That's the sound of the fire alarm going off at a really high pitch around 11:16pm. I freaked out for a while, but quickly regained my composure and started looking for a possible cause that triggered the fire alarm. I checked my computer to make sure that it wasn't burning and next was the kitchen. Nothing seems to be capable of triggering the alarm. Then comes a knock on the door by a policeman, asking us to evacuate the building. Yes, the policeman did come by that fast and it has been less than 5 min since the alarm went off! Grabbed my passport, got out of my apartment, and began scanning the entire apartment block for possible sign of smoke.
Although I didn't see any smoke, but I did smell it. Further investigation (had a little chat with the policeman, funny and friendly guy) leads to a dude in Apartment #9 who accidentally burnt his late night grub. There goes one hungry and blushing dude trying to explain what happened to his snack to the firemen who came in 3 fire-trucks! After checking the apartment thoroughly, the firemen deemed the building safe and shut off the alarm. Everyone got back into their apartments and there was peace again. I only managed to get pictures of 2 fire-trucks before the firemen started to scurry us back into our respective apartments. Aw well, here they are....
"Viva la Vida", literally means live life or live the life in Spanish, but you can also translate it as long live life.
Besides being a really famous painting by Frida Kahlo, it is also the title of Coldplay's most recent song. I've always liked Coldplay's songs and when I heard for the 1st time on radio (I actually heard the song 1 month later), I was thrilled. As usual, their songs are catchy and always makes me wanna dance a little. Hehe.... And uncannily, I danced quite similarly to the MTV for "Viva la Vida" I saw on youtube. Totally weird!
In addition to it being catchy, the lyrics for this song had piqued my interest and the interest of others who have heard this song. People are wondering (including me after hearing this song for the 1st time) if this is an anti-Christ song, and being a Christian, I was concerned. So, I decided to do some investigating online.
I started by looking up the full lyrics for the song (I'll put the lyrics at the very bottom of this post). After reading up the full lyrics, it doesn't seem like an anti-Christ at all. In fact, the song sounded as if depicting the life of Jesus Christ on earth. However, one phrase in the song do bug me a lot, "For some reason I can't explain, I know Saint Peter won't call my name". So, I dug the Internet for more answers.
After googling it, I found a few resources that can enable me to figure out the closest meaning to the song. Chris Martin named this song and the album "Viva la Vida" because he was fascinated with Frida Kahlo's painting [1]. Besides that, judging by the album cover (taken from Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the people [2]) and the explainations from Yahoo! Answers [3], WikiAnswers [4] and Songfacts [5], the song could very well be depicting the life of Napolean. However, interestingly, another explaination from Yahoo! Answers [6] agreed with my idea of this song portraying the life of Christ.
Once again, I think Coldplay has composed another great song in my opinion. And as promised, the lyrics for "Viva la Vida"....
That's what happened to me just these past Sunday morning, 5am. I thought that I will never ever have such an experience again, but things just happen against your plans most of the time. I had diarrhea the whole Sunday. It was bad. I was throwing up about every 10-15 min or whenever I try to put some food into my stomach. Nothing I ate was digested, everything came out. It wasn't pretty. My stool was all liquid and I think there's blood in them. This is definitely one of the worst diarrhea I've ever have, if not the worst. At least I'm not hospitalized this time around.
Thank God for good friends! If He didn't send them to aid me, I think I could have ended up in the ER. They actually came to my place, cooked porridge for me, cleaned my place, prayed for me, got me medication and supplies to help me out my toughest time. They even made sure that I was actually resting well and feeling better before leaving me unattended. These are awesome friends! Thank you, God! I am such a lucky man!
As for now, I'm not fully cured of my diarrhea yet. I still have diarrhea, but at the least, I'm not throwing up anymore. My friend took me to the doctor the very next day after my diarrhea symptoms have resided a little. Doctor said that I might have bloody diarrhea (I've been trying to tell her that it definitely is, but she won't listen), so she asked me for a stool sample to be sent to the lab for culture. Results will be out on Friday. Until then I guess I'll have to bear with the diarrhea that still lingers in me. Got to use the bathroom now. Ciao!
Recently, a good friend's dad just passed on. It was very sudden, perhaps a little too sudden for someone who has always been healthy. Having no history of cardiorespiratory arrest in the family, he had a heart attack and was with the Lord 3 days ago. According to my friend, he's doing well, but his mom isn't. My condolence to the family and I pray that the Lord will provide relieve and comfort them.
Girl, girl, can you hear me, girl? Laura 2.0 is not responding to me. *sob*
For those who doesn't who know Laura 2.0, she's actually my laptop. Yes, she has a name. Recently, Laura 2.0 has been acting weird (laggy), I thought it was either spyware or virus. I did thorough scans in order to figure out what's wrong with her. Nothing came up, she was fine and dandy. However, on Sunday, she just stopped working. I tried turning on the power, but every time I only get a faint power signal then it disappears. I tried everything in my knowledge to revive her, but all seems to be in vain. *sob*
I will be seeking help from "professionals" about her condition, but for now, thank you Laura 2.0 for spending almost 3 years with me. Good bye....
A friend recent posted an old video from a church youth camp. LOL! I can't stop laughing watching myself. ROFL! I think I was about 15 years old back then, who knows? Anyway, enjoy!
Well, I guess I will be graduating at the end of 2008. I prayed and tried looking for co-op/internship in the USA for the past 5 months. However, unfortunately for me, most companies only hire US citizens for those positions. Or at least that is what most of the companies said after trying to offer me the co-op/internship positions because they thought I was American. As soon as they found out that I was not a US citizen, they dropped me like a hot potato. Sigh....
Anyway, I was told by "professional" advisors and several friends that it is normal for US companies to not hire internationals for co-op/internship. Maybe the poor economy in US is partly to be blamed. Oh well.... I am sure God knows what He is doing because He has always been taking care of all my needs. I really thank God for that, less stressful and does wonders to keep pimples off my face :P
Ah, to tie the knot, pledging to live for one another, in sickness and in health, for better or worse until the very last breath. I have loaded some pictures below, enjoy and congrats Kar Ho and Libby!
Wedding at Talon Winery & Vineyards, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Hi, everyone! Welcome to Jordan's Little World of Whatever! It has been a long time since I had last blogged. To read some of my old blogs, here is the link: http://jordan_quah.blogs.friendster.com/jlog/
There are a few reasons why I believe that I should start blogging again, but the main reason is to past the time without wasting it. I realized that my standard of English has been deteriorating little by little since coming to the United States of America.
The people of the world always think of the United States of America as high and mighty in every aspect. In most cases, they are right. However, written English is not one of them. Studying in the University of Kentucky has made me realized that. I have seen many spelling and grammatical errors in the notes and reports of both students and professors.
This is not to say that I have never made any written errors, it would be like the pot calling the kettle black if I did. However, the extent of their errors is beyond comprehension. At one time, I had to use MS Word's spell check for my team member's part of the project report, just to get a vague idea of it's content. It is THAT BAD!
Although I have "painted" a gloom picture of America's written English, this is not to be confused or mistaken that all Americans have horrendous written English. This is merely my perspective of the level of the written English in my university. However, it is hard not to believe that many Americans can hardly write proper English when there are so many "intellectual" people with atrocious written English. Or maybe, it is just Kentucky, where I am at currently.
Well, I guess that is all the blogging for now. I have to prepare for a friend's wedding tomorrow. Pictures, pictures, picture! Ciao!
PS: Do correct me on my English if you find any error. Thanks!
