Memories

Happy time flies. It has been proven by Eistein’s Theory of Relativity. Here comes a paradox: Should we enjoy ourselves which we knew time will fly pass? Or should we spend it not so happily so that time will go by slower?

It’s always difficult to leave your loved ones, especially after having such a great time together.

I was totally upset and lost all motivation to talk to anyone when I arrived in IH. Lunch was a dreadful one. When people asked me how my easter was, tons of emotions just came flooding into my head and was eventually spilling out through my eyes. Fortunately I took cover well.

I was at a point when I was considering whether to go to church or not. In the end I went. And thankfully I did.

It was a baptism service, thus there was no preaching. While nearly a hundred people were being baptised, the band led the worship and quietly I prayed.

Suddenly, Ps Tim Loh (our senior pastor in ECF) appeared in my head and I remembered he likes to snap his finger when he prays. That was what exactly happened.. just a snap of finger, everything was clear to me.

Why Ps Tim? The next thought was Ps Tim goes around the world to preach. He will have to leave his loved ones behind too, but he always seems so happy when he leaves.

So what is the difference between Ps Tim and me? Why am I feeling so sad when I had to leave Steph? And I knew that I am going to see her again soon.

The answer that came to me was ‘confidence’. Ps Tim knows that his family will always be home for him. His church will always be in ECF welcoming him.

*Snap*

I know Steph will always be there. I know she will always welcome my presence. Why should I allow myself to feel this way then?

That’s it. Every sense of sadness disappeared. It’s just another few weeks and we’ll meet up again. Just as Ps Tim is happy about doing his job abroad, I will play my part well too.

Thanx so much for the wonderful trip!

Take care darling! Love ya!

This is a summary of my Adelaide trip! :o) For pictures, visit Steph’s blog on http://stephwong.blogspot.com/.

Friday
Glenleg - the word reads the same in opposite direction. it’s a very cosy beach, ppl like to picnic here. we had fresh oysters there! yummy!

Victor Harbour - A beach in the south. At night there will be penguins coming onshore to rest. However, it was too cold in the evening so we decided to leave.

Harbour Town - a big shopping complex but it was closed due to Good Friday.

Saturday
Barrosa Village - A huge piece of land covered with vineyards. We did some wine tasting and bought some too. There was a dam, which was designed such tat when u whisper from one side of the dam, your voice can be heard clearly on the other end! :o)

Sunday
Church for Easter service. We went to Hahndorf (a german village) for lunch! :o)

Monday
Cleland Wildlife Park - We hand fed Kangaroos and Wallabies! haha.. There were tasmanian devils too and some other creatures that we dont find in Malaysia.

For the rest of the days I stayed home while everyone else went to school. We would go out after steph came home. We visited the museum, art gallery (egyptian exhibitions all the way from Lourve Museum!) and also the botanic garden.

On friday, We met up with Avin, Jessica and Queenie for dinner in Dumpling King.

Saturday was a day of fun! We cooked lunch! We woke up at 9am (an impossible feat for Steph on a weekend) to do some marketting in the Central Market. Since it was still early, I had a haircut before we headed home to show off our amazing skills! Not so surprisingly, it turned out really well! :o)

We took a bus to Harbour Town to redeem what we couldn’t do on Good Friday. However, we spent the first half an hour busy ransacking every shop that has the word ‘Shoes’ on it, because Steph broke her slippers while chasing the bus! :o) Harbour town was a shopping haven! Everything was on sales! (To Chuen: boots were sold at $10 for the 2nd pair!)

In the evening, we met up with Ainee for dinner in a Greek restaurant and later Yenru joined us for desert in Spatz! Ainee ordered brownie with dates (haha.. i cant remember the name!) and it ‘melts in your mouth, which then melts your heart and you will have to totally salute it..’ That’s how good it was, or so she said.

Yeah.. Saturday went passed and then came Sunday.. I left for Melbourne.

A Friday occurring on the 13th day of any month is considered to be a day of bad luck in English, German, Polish and Portuguese-speaking cultures around the globe. Similar superstitions exist in some other traditions. The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia (a word that is derived from the concatenation of the Greek words Παρασκευή, δεκατρείς, and φοβία, meaning Friday, thirteen, and phobia respectively.

History of Friday the 13th

• Some claim that it is biblical. Thirteen gathered in the upper room on the night of the Last Supper.

‘And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me.’ (Mark 14: 17-18). ‘Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot . . for he it was that should betray him.’ (John 6: 70-71).  Judas was the thirteenth guest.  He betrayed Jesus Christ, setting the stage for the Crucifixion, which took place on a Friday.

