.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

We are all discoverers... travelling the world, learning its truths, its people and its meanings every single day. Grab your backpacks and let's embark on this journey of mine, one that holds a lot of meaning to me... Lilypie Kids birthday Ticker

Thursday, July 27, 2006

 

It's Fine Fine Dining

Listen to this article Listen to this article

Went fine dining first time today. Yet another "first"; my colleagues always say that I have many "firsts" ever since joining this organisation. Maybe I had been leading too sheltered a life :0)


.| Union |. by clix

Anyway, went "Petals" to celebrate one of my colleague's birthday and the whole evening was quite an experience... not only did I experience fine dining for the first time... the whole group was quite entertained as well.

"Petals" is this fine dining place that is manned by hospitality students. While the food wasn't fantastic, the service was wonderful considering that the students really put in a lot of effort to make sure you have a good dining experience. No where else will you find someone who bows down almost to the same level as you to take your order nor will you find people paying so much attention to make sure that you are comfortable and to check if you needed any help. (Picture "Waiter" by keb)

Since they were all students, we took their "boo boo"s relatively easily because we recognize that this is a learning journey for them. Nonetheless, rather than complaining, we just (as discreetly as possible) laugh over the mistakes. For example, there was this once when they served my friend the right dish but served me the wrong one. Rather than going back to change the order, they attempted to take my friend's right from under her nose to give to me... should have seen the look on her face :)

Then halfway through while dining, one of the waiters came to ask me my name... for sometime, I was puzzled why they asked my name (though I kena blasklisted or something) but later when I saw the whole group of waiters walking towards me with a cake singing "happy birthday", it daunt onto me that they thought I was the birthday boy... It was so embarrassing I kept my head low and kept pointing the other direction to the correct birthday boy. Good thing they realized the mistake and quickly changed direction to my friend... hahaha (Picture "Happy Birthday!" by DeepBlu)

When they were serving the main course, my friend asked for black pepper sauce. And there I was waiting for my main course and suddenly someone came with a whole "oil-lamp" shaped saucer of black pepper sauce and placed it right in front of me... Got the shock of my life, thought my order was just a saucer of black pepper sauce. At that point in time, I really thought that I needed supper after dinner. Thank God, my main course eventually came.

In fact, by the end of the evening, we were already cracking up with all the mistakes. So the final straw came when one of my colleagues was relating about seeing this elderly lady with a (nasal) tube earlier in the day and I interpreted as an elderly lady wearing a tube top, that really sent everyone burst out laughing...

Memorable evening but one thing I must give credit for is that the students really put in a lot of effort in what they did and that really made you feel good dining there.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

 

Kicking Myself!

Listen to this article Listen to this article

I am really horrible in event management (though it was one of the careers I considered in the past) and it doesn't help that my personality is such that I am always "paisay" to ask for help...

Recently, I am supposed to help coordinate an exchange programme; some Japanese delegates are coming over to Singapore. So far, I just happily did the background coordination work for the delegates to visit the other centres in my organization until recently, when it was proposed that the delegates visit my office as well.

It will be great having the delegates over but since I am working in headquarters, I soon find myself having to plan the programme for the visit here and have to coordinate with the big bosses and officers to come and meet the delegates... Got so disappointed when I later realized I had so many oversight e.g. I assumed that the room, where we are going to welcome the delegates, will be available and it didn't occur to me to book the room until I was prompted by my boss. Also I invited my big bosses to come and meet the delegates without a proper programme done up, so I ended up with not knowing what to say when my big boss asked me what is her role there... real disappointing and embarrassing! Nothing crucial happened yet and I managed to put together a detailed programme but just can't believe I had such serious oversight... (Picture "Karate Kick" by sol_one)

But still, I am happy that this came in time for me to remind myself (and kick myself) that I need to sit down and think it through very carefully... so all's not lost... T..h..a..n..k God! Can't imagine what will happen if this had not come and I assumed things will just work well until the day.

How Are You?
Three very simple words but a colleague taught me yesterday how these three simple words can mean quite a bit... Just yesterday, I had a colleague walk past my office and as she passed by my door, I smiled as usual and muttered "how are you?" not expecting a response because I always seems to be so softspoken people usually can't hear what I said or else, most people would just say "fine, thank you". Frankly, though I know it is nice to ask people how they are; it kind of conveys care and concern for another individual but there is just this fear of rejection when people say "I am fine, thank you" and walk on... (Picture "Question Mark" by afreeta)

Anyway, this very day, my "how are you?" got a response and it kind of give my colleague the opportunity to share a struggle she has... this really caught me by surprise because I expected a "I'm fine, thank you" and for her to just continue on her way. Anyway, at the end, it was really great to know that it felt better sharing and I am really really happy to hear that. Thinking back, I asked a similar question to my part-time colleague too and surprisingly, it provided an opportunity to share. Everyone of us have issues and as much as we might want to go about looking strong and confident, it always feels good to know you have people who care for you nearby, I would. So when was the last time you asked someone how they are? As the bible suggests, "love thy neighbour" and how can you start but by simply asking how they have been doing.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

 

Feast Awaits!

Listen to this article Listen to this article

A New Stitch-ie with Many Faces
Yeah! Now I have another Stitch joining my Stitch "family"... today a dear friend gave me another Stitch for my birthday and this Stitch changes face :)



Nice? Haha, this Stitch will keep my surfing Stitch in office company...

