The one with the lady Jaguar

I was driving down Orchard Rd as I was fetching my Brother down to Plaza Singapura (why I was doing that is another full-blown story, which really isn’t worth any effort to narrate) and somewhere at the junction outside of Paragon, I was happily driving down my lane when suddenly this Black Jaguar swerved out from the turning queue. I sounded my TooT (aka horn), swerved my vehicle a little and jammed my brakes just about right to prevent hitting the black jaguar and getting hit by the taxi that was on-coming from the other lane.

I looked over and there sitting in the Black Jaguar was this very tanned young lady dressed in red and yellow and she was making funny signs at me, the signing equivalent of vulgar language. Tsk tsk! She was obviously in the wrong by trying to “commit suicide and taking others along with her” in the middle of Orchard Rd and she was still prancing around as though she was almighty and distributing judgement on little folks like myself!? I shook my head and drove off. (Now, all these took place within like 15 seconds. You can’t stay stationary on Orchard Rd for too long, it would really have been a road hazard.)

Further down the road, this Black Jaguar was in front of me again and watching the car swerve in and out of the vehicles made me shudder. She was an accident waiting to happen. So, ladies and gentlement, if you do see the Black Jaguar with the license plate number SBV323D any where on Singapore roads, avoid her like plague (that’s if you value your life).

As I told my brother, Singaporean drivers are horrible. They drive so recklessly, and are clueless on when to slow down or jam brake, so much so that, I feel safer as a driver, pedestrain in Shanghai.

Anyhow, I am back home and blogging, so I am safe! Phew! (“,)

Core Values

Today’s church service was on core values. Core values are what shapes us and what makes us react to different situations in a certain manner.

The paster brought up the 4 Core Values of the church and emphasized that the church members must uphold the 4 core values to live life pleasing to God.

The 4 core values are

1. Passionate Honour
2. Contentious Fervour
3. Contagious Faith
4. Relentless Belief

For the 1st installment, he went through points 1 and 2.

Passionate Honour

Passion to love & honour God
John 2:12-17
‘Zeal for your house will consume you.’
(What consumes you? That will be what keeps you awake and keeps you going?)

3 Major Obstacles to achieving Passionate Honour:
1.  Lack of the fear of God
Dun let legitimate stuff encroach on God
2. Motivation of hearts
In our honour for God, we do not profit and exploit the lives of others
3. Lovers of money, instead of being Lovers of God
It is the Love of money that corrupts and not money in itself!

Keys to have Passionate Honour:
1. Know your heart’s condition (verse 14)
2. Make a decision to Honour God
3. Have a Volitional Act of clensing (Do something!)

Contagious Faith

- Authentic and infectious faith (Mark 16:9-20)
A personal faith that will manifest itself and infect someone.
Obstacles to Contagious Faith:
1. A lack of Faith
Believe but you don’t believe.
A faith not alive.
2. A refusal to Believe
Despite evidence, a refusal to Believe

Key to Contagious Faith:
1. Have an encounter with Jesus
2. Need to receive the Word of God
3. Need to believe (spark faith in action)

and for the 2nd installment, tune in in a fortnight.

The one with the uncooked fish and, also, the very cooked fish.

This took place at Wisma Atrium, Food Republic, Teppenyaki Express.

I ordered Set C, my friend ordered Beef Set.

Set C comes with Fish, Oysters, Beef and 2 vege. The fish was served last … and it wasn’t cooked within (both pieces) I asked the “Chef” to cook it again as it was not cooked. (Evidently, the Chef was in a bad mood, this can be confirmed by my friend too who witnessed his rather black and long face prior to us placing orders) The Chef COOKED the fish. He placed it on the stove, covered it and went away. He went to serve another set of customers on the other end of the table.

My friend kept repeating to me that the fish was going to be over cooked. I said I wasn’t about to shout to the Chef across the table for him to check on his fish.

So, after about 15 mins, he came back to “check” on the fish (presuming he had not forgotten about it) and served a dried up rather black piece of fish (in fact 2 pieces). I stared at it and wondered what on earth was this guy doing? Service? GEMs? erm … Yes! Up your service, Singapore. Maybe up your quality assurance, as well.

