Hello,
It's the first day of the new year and i just wanna spend some time journalling my thoughts about the new year and past year, a bit like what Bill Hybels advised.
Firstly, it was a mad series of meet-ups and parties and cell gatherings the last days of the old year, and i was glad we finally had the time to list down a series of thanksgivings for 2018. Although I felt it was a really bad year overall, my eyes popped out to see how many blessings God had blessed me with! It's just that we tend to thank God for a moment, and then forget clean about it a few weeks or months later. So a year end reflections digs up things in the recesses of my mind that i was surprised to find, a bit like cleaning out a closet or cupboard and finding something of value that you completely forget you owned. Anyway, we were both pleasantly surprised and what i really enjoyed after that was our prayer requests or goals for 2019 and our prayers over them. Ben prayed for me and i really enjoyed how he prayed for my office and department, casting out all the spirits of selfish ambition, malaise and apathy, and loosing spirits of integrity, excellence, teamwork and diligence. We also prayed for Cheryl and Qingling and it felt really good and right to finally voice out these specific prayers that we thought but never voiced out specifically. Same for my workplace, cos like it or not, even though I tell myself that as a mom of kids at a critical age, i should focus more on them and less on my work, and even Christian work seems to be of more significance than my work in my job, i cant help but feel i am betraying my organisation, colleagues and bosses if I switch off and dont do my best. And I want to do my best, I want to shine the light of Christ everywhere I go, and I have always firmly believed that you can't do that without doing a good job, that one of the ways to glorify God and bring praise to God is by doing such an excellent piece of work because of our worship to God that one cant help but praise God because of that piece of work.
I have also realised that I haven't done what Grit asks me to do - which is to come up with that 1 or 2 top level goal that directs my life, that all other sub goals are subservient to. Hmm maybe I should first list down all the goals I have for work, family, Christian life and personal:
Work:
- To make work meaningful and fun, not overly voluminous nor stressful
- To put everyone in roles they enjoy and which they can contribute at their apex
- To truly make a difference in the environment in the area of work I'm in
Family:
- To raise godly, passionate and children who are able to self control and interact well with others, with strong emotional health
Christian life:
- To save more souls
- To disciple them well
- To pray well
Personal:
- To lead an organised, simple life
- To take good care of my health
Monday, December 31, 2018
Thursday, October 25, 2018
A Tale of Two Movies
I'm currently on a work trip to Hong Kong and I watched two great movies on the plane. Let me jot them down:
1) The first movie was Jumanji - Welcome to the Jungle. At first I started watching AI (a bit more on that later) but it turned out too serious. I wanted something light-hearted and entertaining as a start to my overseas trip, even if I think AI does indeed pose some serious issues to humanity worth thinking about. But the movie was too... sad and retro-feeling and slow-going. So I switched halfway to Jumanji, after watching a ton of trailers to identify the most promising. The movie turned out to be super funny! It was absorbing from the get-go, and it had me laughing every 2 minutes. I did not realise Dwayne Johnson could be so funny while being macho and serious, and Karen Gillan also looks really good and hot in her get-up. I love it when Jack Black acts like the self-absorbed, handphone and Instagram-obsessed teenage girl that he was before he got sucked into the video game. There is also this funny scene when Dwayne Johnson who is so macho and powerful in the game, turns around and is saying to himself "Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry" cos he is actually a hypochondriac nerd. You totally don't expect him to do it in the character but then that is what he would do as the boy he was. And there were all these video game inserts like characters that appear at specific times to guide the heroes on to the next phase of their journey and keep repeating their lines. I also liked the pilot, John Seaplane, as he looked so young and dewy-eyed and fresh. Really like those British pilots who fought in WWII. It was also funny watching Jack Black teach Karen Gillan how to flirt, and her doing it so amateurishly, and how Dwayne Johnson and Karen Gillan have their first really inexperienced kiss. He looked so gross there flapping his tongue it was unbelievable. I love this show, love it to bits. I think I may love it as much as The Holiday. Those movies I can watch over and over cos they just give me this happy feeling almost every scene.
