I went down to daiso to see what CNY decorations I could buy to put outside my house. I bought a 'fu'. Will have to hang it up next time I go down. So come and look at my door on New Year's Day!
Scotch 3M oblong mop....
After one year of using my orange mop, it looks like I have to upgrade to a new one.
Scotch 3M mop at NTUC $25...something
Scotch 3M mop at Carrefour $24.90
Need to check out price at Giant.
Things I want in January....
As usual, things I want may not be things I need.
I just day dream and hope they drop down from the sky!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Pay 2k to rent or pay 2k to own?
I read in the papers today about a certain high profile professor going off to USA on a year's sabbatical to do some very interesting stuff.....teach, research etc.
A mavarick personality who likes to do things off the beaten track. He pays 2k in rent to live in a bungalow with a big garden. " I guess if I were some multi-billionaire, I would.......but I am not a multi-billionaire." Finding alternatives, non-attachments to the material, being contented with life.....
****
So do we own our life?
If we seriously fall ill, can I say.....I don't want to be a burdan to my loved ones, to society...hence, let me die?
Stewardship....
Look at it this way, in our glorified body after ressurection, there will be no illness, no handicaps, no imperfections. So when we start with this basis, then the imperfections, the unhappiness, the illness, any disability etc makes sense. In this world, things will NOT be perfect. And so in that imperfection, we are asked to choose LOVE.
Eg. a child is born with some disability. Is it a punishment? Not really. Which parent does not want a perfect healthy baby? Does that child born with disability deserve any less LOVE? No.
Eg. You are like that actor who discovered he has muscular dystrophy. Then? Does the LOVE of his wife, mother and children diminish? And very often, it is that LOVE that will sustain both the sick and his care-givers.
****
SOME PIGS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHER PIGS....
People complained when my students ate their chicken rice dinner on the tables and chairs next to the swimming pool.
'So? Who said cannot eat there?'
hmmmm......
A mavarick personality who likes to do things off the beaten track. He pays 2k in rent to live in a bungalow with a big garden. " I guess if I were some multi-billionaire, I would.......but I am not a multi-billionaire." Finding alternatives, non-attachments to the material, being contented with life.....
****
So do we own our life?
If we seriously fall ill, can I say.....I don't want to be a burdan to my loved ones, to society...hence, let me die?
Stewardship....
Look at it this way, in our glorified body after ressurection, there will be no illness, no handicaps, no imperfections. So when we start with this basis, then the imperfections, the unhappiness, the illness, any disability etc makes sense. In this world, things will NOT be perfect. And so in that imperfection, we are asked to choose LOVE.
Eg. a child is born with some disability. Is it a punishment? Not really. Which parent does not want a perfect healthy baby? Does that child born with disability deserve any less LOVE? No.
Eg. You are like that actor who discovered he has muscular dystrophy. Then? Does the LOVE of his wife, mother and children diminish? And very often, it is that LOVE that will sustain both the sick and his care-givers.
****
SOME PIGS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHER PIGS....
People complained when my students ate their chicken rice dinner on the tables and chairs next to the swimming pool.
'So? Who said cannot eat there?'
hmmmm......
EVERYTHING IN OUR LIVES IS BUT A GIFT, TO BE USED AS A GIFT
Everything in our lives is but a gift, to be used as a gift
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several years ago a young Benedictine monk shared this story in class.
He lived in a monastery that kept a rather strict rule. Their observance of
poverty and obedience required that he ask permission of his abbot before
purchasing anything, even the smallest object.
If he wanted to buy a new shirt, he needed the abbot¹s permission. Likewise
if he wanted to take some stationary supplies from the storeroom, a pen or
some paper, he needed permission. For years, he felt that this was
belittling.
³I felt like a child,² he said. ³It seemed silly to me that a grown man
should have to ask permission to buy a new shirt. I looked at men my own age
who were married, raising children, paying for houses, and presidents of
companies and I felt that our rule reduced me to a child and I resented it.²
But eventually his attitude changed: ³I came to realize that there is an
important spiritual and psychological principle in our rule in having to ask
permission to buy or use something. Ultimately none of us owns anything and
nothing comes to us by right.
