I was really touched by what a really good friend did some months back. I was away and could not attend the concert of my favorite rock band but she had front row seats at the concert. She called me during my favorite song and I was listening to the concert from miles away. She must have looked rather silly holding up her mobile phone during the concert especially in the front row with the other VIPs!!!

Please continue to remember me ok. I would really like to be here but its not possible now. Sometimes when I go to certain places, I think about friends who will really enjoy being at the places. I thought about Jojo as I was binging on macaroons in Paris, of DSD as I was eating it up in Paris, of Overacuppa as I was walking down the Champs Elysee, of Monoceros as I was in Italy (coz she speaks fluent Italian :c)) etc etc......

God’s Special Place

“ [Mary] brought forth her firstborn Son, . . . and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. —Luke 2:7 ”

As a young girl in the late 1920s, Grace Ditmanson Adams often traveled with her missionary parents through inland China. Later, she wrote about those trips and the crowded places where they stayed overnight—village inns full of people coughing, sneezing, and smoking, while babies cried and children complained. Her family put their bedrolls on board-covered trestles in a large room with everyone else.

One snowy night, they arrived at an inn to find it packed full. The innkeeper expressed his regret, then paused and said, “Follow me.” He led them to a side room used to store straw and farm equipment. There they slept in a quiet place of their own.

After that, whenever Grace read that Mary “brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7), she saw the event differently. While some described the innkeeper as an example of uncaring, sinful mankind who rejected the Savior, Grace said, “I truly believe that Almighty God used the innkeeper as the arranger for a healthier place than the crowded inn—a place of privacy.”

Through eyes of faith, we see God’s provision for Mary. Look for the ways He provides for you. — David C. McCasland

Wait on the Lord from day to day,
Strength He provides in His own way;
There’s no need for worry, no need to fear,
He is our God who is always near. —Fortna

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. There is always something magical about Christmas that brings out the best and happiest side of everyone. But this year, I am not feeling any Christmas cheer. Instead those feelings of joy and happiness have somehow been replaced by worry and fear. Reading the above passage does not magically make those feelings of worry and fear disappear immediately but it does bring me strength, to know and remember that God is watching over me. And I hope that it brings whoever you are who is reading this strength and faith in God too.

“ Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. —Matthew 6:8 ”

In my early years as a pastor, I served in small churches where finances were often tight. Sometimes our family finances felt the weight of that pressure. On one occasion, we were down to the last of our food and payday was still several days away. While my wife and I fretted about how we would feed our kids in the next few days, our doorbell rang. When we opened the door, we discovered two bags of groceries. We had not told anyone of our plight, yet our provider God had led someone to meet that need.

Jesus said, “Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matt. 6:8). He is constantly caring for and seeking the best for us—a reminder that in times of hardship, need, and fear, we have Someone who cares. Peter wrote that we can cast all our cares upon Jesus, because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). We can turn to Him in our time of need. — Bill Crowder

Every time I feel lost and upset, I am reminded that God is watching over me. Instead of fretting over what I cannot change, I am reminded that I should renew my trust in Him and that He knows best.

I wonder if the dreams we have while asleep are a reflection of what we feel when we are awake. Do we actualise the feelings we suppress while awake into dreams when we sleep? When our minds wander free and bring to life our secret desires. I suppose that is how I am trying to understand the bizarre dream that I had. Yet somehow when I woke up, I felt a greater sense of loss more than ever. I think my heart would have preferred if I had not dreamed.

Sometimes, I wonder where that simple happiness disappeared to. I am sure if I did a survey among my friends, there is not one person who is truly happy with his/her life. Exactly when did our expectations of the state of happiness skyrocket so significantly that most times we are in a constant state of trying to find happiness than being happy. Seriously, I do not know the answer either because I am one of the people who are constantly on the hunt for happiness as well. When anyone of you find the answer to my question, please let me know.

My favourite composer also writes in his entry about the questions people ask him about the supposedly exciting things he gets to see in his trips and when he answers that there are really not that many exciting things, people disbelieve him. Well, I for one, believe him. Waiting for airline connections and wondering if I will get home on time is one big worry I have constantly. When I used to travel for leisure, I will head towards the duty free shops whenever I arrive at the airport on my homebound trip. These days, I run towards the exit gates that will bring me home. Packing for each trip reminds me about how long I will be away from home once more and this outweighs any anticipation of new places.

Maybe at this point, you may think I hate my job. No, I do not hate my job, but this is not a perfect world. Many times, I wish like in Harry Potter, we could all travel by Floo powder. In this way, I can "poof" myself home at the end of each day. However, the price that I have to pay for being able to go to new places is being away from home. There were many interesting place I have seen this past year like Budapest and Johannesburg which I know I will probably have never had the opportunity to visit. And I have picked up new "survival" skills when travelling overseas by myself. All these were priceless experiences to me.

My favourite composer is optimistic about being mostly a passer-by to all the places he has been. He feels that at least this will leave him with numerous places which he can explore still in future. I suppose I can look at all the travelling I am doing in this manner as well. Someday, I will return to some of these places where I have only been a passer-by and explore them at my leisure. Someday.

I did not crave any book from the bookshelf but wanted to read a new book, one which I have never read before. Haha. However, I had little chance to visit the library or the bookstore as there were so many other things I had to get done. Today, I walked into a secondhand bookstore near the place I had dinner. A poor choice to Borders or Kinokuniya but desperate times calls for desperate measures. I selected one novel. Tonight, the laptop shall take a well-deserved break and I shall make my escape into the literary world instead.......

