Bodyguards and Assassins

i must confess, i've been nurturing a chinese loving side of my character ever since going to Australia...so i began watching cantonese drama serials and chinese movies while in Australia and have enjoyed hanging out at Lunar back home in Singapore with Kian and Richard..eh, Kian..when's the next time we go ah??

last night we went to catch Bodyguards and Assassins, the new movie out in cinemas in Singapore and Malaysia which was nearly 10 years in the making because the director couldn't make up his mind about who to cast and what angle to go for regarding the storyline..it was indeed a bit top heavy with too many famous Hong Kong actors and actresses..the plot transitioned a bit too abruptly as well since the script was probably redone once every 6 months for 10 years..and there were too many holes in the filming..such as when Donnie Yen of Ip Man fame, acting as a bodyguard, charged headlong into an assassin's galloping horse and was flung off to the side dead. Well, the horse disappeared from the film scene at that point and the assassin was shown standing dirty and forlorn and looking like his mount had been plucked from under him by magic..he had this vacant what-the-hell-just-happened-look which summed up the audience' thought train at that moment. Or when a female bodyguard held shut the door to the assassins' hideout so none could escape as explosives went off and blew the place to bits. In the aftermath, we see the hideout destroyed but the actress' body lying in the rubble intact. As a former combat engineer, this stuff jumps out at me as being ridiculously amusing.

But i credit the overall storyline as being good. After all its based on the real story of Dr Sun Yat Sen visiting Hong Kong in 1906 to coordinate the resistance to the corrupt Chinese Qing Dynasty and having Qing assassins sent to kill him. He was protected by a group of bodyguards and a body double, many of whom didn't even know who it was they were protecting. The story moves through the few days before Sun arrives and the assassination attempt on the day itself. The angle taken of men giving their lives in exchange for someone they don't know to ensure the success of the Chinese Revolution is something which works with movie goers.

My favorite part of the film was when one of the bodyguards said that the revolution was so important that he couldn't stay home while events played out and that in times like those, nobody could claim they were just innocent civilians or disinterested business folk..life as normal was foolish when great events were unfolding..

reminds me of what the bible says, as in the days of Noah before the flood, so it will be at the end of the age, when the people of this world will be buying and selling, giving and being given in marriage, until the floods came..the King has come,died and risen, and the world now lives in a very small window of opportunity for repentance before the King returns and judges this world..those who have been forgiven by Christ and are part of His family must not think that life can carry on as normal without regard for the urgency of the gospel and the repentance of sins. Some things are not that important in light of historical events, events such as the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and His coming return.

Reflections on 09

09 is the year i graduated with my Bachelors (by God's grace, no room for pride) so it will be memorable for me, always.

Other reasons for remembering this year include getting together with Yueen Mun...i'm still getting used to my not being a single anymore so don't worry, you're not the only shocked one (whoever you are who's reading this, and if its Yueen Mun, hi there, i'm screwed i know)

09 was also memorable for a great NTE mission where i did my first talk before a youth group and discovered Andrew Reid and John Dickson at the 'Living for the King' conference. NTE is one of those rare opportunities to prepare and do a talk and get some preaching practice.

09 was also the year that i did New Testament 1 for the Moore College Provisional Training Certificate (PTC) and learnt just how provocative Jesus is and how much the king demands a decision whether we're for or against Him, without there being a middle ground. And so it was that i also decided to be more provocative for Jesus and less retreating.

09 was the year the Left learned that it couldnt rejoice at the collapse of markets and the Right learned that market liberalization is recipe for corruption. The Greens learned that rhetoric and scare tactics go only so far at Copenhagen and Climate-change Skeptics learned that Evangelical Christianity is not their friend after all. The scene is ripe for the second entrance of the King to restore order amid chaos.

Finally, 09 is the year when my carefully cultivated Christian cynicism took a blow when Charis Full Gospel Church began doing huge amounts of evangelism and not a few church members started living for Jesus Christ solely through the work of God's Spirit in their lives. God does change people and work without the input of men..i have been deeply humbled..ah humility! what an amazing discovery

Finishing the degree

i do sincerely apologise for the long delay in updating this blog and to all my friends with whom relations have been strained through this..the past one and a half months have swamped me as wave after wave of final assignments and design crits hit the shore, so to speak..well, needless to say, its done and dusted..and by God's infinite Grace, i would have graduated..if everything i pass that is.

how does it feel to be done every semester? well, as we in the School of Architecture and the Built Environment here at the University of Newcastle always point out, our semester ends with a whimper, not a bang as for many who have final written, paper media examinations..our process of ending the semester is that much more sublime..

you see, instead of the final, written examination, we have the verbal design examination, or as the name for this goes, the critique (Crit in short)..this is where the entire semester's work is presented and defended within the space of 3 -5 minutes, in front of a panel of design judges. so, it isn't true that Architecture students have no final exam. We do, face-to-fringing-face with our dreaded Design examiners. and whats worse is that we sit through the examinations of our fellow peers , who in turn, sit through ours. and, unlike run-of-the-mill classroom presentations, Crit panelists do go for blood as the norm. I would not expect any outside the Design community to grasp the import of this, really.

i had my design exam for my final developed design phase in October, after which whether one has passed or failed the semester becomes frightfully clear. My final two phases after that were also-rans, to determine whether i got a credit or distinction or barely survived. So, as i said, even though i was swamped until now, the semester really ended with a whimper after the final Crit.

What does it feel to end the semester, especially since, this ends my Bachelor's education? numb actually, because Architecture is a two-tier system that consists of a 3 year Bachelor's degree and 2 year Master's. The first degree really isnt much since one isn't qualified to really design and build and isnt an Architect yet. The second used to be called the B.Arch before it was changed to M.Arch, for no other reason than to inflate the credentials of those who possess it (tipping my hat to Garry Stevens, that insightful Architectural Sociologist). You can't have the second without the first and the first without the second is pretty useless. so, in sum, the final countdown for me is two years more (if by God's Grace they let me out of the doghouse of my Bachelor's this year)

and, needless to say, i am pretty tired of it all. For those who know me, you're aware no doubt that i am no fan of the Establishment and establishment norms. the whole careerism and rat-race thing is about as inspiring to me as pesticide to the cockroach. maybe Philip Jensen and the Sydney Anglicans have brain-washed me, but they are so much more perceptive and discerning about the nature of things and life and God than many of my prosperity gospel believing friends. To them i counsel two things; first, if you chase success and careerism, then by them you will be mastered and finally disillusioned, as the man who chases mirages and phantasms of an oasis in the desert. Second, those who take the road that seems the less in hope and prosperity while the more in suffering and sacrifice are they who truly are wise, for thus do they gain a reward for which there is no measure. Let this be the Doom of Jonathan, if so you will.

Life after Naivete

On the eve of my biggest Design Submission to date, i ponder life and the changes that make us what we are through music..and i'm drawn to The Cranberries' When You're Gone..Irish folk tunes and Irish singers such as Dolores O'Riordan, Sinead O'Connor and U2's Bono move me..hmm, i was going to add Annie Lennox to the mix but wasn't sure she was Irish..why do i like these singers and their music? The sense of Dystopia maybe, the feeling that our society is the lost child of parents who abandoned God and live Outside Eden..maybe the falleness of the human condition..maybe the idea that we're all looking for something that we can't find..maybe the idea that no relationship can fulfill except with a Father who made us and to whom the song below is really addressed to..

