Perseverance

2012-01-18T16:12:00.000+08:00

Work through that 97% of murky abyssmal mediocrity to get to that 3% which everyone will remember you for!

- Austin Madison, Animator Letters Project

Trucks

2012-01-12T10:43:00.000+08:00

Men are like trucks: they drive straighter with a weighted load. Young men are supposed to load themselves up first by being responsible for themselves and not expecting their mom to fill up their sippy cup with beer and push them in a stroller to the unemployment line. Young men who take responsibility for themselves are then ready to marry and take responsibility for the life and joy of their wife. And, as they grow in that responsibility they are then ready to take on the additional responsibility of being a father, invested in and devoted to their child or children.

- Mark Driscoll, Washington Post

2011-12-19T11:24:00.002+08:00

Inhabit Christ; Imitate others.

Failure

2011-12-16T00:42:00.002+08:00

It's amazing how one failure can override the many taken-for-granted successes.

Reflecting from this

2011-12-02T22:30:00.001+08:00

It is possible to waste your life. Few things make me tremble more than the possibility of taking this onetime gift of life and wasting it. Every morning when I walked into the kitchen as a boy I saw hanging on the wall the plaque that now hangs in my living room: “Only one life, twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” And now I am almost 58, and the river of life is spilling over the falls of my days with tremendous speed. More and more I smell eternity. And oh, how I want to use my life well. It is so short and so fragile and so final. You get one chance to live your life. And then the judgment. I speak as a father who has children your age, and I am jealous with Jesus that they and you not waste your life.

("Don't Waste Your Life," from December 29, 2003)

2011-12-02T22:16:00.001+08:00

If we can first settle the issue of what God wants us to be, who we are, what we are, what we believe and stand for (because we must), survival becomes secondary. If we survive, we survive. If we perish, we perish. If we grow, we grow. If we diminish, we diminish. To settle the issue of survival is freedom!
...
The battle is the Lord’s. But if we choose to make the battle ours, and choose to make survival the goal of the battle, then we start to figure the angles, make subtle accommodations, compromise here and there, demote moral conviction, and do anything to win, to survive. What we need is a fundamental shift in the center of gravity in our lives from focusing on survival of ourselves to glorifying God, even in death.
...
The issue was not bread, but obedience.
...
Beware the impulse to survive. You may become something you didn’t intend. Ironically, if you don’t believe, you won’t last. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.

- David Mathis

2011-12-02T22:04:00.001+08:00

The stories in the Bible--from the least important to the most important--show us who God is. The less our kids know about this book, the easier it will be for them to ignore God, because they won't recognize him. And the more they know about it, the more likely they will walk with him, because they will have seen the great things that a God like him can do.

- Tell Stories Like Life Depends on It, Desiring God

2011-11-10T23:59:00.001+08:00

We buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like.

- Mark Driscoll on the wicked cycle of economy

2011-11-07T01:42:00.000+08:00

Ultimately our lives amount to the sum of our individual days. Since our individual days consist of us mainly doing what we want to do, our lives ultimately have a lot to do with what we want today.

- Will Walker

Up

2011-08-22T23:07:00.001+08:00

Lord,
I might screw things up,
situations might get messed up,
but I've given up,
'cos from now on it's up to You.

"The Lord your God, who is going before you,
will fight for you,

as He did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert.

There you saw how the Lord your God carried you,

as a father carries his son,
all the way you went until you reached this place."

- Moses, on Deuteronomy 1:30-31

2011-08-18T20:31:00.000+08:00

A prodigal son saved by the prodigy Son.

2011-07-29T18:41:00.002+08:00

Singapore never feels so different.

2011-07-12T12:34:00.000+08:00

"The Bible is a love story that begins with a divorce. Everything from the third chapter of Genesis through the end of Revelation is the story of a betrayed lover wooing us back into His arms so we can enjoy the love of a family forever."

- Dr. Larry Crabb's father, 66 Love Letters

Jesus be the Centre

2011-07-11T23:29:00.004+08:00

by Israel Houghton

Jesus at the centre of it all
Jesus at the centre of it all
From beginning to the end,
it will always be,
it's always been You, Jesus, Jesus

Nothing else matter
Nothing in this world will do
Jesus You're the centre
Everything revolves around You
Jesus, You, are the centre of it all

From my heart to the heavens,
Jesus be the centre
'Cause it's all about You
Yes, it's all about You

Very very ministered by this song, really brings out the desires of the spirit.

Defeat

2011-06-27T20:37:00.003+08:00

It is good to admit defeat sometimes.

Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

My grace is enough; it's all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

[ 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (MSG) ]

And I actually dreamt in the morning that I was teleported back to 2008 with the knowledge of what I have now, hahaha.. Joke!

