The Singapore RIver

I've been at this article "Romancing the Singapore River" by two professors in my school. Part of it talks about how much of the real history of the Singapore River has been obscured from citizens ourselves and visitors from other countries behind the present fancy consumer-entertainment facade of our River. People who really mattered like the samsui women and coolies who slogged hard in the building of our nation have been out-shined and often forgotten with the prominent statues of the Merlion (a story that is predominantly fabricated not to mention) and Sir Stamford Raffles. The article talked about the "uglies" and the "deaths" that were hardly mentioned, like the suicides that were committed at the river, the bodies by the river that had succumbed to exhaustion, and what about the opium bars that proliferated along the river quays? There is so so so much more than this. I wish everybody could read it for themselves!

I feel so incredibly saddened! It is such a shame. Actually, what is so bad about all these histories? The lives that were lost to the river, the piracy, the racial segregation and conflicts that happened, the whatever! Taking all these away and making people think that they didn't happen and that we're such a perfect nation makes us so, so unreal. All these deaths ironically give our river life. It's like saying we've never cried or suffered. I think people outside our country would appreciate the river our govt so painstakingly reconstructed better if they know the different facets of it. Right now, I feel more proud of the Singapore River than ever before because of what she contains and the memories that she holds in her banks.

Lucy

This morning, I picked up the latest copy of Readers' Digest and read this article about Lucy, a girl from Britain (I think), who suffers from an incurable genetic skin defect called HI (Harlequin Ichthyosis). If I recall correctly, it's a very rare genetic disorder. 1 in 250,000. This is what happens, her skin growth is exceptional and the skin dries up very very quickly, in fact, instantly. and the skin keeps flaking, like exfoliating I think.. to make things worse, because it dries up so quickly, it keeps cracking and she risks getting infected that may be fatal.

This is what really got me - since she was a baby, she's been waking up at 4.30am every single morning without fail and scrub herself down in pain to take away all the excess flaking skin, and then soak herself in water for 2 hrs to soften the harden exterior of her body, and then cream herself all over to remain moisturized. Throughout the day, she has to re-cream herself in the middle of school or lessons and her mom has to wash tons of clothes cos she has to change them so very often! The clothes she wears are also usually soaked cos of the cream. and think of all the stares and weird stupid comments she has to put up with all her life. It's so amazing that she is even alive! she's one of the 2 or 3 surviving people in her country who have HI. It is even more amazing because she's grown into such a radiant and beautiful lady. There is just that much more about her. She may look out of the ordinary, but she is precisely extraordinary!

I think that people who survive through abnormal conditions, people like her, like the Malay guy who recently became "half a man", and millions of others in the world who are not physically normal have it very hard on them, yet they are able to remain positive and truly live out their lives. Wow. Not forgetting their loved ones who care for them! I can't imagine all the patience, heartache, sorrow, and hope. Lucy has a sister who is diagnosed with HI as well. Her mom is an incredible woman.

Needless to say, I feel awfully small for complaining about the extra things on my legs that aren't even incurable. lol.

It's getting really frustrating all these lousy bacterial stuffs on my legs!! !@#%@$ it's been hogging my legs for eons and they never seem to want to go away. ARGH!!!!!!!! and other funny things like blisters and acnes pop out at the weirdest places too. i wonder how long more i can be patient about this. I can understand why the doctor doesnt want to give me a steroid jab but the side effects sure beat having to tend to my legs over and over and over and over again day in day out. =( it's draining.

On another note, I was just thinking about second chances yesterday. Most of us would've heard about the yellow ribbon project that helps ex-prisoners get their second chance at life in our society. I guess most of us would see the point. But many of us do not realise that, in fact, there are friends and people so near and around us who need that second chance too! Of course, we can't be entirely blind or over idealistic, but we shldn't be afraid to offer that chance to others because definitely at some point in our own lives, be it a career, or a friendship or a romance, we're going to want that second chance too. We'll never know what anybody is truly capable of until we give them the opportunity to rise to the occasion. I wish the world could be a little less harsh.

btw, I've finally decided that I should check Harry Potter out after all. MY GOSH it's damn good! i really couldn't put the book down and it's bad cos I was Pottering through all my lectures in wk 1. (I'm proud to say tt i paid attention in all my lects this week!) I can't wait to get my hands on the 3rd book (yeayea i'm only at the 2nd one) and if im not wrong the books get thicker and thicker and thicker. AND i'd like to watch all the harry potter shows on dvd too! so much for not bothering about the popular harry potter. and i'm kinda inspired to write a book but i doubt it'll ever happen wahaha.
=)
no good no good i should be reading my course readings!!

It is sometimes really difficult trying to keep my heart and mind firmly on God's wonderful path of miracles. It sounds so beautiful it seems most logical and natural for anybody to just walk that road. but it is so difficult because it isn't always explicit that it's a walkway of wonder sprinkled with His showers of blessing. Sometimes, in fact, i think most of the time, it is hidden from us because He wants to constantly test our faith and the strength of our trust in him.

These few months have been really trying in every way thought possible. it's not the worst of the worst yet but I've been feeling the strain physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. There has been so much tugging and pulling everywhere in every direction that I could've gone bonkers! I have never been this seriously overwhelmed in my life before. Wave upon wave, I could've drowned!

Yet, I just have to say that no matter what we think of Him or of where He is or of what He is doing, we just gotta squeeze our eyes tight, clench our teeth and hang on so tight to Him with a death grip. no matter how huge the carrots dangled in front of our hungry faces are, it is comforting to remember that He'll never let us be tempted beyond what we can bear.

