Spose - I'm Awesome

Think this song is really cute. haha a bit rude.. but hey, i think it's funny! the lyrics are so down to earth hahaha. :) enjoy!

Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome...
I don't necessarily need to be here for this...
I'm gonna keep the headphones though...
Mother ****** I'm awesome!
No you're not, dude don't lie
I'm awesome!
I'm drivin around in my mom's ride
I'm awesome!
A quarter of my life gone by
And I met all my friends online
Mother ****** I'm awesome!
I will run away from a brawl
I'm awesome!
There's no voicemail, nobody called
I'm awesome!
I can't afford to buy eight balls
And I talk to myself on my Facebook wall
I'm awesome

You know my pants sag low (low)
Even though (though) that went out of style
Like ten years ago (go)
Spose, I got the swagger of a cripple
I got little biceps,
Getting fatter in the middle

And lyrically I'm not the best :)
Physically the opposite of Randy Moss and yet
So preposterous
Feel the awesomeness, the most obnoxious
Guest up at the sausage fest
Oh yes!
The girls are repulsed
So I hide in my hood like i'm joining a cult
Uh Uhh
I'm as nervous as my cattle dirty curtis
All my writtens are bitten and
All my verses are purchased
Me? I'll never date an actress
Got too many back zits
Plus my whole home aroma is cat piss
Every show i do is poorly promoted and if you like this,
It's cuz my little sister wrote it

I'm awesome!
No you're not, dude don't lie
I'm awesome!
I'm drivin around in my mom's ride
I'm awesome!
A quarter of my life gone by
And I met all my friends online
Mother ****** I'm awesome!
I will run away from a brawl
I'm awesome!
There's no voicemail, nobody called
I'm awesome!
I can't afford to buy eight balls
And I talk to myself on my Facebook wall
I'm awesome

Check it out

I'm from Maine and I don't hunt, nope
And I can't ski
Smoke weed but I can't roll blunts
*Find me* whipped by my wifey
My neck not icy
Eatin at McDonalds because Subway's pricey

Uh, and my unibrow is plucked
Just asked my mom if I could borrow ten bucks
She's like "For what?
Blunt wraps and some Heineken?
You skinny prick, go get a gym membership and vitamins!"
I'm like, Mom please, don't blame it on me
I got my bad habits from you, Dad, and Aunt Steve
My attitude's sour but my futon's sweet,
And the hair on my ***, it is Jumanji

Suit untailored, ringtone Taylor Swift
Can't tweet up on my Twitter
Cuz I haven't done shit
Bank account red, body ungroomed
The only thing good about me is I'm off stage soon

I'm awesome!
No you're not, dude don't lie
I'm awesome!
I'm drivin around in my mom's ride
I'm awesome!
A quarter of my life gone by
And I met all my friends online
Mother ****** I'm awesome!
I will run away from a brawl
I'm awesome!
There's no voicemail, nobody called
I'm awesome!
I can't afford to buy eight balls
And I talk to myself on my Facebook wall
I'm awesome

Futhermore I'm cornier than Ethynol
Cheesier than Provolone
I spent ages eight to ten living in a motor home
With a ego the size of Tim Duncan
Even though I got shit for brains like a blumpkin
I'm twenty four, serving lobster rolls
Because I spent a decade filling optimos
And I'm not even the bomb in Maine
On my game I'm only about as sexy as John McCain
Now put your hands up,
If you have nightmares
If you wouldn't man up if there was a fight here
If you got dandruff, if you drink light beer
I'm outta breath...

But I'm awesome!
No you're not, dude don't lie
I'm awesome!
I'm drivin around in my mom's ride
I'm awesome!
A quarter of my life gone by
And I met all my friends online
Mother ****** I'm awesome!
I will run away from a brawl
I'm awesome!
There's no voicemail, nobody called
I'm awesome!
I can't afford to buy eight balls
And I talk to myself on my Facebook wall
I'm awesome

He Opened their Minds

Play this video and let it load before you read this entry... i think it helps u put yourself into a position to read this Spirit inspired entry... i love the bridge from 5:40 onwards... amazing feeling if u just close your eyes and imagine God.

On the third day after Jesus was crucified, Mary Magdalene and her friends saw the empty tomb and immediately ran to tell the disciples; "But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense" (Luke 24:11). Even after Peter saw the empty tomb for himself, he was perplexed; "He went away, wondering to himself what had happened" (Luke 24:12).

The disciples had walked with Jesus and listened to Him teach about this day but they still did not understand. It wasn't until Jesus personally appeared to the disciples that the events began to make sense; "Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures" (Luke 24:45).

I was reading my devotional today and this part really hit me... it talks about Jesus' resurrection and how even the disciples who walked with Him didn't believe or understand what the empty grave meant... until Jesus appeared to them and opened their minds so they could understand... isn't it amazing?

Often times we walk on by in our life and spiritual walk and want to be closer to Jesus... we want to spend more time with Him, we want to live with Him... So we go to church more, we serve more and we read the bible more... but those are just actions... we can do all that outwardly and feel no connection to Him internally. We could walk beside Him literally and still not understand...

Only when He allows us to, when He chooses to open our minds, when we put our heart into our service, our walk and our fellowship with Jesus... then will He choose to open our minds and we will see, we will taste and we will understand. Amazing glory that would be... wonderful truths that would spring to mind... magnificent experiences we will feel and touch God... that is when we will understand Scripture, that is when we will see Him for not a God or person... but OUR God and our Lord...

It's like an epiphany... knowing how the Scripture relates to that spiritual body standing in front of them... imagine what the disciples felt at that point in time... i think it's not beyond what we can experience... i don't think God limits that to that time and place... i think we can feel that too. i think we can strive to grasp hold of God and feel Him... and then, we will understand. if only we reach out.

p.s. only did i realize how linked the song is to the text i typed out... and i didn't choose the song.. it was jus playing in the background. :) amazing. heh... and i love how i type entries without editing.. i jus let the words flow and at the end i just click "publish post" :) Amen to the Holy Spirit...

Happy news of exco

I know rite? 3 posts in such succession... what is rui doing to be so free to blog? haha... jus that i found stuff to blog bout. :)

anyways, heard from ht today that shannon, junyew and herself are standing for exco and thus are getting baptised... woahhhh! :) that made my heart skip a beat... so happy. haha.

it's really glad to see the next generation take up the baton in service for the Lord... it's even greater to see someone of the FOLLOWING generation step up and live up to your personal expectations of her. :) it's amazing... to think the age gap between her and me is the same gap between kenneth and i. :S hahah... i now can jus feel a GLIMPSE of what he must have felt when we stepped up. :)

The Lord sends when the need is present... thank the Lord for sending yet more labourers for the harvest is plenteous. :) Amen.

