becoming » Culture

Back to memory lane: remember where your interpretation comes from

edmund — Mon, 09 May 2011 15:28:37 +0000

No, I haven’t read Bell’s Love Wins and I have no intention to do so in distant future. But with all the debates and conversations going on over the net and with all the heavyweights being pulled to support or refute certain arguments, I think it is time to take everyone back to memory lane and learn where one’s interpretation actually comes from.

Andrew Perriman have done us a huge favor by charting various schools of interpretation with his recent post over at p.ost. Take a good look.

[link: p.ost]

bookdepository.com

edmund — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:16:00 +0000

With the Canadian dollar at par with USD, ordering from Amazon.com for us Canadian still lost its appeal if you add back the shipping cost to any Canadian address.

On the other hand, pricing on Amazon.ca has yet to reflect the current exchange rate, despite the fact that shipping is free on order $25 and over.

I have mentioned a few times about www.bookdepository.com. Shipping is free on everything internationally. Their pricing are quite competitive with Amazon (.com or .ca). And sometimes, it is even lower.

An alternative worth considering.

For others?

edmund — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:42:07 +0000

Instead of babbling all sorts of things you have done for yourself during the holiday seasons, can we post and share about:

what others had done for you in 2010?
what are you going to do for others in the new year?

Time for a change!

Things that keep me focus…

edmund — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 19:24:01 +0000

As a pastor, I need to write day in, day out. Having emails, notifications, phone calls, and all sorts of other updates throughout the day make it next to impossible to focus on my own work.

A recent article from Lifehacker on Distraction-free writing tools reminds me about my own struggle to get things done. Here is what I do when I need to sit down and write:

Go to a dedicated space where distractions will be minimal (For me, that’s my basement study area).
Turn on an app like Think, which basically turns your multi-tasking computer into a single-tasking machine (because you need to) while focusing on the app you are using and blocking all alerts and updates from other apps showing up.
If the task at hand involves heavy writing, use OmmWriter or similar full-screen writing app. Trust me, the soft music and the key-pressed effects do help!
Unlike Anson, I am not as discipline as to adopt the Pomodoro Technique. I basically just keep on writing until I can’t think of anything else, and then take a break (by physically leaving the place I work), and come back within 30 minutes.

More importantly, don’t write until you finally sit down in front of your computer. Keep the thoughts and points in your mind throughout the week. Create a mental outline as to what you want to say. So when you finally do sit down and write, you are really there to write it out, instead of struggling with where to start…

Oh, I also tend to write non-linearly, i.e, I don’t necessary start from the introduction and move on…. Try filling-in your various main points BEFORE spending time figuring out how to connect one thought to another. Sometimes, I also find it helpful to have the final words spelled out and work backwards!

So what’s your writing style? What works and what not?

Bad advertising

edmund — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 22:30:11 +0000

Okay, I get it — give your kids Scott��s Emulsion cod liver oil, and they will turn into freaks.

So much for advertising.