this poem is so lyrical! gosh.

'i know why the caged bird sings' - maya angelou
A free bird leaps on the back of the wind
and floats downstream till the current ends
and dips his wing in the orange sun's rays and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage
can seldom see through his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

such a lively poem.

hahahha:D
i slept for 2 and a half hours in school today. too sleepy.
anyway, the j2s in taekwondo kept to their promise and all didn't come to school today except for my team pple. shows how hardworking we are:P nah.. i wouldn't have gone to school today if not for the fact tt i had to make up for my missed econs test like wed... ah well:) the feeling of having to go back to school even when u're exempted from school is not a very nice one. hahaha:D
i realise that i keep bumping into yos (draco's fac cap) whenever i'm with lydia...and i keep bumping into crystal whenever i'm with steph. how odd.i don't mind bumping into crystal 'cos i know her. but to keep bumping into yos is a bit weird 'cos i dun know her personally and everything we see each other again, we'll just stare at each other for a while and then walk away:P maybe one day (which will never come), i can get to know her as a friend. then it won't be so strange. hahaha:D
wah. i never realised tt my char on aardwolf is still there until today. haven't gone on like for one whole entire year. maybe i should just really give the char to derick. hmmm...

hahaha. was quite exhausted just now after taekwondo competition... even missed my stop while taking 13...but after a nice bath, i'm wide awake again!:D
taekwondo expose (pronounced as expos-zay) is finally over!:D wah. my team (vjc team 1) got silver. we really don't deserve the silver. got better than the other team when seriously i thought the other team will get gold or something. ah well. some hiccups at the last moment for them.
yup. we dun deserve the silver 'cos we train like much less than the other team due to lots of other commitments my team pple have... (me having chinese drama as well, meiyue having guitar comp, huixian having rash and wake...poor jitsy most prob is the only one who can train everytime but dun have us around. hahha:D)
i really thought tt we'll get bronze and the other team will get gold or something. was a little nervous before the comp...but i prayed to just place everything in God's hands. God will know wat's best. yup:)
and God truly blessed us today by giving us a silver:D hahaha:D was very surprised. hahaha:D
God blessed lily too. hahaha:D she was the only yellow belt person from vj, and thrashed all other 27 pple (where 21 were from tj) to emerge as champion. hahahaha:D
ah well.
i feel quite sleepy.
oh. and i'm suddenly so happy 'cos my school now ends properly at the designated time instead of ending at like 11+ pm at night. hahahhaa:D cooL!:D

ooooooffffff!
hai cheng's over! hahaha:D
it was quite a success.. *grInz* went much better than we thought (in terms of the audience, the participation level, the standard of the shows, the coordination of lights and sound...) longyuan and i were so delighted tt it's over tt we hugged each other and jumped around even when the flower spirits were still dancing outside:P
gosh. was quite a disastrous day... tempers flew here and there... longyuan was terribly irritated with fu lei(director of hua hun---the play i'm in) 'cos he was adjusting the lights for us during the rehearsal of the play longyuan was directing. and one of the pa pple was criticizing us saying 'i've never seen any concert where the pple are still adjusting the lights one hour before the play'.
i hope she realises that it's not a concert. and having been in pa in sec sch for 4 years, i've seen plenty of concerts and plays not finishing their lights EVEN WHEN it's just before the audience came in.
it's 'cos we only had one small week to practice the whole thing. and the play i'm in - hua hun-..only started practicing like 3 weeks ago? and it's a play in which every character's action has to be fine-tuned 'cos the background atmosphere will affect the whole scene quite a lot.
moreover, they only gave us 2 hours in the entire week to practice our lights:P
anyway. there's some pple i really am pei4 fu2 after the performance...
one of them to mention is our former chinese teacher (the 2nd one from last year). her art is really good! she drew the ying hua tree and she did it alone. yah. btw, ALL of the props were made by us!:D except for the sofa and the tables and the chairs, EVERYTHING ELSE was made by us! cool right? including the screen and the gui4 zi in third play 'gui4 zhong1 yuan2' they looked so professional we really thought tt the school bought it. i think they can sell it or something. hahaha:D
another person i pei fu is the director... even in the credits, he chose not to show up...sticking to his word of not asking for credit or name, nor wanting any cip points. i think he's quite a good director...hua hun would not make it in a mere 3 weeks without him.
and i pei fu jia yun fei, our assistant director as well. he had to direct the props pple, and most of the time, also direct us...yet his tone was still one of encouragement and everything. anyway, today's his birthday and we celebrated it for him after the performance. hahahah:D
yeah! the hua hun pple are going out on one of the days to celebrate...hehehe. and the director and assistant directors are treating us!:D now...where shall we go?;)
ohoh! wanna thank jits and steph and lydia and thongkheng for coming down to support:) couldn't entertain u all 'cos my makeup was really TOO horrendous.
my initial clothes have always been one of blue shirt and skirt, but then haimeng says tt the colour is too much like hers, so laoshi lent me one of the shirts she brought, which was...PINK:P and the makeup artist looked at my clothes, and gave me this horribly bright and 'youthful' style. i nearly died when i looked into the mirror.
hope everyone enjoyed the show. it's time for me to marinate tmr for taekwondo. *grInz*
one down.
one to go.

ooooooofff.
i reached home at 12am today! hahaha:)
had rehearsal today...our rehearsal was quite a disaster 'cos at scene 5, the whole pattern was totally messed up. then the director decided to practice after the rehearsal, which ended after 8.30pm.. i don't mind the practice actually:)
but then, laoshi started to make things difficult for us by saying tt she wants to meet all of us at ya xuan right after the rehearsal, and we were protesting and saying tt we need to go and practice 'cos there ain't much time left and everything. in the end, the assistant director just decided to let all of us go to the hostel to practice first and he'll explain everything to the laoshi. hehehe:)
nice jitsy brought water for me at the hostel! hahaha:D
anyway, i think i'm going to fall asleep soon. missed cg today! so sad. wonder how cg was...hmmm:)

something interesting at the polyclinic.
my mum went to help me get the queue number first, and upon asking wat i have, the nurse passed a mask to my mum for me to wear.
think she's afraid i might have sars.
hahahaha:D

hohoho:)
i got mc for 2 days. hohoho:D
but i wanna run 2.4km tmr! i feel well enough to run 2.4km tmr and i'd rather run it tmr than next week!:D
my niece is holding her wedding dinner at fullerton hotel! my gosh. i feel so old all of a sudden. her children will be calling my 'great grand aunt':| how appealing:P
didn't take my econs test today 'cos i felt tt i was going to just fall asleep during the test. mr chan wanted me to take my temperature and kept holding on to that notion 'cos i told him i have a sore throat, slight cold and slight cough...he went 'do you have a fever?' and went on about how pple do die after they exert themselves physically (eg. taekwondo training ---according to him, it's bad enough)...yup. so in the end, he went to the general office, with me trailing behind him protesting 'i don't have a fever...i really don't have a fever' hahha. the farnie thing is tt the general office doesn't have any thermometers!:D then mr chan said tt he can lend me his personal thermometer or something, then decided against it 'cos the idea's quite disgusting to the both of us:P
hah. silly mr chan. i think he was just trying to waste time.
yeah! the four of us could make it for training today!:D haven't trained together in quite a while...hehehe:)
saw cs today...talked a little to her...then saw cs' mum. hahaha:D they look alike!:D

this is my third entry of the day.
went down just now to the study room to study econs...with no success 'cos the study room had this mother teaching her kids how to do maths and she was super loud and clearly agitated. her kids apparently found it fun to go out of the room and come back in again and while doing so, did not quite realise the disturbance caused to other pple in the studying room. well. they're kids afterall:)
saw mingxian in the study room with this guy whom my mum says is not her brother. further spying by my mum (unknownst to me) actually confirmed this suspicion. how amusing. i still insist tt he's mingxian's brother though.
anyway, my niece is getting married on the 5th of june, which sadly enough, falls nicely on the second day of the church family camp:) ah well. i'll just miss the nice buffet in the afternoon and the dinner at night. mum hints tt i'll be missing out on real good food 'cos my cousin is rich and i think my cousin's wife is kinda proud so she prob won't allow sub-standard food anyway.
another cousin of mine is getting married on the 9th of august as well. and i got to know that he's a christian! think he's my first relative (distant or close) who is also a christian:) so it'll be a church wedding and all tt. yeah! at least i'll be able to attend that one. how fun. i don't mind attending weddings as long as i do know the person. think i'll find it most interesting if keming gets married. of course, considering tt he's now the same age as me, i've got a long time to wait before being the event actually comes around to perk up my life.
and i do hope that it'll be a long time to wait. or else it'll just be another shot-gun marriage, like the other cousin. marrying at the age of 21... and his wife is 19:|
hey! that's only one year older than me! how mind boggling.
i do wonder how i am going to survive tomorrow's econs test:) the cold has officially turned into a full-fledged one, all sneezy and running and nose-reddy. cough's still under control though.
yeah! jitsy's praying for me:)
oh no. speaking of praying...please pray for xinyi for her exams as well:) physics tomorrow and chemistry the day after..
how nice it is to be able to pray:) knowing that i can pray anytime, anywhere and everywhere, aloud or silent in the heart 'cos i have a relationship with Jesus. and Jesus, having died for me on the cross, have taken my sins in that i can draw near to God and talk to Him as easily as i talk to you, and that's called prayer.
how nice:)

is it good to reminisce about the past?
i really do miss nyj's bbgt...
it's always the possibilities that entice you to think back. the 'maybe's and 'what-if's... and the previous memories which u keep in ur mind, motionless and unmoving, stored in the prism of memory, distorting and dispersing one's focus on today's facts: that everything has moved on since the moment in time which u've kept with you.
-'cos time will pass me by-
not sentimentality that i have tonight, just wistful thoughts which bubbled through my mind.
might as well let them bubble through and be trapped no more.