Talking about video game characters, I also like how every character has their strengths and weaknesses, and together as a team, they outwit the game's challenges and obstacles and go on to the next level. A major moral of the movie is how we all need one another, especially those with complementary strengths, to get to the 'next level' in life. So, those people whom you find most annoying, you may need them someday to do some difficult and challenging thing and they may be key! This is a lesson I learnt in my previous agency, but one which I need to relearn again and again.
The movie also shows nerds whose world is playing video games, and it sort of tells you, that given the right sort of experiences and exposure, these boys can grow up. And become someone mature. And of course, every character has a character arc. I love how Jack Black's character turns from someone so annoying and small-minded and superficial can become someone self-sacrificial and become good at something besides flaunting her body (e.g. map-reading skills that the others depend on). There are so many people who resemble Jack Black's character in real life (just look at the number of people taking pictures of their food and taking selfies and immediately posting it with really self-absorbed hashtags, they make me want to roll my eyes). But I guess social media is just allowing all these inner selves, immature and ungrown as they might be, to be really loud in your faces at that. How I yearn for them to encounter life-changing experiences and turn them into their fuller, more alive selves! Who they are really meant to become!
2) I also watched Artificial Intelligence halfway and it was quite an ugly show at the beginning (meaning it didn't have good visuals, the actress and actor were not the best-looking people on the planet) and the plot was a bit confusing and slow-moving. But eventually it got good and by good I mean, complicated and challenging and it got interesting. I like the moral questions it poses, and how it realistic the child robot is, especially how clingy and distressed he becomes at one point. And I was blown away by a commentator / movie reviewer (they really are the best) who wrote that this movie shows that ultimately, even a robot that is programmed to love, can only do and say what his code tells him, he is not experiencing love, and cannot love you back in the true sense of the word, and for me I guess it means the robot is not really being delighted by your personality and attributes, yearning and enjoying your company, being happy being with you, liking you more than others, and sacrificing for your happiness (which is what true love does). It is just acting out his code. It puts AI in its place. We will still need humans for human relationship - friendship, love and all the tones in between. Thank God for that. We are not obsolete. However AI can become more powerful than humans, and outsmart us. I think that idea is explored in other movies, and even Stephen Hawking predicted this would happen. So we need to put lots of safeguards in place and master technology rather than let it master us. May we do so!
1) The first movie was Jumanji - Welcome to the Jungle. At first I started watching AI (a bit more on that later) but it turned out too serious. I wanted something light-hearted and entertaining as a start to my overseas trip, even if I think AI does indeed pose some serious issues to humanity worth thinking about. But the movie was too... sad and retro-feeling and slow-going. So I switched halfway to Jumanji, after watching a ton of trailers to identify the most promising. The movie turned out to be super funny! It was absorbing from the get-go, and it had me laughing every 2 minutes. I did not realise Dwayne Johnson could be so funny while being macho and serious, and Karen Gillan also looks really good and hot in her get-up. I love it when Jack Black acts like the self-absorbed, handphone and Instagram-obsessed teenage girl that he was before he got sucked into the video game. There is also this funny scene when Dwayne Johnson who is so macho and powerful in the game, turns around and is saying to himself "Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry" cos he is actually a hypochondriac nerd. You totally don't expect him to do it in the character but then that is what he would do as the boy he was. And there were all these video game inserts like characters that appear at specific times to guide the heroes on to the next phase of their journey and keep repeating their lines. I also liked the pilot, John Seaplane, as he looked so young and dewy-eyed and fresh. Really like those British pilots who fought in WWII. It was also funny watching Jack Black teach Karen Gillan how to flirt, and her doing it so amateurishly, and how Dwayne Johnson and Karen Gillan have their first really inexperienced kiss. He looked so gross there flapping his tongue it was unbelievable. I love this show, love it to bits. I think I may love it as much as The Holiday. Those movies I can watch over and over cos they just give me this happy feeling almost every scene.
Talking about video game characters, I also like how every character has their strengths and weaknesses, and together as a team, they outwit the game's challenges and obstacles and go on to the next level. A major moral of the movie is how we all need one another, especially those with complementary strengths, to get to the 'next level' in life. So, those people whom you find most annoying, you may need them someday to do some difficult and challenging thing and they may be key! This is a lesson I learnt in my previous agency, but one which I need to relearn again and again.
