keep left!

There's nothing like the train station at peak hour. I fight it on a daily basis. It's really quite interesting to see the different types of people there. Over the years, I have classified people into a few different categories. Personally, I dabble in between the different categories, depending on how I feel on the day. That's how I am in general - I like a little from column A and a little from column B - variety is definitely a lovely little spice in life. By no means is this an exhaustive list, but it's a start. You could probably write a whole thesis about stair and escalator etiquette, but here's the wikipedia version.

The Climbers. Climbers don't like to waste time. The speed of the escalator is not enough for them, so they will insist on climbing up the escalator - or to top that, they will even use the stairs instead to avoid the risk of the escalator's fast lane being slowed down by a floater. Nothing frustrates the climber more than a floater (description below). Some climbers will confront offending floaters with a polite 'excuse me', but I have witnessed some climbers even shout to offending floaters to 'keep moving!'. Climbers are go-getters, and when their go is gotten by someone else, heads will roll.

The Floaters. Floaters are either really oblivious or really inconsiderate. Most people know basic escalator / stair case courtesy, if going slow or staying still - KEEP LEFT! It's not a hard concept. But some newbies to the train station are not aware of the rules and will break them unkowingly. That's alright guys, you're stupid - you can't help that, I understand. You may be forgiven for being a noob. Then there are the inconsiderate ones - the scum of society. These guys will stand on the right side of the escalator, turn around and see a line of climbers waiting to ascend, and then TURN BACK AROUND to face the front - WITHOUT moving over to the left! Just thinking about that is annoying me!!

The Left Keepers. These are the good citizens who know the rules and keep them. They assist with the smooth flow of escalator / stair traffic with considerate behaviour. They keep left. They avoid trouble. You could even call them peacemakers. Some left keepers will even tap floaters on the shoulder and tell them they're blocking the flow of climbers below. These are the silent heroes of the train station.

Finally, there are the occasional Show-Offs. These are the people who will run up the stairs, over-taking others and skip all the way to the top without taking a breath. They make other people feel unfit and fat with their incredible fitness. Some will even wear their joggers to and from the train station just to assist with gaining their moment of glory. I wouldn't be surprised at all if these guys spent all their spare time at Jacob's Ladder running up and down the concrete steps. Though all the non-Show-Offs openly despise the Show-Offs, deep-down they all aspire to be just like them someday.

christians are weirdos

As a Christian in this world, you cannot help but feel like a bit of a weirdo. Most things that non-Christians love to do, we view in a completely different way or at least strive to do so. And likewise, most things that we as Christians love, just seem strange to a non-Christian. You just need to contrast what each would do on any given weekend. They are two different kinds of people. But somehow, as Christians, we become the weirdos. But hey, I'm fine with that y'all. :D

Tomorrow, my Sunday School lesson is on Loyalty, and one of the things that i will try to discuss with the kiddos is being on God's Team. It's a hard lesson to learn - because when we choose to be on God's team, we will stick out from the crowd. There's no way we can be on God's team and still be on the world's team at the same time.

This all reminded me of a great quote from AW Tozer:

A real Christian is an odd number anyway.

He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen, talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see, expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another, empties himself in order to be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up, is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest, and happiest when he feels worst.

He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows that which passes knowledge.

these are a few of my favourite shoes

two kinds of people...

At the anniversary dinner on Sunday night, I was reminded of a phenomenon that I have only really come to notice as I have dined out in Chinese restaurants.

There are two kinds of people - Jup-wasters, and Jup-savers.

For those who do not understand my romanised Cantonese, or who have no idea what Jup is, prepare to be enlightened.

Jup is the sauce from a dish (usually of the oriental variety, though gravy on the Sunday Roast would also be classified as Jup - to me anyways. It's white-folk's Jup... Or Gwai Loh Jup if you prefer).

