Hall 2 Night Cycling September 25, 2006
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It took me quite some time contemplating whether to go for this night cycling event, but eventually, i finally made the decision to go, and i did not regret it.
We started off a bit late, ard 12+, and i am in the Integra Team, led by Basil and Jaime. We started with a group of “chiongsters” and “laggers”. So there had been quite a few times we had to stop to wait for the rest to catch up.
So sian my handphone camera doesn’t come with a flash.
Our first stop from NTU is the kranji reservoir. Took us quite some time to reach there, cycling through a lot of very ulu places. We travelled along jalan bahar towards sungei gedong, then along neo tiew, passing by some mysterious places and finally to our first checkpoint.
We managed to get a long long rest over there, until we head for our next checkpoint, chong pang nasi lemak. It’s another long long journey along the mrt tracks in woodlands.
Good thing the good food wakes me up for the journey ahead - The Singapore Drift.
It’s actually the seletar reservoir. The place is quite scenic, we can see malaysia at our left, and our right hand side is a welly lit golf course. Too bad my phone doesn’t have flash, else i could get some good pictures of the place.
Such a coincidence i saw in the chinese newspaper today that the golf course at selatar is so cheap it’s only charging $40 per pax on weekends for non-members!
From there we move on along seletar camp towards jalan kayu prata place, our next checkpoint. Along the way, we cycled passed the old seletar airbase and camp. It’s also the place where we had the barat timor run when i’m still in NS. The place is so nice, a bit rural, having a taste of old colonial buildings beside the peaceful reservoir. Hmmm…. i must visit the place sometime again, hopefully sometime soon.
We rested for 10mins at jalan kayu. Up next is our final destination – Punggol Beach! Finally! Over the journey, it’s quite easy for me to keep awake with the refreshments along the checkpoints. The night breeze kept me cold enough to keep awake too. But it’s around 6am when we got in jalan kayu, and i’m starting to get tired already. Nevertheless, i told myself, this is the last lap, i must definitely finish it! Yeah so with this mentality, i kept on. There had been many times i wanted to just doze off, but i know i can’t.
The last lap is a long one…. A left turn from jalan kayu, we can see one of the punggol lrt stations and reach there within a few minutes. At first i thought it’s only a short journey, despite basil warning us that the most “siong” part is ahead of us. We took quite some time cycling alongside the LRT tracks. As we are passing along the LRT tracks, i was thinking why are there so many LRT stations along the way, which have nothing except trees, grass, and more trees. Not even a single building! Are they going to develop the place? How come i see no signs. Nevertheless, the air is so fresh there with all the greeneries, it’s definitely a good place for morning jogging. Which maybe is the reason for the LRT stations – to let the joggers go back home when they got tired, HAHA.
The last lap for the journey are 3 consecutive steep down-slopes and up-slopes. Good thing the down slopes start first, i just had to cycle very fast down and the momentum rides me up the slope. Crazy lap too. I just gather all my speed down the slope, even passing by the team infront of us. And finally, our final destination!
Got “dou jiang you tiao” for breakfast. And my thighs are hurting…… finally, it’s time to rest. Not forgetting my faithful partner for the journey -
And lastly, thank God for keeping my journey safe and tired-less.
Way back to hall on bus!
Retail Therapy September 20, 2006
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These few days are so busy, really quite stressed up with all the work to do, until today, when i finally gave myself a break from all the busy schedules. Retail Therapy!! I just went to Queensway to shop for a new pair of shoes and a new T-shirt. Got myself new socks too. Then i head over for some window shopping at ikea. I wanted to buy the Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine, but too bad it’s not available.
good leaders, bad leaders and maybe just poor decision September 20, 2006
Posted by takeuaway in a bit of philosophy.add a comment
Mark sent me this link a while ago, asking what is Sun (Ho Yeow Sun) talking before she sang the song. It’s talking in tongues obviously, nothing new to me. What interests me are the comments below the videos, a whooping 60 over!