I asked the waitress for the manager. She said there was no manager only 1 for the entire Food Republic. I told her the situation and asked if she could help resolve it. She disappeared.

I asked another waitress (after 5 mins) for the manager. She turned around, shouted to the Chef:”He wants to see the manager.”

Ok, this nice gentlemen comes along (in pink). I explained the situation with the fish and asked him if he could give me a solution. He offered to give me a refund.

On payment, they charged the full thing and I wondered why was there this confusion again.

Yet another manager turned up (in blue this time) and tried to figure out what was happening. So, explain again. The Chef (meanwhile, was speaking in Chinese) was saying that I was too much, having eaten the most of the meal already and just because of the fish wanted a full refund. Now, I must say that the refund was entirely the manager (in pink)’s idea. I never once brought up the issue of a refund. All I wanted was some justice to be done, perhaps better quality assurance. I didn’t even want another fish and I was prepared to pay for the meal already.

So, I told the manager that I would just pay for everything and leave (making a mental note to avoid Teppanyaki Express forever). The manager said to give him a minute to check out the situation. So, he and the Chef left to study the fish. After a couple of minutes, he came back and said that the fish was really unacceptable and that they would take a picture of the fish and show it to the Chef’s superior. He would refund the fish for me. Now, this manager made it clear that he was refunding the fish only. That’s an amicable solution.

Oh, I did complain about the first waitress who just disappeared, too.

Sighs! When I was in China, I thought that Singapore would be different and I would not get such bad service, but never did I know that in Singapore, I get the same standard of service and more often than not, the service is worst! Sighs!

I told my friend that if I was back in Shanghai, I would have scolded the waitress, the manager and the chef. However, being in Singapore, I maintained my cool and dealt with it as amicable as possible. Throughout the whole incident, in my mind was just let me pay and get out of there. I don’t care what you do with the fish, the Chef, the shop … don’t let me eat here ever again!

and so, that ends the misadventure for today, which would otherwise had been a peaceful day.

For you I write …

This is for my die hard fans. (Although it really isn’t about you. It’s merely one of my complains about some people, who might fall into my “die hard” fans category.)

Arrange gathering … BUT …

1. People fly aeroplane
2. People don’t want to come
3. People arrive like 1 hour late (or later)

Still was a good chit chat session and thanks to the people who did turn up.
** Makes mental note **

Hips Don’t Lie (Ft. Wyclef Jean)

Ladies up in here tonight
No fighting, no fighting
We got the refugees up in here
No fighting, no fighting

Shakira, Shakira

I never really knew that she could dance like this
She makes a man wants to speak Spanish
Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa
Shakira, Shakira

Oh baby when you talk like that
You make a woman go mad
So be wise and keep on
Reading the signs of my body

And I’m on tonight
You know my hips don’t lie
And I’m starting to feel it’s right
All the attraction, the tension
Don’t you see baby, this is perfection

Hey Girl, I can see your body moving
And it’s driving me crazy
And I didn’t have the slightest idea
Until I saw you dancing

And when you walk up on the dance floor
Nobody cannot ignore the way you move your body, girl
And everything so unexpected – the way you right and left it
So you can keep on taking it

I never really knew that she could dance like this
She makes a man want to speak Spanish
Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa
Shakira, Shakira

Oh baby when you talk like that
You make a woman go mad
So be wise and keep on
Reading the signs of my body

And I’m on tonight
You know my hips don’t lie
And I am starting to feel you boy
Come on lets go, real slow
Don’t you see baby asi es perfecto

Oh I know I am on tonight my hips don’t lie
And I am starting to feel it’s right
All the attraction, the tension
Don’t you see baby, this is perfection
Shakira, Shakira

Oh boy, I can see your body moving
Half animal, half man
I don’t, don’t really know what I’m doing
But you seem to have a plan
My will and self restraint
Have come to fail now, fail now
See, I am doing what I can, but I can’t so you know
That’s a bit too hard to explain

