Sunday, March 23, 2008
The song is 'Without You' by Mariah Carey. After listening to 'Ken Lee' (and no doubt laughing at it), I thought of tuning in to the version sung by Mariah Carey and boy, was I stunned!
I mean, it's not like I am listening to this song, sung by her for the first time. I guess, I have sort of developed a new appreciation for music over time and you know, I might have probably heard this song through the radio or something, just that, I don't go and listen to it very carefully.
So I was checking out this video for the first time a few days ago and when I heard it, something like that went through my mind, 'How is it possible that there is anyone in this world that can actually sing so well?!' It's amazing! Her range is excellent (duh! You are talking about Mariah Carey lor..) and although the pitch is high, she actually sounds low and deep. Her 'scaling' up and down were fantastic. If you listen carefully, she is actually hitting actual notes and not just 'sliding' up and down. Refer to position 2:28 on the video to 'see' what I mean. It's an extremely difficult song to sing and to sing it like she did. She is like most of the time 'up at the stratosphere'. As if her singing isn't good enough, her showmanship is great. Really really nice. Ok, I am totally hooked onto this song. haha. :D Enjoy! :)
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Something interesting to share with you people out there:
I was having a lecture on perfumes and what the lecturer usually does is that she will pass perfumes around for us to smell during the lecture. The perfumes usually come either in their original containers or sprayed on a blotter.
So there was this one time, I was listening to the lecturer and the perfumes were passed around. No, that wasn't the only time I was listening to the lectures. And I think the word 'perfumes' is kinda wrong to be used like that, but you get what I mean, right? I know you all are all smart people one....
Yes! I was listening to the lecturer and suddenly, I felt something crawling on my arm. It felt like there was an insect crawling on me, like an ant, or even worse, a cockroach!!! But then, it didn't felt like it was something big. ya, so I turned to look at what was causing the disturbance and guess what I saw??? It, or rather, she was a girl, reaching across the seat between her and myself, trying to passing me a set of blotters (I can't remember whether it was a few or just one), and she was like trying to get my attention, using the blotters to scrap my arm. But apparently, to me, it felt like insects on me.
Thank God I turned and checked. Thank God that I didn't just whack my hand down onto my arm! Whoa piang...that would be so paiseh man. Not just paiseh, but super paiseh lor. Who knows? I might bo tai bo ji whack that girl's hand. That would be really bad.
But then, it was quite interesting lah. Quite funny even. haha. I wonder what would have happened if my other arm went down to attack the 'insect'. wahahahaha.. jia lat man.. Big boo boo X 1..
I was having a lecture on perfumes and what the lecturer usually does is that she will pass perfumes around for us to smell during the lecture. The perfumes usually come either in their original containers or sprayed on a blotter.
So there was this one time, I was listening to the lecturer and the perfumes were passed around. No, that wasn't the only time I was listening to the lectures. And I think the word 'perfumes' is kinda wrong to be used like that, but you get what I mean, right? I know you all are all smart people one....
Yes! I was listening to the lecturer and suddenly, I felt something crawling on my arm. It felt like there was an insect crawling on me, like an ant, or even worse, a cockroach!!! But then, it didn't felt like it was something big. ya, so I turned to look at what was causing the disturbance and guess what I saw??? It, or rather, she was a girl, reaching across the seat between her and myself, trying to passing me a set of blotters (I can't remember whether it was a few or just one), and she was like trying to get my attention, using the blotters to scrap my arm. But apparently, to me, it felt like insects on me.
Thank God I turned and checked. Thank God that I didn't just whack my hand down onto my arm! Whoa piang...that would be so paiseh man. Not just paiseh, but super paiseh lor. Who knows? I might bo tai bo ji whack that girl's hand. That would be really bad.
But then, it was quite interesting lah. Quite funny even. haha. I wonder what would have happened if my other arm went down to attack the 'insect'. wahahahaha.. jia lat man.. Big boo boo X 1..
Friday, March 14, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
I cannot remember when...that day, my mind was on the issue of death. It might seem weird that a twenty-something-year-old would think of such a topic. But death is something that is part of life, isn't it? We all have to face death at least once in our lifetime, right? Some of us have the opportunity to face death more than once in our lifetime (e.g. because of illness), some of us face death only once in our lifetime.