it's the SASAH day. sick.and.stuck.at.home. hahaha:D
been drinking xia shang ju (eh. dunno wat it is in english...summer herbal tea? O_o) the whole day and ate these medicine lookalike lozenges with 2.5mg of dequalinium chloride each in them. let me check up wat it's for.
Dequalinium chloride is an antiseptic agent that is active against many bacteria, yeasts and fungi. It kills the micro-organisms that may be associated with sore throats.
well. i hope it kills off every of these micro-organisms...they're causing me to develop a cough and cold as well:P
quite farnie this morning...sent a msg to weez telling her tt i won't be going to school in the morning, then she sent a msg back saying tt she was going to call me to tell me tt she won't be going to school either 'cos she's sick.
just nice.
hahaha.
talking to joyce right now... joyce formerly from nygep, 2 years younger than me, was in my psg's class...but not in my group. then she went overseas... quite amusing talking to her:D
ooh. something interesting to note. according to her, apparently in her former class, everyone has accepted Christ except for two pple. ah. intriguing. 19 out of 21:D
i do believe it'll be an impactful class:D

ooof. it's quite painful when you spent half an hour in continuous typing at an average speed and all of a sudden the whole post is gone because ur computer has decided to throw a tantrum once again. how disastrous.
hahaha:D
nevermind:D
i wanted to say tt my family rocks 'cos all of them have suddenly decided to buy tickets from me!:D hahaha. which kinda amuses me a tad 'cos my dad will probably not understand anything...but nice of him to come anyway. yeah!:D
and there're more promises too...like for eg...
sarah who says she might be coming 'cos two of her classmates are in the plays...
crystal...but she's considering first 'cos her service is in the evening...i told her to join Yhope for tt sat and come for chinese drama night..hahaha. how evil:) see wat her response is first...
sean...he's nicely agreed to help me ask his class pple. hahaa:D and zhongzheng who has nicely agreed to help me ask the health and fitness pple, though i only talked to him today:D
i kinda pity the taekwondo exco pple though...'cos under the command of laoshi, they have to buy tickets:P
speaking of laoshi, i think she doesn't seem to quite like 1)singaporean students, 2)females.
she'll have this biasness while talking to females, seems to render them as more incapable than males. how odd.
ah well:D
i think today's chinese drama live ad was quite nicely done:D and it kinda influenced pple towards considering coming for chinese drama night as well...(although after the life ad, quite a number of pple kept asking me 'is Santosh in chinese drama?' one former VS guy even commented tt if santosh is performing, the whole former VS population in vj would go. hahaha:D)
i remember talking about prcs and locals in chinese soc...but i can't remember why. anyway, i was talking abt how prcs are actually very nice! 'cos they always keep the locals in mind whenever they think of something. do u noe one of the main probs we always address is the fact tt there's a lack of locals in the chinese soc? 'cos our performances will mainly be targeted at singaporeans, and it'll be weird with merely prcs... and they always consider how we'll feel while watching the plays and all tt. very nice pple actually:D sometimes the things they consider, i dun even think abt it:D
'hua hun' is coming out quite interestingly... scene 5, which is a very complicated scene and the highlight of the whole play, is one with lots of effects. quite cool too:D highly recommended to come!
anyway, i shall just type until here for now. will start a new post.

hohoho.
today's a day of studying at serene macs with twin...then a time of listening to their plans for lots of things (eg. birthday celebration...cg...presents...) hahahah:D interesting.
was trying to study for econs test this wed...but realised tt i forgot some basic concepts about money while reading through the notes...gotta clarify soon:P how disastrous:D
i find today a relatively more fruitful day than most days... spent quality time praying to God, spent time with sisters, spent time with my family, spent time for ministry, spent time for studying and going to spend more time on homework. heh:)
i just realised tt till now, all my shepherds' names start with the letter J. hahaha:D how amusing:) i wonder if the trend continues...

"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for ourselves this day whom you will serve.... But as for me and my household, we will erve the LORD" (Joshua 24:15, NIV).

"In Florida, two young men, eager to win the admiration of fraternity brothers, removed a stop sign and brought it back as a trophy. In Tennessee, a couple of teenagers wereat a party in a high-rise apartment, and one dared the other to slide down the trash chute in the hall.

"The Florida boys were convicted of manslaughter after a fatal accident occurred at the intersection. The Tennessee boy who slid down the trash shoot was killed by an automatic trash compactor and his friend was traumatized with guilt and grief."

Foolish choices made on the spur of the moment can lead to dire consequences. Choices made without consideration of the consequences can be equally disastrous. In fact, life is the sum total of all the choices--conscious and unconscious--we make. Choices we made years ago have brought each of us to where we are today. Choices we make today will determine where we are tomorrow, and next year, and the next, and so on.

So when it comes to making choices, as another has said, "Don't sacrifice your future on the altar of the immediate." And another, "It is choice, not chance, that determines your destiny." When making choices, it is wise in everything to acknowledge God and he will direct our path (see Proverbs 3:5-6).

And whatever you do, don't forget life's most important choice that will determine where you spend eternity. If we fail to make this choice it means we choose by default, and therein reap the eternal consequences of our sin; because we are all sinners destined for an eternity apart from God, love, and all that is good--in the place the Bible calls hell. If we want to spend eternity in Heaven with God, we need to make this our choice and act upon it by accepting God's Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior.

Again, whatever you do, don't leave your eternal well-being to chance. Choose God. Choose God's gift of salvation. Choose life--life everlasting.

restructuring.
the whole east jc cgs will now be under YEA. and EB will be under joy.
when jiali told us about the restructuring, it didn't struck me hard...guess 'cos it's kinda expected. think it struck the high school pple 'cos they'll be having a different UL and all tt... and shepherds and all tt...
i'd better start planning this week out. hahaha:D then after this week, shall plan the whole of my two months out or something:D yeah! i shall cultivate the good habit of PLANNING! DETAILED PLANNING.
yup:)
i think i'm going to miss the hs pple a tad.

"Taste and see that the LORD [God] is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him" - "Gustad, y ved que es bueno Jehová: Dichoso el hombre que confiará en él'" (Psalm 34:8, NIV).

A fellow shared how, in much younger days, he walked more than a hundred miles to see Niagara Falls. When he was about seven miles from the Falls, he heard what he thought might be the thunder of the crashing waters. When he askeda man working on his house if this was the falls he could hear, the man said, "It could be, but I don't know because I've never been there!"

Amazing! So near yet so far!

I grew up in Queensland, Australia, the state where the Great Barrier Reef is. It is one of the wonders of the world and I'd never seen it until a few years ago! When I lived there, I took it for granted and never bothered to see it for myself. Now I live in Southern California and am amazed at how many locals have never visited Yosemite or the Grand Canyon. Jokingly I tell them that they have sinned--by not going and experiencing these breath-taking marvels of God's creation.

Even more amazing is the fact that so many more have never bothered to taste of the goodness of the LORD [God], or have ever taken the time or interest to marvel at his greatness, to experience his divine love, or to consider his great gift of salvation with his pardon for all their sins, and the gift of eternal life which is there for the taking. They are so very near and yet so very far. And as God's Word says, "How shall we escape if we ignore [neglect] such a great salvation?" (Hebrews 2:3).

Still even more ...

How amazing it is
that God
should ever choose
to love me, a sinner.
But even more amazing,
and far beyond my
comprehension,
is the fact that
the Great Creator
and LORD
of all this vast wide
universe, wants
you and me
to love him too!

and i can really say that.
for that baby step today, i've done the best that i can.

-when the oceans rise and thunders roar,
i will soar with You above the storms,
Father You are king over the flood,
i will be still
know You are God-
today presented itself with a few tests on obeying God's word. intriguing:)
and when you choose to deny yourself (even just for a little while) and hold onto God instead, God did interesting stuff in my life:)
take for example, the dear adorable bio test... i must really admit tt i hardly studied for it... 'cos of the ccas and what-nots. i selectively studied just right in the morning...and thankfully the bio test qns were actually quite okay. hehee:)
and many-a-times throughout the day, things happen which made me really wanna throw up my hands and say 'bah!' and just go home, take the day off and sleep or something. hhahaa. tempation to just be an escapist or to just complain about 'me, me and more mes'...(like tt tv ad one bright morning assembly)
but u see, life isn't about me.
i wanna live my life for Christ, and if i wanna live my life for Christ, i've gotta see things in His perspective, and to allow Him to help me see the world through Him.
and i see... i see disappointed faces, i see fatigue in others, i see people making the effort to encourage... lots of interesting things to see.
and i see... i see what Jesus would have done for them. Jesus would have sat down and talked to the disappointed faces, to console them, encourage them, inspire them. i see what Jesus would have said to the tired people, to offer to carry our burdens for us. Jesus would have gone to the root of all the problems and offered solutions to all of them. and that is to know Him personally.
Jesus would not have thought of Himself. His primary concerns were the people.
though i felt uncomfortable just putting down my 'rights' for a moment or two... i would have rather liked to stay neutral and let everything pass or something, i know that i have to take this baby step to grow as well. and i'm glad i did.
may i take even more steps in diminishing my pride and expanding the amount of love for others instead.
it's an answered prayer too:D yeah!:D

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones" (Proverbs 22:17, NIV).

