So today is Christmas, and aside from, as my Grandmother put it, “making out like a bandit” (I got a piano and a stand mixer, the two most expensive things on my list, and the ones I was sure I wouldn’t get, if not for the generosity of Derick and Mrs. Alligood) I also got a book.  It is entitled “The Power of Creative Dreaming.”  The book explores techniques for controlling and influencing your dreams, achieving what they call a “lucid dream” where you are master of your own world.  It’s an interesting book so far, I’ve read about 50 pages today.  It talks about using your dreams as time to help solve problems, it allows you to do things like test out a new behavior pattern, or try a pickup line on that girl you like, to get something of an idea of the reaction it would generate, while also not actually risking anything.

However, the part that struck me most was the reference to a “Higher Self” a being that is supposedly the dreamer, yet is smarter, and gives more wise advice.  Sounds a lot to me like that might be the kind of way God spoke to the people in the Bible in their dreams.

That got me thinking though; why don’t people seem to hear from God in dreams anymore?  Are we just dismissing those who actually do as crazy?  Does God no longer deal that way?  I think that the former is unlikely, and the latter is pretty much impossible.  Being human, we are always changing, adapting, thriving in new and ever-morphing environments.  We tend to forget though, that God does not.  He is, was, and will be.  He is constant as the tide, immovable as the very rocks of this Earth.

I think the most likely reason, is that we’ve stopped listening.  Think about this for a moment: ancient cultures placed ENORMOUS significance in dreams.  If you had a dream, you generally assumed that it meant something.  Dreams had a huge impact on people.  Joseph (the guy with the designer jacket) had a few dreams that his family didn’t like, and partly because of that, his brothers sold him into slavery.  Later, the Cup bearer and baker for the Pharaoh of Egypt would have dreams that Joseph would interpret (correctly, I might add) which had enormous significance.  Pharaoh would also have a dream of great significance, and because of his ability to interpret them, Joseph became, for all intents and purposes, the ruler of Egypt.  He ran the day-to-day things.  The same determination had earlier won him a similar place of honor in the house of Potiphar.  The Bible says that Potiphar trusted Joseph so much, he worried about nothing at all, other than the food he ate!  That’s power, folks!

This is one of many examples of dreams having significance.  Read the stories of Daniel, Joseph (of Mary and Joseph), the Magi who came to visit Jesus, all are given dreams that tell them important steps they need to take, and upon taking them, they fulfill God’s plans for their lives.

In the movie Evan Almighty, when a reporter asks Evan “What makes you so sure that God chose you?”  Evan replies with what is arguably one of the most pointed statements that anyone can make:

“He chose us all.”

I think the biggest reason we don’t receive messages in dreams is because we don’t look for them.  In ancient times, people believed their dreams were important, yet now, we have shifted to a philosophy of “it’s just a dream.”  How much information and guidance might we be missing out on?!  What messages are getting lost in translation from God to us?  We might be getting the very guidance that we all crave, and WE WOULDN’T EVEN KNOW IT!

So, although some of the methods in the book seem strange, and others seem downright crazy and ridiculous, I intend to try it.  If there’s a chance that I might be able to find the wisdom and guidance that I ask God for on a regular basis, then it’s worth the investment of time.  The way I see it:  I’m already going to be sleeping every night, so if there’s a chance that I might use that time to commune with God in a real and tangible way, then it’s worth a shot at least, isn’t it?

Let me know your thoughts on all this.  Anybody have any other input?

Signing off,

Seti I

I was talking about this with a friend over msn the other day. And I can easily write an essay on this.

Of course, I’m a guy, and this post is according to a guy’s point of view. But then, I’m a rare breed.

It is important for a guy to have a career. Girls, maybe not so, but we can’t deny the importance of career in the girls’ lives.

You know, there’s a reason why since young, girls have ambitions. There’s a reason why there are so many career women out there. Single, attached, young, old, pretty and ugly.

Times have changed. Girls are coming out to the society to mix around. Gone are the days whereby girls stay at home and do housework and look after kids.

Just take a look at the female population in NUS in 1980s and now.

And compare the number of female university graduates in 1980 and now.

I can’t deny the fact whereby when I graduate and get a job, my boss might be a lady. I don’t know about the pros and cons of having a lady boss.

Maybe the cons are she might have a mood swing and come yelling at me on why I included the Provision for Political Risk in my budgeted accounts when she is the one who asked me to add it in.

Muahaha.