I can't say which one of the groups of people is more blessed. I think both groups are blessed in their own way. Now, you must be thinking that I am crazy, right? 神经病，有毛病，对吗？ How can a person who has grappled with death more than once be blessed? Who wants to go through that kind of scenario, right? Like your life is hanging in the balance, on a thin thread. You can 'go' anytime. It's not what a normal person would want to go through.. And what about your family? They go through much pain as they walk that path with you. You are right. But for a person to go through something like that, yet survive, it's like being given a new lease of life. Not only that, living becomes......different. Living takes on a whole new perspective. That's valuable and I think many of us need that kind of perspective.
What do you think is on the mind of a person who is on his/her deathbed? ok, let's cut a bit of slack here. What do you think is going on in a person who is faced with the possibility of death in the near future? I would think certain things become more important and certain things becomes less important. What are these things? Family becomes more important. Relationships becomes more important. Money becomes less important. School grades become less important. Material possessions become less important. What do we see here? Interestingly, our priorities become reversed! Ain't that amazing?
Of course, I am not saying here that all of us have the same priorities in life as what is described above. But it might be true for some people, right? Sometimes, we work until very late, whether studying or working in the office, sometimes skipping dinner with our family or loved ones. I am not saying that it's wrong to work. Just that, it is interesting to see what really matters to us deep down and what is really important and valuable to us.
At the end of the day (or our life in this case), the value of what were important to us seem to diminish in comparison to that which seemed to be not so important to us in the past.
Same for our eternal destiny..When we are alive and kicking, well and in the pink of health, we don't think of what is going to happen to us after death. It is only when we are hit with the possibility of our death in the near future like a tsunami, that we ponder about the question 'what's next after life?' Hopefully, when you are faced with this scenario, you would ponder about that question! :)
It's scary, you know, to lie in bed, knowing that you can just leave this world anytime (e.g. you are suffering from a terminal illness), and not know after you shut your eyes for the last time, where you will be going next? I have not been through that kind of near-death experience, but I can imagine. It must be frightening.
Where will you end up? Will you end up in a place without the presence of God, in a place called Hell, like what your Christian friends have been gently telling you? Will you end up in Heaven, like what you would want to believe? Or will you end up in front of the Lord of Hades, waiting to sort you in one of 18 levels of hell or waiting to decide what will you be in your next life? Will you end up in a state of eternal sleep? Or just non-existence? Which one is true???
For us, Christians, it's a pretty clear picture. After death, we get to spend an eternity with God. And He will wipe away all our tears. There won't be any suffering, pain and unhappiness. And all these is because God sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for my sins, paying the penalty for my sins, so that I do not have to receive the punishment that I deserve because of my sins, but am received by God as His child, into His family, cleansed by the work of Christ on the cross.
For all of us reading this post, if you are a non-Christian, maybe you have not made a decision on which one to believe or maybe you have already made a decision. But let me tell you this: Your decision - what you choose to believe - is going to impact you. It will have implications. So don't say that all religions lead you to God. No, they don't. Because if 'A' is true, 'non-A' cannot be true. That is the basic law of non-contradiction. For example, belief '1' says that you have to rely on A + B to go to Heaven, while belief '2' says that you only have to rely on doing A to go to Heaven. If belief '1' is true, then belief '2' has to be wrong. If belief '2' is true, then belief '1' has to be wrong. It is the same thing as saying 'Jane was in school at 10 am' and 'Jane was at home at 10 am'. If you believe that Jane was in school at 10 am, you cannot believe that Jane was at home at 10 am. It just doesn't make any logical sense for both to be true at the same time!
What I am trying to say is that there can only be one truth with regards to where you are going after death and which path do you need to take to get to that destination. This is serious stuff, major decision to make. So where does this leave us? My advice? Start searching now for the truth. Does your particular belief answer the questions of life? Does it make sense? Some people I know practice a particular religion because their parents practice it in the first place. But I have the impression that they seldom think if what they are doing makes any sense at all. Seek the truth, people. Seek it like your life depends on it, because it does.
