Blogging from Surfer's Paradise!

Just spent the last half hour in a cybercafe typing out my blogpost, and in an accidental click -- kapoot! went back to the dashboard and post disappeared into thin air. Too irritated to re-type everything.

Blogging from Surfer's Paradise now, in a Korean cybercafe. They're playing familiar music (korean songs which I listen to also), Op system is in Korean, even keyboard's half Korean. Doesn't even feel as if I'm on a trip now.

Oh yeah for those who don't know yet -- I'm on a 2 week trip to Gold Coast and Sydney. Just started yesterday. To cap off an extremely busy few weeks, the weather here's been shocking. Rain / thunderstorm / rain / thunderstorm. Thankyouverymuch this's just what I needed.

Staying with my mates at Surfer's Paradise, very near the beach. But thanks to the awful weather, eversince we arrived it hasn't stopped raining. Which meant - no going to theme parks, no bumming at the beach. Makes me feel like screaming. Tomorrow there's more rain forecasted. Prob going to take a day trip to Brisbane, since there isn't much to do here anyways.

The flight yesterday was uneventful, for 2 hours. On the last 15 minutes -- ARGHHHH horrible turbulence. My worse experience in an aircraft ever. Reminiscient of being in a roller coaster. Due to the heavy cloud cover, we were going uuUPPPPpp and DDOOwn. Some kids behind were squeeling happily. I sure hope they maintain that naiveness when they grow up. All the grown-ups mainly just kept their mouth shut and hoped nothing happened.

After checking in, went to Cavill Avenue, the main shopping/ "happening" area. But... methinks its abit quiet. Probably because its a weekday, plus awful weather. Had some bibimbap then went back. Today went off to HarbourTown where they have alotof retail outlets ie Nike warehouse outlet, Adidas / Fila / NineWest / MaggieT/ Roxy etc. But most of the things are available in Melb, so there isn't really any attraction.

So far I haven't really felt any of the usual excitement I feel on trips. Prob cos I'm so used to Melb and it doesn't feel much different in Gold Coast. When we start going places, things'll prob get more interesting..

Nothing really eventful these 2 days, cept for the fact that I get to sleep early (at 2 in the morning, which is earlier than norm) and dinner at Hard Rock. Wanted to grab one of their shirts but at their ridiculously inflated prices, forget bout it. Average price for a tee is $55..?!

Tomorrow - Brisbane! haven't checked weather and list of attractions. Spontaneity it is then.
Next week - Sydney! thinking of what to do there..

Will be blogging sporadically over the next few days..

Yum-Cha

*belated post

When they mention the words "yum-cha" here, I get all excited each time. Until they tell me -- no, not your type of yamcha. "Yum-Cha" here means going for dim-sum. The yamcha I'm accustomed to simply means -- mamak, meeting up with old/new friends, going for drinks/coffee etc.

Melbourne has some nice places to yamcha. When I say nice, I actually mean ambience NOT nice, service NOT nice. The only nice thing's the food. Instead of going to the city this time, we went to Springvale (Cranbourne/Pakenham line). Here, its the typical chinese-vietnamese environment. Service MUCH better than Shark Fin House (city). Dimsum choices quite varied.

First, the people:






Not many pics of the food, only special ones such as this ~



Known as "zhar-leong" in cantonese, its a fusion of cheong-fun and yau-char-kuai. Usually have to order from the servers. If it comes cold from the trolley, half the experience is lost already. Some places have it, most places don't. Have never seen it back in Malaysia. Coming from HK (akin to dimsum capital of the east), PakKei says the zhar-leong's quite good. Its soft and the outside,and crunchy on the inside. Drizzled with a mix of sweet rich sauce..



Now I didn't take a photo of the coagulated pig's blood + kidney + whatnot that the guys liked. Urghh. With soup, fine. But I can't bring myself to bite into a chunk of blood. =P

Parliament Open Day - pics

No time to blog much. but there's time to post some pics - taken last Sunday when on a spur, we decided to go visit the Parliament of Victoria on Spring Street during its Open Day.


Outside.. no wide angle lens plus rushed for time (closing at 4pm) hence this hastily taken photo..



