So...

RENE and anoy got it right.

It's purple sweet potato! Rare, huh. It's like JLow's
'anti-blue-foodstuff' mindset - purple is pretty much far off a colour
for food, much less potato. Of course, with the exception of brinjal and yam.

But since anoy got it first, and I don't know who anoy or RENE is,
no one gets the cuppa...
(mock sigh of relief)
Hehehehehehe.

Don't mind me, I've blown almost 3/5 of my M.I.P (Meagre Intern's Pay) already. Not good at all.

---

All of a sudden, I'm having a thing for mindmaps. Plotted out today's lectures in mindmaps, and I must say, it is QUITE addictive. Thinking laterally. A la thinking (the cliche) out-of-the-box.

When the 'schooling' momentum was broken after the 'O' levels, my brain decided that it had enough of wrecking itself and thus went on to hibernating mode. Poly started after 6 months, and I must admit that till today, the brain still keeps snoozing. Only at certain urgent times it will wake up, but that is not enough I guess. Lazy brain. It has lost most of its drive and will to think far and wide. Rusty it is, sigh.

It is time I push myself to think and think.

And think,

different.

Free as a bird,
my heart sings.

The first person that can identify what this is will get a
cuppa on me. Starbucks.

The picture/key visual has not been tampered with in any way possible.

And yes, it tasted mighty good.

Fully packed day it was, starting with
a bit of logistics gathering in the morning,
soccer in the late morning, then combing Upper Serangoon/Potong Pasir
for the studio where the drumming workshop was supposed to be held,
then back to church again for Logistics Day.


Was one hour late for the workshop (yeah we searched that long, Bonk and I), and when the free jam was on, I guess I sufficiently screwed up.
Could hardly hear myself can, and playing with another drumset was very, very distracting. Crap, so embarrassing lah.
I think my tempo was off, my strokes were very unsteady, anddd... aiyah, embarrassing lah. I sincerely hope that no one remembers me.

Thanks for accompanying me, Bonk! I was the only female there -_-'

Anyhow, I have gotten Wen to give me drumming lessons (yes, Jenn, finally!),
and I must start pushing myself to improve again. Rahh!
My knees (yes, both, yes!) are kinda aching though. Am starting to take Glucosamine, which will hopefully rebuild my diminishing kneecaps.

I must stop dota-ing, and start studying. Bah. Doesn't really help when all my friends around me are in "holiday mode" now. Crap.
It's ironic that my upcoming Media Management Media Research Methods (thanks Gail, I keep getting them confused, bah) assignment requires me to do a literature review on...

drumroll...

"Are video games addictive?"


And I'm Off! To dota.


I'm not far away,
because I haven't given up
(dumb as others may say).
I still care, so its up to you -
if you want to push me away yet again.

fool's paradise

" Life's beauty has been destroyed -
by man's definition of the beauty of life.

A rose in a bouquet hardly comes with its thorns.
Whoever knows how much pain is involved removing the thorns from the rose?
The Rose loses its defence and self-efficacy once its thorns are removed.
Packaged into something it didn't want to be, but what everyone wanted it to be. "


Actually I don't think this is the original text I wrote, because I asked DW to email it to me (I couldn't have made a copy of what I handed up) and it seems to be different from that of my memory; perhaps slightly in fragments.

Anyhow, this was for ALW, in response to Lijun's sharing on beauty (duh). I just had to come up with something because I'd volunteered for her, and this, I fabricated (after whining to Alan for 5 minutes that I couldn't bring myself to pen anything I didn't mean, down).

The following week, DW praised it. Cringe. As he sung the text, my face miserably failed to hide its amusement and embarrassment for taking credit for what it didn't feel for.
Frankly, my initial distaste for the prose was cognitive (thus the previous 'creativity' post).

But somehow, just somehow (I don't know how), what was supposed to be forced off-the-cuff made ironic glaring sense to me.

I'm amusing myself as I type these out because the ambivalence I'm feeling is mildly disturbing yet whimsical. Heeheehee.

Thorny. Beauty. Rose. Defence.
Epiphanies are most often rather mindblowing, aren't they.

Okay I know this has a really UGLY background but I can't be bothered.

'Cos MY ELBOW IS ACHING LIKE MAD.

Either I have a) a tennis elbow or
b) arthritis

And no, I'm not flexing in either photo!

