"Fooled by what we "see"!
Don't let the world define for you what is beauty. What you see to be real is really just a lie. "Fooled by what we "see"!
At the end of the day, be true to yourself. And not blindly follow what the world brainwashes you to believe. Else we'll end up just a sad final product of advertising lies.
Proverbs 31:30 (Contemporary English Version)
Charm can be deceiving, and beauty fades away, but a woman who honors the LORD deserves to be praised.
Date Rape (Part II)
After reading my post on date rape my wonderful malaysian joker (fren) shocked me with the update that there is worse drugs out there. They don't even spike your drink, just paste a celotape drug (think something like hansaplast) & you're GONE!!!!
But the latest news I've heard as an ex-raver and shuffler, is that there have been incidences of date rapes using this drug known as Scopolamine. Rohypnol is usually a small pill or powder or something foreign that's dumped into your drink.
So why is Scopolamine scary?
It's a drug in the form of a transdermal patch. Which means epidermical transfer. Which means the drug comes in the form of some small kinda celotape, they walk by you, brush your arm or something (whilst conveniently sticking the drug on your arm), and next thing you know, you wake up not knowing anything.
All date rape drugs induce anterograde amnesia, which is a cricitcal factor in date rapes because you wake up not having the foggiest idea of what happened. Scopolamine is scary because it's so hard to spot, usually a laced celotape or something. Rohypnol or other Benzo's are easier to spot because they come in pills or powders.
A friend of mine over msn just commented that the drug would take time to settle in. I agree. This makes Scopolamines all the more dangerous, because you would meet more people whilst waiting for the drug to settle in. Which means you'll be less likely to remember who your assailant was. o.O
So when you think clubbing or raving is cool and all that, make sure you know and understand and keep a look out for impending dangers. I've been in countless of situations where I've had to go and bail friends outta trouble because they were targets of psychos and perverts. One of the best things you can have is someone 113% reliable to count on. Especially in these cases.
But let me push this point further by saying abstain from clubbing. Save yourself the trouble (and others). Sure, an experience is an experience. But to be hooked onto the scene? You gotta be flogging me. There's so much I could say here, but the point is that... is it worth the danger you could possibly be getting into?
There's hundreds of scenarios. Fights, rapes, drugs, molest, filming, stalking, murder, robbery, etc. Even with the most reliable person on earth, you can still get into trouble. Especially when it comes hunting for you. Sure it's a big challenge, but only real people, with real fighting spirits will stand up for principles.
Who else know your panties colour?
I thought this is a wonderful post from EJ. Hey girls enough of me telling you all the time about short skirts and stuff....Hear it from a man himself!
A month ago, I had a rather traumatizing encounter while shopping at a shopping mall. This incident happened while I was traveling up on the escalator. Sited ahead of me, next to the step out point from the escalator, there was a shop brandished with perfumes and cosmetic products. What shocked me at that particular point was that one of the salesgirl, back facing the store entrance and wearing a mini flair skirt, was climbing up on a ladder and stocking up products in the cabinet. She was totally oblivious to the fact that in that position, she was going to almost let everyone around have a free upskirt show!
It didn't need to take supersonic senses for me to understand what was coming next if I were to continue staring for another 10 seconds. Instantaneously as this salesgirl started her climb up the ladder, I immediately turned my eyes away to look elsewhere. Phew! A huge sigh of relief.... (I will explain my point later in this post. Read on.)
Traumatized enough, I wasn't prepare to stay around to spot the "Ti-Ko-Pek"s whom may be drooling at this free view nor see if there were anyone whom would go and get this salesgirl down from the ladder. I zipped off to the next level and carried on with my shopping.
Gosh! What has happened to the dressing culture of the teenage girls of today? Aren't they worried of over (or indecent) exposure when they wear such short flair kind of skirts? Honestly, I have nothing against girls wearing skirt, but I just feel strongly that there's got to be a limit to how far this can go. There has been enough horror stories of molest cases and people using handphone cameras to capture upskirt pictures. I seriously think girls can go one step further to protect themselves by giving their mini-skirts a bit more cloth-lengthening.
To the Girls: Yes, you do have the free-will to wear anything you like. Yes, guys should learn to be more self-controlled and not have wandering eyes. But the truth is that you will do yourselves and the guys a huge favor by re-considering your approach the next time you want to wear those short skirts. You can take active measures to protect yourselves. Example: If you are wearing those mini-skirts, do use you handbags to block or get a friend to stand behind you while you travel up the escalators. and for goodness sake, girls please do not climb ladders when you are wearing skirts. I am sure there are plenty of gentlemen around whom can lend their muscles to help you. Honestly, we guys are all visually stimulated, that slight upskirt/buttline/over-fleshy exposure will trigger a lot of reaction through our mind.
