Thoughts at 30

i am officially 30. lol.

Just some random thoughts.

bern has been nagging me to change my IC. He is even more anxious than the Singapore Government.

i think being 30 is a milestone man. I don’t have post 30 withdrawal syndromes. Thank and Praise the Lord for His preservation throughout all these years. Pray that I will continue to grow in Him and be a useful vessel in His plan.

I’ve been telling my family that at 30 yrs old, i am an asset, not a liability. hehehe..

think my mom is super proud that her daughter is now 30 yrs old.. it’s an achievement. gives her the sense pride and satisfaction.

mom and aunt treated the whole family and me to dinner last sunday at a very cheap and good zi char stall

mil bought me a cake (last yr pil bought me a drawer to put in the room

fil bought yummy breakfast from chinatown (Very good paos and siew mais)

boss bought me a card and 30 dollar voucher (cos i’m 30!) and a half day time off.. awesome!

my dear sisters came down to my office and bought me lunch.. super sweet of them, despite the traveling and distance!

bern.. treated me dinner at sushi tei. i ordered like there’s no tomorrow. he also got me very big roses bouquet delivered to office.. *so sweet*

hehe.. he is so funny. cos he really panicked on what to get for me.. totally clueless.. ( i told him no need liao..=P)

so he prayed and eventually bought the surprise gift at the last minute.

i like it(the present) very much, not because of the gift but the thought, effort  and deliberation he put into in. i know it is not something that he will normally do, but he did it, out of his love for me.

so thanks honey for everything, i am truly blessed to have you as my hubby!

Recent experience and enjoyment

1) Teleconference incident

think it was 2 weeks ago, i was suppose to have a morning teleconference at 830am.

the day before, i told myself that i must rem’ to go office earlier for the telecon, and set a remark on my phone to remember (did not set alarm)..

so the day went on, i forgot completely about the telecon cos i was busy with so many other things..

next day morning, my alarm rang at 7am, and when i opened my eyes, i suddenly remembered that i had a telecon at 830am in the office that morning.. so i quickly washed up, dressed up, morning watch, breakfast and headed for office.

the good news is i manage to reach office on time. *phew*

Thank the Lord!

2) John 17

I enjoyed the Lord’s prayer in this chapter. How He prayed for Himself, then His disciples, and then the rest of the Christians. From the prayer, it touches me that the Lord’s heart desire is to be one with the Father and Him and for all of us to have a part in His Glory. The Glory that He has with the Father. It encourages me to continue to pursue the Lord while I have my being, until the day I can have a part in His Glory. Amen.

3) John 17:3 “and this is eternal life, that they may know You, the Only True God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent”

The eternal life which was promised by the Lord to all the believers, is already in us today. It is in us to help us to know more about the Father, and the Lord Himself, so that we can enjoy Him and grow more in Him. It is so precious and the key for us to grow in the Lord.

May we all experience the leading of the Lord in our daily living.

Amen. Praise the Lord.

I’m Back!

wow, as i checked on my last entry, i was shocked that my last blog was on Aug 31, and for the entire month of september, there wasn’t any entries.

what was i busy with man?? hmmm…

anyway, some updates:

1) year end conference: i want to go for this year’s conference. but alas, my boss told me few weeks ago that there’ll be an analysts’ meeting during the 1st wk of dec 09. so the dates conflicts with the conference. so i am praying if the Lord wills, that He open a way for me. Otherwise, I’ll work lor..

2) bern and i were actively trying to shed some kilos. we were making some progress, exercising 2 times a wk, losing abt 1-1.5 kg, until we started eating mooncakes (durian flavor from goodwood park) and all our efforts were lost. gain back to square one.

3) a hymn kept on ringing on my mind last wk: “folks around me are saying, make your money while you can. doesn’t matter how you do it, only be a wealthy man…..” i sang it when i’m alone, sang it to bern, sang in the car, sang it in my room… and even suggested to bern that we should think of some actions for the hymn.

then i started brainstorming and showed him some of my actions. with a very straight face, he replied, “no, you should do this action, but this… ” (and his expression changed unto a very funny one) his witty actions were hilarious!!! i laughed out so loud that i think the roof was about to give way. =P

4) one evening, bern helped me to carry some heavy stuff meant for my colleagues to my office. can’t rem where exactly were we, i asked him a qn.

me: so, are you excited to see my office for the first time?

bern: yes, can you tell me where are all your top managers seated, so that i can put my resume on all their desks?

me: *LOL*

my husband is really really funny. hehehe..

The story of Paul

One Saturday morning, bern and i read Acts 10 for our morning watch, and i’m very impressed with the character of Paul (formerly known as Saul).

From the time the Lord appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, his entire life was changed. The Lord chose him to be His vessel, and showed him that he has to suffer many things for Him. Even though Paul did not have the privilege and experience to learn and spend 3.5 years with the Lord while He was on earth, he remained faithful and absolute to his heavenly calling.

