Nick Vujicic – One Amazing Man

Im truely touched by his testimony.. One could have easily crumbled by his circumstances but he never gave up and rest his hope in Christ…  Makes me wonder what circumstances do I really have that God could not pull me through and embrace my circumstances…

Sometimes i wait at the premises, waiting for the promises… profoundly thinking what is taking God so long… but i really need to ask myself one thing- am i waiting for the blessings or am i waiting for the one that blesses?

Like in Nick, God could have made him a normal person, but He has a good and perfect plan for Nick.. for millions of people have been touched by the power and grace of God upon his life, while in his weakness, He is strong…

He said: “There is no joy in my circumstances, but there is definitely joy in the purpose of my circumstances…” 

I do encourage for those who are discouraged or downed by your own current situation… have a good look at him and know how blessed you are…

Another one.. amazing..

Nick, I just wanna say you are one example in my life…

Love, Dan

Hansgrohe Exhibition

Yesterday night was the inaugural Hansgrohe Bathroom exhibition for the NUS designers… this year is our batch showcasing our range of bathroom concepts according to 3 themes: skyline, arid or tropical. The head of Hansgrohe started with a speech of thanks and praise for our fellow designers, while our Prof Teh also very pleased with the collaboration of Hansgrohe and NUSiD for the 5th year running..

Top left: Ash Yeo, our co-tutor for the bathroom project
Bottom left: Hansgrohe head addressing the inspiring designers
Right: Prof Teh

Dan’s opinion: Bathroom designing has been running for so long over the years.. surely there should be changes?!

Me and my bathroom concept: AWEN bathroom, inspired after the Stonehenge..
With a matching shirt to the background!

A clearer look…

Anyways.. would take more pictures because would be heading back to the exhibition room later today.. then maybe i could take more of other works…

PS: Special thanks to Lionel and KK for spending 4.5 hrs yesterday to put up all the panels… your efforts appreciated!

Flash back! @ Earlier in the week!

Sijme specially cooked Dutch dishes for me, my Mum and Ni.. Maceroni with broccoli and lantern peppers, together with mushrooms… plus a side dish of the “magnifique” Frikendel sausages with onions…

Thanks Sijme! Well thought meal!

Dan

Rome is not built in a day

11pm in the night.. this week had been really stop-start, but nonetheless had been going great… I remembered last week was that i was highly enthusiastic about all my design projects coming up and wanted to do them quick, set up some plannings etc… but this week it seemed that my enthusiasm has somewhat died down… probably lethargy? complacency? procrastination?

i certainly do need to work on my expectations… not everything had to be done in a week, just like Rome is never built in a day… im sure the Roman officials had a lot to think about when building their Roman empire… i think its time to be tenacious and believe that i would set realistic goals to achieve my over-cluttering schedule…

i do certainly like the weekend where i met up with my best friend, KC, and we shared some guitar tips and watched Newcastle fought a 2-2 draw with Middlesborough… He told me to try out this site – www.justinguitar.com – to practise my skills on scales… Quite a cool site.. (One for the guitar fans).. KC gave me some song scales, so recently been practising hard on Guan Huai Fang Shi just to hone myself..

I remembered also that i helped my student with his Design and Tech, and although its done for free, i felt very much empowered.. as if learned something myself also… truely theres some truth in this saying:

“Knowing is not enough, you must teach it; Willing is not enough, you must do it”

I also thought of writing a book… but the title i cant disclose as yet, for obvious reasons… but definitely see myself as a teacher or mentor at some point in my life…

Lastly, recent inspiration saying by me:

“Salvation is not a life-time event but an eventful lifetime”

Hope this is self-explanatory.. and God bless you
Dan

More on design…

For those who wanna know more about me… im actually an industrial design student in Singapore… currently studying in the 4th year.. life is actually pretty tough for university students in general, especially for ID people.. where we have projects after projects… most of the time concurrently…

So here goes my list of projects going on…

1. Thesis (Personal) project:

Bathing System for the Elderly: Topic is proposed and chosen by myself and this research will take almost a year to complete… from there i have to create a working prototype of a bathing system to justify the research that i have done with the target users… I consider it challenging and yet theres a certain freedom to create something worthwhile for society, to enhance the quality of life

2. Dell Project:

Our clients from Dell, propose a certain project in order to extend their capabilities for technological ideas into the retail market… Me and Huai have decided to choose HMV, the music industry as our topic of study… pics i believe is coming up…

3. Osim Project:

Our Osim clients want a future healthy lifestyle product on 2010-2015… possibly on three areas.. health, fitness and hygiene… heres some pics taken at the OSIM company…

At their showroom, we tried out their OSIM stuff…

iGallop, uSurf, iBike, uPapa, iSqueeze…

some fantastic but yet sometimes sensual poses.. hurhur..

