Phuket Trip

First time to Phuket!

The day before we left I was feeling quite harrassed because the server was down but I had to print some things for our party there, actually it's several things, out before rushing to meet Jia Lin and the rest for dinner.

Woke up bright and early on Thursday morning for our flight at 8am. OK, maybe it wasn't that bright, but it was definitely very early!

The budget terminal is truly, budget. At least they still had Duty Free.

Before we left I was quite confused as to whether I should be excited for the trip, because all of us had the expectation that we'll be going there for team bonding. However, few days before leaving, we found out that more than 40% of the time there will be spent on our own, exclusing bedtime of course. We were a tad disappointed, to say the least.

But it's OK! We had lots and lots of fun there! We didn't really do any exciting things, but the company was great! I guess, at the end of it, we bonded. Photos hereon!

Random

Haven't been reading much lately, mostly due to my desire to in Lala land by 11pm every night. Haven't been spending proper time with God as well. :( Feel distanced now.

Went to watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Esplanade on Tuesday with my sister. It was nice! Heavy on the pocket though. :/

Still - Hillsong

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father you are King above the flood
I will be still and know you are God.

Teared while listening to this song just now at work. Emo. >_<

Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end.
Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
Turn my heart towards your statutes and not towards selfish gain.
Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.

Psalm 119:33-37

May your day be a Shay Day

I cry every single time I read this story, ever since I first read it in primary school.



At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.

After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: 'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection.. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?'

The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?'

Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps. Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.'

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first! Run to first!'

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!' Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ...

The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay!'

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third! Shay, run to third!' As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!' Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

Should I?

I feel very insecure right now. Unsure and confused. All because of one person. OK, I know where the minds of some of you are going towards right now; stop it! It's not what you think.

I just feel like telling her that I'm not doing it anymore. Feel like pulling out even though it is the only thing I'm doing by choice. Feel like relieving myself of this self-doubt and emotional wave I'm putting myself through.

But if I do, I am giving up; I am throwing away 2 years worth of improvement and hard work. I hate the thought of that. I'll also hate knowing that I was a quitter, knowing that I didn't hang on.

It's just torture though, to know and feel such things and yet still do it.

On a happier note, this is pretty cool: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22535838-5012895,00.html.

And for the guys who read, this game is pretty much tailored for y'all: http://www.addictinggames.com/theimpossiblequiz.html.

:) Enjoy!

Lovess

I love waking up in the morning feeling refreshed and knowing something good is waiting for me.

I love lazing at home with a good book.

I love popiah parties on special occasions.

I love going out for hawker food with my relatives.

I love chillin' with my friends, talking about everything and anything.

I love cold and windy days where you can walk for hours and still feel refreshed.

I love laughing till my tummy hurts and I can't catch my breath.

I love receiving something unexpected from Him.

I love opening up my presents and finding something so much more.

I love going to sleep at night tired, knowing that I made a difference that day.

But most of all, I love knowing that Somebody is loving me unconditionally and wholeheartedly.

Some of you know that I was tutoring some kids in my church some time back. This is the first time I taught 4 kids together. I think I had several strands of white hair more after the 9 sessions. Actually, just Chloe and Jacky would have given me enough.

Love thy neighbour as thyself

I don’t know how many know of a RI teacher’s letter on his coming out of the closet. I just read his letter and admit that everybody is capable of prejudice and discrimination in one way or another. As a Christian, my stand against homosexuality is very simple. I don’t approve it; I accept people who are. To me, homosexuals are like everybody else. It’s just that their sin is different.

In his letter, the teacher mentioned Jesus’ sermon on the mount to the disciples, specifically to the command to “love thy neighbour as thyself”. Actually, this is not the only time this phrase is mentioned in the Bible. This is, in fact, the 2nd greatest command all Christians must follow.

The thing is, we are not saints. We are just as susceptible to falling into temptation as any other person; it is only that we have a guideline on our Dos and Don’ts. Yes, many a time we do not do what we preach; but as I said, we were, are and will always be sinners, as long as we are here.

Ok, I have digressed from my point.

What prompted me to write this entry is the teacher’s use of Jesus’ words to prove his point that the society should not discriminate homosexuals. I was just a tad peeved seeing them use Jesus’ words to judge others on one hand, and blatantly ignoring God’s laws about homosexuality on the other. Talk about hypocrisy.

Plenty of comments regarding the teacher’s statement on him not going to hell because he’s gay, but I shan’t say anything here.


