Trip To Tesselaar Tulips

Here u am, waiting at melbourne central train stop at 8.45am. My train jus came but what happened before this is surely worth blogging about.

I packed my bags and got everything ready the night before... Checked how long the train and tram rides would take and estimated which tram to take in order to meet my transport (Adelene picking me from box hill station) and set 3 alarms... coz today is daylight savings, so was worried my alarm clock would buzz me an hour late, i set a few at differing times. Anyways... i wake up, get changed and all and then to my horror, the next tram was in 40 mins.. And i'm like... What the??? Apparently the trams didn't follow the morning slotted times and the first tram was at 8.20 instead of 7.49. :s ahhh so i sms hannh and ask her to pass along the message that i'll be late and to change the timing.

Everything's fine and so against logic, i tell myself maybe the trams DO follow the schedule but the tram tracker widget is wrong.. So i set out as planned and reach my tram stop at 7.45am. A tram comes at 7.50 and i smile to myself... Only to realize it passes by quickly coz it's 'NOT IN SERVICE'... Hmm never mind, i'm sure there's the 8.09am tram... So i wait... And wait... For 35mins in the freezing cold.

My tram finally comes at 8.20... Just like the tram tracker widget advised. Dammit. By this time, my brain's frozen solid and my fingers following soon after. This leads me to play a few HORRIBLE rounds of Rockband Unplugged... Guess the cold really affects your reaction time. :s

Sigh. So i learnt a lesson today (in the few waking hours so far).. Always trust the tram tracker widget... It's always correct... And never try to entertain self by playing rockband in the cold. :s

Sigh. Now i'm on the train heading towards box hill... A half an hour journey.. Going to the tulip festival... And i'm just glad for my monthly mobile internet plan.. Lets me blog on the train. :) i feel like August now. Haha.. So techy. Blogging on my E63. Heh.

Yep oki. Here's hoping the festival will be smashing and it'll be worth all this trouble. And if all fails, there's alwats delicious muffins that were baked last night. Heh. Epic success... Form still has a lot to desired. One still looked like a scone. But who cares, heh...

See ya peeps!

---- Sent from my E63 ----

Bahhhhh.

Taken from here

you know sum days something just bugs u and it spoils the rest of your day?

bah. humbug.

i'm going to sleep. dun bug me world. i'm not talking to you.

Hum Sup??

So there i was right, during Flare practice... and all thru the sem, we've been rehearsing this song.. the imaginative setting is that we're 4 guys in a club trying to pick up these 4 girls. What happens after is a partner dance that we dance with the girls and alone...

So here we are, in the present day, 3 weeks from production. Nessa comes and sits in our practice and gives her comments [coz she's the artistic director] of Flare... and we dance couple by couple for my choreographer [daryl] to spot mistakes and give advice... and then after yvonne and i dance, nessa tells me that i look like i'm some hum sup guy trying to get yvonne to sleep with me... :S that totally does NOT help yvonne dance properly.. she already can't stand being so flirted by me... :S so anyways... nessa was telling me to look higher instead of so low coz it looks like i'm just staring at her ass and stuff... but the thing is yvonne's kinda short, and i'm kinda tall... so i HAVE to look down. So daryl tells me, look at the top of her head of at her forehead area instead lor. :S

Sigh... spastik la. hahha... then i was like.. ooook. so u want me to flirt with her and look like i want her but NOT to sleep with her... OOOOkkkk. i could do that... :S spastik la... wanted to go there and SMACCCCCK her. i already dun like nessa much.. and her comments dun help. hahhaa. but yeh, it was all fun coz everyone was laughing and all... it's all good...

flare's happening soon. goodness. 3 weeks till we dance on stage proper... weird to actually be involved in a dance production. never have been but apart from the rehearsals... it's pretty cool la. :) looking forward to the jumper and the nights themselves. whee! hope people come and support and watch us dance the nights away. :)

Come on, dun make me hum sup for nothing. :)

Musings from a bored soul on Spring Break

So i've technically wasted away almost 3 of my spring break days just lazing at home, watching movies, playing games and not thinking about anything...

it kinda feels awesome at some points and really boring at others. :) i do need to get out of the house and that's why i'm also looking forward to tomolo... tml is thurs... thurs means people are coming over for pizza AND there's dance tomolo too. :S

Dance has been quite tough. We're 4 weeks away from production [yeh, it's that close] and it's not finished yet... some of the lifts, we're not getting in timing and some of the lifts we're not getting at all. i still haven't even done a successful lindyhop swing thing with i-lyn and it's kinda freaking me out how close this production is. :S

We tried on our jumpers that day for sizing and that was when it really hit me that we're THIS close to performing... like OH MY GAWSH. totally freaking out!!! hahaha. :) My other piece shouldn't be a problem. we've rehearsed that one quite a few times over... so not really worried bout that.. but the ballet contemp piece... goodness. so many lifts one after the other. it's really quite tiring and scary... :S but i'm sure everyone will be fine... or well i hope they will be. hahaa. :)

Other than that, life's been pretty good and it's been flowing very well... nothing much bugging me except a certain few looming things like exams at the end of the year, tasmania trip, flight back to spore, accommodation for next year and flight back to melb... ahhhh it's spring break... i'm not going to let it worry me till later... THEN i'll start freaking out. haha.

Yep. as u can see, it's 2.35am and i'm still awake... why? coz i dun feel like sleeping but my body's telling me to give it a rest.. so i think i'll go sleep after i conclude this totally pointless blog entry. I should end it off with sumthing really random.. :) wherever my brain takes me at this point in the evening. so goodnight people.

Kittens have scary eyes sumtimes, it's like they're trying to mind control you into petting and "awww"ing for them... Scary eyes... yep.

Picture taken from here

Star Wars Exhibition

Photos can be found here

That day was real special. I'm really glad we did it according to plan [well mostly according to plan]... Starting the special day with breakfast was I was hoping to achieve. Yeh i know, not the greatest breakfast but i was hoping it'd fill our stomachs enuf to last us throughout the day.

Then bringing u with me to school to 'meet' my friends was pretty cool too. Sorry u ended up getting a slight headache and having to endure with all the nonsense from my friends during group meeting.

Then we took the tram down to the train station. Remember how we were stalked by aileen... sneaky woman i tell u. :) Then we had lunch at subway... We always eat subway and I purposely kept quiet to see if you knew exactly what i wanted in my sub... and u didn't disappoint... i love how I don't even need to tell u what veges and what meat i want in my sub... u already know. Small things like this remind me of how we're so comfortable around each other that it's so normal to be with each other for lunch and stuff.

Glad we got you some panadol... coz u looked like u needed one. Then we walked to the train station and waited for the train that goes to Werribee. That was the real first time in the day i REALLY felt like i was going away for a holiday with u... remember when the train came and i told u how i was excited about going away... yeh, that was when i felt like i was so lucky and so happy to be having this short one day 'trip' away from routine and familiarity of the melbourne CBD to get away and just enjoy ourselves taking photos and sharing memories. If there wasn't that rule about no photography, i'd prob have snapped a few photos there and then...

Sitting in the train watching the scenery go by was quite fun too. I had flashbacks of our Great Ocean Road trip... when we went past the fields and country side with all the cows and sheep... as the train went through suburb after suburb, i was glad that the distance from home was gettin more and more. no one wants to holiday 5 mins away from their home... so the distance away also added to the enjoyable fact that not only was i getting away from town, but also getting away from town with you. And that was a MAJOR plus point [does the salute action] It really did feel like a small holiday getaway... you know like how they always do in movies or stories... when the character just packs a day's worth of supplies and travels to the country side. :) We had muesli bars, subway cookies, water and muffins ready to face the suburbian world! haha.

So off we went into the GENERAL direction [salutes] of Werribee headed for Spotswood station along the line. When we finally reached [which wasn't that long a ride la] it was CHILLY... and no, it wasn't spicy chili, it was cold! partly due to the fact that it was slightly drizzly.. or at least it was tempting to drizzle. We got off and i HAD to snap a picture of the station coz really, this was the 3rd time in the 7 months that i've been here that i actually took a train... AND it's the first time i was in the suburbs during the day. The other 2 times were to go to the suburb of Camberwell for Sofia's [great pasta place] for dinner so checking the surroundings was pretty impossible the last 2 times. So i snapped a few shots showing that 'yes, i was in Spotswood for real' and then we found our way out to the main road. Thankfully, since there's nothing much in the suburbs, scienceworks was prob THE biggest thing this suburb had to offer so there was no lack of signages and directions to point us to where we intended to go. My girlfriend took a look at the map and headed off in the direction that clearly was opposite from that indicated on the map... thankfully, i was not going to follow her blindly... pulled her back and asked her to take a look at it one more time. After rotating her head upside down and back around, she let out an "oh!" and i reminded her that i was glad i went thru the army...