See? I told you that I have been brainwashed by Ah Kwan.

But to me, a career to a guy is worth much more as compared to a career to a girl.

Somehow, I still have a traditional way of thinking. Probably because of what my dad is doing now. Or rather, I’m dead sure that your dads are all doing this.

He goes to work. Earns money to support the household. And performs his duty as a dad and as a husband. Without a career, how to do all these?

Moreover, in almost everyone’s eyes. A guy must be capable. A guy who depends on a woman on a living will be looked down upon. There’s this guy’s ego around.

And of course for the sake of the girls we love. Certainly we want them to live a good life.

A guy’s duty is to protect a girl and look after her. That is what I always believe in.

Hahaha.

I want to be like my dad. Even though I know that my future wife will be someone who has a career. But I want her to live comfortably.

And I saw this infotainment talk-show months ago talking about guys and girls. And there’s one thing I agree with.

Now that girls are contributing to the society and in turn, helping to earn money to support the household like what guys are doing, guys should be more willing to come home and help out in the household to ease the girls’ responsibility.

Obviously, guys when they want to cheong, they can cheong, especially when it comes to career. They can work OT everyday just to earn extra cash.

But I rather not do OT when I know that my wife will be exhausted after a day’s work and still have to do housework. I will go back and help out at home.

Come on. It’s a home that we build. Of course I must be responsible for it too.

So my conclusion is, a career is more important to a guy than to a girl.

A girl, if she doesn’t have a career, no one will say anything. A guy, if he doesn’t have a career, everyone will say something.

Trust me.

And the question on love comes in.

Which is more important? Career or love?

I don’t know about girls. Their answers and reasons can be all over the place. Some will choose career. Some will choose love. Some will choose neither. Because they will choose money.

A typical guy’s answer will be career.

He will choose career over love. Because career is more important. No career means no money, means no honey. With a career, with money, girls will naturally come to you. Because in today’s society, everything is money, money is everything.

Standard answer.

But now the question is, now, do you know whether the girl loves you, or your money?

It’s hard to determine true love.

And I know. Some guys are talking to say that this concept of true love is an absolute nonsense. There isn’t any true love in this world. They only exist in dramas.

You are so wrong man. Just because you haven’t met the right girl for you, you are saying that true love doesn’t exist.

This is what I call 不会大便怪马桶歪.

I was being asked this question on msn.

So which one will you choose, career or love?

Normal guys will choose career. But I’m taking love.

The reason is very simple. When you lose a career, you can start from scratch again. And you can still make it big. But when you lose your love, it will be gone forever. Even if you get it back, it might not be the same again.

The friend who directed this question to me is a girl. And she seemed like she was doing a survey on this. And proceed to ask other people this same question.

Of course, guys’ answers are the same. Career.

And some guys. Somehow, I feel that they are immature. And selfish as well. Very self-centred.

If you have a girlfriend, and she has to go overseas alone, will you follow her? Their answer is no.

But if you turn the question around.

If you have a girlfriend, and you have to go overseas alone, will you want her to follow you? The answer is yes.

What is this? Double standards?

That’s why I say, it’s because of such self-centred idiots that make girls turn off.

Like I said, I’m a rare breed.

Of course, I know of guys like this too. And they are great guys, just that they happen to get the wrong girl.

I know I’m not exactly the most handsome guy around. Neither do I have the best physique around. But I do care about people around me.

It’s because of those cycling sessions, which I haven’t got time to cycle recently (many many thanks to Ah Kwan), that I thought through all these things.

I feel that the concept of true love is selflessness. Even though things might not turn out good for you, but for the goodwill of that someone, you will still do it.

Even if choosing to go overseas with your girlfriend will jeopardise your career, you will still do it.

I know people will think it’s stupid. Why do something that you aren’t sure of getting rewards in return? At least you go ahead with your career, if you work hard, you will definitely succeed. Better and prettier girls with sexy figures will come to you.

Then I will pity these people. You don’t know what love is.

Even if it fails in the end, at least you know that you have learnt something. You will be wiser.

I’m a guy. I know how guys think. But I don’t know how girls think.

There’s a reason why guys are guys and girls are girls.

Thanks to Hope…

In 2000, I dated the first boy who would ever really cheat on me. He was kind, but in the end, he went back to his ex, behind my back. We still went to prom together, but that was the end of that. My senior year of high school rolled around, and I started applying to colleges.

