Saturday, September 27, 2008

Spent 6 hours in front of the computer today doing my ethics project group work. I hope that our lecturer is kind to us because all the other groups have 3 people while my group only has... Er, 2 (1 of our group mates pang seh us and left the module altogether). In a way, it makes things less complicated, but it means a lot more work for the both of us. I never did have to do group projects with much more mature adults back in UniSIM, so to have to work with one one-on-one today was quite a new experience. Thank God that she's great to work with and we come from pretty similar backgrounds.

Then i had the jiemei meeting... Hurhur. ;-)
After we hatched our evil plan, aka Operation Sabotage, i walked away pretty much emotionless except for thoughts about whether the games portion will be pulled off well or not. But now, i'm feeling the combination of anxiety and excitement. Ack, need to get a decent pink thingy to wear! Some dress or something. Shopping is in order on monday, after my convo gown fitting.

Bimbo moment: Kind of wondering which brand of coloured lenses is good and whether people with astigmatism can wear them.

I was at Music Plaza, PS the other day and boy, was it an interesting evening. I encountered:

1. a drummer guy (DG, a customer who was trying out the drums) who told me that he liked my "touch" on the piano (i don't really know what he means by "touch")

J: (tries out a Yamaha playing "Hit the Road Jack" rather softly. Then started softly tinkling the usual bunch of chords)
DG: (Comes up to me from behind) Hi, i like your touch. Do you play a lot of jazz?
J: Er, no, i play mostly by ear.
DG (looks disappointed) Oh. Well, i like your touch.
J: (watches DG walk away) Oh, thanks!

2. guy from buddhist fellowship

He came into the shop wanting to ask the shop assistant about the piano i was playing. I started to move away from it saying that if he wanted to try, please go ahead. But he told me to keep playing so that he could listen. After a few chords, he asked if i played anywhere and i replied that i played for my church band. Then... he asked if i wanted to play for "another faith". I was stunned of course. I didn't decline at first but instead started to quiz him about what this event was about. Turns out he is a buddhist and wants to hold an event where people from different faiths come together to share about their respective faiths.

We had a short conversation about Buddhism and Christianity. I started to put some learnt things (from a recent sermon) into practice but alas, he was too bent on asking me to come to his event. I thought that he went too far with some of his questions, and boy was he insistent! He wasn't going to settle for a "no" so easily. I wonder why. We left the shop with me having his contact and an indefinite answer about me going to his fellowship. Friend tells me that it might be an evangelistic thing. Hm. *nods*

3. 2 young people, a woman and man from a church that believes in God the Mother, the "bride" as a part of God, the end time prophecies, how people today do not observe the passover anymore, saturday as sabbath, not sunday. If you're interested.

They started out innocently enough with a survey which i think was simply a guise to get me into a conversation about what they believe in. They were pushy all right! Refused to have my email address, insisted on my hp number (which i obviously did not give) and gave me pamphlets to read. They basically used verses from the bible to substantiate what they were saying (the woman was nice but sounded like a robot when explaining their beliefs, while the guy was nice but morphed into something monster-ish when asking for my number, insisting that they really wanted to share the truth with me on another set day)

I have mixed feelings about what they were saying. I spoke to my dad about it and i agreed with him that what they were preaching wasn't essential to the simple gospel of Jesus Christ. Although i still have some thoughts about the God the Mother thing, yeah.

Whatever it is, i got a taste of what some Christians do that just scare people away. Coming across as zealots, being too pushy and annoying, using "con" methods. But not all of us are like that!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh, astig no colored lense one. if u astig not so high, u can wear the colored lense mah, just nt so clear lor

Anonymous said...

zen:

oh, my astig for both eyes i think is quite mad one. :-(

but it'll be pretty ex right? since it must have degree?

i've seen some people wuth really pretty coloured lenses and i'm so intrigued!

DaDeGea said...

read-ed the wiki article. ("-ed" to emphasize the tense of the word. damn english and the lack of differentiation)
forgive me for being judgemental, but it sounds like a cult.
the one fact that i think may be true is that of the Sabbath.
originally on a saturday, now sunday by traditions continued by the roman.
i would have to do research on that, but that's my impression newayz.
besides, sat and sun are week ends right? so logically, there should only be two ends to the week: the beginning and the end. if saturday is the end of the week, that makes sunday the beginning, doesn't it? and Sabbath is, by technical definition, the end of the week, is it not?
Sunday is also aptly named, for isn't it not so, that God brought light, and day and night, to our earth on the first day? He gave us the Sun. The day of the Sun. Sun-day! woohoo!
ok i'm sounding more crappy as i go along. i should stop.
ta!

