whitezinc

2009-12-14T11:27:00.002+08:00

14th December 2009 - Monday

Today let's talk about the weekend that's just gone by. With Christmas just round the corner, the church has been buzzing with much activity and excitement. Christmas brings with it the promise of much fun and rest from our daily lives with carolling, musicals, feasting and parties. Also, I am very much looking forward to the Wesley YM Camp that is coming up.

On Saturday, I had worship practice for YI Service on Sunday, and once again the worship team proved it's merit. Praise God for the gift of music and the talent He's placed in TA. Worship on Sunday went pretty well, and I thought it was more Spirit-led this time than the previous time. There was just a slight disappointment with the song "Spirit Touch Your Church", which was started off on the wrong key (too low for any build-up).

After worship practice on Saturday, I went to Saat's house for some function where there were a lot of his dad's colleagues, some of my classmates, kevin and mong. The food was great, though it was kind of awkward with plenty of formalities.

Jumping forward to Sunday again, we had choir + musical practice after service and CE Class, and it was certainly one of the most gruelling practices, lasting more than 4 hours. But it was great to see the act coming together at last, and I really hope we will be able to make an impact and deliver God's message. There was a lot of retardness on my part, with plenty of improvisation and modification made to the script. I will certainly review my role and make it more in-character, and leave the comic relief to Gabs and Uriah =]

2009-12-11T21:46:00.007+08:00

ENTERTAINMENT PICKS 2009

The end of yet another year has come again, signalling the start of many festivities and fun, fun fun! As with the custom, the end of the year is also a time where people look back upon the past year and evaluate its passing, making dozens of resolutions in hope of a better year to come (though of course, we all know these resolutions just never do translate into reality but we still get by anyhow).

The year end season, also known as Advent, is a season of much cheer and merry-making, so we shall not look upon our dreaded school/work lives (especially the hideous Invinc[IB]le Beast). Instead, we look upon the things which are much cause for joy, and entertainment, i strongly believe, comes under that. Oh what shall we do if we did not have our favorite MacBook or XBOX 360, and what will we do if Hollywood did not exist?

Therefore, below is a list of my favorite entertainment options of the year according to category. These were picked based on highly personal preferences and cannot be taken as a professional opinion.

[MUSIC]

This year was a rather rich year for music, with quite a handful of new songs being released that I actually liked. The songs chosen below may be old songs or new songs, and they are chosen because they have been most played on my sound devices.

POP/ROCK & OTHER MODERN GENRES>>

Disturbia - Rihanna

Happy Ending - Mika

Love Story - Taylor Swift

You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift

The Way I Loved You - Taylor Swift

Fifteen - Taylor Swift

Forever & Always - Taylor Swift

You're Not Sorry - Taylor Swift

Love Drunk - Boys Like Girls

Great Escape - Boys Like Girls

Touch My Body - Mariah Carey

Tattoo - Jordin Sparks

This is My Now - Jordin Sparks

Battlefield - Jordin Sparks

Womanizer - Britney Spears

Circus - Britney Spears

Kill the Lights - Britney Spears

If U Seek Amy - Britney Spears

3 - Britney Spears

Poker Face - Lady Gaga

Paparazzi - Lady Gaga

Lovegame - Lady Gaga

Bad Romance - Lady Gaga

The Show - Lenka

Viva la Vida - Coldplay

4 Minutes - Madonna

Seasons of Love - RENT the Musical

Don't Stop Believing - Glee: The Music

Take a Bow - Glee: The Music

Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis

Better in Time - Leona Lewis

Yesterday - Leona Lewis

Happy - Leona Lewis

I Got U - Leona Lewis

Outta My Head - Leona Lewis

My Hands - Leona Lewis

Love Letter - Leona Lewis

Broken - Leona Lewis

Naked - Leona Lewis

Stop Crying Your Heart Out - Leona Lewis

Quitter - Carrie Underwood

Temporary Home - Carrie Underwood

Unapologize - Carrie Underwood

Songs Like This - Carrie Underwood

What Can I Say - Carrie Underwood

One Time - Justin Bieber

More to Life - Stacie Orrico

Boys and Girls - Pixie Lott

Single Ladies - Beyonce

Ramalama - Roisin Murphy

Uprising - Muse

Shadow of the Day - Linkin Park

When You Say Nothing At All - Boyzone

Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day

Sweet Child of Mine - Gun 'N' Roses

My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson

This Kiss - Faith Hill

East Jesus Nowhere - Green Day

Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas

Avalanche - Marie Digby

Free to Be Me - Francesca Battistelli

Friend Like That - Hawk Nelson

Sweeney Todd Soundtrack

CLASSICAL>>

Violin Concerto in A Minor - J.S Bach

Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major - Vivaldi

Concerto No. 2 For 2 Violins - Vivaldi

Violin Concerto No. 12 in E Major - Vivaldi

Requiem in D Minor, Dies Irae - Mozart

Dies Irae - Verdi

Non Nobis, Domine - Henry V - Patrick Doyle

Symphony No. 9 - Beethoven

Symphony No. 25 in G Minor - Mozart

Symphony No. 35 - Mozart

Symphony No. 5 "Reformation" - Mendelssohn

Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major - Shostakovich

Hebrides Overture - Mendelssohn

CHRISTIAN POP>>

Testify to Love - Avalon

God of Wonders - Caedman's Call

God is Good All the Time - Aunthentic Worship: Country Worship

Till I See You - Hillsong

The Stand - Hillsong

Tell the World - Hillsong

From the Inside Out - Hillsong

Solution - Hillsong

Everlasting God - Chris Tomlin

Sing, Sing, Sing - Chris Tomlin

You Are Holy - Michael W. Smith

Blessed - Hillsong

Run - Hillsong

Let God Arise - Chris Tomlin

Give Us Clean Hands - Hillsong

Who Am I - Casting Crowns

I Simply Live For You - Hillsong

Desert Song - Hillsong

Glory - Hillsong

Every Move I Make - Hillsong

You Are God Alone

Salvation is Here - Hillsong

In Your Freedom - Hillsong

Arms Open Wide - Hillsong

Your Name High - Hillsong

You Hold Me Now - Hillsong

Oh You Bring - Hillsong

I Will Run to You - Hillsong

Yours Forever - Hillsong

Lead Me to the Cross - Hillsong

Worthy is the Lamb - Hillsong

At the Cross - Hillsong

Healer - Hillsong

You Deserve - Hillsong

All for Love - Planetshakers

Majesty - Planetshakers

Never Stop - Planetshakers

Beautiful Saviour - Planetshakers

Praise You in this Storm - Casting Crowns

There is a Hope - Stuart Townend

[TV SHOWS]

Being in IB (sadly), there is little time for TV, but still, the IB student is adept at time-management (supposedly) and therefore I have had time for a show here and there. While it says "TV Shows", they may not necessarily come from the TV, if you know what I mean =]

Desperate Housewives Season 5

The Big Bang Theory

Glee

[MOVIES]

For the film industry, I must say it has been also a very fruitful year with many good films being churned out. I LOVE MOVIES! I LOVE THE CINEMA! I LOVE MPAC!

Coraline

X-men Origins: Wolverine

Angels and Demons

Terminator Salvation

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

Public Enemies

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

G.I Joe

Orphan

District 9

Paranormal Activity

2012

500 Days of Summer

[LITERATURE]

A very poor year for books by far. But still, there are some books which I read this year.

NOVEL>>

Have a Little Faith - Mitch Albom

The Great Divorce - C.S Lewis

MANGA>>

Bleach

D.Gray-Man

Fairy Tail

And that's all for Entertainment Picks 2009! We certainly look forward to the rest of the year and also the year to come! (AHH!)

2009-12-08T11:36:00.002+08:00

It's been almost a week since my return from Korea (the southern one, obviously) and I thought it to be an opportune time to write a new entry for my blog.

I must say that I really enjoyed my trip to South Korea, and it was certainly a time to put away all my IB worries (indeed I had a helluva time hurling insults to IB from various thrilling rides at the theme parks) and immerse myself in a whole new world and culture. I also had a lot of time to think, which proved to have positive effects on my outlook on life and my Spiritual growth. These are of course highly personal and will not be disclosed over the internet.

During my time up there in Korea I visited the two theme parks Everland and Lotte World, did some sight seeing, visited Jeju Island where there was more sight-seeing and where I go-karted..I also tried skiing, which was an immensely fun sport, though it took me some time and alot of falls to learn the fundamentals. There are 3 albums uploaded on Facebook, so if you're a friend and you're interested, do go and look.

Korea reminded me a lot of Japan in terms of city-life and technology. Like Japan, they rigorously employ technology in their everyday life. Foodwise, I really enjoyed the food there, though by the end of the trip, I was starting to feel mortified by the endless hotpots and barbecues. Still, the food's good.

I miss Korea a lot...now that I'm back to Singapore, IB's got it's hold on me again and I have to return once more to the dreaded bio labs to continue my experiments for the EE...

On a lighter note, I am looking forward to the Christmas festivities - where there's going to be carolling, a christmas musical and the promise of parties from both the church and BB. If time is not an issue and God-willing, I may hold a party too! (but for my close friends lah....apologies).

Anyway, that's all for now. I will be posting my "Top Friends 2009" soon...there'd be 2 different categories: "Top 10 Friends 2009" and "Inner Circle". Through this I want to thank all those who have truly helped me through the year and have been there for me.

Stay tuned.

(PS: Missing my best friend who's flown away now....=/)

2009-11-21T13:42:00.002+08:00

To Kevin Lay, a friend and a brother.

May God bless you and keep you, wherever you are.

2009-11-18T11:22:00.004+08:00

And this is me, writing a blog post at last after eons of time and ice ages past....actually it's only been about 2 months...how awfully long it seemed, but yet so short. Hmm...but we shall not discuss the mysteries of time and space here....

Social norm dictates that one should do a personal recount of one's life when writing a personal blog post, and so I shall.

The past 2 months have been a nightmare, and I don't mean female horses that romp the green plains at night....i mean nightmare NIGHTMARE! There were the final year exams, which got me cooped up in school for 5 whole weeks, eating food from Broadway and Wah Chee for days without end, and drowning in piles of notes and textbooks...burning in a stifling hot MPAC room. But the dilligence paid off, I got 36 points, beating my personal target of 34 points by 2. It was an improvement from 28 points during the mid-years.

Hallelujah for exams, but the end of one nightmare meant the beginning of another...or rather, three to be precise.

In order to promote to year 6, one would have to complete a first draft of one's EE and TOK Essay...this is the new criteria set by the ever vigilant senior administration, in order to push us onward towards the shining star of 45 points.

And so, I have been spending weeks cooped up in the school's biology labs (plural mind you) desperately running trials and experiments....all of which, have not been producing desirable results. The TOK essay was easily completed, though it's only a preliminary draft of mediocre quality. If it were to be submitted to the IBO, it will surely get me an F.

Finally, I have many IAs to rush....econs, chem and bio. God help me, enough said.

Now I shall take a moment here to explain key concepts mentioned above, as I am often taught in TOK and economics (for the benefit of the non-ACSians, independent if you please, out there).

Broadway - an air-conditioned food court just across the road from ACS(Independent)
Wah Chee - a non-air-conditioned coffee shop also across the road from ACS(Independent), well-known for its chicken rice and tze char stall.
36 points, 34 points, 28 points - The IB Point system. Maximum one can get is 45. The higher the better. The highest grade for each of the 6 subjects is 7 points. 3 bonus points from TOK and EE based on a combination matrix.
EE - The Extended Essay. A compulsory component of the International Baccalaureate(IB). This is a 4000 word independent research paper based on any topic and subject the candidate chooses. This is NOT (and i emphasise NOT) the same as project work at A' levels.
TOK - Theory of Knowledge. Another compulsory component of the IB. In this course we ponder about knowledge. What is knowledge? How do you gain knowledge? blah blah....it goes much more crazier than that.
IA - Internal Assessment. At IB, the IA is NOT an internal examination. Rather, it is coursework that one does throughout their two years of study, and this contributes to the IB final grade. For the sciences, the IA comes in the form of practical lab reports...for English, they are oral presentations and commentaries...for Econs, commentaries on modern-day economics articles....for Math, Mathematical modelling and investigations. That's all i know...not very sure about the other subjects.

2009-09-01T10:00:00.004+08:00

HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY!

Today is the first time in a long time since i've made post, and I've taken the liberty of entitling my post today "Happy Teacher's Day", because it is obviously Teacher's Day.

To all my teachers, I wish them all God's blessings, much joy in their lives and good health. I am humbled because at the end of the day, it is my teachers who make me who I am, who help me reach for stars above. Below are a few bouquets to some of my personal favourites, who have left their mark on the timeline of my life:

FROM ACS(PRIMARY):
Ms. Woon Yuet Meng - taught English Language & was my Class Teacher, 6E 2004. The most efficient and admirable teacher ever!

Ms. Tan Bee Po -taught Chinese Language, 6E 2004. A teacher in whose lessons I was most mischievous. A kind and very outgoing lady.

Mr. Elkan Lim - taught Science & was the Discipline Master, 6E 2004. Although strict in front of the whole school, he was warm and friendly in class, often making many jokes, and whom jokes often circle.

Mrs. Eunice Yeo - taught English language & Mathematics, 1C/2C 1999/2000. A very motherly and caring teacher. She has since left ACS(P), but I will always remember her for she was my first Class Teacher in ACS(P)

Mr. Sze Toh - taught a variety of subjects & was the Class Teacher of 5E 2003. Quite the sportsman, and rather tanned, this teacher left for Australia in 2004 to further his studies. When we went on the Australia trip after our PSLE, this teacher came to meet us and spent some time with us.

Ms. Wong Li Pier - taught English language and Math, was the Class Teacher of 4E 2002. A prim and proper teacher who never failed to promote her free-of-charge angklung band. This teacher has since left ACS(P).

FROM ACS(INDEPENDENT):
Mrs. Rekha Vijay - taught Physical Sciences, 1.6 Philip 2005. I will remember this teacher as one whom I often tried to avoid whenever I ponned SJAB for she was the teacher in-charge. Nonetheless, she was a very nice teacher who thought highly of me.

Mrs. Goh Hwee Hwee - taught History, 2.6 Zebulun 2006. One of the nicest teachers ever, she taught me home econs for EP too. I will always remember her as the one who made history so enjoyable for me, and helped me do very well in it! (i got full marks for one of the common tests!) All credit goes to her for her guidance.

Mr. John Lee - taught Life Sciences, 2.6 Zebulun 2006. This was a teacher you couldn't mess around with, yet he was still kind at heart. He made life sciences very interesting, and that is one of the reasons why I pursue biology now, at HL. This teacher never failed to believe in us, often telling us that we were bright students who would make it big some day. This encouragement often warmed the cockles of our hearts.

Ms. Salinah Bee - taught Geography, 2.6 Zebulun 2006. The funniest and quirkiest teacher you can ever meet, this teacher is a hot favourite among many students. A loud-voiced, meticulous teacher who produced many, many notes of her own and who demands high standards of filing, this teacher will guarantee you an A for your geography if you follow her advice through and through.

Mr. Cao Huizhong - assistant dean of Mother Tongue Department, taught Chinese language. 3.15 Nahum 2007. Yet another SJAB teacher whom I had to hide from whenever I ponned the UYO. I am happy that he has thus been promoted.

Mr. Seah Kim Weng - taught Core Mathematics, 3.15 Nahum 2007. Although a little strange at times, he is rather friendly a teacher and saw me through my Core Mathematics syllabus in year 3, with which I had a slight struggle with.

Ms. Ng Shau Ching - taught MEP, 2005 - 2008. A teacher who taught me all four years of my secondary school life, I will always remember her just as all the other MEP students would. Sings soprano.

Ms. Linda Goon - taught IHS, Class Teacher of 4.13 Cornelius 2008. This teacher never failed to show me care and concern whenever I was down in the hospital for pneumothorax.

Ms. Alice Pang - taught Core Mathematics, 4.13 Cornelius 2008. I will remember this teacher for the extra effort she had gone to help me in my C math because I wasn't very strong in it. She was friendly and outgoing too.

Mr. Chua Kok Yong - taught Advanced Mathematics, 4.13 Cornelius 2008. Strangely enough, I always found A math easier than C math, and often do better at the former. This teacher, although quiet, sets a lot of homework! But it is this drilling and practice that helped me to reasonably well in the subject.

Ms. Chia Bee Teck - PCT of 4.13 Cornelius. I will remember her for the counselling and sound advice she gave me when I was down and out.

Mdm Lu Xiang - dean of Chinese Language, taught me in 4.13 Cornelius, 2008. One of the best chinese teachers ever, I even requested to follow her even when I changed classes in sec 4, which was subsequently approved because I was the only one from my class who took HCL.

Mdm Lu Shek Kian - assistant dean of Mother Tongue Department, taught me in 5.03 Leviticus 2009. Another friendly and caring teacher who taught meticulously. However, get on her nerves and you will be in for a nagging session.

Mrs. Tay Suat Kuan - assistant dean of Biology, 5.03 Leviticus 2009. Although a little boring during lessons, she is very kind and compassionate lady who will go the extra mile with you if you would listen to her.

Mr. Naresh Mahtani - taught Economics Sl, 5.03 Leviticus 2009. The best econs teacher ever! He makes his own notes, sends them out regularly, and is very meticulous in his teaching. Funny at times too!

Mr. Philip Tieh - dean of TOK, taught 5.03 Leviticus. This man wrote a geography textbook which we used in secondary 2, and is a fatherly teacher towards us. Very generous in extending deadlines too =]

Mdm. Ruma Banerjee - MPAC teacher-in-charge. This teacher strikes me as a very efficient teacher and one who genuinely cares about her students.

FAVOURITE PRINCIPALS:
Mrs. Daisy Ong, Mrs. Josephine Ng, Mrs. Lenie Cho, Mdm. Yong Lee Har.

OTHER BOUQUETS:

Ms. Chan - math tutor for sec 3 & 4.

Ms. Wang - math tutor for year 5.

Ms. Soo Poh Lin - chem tutor for sec 3 & 4, and sunday school teachers.

Mr. Chen Fang Hao - sunday school teacher.

Ms. Vivian Chan - best piano teacher ever!

2009-06-26T00:26:00.003+08:00

My blog has been dying, and the very reason was because I had more interesting/important things to do and couldnt find time to update anything.

So, the June holidays....not much of a holiday if you asked me. Being in Year 5, holidays mean mugging time....and yeah, with exams coming immediately after the hols, so have I fallen under the mugging curse. Though of course, im not much of a muggle because i'm AWESOME! Har har....but seriously speaking, I cannot find any motivation to pick up my books at all and very clearly I am an ACSian because I like the motto "minimum input, maximum output"...

The first week of the hols were spent on the wonderful island of Bintan with my very wonderful classmates of 5.03 Leviticus for our even more wonderful WOW trip. To cut a long story short, our WOW was a tale of sweat, hardwork, hot sun, hot bods, sea, storms, homojelly, small buses, poker face, adventure, and LOADS AND LOADS OF FUN!!! Class bonding was inevitable and our class has been branded one of the best classes in the level. Thank God for His abundant grace and blessings!

The second week of the hols were for me, late nights and many meetings in school for LDC planning. LDC was funn! All the busyness, rushing here and there, sleepless nights (literally, we were running on 3.5hrs of sleep over 3 days) and getting to know our sec 2s. My aunt came to speak on the first night of the camp and im glad the year 2s did respond well to it! Games were...fun i guess hehh and campfire was EMBARASSING...me a bimbo?? How dare they! Oh, and I will always remember going crazy during camp....dancing and singing poker face.

The third week of the hols...still not exam mood! I tanked raffles trust tuition every single day...and dang, I never want to see raffles trust again T.T...it did burn a hole in my pocket too...went shopping on friday and bought 2 new pairs of shoes from converse =D that was the only good thing i guess.

The fourth week....stay tuned for more stories from my boring life...

2009-05-23T20:35:00.003+08:00

I've been having a bad week thanks to the math portfolio and another decillion things on my hands. Oh well, but I still managed to find time to watch "Night At The Museum 2" yesterday. It's not too bad a show, though I thought that the first one was better...but at least it helped me to destress...

2009-05-17T21:43:00.002+08:00

Ahh, it's been a really long time since I last posted. Finally today, I am able to find some time to write a post =]

School life has been really hectic as usual, with loads of work, and now the math portfolio which is horribly difficult =( My EE topic got rejected, and now I have to work on new ideas and find new inspiration....My IOP, which was highly entertaining, got a 9/30....the lowest in class so far heh. Oh well, at least I had fun and everyone had fun, even the teacher was really positive about it even though I was marked down for lack of content...=p School's become a love-hate thing....I love school for my friends and the fun I have with them, but I hate school for the workload and stress...the only thing that keeps me going and surviving is really none other than Yahweh Himself, who ever grants me the strength to persevere on.