Such a controversial entry has not been seen in this blog for the longest time!

Too many things to say

I've got so many things on my mind that I don't know where to start.

Had a busy weekend again. I think I made the right decision in not singing this time round. Don't know how I'd cope if I was. This time, we all learnt a lesson in double-checking things. He really showed us that He is wiser than us all and His ways always work for the best.


Saturday evening was an enjoyable gathering with my maternal relatives. It was my grandma’s 85th birthday? Sometimes I get a little wary of elderly people, especially those 80 and above. :S Thankfully she’s still going strong. As Philos ended early, I managed to rush down in time to eat popiah! :)) My third aunt’s popiah fillings is really the bestest ever. Unmatchable. Tops! Hmm, perhaps I’ll just have a popiah party for my 21st.

OK, anyway, I downed two immediately after I reached her place. Then I ate the mango and basil cake. Alrights, it’s the weirdest cake I’ve eaten, but it was good. The basil added a nice twist. Please visit http://www.thepatissier.com/ for their delicious creations.

You know how fun it is when girls dress up together for a night out? Well, it was interesting, to say the least, to see my aunts doll up.

Much to my cousin’s and the Teng sisters’ consternation, the aunts decided to take bus 65 to Vivocity. Our starting point was Ubi. That pretty much sums up why we felt that way.

When I walked into the restaurant, I was very unimpressed by their décor. BUT! Everything from the ginseng cracker to the chicken sharks’ fin soup, from the iced Chinese hawthorn tea to the roasted chicken, from the addictive buttery mushroom to the fantastic dessert was more than great! Despite our very filled stomachs, we still managed to finish the dessert. Oh, just remembered something. The steamed fish wasn’t good. The meat was tough and the sauce tasteless. But that was the only downside. My sis and I were already making plans for a 2nd visit with our parents in the middle of the meal (my parents are still overseas, so they missed it). While on the bus there, my fourth aunt had asked if any of us would want to hold our wedding at Mt. Faber. I think we’d all rather have it here. (!!) Can you imagine our entire family coming back here for wedding dinners 4 times? @_@

Highlight No.2 of the evening: I played with the iPhone! OKs, I know many of my friends aren’t tech-savvy and are not interested even if I kissed it, but the phone was soo cool! My cousin demonstrated the different functions and you can just see why Apple will always be one of the industry leaders. My cousin doesn’t recommend the phone due to several reasons, but I think most of them were related to the fact that Apple is trying hard to prevent piracy, thus there were a lot of security measures that didn’t allow file-sharing. As such, it really dampens the mood of Singaporeans who lurrve file-sharing. He did, however, mention that it is better and cheaper than a lot of PDAs out there that run on much slower micro-processors.

Seeing that it is Apple’s first foray into the phone market, you really have to acknowledge that they are already better than a lot of other phones out there.

All that talk about iPhone has made me hanker after the iPod touch! I’m now considering between 8GB and 16GB. I’ll just see if 6 months down the road half the people on the streets are walking around with it.

I really have to curb my ‘hankerings’ if I want to continue my studies. >_<

My friends are ignoring me :(

I couldn't help missing my mummy as she left for China with my Dad for almost 2 weeks.


Anyway, I bought this at the airport when sending my parents off:

And I love it! The fragrance is very musky and subtle. However, it is very much an unexpected expense, plus I need a haircut, so will hafta to watch my spending again.

My sister and relatives refuse to let me buy the camera of my dreamm the Sony Cybershot T100 despite the good reviews I saw on the net:

Thus, I may be getting this:

P.S.: Why do I have to listen to my sister when she's not even paying for it??

Hilariously incredulous

Somebody please assure me that this is a rare occurence in the Malaysian papers. Despite the fact that people are passing this around and everybody knows how stupid silly the Association is being and the call is blatantly reported in the newspapers, I shan't say anything about how I thought it was a joke initially, and later wondered how ignorant En. Ambi Mohan, the reporter, the editor and the newspaper in general is due to our countries' close relation. He can throw words like semantics but have no idea where Da Vinci came from.


Note: Please remember to close your mouth after reading the article.

Tagged! by two people!

