Monday, December 26, 2005
There has been so much I wanted to blog lately but now I am not sure where to start...
Hmmm... lets start with the bad news...haha...
Well its not exactly bad, but its just something I got pretty upset over during Christmas eve.
You see, on that day, I had a last minute carolling session at Camden Medical Centre. It was at this really posh restaurant where a set meal costs $80! As it was the last time we were getting together as a group, Lian Sze (the person in charge of the carolling for my group) decided to bring us out for dinner (not at that place of course!) and asked us to each bring a gift. I bought mine the day before, but as I was in a hurry to leave the house to go to my aunt's house for my annual family christmas gathering, I left it at home. Its this nice notebook which says GRACE, let go and let God, that I really wanted to give to another person. But in the end Lian Sze gave me her extra present so I guess I will give her the notebook in return with a nice message inside.
Anyway, the place is some distance away from the mrt so when we finished I asked my dad to come fetch me. But my dad, being the country bumpkin he is, had no idea where in Orchard was Camden Medical Centre. And when I finally find the car in Traders Hotel, my dad and I were pretty pissed with each other. Can you imagine me carrying 2 bulky boxes, my bag and trying to figure out where my family is with my brother providing lousy directions over the phone? So you pretty much know the foul mood I was in. My dad was like asking how come the boxes were left with me. And I told him that it was because the rest were either taking the train/bus home or weren't even heading home. Since I had a ride home, why not I take the boxes? Would love to remind him, that if it weren't for his meddling and goading, I wouldn't have gotten involved in this carolling thing in the first place! But I was seething with anger, thus I couldn't trust myself to say too much.
Why was I so pissed? To be honest, on hindsight, I do not know why I was so affected that day. I pride myself on controlling my emotions, but at that time, I was close to tears. Perhaps I was PMSing or maybe it was all the pent-up frustrations. This whole carolling event, although definitely not the first time I am carolling, had many other 'first times'. Don't get me wrong, I am a pretty flexible person and I do love a challenge. However, it was probably the first time I was involved in something that went so un-smoothly (pardon my bad english). Since I was part of the organising committee, my disappointment both in myself and in the whole event was intensified. I have to admit that it was a poorly planned and executed event by my standards. Firstly, we fell terribly short of our target which was 1500 carollers. But thats ok, because I do not think we would have the resources for 1500 either. Then because of the rain, certain performances weren't as well received as expected.
Actually, before I joined YFC, I roughly had an idea things will turn out this way. However, although it doesn't run with the efficiency of an MNC and I doubt it ever will, I saw first hand how different it is working in a christian organisation and a secular one (well perhaps with the exception of City Harvest). Despite so many irregularities, the staff of YFC embraced everything with optimism and utmost faith in God. I believe that most of the personnel find the carolling as foreign to them as how organising the event was to me. It was indeed extremely encouraging to see them putting their best foot forward and simply trusting God. I certainly learnt a thing or two from them as many a time I tend to rely too much on myself rather than God. And I am just learning to lean on Him for every single aspect of my life. For a person who wants to be always in control, it is difficult to surrender my all but I am gonna try. Why? Because I realized that this whole year, God has been trying to teach me that He is the one in charge, not me. So if I do not wise up and let Him take charge, I am gonna have somemore hard knocks in my life and I think I had enough for the time being.
Alright, now as the year comes to an end, its time for some thanksgiving! I would like to thank God for all my friends who stood by me this whole year. Thank you for your encouragement and prayers. It is you all who gave me hope and light when all I saw was darkness. Thank you for believing and trusting me even when I lost all confidence in myself. Thank God for giving me opportunities to serve Him although I do not think I really did much. Thank God that my 2 non-christian cousins are coming to watch Chronicles of Narnia with my family tmr and pray that they will be open to the evangelistic message after the show. Thank God that I have gotten a notebook to bring to school next year and now I have a good problem of choosing what type of bag for it. Thank God that He has provided enough for my family to send me overseas to do the course I want even without a scholarship as well as 2 friends to accompany me. As I recall the stormy period during JC years, I am grateful that my relationship with my classmates have improved and I am going to KL with them this week! Pray that we will have a safe journey and have lots of fun shopping and catching up, and not forgetting to pray that I will be a good testimony for God during the time we are together. Thank God... well there is just too many to list out all =P but I have 1 christmas wish and that is for all my loved ones and friends would come to know my Saviour and Heavenly Father. If not for Him, I will not be here nor who I am today.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Wanted to post this mv from the show It Started With A Kiss. Both Val and myself are addicted to it. Its hilariously funny, pretty dumb at times, standard idol drama fare. However despite watching countless idol dramas, with similar plots, I am still hooked. Pathetic right?
Anyway, it doesn't work. My borders are too narrow so the show comes out distorted. So here are the links instead
http://www.youtube.com/?v=h1AFV5pbkYc - really sweet, take note of the lyrics, kinda reflects my feelings these days...
http://www.youtube.com/?v=9gKNKPzXh1U - this funny ad starring the ever gorgeous Takeshi Kaneshiro! =)
Ok... I guess I'll just write about how my NCSS interview went. Honestly, I think it was a flop. This is one time where my brilliant results did nothing to help me. The panel of interviewers ask why didn't I apply for the PSC-MOH Scholarship or other more prestigious scholarships with my results. So I had to admit that I applied for PSC as well as Firefly. However it was for nursing and hotel management respectively. Then they asked why didn't I go to Australia this year which led me to tell them I was planning to study medicine in NUS. Confusing right? Thats exactly what they said and I had a hard time trying to convince them that I am sure that Speech Pathology is the course for me. Gosh, even I had problems believing me...