周杰倫 - 超人不会飞

周杰倫 - 超人不会飞

妈妈说很多事别太计较
只是使命感找到了我 我睡不着
如果说 骂人要有点技窍
我会加点旋律 你会觉得超屌

我的枪 不会装弹药(弹药)
所以放心 不会有人倒(人倒)
我拍青锋侠 不需要替身
因为自信是我绘画的颜料

我做很多事背后的意义远比你们想象
拍个电视剧为了友情与十年前的梦想
收视率再高也难抗衡我的伟大理想
因为我的人生无需再多一笔那奖项

我不知道何时变成了社会的那榜样
被狗仔拍不能比中指要大器的模样（怎样）

我唱的歌词要有点文化
因为随时会被当教材
CNN能不能等英文好一点再访
时代杂志封面能不能重拍
随时随地注意形象
要控制饮食
不然就跟杜莎夫人蜡像的我不像(本来就不像)
好莱坞的中国戏院地上有很多手印脚印
何时才能看见我的掌

喔 如果超人会飞 那就让我在空中停一停歇
再次俯瞰这个世界 会让我觉得好一些
拯救地球好累 虽然有些疲惫但我还是会
不要问我哭过了没 因为超人不能流眼泪

唱歌要拿最佳男歌手
拍电影也不能只拿个最佳新人
你不参加颁奖典礼就是没礼貌
你去参加就是代表你很在乎

得奖时你感动落泪（落泪）
人家就会觉得你夸张做作（做作）
你没表情别人就会说太嚣张
如果你天生这表情 那些人甚至会怪你妈妈（妈妈）

结果最后是别人在得奖
你也要给予充分的掌声与微笑
开的车不能太好 住的楼不能太高
我到底是一个创作歌手 还是好人好事代表

专辑一出就必须是冠军
拍了电影就必须要大卖
只能说当超人真的好难

如果超人会飞(超人会飞)
那就让我在空中停一停歇(停一停歇)
再次俯瞰这个世界 会让我觉得好一些
拯救地球好累(地球好累)
虽然有些疲惫但我还是会(我还是会)
不要问我哭过了没 因为超人不能流眼泪

Cold... difficult... mmmm

It was quite hard getting out of bed today. I've experienced worse days where i just refuse to get up but today was cold and tiring and all rolled into one. Willing myself out of bed was HARD as hell! ahhaa knowing that i've only got icy water waiting for me.

see the problem is my toilet sink tap only has cold water and it is COLD... sigh. haha but yeh, told myself u've got class at 9, get your butt out of bed now.

the normal bargaining with self started... okok.. when it's 8.15am...

then 8.15 comes... okok when it's 8.20am...

then 8.20 comes... okokokok!!! when the second hand goes to 12...

then the.. yeh u get the point.

till finally i pull myself out of bed at 8.20 and 30secs.. haha.

but yeh, thus begins week 12. the last week of school. so... bloody... fast. where did it all go?

10 Degrees

Wow. today before deciding what to wear, i checked my weather widget in my ipod touch...

10 Degrees?!?! woah! hello Winter! :) Awesome.. i love the cold.

Walking out, the blast of cold air just wakes u up and slaps u in the face... so refreshing... :)

Cooking Lunch in the morning

Today when i woke, i knew i had my work cut out for me before school started. Here's the low down. I have class at 10am and i needed to wake up early enuf to make lunch. Last night, i already deboned my chicken drumsticks and marinated it. Chucking it into the fridge knowing the flavours would jus lock in after a night in the fridge.

So i woke, and dragged myself into a sitting up position [yeh, that was hard enuf]... and then willed myself to get out of bed and go cook. So time is 8.15... managed to get out of bed by 8.30... I pop my pot onto the stove and start slicing onions.

I know rice will take me 14mins to cook and steaming chicken takes 15 so i wash my rice, set it inside the microwave waiting for my water to bowl.

Water starts to boil, i grab my chicken out of the fridge and dump it nicely into a steaming pan. In goes the pan. And i lean over to press start on the microwave. 'All working like clockwork' i think to myself... I grab my pan out of the cupboard and place it onto the already hot stove top that was waiting... Crack Crack... two eggs in a bowl... Beating them is a whizz.

Wonderful, the pan's heated up. Oiled and ready for onions, i can't disappoint it so on goes the onions. They hit the pan with a sizzle of delight as they slowly brown and take in the flavour of the oil. I cut up a slice of ham to give the soon-to-be omelette jus that small tinge of saltiness.

The ham gets a nice crisp looking browness around the edges. That's my cue... I pour over the egg and the sizzle ceases to a silent hiss of the egg being cooked.

Everything's ticking away. Great, that leaves me enuf time to start washing up. I wash the dishes while the egg slowly cooks and the chicken steams, not forgetting the rice becoming fluffy and delicious in the microwave.

I flip the egg and it's got a beautiful brown hint on the flat side down... awesome. this is going perfectly. I wait a while and flip it one more time to check whether the other side has matched this. It looks delicious with the onions and ham slices just peeking above the sea of yellowish brown egg. I cut it in half, half for lunch and half for dinner.

*ding* goes the microwave. Pop the rice cooker out of the microwave and pop the lid off. Steam rises out of the cooker like it's breathing fresh air for the first time. Fluff the rice and set it aside to await the chicken. 1minute till it's done... i stop the pot of water boiling and take it out of the pan using the crocodile kiap-kiap thing... Pop a small piece into my mouth and knew that was not a great idea coz it just made me want to eat the whole pan up now. :( but alas, i'll have to wait till lunch... so i take it out and pop it into my tupperware box. All segmented so that it won't mix up until i want it mixed with the rice and egg.

As i pour the hot water out of the pot and refill it with cold water, i start washing everything else while the pot cools off.

There, all done. now i'm going to have a delicious meal in school while i work on my projects and type a blog entry [apparently]... :) it's 11.25am now.. but i know that in half an hour, i'll be treating myself to a delicious meal of Ham-Onion Omelette, Steamed Rice and Sesame oil and soya sauce marinated steamed chicken. :)

For everyone who can't enjoy this with me... here's for your visual appetite.

Ahead of Time

I'm glad that this semester has been pretty merciful. I would say that it's more project driven this sem round instead of essays and tutorials and stuff... but this time around, it's like mostly just doing projects thru the semester...

and becoz of that, i've been doing pretty well... most, if not all, of my subjects are scoring pretty good marks so far and i'm very very on top of my projects... for example, for Project Management, my project manager has been going around asking his other project manager frens their progress and my grp is really really quite far ahead of everyone else...

For ICT based inter organisational processes, our assignment handed in, presented and the only thing left is the essay that's due in week 12 [we're in week 8 now]... coming up with the skeleton of that by tomorrow and i wanna finish off that essay by next week to just leave it till week 12 to tweak.

For ISA, basically the lecturer is asking us to stat thinking bout assignment 2 and start planning the interface... my group has already finished the assignment.

For HCI, the idea is already there and we're a week ahead of schedule...

So everything's going good for now. just dun wanna end up slacking too much and stop keeping ahead of my subjects. :)

but yeh, OCF has been good too. leading BS always helps me get on check with Bible Study and ontop of things so i dun end up just going to OCF and soaking up but also giving :) so yeh.

Beloved - Tenth Avenue North

Current Favourite song... i really enjoy their songs and the album is filled with GREAT lyrics and music. :) enjoy this... i think everyone needs a little reminder of God's love from time to time. :)

Grey clouds loom

Taken from here.

When i signed on to NetSpace, we made 2 appointments for a Telstra guy to come and twiddle with the phone line box and an Optus guy to come down today to come into my house and test the socket.

Yesterday, I manned the phone and waited for the Telstra guy to call but no one did and thus I assumed he already twiddled with the phone box.

Today, i skipped a lecture and accidently missed a project meeting becoz i had to stay home and wait for the optus guy to come. The appointment was 8-12pm.

12.30 i called netspace and 'complained' about no one coming and they informed me [and he was pretty upset with telstra] that they came yesterday but couldn't get access to the box and prob just left. They were supposed to call me but no one did and thus, they didn't do the job. Which means the optus guy wouldn't even show today and thus had to reschedule another 2 appointments for me. That's not it, due to the easter holiday, the next available slot is 9th apr friday... which is a week and a half away. then the optus guy will have to come in on a saturday or a monday to get the stuff done.

