woman's lies"- Sanji, One Piece This is probably one of the best quotes I ever pick up from reading manga when it comes to man-woman thingy haha. For the uninitiated, this snippet of manga is to be read from right to left. I even googled this sentence to find the real source. But it seems like this is originally coined by the author of One Piece! Oh gosh... really? a mangaka? That statement is so interesting because it says something about a lesson every man will eventually have to learn. And with this 30th post, I have surpassed the number of posts I wrote in 2014.

Well it's not my favorite month. Despite it being my BIRTHday month. Yeah please.. can someone tell me what's the deal with this 'BORNday' word? The grammar nazi in me is unsettled to put it mildly. There is a very good post by a blogger on this. If you decide to change 'birth' to 'born' because you think that's the right word from verb/noun/adj pov, then you probably should go and re-read the dictionary? In any case there is just something about 'birth' that makes it more meaningful than 'born', I feel. But I am open to be corrected. Now.. there is this very tempting offer by citi This is one of the moments when you feel the plus point of having a partner heh. Anyway.. looking at the first quarter of 2015, I can only be grateful. So much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to. Both challenges as well as promises. The greatest opponent we have will always be this one person. Ourselves. That is our deadlies...

This is my favorite! It says something about his dedication for this country. For him Singapore will always be that little baby he painstakingly brought up. Will read up his books this year. But as always I would like to remind us that he was not alone. He had some great men helping him. Just that their names were being kept low. Anything truly great would never be accomplished by a single human being. Except for that one thing. Which, as it turns out, happens to be the greatest thing ever accomplished by man or men. The Divine Exchange at the Calvary.  

First of all.. salute, respect, hats off to rimbun who queued all the way to pay his last respect to LKY. Such determination that comes from their heart kinda restore a bit of my faith in mankind. I worked for a govt agency 8 yrs ago. I was in division that basically serves as secretary to the CEO. So we will be in all of his meetings, taking notes, prepare his presentation slides,  etc etc. I was kinda taken aback when I was first asked to take notes in meeting for the CEO. I felt like secretarial job is best suited for ladies. I didn't object openly but it showed. So my boss (bos ayam for those who knows the story) decided to hv a word with me. She told me how LKY first started as Secretary for his political party. How he also took notes and how he learned so much during his time as secretary. I never imagined that the guy was ever a secretary to anyone. But it changed my mindset ever since. Now I look up to those personal secretaries. They got astonishing level of at...

Phew.. let's try blogging with apps. There are two major camps on fb now. The first one (and thankfully the more dominant one in my circle) is the one that eulogise Lee Kuan Yew with their personal testimony or by sharing some positive articles on LKY. Now.. I do feel that sometimes the praises can get a little bit too much. Make me shiver a bit. And the TVs are going all out on showing and repeating his PAP campaign speeches. Seriously media guys.. I get it that this may be effective campaign but I would appreciate some sensibility here during such mourning period. I am more in the group that admire him for his great leadership and thank him for his cabinet policies that have helped created such a great nation. And yes.. the govt scholarship was the thing that enabled me to study and live here. For that.. I am selfishly and eternally grateful. As for the second camp. Well.. I feel sorry for them. They actively share articles that criticise LKY in their attempt to make th...

This movie was on Celestial today. Surprisingly heartwarming. Tony Leung is at his nonchalant best as Doctor Mack, a carefree genius doctor who look after the poor and prositutes in a HK shady neighbourhood. There is this farewell scene between Dr Mack (est in his mid 30s?) who is about to leave for Africa and a young girl (early 20s?) who has an unrequited feeling for him. "I will never again fall in love with another guy in my life, you now." she says with a sad tone. Dr Mack smiles. He holds her and replies, "You may not believe this now. But trust me..  you will say exactly the same sentence for about a dozen times more in your life. So now.. go and do well in your study and life, make some boys fall in love with you and then break some hearts along the way." I thought it was really poignant. So much truth in it. Beautiful script. There will be time when we think we may not fall in love anymore. not in such a way. But certainl...