1. The person who tagged you is:
Grace Sng and Krystal Chew!


2. Your relationship with him/her is:
Church friends


3. Your 5 impressions of him/her:
Grace - Lame; very lame; confident; self-high; talkative
Krystal - Likes beetle juice; laughs a lot; close to her sisters; favourite movie is some old cartoon :D; quiet during BSG


4. The most memorable thing he/she did for you:
Grace - She bought us voice gums :)
Krystal - Hit me just for fun


5. The most memorable words he/she had said to you:
Grace - "Woo Hoo!" when she's self-highing :D
Krystal - "Why??!!" Don't ask me why I remember this.


6. If he/she becomes your lover, you will:
Grace and Krystal - :s
Define lover.


7. If he/she becomes your lover, things he/she has to improve on will be:
Grace - Tell better jokes
Krystal - Her fascination with beetle juice


8. If he/she becomes your enemy, you will:
Grace & Krystal - Try to love them?


9. If he/she becomes your enemy, the reason will be:
Grace - What's with this enemy thing? Anyway, because I finally cannot take her jokes? :D
Krystal - She forced me to squeeze a beetle for its juice.


10. The thing you most want to do for him/her now is:
Grace - Pray for her so that her month with Poly Serve will be meaningful
Krystal - Pray for her so that her mugging for her promos will be effective


11. Your overall impression of him/her is:
Grace - Crazy
Krystal - There are too many.


12. How you think people around you feel about you?
>_< To quote Krystal: It's what others feel.

13. The character you love about yourself is:
I forget about unhappy things quickly.


14. The characters you hate about yourself are:
How come the previous qns is character while this qns is characters?
Jumping to conclusions; judgemental; lazy


15. The person you most want to be is:
Jesus


16. For people that care and like you, say something to them:
Thank you for loving me, I lub you too! *muacks*


17. Pass this quiz to 10 persons that you wish to know how they feel about you (they are not placed in any order of preference)
1. Shirley
2. Rena
3. Cheng Cheng
4. Mei Hui
5. Isaac
6. Afiqah
7. Corrin
8. Ben Koh
9. Faith
10. Florence


11. Who is no.6 having relationship with?
Good question.


12. Is no.9 a male or female?
Female


13. If no.7 and 10 are together, will it be a good thing?
-_-


14. How about no.8 and 5?
Hah! I daren't imagine.


15. What is no.2 studying about?
Business. Right? :P


16. When was the last time you had a chat with no.3?
Last Sunday. :)


17. What kind of music does no.8 like?
Eh.. Another good question. Sorry Benji. :D


18. Does no.1 have any siblings?
Yep, 3 sisters.


19. Will you woo no.3?
I'll let this pass on the basis of ignorance.


21. Is no.4 single?
Yep.


22. What's the surname of no.5?
Uncle LIM!


23. What's the hobby of no.4?
Mh likes to sing, shop. Anything else?


24. Do no.5 and 9 get along well?
Eh.. They don't keep in touch..


25. Where is no.2 studying at?
SMU


26. Tell us something casual about no.1:
She just passed her 20th birthday last Thursday.


27. Have you ever tried developing feelings for no.8?
Erm..... awkward question. How do you try to develop feelings? Anyways, no I have not.


28. Where does no.9 live?
Bendemeer


29. What color does no.4 like?
It has evolved over the years.


30. Are no.5 and no.1 best friends?
Not best friends, but good friends, right?


31. Does no.7 like no.2?
Nopes, strangers. Besides, 7 is attached.


32. How do you get to know no.2?
Classmate in Sec 3/4.


33. Does no.1 have any pets?
Nopes.


34. Is no.7 the sexiest person in the world?
This question is obviously.. you know, but Yes, Corrin is the sexiest person in the world! *tongue in cheek*

Fulfilling weekends

Rmb I mentioned that we had an "official photographer" for Windchasers? Here's a very good shot he captured. Our resident ah bengs in action. :)

My weekends have been quite fulfilling. :\
We decided to meet up to play Ultimate Frisbee last Saturday, and boy did it drain us of our energy. BUT! I got to play volleyball! More of that later :D

Due to the lack of space in church, we decided to adjourn to a park in Tai Keng Gardens. The place was grrreat! Big, lots of different equipment, lots of space, and most importantly, swings! You rarely see guys on swings, and thus the picture. BUT, these boys and Krystal have no idea of the intricacies of using the swing!

Anyway, volleyball was fun! At first it was just Kevin, Qing Long, Krystal and I playing. I managed to spike a few times! But the boys refused to spike to us, so I didn't get to you know, receive the ball? It used to be my favourite thing to do. OK, I'm having a lot of difficulty blogging about this, because all the volleyball terms I know are in Chinese, so bear with me.

