Defense

I had a conversation about God with my drinking buddies, and found the entire affair extremely exhausting. At least it was with a group of friends who, aren't dumb, to say the least. Nothing's more tiring than being forced to argue with a fool.

Being the only Christian at the table is an obligation to defend Christianity, and God. I find God much easier to defend than Christianity, which no thanks to its over-enthusiastic and often misguided followers, has a reputation a zillion times worse than, say, mine.

I understand the need for Christians to evangelize, especially to their loved ones. We taste the joy and relief in finding God, in walking with Him, and we want our family and friends to experience the same benefits. It's a life transforming moment; surrendering one's mind, heart, and soul to God, believing that He knows best, and being enveloped by His love.

And then there's the friend who sees you doing things that he thinks are an utter waste of time. It's also in your interest that he tries to dissuades you from your faith with the usual arguments like evolution, how Christianity is nothing but a mash-up of pagan religions, how the bible's written by man ... the list goes on.

It's an argument that can never be convincingly won by either side. He who doesn't experience God will never know God. It's not something you can logically quantify. Heck, I'm of the opinion that even Evolution requires several leaps of faith.

Perhaps that's why the apostle Paul in his finite but significant wisdom suggests that believers not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship has light with darkness? On the other hand, the term "unequally yoked" need not refer specially to relationships, but might convincingly be argued to apply to friendship as well. But if you don't befriend the unbelievers how do you reach out to them? So does one maintain a wary fellowship with them? It doesn't add up. Many things don't.

Jesus said to love thy God your Lord with all your heart, your soul and your mind. And to love your neighbour as thyself. That's enough. Everything else will come naturally. Tongues, confessions to priests, deliverance, being overwhelmed by the power of the Holy Ghost, healing, and the whole works are .. immaterial, and points of needless contention.

Believe that Man sinned and fell short of the glory of God. Believe that God sent Jesus to die in our place, and that the only way to God is through belief in this truth. Love God. Love your neighbours. Ignore everything else, defend nothing else. Even the concept of the Trinity is unimportant to me. To what material extent does it matter whether God, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are at once seperate and the same? As Angela would put it, it's immaterial.

Me being called on to defend my faith is akin to getting me to expound on the virtues of alcohol abstinence, but I will do it.

Because I believe. I know my life's a stellar example of debauchery instead of a bright and salty testimonial for God. Yes, I have said it. So don't call me a hypocrite; anything but that.

I saw this on a girl's facebook profile though, and it's actually pretty good:

"A girl's heart must be hidden deeply within God, such that a Man must find God to find her heart."


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Now playing: Philips, Craig, and Dean - When God Ran
via FoxyTunes

Forex FAIL

Half a Step Closer

Dear all

NUS OVERSEAS COLLEGES, JUL 2009 INTAKE

Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected for the NUS College in Silicon Valley (NCSV) JUL 2009 Intake.

Please note that no request for change of college will be entertained.

Do note that your successful placement on the program will be subject to you obtaining an internship placement with a company at the respective colleges, a visa or any permit, to be medically fit and a final review of your CAP prior to your departure.

Creep

And now we know
it's not always possible
to come out smelling of roses.

Sometimes people get hurt;
and it's not the fragrance of flowers
that lingers
but the sordid stench,
of manure.


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Now playing: Radiohead - High And Dry
via FoxyTunes

Malay Malaysian man gets nut stuck around his member

Kayan women wear neck rings and end up with elongated necks that are supposedly the benchmark of beauty - at least in their culture.

Universal culture though, seem to favor men with members of significant size, so in an unselfish if not somewhat dim-witted display of True Love, a Malay man in Malaysia attempted to enlarge his member before his engagement by putting a nut around it. In fact, he might have been on his way to putting multiple nuts around it had he not found the sensation of a metal nut around his member so incredibly arousing he got an erection. Ouch.

Incredibly dumb though. Read about it here.

Rockets and Meteors

Finally broke even :D

He speaks!!!

Check this out man, our esteemed president speaks about something material.


Remember how our budget this year comprises past reserves? And that in Singapore, in order for the government to draw from the reserves, they need the permission of the President? It's supposed to be some kind of safeguard against a rogue government misappropriating the reserves.

The argument was that the procedures following the President's decision to "turn the second key" and allow access to the reserves were not published and it seemed that our dear President merely did what the government told him to do. Even if that was true, it should come as no surprise. I remember being told in lower secondary the reason why we study history - to not repeat mistakes of others.