In the midst of Lamentations we find the verse, "Because of the Lord's tender mercies we are not consumed, for His love endures forever. His mercies are new every morning. Great is Your Faithfulness." and in the midst of Habakkuk, with all the fierce anger of God being played out, good ol' Haba says, " Though the fig tree does not blossom, nor there be fruit on the vine, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet i will rejoice in the LORD; i will take joy in the God of my salvation."

I do not understand the plans of God because of the thorns in my flesh..but one thing i know, that by the Grace of God "i spring higher with a thorn in the foot than the man with two whole feet."

The Divine Exchange

Tonight at Focus, i felt my pulse quicken during the study. You see, we've been studying the book of 1 Peter together for the past couple of weeks. Reading stuff about submission and being called to holiness, i honestly felt like i'd heard it all before and struggled in being inspired. To be fair, i realise God's Word needs to be respected and heard in its entirety, whether we enjoy it or are interested in it or not, whether we're inspired or bored with the passage or not. But as a sinful human being, i must admit there are topics and passages i like more than others.

So you can well imagine my surprise tonight at a passage that i had read before and thought i knew well, suddenly coming alive and bearing what seemed like newness and freshness for me. We were reading 1 Peter 3:13 to 4:6. That passage has a lot of thorny issues at first read but really if we understand the context of the surrounding verses and the history of Peter's audience (without getting side-tracked with preaching to the dead for instance) its possible to understand where Peter is coming from and what he's saying.

but when we came to 1 Peter 3:18 it seemed like something struck me. At first i couldn't put my finger on it, until we came to discussion about what people from all ages have in common. The reference at that point was, you guessed it, 1 Pet 3:18. " For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,.." There, in no uncertain terms, we have it..The Divine Exchange..Jesus Christ, the Righteous, taking the place of the Unrighteous, namely, you, me and everyone in the entire history of humanity.

My pulse started racing real fast. Oh the wonders of the Cross! In the layman's language of the dirty fish market, we have the exact picture of Redemption: a customer makes his selection of fish and pays for it with gold coins. An exchange occurs, a transaction. Smelly fish for precious gold? The Man-of-men for me, the sinner? Who says the Christian God is miserly and conservative? The words "generous" and "radical" seem much more appropriate.

And just when you thought its too good to be true, Peter, that shrewd fisherman, throws in a buy-one-get-one-free fish sale. For Christ did not just die for the unrighteous, he died once for all. The Divine Exchange took place not just for us who live Anno Domini, but for all mankind, from Adam to John the Baptist. Just like a soccer game where a substitute is called on to play in place of a non-performing player (and lets face it, in this game of life, we're all non-performing players), Jesus was our substitute on the Cross, except that, he didn't sub for just one game or one season, he subbed for all games and all seasons and all players.

Thank God is really all i can say, in humility...

On Fear

Fear paralyses and saps.

Fear diminishes and taints.

Fear disheartens and disturbs.

Fear destroys and kills.

Fear prejudices and colours.

Fear breaks and tears.

Fear threatens.

Fear fails, disappoints.

Fear is trouble, Big Trouble.


"Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little Death that brings obliteration.
I will not Fear.
I will let my fear pass over me and through me,
I will turn the inner eye to observe its path.
Where that fear has gone there shall be nothing.
Only i remain."
-Litany against Fear,
Frank Herbert,
Dune

Nights

while at Merdeka Night with my Malaysian friends i found myself completely enjoying the cultural performances that we in Singapore disdain outright or ignore, such as the DiKay Barat, Bollywood dances, Silat performances and even, God forbid, the Chinese fan dance..i came away with the conviction that Malaysians (overseas at least) love and feel more strongly for their country than us Singaporeans. Inspite of the deep dissatisfaction many Malaysians feel for their government and leaders (and i know this personally), they seem to love their land more than those of us who live across that disputed landmark, the causeway.

one day i pray that my countrymen will love their homes and fellow citizens without and beyond the nationalistic, propagandistic jingoism that rings full of shallow cliches during our own National Day.

In other news, university commitments reared their ugly head this week and i fought a desperate battle keeping my head above the water while threading as hard as i possibly could. All to no avail as i emerged from my Schematic submission Crit bloodied and wounded. Still, dignity i maintained and cool non-chalance..long have i learned that fear is a poison that kills both mind and soul, especially in this profession of Architecture. This much they may take from me, neither my dignity nor my integrity.

I've been reading Yancey's Soul Survivor for a while (not this week though) and must say that Yancey has always been my theological conscience. So whenever i feel like i've got a firm handle on God's Word or God or that i've got everything sorted down pat, i pick up my Yancey and read about Soren Kiekergard, GK Chesterton, CS Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr, Gandhi and Shusaku Endo. And i emerge chastised and humbled. Always. I was especially impacted by the biography of Dr C Everet Koop, the Surgeon General of America during the Reagan administration lately and being a public Christian. Lest you think that Koop was your run of the mill Evangelical lobbyist promoted to the White House for favours done to the incumbent administration, well, you're wrong. By maintaining his integrity and Christian compassion in issues like the AIDS education programme of the 80s, providing proper care for homosexual AIDS sufferers inspite of disagreeing with their lifestyle and in not covering up the scientific facts that were inconclusive about the harmful effects of abortion on women (even though he disagreed with abortion) Koop was vindicated as a genuine Christian, not just a political Christian. He suffered for this by being vilified by the Conservative Christian lobbyists of the time of course as having 'sold out'. I think Jesus was proud of him though.


Finally, i started reading Galatians with Dene this week in our one-to-one Bible study times. I've been wondering about my Christian stand toward Law and Grace since having that conversation with S.F of the NWO. I knew all along that the Christian should not abuse God's Grace, for, as FF Bruce famously put it, "Christian Liberty is not Christian License" and that we are saved by grace, not law-keeping, but is the idea of a middle ground between the two (the commonly held view) even Biblical? Are not we Christians supposed to "love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and soul, with our whole being"? Or else, like the Laodicean church in Revelations 3, "I know your works, you are neither cold nor hot ...So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." The language of the Bible is clear that God does not like wishy-washy, higgledy-piggledy Christianity. What about Law and Grace? Well, my adventure continues but thats enogh for one night. Until next time, see ya's!

November Rain

Please indulge a Guns and Roses Moment..oh for the strength of Slash! May i also surmount it all like Slash on Elton John's Grand Piano, ascendant, transcendant in musical ecstasy.

Updates

Some of my FOCUS bible study group went out recently for a guys' dinner at an Indian takeaway place. During the conversations, one of us talked candidly about his difficulty in relating to ladies and asked for some advice and counsel. Immediately, we all started this soul-baring confession of our own difficulties in this area. Knowing the monkey that i am, i flippantly and defiantly declared,"all i can say about the opposite sex is that it isnt worth it." Of course, a lot of this is from bitter experience which i've sworn not to bring up again, but it touched some raw nerves and (almost) reopened some old wounds.

today, some friends i met began talking to me about the whole singleness and dating thing again, though of course, in not such diplomatic language. i'm beginning to discern a discomforting pattern here. Added to all this is the Newcastle Christian Students' (NCS) Mission Week talk entitled "The Ultimate Sex" next week at the Bar-On-The-Hill, Thursday. What a way to evangelize your lost friends..just bring them to a talk on the ultimate sex and what Jesus has to say about that. My almost-monastic peace and quiet away from such thorny issues has been totally disrupted.

i do not know what to make of all this completely. What is it that God is trying to say? or is He saying anything about this at all? Man, this sure is a tough one.

oh and by the way, i've been having these really strange and pretty disturbing dreams lately. One of those i remember was a good friend i know from back home marrying this psychopath and me being introduced to him for the first time and thinking, "man, this guy's a real psychopath." and turns out (in my dream anyway) i gradually discover that he's a psychopath so i was spot on. Can one even dream irony? Another was me being humiliated by this person i did not like publicly and then without explaination being dumped by my dream girlfirend whom i had not even met before. i woke up with a shock and very very sad, almost wanting to cry..then i realised it was all a dream. How silly of me...haha..this is so weird really..

oh boy, time to go to bed and more dreaming i presume..

