OOOOOkkkkk

OK...too another SHORT test..and got the SAME result...are the tests really conclusive at all? We'll see as I retake them or look for other ones as time passes.

http://bloginality.love-productions.com/index2.php

You are an ISFJ!

As an ISFJ, you are Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Judging.
This makes your primary focus on Introverted Sensing with Extraverted Feeling.
This is defined as a SJ personality, which is part of Carl Jung's Guardian (Security Seeking) type, and more specifically the Protectors or Nurturer.
In blogging, your journal will always be immaculate and have a touch of style. You may also feel overwhelmed because you want to be a part of everything going on. Because of your wonderful memory, other bloggers may come to you to ask about things you posted months before.

PS: LOL...my blogs dont have much style though. And though I do remember certain events, when its mixed up with bad ones, I wipe them ALL out in one go....a bit sad cos I hardly remember much good stuff, but then its necessary when you wanna 'delete' the unwanted ones.

Design Assignment

Part of my course requirement is that I work in a team and therefore need to realise and appreciate the different personalities I will encounter. Hopefully by doing so, I can then work towards a better team environment. So we were asked to take this personality test to first find out who WE ourselves are.
Im just gonna post this up, and try to take the test again, to see how consistent the results are. I got it from this website:
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes3.asp

Your Type is
ISFJ
Introverted Sensing Feeling Judging
Strength of the preferences % 22 12 38 56

Qualitative analysis of your type formula
You are:
slightly expressed introvert
slightly expressed sensing personality
moderately expressed feeling personality
moderately expressed judging personality

ISFJs are characterized above all by their desire to serve others, their "need to be needed." In extreme cases, this need is so strong that standard give-and-take relationships are deeply unsatisfying to them; however, most ISFJs find more than enough with which to occupy themselves within the framework of a normal life. (Since ISFJs, like all SJs, are very much bound by the prevailing social conventions, their form of "service" is likely to exclude any elements of moral or political controversy; they specialize in the local, the personal, and the practical.)

ISFJs are often unappreciated, at work, home, and play. Ironically, because they prove over and over that they can be relied on for their loyalty and unstinting, high-quality work, those around them often take them for granted--even take advantage of them. Admittedly, the problem is sometimes aggravated by the ISFJs themselves; for instance, they are notoriously bad at delegating ("If you want it done right, do it yourself"). And although they're hurt by being treated like doormats, they are often unwilling to toot their own horns about their accomplishments because they feel that although they deserve more credit than they're getting, it's somehow wrong to want any sort of reward for doing work (which is supposed to be a virtue in itself). (And as low-profile Is, their actions don't call attention to themselves as with charismatic Es.) Because of all of this, ISFJs are often overworked, and as a result may suffer from psychosomatic illnesses.

In the workplace, ISFJs are methodical and accurate workers, often with very good memories and unexpected analytic abilities; they are also good with people in small-group or one-on-one situations because of their patient and genuinely sympathetic approach to dealing with others. ISFJs make pleasant and reliable co-workers and exemplary employees, but tend to be harried and uncomfortable in supervisory roles. They are capable of forming strong loyalties, but these are personal rather than institutional loyalties; if someone they've bonded with in this way leaves the company, the ISFJ will leave with them, if given the option. Traditional careers for an ISFJ include: teaching, social work, most religious work, nursing, medicine (general practice only), clerical and and secretarial work of any kind, and some kinds of administrative careers.

While their work ethic is high on the ISFJ priority list, their families are the centers of their lives. ISFJs are extremely warm and demonstrative within the family circle--and often possessive of their loved ones, as well. When these include Es who want to socialize with the rest of the world, or self-contained ITs, the ISFJ must learn to adjust to these behaviors and not interpret them as rejection. Being SJs, they place a strong emphasis on conventional behavior (although, unlike STJs, they are usually as concerned with being "nice" as with strict propriety); if any of their nearest and dearest depart from the straight-and-narrow, it causes the ISFJ major embarrassment: the closer the relationship and the more public the act, the more intense the embarrassment (a fact which many of their teenage children take gleeful advantage of). Over time, however, ISFJs usually mellow, and learn to regard the culprits as harmless eccentrics :-). Needless to say, ISFJs take infinite trouble over meals, gifts, celebrations, etc., for their loved ones--although strong Js may tend to focus more on what the recipient should want rather than what they do want.