Having said this, Girls, you do not need to wrap yourselves up like a dumpling. Either opt for longer length skirts or learn to take proper preventive measures. I am certain beauty and proper cover up can co-exist.
To the Guys: Now, be truthful and do not just bluntly shift all the blames to the girls. Let's also learn to exercise self-control and respect the ladies. Be alert at ALL times! And learn to turn your eyes away when you expect some of these exposure may come. If you have a girlfriend, learn to share this with your girlfriend and ask her to help give you warning signals! And sometimes if by accident you do catch a glimpse, just turn away and walk off. DO NOT allow yourself to be glued! Some of you may say, "Wah.. but free show mah, why don't see? Anyway it's not harmful mah!" WRONG! Honestly, how is staring at upskirts of ladies different from watching pornography???? The end results and effects are the same - our values and moral standards towards sexuality becomes eroded! And some may end up becoming perverts whom take upskirt photos as their secret obsession!
So guys, be alert and stay clear!!!
**************************************************
Extremely Concerned Cynthia: Okies I shall come up with my gals version soon :)
gender and prejudice
my friend told me that i've been very guyish lately. really.
she said i was too insensitive to notice all her hints about a certain matter. and no, it's absolutely nothing scandalous. i mean, i have always been considered the most guyish among certain friends. maybe it's my wide shoulders, my tendency not to pay attention in class or my irresponsible and lazy streak that girls always assume guys have. not true man. totally not true.
i mean, there are many guys who are emotionally sensitive, extremely hardworking and responsible and conscienctious. then why can't a girl be exactly the opposite? lay off the sterotyping please. i can understand when the school auntie always used to call me AH BOY, WHAT YOU WANT before correcting herself, but i mean, i like being this way.
i know i'm childish, but i find it tiring to be a perfectionist in everything, even in the things i dislike, or any other femenine virtue like being neat. not a hobby of mine. don't get me wrong- i love being female, and i'm neither crooked nor do i wish to change my sex or anthing absurd like that. does growing up mean that i'll have to be the prim lady in stiff blazers, or the perfect housewife in the future or something?
i suppose peter pan never thought that wendy didn't want to grow up because she would have to turn into a pile of make up and underwear with big fat load of rules to follow. no no, i feel that moral values, principles etc. must be learnt and appiled. but can i break the rules once in a while, lose a little more interest in studies and loosen up? be a kid, just relieve myself of having to smile to all difficult team members and be the peace maker all the time. or for a minute, lie down and enjoy having a blank mind. i've tried to get girly, neat handwriting like yali. i've tried to be high achievers like them-they got gold, i'll get silver. be elegant, posied, careful and feminine. i'm blur, clumsy and my legs always fall open as much as i try to keep them closed(but they are closed in church, i think). it never ends. i know it's not all mature and godly, for we need to do our best for god all the time right?
certain times i just adore being a kid. no worries, no conflicts, believing in silly, innocent dreams, believing that the uncle really just wants nothing else but to bring you upstairs to give you a sweet. beliveing that friendships last forever, that deaths are too far away too think about, and there's always someone to carry the weight of your world along with you.
so i just have one question. can a girl be like a 'sterotyped' guy for once, and not bother about her looks so much, her grades so much, not bother about how many boyfriends others have, wear huge t shirts to not bother about her fat? can a christian find rest from trying to be perfect all the time for pre believers to see? because the more i seem to try,it doesn't get much better.
love, brenda
and this is NOT an emo post (:
pilgrim-wannabe
Today's sermon is very straightforward and easy to understand, which is why i like it so much!
morning devotions(Part 2)
hey ppl!! i m back..
this is another one of the devotions in the morning. that week, the theme was on courage. another one of our vice principal went up to share with us. he told us this story.
there was a teacher who wanted to test her students to see if they had courage, she placed 3 strands of string in front of the students n asked them to line up in a semi circle round it. she whispered into all the students to raise their hands when she pointed to the the longest string. she stold all of them except one student who she told to raise up his hand when she pointed to the 2nd longest string. the students did as they were told. when the teacher pointed to the 2nd longest string, only one student raised up his hand but when he saw no one else raising up their hands, he quickly withdrew, n put his hand down.
