Counting our days aright

Listened to a wise, sensitive and considered sermon by former Methodist Bishop Robert Solomon on Counting Our Days Aright, based on Psalm 90. Drawing on verse 12, teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom, he notes that all of us have expiry dates and the difficulty is that we don't know how to count down our days. Because of God's grace, we have "more beyond". Our blessings from counting down our days, that is, living wisely, are satisfaction with God's blessings, gladness, the abiding presence of God and His enduring word. If we are willing to die, then we live. We are wasting away physically as we age, but inwardly we are being renewed. All is not in vain because Jesus rules over our lives. Let us start counting down our days and use the remaining time for His glory.

True to my passions and true to my calling

Written: 21 Nov 2016

 

Pacing - Just finished reading Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami and got to learn new things and people like the following: Poet Seihaku Irako; Kappabashi; Sawanoi sake; Yudofu; Hyakken Uchida - Realm of the Dead; and Mashiko ware. Hiromi also got the pacing of an awkward love story just right. Certain parts of her book reminded me of Kawabata. Japanese authors write about the ordinary life in the most sensitive and tender of ways. They really get it. 

 

Touching - one of the panel sessions at the recent Singapore Writers' Festival moved me a lot not because of the content of the discussion (Indonesia’s Spectre of the Past) but rather the passion of one of the guests on that panel (Max Lane). You can read more about him here: http://www.asymptotejournal.com/int... He had a much younger picture in the SWF booklet and when he appeared, he was missing his right ear and the right side of his face was also sagging. He spoke using mainly the left side of his mouth. Despite all this, he spoke with much passion, conviction and weight about his relationship with one of Indonesian’s most acclaimed authors Pramoedya Ananta Toer (he was Pramoedya’s translator). I could sense that he had deep regard and admiration for Pramoedya. There is just too much in what he said for me to put it all down in words but one of his key comments was that we need to know about the history of a country because it is a way to explain the present and a means to change the future. After the session, I was in two minds about whether to get his autograph for Pramoedya’s first book - This Earth of Mankind - and one of my friends, William, kept encouraging me to get his autograph, saying that he was also involved in translating the book. I kept walking around the store but finally I decided to get his autograph. The warm smile he gave me when he saw me coming with Pramoedya’s book will stay with me for a long time. I thought to myself, he’s so old and yet he’s still so passionate about Pramoedya and Indonesia. A rare breed. I hope I am like him when I get really old. True to my passions and true to my calling. :-)

Do no harm

Written: 10 October 2016

 

Excerpts from Do No Harm - Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery: 

 

+ The spinal cord is more vulnerable than the brain. 

 

+ Often it is better to leave the patient's disease to run its natural course and not to operate at all. 

 

 + The Ukrainians give flowers to each other on any social occasion. 

 

+ Having spent six months watching surgeons operating I decided that this was what I should do. I found its controlled and altruistic violence deeply appealing. 

 

+ The brain cannot itself feel pain since pain is a phenomenon produced within the brain. If my patients' brains could feel me touching them they would need a second brain somewhere to register the sensation. 

 

+ It is both a compliment and a curse when your colleagues ask you to treat them. All surgeons feel anxious when treating colleagues.

Be direct. Be authentic. Be real. Be kind.

Written: 10 August 2016

 

+ Was reminded of the importance of kindness and kind words when we were discussing a case where the homework was for the warring couple to be kind to one another. One can be kind to strangers, so why not be kind to someone whom one has been married to for many years? A lesson to bear in mind: Be direct. Be authentic. Be real. Build people up with words. Be kind. 

 

+ I could not have dreamt or even imagined a time in my life when I would be at NTUC FairPrice much more regularly than at the bookshop or malls. But the day of reckoning has finally arrived. Auntiedom has been thrust upon me, despite all my raging against it. Kinokuniya, I have missed you dearly and hope to be in your presence soon. 

 

+ A gift was delivered early in the office today. Totally caught me by surprise. Think my face turned beetroot red. Thank you, S and S, who noted, remembered and got me something in advance. Much appreciated. Love it to bits. Will use definitely. Thanks for such a lovely moment amid the monotony of a work day. Life is precious because of such unexpected moments. 

 

+ Another precious moment - catching up with a dear friend over lunch, who had caught the NDP live with her young son yesterday. It’s the second time spent in her company since her return from the US recently. Her schedule is way busier than mine and nice of her to make time for me. Just so at ease and so comfortable to be able to talk about the small and big things that are happening in our lives. I remember such moments. So forgive me if I don't remember where you live, what you work as as well as your handphone numbers. My brain has limited capacity.

Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go.

Written:  26 May 2016

 

A paraprosdokian (from Greek “παρα-“, meaning “beyond” and “προσδοκία”, meaning “expectation”) is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists. Some paraprosdokians not only change the meaning of an early phrase, but also play on the double meaning of a particular word, creating a syllepsis. 

 

Some examples:

 

1. Where there's a will, I want to be in it. 

 

2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you.... but it's still on my list. 

 

3. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak. 

 

4. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong. 

 

5. We never really grow up.... we only learn how to act in public. 

 

6. War does not determine who is right, only who is left. 

 

7. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. 

 

8. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research. 

 

9. I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you. 

 

10. In filling out an application, where it says, "In case of emergency, notify...." I answered, "a doctor." 

 

11. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy. 

 

12. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice. 

 

13. I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure. 

 

14. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target. 

 

15. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian, any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. 

 

16. You're never too old to learn something stupid. 

 

17. I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.