We had an informal BB parade yesterday, and I must say I did have fun! The Spiritual blueprint meeting went smoothly, the games were fun and everyone was pretty much high. One of the best parades ever, and Marcus Chay joined! Eunice too. Celebrated Poon's birthday and wrote him a birthday note in the shared BB present for him =]

In the evening, I attended the ACJC Guitar concert "Glissando' with my fellow 92ers as Noelle was playing. We met at Holland V for dinner first before taking a bus down to the college. Uncle Elvin was really nice and sponsored our tickets...that's 5 of us, quite a lot of money =p Anyway, I tot the ACJC concert hall was pretty nice and the guitar ensem was great. =]

Today, we went to church as usual and had CE after refreshments. After CE, Kevin, Ryan, Gabriel, Uriah, Benedict and I went for lunch at Funan Centre. We ate at the Food Junction there. Had quite a lot of fun joking and being crazy....Kevin ordered extra rice and meat from the tepan store which Ryan and I ordered from too...he didn't finish all the rice, I took about 1/3 from him to help him finish hahaha. Kevin's getting buff...he and his canoeing. Tsk tsk. Getting unrecognizable.

When we were done, we walked around before I left the others for Plaza Singapura where I was to meet Mong and his brother to watch Angels and Demons. It was a really great show, but the cinema spoilt it. Somehow, at the start of the show, the screen suddenly became a bit blurry and it was really irritating. I was quite disappointed...oh well. At least I had fun.

On to yet another week of school...may God bless us all and lead us on.

2009-05-03T22:59:00.002+08:00

Thank God for labour day. I was really able to catch up with my sleep these 3 days and to take a breather from the ever-so-busy school life. As the homework pile mounts up and tests looming, the stress of IB life is finally catching up with me....and not just me, but everyone around me too is finally having the word "stress" in their vocabulary.

A friend who's in a poly tells me, "I'm sure you all wish you're in poly. Poly life beats JC life." Although tempted to say amen to that, pride makes me re-consider my position. Yeah, certainly I'm sure there's way much more less stress and probably more fun in poly life but just to say because of that I wish I were in a poly would be taking on a short term view. I urge all my JC friends to consider this: the going will get tough, the stress will get to you...but remember the joy you had when u got your O level results, remember the meticulous choice you made, remember the euphoria you felt when you got into a JC of your choice. Why did you choose to go to a JC? Because you believed in the education it can give you, you believed that it will take u down the path to better future, to make u a better person. I'm sure you felt the determination to do well, to get through your A levels. Now, remember that determination, and persevere. Someday, when you get to the University of your choice, when you become that great person, you will look back on your past and know you made the right choice, and you will know that you did you best and you overcame the challenge, and you will know how God led you through. And then you take what God has given you, and give it to the rest of the world. That the world through you may be blessed.

Those who are in poly, enjoy your poly life. I have nothing against poly, just merely encouraging those who are in JC and who are feeling weary. God has the perfect plan for each and everyone of us, there is really no need to feel envious of each other. Ultimately, its what you have done for God that matters.

2009-04-26T18:12:00.002+08:00

I'm finally able to find some time to chill at home after a really busy week.....*sighs* Just a short break before I get back to my work...

IB life has finally caught up with me and I feel the stress upon me...the endless flow of work, the long school hours, the worry of tests and exams...it's a never ending cycle, each weekend marking the end of one hectic week and the dread of a new week to come. Sometimes I wonder if I can really hold out till the very end...I need God...I really hope to do well enough and at the same time, to grow in God.

Anyway, this past week has been one of the most busy weeks I've ever had. Each night, I've been sleeping past 12 and on thursday night, I turned in at only 1.30am...it was the ultimatum, my sleep debt was so high that I literally died on Friday. Of course, some may argue that they can survive on 4 hours of sleep or less, but not for me. I'm someone who needs his full 8 hours of sleep, any less would leave me quite fatigued. I pray and hope the coming week will be less xiong...God help me.

Anyway, on Saturday, there was walkACSwalk...however, I had to forfeit my $12 as I had to go for Y-camp with the BB. Y-camp is a camp held by YMCA every year for the people at the minds school and the BB were invited by them to conduct a simple camping course (about 2 hours long). However, cos of walkACSwalk, many people pulled out and our BB leader, Amos, was desperate. He was even hospitalised for one night during the week, but he still came down on tuesday to teach us and brief us (that was the day he was feeling sick, he was hospitalised after that) and turned up on Saturday again. Really commendable. 4 of us came down too, giving up our walkACSwalk.

We had different stations such as "stretcher making", "goalpost making" and "tent pitching" and the participants rotated among them. I was really impressed with the people at minds, they were all quite well-behaved and enthusiastic, and I really enjoyed my time there. I'm also very impressed that YMCA takes time every year to be with these people. Although I felt i did not really manage to teach them cos of my inexperience, they still enjoyed themselves when they played soccer I guess =]

After Y-camp, I gave stanley and jia hao a lift to tanjong pagar and went to church for the mega long practice. 1-3pm was worship prac and at 4pm was my prac for our special item all the way till 6pm.

Then at 6pm, I left for the Garden Hotel where we celebrated our cousin's 19th birthday! It was steamboat buffet and she brought her ex-classmate from RJC, Arnold. He was a really friendly guy and we talked quite a bit. Dinner was great and the cake looked quite cute haha.

This morning, I played for worship on the piano...but it didn't go too well I thought as the congregation sang slower than expected and it was a bit messy. =p The special item I thought it went quite well...was really praying hard and when I was up there, I just thought I should really mean the lyrics and just remember I'm singing for God and not for the congregation. All my teammates played well for the item and I'm really grateful to God for placing such talent within our church. =]

Next was choir practice and then we went to Hans for the YI fellowship. I only ate a cheesecake brownie as I had the EOP lunch later. For EOP lunch, it was nasi lemak buffet and we all gave thanks to God for a wonderful EOP, even I felt that it was really good and the message given was quite meaningful. Thank God for all the new converts, and for those who have not responded, I pray that the seed of truth planted in their hearts may take root and grow one day.

Kudos, back to work =p

2009-04-05T19:01:00.002+08:00

Jipockai! Is the only word to describe the weekend. Haha.

Saturday was a terrible day...BB from morning till evening at ACS (Barker)...fortunately i didnt have to drill cos im an usher. Not looking forward to the enrolment...it's gonna be long and tiring.

I have BB week cards to complete, homework to complete, first aid notes to print (which were promised to the sec 2s) and my BB CE stuff to settle. Oh wells, havent got much time to take care of them all.

Sunday was good in a sense that i gave up my class carwash fund-raising to go to church...

Due to time constraints, there's nothing more I shall say in this post. Have a great week ahead! =)

2009-03-29T21:30:00.002+08:00

Thank God it's weekend. Really. The past week had been truly very busy for me, with school ending around 5pm everyday, tuition 3/5 of the days. What gave me the most stress was the BB officer calling me on wednesday night to inform me that I've been appointed head of first aid (cos of my supposed "experience" in st johns....which was more like experience in ponning... =p) and that I had to give the year 2s a lecture on saturday!! Nii!

So, I spent Thursday and Friday frantically trying to put together material for the lecture, having 2 late nights in a row. Imagine the joy I felt when I finally completed the powerpoint.

On Saturday, there was methodist walk in my school, but I didn't attend it...it was BB as usual for us. I practised some drill (which was very hilarious) before I gathered my first aid people and gave the lecture! I felt very foolish and tried my best to make it interesting....and I succeeded by making them laugh with exaggerated actions at certain parts. At 11am, I left BB early and rushed off to church for a worship meeting.

The meeting went well, I learnt quite a fair bit from pastor Boey's talk. I guess the 2nd quarter would be a little bit of a break for my worship team seeing as we're scheduled only twice. Haha, we're speculating it's because our team has been trying out too much dynamic stuff...

After the meeting, i rushed off to tuition...where it was so crowded that I did not get to do much...only 4 questions =.="....oh wells.

Sunday was a good day for me. the 92'ers and I went for lunch at the asian kitchen and then i went home while the others went back to church to jam. nothing else much to say.

Have a good week ahead everyone! =)

2009-03-18T15:57:00.001+08:00

[13 - 17 March 2009 | Friday - Tuesday] Term 1 Vacation!

13/3/09 Friday:

Friday was thankfully a short day, I was really burnt out by school. We had BB Primer's Orientation Programme camp today, tho I was quite tired....the camp was pretty fun. I left halfway to meet gabs (chan) with mong as gabs was meeting mong to go for worship prac together. Gabs came over with a friend, Ernest, and they all ate prata while I watched on.

After a while, they all left and I walked back to find the other primers and join them for the programme. At around 11.30pm, I fell down the stairs and sprained my ankle pretty badly! -_- it hurt a lot, but I still managed to hobble around and join some of them in audi 1, 'jamming' and playing frisbee. It was 2am when we finally stopped and went back. By then, my ankle was horribly swollen and throbbing.

14/3/09 Saturday:

We all woke at 7am. I had a bad sleep the night before, the table was so hard and it was quite cold. After washing up, I couldnt take my leg anymore so Amos helped me to the admin room and gave me an ice-cold can of iced-lemon tea to cool my ankle down. At 8am, I called my parents and took leave from the camp. Mong helped me carry my bags to the roundabout where we chatted for awhile before my parents came and drove me home.

I went to see the sinseh, who treated my leg with a steaming basin of medicine and wrapped my leg up with herbs. I was to return there again in 2 days' time.

Called gabs (lum) and he helped me to set up my L4D and I played with my brother! Haha, it was really fun...even my parents were watching us play =p

15/3/09 Sunday:

Church, CE, choir....yup the usual. Went home after church to rest my leg. I realised that playing the piano was going to be a hassle bcos I couldnt step on the peddle well.

16/3/09 Monday:

Woohoo! We're going to the summer palace...AGAIN! Before that, I went to school in the morning for an MPAC course conducted by Mong. After that we had filming in the afternoon for twentyfour promo video.

Gabs (chan) arrived halfway and he joined us for the filming....though he wasn't really part of the film....he kept disturbing and appearing in the cam, making us NG a few times...lols. But I don't care, i shall use one of the videos with him inside to teach him a lesson! =D =D =D muahahahaha! Gabriel: you weren't extra luh, it was great fun!

We wrapped up the filming quite quickly...in 2 and a half hours...and by then I was very tired and covered with mosquito bites. When the others left, the real fun began!!

We had a wonderful dinner cooked by Watti...watched D.Gray-man with kevin while mong and gabs used the com. We had a short time of worship + bible study and then Saat went to sleep early, so the rest of us went upstairs to continue chatting.

Kevin dozed off first, and I survived until 3.30am when I dozed off too....I woke again at 4am upon hearing my name and listened to mong and gabs chat until I finally joined the conversation. This must be the longest conversation we ever had...through the night!

Finally, it was almost 6am when we went back to saat's room...i couldn't take it anymore and just plonked down asleep!

I awoke at 9.30am to find that it was already...9.30am! So i dragged myself out of bed and hit the shower.

When I went down, I found that mong had already gone to Jelita and back, and Saat was just finishing his tuition! Mong was already doing his homework. Watti gave me a curry puff and milo for breakfast....after breakfast I used the com a little to check my email and stuff.

Ate some beehoon before Aunty Audrey drove me to Raffles Trust.

After tuition....HORRORS OF HORRORS!!! I realised that I forgot to sign out of my msn and the lost boy was using it to kajiao people!!! T.T I'm so gonna teach him a lesson one of these days...watch out. And also, I forgot to mention, but he was also using my handphone to disturb people....such a bothersome and disturbing person sia. =x

Anyway, it was one of the best summer palace stays yet..and I'm sure we're all looking forward to more next time ;)

2009-03-11T21:14:00.000+08:00

[7 - 8 March 2009 | Saturday - Sunday]

7/3/09 Saturday:

I sware this was the busiest saturday I ever had. The morning started with BB from 8am till about 12pm, and this was followed by an LDC meeting until 1.35pm...I was super hungry by then and had to buy chocolate bars from the BB fridge to fill my empty stomach a little.

I had a quick lunch after the meeting and then rushed off with the others to NUH for my first ever community service programme! It was quite interesting...and nostalgia as I reminisced the days I spent in NUH cos of my pneumothorax -_- I was pretty shy and didn't do much....the people were all so dao and I was really tired...no mood to try being outgoing.

At 3.30pm, I left the hospital and rushed down to church for my worship prac as I was leading on Sunday. The worship prac went well I guess and I had to help do bulletin after the prac =p

It was almost 8pm when I finally had dinner and the dinner took really long to come and I was tired, hungry and frustrated.

9pm...I was sitting at my macbook desperately trying to make my worship slides and planning a rough script for my worship.

It was past midnight when I finally got to bed. Someone was too high to sleep and sent an sms at almost 2am...waking me up and disturbing my beauty sleep...hahaha.

8/3/09 Sunday:

I was quite excited this sunday as I was going out after service! The service went well though I got heavily criticised for choosing too many unfamiliar songs (to the congregation) and it affected their ability to worship...oh well, but it was expected...I was trying out various styles to see which one suited the YI better..

After service was CE, ryan wasn't around cos he was sick =( and then I had to rush off for a meeting.

After the meeting, I rushed off to Plaza Sing to meet gabs and the rest. This was the best outing of my life because everything was sponsored by Dean!!! Arcade, Lunch, Settler's Cafe....all FREE!!! Thanks dean! What a wonderful friend you are! Hahaha =D

2009-03-06T22:17:00.001+08:00

The past week, as far as I can remember, was busy, busy, busy and super boring....thank God for tuition because to be honest, I don't really know what's going on in class at all (esp chem and math lessons =p) and that makes me super sleepy in class...

On Tuesday, MPAC and I went to Ngee Ann Poly to receive an SDMA award, turns out we only won a merit...which contrary to the norms, is the lowest award. (Merit, Silver, Gold, Platinum) Merit's just a nice name for bronze.

The only good thing that happened in the week was visiting acjc again on monday, and dean agreeing to pay for our movie and lunch. Looking forward to a wonderful time on sunday :)

2009-02-28T21:51:00.000+08:00

++ BOUQUETS ++

For the longest time, I could not comprehend why my life was in pieces, why I dwelled in darkness and hurt more deeply than I could ever have hurt...I pleaded with God to take this cup away from me, but nothing seemed to happen. And then they came, one by one - friends who were with me all the time, friends from the past, friends from around, friends who simply came out of pure randomness...they each came with a message for me, and turned my life around.

Below are a few bouquets to some friends who

I. Michael Ong - For a period of time , this friendship seemed to fade away....but I thank God that towards the end of sec 4, the friendship revived again. God brought back an old friend from the past, someone to cheer me, someone who'd talk to me, someone who accepted me just as I was.

II. Michael Saat - Another friendship God revived from the chambers of time. God brought about an little gathering of 4 of us from ACS(P)...a gathering that brought the passion of friendship back into all 4 of us. And as God would have it, this gathering soon led to greater things unfolding - of outings, of new friendships formed, of spiritual revival and of the bonding of many friends all around, from unexpected places and times. Strangely enough, this 4 years have brought this friendship of mine full circle and I'm back in the same class as him. Michael Saat has never stopped being one of my greatest friends all this while.

III. Kevin Lee - A cousin I'm always happy to have...Kevin was my best friend from p3 - p6! Though God sent him away to another school, he has always been there for me. Always a phone call away, always an SMS away. Kevin has never failed to pull the truth out of anyone and make me feel guilty about the bad things I do. Also a person who always cheered me up with sheer sillyness.

IV. Dean Chong - Surprisingly, despite all my taunting, this person whom I have hardly gotten to know was really the one who helped me out whenever I was down. He patiently listened to all my whining and often mediates for me, always pointing me in the right direction and providing an outlet for my woes. Dean may be big in size, but his heart is always big for those who know him.

V. Ryan Liew - A faithful friend who's always been there for me, and never fails to give me a word of encouragement. Though sometimes I get bad when I'm down and ignore him, he's never gotten angry and never gave up on me. He notices my hurts and prays for me, and he's definitely someone I can rely on in times of need.

VI. Gabriel Lum - I admit I've been nasty to him...He used to SMS me and call me, but somehow, I'm not sure what happened, but I caused him to stop....sometimes I wish I never made him stop. But he's always been a really good friend, one who'll never ignore me, one who'll talk to me if I ever need to talk. I hope I'll treat this friend better, and treasure his friendship more.

VII. Shaun Lin - I happened to see him walking along the road as I passed him in a car, and something prompted me to give him an SMS. We talked and after a while, I shared my hurts with him, and to my surprise, I realised he had similar experiences too. I knew it was God that prompted me to talk to him for he provided me with much encouragement and advice, and I got back an old friend.

VIII. Gabriel Chan - Well, I'm pretty ashamed of myself for being so retarded and over-excited...causing him to be irritated with me and yeah it sucked...I felt kinda sad about it and prayed hard. I'm glad that he decided to give me a chance and yeah, I will work hard to change and be a better friend...Gabriel Chan is a nice friend to have and I don't want to screw it up anymore. So yeah, Im really sorry Gabriel...hope u see this soon.

2009-02-25T13:57:00.000+08:00

For many months I felt empty, lonely, sad

Well, not that I didn't have friends

Cos I did have many,

And I'm really grateful for them -

The fun times, the outings, the chatting.

I'm happy when I'm with my friends,

I get in a high pretty often when I'm with them.

Yet, the sadness remained deep inside

Hidden beneath the joy

The absence of someone special

Is really too much to bear.

It gnaws away at my soul, my mind, my heart,

With each passing day I grow weary,

Waiting and watching,

Trying and giving

Someday, I tell myself, I'll leave this world behind

People have become a tiresome thing

In people I give up hope...

I clung on to God,

Desperately sought Him,

Stumbled, faltered and broke away.

God, I feel, has forgotten me

Why should He not forget me?

I'd often ask myself

I am not of value

Others need Him more

And so I fell into darkness

Though no one knew I did

For I still went on as normal

Though now it's just a show

They never saw the death inside

Those shining, gleeful eyes

And one day on the way home

An old friend I did see

Felt compelled to talk to him

And message I did send

I told him how I felt,

He shared his own tale too

I realised it was not just me

For his tale too was sad.

Yet, I heard God speak

Through this old friend of mine

God said that I would know Him

To know the Lord Almighty

and have God as my friend.

2009-02-22T18:21:00.000+08:00

[21 - 22 February 2009 | Saturday - Sunday] School Term 1

21/2/09 Saturday:

Today was FUSION 09!!! With Planetshakers!! But before Fusion, I first went for BB in the morning at 8am. Seeing as the registration booths were already set up and that they were giving a free green Fusion T-shirt to the first 500 who came, Mong and I immediately seized the chance to register early and got our T-shirts!

BB ended at 1pm and I went home first. Met Ryan Liew while I was leaving. He was ushering apparently.

I reached home at 2+ and at 4.15pm, I rushed back out of the house to meet Mong, Noelle and Kevin at Holland V Hawker Centre for dinner. Halfway through, Gabs, his cousin and Jon arrived but they were LOST! (and confused too no doubt...HAHAHA!) Mong went to fetch them and we had dinner. I ordered the fried prawn mee agaaain but I din finish it cuz I was too full.

At 6pm, we left for ACSI but Jon went home!!! Man, what a waste, he missed out so much! We reached ACSI at around 6.20pm but upon arrival, we were told it started at 7.30pm! So we had about an hour to romp around.

We went to the MPAC room, hung around the SAC meeting up with all the people we knew and chilled out at the CPA. At 7.30pm, there was already a massive crowd and the doors were opened and in we went!! Woohoo!

Fusion was totally awesome!! Though we were unfortunately sitting right in front of the speakers! The sound was deafening and my whole body vibrated with every boom of the bass/drums. After a while, we got used to it and every particle of us was worshiping God!

The music was great, the speaker was great and we all let ourselves lose - jumping and waving our arms high into the air!

I thank God for reviving me once again and speaking to me. I thank Him for His great love for me, making me feel of worth again after the massive hurts I went through. Today was one of the best years of 2009 and I was really happy to see my friends again - like Gabs, Chin Whye etc.

Can't wait for Fusion 010'

22/2/09 Sunday:

Today I went to Wesley again because Planetshakers were going down to lead worship there! Before going there, I first attended TA service cos the Psallo Chorus was singing. So after I sang, I left with Kevin immediately and my dad drove us down to YWCA.

Planetshakers were...Planetshakers. Though I felt it wasnt as powerful as Fusion, it was still good la. After all, worship is an attitude and not about the band.

2009-02-12T18:58:00.001+08:00

And finally bridging courses are over!! Orientation's back to "fun style" with games, dances, treasure hunts and the other usual. My OG, which kinda sucked before, is finally getting together on its feet. Tho we lost all the games so far, at least we're finally talking and actually playing games together...looking forward to the grand finale tomorrow at sentosa!!

2009-02-10T17:38:00.000+08:00

++ Friendship Board ++

Here we have a modified version of the original friend's list I made previously! It's been updated and expanded to give more people the credit they deserve =) The Espada list would be, as usual, the top 10 best friends while the Inner Circle list would include friends whom I consider close or good friends (I hope they feel the same way about me too though =p haha). Here goes...

[ESPADA] In no particular order

1. Michael Ong | First Known: ACS (Primary) class of 3E | Years of Friendship: 9

A true friend throughout the years, one whom I can always call on anytime for a chat and a laugh. A Bree in the making!

2. Michael Saat | First Known: ACS (Primary) class of 1C | Years of Friendship: 11

An extremely kind and generous chap, and a leader who's willing to serve. Quite gullible too though haha.

3. Kevin Lee | First Known: my cousin! | Years of Friendship: 16

Knowledgeable, witty and funny. Talking to him often puts one into fits of uncontrollable laughter.

