Life’s Lessons August 28, 2009
Posted by esthertanc in Studies.4 comments
August 28th, 2009
I discovered this particular piece many years back, and till today, I still find it meaningful.
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AFTER A WHILE YOU
LEARN THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN HOLDING A HAND
AND CHAINING A SOUL.
YOU LEARN THAT LOVE
ISN’T LEANING BUT
LENDING SUPPORT.
YOU BEGIN TO ACCEPT
YOUR DEFEATS WITH THE
GRACE OF AN ADULT.
NOT THE GRIEF OF A CHILD.
YOU DECIDE TO BUILD
YOUR ROADS ON TODAY,
FOR TOMORROW’S GROUND
IS TOO UNCERTAIN.
YOU HELP SOMEONE PLANT
A GARDEN INSTEAD OF
WAITING FOR SOMEONE
TO BRING YOU FLOWERS.
YOU LEARN THAT GOD HAS
GIVEN YOU THE STRENGTH
TO ENDURE AND THAT YOU
REALLY DO HAVE WORTH.
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Maybe it’s because I’m feeling melancholy now, that I am writing all these down. Or maybe. Just maybe. It is due to the FIVE ASSIGNMENTS that are due in just a few days’ time which I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what how to even start, much less continue and end!!!! God help me…!!!
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In any case, looking at the note above, in my present frame of mind, I’d rather feel the opposite – I need support, I wanna throw a tantrum, I want flowers (!!), and I really, really, REALLY want this writer’s Block to get UNBLOCKED now!!!! I still have FIVE more papers to do… Aaarrrggghhh!!!
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Theo 1 is Over!!! March 31, 2009
Posted by esthertanc in Studies.2 comments
March 31st, 2009
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Theology 1 is officially over. How awesome is that! I thought the assignments would never be completed. I’ve even seriously contemplated on asking the lecturer for extension [I didn't do that at last because I figured I didn't have a good enough excuse to ask for an extension - after all, louising the months away cannot be construed as "otherwise busy" in any sense of the word, can it?]. So I decided to do what I can with the little time I had left before the deadline – which is today.
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The problem is not only procrastination on my part (although I’m thinking right now that maybe I don’t procrastinate – maybe I am just really slow at doing things), but also on the topic that I was doing – it was on hamartiology and the doctrine of original sin. It attracted me a lot at the beginning and so that was when I decided to do it – without even thinking through how I would go about doing it!
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You see, the topic required me to do an exegetical and theological study of a text in relation to the doctrine of original sin. Sounds Greek to you? Yeah, well it does to me, too!
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I have a few limitations (well I have many, but let’s just talk about the few major ones first, k?) in doing up the paper. First of all, I don’t know what exegesis mean. I googled the word and found a site that teaches me what it is – it was 9 pages long. At the end of it, I gathered it has something to do with drawing out (objectively/correctly) the meaning of the text. That was scary already. How do you “draw out correctly” the meaning of a text?? I’ve grown up in an environment where almost every text can be interpreted 5 different ways! How’m I gonna know which is the right way???
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Then I don’t understand what a theological study requires. At a guess, I think it should mean something like, what “truth statements” can I make regarding the text. Well, if that was really the case, then why couldn’t the question just say so, right? All these big words are really a pest! Anyway, I wrote something about theology somehow somewhere in my paper, and am hoping I got it right.
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Thirdly, what is the original sin? I forgot all about this word, and was writing out my paper when I suddenly saw the word “original sin” in the topic. Two days back. Gasp! Did I go wrong?? Must I re-do? I did a quick check and found out that much of what I wrote had nothing to do with original sin. I spent Sunday night and Monday changing my script. Sigh!
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And lastly…I needed to know Greek. Really. As in the language. In order to interpret and exegete correctly.
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See, I was told about this [having to know the Greek language] during the lectures in class back in January. I already knew that it would be my biggest hurdle. How am I to handle a language I don’t know? Many times, I thought of changing the topic of my research. But I kept being drawn back to it. This topic on hamartiology was like a Siren Call to me. I looked at other topics (and there were many others to choose from) – Revelation; doctrine of creation; names of God; Open theism; doctrine of the Trinity; sanctity of life; doctrine of the Imago Dei – they were all either tedious or not-much-to-say to me.
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And so, like those ships to the sirens song in Greek mythology, I was drawn to this topic on hamartiology. Are we sinners because we sin, or do we sin because we are sinners?
