Its been a long time since we’ve been to Sentosa. Its still great fun.
Sun, sand and family. A nice way to spend the weekend.
The problem with Luck and Superstition
Warning
Religious content, don’t read if you don’t want to.
The Lunar New Year is here once again and many are going to different places to ask for blessings for good luck. Some are buying symbolic stuff in the hope that their luck will be better in the new year. I’ve no problem with humble people wanting the best for their family, but its another thing to be fixated on oneself and selfishly ask for prosperity. Being Christian, i’ve got a problem with “luck” and “superstition”.
According to Wikipedia’s Superstitions during the New Year period, there are some things people do for “Good Luck”, here are some examples:
- Opening windows and/or doors is considered to bring in the good luck of the new year.
- Switching on the lights for the night is considered good luck to ‘scare away’ ghosts and spirits of misfortune that may compromise the luck and fortune of the new year.
- Wearing a new pair of slippers that is bought before the new year, because it means to step on the people who gossip about you.
- The night before the new year, bathe yourself in pomelo leaves and some say that you will be healthy for the rest of the new year.
However, there are some about “Bad Luck” as well, here are some examples:
- Getting a hair-cut in the first lunar month puts a curse on maternal uncles. Therefore, people get a hair-cut before the New Year’s Eve.
- Washing your hair is also considered to be washing away one’s own luck.
- Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the first day, as it will sweep away the good fortune and luck for the new year.
But sorry, i’m Christian, i don’t believe in Luck. But then again unfortunately the world is unfortunately currently under the control of the evil one and the evil one likes to bind people with fears and uncertainties.
“We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” ~ 1 John 5:19
So how true are some of these superstition? Can we / should we even believe in superstition and subject ourselves to such unnecessary fear? Should we even believe there is such a thing as “Bad Luck”.
I think being human, we all want peace in our lives and thats fine as that makes us ask questions and seek answers in order to understand and attain true peace.
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ~ John 8:32
But then again some Christians still practice some superstition out of respect for the elders, then again some practice Christianity out of respect for their elders as well. lol…
Anyway, my point is why subject ourselves to unnecessary believes and fears set by man, some of these believes are manipulated by the evil one under the disguise of good intention. So Christians, if you are reading this, go read Mark 7.
He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” ~ Mark 7:6-8
Here is wishing you a great lunar new year, a year that you will finally make a difference to yourself and to others, a joyful, meaningful and purposeful year.
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thepan’s VW Jetta 1.4 TSI
Some might know that we have bought a new car. We confirmed the order just after the whole $2 COE period where car showrooms were slashing prices like mad. I initially wanted the Touran Sport 1.4 TSI due to its technology and also its space, but my wife preferred the Jetta as it was an elegant sporty sedan and had almost the same specs as the Touran Sport which i wanted.
We got confirmation from Catherine from Volkswagen that we can collect our car on saturday 10 Jan 09 and trust me, the WHOLE family was excited, even the kids. Once we got there, we were brought to the delivery room to inspect our new car and to be briefed of all the nice technology that came with the car. Other then the TSI engine which we simple loved, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that it did not just come with DSG, but with 7 speed DSG. woot!
Catherine was the one who serviced us from the start when we walked into the showroom to try out the Touran Sport many months ago. She gave me a ring just 1 day after the $2 COE happened and her reminder made us have another look. That one visit made us finally own our very first Volkswagen.
The touch screen console, the on-board computer, the very well built interior. Its like falling in love. We were very pleased in the professional way Catherine walked us thru things we should take note of.
While waiting for the paper work to get processed, Cleo and Clié entertained themselves at the kids corner with drawing and colouring activities. They look so cute.
After driving our Jetta for one day, we are indeed very happy with its performance. The technology is simply wonderful. The way the TSI engine provides power and also the smooth gear transitions of the 7 speed DSG. Our car also recently won Oneshift’s Compact Sedan of the year for 2008 and we are very happy we made a good choice.
More photos. Enjoy.
Of cause i had to blank out my number plate lah.
Study Revamp
We have thought of moving several months back, but looking at the market, kids are starting school in the area adn the fact that we do love where we stay currently. We decided not to move and decided to spend abit to upgrade the house.
We got a huge Ikea wardrobe for the kids room today and that set off a chain event. The kids old wardrobe had to go into the study, the table thats in the old wardrobe’s new location had to come out, the whole study room had to be reshuffled since i did it up in 2004.
The main thing that is different now is that we are no longer gonna have desktop PCs (in the forseeable future) and also Pearl does not use the study table at all, so not much table space is required.
The MacBook is hooked up to the HI-FI and playing mesmerising trance on the very first night while i worked away on my office Dell.
The huge drawers on the left was also from the kids room, so out goes clothes and in comes my misc gadgets and all.
I retained my customised drawer under the desk which held all the cables and switches. I made a circular hole at the back long time ago to allow cables to run thru it. So basically the idea was not to have any cables on the floor to trap dust.
Top drawer was where the camera batt chargers are, second drawer for all the temporary switches like laptops and visiting items. Bottom drawer is where the fixed electric cables are which will hardly be touched.
At the end of the day, we threw so much stuff out… its quite unbelivable. To me its not the sheer quantity, but its some of the nostalgic stuff that i held on for years which i finally decided to throw away. There were old letters, cards, invitations, brochures from oversea trips, magazines, catalogues, interesting scraps, etc. Each item had a story, each item had a memory, it was really painful throwing them away.
More house tidying activity coming along in the following days and weeks till CNY 2009.
Welcome 2009 with dinner at thepans
Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009. We welcomed the new year with my family over for dinner. As usual, my dear wife would cook up a feast and this time its no exception. We had pasta, thick mushroom soup, grilled prawns and ended off with donuts which was the only thing she did not make.
I hope 2009 will be a year where deeper relationships will be built. Relationships with family, friends, colleagues, old friends, church mates and God too for sure.
I won’t be doing the resolutions thing or give some milestone report on life at this point, so just enjoy the photos.
