Above all else

I happen to have a few friends who run in high circles - really nice people, but, yeah, high circles. Over the years, this has caused some comedy (for me).  Once I had a fancy dinner with a group of them, and as the youngest among them at that time, they graciously offered me first pick at the dish. This big tray of ice turns up, and the guy next to me says, go ahead! And I think, go ahead and do what?  I'm half about to grab some ice and dump it on my plate when he points out the pale thin slices lying camouflaged on the ice. He says, laughing, it's lobster. I think, ooh. I pick out a slice and enthusiastically dunk it in my soup to cook. NO WAIT, he yells, too late. It's sashimi :D I sometimes catch myself thinking, do these people genuinely think I comprehend what they're going on about? My family and I just had a short trip with our daughter who's studying abroad (on scholarship yay!). Someone casually suggested to me - while you're there, you should take a ...

Fair warning - today's blog will contain both Star Wars and Marvel references, so... y'know. Nerd alert. In some classic scenes from Star Wars, Lando Calrissian betrays his friend Han Solo to the arch-villain Darth Vader, in return for Darth Vader leaving his city alone.  After Lando hands over Han Solo, Darth Vader informs Lando of some additional conditions - Han Solo will be surrendered to a bounty hunter, and Lando must keep Han Solo's companions, Princess Leia and Chewbacca, under indefinite house arrest. When Lando pipes up that this was never part of the deal, Darth Vader threateningly asks Lando if he thinks he is being unfairly dealt with. Lando backs down, but grumbles to himself that "this deal is getting worse all the time".  Shortly thereafter, Darth Vader changes the deal again - this time he tells Lando that he must surrender Princess Leia and Chewbacca to Darth Vader's custody. When Lando objects, Darth Vader ominously rumbles - "I'm a...

When people talk about leaving the past behind, we often have in mind bad things that we want to forget. A broken relationship, a bad job, or perhaps some personal or financial loss.  In the well known verses in Isaiah 43:18-19, God says to the Israelites "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." One might think that God was making the point that the Israelites should leave behind their disappointments and failures - the "wilderness" and "wasteland", and look forward to a brighter future.  But at church service yesterday, it was pointed out that the preceding verses actually explain what it was that God was telling the Israelites to forget.  Isaiah 43:16-17 says "This is what the LORD says - he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the arm...

It's an amazing thing to build a great team and achieve success. What's much harder is to keep that success going. Sports teams provide a few apt examples. As a Liverpool fan, it grates mightily to use this example, but... Sir Alex Ferguson was manager of Manchester United football club from 1986 to 2013. When he first took over, the club was second from bottom in a league of 22 teams. By the end of the season, he had hauled them to 11th. Even after that, success didn't quickly materialise. It was 1993, seven years after his appointment, and after many ups and downs, that Manchester United finally ended their 26-year wait to be league champions again. Though his 1993 breakthrough success was fantastic, what was even more amazing was that he kept the club successful for another twenty years after that. Ferguson continously rebuilt and refreshed his teams, succeeding goalkeeper Schmeichel with van de Sar; transitioning from the stoic defence led by Bruce and Pallister, to th...

No, not the TV series!  The wife and I were driving out one night, when she asked me to help her adjust the rear view mirror. I'm quite a bit taller than her, so whenever she takes the wheel after I was the last person to drive the car, she has to wiggle the mirror into the right position.  But this time, try as she might, she couldn't seem to adjust it to see behind her. So I tried to adjust the mirror for her, while she stopped by the side of the road just outside our place. But I couldn't do it either - the mirror just seemed to be unable to show the rear window. It was utterly mystifying! Then it struck me. I adjusted the mirror to look straight into it and realised that I couldn't even see my own face. Even more creepy! After I discarded the momentary (and alarming) thought that I'd somehow turned into the Asian Edward Cullen (the angst ridden Twilight vampire for all you non-teen fiction fans XD), I realised that the mirror had been blackened.  Just as I was e...

In this modern age of the selfie, I have become ever more conscious of my near-complete lack of physical self-awareness, in the sense of how I look to others. Some people just know how to stand, how much to tilt their heads, where to put their hands, or whatever it is that makes them look like they're authoritative/cool/sexy in their corporate profile/Zoom window/Instagram stream :D  Me? If I were to attempt any of those shenanigans, I would look like my left shoulder was in my right sleeve, while my head is lolling off in the opposite direction. I think it's some kind of physical spatial dyslexia. As a result, any half-reasonable photo of me essentially requires me to keep it simple, look straight at the camera with a goofy grin, and no going off-script please! When I was in university, I once joined a dance competition with some hall friends, in a fit of YOLO/insanity. After months of incredibly patient instruction by my friends, I managed to hone my skills to become not quit...