a little too persistent aren't you google?

"New! Your blog posts will now be automatically shared to Google+ whenever you publish something new. You can disable this setting by visiting the Google+ tab."

I don't want this. How do I cancel this? All that are there in my Google+ tab is an option to connect my blog to Google+. To reach more readers in new ways, they said.

What if I have blogs that I don't want to share with the world?

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do not play victim

Everyday.

... I fought my tendency to be arrogant, to be bitter, to be whining and complaining all the time, to be negative, to boast about my *cough* overrated *cough* self-righteousness, to be grudgeous -- is that even a word? -- basically, to be human.

Yes some people have mistreated me in the past, but it is not an excuse to lie around doing nothing, play victim. I will rise again, I will overcome. Like the angel said to Mary, Immanuel: God is with us.

Why? What is the danger of playing victim?

I wonder.

... If Saul took what Samuel said in 1 Sam 12 personally.

I mean like the theory I've read somewhere, that children of divorced couples often blame themselves for what happened.

So what's with Samuel and Saul?

Let me give you a glimpse of what had happened. Saul, the first anointed king, just won a war against the Ammonites. Before him, no one had ever been anointed king. Israel, until shortly before, had been ruled by judges. One of the last judges was bidding goodbye to the nation. He was going to retire and leave things to be taken care by the new, young king.

Not before making a fuss first, Israeli-style.

"Then Samuel called on the Lord, and that same day Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and Samuel."

Samuel's got to say something. "Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! ... realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king."

I feel for Saul! I can see his eyes grew larger and larger listening to every words.

Now he got two choices. One is to be truly offended - "You talked me into agreeing all this coronation bulls... thing, yet now you're telling people they've committed a great sin by asking for a king?" Another is to humble oneself in front of God whose right mind he couldn't fathom.

He could play victim or he could play along.

So what did he choose?

...

......

How I wish to see this story ends differently! How Samuel wished to see this story ends differently! "You have done a foolish thing... He would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time."

...

Btw this crossed my mind just now, but perhaps the writer of Star Wars had this biblical story in mind when creating the scene in Mustafar. You know, just before the duel, Obi Wan Kenobi told Anakin Skywalker: "You were the chosen one!"

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the way we dance

This review maybe partially biased, since I really love the genre of the movie.

...

Okay, not maybe. This review is certainly partially biased. On the second thought, not even only partially. It is fully biased. :D

The Way We Dance is a Hong Kong film following Fleur, daughter of tofu seller who loved dancing. She attended university and comedic scenes appear. When I read reviews online, people even were comparing one actor in this movie with Stephen Chow. But soon I learned that this movie is not only about funny scenes. Oh how I love the way Tommy 'Guns' Ly convey this message: "How far will you go for dancing?" Love it tons!

I also love Fleur's answer: "From the moment I get up, I think about dance. On a bus or the subway, I think about dance. While slicing tofu, I think about dance. While taking a shower, I think about dance. When I see my reflection on a mirror, I think about dance."

For the first 20 minutes I must admit I am bored, though. I even stopped watching to chat with my lover. But since the scene with Rooftoppers I couldn't avert my eyes!

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where did the nose go?

In the first Harry Potter movie series, Voldemort that grew behind Professor Quirrel's head had a nose, but he had none in later installments.

Anyone know why?

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december flower

When I was a kid I used to be very happy when December came. Cloudy afternoons that dragged lazily into drizzly evenings, then going out at night when the rain had stopped completely, leaving wet, dark sands that reflected a thousand tiny stars under street lamp shine.

I used to stomp on them, amused by the fact that I couldn't erase those stars and by the rustling sound they made against the bottom of my shoes. Until a parent or both called me, that is.

Oh and don't let get me started on midnight wind that found its way through the window sills into my bedroom, and the sound of thunder someplace afar! In rainy seasons I managed to wake up a lot at night, sometime near midnight is the best time to listen to nature's sound.

Mornings were kind of hazy. Not always rain-free, but most of the time my classmates and I got into the classroom dry. Learning is a hundred times more fun when sunlight wasn't too hard on our juvenile eyes. Even the teachers seemed kinder and smiled a lot more.

In one of those days a flower called December flower bloomed in our garden. Nobody admitted of planting it, but it couldn't just grew by itself, like the tuber had been carried from some other place by a rat, right? Right?

I don't remember much about the flower, but I remember that it had the color red. It's not the bold red like the roses had, in fact the color was so common, so everyday-ish. We happily welcomed the flower not because of its astounding beauty, but because everything around us was staged to make us do so. Happy people tend to be more accepting and less judgmental, I guess.

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......

I am now very judgmental. I have been hawking my talents like snack on the street — Do you need a ghostwriter? A translator? How about a typewriter?— and thinking that any guy who doesn't work as hard as I do yet managed to get richer than me must be a corrupt official, while any girl who works less hard than I do yet managed to get richer than me must be a... you know what it is I wanted to say.

This December I don't notice the rain, I do not observe sweet winds caressing my arms. I spent half my time writing, half my time looking for new clients. It seems like writers are spawning faster and faster while writing jobs are getting sparser and sparser. I will consider myself lucky if I can put on a new robe and go to a nice dinner with some friends for one time in this month. For one time after a few months, actually.

你在干嘛？今天快乐吗？

*No, 'typewriter' is not a product of any mistyping by me. Do you need typewriter(s)? Give me email address(es) to send price quotations to!

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nciku vs line

I usually use Nciku for learning Chinese language, but today it redirects to a page that shows Line's logo. Was Nciku being acquisitioned by Line?

But its functionality drops down significantly. The most obvious change is that Line no longer provides Chinese character handwriting recognition and lesson of the day. :(

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