I cannot help but keep staring at their ceilings.. this's the Legislative Assembly.

The current mace, dates from 1901. If it is not present, proceedings cannot commence.

Close-up of the mace's coat-of-arms.


the Parliamentary Library (this is a MUST for me in the future -- a similar library in my home would do just fine)


My fave - the Legislative Council...Ornate. Plush. Simply Magnificent. I went "woww"..esp when I looked up. And saw these...








Lastly, something special.. angels looking over the proceedings..

There's also areas for public/press viewings, the Queen's Hall, Vestibule etc. Didn't have too much time to go through everything. Surprisingly we were allowed to take photos inside. With Melbourne now facing possible terror threats, this's surprising indeed.. We had some nice pamphlets, copies of parliamentary reports were available to everyone (just grab a copy), games by some participating agencies such as the Auditor-General of Victoria etc, guides everywhere.

Foremost thought that came into my mind -- accessibility and transparency. They even teach you how to search for and download Victoria Parliamentary Debates by going to the "Hansard" link. A stenographer was volunteering her time to explain how they record the parliament sessions etc.

An apt closing sentence from a pamphlet -- It is a building for all Victorians.

Melbourne Bloggers Meet postponed / others

Confirmed - bloggers meet postponed to 30th July Saturday @ Max Brenner QV 2pm. Had encouraging responses for that date. thanks guys!

Anyone's welcome. But do let me know whoever's coming, so at least I get a vague idea.

Exams are finally over for me. But that doesn't mean so much. I hate saying this but - I'm busy. Busy till I have no time to blog. There's a backlog of entries lying forgotten somewhere. I have pics to post. They may never see the light of day. I haven't slept for so long. I need to remind myself - today's Wednesday. The last time I got a night's sleep was on.. Saturday. &%$#@... yesterday morning snatched a 2 hour nap and thats it. I've forgotten what my bed feels like. Mentally I'm still pretty alert but my eyes are shutting on me.

What am I busy with? settled half of what i'm supposed to and this's left:
~Got myself involved with a biz skills program. lots to do. and i have to figure it out b4 i leave for hols.
~Enrolment problems to sort out. And the course leader's not replying my mail. bad. very bad.
~Alotof payments to be made..
~Haven't sort out what I'm doing on my hols. All I know is - I've got my flight tickets, got my accomodation booked. But no idea of where to go/eat/play.

Anyone with suggestions on what to do in GoldCoast/Sydney??? Besides the 3 theme parks. Besides bluemountains. Besides pancake on the rocks. Travel tips'd be handy too. =)

'ta need to catch some sleep.

Postponement of Melbourne Bloggers Meet?

Sincere apologies to those who've confirmed their attendance at this week's meet. Although I'm not calling the meet off yet (notice the "?" in the title?), am seriously considering postponing the meet to next month when more bloggers are back to Melb?

What do you guys think? There are quite a few of us, but most will be going back for the hols. I'll be away from Melb from 28th to 12th July. Proposed new date -- 23rd July Saturday. Same place - Max Brenner QV. How's that sound? There're lotsa bloggers not on PPS as well, perhaps we could try spreading the word around?

some Melburnian bloggers I know bout:
~ Akki from http://thecocoanut.blogspot.com
~ DavidTeoh's Katana
~ Keen's http://diagnosedneurosis.net
~ YeeWei at http://tanyeewei.blogspot.com
~ Kamigoroshi of http://www.kamigoroshi.net
~ Metria's Potpourri of Insanity
~ Danny Foo
~ Poptart's Staging a Traffic Jam
~ Ian Teh's blog
~ Sinner's Ark

I must be half-crazy to be blogging now. Exams in a few hours time and here I am blogging. Anyways, good luck to all who're not done with their exams!

Fellow bloggers who's interested in the meeting in July please leave some form of contact eg an email add. Else just email me at diana.tang@gmail.com =)

Today's SOUL JOURNEY

Life: Live It!
from Soul Journey's site

I walked up to the counter, paid for my ticket, turned to walk into the building—and there was Princess Diana! Even though she was made of wax (and the real Diana died years ago), the figure was so lifelike that I had to catch my breath. I entered the wax museum and did lots of double-takes. Mel Gibson waved to fans from the red carpet. Buffy the Vampire Slayer dared any cold-blooded creatures of the night to come close. Tiger Woods lined up a putt. Bono took the stage, ready to “walk on” “in the name of love” on this “beautiful day.”

