MOVED! >> Blueforthebetter.blogspot.sg
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Snow white said when I was young,
"One day my prince will come."
So I wait for that date.
They say its hard to meet your match,
Find my better half.
So we make perfect shapes.
If stars don't align,

If it doesn't stop time,
If you cant see the sign,
Wait for it.
One hundred percent,
With every penny spent.
He'll be the one that,
Finishes your sentences.

If it's not like the movies,
Thats how it should be.
When he's the one,
He'll come undone,
And my world will stop spinning,
And thats just the beginning.


Not Like the Movies - Katy Perry
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Kitty! I love her <3
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The novelist Colm Toibin once recounted a story about observing a Cantonese man sitting on a Kowloon footpath reading a book. The man’s face was stern with concentration, his finger tracing the line being read. At times the man’s expression would screw up in frustration at his progress. Finally, the reader looked up at the sky, his face beaming. Whether from a sudden joyous facility with the act of reading, or revelation from what was written, or delight at how the story resolved, it doesn’t matter. What mattered is he was in possession of something deliciously private – a connection between him and the writer, between the real world and that world inscribed upon the pages. 


What would the world be like without books? What a depressing and absurd idea. Scenes like that man reading belie the notion that modern advances pose a threat to reading as we know it.


 There’s always talk that the latest technology signals the demise of the book. Decades ago, radio was what would do it. Then came TV. And now the Internet. The machines change, but the act has stayed the same. The simplest form of technology prevails – pages printed into a sheaf and bound between covers. There’s something reassuring about such simplicity. Especially when it lets us delve into the complexities of life. 


Literature is the story of ourselves, the record of who we are, where we came from, and where we’re going. Non-fiction illuminates the world for us and fiction explains what non-fiction cannot. Through books we first travel. In those wanderings we become best acquainted with humanity through the characters we come to know more intimately than anyone else – whether we love, loathe, fear, or fawn over them. 


The narrator in Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet helps me comprehend my faults and aspirations. Holden Caulfield and Harry Potter make me feel less alone. King Lear, Hannibal Lecter and Boromir are cautionary tales for who we could become if we’re not careful. Reading is our deepest connection to what makes us human, and part of a larger society. 


In that, books are a comfort. When I was a boy with thick glasses and braces on my buckteeth, books were my safe haven. Generations have likewise found solace in the written world, safety in feeling less alone amongst the crowds. Aren’t we loneliest, after all, when surrounded by others? But books aren’t bomb shelters, they’re bridges – through their pages we’re brought out into society, and one can posit that someone who reads is prepared for the world on a deeper level than someone who doesn’t. 


Though reading a book connects one with humanity, it is also the last truly private act in a world that’s become too public. As nourishment for the mind, it’s slow food in a world given over to fast food. Blogs, text messages, e-books, and the like bring topicality, portability, instant gratification, much as newspapers and magazines do. 


However important such forms are, they endure only as long as the stuff they’re printed on. The comforts of books: they defy time, break borders, and repudiate mortality. 


And there are the unquantifiable pleasures that books alone offer: The scent, the sound, the tactile sensation of what is a cerebral, silent, disembodied task. The sharing of a volume by lending it to a friend. The adventure of leaving a book to be found by a stranger, who will in turn partake in that private journey before passing it on again. The grandeur of a civilisation evidenced through its libraries. It is important that we work to give every person the opportunity to enjoy books as shelters, sustenance, and roads forward. Literacy and library programmes are important goals for developed and developing nations alike. 


To imagine a world without books is to imagine a world without thought. A world without feeling, compassion, history, or voice. 

