Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Urine-Off

Apart from sounding like some sort of Russian spacecraft, Urine-Off was also the GoogleAd down the bottom of my page this morning. I'm certain (and I checked) that there there is nothing on my front page about urine or difficulties with the removal of its stain. So, um... I'm sure it's handy, if ever you have the repeated need for mass urine stain removal. Fortunately, I don't have a) children or b) friends that come over and keep weeing on my carpet. I must be missing out.


My two other posts on the weird GoogleAds given to me are here and here. One of them is also about peeing... but for women...standing up. Awesome?

Monday, April 28, 2008

Just read...

...these two books. They are very different.

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: A Trilogy in Four Parts

The first (above) was recommended to me by about a million science fiction fans, even though I'm not that into it myself. It wasn't too bad.

Love: The Words and Inspiration of Mother Teresa

The second is the one that I really enjoyed though. It's short, but the message was so simple and clear, it is impossible to ignore. What is hard about it is the call of action you feel after reading it, because it doesn't ask for a grand action, just ones that would appear simple, but ask a lot of your character and humility. I won't go much further into it, I just recommend reading it. There are four others in the series - Dream, about MLK, Jr., Peace, about Gandhi, and Believe, about Desmond Tutu.

PS. Sorry CB, probably one you'll want to skip, hey? No diatribes here.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Ramble #4

What shall I blog about today? I have absolutely no idea. So that means it's time for... Things That Randomly Pop Into My Head and Then Are Written Down Because I Find Them Amusing Post!... aka Ramble #4.

Is it ever possible to use the words edgewise and amok in sentences without the rest of their phrasing? Ie. minus the bold bits: "get a word in edgewise" or "run amok". I would be very impressed if you could do both, in the same sentence.

You know how there is synesthesia, when people involuntarily receive sensory experiences associated with stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway? You know how I just copied that from Wikipedia? Anyway. I know Jono blogged about it ages ago, because he has the one where things are associated with colours. I was wondering about all the different combinations of senses and things you might have. For instance, can you ever associate, say, music with... smell? If so, what would be the best (or worst) smelling song?

A list of songs involving smell in their title, because I was too lazy to find out what they were about:
  • Lynyrd Skynyrd - That Smell
  • The Cranberries - Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
  • House of Pain - What's That Smell?
  • Chuck Hurley - I Can't Smell
  • Rammstein - You Smell So Good
  • (and my personal favourite) Polkatown Sound - You Smell Like Turtles

Sample lyrics from above song - "You smell like muskrats and wet hunting dogs. You smell like swamp gas, crawdads and hogs. You smell like turtles, catfish and frogs." So damn charming. I may just say those words in my wedding vows.

Remember the magnetic man? What if he met another magnetic person, but with a different polarity? Would they be incapable of walking with a few feet of each other without being subtley pushed to the side? Or if they were suddenly pushed towards each other, would they be violently thrown backwards? Awesome.

Edit: The website says he has other family with the magnetic power. A group hug would be very amusing/hard to get out of. You might even say that family is very... attractive... I hate myself.

What does the 'z' in ZOMG stand for? Why do people say it? At least it's not as bad as biffles. Ha.

Finally, I was discussing with Pfeffer the other day how Asians go red when they drink. I wish other races changed colours too. Imagine that! Going to a bar would be like partying in a rubix cube.

This post was much longer than I thought it would be.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

High Five!

Happy National High Five Day.

...That's it. Disappointing really, isn't it?

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

100 Things About Me

I saw this somewhere. And decided to see what 100 things I would say about myself, and if anyone was remotely interested in them.

