Highs and Lows

Today I had a 5 hour session of Badminton with Kader, Jevon, and some friendly people who made friends with us. It was undeniably the most fun we had ever had at Hougang Sports Hall. There was humor, excitement, showmanship, and most of all drama, thanks to a certain someone. I can really see myself losing my left arm to you guys. Haha, my JC friends have a thing for causing grievous injury to my left elbow.

On Sunday, the "Gathering of Pros" took place, and I got to see a lot of the old army Dota gang. It was amusing to see how fate placed Huang Gen and Chee Wei next to each other, two years after the first time that Chee Wei shouted at Huang Gen. Everybody's in-game behavior is still the same, much to my chagrin as I got paired with Daho. Haha... Also, in the afternoon, I learned the hard way just how much my well-being depends on God.

If you're illz, then you need pillz.

But if you had skillz, you wouldn't be illz.

Therefore, does skillz=the pillz?

Cake has... layers

Yesterday was the stereotypical 'Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong' day. Increasingly shrinking numbers of participants, early flight arrivals, and unexpected calls to go to work were just some of the problems. It worked out well enough at the end of the day, but it also led me to reflect on why things happened the way they did.

Well, at least I'm clear on the point that I had put a little too much on my plate. Haha. Planning 4 outings in a week must be a record for me, but at the same time, I've never experienced quite so much outing fail in my life.

I'm stepping down from work at QnM by the end of next week. I have many reasons to say 'Good riddance' to the place, and only a handful of reasons to miss it. I'm looking forward to many days with various people who have returned from their stints overseas.

Note to self: Must stop being tempted to buy repeating clothes.

"Radical Dreamers"

In the past, there were times when my doubts and misgivings were met with kind and sincere responses. It made me feel really small, and I thought to myself then that there really was such a thing as being too nice.

Growing up, I realized that it was wasting their efforts somewhat if I took their kindness so badly, and so I decided that the only thing to do was to take it in good grace, and try harder.

Small setbacks and niggling thoughts brought out a bubbling frustration in me at the end of the day, but the blessings have stood out in stark contrast (especially bread run), and so I figure I don't have any self-pity inducing resentments to hold me back from setting things straight.

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Just as a side note, I seem to have had at least one dream each time that I've gone to sleep, these past few days.

Outing fail

1. The birthday celebration that was 1 month early.

2. The board games outing that almost became a house visit, and finally ended up as a shopping trip, up and down the length of Orchard Road.
- I was not as socially responsible today as I could have been.
- Got to scout out a new shirt!

There's trouble in paradise. Didn't know you felt so strongly about this.

Get ready for some mega-loving tonight

I had a lot of near-gg moments during work today. Thinking back, I strongly feel that the fact that I haven't made any serious errors as food runner (yet) is something I owe to God, who's been kind even though I haven't been committed at all to Bible study or quiet time lately.

I had an incredible meal at Hyatt with my mother and sister, and I ate the first steak I've had in a year now. Haha. I've forgotten how good a nice steak can taste.

Silent rebellion or open opposition, it's all frustrating. Damn kids.

House party fail/ftw

Thanks for having the family over Clement. You (and your traditional-style lodgings) were much more hospitable than we gave you credit for, though not having any ice cream initially still counts as a cardinal sin, haha. In spite of the many technical glitches (which Weili struggled with), the semi-stayover was still very much fun, and returning to a simpler way of life, without wireless internet or cooking gas (lolmax), was a refreshing experience.

Sometime during that night, I learned I was 'not dateable'. Nice/FML.

Post-note: On Thursday, some foreigners from France and Belgium came to have a drink, and I got to make use of my French language lessons for the very first time! It felt good, haha. Multilingualism ftw!

That went well.

Take my love, take my land,
Take my where I cannot stand.

I don't care, I'm still free,
You can't take the sky from me.

Take me out, to the Black,
Tell 'em I ain't coming back.

Burn the land, boil the sea,
You can't take the sky from me...

There's no place, I can be,
Since I've found Serenity.

You can't take the sky from me...

-Opening to Joss Whedon's Firefly

Today I ate the most expensive plate of chicken rice I've ever had in my life. Ironically, it was a person well-known for being meticulous with money who brought me to that $6.30 plate of rice. I also asked a bubble tea lady for a 'Grape with Jelly', which got me a negative reaction, to say the least. After that, I went with Jevon and Wanyi to Wheelock Place, where the highlight of my time was falling asleep on a sofa chair for 15 minutes.

On my way home, I went to the Queen and Mangosteen to check my schedule, and I got the pleasant surprise of getting my paycheck in cash.

When I reached home, I had an incredible eating experience. Two words: Sardine muffin. I kid you not.

