These glorious days

Hello, apparently I still get some traffic this way. I've started a joint blog with Fergs at These glorious days for a month now, so posting occurs over there.

I haven't quite figured out what to do with this space, so for now I'm going to just let it stay quietly over here and dream.

Memorable March

Alright, this post was initially supposed to go up on the 31st. Really.

• Sunday, 1 March: EGM for our next building project. Despite the hefty price tag, the floor returned an overwhelming vote of approval and at that moment I was proud to belong to such a brave congregation.
  

• Saturday, 14 March: Launch of the building fund* and the Man U vs Liverpool match after that. In my short career as a Liverpool supporter, this stands out as the most thrilling match so far. How many other results can top 1-4 at Old Trafford?
  

• Sunday, 15 March: Parents meet parents over a light lunch at Madam Kwan's, MidValley. I'm happy to say that my parents appear to really like the Ongs.
  

• Thursday, 26 March: I went to a new (and proper) hairstylist and decided to start from scratch so it was off with the messy layers! I hope to make this the start of better hair days.
  

• 31 March - 6 April : The Krabi-Phuket-Subang-Singapore whirlwind tour.
  

Besides all that, after a bit of house-hunting Fergs and I narrowed down our options and decided on a place. Cell's been taking off in an encouraging manner, though whether it can be sustained remains to be seen.

Yup, lots of highlights in March.

*About two weeks after the launch it was announced that the total amount pledged has exceeded the targeted amount by RM1.5 mill. I don't say this often here, but the appropriate response is "Wow." and "Praise God!"

Soul mates

I admire couples who share so much of the same wavelength that they are able to produce this. The roll sticking out of her nose is "a rolled-up banknote, just in case I need to pay for something."

I think that the phrase "soul mate" has a massive expectation of completeness attached to it, so this definition I stumbled upon makes a good point. Except the part about leaving.

WEEDLHA!! I wish I had a better sense of humour.

Patriarchical impressions

Posting here has gotten real light lately. It's all pretty picture stuff. Time to change that around.

So, Fergus took up the bible-in-a-year challenge his church launched. He's maintaining a somewhat daily journal to record his journey and because there are usually doodles involved, I read his entries. Naturally, I've started to read the corresponding Bible chapters for that day too.

I’ve just finished Genesis and it’s been a thought-provoking journey. We talked a lot about the Patriarchs and I don’t think I’ve ever evaluated and reacted to them as much as I just have. Of course they’re very familiar ground - from Sunday school stories to the regular love affairs my church pastors have with them - I've heard how their life stories pan out and expositions of the virtues they embodied many, many times.

So with that, it’s unexpected to find myself actually getting upset over the glaring moral failings these heroes of faith had. Jacob in particular offends my sense of justice. He's deceitful, cheats to get what he wants and comes across as a hapless, self-pitying, no-good parent (check out Gen 42:36 - "You have deprived me of my children....Everything is against me!", and his inability to maintain the peace among and be equitable towards his many sons). Yet, he gets rewarded for all that by receiving an awesome deathbed blessing, great prosperity and being chosen to spawn the nation of Israel and establishing the Messianic line.

Another thing I noticed is that Joseph, usually held up as an example of forgiveness and grace, set up traps for his brothers, yanked their strings, sent them back and forth from Egypt to Cannan, worried the crap out of them and got them to bow face down and beg for their lives a couple of times BEFORE saying “Hey bros, it’s me and I’m actually all cool with you all.” Which, while I'm not going all out and saying was a form of revenge, must have at least made it a little easier to let them off the hook at the end of it all right? Yes, I've heard it said that he was just testing them to make sure that they had repented of the wrong that the did in the past, but humour me here please.

So. These are just some hastily-collected impressions from Genesis. On to Matthew now.

(For additional reading, check out Fergus' impression of the Patriarchs.)