An allegorical Story

This is the story of Aurvandil, Sea Lover..it is allegorical and those who know what and who it is about, forgive me..

Aurvandil, son of Aeorgaerd, huntsman of the Arvangeins returned from the Great Hunt at World's End, expecting to find his wife and children waiting for him in their home. However, the only thing that remained in the ashes and flames of his former home was his father's broken hat and memories of a better life, a life that was no more.

"Father!" he cried, "where are you?" Only silence and the scent of emptiness. Nothing. Aurvandil, hunter of creatures, great and small, sat felled by death, the death of those he loved. Many moons passed where he sat amidst the ruins of hearth and home. Finally the hunter came to his senses. "Blood, the blood of those who have broken me." A true hunter's response. With bow and lance, short sword and belly of fire rises he. So began the Hunt of Aurvandil.

He slashes his way through ranks of flesh, cutting, stabbing, thrusting, hacking. Till none is left. Then what? "Answers!" he screams. Still nothing. Finally he arrives at the gates of Beorguldor, what in former days was called Bewagudoriien. "Answers! Who did this?" Then comes the greatest blow of all. When a man loses his loved ones, he knows only to hunt. When a man knows truth, what does he do?

There, in Beorguldor, he sees his wife enslaved in the harem of Rex Maximus, his children under the slave masters' whip. Aurvandil's Hunt has come to its conclusion. His sword blooded on servants, priests and sword thanes of Rex Maximus, he faces the Rex himself in battle.

Thrust, slash, counter-thrust, riposte! Parry, feint, strike..hour after hour the duel proceeds with increasing intensity. Climax flames into existence for swiftest instant and it is over. Aurvandil lies dying in his own blood, defiant and unbowed till the end. His body will be burned on ceremonial pyre, his ashes scattered over the tombs of the Rexes. "This one was worthy of Rex Maximus sword." That will be his legacy, his name and memory invoked by the scribes and priests of Beorguldor. In time they will say his death at the sword of Rex Maximus was his apotheosis. He will be made a god and come to be guardian of all in Beorguldor who hunt or carry the sword.

But still his father is dead, his home destroyed forever, his wife and children enslaved. Sad Aurvandil, mourn we with you.

My first week of the last Sem or Ai Pia Jia Eh Yah

Sa hun ti chu tia, chi hun ko pa pia, ai pia jia eh yah..that should be the theme song for my first week of this final sem of my Bachelor of Design in Architecture..feels so surreal back in the run of things man..

and it just droned by like that with promises of getting more speed wrecked and agitated in the coming weeks..man i really can't stand the way these lecturers try to promote the Ai Pia Jia Eh Yah mentality that you've got to sell your soul to the course in order to become a 'good' architect..and you're not worth your weight in salt unless you become a 'good' architect..for those of ya who don't know, Ai pia Jia Eh Yah is a crude anglicised translation of the Hokkien phrase, you've got to slog ya guts out to win/succeed..

so it was that we started on Monday with a site visit to Newcastle East to inspect a site along Zaara Street for a potential Art Museum, which my brilliant lecturer dubbed the Newseum of Art..witty very witty..and cold..so we're gonna build a Contemporary Cathedral to Culture as Museums are known unofficially in Architecture circles..i should be thankful for the opportunity since in Life, only members of the jet-setting Rockstar-esque architects, or Starchitects get selected to design museums, especially art museums. So yes, you've got Frank Gehry and his Guggenheim Bilbao which launched the whole craze, Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaus, Daniel Libeskind and his Holocaust Museum, Peter Eisenman's Centre for Culture in Galicia and a few others..but i'm just not so enthralled..

and Wednesday we came in for a full day of Design Studio sessions to tease out the practicalities of the Design Brief and examine the constraints of site, planning regulations and Newcastle City Council guidelines..a labyrinthe of very pedantic and useless information and to-and-fro discussions about 'eliminating variables'..i guess thats what Life is like as well, having worked in a firm for 2 months last year..and then i went to the library to research precedents for this project and what approach to take..

no fun..and i had an opportunity to talk to a friend today who was feeling homesick since its his first year in Newcastle..i can imagine how much harder this must all be for him..i know i felt terrible during my first winter and spring back in 2006..the first year is always toughest for the international student who comes alone to a foreign land..but if one does survive, it makes one much, much stronger..and also more appreciative of one's friends and loved ones back home..

so that was my week pretty much, and am now looking forward to more work over the weekend..but, to my homesick friend, hang in there bro..second semester flies right by in a flash..and home you'll be again.

Poolside Reflections

Reflections on the 'Con 09: the theme of this year being the Resurrection, i found the night Talks with Martin aka Shaddes not just inspiring but life changing.

The first nite Shaddes talked about why the Resurrection is such a significant topic for Christians: namely, the Resurrection is so good because Death is so bad. We looked at life in the shadow of death because of the Fall of Man and how Death is the final word for all human beings outside the person of Jesus. Death crushes the hopes of all generations of men and ruptures our relationships with those we love.Most importantly, Death assaults everything good in God's creation. It is thus the enemy of God's good purposes. We also contrasted different world views regarding death and how atheists like Dawkins have no real answer to the finality of death. After a break we ended the Talk by talking about God's Plan to reverse the Curse of Death through the birth of A New Hope (ala Star Wars IV) In Jesus. In what i shall call the "Star Wars IV clause", we encounter the Death of Death in the Death of Christ.

Talk 2 was about the significance of the Resurrection for Jesus and for Time.Jesus' rising from the dead proves that Jesus is the Christ, that God keeps His promises to David, that Jesus is Lord, Saviour, Judge and Exalted Servant of His Father. Now one of the phrases Shaddes used was that the Resurrection was the Father's reward for Jesus' sacrifice and suffering, which must lead to all humanity one day worshipping God. After the break we talked about how Jesus marks the great change in time. Before Jesus, humanity was under the Reign of Death but now, in Jesus, the Age of Resurrection has dawned. Satan has been defeated (ref. Jn 12:31) and Israel's Exile has come to an end. This talk was for me, earth shattering. I finally felt completely purged of all traces of dispensationalism that i grew up in church with. Augustine(though i greatly respect him)was wrong. There are no ages of the church, only BC and AD.

Talk 3 on Wednesday night was about our hope in Jesus because of His Resurrection. We have a well founded, essential, ultimate, transforming and transcendant hope that is also triumphant. The greatest statement made that night was this: you know how we always say that the Christians' greatest hope is that when we die we will go to heaven?this is a true hope but not The Greatest hope. The Greatest Hope for the christian is that one day, we will personally experience the bodily resurrection from the dead, given the same glorified bodies as Jesus. After the break we talked about the last judgement and the language of the Bible regarding this: namely, 1) the last battle and the defeat of God's enemies, 2) the market place where the ultimate transaction has been made (heavenly Deal or No Deal) and 3) the law court where the Last Judgement is delivered by the Lamb on the Great White Throne.

