Snoopy is black and white

I think it should have become obvious by now that i have been relating my posts to certain verses that i read. These verses actually come from the book i am doing in cell/church at the moment. Its kind of a continuation of 40 days of purpose by pastor Rick Warren called Better Together -- What on earth are WE here for?
Actually i think my style may be misunderstood so let me give a little explanation. I am trying to link verses to things i write about and sometimes these links may be a bit obscure to people. However, i kind of like this method because i am not claiming to write a Christian book. People can always buy one from book shops and many do but never get down to reading them. What i am trying to do is writing a piece of (hopefully interesting enough) post and letting people think for themselves about the state of the world, how simple things can be linked to scripture, non-secular + secular combined basically in a (trying hard to be?) artistic way.
Having done the disclaimers, i would really appreciate feedback on what people think has potential for this kind of genre. Whether its really viable or not may depend on personal taste but i encourage people to try it out for themselves. Its not as easy as it sounds and frankly it might not be such a turn off to others who are against religious media.

"We're compelled to love God's family because it shows we're saved".
Loving other believers is the evidence that we belong to God's family.
Its probably rather common to come across a task involving naming the colour that a particular word is printed in. For instance Red , Green, Black Blue Yellow Red Black.
In psychology this is actually known as the Stroop task. It (to cut the long story short) measures executive function in frontal lobes of the brain. Basically, the name of the colour and the colour it is in are incongruent ; and participants must inhibit one feature. Sometimes (actually a lot of times), its not easy to do this because we are very used to plain reading.
I compare this to : A heart transformed by God is a heart that loves. If there is no fruit, you should question the root! " We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers" (NIV 1 John 3:14)

Vexatious

"I like you, but i dont like your wife".

In the movie 'Gladiator', which is hopefully not that long ago that people do not remember it, there was a scene where Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) says morbidly that he ' is vexed' because Maximus (Russell Crowe) is still alive. This is one of my favourite scenes in the movie ( the rest are all the fighting sequences :) [smiley plus close bracket -- as invented by Abel] ; mainly because thats the first and last? time i have heard the word used in a movie. I always smile when i see that scene. By the way i have watched it 5 times. If anyone wants to borrow the VCD you need only ask.
However, on a more serious note, i think a very poignant moment in the movie is when Commodus kills his father, Marcus Aurelius (no idea who acted). Just to refresh your memories or if you arnt in this generation of movies , the scene runs something like this.
Commodus tells his version of receiving a letter from his dad that listed 4 chief virtues. They were wisdom , justice, fortitude and temperance. He then says something to this effect " As i read the list i knew i had none of them.. but i have other virtues father, like ambition, resourcefulness, courage -- perhaps not on the battlefield but there are many forms of courage, devotion to family.. I realised that none of my virtues were on the list. Its like you didnt want me for your son. "
In the end, out of pity for himself that he wasnt chosen to become emperor, he suffocates his father using his chest; saying something like this in the process " All i ever wanted was to please you, to make you proud... I would butcher the whole world, if you would only love me."
I think the saddest part though is the fact that his dad kneels down and confesses that "Your faults as a son is my failure as a father." Which probably would piss any son off. I feel most people would agree that Phoenix acted this scene with much aplomb. It was like you felt his agony of wanting to be accepted but in the end he resorted to murdering his own dad. And all the action was unfolding while the topic was familial love.
Its a great thing that our heavenly father gives us unconditional grace and love.

"Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love" (1 John 4:7b-8)

What on earth is a personal ad?

" A new command i give you: Love one another. As i have loved you, so you must love one another." John 13:34.

Looking at the newspaper section on personal advertisements is certainly not what the bible means by loving. Probably you could say the main difference is the selfless versus selfish attitude syndrome. Here is one i happened to notice, (cos it was in bigger font than the rest -- wonder how much extra she paid) as i was lining my dining table with newspaper.
LADY 40 yrs no kids, Chinese & slim. I'm looking for someone special & I'm ready to give that special man my genuine love, care & appreciation. I'm pretty, intelligent & have everything a man is looking for! I wish to MEET A REAL GENUINE MAN (all bold is her emphasis), who i can trust & love. I'd like to be cherished, understood & adored. I love children. I'm looking for a TRUE CARING MAN 50-65, without bad habits, single NO COMMITMENTS, serious intentions, educated, GENEROUS (kind hearted), high morals, compassionate, non-drinker. I'm an easy going person & would like my man the same. Hope to hear from you soon! (tel number omitted).
1) Its a truly long way to describe something. Why does she have to keep going back and forth about herself then the person she wants to meet?
2) She never uses 'and' but cuts down her words by '&'. This is really strange considering that she seems to be extremely long-winded as in part 1.
3) She seems obsessed with genuineness. She uses it twice. Once to describe herself. To describe her ideal man she puts 'REAL' in front of 'GENUINE'. Also check out cues 'True', 'serious intentions', 'cherished' even her 'GENEROUS' is slanted towards being 'kind hearted' which is really again 1 and 2. Why not just say 'kind-hearted' instead of putting it in brackets. Even if you really needed brackets, wouldnt most people prefer 'KIND-HEARTED (generous)"?
4) From the general feel, i think she is either writing in a rush or utterly confused as to what she wants. Definitely she has been cheated on though. The advert is funny. But i know its sad to feel jilted and unloved, depressed and lonely. Seriously, what she needs is the bible and a good community of friends, not racking her brain on how to write a personal ad.
5) Why does she want a 50-65 year old??? Does she believe they are less likely to run away with another woman?
6) Its really ironic that someone who is really in need of a genuine person has no qualms declaring that she is slim and pretty.
7) What in the world is 'high morals'?
8) She ends of by saying she is an 'easy-going' person. What a contradiction to all the demands she has on the type of guy that should call her.
9) Why does she put down that she doesnt want the guy to have prior commitments when she says she loves kids? Oh well, probably she means the guy can have kids but cannot still be in love with the woman he had them with. She says at the start she has no kids!? This gets weirder by the minute.
10) And most importantly. Our standard for real love is that God " loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.. Since God loved us that much, surely we ought to love each other" (1 John 4: 10-11 NLT -- quoted from Rick Warren; better together, what on earth are we here for?