Im just wondering what am i going to name my product when it comes out :)

So thats it about my design life… i believe i will update more when time comes.. Adios in the meantime…

Dan

Secret…

Me and Ni caught “Secret” in Cineleisure on Wednesday.. This show is probably a remake of the “Lake House”, if you guys caught both shows before, you could possibly see the similarities… but then again its a secret :).. so i shouldn share much.. but im really impressed with Jay Chow.. from a talented musician to yet another talent in directing and screenplay…

But more than that.. im so happy to spend some quiet time with Dearie… its been a long time since i came back that we actually had a good quiet time alone.. i really treasure it even though i believe both of us are tired.. but i believe its a sacrifice also… Dear if u are reading this… thank you!

And check this out guys! I thought its damn cool… wahaha…

Burst out laughin, i couldn resist taking a snap of this…

Dan

PS. Oh yea.. i have passed my proposal! Thank God for that…

Sijme and Jerome!

A snazzy website from my two Dutch mates! Sijme and Jerome! In Singapore!

http://www.sijmeenjerome.com/ 

English translation available!

Dan

Bathing System for the Elderly

Last night only yield around 4 hours of sleep… but thankfully i finally came out with a new proposal for this morning presentation.. – Bathing System for the Elderly and the Physically Inhibited! I really wanted to research on the human factors and emphatic research and its a challenge to work with the elders… initially, im interested in researching on office behavior and designing for emotions, however my profs rejected it because there is no concrete idea or tangible product that could evolve…

Basically my whole class presentation was pretty good… with some specific tweaking in scope and context… it should be ready to go.. i was quite anxious before presentation but nobody could sense it during presentation so thats probably ideal… :)

so heres a pic of my possible target market…

Stats shows that more than 40% of the old people need assistance to bathe! As most the elderly have certain constraints to bathe.. i would believe that our current bathing system is just too dangerous and time-consuming for elderly individuals… i will be possibly updating my design process on the blog… for my reference and also for your interest :)

so hopefully i could pull this design through!

Dan

Hitting a standstill?

Just a few days ago.. I had a personal chat with my leader and mentor, Tony.. I have been asking him about a few things.. about life and things going to happen after i come back… Over these few years, I have learned to be optimistic where in the past, I couldn’t. I knew with growing maturity that some things just can’t get into your own hands.. much like your destiny…

After all the hype of an exchange trip to Europe, one would be gladly be satisfied and savoury.. but me for one ask for something more.. i asked my leader what should i do to be doing greater than what i am doing? At 24 years.. i want to impact more people in society.. not just one or two.. whether in spiritually or abilities or knowledge, which i believe is all closely related… my heart is desperately seeking to do something which even before i have never thought of…

Asking him of my investment plans, he is supportive of the idea.. but i am always warned to pursue stocks, bonds and business with extreme God-given wisdom.. And also to make wise decision in circumstances…

As for my career.. design has always been my passion.. someone said that if your work is like play then you never work for the rest of your life… market for grads has been good recently… i just hope i could find a decent job that increase my job satisfaction and build up my value..

Im thinking a bit too far right now… the thesis topic is coming up soon and i believe today could be the time of inspiration and creativity.. I shall not be in a standstill from here…

In Him i praise,
Daniel

Muar Chinese

Friggin’ Funny!

Site in rebuilding…

Upon discovery on the limitless possibilities of my website.. im really into rebuilding my site into a better one.. Special thanks to my sis for being my most ardent blog fan.. and of course others has been really encouraging as well…

A few updates on my blog:

1. Blogroll:

I have updated links of all my dear friends’ blogs right to the doorstep, so that people might have the ease of entering to them.. Most of them have came back from a travelling experience and theirs blogs absolutely contained beautiful and valuable contents.. I’m not really sure that they will update their blogs when they are back but i believe its definitely gonna be good.. click on them!!

