i bet 10 years ago, i would never find myself saying this.. cooking is actually a very relaxing activity.. a good way to escape the stress of life. im sure many people think cooking is too much work, and hence you see familes with working parents just cannot find the energy and time to cook. me on the other hand, i just find it so relaxing and fun to cook, to chop, to mince, and of course to eat. dropping by the supermarket after work to pick up grocery, getting home and trying to cook something differently each time, like adding portobello mushrooms to my philly cheese steak sandwich, adding banana to a chocolate muffin recipe, something is always new each time.
i must say cooking is a pretty good teambuilding activity too. i had planned to make lunch for the meeting last saturday at steve and meida's, without intending for it to be a teambuilding activity. but somehow, it is just so nice everyone chipped in in different ways, and solve "problems" together.. like what happens when you dont have enough trays to bake the chips at one go.. how to get a hot tray out of the oven when the gloves isnt insulated enough. it was a really good time, and the food was really good.
i also bet 10 years ago, i wouldnt be finding myself finding it a good past time to play the keyboard. nowadays, ill come home from work and just spend an hour at least just playing. taking a familiar song from the worship songs to just play it if i can. i wouldnt think that while the girls decided to do painting after the meeting, i would be going to a corner and "jam" with steve.
looks like im not the only one enjoying music recently. you see zhiren and ling joining the worship team to play the synthie and guitar. how today after refreshment, people just randomly gathered at the instruments and started playing. and by people, we are talking about the aunties and uncles whom we hardly speak to auntie florence, siew lan, lilian, peggy, uncle david, see jwee. while i was having cell, i even heard that they continued to have a jamming and sing along session with some of the young adults.
while it is true that you should serve in areas where you are gifted in, it is also true that if there is a need and you have the heart to serve God, God will provide you with the gifts. it is really just a matter of whether you want to serve God in areas of need, or are you just happy keeping a low profile and leave serving to others. it is really a matter of heart, a heart for God, or a heart for oneself, a heart to stay within one's comfort zone and dont need to worry abt messing up.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
israel day 15...
so i was looking through my old photos on another bored sunday night, and i came across the photos from my israel trip.
this is a picture of me on a chairlift going down from mount hermon, the highest point in israel (2236metres). being a new christian then, and not knowing much about israel, i left most of the planning to carol (thank you carol!). i was totally unprepared for this trip up the mountain. the lift took about 15mins, and 5 mins into it, i was like freezing.. cause i wasnt properly attired (cause i didnt ask where we were going! hahaha..) and the wind just kept hitting you from higher up.
it is somewhat a norm for smu students to go for some sort of overseas thing, be it an overseas exchange, or a business study mission to a country. not having the luxury of a well-off family, an exchange was never in my mind, despite hearing how wonderful my friends' exchanges were. not knowing israel was about, i took up the bsm to israel module because carol was like super excited about it. to be honest, it must be God's plan for me to go there as bsm is a very hard module to get and usually, only the high-flyers or those really good in interviews get to go on them. for some reason, carol nagged at me to submit our application way before the deadline, and for some reason, the profs just accepted whoever that did so then. they must be afraid they wont get anybody, but turned out for the later ones, they had to go through an interview. i was never good at interview, so must really thank God for bypassing it for me =)
this, along with vietnam is by far my favourite holidays, though i think israel is indisputably number 1. a country in the middle east, where you hear stories of violence all the time. a country where english is not widely spoken. a country with a culture that is so different. it cannot get any scarier, especially since we decided to rent a car for two days and drive around the country, who roads are on the other side! not to mention the really low temperatures (im dont do too well in cold) and the number of days the trip was (17 days in all).
people say that there are just some close friends you cannot travel with. a trip where you see each other for so many days consecutively, the ugly side of people is bound to surface. i have a few friends who turned out to be such but thankfully, carol was not one of those people. not often do i depend on others for directions thanks to God-given sense of direction, but this is one place where i felt unsure, and good thing carol was there to take the responsibility.
haha.. enough of the carol praising right? hehe.. im really thankful for this trip. im one of few lucky christians who got to visit the holy land, and get to have an image of what the placese the bible mentioned looked like. and i was only 6 months young then! im thankful i got to know a friend (and her mum) much better. though i dont think we'll ever go on a trip anymore.. not too appropriate to get other's wife to go on a trip.. oh oh. unless i get myself an another half and we can bring them along! though i doubt that will happen anytime soon..
