Thursday, December 25, 2008

Not fat Santas, not just presents and feasts...

The real reason for Christmas is this:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6

2008 years ago, Jesus was born in a manger (a place where horses, sheeps and lambs are kept), came to earth as human whilst preserving the essence of God, so as to give the bleak and imperfect world a chance at hope and salvation.

Wishing all of you a meaningful and fabulous Christmas!

I'm heading to Malaysia tomorrow! Woohooooo!


Wednesday, December 24, 2008

I am going to spend my 9-hour bus ride to Ipoh reflecting deeply on 2008 and planning my 2009. The year passed so fast just when I'm having the time of my life.

I remember I was blogging about stepping into 2008, how I was excited about the start of "something new" (refer to December 2008 archives) and how I wished that the rest of my days would be "glorious" on the fifth day of January 2008 (refer to blog archives).

Thinking about it, has 2008 been glorious?
Along the way, I had emotional rollercoasters, road blocks, detours... the sorts. I didn't do well in exams for my 2nd year, 2nd semester because I was too distracted by unnecessary attachments and emotions and my GPA dropped. Not exactly glorious, eh?

I had to deal with many new and uncertain circumstances which rendered me helpless.

My every single day in 2008 isn't exactly your conventional idea of glorious - meaning, living each day with success, happiness, health and physical wealth. No, they are far from glorious. It even borders on even being mundane for certain days.
I made plenty of mistakes in 2008.

Or this was what I thought until I was worshipping today during prayer meeting.
I thought about the mistakes I've committed, but I realise, I have none.
I have none. Yep, no mistakes! Nada. Zilch.

God told me I have made no mistakes this year. All I have are lessons learned.
And that was when I gained enlightenment or you may call this epiphany.

I didn't make mistakes. My mistakes have all turned into lessons learned.

All of them were beautiful mistakes.
You may argue that this is an oxymoron.
How can mistakes be beautiful?

Ahhh... Here lies the power and beauty of God's work.
Our Lord can turn the worst of situations, our careless mistakes into something so good that in the end, you realise this little bad period of time is insignificant compared to the intangible things like love, faith, family ties and friendship that you have gained in the process.

And guess what? These beautiful mistakes (lessons learned) have made my 2008 glorious! Glorious because I found greater faith, stronger friendships, deeper understanding in His Word and a more encompassing and amazing insight to global and local issues.

God doesn't make mistakes, and that is why, I don't! I only have lessons learned (:

***
The walk today at Southern Ridges with my dear uni chums had been exceptionally good.

Cloudy day with wind? Check.
Good company? Check.
Symmetrical backdrops for photo-taking? Check.
Burning more than 500 calories? Check.

It was fantastic catching up with them after 3-4 weeks. I hope Denise puts her Vietnam adventure in words and pictures soon!

I shall upload all the pictures when I have more time. But for now, here are some teasers.


Say hello to my fun-loving and beautiful uni gfs. Here are the four of us at Henderson Wave. We were midway through the walk already. I like Denise's new hairstyle. It looks really good on her! Vanessa's fringe made her look younger too!



This is a gorgeous urban view at Henderson Wave!



Monday, December 22, 2008



Say hello to my pretty gf, prisci (:
I think this picture of her is really cute. Look at her stuffed mouth. Heh.
Welcome back to Singapore my dear friend!

If you're wondering where this chic backdrop in the picture is, it's at 黑社会 (Bosses) which is at Vivocity. The three of us (Pris, Zxun and I) went there for dim sum lunch.
The cheong funs and steamed yam cake are nothing to rave about. The cheong funs are so artificial-looking! They have strange pink skin and inside, there's only fake crab meat (those made of fish paste!). Give me 包罗万象's prawn cheong fun any time and I guarantee theirs is WAAAAAYY better.