Talk 4 was about Living in the Present Time because of Jesus' Resurrection. we have New Purpose, a New Day, New Life, New Power and New Freedom. and we did some Case studies regarding things like Suffering, Marriage. The idea behind all this was that God's saints live in Babylon now, with all its temptations and persecutions. How should we therefore live as Christians in Babylon?at this point i shall add some commentary of my own. i feel that it is at Wintercon that God has allowed the greatest "Conceptual Breakthroughs" in my Christian life. First year it was about ministry and the idea that ministry is much bigger and more mundane than i thought. Second year it was about the mercifulness of God's Sovereignty and the Magnificent Sweep of God's Majesty. Last year it was about the will of God in singleness and coming to terms with it. This year it is about taking unilateral action if need be in living for God and in ministry. We should live for Jesus over and inspite of the examples of others.

Talk 5 on friday morning was about the Biblical teaching about work. What it was in God's creation before the Fall, how work has been corrupted and the good ideals behind work frustrated by the Fall, and how we should work in God's new creation in Jesus. Finally, does Christianity make a difference in Babylon? Yes and no. but ultimately, we must work in anticipation of the New Jerusalem.

it was a great Con for me this year, and i especially loved all the jokes we shared, like Shaddes' accounts of Martin Luther choosing a wife: "there were some nuns who came out of Roman Catholicism and came to Luther for help. Luther promised them their sustenance, which in those days meant a husband so men came from all over Germany to choose wives from these nuns. Unfortunately, there was 1 left over, so Luther married her to keep his promise. By all accounts it was a fantastic marriage and Luther loved his Katie." or Luther's beer quotes: " a man who drinks much sleeps much. A man who sleeps much sins little. A man who sins little goes to heaven. Therefore, let us drink beer." Luther, you old geezer, you got my heart there. Cheers!

A Morally Self-Consious Water Bottle

Since i'm in my Cam-Whore Mode before uni begins again wat-the-heck..Saw this while in Jesmond Shops at Cotton On and decided to buy it..because it says, "A Morally Consious Water Bottle"...Ermmm..you mean, a Morally SELF-Conscious Water Bottle that Reeks of Do-Gooder Bullsh*t...as the Pommies(Brit-ish) might say, "Bah, Humbug!"

Wintercon Photos

Wintercon photos are up and i'll display all of them before going into a description of the conference for 09..

The Serving Team..from left, Ben Broadfoot aka Double B, Fiona, Harvey, Adam Savage, Matthew Watson for first night food service..Fantastic Hospitality

Harvey Noell, with desert. Come on Harves, why so glum? haha


















After Dinner Conversation..first night is always best with all the get-to-know-ya awkwardness and this-guy-must-be-a-real bogan


















Morning Quiet Times..up at 7.45 am, Breakfast till 9, then Quiet Times till 9.30am..Go on, pick a spot in the sun


















Worship Sessions at Night, let down only by the poor quality of my point-and-shoot camera, lousy at-a-snap photo taking skills..nice hat Sam


















Singing my Fav camp Song, Before the Throne of God Above


















Ultimate Frisbee, right after i'd bowed out to get ready for Group Photo Taking and Campus Planning Sessions..1st rule of free time: use free time for fun activities


















Martin Shadwick aka Shaddes during Session 3 of Night Talks..Resurrection: A New and Living Hope, which was, in my humble opinion, the best session

















My Manuscript Dicovery Group on Friday Morning; Romans 5-8 studied with the theme of Law and Grace explored as best we could under the Holy Spirit's guidance, from left, Rhys Tippet Discussion Leader, Matt Tyler fellow FOCUS helper and my driver to the 'Con, Andrew, me taking photo of course

No Woman No Cry

As of today, i officially have a new room mate..Lawrence Kasherman! oh boy, i'm anticipating lotsa male testosterone and boyish fun..muahahaha..i acknowledge, my long months living in isolation from the rest of humanity have left me more than a bit looney..so a little bit of company sure is welcome..

and friends, you know whats the theme song of tonite? you guessed it, No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley..just us 2 boys and no women in our lives..(but who knows..my roomie might turn up attached suddenly and unexpectedly ;) No, Not to me of course, you bumbling foolish dumb bells!

Jokes and teasing aside..i felt Refreshed with a capital R at Unichurch service again..Pete Witt, a Bible translator to Vanuatu spoke from Colossians 3:18-4:1..about christian relationships; wives, husbands, children, parents, slaves, masters. There was of course the usual exegesis about what to do when you get married and Guide to Choosing a Right Life Partner According to Australian Christianity..you're talking to a Realist when it comes to relationships so don't be so shocked..but i think Pete made a good argument from scripture which is Honest and i accept it as what God wants for us.. however, you gotta factor in human attraction and desires (sinful and holy)

after the service Joyce, Jamie and Jono(myself) aka the J-Team (ok i made that up) met Catherina Weiss, a Deutshfrau from Deutschland who's on a study abroad scheme in Australia for a year..i guessed that she was from Europe and either France, Germany or the Czech Republic (which is a pretty darn big area actually; and if i'd been firing nuclear missiles i'd absolutely fail to hit the target) before finally being let in on the secret of her origin..so there, if she does join FOCUS regularly, i can practice my little Deutsch with Frau Caterina..and i would be doing Fraulein Maria, who taught me ein bischen Deutsch when i was 16, after my O'Levels proud! at the very least, i can try and failing which, respond, 'Keine Ahnung' or 'ich spracken ein bischen Deutsch' ....at least my German is better than my Japanese that i did for 1 sem in Year 2 and still have no clue how to say hullo, my name is Jono, how are ya? in...

alrightie..enough clowning around..gotta sleep early to go for Wintercon at Galston Gorge, Sydney tomorrow..am looking forward to Martin's Talks and Dene's Foundations Series and relishing the opportunity to ask all my thorny Pre-destination and the Sovereignty of God questions that i've been holding for a year now..feels like first year Wintercon all over again..landing in an unknown area with unknown people hot and suited up, ready for a fight..GPMG loaded and cocked, bayonet de-rusted, oiled and ready for fixing to my trusty M1A1 carbine...2 waterbottles in SBO filled..Board the Chopper!

Piano

After spending time with the SRJC guys from NWO on Sunday night i began thinking about how far we've grown and the times i missed out on their lives either because i was too busy with NS or overseas studying..and strangely, about the regrets we've had..Mr S.F was telling me some of his difficulties and his fears and i wished that the Christians in the group had more time to talk about these issues and read the Bible to find out what it actually does say about these issues. Mr S.F and myself resolved to read the Bible together when i'm next around in Singapore regarding some of these struggles we face as young Christian adults and men. And i've been thinking about my own regrets this night and the really dumb and bad decisions i've made in the past.

we can't take those bad mistakes and decisions away and thats a fact, but we stand under Christ's blood and forgiveness. Still, i wish i'd listened more to what God was saying to me in His Word when i was growing up. And in the vein of my shared Cheena Ah Pek-ness with Fuzz and shared love for 80s music with Dean, here's Fan Yi Cheng's Piano or Gang Qin. Enjoy.. (the tune if you can't get the words)

Not Learning Anything or Why i Distrust Political Liberalism

Let me highlight a recent article in the Business Times of Singapore, on Wednesday, July 8, 2009, entitled, "The Cane Whistles, But Does It Really Hurt?"

