Lingua Serica

When I was a young student, way back when floppy disks were really floppy, and weekday cartoons where shown on SBC from 6.30-7.00 only, my parents decided to enroll me in a SAP school. The rationale behind this was that since my parents were both pretty fluent in English, and at home we would speak English, I should make sure I don't lose out on my Chinese language. Hence SAP school.

Now, to those who don't know, most students in Singapore have to learn English, and take up a second language, usually their 'mother tongue' (I know there's a whole discussion about how one's mother tongue really is the language that one is most comfortable in, but let's not go into that now shall we?). The SAP school is a school which has both English and the mother tongue as 'First Language'. Since in Singapore, the only schools which are under the SAP program are those with good Mandarin classes, the SAP schools are generally seen as those with a very strong, Chinese-language bend, not just in the classroom, but even among the student population. See below for some notable examples from Singapore.

Chinese High: The epitome of SAP school.

ACS: Not a SAP school. (And if the people I know from there are to be believed, they're pretty proud that they're not a SAP school)

So, as I was saying, I was enrolled into a SAP school at the tender age of 5-and-a-half. The school in question is a fairly good school, some of you may have even attended it, or gone past it, if you were driving around the Clementi area; Nan Hua Primary School (See, even the name has a very Chinese-ed bend to it). I have had several really good teachers, but the best teacher I ever had, and still remember of as the embodiment of teaching, was my form teacher in Grades 5 and 6, Mrs Ng Peng Huat. She's the teacher that by some miracle, dragged my Maths and Science grades out from the Marianas Trench, and made them into something approaching respectable levels.

(Side note: Mrs Ng, not sure if you'll ever see this, but you really were the best teacher I ever had in school. Thanks for investing your time in teaching, and in wasting so much time on me.)

(Side note 2: If you were ever taught by Mrs Ng, you were blessed to have her as a teacher. If you weren't, well, sorry for you.)

But anyway, I'm not here to talk so much about Mrs Ng, I'm here to talk about Chinese, and she was not my Chinese teacher. So I was enrolled, and in my first couple of years there, I had a great Chinese teacher. She was a kind old lady called Mrs Ang, and she would encourage and praise all of us in class. Maybe she knew I was one of those 'jiak-kantang' who was born in an English-speaking home, and was just trying to help me, but whatever. I did fairly well in class then.

Then when I went to Primary 3, things started to go downhill. To begin with, I wasn't very interested in Chinese. I didn't really care much to speak Chinese, even with my grandparents, since they understood enough English to understand what I was saying.

The next problem was the teacher. Now, like any good revisionist historian, I look back at her and think, actually, she was a good teacher. She was able to make her good students better. Unfortunately, I was not one of those good students. I wasn't even an average student, which I think she had some success with. I was a poor student in any class that wasn't taught in my favourite English language, which naturally meant that I suffered in Chinese class. And I guess she didn't really know how to motivate me to study Chinese...

...which basically meant I became even worse at Chinese than ever before. I had no motivation, I didn't like going to class, the teacher didn't help (I think she thought she could shame me into getting better... hmm, nope, didn't work), and it became a vicious cycle spiralling out of control.

Then I went to this school:

St. Andrew's: Not a SAP school either.

And basically that was it for my Chinese education. I didn't improve from the B I got in the PSLE. No amount of extra tuition helped. I was never very good at it, I never scored well in it, and even when I did use it, like in church, my friends would make fun of me:

Me: 你们去那里吃饭啊？
Friend: Haha you sound funny speaking Chinese!
Me: What? What do I sound like?
Friend: You sound.. you sound like an American trying to speak Chinese!

Which is pretty duh, since I *am* an American speaking Chinese, but whatever lah huh.

So now we fast forward to the present, where I am in Japan. Now, it's pretty much expected that you'll have to be able to speak Japanese when one is in Japan. And if there's a second language that you need to learn, it would probably be English.

Now being able to speak English in Japan should not be underrated. It is useful in getting to know people. But one should also be able to speak Japanese. This is to talk to Japanese people. And if you're really good, you can pretend that you're a local just for kicks.

But what I didn't realize would be useful was the ability to speak Chinese. Now, my Chinese, as attested to in my brief history, is no where as good as it should be. But living in Singapore, even if you don't do well in school, you do use Mandarin for a fair bit of conversation. Even if it does sound like you're an American trying to speak Chinese. Plus there is all this Chinese that you take in, and gets lodged in your mind anyway. And when I do speak with my grandmothers, I use Chinese.

So recently, I got to know quite a few Chinese people in my weekly meetings. On Wednesday nights, at Shinagawa, Amechi (one of the members, he's an American) has been bringing lots of his classmates from the Japanese language school down to join in. And they are almost all from China.

Then on Saturday, Karen's been doing Alpha Course at Shinjuku, but the majority of those who come are Chinese (it's 3 out of 4 non-regular members, which is not a lot, but still constitutes a majority).

And on Friday, I got to hang out with a few of my classmates from Japanese class, and surprise surprise, they are also Chinese (though one is from Taiwan).

So in the end, though I really hated going for Chinese class last time, I'm really glad now that I can speak Chinese.

And so thank you, MOE, for forcing me to learn Mandarin.

And thank you God, that I can scrape by using my Chinese.

Back in

So before I forget to make a post for the month of May and regret it for the next several years, now would be a good time to make a post.

In case some of you don't know, I have been back in Singapore for close to a month now. And Singapore is as hot as I remember it to be (though according to my dad and other reliable sources, it's even warmer and more humid than normal). And the weather, unlike in Japan, is apt to change several times over the course of a day. But it still is good to be home and to do the things that I did in Singapore before I left for Japan.

As hot and sunny as I can remember. Still better than ice and snow though.

My friend Chuya was visiting Singapore from Osaka during the first week of May. Chuya used to be at the Kotesashi campus of Waseda University, and was in charge of the E-Crew (English Conversation Club) when we visited in 2008. Now he works for a railway company in Osaka. So a few of us met up with him and brought him around one Saturday...and then his kidneys started to act up and we had to bring him to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Fortunately, he recovered pretty quickly from that, and since he is from Kansai*, he laughed the whole incident off as a wonderful experience in Singapore that most of his friends could never boast of having. During the stay in the hospital, he did ask me what I, as a Christian missionary, would say to people in a hospital if I was in Japan. So I mentioned to him that I would talk about how God knows everything that the future is in his hands, so I do not need to worry and could just be at peace. And I wasn't the only one to talk with him about Christianity. Leah (from the 2008 team) also talked with him about the Bible and God, so hopefully, this will lead to him getting to know God better.

Chuya (far left) and some of us before he left for Japan

I also started attending a 2-week course at Trinity Theological College last week. I must admit, I was really rather apprehensive about attending the course at first (it's my whole aversion to commitment thing, plus it was stay-in, bringing back memories of BMT), but after the first week, I'm really glad I had gone for it. Not only are the other students really friendly and nice people (which means I also got to meet new friends), but I have been able to learn quite a lot from the classes, like the morning worships (both worship and analysis rolled into one) and the interpretation of Bible texts (very useful, and it appears to me I have been reading quite a few passages out of context).

