Boy

Georgie Porgie, Puddin' and Pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry,
When the boys came out to play
Georgie Porgie ran away

I'm not sure why it always goes downhill

I just got home with 3 bags.

I had left home with 4.

Anything valuable inside? Mom asks.

No. But precious, yes.

My diary.

Oh no...

Look what we found...

Shopping with Sarah Smith.

Girls' shoes, boys' toys, children's clothes, and babies' books.

It's interesting what you can find in places no one usually goes.

Thus ends many months of searching.

Ho yeah.

Oh come on, i'm just acting like any excited boy who found the book he was looking for in the toddlers' section would.

Dream Girl

After yesterday's post and some very deep conversation with Desiree i've come to a better understanding of our current mindset as young adults.

It's tough to be a young adult. The decisions we need to make now affect the rest of our lives. We're deciding our career paths at this tender age, and it's scary.

More unsettling though is the thought that we've reached the age where it's culturally accepted to start looking for a life partner. So we look around and realise the painful incongruence between the stories of princes and princesses and true perfect love we have heard all our lives, and the fact that the irritating boy or girl who used to pull our hair in primary school is now a potential spouse.

It's a sudden shock that has many of us bordering depression. So our simplest instinctive response is to say okay i'm going to be single and put off thinking of this for now. It's gonna take a while to sink in. But don't take our word for it when we say we want to be single forever. Not yet.

Desiree disagreed with all this because it represented my perspective and not her's. She doesn't believe in princes. So she's probably in a better mindset than i am. Reaching adulthood was not as shocking for her as it was for me. Great.

In other news, someone asked me what my dream girl is like. Tough one. But after much searching and reflecting i think i found what i'm most attracted to. Take a look at this video. If you get impatient fast forward to 2:15 when she first appears. Click on the HD button- she looks a lot better.

See... i still believe in princesses. And elves and monsters. But i digress.

So what has this elven female warrior have anything to do with reality?

Simply put, she is a representation of qualities that attract me most.

So what are they:

1. She's honed her strengths and skills.

2. She's fearless, taking on beast bigger than her.

3. She's fragile.

Everyone who i've shown this video to says the dark elf sorceress looks so much more beautiful (i've shown this to more girls than guys okay) by the way. But external beauty pales in comparison to character.

This girl sure can fight. She knows her strength lies in agility and speed and she has honed her skills that allow her to be anything but useless in the coming dark days. But what i find most beautiful about this girl is that she is fragile and can be beaten (she came so close to death at the hands of the sorceress) yet that did not stop her from from throwing herself in dangers way and fighting for what she believes in.

I'm not in love with a computer generated fictional character living in a world that does not exist. But what she is, is what attracts me most in a woman. Just so you know.

Girls, girls, girls...

The next big thing seems to be celibacy.

Well at least, out of the 6 closest friends that i have, 3 have stated they would probably be single for the rest of their lives.

I find it kinda funny, i find it kinda sad.

I giggle when i remember how mature we thought we were at 16. Because frankly, all my closest friends who think they'll be single for the rest of their lives are 21 and below, making that statement based on experiences that they had when they were what- 16? Like they won't change much in the next 60 or more years.

I am disturbed and slightly insulted too to realise that half of my closest friends who think they will stay single are the girls. As a guy... it's okay to hear girls say that at 16, but it's depressing to hear that at 21.

Back in JC i would secretly scoff at guys who said they could not understand girls. I guess in that time of innocence and idealism i could talk to a girl about personal matters the way i would read an open book. Defenses were down and trust was easily earned by sincerity and truth. But now it seems the books are all closed. And we all know you can't judge a book by it's cover.

I had a great season of service and counseling in JC and i really enjoyed saving the world, but it seems i'm no longer as able to communicate with girls i'm talking to in the same way. They have changed. Now i understand why people don't say girls are hard to understand. Instead they say women are hard to understand. And the girls my age, have all turned to women.