"Laughter may not be the best medicine, but it is surprisingly effective. While the idea has been around for a while, more studies are confirming the anecdotal evidence. In a study published in Diabetes Care, researchers reported that people with type II diabetes had a smaller rise in blood glucose then they watched a comedy program versus a boring lecture on television. A team at the University of Maryland found that people who laughed often and were able to see the humor in situations were less likely to develop heart disease.
"Researchers say people who laugh tend to be healthier people. In study after study, hostility and anger are associated with disease, and humor with health. This is especially true when you're laughing it up with friends. Research on support groups has shown that the effects of laughter are magnified when it takes place in a social setting."
Amazing isn't it? It's taken modern science to discover, or at least, to confirm, that God's Word taught 3,000 years ago; that laughter/cheerfulness is a good medicine.
Interesting, too, until the time of Christopher Columbus almost everyone believed the world was flat, and yet Isaiah, one of the Old Testament prophets wrote over 2,000 years ago: "He [God] sits enthroned above the circle of the
earth..." (Isaiah 40:22, NIV).
And over 3,000 years ago God gave the ancient Israelites strict laws by which to live, many of which had to do with good health and hygiene. God promised that if they obeyed these laws, they would be protected from diseases that afflicted the Egyptians. (See Exodus 15:26.)
If we also live according to the principles found in God's Word, the Bible, we too can have a much happier, healthier life. Naturally, we need to know what God's Word says and teaches if we are to live by it.

God promised to help me change my perspective of things around me. not to change the circumstances, but to change my heart towards the circumstances.
Not only did he slowly change my heart, he also sent by encouragement which renewed me and reminded me once more of my identity - a child of God.
jason sent an ecard entitled 'i dreamed i had an interview with God'...though i've seen various version of this ecard before, it struck me especially much today. perhaps it's 'cos i've been reflecting through quite a lot of stuff these few days... perhaps it's just 'cos it's a period of time which rushes by and leaves me yearning for God's comforting presence more and more.
strange that he should say 'Readjusting our lives, time & priorties is always a
thing to do so as not to sway too much away fr God's purpose 4 our lives..' 'cos i was just thinking a lot about matt 28:19-20 on wed... i was thinking through if i've been living up the great commission in my life since i've joined youth, and i felt that i haven't.
and then i was thinking quite a lot about friends and friendship in general on sat night...and i'm very thankful for twin:D and twin surprised me and touched me today by sharing her sentiments about the same topic with me, right after i finish viewing the ecard.
and i could very visibly and clearly feel God's love. i just teared a bit there and then.
i'm not a person who feels comfortable with heartfelt expressions of emotions and all that...not very good with words either...
but i just wanna say tt i'm really thankful to God for jason and xinyi tonight:)
and i thank God for all the understanding people in my life...i thank God for the chinese soc juniors who so nicely always try to involve me into their conversations and everything, thank God for my taekwondo team...thank God for laughter ('cos it helps to bond pple together too:D) and thank God for who He is.
the word thanks. my heart's swirling with it right now.
thank You Jesus for Your love for me.

so sad tt the only day twin can make it nicely to study, i can't.
nvm. we have an eternity to find a sunday to meet up to study:D
hope to see my twin soon!
hope to see the nygep pple soon too!:D
another outing? how about 1st of june?:D it's a monday! first monday of the holidays!
or 31st of may, if it's more convenient for more pple...:D

yeah!
vj's Viesta Soleil (meaning 'fun in the sun') is over! and it's a success!:D *grInz*
originally, i thought tt the whole event wasn't so hyped up and everything 'cos the school still seems pretty silent and only a few individual classes can be seen making the effort to make their store more 'glamourous'.
whereas for my class, nothing much was seen until thurs when thongkheng massed smsed the entire class and sounded like so stressed and sad and saying tt he's disappointing us and all tt, then we started to have a bit of action:)
but it's really on friday afternoon when pieces started to come together, and the store looked pretty good!:D much better than i've imagined it to be:D
but sat really amazed me 'cos the class stall had a lot of pple lining wanting to throw the balls at the cans...apparently it looks easy. hahaha:D and it's only $2...so well:) yeah:D i wonder how much our stall made.
apparently mr ho and kenneth both got 'tortured' on sat. haha.
the haunted house for funfair was good!:D nice atmosphere. they transformed the Lt till i can't recognise it:) and the person in the control room acted very well:) although i thought the food part was quite boring:P
yeah:D
service was quite interesting yesterday. they announced the schools tt were completed...quite nice to hear tt aj, cj, nj and rj were also completed:D vj too!:D can't remember wat other schools...but i heard guangyang, beatty and cedar...and all of them are around my area! hahaa:D
chinese drama rehearsal today... sat in vs hostel canteen for 2 hours listening to the director talk abt the scenes, positions, lighting... scene 5 is going to be so cool!:D hahahaha:D a lot of playing with the lighting to bring out the atmosphere. i thank God i'm not doing lighting for this whole haicheng...or else i'll just be superbly drained.
me and jits reached 10 mins before time for taekwondo:D hehehe. and subsequently, everyone else came late:P next time i shall just reach early and buy a huge serving of watever food i want and slowly take my time to finish lunch:D haha.
i feel tt green pattern gives a weird feeling. it's very slllooowww....i like greenblue pattern better:D hope they call us to do tt pattern during competition...not sure if tt'll be a good thing though. 'cos green blue moves are harder to execute. yup:)
we had to be smuggled into changi beach club today. hahaha:) and smuggled out. so farnie.
think sir's very nice. he got milo and drinks for us for training every sunday, then he'll clean up everything himself. me, jits and huixian wanted to offer our help, but he says it's okay. think he treats us as his friends or children or something.
i think he needs a constant company, always there.
oof. i'm getting sleepy. nearly fell asleep just waiting for the bus at the busstop today. hahaha:D
no school tmr! wheeeeeee~

:D
:D
:D
tired.
:D
:D
:D
eh. interesting cg. hahaha:D
:D
:D
:D
look at the smileys, ain't they nice?:D
:D
:D
:D
i wanna take lots and lots of night strolls!
:D
:D
:D
buy chinese drama night tickets from me!:D:D:D i'll be there on the night itself!:D

hey nina! yep. i know u haven't vanished off the face of this earth:D speaking of which, why do they call it the face of the earth? where's the back of the earth then?
surprisingly, i've grown to quite enjoy this busyness tt surrounds me these days... i think the human body will modify to get used to increasing stress. although i seriously do thank God for giving me His strength and joy...'cos as much as my human body moulds, if it was me last time, normally by this time i would have broken down and started to throw everything off my back. hahaha:D scream and shout and seclude myself (just to sleep) once i reach home and refuse to do hw or something. yeah!:D
so yup. i thank God for giving me His joy while i do things as well..for opening my eyes to be able to see the multiple things i'm doing at a particular time. like going to for chinese soc today when i had no rehearsals...i accomplished the task of collecting ticket money from the pple present, being able to talk more happily to the teachers, able to know my juniors much more, able to talk to sun xu a bit more, able to know lijia much much more (in the past few days, she surprised me a tad. hahaha:D saw this side of her which i've never ever seen before) and we had fun playing with the keyboard. able to help in their rehearsal by singing out the lyrics for the musical for tt particular play. yup:D
all these were done within 2 hours:)
and then there was the meeting up with cs:) quite an enjoyable time too 'cos she's so excited about praise and worship and service and cg. *grInz* we talked here and there, she shared, i shared:)
oh! had qt early in the morning at 7am at the grandstand today. hahaha:) with jiali and cs:) jiali initiated it. she said she sent the msg to jits too...but i think jits' phone is a bit... hmmm...slow. hehehe:D
school was like...school. except i did keep wanting to fall asleep. hahaa:) ate a lot today though:)
yeah! cg tmr's at gwen's house! nice and comfortable. hahaa:) i like cg's at houses! they're all nice and comfortable:D basically i like cgs:) as i said before, it's a nice time of enjoying one another's company and to have genuine fellowship:)
oh! let me share abt this science-fiction book i'm reading. it's called 'Prelude to Foundation'. the front plot wasn't so nice but as the book progresses, it gets more and more interesting:) naturally, such a nice sci-fi book is by Asimov. haha.
everyone can try reading it!:D

:D
i do not chop up wooden planks.
hahhaa:D
ooof. my back muscles and arms hurt from too much pulling back and punching:) hehee. went for taekwondo today only at 6+pm 'cos i had chinese drama rehearsal before tt...i think the last scene of 'huahun' will be quite intriguing.
oh. by tmr morning, my name and phone number will be displayed all around school:P order chinese drama night tickets from me!:D:D:D
anyway. evening was quite an interesting time for me...'cos i wanted to pass the vj funfair ticket to jean, then i didn't really know how to get to her house and everything...hehehe:) was advised to take 55, then to walk, so tt's wat i did, i took 55 and was advised to stop at a busstop tt would take me near to lorong ah soo:)
however, the bus stop i stopped at was 3 busstops too late and i couldn't find blk 412 (which is a block which jean knows and has a 55 busstop in front of it... it happens to be where Joy lives too!:D). thinking quickly (muahahaha:D) i called joy to ask her about directions...hahaha:D then i realised tt well, i had to walk 3 busstops back:|
one busstop was super far from the next one. i felt as if i walked 5 km or something:) anyway, it was nice to see jean after walking for a while. hahaha:D she took me around and introduced hougang to me:D very nice of her to take me to macs even when she could have gone home after seeing me and getting the ticket from me. thanks sister!:D
actually i'm quite enjoying the preparation for chinese drama night and taekwondo competition...just tt to have both events clashing so horribly badly is not particularly good for productivity. ah well:)