In 2001, I was accepted to my second choice college, with no word from my first choice. By April, I made up my mind to go to School #2, as I assumed I had not gotten in. A week after I sent in my deposit, I received my acceptance letter from School #1. I didn’t have the money for their deposit, and accepted it as my fate to go to School #2. Two of my high school classmates died one month after graduation, and that put a sombre mood on the rest of the summer. In the fall, I started my freshman year of college with a very fun, and slightly flighty, roommate.

In 2002, I wrapped up my first year of college and went back to an architectural firm I had worked at throughout high school. I worked my ass off all summer, working two jobs, and went back to college with some money in-hand. My second-year roommate fell in love with a boy, and in order to hang out with him, I had to be her wingman for his friend. I ended up dating him for 9 months, and fell in love….

…Until he broke my heart and cheated on me in 2003. That summer was painful, and his new girlfriend harassed me (phone calls, horrible AIM messages, calls from her friends, etc) for most of that fall, which led me into a depression. I also moved into a three bedroom apartment with my 2nd-year roommate and a boy from our architecture classes, D. D stood up for me with that ex, and became a hero to me. We fought constantly though, as brothers and sisters tend to do (with similar personalities), and, as a result, 2nd-year roommate and I no longer talk. My relationship with D has become stronger, and he is now considered family.

In the early days of 2004, 2nd-year roommate suggested I seek help for my depression, and I started talking with a counselor at the school. It helped to resolve some of the tension in the house, but what had been done was irreversible between 2nd-year roommate and I. That spring led to a two-week art & photography study-abroad trip to Italy. I fell down some stairs in the hotel in Florence, half way through the trip, and broke my foot (having never broken a bone in my life!) I experienced the Roman Emergency Rooms, and that was rather scary, but overall an alright experience. After I got back from Italy, I started my first summer internship at the firm I am currently employed with, and a month later got my cast off, and went to Aruba! That fall, I started my senior year of college, having finally gotten back on track, gotten my depression pretty much under control, and had Lil Sis at the same college, which was a blast.

In 2005, I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies (a worthless degree in my field), and went back to the same firm, for my final internship, and the start of graduate school. In December of 2005, my college apartment burned down, one Saturday night, after I had gotten home from work. I saw smoke coming up through my bathroom floor, as I lived on the second floor, and the room  below me was on fire. I went downstairs to see what they were doing (fellow architecture students, and so I assumed they had burnt something they were cooking), and a mass of smoke came hurling at me when I opened the door. Smart as I am, I ran back upstairs to call 911, collect my purse and my laptop (grad student, remember!), and ran back out the front door, only I couldn’t get out, as the fire had spread to the porch. I ran down to the back entry, and found that the boys in the apartment out back had chain locked our door (from the outside), so that no one would walk in on them while they were growing pot. I banged on the door, trying to break it down, and finally one of them heard me. We all got out, and watched as our home burned. It was the hit of the night, too, as party after party got word of  ’those crazy architects who probably burned their home for fun’, and came to watch the action. Lil Sis freaked, I called my parents, and they drove through the night to come see me.

Over winter break of 2005, I was offered a position as a Resident Advisor, so in January of 2006, I began that post, and moved back on campus for the last semester of my college career. I finished my thesis, threw what survived from the fire into storage, and went to Europe for six weeks after graduation. I blogged about my trip here, here, here, and here (sorry, no pictures). I moved into my new apartment, started working full-time, and met another boy, dated for three months, saw Patrick Dempsey in town, and hosted my first Thanksgiving.

2007 was rather slow, and I worked two jobs, fell head over heels in love with The Ex, and he, too, broke my heart. Had a quick rebound boy,  slightly fell for him, he went back to college, and that ended. Saw Oliver Platt at the grocery store, looked into moving to London, thought about living in Dublin, realized both were going to be nearly impossible, and decided to stick around for a bit. Tried my hand at online dating, and had a few e-dates. Made it thought NaBloPoMo in November, got a tattoo with Lil Sis, and moved out of my cozy apartment and into a new one with a roommate at the end of the year….

