wall street

The New York WALL STREET. The largest financial center on the globe


It's frightening, and, i daresay, chilling when you see economic giants like the United States of America struggling with financial crisis. For nearly a century, the united states, a powerhouse of seemingly impregnable proportions has remained the world's largest economic force and throughout the years, it has always seemed that no global issue was sufficiently serious to rock it's formidable armor of financial security.

This morning i was reading a portion of 2 Samuel, and I came across this.

2Samuel 1:27 "How have the mighty fallen, And the weapons of war perished!"

Today we know that Wall Street is in trouble. We know about the collapse of a gaint and we know about the sell out of the century old company Merrill Lynch & Co. to the Bank of America and all of this are staggering tell-tale signs of danger ahead. What immense uncertainty! And what makes it more painful, is to see the two senators battling it out, rather than trying to find a better solution, it looks as though they are UTILISING this situation to GAIN SUPPORT??? what is going on out there!?

Being human, it is incredibly easy, to allow ourselves to find security in earthly things and take certain things for granted. We don't really have to try very hard to permit our minds to become dependent of things that we consider trivial and, somewhat "taken-care-of".

Truth is, this financial crisis way out there is gonna have an impact on our lives right here, half a globe away. It may not be instant, but it will come, and it's reaches will be far. And it's during such moments when you realize that nothing man made is perfect, no system or ideal or entity that we humans can come up with is infallible. Then you learn to understand why we need God. Why the mighty have fallen. There IS only one ALMIGHTY.

Isaiah 9:6
"... and the government will be on his shoulders...."

This i use to illustrate a struggle that i'm encountering myself now. It's funny how when you think that everything is alright that it's Not. When you mind starts playing games with you, you realise how difficult it is to try and do it on your own. it's by HIs grace that we are saved.. And it's by His grace that we move on. It's tough, what with so much on my mind and so many demands to juggle between, but in moments of weakness He is made strong.

timetable

lo..... and BEHOLD!!

23/10/2008	08:30 AM	331	03:00 hours	THERMODYNAMICS
24/10/2008	08:30 AM	560	03:00 hours	ELECTROMECHANICS
30/10/2008	01:30 PM	566	02:00 hours	ENG DESIGN II
03/11/2008	08:30 AM	282	03:00 hours	FLUID MECHANICS I

this is my exam timetable for this sem.. what i like best.. is exam ends by nov 3.. in fact that's the only thing i like about it. sigh.. i hate exams. so lazy wanna study... :( i think it'd be some consolation if emmy's exam ends after mine, which i doubt cos so far she's been finishing first and ALWAys get's to nana nana boo boo at me first... sigh..

submitted an application to MONASH australia last week. the scary thing is i know that they will grant me an offer. and what i'm so afraid of is that is once the offer comes, will i have the guts to make the decision.. should i go?? really.. should i?? i mean. i honestly don't see a need to.. but it seems like everyone else does, what am i blinded to? experience?? but i see so many people who've gone and spent the thousands and still come back the same.. sigh.. this is so hard..

opening

there's this super cool scoring programme called finale 08.. and it's caused me to fall in love with composing and orchestrating stuff. so cool..

SO.. pastor chris has commissioned me to arrange the music for the opening number for the Calvary 40th anniversary dinner. And i've got this stream of ideas and motives and progressions and what not flowing into my head... and i wish i could write it all down.

but there's a problem

my resources

i've got like 3 trumpets, 1 trombone, some violins... and a rhythm section. and i was thinking like, french horn, basson, oboe, cello, contrabasso, clarinets, timpanis, tam tams, tubas, all that crazy noisy stuff.... i mean.. there's so much that we can do. but if only we had a full orchestra. it would be so much easier to write the music for such a scale as is requested.... in my head i was thinking like... GOSH if onlyi had like the MPO or something at my disposal.

but this is where God teaches me that it's not about the impression. But that as long as i give my best. He's glad.. so i need to learn to put aside my PREFERENCES and face reality to do what i must. even with limited musicians.

and He will do what i can't.



by the way... GO LIVERPOOL!!!.... yes yes yes yes!!!!

vaccuum cleaner

last week my parents came home from shopping and they were carrying a large box. In it was this...



i later found out that it was in fact a gift for ruth. cos her maid's gone and ruth is doing all the housework.. GOSH!! she's so capable.. pretty amazing really.. and plus they live in a bungalow.. so that's big.. I was pretty shocked that my parents, esp mum was in such a good mood.. and they mentioned some stuff like "future in law" and what not.. hahahAH!

so yeah. the princess was so shocked when she saw it. and what reli amused me was her initial reaction which went something like this.. "gosh karl!! it's so cute!" i totally wasn't prepared for that and it really got me into fits, you see, my parents purposely chose a small but powerful unit so that it won't be too heavy for her.. and instanly ruth and rachel fell in love with it.. i mean.. it's a phreaking vaccuumm cleaner.. now it's like the new house pet.. :p


(apparently rachel has been really gung-ho about cleaning her usually messy room since... hehe.. :p... don't kill me yet rach... :S)

Carrot Cake

What can i say about carrots?

