Find Rest, My Soul.

"When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with you above the storm.
Father, You are King over the flood
I will be still and know You are God"

Lately, much has been stirred.

Dissent has been fomented (and fermented) between the religious and secular.

It has emerged a debacle, a farce in itself.

Sensationalism and self-righteousness aside, what is faith?

To hold true to the Word.

With this, I shall adhere to the aforementioned principle -

"I will be still and know You are God."

The 3/50 Project.

Click on the poster for a better read.
Want more? You'll find it here.

J.

Dear J,

You shocked me with that sudden burst of smses.
I'm here for you, like you've always been for me.

- Big Hug -

Happy 4th Birthday, Whimsical Fantasies.

Happy Belated Birthday, Dear Blog.

I'm sorry I forgot all about you.

You've been the secret crevice to contain my bouts of happiness and likewise, my unhappiness since my first post in 2005.

Only you know what makes Mich happy.

Happy Birthday, My Friend.

Funny Little Frog

"I had a conversation with you at night.
It's a little one-sided but that's all right.."

[ Funny Little Frog - Belle & Sebastian ]

Being Open.

I'm opening the door and letting people in.
Fancy a cup of tea? =)

Raison d'être.

Mud splattered lavishly across her uniform. An impish smile submitted naivete.

Packet drinks, yogurt tubs, a packet of an apples and a bunch of bananas - Items largely pronounced in the cradle of her arms as she limped.

The area was thronged with people from all walks of life. Stares were aplenty with nary a helping hand.

At this juncture, she crossed Mich's path.

Mich smiled at the girl. To the best of her ability, Mich cleaned her up, found new plastic bags and repacked the items. Bystanders gawked but Mich's attention was riveted on the girl.

Just then, a shout ushered hushed silence, albeit momentarily.

An elderly lady chided the girl in strings of dialect and gesticulated unceremoniously.

As they disappeared into the crowd, Mich could not help but wonder if this was the note of resignation submitted to those with special needs.

Have the hearts of the people become little but stark contrasts against the lush landscape?

Mich struggles with this on a daily basis.

Spread a little kindness.
Be gentle on the weak.
Help the hapless.
Show generosity to the poor.
Respect the elderly.

For such deeds paint a beautiful picture of one's soul.

How does your portrait look today?

The Supper That Was.

What's with the above picture?

Mich pulled this look together (with a shower thrown in for good measure) in merely 20 minutes.

The occasion ?

Ange had arrived unnannounced within the vicinity (read : at the foot of the block) and Mich had barely arrived home at 11pm.

While Ange waited in the car, Mich tore through time and was bundled in Ange's car by 11.20pm.

And if there was anything that Mich had learnt in friendship, it was to speak up instead of mulling.

That night, the crinkles of a prevailing issue were ironed out, misunderstandings resolved and a surprise apology was offered to Mich.

A friendship had been salvaged.

What a difference 2 hours can make! =)

Let's Go Pitbiking!

What is Pitbiking?



Pitbiking involves riding on scaled-down bikes that resemble their counterparts in motocross. They are also used occasionally in motocross competitions.

When?

21 June 2009, Sunday (9am - 3pm)
With Des, L, Jen, Diana(?) & others
(Mich is not acquainted with the rest)


Cost?

1. $18-$20 return trip ferry (from Changi Point Ferry Terminal)
2. $55 per pitbike per day (up to 2 people can share a bike)
   
3. $10 per day for mountain bike.

What Do I Need?

1. *Passport*
   
2. Singapore currency & Malaysian ringgit are required for drinks and food
   
3. For riding : Jeans or cargo pants, high cut boots and long-sleeved T-shirt
4. Insect repellent and clothes for a quick change (Tristan Park has showering facilities with hot water)
5. Big, big, BIG smiles! =)
   

There's a clinic to coach beginners.

• Type of riding : Track and trail
• Equipment provided : pit bikes, full face dirt riding helmet, glove, elbow and shin guard.

What's The Catch?

Er....Mich needs someone with biking expertise as she will have to take the backseat (literally) as the pillion rider. Des is an excellent biker but Mich won't be with him as she would like to keep her bones intact.

Want to ride?

Would you go with Mich? =)

Winds of Change.

What a pleasant surprise 24 hours can bring!

On separate occasions today, 4 different individuals decided it was a good time to take time out for Mich.

• Invitation to L's pizza joint to be opened soon.
• Des & Mich babbled for 4 hours.
• Sunday appointment with my Chief Financial Officer chum, YH. We go a long, long way back to Primary 4.
• Thursday dinner with Nur.

Just as I was on the brink of knuckling over a certain friend, enough stars dropped by to fill Mich's sky.