I can't say which one of the groups of people is more blessed. I think both groups are blessed in their own way. Now, you must be thinking that I am crazy, right? 神经病，有毛病，对吗？ How can a person who has grappled with death more than once be blessed? Who wants to go through that kind of scenario, right? Like your life is hanging in the balance, on a thin thread. You can 'go' anytime. It's not what a normal person would want to go through.. And what about your family? They go through much pain as they walk that path with you. You are right. But for a person to go through something like that, yet survive, it's like being given a new lease of life. Not only that, living becomes......different. Living takes on a whole new perspective. That's valuable and I think many of us need that kind of perspective.
What do you think is on the mind of a person who is on his/her deathbed? ok, let's cut a bit of slack here. What do you think is going on in a person who is faced with the possibility of death in the near future? I would think certain things become more important and certain things becomes less important. What are these things? Family becomes more important. Relationships becomes more important. Money becomes less important. School grades become less important. Material possessions become less important. What do we see here? Interestingly, our priorities become reversed! Ain't that amazing?
Of course, I am not saying here that all of us have the same priorities in life as what is described above. But it might be true for some people, right? Sometimes, we work until very late, whether studying or working in the office, sometimes skipping dinner with our family or loved ones. I am not saying that it's wrong to work. Just that, it is interesting to see what really matters to us deep down and what is really important and valuable to us.
At the end of the day (or our life in this case), the value of what were important to us seem to diminish in comparison to that which seemed to be not so important to us in the past.
Same for our eternal destiny..When we are alive and kicking, well and in the pink of health, we don't think of what is going to happen to us after death. It is only when we are hit with the possibility of our death in the near future like a tsunami, that we ponder about the question 'what's next after life?' Hopefully, when you are faced with this scenario, you would ponder about that question! :)
It's scary, you know, to lie in bed, knowing that you can just leave this world anytime (e.g. you are suffering from a terminal illness), and not know after you shut your eyes for the last time, where you will be going next? I have not been through that kind of near-death experience, but I can imagine. It must be frightening.
Where will you end up? Will you end up in a place without the presence of God, in a place called Hell, like what your Christian friends have been gently telling you? Will you end up in Heaven, like what you would want to believe? Or will you end up in front of the Lord of Hades, waiting to sort you in one of 18 levels of hell or waiting to decide what will you be in your next life? Will you end up in a state of eternal sleep? Or just non-existence? Which one is true???
For us, Christians, it's a pretty clear picture. After death, we get to spend an eternity with God. And He will wipe away all our tears. There won't be any suffering, pain and unhappiness. And all these is because God sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for my sins, paying the penalty for my sins, so that I do not have to receive the punishment that I deserve because of my sins, but am received by God as His child, into His family, cleansed by the work of Christ on the cross.
For all of us reading this post, if you are a non-Christian, maybe you have not made a decision on which one to believe or maybe you have already made a decision. But let me tell you this: Your decision - what you choose to believe - is going to impact you. It will have implications. So don't say that all religions lead you to God. No, they don't. Because if 'A' is true, 'non-A' cannot be true. That is the basic law of non-contradiction. For example, belief '1' says that you have to rely on A + B to go to Heaven, while belief '2' says that you only have to rely on doing A to go to Heaven. If belief '1' is true, then belief '2' has to be wrong. If belief '2' is true, then belief '1' has to be wrong. It is the same thing as saying 'Jane was in school at 10 am' and 'Jane was at home at 10 am'. If you believe that Jane was in school at 10 am, you cannot believe that Jane was at home at 10 am. It just doesn't make any logical sense for both to be true at the same time!
What I am trying to say is that there can only be one truth with regards to where you are going after death and which path do you need to take to get to that destination. This is serious stuff, major decision to make. So where does this leave us? My advice? Start searching now for the truth. Does your particular belief answer the questions of life? Does it make sense? Some people I know practice a particular religion because their parents practice it in the first place. But I have the impression that they seldom think if what they are doing makes any sense at all. Seek the truth, people. Seek it like your life depends on it, because it does.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Lots of things have happened since the last time I blogged, but since this is not exactly a log of what I did, I shall not bore you all out there with the nitty-gritty details.
I was having a talk with my mum just now over dinner, or rather, over our empty dinner boxes. She was telling me how things are doing in this particular ministry in church. They are really going all way out to reach out to people for the Lord. That is amazing. Thank God.