this is a picture of me on a chairlift going down from mount hermon, the highest point in israel (2236metres). being a new christian then, and not knowing much about israel, i left most of the planning to carol (thank you carol!). i was totally unprepared for this trip up the mountain. the lift took about 15mins, and 5 mins into it, i was like freezing.. cause i wasnt properly attired (cause i didnt ask where we were going! hahaha..) and the wind just kept hitting you from higher up.
it is somewhat a norm for smu students to go for some sort of overseas thing, be it an overseas exchange, or a business study mission to a country. not having the luxury of a well-off family, an exchange was never in my mind, despite hearing how wonderful my friends' exchanges were. not knowing israel was about, i took up the bsm to israel module because carol was like super excited about it. to be honest, it must be God's plan for me to go there as bsm is a very hard module to get and usually, only the high-flyers or those really good in interviews get to go on them. for some reason, carol nagged at me to submit our application way before the deadline, and for some reason, the profs just accepted whoever that did so then. they must be afraid they wont get anybody, but turned out for the later ones, they had to go through an interview. i was never good at interview, so must really thank God for bypassing it for me =)
this, along with vietnam is by far my favourite holidays, though i think israel is indisputably number 1. a country in the middle east, where you hear stories of violence all the time. a country where english is not widely spoken. a country with a culture that is so different. it cannot get any scarier, especially since we decided to rent a car for two days and drive around the country, who roads are on the other side! not to mention the really low temperatures (im dont do too well in cold) and the number of days the trip was (17 days in all).
people say that there are just some close friends you cannot travel with. a trip where you see each other for so many days consecutively, the ugly side of people is bound to surface. i have a few friends who turned out to be such but thankfully, carol was not one of those people. not often do i depend on others for directions thanks to God-given sense of direction, but this is one place where i felt unsure, and good thing carol was there to take the responsibility.
haha.. enough of the carol praising right? hehe.. im really thankful for this trip. im one of few lucky christians who got to visit the holy land, and get to have an image of what the placese the bible mentioned looked like. and i was only 6 months young then! im thankful i got to know a friend (and her mum) much better. though i dont think we'll ever go on a trip anymore.. not too appropriate to get other's wife to go on a trip.. oh oh. unless i get myself an another half and we can bring them along! though i doubt that will happen anytime soon..
Monday, October 17, 2011
philly cheesesteak with garlic cheese fries =)
my first try and philly cheese steak and baked fries.. they were good! =)
(serves 2)
cheese steak sandwich
- sliced beef 250g
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 softball size onion
- mozzarella cheese
- olive oil
- bread roll x 4
- 3 US russet potatoes
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
- mozzarella cheese
in the meantime, cut the pepper, onion and beef into thin slices. fry the onion in a bit of olive oil for 5-8 minutes till it soften. remove the onion and fry the pepper in the same pan for 10 minutes. remove and fry the beef till desired doneness.
put the beef, onion and pepper into a roll and cover them with cheese. pop it into the oven again till the cheese melts.
naomi and ruth
so today's quiet time brought me back to the time of judges, to the time of naomi and ruth.. the focus of the story would be how ruth stuck with naomi, even when things dont look too good. "Naomi and Ruth teach us how we should respond when bad things happen to us. When bad things happen to us, there is always the temptation to be self-centered and self-absorbed. Let us follow the example of our Lord Jesus instead. Let us seek to serve first, before seeking to be served."
i wonder how would some self-justified people think when they read this. maybe "one shldnt sink with a sinking ship"? well, to you its sinking because you want to be justified in being self centered..
i thank God for giving me this spirit of not self seeking in this area. i thank God for the people who are self seeking. without them, i will not get to face a life of unfairness.. of why self centered people get to be better off.
my reward is in the future. ill hang on to it...
i wonder how would some self-justified people think when they read this. maybe "one shldnt sink with a sinking ship"? well, to you its sinking because you want to be justified in being self centered..
i thank God for giving me this spirit of not self seeking in this area. i thank God for the people who are self seeking. without them, i will not get to face a life of unfairness.. of why self centered people get to be better off.
my reward is in the future. ill hang on to it...