2. Flickr

Great program! I haven’t had the time to put up some pictures on it but i guess its quite good to post random pictures or inspirations…

3. Chat BloX

A place for friends to update me or give comments to my blog! I will be really happy to hear from ya… hurhur…

4. The BOX

This program allows me to post some interesting files for all to share… dun worry no virus! I believe the first file i posted is SequoiaView.. its a fantastic program to check out your harddisk in a graphical format! You are able to colour your jpg files, mp3 files, avi files etc… and u are able to find temp files that are actually clogging your space!  I absolutely love it!

5. And of course the Pages…

Other than being a millionaire designer next time, I am really interested in being a motivational writer or mentor for the younger generation next time… so its quite cool to start off a series of “books” right on the Pages section.. starting with my travelling experience and design knowledge as well..

So surf’s up!
Dan

A Coconut Affair

Last week, we made our way to Changi Village… its almost the first time i went to specific place in Singapore to relax when i came back… truely Changi Village beach is very much relaxing… quiet at night, cool sea breeze and an occasional twinkly-lit airplane from afar…

Sijme is as his usual of always finding something (crazy) to do… discovered an old coconut by the beach and wanted to open it… armed with a house-key and 3 pairs of hands, and gritty determination from Sijme… we managed to pry the skin of the first layer… oh damn.. i really dunno coconuts are that tough! Really tired and we are having a laugh, Sijme really wanted to drink its contents…

We head to the Changi Village coffee-shop… and there we finally tried a real coconut drink.. Sijme and I made great friends there with the owners and they even treated us to a Thai coconut and the ’self-acclaimed’ best kopi-peng in Changi Village! But its really amazing stuff.. if u guys wanna know where i will be really pleased to tell you where!

@Bugis

I brought Sijme to Sim Lim Square… favourite haunt for Westerners to buy cheap gadgets compared to their home country… We din really get good deals and most shopowners seemed unhappy to do business with us… probably because im around and they are unable to cheat Sijme off his pocket!! But i really liked what Sijme said then:

The cleaners here are searching for dirt to clean! Its so clean already…

We had a Mala-huoguo (Spicy Steamboat) over at the Liang Seah area near Bugis junction… oh damn my tongue got really burned… i totally couldn take the heat man… Sijme and Ni also… Guess we overestimated our Singaporean identity.. :)

Ok heres some updates.. im going to school next week le… its anyones guess on how stress this will be.. meanwhile if anyone wants to know how am doing, dun hesitate to sms me and we could chat man!

Love and God bless,
Dan

TV links

Before i start any post yet… check this out!

http://tv-links.co.uk/listings.html

You can watch TV now without the restrictions of time… and whole lot of stuff are there… from documentaries to dramas like 24, House or Lost.. to animes..

and im like watching Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles again to relive my childhood memories! Hahaha…

Dan

A Dutch fren comes…

Im really sorry for the lack of updates… but honestly, i find it really hard to log in to a new post and start blabbering about my life in SINGAPORE… i mean… whats so interesting man? Besides i just lost my camera, so its really hard to have pictures over here that i would usually take back in Holland…

Basically updates… daniel is well and fine.. but kinda lonely.. and hope that long-lost friends could give a ring and say hi or something… lost all my contacts in my sim card.. so well its not a perfect start to a new era over here.. daniel is stressed as well… thinking very hard not to think about my thesis topic that is coming very soon, as well as my scientific paper im writing for a conference soon… of course daniel also felt wonderful meeting back his old cliques.. reminiscent of the old times…

Today, a Dutch friend comes. He is Sijme. No pictures at the moment… but he was my group leader back in TU/e days… and a very nice fella.. helped me adjust when i was in Holland… and now im just doing a favour to let him stay over so that he finds his accomodation in school… man, i just hope he can keep everything intact when hes around.. :)

A quick snippet on what he said at a foodcourt in Tampines:

“Oh man, the people over here seemed so unhappy while they are eating.”

I looked around and indeed, i observed that most of us Singaporeans really had an unhappy face while eating… its either we had a hard day at work or we just dun seem to enjoy our meal…  its kinda ironic coz over here we had cheaper and MORE variety of food around than over in Europe but yet people over there seemed to enjoy food there more..

I frowned.. They must be frowning at why im frowning…
Welcome to Singapore… Sijme…

Dan

Transformers

Yesterday caught up with the movie gala- Transformers

Im just glad that I am able to catch it over here in Singapore, with its screening gonna end soon… those who haven watch must move your ass and go buy the tickets!!

