The Best Online Children Christian Service

One of the good things that came out of this Covid situation is my discovery of Treasure Box, this wonderful online children's service that is much much better than the children's service at my church. After watching 6 episodes or so, my kids now look forward to watching it on Sundays rather than groan and run away from us when we reach church. And I will always remember the first 1 - 2 episodes when all 3 of them bowed their heads and said the sinners' prayer together. It was a sight to warm a mother's heart for sure.  

I also really love the episodes where Uncle Elvin and Auntie Esther play act very funny scenarios to illustrate the lesson of the day, be it Uncle Elvin not sharing his wang wang biscuits or sharing in a very stingy way, or their funny games making the kids turn left or right while closing their eyes to show the importance of paying attention, either to the sermon or the Holy Spirit. Anyway it's great fun. I also remember them trying to walk through a Liberal sprinkling of powder without getting any on their feet, to show how hard it is to go through life without sin, and the kids loved how he went around 'shooting' love at his family members. They are really inspired in their lessons and their acting (especially Uncle Elvin's) is a joy, as he has a naturally warm and genial face that can take on a lot of expressions realistically (shocked, sly, sad, happy, etc). I also love their mission statement, which is to rebuild family altars throughout the land, and help parents bring up children in the Lord. Oh so needful!!!

I also realised for kids, it's probably better to have a topic that will relate to them (like what is sin, what does love look like, why they should obey authorities), and teach them bible verses on it, with relatable and poignant illustrations, rather than just going through bible stories and trying to draw some overly general or cheem lesson through it. My kids usually can't articulate what they learnt in Sunday school but for Treasure Box, even I can remind them of the lesson the rest of the week because the lesson is so memorable.

I love how the Treasure Box services really break down the lesson to a very applicable action they want the kids to do the rest of the week, or to make something meaningful that will impact their week or their life at home or change the way they view something. Their relatability and application to the Singaporean or modern day living context is top notch.

A very wonderful resource for all parents who want their kids to effectively learn Christian principles and values!

What Makes You Happy?

I decided to write down all the things that make me happy, as I aspire to feel happy every day.

Let's see:

• A really strong cup of tea (e.g. Hong Kong milk tea) or coffee (e.g. Starbucks coffee) and something that goes with it (e.g. egg onion roti prata, a muffin, kaya toast, some digestives) 
• Cooking a meal that is cheap, healthy, fast, which uses up leftovers and soon-to-spoil vegetables in my fridge and gets lots of vegetables into my family as it is an economical way to feed the family, minimises food waste, and is healthy to consume as opposed to all the meat and junk we eat out there
• Watching a really well-made movie or reading a well-written book
• Laughing hard at a joke
• Sharing jokes with others and making them laugh
• Journalling my thoughts and insights about the world and about life
• Preparing for cell group, as I often gain so much insights from preparing it
• Walking in a park or garden and soaking in nature, with a little exercise thrown in
• Crafting a really good, elegant and crisp submission or persuasive deck of slides
• Having a good yak with good friends

From reading "Grit" by Angela Duckworth, I also realised the importance of having an overarching mission statement for my life, as that will help me evaluate every opportunity and activity that presents itself and to prioritise them accordingly.  I am quite an organised, purposeful sort of person and this appeals to me.  So here goes, my attempt at crafting my mission statement:

It must have humour.  It must include the shedding of insights and clarity.  It must include living the full life, one that does not make us a slave of anything, but of strength and purpose and good feelings and radical obedience to Jesus Christ. It should include the use of words, since a good friend once commented that I seem to have an apt way of describing something, and I know from experience that when I just let my words flow, through a stream of consciousness, without censoring, those are my very best writing.  So I should not let it go to waste, this ability of mine.  

To share insights and humour with others so as to provide clarity and good feelings, and to promote a life of purpose, freedom and radical obedience to Jesus Christ.

Designing a Bright Home - Lighting issues

In designing a nice home, the right lighting gives it a warm and cosy feel.  You want the home to be nicely bright, especially for areas where you expect to be conducting detailed work like cooking, working, studying, reading and writing, and just hanging out, but dimmer light for watching TV, handphones and just lounging around.  Warm light is also better than cold light for dining, to illuminate the food better. 