Karate Chop Knife

2011-06-24T23:00:00.000+08:00

From Gizmodo

Nice, LOL.

Gifts

2011-06-22T15:17:00.002+08:00

Gifts contain memories.

2011-06-17T16:58:00.000+08:00

Since you are my rock and my fortress,
for the sake of Your name lead and guide me.

- Psalm 31:3

Be strong and take heart,
all you who hope in the Lord.

- Psalm 31:24

Results

2011-06-09T00:55:00.005+08:00

ANI230: 3D Modelling Workshop
BS803: Science or Fiction - Biology in Popular Media
INT495: Interactive Media FYP

If it weren't for the B-, it would have been a perfect score, but thank God for that anyway!
Total CGPA is 3.89, and

I HAVE OFFICIALLY GRADUATED!!

Compete with the World

2011-06-05T02:26:00.000+08:00

" Don’t try to compete with the world. Though it’s important to engage in culture, allow for tough questions, and be vulnerable, never try to compete with the latest brands, trends, and fashions in order to get your message across. In addition to coming across as inauthentic, you’ll distract those who are trying to follow Christ from what’s truly important. Though the world may offer shinier, skinnier, and trendier offerings, the message you’re delivering is powerful, eternal, and truly transformative. Instead of responding to every whim of pop culture, create your own culture and remain true to the DNA of how God has built you and your community. "

- Margaret Feinberg, Pastors.com

Stories

2011-06-05T01:41:00.000+08:00

" So, use powerful images to speak to the imagination of your listeners, spend more time shaping stories that embody the truth and less time explaining your points, and then respond to your listeners as you speak to them. These steps will help you connect with and reach your congregation with the greatest story of all. "

- Steven James, Telling illustrations more effectively

Change

2011-06-03T02:13:00.006+08:00

" As soon as power is consolidated into a government, which it has to be to try to bring order among citizenry, which Romans 13 says needs to happen. The problem is that people who are sinners use their power and use the money to benefit themselves rather than everyone else. And what he says is this. If you’re looking for change in the world, if you’re looking at reformation, if you’re looking at things getting better, don’t put all your hope in government. Vote, get involved, be active, yes. But, until God changes human hearts, all you’re going to be doing is rotating sinners through seats of authority, and power, and influence. But, change doesn’t come until people meet God. And so, don’t be surprised when crooked people do crooked things. "

- Mark Driscoll, Laughing on the Job

Prudence

2011-05-28T22:11:00.003+08:00

PM Lee interesting ah.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/pap-mps-told-rules-prudence-014542117.html

Perfection?

2011-05-25T18:40:00.002+08:00

"We simplify everything and accept less than perfect performance in order to mobilize more people. It doesn’t have to be perfect for God to use and bless it."

- Rick Warren, Pastors.com

Grace

2011-05-20T22:28:00.000+08:00

That was how it felt when your grace is taken for granted.
I get you, Lord.

Sitting is Killing You

2011-05-16T01:11:00.002+08:00

Via: Medical Billing And Coding

Five Questions from God

2011-04-25T16:25:00.000+08:00

From Hillsong London audio sermon

1. "Where are you?" (3:9)
. Where are you placed?
. Where are you going?

2. "Who told you [that you were naked] ?" (3:11)
Our values and philosophies, what you do comes out from what you believe

3. "What is this you have done?" (3:13)
Re-evaluating our actions from our belief

4. "Why are you [ angry ]?" (4:3)
Where do you put emotions in your human hierarchy of endeavour?

5. "Where is your brother?"
Relationship with others, who you hang out with determines where you are going

In the Midst of It

2011-04-25T12:53:00.000+08:00

"Sometimes you can be in the midst of it and not even see it."

No Passion in Your Eyes

2011-04-23T23:38:00.000+08:00

Interesting comment posted in FB by one of my lecturers's supervisor:

My supervisor for my Masters thesis was a German guy. He said to me:

"It took us, it took Europe, a few hundred years to modernize. Along the way, women were burnt at the stake, scientists were forced to kill themselves, and scores of people died. Singapore did it within a few decades without all this death; it's amazing. But it all came at a cost. Singapore has no soul. Singaporeans have no ideals. There is no passion in your eyes"

Go Ask God

2011-04-12T14:37:00.000+08:00

"And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?"

- Solomon in 1 Kings 3:8-9

Discerning God's Calling

2011-04-12T00:53:00.007+08:00

http://theresurgence.com/2010/06/02/discerning-gods-call

HEART
People who are genuinely called often go through seasons of doubt and uncertainty. But over time, the sense of calling grows stronger, not weaker.

