it's hard not to love this bunch...

i was one of the sceptics about transformers: animated. simplistic looking transformers who look like humans with robot bits stuck on like a superhero costume just didn't really do it for me at first, you know?

they're giant friggin' robots for crying out loud! not magneto or superman or whatever superhero have you. transformers teen titans style? nah. no way and no thanks.

but man, was i wrong.

it seems like animated has chosen the path that made beast wars so damn good: they make you care. even though the tone is a little on the kiddy side, the characters are just so darn likeable. whether it's prime and his usual heroic repertoire, the stoic ninja prowl, the cantankerous veteran ratchet, the bumbling gentle giant bulkhead and the kinda-annoying-but-pretty-darn-gutsy bumblebee, they're just written in such a way that you can't help but feel and root for them.

i guess this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship.

why do...

some people just don't get the message even after getting their chops busted up before?

or when people around them are desperately trying to drill a message into their thick skulls?

beautiful seeds and seeds of discord

it's strange how people can grow up together, but a certain few will have their eyes obscured to the changes that come with it.

all of us grow up with time, mature, and eventually blossom with all the beauty and goodness that was placed within each of us. unlocked and coaxed into the world by the warm sunshine of family, the encouraging water of friends and the nourishing soil of knowledge and wisdom, we all begin as seeds that metamorphose, sometimes so quickly and rapidly, into forms that bring joy and richness to those around us.

alas that some should fail to see these changes and only see the plant that has sprouted. they do not see the gorgeous flowers nor do they see the rich fruits. neither do they see the seed, in which carries the potential to transform, not only the seed itself, but the lives of everyone around it.

such people merely see a plant that is to be harvested and used as seen fit. the flowers are seen as accessories for their own beautification and glorification, fruit for their consumption and satisfaction. the seeds? they are fortunate if they are edible, let alone usable and are therefore discarded without recognition of the wonders locked away within their husks, left to be trampled upon along the wayside.

it is easy to recognise the talents and faults one has when people meet for the first time. yet, it is truly a challenge to realise that such talents can grow and misgivings diminish, especially when they unfold right before our very eyes over time.

mysterious ways indeed...

saturday was a real lesson in the importance of good communication for me. and it left me mystified at just how He seems to make things work.

apart from getting lost around downtown east because i didn't hear jo properly about costa sands DOWNTOWN EAST, which to be fair to myself i had completely no knowledge of, and costa sands PASIR RIS (note to you costa sands people: IT'S DAMN FRIGGIN' CONFUSING WHEN YOU HAVE TWO COSTA SANDS CHALETS IN THE SAME DAMN AREA!), i had such a day in church that i won't soon forget.

tuesday was the first time i felt i was properly involved as the coordinator for 6.30pm's lectors and commentators, so having my first real test within the same week seems either really appropriate or just plain suay.

i'll try and cut a long story short: i send new roster, email gets lost in clutter, i don't check whether message was passed, no commentator for mass half an hour before it began, i sorta panic, commentator manages to get someone to sit in.

and i was reading on saturday to boot.

uncannily, my reading was about God working all the time, even quietly throughout the tough, testing and trying times.

and after the whole episode, it's something that i agree wholeheartedly with.

sometimes it just puzzles...

after attending my first lector and commentator comm meeting, it's kinda puzzling, yet at the same time, astounding, how people in a church all wish to serve God, but in their own distinct, individual styles.

despite the differences, the politics and sometimes, chaos, everything just seems to move along.

kelly used the classic "God works in mysterious ways" phrase.

she's right.

and only God can somehow get it all to work, despite the imperfections and inefficiencies.

and it feels funny to be involved in an exco again, not to mention being the newest and youngest head around.

"He works in ways,
we cannot see.
He will make a way for me."

song time

Built To Last
Mêlée

I've looked for love in stranger places
But never found someone like you
Someone whose smile makes me
Feel I've been holding back
And now there's nothing I can't do

Cos this is real, and this is good
It warms the inside just like it should
But most of all, most of all
It's built to last
(It's built to last)
It's built to last

All of our friends saw from the start
So why didn't we believe it too?
Yeah, now look where we are
You're in my heart now
And there's no escaping it for you

Cos this is real, and this is good
It warms the inside just like it should
But most of all, most of all
It's built to last

Walking on the hills that night
With those fireworks and candlelight
You and I were made to get love right

Cos this is real, and this is good
It warms the inside just like it should
But most of all, most of all
It's built to last
(It's built to last)

Cos you are the sun in my universe
Considered the best when we've felt the worst
And most of all, most of all
Most of all, most of all
Most of all, most of all
It's built to last

back at work and hopelessly lost...

it's the first day back at ibm after a month's absence thanks to school.

and i'm as lost as a sheep that has wandered into the dark, unfamiliar woods.

the month in school has left a fine coat of rust over my brain's ibm section that's proving rather hard to scrub off.

i seriously wish i had a nice, long break.

