Mobilization Weekend

Sometimes i wish things weren't so complicated and things were straight forward.

This weekend was my mobilization week. that meant that at any time of the day i could be activated and within the next 4 hours, i had to be back in camp ready to attack and fight a war. It was quite exciting coz it's like, you really gotta be ready.

I personally feared that i could be activated halfway throughout YF or Church. My officers told me that normally the time to activate the people would be 10am... and we haven't [as a company] been activated in quite a long time so we're kinda due for an activation. Then at 10.05am, my phone vibrated in my pocket. My heart stopped and i jus inhaled like half the air in the Sanctuary. Took out my phone and it was a message from A.Lai. I was SUPER relieved la... i was like OH SHEET OH SHEET OH SHEET! haha... but thank God that i had an uneventful and unmobilized weekend. :S

However, it made me think. I shared during CE class about how we must always be prepared to give an answer to any man that asks of our faith. It's jus like mobilization. Once the button is pressed, we must be ready to fight the war coz if we aren't, then the country would suffer. Likewise, we must get our weapons [bible knowledge] ready and we ourselves must be ready because the enemy [Satan] will attack at any time when we least expect it. When the button is pressed, are we ready to defend God, our faith and the things we believe in? Or will be slowly take our time to reach the enemy and fight with weapons that aren't sharp, aren't current and aren't relevant. Will we lose and bring down the name of God jus because we weren't actively ready?

Yup. jus a quick sharing la. I'm uber tired now and i HAVE to get to sleep coz there's work tml again. yup. unending... so i'll catch ya guys around yeh? :)

Sometimes i wish life was easy. Life is easy, what's wrong with me.

Sharing Sorrows

Sorry to dump that on you guys. I didn't mean to get the mood down and stuff but since B.Tsao asked, i shared. hope that it didn't affect you guys so much. My problems should stay my problems la. thanks for listening though. I'm glad for this Exco.

I think i'd just rather be alone on this issue. :)

Sweeney Todd

Just watched Sweeney Todd. wow... quite a cool show. but i'm sure it's coz i'm a musical person so this being a musical on big screen prob added to the pros of the show.

the singing and lyrics were pretty cool... the way the camera pans, angles and all that... cinematography... quite neat and the concept.. wow... interesting. had me chuckling at certain points of the show to imagine the warped mentality of the characters.

some said it's too gory and gross.. i say it's still tasteful gore. K maybe a bit too watery... but i thot all the blood was overrated [by people] it's not that bad! or or or ... i could jus be totally desensitized to blood. but i thot the way the bodies fall was pretty neat... pheeww CRUNCH/CRACK. wow.. funky. haha...

loved how it all wrapped up at the end. pretty sad and all [won't spoil it] but it's quite an apt ending if u ask me. :)

Mrs Lovett rawked! she played her character so well considering how hard it prob was. Yeh, so if you're not too easy grossed out, catch the show coz it's quite cool la. but girls, there's LOTS of blood. so yeh, be prepared. :) i give Sweeney Todd.... 7.5/10. Johnny Depp la. haha

Rainbow 彩虹

The rain falls and it pours. It thunders and it streaks across the sky.
I planned to move forward, i planned to get to point B.
But how am i if i can never get through this storm?
How can I even think of not getting wet when it pours so bad?

Then amidst it all, i see something at the end. A Rainbow.
I know i'll get wet, i know i'll get drenched.
But the funny thing is, i don't mind it if there's gonna be a rainbow at the end.
It's time, time to face the rain, to dash out and to get to that side.

My rainbow will help me along the way.
It'll keep me sane, it'll keep me at bay.
I rush out knowing it's there to help.
With my rainbow, i'm never alone.

But the rainbow doesn't know what it means.
It just shines in the sky being beautiful and radiant.
It doesn't know it gives someone joy, escape.
So rainbow, keep giving that glimmer of hope.

It's the only way I can see how the rain won't affect me forever.

p.s. new music. this song is exactly how i feel now. esp this part.

看不见你的笑我怎么睡得着
你的身影这么近我却抱不到
没有地球太阳还是会绕
没有理由我也能自己走

你要离开我知道很简单
你说依赖是我们的阻碍
就算放开那能不能别没收我的爱
当作我最后才明白

The One With a Short Poem about a heavy heart

My heart is heavy
My thoughts astray
My eyes are drenched
My burdens I never did lay

I'm tired of being affected
I'm tired of being forlorn
I'm tired of being ignored
I'm tired of being torn

When will this be over?
When will I stop being in denile?
When will this be resolved?
When will I be able to smile?

Dear Father, You know my thoughts, my pain, my burdens. You know everything I need, everything I want. Give me strength to rely on You and to seek only You for my every day bread. Help me to see You in everything and not be distracted by the people or things in my life. How can I commit myself to You and say I love You when my heart and mind are elsewhere? You knew me before I was and You know me now before I will be. Help me trust in You for Your timing, grace and love.
Man may fail you but God will never fail.
Abba Father, Amen.

Barry Louis Polisar - All I Want Is You

This song is taken from the show Juno... Synopsis here.. which is WONDERFUL go watch it! [but please be above 16 years of age coz it talks bout teenage pregnancy] And if you don't wanna pay for it, come look for me. grinz. it's really good. so sweet. click play at my media section.


If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall,
The rumble of your water would be my call.
If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow
Just as long as you were with me, let the cold winds blow

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were the wood, I'd be the fire.
If you were the love, I'd be the desire.
If you were a castle, I'd be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

Bored Speed Typing

78 words

Slosh Slosh

Chinese New Year this year isn't that big a bang. Dunch really know why but this year it feels pretty low key... like we didn't visit much and even when we did, we jus went to eat and say our HIs and stuff... nothing.... culturally explosive about this year. maybe the hype of everything is going down a notch. B.Tsao was commenting about Christmas being lowkey too during that period. mmm i wonder why the world is slowly losing interest in itself. kinda like how youth are losing interest in themselves too. all the emo-ness in the world and their lives and all.

But that's about Chinese New Year. It's crazy ya know... on day 2 of CNY this year, i went to town to watch a movie with some church frens. LOLZ lor. wazzup with that? the cinema wasn't empty either!!! we almost got front row seats [and not in a good way] haha. it was a fun show... caught Kung Fu Dunk... it's quite a funny cute show really... it's MUCH lighthearted than i thot it would be... he pokes quite a lot of fun everywhere and jay's style of humour is quite endearing. :) i must say that i can see why people flock to him and find him very entertaining. :) apart from him being emo, he's got quite a cute likeable side to him... seen clearly in this show. go watch it.

yup... i'm glad for quite a number of things in my life now. i can't say that it's very good or very bad.. it's pretty average, uneventful and mundane.. but that's kinda sumthing to be thankful for too. jus that sumtimes it feels like an ocean and beach.. the waves jus keeps coming over and over again smacking the shore or kissing it lightly.. but u know that another wave is coming.. it's jus the natural flow of things. weeks pass like the waves... u know the next is coming and each can be big or small.. either way, life goes on.

Haven't been keepin up with my NISS for a while now. i'm really screwed messed up. maybe that's why God feels a bit far now. not far la. jus not near... u know, like that "mystic being" other religions talk bout. He's there, jus that my lack of discipline and love is keeping Him there and not here. that kinda thing. :)

Gold Class: Atonement

Ah, if you haven't already tried GV Gold Class, you had NO idea what luxury movie screening is. Amazing experience I had. Watched Atonement there last week and the service was just WONDERFUL. We went like 15 minutes early and was ushered by lovely nice staff to the lounge. The lounge itself is super nice and chic. very up market food and wines. There was a menu which was overpriced but hey, why not go the whole nine yards since we're already there rite? :) Got a brownie and when my friend wasn't around, i managed to get the staff to serve the brownie with a candle on top. This was a special request and i didn't think they'd entertain it, but they surprised me by telling me they were prepared for situations like this.

So on we went into the cinema and the seats were SO cool. u can see them in the photos above. large reclining red couches that are SO comfy.. trust me! and to top things all off, they give us a nice stylish black blanket. So off the shoes went and on the blanket came, it was just such a nice relaxing and cozy feel. Then in came the brownie and the other snacks we bought, all delivered to our small little personal table. It felt like i was royalty. :)

overall, the experience was WONDERFUL and if you have a free ticket or too much money to spend, try it at least once. :) it's cool. haha

Random non structured flow of words

Life is pretty so-so. just getting thru Week after week. Nothing much that's been happening to me i guess. The things that were complicated last week are still complicated this week. The people i deal with haven't changed neither have I changed in the way i deal with them. Life now is just a slow crawl towards ORD which my google countdown tells me is 165 days away. that's roughly about... oh... 5 and a half months?

