Q8 by SAM

i think it was last wednesday, that i decided to do something i haven’t done in a really long time, and that was to go to a museum. so i went to Q8. i had first heard about Q8 from David, who runs “Food for Thought” – the cafe. They are opening another cafe at Q8.

i had just finished playing badminton with Terence, so he ended up going with me – i hope not under duress!

here are some pics from that day.

1. outside the building. i don’t really know (yet) why it’s called Q8. it’s been around for about a year already. and it’s really near the office. the red funny shaped building on the left is where Food For Thought will be opening their second outlet.

2. since we were at a modern art museum, i decided to do some modern art of my own! here’s my photograph entitled “multiple shadows persons” – is the real person is made up of  multiple sides, multiple shadows?

3. the room with the book chained.

4. in the pillar of light

5. a wall of words

6. pages on the wall

7. there was a room where you could draw stuff and add it to the room – anything really – stuff that you were thinking about, stuff that was bothering you, or anything really. so i did this… “i wish i could plan ahead” .. get it get it!! haha, and then i stuck it on the wall with the other pieces. the whole room was filled with pieces that others had done. terence drew a happy,smiling robot face!

8. my drawing on the wall

9. boy on bench on stair landing

10. by the light

11. black and white

unbelievable ping pong or mathematics

the complete works of william shakespeare by the reduced shakespeare company

tonight lyn and i went to watch this at the drama centre. and it was an absolute riot from start to finish. i haven’t laughed so hard and so long in a really really long time. right from the word “go”, the cast of only three (fitting for the reduced shakespeare company no less) had us laughing at slight jests, witty repartee, slapstick moments, impressive improvisation, amazing lines, crazy looks, even a miniature Godzilla toy, antics, and smart dialogue! What an amazing night!

i so recommend this to anyone who has read or was made to study shakespeare in school. You will love what they have done. They’ve brought this production into the 21st century with references to “desperate housewives” , “ipods” and “blackberrys”. And even made it hit home with “to be or not to be, lah! that is singlish!”

funny. amusing. riotous. hilarious. smart. comedy at its best.

i can’t fully find the words to describe my response.

but go watch it. please.

For booking information, you can check SISTIC. (till the 2nd of August) only!

For information on the company itself, this is their website.

the Volkswagen single seated car! hoooo!

apparently VW is creating the most economical car in the world. it’s a single seat car, that may cost a mere USD 600!!

Better than Electric Car – 258 miles/gallon: IPO 2010 in Shanghai

• This is a single seated car
• From conception to production: 3 years and the company is headquartered in Hamburg , Germany ..
• Will be selling for 4000 yuan, equivalent to US$600..
• Gas tank capacity = 1.7 gallons
• Speed = 62 – 74.6 Miles/hour
• Fuel efficiency = 258 miles/gallon
• Travel distance with a full tank = 404 miles

cats

amidst the chaos of getting ready for this year’s leader’s lock in, i went to watch a production of “CATS” the musical.

as with some of the other musicals that have hit town recently, i have seen this production before (maybe a few times). but like some others that i have seen, i still feel like a kid at a candy store.

i love musicals.

still.

rich or poor

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, ‘How was the trip?’

It was great, Dad.’

Did you see how poor people live?’ the father asked.

Oh yeah,’ said the son.

So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?’ asked the father.

The son answered: ‘I saw that we have one dog and they had four.

We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.

We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.

Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.

We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.

We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.

We buy our food, but they grow theirs.

We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.’

The boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, ‘Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are.’

Isn’t perspective an interesting thing?

FGA KL’s Easter Production –

friday 17th April, Saturday 18th April & friday 24th April, and Saturday 25th April 09.
@ FGA KL Main Sanctuary.