DIY round up

So I recently learned that you can carve your own rubber stamps out of erasers. A-ma-zing!! I've had a very short-lived flirtation with stamping before, but it got frustrating because I couldn't figure out how to produce consistent, even images and my stamps have been untouched ever since. But this looks fuss-free and besides, it'll be more fun to carve any motive I want instead of searching for it in stores.

Source: Herbal Tree

You can also make a tube dresses out of an oversize-tee. Easy peesy! I don't wear tube dresses, but I reckon that this might be useful at some point in time.

Source: Project Muff Stit

To DIY: Memory clock

Clock from Dutch by design [Seen on tea for joy via design*sponge]

In my head, I imagine this to be the centerpiece of a living room, and each frame will hold a highlight from its corresponding month - a doodle, photograph or small trinket. At the end of each year when each frame is filled, a photo is taken to commemorate that year and starting from January, each memento is replaced with a new one.

Stop motion elegance

Her morning elegance by Oren Lavie [Via design*sponge]

I don't like posting videos here, but this is the best music video I've ever seen. Such amazing execution - the concept, song, styling and actors all come together so perfectly. Please, please watch it.

By an unfortunate coincidence I was toying with the idea of experimenting with stop-motion just the day before. Now I'm not sure whether to be inspired or intimidated.

Gardening stories

One day, I want my own space to grow plants. A small strip of ground or a few windowsills because I can't manage a large area. I've tried that with dismaying results before. But it's something I've always wanted to do, and a few gardening stories today has reignited this interest.

It started with a gardening doodle by Andre Jordan from A beautiful revoltion. One of the comments left below linked to the story of how a rock garden was built: shaped by hand from a mass of rubble over the course of two years. As an added bonus, I also found out that cultivating a wildflower meadow takes three years.

Two things I'm taking a way from this:
(1) Diligence will rule. (Jon Acuff strikes home again!)
(2) Instead of waiting for beauty to come into your life, cultivate it instead.

Here's to a good weekend.

Photo credit: Matthew Stinson

Up till today,

this week has been a awful week. The weather is dreary, gloomy and depressing. Work has been difficult, several people have really tested my patience, the house hunt has yielded one heart-break already and I'm feeling bloated and distinctly premenstrual. I wish that I was making the last part up but I'm not; the boyfriend will probably vouch for that.

Also, all the mess in my life is really bugging me, from the thousands of unclassified, unorganised mail in both my Outlook and gmail to the clutter in my room of more Things I Want To Try And Do than there is SPACE and TIME and WILLPOWER for.

But notice that my title says "up till today", which is deliberately done because I'm leaving some room over the next three days for things to improve. Does that make me an optimistic person?

Etsy love: felt figurines

Little love blue, found via Fuzzy baby bunny on Dooce. Just look at the details!

Much more at her Flickr set.

Her sister runs Winsome Hollow and is as equally talented:

Continue ooohing over at her Flickr set.

Lastly, this wee little fella called Ted from manOmine is just begging to be squeezed.

Hug me!

Jon Acuffs on Provs 12:16

"A fool shows his annoyance at once,
but a prudent man overlooks an insult."

I'm not good at responding with an attitude of love when annoyed, so Insults really spoke to me. My first instinct is to get back.

"But that’s what a fool does. A fool responds at once....A prudent person realizes that an instant response to an insult is probably going to be emotion driven, if not flat out designed for revenge."

Sigh. I need to memorise this verse and work on living it out.

This sofa is almost perfect

From World Market: "With the sides up it's a sofa. Fold one side down to form a chaise lounge. Put both sides down and it becomes a bed."

I don't like sofas that are too deep (uncomfortable when you lean back while siting) or with armrests that are too high (uncomfortable if you sleep on the sofa and use the armrest as a pillow). I'd like my sofa to look versatile too - not too formal to curl up on with a book and not to slouchy for people to visit and have drinks and good conversation.

The fact that this has three different configurations is a huge plus. Only thing is white cushion covers are a dirt magnet. But that's easily changed.

Cheat list

The past month and a half has had several noteworthy events, ones that I've meant to review or commemorate with a blog post. But you know what? A list is easier. Uhuh.