I dunno. there are times when i have to purposely and consciously silence myself and my urges. Silence them because I know God is putting me thru a refining time so that i will come out as gold. patience is what i need and self control. Stuff that hasn't always been sumthing really big for me. Telling myself that i'm still young, 21 isn't that big a deal and stuff happen more when you're older. I can't say that i have my life under control coz there are lots of times when i find my life being controlled by others, things they say/do/want/feel... that sorta thing. Much of me can be summarized by trying to please others and trying to be who they/i want me to be. Not a bad thing per se, but neither issit constructive or good.

The worst of Alvin's passing is over. It's funny but i have people coming up to me and asking me how i am now. it's been 3 weeks hasn't it? so yeh, my responses is always the same... God gave me strength and the worst is over. surges of sadness and loss comes here and there but they're managable and dealable. I'm just glad God gave me such strong lessons thru it all. right? :)

A blog isn't really a great place to just talk random thots as they pop into your head coz you know there's gonna be people reading this and trying to make things flow jus wants to scream out at you... OIE! THEY NEED STRUCTURE TO READ. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? But let me be excused for this entry at least. i dun wanna structure anything... jus wanna de-stress by writing. typographical diarrhoea. see, i'm not even gonna go back and correct myself if i find errors. I had a fren who's nick name was really cute... it was "Tyepo"... lolz. i thot it was like the most spastik thing yet sensible thing.

surface level. blogging that is. but then again [and i'm jus breaking a bit thru the surface here] so is my life actually. feel that most frenships i have now are just full of surface level frenships. :) some jus a bit deeper than others but most of them jus start with "hahas" and end with "hahaz"... you know, those kinda meaningless conversations.I guess i still carry on with them becoz i know that they're the best i can have now and i'll take whatever i can reach out and grasps onto. even if they leave me so.. wanting... at least i know i had it.

and yet we start another paragraph. let me take a snapshot of how i look like now.
yup. that bad. haha i'm jus waiting for my hair to dry up so i can sleep. but i think it's dry enough so let me jus wrap this entry up. I'm glad for friends [i pray and thank God for them all the time] and i'm glad for family [coz without them i'd be quite astray by now] but most of all, I'm glad for God becoz without His Son, i'd be no where, no one, no thing...

so thank you Jesus.

Just Rubbish Comics

Busy busy week

This week has been mad. Swamped i tell you. swamped with things eating my time and attention. I was just apologizing to Kenneth last nite because I hadn't done a single bit of my NISS [the new bible study] homework. Monday to wed i had exercise so i didn't get home till like 1am thurs... needless to say the rest of the day was tiring coz i had to work. then the rest of the weekday nights were spent doing breakout final preps and writing my article for the weekly. the only time i had was sat night. haha... it's like cramming 6 days of NISS into a few hours on sat night. haha

ended up sleepin at 2 if i'm not wrong... but managed to finish my niss. amazingly enuf i was able to clear what i needed to. hhaaha... but this week has really taken it's toil on me.

haha it's funny, i stopped blogging to chat and now i'm continuing the entry... an hour later... anyways, today was quite ok... church and all. meaningful songs and i thot it was done quite well. pastor gave a good message too and had some efficient and good meetings after that. :)

still glad the breakout comm is going strong and doing well. once again, writers blog i mean.. block... so yeh, take care peeps.

Tribute to God and to Alvin

I wrote an article for my church weekly this week. it was published and thanks be to God, many were encouraged. :) Amen. :) Glory goes to God coz He gave me the words to write. anyways, here it is.

---

I have a friend, Alvin. I knew him from the Army and when I knew him, I got to know he was a backslider. Seeing how the rest of my army friends would ostracise him because he was a bit weird made me make a commitment to God to reach out to him. It was during one of those normal boring guard duties that I took the chance to dig deep and ask him more about his life. It was interesting how he was open as he shared about how he became a Christian and why, due to some conflict with people, stopped attending church. I guess it was either me taking interest in his life or just the chance to share with someone but we hit it off pretty well and I told God that I'll work on bringing him back to Christ.

Amazingly, we were posted to the same workshop and although most pitied me for ending up with him for the rest of my army life, I saw it as a confirmation from God that He wanted me to specifically talk to Alvin about Christ. Over the months, I reached out to him constantly and poked him time and time again about church going. He promised to try his old church again and he did. Occasionally, he'd stop going because of other commitments but I was glad that there was some progress. Over time, we tried starting a prayer meeting in the workshop but apart from Alvin, most weren't too interested in giving up their break time to meet and pray together. Interestingly enough, Alvin and I had some mutual friends whom he had known from Poly and Poly Christian Fellowship. As I spoke to them, I found out that the Christian Fellowship didn't know how to talk to him or reach out to him and actually gave up on trying. It was amazing how God put him into my life so that His work would not be stopped or done in vain. I viewed that as yet another compelling evidence to never give up with Alvin. Outside of work time, Alvin and I would also go and chill out or have a meal together since his girlfriend's place was close to mine. I really enjoyed the fact that God was allowing me this chance to watch a brother grow in his faith and inch closer and closer to the Lord.

However, November 2007, due to a review in his medical status, he was posted out of the workshop to become a storeman in our HQ, Jurong Camp. I personally was taken aback at the sudden re-posting and was disheartened that I had lost a good friend. I didn't let distance stop me from maintaining a good friendship with Alvin and whenever I went to Jurong Camp, looking him up for lunch was a habit. I enjoyed his company and the laughs he brought but he also represented a sense of achievement and accomplishment as I saw how he came back to Christ.

Last Saturday, I got a call from his girlfriend at about 1plus. It was simple, straightforward and unforgettable. “Joel, I don't know who else to call. Alvin met with an bike accident and has passed away.” I stood there in my room stunned as my brain slowly took it all in. My knees buckled and I crumpled to the floor. He has just recently obtained his bike license and I used to joke about how dangerous he would be on the road. Suddenly, it wasn't that funny a joke anymore. In that matter of seconds my whole weekend and life changed. My friend had just died and I couldn't do anything about it. My mind slowly soaked up the details and information as internally, I didn't want to believe it.

I dropped all my commitments, save church, to be there for his girlfriend and family. It took a lot from me and even now, a week after his passing, I still find it hard when I think of my dear friend. However, what I want to say is that if I had ignored God's soft prompting to reach out to him, if I had done the logical thing and mocked him along with my fellow friends, I would be living in regret and guilt now. Brethren, what I can say is that God works in impossibly mysterious ways and although I miss him from time to time, I am so glad I will see Alvin once more in heaven. I hope that all of us take this as an opportunity to re-look those we know who need the Lord. Don't ignore a prompting if God has given it to you because we never know how long we have on this earth with these friends. A burden given by the Lord has a reason and we might not understand it, all He asks is that we obey the still small voice. I started this article with 'I have a friend' and not 'I had a friend' because I know that one day, I'll see him in heaven again and he will always be my friend. I pray you will see your friends there too.

In memory of my dear friend and brother in Christ, Alvin Ho.

Dedicated to Alvin Ho Kah Yun

This post is dedicated to my dear dear friend Alvin Ho. You were a good guy, a great fren and a closer brother. Words fail me to understand why you've been snatched away to be with God now. I can't say I understand but I will accept that it is in His almighty plan. I'm just thankful to God for the chance to know you, to work with you and to pray with you.

I will miss you so much. I already do. Thank you for being my friend, my confidante at times and my brother in Christ. You don't know what you meant to me.
They say life goes on, but life without you inside is going to be way different. I pray you are in a better place, with God. I'll miss you buddy.

"Alvin Ho, formerly from our depo posted to Hq died in a traffic accident in Malaysia. News from Bn Hq"

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."
"...When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me..."

Ukulele Rocker

3 Idiots, Crazy fun. Maybe i'll upload more videos. maybe not. haha

Pay Day

Today's pay day. guess who finally has 4 digits in his bank account. guess guess.

i'll give you a hint: me.

MWHAHA. yayz. i'm so happy. first time in my whole NS life i have 4 digits. and this is like a really rare thing coz even before army, it wasn't easy getting and keeping 4 digits... so here's to the hope once again of staying sustainable. :)

even though today was a really really busy and tiring day... i'm so happy.

everyone should make the 10th of every month something to look forward to.

Coz you had a bad day...

