I got sent home from school one day with a shiner on my eye.
Fightin' was against the rules and it didn't matter why.
When dad got home I told that story just like I'd rehearsed.
And then stood there on those tremblin' knees and waited for the worst.
And he said, "Let me tell you a secret about a father's love,
A secret that my daddy said was just between us."
He said, "Daddies don't just love their children every now and then.
It's a love without end, amen, it's a love without end, amen."
When I became a father in the spring of '81
There was no doubt that stubborn boy was just like my father's son.
And when I thought my patience had been tested to the end,
I took my daddy's secret and I passed it on to him.
And I said, "Let me tell you a secret about a father's love,
A secret that my daddy said was just between us."
I said, "Daddies don't just love their children every now and then.
It's a love without end, amen, it's a love without end, amen."
Last night I dreamed I died and stood outside those pearly gates.
When suddenly I realized there must be some mistake.
If they know half the things I've done, they'll never let me in.
And then somewhere from the other side I heard these words again.
And They said, "Let me tell you a secret about a father's love,
A secret that my daddy said was just between us.
You see Daddies don't just love their children every now and then.
It's a love without end, amen, it's a love without end, amen."
--louyakis.
i almost cried.
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Chocolate eaters may have healthier hearts: study
Mon, Nov 8 2010
By Alison McCook
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older women who eat more chocolate are less likely to develop heart problems over a nearly 10-year-period, new study findings report.
The authors found that women older than 70 who ate chocolate at least once per week were 35 percent less likely to be hospitalized or die from heart disease over the course of the study, and nearly 60 percent less likely to be hospitalized or die from heart failure.
What's nice, study author Dr. Joshua Lewis told Reuters Health, is that women did not have to eat a ton of chocolate to see benefits.
"We would therefore caution against people eating foods with high sugar and fat regularly and believe our findings support moderate rather than frequent chocolate consumption," said Lewis, based at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Australia.
But it is probably too early to begin recommending people eat more chocolate, cautioned Dr. Brian Buijsse at the German Institute of Human Nutrition, who did not participate in the study. And even if additional large studies confirmed its benefits, doctors still may not want to prescribe chocolate, he added.
"The danger is that many people will start eating more of it than is necessary, without cutting back in calories from other snacks, which will result in weight gain and will counteract any beneficial effects of chocolate," Buijsse said.
This is not the first study to tout chocolate's potential benefits: in 2008, Italian researchers found that eating dark chocolate regularly may help lower levels of inflammation, which is strongly associated with heart and blood vessel disease.
The previous year, another study showed that foods rich in antioxidants known as flavonoids - including dark chocolate and apples and red wine -- may help shield postmenopausal women from coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease and stroke.
Flavonoids are thought to reduce the risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death in many industrialized countries, by helping to increase nitric oxide, which in turn helps boost the functioning of blood vessels and lower blood pressure.
To investigate further, the authors reviewed data collected from 1216 older women, who estimated how often they ate chocolate, and the amount. One serving consisted of the equivalent amount of cocoa in 1 cup of hot cocoa. The authors tracked the women for almost a decade, noting who was hospitalized or died from heart disease.
Roughly half of the women said they ate less than one serving of chocolate per week. Nearly 90 of those who ate chocolate rarely were hospitalized or died from heart disease during the study period, versus 65 women who ate chocolate more frequently.
Another 35 of the infrequent consumers experienced heart failure, while only 18 women who reported eating chocolate at least once per week were hospitalized or died from the same condition, the authors report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Although they grouped women who ate chocolate daily and weekly together, the authors also looked at each separately, and found that both appeared to fare equally well, suggesting that only one serving per week might suffice to get heart benefits.
The study's nature means researchers can't prove any cause-effect relationship. Given the growing body of evidence suggesting the benefits of chocolate, the next step should be a large clinical trial that vigorously tests chocolate's benefits, Lewis said in an e-mail.
Buijsse agreed that more research is needed, in part because other factors in the current study may explain its results. For instance, he said in an e-mail, elderly women with early signs of heart disease may have reduced their chocolate intake, perhaps because their doctors told them to adopt a healthy diet.
"For now, I would say that if people want to eat chocolate to improve their health, they should keep it to low amounts and replace it for other energy-dense snacks," Buijsse said.
SOURCE: link.reuters.com/fev96m Archives of Internal Medicine, November 8, 2010.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older women who eat more chocolate are less likely to develop heart problems over a nearly 10-year-period, new study findings report.
