Top 7 Reasons Why I Prefer a Printed Book Over an eBook

I WORK in a publishing firm, and although I've seen how the e-book business has grown exponentially over the last two years, I still carry with me those bulky, often rectangular-shaped objects made of paper that contain words arranged by a typesetting machine and produced by a printing press. This is just in case some of you may have forgotten how a printed book looks like : p  

Photo by www.blog.designsquish.com

In this day and age when information come in as fast as you say the word fast and as cheap as my favorite perfume (Green Cross Rubbing Alcohol), more and more people are patronizing anything that's electronic. I'd say if it will save your money and time, go for it. But not with books. Here are my personal reasons for being [print] bookish -

1. I just love making dog-ear marks on all my books. (Although with the more expensive ones, I often use a bookmark). Yes you can flip a page and bookmark it digitally but folding a pixel-made up page is useless and not fun.

2. Reading an e-book using your mobile phone or ipad is distracting. Especially when you have push notifications.

3. Information retention becomes shallow when I read electronically. Observe it yourself. I guess this is because we tend to just skim through the page if it's online or cradled by a gadget instead of to really pore over the text. In my case, (because I'm a girl) my brain is struggling to compartmentalize information. I tend to associate my laptop or iphone with trivial stuff. I don't know, but I just can't focus on a novel or take Bible verses seriously if I'm reading them in a gadget I play Angry Birds with. You with me?

4. Printed books are showcase-worthy. True, Shelfari does this function but nothing beats having physical bookshelves with pretentious titles only your dad would read for house guests to look at. Plus, when electric power runs out, you can read with a candle.

5. You know how it is during college - my friends and I would borrow thick textbooks from the library and walk the corridors with our arms wrapped around them and wait for some guy to help us carry them. They make chivalrous men. But seriously, printed books may be old-fashioned but they help shape a (academic) culture. Just recall how many people from the library you need to befriend, my fellow LaSallians out there ;-)

6. Back when I was a frosh, we were taught the art of annotation. The professor would ask us to underline or highlight the portion of the text where an author's main point and a novel's theme lie. I was trained how to write commentary notes and critical analyses of the book, an exercise that is neglected with an e-reader. Today, when we encounter a certain passage that is too good not to share with our friends, all we need to do is type Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V. We usually don't bother paraphrasing a quote with our own words, hence, a thought process is eliminated.

7. From an author's perspective, a printed book is like a newborn child or a creative masterpiece or a dish he/she has finally perfected cooking. It's similar to an artist releasing an album or a record instead of selling 99-cent mp3s. Tied in with number 4, this particular quality of a printed book provides the writer a physical trophy that won't be easily copied or be lost in (cyber)space.

Three Takeoffs in a 4-Hour Delayed Flight and other Balinese-themed (Mis)Adventures

The Bali-bound Jetstar aircraft was just about to takeoff and I was starting to feel that familiar but queer sensation in my stomach. The upper half of me was being taken upward while the other (heavier) half was still battling with gravity. But just when the wheels of the plane were about to leave the runway, the pilot shifted gear (or at least that's what it felt like) with full force and the plane landed with a loud, clumsy thud. I do not know any aircraft lingo but what happened to us in that flight was more than a yawing motion. It was not due to any air pockets; it was intentional. The captain held back in mid-takeoff because according to him, one of the generators was sending an error signal. Time check: 11PM

At this point, we were already restless because this same flight had already been delayed for four hours and nobody from Jetstar informed either one of us (the four of us were holding two separate booking references) prior to the original 4pm flight. We talked to the counter/ground staff but they said that they just learned about the new timing and we should call the Melbourne office to complain. After an hour of holding the customer service phone line, a certain Kish (who said that it is company policy not to give her full name) told me that they were also not aware of this until then, when I asked them to go into the system and check the re-timed flight details. She even said, "If I were you, I would talk to the ground representatives about this..." Huh?

Fast forward to the failed takeoff incident... The captain then called a couple of engineers to look into the problem. They asked us to alight the aircraft so they could perform tests. Several minutes later we were back on our seats and ready to experience another takeoff. The passengers who I reckoned were mostly Aussies did not even utter an unpleasant word. Time check: 12 AM.

We circled the runway for what seemed to be a dozen times and just when my eyelids were starting to droop, I sensed that we were about to ascend again. WHIZZ......WHIR.......YANK....THUD! Ding dong...This is your captain speaking. We are having the same technical problem that was supposed to be fixed by the engineers but still isn't and here we are back on the bar....