4. Ryan Liew | First Known: TACMC since young | Years of Friendship: 16

A man of God and a counseller. Lives in a castle and tells jokes which break your leg (how lame..)

5. Gabriel Lum | First Known: TACMC since young | Years of Friendship: 16

Calls me when he's in the bathroom and makes weird jokes sometimes. He plays guitar really well though, and is a friend who'll be there for you always.

6. Noelle Tay | First Known: TACMC since young | Years of Friendship 16

Sweet, gentle, caring, kind. Makes great cards and bakes really well!

7. Uriah Tay | First Known: TACMC since young | Years of Friendship: 16

The best drummer in church and the energy of the YI.

8. Chester Lim | First Known: ACS (Independent) class of 1.6 | Years of Friendship: 4

He's nice, he's smart and he's always there to hear me out.

9. Shaun Lin | First Known: ACS (Independent) class of 1.6 | Years of Friendship: 4

SS, another Godly friend, gives great advice, listens to me talk.

10. Gabriel Chan | First Known: A random series of events | Years of Friendship: 1 month

Although a friend who's still rather new, this lost n confused boy has always been a source of amusement and joy. Quite a bully too though =p lols

[BOUQUET]

11._____ ___ | First Known: ACS (Independent) class of 3.15 | Years of Friendship: 2

This is a special tribute to someone who's no longer a friend. Throughout the 2 years, when things were really bad for me, he stuck on with me through the fire and suffered for our friendship. In agony the friendship ended not long ago, when I told him I had to go, in the hope that he'll be happier when I am gone. I'm not so sure about myself..

[INNER CIRCLE] In no particular order

Adrian Chong

Alex Loo

Levi Shen

Wei Jit

Joshua Khoo

Aaron Goh

Loke Chor

Gideon Wong

Benjamin Sean Teo

Jonathan Poon

Asad

Jon Poh

Samuel Tan

Dennis Tay

James Koh

Timothy Ong

Henry Lee

Brandon Thia

Gautum

Jonathan Wee

2009-02-08T16:27:00.000+08:00

[7 - 8 February 2009 | Saturday - Sunday] School Term 1, Orientation Week

It's been lectures all week in school and extreme boredom here at the ACSI Year 5 Orientation...so you can imagine how relieved and happy I was when Saturday finally arrived. I attended BB again and this time it was ten times more fun and exciting than the previous time. I really felt so welcome and passionate about my new CCA. Had fun playing the water bomb war games where Poon and I pranked Stanley...tho he managed to wet me back...oh well. Tim was also wetting me at the end of the game.. =.= Anyway, went to Jurassic Park with Mong after BB...was so tired that I slipped into emoness. Nothing much to say except that it's been not too bad. Went to Wesley again on Sunday...as usual, it was an awesome experience.

2009-02-05T22:01:00.000+08:00

Hi, here am I with a short post. It's been orientation for the past 4 days and it's been totally boring! Mong and I visited ACJC on 2 of the days and theirs is way way much more fun than ours! We got to see some old friends there too...Gabriel made me sprint halfway across the field because he tried to mud me, but I escaped! Spent the rest of the day worrying abt my lung tho... =p Had dinner with noelle, kevin and Mong at the Holland V hawker centre on wednesday...In the meantime, stress and I try to choose my combination! More updates to come soon!

2009-02-01T22:06:00.000+08:00

[28 - 30 January | Wednesday - Friday] End of CNY

28 January Wednesday:

I was the first to wake up at the summer palace (as usual...) and I felt super tired and zombified. I could barely keep myself awake, but it was already 9+ and so I dragged myself out of bed and into the bath.

The others woke soon after....though slowly. Gabs was like dying haha, he kept lying back down and his eyes were droopy...haha. It was almost an hour later when we finally went down for breakfast.

We visited ACS (Primary) after breakfast. Met up with Douglas, Dominic and Alex there. We had a nice chat with Ms Woon, met Ms Tan Bee Po briefly, talked to Ms Dianna Tay (we had to talk to her class, and it was a bit of a joke too cos she thought Gabriel was familiar!!! He wasn't even in our school... =.="). We met Mr. Elkan Lim last and Mong kept making many jokes about his....prosperous looks. It was quite funny.

After the visit, Mong, Saat, Kevin, Gabs, Ryan and I went to BTP for lunch at before they came over to my place for dinner. They took turns trying out my massage chair while I let them watch Van Helsing. Dinner was steamboat again and I'm sure we all had a very enjoyable and filling meal =)

29 January Thursday:

School started again... It was quite fun actually cos we were doing podcasting. Made a silly video and podcast.

30 January Friday:

School.... It was totally boring. After school, Kevin, Ryan, Mong and I went over to Ryan's place where we chilled out playing guitar hero, rock band and table tennis. When it was 7pm, we walked over to Saat's house where we had another yusheng and a sumptous dinner! All the silly videos were shown to everyone (total embarrassment), we played the football table (which was a really close match) and then watched some Ocean's Eleven.

When it was over, the rest all went back home...Saat and Mong came over to my place to satyover however.

[End]

2009-02-01T18:52:00.000+08:00

[27 January | Tuesday] CNY

Hi! Hope you all had a great CNY break! For those who're starting school, all the best! I'll definitely be praying for y'all. No worries kkay?? And now, for the rest of my CNY week post...

27 January Tuesday:

The 2nd day of CNY! My paternal aunts, uncles and cousins came over lunch at my place. We did a small yusheng before having steamboat. We all chatted a bit then watched Casino Royale and Dark Knight. Dark Knight was too long and they left halfway at the part when the Joker dressed as a nurse...

In the evening, I went to the summer palace yet again for stayover!!! Before having dinner there, Saat took Mong, Gabs, Elizabeth and I on a hike along the railway tracks to the "abandoned railway station" where the train guy exchang

es a bag with the station master! Really cool...the train doesnt stop at all when they do it. They just throw and grab. We had yusheng at the summer palace and had a really sumptous dinner! Then, we used the coms, watched "Get Smart" and played some cards. I slept earlier than the others at arnd 4+ and they played various pranks on me...especially that ridiculous grapes & cherries boy. I must teach him a lesson!! Anyway, here're some pics of the Summer Palace... =D There're more on facebook!

2009-01-27T01:07:00.000+08:00

[25 - 26 January | Sunday - Monday] CNY

And finally, a post from me that's actually up to date!

25 January Sunday:

The eve of the lunar new year comes upon us again, only this time it's the year of the ox (same as it was 12 years ago, and so it will be in 12 years time). Being a Sunday, the day begins with a church service, and because I was to be the scripture reader, I had to put on a long-sleeved shirt.

Service went fine, though my reading was a little unprepared...there were no refreshments provided after service, so kevin and I took a walk over to 7-eleven to get a small snack. Gabriel was supposed to teach me some guitar today, but he got too carried away...Ryan taught me in the end...

I went home soon after and had lunch at my maternal grandparent's place. After lunch, I had to take a nap as I was really knocked out...

In the evening, we had reunion dinner with my paternal side family at The Red House at Boat Quay. It was the same, though the food much better than last years lols. For my maternal side, we had a steamboat dinner at my maternal grandparent's place.

26 January Monday:

Happy CNY!!! It's the first day, and as with tradition, TA always conducts a combined CNY service on the first day. So, we woke extra early, had breakfast at the newly opened macs near church and then attended service.

When service ended, we picked up the free mandarin oranges the church was giving out and began our visitations.

We started at my paternal grandparent's place and then walked over to kevin's grandmum's place (who is my grandaunt). Met up with Ken (another cousin of mine) and is family there and also Li Jean, her sister Li Lynn?? (forgot how to spell!!) and their parents. Li Jean is about 4 years old I think while Li Lynn is 2??? (OH NO! I forgot their ages! Typical of guys... =.=) They're soo cute and adorable haha.

After that, I went back to my paternal grandparents' and had lunch before proceeding to my cousin's grandparents' place. There, we had lunch again! Her chicken was delicious and the soup was really good, just like the ones I had in Hong Kong!

When we were done there, we went to my maternal grandparents' place and finally got home. I was pretty zonked out (quoted from gabriel lum) and took forty winks, completely forgetting about the solar eclipse that was to occur at around 5pm. Oh wells...

In the evening, we had a mega dinner at my paternal grandparents' place with my aunts, uncles and cousins. Watched the "Little Nyonya" reunion on TV and also celebrated my cousin's and benedict's birthdays. During my free time there, I played some piano - a bit of my own compositions and a few random hymns which I linked up with improvisatory parts. Quite amateurish though I guess it was a fair attempt. I'm so gonna beat SOMEONE at the piano!!! You know who you are ;) hint: Grand Corporthorne, God's Creation, Good Christian, Grapes & Cherries, GNC....yeah i think you know who you are heh.

Some oracle now for you: tomorrow my paternal side family are gonna come over to my hse for steamboat lunch and then I'm off to the summer palace!! Can't wait haha.

[End]

2009-01-20T18:19:00.000+08:00

[18 - 24 January | Sunday - Saturday] First Week of School

18 January Sunday:

I stayed overnight at my paternal grandma's place in Ghim Moh the night before due to Benedict's chicken pox and my paranoia over it (which included drastic measures such as buying packs of dettol wipes, dettol hand sanitizers, dettol anti-bacterial/virus/fungal sprays, cleaning of everything he touches, and me moving out to my aunt's house to stay overnight). I attended an SSO concert at the Esplanade with my aunt, uncle, cousin and granddad on Saturday evening, but it was kinda boring so we left halfway through.

I had to lead worship on Sunday and so I woke up quite early because I was pretty much excited. It was the first time i'm leading worship after YM camp and I really wanted to put what I've learnt into practice.

Samuel fell sick unexpectedly (God bless him..) and so I had to change guitarist to Fanjun...but it went quite smoothly. Worship was totally awesome, the best I've ever led! Though it was slightly marred by the slight error I made in my slides where "sacred" became "scared"...oh well. On the whole, it was GREAT and we had installation too!

After worship was CE classes where we continued our really interesting Inter-religious studies (on Shenism), followed by choir practice, the fellowship lunch and then the YIMM meeting.

After the meeting, Gabriel, Noelle, Uriah, Ryan, Agnes, Elisabeth and I went to kevin's house where we played pool. I think the others played other stuff as well...I'm not too sure as I left the place abruptly without telling anyone and began my solitary journey home in emoness. Being emo was never my forte though in recent times, it sure is beginning to be. Today's emoness was caused by 2 things: the end of my beautiful holiday and someone...it sure lasted throughout the week...thanks for making me feel quite hurt, if you know who you are...

19 January Monday:

School started today. It was pretty boring, but thankfully my request to change OG was successful and I was in OG1 where at least there was Vincent, Gautam, Kevin Ling and I got to be with Michael Saat and a couple of other people. We had many a briefing and a bunch of letters/forms dumped on us. Tonnes of admin stuff to do too. Chapel was...as usual, not very encouraging and we found out we had to go for some TCM excursion at the end of the day. All the 18 OGs are divided into 3 grps, A, B and C and me being in OG1, I was in group A and hence the first to go for such a field trip.

At 1.20pm, we boarded the bus which brought us to some TCM college along MacPherson Road where we spent 4 hours learning about TCM and making herbal tea...our tea, which we named "The Tea of Dreams", didn't make it in the competition...oh well, better luck next time lols. =D

20 January Tuesday:

This morning, I followed Michael Saat and Michael Ong to FireAC, a prayer & praise session organised by the BB every morning. It was really nice, starting the day right with God, singing praises in the morning and listening to the short sharing by the student leaders.

The day went smoothly, with more meeting up of old friends, new friends. Quite a happy day, though continually marred by someone's awkward silence..

After school, mong and I went to Ghim Moh market with Kevin where we had lunch. We all ordered our own food plus chee kueh and carrot cake (both of which we shared). Mong and I had soya bean as drinks, which tasted horrible. We chatted and cracked a few whacky jokes, I was unable to finish my food in the process =p what a waste of money.

In the evening, I went for my violin lesson, and I informed Mandeville that I was going to terminate my lesson. My teacher appeared to be quite cross and changed his attitude towards me, but thanks to adam khoo, i kept my cool (pun intended). My last lesson is to be on 10 Feb. Can't wait for it to come...

21 January Wednesday:

It was the Science Trail today, though it wasn't much of a trail...we had to make functional objects out of recycled materials and as expected, it turned out to be much of a joke. People roaming around the level, popping in and out of classes, chatting, laughing and doing loads of nonsense...me included. My group tried to make a water clock, which failed miserably and so we poked a hole at the bottom of a bottle and made markings on it. We called it the "Time Machine".

Throughout my presentation, people were laughing at my subtle humour...which made me feel quite relieved because I was afraid of negative jibes. At ACS, there're always 3 kinds of presentations:

1. The really serious kind

2. The nonsensical, joke kind

3. Total failure, very boring...

I was the first to present a joke kind, though it was quickly eclipsed by the 2 "Revolutionary Company" groups which presented their really ridiculous pillow/bolster out of newspapers and their "maori bag". Those were the best man, totally hilarious.

22 January Thursday:

Attended FireAC again, nothing much to say...a normal day.

23 January Friday:

FireAC!!! This time, the other levels were back from their OEP or CDP and hence there were more people at FireAC. We sang and sang and forgot the time and were almost late for assembly. Indeed, I had to stop halfway for the National Anthem before I could continue proceeding to my class...or rather OG.

We had to do some TOK presentation...where we must take picutures of answers to mind-blowing riddles. I was made the scape goat of my group, where every single photo had me inside, and only me. But who cares, thanks to the Adam Khoo talk I attended, I have extremely great self esteem now!

After an extremely boring, cliched, CNY concert, we were finally free! I waited for mong while he had roti prata for lunch and then off we went to the movies. We met Kevin at plaza sing and had an angry surprise when we got there. We thought the student price for movies was still on and were expecting the tix to be $6.50....turned out that it was at $8.50. What a waste...

We watched Changeling, a pretty touching and sad show...I give it a 4 star rating. Go watch it if you have time.

Someone broke their silence today and we talked. (credit goes to dean chong and kevin lee) Despite all, I can't help feeling a certain barrier in me which prevents me from seeing that someone in the same light again and makes me feel awkward talking tothat someone...hmm. Oh well, it's what happens when you do things without thinking...great job.

[End]

2009-01-06T21:50:00.000+08:00

Hellos! Now it's time for my New Year post. Finally, I am catching up in my posts.

[31 december 2008 - 3 Jan 2009] Happy New Year, School Vacation

31 December Wednesday:

Today is the last ever day of 2008! Looking back, 2008 has been a rather eventful year for me. With changing of classes, hospital stays and many other things that happened - some hurtful, some joyful. What matters is, at least my holidays were enjoyable. Stand we now on the brink of 2009.

Watchnight Service is always held on the 31st of december, and I was to be the pianist for this year's service, with Bernard as Worship Leader, Uriah as guitarist and Eugene as bassist.

Before that, Gabriel Lum and the rest went out before watchnight, but I turned them down as my aunt was giving me a treat at the newly opened Din Tai Feng, Jurong Point! Had a hearty meal, enjoying the xiao long bao, the noodle soups and various other delicacies!

I arrived church at 8.30pm and we practiced in the choir room until around 9.30pm. Then, pastor Susan held a small prayer session and then service began at 10pm. Everything went like clockwork, and I thought i was playing quite fine when disaster struck! Turns out that Pastor Susan wanted to sing the Lord's Prayer after corporate prayer and I wasn't aware at all!! So i was like in a state of shock and dumbfoundedness when it happened and I crapped a few notes wherever I could. It was like eternal shame...thankfully Tessa rushed to my aid and I was saved!

The watchnight service went on smoothly, I heard a few rousing testimonies from a couple of ppl, the most interesting one being Uncle Heng San's one...at midnight, I sent out a couple of christmas greetings via SMS. This year I was being budget (economic crisis!), so I only wished 4 people via SMS. The rest were wished online or in person (when i met them in church or out). So the 4 people whom I wished happy New Year, you know who you are, consider yourself honoured!! Hahaha =D the rest, don't be upset, it's still the same thing luh...we're all still friends!

3 January Saturday:

An interesting day today. It was the day of Camp Afterglow and "Back to School" party! I was to meet Gabriel Chan, Saat and Kevin at Plaza Sing at 12.15pm. We were to have lunch at the Kopitiam before setting off to Settlers Cafe for a time of wholesome gaming at 1pm. As it turns out, someone was late and arrived at 12.45pm! Oh boy, we had already ordered our food and were about to partake of our meal when that boy finally arrived. When we reached settlers, it was already 1.15pm. Aiyoh...for privacy, I will not disclose who that person is heh =)

We had a fun time at Settlers. Played two rounds of Sitting Ducks and Blokus. It was all very fun as usual, especially Sitting Ducks! Kevin and I gang up vs. Gabs and Saat. We killed Gabriel Chan the first round. He went toilet and then, came back with renewed powers somehow! He killed one of my ducks straightaway the moment we started and finished me off very quickly! Grrr...

We met Mike Ong at Tanjong Pagar MRT station at around 3.45pm and we headed off to TA! I was supposed to give Saat and Gabs the tour of TA but they weren't really paying attention. So Kevin and I helped to do bulletins while the two Wesley people sat around and chatted (so lazy! even Saat volunteered to help!)

Worship was great and the mass dance was fun. (though i did not participate and left halfway to get a drink from 7-Eleven) BBQ was great and I gave all my guests plus Ryan Liew a lift home.

All in all, the party was really great and I hope my friends will be back to visit TA sometime soon! Haha. Thanks for coming you guys!

___________________

End of post.

2009-01-05T20:23:00.000+08:00

Heys! Sorry I've been behind in my posts. It's now time for me to do my Christmas week post!! Haha. Oh, and no pictures on my blog one heh. For those of you who are expecting pics. See my facebook for pics!

[21 - 29 December 2008 | Sunday - Monday] Advent Season, School Vacation

21 December Sunday:

Something big happened on the 20th of december...something that tore my heart right through...i cried myself to sleep and cried in the morning. It made me feel bad, it made me feel sad...emoness all around. But strangely, amidst the tears and agony, I found a peace within my heart, a certain strength that made me go on. I guess it was the Wesley camp that helped.

Emoness aside, haha, it was confirmation on the 21st! We sec 4s finally confirmed our faith before God and the church...this also means we can do Holy Communion from now on too! I received the first of my christmas presents on this day too! Bernard & Lorraine gave us a home-baked cookie plus a note congratulating us on our confirmation. Noelle had baked cookies too. ABC (aunty beng choo) gave me a book, Uncle Elvin had a gift from Sunday School thanking those of us who help play piano for the Sunday School...and many other gifts from various people! Haha.

After church, we had lunch before leaving for TA2 for Christmas service rehearsal. Turns out the whole Christmas service was a project by two china ladies studying at a bible college. They're assessed for this and Pastor See is going to write a testimonial for them.

It was also at this rehearsal where I started communicating with Gabriel Chan via sms. Quite a joke, kevin and I were spamming nonsense...thankfully Gabriel Chan turned out to be a nice guy haha.

24 December Wednesday:

Christmas eve! Haha, I met up with Noelle, Kevin, Uriah and Gabriel Lum to go to Settlers before the carolling. It was my first time there and because Dawn was working there, she was like our "hostess". We ordered drinks and started with reation games. We played Ugly, Slamwich, Heli Geli and some Jurassic game thing...can't remember the name! I'm getting old...Anyway, I suck at reaction games...Halfway through, the food came. My spaghetti was only the pasta and sauce...so i conplained to Dawn that it was plain and she gave me THE LOOK!

After reaction games, we played Sitting Ducks! It was a really fun game and I enjoyed it a lot...kevin and I ganged up against the other three and we defeated Noelle. But I think we lost the first time...=p The next game was QuickSand...i was the fat man but everyone kept thinking i was the woman. Turns out kevin was the woman...and he proudly declared it. So i texted Gabriel Chan randomly to tell him...LOLs.

We played sitting ducks a last time before leaving for TA and we took a bus. I had to lead warmups, felt really foolish doing it haha, and after some practice, we were off! You should have seen Josh on the bus, he was really going wild. HAHAHA.

We visited Kevin's house, followed by Bernard's, Yijie's and then Michael Teoh's. I was the "greeter"....so i had to introduce the carollers and say a few words before we sang. Kevin, Tessa and Elisabeth did the narration in between. At Yijie's house, I had to speak in mandarin!! So i was kinda worried but it all went well. Thanks be to God!

25 December Thursday:

Christmas Day!!! I woke up early to go TA2 today and had breakfast at Alexandra Food Market before that. The christmas service was a mega combined one so there was English, Chinese and Hokkien. There was a skit going on at the same time throughout the service.

We were singing "For He Was Born" after the scene where the angels appear to the shepherds. But a funny thing happened....the narration was in chinese so I have to translate. Now, we were dressed in black. And somehow, when the narrator was saying "...and suddenly the heavenly hosts appeared saying..." we all came up in front! So people were thinking like, wow, black angels! Lols.

After service, there was a free buffet lunch (see, how good our church is compared to WESLEY! haha...). After lunch, we left for Jonk's house. I brought my laptop and bleach DVD. So kevin and i were like watching it throughout the gathering. Halfway, we had to watch Neville Tan's testimony from My Hope Singapore, and it was really good. After that, we had dinner and then sang some christmas songs together.