The old knight in shining armour, riding on a white horse, approach don't work no more. Times have changed- time for me to change if i want to keep helping people effectively.

So... I'm going to do some gender studies in university while studying psycology, and i'll attend ladies fellowship in church this weekend.

U dodgy boy, u! Now i know what u spend most of ur time thinking about. Girls girls girls!

Missing

I met someone today who is quite like Rachel B.

And i ask myself.

Why am i so endeared to this type of person?

What is it that she has that i lack?

Fishing

I met up with LKY for fishing this morning.

We came prepared for all eventualities.

Everyone knows that grass-type pokemon are strong against water-type pokemon, so i brought help in the form of Bulbasaur, my first pokemon.

I must say, Pastor Kuo Yung sure has a lot of equipment.

Bulbasaur was exceptionally excited to see a Master Ball in the box. It insisted on taking a picture with the rare item. Just look at that wide grin.

And so we cast out. Bulbasaur helped watch one of Kuo Yung's rods. (He had 3!)

We spotted a Krabby clinging to a slipper floating by...

Oh oh! A bite!

I reeled in the line and we had caught a Puffer!

Go Bulbasaur! Use your vine whip!

It's super effective!

Wild Puffer fainted!

Just look at the size of that Puffer! Thankfully Bulbasaur's grass-type attacks are strong against water-type pokemon, so though much bigger than my Bulbasaur, the wild Puffer had no chance.

And that was just the first of many successful battles!

I landed this big one (above) with Kuo Yung's help. Not long after he also landed another of the same species, just slightly smaller.

So we fished and battled all morning until the sun was high and we were satisfied (and tired). Bulbasaur wanted to stay on (it loves sunlight) but the food needed to get to a refrigerator quickly. Waving goodbye, Kuo Yung and i parted, each to his own home.

Disclaimer: No Puffers were harmed in the making of this blogpost. As you can see, Bulbasaur took time to have friendly chatter with the Puffer before and after the battle scene was taken.

The same cannot be said of the other 2 fish though.

Oh come on... you expected me to eat the Puffer?

Elijah

Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”

-1 Kings 19:4

1 month ago this very day, heartbroken and disappointed, i said the same.

Campus Crusade Camp

What a fantastic camp.

On day 1 i found out my group had 6 girls and 2 guys.

What a fantastic group.

Then Huiqi came and told the group that i only talk to girls in church.

What a fantastic friend.

Tears and Fears

I had a dream that i was talking to someone presently in the guards camp that i was once in.

He was a christian, and he was struggling in camp.

He just wanted to give up. Was it all worth it? He asked.

I looked at him. He looked like me. So i said to the Justin of a year ago.

When i look back, I thank God and say...

I had to paused here. I had never said what i was about to say before. The words were so heavy my teardrops started to well up with the great burden of bearing their weight. Had i known the amount of hurt, pain and suffering i was about to endure at the beginning, would i have ever taken this road? I gave him my answer

It was worth it. Serving You was all worth it.

I guess i finally understand why dad cried when he sent me off.

He knew the suffering would be plenty,

but he also knew i would be able to grow through much hardship.

It's not common for me to wake up in tears.

Driving

After 10 trial tests in 3 hours, i was quite ready for the real thing.

Passed my Final theory test in 15 minutes.

But as i settled down to smile, i was reminded of the people who drive for a living.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Have you met the taxi driver who works the night shift?

6pm to 6am every day.

Every 2 weeks, one day off.

Sleeping at home in the day, awake outside at night.

If you've done shift work, or guard duty, you'll understand.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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Have you met the bus driver who drives from Singapore to Penang?

11 hour drive up to Penang, 1 hour break, 11 hour drive down to Singapore.

Every single day.

2 of them take turns sleeping and driving in the bus.

They get a break once every 2 weeks when the bus is sent for servicing.

But if it's not being serviced near home, they don't have time to go home.

So i guess you don't have a wife, i said.

I do. And i have children.

But i can't see them.