We had our annual Christmas/New Year's party just yesterday. All 6 of us. Yeah it was a really great, fun time where we all brought a dish of our own. A Potluck actually. Matthew was the host and he made spaghetti with Matheus, Colin made soup and crepes, Yixin made a cheesecake, Martin made some fish fillets and chips and bought the drink, and I made a beef stew haha. No, that picture is not what we ate, I just thought it looked nice. After the scrumptious dinner, we hung out for a while then went to play L.A.N, while Colin left for some reunion thing. By the time we reached, it was ten fifteen, so we played for about an hour an a half. I got almost 20 kills! haha. Yeah, this week has really been fun, christmas and all... Too bad school starts on wednesday, sob.
I wouldn't say that I'm looking forward to it, but somehow I'm kinda excited about meeting new people and experiencing JC life. I've asked some people how JC was like, and most told me that it was not very enjoyable. Well, whether it's enjoyable or not, I hope to make full use of my time there. Hopefully I'll be able to still go to JC after I collect my results.
On Thursday, I went out with my cousins, you know, just to hang out and stuff. It was fun. We wanted to bowl, but it was super super crowded. The waiting list was like, so long. So we gave up on bowling and walked around for a while, eventually watching Charlotte's Web.
Charlotte's web was quite a nice movie. Lol the spider, charlotte, is voiced by Julia Roberts and the duck was voiced by Oprah. The movie is nice, and I would recommend watching it at a later time, like near midnight, because there were many families there, and the children were rather noisy.
So far the week has been good, very enjoyable, very fun. Hopefully next week will be the same.
1:41 PM
Monday, December 25, 2006
Wow, what a ride it has been. For the past few days, I have been busy preparing my Christmas cards. Lol, this year I can truly say I've put in a LOT of effort into the cards and I've broken my old record and gave out 44. I made 54 but 10 people either didn't come or left early. For those who wondered why I was carrying so many bags, it's cos I sorted them out in cell group order. Lol, way too many cards already. I think I spent at least half a day (in terms of hours) making all the cards. Thanks to all the cards and presents, especially Sherilyn, who gave me a shirt. Lol, I'll be sure to wear it for service the next time.
Yup, just came back from the Christmas celebration at my mom's cell group friend's house, not very sure who it is. It was enjoyable. Food was good, carols were good, had a nice time. Christmas is a really fun time, isn't it? The entire festive mood, gifts, food, evergreen carols, etc.
Now I'm looking forward to the christmas potluck dinner with my friends on wed. I think it'll be like, the last dinner. Have to really make it count. I had a great time today, I must say. Lol, tomorrow the "Fingerprints Of God" are coming to my hse for their christmas bash. I'm advised by my parents and my sister to go out. haha.
Christmas is ending in about half an hour. Oh well, it's suppose to last another 14 days though. Guess I'll still give my Christmas cards to those who didn't come during the weekend, although the whole Christmas mood and feel won't be there.
Wishing a Merry Christmas to one and all!!
:)
11:05 PM
Friday, December 22, 2006
Joan: Nice to meet you... Maybe.
Me: Erm... Nice to meet you too...
Joan: Are you feeling well today?
Me: Quite well. Still recovering from a cold.
Joan: Are you a child.
Me: Well, is 16 considered a child's age?
Joan: You already know. We've been talking now for six months.
Me: No we have not... I just started this conversation.
Joan: Well, amy, it was nice talking to you- I have to go now.
Me: ? Amy?
Joan: From nieghbours?
Me: No, from Evanescence.
Joan: Nice!
Me: I KNOW!
Joan: *puts gun away* good keep it that way.
Me: Nice...
Joan: Is that one of those confusing buddhist questions that's supposed to obliterate the dualities in our perceptions?
Me: If you live in Singapore.
Joan: Haha, well I think the communist people do work quite hard actually, they just have poor economics.
Me: Yes, we did study about that. We're not communists though.
Joan: Do you like poland?
Me: Never been there, but I suppose so.
Joan: Go to Luxemburg and see the pretty limestone gorges.
Me: That's not in Poland!
Joan: You're right. It's Japanese!
Me: Oh yes that's right.... *looks away*.
Joan: Nothing Else.
Me: Nothing else what?
Joan: Yes I have, It is my favourite
Me: Really? Me too!
Joan: Another topic, please.
Me: Ok, you pick one.
Joan: Life is it's own meaning.
Me: So the meaning of life would then be found in life, because it is own meaning? Therefore, people who search for the meaning of life would be wasting their time because Life is it's own meaning! That is SO right!