Amongst the things I was thinking about as the conversation went on, one firm conclusion came to my mind. Some are capable of sharing the Gospel to huge multitudes of people, groups of people that occupy stadiums, big compounds. Yet some aren't meant to do that. They share the Good News on a personal level, one-to-one.
But all of us are blessed. Whether we are sharing the Gospel to huge multitudes of people, or to a person in an outdoor cafe, we are doing the same thing and that is sharing the Gospel. We are to do it and not only that, but we are to also do it to the best we can, putting in our best effort. At the end of the day, the result is up to God and we should be glad...real glad...joyful that we have been faithful to do what we can in our life, in this ministry entrusted to all true believers of Jesus Christ.
I was having a talk with my mum just now over dinner, or rather, over our empty dinner boxes. She was telling me how things are doing in this particular ministry in church. They are really going all way out to reach out to people for the Lord. That is amazing. Thank God.
Amongst the things I was thinking about as the conversation went on, one firm conclusion came to my mind. Some are capable of sharing the Gospel to huge multitudes of people, groups of people that occupy stadiums, big compounds. Yet some aren't meant to do that. They share the Good News on a personal level, one-to-one.
But all of us are blessed. Whether we are sharing the Gospel to huge multitudes of people, or to a person in an outdoor cafe, we are doing the same thing and that is sharing the Gospel. We are to do it and not only that, but we are to also do it to the best we can, putting in our best effort. At the end of the day, the result is up to God and we should be glad...real glad...joyful that we have been faithful to do what we can in our life, in this ministry entrusted to all true believers of Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
ok, I am less than four hours away from a mid-term test and I am not done studying yet...and I am blogging..Why? Because I am getting a bit restless with my thoughts wandering here and there to places except on the subject that is in front of me -- my lecture notes on...guess what? Cell Biology. And I wonder why???? hmmmm....
This week is, undeniably, one of the xiong-est weeks in this semester, until now. One mid-term test yesterday, another one today, one lab report to submit tomorrow and things to read and look for with regards to my projects. Sounds fun huh? Absolutely....
But I know I am not alone and that I am certainly not the one taking the worst heat out of schoolwork, so before people start saying things that have '....weak....' or '....soft.....', including other weird negative permutations of that two words, in their heads....I am doing fine...by the grace of God.
I do need to sleep more though. Had a bad feeling around my throat and nose region this morning when I was in the brink of waking up from what was a brief sleep...How long did I sleep....hmmm...four-five hours??
Ok! I know! That, by others' standards, is quite a luxury already, but hey, I am not you, right? And I am not you and I don't want to be you. Enough said. ...... It would be funny if someone asked me to 'wake up my idea'...hahahaha...
Had a weird encounter with Thomas just now in the library. I saw him coming out of the elevator yesterday while I was leaving campus and he was wearing this red T-shirt. This morning, while I was walking across the reading area in the library to my 'targeted' table (cf. proteins targeted to specific organelles...真的是三句不离本行...I wonder what's my 'target sequence'?? wahahahaha... :P), I saw him again, this time round, studying at one of the tables, wearing a red T-shirt....again! *gasp* It was like he stayed overnight in the library! So, I stopped at my tracks and asked him, "You slept here ah?" He said, "ya!" Whoa piang...
ok, I think he was just joking lah. The library closes for the night one. Even though we, life science students, might seem like we got no life, I think the librarians got life one lor. But I wouldn't be surprised to see people chionging for the mid-term paper until like that. If you are taking this module and not chionging now, there are two major possibilities: one, you are just slacking...something is really really wrong; two, you are just super good....steady steady pom pi pi...then I got nothing to say.
oh well, I am definitely looking forward to the 3-months break! It's NEVER too early to hope for the break! NEVER!!! :D I rest my case.
This week is, undeniably, one of the xiong-est weeks in this semester, until now. One mid-term test yesterday, another one today, one lab report to submit tomorrow and things to read and look for with regards to my projects. Sounds fun huh? Absolutely....
But I know I am not alone and that I am certainly not the one taking the worst heat out of schoolwork, so before people start saying things that have '....weak....' or '....soft.....', including other weird negative permutations of that two words, in their heads....I am doing fine...by the grace of God.
I do need to sleep more though. Had a bad feeling around my throat and nose region this morning when I was in the brink of waking up from what was a brief sleep...How long did I sleep....hmmm...four-five hours??