After that, the rest joined us, so we set invisible boundaries around us. However, we were more tired from laughing than actual playing because of the boys. OK, Krystal played a part too. Krystal and I were more familiar with the game and the rules, but it was impossible to tell them all of them, so we were just telling them when the fouls occurred. But, the boys viewed them as attempts to score points for ourselves. See the problem? Isn't it right that when the ball hits an obstacle like a tree, that round is considered invalid? Who asked them to keep abusing the trees?? :p

I am seriously out of touch now. My balls kept spinning and they don't go where I want them to! Erm, it's not as drastic as it sounds la, just that they go some degrees off. >_<

Anyway, everybody got too tired to carry on playing after a while due to the Ultimate Frisbee earlier, so we decided to go off after a while.

At night, we had a plan to surprise Ginnette on her birthday! Thank God Jia Lin could drive her Dad's car, so we had transport. :D Grace and Wei Lin were soo excited over becoming robbers and then cops on a stakeout. Hahs.

We filled the entire house with smoke from the sparklers, so we took a photo in the smoke. Got atmosphere right? Haha.

Shopping with a woman who had not been shopping for the psat few months can be quite scary. After the very tiring day before, I went shopping with my mum from Raffles City, to OG to Bugis, from 2 to 7. And I wasn't wearing the right shoes. :\

Finally got to meet up with Cheng and the rest for dinner that evening. Our past few attempts had been futile. I think none of us have changed, but they are going to get busier with school now. Hearing them talk abt school makes me glad that TP put us through PBL. :)

Ok, so i love TP. I went back for an alumni thingy yesterday with De, Ai Li, Wency and Harveen. I so want to go back to school! I really miss campus life..

Anyway, I was sooo tired when I went to work on Monday that I couldn't bring myself to find more politically correct ways to talk to my boss. Could barely bring myself to do anything.. But, on the positive side, at least I spent my time well. :)

I find myself missing quite a few things nowadays. Then again, maybe the feeling has been lurking in me for quite a while already, and it only comes out when I have more free time on my hands. In my last entry I was just talking about wanted to relive the Windchasers night, wishing that the seconds had gone by slower so that I could have enjoyed them more.

Not necessarily in order of importance:

1. Volleyball – Jane gets the brunt of this. I’m always bugging her about this, but we just can’t seem to find the right time, place and people to play.

2. Badminton – This is not so much of missing, but more of wanting to play because I realise the serious lack of exercise in my life. :) I realise I can’t do sports like jogging. I can’t run for nuts. However, I can play ball games like badminton or volleyball for long at one time. How come huh? I want to learn how to play tennis! Ok, basically, i miss the sporty stuffs I used to do. I mean, I've been involved in a sports cca in both Pri and Sec sch. Poly was bad enough, but at least I used to go to the gym once in a while. Hee. And now, working life! :(

3. School – Students may never realise this, but the schooling years of a person’s life is really the best. Years when you don’t have to speak politically correct; when you don’t have to please anybody; when you don’t have to worry about anything besides school; when you can make mistakes and laugh it off; when you see your friends everyday and yet not run out of anything to say; when you can go to town after school to avoid the weekend crowd.

Just last year in mid-Sept I was an intern, and now, I'm going to look after the student who will be having her attachment in my company!!!

4. Shanghai - Of course I was yearning to come back to Singapore while I was there. But the ppl and memories you leave behind, the no-pressure lifestyle. It was different, the kind of 'missing', from while I was there in Shanghai thinking of Singapore. This is like reminiscing abt things I left behind, while the latter was more of cannot-wait-till-internship-is-over-and-I'm-back-in-Sgp kind of feeling. Do you get the difference?

This was actually brought on by replying to an email by my juniors who will be going there soon. I can't wait till I can go back there for a holiday!!

There are some more little things, but let’s just leave them out for now. People, do ask me out for a game of volleyball or badminton!!

I'm thinking if it actually is a blessing in disguise. He works in mysterious ways.

Photos from Windchasers!

These are actually just photos of the band from WeiLin and Richard's camera. Haven't gotten the photos from the "official photographer's" camera yet.

Before we began..

While packing up..

Finally the entire band :)

From top left in clockwise direction: Isaac - Bassist; Amos - Drummer; Ian - Guest vocalist cum acoustic guitarist; Wei Lin - Electric cum acoustic guitarist; Jia Lin - vocalist; Me - vocalist; Grace - vocalist; Ginnette - Pianist; Richard - Guest vocalist.