Later that day, during the night bible study meeting, the bro shared also on Paul. At how at the end of his life, the Lord revealed to him that he has fought a good fight, he has finished the race and there awaits for him a crown of glory. Paul died a year later.

It really etched a deep impression in me. This brother lived his life to the fullest for the Lord. It’s not like his life was smooth sailing.. For the Lord, he suffered many things, beaten with stripes, ship wrecked, thrown in jail, persecution etc but he still remain faithful to Him.

All glory be to the Lord. May we be encouraged by Paul’s example and be willing to put forth ourselves for His will.

Amen.

Plant Saving Mission – ACCOMPLISHED

Took a cab home because i wanted to bring my dying plant home. i packed it nicely in a paper bag and happily got into a cab…

when the cab driver sped his way into KPE, he suddenly jam braked the cab… and the dying plant in my paper bag flew out and dropped under his car seat, with the soil and pebbles scattered all over the backseat mat..

i wasn’t able to reach for the plant, so the cab driver said,”it’s ok, when we reached your destination, i’ll helped you”

at the back of my mind, i was thinking.. “OH NO, this is really the end of my plant…”

after i alighted from the cab, i picked up the remaining pieces of what’s left of my plant and went home..

i showed it to mil, and she examined the condition… mil said if it can survive tonight, then probably it can be saved. otherwise, it’ll die…

then she touched the soil like pro and sprinkled some water on it…

about two hours later, she showed me the plant…

the leaves are getting back in shape, and the stem is also straightening, instead of sagging like some wither plant!!!

WOW WOW WOW!! Praise the Lord!!!

I am super impressed with whatever my mil did.. even if it’s just sprinking of water… (at least she can tell the actual condition and gave the correct treatment) i was still thinking i may have put too much water hence it’s dying.. hahahaha..

- Plant Saving Mission Completed.-

FILE CLOSED

Green Fingers

I must confess: GREEN FINGERS? i have NONE..

*sigh*

my boss bought a very cute and nice tray of plants (with 4 mini pots on the tray – 2 cactus and 2 leafy plant) for me in July.

one of the leafy plant is dying… the leaves are sagging and the stems are soft

i wonder if it’s overdose of watering? or not enough sunlight? i really don’t know…but these are suppose to be office plants wor..

in any case, i’ll bringing it home, so that my mil can see what she can do with it..

she has very very very green fingers and may be able to save my poor dying plant.

=)

Parable of workers in the vineyard

Yesterday morning, bern shared with me his morning watch enlightenment from Matthew 20 - the parable of the workers in the vineyard.

Sometimes, we fall into the condition of the early workers, thinking that why others receive the same amount of blessing or even more, when they put in lesser time on the Lord. Vs 15 revealed that it is the Lord’s right to do what he wishes and not what we think is fair in our own eyes.

The Lord is good, and sometimes our eyes are evil, thinking that we deserve better. The blessings that the Lord may give is His in the first place, not ours.

Bern also shared that with nothing we came into this world, so with nothing we shall leave this world. anything extra is a blessing itself

May the Lord continue to shine.

Comment:

His sharing was a powerful reminder to me. I wish that I will have this mindset constantly, so that I will only be filled with gratefulness and thanksgiving to the Lord for all His blessings, and not to dwell in what was taken away.. I am willing to learn. May the Lord truly shine.

Thoughts Post Tokyo trip

Back from the land of the rising sun… in short, the trip was hot, fun, enjoyable but too short. wished we were able to stay there longer..

the entire trip was free and easy.. we took the train to different destinations ourselves, had some problem trying to figure out directions, but eventually we picked it up and manage to travel without any issues

Memories

- we love this ramen call “ICHIRAN”. it’s restaurant setting is like in a examination hall where each one takes a cubicle each. then you tick your preferences on the order form. eg, how rich you want to the soup base, how firm you like the noodles, how much garlic etc.. the ramen is really tasty and it’s like one of the best we’ve ever tasted. we went back to the shop again 2 days later…for dinner.

- We felt earthquake tremor at 5plus am on a Monday morning. Our bed was shaking quite strongly for about 5-10 sec. When I woke up from the tremor, I asked bern,”what’s going on?” he answered,” earthquake”. then i resumed sleeping cos I was so sleepy and tired. but imagine if the quake was so severe that the hotel room roof comes tumbling down, then that will be the end of us. =P so Thank the Lord for His preservation.

