Face up

I can face people finally! I've just signed up for a Facebook account after weeks of procrastination. Those of you who have sent me an invitation can finally see the face that you missed facing face to face :P I'm still very much a newbie in this, surfed quite a bit today but didn't do much except getting my face up. There seems to be quite a lot of fun stuff to kill time if you're bored. No wonder so many people are getting hooked. With the proliferation of Facebook, it would seem rather 'no face' if you don't have your face in it. So, face it, for Facebook looks set to stay, whether you like it or not.

(Ok, I admit I'm bored... did anyone actually bother to count how many 'face' there are above?)

Thots on a lazy Sunday

I did something today which I have not done for a long time and it wasn't even planned. Feeling bored while flipping the newspaper, I ended up reading even the kids section in Life! I saw my childhood favourite 'Spot the difference' and started circling all the differences in the two identical pictures. It was easy by adult's standard and I finished it in no time. I found myself scribbling on the word puzzles too :P I can't believe I'm doing this. Memories of my childhood flashed across my mind and it brought a smile on my face.

How nice it is to be a kid again, to enjoy life at its simplicity with no worries of tomorrow and to have the courage of a lion when chartering into unknown territories. People twice my age probably would be thinking how nice it is to be at my age. There can be no end to such things. Let's remind ourselves (myself) to look back only to get our current bearing right so that we can move into the future with confidence and courage.

Ring Ring

Ha, my phone finally rang this afternoon. It was the call I've been waiting for - the prospect who wants to view my vacuum cleaner. "Hello, can I speak to Mr..." He thought the seller is a guy. Hmm.... how did he arrive at that? Because I used only my initials in the ad? Because only guys will put up ads for such stuff? I was also mistaken for a 'brother' when I advertised to sell men's jeans some time ago. It's interesting how we tend to stereotype people, and to know how others stereotype us. I bet I'll have more people thinking I'm a guy if I advertise for the tech gadgets.

省省省 (save)

Recently, I had a revelation of the word 省 when I was at the supermarket. How can one save or 省? The answer is all in the chinese character itself. The word 省 consists of 2 parts - 少 (less) and 目 (see/sight). It simply means 'see less, therefore spend less, thus saving more'. Just think about it, makes sense, right? Talk about ancient wisdom!

Simply speechless

What shall I say....I was really surprised and kind of speechless when I checked my email today. I just got a response to an advertisement which I put up in July to sell off a brand new vacuum cleaner that I don't need. There were 2 responses few weeks ago after the ad has long expired but it didn't result in a deal. I've already given up hope and contemplated yesterday to remove the ad on Yahoo Classified after a 'setback' couple of days ago. I was even thinking of giving it free to anyone who really needs it.

Here's the 'setback' I was talking about...... A deal that went through after much arrangment ended up in a refund situation. It was also from an ad that only received response after it has expired. I thanked God when I got an initial response but it was a false alarm. Thanked God again when I got this response and when the deal eventually went through. Two hours later, the buyer asked for a refund. I don't know what to feel. It was like a mini emotional roller coaster ride for me. I could have ignored him but my conscience told me to just refund him and move on. I don't even feel like collecting the returned goods. It's just not worth the time and effort. Frankly, I was a bit disappointed, maybe even a bit disheartened. I thought of removing all the ads and giving away FOC all that which I had planned to sell. 'Forget about this small money, don't waste your time, just donate away everything, go focus on the big money....' Streams of thoughts went through my mind.

Imagine how surprised I was when I checked my email today. A prospective buyer expressed his interest and asked to view the vacuum cleaner. Again, I thanked God for the little surprise. I don't know if this will deal eventually. Of course, I hope it will but if it doesn't, I'll still thank God because I've learnt a lesson here...

1. Only when we truly let go and let God will we see miracles happen.
2. God meets us at the point when we are really broken, completely surrendering all to Him.

Life can be so unpredictable, just like the weather. Even as I'm typing away, the evening sky has started to rain despite the sunny weather minutes ago.

God is good

God is good all the time.

For no apparent reason, I had a very bad pain in my stomach last night. I felt as if all my intestines were cringing and my stomach was very bloated though I did not feel much wind or movement in it. For one hour, I couldn't straighten my back or bend forward, even lying down did not provide any relief. I contemplated going to Mt Alvernia night clinic but hesitated because of the distance and I wasn't sure if I could endure that long. We prayed to God to heal me and remove the pain. God answered our prayer suddenly but not instantaneously. I was still in pain as I made my way to the bathroom but once I reached there, the pain just disappeared. I was able to straighten my back and bend forward. I felt perfectly fine. It was as if everything that I felt an hour ago did not happen at all. The healing was so sudden, it's just amazing. I know this is not a coincidence and I give thanks to God. To God be the glory!

Retirementready.sg

I finally visited the retirement website by CPF this evening. Surprisely, it was far from what I imagined it to be - heavy, boring stat board sites. Instead, it was refreshing, organised, easy to navigate and feels rather light-hearted for such a heavy topic. I'll be sure to revisit the site and do something about my retirement. For now, I'm going to fill my stomach first.

Heaty Lah

All along, I thought only Chinese subscribe to the idea of 'heatiness' in the body but I was wrong. During our CG meeting yesterday, one of our members who is an Indian said he has ulcer and attributed it to 'heaty lah'. I found it rather cute and amusing as this was the first time I hear this word coming from a non-Chinese. But at that moment, I had a feeling of 'one people, one nation'. I know this sounds a bit exaggerating but it reminds me that we're truly one people - Singaporeans. It doesn't matter if we're Chinese, Indian or Malay, if you're heaty, you're heaty ;)