Stigmatized pre-trips experience...

Have been "bothering" me for the past few overseas trips.

Wondering why, but somehow it just happened.

Langkawi trip in Jul 09.

Had diarrhoea 2 days before the trip.

Europe trip in Sep 09.

I had piles!

Was so worried I couldn't withstand the long flights

and train journeys...

But by God's grace, thankfully it was healed just before the day I flew.

Then...I came back with corn on my toe.

I'm still nursing it up till today.

Still hasn't fully healed.

What a pain in the ass...no...in the toe.

Asian Youth Day Nov 09.

I fell sick two days before that also.

And suffering from lack of sleep.

Then luckily, I got slightly better the day before

and was more or less ok on the day of departure.

What is the message?

What are all these "coincidences" about?

Sufferings to bear before I can be duly rewarded.

Chinese saying of "bitter first then sweetness"?

I guess I learnt to be more grateful and

appreciative of the trip and to God.

New colour, new look.

Hired contractor to come and paint our house.

It's been more than 8 or 10 years since we last painted I think.

Now our living room looks more white.

A bit too clean a colour for me.

Guessed it'll take a while for me to get use.

My room too!

I selected "Smoky" (light grey) and

it turned out to be pretty much white based..

with a slight tinge of grey only.

Should have been more bold to select a stronger colour.

But my room does look slightly bigger now.

My sis's room turned out to be the best.

2 shades of pink.

The 3 Malay workers from Johore were very happy-go-lucky.

Though they can only speak Malay and simple English,

it wasn't too tough for me (simple English)

and my mum (simple Malay).

But an unfortunate incident happened to one of the workers.

His father passed away in Johore this morning.

It's really not easy for him.

We bid him farewell before lunch as he rushed home.

Will pray for his dad's soul.

And while being "locked out" this two days,

I had a fair share of watching drama on DVD, youtube

and ploughing through fb, chatting with NFFs at AYD.

Quite a idle way to spent my time.

Guess it's a relief from the hectic weekend I just had.

Looking forward to a more fruitful and productive days ahead.

Back from Asian Youth Day

too many things to blog

so many things going on

Suffering from AYD-hangover

but not much time to recover

Hurriedly set back into the pace of life here

Meeting deadlines

Meeting demands at home

Ah...yes...brought back "love" from AYD

To live the Eucharist

It's been really tough

especially when i'm down with flu

But am trying hard

To lead a New Life.

A very expired posting....my Europe trip "10 things".

did these few weeks back and wrote in my journal...

but procrastinated till now to post it up.

October flew past just like that and

November is right at our doorstep.

Wish i could do more and yet

Hope that I could have done less.

Heck! Just move on.

10 things I liked about the trip:

1. Allowed me to complete the Book of Genesis & embarked on Exodus.

2. The yummy breakfast & freshly baked bread and pretzels. (in Germany esp!)

3. The emotional moment I had @ Infant Jesus Prague Church during Mass.

4. Able to relinquish some romantic moments with the gorgeous, disturbing her and smacking her a**.

5. Able to open up new doors to our relationship.

6. Villach to Salzburg train ride. The Alps! *drools*

7. Fantastic hosting by Markus & a fabulous dinner at his parents' place.

8. Organ concert in Prague & seafood dinner in Venice.

9. Completing a sketch of Florence...my fav city.

10. Being inspired & moved by the life of the saints while visiting their basilicas and crypt.

10.1 Austrian Trains! World best transport.

10.2 Angels in disguise that came to our "rescue" in Prague and Berlin...giving us directions.

10 things I disliked about the trip:

1. Disagreements in decisions & choices.

2. Vienna! Utter disappointment.

3. Hordes of tourists...esp those with trademark flags & umbrellas. Run away from them!

4. Inconsiderate dorm-mate in Florence and a snoring orchestra in Vienna.

5. Falling sick in Vienna.

6. Cigarette smoke! (smoking is allowed in restaurants)

7. Forgetting to pack my two 250ml packets of Italian red wine into my check-in luggage. End result: dustbin.

8. Queuing up/snatching shared bathroom at hostel.

9. No blanket @ hostel happy days.

10. Unreasonable entrance fees to certain attractions and churches.

You Know Better than I

Genesis 37 to 45.

Story of Joseph, his dreams and his brothers

the first story in the book of genesis that made me tear from the heart

And watching it reproduced by Dreamworks on DVD

Made those characters come alive

And this great song teaches me a lot about our life

Our Christian way of life

And I love this scene when the song is sung

With joseph trying to revive a dying tree

And eventually it grew and bloomed.

Enjoy the song and lyrics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oL6HlzQZLo&feature=related

I thought I did what's right
I thought I had the answers
I thought I chose the surest road
But that road brought me here
So I put up a fight
And told you how to help me
Now just when I have given up
The truth is coming clear

Chorus 1:
You know better than I
You know the way
I've let go the need to know why
For You know better than I

If this has been a test
I cannot see the reason
But maybe knowing
I don't know is part of getting through
I tried to do what's best
But faith has made it easy
To see the best thing i can do
Is to put my trust in You.

Chorus 2
For, You know better than I
You know the way
I've let go the need to know why
For You know better than I

Coda:
I saw one cloud and thought it was a sky
I saw a bird and thought that I could follow
But it was You who taught that bird to fly
If i let You reach me
Will You teach me.
(Repeat Chorus )

For, You know better than I
You know the way
I've let go the need to know why
I'll take what answers you supply
You know better than I

Weddings....

Back in Melaka over the weekend.

My prettiest cousin was getting married.

Some random thoughts that came thru my mind

while i was stoning and waiting

for the banquet to start.

1 hour

average waiting time for a banquet to start

About 25 tables on average

10 people per table

250 people in total

250hrs

10days of time spent in total

to wait for a banquet to start!

Food...

one table one fish

And tt's 250 fishes.

And probably 250 chicken.

And 10%-20% of that will be wasted.

...

thoughts in progress...

25 days of backpacking

different parts of Central Europe

quick a lot to take in

back to the swing of action now

the life of a Singaporean

on the island of modernising Singapore

In the comfort of our homeland

Safe among the rest of the

disaster-stricken Asian region

One whole chain of earthquakes, typhoons and tsunamis

What is His message to us?