Like most Is, ISFJs have a few, close friends. They are extremely loyal to these, and are ready to provide emotional and practical support at a moment's notice. (However, like most Fs they hate confrontation; if you get into a fight, don't expect them to jump in after you. You can count on them, however, run and get the nearest authority figure.) Unlike with EPs, the older the friendship is, the more an ISFJ will value it. One ISFJ trait that is easily misunderstood by those who haven't known them long is that they are often unable to either hide or articulate any distress they may be feeling. For instance, an ISFJ child may be reproved for "sulking," the actual cause of which is a combination of physical illness plus misguided "good manners." An adult ISFJ may drive a (later ashamed) friend or SO into a fit of temper over the ISFJ's unexplained moodiness, only afterwards to explain about a death in the family they "didn't want to burden anyone with." Those close to ISFJs should learn to watch for the warning signs in these situations and take the initiative themselves to uncover the problem.

Found this while Browsing

I was just checking out how many chrisitian denominations there are....you wouldnt guess it. At least 27 000. Look up
http://www.shasta.com/sphaws/denominations.html

Anyway, from this site, I went to
http://web.archive.org/web/20030604071746/http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ429.HTM

In there, I found this

"In the same period, St. Augustine - the greatest of all the Fathers and highly regarded by Luther, Calvin and most Protestants - clearly teaches that there exists a Tradition of the Church which is extrascriptural (11) and, in some cases, not even yet dealt with in ecumenical Councils. (12) For example, he mentions the rebaptism of heretics and schismatics as a practice which is contrary to apostolic Tradition, even though the matter had not been written about. He opposes rebaptism (over against the Donatist heresy) because it is not in accordance with the practice "kept by the whole Church everywhere and handed down by the Apostles themselves." (13) Thus, for St. Augustine, the authority of the Church, derived from apostolic Tradition, is normative and final. This is exactly the opposite of the Protestant view, which regards Scripture as somehow the final arbiter (even though it still has to be interpreted by someone authoritatively).
St. Vincent of Lerins, writing c.434, soon after St. Augustine's death, makes the same point about the necessity of Church authority and interpretation, since,
. . . quite plainly, Sacred Scripture, by reason of its own depth, is not accepted by everyone as having one and the same meaning . . . it can almost appear as if there are as many opinions as there are men. (14)
Thus, all the essential components of the Catholic view of Scripture and Tradition are in place within the first 400 years of the Church's existence, and this was the unanimous Christian view until the time of the rise of Protestantism in the 16th century. The constant Catholic teaching was strongly reaffirmed and presented even more explicitly in the Council of Trent in 1546 (15) and the Second Vatican Council in 1965. (16)

Martin Luther, who essentially originated the notion of sola Scriptura, did so somewhat reluctantly and gradually, as dictated by unfortunate circumstances (viewed from his perspective). In his examination at Augsburg in October, 1518 he placed the Bible (that is, his interpretation of it) above the pope, but still admitted the equal authority of Councils. In the Leipzig Disputation with Catholic apologist Johann Eck in July, 1519, he was more or less forced in the heat of debate to place the authority of Scripture above that of Councils as well. Even in this instance he tried in vain to evade the consequences of the inner logic of his own theological position. This evolution is well-documented in many Protestant biographies of Luther.

In the final analysis, both Luther and Calvin espoused a radically subjective and experiential method of determining Christian truth which is somewhat contradictory and not even strictly in harmony with a sola Scriptura perspective, since the interpretational supremacy of the individual (itself an unbiblical notion) is accepted as an unproven axiom. This overly-idealistic assumption was shown to be evidently false in Luther's own lifetime, and all the more so since. In 1522 Luther said that Christians must not regard the "opinion of all Christendom," but that "each one for himself alone" must believe the Scriptures. (17) Later, however, he set up a State Church which operated on markedly authoritarian principles diametrically opposed to his earlier, more radical and subjective stance."

Lots more intereseting stuff there.

1 Peter 4:8-9

"Above everything, love one another earnestly, because love covers over many sins"

In black and white, put so simply, yet so hard to implement. What if you loved people so much the only way you could think of to not anger them is to avoid them? What if you feel you dont know how people have changed you no longer know how to approach them and you feel you should just take your chances not approaching them? But is this the easy way out? What if your exterior actions dont match your interior emotions? Does fake love count as love because you want to do the right thing?

NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth itNOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth itNOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth itNOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it NOT worth it

People who think they are righteous and force their values upon others can never be approached. They have been fed compliments and praises and when their authority is questioned, you will see how they defend themselves. Worst thing is, they think they can provide the best solution, advice and opinion thus influencing others. But as someone who was an indirect victim to this careless 'consultation' you only feel sad for them. You know they are not perfect, but they act as if they are.