And i'm like wth lah... of course i didn't whine to him about it over the phone coz it's not his fault but the Telstra guy's fault for not calling me to get access to the phone box... so he jotted down a note saying that they MUST call me when they are coming and that they'll re compensate me for the trouble caused. I assured him i do not blame netspace since it's not their fault and was very appreciative of the things they are doing for me coz he said he'll get my first month's bill to be waivered off which means i get my first month free... that's like $70 so i'm not complaining...

but i'm jus bummed out that becoz of this, i also missed a lecture AND i totally forgot i had a project meeting today. when my project manager called, i realized i was supposed to be in school. sent him a long sms explaining and apologizing... but then he called a bit later on and said he never got the message. so i apologized and explained over the phone [he sounded disappointed... i would be too] and said that we'll meet on facebook to chat thru the meeting. however, he hasn't popped online for facebook yet so i'm like just sitting here missing the meeting.

And i was going to cook lunch for laura but she hasn't woken up yet nor came online. and i dun have her aussie number so i can't contact her... which means i'm jus sitting here waiting for her to wake up so i can cook lunch. as per yesterday's lunch events, i'm a bit wary of cooking early and waiting for her. She jus came online and said she'll be ready by 2. that's an hour's time. sigh... late lunch i suppose.

Davin jus reminded me of my meeting tonite which i forgot AGAIN... what's wrong with me today?

i'm so bummed out... sigh...

NetSpace and Logitech X-230

Netspace just called. They're coming by tomorrow to test the internet line... and hopefully by the end of this week or within the week, we'll have Naked DSL running. :)

on other news, Laura is here! :) glad that she flew safe and can join us for our easter break.. hope that she has fun here too lah. :) managed to cook steak for her and charles last nite, along with phyllis and hannah, it was a very nice and yummy dinner. :)

Schooling week is back in... monday's halfway done for me... have one more lecture, then i'm going to fly home to cook and eat lunch. then back to school for 1 more lect and then i'm done for the day... will try to start on my ISA project today so i can at least get some work done. :)

Going to eat at No.1 Delicious today... gotta go with group mates to take photos and all. :) heh... then i shall eat good tonite coz i'm really trying to save as much money as i can due to the fact that i just bought new speakers... Logitech X-230... powerful stuff and really value for money.. well, not at the normal shops like Office Works and Big W... they were retailing for $80.. but i managed to find smaller shops with little overhead costs that sold it for much cheaper. got my set [first hand with 1 year warranty] for $49. :) so i'm pretty happy.

Alright, i'm off to lect. see u .

Sleep Cycle Alarm App day 7

Mwhaha. Nick, it's as though Sleep Cycle Alarm heard your comment... there's your deep sleep for you. :) woke up quite awake today despite sleeping at 3.36am... and yesh, project is STILL not done. :S shall keep working on it today. sighhhh

Sleep statistics for 26 - 27 Mar (Sat).

Went to bed / woke up: 3:36 AM / 7:18 AM
Total time: 3h 41m

My sleep graph for the entire night:





-- Rui/Joel --
Sent from my iPod Touch

Sleep Cycle Alarm App day 6

Woke up today and went back to sleep again. i HAVE to stop setting the alarm so early... have class at 12 but set alarm to 9.30... it woke me at 9.07 and i went back to sleep. hahaha decided i was too lazy to cook lunch. guess i'll eat a late lunch... or buy food back. haha see how la. :)

Sleep statistics for 23 - 24 Mar (Wed).

Went to bed / woke up: 3:33 AM / 9:07 AM
Total time: 5h 33m

My sleep graph for the entire night:

Sleep Cycle Alarm App day 5

Success! Today, sleep cycle alarm woke me up at the appropriate time and I felt well rested.. the graph looks quite cool. Apparently, i normally hit the DEEP SLEEP periods during the half hour times... like 5:30am, 6:30am... so when i set my alarm to 8:30am, the app knew that it shouldn't wake me during that time otherwise i'd just be a grumpy fella the whole day.. so it woke me when i'm normally in my Dreaming-Awake stage... which is the start of the hours... 5am, 6am, 7am and thus it woke me at 8:02am. :)

pretty neat eh?

Sleep statistics for 22 - 23 Mar (Tue).

Went to bed / woke up: 1:37 AM / 8:02 AM
Total time: 6h 25m

My sleep graph for the entire night:

-- Rui/Joel --

Sent from my iPod Touch

Sleep Cycle Alarm App day 4

Still failing to wake up properly... I woke up today to switch off the alarm and went back to sleep. meaning it's still not working at waking me up at the right time that i dun want to fall back to sleep. lolz.

will keep... trying. :S maybe i shouldn't be setting the alarm so early. haha

Sleep Cycle Alarm App day 3

Sleep statistics for 19 - 20 Mar (Sat).

Went to bed / woke up: 3:10 AM / 7:34 AM
Total time: 4h 24m

Analysis made by Sleep Cycle.

My sleep graph for the entire night:

Hmmm.. looks like the system is slowly learning my bed and the sensitivity and stuff. :) woke today after the alarm rang quite a few times. still felt sleepy so ended up sleeping in still until it was just about nice to get up, clean up and leave home...

Guess the system needs to learn my bed and i need to learn the system coz i'm still not getting up when it tells me to. haha oops! :) onwards!

Sleep Cycle Alarm App day 2

Today thankfully, i set the alarm to the correct time.

Woke up this morning [from the alarm] sleepy and didn't feel ready to jump out of bed and face the day so ended up lazing in bed for another 20more minutes....

Here's the graph of my sleep last nite. I suppose the sleep cycle alarm is still calibrating itself to my bed and stuff coz i couldn't have been awake for the whole night. :)

Sleep statistics for 17 - 18 Mar (Thu).

Went to bed / woke up: 2:55 AM / 7:33 AM
Total time: 4h 37m

My sleep graph for the entire night:

Wonder whether i'll sleep better the next few nights but like i said, it's worth a shot. :)

Sleep Cycle Alarm App day 1

I'm documenting a week's worth of finding for using this new app i've been researching on. It's called Sleep Cycle Alarm and it uses the ipod touch's accelerometer to gauge movements when u're sleeping to tell you when your cycle [dozing off, sleeping, deep sleep, back to sleeping and waking up] is... and using that information, it'll choose an appropriate time to wake u up [during your waking up/dozing off stage]... hard to explain but it's supposedly able to make you wake up less abruptly which would naturally cause u to not feel tired through the day.

It has a 30min time period before your actual alarm is set so you can be woken up during that 30min gap... which is pretty awesome if it works. :)

nonetheless, after reading up about it, i decided to try it for myself and document my experience.

Day 1:

Set the alarm to 10.30 and went to sleep at bout 2am. Woke up naturally half way through the night coz a poster i stuck on my wall fell down and made a sound. Went back to sleep and woke up naturally at 9plus wondering how long more i had left to sleep. Woke up again at 10plus wondering why the alarm hadn't sounded yet. Woke at 10.50 and checked the app. Realized i mistakingly set the alarm to 10.30pm. :S stupid me.

Checked the statistics page and i think it's too sensitive coz it showed i was awake all the time [it takes 2 days to calibrate itself to your sleep pattern and mattress quality]

Will try again tonite and for the next week but for what it's worth, i woke up today feeling quite awake... and i can't attribute that to the sleep cycle alarm clock. hahaha :)

Thirst

It's been a while since i thirsted for church. To worship the Lord in His glory, to raise my voice and sing His praise. To intellectually, spiritually and emotionally engage the word of God through sermons and testimonies. To feel His power and Spirit flowing in the congregation as they thanked the Lord for healings, for blessings and even for trials through prayer. To see lifted hands seeking for God and pining to feel His strength in their life once more.

It's been a while. And only God knows how much I miss this feeling. The Lord is alive, so why do we sometimes worship Him only when it's convenient or only when we think it's about time to? The Lord never changes, we do.

Lord, let this thirst never die. Let me look forward to coming to your House every Sunday and praising you with all that's within me. May my life on the weekdays be no different from this life on Sundays. Lord, let me thirst for you with an unquenchable spirit. To never be satisfied in my current situation and feelings... may You put a lasting desire for You and Your Word.