Playing with Isaac's 'wife'

I may post other photos when I get them; depending if I have the mood. :)

Windchasers - The Endless Pursuit.

Events are tiring, time-consuming, frustrating and I like them. Despite all the rough patches, exasperating and maddening times, annoying people you have to deal with, the event itself is so gratifying that it all seems to worth it. Almost like child-birth. :P

After all the preparation, practices and rehearsals we had for Windchasers, the night itself was over in the blink of an eye. Right from the start of dinner to dessert. From the ice-breaker game to “More to This Life”. Sometimes I wish we can go back to 6pm on Saturday evening and relive the fruit of the hard work all of us have put in. The food cooked, the logistics of having everything ready, the skit and music, the welcome package and all the minute details that make or break a show.

It was heartening to see so many of us coming together to do God’s work, to spread His Gospel even from outside of the church. Of course there were disagreements we had to smooth out, eggshells we had to walk carefully on and compromises we had to make. But it was all for Him and I must say that it was all worth it. I think everything paid off when we heard Pastor David thanking God for the hands raised.

I ran myself haggard that night; seems that I always do so during events :/

I can’t wait for the photos and videos taken. I’ll put them up asap!


Yet when I surveyed all my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:10

They are now trying to replace cocoa butter with vegetable fats in chocolates. The reason? Money of course. The load of crap they are pouring down to the general public is that it will keep costs low as cocoa butter is more expensive and the savings can be passed down to consumers as well.

HOWEVER, how much savings is there going to be? 10/20 cents of savings for a change in taste and texture (cocoa butter actually gives chocolate the melting texture we all love)? As a chocolate lover, I really have to say that I’d rather have cocoa butter at a higher price than lousy chocolate that is cheaper by 20 cents or so.

Speaking of which, I have not had Godiva’s chocolate drink yet!

I just finished reading Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult.

Controversial and riveting. The kind you just want to read from beginning to the end at one go.

I wonder if she agrees with the actions of her characters.

I get very involved in the books I read, especially if there are moral issues involved.



I've been feeling really irritated today. Irritated and just a tad depressed and demoralised. Which is stupid, because it was supposed to be a good day. A good lunch with Amra and Afiqah, the All Staff. Albeit it was Afiqah's last day and there were feelings of sadness, but it didn't warrant the relatively bad day I had. I know it sounds very very much like an excuse, but I have to get it out: It must be PMS. I get like that once a month; I simply cannot pick myself up to get excited abt things, and I get irritated at everything and everybody. I hope that when I wake up tomorrow it will be a better day. :(

Mm. I wonder if Afiqah sensed that I was having PMS today.

Brits

I have always loved the satirical and dry humour of the British, as have my sister. It must have been her influence :s

Ok, so this one's not from Britain, but it's still so funny!

Am I the only one who feels that the guy in that Live Your Dream ad sang out of tune? Or did I hear wrongly?




I’m feeling rather disgruntled now. This mood swing of yours confuses me so much, I don’t how to read you. Your momentary gloominess affects me.

It was disappointment I felt, and confusion I’m experiencing.

I want to forget everything and concentrate on what I have to do.




I've finished reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss.

The story goes like this: One day, a panda walked into a restaurant and ordered his meal. After eating, he drew out a gun, shot in the ceiling and then leaves but not before throwing a piece of paper at the startled shop owner.

The shop owner then saw a highlighted sentence on an article on pandas: "The panda eats, shoots and leaves."

Thus the title.

As you've probably guessed (I hope), it's a book on grammer. I know, most of you will be thinking why on earth would I want to read such a boring book; but it's not boring. If you like dry wit the way only the Brits can achieve, you'll find that it's quite funny.

In the past, I subconsciously stopped myself from using proper English while sms-ing and talking online. Then I decided to use more proper English albeit not ideal.

It's so easy to read something that is written in proper English. Your eyes just go line by line quickly and you don't grimace inwardly at a grammatical error every five words. Meaning comes to you easily and there are no ambiguous sentences causing you to pause in confusion. Words aren't used wrongly and blindly.

I'm often stumped for a reply upon receiving this comment: "wah, you're so hardworking" when some see me reading. Is reading such a chore? Little can replace this hobby for me.

I can't imagine a world without books; without the wonderful fantasies and different worlds that authors weave with their words.