So we took a short stroll to the junction and one thing hit me at that point in time [and no, it wasn't a car thankfully]... that the traffic in the suburbs REALLY is minimal to say the least. It was like a long road all the way and i saw maybe one car or two? so crossing the road was a breeze [in a breeze too]. But before that, we stopped to take a picture with the railroad crossing... i think it's pretty cool seeing railroad crossings coz it's sumthing we RARELY ever see in Melbourne... let alone Singapore...

[just realized how lengthy this blog is and she's already scolding me for being naggy so i'm gonna cut to the chase]

so we had a nice stroll to the place and checked out the surroundings while walking thru the suburbs.. we both agreed that it'll prob be quite scary to be walking through this place at night, with the low light visibility and the lack of human traffic... quite scary... and then it started to drizzle so we made a break for it and ran to Science Works... but aiyah it was fine and fun la.. nothing too bad.

Upon entering, it was quite cool coz it's like u enter from the outside world bringing with you your outside world self and u enter into the universe of starwars. It's like after u pay the entrance fee and walk through those turnstiles, it's like you're teleported into a whole diff world, a whole different universe. People are walking around dressed as jedi.. even the ticket punching lady looked a bit like Princess Leia... although i dun think that was her intention. lolz. But yeh, the first thing u see glaring at you is the AWESOME AWESOME AWE*wait for it* SOME X-Wing fighter.... i know i may sound geeky but it's THE best plane/ship/jet fighter EVER. :) so that was a sure plus point... :)

Through the whole exhibition, we saw many props, costumes, science behind starwars and even interacted with a few stations and guides. It was really fun being able to get hands on with some stuff like building your own hover craft and using magnetism to propel it forward... and backward too if ur magnets were placed in the wrong polarity... like mine were when i first made my hovercraft.. darnit..

Then there was this really cool exhibit that had a turnable table and discs that u could place anywhere around the table. the webcam in front recorded all your movements and fed it to the computer system that made sense of your movement, placement of discs and turn of the table... it created a 3D rendering of a typical starwars desert setting and you were tasked with placing some stuff around at proper logical places to harness water and supplies for your Jawa camp in the center. It was AWESOME coz all you're doing is holding and placing discs and on the screen in real time, a 3D world was being setup and interacting with u... i'll post up a youtube clip of it... it's pretty amazing. :)

Then we viewed some other exhibitions and cracked some lame jokes like PADME amidala and Holy Smoke... :) oh that was super funny la... Holy smoke... smoke!! holey!!! [sorry guys, u had to be there to get the joke] and posed with some stupid dumb computer rendered image of a face... basically, u could adjust how the facial expression was... and adjust it to make the person seem more angry, sad, happy or sneering or whatever la... and control all the different facial parts like the eyes, mouth, eyebrows... :) then we created this really dumb looking facial expression and hannah and i posed with them... ahaha life imitating art [if u can call it that].

Oh and another key highlight was robotic legs... they had a pair of legs that was controllable via 4 switches [levers] and u basically controlled it such that u had to make the legs walk from one point to the other... easy sounding but it was quite hard in real life... when we first tried it [we took one leg each] we were basically jus running in the air coz we extended the leg but didn't extend it downwards to touch the floor.. aiyah hard to explain but that really gave me a respect for the robotic animators that work on films like starwars... damn pro to make it look so life like and stuff. :) hats off to u.

Yep, we ended with a tour through the gift shop and got on our way back to the city...

All in all, it was such a wonderful day. Special for so many reasons listed above and some not listed at all.. but we both know that it was an experience that we were glad to share with each other and it was a chance to just escape from the melbourne CBD and school life and everything... for that one afternoon, all we needed to think about was how to enjoy ourselves there.. and i'm glad to say for the both of us, it was really really fun... so guys, if u're in melb, go for it.. it's like $8... super cheap for starwars... and yeh, makes us BOTH feel like watching the show.

Thanks hannah for always never failing to make my day special. I'm so glad we could go to a geeky thing like starwars and BOTH enjoy it so much. heh... as u already know, i'm thrilled to share my life and time with u... to many more fun memories and joyous times... HOLY SMOKE. :)

May the Force Be With You all... :)

!@#$%^

!@#$%^& my internal spirit wars with my external flesh

times like this i just have to get to bed to shut up... sigh.

Jellygish, u know all i have to say.

For the first time...

There are times that things happen and you never wanna forget it. For
reasons such as it's special or it's something that doesn't happen
often... For whatever reason, it's why i blog. To never forget what
the event was or how it made me feel.

I thank God for times like yesterday. They remind me how much God
blesses me and reminds me that He's saved a great gift for me for this
time period and i'm jus thankful that He allows me to have the special
experience with someone dear and special to me.

It's like such a simple thing yet i guess i'm glad that we shared it. :)

and on other news, get better soon hannah. It's not good to be sick
during your one week break... And muffins are waiting to be made.
faster. :) i'm super excited bout the new muffin tray i bought. Heh

--
~:+: Joel :+:~

Free Juice

There's this franchise in Aussie called Boost Juice and it basically is a real cool, but not cheap, way of drinking fresh. They're scattered all over melbourne and they offer freshly blended smoothies, fruit juices and soups on the fly. So u go there, order what u want [u can even choose which fruits u want and make your own combi] and take it away and drink as u go.

Recently, i haven't been too keen on BOOSTing up coz the weather is quite cold and putting sumthing soothing but cold in your body does NOT help with the chill factor that runs through your veins... but recently, Boost has been having this promo. it's called the Name Game whereby they pick one male and one female name randomly every day and those 2 people get to claim free boost juices from outlets just for that one day.

On wed, it was MATTHEW. so matt went to get like 3 juices from diff outlets [it's in the Ts&Cs that it's perfectly ok as long as it's one free redemption from one store each] awesome right? Anyways, he grabbed me a boost and so i got a free juice on wed... it was awesome coz i wanted to try some of the flavours out but it's not cheap so normally never paid for it... it's about like $6 - $8 per boost depending on the size of your drink... ANYWAYS... 

yesterday, turns out, the boost name game NAME OF THE DAY was HANNAH... :) so guess wad... hahahha... yeh, i ended up getting free boost too! but becoz when she met me in the evening before cell, boost was already closed... so i ended up having 1/4 of her boost that she already redeemed... so no, didn't get free boost per se.. but i got her left overs... which is still free so.. YAYZ. hahhaa. :) was hoping today might be JOEL.. then that would be SO neat... but nah. it was sumthing like SHANE and ELLA... lame.. who names their kid shane?!??! hahaha okok sorry to all shanes out there... JOEL day will come one day i hope. but the website says the promo ends at the end of sept. NOOO. hahaha :) will keep checking back.

Anyway, reason why i wanted to blog this is coz i'm really happy for friends around me. the boost thing just made me think about how much i feel loved coz the friends around me offer so willingly to get free juice for me.. esp matthew [sorry hannah, u already know how much i love u... and everybody goes AWWWWW. yeh yeh get over it people... goodness... -_-] coz he literally came out of the house to meet me to get free boost. then we did some grocery shopping but yeh, it's not like he needed to come out to help me get free boost.. so yay! thanks bro. i know u're not going to read this but yeh, thanks. :) and also to my darling girlfriend, thanks for the intention of getting me free boost. i blame the closed boost outlet, not you. :) PLUSSSS i DID get to drink some boost yesterday. hahaha.

booooooost! 1 more week till mid sem break!

Mid Term Break Coming Up

In 2 weeks time, i'll be having my mid-sem break. It's quite good that we can all have a break from school and the break's coming at just the right time. I think that having a break in the middle of the semester is so clever and very integral for a student's life. I dun think we, as students, should be studying for like 13 weeks straight. we'd prob go crazy and die.

Some people are flying back to Spore during this 2 week break but i think it's quite crazy and expensive to do sumthing like that. You fly back and spend like what? a week and a half and then u're back here again. There's no point. It'll be much better to jus tahan and then fly back at the end of the year and spend a solid 3 months with friends and family.