At first, the comments are more towards Sun’s status as not being a pastor anymore but still leading worship, then eventually it diverts to something below:
hahaha… thats why u are not a leader. If anyone were to criticise my leader. I mean what an armor-bearer we are. So i mean if I were to criticise ur leader and pastor of something they have not done wrong, would u react like me? or jus leave them open to that affliction. The Bible says that honour your leader and the annointing over his life would be flowed down to u. So I feel u have to really learn how to honour ur leader
The comments led to the topic of judging, and someone began to act like a cellgroup leader, trying to preach. Hohoho.
None of my business, but the comment i listed above drives me to blog something i would like to say on leadership. It’s another diversion again :p
Leaders, they are placed over our lives, sometimes by our own choices, when we chose to join a team; and sometimes without a choice, when we just have to accept it. Everything is alright when the leader is doing right, or when he/she managed to fulfil his job. But when that does not happens, it sometimes leads to some criticism, could be internal or external.
However, if the organization is internally strongly bonded, outside criticism would quickly be defended by the other organization members, such as the example above. (Example hor, i don’t mean Sun did anything wrong). Some people criticised her and it’s quickly retaliated by her faithful members, who MIGHT even not know her personally, as the church membership is so huge. It’s not a matter of right or wrong for the protection, it’s a matter of love and/or the ”family thing”. Just as what Pst Kong had said, if someone tries to criticise his staff/member, he would defend them first, whether they are right or wrong, then will deal with them privately. That’s because they are his members, his family. I remember i once read something from Confucius depicting the same thing – a person should protect his family members, whether they are right or wrong, from outside people.
But what if, if the criticiser is from within a big family, and he is criticising someone higher, maybe from within the middle management. What should be the response from the top leader and the other fellow members who loved the one being criticised more than the criticiser? I think, most of the time if not always, the one being criticised would be defended against the criticiser, which makes the criticiser to become the outsider, forgetting the fact that he’s also part of the family.
So what should the criticiser do at first, instead of criticising? Talk to the person directly? What if both think that they are right? Consult someone higher? And that someone higher would naturally be someone more “family” with the leaders, which naturally consists of the one being criticised in the first place?
Then the bible also says something like this “honour your leader, and his annointing will flow over to you”. So does that mean that if you criticise your leader, you are not honouring him? If so, one should not criticise his leader in the first place, whether he is right or wrong. And maybe yah, shouldn’t criticise, the criticiser should talk to the leader directly about the problem. But again, so what if both thinks that they are right and refuse to change? And that will mean the leader is right and the criticiser is wrong! So what should the person do? Let it be? Leave the current group and join a new one, with a new leader?
I think the bible did say something like – all leaders are appointed by God, whether they are good leaders or bad leaders or poor leaders. Or maybe when the leader is good, but maybe just certain poor decision that we cannot accept. So should one let it be as nothing went wrong? Talk to the leader? Or leave the organization?
Honestly i don’t know the answer, for me, i could have stayed and let it be, but i don’t think that would last long. Maybe when i “Buay Song” the time, i might just leave.
let my sunday be longer…. September 18, 2006
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busy busy busy, that’s my schedule every hour during weekdays. I just came
back from 2 consecutive project meetings. I actually got 4 meetings today, 1 for
ddp, 1 for 207, 1 for WSA, 1 club EOGM. Oh yah, and i more prayer meeting at 6.
I cancelled my wsa and my eogm is postponed (not by me). I couldn’t go for the
ntu ministry pm today again, cos of my tight meeting schedules…… So sian, it
should be a one week holiday for me next week, but i still have to come
everyday, compulsory, for my ddp……dread….
If only my sundays could be longer…. Every sunday, i’m going over to pets
villa to help out, well, i don’t think i’m doing work actually, i feel so relax
helping out i don’t feel like i am helping out, just enjoying myself. Well, i
didnt do much also, i just mix the food and give out to the dogs. Then will do
some cleaning up, like clearing the shit, sweeping away the food spilt out.
Actually, yesterday was the first time i tried to clear their shit, it’s not
something very disgusting, cos we got the equipment to do it, but also because i
only cleared the ones on the floor area, which is also not much. see…. but a
bit smelly….
Haha….
I just love to hand around with the dogs, one of the most enjoying and relaxing thing to do.