Anonymous said...

i think the price is ard $25 for a pair. tats what my sis said. but honestly some colors are nt so gre8 leh. looks weird lor. but u can give it a go, try for the fun of it.but cant wear often le, esp if u have astig. cos it is bad to ur eyes lor.im getting a gown fitting tmr.i m gg to be a bridemaid too. my elder sis is getting married

Love Jam said...

I've met people from the Mother God church before. I thought it sounded cultish.

Dominic. said...

hey jo...

well, as for the drummer guy, i guess the "touch" he was referring to was the manner in which you played the pieces on that piano.

in a nutshell, touch will be the fusion of technique and emotion. a bad touch or lack of touch will be like one playing mere scales; good touch will be a musician coming up with passionate solos and licks - the play-with-all-your-heart kind of thing.

hahaa...i've been trying to work on the "touch" of my playing and i must say, "putting your heart into playing" despite any limitations will actually bring your playing to a higher level...pardon me if this sounds abstract, but it works though....;)

Anonymous said...

ambrose:

HAHAHAHA... U so funny lah. Yeah, you're not the only one who thinks they sound like a cult, so no worries.. thanks for your input! anyway bro, u sound kinda disturbed again. :-( What's happening man?

zen:

WOoooooooooo! i thought she was already married???
how did the gown fitting go? i bet u will look stunning again. :-)

rose in bloom:

Oh? what did they tell u?

dom:

sounds a litte abstract but ok, i see a good part of the picture. thanks for adding your two cents worth. :-)
keep listening to the magic of others and keep honing your craft! it's great having fellow musicians around. :-)

Love Jam said...

they told me that since there is a Father God, there must be a Mother God as well since "God made man in OUR image". Then I told them the gender of God is not important. Then they insisted it's very important to worship a Mother God because supposedly you don't neglect a God. They wanted me to watch a DVD, which I almost did, but changed my mind later on.

Anonymous said...

rose in bloom:

very interesting. i'm glad tt u thought critically and made your view known. :-) i was kinda dumbstruck n just listened.
what intrigues me are the reasons of why they believe that the gender of God is so important. and what is it that makes them go so far as to want to share this with other people. does its meaning have such a profound impact on our salvation?

Anonymous said...

she romed a few years back. the wedding dinner will be next yr feb time.i wonder is i shud perm my hair or sth.

DaDeGea said...

LOL do i always sound so disturbed? =p meh.. i don't mind your care and concern though. just keep them coming! i'll accept them all with open arms muahaha!

and jo.. you cheapen dom's comments man.. he deserves more than 2cents! XP j/k!

about the concept of "touch" tho, dom answered it damn well. i shdn't add more, especially since i m devoid of any musical talent or touch, but i can't help it. my fingers are itching n my mouth is yakking, so here goes.
recall the idea of "put some soul into music"? that's an idea of touch. but it's more than just playing a piece with more soul, more feelings, more passion. it's also an extension of your perspective of music. assuming musical skill parity, if we were all to play a piece, we would all sound different, albeit slightly at times, coz of the way we interpret the piece. the way we emphasize some part over others, the way we skip a beat, the way we "up-tempo".. blah. some execution of songs may sound exactly the same, or very similar, but yet receive contrasting reception frm ppl. that's touch.
it's most obvious with singing i guess, coz of the range of variation allowed, but yeah.. dom said it all =D

kk.. i've crapped enough XP dom i miss you!! ^_^ haha... i'm not gay =,='" fyi haha!
tc girl.. keep running! n not just literally ;)

p.s. blur? thought so ;p hehe hahaha

Love Jam said...

I think I told them about the salvation part too. If i'm not wrong, they quoted about the woman who will come (something like that, to spar with the devil) in Revelation, whom they regard as the Mother God. So they whole point was to worship to the Feminine Divine. Perhaps in Christianity (Protestant) there is a saturation of masculine figures. They are perhaps seeking a feminine figure? If it's not there, they'll create one.

Anonymous said...

zen:

yeah, why not? :-) let it frame your face and besides, the texture of your hair is nice so the curls should turn out real pretty.

ambrose:

wow, ok, there's another dimension. 0.0. Thanks bro. :-) Love hearing your 10 cents worth! :p

rose in bloom:

Possibly, yeah. And i wonder why? Are they feminists are something.