Tagged by Megan

Rules of the game:

1. Each player of this game starts off with ten weird things or habits or little known facts about yourself.
2. People who get tagged must write in a blog of their own ten weird things or habits or little known facts as well as state this rule clearly.
3. At the end you must choose six people to be tagged and list their names.
4. No tagbacks!

Ok, so here it goes... =)

1. Before i open a packet of pepper at macdonalds, I flick it three times to knock all the pepper down before i tear it open

2. I adapted a picture on my childhood dinner plate and won 2nd prize in an art competition. Got a medal and a box of sakura crayons!

3. I dressed up as ursula in a fancy dress competition in primary school. Wore a tube (sewn by mummy) at the tender age of 8

4. I used to make a big fuss when my family, daddy, mummy, cheche and me didn't close our car doors in rapid succession to create a 'bong! bong! bong! bong!' sound

5. The way I eat is clear off food on my plate ordering to preference, starting from the least preferred. as such it's always vegetables, rice, average dish by my liking and ending off with fav bits of the meal (eg. roasted duck skin, tho my daddy always threatens to steal em off my plate and i have to fend off any forks zooming in on my prized pile)

6. I like shark's fin (sorry to those who like to save animals and are against cruelty to animals) but i only like those lower grade ones that u get at wedding banquets. i once had good shark's fin, when u actually see a whole piece of it, and wondered 'where's the shark's fin i love? sniffle!'

7. Practically all my stuff toys have names, and most have personalities, some odd and some even more odd! there's a turtle that can't sing to save his shell, a blue monkey with a short term memory, a precious keepers turtle who lost his voice and now speaks with a really odd accent, a crocodile who keeps wanting to befriend all my pigs for one sole purpose, a clever pig who lisps, a star who keeps saying she's kawaii... you get my drift? =)

8. I get gastric on sunday mornings if i dont have breakfast but weekdays are fine

9. 10.30pm is considered late for my bed time

10. For about 23 years of my life i never knew what the smell of fart was. Was told it smells like shit and had to take everyone's word for it (unanimous answer each time i asked). Of late i've finally caught a whiff or two but sometimes the smell still escapes me. thank God for that! =)

Heehee... yup, so those are the ten things about me!

You've been tagged! -> Cheche (aka Elaine to everyone else), Meng Yang, Eliza, Mervin, Huifen and Codfishy

let's count some blessings

it's been a while since i had a list... =)

I thank God for

1. life
2. a brand new day
3. the rain cos this means we've got water to drink and our plants get to drink too!
4. my family
5. xiang
6. helping me through april especially last week
7. watching over me
   
8. being able to have some time to chill and catch a movie with xiang last night
9. being able to meet up with busy maggie over the weekend
10. finding a nice chinese restaurant with my colleagues and eating yummy crispy spring chicken, hotplate tofu and sambal kang kong! yumyum
11. bringing a colleague safely back from his mission trip
12. helping me complete my work daily
13. the idea of eating dinner prior to my tuition sessions in the evening as it helps me have a lot more patience!
    
14. that i'm a morning person and i feel nice and awake this morning! =)
    

Memories of a dear uncle

Increasingly I'm realising the importance of memories. Every memory is unique and once yours can never be taken away.

As I lost a dear church uncle yesterday after his tough fight with cancer, I sat in the funeral service pulling every single memory I have of him.

The day he first walked into church with his family. I remember his smile as he saw me play with his youngest son.

As a worship leader, I remember seeing him standing with arms stretched wide worshipping our Heavenly Father with sincerity and a heart of worship at his usual seat.

I remember his courage. He told his doctor when first told of his cancer that he wanted to go for his church camp before coming back for treatment. reason he said 'I'm getting baptised!'

I remember his fervour for the Lord as he clung to his faith and trusted the Lord to watch over Him.

I'm glad we sat at the same table during one of the rest stops for our church camp last year and shared durians.

I remember his laughter as he played with baby Joshua in the bus. How he insisted that the reason why joshua fell asleep in my arms was because i bored the baby to sleep. =)

The image of him playing spongebob uno with the children at camp is so vivid it seems like only yesterday i saw him sitting by the window sill at fraser's hill.

Recently as his condition got worse and he'd sit at the corner of the sofa in church, I sat down and had a chat with him. What we spoke about is unimportant. What's important is that we spent time together. Two people once strangers, now friends and in God's family, talking.

Although he's no longer physically here, he will remain in my thoughts and heart and one day I know I'll get to see him again.

It brings me comfort to know that he's now safe in the arms of our Lord and that where he is now there is no more pain and suffering.

I'll miss you Uncle Jeffrey... Will miss the gleam in your eyes when you talk about kong bak pau... Will miss being able to call 'Uncle Jeffrey'... but i know this separation is but temporal...

you have indeed fought the good fight, ran the race and kept the faith.

a lioness befriends an oryx

when i watch animal shows on cable, the wonder of God's creation never ceases to amaze me. every animal has a structure in place for how it lives, eats, reproduces and survives predators. there are animals or species of animals out there that man doesn't even know of and yet they too have such a structure in place.

did u know that an elephant shrew's defence against the hawk is to memorise a racetrack it develops itself? it spends all its free time zipping down shrew made tracks, removing any new obstacles and when the hawk does strike, with great speed this lil shrew just a fraction the weight of the hawk, and speed abt half the hawk's, races for his life. knowing his track saves his life... switching tracks last minute helps him escape the clutches of the hawk.

people tend to balk at the idea of big cats attacking helpless deers, elks etc... but seriously if these predators weren't around, all these grazers would get far too numerous...

last night i watched a documentary on how a three year old lioness 'adopted' an oryx... the oryx was a baby itself... its horns barely growing... it was an amazing relationship. sadly, because the two of them didn't have enough food and thus no energy, as the lioness was resting, the baby oryx got attacked by another lion. the lioness being so much smaller couldn't do anything but mourned the lost of her 'baby' just like a lioness mourns the loss of her baby cub.

fascinating... thank God for His creation. He put thought into everything. Just like how He put thought into creating you and me. we're all unique... and all loved just as we are. =)