Squad Corinthians Outing

Squad Corinthians had our outing this evening after the parade. Lek Wei didn't join us. Boris and Jovis couldn't join us, although Boris wanted to. Chun Xiong couldn't join us for the makan. Stanley came back from Squad Ephesians to join us.

First, we went bowling at the Superbowl in Jurong. Gary, Guan Long and I didn't bowl. Many of the balls went into the gutter. But quite a number of pins were toppled over too.

Guan Long was lost in his own world, playing with his PSP, or whatever you call it.









After bowling, we went for a makan in the nearby KFC. Chun Xiong went off to join his family for dinner across the road. Usual KFC stuff. And I wasn't very full after the makan. Could be because I didn't take lunch today.

Victor went off to meet his family for dinner too. Samuel left us after finishing his food.

My Nokia 6500 Slide

This is to close the loop. The phone is ok now.

My experience at the Nokia Care Centre Wheelock Place was not too bad. The waiting time was not too long (could be because I went there on a weekday). The staff were not exactly friendly and welcoming, but they were not overtly rude.

So will I buy another Nokia phone? Maybe, maybe not. May want to try other phones.

My New Nokia 6500 Slide

I decided to blog about my new Nokia 6500 Slide. This is the phone.


The colour is off in the picture above. The colour in the picture below is closer to the actual colour.


I got it for $18 with my new Mio plan (30 months contract), which is bundled with my residential line, broadband and mobile line. All for $99 something, and it comes with 10MB broadband and free autoroam. It's a steal, compared to what I am paying now.

I didn't really like the Nokia 6500 Slide at first, a little too heavy and bulky. But now I have grown to love it.

3 problems with the phone, which suddenly appeared on Monday:

(1) It doesn't display the sender's/recipient's name, only the number (which means I have to guess who sent the message to me). Don't ask me if I have double entries of my contacts in the list, because I don't.


(2) It cannot do search in the contact list (which means I have to scroll down the whole list to find the name I want).


(3) I saved all my contacts in the SIM card, but the phone says no entries found when I set the contacts memory to the phone and SIM card.

I have tried everything, but no help. Took out the SIM card, cleaned it and put it back in. Put in my colleague's SIM card, and got the same problem. Updated the phone software (which I hoped would rectify the problems), but it didn't help too.

That's not the half of it.

I called the Nokia Careline the last 2 days, and was put on hold until I hung up. Today, heng heng I got through 2 times. The guy at the other end was really helpful, and sounded sincere when he said sorry everytime I told him the problems. But I told him his apologies were of no use to me since he couldn't solve my problem. So, I have to bring the phone to the Nokia Care Centre. I went into the Net and read horrifying stories about the level of service at Nokia's Care Centre. I can only pray that what happened to other people won't happen to me.

I also called the Singtel hotline, but too late. They only give 1-to-1 exchange if we bring the phone back within 7 days. and today is the 9th day after I got the new phone. I pleaded with the girl to give me some consideration, but she won't budge.

Tomorrow, it's back to my office Samsung phone for now.

And I am seriously thinking about getting a new phone (pay lor). At this point, considering a Sony Ericsson phone, which my mentee Lek Wei recommends strongly.

With all this off my chest, I am going to take a shower now, read the Bible, pray and go to sleep. Getting ready for the anticipated battle at the infamous Nokia Care Centre. Here I come!

CNY, movies on TV, and DVDs

I just came back from KL where I spent the CNY. Spent most of the time visiting my mother in the nursing home. I am thankful that she is healthy, and still responds to my sister and me. Just pray that she will continue to be safe and comfortable in the nursing home.

I watched 3 movies on TV over the CNY, one on HBO and the other 2 on the Celestial movie channel. In KL, the Hong Kong movies come in Cantonese (which I enjoy more), and Mandarin soundtracks.

First, on HBO, I watched Just Like Heaven, starring Reese Witherspoon. I didn’t plan to watch it. My sister was watching it one night after I came down from my shower, and I just joined her. Reese is a spirit in the movie, not really a ghost. I won’t share the plot here. It is a nice movie, although you have to throw away your reasoning for about 90 minutes to enjoy the movie. If you like Lake House, Ghost, and similar movies, you will definitely enjoy this one.


I also watched Protégé and Confession of Pain on Celestial. For some reason, I enjoy watching Andy Lau and Tony Leung. Their acting is so solid. Daniel Wu is good too, in Protégé. Takeshi Kaneshiro gave a very strong performance in Confession of Pain. Protégé is about the drug world, but it has a lot of feeling and compassion. Confession of Pain is totally enjoyable. You will hate me if I gave the storyline and the plot away. It is made by the same team who made Infernal Affairs.



In short, watch the 3 movies if you have the chance.

Besides watching the 3 movies, I also bought 2 DVDs. One is The Warlords (most recent movie starring Andy Lau, Jet Li and Takeshi Kaneshiro). I bought it because it was so incredibly cheap (less than S$10). I also finally bought The New Police Story. I’ve been looking for this DVD for some time. Saw one copy in Singapore some time back but it cost more than S$30. I got it for about S$12 in KL.


It was so hot in KL. Don’t know what the weather was like in Singapore in the last 3 days, but it was windy and cool when I reached home just now.

Mouse Year

Happy year of the Rat to everyone!

February 1, 2008
"Surrender Completely"
– written by María Esther Delgado, a volunteer with Lutheran Hour Ministries in Nicaragua

Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Matthew 19:21-22 (NIV)

The rich, young man wanted to hear quite the opposite of what Jesus was telling him. He had lived a good, moral life and was willing to do whatever was required. But he could not give up everything and surrender completely. He loved his money and possessions too much.

We are all in this situation. We are people with a divided heart. We love God, but we also want the things of this world.

In the Old Testament, when a sacrifice was made, the offering was burned until it was totally consumed by the fire. God wants us to surrender ourselves to Him this way - completely. Then we can truly follow Christ, and HE will fill us.

THE PRAYER: Dear Father, please help me change the areas of my life that have not been dedicated to You. Help me surrender my all to You. In Jesus' name. Amen.

When I read this devotion, this thought came to me. If we have to make burn offerings to God, I know how I will do it. Once the offering catches fire, I will go away to attend to my other activities. So much for total sacrifice. To borrow Dennis’ words, may God forgive me.