Baila en la calle de noche
Baila en la calle de día

Baila en la calle de noche
Baila en la calle de día

I never really knew that she could dance like this
She makes a man want to speak Spanish
Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa
Shakira, Shakira

Oh baby when you talk like that
You know you got me hypnotized
So be wise and keep on
Reading the signs of my body

Senorita, feel the conga, let me see you move like you come from Colombia

Mira en Barranquilla se baila así, say it!
Mira en Barranquilla se baila así

Yeah
She’s so sexy every man’s fantasy a refugee like me back with the Fugees from a 3rd world country
I go back like when ‘pac carried crates for Humpty Humpty
I need a whole club dizzy
Why the CIA wanna watch us?
Colombians and Haitians
I ain’t guilty, it’s a musical transaction
No more do we snatch ropes
Refugees run the seas ’cause we own our own boats

I’m on tonight, my hips don’t lie
And I’m starting to feel you boy
Come on let’s go, real slow
Baby, like this is perfecto

Oh, you know I am on tonight and my hips don’t lie
And I am starting to feel it’s right
The attraction, the tension
Baby, like this is perfection

No fighting
No fighting

—

Just thought this song was rather groovy and cool! (“,)

农历七月 x2

There are two 7th month in the lunar calendar this year and we get 2 Hungry Ghost Festival this year!

Mother says: “Don’t swim this month.”

She forgot to add: “and the next month.”

—

It’s lovely to be back to a place that hold so much memories. It’s even better to return to a place on a different status and with a different feel.

—

Realized it’s been a while since my last entry. Still alive, don’t worry! (Though I know that no one really worries or cares anyway.)

—

Time and space doesn’t matter. Mere seconds or distances and you can begin missing something.

—

Ripping CDs is a long and tiresome process. Spent a good part of the day ripping my old CDs and my brother’s CDs, so that I can transfer back to my now empty iPod. Still in progress.

—

Reminiscing old times and creating memories is what we all keep doing from moment to moment.

—

Still doing HYP programming. Broke through a few hurdles today after ardent prayers and prespiration. Many more hurdles to leap over.

—

The night envelopes the sky and I await for the radiance of the sun once again.

When you want something

and you can’t find it, what do you do?

Can’t find a suitable suit? Tailor it.

Can’t find the perfect wallpaper? Create one.

Can’t find the right solution? Solve it.

Can’t find what I want? I make it.

Yawns! I about half done and I am tired.

zzz zzz zzz

True Jesus Church

Thanks to Ket Fah for the invitation to True Jesus Church. They have a building at Adam Rd, but I went to the one at Lorong H Telok Kurau. They are having 3 nights of evangelistic srevice and I went to take a look at what the service was really like.

The members pray in tongues. (I’ll get to that.)

It is a simple church. Decoration of the church is minimal. Not showy and very down to eart and simple. They cater to both the English and Chinese speaking crowd by doing translations. The songs sung are hymns, and sung with the accompliment of the piano and the organ. Reminds me a little of my secondary school days in chapel. The sermon preached tonight was: God’s Grace of Salvation. For a believer, the message was simple. For a non-believer, though, I felt the message was not clear and rather confusing. Perhaps the Pastor was too eager in bringing every message across from the bible. I do feel that he should have focused on key areas and also not bring up death as a threat so often.

They also had a choir which sang a few songs. Quite nice!

The closing prayer was an eye opener. They pray in tongues. According to them, they have received the Holy Spirit and therefore, when they pray, they pray in tongues. They are fully conscious of themselves when they pray but whatever comes out becomes gibberish. This is so unlike the “pray in tongues” that the big churches uses. (They alays sound so rehearsed.)

Well, it was a nice experience. I enjoyed the company. The church people are all so warm and friendly. Overall, good experience. Might pop down to their Adam Rd service sometime, when the inspiration arrives. (“,)

For now, I leave you their web link True Jesus Church 

Weekend! (”,)

The weekend has finally come. This time even more happy that usual … hahaha …

Had a long day today. Rather tiring too …

Stayed up a bit last night to try and solve a problem I had with capturing data into the database. Finally solved it this morning and I encountered another problem. Now, it’s due to the irregular format of the entry and hence, I am now thinking of solution to solve this problem. Still got alot of small problems that are yet to be solved. I think I try and try … then if cannot need to take a break … usually after the break then can have some kind of break through.