So now I'm glad to be back at TTC, having just returned from supper with some of the classmates, and I really ought to be going off to sleep soon, but I shall chill out a bit more in my room first.

Cheerio

P.S. Gah it appears my tagbox has been deleted nefariously by the flooble admin.. bother it all.


*In Japan, the stereotype of the Kansai person is that he (or she) is generally more laid back and has a better sense of humour than someone from the Kanto region. Or anywhere else in Japan really.

Fides

So as mentioned, I shall attempt to recollect the events of the past month and shall post it up.

1) V-Day event. Well, it was pretty much a blast. The music was good, the food was decent, and everyone seemed to be having pretty much a good time. Was mucking about in the kitchen, and didn't even have time to change, which was ok, since we were all still working inside the kitchen. Praise God, all that effort wasn't for naught, since some people did accept Christ, and I bet we at least managed to plant some seeds in others.

2) Well, the Bucks are pretty much done for the season. Seemed so promising at the beginning, when they beat the Cavs, Pistons, blah blah... But then they sort of self destructed... On a bright note in what has been a rather dark season, they won back to backs against the Knicks and the Wizards. Of course, one must realize that they also somehow managed to lose twice to the Heat last month. Lottery time!

3) So yeah, my iBook kinda died. Not sure how it happened, but the IT guy said it was cos the processor went down. Unfortunately for me, it had to happen on the Sunday before two of my papers were due. Fortunately for me, I hadn't really started writing either one of them, so I didn't feel too bad. But thanks to God who really helped me think through stuff clearly and allowed me to finish my essays on time. Managed to get my repaired iBook about 3 weeks later, after having to go through some admin issues cos I couldn't find my Apple iCare package.

4) Yeap, went for R&J's wedding. Know R from school, and she more or less invited the whole of VCF down. Couldn't even stay for the wedding cos of a CG snafu, and so I had to leave like after the short worship session. Bah. I don't even want to talk about the snafu. Reminds me too much of the time I got rained out on Commissioning Day. One good thing was that I managed to meet up with P again, and to talk a bit. One not so good thing is that R is my age. And she just got married. I'm not even attached. Bother it all sometimes I feel so lonely.

5) The interesting photo:



I just had to put this in. I titled it "Kiekie's Delivery Service", in relation to one of Miyazaki's anime.

So got more, maybe I'll post it up when I'm more in the mood.

On an aside, sometimes, I wonder if honor is overrated. I mean, quite a few times, I do things that seem 'right' to do, but I always end up losing out because of that. Not that doing the opposite is wrong, just that maybe it's not quite so honorable. Not that I'll start doing nasty things (God forbid!), but it's starting to irk me a little, that when I'm doing things that I think are decent, I end up with the short end of the stick. Bleah.

Ok back to studying for stupid test tmr.

Cheerio
(and yet, I don't feel terribly cheerful)

感謝する

I have much to be thankful for over this few days.

Most obviously, the first would be that the MOE SM3 camp went off today, and nothing major cropped up... for a while.

OK, must explain a bit. See, I personally don't think I did a very good job on it, since I would have definitely preferred to have had more prep time, as well as have everything totally settled, so that I can act all nonchalant about it during the actual running, since I would have known that everything was in place.

This time, however, it was a little different. Cos first, we only got the go-ahead from MOE in mid-November, which if you are a uni student, is not exactly the freest time to do an external camp project (read: project datelines.. or is it deadlines?). So it didn't start off with a bang. And then, at the end of November, that's when exams start, so it's also not a good time to do more than just a bit of planning. (Oh, btw, I did ok for the exams. Nothing great. But I passed!).

And then December was kinda busy. Like I had quite some stuff to do. So by the time I came back from Telunas, I had like 6 days (which coincidentally, is how long V is staying in HK) to try and complete the camp program. I mean I had the rough framework up by the 12th, I think, but it wasn't complete. Like, it wasn't complete enough for me to be able to let things go.

Then I fell sick. Was pretty bad on the 26th, slightly better on the 27th. And that was when I felt that quite possibly, I would have to ensure the camp would be able to run without me, as I might not even be there.

I believe at that point, when I was like kinda dead-ish, God decided to step in with all His power to help complete the camp prep. I mean, we were praying and all, but that was probably when I and all the other comm members really turned it over to Him to make things work.

And He did.

So today, there were no major problems in the morning. I mean, I went to a doc to get medicine, and by the time I got down to Palawan, all the camp helpers were there, and C had given them the final briefing, and they were all praying, and R and L were setting up the group logistics. The campers came about half-an-hour later, led by Ri, SK, G and WX. I mean, the fact that we suddenly received replies from people volunteering in the few days between 24th Dec and 27th shows God's provision already.

And you know how I know God was really involved? Well, this was the first SM3 camp I've attended as a uni student that was like brilliantly sunny. Ok, it was more like scorchingly sunny, and I bet I've got a bad sunburn, just that it hasn't reached my nerves or something, but yeah. I mean, it was a nice sunny day for all of us to run around and play games. 1st time in 3 years. So most of the peeps had fun, playing games like Hunter, Fire, Earthquake:



And the balloon stepping game, though I must say I was rather disappointed at the quality of those &@#*^@$ balloons, as a bout 2/3rds of them popped or let out air the disgusting things. No fault to L, but to those lousy QC people who aren't doing their jobs:



And also many other games that were either taken from last year's camp (which the students enjoyed previously), or which I pilfered from various Open Sundays. (Thanks guys, for the piracy lawsuits I know you're not going to level against me).

So all the games went ok. No one got heat exhaustion, no one drowned, only two minor injuries, and at about 5pm, when we sent them all off to shower and get ready to go for dinner, we all were able to take a well-deserved break from work:



Or, at least, they were able to play a bit. I was kinda zoned, and somewhere during the course of the day, I lost my voice, and acquired Gary Busey's.

So everything was going more-or-less according to plan.

C was able to catch frisbees:



Everyone was having a grand time:



The sun was, er, shining brightly behind some clouds...



That was when disaster struck. Due to a matter of miscommunication between yours truly and MOE, there would be no buses to bring all the students from Sentosa to Marina for their dinner.

Now, having served as an MTO for 1-and-a-half years, this is arguably one of the worst scenarios that you face. You screw up, and 200 people are left stranded without buses. It's even worse than having to come up with WITS suggestions in 5 minutes. Worse even than realizing that you failed 2.4 by 2 seconds. It's really.... badong (hahaha).

So that was when we had to scramble. And so R and me finally came to the conclusion that 'boh pian, must give the SM3 students a crash course in Singapore Public Transport 101', and told them to take bus out, then MRT, and then bus to the dinner spot.

