Day Thirty

Snowfall continued throughout the day here and it was another day off work.  It has not felt good being trapped at home not being able to work and in fact losing money as the franchise still comes off me as well, which is one of the biggest reasons why I am looking to leave the AA Driving School and become indepedent in the springtime.  Don't want to do it now cos in this weather it would be foolish to start up anything new.  I'll use the time from now till around March to decide which direction I will head in and which route to take =)

So bored

Was so bored at home all day.  Fortunately Cat came back from Birmingham last night and was here to keep me sane.  Here's what I was up to between 8am till now (almost 10pm).

Got up at 8am to call the DSA Springburn Test Centre.  They confirmed the driving tests were off today, even some examiners couldn't make it in to the test centre, so no chance.  Then I called my pupil whose test was at 10:44am to inform him of the news and rolled back into bed.  Whilst wrapped up in my cooled down covers I downloaded some new apps for my phone (HTC Magic).  I got a Lighter app, a Basketball shooting app and the ever popular Paper Toss game.  Each app was free from the Android Market so that was good.  The Paper Toss game was the most interesting one.  After getting my high score record of 12 shots in a row I went to have breakfast.

I had a Skype chat with Nick and got to try the new webcam on my new laptop.  Nick said it was pretty clear.  That's good.  Totally didn't feel like going out in the snow but I had couple of things I had to do like go to the post office and drop off some donations to the Salvation Army charity shop.  Did that in about half an hour and came back to have lunch.  I made char siu and egg fried rice and had that with leftover roast chicken and made hot gravy for it.  Yum yum!  =9

The World's Strictest Parents

Time went by so slowly guys.  I was so bored at looking out the window and seeing flurries of snowflakes pass by the window.  It was so cold outside I couldn't even be bothered scraping the snow and ice off my car cos I wasn't driving it anyway.  Will probably do it tomorrow morning if/ when I go to the gym.  I watched Taken on dvd then had dinnner after mum got home from work.  Then... back on the computer again and watched Don Juan DeMercado TVB drama and then watched an episode of The World's Strictest Parents on BBC iPlayer.  Now this programme was very interesting.  It followed two wayward British teenagers from the UK who travelled to Holland to live with a family with very strict parents.  They had to leave behind their debauched lifestyles of alcohol, sex, drugs and parties etc and live a week of house rules, discipline, chores and trust!  Now that was interesting to see how these two teenagers (16 year old boy and 17 year old girl) adapted to their new environments where everyone was focussed on education, discipline and self-control.  Their peers drink but don't get drunk and all want to get a good education for a good career in the future and they laugh at the idea of just wanting to "go out and get drunk with my friends and having fun."  Sure they know how to have fun, but they all seem to have much more self-control and don't live their life for partying all the time.  The culture difference was hard for the kids to accept but it was good to see that in the end the kids changed for the better.  The once spoilt girl who hid behind makeup and fake tan and had no respect for family actually learnt to cook for twelve members of learning difficulties group and helped them out with housekeeping.  And the young lad whose role model was gangster rappers and who was always angry and smoking marijuana has learnt trust and respect for his family and to be a role model for his siblings.

Although the programme is called "The World's Strictest Parents" the guardians from Holland were not unreasonable.  They just lived with rules and conditions that made life better for their kids.  Above all, the most important point they lived on is Trust.  "Trust brings freedom" the father guardian told the show, which I think is true.  If you can gain and display trust and respect from people around you, you will be able to do more and enjoy more freedom.  It's the same with us living as Christians.  Can God trust you with little things?  If He can trust you with little things He could then trust you with big things.  With all things, however big or small, you should do with all your heart and be focussed on it.  Even setting up chairs for a Sunday service.  Don't just lay chairs out without thinking of the layout and spacing etc.  Set them up properly and people will be able to worship God in a more comfortable environment.  Use your heart and God will acknowledge it.  =)

Behind all the rules and discipline the parents are actually very nice people.  Especially the mother who spent quality time with the boy and then the girl alone and got to know them deeper inside.  She found out why the boy was so aggressive and why he wanted to take cannabis all the time.  By talking to the girl she found out why she always avoided going out into the public without any makeup on and was obsessed with her looks etc.  I won't give away too much here in case you are planning to watch it.  Behind all the rules and discipline the parents had a lot of love for the kids.  Rules and discipline may not seem nice at the very start.  Very restrictive perhaps to those who like freedom.  However, if you step back and look at it, you will see the rules are generally there to help people live harmoniously and to try and keep things in order.  As for discipline, that is out of love.  Parents discipline children when they do wrong, but this is out of love as well.  Chinese parents may express this love out of smacking with flip flops or whipping of the chicken feather duster.  For the record, I no longer get smacked by my mothers flip flops or the chicken feather duster.  This reflects my very good behaviour at home.  =P

Hebrews 12:6-8

"...because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.  Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?  If you are not disciplined — and everyone undergoes discipline — then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all."

Think that's me done here.  Gonna get ready for bed now.  Hope to get up early tomorrow for the gym first thing in the morning, hopefully make it in before 7am after removing the snow from the car.  Hopefully the overnight snowfall will not affect the roads that much.  And THEN once I have my breakfast etc, it will be time... a special time for me... time to... can you guess??  =P