Heart of mine.

BUSY!!!

And tonight I'm off to KL!

Ah well, in place of a proper essay on what I've been up to / thoughts, here's the lyrics to a Norah Jones song I've been playing to death in the car. No connection to what I'm going through right now, so it must be the tune that I love. And possibly it reminds me of me a bit.

"Heart Of Mine"

Heart of mine,
Be still
You can play with fire,
But you'll get the bill
Don't let him know
Don't let him know that you love him
Oh, don't be a fool, don't be blind
Heart of mine

Heart of mine,
Go back home
You've got no reason to wander
No reason to roam
Don't let him see
Don't let him see that you need him
Oh, don't push yourself over the line
Heart of mine

[bridge]

Heart of mine,
Go back where you been
The only trouble with you
Is if you let him in
Don't let him hear
Don't let him hear where you're goin'
Oh, I'm tired of ties that bind
Heart of mine

[bridge]

Heart of mine,
So malicious and so full of guile
I give you an inch
And you take a mile
Don't let yourself fall
Don't let yourself stumble
Oh, do the time, don't do the crime
Heart of mine

Heart of mine...

Oh, oh, oh...

Heart of mine...


[Thanks to doloress@abv.bg for these lyrics]

[ www.azlyrics.com ]

Is there a crack I could slip through.

Can't help but feel a little overwhelmed right now.

A case of bad timing, and bad timing for bad timing.

***

Gossip

'm not supposed to gossip today, but the first thing I did was gossip about one colleague to another as soon as I walked in the office doors.

I was just re-telling an incident that happened on Friday. Well, what defines gossip anyway? (And so Pius asked in one of our "deep' conversations when tumpanging with me). Is it just saying something bad about another person?

In reflection of Fr Terry Burke's talk a few months ago, on how sin in effect creates a barrier and separates men, I would think that anything that hurts the relationship between any two or more individuals, whether or not they know each other would be GOSSIP.

So if I told you about someone, and it makes you not like her even if you've NEVER met her before, that, my dear is gossip.

For every time we talk about a person, make jokes about him/her, tell true or not true stories, without them being in the room, it would be gossip.

Even when your friend Mary tells you and June a secret, and then June and you later discuss the secret in private, it is still gossip.

Even when that person is an irritating person, it still doesn't make gossipping about her right. Darn it. I noticed this thing about gossip: it makes me feel better (haha, take THAT, you!, I think to myself) and then bad, worse than what I started out with (geez, what kind of person am I?!)

In Proverbs 17:4 - we find that God even calls someone who listens to “gossip” an “evildoer” and a “liar”.

(LISTENING is different from hearing, mind you. LISTENING is when you believe it, and carry it on, or add to it.)

YIKES! I think I'll try harder to live without gossip now.

J Walker describes 'gossip' as her 1974 dictionary described it: “gossip” is the revealing of personal or sensational facts, 2) rumor or report of an intimate nature, 3) informal conversation.

p.s. informal conversation! gah! how la like dis?

I'm not a reader but...

I was reading this book during the two-day seminar we had which ended on Wednesday. I was hooked on it after reading just one chapter. I NEED this book. It's actually a one-year devotional study of men in scripture, with questions and points to think about at the end of each chapter. I found it thought provoking. It makes you reflect on the relationship that God had with man. I read about Abraham, Isaac, Esau, Jacob, Joseph and Judah. Ok, now is the time to confess that I've not gone through much of the Bible, because my next sentence says it all: I opened the Bible to read the full story about these guys and discovered they were all still in GENESIS! Man, I thought I'd be halfway through the Bible with so many names. Nevertheless, the book has stirred up my interest to now read as much as possible, if not all.

The thing that struck me most about their relationship with God is their total dependence on Him. It's different from my relationship with God and the way I depend on Him. When I read the bible, I used to feel detached from the characters inside, as if they were mere characters of a story. But in the book, the summary of their stories and coupled with a down-to-earth description of their emotional reactions, how they go on with their lives... not only did it tell me what a lousy critical reader I'd make cause I have to read simplified stuff... but it also described how totally dependent they were on God (and I mean TOTALLY), and most probably, how our dependence on Him has totally waned in this day and age.

I mean, come on. Abraham asked to sacrifice Isaac, his only son and only a boy at that! It didn't even make sense to him and it seemed quite plainly to me that God was being cruel. The other men, in their lives, although they did lots of bad stuff, as all humans tend to do, had their foundation in God. And God loved them and blessed them even in their offenses.

I think the person I've read about from our era that comes closest to the way they lived was the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Our faith, on the other hand, is so so so faded. Our worries have multiplied a hundredfold since then. Our trust in Him is questionable! We are so distracted. We've made other things matter more. We don't even know Him anymore, and have come as far as denying His existence.

And so, because of what I've read, I have another resolution and prayer!

I know what other book I'll be hunting for!

Prev:

Short to-do list. Boring entry.

I need a good back massage.

Only a few more little things to do before I finally finish every (necessary) piece of work here at poly. I can start cleaning up my desk next week. So what I need to do today (after having spent doing non-work related stuff for almost 3 hours now) are:

1. Copy memos for discontinuing students.
   
2. Key in marks for my A1002 classes (Moral)
3. Key in marks for my R2001 classes (English Club)
4. Hand all these to the respective departments.
   

And I'm done for the day.

The Christmas Tree Project

The Christmas Tree Project
- We put up a Christmas tree in The Gallery of St Joe's Parish Centre. On the tree are labels with the names of the poor (identified by the SSVP, Kuching) and a gift request for Christmas. The parishioners of St Joe's church are given the opportunity to buy these gifts for them.

It started when Br Das mentioned The Tree to the Prez of The Conference.

The Prez then brought it up during a committee meeting, and the elders of the Conference decided we would KIV The Tree until next year's Christmas! I thought it was ridiculous to postpone such a simple yet fantastic project, so I volunteered to undertake it. Of course I couldn't do it alone, so I employed the help of the youth of St Joe's parish. I knew they would help because they have super enthusiasm and I love their "Giving My Best" (GMB) attitude.

M from the youth was my bestest help. He got the tree and the deco and the paper for the gift labels (I accompanied and advised the purchases - ahem), obtained permission to use the gallery, AND prepared posters, flyers and church announcements. M, you're truly a star! A superstar in fact!

Meanwhile, I liaised with B from SSVP (another star!) for a form the adoptees would fill, and she distributed the forms which I later collected and compiled onto a spreadsheet. On one Saturday morning, we got some youth to come in and help with making hearts for labels, putting up the tree and dressing it up. We even had a prayer for the tree and an 'official launch'.

A little over 200 hundred names have been put up and have been taken down and signed for, and the gifts are starting to come in. The gifts will be distributed to the adoptees during a Christmas party organised especially for them by the SSVP in mid-December.

So it's not all done yet, but I'm mentioning it just in case I decide not to later on, as I seem to have a habit of doing with finished projects. There has been a few bumps and cracks, but it's getting on well enough. I'm glad I butted in and said I'd do it with the help of the youth. They've been awesome!

This whole project, even though incomplete as yet, has truly been a time where I feel grateful, thankful and blessed.