The 59th Street Bridge Song

Slow down you move too fast
You got to make the morning last
Just kickin' down the cobble stones
Lookin' for fun and feelin' groovy
The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) - Simon and Garfunkel

I really like this song, too bad I can't find a video of them performing it on youtube.com. It's a really short and cute song, especially on Garfunkel's solo concert Across America when his son sang along with him, heh. Anyway, felt the lyrics really reflect what I ought to do now. I need to slow down and not move too fast. Or else my foot won't hear the end of it. That I need to relax more as well and not worry so much about things in my life and get so tensed up all the time. Anyway, those who want to look at the full lyrics, can check out this site

Looking at Tim's blog yesterday, I thought of commenting on what he said, but sadly, somehow his comments box won't accept any input from me, and it's been like this for a couple of months now. So what I'll do is do an extract and comment on it here.
Is sex a very sacred thing? Why do most of us keep loyal to our partner while some don't bother with the loyalty factor? They say sex is fun yea but what about responsibility? They didn't bother with it. Its wrong to have sexual flings with some hot guy/girl you know. Or is it? How come its wrong? Who came up with that concept? The conservatives and the progressives argue it out.

Like this girl who runs the sarong party girl blog. She has no qualms about taking other people's man citing that they can't keep the man so its their fault. Rite...if someone stole her private collections of...whatever...is the thief wrong then? I don't have doubt that she'd be jumping up and down.....
"What's virginity? Its just a useless piece of flesh. I didn't know why I kept myself from the greatest pleasure...." From somewhere she mentioned before. Ya well...okay, I want to utter the word loose but what's the moral high ground going to argue this time? Why is it wrong? What's the logic? So its no wrong is it? BAh! What with uttering the name of God from the mouth while sinning with the hands? Stop lying to youself he implied.
"Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral." Hebrews 13:4 Felt this might be a good verse to reflect on. I think it's quite clear from this verse about what will happen to people who do things like what was on Tim's blog. Tim, you reading this? God created sex to be enjoyed within the context marriage. It's something sacred that's to be known between a husband and wife only. Anyway, I don't really have the time now to go about looking for more references. This is the strongest one that I know of from the Bible. If anyone knows of any good ones, feel free to post in my comments section.

Anyway, it's been a busy week. Lady rain brought a lot more wet weather to this part of the world in the past week. Though there was a day of heat a couple of days back. So it brought about implications when I can't go to where I want, especially the library cos it's raining. And I don't usually bring an umbrella out unless it can't be helped. Saw a rainbow on friday after coming out of the library around dinner time. Tried to take it on my hp camera, but don't think it came out well. Have not really seen one for some time now.

This was taken in Taiwan when I was there for a month almost 3 years back. Notice the fainter rainbow above the main arch. Rather rare, I would think. A rainbow was originally God's promise never to flood the earth again. The Bible talks about the story of Noah's ark in Genesis 6-9. He sent flood waters to destroy the earth cos He saw how great man's wickness had become. So He chose to wipe out mankind, save Noah's family and 2 of every living creatures - one male and one female. Two of every kind of bird and of every kind of creature that moves on the ground. And the rains came down for 40 days and nights after the ark was built and it was written that the waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days (Genesis 7:24). God set a rainbow in the clouds to be the sign of the covenant between God and Noah and all the creatures of the earth. That whenever He brings clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, He will remember His covenant, that never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life; that He'll see the rainbow and remember His covenant. (Genesis 9:12-16)

Just want to thank God that incident I posted about in my last post came and went, that all's well. She said she forgot about it when I talked to her when I met up with her recently. Still, it's a reminder for me, that I should not do anything like that again. Certainly don't wish to hurt her or anyone else like this in the future. Now, I need to focus. Still praying for grace for my upcoming exams. Hope what I've studied and what I intend to go through will be enough.

"Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

Muscle sprain on gouty foot

I don't know what can be worse. Gout, or muscle sprain on the same foot. Apparently, I sprained my muscle or foot yesterday, and couldn't sleep well the entire night; walking was rather haggard as well. Resulted in a very very tired Jon turning up for marketing revision class at 9am in the morning. Even coffee didn't help at all. Sigh. I must have aggravated my old ankle injury that I sustained back in my army days. Guess it's the result of too much brisk walking for the last couple of days. It's better now, after applying some gel and taking a pain killer that the doc at clementi's polyclinic provided. And she's kinda stunned when she found out I had gout -_- Cos I asked whether the pain could somehow be connected to my gout. Oh well, I have to live with it. Still rather uncommon for people my age to get this disease.

Had a reality check on sunday night, when I unconsciously hurt a friend. Not in the physical sense, but well.. She's not mad or anything, and told me not to worry about it. But somehow I felt uneasy the whole night and the next morning. Felt so cos I felt that I had hurt her over my actions, and I hate to hurt people like that, especially to those I care about. Maybe I'm too hard on myself, I don't know. But I'm certainly praying about it and that I certainly hope it'll never happen again, that I should have more faith in the people around me and not be so selfish. Broke down on the bus ride home that night. Yes, I can be rather emotional at times. If you are reading this, please don't feel guilty about this. Cos it's my own doing that caused it. Let's move beyond this, shall we? ü


Thought I'll post this up. One of my favourite songs, even though it's like 20 years old. Paul Simon's You Can Call Me Al, from the Graceland album. Won the album of the year at the 1987 Grammies. The recorder solo is currently my ringtone for my hp, heh. Nice!

