Monday Musings: 21 November 2011

Been a while since I updated, been buried under a tonne of work! Exams are over now, so will be preparing for December, full steam ahead. Here are some pictures showing the evolution of my helpsheet during the past week; in reverse order!

Monday Musings: 19 September 2011

I really don't like driving. Yes, it is convenient, yes it makes life so much easier and yes, it allows me to pack more things in my day. However, after so many years of driving, I think I'm better off without this luxury.

I think I'll just take a train or bus to NUS today, enjoy a little solitude.

Happy Teachers' Day 2011

To my former colleagues who are still in the service, this is wishing them a very blessed Teachers' Day. They truly deserve a day of rest.

Thusday Thoughts: 1 September 2011

Well, it is already Friday, but I will still post.

Yesterday was my last day of work in church and in a short span of time my internship has ended. I have already prepared a reflection which I will share with YMPACT on 11 September. Guess I cannot disappear from there forever. Sooner or later I will put the whole thing up here.

If there is one thing that I've learnt from this internship is that I'm still an educator at heart and that the Full-Time ministry of a pastor isn't for me. Definitely. So, when I'm done with my masters (if I can survive past this weekend), I'm quite set on returning back to the education fraternity in one way or another.

Monday Musings: 29 August 2011

This week, my internship with PMC ends. It has all happened so fast and I will leave my reflections for another occasion. What I really want to write about is the past week.

I have no idea why (okay... I know why, I just don't want to write it here) I've been listening to some very old school sappy love songs lately. I guess it is the season to find love once again and the season to fall in love again.

Dear Lord, show me the way. Amen.

Here's what I've been listening to the past week:

Thursday Thoughts: 25 August 2011

Well, I think all that I have in my brain can be summarised with the following video.

Monday Musings: 8 August 2011

Well, it's the eve of National Day. I have spent quite a number of weeks watching videos of old National Day Parades. I think the best in recent has to be 2009. Why, well, I have my own theory, but I won't put it here.

Tomorrow, it's going to be a long day with the CROSS TRAINing event. Ripped most of it from various camp activities and BB activities. Well, it's all coming together. My uncle just called me today and has given me a single ticket to watch the parade live! Well, I've been to at least 10 parades in person, but this will be my first since 2004.

Anyway, here's a video of the best non-ceremonial segments of recent National Day Parades.

Thursday Thoughts: 4 August 2011

Just had a long meeting regarding the state of the young adults in church. All I have to say is that it looks exciting and good. With someone to finally anchor things, I see many things starting to align and that's just wonderful.

Now if only my heart can align itself!

Monday Musings: 1 August 2011

Wow! It's August, in 30 days time my internship would end. However, in a week's time I begin my post-graduate studies at NUS. It's been a great 7 month break away from school, but I do miss teaching. Like what a colleague of mine said a week back, "it's in your blood, so just come back!".

The week that passed has been a more than eventful one. Like I tweeted, not felt that way in six years now! What happened? Well, when and if the time comes, I will tell; but for now it will remain in my heart and my mind.

Week after week, I go to the airport to say goodbye to friends who are beginning their new lives overseas. I'm not going overseas, but a new phase of life does begin for me back here in Singapore. Today, I assume the captaincy of the 23rd Singapore Company and that puts me in a unique situation; being the captain of two Boys' Brigade Companies which are sponsored by two different churches. A bit of a tangle, but workable from my point of view.

I don't know, what tomorrow may bring but I know who holds the future, and I know who holds my hand.

Thursday Thoughts: 28 July 2011

It's almost August and a lot of things seem to be happening in August. A new life starts for me almost. Firstly, I will be starting school, at long last. Another important thing is that I will be assuming the captaincy of the 23rd Singapore Company. That's a whole lot of things already.

At the end of August, I will also be completing my internship in Church. That will be an experience that I guess I will be sharing at YMPACT one of these days. But with that, I have decided (long ago for that matter), that after my internship ends, I won't be joining the youth service anymore. About time I left.

It has been such a long journey, and it is good to go, at long last.

Monday Musings: 25 July 2011

What can I write about this week? Well, pain I guess.

Physical pain, literally. There's an ulcer at the back of my mouth, near the throat. Not small, the size of a one cent coin and it hurts so bad. It was so pain that I could not consume solid food yesterday (which isn't a bad thing) and now I've resorted to not speaking for simply opening my mouth would send a spasm all the way round to the back of my head. But, at least I know that such kind of pain will disappear in a few days.

Heart pain. Wanted to write about this last week, but I just didn't know what to write. Fast forward one week, and I still don't know what to write. But there is a deep painful hurt in my heart, not for me, but for two good friends of mine who lost their baby. Words just cannot describe such pain. But I know there is a God above who comforts all.

Monday Musings: 11 July 2011

It's been a full month since I last updated. Most of the month I was not in Singapore. Was in Italy for a family holiday and thereafter in Chiang Mai for a staff retreat. Ironically, I actually felt a lot more rested in the latter.

