Grandpa, I'll miss you
Deeply saddened when I heard the news that grandpa, you are no longer with us.
I will never be able to forget the moment I met you and grandma at the Long Beach train station.
It was in 2002 and there I was, traveling around the east coast after my exchange programme. You graciously invited me to stay with you after learning I was almost mugged in the subway.
Your smile was mesmerizing. I remembered you and grandma were holding hands as you were looking out for the "Chinese girl wearing a light blue Ithaca sweatshirt".
I stayed with you for a short 3 days but those days were unforgettable.
You brought me to the Boardwalk and showed me where mom and dad (my "adopted" US parents) got married, in the middle of WINTER.
You showed me the neighborhood and beautiful houses.
You almost made it to Singapore, if not for the dreaded SARS.
However, I am glad I had the privilege, blessing and honor of seeing you again after that. Grandma left us before I could see her again but still, I was glad I could speak with her over the phone and said my last goodbye.
You looked great and we had a great conversation when you visited during Dina's graduation.
You asked me if I wanted to return to do my PhD. I remembered saying "Maybe" and laughed.
Think we said goodbye then.
I hope you received my card and well wishes, and truly, you are missed.
Grandpa, thank you for treating and loving me as your own.
Flowers!
Hee...
Caused quite a commotion at the office today.
I was just working, minding my own business, when suddenly I heard a whole group of people shouting my name.
And I mean
SHOUT!!!!!
I stood up and looked, wondering what happened.
I really didn't know what to expect, except for someone looking for me and someone very important.
There walking towards me is an uncle, holding a BIG BOUQUET.
Of white lilies and roses.
I signed the delivery order and thanked him.
I hold in my hands, a BIG BOUQUET of seven roses and six lilies.
Beautiful.
.
.
.
.
.
Thank you, sweetheart.
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"Housemen" makes me fat
I don't know whether it's a blessing or a bane, but ever since "Housemen Corner" - a food & drinks kiosk - opened its shutters for business near my work place, my eating habits have taken a turn.
For better or for worse.
Better - Variety definitely helps. Chee Cheong Fun, Soon Kueh, oh-my-so-lovely Waffles with Blueberry jam, Shui Kueh (cute lil rice cakes with salted vegetables), teh, teh-c, kopi, kopi-c, kopi-siu-tai.....
Worse - Variety of image-threatening ingredients, oil, fats, carbohydrates, calories, sugar...
In the past, when food around me wasn't that magnificent to begin with, cereals with milk happens to be the best breakfast option.
Now now. I still have cereals for breakfast, but my heart tickles for some variety.
And that variety is making me
FAT!Maybe I should stop walking past that way.
1. Out of sight, out of mind.
2. Walk more, burn more.
3. No more fragrant wafts of waffle-smell coming through my nose into my sensory system.
Out.
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sane choices.
Work on Saturday
Oooooh yeah!
Why am I writing this at 8:09AM on a Saturday, when half the world my age is still deep in sleep?
Got to work.
It's kinda funny how when we were having dinner last night that ALL of us had to get up early to work the next day. It's almost like thou-shalt-work-on Saturdays karma...
Anyway, I had to be at Orchard at 9:30AM for a photoshoot for the staff magazine. It's going to be fun and full of laughter, I'm sure. I mean it's a blessing that for 2 consecutive shoots God has planned for me great talent for my models. :)
Pretty.
Cute.
Handsome.
Nice smile. :D
I just pray fervently that there will be NO RAIN...
Back track to last night. We were talking, talking and suddenly we started talking about traveling. I hope that our HK trip in September will materialize.
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short sane.
I'm Floored
I don't usually do quizzes. Especially those aimless ones like "What kind of angel/devil am I?" or "If I am a kind of pizza, what toppings will I have?" so on and so forth.
But when I tried this, thanks to my friend
Kit, I was completely and totally floored.
Here's what it says:
What Sia Jia Hui Means
|
You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. (me: AMEN, AMEN!!!)
You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know.
You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do.
You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.
You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long.
You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.
You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic "Type A" personality.
You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you.
You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries. (me: IS THIS SERIOUS?)
You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice.
You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. (me: HALLELUJAH)
Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia.
Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person.
You are a very lucky person. Things just always seem to go your way.
And because you're so lucky, you don't really have a lot of worries. You just hope for the best in life.
You're sometimes a little guilty of being greedy. Spread your luck around a little to people who need it. (me: SPREAD A LITTLE LOVIN') |
OH.MY.WONDEROUS.GOSH.
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One. Two. Three. FLOOR.
中国
坚强吧，中国！
日后会有更多奇迹出现。
会继续为你们祈祷。
Bumper Sticker
Do what makes you happy
Be with who makes you smile
Laugh as much as you breath
Love as long as you live
A good example
I was traveling on the train from Jurong to Tampines and along the way a male Chinese national came on board and sat opposite me.
I could tell he was not local.
As he sat there, I noticed he was making funny faces at a little boy next to him. The little boy, about 2-3 years of age, was with the parents then. It was quite a cute sight to behold.
A couple of stations later, the family alighted and the man shifted over to the side.
Just about then an elderly lady walked in and sat opposite me, a couple of seats away from the man. I think it was Aljunied.
As the elderly lady was walking in, however, a piece of used tissue dropped out from her pocket. She didn't notice.