26 December Friday:

Today, Kevin, Mike Saat, Mike Ong and I were to visit Ms Woon today. We were to have lunch at Fish & Co. at Novena Square. I was running late on that day, so I had to take a cab to make it in time!! What a waste of money haha.

We had a nice time fellowshipping and catching up with one another. I gave Ms Woon a tin of English cookies and she paid for the meal! She invited us to tea at her house some time too!

I was holding a small party at my house for them plus Jonathan Poon on that day, but as it was still early, we went to Funan Centre first. After looking around, i brought them all to my place. Mike Ong and Jonathan Poon watched Pirates 3, while Kevin and I watched Bleach again! Haha. Mike Saat was with Kevin and I, but he was playing PSP. We all had dinner, and then played monopoly before I gave them a lift out to the MRT station!

27 December Saturday:

Went to Batam with the hokkien/chinese side people today. Uncle Cheng Lok's family and Joshua Tay's family came along too. We took a 45min ferry and had lunch at the mall nearby the port.

We visited the church, and I played on the keyboard for the church singers. We sang some christmas carols and then proceeded to do some activities. Some of the TA people organised games for the kids. I was asked to play various children sunday school songs for them...was under stress! Haha.

28 December Sunday:

Kevin and I visited Wesley today. I met Kevin at TA first before we both took the MRT together to Wesley. Wanted to quietly slip away, but ended up making a big exit. LOLS!

I met 2 of Kevin's classmates, who were also invited to visit Wesley, they were Joel Kwok and Jonathan Aaron Sim Mao Sheng. Met Gabriel Chan there, and spoke to him in person for the first time! Haha. Turns out he plays keyboard in Mike Ong's worship team. Mike sang well as usual and Gabriel seems to be quite a proficient keyboardist too. Looks like Wesley is full of talent.

Service was great, and there was refreshments served. According to Mike, they rarely have refreshments at Wesley, so i guess we were fortunate haha.

Went lunch at Plaza Sing Crystal Jade with Flyod's cell group, which happens to be Gab's cell group. There were too many people, so we split into 2 tables. The "rich" table and the "poorhouse". It was quite funny, we called the waiter to "order food" but ended up calling for water only. And when the water came, Jon said "lai, shang cai, shang cai". We kept wanting to choose the "ming huo bai zhou" (white porridge) as it was the cheapest thing available. At the end, Jon actually asked the waitress if the water was chargeable. Hahas. Gabriel pangsehed us halfway. So mike, kevin, Jon, Joel and I bade them goodbye, paid the bill, told Floyd that my "grandmother is giving birth" and left!

We went to Cathay where I purchased Britney Spears' Circus and we soon parted ways.

29 December Monday:

I woke up early today as I was going out to watch a movie at 11am and go Saat's house.

I packed the gifts and left the house at 10am. Met Mike Ong across the platform at Jurong East and it was quite hilarious.

We arrived at West Mall quite early and walked around. Kevin soon joined us and Saat too. I bought Saat a DVD from Poh Kim, "Get Smart", as an Xmas gift and we went to purchase the movie tickets. We were to watch Bedtime stories. However, at 10.45am, Gabriel Chan told us he was still at Yishun!!! We went to the arcade to chill for a while. When he finally arrived, we kept trying to shout to him, telling him to hurry...lols. We were 5mins late for the show, but it was okayy...

After the show, we had lunch at the foodcourt and chatted for quite awhile. It was quite fun.

Went to Mike Saat's house after Gabriel left.

___________________________

That's all from me for now. There'll be more to come!

2008-12-29T23:08:00.000+08:00

Hellos, it's been a while since I last posted. To those who actually read this blog (im honoured that anyone would bother with such a mouldy page), I apologise for the late post. I've been pretty busy the past 2 weeks with Advent Festivities so yeah, wasn't able to post anything. Oh well, here it goes then...

[14 - 20 December | Thursday - Saturday] Wesley YM Camp, School Vacation

I woke on Thursday morning all sleepy and groggy due to a lack of sleep during the Mawai Camp. I hit the shower, got dressed and had mee sua for breakfast. I grabbed my vitamin B complex pills, swallowed one and left home. My mum dropped me off at Ryan's place where I waited for awhile before Aunty Carol gave us a lift to Prince George's Park.

Upon arrival, we spent time roaming about the place, lost and confused, as we searched for the camp registration booth. We soon found it with some 'help' and naturally, registered ourselves. We got our tags, t-shirt and file, and headed for the MPH where we sat around waiting for the camp to start.

My first impression upon arrival was what a big church Wesley was! There were about 300 youths there, compared to TA which had only about 50. I recognised some people from school, but most of the people i did not know.

So we had our ice-breakers and got to know our team mates better. One of them was Chin Whye, who was a classmate of Kevin's. I SMSed Kevin and he told me a guy named Gabriel Chan was at the camp too. Didn't know who that was so I couldn't say hi.

I'll cut short now and give a brief summary of events that happened at the camp.

It was single rooming at PGP, and we all had transponders which gave us access through the gates, to use the lifts and to lock our doors. My room window was facing Mike Ong's and we had a really ridiculous time spying on each other across the block.

There were 2 main worship sessions each day, the morning worship and sermon and the night rally. The worship was really awesome and I felt that it was a really refreshing experience. Really powerful and touching.

We had 2 workshops too, i attended one on apologetics and one on Science and the Bible. Both were extremely interesting and enriching...the latter was quite funny too as the speaker cracked many a lame joke.

There were games such as Captain's Ball with gym balls, giant monopoly, scavenger hunts. For the giant monopoly, I had to tell story at one station and it earned me the title of a joker. Fortunately, that title was short-lived. Along the way, I realised someone wore the exact same pants as me! How embarrassing! I changed out of it the first chance I got and never wore it again at the camp. Well, that guy continued to wear it but never mind...I soon realised he was Gabriel Chan...oh well, what odd coincidence. Didn't speak to him though.

In conclusion, YM Camp was truly fabulous! A totally fun-filled and inspiring experience! And i made a couple of new friends too! I made a recommitment to God and I really hope He'll give me strength to keep my promise. I want to take what I've learnt to improve my own church and I'll definitely be visiting Wesley often. Next year, I'll definitely be at the camp, this time with Kevin heh.

I left camp early on saturday as I had to play for Jalan Kukoh.

2008-12-21T22:19:00.000+08:00

[14 - 17 December | Sunday - Wednesday] YI Youth Camp, School Vacation

Sunday began with a sense of excitement hanging in the air. It was on Sunday that YI Camp began, but before camp, I was to lead worship for YI Service, with Tim Tay as my pianist, Sam Ong as my guitarist and Josh on the bongos.

Service starts promptly at 8.30am, but Sam was late and I wanted to wait until he came. Few had arrived too. However, Rev Susan came up to me and told me to begin anyway. So, I did. It was a kinda bad start though, forgot my lines a little at the start and was making quick plans to modify my songs last minute, but just as I began, Sam arrived and many people began streaming in through the door. Hence, I heaved a sigh of relief and continued as planned.

Service went smoothly and we (sec 4s) met up with rev susan for a final pre-confirmation class. The bus was to leave at 1.30pm and we all met in the social hall at around 1pm. So, we boarded the bus with Joshua all excited and happy, and began our journey to Mawai Eco Camp, Kota Tinggi. Fell asleep along the way.

The journey lasted about 2 hours and we dropped off by the river. Lugging our bags across the rugged terrain, we reached the rickety jetty, put on our life jackets and boarded the motorised sampan, which took us across the river to our campsite. We were warned along the way that the river contained crocodiles and giant catfish which would bite our fingers off if we put them into the water (fortunately we did not see either). At first, I thought it was just a lame trick being pulled by the guides, but it turns out that it was real. Not only were there crocodiles and catfish, the footprints of tigers, panthers, elephants were seen before and the whole campsite teamed with all sorts of animal life forms, from snakes to amphibians and bugs. We were smack in the middle of a freshwater swamp forest, cut off from the outside world (except perhaps by means of our cellphones, which a number of us didn't bring), no electricity and primitive living conditions. Literally back to basics for all of us, which was what the camp was supposed to be about anyway...when all you can rely on is God.

We had the usual introductory pleasantries before going through camp safety and then ice-breakers, which was the making of our team flags. Then we learnt to make our camp bed out of canvas and wooden poles. Inflatable pillows were provided fortunately.

Night fell, and it really was really dark. No lights except kerosene lamps and fire torches implanted in the ground...a bit like a tribal council from the television series, survivor. But these lights provide little light, and we had to have torch lights with us. The torch light is like your second life at night, without it you pretty much can't survive.

We were all bitten by plenty flies and mosquitoes and everyone kept dousing themselves in Off repellent. There was also a dare going around, people challenging each other: who can hold their pangsai (stools) in until they reached home.

Now, the campsite has three main buildings (if you can call them buildings), the Multi-purpose Hall, Dining Hall and Bunks. There are 2 toilets and a couple of smaller buildings around. There was also a large pond fitted with water obstacle courses. The camp site was a concept by a Singaporean architect and run by MOE, but it was built by the Orang Asli and they are the ones who cook the meals and keep the place.

In the daytime, we constantly have our bags raided by the monkeys because no one looks after the bags. The monkeys search our bags for food and they're smart enough to bite through certain bags, tear plastic bags and do a lot of other nonsense. They eat toothpaste too! Gabriel, lazy as he is, didn't want to pack his toiletries properly, hence had his toothpaste bitten into and his toothbrush contaminated. At least his soap and shampoo survived, though they were on the floor. Others had their belongings strewn across the floor boards...fortunately, i pack my bags very carefully every time and nothing was lost or stolen.

So over the next few days, we had sermons on trusting in God given by Elder Lee, and he also shared with us many interesting experiences about his days as a commando in army (he served 27 years!). We had a firefly cruise on a sampan, climbed Mount Gunung Arong and had a swamp forest walk.

The mountain climb up was tiring and i was a little worried for myself as it might trigger a relapse. We went in and out of clouds and it kept raining and stopping, raining and stopping. On the mountain top, the view was amazing. We had lunch and a short sermon before descending. The descent was more challenging than the ascent, with many people, including myself, slipping and falling because of the wet mud. Halfway through, a mini-landslide occured and a tree collapsed! People almost died! Thank God His hand of protection was upon us and no one was hurt. When we got out, we spent time at the beach looking at crabs and even saw two horseshoe crabs! We crossed a really strong river, almost felt myself being swept away by the currents, and met up with Joshua Khoo and the others who did not climb.

The swamp forest was really interesting, learnt about jungle survival and the eco-system of a freshwater swamp forest. The guide (Sutari) showed us a couple of edible plants (which we did pluck and eat), medicinal plants for treating wounds and plants which can be turned into other useful things. We trudged through the muddy forest and waded across mud pools (which can be up to knee-deep), feeding leeches along the way. Had 2 leeches on my legs.

We left Mawai Eco camp on the 17th of December and we stopped by Jusco for lunch and shopping (didn't buy anything though). Gabriel, Uriah, Kevin and I ate at a japanese restaurant there.

All in all, this camp has been a nice experience. Though i hated the facilities (lols, i love city life!), and hated the bugs, it was still a pretty fun experience and it was great seeing the marvelous creation of God there.

Reached home in the evening, cut my hair and began packing again for the Wesley camp. Looking forward to the Wesley camp, somehow I feel it's gonna be a real smashing experience =)

2008-12-11T00:05:00.000+08:00

[8 - 9 december | Monday - Tuesday] Ordinary Time, School Vacation.

Monday was Hari Raya Haji, and hence a public holiday, and it being a public holiday, there were no piano lessons for me at all.

I awoke at 9+ and sat in bed for a while, feeling a tired sadness, coupled together with a sense of excitement. Michael Saat had once again invited me to his house, along with Michael Ong and Kevin, and I was to spend the night there again. But today was the day Keefe flew off to Japan too.

We originally planned to meet at Saat's house at 10am, but me being lazy, I had already planned to reach there at 10.30am despite the plan. I picked my phone, tapped away on the screen, and sent a message to Keefe, with well wishes and a request for him to reply when he could.

Upon finishing the message, I hit the showers, got dressed, had a breakfast of cornflakes and milo before packing my bags and leaving the house. There was a light rain that morning, and my parents drove me to Greenleaf. As I pulled into the estate, I called Kevin on his mobile, telling him to bring me the booties and the book he owed me and also to inform Michael Saat I'd arrived.

After a short exchange of pleasantries, my parents drove off and I entered the hall. I gave Saat's mum the door gift and proceeded to enjoy my time with my friends. We watched The Return of the King, played some Halo, had a Roti Prata lunch, and watched Sweeney Todd. Sweeney Todd was a cool show, one should watch it if one ever gets the chance.

Keefe replied me at around 1pm while I was playing halo, and we began our usual sms-ing of each other. All the while, I was trying my best to run a happy conversation with him while trying to be engaged with my friends. After all, Keefe was going away for 2 weeks, and I wanted to let him be happy before he left, and also myself.

At 5.45pm, we left the house for downtown. Saat was to meet his scouts friends for some sort of a function, while Mike Ong, Kevin and I were to walk around the city while waiting for Saat. We had lunch at Wisma Atria Food Republic, walked around Takashimaya, had some ice-cream, walked to the Heeren where I bought my Sweeney Todd soundtrack and Beethoven Sonatas before walking to Plaza Singapura where we took a train to City Hall to meet Michael Saat.

On the way back, Keefe arrived at the airport and I spent the next hour or so chatting with him right up to the plane. When he was gone, i felt an odd sense of melancholy...there goes my closest friend...will feel kinda lonely without him around but life will go on i suppose. 2 weeks isn't a long time, but it can be.

We stayed up till almost 4am before turning in at last. We left the place at 9.45am..

2008-12-09T16:37:00.000+08:00

[30 November - 4 December] Ordinary Time. School Vacation.

++sunday 30 november++

Midnight. Upon reaching home, the first thing i did immediately was to clean out my goldfish tank. The water was cloudy, the fish looking sickly and the filters choked full of muck and grime. One of the goldfish had 2 green spots on them, which apparently were two fish lice, gnawing and sucking the blood out of my poor goldfish! I spent the next 40mins or so giving my filters a scrub, the plastic waterwheel and plant and rinse and did an almost complete water change, followed by the adding of the anti-chloroamines, the bio water treater and medicine to treat my sick fish. The fish lice were removed via means of a tweezer. They're small, flat, round, green with visible eyes and gruesome. They were exterminated momentarily after dislodging them.

After the water change, i took a bath, cleaned my teeth and proceeded to do all the unpacking. Then, i spent the next 45min sorting out gifts and gift packs for the various people on my gift list. Details will not be disclosed due to sensitivity concerns.

I finally went to sleep at around 2am and woke at 7.30am the next day for church. It was combined service that morning, and i must admit i felt really tired after having so little sleep. Kevin and Gabriel joined me in my pew.

During the sermon, because i felt myself about to nod off, i had to resort to a mean trick to keep myself awake and that was to read the Creation Magazine, which i subsequently lent to Kevin. I thought to myself, at least my magazine is a Christian science magazine which seeks to undermine the stupid, non-coherent theories of evolution and other what-nots of the secular world. To think the world is billions of years old!! Poof, it's only barely 6000 years old in fact.

Anyway, I still managed to pay attention to the sermon which was about the geanology of Jesus (see, i still remember what is it about despite it being 2 weeks ago and reading a magazine at the same time). I gave out all the gifts which were meant for church friends and bade Ryan goodbye as he left for a short getaway in malacca.

At night, I attended Michael Ong's party with 7 others, not including Michael himself, at Centrepoint's Haagen Dazs where we had a lot of fun catching up with old friends and sharing in sweet, chocolately ice-cream and desserts. After the party, i walked around the area with Jonathan Poon as he scrambled to get a last minute present for Mike and we both went home together via the MRT.

++ wednesday 3 December++

Wednesday began with a thought: how fast time flies. Another month and a half, and the holidays are going to be over. Today was a somewhat melancholic yet happy occasion. I went out with Keefe again, but it was to be the last time until he returns from Japan on the 19th of December. He was to leave on the 8th of December.

I gave him his presents from Taiwan and then we proceeded to Thomson Plaza where we had Sushi Tei together for lunch. After lunch, we took a cab together to Ang Mo Kio hub where we watched "The City of Ember" at the Cathay Cineplex there. It was quite an interesting show, 3 stars I would rate it. Keefe was full of his usual whiny, sarcastic humour...while i was my usual emo self...gosh.

After the movie, we took the bus together and parted ways when Keefe alighted at his house.

++ thursday 4 december ++

Went out again, this time to meet an old primary school friend I have not met for about 4 years - Jon Poh. Kevin came along as well. I met Jon at the bus stop opposite his house and took 174 together with him. 174 takes us past Kevin's house and Kevin was to hop onto our bus when we arrived. However, things did not go as smoothly as planned and we had a slight humorous delay...but we were soon on our way nonetheless.

When we alighted at The Heeren, it was pouring and we had to share 2 umbrellas among 3, it was quite a spectacle and we got wet. So we hung around the Heeren until the rain stopped and proceeded to Orchard Cineleisure. We had lunch at Long John Silver, which I didn't think was that good, and then watched Bolt. We were supposed to watch Quarantine but Kevin didn't make the age limit because his 16th birthday was on the 20th of December...so we had to switch to Bolt. It was quite funny but predictable...the movie, I give just a 3-star i guess.

At the end, we walked around some more before taking a bus together from Takashimaya back home.

2008-12-06T18:17:00.000+08:00

[22 - 29 November] Taiwan Trip, School Vacation.

Firstly, many apologies to everyone out there (if there even is anyone...) who were eagerly awaiting a new post from me but were sadly disappointed over the past many weeks. Here's a post at last: a highly condensed summary of our Taiwan trip.

I left Singapore on the 22nd of November for Taiwan for an 8-day getaway, together with Kevin's family and my grandaunt, who incidentally, is Kevin's grandmother. We left from Changi Airport, Terminal 3, via Singapore Airlines at 12.30pm sharp. Aunty Beng Kuan, Uncle Boon Thim, Chng Min and my grandfather were at the airport to see us off. (We're all related by the way for the benefit of those who don't already know.)

We met up at circa 10.30am, sat around chatting for awhile before doing the usual check-in of baggage and other administrative/logistics work. After the check-in, we talked for awhile more before finally saying a prayer together and bidding the non-travellers farewell at the departure gates. We all cleared the immigration swiftly before proceeding to our boarding gate, A20.

Terminal 3 was really new and it was my first time taking a flight from there, so i was pretty excited and fascinated with the new building, taking in the sights of the airport scene, the smells of freshly laundered carpet and the sound of shoes squeaking across highly polished marble tiles. Because the boarding gates were so far away, we took a skytrain to our gate! A feature that only terminal 3 has. At the older terminals, one would have to either walk or take the travellator.

After a slightly unpleasant security check at the boarding gates (i shall not add details), and a bit of waiting. We finally boarded the plane! As Uncle Kok Kiong was a staff of SIA, he was able to upgrade his family's tickets to business class! And Kevin was really nice, he swapped seats with Benedict so Benedict had a chance to fly business class and sit with Justin, while Kevin joined me on Economy.

As the plane taxied to the runway, i began to feel really nervous. I had a recent slight relapse of pneumothorax a few days before and had only been discharged 3 days before. The doctor had already warned that it was risky taking flights because of the pressure change but we decided to go ahead with the trip...i contacted Healing Rooms Singapore and they called twice to pray for me, and my piano teacher called to pray for me and many people prayed for me. I'm really grateful for all their prayers and support. Tension really built up in me as the plane sat at the head of the runway waiting for clearance and as it roared down the runway, my heart felt as if it were going to tear out of my chest.

Thanks be to God for I had to smoothest flight ever in my life and there were no problems at all. We had a smooth landing at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport 4 hours later and joined our tour group there.

Our tour guide was Ma Wen (Marvin in English), and he was a really, really good tour guide. He won awards for being one of the best tour guides in Taiwan! Knowledgeable and funny, he kept us well-entertained and informed throughout our trip in Taiwan.

We visited prominent cities such as YiLan, Taipei (obviously), Hualien, Kaoshiung etc. and visited many scenic places such as Ali Shan Mountain and other national parks. Night markets were always a specialty of Taiwan. The scenery in Taiwan was really beautiful and we tried many of their snacks (xiao chi) in Taiwan at the night markets. Felt like gluttons because we ate so much! We had meals of more than 10-courses and also a food race at one of their night markets. We had only one hour to try 10 various types of Taiwanese delights...so that's 6mins for each stall. What's more, these are not finger food where you buy and walk around eating...you have to sit at the stall and eat! Some of the foods are smelly beancurd, oyster omelette, seafood porridge, bak kut teh, some taiwanese noodle, pepper bun, chicken's backside, Taiwanese specialty fruit juices, some kind of fish and one more dish which i've forgotten! So pock!

Our first hotel had a hot spring and so did the farm where we had a farm stay. So we had fun soaking ourselves in it. The farm stay was quite interesting. There were night activities such as the alishan folk dance, pounding of our own muahji (glutinous rice candies, which is a taiwanese speciality too) and the lighting of sparklers, fire crackers and fireworks!! Real life fireworks just like the ones you see at NDP! In the morning, we had breakast and we could feed the chickens and piglets!

