A Little Update

I do apologise for the lack of updates.

But if you want  a guaranteed daily update, you can check out my training journal over here. It’s going good, working out almost every morning, establishing a good habit and routine, that in the long run I hope I will benefit immensely from.

Not only have I got a sort of routine sorted out, I’ve got things I want to do/achieve some what figured out for the meantime. Things that consume my time and/or piqued my interests these days are gym, trading and practicing music.

Well that’s what I think is important right now apart from God.

Gym and trading I’ve got down pat. In that, mornings I go to gym, at work I learn trading. I swear I’ve read more books on trading these few weeks than I have on psychology the past few years in uni.

It’s really good, learning all these aspects of trading that I never realised, and know that in the future I would learn the mistakes the hard way with the loss of my own cash. Nothing beats, the wealth of information available in the books on trading, and really glad that I get the chance at work to just focus most of my attention all day into learning something for myself and well supposedly for the company.

Music is something I need to continue to work on. I see myself lacking in so many areas, knowing that it’s only by God’s grace that I’ve come so far. I don’t want to keep misusing that gift, and want to actually dedicate myself to consistent practice ala my gymming in the morning, or learning to trade in the day. That leaves the entire night to practice. Most of it at least.

I’ve finally got the dvd I bought from the states a few months ago, long story that I can’t be bothered recounting anymore, but it’s amazing! Lots of useful information, literally a huge gold mine that I don’t really know where to begin, or if I can even get to the level to use it. Just got to keep persevering.

Persevering just like Jess and Matt, as they spent a good 12 hours to dread my hair. My hats off to them! I felt bad just sitting there not doing anything apart from enduring torturous pain on my scalp that probably could not be comparable to the lactic acid build up in their forearms. You could go to Jess’ blog to see some pictures. But here are some for your gander.

 

 

My mum did threaten to disown me if I get dreadlocks, but she’s away in China on missions at the moment. But I’m willing to call her bluff and see what she says when she gets back. Will be very interesting.

Maybe this update wasn’t so little after all.

At least you get pictures!

Filed under: Life, dreams, planning

Constraints

I hate small spaces.

I don’t think I am claustrophobic. But I don’t even want to fathom what it’s like to be buried alive in a coffin. That has to be the worst way to die.

Probably a good half a year to a year ago at work in Subway, Justin (bossman) posed a really morbid question: “what would be a cool way to die” or something to that effect. I think I replied: “I would sell my body to a cannibal for some exorbitant price and donate the usable organs and give the money to my family…”

Despite the gruesomeness of that idea, I just realised that it still highlights how much I dislike being constraint. Even in death, I want my innards to go out to a worthy cause, my flesh… questionable.

There are many applications of my detest to constraints.

1. I prefer writing on blank sheets of paper as opposed to lined paper
2. The door to my room is always opened
3. I like high lofty ceilings
4. Actually I just like huge vast open spaces
5. When I was younger, I preferred shoes just a bit bigger so I could wiggle my toes
6. I’ve always looked to birds with admiration at their ability to fly so freely
7. As far as I know, I’ve always tried to push the boundaries my mum has set for me since young

This list doesn’t have any sorta real order to it and I’m pretty sure that is just a small representation only.

But the inspiration behind this post?

This morning before going to work, it occurred to me why I feel so tired of it. I’m coup up and bounded to a desk, slaved to some piece of turd ergonomic chair that is not the least bit comfortable for 8 hours a day, 5 days straight. Or maybe it’s a distinct lack of direction and focus, and a discontent due to its seemingly misalignment to what I believe I’m purposed for.

Yes I am grateful for a job straight out of uni. But I have this sense that God has something greater installed for me. And it’s all happening in 09. It’s exciting, the uncertainty of it all, not being constraint to a predefined mindset. But it’s also unsettling, simply because without any sort of boundaries, it’s like floating in thin air aimlessly.

At least I know that spiritually I’m already free. Free of all bondages, chains, fetters, constraints, constrictions and confinements. (The last three were titles for this post that I kept cycling through, don’t know which one is better..)

It is now a matter of me translating that spiritual truth, into physical, natural reality. Operating my life in  complete freedom, that at the drop of a hat, I’m in total abandon to God’s voice, directive and calling, not constraint and bounded by what the world (and yes even the church) thinks I should do and be.

And that is the bane of my existence. To contest all these constraints. To release myself from the small into the big, open spaces.

Filed under: Annoyance, Cogitations, Life, dreams, long term

Mile High Reflections

No, I have not joined the elusive mile high club membership. And for those who do not know what it is, I urge you to not google it in an effort to protect your innocence. This post is titled as such simply because I am typing this post on the plane ride back to Perth from my whirlwind few days in Sydney.

I would prefer to be typing this on the more conducive Windows Live Writer, or even Microsoft Word 2008. But by ways of the MacLife, I am using Apple’s Pages as part of their iWork suite. Nothing wrong with it, just that I’m not accustomed to the user interface which I shall remain nonchalant about. Hopefully, as I slowly wean myself onto this program because of a new venture I am embarking which I may or may not decided to write about as and when I get to it on this post, I will grow more comfortable and even know how to work my way around as effectively as I do MSWord. Heck maybe I should even use this opportunity to learn how to type with a Dvorak layout for my keyboard instead of the standard QWERTY, now that will take some serious effort!

