Thursday, June 24, 2004

Lame Joke #3

Qn: Which side of a chicken has the most feathers?

(scroll down for the answer!)



























































Ans: The outside!

(ok ok!!! put that feather duster down!!!)

Thursday, June 10, 2004

Do I see the Value of things, not just do them?

On Tuesday night, Hanhui asked me to pass the rest of our care group some forms to process, as it was urgent. Yesterday night, he asked me whether I had done so. I realised that I had forgotten to do so.



So, Hanhui called me around later on at midnight, and asked me to think NOT about what I should have done, but what were the attitudes in my heart that caused this to happen.



After thinking, I told him, "Laziness and fear of rejection." I elaborated further with him on these two.



Hanhui listened, and then explained to me that he had, in a sense, delegated authority to me regarding the passing on of the forms to the others, and also, responsibility, because my forgetting to pass the forms to the others yesterday affected not just myself, but the ENTIRE group.



And he was looking not for the what-I-should-have-dones, but what-are-the-reasons-that-I-did-what-I-dids. We're not perfect, after all, but we can understand what are the attitudes factors that cause us to do things wrongly.



To paraphrase:

"Remember what I told you last time about godly sorrow versus worldly sorrow? Worldly sorrow merely says 'sorry' to make the other party feel better, like if you accidentally step on his shoes, but godly sorrow makes you look at yourself to really understand why you do what you do, and to consider the results of your attitudes."




Shared more with me on this, that for me, I need to discipline my mind to focus not so much on the what-I-should-have-dones, but on my personal attitudes and values, because I have a tendency to think in terms of 'do this' and 'do that'.



And this tendency makes my mind tend to degrade into doing things for the sake of doing them, without seeing the value of what I'm doing.



That's one reason why he doesn't usually address the issue of ill-discipline so much as the issue of seeing the VALUE of what I do, because ill-discipline is simply a behavioural flaw, a symptom of an attitude.

And that attitude is whether I see the value of what I'm doing or not.


He talked with me for a few more minutes, and then he told me he had to answer a second call, and eat his dinner.



"Dinner? At midnight?" I thought. So I asked him, "Are you feeling hungry?"



He chortled, and said, "Super."

Tuesday, June 1, 2004

A Blogged Mind

*Sigh*



He looks at the LCD screen before him, tapping thoughtfully.



"Nucleus or WordPress? Which blog to install on the server?"



"The REAL problem is," he thinks, "just how do you enable multiple user accounts on a server-side script for a Content Management System a la Blogger.com using PHP 4.1 and MySQL 3.23?"



*Sigh*

Lame Joke #2: "It's nice having a blog, but not a blogged nose."

Haha... I used the above title as my MSN nickname yesterday, and got 3 (I think) replies:



Huichoon: "Wah, that is super lame liao..."



Dominic: "ertz"



and Kim Chun's reply is the best:

1st msg: L



2nd msg: A



3rd msg: M



4th msg: E



5th msg: ;P



(And you know how MSN plays that funny sound after every message? Go figure... It really sounds like a cheer... hahaha... thanks KC!)





Trying to set up a Content Management System...

Right now, I'm busy trying to set up a blog management system for my volunteer club, Generation ACTS International. If you want to know more about this club, check out http://www.gen-acts.org.



Just to add a note: I joined this club back in 2001 and haven't looked back since. Got to know and network with lots of friends from different universities and faculties, and even countries - you tried Mexican "mole" before? haha... ¡es muy shiok! and also I got to learn Spanish from a very lively Mexican lady, Sofia Montejo.



(I still remember her Mexican-esque cheer... how did it go? "¡A LA VIO! ¡A LA VA! ¡A LA VIM-VOM-VAAA!" Wah, VERY powerful, especially when she yelled it in front of our class to demonstrate... haha...



When we asked her what that meant, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Oh, it means nothing." *gosh*... but still, that cheer SOUNDS very impressive! :D )




And I also got to help out with matriculation activities... the first time I tried leading a matriculation group, I felt terribly insecure. But I'm glad to God for that experience, because this helped me learn so much more about myself.



This year, Generation ACTS Club will be launching its Project ACTS groups for incoming university freshmen. Essentially it's about service-learning methodology... hmm, I need to find out more about what this "service-learning" thingy is about... heard it originated in the US... very powerful way of helping develop your leadership skills, that's what I understand.





Gosh, that was one LONG note. So far, I tried WordPress (http://wordpress.org), and it was really easy to install, BUT it doesn't support multiple blogs. :( So sad! Because I love its pretty user interface and ease of use.



So I'm investigating b2evolution (http://b2evolution.net/index.php) and NucleusCMS (http://nucleuscms.org/).



Will let you guys know more about my quest for the Ultimate Blog (TM). :) TTFN...

Been very busy the past few days...

Wow, it's been a few days since I last posted here. Night-cycling trip last Friday/Saturday, watched "The Day After Tomorrow" with Kin Wee and Edmund on Saturday afternoon, met my shepherd on Saturday evening and THEN got some sleep on Saturday night.



And woke up super-late for Sunday morning - missed the prayer gathering with the other Sub-D people!



Very busy now, sorry, should be expanding on the following topics most likely by next week:



- Night-cycling trip

- Thoughts about TDAT (and the Troy tickets fiasco)

- Research insights on encouragment

- Intentionality - a principle of impactful communications



Why so late? Because I'll be going to Johor Bahru for church camp from 3 to 6 June this week. Really excited! :)



(Ooh yah! Add "- Church camp objectives" to the list above...)



Share more with you guys next week...