Went to school to collect the book which was ordered a week ago. It finally came! I had to call them though, and the staff informed me the book was here and ready for collection (not the other way round as it should had been). Went to the Co-Op and … hmm … they could not find the book. They asked if anyone called me and I told them my story. So, they called the publisher and was told that there was no record of the order. (Oops!) I could only sigh! What to do?! After megotiating to get the book ASAP, the earliest was still Monday. hmm …

Another younger staff then mentioned that the computer sayed that the co-op was stocked with the book. (I think she was the one that on the phone.) Almost all the staff (except for one – the one who ‘took’ my order right from the beginning) tried to look on the book shelves to find the book. They searched under HR, management, Business, etc … and after like 20 mins of searching (even the store room), the lady found the book hidden under Sociology. Efforts were paid off! I was a satisfied customer! 3 Cheers for the staff at the Co-op, except for the guy who took my order to start with. I know his name, but shan’t name it here (Not good.)

Went to town in search for something. Went to lots of places … from Orchard all the way down to Suntec, but still have not found any hint or traces of it. Hmm … I’ll see if I can get it tmr. Anyway, on the way bought myself a Polo Blue at Lucky Plaza.

This is also an interesting story. I went into a 2nd shop to ask about the Blue. I wanted the medium size bottle, which the first did not have. They quoted me S$65. I looked at them and asked for it to be cheaper. The guy then gave $63. I told them I’ll think about it, and attempted to walk away. He asked me to give me my best price. I said $55. After making like 3 phone calls, he said $57 lah … I bought it! A remininsce of Xiang Yang Market?! Heh heh!

~ Insert ~ Forgot to add this in just now …

I went to TopShop and I bought a shirt. Contemplated very long. Tried it since I was waiting for people, and eventually bought it cos’ it was on sale and I get an additional 15% discount cos’ of the UOB card. Nice! Also tried on some suits and I like the cut, but not the price. Dunno if can copy it or not?! those China Tailors the design abit old fashioned.

~ End of insert ~

Had dinner at Ichiban Boshi with the guys … hmm … reminds me of Sakae Sushi. For all the posh decor, the food was only reasonable. Well, the price was equivalent to Sakae. Not great food. But what the heck. At least I know that my Soba was hand made. hahaha! (Although handmade soba does not look as impressive as how the Chinese made their la mian)

A tad sleepy, but shall proceed to attempt problem solving of my problems again.

黑白画映 (张学友)

收拾下自己的心
说给自己听
那黑那白全都不在
那风那梦风吹进我的梦
收拾下自己的心
好让天使听
那黑那白全都不在
那风那梦风吹进我的梦
无力抱紧看着又伤心
偶尔想起我爱你
想追又自己鼓不起勇气
我心中黑白
无力靠近猜测你的心
今夜又会在那里
窗外的风起天下起小雨
我心中黑白的画映
我无力找到真爱
可怜我只剩下空白
找不到靠近的理由
也只能开不了口
静静的我守在窗口
享受这寂寞
无力证明才让你相信
有个傻子在想你
想你和我有一天相遇
我心中黑白的画映
—

This songs reminds me of the last week in Shanghai. I had just gotten the CD and I kept playing in the apartment. The apartment was quite empty as the rest of the gang had left and only mq and myself remained. We were rushing for our internship report amidst the last minute clear ups, the last minute catch up with ppl, the last minute lazing ard.

The song reminds me a little of the tranquil late nights that I stayed up to work on the internship. The feel of the song calms me down. For no apparent link to the lyrics though – never read the lyrics. Just the song played at that time reminds me of that time. This is also like another song, by Michael Jackson from his Dangerous Album which I always reminds me of the time when I was reading the cartoon version of The Water Margin. I think it is “Keep it in te closet”. So, this song at the right moment and right time is soothing and peaceful.

p.s. Now, if my program will just input correctly into the database, I would be more peaceful.