" "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." " Jeremiah 29:12-14

Trial by peanut: FAILED

After going through a period of trial and error with peanuts as part of my diet in this post-gout discovery season, well, let's just say my list of diet restrictions just grew by one. Now, I have to restrict my diet from soy (including soya beans), all forms of beans, red meat (including beef), nuts of all kinds, and all forms of alcohol (especially beer). "Safe" foods would be fish and chicken and pork. Vegetables are ok, I guess, not that I am particular fond of them. Salads are the only exception, heh. Maybe I should arrange for another trial, this time by "tow gay" (bean sprouts), one of my favourites. If this fails, sigh, there goes my yong tau foo including this item in it. I kind of miss eating it. No stall in school selling it, nearest would be Ngee Ann, but too busy these few days to go. Kopitiam in PS is an option. Love the stall there, and the service is nice.

Been some time since my last post. Well, been busy. Mainly with studying. Plus side is I'm nearly finished with EICT. Just feel I need to read up on normalisation and SQL and I should be done. On the minus, the days leading to the soci paper grow shorter. Time seems to fly by very fast, and I wonder why. Not prepared for the soci paper yet; currently focused on marketing. Looks like this weekend will be cramped with sociological thoughts. Did that for the last weekend as well. Now have gone back to methods to review what it's all about. Was reading Steve Taylor's revision notes at the library with Emily on sunday, while she was reading through her risk management book to prepare for her new job in early May. Rain kinda hampered our leaving when we wanted to. In the end, had dinner at Hans and spent some time talking. Been raining almost everyday now . Hope it won't rain later. Else I won't be able to go out with my guitar. Leading worship for tonight, since Kemin is still suffering from a sore throat of sorts and have not really recovered. Time to do up a list of worship leaders, now that Terence is no longer around for now. But he's coming back soon. Seems like he's coming here to support OCBC again, around mid May. Oh, he and Amanda just got together, after spending like 6 months in friendship exploration. Will be keeping you in prayer, bro, that the Lord will lead you and guide you in this relationship.

Just came back from the airport this morning (thursday morning) as well; spent the night there at BK T2 reading through my marketing notes and radical marketing case studies book. Now my bio clock's a bit off, hope it'll right itself over the weekend. Time to do some practice with the guitar for worship, then it's studying time. Marketing research beckons!

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." Romans 8:26-27

Gout's unstable (yet again)

Just a short post here. My gout's been unstable again for the past few days, like what I mentioned in my last post. Not really sure what really triggered it. Don't think I ate anything that might have contributed to the uric acid level in my blood. Do peanuts count? My mum did mention about it earlier, but my family doc didn't. Guess I can only do trial and error for this. Meanwhile, my walking's affected somewhat. Slight limb for now; happens everytime an attack occurs. Medication's not really helping much at the moment. Sigh, I'm resigned to it. Only God can help. Just praying that it won't trigger an all out attack on my poor toe joint. Else I'll really have to invest in a wheelchair to get around. Wondering if stress can affect it as well. Feeling a bit stressed out at the moment. To the point that I can't seem to concentrate on my readings earlier in the evening. Leaving it all in the hands of God, all I can do now.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2

A week closer...

Can't really say it's a very productive week. Did go through a couple of UOL classes for my soci that stretched from morning till about 5. Another class with Nageb on friday afternoon, which he extended again. Not that I mind, I do enjoy his lectures. Just that it can be very draining due to the width and depth of the subject. Frankly, getting scared for all of my modules, due to the remaining time left and amount of material I've got. Was at the library at bugis trying to make sense of bureaucracy and organisations and power. Certainly not easy. Come to think of it, been trying to go through my ISDM and my soci for the last week, and nothing much really went into that thick skull of mine. Well, here and there, yeah, some stuff got in, and then some came out again. Will have to re-read again as the dates draw near.

Finally started to serve in ministry. Yesterday and today were the first times that I did my worship backstage, behind the curtains, and my communion as well. Had to learn a lot of stuff. Didn't realise a simple task of passing mics involve a lot of procedures beforehand. But it's exciting so far. Can get up close to the worship team and see them play from closeup, especially the bassist and drummer. Might come in handy later, since I'm thinking of picking up the bass guitar, and keyboard. Might have to self learn the instruments. Got one keyboard at home that belongs to my sis that's been untouched for like ages. She apparently gave up on it for whatever reason. Maybe I should bring it back to life, heh.

Nothing really much going on at the moment. Basically, it's eat, sleep, study, relax, pray, cell group, church, ministry, revision classes, medication, fellowship. Rinse and repeat in any order that fits the current situation. Gonna be like this until my exams end. Then comes reservist, with my specialist appointment in late may before that. Hope to be excused from outfield or lower limb activities for the duration of my reservist. My gout's still unstable. Somehow it likes to give attacks on weekends for who-knows-what reason. But thank God it's not as bad as last time. Kinda swollen, and some pain, but it's still bearable at the moment. Still not to the point where I have to limp as though I broke my foot. Praying it won't get any worse than it already is now.

Praying at the moment also, about whether to take a step of faith and let her know how I feel about her, after my exams I mean. Don't have to be going into courtship; don't think I can commit to courtship as I'm still not financially stable yet, so I can't provide financially at the moment. Not to mention differing schedules at the moment as well. What I'm hoping for actually, is to move into a season of getting to know each other better, to see if courtship is what the Lord intends. Have not heard from the Lord regarding this as yet, so I'll have to wait and pray.

"Yet the LORD longs to be gracious with you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!" Isaiah 30:18