If a doubt comes...

...cast it aside as a sin. 

Every perceived problem is really nothing more than a misperception within your own thinking.

Unaffected German Charm

"Whether it is Milan, Miami or Basle, the world’s most important design fairs these days are all focused on what is called high-end design – rare, expensive and above all only available in a limited series. It has been the main factor affecting the way people view the sector for quite some time and in fact somehow contradicts its original purpose – the industrially manufactured mass-product. The only country whose design culture seems to have been left untouched by this development seems to be Germany. German design functions, is technically sophisticated and radiates a cool, no-nonsense image." 

- Andrej Kupetz

It all boils down to

They want perfect bodies. They want perfect souls.

They want to be noticed when they're not around.

We forgot we are nature

We focused so much on the economy, that we forgot we're part of nature.
We focused so much on ourselves, that we forgot we're not living in a vacuum.

There are so many of us using so many resources so quickly. Yet no one seem to stop and wonder if we might be depleting the resources.

We seem to think nature is a separate entity.
We seem to think the economy is a part of us.

We seem to think nature is our limitless ATM machine.

We seem to have forgotten we are nature and nature is us.

Of those manipulated zombie dolls

If you really are a designer, as you claim, you'd start using your brain for once to think, reflect and analyze, and finally open your eyes and ears as well to see and hear what's going on in this world.

After you've finally exercised your brain, eyes and ears a little, you'd soften your hearts a little and open your minds a little to feel and think for others.

Then you truly would be a designer and artist.

Instead of a poseur.

Subway Art and Design

Subways are excellent locations to promote cultural appreciation and reflect a local place's heritage.

A site that features many outstandingly designed subways:

http://mic-ro.com/metro/metroart.html

another cruel xenophobe

growing up in singapore, i've always known that most singaporeans are xenophobic, demeaning and sometimes even hostile towards foreign workers of certain nationalities (m, p, c and b).

i thought that only singaporeans are so cruel, and that other asians are generally not like this. i thought that if you're a foreign worker/student in singapore, you'd be able to empathize with other foreign workers who're also working here, even if they're of a nationality different from theirs.

or so i thought.

i met this m girl that jolted me out of this perception.

now, we all know lucky plaza is where plenty of p's hang out. we also know p's sing very well and always have a lot to say in conversations.

a conversation not in the exact words:

me: oh, she has an errand to run at lucky plaza.

m: what?! lucky plaza?! why lucky plaza?! it's a p place! eww. (makes a disgusted face)

me: what's wrong with that?

m: p's are so annoying, and cheapskate and just.... ugh.

me: they can sing very well, they're always happy and they are good conversationalists.

m: they're very scandalous too and are hookers (utterly disgusted face)

the conversation went on for a while more and this m girl was just determined to degrade and conclude that p girls are cheapskate hookers.

i was angry for over a week. i was deeply saddened and disappointed with humanity, and most of all, with the Body. yes, this m girl is part of the Body.

Everyone's irrational fear of beginning

Everyone's afraid of trying new things or 'learning things late' for fear of embarrassment. The older you get, the better you are expected to be with things. Which is why people rarely pick up a new skill or do anything the least bit radical as they age.

Yet if you recall, one of your happiest moments in life was when you were a toddler learning to walk. In those days, everything was new, fascinating and thrilling. The older you get, the more you try to suppress your excitement with anything new or different.

Why live your life so self-consciously? Why care so much about embarrassment? Is embarrassment worthy enough to make you live life wearily and lifelessly?

Do you beat yourself up mentally and spiritually in your inner dialogues? Do you disallow yourself happiness because you don't think you deserve to be happy? Do you hold yourself back from relationships because you're sure you'd mess up again? Are you settling for a relationship or career because you don't think you deserve anything better?

Let go. Be the change you want to see. Do something. Learn something. Ignore all of the others who are jealous of you and try to embarrass you. Pity them.

No one has everything, but you don't have to simply accept your inadequacies. Have the courage to accept what you can't change, and also the courage to change what you can. Don't feel sorry about yourself, but do something about it. It's alright not to be good enough yet. Just get on the path of self-improvement.

There would only be one 'you' for eternity. Treat yourself well with love, dignity and respect.

Steps to Faith

7 steps to investigating the truth behind Creation, and then believing in it.

1. Observing God in Nature

2. Pursuing God in Science

3. Verifying God in History

4. Feeling God in Heart

5. Appreciating God in Mind

6. Knowing God in Soul

7. Accepting God in Strength

Taken from '101 Reasons You Can Believe', by Ralph O. Muncaster.

The cursed carnival calling you

Life can be seen as a:

1. Curse to Endure

2. Carnival to Enjoy

3. Calling to Enrich

Is your life a curse you try to endure, a carnival you only seek to enjoy and nothing more, or a calling for you to enrich and give meaning to this life as you wisely steward all the resources you have been blest with?

Sometimes, it is so tough to remember that I was supposed to be condemned and damned - that I'm living on Your grace and mercy. How can I keep asking and insisting on my ways and wants, like as if I even deserve anything at all? Forgive me for not knowing my place, Lord.

"Blessed be Your name, when I'm found in the desert place.

Though I walk through the wilderness, blessed be Your name.

Blessed be Your name, when the sun's shining down on me.

When the world's 'all as it should be', blessed be Your name.

Blessed be Your name, on the road marked with suffering.

Though there's pain in the offering, blessed be Your name.

You give and take away, You give and take away.

My heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be Your name."