Alas, this december will be a shorter one for me. I end sch on the 27th of nov if i'm not wrong. Then 8 friends and i will be going to have a short getaway in Tasmania... driving and having road trips and all. you know, the things u read of in friends blogs [grinz] but never really get a chance to do yourself? yeh... that's why i'm doing this and it's going to be FUN FUN FUN. :) can't wait.

Then I'll be back to spore till maybe mid feb? not sure yet but i DO want to stay for CNY... but we'll see what happens... coz accommodation and employment in melbourne isn't easy to find. :)

Yep, sorry i've been out and inactive for a few days. It's been quite a crazy 2 weeks. been setting up my Windows 7 and studying for tests and assignments and all. Currently now, i'm going to blog then go do my essay again. sigh. that's why i think this break is important. :)

But yeh, everything here's going good thank God. :) wanna keep living a carefree student life but i know i'll have to make big decisions at this time next year. Whether to go back to spore or stay in melbourne. :) Where God leads. :)

Take care people!

Windows 7

Hey check it out... this is my new computer's OS... i got no energy to blog about it coz i've been installing this and that over the whole day [tml still need to bring my laptop to sch and use the internet to get some drivers downloaded and all... but here's how it looks like now. :)

I love my desktop... hhaha

Drifting along committments

It's not that bad this sem... the workload has been very very manageable... Projects haven't been due but i can see the wave coming from a distance. It's like we stay here on the shore seeing a tidal wave coming at us and we try our best to get our homes ready, we stock up on supplies and save money knowing that when it hits, we'll prob be stuck without the normal amenities like having everyone at pizza nights and the time needed to cook steak saturdays.

But the wave is coming and we better get ready for it. Grab your surf board and ride it coz if you don't, you'll just be swept away. And my style is to list everything i have to do before due dates so that when i do look at them, i can focus on one item at a time rather than having the whole list somewhere unlisted in the back of my mind to worry about. So here goes.

1. TV & Pop culture take home exam this friday
2. Informatics Mid-stem test next week
3. SAD Weekly deliverables starting from next week onwards
4. Informatics Assignment 2 [to finish before mid sem break]
5. Booking flight back to melbourne from singapore
6. Booking tasmania hotels/car rentals/itinery/flights [thanks Davin]
7. Juggle Bible Study prep
8. Juggle OCF worship commitments [once a month in the middle of the month]
9. OCF MCing for Evangelism Week [2 fridays starting from next friday]
10. TV & Pop culture tutorial presentation due in 2 weeks time
11. The ever present Girlfriend. [Not that it's a chore, but it's still something i set aside time for]

Woo! and the list goes on. This is just off the top of my head. i hope i'm not missing out on anything. :(

Anyhoo, life's pretty good. Thank God la. He's been blessing me with loads of things and sustaining me throughout. I'm glad that things are sailing smoothly now... maybe it's really what they say, it's always calmest before a storm... but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know, He can calm the storm. :)

Mid Review 2

So last night, Flare had it's 2nd mid review for our production in Oct. I recall the first mid review. it was kinda nerve wrecking coz i've never performed dance before... all my previous dance experience was in a small room with people who couldn't dance anyway... so to be presenting an item... no, 2 items in front of a whole room full of people who are dancers was quite scary...

but it went well and we managed to pull it off. Last night, we had our 2nd mid review and it was cool seeing how much people people improved and changed their styles. It also was quite amazing to see how MANY people were there... Flare really had a whole bunch of people who really didn't have much dancing background but were willing to give it a shot and it was fun getting to know people too and seeing them dance their butts off. :)

It still does give me a lot of joy to know that I can dance with like minded people and not be afraid of how they'll judge me or think of me when i dance and it is SO much cooler to also dance with my friends and gf. It's a different kind of experience when you're dancing for yourself and when you have someone or something to dance for. And that's kinda what Nessa [the creative director of flare] said, and i agree.

Other than that, school has been good. Workload this semester is vastly different from that of last sem. It's more tutorial presentations rather than homework and doing tutorials. So that's quite cool. the subjects are also a bit different. The coding that i had to do last sem is easier this sem coz it's stuff i've done before in poly. Also for the arts subject, until i actually get an assignment, it's pretty ok. :) haha... yeh.. so school's doing good.

The biggest worries i have nowadays are finding accommodation for next year [to save money] and juggling church commitments with school commitments and of course, the ever present gf commitments. But it's a good balance of everything and I shall stop talking about it now before i start sounding like ... Buddhist or sumthing.. you know with balance and all.. full circle of life and all that jazz.

Yep, so i hope that everything back home is doing well. it is a joy seeing things in the church weekly [the e-version] and blogs and emails.. :) so yeh... that's all for now i guess. :)

As the aussies say,
Cheers Mate!

Branded

This is what happens when your girlfriend has a pen and too much nonsense in her head... PLUS an distracted moment during sermon... tskkk yessss during sermon. :S



OK FINE! so the 2nd picture is HER hand.. but it's called revenge. :)

impromptu basketball fellowship

So here i am sitting here watching my friends play basketball. It wasn't planned. I was on my way home from school coz of open day and decided to jus drop one tram stop earlier and check if they were playing there. Turns out they were and i decided since i had some extra time, why not?

'Shoot a few hoops' slowly became 'one short game' which finally
progressed into a full out game... Ahh it was tiring but as always,
rewarding and satisfying...

Exercising releases this chemical called adrenalin and with it... the
mood and sense of achievement and happiness. Not sure what the real
name is called but u always tend to feel good after exercising.
So it was a time well spent and surely would have been better than
going home to slack.. :) who am i kidding, no way would i have studied
if i had gone home on a beautiful sunday afternoon. :)

Also... I jus wanted to blog coz i am jus happy to see my frens having
fun and enjoying each other's company... Sitting here watching lois
play and laugh along with them jus makes me smile and know that
although we have a gang, i still think we should also hang around more
with other frens, esp christian brothers and sisters. :)

Oh and can't wait for laksa dinner tonite thanks to xiaoxi. :)

Life's real good.

-Sent from my e63-

--

~:+: Joel :+:~

Random Phone Pictures

So i realized when i take pictures in my phone, i really should upload them. :) so here's some nonsense i snapped with my phone cam jus coz i had it with me. :) enjoy

---

Rainbow I spotted on the way back from school yesterday. The building in the background is low-cost housing where living conditions are quite bad. Thot the contrast was beautifully sad. Color-wise and idealogy wise too. Was hopin it'll end somewhere so i could take a picture and show people there was no pot at the end. but yeh.


Our dearest Toh-ster with PCK hairstyle. I think she looks very funny here.


Timo Chong sporting the hairstyle too. Super funny wig.


My Lecturer trying to fix the projector. When she got up on the table i whipped out my phone and didn't want to let the chance go by. How often do u see a lecturer climbing the table in front of the class? :)


Picture taken on my trip back to Spore. Driving the girls to Tampines to drop divvy baby off at her place coz it was raining cats and dogs. :) I miss driving.

Jesus is Enough

I 'hmmph-ed' an air of snigger when i read my QT for today... it was about Jesus being enough and that thru temptation and trials or whatever, Jesus is all we need.

I snuffed at it and smiled coz last night, i prayed for God to remind me that all I need is Jesus... that nothing or no one should take His place and as long as I have Him, i have more than enough... i needed to be reminded of that coz i was feeling like short changed... i felt like what i had wasn't enough... and that i could have been happier if i had more... not financially [though that would be nice]...

and God jus shoved it in my face today and thru the day [before i did QT coz i do mine at night in melb] i kept praying that God would hold me strong and give me love and peace to not need to rely on my 'supposed life support'... it was an interesting experience which concluded with a nice QT passage.

Praise God for Him speaking to us thru these small things...

raise the red lantern

spent the evening last night with good friends at the arts centre...
Hannah's sch gave out free tickets to watch the National Ballet of
China's production, Raise the Red Lantern.

I must say that at the start, i wasn't blown away and it was good but

i didn't think it was jaw dropping. The dancing was top notch yes, the
lifts and jumps were amazing... The scary precision and mould every
dancer had was mind blowing... But you'd think they have how many
billion pple to choose from la so finding all of a certain mould
wouldn't be that hard to find. Ahha.. But still every dancer looked
the same in grps... Height, kicks, skill... It was scary.

Yeh but i thot it was good till the middle and end... Then wow..
Seriously... If i had missed the last scene, i'd have been very short
changed...

the last beating scene was AMAZING and i thot they really used the
whole imagery of the red chalk on tight canvas really well... I was
really immersed in the beating scene and wow... Was it powerful...