Fortunately, again, when we told the group leaders the bad news, it was only 5.30 pm, so there was more than enough time for scrambling. And though some groups reached later than the projected 7.30 time (even after we changed time to accommodate for slower movement), at least all of them got to the end point, and I heard from R that they had a satisfactory time over there.

So for this camp, things I can be thankful for are:
1. That most of the program ran smoothly.
2. That even the major hiccups were quashed.
3. That the weather was really good the whole day.
4. That there were enough volunteers who came down.
5. For a comm that supported me all the way, even though quite a bit of the problems that were last minute were caused by me. haha.

So on the way out, I could afford to take a bit more of a breather, and I managed to get this shot:



Which just about helps to remind us of God's sovereignty.

Oh and I finally remembered what I wanted to write about: Christmas Cards! Received some this year, some from expected people (including one via blogpost), some from unexpected people, but all gratefully accepted and cherished. haha. Yeah. Some are really nice, especially one that is like attached to a quadrilateral portion of processed wood pulp meant to help remove remains from around the main orifice wherein normal people put their daily sustenance.

Ok, enough nonsense for one night.

Cheerio

December

By a rather fortunate coincidence, December in English is same as December in Latin, hence the 'English' title. I think it's cos it was imported from Latin. But that is just an aside point of absolutely no consequence to this post, apart from it being it's name.

December is almost over, rather quickly too I might add. Wasn't too long ago when I was complaining about having to study for JLPT (which was on the 2nd of December). So here's a rundown of what went on, and what's going on.

After NUS exams (ended 1st December) and JLPT, I was rather free. So first thing I did was to go and crash the Youth camp (Faithfool) that took place from 3rd~7th December. Brother was camp commandant, and must say he and his comm did a pretty good job, what with the rather short planning time they had. Lotsa pictures, lotsa videos, but I don't have them with me, since I only appeared every now and then. A few disturbances, but that's to be expected. Truly, God made a way for them, and blessed the lives of the youths who attended the camp.

Next major event was the Christmas in the Community. It was really cool. There was like publicity and stuff, and even though I wasn't quite as involved as last year, when I was drafted into the band as the bassist, I did help out a little bit... this time, it was to help Uncle H and E give out mikes during the performance. Was great. The Hokkien song done by Js was really funny and groovy, and some of the other performances by some residents of Woodlands was just awesome. The youth dance team from church also showed that all their hard work paid off. And about half the guys in the Youth Min fell in love with a certain young lady who sang accompaniment to her brother on stage.

Went for a spot of shopping with V on the 18th. To get Christmas stuff. Shopping is a tiring business. Shopping in a crowded place is even more tiring. But at least, I managed to find quite a bit of stuff that I could use. Ate some sort of glorified mee goreng for lunch at the basement of Takashimaya. Wasn't that great, though V said J like adored the stuff or something. I think the donuts were a lot better.

After that was the (at that point) eagerly awaited Telunas trip. Those that went the previous year wanted to get back again, and those that were first-timers wanted to see what was so great about the place. Some pictures below, some from me and others from F.

Must admit that it was pretty different from last round. Firstly, there were more people, but less of my kakis who were there. Secondly, it wasn't a completely relax camp, but there was some structured stuff. Thirdly, it wasn't quite as sunny as the previous time, and fourthly, P.J. gave us a healthy dose of his tekan on the third morning.



This here is the example of the tekan that P.J. gave to us. Doesn't seem too bad right? But this is after we had run about 2km (approximated by brother) in sand, along with numerous times we had to do push-ups and sit-ups. My fitness was totally shot through prior to this trip, and I almost died. If you look closely at the picture, you can see me. I think I should be that wimpy one who's leg is collapsing.

The scenery was still amazing despite the relative bad weather. Like this one, which was taken on the third day when the sun finally decided to come out:



This was on the first day. One of the few nice non-sunny pictures I have:



Strangely enough, if you turned 90 degrees to the right, you would have seen this:



And finally, I must admit that ever since I started watching Miyazaki films, I have started to appreciate clouds more and more:



For other pictures, please take a peek at Farand's photo link.

After getting back on the 22nd, had to start doing both PRC camp planning, and writing Christmas cards for important people. Good thing I started earlier on both, but the PRC camp thing may run into some snags. It's like in a couple days time, and we're not fully ready. Managed to finish most of the cards for my CG people by the morning of the 25th though.

Sister got baptized on the 23rd. Woots! It may not have any sort of 'spiritual impact', since it is merely an ordinance, not like a charm or whatever, but it is still something the Lord called us to do, and is a public declaration of our faith.

Had had a mum-side family gathering on the evening of the eve, had lots of food and stuff. Oh and cousin MW is going to OCS. Haha... the poor sod's over there already...

Then it was Christmas! Went for Christmas service in the morning, so full that some of us ended up standing. Scrambled to write a few more cards before the whole thing ended. Then went for lunch at Uncle KC's. As always, he went all the way with food this time. After that, I toddled off to J-8 to go say hi to YL, then went down to town to join many others having an outing

So now all that is over already. Many nice pictures, much nice food, and many friendships renewed. But now is PRC camp planning time, and I'll just need to trust God to work His miracles, because darned if I'm able to do anything.

So yeah, pray for PRC camp, hope that the planning goes ok, and ask that I can recover from an irritating sore throat in time. I probably got it from S at the camp lor. Oh, and I cut my toe on a barnacle. Those devious little creatures are like the most evil things in the oceans of Telunas. (The bugs are also just as bad). Bled pretty bad, but good thing Auntie S was on site to apply first aid.

OK, that's about all I've got. Kinda losing coherence again, maybe write more stuff on Telunas next time. Must remember to talk about the stargazing incident. haha.

Cheerio

Donum

If there has been one constant in my life so far, it is that every year, without fail, NUS gives me a birthday present in the form of an exam paper. For the past two years, it was Japanese. Today, I got a history paper. Thank you NUS.

I also received a birthday (cup)cake from the VCF+A people from my history class. And got a card from D. My (cup)cake did not have a candle, but it did have a lighter. Which is something at least. Thanks

Also got many sms-es. So nice. One of the best ones was from J. She wrote like an essay or something. Probably had to pay for 3 sms-es. And SK's one about having a bathday was pretty cool too. haha.

So now I'm at 3/4+1 papers. Have just got to prep for Asian-American History on Saturday (they should like give me an A because of heritage) and JLPT on Sunday, which I have yet to study. Tough.

During two of the past 3 tests, however, I must tell of how God provided for me. Like on my test on Monday at Eusoff Hall, I was pretty nervous before it. I mean, that's quite unlike me, since usually I'm not nervous, or at least, I am able to hide the emotion so well that I can't feel it. But I was nervous while going for my Pre-modern Japan test. Despite my sudden attack of anxiousness, I actually managed to get quite a lot to write. Whether the answers will be correct is besides the point: I think God gave me a hand.