After the farmstay, we went up to AliShan, where the scenery was beautiful, but the cultural dance which we watched was totally ridiculous and amusing. Even my parents thought it was quite funny. The eagle dance was the most hilarious, followed by the dance where the dancers held two bushels of wheat each in their hands...there was a particular fat man who kept making mistakes and had a lag time...like he was always slightly behind the others. Hahaha, the memory of it brings tears to my eyes.

Other places of interest we visited were the Gu Gong and Fo Guang Shan, we had to visit pearl shops where they promoted pearl powder, Ling Zhi shop where we purchased over a thousand dollars singapore of ling zhi and other products, green tea shop and royal jelly shop. We also took the bullet train and a cruise (we were allowed to drive the boat for a while during the cruise!).

All in all, i must say that Taiwan was a truly interesting experience and the people there are all very friendly and nice. Indeed, at the MRT (they also call their mass transit train MRT), the people do queue up to let passengers alight before boarding! How considerate. The only drawback was that no one is allowed to throw any toilet paper or anything into the toilet bowls becuase their sewage pipes are small and get blocked easily. Every toilet bowl in Taiwan would have a dustbin next to it which is quite gross actually. You can see toilet paper which suspicious brownish stains on them and a putrid stench emanating from them. All the Taiwanese had that rule instilled in them and it's clockwork for them to not throw stuff into the toilet bowl, just as one would have been taught to look left and right before crossing the road.

On the return flight, Justin kindly swapped with me so I could join Kevin in business class. It was a marvelous experience. The seats were very spacious and you could stretch your feet out 180 degrees in front of you without touching the seat in front. You can even recline your seat until it resembled an Osim massage chair. They served me a welcome drink of tomato juice when i boarded and dinner was sumptious. The menu had a bigger selection and one could order a mountainous variety of drinks! They started by serving us satay, followed by the salad, then main course and finally dessert! I soon realised that you can actually order food and beverages of your choice throughout the flight. A truly wonderful expeience, grateful thanks to the Lee family for their kindness and generosity!!

We touched down at 10.30pm at Singapore Changi International Airport, Terminal 3.

2008-11-14T21:42:00.000+08:00

"but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die." Genesis 2: 17

Sin entered the world on the very day Adam reached out to take the fruit, and death came through sin. In this way, death came to all men, because all have sinned.

[10 - 14 November 2008] Week of Lament, School Vacation

Many things happened this week, among which was death.

My granduncle, who was a heavy drinker, was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis early this year. Over the months, his health gradually deteriorated, going in and out of hospital the past 2 to 3 months. In the final weeks of his life, he was sent to St. Joseph's home where he was to live out the last of his days.

About a week before he left this world, my granduncle made the decision to accept Christ in his life and the church pastors came to baptize him. Thank God that my granduncle could be saved even at this late hour! How merciful and marvelous He is! Over the final week, a staunch buddhist relative of mine visited him and asked him to chant some buddhist prayers, but my granduncle told her that the pastors would be praying for him and refused.

On Sunday, my granduncle went into a semi-comatose state and could not wake. He could only open his eyes very slightly and twitch his hands a little in response to our calling. On Tuesday, at 4.15am, the people from the home called to inform us that his breathing was very week. My granddad, mum and dad left immediately for the home. My granddad clasped his hands and told him that all his affairs were taken care of. He also told him that Jesus would be taking him to heaven. (note: my granddad is a non-believer)

At circa 9am, the home called again to inform us that he was dead. A sister from the home was with him all the way, he passed away peacefully with a smile on his face. The sister told us that he was going to heaven. I was already on the way to school for MPAC meeting when my brother called my on my cellphone to tell me the news.

The next 3 days were a rather gloomy one for my family, but also very touching. The church was really supportive of us. My maternal side family were all largely non-christians and we were the only christian family apart from a christian grandaunt and granduncle. So my dad appealed to the church to ask them to come and support the service that was to be held. Quite a number of people turned up and some chinese choir members came to render a short anthem too! What's more, these people all did not know my granduncle. I was really touched by their kindness. On the day of the cremation, several church members turned up too and even the bishop emeritus Wong came down! I can see what a warm community our church is and im really thankful for that. Above all, i thank God for His great gift of mercy and forgiveness for us, that we can be saved and have eternal life through Jesus Christ His Son.

On friday, Keefe bro came to my house! We met at Jurong Point first because i wanted to buy a birthday present for dennis. Then, we made a rather futile trip to the aquarium shop nearby my house . Along the way, Keefe told me that he had to go for an open heart surgery soon next year. I was really worried, and we argued over visitation. I wanted to visit him before and after the surgery, but keefe insisted i only come after...oh well, how stupid.

I showed him some of my Japan trip photos because he was going to Japan in december. We watched a DVD together and wrote a card together for Ms Chan.

We left to meet our math tutor to pass her the present and card, then we bade her goodbye. I walked Keefe back to my house and then i saw him into his car.

2008-11-03T23:30:00.001+08:00

[3 November 2008, Monday] Ordinary Time. Year-end Vacation.

Some quick updates from me due to a lack of time...

Friday was the last lesson of Jiang, and also the last time i'll ever set foot in Jiang again. The term is ended, and they do not provide tuition for IB or JC. I felt pretty much happy yet melancholic at the same time. Happy that my friday nights are free at last, melancholic because it was the last time im gonna see my teacher ms han again. And some girls too, but i shall not elaborate. A tribute to my teacher: Ms Han is a really great teacher, genuinely concerned about us and also really clear and interesting in her lessons. Thank you Ms Han for all your guidance and help these 2 years! A pity she'll never get to see this tribute...stored away in the halls of cyberspace...

Saturday was a pretty normal day for me...i woke late, had a very small breakfast, and left to meet keefe for lunch at bukit timah plaza. All the way, my mum nagged at me, telling me that i must study for MEP and higher chinese O levels as they're important...geez. i wish i dropped both of them. ridiculous subjects.

We had lunch at wishbone, where we ordered too much and keefe mocked me for not being able to eat... =.= stupid twin. Don't know why everytime go out with him i cannot eat..

After lunch we walked around and then he left. I had to take a bus home...

Sunday, was a church day just like any other. I gave a short sharing, all the while i was like thinking to myself "how silly, what is the purpose of sharing this?"(Note: i felt silly because i felt that my speech sounded pretty incoherent and amateurish. I was quite sure that the content of my speech was largely irrelevant and that i did not manage to coax anyone into serving. What a failure!)

Exams are upon me again, o levels for MEP and higher chinese...but the good thing is im not affected by o levels at all! The results don't really matter to me...

2008-10-29T20:19:00.000+08:00

At last! The long awaited post...

[23 october 2008 - 29 october 2008]

The school year ended for us on the 23rd of October. Finally, our 3 months of holiday began...

many sighs, relief and joy, coupled with an ominous sense of foreboding as it signaled the end of yet another chapter of our lives. Secondary school life is over, IB life begins. We being caught in the transition stage struggle between our joys and fears. Joy, for the holidays have begun, but fear, for the unknown path ahead...

During the last 2 weeks of school after our final examinations, we spent our days wasting time moping around the school with practically nothing to do. Laptops were banned, causing much sorrow in the hearts of students across the levels. My class spent their time playing catching, captain's ball and a load of other silly games, in a bid to keep the boredom away at bay. I, on the other hand, skipped 2 days of school, quit Philharmonic Orchestra and joined a new cca, MPAC, in the process. I brought UNO and monopoly to school on the other days and played with the people from 4.16.

There were a couple of briefings to attend and a very, very dreadful chinese karaoke. All were extremely soporific and a complete waste of precious time...to think they spend their days preaching that time is money. I have many things to say against all these crackpot conventions, but i shall not post them here.

I enjoye my new CCA a lot, the people there are friendly and i enjoy doing all the filming and video-editing stuff. Within one week of my application, i was invited to join the MPAC Camparty committee and boy was i thrilled!

My results came back on the friday of the second last week and i was somewhat dismayed by the lack of distinctions but relieved that i passed every single subject, though that did not stop me landing myself in Focus Camp for language arts. Fortunately, i only had to return to school for 1.5hrs on 6 days over 3 weeks. Not as bad as concentration camp, where campers had to spend up to 12 over hours in school for goodness knows how long.

MPAC Camparty was pretty fun! I was in-charge of games and all the games went successfully! We watched many movies and had a really great time fellowshipping and getting to know each other a little better.

I hear I'm gonna go Taiwan for vacation from the 22-29 of nov! With kevin's family and another aunt and grandaunt. Sounds like fun! Can't wait.

Went out with Keefe bro again on a saturday. Had a nice time with him. Going to go out again sometime this week =)

end.

2008-09-21T16:33:00.000+08:00

Things are getting pretty tensed up for me i guess....which explains my lack of posting. Exams in just one week's time...there really isn't anything much for me to say about exams since its a ritual one would have to go through as long as one was a student or used to be a student. I havent been in a mood to post anything either....for one, i highly doubt anyone reads my blog....two, im busy with exams....three, no one gives much of a damn....four, God knows our blogs are being policed by the police or the school or whatever authoritative institution. (StoryBoard Genesis not only caters to the general public but also to these people who might find trawling through thousands of blog entries a bore.)

2008-09-05T17:17:00.000+08:00

STORYBOARD GENESIS:the world, the way i like it.

Indeed, here at StoryBoard Genesis, make the world the way you want it! Or at least on paper. Haha. Hello and welcome to the mini launch of StoryBoard Genesis! Proudly brought to you by the people of MBS Company. For those who do not know it, MBS Company used to have a Serials Galore Wing which kinda went out of action for a year due to a lack of staff and several technical difficulties. However, rest assured that the MBS Company has been working hard all this while and is now happy to announce that Serials Galore will be up and running again soon, and will now be known as StoryBoard Genesis! Woots! The official website is still undergoing reconstruction and will be up in a few weeks time.

Right now, for this mini launch, StoryBoard Genesis will be kick-starting its Sweet Shorts programme at this very blog space! Special thanks to Vice-President 2 Benjamin Ng for renting out his blog for our use! So from now on, this blog will not only showcase the diary of our Vice-President, but will also be publishing short stories from time to time for your entertainment! If you have noticed, the Vice-President has riddled his previous blogs with his own writings in italics, all for the purpose of promoting our Sweet Shorts programme.

If anyone of you out there has a story to tell, do send them in to us at our email benji_terrier@hotmail.com, courtesy of our Vice-President, and we'll publish it for you!

Thank you and have a nice day!

2008-09-03T18:02:00.000+08:00

STORYBOARD GENESIS

Hitting screens worldwide.

2008-09-02T11:32:00.001+08:00

'Moses replied:

"It is not the sound of victory,

it is not the sound of defeat;

it is the sound of singing

that I hear."'

Exodus 32:18

[Monday - 1st September 2008] Teachers' Day

I woke up at 9.30am and the first thing i did was to grab my mobile phone. I sent gabriel a rather ridiculous sms before getting up and going for a shower.

Feeling rather peckish, i wandered over the the dining table, wondering what my grandmother prepared for breakfast. There was zhong zi (chinese glutinous rice dumplings) and the usual milk. I gobbled down the zhong zi and finished the milk. Bahh, i dun really like powered milk, i find them noxious. Give me Australian Farmhouse Milk anytime.

I played a bit of MapleKhaos, but it wasn't very enjoyable because i kept getting disconnected and eventually rolled-back. I looked at the time, 10.57am. Heaving a sigh, i shut down the computer and got dressed. Bidding my younger cousins goodbye, i grabbed the gifts and my bag, and swept out of the door. It was just another ordinary day. The sun beat down upon the asphalt and a few people milled around, going about their daily business. I put on my earphones and flicked at my ipod...the music began to play, drowning out the sound of traffic on the main road.

The bus wasn't very crowded when it arrived and i managed to get myself a seat. As the bus rolled along the street towards Lakeside MRT station, i looked out of the window, watching the people go about their everyday lives, taking in the air-con and listening to the music...

I managed to get a seat at the MRT too, which was quite a miracle as the train is always jam-packed at Lakeside...a fact which i rather much resent. Anyway, i soon gave up my seat at clementi because kevin boarded the same train as me, so i decided to stand with him and chat. Another reason was also because i noticed a few senior citizens, and being kind-hearted as i always am (coughs), i gave up my seat.

We arrived at city hall quite early and proceeded to use the toilet at Raffles City as i was feeling rather urgent. Then, we grabbed a copy of the Today newspaper and watched as Gabriel, Noelle and Ryan hanged around inside the MRT station. We chatted away and was amused by a mentally-handicapped person telling people that they will die, in a rather loud voice. Frankly speaking, i have nothing against them, just that they should be supervised when out of doors.

The others told us that they were waiting for Uriah, who was duly late of the outing, and that they have not decided where they wanted to go...which was the reason why they did not exit the station. This new revelation made me a little pissed and i made up my mind on that spot that if they should decide to go somewhere else, i would NOT waste 90 cents re-entering and station. I'll just go ahead myself.

In the end, they came out...and we spent time in being indecisive as usual. Checking out the HMV was utterly boring...indeed, i felt so sian and weary and super bored!!! In my mind, i was asking myself why did i ever come? Walking around aimlessly in the middle of the central business district is not my idea of fun. Some might argue, it's all about the fellowshipping and hanging out. Well, sure we can hang out and fellowship, but at least DO SOMETHING. If it's window shopping, then its window-shopping. If you wanna chat, get a cafe or restaurant, sit down and talk. But definitely not walking around aimlessly...waste of time, waste of energy...and no one ever talks much anyway...they'll be too busy moaning about having nothing to do, or screwed up in concentration as they try to find something to do.

Kevin and i left them, wandering off to MPH on our own where i chanced upon the Twilight series of books. There was a 20% discount, so i got ryan to pay for my book because he owed me money anyway. The purchasing of the book cheered me up a little, but that did not erase the fact that there was still nothing to do...i'm not going to spend 2 hours doing nothing.

We arrived at the cinema at Marina Square, where we couldn't decide what movie to watch. Marina Square....millionth time as usual, and i was just there 2 days ago. But the difference cannot be clearer...we finally decided on Death Race which was a marvelous choice.

This movie saved everything, and made the outing more enjoyable. A really great movie, great effects and full of humour. Blood and vulgarities too though...i NEVER agree with profanity, but never mind, it's not the movie's fault. We laughed at a couple of commercials, which gabriel didn't laugh at. Some people just don't have a sense of humour....or it's just me. I find myself very fortunate, its almost as if the right hand of..... (insider joke). I'm able to find humour in many things of life, even those which seem so mundane and normal to some people. Again, some might argue that that's because i'm crazy. But then again, it's better to laugh and be happy, then to be serious and all sentimental. Some people say, laughing too much means you're crazy. I say, unless you're in woodbridge, laughter sweeps the cobwebs of the heart away.

Anyway, we left the theatre feeling really satisfied and happy...a good movie watched, money not wasted, time not wasted. We proceeded to Sakae Sushi where i had a good time enjoying the food there...second time in 2 days.

Kevin and I left them at the city link....they walked too slowly, and i was just really tired. Upon reaching the MRT station, we waited for them for one minute...i received a call from ryan saying that they're at Raffles City. I replied him cheerily and assured me that we were on our way up. However, we both boarded the train. I gave ryan a call, telling him that we were already on the train and assured him that we're all right and bade him goodbye. Truth be told, all these happened before we even boarded the train.

2008-08-31T15:01:00.000+08:00

He awoke with a splitting headache that made his vision hazy. Groping in the darkness, he struggled to sit up. Strangely enough, he felt really, really weak...and there was a numbing pain in his chest. As he breathed, his chest felt constricted and a dull pain throbbed endlessly. The moonlight shone through the window grilles, the shafts of light pooling on his bedsheets. He ran a hand across his sweat-soaked chest and looked at his palms...

A shiver ran down his back and every hair on his body stood on its end. His heart raced and he wanted to scream, but no sound came out...

[Saturday - 30th August 2008] Deja Vu

I had originally planned to wake up at 11am+, as i usually do on weekends, especially weekends before holidays...but on this particular weekend, i found that i had to break my usual tradition.

It all started when my mum began shouting that one of my angelfish had died (quite expected, i noticed something wrong with it the night before), and i was dragged out from the depths of deepest slumber. Visibly irritated, i grumbled before falling back asleep. Benedict awoke soon after, and i had to put up with his plodding around the house, leaving the bedroom door open. If u haven't already known, i am unable to sleep with the bedroom door open...some sixth sense in me would keep me awake and i feel extremely uncomfortable having the door left open when i am trying to sleep. I had to get up twice to shut and door...only to have it opened again. [rhetorical pause as i curse away with vulgarities **** you ***hole. **** ** *** *******]

At 9am, i found myself lying in bed, wakeful and slightly nervous as i had to give a recital during my piano workshop later in the afternoon. So, i got up, put on my glasses and went out into the living room. I decided to clean out my fish tanks before i take my bath. Upon checking the angelfish tank, i found that my dad had already taken out the dead angelfish, so i proceeded with a water change and the adding of chemicals to try and kill any bacteria in the tank. I hope it worked. Next, i did my goldfish tank. Cleaning the filters, doing a water change and the same adding of chemicals. Took me about an hour before i finally hit the bath and got myself ready for the day.

I ate half a packet of the breakfast which my mum got me, some brown beehoon (rice vermicelli) topped with a fried egg and ngoh hiang (traditional chinese dish made up of meat or fishcake with some vegetables wrapped with beancurd skin). Then i downed a packet of milo, which i thought tasted a bit weird. A bit like the canned ones, and for those of you who don't know me, I HATE CANNED MILO.

From this point on, i'll briefly mentioned the series of events which took place before i finally joined my friends at marina square: feverish practicing of piano, tuition at baoling's, sending my cousins to British Council at Marsling for their lessons and Vivian chan's piano workshop, which lasted from 3-6pm. She overshot the time, and although i had already told her before hand that i needed to go at 6pm sharp, she insisted on keeping me back to listen to woony play his polonaise =.= i left her place at 6.13pm...

It was already 6.51pm when my parents finally pulled over at the Mandarin Hotel, next to Marina Square. As it was an illegal stopping, i had only 5secs to get out of the car, and i did...grabbing my bad and clutching my phone and ipod, i said a hurried goodbye before speeding away from the car and up the spiral staircase which led to the shopping mall. I was running late, they were already waiting for my arrival.

I gave michael saat a quick call and michael ong took the call. He gave me the coordinates of our meeting point, and i made my way there confidently, having been to marina square for what seemed to be a million times...

Upon reaching the place (outside action city), i caught sight kevin's bag and rendezvoused with them. It was a joyous meeting, with smiles from everyone. And so began our reunion-celebration.

We spent some time looking for a place to eat before finally settling for sakae sushi as michael saat had a 10% discount card. We joined the queue that formed outside the restaurant and began engaging in an endless conversation.

It was deja vu, it felt as if we were in primary school again...and i must say, it's been a very long time since i felt this way. I was really, really happy. We talked about everything under the sun, catching up with each other, cracking old insider jokes, making new jokes, reliving old times, gossip so on and so forth, enjoying the wonderful food, taking in the environment around us.

After we had eaten our fill, we paid for our food and crossed over to Anderson's, where we had dessert and carried on our conversation. There was some mimicking of 2G1C, and kevin's new 2G1F, and ahh....a truly marvelous time.

By the time we left, the shops were already closing and it was 10.38pm. We stopped by HMV to get a present for mike saat's sister before parting ways with michael ong at city hall MRT station. Michael saat, kevin and i took the train together...and i had to fill mike saat in with some of the latest hits i had on my ipod(he likes 80s music apparently loL!).

They both left at clementi and i was left on board the train, travelling towards chinese garden mrt where i was to meet my parents. I did not feel sad, nor did i descend into sianness of emoness....on the contrary, i felt really refreshed and contented. It was truly a very, very happy and exciting day for me. I received smses from them all later on, telling me how much they have enjoyed the little get-together and the deja vu they all felt. Indeed, no matter where we are or how long we've been apart, as long as it was our primary school friend and classmate, the closeness and friendship always remains...and that goes the same for those who couldn't make it today. 6E 2004 forever! =)

2008-08-24T13:52:00.001+08:00

At that moment, i heard a still, small voice...though the ocean roared, the wind howled, the thunder rumbled and the horses clattered, the voice could still be heard. I knew the voice...it was one i've heard a long time ago, and now it spoke again...still the same as ever, it didn't change.

Friday was a refreshing change (no pun intended concerning lovista delicatessen). It was a holiday for us! Thanks to our rugby team...as usual. I seized the opportunity to catch up with my sleep, waking up at 11am. Then, i remembered....no electricity for the whole day!!! I moaned and grumbled, flicking at the light switch and trying my luck. Nothing worked. Oh well...i sat up in bed and grabbed my cellphone, messaging desperately to my friends, telling them of the deplorable situation i'm in, hoping that some kind soul would keep me virtual company. Only keefe did, as usual...tho he was a little busy so the interval between messages was long. But at least he tried, lol. Some of my other friends have gone out. Myself, i declined any invitation to an outing because i thought i might want to spend time sleeping and resting at home after a long, heavy school term. What a bad choice...no lights, no fan, no air-con, refrigerator not working, no washing machine, fish tank pumps all out, no TV, no computer...fortunately my cellphone was fully charged. But that's all i got, besides my ipod.