Despite these disappointing mentions, their buns with stuffed salted egg yolks, siew mai and char siew bao are noteworthy. I wouldn't mind having them again but please, no more cheong funs from that place.
Almond paste rounded up my lunch nicely :)


As we were talking over lunch, I found out that Mr. Zxun likes to have children which is very uncommon for guys his age...
This reminded of the angelic and adorable young toddlers we played with and taught just the past Sunday in sunday school class. They were all so endearing. Many of them were talking gibberish to me because they were all so young - about 2 to 4 years old, but I don't mind gibberish as long as I can coax a smile or a high five from them. What warmed my heart for that day was "little sumo", Nathan's enthusiastic hug towards the end of the class. He was so huggable!


Say hello to Nathan who is 4 years old this year but looks more like a 5 or 6-year old. He's big but oh-so-huggable.



Say hello to the lovely ladies - Aimee and Cheyenne



Now this is handsome little Jordan who was speaking gibberish to me most of the time (His maid actually managed to decipher his gibberish for me and I am truly fascinated!)


This is intelligent Yu En who loves leaves (she collects dried leaves!) and a good pose for the camera.



This is Japheth who is not even 1 year old. His 3rd brother, Joseph takes care of him very well during the class.


This cheeky boy here is Joseph, Japheth's (see above) 3rd brother. We thought that he looks a tad like Edison Chen, especially when he scrutinises you sideways. His sideburns are comparable to Elvis Presley's. Potential heartbreaker.


Aren't they adorable?
Yes they are, but only if they don't sulk, bawl or scream!

***
Support me and my dance team this coming Thursday's afternoon at:
Renewal Centre

88 St Francis Road
It's from 2-5pm. After which, you can stay for our Christmas Taiwanese and American-inspired variety shows and stay up through the night in my church!


Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The moments in December are never boring. Some are surprising, some are exciting, some are heartwarming, some are disappointing but in the end, I still feel great.
Here are some of the highlights:

1) I read a couple of books which are really enlightening to my spiritual life. I learned so much - more than I did in the entire year just this month! How I wish I can get vouchers either from Borders or Tecman to buy more books and CDs!

2) I attended KK and Huiling's wedding. I really like the marching in after they exchanged wedding rings. Imagine the both of them coming in together to the beat of L'arc en ciel. They did just that. Total coolness.

Their wedding dinner at Peony Jade was great too (maybe it's the good company but well, the yam paste at the end hits my sweet spot). I really like the restaurant's chic chinois decoration.



3) Cycling at Pulau Ubin and going to Chek Jawa was amazingly refreshing. Even though I ended up with sore legs, a very painful butt and a sunburn (to me, that's the worst of all), I enjoyed the fellowship with everyone present.

From this cycling expedition, I realise our very own Jimmy has grown from a little blurblur teen, always subjected to Enhan's rants, to a helpful and mature young man. Throughout the trip, he took care of the whole group by cycling the last. He made sure everyone was present before leaving our place of rest, and entertained the young ones with his funny banter and actions.

西瓜甜不甜? And all of us said 甜!

4) Watching "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was the worst ever mistake. That movie made me feel 100 times dumber because it was so uninspiring and many of the scenes were recycled from other movies about the apocalypse. What alien. Bah. And I paid $9.50 for it! Urgh.

5) I just received my HS401 Qualitative Research final report result. I got an A! Yay! It's a level 4 subject and I suffered countless nights rushing out the numerous reports. By the grace of God and the wisdom He granted me, I got an A! Phew. Yay again!

Now I am just looking forward to Renewal Idol on 25th Dec (Ching, Van, Denise, Pris and all my friends... Can come down and support me and my dance team? I want to win this competition!). Oh and not forgetting my Ipoh/Cameron Highlands/Penang trip right after Christmas. Food, glorious food!



Monday, December 15, 2008

Many weeks ago, I saw two sets of wheels, standing still set by side.
I saw a wheelchair and a baby stroller, both tended by maids, waiting for the lift at an MRT station.