oof. my soles hurt:) 'cos of the nice pebbled flooring at kembangan cc:) hehe.
yeah! i'm in the games comm for the hs and jc camp. hahaha:) there were only 8 names at the moment 'cos some ULs missed to dateline to submit a name. intriguing:) anyway, michael and freddy are both inside the games comm too:) Cathy was overall i/c, there were three other sisters called xiaoting (from stnick's), rachel (from deyi sec) and another sister from AHS of whom i currently can't remember the name. how disastrous. haha:)
anyway, i'm really broke today. was wondering why when i realised tt it's 'cos i haven't collected money for the vj funfair tickets, and the $60 came out of my allowance. thanks to jit for her kind sponser of the hotdog bun with cheese (!!!:D) and to both jit and huixian for their drinks. hahaha:)
reached super early for taekwondo today. 5.30pm. hahaha:D huixian and jit reached 15 mins later...then the j1 guys came. then apinum came too (which was quite surprising 'cos i thought he wasn't taking part in the comp). ah well. we practiced a bit, talked a bit, guessed song titles, was bored for a little while...and then we play bball! hahaa. 'cos one of the j1 guys went to ask if we can borrow the bball...seeing tt terence sir hasn't reached yet.
me, priya, api and this prc guy was in one team, while huixian, jits and the 2 j1 guys were in the other. hahaha:) quite an interesting game.
after taekwondo training, me, jits and huixian were waiting for huixian's mum to drive us back. hahaa:) then sir came to talk to us, asking us where we live tt kinda stuff. had this feeling tt he wanted to talk (as in, normally, like how friends talk), but then didn't know wat to talk about so he just talked about our team and the pattern. jitsy commented tt he gives the feeling tt he lives alone. i think he needs to have more friendships outside the taekwondo world. 'cos he seems to be only talking to his students. hahaa:)
ah well.
i just remembered tt the chinese song which was written to express love to God but was used by the secular world for other more meaningless reasons was the song 'wo yuan yi wei ni' by faye wong. the composer was annointed by God to compose the song..and it really touched the hearts of many. just tt well, the original meaning behind the song is lost 'cos many pple dunno the past behind the song.

sometimes while talking to some people, i feel a tad irritated.
but the bible tells us to correct gently, and to 'love thy neighbour as thyself'. i've got a lot to learn about love:)

upon stumbling unto some pictures of former HSEB6, i realised with a shock tt they occupied the rooms on the same level as we did during last yr's excellence camp:D and it's on the same side. so it's like their rooms, then beside beside them were us. so interesting. hahaha:D sorry. just found it quite amusing:)

was reading through january's chatlogs...and i suddenly realised tt there were supposed to be 7 tj pple from Hope...dunno wat happened. maybe it was 7 vj pple instead? hahaha:D 'cos from one of the conversations, jt was telling me 'now 7 tj pple can huddle around huixiu and get her to come for service'...and then i was saying 'yah...and they can all play touch rugby with eunice too'. hahaha:D nvm:D
it'll be cool to see 7 tj pple from Hope though:D
had chinese soc rehearsal early in the morning... i wonder about my poor ticket sales. and i wonder when the xuan chuan zu pple will start xuan chuaning... hmm. and i wonder if the taekwondo comp date is indeed postponed 'cos vanessa didn't seem to know abt it. hahaha:D i've gotta admit though...the student director for 'hua hun' is indeed very good. he was especially asked in to direct by fuwang and long yuan...and he didn't want any cip points nor any credit for directing the play:D he was quite professional too:)
ohoh! i went up to the hostel room...was looking for luxi...then i decided to look for jitsy...but jitsy was out of the hostel:)but i left a message for her on the corkboard:) the hostel lift is quite cool i feel... and the scenery is beautiful! really!:D makes me feel like moving into the hostel too:)
then went for taekwondo... realised tt u can pay using the ezlink card at tamp macs. cool right?:) taekwondo was at changi beach club...which had a beautiful swimming pool tt was just tempting pple to jump into it. but the hall we practiced in was quite dusty:P
yeah! our team (consisting now of me, jitsy, huixian and meiyue) has a nice coordination, all thanks to 'chanting' of '1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, up, kick punch, kick and guard and kick and up.....' ah well:) the team formation (well. not much of formation) is out too!:D
cool!

this is xinying saying a hi to sengtuck who is most likely reading this.

-i refuse to give up
i refuse to give in-
hahaha:D had our last cg404 meet today:) quite inspiring... makes me motivated to do much much more! quite a heartwarming cg404 today:D hehehe. ULs affirmed their units, and we affirmed the ULs (each unit to each UL, of course:D) lots of singing, lots of lifting pple up (*grInz*) and for other groups, some tearing:) lots of squeezing and tickling too. ('cos everyone from YEB who was there was female...)
-cause even the impossible is easy
when we got each other
one day we're gonna get so high-
and we danced vj mass dance (parts of it anyway) in the america room...hehehe. farnie. hope it didn't bore the other sisters out... so sad! i can't remember the nyj mass dance! i couldn't believe it. could remember it so vividly last yr. ah...
quite sleepified:) had sports meet yesterday...hahaa. ursa won. ah well. their cheerleading was quite pro... quite... (as a teacher says) sexy. but nevertheless, draco still rocks!:D *grInz*:D biased. nah.
i feel as if i'm talking nonsense. haha. tired. maths test wasn't particularly fun. too hyperactive in the afternoon:) i still feel like singing though... (not a very good idea 'cos i've got not much of a voice left:)
chinese soc and taekwondo again tmr:) here's the start to my hectic few days before things get a little better again:D
saw a verse today tt's very encouraging
Isaiah 42:16 -'Along unfamiliar paths i will guide them; i will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things i will do; i will not forsake them'
oh yah. forgot to mention. saw how small a mustard seed is today... priscilla bought a bottle of them. *grInz* really small. i'm waiting for the day tt my faith will grow to be as 'big' as the mustard seed and my hdb flat will move to nexus on its own.
okayokay kiddin':D

"The heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 1:19, NIV).

Splashed with bright white paint right across the side ofthe garbage truck in large, bold letters, a baffled university student had written, "Where is God?"
Most people wonder about this same question at some time or other. If there is a God, how can we know that he exists and how can we find him?
In some ways God is like an atom. You can't see him with the naked eye but you can see evidence of his presence and power everywhere you look.
For instance, God shows himself to us through creation. As David the psalmist said, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day afterday they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world."
In My Search for the Ultimate, research scientist Lambert Dolphin Jr. writes, "Confronted every day with the mysteries of space and the atom, I continue to be amazed at the complexity and order of our universe. From the
sub-microscopic realm of the atom to the expanding reaches of the galaxies, our universe runs like intricate and well-oiled clockwork according to great physical laws which never change or falter.
"Our sun, which is the nearest star, a hundred earth diameters across, is 93 million miles into space. Each day the sun supplies our solar system with heat, power and light at the rate of a million billion, billion horsepower! Yet it is only an average star.
"Our island universe of stars which we call the Milky Way is 100,000 light years across. If we could travel at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second), it would take us 100,000 years to traverse the Milky Way! Yet this is only one of a billion or more such island universes stretched out in every direction from our earth to distances measured in billions of light years."
However, one doesn't need to be a scientist to see and feel the greatness of creation all around us.

"From one man he [God] made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring'" (Acts 17:26-28, NIV).

As noted, one doesn't need to be a scientist to see and feel the greatness of creation all around us. Vacationing on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, I
marveled at the wonders of nature--the grandeur of rolling hills, the brilliance of spring flowers, the majesty of cliffs rising from the sea with the waves crashing rhythmically against them and pounding lonely, deserted beaches.
I watched a sea gull, beautiful and agile, swooping over the waves, tipping its beak into the water to pluck a tasty meal from the sea. I marveled at the grace of a huge pelican, stretching his wings to a span of eight to ten feet as he soared effortlessly above me.
So many marvels to see: a playful porpoise dodging beneath the bow of our boat, gliding with ease through the crystal clear water; a curious fur seal, popping out of the sea in answer to a child's call; a kangaroo bounding across a distant field; and a koala high in a eucalyptus tree.
Later, a million stars shone above to dance in chorus with a brilliant full moon and mirror their beauty in a now calm sea.
I have stood breathless at the sight of millions of gallons of water plunging over the Niagara Falls, and speechless at the splendor of the Grand Canyon . I have walked in amazement in the Yosemite Valley where mountains of granite
seem to reach up out of nowhere to stab the sky in unparalleled artistic beauty.
"Did all this happen by chance?" I ask myself. For me it would take more faith to believe that than to believe that our world and universe were created by a Master Designer whose power and greatness are beyond human understanding.
Besides revealing himself through creation, God has also shown himself through the human soul.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word [Jesus, the Christ] was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made; The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:1-3, 14, NIV).