Do we have the courage?? do we have the courage to be different from the rest? do we have the courage to stand up for what is right? if we have some problems in our relationship with our parents or even other ppl, do we have the courage to go make up? when we see ppl cheating in a test do we cheat wif them or do we tell on them?
my vice principal oso gave us a verse.. Proverbs 10:9 The man of integrity walks securely but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.
I hope this would start u all of thinking..
belbel
look who's BOSS
around 4 years ago i was thinking. who do you work for?
your boss.
your boss works for the government.
your government works for who?
you.
duh.
then ultimately, the one who really is the BIGGEST BOSS should be the people, right? partially. yes, leaders should always keep in mind that their power is for them to serve, not to be served. at the same time, the people should keep in mind that the leaders are doing them a service. when you dine at a restaurant and a cook cooks for you, do you say "iiidiot! who asked you to be so NOSY and to serve me? it's my life and i'll get my own food. now go away." no, we should be grateful.
sure, sometimes that cook feels that chips on your dish may be too high in cholestrol and will make you look too sickly to meet jay chou at the concert the next day and removes them, much to your displeasure, but keep in mind that when GOD gives them the power to be in chrage of your 'dinner'. as much as they make stupid descisions like putting peas in ice cream , you should still eat it. all their mistakes will be corrected by the big boss JESUS, and you should not get into trouble yourself by criticising them.
it's easy to say, but difficult to achieve.
i mean look at that teacher. can she be any stupider? she gives me all the wrong homework!
that cca leader can kill! he ALWAYS gives all the wrong instructions!
the principal is BLIND. my skirt is not short ok! neither is my uniform untidy!
my boss hates me. he never fails to pick on me!
such things are really common, and mostly inevitable. have you ever been in a leader's shoes where you have to be perfect in everything and face uncooperative people like you and me? it's easy to be a participant and complain, but to be pulled in all directions is pure toture. i always never did like it when my school imposed harsh rules on uniform and when the leaders muddled up, but now when people criticse and hate me for the same or more reasons, sympathy overwhlems me. a bright way to look at it is that when we are ciricised like that, we learn not to obtain not the approval of man but of god, unless you have really made a mistake.
so the bottom line is, respect you leaders. i don't like to do it too, but even david didn't dare lay a hand on saul although he had all the right to. simply because he knew saul was god's appointed, and god will deal with that bad cook.
after all, jesus is the boss.
morning devotions(Part 1)
hey ppl!! i shall post sth more serious n not abt my life this time..
these few weeks for devotion evey morning, I learnt many interesting things... let me share wif u ppl.. one of the mornings, my school's vice principal did devotion. she asked us this question, are we a thermostat or a themometer? a thermostat is something that sets and maintains the temperature in the room while a themometer is something that takes the temperature. people who change themselves to be in the 'cool' group are ppl or to be accepted are examples of a themometer which follow the temperature in the room. while the people who influences ppl are thermostats which controls the the temperature in the room. the question to us was do we want to be a thermostat or a thermometer? do we want to be someone who influences the crowd or someone who changes themselves just to be accepted in the 'cool' crowd? she also cquoted this verse from the bible, in 1 Samuel 16:7. The Lord does not look at things Man looks at, Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the Heart.
I hope this would encourage you ppl to be the influences and not the followers! i continue 2moro. muz sleep liao sorry!
belbel
A LONG POST =)
After so long, here i am. Just got home from dinner. Its the FIRST time in so many many many years that my father brought us out to eat! I thought my mum was joking with me when she told me this after i got home from church. I hope he will bring us out often. Our family just dont have those kind of family day or family time etc. No display of affection for one another or greetings of birthday wishes or celebration of special occasions. We just dont have this culture.
Anyway...
I haven been blogging for a pretty long time not because nothing special or blog-worthy has yet to happen to me. On the contrary, alot did happen, something comparable to a roller coaster ride. Like immediately after my common tests, i have so much to blog about but i deleted that post. Thought the post was a little too "heavy", you know, with i'm-going-to-flunk-the-papers-badly kind of feeling..
And training resumed almost immediately even though we supposedly have 1 more day of break. Coach's words when i asked him whats the hurry, " You think i'm so kind to let your enjoy ah? Only 3 more weeks left!"
Fine.
