The Oxidation Potential

I found myself creating another riddle Facebook status.

"The oxidation potential in the atmosphere totally ignited the fermentation process. Hardly she finds herself in such a state, let's suffice to say the princess almost tipped, and the oxidised solvent did hit almost its max - a phenomenal degree of its breaking point.
She understands where she's at, and it's probably beyond her capacities. So now it's time to retract and reduce. Peace out to what's important. Let's say, 1 John 2:17 sings music to her ears."

Call it riddle you might. Find out like a worm in my gut. Try hard. If you'd really try, my clues are - 1) what oxidises when fermented, and 2) the detrimental effect from product of oxidation.

The first dust-formed men on earth had a good life but they chose to give it up. Really, just for the sake of one forbidden fruit in the whole garden. So the earth was ours to work, and pain was ours to bear. Totally not worth it. Appreciatively, knowing and walking in the Creator's redemptive plan have found myself much relief and freedom.

In this age, mankind are tasked with too many responsibilities. Life was meant to be good but such fallen times have taxed heavily upon the shoulders of many. And surely that was why Jesus told us to give Him our burdens. For the load this world gives, severely impends upon one's survival fuel tank.

I find my melancholic self surfacing in times like these. A part of me that allows myself to recuperate through this gift God has given me. The ability to "melancholise" - surely, there's no such word but I'm making it history now. At least a Princess Shannon history.

The tightness of one's heart could easily impede one's life and without a proper outlet, one can find themselves easily in depression or worser circumstances. Blogging to me is a great outlet. Yet in this era of probing social media and stalking syndromes of fellow web users overcast with boredom, one's personal life could erect a virtual discussion thread that might result in deadlier outcomes. Now, that's the hypothesis formed from being extremely passive and careful.

To personalise these data, the melancholised produce conveys an artistic impression of my thoughts, that I find it hard to communicate with words. It divulges the essence of my current emotions and evokes in the atmosphere a degree of lamentation and complaint. To date, communication for me has been difficult and no few words could easily explain the web of feelings that entangles within my heart, or mind. A worm in my gut would be the best way to describe a soul mate. A person who would understand another without much communication, or one who would go the extra mile to listen because the connection was worth.

If I maintained your attention to this paragraph, you maybe made it in deciphering a chunk of the data presented. But the gist and core of this entry might selectively remain a mystery till uncovered. Now, if that makes sense.

Maybe, at the end of it all, this entry served no real purpose. But then maybe, it did. A hint of release and lightening to the writer.

Till then.

A Melancholic Inspired Entry

It is pink. It was pink. It should remain pink. Dimetapp - the awesome drowsy formula for Sinus Pain + Allergy. Each tablet containing 500MG Paracetamol, 5MG Phenylephrine Hydrochloride and 2MG Chlorpheniramine Maleate. And if I'm not wrong, I am seeking the effects of the latter. So, down my oesophagus it will find its way, very soon, I will be in lala land, not really playing chess with Mr Zhou, maybe more of swimming in the ocean... of blue cells.

Wait, am I making sense at all?

A little more to go. I am realising it right now. If I have only one tablet of Dimetapp, then the rules of self-medication in my below-par scientist brain says if you pop another 500MG of Paracetamol and 30MG of pseudoephedrine HCL, it might improve it's effect. Should I trust my brain knowledge? Or... maybe let's see what Wikipedia says.

Phenylephrine - a vasopressor (increases blood pressure). A substitute for pseudoephredrine HCL. Half life is 2.5-3 hours, which means it will run off in the next 3 hours, last me till 1am if I eat it now.

Pesudophredrine HCL, hm... increasingly being pushed off market due to some regulations. Why does Panadol Cold Relief have 30MGs of that though..? So, can I mix the tabs?

I guess I haven't derived at a conclusion, and probably won't. Each minute that passes away makes my flu-stricken brain work slower.

For the sake of lala land and it's anti-histamine properties, I've decided the winner bidder would be Dimetapp. Kudos to Chloropheniramine maleate.

Pop! It's on the slide down the gullet now.

The real entry?

Ok... this entry was pretty redundant and purposeless. Talk about leading a purposeful life. I had one of these days where my nose just wouldn't stop functioning like a leaky tap, and my olfactory nerves won't stop activating the endless array of sneezes.
 
But I made it through, succeeding in two completed PCR runs, a coffee catch up with colleagues, a birthday cake celebration with ex-colleagues, an early off from work to allow my immune system to take over while I napped on my evening sun-ray filled bed, and a lethargic effort in baking my well-known pandan chiffon cake for a birthday tomorrow.

All in all, I think I fared pretty well today.

In this melancholic inspired blog entry, I find myself writing a new song again.

So, I will end with my final poetic heart song riddle and hit the snooze button after.

In surrender she lays it aside

She had a fulfilling weekend with the Prince

I mean He was never slow in reminding her

But she could choose to nod physically but deny within

He saw beyond the curtains

He penetrated her thoughts

He offered goodness and a light yoke

She was sinking and drifting further

She reached out to His hand

Grab it and shouted for help

He pulled her hard, but she had to let go of the heaviness 

So she did... man it wasn't easy

Though she let go, she kept looking back

Thankful that the Prince was merciful 

and she didn't turn into a pillar of salt for looking back

Then it was a season of the unknown

Pretty scary, but He was all she could look to

She knew she laid beside quiet waters
Like a tree planted beside streams of living water

And He was near, always watching over her.

So it's not now again, when will it be?

She wishes it would just become clearer

Unless the Lord builds the house

The builder builds in vain

More than the watchmen wait for the morning

She will wait... for Him.

Jo4 Getaway 2012 - Deeper Passion

I had an awesome time at my life group's Getaway this weekend.
Once again we returned to the beach house at Castaway Cove, exactly the same one as the one we went last year.