HEAD
A genuine call to ministry goes beyond desire and emotions into thoughtfulness and planning.

SKILL
How should the church test whether or not a man is called into pastoral ministry from a skill perspective? There are at least two tests a church should consider. The first test involves a man’s understanding of Scripture. The second test involves inspecting the fruit of his ministry.

The heart confirmation rises up through your passions and cries out “I want to give my life to the church!”

The head confirmation follows up on these passions and asks, “How specifically can I serve this church?”

Checklist for Self-Leading

2011-04-12T00:53:00.006+08:00

From here

Here are a few areas to consider that are consistent with 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 as you reflect on leading yourself.

1. My gifts.
How am I doing at leading myself to know my gifts, stay within my limits, and develop those gifts to their highest, God-pleasing potential?

2. My character.
How am I doing at leading myself to be a person of integrity who follows through on promises made and is a person that others can trust?

3. My purity.
How am I doing at being careful of what my eyes see, my ears hear, and my mind thinks about? How are my relationships with members of the opposite sex? Do I have guidelines, safeguards, and appropriate and honest accountability?

4. My pride.
How am I doing at keeping Christ at the center? Am I the hero of my own stories? Do the words I speak communicate an attitude of arrogance and superiority, or am I characterized by humility and teachability?

5. My pace.
How am I doing at leading myself in the use of my time? Is my schedule writing checks my body can’t cash? Am I going at an unbalanced pace that is digging myself, and those whom I lead, an early grave? Do I have a biblical view of work and leisure, or am I a workaholic who gets a sense of self-worth based on my work?

6. My finances.
How am I doing at leading myself in the money arena? Do I have healthy protection and checks and balances built-in regarding organizational funds that don’t belong to me? Are there healthy audits over all financial dealing with which I am associated? Do I resist the lusting and grabbing lifestyle of my culture, choosing instead to be content and satisfied with God’s provision? Or is my happiness at the door of the next purchase?

7. My anger.
How am I doing at leading myself emotionally? Do I have a reputation for being a hothead and having a short fuse? Do I keep score regarding perceived slights, insults, and put-downs? Do resentment, bitterness, and lack of forgiveness characterize me? One survey I came across revealed that bitterness is the major cause of burnout for men between 38 and 50 years of age.

Is Your Passion Leaking?

2011-04-11T23:58:00.000+08:00

It is easy to spend time, but the wise invest time for maximum impact. The area where we win or lose this battle is how we spend time with people. Those we decide to invest in are either passion builders or passion stealers.

From:
http://theresurgence.com/2010/01/06/does-your-passion-have-a-slow-leak
http://theresurgence.com/2010/01/10/passion-builders-stealers

Pretty good, concise read.

11 Ways to Find Your Idols

2011-04-10T22:08:00.000+08:00

From here and also here

1. What do I worry about most?

2. What, if I failed or lost it, would cause me to feel that I did not even want to live?

3. What do I use to comfort myself when things go bad or get difficult?

4. What do I do to cope? What are my release valves? What do I do to feel better?

5. What preoccupies me? What do I daydream about?

6. What makes me feel the most self-worth? Of what am I the proudest? For what do I want to be known?

7. What do I lead with in conversations?

8. Early on what do I want to make sure that people know about me?

9. What prayer, unanswered, would make me seriously think about turning away from God?

10. What do I really want and expect out of life? What would really make me happy?

11. What is my hope for the future?

2011-04-03T11:13:00.000+08:00

From here

Interesting read, lol.

Lorenzo's Oil

2011-03-30T17:57:00.001+08:00

Lorenzo's Oil is a 1992 drama film directed by George Miller. It is based on a true story of Augusto and Michaela Odone, two parents in a relentless search for a cure for their son Lorenzo's adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD). The film was nominated for two Academy Awards. [ source: Wikipedia ]

Powerful movie based on real life story.
The courage of everyone to press on till the end.

Hope

2011-03-24T12:27:00.000+08:00

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Romans 12:12

Jesus vs Satan

2011-03-21T02:37:00.000+08:00

Or listen to the audio:

Duality

2011-03-20T22:20:00.002+08:00

From Gizmodo

Japan Nuclear Problem Explained

2011-03-20T19:43:00.000+08:00

"It's nice to see this terrible tragedy hasn't made them any less Japanese"

True true, lol.

Portfolio

2011-03-18T23:35:00.000+08:00

Updated!

Link here

What

2011-03-14T14:35:00.002+08:00

What have I been doing these 4 years?

Fragility of Life

2011-03-13T13:42:00.002+08:00

Some more before-and-after photo gallery.