.. whom was decidedly not such a bad roommate, and we lived together quite peacefully for the next year. In January of 2008, someone found my blog via a google search with an inappropriate title, considering I am not one of these! Heath Ledger died. I got stuck in a rut with my job that spring, and decided to give looking for a new job another try. I went on a date and later found out that all the boy wanted was a housewife, so that didn’t work out too well, got stood up by another guy who was much younger, and much more immature, went on a cruise to the Western Caribbean and had some super cute waiters, got a new second job driving film makers and photographers around, and found out that the new tenants in my old apartment committed a murder. The Emperor gave me my Bitch-O-Meter in April, and in August I went to Asheville, NC for a few job interviews, realized I couldn’t picture myself living there, and so mom and I went to Nashville for the rest of our trip, instead. My first house was completed in November, and I must say, the owners were quite pleased, as was I! I then booked a trip to Los Angeles…

… which was at the start of 2009, for a job interview as a tour guide for Contiki. Sadly, I did not make the cut (nerves, I suppose), and came back to Maine empty-handed. Got laid off in February, traveled to NYC, Boston, and Florida. Dated E for a bit, applied for jobs in Nebraska, then realized we weren’t going to work out, and went back to work in July. Started looking at houses, met The Boy in July, and most of you know how that ended. Got laid off again for the month of September, and in December, Lil Sis suggested that I quit my job and join her while she travels as a nurse.

And that takes me to 2010. I have higher hopes for this year, with a year’s worth of excitement and travel ahead of us!

NOTE:***This post was started several months ago, I am only just now getting around to finishing it and posting it.***

This phrase caused some confusion last week, and so I chose it as a title for this post, which deals primarily with my response to the reason for it being said. Last week, I traveled, with my family, back to Illinois from Georgia (a 12 hour drive) to attend a funeral. The death was not one that would be expected. We’re not talking about someone over the age of 80, whose health has been struggling for years, though I have relatives like that, and I often worry about getting a call telling us that one of them has died. She was not in poor health, was not even to the point where there are fewer years ahead than behind. She was only 24, she would have turned 25 in October. Sitting in the funeral home, seeing her in that casket was both heart-breaking and eye-opening. It made me realize that no one is guaranteed to stay on this earth long enough to do everything they’ve ever wanted to do. Everyone’s time is slowly creeping toward them, that much is certain, but we have no idea how close it has gotten until it gets here.

The whole trip made me look at my life differently. It made me think about what my funeral might look like. Made me think that if I were to die tomorrow, I would have done little or nothing of consequence and impact on the world around me. It also made me wonder why it takes a tragedy to bring people together. That is the point behind the phrase “See you at the wedding.” It carries a hope that we might meet again next time under happier circumstances. A hope that I would like to realize in the next year or so, but that’s beside the point. Nevertheless it was nice to get to see so many people that I would otherwise not have seen for probably years to come. Life Lesson: Good can always come from bad. As corny as the adage “every dark cloud has its silver lining” sounds, it is in fact true.

This has made me compile what most people call a “bucket list.”  It is a list of all the things I want to do before I die, and I plan on getting around to most of them in the near future.  These are in no particular order.

1. I want to learn to tango.  It’s just something that I want to learn to do, it’s a classic dance, and I’d to learn to dance it.

2. I want to make a tour of Europe, just go there with no timetable in mind, just travel around and take as long as it takes to see everything.  Run with the bulls in Spain, see the Coliseum in Rome, visit Stonehenge in England, visit the ancient ruins of Grecian temples.  I want to know what Paris looks like from the top of the Eiffel Tower, I want to know what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel, I want to hear the music at the Bavarian music festival in Munich.  I want to see the sights, and soak in everything.

3. I’d really like to take that tour of Europe with a special someone.  I’m certain there’s someone out there, though I might not know who yet.  Or maybe I do know her, I just don’t know that it’s her.

4. I want to do something heroic, like rescue a child from a burning building or save a damsel in distress from the jaws of peril.  Vain, I know, but everyone wants to be a hero to someone, right?

5. I want to act on stage, though I’ll settle for being in a movie if I have to.  I love to act, and I adore being in the spotlight, part of the same streak of vanity that makes me want to be a hero.

6. In the same vein of being vain (ah, the ever-present puns) I want to get a fancy suit tailored to my exact specifications, something like a well-to-do gentleman in Victorian London might wear around 1850, and then wear it around town.  I suppose that’s kind of like acting, though, so I could have combined it with #5.

7. I’d like to raise a family, but that’s on most people’s bucket lists.  Still, it deserves to be on mine as well.

8. I want to get thrown out of a store/bar/casino/restaurant, etc.  Just once, so I have a great story to tell.  The casino one is most likely… for reasons that I will not disclose… Let’s just say that no one in my house plays cards with me anymore…

9.  While on the subject of casinos, I’d like to spend a week (or more) in Vegas, just take a stack of money that I’ve saved just for the trip, and then I stay in Vegas until the money runs out.  Though knowing the way I handle cards, I’d probably end up living the rest of my life there… lol, I don’t want to spend more than a month there.