- we covered odaiba on second day (Sunday). Walked alot that day. bern wanted to see “Gundam” – a super size robot in a park. but we couldn’t find it, because all the architectures in Odaiba are quite tall. and we took the hello kitty ferris wheel and spotted the GUNDAM.. which was quite a distance from where we were.. but we still walked to the park and took pictures with the GIGANTIC size robot

- went to an edo age onsen in Odaiba. it was our first time in this onsen, so it was quite exciting and some parts funny. Took a while to figure out all the lockers, bathrobes, and directions within the onsen. it’s was really an experience. both bern and i went to the foot hotspring, then parted to soak hotspring on our own. we went hotspring hopping from pool to pool (his is the male side and mine is the female). there was even this jacuzzi onsen.. quite shiok man..

- went hakone supposedly to see mount fuji. but it drizzled the whole day, and the sky was very misty and foggy.. so we didn’t see mount fuji at all. it took us abt 3 hrs to return to tokyo… and we ended the day with a bit of shopping.  oh oh.. then bern and i were super tired and wanted to have dinner before we head home.. but we didn’t know what to eat.. so we went to the basement of a dept store where they sell all the japanese food stuff. they allowed trying. so we tried the samples and finally bought a bit of everything and went home for dinner… that was a fun experience.

- went disney sea and spent a whole day there to maximize our tickets. the weather that day was amazing. SUNNY yet cool breeze. the weather forecast was suppose to be rainy, so thank the Lord for clearing the weather. we took about 5 rides, and only manage to get fast pass for 2 of the rides. our longest average queuing time for the rides 100 minute (1hr 40 min)..=P the performances at disney sea are really nice. the service in disney sea and even in tokyo is excellent. all the attendents are smiley and helpful, even though they speak only limited english, but they still try to help or answer your qn. the crowd there is scary though… probably due to summer holidays.. it’s as if the whole of tokyo crowd has congregated there… but it’s still fun and i love it.. next time i want to go disneyland!!

- our day out with sms was entertaining and fun as well! but it was an extremely hot day. we went yokohama, visited ramen museum and chinatown and did some shopping.. exchange tips and info of things to do and where to get gd deals.. bern and i were so tired after a whole of outing, that we decide to order domino pizza from our hotel room for dinner. amazingly, the terichicki pizza tastes so good and yummy. we ordered nuggets and popcorn prawns. drank green tea to digest the food.. it was a very satisfying meal.,

- went shinjuku and covered taka, tokyu hands (6 storeys dept store) and was dazzled by the wide variety of stuff they have there..  there are so many dept stores in shinjuku itself that we can barely cover half of it.

- went ikekuburo and bought some hair accessories and cosmetics. interesting place, reminds me abit of heartlands cum bugis. *LOL*

at the end of our trip, i asked bern if he will consider coming back to tokyo again..

he paused and gave some thoughts, then replied, “yes, but not in summer”.

haha.. i share the same sentiments too.

the above kinda summarizes the essences of this trip.

Thank and Praise the Lord for making it possible.

Tares vs Wheats

Matthew 13:24-30

Mat 13:24	Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
Mat 13:25	“but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
Mat 13:26	“But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.
Mat 13:27	“So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’
Mat 13:28	“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’
Mat 13:29	“But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.
Mat 13:30	‘Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”

In the past, I don’t really understand why did the Lord told the servants not to gather the tares, lest they uproot the wheat with them. Can’t they do a careful job?

I saw last night that the Lord didn’t want to uproot because at the early stage, people may not be able to tell if one is a tare or not. until such time when their “works” become more and more evident, then the wheats will be able to discern that something is not right, and choose to have no part in them.

If the Lord chooses to uproot the tares before they grow to full maturity(at the time of harvest), then the wheats among the tares may be pulled out (stumbled) as well..

Amen.

Funny and witty instances

There were two encounters recently that made me burst out laughing while at work and in the train

First incident

With the recent Jakarta hotels bombing, there’s alot of hype in the open media. Colleague J sent an email on the open source report with a comment from the malaysia home minister, “I don’t know where he is; I can only confirm that he’s not here.” He meaning the islamic militant, Top Noordin. 

guess what is colleague K’s response?

“Something is wrong with this logic. If you “don’t know where he is” how can you ‘confirm he is not here”.

I burst out laughing in the train while reading the response via my blackberry, oblivious to fellow train passengers’ queer expression on their faces =) but he is so right!! hahaha

Second incident

bern has been very disciplined in his jogging regime, as an attempt to shed some kilos.

one day, he was considering to have a jog at bedok reservoir, and asked me what is the track distance in bedok reservoir.

i replied,”4.8km”. and we left it as that.

so bern went for his jog and a couple days later, he sent me an email titled “bedok reservoir is not 4.8 leh”, quoting some sources that state bedok reservoir as 4.3-4.5km.

i replied,”i was told 4.8 lei..  but anyway it’s quite close, 300m, can be walking back to the car”

bern answered,” walking back to the car is less than 100m, i feel cheated.”

I laughed out loud when reading his sore reply, and my colleagues were puzzled at the joke.