Skiing is fun but seriously, I think I expend more energy lugging the ski equipment to slopes then skiing. And what is the point of swishing down the slope then having to take the lift back up again just to swish back down again. Skiing is an expensive sport too. Maybe I feel this way coz I am not a really sporty person but if I wanted a work out, I will much rather visit the gym then have to wear 3 layers of clothes, a hat, a scarf and ski boots just to get a workout. To me, getting into all that gear is a workout already. And before I even hit the slopes, I feel tired from all the walking and carrying the skis!!

One of the important things I have learnt to treasure very much are the friends I have made over the years and I am thankful to my friends who have helped me keep our friendships going. I truly appreciate my friends who made efforts to meet me despite their busy schedules and my friends who make the extra effort to fit themselves into my schedule because of my constant traveling. I thank those of you who did not give up me on me even when I spent too much time working in my old job and helped keep me sane.

I truly believe that friendship is a two way street and the traffic only keeps going when both sides put in the effort. On this note, I was very disappointed in one of my good friends who decided to put the red light on our friendship. Maybe I am being a little hard on him now but well, I am still pissed. Basically, this particular friend has been deciding at the last minute not to turn up whenever a meet up has been arranged. He is a very good friend and there were many times when he had given me support and advice when I needed those. However, there are only that many times I can forgive a person who repeatedly stands me up, good friend or not. At times when I have nothing better to do, I do wonder about what caused this change in him and feel sad about the state of our friendship. However as another good friend commented when he stood the both of us up last weekend, enough is enough, if he does not even want to bother to turn up then fine. Yes, that is fine, ending with a LARGE full stop.

In a really bizarre way, I must thank this friend for repeatedly standing me up. In his anti-social behavior, he made me realise and appreciate my other friends more. The ones who are always there, who listen to me whine ALL the time (yes, I KNOW I whine ALOT but I still do it), who get excited about meeting whenever I am home, the ones who write to me and ask me how I am when I am away and the ones who make time for me despite having a full plate of activities etc etc. For all these precious friends of mine and all the little things you do to show that you care too, I am thankful. :c)

Personally, I hate traveling. I wish everyone can get to places via magical means like in Harry Potter. Unfortunately, we cannot and the fastest way is via airplanes. To me these days, air travel means running from one terminal to another to catch my connecting flights, trying to re-route when flights get delayed/canceled and figuring the most cost efficient flights and routes. Its a BIG BIG pain. However, I did learn through all the pain that I am able to deal with unpredictability and changes and so far, Thank God, I have always managed to find my way home safely.

I have also learned that I hate snow. When it snows, traffic slows to a crawl and the chances that my flights get delayed or canceled skyrocket. I hate having to put on numerous layers of clothes every time to just to step out somewhere and freezing in the cold because I am wearing too few layers. I really do not understand the fascination with snow. I much prefer living in tropical country, thank you very much.

Those are some of the little things I have discovered about myself in 2008. What have you discovered about yourself?

I have different favorites at different times, it really depends on the state of mind that I am in. But I always feel that Mayday has a song for every occasion. I wish I could write music like Ashin, truthful and yet inspiring.

My current favorite is this one from an album long ago.

It brought inspiration and comfort to me recently when I was in Ireland on a certain project. It was an in way sad and depressing project to be on. Sometimes, in life, I think we are bound by the circumstances we find ourselves in and we really do not know what we are chasing after. We find ourselves in situations we never thought we will be in but we somehow make the best of it.

Of course, cannot forget about the food that I ate. The first night I arrived, my colleague brought us out for lobster. That was when I had my first taste of corn cake too. Yum yum!! The lobster is big and cheaper than in Singapore but I felt that the one that I had was a little overcooked. Oh well, but it was still quite yummy. Actually I thought that the corn tasted much nicer than the lobster. Ha ha.

One of my favorite shops in Boston. Mike's Pastry! Its unbelievably crowded in there and you literally have to squeeze your way to the front to order. Efficiency is the key word with so many people so once you catch the attention of a counter staff, you better start shooting out your order. The pastries and cakes from there are SUPERB!! Sorry, no photos to share as there were really too many people crowding round the counters. But trust me, I wanted to order everything in the shop and my colleagues were horrified at my order. We took three days to finish all the pastries I had ordered but it was really really really yummy.

The tiramisu and the BEST strawberry shortcake I have ever tasted. I forgot to take photos of the rest of the cakes before eating them up. Ha ha.

In my many weeks, I did not manage to visit some other places in Mass besides Boston. I went whale watching at Cape Cod and managed to really see whales up, close and personal.

Then there was the long drive to Salem where we got really lost coz the GPS brought us around in circles. Quite funny though to get lost on the way to Salem coz we were being led around in circles by the stupid GPS. No photos there. My colleague and I wanted to stay late and try the ghost tour but the third member of our group refused so we headed to Boston for Korean food instead. Yep, basically my four weeks in Mass revolved alot around being driven around by my nice colleague, shopping and eating.

Besides being alot poorer, Fatgirl is also fatter. Despite attempts to eat healthy at breakfast and lunch, the good food I eat for dinner each day contributed to my expanding waistline. Sigh. And now back home, I am having a hard time resisting all the Asian food that I have not eaten in the past few weeks. I must, I must resist.