And then there was the last snow scene... HOLY SMOKE i tell u... the
effect was SO BLARDY good... How they can keep replicating it every
night is GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME crazy...

The snow was so real looking, the image of death and fall was so clear
and yet the purity of it all set on the background of red blood was so
contrasting.. I could go on forever about how much significance that
scene had and imagery but yeh, hard to stop if i start.

Point is, thank you hannah for the tickets and i'm very sure matt and
lois also had a great time. :)

If it goes to spore again, u guys must watch. :) if u can get tickets la. :)

Wonderful evening.

--
~:+: Joel :+:~

Happy Birthday Hannah

To my dearest Girlfriend whom I Love very very much...

Happy Birthday Hannah... I'm praying hard that the Lord will bring to you more happiness, joy, love and peace this year than He has done before... and that You will constantly walk in His ways, obey His word and hearken unto His voice for the coming year and many years to come. :)

Love Always,
Your BF. :)

I've Learned... by Omar Washington

I know this is long... but take some time to read it.. it's AMAZINGLY brilliant... thanks Jason for sharing it with me. :)

---

I’ve learned that you cannot make someone love you.
All you can do is be someone who can be loved.
The rest is up to them.
I’ve learned that no matter how much I care,
some people just don’t care back.
And it’s not the end of the world.
I’ve learned that it takes years to build up trust,
and only seconds to destroy it.
I’ve learned that it’s not what you have in your life,
but who you have in your life that counts.
I’ve learned that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes.
After that, you’d better know something.

I’ve learned that you shouldn’t compare yourself
to the best others can do,
but to the best you can do.
I’ve learned that it’s not what happens to people,
It’s what they do about it.
I’ve learned that no matter how thin you slice it,
there are always two sides.
I’ve learned that you should always leave loved ones with loving words.
It may be the last time you see them.
I’ve learned that you can keep going
long after you think you can’t.

I’ve learned that heroes are the people who do what has to be done
When it needs to be done
regardless of the consequences.
I’ve learned that there are people who love you dearly,
but just don’t know how to show it.
I’ve learned that sometimes when I’m angry I have the right to be angry,
but that doesn’t give me the right to be cruel.
I’ve learned that true friendship continues to grow even over the longest distance.
Same goes for true love.
I’ve learned that just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them to
doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all they have.

I’ve learned that no matter how good a friend is,
they’re going to hurt you every once in a while
and you must forgive them for that.
I’ve learned that it isn’t always enough to be forgiven by others.
Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.
I’ve learned that no matter how bad your heart is broken,
the world doesn’t stop for your grief.
I’ve learned that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are,
but we are responsible for who we become.
I’ve learned that just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean that they don’t love each other.
And just because they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do.

I’ve learned that sometimes you have to put the individual
ahead of their actions.
I’ve learned that two people can look at the exact same thing
and see something totally different.
I’ve learned that no matter the consequences,
those who are honest with themselves get farther in life.
I’ve learned that your life can be changed in a matter of hours
by people who don’t even know you.
I’ve learned that even when you think you have no more to give,
when a friend cries out to you,
you will find the strength to help.

I’ve learned that writing,
as well as talking,
can ease emotional pains.
I’ve learned that the people you care most about in life
are taken from you too soon.
I’ve learned that it’s hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice
and not hurting people’s feelings and standing up for what you believe.
I’ve learned to love
and be loved.
I’ve learned…

pensive...

so here i am. Sitting in my elective's lecture. This sem i'm taking Television and Pop Culture.
Jus watched this film about how this quiz show was rigged and the contestants were given the answers beforehand and all...

when the show ended, it made me think of how tv really is quite a deceptive thing... We dun really know what we watch is the truth... Oh.. lecturer's starting to talk.. Better listen. I shall try to blog later. Haha.

Whee. :( kinda feel sian now. Like quite alone. Hmm owells.

Restrung... finally.

Finally... after being stripped for 2-3 days, my guitar has finally gotten it's new strings... long story... but here's the summary...

Decided to bring a couple of strings up to melbourne to restring them when i got here [tension 0.11 strings] and then when i finally got here, i pulled out the pins of the guitar... and one broke... :S so i had to go and get new pins... immediately left the house and got new pins.

Came back, restrung the first string and stupid me, didn't follow proper technique... so the string snapped... and i was like.. OH... MY... GOSH... no... :S

so... had to go out and buy new strings... :S
Went out yesterday to run some errands [buy strings too] and i managed to do everything... but i FORGOT to buy strings. how retarded is that! :S realized it on the way home.

Finally, today i went to get the new strings...OH MY SKY... $17... :S siannnn. so yeh, went home, made sure i spammed youtube videos on how to restring acoustic guitar properly.. and then restrung the guit.

As always, after restringing it, it sounds like heaven.. the sound is so crisp, sharp and whole... i love it... :) but this was ONE HECK of a long re-stringing process... hope the bridge wasn't too loose when i left the guitar without strings for a few days.. :(

on other news.. i'm jus glad that i can cook again... Managed to cook up a meal for the gf and i and it was delicious... i love cooking [ok, that statement only applies to meals that turned out well] and it's jus a thrill to see someone else enjoy the food u cooked. :) ESPECIALLY if it's your girlfriend.... awww. yes yes yes... suck it up people. it's my blog. :) lolz.

an hour to go before i head out for a birthday social dinner with some frens... not for me... for Bing.. his bday was last sunday if i'm not wrong. :)

Then don't...

One of my favourite clips from the show Twilight....



Edward: I don't have the strength to stay away from you anymore....
Bella: Then don't...

Landed Safely

Just so you know,

i'm in melbourne safe and sound. thank God for a safe and enjoyable flight.

Real tired now coz i just came back from spending time with the girlfriend after being apart for 2 whole weeks [oh shuddup, it felt like 2 years] and yeh, will blog tml la. after i get my groceries from safeway. :)

thanks for prayers and wishes!
And for those who couldn't send me off, dun worry bout it.

12 Hours till I fly... again

Sitting here in my room, waiting to go to church while my bags are all packed... I wonder to myself whether i'm going to miss Spore more this time around or whether the feeling of lost would once more be taken over by the excitement that living overseas in melbourne has to offer.

I try not to think too much about it because when i do, my heart does ache to once more leave this place. Family [this time with a new brother in law], friends [this time with additions from Hannah's side], places [new malls, i might even not be coming back to this house the next time].... it gets hard sumtimes to think it'll be another 5-6 months till i'm back... or maybe even longer.

I always know God will watch over each and every one... Them, Me... but that doesn't mean it's easy to say bye over and over again. :) so i'm just going to do it and not let it settle in my mind...

See You Soon Singapore! It's not a goodbye for good... it's a i'll catch you later. :)

Pray for my flight... MAS Flight 7.15pm... touching down melbourne at 5.15am [spore time]

God Bless you.

Rush-ians

Today i was sitting around waiting for my friend to arrive, an hour and a half late, but i noticed that Singaporeans walk around with a frown on their face (could be due to the heat) or stress but also they rush here and there... I get the feeling like they're always angry bout sumthing or late to get somewhere...

Rush rush rush... That's why i like the pace in Melb too... Of course there are loads i things i prefer bout spore... But this is jus one thing i think melb wins over spore. :)

But sorry, i can't blog much, gotta rush off to meet my fren. Toodles!

Lucky

Because some people have complained that stuff I say are very mushy and stuff... so i shall just say that I am a very happy guy right now... Happy because I'm very fortunate to be blessed by God with such awesomely blessed gifts from Him.

He has known my heart's desire and my heart's cry and He's blessed me with a treasure that I have been given to guard and keep. I pray that God will guide me through this process and allow me to love the gift He has given me with all that I am... and that all these years of preparation would come in useful as I also aim to allow this gift to bring me closer to God as I also try my best to do likewise.

All that said and done, I sometimes wonder to myself how fortunate and blessed i am to be given this gift. Coz to me, this gift is so beautiful and so precious to me that I will never want to ever spoil it or the chances of me keeping it.

Thank You Lord and I Love You Lord.

I love my Gift... :)

Bday MADNESS!

Check this out... A MASSIVE amount of birthdays this weekend... so scary... ahha
Facebook is evil. :S hahah Logging on to my facebook nowadays is scary...



So here goes.... *takes a deep breath*
Happy Birthday to....