They said that NUS is starting this course in 2007 and asked if I was willing to wait till then as it would definitely be cheaper and they could post me to be a therapy aide. All I could think of was that the next 1.5 years would be better spent if I was preparing myself to be a professionally trained pathologist, studying rather than as an untrained aide. And with regards to medicine being my first love, well the art of healing is what attracts me but being able to follow through patients in a community setting as a speech pathologist and helping not just them but their family as well, appeals to me too.
Sigh, basically I don't dare to predict whether or not I'd get the scholarship. Although I really hope to get it, as it would greatly ease the burden on my parents shoulders (my dad is the sole breadwinner and my older brother is in uni too), I leave it to God to decide what it best. If I do not get it, I pray I will always remember Jehovah Jireh - God is my provider.
P.S. I decided to take away my pet since its just taking up space and not serving any purpose =P
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Was out for 12 hours today. Tomorrow is another long day. The day of my first performance! Pray hard that everything will work out ok. After so many night practices, its finally time to see whether our efforts have paid off...
My spectacles broke last night. And I do not mean the lenses. Its the frame. Believe it or not, my metal frame broke, and its not at the part where you can rejoin it with a screw. Now I am left with 2 glass lenses. If I am to fix the lenses onto another frame, I risk breaking the lenses and the optical shop can't guarantee. But if not, there is nothing I can do with them... Well at least I already made another pair so I won't be wondering around like a bat without my contacts...
Which reminds me, on wednesday, while waiting for Val, I was looking around this Bausch and Lomb booth and a salesguy approached me. After telling him about my predicament and he gave me one contact lens to replace the one I accidentally tore while opening the container it was kept in. So happy! Was deliberating for some time whether to buy another one, which costs at least $8 and I feel its a lil too ex. Thank God my problems are solved =)
Considering that now my specs broke, perhaps its a sign that I should go back and buy one yr's supply of contacts to bring with me next yr. Guess its the least I can do to repay the kind act bestowed on me.
My mind is in a swirl now. Was having a splitting headache. I think I better go and sleep. Btw, Val, have I told you that I think Zheng Yuan Chang is kinda cute? I like him better than He Jun Xiang =p Haha... I think my brain is pretty much short circuited now...
Thursday, December 01, 2005
I am writing this the day after I spent 5 hours in the wee hours of the morning watching an idol drama at Val's house. Unfortunately, despite staying up till 530am and waking up around 11am, I still have 9 episodes left. At the same time, I seem to have caught a cold and am struggling to enjoy Enya's new album - Amarantine, over the irritating noise caused by renovation being done 3 floors above me.
My mum came home one day from Eastpoint and surprised me with the cd. Although I had requested my mum to buy it for me a few weeks ago, I did not expect her to do so. (Mum always knows best =D) I had also managed to d******* the whole album from some website, so I actually do not need the cd, but rest assured I have already deleted all the songs. I guess having the original cd always beats having the pirated version. Because if not for it, I would have never known that some of her new songs were sung in Loxian, a language written specially for Enya by her lyricist. Cool huh? The new language was inspired after Enya sang a song in Elvish for the Lord of the Rings soundtrack. According to some press release, it seems that English, Latin or Gaelic were a lil too obtrusive for those songs that Enya wrote, so a new language was invented. The invented tongue is said to be “a futuristic language from a distant planet”, and the Loxians, live in space and are looking out at the stars wondering if there is anyone else out there or if they are alone in the universe.
Even though Enya's new album sounds characteristically her (ie sounds almost like all her other albums), the idea of an invented language really intrigues me. You see, I am a VERY scientific person. When I mean very, I am not kidding. Throw me anything science-based, I will soak it in, digest it and it will diffuse into my blood. When it comes to humanities, let's just say its like dietary fibre, essential for my bowel system but nothing is taken in. Hence, I have full of respect for those linguists, people who are able to master a couple of languages easily. It requires tremendous effort and creativity to invent a new language now (I'm not talking about rojak ones like Singlish, that have evolved due to globalisation and plain laziness to speak proper English/Mandarin), since all civilisations are settled and whatever new words are added to a language is purely to keep up with technology. Kudos to people like JRR Tolkien but I supposed they too are motivated by their artistic streak which prevents them from doing anything less.
Ok, I better go and rest now. Can't afford to be down with a flu when my performances are coming up. And I got to think of Christmas presents. Sigh. Anyway, I have performances at Esplanade Park (17 Dec), Raffles Place Park (19 & 21 Dec) and West Mall (23 Dec). So come and drop by around 630pm or 730pm for West Mall, if you have the time!
Thanks to all the blogs i referred to (countless) for html code help :) (esp. cyn' and sixseven)
Adobe Photoshop Elements for supernatural abilities