I clambered out of bed and hit the bath. No electricity = no heater...so i had a cold bath. It was freezing, mind you, so i did a quick soap and rinse, and rushed out of the bathroom.

There was totally nothing to do, i mopped around the house playing the piano, sitting doing nothing, reading discovery magazine....the worst holiday of my life! Lunch and dinner were just as uninteresting...

I was thankful when 5.30pm came, i got dressed and then left for Jiang Education Centre, where i was to have my chinese tuition. Had a 2nd dinner afterwards at IMM, Ajisen Ramen. Truly a refreshing change, they changed their menu i think...but to be honest, i prefer sushi restaurants to ramen restaurants. But no matter...haha. IMM has changed a lot really.

I burst into fresh tears and was glad He came. A sweet melody in the air, and a certain peace around me. The water was no longer cold, my fears dissolving away. All of a sudden, there was a mighty boom, as if someone dropped a meteorite in the middle of the ocean. The shockwave travelled hard and fast, like a ripple in the water, and They were knocked back. I was untouched by it. And then a maelstrom, the ocean swirled violently and it split cleanly in two. A pathway through the sea, a wall of water on either side.

2008-08-20T20:34:00.000+08:00

O Lord, hear my prayer; O Lord hear my prayer

When i call, answer me; O Lord hear my prayer

O Lord hear my prayer; come and listen to me...

2008-08-16T22:58:00.001+08:00

Saturdays. One of my favourite days of the week. A time to catch up on my sleep....or at least its supposed to be. I awoke at 9am...unable to get back to sleep. Something's wrong, i used to be able to sleep till way past 11am, but nowadays, ever since THAT DAY, my sleep pattern has been disrupted. Sigh...to feel tired, yet unable to sleep, that's a kinda terrible thing to have i think. I sat in my bed for a while, taking in the quietness of the morning (my parents have gone out for some reason so the house is empty and quiet). I folded my blanket, made my bed and got up. Instantly, a sense of rejuvenation coursed through my body as blood rushed down to my legs and my systems refreshed themselves. I stretched and felt life kick into me again. I breathed deeply and made my way to my wardrobe. Grabbing a towel and some fresh clothes, i trudged into the bathroom and hit the shower.

Man, i can't believe i'm doing this. I waded on, the water was bitterly cold. I shivered uncontrollably, barely able to breathe. That bird carried on circling overhead. Stupid bird, i thought to myself, it doesn't know what it's doing. Despite that thought, i carried on. The water was now waist deep. What if there's a stone fish, or sea snake, or something dangerous in the waters?? Fear mingled with sadness gripped my overwrought mind. Behind me, they were drawing closer.

I took out my scores for Humoresque and Allegro Festivo, and began to practise on the piano. After a few rounds, and some polishing up of difficult areas, i felt satisfied enough with my pieces and decided to move on to the sunday school worship songs. I managed to play through all of them except for the "In Whom I Can Trust"...that song i couldn't find any chords so i had to figure them out from scratch. After numerous trials and errors, i finally came up with a skeletal outline of the chord progression....everything sounded ok so i decided to stick to it. But alas, i guess its not as good as what jonk or tessa or serene or yijie can do...theirs' are full of ornaments, passing chords and what nots. Sigh, i've still got a long way to go, my improvisation sucks.

I stopped halfway, all of my body except my head submerged in the icy water. The waters were choppy and the waves beat against me ferociously. Water in my eyes, in my nose, my mouth and my ears. The salt stung my eyes, and it smarted like anything. I stood there, teeth-chattering, feeling foolish. What now, do i swim?

Had chem tuition at baoling's house before heading back home. I stoned and mapled for a while, using my bowman account. With the kind help of Aaron, i managed to level to 60 within an hour or so and obtained quite a few weapons, armour and NX items. Immediately after, my dad announced that it was time for dinner. So i got dressed and went out from my house. Dinner was to be at Hard Rock Cafe.

The Hard Rock was quite an experience, it was my first time there. As you ascend the steps, you can immediately see a model of the car hung loosely above on the porch. The railings were carved guitars, alternating between upright and upside down. As I entered the restaurant, a blast of cool air greeted me. To the left was a small merchandise store and up ahead, the restaurant was dimly lit. There were bar counters, comfortably loud music, screens showing the olympics. The service was excellent (they even had an attendant in the toilet), but the food portion was huge! 4 of us shared 1 combo starter, 1 combo smoked-grill and 2 deserts. I left the restaurant happy and satisfied.

2008-08-13T13:16:00.001+08:00

I stood by the sea, looking out far across the horizon. The sun was setting yonder, a thin rim of red against the deep, dark grey. A harsh wind blew, with the might of a hundred horses. It was cold. Dark clouds like dirty streamers hung low overhead. Lightning flashed across the sky and thunder roared mightily. I stared out at the sea, lost in hurt. My vision blurred as tears began to well up in my eyes, rolling down my cheeks and falling into the waves. Does no one see?

-
The past week been of little interest to me. Each day beginning like it did before. A weariness so hard and pressing. Such monotony, such boredom. School goes on as usual, nothing new to behold. All i do is to look forward to the september holidays, which is about 2 weeks away...more sighs. What use would september holidays be? After all, exams are looming up ahead. You do not see it, but you hear about it....in whispered conversations, in the work that's piling up, in the teachers' faces, in the prayers being uttered...exams, exams, exams....so far yet so near. More sighs at this point.

All of a sudden, a sound. I looked up, blinking hot tears away from my eyes. My heart sped, beating like a maniacal beast against my ribcage. Adrenaline flooded my body and every sense heightened. I turned around. And there They were, on horses and with swords. Crowns on their heads and fine robes on their shoulders. They laughed and mocked at me, and their horses pawed the ground, steaming at the mouths and fire in their eyes.

And then there's the Problem. It's been plaguing me for almost a year now. I try my best, yet its still there! I pray every day, every night. No reply from Above. I struggle in confusion, in doubt, in hurt and in faith. Everyday is the same as before, does God not see the Problem? Does God not care if my relationship goes to waste? Is it not written that He has plans to prosper me? Doesn't look to prosperous at the moment. Sigh, if only i had the faith of Job, if only God would send a miracle...if only.....if only....

Tears began pouring, and my nose soon became blocked and runny. More jeers and catcalls. "Help me", i whispered.

Nothing.

My heart sank. I knew it, He's not gonna come. How long have i prayed, how long have i tried, and He never comes. Surely He won't come now. All of a sudden, a bird! It was small and yellow with a bright cheery eye. It landed on my shoulder and began chirruping urgently. Somehow i knew it wanted me to follow it. It got into the air and flew towards the sea, hovering above the water. I took a step forward and stopped. It cannot be, into the water?? I'm afraid of the sea, what if there are sharks, or jellyfish or a saltwater crocodile? Behind me, They began to charge. It was now or never. I took a deep breath and walked into the sea. My heart began to break.

2008-08-10T22:20:00.000+08:00

Some 2-part electronic melody playing....it seems so far away, getting louder and clearer with each note.....

I awoke with a start, it was my "cuckoo clock" going off. 7am! Wow, so i did manage to go back to sleep after all. I lay back in bed feeling drowsy, as one always does when one wakes up in the middle of the night. Then, remembering that i have to be down in church early for worship practice, i leapt out of bed, grabbed a towel and my clothes, and darted into the bathroom.

It was the shortest time i have taken to get ready for church. I gathered up my bible, song sheets and documents and put them in my bag before sitting at the dining table and eating a small piece of cheesecake washed down with a cup of milo. Soon, we were in the car, on our way.

I thought worship wasnt as optimal as i wanted it to be....my voice wasnt really warmed up (i tried doing arppegios before the worship but ppl were alr there and they were laughing) so i thought my singing was terrible and embarrassing as i always had high expectations of my singing. It got better towards the end though i guess...but oh well, i thought i led all right because i wasn't nervous at all and things ran quite smoothly. Only negative feedback was regarding song tempo and instrumentation, but that can't be helped as my guitarist didn't turn up.

After the worship, it was time to fellowship with my friends and to go for cathecism class. I tried my best to be engaging and to have fun with my friends, but deep within me the darkness was growing. All the time, sadness, fear, worry and stress all simmering away in my heart. I feel myself slipping away, drawing far from God. I really want to get right with God again but yet there's such confusion in my heart, such pain, such anguish....i don't know if things will ever get better. But the sermon i heard, it really struck me and i thought Jesus was speaking through the speaker, comforting me, challenging me and encouraging me. Oh, what a difficult time i'm going through...

The rain poured hard as ryan, gabriel, uriah and i departed from the church. It took us some time and complicated maneuvers before we all crossed the road safely, and soon we were on our way.

City hall once again, probably the 100th time i'm there. We had lunch at the food junction in Raffles City, and the three of them ordered the same thing while i ordered something else. We all had pepper lunch though.

All the time, turmoil in my heart...

After lunch, everyone was feeling tired and we trudged along to marina square to try and catch a movie. We arrived 15min too late for the 2.30pm show for Journey to the Centre of the Earth. So, i proposed we find the nearest 7-11 so we may check the movie timings for EW-suntec.

Why can't my friendship with ___ be free, just like how my friendships with these people are

We all got ourselves some coffee. Uriah and i, the starbucks mocha thing, Ryan and Gabriel some canned coffee. While the others were selecting their drinks, i uttered a prayer to God that there will be a suitable timing for us. Walking discreetly over to the newspaper area where copies of the Sunday Times were stacked neatly, i grabbed a copy and flipped hurriedly to the lifestyle section. There on the movies page, written in small black ink were the numbers 15:30. YES! We had a show! I told the others the good news and we all queued up to pay for our drinks. Before long, we were all crossing over towards suntec city.

Its quite fun hanging out with these people. I only wish i cld share these happy moments with ____ too.

We walked a long way from one tower to the next...and to the next, before finally reaching the cinema 8mins before the start of the show. We purchased our tickets and sat down for the show. The show was really interesting, and i enjoyed it very much. I thought the music was great too and i managed to see many similarities in this show with the Jules Verne book, and also the disneysea ride in Tokyo.

This sucks. I can be such a funny and happy person around these people, yet i cant be the same with ____.

We parted ways at the mrt, and i took the train home with ryan. Was feeling quite tired by then, ryan too, he kept repeating he was. He left at clementi, and i was left alone in the train. I stopped by popular to get the gifts and soon left for home.

Oh Lord, hear my prayer....

2008-08-10T19:48:00.000+08:00

My eyes snapped open, and the dim world around me swam slowly into focus. I rolled over and hit a key on my cellphone...the screen lit up and i glanced at the small clock at the corner...3.12am. I heaved a heavy sigh and lay on my back, wakeful and unable to sleep. The world around me was silent, except for the soft mechanical whirring of the fan and the sound of an occasional vehicle speeding down the street...

Thoughts of the coming worship leading descended upon me and my heartbeat quickened as i remembered that i haven't really prepared much stuff to say during my worship...a slow pang of nervousness began to rise. Then, peace came as i thought to myself: "i've done this before, it'll be alright."...but my mind was not to be left in peace as my thoughts soon landed on THE PROBLEM. I fretted, i gnashed my teeth in despair, i cried out in anguish...

Minutes ticked by and i managed to shake myself from the emoness. I sat up in bed and started to realise how uncomfortably hot and humid the weather was. I ran a hand through my hair and found it to be slick with perspiration. I groaned silently and got out of bed.

Dizziness came over me as blood suddenly rushed down from my head...my heart pounded hard against my ribcage and i soon managed to steady myself as the blood pressure became more regulated around my body.

I fumbled in the darkness for the fan switch and flicked it a notch higher. The mechanical whirring got a bit louder and the fan blades sped up. Immediately, the wind got stronger.

With a smile of satisfaction, i made my way slowly and carefully through the darkness towards my kitchen for a drink of water.

Going back to my bed, i grabbed my phone and decided to message him. I thought hard for a moment and came up with 2 long testimonials, expressing my apologies, my feelings and everything...before i knew it, 20mins passed.

Putting the phone away, i sat and emoed for a while before shaking the gloomy thoughts out of my head and lying back down on my bed. I checked the time again...3.53am. I closed my eyes and waited...

How to express my sincerity and feelings?

waited....

Maybe i will get him a nice little card and a small gift to make up to him.

waited...

Yeah, i think i'll get him those. But what gift?

waited.....

2008-08-04T20:57:00.000+08:00

SONNET ONE

Oh i used to watch those films, u know

Of romance, of love, of friendships old

It seemed so cool, so nice, so warm

To love and be loved

Living adventures all day long

I thought to myself

Perhaps some day i'd learn to love

Like those old fellas on the silver screen

And live in bliss, happiness all day long.

Love did come, but in a way unexpected

It came so cold, so hard, so cruel

Leaving me bleeding, tears in the night

The pain in my heart, oh tell me its not real.

I love, for love, i fight so hard

The days grow long, the nights, weary

Yet still I love, and ever will

For the one i love

I wait or i die.

A sonnet written by the Captain, found scribbled in the corner of page 67 in the Book of the Annals, Volume 3.

2008-07-29T16:23:00.000+08:00

Some wounds heal in a short span of time, some take long to heal, some heal but leave scars for life, some never heal - leaving you to bleed till your faint heart shrivels and stops, and that light behind your eyes go out...you're alive, yet dead...trapped in some sort of limbo, unable to escape...

(Pause) My tagboard has died, oh well, doesnt matter. I never intended a very lively blog from day one...

(Continue)

I dont ever think my wounds will heal...im bleeding, slowly fading away...the pain which i feel, tell me its not real. What is physical pain compared to this? The operation, to fall, to die....this emotional pain surpasses it all. I know i only love ___, i'll never love someone else EVER! If God wants me to die or live a life of loneliness, then i gladly will. If God were to send someone else, i'll turn that person down. No one can take ____'s place. I wait, or i die..

An excerpt from the diaries of Captain Whitezinc, Tuesday 22/7/2008

2008-07-23T22:28:00.000+08:00

Today was a sort of a break for me after extremely busy weeks, with MEP concert to attend, going to Christalite Methodist Home, tuitions...im totally beat.

Managed to watch The Dark Knight on Sunday, and i must say its a really good show. Actors were all great, especially the Joker. The plot was really ingenious, being wonderfully-developed. The show starts off with jumping scenes, throwing the audience into a state of confusion as they wonder what is going on. That is precisely a foreshadowing of events as the plot soon thickens, throwing despair, darkness, chaos into the film, mixed with raw emotion and a portrayal of seemingly humanitarian and heartwarming scenes of love, social justice, and what not ideology. I must say im truly impressed by the movie, with the way they twisted the plot at towards the last one hour of the show, introducing a new villian - Two-Face. Compared to the past-year batman movies, which appear super lame and fake, The Dark Knight is truly a gem is a sea of pebbles.

MEP was fun today, with the usual ppl making loads of rubbish jokes. Haha, enjoyed their presence. There was load of talk on Maginas, V---ginas, Bengina, and other nonsensical names which soon developed into a melting-pot of hilarity and insanity concerning different people.

An excerpt from the diaries of Captain Whitezinc, dated 23/7/08, Wednesday. This excerpt was found half-torn on 15/7/2099.

2008-07-20T16:35:00.000+08:00

There really isnt much for me to blog about except to tell u that it's sunday.

The tags have kinda stopped, and im not even sure if anyone ever reads my blog. maybe im just a really boring guy, so no one wants to even take a look at my blog...lol

So i shall do a test, if u've seen my blog, do say "aye" on the tagboard. By this i shall know if you're a friend or foe.

2008-07-13T16:33:00.000+08:00

SATURDAY (12/7):

Today is Benjamin's birthday - his sixteenth one so far. He shares his birthday with Keefe Tay most importantly, and a few others I will not mention because no one is told any story on a blog except the author's own. (quoted from Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia)

I woke up feeling many things at once - tired, cheerful, sian, worried, sombre, stressed. Tired and sian cos i had to wake early for philharmonic practice, cheerful because it was by bday and my great friends have kindly agreed to grace this occasion, worried because keefe was sick the night before, sombre because being 16 marks an important milestone not only in my life but in my walk with my God, many thoughts on maturity and life crashed down at this point, stressed because i had to lead worship.

Anyway, the orchestra practice was a breeze, we had a pretty slack conductor and i was out of the miserable music room in just 1h 15mins! 45min short of the 2hours i had been expecting.

I rushed home and prepared for the lunch party i had organised. The food arrived at around 12.30pm, i set things out and began playing some piano while waiting. This year my birthday was different from all previous years...because in previous years, i'd only celebrate once with my paternal extended family, and another time with my maternal extended family. But this year, i was going to celebrate with my friends and with keefe. Maybe next year i'll extend my celebrations to my primary school buddies lol. Plans in the pipeline...

My friends arrived soon after, and planned a surprise entry into my home. (I already guessed they were going to cos of how kevin behaved, but no matter i enjoyed it still) However, it was a breach of security!!! They stole my keys and broke in lol...scary, made me realise that a burglar could very well do the same...

Anyway, Uriah brought some CDs, we watched some funny youtube clips which ryan introduced to us and we had lunch. Appleseed was quite a cool show while 300 was totally awesome! I enjoyed it a lot. Noelle looked kinda bored...i feel a bit pock that i dun really have anything much for her to do...she looked through some year books and watched me maple =p lols.

The card she made me and the flower was really very creative and beautiful, and im touched by the effort she has put in (staying up with her dad till 2am!) The stuff the others wrote and the gifts they gave were all very nice...im really grateful to have such friends. Their testimonies i shall keep in my heart always.

In addition, many people msged me, wrote on my facebook walls and wished me happy bday...and then i knew...i wasnt so alone after all.

So today was Benjamin's birthday - his sixteenth one so far. Nobody knows how many more he has to go...but one thing is for sure, none of his birthdays would mean anything...if not for his friends and family who bother to make it something...and most importantly God, who gives him the wonderful friends and family he has.

An excerpt from the diaries of Captain Whitezinc,

The year 2008 A.D, 13th July, Sunday. GMT +8

2008-07-04T22:38:00.000+08:00

This will be my first post in a few weeks...school has started for abt 2 weeks now...everything that can go wrong, has gone wrong...ive been hurt beyond hurts. And im amazed that by God's grace, i was no crushed, but i rose up again and dried my tears.

But i know in my heart...it'll always be sad...temporary joys can cover it for a while, things can distract me for a while...but underneath it all, the hurt will remain...maybe no one can save me from it. The way to my heart is now shut forever, it will not open again. I will treat everyone as best as i can, i will be a true and gd friend to all who needs one, i'll treat all with kindness, compassion and love...but the way to my heart is closed, it will nvr open again...

2008-06-17T17:45:00.001+08:00

sometimes...the way out is to disappear

2008-06-17T17:35:00.000+08:00

Today i woke up with a ton on my mind...undone homework mainly.

I made a mental note not to touch maple until i've done some work and so i did. I completed my chem paper with a million notes and guides next to me lol, and then i sought to play some maple....but to my horror, the server was down! Oh bugger! Stupid server checks, but oh well, what can i do abt them?

So i started to scan notes for keefe, since he wanted them and i guided him a little in his lang arts essay, which i've yet to start on myself.

Soon after, i decided to play some piano and practise some violin to chill out, but yeah, my violin playing was so horrible...actually, ive begun to feel very sian abt violin and i dun really like it much anymore. I just cant get the hang on the technical aspects of it and i really want to quit...I hope my mum would let me, after all, its gonna be a waste of time and money if i continue...

Oh well, feeling quite stressed and moody right now, i suppose its the usual blues that everyone faces as the holidays draw to an end. Bleh, the very thought of it makes me feel ill.

Whitezinc.

2008-06-14T21:07:00.000+08:00

Heyy! Finally an update. The secret life thing was stupid i admit. Today i bought some narnian books, just missint the 5th book, Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I also bought an adidas bag which looks quite decent and nice. Haha, dats all for now!

Captain Whitezinc

2008-06-08T18:44:00.001+08:00

MY SECRET LIFE, PART ONE:

I stepped on the pressure mat, looked straight at the retina scanner, and placed my thumb on the gel thumbprint scanner....the small plasma screen on the side of the door ran swift diagnostics before cheerily greeting me with a "Good evening, Captain! Welcome back!"...

The door swung open with a pneumatic hiss and the hall lights lit up as soon as i stepped into the house. My dog, Rufus, ran out and greeted me excitedly as i took off my shoes. Our maid droid, the brand new T-FL208, glided through the air and picked up our baggage. As my mum gave it orders on how to unpack the bags, i ruffled the dog's fur a little before running upstairs to my room.

I waved at the light sensor and the lights came on....then i lowered my hands and the lights dimmed accordingly. I tapped the small rectangular touch screen next to my door. Immediately, the words "Microsoft Home Comfort Systems" appeared followed by the command menu, the computer also greeted me with a "Good evening, Master Benjamin Ng".

I selected the voice command option and said, "I want the bathtub on the level 2 bathroom filled now with my Body Shop, Tea Tree Foam bath, warm water please, and i want my classical playlist on. Start with the Mozart Symphony 35 1st movt, start playing only when i enter the bathroom. Also, turn on air-com in my room, set temperature at 24 degrees. I want windows to be darkened too. That's all."