Today wasn't a great day, it was quite bad... but i guess i've had much worse... jus wanna blog bout it coz it gives me an avenue to rant. :)

Work today was a bummer. It was a super long day [hours dragged on forever] and i got a bit pissed off at work today coz my juniors were just blatantly sleeping on the vehicle... it's quite irritating when i kept having to wake them up coz i dun want them to get in trouble. decent courtesy would be to wake yourself up or try not to sleep... yeh, so in the end found myself having to walk away from the vehicle many times just to keep myself from scolding them or saying sumthing i might regret. i like this bunch of juniors, dun wanna spoil that.

Then after work FINALLY ended, took a bus down to tampines to connect to bugis... but i missed my tampines stop coz i dozed a bit... ended up taking the long route to bedok mrt. which was super crowded... got to bugis, met up with M.Seah and J.Foong and had a nice time chatting over dinner. I'm glad we still meet up and we're still quite close to each other. :) we had a fun time swaan-ning Seah bout his officer appointment... we two are sergeants see. ahha. Yup.

So Seah told me a new way to go home, decided to go with him. supposed to be faster. ended up waiting for our bus for quite a while and then after he got off, i got off to get my connecting bus 10. waited for like 15 minutes and i was messaging to avoid dying from boredom... then i looked up and ZOOM bus 10 went by.not just that, it went by and splashed water on my jeans and feet lor. i was like. WTH... sheeeet. ended up at that cold rainy dark bus stop for half an hour. lost my transfer concession coz waited too long and had to run home in the rain after that.

Oh, and it's 5 minutes to my extended bedtime liao. supposed to sleep at 11. sigh

" Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around"

BreakOut SubComm Poster Designing 070108

Can I say with ease that I love the BreakOut SubComm to bits? So hardworking, so committed. I've got SUCH an easy life with them around. lolz.

Met up with the BreakOut SubComm girls last nite [Sera.Tong] 'siam'-ed the camera but she was there] to design the poster for the upcoming BreakOut: PlayStation. It was a fun time of crazy-ness and yet SUMHOW, discussion on what needs to be added on and what needs to be taken out. I guess it's rare that I design a poster with the help of others, most of the time i'd jus do it myself and get it over with. However, this time was refreshing to have their input and their suggestions added on. :) Surely worth the petrol and parking. haha.

Things are really looking good for now, the BreakOut team looks real set to go and minister to the people. Now we're just praying hard that the people show and they have enuf fun to want to bring their friends. I can't emphasize this more. Like how I mentioned in BAYFGM, there's NO POINT planning BreakOuts if you don't come or don't get your friends down as well. We don't plan this coz we love planning activities [though we do], we plan it for the YF to participate and enjoy... we plan it for you.

Look at the BreakOut Sub Comm, look at the Exco. Don't let our efforts go to waste. Come, come for YFs and stuff... you won't regret it. I have never.

BreakOut: PlayStation
26th Jan 2008, 2:41pm, Chapel.

First Post of 2008

Yeh so I'm kinda late for the first post of the new year.. considering how it's already the 6th day of the new year... well, i've been a bit busy with YF and church and work and stuff... yeh, apologies... new year's was good... we chilled at the Puas house which was super uber fun. We played this chinese game...
yes, you MAY stop re-reading that sentence... I DID play a chinese game.. and i WAS quite ok.. i even got to the top... for like, a few seconds but hey! i was there. ahha

It's called 'MA TONG'... yeh, toilet bowl [which i thot meant pail at first but hey, who needs to know that]... and it's a rhythm, chinese game... aiyah, go learn it from someone else and when we've got another big-group-get-together-thing, we'll play it... coz yeh, it's ACTUALLY fun. well, Lynn might not think so. :P ahha

Other than that, we didn't get to use the frog 'awkward silence' thing at Watchnight. like super bummer... haha but watchnight was good... people jus kept coming to the front to give testimony. it was quite a thril... and some of them were really meaningful and i'm glad they came to share.
Ju gave testimony about her grandma which was real good... so happy she shared and FIRST summore. :)

Yups, so here i am, slacking on a sunday evening.. watching the Italian Job on TV. so cool. heh it's like THE mini cooper show. S_xy to the max. :) but aye, i'll settle and be content with my kick as_ honda fit. haha...

I'm glad things are going good nowadays. i mean, i'm at peace with everyone again... and i hope everyone's at peace with me. Have a good 2008 people. heh

Uncontrollable...

Ever bawled your eyes out during a movie? To have this unending sob keep rising to your nose, throat and eyes? To have your body rocking and to have your eyes well up with such force no dam in this world could hold?

And to finally let it out and let the tears trickle down your cheek as you breathe in that wave of comfort. To try to mask it with a laugh yet trying to keep watching though your vision's all watery?

Well, it happens from time to time. Gosh, it was a good feeling though.
The LakeHouse. if you haven't, go watch it.
*sniff*

Blessed Christmas

So it's finally here, done and over. Christmas is here and the hype of the season has reached its pinnacle. The epitome of joy, love and sacrifice has been once again celebrated, remembered and cherished. The Lord's birth is once again commemorated with a big bang... i must say this Christmas was different... it was less than what i expected and much less... WOWed. :)

The gifts were exchanged, cards, handshakes of love and hugs of concern were given out freely. It was a wonderful time when the whole church was just lost in the festive mood of wishing every a blessed Christmas. For that split second, everyone was just happy. It was nice.

Then we had a stayover at D.Yeo's place. I'm still there actually. it's 6.32am and i'm waiting for the sun to rise so i'll have enough light and energy to go home. haha... kinda tired but i'm so used to not sleeping properly so it's ok. Yup, glad that i got some stuff for some people and some cards for some people and wished some people. u know, it's the whole yayz, i'm glad they're happy. haha...

yup. tired now. byez. blessed christmas one and all.

Christmas

Christmas is finally coming... It's in 2 days. The festive CRAZY-NESS has started. Today's the first 'performance' and people are going mad i tell you... running here and there... but it's fun to be busy in the Lord and seeing the cheer of Christmas, how can I not be smiling away? I find myself smiling ever so often just because it's Christmas. It's a wonderful feeling I guess....

So here it comes, Christmas. For those who are not Christians who read this... really, what are you seeking for? You didn't even need to look, God sent Himself to you through Jesus Christ His son. He gave you the only gift no other could give. Imagine, opening the wrapping to find the most eternal, everlasting and precious gift that men across the generations have been seeking for. Everlasting life, freedom from Sin, Love. Everything and more, and all you need to do is thank Him, Trust Him and Totally love Him for who He is and what He did. It's that Simple.

'Even Wise Men sought for Jesus.'

think about that for a while. :)

Have a Blessed Christmas and a Joyous New Year one and all!

Taken from http://www.reverendfun.com/?date=20071221

Love one another

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. - John 13:34-35

Today's YF was good... it was camp echo and so most of the campers came down to recollect some lessons learnt during camp, to view some photos and to reflect on Mt Belumut. :) Something popped in my head that has stuck with me throughout the day though.

If we are called to love everyone equally, even our enemies... how do you love a brother/sister who doesn't want your love? Someone who ignores you or pushes you aside... doesn't give you any of their time just because. Now, we're talkin bout your side here and not their side... how then do you be a brother/sister to them? How do you love them when they run away from you?

Now to take it one step further, what is 'loving' your bro/sis? What's appropriate and inappropriate as a church body.... just some thots.

It's the Christmas season. I wonder, issit possible to put hatred aside, resentment, previous grudges, anger, bitterness and alienation away and just love?
I dunno bout the general public but to me, I have but one wish [of course i have many but this ranks the highest]... that this Christmas period, i will be at peace with everyone. That whatever has happened be forgotten just for a while and everyone smile at each other.

All i want is for you to look at me and smile. Just for Christmas.
Why? issit that hard to love?

Life so far

Well, life so far has been interesting, complicated and yet still had points worth living for [of course life is worth living for. duh]

The past few days were away from work... came back from the exercise on monday, got OFF given to us on tues and friday [today], wed and thurs were good too coz i was on 2days of MC. And yes, i'm STILL sick... sighz. haha... but maybe it's coz i didn't spend the 2 days resting at home. yeh but i can't coz i had things to do, places to go to, people to meet, stuff to buy.

The past week kinda passed nicely. Spent much of my time with a good friend whom i know i'll miss in a few weeks time. I guess it's stealing whatever time i can have with that friend before that friend flies overseas for a long time. Anyways, we both were free and had somehow really freaky agendas coz they all involved the same places. So yeh... managed to get some shopping done [satisfied but still lacking] before the Christmas crowd hit... Argh. need to buy wrapping paper. Then there were times of this week that made me really stop and think whether i should really be out shopping when i was sick or what... but i knew i had to if i wanted to get stuff before they jacked the prices up and all that jazz.

