…to be working in a parish?

After two and a half weeks, my answer hasn’t changed since the first day. It’s exciting, it’s challenging yet it’s strangely relaxing and reassuring. Above it all, it’s brought me closer to God, both literally and figuratively. Ultimately, I think it’s great that by writing about my current work, it might inspire other parishes in Singapore to adopt a similar style of empowering the laity, according to their needs. Blogging about work… how quaint!

Now the Catholic Church has, for the past four decades, been advocating an increase in lay movement in the Church. That is to say, to allow the regular Catholic to play a bigger role and lighten the burden of many a parish priest. The Church of St. Mary of the Angels achieves just that by hiring more than a handful of permanent staff to oversee the daily going-ons in the parish. This isn’t to say that the priest is made redundant, on the contrary, he’s now freed to be even more flexible when handling the affairs of the parish.

I’m working in the Youth and Young Adults Office, an exciting place to be as all sorts of programmes and events are being planned and prepared by the full-time youth worker. I help him out by creating a database for all the youth of the parish, as well as helping him prepare sessions for his youth leaders.

As a youth leader myself, this ‘immersion’ of sorts comes at a most opportune time. A chance for me to absorb as much as I can, learn both the advantages and disadvantages of certain decisions, and hopefully be able to implement certain changes in the parish of Holy Family.

It’s going to be an exciting month.

Wayne Seah
Gone too soon.

Arguably the most down-to-earth, charismatic, influential and daredevil band in Singapore’s history has lost one of its members.

The Suns were a huge replacement for Electrico last year at NTU’s Welfare Fest. As with all events organised on campus, technical difficulties abounded, but The Suns kept their cool and did what they came to do - entertain. When lead vocalist Sanjeev Veloo aka San Singer had a problem with his guitar - the string broke, I believe - Wayne came up and did a smashing five-minute non-stop drum solo that just got even the most laid-back person in attendance clapping and cheering. You almost thought the guitar incident was planned just so that Wayne’s ability could be showcased. There and then, Wayne proved that what made The Suns so popular Down Under was how each member was a talented musician in their own right. They were pioneers of the local rock music scene and they were home to stay.

Rest in peace, Wayne.

My semi-annual Fear post.

It’s odd, you know. Just when you thought your life was on track, doors seemed to be opening and things just started to fall into place, God has to throw you a curve ball and remind you that ultimately, He decides what’s important for your life and it’s your decision to accept His will or to fight for what you think you deserve.

I’m doing the former, of course, but that doesn’t make the choice any easier to make. But let’s put all these things in perspective, shall we?

My teens received the Sacrament of Confirmation yesterday evening, the end of a 3.5 year catechetical journey with my team of catechists and I and the start of their new life as adult Catholics. The whole Mass went extremely well, with the worst hiccups happening only because I lost my mind and jumped the gun at two occasions. When the Mass ended, I don’t recall being that emotionally high for at least a whole year. There was an extreme sense of satisfaction, of fulfillment and of sheer joy.

The reception that was held after that felt like the after-party of a graduation ceremony. Teens were taking photos, exchanging gifts and cards, just reveling in the feel-good atmosphere throughout the function hall.

And there I was, allowing my heart to go off-tangent, like it always does.

I wasn’t supposed to be falling so hard for anyone, anymore. But I did. And it was a really bad feeling that I hadn’t felt for a long, LONG time and one that I’m glad I know how to get over. Because the truth is, I don’t need any of this any more, and yet a part of me still longs so much for it. A part of me that still dreams of what-could’ve-been, and keeps on living with regrets and what-ifs. A part of me that still defines happiness according to my selfish, ego-serving, envy-driven wants.

It’s a painful reminder, but one that I realise I will keep having to face on this semi-regular basis. For God has plans for me that are not my plans. His ways are not my ways, and His will is what I have to cling to no matter how much pride I have to submerge just to do so. There’s a lot of me that I will have to die to in order to be filled with His love.

Will things ever change? Check back in about 6 months for my semi-annual Fear post.

Otherwise known as the long-overdue “I could be doing something else” meme.

What you have to do is to list any 6 weird things about yourself, then tag 6 other people to do this meme. Noel tagged me, so I shall do it anyway.

