Counting one's blessings

Perhaps the mid week blues got to me.  But I was tired, grouchy.  At 1pm, I decided to work the remainder of the day from home, even though I was already in the office.  I took at nap at 5pm, woke up feeling so much better at 7pm.  Quick dinner, shower, just in time for conference call at 9pm *bleh*

To counter mid week blues, good to remind oneself of your blessings:
- Taiwan telecasts live ALL the World Cup matches on TV.  No extra charge.  Unlike money sucking Singapore.
- Had a good 1:1 with my director.  He offered to put in good words in my exit interview record.  In the event I need to return to HP in the future, it will help.  It's a kind gesture.
- Being able to work from home which helps with afternoon naps.  Ok, so I guess I only dare pull this stunt off because I am on notice to leave.  But still...
- Mom wanted to come visit but I managed to convince her to wait til next year May.  We'll both come back for a visit then.
- Michy my sister in law.  Who has beaten me 3 checkers game (online via MSN) in a row and was offering another game in the afternoon when I elected the nap over being defeated by her again.

Testimony to the God who does hear our prayers

On God and jobs.

In December last year, I was furiously interviewing, I had 2 pretty serious jobs, and was doing like 3rd/4th interviews.  When I went back to Singapore over Christmas/Chinese new year holidays, I was so sure I'd land one of the 2 jobs, if not both and then get to pick one.  Guess what, I got neither. 

From end Feb until June, it was an absolutely dry spell.  I was still sending out job applications everywhere : Monster.com, internal HP job searcher, various headhunters that kind friends sent my way, LinkedIn, direct website applications to several big companies... But, all I got was rejection after rejection, not even an interview came my way.

Sometime end May, I remember being depressed and telling Garin that my dream is to find a new job and move out of Taipei by end June.  Garin laughed at me, saying something like job proces doesn't move so fast etc...

Guess what - when God's in charge, nothing's impossible.

First phone interview early June.  Then a face to face interview, before I could even say He is Almighty, I had the job offer.

Truly, He IS Almighty!

Twitter is over capacity? What?

I like cycling!

All Saturdays this month, I had woken up early for some fun event or another. 

Saturday, I woke up at 5am, and went to Yilan with IBM's cycling club.  It turned out to be a Giant + Yilan tourism board event.  Free Giant bikes, and a delightful 30km ride through fields of fruit & rice, by the North East Coast of Taiwan and then back through the town.

The good organizers even provided lunch & free meal time entertainment over which I won myself a cantaloupe.  I like!

My pix are on Facebook & Flickr.

Affirmation needs

We all seek support and affirmation from one another. 

On Sunday, talking to a friend over dinner, he told me the reason why he plays arcade games and since he's very good at it, he tends to draw a small audience, and he likes the thrill of that admiration.

Then between Monday evening and last night, I met up with various colleagues and they were so engrossed in telling me their achievements, about how fellow colleagues compliment them on their abilities.  Now both of these colleagues I worked with, and they are ok.  But was the need to emphasize to me how good they were really necessary?

It started me thinking this morning in the shower... that we all have such strong needs for affirmation from one another.

I am thankful that Jesus loves me so much that I really have no need for human affirmation.  And He is more than happy to remind me of that love on a daily basis.  Nonetheless, I take the reminder - that I should be more encouraging to the people around me who needs that affirmation.   From a sermon a long time ago, Christians should be like Barnabas from Acts of the Apostles (his name means the encourager)!

Exhausting weekend

Against the grain of Saturdays, I woke up at 5am, hopped in Sean's car at 5.40am, drove 2 hours into the mountains for another go at river tracing.  I must say, I am getting good at being a penguin now.  Hopping onto rocks, swimming up the rapids... Ah...

Except for 1 careless moment.  The last rapid was a like a water slide.  Apple chose to go down head first, and I figured, last rapid, I'll do the same.  The instructor asked, are you sure... I yelled, hell yeah!  Infamous last words.  In the process of flying down the stream a la superman style, I somehow slapped my right hand against a rock and then entered the water face first.  For a while there, the pain was so intense, my face and what felt like a broken right hand.  Ouch, ouch!  After like 10 minutes, when the pain waves receded, I found I could move my hand, ah, so nothing's broken.

More pix here.

Sunday morning, I woke up early.  I was 2nd reader at mass, so I needed to be early at church.  I thought I was early, I wasn't.  Strolled into church, then discovered mass was already starting, had to dash in! 

Chose to still go climb Sunday since I wasn't sure if I could climb Wed (video conf again, dang).  It was especially awesome - the part when Ah Jing (my good ole buddy, the gym owner) who helped me rub my aching right hand.

Monday morning, I wake up feeling all battered.  My 40 year old body can't deal with this.  Oh and typing hurts my right hand... *whine*

Going Home...

Thanks be to the Almighty God.  I found a job in Motorola.  This time next month, I will be sweating along the streets in the land of my birth.

Edward asked me today if my decision is final.  I looked at him back and asked him back what my alternatives were.  He had nothing to say.  So why bother to ask?

After 11 years in HP, the decision to leave is strangely easy. 