Yusuf, Eugenia, Sharlene, Lawrence, Jun Yew, Rin, Zhiqiang Kho, May Ann, Sophia, Glenda, Steve, Gabriel

*exhales and breathsssss*
Happy birthday to you!!!

Out of that whole list, i think only May Ann reads my blog... HAHAH so happy birthday chiamster!

She said yes...

So I realized that after looking through my previous entries, i haven't updated other people who are reading this who might not have met me yet... well to cut it all short and sharp, i just got attached to a lovely girl named Hannah.

Long story short, I managed to do what I planned to do during this Singapore trip and seek the blessings and permission of both her mum and my parents... thankfully everything went well at Seoul Garden and after having a very serious heart to heart talk with her mum and pastor Lau [her godpa] they gave me the green light, blessings, warnings and prayer for our friendship to progress into a relationship...

I thank God for the journey thus far, for helping me to make sure i lean upon Him and not my feelings... I'm glad that we have both consulted God and godly counsel on the matter and that we're both seeking to please God in our lives, including our relationship with each other... And it's a constant thing for this is just the beginning but my prayer is that i will never lose sight of God in this aspect of my life and that we both complement each other to spur each other on towards love and good works. :)

Yep, so I thank the Lord for getting her safely back to Melbourne [i'll be back in 2 weeks] and for the surprise welcome home decorations that was a blast and worked out all according to plan. yayz. i'm so glad she enjoyed it and as we both wait out this 2 weeks that we're apart and stuff, I'm gonna seek God more and more for guidance, direction, purpose and strength as i also have to consider the fact that as the man, i am also the spiritual leader of this r/s... if not leading, at least ensure that God is kept in the center.

Yep. All that said and done, i have got a wonderful girlfriend whom i thank God for so so many times i bet He rolls His eyes at me if He wanted to. She's a great girl who's determination, focus, dedication and dependency on God is sumthing i really admire. Apart from being such a beautiful woman of God, her inner beauty can not be contained by that fragile and graceful exterior. I'm glad that she's consistent in her walk with God and though we may not always be the peak of our spiritual walks, i'm glad that we can both keep each other in check and as iron sharpens iron, may we both strive towards greater Holiness and Spiritual maturity.

I really like her family too. they're really fun people especially her mum. She's a riot and so caring and accommodating. I'm just glad that we're all pretty similar and stuff so wavelength and all are all pretty the same. Her bro's a cool corny guy too... couldn't ask for a better kind of brother-of-my-gf kinda thing... he cracks us up with his jokes loads of times and i'm glad he's doing well too... and her sister is slowly opening up too. She's got a really nice personality too... jus needs to come out a bit more.. I'm glad that i'm getting to know them better and interacting a bit more with them [like making laura take photos at hannah's farewell] ahha... it helps to know them more and get to know people who are important to hannah la...

Speaking of which, div is SUPER funny la... hannah's close fren divinia... she's like super random and never afraid to make people laugh at her crazy antics. :) whether it be talking bout escaping death because you're too tall so the cowboy riding a horse holding a bullet would not be able to kill u with the bullet coz u're shorter... or it could be creating actions for the song man in the mirror and making sure everyone she comes across has a preview of the actions... div is one heck of a fun cookie to be around and she's so entertaining. haha thanks div and oh.. thanks for also keeping my secret about the welcome home thing. :) hope u had a fun time in Crusade Camp btw. :)

Yep, so that wraps up the update for now. i've got 2 weeks that i'm here in Singapore then it's back to my life in melbourne. :) cold wintery life... so interesting how you can be one person here [waking up late and bus and mrting everywhere eating out and meeting friends] and then u can be a totally diff person in another country [going to the market to buy groceries, doing the laundry for 1 person and cooking up a feast for friends]... weird. :)

I thank God for friends. they keep me happy, sane and motivated to want to do better for God.

Weird Firefox Error Message

I closed my firefox and restarted it and it came up with this cute and humourous error message. haha had a chuckle... hope u like it too.

Back in Spore

Wow... so sorry, the past few days have been a whirlwind of activities and stuff to the point that i had NO energy to do anything impt like blogging... :S so here i sit, with a day free to finally possibly blog. :)

The flight back was good... the melb-kl flight was great... 8 hours... and movies to watch. i watched coraline [which is sumthing i was looking forward to] and then Race to Witch mountain [lame 'the rock' show] and then yeh slept like 10-15 mins? then the lights came on and they started serving breakfast... !@#$%^ hahaha... but it was still good la. :) made frens with the girl who sat with me... her name was georgie [or that's how it's pronounced] and yeh she was quite an interesting seat partner. :) thank God for willing friendly people to get to know... she said i have an aussie accent.... holy smoke. not good. HAHA. :) i guess i turn it on when i speak to caucasians... helps them understand us asians much better.

anyhoo... the connecting was good thank God.. didn't have a problem finding my terminal and flight... i was quite scared coz when i was waiting for the connecting flight... i checked in and waiting to board the plane. then suddenly the announcement over the PA called for my name. i freaked out. thot got swine flu... hahha but it was jus coz they forgot to take my air ticket from me... so they couldn't fly without that... wah i tell u... i was like SHIIIIIT. :S hahah.. then OHHHH. hahaha

yeh. so i reached back and was SO excited to get off the flight... this dude in front of me was carrying a red handcarry back pack and he had this name tag on it... and his name was "Ah Meng Bow"... ahhahah i had this image of an animal trainer in Spore Zoo asking ah meng to bow after he finished his breakfast with ah meng section. lolz. :) so mean. i know.

got off the plane and went thru the thermal scanners praying hard... it was quite stressful. 4 people staring at me and the screen.... :S hahah then i immediately went to the phone booth and called Hannah and later my mum. :) was so good hearing their voices again knowing that i was on the same country soil as them. :) got my DFS stuff for dad and then went out and gave wongster a huge hug... 2 weeks worth. :) missed her so.

Reached home and didn't get to hug my parents or sister coz they're afraid they'd get swine flu.. but it was SO good seeing them... u have no idea. :)

went back to hannah's place and got changed for the wedding and left for church. it was great seeing everyone again... huiting was walking from a far and i shouted out "AUNTY!!!" And she literally started running when she saw it was me... :) that was really sweet and nice... hahah her face was such a treat too... she looked so happy hahaha... i thank God for friends like her... who make the 4 months feel like 4 days... and that things have changed yes... but friendships will remain. :) thanks HT.... stupid aunty... u dun even know how much hapiness u bring to others.

Wedding went well.. i was SO happy to be there singing praises to God with shalomites... seeing my sister walking down the aisle... being next to my parents... there were points in the service where i chocked on my words and fought to keep composed. :) God knows how much i wanted this and God knows how much i was thankful to Him that i was there... :) thank u once again Lord... if i haven't said it enuf, thank You.

Hannah and Mel came too.. so that was pretty neat. :) managed to introduce them around to my frens, mentors and family... :) jus her being around sharing this special day with me was sumthing i'm so glad God allowed... and then she helped pack up the place and stuff... felt kinda bad that she had to do stuff... :) but was glad to see that she was so ready to help out... and not sit in one corner and act like a princess. :) small things like this make me glad that i chose her and remind me what attracts me to her.

After the wedding, we went out for dinner with a few shalom people at simpang... that was quite fun too.. first time that a small grp was meeting... :) and it was at simpang! haha i missed it so. oh. i also missed driving. the feeling was SO good driving again. haha i love it. :)

yep then the next day was the wedding stuff... the threshold thing [where the groom and bestmen go through all these tasks to get to Sab and finally bring her for the tea ceremony] then the dinner... to cut it all short, i didn't eat much at the dinner coz we went around entertaining people and it was like woah... crazy many people. 68 tables at Ritz lehhh. ahhah oh and bridal suite is SOOOO nice. :S gosh... beautiful like anything. i'll upload some photos and show u.. goodness. :)

Photos Here!
Bridal Suite


yeh overall, it's been a great wedding and i'm real glad my sister's so happy. praise God.

on other news... hmmm :))))) she said yes.

Last Paper!

Realized my last post before this was my 450th post. wow. that's quite a lot. hahha

Anyways.... Wow... so here i stand... ok fine, i'm sitting down.. but yeh... here's the moment before the last exam paper of my first ever semester in melbourne... i have little confidence about this paper coz it's a programming paper so dun really know how to study for it... jus did the mock paper and kept looking thru it over and over again not even sure if my answers are right. hahhaa..

but u know wad... i'm like this guy.... i couldn't care less.. jus driftin towards 4:15pm...