Friday, October 14, 2011
the lingering thought (part 2)
so it has been 2 weeks since the thoughts.. still arent too sure what it actually means.. but out of the blue, for some reason, a friend said something so unrelated that i cant help but wonder is that another sign? haha... God really does keep people in the suspense sometimes.. although its always for a good reason.. haha..
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
ISTJ
nope.. its not some typo title..
so my ex colleague decided to meet us for buffet dinner at shangri-la.. apparently she had some discount thing.. hence, today, my first visit to shangri-la.... and boy is it luxurious! haha..
anyway.. we got to the topic of personality type, and we talked about how some of the colleagues just had a mbti test. having done that long ago, i already know my type even though i didnt take the test at work.. ISTJ "introversion, sensing, thinking, judgment"
ISTJs are faithful, logical, organized, sensible, and earnest traditionalists who enjoy keeping their lives and environments well-regulated. Typically reserved and serious individuals, they earn success through their thoroughness and extraordinary dependability. They are capable of shutting out distractions in order to take a practical, logical approach to their endeavors, and are able to make the tough decisions that other types avoid. Realistic and responsible, ISTJs are often seen as worker bees striving steadily toward their goals. They take special joy in maintaining institutions and are often highly religious. Despite their dependability and good intentions, however, ISTJs can experience difficulty in understanding and responding to the emotional needs of others.
Although they often focus on their internal world, ISTJs prefer dealing with the present and the factual. They are detail-oriented and weigh various options when making decisions, although they generally stick to the conventional. ISTJs are well-prepared for eventualities and have a good understanding of most situations. They believe in practical objectives, and they value traditions and loyalty.
seriously, even though wikipedia stuff cannot be totally trusted and relied on, this totally describes me..
so my ex colleague decided to meet us for buffet dinner at shangri-la.. apparently she had some discount thing.. hence, today, my first visit to shangri-la.... and boy is it luxurious! haha..
anyway.. we got to the topic of personality type, and we talked about how some of the colleagues just had a mbti test. having done that long ago, i already know my type even though i didnt take the test at work.. ISTJ "introversion, sensing, thinking, judgment"
ISTJs are faithful, logical, organized, sensible, and earnest traditionalists who enjoy keeping their lives and environments well-regulated. Typically reserved and serious individuals, they earn success through their thoroughness and extraordinary dependability. They are capable of shutting out distractions in order to take a practical, logical approach to their endeavors, and are able to make the tough decisions that other types avoid. Realistic and responsible, ISTJs are often seen as worker bees striving steadily toward their goals. They take special joy in maintaining institutions and are often highly religious. Despite their dependability and good intentions, however, ISTJs can experience difficulty in understanding and responding to the emotional needs of others.
Although they often focus on their internal world, ISTJs prefer dealing with the present and the factual. They are detail-oriented and weigh various options when making decisions, although they generally stick to the conventional. ISTJs are well-prepared for eventualities and have a good understanding of most situations. They believe in practical objectives, and they value traditions and loyalty.
seriously, even though wikipedia stuff cannot be totally trusted and relied on, this totally describes me..
- it makes sense why im the only one in my department arranging our rubbish
- it makes sense why some people think i appear to be heartless and emotion-less
- it makes sense why i dare to speak up if i see something that's not right, even though people might not like it
- it makes sense why i cannot understand why there are so many emo people who feels the need to be emo and letting ppl know it
- it makes sense why i am task and detail oriented (and not emotion oriented)
Sunday, October 9, 2011
do-re-mi
for those who doesnt know yet, i have started taking keyboard lessons! it's something that i always wanted to learn (and see whether i can make it or not), but never got down to doing it. until a month ago where one of the church auntie who was interested to learn asked me to go learn too.
along with another 2 church people, the 4 of us signed up for basic keyboard lessons at believer music at novena. lesson 1 was really slow and there wanst much to blog about, but lesson 2 yesterday really upped the challenge. we have move away from playing single notes to playing chords while keeping a constant rhythm. haha. i have a terrible sense of beat and it is really a challenge to have to read the notes, press the right keys at the right time, and attempt to sing along to it.