But unlike the real versions, those wax stars are still there—frozen in those same positions. That Tiger Woods will never sink the putt; that Buffy will never kick some vampire’s tail. None of them will ever be the real-life originals they're based on. They're lifeless. Dead.

And so were you and I . . . before we became followers of Jesus. We were dead in our selfishness and wrongdoing (Ephesians 2:1). We were empty. We were lifeless shadows of what God intended us to be. But through Jesus’ victory over death and our faith in Him as our Savior, we've come to life! The power that raised Jesus from physical death is the same power we have inside our mortal bodies (Romans 8:11).

You're no longer frozen in your helplessness, your hopelessness. You're no longer controlled by the cold darkness of sin. Will you continue to wrestle with sin? Yes. But God's presence in your heart and life gives you power to defeat it. Your soul carries His light with you wherever you go. And that light gives you life—even when you're surrounded by those who are still in darkness, those whose souls are dead.

Let His light shine through your words and your actions. Don't live as only a frozen replica of what your Savior intends you to be. He gave you His very own light—His own life—so that you could “have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). You are alive in Jesus!
—Tracy Carbaugh

bottom line: Let your life shine!

a jumble of thoughts..

*Had auditing and law papers in the past 2 days, which also meant very little sleep, if any. Fortunately both papers seemed ok, but weather just HAD to be dreadful when I'm due to go out of the house in the mornings. Muttering to myself while shivering over the chilly wind "you 'n your big mouth, one day complaining bout the weather and see what happens? - it gets worse."

*Been thinking about my baby -- my camera (the 300v). And realised how little I've used it over the past months. Seems such a shame to leave it in the camera bag. Being busy is not really a very good excuse. It just means my time management has been rather sucky. I should have been able to take the time to go out 'n take some night shots. Now its getting colder, takes abit more effort to bring myself to go out.

*Sometimes people think being abroad is soooo much fun. I'd say - it depends. Back home I had the freedom of taking the car out and just going places yamcha etc. Here although there's (fairly) efficient public transport, it still a hassle to get to places. Shops close waaay too early and its abit too quiet.. Of course there's the good things as well..I'm probably just missing some good 'ol yamcha sessions.

*Still have one more paper next week. Went to see Wei Lu for my internal assessment marks. One can just sense that she's enjoying her work. Enthusiastic bout what she does. How many people can truly say that?

*Listening to kangta now. 2 albums - Persona and Pine tree. 2nd album interpersed with the four seasons' interludes, only music and nothing else ~ Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter. Beautiful stuff..his music makes me very contemplative. There was a very jazzy number just now, makes me want to get up and dance..

*chatting on msn now as well.. conversation surrounding how there's so little communication these days. so few real conversations, so little closeness. Q asked - distance - does it matter? i don't think so.. unless the other person's on a terbalik time zone..My mate who's on an 18 or 20 hour time difference bothers to make the effort. so its prob a question of whether people bother. But then again, growing apart is a process in growing up..

gotta end this post..in the midst of a very important mobile conversation..

busy wheeeee.......

stupid title, yes i know.

Anyways after that rant early Sunday morning, in less than 24 hours, I had my answer. A clear order - forget the past, put it behind you! move forward! All may not be fine and well now but I am grateful for all I have and for more!

Being busy is the order of the next two weeks. Schedule looks pretty tight..Days which are full~
15th-16th (2 papers), 17th, 20th, 21st (final paper!!), 22nd (Batman + Wagamama), 25th (bloggers' meet), 26th (with LI and MH), 27th (2 meetings), 28th - OFF!

And in between all that I've gotta sort out all the program's details, together with the rest hv to prepare the pro-forma forms, transaction flowcharts, budgets etc..PLUS settle enrolment problems, fees, insurance, travel stuff.