Picture Taken from here

then i'll be too happy to even THINK about anything other than flying home.
My bags are all packed [yesterday afternoon. lol] and i'm all ready to go... it's jus a matter of time now. :)

AWESOME!... i'm SO coming home... SO SO coming home.

If u see this post before i touch down on saturday morning, pray for my flight AND that piggy oinkoink flu.... ok? i DUN WANT IT AT ALL!!! GO AWAY! :) see u guys soon.

Wongster, u better be there... or i'm hating u for life... this ain't a suggestion nor a tempt... it's a promise. HAHAHHAA. :)

MPO Went well

Thanks and Praises to God who really delivered me through these 2 papers... MPO and OAC... my last paper is Informatics 2 and it's a programming paper. i dun really know how to study for it and i've been getting almost full marks for the whole sem so should be ok. :)

It's weird... i feel like hecking this last paper... and not doing well at all. but i can't... so i'll try my best and let God handle the rest. :) But as for me now, it's PACKING BAGS TIME!!! :) let me count... by this time tml, i'll be prepping to leave my house to head to the airport... AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME. :) they say it doesn't hit u that u're flying back home to family till the time u leave...

RUBBISH.

i wanna go now. HAHAHHA. :)

see you all sooner than u can say WELCOME TO SINGAPORE!.... oh wait. u jus said it and i'm still in melb.. ummm shucks.. well ummmm bet i'll be there faster than if u said "WELCOME TO SINGAPORE" 50 times without stopping!!! :)

Puff puff puff

Call me leonard the blowfish... coz i surely feel like that again... 1 hour till my next paper. Just wanna get this over with.

Praying hard.

OAC Exam

Leonard the Blowfish
Picture taken from here

This is how I felt yesterday just before I took my first exam paper in Melb. Organisational Analysis and Change... wow. Davin and I mugged like typical asian kids the day before and I've been feeding my brain with stuff about OAC since the start of the week.. so yeh, when I stood there at the exam hall waiting for the doors to open, i really felt like Leonard the blowfish... full of info and just waiting to get it all out of me...

The paper was great. everything was pretty straight forward and I think I should do pretty well for this subject... have been keeping quite an above average score so far so I'm praying hard that the exam would pull my marks up to a 'H1' level.. and then yay! haha but ahhh it's over and done with...

2 more papers [thurs and fri] then i'm leaving melb to spore for 3 weeks... i'm really looking forward to going back. didn't think i'd want to go back so much.. but i guess there are reasons... sister's wedding... family time... ability to drive a car again... friends... church... and of course... now that wongster's in spore, the pull factor is TREMENDOUSLY swinging towards spore's side. :)

Yeh... so i'm gonna mug and mug for one more paper.. Management paper on thurs.. then the friday paper jus pray and hope that I can do well in that one. :) been scoring really well for that subject so i'm hoping it'll keep me adrift. :)

THEN I'M BACK HOME! :) see u guys soon.

Pray for the swine flu thingy... it's scary. everyone's getting very paranoid... esp Singapore. i dun want it to mess up my plans. :) See you on Saturday!

p.s. Div.. if u're reading this... TREASURE THE NEXT 3 DAYS... after which... mwhahah!
p.p.s. thanks to all who are praying for me and my exams. really appreciate it... feel like there's an army of angels behind me... hard to describe.

Lygon Sermon on Getting Ready

Today's sermon was quite interesting... Pastor Ray Pugh spoke from the book of Malachi from the Word of God and exhorted us to tell us that Jesus IS coming again and to inspect ourselves to ensure we're ready for Him.

Ps Melvin gave a devotion today too before communion that really spoke to my heart... he talked bout Judas selling/betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of Silver... and he spoke about how Mary came to Jesus before that and anointed His head with expensive perfume... expensive to the point where people said that it was worth a year's wages...

Melvin explained that you could see how much Jesus was worth to each of them... how much they valued Jesus... for Mary, no price was too great and for Judas, all it took was 30 pieces of silver... then he asked us... how much is Jesus worth to you? how much would it take for you to betray the Lord... and it was scary coz it's not about how expensive it is... like how many dollars... but what it would take for me to betray my Lord... it was scary to think that the only price i SHOULD put on Christ.. is my life... well technically, even then, i wouldn't give Him up... but yeh.. it was eeps! to think... :)

Anyways...
Here are the notes, enjoy...


Half hearted devotion: "Getting Ready"

Ps Ray Pugh

Malachi 2:17-3:5

The Complaint of the People (2:17)

Where is the God of hustice? Why haven't we... Why aren't we... How come...

They wearied God.

The Command of the Lord (3:1)

Behold ME! Take notice of God.

He sends His messenger before Him and prepares the way.

The Cleansing by the Coming One (3:2-3)

When Silver is purged and the dross is removed, the silver becomes a shiny surface. A blacksmith knows the silver is cleaned and pure when he can see his own reflection in the silver. Likewise, Christ and the church. When we are cleansed and pure, He will be able to see Himself in us.

The result of this cleansing by Jesus is that the Levities will offer sacrifices IN righteousness, not FOR righteousness.

The Condemnation of Specific Sins (3:5)

1. Sorcerers - Exo 20:3

2. Adulterers - Exo 20:14

3. Perjurers - Exo 20:7, 16

4. Those who exploit wage earners, widows and fatherless - Exo 20:15, Exo 22:22

5. Those who turn away strangers - Exo 22:21

God always warns but people don't always heed His warnings.

43Seconds

43 Seconds is all it takes to brighten someone's day... well at least that's all it took for me. :)

There's a HUGE difference in hearing someone's voice and reading text on a page.

How am I supposed to get to sleep now? I'm too happy. =))))))))))))))))))

One and a Half Weeks

Woke up today with such a heavy heart.

Had to literally drag myself out of bed coz I didn't feel like facing the day. Felt like just sleeping in until it was time to fly off.

:( Wishing I was in Spore.

Updated video of my home

Hey guys,

Matt and I took a new video of our house... with all the furniture and all. :) so yeh, this is how my place looks like now. really updated! :)

There she goes

2 weeks and counting....

In 5 minutes, your plane leaves Melbourne. In 8 hours, you'll touch down on Spore soil. In 11 days time, my plane leaves Melbourne. In 12 days time, my plane touches down on Spore soil... and you'd better be there. :)

Have a safe flight Wongster, the Lord goes before you and watches over you. I'll seriously need to distract myself for the next 8 hours... :)

p.s. I'm glad you love Buttons. :) Make sure he does his job. :)

Praying. for. you.

Waking up to cold

Picture taken from here

Waking up to cold has been quite a norm these days. Matt says that this is not jus winter, it's the coldest winter he's had so far... well he used to prep me for winter saying i'm gonna die if i think 12degrees is cold...

well here we sit... in half that... i woke up today, pulled myself out of bed coz i have to go [yes i'm procrastinating] get my flu jab done. mummy tan wants me to jus get jabbed for safety precautions... so here i wake up... pull myself to my com and flip open the lid... i get a shock can... my weather thingy says 4 degrees. and i'm like WHAT???

So i go on to a more reliable and trusted website and it says 6.2degrees.... well that's not much better... egads. sigh... so here i am, trying to whip up a good breakfast [half a krispy kreme donut, 2 nutella spread slices of bread and 5 warm ikea meatballs] in the vain attempt that a good breakfast would warm me up and get my blood flowing...

sigh. so i'm gonna leave, coz i'm already late as it is, thankfully never make appointment, to go get my jab done then down to town to run some errands... :)

winter... u jus gotta love it.

Distance

Distance plays a part when you're talking about relationships between people.

Whether that distance is physical distance between lands, proximity between each body, emotional distance in your hearts, mental distance in terms of intellect level, spiritual distance in maturity of faith and reasoning or just the simple unspoken distance that no one can put a finger on, but is felt.

When I came here to Melb, distance was just a factor I got used to. Skype helped, emails and facebook were always available. Distance wasn't that big a deal. Now, 3 weeks till i go back home for a short visit, I wonder whether the distance would be too great to bear. The separated feeling I'm bound to feel with the people there. Would I stand there, closer to them then ever I've been in the past 4 months and yet feel worlds apart? Would I be close in physical relation but so far away from who they are and who I am?

I'm not formulating this but i'm just typing what I feel... and what I fear.

Distance. scary stuff.