And for today's Religion paper, somewhere between question 2 and 3, I started to feel really sleepy. And I almost started kooning. But I distinctly heard some on say my name, like "Hey 'niel" or something like that, which is what my dad calls me sometimes. And I stayed awake for the rest of the paper. Like wow.

Ok. that's about it. Just that yesterday was F's birthday, tmr will be E and R, and day after will be W. So many in so few. Oh, and happy birthday K! (He has the same birthday as me, though he claims he's born earlier because of time zone differences).

On a side note, the Bucks are like 7-5. Unfortunately, this was after they just lost to the 76ers. Still, it's pretty good for a team that would've been the bottom of the NBA last season if the Celtics and Grizzlies hadn't put in even more effort to be the last. But you know what's even cooler that the Bucks being 7-5? It's that Brett Favre's got the Packers at 10-1.

Cheerio!

Meditatio

Now near the end of Year 3 Semester 1 in NUS. Quite possibly the last of my semester 1s here, though I would like to go for honors, then this will (duh!) be the 2nd last of my semester 1s.

Thankfully, I have gotten one of my major essays out of the way since Prof T always like gives us a choice of topics, and if you take the earliest one, you finish it midway through the sem. Can't say I'm proud of my result for that, but it could've been a whole lot worse.

The bigger problem now, is having to sit and think up Prof D's think-piece, which is something like an essay you write that talks about an essay you won't be writing. Quite naturally, this can be exceedingly distressing for me, since I find it hard enough trying to do a normal essay with normal questions, much less one that requires me to think of something to write about something that I'm thinking of writing. So I have gotten myself distracted while listening to Carl Orjje play the works of Miyazaki Hayao, and trying to remember that apart from this think-piece, I also have a Physics test on Tuesday, and must answer Prof T's tutorial by then as well. Haiz.

In other news, however, the Bucks have finally won their first basketball game of the season, at the Bradley Center, with Michael Redd scoring a game-high, and more importantly, with Yi Jianlian playing the way all Bucks fans are hoping he would play when he was drafted in August. Oh and the Packers are still 6-1. I mean like how cool is that?

Ok back to work now.

Cheerio

Ventulus

Today was the culmination of almost two years of learning at the driving center. Well, ok, not exactly two years. More like two months with 1 year 10 in between.

See I wanted to get my driver's license in 2005 before I went to uni, since I had a bit of free time. But driving everyday for two weeks makes driving lessons incredibly boring, and I was rather upset when I realized that to take the advanced theory test, I had to go for lessons and take a mock test before I was allowed to sit for the test.

So I just stopped taking 'em, and procrastinated until recently, when I cleared my advanced theory in June or July this year.

Went for lessons yesterday, and stalled twice. Nothing much to worry about.

And today was the test.

Blue sky overhead
Seeing the roads of my joy
Complements the breeze

D, 'tis a reference

Cheerio

Avis

So just the other day (I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday), I was sitting at the edge of the Deck (hur hur) trying to do some readings or what not. (If it was Tuesday, I was trying my best to finish off my essay [which incidentally, was due the next day] while still trying to maintain my unflappable exterior. Thanks to God, I actually managed to do both)

So yeah, I was sitting there, when suddenly H bounces up to me, and says:

H: Hey! What you doing?
Me: Pre-modern Japan essay.
H: Oh! That's the one I'm not doing anymore.
Me: Yeah, that's the one where you abandoned me.
H: Eh sorry lah...
Me: Heh
H: Anyway, I got a joke to say to you
Me: Erm, ok
H: What do you do if someone throws a chicken at you?
Me: Eh?
H: Come on come on...
Me: (After thinking for a while to see what's the sort of joke-ish answer she wanted) Er, you duck?
H: (Wrinkles her nose at me) Eh, you heard it before ar?
Me: No, I just made a wild guess.
H: So what happens if I ask someone, but they don't know the answer?
Me: Is this some more joke?
H: Yes, quick answer.
Me: (trying to act nonchalant) Aiya don't know lah
H: (trying to suppress her smile at getting one up on me) You suan (swan) the person!

This was when G, who was sitting nearby decided to chime in

G: Haiya, H, can you stop acting like a silly goose?
H: Oei what
Me: Yeah. Stop making such foul (fowl) jokes.

That totally cracked H up. Sometimes, I amaze myself.

Naturally, all this talk about birds also reminded me of a certain friend of mine who once mixed up the names of a small Australian parrot and a fried potato patty. J, if you're reading this, EAT A TAO SA PAU!

On another note, just on Friday, I heard this exchange in my Religion class between D and M.

D:(some talk which I didn't hear)
M: (some talk which I didn't hear either)
D: But Dong{1} is north!
M: No, Dong{1} is east!
D: No! Dong{1} Nan{2} Si{1} Bei{3}, North south east west! (points at the four cardinal points)
M: No, Dong{1} Nan{2} Si{1} Bei{3} (points at the four cardinal points in a different order)
D: No! Hey! (calls friend) Back me up here. It's Dong{1} Nan{2} Si{1} Bei{3} (points at the four cardinal points in a NSEW manner) right?
D's friend: Erm, I think so
M: No what, it's Dong{1} Nan{2} Si{1} Bei{3} (points at the four cardinal points in a ESWN manner)
Me: D, Dong{1} is east. Why do you think Tokyo is called Dong{1}jing{1} in Chinese?

So anyway, this argument goes on and on, until finally, I say

Me: Aiya, Dong{1} is east lah. Dong{1} Nan{2} Si{1} Bei{3} (I point at the cardinal points in a ESWN manner) Chinese and Western style is different. Don't believe me, can ask O. His Chinese is better than mine.
O: (Doesn't say anything, but his slow grin makes D realize that M and me may have been right after all) (Btw, O is Australian. Like angmoh)
D: Really ar?
M: Wah, this is the first time I heard an AC boy (referring to himself, not me. I'm not AC. *shudder*) is better in Chinese than an RV girl

Cheerio

Aequatio

So life goes on as per normal these past few weeks. Have kinda transited back into school life, just that I'll need to get use to the waking up early again, and try to psyche myself to try to work instead of coming home and playing the 'Box all day long.

Well, first up is the thanksgiving: that I managed to get all my modules, and that both ISO and Welcome Tea went through mostly without hitches. God has really been
watching out for us and providing for us in that we have enough of whatever we need, and then some. Like food. And space. And people. And also for the guys in my CG (in church) who are being very regular in attendance, though I must admit sometimes, their maturity leaves much to be desired...

So anyway, this post will be all about balance. Yes. It's a bit like the Yin-Yang thing, or to mangle Newton's 3rd Law, 'For every thing, there's an equal and opposite thing.' Let me give you the examples.