Go read one today. It may take you some time to find an author or even a genre that you like, but I think it's worth it.

Many a time we are so careless with people. We brush past each other for more than a year and do not even know each other's last name. We stick to our own cliques and do not bother to find out more about somebody we see every week. Are people really so unimportant is our lives? Once in a while, I meet a person who is genuinely interested in people and make an effort to talk, to get to know another. That happens like what, once in a blue moon?



I feel like closing down my other blog. It started out as an attempt to spend more of my time on God, but merely updating this blog already takes up my time because I take ages to finish one entry. Even while typing this, a part of me is pulled towards another matter. Perhaps about 5 mins later I'll change my focus and go do the pinwheel instead :\ That's how I am at work too. I have a dozen windows opened at one time and try to complete 4 or 5 tasks together. Multi-tasking? Nah, simply easily bored.

Anyway, I'm not the time to hold on to my feelings on a particular thing long enough to blog about it. Once in a while, I get inspired for a very long entry but it passes quickly.

One of my favourite thing to do during work is chatting with my colleagues! Hahs.

Changes

I have never been one to welcome changes especially if I have been comfortable with the old arrangement. I guess everybody's like that. One main area for me is in people. People come and go; that's just how it is. I just feel uncomfortable with such changes, even more if I have to socialise and accustom myself to a new group. I hate socialising by the way.


Anyway, as you have probably noticed, I've changed the picture above. BUT! the main thing is, I did this HTML from scratch with Dreamweaver! Ok, so using Dreamweaver may not be that much of a from-scratch-thing, and I did refer to my old blogskin once cos the layout's the same, but it's still a huge feat for somebody like me who hasn't touched Dreamweaver since 3 years ago and has been turned off codes due to Visual Basic lessons! I'm so happy with myself! Haha.

However, the loading of the main pic may take a while as it's in PNG format and not JPG. Plus, it's a whooping 20MB. *bleah* My silly comp just couldn't change it to JPG. Oh ya, does anybody know how to take away the navigation bar above?

I just discovered a new ice-cream yesterday!

It is very nice! It has fruit sorbet on one side and cream on the other. YUMS!

Available at all leading supermarkets :)

I had something more detailed typed out, then I read it through, imagined what my friends' reactions would be, and I edited it to something vague and elusive like this:


Maybe I don’t understand, it could be that I am being difficult, or just different; but I’m getting a little irritated with a few of my friends.

Except, it’s me I guess; and not them. There will always be this majority of people, especially pertaining to those of the ‘weaker’ sex, who act like that.

I shan’t carry on; it’s starting to make me look whiney.


On to another topic: I feel really pathetic.

Domesticating

I'm going to try to make it a point to cook dinner for my family every Saturday since I'm free most of the time :D

However, my mum usually cooks a more elaborate dinner on Saturdays. So if I cook dinner instead, the family will miss out on my mum's cooking :/

It shouldn't put a damper on my social life right? Hahs. Cos my dad eats at around 4 plus going on 5, meaning I have to start preparing at around 3. Hmm. Don't care. If somebody asks me out I'll just go ahead :p My mum can then cook her good food.

"A dream I won’t wake from, a story that will never end.

The ground your feet walk on; let me be there, let me be there"

I used to enjoy meetings until I had to minute them.



These few days, I've been finding myself yearning for something impossible: when I check my email; when I listen to my iPod.

It no longer makes me feel as sad as before. However, there is a chance that history would repeat itself.

BUT! feeling sorry for myself is not a habit I want to cultivate nor something I like to experience. So, yearning's good right? To a certain extent. At least I'll have something to look forward to.



*Jane Sng!(If you're still visiting this blog regularly) Where have you disappeared to? Have not talked to you in ages!

Church Camp!

Church camp was great! Very tiring, but good! I enjoyed it thoroughly. There were times when I was so tired I just wanted to stay in my room to sleep, but they only go to show that the days were spent fulfilled. :))


Day 1:
The journey took longer than all of us expected. The 5 hr journey turned out to be more than 7hrs. As a result, we missed 2 hrs of free and easy time. Those who drove there arrived much earlier at about 1 plus?

The view from my room was much better than the room itself though Krystal kept insisting it's very cosy. She's also going to kill me on Sunday when she sees the picture on the left.

After dinner we had our first worship and theme talk. It was during worship that I realised I was coming down with a sore throat.