Besides revealing himself through creation, God has also shown himself through the human soul. As well as being a physical, rational, and emotional being, man is a spiritual being with a living soul in which is implanted a consciousness of God. This consciousness is made up of a "religious and moral instinct" which acknowledges a supreme being upon whom man is dependent and to whom he is responsible.
Anselm, the famous Italian theologian who lived in the eleventh century, stated that the idea of God in the mind is proof that God exists. Pascal, the French physicist and philosopher who lived in the seventeenth century, spoke
about the "God-shaped vacuum in every life that only God can fill."
Furthermore, if God didn't exist in the mind of the atheist, why would he feel compelled to disprove God's existence?
God has also revealed himself to us through his Word, the Bible. The Bible doesn't seek to prove God's existence. It accepts it as fact and simply says, "In the beginning God...."
In the Bible God speaks with authority, stating that it is his Word and that he is the one and only God. It is God's written message to mankind. Fulfillment of scores of prophecies in accurate detail is sufficient evidence to prove its validity.
God can be seen in creation, in the human soul, and in the Bible, but his final and clearest revelation of himself to us is in his Son, Jesus Christ. Not only is Jesus the Son of God, but also God the Son. Referring to Jesus, John the
disciple wrote, "In the beginning was the Word ... and the Word was God ... And the Word became flesh and lived among us."
When Philip, a disciple of Jesus, asked to see God, Jesus said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father [God]."
In life we all see and believe basically what we want to see and believe. If we want to see and believe in God, we can. If we don't want to see him, we won't. Most people do believe in God but it is an entirely different experience
to find him personally. The only way to do this is through Jesus Christ.
Jesus himself said, "I am the way, the truth, and life; no man comes to the Father [God] except through me."
It is our sin--by causing both spiritual and physical death--that has separated us from God and prevented us from finding him. But because God loved us, he gave his Son, Jesus, to die for us and thereby pay the penalty for our
sins.
His invitation to be a child of God is for all who wishes to come.

ah well. due to the fact tt my computer system doesn't have the necessary requirements for gmail to work, after logging in, i can't see anything:|
so sad.
ah well nvm:) shall try logging in in school then:D
it's qing's birthday today!:D happy birthday qingz!:D
let me try doing it in more colours!:D:D:D
hey qing,
Happy Birthday!

yeah. i signed up to try gmail.
100mb. tt's a lot:D
email me @ deborakia@gmail.com...dun think the add is permanent though:)
hehehe. so don't send me impt stuff through here!
chinese soc thing was a waste of time today.. one of the chinese soc teacher i/c, upon hearing tt taekwondo competition has been postponed to sunday, said tt she's going to involve me in more things again.
-times of refreshing, here in Your presence,
no greater blessing, than being with You
my soul is restored, my mind is renewed,
there's no greater joy Lord,
than being with You-

hmmm. the taekwondo competition date is postponed to the 16th of May (sunday).
today is a wednesday. and even today, i'm going to have cca. fuwang smsed this morning to ask me to go down for the practice of 'hua hun' 'cos there's a role for me. thankfully it won't take up too much of my time (i think)
the ticket sales are not too good:( i've only have 2 pple buying from me. more morE!:D it's only $8 for a quality filled time... improve ur chinese and appreciation for drama at the same time:D catch up with friends u haven't seen in a year, or two, or three! enjoy the infusion of arts and friendship in the comfortable luxury of the performance theatre in vj!
ooh. i'm so happy tomorrow's thursday. thursday means caregroup day...and thursday means it's a day off from cca:D a little bit of retreat from the hustle and bustle of the world, enjoying the company of brothers and sisters who has the same love as i do.
i enjoy being in the company of God's pple:) once u're in their company, negative aspects just seem to evaporate away:) u become delighted, joyful!
i enjoy the company of lots of other pple as well:)
the idea of enjoying a person's company... it's not just when the other person is particularly cheerful, or good-spirited... but even when the person is troubled, is thoughtful... it's just this natural harmonious feeling that connects you to this friend no matter what happens. and at the end of the meeting, you'll sense this subtle refreshing that u know only will come about due to you being in the presence of this friend u've met:D
ooh. the multimedia room is closing. i'd better get out.

heh:)
anyway, i was quite sleepy just now...feels better now. should go and talk to God and then go and sleep and wake up earlier in the morning to finish my dear adorable poisson distribution.
i think having a long day is quite exhaustive... what with 3 lectures in a row and what-nots... add in another exco meeting and taekwondo training and u'll find even more physical energy being sapped away:D but i dun feel as tired today as yesterday... grasping onto the strength of God.
attempting to do something now. hope it works.haha.

was just blog surfing around when i jumped onto a piece of good news!:D
Adeline received Christ!:D
Adeline was my classmate in primary 5 and 6...haven't seen her for some time until last year when i learnt that she is actually Joanna's cj classmate!:D got a nice time to get to know her better all over again through the Y-Acts event 'cos she was in the same group as me! X-Jameeah!:D
Adeline's always been a person who's quite strong in personality and will consider very carefully her decision in all things, as well as questioning her doubts out... tt's why even though for the past year joanna has been sharing to her, she never received Christ even though she did see the goodness of what Jesus did in joanna's life...
but thank God she finally made this decision and took the giant step of faith to get to know Jesus! 'cos i know with this serious decision, she'll be convicted and will go all out for Jesus!:D thank God!:D so glad that she can finally experience for herself the fulfilling life that God has planned out for her, having the knowledge that what she does will be for eternity, and not temporal!:D

hmm.
a bit tired out...
lessons. then chinese society exco selection...then comforting 'cos another girl cried after the interview today... appeasing 'cos a guy who's normally comical got quite angry...then taekwondo training at kembangan cc:)
how can a person be so... hardened as to be presented with the circumstances, the evidence, the facts tt she can't depend on her own strength alone and many answers are already given to her, quoted from the bible, shared from the example of Christ, and she still refuses to address the main problem.
but i feel tt Jesus will just use the answer to a qn the person asked to tell me how He feels.
'how2 luv ppl who hurt u?' -she asked.
tt's exactly what Jesus did. He loved us so deeply even though we hurt Him and reject Him so much... He forgave us for what we did.

i've been talking quite a lot to this brother called sengkim these days. quite interesting i feel. got to know a little about the backgrounds of my brothers and sisters in the cg...and got to know a little more about this brother's personality. intriguing.
had mass shepherding yesterday after service:) then they wanted to go shopping and jocelyn asked if i wanted to join them, so i did:D hehehe.
saw jieyun and joy (double js.. gracious. and i was with jocelyn and jingting:|) hehehe:) while we were eating at KFC:D
anyway, jocelyn and jingting were very farnie:D they went to pierce a 2nd earhole in their right ears together...and well. i think the whole process was relatively amusing:D
i saw yingrui and juncong at starhub foodcourt after service too!:D so amusing. didn't know juncong went to aj...he said i dao-ed him:P finally got yingrui's number:) their class is quite strange...they said they were eating there 'cos the food at the foodcourt is nice. no comments:)
went for service today too:) went with chiansiew and her sister chianli:D met with huichun and and sat with the nus brothers and sisters. hehehe:) farnie. worship for today's service was very powerful. oh! and today's only convert is actually derek's contact. *grInz* farnie. apparently he was sitting beside jason, but i only saw jason, never saw the contact. ah well.
chianli's quite a bubbly person:) looks a bit like chian siew too! hope she'll get integrated with the nus sisters:) seems to have enjoyed their fellowship though. hahaa. she was conversing with huichun and the rest and neglected chiansiew's poor growling stomach.
speaking of growling stomachs, it was quite farnie...'cos jiayan (name supplied by huichun. forgot her name. hahahaha:D) was sitting on my left, and cs was sitting on my right...and both their stomachs growled audibly during teaching. i have hungry pple sitting beside me:)
yeah! after service and after sending them off, ziwei was stuck with me 'cos she had shepherding with huichun and shepherding only starts at 3pm. hehehe:) so both of us went to bk and waited for twin:)
talked a little about Yhope and how it works... hehe.
poor jiehui. heh.
haven't seen twin for so long!:D didn't noe tt the west jc side has split into guys and girls cg... intriguing. they're trying to form a west jc sub-district:D heh. i think my twin has become the CL. and she's quite busy 'cos of a lack of ct pple in her cg.. hehe. poor twin. must pray for her:) her maths test's on tues...
oh! God saw how confused she was with her maths tt H sent Kim Chun down to centrepoint macs to teach her just when we needed help the most! hahaha:D so cool:)
went to look for jits and huichun @ Life bookshop after tt... then saw tamar, twin and priscilla @ the marks and spencers cafe thing...heh. farnie.
ohohoh! jits went to get new specs. hehehe:D quite surprised the son of the boss recognises tt i've been going to their shop since very young. hahaa:D interesting time at the optician...
and i wanna get a polo tee!!! i think they look quite nice to wear. hahah:D
i wanna cut my hair and train up to be able to run 2.4km in 10 mins too...but i dun think i'll be able to do tt now. hahhaa:D
oh. why cut my hair? 'cos it's troublesome to run with a ponytail swinging behind u:D

oh yeah. wanted to type abt this book i'm reading right now:)
it's called 'the handmaid's tale' by Margaret Atwood...recommended by miss choo in sec 4 but i never could find it till the fated day in vj library when i decided to read other books than agatha christie to pass my time away. hahaha:D
quite an interesting book. talks about a state whereby radiation has caused it hard to have babies...pple are either sterile, or the babies tt do get born are deformed...so it's like they changed this whole system until everyone has specific roles and all babies belong to the state. no one is allowed to go on the process of copulation unless you're assigned a wife. note the word assigned. the high ranking pple are called Commanders and they have each a Wife. If the Wife can't give birth, they can apply for a Handmaid. the sole purpose of the Handmaid is to give birth. they are empty vessels used solely for the purpose of reproduction. and the state uses bible verses which are quoted out of context and thwarted (eg. Blessed are the meek, blessed are the silent ????? ) to suit the purpose of brainwashing the people into believing that their system is the best for everyone. got some farnie parts here and there...like when i read about the Handmaids practicing the prenatal exercise everyday. farnie ah.
think the system's quite sad though.
author's style is good:) She is able to use LOTS of flashbacks without losing the focus and attention of the reader, very interesting style of writing. heh:)