The authors found that women older than 70 who ate chocolate at least once per week were 35 percent less likely to be hospitalized or die from heart disease over the course of the study, and nearly 60 percent less likely to be hospitalized or die from heart failure.
What's nice, study author Dr. Joshua Lewis told Reuters Health, is that women did not have to eat a ton of chocolate to see benefits.
"We would therefore caution against people eating foods with high sugar and fat regularly and believe our findings support moderate rather than frequent chocolate consumption," said Lewis, based at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Australia.
But it is probably too early to begin recommending people eat more chocolate, cautioned Dr. Brian Buijsse at the German Institute of Human Nutrition, who did not participate in the study. And even if additional large studies confirmed its benefits, doctors still may not want to prescribe chocolate, he added.
"The danger is that many people will start eating more of it than is necessary, without cutting back in calories from other snacks, which will result in weight gain and will counteract any beneficial effects of chocolate," Buijsse said.
This is not the first study to tout chocolate's potential benefits: in 2008, Italian researchers found that eating dark chocolate regularly may help lower levels of inflammation, which is strongly associated with heart and blood vessel disease.
The previous year, another study showed that foods rich in antioxidants known as flavonoids - including dark chocolate and apples and red wine -- may help shield postmenopausal women from coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease and stroke.
Flavonoids are thought to reduce the risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death in many industrialized countries, by helping to increase nitric oxide, which in turn helps boost the functioning of blood vessels and lower blood pressure.
To investigate further, the authors reviewed data collected from 1216 older women, who estimated how often they ate chocolate, and the amount. One serving consisted of the equivalent amount of cocoa in 1 cup of hot cocoa. The authors tracked the women for almost a decade, noting who was hospitalized or died from heart disease.
Roughly half of the women said they ate less than one serving of chocolate per week. Nearly 90 of those who ate chocolate rarely were hospitalized or died from heart disease during the study period, versus 65 women who ate chocolate more frequently.
Another 35 of the infrequent consumers experienced heart failure, while only 18 women who reported eating chocolate at least once per week were hospitalized or died from the same condition, the authors report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Although they grouped women who ate chocolate daily and weekly together, the authors also looked at each separately, and found that both appeared to fare equally well, suggesting that only one serving per week might suffice to get heart benefits.
The study's nature means researchers can't prove any cause-effect relationship. Given the growing body of evidence suggesting the benefits of chocolate, the next step should be a large clinical trial that vigorously tests chocolate's benefits, Lewis said in an e-mail.
Buijsse agreed that more research is needed, in part because other factors in the current study may explain its results. For instance, he said in an e-mail, elderly women with early signs of heart disease may have reduced their chocolate intake, perhaps because their doctors told them to adopt a healthy diet.
"For now, I would say that if people want to eat chocolate to improve their health, they should keep it to low amounts and replace it for other energy-dense snacks," Buijsse said.
SOURCE: link.reuters.com/fev96m Archives of Internal Medicine, November 8, 2010.
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Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Don't Quit
Cliche? Pff. idc.
----
When things go wrong as the sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
and you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
and many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow --
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
and you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit --
It's when things seem worst that
you must not quit.
interesting article...
Don't work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.
-----
Written by Adrian Tan, author of The Teenage Textbook (1988), was the guest-of-honour at a recent NTU convocation ceremony. This was his speech to the graduating class of 2008.
-----
I must say thank you to the faculty and staff of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information for inviting me to give your convocation address. It's a wonderful honour and a privilege for me to speak here for ten minutes without fear of contradiction, defamation or retaliation. I say this as a Singaporean and more so as a husband.
My wife is a wonderful person and perfect in every way except one. She is the editor of a magazine. She corrects people for a living. She has honed her expert skills over a quarter of a century, mostly by practising at home during conversations between her and me.
On the other hand, I am a litigator. Essentially, I spend my day telling people how wrong they are. I make my living being disagreeable.
Nevertheless, there is perfect harmony in our matrimonial home. That is because when an editor and a litigator have an argument, the one who triumphs is always the wife.
And so I want to start by giving one piece of advice to the men: when you've already won her heart, you don't need to win every argument.
Marriage is considered one milestone of life. Some of you may already be married. Some of you may never be married. Some of you will be married. Some of you will enjoy the experience so much, you will be married many, many times. Good for you.
The next big milestone in your life is today: your graduation. The end of education. You're done learning.