Lord, make me like You.

The Grace of God

Something irrational doesn't mean it's beyond rationality. It just means it's something that can't be understood... can't be comprehended... something like the Grace of God.

Why does He love us? Why did He send Christ for us? Why did He create us?

My friends, it is something unexplainable, something unfathomable and most of all, something undeserved. Nothing we can ever do can earn God's grace. Nothing that we say, do or think can ever equate to us being entitled to God's grace. No my fren, it is when we are broken the most, when we have nothing left to give, when we have nothing but a broken and a contrite heart, THAT, the Lord will not despise.

The Gift of God's grace can only be received with open and empty hands. God is either Lord of all, otherwise He's not Lord at all. I wish u knew my heart, i wish u felt my cries, i wish u knew how much I don't know about tomorrow... and i wish u knew my Jesus.

The Lord works, the way He wills it... He gives us time, He gives us examples, He gives us Love... and what do we give Him back in return? a "maybe tomorrow" or a "i don't need to change"...

My cries aren't for myself, nor are they for strangers... not tonite. Tonite, i seek and plead with Christ concerning you. My friend. The Lord will not stop pursuing you, He will go through flame, through flood and through flogging so that YOU might know Him.

Oh Lord, give them peace, give them Love... but most importantly, Give them You.

"Prayer For A Friend"

Lord, I lift my friend to You, I've done all that I know to do

I lift my friend to You

Complicated circumstances have clouded his view

Lord, I lift my friend up to You

I fear that I won't have the words that he needs to hear

I pray for Your wisdom, oh God, and a heart that's sincere

Lord, I lift my friend up to You

Lord, I lift my friend to You

My best friend in the world, I know he means much more to You

I want so much to help him, but this is something he has to do

And Lord, I lift my friend up to You

'cause there's a way that seems so right to him

But You know where that leads

He's becoming a puppet of the world, too blind to see the strings

Lord, I lift my friend up to You

My friend up to You

Lord, I lift my friend to You, I've done all that I know to do

I lift my friend to You

1st Week of school's benefits

mmmm. free bbq. :)

Back in Melbourne

Hey guys, sorry for this late post but days here in melb have been really hectic... the moment i touched down, we taxi-ed to the apartment, dumped our luggage and proceeded to rent a SUV...

Then, we went around city to different houses to pick up and dump off our stuff... [moving house] it was epic tiring for most of us [i was the driver so i really didn't do much of the moving] but it was epic stressful too coz driving in melb city is not fun and driving an SUV loaded with boxes and heavy things aren't fun too. there was a point in time where i could really jus see half of my side view mirror's view... quite scary but drive with caution and alertness and you should be safe.

Then after moving, there was crazy unpacking and buying stuff from Safeway, Big W, Ikea... goodness.. it was jus tiring day after tiring day. and then monday, school started. so really, we haven't had much rest since touching down... but now that everything's settled and school's back in gear, i think the rest of the year looks promising. :) I jus came back from my 1 hour lect at 10am... walk to sch for 15 mins, attend a 45-50min lect, then walk back home for 15mins... lolz. :) but i find quite a bit of interest in this subject. It's called human computer interaction. in summary, it's how people interact with technology and how to design technology that people will WANT to use and will ENJOY using... so it's pretty neat coz it ties in very well with my diploma in mobile and wireless computing. :)

Yep, so thank God for all the protection, providence and love that He's shown me thru these few days and i'm glad that there's a higher being who not only loves but disciplines when necessary. :)

Oh, another awesome fact is phyllis and hannah are literally 3 doors down from my unit. and that has provided a lot of entertainment, love, fun and fellowship. :) So awesome that we jus walk out of our house in bare feet or socks and reach their door in like 10seconds. :) fun fun fun.

Happy 8th Months Wongster... it's been so great being with you. :) but u already know that. and before everyone else dies from diabetes, I love you very much. :)

Flying off.... AGAIN...

So here we are once more. on the night before i fly off to melbourne ONCE MORE... i know rite? it's like a ritual almost to blog before i fly. :) but that's me, sentimental ol' me. :)

Just glad that this time around, i go with so much more zeal and preparedness.. it's like going home to a familiar place with things i'm looking forward to.. compared to a year ago, going to some unknown place to meet unknown people. :)

this time, i fly with 6 friends and i'm looking forward to going back to move into my new smaller, but cheaper, place and start surviving again. waiting to wear nice wintery clothes and walk down the streets of swanston and lygon once more... to grace the halls of Wilson Hall and to walk down the lanes of Pelham towards ICT. :) it's weird... the want to go back to school has never been so strong. what is wrong with me. :)

but yay. thank God for provision and providence... for direction and discernment... for grace and goodness.... He's been with me and in me all my way thru last year and I pray He'll stay strong by my side as i weakly grasp on to His strong unwavering hand of mercy and peace.

Melbourne, here i come!... again. dammit. hhaha that always spoils everything.

River Hongbao Festival

Today after dinner with B.Wong and Anne.... Hannah and I went to walk Esplanade.... and then when we got there... we realized the river hong bao festival was on...

it was CROWDED!!! but quite cool :) got to go on the floating platform and enjoy the chinese tradition we would hardly find in Melb.

Quite interesting to see how the culture of Spore is still vibrant and strong... and oh, Mr. Goh Chok Tong also walked past us with his entourage... i was quite stunned coz we were walking then suddenly this huge grp came with police and all... so i scanned the mass and saw the tallest guy there... i was like.. oooo check it out.. mr goh!!! :)

lolz. fun time.

Aloe Vera

Yesterday my mum came into my room in the morning to wake me up. She sat me up in bed and started to rub aloe vera plant over my burning face... That's coz i went to sentosa the day before and got really sunburnt... the next morning, she drove to the market to buy the aloe vera plant and brought it back for me.

I'm so thankful for my mother and the big and small blessings and sacrifices she always does for me without ever needing to ask her to. A mother's love is beyond words and I'm so thankful for such great parents and a sibling that never stops loving me either.

Thank You Lord for them.

Blog Skin Working!

Yay... oki dokes, apart from small minor changes i might make [look out for a POSSIBLE new header on top]... the blog skin looks good. i like it's simplicity but i love the fact that it separates all my entries into different individual nicely coloured boxes. :)

yayz.

Sentosa today was A BLAST... it was HAWT.. and now i'm a lobster.. all read and sunburnt. but it was good gettin out of the norm of life, away from handphone, emails, internet and even ipod touch... and jus relax on the beach with good friends, a guitar and a breeze... :)

After that, managed to visit Divvy's house for Bai Nian and sharing good times with the Calvary people. :) Going thru all the "fuzzy wuzzy" kind of jokes and random things like that... haha

Then, met up with the Exco peeps for dessert and drinks where good news was shared. :) Glad for the issue and i hope my prayer for them will be true and that God will watch over my good friends in Shalom. :)

Drove them all home and then came home. now i'm going to shower and hopefully let me lobster of a body cool off before i sleep. :) tml's a long and fun day. looking forward to the evenin plans!!! woo hoo. :) oh, and i'm collecting pay tml too hahaa yayz.

Blog skin wonky.

As you can see, the blog skin is still in testing... i'm working on making it work correctly. :) check back again!

Sentosa!!!

Woo! 3rd day of CNY and i'm going to sentosa!!! yay. hahaha.. looking forward to a fun day ahead. see ya!!!

Happy Chinese New Year 2010!!!

Taken from here

First of all, Happy Chinese New Year to one and all... it's wonderful to be back in Singapore sharing this celebration of yet another new year with family and friends. :) Awesome coz it's my year too! [tiger year] yeh yeh, i'm old... but it'll be quite sucky if i wasn't around to celebrate the young fierce tiger year with family and friends...

