A-B-C Guide to Success in Life

In my Junior College days, I was one of the top Ten-Pin bowler chalking an average of 200 PPG (points-per-game). I trained hard and my dream was to one day win an Open competition and be part of the Singapore National Bowling Team.

In the first year of my National Service, I crack-fractured my right wrist (my master hand) during the Standard Obstacle Course (SOC) test. I went through 1 year of physiotherapy and rehab, but never able to carry heavy stuff using my right hand again. I was downgraded to PES C1L2 and I was never able to take part in competitive bowling again. [Reality strikes and my world just collaspe around me... it's a lousy feeling. ]

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In my university days, I was an avid sportsman. I played soccer, basketball, soccer, squash and almost any ball games. In January 2006 during my Masters' studies, I had a freak accident on a rainy day. I slipped, fell and sprained my right ankle (my master foot)really badly. I was out of sports action for almost 6 months, unable to do even light jogging. [I felt really lousy about myself.]

During the 6 months, I went through intensive rehab and physiotherapy (up to 2-3 times a week, sweating like a madman at every physio session!). In November - December 2006, I took part in a 100KM walkathon, climbed the 72-storey Vertical Marathon @ Swissotel and completed the 42KM Singapore Marathon.

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During my Masters' studies in Bioengineering (2004 - 2006), I was required to take Biology subjects, understand Biology concepts and theories, write reports and do up presentations on them. These were a major challenge for me as I have never ever taken Biology before in my life!

I mugged, studied, burned midnight oil studying and preparing for every single homework, test, exams and presentation. This is on top of being a cell leader and serving in church.

In end-2007, I was conferred my Masters' Degree in Engineering. Together with it, I had three conference presentations, two journal papers, and one patent application to my name. I just collected my Masters' Degree graduation certificate this week. *All Smiles*

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Success in life doesn't mean having a glamourous lifestyle, great achievements, nor popular and accepted by people. All these are good and important things in life. BUT... Is that how you really would define Success?

To me, the A-B-C guide to Success is:

1. Able to star at every challenges that comes in life and see the opportunity for growth.
2. Being able to bounce back from defeats and failures in life - having a never-say-die attitude.
3. Choosing not to compare and envy the people around you, but follow your principles, values and convictions of life.

Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for he grants sleep to those he loves. - Psalm 127:1-2 (NIV)

Unless we learn to put God as central in the area of our work / studies, else we will always be toiling and struggling with the affairs of the world.

Young People These Days - BGR!

Disclaimer: If you are offended by anything written in this post, do forgive me for I know not what your stand is, cheers ;)

Attraction happens Anytime, Anywhere ( Try finding out where i got this cheesy line from :P )
Finally back from my vacation from Atlantis, The Corny Professor(e) is back!

And today, what I've learnt from Atlantis ( hope you all get the pathetically redundant joke ), I learnt about BGR.

And what about BGR?
It's about an analysis on BGR ( and incidentally, maybe BBR or GGR, oh well :/ )

Why do people jump into relationships?
- Peer Pressure
- Seeking Love
- For fun / experience
- Low self-esteem!

Ok, maybe there are more reasons, but at least these are 4 general reasons that I found, afterall, I too, am human.

1) Peer Pressure
There isn't much to say on this but, yes, peer pressure is one driving factor that causes people to jump in relationships.
"Ridiculous huh," you might think, "People are ridiculous", that is my reply.

Scenario: Ah-hock is an ordinary-looking Secondary 3 boy in his school, whereby his group of friends, Ah-leong, Ah-tiong and Ah-huat , happen to be attached with the best looking girls in the entire school. Because of this, Ah-hock felt a lonely at times when his 3 other friends went on group date, thus, Ah-hock, determined to stay in the group and not feel left out, decided to find a girlfriend.

You see Point #1 now ( and do you agree that people are ridiculous )?

2) Seeking Love
Come on, we know that everyone seeks love, but where?
People are practical, they want things the easiest way and the best way. In this case, where do they seek love? From friends of the same gender? They would say that it is disgusting, however, it is a different type of love!
The kind of love which ( they think ) that can satisfy the void in their hearts lies in a romantic relationship ( normally from the opposite gender ). Why a romantic relationship? This is due to the fact that a romantic relationship will cause a person to feel loved indefinitely. In fact, a large amount of people are unable to appreciate the kind of love received from friends.

Continued from Scenario above: Ah-hock felt left out at times when his friends were away paktoh-ing, and wondered if his friends truly appreciated him as a friend ( in this case, his friends really do appreciate him as a friend ). Therefore, feeling lonely, Ah-hock went out to seek love, from a girl whom he had a crush on for sometime. His love was requitted, and thereby, they soon became a couple.

3) For fun / experience
This is true! Some people (mainly guys) jump into relationships just for the fun, thrill and experience.
Fun - There are those just in for a fling! And after that short fling, all is done and they break up. This is a behaviour unlike humans!
Experience - This is a common thing, especially for younger people. Many get into relationships for the experience of being into one.

4) Low Self-Esteem
People DO jump into relationships because of Low Self-Esteem!
You might be asking me, "Does it?", "It does" is my answer.
When a person has low self-esteem, they will try to find ways to prove that they have a 'value', and to do something with a sense of achievement.
One way to do so is to woo the most popular person in the school.

Scenario: Ah-keong is a boy who suffers from low self-esteem. Day after day, he never felt good about himself. Till one day, he walked past the school belle. He was bewitched by her beauty! He then decided that, this day, he would want to prove his 'value', day after day, he tried all kinds of means and methods to get her contact. And he finally managed to woo her and he then managed to win her heart ( a quick conclusion to cut the story short ).