And we never heard him speak again. Twenty minutes later one passenger carrying a kid said, "You're crazy to stay here, guys." He left the plane shouting, "It's okay if you don't want to spend a penny on our hotel." Time check: 2AM.

We later found out that it was still safe to fly even with the generator blinking an error signal. But because our pilot needed to abide by the airplane protocol, he had to hold back. More than 20 of the total passengers left. A few were bombarding the pilots and crew with questions. I myself was not at my nicest that night. They left us uninformed for 30 minutes. The pilots were inside the cockpit without updating the passengers and without any effort to ease us up. The cabin crew gave us....water.  Nothing else.

Jetstar pilots and crew could have handled the situation better but did not.

Nevertheless, we stayed for the third takeoff because:
1. Murphy's law is not valid. Come on, our flight was only delayed for four hours, and we only had three takeoffs. They are pretty normal, ok.
2. The captain assured us that it was still safe for the third time and if it wasn't, he would not risk his own life, too. He has a family. Plus, it appeared to me that he was pretty calm that night. He's just not a good communicator.
3. It's our first time to go to Bali aka Surfer's Paradise. Need I say more?
4. I personally believe that in this life, nothing will happen to us apart from God's will. And according to Izanne, if God was forbidding us to go to Bali, He should have let Jetstar cancel the flight in the first place. Made sense to me, too :-)

So in the end, a three-hour flight turned out to be an eight-hour one. But we were ready to have fun in this beautiful place. Nothing else could go wrong anymore. Or so we thought....

(mis)adventure stories to be continued...

P.S. What about you guys? What would you do in this situation? Would you still go for a third one?

Creativity from the Church

 Disclaimer: I'm not one who is expert on both Cs. This post only contains a few personal realizations.    

THERE is a colloquial term coined in the 1800s that comes to mind as I begin to write this post - Sunday best. For the longest time, we may have carried the notion that being a part of a church requires a 'member' to be in his/her finest, within and without - appearing in wrinkle-free clothes, taut collar, polished shoes and an invisible halo to boot. The people worship God by singing hymns in unison with nasal voices and raised hands as part of the 'holy requirement'. They listen to the preacher speak about God's Word just to gain some sense of spirituality, a concept that is seemingly irrelevant to their activities on the rest of the days of the week. Some of us may have even felt that the the church is constricting, if not something worthy of a yawn (or two or three). The church could not possibly have room for the unruly, the liberals, or have space for individuality or creativity. After all, it is a place of order and rhythmical customs (read: bore).

So how does one who is as cool as an ice cube and too slick to follow the 'holy requirements' stated above fit in? A confession is probably due to be able to bring enough flesh into this blog entry. Well you see, I used to believe I'm cool, too. I listen to cool music, I hang out with cool people, and I think cool thoughts (?!). I go to church to satisfy an obligation and keep the other aspects of my life reserved to maintain this state of coolness. But as I became more and more attracted to Christianity, I found out, without dismay, that I'm not really that cool at all.

Like a train running on a single track, my mind is used to the idea that worshiping God only entails prayer and harp-playing. Okay, maybe add the xylophone, tambourine, and those instruments we would never ever hear in a Justin Bieber song. But recently, our church has started to teach us that worship is a lifestyle. The output of all our endeavors based on our skills, talents and profession must be utilized according to the purpose of the One who has given them.

But it took some time for me to reconcile with the idea that creative arts can be used for worship too. For me, it means breaking all the rules; it is almost vulgar to do so, and un-holy to say the least. But then as I observe the works of the Master Artist in nature and in people, I couldn't help but blush. The result of our ingenuity is only a by-product of our encounter with nature. All that our hands can make or our minds can conceive are mere consequences of our being brought out into existence by our Creator.

These realizations have started to influence how and why I should do things. Worship is way more than singing songs on a Sunday morning, and the church is not just a place for confession, communion and prayer. It should be a place where talents are being harnessed and where creative minds converge. I realize that I am actually worshiping with this blog, being grateful to Him who has given me the ability to articulate my thoughts through written words. I now go to church looking forward to a release of even just a tinge of God's creativity on me, expecting that this is the best I could get on a Sunday to be used for the remaining six days of the week. ;-)



Click this LINK to have a preview of what other artists are doing in our church. 

Meanwhile, I received this idea as we were singing worship songs -

Threads of fabric being woven
Lives interlaced, overlapping
Not by mere randomness
Our purposes in transcendence

Like gradients of hues painted in the heavens
It can't be noticed where one begins and where one ends
Linked with a perfect love the whole world has not yet known
We have each other; we're never alone.