You've probably been told the big lie that "Learning is a lifelong process" and that therefore you will continue studying and taking masters' degrees and doctorates and professorships and so on. You know the sort of people who tell you that? Teachers. Don't you think there is some measure of conflict of interest? They are in the business of learning, after all. Where would they be without you? They need you to be repeat customers.
The good news is that they're wrong.
The bad news is that you don't need further education because your entire life is over. It is gone. That may come as a shock to some of you. You're in your teens or early twenties. People may tell you that you will live to be 70, 80, 90 years old. That is your life expectancy.
I love that term: life expectancy. We all understand the term to mean the average life span of a group of people. But I'm here to talk about a bigger idea, which is what you expect from your life.
You may be very happy to know that Singapore is currently ranked as the country with the third highest life expectancy. We are behind Andorra and Japan, and tied with San Marino. It seems quite clear why people in those countries, and ours, live so long. We share one thing in common: our football teams are all hopeless. There's very little danger of any of our citizens having their pulses raised by watching us play in the World Cup. Spectators are more likely to be lulled into a gentle and restful nap.
Singaporeans have a life expectancy of 81.8 years. Singapore men live to an average of 79.21 years, while Singapore women live more than five years longer, probably to take into account the additional time they need to spend in the bathroom.
So here you are, in your twenties, thinking that you'll have another 40 years to go. Four decades in which to live long and prosper.
Bad news. Read the papers. There are people dropping dead when they're 50, 40, 30 years old. Or quite possibly just after finishing their convocation. They would be very disappointed that they didn't meet their life expectancy.
I'm here to tell you this. Forget about your life expectancy.
After all, it's calculated based on an average. And you never, ever want to expect being average.
Revisit those expectations. You might be looking forward to working, falling in love, marrying, raising a family. You are told that, as graduates, you should expect to find a job paying so much, where your hours are so much, where your responsibilities are so much.
That is what is expected of you. And if you live up to it, it will be an awful waste.
If you expect that, you will be limiting yourself. You will be living your life according to boundaries set by average people. I have nothing against average people. But no one should aspire to be them. And you don't need years of education by the best minds in Singapore to prepare you to be average.
What you should prepare for is mess. Life's a mess. You are not entitled to expect anything from it. Life is not fair. Everything does not balance out in the end. Life happens, and you have no control over it. Good and bad things happen to you day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Your degree is a poor armour against fate.
Don't expect anything. Erase all life expectancies. Just live. Your life is over as of today. At this point in time, you have grown as tall as you will ever be, you are physically the fittest you will ever be in your entire life and you are probably looking the best that you will ever look. This is as good as it gets. It is all downhill from here. Or up. No one knows.
What does this mean for you? It is good that your life is over.
Since your life is over, you are free. Let me tell you the many wonderful things that you can do when you are free.
The most important is this: do not work.
Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable.
Work kills. The Japanese have a term "Karoshi", which means death from overwork. That's the most dramatic form of how work can kill. But it can also kill you in more subtle ways. If you work, then day by day, bit by bit, your soul is chipped away, disintegrating until there's nothing left. A rock has been ground into sand and dust.
There's a common misconception that work is necessary. You will meet people working at miserable jobs. They tell you they are "making a living". No, they're not. They're dying, frittering away their fast-extinguishing lives doing things which are, at best, meaningless and, at worst, harmful.
People will tell you that work ennobles you, that work lends you a certain dignity. Work makes you free. The slogan "Arbeit macht frei" was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps. Utter nonsense.
Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that you can spend the small remainder sliver of your life in modest comfort. You may never reach that end anyway.
Resist the temptation to get a job. Instead, play. Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again. You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often. Soon, that will have value in itself.
I like arguing, and I love language. So, I became a litigator. I enjoy it and I would do it for free. If I didn't do that, I would've been in some other type of work that still involved writing fiction – probably a sports journalist.
So what should you do? You will find your own niche. I don't imagine you will need to look very hard. By this time in your life, you will have a very good idea of what you will want to do. In fact, I'll go further and say the ideal situation would be that you will not be able to stop yourself pursuing your passions. By this time you should know what your obsessions are. If you enjoy showing off your knowledge and feeling superior, you might become a teacher.
Find that pursuit that will energise you, consume you, become an obsession. Each day, you must rise with a restless enthusiasm. If you don't, you are working.
