Uncle JYG - don't we look gooooood?!

 

Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Job Hunt


Surprisingly I felt like I wanna start work already. Just went for an interview today for a spot to be a gym instructor. I'm looking at minimal wages with a lot of stuff to learn. This is one of my three options I have in mind to start off my working career.

1. Management trainee/Sales & Marketing

2. Assistant to Concert Band Conductor

3. Gym Instructor


For those who know me, I'm asking for thoughts, views and advice on what suits me best. It's both difficult and easy at the same time. Easy because all three options radically differ from one another so there is no grey line between them. Difficult because I practically need to close my eyes, jump and hope it works out for me with very little knowledge about each industry. The assistant to band conductor one has a geographical issue - it requires me to move to singapore.

I'm in a bit of a dilemma here so I'm counting on you guys.



G

Posted at 09:07 pm by jyg2
Comments (1)  

Home Sweet Home

Waking up in the city that never sleeps is certainly an experience everyone should have at least once in a lifetime. Though packed with tall buildings, this city injects exuberance into life. Many would have think that New York is probably just cold concrete but i must say, the city seems to be alive prodding you to explore more of its beautiful skylines, green pastures and sea breeze.



Times Square at 1 am. It's amazing to see this part of New York jam packed with people, mostly tourists even at such wee hours in the morning. Many shops were still open, talk about midnight shopping ; )

Fact - This is the place where 2 million people crowd for the New Year's countdown.



We were in the MTV merchandise shop where plasma screens were showing TRL. It was when the hundred of fans on the street started screaming that we realized it was live. I managed to quickly run out to get a few shots of Hilary Duff greeting her fans from the window.

Fact - Keanu Reeves and Angelina Jolie were in New York too, but we didn't manage to see them.



Outside the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street.

Fact - Tourists were allowed to enter the NYSE but since 911, this place is now heavily guarded with SWAT teams.



Brooklyn Bridge in a foggy rainy weather.

Fact - This suspension bridge was build in 1870.



Central Park! This 843 acres park boasts several lakes, theatres, ice rinks during winter, fountains, tennis courts, man-made beach volleyball courts, baseball fields and many playgrounds. We were simply amazed. There were parts of the park that made us feel like we're trekking in a jungle, there were parts of it where trees are more organized giving us wonderful views of lakes and streams, and the above is the sheep's meadow, a meadow for sunbathing, socialising and Frisbee.

Fact - Workers moved nearly 3 million cubic yards of soil and planted more than 270,000 trees and shrubs during the construction of this park. The park was opened to public in 1859, and by 1865 the park received more than 7 million visitors a year.



Random pictures of New York featuring 5th Avenue the address everyone wants including me, the famous Yellow Cabs and check out the size of America's pizza slice!

Fact - 5th Avenue has the highest rent in the world.



Ever since the fall of the WTC, the Empire State Building regains its title as the tallest building in New York and ninth tallest in the world. It is probably New York's most well known landmark as the view from top is amazing. You can see the whole of manhattan from the 86th floor observatory deck (the bottom picture is just a snippet of east manhattan). The top right picture shows me in front of the office directory.

Fact - This is the building King Kong climbed in 1933.

Will post the Bahamas pictures up soon. It's great to be back.

y.

Posted at 03:56 pm by jyg2
Comments (9)  

Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Spirit Training


Wax on. wax off.


It's offseason time. Training period. To start it off, I had the honorable task of washing four cars yesterday. Under the orders of dad. Well, not that I had much to do anyway so I was not really complaining. Apart from finishing my Smallville Season 3 as well as a couple of dvds. Later, I realised how unfit I am after months of putting my running sneakers aside. Doing 5km in a modest 30 minutes suddenly takes it toil on you. But I gotta start somewhere.

I'm going to be 25 later this year. My body signals to me that I'm not what I once was. What was so easy to achieve last time requires a significantly greater amount of training and preparation to sustain results. Not only that but higher levels of self-control and discipline as well. Our journey to maturation is perilous should we choose to ignore these alarm bells. I simply cannot go into a marathan with naivety that it is something I can just jump in and breeze through. The same goes for life. That I discovered through my experience of pain in my quads and hamstrings right now.