tt said, im really enjoying myself. i look forward to go home and practise nowadays, and it is just so soothing and relaxing. i have since "scheduled" keyboard practising to before my bsf homework and qt. it really sets the mood and thoughts right. even if i never ever play well, at least i can play something good enuf, to put myself in the right mind for my hth time with Him.
along with another 2 church people, the 4 of us signed up for basic keyboard lessons at believer music at novena. lesson 1 was really slow and there wanst much to blog about, but lesson 2 yesterday really upped the challenge. we have move away from playing single notes to playing chords while keeping a constant rhythm. haha. i have a terrible sense of beat and it is really a challenge to have to read the notes, press the right keys at the right time, and attempt to sing along to it.
tt said, im really enjoying myself. i look forward to go home and practise nowadays, and it is just so soothing and relaxing. i have since "scheduled" keyboard practising to before my bsf homework and qt. it really sets the mood and thoughts right. even if i never ever play well, at least i can play something good enuf, to put myself in the right mind for my hth time with Him.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
too many cooks spoil the broth
a saying that has been around forever. a saying that everyone can understand without having to experience it. be thankful if that's the case.
for the past two days, i have experienced what this saying means, literally.
each chef has his own thoughts, wants his own way. a photoshoot that shouldnt last more than 5 hours somehow became over 10 hours long. on both days so far.
totally not looking forward to the 3 more days.
the only upside is time seems to fly by, while waiting to do nothing.
for the past two days, i have experienced what this saying means, literally.
each chef has his own thoughts, wants his own way. a photoshoot that shouldnt last more than 5 hours somehow became over 10 hours long. on both days so far.
totally not looking forward to the 3 more days.
the only upside is time seems to fly by, while waiting to do nothing.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
a lingering thought
it came so randomly, and so out of the blue.
a lingering thought, that sticks around like glue.
i really dunno how it came about,
it doesnt make sense, i tell God out loud.
Lord, tell me what am I to read from this
Is this a plan of His?
I'm sure You will tell me sooner or later
I'll wait, and I know all things will eventually be clearer.
a lingering thought, that sticks around like glue.
i really dunno how it came about,
it doesnt make sense, i tell God out loud.
Lord, tell me what am I to read from this
Is this a plan of His?
I'm sure You will tell me sooner or later
I'll wait, and I know all things will eventually be clearer.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
congrats carol and david!
some exciting story this was... ok... maybe not exciting, but quite uncommon. carol and david got married after 9 and a half years of dating, with 4 of the years are LDR... long distance relationship.. some abbreviation i learnt yesterday.
despite apparently very last minute preparation, i think the wedding went really well. and the service wasnt too long and draggy like a couple i went to.
dinner was fun too, sharing a table with the smu ultimate people and catching up with them, laughing at how nonsensical gavin still is and how peiying has to shut him up all the time. i had a nice talk with joan and debbie too. i just realized after knowing debbie for... 6 years, and being in the same club, i have never spoke to her properly before. well, yesterday was a first. and i was quite surprised that she knew certain history about my church (cause her ex classmate was a former member of my church).. i finally got home at 2am (or so) after hanging out at starbucks, which surprisingly the married couple managed to find the energy to drop by too..
all these, plus my first keyboard lesson sandwiched between the service and dinner really sum up a pretty fun day. am i finally crawling out of my anti social cave?
anyways...
once again, congrats to mr and mrs ho! have a blessed life together =)
despite apparently very last minute preparation, i think the wedding went really well. and the service wasnt too long and draggy like a couple i went to.
dinner was fun too, sharing a table with the smu ultimate people and catching up with them, laughing at how nonsensical gavin still is and how peiying has to shut him up all the time. i had a nice talk with joan and debbie too. i just realized after knowing debbie for... 6 years, and being in the same club, i have never spoke to her properly before. well, yesterday was a first. and i was quite surprised that she knew certain history about my church (cause her ex classmate was a former member of my church).. i finally got home at 2am (or so) after hanging out at starbucks, which surprisingly the married couple managed to find the energy to drop by too..
all these, plus my first keyboard lesson sandwiched between the service and dinner really sum up a pretty fun day. am i finally crawling out of my anti social cave?
anyways...
once again, congrats to mr and mrs ho! have a blessed life together =)
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