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BLOGGER
Youngest kid of six with an inferiority and black sheep complex, but determined that God saves not just his soul to heaven but the remainder of his manic-depressive life, so others won't say he became a Christian and remained a jerk.
MAIN THEMES
On identity i won't be transparent before i'm opaque. and you'll get to know me starting from the small things: who my favourite bands are. what kind of movies i like. who are my heroes. On Christianity I’m convinced that when confronted with sincere, real love, the Jesus factor will become obvious. But let’s not plant the cross before we carry it. I’m not trying to con you. On dreams Some dreams are meant to be achieved. I know that. But maybe other dreams are meant to drive us, privately. Never known to anyone but ourselves.
OTHER THEMES
On melancholy It is a sadness that, when choosing between crying and sighing, will choose sighing. I'd almost say that melancholy is being sad about sadness itself. On memory and nostalgia It saddens me when life moves forward and people decide that certain things are worth forgetting. On language I've learnt that the word irregardless is filed as a non-standard word in the English language. That's a lexicographer's way of saying it's not a real word. On politics Crowds are fickle things. So when we stand in the thousands and cry against the present government, do we know who we're actually crying for? On society People always want the best for themselves. But I want to sometimes take second or third or fourth best, just so that the loser down the road doesn't always have to come in last. It must feel like shit to always come in last. On growing old Leasehold property make me feel sad. It doesn't matter how old the family photos are that you put on your wall. It's your family but it's not really your wall. On philosophy I ask you, if God loves everyone, and if God is also incapable of loving evil, how can there be such a thing as an evil man? On a daily basis One line quips, like this. CHAT
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Wednesday, June 30, 2010
La meme nuit by Gracie OttoLabels: reminder Genusfrog [
4:22 pm ]
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Wednesday, February 03, 2010
 There is a landfill. it sits across town, maybe even across state, from where you live. every evening, you put the trash out and someone brings it there. and then, there's a furnace. they're not the same. no difference with our sins. sometimes, we push our sins around, from one compartment in our hearts to another. and we dig deep holes so we can bury it and keep it far from sunlight. and we think that's a good way to deal with sin. just like how we think landfills is a good way to deal with our trash. but we can bring our sins, like our daily waste, to a furnace, where it can be burnt up. we can light a match and watch it go up in smoke. scientifically, furnaces generate heat and heat is an energy source. so burning up your daily trash is one way to renew energy source. unlike a landfill, it's not just a spacehog. it's actually good for something. and so is bringing your sins to get burnt up. so the question for myself - and all of us, i guess - is this: have we been moving our private trash from one place in our lives to another, digging holes to cover it up and dressing it so no one notices? maybe it's time we went to the giant furnace on which Jesus hung, and emptied our trashcans at his feet. after all, did he not become trash so that we didn't have to keep it all inside? Labels: christianity, stuff Genusfrog [
4:47 pm ]
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3 comments
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
 Life moves fast. and it's easy to forget that as it flutters by, new memories are being made. athalia and i have started a blog together called These glorious days. i like to think that it arrests the everyday mundane moments so that we can grow old safe in the knowledge that we're leaving behind a trail with which we can use to reminisce. you can journey with us by clicking here. Labels: growing old, identity, internet, memory and nostalgia Genusfrog [
2:41 pm ]
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Thursday, December 03, 2009
World Cup fever is back. And with the draw taking place on Friday, I just want to get a theory out of the way, and to do it now, so that when it happens, you can point your amazed fingers back to this blog and say that Fergus said it first.South Africa will get an easy group. They are the hosts. They'll get all the help FIFA can give to make sure they get out of the group stage. And to fix this, they will be placed in a group of easy teams. The pots go like this: Pot 1: South Africa, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain, England, Argentina, Holland Pot 2: France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia Pot 3: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay Pot 4: Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Mexico, Honduras My theory goes like this: (1) The draw is likely to have been rigged in some way if South Africa completely avoids any of the following teams: Pot 2: France or Portugal Pot 3: Ivory Coast Pot 4: South Korea or Australia (2) The draw is almost surely to have been rigged if South Africa final draw comprises, from each pot, the following teams: Pot 2: Slovenia or Slovakia Pot 3: Algeria Pot 4: North Korea, New Zealand or Honduras (3) The draw is definitely 100% shamelessly rigged if South Africa's group ends up looking like this: South Africa / Slovakia / Algeria / Honduras (4) The draw is definitely not rigged if South Africa's group looks like this: South Africa / Portugal / Ghana / South Korea And while I'm at it, here's my vision of the deadliest possible group of death: Spain / France / Ivory Coast / Australia Labels: football Genusfrog [
2:04 am ]
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Sunday, November 08, 2009
 i've never really wondered why critical thinking, as a learning method, has always been the domain of western education. chinese education prides itself in diligence and rote learning but i've never heard of a chinese school that fostered asking lots of probing, critical questions. i've always taken this as a given, but i've recently stumbled on what's possibly the fundamental reason why. in mandarin, the words for "question" is "wen ti". but "wen ti" doesn't only mean "question". "wen ti" also means "problem". it all clicked. if asking a question is phoenetically identical to introducing a problem, you're not gonna ask many questions. when someone says "wo mei you wen ti", they are essentially making a simultaneous double comment that when "i don't have a question", "i don't have a problem". questions are not associated with discovery, wonderment, understanding, truth, or clarity. questions are associated with problems. and nobody wants problems. so nobody asks questions. i fully understand that the chinese tradition largely ignores asking questions because it's not really the confucian way of learning, which is pretty much one-way traffic from senior to junior. but something tells me that the double meaning of this mandarin term is at least partly responsible for generations of chinese teachers who would rather you just shut up and listen. Labels: language Genusfrog [