I turned on the style as I took my physical training to the highest floor in Paragon! I enjoyed a panoramic view of Orchard Road between my pull-ups. It was a day of recollection and reconciliation for me as I met up with four different people - church-visiting with my pal felix from uni (i slept through the sermon titled "How to affairproof your marriage"), an old friend from sydney whom I lost contact for a while and celebrated the birthday of my secondary school mate with liquor and shots. Indeed, an extraordinary time for me as space was made to reconnect with the unique moments shared a while ago and using these common grounds to shoot us into a future where we can hope for more glorious experiences. Filled with faith, hope and love.

Ahh... there is nothing like exploring the depths of a person's heart in conversations. I just try to open and authentic as I listened to their stories. Stories like dedicating a semester to serve God and church by investing a day a week in ministry, the opportunity to mentor 8 people! (my jaws dropped hearing that commitment), plans to work for Google, frustration at playing the love game in the initial stages (I offered some advice there. Apparently it proved comforting) and just the plain mundaneness of turning up for work everyday. Indeed, we are individuals created differently and wonderfully.

I feel again the pull to discipline myself in a moment of my life where it is so easy to be rest on my laurels and be complacent. Most notable the commitment to spiritual formation. Words from two great spiritual sages of our time continue to ring in my mind:

Spiritual formation for the Christian basically refers to the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself."

                                                                                                   Dallas Willard


God the Holy Spirit conceiving and forming the life of Christ … our spirits formed by Spirit." … living out of a center from within, not from outside. Spiritual formation is about holiness, living a holy life."

                                                                                                Eugene Peterson


It is much easier to exhibit noble qualities (or so it seems) on the outside. But for most of us, we find as time goes on, that those coverings tend to fade and what is within begin to manifest itself. So as much as I love to admire my pecs and biceps and all, there are shouts from the inside for a renovation. The dusty room needs a refurbishment. I need salvation.

   Stay clear of silly stories that get dressed up as religion. Exercise daily in God--no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart.

                                                                                                      1 Tim 4:7-9


Wax on. Wax off. Wax on. Wax off...



G


Posted at 01:11 am by jyg2
Make a comment  

Thursday, July 14, 2005
My Expedition



One of my dear friend wrote a blog post that speaks deeply into our hearts.

Bonhoeffer reinforces those thoughts for me:

There is probably no Christian to whom God has not given the uplifting experience of genuine Christian community at least once in his life. But in this world such experiences can be no more than a gracious extra beyond the daily bread of Christian community life. We have no claim upon such experiences, and we do not live with other Christians for the sake of acquiring them. It is not the experience of Christian brotherhood, but solid and certain faith in brotherhood that holds us together. That God has acted and wants to act upon us all, this we see in faith as God's greatest gift, this makes us glad and happy, but it also makes us ready to forego all such experiences when God at times does not grant them. We are bound together by faith, not by experience.

The memories of community life in ACCF, Melbourne will remain in our hearts. But I believe it is fitting, just as they have recently changed their name to Life Expedition, we too can look forward to our own expedition, bounded together by faith and not by experiences of the past. Though it always seem so tempting to do so. The recollection of our shared moments, the nostalgia remembering times of togetherness; all those could easily feed our distorted human desires to re-create a grace, by the way of the flesh. We long for "immediate" relationship with others, without realising that we could imprison our brethen by regulating, coercing and dominating him with our love. Christ stands between us all and have acted decisively for our freedom to be His. May we love freely seeing each one bearing His image and not in an attempt to fulfill our appetites.

I will store those memories into an archive in my heart and continue this journey knowing that only by the grace of my Master that lives are brought together.

G

Posted at 10:48 am by jyg2
Make a comment  

Previous Page   Next Page



 



Quote

"Courage is fear that has said its prayers."

-- Karl Barth --




<< November 2005 >>
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
 01 02 03 04 05
06 07 08 09 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30