Everything is always beautiful when you take it slow and easy.

When God says there is a time for everything, there is  a time for everything indeed.

A time to work smart in the office. And more often than not, I need lots of wisdom, for everything and everyone is always changing. Unpredictability rules in the office. And the new colleague is more a thorn in my flesh who couldn’t stop suaning people. Perhaps my nonchalent spirit will shut him off one day. Some guys really have a bad tongue.

A time to mug hard in the evening. I find it more and more relieving to just chill out in the evening at SMU basement revising, talking and crapping. Somemore, subjects can be quite interesting.

Come to think of it, the degree turns out to be such a blessing. I took up a degree as a no choice, must take in Singapore kind of thing. But now, at the 3rd term into it, I gain so much. I begin to know so many great people inside, who share their life and working experiences. Coming together to study is not just a to do anymore. It’s part of a lifestyle, process and exchange that we all have with one another. Suddenly, my perspective and viewpoints on many things change. For eg, how would I know what a salesperson really struggles with, unless my sales friend shares with me? And how would I know how tiring and frustrating to be working in the customer service line until I hear from them personally? These people with real life experiences have given me something that money can’t buy – a sharing of their lifes and simply their friendship. As such, I really felt that I gained so much from this degree (with working adults) as compared to if I have went to get a campus degree, whereby I will have just literally play throughout 4 years with people who are younger. And these working adults are fun too!

However, at the end of the day, I must still remember to put God in the centre of these all. If God is not in the picture, I can easily become no different from an atheist. I can do everything based on my own effort and wisdom. An atheist refused to acknowledge the presence of an Almighty God. But I acknowledge that God is the one who gives man wisdom to do everything. God is not a last resort thing when natural disaster comes and people lose all hope. God is in the centre of man’s life and in control of the universe, and He wants man to have an abundant life. In my opinion, atheist are independent, self-willed and prideful people. Christians are not weak. They simply acknowledge God as the stronger one and submit to His Lordship.

Sometimes, when I go through one whole day of my life, simply just listening to people and enjoying a simple friendship, life can become beautifully simple.

When life is simple, life is beautiful. Really beautiful. Stress-free. Happy. Contented.

Cheers.

I don’t like it when man’s character goes awry.

This afternoon I tagged along with my colleagues to go makan at NTU. I got into his car and he began to share his life. Lo and behold, this 30 year old male colleague of mine is a father of a child aged 6. What’s more, he smokes everyday. When asked if his children ask him to stop smoking or not, guess what is his reply?

“You don’t care so much. I smoke non of your business. I earn money, you spend, that’s all.”

His reply shocked me through and through. The male colleague I’ve known for 2-3 months is such a person.

True colors shocked.

I have nothing but more negativity.

On the other hand, one brother-in-christ smsed to me today that there are a lot of wonderful and responsible brother in Christ in the kingdom of God. I can only say, I will just keep my fingers cross.

Most people don’t start out like this. I guess. This colleague is 30 years old. Perhaps stress and change of values get over him with time.

Back in school at the night classes, I bumped into the 3 friendly guys I was revising with last term. They are just in their 20s. Without a family, without a car, without a fantastic career, they are just simply living simply. There is such a peace and simple friendship present when I relate with them.

What a huge contrast between these 2 age groups. Is it that with age, and exposure to different people that caused people to change so much?

Perhaps not. Perhaps people need to define their own values. Then, no matter what comes our way, we will always stand firm on our values.

Saw this caption in the papers today – I don’t need a man. I need a Bachelors.

Ironically, it was Charlie Koh who pass the newspaper around. Trust a man to do just that. Tsk tsk.

Seriously, sometimes I wonder why are woman nowadays the one who does everything. What are the man doing? Why are the woman the ones doing all the sacrifices and giving. Why are woman the ones who have to carry the burden of loving and raising the families? Why are woman the ones who rise up to leadership? Why are woman the ones who are always caring for others first? I don’t get it.