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To cut the long story short, God sent angels in the form of Cheryl (classmate at BCM), Dr Lim KY (Romans class lecturer at STM) and websites (for Greek lexicons). Cheryl lent me books which I could refer to, Dr Lim taught a lot on Greek and how to interpret/exegete texts in class and the websites actually gave me the text word for word in Greek and the meaning of each one.
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I muddled through. I’ve done everything I know to do. And now I’ve handed it in.
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May God bless the lecturer marking my paper. May he understand what I’m trying to say, and if my paper is done up all wrong, may he realize how much I’ve really tried, and give me maximum sympathy marks…
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Whatever the case, I need Theo 1 to be Over for me. So please God!
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My Sincere Thanks go to En and all my CG members and CheeYoong and all you great people who prayed for me. Whatever happens to my grades is not as important to me as what you did when you kept me in prayer. I thank you for praying and I am sincerely glad to have you supporting me like this!
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Special Thanks also to Andrew Tan for his input, without which I may never have found the link that tied the whole assignment together in time.
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Angels, all of you!!
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The Isaianic Disciples March 21, 2009
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Mar 21st, 2009
Today’s the last day of our 4-days TEE course at STM for “Interpreting the OT Books – Isaiah.” It was an inspiring course. The Reb (Rev Anthony Loke, a.k.a. Rabbie, a.k.a. The Reb) started the class off on Wednesday morning sayng that he had food poisoning the night before and was still feeling weak. However, once he started teaching, no one (not even him!) noticed his state of health. He is truly a great teacher. I know much more about Isaiah than I ever did before. And nope, in case you’re wondering, Isaiah’s NOT schizophrenic! He’s just three or more. Okay, I think I’ve made things more complicated than they really are. I’ll stop talking now.
There were about 22 people in the course. About 6 people from AGA attended. Everyone of us enjoyed the classes.
But I’m thinking – should we have a class like this in AGA? Hmmm….will have to chew on this. At least, if we ever do have a class like this in AGA, I know that I have at least SIX qualified SCG teachers…! 
After all, The Reb didn’t call us the Isaianic Diciples on Facebook for nothin’…
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Ecstasy! March 3, 2009
Posted by esthertanc in Me, Studies.2 comments
March 3rd, 2009
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It’s Finished!!! It’s Done!! It’s The End!!!
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The 500-odd pages of approx. 253,000 words that I had to read to complete 20% of my Theo 1 Grade is finally completed last night, at 9.20pm!!
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The book, by Millard Erickson, is about 2.5 inches thick and has more than 1200 pages in it. We (students) were only required to read 500 of them. Lemme tell you, it is NOT easy. There were too many big words and new terms that had my head spinning out of control. So I paced myself at about 20 pages per reading session. It was surely tough, and many were the times I nodded off to sleep while reading the book. Twice, I even had to drink coffee prior to reading a chapter. I found it easier not to read the book in a chronological order. I flipped back and forth the required 25 chapters – now Theology Proper, then Hamartiology, now Bibliology, then Biblical Anthropology. I found the reading much more bearable.
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So I’m ecstatic, yes. But I’m also conscious that this 500 page killer contribute to a mere 20% of the grade. The class has already gone through one close-book exam (20%) and another open-book one (20%). I still have 40% more to go – 20% on reports on another 400-page collateral reading; and another 20% on a research paper. I have only until the end of the mth to do so. My plan is to work of the research paper first (think I’ll do something on Romans – still thinking how to go about it), because the collateral reading reports is just too much for me at the moment…
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So there, it’s 60% down (if the lecturer is any lenient on the exams, that is…) and 40% to go. Wheeeee!!!!
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The 10 Commandments on Papyrus February 4, 2009
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February 3rd, 2009
It was our 3rd class for the OT Survey Course. Rev Anthony Loke (a.k.a. The Rabbi, a.k.a. Reb) is the lecturer and he was teaching us the book of Exodus. During the mid-class break, he went back to his office upstairs and brought down a sample of the 10 commandments, written on papyrus. Here it is…
Anyone can read & decipher the words on it? It’s in Hebrew, by the way. And it looks too brief for words, ya? I could make out 2 words per line (20 words in all). I mean, the 10 Commandments as we know in NIV Ex 20 are really 310 words in total (Ex 20:1-17). How did they get compressed into merely 20 words?? This, the Reb explained, is because of the uniqueness of the Hebrew language itself, as well as the structuring of a Hebrew sentence. Two connected words can make a whole sentence. For example, what we read and understand as “You shall not murder” is understood the very same in Hebrew when it is read “Not Kill.” Amazing, isn’t it?