1. Helped to shoot and edit a short film titled Your son, Xavier with Fergs.
2. Finally read Elie Wiesel's Night. It's sat on my shelf for over a year.
3. Spent the Thaipusam weekend at the Avilion, PD. By far the best family holiday I can remember.
4. Watched Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. I love it so much, I owe it a review. Soon.
5. Booked tics to Krabi for FIVE days, first week of April!
6. Started house-hunting. Scary yet thrilling experience.
7. Got free tics to Puteri Gunung Ledang on Sunday. I loved it!
8. Bought tic to Sunburst cos Coldplay was rumoured to feature. Sadly, it's been dispelled so I sold my tic.
9. Finally watched Juno yesterday. Yes, I'm slow.

It's satisfying to see so much down so early on in the year.

On an related note about lists, I realise that I need some way to store the many links that I come across and like enough to want to revisit. Toyed with the idea of a Tumblr blog but I don't want two separate blogs so for now, I'll be sticking them all here. Get ready for the avalanche.

10 reasons why Fergus is a pretentious yuppie even though he refuses to admit it

I started this post last October but never finished it because it lacked a final, irrefutable piece of proof. Lo, #10 has come up (literally, since he drove it up from Muar) and filled the empty space.

1. He owns a Mac
2. He used to drive a two-door sports car
3. He drinks coffee cos it looks cool
4. He uses a Moleskin dairy
5. He buys books according to the hipness of their covers6. He had a bachelor pad in Tropicana for three years
7. He attends SIB
8. He lived overseas for four and-a-half years
9. He owns a tailored suit with his name embroidered on the inside10. He now drives a BMW

Proof that you can apply reverse psychology on yourself

Roughly two weeks back, Fergs and I agreed that we should watch what we eat just in the lead-up to CNY to sort of mitigate the gorge fest that will happen then. It worked for a while, and we even managed to squeeze in some exercise. Self-control 1, fat ass 0!

However, a week ago my appetite suddenly went through an exponential, ferocious surge and I find myself thinking about snacking ALL THE TIME. For instance, this is what I've eaten today in addition to lunch:

1. Half a pack of San Remo instant mushroom and herb pasta with added milk for breakfast (not a
regular breakie eater before this)2. One third of a pack of tok tok candy
3. Two bite-sized Nestle Milk & Cookies Milkybars
4. A Coke Light (feeble attempt to be good but never again, original is the best)
5. Two fistfuls of kuachi
6. Two Four Five chocolate wafers

Yes, I have been stocking up on snacks. Do you expect me to gnaw off my arm in desperation? Anyway, I still have 20 minutes more before going home and the pack of Cadbury Bytes sitting on my desk is calling my name. Must....re...sist....

Project ideas

A bird mobile (via Museum of happiness). A perfect excuse to start collecting colourful fabric scraps.

Embroidered text messages. I like the cheeky take on a traditional craft.

How successful was your LIITA event?

So, the LIITA dust has settled and reports have been sent in. Now is the time for measurement and evaluation. After looking at the form we had to fill up, I realised that it wasn't comprehensive enough. With some inspiration and a few suggestions I've come up with a handy list to help measure the success of your LIITA event. Presenting:

The SCL-Inspired LIITA score guide!

Scoring of visitors brought:

1. Uncelled believer from church = + 1 point
2. Unchurched believer = + 2 points
3. Pre-believer = + 3 points
4. Pre-believer who, upon being presented with the gospel via the Bridge method, accepts Christ= + 7 points5. Irregular cell member shows up = + 1 point
6. Irregular cell member leaves early for another appointment = - 2 points
7. Uncelled believer from another church = + 0 points
8. Visitor is from a foreign country = + 2 points
9. The foreign country was formerly communist = + 3
10. Cell member from another cell in your church = - 10 points
11. College cell member who has graduated and is transitioning to the workforce = + 2 points
12. The transitioning college cell member can play guitar for cell = + 5 points
13. A boy/girlfriend that actually attends another church tags along = - 2 point
14. That boy/girlfriend who attends another church just got installed as a cell leader there = - 5 points
15. That boy/girlfriend who attends another church and just got installed as a cell leader wants you to settle in that other church so that the next 100 years of your bloodline will be members there = - 50 points