I have had to also watch myself in terms of what i did, said and thought... it's been an interesting week la i'd say.

YAF last nite was fun fun fun. We had games nite and jus relaxed playing games. i had to watch myself laughing coz i was coughing and laughing would induce a strain of cough that was hard to stop.. but stupid B was making it hard not to laugh when he kept making dumb jokes and stuff... it was really a good time of relaxing and fun with board games. :) we played Cranium and Bible Trivia. haha... good good. :) stayed quite late though but had a lift home.

Yeh, so here i am sitting here on a friday afternoon 1.45pm... i woke 45 minutes ago. And am still sick. will use the day to clear some stuff that i have to do like christmas cards and Heroes episodes... not to mention i managed to get a lot of movies from airy last nite. yayz. got much to watch over the holiday season... haha..

Take care people and dun think too much during this holiday period. it's not good. jus enjoy yourself.

Back from SPT

Too tired but I'm back from SPT. it was great. Learnt alot and accomplished more.

Thank You for protecting and keeping them safe. You know how worried I was for them but You had them in Your hands and thoughts all along. Trusting in You is never futile.
Welcome back Youths. YF Camp sounded fun.

On other notes, I'm getting older and older by the day. I'm not talkin bout age, mentality, mindsets, interaction with people... Everything. Less.... Fun. :)

how do i know that? well, this is pure evidence: "The blog post ends here coz i dun feel like blogging anymore... or maybe it's just coz i'm just tired." :)

最長的電影 Lyrics + SPT

I'm not going to be online from Monday [3rd Dec] till the next monday [10th Dec]. I'm going for some Section Proficiency Test... 4 days, 3 nights outfield too lor! haha sighz... call or sms me... i dun mind the cheer up. I've got my phone charger so no worries. :) Take care of yourselves too k? Esp the youth who are climbinb Mt. Belumut...

I'm posting these up coz they're such beautiful lyrics. They come from Jay Chou's latest album... and they're really sad words but yet has such a sweet heart-string tugging melody behind them all. Give the song a listen... it's on top of the tagboard. :) my fav song from the album as of now.

我们的开始是很长的电影
Wo men de kai shi shi hen chang de dian ying
Our relationship is the longest movie

放映了三年
Fang ying le san nian
It has been showing for three years

我票都还留着
Wo piao dou hai liu zhe
I'm still keeping the ticket

冰上的芭蕾脑海中还在旋转
Bing shang de ba lei nao hai zhong hai zai xuan zhuan
The ballet on ice is still revolving in my mind

望着你慢慢忘记你
Wang zhe ni man man wang ji ni
Looking at yet slowly forgetting you



## 朦胧的时间 我们溜了多远
Meng long de shi jian Wo men liu le duo yuan
In the haze of time How far we have skated

冰刀划的圈　圈起了谁改变
Bing dao hua de quan Quan qi le shei gai bian
The circles made by the skates' blades, whoever's in it changes

如果再重来 会不会稍嫌狼狈
Ru guo zai chong lai Hui bu hui shao xian lang bei
If we could start all over again, will it be a tad too awkward

爱是不是不开口才珍贵 ##
Ai shi bu shi bu kai kou cai zhen gui
Is love more precious when it is kept in the heart?



** 再给我两分钟
zai gei wo liang fen zhong 　
Please give me two more minutes

让我把记忆结成冰
Rang wo ba ji yi jie cheng bing
Let me freeze these memories forever

别融化了眼泪　
Bie rong hua le yan lei
Don't let your tears fall

你妆都花了
Ni zhuang dou hua le
Smudging your makeup

要我怎麽记得
Yao wo zen me ji de
How can I remember?

记得你叫我忘了吧
Ji de ni jiao wo wang le ba
I remember you told me to forget

记得你叫我忘了吧
Ji de ni jiao wo wang le ba
I remember you told me to forget

你说你会哭
Ni shuo ni hui ku
You said you would cry

不是因为在乎 **
Bu shi yin wei zai hu
But not because you care

Reasons

It's funny, recently i've been finding myself doing a lot of things beyond reason... I wonder to myself, hmmm why am i doing this.

no reason.

like today. plus... i miss angelston. dun ask why, i just do.

Another Failure

You know. I feel really down right now. I'm just frustrated at myself and how I messed up again. How many people do I have to hurt to realize that it's not working out. Why didn't it go the way it would/should/could have?

Why do we get close to people if it only leads us to get hurt more?

The 3rd one I messed up. And this one, looks bad. I really did it this time. I messed up big time. Whatever it is, I'll get out of the way and try not to hurt anyone else anymore. I just hate it coz I didn't know. Till now. Saying sorry doesn't cut it, it doesn't even make it right.

I wonder how God takes it. His creation constantly sinning, turning away from Him and hurting Him. Yet He doesn't give up on them, on us, on me. God, I'm sorry, I bring this failure of a friendship to You. I don't want to mess it anymore. If it pleases You, mend it. If not, help me to learn from it and forgive me for it. God, I surrender it to Your hands.

I'm sorry, God.

Exercise Over

Wow... this exercise was super memorable. coz i dun really have a lot of time to blog, let me cut things short... i almost died this exercise!!! haha... let me tell ya why.

We were activated at bout 1am to go repair one of the rigs [vehicles] and so we drove off in our 5 tonner [it's like a huge van.. you've seen them on the roads]

sumthing like this... anyways.. it's got this canvas covering the top rite? yeh.. so we left base camp to the deployment ground to look for the rig.. however, we encountered a really weird route which snaked upwards onto a slope that was muddy and super bumpy.. trust me, we were being thrown around inside the tonner. and it was real scary coz it's those kind of situations that you're jus waiting for the tonner to hit a rock or a ditch and either fly or tumble sideways down... i'm serious, i was legit-ly scared for my life there and then... then to make things worse a large branch [almost like a tree trunk coz it was so huge] impaled the tonner's canvas... like it stuck right thru...

wanna know the scary part? it impaled the tonner's canvas near my head.. it was like.. *psssshhht* and i looked left and there was this trunk two person's head-length away... i was like HO SHIT... hahaha... it was like damn... i could have died... so in the end we got out of the tonner and realized we were stuck coz the branch was lodged into the canvas and it didn't allow the tonner to move forward OR backward without ripping the canvas or the metal structure holding the canvas together [which was already bent]... yeh so in the end we waited in the forest trying to contact HQ to send rescue... and it was already like 2am... then when they came, they were sounding their horn and so were we but they said they couldn't hear us at all... my sgt joked that we were in some 3rd dimension... it wasn't really that funny then. haha...

so when they finally arrived, we pulled back the whole canvas sheet [5 of us] and managed to hack and kick and pull the branch till it was bent in a way [coz it was too thick to cut] and we managed to get our way thru... finally got to the deployment ground at like 3am and my sgt went to repair the vehicle while 2 of u s stayed back to clean up the tonner. there was leaves, wood, gunk from the 'accident'... then it started to rain.

-_-;

oh my gosh. so i frantically woke my fren up and we scrambled like idiotic ants-that's-gonna-drown and got the canvas pulled back... like hell lor. it was a 5 man job can!!! haha... but there was still a problem... there was a gaping tear.. so we improvised and managed to collect the rain water in a large box meant to keep our tools and spares... haha...

what an eventful night. :) anyways, exercise finally over and i got half day off to rest... managed to do quite a lot of things this morning. 2 rounds of laundry and washed the car. mwhaha see! life still goes on when the parents are out of town can! heh.

hope everyone's doing ok. the Os are over!!! yayz.. haha i hope to see EVERYONE back in YF... esp those who took their Os... it's time God came back in right? [though it'd have been good if He never left]. :)

Tech Squad

I'll be away from Monday - Thursday.

Army Exercise... i'm still reachable via handphone [pending deployment ground's reception]

take care of yourself and pray for no rain. thanks. See ya people.

My Little breath of fresh air

Today was needed, much needed. Thanks for coming out of your way to meet up. Even if it was just for a few hours, today helped me get my mind off a lot of things that were chocked up since yesterday.

My little breath of fresh air, you are. At least for now, i'm still really appreciative of our frenship and the needlessness to really tell each other how much we appreciate the other's company.

Bowling tml... coming? :)

Princess Dog-ear and Dog Vader?

Oh gosh, this is so cute. haha Random video to make ya smile.
All they do is blink. awww. turn up your volume, the guy's comments are funny too.