Everything is a gfit
³Everything is a gift, including life itself, everything should have to be
asked for and nothing should be taken for granted as if it was ours by
right. We should be grateful to God just for giving us a little space.
There should be an abbot in each of our lives from whom we should ask for
permission to buy or use anything.
³Now when I ask permission from the abbot, I no longer feel like a child.
Rather I feel that I am more properly in tune with the way things should be
in a gift-oriented universe where nobody has a right to ultimately claim
anything as his own.
³Everyone should have to ask for permission before buying or using
anything.²
His story reminded me of an incident in my own life: When I was a novice in
our Oblate novitiate, our novice-master tried to impress upon us the meaning
of religious poverty by making us write two Latin words, Ad usam, inside of
every book that was given us for our own use. Literally the words translate
into ³For use.²
The idea was that although a book was given to you for your personal use,
you were never to think that you actually owned it. Real ownership lay
elsewhere.
You were only a steward of someone else¹s property.
This idea was then extended to everything else that you were given for your
personal use ‹ your clothes, your sports equipment, things you received from
your family, and even your toiletries and toothbrush.
You got to use them, but they were not really yours. You had them ad usam.
One of the young men in that novitiate eventually left our community and
went on to become a medical doctor. He remains a close friend and one day
while I was in his office I picked up one of his medical textbooks. I opened
the cover and there were the words: Ad usam.
We own nothing
When I asked him about this he made a comment to this effect: ³Even though I
no longer belong to a religious order and no longer have the vow of poverty,
I still like to live by the principle that our novice-master taught us: In
the end, we don¹t really own anything. These books aren¹t really my own even
though I¹ve paid for them. They¹re mine to use, temporarily. Nothing really
belongs to anybody and I try not to forget that.²
Everything comes to us as gift so that nothing can ever be owned as ours by
right.
Both of these stories can help remind us of something that deep down we
already know but tend to forget, namely, that what ultimately undergirds all
spirituality, all morality, and all authentic human relationship is the
unalterable truth that everything comes to us as gift so that nothing can
ever be owned as ours by right.
Life is a gift, breath is a gift, our body is a gift, food is gift, any love
given us is a gift, friendship is a gift, our talents are a gift, our
toothbrush is a gift, and the shirts, pencils, pens, medical textbooks we
use are each of them a gift.
We get to have them, ad usam, but we should never nurse the illusion that we
own them, that they are ours, that we can claim them by right.
Metaphorically there should be an abbot in each of our lives from whom we
should ask for permission to buy or use anything. That would be a recipe for
health.
In those moments when we are most in touch with ourselves (and generally
those are the moments when we most feel our vulnerability and contingency),
we sense that truth.
The reverse is also true, at moments when we feel strong, in control, and
aware of our own power, we tend to forget this truth and cling to the
illusion that things are ours by right.
Maybe if we all had to ask permission to buy a new toothbrush or a new item
of clothing we would be more aware that everything we think we own is really
only ours ad usam.
Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and
disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several years ago a young Benedictine monk shared this story in class.
He lived in a monastery that kept a rather strict rule. Their observance of
poverty and obedience required that he ask permission of his abbot before
purchasing anything, even the smallest object.
If he wanted to buy a new shirt, he needed the abbot¹s permission. Likewise
if he wanted to take some stationary supplies from the storeroom, a pen or
some paper, he needed permission. For years, he felt that this was
belittling.
³I felt like a child,² he said. ³It seemed silly to me that a grown man
should have to ask permission to buy a new shirt. I looked at men my own age
who were married, raising children, paying for houses, and presidents of
companies and I felt that our rule reduced me to a child and I resented it.²
But eventually his attitude changed: ³I came to realize that there is an
important spiritual and psychological principle in our rule in having to ask
permission to buy or use something. Ultimately none of us owns anything and
nothing comes to us by right.
Everything is a gfit
³Everything is a gift, including life itself, everything should have to be
asked for and nothing should be taken for granted as if it was ours by
right. We should be grateful to God just for giving us a little space.
There should be an abbot in each of our lives from whom we should ask for
permission to buy or use anything.