Hurtful Words
Today, I made a decision to "confront" a friend about her choice of words, which can somewhat be hurtful. It has happened a few times over sms and I just kept asking myself whether I am just being too sensitive (since I could be a bit overly sensitive at times and read too much into things). But after a few times exchanging sms and getting hurt, I find that I just need to be frank with her and share with her how her choice of words could sometimes hurt me. (Picture "Words" by BJN)

I got to know this sister-in-christ some months ago. She is extremely introverted and to a certain extent, I sometimes see myself in her as well. She was going through some emotional struggles with her career and one of my sisters-in-christ was supporting her. However, I later learnt that they had a minor conflict due to a clash in personality. I started to provide support during that time and we exchanged smses. Interestingly, we seldom talk face-to-face but mostly through sms (for example, when walking in a group last week, we said very little to one another). Recently, she told me that that sister-in-christ shared with her how her EQ might need some brushing up.

Over the past couple of weeks, I received a couple of sms that, in my opinion, can be hurting. For example, we were talking over sms about finding a job and I was suggesting that she might want to consider part-time and maybe slowly find a job which she like, especially since she had been jobless for more than a year now and didn't seem to be coping well emotionally. She messaged back that she know how to handle her life. Maybe I am being too "kaypoh". I can't remember the other times (don't really want to keep tabs of these kind of things).

Today, I made the decision to be frank with her about her choice of words and how it hurted me. I did say that I might have been over sensitive too... but her reply was that I shouldn't read too much into things which irritates her...

I understand some of the struggles she is going through and can also empathise how difficult it could be. Anyway, I really thank God for giving me the courage to tell her about how I feel about her choice of words. I did share with her I am not confronting her to find fault but to hopefully to help each other to grow and to be frank about things. In the end, we both agreed to let the matter rest and that she mentioned that she will be more tactful with her choice of words. Am not sure if I did the right thing.

A Feast Awaits

Food by RDSDESIGN

I was having lunch with another colleague today and we were discussing about the Christian faith. I like an analogy that he shared about we should live our lives as Christians. The bible has given us good guidelines for living Christ-like lifes; the 10 commandments. But yet, the 10 commandments can yet be summarized into 2 simple principles... (1) love God and (2) love thy neighbour... Indeed, imagine how better a place the world will be when this is true...

There was this God-fearing couple who loved each other and most importantly, they loved God. Both passed on one night and being faithful Christians, they were assured eternal life with God in heaven. They were greeted at the Pearly Gates by St. Peter who welcomed them. "Welcome to heaven and since you will be here eternally, spending time with God, what would you like to have?"

The old man, after deliberating for a while, responded, "since we are going to be here eternally, we will not know what hell is like, can we take a short tour of hell?" St. Peter agrees and brings them on a short tour of hell.

Now, it was lunch time in hell and the old couple and St. Peter saw a large table with a feast laid down right before them. They saw that everybody sat around the table and held on to extremely long chopsticks. There was so much good food around but no one seem to be enjoying it because everytime someone takes some food for themselves, the food will fall off from the chopsticks on the "way back". There was much bickering and disharmony around.


Malaysian Gourmet by krisssssen
(OK, I love dim sum too, so got to have a picture of dim sum :))

"OK, we have seen enough" said the old man and they were brought back to heaven. Later in the day, they were brought to the dining hall where a feast was laid down in front of them... "wow, do you usually have feasts like these when you welcome someone new?" asked the old lady. "No, this is a commonsight everyday."

It was the same feast and everyone was using the same long chopsticks but everyone enjoyed the dinner. The old couple observed that, unlike in hell, everyone here used the chopsticks to get food for their neighbours opposite them.

At the end of the whole story, my colleague shared with me: "God is fair, he gives us all the same things but it is the attitude that matters..." Indeed, do we love thy neighbour and most importantly, love God?

Sunday, July 23, 2006

 

Feeling Great Joy

Listen to this article Listen to this article

It's amazing how God works. Anyway, when I woke up this morning, a friend's name came to mind. This friend has stopped going to church and I had been trying to reach to her (although I must admit I haven't been very diligent about it). This morning, God seem to set her name into my mind and amazing enough, of all days, she messaged me to ask if I am going for church service later. I was so thrilled because the last time she visited my church was like some weeks ago and I almost forgotten about her. Now, she had wanted to come to church together with her husband. Praise the Lord! And praise the Lord again for everything that went well. Really thank God that my friend's husband, who is not local, seem to feel comfortable and at ease and we had managed to also maintain a conversation with one another (I am usually quiet and reserved). I really do hope and pray that they will settle down in a local church and be back in their walk with God again.

Today's service was wonderful! Not only did I feel great joy but was also immensely touched at some points that I literally teared. The sermon today ministered to me and God seems to be reminding me again of my calling to minister to those who backslided and who are misled. I really haven't been very diligent about this calling. Loved two of the worship songs sang today but these songs seem to be so difficult to find on the net. Anyway, managed to find it anyway:

One Thing I Ask of You
Anyway, this song seems to be written by a Singaporean, Gavin.


One thing I ask of You
And this is what I seek
That I may dwell in Your House O God
And worship at Your feet
I'll gaze upon Your beauty Lord
And seek You at Your temple
I'll walk with You each every step
All the days of my life

I'll be joyful Lord always
I will pray to You unceasingly
I'll give thanks to You
In all my circumstances
Let Your will be done in me
In You alone

Dwelling Place
Listen to Midi

Lovely are Your dwelling places
Thirsty, I come after You
Jesus my joy, my reward, Your love's restoring my soul
Now I'm Yours and You are mine
and from my heart a song will rise

chorus:
I love You, I love You, I love You (3)
and my heart will follow wholly after You

Jesus there's none beside you
Righteous, ruler of the earth
Nations will come and bow down
Name after all names I sing You praises
and all I can say to you is...

Get your own free Blogoversary button!