And Del's constant cheering today cemented the bond we've shared for 13 years.

I really appreciate you guys.

Thank You! =)

Good, Better, Best

Am I a good friend?

Do you think that I'm a good person?

What are the parameters underlining good, anyway?

And if you, my dear reader, should think that I'm good, how can I be better?

After all, you'd know best, wouldn't you?

The Message That Made Me Smile.

"I never once felt that it was pressurizing to be your friend. You don't judge me at all."

This gave me a lil lift just as I was mulling over certain issues.

Thanks, Del.

So Much For Trying To Reduce Expenses.

Somewhere in Mich's pocket lies a siphon, I'd reckon.

In linear fashion, the plan was simple - A good old plate of mee goreng for supper with my lil twin, Ting.

At least, that was our prerogative.

Where winds are funnelled through gaps and valleys, decimation appropriated the following :

• Mee Goreng $4
• Tehcinno $2
• Sensodyne Pronamel Toothpaste $9
• Vienetta Ice-Cream $6
• Air Freshener Beads for drawers $2
• Bread $2
• Ant Repellent $3
• Nail Polish Remover $4
• Cab $10

Ordinarily, $42 would have been well-justified had we been at our usual chomp port, Sushi Tei or indulged in orifice-allied foodfare.

There we were, clad in our T-shirts and shorts, dedicating two hours to minimalism and it, well, dredged otherwise.

Next time, I'm sticking to Sushi Tei.

Or New York, New York.

Or NYDC.

Or....

Mich & The Hebrew Alephbet.

Have you ever pictured me dabbling in Semitic Hebrew?

Well, neither have I.

Interestingly, a drizzle of words jolted this deviation.

I've mastered the 27 letters of the Hebrew alephbet.

Here's to Vowels next week! =)

Being Les(s) Miserables.

Soundbites of heaven arrived in the form of revisitations, specifically those of Les Miserables. As with progressive posturing, a lazy Sunday afternoon granted such a distilled lapse. Inhibitions shed, it spawned all that was inclusive of a splattered Mich.

The pervading long hours delved at work do little good in differentiating form and function. Mich will be spread thin across 6 days this week. She does hope to have some form of interaction with a friend, if any. ( That is, if she hasn't already collapsed from sheer fatigue. )

Oh well, do help yourself to the distinctive choral refrains.

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high,
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Then I was young and unafraid
When dreams were made and used,
And wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung,
No wine untasted.

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hopes apart
As they turn your dreams to shame.

And still I dream he'll come to me
And we will live our lives together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms
We cannot weather. I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seems
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed.

[ I Dreamed A Dream - Les Miserables ]

Being Pristine.

Isn't she beautiful? =)

Days Asunder.

From then on, Time stood still.

A Dose of Goodness.

Be a Blessing.

To Others.

In Your own special way.

A little drop makes a mighty ocean.

Aye? =)

It all began with, well, It

• It was the title of an Ernest Hemingway novel in 1970.
• The Bee Gees wrote it.
• Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton scored a massive hit with it.
• Kikki Danielsson covered it in Swedish.
• Tomeu Penya added it to dialect of the Catalan language.
• Starbucks had a compliation of The Constantines featuring it.
• Barry Manilow rode on its coattails.
• More recently, Carrie Underwood paid tribute with it.
• American Idol Season 4 saw the contestants revving it up.
• Comic Relief 2009 covered it and entered the UK charts at Number One. (Wow!)

What is It?
Islands In The Stream, of course!
On that note (pun unintended), the chorus is particularly charming.

Islands in the stream
That is what we are
No one in between
How can we be wrong

Sail away with me
To another world
And we rely on each other

Haste her to the Purpose.

IF thought can reach to Heaven,
On Heaven let it dwell,
For fear that Thought be given
Like power to reach to Hell.
For fear the desolation
And darkness of thy mind,
Perplex an habitation
Which thou hast left behind.

Let nothing linger after--
No whispering ghost remain,
In wall, or beam, or rafter,
Of any hate or pain:
Cleanse and call home thy spirit,
Deny her leave to cast,
On aught thy heirs inherit,
The shadow of her past.

[ The Rabbi's Song, Rudyard Kipling ]

Forgotten.

The Pursuit of Goals by Ghouls.

Do You have goals?

Unfulfilled wishes and ambitions?

Have they changed You?

Reshaped Your personality?

Would Yesterday recognise You today?

Are You caught up in a tangle?

Or treading on a thin, taut line?

Do You wish to flutter and fly?

Will You look back on Today and sigh?

Will Tomorrow bring a reason to cry?

Yes, I Can....When?

Each time I think I'm getting it right, the house of cards collapses.

