Moment Musicaux

• 11:53 The Financial Times’ standard of writing and reporting pwns our ST. But regretfully, I don’t seem to have the discipline to read through … #

• 10:55 I can’t believe I actually doubted my home phone number and had to check my handphone to confirm. #
• 17:18 I think I’ll be walking half of the Standard Chartered Marathon. Sighhh. #

• 09:42 God is good. He knows my weakness, and He protects me. Thank God I wasn’t free on Tuesday. #
• 09:47 As usual, I’m aching. Which for once I really enjoy. =) Tennis tonight! #

The ModestChou sends me a link, declaring that I’m the ‘youngest’, and therefore reckless. This shows how modest he is in his knowledge of me. But I found the article interesting nonetheless, so up here it goes.

The Independent (UK) does a study on family cliches - the oldest, bossy; the middle, wayward (like me); the youngest, impulsive and reckless. Here is an excerpt:

"What kind of a person do you imagine when you think of an eldest child? Do you think of a conscientious, hard-working conformist? A proud brother or sister who shoulders responsibility – with or without encouragement? What if I were to ask you which member of your family is the most extroverted, or the naughtiest? Do you think of your younger sibling? Does the thought of a middle child conjure pictures of a tortured soul, forever torn between two extremes?" […]

This is what Oslo (+10) University’s latest study shows:

"What he found was pretty convincing evidence that it was not the fact of being born first that gave you an intellectual head-start in life; it was the actual role of being the eldest that was important. It was being reared as the eldest, rather than being born the eldest, that mattered."

I disagree with some of the findings though (probably due to cultural differences, but I too hypothesize). Still, it’s a generalisation, so not all of it should be applied to everyone per se.

Take my family for example. I can safely say that even though I’m the middle child, I don’t suffer from the Middle Child Syndrome (MCS). Nor have I as the once-youngest, felt ‘dethroned’, as modern psychologist Alfred Adler calls it. How do I explain this? My brother and I are only a year apart and my sister is six years younger.

My mom told me that the age gaps between the three of us sibilings were planned out. With our close age gap (18 months to be exact), my brother and I were companions, rather than having sibling rivalry like that of a three-year-old (that has learnt emotions and is learning to wield them) jealous of the attention his/her newborn sibling gets. We learnt together and played together, even though my mom did treat us slightly differently because of certain character traits. As for my sister, it was in consideration to the MCS. Which means that by six years old, I’ve had my fair share of being the youngest. I was past the vying-for-attention stage when my sister came along. I became the oldest girl, which is a responsibility.

Why did I become rebellious? It’s because I just liked to question authority and certain rules and ways that just didn’t make sense (then). That’s another story.

But yeah, do read the article - it’s a bit lengthy though - and see if you agree or disagree with it!

• 17:17 Tomorrow it’ll be my first trip to Sentosa this year. Or maybe second. Gosh. #

I start my 10-minute walk to the bus stop at KAP with no music in my ears. I’m determined that my morning time with God isn’t distracted by music. Alas, I’m air bass playing - borrowed the boy’s other bass home - to practice for youth camp. Funny how there once weren’t enough drummers; now there aren’t enough bass players. Taking turns, are we!

I arrive at the bus stop, perspiring slightly from the humid morning. Yet again, the bus takes the longest time to come. A 74 comes by. It seems packed. A few people manage to squeeze on, leaving behind a guy around my age and a 60-year-old lady. The lady sits back down and reads her Straits Times newspaper. The bus drives off, and I see a whole lot of empty space at the back of the double decker bus. Neither of the left-behinds seem to notice it. I seethe silently.

Barely 30 seconds later, another 74 comes by. The guy gets on, but the lady remains glued to her newspaper. I stare at her, hoping she feels that sensation (you get from being stared at) and looks up. Oh, she does. But she takes nary a glance at the 74, which doors are closing, and looks out onto the oncoming traffic. The bus seems to move off really slowly. She buries her face back into the paper.

My bus comes. It’s almost full and I squeeze myself up, looking intently at people who don’t move in. I spot Geri at the next stop, but the packed bus plunges on. Most of the students on the bus get off at NP, so I get empty seat and pull out my Bible. At SIM, I chuckle when a mini game of ‘big wind blow’ takes place. I wonder if people get offended when the person beside them leapfrogs to an empty seat. They’re probably more relieved that they get an empty seat. Everyone’s happy.

I alight and begin my final 5 minute journey to the office, only to be ’stalked’ by a guy singing falsetto. Not very well sung tho. I reach the office, smile sheepishly at a fellow stranger-colleague and grab a copy of the Financial Times.

I’m late, but I’m king of the castle. Whee.

• 18:41 You never know just what you say and do may change another’s live around. #

Yes yes that’s my new haircut. I look almost exactly like how I did in Secondary ONE! WOO! What ‘provoked’ me into doing so? It’s the ultimate Singaporean trait. FREE! Now stop gawking.

• 10:58 YES I’ve finally managed to configure this Twitter thingie! The website was srsly idiot-unfriendly. Pfft. #
• 10:59 I dislike loud keyboards (like mine) because I don’t have much to do and typing makes me sound like I’m working too hard! #
• 11:00 Come next week, I’ll be KING OF THE CASTLE HURHURHUR. The (only) other lady is going on leeeeeave! Whee! #
• 14:22 So many things to do. So little attention span and drive. #

• 14:36 I think I’ve been seated too long. I feel a strange sensation in my leg. Maybe it’s the start of DVT. #
• 14:37 I’ve FINALLY satisfied my cravings for the cheese hotdog at the western food stall. Been dreaming of it since yesterday. #
• 14:48 My ear canal hurts. Either there’s a pimple or it’s infected. Gah. #
• 15:47 Just found out that I could have listened in while an A-list actress had singing lessons… Darn! #
• 18:00 Humility Lessons in C. #

My church has started a youth choir for the slightly-more-contemporary 1130am service! Some of them sat in to sing-sing with us, and some did a ‘Esau’ - they traded in their freedom for a packet of rice. Heh heh

Well, it definitely takes a lot of courage to go ahead with joining something when your friends abandon you last minute and Tanya, I’m proud of you!