'Very good, sir. Your requests will be processed momentarily. Have a good evening."

I went over to my wardrobe and took out a T-shirt and berms for dinner later....then, I left for the bathroom.

I entered the bathroom and undressed, waving open the laundry basket. I threw my worn clothes in and tapped the touch screen next to the bathroom door. The same microsoft words appeared in shiny, cool lettering before fading away into the command menu. The music began playing at this point. I manipulated the volume at this point to soften it and brought up the bathroom menu on the screen. I tapped status and read it with satisfaction. The bathtub temperature was at 35 degrees, perfect!

I climbed in and soaked in the bathtub, enjoying the feeling of warm water against my body. The glass doors surrounding the bathtub slid shut noiselessly, to prevent water from splashing out and a panel on the marble wall next to the bathtub slid back to reveal a waterproof touch screen behind it.

When i had enough of soaking, i commanded the bathtub to drain, and the 3-D model of the bathtub on the screen, showed the water draining in it and the volume of water. Then, i ordered the shower to be turned on, and i rinsed myself dry.

"Towels"

Another portion of the wall slid back, revealing a sort of in-built shelf. There were small piles of bath towels, face towels et cetera and a whole lot of soaps, shampoos, conditioners and the likes.

I grabbed a towel and said "done". Immediately, the wall slid back and covered the shelfs and touch screen. I dressed myself, and left the bathroom, ordering the lights and music off. The touch screen next the door went to sleep mode.

To be continued

2008-06-04T10:29:00.000+08:00

the night of darkness 2 - i suspect i've gotten a slight relapse...pneumothorax...that blasted word...i will not tell anyone....the hospital's calling me, a cold ruthless prison...the clock strikes 12, my breathing deepens....no pain, no breathlessness, just that ominous movement within my chest....i trust in God, He'll heal me for sure, i dont need oxygen nor chest tubes, cos my God is greater than these....i hold on to His promises and wait out the night of darkness...

2008-06-03T16:28:00.000+08:00

CAMP DAY THREE, FINAL DAY, WEDNESDAY 28/5:

Today is the final day of camp...i slept in a little, enjoying the last moments in my hotel room. It has been a rather peaceful, somewhat enjoyable camp and i did have a good time. Felt refreshed by that experience.

I went down to breakfast and had the usual selection, this time with a bit of nervousness as i had to share later on during the sharing session. It's a time when the different grps from A to Z will send out one member to share their camp experience, and i was being arrowed by my grp to do the sharing.

And so worship began with the familiar hymns sung in all 3 languages, and then the sharing began. With each passing alphabet, my heart thumped faster...many ppl went out, most of them speaking mandarin or hokkien. Aunty ter shian went up, aunty ai guat....

Before i knew it, it was my turn. I went up trying to look confident and started off with a bit of hokkien and some nonsensical mandarin before i hit it with english. When it had ended, i returned to my seat feeling kinda paiseh and not really sure whether i did a good job. But my worry soon gave way to relief as it was over, and soon we were on our way out to lunch at some restaurant.

Uncle elvin was really kind and offered my mum and i a lift in their car. That means we get to go home earlier than the rest, cos they have to go shopping at Jusco.

We spent a really long time searching for the restaurant cos we got lost and malacca's roads are pretty hard to navigate...

Ah well, had a great lunch and then we were headed back to singapore. Slept a little, and let nicholas watch rush hour 3 on my ipod touch and it gradually lost its power after and hour plus of continued usage.

We stopped over at a rest point just before the immigration checkpoint, and i had a burger to eat and some milo. Nicholas got some popcorn chicken which he brought into the car and dropped in the car...uncle elvin was pretty angry, and he scolded him for touching my ipod with oily hands and made him return it to me...i was feeling kinda awkward and a bit nervous in the car...ah, but nvm.

They dropped us off at our home, and we were really grateful to them.

That's the events which happened at camp. The rest is up to your vivid imagination. Lol

Whitezinc. End of Post.

2008-06-03T09:20:00.000+08:00

the night of darkness - nobody ever sees me as a friend enough to talk to me about anything. they just think im all fun and jokes....well, thats about change. in fact, everything u know abt me is gonna change.

2008-06-02T13:02:00.000+08:00

CAMP DAY TWO, TUESDAY (27/5):

Today josh had a crazy idea. He woke me up at 6.20am and forced me to go down for breakfast. They wanted to eat first, then have devotions...

So i draged myself out of bed and spent a super long time getting ready, appearing at the breakfast table totally groggy and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Joshua already was half way through breakfast and told me i only had 15mins....but heck him lar lol. I went on to have a medium breakfast today before going to have devotions with winston, auntie shirley and uncle david. I felt a little awkward, because i dun rmb speaking to them before....but they were quite nice and easy-going. Had a good devotion.

Following this, we had the worship and sermon, the final sermon in fact, because the bishop was leaving today.

After the long sermon, bryan kept nodding off, and the girls escaped to the children's room as usual, it was time for lunch. Today, the food fare for lunch wasnt that great, with lamb kurmas (whatever that is) and super tough beef. I didn't touch any of those.

I still managed a somewhat big lunch and hurried upstairs to get changed for Amazing (g)Race part 2.

This time, the race was to be held within the hotel compound itself. We were flagged off and started off at the swimming pool. At this station, we had to cross the baby pool with as little limbs touching the water as possible. Details need not be given, as most would have seen the pictures at church. I rolled up my berms as much as possible, hence giving the "pantless' effect.

I cant remember the order of the stations next, but i know there was one station where we had to memorise the books of the bible and answer various questions such as the number of books between so-and-so, what comes before this, what comes before that et cetera.

There was one where we had to create a raft for "baby moses" which was in essence, an empty egg shell. We had raffia string, 2 plastic bottles and 2 drinks can. Our grp was pretty good at making the raft, which we completed in no time at all....but making the raft float across was a challenge. Haha. There wer 3 fountains and our moses was "drowning"! Then they raft kept getting stuck at the pump so it was really funny lol.

The final station was at the jetty, where we had to arrange scenes from "the prince of egypt" in chronological order. We completed it in a blink of an eye and wah la! We completed the race. We managed to stop a passing buggy and our grp boarded it back to the hotel. Chariots of Fire!

After the race, we had to hear the chinese side teacher give a "lecture" on what we have learnt from this race...it was all in chinese, i couldnt understand some things and was really bored and dozing off...lol

After this, i bought a few stuff for myself which i tot were nice, and then headed up for a nap.

When i woke, dinner had already started, so i went down and joined a table with english side adults and reverned chng. The ppl were all like sunday school teachers and there was gossip alr. Haha, quite interesting and reverend chng is quite a dynamic and interesting person.

After dinner, it was some china mission sharing...rather long but i thought it was kinda interesting to hear about the situation in china.

Dinner was followed by the youths being forced to be newspaper boys....i tried to escape, but was caught by kenneth...drats.

When i was done, i met up with bryan and josh then went to winston's room where we spent a long time chatting abt things to do with christianity.

Sleep.

Whitezinc

2008-05-30T14:26:00.000+08:00

CAMP DAY TWO, MONDAY (26/5):

I woke up feeling a little groggy...my sleep was kinda disrupted, with periods of wakefulness in between periods of deep slumber.

I grabbed my clothes and dragged myself into the bathroom. I did the usual morning stuff, while joshua kept calling to chide me to hurry up as we were supposed to do devotion together with winston.

Devotions was just devotions, reading of the suggested texts from the bible followed by a shot commentary and discussion among our own grp, led by winston.

After devotions, we headed down for breakfast and there i had an astonishingly big breakfast. Usually, i either skip breakfasts (cos i wake up super late) or just a piece of bread with milk. But today, no, i had the main courses, followed by fried eggs, then porridge with condiments (i had 2 helpings) and then i had 2 bowls of cereal! HONEY stars followed by koko krunch (however u spell it). All these washed down with a glass of milk.

After breakfast was the worship and sermon, followed by the grp discussions. These were immediately succeeded by lunch.

Having finished my lunch, i proceeded to change into berms for the amazing race that was to be held this afternoon. We had a briefing, a short ice-breaker in which my grp won, and then a water parade. Then, we were flagged off.

Kenneth told us that the station masters were all going to be "around the town centre". We were given an envelope which contained 100RM and a piece of paper.

We asked our grp leader for the clue, but our grp leader told us that there was no clue! He claimed that the piece of paper in the envelope was for us to write down our budget. So, we were under the belief that what kenneth said was the clue and set off full of confidence, unaware that the ENTIRE area on the map was the town centre.

We went from shopping centre to shopping centre in the mahkota area, searching for the non-existent station masters. We had a most wonderful time "window shopping" before finally getting fed-up and demanding to see the envelope. Then, we realised the piece of paper was the clue!!!!!! We were all pissed off, in a friendly way haha, and received anxious phone calls from the game masters. We all had a good laugh and set off for the real stations.

The station games were all based on Exodus, and we all had to read passages from Exodus before playing the games or performing the task. We had a melaka river cruise which was really fansatic, mind-blowing, awesome experience, jaw-dropping! *note the sarcasm*. But ok, i did learn some things frm it, and we had to do a questionaire based on what the cruise tour leader tells us.

Following this, we had to rush to our final station, which was to eat chendol. As we wasted loads of time earlier, we had to forgo the chicken rice ball. And when we got to the chendol stall, it ran out of chendol =.=....we had ice kacang instead.

Time was running out so we had to take a taxi back to the hotel...and the taxi had no meter. But oh well, we paid 10RM for it.

Dinner was served immediately after the race and following this, the 2nd worship and sermon. (2 sermons in one day!!!!! i can cry. lol)

The sermon was the final programme for the day and i returned to my bed, falling into peaceful slumber.....

To be continued..

2008-05-29T09:45:00.000+08:00

CAMP DAY ONE, SUNDAY (25/5):

The bus finally arrived after a stupid, long wait at the bus bay after the Malaysian customs. We happily boarded the bus and made our way up the highway towards Malacca. As the lush greenery of the Malaysian jungles rolled by, drowsiness overtook me and all became dark....

When i awoke, i found that the bus had stopped at Yong Peng, where we would take a short break before heading straight for Malacca. I got down, taking in the familiar sights around me, having been here a million times before. I bought 2 packets of twisties and a packet of chocolate from the small supermarket at the end of the compound, and then ate a small cup of ice-cream. I bought 3 small donuts, which of course, didnt match up with singapore standards. But nonetheless, it was quite ok i guess. The other people ordered noodles, chicken rice, bao et cetera and sat down to enjoy a quick lunch. At the time, i was feeling quite disgruntled because my auto-roaming was not activated and i had no network at all!

Before long, we hit the road again and i soon found myself in dreamland....when i woke, we were there already: Holiday Inn Malacca.

The hotel was newly built, and had an air of grandeur. The thick carpets, highly polished marble floors and wall, beautiful glass and steel effects etc. Holiday Inn truly lived up to its reputation. We were given our camp name tags, itinery and a welcome gift - 2 packets of mee sua. Then, we went up to see our rooms.

The rooms were pretty comfortable and cosy. 2 beds, and the bathroom came with 2 showers. It was really nice. I cant describe everything to you, but yeah, visit the website to see what it looks like. I have pics too, which will not be uploaded.

We soon had dinner at the hotel restaurant..buffet style with a very large selection to choose from. There were the main courses, salads, drinks, soups, porridge n condiments, breads, cook-on-the-spot counter, deserts, ice-cream and many more.

However, the food weren't all that great actually, it was ok i guess, but not fantastic. But whatever.

I joined with Joshua, Michael Teoh and Bryan during the camp, and well, i did enjoy myself, though there were taunts about _______.

We had a multilingual worship followed by ice-breakers. The people are all quite friendly and it seems like im quite well-known among the church members as Beng Hwee's kia and Jerry-soh eh soon. These are all in hokkien btw.

That's about it for day one. I found a bathrobe in my closet and it was long and swishy. I donned it and pretended to be a shinigami captain. It was quite cool. Always wanted a bathrobe. Haha

Whitezinc

to be continued

2008-05-28T19:13:00.000+08:00

IM BACKK FROM MALACCA!

Before i talk a bit about the camp, let me go over what happened on sunday.

It was the first time i ever played on the grand piano, up on the pulpit, in the sanctuary, on a family sunday, in front of the entire church, for the combined service. I was really nervous when i got up there and attempted to play a prelude...the keyboard felt stiff, and my leg trembled whenever i stepped on the pedal. Many worrying thoughts ran through my mind and i felt as if all eyes were on me. My fingers scrambled to find the right keys, hitting wrong notes along the way, each time i hit the wrong note, i winced and it speeded up my heart rate a lot and i was really nervous. But thank God, it was quite ok i guess and i didnt make any major mistakes, except that i couldnt really concentrate on the service due to my kanjiongness up on the pulpit...kept on thinking about the next song, and the next, and the next...

I was really glad when it was over. Managed to spend some time with my really great church friends, reminiscing about the totally AWESOME HILLSONG CONCERT the night before....and then Ryan had to leave.....but Noelle, Kevin and Gabriel were a real sport and they accompanied me for my early lunch before leaving for malacca.

I bade farewell to my friends and left on the coach....crossing over the causeway was a breeze, no jam at all! The customs were ok and we soon crossed over the bridge into malaysia, truly asia. There, due to some screw up in communications, we waited almost an hour for the next bus....people were all frustrated and the place was really hot! (thanks to me as usual) and the other buses were all churning out toxic fumes and everyone was complaining loudly.

The next bus came and we headed for malacca. It was an uneventful trip and we soon arrived at holiday inn.

To be continued...

2008-05-22T22:29:00.000+08:00

And finally, an update from me! Today was the last day of semester 1, and i must say im really glad the holidays are upon me again!

I went back to school for the last 3 days, but they were a waste of time....i found out some holiday homework, collected my scripts, collected empty exam papers and received my report book. Due to confidentiality reasons, i shall not be posting my results here. I only took 4 papers, the rest were all N/A cos i was stuck in the miserable hospital.

During this holiday, i must have loads of rest and relaxation, but i will also complete my holiday homework! I must be a role model and a good student...

Whatever...

Now, for some news from my school. Our principal, Doctor Ong, went for a heart bypass due to blocked blood vessels near his heart. He is recuperating well, but as its a major surgery, the school is naturally worried for him. Please do remember to pray for him if you can, even if u do not know him. Hope he recovers well, all the best to him!

Whitezinc

2008-05-12T17:32:00.000+08:00

I'm suffering from boredom....i never thought this would happen. Boredom at the hospital...boredom at home...theres simply nothing for me to do...

It's just com, piano, tv, com....i wake, i eat, i do nothing, and i sleep again....a vicious cycle...someone save me before i go nuts...

whitezinc

2008-05-10T18:32:00.000+08:00

Hallelujah! Praise God! He has healed me and allowed me to go home!

That's right, the Lord has been gracious to me and now I'm at home recuperating. I hope that this time I'll fully recover and not suffer from anymore relapses. The consequences would be severe if i were to suffer from another relapse. So yeah, no strenuous activities for at least 2 months. And i will 'quarantine' myself at home for the next week or so....prepared for boredom....but oh well, home's better than the hospital. Keep praying for me yah! Thanks

Whitezinc

2008-05-08T09:30:00.000+08:00

Hello all, this is my 3rd time in hospital and boy, i really hate this place. I cant bathe, i have no freedom and its super boring. Nothing to do...just whiling the hours away on that miserable bed of mine...not able to walk more than 3 steps away from the bed. The ward is smaller, and the food sucks. There's an intravenous plug in me and a new chest tube. Doctor says the relapse is due to over-exertion. I must make a mental note never to exert again...the doctor says for the next 2 months, nothing strenous. Everyone please take note...if it happens again, i wud have to go for a 2nd surgery. So please, no one must kajiao me or tempt me to do anything physical or i shall join a monastery and do sonic chanting all day long. Lol! Do uphold me in your prayers yeah. Ciao

Whitezinc

2008-05-04T22:13:00.001+08:00

Ahh...another sunday. Had a very bad nightmare the night before....details will not be disclosed. So i had a sleepy start to the day....and remained kinda lethargic throughout the day.

I was doing ushering today...but as it was my first time, i was really inexperienced and felt a bit awkward and incompetant. How uncool! For a guy like me! Just joking...hahaha. I bet i made ppl go "whaaaaat?" there.

So, after service, had a great laugh with kevin over the qigong, genital weight lifting thingy...lol. Saturday straits times if u wanna know wad im talking abt. Was kinda upset that my worship was cancelled cos of mother's day....but u never know, i shall look for the silver lining in the clouds.

Had the usual precepts lesson....then choir, followed by the corporate prayer thing by Pastor KC. Ryan was so kind as to follow me for lunch....tot i was gonna have a lonely lunch...Gabriel was a constant source of amusement, a real buddy. Haha. Kevin was the joke teller, story teller, being a constant joy giver. Noelle was really kind, and patient with me, even when i disturbed her during study. Uriah, was just Uriah. Haha

Thats all then. exams, cant post much.

2008-05-03T17:37:00.000+08:00

exams are upon us again....action stations! load the cannons! women and children to the lifeboats! do not panic! God save the queen! May the force be with us all!

2008-05-01T10:54:00.001+08:00

Im hot.

2008-04-28T22:35:00.000+08:00

one sentence:

i am myself. even if the world should change.

2008-04-27T15:51:00.000+08:00

Saturday (26/4):

I woke up with a joyous bubble forming within my heart...cos its weekend! My favourite time of the week. I suppose that cld be said of everyone. Haha.

Anyway, keefe asked me for ihs stuff, so being a very gd friend, i made a trip down to school to pick up my ihs file for him while on the way to baoling's hse for chem tuition.

After the tuition, which was pretty uneventful....i mean how eventful can tuition get, unless yr in a group tuition with loads of crazy ppl, i had lunch with my mum at some duck rice place where the duck was super fat and oily. But i did enjoy the meal...weather was hot, hot, hot!

I went home and lazed arnd despite having exams draw near....i read finish the whole of the "amber spyglass" in dat afternoon. Talk abt anbaric forces, elementary particles, Dust, rusakov particles, alethiometers, anbaromagnetism, intention crafts and the lot of nonsense that came from there. haha

I went for my cousin's one year old birthday celebration at swensen's holland v, and the whole world was there. All my extended family members, including kevin. So we had a pretty enjoyable time, watching the babies, waiting endlessly for our food to come, making jokes, reminiscing primary school days...i really ought to try the swensen's chicken rice some day, it looks good.

So yeah, i dont really have the time to describe everything...gtg

Whitezinc

2008-04-24T19:09:00.000+08:00

Today was the day of the first paper of my mid-years. Its quite a pockai schedule actually, today's the first paper, which is mother tongue. Then suddenly, there're one week in between before the other papers start. Weird eh?

Anyway, when i first came to school, it was chaos as usual outside the classrooms cos when its exams, they lock the classrooms and everyone just sprawls around outside their classes, clogging the corridors...books and notes strewn all over the place.

I maneuvered around carefully, saying hi and wishing people i know all the best. Then i came to my class, and joined the frantic flipping of notes before assembly started and everyone chugged along reluctantly towards the parade grounds.

Mari kita, devotion, pledge, announcements....the same routine before we could go back to our classrooms for the paper. Before it started, i had to quickly transfer all my stationary from my pencil case into a transparent plastic bag...some new pock rule they invented to prevent cheating.

I dashed down the corridors, to the various classes and patted many a back, to wish them the best, and got some back, wincing whenever they hit my left side.

Paper one was fine, im glad i managed to get enough points for my gong han, where i had to complain about some stupid china immersion programme, and the bao zhang du hou gan, where i had to talk abt singapore's service industry. It was fine.

But paper 2 was a killer! SO FREAKING DIFFICULT! I didnt understand a single passage, from the cloze passage to the last comprehension. I was really fraught with worry throughout the whole exam, and the cheng yu for it is "cuo shou bu ji".

Oh well, im prepared to fail it....

Whitezinc

2008-04-23T18:59:00.000+08:00

This will be a double post for yesterday as well as today.

TUESDAY (22/4):

No school for me today cos i had to go back to the hospital for a review. Got to sleep longer...been really tired after an exhausting monday back at school. My lungs arent at they're full capacity so i get breathless easily just by climbing stairs or having to travel around the school compound. Doors also pose a difficulty for me, cos if they're those heavy, self-closing ones, i cant really move them much cos my left side is kinda weak and not very mobile cos the wound would stretch. No heavy objects for me too.

Anyway, back at the hospital...the professor was located at the new kent ridge wing, which was rather cool and new. Makes me feel interested in becoming a doctor. Heh. I awaited my turn and finally got to see the doctor. I took another chest x-ray and the professor had a look at my wound. All was well. Looking great. Haha. The allery blisters were also drying off too, save for one.

So, he made me lie down on the bed thingy and got a pair of tweezers and some scissor-like scapel thingy. Then he went to cut the blisters open. I was a bit scared tho. I could feel the scissors snipping my skin cleanly...more clean than a normal pair of scissors we use to cut paper. And i felt a short pain as i felt my skin split open. Blood oozed out...along with some pus. He used a piece of gauze to dab the fluids away, and proceeded to cut a few more times. By this time i was clutching the folds of my pants rather tightly. Then took a bottle of alcohol and started to clean the blister...i was prepared for the pain to come. And it did. A stinging pain that hurt quite a lot. Expected anyway, alcohol makes all wounds hurt like shit, but its rather good at disinfecting them. Better than hydrogen peroxide anyway, that one can make you scream.