Ok! I know! That, by others' standards, is quite a luxury already, but hey, I am not you, right? And I am not you and I don't want to be you. Enough said. ...... It would be funny if someone asked me to 'wake up my idea'...hahahaha...
Had a weird encounter with Thomas just now in the library. I saw him coming out of the elevator yesterday while I was leaving campus and he was wearing this red T-shirt. This morning, while I was walking across the reading area in the library to my 'targeted' table (cf. proteins targeted to specific organelles...真的是三句不离本行...I wonder what's my 'target sequence'?? wahahahaha... :P), I saw him again, this time round, studying at one of the tables, wearing a red T-shirt....again! *gasp* It was like he stayed overnight in the library! So, I stopped at my tracks and asked him, "You slept here ah?" He said, "ya!" Whoa piang...
ok, I think he was just joking lah. The library closes for the night one. Even though we, life science students, might seem like we got no life, I think the librarians got life one lor. But I wouldn't be surprised to see people chionging for the mid-term paper until like that. If you are taking this module and not chionging now, there are two major possibilities: one, you are just slacking...something is really really wrong; two, you are just super good....steady steady pom pi pi...then I got nothing to say.
oh well, I am definitely looking forward to the 3-months break! It's NEVER too early to hope for the break! NEVER!!! :D I rest my case.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Busy...busy...busy...
I have been wanting to blog, but just didn't get down to do it. Like what I mentioned above, I have been busy...busy...busy... Taking the opportunity to blog while watching American Idol on TV. Interesting to hear the judges' comments, especially Simon's...haha...
The previous day, we had the guys singing. Tonight, we have the girls. I thought the guys had some problems in general with the range. oh, there was this guy with the name Chikezie. He is so good....my goodness...power vocals...I really like his vocals man. I don't know if he is going to be kicked out of the competition, but I am telling you, that guy has good vocals man.
ya, I have been busy...that's like my third time repeating this, right? Two CAs to prepare for, one lab report to complete, project meetings...that's for schoolwork.
I have been involved in some events with Singapore Youth For Christ lately. Sleep late + wake up super early ---> sleep little. But I have got to admit...it's my fault that I slept little......I could have put in more effort to sleep early lah.. That's not all I can say about my experience serving in those events, but I shall just leave this topic for now.
ok, I shall continue more on another day. It's getting late already and instead of sleeping, I will be doing more studying. bo pian ('no choice' in Hokkein), have to do it. Hopefully, I won't fall asleep half-way, with the light left switched on.....again....apparently, I heard from somewhere that people who sleep with the lights switched on, experience poorer quality of sleep (i.e. less rested) than those who sleep with the lights switched off....ya....
whoa piang! I say I want to go off already, then I still type so much!! ok ok, gonna dash. See you!
I have been wanting to blog, but just didn't get down to do it. Like what I mentioned above, I have been busy...busy...busy... Taking the opportunity to blog while watching American Idol on TV. Interesting to hear the judges' comments, especially Simon's...haha...
The previous day, we had the guys singing. Tonight, we have the girls. I thought the guys had some problems in general with the range. oh, there was this guy with the name Chikezie. He is so good....my goodness...power vocals...I really like his vocals man. I don't know if he is going to be kicked out of the competition, but I am telling you, that guy has good vocals man.
ya, I have been busy...that's like my third time repeating this, right? Two CAs to prepare for, one lab report to complete, project meetings...that's for schoolwork.
I have been involved in some events with Singapore Youth For Christ lately. Sleep late + wake up super early ---> sleep little. But I have got to admit...it's my fault that I slept little......I could have put in more effort to sleep early lah.. That's not all I can say about my experience serving in those events, but I shall just leave this topic for now.
ok, I shall continue more on another day. It's getting late already and instead of sleeping, I will be doing more studying. bo pian ('no choice' in Hokkein), have to do it. Hopefully, I won't fall asleep half-way, with the light left switched on.....again....apparently, I heard from somewhere that people who sleep with the lights switched on, experience poorer quality of sleep (i.e. less rested) than those who sleep with the lights switched off....ya....
whoa piang! I say I want to go off already, then I still type so much!! ok ok, gonna dash. See you!
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