Now that we have that cleared up, please let me explain. When dining out in a Chinese restaurant, one is usually provided with a bowl, chopsticks, a Chinese tea cup, and a plate. This is the bare minimum. The essentials. But there are little additions along the way as well (the more there are, the 'classier' the restaurant - if you could call a Chinese restaurant classy - kind of an oxymoron in most cases). These could include any of the following: a soup spoon, a paper sleeve for the chopsticks, a serviette, or a reusable serviette that has been folded into the shape of a fan or a swan, a sauce dish, wine glass, a paper place mat (now we're talking true classiness right there), a little thingo to rest your chopsticks on when you are not using them so the table cloth or paper place mat does not get stains on them from your chopsticks.

I digress.

So you gay-tow (pray in my Romanised canto again), you get your rice, and then you start getting some food (some 'soong' heheh my Canto is so bad I just have to laugh).

Where do you place your food?

A. On the plate
B. In the bowl (on top of the rice)
C. Eat it straight up

If you answered A., then you my dear reader, are a Jup-waster. If you answered B., then you, my like-minded and totally cool reader, are a Jup-saver. And if you answered C., you have no manners and would probably be shunned by your Asian relatives - however, if you are non-Asian, all power to you because you don't have to worry about shaming your family and losing face.

It is a simple test and I think it reveals a lot about one's character. Jup-savers are awesome. Jup-wasters are not. Period.

If you are a Jup-waster, don't be alarmed, you CAN change. Just resist the urge to waste precious Jup, and put your food in it's rightful place - on top of the rice. You will not only give your rice the precious flavour it deserves (and, let's face it, NEEDS), you can also utilise your plate for it's rightful purpose: storage for the wastage - bones, phalanx and cartilage from the chicken feet (if you're at yum cha), or shells from your crustaceans, unfried prawn cracker bits, paper sleeve from your chopsticks, patty pan from the Dan-tart, leaf from the lo-mai-gai.

Please people, be good stewards of your Jup.

juls has been blogging

Little Julsies has been blogging!

She has shared so many of my little secrets and the stupid things I have done... She has also used a lot of my photos too... *cough* copyright infringement *cough cough*

Hehe. In all honesty, it was actually quite cool to read back on all the stuff that has happened in the last few months/years - from my favourite FOB's perspective :D (FOB = 'full of blessings', not 'fresh off boat'). Thank God for my daggy rice-blinged up sister!

so gangster

As we were at the checkout of the local Asian Food store, there were two fellas on the other checkout. One reached over and put a 1.5 L bottle of Aloe Vera juice on the checkout. Normal enough. Then the other guy replied 'Wah man, so gangster!' like he meant it. Did I miss something? Has Aloe Vera juice become a new criteria of becoming a gangster? So perplexed...

the man who was dying

There are moments in life when, as you're sitting there, you know will become one of those moments that you will remember - for a while at least. Today, I met a man who was dying - like few-weeks-to-live-dying. The conversation started normally, and then I asked a simple question (I can't even remember what I asked, because I was too distracted with the answer) and he told me he only had a few weeks to live.

He then explained to me that palliative care was commencing next week - two nurses were going to come over to his house and assist him with preparations for dying. I don't know why it affected me so much, but it did. It was not like he was young or healthy and the impending death was unexpected, he was just an old guy who had abused his body. He had it coming.

He explained his situation very matter-of-factly, like he was reading a story about someone else. This man had a terminal illness and was in a great deal of pain. But not once did he complain. Not once. I kept sitting there expecting him to either get upset or angry, but he continued with his emotionless state. It was intriguing. I just kept thinking, if I was this guy, I would either be in tears or really angry that i had to sit through a lousy assessment even though I was in pain and only had a few weeks of life left.

It didn't cross my mind until after he had left that maybe I should've tried to pass him a tract (something I could get mega-busted by my work for, but something this guy really needed). After some quick encouragement via email (thanks Truc!), I ran out into the crazy weather to try to find him, but he was gone, never to be seen again. I definitely regret not thinking of it earlier.

All I can do now is hope and pray that one day, hopefully in the next few weeks, someone will talk to him, pass him a tract, or he himself will be prompted to read the Bible and invite the Lord into His heart.