poles apart

You’re not exactly hurting for adornments. What draws you to a piece of jewelry? Does it have to have a special meaning, or is it just aesthetics? 
You know, I think of it like an African tribe, where you have to carry everything with you, and it’s part of you. It’s like, you can go away and live on your jewelry. The noise of my jewelry is very important to me, and feeling rings on my fingers is very sensual. But it’s the same for both my tattoos and my jewelry—I think they have to reflect the person. I love tattoos, but most of the time I see them on people and it’s not their style or their personality. I feel that jewelry has to be your story and represent where you come from. Maybe the story will change, but the emotion has to be in it.

Style.com interviews Michele Lamy

breakthrough

source: oops, i can't trace back now

i've been liberated ever since i took up a bible study series at Eagles recently. i'd missed one class (for a frivolous reason, might i add), i still don't pick up the bible and study it the way it should be done, but i've certainly been transformed by His love. i can finally receive it and come to accept myself more, just as how He sees me - His child. i can also finally see how i can love Him and others more easily - because He first loved us.

i'm ready to love again! lol.

+++++++

"What you become depends on what He is to you."
Peter Chao
#livinginlightandlove

risk management

The older we get, the more we see risk as something that might have a direct effect on us. In our twenties we take extraordinary risks with our lives, our careers, and our finances. Nothing will happen to us. In our thirties, we take fewer financial risks but we still think we are physically bulletproof. By the time we reach our forties (if we haven't taken too big a physical risk and been killed) most of us have a mortgage and our career had become very important, so we take fewer financial and job risks.

media relations
richard stanton

rightnowness

the good \ the bad \ the ugly

did LA always have such a bad rep? i had no idea. i only knew bryanboy moved from that city to NYC recently. sounds like the city is too big and so things can be chaotic?

i can get that. i imagine that'd be the case if i had a big space to work on. so perhaps it's a blesssing in disguise that i do not have the luxury. i recall reading some tip on organising kitchens (large ones): duplicate the utensils at two spots. one commenter remarked pointedly that the kitchen's too large when the owner had to resort to that.       

“It’s not about the pieces. It’s about how the pieces work together.”

Ice Cube

Ice Cube said a few other bingo things. it's like he's referring to me and my sad approach to the whole house reno thing.

#timeflies

You know all the things you were planning to do this year at the beginning of the year? You have half a year left to do them. Ya. It's June.

Kinmun Lee @mrbrown

who's who

"Anyone who has a pet understands who owns whom," says Wolford, who is owned by two Jack Russell terriers.

Diane Brady and Christopher Palmeri
The Pet Economy
BusinessWeek 

rudymentary

"One of my goals in building Metromix was to move the newspaper away from its inefficient way of putting listings in the paper which is Rudy gets a press release and opens up a file. And types in the information and next week he gets a press release, opens it up, deletes last week's, and types in another one. Awful. So we built a database for Metromix of events so that Rudy can now get the press release, type in a whole year's worth of events, and it's fielded. So every week we just do a dump from the database to create the nine zone listing for the newspaper which is localized. We've decreased the error rate in them from 12 per page to 3 per page, typos and so on. Because it's all databased, it's only typed once. Huge deal. Huge deal."

Owen Youngman
in The Chicagotribune.com: Creating a Newspaper for the New Economy (A)
by Professor Nina Ziv 

statement

Bally

Bally shoes set you apart. They are the perfect shoe to complement your lifestyle. Bally shoes project an image of European style and elegance that ensures one is not just dressed, but well dressed.

Bostonian

Bostonian shoes are for those successful individuals who are well traveled, on the "go" and want a stylish dress shoe that can keep up with their variety of needs and activities. With Bostonian, you know you will always be well dressed whatever the situation.

Source: "Thinking on Your Feet, the Johnston & Murphy Guerilla Marketing Competition"

via Strategic Management by John A. Pearce II and Richard B. Robinson, 12th edition

lift

"When you honour God, He will honour you."