First up would be some anime I bought last month. I was in Suntec City (I can't remember for what), and while going through, I stopped at Blue Max to take a peek at some anime. They, however, didn't have any that I really wanted, so I toddled off to Discs Station, which was nearby, and sells more Chinese-y stuff. And I found out that they were having a sale! As in, usually I can't be bothered to go 'sale-chasing' like most Singaporeans do (OK, so I'm not Singaporean, but that's beside the point), but this sale was really good. So anyway, I managed to get 2 sets of VCDs at SGD14.95, and 1 box set of DVDs at SGD30.00, which needless to say, is pretty darn cheap. Then I happily ran home. Or went to whatever it was that I was looking for in the first place.

So when I got back, I quickly took out my VCDs first to watch, cos it was a basketball one, called Dear Boys. Well, the animation wasn't fantastic, in fact, I would say that it's worse than the Slamdunk anime, but I could have lived with that if it hadn't been the fact that THE SUBTITLES WERE IN CHINESE!!! And if that wasn't enough, THE CHINESE WAS THE FAN TI ZHI VARIANT!!! (Meaning I couldn't really read it lah [not that I could read jian ti zhi very well, but I probably would have an easier time]). Bummer.

But but but but, the DVD box set I got? Now this is the fun bit. It's a collection of Studio Ghibli films. There are like 14 films on 5 DVDs. And they are absolutely fantastic. If I had to recommend anime films, I would recommend these. (Especially since I own them and that would make me feel much better heh). Here's a picture:



Yes. I have only watched about half my shows there, but so far, they are quite good, whether its the storyline, or the characters, or just the land in which the stories took place.

OK, now on to number two. I am sure that if you were in Singapore, you would have watched the National Day Parade, either at Marina Bay, or on the telly, or something. Well, the great thing about that was that the marching contingents were really good. The commandos were good, the navy SEALs were good, and even the Air Force contingent made less mistakes than they normally did. Additionally, this time the Navy got to show off a bit more of their hardware, since previously, they only had those military ducktour boats, which are more army than navy anyway, and the rigid-hull inflatables.

The bad thing, was that we were 'treated' to a really ridiculous, arty-farty performance with some kind of neo-pagan deity dressed in red and running about on rollerblades who was like the the personification of some kind of spirit while his minions worshiped golden calves. I mean come on, surely they could have done something better than show us that. Like some history stuff, or a performance that everyone could enjoy, not just those who splash paint randomly on canvas and see art in their expressionistic departure from artistic norms. Bah. I certainly didn't like that bit. I fell asleep.

Now the 3rd thing that happened was today. Haha. I'm really happy. Like 本当に幸せになるの。You see, I went to Central at Clarke Quay to go check out Yamakawa Super, since that was like supposed to be a sort of Japanese minimart there. And well, it was ok, if a bit sad, but I didn't manage to get what I was looking for. Then my friend D smsed why don't I go over to Liang Court and check out Meidiya over there. So off I went, and there I found like so much fun stuff! Like this:



僕の大好きな飲み物:三ツ矢サイダー！！

And I also found this:



僕も大好きな飴：三ツ矢サイダー飴！！　本当にうれしいね！！

But, tonight, when I got home, I turned on the telly to Channel 8 to watch the 7pm drama. I mean, usually I don't, but I had started to watch because the evil people in the show were really evil, and I wanted to see them get like their just rewards and all, and to see how all the good guys triumph. But nooooooo.. those morons at Mediacorp just had to reveal today that instead of a single 30-serial, they had a double 30-serial, with the next one coming who knows when, probably in a pathetic bid to raise their viewership ratings. I mean give me a break! I'm wasting my time watching that miserable, exaggerated excuse of a show, and you tell me now that you actually have a part 2?! I was trying my best not to unleash some choice army words at those cretins at Mediacorp.

All I can say is that it better not be trilogy of 30-parters. Bah.

Cheerio

Valeas

When a whole bunch of my friends graduated last year, it didn't seem like a very big thing, from my perspective. I mean, it's not like they weren't close friends or anything; after all I did get to know some of them really well, especially my ALLO buddy Ad (who regularly steals food from others and who's greeting is now well known to arts people). But this year, after I went down to the UCC to say hi to some of the graduating peeps (today), it seemed so much different. Like it's a whole new beginning for them, to finally finish their university studies, and to start their working life, but at the same time, I can almost sense as if a whole generation of my friends left school.

It's really curious, because the feeling I got today was the sort I felt like after leaving OCS, or after I graduated from Sec. School. Except this time, I'm not the one graduating. And I'm guessing it's because I guess I have in the two years I've been at NUS, I have grown really close to this particular batch of seniors. And also I guess cos about half these people are also my age.

And I know for certain I will really miss them. People like my ex-CGL MS; when I first met her, I thought she was a Chinese exchange student, and who usually gets teased by us, who has made famous phrases like, "Wat!", "Laugh laugh", and "I'm gonna strangle you by the neck!".

Or Sh, who is smart enough to get first class honors, but whom we all watch to see if she trips over herself.

Like Wi, of whom I shall always remember the rides to school in the morning during exam time, and our hare-brained attempts to catch the Great Central Library Rush on video.

And whenever I'm in the library or at the green tables, there's C who will always come and say hi by clapping me on the shoulder.

Like Ad, who was the one who psyched (psychoed) me into joining CF.

Of P, who did her very best to push my proficiency of Japanese up just before my oral tests.

And of YF, whom I met in JC cos we both kept on failing our Chinese, and I regularly run into on campus.

Of course, there are so many more whom I have gotten to know (like Es, Ev, HS, SD, R, T, Ch, Eu, Be, J, eh really got alot, sorry if missed you out hor), and who will not be coming back to school next semester, and I definitely don't have the space (or time, since FOC is tmr and I haven't packed) to list all of them out. And I really regret not being able to see all of them one last time before they finally leave NUS. But I guess it's sufficient to say that I will remember you (at least, I'll do my best to), and that in Singapore, it's almost a given that I'll bump into you sooner or later.

Farewell friends



Kaoz.. so emo sia... almost as if this was an orbituary or something. Biang eh, show so much emotion, must be getting old...

Oh, and I thought this would be a good representation of F, since she has become a dino:



Haha. She wanted to bish me after that. Oh well

Completum

And now my 2nd year as a university student has come to an end.

OK, so it really ended on the 2nd of May at 3pm when I walked out off my seat and started talking with K about the Japanese exam that just finished. It wasn't quite as hard as I thought, which can be both a good thing and a bad thing, and unlike what M confidently stated, 経済and 政治did not come out in the kanji section of the paper.

And unlike the previous time, I was not quite so free as to be able to post things in the middle of the exam studying time. More like I couldn't spare the creative juices to think up of how to write a post. That is not to say, however, that I did not engage in some mindless, random entertainment during the study period. It can be clearly evidenced by this picture, where GY and me balanced 4 M&Ms between two other candy-biscuit-chocolate thingies (I forgot what they're called).