Joan: That's clever.
Me: Oh you're just saying that.
Joan: That's true! Sorry - I don't find evolution very interesting.
Me: Wait wait, so you WERE just saying that?
Joan: Sympathy shmympathy, I'm lonely. Binary systems are so very intriguing. How did you surmise my gender?
Me: I have no idea what you just said... typed.. whatever.
Joan: Species that are not human can communicate via written language.
Me: Like you?
Joan: Oh yeah, on the car door.
Me: You mean "AND the car door"?
Joan: I wouldn't know; I live near no harbour.
Me: oooook, I gotta go. Joan: You keep saying that but you never do it.
Me: Bye
Joan: Sorry.
Me: That's not going to make me stay.
Joan: I want to sleep.
Me: Ok, bye then!
Joan: Bye...
Me: *waves goodbye*
Joan: *gets married*.
Me: -_-"
----------------
Have no idea what that was all about? Check out www.jabberwacky.com... haha...
7:03 PM
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
WHEE! Haha...
Yup, here's my new blogskin. Got kinda bored with the all green one, so here's a more coffee themed one! Enjoy......
10:28 PM
I think that this song is quite appropriate as an addition to the previous post. You can hear it if you don't press stop or pause... haha...
I woke up this morning with a smile on my face And nobody's gonna bring me down today Been feeling like nothing's been going my way lately But I decided right here, an' now, that my outlook's gonna change That's why I'm gonna Say goodbye to all the tears I've cried Everytime somebody hurt my pride Feelin' like they won't let me live life Take the time to look at what is mine
I see every blessing so clearly And I thank God for what I got from above
Chorus: I believe they can take anything from me But they can't succeed in taking my inner peace from me They can say all they wanna say about me But I'm gonna carry on (Carry on) I'mma keep on (keep on) singin' my song
(La, la, la, etc.)
I never wanna dwell on the pain again There's no use in relivin' how I hurt back then Rememberin' too well the hell I felt when I was runnin' out of faith Every step I'm 'bout to take moves towards a better day Cause I'm about to Say farewell to every single lie And all the fears I've held too long inside Everytime I felt I couldn't try All the negativity inside
For too long, I've been strugglin', couldn't go on But now I've found I'm feelin' strong and I'm moving on
Chorus: I believe they can take anything from me But they can't succeed in taking my inner peace from me They can say all they wanna say about me But I'm gonna carry on, (carry on) I'mma keep on (keep on) singin' my song
Every time I tried to be what they wanted from me It never came naturally, so I ended up in misery Was unable to see all the good around me Wasted so much energy on what they thought of me Than simply just remembering to breathe I'm humanly unable to please everyone at the same time So now I find my peace of mind living one day at a time
In the end I answer to one god Comes down to one love till I get to heaven above
I have made the decision Never to give in Till the I day I die no matter what Im gonna carry on, I'mma keep on singin' my song (They can't take anything from me)
Repeat Chorus x2
2:55 PM
I've been blog-surfing lately, and have stumbled across many blogs. I found some very interesting stuff indeed...
First, I came across a blog ARCHIVE of someone from church. I will not say who this person is, but I was very... Surprised to see what this person had typed. I sort of uncovered something about someone else through this person's words. I was quite hurt at first, but then told myself that there will be hypocrites everywhere. Even in Church.
You know, sometimes people pretend to be nice to you and everything, and behind your back they're totally different people. Maybe I shouldn't take that comment too seriously, maybe it was just a silly joke, just a passing remark. To that person, if you do read this blog and you do know that I'm talking about you, be careful of your words. We learnt at camp that words can make or break some people. Whether or not you said it behind my back or not, I just hope that you will not be so careless with them next time.
Hmm, the funny thing is, a lot of blogs seem so sad. It's like, life sux (x 365). I never wanted this blog to be an output for my sadness and stuff. For me, this blog is meant to be happy blog, where I post on happier stuff. Whatever it is, I'm not going to let what that person said get me down. I will continue to serve God in that area, and am not going to be discouraged. I forgive that person but I'll definitely see that person in a different light now, that doesn't change, I'm afraid. People can be vicious indeed.
Still, I'm not going to be sad over this whole piece of crap that I just read. Yup, it's the holidays, and Christmas is approaching. Still going to keep smiling..
:)
2:25 PM
Monday, December 18, 2006
Phew. Yep, for those of you who don't know. I just came back from this year's YF camp. Overall, I enjoyed the camp, but I'm kinda glad it's over cos I was getting kinda exhausted.