So you can imagine how unbalanced my both arms are. I tried putting on a bangle today and the bangle could go up to the bicep on the left arm but on the right, it stopped at the forearm!
Quite freaky, but this is what too much tennis does to you.

Is there such thing as limbs restoration?
I think I'm in dire need of them. And add to the list ankles, joints, tendons, muscles.....

guess i should never call anyone my "best" friend -
cos they will never stay when i do.

It's a totally different ball game but hey,
I'm enjoying myself.

No more pressure,
no more double standards,
no more facades.

Whooopee.

Tennis, pool, soccer.

I still itch for billiards badly. No one to play with though, oh well.

I'm playing the violin for Christmas celebrations in church this year! Yippee!
The last time I did so was in 2003, after which I put down my violin till now. Its only the strings this year. No orchestra. It's amazing how many musically talented people there are in my church - we practically have a full orchestra. Great stuff.

Playing drums for 930 service tomorrow! Yay!


²⁷"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also." -Matt 6:27-29a


So I shall. (:

I believe that humans are inherently nice.

It is only how selfish they want to be.

ab ovo


I believe that there's a fine line between being philospohical and
'acting' philosophical.

I'm not pin-pointing this at anyone.


It just doesn't feel right when something requires me to try to be all deep and sophisticated.

Pardon me. I should rephrase that - "it just doesn't feel right somewhere when something requires me to outwardly prove that I am all deep and sophisticated".

I can understand if certain individuals do enjoy provoking minds (not necessarily in a negative manner), and I can appreciate the beauty in the course of unassuming inspiration.


But if this requires a certain extravagance of creativity, then, "creativity" negates. To me, it becomes quite a heresy in itself.

In the same manner, it is like trying to whitewash to blank walls with black paint.
There is no point.

Pardon my French.


Oh, what a year.

What's worse

than TOTALLY missing your first class of the semester?


Finding out that you are immune to your alarum clorck.

DIE AH!

Cannotcannot!! This won't do!

I woke up early this morning - NOT to the sound of my alarm clock/handphone. It was to the sound of my walking, talking, multi-purpose-all-in-1-shock-resistant-energy-saving-solar-powered maternal alarm clock.

She said that my alarm had been going off 5 times already.
I didn't hear it ONCE.
Either that, or my memory is really, really bad.

I better start adjusting my body clock..Before I have to wear sports gear to run to school on most mornings. And get shamed again by Gopi when he announces to the whole tennis court that I'm late once more.

Sigh.

Must not take my commuting advantage for granted!!

Internal Struggles

I agree with Lanxi -
my IS class leaves me quite drained mentally.

ALW is, I bet, the toughest IS module around.
I bet my pretty yellow-and-blue earplugs that it is even tougher
than Moctriw.

Controversy, that is what much of the class (v.) is all about.

I can't help but gripe that I didn't boldly stand up for my faith today. I did slip out one little sentence, yet unmemorable it was. I kept thinking to myself that "I shall wait till he's done", but before I knew it, it was my turn to talk about myself. The thought of speaking up suddenly transformed into pressure to go head first into my designated role, which I did.

What is bad? Or what is good?

As the ever-diplomatic society says, We all have our own definitions. But today's instance felt much to me like one which was overly-cautious and quick to be 'diplomatic', so much so that I felt the need to drive home the fact that it was, in that context, the religion which defined the parameters. Christianity.

I can only make it a point to open my big fat mouth at the right time, next time.
There will be more to come, so Lord, I pray for wisdom.

Much of the definitions today are all society-defined.

I agree with the statement above - but - I will strive not to follow that.
Be in the world, but not of the world.

9 simple words, but a Christian's toughest task ever.

I HATE CRAMPS!!!

5 days, without a word,
and you threw me to the winds.
either i'm jinxed, or i'm just a fool.

I think something's wrong with my internal oxygen system.

I fart over-excessively, I can't burp, I get weird
bubble-exploding noises in my chest area.

Hmmm.

Coupled with all the already-dying limbs,
maybe I'll die when I'm 50.




Here's something which spoke to me during today's YF session.
Praise God for the wonderful attendance.

The guest speaker said,

"How's your relationship with God?
Is He your friend only when you have troubles?

Imagine your friend looking for you only when he or she needs help.
What kind of friend would you think he or she is?

And what kind of friend would God think you are?"