Before Work

After almost a year since returning from Japan, I am finally going to start work on Monday. I didn't think it would be that long till I found a job in Singapore, but I guess when you're a 'Foreign Talent' who's not really foreign or talented, you kind of end up in the situation I was in. It didn't help either, that most of the jobs on the job search sites were the kind that were not particularly pertinent to someone who possesses a degree in history (read: Engineering).

Thankfully though, there is a company that's willing to accept this 外人, which is why I will report to work on Monday. I have to admit, I am a bit nervous, as I am not too sure what will be required of me. I am glad though, that I will be able to finally start earning my keep and growing my savings account (missionary work, while enjoyable and fulfilling, isn't exactly the best place to grow one's savings), as well as to finally pay off my bond to the government.

In the meantime, while looking/waiting for a job, I was able to do some things. Mainly bumming about at home and running about town, though I did go down to church for a bit to do some stuff. In the process, due to my expiring social visit passes, I had to leave for the bright lights of Johor Bahru twice to renew my visa, both times in the company of good friends. The second time though, we got trapped in a jam on the way over that took up more time than what we actually spent in JB.

One of the friends. Though it would technically be more accurate to say that she isthe daughter of said friends. I doubt she considers me a friend.

I also went to a couples' engagement party. Alvin Tay got engaged earlier this year (on Valentine's Day, if I'm not wrong. Such a romantic) and his future sister-in-law arranged an engagement party for him and Amanda (his fiancée). It was all pretty good fun, I got to talk to an ex-classmate most of the night, and that would have been about it....except for the fact that the multi-storey carpark had really narrow ramps....which led to this:

In the immortal words of the Black Knight, "'Tis but a scratch!". In case you can't tell, there was yellow paint demarking the corners of the ramp pillars. 

And I went back to Japan for a visit. Partly because I missed the place, partly because I missed Marie, and partly because the company had granted me a second interview then, which seemed to mean that I could potentially land a job. And before that happened, I wanted to go back once before I get tied down. It was fun. Uncle Louis and Auntie Chris were really nice and let me stay at their place, and I had good fun going around surprising a whole bunch of people who never expected to see me in Japan.

There was also work I didn't expect to do that I ended up doing.

While there, I also managed to get a cd of one of my favourite pianists. I had never heard of her before going to Japan back in 2009, and I think in Japan, she's actually more well-known as an actress, but I fell in love with her music when I heard it on an NHK show about Kyoto. If you ever get the chance to listen to Nao Matsushita, you should. Her music seems to have a certain... melancholy to it that tugs at you, and makes it very suitable to rainy days, or traveling through snow-capped mountains. Don't ask me about the connection. It just fits.

 This song was one of those from that show that I watched back in 2009. It was on the cd that I got, and in the first Book Off I went in too.

I had to pay a bit of extra on the plane ride back. I was bringing back all my worldly possessions that I had left in Japan, and besides my luggage and backpack, I had my quiver of arrows. Unlike SIA, which allows you a certain amount of weight in check-in luggage, Delta only allows one free piece of luggage to be sent into their cargo holds. Anything more, even if you're still under the 18-kilo weight limit, will be charged. Bah.

But I did manage to catch one of the Always: Sunset on 3rd Street movies on the plane. I didn't finish it because I started watching when we were somewhere over the Philippines I think, but it somehow managed to evoke a feeling of nostalgia, of the 'good old days' in the 60s, in someone who was born in 1984. Must be the slightly faded colours and the prodigious use of orange lighting. If you're looking for action, it may not be quite your cup of tea, but it really is a rather pleasant show to watch.

From the first movie. There are currently three in existence. Can't you feel the nostalgia?

So that's about what went on for me. Now on to work. Hopefully, I manage to do it in a sufficiently competent manner that would allow me to continue to work there for a while. 

Date

I just spent 4 hours on skype talking with Marie because she was going on a walk, and I was accompanying her. We (she) walked from the CRASH house to Oizumi-Gakuen station, and I was with her looking at the camera feed, and when we realized that was taking up too much battery, following her progress on google maps. And it was fun.