All in all, the biggest lesson that God has been teaching me these past months is to have patience and be still. Wait and He will answer. This is what He's been yelling out to me in every corner of my life! and I am immensely grateful that even though everything is really really so difficult and trying, He is still holding on to me and teaching me imperishable and hard-earned qualities like patience and humility.

GOD IS SO GOOOOOOOOOOOD!
weird yet stunning, e way he takes care of everything lol.

zzzzzzzz im so sleepy

Faith

haha I was just wondering this afternoon how I would define faith. and just earlier i was taken to a verse in the bible:)

Hebrews 11:1
What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.

haha so simple. yeap just like that. simple but so crucial

I remember late last year, a friend i were discussing faith and he said he couldn't understand the faith of christians in a God that we cannot even see or know for sure exists (not true!), and he said that faith is just an excuse. but all of us exercise faith in our own ways. the fact that we are planning activities and looking forward to things that we can do in the future - that alone already requires faith, the belief that we will even be alive so that all of those could happen, isnt it?

love out
tiann~

bubblegum n prayers

i like today's rbc dailybread that likened his quarter that could buy him his favourite bubblegum from the machine to our prayers that releases the vast resources of God's blessings and character.
it is so true. there was a time when my prayers were not earnest and gradually i barely prayed. i felt so dry and i could literally feel Him closing the doors of His vast resources on me. anw i jus wanna say that prayer is so important! so so so important!

here are some lyrics from the song "My Desire".

You want to be real, you want to be empty inside
You want to be someone laying down your pride
You want to be someone someday
Then lay it all down before the king

You want to be whole, you want to have purpose inside
You want to have virtue and purify your mind
You want to be set free today
Then lay it all down before the king

I've sung this song a zillion times in church but never before had the lyrics glared at me the way it did today. It's always like that because God knows exactly when He wants to tell this to me; exactly when it would mean the way He wants it to mean to me. I know that lately He's trying to teach me to let go of myself. I'm trying too hard on my own at everything and I'm too stubborn to quit trying so hard. Even when I think I'm laying it down before Him, I'm actually not. It is so much more difficult than I had imagined it to be. I thought that if I were willing, it would come naturally. but I'm way more stubborn than that. Like shu said, it is something that we have to learn to do over and over again.

"The thistles of self-interest grow naturally within me, while the fruit that pleases God requires constant weeding and watering through prayer, confession, and obedience to the Lord. Without these, the soil of my heart will become choked with the thorns of trivial pursuits and greed.

'Keep your heart with all diligence,' Solomon wrote, 'for out of it spring the issues of life'"

i had the best tutorial i've ever attended this semester earlier! it was a human geography tutorial and we were discussing migration and globalization. and despite me being so terribly sleepy, i thoroughly enjoyed every moment that monica brought the class through. what struck me hardest was the video about sri lankan maids in lebanon. it's pretty much similar to philippino maids in singapore. audio visual is always the best way to grab and tug at the strings of other people's hearts because it is so raw and real.
so we were talking about migrant workers in singapore and the difficulties they face and stuff like that. and a classmate mentioned that in some condos in singapore, they dont allow the maids to use the lifts provided they are accompanied by their employers, and most condos do not allow domestic workers to use the pool. i just thought it seemed very discriminatory, but i guess they would have their valid reasons. the lift thing is very ridiculous though.
i love the way monica did the tutorial. it was so relaxed yet fruitful and she's so easygoing and cool! she did research or journalist work in Lebanon and the middle eastern area and she was there during the war, interviewing all kinds of people there and stuff.
and there was something she mentioned that i'd never thought about before. when she first came to singapore, she was puzzled why we were so strict about the safety belt rule.. like in the cab there's this announcement thing tt tells u to fasten ur seatbelt. but when you look out of the window, there they are foreign workers piled up onto the back of a truck speeding down the expresslanes. she thought they were rather objectified, like equipments getting transported arnd. and i think it tells a lot too. so we only bother about and protect our own people and our safety precautions don't apply to them? so it is only when they commit crimes that our law is applicable. and then we discriminate them because we think they are dirty and unlawful.
she also talked about the grass cutters who carry the machines and wear the sign "danger keep out" on their backs. also pretty objectifying. and nobody notices them at all. it is as though they're just part of the machines cutting our grass. now that i think about it.. i think most of us, me included, take their work as a use-discard-rebuy thing. it is time to change that and show some appreciation to our unsung heroes. our group said that we shld have a domestic workers day and it really got me wondering why, when we are so dependent on their efforts, do we not have such a day to honour their work!

anw, my first year is coming to an end pretty soon and i'm so sad i dont want it to end. the first of everything is usually the best because there isnt anything to compare it to, and more importantly special because every single moment and experience was so very fresh!

hmm.. i'm glad i chose to continue to play touch this sem in school =) it isn't as bad as i thought it would be.. i thought i'd be really trying to survive and get by trainings, but it's actually quite fun and more challenging now with the coach cos he really teaches us things and im learning lots of new stuffs. it's really so different from trg for ihg.

haha k toodles~~

I NEED SLEEP..zzzZZzzzz....zz.zz.zzz.z.z.zzz....

Life Is....
by Mother Teresa


Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.

Life is beauty, admire it.

Life is a dream, realize it.

Life is a challenge, meet it.

Life is a duty, complete it.

Life is a game, play it.

Life is a promise, fulfill it.

Life is sorrow, overcome it.

Life is a song, sing it.

Life is a struggle, accept it.

Life is a tragedy, confront it.

Life is an adventure, dare it.

Life is luck, make it.

Life is too precious, do not destroy it.

Life is life, fight for it.