The juxtaposition of these two sets of wheels was sharp.
One was the epitome of old age/vulnerability whilst the other, new life/hope.

They say, in old age, you are like when you have first began as a baby- helpless and vulnerable.
And when I saw the scene of a wheelchair and a baby stroller, I can't help but feel a sense of life coming to a full circle.

The wheel of life has completed its turn and now it's back to its initial place.


Wednesday, December 10, 2008

I WANT A GRANDPAPAA.

I was on the train to church for prayer meeting. At Novena, an old man came in and stood in front of me. He was gaunt and was in a simple white shirt and long pants. He had a kindly, humble look.

Without hesitating, I offered my seat to him. He smiled a sincere, grateful smile, which momentarily made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. It was a such a different smile.

So I stood in front of him and continued reading my book.

Suddenly, from the side of my eye, I saw him trying to get my attention. He gently pointed at a seat, beaming sincerely at me, gesturing me to sit down because there was an empty seat behind me.

At that moment, I don't know why, but I was moved. I sat down and mouthed a thank-you to him with a smile. It was a warm moment. I felt a kind of grandfatherly tender love which was beyond words.

I never had a grandfather because both my grandpas passed away when my grandmothers were merely in their 30s.

I could imagine my paternal grandfather lavishing his affection on both my sis and me. From what my nainai told me about him, I knew that he was a generous and responsible father to my dad and his brothers. He was a Christian and I can imagine him holding my hand and walking a young little me down the steps of the church if he was alive.

But this has never happened.

I love both my grandmothers. They are godly women and I really respect them but it's just different if I were to have a grandpa.

I never had a grandpa, and I would want a wise and loving one. One who would share his great adventures with me, teach me the mysteries of the world and show me the ways of the Lord in a fatherly way.

Perhaps that is why God is called to be our Heavenly Father, to fill in this void in my life.


Monday, December 08, 2008

What you read from the newspapers and see on TV nowadays are just bad news, horrid news and devastating news.

The world economy is suffering and some even allude our current situation to the Great Depression in the 1920s.
There is now a Singaporean who has become the first-ever victim of terrorism.
People in Thailand are in a political turmoil with no government, except a king who does nothing at all but just stays sick on his birthday .

So what's next?

Things are spiralling out of hand. Well, it's a cycle. When there's an economic boom, we know that soon, there will be a recession, and according to the "experts", this happens every 10 years (the last big recession was in 1997/1998 - the Asian Financial Crisis).
I wonder if this a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Despite these bad times, we know that the skies are clearest after the rain. We will see the sunshine after weathering the storm. We can also make these down times much better by holding on to an eternal hope, by holding on to our unchanging God in these changing times.

Cheer up, smile a little, live life for each day, worry less, support local products (helps to boost domestic consumption which can then spur our local economy), blog about happy times, soak up the great nature, smell the freshly-brewed coffee, breathe in the crisp morning air, sing a little song of grace to God, laugh at a good joke, trust in God's providence, surround yourself with good friends and supportive family members, and in no time, these crazy times will soon be over.

I'm confident it will :)


Thursday, December 04, 2008

Great.
I think I just screwed up my next 13 semestral weeks of happiness and traded them for a mere extra 20 minutes of sleep.
Urgh.

Or is this meant to be?


Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Psalm 23
It's amazing how I heard Psalm 23 again last night during prayer meeting. For this season, Psalm 23 is a comforting psalm. As all of us get busy and anxious about many events, trips and family business, remember that we should not carry unnecessary burdens.

One thing I've learned from this psalm: Live each day for its own.
Do not worry about tomorrow because God's mercies are new every morning and He will guide us through every valley, every high hill, every winding road.


***
Plaid looks good on shirts.
But plaid on loose shorts looks like men's boxers. A big no-no. Haha.
I've been wanting to get a good plaid shirt. It has such a laidback and country look.




They pull them off quite well, don't you all think?

Now imagine these shirts being turned into loose shorts
They'll be boxers! Hurhur.


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