Most of you will end up in activities which involve communication. To those of you I have a second message: be wary of the truth. I'm not asking you to speak it, or write it, for there are times when it is dangerous or impossible to do those things. The truth has a great capacity to offend and injure, and you will find that the closer you are to someone, the more care you must take to disguise or even conceal the truth. Often, there is great virtue in being evasive, or equivocating. There is also great skill. Any child can blurt out the truth, without thought to the consequences. It takes great maturity to appreciate the value of silence.
In order to be wary of the truth, you must first know it. That requires great frankness to yourself. Never fool the person in the mirror.
I have told you that your life is over, that you should not work, and that you should avoid telling the truth. I now say this to you: be hated.
It's not as easy as it sounds. Do you know anyone who hates you? Yet every great figure who has contributed to the human race has been hated, not just by one person, but often by a great many. That hatred is so strong it has caused those great figures to be shunned, abused, murdered and in one famous instance, nailed to a cross.
One does not have to be evil to be hated. In fact, it's often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one's own convictions. It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions. Then one will gravitate towards the centre and settle into the average. That cannot be your role. There are a great many bad people in the world, and if you are not offending them, you must be bad yourself. Popularity is a sure sign that you are doing something wrong.
The other side of the coin is this: fall in love.
I didn't say "be loved". That requires too much compromise. If one changes one's looks, personality and values, one can be loved by anyone.
Rather, I exhort you to love another human being. It may seem odd for me to tell you this. You may expect it to happen naturally, without deliberation. That is false. Modern society is anti-love. We've taken a microscope to everyone to bring out their flaws and shortcomings. It far easier to find a reason not to love someone, than otherwise. Rejection requires only one reason. Love requires complete acceptance. It is hard work – the only kind of work that I find palatable.
Loving someone has great benefits. There is admiration, learning, attraction and something which, for the want of a better word, we call happiness. In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way. We learn the truth worthlessness of material things. We celebrate being human. Loving is good for the soul.
Loving someone is therefore very important, and it is also important to choose the right person. Despite popular culture, love doesn't happen by chance, at first sight, across a crowded dance floor. It grows slowly, sinking roots first before branching and blossoming. It is not a silly weed, but a mighty tree that weathers every storm.
You will find, that when you have someone to love, that the face is less important than the brain, and the body is less important than the heart.
You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated. You are not doing it to be loved back. Its value is to inspire you.
Finally, you will find that there is no half-measure when it comes to loving someone. You either don't, or you do with every cell in your body, completely and utterly, without reservation or apology. It consumes you, and you are reborn, all the better for it.
Don't work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.
-----
Written by Adrian Tan, author of The Teenage Textbook (1988), was the guest-of-honour at a recent NTU convocation ceremony. This was his speech to the graduating class of 2008.
-----
I must say thank you to the faculty and staff of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information for inviting me to give your convocation address. It's a wonderful honour and a privilege for me to speak here for ten minutes without fear of contradiction, defamation or retaliation. I say this as a Singaporean and more so as a husband.
My wife is a wonderful person and perfect in every way except one. She is the editor of a magazine. She corrects people for a living. She has honed her expert skills over a quarter of a century, mostly by practising at home during conversations between her and me.
On the other hand, I am a litigator. Essentially, I spend my day telling people how wrong they are. I make my living being disagreeable.
Nevertheless, there is perfect harmony in our matrimonial home. That is because when an editor and a litigator have an argument, the one who triumphs is always the wife.
And so I want to start by giving one piece of advice to the men: when you've already won her heart, you don't need to win every argument.
Marriage is considered one milestone of life. Some of you may already be married. Some of you may never be married. Some of you will be married. Some of you will enjoy the experience so much, you will be married many, many times. Good for you.
The next big milestone in your life is today: your graduation. The end of education. You're done learning.
You've probably been told the big lie that "Learning is a lifelong process" and that therefore you will continue studying and taking masters' degrees and doctorates and professorships and so on. You know the sort of people who tell you that? Teachers. Don't you think there is some measure of conflict of interest? They are in the business of learning, after all. Where would they be without you? They need you to be repeat customers.
The good news is that they're wrong.
The bad news is that you don't need further education because your entire life is over. It is gone. That may come as a shock to some of you. You're in your teens or early twenties. People may tell you that you will live to be 70, 80, 90 years old. That is your life expectancy.
I love that term: life expectancy. We all understand the term to mean the average life span of a group of people. But I'm here to talk about a bigger idea, which is what you expect from your life.