Serve

2011-03-04T16:20:00.003+08:00

Serving God
Serving the Church
Serving the World

Free?

2011-02-18T12:04:00.000+08:00

The results seem to say that we're willing to do things we wouldn't normally do if they weren't free. When something is free, we get excited and don't want to pass up the opportunity. Dan suggests that the way to beat this is to ask yourself a simple question: if this "free" thing was extremely cheap (like $1), would you buy it? If not, it's a good sign that you might want to pass up on the free opportunity.

from Lifehacker

Fables

2011-02-16T11:06:00.002+08:00

Very well crafted storyline, awesome read!

Shades

2011-02-15T10:40:00.003+08:00

"Perhaps you need to use your machine in a darkroom, or like to work late at night without disturbing your partner who sleeps beside you?
Perhaps you need to dim the screen on a desktop machine, and the display you are using offers no such facility?
If this is the case for you, then try Shades.

Note: Shades may interfere with colour calibration software, and should not be used if colour accuracy is critical. "

quoted from the homepage

Hands and Feet

2011-02-14T21:18:00.000+08:00

No point of being complete on the outside while you're broken on the inside.

"There's nothing wrong with asking Me for the desires of your heart.
But Nick, you wanted arms and legs more than you wanted Me.
That was the problem."

If today was your last day, do you know FOR SURE that you have salvation?

If God doesn't give you a miracle, you can still become a miracle for someone else.

Talk about the silence when you are seeking God.
What about the silence we give God when He knocks on our door?

Stop cleaning a dirty house with a filthy rags.

- Nick Vujicic

Facebook Comments Flowchart

2011-02-03T11:58:00.000+08:00

From Gizmodo

Every RPG Ever Flowchart

2011-01-28T10:24:00.002+08:00

From BuzzFeed

Desktop

2011-01-26T11:52:00.000+08:00

My current desktop look.

The FIGHT has just begun..

Learning Style

2011-01-23T11:33:00.001+08:00

Visual/Nonverbal 38 Visual/Verbal 32 Auditory 28 Kinesthetic 24
Your primary learning style is:

The Visual/ Nonverbal Learning Style

You learn best when information is presented visually and in a picture or design format. In a classroom setting, you benefit from instructors who use visual aids such as film, video, maps and charts. You benefit from information obtained from the pictures and diagrams in textbooks. You tend to like to work in a quiet room and may not like to work in study groups. When trying to remember something, you can often visualize a picture of it in your mind. You may have an artistic side that enjoys activities having to do with visual art and design.

Learning Strategies for the Visual/ Nonverbal Learner:

Make flashcards of key information that needs to be memorized. Draw symbols and pictures on the cards to facilitate recall. Use highlighter pens to highlight key words and pictures on the flashcards. Limit the amount of information per card, so your mind can take a mental "picture' of the information.

Mark up the margins of your textbook with key words, symbols, and diagrams that help you remember the text. Use highlighter pens of contrasting colors to "color code" the information.

When learning mathematical or technical information, make charts to organize the information. When a mathematical problem involves a sequence of steps, draw a series of boxes, each containing the appropriate bit of information in sequence.

Use large square graph paper to assist in creating charts and diagrams that illustrate key concepts.

Use the computer to assist in organizing material that needs to be memorized. Using word processing, create tables and charts with graphics that help you to understand and retain course material. Use spreadsheet and database software to further organize material that needs to be learned.

As much as possible, translate words and ideas into symbols, pictures, and diagrams.

From DVC Learning Style Survey Online

Cracking Credit Card Code

2011-01-23T10:04:00.000+08:00

From Gizmodo

Hmm interestingg..

Singletasking

2011-01-21T01:01:00.003+08:00

Do LESS
Do it WELL

inspired from LifeHacker

The Best Things to Buy in 2011

2011-01-19T14:58:00.000+08:00

From Gizmodo

Should you work for free

2011-01-18T11:28:00.000+08:00

From Gizmodo

Online Scrum Board

2011-01-17T17:39:00.001+08:00

Good list of available ones online:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/858607/what-electronic-scrum-kanban-board-do-you-use-and-recommend-for-distributed-teams

Personal fave is still Scrumy, should I get a pro?

Defeat

2011-01-16T13:55:00.000+08:00

Why am I living such a DEFEATED LIFE?

Obsessed with Facebook

2011-01-13T13:36:00.003+08:00

From here, image courtesy of tsevis from Flickr

Thriving as an Artist in the Church

2011-01-04T17:22:00.000+08:00

Now reading...

Final Fantasy Socceria

2011-01-02T17:43:00.000+08:00

From here

LOL!!!

Credits to Faith who showed me this.

