Farny Engrish

Saw this box of Wang Wang biscuits while browsing around at CK Department store. Typical Taiwanese English (or Taiwanglish?). Of course 'don't crash', the poor dude is dressed only in a singlet and what appears to be a pair of briefs. And with such a huge head, I'm sure that's a magnet for disaster!

I think they meant to say DON'T CRUSH.

Chewren, do not be copy, okay. Or you teacher will kok you head.

Rocking for the Rock of Salvation

The last concert I attended was when Coldplay and Travis performed at the Indoor Stadium in 2001 (I think; it was soooo long ago I can't even remember the exact year).

So when I heard the Planetshakers were coming again and that some of the youth from our church were attending the concert, I jumped at the invitation to join them. It's been a long time since I did some pogo-ing and punched my fists into the air.

My meeting ended early so I arrived at Sing Expo at 5.30pm. So I milled about for a bit, visiting the 7Elevens around the area. At 6pm I headed for the MRT station and saw Jedidiah there. The rest decided to honour us with their presence at about 6.30pm. After some delay, we finally joined the queue at about 6.45pm. And it was reeaally long. It barely moved and people were getting impatient. Apparently, you could get priority seating by registering on their website so those who had tickets could get in first. Dang.

We finally got in about an hour later and the concert started as promised at 8pm (they delayed it slightly due to the crowd). I never felt so old in my life, being surrounded by so many youths.

After a short prayer by the emcee, the concert got off to a rocking start as the Planetshakers came out singing 'Oh praise Him, Jesus, Jesus' (sung to the tune of the 'Ole, ole, ole!' soccer chant, what a way to get the crowd going). They sang many other great songs, mostly from their new album (but of course; they were selling it at the podium), for about an hour.

Next up was Tim Hughes, who surprisingly also rocked despite having a smaller band than the Planetshakers. He sang many crowd favourites such as 'Beautiful One' and 'One Way', which got many in the crowd (me inclusive) screaming at the top of our lungs.

The concert ended at about 10.30pm with an encore performance by both groups (it was deja vu, Coldplay and Travis did the same thing at that concert I attended) and it was a very loud encore indeed. In the end, we all came out with legs like jelly and Rod Stewart-esque voices from all the jumping and screaming respectively.

The kids were queueing up to get autographs on the CDs they had purchased (idolatry!). Me, I had to begin my long journey home as it was way past my bedtime. An enjoyable evening nonetheless despite the long wait.

Going retro

We love Tiong Bahru. There's something about the architecture and ambience that seems to suggest a slower, more laidback pace than the breakneck speed of society we are so accustomed to these days. We wished we were staying in that vicinity, but given the atrocious property prices nowadays, we knew owning a home there was way out of our league. For now.

The night before, we were chilling out at a small little cafe at Eng Hoon Street with Michael and Cindy after our steamboat dinner. Being the pig that I am, I still managed to chow down a little 'snack' of fish n chips (supposedly Vel's dinner), a sinfully delicous chocolate cake and washed that all down with an iced lemon tea.

The morning after, we found ourselves at Eng Guan Street. Michael swears by the fishball mee here (apparently he has breakfast here every morning before heading to work) and being the connoiseur that I am, I sure had to give this a try! This tiny little gem of a coffeeshop is tucked away in a little discreet corner that we somehow never noticed despite passing through that area umpteen times. A small, cosy place where seats are a premium, we were blessed to get a table within minutes of stepping in there. We ordered some coffee and kaya toast to tickle our palates while waiting for our noodles.

True enough, it didn't disappoint. The noodles had that taste of 'retro-ness' (with wooden chopsticks!) you won't get at swanky food courts. The fragrance of the vinegar hits you first as you take a whiff of the noodles. And the texture of the noodles was just nice; not too soggy (I totally detest soggy noodles that get stuck together!) and not too springy. The fishballs, though a tad tiny, were springy enough without that DoDo fishball kinda taste. And my favourite part - the ingredients are placed in the soup and not together with the noodles, just the way it's supposed to be!

Needless to say, I'll definitely be back for more! Though Penny still prefers the one at Lengkok Bahru.

A rare Saturday outing

It was the end of a mundane, brainless, stress free three weeks of reservist training. Since I was going to get sucked back into reality (i.e. stress, endless emails and sleepless nights) next Monday, I decided to alter my original plan of going back to the office to clear some work.

Our first stop of the day was Botanical Gardens. We have never been there since they revamped and Penny had read about some 'children's park' of some sort that we thought Velouria would love. My last memories of Botanical Gardens were the huge pond where we, as children, used to go to feed the fish and swans (or geese?) would roam around the park (or was I dreaming?). Regardless, it had been reeaally long since I last went there.

After some boo-boos, we finally found our way to the 'children's park', the Jacob Ballas' Children's Garden. Apparently, Velouria had been there before during a school excursion and she was all excited and Energizer bunny-esque as we turned into the car park.

Truth be told, the place was quite fun. Velouria had fun especially at the treehouse playground and drinking from water coolers was still a novelty for her. I tried my hand at sliding down the tubes at the playground too, hurting my butt in the process of getting stuck on the way down (the tubes were obviously NOT designed for adults in mind).

We wandered around aimlessly for a while, crossing little streams and coming across arty-farty looking trees. Before we knew it we were back at the entrance, so I guess that was a sign for us to leave. Of course, Penny had to spend a bomb at the kiosk to buy some artificial flavour laden, ang moh packet drink for Velouria before leaving.

