On the Psychological Satisfaction of Seeing Money in Our Banks

Today I received many emails asking when people will actually have their money credited into their bank accounts or their cheques sent to their letterboxes. As early as in the morning. As you know they are supposed to get it by today. On the government's part they have tried to credit them one day earlier than the official date they gave, that is yesterday.

Still didn't stop a multitude from asking exactly when within the day they will get it.

*bangs head against wall*

Is it really that significant a question, I ask. Are these people really so in need of money that they will withdraw their money right the moment they get them? Sure there are such real needy cases, but the majority, I would suppose, wouldn't even touch that $200, which is probably an insignificant percentage of what they have in their big fat bloated bank account.

They just want to see the money jump in their bank accounts. You know, that kind of experience you have when it's payday, and you see a digit in the 'hundred' or 'thousand' place increase by some numbers. How exciting.

It's all psychological lah. Money in the banks are just numbers. So, can stop bugging us whether you will get them in the morning or afternoon or evening when I can bet four years worth of GST Credits that you won't use it today? :D

On The Sad Lives People Lead

During my free time in office, my colleague and I would visit the Stomp! forums, since practically all other entertainment websites are blocked.

And a whole new disgusting world we enter.

A place where people cannot write properly. A place where they love talking about bo liao things under the sun with much childish zeal (the kind where a small immature boy cries zealously for a Power Ranger toy). A place where people think they are really sensible and intelligent just because they hide behind the screen, and relish standing on high moral ground, when in actual fact they are simplistic in thinking and immature. It's just the peer-to-peer glorification of their own kind which makes them feel high and mighty and extremely dignified.

I want to puke.

As I told W, who read all kinds of things from there, to be careful because 'there is a lot of rubbish there'. And true enough I went into a blog W recommended as there was someone who called himself Philosopher (with the capital P no less) and who proceeded on a tirade against Dawn Yang and Sun Ho. I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

Spare me the irony.

I mean I can understand why he would hate them, but to spend so much time and effort degrading someone you hate? That is a very sad life.

And then my colleague went to Wikipedia and typed in 'Dawn Yang' only to find fans and haters conscientiously editing the page (which is *ahem* supposed to be neutral and informative) into some kind of a page ripped straight out of a tabloid.

At that point only two words came to my mind:

Who cares?

Spend your sad little life doing something useful lah, like read Time magazine or something.

I Am Craving After Eight

The Best Chocolate Ever! But the price is staggering... $10.95 at NTUC Fairprice for one small box (even smaller than the one in the picture.) Sianz.

I Not Stupid. Ish Belly The STOOOOPID!!

From Comfort Delgro (Driving Centre):

Dear Derrick,

Our system shows that you did tried to book FTT for
14 May 2008 Session 5 on 10 Apr 2008 at 1:38pm &
15 May 2008 Session 5 on 03 Mar 2008 at 9:54pm
but both bookings were under 'Reserved' Status and not 'Confirmed' status.

After selecting the Session, you have to click the 'OK' button to bring you to the
confirmation page whereby you have to click the 'Confirm' button to confirm and
complete the booking.

Sian. Because I didn't click that elusive OK button, my FTT which I thought I had booked for two times (!!) was never registered in the first place.

*bangs head against wall*

And so I went in today, 2 months after I had passed my BTT and after I had tried booking for the first time. Which means my FTT was delayed for a good one month.

But heck la. I have no car waiting for me anyway. Hehe.

Saturday's Sermon

By D.A. Carson shot me left, right and centre, exposing all that I lack.

Passion for People. Check.
Deep Knowledge of God. Check.
Praying fervently for the Church. Check.
Wise Planning. Check.
Understanding Sovereignty of God. Check.

"Help us to confess sins, especially our own."

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Other Thoughts on Recent Happenings

On another note, is there anyone who does not deserve his place/office in church? All of us are redeemed by the same loving God. M sent an SMS last week, saying she was quite worried suspecting that G didn't find her 'good enough' to serve. I replied, saying 'That's true. Because none of us are'. We are serving a great King, and really none of us are worthy to serve the majestic, holy and glorious God.

So if anyone is having any thoughts about anyone who doesn't deserve to be in the position where he/she is now, I'll be glad to be the first to leave mine, no matter how insignificant it is. Having been saved by grace, are we now talking about our own worth? That is pure foolishness. Want to talk about unworthiness... it must first begin with ourselves.