-i live to worship You my Lord
and tell the world of Your great love
i live to worship You my Lord
i stand amazed-
i feel a bit tossed. like salad. hahaha:D farnie. i don't mind actually...but a little stability would be good. i think i'd like to be soup instead, surface unbroken regardless of disturbances, and always taking filling up any space left behind. stable, smooth and warm.
writer's circle was doing their ad for glosslalia today, using the live performance of a poem called 'television'...it goes a lot of 'look at me look at me look at me!' quite interesting i thought:D but a tad irritating when it goes on for too long:D i wonder how the person who acted it out feels... hmm.
things are starting to settle into their rightful places... chinese drama night preparations are underway.. i won't be there on the night itself, so i've requested for the teacher in charge to pull me out of the committee for the night itself. but everyone should go and watch it! we'll be having 4 short plays and one long one:D the long one is lyrical, soothing, on the topic of looooovvveee.. guaranteed to be great:) we're even requesting for some pple from the dance soc to perform in it:) so, everyone should buy tickets from me! $8 per ticket on the 15th may, saturday:)
as for taekwondo...the teams are chosen. we were like wondering how the teams should be split 'cos we have 6 girls and 2 guys..in the end, me, jitsy, huixian and maymay are in one group, while meiyue, leonardo, sean and vanessa are in the other. i've mentioned abt not being able to train on thursdays...hopefully something can be worked out with the others as well.
homework's starting to pick up again...thank God for the nice and understanding teachers we have. heh:)
OH! PW results are out today:) our class got the 2nd number of most band 1s in the entire J2 cohort. S64 is the first (Mr Ho's class! Mr Ho is our maths tutor) and s62 and s14 (izzit? can't remember) tied for third. 21 band 1s and 6 band 2s in my class...no band 3s:) the judges gave me very beautiful remarks for oral p. hahaha:) farnie.
thank God also for the PW results:) 'cos only 2 pple in my group got band 1s...(sad right?) ah well. thank God also 'cos during the qn and answer section, the answer i gave was something similar to what i have learnt in a teaching before, just applied in a different context. hahaha:D
chinese soc meeting was quite interesting today. the chinese soc president clarified rumours and answered qns for the first time in the course of these two years...which i think is quite humbling for him, but it must be done 'cos the exco was beginning to split 'cos of these stuff. was quite amused when the j2s were chased out of the classroom by the J1s who have decided to hold a meeting themselves to talk about how they should be serious about haicheng and everything else. whoa. superbly motivated juniors. so proud of them:)

Dear Friends,

The Gifted Education Programme Alumni Association would like to invite you to be part of our first mixer at Harrys Bar at Boat Quay on Saturday, April 24 at 5.30pm. Swing on by to reunite with old friends and to make new ones! This will be a relaxed gathering over food and drinks, with no cover charge.

Date: Sat Apr 24
Time: 5.30pm till 8.30pm or later
Venue: 2nd floor of Harry's Bar at 28 Boat Quay (near UOB Plaza)
Cost: Buy your own food/drinks

Please spread the buzz to your classmates through word of mouth or by forwarding this email - for this event, you don't have to be a GEPAA member to attend. Significant others are also welcome.

Kindly RSVP to wan@gepaa.org or elvin@gepaa.org. Your reply will greatly assist in our planning for this event.

Thanks and hope to see you there!

Best regards

www.gepaa.org

"Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?"(Jeremiah 23:24, NIV).

Tim Timmons and Stephen Arteburn in their book, Hooked on Life, tell about a middle-aged woman who made her way into an apartment building to the twelfth floor. As she arrived at her intended destination, she rang the doorbell impatiently. The door opened mysteriously, and she was welcomed by the smell of incense and smoke. She entered and was greeted by a slightly dressed young girl who announced her presence with the sounding of a huge gong. With this the young girl said, "Do you wish to see the all-knowing, all-powerful, the wonderful one, Maharishi Narru?"

"Yeah," the woman said. "Tell Sheldon his mother is here!"

We laugh at such folly in others, while at the same time, most of us to some degree hide behind some kind of phony facade. It may not be as absurd as what we have just read about, but when it comes to trying to hide from God, that's impossible. God knows all. He sees all. He knows who I am .. where I am ... why I am here ... where I am going ...what I am doing ... what I am not doing. No matter how I try, I cannot hide from God! No way. Period!

As David wrote in the Psalms, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast" (Psalm 139:7-10, NIV).

The best thing is to tell God who you are, where you are, what you want, what you don't want ... what you are afraid of ... what you don't want to give up, etc., etc. Only when we get honest with ourselves and real with God, can he (or anyone else) help us.

i just came home after a 3 hours and 15 mins chinese society meeting.
didn't have enough sleep last night and the night before, but i still feel quite awake. how? hahaha:D
nvm about it.
all of a sudden life is packed full. i wonder if i can pack the different stuff into different boxes instead of having these stuff scattered around for now. and i wonder if i should get rid of some stuff.
the main qn is. should i join the taekwondo competition this year?
hmmm.

i'm a bit confuzzled over the preparation of cg. how confuzzling.

What is your Linkin Park Theme Song by tarnishedestiny
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Theme Song	Somewhere I Belong
Created with quill18's MemeGen 3.0!

i love my brothers and sisters!
it feels so warm! this bond between all of the members of the Hope family:D
YEAH!
i feel super hyper again. nvm.

'Why' - Nicole Nordeman

We rode into town the other day
Just me and my daddy
He said I'd finally reached that age
And I could ride next to him on a horse
That of course was not quite as wide

We heard a crowd of people shouting
And so we stopped to find out why
And there was that man that my dad said he loved
But today there was fear in his eyes

So I said daddy why are they screaming
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why is he dressed in that bright purple robe?
I'll bet that crown hurts him more then he shows
Daddy please can't you do something?
He looks as though he's gonna cry
You said he was stronger then all of those guys
Daddy please tell me why?
Why does everyone want him to die?

Later that day the sky grew cloudy
And daddy said I should go inside
Somehow he knew things would get stormy
Boy was he right
But I could not keep from wondering
If there was something he had to hide
So after he left I had to find out
I was not afraid of getting lost
So I followed the crowds
To a hill where I knew men had been killed
And I heard a voice come from the cross

And it said:
(Jesus)
Father why are they screaming?
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why are they casting their lots for my clothes?
This crown of thorns hurts me more then it shows
Father please can't you do something?
I know that you must hear my cry
I thought I could handle a cross of this size
Father remind me why?
Why does everyone want me to die?
When will I understand why?

(GOD)
My precious son
I hear them screaming
I'm watching the face of the enemy beaming
But soon I will clothe you in robes of my own
Jesus this hurts me much more then you know
But this dark hour
I must do nothing
Though I've heard your unbearable cries
The power in your blood
Destroys all of the lies
Soon you'll see past their unmerciful lies
Look there below
See the child
Trembling by her father's side
Now I can tell you why
She is why you must die

ZZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ
at 4.14am, i woke up after a dream (a dream, not a nightmare:D) and was unhappy to go back to sleep due to three itchy mosquito bites centralised around my ankle region. to prevent the further onslaught of the invisible mosquito, i've decided to once again apply medicated oil (feng1 you2) to any exposed regions (with the exception of face and neck) so tt the mosquito will be irked away by the smell or whatever they might be irked away from. due to the fact the fact tt this medicated oil will cool the skin, i got really cold and uncomfortable. However, i managed to drift off to sleep:D hehehe.
early in the morning (goodness knows wat time), my sister came into my room and started to bang around the place, shifting my chair to the computer table, turning on the computer... once again i was interrupted from this nice pleasant dreamless sleep i was in at tt moment... due to constant typing noises and the warning tone which her handphone will sound once a message is received sounding very often, i was unable to carry on my sound sleep and had to be contented with interrupted, unpleasant short winks.
finally, being unable to continue like this anymore, i got up and decided to watch tv. hahahaha:D at 10.50am, while i was still watching this stupid variety show by wu zong xian, i hear the sound of an sms arriving at my phone. at 11am, i checked the sms, and ta-da! it was jitsy asking if i'd like to go for service today 'cos she's in the vicinity. figuring tt it'll be nice to go get some fresh air and in the meantime, get the things which i wanted to buy, but forgot to buy, from Hope resource:D, i happily agreed.
one bad thing is that to arrive there in time, i had to take a cab. in the end, i arrived very early and had to amuse myself looking at the books in Hope resource instead. hahaa:)
talked to marcus who arrived there quite early too. apparently he's helping with the tithing money or something liddat and they were going to have a briefing about it before service. then saw tom, who confirmed tt he did hear about the vj funfair from derek (heh. nice brother who helped to ask around!:D) but commented that vj is too far away from his house. then saw jason who said that he thought i was going to give him 5 free tickets to the funfair 'cos the bible says to honour our leaders. i wanted to bang my head against the wall. *grInz* kiddin'. then saw this sister from Hopekids who was in the same CLC class with me... but i forgot her name. hehe. ah well.
then decided to sms jitsy to ask if she's reached 'cos pple are already going into the audi, then jitsy called me to ask where i am 'cos she's at the lobby but can't see me. i decided to walk out into the light a little more and jitsy put down the phone. (apparently she saw me, but i still haven't seen her) then i saw junting and was about to exclaim when jitsy popped up in front of junting. hahaha:D farnie. we were like a few steps away from each other and still had to call to find out where each other is.
sat with the smu pple 'cos jt ushered us to the seats and said we can join them:D hehehehe:)
forgot tt i haven't eaten breakfast until i felt a bit woogly during worship. thankfully, God sustained me through till lunch:D hehehe.
fun morning, yah?