You may be very happy to know that Singapore is currently ranked as the country with the third highest life expectancy. We are behind Andorra and Japan, and tied with San Marino. It seems quite clear why people in those countries, and ours, live so long. We share one thing in common: our football teams are all hopeless. There's very little danger of any of our citizens having their pulses raised by watching us play in the World Cup. Spectators are more likely to be lulled into a gentle and restful nap.
Singaporeans have a life expectancy of 81.8 years. Singapore men live to an average of 79.21 years, while Singapore women live more than five years longer, probably to take into account the additional time they need to spend in the bathroom.
So here you are, in your twenties, thinking that you'll have another 40 years to go. Four decades in which to live long and prosper.
Bad news. Read the papers. There are people dropping dead when they're 50, 40, 30 years old. Or quite possibly just after finishing their convocation. They would be very disappointed that they didn't meet their life expectancy.
I'm here to tell you this. Forget about your life expectancy.
After all, it's calculated based on an average. And you never, ever want to expect being average.
Revisit those expectations. You might be looking forward to working, falling in love, marrying, raising a family. You are told that, as graduates, you should expect to find a job paying so much, where your hours are so much, where your responsibilities are so much.
That is what is expected of you. And if you live up to it, it will be an awful waste.
If you expect that, you will be limiting yourself. You will be living your life according to boundaries set by average people. I have nothing against average people. But no one should aspire to be them. And you don't need years of education by the best minds in Singapore to prepare you to be average.
What you should prepare for is mess. Life's a mess. You are not entitled to expect anything from it. Life is not fair. Everything does not balance out in the end. Life happens, and you have no control over it. Good and bad things happen to you day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Your degree is a poor armour against fate.
Don't expect anything. Erase all life expectancies. Just live. Your life is over as of today. At this point in time, you have grown as tall as you will ever be, you are physically the fittest you will ever be in your entire life and you are probably looking the best that you will ever look. This is as good as it gets. It is all downhill from here. Or up. No one knows.
What does this mean for you? It is good that your life is over.
Since your life is over, you are free. Let me tell you the many wonderful things that you can do when you are free.
The most important is this: do not work.
Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable.
Work kills. The Japanese have a term "Karoshi", which means death from overwork. That's the most dramatic form of how work can kill. But it can also kill you in more subtle ways. If you work, then day by day, bit by bit, your soul is chipped away, disintegrating until there's nothing left. A rock has been ground into sand and dust.
There's a common misconception that work is necessary. You will meet people working at miserable jobs. They tell you they are "making a living". No, they're not. They're dying, frittering away their fast-extinguishing lives doing things which are, at best, meaningless and, at worst, harmful.
People will tell you that work ennobles you, that work lends you a certain dignity. Work makes you free. The slogan "Arbeit macht frei" was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps. Utter nonsense.
Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that you can spend the small remainder sliver of your life in modest comfort. You may never reach that end anyway.
Resist the temptation to get a job. Instead, play. Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again. You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often. Soon, that will have value in itself.
I like arguing, and I love language. So, I became a litigator. I enjoy it and I would do it for free. If I didn't do that, I would've been in some other type of work that still involved writing fiction – probably a sports journalist.
So what should you do? You will find your own niche. I don't imagine you will need to look very hard. By this time in your life, you will have a very good idea of what you will want to do. In fact, I'll go further and say the ideal situation would be that you will not be able to stop yourself pursuing your passions. By this time you should know what your obsessions are. If you enjoy showing off your knowledge and feeling superior, you might become a teacher.
Find that pursuit that will energise you, consume you, become an obsession. Each day, you must rise with a restless enthusiasm. If you don't, you are working.
Most of you will end up in activities which involve communication. To those of you I have a second message: be wary of the truth. I'm not asking you to speak it, or write it, for there are times when it is dangerous or impossible to do those things. The truth has a great capacity to offend and injure, and you will find that the closer you are to someone, the more care you must take to disguise or even conceal the truth. Often, there is great virtue in being evasive, or equivocating. There is also great skill. Any child can blurt out the truth, without thought to the consequences. It takes great maturity to appreciate the value of silence.
In order to be wary of the truth, you must first know it. That requires great frankness to yourself. Never fool the person in the mirror.
I have told you that your life is over, that you should not work, and that you should avoid telling the truth. I now say this to you: be hated.
It's not as easy as it sounds. Do you know anyone who hates you? Yet every great figure who has contributed to the human race has been hated, not just by one person, but often by a great many. That hatred is so strong it has caused those great figures to be shunned, abused, murdered and in one famous instance, nailed to a cross.