21st April

Does anyone know what the significance of today is? :) 2 of my Pakuranga and uni buddies I've known since 2003 buddies got together this day 2 years ago but I didnt realise it until I spent almost an afternoon out with them. Where did we go? (Yes, only 3 of us, talk about being a thrid wheel :P) Musick point! To be honest, they didnt make me feel like a 'lamp post' at all. D and L are nice people la...I think if they hadnt called me out,I wouldnt have done anything interesting today. Kinda nice that Im their occasional unofficial photographer. I did feel kinda bad at times because I know they werent doing 'couple' things due to my presence.
Erm...I didnt take any pictures, wished I did though....but truly, it was a little adventure in itself. The exploration of the coast along the peninsula of Eastern and Bucklands beach. The ragged edges along the cliff, the sliced rocks, the hidden caves, the melting of the sun into the horizon....its like we're small blobs of paint in a huge canvas of a masterpiece. We cant see the Artist, but you know there's one. Masterpieces don't just come about without love and effort.

The Minstry of Music

Liturgy: The public prayer of the church
I realise I've been plagerising alot lately, but I think the reason I do this is so that I can get rid of all the pieces of paper hanging around my table. Then one day, I hope to spend my golden years reading back what I wrote. Watch if I've grown, if I deteriorated, if I've become worst...yea...so this is what I got in the workshop last sunday afternoon at 3pm.
I think its a poem.

"Yours is a share,
in the work of the Lord's spirit,
who draws us together as one,who makes harmony out of discord,
who sings in our hearts, the lyric of all that is holy.
Yours is the joy of sounding that first note which brings the assembly to its feet,
ready to praise God.
Yours is to impart a "quality of joy and enthusiasm that cannot be gained in any other way"
Yours is a ministry that reaches the deepest recesses of the human heart;
your work is soul-stirring. Yours is none other than the Lord's song;
you draw us into that canticle of divine praise sung throughout the ages in the halls of heaven.
You help us respond to God's word, to acclaim the Gospel, to sing of our salvation of Christ.
Yours is a ministry that gathers so many voices into one grand choir of praise.

Come to your work from your personal prayer.
Let your rehearsals begin with prayer in common.
Let your practise be marked by unanimity in spirit and in ideals.
Be gentle in correcting one another:
The kingdom will not fall on one flatted note.
Open your choir to those whom the Lord has blessed with mmusical gifts;
help the not-so-gifted discern the talents that are theirs.
Rehearse the Lord's song with the reverance it is due. Take care to study the scriptures for the liturgy in which you will serve;
know well the word that calls forth our praise.
Let the lyrics of your songs be strong, tru and rooted in the scriptures; those who sing the Lord's word sing the Lord's song.
Make no room for the trite, the maudlin, the sentimental.
Open your hearts and voices to new songs worthy of God's people at prayer.
Let your repertoire change as all living things must,
but not so much that the song of God's people is lost.

Be ambitious for the higher gifts, but not beyond your gifts;
respect the range of talent the Lord has given you and your community.
Think first of the assembly's song, for this is the song you serve.
Let your music be always the servant of the Lord of God's people,
of the divine service they offer.
Let the service of your music complement but never overshadow the people's ritual prayer,and your art a gift.
Let technique become no idol, but a tool for honing the beauty of your gift.

Remember that your ministry is ever an emptying out of yourself;
when the solo is assigned to another, let that singer's offering become your prayer.
When no comments on the new motet, be thankful that your work led the people to God,
not you. When the assembly will not sing,be patient with them and with yourselves;
the Lord's song is sometimes a quiet one, and silence precedes every hymn.
Waste no time wondering, "Do you think they liked it?" but ask at all tiems,
"Did it help them and all of us to pray?" When your ministry leads you to music, it has led you astray. When the ministry leads you to the Lord, it has brought you home.

When your brothers and sisters thank and praise you for your work, take delight in the song their prayer has become and rejoice in its work the Lord has accomplished through you.
Be faithful in the work you do, for through it the Lord saves his people."

Thats enough typing on my part! Have a good holiday peeps!