Pseudo-thai Chicken thigh

In Australia, when you want to order the part of the chicken thigh that includes the bone (Yes that really big piece of meat), you ask for 'Maryland' from the butcher. At least this is what my housemate tells me when he goes marketing. I wonder what is the story behind it.
Maryland makes you merry.
Maryland makes you marry a monster. (Sung to any tune possible).
I wonder whether women named Mary actually like ordering Maryland. Maybe they feel slightly insulted. But its possible that its quite flattering too. Having said that, when tutors try to pronounce my Chinese name its truly hilarious. However, i would imagine that its kind of insulting to some who are overly proud of their native heritage. Anyway, i tend to forgive the Australians for trying their hand at Zhi-Qian. It does contain sounds that they have never done in their lives. It usually comes out as G-Queen. You also couldn't possibly imagine how the hyphen in my name stumbles them. I seem to have taken this episodes as jokes on them now instead of on me. I kind of get kicks seeing them panic while trying to be polite.
Which brings me to changing my name. I just read that a psychological term called attentional blink is commonly abbreviated as 'AB'. I should call myself Attentional-Blink EL. It has great potential dont you think? It could make for a really confusing wedding invitation though, but thats about the only problem i can think of. HAHAHA.

Feel like i'm falling.. falling into the arms of God.  

D.C. liverpool comics

In today's breaking news, former Singapore striker Agu Casmir has pipped an EPL star to a prestigious award. He beat Liverpool 'star' player Djbrill Cisse by an unbelievably tight margin to lift the 'Useless striker with ugly hair' award. Many voters found casting their views extremely hard as opinions were passionate and divided.
Said Jacob Tan of Singapore, "It was a really tough choice for me, they are both really lousy."
Cisse was visibly upset in losing out on the honour. He remarked " I thought with a letter 'C' design on the side of my head last night against Newcastle i would surely have secured my name on the trophy."
Unfortunately, Casmir could not be located and contacted for comment on recieving this distinction.

Searching for Intelligence

I really recommend reading this article -- http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/story/0,20797,18440148-5003425,00.html

Its kind of related to chess but its mainly on Josh Waitzkin who actually had a Hollywood film made on him. Its very readable and un-technical on all counts and i think it captures many esscences of the Chess PLAYER. Very candid and down to earth, it kind of shows that chess mastery is as obsessive as any other sport. (By the way, i still defend chess as a sport, but to argue with me about this requires face to face confrontation. If you dont think so however, you are definitely not alone. hahaha)
With regards to Binet and his IQ tests however, i just want to clarify that there is NO SIGNIFICANT relationship between intelligence and chess. This comes not from personal bigotry but from research into my psychology report last year as well as personal interest. First of all, lets not get into the inherent problems with IQ testing. Its true that slightly more people who are ' intelligent' play chess, but it could well be a coincidental correlation to the sound of something like: people who do better at math sums and word logic PREFER to play chess than rugby.
More importantly, further replications of this idea has shown no statistical significance between the relative strength of chess players and their overall intelligence. I mean this as a PURE stats way. Not significant as in CANNOT reject the null hypothesis. It just kind of irritates me how people who do not really know anything about chess love to say "WA, you play chess, you must be so smart man!" or imply something to that effect.
This is like saying a tall person is going to be SO good at basketball, or a big -sized person has a flair for rugby. It might be true, but the links are dicey at best. Which is why people should read the article above and know a little more about poor misunderstood chess players.

Statues in Quebec City.  

I grew tired of writing something.  

Lameness comes in many parts. 

Lame -- as in standing on one leg. 

Croak and Screech

Just went for my research methods lab tutorial today and my tutor has the surname of "Sang". I remember i used to have a math teacher in secondary school with the surname of "Sung". There is a soccer player with a last name of "Song", although i have never personally met him. Just wondering if there is anyone out there that goes by a Mr/Mrs "Singing".
Speaking of teachers, here's another joke from Bromwell High.
Teacher: "I think you have attention deficit disorder"
Student: "Whats that?"
Teacher: "Whats what?"
I like it. I was a rebellious student. I even had 'i dont like teacher' songs.

I Love Foxtel

I saw this advert on the comedy Channel for Bromwell High. Dont think Singapore has this animation comedy. Never watched it yet though but the excerpt was rather hilarious.
A: "Did you do something to your hair today"?
B: "No, actually.. " (Stroking her hair petitely)
A: "Well, you should, cos it looks really awful".
This is the kind of joke you only can do in screen time. I take no responsiblilty for any consequences if you try this on a girl in real life.

Non-posting

Sorry for not being able to post anything at the moment. Its just that i am undergoing mutation.
Or maybe its just the flu. Along with cough, and fever and lethargy. But if i do mutate, i want to be a super hero called Green Mucus. That would put some of that stuff to good use. Or would that be more of in the super villian category?
"Up, up and away" is outdated. Time for "Out, Out and covered". "Whose Line is it Anyway?" has a game where the actors are supposed to be strange super heros. Thats funny.