5 jan 2008 was a really good day because...

1) i somehow managed to sleep only 2 hours and get through the day. well almost.

2) helped uncle gerard shift his stuff from one flat to another across the hallway. with nick, we shifted his bedroom, gabby's and sabrina's bedrooms, his dining room and his living room, which included the honking big tv and hi-fi set.

3) i left home with 1 bag and came back with 3. left the house with 2 sets of clothes and returned with a huge tonne of clothes, including some mighty fine winter wear for sydney and oklahoma.

4) got a nice angpao for the moving work.

5) though i was late for mass by 10 minutes and i was commentating, it was probably one of the smoothest masses i've had in recent memory. even though i kinda drifted off to the border between deep prayer and sleep while father augustine sang his eucharistic prayer and had to rely on the organ playing the final doxology to jolt me back to reality. and i still changed the slide on time. woot.

6) helped a cabby out of waringin park while i was walking to godpa's to pick up my bags that gek lye ee ee and nick helped hold at their place. and i got a lift up the one slope for my trouble. haha.

7) the gift. as well as reaction. =)

8) as i approached the door when alighting at bishan, i saw this guy in the corner of my eye pump his fist as i squeezed my way to the front. as the doors opened, he said, "go man u!". needless to say, i was wearing my hargreaves united jersey, though i guess he was left a little disappointed as i walked out and asked his friend, "scholes?"

9) i'm pretty much in an unfazably good mood. the only person who drew some ire from me was this girl on the train with an awful fasion sense. even the little kid who tried to cut in front of me to get water while i ordered jie's kfc didn't so much get a frown from me. and having a flying fork (yeah, you read that right) bounce off my arm from the other counter simply drew raised eyebrows due to high amusement.

10) united won 2-0 in the fa cup with an r&r (ronaldo&rooney) strike in the last 10 minutes. and they were pretty nice looking moves to boot. and because i fell alseep and missed the first half, i pretty much got all the action that i needed. and since there was no premier league footy tonight, it meant no s**tball channel with their s**tty pundits with their s**tty "expert" punditry.

and i still haven't included hearing about ollie's pap cocktail function where all the mps called everyone "comrade". i had a ball with the animal farm and communist jibes after that. it's so ridiculous.

5 jan 2008 rocked.

totally.

change

a blog is a cyber soliloquy, really. in this small, tiny space in the world wide web, i enunciate my thoughts and experiences, seemingly to myself, articulating them into clearer, more streamlined stories and processes as i try to make sense of it all. at the same time, i usually do not engage anyone in direct conversation. yet, these words are here for all the world to see, like an invisible stage that i often fail to realise exists even as i re-enact and unfold my story upon it.

i am merely an actor, you, dear readers, are the audience and the blog is my stage.

hope you guys like the title change. i won't change the banner though.

after all, that's what my soliloquies are about most of the time anyway.

mommy, are the monsters gone yet?

aliens vs predator 2 might not be everyone's cup of tea. i suppose the plot was predictable, the carnage mindless and the details that only fans of both franchises would appreciate would be missed by most who did not watch the previous incarnations of either alien or predator.

but it did leave me with something to reflect upon.

the young daughter of the female protagonist asks her mother after they escape the nightmare of alien infestation and nuclear bombing of their former town if the monsters are gone as soldiers set up a defensive perimeter arond them.

who are the monsters?

the mindless aliens/xenomorphs, programmed by nature to kill and replicate?

or the hulk that is known as the predator, killing and taking body parts for trophys for sport?

or was it the government portrayed in the film? the same government that the people trusted to rescue them amidst their crisis, only to receive fiery, thermonuclear death at the hands of their very own air force.

or could it be that monster that is locked deep within each and every one of us?

are the monsters really gone?