Who said you had to be physically near each other to have a date?

Ichinoseki Part 3

Took a little too long to get back to this.

Our final work day at Ichinoseki was a little different. We knew before we got down to the volunteer centre, that Onodera-san was not getting volunteers, as she had requested none on that day. So Nobu said that the first one that comes along that can fit one of our groups, we should just take it. And so we were separated from the CCC team.

We were assigned to do photo-recovery work at a nearby sports hall (I think), and we did not take our car with us this time. One of the volunteer centre staff dudes drove a few of us out in a van, and he took us through the part of Kesennuma that was hit the hardest by the tsunami, and by the fires that broke out after that. We had seen damage of course, but it still kinda cast a pall over the entire car when we were driving through it, and he was telling us his experience.

Yes, that is a container ship that was washed inland.

Photo-recovery work was a lot different from what we had experienced up to that point. We were working indoors, so it was cool. There was no construction work going on, so it was quiet. There were chairs and tables, and all we had to do was to salvage as many photographs as we could from photo albums that had been pulled out of the wreckage, dry them off, and put them in new albums.

Now, if you know what some of those albums are like, each 'page' is made of stiff paper which may be sticky, so you can plonk your photo on it. And then there's a plastic film for each page that goes on top so that it can be protected from spilled drinks and the grubby hands of people. What we had to do was to slowly peel the film off (hopefully without peeling off the picture), and then cut the picture off the 'page'.

And it seems like a relatively cushy job compared to the physical stuff we had been doing, but now I realize that finesse can be as stressful as doing hard manual labour, bending over the tables, controlling your movements so that you don't damage it any worse.

And the albums smell bad, because they were in the sea. The moment we opened it up, we got a powerful whiff of it. And we have to keep our faces near the books so that we can see what we are doing (though we kinda get used to it after about an hour or so).

And this is also where it kinda hits you a bit more, that these pictures may be the visual remnants of someone who may be dead. When we were working before, it was physical stuff, and the owners were still around, and they had friends and family who got swept away, but, you know, you're still kinda distant from those other people.

Now? You're looking at them smiling at you from the pages of a photo album which were meant to be a memoir for them, but instead, is giving you a window into the life of a total stranger who you will probably never meet.

There were photos of vacations, and houses and plants, but the ones that really struck me were those old photos of children, or a child with his mother, because they remind me of the photos my grandmother had when she was young and my dad was a kid. And these are treasures, because those are the only copies. In our digital age, where we can take thousands of photos and have backups and store it on hard drives and print out a billion copies, we forget (or don't know, perhaps) how valuable a photo was.

It was only 4 hours of work, but it was a lot harder than we thought. We got a ride back to the volunteer centre, and then we headed back to base, and that was the end of our volunteer work in Ichinoseki.

We also went out to Rikuzen-Takata to do a short prayer-walk around the tree. This tree had been in a grove of 70,000 that had been a park/breakwater, but now it was the only one that remained. It gave hope and courage to the people I guess, in the '頑張れ (ganbare)' way, to just push through adversity, and they are desperately trying to save it from the seawater that had gotten into the soil. (Side note: On the way down from Tono much later, we drove past the tree again, and it looked a lot worse.)

The pine tree

On Sunday, we went to a church in Kesennuma. They did not have a sermon, but a guy shared his testimony of doing volunteer work (he had been helping out at the volunteer centre as one of the staff). It was somewhat sobering to hear that everyone in the church had lost someone they knew, but the church members were all very kind to us, and welcomed us warmly.

The CCC team left for Ichinoseki station after that, to take the train back down to Tokyo. Our team went to find a ramen shop (someone wanted to eat local ramen), and then we went to the summer festival in the town (Murone town) near the base. We had been invited by this guy who had driven all the way up to the base, so we felt that we should go.