Masterpiece

2011-01-02T09:54:00.000+08:00

Now don't go out and imagine you are going to paint a masterpiece, because you won't. Go out and paint for the fun and enjoyment of it.

- Winston Churchill

Work of Art

2011-01-01T21:50:00.000+08:00

My fellow artists, let's make sure we don't get so caught up in creating works of art that we neglect the work of art God is making of us.

- Rory Noland, Thriving as an Artist in the Church

Wisdom Courage

2010-12-23T13:37:00.000+08:00

WISDOM to know what to do
COURAGE to follow through on it

Faith Love Hope

2010-12-21T12:57:00.004+08:00

Childlike            FAITH
Unconditional   LOVE
Living                HOPE

To my leaders

2010-12-21T12:19:00.001+08:00

Rise up; this matter is in your hands. We will support you, so take courage and do it.

- Shecaniah son of Jehiel [ Ezra 10:4 ]

Commitment

2010-12-20T14:07:00.002+08:00

"The world has yet to see what God can do with one man that is totally committed to him."

D. L. Moody

Narcissism

2010-12-20T14:06:00.001+08:00

"Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm, but the harm does not interest them … or they do not see it, or they justify it … because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves."

T.S. Eliot

So there is a tension between being committed to our community (which keeps our calling within healthy boundaries) and being committed to God's calling upon me (which keeps our community from having too much power over our leadership).

JR Kerr

From ChristianityToday's "Pastoral Narcissism"

Testing

2010-12-19T13:08:00.000+08:00

Testings will come whether or not you are ready.

Video Game Alphabet

2010-12-02T21:34:00.002+08:00

reblogged from Kotaku

People

2010-12-01T13:12:00.000+08:00

We're dealing with PEOPLE, not events.
We're leading the PEOPLE, not ministries.
We're working with PEOPLE, not machines.

Where is our PRIORITY?

"Don't do something FOR God, do something FROM God."

Ministry..

2010-11-21T18:20:00.000+08:00

4 Ministry Evaluation Areas for Leaders
(reblogged from Church Relevance)

Your Attitude
Do I have the heart of a servant?
Am I an asset or a liability to my pastor?
What is my attitude about others around me?
Am I grumbling and complaining?
Your Priorities
It’s one thing to know your priorities, it’s another thing all together to live according to those priorities.
Your Time Management
How am I spending my time?
Am I spending time daily with the Lord?
Is my family suffering while my ministry is flourishing?
Am I making time for personal growth and development?
Your Performance
Am I being a team builder or a one person show?
What am I doing that someone else can do?
Have I communicated clearly to all my workers what they are to do?
Can I be relied on to complete assignments and keep commitments?

Nokia 1616

2010-11-19T16:33:00.002+08:00

Welcome to my life!

Consumerism

2010-11-16T20:53:00.000+08:00

It has always been a battle against the tide.
Find the full playlist here.

Phone

2010-11-15T19:20:00.001+08:00

Randomly thought of this due to the occasional problem I have with my phone recently. This is the conclusion I've come up with after doing quite a calculation, in Javascript, lol:

phoneCondition="good";
want(newPhone)=false;

if ( phoneCondition="very bad" )
{
     want(newPhone)==true;
}

if ( want(newPhone)==true    &&      price>100 )
{
      getPlan = true;
      get(newPhone);
      planType = "M1 Sunsaver Plan";
      phoneCondition="new";

} elseif ( want(newPhone)==true    &&   price<100 )
{
      getPlan = false;
      get(newPhone);
      phoneCondition="new";
}

Alabaster Jar

2010-11-11T21:15:00.000+08:00

This alabaster jar

Is all I have of worth

I break it at Your feet, Lord

It's less than You deserve

You're far more beautiful

More precious than the oil

The sum of my desires

And the fullness of my joy

Like You spilled Your blood,

I spill my heart

as an offering to my King

Here I am,

take me as an offering

Here i am,

giving every heartbeat for Your glory

Take me

The time that I have left

Is all i have of worth

I lay it at Your feet, Lord

It's less than You deserve

And though I've little strength

And though my days are few,

You gave your life for me

So I will live my life for you

Worthy, worthy, You are worthy

Worthy is the Lord

You're more than worthy, Lord!

Genki Sudo

2010-11-09T01:11:00.003+08:00

Work

2010-11-08T21:10:00.000+08:00

"Work expands to fill the time available for completion."

- Parkinson's Law

Control Pad Family Tree

2010-10-19T22:12:00.000+08:00

Source: CX Partners

Which is the Question?

2010-10-18T23:52:00.002+08:00

Do I hate the MOVING or the POSSESSIONS?

It's getting to my nerves!