One does not have to be evil to be hated. In fact, it's often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one's own convictions. It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions. Then one will gravitate towards the centre and settle into the average. That cannot be your role. There are a great many bad people in the world, and if you are not offending them, you must be bad yourself. Popularity is a sure sign that you are doing something wrong.
The other side of the coin is this: fall in love.
I didn't say "be loved". That requires too much compromise. If one changes one's looks, personality and values, one can be loved by anyone.
Rather, I exhort you to love another human being. It may seem odd for me to tell you this. You may expect it to happen naturally, without deliberation. That is false. Modern society is anti-love. We've taken a microscope to everyone to bring out their flaws and shortcomings. It far easier to find a reason not to love someone, than otherwise. Rejection requires only one reason. Love requires complete acceptance. It is hard work – the only kind of work that I find palatable.
Loving someone has great benefits. There is admiration, learning, attraction and something which, for the want of a better word, we call happiness. In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way. We learn the truth worthlessness of material things. We celebrate being human. Loving is good for the soul.
Loving someone is therefore very important, and it is also important to choose the right person. Despite popular culture, love doesn't happen by chance, at first sight, across a crowded dance floor. It grows slowly, sinking roots first before branching and blossoming. It is not a silly weed, but a mighty tree that weathers every storm.
You will find, that when you have someone to love, that the face is less important than the brain, and the body is less important than the heart.
You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated. You are not doing it to be loved back. Its value is to inspire you.
Finally, you will find that there is no half-measure when it comes to loving someone. You either don't, or you do with every cell in your body, completely and utterly, without reservation or apology. It consumes you, and you are reborn, all the better for it.
Don't work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.
Sunday, 12 September 2010
Sometimes - a reflection.
by Karen Chan on Sunday, 06 September 2009 at 23:09
*Something to share, thanks to Fr. Michael, he shared with us a few reflections on his Sunday sermon.
We must be hurt in order to grow,
We must fail in order to know,
We must lose in order to gain
Some lessons are learned best only through pain.
Sometimes...
Our vision clears only after our eyes are washed with tears.
We have to be broken, so we can be tender,
We are sick so we can rest and think better on things more important than work or fun,
We are taken for trip near death, so we can assess how we've run.
Sometimes...
We have to suffer lack, so we can know God's provision,
We have to feel another's pain, so we can have a sense of mission.
So take heart, if you don't understand today,
Instead of grumbling, ask God what He means to say,
In order to grow, you must stand and look beyond the hurt,
Trust in God's loving hand that takes what is Good, and gives what is Best,
And on this blessed thought, rest your anxious heart with all the questions,
God's hand only gives what His loving heart dictates,
Sometimes...
The Lord calms the storm,
Sometimes...
He lets the storm rage, and calms His child...
Better go through the storm with Him,
Than smooth waters without Him...
We must be hurt in order to grow,
We must fail in order to know,
We must lose in order to gain
Some lessons are learned best only through pain.
Sometimes...
Our vision clears only after our eyes are washed with tears.
We have to be broken, so we can be tender,
We are sick so we can rest and think better on things more important than work or fun,
We are taken for trip near death, so we can assess how we've run.
Sometimes...
We have to suffer lack, so we can know God's provision,
We have to feel another's pain, so we can have a sense of mission.
So take heart, if you don't understand today,
Instead of grumbling, ask God what He means to say,
In order to grow, you must stand and look beyond the hurt,
Trust in God's loving hand that takes what is Good, and gives what is Best,
And on this blessed thought, rest your anxious heart with all the questions,
God's hand only gives what His loving heart dictates,
Sometimes...
The Lord calms the storm,
Sometimes...
He lets the storm rage, and calms His child...
Better go through the storm with Him,
Than smooth waters without Him...
Saturday, 4 September 2010
究竟女生是因為沒有依靠才獨立，還是獨立所以沒有依靠呢
a puzzling question in my head sometimes.
it's like... chicken or the egg?
it's like... chicken or the egg?
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
the need to be numbed.
have you ever been overwhelmed with emotions?
reasons why i don't want to care or feel.
i remember why i wow.
reasons why i don't want to care or feel.
i remember why i wow.
