:: Tossed Salad and Scramble Eggs ::

:: Tuesday, December 31, 2002 ::

Music: I'm still Here - John Rzezik (alternative, cool song from treasure planet)

:: Stuffy 12/31/2002 05:07:00 AM [+] ::
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Surprising O Town isn't bad...try d/l this mp3...These are the days - O Town

:: Stuffy 12/31/2002 04:58:00 AM [+] ::
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Music: Lets sing like the Dixieland band - Louis Armstrong and bing crosby

Yeah, I haven't been blogging for the last few weeks. Haven't really been doing much except tumble down to school for orientation banner painting. I guess I've gotten to know my group members wellc a reliable bunch whom I'm proud of. (Joel kept messing up the area. Henceforth, anyone who screws up is now called a Joel lol)
Anyway, school starts in 2 days. For some reason, I'm not looking forward to the new year. Nope, it isn't really because of the As. Neither is it because i'm jaded. Hmm...probably its the lethargic syndrome coming back again. I just want to get more sleep. I don't think I can wait much longer until 12 o clock to countdown. Well, to add to the point, there isn't much incentive to countdown this year since we had our annual gathering earlier on the 23rd Dec.

Oh yea, speaking of the 23rd Dec, it was great get together. Went to Bugis for dinner and then headed down to Zhan's for gift exchanging. I guess thats the favourite part of it all! You get a good laugh out of every present opened. This year Zuck gave Elson a spray bottle labelled 'Get-Tall-Faster' and Tat a pacifier. History has it that both Elson and Tat are like Nitro and Glycerine put together. So Zuck's idea was to enhance the chaos by giving them 'weapons of mass destruction'. I also realised that this year alot of ladies undergarments are being exchanged. I really don't know why. Shit gave Elson ladies underwear and Elson gave Tat ladies underwear. (what is wrong with these people...).
The gifts I received were not much of a surprise. 3 squids (sotongs) in all shapes and sizes. A keychain squid from Zuck, a stuff toy squid from Zhan and a glow in the dark squid from Zuck. Hmm...I'm seriously thinking of starting an aquarium of water species. Specifically squids.
But gifts aren't as important as the company. I'm glad that we've been able to stick together through the year. And thats good. I hope it'll be the same next year and the following years. Was kinda upset that my powerpoint pj was quite a flop. Zhan didn't have powerpoint 2000 Millenium Ed. , so only the basic stuff could work. Well, I sure hope when they do upgrade they're computers they'll remember to look at it again. Sigh........of all things I forgot about the compatibility. (did I spell that correctly?)

Today was great too. Went to Dad's office to see the Young Children's African Choir. Its amazing what God does. I'm proud of my dad. There isn't much I could describe to you about these children, you have to witness for yourself to know the joy they possess. (I can safely garantee that you shall be in awe) Makes me feel quite ashame about my discontentment of such minor things. I shall keep you in suspense. Whoevers reading this blog, I would like to invite you to see these young people on Sat 4th January at Bethesda Frankel Estate Church at 7pm. Msg me for details.

:: Stuffy 12/31/2002 04:55:00 AM [+] ::
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Music: Ebony and Ivory - Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder

Sometimes, making other people happy is such a nice thing. Today was a great day and two wonderful things happened...

"Joy seems to me a step beyond happiness -- happiness is a sort
of atmosphere you can live in sometimes, when you're lucky. Joy
is a light that fills you with hope and faith and love."
-- Adela Rogers Saint Johns

:: Stuffy 12/21/2002 06:43:00 AM [+] ::
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Faith of a Centurion (Matthew 8:5-13)
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "Lord," he said, : my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering." Jesus said to him, " I will go and heal him." The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authoriy, with soldiers under me. I tell this one 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, " I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdome of heaven. But the sujects of the kingdom will be thrown, outside into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.

Sometimes we forget and underestimate the power of God.