This is jacky, he just got his tail rid of the mattled fur, and he’s so handsome looking now. So adorable his face.
Ricky is another macho handsome dog. I love his coat and his size….. It’s very difficult to capture him , he’s so active when i just stop to look at him, he’ll either come to lick me or walk away playing with other dogs. But when i’m busy, he’s always lying down quietly. haha, so “no fate”
April is a cute little girl. She’s always around the corner when i’m preparing the food, wanting to take a quick bite and sometimes buffet. She’s very active and flexible, and so sweet, i love her ears dangling at the side of her head, just like a little girl with two “bian zi”.
Caught dinner yawning…..
But best of all, i love my Happy! She’s so excited everytime i went in, kept jumping around me wanting me to “sayang” her. I got her a new leash yesterday, haha. She’s in a pretty mood yesterday, very obedient when i bring her out for a walk. Maybe someday i can bring her to some obedience training and maybe she can win some competitions, haha. Hopefully she’s not too old for that.
My sundays always seem too short for me, i want to relax there more…. If not for the stupid ddp, i could have go there during my term break.
Jazz Book September 11, 2006
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Got this book from Memphis Music at Excelsior Hotel on Saturday. Come to think of it, i had being playing guitar since the year 2000, almost 7 years already! But still not much improvements…. Too lazy and not much motivation to pump up my scales for the past few years, so now i’m still stuck with the major, pentatonic, and a one style blues scales.
So as i was browsing in the gramophone at Capitol last saturday, my jazz mood kicks in, and i got this sudden urge to get something jazzy. Actually i was thinking of buying a jazz cd, but i feel that it won’t do much help in improving my jazz music playing. So i went over to Memphis, trying to look for something which teaches jazz conversion from pop. So i got this book you see above. Hopefully i can do better this time.
A.L.L. September 4, 2006
Posted by takeuaway in dogs.add a comment
This sunday was a really enjoyable one. I went to Animal Lovers League aka Pet Villa, my favourite hang-out place on sunday afternoons, to see my favourite doggies. And gosh, my Happy is getting fat! She gained quite a lot of mass in one week, her neck is a lot more flabby than usual. Hmm…. no more treats today. Girls must watch your size, even female dogs :p
This is the first time i helped to prepare their meal. It’s not something very difficult or need to cook. We just need to mixed the food together, but it’s quite yucky though. We got the cooked rice, pellets, chicken meat and chicken skin into 4 large containers and mixed them with my bare hands. Looks disgusting, but quite fun. Cos when we are mixing the food, some of the doggies around us will try to get a bite or 2 from us. One of them is April. She’s a playful black doggie, quite slim, not like the others. Too bad my hands are dirty, else i can a few pics of her.
This sunday i got to know a few more dogs, pinky, ricky, jamla, paintbrush, tattoo and cyber. Cyber prefers to stay at the cat side, cos she doesn’t like other dogs. I even got to bath her, my first time bathing a dog! Got my shoes wet….
This is ricky, he’s a handsome dog, I love his coat. He’s huge! But he’s like a child, like to lick people a lot, just like carrot. I always like to go play with him, but when he start licking profusely, i’d “siam”.
This is paintbrush. She tried to squeeze through the gate when i am bringing happy out for a walk. I just went through my previous photos, she’s done that once also when me and gen wanted to bring titan instead. But she’s got no chance this time, I only one person, and happy is a bit difficult to handle already.
This is Jamla, i finally know his name. He likes to stretch himself, i thought. Cos all the 3 photos i had on him, he’s in a stretched and curved position.
This is cheeky, he’s a bit “nippy”, so he’s in the cage while cathy went out for a while. But he seems a bit shy i think, tried to play with her sometimes, but he usually shys away.
Carrot likes to lick a lot, like a puppy. The first few times i went there, he tried to lick me almost everytime i sit down. But once, i tried to correct him. So nowadays he toned down quite a bit, on me at least, but other people i don’t know. He’s a bit aggressive with some dogs sometimes, but overall, he’s a nice friendly dog. I feel very secured when he’s around, maybe i’ll bring him out one day.