3:33 pm ]
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2 comments
Thursday, October 29, 2009
 What i'm about to write is something i'm still wrapping my head around. if it's offensive, or factually erronneous, or full of holes, engage me on it. * a lot of christians keep a close eye on israel and the israel situation. because of the origins of our faith, it's not only natural but almost intuitive to do so. i also know a lot of christians who are very pro-israel. my own pastors are leading the line on this, so again, i think this position is fairly mainstream. but there are things about israel - and christians' unequivocal support of them - that bug me. i guess at the heart of what i'm struggling to understand is this: is the israel of today the same israel as that of that of the old testament? or perhaps i could finetune the question a little. is national israel today the same israel as that of the old testament. one more finetune. is national israel today the same "israel" as that of the old testament. i can understand it if christians are looking at an old testamental israel with hopes of the endtimes. i can understand it if christians bless an old testamental israel because God said that whoever curses them will be cursed. it's not that i don't get it. but what israel are we fixated on today? the old testamental israel was an israel of a testament. they were an israel of a promise. this present day national israel does not look like that israel. when i read the papers, it hurts to see that the national israel of today's trust rests not in their God YHWH, but in a nuclear stockpile and an allyship with the united states. what is so "israel" about this israel? i'm a chinese christian. i know nuts about what it means to be semitic. but i know that israel's finest moments have always been when the odds were stacked against them and they trusted God to deliver them. sometimes, by sheer miracle (the parting of the sea), sometimes by sheer absurdity (jericho's walls), and even many times by military strength (david's many conquests). but the God of the old testament also did say that it is not by might nor by power but by the Spirit, and this is the same God who wouldn't let David build his temple because of the blood he shed. as a christian, i wish i had a testamental israel to look towards for the hope of escathology. but no such israel seems to exist. the existing israel's trust is not in God - chosen people of God that they supposedly are. they protect themselves like how north korea and pakistan protect themselves. what's so special about an israel that looks like that. maybe it's also apt to ask what's so special about any christian nation that protects itself like that. nothing. nationalist militaristic nations are, if i may adapt the yiddish term, goyische, and i have no intention to fixate on them. national israel today is a goyische israel. why is the christian church so fixated about a goyische national israel? i'm not. i'm not even impressed. nothing about the middle east today, and its conflicts, inspires me to love and revere this same YHWH more. as a bypassing observer of the mainstream press, the nation we learned to love in the old testament today bears for me an embarrasing testimony to the rest of the world. just more of the same weapons, only in different hands. really, what's so special about it? Labels: christianity, politics, violence Genusfrog [
3:10 pm ]
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Thursday, October 15, 2009
 Labels: defeat, melancholy, quote Genusfrog [
12:16 pm ]
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Saturday, October 10, 2009
 Is that you in my sketchup model fergs Labels: 00moo oomoo [
1:02 am ]
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3 comments
Thursday, October 01, 2009
 There's a big difference between working very hard for the man and working very hard building your own house. i've slogged before as an employee. it feels like chickenshyte. you feel like they're sucking the life out of you. and now, i'm slogging as a business owner, but i'm feeling the difference. it's tiring. it's more tiring. and sometimes, it's just downright rubbish, but when you sit back and look at the work you've done, there's a sense of satisfaction because this thing now belongs to you. and you've planted a tree into your own business' frontyard. and when this tree starts fruiting, i'll be here to pick it up. and for all the exhaustion, i've not been feeling as spiritually bankrupt as the working hours suggest i should be. i guess i'm seeing some purpose behind all the rigours of my current life. Labels: exertion, growing old, survival Genusfrog [
6:08 pm ]
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3 comments
Thursday, September 24, 2009
BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS Labels: bible, christianity Genusfrog [
9:54 pm ]
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Tuesday, September 22, 2009
SO, HOW CAN WE FILL THAT GAP?Throw a party in January. Labels: daily Genusfrog [
2:33 pm ]
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Monday, September 21, 2009
IF WE WANT THEM TO COME ON WEDNESDAYS...... we need to go on Tuesdays. Labels: daily Genusfrog [
2:32 pm ]
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Sunday, September 20, 2009
SHE'S LIKE THIS MEGA BRITNEY FAN(I think we've had this conversation before) Labels: daily Genusfrog [
2:30 pm ]
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Saturday, September 19, 2009
WHY IS THIS TOILET BOWL THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS?Maybe it can hold you to sleep at night. Labels: daily Genusfrog [
2:27 pm ]
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Friday, September 18, 2009
SNIFF SNIFFThe consequences come dripping. Labels: daily Genusfrog [
2:24 pm ]
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Thursday, September 17, 2009
ALL NIGHTERMust I really do this at every office I work in? Labels: daily Genusfrog [
2:18 pm ]
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Wednesday, September 16, 2009
AESTHETIC 02 "They're reliving our early days, honey." Labels: daily Genusfrog [
12:37 pm ]
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Tuesday, September 15, 2009
SPLIT SCREENSThat's it! Labels: daily Genusfrog [
12:35 pm ]
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Monday, September 14, 2009
SILICONE CHIP...gets switched to overload. Labels: daily Genusfrog [
12:32 pm ]
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Sunday, September 13, 2009
DINNERYou know it went well when your goodbyes last half an hour. Labels: daily |