Swine Flu

Picture taken from here

I'm quite worried about the whole swine flu epidemic. Well... this is why... duh.

Sab's wedding is on the 27th of June 2009. I have my last exam paper on the 26th of June and i fly at midnight on the 27th so that i can touch down in spore at 9am and make it to the 2pm wedding.

Everything looked alright [as best a $1550 midnight flight on MAS could look. :S] until the swine flu started getting REALLY serious.

To date, there are 900 cases of swine flu in australia of which 700+ are from Melbourne, Victoria... What's worse, there are 12 cases in Singapore and the most recent case was from this guy who flew to Melbourne and caught it. My BMT friend who jus visited Melbourne happened to be on that same exact flight. wow. wonderful. haha.

All this is scaring me because the quarantine dates is 7days once u touch down. That means when i touch down, i'm confined to my home for 7 days [if i appear to have flu like symptoms or whatever] and yeh, i can't afford to be at home. Not only do I have one of the most important weddings of my life to participate in, i also have a wedding dinner and loads of other important people to meet in that first week i'm back in Singapore.

So seriously, i'm praying hard. i dunch know how this can get better in 3 and a half weeks but i'm praying that God will show me a way out of this and that everything can go according to plan... i'm praying that my singapore agenda won't be hindered by the swine flu outbreak and i dunno how, but that everything would work out. :)

Trust me, i'm worried it'll mess up everything and there's nothing i can do about it. Me, a person who likes plans, structure and control.. this is NOT sitting nicely with my characteristic. :( heh... rely on God and praise Him no matter what.

Until you get back

"Everytime we say goodbye, I die a little" - Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye by Silje Nergaard

Just wanna spill some thots in my head now... cause there's nothing else i can do...

I guess you can't stop the urge inside you that wants to protect your friends and your loved ones. It's this same feeling that makes me worry everytime we say goodbye. Knowing that I left you at my door, and not knowing for sure that you'll get home safe.

I can't say that I like the feeling, neither do I claim that it doesn't bug me... because it does. Every minute of the 20 minutes it takes for you to reach back home bugs me... to not know where u are, who is around you and whether you're safe...

When you tell me 'it's ok, dun need to send me home' you give me NO ounce of comfort... none for I know whatever you say doesn't change the danger out there and the fact that something could happen and I could lose you and possibly myself for a long long time.

I sit here, trying not to worry as the time ticks by. But honestly, until you get back, there's nothing else I can think about. As I wait and wait... it's not something I'm inclined to do...

please. get. home. safe.

Update: You just got home... online... thank You Lord.

Lygon Sermon on the Influence of the church

The Influence of the Church
Matthew 5:13-16
Ps Melvin Lo

- Hypocrisy and Consistent Christianity

Why do you blame the faith for the behaviour of some Christians? If a pipe is clogged, do you condemn water and want to have nothing to do with water?

Our reputation is affected by our kids and likewise, we affect God's reputation when we live as His children.


- Influencing the world

This (Salt of the world) is part of the sermon on the mount. Listen to the challenge Jesus has given us.

Difference (v.13)
a) Understanding the world
Jesus spoke to fishermen and related this to them. The world was used in images to help them relate to their work life.

b) Slowing the rot
In that time, people used salt to preserve fish from rotting. Likewise, the world is like that fish, we are to preserve it and Jesus is using this imagery coz his audience are fishermen.

Jesus doesn't butter up things. He doesn't call the world as something nice but he calls it rotting and dark.

But He also sends us hope. 'You are the salt and light of the world'

Salt used as a judgment icon in OT

Genesis 19:26, Deut 29, Jeremiah 17:5-6, Mark 9:49

c) Living for the future
If we are living like the world, then we will not be useful. We will be like the rotting world.

Influence (v.14-16)
a) Hold out the truth
Light is truth, it exposes the truth in the darkness.

To be in the light is likened to being in God's presence.

John 8:4 - I am the light of the world

We are Jesus' ambassadors in this dark world.

Our faith will destroy our secrecy.

b) Don't hide the light
His listeners knew how important that one source of light was. What's the point of hiding that one source.

A city on the hill cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a table but on a stand for all to see.

We aren't to live in a monastry hidden and secluded from the world.

c) Pointing to Jesus
That they may see your good works (gifts of the Spirit) and praise your Father in Heaven.

The life you live is the powerful factor that will end up leading others to glorify God.

We are to be lights pointing to THE Light.

With our one life, how many other candles can you light up around you?

A Church is probably the only organisation that exists for the non members.

Not Strong Enuf

You know there are times in your life where you just crumble and realize you're just not strong enough. Not strong enough for people to depend on, not strong enough to hold up the weight of someone else, not strong enough to carry someone on your shoulders...

That's me today. I wasn't strong enough to lift 2 bodies off the floor. Discrediting my own weight, which i lift everyday when i get off the floor or walk around, I couldn't seem to have the strength in my legs to stand up and lift the other person up.

I know it's not sumthing i should keep beating myself up over and over again. but I can say honestly, at that point of time, i felt so weak.... so helpless and so disappointed in myself. I'm not just sad at the fact that I couldn't, but that it was something that every one else could.

Just boils down to the fact that i really need to start getting better. I need to start getting stronger. I need to know that not only can people depend on me, but that I can support them anytime. And to get to that point... it's gonna take work. but i'm not going to forget how i felt today... i'm going to get stronger. Why? For you.

Lygon Sermon on the mark of the church - love

Today's sermon at Lygon was good... Melvin expounded on one of the most famous verses of all time, 1 Corinthians 13 about love... :)

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I will build my church
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Ps Melvin Lo

Mark of the church
The mark of spirituality is not giftedness, but love.

Love's necessity (13:1-3)
Spectacular 'spirituality'
A spectacular performance doesn't mean the mind if God is there. It is jus noise.
Like speaking in tongues, without love, it is jus clanging cymbals.

Limitless knowledge
All knowledge is useless if not meant or used to build you up or edify God.
Neither should you use your limited knowledge with pride to shun people or judge them.

Unbounded Sacrifice
For example suicide bombers, They do so to have personal self gain.
True Godly love is always selfless and self sacrificing.
Like ingredients in a cake, if u leave that one important ingredient out, no matter how good it looks, it'll still be a disaster. Love is that ingredient.

Love's character (13:4-7)
What love does? (v.4)
- Patient & Kind
Being patient is passive... Being kind is active.
Do we jus 'siam' a person? Coz that's not enuf.

What love avoids? (v.5-6)
- Envy
Not jealous. Share the joys of someone who has more than you or does better than you.

- Boasting, proud
It's always about him/her. Love is about being humble.

- Rude, self-seeking
It's a reminder that the world doesn't revolve just around you.

- Easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs
Love forgives others.
The world is more than just your lonely world.

- Does not delight in evil, rejoices with the truth
Some churches even now boast of how open they are with regards to homosexual ministers.

What love pursues? (v.7)
- Perseveres
It doesn't give up on people nor expects anything in return.
Love perseveres, keep trying. We all fall short from time to time.

Love's permanence (v.8-13)
- Love remains
*Growing up
When we all grow up, we leave childish things behind.

*Mirror
We will one day see face to face and we shall know fully for we will know God fully.

- Mark of the church (Love)

Halted Dinner

So we both vowed to blog about this but since one of us has exams to study for and too little time to actually account for this awesome eventful evening, here i stand before you, a used person for another's humour...

Here's how it started... the plan was... to meet at school, walk back home and stop by Coles to pick up some much needed ingredients for our dinner.... turns out, we had to stop by to get more than ingredients coz a certain boy's mouth was itchy for sumthing sweet... he ended up buying a pack of biscuits that he never did eat till another night... but that's not the point... so he and she went to get a pack of beef mince that cost... hmm $4.48? how that's relevant, he doesn't know... and stop asking him why he's talking in 3rd person... maybe it helps him recollect the story. haha.

So they get mince and other stuff... not to mention the fact that they wander around a bit wondering to selves whether they DO sell tomato soup... in a can. :) alas... that is a very important ingredient... as to why, i beg u to continue reading this... it might even be used as a tool to keep the suspense up so readers of this blog have sumthing to look forward to other than the tease of thrill in the title.... ANYHOO... they get mince, tomato soup, biscuits and onions... and other stuff... and proceed to head to the checkout line. He checks out the typo in the display and wonders to himself if Jim [or Ji as the display reads] is ... queer or not coz he sure displays signs of... endearment towards hand gestures... they walk out and head towards her place jus a street away and manage to finally get up to the warmth and security of home...