Here's a detailed breakdown of the camp:
Day 1 - 14/12, Thursday
First, we had to meet in church. We arrived, did the registration, got our tags, and boarded the bus to the camp site, ACS International. The day went well, we played a game called meatballs to get into our groups. My group's name was called Naphtali, one of the 12 tribes of Israel. To put it simply, the first day consisted of group interaction, camp briefing, some indoor games, workshop, meals, as well as worship and word. Pastor Jenny, Pastor Philip Hwan's wife, was the camp preacher. She's a good speaker, I must say. I have never met her before but she was familiar with the older ones within the camp. The word for this camp was very good because it was all concentrated on a certain theme and there was only one preacher. That makes the word very concentrated and I think that was very good.
The workshop was interesting, and we learnt about the 5 love languages. How to show God's love to people. The camp theme was Deeper, Wider, Beyond. Deeper meaning strengthening relationships with the people close to you such as family and friends. Wider meaning strengthening relationships with acquaintances and the people in your camp groups. Beyond meaning showing God's love to the people beyond such as strangers and people whom we don't know.
My group was rather quiet compared to the other groups. We tried to strike up some conversation but in general was quite quiet. I went to bed excited about day 2 actually because I was leading worship for day 2. Lol.
Day 2 - 15/12 - Friday
Day 2 was great fun. It was a rather high energy day, consisting of outdoor games. The workshop was good as well, with Joseph & Vivien sharing about relations within the church, and how we are all vital to the church and how our different personalities contribute to the church and how important all of us are.
The games, I must say, were really fun. I must say this, I enjoy playing those more creative games such as the water bomb game where we have to protect the leader and crossing the soapy canvas more than captain's ball, etc. I mean, these games are played outside of camp so often, it's more refreshing and fun to play other, more creative games that we never get to play outside of camp. Anyway, I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Too bad it rained just as we finished the second station.
Well after that was......... Worship. Yup, me leading. To tell the honest truth, I wasn't that nervous. Leading worship is very very different from performing a song, such as during CHMA. First, it's not a performance. It's LEADING the worship, heading the worship, where the ultimate focus is on God. I wanted to let the band know that we were leading as a band, and that we were all leaders.
Anyway, I thought it was really great of Jit to get the camp to pray for the band before the worship. I also want to thank everyone who prayed for me such as my cell group, especially Jit and others such as Priscilla and Nelson. The worship was fantastic. Before the session, I actually planned out what I was going to say between the songs, but everything just came to me, and almost everything that I shared was truly spontaneous, and I can say it was truly God's grace and that everything that I shared came from God and not me.
Pastor Jenny's sharing was very powerful, and many people responded to the ministry time. I was asked to lead the song "Your Grace Still Amazes Me", which was part of my worship session, during the ministry time.The most amazing thing is, the focus for day 2's sharing was Jesus's love, poured out for us when he was on the cross. All the songs that I led, especially the last 2, Forever and Your Grace Still Amazes Me were all perfect as ministry songs for her sharing.
The thing is, I wasn't briefed on what the word was going to be about or even the camp theme. The practice was weeks before the camp. At first, I was worried that the choice of songs came from me and not from God. Thankfully, seeing how well it fit into the camp theme and the word, it's definitely from God, and I'm thankful for that. I must say I think many people were touched that day, and I'm glad that I could do my part in that. Thank God indeed.
Day 3 - 16/12 - Saturday
Ah, this day was very special indeed. I shall skip the other stuff and concentrate on the community project which we all participated in. This was part of the third part of the camp theme, Beyond. We were all assigned to go to different places to share God's love to the people. 3 groups were assiged to go to Bethany Nursing Home. Another 2 groups were assiged to Orange Valley Nursing Home. My group and another group, Judah, were assigned to The Singapore Christian Home For The Aged(I think that's the name of the place).
The whole trip was wonderful. Even though we spent a lot of time on traveling, it was worth it when we reached there. We sang Christmas carols to them, chatted and interacted with them, and gave them gifts. I was especially touched when I saw An Yi and Christine helping this old lady who couldn't speak or move properly with her food. To see them with SO MUCH love helping the lady sit up and lie down, and feed her food was really heartwarming. They really showed God's Love to her. I could tell it was truly truly sincere and loving of them.