God's been really good to Joseph 4. Brings back lots of memories! And of course, we wrote more memories after this trip there.

Here's a funny picture I stole off from Eddie's facebook.

Our theme for this year's getaway was "Deeper Passion".

It's actually pretty cool how everyone have grown since our last trip. We have more people this year, and more people stepping up into faith filled roles. I love this group.

As the organiser of the trip for a second time, I've learn to be a better leader. I've learnt to trust my team and let them run wild with their imaginations and ideas. But I'm not perfect yet, at times stepping on the toes of my team members, and stressing them out a little bit.
I'm still learning... so I'm sorry guys if I got a bit cranky whilst at it. (Although I'm pretty sure they probably won't see this.)

Character building... security in God, and a heart to love and serve God wholeheartedly.
Faith stretching tasks...
Love building relationships...
Refining through iron sharpening iron.

We will grow as a group.

Thank you Lord, for all You've done in the lives of every individual in Joseph 4 over the weekend. May God continue to grow and nurture the seeds planted this weekend, and cause us to bear fruit as individuals and as a life group.

Now, I'm empowered spiritually, drained physically. About to hit off and get some beauty refreshing sleep.
I can't wait for work tomorrow. Honest!:)

Leaving the surface... and drawing more strength from His Holy Spirit.

Jealous

He is jealous for me

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree

Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy...

For a moment, these song lyrics resounds in my mind.

Let's suffice to say that it began with a couple of non-spiritual beginnings, which ended up in a deeper realisation of how it feels to know that someone would be jealous for you. The stirring tinge of happiness that follows this realisation hits back home, re-illustrating how one may feel to know his or her special position in the heart of another.

Whao. The jealously of a mere man could evoke such security, comfort or joy in the heart of another?

Shedding some light in this, I came to the understanding of how much God can be jealous for us. And the question I began to ask myself was - how pleased or excited are we at the thought of God being jealous for us?

I'm saying right now, Jesus is jealous for you. Jesus is jealous for me! Does that stir some thing in your heart? Or my heart?

A mirror shines, reflecting the condition of our hearts for Jesus. I'm praying for myself, and for you who are reading this.

May our hearts beat and jump for joy, knowing that Jesus is jealous for us.

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."

- Exodus 20:4-6 (NIV)

Investment

I shun Mathematics, and numbers... gives me a headache, but here I am today, talking about Investment?! Um... finance? Must be for a good reason.
Especially when you understand that 'investment' is not always about $$$.

Three months have found its way fleeting past my life. Year 2012, was it?
For some reason, I still find it really hard to write the date in '2012' when I sign documents or write dates for experiments, unconsciously still filling out the blanks with the '11' instead.

Recently I'm caught up in a whirlpool of thoughts. Right, with a recent discussion with my good o'housemate and another friend in my cosy but messy housemate infested living room, we drew the conclusion that melancholics pretty much drown in thoughts throughout their lifetime. So, that kept me from writing for awhile... no, I'm just kidding.

Apart from the Jeremy Lin hoo-haa that happened close to a month back, what else was happening in my life? Well, the Knicks hasn't been fairing very well lately, I wonder why? But that doesn't change the fact that God has brought Jeremy to such a place of prominence in his life and social circle, or maybe the media, and I  still believe that Jesus will continue to make Himself known in the courts of NBA, and other social circles.

Putting that aside, I've been bogged down by the fiery start to the year. Meetings.

Meetings to spearhead what this year would entail. Very essential - without vision people perish! 

"Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he." - Prov 29:18 (KJV)

So, apart from meetings, I've been drowning in work and experiments lately, training up a new PhD student and getting many more experiments to work on. I've never been this busy at work before in my entire three years of working, but for some reason, I'm enjoying every moment of this, and feeling really blessed about it. It's like I'm finally doing something! Haha... Well, in my life after the office, I've been putting some effort at the gym, and also keeping in touch, growing deeper in relationships around me, also giving my body some rest it deserves... letting inspiration flow and getting more filming and post productions completed. A fulfilling but pretty exhausting season for now! A lot more that I'm packed with, but I shan't go further with this list... it'll bore you.

So, investment is my entry title. Let's talk, finance. In life I compare myself against two classes of people and I find myself in between. I'm not extremely rich, I'm not extremely poor. I'm average. And truth is, you find many average people around me who are in the same life stages as I am. Many times we sit at dinner tables or coffee circles and the talk about 'investment' comes up. Looking around me, almost all my friends have a car, or a house... or are thinking of buying one (either, or, both). It's hard not to feel the pressures of the world hard on every side, when you know that around the dinner table, 'MONEY' is not what all they talk about. You might or might not know what I'm driving at.

But this day, I once again returned to the voice of the Holy Spirit within me. I do have this little, yet God, why do I feel compelled to give more? Tugged at my heart, I hear the Holy Spirit's gentle still voice. He didn't need to say anything - I knew His heart.

I looked at my possessions, and my heart desires. I looked at my clock, my calendar, my time. Which of these are not a blessing from God? Yet this season, His tug at me happens again to invest... to invest. My carnal nature longs to compare myself with others... but God brings me the word "promise".

So... once again I present my God inspired revelation here, keeping it as a gentle reminder to myself and anyone it may speak to.

Inspiration 12 March 2012:
Keys to true wealth in life that I've discovered, experienced, believed and still constantly working towards:
1. To love God, with all of one's heart, soul and mind.
2. To give up the pleasures in life, to invest in a legacy to be passed on... to put faith into actions, walking the talk.
And in doing this, trust that He will pour back all that you have invested, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, and poured into your lap. 
... a faith fueled journey indeed.