Beautiful Feet Sharp Mind

It is written in Isaiah 52:7, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news". In our case, I should say "... those who brings us good stuff"! Our friend, Jennifer visited us in December and brought us more "stuff" from Singapore. She also helped to bring some books home for me.

Photo: Tussey Mountain ski slope

In addition to some bakwa and pork floss, this is the list of items we asked her to bring for us:
(1) TAHO - Lemon Chili Sauce
(2) TAHO - Chincalok Chili Sauce
(3) BABA's meat curry powder
(4) canned fried dace with black beans
(5) Yeo's spicy anchovies

(6) pandan essence
(7) green coloring

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Items 6 and 7 are for baking pandan cake! We can find most things here but not pandan leave. Hence, the essence! We have since used it for sweet potato, red bean and honey dew sago 'tong-suey'.

So, that's it! We should have enough stock to last till June. Hopefully.

Proverbs for the Day (13:20)

He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

You can tell a lot about a person by the friend she has. Our friends and associates affect us, sometimes profoundly. Be careful whom you choose as your closest friends. Spend time with people you want to be like – because you and your friends will surely grow to resemble each other.

In my world, co-authoring is normal. But an often asked question is, "how do you decide who to co-author with?" The answer would depend on your objective. If you want to progress, then, "find someone who is smarter than you to work with." But if you want to regress, then work with someone (well, you know...). The same principle applies to tennis, golf, soccer, or any other games. To improve, you must play/spar with someone who is better than you.

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On this note, we will be visiting New Orleans (Jan 2-7) where I will be presenting a research paper. The ASSA conference, which is held annually on the first weekend of the new year, is attended by the top brains in various fields of economics in the world, including those in finance and real estate. In the presence of greatness, one can either feel inspired or intimidated! For me, I attend these conferences with the view that "friends who bring their ideas together can help each other become sharper." .

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Proverbs (27:17) reads, "as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." There is a mental sharpness that comes from being with good people. And a meeting of minds can help people see their ideas with new clarity, refine them, and shape them into brilliant insights. This requires discussion partners who can challenge each other and stimulate thought - people who focus on the idea without involving their egos in the discussion; people who know how to attack the thought and not the thinker.

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Reflection: Where do we go when we need advice? Besides going to our friends, we should also seek out older and wiser people. Wise people have experienced a lot of life – and have come through. They are not afraid to tell the truth. So, who are the wise, godly people who can warn you of the pitfalls ahead?

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Source: LAB (p. 1087)