     crucified

    laid behind

      a stone

 You lived and died

 rejected and alone

like a rose trampled 

       on the 

       ground

      You took 

      the fall

      & thought 

       of me

      above all

met chiansiew at yakun today:D hehe.
forgot to bring my teaching so i generally taught her about some stuff and talked to her and such:D had a nice time..she's gradually opening her life up to me:) and through her life, even in such a short time, can already start to see how God is moulding this sister we have:)
we went to this corner of parkway tt cs knew was quite quiet...wanted to do qt together but we ended up talking more and sharing instead:) thank God for her heart to open up:)
i was just thinking about what junting told me on our official last shepherding...
and then i asked myself why i feel a bit saddened. 'cos i've invested in this life, and being able to see her grow, see her gradually learn more about the Lord, to change in the Lord, it brings great joy. as well as the friendship tt's built. but some changes must come, and these changes come for the better good of the church:)
yup:)
i wonder how junting has felt.
and i wonder how Jesus feels when He looks at all of us.
our chief Shepherd. the love He has for us.

this website is sent to me by both rosa and weiyang:D yup. quite colourful website. do it for fun:D
we had easter service today...which was GREAT! they started off with an impactful multimedia presentation (short. but impactful) followed by a ballet, followed by a narration (with much expression), followed by para para dance (which i thought looked relatively cool in accordance with the music...changed my mindset of para para...used to think it looks really stupid)!:D yeah! and then we had excellant praise! and a play about a court case against Jesus.
U KNOW WAT?
the most exciting thing is that for the VERY FIRST TIME tt i was in Hope, the WHOLE AUDITORIUM was BURSTING WITH PEOPLE until A LOT OF US MEMBERS have to sacrifice and SIT ON STEPS instead:D hahaha!:D but we dun mind! 'cos the atmosphere was so cool! i wish every week will be the same! *grInz*
the song presentation was a song called 'why'... it's a song tt presented different feelings of different people at the time of Jesus' crucifixion. very touching.
jean says she reads this blog. but she never said hi!:D hahaha. everyone who comes in here should at least say hi.
yup. this post is about the wonderful and touching easter service we had today:D let's have another post for wat i did today. hahaha:D talk so much.

bruised for our iniquities [sins]: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD [God] laid on him the iniquity [sins] of us all" (Isaiah 53:5-6, NIV).

Seventeen-forty-one was a very depressing year for George Frederick Handel. His latest opera failed. His Italian opera company in London was disbanded. That same year Queen Caroline passed away and the commissions Handel had
received for composing music for royal occasions all but dried up. A stroke experienced several years prior not only affected him physically, but affected his music. It seemed as if he had lost the genius that made his music so popular.

Late that year, Charles Jennens, a poet known by few, sent Handel a manuscript with a request that Handel set it to music. When Handel read the copy, the words gripped him. Suddenly he came alive. Immediately, he began to put the words to music. He labored all through that night and much of the following day. In fact, he worked day and night for 22 more days, barely stopping to eat or sleep.

When his composition was finished he sensed that it would be a true masterpiece. His "Messiah" was performed the following year and was an immediate success.

The words that Jennens wrote that inspired Handel and lifted him out of the pit of despair were about the Savior: "He was despised and rejected of men. He looked for someone to have pity on him, but there was no man. He trusted in God. God did not leave his soul in hell. I know that my
Redeemer lives. Rejoice. Hallelujah!"

On this day 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on a torturous Roman cross to pay the penalty for our sins. But thank God on Easter Sunday Jesus rose from the grave, triumphant over death, giving all who accept him (Jesus) as their Savior the same assurance that Job of old
had when he said:

"For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;
And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,
Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold ..."
(Job 19:25-27, NKJV).

yeah!
'easterace' has come to an end:D
things weren't particularly enthusiastic on the girls' side...whose team is called 'no sign of lamers!' to counter the guys' team's name of 'no sign of labour':D hehehe. really appreciated the fact tt jasmine was able to cause pple to laugh while sharing from her experiences on the mrt:) and very sweet of the sisters to continue on even when it's getting tiring:)
the guys' side, on the other hand, seemed to have quite a nice time of eating and slacking. hahaha. they even took a picture of yaoguo pretending to die. ah well:D
yeah. i think the best part was when we all gathered together at the end and enjoyed each other's company...especially at gwen's house!:D hahaha:) sengtuck joined us for dinner even though he didn't join us for the race! dinner was great! (thanks to gwen, her maid and jiali!). then stuck shared card tricks after dinner and one particular dice trick had at least 6 pple stuck around the table wondering about the trick. hahaha:D
at first we couldn't seem to turn on gwen's tv...then had to call gwen to ask...then we couldn't settle on a channel to watch. in the end we watched hunchback of notredame. hahaha:) both jitsy and i feel tt he should have died...and tt the movie shown is probably another version (due to the fact tt pple dun want him to die, as jitsy suggested:D)
yeah:D so it was generally enjoyed by everyone of us:D *grInz* wished tt more pple could have joined us, the fun they missed out! hahaa:)
ah well. i can't wait for tmr as well:D easter service with its dances and comedy! exciting day ahead:D

i love discrete random variables!
been declaring to many pple. ah well:D 'cos for maths r, i did the ws and finished it in 15 mins. first one to hand up!:D hahaha:) yeah well. corinne did very fast too! but she wasn't as 'eager' as me to hand it up.
oh btw! huiyu came back from australia!:D *grInz* she looked a bit different...but other than tt, she seems abt the same:D very sweet of her (literally) to buy lots and lots of chocolates for us:) was nice talking together...too bad i've gotta go off at 4.30pm:)
had quite an enjoyable time with the class playing bball today:D 'cos...quite a lot of funny incidents happen:) most pple in my grp shot! (which i thought was good...'cos it'll encourage them to shoot more in the future:D) *grInz* poor jac was a victim of quite a lot of abuses though... (eg. being hit beside the eye by me, bitten by... who? blah blah). oh! and huixiang took off her sling and did a layup using her left hand today:D i'm quite delighted with myself for not forgetting how to do a layup too.. haha.
ohh... had a nice time explaining stuff to peilee on the phone as well:) hope she gets a better understanding abt what a relationship with Jesus is about:)

today was an amusing day:D
kept seeing the Hope brothers and sisters:)
saw apinum first of all while i was walking to bio lect, then saw jiali when i was near the 3rd storey stairs on the V block..
during break, i saw apinum (again!) in the canteen, then met kelvin at the stairs near the E block...like abt 2 secs later, i saw jiali and her friends...then i burst out laughing:D then i was like, 'who else will i see next' and was walking towards the library when i saw yaoguo:D
saw chian siew while i was walking to the bookshop with libing and huiling...then saw jitsy after gp common test:D 'cos we've decided to meet up to do qt! yeah! david (jit's classmate) was particularly delighted tt he knew wat a bistula is:D hahhaa:D oh...and jac has finally noticed the red paint on tk's trousers and was cracking herself and michelle up by associating it with blood o_0 that set off michelle's imagination and creativity about the same topic.
haven't met up with twin for quite some time:(
vj's food and fun fair's on a SATURDAY! so horrid. hahaha:D shall see wat to do. well. it's $10 per coupon:D there's lucky draw! and the top prize is a Mitsubishi 1.5L MIVEC. hahaha:) get coupons from me if u want! it'll be on 1st may!:D

The reason you don't have what you want is that you don't ask God for it. And even when you do ask, you don't get it because your whole aim is wrong--you want only what will give you pleasure" (James 4:2-3, TLB).

Have you ever had a problem, a bad habit, or a relational conflict that you couldn't overcome or resolve no matter how hard you tried, how much you sought help, and even how much you prayed?

I have. For years I struggled with a relational conflict that I did everything I could think of to resolve--including getting intensive counseling and praying
relentlessly.

Finally in utter desperation I prayed, "God, I beg you to show me the truth and reality of what I am still contributing to this situation I am in."

In two weeks I got the answer. I saw my super codependency. I hadn't even heard of the word back then, but what I saw was that because I was trying to fix everybody else's problems, I was blind to my own! And here I thought I was being a good Christian! Wrong. I was being a needy person; that is, I needed to feel needed in order to feel loved and that, of course, isn't really love--or is contaminated love at best! It's need.

Once I saw the truth of what I was contributing, I knew what I had to do to fix my problem. As Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." I also realized that the only person's problems I could fix were my own!

Why did it take so long to get my prayer answered? Because I'd been praying the wrong prayer. I'd been asking for deliverance from the symptoms (the external conflict) and not from the cause of my problem. As James in today's
Scripture points out, our prayers aren't answered because our whole aim is wrong; that is, we praying with false motives for the wrong thing.

True, we need to treat our symptoms, but the reality is God wants to heal the root cause of our problems and make us whole, because if we don't deal with the root, we can easily exchange one symptom for another. So now, whenever I have a conflict or a problem, I always ask God to face or confront me with the truth of what I am contributing to it--only then do I ask him to show me the truth of what others are contributing, and the truth or reality of the overall situation. The important thing always is to first face the truth about myself.

I have found whenever I pray for truth and mean it, God always answers. It is one of the most effective prayers I have ever prayed. It has changed my life. Often I don't want to face the truth about myself because I am too afraid so I also pray, "God I am willing to be made willing to face the truth about me no matter how much it might hurt."

Not that it's easy, not at all, but praying a prayer for truth is a sure-fire way to resolve most conflicts--or at least our part in them.

And when it comes to relationship conflicts, if two people will genuinely own up to their unresolved personal issues and problems (which are often at the root of many, if not most, conflicts), and each ask God to show them what they are contributing, I believe they will be able to resolve most conflicts. Each needs to mean it with all their heart, otherwise it won't work.

