No Smoke Without Fire

I had gone to the costume shop in town to return my Pirate's costume and had decided to take a bus back home. I walked over to Bugis and boarded the 960 which was waiting there for me. I got on the bus, and true to form, I was asleep within 4 bus stops.

Sometime later, the bus stopped and the air conditioning system went off. I was like, "OK, are we at the interchange yet?" I cracked open my eyes and took a peek. We were somewhere on the expressway. I thought I saw the bus driver walk past my seat (on the outside) toward the back of the bus. My next thought, "Can sleep some more (c:" As I closed my eyes, I caught the smell of hot metal ( I hope you know what I mean) and I had to open my eyes again and look behind to see what was happening. I saw smoke.

"That's interesting!" One lady in the second last seat spoke up and said, "Can we pleased open the door and exit the bus. There is a lot of smoke here." She was so calm, I was impressed! "When we get off the bus, we should move to the front, aware from the danger." I was even more impressed. So cool.

Someone opened the doors and we stepped out. Within about 5 minutes, the next 960 came by, stopped and picked most of us up. Took that bus all the way home.

I was tired but happy.

So Amma gives me a call tonight and asks if I am able to talk 'privately'. She wanted to 'discuss' something with me. Of course by now I am all alert and wondering what is coming up next.

Soon Amma gives me the low down. She had gone for this extended family gathering over the weekend, and there she met up with some of her friends from some time ago. Chit-chat-chit-chat, they talk about their children. She finds out that one of the adults there is a Christian and this gentleman has a daughter named Jancy (alarm bells start ringing like mad!!!)

To cut the long story short, amma suggested that I meet Jancy and then..."who knows?" if something happens then ok, if not then you have a new friend....

My mom has started to look out for girls for me...she is even taking into consideration what I want....how cool is that!!

Mums will be mums!



PS : mum says she is "sweet looking". I wonder what that means?

Want to be EXTRA ordinary?

What a wonderful quote that I heard from anna yesterday.

Do you want to be extra-ordinary? There are only 2 ways.

1. Do the extra-ordinary under ordinary circumstances.
2. Do the ordinary under extra-ordinary circumstances.

How cool is that! When the going gets to be really tough, all I have to do is do the ordinary everyday stuff like I used to do when the going was not so tough. In this way I can be extraordinary.

Traffic Lights

I have realised that the traffic system actually does have a system and that there is a way to drive down a road and always be able to experience green lights. The trick is to find the "sweet spot" speed that matches the timing of the lights. If you drive at this speed (about 65 km/h for roads with speed limit 70 km/h), you should be able to drive through all the traffic lights without having to stop. Drive slower than that or even faster than that and you will most probably have to stop at a red light. You then have to wait till it is time to move again. If you still don't learn your lesson, you will have to wait at the next traffic light...and so on.

How interesting that this is the same way with God. We are all called to seek the Lord's face and to keep in time with His movement.
The Old Testament Israelites in the wilderness saw it first hand. When the pillar of God's glory moved, they moved too. If they moved too fast, they got lost. If they moved too slow, they got left behind. They had to keep pace with the Pillar.

Today we need to keep pace with the Holy Spirit. Not to try to move faster than Him, for He is the One that leads us to the land of milk and honey. Also not to lag behind Him, for this will casue us to miss the move of God in the right season. It is when we walk just a step behind Him, at the "sweet spot" speed that we will enjoy the fullness of His joy and the easy street of "having our paths made straight".

Relationship / Salsa Similarities

Learning how to salsa has been one of the most enriching experiences in my life. I have learnt so many new things that can be applied to so very many area of my life. Not to mention the new friends and also the increase in self confidence that has come out of it all!

I have realised that dancing salsa and being in a relationship have a lot in common.

Salsa begins with two individuals who both are able to dance and be on their own. The man then approaches the lady and asks if she would like to dance. The lady now has the choice of accepting or rejecting. Protocol usually dictates that lady says yes the first time that she is asked by a gentleman, but she ALWAYS has the option of saying No. IF she says yes, then there is a dance about to happen.

During the dance, it is the man's job to lead and for the lady to follow, but it is not so rigid. The man actually proposes a certain move or step and the lady has the choice of whether or not she agrees and so chooses to follow his lead. The couple looks the best if he leads well, giving her ample time to prepare herself, and if she follows well. This would mean that the couple would be moving in sync with each other and they would look fantastic.
I have also been taught the principle that it is the man's responsibility to make her look good. More so, the two people dancing learn to accommodate one another and to cover up for each other's mistakes. This means that though there may be disagreements confusion or miscommunication, only the couple are aware of it. No one outside, looking at the couple would be aware of it.

It is so cool that this kinda mirrors my philosophy of a relationship. I love it!!!!

Salsa! Salsa! Salsa!

I have been feeling so insecure about dancing salsa that everytime I go to Union, I am unwilling to dance with new poeple. I always take the safe route and dance with people I know.
Each time I get on the dance floor, I keep making mistakes and it sucks! I also have a huge problem remembering all the cool moves that I learnt at class. Hate it! Hate myself for it!

I was so affected by these two points until two wonderful young ladies set me straight.

1. Eileen said - "Sometimes even I don't notice the mistakes that you make, how much less will the people looking at us know that there was a mistake at all. Only you know when you make a mistake, but just carry on and dance"
2. Jona said - "Jo, the ladies are not looking for someone who can do all the complicated moves. We don't mind doing the simple moves so long as the guy is confident in what he knows and he makes the lady look good. No need to be so complicated."

I kept thinking about these two points and went down tonight prepared to do the simple things but focussed on making sure that the lady looked good doing it. I had an amazingly wonderful time. I even asked one lady that I hadn't met yet to dance. She said no coz she was really tired (and you could see it in her face!).

Then the band played this fusion piece mixing latin/big band/swing/rock n roll all into one song. Danced with Jona (read her views) on this one and I don't think I have ever had more fun dancing salsa! There was alot of space around us so we could move around more and we kept doing all kind of crazy stuff to suit the music. We spent alot of time dancing apart but trying to still complement each other as we danced.
The coolest part was that there were people around that we just watching us two having fun. I hope to ar that music piece again!!

I am beginning to like dancing salsa all over again!!!

God's Timing

My eyes had been opened
I had it a little warped,
It was time for me to do some pursuing,
In the matters of my heart

So I scanned till the horizon
Eyeing out for potential
Till I saw and found the person
Just one I considered special.

I chased, I tried,
I put effort till the end,
But she called and told me,
“Just friend”.

I picked up the broken heart
”Dear, God please heal
For I know I can trust in You
To answer my appeal”.

Again I scanned, considering my options
Upon what I may just yet see
I was looking for just one
But whoops, I saw three.

To meals each one I went out with
With a mission to be informed
If at all our minds could click
And my heart would feel warmed

In quick time, I ruled them out
Till left there was only one
Upon her I placed my focus
And never allowed in none.

Yet a door once closed was once again thrown open,
Now what was I to do?
For that which was only one
Was now again two.

I looked to God and said to Him,
“Lord, help me to choose,
Without first knowing which
To neither my heart will I lose.”

He said, “son, keep your eyes upon Me,
Now is the season for growing.
Trust in My perfect will,
Wait, it’s all about My timing!”