Miguel Syjuco, from the Philippines, is the author of the bestselling, multi-awarded debut novel Ilustrado.
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As some of you may know, I came back from my OCSP(overseas community service project) in India about 2 weeks ago. Before I embark on the details of my trip, let me share the reason behind me joining Project Gazaab. Other than fulfilling the 80 hours of community service as part of the degree requirement, I thought that it was important that the purpose of the project needed to be in line with that of my own. Project Gazaab is very different from other ocsps, and doesn't involve us doing the same old things like building houses, painting house etc. It was about the concept of micro-social enterprise, where we would guide the students living in the suburbs about setting up their own business, that even with the little technology and resources, they can still be entrepreneurs. Being in ISE (initiative for social enterprise), this was the obvious choice. Project Gazaab has just completed its third year in running, and one of the inspirational stories that sprouted from the founder's (Jamon) efforts can be found here:

Labels: OCSP 2011

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Hungry, I come to you for I know you satisfy
I am empty, but I know Your love does not run dry

And so I wait for You so I wait for You
I'm falling on my knees
Offering all of me
Jesus, You're all this heart is living for

Broken, I run to You for Your arms are open wide
I am weary, but I know Your touch restores my life
And so I wait for You so I wait for You

I'm falling on my knees
Offering all of me
Jesus, You're all this heart is living for

Labels: Joy williams

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Dear God, I thank you for the beautiful and special people you have blessed me with.

Labels: sayalittleprayer

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Labels: hello october

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I'd rather love just a little too much
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As I lay me down
Heaven hear me now
Im lost without a cause
After giving it my all

Winter storms have come
And darkened my sun
After all that I've been through
Who on earth can I turn to

I look to you
I look to you

After all my strength is gone
In you I can be strong

I look to you
I look to you

Yeah

And when melodies are gone
In you I hear a song

I look to you

'bout to lose my breath
There's no fighting left
Sinking to rise no more
Searching for that open door

And every road that I've taken
Lead to my regret
And I don't know if Im gonna make it
Nothing to do but lift my head

I look to you
I look to you

Whitney Houston - I Look to You

22 DEC

We are in the finals.


I want to share with you all what lijing wrote for the team the night before the tj-sa match. It was inspiring, still is, and even as I'm writing this post I can't believe that they are one step closer to achieving the tj wcwpt dream.


"Tomorrow's game is one that we started the season looking forward to, the most highly anticipated match of the year, the one that we trained so hard for. There'll be no second chances; no regrets; no what ifs; no could have beens and no buts.

Tomorrow we are up against our strongest opponent, ourselves. This is not a game between SA and us anymore, it's a battle against ourselves, a fight to redefine "giving our best", making our best better. Tomorrow we will conquer the pool, solely because we will continue fighting on till the last second, when the horn is sounded. This is it girls, it's time to prove that Mr Loh and Mr Bunz have not scolded us in vain, time to do this together as a team and time to savour the fruits of our labor. Tomorrow they may kick, pull, scratch, punch, drown and climb on us. But why should we let what they can/cannot do affect us? Our ability is not built on what our opponent does to us. It is built from belief in yourself, on the support that the team gives. In the past few weeks we have grown so much closer, the bonds forged are so much more stronger. We are now what people call "family" and I really think of you guys as my family. So much sacrifices, tears, sweat and blood just for this moment. Let us shine tomorrow, in the pool.

Remain calm girls, remember what you're supposed to do. Follow the game plan, but do not stick to it. Change and go with your instincts if need be. Do not always think that the shots should come from the stronger players, try and give it your best and hardest shot. Mark tight, do not let them swim past you. Mark like your life depends on it. Watch the man, do not let them slip away. Protect your ball, take a foul if needed and always look out for the free man. Because we believe in ourselves, because we trust that our teammates will be fighting as hard as you are, because we've been through so much together as a team, because we deserve it, tomorrow, we go out there, and play like never before. We deserve the best effort we can give ourselves because this team deserves nothing but the best. Rest well girls for we have a battle to win tomorrow. "

-tan li jing, captain of TJC water polo team 2011

The girls, some were sick or injured, physical signs of the past few weeks of intense training revealing their ugly head. Yet, they persevered. Even as I was standing at the spectator stand at acsi yesterday, cheering them on and adrenaline pumping with each point scored against our opponent, I just felt so proud of team 2011. Because what I saw wasn't weakness, but the mental grit to break past any pain. A determination so evident, it was the rock that brought them through every quarter. What I witnessed, was team spirit.

We are already winners, because we have made it this far.

To the girls playing next wednesday, give it your all, give it your very best, and GOLD IS POSSIBLE.

♥ YihuiLee
♥ 230492
♥ Child of God
♥ J.
♥ Swimming

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