  1. I was born on 12th September, 1988. Mercy Hospital in Melbourne...
  2. Exactly 9 months after Mum and Dad's wedding anniversary...
  3. My middle name means 'Powerful Ocean'. My last name means 'Strong'. My Mum's maiden name (Ong - I know... not much of a change there) means 'Royalty'. My first name is Benjamin, which means 'on the right hand of God' or 'favourite son'. So, by my logic, my name means I am the favourite son, with the strength of an ocean, who sit on the right hand of God like royalty? Bit arrogant if you ask me. Hooray for Asian names.
  4. Speaking of Asia, being born in 1988 makes me, in the Chinese Zodiac, an Earth Dragon.
  5. Being born in September makes me a Virgo.
  6. I don't believe in horoscopes or zodiacs.
  7. I have two brothers. One older, one younger.
  8. I have a mum, she's from Malaysia.
  9. I have a dad, he's from Singapore.
  10. I consider myself an Australian. I don't really call myself Chinese.
  11. I have been in six different countries for at least a day: Australia, Germany, USA, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand.
  12. I don't remember Thailand.
  13. The countries I most want to visit are Egypt, Spain and anywhere in Africa.
  14. I did a three month exchange to Erlenbach am. Main in Germany. I can still speak German.
  15. I was part of the Global Young Leaders Conference 2005 in Washington and New York.
  16. I was super shy and introverted before those two trips.
  17. Now I'm not.
  18. Up until now, I have wanted to be: Policeman, astronaut, doctor, paediatrician, teacher, minister, charity worker, missionary, Lego employee.
  19. I currently want to be all of the last five, and I'm working on it.
  20. I have been at Doncaster Church of Christ my whole life.
  21. I'm a Christian, originally just because I tagged along with Mum and Dad to church.
  22. I started properly believing and asking my own questions in Grade 6, 2000.
  23. Then again in 2006.
  24. 2006 was a big learning and growing up stage for me. One of the reasons was Vetamorphus, a young Christian ministry course.
  25. Most of my closest friends did that course with me. Actually that's probably not true anymore. The first time I started writing this was in March 2007. It's a bit sad really.
  26. I do a youth ministry internship at my church.
  27. I lead a small group at church called The Garage, which consists of boys between Year 5 and 10.
  28. I helped found and now run a charity (in progress). It's called Africa Aid. It was started in 2005. This year we are trying to raise $30,000 for a school in Southern Uganda. Check out the Myspace or Facebook for more details.
  29. I am very unorganised in general, but also with Africa Aid. It makes me feel bad, and making it bigger and maintaining it scares me.
  30. I am employed as an Integration Aide and as a Small Group Leader for Elev8. It's very necessary since...volunteer work doesn't pay child support.
  31. Lucky I don't have to.
  32. I went to Serpell Primary School until Grade 5.
  33. I went to Trinity Grammar School for the rest of it.
  34. I study 2nd Year Arts at Monash University.
  35. I play touch rugby at Monash.
  36. I also do dancing with a group of friends at Monash.
  37. I have a girlfriend, who is rather pleasant. She has a nice smile and good oral hygiene. Sometimes she gives me muffins, but not so much anymore. She is also fun to chase. We have been going out for almost 3 years.
  38. I prefer trackpants over jeans.
  39. I would like to collect t-shirts, shoes or hats...if I had the money.
  40. My favourite food is most likely spaghetti bolognese, but I've never decided for sure.
  41. When I go out to eat, I still look at what comes with chips first.
  42. I love peach ice tea.
  43. I also love Choc-Mint/Bubblegum with nuts at Cold Rock. I ordered it the last 10 times I've been there.
  44. I have been to Cold Rock 10 times.
  45. I love most desserts in general, except pavlova. It's a devil cake. First it looks good, and then you have one bite, and it tastes stupid again.
  46. I do not like quite a few things: Tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, avocado, grapes, rocket lettuce (not to be mistaken with iceberg lettuce, which I love), egg yolk, fried eggs, sultanas and cheese to name a few.
  47. I struggle to not eat three times the suggested serving size if I'm eating chips or biscuits. But really, that's because the suggested serving size is ridiculous... eg. four biscuits.
  48. I play the piano, which I learnt for 10 years. Now I play for fun on a regular basis.
  49. I used to play the flute, which I learnt for 5 years.
  50. I can also play the melodica, which is an awesome instrument.
  51. I attempted to teach myself guitar, but got lazy. I want to learn still.
  52. I also want to learn the harmonica, the banjo, the ukelele, bass guitar, double bass, and the steel drums.
  53. I like to imagine I can sing but that doesn't make me awesome. I just sing to myself all the time.
  54. Like most people, I have an eclectic taste in music that is not really definable. I just like what I like. My favourite band is Lazy Susan, and I'll give you a dollar if you sing me one of their songs.
  55. In my life I have played or participated in gymnastics, swimming and basketball competitively (for a club). I also played basketball and soccer for my school.
  56. I have a third place from the National Gymnastics comp and a second from the State.
  57. I had to quit because I was too small. To stay on would have meant three years of training until I hit puberty and was as big as the other boys in my level.
  58. I have no pets, but used to have a big German Shepherd called Rex. He was actually called Sultan, which is a pretty cool name, but... us boys were young. And Rex seemed more dog-like.