• Some say Friday’s bad reputation goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. It was on a Friday, supposedly, that Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit. Adam bit, and they were both ejected from Paradise. Tradition also holds that the Great Flood began on a Friday; God tongue-tied the builders of the Tower of Babel on a Friday; the Temple of Solomon was destroyed on a Friday
• Some claimed it started on Friday, October 13, 1307, the date that many Knights Templar were simultaneously arrested in France, by agents of King Philip IV. Templar sympathizers cursed the day itself, condemning it as evil–Friday the thirteenth–whose reputation never recovered.

P.S. – The link between Friday the 13th and The Last Supper is not possible, for the idea goes back centuries earlier. As a matter of fact, this was not an isolated case of at thirteen at table, for Christ and the chosen disciples worked together regularly every day, and must, surely, have risked the fateful thirteen many thousands of times.

Friday the 13th - The Most Widespread Superstition?

• It’s been estimated that [U.S] $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day because people will not fly or do business they would normally do,"
• "Friday 13th is unlucky for some. The risk of hospital admission as a result of a transport accident may be increased by as much as 52 percent. Staying at home is recommended."
• It is said: If 13 people sit down to dinner together, all will die within the year.
• The Turks so disliked the number 13 that it was practically expunged from their vocabulary (Brewer, 1894).
• Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue. Many buildings don’t have a 13th floor.
• If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil’s luck (Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names).  (I just realized: LOW CHUAN HERNG!!! :p)
• Never change your bed on Friday; it will bring bad dreams.
• Don’t start a trip on Friday or you will have misfortune.
• If you cut your nails on Friday, you cut them for sorrow.
• The registration of Princess Margaret’s birth was delayed so that she would not be entered as number thirteen.

Myth?
The distribution of the 13th day of the coming 4,800 months is as follows:

There are almost as many 13th any other days as 13th Friday, slight variation due to presence of leap year.

No one has been able to document the existence of such beliefs prior to the 19th century. Going back a hundred years, Friday the 13th doesn’t even merit a mention in E. Cobham Brewer’s voluminous 1898 edition of the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, though one does find entries for "Friday, an Unlucky Day" and "Thirteen Unlucky."

Unlucky Friday + Unlucky 13 = Unluckier Friday?

Imagine a Friday the 13th on which one breaks a mirror, walks under a ladder, spills the salt, and spies a black cat crossing one’s path?!

Cheers!

Resources: Friday the 13th - Wikipedia, About.com

Have you ever wonder how some people remember everything that was taught to them? Be it tedious maths equations or physics theory or interactions between chemicals, they seem to have the answer. We admire these people for having a memory so wonderful that they can recall their database whenever they needed. Deep down inside, we hate to admit that they are smarter and know more than we do.

This is because we know we had acquired that knowledge before and we remember very well that we used to understand the particular theory so thoroughly that we could explain it to our fellow classmates. But now, just a few years down the road, they are no longer accessible to us. Isn’t that a depressing to realize that all the hard work put in had gone to a waste?

So true the statement which says: If we don’t use it, we’ll lose it.

The best way of retaining information is to keep revising. It won’t be too difficult recalling the theories because we have learnt them before. Besides re-visiting the information we knew, we can learn by looking at them from an angle that we have never tried before. We would realize that there are actually so much information provided to us but we’ve never treasured them.

It doesn’t matter if they are not relevant to us at present; just keep them at our finger tips, because somewhere sometime in the future, they’ll come in handy. :o)

I bought a pair of shoes yesterday. It was Adidas, white background and the ever famous 3 stripes on its side with white shoe laces ending with a silver Adidas logo plate.

I wore them today, purposely with shorts to highlight the ‘white’ness of my new shoes, even though I know it would be freezing cold. And true enough, I received quite some attention, even from somebody whom I never expected from.

I’m beginning to understand the real meaning of ‘materialism’ and why would people spend so much to indulge in it. This is the first time I actually felt it this way, because I do not usually spend money on buying stuff. (I’ll rather eat them off! :p)

For real, it felt good. The attention that most people hunger for makes you feel important. You’ll suddenly feel that people do pay attention to you and that swells your sense of confidence. You won’t initiate the conversation but secretly inside you you wish that the oher party will bring the topic up. You’ll feel that it’s his loss if someone does not notice your new sparkling shoes. You’ll spend most of your free time thinking about modifying the story about your journey of achieving your ‘glory’. You’ll realise that throughout the whole day your conversation revolves around your pair of shoes.

Just a pair of shoes. It makes your day! Like morphine and alcohol, it makes you more sociable and brightens you up. Sounds so simple. So why not?