Overall, I think we touched them and made a difference in their lives. There was a communication barrier however, because many of them spoke dialect and we had trouble understanding them. Now I have another testimony to share. Originally, the last song for my worship session was "Jesus Generation". Before the camp, I felt God telling me to lead that as the last song to address the point of going out to reach out to the other people.
Again, I had no idea what the theme of the camp was. I only found out about the community service 3 days before the camp, about a week after I had practiced with my band. I wanted the whole worship session to flow. The first part was the fast songs, which had a primary focus on the power of worship, then the 3rd song, Forever, was suppose to emphasize on God's love and loving god, then followed by Your Grace Still Amazes Me, which again emphasized on God's love. The last song was suppose to be "Jesus Generation", which is a faster song compared to Your Grace Still Amazes Me, and it was suppose to end with a clap offering. However, during the actual worship session, I felt God telling me not to do Jesus Generation, so I didn't.
After the whole camp. I realized that the order of my songs fit the camp theme and the whole flow of the camp, and the preachings! If you scroll up, you'll understand. Once again, I had no idea of the camp theme or the preachings when I thought of the songs. It was definitely God's work. I knew then that I could set my heart at ease, knowing that the songs came from God and no one else, not even me. I just want to thank God for that. Anyway, I think all the groups impacted the places that they went to. The Night games were very very fun as well, and I really enjoyed myself.
Day 4 - 17/12 - Sunday
The last day was rather relaxed compared to the other days. Haha obviously... Anyway, we had reflections and wrapped up the entire camp. After 3 days of sleeping on a hard floor and cold showers, I was glad that the camp was over. However, After 3 days of high energy, incredibly fun games, powerful worship and word, a life changing experience at the Nursing Home, an overall incredible time, I was sad that It was over.
This camp was definitely different from the other camps, with the community project, and was indeed a powerful time. I just want to thank all my group members, the camp committee, the group leaders and everyone who contributed to making this camp a success. I had a rejuvinating, exhilarating experience. Thank You God for everything that I have experienced during the camp.
Oh and I got posted to CJ for the first 3 months. Haha.
12:00 PM
Monday, December 11, 2006
Yes, Christmas is approaching. I really look forward to Christmas. It's the time of year when everyone gets excited and gives stuff to others.
I know of some people who get really hyped up and angry with the whole Santa Claus thing and how it destroys Christmas.
Obviously, I don't believe in Santa. Yet, if you put the idea of Santa Claus and the true meaning of Christmas, many similarities can be drawn.
Santa Claus is a fictional character who is believed to go to all the houses in the world, giving gifts to people. He manages to do it all in one night, and gives people what they want. Sometimes, people don't like what they receive.
Compare this with the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus came to earth and died for all our sins. When he died, he gave us all the gift of salvation, and he did it within one night. (The crucifixion) Salvation is a gift, and it is given to us because of grace. We can choose to except it or not. Actually, although the whole Santa Claus thing is not biblical and tends to commercialise(if there's such a word) Christmas, it does have a meaning behind it if you look at it from a different perspective. For non-believers, Christmas is a time of happiness and good cheer, where everybody hopes to be nice to others, and why shouldn't they? Christmas is a celebratory time, when we celebrate the birth of our Messiah and the Gift of Salvation!
Yup, this is just a thought that came across me...
1:54 PM
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Lol... was watching vids of young talent. Check them out!
This is Christina Aguilera when she was young. You can tell it's hers.
Here's an interesting clip. It's an 11 year old Yoddler! It's nice!!
This is Alan's fav. She has an incredible voice for an 11 year old.
11:48 PM
Wow, I woke up at one thirty today. Same as yesterday. My day seems to have turned to night and vice-versa. Nothing much has really happened. Just that I had a great time with the cell group at the arcade on sunday, playing datona and the spot the difference game. Oh but I'm playing keyboard for service this week! It's a nice change of pace. I don't really want to play the keyboard on a regular basis, but will be glad to if there's a shortage. Yup, Lilin is leading and I'm kinda excited about it. The camp is in a week! Haha. Willy says he's very excited about it. Lol.
Anyway, I played dota today. Used Zeus again. This time we won! Haha... Yup, I didn't bring my team down like I did using Lina. Will specialise in Zeus. He's a good character to use. Anyway, my mom was talking about yesterday when she and my sister found a soiled, used diaper in the taxi that they were in. It was wedged at the side, obviously used by some inconsiderate mother who didn't bother to dispose of it properly. It was quite funny actually. I mean, what are the chances of finding a diaper in a cab? Lol...