As God's Word also says, "The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth."

the following information is obtained courtesy of someone who doesn't wish to claim credit 'cos he says 'hahahaha doink no, it'll seem like im stalking you lot.':)
apparently, due to the fact tt i'm not feeling well and lydia suddenly deciding not to go to school in the morning(i dunno why...maybe she's not feeling well too?), steph has declared that she wants to go home 'cos she 'has no friends!'
on the way out from school, steph met lydia! wah.
so, lydia was in sch from 10+, but she didn't go to lectures and only appeared for econs and bio prac:D (my guess is tt she was with desiree! haha). ah well. so basically the 3 of us are generally missing in action today.
not farnie though:|

*grInz*
didn't go to school today 'cos i didn't feel too well. apparently lydia didn't go to school either o_O so poor steph was stuck in school alone. awwwwwww...
i slept and slept and slept, woke up in-between to wash-up,eat and watch a bit of tv (lazy me).. just woke up officially not long ago. 6pm:D hahaha!
had a couple of dreams with well-developed plots. i think they should be used for shows or something. quite intriguing:P
what else can i say? i need to start on my homework soon:D hahha. yeah well. got lots of notes to copy tmr as well. the consequences of not going to school on a nice lecturey day. ah well. thank God taekwondo training's postponed to thursday. i've a feeling they're going to start training for comp soon. scary:D
oh. guess wat? my comp's seriously dying on me. now it can't view picture files. heh.

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want" (Philippians 4:12-13,NIV).

Michael Josephson of Character Counts says, "Ask people [including] young people why they get high on drugs or alcohol or seek sex without intimacy or commitment, and they're likely to tell you it's fun and they just want to be happy. It's tempting to envy the life of fun-loving 'party animals,' 'playboys' and 'good-time girls' until one thinks about how they feel about themselves and their lives when they are alone without the hyped-up stimulation they
seem to thrive on.

"It doesn't take a psychologist to realize that if happiness is the destination, these folks are on the wrong road. The problem is that the intense sensation of fun or feelings of pleasure experienced by a substance-induced buzz or an exciting sexual encounter are quickly replaced with a consuming sense of emptiness that drives a need to start all over to fill the vessel again. So each time drinkers, drug users or sex addicts discover that getting what they wanted isn't making them happy, they fall into the despondency conveyed in the famous Peggy Lee song: 'Is That All There Is?'

"People who make pleasure seeking the focus of their lives are like drug addicts who need continually stronger and more dangerous doses to get high.

"Happiness is different from fun and pleasure. It's a less intense but more durable feeling of well-being. It's not a continuous state. A good life is usually seasoned with moments of joy and despair, play and work, success and
failure. Happiness is a kind of emotional resting place of quiet satisfaction with one's life. The art of living a happy life lies not in having more of what you want, but in getting better at enjoying what you have."

To this wise advice from Michael I would add that perhaps a better word than happiness is contentment which comes from having peace within one's self. This comes from resolving past conflicts, forgiving all who have hurt you,
maintaining peaceful relationships; from living in harmony with God's will and his moral laws, and above all, in finding peace with God, knowing that all your sins are forgiven and that you have God's gift of eternal life, which gives one a reason and purpose for living that is bigger than one's self.

heh:)
had taekwondo grading yesterday morning... yeah! i'm a green belt now!:D blur me left the taekwondo gi in school on tuesday and forgot to bring it home... thankfully Leonardo picked it up and passed to me on sunday. i took a delicate sniff at it and to my surprise, could detect no 'scent' at all:) whew. it just looked a bit crumbled:)
then went for service with jitsy.. rachel (from uni) was ushering and she told us tt we don't need to sit so behind and tt we can sit at the last role of the front center seats...having settled ourselves there, we then realised tt a particular light above us was flickering like crazy and decided to place the responsibility of telling the mm pple about it upon ourselves:) hehehe... Bernice looked surprised to see us and she says they already know about the flickering lights:D
so we settled back to our seats and decided to move more to the center (we were originally sitting near the aisle:), then we moved back 'cos they off tt particular flickering light. i was just being amused and decided to observe the pple coming in when *poof* all of a sudden, junting appeared from the entrance. hahaha:D then *poof* priscilla appeared from the entrance too! hahaha:D apparently there was a visitor from vj year 1 called huimin! the smu pple, together with priscilla, took care of her:)
then jieyun appeared beside us and told us we can move to sit with the smu pple and tt it's okay to join them. *grInz* was going to move when praise started, so we moved down to the place in front of the stage instead:)
after p&w, seeing tt there ain't enough space at the smu place, we went to sit behind...hehehe:D i dunno which unit it was though:D seems like they changed the order of pple in the services:)
the video team put together a very nice short video about the love of a father for his son... to be continued next week though. hahaha:D:D:D
kimchun suddenly appeared near our seats after service (goodness knows why:D) but couldn't talk much to him 'cos i can't hear him properly.. carrie told me to tell jiali and joycelyn tt she missed them:D she can't seem to remember lubna though. heh.
then talked to junting:D she told me to tell her next time when we join sunday service 'cos she wants to pass me my present and tt it's not exactly near my birthday anymore. i told her she can pass it to me during church camp:D then she said she'll keep it till next yr, so tt she can save on a present for me. hahaha:)
then ate lunch with jit and huichun:) interesting. chicken curry noodles at cuppage taste........do not try it.
after tt i rushed down to bedok to meet michael and sengkim to discuss about friday!:D yeah:D we went first to michael's house to discuss...then went around to recee the places:) tiring. hahaa:) 'cos it seems like whenever we reach the mrt station, it'll be 1 min for the next train to come and we'll just run. ran 3 times in all. 2 times for the mrt and one for the bus:) had a nice time to fellowship and sharing though:) sengkim's a bit different out of cg:)
speaking of sengkim...he's very farnie:D dunno why he kept treating me and michael these two days... hmmmmmmmmmmm. must treat him back one day:) maybe he's learning from derek! muahahaa. 'cos derek treated me and michael to delifrance on sat night! went to delifrance 'cos me and michael had voucher for free cup of coffee/tea due to the filling up of a long survey about centrepoint:) then we saw derek and sengkim (uncle and nephew), then we settled down and derek (who is an employed person as he proclaims:D *grInz*) decided to nicely treat us. not bad ahz...i've gotten quite a no. of treats these few days:D
yup. hope friday's even will be a success! it's called 'easterun'! there'll be a compeition whereby each team will have to finish a number of tasks around the east area. everyone is invited to join!:D around 3-7pm:D join us if u can 'cos u'll also make new friends!:D

i was just thinking.
some of us tend to like to push things aside... push probs tt surface aside, and think tt it's gone once u change the environment or something...but they'll still come back. definitely. one can't push things aside..'cos if one doesn't eradicate the prob, human nature will act in the same way should the same circumstance arise.
and knowing ourselves, by our own efforts alone it's not possible...'cos our degree of understanding of a certain matter will eventually reach a ceiling whereby only through inputs of other opinions or the learning of new knowledge.
so we try to break this ceiling by asking friends, parents...they give valuable insight, especially the brothers and sisters, but then on certain occasions, one finds tt the knowledge of a certain matter tt the pple around u contain might not even surpass urs...then u wonder. now what? i can't go on!
tt's why i thank God that i have Him. 'cos He's all-knowing...and should i need wisdom, i can ask from Him:) He's there to help me understand better about certain stuff:)
it's a final comment tt i wish to put down 'cos i used to have tt idea of pushing it aside, but gladfully, the idea has really changed. and when i talked to someone tonight, it just came back to mind and i thought tt it'll be good to pen it down:)

got this in the mail:) huiyu's back in singapore!
"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing" (1 Thessalonians 5:11, NIV).

The word encourage simply means to put courage into another--something we all need to receive regularly.
Years ago--I was little more than a kid--one of the men in our church squeezed my arm affectionately and spoke a kind word as I passed by him.
I've never forgotten that tiny touch which to me was a big encouragement. Some years later I recall how in my beginning days of ministry after speaking to a youth group one of the members in attendance said to me, "Thank you for being God's messenger to me today." I've never forgotten her words and those of many others along the way either. (Sadly, though, a cutting word can have the opposite long-term effect.)
Encouragement. So easy to give, costs nothing, and worth its weight in gold.
As Leo Buscaglia said, "The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor. But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give. Too often we underestimate the power of a
touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential to turn a life around. It's overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make
our love felt."
Be sure to encourage--and put courage into--someone today, especially your own loved ones.

oooh. before i go, let me share about what lynette did in class:)
she went to change the oreo cream to toothpaste, offered the oreo cookie to thongkheng and thongkheng ate it up. august tried too...he says it tastes nice. steph doesn't like it. i just think it tastes too minty.
hahaha!:D

had cg today...thank God for the hearts of my brothers and sisters:) to open up and share:)
many things got me thinking...but these things will be between me and God:)
i'm quite sleepy right now. shall talk to God more and go to sleep soon:) i look forward to the next few months, where i'll be able to learn to lean on God's strength more and more due to the intensiveness of work coming up (studies, preparation for chinese drama, preparation for taekwondo comp, ministry)
but as huichun said... what are these things in comparison to what Jesus has gone through for us?
will hold onto the verse of 2 Corinthians 4:8:)

Customer Presents Cashier Her Own Stolen Credit Card
BANGKOK (United Press International via COMTEX) -- The cashier at a Bangkok gas station was happy to serve the customer, but was not amused when the latter produced his own credit card to pay for the items.
The customer, a German, had purchased about $80 worth of beer and cigarettes, the Bangkok Post reported Monday.
Then the customer gave the credit card that apparently had been stolen and belonged to the cashier.
"When I looked at the credit card I saw it was my name," the 33-year-old cashier said.
He quickly locked the man inside the shop and called police.
The cashier said he recently ordered a credit card but it never arrived in the mail.

hahaha...tt's quite amusing...and very coincidental:D