Summer festival at Murone

It was a lot smaller than the ones I had gone to before in Tokyo, even the one in Tokorozawa, but then Murone is a pretty small town, and they were using a rather large place to stage it. It also felt a little too cold for a summer festival, as it had been cloudy and rainy all week long, so the temperature had dropped quite a bit.

We met the guy who invited us, and then we found out why he wanted to invite us; there was a log-cutting competition, and he was supposed to get people. So he signed all four of us up. I ended up squaring off against one of the local guys, and the result wasn't exactly pretty. I am not particularly strong, and I was not used to the small one-handed saw they gave me (it cut on the backstroke, whereas I'm used to a two-handed hacksaw that cuts on the forward stroke). And then I cut myself.

The aftermath. This was after the 'first-aid person' (in apostrophes because the first thing she did was to stuff cotton balls on the wound) and Marie had nursed me back to health. Incidentally, I noticed all the contestants wore work gloves after that.

But it all turned out well. We got to see fireworks that nights, and I got an iMax experience because I was lying down on the road and the sky was my screen.

Monday was our off day too, and after kinda lazing around hanging around the base, some of us took a walk around.

Ichinoseki base is located in a really beautiful area.

Near the end of our travels, Laura, who was trumping around the area with us, started to feel pain in her foot. She had tripped while walking around the base before we left for our hike, and when we got back, her foot was purple. Roberta prodded her a few times (she has some real nursing knowledge), but it seemed to only be a bruise. We found out after we got back to Tokyo that Laura had broken her toes in five places.

And that is about all. We left the base the following morning, saying goodbye to Woody, his wife, and a couple of new staff that had come by the night before, and reached Tokyo around 8.30 or 9. It was a really good trip, got to see (and help out) in some of the work there, and got to know each other better during the trip.

And now, a final word from the 'safety officer', who cut his hand sawing a log:

They always say to wear a breath mask and a helmet; I combined the two and wore a breath mask as a helmet. Remember, 安全第一！

Back in Japan

So I've been back in Japan for just over a week, and I'm happy to note that I have not forgotten quite as much Japanese as I thought I had, which is quite funny, since the first week or so back, I just could not get the Japanese-ness I had picked up out of me.

Like on a train, if I bumped into someone, or was trying to get further in the carriage, I would say 'sumimasen'. Or if I was at a food stall, trying to get the attention of the auntie behind the counter, I would say 'sumimasen', which is completely normal in Tokyo, but somewhat less common in Singapore.

At any rate, by the 2nd week I was in Singapore, I realized I had started to forget my Japanese, but on hindsight, I guess it was kinda like getting put into the storage area, instead of the common use area of my brain.

So the weather is ridiculously hot now. Still not the worse (I think that comes in August) but pretty close, and the humidity is pretty high too. Yeah, it's about 35 degrees about now, though it looks like s storm will be in for the whole of next week, which should cool things down a bit.

On the way in, there was one thing that I was really thankful for. See usually, when you take a flight, as the plane ascends or descends, pressure will build up in your ears. And you can usually alleviate the pressure by yawning or swallowing. Unfortunately for me, the past 4 or 5 flights I've taken, I've always had problems 'popping' my ears on the descent. Which usually leaves me with a dull pain in my ear for about half an hour after I disembark.

But this time round, I'm not sure why, but the pressure never got to build up fully. I guess I can thank God that this time round, He helped me through that little bit. (It might seem little, but it really irritates me when it happens).

I also went to a summer festival last Sunday at Hana-Koganei. While there, I managed to meet up with the Komai family (they live at Hana-Koganei) and talked to them for a bit.

Miru Komai. Last I remembered, she didn't like taking pictures, but maybe that's cos the other person was using a DSLR and I was using a titchy little IXUS.

Couple of prayer pointers, in case you don't get access to MW from my church:

1. T from Tokorozawa HC, has a new project and now must commute further to work everyday. He says he finds it hard to be enthusiastic about work, and finds daily living tedious. Pray that God will grant him joy in life.
2. LW formerly of Intercross, he went back to China to be with his father. His father's cancer has spread and it's taking it's toll not just on him but also his family. Keep them in prayer.