The movie also shows nerds whose world is playing video games, and it sort of tells you, that given the right sort of experiences and exposure, these boys can grow up. And become someone mature. And of course, every character has a character arc. I love how Jack Black's character turns from someone so annoying and small-minded and superficial can become someone self-sacrificial and become good at something besides flaunting her body (e.g. map-reading skills that the others depend on). There are so many people who resemble Jack Black's character in real life (just look at the number of people taking pictures of their food and taking selfies and immediately posting it with really self-absorbed hashtags, they make me want to roll my eyes). But I guess social media is just allowing all these inner selves, immature and ungrown as they might be, to be really loud in your faces at that. How I yearn for them to encounter life-changing experiences and turn them into their fuller, more alive selves! Who they are really meant to become!
2) I also watched Artificial Intelligence halfway and it was quite an ugly show at the beginning (meaning it didn't have good visuals, the actress and actor were not the best-looking people on the planet) and the plot was a bit confusing and slow-moving. But eventually it got good and by good I mean, complicated and challenging and it got interesting. I like the moral questions it poses, and how it realistic the child robot is, especially how clingy and distressed he becomes at one point. And I was blown away by a commentator / movie reviewer (they really are the best) who wrote that this movie shows that ultimately, even a robot that is programmed to love, can only do and say what his code tells him, he is not experiencing love, and cannot love you back in the true sense of the word, and for me I guess it means the robot is not really being delighted by your personality and attributes, yearning and enjoying your company, being happy being with you, liking you more than others, and sacrificing for your happiness (which is what true love does). It is just acting out his code. It puts AI in its place. We will still need humans for human relationship - friendship, love and all the tones in between. Thank God for that. We are not obsolete. However AI can become more powerful than humans, and outsmart us. I think that idea is explored in other movies, and even Stephen Hawking predicted this would happen. So we need to put lots of safeguards in place and master technology rather than let it master us. May we do so!
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Primary One Diaries
Hello all!
It’s been a while since I posted and it’s because I have been busy moving house last November/December and getting my kids settled into their new Primary school and new childcare centre. I’m not going to go into a blow-by-blow account of what happened but for memory’s sake here are some highlights of this hectic, transitional period:
- My oldest son initially hated Primary school because he was bullied by his buddy who called him a “naughty boy” who always goes “talky talky” and kept asking his other friends if they would take him instead. After that my boy clamped up and became stony-faced and talked only when spoken to. Primary school is also a shock to his system because he went from a rather activity and play-based curriculum taught to a class of 4 kids where he is a best buds with a boy (yes his class was exceptionally small) to a lot of sitting down, a lot of rules and a class with close to 30 students. He didn’t know where to start making friends and being bullied right from the start didn’t help. I never felt so helpless, as I firmly believed that having a few good friends is key to having a happy time in school (just think Harry Potter, not that he will be fighting Voldemort or anything like that). My strong conviction also stems from my experience at work, where I found myself able to get through mountainloads of work, increasingly complex tasks and shortening timelines, quite breezily as long as I have good bosses, good relationships with peers and colleagues with whom we can joke and commiserate with and whom we are also good friends. Friends just help a lot in getting through anything life throws at you.
- On the issue of a good boss, he also had the (mis)fortune of getting a form teacher who is rather experienced (another word for aged), cynical, suffer-no-fools and fierce. When I looked around, I couldn’t help noticing other form Teachers looked younger, more enthusiastic and friendly. However as time went on. I think it is good that he gets a fierce form teacher whom he fears so much that he does his homework.
- Later on, after lots of fervent prayers, after 3 weeks that seemed like an eternity to me, he started making friends. It started with the girls sitting next to him in class, and then some boys in other classes whom he meets at the playground during recess (most of his class sits at their class table and eats together but since he doesn’t feel hungry a lot of the times at recess and just eats my packed food without needing to queue up, he uses all his free time doing what he likes best - running around some track at the playground). He also slowly started telling me funny Hangs a certain so-and-so said or did in school. And now, he is able to rattle off some other boys’ names and this girl whom he seems to talk a lot about - Eva. At one poijnt he even sheepishly said he likes school! Hallelujah! But he did say it’s because he likes PE haha.
