hallo everybuddy sorry for falling off the face of the planet... we've been extremely under-staffed recently so i've been working more efficiently (i.e. much less msn-ing, surfing and blogging at work) and working extra hours. i predict that this trend will last quite a while... until maybe next march when my whole team is completely on-board. in the meantime... the joy of the Lord is my strength! =)

here is a quick and dirty update of the happy-s and not-too-happy-s, in the order as it pops up into my mind:

happy: for my birthday my colleagues gave me a kitten, i've named him nemo. he is the most adorable roly poly ball of fur that hasn't learnt how to walk yet... in the sense that he 'bounces' or 'sprints' from place to place instead of walking normally like a cat ought to. i suppose his legs are too short. here are some pix:

happy: because of nemo, i found a perfect maid, cuz i need someone to take care of him when i am on biz trips and at work. hence she comes to my apartment every weekday to clean-up, do my laundry, help me run errands... the joy of cheap labor... i am *so spoiled*...

not-so-happy: after owning nemo for exactly 14 days, i had to give him away because i am highly allergic to him. in fact within 15 minutes of being around him i start sneezing uncontrollably, get teary-eyed and my throat swells up. the fact that i was able to bear that for 2 weeks is already quite impressive. but it was really unfair to him (cuz i can't pet him & play with him) and unfair to me (cuz..well...i can't breathe) so i gave him away yesterday =(

happy: when i see this, cuz it is funny. (totally stolen from threadless) hope this makes you happy too =)

happy: when you are living in the fullness of life that God intended for you, you exprience an inexpressible and inexplicable joy. i always thought it would take living-in-a-mansion-in-italy-throwing-the-coolest-dinner-parties-and-often-jet-setting-to-paris-for-shopping-sprees to make me happy. but right now, living a life of obedience (largely) to God and what He has called me to, has been so...wholly satisfying. i don't know how to explain it. i remember one saturday a few weeks ago, where i woke up early, had some quiet time, then had lunch with my colleagues, went to a fellowship gathering in the gz botanical park, had dinner at some random street stall, went to a home church service, then walked around the streets of gz with a close friend of mine talking about God... it was a day that simple. but it was one of the most satisfying and enjoyable days i've ever had in my life. and it struck me that if God knows so much better than me what it takes for me to experience the 100% fullness of life as it was intended to be, how can i possibly still find it so difficult to trust Him?

not-so-happy: 2 of my colleagues who are in my girls' care group are leaving to better and brighter futures with God somewhere else...sob... pray that God will bring more believers / convert more seekers and help our group grow! =)

happy: i know gz so much better now! i have one of those handy dandy octopus-card-doot-thingies that can be used in the mtr, bus, convenience store and taxis (woot!!). i've gone hiking 4 times on various trails, ridden this random cart-down-a-metal-slide-contraption (fun but not nearly fast enough), gone to ikea like 6 times (and hence have lots of rubbishy knick-knacks now), cooked soup at home, and started to eat breakfast every morning (self-prepared!). most importantly i know all these great restaurants with super cheap and delicious food. if anyone comes and visits me here, i will throw in a free, 100% satisfaction guaranteed meal. oh and i actually have friends outside of work. mind-boggling... haha.

not-so-happy: i gained maybe about... 10 pounds. at least it keeps me warm in the winter. ;)

happy: i have a secret project in the works. but i can't tell until it happens. tee hee hee... stay posted for updates!

i know posting lyrics doesn't count as a post. but these lyrics have never ever been more relevant...

everyone's here, everybody's watching you now, everybody waits for you now, what happens next?

welcome to the fallout, welcome to the resistance. the tension is here, between who you are and who you could be; between how it is and how it should be.

maybe redemption has stories to tell, maybe forgiveness is right where you fell. where can you run to escape from yourself? where you gonna go? where you gonna go?

salvation is here.

i dare you to move. i dare you to lift yourself up off the floor. i dare you to move like today never happened before.

so i cut about 5 inches of my hair off a few weeks ago. its short now. a lot of people have asked me whether it's cuz something drastic has happened... i'm tempted to make up some crazy story involving my heart being broken, me being fired, or me having some major revelation. but no. it was just some random impulse. my conversation with my hairdresser went something like this:

2 hours later it was done. i kind of like it cuz it dries a looooot quicker and it can look kind of funky sometimes (but only if i sleep in a certain way and it gets messy and i put wax in in the right way).... but my biggest problem is that it sort of hangs all over my face and i'm really really not used to having hair in my face after 5 years of tying my hair back. it makes me mad sometimes. anyway.. guess i'll have to live with it.

i don't have a good pic of it, but here are a few pics from one of our gz caregroup meetings. please, do not ask what we're doing. i don't know either. trying to look as retarded as possible is my best guess...

anyway.. my gz girls caregroup is something i wanted to talk about as well. i feel so incredibly blessed that i have a group of girls that i can talk to every week about God... and often for hours & hours... our record was from 8pm-3am (with work the next day... it was tough).  i also have another bible study group during lunch that i just love... cuz everyone is so smart and there's always some interesting conversation going when we read the Word together. but that one is more 'hush hush' cuz we actually do it at work... and i'm not sure what the china / company policy is regarding that. 

i never imagined this to be possible. there really is nothing like being able to share with people who understand exactly what you're going through without having to explain anything... not only in the context of work but also in the context of God. sometimes i stop and think... dare i believe this to be true? in my workplace? in China? this is a living reminder to me that i should never ever put God in a box, to assume that He is predictable or try to guess what His plans are... He's able to infiltrate any organization, break down any barrier, soften any heart... really, who am i to think i can even begin to imagine what He is capable of? it reminds me of one of my favorite passages in the Bible...there is really none like this one to humble me and make me feel really really really small & insignificant compared to our Maker...

"Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Prepare to defend yourself; I will question you, and you shall answer me.Where we you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!

Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this. What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?...Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass? Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?" (Job 38:1-5, 16-20, 22-30)