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Anyway, further end-of-class probing by yours truly brought out the fact that not all of the full sentences are there in the 10 commandment parchment – some are merely the beginnings of a sentence that is already seared in the minds of the Jews since birth.
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An interesting class, this. VFui stayed awake the whole time.
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The Things Learnt In Class Yesterday… January 30, 2009
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January 30th, 2009
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So here I am in my CR&W class in the heat of the afternoon, after a heavy lunch of fried rice, sambal, cucumber and chicken rendang. The eyelids were starting to droop when the lecturer gave out a few sheets of lessons. One paper caught my eye, and kept me awake. This is it:
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How To Flunk a Class
Difficulty: Easy
Time required: Very Little
Here’s How:
1. Don’t keep an assignment diary or scheduler – students with As and Bs usually do so because they pesky little reminders in the schedulers that say things like “test in five days” or “read chapter 3 tonight.” Or program reminders in their cell phones. Stay away from these habits.
2. Don’t bother taking notes – the mere process writing down the lecturer’s comments would make some materials sink in, especially for tactile and visual learners. Don’t risk it.
3. Fall asleep in class –Do whatever it takes to keep yourself from staying awake in class: play computer games, surf the net, watch tv, etc until the wee hours of the morning.
4. Wait until the very last minute to begin working on a research paper – just think: if several kids class are writing about the same topic as you, it’s certain that they’ll check out all the books if you wait long enough. There’s no way you’ll get a good grade if all the research material is being used elsewhere by others. Even if you’re the only one researching your topic, you’ve got a great chance of failing if you try to cram a month’s worth of research and writing into a few days (or hours).
5. Leave your completed work at home – self-explanatory. However, please be reminded that you won’t come to this stage if you’ve been carefully following the last point.
6. Ignore all directions – only high-achieving students bother with the correct MLA format on papers, and proof-read their work before printing.
7. Don’t study for a test until the night before – again, self-explanatory.
8. Annoy the teacher – chew gum, don’t ay attention, engage your friends in conversation while the lecturer is lecturing, sleep – do whatever you can to get on your lecturer’s nerves. It will help a lot, especially when he is trying to decide between two grades.
9. Study alone if possible – sometimes, kids who study in a group can pick up new ideas and tips from others. Do you really want to take that chance?
10. Avoid the library at all costs.
11. Eat lots of junk food. Avoid vegetables.
What You Need:
- Procrastination
- Lack of discipline
- Lack of respect
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That’s almost about it. The lecturer did not see fit to tell us his intentions of putting this lesson into our notes. Whether or not he was sarcastic, I don’t really care. These notes made me sit up and stay awake the whole two hours from 2.30 – 4.30pm. And for that, I’m grateful…
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The lessons we learn in class sure are interesting, eh?
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New Term, Unfamiliar Terms! January 24, 2009
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January 24th, 2009
It seems hard to believe, but Anne and I have already sat through the lectures for our first trimester (or term) at BCM. The subject was Theology 1, in which we learned 4 of the major branches of theology – Bibliology, Theology Proper, Anthropology and Harmatiology. These are all almost new terms to us. So imagine the AMOUNT of OTHER new terms we needed stuff into our brains in the last two weeks! It was unnerving!
The exams were tough in two ways: 1) If you didn’t memorize everything the lecturer hinted as important, you would have trouble coming up with the answer – remember, this is mostly terminology here, so you can’t quite “goreng” anything if you don’t have it first in your head. 2) If you had memorized all those unfamiliar terms, you may not have enough time to write them all down completely in answer to the questions posed.Because the questions seemed to require a whole lot of information – implications, significance, evaluation and the like.
Anyway, we had the final exams yesterday. The air in the class was so tensed you’d think guitar sounds would come out of it if anyone does something extraordinary. Like laugh. Or joke.
Then the lecturer (he’s a visiting lecturer from the USA) took pity on us and told us that the exam would be an open-book one.
We all sighed with relief.
Anyway, the lecture proper is over. We now have to do the assignments. I’m procrastinating that for the moment.
Other than that, lectures for Critical R&W, OT Survey and Romans have also started in STM.
It’s been pretty fun so far. But then, lectures are always fun. It’s the exams and assignments that gets you stressed…
Here’s to the New Term of 2009! May it not have anymore new, unfamiliar terms!
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Back to Earth Again September 24, 2008
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September 24th, 2008
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It’s early in the morning, and I’m handing in the last of my assignments to my lecturer this morning. Yippeeee!
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But….that paper’s for the school I’m attending on Wednesdays in my hometown. I attend another school on Mondays – in BCM PJ.
