Cycling at East Coast Park

Went to East Coast Park to cycle on Monday with Jon. It was drizzling slightly although NEA's weather report said it was going to be cloudy only. Still, it was OK because when we started cycling proper the rain almost stopped.

Just realized that cycling is really one of the (few) outdoor activities I like! However I have slight trouble mounting and dismounting from the bike (height issues), and my bottoms get sore rather quickly so I can't ride for very long. But it's nice to sail along the road and just feel like 'getting along' to somewhere leisurely without having to walk! (How lazy I am.)

East coast park is a nice place to cycle in firstly because it's really BIG and you can just go on for kilometers along it, and stop by here and there to watch people fish, skate, bike, camp etc. The road is in very good condition too, unlike in Pulau Ubin where we have to go on rocky stretches and sandy areas sometimes.

I don't really know why I enjoyed the experience. I did not really look around for scenic views around me when I was biking, because I was too busy keeping my eyes along the road. I wasn't too good at steering and there were young kids skating about and crossing the road here and there. Didn't want to crash into them. But it felt nice just 'following' the road mechanically and just riding on and on and on.

Somehow I think that's how I'm like too. Sailing along the road and riding on and on and on in a routine, and just feeling good about it.

But that's not enough - there's more to life than that.

His Dwelling Place

I didn't exactly share this during BS today because I haven't gathered my thoughts about it. But when we watched the video on how much God loved men, so that He dwelt amongst them I was very touched.

God in the heavens approached Abraham, and later brought the people of Israel out of Egypt in the form of a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. He then dwelt among the people in the Ark of the Covenant - not just a part of Him, but the whole of Him. When the Israelites settled down, God dwelt in the temple King Solomon built and the temple was filled with His glory.

When the temple was destroyed by the Assyrians, God dwelt amongst men centuries later, in the physical form of Jesus Christ. Then when Jesus died and was resurrected, God dwelt in His children in the form of the Holy Spirit.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body," (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

At first I thought it was really un-thought of for God to dwell in the Ark. After all it was just kind of a box, even though it was a box made of gold. And what was Solomon's fine temple to Him? Merely a destructible human structure. And Jesus coming down to dusty, dry, Israel, living a normal life without any comfort.

But finally what struck me the most was God choose to dwell in us now, in our bodies as a temple. Which is hardest to dwell in - the golden ark, the temple, the land of Israel - or a body of a man? I think that body is the hardest place. The body which is the unredeemed part of ourselves, which often is a launchpad to sin. The body which is a Christian's continuous source of struggle to live a holy life.

And God did not despise our bodies, but rather cherished our redeemed souls to reside in it.

Today during lab training I made a number of mistakes. I felt really bad, because I felt that I did not do justice to the effort my trainer put in to teach us. I wanted to do well, just to please him, for he had really been a good teacher.

Yet God has done so much more for me, but I sometimes do not desire to please Him as much. I like how Simon put it last week (I wasn't present for BS but Jon took notes). He said we should confess our sins daily, aloud. So that we become disgusted with our sins, and identify with God's contempt for sin. Only then we would strive to be holy. To be like God - to honor Him through our bodies. God should not be staying in a defiled temple.

I pray that my body would be a clean and holy dwelling place for Him. It takes effort to clean up. But when we know who we're doing it for - and what He has already done for us, it is a pressing and necessary deed.

Aloha Hols

An unexpected stretch of holidays coming ahead for me! I won't be working next Monday - Thursday. Monday is Singapore's presidential elections off-in-lieu holiday and Tuesday is Hari Raya. Wednesday and Thursday are the days I start shift, and it so happens that my team is 'off' or resting that day. So my supervisor decided to let me untung two days and hence I suddenly have a nice stretch of six days free (including the coming weekend).

Some of my colleagues and my supervisor suggested that I go home but in the end I've decided against it because:

1. I've already went home this week, and going home often is a very tiring business (I hate crossing customs). Also this means that I'll most likely come back late which will make me tired for my first seven-day shift marathon. And besides I don't want Daddy to drive all the way down to Malacca to fetch me during school days.

2. We're having a cooking session on Saturday to cook for the Sunday school teachers of our church. As I hardly serve much in my current church this is kind of an occasion to serve which I don't want to miss out.

3. I want to spent one of my rare FREE weekends in Singapore with my church friends. Seeing that most of my other free weekends are most likely going to be spent at home in the future.

4. OK this is probably not the most exciting plan for a long holiday but I need to review all my training modules too otherwise I will forget everything during shift and probably no one would be free enough to help me check through every teeny weeny step I've done and pounce on my mistakes. They always say it's stressful to do stuff with pairs of eyes watching, but I've always been grateful for those eyes. Unfortunately, this luxury is going to end after my day-training sessions.

5. I want to catch up with a few persons during this long break. Let's see who I can dig out.

6. I want to have some me-time (a day of it) on Wed & Thur. Don't ask me what I'm doing, even I don't know. But narcissistics need 'me-times', and I belong to that gang. It's either for improvement or leisure purposes. Need that time to prep myself up for shift.

Waking and Learning

I'm getting a bit tired of this waking up marathon already. But wait till shift work starts! I'm sure it will make me miss my regular routine.

But once I get up and reach the bus stop it's not so bad. At least I can sleep on the bus. And I'm getting to know so many new people from different departments too. I'm glad my month of newbies all bonded together quite well. They are fun people.

I'm learning a tonne of new things at work everyday. Really I didn't expect to learn so much. I had to narrow down options and put boundaries around the things I absorb each day to make sure that I don't get too much to take in. At first I really thought lab is about entering data into systems, and doing hands-on testing. But it's fun to learn about the systems themselves. We're going deep into chromatography now, and I got to ask the trainer on how the system works (in the scientific sense), something that I've learned about in my chem engineering modules.