YYH

eden

The closer men came to perfecting for themselves a paradise, the more impatient they seemed to become with it, and with themselves as well. They made a garden of pleasure, and became progressively more miserable with it as it grew in richness and power and beauty; for then, perhaps, it was easier for them to see that something was missing in the garden, some tree or shrub that would not grow. When the world was in darkness and wretchedness, it could believe in perfection and yearn for it. But when the world became bright with reason and riches, it began to sense the narrowness of the needle's eye, and that rankled for a world no longer willing to believe or yearn. Well, they were going to destroy it again, were they -- this garden Earth, civilized and knowing, to be torn apart again that Man might hope again in wretched darkness.

A Canticle for Leibowitz

Walter M. Miller Jr.

vanity

'He doesn't ride the donkey,' Thon Taddeo stated, 'because this morning the donkey was loaded down with corn. It doesn't occur to him that the packs are empty now. What is good enough for the morning is also good enough for the afternoon.'

'You know him?'

'He passes under my window too. Every morning and evening. Hadn't you noticed him?'

'A thousand like him.'

'Look. Can you bring yourself to believe that that brute is the lineal descendent of men who supposedly invented machines that flew, who traveled to the moon, harnessed the forces of Nature, built machines that could talk and seemed to think? Can you believe there were such men?'

Apollo was silent.

'Look at him!' the scholar persisted. 'No, but it's too dark now. You can't see the syphilis outbreak on his neck, the way the bridge of his nose is being eaten away. Paresis. But he was undoubtedly a moron to begin with. Illiterate, superstitious, murderous. He diseases his children. For a few coins he would kill them. He will sell them anyway, when they are old enough to be useful. Look at him, and tell me if you see the progeny of a once-mighty civilization? What do you see?

'The image of Christ,' grated the monsignot, surprised at his own sudden anger. 'What did you expect me to see?'

The scholar huffed impatiently. 'The incongruity. Men as you can observe them through any window, and men as historians would have us believe men once were. I can't accept it. How can a great and wise civilization have destroyed itself so completely?'

'Perhaps,' said Apollo, 'by being materially great and materially wise, and nothing else.'

A Canticle for Leibowitz
Walter M. Miller Jr

bata

Consumers have (also) been brainwashed to keep up with the latest technology fads; to “buy and throw away”. But where would these used products, for example the iPhone 4, go when newer models are available? According to a US study, millions of used personal computers now lie buried in landfills and will never be degraded. Is this sustainable? Definitely not. The Semakau landfill for example, will be filled up by 2045, going by the current rate of disposal.

Wang Jing-Yuan
in Challenge Online

原封不动

i

not the most flattering pictures but here they are anyway. if i dared to head outside and be seen in this outfit, it means it's passable. lol. but i was merely going to church. the only fashion rule i applied for such occasions: don't be too sloppy. which basically means no slippers. even now, on dress-down fridays at work, i couldn't make myself wear 'expensive' slippers like birkenstocks. i'd feel so obviously sloppy. many colleagues do that, i don't always approve, but somehow it's just not so obvious on them? it's all in my head. 

wore the jumpsuit with the top down so the bottoms looked like paperback harem pants. if i had broader shoulders and longer legs, i would be richer today, from all the savings on alterations. almost wanted to wear these boots but i think i'd look really cartoon.  

CofC

 the top's reversible. i got it cos it's reminiscent of fashions past. is this outfit (below) sloppy? i can imagine why management would frown on dress-down fridays policies. i don't envy those who have meetings scheduled on fridays. thankfully, i get to wear casual on all fridays except the 1st friday of every month for the next 4 months.

all the talk seemed to have nothing to do with the post title. i'd been at quite a low point... i hadn't been documenting much about it, it's pointless i guess, cos i'd still be in the same place. not sure if it's not as bad as before, if that could be ascertained by looking back on the blog posts. it could just hit me suddenly. i almost never made it to church just now. the haze was rather bad. i didn't have the desire. i was openly defying my Lord. i deserved better. i didn't deserve His grace. i wanted more. i just wanted to stay put.

"Jesus embraces to all who come to Him... He took our shame, our guilt, our unrighteousness... everything was done so you would come...." 