What made my heart melt and grin stupidly like a proud mama was when the boys sang the hymn ‘Holy, holy, holy’. They’re so good! I promise there were hardly anyone off-key, and most importantly, they blended together as one voice. Wow. Thinking of Sunday just makes me smile. I’m really looking forward to more sessions!

"Just as Thou wilt, Lord, this is my cry.
Just as Thou wilt, to live or die.
I am Thy servant, Thou knowest best.
Just as Thou wilt, Lord, labour or rest."
~William J. Kirkpatrick, 1838-1921 (After writing this, he breathed his last.)

Yes, it’s the Bee Movie. And for the love of all things starting with ‘B’ *koff*, I had to watch it.

Anyway, I didn’t have an astronomical expectation of the movie (I have a tendency to be un-expectant about animated movies), and I definitely was not disappointed here. In fact, I think I like this show a microfraction more than Ratatouille. Loads of slapstick in this one (Jerry Seinfield, duh). Perhaps I thought too much into the script — I was the only one laughing out LOUD at parts where no one else was. The boy can attest to that. Which, fine, means that the movie IS a ‘B’ movie. Ha ha.

I didn’t know that such a big-name cast was behind the voices of the characters! Jerry Seinfield, Rene Zellweger, Chris Rock, Oprah, STING (no shizzle yes bees) etc.

Albeit a larger-than-life storyline ("It’s a cartoon", Adam, 20), I see some slight scoffing at the U.S. notoriety of being able to sue anyone and anything. The show also question certain stereotypes, human behaviour and even developed nations’ tendencies to become overworked. I thought that the ending’s ‘moral of the story’ quite nicely tied in.

So beefore (oops, couldn’t help that one) I start giving away too much of the 90-minute movie, I depart with one last wonder: Aren’t butterflies also involved in cross-pollination? Then why the factual emphasis on how bees (anatomically) aren’t supposed to be able to fly…?

Yeah, yeah. It’s a CARTOON.

4 out of 5 stars! 

It’s been 19 hours since I last ate, and I’m feeling quite ‘high’ from the lack of food.

Why am I fasting? It’s my church’s Prayer and Fast week so my CG has decided to fast together for 24 hours (hmm I guess I started early) and pray about things that we want to committ to the Lord. Bear aptly puts it in his latest SMS to encourage us:

"It’s lunch time. Don’t forget to not eat. It’s around 13 hours of non eating, guess some of us are tempted to eat. Jesus was tempted by the devil to eat when He was fasting too. Do let us pray for each other. Fasting is indeed just an outward sign of humility, but if we are fasting with right reasons, fasting also does remind us among other reasons, that God is the One who provides us with food everyday and the One who gives us breath."

It means a lot, especially when Bear himself is the most hardcore foodie among all of us. I left my wallet back in the office today when I went to meet up with Emily and Crystal for ‘lunch’ — we ended up reminiscing — and yeah, the day seems to pass really slowly. It doesn’t help that my colleague is eating and I’m smelling the tomato sauce from her food… Still, I’ll persevere. With lots of wind from my gastric = FART hurhurhur.

Things that I’m praying about:

• New job opportunities
• Family health
• My cousin, Jia Hui
• My brother who’s studying overseas
• Adam and I
• More people to step forward to serve in church
• The Youths
• Thai Mission Trip

There are a lot more things to pray for, but I’ll focus on these points… My brain is functioning at only 20% with all the lack of food.

May all of you have a blessed weekend ahead!

It’s the first year of the boy and I Thank God! We really look forward to the challenges ahead and growing together in Christ. I also would like to thank all my friends who have been a great support to the both of us… It’s only healthy that we spend time with our other friends and not just together all the time So don’t say the ‘couple time’ and leave us alone — that we surely can find — because all of you are very important too!

Today is also the first time I ever emcee-d in an external (out of church), corporate event. It was a seminar on Corporate Governance and Financial Reporting for non-profit organisations.

Oh, if I haven’t mentioned, I quit my previous job. It was just a matter of time that I did anyway, and now I’m doing a temp job in NUS Biz School while searching for a new one.

Anyway, I must say that some of these gahmen people can be really quite grumpy, act aloof or even holier-than-thou. Rahh. I shouldn’t have let slip my displeasure to my colleague though. It was reflex… The secondary school one ><’ Patience, sponge, argh.

3 professors from NUS were giving a seminar, plus another 3 accounting/auditing big shots on a panel. Much as I was rather clueless with all the jargon they were throwing out, I must show my admiration for these professors who can really teach. And think on the spot. They were really great public speakers and intelligent (duh) people. And I was pleasantly surprised that one of the 3 profs (I know already one other) ever gave a sermon in my church before.

So yeah, apart from trying to crack 2 witty remarks, switching the letters of the centre’s (where I’m working at) acronym to something-something FC (too much soccer, yes) and saying "panel of judges" instead of "panelists", I think I did… Okay lah. Mehh.