Conclusion: People, do not be hasty into getting into a relationship. If getting into a relationship that you're not confident which would last till marriage, why do so? A breakup would be hurtful not only to you, but for your partner too. And this hurt would be somewhere in your heart permanently.

Brothers and sisters in Christ whom are not ready for a relationship, seek your love not from men, but from God first! :)

From your beloved,
Corny Professor(e)

( Edited by request of anonymous )

RED ALERT! (Especially to Frans Li!!)

Warning Warning! Standby for popularity escalation, especially for Mr Frans Li aka Mr Front.

Below is a screenshot captured on 29th June 2008, 10:15pm. Be careful! Our world domination counter is going to burst!



PS: If you wish to see the real source, go check out http://women-of-destiny.blogspot.com

Young People These Days - Selective Obedience

"Oi!Wake up!"

"But t'cher, very tired la, let me sleep la..."

Common sight in classrooms?

Welcome to the 2nd topic of Young People These Days module!

And i'm the module leader, the Corny Professor(e).

So what's the topic about? Read the title la...

Selective Obedience, it is something that occurs EVERYWHERE.

In homes, in school (be it curriculum or CCA), in the army, in workplaces, in church, etc.

I believe that most of us have fell to this in our lives, somehow.

So, what is selective obedience?

Selective obedience is obeying authority (duh, authority that's why you obey them), but only obeying those that one CHOOSES TO obey, yes, that includes jay-walking, i admit that i have jay-walk very often.

Example: Mum, "Wash your dishes!"

Child, "*some excuses* *fill in the blank*"

Even this, is called selective obedience.

So, WHAT'S WRONG WITH SELECTIVE OBEDIENCE?

Non-biblically, it simply means, "I respect you lor, but i respect you only XX%, i listen to you lor, but i listen to you only XX%". When you grow up, try doing this to your boss, see what happens.

Biblically, Romans 13:1-3 (Thanks, BibleGateway.com :D)
Submission to the Authorities

"1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you."

What I personally view is, if you practice selective obedience, you will live in guilt. Seriously, think about it guys.

If your sergeant asks you to clean toilet, but you don't, you will fear meeting your sergeant, for fear of punishment.

If you do not do assignments, you will fear going for lessons, for fear of getting disfavour with your teacher/lecturer/whatsoever.

What about your walk with God?

Do you practice selective obedience? Do you listen to God in ALL ways?

Signing off,

The CORNY Professore :P

Question to ponder over:

Why do people fear punishment from men, but still choose to not fully obey God who is so Almighty?

[Spiritual Disciplines] Fasting & Frugality

If we want to transformation in our lives, then we must make every effort in application to what we have learnt!

This past week during cell group we shared about Fasting & Frugality.

Here are some applications. Let's share on how we are applying what we learnt!

1. Fasting: What are we fasting on in this one week?

2. Frugality: Go through your daily schedule and make a note of what percentage of your thoughts are spent dwelling on indifferent things. Commit yourself to refrain from spending inappropriate amounts of time thinking about things that really do not matter. Ask God to help you bring your thoughts under His guidance. Ask God to help you "take every thought captive for Christ."

3. What have you done to the green beans given to you?

Click HERE to share your applications!

Young People These Days - Escapism

Good evening my friends,

Shall we start?

Alright, just as the title suggests, the topic which I'll be touching on for the "Young People These Days" module will be Escapism.

People these days, especially young ones (yes, you know if you are young :P) are very shallow?

First, they make a promise, then they break it, and finally, run away.

I believe all of us ever had went through this phase in our lives before, be it a mere

" T'cher tomorrow I hand up my homework to you, I forgot to bring today", or a "Dear dear, iie lubb euu sh0 muchx, iie wiLx diiee 4 euu"(yes i know what you are thinking).

However, when crisis hits you, how will you react?

Keep the promise? Break the promise? ESCAPE???




An example would be,

"A young man known as Mr A, has a girlfriend known as Miss B. They were a very happy young couple, i'd say 15 years of age. Soon after, Mr A got to know Miss C, who is prettier than Miss B and thus, felt more for Miss C as compared to Miss B. Mr A then decided to find an EXCUSE, which was a LIE, to break up with Miss B, just to be with Miss C. After breaking up with Miss B, he officially got into a relationship with Miss C. And they lived happily ever after...or so Mr A thought. Now that he's with Miss C, he constantly has to try his best to avoid Miss B, for FEAR that his LIE would be discovered and thus, has not been able to walk openly with Miss C anywhere, and if he ever sees Miss B, even if he is alone, he tends to HIDE himself away from her sight, for FEAR of being seen. Even when they ever cross paths, and just have a normal chat with anyone, he tend to be more defensive and starts LYING to COVER UP his initial LIE.



My dear friends, do you all think that he is happy?

Do you want to be like Mr A? Constantly being fearful?

And please, this does not apply for BGR only.



What about your promises to God?

God never fails to keep His promise.

If you keep your promise to God, You are blessed, if you break it, you are answerable to God, but God still loves you and will forgive you.



What about if you escape?

God knows it, remember, God can always PWNZ us anytime, however, He chooses to wait for us to come back to Him. If you TRY to escape, it does not affect God, He will still be there awaiting for you to face Him, but what about yourself?


Thank you for reading,
Your CORNY Professor :P

Question to ponder over:
Why do people tend to choose to escape rather than to keep the promise, or even break the promise and admit it?

Feel free to place your thoughts in the comments :)