come on Blogger... Part I

What’s up with Blogger these days? I haven’t been able to log on for a week or so. Anyhow… There’s tons of stuff I want to write about since its been quite a while since my last entry… So here’s Part I.

Lets start off with what’s been going on these days… I’ve been pretty busy these days working on papers, and studying for finals. (what else is new…) The weather has been awesome the last little while. It’s sunny, clear skies, breezy, and a mild 25-30 degrees. I’ve been really happy, in a pretty good mood and productive lately because of weather. I really need to move to a more sunny and warm state (yep State!). Man… checkout Toronto weather. It looks like they are in some minus action now. I can’t say I’m looking forward to the weather when I come home in December. (in degrees Celsius… for my amerifriends)


Minus 3?!?! brrrrrrrr.....


Aww yeah... thats more like it....


Speaking of coming home… It has been on my mind for many weeks to come home for the second term and cutting my exchange short. Don’t get me wrong… I’m enjoying my time here and learning a lot. Right now it’s a 60/40 toss up. I’ll just have to continue to pray and let God guide me. But here’s the gist of what I’m feeling… (geeze I’m getting personal now….)

Like my brother used to say when I’m out late “COME HOME NOW!”… Here’s the reasons:
- Family stuff…
- I don’t have any more money… (hey the funniest thing ever… some visual arts students offered me $300SGD to pose nude for a 3hrs class, 20 students… $100/hr just to stand there buck naked…. Hmmm….)
- I need to boost up my GPA for recruitment and my grades here in Singapore don’t count
- I’ve had my fun here… and haven’t done much work… I feel as if I need to buckle down and grow up and be an adult… I’ve been doing a lot of that this term. Its time to go home and get serious.
- Singapore ain’t the healthiest country in the world… (Canada is ranked 12th healthiest, Singapore is ranked 30th… Australia is 2nd…. It’s warm and sunny there… hmm one of these days, click here for the full list of rankings)
- I should trust my gut right? Donald Trump says so… “What good is your gut if you don’t act on it” says Donald Trump… My gut tells me that my journey here in Singapore is complete… staying for another term is probably redundant.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… soon…”, as I would reply to my brother… Here are the reasons not too:

- Finance course… (but I can always do it in the summer)
- I had lunch with the Deputy Provost and Exchange coordinator (what an honor) here in Singapore the other day and that really encouraged me to stay. They do a lot of work for me to stay here… (coincidence?!?)
- It’s warm here… Dasani NutriWater, and really good chocolate croissants
- The whole reason I’m here is because God opened all the doors for me to come… it wasn’t an easy decision to come here… Does he really want me to go home so soon? I don’t really have a clear answer from him…
- Opportunities or may be a need to serve in the Varsity Christian Fellowship here?
- The Road Less traveled… Again from the hour of power… This message really hit home for me (click here to read or watch) *sigh... which road is the road less travelled?

The road less traveled is a risky road.
The road less traveled is a long road.
The road less traveled is a rough road.
The road less traveled is a lonely road
The road less traveled is the only road.
The road less traveled is a rewarding road.

I’m pretty much leaning towards coming home for term 2, God stop me if this is the wrong decision!

Alright… let’s talk about something else. It was my birthday the other day. And thanks to all my friends back home that remembered. It really meant a lot when I heard from you. I also heard from some people I rarely talk to... Leslie and Amanda... holy moly!
On my birthday a few of my exchange friends took me out to dinner at this Italian place called Spageghettis or something… It was awesome! Even though I’ve known them for such a short time they have been really great friends… Just know that favors and acts of friendship always get repaid somehow… They even all somehow managed to surprise me… dang I wasn’t expecting a cake… that was just too much… Birthdays are all about cake… Here’s some pics:

Spageghettis with Steve, John, Yans and Merry... someday i'll repay them...

Cake... I'm five years old! No wait.. Two big ones and three small ones.... crap i'm getting old.