Relaxing for the moment just after unloading groceries, he mentally calculates enuf time to cook and eat... so he knows they have at least an hour to just talk and get comfortable in conversation... demanding snacks, he's treated to digestives! his favourite roll of biscuits as of now... They talk and finally at 5:10pm, they decide that it's time to cook...

This... my frens, is where the fun starts...

so she starts cutting onions coz from past experiences of TRYING to help, he ruined the onions and got a mess of weirdly cut pieces... so knowing his skills surely don't fall in that area, he graciously offers to open the can of tomato soup... yes, the wait is over... she suddenly drops everything and realizes one important factor... no can opener... panic ensues as she tries to call a neighbour, who wasn't home, and finally made the decision to go to coles and grab one off the shelf... alas... guess who.

So he runs down... in a hurry to get a can opener and realizes his phone is left upstairs at home... brilliant. he thinks himself a straight genius for managing to do sumthing so clever as that... nonetheless, he scouts around till he has prob memorized what's along the aisles of Coles... finally he spots it with the help of some staff and grabs it to see the checkout line had multiplied itself 10fold... breathing a sigh, he joins the queue... he feels like an idiot holding a can opener while before and after him, baskets of groceries hide the flooring.

*Beep*... no, no cash out please he replies the cashier..

He hurries up but by this time, it's already 5:30... that's half an hour... he proceeds to open the can of tomato soup... by now, she's cut the garlic, onions and has prepared the pot... they throw in butter and onions after he's finally managed to understand the sheer mechanics of a can opener... and the onion and butter start frying... he glances at the clock and makes a hard decision... it's 5:45... and they had to leave by 6...

SO... dinner was halted and they both made the decision to leave the dinner half cooked for later when they returned home.... sharing one too many laughs... they decide to abandon the idea of having dinner before their friend's exhibition and prep to leave... buttered onions in mid-fry.

so they pack and leave, attend the exhibition and come back to finish off the cooking and finally have dinner at 9.30pm... oh, to mention also that she wrote the recipe down and instead of writing mince... she wrote mice... so it became... add mice and brown lightly... that was disturbing.

:) they vow to blog about it and recollect this eventful day coz it was just too hilarious to foroget... and thus, here's the account. Hope it was as funny and entertaining to you as it was, and probably still is, to them. :)

p.s. dinner was awesome. yummy and well worth the wait.

vCA internet

it's quite nice... Walking to VCA... Far, but i guess if u pump music, people watch and scenary watch, the walk's not that bad.... Plus... There's free internet here... Ok so i jus recalled that they have uniwireless here. it's the same provider as melb uni...

Anyways, i'm hungry. Mouth itching for krispy kreme. Ahhh i must not must not. It's expensive. Eeps. Haha...

But they're so tasty... Haha.. Ok stop. :) haiz. Yep... It's 3.04... Why aren't you done yet? Lol.

Interior of St Paul's Church at Flinders

Just blogging some pics i snapped with my handphone camera when i walked into St. Paul's Cathedral that day. :) beautiful interior.

Richmond's Sermon Mother's Day

Today we brought Joseph Tan to Richmond coz it's his first and only sunday here in Melbourne and i thot it'll be better to bring him to see richmond so he can comment about it rather than sumwhere safe like lygon. so we headed down to richmond and it was a pity coz phyllis overslept and couldn't join us. So far, phyllis hasn't been to richmond so that's kinda a sian thing coz yeh, i think it'll be nice to hear what she thinks of richmond too. :) never mind phyllis, next time k? i'll surely go again one lah dun worry. my quota is AT LEAST once a month. :) i like richmond.

Anyhoo. today's worship was pretty insipid for me... didn't feel that there was enuf... i didn't really get TOO connected with the songs or the theme that was running thru the songs [which i'm still kinda struggling to find] plus it was led by the worship leader that i didn't think was the best leader... maybe coz the first time i saw him lead created a bad first impression of his professionalism and control of the band. anyhow, worship was still good in the sense that it did prepare the church and myself for offering and sermon and all. :) Today they had baby dedication and it was real quite to see the little ones held in the arms of their parents... esp on mother's day, it reminded me how dependant and valued these children are in the eyes of the church and parents... and it's like that for us... God as our Father feeds us, shelters us and brings us up... and we are jus waiting upon Him for his guidance and leading... we as children of God should celebrate the fact that He is our father and not some far away god that we never have a personal connection with.

Sermon today was quite good too... it wasn't a mind blowing sermon neither was it a dead lifeless, applicationless sermon... it wasn't really relevant to today's theme of mother's day but hey, what's wrong with that. As long as God's glory is seen in the sermon and lives of the members, that's all that matters. Today Pastor David spoke about trials and tribulations of a mother in the bible. Taken from 1 Kings 4, we're reminded of the perserverance of a mother's prayers and pleas for her dead son. Elisha goes to heal the child and God's glory is seen when the boy sneezes 7 times and breathes air again. Amazing to see how her perserverance allowed her to be used by God.

After church, we went to have lunch which was YUMMY meat!! :) then now, i'm going to grab my study stuff and go to wongster's house for a study session... meeting jeero, jo.tee, jo.tan and wongster later for freddos ice cream. yummy. :)

So far, it's been a great sunday. I must say, the Lord has been good to me... really... and i thank Him for it.

Happy Mother's Day Jenny Tan a.k.a MUMMY DEAREST... :) I love you till the ends of the earth and even though we have miles between us, your love is felt in every msn conversation, skype call and facebook comments. If I could, i'd plant a hug and kiss on you that you'd have to pry me off to escape from. I love you loads and I am looking forward to doing just that when I get back in July. Thank you for loving me, bringing me up and providing for me all these years without complaint. I have the best mum in the world and there is NOTHING i'd trade you for...

Sniffles... may the Lord bless you and dad as you continue on living your lives for Him. He has given me more than I could ever need in parents and I thank Him and you for it.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MUM!

Fire Scare

Aiyahhhh dun worry laaaa no fire scare laaa.... jus some person prob activated the college square fire alarm system when they were cooking.

So here's what i saw when i walked out of home this wed evening... haha fire engines and all. and everyone was gathered outside college sq. so heng i was leaving. dun wanna be standing there like a dumb dumb.

sanctified sinner saved

the past few days have been pretty good. I feel quite close to God and it's not all the time that I really take the time to ponder upon the Lord and wait upon Him for His leading and guidance. I guess it's comes with a pretty big decision in my life right now but I start to ponder and wonder why issit only at these times do I lean upon Him and not all the time in my life?

But the Lord has been good to me and has blessed me with riches that I cannot begin to count. His guidance has been present and His promises true. I pray that as I continue to rest upon Him for strength and leading, that He'll continue to be true to me. I pray for patience as I wait upon Him and obedience to follow His leading.

God's answer to my prayers for Direction

God speaks to us in many ways and though we don't hear His voice audibly now, He'll always use ways and means to speak to you. I've been mulling over a decision I had to make and been praying to ask God for guidance and direction as to what to do and how to go about doing it right. I guess He not only spoke to me through the week with reassurance here and there but also after I made that decision today, God answered my post-decision prayers too. I asked that He would show me His way that I may walk in them and to assure me that what I decided upon is the right way... and during OCF, I requested prayer for that... and without knowing anything, the brother who was praying for me seemed to pray with such certainty about the request. Even though he didn't have prior knowledge and didn't know the subject by which i was requesting prayer for, his words were directed like an arrow to my heart. It was so relevant and meaningful that I felt comforted by God there and then.

I got back and I checked my QT and this was in today's QT... it's a portion of my QT coz the top part of this was an example about morality.. but didn't need to bore u with it... just that I felt like God is telling me to not just go back to His word for direction but to lean upon Him and know that He has my thoughts and my life in His hands. Praise be to God.

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Centuries ago, the psalmist understood the need for a moral benchmark and asked for divine aid in following it. He prayed to the Lord, “Direct my steps by Your Word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me. . . . Teach me Your statutes” (Ps. 119:133-135).

Ariely’s “cheat test” experiment illustrates our need for moral guidance. The Lord has given us His Word as a lamp for our feet and a light for our path (v.105) to direct us in our moral choices. —Dennis Fisher

How precious is the Book divine
By inspiration given!
Bright as a lamp its doctrines shine,
To guide our souls to heaven. —Fawcett

Like a compass, the Bible always points us in the right direction.