And so, here's my check list of things i'm thankful for.

1. ...Family...

That everyone's still around [i know it's bad luck to talk bout death on cny but i'm really thankful] and still close. That when we bai nian as a family, we're a whole unit. I still do enjoy the bai nian at home with Sab and my parents... though sumtimes it's hard to form words to 'bless' my parents with, it's still something i'm glad my family adheres to on a yearly basis.

p.s. Thankful to Ivan and Sab... first year taking ang pows from them. So weird... but yay! more money! haha.

2. ...Friends...

Going around visitation today to friends house... Never properly done it before coz most of my friends are from Church so the visitations are done as a family but this year, my melb friends and I are going to each other's houses to bai nian... :) sounds awesomely fun. haha...

Friends from church too are a great blessing. I always love the fact that no matter how far u travel to and how long u go for, Shalom is ALWAYS waiting for you with open arms.

3. ...Relatives...

You never know who will be there for visitations and with changes in the family last year... some things are quite different yet similar. :) My grandma is getting really thin and it's scary to look at her sometimes... Let's jus say i'm glad i'm here for this CNY to still bai nian to her. :) Also, catching up with relatives that we normally just see very few times a year is also a treat... seeing them grow up and get married or get stable relationships and seeing their other half at reunion dinners and all is quite heart warming. :)

4. ...Weather...

This year has been too kind on us... i recall so many CNYs where the sun jus BLAZES down upon us while we do visitation.. but this year, a nice cloud cover has painted our skies and a cool breeze is often not far behind. :) Thank the Lord for such wonderful weather to appreciate our customary celebrations this year. :)

5. ...Life...

Needless to say and obvious to point out, I thank God for life.. for health and peace.. peace of God and peace of mind knowing that we all have come through yet another year and we're still doing fine. :) Things change [like house and years left before i enter the unendless workforce] but the basic point of life is still going strong. Thank the Lord for love, life and joy. :)

May you bring Christ with you to your house visitations and may you be fiercely fervent for the Lord in the year of the Tiger.

Isaiah 29:13-14

The Lord says:
"These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is made up only of rules taught by men.

Isaiah 29:13-14

How true this is... that so often we label the Pharisees as the bad guys, the ones that Jesus always rebuked... the ones that were doing everything wrong despite knowing the one who had everything right. We shun them and we are glad to not be them.

Brethren, think again... we just MIGHT be the modern day Pharisee... the one who knew who God was, and is... and yet live as though we're still waiting for the Messiah to come... When i read the above scripture during my QT today... it just struck me how true it is... that we can go to church, we can sing the hymns... heck, we can even memorize the scripture.. but if there's no relationship... if what we do isn't for God.. then how different are we?

We must repent, return and rejoice [yesh, this is original] in God... in the saving Grace that we have enjoyed and still do enjoy... we must fight against mundane routines in our Christian Walk and claim the victory and promises that Christ gave when He died and rose again. There must be nothing to stop us from breaking out of that dead tomb and rising to life with Christ.

7 Months

I won't even try to recap today coz it'll not do justice at this time of the night but thank you Hannah Wong for a lovely day. I really wanted to make today special for you and treat you to a day that was all about us and you. :)

I'm glad that we carried out the plans we did, that everything worked out and that we were able to spend the whole day together jus sharing our love for each other and for ummm snapping photos of animals... lolz... but seriously, i'm just so glad that we got to share today.

And that we have got to share the past 7 beautiful months of being together. You are such an important part of my life now i can't really see nor remember what life was like before you. I thank our heavenly Father for not just allowing me to meet and love you but also for His continual guidance and direction upon our lives as a WE.

These 7 months have been one of great joy and much love and I thank no other human person more than I thank you for it... for all the times u've put aside your own will and tolerated my nonsense, for forgiving me when i've wronged u [many times] and for being patience with me and holding your tongue from wrath. You are such a blessing and an encouragement to me, i pray the Lord will continue to pull us closer together for more months/years to come.

I love you very much Hannah and I'm thrilled that You're part of me.

Life/Death

Today has been interesting. In one day, I mourned the death of someone at a good church member's father's funeral... followed by celebrating the life at a 21st birthday of a dear friend of mine.

It's weird that both clash on the same day and yet are polar opposites of each other.

Another thing that struck me today was the difference in a Christian funeral vs a Non Christian funeral. the people were sad and crying but i realized in a non Christian funeral, they wail and howl... for they see it as an end... a hopeless end to a beautiful life they cherished and loved.... Christians see it as a next-phase in life... now their loved one has left them but is with Christ... and they have hope that one day, they too will join in that chorus.

it pricked me at times today and i felt very emotional despite not knowing the deceased at all... just seeing Ricky holding the fort so strongly while Stella was uncontrollably crying was very very painful. i dun cry coz of the person but coz of the pain they are going thru... and many times today i had to catch myself and purposefully fill it with other thots before i got lost in sorrow as well.

tough.

Nonetheless, pensive day. Thank god for also the time i could spend with family.. and later on, friends. :)

happy 21st Tricia :) so glad i could celebrate it with u in Spore.

Ask me Anything

Hey, check out that cute form on the right of the blog... you can ask me any random qn and i'll answer it... if i feel like it. :) if not, here's the link tee hee... i blame laura for this. :)

Leopard Preen

Today Hannah and I went to town with a theme.... To Snap Pics of People in Leopard Preeeeeen.

Here's our successful day. :)

Trenchies from UniQlo

I want... should I? the first is $150... and the 2nd is $80 i think...
urhhhhhh

These few days...

I would say that easily this year is going to be a year of big decisions... It’s weird to think that the same time next year, I no longer will be a student [God willing] and I’ll actually either be working in Singapore or Melbourne. It may seem quite a simple natural progression but actually to think about it, all these years of my life, the next step in life would have been the next phase of school. Whether it be Kindy to Primary or Primary to Secondary. Even Secondary to Poly would not be that big a jump as the next year would be.

I always joke about how the only escape from work is either death or retirement and it kinda scares me to think that it’s going to be that way till I stop working at maybe the age of what? 60? Eeps!!! Haha... but it’s an exciting phase I suppose. Something I’ll only need to worry about next year I guess, now it’s jus to build up good networks, work well and place myself in a place that would benefit my job hunting in the near future.

On other things, my friend in Melb just got attached and I know u’re reading this... it took u long enuf. Finally we can label you guys as a couple and not be awkward about the relationship you guys have. I thank the Lord for making His path and decision clear to the both of you and I pray that as you guys journey down this path of self realisation and complimentary realisation, I pray the Lord will keep you close to Him first and foremost and each other later. That with your new relationship, you’ll be able to mimic and imitate the love of the Lord in this aspect of your life. Congrats to Jeero and Josh, may He guide you in your future decisions alone and together and as you be with each other, may He always guard you against temptation and that you remain accountable especially in this aspect of life.

These few days have been spent working for intercruise [1 day a week for 9.5 hours when a cruise comes in] and meeting up with friends. The more I meet up with people, the more I feel like I shouldn’t find a 2nd job and just use the limited 1.5months I have left on this island to meet up with friends and to pray for them and their situations. It’s very very heartwarming to see that the love of God isn’t bound by distance nor time and though I have failed tremendously in keeping up to date with people’s lives here in Singapore, everyone has been so forgiving and generous with their forgiveness and love that it really sometimes makes me ashamed to think back on how I stopped checking up on them online and through emails. Especially embarrassed when I know how easy it is to keep up to date with people thru technology these days.

Friends have always been a big important part of my life for a long time and to hear their genuine words of love, concern and encouragement, it lifts my heart and gets me through yet another day knowing that there can be no other reason why God would send such friends into your life. So to my friends who I love very dearly, thank you for making this boy always feel welcome and for always treating him with such love and trust that I can share in just that small portion of your life and I pray that I will not forget to and not stop in praying for you and what you guys are going through.