Sunday, 22 August 2010
music speak louder than words, they go past your brain and into your heart.
attended a music writing workshop at church today.
the guest was rob galea, and to think i almost didn't go. (various reasons...) but i'm glad i did and i liked how i come to that conscious decision.
he mentioned a few things that is worthy to note to me.
i learnt some new things today because i know nothing about songwriting, he certainly didn't claim to be a professional (though he has three cd's out alrdy so that is somewhat professional?) but here's the 5 points he made
1. harmonic bed chord progression.
2. melody
3. lyrics
4. drumbeats or "loops"
5. element of story.
that aside he also mentioned that the prerequisite would be the internal climate.
to give a very solid example, he related and caught us by giving the example of looking at our facebook, and writing down the past 10 status updates... here's mine:
1 - happy with my decision this afternoon. inspired. [clearly from going to the workshop]
2 - :: ~life isn't easy and anything worth fighting for is worth it in the end.~::
[now, do i count the photo updates? - manawatu river, aug05; popcorn machine in akl, aug05]
3 - wishes for, and NEEDS, selective anmesia.
[two photos: andy's package, jess's souvenirs]
4 - thanks soo much, andy ng!!! =D
5 - :D [that's still from andy's package]
6 - apart from you, yes, you, my male or female friend who is reading this, i prayed for allwomen today, yes you. - The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
[photo: cowaramup, jul07; link: moth clothing & more; photo: ellie's dress when we went out for drinks in the city; photo: jiu fen, jul10]
7 - a good dream! [jen knows abt this one...]
[photo: in response to will ng's photo - cherry blossoms, aug04; photo: souvenirs from turkey and italy from zoo]
8 - shall.be.productive.
9 - zumba-ed.
[photo: dimsum train at garden city]
10 - moments of embarassmentSSS, memories, and perhaps gd times... miss you, dy!!! [drunk update from phone.]
so. how about internal climate...
i think i'm at a healthier state anyway.
GIGO/TITO idea.
which is i guess true, that's why there's the teaching since young, 近朱者赤，近墨者黑
and perhaps that's also the reason why adrian mentioned that she didn't want to go to the vet debate because csm would say things that she prolly didn't want to hear and it's hard to "unhear" sth.
over flowing idea.
he compared us to a vessel, like a vase or a glass or a bucket... we are filled with water and we try to share our water, but eventually it will run dry. when we run dry, because we want to help people, we will break our cup into bits and share the pieces with people, and eventually we'll be broken with nothing more to give... so we need to ask the big G man for more water, to overflow us, so we may share our water with others. i think i related that well because it seems like there are people around me who are like that. perhaps everyone would realise they can only do so much after a while, i guess we all realise that after a while... so it doesn't matter they know G or not. but i guess this is just a reminder where we're only human and we can only do so much, we try and we have good intentions, but really out abilities are limited.
rob also compared himself to being vulnerable when he writes his songs and perform them, and hoping he can touch the hearts of others, so they in turn may be vulnerable before G himself. quite an interesting idea. i guess it's almost like ppl who blogs their hearts out? i dunno... perhaps?
\\ music is life, play on. //
the guest was rob galea, and to think i almost didn't go. (various reasons...) but i'm glad i did and i liked how i come to that conscious decision.
he mentioned a few things that is worthy to note to me.
i learnt some new things today because i know nothing about songwriting, he certainly didn't claim to be a professional (though he has three cd's out alrdy so that is somewhat professional?) but here's the 5 points he made
1. harmonic bed chord progression.
2. melody
3. lyrics
4. drumbeats or "loops"
5. element of story.
that aside he also mentioned that the prerequisite would be the internal climate.
to give a very solid example, he related and caught us by giving the example of looking at our facebook, and writing down the past 10 status updates... here's mine:
1 - happy with my decision this afternoon. inspired. [clearly from going to the workshop]
2 - :: ~life isn't easy and anything worth fighting for is worth it in the end.~::
[now, do i count the photo updates? - manawatu river, aug05; popcorn machine in akl, aug05]
3 - wishes for, and NEEDS, selective anmesia.
[two photos: andy's package, jess's souvenirs]
4 - thanks soo much, andy ng!!! =D
5 - :D [that's still from andy's package]
6 - apart from you, yes, you, my male or female friend who is reading this, i prayed for allwomen today, yes you. - The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
[photo: cowaramup, jul07; link: moth clothing & more; photo: ellie's dress when we went out for drinks in the city; photo: jiu fen, jul10]
7 - a good dream! [jen knows abt this one...]