Some tips on lighting - there is a hierarchy when it comes to it.  Natural light is better than artificial light.  That is because we as humans tend to gravitate towards natural light and it also uses no energy at all, it's absolutely free of charge.  Being in natural light makes us feel good, and we probably get a bit of Vitamin D too. So you want to be able to harness it.

For sunlight, indirect is better.  That is because direct sunlight, which is what you get when you have a east or west-facing wall and the sun is shining at your face or back, is very hot and irritating.  The best indirect natural light will be found in spots in the home which are south-facing and near the window.  If you have such spots in the house, bingo!  Situate a beloved activity there, if it is reading, make a sitting area there; if it is studying, put your study table there. North facing spots also give natural light but tend to be a bit darker.  

Place your lighting as close as possible to where you will be conducting your activities.  For example, a desk lamp uses less energy than a light on the ceiling.  Spotlights give a warm glow and if directed at an angle, can be very bright but not glaring, and you can also hang them close to where you are, and not place them up at the ceiling.  Dimmable lights give you additional flexibility on how bright the space gets, which can be great when you want to dim the lights for a movie night and not watch in utter darkness.

Lights shone against the walls or surfaces reflect off a larger surface and can light up more parts of the room in a gentle way, for a more aesthetic look which works as long as you are not doing detailed work.     

How to Design a Cooling, Low-Energy Home

Having worked on promoting energy efficiency for more than 5 years, below is a summary of all the tips I know to have  a cooling home. The temperature of a home is very important - you want the home to be cool, airy and breezy and you want to do it in a carbon-friendly and wallet-friendly way.

So, the first design tip is to ensure a wind tunnel blows through your room, and to situate your key hanging-out areas in the flow of the wind tunnel.  For example, if it's a living room, you may want to place your sofas there, or dining table.  If it's a study room, you will want to place your study table there, and in a bedroom, your bed.  

What creates a wind tunnel? As long as there are 2 openings in any room to the outdoors, with the openings preferably north-south-ish facing, you should have a wind blowing through your room during the monsoon seasons in Singapore, which are June to Sep and Dec to Mar.  April to May and Oct to Nov are inter-monsoon seasons where the winds are changing, so you may get some wind during those times if your room openings are facing other directions too.  The openings can be windows or doors, and you can create a wind tunnel through your house if the window of one room faces the door, or the window of one room faces the window of another room or toilet, and you open the windows and doors. The more obstacles the wind needs to navigate to flow through (e.g. furniture, partitions or walls blocking the way), the less likely you will have a wind tunnel.

Another cheap way to cool your home is to have shading.  If you have windows facing the east or west direction, you will have our very zealous and hardworking Singapore sun shining into the room and heating up the floor and furniture half the day, which makes for a very sweaty and uncomfortable environment to hang out in.  I suggest putting up blackout curtains, or adjustable blinds or shades, which you can pull or lower to block out the sun during the hot periods.  The temperature difference in a room that is shaded from the sun vs a room that is exposed is very stark!  And it costs you no energy at all to cool the room in such a way.  So 5 stars for a carbon-friendly way to cool a room.  If you want fresh air to enter the room during the day, try day curtains, or adjustable blinds which you can turn at an angle to block out the sun and yet let air in.  

You could also put solar film on those windows, although that could be more expensive.  That will help for days when you forget to pull the shades or you simply don't want the hassle of doing so every day.  They are effective as well, although I feel they are slightly less effective than blinds or blackout curtains.

If you want to block out the sun and don't mind sacrificing a bit of view, you can also try putting potted plants at the window, to absorb the heat, block out the sun and purify the air at the same time and lend a green, cooling feel to your home.  This might work well for balconies and windows facing busy roads, as the plants can also absorb air pollutants for you.

Next, a great way to cool a room is to install a ceiling fan.  They are more effective than standing fans in cooling a room as they can circulate air over a bigger area, and given the small size of most Singapore rooms, they are usually sufficient to ensure everyone has a share of the breeze.  This is provided your room is not super huge or long-shaped or the ceiling fan is not too small or high up of course. If you have a long room, you may want 2 ceiling fans, or a ceiling fan and some standing fans.  And when you choose a ceiling fan, ensure they are some distance from the ceiling so that they function effectively, as they need to draw air in from the top to blow it down.  Some people buy ceiling fans which have a very short stem due to their low ceiling height.  Just be mindful that this will compromise your fan's efficacy. If you have a lot of areas in your room which are in the 'dead zone' of moving air, which you expect to hang out in, you will want standing fans to plug those gaps.  Still more efficient than using the air-conditioner, which uses the energy of many fans!