- Vincent Lai


  

of note

"So many people have got no achievements to talk (of), they don't take any risks, they don't want to put in the effort, they want to enjoy themselves. I put in a lot of effort, and if (the efforts) result in success, I say it, not for personal pride, but actually to encourage other people: These things can be done, why don't you do it?"

Tan Kin Lian

When Wallpaper Strikes Back

Using pictures of people in this way is a form of wallpaper video. But it's worst than other forms of wallpaper because instead of using generic pictures to illustrate a story, we're using specific pictures. There's no such thing as a "generic" person. Every face has attached to it a real person with a real name and a real address and real rights, who's real likely to hire a real good lawyer to hit you real hard with a real ugly lawsuit. If there's a recognizable face in your video, then that video is specific, not generic-- and some might construe your story to be about that individual. So if you're using a "crowd shot" to illustrate a story about something negative or embarrassing such as STDs, and Ethel Icetea recognizes herself in your video, she isn't going to be happy. If she gets a call from her neighbors kidding her about it, she's going to be less happy. You might then get a call from the law firm of Ketchum and Cheatham that will negatively affect your happiness.

Broadcast News Handbook, Third Edition
Television News Story Forms--The VO

C. A. Tuggle and Forrest Carr

cannot-study type

十十f十 

"Natalie never once asked for an extension or to be excused from her responsibilities". If she was scheduled to appear on the David Letterman show, for example, she would finish her paper early."

- Dr Abigail Baird

me: first read the above from the today paper. more related quotes from the article can be found online.

十十f十

How to maximise your stay at XXXXXX:

• Good students will read up the course materials before coming for class.
• Better students will read up and then ask questions of the instructors.
• Excellent students will read beyond the course materials and contribute to the discussion in class.

me: just read the above from a document attached for orientation students for a certain faculty at my university.

十十f十 

no prizes for guessing whether i'm the can-study type.
my friend said i am this type. i'm totally not.
i'm totally the Buay-Tak-Cek type.

"undetermined"

The fourth most worthless word in television is the word "undetermined" in connection with a bank robbery or other theft. One, it's not conversational. When was the last time you turned to someone and said, "The robber got away with an undetermined amount of cash"?

Two, it's not factual--or at least, it's not always factual--and it leaves the viewer with a false assumption that the amount of money missing will be determined later. Guess what, folks. Often they know exactly how much money the bandit got away with, for the simple reason that he probably has a "bait bag" with a dye bomb inside it and a well-known amount of bait cash. If they don't know, they'll find out very quickly. But believe this: They might never tell you how much cash the bandit got. There's a good reason for this: Revealing the amount of cash the bandit took is the worst form of advertising for the bank. The bandit might have escaped with a nice wad of cash. If the bank reveals the amount, it's essentially throwing out a challenge for other robbers to try to match or surpass the previous robber's haul.

Forrest Carr

Deadly Copy Sins and How to Avoid Them
Broadcast News Handbook, Third Edition

settling

The irony of our human condition is that God has put us within sight of the Himalayas of His glory in Jesus Christ, but we have chosen to pull down the shades of our chalet and show slides of Buck Hill -- even in church. We are content to go on making mud pies in the slums because we cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.

John Piper

How I Became a Christian Hedonist

grace period

Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it be alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'" - Luke 13:6-9

This parable is laden with grace and gravity. It's a picture of a nation or a person who has received abundant mercy and extraordinary care. All necessary measures have been taken to ensure that we bear fruit.

Many, however, remain chronic consumers of grace, connoisseurs of great sermons, soaking up sacraments week after week, year after year, but simply refusing to fulfil our God-given purpose. God is not harsh. The doom that follows is self-imposed. 

"Time's up," says the Master. "Cut it down!" "No, wait!" cries the Caretaker. "One more year." God is patient and forbearing. He stays the axe and lavishes yet more loving attention. He extends the season of grace. He gives nations and people time to respond. He will wait. But not forever. Forty years after Jesus spoke this parable, Jerusalem and the temple lay in ruins. They did not read the signs. They did not respond. Will we?

source: the eleventh hour