reality is always interpreted with the lens of expectation, sheer will in seeing what you want to see, and retrospect.
I had an awesome weekend.
I spoke to 50 people for 50 minutes on Friday. It was the first time I had given such a long presentation. It went well - probably spoke a little too fast - I found myself having to stop to catch my breath. At one point I also said, "different categories of youth have different characteristics, and these charactegories.." I was amused no one noticed or giggled. Hee. Went to MOS burger later to grab something to eat cos I was too nervous to eat the food catered earlier.
Saturday morning was full of rain. Woke up about 10am to a cooled house. It was the perfect weather for a Saturday morning with no plans! M cooked curry - tad too salty and no potatoes, but I ate it without complaining. You mustn't complain when people cook for you. Left the house at 1pm to "spy" at an event. It took me awhile to navigate through the imposing campus, but I eventually found my way and recorded 1hr 24mins of it from a microphone sticking out of my pocket. Brillant. I felt like the woman in "No one lives forever".
A picked me up after. We went to Beach Road with the hope of sliced fish bee hoon, but it was closed and so had mee sua instead. Drove to Bayshore after. Sat there for a while talking, and went for a run at 7pm. Ran 8km in 48mins 46sec. I've been reading this book titled "Marathon" and it is both spurring me on and putting me to utter shame at the same time. This book says stuff like the minumum distance any aspiring long-distance runner ought to run a week is 35 miles. 35 miles! That is like 58km a week! That is like 10km a day, six times a week! Elite runners do anything from 80 to 150 miles a week. There is a marathon mystique. It'll be so cool to do one at some point in my life.
It is funny how I'm doing all these things I didn't foresee myself doing 5 years ago. Research, for crying out loud. I hated research. And now, reading books on marathons, and saying with perfect sincerity, "It'll be so cool to do [a marathon] at some point in my life." Life is journey.
Went for a dip after my run while my stressed-out friend took the chance to snooze on the deck chair. After filling up our water bottle, we went to Marine Parade for Ramly burger and the famously wet char kway tiao. :) Got home about 11:30pm. Stayed up to check out how to clean my smelly running shoes online. It became really smelly after S and I got caught in a downpour on Thursday at Bishan park. We were soaked ot the skin, and I carried home two shoefuls of water. It was one of those experiences though - it started to rain when we were at Lower Pierce Reservoir and i asked S if we attract rain (cp Great Long & Wet Ocean Road). Read Ps 77 the next day about the clouds pouring down water, and the lightning filling the sky, and the waves rolling in fear of God, and yet his footprints cannot be seen and it reminded me of being caught in the rain, running and running yet completely soaked, completely saturated by the power and bigness of God and still not finding a trace of him. It was neat.
Woke up at 7:45am the next morning to go for a constituency Walk-a-Jog. Took a picture under the Spottiswoode Park sign. It was fun. :) Went to have breakfast at Tanjong Pagar cos got tired of waiting for the big shots to finish their speeches - had vegetarian beehoon, tau huay, and chicken pau. Back to CC to claim the goodie bag and then home to sleep another 2 and a half hours. :) It was a great nap.
Monday, August 02, 2004
great weekend
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
14:37 Wednesday
I have to give a presentation this Friday and i am having trouble with everything. The colour scheme of the powerpoint bugs me, I don't know which findings to include and which to exclude, and of the findings I've finally decided to include, I don't know how to order them in a sensible fashion. Oh help me. It's a mess.
This is the rough outline of the presentation (for now):
Introduction
Focus Questions: Who are they? Why do they come?
Youths in Singapore: Shrinking percentage
M Youths: Changing structure in TR
Qualitative Research
Methodology
Findings
Characteristics of Youth
Needs and Concerns of Specific Categories
Secondary School
2nd Generation
(should I add Uni? NSmen?)
Youth & Church
Worship
Structure
Why Youths Respond
Leadership
God and Scripture
Relationships
Skills
Models of Youth Ministry that work
Conclusions
Suggestions & Recommendations
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Monday, July 26, 2004
The Run
That's us grinning at the end of the run.
We finished the 10km in 1hr 8mins 51sec. The weather was fantastic - it's amazing how little you sweat - and we just kept on trudging along. The sun was pretty bright though - not used to it as I always run in the evenings here. They had pails and pails of water which they filled up with long green hoses. People were throwing water over their heads as they ran, and if you stood too close, you would get showered on too. After the run, we collected our medal, our orange finisher's T-shirt, a bananna, and went and joined a "cool-down" class. It was a carnival :)
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Sunday musings
I like writing. It makes my vague experiences concrete, validfying my existence.