"The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has banned 10 financial institutions (FIs) from selling structured notes for periods ranging between 6 months and 2 years for mis-selling products linked to collapsed US bank Lehman Brothers...On the surface, the MAS ban, following approximately 7 months of investigations, appears to be appropriate punishment. But it really rings hollow, because it isn't going to to hurt the FIs much.The fact is that the whole structured products market has vanished-the financial crisis and the structured notes fiasco have seen to that...This will be cold-comfort to the 10000 or so investors who suffered from the mis-selling..and it isn't satisfactory, given the serious lapses at the FIs. The list of shortcomings makes for shocking reading.."

"If a ban really means nothing, the MAS should have imposed fines, big fines, that would really have hurt the FIs...it should have pushed the FIs to compensate...The nature of the lapses identified by the MAs suggests a failure in oversight and processes, which really points the finger at senior executives, and they shouldn't escape responsibility."

"And what about the MAS' own role? Dare we suggest that if the sub-prime fiasco hadn't happened and Lehman hadn't collapsed,the mis-selling would have continued merrily and no one would be the wiser? How closely did the central bank supervise the banks when it came to the sale of structured products before the crisis?"

"The industry will respond as it usually does. Indeed, the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) immediately announced that its member banks are putting in place a series of measures covering a range of governance and assurance processes, training and compensation of sales personnel, consumer education and enhancements to the sales process. Investors will take all this with a pinch of salt. Weren't there such protestations before?"

Thats the cost of liberalism and market de-regulation..after 4 years in Australia, i'm skeptical..political liberalism is a chimaera at best and a false messiah at worst, offering much but delivering little. Even now our incumbent government is unwilling to learn and listen, preferencing corporate interests over the small-time individual investor. Thats why I distrust political liberalism, period.

You're Beautiful.. James Blunt

Day 2 of me Great Musical Experiment..must see previous post to understand..

and documenting of Day 2 of Jono's Great Tioman Adventure..well, we got up at 7.30am the next morning and had breakfast at Hamdan's Cafe near the beach and packed lunch for the day on the boat at sea..i remember wat i had, Nasi Pattaya..

Day 2 was great for fishin really..all bright sunny skies and calm waters..and the first stop was garupa or Garupo as Awang, our elderly Malay boatman called it..near the west side of the resort, near some rocky reefs we let down our fishin reels and fishin rods..and promptly caught a few mid sized Garupo..promptly applies to Dad and Pastor Kitham, not me...i waited for almost an hour before getting any bite..and reeled up only to lose the little bugger...took my bait with 'im too..cunning fella..

we went to 4 or 5 spots before i caught anything..a small Garupo..sigh..den of course we broke for lunch..the other Malay boatman (whom we later learnt was from Indonesia) was darn good at fishin man..he kept catching so many small to mid-sized Garupo and snappers and Greasies and yellow tails..Dad and Pastor Kitham din do so bad as well..at least 10 teach between them before lunch..

after lunch we headed out to the open sea as the weather was good enough and it was there that i caught my largest fish in the last 5 years..i dunno what it was but it sure looked like a cross between a barramundi and shark..at least 55 cm long..that truly rekindled my interest in fishin which has been simmerin on the back burner the last 2 years..we stayed out at sea till around 6.30pm before heading back to shore..it was a very very rewarding day..i like the feel of working hard for a good catch under the sun with good honest sweat down one's back..never tried it before? you should some time..

and we had our washing up, first of the rods, reels and equipment then ourselves before bringing 8 of the fish to the nearby Chinese restaurant to cook sweet and sour, with other dishes of course..even now, the thought makes me mouth water..yum..i was pretty dead beat after that so it was back to the room and a good sleep around 10.30 pm...but not before taking my back, shoulders and neck pain relief medication..dislike that problem man..keeps coming back to plague me on and off..

tell everyone more about Day 3 soon..

Again, Not my image but thats the kinda boat we took out to sea..not identical but very similar..actually the one we took was a bit more run down..this image is from the Net and shows Tioman in the background

You Remind Me, Usher

Lets do a little bit of experimentation, or X-perimentation as i call it..you all know how i love Class 95 back home in Singapore rite? so, i've decided to name my posts in Singapore by the name of watever song is playing on Class 95 at the time i begin each blog post (it'll probably wear off in a couple of weeks but you never know if you never try, eh?)



Ok. this post is about my recent trip to Tioman, Malaysia with family and Pastor Kitham, the Myanmar pastor from Charis Full Gospel Centre who pastors our Burmese/Myanmar congregation..before i begin, i really envy you Malaysian friends of mine when it comes to possible holiday destinations. You guys have such cool places as Tioman, Redang, Johore Bahru (even though security is sometimes an issue), Rawa, Aur, Pangkor, Penang, Langkawi, Maldives(eh, salah, that one not counted) and you can go there anytime without needing to bring passport or fill in forms about how much money you're bringing into Malaysia(must be under RM 2000, don't play play, ok?)



we took 2.5 hours to drive up from Singapore to Mersing and let me tell you, navigating to and from the new customs checkpoint in JB is no joke ok..follow road sign happy happy then eh! "TA BOLEh JALAn! OR*** ****!Machiam Mana PErGi?!" thats quoting some of the inhabitants of the car who jiakup Melayu fluently..then from Mersing we took the ferry to Tioman after a wait of about an hour..ferry took 2.5 hours..and then, of course, father cleverly never book transport from Tekek Village(our stop) to Juara Beach so have to find local transport..thankfully, this guy offered to give us a lift there for RM 140..which was daylight robbery, so we said no, then he said he'll find one more person to share with us and that was how we met Alicia, a back-packer from New Zealand who had come to Singapore as the Physio for the NZ Under-21 National Hockey Team but was staying on for a week to do travelling after the competition ended..she's a christian going to Green Lane Church in Auckland and it was really good for us to get to know her over the next few days..back to my story..the guy said 4 Wheel Drive by which i think he meant a car with 4 wheels because he brought a Perodua Kancil to bring us up and down many hills and valleys to Mutiara Resort at Juara Beach..the suspension was creaking like nobody's business and at several points i really thought that must get out and push the bullock cart, sorry, Kancil already..good thing arrive there in one piece and not in body bags..



Father of course forget to confirm our booking on the day before coming so there was a bit of a fiasco..good thing we were placed in a pretty nice chalet for RM 120 a night and when i saw the BEACH i went crazy man.. went straight to the room and changed into my trunks and literally ran to the beach and ran in for a darn good swim in warm, crystal clear waters with visibility of at least 12 m i swear..forget Australian beaches man..this one is to die for ok!!too bad it was already 530pm when we arrived, so did not have much time with my beloved salty sea....



and then, dad being dad, said that we should go explore..and his ulterior motive was to find Gunung (Mount) Durian behind the resort, full of Durian trees and pick up some free kampung durian..which we did..4 wild, kampung durians, no fertilisers or human intervention..except in their digestion..Alicia met us while we were "exploring" so we invited her to join us for kampung durian at the beach cafe..and she actually tried and did not mind the taste of durian..i told her that she definitely put to shame many of my white Aussie friends man..



and that basically sums up the first day of my Great Tioman Adventure..tell ya more about Day 2, 3 and 4 over the next few posts..stay tuned ;->

Not my picture but this is the exact type of chalet we stayed in (photo of Mutiara Resort chalet, Juara Beach, taken from internet)

Live High

Jason Mraz does Live High in Paris, with the Centre Georges Pompidou by Renzo Piano in the background and nobody recognizes him. Whats it with the French? can't appreciate good architecture and good music? nothing to live for then..well i'd Live High any day..