I’m actually sitting on an MRT train now blogging and I’m passing by Kembangan as I type this. I just love the fact that I’m finally blogging again and that I only would blog when I have no internet or nothing else to do. Sighhh what has my blog become? Haha... but at least I’m trying. Lolz. Going to meet up with a dude who’s selling me this board/card game called Saboteur... yay! Then we can play it when we’re in Melb. Hehe. Oh that reminds me, I gotta go uniqlo soon to shop for winter-ish stuff coz I think they’ve got nice stuff for sale there. Hehe.

Yep, that’s about it for now, if I don’t stop, this post is going to be super long and no one likes to read a long post. So here’s where I stop. Thank God for everything so far. It’s been a great 2009 and I look forward to God being close and me leaning on Him much more and experiencing and enjoying Him in 2010. :) Praise the Lord and God bless.

110110 Fishing

Today was fun... took the car out for the day [yes i DO love it when i dun need to rush home with the car or take public transport coz i dun have the car] and picked up matt and hannah for lunch and fishing at east coast park.

Drove to bayshore, picked the both of them up then headed to this place called 'Vista Bistro' for their set lunch. The promo is basically $11.80++ for free flow [buffet style] of soup, starters like salads and dessert... then u order one main course. :) the food was alright only... i thot the portions were REALLY not worth it... like i won't go there again... but it was worth a try... ambience was quite insipid too... as was the food... haha oops. :) but yeh, company was good...

so after lunch, we drove back to bayshore. Hannah went to get Ashley [her dog] and Matt went to get his fishing gear and we took a walk to bedok jetty.... left the car at bayshore coz free parking. :) So we got there and started fishing and basically, to cut it all short... i caught 4 fish. but 1 of them slipped off the hook before i got the line over the jetty railing so he managed to escape... so i'd say 3 fish in total today... pretty proud of myself and it was a fun day la.. it is very rewarding when the fish bite the jig and u feel that tingly sensation down the line... wah shiok. :)

thanks for the great day... i really enjoyed myself! No kite flying... but it's ok. there's always another day. :)

MIA

I'm so sorry for being so away from this blog... haven't been bothered to update it although i check it everyday for tags and all. :) i will update it soon but here's a fast recap before i fly off to work at harbour front...

cameron highland trip with churchies was great. christmas was low key but still meaningful. yf camp was a real blessing, sumthing i almost didn't get to experience. watchnight was reflective, shared testimony coz i couldn't keep from praising Him. first few days of jan have been spent with loved ones trying to fly kites and eat steamboats and work. :)

phew. be back soon.

<3 my desktop

I love my desktop pic... thanks matt.

soon.

i will blog. trust me. let me get settled down first... then tasmania blogging.. and back to spore blogging. soon soon. :)

for now....

CONGRATS TO EUNICE AND DOM!! HAPPY MARRIAGE!! haha that's so weird to say. :)

Bye Melb, Hello Spore

Leaving tml for my flight to Spore... i'll be back to melb on the 25th of Feb. :)

yay... finally get to eat spore food... and i SO need to catch up on the lives of the shalom youth... it's been too long. weird... it's only been 5 months since? :)

Tasmania Trip Day 1 cont.

So yep, after collecting our car from the airport, we drove to Port Arthur where we got to take a short cruise ride around Port Arthur's Historic site. After that, we walked around the ruins and took loads of pictures with the penitentiary and other areas of Port Arthur.. It was pretty neat seeing all of the cells and where the convicts stayed in...

Once done, we headed towards Hobart to check into our Motel. It was cool coz the motel reminded me alot of 'My name is Earl'... The standard american motel.. Apparently it even had a trampoline... But we didn't manage to remember that fact when we came back at night to use it. Haha. :)

We headed to Franklin Wharf for dinner and instead of eating at Flippers which my mum suggested... We went to this place jus near it which the brochure called 'Arguablly the Best fish n chips in Hobart'... It's a restaurant called Fish Frenzy...
*hannah thinks it was so-so only*
anyway... Back to blogging... I had the Mixed Fish which was 3 pieces of fish with chips... Can't remember what the 3 fish were but 1 was the soft kind (which i like) and 2 which are the tough kind...

But overall, i liked it and was very glad that we had fish n chips... U know how i love it. Haha. :) yep then we headed back to crash coz it was a pretty tiring day...

And that concludes Day 1 of our tassie trip... Keep tuned in for day 2.
*hannah says keep watching this space*

To be... Yeh, continued... U got it.

Tasmania Trip Day 1

So i know it's gonna be a pain to blog bout the tassie trip so i'm gonna blog as i'm road tripping around. Haven't had much time to jus relax and thus i've already gone thru 2 days without blogging... So here goes. :)

Woke up on the 1st of Dec at 5am.. Had to give Hannah, Phyllis and Lois wake up calls at 5.30, 5.45 and 6am respectively... Since everything was already packed, i jus made myself a cup of milo and got ready to leave... Ren Haw (OCF friend) came by College Square to pick me up and when i was running out to his car from my lobby, my baggage bag strap snapped and the plastic broke... I was like... WHAT THE SHEEEET... Haiz. Haha but never mind, still can be carries by the handles... So we drove to pick Lois and Hannah and Phyllis up before we rendezvous-ed with the other car (driven by Charles) and headed to the airport.

Once we got there and thanked the OCFers fervently, we headed to load our luggages onto the plane. And then that's when Hannah told me she was car sick from the ride and needed to puke... NOT sumthing u wanna hear jus before a road trip... :s she says it's coz of the medicine she ate... Anyways, she puked and since then, hasn't gotten car sick since. Yay. Thank God.

Anyway, we got bumped to the front of the aircraft due to our large numbers and apparently the weight distribution needed us to be in front... So we got on and lifted off for Hobart international airport.

Once we reached Hobart, we got off the plane and literally walked down steps to the tarmac floor. First time i've done that... Get off the airplane and directly be on tarmac... Like air force one where they have a ladder from the airplane door to the floor.

Yep then we check out of the airport, get our rented cars and find out instead of a Rav 4, we are given a Nissan X-Trail. Davin and I are both quite disappointed coz we were looking forward to driving a Rav4. Anyways, we find our car in the lot and after initial inspection, we realize the car we got is DAMN cool. It's got a big boot space, it's white, powerful and commanding. But the best feature of it all is that it has a SUN ROOF! Awesome rite? We can either push the sunroof cover back or switch on the button and the sunroof retracts back letting u stand out of the roof. It was SO awesome, we were going crazy when we found out... All dancing in the car and all. Haha matt and kenrick's car was a pretty sad comparison to ours... Theirs was jus a normal sedan. :s

To be continued....

tramming

stupid aussie kids suddenly got on the tram and noise level jus sky rocketted.

Gahhhh

whether the weather will wither away

went to yarra valley yesterday with dad mum and aunties and got to drive a bit. Glad coz i need to get the feel of the wheel back in me again before tasmania otherwise i'd be driving with very little confidence...

but when dad was driving there was this sudden freak sandstorm that jus blew into the valley and out. It was amazingly cool and awfully scary... We were sitting there in the car jus picking up speed from a short stop and then suddenly (i mean really suddenly) the sand a bit far off started swirling and lifting off the ground. It started getting more and more and the swirl became bigger and wider and suddenly there was sand swirling everywhere and engulfing everything. It was so cool. the wind was blowing everything up (except trees, cows and our car) but it was sending twigs and leaves and sand all up in the air like some tornado. The cool thing was that u could see the swirl getting bigger and nearer till it enveloped the car and it literally went blank... All u saw outside the window was sand. Couldn't see past 5 metres of the car and u were like in the eye of the tornado... Awesome. So it blew that way for a good 5 mins or so and cars started pulling to the side of the road...