I think even after two years, I'll still be absorbing new knowledge. There are no end of things to learn, and that is what exactly I would want a job I undertake to be like. Continuous learning, in many different ways.

Giving

Today Simon shared a testimony. He gave his Bible away to a lady in Philippines who made a decision after his message. She promised to read it every day. It was not easy for him to part with that Bible - it has accompanied him for many years and it was his favorite Bible. Yet he did, he parted it and entrusted it to a stranger, who is now a sister in Christ.

I just find it hard to do the same if I was in his shoes. I have three personal Bibles. One English KJV and a Chinese Bible from Mummy. Also another Chinese Bible from Daddy. Just wondering what I'd do if I was asked to give away any of them. The English KJV one with Mummy's writing and message inside? Or my old Chinese Bible that has been with me since I was 8 or 9. Or my newer Chinese Bible from Daddy which is the first Bible he has ever given me shortly after he accepted Christ?

I just think that if I need to, I will have to - a person's soul is dearer to God than any worldly possession is to me. And God loves a cheerful giver (though I'd cry buckets of tears at the same time after parting).

Some decisions are difficult. I was not asked to make this one. But I'm sure that this is not going to be the hardest decision / separation in my whole life. Indeed, sometime we are even called to give someone dearest to our hearts. He giveth and taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

House Warming and Other Stuff

Went to Swee Yee + Sijia's + Zjun's house yesterday to warm it up with human presence. Zjun wasn't around because she went for overseas training. They cooked us a nice dinner (which I suddenly recall we didn't pay for, opps). I think it was my first 'Coca-Cola Chicken' experience, thanks to Sijia. We talked a lot, and came home late. Still it was worth it catching up with Swee Yee, Sijia, Zhi Qi, Shu Ying, and Lee Hoong (who kept saying the wrong things).

It took a long one hour plus trip to get there and another to return. But Jerome, Jon and I were playing a silly game on the MRT so I was practically laughing all the way back. It's something that goes like 'Ways to Get a Seat on MRT' or other silly topics like that and each of us have to give one solution till we run out of ideas.

We had a nice afternoon after-church outing in BV eating chicken rice too, which ended with us playing Board Games at our place (JonT, JonC, Gid, WM, and myself). I love our place becoming some board game hub now! Hopefully I still have time for that when I'm on shifts.

Going home is going to be a bit tricky now bus return tickets are sold out. Will have to look for other bus companies for alternatives.

And today I'm the only new staff in my lab without a user id. Reason being I was an intern before this and the US IT branch wants reasons on why my account was deactivated earlier. Sigh. I do dislike these forms of business communications.

Orientation

The first day of my official New Employee Orientation is over. I expected to be bored because this is the 2nd time I'm going through this (went through it just last year as an intern). In the end it turned out not too bad. I think this is a good refresher course - because I've already forgotten the names of the big-shots heading the US headquarters. And oh no, I still can't remember most of them even now!

It was also my 2nd time fighting fire with a fire extinguisher. Took a smaller one because I knew that I couldn't use the big ones properly as I'll have trouble lifting them. Glad I managed to extinguish the fire by myself this time! I could extinguish it last time too, but I think it was because of all the prompting coming from the side. :S

And the best best best part of today was (besides getting an enormous lunch for just $2, complete with fruits + drinks + free salad), getting to go back at 4.30 p.m! And I reached home 20 minutes earlier than usual - even after dropping by the library in NEX and borrowing 4 books! Also, tomorrow I can take the 7.50 am bus instead of the usual 720 am/730 one. AN EXTRA 15 - 20 MINUTES OF MORNING SLEEP!

On an unrelated note: I'm really getting to like Julia Golding's books more and more. Think she specializes well in fantasy fiction stories. I don't know what I'm going to read after I've finished all her books and Agatha Christie's collection in the library. :S

Home Last Week, and other random stuff.

I went home last Friday - or to be more precise, the train left around 12 am on Saturday. Spent about a day and a half in Tampin celebrating my birthday, and just hanging around at home.

It was very tiring to travel back in the middle of the night (poor Daddy had to wake up to fetch me). I tried not to sleep to much during the day but in the end I spent 3 hours napping in the afternoon. :S So much for thinking that my new working schedule ( 9 am - 5 pm as of now), has reduced my need for naps. When shifts start, naps will be THE way of life.

I have decided to find a way to avoid train trips from Tampin back to Singapore in the future. I don't mind enduring it all the way back home (5 hours and maybe more for a 3 hour trip), because it's easy for Daddy to come out and fetch me, but I don't see a point spending 7 hours travelling back (door to door), and having to wake up as early as 5.50 am the next morning.

Anyway that aside. I think I like my job! It's not something usual in a sense that doing lab work is not one of my core competencies (if I have any, that is). Documentation is, but testing is not. I need to always be very, very cautious. Everything must be done in the first run (or else). And my supervisor is really very careful with paperwork (and everything else). He's a very good role model. But that means that he would expect the chemists in the lab to be likewise - which is in a sense rather stressful. But still, he's a nice superior to work with.

I think my colleagues is the reason why I don't have Monday blues (at least till now). They are fun and friendly people. :D

Oh yes. Something I always wanted to blog about long ago. I was stuck with manga 'Liar Game' a month ago. Watched the movie, and finished reading the manga (up to the latest version which was done about one year ago). Would highly recommend this for people who like thinking. Lots of delicious intellectual twists here and there (though quite predictable), and interesting characters. The full version of the manga can be found online.

Okies that's all for this post. Tomorrow I'll need to be up 10 min earlier than usual so as not to miss the orientation bus (you are not expected to understand this term).