And last but not least, if you intend to turn on the air-conditioner fairly frequently for your room, you will need to know the larger the space your air-conditioner needs to cool, the more energy it needs. So you will want to find ways to make the space you need to cool smaller. An easy way is to close doors to other rooms.  Another way is to use furniture (e.g. tall cupboards, wardrobes) or sliding doors or windows or curtains to make the space smaller.  I did that once for a quadrant shaped bedroom I once had.  The air-con salesman said for that amount of bedroom space, I would need 2 split units.  But then because I built a build-in wardrobe which sort of split the room into 2, the space became much smaller and so I only needed 1.  I currently have a large living room which I host cell groups and parties occasionally and turn on the aircon.  I am contemplating installing some Japanese curtains (the type which has 2 pieces of cloth hanging down, which allow people to enter and exit by parting the cloths), maybe cut up from some unwanted bedsheet, or from scarves sewn together, to make a smaller living space if needed!!

Let me know if this has been useful for your home design and may you design a cool home :)




   



  
  

  

A Really Good Yak

Yesterday, I finally met up with my 2 ex-working mom colleagues for an extended lunch.  Whenever I meet up with these 2 pals for lunch, they are are always extended, as we always have so much to talk about and all 3 of us subscribe to an 'outcome-based' working culture where we don't begrudge people having extended lunches once in a while as long as they deliver their work.  We met up at this deserted restaurant called Holey Moley which has a  mini golf course with adults and little kids making a bit of a din, and we ordered their lunch set which was burgers and fries and a soft drink (for me, beer for the other ladies).

First, when they arrived they ogled at my swelling tummy in a very obvious but good-natured way, and I felt obliged to stand up slightly to let them have a good look.  Then they settled down and we started chatting nineteen to a dozen and ordering.  And it is a testament to our long-lasting friendship and comraderie that our conversation never flagged, there was never a dull moment, never a pause when one lady wasn't following up on another's train of thought or casual comment or had an interesting quip or scenario or personal experience to share and pick our brains.

One lady's name starts with S and another's starts with L.  One of the interesting insights that surfaced from our discussion was that quite a few working moms take secret vacations, to my immense surprise, as I had harboured that as an indecent thought that would cross my mind at times but I would dismiss it as being too ludicrious.  Imagine me booking a staycation all for myself, and taking leave at work but telling my family I was working!  I could really do that, and I would finally have that undisturbed stretch of time in a day when I can type to my heart's content.  S said that on her leadership course, quite a few moms confessed to doing that and that was how these women stayed sane, and L proudly claimed that she is a big believer in her retreats (and I exclaimed that she was someone I knew who was very disciplined about that!) and she always comes back all the fresher for it.  And we discussed how women always felt a lot of guilt when they took time off for themselves, or did anything for themselves, and I felt to my horror, my eyes burning and tearing up.  I do feel that most of the time, I can be busy with my work, and I am happy to give of myself when I'm home to my kids, who are all so delightful and bright and chirrupy in their own way.  I also find that I enjoy my conversations with them before they go to bed (resulting in them going to bed later and later), but once in a while, I feel this urge to sit down undisturbed, in front of a nice wide screen, typing away in a nice setting, and creating pieces which are wonderful downloads of my experiences.

It is also a product of me reading this very absorbing but slightly irritating book called "Travels" by Michael Crichton, where he really writes a good tale of all his different experiences during medical school, in Hollywood and finally, travelling around the world in exotic locations (it's almost like he has a death wish to see everything and do everything that is lauded in this world).  That is something I cannot identify with, but what impressed me was his inner life, and his inner mental world, which he only realised how negative, critical and full of anger he was every day when he got down to journalling every day and rating each day on a scale of 1 to 10. 

For me, firstly I was immensely surprised that for a distinguished and World-renown author who wrote such great thrillers, he was really very unaware of himself. And how I agreed with him that sometimes the best way to know yourself is to journal.

So, here I am, journalling again!  To more entries in the near future, I hope.

Happy 2019!!!

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

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!