i tell you ah..Speak Good English ok..

This evening i was at the Launch of the Speak Good English Movement 2007 at Timbre Music Bistro with my boss Nic.

i tell you ah, the food veri nice leh. Though only finger food, but the food no stop! i always like their pizza, thin thin one, veri crispy. You may even get extra ingredients - the leaves and branches that drop down and bang on our table...

Ha.

Hee. The above paragraph came from a spontaneous cheeky dose of Singlish. A quote from the guest-of-honour Minister of State for Education, RAdm (NS) Lui Tuck Yew: People talk about a desire to learn proper English, but I have never heard any foreigner wanting to learn good Singlish.

Could there really be a day when Singlish becomes the official national language of Singapore? I do not think so, and i do not hope so. Even though i do not speak proper English all the time (i was brought up in a Chinese-speaking family), i make conscious efforts to learn to do so. This does not mean using bombastic English words when i speak or talking in a slang. We can all speak simple standard English as confident individuals who can communicate and convey to almost anyone and anywhere in the world.

Yet to me this whole movement means more than communication. I am concerned about the trend of distorting established standards (for many things) for our own pleasures and accepting the evolutionised 'standards' as the new norm, ie. cohabitation became an alternate lifestyle for a couple in love, and explained to benefit the couple in knowing each other better before marriage.

I am not against pushing ourselves beyond boundaries to get better. But the value and beauty of the basic should not be lost. 'Broken' English, as its name sounds, is never as beautiful as proper English expressed. Cohabitation (and sex before marriage), as intimate a physical bondage may be, can never overwrite the physical and divine covenant of marriage.

"...if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules." (2 Timothy 2:5)


To end on a light sidenote, Timbre is a really nice tree-dotted haven to enjoy simple good food! =)

*Smiles*

Was looking through some photos taken last week and couldn't help thinking this is such a beautiful picture.

*Gals, each of you really looks so beautiful with your smiles.*

Simply pausing my eyes on this picture brings such a sweet joy in my heart. I thank God for each of you in my life. =)

Keep smiling, my beautifuls.

New job. New expression (literal)

Some of you knew that i embarked on my new job in Trybe this Monday.

I had been rather engaged for this first week, thus not much time of sharing on this blog.

Let me show you how i looked like this week in my new 'uniform' then.




Update you guys more soon about the exciting positive challenges coming up in my new job! =)

5th Year of knowing.... dear Jean!

I met Jean dear (gal in dark blue) when she was a warm young Secondary 2 student. She was in my Trybe (formerly Thumbs-up!) class, and her extremely warm and caring nature touched me. We met up pretty often then, to go through school work or just to catch up, but much lesser through the years.

FINALLY! Last night bro whale (he was also the facilitator for Jean back then) and I caught up with Jean and her bf. My, she's really grown into a beautiful young lady. =) And yes, her caring and kind heart has not changed but blossomed.

Ej and I blessed the young couple for 100k, and this led to much sharing about their life updates, also about their friend who is in quite bad state emotionally. We told them we would commit ourselves to pray for them, believing in miracles that we know truly only the Lord Jesus can bring.

Yes, Jean and Weilong, Jesus loves you, and He can bless you abundantly! =)

Celebrating Belinda, Lilian and Minghui

Happy Birthday Lilian and Belinda!! You are God's workmanship, truly worth celebrating. On the day that God formed you in your mothers' wombs, I cannot imagine how delighted God was, looking at even your unformed bodies, simply imagining your beauty and form in His mind.

Minghui, all the angels in heaven are truly rejoicing over your rededication today! =)

Who More Pain?

I saw this on one of my spiritual daughters' blogs. It can speak to you too.

(Click to enlarge)

My little corner for the past 2+ years

My 'ministry spot' on my desk

(consisting of my Bible, yearly schedule, list of gals to pray for or consolidate, etc)

This week i say goodbye to my uncle's broadcast-and-AV technological company, and move on to my new place of growth!

I think my most precious takeaway from my 2+-yr stint here is receiving the assurance of my uncle's love for me. I knew from the first day here that God had placed me here to restore the uncle-and-niece relationship. Not that it was sour, but it had definitely been a vast difference from my very young days when he doted on me like a princess. As i grew up and he formed his own family, we had less opportunities to talk. He is a wonderful God-sent fatherly figure to me; i knew he has been discreetly trying to make up for part of my dad's absence all these years when my dad has been working overseas.

Thank you Uncle. =)

"Hello Police, I want to go to jail"

I heard this on Class95 one morning:

There's a serious problem in India (i think in New Delhi) - the prisons are terribly overcrowded.

People are choosing to commit crimes to get or stay in jail because of the 'good' food they serve the prisoners. Much better than what the poor out there can afford!

I didn't know what to feel after hearing this. These people actually choose to be in bondage. What happened to their dreams?? Have they lost hope in life because of poverty?

I suspect some of us are in fact like them. We choose to be in comfort zones and stop wondering what our dreams are for. Would you see beyond your 'prisons' today, unto the hint of light that seeps through a crack in the wall?

Don't deny it. Hope and freedom are what your heart truly longs for.

Many times Mr S.A.Tan entices us to stay put and not fight for the freedom that was intended for us, through seemingly good things. Like for the Indian prisoners, good food. But are you sure you live just to enjoy food? Isn't your heart crying out to find that greater purpose for your life?

Thus do not be deceived. God intended for us better things. He always intends the BEST for us. Beyond just food, shelter and money. Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'. The Bible is filled with instances which show that God is One who desires to bless us abundantly. Most importantly, 'the grace of our Lord can be poured out on us abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus' (1 Timothy 1:15).

Don't deny it, what your heart truly wants is Love... a love that is real and eternal.

He wants to set us free. Choose to be.

I pray that the Indian prisoners see the Light beyond the walls. You too.

Are you afraid to let your light shine? Hear what Nelson Mandela says (click).

A quote that spoke to me

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us... And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. (Nelson Mandela)

Beautiful time in Sentosa