Book Review Time!

its time to do another book review for a book that most people would probably rather not read..so hang in there those of you readers who are intellectually challenged by some of these posts

Prisoner of the State, The Secret Journal of Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang is a fascinating read for those of us Sino-Soviet history buffs..the rivetting insider story of Zhao Ziyang's appointment as General Secretary of the Peoples' Republic of China and head of the Politburo Standing Committee and eventual fall from grace during the internal power struggles of June 1989 when the Tiananmen Incident broke out, all told from his point of view for once..

I always thought that Zhao Ziyang was a capable man, much maligned by his peers and rivals..but now i seem to have found a new respect for the guy who, during the upheavals of June 1989, proved to be the true "good and honourable man" who refused to be coerced into sending troops into Tiananmen and refused to go down in history as the Premier who ordered Chinese troops to spill Chinese blood..

For this of course, he spent the rest of his life under house arrest and hidden from the world. The story of how this secret journal came about is a gripping tale in itself. Apparently, from about 1992, Zhao began taping over audio cassettes of songs and children's stories with sections of his reflections. These were then distributed separately to different trusted friends and family members, who, on his death, covertly began to compile the tapes and smuggle them out of the country. Thats how the world first came to know of his secret journal and heard his voice for the first time since 1989.

the most interesting part of this book is the close look we get of different leaders of the CCP and the other sides to their charcter than that commonly played before the world's media, from Deng to Jiang Zemin..and of course the behind-the-scenes account of how China reformed her economy from centrally planned, 5 Year Plan style socialist models to free market economy within the space of 10 years under Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, when the foundations were laid for the explosive and uncontainable growth after 1992 till today. Most intriguing of all is Zhao's final chapter on the way forward for China where a CCP member (he was never expelled even under arrest), experienced in the politics of the Politburo and Central Committee and a veteran of the Cultural Revolution states that only western style parliamentary democracy, with free elections, the rule of law and separation of Legislature, Executive and Judiciary will be able to curb the rampant corruption, excess and inequality in China today.

Agree with him or not, Zhao speaks from the grave and refuses to be put down, suppressed or silenced. He may have said to the students of Tiananmen, "we're old and what we say doesn't matter anymore. But you are young and should not throw your lives away so foolishly." In reality, Zhao is more current and up-to-date on China than we think.

Thats all folks,
Jono Chua
Closet Sino Analyst

Timbre part 2

Timbre

it feels great being home again.. Kian and Richard met with me earlier for some beef brisket noodles, pork congee and fried wonton dumplings at Crystal Jade (Plaza Singapura, Dhoby Ghaut )and we proceeded to Timbre Old School at Mount Sophia (near Dhoby Ghaut) after that..the live music is fantastic and kudos again to the entrepreneuring people who thought of a place for local Singaporean bands to play while customers chill out with some beer..

of course, if you're talking about charm, ambience and idyllic(some say decadent) settings, nothing beats Dempsey Road at the converted former British colonial Baracks..now that place is the perfect haunt of expatriates and those of us with a sense of taste and finese, if i do say so myself..muahaha

one of the songs sung tonight by the band was Lady Gaga's Pokerface... Acoustic and unplugged..and i couldnt help laughing to myself and thinking about my friends in Newcastle who've seen me go crazy over this song and Lady Gaga's other musical ensembles..my my my my pokerface, my pokerface..this song is for you guys..and of course, the other memorable song that brought tears to my eyes (because i was laughing so hard) had to be..you guessed it, Jason Mraz and Colbie Cailat's Lucky...now that song is for you Dene and Emmerie..hahahahaha

and by God's grace i did have the opportunity before this to meet Ian while i was at the Cityhall Starbucks..which was completely unplanned and random..and we had a great time talking about his counselling work at St Francis School in Bukit Timah and work with Christian youth the past 6 months, while i told him about my past 6 months and the great academic trials i always face every sem..

and after that, i was having some late night supper at the Macas (aka Macdonalds) near my home..and i heard Reo Speedwagon on the radio..and promptly fell in love with Class 95 all over again..that was the radio station that saw me through the years 18 to 22 so i love you guys! Before that it was Perfect 10, 98.7 FM between 14 and 18 of course..buts its too bubble gum pop for me now..oh well..will keep everyone updated..See ya soon

The group

This is my growth group from unichurch..and i do love them..Lachlan Wetherall our group leader, Sam Barnes, in the second row, myself, DJ, Kate, Ellen, Lianna, Pip, Linda Wetherall who's Lachy's wife, Dave and in the last row, Alyssa and Tim Arnold

i've learnt so much from them espcially Lachy and Tim, who've been like my Christian mentors..from Lachy i've learnt the value of humble, quiet service that doesnt get talked about much or hyped up a lot, from Tim i learnt what a Christian husband looks like (especially a young Christian husband who's just starting out in life) and i've learnt from Sam Barnes who's the real philosopher in the group and who always offers a fresh philosophical perspective..or throws light on our thought processes..and Linda has taught me a great deal of what qualities to look for in a Christian wife and what really is valuable..and the younger members of our group remind me that i'm not that old after all..you guys invigorate me with the freshness of life at 20 all over again, before i even left the Army..i feel so alive around you people..great job! haha..

Speaking about youth..i watched Zhongyu's performance on Facebook earlier..i wish i'd been there last October to hear her rendition of Sarach Lachlan's Angel live with her band..now, that woman can sing i tell ya..you know what they say that when some people sing Magic happens? Well, Zhongyu's one of those who works magic when she sings..i feel young again, and i like that..

Man, thats the one thing i hate most about Newcastle Uni..it makes me feel so drained and it saps my energy at the end of every semester..thats why i need a change of environment at the end of each sem..and as a FOCUS helper it sometimes takes its toll with the constant battles between uni work and FOCUS responsibilities and wanting to encourage Christians rather than go off and do what i please..and when i hear friends like Zhongyu, Alvin Tay or Yap, Jonathan Tsang with their bands doing what they really enjoy without a care in the world i really wanna just ditch everything and go do something i like, such as Snorkel and Scuba Dive around the world..and to hell with the rest..i do like feeling young, i do like feeling that the world is my oyster, i do like the feeling of doing everything i enjoy whenever i please..

as i think about what i want to do with my future, i must thank Zhongyu for her performance..cos it has got me thinking and re-evaluating my choices.

Excerpts

"hey guys,

i dunno if you guys share the same concern for the environment, energy conservation and the poor as I do, but an idea just popped into my mind for a business/charity based on those causes.

I thought I'd like to attempt to help people convert waste heat to do something useful around the house like dry clothes.

An initial attempt would be to channel the coolant from a fridge to a larger area that can be maintained and cleaned so that the clothes can be dried on it.

I reckon this idea will not be immediately attractive as the cost savings will be quite little - maybe under $100 a year? and the initial cost of labor and raw materials to set it up may be way above that order of magnitude (some survey will have to go into this).