And God in His incomprehensible wisdom had allowed that even truthful things might be said with the most ungracious of attitudes, so that ultimately we who are frail and weak may learn to ask for wisdom. And in His infinite wisdom He had allowed that even with perfect graciousness we might speak forth much falsehoods, so that ultimately we fall on His grace for the unity of our faith.

The Heavenly and the Mundane

I'm sitting down here in my office now. 3pm. I am feeling such bliss being greeted with a stark ironic conflict of the heavenly and mundane.

Having finished my mundane email-replying work, I have now found myself an opportunity to read and digest John Owen's The Holy Spirit. The opening chapter blows my mind.

"All the concerns of the Holy Spirit are eminently the 'deep things of God', for as the knowledge of them depends wholly on divine revelation, so they are in their own nature heavenly."

Such stark contrast to replying emails about how much money people are getting. But whether mundane or heavenly, I am reminding myself that all things are to be done to God's glory. So here I am, having completed my work, reading a very cheem yet satisfying book. It will probably take me a few months to finish reading it. But won't one be a fool who doesn't give his best to comprehend heavenly things?

Especially during a time when such things are frowned upon and thrown carelessly aside even by devoted men and women.

I think I have just found myself a perfect substitute to the shallow teachings of my time.

Love Song by Sarah Bareilles

Thanks to C, I have found the song sang by the parts girl. Hehe. Nice song.

The Most Anticipated Movie of the Year

The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan

Check out Joker's psychotic laugh! I think this is gonna be a great movie.

Easily Smitten

I think I reconfirmed my weakness today. I am so easily smitten by talented people. Just last week A asked me whether it is true that I like intelligent people. I asked her to define 'intelligent' and proceeded to explain that I do not exactly desire academically smart girls (I do like witty ones though, if that's what she meant). And then I told her I like talented people, those who can play guitar/piano/instruments, or good in sports, or have gifts in the arts, or have strong passion in the sciences etc.

And today I just saw one PARTS girl who can really sing. She sang two songs, one of which I do not know but sounds great nonetheless, and the other one was If I Ain't Got You by Alicia Keys.

Alicia Keys! Who the hell can sing Alicia Keys! The difficult notes and all... But she sang really well. I was very impressed...

And see how quickly I was infatuated in like 0.5s of the first note she hit.

Another friend of mine A2, mentioned that a bad habit she has is gazing at someone she is eavesdropping on. Mine was to look very, very obviously at the person I am infatuated with, until the person turns around and glance back at me and I had to turn my head away with a sudden, awkward jerk, and a tad too late. And that awkwardness will be multiplied exponentially given that I will keep doing that subconsciously! In the end, I just look like a fool. But hey, it's funny.

Sian. That is my weakness, ladies and gentlemen.

First Week At Work

Supervisor: Hey you know when a person walk halfway then suddenly faint what do you do?
Colleague: Do CPR lor..
Supervisor: Ya la. Who put "CPR Offset Package" one?
*all of my colleagues figuring what he talking about*
Me: *guffaws*... GST lah!
*everyone laughs*

Thankfully work is rather fun. Not boring data entry or something like that, but actually one that requires me to think... (Yay!) The requirement to think on the spot is just about the only thing I like about customer service. And my supervisor's a very friendly person too. It's like customer service... just that now it is through email. So I can meet a difficult enquiry, smile at the computer screen, scratch my head a bit, ask my colleagues/supervisor, go lim kopi, smile at the screen again, then reply, knowing that the person cannot 'shoot' you back immediately. No pressure, no need to see your face, no need to hear your voice. haha.

And of course just behind us are those customer service officers having really hard times with the customers, entertaining perhaps the same questions as we do, only through a more difficult mode. After hearing the phone conversations KY was finally convinced that even with higher pay he wouldn't do customer service.

And hilarious stuff abound. I do not nitpick on language (like some people do *ahem*), but at the very least I require understandable language. Broken English, Singlish, short forms, mispelt words, bad grammar, colloquialisms, I don't mind. But I always receive mails where I need to decipher what they are trying to say. There was one who said he became a citizen 'last March', only for me to decipher that he meant 'this March'. And people who barely know the meaning of 'including', 'exclusive', 'less' etc, but decided to use them anyway. And there was one lady who actually wrote a formal letter with all the complete format (recepient address, sender's address, organisation name, date, subject title etc) through an email! (I'm still fresh out of my Secondary 2 Formal Letter Writing lessons.) And of course, people who simply cannot count properly :)


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Can Simon Cowell ever run out of vocabulary??