Then jus as quickly as it came, it left... The wind swept the sand past the road and it jus travelled away like a gloom of iminent doom. It reminded me of the Angel of the Lord passing over the houses of the egyptians and israelites... Then it was gone...

So cool. I've got a video of it. I'll post it up soon. :)

Cool experience and thank God no one got hurt.

Whee

EXAMS ARE DONE.... finally. now it's time to heck school till march and enjoy myself... next up.. Tasmania trip... BOOYAH!

Last Paper

Wow...here i sit... 10 minutes before i leave home for my last exam paper as a year 2...

and i feel so unprepared... haha maybe it's the generalization of this subject... or maybe it's the fact that this subject isn't a memorize information kind of subject... or maybe it's coz it's the last paper..

but i know i'm looking forward to getting it done and settled asap. :) then i'm free to not think about school till march 2010... :)

Aye, God, I'm so in need of You today. hahaha yeh... that was me last nite... pleading... lolz...

Ciaoz people!

Studying in Law Library

This is Uni Life... This is what happens when students camp themselves in the Law Library and study for a paper due tml... 

And this is what happens when u have an essay due tomolo. :) lolz.

Love is like playing the piano

Taken from here

Thanks Joash. i think it's really true.

Hawt....

taken from here

the heat here is bugging me... and everyone else..

GUHHHHHH i want to wear jumpers again and worry about whether i would have enuf layers... and wear my winter coat and feel like my eyebrows are singeing off when Crown Casino's fireshow goes up in the air.

heat, heat, go away, come again another day [when i'm not in melb].... :)

blah. one exam down. 2 to go.

mummy's here

yay... So mum messaged to say she's touched down safely in melb... So i take my essay and walk off to sch... Oh gosh it's a hot day...

Never mind that, i submit my essay and decide instead of tramming down to meet my mum at lygon-victoria, i'll take a nice slow stroll....

So i reach lygon-victoria and i call her and oh my gosh, she's STILL clearing customs... That means it's prob another 45 mins till she's here at least... Gahhh. So i asked her to ring me when she gets on the starbus and then i'll know it'll take roughly half an hour to come to the city... Sigh. The long long wait. And then we'll walk up lygon in this heat. thankfully everything, almost everything, is sheltered. :)

But thank and praise God that she arrived safely. Yay. Now jus to get her here and back home and then i'll have mummy with me for a week before she goes to tassie. :)

Yay. Hehe

~ Joel Tan ~
--- Sent from my E63 ---

HAWT WEATHER!

hahah funny how i blogged about it being chilly and now here i am, bloggin how hot it is...

that's melbourne for you. :)

today was SO hot... was going to die... hannah's place was a fiery furnace la. was so worried my place would be as hot. but thankfully it's not. :) Auntie rina and mama came today so we were running around settling some stuff like handphone plan and all. :) but wahhhh so hot can.

mummy's coming tomolo! yay! hahhaa... i guess i'm just glad that she'll be able to come up and see for herself what my melbourne life is. :) awesome.

Chilly

Need I say more? Consider this... it was DOUBLE the temperature yesterday at this time of the day... then last nite it dropped to 13... and now at 10am, it's 15.... 

Don't you just love melbourne weather? It's like the PMS of all countries...

So yeh, pack wisely [however u can] for here if u're coming.

Dripping

Oh My Goodness... dripping perspiration can!
It's so hot i kept falling asleep in the tram back just now. :S gosh. haha

Bad time to come mudder, bad time.

greetings

So I come up to Phyllis on a Sat morning market trip and since it's her birthday yesterday, i extend my arms out in an embrace and say HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

AND SHE SAYS HAPPY BIRTHDAY back to me!!! Like what the heck... Talk bout not paying attention! Haha but she realized what she did instantly and we laughed about it... It's like she's wishing me 9months in advance.. Haha

I've got such retarded friends. :)

~ Joel Tan ~
--- Sent from my E63 ---

So You Think You Can Dance 09 Auditions

So last night, Hannah's 2 friends [Rachel and Tim Walsh] went to audition for So you think u can dance. It's a really cool show [biggest and most popular dance competition show in aussie] that we were all hooked on when it was airing. This is Season 3 and we're looking forward to it coming to the tele soon...

So yeh, we managed to get into the auditions and it was very free and easy. very open concept and we just felt like we were treated to a really lucky experience... it was cool coz the dance floor was just this big flooring and there were cameras and lights everywhere.. but yet it was so simple.. no big setup or anything... jus the three judges [TV STARS!!!] behind a desk and dancers on the floor one by one... :) it was so awesome coz we were so close to the front... like there were prob a max of 40 people in that area and we were just sitting so close to the judges and all... During the break, i was sitting there facebooking with my phone and one of the judges [jason] just came up to the seat in front of me and was like talking over me to this other girl who was sitting 2 rows behind me and asked her to inform this other lady to be at the studio at this date and time... felt so... like i was part of the crew and all... being so close to people we see on tv.

i know i know, dun idolize them... i'm not..it's jus like.. wow... i'm so into the set piece and the whole audition experience that it's like i'm not watching the filming of a show, it's like i'm IN the show itself... well i was coz the camera does pan the audience quite a bit. haha and it zooms in on expressions we have and stuff. :) so it was pretty weird too... to think u were being watched... there's this camera they have on a long beam that sweeps the audience, flies in where the dancer is dancing and dances with them by twirling around them and all [it's REALLY flexible and versatile... the camera on the beam] and sumtimes it'll come to the audience and jus film us. and it's weird coz it's like the camera is literally in your face [or half an arm's length] in front of your face and what u gotta do is ignore it and jus try to watch the performance without looking into the camera... haha.. weird and nerve wrecking too.

but yeh, it was neat... watching some of the dancers.. some were really good and some of them were so-so... we went thru 20 dancers that night i think.. went on from 8.40 to 2.30am... hahaha but it was WELL worth the whole 4 hours... and tim and rachel were the last 2 dancers... tim danced lyrical and GOSH it was SO blardy good... ;) he did 3 pouriettes and it went straight into an arabesque... and it was epic awesome... so good. technique and all... he was given some advice from the judges and then matt lee [one of the judges] asked him how much he wanted the ticket to top 100 [the best kind of ticket they gave out] and he told him he wants it so much.. and that he'll work so hard coz he's already spent a whole year training and working on some stuff he was advised to change last year... and he was really cute about it all... and matt lee pulled out the top 100 ticket and we just ROARED in applause... we were SO happy for him. ahhaha... then rachel came out and danced. the judges were torn.. but it came down to sending her thru choreo first.. but that was still friggin awesome. :) so cool to actually know them and they know me... and to see them dance... so well.... :) awesome experience.

there are 3 kinds of responses... 1. Go away, u're too lousy for this 2. Go through choreo where there's no limit as to how many people get sent to choreo. they'll learn a short choreo piece and get judged again. 3. Top 100. So u advance straight to Top 100 in Australia and dance for your life to get to become Australia's next So you think you can dance winner. :)

I'm SO watching it when it comes out. i can't wait. here are some of the photos. enjoy!

The Maelstrom has passed

So, it's finally over... After months and months of rehearsals, the production is over... Bittersweet feelings of relief and loss sweep through the dressing room once the first curtain is raised... It's weird coz everyone knows it's the end and with that in mind, have vowed to dance their hardest.

Seems like the audience knew it too and roared into life the moment the announcements were made. They kept the mood alive and the noise to a maximum with all the 'GO YUSUF's and 'GO BRONWYN!'s. The dancers danced hard and gave it all they got... Including Lois, Hannah and myself. When i went out for my hiphop piece, i was shocked to hear the crowd WOOO in unison when my spotlight came on. It took me by surprise but only served to motivate and push me to dance full out without holding anything back...