Someone offered me a roll of slide film, but getting it probably only next week. Will have fun with it, hopefully first attempts not too horrible.. now thinking - should I lug 2 cameras around for my trip? Not to mention both its weight, plus the tripod. Also the fact that I'll probably squash & squish it with the rest of the travel stuff. oooh my poor lens are gonna take such a beating. It used to get a healthy "BANG" each time I got onto the bus / transport when we travelled. Hmm but thats why I have a UV filter attached.. though I know its still baaaddd.

Backpacking in Sydney doesn't sound so bad.. I'd much prefer to travel light. But thinking of all the junk I'll be carrying with me, that looks pretty much unlikely. So maybe I should just settle for the A510. But what about my panaromic/scenery shots?? Traditional person I am, prefer film to digital, as usual...

oops gotta stop rambling - paper in 12 hours time.
'ta

Calling MELBURNIAN bloggers..bloggers meet (*re-post)

Noticed there's quite a few of us in PPS, was thinking.. anyone interested in a bloggers' meet-up end of this month?

The guys back in KL are having one on the anniversary, Penang folks having theirs, so what say you?

25th June Sat
Time: 2pm
Location: ..Max Brenner in QV? Please let me know if there're any suggestions.
I can be contacted at diana.tang@gmail.com

For us students here, we've just started our exams.. and I'll be away for 2 weeks from the 28th.

*this's a re-post of a previous post, for those who replied last time, I'll get in touch if there's more response =)

messy thoughts at 4.32am

Again, an early post. Its the middle of exam period and my concentration's been shot to bits.
Keep asking myself these few days - whatever happened to my concentration? where's the focus?? where's the discipline? More days like this and this semester will be deemed a failure.

What's a failure? Failure by whose standards? Not my parents' for sure, as they're not really the sort who gives me pressure over my studies. Of course, they'd much prefer I not fail any units this sem. So any failure is adjudged by me. Myself. Setting my own standards has been my "way" of living/doing things. A close friend has the tendency to compare with others academically, in terms of academic progress, how they complete assignments, tests etc. My opinion is - why always compare? I know, comparison induces improvement, but too much of it is a bother and impedes my own thoughts, hence I rarely indulge in comparisons of that sort. Set my own standards and I'm satisfied if I meet/exceed those.. but now, meeting those standards is a problem 'dy.

I can sit for hours gazing at the same lecture material with no substantial progress, at all. This's alarming, as there're 2 papers next week and lots of things to catch up with. Having a tough semester, with the combination of subjects I chose to take...

Feeling the winds of change, rapidly passing me by. Not that it suddenly struck me that its June already, I've been reminding myself every now and then. One year in Melbourne already and possibly going back in half a year's time.

So many things are changing, faced with increasingly superficial candour which I think is rather meaningless. Faced with disappointments from people. Although I know that 人不可靠 (humans not "reliable") but after all, no man is an island. We need the comfort and company of other humans. Hence always the possibility of being let-down by others.

Where's the passion? I need to love what I do. I've managed to reach a stage where I "like/accept" what I do (and thats a far cry indeed from 2 years ago). When push turns to shove, in times like this, it doesn't get me too far.

Robert Frost o' Robert Frost, how true it was when you wrote this (excerpt from The Road Not Taken) ~

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

I'm well aware that dwelling on the past won't help things, so there's the future to look forward to! Its also useful to differentiate between having a baddd day and having a depressed day. I'm just having a badddd day, which most people probably have on Mondays...

After days and days of facing the 4 walls at home, I'm just terribly boooored. The word "bored" was banished from my vocab a year ago, but since then I can't help but dwell on this beastly word. I'm tired. Yes TKL I do get tired, contrary to your opinion. My sleeping hours are so messed up I don't even remember when I get my sleep and when I don't. I need to go out. I need to go somewhere nice, with people I love, with people who understand me. But somehow I think times like these have passed me by. So many changes occuring, relationships changing all the time. People who think they understand me? Well they probably DID understand me, but that was eons ago. Everything's just hovering above the surface now.

Wanna end this rant with one of my fave quotes...by Blake ~

To see a world in a Grain of Sand,

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.

Where's the snow?

Its already the 11th of June now - winter. Amusingly I found this article in TheAge.

