goals are good. a new list for the new year.

versus

Math is easy / Design is hard

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns, formulate new conjectures, and establish truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and various definitions. / Design : No generally accepted definition of 'design' exists, and the term has different connotations in different fields. Informally, 'a design' (noun) refers to a plan for the construction of an object (as in architectural blueprints, circuit diagrams and sewing patterns) and 'to design' (verb) refers to making this plan. However, one can also design by directly constructing a unique object.

Cooking is easy / Cleaning is hard

Cooking is the process of preparing food by applying heat. Cooks select and combine ingredients using a wide range of tools and methods, is the process, the flavor, texture, appearance and chemical properties of the ingredients can change (unclear). Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. / Cleanliness is the absence of dirt, including dust, stains, bad smells and garbage. Purposes of cleanliness include health, beauty, absence of offensive odor, avoidance of shame and to avoid the spreading of dirt and contaminants to oneself and others, in the case of glass objects such as windows or windshields, the purpose can also be transparency. 

via behance

real love

people say that hate is the opposite of love. other people say that indifference is the opposite of love.
real love is not separate from hate. it's not the opposite either. you'll only know what it means (or what it takes) to love someone when you hate them.

i'm 24

birthdays. always a bittersweet occasion. i only really officially achieved 11 things off my list. i moved in, threw a party, went on a couple of holidays, printed my favourite photos, read 3 classic novels, made a scrapbook, bought ugly betty and put up an inspiration board.
i tried documenting everything but you know, time and busyness catches up with you, which explains why i didn't blog about some of the things i did do.
i tried growing a flower but it died.
i tried to take a photo a day but it was too much work and the photos i did take disappeared with the great hard disk massacre.
i did share the gospel with someone.
i found several good restaurants in damansara, like the one we went to yesterday to celebrate my birthday, thanks to jeremy and melissa.
and i did make my kitchen cosier.
i could feel bad for not being successful in achieving all these things, but what's the use. it wasn't meant to be a do it all kind of list anyway, just some things that i'd like to have done but don't need to have done.

So what's next, twenty four? shall i or shall i not do another list?

Lessons learnt in being a wife

It has been a week in education of young impressionable girls of the idealistic, optimistic and utterly stupid and untrue nature of their hopes and dreams of being a wife.

Being a wife means...
...Never letting go (even when you hate his guts sometimes)
...Staying alive (even though you'd rather die)
...Doing the dishes (even if its disgusting and gross)
...Talking (even in silent treatment mode)
...Calming down (even when you're super angry)
...Seeing the good in all he's doing (which is in reality a lot, although you translate it to be not)
...Keep going on being a wife (even if your whole being insists on giving up)

Now take a whack at it and see if you'll be the so-called wife that you believe God called you to be. My advice is: Stop being the young impressionable girl with idealistic, optimistic and stupid untrue hopes and dreams of being a wife and JUST BE ONE. Find comfort in God when you fail and keep finding comfort in Him cos you're gonna keep failing for the rest of your life.

why me?

i am not a miracle worker

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
(Matthew 7:3-5 ESV)

bummer

i dropped my hard disk and now all the pictures i have of singapore and india are the ones on my blog right now. i'm a little beyond upset over that and every time i think of "oh that was like that time we did that in... oh...(peeved silence)" but i've gotten over it (mostly, i think). i did go in a pursuit of anything and everything that made me happy again for a while, which ended up in situations neither me nor adrian ever wanna be in again =P.

so now, i'm no longer on speaking terms with the laptop, which is what i believe to be the source of the problem in the first place (bar my actually dropping the disk) and i'm using the permanent desktop, whose hard disk is safe and sound, firmly planted on the table, never to drop. i hate hard disks.

makes me think about the permanence of things and God's providence and will. God will always be there, never like a hard disk where hard knocks will make keel over and die. He will never leave you, unless you are being a stubborn three letter word that means donkey who insists on being disobedient, unlike a hard disk where even if you are kind to it, it may fail you anyway. This all must have happened to teach me two things: first, that i need to trust God because He's the most trustworthy out of all the everything and anything in this world and probably out of this world too, and secondly, back up always, cos hard disks are not God, and you are not God.

There you go, lessons learnt. (in a very small voice) I would still like to imagine all my files being returned in pristine order. 

Celebrating our 1st year

we went over the waters for a short holiday. stayed at tune hotel in johor, commuted over every morning. i think we walked more than we have ever done, ended up with back pain, leg pain, everything lah. we didn't go to the typical universal studios. took the cable car ride to mount faber, walked to the henderson waves, which was awesome! saw the light and water show at marina bay sands, just stumbled upon it when the music started calling.



the zoo was really good! the best zoo ever! the animals looked healthy and had lots of room to run and they were all in open areas (not the wild/dangerous ones la), so things like the monkeys were free to swing from tree to tree without being caged. I thought that was so cool.



on the third day, we went on a bike ride all along changi beach coast. the wind in our faces was the best feeling after walking only as fast as our two legs can bring us in the melting heat for two days. we tried the international nasi lemak at Block 2 next to the bus terminal, which apparently is famous there. after lining up for about half an hour, it was only eh... we've had much better in malaysia.



another holiday to add to my favourite rest times, nothing will ever beat my honeymoon in Penang.

Love the church: Do not speak what you ought not to speak.

...continued from "Women's tongues are evil"...

If we love Jesus's church, if we are part of the body of Christ, we ought to do all things in order to build it up, not tear it down. And that's why we ought not to speak out of turn, speak words that are useless and not helpful, not edifying, which is gossip, slander, malicious and only cause the church to be weakened. We are one body and ought to care for one another. Remember this, women, lest we are as worthless as nothing and far worse than that, lest we are the cause of the downfall of Christ's church. If we have not love, we are nothing. Wake up, and do not go on sinning.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many...as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 

...God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.


Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning.

1 Corinthians

Women's tongues are evil

If only women knew how much damage their tongues can cause to the church, maybe then they would realize why it's better for us to be silent in church. I pray God for Your name's sake, for women to be better, more submissive, more wise, more Christian.

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls...


...we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.


How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

James

Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work. But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith. Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not. So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander. For some have already strayed after Satan.

1 Timothy

A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.
A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much.

Proverbs

Speak no evil

...continued in "Love the church: Do not speak what you ought not to speak"...

Holi Holiday

We had an awesome holiday in Chennai, India. Just family. People make it sound scary and weird, but it was surprisingly amazing! I loved the colors, the sights, cows and honking, especially the food. I wouldn't necessarily stay there my whole life, but it was good for a visit. Learnt alot about Indian culture too.

I tried to take as many pictures of Indian lifestyle, the real stuff. Didn't buy very much, so pictures were my souvenirs. I may even make this into a scrapbook of sorts, i think. Sorry about the heavy editing, makes it seem more colorful than my digi cam can.