[photo: in response to will ng's photo - cherry blossoms, aug04; photo: souvenirs from turkey and italy from zoo]
8 - shall.be.productive.
9 - zumba-ed.
[photo: dimsum train at garden city]
10 - moments of embarassmentSSS, memories, and perhaps gd times... miss you, dy!!! [drunk update from phone.]
so. how about internal climate...
i think i'm at a healthier state anyway.
GIGO/TITO idea.
which is i guess true, that's why there's the teaching since young, 近朱者赤，近墨者黑
and perhaps that's also the reason why adrian mentioned that she didn't want to go to the vet debate because csm would say things that she prolly didn't want to hear and it's hard to "unhear" sth.
over flowing idea.
he compared us to a vessel, like a vase or a glass or a bucket... we are filled with water and we try to share our water, but eventually it will run dry. when we run dry, because we want to help people, we will break our cup into bits and share the pieces with people, and eventually we'll be broken with nothing more to give... so we need to ask the big G man for more water, to overflow us, so we may share our water with others. i think i related that well because it seems like there are people around me who are like that. perhaps everyone would realise they can only do so much after a while, i guess we all realise that after a while... so it doesn't matter they know G or not. but i guess this is just a reminder where we're only human and we can only do so much, we try and we have good intentions, but really out abilities are limited.
rob also compared himself to being vulnerable when he writes his songs and perform them, and hoping he can touch the hearts of others, so they in turn may be vulnerable before G himself. quite an interesting idea. i guess it's almost like ppl who blogs their hearts out? i dunno... perhaps?
\\ music is life, play on. //
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Friday, 6 August 2010
Sunday, 1 August 2010
PROUD! =P
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
mk, tst, fw, bonham, tst, wanchai
tst ~ avec liana
fw - sat lunch
bonham road - settlers of catan
sunday - post church @靚靚齋菜
trivia night - white sag; ger vs eng - place next to white stag...
Friday, 25 June 2010
wk 3 of holz ~ oka brief, rain, mk (al)
i'm so rude =P
but this actually inspired some interesting conversation with various people...
茶會for OKA trip ^^
some mad weather in hk...
玫瑰柚子茶... yum.
茶會for OKA trip ^^
some mad weather in hk...
玫瑰柚子茶... yum.
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
big wave bay + elements
soccer, swimming, beach, arch, sand, words with friends (with ps), chatting with leo, vera... <3.
lovely day.
Monday, 21 June 2010
father's day ^^
am - big brekkie, church @ cheung sha wan, lunch @ city u.
pm - tst - toastbox, ff - pump+spin, tv purchase, dinner @ oksaka, YUM.
pm - tst - toastbox, ff - pump+spin, tv purchase, dinner @ oksaka, YUM.
eventfulness continues.
am - lok fu
pm - kln city.
met awesome ppl. no pix, but awesome bbq with the wong's. jimmy katie ian. awesome ppl. great conversations, FANTASTIC food, really beautiful home.
also first time to go for drinks @ wanchai, also good experience. low key place.
no pix.
rly should've taken pix. ><
----
Friday, 18 June 2010
a la plage...
tai koo mtr - exit b - mos burger
Just outside Stanley markets :) cute looking old building
i wanna try windsurfing one day...
love my mum's hat
well spotted by zoo XD
after swimming and lazing around... time for food again =P tropical smoothie + burger. i still think in > out. gaaah.
i actually quite like these pix ^^
:) awesome beach day.
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
tuen ng festival
(5:08am - pa knocked door.)
~7:00am - sai kung pier.
a scene i found amusing but slightly creepy at the same time.
lunch @ 3:45pm - silvercord, siu long bau <3
kopi @ toastbox -
foot massage... then dinner @ pc
(busy eating other dish. haha)
apart from my bandaid tan from cebu, this is gotta be the second funniest one...
:) eventful day!
tues. wanchai~
3 watches batt replacement~
lunch with bro ^^ @ makoto
a bit 失敗, forgot to ring to make reservation... ended up sitting in the balcony... but lunch was nice anyhow :)
something i never done before...
shopping in wanchai is cheap, but awesome. haha.
ling. she's actually as useless as clive but juz too cute
lunch with bro ^^ @ makoto
a bit 失敗, forgot to ring to make reservation... ended up sitting in the balcony... but lunch was nice anyhow :)
something i never done before...
shopping in wanchai is cheap, but awesome. haha.
ling. she's actually as useless as clive but juz too cute
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