:: Stuffy 12/17/2002 01:53:00 AM [+] ::
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Music:

I realized that if i were to continue giving you statistics and a description of all the places I've visited, I might as well write my own travel guide of Roma and make a few dollars out of it. Or, to save myself the trouble lonelyplanet.com has a nice description of several sight seeing attractions in Rome.

But just for the record. Visited the Vatican City (Vatican Museum and St Petro Basilica) After Rome, I went to Florence. It was much colder there. People there mostly come from Sweden and other parts of Europe, so most of them speak English (a real pleasure, I got to learn alot more about the culture). One thing I've noticed - Italians are a proud bunch. Geez, pride is first priority on they're list, then comes money making. Bargaining is not an issue; if you ever tried to bargain for a lower price of a good, they'll tell you to go find another shop which sells it at a cheaper price. Quite the opposite in places like China and Hongkong.
Visited Pompeii, and the Leaning Tower in Pisa, i counted the no. of steps up to the top, it was 262.
In any case, you would like a full detailed description of these places, feel free to dial 1800-Vapourize

On Thursday, went back to Roma and walked around the city, shopping for Christmas gifts.

The flight back home was a marvellous as the flight from home. Especially when the sun is on the other side and all is dark. Looking down from your window, you could see the pretty little lights from the small islands and the middle eastern lands. Passed Athens and passed Bagdad on the way home. It just looks so small. I wonder what is it like if i were in space.
The stars were beautiful. From the window, it looks as if it were on the same horizontal distance from you, just about 45 degreesYou know, star gazing should be done on a plane with a glass window on its top body. Hmm...if anyone is planning to go into aeronautical engineering (ie: Sam), please consider this.

:: Stuffy 12/10/2002 05:19:00 AM [+] ::
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Music: White Christmas - Frank Sinatra "I'm dreaming of a white christmas, just like the ones I use to know..."

Just came back from Rome today at 6am sg time. Had a wonderful time over there. 7 days, pizza, pasta, Italian coffee;pizza, pasta, Italian coffee;pizza, pasta, Italian coffee;pizza, pasta, Italian coffee;pizza, pasta, Italian coffee;pizza, pasta, Italian coffee. If I see one more plate of spaghetti vongulle infront of my face, i am going to squash the chef who made it...

Info: 1 Euro =S$1.80 ; Time 7hrs ahead of sg; Language most often spoken - Italian; Temperature at 1 atm - 8-16 degrees celsius

ROMA - 3days, 3 nights
Visted the Patheon, once a pagan temple of worship to the greek gods and goddesses, it was later converted to a Church when Constatine took over. Victor Emmanuel II (yes, that guy we always come across in Italy's Unification) is buried there. The dome is an almost perfect sphere, which is ever so majestic. If you stand in the middle of the Pantheon and look upwards, you could imagine the dome caving into you. Theres an opening at the centre of the dome (initially used to burn sacrifices to the greek gods), so theres a problem when it rains. On the walls, there are pictures of Mary and Jesus Christ with the hallows. Definitely Renaissance style paintings.


Roman Ruins
The Roman Forum held about 5 pagan temples whose pillars are still standing. Its nice to imagine what it would have been like during that golden period. Well, things get old and decay. But the structure, or whats left of it helps spur your imagination. Unfortunately(and most annoyingly), alot of the area is sealed from tourists for preservations.
The Colossium (Amphitheatre) was a good sight see. Stood there listening to some tourguide explaining what the colossium used to be. Gladiators were picked amongst criminals and slavemen. Within a year after its opening 7000 beasts and 2000 gladiators were killed. This one isn't hard to imagine what it was like. Its just as simple as alluding it to barbaric football fans in a stadium. 50,000 people could fill the amphitheatre by 76 entrances. Apparently, it didn't really take that long to fill the theatre because people were organised in such a way that they were allocated into different section of the amphitheatre. Men this side, women that, nobles over at the other end etc...

:: Stuffy 12/07/2002 07:21:00 AM [+] ::
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