"mr" Brown Ping Pong

Where's the trust?

I was at a queue after an elderly lady in NTUC, clearly, she was purchasing daily necessities for her home, she's got canned food, veggies, maggie mee etc on the side a bag of 5kg rice and a tin of biscuit. She asked the cashier if the tin of biscuit can be purchased at a much cheaper price if she hits $25 with her other purchases (the famous Purchase with Purchase deals from NTUC). Cashier nodded her head towards the elderly lady.

After putting the items through the scanner, the elderly lady will have to purchase the 5kg bag of rice in order to make it up to $25!

My heart goes out to this elderly lady, for one, she's really good at saving her $$ because most of the products she purchased were NTUC house brands, hence savings from purchasing other brands. Secondly, she made use of the extra discounts offered to elderly by NTUC on Tuesdays, 5% off their purchases! Thirdly, she bought the tin of biscuits at a discount by chalking up enough $ to qualify for it. Such a smart shopper!

Problem is.... all her stuff put together, is.... very HEAVY!

After I paid up for my tiny packet of gummy bears (to bribe my young niece hee hee), the elderly lady was still struggling to sort out her many shopping bags worth of groceries. So I offered my help. To help her carry to where she needs them to be. I figured, she will probably take a bus/train or at most walk a few blocks away, no big deal for me.

She said "NO, thank you" consistently but was happy by the kind gesture. She said that someone would be meeting her to help her with her stuff. So I thought ok, I left her to continue sorting out her nightmare of about 6 bags.

I was distracted at a corner shop and stopped in there for a minute or two before continuing my walk home... and guess what? The elderly lady has just crossed the roads in front of me, alone! Aiyo! I think she was afraid that I'll ran away with her stuff. And I dun blame her for it.

Again, I walk up to her and offered my services... again she denied it. Well, I guess its hard to believe that there's someone who is wiling to help. But that kampong spirit of helping your neighbors is not so evident in our current HDB homes. We live with suspicion of each one that passes us by. There's little trust in the fellow being next to you anymore. Scary but its true.

got me my 3G iPhone!

yahoo!!!!!!!

never knew I was going to get it tonight, came as a surprise to me when Ad told me in the afternoon that we ARE going to the launch of the 3G iPhone tonight... or rather the very 1st min of 22nd of August!

We alighted along Killiney Road and the people queuing to get into the building for their phone for the min past midnight is CRAZILY long! It was 1140pm at night!!! Why are there hundreds of Singaporean in the queue for a phone?



There were giant screens doing countdown..... just to ensure that the crowd has a fair idea of how long more is their long awaited iPhone going to reach their hands hee....



Oops, round the bend, there was ANOTHER queue! This time they were queuing infront of a new structure that looked like the NY Apple Cube which has been replicated in many countries subsequently....


These folks looked HOT under the tentage, no one would believe that its almost midnight here.... the heat is ON!
Has there been any company out there who dares to pull a stunt like this? Launching at midnight and expecting a crowd+media+cab support? Never! Even the cab driver who took us home was asking us a million question about the iPhone even about WHEN is he going to get HIS iPhone... considering that he just placed his order last Fri.... I think maybe much later! Taxi uncle was asking about surfing on the iPhone, dun play play! iPhone is really opening up the internet world to so many MORE! Cool!

Here's the "cube"


Its wrapped up like a giant present with lots of new 3G iPhones inside.... *slurp*


Following a countdown and the "unwrapping" of the cube-present, there were fireworks on the roof! That kinda thrilled us for a while hee... but you can sense that the crowd really just want to get their hands on the iPHONE! *hurry*

And the 1st guy who registered for the iPhone in Singapore got his goodie! This lucky chap was the focus of many many cameras, video-cameras, mobile phone cameras and the envy of MANY! For him, his wait started in June!

Applause for this lucky dude!



As for me, I din go home empty handed as well.... I got meself a new 3G iPhone too!! hee... not too bad for a night's out *wink*
anyone wanna borrow my new 3G iPhone?

Table Tennis Women's Singles QF on tv is like this....

to see the scores changing before your eyes can be very exciting too! Esp. when you've seen how each player has played previously... knowing their strengths and weakness... we cant help but sigh very loudly when we lose a point or seeing how close to winning a match it when Feng TW was playing against world no. 1 Zhang YN. So close.... but Zhang YN is like table tennis queen, she can control the ball so well.... we knew that Feng TW has absolutely no chance.... but she did win one set against her in this women's singles QF. Not bad lah, they are 5 world ranking different apart right?

