Failure is a Necessity in Life

As one grows older, failure becomes more and more "unacceptable". And society as a whole does not help those who failed. And without help and encouragement, quitting seemed easier. "Fight another day." but we all know too well that another day will not come.

This is true of me. I fail too often than I care for. Maybe I am too critical of myself. Maybe I suck. But its not whether we fail or not. Its whether we quit or not. 

About 2 hours ago, I was working on a code which has stumped me for days. Days, because I stopped looking at it every time I hit a road block and went off to do something else. In the morning, I decided that I want to get it done before I turn in for the night and at about 9pm, I was thinking I have made a bad bet against myself. 

I then decide that I will "Fight, but at another hour.". I put on my shoes and went for a slow jog/walk. Came back, cooled off and continued with it. 2 hours later before the stroke of midnight, I solved it!

Elated. Satisfied. Inspired.

It is important to get results. But the process will be remembered when I know I persevered.

Good Friday

Everyone loves Good Friday in Singapore. For Christians, we remember the sacrifice our Lord made for us 2000 years ago, being nailed on the cross and all. And we celebrate his resurrection on Sunday.

For non-believers, its a guaranteed long weekend and a good time to go for a break and/or to catch up on rest and watch some DOTS. K drama fans know what I am talking about.

Different countries have different way to celebrate the day. The obvious one is the easter bunny and the candies associated with it. Philippines observe the day with actual crucifixion!

One of the man doing it said that he made a pact with God, if he gets what he wished for, he will remember this day by getting himself flogged and nailed on the cross as thanksgiving and payback.

What? I am not sure if this is the God I put my faith in.

First, why test God? Did not Jesus himself said not to test God in the scriptures (Matthew 4:7)? God did not create you to do your bidding. So I don’t think giving God the “If you do this, I will do that” thing works with him. I am glad to know you turned to God with your needs but arm-twisting is where I draw a huge thick line.

Second, I would imagine an almighty and merciful God would not want you to abuse his creation like that. We are stewards of all things on earth including the physical body we have. I would really think self abuse and calling it thanksgiving is a bit of a blasphemy. If you want to do it just so that you feel better about it then I think its really your choice. But please don’t go round telling people what you do pleases God. 

But of course, who am I to judge what you do although I can sure blog my thoughts about these.

I thank our Lord for the day and the weekend. And I won’t feel bad buying easter eggs to munch on. Already I am having a better Friday.

Cheap Stuffs Are Not Worth It

Absolutely bad experience with Direct Asia Insurance. But I guess there is no such thing as cheap and good. 1) Website could have been better. Did the guys who tested it actually bought insurance from the company? Maybe. But please ask the general public to kind of test it too. I missed out so much information.

2) The customer service is hit/miss. She did not 100% know her stuffs but I was not really looking for that too. She had to put me on hold couple times to check things through. My case is unique perhaps? I like to think not but perhaps. The quality of the voice call was crap. Could not hear her half the time. Internet voice to save money? Miss.

3) I have learnt today that private use of vehicle does not include driving to work. So if I drive and park somewhere near my work place and walk, can I argue that I used the car privately but then since work place so near, I may as well put in some hours? But then again its just a saving of $40, over a year. Don't need to get my "panties in a wad" over this.

Not just insurance, cheap stuffs does not necessarily mean good stuffs. And vice-versa. Question is, what are you risking. Caveat, man.

Marriage Breakthrough Weekend, by CEFC Singapore

People generally are reactive. Only when things happen then we do something about it. Nobody in their right mind and free time wants to think about whether if anything has any potential to happen in a “bad” way.

We signed up for the March 2016 edition of the Marriage Breakthrough Weekend not because we think we needed help, but we wanted to make our 10th year significant. But, we had been on the rocks. And we were really rocking it, in the negative sense. Right up to 15 minutes before departure for our venue, I was still sure that we would not be attending the event. The night before, I was throwing tantrums like a big kid who haven’t had his milk for days. But unlike big kids, I can feed myself and so I ordered a nice ribeye from Astons in Bukit Batok. Yummy!

In the end my spirit managed to tell my flesh to pack my bags, and off we drove towards JB, the land of cheap and nicely seasoned local food. 

Of course the powers that be would want to throw in some wrench into the plans. On the way to the customs, my brother informed me that he got into an chain accident where he was the last car and the other cars involved were taxis. Only way this accident could be worse is someone was injured from this. In any case, I filtered all these distractions and decided that I want to meet God, in JB, with fellow married Christian couples, who were looking for breakthroughs in the marriages (or church membership) as well.

The format is generally the same as Men’s Breakthrough Weekend. Plenaries, couples sharing their testimonies/stories, group activities and all you can eat buffet! The things that stand out are, there are couple activities like the feet washing, amateur dance lessons and candlelight dinner. 

The feet washing is definitely a humbling experience. Washing your spouse’s feet is easy by comparison. Imagine a foot with probably fungal infections, caked with mud and covered with dust. That’s the kind of feet we were probably dealing with back in the biblical times. Its still a relevant gesture in the modern times, as it really demonstrated the love and care for another.

The dance lessons made us discovered that we could probably enjoy an occasional dance. It really brings us closer and the connection is definitely better in a romantic setting. But I think at this point for me, I won’t enjoy it on a regular basis and I will probably feel more frustrated learning because I don’t have a good rhythm and pace. But who knows? Maybe we will do it more often on an amateur level. Something we can do together as a couple apart of the usual movies, exercise, etc.

The candlelight dinner was somewhat disappointing as in, we expected to have some time with each other to talk and discuss about our issues and or the thoughts about the plenaries and sharing from the 2 days before that. However, private time was short and I guess the committee would rather fill the time with more couple activities. Like tying a length of small rope to a coin. And making sure it still holds despite vigorous shaking. 

Generally, this is an excellent “getaway” and “enlightenment”. Get away from your crowded lives and enlighten yourself with testimonies and sharing that you would have to pay some money to get from books and videos. Marriage breakthrough and realignment, guaranteed. That is, if you are not as concerned with church membership.