General

I've read a couple of blogs and realise that blogging can actually crush human communication in so many levels. Rather than relate to a friend in person what happen, or cry out your problems to a person, it has become a dumping ground of frustration, sadness, insecurites and anger. People face trouble with friendships and instead of dealing with the problem, they type it out neatly and click the 'Publish Post' button. Hey, I'm guilty for all the above by the way. It didnt use to be that way. I think by blogging, you sorta release some of the guilt you feel when you've screwed up, but because you're too 'high up', too 'egoistic', too 'always right', too 'Im wiser', you feel by typing down what MAY be your fault into a publicly accessible blog, thinking the other party involved is gonna read about it anyway, hopefully things will go back to normal, and if they don't who cares? I used to bother too much about apologising when I made mistake, then I met people who just wanna release some 'pent up' anger and with a swing of a wand, "VOILA"everything goes back to normal. Na, Im gonna try something else this time....

On another note, I know this is too little too late, but having heard my car-pool buddies talk about THE notebook..yes..I JUST watched it, I don't think its half as bad as I thought it to be. People will say, it's so hollywood, the main female character seems to act an impulse and she has 2 men after her, waiting hand and foot. But surprise surprise, it has some realism imbued into it. Im sure of the many people you know, there's a friend, a so and so who's in 'love' with this other girl who already has a boyfriend. Sure people can criticize the movie and say its all about self-fulfilment, about impulse, but this only shows how easily we all succumb to temptation. Its a bit ironic that within this fairy tale of a story, we actually find its a very 'human tale'.

Your Seduction Style: The Natural

You don't really try to seduce people... it just seems to happen. Fun loving and free spirited, you bring out the inner child in people. You are spontaneous, sincere, and unpretentious - a hard combo to find! People drop their guard around you, and find themselves falling fast.

What Is Your Seduction Style?

I've Never Done This Before

I've never had SO much difficulty talking to someone on the phone. So I return this person's call, she asks me why I dont wanna go for this camp coming up.
I give my reason. She replies and replies and replies and replies. I try to emphasize that she has the wrong idea.....no...she continues with the same thing again and again and again...Is she listening? Nope.
As I type this, I've placed the handset on the table next to the laptop (she's still talking) She doesnt even know I've stopped listening. Its been 3 minutes...I'll check the handset. No sound on the other side.

Something Else To Read

Forwarded Mail can contain important things after all! Thanks, Evangeline.
In an interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond, In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body - but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to
spend trillion of years in eternity.

This is the warm-up act, the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity . We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one or you're getting ready to
go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in! making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ-likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you got to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain."

But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her
character , given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people...You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.

Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for you to
own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to
fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan - to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick , and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my! bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better ...God didn't put me on earth just to fulfil a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

I always told myself I'd give this testimonial one day, just didnt think it'd be so soon. I developed a habit of praying before I drove to my destination, and till today, I have had no physical accidents with other vehicles. Today, a van backed into the side of my car where my front wheel was. The dent ....not sure how big it is wasnt that severe. The lady was so sorry. The thing is, my car was stationary when it happened cos I was filling the tires with air.
A few weeks ago, I replaced my front tires. So today, when I tried pumping them, I realised there was adequate air in the front right tire, so I continued to pump the back tyres. I was on my last tyre when she hit me. She got out, kept on saying sorry, and said she didnt realise my car was there. It didnt come to me until she said "You were pumping your tyres? Luckily you werent pumping that one" And she pointed at the front left one. Cos if I was there, I would have probably been hit by her. And to think at the split second my car was hit, all I could think of was why God chose to let this happen to me on THIS night, right after I spent 7 hours in a christian convention, trying to get right with Him, and feeling happy and satisfied about it too.....I blame Him too much. Too, too much.
Father,I'm so, so, so,sorry, I'll continue to pray, for my safety when Im in the car, and for the safety of its occupants.

Ever had someone whom you thought you could openly discuss matters with and not fear of being judged? I learnt the hard way that EVERYONE will be defensive about something no matter how hard they 'try' to be open. There are somethings people just already have a mindset on and when questioned, they just bring out their guns, ready to fire. Who doesnt have an ego? Who likes it when people ask questions about something that is 'sacred' to them? No one...how naive I am.

Trust

You hear that the world would be a better place if its inabitants loved each other more. How true, but I think we're forgetting the importance of trust. I think there can be no love without trust. I KNOW if there was enough trust in another man, there'd be no need for lawyers.
"Did you rob this lady?" No
"Did you steal this car?" Yes
No need for a jury, no need for lawyers, just a judge.
Is trust an emotion that cant be controlled? Is it an understanding that is nurtured through time? I don't know. Im no expert. I have been put in positions where I HAVE to trust someone. I wish it didnt have to be that way, since when you HAVE to do something, it is done unwillingly. Yet in the past, I havent been able to wisely judge when I could trust someone. Also in the past, I havent been able to prove that I could be trusted. My my...the things I type when I've had caffeine and desperate to fall asleep. Caught in the twilight of inability to do work due to zombiefication and the want for the comfort of the soft pillow caressing my cheeks before I fall asleep.
Come to me my blanket!