Scoring of the program:
1. Christmas carols were sung = + 1 point for each carol
2. The organisers relaxed and smiled* = + 1 point
3. Your drinks were chilled, using ice where necessary* = + 1 point
4. Ice wasn’t used because it melted into a huge chunk and someone tried to break it into smaller pieces
by bashing it against the wall, causing the bag to tear and spill all the ice^ = - 5 points5. The cell made their own Christmas video to present on that night = + 50 points
6. There are left over LIITA flyers after the event = - 1 point for each flyer
7. Cell members met up earlier to decorate Christmas trees for the event = + 3 points
8. LIITA flyers were cut up to decorate the trees = - 5 points per flyer
9. Neither of the two recommended programs were used = - 30 points
10. Cell members were planted to share their personal testimony = + 3 points per testimony shared.
11. Two weeks after the LIITA event, you don't get invited to a leader's meeting = - 500 points

12. Three weeks after a LIITA event, you receive a letter from the church that says “We apologise but we are unable to process your marriage application form as you have been ex-communicated from this church. God bless you.” = - 1,000,000 points = time to find a new church

* criteria taken directly from the guide booklet, as seen here.
^ true story, apparently.
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My cell's score is in the region of -700 points, which after glancing through the other YA reports sent in and making some rough calculations, would be the lowest scoring cell. Bah. I bet this guide is skewed.

Anyway, at least we got a video. Pretend you don't notice the cut-up LIITA flyers in it ok?

In oh nine,

"I don't want to finish this year with only a few months experience gained. I don't ever want to live life redundantly."

This line from Jon Acuff's Everything is replaceable sums up how I feel about this year. It's a soaring, optimistic feeling.

Balloon canopy by Gustafson Porter (via A cup of Jo).

Alright.

I am a sucky blogger. Besides that, here are 9 reasons (since it's 2009) why this page has remained stuck on LIITA for over 6 weeks.

1. My computer ran out of ink.
2. I had no transport.
3. Wild kangaroos laid siege to my home.
4. Durian season started.
5. Then, I had a lobotomy.
6. After I recovered, I was going to post about it but my hedgehog ate
it. (The post, not the lobotomy. You can't eat a lobotomy.)7. I like ice-cream and pickles.
8. It was too windy.
9. ZZZzzzzz....huh?

But it doesn't really matter. Only one person has complained so far, and as you can see, he's not someone you need to take seriously.

LIITA (Love is in the air)

That's our Christmas program in church this year. No big production with Chinese wise men and shiny dancers. Instead, it will be entirely cell-based and cell-driven! Now, this is to be taken seriously, because all the leaders got a 38-page file of program notes. On the first page, there's a note saying that the program has been adapted from Trinity Christian Center, Singapore with their permission.

Now these "pointers for you to take note off" were under the dinner heading:

· Plan your menu and decide on the décor at least three weeks before the actual day.

· The menu should as far as possible be appropriate for your guests. For instance, prepare Asian food if the majority of them are local food lovers!

· Please ensure there is enough food, napkins and utensils (eg plates, forks and etc). It is also good to prepare more than just enough

· If you are catering the food, do remember to ask the caterer to set up at least 30 mins beforehand.

· Cooked food must be ready fifteen minutes before the program.

· Please ensure the young kids do not stand near to the food for their safety.

· Chill your drinks. Have ice at hand if necessary.

· If you are serving hot drinks, please make sure there is enough hot water.

· You may prepare some snacks or finger food for guests to munch.

· Relax and smile.

I dunno man. Only a Singaporean would find it necessary to tell you stuff like "chill your drinks" and "relax and smile" at a cell dinner.