"Your singing is like ordering a hamburger... [pause]

... and only getting the bun."

Wahahhaa! Laughed like mad.

So Goes Recruit Teh...

And the first question he asked his Officer is whether he can bring PSP into camp.

Well done.

Let's hope he survive :)

And I was telling his Dad that he could see his son serious for the very first time in his life, standing in selang di ri position.

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On another note I feel kinda sad today. Made someone unhappy, or rather think of unhappy things. Felt so stupid.

Something Deep

Wah. For the first time I read something really deep from WJ's blog. Whaha.

Everyone is an introvert. No one will say whatever is in his or her heart. Extrovert is merely a term for a slightly-better introvert.

PS: This is not a pessimist's point of view.

That is pure thousand-years old wisdom (Sorry, I can't help it.) I think that is very true.. even for people like us who claim to be not so self-conscious and so-called 'ready to share' and always wanting people around us to share deeply about themselves. I believe there are many things which only we are comfortable enough to speak to God about, and no one else.

C'est La Vie!

This is life man. Watch movies, rock climb, jog, read bible, listening to entire albums of Oasis and Beatles, play PS2, study a bit, go for bible studies, meet friends, watch DVDs, sleep, chiong at E house until late in the night without worrying about the next day, wake up at 9am and then go back to sleep.

No one to bark at you, no pressure from work. This is the first time I'm doing all these in a long long time, ever since before army. What a time to reclaim it back. Suddenly feeling to stay outside rather than go back home to sleep/rest, because simply there is no reason to! :)

C'est La Vie!

Anyway had a fun time interacting at Charis yesterday. Had curry with bread by M! Nice. And then we had interesting questions, like are the 3 things we will take if my house is on fire. I answered laptop, my drawer (containing my cards/letters) and ATM card. So I guess I am pretty balanced between practicality and sentimentality. Heh. Some of us are rather practical, while people like PX are more towards the sentimental side. They will bring their baby photos and diaries with them. Probably can survive with nothing but love alone. Haha, so interesting. And then there was this question 'What kind of drink describes your personality'. And I chose Green Tea. My explanation was I didn't like it when it first came out and I refused to drink it for a few months and when I finally gave it a second chance, I realized I actually liked it. It's one of my favourite drinks now. True or not I don't know, but I think a lot of people find me 'dao', cold and unfriendly at first, though they would later realize I'm not that cold if they really know me. And then there was this question on what kind of genre of movie will describe me, and what movie I would choose to represent my life. I didn't get to answer, but I guess it would be Forrest Gump, a dramedy. (I guess I can be funny at times, and sometimes I am just plain boring and serious?) Perhaps the idea about a person who does not understand much about things, yet nevertheless manages to get through things in life echoes my own life. And also his value on relationships which drives his life on.

I would really like to know more of these wonderful people. Sometimes they would give an answer you wouldn't expect, and they are not comfortable enough to share why, and so explain that answer away. A pity... but also a challenge.

Derrick Tay the Car Seller?

Haha. Interesting thought.

Ball N Biscuit says:
got lobangs?
[ J Y ] [ ] says:
u wan sell cars?
Ball N Biscuit says:
lol.
Ball N Biscuit says:
how to sell
[ J Y ] [ ] says:
work for cartimes, benzworld
[ J Y ] [ ] says:
some of them looking
[ J Y ] [ ] says:
but nah u got integrity, cannot
[ J Y ] [ ] says:
need someone with no ethics and no integrity
Ball N Biscuit says:
u mean must bluff ppl one ah
Ball N Biscuit says:
ahaha
[ J Y ] [ ] says:
then
[ J Y ] [ ] says:
how else to sell

You Can't Give Me the Dreams that were Mine Anyway

Oasis - Half the World Away

This has quickly become one of my favourite Oasis song. I think it's an amazing song. About a man who has a hope of a better place. Amazingly, this is a B-side! It could easily have been a single.

Something Fascinating

Isn't there something fascinating about the lives of 14, 15 year-olds? I guess I missed that kind of exciting, care-free, hilarious times of my life.

Gossiping about teachers, asking stupid questions, making funny faces, cracking silly jokes, little hand gestures, silly little games....

Just seeing my Sec 2 boys and girls live their lives like that.. as if there is nothing in the world to trouble them, brings a smile to my face. That kind of harmless silliness and ability to smile at everything thrown at them, I guess that is what I miss. And of course in a few years' time, they will probably outgrow that stage.

Silliness turns to maturity, and a lot less excitement and a lot more responsibility.