Winter! there's supposed to be snow! heck it was snowing in FEBRUARY in the mountains. Check this out (today's conditions from the Official Victorian Snow Report):

Mt Buller: 0 cm
Falls Creek: 0 cm
Mt Hotham: 0 cm
Mt Baw Baw: 0 cm
Lake Mountain: 0 cm
Mt Buffalo: 0 cm
Dinner Plain: 0 cm
Mt Stirling: 0 cm
Mt St Gwinear: 0 cm
Mt Donna Buang: 0 cm

Not an inch of snow to be seen..?!
And its the opening of the 2005 snow season this weekend. whoops did anyone forget the snow?
At Mt Buller they're having free chairlift rides and fireworks(!). No skiing of any sort cos its all grassy slopes now..

Weird weather we're having here lately. imho I think its all global warming rearing its ugly head. Some believe global warming has no major impacts. But look here, where we have seasons which seem upside-down. Autumn was dry, very dry in fact. Prospect of continuing drought is going to effect (negatively) the nation's GDP, crops etc.

Also this interesting article "Unseasonable weather plays havoc" on the effect of dry weather on a variety of species incl:

*my favourite tulips from Tesselaar Bulbs would prob have stifled growth (they bloom to be HUGE but prob will be smaller this yr)

*Many trees keeping their leaves - no wonder I was disappointed by the autumn "scenes" this year, no "Autumn in My Heart"(aka korean-drama-style) scenes or images to accompany the beautiful sounds of NatKingCole's "Autumn Leaves"...

*Crested pigeons flocking to Melbourne from country Victoria - oohh more of those at the train stations..

ohwell enough of a silly post on weather (of all things to blog about). back to the books (darn i seem to end every other post with this sentence....)

A mix of pictures..

Awakened this morning from my not-so-deep slumber by some annoying screeching sound going EEEEEEeeeeEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeee OMG strained my neck trying to figure out where that forsaken noise came from and turns out at 7 plus in the morning someone's mowing the grass outside (that someone's from the local city council and the horrible amplified noise was from its BIGGG generator on a truck ). Had less than 3 hours sleep, plus at 4 plus am the opposite shop's alarm went off and NObody came to switch it off. sobbbb what a start to a long day...

Since I'm up and there's no exams today, gonna post up some pics from last month.. but first:

Photos of dawn yesterday (or was it the day before? due to a total messed up sleep schedule I can't really remember which days I actually slept/stayed up).. beautiful morning, but not a quiet one, cos the highway's right at my doorstep..

Next - taken while we lunched at Chocolate Buddha -

Gillian 'n me

Shrine of Remembrance (yes, yet again. I think I can qualify as one of their tour guides by now)

Once you walk through the doors of the visitor entrance you'll see..

Gallery of medals

view from the top..thats the CBD (Central Business District) not-so-far away

view of the visitor entrance

And this - the Main Entrance of the Royal Botanic Gardens lies right across the road..one of my fave places in Melb..

and.. finally..

first attempt at making Pork Bulgogi

The CommonlyConfused Words test

Read bout this test from this blogger.. had nothing better to do late at night (actually there's loads to do but blekk its nicer to think that I've nothing to do).. ego-inflating it was muahahha

Results - I kid you not. But seriously, I'd be happier if this were results of my REAL exams..

English Genius You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 100% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go! Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it! For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 71% on Beginner You scored higher than 60% on Intermediate You scored higher than 84% on Advanced You scored higher than 97% on Expert

Link: The Commonly Confused Words Test written by shortredhead78 on Ok Cupid

yeah there's something wrong with the html tag i copied. know nuts about html so i'll just leave it as it is.. back to studying!

tired / trains / strike / drunks / more waits

Exam was 3 hours at the Racecourse where it seemed half of Monash's population had gathered on this first "official" day of exams. My own fault for being so tired - didn't sleep last night. Didn't get much studying done either. Somehow just plodded through the mid-morning..

Trains - and the troubles associated.. yeah trains are scheduled every 15 minutes. That is - till they decide to strike in the peak morning rush hour of 7-8am. Suka-suka take industrial action. Oh, not on all lines, so happened my line was one of the "lucky" chosen ones. Some heaty debate by the union about some signal controller being forced to work with a supervisor he'd complained about (or something like that). Was an unexpected strike hence leaving commuters inconvenienced. Not me today though, but the hassle'll be in the next few days cos its expected to continue for the rest of the weekday mornings.