Anyway, now the President has spoken up:

"It is not easy to say 'yes' in so far as the withdrawal of the reserves go. There must be compelling reasons why we have to resort to withdrawing from past reserves," the president said.

and

"But I have the advice of the Council of Presidential Advisers, which I have to pay regard to. And we started the process of consulting together and I then left it to them to deliberate on their own and give me their recommendations, which were consistent with what I had felt I should do."

Now who on earth are on the Council of Presidential Advisers? If the President acts on the advice of his advisers and the President's role is to safeguard the reserves from potentially rogue governments, then it makes sense that the council be made up of wholly independent members, yes?

Let's see who these important people are:

The 1991 Constitutional Amendment also provided for the establishment of a Council of Presidential Advisers (CPA) to advise the President. It is obligatory for the President to consult the Council before he vetoes the budgets of the Government and key government-linked bodies and the appointments of government nominees to key posts.

Obligatory? I wonder if the constitution allows for the President to listen to the advice of the council, process it, then decide on something else.

The Council comprises six members and two alternate members. Two members are appointed by the President at his discretion, two are the Prime Minister's nominees, one is the Chief Justice's nominee and one is the nominee of the Chairman of the Public Service Commission. One alternate member is appointed by the President at his discretion while the other is appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister, in consultation with the Chief Justice and Chairman of Public Service Commission.

Ok let's see, two members appointed by Our Dear President at his discretion, so far so good. Two appointed by the Prime Minister, er, oookay. So a rogue PM would be able to appoint two goons. Now, Chairman of the Public Service Commission - typically ex-government. I'm lazy to elaborate on the rest, but you get the idea. Appointed by President on the advice of the Prime Minister. That cracks me up a little though.

Members are appointed on a six-year term on their first appointment. They are eligible for re-appointment for further terms of 4 years each. Alternate members are appointed on a four-year term. The present Chairman, Mr J Y Pillay is also the Chairman of the Singapore Exchange Limited. As Chairman of the Council of Presidential Advisers, Mr Pillay exercises the functions of the office of the President in the absence of the President. If he is unavailable, this duty then falls on the Speaker of Parliament.

All's good though, according to our President:

At the end of the day, Mr Nathan said the system was tested and he has responded to the urgency of the situation after clinically examining the government's proposal to use past reserves to battle the economic downturn.

Loved and Trusted:

Although a Straits Times survey showed that nearly 80 per cent of Singaporeans hoped for a contest, Nathan nonetheless took up office unopposed as President on August 18, 1999. His nomination was strongly supported by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew (then holding the post of Senior Minister). He succeeded the fifth President of Singapore Ong Teng Cheong and was sworn in on September 1, 1999.

On July 12, 2005, Nathan announced that he was seeking re-election as President. He submitted an eligibility application to the Presidential Elections Committee; by August 6, 2005, three more people had also submitted forms, but on August 13, 2005, the Committee announced that the other three applicants had been rejected as ineligible. Nathan returned unopposed on nomination day, August 17, 2005. He was sworn in for a second term of office on September 1, 2005.

A little something on 38KKK boobs

Yup, that's me. MSN interview.

Xkcd

I stumbled upon this comic site today. Strictly for geeks though.

Happy Valentine's

It's four minutes after Valentine's day, actually.

It's the day where you see couples walking around in cheesy matching outfits, hugging at the bus stop, holding hands on the escalator and effectively blocking traffic, happy girls clutching bouquets and stealing glances at the bouquets other girls have.

I remember buying a single rose for a girlfriend once. It cost me ten dollars. And said girlfriend was angry because it was only that, a single rose, while other girls happily clutched huge bouquets. It's not an issue of the size of one's heart, but the size of one's wallet.

Mum sent me a valentine's day ecard. Sweet, eh? I remember how she used to send me cards through the mail when I was in primary school. Nothing like mummy's love (and nagging) :)

While we're on the topic of Love, here's an interesting article. Now we know why good night kisses sometimes progress to something a lot more exciting.

Celebrate Love :)

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Now playing: Cast Of Rent/Jesse L. Martin/Tracie Thoms - Seasons Of Love
via FoxyTunes

Wine-ed

My first thought upon waking this morning was - "Why am I wearing my watch?". Next, I realized I had a contact lens in my right eye, and that there was a fragrance of dried vomit over me. I reached into my back pocket, and found a squashed pack of fags; which incidentally, I have no recollection buying.