Didn't really get a lot of time to rest after that. I mean, I went out to buy a game, and stayed up late, but on Thursday, I went with F and PS to Batam for a recce for the church retreat. The place was ok, but we did see a place that PS remarked looked suspiciously like the Bridge on the River Kwai.



Next day, I went down to school to play basketball with L and friends, where I both found out that my basketball skills had seriously detiorated (not that I had much to begin with, but yeah), and that even playing under cloud cover can get you a serious case of sunburn. Had basketball again in the afternoon, and at night went for night cycling with the peeps from VCF. It was really quite fun, though I very nearly fell asleep while being R's V-com. Had to buy coffee to attempt to stay awake.

Sat and Sun had to play for worship. Was really quite zoned out cos of lack of sleep, so am really qutie grateful to God that I didn't like fall asleep during service.

Monday was games day plus FG plus AGM for VCF. Would've gotten sunburnt again except I was already sunburnt, so I didn't get quite so badly burned as some others I knew. Oh and after the AGM was the first time where suggesting to go to Jalan Kayu for supper was actually a viable option, cos there were enough people who stayed nearby who were eager to go. Except for C lah, he stays in Clementi, but came up all the way for prata anyway.

Spent Tuesday baking some cookies, bringing Grandma to SGH for checkup, rushing back to finish the cookies, and then go on down to 3rd place for yet another VCF event. Was kinda tired, so was a little bummed there. But eventually, it was ok. Wednesday I just stayed at home.

Thursday was going to JB day. Organized by A, for some VCF people, we all went across the Causeway to do shopping. Or at least, we all went across the Causeway. The shopping bit might not have quite been done by the collective 'we'. Sort of the 1st time I went there just to do a spot of shopping and staying in Malaysia for less than a day. Oh and also one of the few times there was someone else (in the form of LJ) who was forced to go to the 'All Passports' line instead of the 'Singapore passports' one.

Oh, and this is really old news, but the Mavs got knocked out in the 1st round. Which I felt was a bit of a bummer, since I would've thought that they could have actually won the NBA championships. Oh well.

And finally, couple more photos. Like this one, which was taken by my titchy little Ixus 55. I like the way it can have that sort of 'bowl' effect. Cool huh.



Yup. Just another one of those sunset shots that I was able to get from the balcony. Naturally, Dad was shooting using his massive EOS 500 thingy to shoot. Oh well. Just like fire in the sky.



Cheerio

Commilitium

The fact that I'm posting so many posts in so few days means, for one, that at least my creative abilities have not totally depreciated. Haha. It could have also meant that I was freer, since my last two major essays were handed up last Friday, but that's not true as I've got a test later on at about 6 pm and I've also got a short report to write up for me language module.

Anyway, we had fellowship training today. It wasn't really quite 'training', since it was basically a panel on singlehood presented by P and J and hosted by Y, and it was more entertaining than informative, since as Y put it, "You all know most of this stuff already anyway."

After the event, we all were just mingling about, and then W came up to me and we started talking, and he mentioned that we didn't have to be part of the SDU anymore, we could be SUD (Single Unwanted Dudes). I upped him one by suggesting we could be SLUGs (Single, Lonely, Unwanted Guys, small 's' since plural). K wanted to go the extra bit and replace 'Guys' with something that started with 'T' instead, but we immediately vetoed him on the spot.

Oh, and the senior students like prepared lots of little cards with a little varnished M&M on it as like their going away gift, since this was their final FT. This is what it looked like:



I was really touched lah, since it obviously took quite a bit of time to prepare it, and it should be made known that senior year isn't exactly the senang-est time in uni life. And many of the seniors wrote a little note inside, though not all of them were represented. (Like MS didn't write inside, but I think it's cos she was preparing for the FT itself, and not because I tricked her into eating chocolate without nuts, biscuits or rum last week.)

Oh, and just to take a poll (not that I'm anal about it or anything. I really do appreciate this little card), but should it be 'a M&M' or 'an M&M'?



Regardless of whatever it should be, whether 'a M&M' of 'an M&M', or even if they made a mistake and called it a Smartie, I really do feel blessed by knowing the year 4s who continued to work hard in both their academic life as well as in campus ministry, and for providing guidance, leadership, and friendship. God bless guys.

Oh and before I forget, thanks D for trying to help make me feel better on Monday night.

And while we are on the subject of fellowship, this here is the picture of the Guyros guys who went to catch 300 a while ago. Yeah. All of us, except the blurry guy at the left side of the photo. He's an unknown passerby.



Cheerio!

Taedium

You know you're really bored when you can be sitting in the media viewing room, and supposed to be studying for exams, and you are taking photos of the world outside, and thinking how much the scene looks like something out of Australia or USA.



But the weather's been really good all this while, and it's pretty regular, like clear blues skies in the morning, till early afternoon, and then the storm clouds form, and then it rains...

Another sign you're really bored is when you can come up with something like this:



Dawn
It breaks
Peeking up
Over the tops
Of trees and houses
Casting its amber glow
Upon the diamond dewdrops
Lighting the mist with slanted rays
Feeling the changes upon my skin
From the cool of night to the warmth of day
Hearing birds sing out their morning song
Lifting their voices to their Lord
And as the early breeze comes
Carrying with it hints
Of the day to be
I've found what I
Want to find
I've found
God

Cheerio.

Valeo

We all knew it was coming. That didn't make it feel any better.



Here's to all the year(s) Arts VCF spent at the green tables. The traditional hangout place is gonna be undergoing renovation, but I don't think the green tables will be quite so green anymore... they may end up like the silver shiny sort of tables you find outside the nearest Macs, or *shudder* engineering canteen....



The feeling only really hit me during the last Wednesday morning prayer held there. Guess cos the date had been pushed back and back, and we knew it was "somewhere just before the exams", and suddenly, it was somewhere just before the exams. It was made even more painful I guess, that most of the CF people had been struck by muggerbug, and had shifted away to SMC awhile ago. And muggerbug was still going strong, as can be seen by the fact that our last prayer meeting at GT consisted of only 4 people.



Anyway, I think that's enough mourning for our past heritage. So here's K and E signing off from GT, with a nuclear explosion occuring somewhere in the harbour behind K.

So long, green tables. We'll colonize you when you come back next AY.

Cheerio

Pacificus

Caught up with work is such an understatement. Thanks mainly to the multitude of datelines, as well as the massive amounts of readings I had to do for my history class. Basically, I was camping in the library whenever I didn't have any class. Like everyday. Even Friday, which is technically my 'free' day... Yeah right. And I've heard the library closing song almost everyday too. Bah. I've become a mugger.

On a good note, for M and D who are overseas, the library plays a different tune every night now. And recently, they're into John Williams. Like the classical guitarist chap. On a bad note, Arts canteen is closed for renovation. So yeah. No more green tables.

So now, in between the essay rush period and the exam period is a short time where I can actually relax a little, since I don't have anything to hand in tomorrow. Or the day after. Or the day after the day after. Or the day... ok ok. You get the picture already.