What a morning! But that was just the beginning. Somehow, despite being drenched in perspiration, we still managed to muster enough strength to go home, pack our things and head to SAFRA Mount Faber to go swimming. I amaze even myself sometimes.

Velouria's pizza

As was always the usual practice, Grace House had planned another field trip for the end of the first semester. Velouria was so excited about the trip to Pastamania's kitchen (they had learned about pizzas a few weeks prior) and she could not stop yapping about making her own.

When the day finally arrived, she couldn't keep still and hopped onto her school bus gleefully when it came to pick her up, eager to sink her hands into pizza dough.

At the end of the day, she came back with a bag of goodies (a cute little T-shirt, a balloon and other similar nonsense) and a pizza box with a label that read 'NOT SUITABLE FOR CONSUMPTION' stuck on the lid. Which got me thinking; was it inedible because it wasn't cooked yet or because the pizza preparation wasn't prepared according to the normal hygiene standards being adhered to? Knowing kids, the latter reason was the more probable explanation.

Nevertheless, I'm sure Velouria had fun. She threw a fit when I told her we had to throw it away due to the imminent arrival of flies after a few days. I had to soothe her by showing the picture that I had taken, just so we will have memories of her deformed pizza.

Serving the country

It's that time of the year again. I had to rummage the store room and cupboard to dig out my shoes, No. 3 uniform and coveralls. Yes sir! It's time for my reservist again. I even had to dig out an old mangkali handphone (that is, one without a camera).

According to friends who had gone before me, they had already warned me that gone were the days of lazing around and going for canteen breaks. This reservist was a back-breaking, nerve-wrecking one as we had to follow the regulars out as the prepared the different forms of munitions for use. After so many years, this was the first reservist that I actually perspired and had to even go home on one of my lunch breaks to change my T-shirt as I was soaked.

But it was a good break from work. For 3 weeks, I didn't have to worry about things in the office (although my mobile did ring occassionally with suppliers asking me this and that). Just brainless, simple, mundane tasks. And more canteen breaks with curry puffs, samosas and sring rolls.

It suddenly dawned onto me why there were cases of people collapsing halfway into their 2.4km run. Their diet is so damn sinful! Fried noodles with chicken wings for breakfast (it's that or nasi lemak), chicken chop or fish and chips for lunch (cookhouse food still sucks even after it has been commercialised) then curry puffs for tea break.

With all that junking, I'm surpised I passed my IPPT!

Slain

Though tragedy, heartache, and sorrow abound

And many a hardship in life will be found,

Just put all your trust in the Savior of light,

For He can bring hope in the darkest of night.

—D. De Haan

It was a wonderful service we had at church yesterday. The Holy Spirit was evidently among us as our guest speaker, Ps Victor Rodriguez, gave us the Lord's message and later gave an altar call for the whole congregation. He went around prophesying for everyone. Nothing like this has ever happened before, and Penny and I were holding each other and crying our hearts out to God.

But that was just the beginning. He soon came over to us and gave us a prophecy from the Lord. Previously, I've felt little tingles and funny sensations whenever the Holy Spirit was touching me. But this time was different. As I stretched out my hand to the Lord, they started trembling involuntarily. I thought I was crying so hard that my body was convulsing and it sort of freaked me out because this never happened before.

Then it came. He said, "The Lord knows the anger, frustration and confusion you are going through as a couple. The Lord has put you in a desperate situation so that you will look to Him and seek Him more". I lost it. A man who hardly knew us and he spoke words that were spot on. The covulsions intensified so much that I had to grit my teeth and couldn't even hold my hands open. I wanted to shout out to the Lord but only managed a few grunts. He even prophesied about my desire to work with the youth and Penny being a woman of Proverbs (she has been meditating over Proverbs 31 for some time now). When he said, "Someone get behind this couple", I knew what was going to happen next. He continued praying but I was too busy trembling to hear what exactly he said.

Just like clockwork, as he counted backwards from three, I just fell backwards on one. I didn't even care if anyone was behind to catch me, I just went backwards. Not voluntarily, though, it just sort of happened. And then I was pinned there on the floor, my whole body trembling. My neck was beginning to hurt from trying to lift my head up and my fists were clenched so hard that my fingers were cramping up from trying to open them. I just cried and cried and cried. Again I thought the trembling was caused by my crying. But the funny thing was, it just stopped suddenly when Ps Rodriguez said, "Everybody quiet down". It was then I sat up, dazed and tired from all the trembling. I couldn't even stand up and fortunately, Ps Ronald was in front of me to help me up.

I thought to myself, "That was radical!", but it didn't end there. As the worship continued, I sang in tongues at the top of my voice and continued crying out to the Lord. A mixture of tears and mucus (haha!) were dripping onto the floor but I didn't care. Then it came again, that same convulsion and trembling like I was being electrocuted. It continued until the singing ended and Ps Don took over the mike.

As we stood behind the congregation thinking the worship was over, Ps Don started singing again. I could barely stand or lift up my hands as I was physically drained by then, but I stretched out my hand anyway (I was hanging on to Penny with the other arm). And it came again! Suddenly, I was caught in another wave of convulsions and I just started crying out to God again. Though there was a strong desire to shout His praises, again I had to grit my teeth and all I could do was grunt and snort.

Then when the singing stopped, my trembling stopped too. Just like that.

I was totally dazed and fatigued by the time the service had ended. But it was a wonderful feeling. Wonderful because today I was touched by the reality of who God is and felt the closeness of the Holy Spirit.

I believe and have faith that this is just the beginning of a new chapter of our walk with God.