5 Regrets of the Dying

2010-10-18T20:27:00.002+08:00

Five Regrets of the Dying By Bronnie Ware Platinum Quality Author
Emphasis added

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learned never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventuallyacceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people have had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn't work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friendsuntil their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

Facebook Photo Badge

2010-10-12T22:17:00.000+08:00

Trying out..

Steven Jap | Create your badge

Single Stranded

2010-10-06T14:40:00.000+08:00

Single-stranded friendships - inevitable?

One whole round around Sg in a few months,
Possessions,
Nomadic lifestyle,
Quarter-life crisis,
Self-reliance.

Seems like I have to be crushed to find myself again.

Can't I just settle down?
Don't wanna bother others too much.

2010-09-19T12:05:00.002+08:00

"If your spiritual enemy can’t get you to apply the brakes to keep you from ministering, he may well try to get you to push the gas pedal to the floor, hoping to drive you off a cliff."

"If you push yourself too hard, if you deny yourself legitimate pleasure, if you allow your life to become only about duty, responsibility, and obligation, then eventually you will have a spiritual meltdown, a mental collapse, or an emotional breakdown."

- Gary Thomas, Pure Pleasure

CBF

2010-09-15T16:12:00.000+08:00

One man gives freely, yet gains even more;
another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.

[ Proverbs 11:24 ]

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

[ Luke 12:34 ]

"... I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."

[ 2Samuel 24:24b ]

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

[ 1Timothy 6:17 ]

Joy in Giving

2010-09-03T21:29:00.000+08:00

A glad giver pays little attention to the thing he is giving, but his whole desire and intention is to please and comfort the one to whom he gives it; and if the receiver values the gift highly and takes it gratefully, then the generous giver thinks nothing of all his hardship and the price he had to pay, because of the joy and delight that he feels at having pleased and comforted the one he loves.

- Julian of Norwich

Family

2010-08-02T23:05:00.001+08:00

Heard stories of other people from my mom, their family relationship, problems, and some even the stories of the end of their lives.

When preoccupation of self overshadows our duty to our loved ones.

Quitting is not an option.

For a life that's committed to what lies ahead, through the ups and downs.

Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God (trailer)

2010-08-01T23:12:00.000+08:00

Train Madness

2010-07-22T23:42:00.000+08:00

This is CRAZY!! Is Singapore going to be like this??

2010-07-20T00:54:00.000+08:00

I delight greatly in the LORD;
       my soul rejoices in my God.
       For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
       and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
       as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
       and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up
       and a garden causes seeds to grow,
       so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise
       spring up before all nations.

[ Isaiah 61: 10-11 ]

Realism vs Believability

2010-07-16T13:01:00.000+08:00

(Quoted from Artful Gamer: Interactive Storytelling: What Heavy Rain Didn’t Learn from Edutainment?)

I think Michael puts it best when he writes, “The game is at odds with itself from beginning to end. It persistently reminds me that neither I nor my avatar possess consequential autonomy. In Heavy Rain, the game itself controls the game, and that doesn’t feel much like interactive drama to me.”

When a game attempts to “simulate” rather than “express” an experience, it loses its ability to artistically exaggerate or highlight some aspects of the experience over others.

Not only that – but Heavy Rain tries to go one step further – it does not only want realistic visuals, but realistic kinesthetics. Instead of having the player direct the character at emotionally important moments crucial to the development of the story, the player is required to puppeteer every banal minutiae of everyday life, from pulling out a wallet to checking a watch. None of these micro-actions express anything important about the character’s personality or her/his plight. As a result, I cannot distinguish between what’s important and what’s window-dressing.

Stephen Biesty accomplishes a feat of artistic consistency that any comic book artist could hope for: when I’m standing on the orlop deck watching the deckmates go about their business, I look at the mast and think, “Hey, that mast goes way down into the ship!” My imagination makes the transition between each deck of the ship for me; Biesty completes the image by showing me the next section of the mast, just as my imagination hoped. Stowaway! gives me a sense of agency by allowing me to help imagine parts of the scene for myself.

The surgeon’s amputation feels more real to me than any murder scene in Heavy Rain, because Stowaway! boils the experience down to its essential elements.

Imagining Makes It Real
That’s all to say – Stowaway succeeds where Heavy Rain fails because it makes some space for the player’s imagination to complete the experience. Representational realism – whether it is an attempt at puppeteering the character through the controls, or an attempt at photorealism – cannot itself make a game worth playing or a story worth following. What we experience as real in a game has much more to do with the aesthetic exaggerations the developer makes in order to give a scene a certain flavor. The Uncharted series is a perfect example of how talented voice acting can turn a boring and hackneyed character into a lovable rogue. Without stylization that highlights certain features of the character/scene over others, and allows the player to complete the rest of the image, your game will be profoundly tedious at best – and totally unbelievable at worst.