There are also several technical and aesthetic/design issues to concern oneself with - whether we can come up with designs for each situation that is functional and simple enough to be of casual utility, and that will be the thing which determines if this idea takes off.

In this climate of tightening belts and of people looking for something worthwhile to do, we can take otherwise unemployed people (ourselves) and apply them to helping the poor whom a few dollars in savings would matter to.

It could serve as a springboard/source of experience to implementing ideas that involve higher tech, more complication and more cost e.g. I envision solar powered windows to absorb energy from the sunlight to power air conditioners, or an external system to aid in cooling the computer, which is becoming the central problem with computing these days (incorporating the home server with the home water heating system). It has the scope of utilizing some of our trainings - varun's business skills, chua's design training, and perhaps shamir could help us market the product using videos - getting the message across to the our target audience."

To Gabriel:
applaud your thinking that went into this. Am greatly encouraged that friends like you remind me of where i came from. Without people just trying to do something worthwhile in this life like yourself, we'd all be screwed (for want of a better term). Note to self: do something small but worthwhile this week and stop screwing around with selfish ambitions.

Cheers
Chua aka The Creature

Change and Sian-ness

This photo says so much about my mood at the time..around Day 14 of my Japan mission trip last year..actually i think it says so much about everyone of the team at the time..

Ian has been talking a lot about change on his blog and i feel that it is an issue that does tug at my own heartstrings this year. I do believe that certain aspects of my character have changed significantly from last year while other aspects have been, shall we say, re-defined. Take for instance my left wing radicalism. That has mellowed so much. And my skepticism? i think that this year it isn't the in your face variety that it was before..i'm still deeply skeptical of people's motives and hidden agendas..but i believe i would say that i try not to be so hasty to judge..

it could simply be that i'm sian aka tired as in the Japan Mission pic and i'm growing out of my youthful "i can change the world" idealism..or just simply that being more engaged with individuals around me and being more in tune with their personal stories has made me a more practical human being who is much more useful to God than an idealistic hothead..or on a slightly less optimistic note, i'm more selfish in protecting myself by saying polite and moderate things rather than stuff that could ruin my friendships..

Just a few nites back i was at Joyce's place for some dinner and to check out her cool new fish tank (which i must say is pretty impressive but lacks a piranha) and ended up playing Wii with Jeram, Brendan, Joyce and Brandon..we all took turns and Josephine, Serene and Roger Jonas were up next..and i enjoyed it completely..and i felt that i was really engaging with true friends and caring for them..i wouldnt have been so at ease a year back probably as i'd have been more uptight. Its liberating really, being more laidback and sporting.

Its great to change to be a more easy going person i think..you noe, the next time you're over at Barahineban, give me a buzz or drop by my room and say hi..maybe we could have a beer and a nice chat about anything from uni work to life, God and the nature of the universe...except when i'm stressed by architecture maybe..*laughz*

2 Months

2 months is forever by the standards of this ultra fast, information saturated world ain't it? well, not by the architectural clock thats still ticking down to the final conclusion for this semester..eternity is like waiting for the semester to end so one can take stock of all the grenade fragments and body parts littering the sidewalk of our lives..

i remember the time when after seeming years of service to Country and my Fellow Citizens in the Singapore Armed Forces i finally was discharged..or ORD'd as we call it in Singapore...No more armoured vehicles to hose down at the washing bays or Own Vehicle Equipment to oil and maintain..goodbye Company Sergeant Majors and OCs..and then the grenade fragment picking up began where i started to pick up the pieces of my life that had come to a grinding halt while i served NS..

same feeling different circumstances now you might say..Design 3 is not an easy nut to crack..even with all that temp job working in a firm over summer last year..still i don't seem able to execute my conceived ideas quite as well as i wished. Oh well, i figure its due to the disjunction between idea and reality. I must say i'm much more satisfied with my design though. The idea of deformation and skewing of standard buildings to challenge perceptions of what is conventional architecture has great merit. And the use of steel structure in a non-rational, non-linear manner to support the building certainly screws with people's perceptions of what is "accepted practice". As Charles Jencks would have it, " in an age where consensus about any subject is practically non-existent, the answer to any question might as well be fish" (paraphrased)

well, we're having our FOCUS end of semester steamboat session this friday evening at Hamilton Bap.s so i'm looking forward to that and will keep readers who have endured my almost 3 months of silence updated..you deserve it..haha

Book recommendation of the Month

"This stone was raised to Sarah Ford,
not Sarah's virtues to record-
For they're well known to all the town-
No Lord; it was raised to keep her down."

"Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake,
Stepped on the gas
Instead of the brake."

"Here lies Butch,
We planted him raw.
He was quick on the trigger,
But slow on the draw."

that was a selection of epigrams from real tombstones around the world and which i found on the website dedicated to Neil Gaiman's coolest book yet, The Graveyard Book. Thanks to Huixun and my old Neil Gaiman Book Club i was alerted to this cool illustrated book.

written in the great tradition of Rudyard Kipling which Mr Gaiman himself claims was his literary inspiration, its a complex allegory about life, death, growing up, loss and change. Of course, its setting is an English graveyard which is pretty different from the kind one finds in Southeast Asia or the East, which are not seen as places of rest but places of death, rot and evil..even though Asians would not call it evil but the world of yin..but a rose by any other name..

an English graveyard with its overhanging tress and overgrowing grass and plants with wild foxes and cats thrown in for good measure becomes the home of a baby who has a rather tragic background..taken in by Mr and Mrs Owens, a childless ghost couple, he becomes Nobody Owens, or Bod, for short..along the way we meet interesting inhabitants of the graveyard such as Caius Pompeius, the oldest resident, a remnant from Roman times and the city of Camulodunum..we meet Josiah Worthington, Bart, local politician and aristocrat who purchased the graveyard and dedicated it to posterity as a government reserve..we meet Silas, the dark resident who might just have been a reformed Jack the Ripper or a vampire turned death highway patrolman..Miss Lupescu, a Hound of God as she calls herself, but known to us as a werewolf, and Elizabeth Hempstroke, a witch drowned in Elizabethan times and buried in the unconsecrated ground of the graveyard, reserved for the criminals, suicides and witches..and of course, Jack, the cause of all of our unlikely protagonist's troubles..

my favourite chapter in the book has to be Chapter 5, The Danse Macabre..when white flowers bloom in the height of winter (they shouldn't) this signals the start of the festival of Macabray, when the dead, in stately fashion, leave the graveyard and meeting the living in the town square, where there is a great dance, until finally, even the Lady of the Grey herself, a figure representing a genial death, appears to dance with them, until mid-night when the dead and living return to their own homes, once more having nothing to do with each other..a macabre version of Cinderella indeed..i especially love the lyrics of the song, "one to leave and one to stay, and all to dance the Macabray" of course, for all my literature inclined friends out there, this is once again, a metaphor for the dance of death all human beings go through all their lives, until death finally claims us..

my second favourite chapter is the story of Bod meeting the witch, Liza (which is such a post-modern version of Elizabeth and appropriate for the story) and learing about the Biblical-English tradition of the Potter's Field where the outcasts of society are buried..this is a veiled attack on the supposedly uncharitable Christian Church of course, for those who have eyes to see it as it is, but totally fun as it were..it ends with Bod fashioning a headstone for the unmarked grave of Liza with a glass paper weight and some paint..appropriate and quirky, but i think some fruitcake and a cricket bat would do better..there are other chapters which are interesting..but i feel that the chapter on the ghoul-gate didnt really fit in with the story..even though the names of the ghouls, such as the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Duke of Westminster, the Honourable Archibald Fitzburgh, the Thirty-Third President of The United States of America, The Emperor of China and The Famous Writer Victor Hugo was so totally, morbidly cool..until we got to the bit where one finds out the ghouls get their names from the first victim they eat..which even i found a bit much for a children's book..

and in case you thought otherwise, The Graveyard Book won the 2008 John Newbury Award for Childrens' Literature..i dun noe if i'll ever read this to my kids as a bedtime story, but i sure do enjoy the book miself..all in all i'd rate this book 4.5 stars out of 5 for a Neil Gaiman book..well done Mr Gaiman..you've blown us all away again with that trademark quirkiness and "Wodehousian generosity of spirit" as one critic commented on ya Anansi Boys..i seriously recommend this book..