I have three pieces of toast in the oven. One with tuna and cheese, one with cheese only, and one with nutella. The nutella flavoured ice-cream (called bacchio) we bought at Gold Coast was really good. Like the real stuff, but colder, creamier and less guilty. I had three spoonfuls of nutella from the bottle today. Bottle to spoon to mouth. Yum. I yearn for the ice-cream.
Zaphenath-Paneah was the name Pharaoh gave to Joseph when he made him in charge of the land. It was an Eygptian name - a name from a land that God did not choose. I wonder if it would make a difference whether the story was true or if it was only a metaphor. Is my faith affected if it was only a metaphor? Must there be eternal absolute unchanging truth? I fear becoming postmodern.
I am eating my toast in this order: cheese, tuna&cheese, nutella. What if there was no toast after all, and I am only telling you a story? Would it make a difference to you?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
I'm back, Part II
12 Things that have changed since I've been gone:
- Fish have all died. :( new crop of fish that look almost the same, but not quite.
- $2000 poorer.
- Swam with a sea turtle
- Saw 5 rainbows in a single day while driving on the Great Ocean Road
- Saw a wild kangeroo.
- Frollicked on a deserted beach.
- Found out that my friend likes ice-cream, choc, and all things sweet.
- Found out that same friend likes her pictures to be composed of "30% land; 70% sky".
- Two cows have missing rumps.
- Willing to spend $20 on TWO taxi rides in a single day cos tired of travelling.
- 3500km under belt (consequence, see above)
- Realised that I'm willing to hang out with my friends the day i arrive home even though half-asleep.
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
I'm back
Spent 17 lovely days in Australia and now I'm back. This blog looks ugly to me now. I think it is time for a make-over.
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Saturday, June 26, 2004
Nasty Brutish Short
That was the phrase that went through my mind while i was ploughing through 4 Lonely Planet books on Australia - a book on the East Coast, one on Victoria, one on Sydney and one on the Great Barrier Reef.
It is past midnight, seven hours before dawn, twelve hours before nightfall, twenty four before the darkest hour, perhaps three hundred and seventy six thousand six hundred and eighty before I die.
Three Crosses. I took this picture in a cold graveyard in Farnborough, UK in April 2003. I like it because it is like the three crosses at Golgotha. 
Friday, June 25, 2004
blink blink
alright sleepyhead, you can get up now. it is after all 2:20pm in the afternoon and the sun is streaming in from the window, enticing the bald plant to grow more shoots. "grow more shoots! replenish your luxuriant leaves! i'll work my sunny disposition and convince the sleepy block to give you lots of prophylactic fish water! heck, maybe a fish will die and get buried by your roots! we can dream what we want can't we?"
we can dream what we want can't we?
erm, actually, no. sorry. you may not; you have not been cleared for access; you failed the qualifying interview; you are not cool beautiful awesome spectacular gifted perservering loyal determined smart lucky enough; you can however, if you wish, get an application from us for an ordinary sized dream. Hurry, 'cos Applications close in the next 26 seconds.
25..24..23..22..21..20..19..18..17..16..15..14..13..12..11..
10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1
time's up baby.
Thursday, June 24, 2004
breakfast
buttered toast with melted cheese, sliced tomatoes and chunks of sausage, and a cup of coffee. heavenly. :)
i would post a picture but i ate it all up already. hee.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
echos
I've had the house to myself the last three days cos the parents are out of town. It has been quiet - my thoughts seem to echo off the walls.
Last night, I sat in front of the TV with a bottle of red wine and a bowl of instant tom yam beehoon. I still have no idea what was showing on TV. I think all I did was just to stare into space and listen to the silence. By the time I got off the sofa at 1:30am, the ground looked wonky. Interesting sensation. I've never gotten high before, and still haven't. I've got a long way to go.
I was thinking the other day what a conservative gal I am. I'm not into body piercings at all, or bungee jumping, or scuba diving, or all night partying, or wild drinking, or free sex, or anything like that at all. All I do is read, hang out with a few close friends, work, sleep, run, eat, and GO TO AUSTRALIA TO RUN THE 10k!!! hee. I had to put that in caps just for the effect.
Gosh, the paragraph above just proves the point.
fly away blue!
blue bottle fly!
Did you know that the last animal brought to court and finally executed by the church was a cow? Unbelievable. It is said that a certain St Bernard unwittingly wiped out all the blue bottle flies in an area by peevishly saying "Be Thou excommunicated" to a fly that was irritating him by flying around his head. What is this??? The locust (the woodworm in "The History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters") was also excommunicated in 1338.
It is hazy outside today - it is that time of the year. Singapore has four seasons - hot, hot & wet, hot & humid, and hot & hazy.
Yesterday I ran for 30mins around Barker Road. Surprisingly, it felt short. :)
I've also started a new blog titled "Afterthoughts".