Perhaps what my colleague told me is true – Shouldn’t be so soft on guys. Be hard on them.

Perhaps I may be wrong. Perhaps there are good guys around. Open my eyes then.

Meanwhile, I still prefer to remain an independent woman.

Perhaps this article will evoke negative emotions. But for now, I can’t deny the fact that sometimes (many times), it’s easier to do everything ourselves than to depend on man.

Unless I’m proven wrong.

Final analysis – unless man learn to be gentleman and worthy of respect, woman will still continue to do everything herself. Period.

Sometimes the company of girlfriends can be still better. God, I hope you prove me wrong.

After abandoning my wordpress blog to start a blog at multiply.com, I abandon that again to come back to wordpress. Somehow, I still prefer WordPress format. No reasons why. Sometimes people like a certain particular thing and there is no reason why. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I just find wordpress blog nice. Anyway…

It is a songful day.

This morning I hop onto bus 192 to get to work as usual and the news hit me straight in the face that Michael Jackson just got a heart attack and pass away. Somehow, it hits really close to heart. Not because he is close to me, but because I have grown up listening to his famous songs every now and then on air. His biography is ‘worthy’ of mentioned, and it’s amazing what one man can do and his impact and influence in just a few decades. Of course, however, his influence is not exactly very positive ones. It make me realised all the more that I should live to influence positively. We should not just live for our self-gratification (although God did say we are made to enjoy life and to find fulfillment in all our toll). We should live a life that is worthy of mention at the end.

Besides that, I spend a great evening with Sharonish singing and crooning and playing swings on the playground. One star shine down on us today. It was supposedly Sharon’s star, because mine lives in my heart – Jesus Christ.  =)

Every now and then, you get the feeling that your whole life just flashes past in a blinking of an eye.

Having bumped into my very first primary school friend (in 1991) in MDIS every now and then these days is one thing. Funny how some people’s face never change for 18 years. Funny how some people never seems to age.

And then it’s the catching up with church friends as we talked about life, coming-to-know-Christ conversion story, over-the-years-s’pore-exam-results, changes, etc etc. It’s crazy because life passes so fast.

Suddenly you realized you are faced with many many many insecurities and emotional challenges. You wonder what are they, until you come across this term called the ‘Quarter-life crisis’. Tada! You realized you are normal. You are facing a quarter-life crisis, that’s all.

OMG…. I’m facing quarter-life-crisis…. =S

“I know that we can all be friends, I know that this will never end. I know that we can all be friends.” This familiar M1 tone keeps ringing in my mind nowadays.

True, we all need friends for emotional support, to share the joy, to divide the pain. However, what kind of friends do we want to let into our life and what kind of friends would we want to just keep it just status quo and at a distance?

Many a times we tend to slant towards choosing friends based on our personality preferences, ability to click / connect and find common interests. However, these qualities are simply surface, and will never provide true, lasting friendship / relationship.

Recently having to come to grips with a few unpleasant situations that made me realize all the more, the importance of choosing the right kind of friends in my life.

Asking myself an important question – which is better -
a. A fun-loving, popular and exciting friend with values that simply goes opposite to my own.
b. A plain gal who simply blend into the wall, but has a great heart for the truth.

Both are opposites, but for a lasting friendship, I choose B.
If God looks at these 2 people, guess who is God more pleased with?

No doubt God looks at the heart, the inner being.

Lesson learnt: Choose friends based on their character.

New Year isn’t something I exactly look forward this year. What if they gonna ask the questions again, ‘how’s your studies?’, ‘did you get good results?’ Thank God no one pop that question. So, this year, it was just a session of catching up, being amused at little nephew, eating eating eating and of course the collecting angbao part.