After finishing the exam, I came out feeling like a total klutz. Made a horrifying mistake, all due to my carelessness in ignoring one very important piece of a4 paper. Not only will it cost money, it'll most likely cost me time and effort in the near future.

Feeling down and deep inside a trough aside, I had to go for the weekly meeting at Clayton right after the paper. Today was about the elections for the interim board of directors, positions subject to review in a coupla weeks time. Got a responsibility, but a little hesitant. Unsure whether I can do as good a job as I'd want to. But a pledge to myself is -- LEARN LEARN LEARN!! Whatever I don't know, I must learn! Finance will require a lot of work (not that the rest of the depts won't).. Looking at this year's team, most of them are committed to many uni activities/roles, capabilities need not really be elaborated..

Discussion got abit lengthened. By the time we were out of Campus Centre, it was past 8.45pm. Too late for the shuttle bus and was quite tired at the prospect of waiting sommore for the Huntingdale bus - till Shawn kindly offered a ride to the station =)

I seem to waste an awful lot of time waiting for public transportation lately. Another 25 minute wait at the train station. And this is the part where I hateee "quiet-at-night" Melbourne. Station was pretty deserted.

There was this van with creeeeps going round and round making some gestures, a pretty drunk slob of a man holding a looooong conversation with this Asian student - examples of conversation "give you some adviiice boy - never have children..cackle cackle hehehe" He only let him go when the train arrived - 20 minutes later.

Struck up conversation with this Japanese girl and we ended up talking all the way from the loooong wait till Flinders St..hahha one RULE of train travel - keep a stoic face, no talking to strangers. But today I guess we were all slightly melancholy, what with exams and all..

And what was I doing in the city "late" (for Melb that is) on a Monday night?? Well I hadn't had a bite to eat since 9am and after more than 12 hours out I just needed to get a proper meal. Thinking of places to makan and when the nearest option's more than 10 stations away, that tells you HOW quiet Melbourne is at night. We went to Chinatown to grab a bite simply cos pretty much NOTHIN' ELSE is open at 10pm. Sad right?? Its not all fun here. No mamak is the crux of my ravings. Going back was another looongggggg wait. Almost fell asleep on the platform bench. No luck with the timing at ALL! I had to wait another half hour. In the cold. Yes its winter now.

Excuse my ranting and raving. Half dazed now.. potent mixture of tiredness and some looovellly Shiraz Cabernet...

i think i need to go pass out

5 essential ingredients to building strong friendships

~ my blog's no longer piiiiink anymore =)

Read this excerpt "Building Strong Friendships" taken from Lee Strobel's book, “God's Outrageous Claims,” (published in 1997 by Zondervan) in the early hours of the morning today..

In it he says -

What are the ingredients in a friendship that's rich and real, caring and enduring, intimate and mutually fulfilling? I've found that there are at least five that are essential in developing ongoing, secure, and satisfying friendships: affinity, acceptance, authenticity, assistance, and affirmation.

Some interesting questions to think about after reading that..here's some excerpts from the article..my comments are in "**"..

INGREDIENT 1: AFFINITY---CELEBRATING WHAT WE HOLD IN COMMON
What's the basis on which my friendships with others are formed? What's our common ground? If you took away the activity we share; would our relationship wither? Or do we have the potential of going much deeper, because we share common values?”

**removing common activities with friends makes me think about the "essence" of my friendships. So often, friends are mere "companions" for some activity.. until a level where its becomed a ritual of sorts, simply spending time together.

INGREDIENT 2: ACCEPTANCE---Relating on an “As Is” Basis
David W. Smith describes a plaque that defines friendship this way: “A friend is one who knows you as you are, understands where you've been, accepts who you've become, and still gently invites you to grow.”

But our natural inclination isn't to accept people. We tend to be like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, who were quick to judge, criticize, and ostracize others. Like them, we want other people to conform to us, so we set up little tests to see whether they measure up.

Yet Proverbs says, “A friend loves at all times.”That doesn't mean we condone our friends’ moral lapses or approve of their character flaws. Instead, it means we follow Christ's example of cherishing people themselves while extending them grace.