1. Im not a big fan of carrots..bt not till the stage where i'll start picking out bits of carrots that are on my plate..
2. I can never understand why would ppl munch on raw carrots..thought that's rabbit food..?(no offense to carrot lovers)
3. Hated it when my mom made me drink carrot juice..though it s said to be good for vision..
4. Mashed carrots are meant for babies..

After all that have been said abt carrots..u may wonder why do i even bother baking carrot cake..

1. It was a cake order from my class (last tues)..My class celebrates birthdays for the birthday babies every once in 2 months..
2. I don't eat what i bake,or cook..even though it is said to be nice..not that i don't believe or appreciate the good comments given, i'm satisfied and happy enough when i see ppl enjoying what i bake and cook :) :) :)
   
3. Carrots actually go well in cake..

Usually when u use a fruit or vege as an ingredient in baking, the flavor of the fruit/veg is prominent..u will be able to taste the scent of citrus in lemon cake..orange, durian..etc..bt somehow in the case of carrot cake, u can't actually taste the "carroty-ness" in it..sometimes u may not even realize the presence of the humble carrot :p

If u r a beginner in baking and u wanna try a simple recipe fr stractch (not those premix cake fr the box)..u can try baking a carrot cake..it s really simple and straightforward..all that needs2b done s mixing the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and lastly add in the carrots and other chopped fruits and nuts together..the only hassle s grating the carrots..

After much that has been said, it s time to start the recipe..

CARROT CAKE RECIPE (simplified):
Ingredients

Cake:
Dry Ingredients--
3 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs baking soda
1 Tbs ground cinnamon
Wet Ingredients--
1 1/2 cups sunflower oil
4 eggs
1 Tbs vanilla essence
Other ingredients--
1 1/2 cups walnuts, chopped
1 1/2 cups dessicated coconut
2 cups grated carrot
1 cup canned pineapple, drained and sliced

Frosting:
250g cream cheese, room temperature
85g butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 Tbs lemon juice

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 C..Grease two 9 inch cake pans..
2. Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl..Add all the wet ingredients, beat well..Fold in the other ingredients..
3. Pour batter into 2 pans..bake in preheated oven for 50 mins or until baked..Cool on a cake rack..
4. Frosting: cream together the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl..Sift in icing sugar and beat until mixture is lump free..Stir in vanilla and lemon juice..
5. Frost after cake is cooled..

This is a great recipe..bt i find the icing a little too watery..will probably make cupcakes the next time round..
Enjoy!!!

Recipe source: adapted from Elise Bauer, Simply Recipes..
photo credits: not my sister. (though she did dish out some helpful tips) ;p *that was typed by rachel k*

vanishing acts

jodi picoult.. i'm sorry emmy, i'm sorry mae.. but somehow i have the impression that she's depressing. haha. the few times i read the synopsis of her books, i couldn't help finding them subtlely melancholic and.. yeah.. depressing!! haha.. have been avoiding picking one up for quite sometime now. but there always has to be a first...

so, today i was at emmy's house and was looking through the collection in her room. and in an effort to rid myself of these impressions which i have of picoult, i asked her to recommend what she thinks would be the best read for me.. and i got this..


Hope i enjoy the read.. and.. oh yeah!.. i'm glad God protected you, and i know He's watching over you everyday..

learn not to doubt

yesterday God taught me a lesson. a lesson that i think will reverberate in my mind for quite a long time indeed. and that's this. that there is nothing too hard for him.

Genesis 18:14 "is there anything too hard for the Lord?"

Jeremiah 32:27 "I am the lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?"

Job 38:4-5 "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?

Tell me, if you understand.

5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?

this is an honest confession: Up to friday night last week, i was very doubtful indeed about the success of the calvary carnival. i had heard much about a lack of enthusiasm and i had myself experienced much cold reception while trying to recruit people to help out. My greatest folly was when i decided in my mind that i'd just do what i need to do even though it's almost impossible that the carnival would even fly.

I doubted God

But he showed me what only HE can do. regardless of the circumstances in the church... come on.. not even the WEATHER could stop people from flocking to the carnival site at 2 pm in the afternoon. And then i realised that man can plot and plan.. but only God executes the impossible. NO matter how hopeless or pathetic or sad a situation seems, there's nothing that can stop the work of the One who laid the foundations of the earth.

and it's only for this reason that calvary church can turn around and, instead of saying "we DId it"..

HE did it!!