For the young boys and girls who are still experiencing identity crisis, please wake up. Today is shoes. Tomorrow may be a new shirt. The following day a new pair of glasses. When will that ever stop?

Unless your parents print notes, forget about materialism and focus on what brings you actual happiness! Meet more people, do more stuff and make some real friends. Those who like you for what you have instead of who you are are not your friends.

Cheers!

Autumn is coming. Leaves are turning yellow and shedded of from its branch. It’s a beautiful scenery. Understandably, the weather is turning cold too. For a boy who grew up in a tropical country, the chilling winds that creep through the gaps of the windows can be quite unbearable. However, the biggest problem is the difference between day and night temperature is as high as 15C. It is warm in the day and freezing cold at night.

I’m down with a fever and sorethroat. This bug has been circulating in International House (IH) for quite a while and many people have already contracted it. I read that the most common causal agent for coryza (aka common cold) is rhinovirus. It usually invades human beings when the temperature turns cold. I used to not believe in getting a cold. I thought as long as I sleep well and eat well I can be quite invincible. Apparently, I was wrong.

Tommorow’s minimum is 9C.

Hope that all of us who are experiencing the similar changes in weather will get through this season well and healthy! Drink lots of water and have plenty of sleep!

The annual inter-college volleyball competition was held today. After a day of battle, we qualified to the semi finals. In the journey, we defeated the defending champion - Newman College. Emerging as group champion, we went on ending the losing streak against our arch-rival Trinity College in the quarters! It was pure exhilaration when the final landed on their court. People were rushing into the court hugging and congratulating each other.

I chose to close my eyes, just for a few seconds, to savour the sweet taste of victory.

My legs were trembling. I guessed I have over-exerted them for a day of matches which started since nine in the morning.

My mind was clear. I thank God for the fine team He has sent me. We are certainly not the best team (more than half of us never touched a volleyball before), but everyone was enthusiastic. Everyone was willing to learn! Everyone was positive, our target was simple - WIN.

Winning is good. But I feel that there’s more to just winning matches.

A very crucial thing that struck me was nobody showed any respect to the opponents on the court. Pride was taken in when our opponent’s main player got too psyched up, lost his patience, smashed the ball into the net and was taken off the game. And they lost the match.

Everybody on the court shouts the word ‘f***’. Even after the game when Pat gave us a lift from the stadium, the word was mentioned for at least 20 times. It was barely a five minutes journey.

I’ve played some competitions and won some matches, but I’ve never felt so uneasy after winning like what I’m feeling now. In IMU with the ever realiable M204 team, we won our matches with our superior team work and skills. We had never sought to play mental games. After the game, we would thank our opponents for the game and take photos together.

I do understand that in a competition, everyone will be tensed up and raise our voices. I am no different. I yelled, I showed faces of disappointment when a mistake was done. But in the end, we would apologise to each other. We can have this respect among our teammates, why not extend it to our opponents?

I noticed the disgusted look on our opponents’ faces when they lost a point not because we outclassed them in skills, but the words that came out from our mouth.

Words are powerful tools.
It can destroy, like a knife that stabs into your heart.
It can shape form, it determines the atmosphere of any situation.
It can create, create opportunities, friendships, trusts, everthing!
It can definitely enlarge people’s limit, to increase somebody’s confidence and challenge them to do achieve more!

"Words are not as satisfactory as we should like them to be, but, like our neighbours, we have got to live with them and must make the best and not the worst of them." — Samuel Butler 

When we are absolutely certain, we are almost impervious to fear. -William Congreve

Imagination fills the void left by certainty.

So long as we cannot tolerate the unknown, there’s a need for myth. -David Beres

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand, so we may fear less. -Marie Curie

Maturity of mind is the capacity to endure uncertainty. -John Finley

Ferraris are simply amazing. No matter in which year they were designed, be it in the sixties or seventies, they, just being themselves, are absolute head-turners. To many, the word ‘Ferrari’ is synonymous to ‘magnificient’ and the colour ‘red’ means ’style’.

The presence of a Ferrari adds class to any occasion. But imagine sixty Ferraris of different era gather on one street.. Top it up with the Formula 1 race car.

I have a clip of the F1 racecar zooming pass, but unfortunately i can’t upload it. Listening to the acceleration noice can really melt anyone’s heart away.

The first race of the season is in Melbourne on the 15-18 March.

Hail Ferrari!

Elaine is in Melbourne!! (Michelle)

Prof Paul Chen’s Grandson! Don’t they look like kuih and acuan?! (Andrew)

Reika’s cousin!! (Yvonne Lim)