Well, school is starting in a little over 3 weeks. That's great! Been pouring over what modules to take and it's a lot harder to do that at graduate level. However, I think I've settled on the two modules I wish to read this semester; graduate analysis 1 and a Level 6000 seminar module on graph theory. Three day week, two modules and one exam at the end of it all. Nice countdown there.

Time to really get a move on life.

Thursday Thoughts: 9 June 2011

It has been a very eventful week, and there's still more to come. Looking back, I find it hard to accept that it has been 6 years since the big drama of 2005. That's when things really took a nosedive for me, but well, 6 years on, I think the Lord is closing that door and opening up a new one for me.

Had a wedding rehearsal last week for an upcoming rehearsal this coming Saturday, but more interestingly, this week I reestablished contact with a friend I've not met in a while. Nice. Very nice! So maybe, that door is opening.

Monday Musings: 6 June 2011

The magic of Magic

Well, in the last 10 years I've had varied hobbies. In NUS, music was a big part of that life, but yesterday at a wedding rehearsal, I realized just how rusty and neglected my musical skill has been. As a teacher, I returned to my roots, as a gamer, not much of a computer gamer but games that really make you think too much. It started when I saw my colleagues playing Saboteur, and I decided to get a set myself. I ended up buying Citadels at the same time.

Rest is history, in the past 4 years I've collected quite an interesting array of games, Great Wall of China, Starcraft the Boardgame, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Navegador and of course the improved versions of some Hasbro games like Monopoly Deal, Cluedo Suspect, Monopoly Junior and Risk. However, at the end of the day, you have to realise that most of the games above all have some mechanic taken from what I think is one of the best games of all times, Magic, The Gathering.

I've already talked about that game once, somewhere in my archives and why I really enjoyed playing that game when I was still a secondary school student and how it shaped what I am doing today.

So, in recent times I have spent some time getting back up to speed with what has been happening in the MtG world, and I have to say the environment has completely changed. Gone are the controversial themes that made it a target for conservative groups; in are ideas that the game can be used for educational purposes. In the recent expansion block, the game felt more science fiction than fantasy, with the bad guys resembling the Zerg of Starcraft rather than the dragons of the Old Mountain.

Indeed, the whole demograph of the players has changed, no more school kids dominating the scene, but serious post-NS professional players who now have some spending power. The game itself still has it's old charm, and the game play has become a highly evolved exercise in mathematical precision, and that's what I've always liked about it.

And it's good to see that the educational value in the game has been seen by Hasbro who has incorporated it's mechanics into more mainstream games like Monopoly Deal and Cluedo Suspect, I actually encourage people to play these games to exercise their brains a little more, maybe that is what is missing in today's mathematics education spectrum, the outlet to play real games. Maybe that's why NS guys play the game a lot more, an opportunity to use their brains!

Well, it's been ten years since I left the game, it's good in some way to be back. But no, my main gripe with the game still exists and in fact is now worse, that of cost. It is a rich man's game and there is no way on earth I can afford playing that game again, except in a limited fashion. So well, it's been fun dabbling back into the old the past few weeks, but no, won't be playing it in a serious manner anytime.

Now that I'm going back to NUS, I will have to focus back on my studies a lot more. Who knows, maybe I will do a PhD in Mathematics Education and focus on games; hopefully something I can contribute to the way mathematics is taught here in Singapore.

Thursday Thoughts: 2 June 2010

As I am writing this, I am also finishing up my sermon for the week. So I thought I give anyone who is reading this a small preview.

At FIFA 2010 Camp, I was supposed to speak on "Roots". What that was about, only the camp planning team knew. As it happened, I didn't conduct that workshop as there wasn't enough time. Well, the notes and preparation work was all done and good to go what was missing was an occasion to conduct the workshop.

In March this year, I was rostered to speak at YMPACT service this coming Sunday and was given a free topic, basically I could speak on anything I wanted. Since I had all my notes done up I decided that it was time to speak about this but redo it in a way that is more appropriate for the current time frame.

So, my topic this Sunday will be on the "Voyage of the Gospel", and this is in tandem with PMC's Year of Missions. Just to let everyone know that we are in Pasir Ris today as a result of missions work in the years gone by.

Here's a video that I will be showing at the start to get everyone thinking.

Monday Musing: 30 May 2011

It's been years since I've updated this blog, or at least posting something substantive. Reading through my blog archives can be quite an experience, even for myself.

I don't know why I'm resurrecting this blog, perhaps I've got a lot more thoughts in my head that I would like to get out now that I'm no longer teaching. So, I will try post a little more regularly, twice a week for a start and see how that goes.

Monday musings: Just some thoughts about things that I like doing, playing games, cycling, eating, playing the guitar etc.

Thursday thoughts: These posts will be more Christian themed and hopefully will recreate the original / old purpose of this blog. I'm now older, and have very different perspectives on a lot things, so here's where they will go.