Without saying a word, the Chinese national took out a small plastic bag from his backpack and removed its content. After that, he used the small plastic bag to pick up the used tissue from the ground and kept it with him.
All the way until he alighted.
I was so impressed with his behavior and at the same time wonder if it was me, what would I do?
Yes, I'd probably just leave the used tissue for the cleaners to pick up.
Such is the behavior of me who grew up in a place where cleanliness is held in high regards and where being clean and green is a mandate. This is also the place where the name of the country is synonymous with CLEAN.
But no, my behavior and mindset do not even match this young man who may have arrived a couple of years ago. And yet, he showed me what it means to be gracious.
I remember back when I was in the US, I traveled to Maryland to visit a good friend of mine. He never fails to impress me because no matter where we are, he will be picking up trash from the ground and putting it into the trash cans.
I asked him why is he so adamant in picking up these trash?
His response was he couldn't stand seeing the place dirty.
Maybe that's how the Chinese national felt. Maybe because he has made Singapore his second home that he can't bear to see it littered and dirty.
No matter where we are, no matter where we come from, being gracious should be in our nature.
Whether or not the country has a first-class cleaning system is not important.
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Sane is educated.
Decision
Finally... My decision is to stay put.
Yup, it may sound like a downer but after hearing sound advice from two people who have been there and done that, it may not be such a great idea after all for me to get a third communication degree.
And do I really want to end up as a professor, with such little real work experience?
Maybe not.
It doesn't mean that I won't be getting one in future. I may, after I get more work experience and have a clearer idea about what is needed in the area of health communication and social needs.
But for now, I think it's a no-go for PhD.
And I feel great about this decision. =)
Permanent Head Damage?
I just knew this day is gonna come. But it's a little too soon right?
Should I or should I not? What is this all going to mean?
Another four years of pure, intensive research and back into the furor of school.
Should I even entertain this thought?
Yes, I do have a scholarship and all that but it will also mean a lot of commitment, sacrifices and devotion on my part.
First, I will have to go with a small stipend for the next four years. Will this be fair to the people around me?
Second, my life will be inundated with research, writing and presentation. Can I handle it?
Third, pursuing a PhD and doing research have always been my heart's desire. So if I don't go for it, will I be shortchanging myself?
Dear Lord, guide me.
Free Willy, only bigger and better
Just watched Water Horse and I highly recommend it.
It is entertaining, yet heart-warming.
Do not expect an epic but it is as good as a feel-good movie could be.
The film is paced very well, with episodes when you are just sitting at the edge of the seat.
Death?
We've all come across countless of quotes about deaths - positive or negative. For example:
"When death smiles at you, the best thing you can do is to smile back" - Gladiator"Because I could not stop for death, he kindly stopped for me" - Emily Dickinson"It is worthwhile to live and fight courageously for sacred ideals" - Norbert CapekI was just reading a book this morning on the way to work and this one line the author wrote struck me deep inside, right to the core of my being, shaking every ounce of flesh in me.
She said:
"Death does not linger where it has been defeated" - Anita Diamant, The Red TentYou see why I was so overcome by emotion not simply because of the depth and profundity of the subject matter, but the brevity in which it describes what it means to us all who can proudly proclaim that we have conquered death, through the ONE who conquered it for us on the cross.
The Red Tent is a fiction novel about Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and sister of his sons. We hardly hear about her, except for when she was raped.
Anyhow, The Red Tent expounds on her and her life with her family and eventually in Egypt.
Be forewarned though, that this story does not strive to hold truth to biblical-sense. The author tries to give us a sense of how life could've been like in the times of Israel and she tries to bring in elements of their times such as the herbs they would've used for cooking and healing, the machinery, the kind of work they do, the kind of houses they live in. However, as far as character development is concerned, the author took the liberty to carve out personalities for each of the brothers, Jacob, his wives and handmaids, and of course, Dinah.
We read how the brothers banter among themselves:
"Reuben was, by nature, kind to children, but we avoided Simon and Levi, who laughed at us and teased Tali and Issa, the twins. 'How do you know which of you is which?' Levi taunted. Simon was even worse: 'If one of you dies, our mother won't mourn since she'll have one exactly the same.' That always made Tali cry."The Red Tent brought us from the beginnings of Dinah's mother and aunts (Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah), which is about one-fifth of the novel to Dinah's story. And eventually we read about Dinah's death in the arms of her true love Benia, the carpenter in Egypt.
We also read how she met Joseph, who was already Pharoah's right-hand man and how that brief meeting was so brief but poignant.
It was because in the novel, Dinah truly loved the man, Shalem, whom the brothers killed, along with the rest of the men in Shechem. In The Red Tent, Dinah was heart-broken beyond belief and went on to curse her brothers and her father, for allowing the murders to happen.
The Red Tent continued to spin the story of how Dinah eventually settled in Egypt, gave birth to Re-mose the son of Shalem, watched her son grew to a man, met Benia - the carpenter with whom she spent the rest of her life with and died in Egypt.
The chronicle of Dinah was compelling and believable but as the author mentioned, this is a fictional novel.
Read it for the love that Dinah has shared and has the privilege to share with the people she knew - her mother, her aunts, her brothers, her father, her true loves, her son and her people.
"Death is no enemy, but the foundation of gratitude, sympathy, and art. Of all life's pleasure, only LOVE owes no debt to death"
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Truly, love knows no bounds and death has been defeated.