--- From the Comments

[ Guttertalk ]
Whether or not “Calvin and Hobbes” is real is a banal question, one not worth asking. The fact is that we connect with it in a way that is not real yet still terribly meaningful. Yet, I think that some game developers are too focused on experience as the real rather than as the meaningful. Part of that stems from an obsession on immersion in gaming. Yet, identification is more important than immersion and doesn’t require as much overhead and extraneous detail.

IMO, control is a more meaningful differentiation for games than immersion–to control what a character does, looks like, and behaves, to control a story.

In a sense, then, games that emphasize realistic details have a harder time creating a game that gamers can identify with. It might be counter-intuitive to some, that an emphasis on realism makes immersion and identification more difficult to experience.

[ Chris ]
Identification – to me – happens through affective (feelingful) dialogue and memorable characters – that’s a quickly disappearing art.
[To clarify one thing - I am tempted to quibble over language (ie. I think that anything meaningful is experienced as 'real' to us) but that won't get us much of anywhere. The fact is that simulation is no replacement for good storytelling!]

That is pretty much the same argument that I’m making: a good artist knows what to accentuate/exaggerate and what to drop completely.

[ Andrew ]
... besides the fact that most of these interactions are not required, they do connect us to the character. I have a sneaking suspicion that when I drink some coffee with Jayden it actually helps him battle the addiction, and I’m quite certain that avoiding taking any drinks as Shelby is the best approach. I even tried to show caring for Ethan by having him wash up a bit and look out over the motel railing in between trials, just to keep some sanity. Did that matter? Probably not, but I enjoyed my ability to bring some pensiveness and consideration to the characters if I so chose.

Gundam vs Optimus Prime

2010-07-16T11:23:00.001+08:00

59 feet tall Gundam @ Tokyo

40 feet, 6 tonnes Optimus Prime @ Beijing

Can they just build the real robots pls, lol.

(Images courtesy of Gizmodo, articles here and here)

Morality in Games

2010-07-15T20:38:00.000+08:00

(Quoted from Artful Gamer: The Humble and Valiant (ie. Filthy Rich/Powerful) Hero )

What I’ve been trying to get at in this article is that despite our appreciation that games are meaningful, they often celebrate the worst aspects of our humanity (selfishness, the desire to dominate others) with the guise of moral righteousness. Worse, games like Arcanum, the Final Fantasy series, and Fallout 3 make it completely impossible to complete a game without needing to max out the protagonist’s attributes and inventory and in doing so celebrate adolescent power fantasies. The original spiritual quest, despite it being the entire point of the game as acknowledged by the story, is totally maligned by the underlying gameplay. If developers want to genuinely acknowledge our desire for meaning and self-transformation, they will have to develop a better sense for what is involved in a “moral choice”… it is certainly not a case of hoarding guns’n'ammo and picking the ethical alternative in a conversation.

When do you call a game a Game?

2010-07-15T17:08:00.000+08:00

(Quoted from Artful Gamer)

In his fantastic article (please, read it first!), When Do You Call a Comic a Comic?, Kenton Smith reasons out the essence of comic books. Kenton laboriously works through all of the usual options: it is an expression of the imagination through illustration, a “juxtaposition of words and pictures”, a non-linear narrative medium, a dynamic moment expressed in a static frame?

I think Kenton’s original question sets us off in the right direction. The question isn’t “what is a game?” (that leads straight into the territory of the confusion I mentioned earlier), but rather, when we’re doing some activity – when do we know that activity is called gaming?

Developers no longer should focus on trying to get “the right mechanic” – but rather to try setting up a certain kind of experience for the player. If you want the player to play an adventure game, do not introduce control schemes that draw out an FPS experience. If you want the player to experience your game as an RTS, create a space in which their eyes are drawn in all four cardinal directions of the screen, waiting for the ensuing invasion. If you want your game to be experienced as an RPG, you better be able to draw the player into a world they experience as real and meaningful. In the end, the designer has to know a lot more about how players experience a game than what the rules of the game are. That’s why playing your game over and over again – and allowing other people to play it – turns a mediocre game into one worth talking about.

The Lost Art of Game Packaging...

2010-07-15T16:26:00.000+08:00

(Quoted from Artful Gamer)

Our tacit attachment to in-box artifacts is thus something deeper than nostalgia for games that use the artifacts as active parts of the game. Artifacts don’t just draw players into the game world – they also draw the game world into the player’s life.