  59. I also used to have a baby chicken called Timothy. One day Timothy escaped outside and saw Rex. He had a heart attack and died.
  60. I do not have a favourite colour. At least, not one I could say without feeling I was being unfaithful to the other colours.
  61. I love the game Taboo.
  62. I also love Risk.
  63. Like the colours, I don't know if I could say my favourite movie. There are lots up there.
  64. Disney holds a special place in my movie love.
  65. I once played Yoko Ono in a musical about John Lennon.
  66. I love Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. It's awesome.
  67. Amongst some other things I would like to learn are photography, video filming and editing, photoshopping and other digital imagery, cooking (especially pastry cooking) and surfing.
  68. I love to read, although I don't read as much as I did when I was little. No real favourite authors, but I do like Nick Earls a bit. Terry Pratchett too.
  69. When I was little, I would go to the library and before checking for any other books, I would go to the Childrens - Humour section first to see if there were any Garfield books in.
  70. This year I am going to the Philippines on a mission trip with International Needs.
  71. I am passionate about issues of social justice and equality.
  72. In the last few years, I have done some work with the MakePovertyHistory campaign. I was an Ambassador at the concert in November '06 and a Group Leader on the ZeroSeven Road Trip in 2007.
  73. I enjoy writing. It's one of those things that I love to do, but procrastinate over doing. I've been working on a few pieces for the last few years, but not as in actively working on. Just starting, and then leaving for a long time, until I've forgotten the ideas that made me want to write them in the first place.
  74. I once won a competition for writing. I felt like I'd plagiarised something I'd read but couldn't remember.
  75. I have recently developed a fascination at other people's obsessions with things. Most notably, bacon. Examples are here, here, here and here.
  76. I once had a phobia of heights. I was too scared to even go down the slides at playgrounds. After I started gymnastics, that left. I don't really have a phobia now.
  77. The first thing I notice on the opposite sex is their face.
  78. I like playing computer/video games. GTA: San Andreas is my favourite, followed closely by Mario Kart and Minesweeper.
  79. According to some website where you submit your monthly best Minesweeper score, I was third in the world. For one glorious month. I'm all washed up now. It's all downhill from here.
  80. I'm not interested in cars in the slightest. Shiny round ones attract my interest though. But not Volkswagen round, they're too small.
  81. I like Hummers, but it has nothing to do with them as a car, and definitely not to do with their contribution to the environment. It's part of a game we played when I was in America.
  82. I have shinier than average fingernails. Unsure why.
  83. I dislike cats. It comes from a deep relationship of mistreatment between the two of us that began in Germany. I was patting a cat, I wanted to get up and leave, cat scratched my face, I punched cat, cat disappears for two days, I thought I'd killed it. Cats are not as good as dogs.
  84. If I was an animal, I think I'd be a mongoose.
  85. My favourite animal used to be the Eastern Quoll, just to be different. I have no idea what my favourite is anymore.
  86. I would love to work with animals, but I doubt it would ever happen. I saw a documentary once about people who have moved to go live with orphaned elephants and look after them. I would love to do that, but there's also a million other things I'd like to do.
  87. I can type at an average of 109 words per minute. Mavis Beacon tells me so.
  88. I have attempted to read the entire Bible in one year, but failed miserably. I think it had to do with trying to read it in order, no dedication, and just kinda rushing through it. I would like to one day accomplish this.
  89. I have a dream of travelling with friends in a bus. I've wanted to do it since I was about 8. With cars, what attracts me is the number of seats, followed by cupholders.
  90. I have had a fascination with learning everything I could since childhood. Not exactly school things, but random facts of information. One of my favourite books ever was 1001 Amazing Facts, and I would tell people facts from the book at random. I used to do extra projects on things like Volcanoes and Pirates...just for fun.
  91. I like learning about history and important people of the past.
  92. I keep a list of people that I need to read and learn about.
  93. I enjoy public speaking. I used to be scared of it, and so my job on the debating team was to write the speeches.
  94. I like comedy, it's my favourite genre of movies and books. Mostly. My favourite comedians include Demetri Martin, Jason Byrne, Steven K Amos, Mitch Hedburg and Dave Chapelle.
  95. Doing stand-up is one of the scariest things I can think of, and I'd like to do it once in my life.
  96. My three most visited websites are Hotmail, Facebook and Blogger. That's not very exciting, so the next three are CollegeHumor.com, JakeandAmir.com, and YouTube.com.
  97. Before I die, I would like to do most extreme sports, learn the above listed things I want to learn, meet Nelson Mandela, go to a home game at Anfield, see the LA Lakers and the Detroit Redwings, and many others.
  98. I recently made the transition from standing to sitting when I wipe.
  99. I STILL shout at the kids on game shows for being stupid... even though I'm almost 20.
  100. This blog took 443 days to write. I'm glad it's over.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Uni-fied