Authentic Friendships

I like this passage & its explanation. How often do we find an authentic friend whom we can confess our weakness with? How often can we admit our failures to another human being and seek humbly for forgiveness?

I am very thankful that I've been very blessed with many of these individuals who does not leave me in the lurch when I'm in pain, in agony, in despair, in denial, in anger, in frustrations, etc. They hang around, show me the way, be that wise ass that i need. For you folks, THANK YOU! *muaks*

Pray that you'll be blessed too!
(but i think we'll have to start with ourselves first....)

=========================================================
Authentic Friendships
by Rick Warren


But if we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other. Then the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from every sin. If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:7–8 (NCV)


*** *** *** ***

In Christian fellowship people should experience authenticity.

Authentic fellowship is not superficial, surface-level chit-chat. It’s genuine, heart-to-heart, sometimes gut-level, sharing.

It happens when people get honest about who they are and what is happening in their lives. They share their hurts, reveal their feelings, confess their failures, disclose their doubts, admit their fears, acknowledge their weaknesses, and ask for help and prayer.

Authenticity is the exact opposite of what you find in many churches. Instead of an atmosphere of honesty and humility, there is pretending, role-playing, politicking, superficial politeness, and shallow conversation.

People wear masks, keep their guard up, and act as if everything is rosy in their lives. These attitudes are the death of real friendship.

It’s only as we become open about our lives that we experience authentic fellowship. The Bible says, “If we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other. . . . If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves” (1 John 1:7–8 NCV).

The world thinks intimacy occurs in the dark, but God says it happens in the light. We tend to use darkness to hide our hurts, faults, fears, failures, and flaws. But in the light, we bring them all out into the open and admit who we really are.

Of course, being authentic requires both courage and humility. It means facing our fear of exposure, rejection, and being hurt again.

Why would anyone take such a risk?

Because it’s the only way to grow spiritually and be emotionally healthy. The Bible says, “Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed” (James 5:16 MSG).

GPS location for ALL ur PHOTOS! C905

This C905 baby is a dreamer! Watch this YouTube and you'll understand why!



isn't this FABULOUS for travellers? No need to worry about finding address of that great shop or makan place anymore!!! Yahoo!

Does anyone want to contribute to my C905 funding?

Olympics to me....

We've been trying to catch bits of the Olympics on tv whenever we can. Its not an event that occurs everyday. What fascinates me is always the diving, gymnastics and swimming. I love watching the different sports persons push their barriers and perform beyond our wildest expectations.

It was a historical moment when the Koreans lost their 24years top position in archery to China. I can feel their pressure even when we are a few thousand miles away, watching them behind the box.

I was amazed at how Michael Phelps could swim so FAST! In his 100m swim, he wasnt even leading in the first 50m, but that sudden burst at the last 50m.... felt like he had an engine underneath that water. Impressive.

Synchronized diving was another sport that amazed me this time when I saw how the world champions from China do their nearly perfect dives. They have perfect synchronization even in the slow motion playback. That was so unbelievable. I wonder how many million dives have they jumped before they could achieve such perfect dives.

When you look at each of these athletes, they are all just one individual, from humble background. Who pursued their dreams, persevered in trying to achieve their goals. The amount of sweat, blood, tears that has gone into their training must have weighed buckets. For their determination, I salute them.

On screen, you can also often see the gymnast falling off the poles, landing on their knees, that feeling of failure must be immense for them. To be able to put aside that lousy feeling, pull themselves together and garner more courage to continue on with their item. That to me is real courage and maturity.

Well, the most exciting moment must have been getting sms updates from Alvin who was watching the table tennis semis LIVE! His smses kept me on my toes, wishing that i was right infront of the tv at that moment!!

It was a proud and joyful moment when we knew that we will definitely WIN a medal! At last, we wont be just a tiny red dot, we'll be a tiny red dot with some decent paddlers. hee hee

I was going to sing MAJULAH SINGAPURA but all my friends were not into expressing their love for their country so openly... so I just have to secretly sing that in my heart lor.

Here's to more exciting matches!

Coming Soon- C905