I was especially delighted to meet and catch up with a Christian cousin whom I especially feel connected to. He is one enthusiastic, warm, friendly fellow who recently got married to his girlfriend. Somehow its more than coincidence that we always met each other, be it we used to work at the same location in Science Park, and I bump into him numerous times outside. He is from New Creation church and is serving as the children’s church teacher. I really think it’s a blessing to have this on-fire Christ follower around among the huge midst of relatives I have.

Besides that, I think it’s cool that my closer relatives are all so easy going, down-to-earth and funny. Makes new year much more endurable.

It’s really a small world when I got to know another relative was working at a job agency which I recently went over for an interview. We chatted a bit about the agency, and I got to know the difficulties she faced at work there as well. It seems everyone faced and have their fair share of stress be it at work or at school. I really hate to admit it, but my stress comes from having too much free time on hand, wanting to do something, but stuck.

Perhaps God has a different plan that He wants me to go. As He has promised to be a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path, this I shall believe. But at the same time, will I obey and will I be willing if He reveals?

I guess I’ve been dwelling a lot in my world of discouragement this week due to the rejections I got from the job interviews. So, the interviewer says I am under qualified to be a secretary. And I am not strategic in my career planning. And I am not selected to be a patient care associate. And I did not get the HR job in the end. And to make things worse, I got scolded and condemned terribly for not returning a call on time which I hesitated because I do not know how to reject politely.

Somehow, I really got a bit depressed. Many times I asked myself, what would it have been had I just remain working in the lab. Maybe I’ll get a very stable job, washing test tubes and preparing agar plates everyday, walking around in white lab coat, looking like a nutty professor. Maybe I’ll always get that ‘wow, you are a laboratory scientist’ impressed look everytime I tell others about my career. But, do people know that a lab technician is a boring job? It is not only technically boring, it is intellectually challenging, and it will make me aged 10 years in a year’s time. From the handful of my Poly school mates who didn’t make it to become Lab Tech today, I guess I really didn’t make a wrong choice. And from the many complains of those who did become Lab Tech today, I am even more sure my choice is right. Anyway, even if I did get into a Lab Tech job today, my pay would have been meager for most of my life as I won’t be able to move up the Laboratory organization ladder as I don’t have the capabilities to go into the detailed study of Life Science, as compared to the Masters and PhD holders of most of the scientists in the field.

Or, did I? Or maybe I could try harder? I don’t know. But I don’t really have the passion to go into the nitty gritty details of the research of Life Science.

I want to go into an exciting world of events coordination, exhibition, or tourism or anything that is more happening than a lab-based job whereby I can predict how my life will turn out 24/7. I know many are condemning my decision. But I cannot be unsure of my decision. Even though the whole world don’t like my decision, I have to like my decision. Because this is my decision.

Fine! I like my decision, and I will still stick to my decision.

May all the negative thoughts flee from me this very moment!

“In marathons, everyone starts on equal footing. You realize that we’re really all the same people.”

Fresh before the run!

I think what makes it different for everyone is the process towards reaching the goal. For me, I wanted to finish the race to prove to myself that I can finish what I plan to do. Well, I did finish it, just a little off my target of 2 hrs 5 mins. I got it done in 2 hrs 14 mins instead. Still, 3 cheers for myself!

Sightings

I must say the best part of the race is the ending. Nothing beats the part of crossing the finishing line. Because of this, I think I will go back to run again.

Finishing medal!

The results which I’m proud of (despite insufficient training):

At the end of the day, I should also be thankful that I can still run healthily and at a moderate pace despite my lack of training. I shouldn’t be taking my good health for granted, and should train my body to be strong to last me for years to come. When I was very young, I’m always inspired by those old man who still jog around the estate, and I tell myself that when I’m an old woman, I want to still be strong and vibrant and jogging regularly. I’m not very young nor very old now, but I should train regularly as this is my resolution for myself the rest of my life.

Tip on running a good marathon:
- Visualize yourself running fast and successfully completing the race.
- Train with a group or a friend for inspiration and support.
- Make sure you are truly motivated to run. Do the marathon for yourself, not because others are.