The truth is that we're better able to accept others if we stay in touch with our own mistakes, deficiencies, and blunders. It's easier to extend the hand of acceptance to a friend if we imagine our other hand simultaneously reaching out to receive acceptance and forgiveness from Christ for our own sins.

When you're evaluating your relational life, ask yourself what attitude you bring into your friendships---critical and judgmental or accepting and gracious? Do you try to get other people to conform to all of your opinions, or do you celebrate the way they're different from you?

**Inevitably we're all judgmental people... Reminder to self - embrace peoples' differences!

INGREDIENT 3: AUTHENTICITY---FEELING SAFE ENOUGH TO BE REAL
Authenticity begins when one person in the relationship sends up a relational trial balloon by disclosing part of his real self and then cautiously watches to see how the other individual reacts.

If there's affirmation, encouragement, and personal disclosure from the other person, he's apt to continue down the path toward a deeper friendship. If not, he will retreat to safer but superficial grounds.

Going deep requires disclosure. Transparency should be appropriate, equal, and gradual, and it should come after trust and confidentiality have been established, but at some point it has to come, or the relationship will remain shallow and ultimately unfulfilling.

**Quantity NOT equal Quality (of friendships)

INGREDIENT 4: ASSISTANCE---PUTTING OUR FRIENDS FIRST
Too many times people enter relationships with a solely selfish agenda. Someone once said that if Galileo were a baby boomer, he would have concluded that the sun revolves around himself---and unfortunately we all share that egocentric attitude to some degree. But when we enter into a friendship with the explicit goal of getting our own emotional and psychological needs met, we invariably end up disappointed.

Yet here's the irony: when our goal at the outset is to meet the other person's needs---to build up, serve, and support our friend---then we nearly always end up benefiting in the long run.

**Already realized that early on, but does that mean we get any less disappointed when our OWN needs are not met by the other person?? Being "there" for friends can get tiring when they're NOT "there" for you. Its abit like taking and giving.. but humans are still humans. Endless giving can be straining as well.

INGREDIENT 5: AFFIRMATION---CHEERLEADING YOUR FRIEND
Another way to assist a friend is through affirmation. “People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be,” said U. L. Moody, “not what you nag them to be.”The absence of affirmation can cut deep.

Whatever you do, never assume that your friend---or your spouse and children, for that matter---know how you feel about them. Everyone needs to be told from time to time. Please, don't put it off until you end up regretting your procrastination.

HELP needed for (short & simple) Market Survey!!

I'm a member of DESIYAH, a Young Achievement Australia (YAA) company.

This company is formed as part of the YAA Business Skills Program. It involves us setting up a company, designing and manufacturing a product, introducing it to the market and finally we liquidate the company at the end of the year (all with REAL money). "These participants will experience all of the stages of a concentrated business cycle and take responsibility for all essential business processes."

For more information on the program, click here.

We are currently conducting a market survey on our proposed product. I'd really appreciate your help in completing the survey! Its a one page word document, with some simple questions.

The file is available for download here. (click on the link and a window'll open up and the download should start automatically)

Thank you!!

Ahh..the joys of VOD..

Recently only "discovered" VOD - Video on Demand. ahh the joys it gives me.. Offered by some sites, I get to stream live or recorded video depending if my connection's stable (which is only in the wee hours of the night usually, sad to say).

The magnitude of this discovery to me, is like Columbus discovering America (or if you agree with the alternative view, the Chinese). you see, I have few little amusing events going my way at the moment.. exams in less than a week. wholly unprepared. Mind is wandering to far-away lavender fields blablabla

Ohyeah, for the record - 2nd time watching Star Wars today. A very impromptu thingy, tagged along with MunYee, Kuan and Dennis at the last minute. Went for the 9pm Jam Factory session, almost 25 minutes of ads/trailers! Still trying to catch a glimpse of the kitchen sink! Plotting my next visit already ~

Just got some worrying news late yesterday night.. adob was up all night worried sick. Turns out GSgor was hospitalized. Been some time since I 'fretted' about anyone at all. But nothing serious, I hope.. get well soon!!