Actually i have been thinking whether i should blog about this. As all know, the start of a new school year means new students coming in. For my CCA, we recruited more juniors than i expected. There are quite many of them. Around 11? And lately, we've also been discussing whether we should take part in the A Div Bball Tournament. Eventually, we decided to take part. Here's the problem the seniors face: only 12 are selected for the team to participate in the tournament. *Counting..* We have about 24 on the team. WONDERFUL.
Knowing this, i suddenly want OUT of the whole thing. Its enough that im in a competitive CCA and i HATE competition. Now, i will have to compete with the juniors. And coach have been drilling into our heads that the juniors have great potential blah blah. It just means many of us (seniors) might not get into the team.
Sorry for beating around the bush. Ok, so my point is.
I DONT WANT TO BE REPLACED. By them. We (seniors) were discussing about this, and many of us felt that its pretty unfair if they get to play just after weeks of joining us. BECAUSE, we were really the ones who kind of "held" the team together. Like the "forefathers". haa. We've been training so hard for 1 year plus and, really, we dont want it to go to waste. Some of my team-mates are already contemplating quiting as they felt it would be a waste of time to go training and not be selected in the end. Nvm. I should drop this subject.
There's training tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to it anymore because coach would be using this few days to choose the 12. Not confident at all.
Oh, and I've almost taken back all my common tests papers this week. The results were astonishing!! Very unexpected judging the state i was in when i did my papers. Anyway, it wasnt me, but GOD. I prayed, mum prayed, cyn prayed and He answered. My eyes also popped out when i saw my marks. I just couldnt believe the results i got la. So, i owe it all to GOD! =) Praise Him. I think its the first time He's so real to me, like, He's the one who marked my papers. *Gasp*
I'm so happy................................
Signing off,
Jo
the son will be my sun
alright, i'm taking time off my studying schedule to do this post. but you can keep a secret i trust!
i won't deny that this week was absolutely hetic and horrid rubbish. still, i plan to makE this into a psalm format, where it begins all pensive and emo but ends positively.
well, i was pleasantly surprised at the devotion and the sermon topics. you see, my closest friends have been really nasty and hurtful to me all week. to avoid having more bitterness towards them, i shall not elaborate. but anyhow, it cut really deep into me, especially when they were all pre believers so i couldn't react negatively in case they question 'what kind of christian are you?'well, today the topic was about reconciling for the sermon and facing difficult times for the devotion booklet. i suppose i really have to start trusting god with this, for i have been feeling that lately, i have been influenced from all my pre believing friends(which means all but one actually.) also, i'm thinking of apologising to that friend of mine who hurled insults at me. i didn't react in the most postive manner, and even though i feel that it's not really my fault, i should still apologise. i just have to submit this hurt to the lord, as much as it pains me to do so.
secondly, i remember discussing with my best friend (she's a christian! thank god!) about how our lives had suddenly becoming so meaningless. alright, it's incredibly emo, i know. but try going through my week with a body that has 5-6 hours of sleep everyday and you'll comprehend. we promised each other that we would try our best and reconcile with god, for as everyone says, the end days are here, and i feel such intense fear even till now. obviously i'm not ready. well, both the sermon and the devotion talked about "teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom". it helped a bit, and i'm confident it'll help a lot more for the next week the more i keep it in my heart.
this would be a little off track, but lately something has been irking me lately. don't get me wrong, i'm not trying to accuse anyone here. recently many people have been ranting about their exciting love lives in my school.
'oh, did you hear? XXX got a boyfriend in our class!'
'YYY that prefect has A BOYFRIEND IN VS MAN"
'i'm meeting that shuai ge from XYZ school today! oh my *** he's so hot! i'm so happy!'
then again, let me clarify. i don't hate all these people. neither do i dislike hearing about that part of their lives for it's really quite interesting. they are my good friends even. but it just makes me rather annoyed to some extent for I'M BOMBARDED BY IT. jealously, envy, whatever you can choose to call it, for i'm not too sure myself. i mean even in a girls' school! oh gosh! I KNOW, I KNOW ALREADY. even if no one fancies me i'm fine, until i hear such things. not that it's the guys fault for falling for my sweet and attractive friends, but you get the point! what do you do when you date anyway. after all the movies, romantic walks and dinners, flaunting each other at family gatherings and chinese new year- you can't get married at this age. so i always tell myself-it's ok. now all i need is to focus on my studies and god. nothing else. still, i wish i could have a christian friend to help me throughout this in school. i'm getting rather disgusted with what my friends are doing now.
so, all in all, despite the fact that i'm clearly distressed, i'm still counting on god for guidance to become a happy snowman