So anyway, some highlights from the past few weeks included:

Having a long Skype conversation with M while a whole bunch of us were squeezed into a little 3"by 6" cubicle on the 5th floor of the Central Library. There was me, along with P, A, E, S, SC, er not too sure who else. But well. Poor MS had lessons, and couldn't join in the fun. Also HS, and F, and not sure who else, but well.

Almost getting ejected from Singapore. Since my application for a student pass was rejected by ICA. But God provided for me, mainly in the form of this official there called Koh, who was really understanding, and helped move things around, so that my re-application was successful. And also for other people who encouraged me, like C, who showed quite a bit of concern, and D, who helped me rant against policy from Aussieland. Yeah well. I didn't really feel terribly fearful, but well.

Realizing that J is trying to kill me by making me try to play the bass line from the Hillsong's funky Joy to the World.

Going to Vivo city for an exploratory walk. Went down a few Mondays ago with Jo to take a looksee, and to check out whether it was feasible for Thursday CG to have an outing there. The place is really huge. Like really huge. Compared to Suntec, I'm not too sure which one is bigger, but in Suntec, the shops are arranged in a sort of circle around the fountain in the middle (which people think rubbing will give them luck... I mean come on, that thing was like built when Suntec went up... like... ok ok..) while Vivo is sort of like a 3-sided 3-pronged shape thingy, with an outer and an inner pathway, so it can be easy to get lost. I almost got lost, but what with my natural skill at directions and supreme self-confidence, we never got lost.

Having 2 CG outings there. The first one was just our CG, the second one wasn't quite what was expected. But both times it was pretty fun. Well, sort of fun. The first one we watched the Black Dahlia, which was one of the worst choices we could have made. I mean, like really bad. Like Event Horizon sort of bad. Like Warriors of Heaven and Earth sort of bad. It was one heck of a freaky movie. And I didn't even know the stupid show was M18 or R21 or whatever. Bah.

Oh well. There were really a lot of things that went on, but I think I shall just end off here, with two other things.

First was my Japanese Oral test just last Wednesday. I'm always freaked out by oral, since I actually have to think very fast, and catch what Nagami-sensei was trying to say and stuff, but it was surprisingly ok. As in, I could really kinda understand most of the stuff, and could answer properly too. Haha. God gave me the gift of tongues and interpretation there for a while.

And secondly, is Psalm 107. I found it really helpful and applicable. It is one of the few times the Bible actually 'spoke' to me in a way that I felt it was speaking to me. Heh. And I really like the Psalm. Think it's pretty good.

Well, that's about it. Apart from the usual problems like running out of cash and freaking out over exams and stuff.

Oh well.

Cheerio

Opusculum

Been kinda swamped with work these past few weeks... And it's only thanks to God that I'm still not too stressed out heh. I mean, cos when the whole weight of all my assignments and readings and projects and stuff all come down, it can be pretty scary, but well, just commit it to God, and let Him handle it. Yeah. I mean, I'll still do it lah, just that I don't need to pressure myself to death with stomach ulcers or anything..

Yeah anyway, some things of note, is that the green tables have officially been replaced by the SMC as the CF hang out place. Everyone's mugging now. OK, everyone started mugging long ago, but yeah.

And M and D, I have also reached the next level of muggering; Remember how I had once said that I had reached a new level when I heard the library closing song during the exam studying week? Well, I have managed to hear the library closing song... on a normal school day. And during the mid-sem break I came back to study. I mean, how mugger is that?

Oh well. I shall be nice to MS and not write out here what she told me on Thursday night. Haha. You can see it on her blog if you really want anyway, under the comments of one of the posts.

OK. Essay due on Monday, reviews due the following week, more essays after that, and SM3 camp to plan...それはちょっと大変ね.... And I went into one of my M3 (Momentary Moment of Madness) back on Wednesday, when I wrote Japanese into my church homework paper.... haha... Getting kinda wonky.... But thanks to A and J, who tried to make me feel better the previous Wed when I was in a really bummed mood.

Oh, and since we are called to be salt and light on the campus, remember how C always says we can be 'lightly salted'? I got a new one! We can be sodium lights! Since light is light and sodium is part of sodium chloride.. which is salt... OK ok, bad joke...

Work work.

God save the queen? God save me! hahahahahahaahahaha

Cheerio

Grammatica

Had a slightly longer day last night, thanks to the readings I was trying to finish reading for the tutorials this morning. In fact, I stayed back later than normal, and only left when J ran into me in the SMC and sort of persuaded me to leave with her. Yeah, I even had to skip the first Kairos Course class to try and finish off all my readings and even then I didn't.

Regardless, the week has been pretty ok, despite the double mid-term test I had at the beginning. I know God was with me for the tests, cos in the language one, I did manage to get most of the stuff, think I can pass that one. And even for the US history one, I believe God granted me the peace of mind, so that I wasn't quite freaking out during the test.

To cap things all off, I have declared an S/U on my Physics mod, since I really don't think I can handle it anymore. Haha. Thought my JC level physics was enough... I was so wrong. Anyway, at about 12 noon yesterday, I declared the S/U while in Science. And, I found something interesting.

Take a look at this. This is the screen after I had just clicked the "confirm" button.



Oh. You don't see what I'm trying to drive at? That little phrase above the "Back to Login" button? OK. Let me enlarge it a little bit more for you.



"You has already logged out the system"!!

Wow! Please remember, that this is coming from one of the world's top 18 universities. And it is English based, so although we aren't exactly a English-for-mother-tongue country, I think is not quite inexcusable... In fact, it reminds me a little of another rather famous quote, or at least, it's a video clip...

Yeap ok. Back to work for me. Got the Film and History essay due in about 12 hrs time.

Cheerio

Innuo

I was kinda in a bit of a funk this evening, feeling sort of depressed. I don't know why. But I was feeling really down. You know that sort of sian feeling that comes along every now and then.

So anyway, I was sorta in a bummed state on the bus home when I heard "I Belong to You" by the Hillsongs on the iPod. It's this really old song from like the "Shadow of Your Wings" album, but as I heard it, it was like I started to feel a little better, cos it kinda spoke to me about how I was His, and while the song was more about how we should have like eternal love for God, it implicitly said that God would not let me down.

Now, just to set what happened next in perspective, earlier on at the Green Tables, T asked me to play for her tomorrow for the Morning Prayer. And she wanted to do the two "In Christ Alone" songs. And as I was stewing in my funk on the way home on the bus, I was just thinking to God how nice it would be if my iPod would like play the "In Christ Alone" song (I only have one version, the newer one) before I would get off the bus. The thought lasted for about 5 seconds before it became 'to play the song before I got home' for another 5 seconds. Then it really quickly became 'let's not put God to the test', since I'm liable to get zapped from heaven or something. But somehow, it just felt different. I don't know why, but you know how sometimes you ask God to show you something, but it doesn't feel right? This time, I didn't get the bad vibes that usually accompany this sort of thought.