Ive always liked Transformers cartoons when i was young… but the movie made those autobots looked a whole lot menacing, awesome and destructive.. your mouth just gapped open with the amazing graphics on this display when they ‘transform’… i really like the part where Bumblebee is chased by the police car from the Decepticons.. such adrenaline excitment.. :)

Anyway.. any comments on the movie please post below…
I heard there will be a part 2 man…

Hurhur,
Dan

1st Day in Singapore…

Still smarting after two recent effects:

1. Lost my freaking 500 dollars camera on the last day of my stay in Eindhoven… You could have said im damn suay but really i must blame myself for being callous and careless… dropped my camera on the floor but still did not hear it… the guy that picked up my camera must be laughing in his pants right now…

2. Flight got delayed freaking 4 hours.. from 2130 to 1am in the morning… have to wait for 4 hrs at the airport eating sandwiches and orange juice using KLM vouchers – which were “sincere apologies” from KLM for a “technical fault” in the aeroplane… i felt desperately jet-lagged when i went back to Singapore…

But anyway, i feels good to be back in Singapore! Wahaha…

I still remember a recent Singaporean joke by Chengwei:

Two NS boys were talking on the MRT…
NS boy 1 to NS boy 2 (listening on his headphones):
Eh.. brudder.. you know how to sing ‘an jing’ or not ah?

Focused on his SMSsing, NS boy2: *silence*

NS boy 1: Eh bro.. tokking to you leh.. Answer leh…

NS boy 2, not looking at him and still focussed on SMSsing: sing ‘an jing’ ah… ler diam diam lor…

First day in Singapore

… slept at 5am in the Sunday morning and woke at 830… severely tired.. but crawled myself out of bed… went to church service at 10am… feels good to see so many Singaporeans around.. just like home.. the pastor preached about the Lord’s Prayer and it feels wonderful worshipping God again… went to Tampines Mall with my girlfriend to settle my Sim card and bought some contact lens… Crowded and squeezy :) as always…  in the late afternoon.. i met up with my sister and her family to pick up my mum back from Japan.. great to see my nephew and niece grow up.. and to hear my mum’s jovial laughter when she came… :)

Even though Holland is a very beautiful place.. which made me sadly reluctant to go home.. but upon reaching back… theres still no other place like home (which is greatly in line with the new National Day song!) Hurhur… But its a strange feeling.. everything looks familiar but something in you feels different to it… You appreciate Singapore better… the clean place, the short distances, the efficient MRT, the local language and the nice foods in hawker centres… So a word of advice.. if you feel annoyed of Singapore at the moment, go somewhere else and stay for half a year or a year and then come back… you will be different!

My perception of life is different.. its seemed that theres a great world out there for us to conquer… nothing is too difficult for us to overcome, as long as we persevere… now it seemed that the job market in Singapore is looking good.. but i might one day jump at hte chance to work abroad or something.. its a great opportunity…

But in the meantime.. its back to basics..
Love, Dan

Berlin (12-14 July)

So great… this is my last trip.. Berlin – the alpha-male of the urban pack in Europe. It is a metropolitan city where the U-bahns and S-bahns rule and reign…

Our first stop was the Reichstag… the parliament house of Berlin.. which was previously destroyed by the Allied forces in the World War… but they have now rebuilt it with a new outlook and hopefully, a new peaceful parliament regiment…

The next day… we rented bicycles and had toured the whole city of Berlin on bikes! We located and traced the imaginary route of the Berlin Wall… the so-called “Iron Curtain” that separated the sphere of influence between the Allies and Russians…

Even though the Wall has been long demolished… the separation between the East and West still seemed clear.. theres still a bunker at Checkpoint Charlie.. where in the past was the only link between East and West Berlin.. Chengwei wittingly suggested that no wonder it seemed that West Berlin has Subway Restaurants!

We went over to the Terror Musuem- where Hitler used his reign of terror – his Gestapo or the Secret Police – to rule over Germany, in particular Berlin…

Over there i shook hands with the enemy…

Our cycling trail also visited the Brandenburg Gate, the Berliner Dom and the TV tower..

For now, my trip in Europe reaches the end.. Europe is a fascinating country where every town and city has its own unique culture, lifestyle and people… I would love to visit them again… but for now.. thats all folks!

Munich (07-09 July)

One thing that struck me is the similarity of my experience between Munich and Madrid.. both cities have talented buskers on the streets, have nice cheap foods and most of all, i get to meet wonderful people around the world there…

City center of Munich.. rather peaceful place..