Passing of Pope John Paul II

From thestar.com.my
"In this day of world leaders who tell us what their handlers think we want to hear, who don't open their mouths without checking the polls and focus groups, John Paul was clearly different," said a commentary from America, a New York-based Catholic weekly.

From nzherald.co.nz
STANISLAW WITEK, 56, AN ELECTRICIAN IN THE POPE’S HOMETOWN OF WADOWICE:
"I have work waiting for me in Belgium, but I think I’ll be going to Rome. I cannot explain it. I’ve never met him, but he is someone who simply radiates a force. There has never been such a Pole as him and there will never be. "

JERZY URBAN, EX-SPOKESMAN OF POLAND’S PAST COMMUNIST RULERS:
"As a godless atheist I never cared much for the church or the papacy. I disliked the fact that the papacy bore down so heavily on Poland. Now I fear that a cult will emerge after his death."

BERTIE AHERN, IRISH PRIME MINISTER
"I wonder whether all the changes would have happened in eastern Europe if he’d not been there for the last quarter of a century. I don’t think it would have. I think he had a powerful influence on that change."

JOHN HOWARD, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER
"The contribution that he made to the freeing of his native Poland, and what was set in train ultimately leading to the collapse of Soviet communism, is one of the more remarkable features of his life. The world has lost one of the dominant personal influences of my generation and indeed of many years."

HELEN CLARK, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER:
"I think it is a time of tremendous sadness, not only for the world’s Roman Catholic community, but for the whole world knowing the very powerful messages around peace and democracy which the Pope brought to the world for many years."

Chronological Events

May 18, 1920 -- Born Karol Jozef Wojtyla, in Wadowice, Poland, second son of a retired Polish army sergeant and a mother of Lithuanian origin.

1942 -- After losing all members of his immediate family, he decides to become a priest and studies secretly for ordination during the Nazi occupation.

Nov 1, 1946 -- Ordained in Krakow, completes studies at pontifical universities in Rome and returns to Poland.

Sept 28, 1958 -- Consecrated assistant Bishop of Krakow.

Jan 13, 1964 -- Named Archbishop of Krakow.

June 26, 1967 -- Created a cardinal by Pope Paul VI.

Oct 16, 1978 -- Elected the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years. His pontificate begins officially six days later.

June 2-10, 1979 -- Returns to his communist-ruled homeland, a trip seen as a factor in the rise of the Solidarity movement.

May 13, 1981 -- Pope is shot by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca in St Peter's Square. Surgery saves his life.

May 12, 1982 -- Rebel Spanish priest Juan Fernandez Krohn tries to stab the Pope in Fatima, Portugal. He is not hurt.

June 8-14, 1987 -- In his third visit to his homeland, the Pope strongly defends the banned Solidarity trade union.

June 25, 1987 -- The Pope receives Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, angering Jews who accused him of Nazi war crimes and plunging Catholic-Jewish relations to lowest point in 25 years.

Dec 1, 1989 -- Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev invites Pope to visit Soviet Union. The Pope steps up re-establishment of Church hierarchy throughout the East Bloc.

April 21, 1990 -- The Pope flies to Czechoslovakia to hail the collapse of communism with President Vaclav Havel.

Oct 18, 1990 -- At a Vatican synod, the Pope rules out a married priesthood.

July 15, 1992 -- Pope undergoes major surgery to remove an intestinal tumour the size of an orange.

Oct 31, 1992 -- After 359 years, Pope rehabilitates Galileo, condemned by the Church for saying Earth turns around the sun.

Nov 11, 1992 -- The Anglican Church's decision to allow women priests brings relations with the Vatican to a new low.

Dec 7, 1992 -- Pope issues the Roman Catholic Church's new universal Catechism -- the first in nearly five centuries.

Dec 28, 1993 -- The Vatican and Israel forge full diplomatic ties in the most important move towards ending nearly 2,000 years of distrust and hostility between Christians and Jews.

April 28, 1994 -- Pope slips in his bath and breaks right thigh bone.

Oct 17, 1994 -- Pope becomes best-selling author with publication of the book "Crossing the Threshold of Faith".