I think I can. I know I can. I'm sure I can.

My life has been scribbled with misconceptions and doubts debunked.

When Dad said I couldn't, I proved him wrong by winning prize after prize, award after award as a child for the sake of mere affirmation. When Dad said I would drown in a class of scholars, I lost by a whisker to two others to be 3rd In Literature in the entire college. When Dad said my command of the language wasn't good enough, I zapped that by topping my cohort in Linguistics.

When Dad left, they said that Mich had been the apple of everyone's eyes (read : spoilt since childhood) and she wouldn't be able to tough it out. Not only did she surge forward, she learnt how to balance the books at age of 21 and is still supporting two families today. (Yes, are you surprised? Just because I don't wear it on my sleeve, it doesn't mean I'm useless. )

When the naysayers scoffed that Mich wouldn't survive beyond the comforts of MOE, Mich proved them all wrong by not only surviving, but by scoring a salary beyond their capacity.

Mich isn't perfect.

There are many things that she cannot do.

For those that she can, she demands no less than perfection.

Yet, all too often, in the face of Simplicity, Perfection is nowhere to be found.

For where a desire so simple abounds, its grasp remains elusive.

I know I can. I know I will. I know It has to be.

The Question is - When?

Bar None.

M-You-Sings. (Musings, geddit?)

Someday I will find my prince
He may be far away
But I know he will come
Someday

Prince of my dreams, far away
To call my own, someday
Prince of my dreams, far away
To call my own, someday

Someday my prince will come
Someday I’ll find a love
And how thrilling that moment will be
When the prince of my dreams comes to me

He’ll whisper I love you
And steal a kiss or two
Though he may be far away
I will find my love someday

Someday we’ll say and do
The things we’ve been longing to
And I’ll know him the moment we meet
For my heart will start skipping a beat
Someday when my dreams come true
[ Mich Says: I couldn't believe it when You, the distant figure of my childhood dreams, drew near and spent hours conversing with me. My dream came true when I knew You. You were not just someone, but The One I had been waiting for half my life. Did You ever know? You made Mich very, very Happy indeed. Thank You for conjuring those fleeting moments of Magic.]

Somewhere waiting for me
There’s someone I’m longing to see
Someone I can’t help but adore
Who will thrill me for ever more?

An Act A Gesture of Pure Class.

5 April 2009 (Sunday)
Handily Erases George Bush
BAGnewsNotes.com

This caption translation from the Stern website is sort of a mess, but you get the message:

It is this ease and courtesy with which the young U.S. president to open the human heart: Barack Obama welcomed the security guard with a handshake, while he and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown enters the seat of government.This reminds me of numerous images I've seen in the domestic press showing Obama warmly acknowledging African-American attendants at the White House. The reaching out from England's gates of power and the face of warm reciprocation speaks to Obama's humility, a trait which seems to have largely rinsed Europe of the Bush toxicity in all of one week.

(image: Toby Melville/Reuters. April 1, 2009. caption: President Barack Obama shakes hands with a British police officer outside 10 Downing Street, as world leaders gathered in London for the G20 summit)

Fixed!

Internet Explorer users : Apologies if the layout has appeared wonky for a couple of weeks. I hadn't realised that the alignment had veered off course when this blog was viewed with IE as I'm relying on Firefox most of the time. I've amended it and it should be fine now. =)

Firefox users : There's no change. It looks the same pre- and post-amendment. You probably won't know what I'm rambling about. =)

Still.

And this is how it shall be.
Between You and Me.

A Splendid Choice of Song.

This is beautiful.
Thanks for sharing it with me, Daniel. =)
So lately, I've been wondering
Who will be there to take my place
When I'm gone, you'll need love
To light the shadows on your face
If a great wave should fall
It would fall upon us all
And between the sand and stone
Could you make it on your own

[Chorus]
If I could, then I would
I'll go wherever you will go
Way up high or down low
I'll go wherever you will go

And maybe, I'll find out
The way to make it back someday
To watch you, to guide you
Through the darkest of your days
If a great wave should fall
It would fall upon us all
Well I hope there's someone out there
Who can bring me back to you

[Chorus]

Run away with my heart
Run away with my hope
Run away with my love

I know now, just quite how
My life and love might still go on
In your heart and your mind
I'll stay with you for all of time

[Chorus]

If I could turn back time
I'll go wherever you will go
If I could make you mine
I'll go wherever you will go

[ The Calling - Wherever You Will Go ]

Of Scripts and Plays.

I have

• read
• edited
• reviewed
• commented on

The Script.

It was tedious but fulfilling.

Government bodies & individuals alike, would anyone like Mich to help with your play as well?