"Talk to me about the truth of religion and I'll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I'll listen submissively. But don't come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don't understand.

"Unless, of course, you can literally believe all that stuff about family reunions 'on the further shore,' pictured in entirely earthly terms. But that is all unscriptural, all out of bad hymns and lithographs. There's not a word of it in the Bible. And it rings false. We know it couldn't be like that. Reality never repeats. The exact same thing is never taken away and given back. How well the Spiritualists bait their hook! 'Things on this side are not so different after all.' There are cigars in Heaven. For that is what we should all like. The happy past restored."  

- CS Lewis (A Grief Observed)

Conflict of Interest.

Hypothetical situation: Let's say I'm an atheist and I'm asked to advertise/design/create something for a Church or Christian organisation, could I do it? (I could be designing an atheist poster, but I think atheist posters are rather improbable.)

Or let's say I'm a vegan, could I design a corporate identity for a butcher? If I'm a feminist and asked to create a brochure detailing male accomplishments. Or a nature lover asked to design something for an oil conglomerate, would I do it?

I can of course, decide to do it professionally, separate my own personal views with that of my job's. But in a creative industry I think success depends on your ideas, and idea generation can only be possible if one is compelled, driven to think creatively. I might try all I want to think of ideas for a Eat Dog Meat advertisement, but you know what, I think the ideas I'd come up with would be generic, lousy ideas at best. Because I wouldn't want to create a Eat Dog Meat advertisement in the first place, I personally would much rather want to create a Don't Eat Dog Meat advertisement, and I think thinking of creative ideas for such a cause would be much easier.

I think my conclusion is that it's rather impossible to advertise/design for a product/cause that you are against. There are of course, many products and causes that you are neutral towards; I wouldn't have any problems designing for an umbrella shop (purely hypothetical because at point of writing, I don't know any shop dedicated to selling umbrellas). There are also products and causes that you are passionate about, I would definitely be interested in designing for a camera shop, but usually you don't run into such opportunities very often (which is why I have not designed for a camera shop).

But for products and causes that you are against, that's the hard part. Is it possible?

I think the weirdest thoughts start coming to me around 4 in the Morning.

Soft-Boiled Eggs.

On Monday morning I woke up deciding that today I would try to cook soft-boiled eggs! Because I felt like eating soft-boiled eggs. (Duh) And it was almost not a Monday morning because I only started cooking at 11.40am.

Anyways, I decided to google "how to cook a soft-boiled egg", and clicked on the 6th result, because it had the word perfect in it. And I followed the instructions listed very carefully.

As expected I ended up with two hard-boiled eggs. I do think one of them was quite soft in the center though; maybe 5 percent liquid? Ah well, failing is the first step to success and all that right?

I think this sets back my goal of making poached eggs, scrambled eggs and sunny side ups by a few months. (I blame Google for the lofty aspirations.)

Between 2 Camps.

It's been a rushed and hectic and stressful and tiring week for me. Because I just came back from an awesome Youth camp. Not so awesome is the fact that the camp is just before my school has ended; also known as the dreaded submission week. Meaning I've been having to adjust almost immediately from the camp-like atmosphere to the school-like atmosphere. And I've been sneezing constantly in the process.

And I have another camp tomorrow which I'm looking forward to because it's a Church camp, meaning we won't need to do tiring things like in the Youth camp. I think I'm feeling old. :( An afternoon of station games and an afternoon of laser tag and I feel like an old man. Maybe it's the sudden burst of exercise after a long drought of inactivity. I haven't gone running since the marathon hahaha.

On a more positive note, I think leading a group during the Youth camp has been an eye-opener for me. Learning more about being an example for God and praying for the people under you. Hope the enthusiasm and such won't be a one-off thing and continue on. Am definitely more inspired to lead my cell group now.

Last day of school, left with my portfolio and resume to print out and interviews to go for!

Lim Chu Kang.

Aside from the abandoned estate that I went to, I also went to a few other places to shoot for my module. I'm rather lazy to categorize the places accurately, because I went there on 5 separate occasions and I went to some places more than once. So I decided to just put all the photos together.

Lim Chu Kang Rural Centre.

A few weeks ago I was out shooting pictures around Lim Chu Kang for my module. That module has (thankfully) ended so I don't have to suffer countless mosquito bites anymore. That said, I probably don't mind going back there to take pictures again, just not any time soon.


Anyways, I decided to post pictures that I submitted for my module as well as pictures that didn't make the cut. So this is one of them.

Changi Airport Departure Hall.

I've been falling sick quite regularly lately. Like exactly a week ago I had a really high fever. And now I have a really high fever again. :( Maybe it's a Thursday/Friday thing. Too excited for the weekend.