Like To Watch by Joshua Harris

(from http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001258.cfm)

When the Apostle John wrote “Do not love the world,” he clearly wasn’t anticipating satellite TV, the internet, magazines, computer games — all the things we lump together today as “media.” But he knew this: the human heart does not change. Sin is a timeless, universal constant. Whatever new vehicle of communication man dreams up, sin just hops on board. The results are obvious. Wherever we look, technology blasts us with the world’s values, attitudes, and false definitions of reality. The popular media lie to us about the nature of goodness, truth, and beauty. They offer counterfeit versions of what a family is supposed to look like, what romance is, what success is all about, and where we should spend our money. The media never try to reason with us. Instead, they seek a hard-wire connection straight into the emotions. Why offer some lame, tortured argument in favor of immorality when you can simply show slow-motion close-ups of beautiful people bathed in soft lighting and romantic music? Painful consequences of sin? Where?! The power of today’s all-pervasive media lie in their ability to make evil seem appealing. If anything, John’s warning is even more vital for us than it was for his original readers. Half a Poison Pill Won’t Kill You Most of us recognize the danger of exposing ourselves to sinful content, so we tend to set arbitrary limits based on how much we think we can “handle.” When a movie or TV show presents us with mild or infrequent profanity, an occasional adulterous affair, or a limited amount of gratuitous violence, we sort of weigh the danger level. We act as if we each have a “sin threshold” beyond which we dare not go. We might as well ask how much of a poison pill we can swallow before it kills us. But the greatest danger of the popular media is not a one-time exposure to a particular instance of sin (as serious as that can be). It’s how long-term exposure to worldliness — little chunks of poison pill, day after day, week after week — can deaden our hearts to the ugliness of sin. What God calls the lust of the eyes and the sinful cravings of the heart are typically portrayed by the popular media as natural and harmless. The eventual effect of all those bits of poison pill is to deaden the conscience by trivializing the very things that God’s Word calls the enemies of our souls. If You Don’t Enjoy the Calorie … Does anyone really believe that if I disapprove of the sin I’m watching, or roll my eyes and mutter about Hollywood’s wickedness, or fast-forward through the really bad parts, my soul is not affected? Yeah, sure — and if you don’t actually like chocolate cake, eating it won’t add to your waistline. Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction. But the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Gal 6:7-8) I’ve looked, and there just don’t seem to be any loopholes in this verse. Too many of us sow to the flesh every day — watching hours of TV but spending 15 minutes in devotions — and wonder why we don’t reap a harvest of holiness. Let’s look at three ways to make practical changes to our consumption of popular media. Increasing Our Discernment To discern is to perceive the true nature of something. Because the popular media so often speak to us through our emotions, we must grow in discernment. Otherwise, when violence comes disguised as justice, when lust masquerades as romance, or when greed and selfishness pose as success, we’re likely to be deceived. Here are some biblical ways to help you discern whether a certain activity glorifies God. 1. Does it present a temptation to sin? Romans 13:14 “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” 2 Timothy 2:22 “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” 2. Is it beneficial? 1 Corinthians 6:12a “‘All things are lawful for me’, but not all things are helpful.” 1 Corinthians 10:23 “‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up.” 3. Is it enslaving? 1 Corinthians 6:12b “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be enslaved by anything.” (Regarding the preceding two items, please note that when Paul writes in First Corinthians, “All things are lawful for me,” he is not establishing a divine mandate for a free-for-all of entertainment indulgence. He is, instead, quoting a false proverb then common among the Corinthians so that he might refute it.) 4. Does it honor and glorify God? 1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 5. Does it promote the good of others? 1 Corinthians 10:33 “…I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.” 6. Does it cause anyone to stumble? 1 Corinthians 10:32 “Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God.” 1 Corinthians 8:13 “Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.” Romans 14:13 “Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.” 2 Corinthians 6:3 “We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found within our authority.” 7. Does it arise from a pure motive? Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” I’d also recommend you regularly apply the “Susanna Wesley Test.” While away at college, John Wesley wrote to his mother, Susanna, asking for a list of sins he should avoid. Her response is a model of biblical wisdom applied: Whatever weakens your reason, whatever impairs the tenderness of your conscience, whatever obscures your sense of God, whatever increases the authority of your body over your mind, whatever takes away from your relish for spiritual things, that to you is sin, no matter how innocent it is in itself. After it perceives, discernment acts. Winnowing good from evil, it rejects that which is worthless. “Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil” (1 Thess. 5:21-22). So, even after you have made your best biblical judgment about a book, movie, TV show, or something else, don’t revert to the passive mode. If something offends, be willing to turn off the set, stop reading, or leave the theater. Always be ready to refute the false ideas or unbiblical thinking that will nearly always be present to one degree or another. Let’s be people who write in book margins, talk to our televisions, and discuss movies and concerts with one another afterwards to help sharpen our discernment and to increase our ability to critique unbiblical values. Raising Our Standards Wherever our standards fall short of Scripture, let’s raise them — but humbly, without flaunting them or holding others to the standard we’ve adopted. At the same time, let’s invite others into this area of our lives, welcoming observations about our media habits, and being willing to discuss and hold each other accountable to standards we have prayerfully set. Let’s focus on our own convictions before God, but let us also love each other enough to challenge and question our choices in this area. We should always be asking if our standards are high enough. Let’s never assume we have “arrived.” Changing Our Habits Many Christians, perhaps most, can imagine making heroic sacrifices for God, yet we resist the small adjustments. “Jesus, I will forsake my home, family, and future, but don’t ask me to give up my favorite TV show!” Let’s not forget that following Christ carries radical implications for the believer’s lifestyle. If we would honor God in this area, we need to regularly re-evaluate our media habits. Should we watch less television? Go to fewer movies? Spend less time online? It’s easy to relate to TV and movie viewing as if a certain amount of it is some kind of right or necessity. But as believers, our only non-negotiable ought to be obeying and glorifying God — even if that means not seeing the blockbuster movie everyone is talking about, or keeping the TV off on weeknights. As Wayne Wilson has noted, Theatergoing should not be something we do instead of playing miniature golf. Unlike putting, movies must be approached with extreme caution, as though one were treading into the domain of a deceitful and powerful enemy, for that is the truth of it. Critical faculties must be in full alert. Christians must never randomly patronize the theater. A film’s popularity should make no difference. You should be willing to remain ignorant of the “movie event of the year” if it violates God’s standard. Believe me, he is not impressed by the Academy Awards.1 If necessary, let me urge you to consider changing the setup of your home so that entertainment technology, particularly television, is neither omni-present nor central. Let’s not allow movie and television watching to become our default free-time activities. You may also wish to abstain periodically from different forms of media in order to test their influence on your life and increase your focus on God. Be very clear on this: the world wants your attention, allegiance, and love. Whether subtly or blatantly, it will never stop seeking to persuade you. It is therefore essential that we, as Christians, engage in the battle for our own hearts and souls. The Apostle John lived in a world without the temptations of modern media, but this issue of the heart remains the same: who or what will you love? * * * NOTES Wayne Wilson, Worldly Amusements: Restoring the Lordship of Christ to Our Entertainment Choices (Enumclaw, WA: Winepress Publishing, 1999)

for lexophiles II

• We polish the Polish furniture.
• He could lead if he would get the lead out.
• A farm can produce produce.
• The dump was so full it had to refuse refuse.
• The soldier decided to desert in the desert.
• The present is a good time to present the present.
• At the Army base, a bass was painted on the head of a bass drum.
• The dove dove into the bushes.
• I did not object to the object.
• The insurance for the invalid was invalid.
• The bandage was wound around the wound.
• There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
• They were too close to the door to close it.
• The buck does funny things when the does are present.
• They sent a sewer down to stitch the tear in the sewer line.
• To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
• The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
• After a number of Novocain injections, my jaw got number.
• I shed a tear when I saw the tear in my clothes.
• I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
• How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
• I spent last evening evening out a pile of dirt.

first and last letters

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too.Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!