Australia, the Epic

the Epic year at uni begins..i missed Australia so much yet without knowing how much till i reached Newcastle and started distributing flyers for the Lighthouse Walk on Wednesday Arvo (Afternoon is Aussie speak)..the coffee certainly helped fight the tiredness and drowsiness while pamphletting..

Getting Barahineban Unit 121 ship shape and ready for 'combat operations' as i term it took the remainder of the Evening..the only fuel i ran on at that point was pure adrenaline, momentum and lotsa Lady Gaga, Colbie Caillat, NeYo, Jason Mraz and Chris Jordan..No Air indeed..and over the next 36 hours, i would be tracking down, recovering, inventorizing and readying my stored materiale for living in Newcastle..thankfully the night brought deep, dreamless sleep for the exhausted which is the best and most restful of all the various stages and types of sleep possible..until about 4 flipping AM in the morning when the sound of distant drums woke me from my silent reveille..tribal witch doctors or drunk freshmen on the road outside Barahineban i'll never know for sure..that cost me 45 minutes of dis-stress before sleep found me with her silken wings again..i glide into oblivion..

and then the alarm rings at 10am and i stretch out a sleep drenched hand to fling it into the furthest corner, cursing the demons of wakefulness in the Master's Name..but sleep she flutters away like a flock of doves in startled flight from a pouncing cat..Cold be hand and heart and bone, and cold be sleep under stone..as JRR Tolkien's Barrow wright would have it..and i rise to another day's labour, in the fields of golden rye..

oh well, the Bible does say that by the sweat of ye brow ye shall till the earth all ye days, for dust ye are, and to dust ye shall return..lets go kiddo, no rest for the weary..

On The Side of Me

i really enjoy Corrine May..you know, there was a time when she was my Ideal Woman..actually, i think she still is..oh well, thats me being whimsical and quirky..cheers

3 Ministers, One Summer

"I too, am seen as the elder brother and older friend and nothing more. Probably thats why I have so many friends who are girls but they're all not attracted to me as a partner"..that was my response to Ian's comment about the issues with being a professional counsellor and known as one..the perception of members of the opposite sex changes..

I've been blessed to have been taught by great teachers and blessed to have sat at the feet of godly ministers of God's Word who've taught me all i know about the Bible and being a Christian..its really God's grace..i'm going to talk about three of them in this post for they've been some of the most formative in my Christian walk and life here in Singapore..

First, there's Dr E N Poulsen, the Pastor Emeritus of Grace Baptist Church and Professor Emeritus of Singapore Bible College, the minister who taught my father in Bible College for 4 years many, many years ago..An American missionary from the Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles, he's been in Singapore for the last 53 years! He recently returned to California for what he says will be the last time, because he intends to die and be buried in the mission field of Singapore where God called him in 1955...Now this is a very interesting man who was a naval pilot during the Second World War, actually flying in combat at Guadacanal and Guam..my father and myself recently visited him over the Chinese New Year period in Singapore where he regalled us with stories of eating raw fish yusheng with his chinese co-workers..he gave me good advice that i should finish my studies and work for at least 2 years or 5 before going into ministry..and that in an Asian context, evangelism often involves offering tuition to students in the neighbourhood and telling them about Jesus during short breaks between lessons..of course we should make this clear from the start, but the kinds of pure evangelistic outreach events we do in Australia just don't work well..which got me thinking about Focus..if we have English coaching sessions and breaks where we share 2 Ways to Live with international students, would that work better? we should include that in our advertising so we're not misleading anyone, but is this unscriptural?

Minister no. 2 is the Reverend Fred Abeysekara, an old school and old time Pentecostal man who recently returned from missionary work in Banglore, India..he spoke in Charis Full Gospel Church on Sunday from Matthew 10:1-15..i have not heard a verse by verse exegesis by a Pentecostal minister for a very, very long time..with the exception of my father who even then, sometimes gets carried away.."and proclaim as you go, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying, give without pay. acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food." v. 7-10...he went on to talk about ministry, mission work, service of God and the difficulty faced in the Christian life..of course, i don't agree with everything he preached from a Biblical Theological perspective...but i think often i retreat behind intellectualism and theologising about the Bible which shouldnt be..the thrust of his sermon was right..especially when Rev. Fred said, "i've had people spit on me and hit me for the sake of the gospel..some of them Christians in whose churches i preached, right after the service..the Christian walk and life is Hard and Difficult..but we do it for the sake of Jesus..look to Him"..a far cry indeed from the New Liberal Pentecostals who preach health, wealth and prosperity..now you see why i dislike them and their theology so much? if they're right, that means everything Reverend Fred and my family have endured for the gospel for the last 20 to 30 years has been in vain, because we have far more suffered than been blessed..Of course, few other pentecostal churches in Singapore these days invites Rev Fred to preach..poor man, he preaches too much about the Wrath of God, the sinfulness of man and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the cure..not politically correct in this age of "luv" (not Love as you may notice..as Dr Poulsen says, the Liberals spell it as 'Luv' rather than 'Love' as the Bible spells it)

and no. 3 is Ian Poullier (thats right, my friend, its about you :) a true Christian friend and Counsellor who struggles with singlehood and marriage..he recently underwent an operation for cervical spondelosis because C4-6 of his vertebrae were pressing on his spinal cord, causing numbness, difficulty in his gait and some vertigo..i did not realise my friend, if not i would have been praying for you..i'm sorry for being such a careless friend..he underwent a major surgery which was 7 hours in all and yet, was up and about and discharged within 4 days of the operation..he talked at length about God's Grace, mercy and favour..and i agree and empathise completely..my grandma underwent an operation for cervical spondelosis in 1990 which left her paralysed from the waist down..God is merciful indeed..anyway, he was back in the office last week and counselling students at St Francis Methodist School, even while wearing a neck brace..i always find it refreshing talking to Ian, who never fails to put things in perspective (with that counsellor finesse of his)..from singlehood and marriage to ministry and caring for kids and adolescents..without condemnation and judging and any air of self-righteousness..yet always being realistic and up front..anyways, so that his head doesnt get too bloated (i know you read this space Ian) i'll move on to what he told me about getting some basic training in counselling if i wanted to get involved in ministry..its helpful for ministers to learn how to communicate with distressed people and counsel them with some proper knowledge..and to have some basic bedside manners which don't scare troubled congregation members off..thats something to keep in view for the future..

well, thats enough for tonite..God has been gracious to me in letting me have the fellowship and teaching of these ministers..this is for you.."God rest ye merry gentlemen" indeed..