June 2011
1 post
“Hosanna in the highest!” That ancient song we sing, For Christ is our Redeemer, the Lord of heaven our King; O may we ever praise Him with heart and life and voice, And in His blissful presence eternally rejoice!
Hosanna, Loud Hosanna, J Threlfall
Waiting for Sunday.
May 2011
1 post
April 2011
2 posts
Harvard Entrance Exam, 1869.
The math is okay but the rest is difficult to say the least.
March 2011
3 posts
February 2011
5 posts
I wish students really wanted to learn.
Oh dear, driving is unexpectedly difficult.
Visit then this soul of mine, Pierce the gloom of sin and grief; Fill me, Radiancy divine, Scatter all my unbelief; More and more Thyself display, Shining to the perfect day.
Christ whose glory fills the skies, Charles Wesley.
January 2011
10 posts
C
Schönster Herr Jesu, Schöpfer aller Dinge, Gottes und Marien Sohn! Dich will ich lieben, Dich will ich ehren, Meiner Seelen Freud und Wonn.
Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature, O Thou of God and man the Son; Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, Thou, my soul’s glory, joy, and crown.
Schönster Herr Jesu / Fairest Lord Jesus
“O that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works...”
– Psalm 107:8-9
The OMM concert was wonderful! Listening with friends would be nice, perhaps next time.
He leadeth me, O blessèd thought! O words with heav’nly comfort fraught! Whate’er I do, where’er I be Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.
Lord, I would place my hand in Thine, Nor ever murmur nor repine; Content, whatever lot I see, Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.
-He Leadeth Me, J H Gilmore
Tomorrow!
“Ymddiriedaf yn dy allu,
Mawr yw’r gwaith a wnest erioed
I shall trust in Thy...”
– Arglwydd, arwain trwy’r anialwch, Anon
December 2010
9 posts
“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal...”
– Phillips Brooks
Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on When we shall be forever with the Lord. When disappointment, grief and fear are gone, Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored. Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.
Be Still My Soul, KA von Schlegel
The tune is Finlandia, by Sibelius.
The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.
Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too,
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.
Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin...
November 2010
12 posts
Giovin che siete una palma d' argento,
Una spiga di grano lavorato,
Chi fa all' amor con voi, resta contento,
E buon per chi sara V innamorato.
E buon per chi sara quel vero amore :
Che di bellezza avvantaggiate il sole.
E buon per chi sara quell' amor vero :
Che di bellezza avvantaggiate il cielo.
La via del monte XXXIX, Florilegio di canti Toscani: Folksongs of the Tuscan Hills
I am...
13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
15And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity...
First movie in a long while: HP7! A reasonable summary of the book I guess, I don’t think it could have been made more compact. Unfortunately there is a bit too much Freudian subtext to scenes like Voldemort opening Dumbledore’s tomb - there is a very distinct sense of, well, wand envy.
‘And finally if books could be more, give more, show more, this book would have light…
Oh, it would have the soft gold light - gold with bits of hay floating in it - that slips through the crack in the barn wall…’
The Winter Room, Gary Paulsen
The book is somewhat unusual in that there is no conflict or plot, until the last quarter of the book. The first sections are...
Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand But I know who holds tomorrow And I know who holds my hand.
I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, Alison Krauss
1And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
2And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
3And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders...
October 2010
9 posts
http://floraofsingapore.wordpress.com →
This is a relatively useful resource on Singaporean plants. However most of them are vascular plants, practically no one in Singapore cares about mosses and the like. Which is somewhat unfortunate as they are becoming rather extinct due to urbanization.
“But there on the shining metal
His hands had put instead
An artificial...”
– The Shield of Achilles, WH Auden
The recent haze has reminded me somewhat of this.
Hello, small Anuran! Don’t go extinct kay.
“…children are often the guardians of the truly great literature of the...”
– Orson Scott Card,
http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2001-11-05.shtml
I am rereading the books of my childhood, and I am appreciating the GEP English Reading List more and more. The books they chose were wonderful - it is very much true that good children’s literature never...
This Immortal, Roger Zelazny.
This book is essentially about a middle-aged god - about a Pan who has become utterly apathetic. This is only hinted at, and contributes to the sense of the supernatural that is a bit atypical of the science fiction setting.
If anything, this book is sort of an anti-bildungsroman. There is absolutely no character development, and the plot ends because the...
“The leaves were long, the grass was green,
The hemlock-umbels tall and fair,...”
– The Song of Beren and Luthien, J R R Tolkien
I find that Tolkien is extremely proficient in the use of ballad meter; the poems in The Lord of the Rings are most excellent. This poem in particular has an interesting rhyme scheme, and I think it helps very much to create a dream like atmosphere since...
Kallisti
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis mutant.
This is the mutant with internal flower at Oak Avenue. The two whorls of corolla can be seen even though the picture is not very good.