The ballet contem piece with hannah and lois was great too. The steps jus came thru muscle memory and the lifts were mostly great. The last night was the most awesome one. I caught hannah with confidence and turned her with ease. The fish dive was executed really well too and a small mistake was hidden by a cover up that blended seamlessly into the next step.

Finally, our windmill lift and carry lift after that was one of the best we've done and i must say adrenalin really kicked in and i lifted hannah up so high my arms were in full extension. She had such a long air time i was quite stunned when i put her down. :) seriously, it was such a great piece and i'm glad that it's all over.

Now that flare's over, i'm glad to have the time back to finish off the last week of semester, write my 3k word essay and prepare for exams in 2 weeks time. :) thank you to all who came and supported us and bought tickets and all. :) really appreciate it... So here's to (Davin, Phyllis, Kenrick, Vanessa, Michelle, Much and Robbie) for coming to specifically watch us and thanks to others who blessed us with 'good luck's and 'all the best's :) it rocks to have friends so caring and thotful. :)

Pics are in facebook but i'll choose some and post them here soon. Watch this space. :)

~ Joel Tan ~
--- Sent from my E63 ---

Maelstrom: Flare Production 2009

It's finally here. We sit on the night before the production. The precipice of the performance... It's great that we're finally here, not great that some pieces aren't perfect yet including mine... but it's just going to happen and we are going to make it work. :)

It's taken up so much time AND energy [yes loads of that] to rehearse over and over again for these 3 nights where we dance our butts off... Although it feels like another rehearsal, when the crowds come in, the adrenaline would be PUMPED up! we've sold out for Fri and Saturday and Thurs is selling fast.. thank God we managed to sell the tickets coz ticket sales were really bad this year.... till now. :)

Looking forward to getting it done with and performing. This is my FIRST production and that's kinda why it has a special place in my heart... it's quite an experience to finally be doing sumthing i never thot i would... i only took up dance like at the 2nd half of my army life so that's about 1 and a half to 2 years ago... and here i am FINALLY putting up a production. :) i guess u can say it's the culmination of months and months of anticipation. :) never thot i'd ever dance on stage... let alone 2 dances of different genres :)

I'm just glad to be able to share this moment... or moments [coz it's 3 nights] with friends... close friends who man the Lighting [matt's doing an AWESOME job] to sound techs [minglei's manning sound] to dancers [Lois and Hannah and many more i've met thru rehearsing] and audience members [Phyllis, Davin, Michelle, Vanessa, Kenrick and many more]....

Just that this production has taken so much from me... time and energy as i mentioned earlier. every night after rehearsal i come back so tired. no more strength left to shower and do work. and school work has been suffering in a way... and it doesn't help that these weeks before project submissions so everyone's working their butts off and i'm having to excuse myself for flare rehearsals... and time and energy taken away from the gf too... i feel so empty these days... it's like yeh we're on stage together and all but i dunno... like just missing sumthing.... sigh. never mind. it's only a few more days till flare's over... then we'll choing projects [although they should be done by this sunday] and spend time with the gf too... 

ok so here's where i must mandatorially pick up the mood and end on a good note... so...

yay!!! Flare Production!!! Maelstrom 2009. 22nd - 24th Oct 2009, 7.30pm, Union House Theatre. Be there!

Distant

You know how you can be next to that special someone and still miss them and feel like there's a gap in the middle? I dunno... Maybe physical presence doesn't mean you're with each other.

School work's not been great recently. I think Flare has quite a bit to do with it. Rehearsals have been getting more frequent (sometimes twice a week. Thankfully i'm only in 3 dances so that's 3-4times a week) and the intensity of each have greatly increased. More lifting, more running to our blockings and just generally stress level higher so choreographers are snapping.

Put that and place school assignments on top of that and deliverables... it's sometimes just quite a bit for one person to all take at once. And maybe it's tough but there isn't another choice. Just gotta roll with it.

I'm rolling. :) just roll with me. Coz i'm not sure i can do it alone. Thanks for everything so far... :)

~ Joel Tan ~
--- Sent from my E63 ---

New House in Feb 2010

So just to update everyone who hasn't already heard the great news, 3 friends and I have finally found our accommodation for the next year. We were trying to find a 4 bedroom house or place but most of them were quite far out of the city [means traveling time] and most of them also are available NOW which means we can't take them since our current leases expires on the 31st of Jan... so we had a big dilemma and have been searching for a suitable, cheap and good locality place since Aug. :S

So after thinking through quite a lot of things, we decided that we won't totally kill the idea of us all 4 sharing a place but for sake of convenience and all, we might find better chances with 2 two bedroom apartments where the girls [Hannah and Phyllis] stay in 1 two bedroom place and the guys [Davin and i] stay in another two bedroom place... i was telling phy that day that the best arrangement would be if we both found places close by so we'd almost be like we're staying together [can have potlucks and stuff and be close to each other] without all the trouble [like sharing a bathroom or kitchen or fridge space]...

Lo and behold,

We go and inspect this student accommodation down at Elizabeth Street area and it's got 2 two bedroom apartments that we're all pleased with. The location is GREAT coz it's within walking distance from everything [Market, School, Town, Safeway which is like our cold storage] and the price is pretty good for it's location and size [though it's not big, it's not tiny either] and the company that owns it is legit, the landlady is very nice [malaysian motherly like person] and actually, it's the same owner as Lois' place so she's been dealing with them for a year already and hasn't had anything bad to say about them... so yeh, it's a great place and so here's what happened.

We inspected the place then went to have a short discussion at the subway just a few doors away [yeh, there's a subway and a boost juice outlet and CommonWealth ATM all just a few steps away from the door] and the decision was made that we're all happy with the place and we should snatch it up before we lose such a great chance. It really was the best arrangement and we were all pretty psyched up about it. :) so we went to the office, signed the bond, paid the money and secured the place. Most imptly, the rental starts on the 1st of Feb so we literally dun have double rental... and that's great coz we were all ready to pay double rent [old place and new place for Nov, Dec, Jan] but with this new place, our new rental starts when our old place expires... so that's FABULOUS..

Yep, so we're real glad for the God send and greater news, I managed to find a place to dump my stuff so i can fly back in peace and when i shift things i'll know it's at a fren [Xiao Xi's] place... :)

Amen! and I'm so looking forward to us all staying together... it'll demand change for some parts of our lives yes, but i guess it'll be sumthing we live with [literally] hahaa. :)

Calvin's 21st in the 1940s

9am Saturday sees me tramming to the gf's place to change out of my party outfit and into my grocery shopping clothes... Why? Well coz in the afternoon, she, davin and i are going to Calvin's (Meliza's bf from Bridge Church) 21st birthday bash.

The theme? 1940s. Haha.. So we're all donning fedoras, suits, suspenders, huge hats and all. :) i promise you, pictures WILL be up. Haha so excited and i think it's gonna be quite a big party... Bridge church IS quite big. :)

But for now, i've gotta settle the normal grocery shopping for the week. Amazing how queen vic market is so close to my new place so from feb 2010 onwards, i won't need to tram to market anymore! Heh. awesome.

Oh, another good news is that my dearest friend Xiaoxi from ocf has graciously, generously and so lovingly offered her place for davin and i to store our stuff when we move out of our old places. Soooo happy. Now seriously almost everything's settled.. And it's only oct. Haha. Thanks be to God for all His blessings and guidance... And answered prayers... He's really given us our hearts desires. :) amen!

Saw the floorplans of matt's new place yesterday... The pics are Nice la can't wait to see the apartment. The photos are real cool too. :)

Oki. Take care peeps. :)

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