10. I want to own my ultimate dream house, complete with  huge kitchen, a ballroom, a dining hall, a swimming pool with a waterslide, and secret passages behind the bookshelves…

So, that’s my bucket list… what’s yours?

Signing off,

Seti I

Shared by Paul Chong                                                                   Sunday, 13 December 2009

"Land of the Free"

This is serious stuff. Very serious indeed! We live in the world of globalisation. What happened in America, Europe or Asia, affects us here in Australia too! Problems are globalised, interlinked & there’s no escaping.

READ & DIGEST

WITH ALL YOUR HEART, SOUL & MIND . . .

Know Who You Are

A BRIEF HISTORY

There have been so many papers written about the KNOW WHO YOU ARE PROCESS and yet there seems a lack for understanding the basic concepts. KNOW WHO YOU ARE was the initial path taken by people who know they are free but see no hope in the judicial system as it is practiced.

It is vitally important for understanding how the people in the government turned our lives upside down and have made us believe that We are subject under them; when in reality they are subject under We The People-every being is part and partial for We The People. The important points:

1. 1868 The 14th Amendment which created a new class of citizen. “All men” (and women) are created equal as stated in the Declaration of Independence as a sovereign now became “a person”, a subject to the Federal Government.

2. In 1871 the Federal Government formed itself into a CORPORATION and pulled itself from under the Constitution.

3. In 1913 the Federal Reserve Central Banks were created.

4. In 1933 President Roosevelt put into effect the “Trading with the Enemies Act”. This applied only for Federal Citizens.

5. In 1933 President Roosevelt took the Gold away from the People-although they were not required for giving it away-thereby leaving the people without “Money” for paying DEBTS with.

6. March 9, 1933: Senate Document No. 43, 73rd Congress, 1st Session states: “The ownership of all property is in the State; individual so called “ownership” is only by virtue of Government, i.e., law amounting to mere user: and use must be in accordance with law and subordinate to the necessities of the State.

7. In 1933 President Roosevelt passed HJR 192 June 5, 1933-simply put-since the government had taken the Gold, the people had no “Money”-the government would pay the “DEBTS” for the people-DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR-thereby giving the people-unlimited Credit.

8. In 1938 Erie Railroad vs. Tompkins made CONTRACTS the rule in our Courts. “IF THERE IS NO CONTRACT THERE IS NO CASE!”

9. In 1946 we lost our government and courts through the Administrative Procedures Act.

10. In 1965, silver was taken away as a means for paying DEBT, the UCC became the supreme law for America concerning the Banking System, the courts were pulled together in Administrative/Admiralty and Civil (Contract or Commerce/Corporation), and the Act and Intent were brought together thereby taking away your plea of Innocent. Guilty until proven innocent, changing the often quoted-you are innocent until proven guilty.

You have to become educated to protect yourself, your family and your business. As it is said in court “ignorance of the law is no excuse”. Remember that statement is a two way street! How many of the 60,000,000 laws don’t you know? The government will use your ignorance against you. To educate yourself there are 2 web sites links below to help you learn who you are in relation to the government.

KNOW WHO YOU ARE BOOK

AUDIO LIBRARY

The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance!

As you have read above in The Brief History we have dropped the ball on eternal vigilance.

A VISITOR FROM THE PAST!

If he stood by your bedside, in a dream, while you’re asleep, and wonders what remains of our Rights he fought so hard to keep,

What would be your answer, if he called out from the grave;

IS THIS STILL THE LAND OF THE FREE AND HOME OF THE BRAVE

“Spread the Word!” Ron Paul Song

Let’s Shake It Up!

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A great series

Last month I gave some tips on how to stay tuned on Dutch news. But since you are an international student you probably want to know what’s happening in your country and hometown too.

Yes, I know our generation isn’t newspaper minded anymore. What is the last time you bought one of those dead trees? But still, if you want to stay up to date on what is happening in your hometown and those newssites just aren’t enough, PressDisplay.com might come in handy. This websites has over a thousand newspapers from all over the world. You can select the papers you want to read, scan them for free for interesting headlines and if you want to read more, you need to pay a few bucks. Really easy to stay tuned on what is happening in your hometown.