What I’m trying to say here is that whether a mass-market game is digital-download-only, or if the game is released as a trinket-packed collector’s edition, the options don’t matter anymore: in-box materials no longer mean anything because developers have forgotten their personal, meaningful, value. Developers no longer recognize the way that artifact and game constitute one another. They’re called “collector’s editions” for a reason – they’re made for people who like to collect things.

--- From the comments

[ L.B. Jeffries ]
I remember maps were always my favorite things to receive in old games. Quest for Glory 2 and Spirit of Excalibur both required you have the maps to play. Like you say, it generated a curious cross-over from the real and unreal because I could hold something that existed in both worlds.

Cover Art

2010-07-15T15:28:00.002+08:00

(Quoted from Artful Gamer)

Wölfflin wanted to distinguish between artistic styles based on a handful of objective principles. The most important, to me, is his distinction between linear and painterly. Wölfflin himself writes, in a linear style, ”stress is laid on the limits of things; in the other the work tends to look limitless. Seeing by volumes and outlines isolates objects: for the painterly eye, they merge. In [a linear painting] interest lies more in the perception of individual material objects as solid, tangible bodies; in [a painterly painting], in the apprehension of the world as a shifting semblance.” In my own words: linear styles tend to define sharp separations between objects, while painterly styles tend to allow things in the scene to flow into one another. Linear paintings also tend to have “flat” surfaces, make use of photorealism, and are often seen in comic-book style artwork. Painterly works rely upon visible brush strokes that give the piece a “textured” appearance, usually use wider brushes, and mix together uniform colours in the same region for expressive effect.

--- From the comments:

I too appreciated the old illustrated boxes/covers – while they were obviously made to market the game and make it appear flashy, I now realize that they also served to invite the player into the world via rich illustration... While the in-game graphics were of course a different story, the cover always gave me that “wow! I want to live in that world!” feeling.

Today game designers (and players) value “representational realism” or pure representation over emotional or aesthetic realism. We see the cover/box art as a representation of what’s inside (perhaps gamers have always been like this), rather than an expression or idealization of the game’s meaning. The end result is that many games have moved toward a representational/photorealistic realism that values high res pixels over emotional expression.

If I play with the terms a bit, the move from painterly (literally: ‘paint!’) to linear (pixels) has been accompanied by a move from the imagination (all those old abstract blocks/symbols in Atari games) to representational realism (the perfect skin and lighting of Heavy Rain). Computer artists tend to use pixels to “represent” things rather than express things, and I think part of the reason is because gamers demand games that push their new video card hardware to the limit. But that’s a whole other conversation – I just found it interesting that you noticed the link between linear and representational, which is another strong part of modern aesthetic theory.

You bring up something I had not thought of much: what does ‘box art’ mean when it’s just another cover in your iTunes folder? I doubt people spend much time looking at covers when they’re digital. I remember staring (for minutes) at my boxes when I first bought boxed games. That is no longer done, I suspect.

---

My afterthoughts:
The stylistic choice of any game illustration (or cover art) should be done with full consideration of the content of the game. It can be either a complementary representation or a direct representation of one game. It’s equally essential, however, to treat a game cover art as a piece of art, carefully designed so that it should be able to tell a story clearly by itself.

Maybe I should create a "downloadable DIY box art" for my games too? Lol.

The Changing Nature of Game Interface

2010-07-15T00:53:00.000+08:00

(Quoted from Artful Gamer )

When I play any game, using a standard NES/PS2/PS3/Xbox/GameCube controller layout — my fingers and thumbs find their places... As soon as I settle down to play the game, my fingers are no longer fingers to me. They are a part of the game — my fingers become something like my mouth when I am speaking — they spring into action when Mario needs to bound over a Chain Chomp or needs to go down a green pipe... My fingers never become a part of my foreground or focal experience — in other words, my fingers become repressed parts of my bodily experience.

... There is something very focal in interacting with touch-based devices, because my finger does not fall into the background as easily.

Returning to my anecdote: does my friend’s 2 1/2 year old son experience his favourite iPod Touch game as a ‘real’ world? Or is his experience like mine — somewhat disembodied and self-conscious? Is this an inherent problem with touch-based interfaces, or do some of us already experience bodily repression that allows us to ignore our fingertips when we touch the display?

So That's Where Tetris Blocks Come From

2010-07-14T11:29:00.001+08:00

From Kotaku

Sonic Hat

2010-07-14T11:28:00.000+08:00

From Kotaku

NICE!

2010-07-12T23:59:00.001+08:00

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their cry;

[ Psalm 34:15 ]

Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

[ Psalm 37:4 ]

If the LORD delights in a man's way,
he makes his steps firm;
though he stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

[ Psalm 37:23-24 ]