The place is littered with beer halls, tables spilled out in the open.. its a real pity I dun have any kahkees to try the authentic Bavarian beer together… :(

I head to the Hofgarden about 200m from the city center.. beautiful garden, nice skies and a pavilion..

@Day 2

This is precisely why i head to Munich.. the Neuschwanstein Castle.. legendary to its name.. and the inspiration for the Disney’s Cinderella castle.. its absolutely amazing, nothing like i’ve ever seen..

I’m not alone in this.. thousands of tourists flocked when i was there..

Thank God I met a fellow tourist on the train and we travelled to the castle together.. Hes a Columbian (South-American) along with 2 of his Guatemalan friends.. :)

Amazing stuff…

The trip was a pleasant surprise.. got to meet many individuals from around the globe and of course to see this magnificent castle.. i must say well done, Dan!

Dan

4 Days to go…

Received feedback from my competency coach regarding my self-evaluation… it was overall not really good… probably because of the way i view reflections differently…

But its funny that my coach read my blog and she said it seemed that i have been travelling too much! (instead of making individual learning on design aspects) … lol.. maybe i should post some design learning experience next time..

But i believe travelling is never too much.. u reach a place but there will still be another place to go to… so as my travelling experience come to an end, i would love to share the best moments and the regrets of my journey… In a rather reflective mood, 4 days to go and Daniel’s Journey goes back to Singapore…

10 Best Moments (in no particular order) :

1. Travelling with my dearie and watching her smile in delight

2. Scaling up the Eiffel Tower in Paris

3. Experiencing the marvels of the Neuschwanstein castle encrusted with an overhanging cliff, a waterfall lake and the fading background of the Alps

4. Jaw-dropping at the majestic La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, 100 years have been built but still 100 more to finish…

5. Standing atop of the Edinburgh plateau and oversee the ancient city

6. Boat rowing at the El Retiro Park, Madrid

7. Bike-cycling around in the city of Berlin, tracing the imaginary Berlin wall…

8. Moved to tears at the presence of God in the Sistine chapel of the Vatican city, Rome

9. Overwhelmed by the array of tulips in Keukenhof, Netherlands

10. Walking to school in Eindhoven when it snowed…

7 notable regrets:

1. Failing to watch a Premiership match.. and did not visit my favourite team, Newcastle

2. Not able to try snow-skiing during winter

3. Missed out on the Northern lights and Ice Hotel in Kiruna that Cheewee so vividly mentioned!

4. Not able to travel in Eastern Europe, mainly Prague, Vienna and Budapest.. mainly due to bad timing and no kahkees…

5. Missed out on river-rafting, handgliding and horseback-riding in Switzerland!

6. Miss out on Vienna in Italy (i really liked cities with rivers)

7. To not able to go back with Simmon in Katowice, Poland due to my flight back to Singapore

Otherwise, I am really really pleased with my time here in the Netherlands… Posting my trips in Germany very soon…

Dan

Final Chiong…

As usual, the anticipation of going to another new city sets in.. Its probably going to be my final travels already before i get back…

Today will be meeting Chengwei for a possible trip to Berlin between 12-15 July… and tml i will be heading down to Munich on a 3-day trip…

Munich (7-9 July)
Berlin (12-15 July)

And there goes my journey in the west…

Dan :)

Independence Day…

After posting so much of the recent holiday trips 3 weeks ago… just want to come back to my present… and update about my life now…

Its been really relaxing few days i had for months already… usually during weekdays i would be busy going to school, rushing projects… now that i have finished my projects and assignment and recently also finished writing my self-evaluation.. ive really got nothing to do man.. for a person whos always looking for something, it does not bode well for me…

Ive been watching TV on the internet using the powerful internet in school… and surfing net all day long.. and now im reading a book called ‘Eragon’.. a fantasy story..

Yesterday i had been to Bruges..

Bruges… a medieval old town where rivers and stone cottages meet.. hit onto the old market square where a city hall and a old forte stands.. and then reach a peaceful sanctuary where the old nuns stay, surrounded by water and linked by a bridge… and lastly, their modes of transport an old trusty horse-carraige..

It was really nice to see such a beautiful place.. although not spectacular but its spirit of peacefulness will calm any nerves…

Its pouring outside in Eindhoven now.. its been a cold and wet summer so far over here.. had a chill and cough out here.. Btw Happy Independence Day to Americans..

Dan