What happened to me? Freeflow wine, and Kiasu-ism.

Winebos over at clark quay has an excellent promotion - $18++ for freeflow wine and tapas from 6pm to 8pm.

Wine, however, gets to me really, really quickly. And hits awfully hard. I don't even remember paying, which means I must have been wasted even before we left the place. Apparently I went berserk, falling over everywhere, throwing stuff around(including my phone, which ended up with Boyan), yelling, and wrestling Kenneth to the ground. I hear he has a gash on his palm. Poor guy.

I never knew I was a violent drunk. And I never, never expected to be such a lightweight. I was the only one drunk. I had what, 6, or maybe 7 glasses of wine. 3 Reds, and hm .. I think 5 whites. So that makes 8 glasses of wine. Me, drunk over so little alcohol. Embarrasing.

And I scrapped my knees. No more sculling wine.

Oh, and incidentally, I missed the submission for an assignment. Got a friendly email today:

Dear Shaun,

I have not received your submission on Friday. Please let me know when I can expect it.

Pls send it both to Workbin and by e-mail, so that I know it’s been sent.

Thanks.

(Prof's name here)

To which I replied:

Dear Sir,

I have just uploaded the assignment to the workbin. Am also attaching it to this email for your convenience.

I sincerely apologized for the delay in submission. To be perfectly honest, I went for a wine and tapas buffet last evening and got a little too enthusiastic in drinking. Got drunk and only woke up a short while ago. Sorry, won't happen again!

Best Regards
Shaun Lim

$58 Billion

2007:

“For people in government like me, having to deal with these sums of money which we have accumulated through the sweat of our brow over the last 40 years, you have to pay the market rate. And then you’ve got an incompetent man and you’ve lost money, by the billions. So get a sense of proportion.” - MM Lee Kuan Yew

2009:

The state-owned investment company’s assets were valued at S$127 billion ($85 billion), down from S$185 billion at the end of March last year, Lim Hwee Hua, senior minister of state with the finance ministry, said today. - Bloomberg

-
But of course, before that particular announcement in parliament:

Chief Executive Officer Ho Ching, who drove Temasek’s expansion with acquisitions in China, Europe and the U.S., said last week that former BHP Billiton Ltd. head Chip Goodyear will take over the company in October.


Check out the WayangParty for more.

This is how you royally screw.

Christian Bale doing in real life what Tom Cruise did on Tropic Thunder:

Our health minister wants us to send our parents to JB

These hard times must be especially difficult for our world class ministers. In fact, I think the stress is so getting to them that they're starting to sprout nonsense. Maybe not exactly illogical but not something you'll want published by the local press when you hope to get re-elected right? Maybe they need a vacation in France.

First there was Charles Chong and his "lesser mortals" remark, and now we have the people's favorite minister suggesting that Singaporeans "put" their elderly parents in nursing homes in Johor Baru:

Mr Khaw added: 'Of course many visit daily, but quite a significant number visit only during the weekends, so what is the difference in putting them in Johor Baru?'

I don't know about you, but I think a smarter way to say it would be "what is the difference if they stay in Johor Baru?". Slightly better right.

And then our brilliant minister goes on to say that:

If any medical problems cropped up, the elderly could be taken back to Singapore by ambulance, he said. (Incidentally, the grammar here is funny isn't it? It should be "crop" and "can". If it was past tense - which doesn't make sense here - it should be "If any medical problems had cropped up")

I wonder when was the last time he went across the causeway. Or maybe he's assuming people who're cheapskate enough to "put" their elderly parents in a nursing home in JB because it's cheap will be able to afford heli-evacuating their parents back to a local hospital in times of emergency.

Maybe there will be an ambulance lane at our causeways. No jam, no immigration check. That would be good news; prices of marijuana would drop. And perhaps it'll rejuvenate the illegal porn dvd/vcd industry in Singapore.

Anyway, you can read the comma-ridden article here.

Oh, The Minister has one redeeming quality though; he contributed in a very significant way to a sight for sore eyes. That makes it all okay :)

Wave-Smile-Get-3-Million-Bucks-A-Year

Deliberations of President shrouded in mystery

"But Mr Tharman said: “I’m not sure why it is relevant. At the end of the day, this is a system that is different from Norway and Australia, where as much detail as possible is provided."

