Friday, November 30, 2007

HOW DOES SHE KNOW THAT YOU LOVE HER

L.O.V.E - I'm learning to sing this famous old tune by the late Nat King Cole of the mid 1950s. Nat was an American legend. His music thrives even till now with contemporary artistes today covering some of his best hits. This song, for the record, peaked the billboard in 1964, seven months after the Beatles hit the Ed Sullivan Show. And each time it plays on my stereo, it just makes me smile. Nat Cole sang of love like it was the most beautiful thing alive. Like a fire unquenchable. He sang of a love that is rapturous, playful and one that always prevails. He sang a song of fantasy. Oh - you bet!

But of course, it doesn't take a rocket scientist or a clergyman to know that love brings the happiest moments and the sad ones too.

One friend is reading this book titled I Give Dating A Chance.



I bet she's ready to fall in love anytime soon. Maybe she already has :D

Talking about love brings me to this simple giving principle I learned recently.

"You can give without loving someone. But you cannot love a person without giving."

This is what it means to say. You can give beautiful flowers to your girlfriend without loving her. But you can't love your girlfriend and not give anything to her! This is the very nature of love - it GIVES and will continue to give! And what you give to a person is a measure of the VALUE of that person to you. If your girlfriend is of great value to you, then you would want to give something that is of great value to yourself. (You don't just propose to a girl with a ring you buy at the flea market, do you? You'll starve everyday just to save enough money to buy her the most brilliant diamonds!) And that is why another attribute of love is SELF-SACRIFICIAL! Above all, love is more than just saying, "I love you", it is also marked by remember birthdays and anniversaries and shown by a generous liberal giving attitude. Like how newly-wed husbands would pick a Tiffany and Co and not Perlini Silver for his wife?! Without giving, there is no value to back up to whatever you're saying.

At times when I struggle with paying my tithes, I would be reminded of this little principle. How can I love God with all my heart, soul and mind when I am reluctant to even fork out one-tenth of my increase and lay it on the altar. My praise to God and love for Him will be empty if my tithes are still in my pocket. Because the tribute has not been paid. And with the same principle, God is not so much interested with the amount we put into the offering bag every week. Because no angel is going to descend, collect the cash and bring it up to rebuild some of heaven's infrastructure. God is looking at the way we value him by what we are willing to sacrifice.

Anyway, the past few days have been awesome because I get to spend time with some people. Hah.




Lastly, one trick I was taught. Buy a Perlini Silver chain and wrap it up with a Tiffany and Co's box. That way, nobody knows! OOPS! =D

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

TOUCHED DOWN

Hello mate! I'm finally back after 25 grueling days of seeing sand, feeding mosquitoes and watching the sun rise at 4.30AM.

And I'm surprised I actually enjoyed the exercise. Or rather, I really embrace the culture, the pace and the very friendly people who reside in Australia. The place we went to was a city at Central Queensland called Rockhampton. If you need to know, it's approximately 640 kilometres north of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane. The locals there brand themselves as the Rockies!

So what's different in Rockhampton mate?

1. SIZE

Typically, everything you find there is 1.5 times the size of what's in Singapore. The Aussie egg yokes are bigger. The people are much bigger built. Their soft drinks are bigger. Even their houseflies are double the size!

2. CLIMATE

The sun rises at 4.30AM I swear! By 6 in the evening, the sky is almost completely dark. The day is longer than the night. And the air temperate will decrease at dusk. So technically, we got to enjoy free air-con every night! But when it hit 3AM, it would get so bloody cold that everyone simply cringed and covered their entire body with their sleeping bags.

3. STUPIDITY

The houseflies are remarkably fat, stupid and slow. There were occasions when we were swarmed by more than 20 flies PER person. And they would stick on us even when you were walking! My buddies were insanely smacking them with their jockey caps to pass time. Piak! And another fell onto the ground.

4. AMICABILITY

Hello mate! How're ya doing today? That expression came out so freely from their mouths. And people were genuinely friendly. And that made conversing almost effortless! One time, I went to grab a soda from the store and the shop keeper offered me a candy she was munching to, hey mate, want a Mentos? In Singapore, you sometimes have trouble even asking for an extra plastic bag!

5. FATTER & PRETTIER GIRLS

People there were generally obese. Amass the fats of 3 fat kids and you'll find enough fuel to launch a space-craft into air. And many times, I felt like an asian David standing beside the blonde Goliaths. It could get really intimidating at times. Hah. But just let me just take out my sling!

On the other hand, the girls there were much hotter then our local chicks. I shall not attempt to elaborate more lest a mob comes chasing me with knives. But seriously, it's Total Ownage. Monster Kill!

6. CLOSING TIME

This is the only one thing that bothered me! Majority of their shopping mall closes at 5PM! On weekends, their gates were down even earlier - like at 3PM? So unless you live in the more happening cities like at Sydney or Melbourne, you can expect to ending your shopping spree after lunch time which I must say is excruciatingly depressing!





Thursday, November 01, 2007

TELL ME YOU'RE GONNA LOVE ME

I'll be flying off to Rockhampton, Queensland Australia today and I won't be around for the next 3 weeks. So there won't be new updates till then - DUH.

Anyway, I've just written and recorded another song yesterday. Chad says it's modelled after Jimmy Eat World's 23. Oh well (:

Just take a listen!

Purevolume | Mediafire

Tell Me You're Gonna Love Me


Tell me you're gonna love me
You're gonna take me
Sing a song that I can be

Save me cus you can't lose me
When you protect me
Keeps me falling to my knees

Use me I pray you'll find me
When you took the
Price to give me a new life

Heal me and hold me deeply
With your hands you
Took the nails and died