- I also found the parents’ whatsapp chat to be a real lifesaver. So much homework and dates and tasks to keep track of! I conclude that Primary One (at least a Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary where he’s at) is really a challenge of the organisational skills of a parent. But thanks to technology and the social networking, I am saved time and again by the questions of some clueless parent, answers from other wise, knowledgeable and helpful parents posted in the parents’ whatsapp chat. However I must confess I quite like the fact that he does have homework and spelling tests quite frequently. I Guess deep down I would rather he do some practice worksheets in English, Maths or Chinese than to play LEGO all the tome at home. And little kids are really sponges - when you drill them, they absorb and learn very fast.
- I am also realising more traits about my boy - if he has multiple homework, he will ask to do maths first and he likes his math homework and being able to do the hard sums. I also found a science diagram drawn on my whiteboard the other day called “parts of a NASA rocket” with a tiny very messy drawing and lots of parts labelled. On another day he drew another picture and wrote “26 January 1986, launch of Space shuttle” to it. I was most amused at ththe scientific, factual nature of his drawings. I’ll attach a picture of it later.
It’s been a while since I posted and it’s because I have been busy moving house last November/December and getting my kids settled into their new Primary school and new childcare centre. I’m not going to go into a blow-by-blow account of what happened but for memory’s sake here are some highlights of this hectic, transitional period:
- My oldest son initially hated Primary school because he was bullied by his buddy who called him a “naughty boy” who always goes “talky talky” and kept asking his other friends if they would take him instead. After that my boy clamped up and became stony-faced and talked only when spoken to. Primary school is also a shock to his system because he went from a rather activity and play-based curriculum taught to a class of 4 kids where he is a best buds with a boy (yes his class was exceptionally small) to a lot of sitting down, a lot of rules and a class with close to 30 students. He didn’t know where to start making friends and being bullied right from the start didn’t help. I never felt so helpless, as I firmly believed that having a few good friends is key to having a happy time in school (just think Harry Potter, not that he will be fighting Voldemort or anything like that). My strong conviction also stems from my experience at work, where I found myself able to get through mountainloads of work, increasingly complex tasks and shortening timelines, quite breezily as long as I have good bosses, good relationships with peers and colleagues with whom we can joke and commiserate with and whom we are also good friends. Friends just help a lot in getting through anything life throws at you.
- On the issue of a good boss, he also had the (mis)fortune of getting a form teacher who is rather experienced (another word for aged), cynical, suffer-no-fools and fierce. When I looked around, I couldn’t help noticing other form Teachers looked younger, more enthusiastic and friendly. However as time went on. I think it is good that he gets a fierce form teacher whom he fears so much that he does his homework.
- Later on, after lots of fervent prayers, after 3 weeks that seemed like an eternity to me, he started making friends. It started with the girls sitting next to him in class, and then some boys in other classes whom he meets at the playground during recess (most of his class sits at their class table and eats together but since he doesn’t feel hungry a lot of the times at recess and just eats my packed food without needing to queue up, he uses all his free time doing what he likes best - running around some track at the playground). He also slowly started telling me funny Hangs a certain so-and-so said or did in school. And now, he is able to rattle off some other boys’ names and this girl whom he seems to talk a lot about - Eva. At one poijnt he even sheepishly said he likes school! Hallelujah! But he did say it’s because he likes PE haha.
- I also found the parents’ whatsapp chat to be a real lifesaver. So much homework and dates and tasks to keep track of! I conclude that Primary One (at least a Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary where he’s at) is really a challenge of the organisational skills of a parent. But thanks to technology and the social networking, I am saved time and again by the questions of some clueless parent, answers from other wise, knowledgeable and helpful parents posted in the parents’ whatsapp chat. However I must confess I quite like the fact that he does have homework and spelling tests quite frequently. I Guess deep down I would rather he do some practice worksheets in English, Maths or Chinese than to play LEGO all the tome at home. And little kids are really sponges - when you drill them, they absorb and learn very fast.
- I am also realising more traits about my boy - if he has multiple homework, he will ask to do maths first and he likes his math homework and being able to do the hard sums. I also found a science diagram drawn on my whiteboard the other day called “parts of a NASA rocket” with a tiny very messy drawing and lots of parts labelled. On another day he drew another picture and wrote “26 January 1986, launch of Space shuttle” to it. I was most amused at ththe scientific, factual nature of his drawings. I’ll attach a picture of it later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)