I see, details of how our government does things = bad. Lesser mortals should just trust, lah.

You have to trust ..

While serving as economics director in Monetary Authority of Singapore in 1993, Tharman was charged under the Official Secrets Act for inadvertently releasing Singapore's 1992 second-quarter flash projections^[4] to a research director Mr Raymond Foo, and economist Manu Bhaskaran, of Crosby Securities and journalists, Kenneth James and Patrick Daniel from the Business Times.

Tharmam was convicted by Senior District Judge Richard Magnus, and fined S$1,500 along with the other defendants.- Wikipedia

"whoahhhh"

Jamie Yeo loses virginity at age 18, blogs about it 14 years later, and "Singapore parents" get their panties all in a bunch.

I wonder how many "Singapore parents" were polled though.

Pop Culture Wisdom

Kite Runner

"The only sin that matters is theft. When you tell a lie, you steal a man's right to the truth."

The curious case of Benjamin Button

"Sleep with me?"

"Absolutely."

Tragedy

Since the beginning of time has Man been fascinated with Tragedy. There's a certain nobility that comes with melancholy and despair that gives people the illusion of transcendence. One can almost picture people in biblical times gnashing their teeth, beating their chests, and tearing their clothes, wearing expressions of agony but in their hearts, beneath the anguish, peace.

It has been written that some wear their despair like cloaks, as if somehow, their sorrow elevates them above the humdrum of life. Such is perhaps the basis for the relatively modern term - Emo. People who hide behind their hair, who never say very much, who dress in black, who listen to songs so depressing it's practically suicide inducing. There's a whole market for songs like that. Songs of yearning, songs of despair, songs that mourn the passing of life, songs that ridicule life. Songs that speak of misery, songs that talk about hurt. You still hurt me, I'm all out of love. You left, and now my life is just a rainy day.

For every two less lonely people in the world, there's a bleeding romeo and a child letting go of his kite. For every walk along together, there's a lipstick mark on a coffee cup and teardrops on a guitar.

For every celebratory champagne, there's the can of beer.

Well, for folks like that, it's worth bearing in mind that - the world ain't slowing down.

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Now playing: Paul Ellis - The World Ain't Slowing Down
via FoxyTunes

The Interview

An interviewing panel comprising a relatively friendly middle-aged man and two ladies made for a very relaxed Shaun. And a very relaxed Shaun results in very .. Shaun-ish answers.

Q: "How was the exchange in .. Waterloo, Canada?"

A: "Awesome. You know exchange is mostly about fun."

Q: "So what did you do there?"

A: "Oh, mostly drinking and partying."

Whatever happened to 'an exchange of cultures, meeting people of different nationalities, traveling, learning independence, exciting driving experiences, etc'? God knows. My subconscious seems to have neatly summed up my entire exchange experience into one phrase - "drinking and partying".

Q: "What's your favorite subject in NUS?"

A: "I enjoyed doing Business Law, but I didn't do so well in it."

Q: "You didn't do well in something you enjoyed?"

A: "Well, it was an open book paper, and everybody knew more or less what was going to be tested and so prepared extensive notes. So did I. Only difference is that I forgot to print them. And discovered it only in the exam hall."

Q: "Does this happen often? Exams are quite important matters, no? Can we say you're careless?"

A: "No, and you can't judge from a one-off incident -best disarming smile- blah blah blah"

God help me, eh? But honestly I think the interview went pretty well. Hopefully they appreciate honesty and me being completely at ease with them _should_ score some points.

I remember a question about how I should have had done very well in poly to be able to get to NUS. Uh huh. And the next line .. "So what happened in NUS? -waves hand over what I think is my transcript-" Ouch. My reply? Something about how poly students don't study much and I was able to get by with doing close to zero studying. After being motivated to get into NUS, all I had to do was start studying a little more seriously and here I am. And then I uttered a line about "and then there's the two years of brain decaying in national service..."

Yep. So, God help me. All ye righteous folks out there please start praying for me. Oh, by the way, it's an interview for a year-long internship/work-study program in silicon valley.

No Shit

I know my mum is linguistically talented. Or at least, she can speak several languages and dialects and come across as being extremely proficient; just don't ask her to read or write.

I discovered on her last trip here though, that after going for a couple of art classes, she produced the following:



People who know me will know I can't draw to save my life. So now I sit and wonder why the artistic talents were not passed on to her only son.