becoming

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

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

Time for a change!

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:

1. Go to a dedicated space where distractions will be minimal (For me, that’s my basement study area).
2. 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.
3. 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!
4. 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?

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

So much for advertising.

James K.A. Smith:

In Good Game, one of the things Shirl Hoffman emphasizes about “good” sport is that play is “autotelic”: that is, it is its own reward, its own end. The joy is in the playing.

Perhaps nothing illustrates this instrumentalization more powerfully than Nike’s new World Cup ad in which the world’s football great are shown to be motivated by either the quest for glory or the fear of shame. Rooney and Ronaldo are (probably correctly) portrayed as playing for the acquisition of women and wealth and worldwide adulation–goods external to the game itself. The commercial is a case study in everything Hoffman shows is wrong with sport.

[HT: Fors Clavigera]

[The game] is simple, using the left and right [arrow] keys for movement, and the [space] key to interact with people and items when their name pops up at the bottom of the screen. The goal is to get through the day. A day like any, every other day. Your path appears to be predefined; get up, get dressed, say goodbye to your emotionally oblivious wife, and go to your cubicle at work. Wash, rinse, repeat. And yet, if you break out of routine any way you can, whether it be simply by going left instead of right or taking more drastic steps, you’ll find that there are ways you can experience his small world differently. You’ll have to play through the day multiple times to see all the content, but it still probably won’t take you very long at all…

…The protagonist has no face, no personality, and yet there’s something about his situation that makes him instantly identifiable, someone to feel sympathy for. I almost felt a sense of desperation the longer I played as I tried to find something, anything, that would change his life for the better… or even at all.

Play it here.

[Every Day The Same Dream]

六四廿一周年紀念啟應禱文

全體會眾: 全能仁愛和公義的上主啊，我們在紀念六四廿一周年的時候，一起聚集在祢面前禱告，為著我們的袓國，向祢懇切祈求。
啟: 上主啊，我們特別為今天中國的新一代向祢禱告。
應: 上主啊，我們祈求祢保守中國的新一代，身心靈都不致受損害,可以健康愉快地成長，並且能夠有正確的價值觀來建設我們的國家。
啟: 上主啊，我們特別為過去一直堅持維護人權、自由、民主和公義的生命鬥士向祢禱告。
應: 上主啊，我們祈求祢看顧這些生命鬥士，讓他們不單有堅毅的信心和鬥志，亦能夠得著其他同行者的支持與鼓勵，我們也祈求祢安慰他們的親友，在困苦日子中仍然充滿盼望與平安。
啟: 上主啊，我們今天再次為所有六四死難同胞和他們的親屬向祢禱告。
應: 上主啊，我們祈求祢不單撫平他們的傷痕和抹乾他們的眼淚，亦讓和平的種子在他們心中得以栽種，化成生命的新動力。
啟: 上主啊，我們祈求祢的聖靈繼續復興中華教會，在困難中仍能高舉基督的麾號。
應: 上主啊，不要使我們在安逸環境中迷失，幫助我們在祢的光照下作這黑暗世代的明燈，幫助我們從新得力，敢於在教會中發出公義的呼聲，不讓我們淪為不義政權的共謀者。
全體會眾: 上主啊，掌管歷史的上主啊，我們雖然明白中國的變革並非一朝一夕的事，但我們仍然祈求祢賜給我們積極勇敢的心志，忍耐奮鬥下去，終有一天得見合乎祢心意的國度降臨神州大地，奉主名求，阿們。

[link]

子女年幼時，我也曾給他們灌輸這種信仰。兒子五歲那年，他一個朋友來我家。那孩子一把抓住了我兒子的玩具，我兒子於是跑過來，投訴他朋友是多麼的自私。我告訴他，不要小題大作，我們應該分享玩具，友善待人。

數天後，我帶兒子到這朋友家裡去，我跟他的父母聊天。這一次，那孩子不肯讓我兒子分享其中一件玩具，我兒子於是跑過來，投訴他朋友是多麼自私。我告訴他，我們作客的，應該友善待人，不應小題大作。

這故事的教訓是：對錯不要緊，最要緊的是避免衝突。忙碌的父母最不想做的，是維護正義。正視自私的行為（尤其是別人的孩子），或促請對方家長好好管教兒女。於是最好的處理方法，就是教導孩子要友善待人。

Mark Galli，咄咄逼人的耶穌，頁51。

面對所謂的「和諧」，「友善」，「中立」；我們負擔得起「公義」「真理」的消失嗎？

Just read about Pixel Qi and its amazing innovation, not to invent new gadgets and technologies, but in making things better with the present-day machinery:

PixelQi’s screen technology represents a key breakthrough for the portable computer market, especially for low-cost devices — a screen that is readable in direct sunlight and more power efficient than current display technologies. Pixel Qi’s screen consumes 25%-50% of the power of a regular notebook screen in their power savings mode and will be available at comparable price points and volumes to standard LCD screens. Pixel Qi’s screen can be manufactured using the same fabrication machinery as conventional LCDs.

See how it kills the iPad:

And see how it compares with Kindle and Transflective LCD:

Mary Lou Jepsen, the founder of Pixel Qi, was the CTO for One Laptop Per Child (OLPC).

[link: Pixel Qi]