All I have on my mind now is
1. How to give as much of my stuff here to charity
2. How to pack the remainder and get them shipped home
3. Closing up my bank accounts, bills etc

What I will miss about Taiwan?
1. My freedom
2. The outdoors
3. Gaining new friends from 0 - I will perhaps miss Rae & Elmo the most.  Sigh...

Sunday's mass

The celebrant is Father Tony Laryn.  Last I remember, he had retired, left Taiwan and gone home to this native state of Minneapolis.

I was perhaps 5mins early (not my credit, taxi driver was fast).  So I sat there and saw Fr Tony with his left arm in a brace reviewing the mass proceedings with 3 sacristy/servers.  He looked a little dishevelled (versus his usual self from the past) and the sacristies/servers were holding him?  What's going on?

Jessica beside me (in the choir) whispered that Father suffered a stroke and that this would be a long mass.

He could hardly walk without aid, yet he flew 8000miles to celerbate mass with us.  He declined the offer to have another priest assist him.  And after he explained to us the story of how he suffered a stroke in Nov last year but by the providence of God, retained his abilities of speech and recovered enough to still serve God.

A grim reminder of our frailty & how much we need to have God with us.  And please say a prayer for Father Tony.  I'm glad he was back in the US when the stroke happened - that is the biggest providence God provided - IMHO.

Oh and also on display today, relics from the 12 apostles.  At close examination, appears to be bone/remains fragments.  I started a trend by staring real close & then taking a picture with my phone.  The people before me, looked from a distance with reverence and then silent filed away.  :)

Sign of the times...

Today's headlines :
Children Carry Guns for a U.S. Ally, Somalia
Ethnic Rioting Ravages Kyrgyzstan
Coca Growing Surges in Peru as Drug Fight Shifts Trade
Israel Names Panel to Examine Raid on Gaza Flotilla

Violence begets more violence.   The human race really ought to start to love.

A sad weekend

I just found out that Pinfan's IBM colleague died in a mountain climbing accident.  He had fallen 5m (it has been raining non stop in the last weeks, perhaps trails were more muddied, slippery).  Somehow they got him helicoptered out to safety on Friday and all was good.  Then he died suddenly on Saturday.  Pinfan skipped the Action Asia trail run so that she can catch the high speed rail and see him Saturday afternoon.  She never made it to see him before he passed suddenly.  May God receive his soul into heaven.

Then on Sunday afternoon after morning mass, as is my usual habit, I went rockclimbing.  I was aching after the race on Saturday but yet it doesn't ache to climb.  But I was tired and couldn't sustain too many laps.  I decided I'll stick around the gym to watch their downloaded movies - especially since 阿進 the gym manager was taking the afternoon off to go hang out in 淡水.  He actually invited me to go along but I was tired.  阿進and the gang re-appeared after an hour.  There was an accident at Ximen MRT station and it was closed.  Something about someone falling onto the tracks.  We goggled it and a young lady had committed suicide by jumping just as the MRT pulled into the station.  Sigh...  May God receive her soul into heaven.  It's really sad when it's suicide - that someone would feel that the uncertainty of the next world can only be better than this.

A special prayer to all souls in purgatory as well.

And to those of us living people, today's Psalm reading :
Psalm 121 v7 - The LORD will guard you from all evil, will always guard your life. The LORD will guard your coming and going both now and forever.

Trail running ala Taiwan style

It's not like I'm new to trail running, I used to own trail running shoes and run the MacRitchie 10km loop regularly.

But trail running in the mountainous trails of Maokong + trails turned into squishy muddied quicksand-ish conditions since it has been raining non-stop all week = what an adventure!

It was in parts running, walking up stairs, sliding up (where it's 2 steps forward, 1 step back), sliding down (this is easy, whee!)... We ran on dirt, in mud, on road, on concrete paths, up and down stairs, through a few farms (seriously), by a chicken farm, past a few kitchens (with beaming grandmothers cheering us on).... It was just insane!

For the first time in my life I :

- start to run down a trail, and found myself accelerating rapidly beyond control

- tried to slow down and discover to my chargrin, I could not!  It took me a further 10 seconds to slow

- run through the first farm and find myself chuckling to self

- smell chickens as I run and find myself beside chickens in their coops staring back at me

- asking a farmer how much further to the finish line

- slow down midway through to type an SMS to my boss to "go home first, i slow" in the process getting dirt all over my phone

- found myself encrusted in mud from thigh down, and from hands to elbows

- ran the entire 17k in a stupid bright yellow $15nt raincoat from 7-11

Action Asia Taiwan Run

Summer's here! Time to eat lychees!

Colleagues bulk-ordered lychees direct from the farm.  Not just lychees but 玉荷包which are a type of lychees originally from China, sweeter, bigger and smaller pits than normal lychees.

My box arrived Monday afternoon. 

All week this week, I arrive home, binge on lychees in front of the TV, then shower and go to bed with a belly full of lychees.

Ah.. this is life.

Today is Thursday, this is what's left after 3 days of my hard work

The world needs Jesus

We're a total mess.
- trouble brews in the Korean peninsular
- anarchy in Bangkok
- Israel forced to raid a shipload of Gaza supporters heading for the blockaded city
- Al Qaeda terrorism continues

Come down Lord!