Other than that, the week's been pretty ok... had a relatively interesting week of work. Monday and Tues, i had Gedong duty so basically i stayed in gedong overnight doing prowling duty and all.. :) then on wed, we had normal work. went down for prayer meeting at night and i must say that it was quite a nice time of prayer. didn't share anything but yet it still made going for prayer meeting worth it. the small group prayer consisted of debbie and my mum so praying was easier and sharing was more personal too. glad that shalom can still hold its' prayer meetings and though the attendance isn't fab... it's something.

thursday, we had area cleaning the whole morning and then a deeparaya celebration in jurong camp. quite cool the OJE danced an item which made me even more 'gian' to go and learn dancing... met up with my frens from jurong and it was quite a happy time with good food.

Friday, we had some sports in the morning coz it was my bigger bigger boss' unit anniversary... it's like the main body we're attached to... so i met up with some mscc frens and then after that, got a lift back from darren to pasir ris. Came home, showered, picked up the car and drove to pick alvin and reid from tampines. we headed to joo chiat to learn drums with leonard at reid's fren's jamming studio. it was cool la. whacking the drums and getting training from reid.. then we started jamming a bit too coz there was an electric and bass guitar... yeh it was pretty cool. must go and properly jam one day. :)
then after that went for YAF.

YAF this week was uber interesting and i didn't want it to end. we had pastor come speak to us about certain issues and questions we, as yafers, had raised in some earlier session. We raised up stuff like the vision of the church, future leadership, the yaf's aim and goal and some stands the church has that we wanna clarify... like the KJV public reading issue, the lack of Proper In-Depth bible study.... those kinda things.. it was good to jus air our views and hear what Pastor had to say... must say that most, if not everyone, contributed and we ended up ending the session at like 12.30 or so... but i drove so no problems there. haha dropped wei-en, fern and yong jie off then came home.

Saturday, the YF breakout comm had their Flight 93 break out.. we watched a movie which really made us reflect on what would go through our minds if we knew we were about to die. and then what is important to our life? Is God in the picture and are we reaching out to those who have not yet known who Christ is and what he did for us on the cross. coz it's scary. we can go anytime.
Evening, went to jessica's birthday chalet. wow. that girl has changed a bit. her hair is so nice now and she's still got her nice smile and all. it was nice seeing evelyn, cynthia, boon song, emu and goli again... poly frens i haven't seen in so long. :)

yup. i'm off to church now. so yeh. see ya people in a bit.

End of the Week

So this week was quite interesting. Monday to Tuesday i had work and then duty over night... it was kinda alrite. My IC was some nerdy geeky guy who didn't talk much. Though i tried to strike up many conversations, he wasn't one of many words so most of them just stopped after a while. :S haha. that's not the point la coz i cleared the duty fine and got back to camp.

Thurs, last nite, we had a deeparaya celebration at jurong camp. got to catch up with alvin for a bit coz it's the first time we've seen him since he was posted to jurong last week. Glad that he's settling down slowly. I guess i was kinda worried for him too la. new environment and a different kind of work and people he'll be mixing with. But seems like he's doing quite ok there. thank God for that. Well, just pray he'll survive the next 8 months [coz that's all he has left for Army.. spastik] and PASS HIS DRIVING. If you're reading this jia ren, you jolly well pass it before you ORD otherwise i'll hantum you. haha. :)

Food was good last nite and the performances were good too. Our OJE danced and it was really good. coz that brings me to my next point....

I'm gonna take up dancing! GASP. haha i've always kinda wanted to but never found the time or the income to do so. however, now i'm gonna seriously think bout it and go learn. which kind? well... here's a description of 2 kinds that i'm gonna check up on. :)

MTV
Inspired by Justin Timberlake's smooth grooves? Ciara's heart-thumping moves? Can't get enough of those MTVs? Learn it here in this class! MTV is a music video inspired class merging Hip Hop Style with Jazz, bringing to you the hottest, coolest and newest dance styles as seen on TV! What are you waiting for? Join in and dance to the trendiest music around town!

Hip Hop I (Ongoing)
Taught by Patrick Loo, you'll learn new steps and movements in each class. At a beginner's level, Patrick will go easy on you! No experience required.

yup. so cool huh? haha..

anyways, i got promoted to 3SG on wed. woots. ahha thus the extra cash to do stuff like dancing. haha... yuppers. gotta run to work now. catch ya later! take care people.

9 Things I Just Can’t Stand - From Sab

Ripped this off Sab's blog coz i think it's jus so funny. :) enjoy.

9 Things I Just Can’t Stand

1. People who point at their wrist while asking for the time…. I know where my watch is pal, where the hell is yours?

2 People who are willing to get off their butts to search the entire room for the T.V. remote because they refuse to walk to the T.V. and change the channel manually.

3 When people say “Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too”. Damn right! What good is cake if you can’t eat it?

4 When people say “it’s always the last place you look”. Of course it is. Why the hell would you keep looking after you’ve found it? Do people do this? Who and where are they?

5 When people say while watching a film “did you see that?”. No Duh, I paid $9 to come to the cinema and stare at the damn floor.

6 People who ask “Can I ask you a question?”…. Didn’t really give me a choice there, did ya?

7. When something is ‘new and improved!’ Which is it? If it’s new, then there has never been anything before it. If it’s an improvement, then there must have been something before it, couldn’t be new.

8 When people say “life is short”. What the hell?? Life is the longest thing anyone ever does!! What can you do that’s longer?

9 When you are waiting for the bus and someone asks “Has the bus come yet?”. If the bus came would I be standing here….?

Baby got Book

quite the hilarious. haha but more so if you know the original song, baby got back.

New Strings

Baby just got herself restrung. Now she sounds so sweet, so clear. The music she produces now is just floating above my head, surrounding me and entering into my ear like a teasing symphony. wow. to think changing strings could make such a big diff.

She was really depressed today when one of her strings snapped during practice. Likewise, i felt baby's pain when i tried playing chords that involved the last string. She was as empty as a jar without a cap, a flower without petals, a chord with no ending note. I couldn't take it any longer. Called off the practice [since we were ending anyways] and headed down to Tampines. Bought the strings and came home to restring her up.

now she sounds so good. i dunno whether i'll end up restringing her more and more jus to hear this fresh new sound again. but alas, as precious as baby is to me, my wallet is not as generous as my emotions. :)

ok so i'm weird. but i love my guitar. Even the guy at Yamaha said it was a real nice piece. He thot it was from Swee Lee. Take that!!! Expensive guitar owners! hah! my baby's a Cort.. and she was bought at a steal. :) NOT from Swee Lee. :)

O Levels

The Os start tomolo... it's finally here. wowz.

to all those taking the Os, 3 or 4 more weeks. then you're free. press on!!!

God knows how much i want these exams to end.

Long Lost friends

Recently, i found a friend i've lost for a long time. Back in sec 2, i met a choir fren on a cruise ship that our schools had jointly organized.

I recall her being someone who left a deep impression on me and all these years i've tried and failed to find this friend of mine. however, facebook justified and salvaged itself in my eyes when i chanced upon my fren's profile after linking it from another friend's.
What shocked me was how much she has changed since the last time i saw her. obviously but still, could the few years that we never contacted have made her who she is today, how much has affected her life and mine to have caused such a change in person. :0

nonetheless, i chatted her up and amazingly she rememebers me and it stunned me to think how much we haven't caught up on. :)
only then did i think facebook was useful. :) haha... but seriously. it made me ponder and wonder whether people can really change so much. i prob wouldn't recognize her if i saw her on the street. :) so it was pretty cool getting back in contact...


on other news, i'm currently [prob not for long la] hooked on the song JENNY by The Click Five. i think it's pretty cool coz the lyrics really speak to me and heh... they have some interesting twists to it. :) but anwyays, if you dunno the song, u should know it by now coz it's on autoplay... jus above the tagboard. :)

totally random

BLOGGING FROM REID'S HOUSE! whee!

evidence:

Combined YF

Yesterday was fun fun. :) Made it a point to step out of my comfort zone, get out of the shell and really take the initiative to talk to the combined YF people...