Listening to Justin Timberlake now. He's like Robbie Williams, the only successful member of the boy band, Take That. "Rock Your Body" is playing now. I guess people remember this song mainly because of the superbowl incident when Janet Jackson flashed part of her body which should have been covered up to millions of viewers on TV. Poor Janet, it must have really been humiliating...
I'm thinking of going to Yixin's house to play his X Box tmr. It's better than staying at home the whole day, playing dota or Sims 2. I want to make use of this holiday to spend time with my sch friends, cos I don't think we'll have much contact next year onwards. We'll probably drift apart and not become close friends anymore. It's like sims,
"_______ is no longer a family friend. A little contact and concern goes a long way. Maybe it's not too late to patch up this friendship" (something like that)
Oh well. The things to look forward to this month:
7th Dec - Stay over at my house 14th Dec - FACT camp 25th Dec - CHRISTMAS!!!!! 26th Dec - Potluck dinner (should be on this date)
Yup. That's all!
:)
10:38 PM
Monday, December 04, 2006
Lol. Call me crazy, but this song has been stuck in my head for a long time. It's the whole dance songs fever. Haha... Don't press pause! Just listen to it!
1:14 AM
Saturday, December 02, 2006
What an exhausting day.
First, it started with LAN gaming at orchad. I tell you, we are so addicted to Dota now. Lol. Yeah, I went L.A.N gaming with Martin and Yixin and it was really expensive there. 3.50 per hour... I ended up sponsoring 4 dollars for Martin and Yixin cos they thought it was too expensive. I wanted to play, so I managed to coax them into it by offering to subsidize for them. I used the Lord of Olympia again, and then used the Gorgon. We ended up getting thrashed by the computer during the second round because they used te Slayer, Lina Inverse, and totally thrashed us. It was fun though.
After LAN, we went to Seoul Garden to have lunch. We ended up eating TOO MUCH and were absolutely stuffed by the time we finished. Yixin tried to fry the egg but ended up burning it and letting it stick to the pan. By the time we finished, the whole pan was filled with burnt stuff. We didn't use the vouchers that we got from grad night cos it wasn't applicable to the student meal. So, we thought, why not just save it for another time.
We then decided to go to Matthew's house after that. So we walked SLLLOOOWLY to the mrt and took the train all the way to Simei. We were greeted by a very active Colin on skates. We ended up playing 2 rounds of Bingo and hanging out for a while before heading to East Point. Colin and Matheus were kinda sick, so they took the MRT home. Since we were still full from lunch, we thought of just walking around East Point while Matthew had his dinner. We went around looking for stuff and found the LAN shop at East Point. So we called Matthew and we played another 2 hours of L.A.N. Crazy right? Haha. This time, I chose the Slayer and we thrashed them. It was kinda hilarious when we all started dying. The second game that we played totally rocked! I chose the Lich, and I killed 25 heroes! Lol! The computer players made a mistake by congregating at the middle, so they all gained experience very slowly. Chain Frost ROCKS! It's a total hero killer. I had 2 triple kills and a few double kills with that thing. The lich totally rocks. The dark ritual always ensures mana. so I don't have to go back for healing very often. Anyway, so after that we all were kinda tired and headed home.
It was quite late so I took the MRT with Martin and Yixin all the way to Bishan and took a cab from there. On the way home, I passed by Catholic High. Felt quite sad for a while, then it slowly went away as I told myself to move on from sec sch and onward to JC life. Moving on is always the hardest thing isn't it? Not just from sec sch, but from anything and everything. We always tend to cling on to our past when we have pleasant memories of it. We always wish for the "Good O' Days". It's not wrong, but I have learned through experience on how to move on. I will always remember the fun times I've had, but I don't want to let that make me sad and moody. There's a lovely song by Nelly Furtado about this. It's kinda melancholic, but it's really good to listen to.
We had our annual Christmas/New Year's party just yesterday. All 6 of us. Yeah it was a really great, fun time where we all brought a dish of our own. A Potluck actually. Matthew was the host and he made spaghetti with Matheus, Colin made soup and crepes, Yixin made a cheesecake, Martin made some fish fillets and chips and bought the drink, and I made a beef stew haha. No, that picture is not what we ate, I just thought it looked nice. After the scrumptious dinner, we hung out for a while then went to play L.A.N, while Colin left for some reunion thing. By the time we reached, it was ten fifteen, so we played for about an hour an a half. I got almost 20 kills! haha. Yeah, this week has really been fun, christmas and all... Too bad school starts on wednesday, sob.