What does Christmas remind you of?

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Exactly 30 days to Christmas…And yet it seems like Christmas has already arrived.

• Toastbox and Banquet are already blasting christmas tunes.
• My obiang office building has put up the sad solitary tree, with the exact same decorations as last year’s. They probably just store it standing up.
• I’ve bought at least 4 presents for the family and close friends already.
• & Starbucks has started selling their Christmas blend.

Lately, I’ve been having breakfast with Darz at Starbucks before work. It gets me to work on time, and it forces him to wake up early to go to school. We’d get our freshly brewed Christmas blend and caramel macadamia nut muffin (Both come in gold foil packaging for christmas), and sit down to eat and chat. It’s the best way to start my morning.

Don’t ask me why a half-zonked, tall, tubby, and sloppily dressed boyfriend makes good company. Maybe it’s cos he hugs like a giant teddy bear.

It’s the moments between breakfast… when i stop to take in the christmas decor, christmas music, christmas merchandise, and hear my zoned out boyfriend telling me to hurry up and cut open the muffin so he can eat it with his coffee… that i think that Christmas has arrived.

And it’s nice…

Jars of Clay - Greatest Hits

I know Jars of Clay is an old band. I know most of these songs aren’t new. And, I know you’re only getting 14 songs for the price of the CD. This is just a compilation of some (not all) of their best songs. A great little pick-me-up album to rediscover the magic of Jars of Clay.

Track Listing:

1. Flood
2. Love Song for a Savior
3. Like a Child
4. Worlds Apart
5. Crazy Times
6. Frail
7. Unforgetful You
8. I Need You
9. Show You Love
10. Amazing Grace
11. God Will Lift Up Your Head
12. Dead Man (Carry Me)
13. Work
14. Love Is the Protest

It has the classic “Flood”, and the pop cult favourites “Love Song for a Saviour” and “I Need You”. Some of my new favourites include “Worlds Apart”, “Crazy Times”, “Frail”, and “Show You Love”. “Love is the Protest” is the only new song in the album, and it’s a great rocking song.

You’re probably wondering why I picked this band out of all the popular worship bands (read: Hillsong), and how it saved my soul.

[For the people who are gonna fault me for blaspheming my christian faith saying "Christ saved your soul! Not some band!!" Yes, I know that... I'm using the phrase as a figure of speech.]

At about the time I found this album, I was getting fatigued by the razzle dazzle worship songs of said popular worship bands. The worship experience was always great, all that jumping around, cheering, getting a high. But I felt dry. Empty. Lonely. I didn’t feel like the high flying, holy-moley christian that these bands portrayed and celebrated. And yet, I wasn’t going to throw in the towel. I just needed something else.

So I started looking for other bands. Bands that I felt would sing about secular things, or real things. Bands that struggled in their faith, the way I struggled in my faith. Bands that still chose to sing about God’s greatness, trust in His Faithfulness even when they could not see Him, hear Him, or feel Him. Bands that knew their God.

And I found this album.

“Worlds Apart” was the answer I was looking for. Jars of Clay was the struggling band, straddling both the mainstream music scene, and the christian music scene. The frontman himself admitted his own weaknesses and struggles in their website. And I found music I could finally identify with.

It wasn’t just their forthcoming and honest lyrics that I liked. Jars of Clay were famous among my non-christian musician friends for their beautiful acoustic guitar riffs. I remember atheist friends passing along chords for Jars of Clay songs and trying to teach them to me. With this album, I finally realized why they were so intrigued.

So yes, if you’re interested in trying something out of the usual Hillsong fare, get this album.

Or you can come borrow this from me. Whichever.

And yes, it comes in the form of a cool watch too.

I love being asked something like this because I know I’d annoy a horde of people with my reply. Simply because that horde of people would do and think in the conventional manner. And I refuse to be anything like them.

My romance is NOT found…

• In a fancy piece of jewellery, because it doesn’t take the creativity of a gnat to buy one.
• In a fancy restaurant candle lit dinner, because there is no effort required except to sign the check.
• In a trip to a popular romantic destination, because EVERYONE’S been there before.

… and some other nonsense things that I don’t care for but a lot of people probably do.

Romance should be about unique experiences between two unique individuals. Doing things because the couple enjoys doing them. Not doing things because they are romantic things to do. Or because the character in the movie did it and it looked romantic.

Romance for the sake of romance is no romance at all.

So what is my romance?

My romance is…

• Going to pick up stuff from a friend’s place and taking a long detour, through Henderson Waves at night, to get there.
• Watching Hamilton blow a tyre and Massa’s engine die at the 3rd last lap, and arguing about which is dumber.
• Bringing my niece out with the family and hearing her call him “shu shu” for the first time in her life.

Do they do that in movies? No…

Would most people think it’s romantic? No…

Do I care? No.

*drool*

It’s a pity though. Mont Blanc has never come up with a line of jewellery, featuring this diamond, that I’ve actually liked. The diamond always looks like an after-thought, either too tiny, or sticking out like a sore thumb. Nothing that makes me go, “Ooo, I gotta have that!”

So for now, I’m just gonna admire this flower shaped diamond by itself. And call it a “ya ya”, the way my niece says “flower”.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!!”

But yeah, it’s great! Stumbled upon it when I was looking for the store directory for Plaza Sing. It has store directories for almost any shopping mall in sg, which is very helpful for me… Because I don’t have a lot of free time and I need to plan my shopping trips to cover all the stores I need to go, in the shortest amount of time.

I can finally stop cracking my brains for the shopping mall with the most number of make up shops, or shirt and pants stores. Now, I’ve got a search engine!

Woohoo!

Awww…

p.s. if they ever split, i’ll never believe in hollywood true love again…

yes, I’m still alive, albeit a wee bit busy with actually having a life and more importantly… a job.

will start updating this place soon. i have tons of stories to write about, and pictures to upload and to distribute to friends and colleagues. (and yes, many of them have already given up on ever seeing their pictures.)

till then… ~cheers

p.s. why DO people end with “cheers” in every corporate email? i dun geddit. it’s like you wanna be seen as a serious drinker, always with a beer mug or wine glass in hand…

The maps at StreetDirectory.Com are down because of legal suits, but I love their sense of humour…
I wanna see what they come up with next.