As I peer out the window and gaze in awe at the magnificent sunset that lay before me, I cannot but smile in quiet satisfaction to what a good day it has been so far, let alone this short 4-5 days escape to Sydney. If I have not gushed on about it enough, the food and company that I have reveled in over the past few days has made this trip very memorable, distracting the negatives that is the crowded mess Sydney is. But the one facet of this trip that made it exceptional, was the closeness experienced with God, and the clarity in exciting things He has revealed to me over the past few days.

I highlight once again without shame that this year God has slowly unfurled key aspects and issues for me to appropriate or overcome respectively. The overarching one has to deal with the Word. Even before I left for Sydney, I had this sense that God was going to reveal fresh and new things to me, hence why I brought my MacBook along in anticipation to capture what He will reveal to me. This was further amplified as I galavanted across the city with Hocks on Thursday.

Out of this theme of allowing the Word of God to be the lamp unto my feet brewing from the beginning of the year, God has also revealed both a caution and blessing to me. The caution is my ability to render myself completely to God. My prayer this few days has been for God to help me overcome my pride, my fears, my insecurities, and throw my life away in complete abandonment to God, and allow His will and good work to overflow. For me who takes great pride in my own achievements and accomplishments, I find this really hard to do and I still have a lot to overcome. But the blessing that accompanies this warning is God’s promise of abundance, and there have been different people who have spoken, prayed and seemingly confirmed bountiful resources in my life.

I think this blessing and warning goes hand in hand. As I slowly learn to render complete control of my all to God, the realisation of this abundant resources will be made known to me.

Something new that God has spoken to me about on top of these three things is on the topic of fathers. I really don’t know what to write about this now, it’s still so new and fragmented in my mind. So far the only precursor to what God has installed for me on this area was written in my contribution to SisterhoodFTW’s Manday Monday post titled “Mandate”. Please have a read, and I hope that you will be edified by it. Because really, there is something brewing in my mind of epic proportions, and that post is just a tiny part of it.

Well I thought I would be able to time the conclusion of this post with the descent of as I leave the mile high zone, but alas I am now in the comfort of my own home as I finish typing this. It is now time to make these lofty mile high reflections into reality on ground zero.

Filed under: God, Life, dreams, long term

Blowing my own horn

I had the privilege to be approached by Jess and Angel to write up today’s Manday post, and it is now live!

Go check out “Mandate” on SisterhoodFTW written by yours truly

Not like me plugging it here makes a difference since my readership is pretty much a subset of the SisterhoodFTW’s one.

Filed under: God, Life, dreams

Redemption

Once again I will express my dislike for Sydney.

It’s traffic is horrendous!

Road signs are marked so poorly.

Drivers are rude!

and oh did I say traffic is horrendous?

But the food here has been sooooo gooood! Last night we went to the Lindt cafe, well I suppose that was good hahaha, but I’m not partial to chocolate, it’s something that I can do without, and its existence means nothing to me apart from it being a cheap gift!

What was a really pleasant surprise was our dinner. We had Thai food at a relatively new restaurant called Chat Thai. It kinda reminds me of ToTo’s in Vic Park, except its infinitely much better since Thais > Viet (food at least…) and the buzzing atmosphere and vibe it was exuding was sensational! If only I had a camera to take pictures of it all.

Nonetheless, we had this redfish mouse thing that was very similar to the otak otak, that was simply so tantalising. Then we had crying tiger which was just sliced beef strips but that was SOO GOOD, and then had some sort of squid thing, THAT WAS SOO GOOD, then also had some really spicy salad, THAT WAS SOO GOOOOOOOD. Well we have two more dishes, but that didn’t come until about 10 minutes later, and it left me questionning if we should even get them since we’re alreayd getting quite full..

But it came. Pad thai and this crispy snapper thing swimming in some sort of chilli sauce. To say it was SOOO GOOOD is to do them an injustice! Because I had a serve of the pad thai, and every bite I had, I couldn’t help but put my utensils down and close my eyes just to relish in the flavour. Then I just ravaged the fish head, goodness me my love for fish head has been reignited! After that there was still some more pad thai left, albeit cold. YET IT WAS STILL SOOOO GOOOOD!

So maybe there is some redeeming qualities for this place called Sydney…

And implicitly this is what God has been talking to me about. I say implicit because it’s not explicit. *Ba dum ching* Really, it’s implicit because, redemption is a quality that is associated and necessary to something more specific that God has been revealing to me over the past few days in Sydney. I don’t really want to share about it in great detail on this blog yet, simply because this new focus is still so young and so scattered. But if you my dear reader want a glimpse of it, I’ll probably be writing a little bit about it on Jess‘ and Angel’s collaboration – SisterhoodFTW – for their Monday Manday post.

Hopefully I will be able to redeem some semblance of  a coherent post for their quality blog.

Filed under: God, Life, dreams