Lolmax

I went to Playmax with Clement to help Daph out. Regrettably, Color run did not have a stunning success, but that gave us some time to just hang around, chat, and try out some ridiculously fun games (American Gladiators and a human-sized version of that soccer table game). Thanks for inviting us sister, it was a lot more fun than I anticipated haha. Free breakfast and lunch smoothed things over plenty, too :)

I feel like I'm learning a lot of things at work that I can't learn at my university, things like learning how to connect with people and how to keep my calm. The only problem there is that some of the plates (such as the crappy Scampi dish) are so heavy that my fingers feel twisted after carrying them. Otherwise, the company is pretty good, and sometimes just plain pretty. I don't think I'll ever regret my time there. Now if only I could get my raise from Shaharin and Donnah... I feel that praying before I head to work has really made a difference, because I've been able to get away without making any major mistakes so far, and I don't think that that would have been possible without God's support.

The time at this restaurant and the people I've met there will only last for this season in my life. I'm pretty sure I won't be forming any firm or lasting ties with anyone there, as much as I'd like to in certain cases. After this, there'll be a month of proper holidays in July, and then it's back into the wilderness... And in a way, it is a wilderness, because the bulk of what we learn there is not intuitive, not immediately or practically applicable, and sometimes far removed from our everyday lives. There are periods where we wonder whether it's worth it to lose sleep over what we're learning. The joy I have in serving customers and interacting with fellow staff comes from knowing that the same smile and friendliness I show to customers can be shown to new people I meet in my life, and that the calm I maintain while running around the restaurant can be applied to future situations as well... I know my heart is stronger now, and I know my skin is thicker as well, haha, because whether or not the sun shines, I'm still walking.

It was a good day for me.

Got a decent haircut today. The effects of it showed because two hours later, a girl at this hip pub came to me and said, "Touch me, I'm hot." (True story.) (Okay I've not mentioned the context in which this happened, don't kill me! Haha) In the evening, I got some driving practice in. At the end of the day, I went with Chris and Wanyi to an Ice cream parlour with weird tables and ice cream scoopers who give generous scoops of ice cream :)

It was a good day for me. Heh.

Skillz the Pillz

Work was great today. Things were moving so quickly that I didn't even have time to look at the clock, and before I knew it, 4 hours had passed. I can't wait to get my pay, haha. I think I leveled up a bit today. Adrian Pang came. It was incredible. I feel better at life itself just by having stood next to him for 5 seconds.

Met up with Alex, Chris, Kei Seen, and Alex's friend, Young. We gave Young a tour. It was brief.

"This is the Fullerton Building!"

"This is the Istana! You can't go in though!"

That was generally how our tour went. Besides Sentosa and some food places and bars, I can't really think of what I would like to show a visiting friend. Certainly, the Singapore Flyer would not be one of the sights. Before it got repaired, the Headshotted Merlion would have been worth a look. Maybe our arts scene. Lol.

I just took a quiz which made my morale dip. Figures.

Duh duh, duh duh duh

Today there was badminton, Terminator Salvation, and a touch of Left4Dead with Kader, Jevon, and Shufang. Let it be stated now that Terminator is one of the most absurd movies I've ever watched in my life. My disbelief is still suspended at this moment. The director has got to be someone who is immersed in gaming and random Internet culture, or the amount of bullshit in this movie will be unexplainable. Haha.

I feel that I grew up a little, today, because I learned 3 new things today.

1. You don't have to be good-looking to get a pretty waitress for a girlfriend.
2. Society's socialization gave guys some serious symbolic domination. But girls have their own symbolic domination. Okay I'm just throwing big words around. Heh. Heh.
3. Not available for public posting. Grapes, grapes, lemons, and turkish delight =/

Fruit Crumble

1. Slack Monday Afternoon with a tiny Lunch Crowd
2. Just a few co-workers (and the right ones, at that.)
3. Talked at length with Ms. Naemah
4. Fruit Crumble at discount price
5. Teriyaki Salmon Fish Head at home

HELL YEAH




"If a tree falls in a forest, but no one is around to hear or see it, did it really fall?"

The question seemed a little pretentious to me after awhile. A tree can fall without anyone having to see it happen. Its roots draw life-giving water even if nobody sees them in action. But putting it in a human context... Yes, you could make a person feel threatened about the validity of their existence simply by refusing to look at them, to speak to them, or to acknowledge them. You can make them feel invisible, immaterial to the point that they'd want to change their face, they way they acted, the way they laughed and smiled, just so people would look their way... Ultimately, we have to have faith that God made us to find our place in this world, to exist, with certainty and without question.