What if God has 8 legs and lives in a pineapple tart jar?

If He does, then there's a very good chance that I saw God this morning. When I woke up bright and early to play yet another tennis match, I noticed a huge black thing darting across the floor near my shoes. Without my glasses on, I assumed it was just a damn cockroach, since that's what I'm so used to seeing in my old Houston apartment. But once I could see what it was... I don't know what question hit my neurons first. 1) Wow can I catch it? 2) Am I going to die? 3) Am I seeing God?... All of these and more were all likely candidates within nanoseconds of each other. Anyway, this is what I saw:



Zoomed in



So after about half an hour of emptying one of my pineapple tart jars out and chasing this crazy mofo around my room (he was really quite fast, knows how to use 8 legs well), then finally getting him in the jar, poking some holes... I was running very late for tennis so I had to run right after capture was complete. But when I got back I went out looking for bugs that he could eat. Ants here are pretty huge and juicy, but spiders in my experience are quite shy around ants, so I ended up getting a moth and a jumping spider. Here you can see him in his pineapple jar with his new friends:



OMG!! The monster is taking over NUS!!



Here is the beauty doing his stretching... Wonder if I should take this jar back to Chinatown and ask for a refund?



So know I have to figure out where/when to release him. I kind of like having a roommate for once, even if it could be God Himself, so I might keep him just for tonight. His name is Prince George for now, like my tennis racket, a Prince, and the name of this dorm.

So why could it be God? Lately I've been thinking about God some, since I've met more people here than I expected to meet who were believers in some Supreme Being. The group I mentioned earlier that I went to a Chinese New Year's dinner with also took me to a Buddhist temple where they prayed for a good year, and even went to a fortune reader in the temple. I also met plenty of devout Muslims and Christians, who all seem to take their faith very seriously. Then of course there's Subhash and his humanist fellows who I think in a way represent a belief in a Supreme Being called "Nobody But Us". I guess, just out of my competitive nature, I've asked myself if I could also credit myself with finding God, in this very spider. Then I can also claim my own destiny, by capturing God in this pineapple tart jar. Isn't it better to assume that I know as much about my destiny as God than to hope He will teach me, only to die a waste anyway? If you think this is some metaphor to mankind's power over the "God-machine", it probably is similar, and I'm basically screwed if God dislikes arrogant people. I try to be humble though, believe it or not, at the same time. Yesterday I donated to a nursing home for the poorer old folks, admittedly only after this student at Engineering Faculty chased me about 10 meters along my way to class asking for money for the cause. They gave me a little woven heart-shaped pin thing in appreciation, which I put on my collar, and I noticed that for the rest of the day everyone seemed to be acting much nicer to me. Don't know if that's related to the heart pin, but if this is what God needs from us, just a small token of respect and humility, I can live with that, and perhaps I can even afford it without hating myself.

That's enough RELI 101 for today; if this spider is God, then He certainly is merciful. As I said before, I gave it a moth and another smaller spider to eat, and it only just pounced on the moth, but didn't bite into it with those enormous fangs, just keeping the moth trapped under it's mandibles. Maybe it sensed the moth was poisonous? It is a very brightly colored one; perhaps it is toxic to consume.

Hmmm what else... went out tonight for a big dinner at Singapore's biggest foodcourt, Lau Pa Sat. Tried a bunch of different foods with other exchange students, like sambol stingray, sugarcane juice, Hokkien noodles, cockle omelet, all pretty good. Man I love food so much... I can't wait to eat more tomorrow... This is what I love about Asia and hate about Europe. In Europe I think I rarely felt really full after eating, because food is so expensive and portions are small. Here I never feel hungry, it's fantastic.

Oh and I also cannot wait until one of these days I find another tennis player who BEATS ME. That's right, look at me, the hot stuff, scourge of NUS tennis courts, undefeated to this day, after meeting about 5 different players! Yet I seriously need someone to serve me soon... it was good practice, guys, but it's time to put me down before arrogance overcomes me.

Behold, this is the new flyer that I intend to put out wherever I can around here to call for players who could possibly beat me. Otherwise I will never know the taste of defeat, and the main objective of my whole excursion to this city is to have tried everything from chili crab to stingray, from mangosteens to durian, from sweet victory to bitter loss...

ATTENTION:

I’ve yet to be destroyed in

tennis. Are YOU up to the

challenge?

Ryan Pei

我不败。如果你能打败我的网

球，你必须挑战我!

貝世雄

SMS: 8438 0836

Haha, I might get arrested for this nonsense. But I eagerly await the true champion's call... come on guys, make me break down in tears like Federer at the Aussie Open!