*shawn rocks* sorry.. that was added in by the Tiangster... see i'm in the church office with my trusty Bumble Bee.... okok, that's the name of my laptop [given by Lydia]... haha... anyways, about combined YF... it was quite different from the other years coz this year's games were a bit less organized and tight for time... wasn't too greatly happy about it but hey, it gave us more time to interact within our own grp. :) got to know some fun people in my grp. mainly Andrew, Kim, Alicia and Dipna.. the whole group was quite fun too la. it was cool seeing how people were jus working together and not having boundaries of churches in the middle blocking everything.

so it was a fun time getting to know people and jus chilling over games and food... i always look forward to combined yf every year coz it's a chance to get out of the normal bunch of frens and meet new frens... catch up with old frens from different churches and also to network frenships. :)

anyhows, i'm kinda sian recently. was trying to share with a pair of frens today but jus wasn't the right mood and stuff... i guess it's jus hard to also kinda breech the topic. :) It's ok, i've got a fren i can share with in church too la. even if he comes and hijacks my blog once in a while... *looks up to the top of this blog post* heh...

summary of the whole thing, i need to move on with my life and stop sulking in this valley and get a grip of life around me la. :) combined yf was a good experience.i should try to get that emulated everyday. always wonder to myself if i should really try to be more sociable. :) see how la.

Something's really bugging me. it's been bothering me for a few weeks now and today i just told myself enough is enough. i can't keep getting bothered by it. so if it's not working out, i dun really think i should keep trying. no point hitting against a brick wall that won't budge or reply. :) so that's that.... i'm jus gonna heck it till it comes up again. sad... it makes me sad.. but i guess it's necessary. :) better now than later.. or never.

blog entry's done. stop reading.

On Exercise till friday

Hey guys, will be on exercise from today till friday so won't be home till then. Praying for good weather and working vehicles so i dun have to do anything.
basically i sit there and wait for vehicles to spoil. so hopefully, nothing goes wrong. haha.

See ya on friday!

Happy 21st Birthday Debbie

You may not read this at all. It doesn't really matter. But thank you for making my life that much easier to live. Thank you for being my close fren all these 21 years. For being you and for giving me something to thank God for all this time. You are a dear friend of mine and I pray the Lord blesses you always and continues to allow you to bless others as how you already have. :)
Today's gathering reminded me that no matter how far apart frens are, no matter what happens, the frenships that God has called us together for, will last a lifetime. Yours surely will.

Happy 21st Birthday Debbie



Here's to many years ahead. :) btw, you looked gorgeous today.
p.s. thanks for tolerating ALL my nonsense. bwhaha i even piss myself off sometimes. :)

Overtime Killer

So recently, my company has been Overtiming to pass out vehicles from the workshop so that we can be prepared for the upcoming exercises... sigh. it's been eating at not only our health but also the general morale of the troops. It's been quite a long time since we left the workshop when the sun was still up... it's like by the time we walk back to the bunk, the road back's always dark and quiet... no more troops marching to dinner or people booking out... now, it's jus spoilt street lamps and quiet chirps from the insects... by the time we get home, we barely have time to come online and chat... thus the lack of entries recently.

today was a saturday. i slept.. and i slept good... woke at 8.30am [trust me, that's really late for us]... slept at 11.30 last nite coz i couldn't tahan staying up. haha... haiz.. what to do? and today's a busy busy day for me. My close fren's 21st birthday. :) finally. haha....

Just wanna say that sometimes when you know you've asked for something in prayer, you start to regret it after.... take for instance... i prayed for patience and the ability to be content in whatever situation i was thrown into.. and now that my patience is tested, when my commitment to God should outweigh my desires, that's when the Lord Almighty is saying to me, look here... i'm all you need. you prayed for patience rite? this is the best way to test and train it up. :) so show me son, how you have patience.

and that's the tough part... but i guess it's enuf to make it thru rite? :) There's a saying i can't exactly remember but i think it's true... it says something like...

Only when you have nothing but Jesus will you really realize Jesus is all you need.

power packed no? :) and i'm sure you'll agree with me coz the matter of the fact is that... :)
on other news, driving is going good... been quite fun i guess.. been trying to drive everyday... but coz of OT, it's not so easy. but i drive to work la... with my parents then they take the car back. HAHA. :) but i don't need the car la so it's wise to do that. :) Getting used to the roads and the drivers on the roads... haven't ventured out of the east side [save for my army camp] so i'm still quite fresh on the roads la. i wouldn't dream of driving in orchard road or even bugis or cityhall area... yet. :) maybe in a month's time or sumthing then i'll start venturing outside more and more la. like kallang... eunos... then maybe city hall area.. though i'd rather not at this point in time. hehe.

oki. so i'm gonna head off to church later on. i'll catch ya all yeh? :) heh take care people.
oh... i cut my hair recently. and it's really really short now. haiz. here's a preview pic... no gel no nothing. :)

Ultimate Cellphone

Oh Gosh, this is so funny la...

You'd know what these were if you were born in the 80s

You grew up watching He-man, MASK, Transformers, Silver Hawk and Mickey Mouse, Ninja turtles, Carebears, Robocop, My Little Pony and Smurfs. [I used to have the he-man sword and of course, i still have robocop and ninja turtle toys from back then]

You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in Primary school during recess time. You would squat by a drain with all your classmates beside you, and brush your teeth with a coloured mug.

You hated or loved the school nurse (she was either pretty or mean).

You know what SBC stands for. [SINGAPORE BROADCASTING CORPORATION! totally!]

You paid 40 cents for cartons of Chocolate or Strawberry milk every week in class.

Everyone’s wallet used to be the velcro type [tee hee. guilty as charged!]

It was cool to have pagers in primary school [Memojazz, yellow in colour. I remember how i was so facinated at how fast my sister could type alpha-numeric with a house phone keypad.... until i could do it too. HAHA]

SBS buses used to be non-airconditioned. The bus seats are made of wood and the cushionwere red. The big red bell gave a loud BEEP! when pressed.

There were still bus tickets and bus conductors would come up to check them.

Envelopes were given to us to donate to Sharity Elephant every Children’s Day. [gosh, sharity. now how old is THAT!]

You’ve probably read Young Generation magazine.You know who’s Vinny the little vampire and Acai the constable. [I loved YG... like, THE magazine for kids]

You know what PETS are and the hidden animals in all the text pages. You hated penmanship.

Writing lines and caning hands were common, esp if you failed chinese spelling (caning was actually allowed. no shit).

You were there when they first introduced the MRT here. You went for the first ride with your parents and you would kneel on the seat to see the scenery.

Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50.

Gals were fascinated by Strawberry Short Cake and Barbie Dolls.

You learn to laugh like The Count in Sesame Street.

You bought tidbits called beebee (20 cents per pack, 10 cents in MGS), and mamee (30 cents), that had a different sticker in it every time. [I still buy mamee. oops! haha.]

You carried a lunch box to school but either threw away the food or brought it back home again.

You watched TV2 (also known as Channel 10) cartoons because Channel 5 never had enough cartoons for you.

Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, The Three Investigators, Famous Five and Secret Seven were probably the thickest
story books you thought you would ever read.

KFC used to be a high class restaurant that served food in plates and had metal forks and knives. (I dont remember this, anyone?)

The most vulgar thing you said was asshole and idiot and THE MOST EXTREME WAS ‘chicken pie’…you just couldn’t bring yourself to say the hokkien translation.

Catching and pepsi-cola was the IN thing, and twist was the magic word. [Used to play Pepsi Cola EVERYDAY at recess. i still remember exactly where in the sch]

Your English workbooks were made of some damn poor quality paper that was smooth and yellow. [Do you remember how the PETs worksheet used to be those tear off kind? like foolscap!]

You came to school 15 mins before the bell every morning just so you could copy someone’s homework.

CDIS was your best friend.

The only computer lessons in school involved funny pixellized characters in 16 colours walking about trying to teach you math.

Waterbottles were slung around your neck and a must everywhere you went. [YARH! Those press the button then the cover flicks open and the 'white plastic straw' can be pressed in]

Boys loved to play soccer with small stones or tennis balls in the basketball court.

Girls played five stones and boys played with marbles.

Science was fun with the Balsam and the Angsana being the most important plants of our lives, guppies and swordtail being the most important fishes.

Who can forget Ahmad, Bala, Sumei and John, immortalized in our minds from school textbooks.

We conducted experiments of our own to get badges for being a Young Zoologist/Botanist etc. [I was crazy bout this for a while. Get all those done for wad? spastik. haha but at that age, it was like our greatest achievement to get a badge]

Every Children’s day and National day you either got pins or pens with ‘Happy Children’s Day 1993′ or useless plastic files with ‘Happy National Day 1994′.

You wore BM2000, BATA, or Pallas shoes.

Your form teacher taught you Maths, Science and English.

You went to school in slippers and a raincoat when it rained, and you find a dry spot in the school
to sit down, dry your feet, and wear your dry and warm socks and shoes.

There would be spelling tests and mental sums to do almost everyday (you hated them).

Your friends considered you lucky and rich if your parents gave you $2 or more for pocket mone everyday.

You saw Wee Kim Wee’s face in the school hall.

