=3

hope this lasts longer than my prev player.

looks more like a phone than a mp3 player tho.

=3, impulse buy, but i like it heh.

wanted a h50, but then their manual functions aren't exactly manual

kinda pestered not to get a h50 if i would be intent on getting

a dslr next year.

so settled for this one

on the rebound.

3 weeks is enough yeah?

spree

yeah
getting the sony h50 this weekend. gonna have some fun with it in the year or so before i decide if i wanna upgrade.
prolly getting a nano 4gb as well, just bidded for it online.
if theres money left over and there are no violent objections, i will get myself a mountain bike (cheap one of course!), running short of money already.
fitting end for my spree.

i just need it to perk up my semester after a roller-coaster period for the past 3 weeks.

patience.

too much has happened these few weeks
partly leaving me feeling vindicated
but yet confused and perturbed after that.
seeing movers and shakers amongst the people i know,
and wondering why i m still hanging around here
seemingly stagnating
been A S K-ing so much
and its still not clear

learnt quite a lot today
perhaps i just have to bide my time
patience is the key
i may have to take some hardship during this process
but at the end of the day
its gonna be worth it

yeah
the 3 Ps
belief in my portion,
belief in a purpose,
belief i am the person for it

destiny is not about where you are going
but instead,
what you are becoming.

i catch that.

yawn

huge convictions that i possess,
just get shot down by the rest.
starting to doubt my own theories,
in this world, do they still make sense?
musing in the still of the night,
am i insane, or is it them?

back to the grind

listening to rivermaya
feels so much better.

all hail the nanny state

PM's dating tips =3

'Make time to go out and meet new friends
Join a dating agency, be it the Government's Social Development Unit/Social Development Service or a private agency.
Have realistic expectations. You have to make an effort for the relationship to work.
Bring your social graces up to scratch. For instance, do not wear slippers when taking your date out for a romantic dinner at a nice restaurant.' (straits time 19 aug)

whats up for next yr?
kamasutra tips?

gawd.

read this somewhere

if michael phelps was a country, he would be 8th in the world rankings

how true

seriously perturbed

pretty packed day somehow

met up with eileen at the y for lunch.
usual simple conversations
holidays to viet, korea for both of us.
and it always gets deeper than that
not that i dislike it tho
i actually welcome it
thought provoking stuff actually
on secular work, church, religion
and all.
and eileen =3
thanks for the treat.
owe you one some time soon heh.

went past the nel turnstiles
saw sean loke and found out he was meeting henry
asked if i wanna come along,
well i had an hour to kill anyways
so yeah

found out henry had graduated from
wesleyan university
with a degree in physics
and on his way to a masters.
congrats dude!

but what bothered me was.
how can wesleyan university be
erm, so....
unwesleyan?

was told that their uni had christian roots
but its all kinda eroded already
paving the way for a
liberal college
wild parties, brazen practices,
vibrant gay-les community

not that i m terribly against it.
whatever practices, lifestyles,
i may frown, but i would not meddle.
but then in a
wesleyan university?

told henry and sean what
the word wesley meant to me
being a methodist and all.

yeah i m seriously perturbed/disturbed,
whatever you call it.

rants

one traveller i met in vietnam sums it up the best


when you are a student
you have too much time
too little money
once you start working
you have too much money
too little time


not too sure about line 5 though

if only deans list came with a cash prize
hur hur hur

question

what is the singapore spirit?

light hearted stuff

got my sc1101e notes back from shufen today.
its in pristine condition.
same cant be said for the notes that i borrowed from her tho.
haha
and i m borrowing more for this sem.
thankful in having a helpful senior
who happens to major in ec, and does not need those notes anymore.
thus i m gonna pass on the love lol.
i dun sell my books
i just lend them indefinitely

last 2 days before school starts.
still wished i had worked during the hols,
but that would mean being more
tight on time
church camp, reservist, arts camp, vietnam
quite a well spent semester break still

going to ian's place later
then yx's place tml for her 21st
thank goodness theres dinner provided haha
not much money to siphon off already
sux being a poor student

and yes
happy birthday singapore.

religion

its fun discussing religion.
esp. when there are differing views.
someone whom i was chatting with in a group
kinda ' lambasted' religion, with an angle
of a flawed social construct.
about how power wielded at the very top decides
what people accept to be true.
then went on to deny various ideals of main religions
reincarnation, gospels and all.
kinda sociological
and nostalgic.