³Now when I ask permission from the abbot, I no longer feel like a child.
Rather I feel that I am more properly in tune with the way things should be
in a gift-oriented universe where nobody has a right to ultimately claim
anything as his own.
³Everyone should have to ask for permission before buying or using
anything.²
His story reminded me of an incident in my own life: When I was a novice in
our Oblate novitiate, our novice-master tried to impress upon us the meaning
of religious poverty by making us write two Latin words, Ad usam, inside of
every book that was given us for our own use. Literally the words translate
into ³For use.²
The idea was that although a book was given to you for your personal use,
you were never to think that you actually owned it. Real ownership lay
elsewhere.
You were only a steward of someone else¹s property.
This idea was then extended to everything else that you were given for your
personal use ‹ your clothes, your sports equipment, things you received from
your family, and even your toiletries and toothbrush.
You got to use them, but they were not really yours. You had them ad usam.
One of the young men in that novitiate eventually left our community and
went on to become a medical doctor. He remains a close friend and one day
while I was in his office I picked up one of his medical textbooks. I opened
the cover and there were the words: Ad usam.
We own nothing
When I asked him about this he made a comment to this effect: ³Even though I
no longer belong to a religious order and no longer have the vow of poverty,
I still like to live by the principle that our novice-master taught us: In
the end, we don¹t really own anything. These books aren¹t really my own even
though I¹ve paid for them. They¹re mine to use, temporarily. Nothing really
belongs to anybody and I try not to forget that.²
Everything comes to us as gift so that nothing can ever be owned as ours by
right.
Both of these stories can help remind us of something that deep down we
already know but tend to forget, namely, that what ultimately undergirds all
spirituality, all morality, and all authentic human relationship is the
unalterable truth that everything comes to us as gift so that nothing can
ever be owned as ours by right.
Life is a gift, breath is a gift, our body is a gift, food is gift, any love
given us is a gift, friendship is a gift, our talents are a gift, our
toothbrush is a gift, and the shirts, pencils, pens, medical textbooks we
use are each of them a gift.
We get to have them, ad usam, but we should never nurse the illusion that we
own them, that they are ours, that we can claim them by right.
Metaphorically there should be an abbot in each of our lives from whom we
should ask for permission to buy or use anything. That would be a recipe for
health.
In those moments when we are most in touch with ourselves (and generally
those are the moments when we most feel our vulnerability and contingency),
we sense that truth.
The reverse is also true, at moments when we feel strong, in control, and
aware of our own power, we tend to forget this truth and cling to the
illusion that things are ours by right.
Maybe if we all had to ask permission to buy a new toothbrush or a new item
of clothing we would be more aware that everything we think we own is really
only ours ad usam.
Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and
disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
phang thu trang
Vietnamese painter.
Phang Thu Trang. The above painting was a set done on the 4 seasons. I like Winter and Autumn. The price is cheaper....$4K plus.
Fan Shao Hua
Another artist that I like....
Fan Shao Hua. I love some of the vibrant oils displayed at ODE TO ART gallery at Raffles City Shopping Center. The black and white one looks like a photograph.
There was another piece in vibrant RED going at $8,800
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Orchard's road's christmas trees
Christmas tree at Takashimaya
Christmas tree outside raffles city
Christmas tree outside paragon
Friday, December 5, 2008
musings on paintings
1. words: the clear river and the distant sails
2. words: a picture of happy spring
Er....this is suppose to be the official translation of those words on the paintings.
After yoga today, I went to MICA building to view the art galleries there.
Did not see anything that I like.
This is the current vote status:
1st choice: picture of happy spring....3 votes
2nd choice: clear river and the distant sails....1 vote
For $300 the happy spring one seems a good buy.
hmmmmm.....let me mull on it some more
2. words: a picture of happy spring
Er....this is suppose to be the official translation of those words on the paintings.
After yoga today, I went to MICA building to view the art galleries there.
Did not see anything that I like.
This is the current vote status:
1st choice: picture of happy spring....3 votes
2nd choice: clear river and the distant sails....1 vote
For $300 the happy spring one seems a good buy.
hmmmmm.....let me mull on it some more
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