The speaker this year was Dr Tan Lai Yong, a former classmate of Uncle Kim Shang. His messages were full of interesting anecdotes and stories of his life in Yunnan where he works as a missionary. It never ceases to amaze me how some people can have so much love for strangers in a foreign land.

However, the messages by Dr Tan were not entirely tied-in with the theme he gave us for the camp: Seizing the Moment. They were thought-provoking, meant to stir us into acting more like men and women of God and they did; but only bits and pieces could be tied back to the theme. All things said, he was good in that he could hold our attention for an hour and a half with both his stories and the depth of his msgs. I learned a lot from his preaching of the 3 psalms.

Went over to Krystal's room with Shirley after bathing and all the first night. We played bridge for a while before the boys came. And then the fun began! We decided to play Indian poker so that all of us could play. The forfeits Krystal and I came up with were crazy: Prayer to open worship, lead the camp theme song, and say grace for lunch.

Actually, while we were playing, I had some niggling thoughts that using prayer as a forfeit isn't very appropriate; but the rest seemed fine with it, so I just went ahead with my crazy ideas. Just now when I told Afiqah about the forfeit she felt that it was rude even though she isn't a Christian. Were we? Rude, I mean, and even blasphemous?


Day 2:
Dragged myself up out of bed after a bad night's sleep to bathe and do devotion. Breakfast tasted better than the previous night's dinner.

We played badminton after lunch; 11 of us sharing a court. :)
Auntie Lily and I trashed everybody until we got too tired and lost to Ben and Kevin. I had a horrible muscle ache in my thighs later that night. That's what you get from exercising so strenously after being lazy for so long. :\

The youths were supposed to go on a jungle trek in the night with Dr Tan while the adults have their Men's/Women's Night. Ironically, the adults were more enthusiastic about the trek than us youths. They should have made it Adult Safari and Youth's Night. *bleah*

Thankfully, it started raining while we were having dinner. We ended up in the sports complex playing Primary school games which were so much fun! :D

Finally managed to play volleyball like after don't know how many years; but it was a joke.

The boys were playing bowling, so we went there for a while and decided to take a few photos.

Thereafter, we went to Krystal's room again. This time, we decided to forgo the games and get to know more about each other instead. We spent more than an hr answering questions like Your Favourite Hangout turn by turn. Spent most of the time laughing.

Day 3:

The day in which I dreaded the stairs, slopes, squatting down and sitting on the floor the most.

Krystal had said the day before that we could play volleyball for a while during our free and easy time. I'd die before I do that.

Dr Tan had to leave one day early for some reason, and Uncle Kim Shang and family had to leave as a result. So we took our grp photo one day earlier.

After that we went to the Botanical Gardens and Japanese Tea House which was basically a waste of time. The Garden, did not resemble a garden at all. It was more of a well kept forest, with a few species of flowers scattered here and there. The Japanese Tea House, true to its name, only had a tea house with kois in a dirty man-made 'river'. They gave us 3 hours for the walk but everyone finished in 1.

We took the most photos on this day I guess, seeing as it is the big outdoors and all.

We even went to the Rabbit Farm after that; to occupy our time before dinner.

I guess I was disappointed because I was expecting so much more. But seeing from the state of the rooms as well their service, I shouldn't have expected so much.

We went to this "French Village" for dinner. It was very charming, a world apart from our resort or anything we've ever seen in M'sia. However, we were there rather early, there weren't any thing happening. I heard from Pastor David that they have live band entertainment in the night.

We had dinner there before heading back to the resort for Creative Night. I was very reluctant to act at first; but... My team won Creative Night! It was more of Aunty Lily's credit than anything else.

That night, the 'youth meeting' came to my room instead of Krystal's as we didn't want to disturb Charlotte her roomie. Played bridge, listened to Kevin's life story. As usual.

Day 4:

Last day of church camp. I can't say that I was reluctant for it to end; I was simply too tired to go through another day's programme if the camp was longer.

We stopped at Mid Valley for lunch and shopping. It was similar to Vivo City, much bigger definitely. And I bought 3 tops for S$30! :)

As I had been telling Isaac and the rest during the camp, I had wanted to make myself sick on Thurs so that I could take MC on Friday. I didn't. When I went back to work, everybody could see that I was tired.

The thing is, I can't really think of anything that tired me out. True, I had late nights and a game of badminton, but it doesn't fully explain. Actually, all the other youths were very tired as well. *shrugs*

Overall, church camp was very fun! Thoroughly enjoyable. :D