Some things matter, some don't...

Over the years, I learn to manage my expectations on people...
I learnt that what may be important to me may not necessary be important to others, and it's unfair to enforce my preference and priorities on others.

Very often, what may be urgent to one person, may not necessary be important to another...
Similarly, some people are more important than others.

Sounds like favoritism?
To say that I totally do not practice favoritism is a lie... It is not humanly possible to devout equal time, energy or resources to every person in our life.

To see how rapidly communication has grown over the years calls for a greater need to know what matters and what matter less...

During my childhood years, the only way to contact me would be my house phone.
Then, mobile phones appear... And now people can contact me on the go... SMS has made it possible to communicate without even speaking.
Next came the smart phones... Adding on to the previous usage of phone calls and SMS, now emails are made accessible on the go. Good or not good? It's debatable.

Urgent matters can be dealt with in a more efficient and at a faster pace. However, on the contrary, expectations to respond increases as well... The content of emails may be similar in both the past, and of today. But, expectations to response are definitely higher in today terms. Are our emails today more urgent than the past? Are all emails important?

What matters, and what don't?
I have to constantly remind myself to choose wisely where I spend my resources.

Values and Cultures

It's still in the CNY seasons,,, And here's another 'WHY' question that has been bugging me.

"WHY do people practice certain custom/ superstition?"

Just a few years back, my mum shared with me that we should not buy shoes during the first month of the new year... REALLY? EVEN IF THE STORE IS OFFERING 90% OFFER?!?!??! Yeah... That's my response... And later with the help of Sinsei Google, I found out it's because the Chinese word 'shoe' (hai) is similar to the Cantonese word 'rough', or the sound of the sigh. And rough and sigh is filled with negativity.

Next, it's the famous 'Don't sweep floor on the first day of CNY' as it is believed that we will sweep away the luck from our house. Hmmm... How about vacuuming the floor and keeping the dust? Does that count? Or if it is really sweeping away luck, then why not not sweep the floor throughout the whole year? (Yay?)

And as I Google, I found more and more superstitions...
Don't wash your hair on the first 3 days of CNY (Gosh! I would have been grumpy if I had oily hair!!!) 
And don't break stuff on CNY (Who would have purposely break stuff on any day? Are we capable of stopping all accidents?) 
Don't use knife or anything sharp (How about food preparation?)  
Don't buy books (Books (shu) in Chinese sounds like losing, and so it is to be avoided... Hmmm... Can I suggest that knowledge might be more effective in reducing loss?)

And the list goes on...
If we are to avoid everything with similar sounds with some not so pleasant words, maybe one day we will be left with nothing to do... Somehow in me, I will like to believe that there are more appropriate values behind all these cultures, which perhaps are not handed down with the actions? Why should we follow customs which does not have any value in it? Why should we follow superstitions?

My thought on the no sweeping thing:
Maybe this culture came up to give our mothers a day of rest? If that's the case, i think it's valid, and make sense, and I will probably follow the custom... If it's for the luck thing, I am doubtful.

Or for the shoe thing:
Maybe it's because we have spent money to buy new shoes before CNY and so we should not spent unnecessary money on another pair of shoe?

Then it will come to another custom... Why should we buy a new set of clothes (and everything else) before CNY? We don't practice it for the Western calender...

Hmmm... Why?

HE is faithful (Part 1)

Thoughts and reflections...
Over the years, I see how God has been so faithful...

When I first learn about Jesus, I heard of the parable of the talents... Being naive, I mistaken 'talent' as the innate ability of an individual... And somehow I learn that God has given to all at least 1 talent (since in the parable, even the least had 1 talent).

[Btw, that's SO wrong! Talents in the parable is a unit of measurement, not the innate ability thing... So yea, don't just hear part of the Bible... It can be taken out of context]

Back to my story... And so I complained and rant that I'm totally not talented and God is unfair and unjust...
"God, why so and so can sing so well?"
"God, why so and so can draw so well?"
"God, why some people are so good at sports?"
"God, what about me? Have you forgotten about me?"

Growing up, I was just average at everything I do... Never thought that I was talented or gifted in any area... I'm not the best at anything, and neither am I the worst at it (maybe not everything :D). So yea, I did not get into much trouble during school days...

Looking back, my perception of talents back then was so limited... Other than music, art, dance, sports, study, I don't think I have heard of any other talent. My view was narrow. And with that narrow view, I complained and totally miss out the bigger picture.

However, as I accepted Christ into my life, I experience His love, and slowly start serving in church... It was through serving that He slowly reveal to me the things I love, or in other words, area where I am special and maybe a little talented.

Along the way, more and more opportunities come my way... People (many of them) come into my life to teach me, guide me and help me discover what I like to do in life. And what can be better than being blessed with a part-time job doing what I love. That, for me was a total bonus.

By now, I guess you must be thinking what do I actually like to do :P

I love Microsoft Excel!!! And a little bit of Powerpoint :)
And I know I am weird (and I'm perfectly alright with the label).

I get excited when I find out about new formulas or new functions that Excel can do... Mail merge, pivot tables, Vlookup, formatting tables and charts, text-to-column, using shortcut functions excites me (YES, I KNOW I AM WEIRD)... And my latest discovery Macros (*love*).

And yes, I do get irritated when things are not formatted properly... Text should be aligned properly, font should be consistent, etc etc.. Or if things can be done in a simpler way, why do the tedious and longer way... Probably one of my favorite line is "Do NOT change my format"... Haha... Yeah! I do think I have some OCD when it comes to formatting :P

So, this is just a part of His faithfulness over my life... Initially, I wanted to list out all the breakthroughs and how God has been so good, but it's too long... Here's part 1... Hopefully the rest will come up soon :P

I always believe that it is through serving others, that we discover the potential in us. I'm still learning, and I am loving it!