So i left the hospital for home....had lunch and spent the next few hours finishing a book i was on..."The Subtle Knife". The 2nd book to "His Dark Materials", more commonly known as the "Golden Compass". However, as the title suggests, its really dark. Some guy is gonna go up and kill God. Gosh. But interesting storyline....just dont get yourself involved with the dark materials.

That's pretty much it, slept the rest of the time, waking only to eat.

WEDNESDAY (23/4):

Today i went back to school again. Quite a slack day too...had IHS lecture in the morning, it was basically just an exams briefing...

Then had chinese, where i was quite pleased by my shi yong wen gettig 15/20, i expected it to be really low. Haha.

At chem, leo made a really retarded joke. The teacher was still hanging arnd after the period, and leo kept telling her "madam, your period is over". Then after a while, he added "omg, that sounded really wrong". And the class started laughing. Period. Get it? lame...

I had an mep 2-part writing exam after school, and it was total rubbish, and pretty hard. Everyone said it was so. Dont really care much abt it anyway, hope i do well in my practicals and main paper, it will pull me up.

My class got me a get-well card, and many people signed on it. Really touched by everyone. Haha.

Dinner time!

Signing off,

Whitezinc.

2008-04-21T19:08:00.000+08:00

Lol. Yes ive added ONE more colour to my blog. But yes, i know it sucks. Never mind. I'll try to brush it up after my exams...with a help from noelle. Oh, its so nice of her to offer help. Then maybe its time to increase traffic to my blog a little. Haha.

But i wanna stress that i just want to keep things simple, and the blog is simply a way to chronicle my life and to connect with a few friends and people. Lol. Also a way for people to know me a lil better. So yes, nothing too elaborate.

Haha. That's all for today. I went back to school....workload is crushing down on me. God help me. Exams round the corner.

Whitezinc

2008-04-19T18:12:00.000+08:00

Saturday...somehow this weekend feels really sian and boring....been at home most of the time except for a short trip down to keefe's house to pick up the bio textbook. I cut my hair too...its kinda short now, but not too bad i guess.

I read the latest chapter of bleach, which is another chapter of "turn back the pendulum", the history arc of bleach which tells of past events, approximately one century before the main bleach timeline. Quite an interesting arc, with a couple of loose ends being tied up.

I practised some piano, only to discover my skills have fallen back after 2 weeks of non-practicing....i shudder to think of what my violin playing abilities have become. I think i wanna drop soon, cant cope with it, its really tough. I studied some bio, but as usual, i havent really got the stamina for studies right now...just discharged, still trying to charge up.

Here am i....dying of boredom waiting for my best friend, Keefe, to reply my msges. Recently ive been quite disgruntled that hes taken to putting his phone away for work....meaning he replies less...and studies more...what a nerd ass. But i cant really blame him lol. I think im gonna be like him...the phone will not control my life, im gonna start putting it away and focus on other things such as my work too. Haha

Whitezinc

2008-04-18T11:23:00.001+08:00

Lol. After reading people's blogs....ive decided to put in a little more effort in posting. But no colours or pics, just plain black and white - the purpose of which is to reflect the fact that im really just a simple guy. Haha.

I've been seeing pretty a lot of emotional, deep and contemplative posts on people's blogs lately, which makes me wonder about myself. Maybe it's time to pour out a little of my soul.

Friendship - sounds like a simple thing, but ive come to learn that its really a big, big thing. And how that really big thing can cause my whole world to change. I love my friends, and im constantly trying to be a good and true friend to all who call me their friend. But i admit i havent been really good at it....im not perfect, i understand that. There're times when i neglect my friends, because of my own emoness. Oh if they only knew how i felt, the problems i face...but ive made a decision, never to let my own problems affect my other friends. They have enough problems of their own, i wun burden them with mine. I'll try my best, to bring a cheer to their lives, to strengthen my friendships, to let them know im here for them...

Im not really good at expressing such stuff in words so i better stop here. Just as a closing i want my friends to know that they mean the world to me. Small friend, big friend...old friend, new friend.

Whitezinc

2008-04-16T19:17:00.001+08:00

Today i woke up pretty late. I just felt so tired, couldnt sleep much either....was feeling hot and uncomfortable....and there were worries on my mind - mainly exams and certain pressing issues.

The exams are almost here and im soo not prepared. I drew up revision schedules, checked my powerpoints and am in a total fluster over my biology stuff. The lessons this year have been so disrupted and im really dissatisfied with my current teacher. I really wanna do well this term man. Also, im facing problems for my MEP cos i have been missing a lot of school.

Oh well, I guess i'd trust God and i know He'll surely lead me through....the best thing to do now is to look forward to whats coming after the exams...lols.

A really boring day....nothing much to post.

Whitezinc

2008-04-15T18:47:00.000+08:00

IM OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!!

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! After one gruelling week and enduring many discomforts, i'm finally out of the hospital. Here's a big thank you to my doctors and nurses who looked after me and led me back to health. And now, a psalm on which to meditate on.

PSALM 91

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say to the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom i trust."

Surely He will save you from the fowler's snare

and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers,

and under His wings you will find refuge;

His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

You will not fear the terror of night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,

nor pestilence that stalks in the darkness,

nor the plague that destroys at midday.

A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

You will only observe with your eyes

and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you make the Most High your dwelling -

even the LORD, who is my refuge -

then no harm will befall you,

no disaster come near your tent.

For He will command His angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways;

they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;

you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue Him;

I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

He will call upon me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble

I will deliver and honour him.

With long life I will satisfy him

and show him my salvation."

This is the Word of the Lord, thanks be to God.

Amen

2008-04-12T14:57:00.000+08:00

Heya people. Today is Saturday.

It's the 3rd day after my operation and im feeling really well. The past 2 days have been torture tho. Lemme just run u through my operation details and stuff.

The purpose of this operation is to stick my lung onto the chest wall so that it wun collapse anymore from pneumothorax. So i was wheeled into the operating theatre on thursday and i was really scared. I sang a few hymns and songs i knew and prayed constantly. Just before i went in, i heard the voice of a woman humming the tune amazing grace. I think it was kinda a real comfort to me at that point of time. So i went in, instruments all around me, and the surgeons talking casually with each other and with me. Then the anaesthesia came and i was knocked out.

I dont remember a thing. All there was, was nothingness. I woke up at arnd 1pm in the recovery room and the first thing i knew was....PAIN! It was excruciating, and i started crying. On a pain score of 1 to 10, it measured abt 8. I was quite immobile, couldlnt feel my legs and my whole body feels heavy and groggy. But the pain was there. I begged the nurses for pain killers, but it wasnt until a while later before they gave it and i felt better. I explored my body and found 6 tubes on me. One for my urine, 3 on my left arm and 2 sticking out of my chest.

I was soon transferred to the ICU and there, i spent my most uncomfortable night. It was hard to sleep and the tubes were really painful. And when they removed the urine tube, it was hell. My thing burned whenever i urined and it was quite bad. My chest hurt a lot too.

On friday, i was allowed back to the general ward. 2 of my arm tubes were removed and i felt kinda better, tho the pain killers made me kinda drowsy. I could only eat porridge and it aint much. Many people came to visit me and many people were praying. Im quite thankful dat God has placed me in a community of love and faith.

Right now, all my arm tubes are gone...thank God for the last one was beginning to hurt. Only chest tubes left and im really doing quite well. I have to practise my breathing exercises...must reach 1000ml by today and i hope there wun be anymore fluids coming out from my chest. I really want to go home alr. Oh well, dats all for today.

Whitezinc

2008-04-09T12:42:00.000+08:00

Yesterday had been a hell of a day for me and i feel i must blog about it.

TUESDAY 8 Apr 2008:

The day started out normally, with me waking up at 6am for school. The day before, i had taken mc from PE as i realised that my pneumothorax had come back. As the pain was less than the previous time, i tot it was not so serious and hence i did not take any action.

However, the pneumothorax persisted, and after much persuasion, i finally decided to go for a checkup at the hospital. But before that, i had a real boring school day with double amath, ponned mep to go home and had a terrible violin lesson. My intonation sucks and all, think im dropping after next year.

Anyway, i arrived at the hospital at arnd 9.30pm and it was a terrible long wait before i cld get my x-ray done. Lo and behold, it was more serious than the last time, and i had to be admitted immediately for treatment with oxygen.

I requested a Class A1 ward, but since it was fully booked, i had to stay in a B1 ward. That totally sucks. However, i had to be transferred to the ICU for one night. I had wires on me, oxygen mask all the time with 15litres of pure oxygen....and the worst, i have to be put on a drip!!! No meals, and the needle hurts man. Then i was confined to my bed, no walking, no toilet. To urine, i had to do it in some plastic bottle. Sigh...

Now back in a normal ward waiting for the cardiothorax surgeons to come and determine whether or not i need to undergo surgery...

Whitezinc

2008-04-07T17:52:00.000+08:00

Today is monday, but i shall do a post for saturday and sunday. People are complaining that i hardly update my blog, and i admit that be true...im quite busy hardly get any time. I try to do at least once a week tho.

SATURDAY:

It was a slack day. No chamber, so i could wake up late. I did some piano in the morning and lazed about until it was time for tuition with baoling at 1.30pm. After tuition, i did some super pockai maxima and minima worksheet. Couldnt do 4 out of 10 questions and i had a major headache from it after that.

Went to suntec for dinner at the nus almumni clubhouse thingy. $500+ dinner, but fortunately my mum has $1000 credits to use. There was an asics sale going on, so i bought a pair of shoes. It's electric-blue, so i tot it doesnt really go well with jeans and stuff. (agreed by some ppl, grrr). But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so i dun care. My hotness will probably make up for it =) lol joking. The shoes are really light and comfortable. Going for asics shoes next time, but i wun forget adidas.

SUNDAY:

Church in the morning. Felt that worship wasnt too bad. We had new groups for sunday school.

The usual lunch thingy, wad a waste of time....next time the people better get down to deciding where to go the night before or we shall just go to amoy street foodcentre. Sorry, its mid-term and im rather busy. Got schedules to keep to and loads of work.

We went to holland v, kevin could join us! Ate at subway again....lol. Cos uriah requested it. I dun really mind. Holland v is a nice place.

Oh well, nothing much to post. Im actually trying to squeeze this in before my tuition starts. And i just got home from piano. Only have one hour in between.

Whitezinc

2008-03-30T17:18:00.000+08:00

Saturday & Sunday....2 rather eventful days. Happy Birthday to Kelly! (29th March)

So yup, things that happened on saturday:

Read the latest chapter of Bleach before going to play a bit of piano...then i went to school to return my st. johns flag day tin. Met a lot of other school st. johns along then way, and generous as i am, i donated 50 cents...or rather my mum donated 50cents....to a poor st. johns guy standing in the hot sun. I pity them greatly...hahaha. I escaped the flag day, i just collected my tin, asked arnd in school for donations before asking my family members and dumping my own money in.

Right after the returning of the can, i ran up to my classroom to get my chem file from the locker...passed by a lot of noisy band members, all out of tune, worthless before me. LOL, i sound so ego. Then i met some 4.17 guy also collecting stuff from his locker, ive never known his name....why do i even bother mentioning him lol...went to baoling's house for tuition. Her mum was there, she looked kinda scary...i shouldnt be there, baoling ought to be resting after her pregnancy. Oh wells, my only comfort is that they requested for my presence, not the other way round. LOL, another ego thought. I saw her baby too, quite cute...hahas

One of my fighting fish died, and the other one was going to die due to an outbreak of whitespots - a disease caused by bacteria/protozoa. So i went to buy the medication needed to treat such diseases and oso bought new filter wool for my aquarium (a much cooler name than fish tank). I spent the afternoon treating my poor fighting fish - gave it a new tank, washed the stones, changed the water, added a pinch of salt and put the medicine in. Hope it recovers. Ive decided to call my fighting fish, My Fighting Fish.

On to church, i arrived in anticipation of a good time with my frens just collating the bulletin and chatting. Kelly was there too, haha. Havent seen her in a long time. Had a nice time talking to her while ryan constantly shot me malevolent looks. I decided to dao him. Lol, and i know i made a bad joke...made a lot of bad jokes....so yeah, that soured the day. Im sorry ryan. Ive made a metal note never to say anything sick again about ryan. And to all, let me make this quite clear: theres nothing sick going on between ryan and i. He's just my best friend. If u got a problem with that, please come and see me.

Ah...we went on to marina square to have dinner at subway. As we approached our destination, i was going in catalytic shocks...and matters were made worse when the people insisted on taking me to walk in crocs. Horror of horrors! Trauma! Rheumatism! Wait, the last one aint a mental problem....

After that, feeling emo, i left the group to drink their coffee while i began a solitary journey back home.....

Things that happened on Sunday:

I got up quite early on sunday cos i was experiencing soreness and discomfort in my left eye. Upon looking into the mirror, i realised that my eye was super red. So i took some correction fluid and put it into my eye to make it white again. Just joking, i used the eye lotion to wash my eye and i felt much better.

Then i went to church, youth service was held in the much more spacious and comfortable choir room. The sound and ambience was also much better. I thought i was little unsettled during the service cos i din prepare my heart, but nonetheless, i do feel i have experienced God during this service....God did speak to me during the sermon too. I see that Gabriel is leading worship on the 3rd week of april. I wish him all the best.

Kelly came to my church again today....i hope she likes our church, maybe she can drop by again if her mum allows, that would be nice =)

We went to Tiong Bahru plaza and had lunch. As usual, everyone was thinking i was a flirt again...im so NOT! Just because im hot doesnt mean im a flirt kay? Met jonathan poon and discovered something new abt him. Haha. He can teleport. So scary.

Thats pretty much it for now,

Love Whitezinc.

2008-03-28T22:02:00.001+08:00

Today must be one of the slackest days ever. A good day too.

I collected my st johns flag day tin can....tho im not going for it. i spent the day soliciting money from schoolmates, classmates, friends and teachers. Then i added my own money to it.

There was track and field meet today. i ate the new curry don, not bad actually, but ive tasted better. The track meet was super boring, and it was super hot. Doesnt help dat im there some more...temperatures were soaring man, if u catch my drift. Played the stupidest game of truth or dare, and when asked how hot i thought i was one a scale of ten, TEN OF COURSE!

Ah well, went for jiang later....and i was soo tired dat i was asleep some of the time...

Thats all for today,

Whitezinc

2008-03-25T17:05:00.001+08:00

Hello.

Today i had double amaths period! I was like dying in the lesson lah. This was immediately succeeded by language arts B....can u imagine the morbidom and torture i had to go through?? By that time i was super hungry....but still had to go for chem prac. I couldnt understand anything i was doing in the lab, so i anyhow mixed the chemicals, got some rubbish results and i copied the rest. After that, i went down the the SAC to have cum rice aka or oyako donburi. Today was a morbid day. I took a slow walk up after recess by the long route to chill and emo a bit.

I farted in cmaths class...and tried to feign pretence by waving my arms arnd and pretending someone else did it. My classmate saw me and he was laughing quite hard. He asked me what i was doing, i said somebody farted. And for some strange reason, my other classmates in the vincity and myself started to go into fits of hysterical laughter. Ha ha.

Ponned mep today so i could go home and finish some of the work dats been piling up on me...

For those who have been bugging me...THERE WILL BE NO COLOURS ON MY BLOG. lol.

Whitezinc

2008-03-21T22:22:00.000+08:00

Hello. Finally i get a chance to post.

Today it's Good Friday...the day my Saviour and my King died for me. I am reminded of His great love for me...it's truly amazing.

Anyway, i thought i was rather distracted in service today....couldnt really focus on worshipping God...Good Friday ought to be more solemn and contemplative...sigh. The singing was horrible too, for the youth choir. I should put in more effort and really give my best for God. Hope i do better on Sunday..

I went for lunch with my grandparents and aunt at some new hokkien restaurant. The food's ok, but the mee sua sucked. Thought it was a bit soggy and bland tasting. The vegetables were noxious too. But the hae cho was really great.

Kevin invited me to his house in the afternoon...so i agreed. Lo and behold, the rest of the gang decided to come too....so there we were, playing pool and just doing nothing....as usual. Was kinda tired tho...and had to go for Jiang after that...what a bother.

Ok then, thats abt all for today. Wish holidays lasted a lifetime....

Whitezinc

2008-03-16T20:58:00.000+08:00

Hello, long time no post.

Haha, ive been really lazy hence the lack of posts. Anyway, the march hols have come and gone, and must say that its been really boring for me. Lots of work too...year 4 is like the busiest year i ever had.

Today, i went to church as usual....went out with ryan, gabriel, uriah and noelle after that. We spent time just walking around marina square and going to the esplanade library. It was quite nice just chilling with these people haha. Felt quite tired after that tho....

Bracing myself for term 2...seems like its gonna be a tough one. May God help me through it...

Emoness threatens to descend upon me again...sigh, will the tunnel ever end?

Signing off,

Whitezinc

2008-03-07T22:23:00.001+08:00

Gosh, i havent had time to post this whole week...lol. Busy, busy, busy....rushing work before the term closes. And the worst thing is.....MORE WORK! For the holidays.

But thank God for the holidays...finally a chance to sleep late and slack a bit. Haha. I've planned out my work schedule....shld be able to finish them on time. Looking forward to having a bit of fun this hols too!

Anyway, had a real great day today. I was actually put on the st. john's sub-committee! Glad to see that my efforts really paid off! (Actually, we were put on because only 5 people turned up for st johns....=.=)

Also, today i got my new phone and my new ipod touch! So to those people who know me, my handphone number will be effectively changed from 8th March 2008, Saturday onwards. Please approach me if you wish to obtain my number. Alternatively, i'll be msging ppl in my contacts to inform them of this change. If i have missed you out accidentally, please feel free to inform me too.

That's all for today. Hope i'll have more interesting things to post next week. Haha

Signing off,

Whitezinc

2008-03-03T21:21:00.001+08:00

Today i said a prayer

The same one I've always prayed

Hoping that He will hear

And lift me from the deep

A year has gone by now

Yet nothing has changed

He does not seem to hear.

All there is

Is silence

Yet still i wait and still i hope

My cry goes up

How long?

2008-03-01T21:52:00.000+08:00

"Sing ACS forevermore. Our ACS forever! God save our land and heaven bless our ACS forever!"

Today's founder's day! But actually, the whole thing was really sian....the UYOs all got drenched in the rain, and i had to play for the service. Service was rather long boring, with many speeches and a long awards presentation. Fortunately, it was shorter than the friday one. Oh well, wish we didnt have to do the celebrations on a saturday....other schools did theirs on the weekdays, why cant we?? Lol.

Did nothing today again....gosh, i din know i was so no life. Haha. Never mind, looking forward to the march holidays.

Nothing to report today,

Captain Whitezinc

2008-02-29T20:27:00.000+08:00

SIANN....i fell sick again today....

I had stomachache all night and i couldnt sleep. woke up every hour until i couldnt take it anymore and told my mum. So i didnt go to school today, and went to see the doctor. Doctor says it was wind in my stomach.

So i had a really boring day. Spent most of my time just sitting around the house. Played a bit of piano too. Didnt have much appetite for lunch too. Slept in the afternoon again...

Still feeling emoo today. Wonder what next week would be like.....looking forward to the march holidays. Heh.

Would you be the one who would brighten my day?

2008-02-28T21:12:00.000+08:00

Hey all!

Today. A really sian day. Alienation, isolation, desolation, desperation....things to describe how i feel. Lol, day 2 in my new class. My classmates are really nice people, but i guess its too early for me to be part of the class...takes a couple of weeks to adjust i guess. Feel rather lonely at times and i miss my old class....im sorry i had to leave, but it's for the greater good....(now dat sounds familiar, wonder where i heard it before).

Well, i've been going back to old friends and ex-classmates for support and encouragement. Never thought i would say this, but im really grateful to have many good friends out there. People who prayed for me, talked to me and advised me.

Sheesh, what an emo post. Haha. Nothing much to talk about today. Lol, hope tmr will be better.

Signing off,

Captain Whitezinc

2008-02-27T22:20:00.001+08:00

Hey. So it's my first ever post on my first ever blog! I've decided to keep my blog plain, no tagboards or any fanciful stuff. haha

It's never occured to me to keep a blog before, but i guess i really should chronicle my life so i may look back and laugh at myself. Also, so i may go and tell grandfather stories to my future children and grandchildren (lol, great future planning eh?)

So yes yes, things that happened today:

I changed classes today! from 4.15 Noah to 4.13 Cornelius. Haha. I'll miss 4.15 for sure. Thanks for the memories, you've earned a special place in my heart. Also, i'll never forget my 2.6 zebulun people. You all are always special to me kay?

So yup, look forward to having a great time in 4.13. i hope that ian wun be such a grouch. The other people seem nice enough, i just need some time to get to know them better and make new friends i guess. Haha

Oh, and to KT, hey we'll always be great friends k? Thanks for everything. I forgive u. Keep praying and trusting. Remember we're starting anew now, you'll give me a chance yeah?

So ends my first post of my life. Im getting tired now, wanna sleep.

Signing off,

Captain Whitezinc