hmm, not too sure why I've reclaimed this Blogger account that I've had even before it was acquired by the mighty Google. My own Wordpress setup at http://www.hu.id.au seems to do us pretty well at the moment. But Blogger is a pretty user-friendly platform, so I might just have a play with it again.

wished i had a Gmail account ... the measely 2mb from hotmail and 6mb from yahoo is seriously non-sufficient for an archiver like me.

scotty has been kind enough to give me a hosting space on http://focuser.net as my new blog home! so far it is quite easy to use and very nice - looking.

so, click here for the new blog site http://timhu.focuser.net

looks like i am one step towards going to turkey ... supervisor has approved the cost of my trip - actually, its using all of my equipment money for this year to pay for the trip, plus supervisor will supplement the rest. i guess its a pretty good deal, as most students need to pay themselves to go; plus, i don't really need a new computer this year. but at the moment, my flight arrives at singapore 4am and my connecting flight is 10:30pm ... will be quite a wait.

just checked out the price to fly to turkey - $2139 without airport tax. funny thing is that i have to go through hong kong at this price ... for some reason the policy is for economy class people to transit at hong kong, and business class people transit at singapore or thailand. talk about discrimination ...

lets hope all goes well with this trip; would be good to get back alive.

over the weekend doubts was cast about whether i could do ministry; due to tiredness and stressful week before, i wasn't really "in the mood" to be talkative. this greatly reduces the effective of ministry. but was again encouraged this morning by news of a sister who has started talking to her friend about christianity. amazing how God gives us a pick-up when we need it - His will is to save sinners whom He love so much that He gave His only Son, and He is someone who carries out fully what He promises. pray that i could trust in God's provisions and that he would grant me the things i need to serve Him and His people.

had such fun over the weekend with my brothers and sisters from the old church CCC. on saturday we actually pulled off a surprise birthday party for a sister =) we had a bbq lunch over at her place, and it was great fun chatting, eating, joking and cooking with everyone present. sunday was also a great day of churching in the morning, and spending some time with friends over PS2 and karaoke. a whole months worth of social fun condensed in one weekend ... this will probably be the pattern of things to come for many months ... *sigh

had been a stressful day today. woke up feeling like regurgitating, back pains and for some reason a sore left arm elbow !? finally the old testament 3 exam is over; didn't do that well. actually, its the first time ever i've stopped writing 20 minutes before the end of the exam, due to nothing to write. overall, its the hardest (and the worst in terms of what i know) exam i've done in the correspondence course. but i guess thats expected, since its part of the bible (wisdom and prophets) that i am least familiar with. hopefully in the future i can get even more acquainted with these important books of the Bible.

but, two pieces of good news on the phd front:
1) just got clearance from the uni to goto turkey to attend a conference ... woohoo!
2) found out i my other paper got into another conference ... double woohoo!

two extra things to thank God for, He has certainly blessed me with many wonderful things.

the barrier to enjoying a good meal is too much ginger