More about Singapore and stuff on my next post…

Here’s some cool stuff I’ve come across lately…

Lets talk about coffee and iced vanilla lattes… It wears out your heart by raising your blood pressure and increasing your heart rate . Here’s some more stuff I found in an article I read:

The Mow Down

Caffeine isn’t a drug like amphetamines or cocaine, in that it doesn’t act on the areas of the brain related to reward, motivation, and addiction... Why are people so addicted then?
- So what exactly has made caffeine the official drug of the human race? The story begins with its action inside the brain. Inside each human brain, a slew of neurotransmitters and related compounds carry on cascading interactions that somehow result in everything from sleep to wakefulness, thoughts to emotions. Some of these molecules have a generally stimulating effect while others work to dampen down nervous activity. Until about 20 years ago, scientists thought caffeine fell squarely into the brain jazzing category. Then in 1982 researchers discovered an evolutionary fluke: Caffeine’s molecular structure is very similar to that of adenosine, an inhibitory brain substance found in many animals, including humans. When people need sleep their adenosine levels are high, which seems to trigger the brain into wanting to shut down. The longer you are awake, the more adenosine gradually accumulates in your brain. The accumulation of adenosine then binds to specialized adenosine receptors, depressing nervous system activity and making you groggy. In ways that are not yet understood, getting enough sleep clears the chemical from your system, allowing you to begin each day fully restored, your sleep debt paid in full. There is however an alternative to clearing adenosine: You can block it before it has a chance to make you sleepy. Caffeine does this by binding to adenosine receptors before the adenosine gets there. It’s like jamming a toothpick into a keyhole so the key can’t fit.

The health impact:
There’s has been thousands of studies done on the health effects of caffeine for decades. The conclusion… Coffee and other caffeinated beverages in moderation have no negative long term health effects.... except bad breath.... nothing worse than coffee breath...

The Emotional Effect:
Coffee is linked to anxiety, and panic attacks. But this only affect a small number of specific genotypes. If you don’t get ants in your pants after a cup of coffee… then you’re fine. I guess that explains some of my friends behaviour....

The brain benefits:
What’s been shown with caffeine is that it does have a dramatic affect on alertness. But as you move to higher order cognitive functions, such as decision making, it doesn’t really have an impact. It doesn’t make sense to wake up and smell the coffee. Caffeine had a very strong effect when delivered in small, incremental doses over time. Soporific adenosine levels are lowest when we first awake. Wait until after lunch, when adenosine levels are starting to rise significantly. Thereafter, you’ll get a more effective and consistent hit with small, regular doses, such as ¼ cup per hour. It’s important not to overdo it and end up compromising your ability to sleep at night. Studies say, if everyone got 8.3 to 8.4 hours of quality sleep every night, we wouldn’t need caffeine in the first place.
So I think thats it... I'll have an update in a day or two... There's lots I would like to get on paper. Before I leave here's some cool facts and questions I've been pondering:

960 Calories in one can of Pringles. 15,000 feet. That’s the distance across the widest point of the Mississippi River and halfway back. You’d have to swim that far to burn 960 calories.

Ladies... some words to live by... Quoted from "Boy Meets Girl" by Joshua Harris..."Femininity is not weakness. It requires great strength of character for a women to be gentle in an age that screams for her to do otherwise. "

hehe... This topic always comes up in Singapore... You really have to see how Singaporean girls dress... Even some of the exchange students... To put it simply… There’s a big difference between dressing attractively and dressing to attract.

Wouldn't it be cool if there was something that can set snow on fire. No more shovels or snowblowers. Just light a match and –poof- the driveway is clear.

Besides sunglasses, what’s the best method of staring covertly? umm..... nothing beats the old thumb and finger trick... u know.. the 7 deal... haha

Counterfeiting in China is so bad... There's was some guy who wanted to commit suicide by eating rat poison... Unfortunately the rat poison he ate was fake and he didn't die...

Check this article out... The Ontario government is passing legislature that will force students to stay in school. They will FINE you if parents don't keep their kids in school.

You can now get the bible on your IPOD... you can read it and listen to it aswell. Read the article here. Awesome... here I come ladies... what girl wouldn't be impressed with a bible Ipod?

Photos:

Priest Holmes... what a showoff... doing a one handed headstand into the endzone...


Nice... This is the kind of toilet that I'm talking about...


Cool...


There's houses in her hair?

That's it! Leave some comments...!