A Thailand-less year

Glen is of course depressed he can't go to Thailand.

Glen fails to see the bright side of being under 21 years old.

Glen kinda loved packing for the past 4 mission trips plus this one; now he dreads having to unpack his luggage without having worn any clothes inside it.

Glen is unable to sleep.

Glen struggles to accept God's will.

Glen confronts God.

Glen blames God for not forming him in his mother's womb at least 7 months and 17 days earlier 20 years ago.

Glen prays for the rest who are still going, because things are now much more difficult.


Glen wakes up hoping it was a dream, but it wasn't.

Glen hasn't known what God has in store for him now that he can't go to Thailand.

Glen attempts to see things through God's contact lenses.

Glen has just collected his new biometric passport (to be displayed on his desk at home).

Glen figures that the next two weeks may not be as fulfilling as he wanted, but he will be where God wants him to be.

Countdown to my A Levels (again!)

A student's prayer

Lord, grant me a quiet heart
Before exams start.

Lead me to use my leisure hours
To invigorate my powers.
My mind from daydreams liberate,
Give me the will to concentrate.
From all distractions, set me free
That in my studies I may be
A student with a sole fulfilment
To make my work a sacrament.

From my faint heart in low expel
All failure fears that therein dwell.
And from my pillow drive away
All dark forebodings of the day.
Help me in faith to rest so deep,
That I may have untroubled sleep.
While notes and lectures I prepare,
May I not lose my zest for prayer.

May I not forget to look
For guidance in Thy Book.
And may I ever grateful be
To all who daily pray for me.
For myself I intercede,
For other students too, I plead.
So may exams find
Each one alert in heart and mind.

Thus inward joy and peace possessing,
May exams prove a source of blessing.

- Anonymous

A melancholic poem

Longing to escape from you,
I try very hard to learn how to fly.
Finally, wings began to appear on my back,
Ending the days of agony with you around.

Suffering and pain gradually leave my sight,
Underneath me I see you diminish in size.
Christ, bring me home today,
Kiss me, welcome me in heaven and
Say to me, "Your worst days are over."

- Anonymous

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten by Robert Fulghum

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Goalball

i was just totally intrigued by this sport called Goalball which is featured in the Paralympics when i switched on the TV less than an hour ago. There's Sitting Volleyball and Wheelchair Rugby too! Haha.

Goalball is a team sport designed for blind athletes. It was devised by Hanz Lorenzen (Austria), and Sepp Reindle (Germany), in 1946 in an effort to help in the rehabilitation of visually impaired World War II veterans[1]. The International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA), responsible for fifteen sports for the blind and partially sighted in total, is the governing body for this sport.

The sport evolved into a competitive game over the next few decades and was a demonstration event at the 1976 Summer Paralympics in Toronto[1]. The sport's first championship was held in 1978 and goalball became a full part of the Paralympics from the 1980 Summer Paralympics in Arnhem onwards[1].

Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball that has bells embedded in it, into the opponents' goal[2]. They must use the sound of the bell to judge the position and movement of the ball. Games consist of two 10 minute halves[2]. Blindfolds allow partially sighted players to compete on an equal footing with blind players[2].

- Wikipedia

A word that sounds wrong

i never actually thought breaststroke sounded wrong until i chanced upon a photo caption in the papers during the Olympics period. i realise when it refers to the swimmer executing the breaststroke, it sounds wrong to me. Don't accuse me of thinking dirty. Just read the article below and judge for yourself.


While American Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps continues to dominate the pool and shatter World Records [6 Gold Medals, 6 World Records] on his quest towards 8 Gold Medals, another headline story overlooked but nearly as impressive is Breaststroker Kosuke Kitajima of Japan.

...

Kosuke Kitajima has rewritten the record books and rewritten the approach to swimming technique. What American's Steve Lundquist ['80's breaststroke sprinter] and Mike Barrowman ['90's breaststroke endurance] meant for the face of Breaststroke and were combined in American Brendan Hansen ['00's hybrid sprinter/endurance], has finally given way to the tidal wave of Kosuke Kitajima as perhaps the most efficient Breaststroker of all-time!

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/REIGNBLOOD/163523

A Curriculum Fable

One time, the animals had a school. The curriculum consisted of running, climbing, flying, and swimming, and all the animals took all the subjects.

The Duck was good in swimming, better in fact than his instructor, and he made passing grades in flying, but he was practically hopeless in running. Because he was low in this subject, he was made to stay in after school and drop his swimming class in order to practice running. He kept this up until he was only average in swimming. But average is acceptable, so nobody worried about that except the Duck.

The Eagle was considered a problem pupil and was disciplined severely. He beat all the others to the top of the tree in the climbing class, but he had used his own way of getting there.

The Rabbit started out at the top of the class in running, but he had a nervous breakdown and had to drop out of school on account of so much make-up work in swimming.

The Squirrel led the climbing class, but his flying teacher made him start his flying lessons from the ground instead of the top of the tree down and he developed charley horses from overexertion at the take-off and began getting C's in climbing and D's in running.

The practical Prairie Dogs apprenticed their offspring to a Badger when the school authorities refused to add digging to the curriculum.

At the end of the year, an abnormal Eel, that could swim well, run, climb, and fly a little, was made Valedictorian.

- Anonymous

My last week as a teenager

Will hell be less hot now?