Love Letters

He writes me love letters
Sends each romantic note
Through a number of different couriers
The messages are consistent
Speaking with passion and tenderness
His words profound and eloquent

He writes me love letters
Like dew drops of every morning's first
Giving mirth to my clouded face
Like red-orange gradients at every sunset's end
Serves as gird to my troubled faith

He writes me love letters
With tales of beauty and cavalier
Telling of struggles and triumphs
Of unreserved praises and promises
Love carved out into songs and psalms

He writes me love letters
His methods unlike anyone I know
Or remember
Bringing my heart to wild abandon
Taking all this life's care into sweet oblivion.

He is jealous for me.

Rock and roll!



Bittersweet

Don’t get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. Walk away, try something new. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal. Ask yourself some good questions like: “Am I proud of the life I’m living? What have I tried this month? What have I learned about God this year? What parts of my childhood faith am I leaving behind, and what parts am I choosing to keep with me for this leg of the journey? Do the people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me feel small? Is there any brokenness in my life that’s keeping me from moving forward?”

Now is your time. Become, believe, try. Walk closely with people you love, and with other people who believe that God is very good and life is a grand adventure. Don’t spend time with people who make you feel like less than you are. Don’t get stuck in the past, and don’t try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven’t yet earned. Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life’s path.

Taken from Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist Copyright © 2010. http://www.zondervan.com/

Grateful for Twenty-Ten

I was at my heaviest last year. Literally and metaphorically.

With every ounce of blessing I received from God, my weight seemed to have followed accordingly.

Last year, He blessed me with several opportunities to travel (and eat, needless to say), the chance to be part of a world conference with 18K+ attendees, the time and resources to join a missions trip, the honor to lead a growing group of young women striving for excellence, and the ability to complete a 10-month Bible and leadership training.

My plate has indeed been full of God's goodness and favor.
Here are a few pictures which would hopefully speak a thousand more words -

We kick-started the year off with a 7-day backpacking trip in 7 cities in 3 countries (Vietnam, Cambodia, & Thailand)

 You can read about our adventures there here and here.


Meanwhile, our ministry at Kids Church was in full swing ...

By midyear, we were having random beach trips to Malaysia (Tioman and Borneo)

 

I'm so blessed to have been a part of the Every Nation World Conference -

Our missions to Penang, Malaysia
This is one big highlight for the year, because I was reminded of my prayer last 2009 which was to be able to celebrate my birthday in an orphanage. The trip was even funded by my office mates!

In the midst of working full time, I'd find myself in a weekly leadership course trying to fight physical exhaustion. Now that I have graduated, it still seemed surreal that I was able to complete this. 

I used to think that I don't need to learn more about the Bible and God, because He is very personal. But I learned that living out Christianity may not have a formula, but the Truth is absolute. Whoever wants to be a leader must first learn what the truth is. And a true leader is characterized by his/her servant-leadership. True leadership is not at all about exercising authority and power; it is all about serving.


And definitely not the least - the greatest responsibility that God gave me this year is to minister to these beautiful ladies who are hungry for the real thing.

Truth be told, there were times when I would be thinking of throwing in the towel out of frustration. I used to feel that there was not enough level of commitment being given by the girls, but I learned later on that I was not really in control after all. God is. I know that God is and will be working in them even without me. We are all going through different stages with our faith, and I realized that I need to allow them to grow at their own pace. 

And being awesome as He is, God even made sure that there were icing and toppings on my cake, too. On top of the highlights of last year, there were some little, pleasant surprises that gave me more reasons to smile about - encouragement from people who matter, salary increase, material gifts which were in answer to a dilemma of whether to buy them or not, and unsolicited assurance from men that only strengthened my belief on how I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Go figure). ;-) God really do provide all our needs, and then some. :-)

But on a serious note, what I would consider the greatest-est blessing I have received is not actually pictured here. It can't be captured by any camera or be described with written words. The thing I'm most thankful for happened inside of me. I can't say it's love or growth or contentment - it is way more than those things. Perhaps it's a mixture of the learning experiences I underwent and the God-given grace that keeps on 'pruning' my character. I'm sorry I can't articulate this further; it's really beyond me.

But just the same, for all of these I am grateful.

I'd like to leave you with a song.

May this inspires us to believe even more...

It's now that I feel 

You're graceful like rain

From every fingertip...