Interest for May 8th @ Monash? Get. On. It.

It Continues...

Kyla is my newest hero. Why you ask? Well. She bought me these over the weekend:

Am I wearing one right now? Yes. Yes I am.


In case anybody doesn't understand the significance of these, read here, here and here.

If anyone was wondering... the free toy was a tiny little pig. Ironic?

Friday, April 11, 2008

Events

It's been a fun fun fun week. Tuesday night was one of the best nights out for a very long time. A random assortment of friends, some I didn't know until that night, but a lot of fun. We went to a Japanese restaurant in Chinatown, ate our meal in 15 minutes, then did that awkward walk fast, do a few steps of running until you realise you look stupid, then walk fast again all the way to the Forum Theatre to see Jason Byrne:

He was ridiculous funny. I actually have no idea how he keeps going with so much energy for two hours. I would pass out after ten minutes. Highlights included... extended vibration noises, putting a man in a suitcase and dragging him around the stage, lying face down on the floor, and swearing more than Gordon Ramsay.

Last night myself, K and some of her friends went to see Matchbox 20/Thirsty Merc. I actually wanted to see Thirsty Merc more, and I knew more of their songs so that was obviously more enjoyable. But all in all, a good concert anyway. Ironically, one of the best songs of the night was one I had already seen a few months ago, when Matchbox 20 played "Better Be Home Soon". Hooray for that.

Matchbox 20 "How Far We've Come"

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Vocation

I've been doing a lot of reading lately, as part of my new attempt at scheduling in TAWG (Time alone with God) in my life, amongst other things. One of the things that keeps coming up is vocation. Now I like to think that I'm pretty sure what I want to do with my life - and that's work out who I am and what it means to live how God intended me to. I don't stress heaps over what job I'm going to end up in, and that hasn't bothered me for a long time. Of course, there are jobs I would like to do, but ultimately, it's because of what I think my vocation in life is.

I feel called to give up things for others, to serve others and be lower than them. I feel that's just the way it should be for me. I feel a particular pull towards issues of poverty and injustice, and feel like I not only should, but can, and was meant to be doing something about that. Not solving it, but adding my effort. I don't want to be defined by my actions, but by the motives I had to do them. Sometimes I do get a case of the 'wanting attention for doing good stuff', but I mostly do it because I want to show love and care.

Where am I going with all this? Well, the people who's vocations I've been reading about scare me in how far they threw themselves in the deep end. People like Rosa Parks or Mother Teresa. The latter is the one I read today. At the age of 18, she got the feeling that she should be doing something with the poor, and she was called towards India. So she left her family - never to see her mother again - and just moved. She didn't even speak the language or have any training. Then after living in the nunnery, she decided it was time for the next step, and moved to the streets. She did things nobody else in the church would do, like begging for clothes, medicine, money, all to give to the poor ones around her. How do you have that much faith that God is telling you something? That what you think you're hearing is right? What if you're wrong?

I feel called to the poor. I still feel like I'm not doing enough. At Surrender last year, I was really challenged because we were hearing from people who have given up everything to go be with the poor and live like them, in order to help them side-by-side. I felt I was so far away from this, because I still worry about clothes and other material things, and spend my money carelessly. I was challenged once again on Sunday, when at Vetamorphus we were discussing why Jesus spoke so much about wealth and money. I think it was because he knew how much humans would obsess over it, and that it would be a major obstacle in them coming to know him. The passages that have always been confronting are ones like the Rich Young Man, when he's told to give up everything, or the man who keeps a little bit for himself instead of giving it to the apostles to distribute as needed, and ends up dying. What does this say about how I'm supposed to live?