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So the trimester at BCM has started some 5 weeks back. There are about seven (yes, SEVEN) projects to do, including an evaluation at the end of the trimester. And trimester ends…on Nov 24th. Eight-and-a-half more weeks from now.
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“Earth to EsthertanC – Earth to EsthertanC – Quit Bumming – Come Back – You Got WORK To Do.”
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Sigh…here we go again….! In the recent words of a BCM classmate, “Blech! Blech! Blech!”
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Euphoria! September 23, 2008
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September 23rd, 2008
EsthertanC is feeling Euphoric today. After laboring painfully and painstakingly for 2 months, she has finally made it to this point – all the 10 assignments / projects / exams / presentations she had to complete are finally, finally, FINALLY done!
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What’s more, the dateline for the last 2 is tomorrow, September 24th. Which means that EsthertanC actually beat the dateline – probably for the first time in her life!
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She will be taking a break for about 2-3 days, and will do absolutely NOTHING….!
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Ain’t that Pure Bliss!
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On Tattoos and Piercings September 17, 2008
Posted by esthertanc in CheckIn, Studies.2 comments
September 17th, 2008
Tattoos and Piercings are decoratives that are fast gaining in popularity all around the world. The younger generations of our world feel that they are not in vogue if they are not the possessor of some form of piercing or tattoo about their persons.
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I wondered what people think about the two things, and so decided to ask those who were close at hand.
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Grandma, who was 90 at her last birthday, did not say much about the topics. She just looked directly at me, and I saw her tattooed eyebrows and jade earrings. That kinda tells me that she is not averse to tattoos, at least.
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Mom was a different story entirely. She hails from the Pentecostal movement of the 70’s. The kind that believes that going to the movies was a sin. Thus, her reply to tattooing was a big, firm NO! Her reasoning was that the Bible says that we are not supposed to mark ourselves. “And why do you want to do a tattoo for anyway?” she ranted. “Aren’t those people that do it normally those who are in a club or group or something? The groups that 
are usually of the disreputable, unwholesome, gangster type? And they do it as an identity to the colony they belong to, don’t they? And lemme ask you: where do they tattoo themselves? At their rear ends! And for what reason??” She went on to say that as a Christian, one’s identity is in Christ. (EuT asked then why the need to wear the cross? To which question she was stumped, poor thing).
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As for piercing, mom feels that piercing for devotional/divinity reasons is wrong. Even the nose, she says, is Indian cultural to a certain extent (Oh crap! And here I was seriously contemplating the nose-prick. Lookslike I’d have to scrap that for the time being). If the piercing is done for the beautification of the person, then mom rather thinks that it is OK. Like earrings. They are OK. Because they are done not as a worship but as a mark of beauty. Even the OT people do it, she added. About extreme piercings (other than ears), she says only abnormal people do it. She feels that some people think that it is erotic to have it, but she would not like to comment further about that. The crux of the matter, she says, is really the reason for doing such a thing. Extreme piercing to her is Indecency to a certain extent. So, she’s not for it.
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Dad, like his mother, had little to say about piercing. Tattoos, however, have his stamp of disapproval. It is not good, he says. He questions the reason for tattoos and asserts that one’s natural body is already beautiful enough, and so there really isn’t a need to change the look.
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EuT, when questioned, was like a deer caught in the headlights. She suddenly lost all forms of opinions, save the fact that tattoos and piercings are only done today for beauty’s sake. That was all I was able to extricate from her about the topics at hand.
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En, who’s eight-going-on-nine, on the other hand, thinks that one should tattoo only during the holidays. Her reasoning? Because if it is done during the weekends, it would be hard to be scrubbed off before Monday starts – it is not allowed in schools. She was immediately corrected (by my mom) about the temporariness of tattoos.
When asked what if the school allows it, she immediately uttered an enthusiastic, fervent yes! She would like one because she thinks it is shiny and it looks good. And it makes her feel good to look good. Specifically, she went on to say, she would like to have one on her left arm. In the picture of a flower which is pink and purple and gold.
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About piercing, she says that the ears are a good place to be pierced, but not the eyes, nose, lips or anywhere 
else, because they would feel too uncomfortable and unnatural. When asked if she would like a second pair of earrings on her ears, she said that because her school does not allow even studs for earrings, she would look silly with two juts of sticks in each ear. She also maintained that she is quite satisfied with her looks right now, and has no wish for any changes to her person for the moment.
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What do YOU think?
Ugly Stick - The Only Allowable Earring In School
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