Boys liked catching fighting spiders, earthworms or tadpoles.

Collecting and battling erasers was a pastime for boys. [Totally. really.]

Class monitors and prefects loved to say, “You talk somemore, I write your name ah!” [Haha.. i used to be a monitor... and yes, that's SO true... to think we had power. haha]

You got booked for muddy shoes in class.

There were at least 40 people in one class.

You brought every single book to school, even though there was a timetable.

There was a pro-yo/bumblebee, digimon craze at some point in time [Guilty as charged. i had at least one of all of those mentioned... at diff times of course. hey, you forgot Tamagotchi! haha]

Stickers, stamps, erazers. The best were the stickers with fur, and those cheap erasers with flags printed on top. [I used to have a box of those flag erasers. then play that flick my eraser game... used to be so happy when my eraser flicked and landed on top of another. those were play for keeps days... loser loses his eraser! my fav was iceland. i dunno why, but it always won]

“ti Kam” things you can buy, ‘xiao ding dang’ which was sold for 50 cents and ‘tora’ at a buck!

Standing up

Today, during our parade, one of my friends got called up to receive an award of commendation for something he did. The point was, my whole company [k, not whole la.. but a huge chunk of them] were so shocked and surprised beyond reasoning why he would get an award. Like it's something that can never happen and even the higher management were stunned. I felt quite irritated as i watched them joke amongst themselves at how it must have been a typo or what...

Then he came back to join us after rehearsing and they went on and on about how they must have made a mistake... and he was right there la. they were saying, sure not? you get award... typo la. must have read wrong name la. cannot be la.

and boy was i getting more and more flustered. I was jus tolerating it all hoping he was ok about it all. He is normally picked on in company line too la. And i told myself if they say one more sentence about how he cannot have received it, i would have spoken up and told my superior off in a way that was nice. Told myself that if they said one more i'd jus tell my superior... with all due respect, i dun think we should be laughing or doubting his potential. Let's rather joy and celebrate with him. I'm sure he can do with the encouragement and recognition.

but thankfully they stopped before i had the chance. really... my blood was almost 80degrees.. almost getting to boiling. haha... but it all ... boiled over after a while and he received the award... then later on after the parade, he was recognized in front of company line and we all clapped for him... but i still felt that it was really childish, immature and ultra insensitive to be laughing about it with or without him around.

So here's to my friend. I believed in you and i didn't doubt for one second that they might have gotten your name wrong. You know who you are and i'm real glad you were recognized for your good effort in that particular event. Keep it up and dun worry if you feel you dun deserve it... in my eyes, you did great. Plus, dun care bout what they might say or how they may look at you... you jus believe in yourself and let them mumble all they want k? :)


Stand up for what is right, Right what is wrong.

I Passed!!! :)

Thank You Lord. Thank You for constantly showering the blessings of my life upon me when i don't deserve it.
Lord, i thank you for giving me this chance to drive and with this license, may i bring more joy and help to your community. May i use the gift that you have given to me to be a blessing to others. Lord, thank You for being with me throughout the whole test, giving me peace and assurance.

Thank You for letting me pass my driving test. All honour and glory belongs to You.



The day started out scary. Sky loomed grey and it actually started to rain when i was driving my warm up. Circuit warming up was not bad except for directional change. Instructor said to pay more attention to it coz today i seemed to be turning the wheel more frantically. so go slower and pay attention to the unconscious signs and signals i'm giving while driving.
After i got my tester and route, i got in the car and the circuit went flawlessly. Thank God coz the 'starting on a hill' [which is my most unconfident part] was the first... that went well, didn't roll back at all, jus went straight up, controlled and calm. The rest of the circuit went according to plan, no glitches whatsoever. Once i got onto the road, i was already really happy inside coz i cleared the circuit.

The road section was interesting. There was a point in time jus after coming out of the circuit where i wondered whether i was on the right lane... coz he said go forward at the traffic light... and i was on the left lane [slow cars wad]... then i was like.. OH CRAP. wait a minute, the lane i'm on now... can go forward or not? or issit a left turn lane? then i was like... man man man!!!!.. then the cars in front of me started driving off... forward! YAY. aha.. so there was no mistake there.

I came to a hump at the later part of the day and i slowed down but apparently not enuf coz when we went over it, the tester leaned forward and backwards like some rocking chair [so spastik lor]... and i knew i'd get points deducted for that... no matter. To cut it all short, when i went back to the test circuit, i parked and followed the tester up but i managed to give a thumbs up to my instructor before i disappeared into the building. After he sat me down and showed me all the mistakes i made [3]... he ticked passed. WAH! i tell you, the feeling was like a volcano erupting inside... i was so happy. :) relieved la. coz i got points deducted for 3 things.

1. Early Clutching [apparently when i E braked, i stepped on the clutch first instead of the brake] i think that's nonsense coz my technique was correct. whatever!
2. Never slow down enuf at the hump.
3. Turn into wrong lane. [which is true too la. i was turning right and went to lane 2 [left lane] so i'll admit, that was wrong. i should have turned to the right lane then filtered left]

yeh so all in all, 12 points. :) great la! i was so happy. got out and called my instructor straight away. He said after he heard who i got as a tester, he knew i'd pass coz my tester wasn't so ngiao... jus make sure i did the normal stuff like check blind spots and all. :) so yayz. haha made my license and then headed to camp.

yarh.. then to cut a long day short, i graduated today from Driving School AND Section Commander Course. so effectively today, i am a driver and a section commander. wowz. big day huh? hahah... sad thing is, course is over... so tml must go back to unit. sighz. haha. and i heard we're going to OT on wednesday. yayz. what a start.

heh. so great day. and it's not over yet. going to meet some YAFers outside for prata in... half an hour's time. haha. yup. great feeling now! :) heh

11hours

11 hours till i have my driving test.

it's funny. it's only now that i'm really thinking of it and getting a bit scared. here i was saying it's not a problem. i have full confidence and telling people that the more you think about it, the more stressed up you'll be.

and yet, i can't seem to follow my advice. scary la.. but i am fighting internally to turn my thots somewhere else... jus so i won't think of it and get stressed. it's jus another driving lesson. jus another time on the road. no biggie. test or no test... no biggie. come on Rui... it's not a big deal.

so the next post you'll get from me will be either titled I PASSED!!!! or I FAILED! :(
heh... catch you then. Pray for me, those who see this post before 9.15am 24th Sept. thank you so very much. i appreciate it tremendously.

To God be the Glory!

One more lesson till TP test

Wow... i had my driving lesson last nite and it was one of the best lessons ever. Didn't make any mistakes in the circuit. actually, it was really almost faultless. I'm not trying to make it sound good, but you must know i haven't had a faultless lesson in circuit before so this is a big thing. :)

anyways, the road was good too. made a mistake though... turned a bit too early and had to stop for a pedestrian in the middle of the road. but i learn from that. :) i met an amber light but managed to stop nicely too... so that lesson really was an encouragement to me.

As i was telling jodi online... i just really really want to pass. I really don't wanna fail. but i know that if it's in His plans for me to fail or pass, it'll come to pass and i'll have to not only learn to accept it but to praise God in it. :)

but yeh, i wanna pass. hahaha.

Then i can drive people around, drive the wonderful honda fit and maybe let my parents get off the wheel a bit more.. driving is stressful and it's not good for them to be so stressed up. :)
Whatever it is, 3 more days to next driving lesson and 5 MORE DAYS till TP test.

One week till endofcourse and tptest

I've got a week left of my course. A week till my course ends and gives me rank and pay. A week till i have to go back to my unit and expect to be able to lead well as a 2ic for my section. A week till people start to look up to me for decisions and for guidance.

A week is too fast to be true. I dun really want the course to end neither do i want the bonds to disappear. I pray that in a week's time, everything will have run it's course and that it'll all work out. That things will fall into place and that these 5 weeks on course were good, useful and beneficial.

The course was great. so fun and so memorable. I just came back from an exercise in Tekong that made me do foot topo-ing for about 15-20km. :) shag like shit. haha... but it was great. an experience i'll never be able to have again [or i hope so at least]

A week till i take my driving license traffic police test. A week left to stuff all the lessons i can. A week till my instructor knows whether he has another first time pass or a repeat student.

anyhows, i pray that whatever happens, that i'll be safe and that i'll learn from it. whether i pass or fail right now isn't impt. more so whether i take it seriously and whether it's in God's good timing coz frankly, i'd rather fail and obey Him than to pass and face His wrath later.

This week isn't small, it's quite big actually.