If my vocation dictates (as far as I can tell), that I am to help the poor, I think I need to break free of the shallowness and humiliation (on my behalf) of having to stop living the way I live, and using my money wiser and only as needed, and use the rest to help others. It's extreme. It means I won't be able to do lots of things I'd like to do personally. I don't know where to draw the line and it's scary. I don't know how to have that much faith in something. It's something that I've become so good at procrastinating over, I barely think of it, until that once in a while that it comes back and hits me in the face. Each time it's stronger, and this time it's massive. So where to from here? I have no idea. Feel very, very confused at the moment. I am inspired though, and even if I don't go to that extreme (yet), I can start making smaller steps towards getting there.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Grateful

This is the new place where I'm blogging things I'm grateful about. Just so you know.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Isolations

...is my new favourite word, but are hard to do haha. We started dancing classes today, and after the events of yesterday, it was a good cheer-up. Today's lesson: Hip hop dancing is hard. Ballroom is quite a bit easier. Both are fun... cha cha cha. K and I also get to learn to dance together, which is cool.

Other things from today:

  • Shepherd's pie is nice, even with vinegar mayonnaise, which I had no idea comes with shepherd's pie.
  • Freshly squeezed apple juice looks really weird and has a layer of apple sludge.
  • David Coulter and I are almost ready for the NBA.
  • McDonald's is a fun place to have a chat and stay long after you've finished, up until when the security guard starts eyeballing you constantly because you haven't ordered anything in the last two hours.
  • It's really nice to catch up with people intentionally, even those you see a lot.

Friday, April 04, 2008

Rant #2

Very. Frustrated.

Complications with work have just gotten me angry to the max. Then I take it out on people and that isn't good either. I hate having things sprung on me all the time and not ever knowing what's going on.

I also don't get my assignment for German at uni, and my German teacher can't explain it to me because he's not that good at English. Both of us don't understand each other because of the language barrier. I hate feeling like I'm stupid too. Usually, like last year, it would have just been a quick question, a helpful hint, and then I'd be able to do it. But this year, the quick question turns into a long discussion because we can't understand what each other are saying, and then being asked if we can come back another time because he hasn't prepared for our lesson yet, which is in the next hour.

Ich will etwas brechen - how's that for an in-joke for you?

Don't understand anything I'm writing? Yeh don't worry. It's just a rant, right?

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Posted on behalf of MJ Waters...

All Matt's blogs are now up. I've been a bit slow, since I half type a few of them as soon as I get them, but then get distracted. But there's three new ones up so make sure you have a read.

Also, I stopped doing "What Matt Really Meant..." because 1) I didn't want to demean all the stuff he was writing, since it was a positive experience in his life, and 2) I was also lazy.

Matt comes home today! What a winner.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Earth Hour

"earth hour is a piece of shit

why….

its so pointless…nobody actually realises that its not helping melbournes or the worlds electricity resources. Also most people even believe that its suppose to show you how it would be without energy like a poor person…funny that you turn off your lights but keep your tv, heater and fridge on. Its fucking shit. All that it will do is save maybe 0.05% on your monthly electricity bill…welldone!"

Someone I know wrote this recently and posted it. Aside from being grammatically handicapped, it is a little bit ignorant. Yes, the 10.1% drop in energy use during Earth Hour will still hardly make a dent in the yearly greenhouse gas emissions for Australia and the rest of the globe. Yes, there were some people that didn’t get it and left some things on while turning off the lights. Yes, unfortunately I didn’t take part, since I was in a restaurant and wasn’t sure if they’d kick me out if I told them to turn everything off. But I thought it was clear that Earth Hour is a symbolic event? I thought it was about making a statement about climate change, not showing people what it’s like to be poor.

Nobody is pretending that one hour in the (366 x 24 =)8784 hours of the year is going to make any significant difference to greenhouse gas emissions. What Earth Hour was about, from my point of view, was symbollically stating that we are prepared to fight climate change and are serious about making it a national priority.

All problems such as climate change, poverty, slavery, etc., cannot be simply combatted on a global scale. They have to start locally, with people taking a personal interest in making a change in their life to help the global effort. As was said on the ZeroSeven trip last year, to change the world, you have to start with your country; to change your country, you have to start with your state; to change your state, you have to start with your community; to change your community, you have to start with your family; and to change your family, you have to start with yourself.

So to you, Mr. MySpace Pessimist, stop criticising what everyone else is doing. At least, understand what it is you’re criticising. Also, hate less?

How embarassing...

Well THAT was a mistake. Ignore the last post. In fact, pretend like it was never there... because I deleted it. I'm staying here. I will probably move the Reasons To Be Grateful over though. We shall see.

Edit: Also, one of the reasons I temporarily moved is because I HATE all blogger templates. I want a simple one, but they all suck and make me stick to their rules. If anyone wants to volunteer their template-making services, I'll give you $20. Deal?

Edit: Deal's off! I just spent the last two hours changing the template. Never done anything more confusing in my life.