pretty nice to hear of.
at least there are people who take religion seriously enough to read on it
might be selective.
but in an apathetic society now
not many people actually bother to read up religions per se
apart from their own.
respect.

then argued that gospels in the bible might not be true.
gnostic gospels seem to be making rounds in the past few years.
that was when i felt the urge to say something regarding that.
fast.

to the best of my knowledge.
i wanted to drive home one point.
as secular and logical and polite as possible
time frame of canonical and gnostic gospels,
where canonical ones were written like a century later.
attention to the finest 'redundant' details in the canons, eg, 'why 153 fish?'
would any author, whose works written couple of decades after the events
dare falsely write,
knowing that there would be loads of people (1st hand) still alive then to verify for such events?
gnostic ones are written in 2nd century, will there be any 1st hand accounts to verify with?
not unless people live to like 150?

cant deny that relgion now is very much a social construct
flawed in some/many parts.
but ultimately religion as how you see it is just a relation between you and god
does it matter?

maybe this argument made others feel a little more convinced
more importantly i did.

ended with a quote i read of
there are those who will believe after they see.
and others who will see after they believe.
i m part of the latter.
acknowledged that usually such discussions will not lead to anything
usually ends open ended,
depending on who sees what
which is defined by their own belief system

then a bimbo (shant mention who) who was quiet all along said something
'in conclusion ...' *pause

we strained to hear

'there is no conclusion .... '

bish.
how do i draw a fist here?

stick out your tongue

just finished a book of this title.
its written my a chinese author by the name of ma jian.
typically, such authors get their works banned/panned
back in their home country.
amongst the likes of ha jin, yu hua, etc
cant help but feel fascinated by this group of people
who have experienced the cultural revolution first hand.
and their works mark the grittiness and harsh conditions of society.
a society that is unfortunately, all too human and real.
'i'd find a refuge from a soulless society' ma jian mused as he travelled to lhasa
but reality is stark.
could we, by ourselves, make our lives really better?
with such authors mirroring the sentiments of the chinese,
is it the aftermath of the tenet of 'godless communism'?
at the end of the day,
we can only rely on ourselves and the society by this much.
ma jian's 'pilgrimage' made him even more disillusioned and insecure.
...

pardon my religious slant and undertones

no idea why, but i suddenly enjoying reading and writing again.

evaluation

if you have made a formal agreement.
would you renege on it later on in favour of something better?
which of these do we view as of a higher importance?
that prior agreement or the new one with a higher expectation?
do we value that initial promise tho' it defies logic?
what will be the reasons that define your choice?
to remain, stand the 'so called fabled moral high ground',
and lose out of a better potential?
or is there such a moral high ground in the first place?
or to renege, and seek out greener pastures?
there is no definite right wrong conclusion.
no black or white, only grey.
but in any case,
we make a choice,
and try not to regret it.

is this what i have been waiting for the past 1.5 years to realise?
i m by nature nostalgic and pensive.
if those were the appropriate words to describe my self.
i would kill myself if i was in such a position.
someone up there knows me,
all too well.

thank you god.

sleep

i fall asleep in my bed within 5 mins.
how do i know?
last week, i have been listening to my playlist in bed.
i can only remember as much as the first song being played.
no memory of anything else whatsoever.

was on the train back home today.
30+ hours of being awake.
not exactly a sedentary 30hrs,
i have been moving quite a fair bit.
on the ride back from novena.
i was holding on to the bars.
fell asleep like 2-3 times.
kept losing my balance and almost fell.

i believe i can sleep pretty much anywhere anytime.
i just need a flat surface.

ask, seek, knock

why does it seem such a blur to me still? after 1.5 years of pondering and tethering. i am nowhere as close to getting a definite answer. been asking and seeking and doing pretty much all i can to get myself in a such a position now where i know so much but yet do not get the call to take the plunge. is it patience i am learning?

nha trang and hcm (food)

vietnam is full of exotic foods and tastes. there was this restaurant that we went to with jap, mexican, viet, french cuisine. but really, i have no idea where this dish originated from. its actually beef in bamboo. and i didnt expect it to come on a flaming dish. looks nice, but didnt taste as good tho.

bbq squid. not in the most hygenic of places. not exactly cheap either. but on a lazy day overlooking the beach and with a beer in hand. it was hard to resist.

guess that pretty sums up much of vietnam. good food, nice scenery, cool company. what more could you ask for?