On Exercise

Hi guys, booking in now. However, this weekend, i'm only booking out on sunday afternoon and booking back in on monday afternoon so prob no time to blog and stuff. so i'll see you guys whenever la yeh? :) Take care of yourselves!

10th Sept - Monday [book in]
16th Sept - Sunday afternoon [book out]
17th Sept - Monday afternoon [book in]

Bad start of the day

Oh man, i'm having a real bad day... started out bad i guess. I woke up, [early.. thankfully] but woke up quite tired... then my network was down... so had to fix it, my mouse spoiled too and then get ready for driving. Goodness. It was raining... so i ran a bit in the rain.
Met him outside my guardhouse and took over from there. drove to eunos area and i was feeling quite good about it all... driving was smooth, felt quite comfortable and not tense or anything... felt almost second nature.

Then we got into the circuit and my first mistake was the slope [as always]... couldn't really get the correct biting point... ended up having the car slide back a bit.. which isn't an immediate failure.. but minus points la.. so i have to watch out for that one on my test date...
Anyways, to wrap the whole lesson up [coz i really dun wanna think about it again], i drove quite badly today. stalled SO MANY times la. i normally dun stall la. so dunno why today so jia lat. then there was a point in time that i had to E-brake [or well, my instructor did] coz i was almost gonna turn a junction and there was this dumb cyclist who was crossing really slowly. I couldn't jus turn coz then i'll get stuck in the center of a junction while i wait for him to cycle across. so
i had to stop at the turn to wait for him. But i wasn't prepared to stop, so when he braked for me i was like, oh man! haha.. sighz...

yeh.. anyways, after that, went to my aunt's house to fix her com. ended up fixing it really easily but then she said that since i was there to look at her printer. dunno why cannot print. spend like 1 and a half hours or 1 hour trying to figure out how come the printer doesn't communicate with the laptop. installed drivers and uninstalled them... did everything i thot possible. but in the end, i had to leave and tell her i couldn't. haiz that was frustrating and discouraging. an addition to my already bad day.

yeh so here i am. blogging bout it before i leave for yf. and it's like my day jus started. sigh... it jus means it can turn out worse... we'll see.

good news though. i'm working on a song i wrote last nite out of inspiration due to a friend... i've got the whole song out liao [lyrics took a bit longer to write then my tune]... but it was all done in maybe 2 hours max? aha so cool la. recorded my bridge and chorus liao. so will work on a tune for the verse... when it's all done.. i might jus post it up. see how. :) hehe.. cool stuff. writing songs are cool.

p.s. hope your day is better than mine.

Bored and Empty

I think i'm going thru PMS again... OH OH I MEAN UMMM... :) haha. dunno la. the past week i've been feeling quite down and empty. the thing is, there's nothing specific bugging me. jus this omnious cloud floating above me head. couldn't really get very joyful the past weekend for some unknown reason. thot it'll be over once i book back into camp... but i realized that it's kinda still having a toil on me.

Today, kept fighting to stay awake in class... dunno why i'm tired coz i slept relatively early last nite and stuff. dunno la. i think i'll jus tuck in early for the night and hope tomolo's not as tiring. :) My mind's been kinda playin with me again. hoping for things that aren't there and getting disappointed when things really aren't there. :S I just sumtimes wish i could either speed up time or jus not feel at all. helps in so many ways. :S

Yeh, so i'm sitting here in the lab, trying to unload into this blog but yet i've got nothing much to say. just need to be content in the position God has placed me, try not to seek for personal gains and stop desiring for things that i'm not ready for.

I gotta keep telling myself... Singlehood's not that bad and I don't need a GF to worship and love God. :) Told that to myself a while back, guess i just gotta keep saying it till it's part of me.

"All of me, why not take all of me. can't you see, i'm no good without you." From the song "All of Me by John Stevens. Don't ask why, it was running in my head since i started this entry.

Honda Fit

It finally came. after waiting for wad? 6 plus months? since feb or march... :) so yayz. haha it's my main motivation now to pass. :) i've got 2 reasons why i wanna pass my driving test and this is one of them. look at the beauty of it all. Pearl White. Even the number plate is nice. :) anyhows, it's a normal honda fit but with Mugen body kit. you should see the back of the car, it's beautiful. The bottom part of car is the best. The spoiler isn't too big to be obnoxious... it's jus nice. and there's a nice sticker on the spoiler that says 'MUGEN POWER'... fwah le mah! HAHA. :) anyways, i love it and it loves me. :) 3 more weeks till my TP test day... let's pray i pass. heh

Women are Clever... right.

An absolutely Brilliant Joke, ENJOY!!!

A Woman was out golfing one day when she hit the ball into the woods. She went into the woods to look for it and found a frog in a trap. The frog said to her, "If you release me from this trap, I will grant you three wishes."

The woman freed the frog, and the frog said, "Thank you, but I failed to mention that there was a condition to your wishes. Whatever you wish for your husband will get times ten!"
The woman said, "That's okay."

For her first wish, she wanted to be the most beautiful woman in the world. The frog warned her, "You do realize that this wish will also make your husband the most handsome man in the world, an Adonis whom women will flock to". The woman replied, "That's okay, because I will be the most beautiful Woman and he will have eyes only for me." So, KAZAM-she's the most beautiful Woman in the world!

For her second wish, she wanted to be the richest woman in the world. The frog said, "That will make your husband the richest man in the world. And he will be ten times richer than you." The woman said, "That's okay, because what's mine is his and what's his is mine." So, KAZAM-she's the richest woman in the world!

The frog then inquired about her third wish, and she answered, "I'd like a mild heart attack."

Moral of the story: Women are clever. Don't mess with them.
Attention female readers: This is the end of the joke for you. Stop here and continue feeling good.
Male readers: Please scroll down.

















The man had a heart attack ten times milder than his wife!!!
Moral of the story: Women think they're really smart. Let them continue to think that way and just enjoy the show
PS: If you are a woman and are still reading this; it only goes to show that women never listen!!!

---

heh. hope you enjoyed it. i chuckled when i read it in the mail. no offence to all the female readers... jus thot i'd share it with everyone to have a mid-week laugh. :)

In Course... Day 2

Hi people! heh. i'm bloggin from my stay-in course... apparently there IS internet and it's quite relaxed after dinner time so we can use the time to do our project or whatever la.. and whatever includes MSN and blogging. haha so yeh here i am, blogging.

So far it's been quite good. there's 20 of us, the smallest batch so far, and we're from all over la. different camps and different vehicles that we work on and stuff like that. :) I've got a bunch of 3 frens here i already know so no problems with frens and people to cover my butt. getting to know the rest of the course mates so that's quite interesting. :P Jus glad that i'm here i guess. Apart from getting my rank and rank pay after i'm done with this 5 week course, i'm also learning more and more about leadership and how to handle the men under me so it's not a totally useless course. :)

Other than that, i'm doing ok la. of course i wish i could be at home staying out... or going out dinner with frens.. but i'm ok here and i guess it's a small sacrifice. it helps also la. that i dun need to spend money on weekday nights and that i get to wake up and do my QT here in camp. If anyone wants to date me out, please come to vivo coz by right, i'm not supposed to leave camp but there's no one checking so vivo's like 10 minutes away. :) yup. ahaha jus a suggestion. :)

That's all from me for now. Great news from my dad today. :) COE's secured at $8200... that means the car's on the way! going to settle the deal this sunday and if all goes well, i'll pass my driving test on the 24th of sept and can drive around after that! haha. yayz. but i'm kinda worried for my driving coz i'm stay in.. so less time to drive. but i'm gonna talk to my boss to see if i can go out of camp on some evenings for lesson. :) anyways, that's all.

Take care people and all the best to all the Sec4s out there having their prelims soon. :) My prayers are with you all.

On Course

I'll be on a leadership course from today [21st aug] till 17th sept. The course is a stay in course... means i'll be staying in the camp on weekdays [mon-fri]... heard there's internet there la but no promises. See ya!

1 month more till 3sgt! haha

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VERA SHAW!

Though this day will pass,
though it won't ever last,
This day just goes to show
how much you mean to us.

You've brought me smiles
you've brought me joy
being your friend on this special day
has only made me a very lucky boy

so thanks for being who you are
for shining so brightly like a star
you'll always be special to me
happy birthday my dear Vera.

Sorry hor, did this in like.. 2 minutes. haha apologies. but still, vera... happy birthday you crazy thing. This is to many more years ahead. whether with us physically or not, you'll always be part of us yeh? :) Happy birthday mei.

WHATEVER!

Oh gosh, this is cuter!

Psalm 23 done by a child

Got this off www.Godtube.com GOSH. so cute.