In no particular order of weird-ness:

1. I get very upset when I get asked a question that I cannot answer immediately. This is especially so if it’s a question that I should know the answer to. This usually applies to trivia questions and often involves remembering the name of a particular person. You can therefore imagine how upset I often get during You Don’t Know Jack. Heh.

2. In a restaurant, if my plate isn’t cleared when I’m done, I will keep on eating every last grain. Yes, indeed. I think it’s a dog thing, needing to clear up one’s plate before being satisfied. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen when it’s only a meal for two - I have the common sense then to head into conversation to occupy me instead.

3. I have a fascination with most things chivalrous. The movie Dragonheart was a huge influence on me for the longest time, because of the oath mentioned in the flick. To this day, I’m still stuck on the line “His might upholds the weak”. And yes, I still open doors for women, offer to carry their bags and (when I remember to) pull out their chairs for them to sit. All this even when they don’t appreciate it.

4. I really enjoy administrative work. I enjoy sitting at a desk for hours on a computer. I enjoy word processing, working with spreadsheets and databases, resolving basic IT issues (the more complex ones I refer to direcow) and just being an all-round Microsoft Office enthusiast. I’m REALLY weird that way, I guess.

5. I cannot believe how much of a mid-level geek at heart I am. True, I may wear a Starfleet costume to donate blood but I sure as heck do not seek to learn Klingon as a conversational language. I am a huge Marvel Comics fan, but I can’t quote to you exactly who was an Avenger in the 1990s. I love my wrestling storylines and WWE in general, but I can never remember who was champion, say in 2001, or who he fought at that year’s Wrestlemania. In fact, the only thing I’m geeky about is my Catholic faith… and even then I can’t quote to you the exact Scripture passage to substantiate my beliefs. I truly am a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

6. I dream in story arcs. There are times when I’m forced to wake up early in the middle of a dream. If I recall the dream vividly and feel that it did not end to my satisfaction, then I will make it a point to dream from where I left off the next time I go to sleep. This can go on for a couple of days at a time. More recently, I’ve been having more vivid dreams that seem to take place in the same ‘dreamscape’. That is, I feel like I’m another person in another universe, and when I dream, I am always the same person in that universe. My dream counterpart is expecting his second child, by the way. The irony of course is that I can never remember the name of the child’s mother.

Okay, that’s done. In turn, I will tag slayer, direcow, kakita, raydance, bubbeemommee and hei, for the fun of it.

If there’s one thing I hope never changes for us as friends - it’s how the little things keep our group dynamic going. Whether it be an episode of “Heroes”, a game of “Primordial Soup”, or a huge movie event like “Spider-Man 3″, I hope there will always be something that we all enjoy, but appreciate at different levels.

Nothing describes this better than the way we all felt differently about “Spider-Man 3″, the latest and arguably the most anticipated comic book movie yet. Even though we all believed it was a decent movie despite the draggy plot and distinct lack of characterisation, we all had different gripes that were just impossible to find a consensus on.

My own distaste was the handling of Harry Osborne, whom I had felt had the most potential to be the biggest villian in the Spider-Man film series. Harry had lost so much do to his relationship with Peter Parker, including the change of heart of Mary Jane and the death of his father Norman Osborne, that you could feel his genuine hatred for Spider-Man. Yet, tempered by his sincere admiration and mutual respect for Peter Parker, and you had the makings of a conflicted villain. For a while, this seemed to be the path that director Sam Raimi followed. However, the plot saw Harry’s life take one turn after another, and instead of birthing a nemesis so tragic that Spider-Man would be torn fighting, what followed was an inexplicable about-face that saw the New Goblin as an ally rather than an opponent.

Because every argument needed two sides, I eventually found myself facing-off against kakita, who didn’t feel the way I did because, by his own admission, he was never really aware of the tragedy of Harry Osborne as depicted in the comics and television animated series. And of course, instead of dwelling on the movie’s character, we naturally gravitated to discussing the difficulty of transferring the Green Goblin suit from the comics to the silver screen without making it look like a campy, non-threatening outfit.

All because, at the end of the day, our friendship, all 9 of us present today, is made up of not only deep philosophical tirades, but also simple fanboy debates about issues that we all enjoy and are passionate about. I couldn’t ask for more.