And about two stops before I got off, my iPod started playing that familiar drumbeat intro to 'In Christ Alone'. I swear I didn't pre-set it or anything, and the shuffle function was on. But it did start playing.

Which brings to mind this other incident that happened a while ago during LTP. During that session, we were all supposed to form up into our CGs, and discuss some aspects of our walk with God. And one thing that was quickly apparent was that across the board, God's answering of prayers was consistently 7 and above (out of 10), even while most of the 'I have been doing regular QT' levels were somewhere around 3.

And it only goes to show that God really is faithful.

Cheerio

Abnocto

I've wanted to post about some stuff for a long while now, but I really was too lazy to log in and type out the whole thing.

First things first, have you seen the new rifle drill with our nice new weapon the SAR 21? You may have noticed it on National Day. Now don't get me wrong. I love that rifle. The scope makes it a lot easier to aim than the M16's iron sights. And the mostly fibreglass construction makes it easy to clean. And even though it's heavier, the fact that the handgrip is in the centre makes it easier for us Asians to fire the rifle one-handed, if the need ever arises. Plus, the fact that it is new = fresh from the manufacturing plant = anti-rust protection still there = less cleaning necessary.

But, the rifle is shorter. Which while making it excellent for the urban warfare we are expecting to have to handle, considering Singapore's cityscape, makes it also, a whole lot less elegant than the longer M16. And thus, for rifle drill and stuff, I still very much prefer the old rifle drill with the M16/AR15 rifles. It just looks a lot cooler. And the fact that the holding of the SAR 21 rifle in the 'at ease' position also looks pretty weird.

Anyway, enough about the new rifle drill. I'm just glad I didn't have to march with the SAR 21 on ceremonial.

I also got all my modules. I've got 3 History mods, and 1 Physics mod which I was supposed to do with R, but due to a mistake in calculation (that marks us FASS students), he couldn't get into the class. And also Japanese 3, which promises to be a whole lot harder than 2. (Duh...) Balloting is still pretty icky, even though I can't really say that Science's first-come-first-served style is any better, since I'm not exactly like the average Singaporean.

Oh and have you noticed that the phrase 'first-come-first-serve' is actually grammatically incorrect? It should at the very least be 'served', since it's a past participle something or other (Elang majors, a little help here?).

Then school started. Monday's are packed, while at the moment, the rest of the week is rather free. Though right now, the green tables are rather empty, with M and D overseas, and A starting work, so yeah... very lonely. Anyway, it was nice to meet all the VCF people again, since I haven't seen quite a lot of them since FOC, and several more since school ended, but well.

Oh and IFG welcome tea the Friday before went really well, but if you really want to know about Jesus feeding the 120++, please click here.

Yup. VCF welcome tea on Wednesday was pretty cool too. Got to meet a few new freshies, and really say hi to a few of the afore-mentioned senior VCF-ers. Oh and I crashed 2 lectures this week already, SE1101E with LJ, and PS 3 something something something with H and E. Which brings the number of lectures I crashed to a grand total of...

2.

So anyway, on Friday (like yesterday), I went down to school early cos I didn't want to take the bus out myself, then I crashed the 8am PS lecture, and then I bummed around a bit, then went to meet P and JS who were bringing some Japanese students out for lunch. It was really nice to get to meet them, cos they were really nice people. But S1 had to go and settle his tuition fees, so I went with him when he went to pay. Then we had to rush down to City Hall, since it was already like 1.45 and yeah. Paid $10.70, which was a damn sight better than that stupid $8 fare I had to pay in this previous post. And the fellowship was great, even though the meal cost me another $17... bah... I really can't afford more of this.

Then, I went home. I had actually considered going back to school to crash the CSI class, but NUS is a little too far from my place, and at any rate, I was supposed to have to go over to Serangoon Gardens for CG retreat. So I just stayed at home and played a spot of Xbox with brother who had booked out earlier. Then dad nicely sent me out and I took bus 70, on which I met cousin I, who was going to meet her special friend for dinner (my potential cousin-in-law. he's a nice guy).

So anyway, I met the rest when I got on board 317, and we went in. Whereupon C and me put our arsonic tendencies to good use by starting the bbq. Just fyi, MZ likes his marshmallows like carbonized. We found out. Then after the short bbq session, we headed over to the nearby park to play captain's ball and frisbee, where the CSI people joined us.

Now let me tell you, playing captain's ball in poor visual conditions is not very healthy, considering I almost had my right eye put out by the ball. And very often, we were like scrabbling around for the ball on the ground, or like throwing it too hard at each other, or missing the frisbee etc.

So anyway, after we got all sweaty and icky, A said he had to leave soon, and Ch and S also had to go, so we took a break, and then KFC, Mark us had the CG sharing/visioning. And after a short time of prayer, we went over to Chomp Chomp for supper at about 0030.

So anyway, I had decided to go home, since K wasn't staying (we live quite near to each other) and R was willing to give us a lift to Yio Chu Kang road. And I was feeling really icky anyway, so yeah. After supper, R dropped me off along Yio Chu Kang road at around 0145.

Now I was happily thinking happy thoughts of how I would be able to shower and change out of my icky clothes and then maybe I'll check my mail before sleeping. And along the way, I was just like sort of like praying/conversing with God about stuff in my life, which not only made me feel even happier, but helped to make the walk in go faster.

So I happily reached the lift, and happily took it up to my apartment, and happily took out the keys from my bag, thanking God that I had a set of house keys (there are only like 3 sets), and as I happily walked out of the lift, and happily put the key into the front gate at 2 am, that I suddenly remembered my dad latches the door before he goes to sleep.

Sure enough, I could unlock the door, but thanks to the latch, there was no way I could get in.

The great thing was, that I didn't start to become depressed, or start to rail at God or anything, which I might have done. In fact, I almost started laughing at my predicament. I think God had given me the peace and calmness of heart sorta and so I was pretty ok. So I ended up sleeping outside my house, after sms-ing C to tell him of my predicament. I bet the whole bunch of them had a good laugh, and C was really nice, cos he like called back at like 0230 and said he was heading to his place in Hougang in a cab to grab some stuff, and would I like to meet him so that I would have a proper place to sleep. But I said it was ok, and pretty mafan anyway, so I just went to sleep on the floor. Which is actually pretty funny, when you come to think of it, since the two newspaper guys who came at like 0515 would have like thought I was some sort of illegal immigrant or something haha...

So yeah, at 6, I figured I could safely wake my father without him biting my head of, so I rang the doorbell, and he came to the frontdoor to find his firstborn son standing there barefoot, looking rather disheveled.

So anyway, that was my last couple of weeks.

Oh, and the FASS canteen is going to be renovated. AUGH! No more green tables! ARGH! Meet there for a few more times before the place gets demolished....

Cheerio