May 17, 1995 -- On the eve of his 75th birthday, the Pope rules out suggestions he should retire as other bishops do at age 75. Says he will remain in the job for as long as God wants.

Dec 25, 1995 -- Influenza forces the Pope to miss Christmas mass for the first time in his pontificate.

Sept 9, 1997 -- Pope's frailty keeps him from attending funeral of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Oct 31, 1997 -- In a major speech, the Pope says Christians failed during the Holocaust.

Jan 1, 2000 -- Pope opens Holy Door of St Peter's Basilica to usher in Christianity's third millennium.

March 13, 2000 -- The Pope asks pardon for the Church's past sins, including against Jews, heretics, women and minorities.

March 20-26, 2000 -- Pope makes trip to the Holy Land, visiting holy sites in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

May 8, 2001 - Pope ends visit to Syria, makes history by becoming the first Pope in history to enter a mosque.

Nov 22, 2001 - The Pope apologises to victims of sexual abuse by priests and other clergy.

August 2002 - Pope makes last poignant visit to his Polish homeland, visiting Krakow, and talking about death.

Oct 2002 - Pope marks 24th anniversary by issuing changes to the rosary, the most commonly known Catholic method of praying, for the first time in nine centuries.

January-March 2003 - The pope is at the forefront of an international church campaign to avert war in Iraq.

Oct 19, 2003 - Pope beatifies Mother Teresa before a crowd of 300,000, calling her an "icon" of charity.

Dec 18, 2004 - Pope John Paul condemns same sex marriage as an attack on the fabric of society.

Feb 1, 2005 - Pope taken to hospital in Rome with acute breathing problems and stays for 10 days, missing Ash Wednesday rituals at the Vatican for the first time in his papacy.

Feb 24, 2005 - A second bout of respiratory problems puts John Paul back in Rome's Gemelli hospital, where he undergoes a tracheotomy to ease his breathing but temporarily loses his voice.

March 1, 2005 - Pope John Paul starts speaking again.

March 13, 2005 - Pope John Paul speaks directly to the Roman Catholic faithful for the first time since throat surgery. He returns to Vatican later that day.

March 20, 2005 - For the first time in the papacy, Holy Week services leading up to Easter begin without the Pontiff.

March 24, 2005 - A cardinal who stood in for pontiff at a Holy Thursday ceremony at the Vatican says the ailing Pontiff was "serenely abandoning" himself to God's will.

March 27 - The Pope appears at the window of the Vatican following Easter services.

March 30, 2005: Vatican announces that the Pope is being fed through a nasal tube in an effort to boost his strength and help his slow recovery from throat surgery.

March 31, 2005: The Pope suffering from a very high fever caused by a urinary infection, the Vatican said.

April 2, 2005 - Dies at 7.37pm GMT (7.37am April 3 NZT)

Today

Today, this morning I learnt something in class. Something which brought back memories of what my dad said to me, and is still going to say to me. "Carelessness is not an excuse."
Truth be told, I thought he was too harsh on me. Im his son, Im allowed to make mistakes, everyone deserves to learn from THIER mistakes. But what if OTHER people have to learn from your mistakes?
What did I learn exactly? The major disasters that occured in chemical plants. How people made A mistake, and how hundreds pay for the mistake with their lives. It really made me think again about the occupation I may one day get into. Even the lecturer himself told me how he was in management at that time, and chose not to fix a fault he could have. Someone was killed. He didnt say why he chose not to, but he said he feels he was partly responsible. This is what he says NOW, but Im sure when it happened THEN, he was blaming himself. Im sure he thinks about it, Im sure he tells the same thing every year to every class, Im sure he does his best to live with it. But to have that on your shoulder, its not pleasant.
I think he did the right thing by emphasising on the issue of safety when working in a plant.(He spent an hour on it in a 2 hour lecture) He continued to elaborate on how people have died in plants out of their foolishness, or of others.
If its another thing I learnt, (well, I already learnt this, this is sorta like a reminder) its that life is precious, so, so precious. I cant imagine saying goodbye to my family before going to work, something happening to me due to my fault or someone else's in the workplace, and ....well....I leave the rest to your imagination. I think routine and the quotidian rhythm in which our lives beat is te culprit behind us taking things for granted. We go to study/work only thinking about the next deadline and assignment. Do you have someone whom you love? Do you have someone you look forward to seeing to everyday? Do you have someone you know is there, but never really realised how they contributed in your lives? Do you want to mend a relationship you cherish? If you can live your life without taking these people for granted, I applaud you.