Ok that's about all I have for now. I really should get down to doing my assignments for my CMS course, but inertia is such a difficult thing to get over...

Cheerio!

Conatum

A sudden hush had descended over the throne room when the powerfully built warrior had strode proudly in, and now that he had finished giving an account of his task, there was utter silence. The task given to him had seemed both impossible and humiliating to do, but against all odds, the warrior had returned in triumph.

Several of the youths in the room, young men who would one day be mighty fighters in their own rights, looked up at him in hero worship. The maids, hiding behind the pillars and under the doorways, admired his physique and rugged good looks. But for every person in the room who looked in awe, there were three who stared with hatred, and among them was the king.

There was no mistaking the loathing in King Eurystheus' eyes as he glared at the man standing in front of him. He slowly took a deep breath, and tried to calm the roiling anger that was threatening to boil over.

How can it be, he thought to himself, that no matter what I make this fool do, he comes back victorious? Why is it that this man is always successful? Surely there must be something he cannot do!

He had already taken down that vicious lion with the impenetrable skin, by managing to find a way to strangle it.

Then he had gone to Lerna, and had killed the seven-headed beast that resided there and was terrorizing the nearby villages. Nine-headed, he reminded himself, since the cretin had charged in and cut off two of the creatures heads, not knowing that each stump would sprout two new heads... in fact, if it had not been for that other idiot Iolaus who helped him burn the stumps...

Acquiring the golden-antlered hind of the goddess also hadn't proved a problem. How he managed to bargain with the deity he did not know, but the huntress maiden had agreed to lend him the last of her swift-footed does instead of killing him the way she had all others who had attempted to even touch one of her favoured deer.

And when he had brought that man-eating boar into this very room! The king still remembered how he had recoiled in horror when the evil creature, with it's blood-stained tusks, had been led in by the warrior, and how the warrior had pretended to let it loose on the king... oh the horror of it all.

And now this. King Eurystheus silently cursed the heavens. He had sent the warrior to the great stables of Augeas, who had sailed with the legendary ship Argo. Since returning from that voyage, Augeas had been dealing in cattle, and he had huge herds of cattle that had been blessed by the gods themselves. But the blessing had been a double-edged sword, for they produced a great deal of waste, and after 30 years, no one had been able to go within 2 miles of the stables due to the stench that emanated.

The warrior had been told to clean up the place in a day, a humiliating assignment for any warrior, much less the son of the chief god of the Olympians. And yet, he had managed to do it, and even the son of Augeas was giving an eyewitness account of the feat.

"It's true my lord. He diverted the rivers Alpheus and Peneus through the stalls and in less than half a day the place was as clean as the temple of Zeus!" claimed the youth.

The king felt his self-control losing it's grip on his anger. Oh how he wanted to beat his hands against the wall, to scream out the fury that had been building up inside of him, to smash something, but most of all, to wipe that smirk off the face of the warrior standing easily in front of him! Surely there had to be something he could not do, something that no matter how muscle-bound or cunning or intelligent he was, he would never be able to accomplish... something...

And with a start, the king set up. In the quiet and stillness of the room, that movement seemed as loud as the shouts of the phalanxes as they charged into battle. And a disconcerting change came over the king. His eyes, which had been wide with rage, had suddenly narrowed into cold, cold slits, and a cruel smile slowly spread its way across his narrow face. And even the warrior, who had up till then been standing tall and proud, suddenly felt a chill wash over him as the king addressed him:

"Heracles, I have now decided what your six task is." King Eurystheus allowed the deadly silence to hang in the air for a moment.

"Heracles, I want you to lick your elbow."

* * *

I had been watching a history channel program on the 12 Labours of Hercules (Heracles is his actual Greek name. Hercules is the Latin pronunciation) with brother the other day, and this is what he would have made Hercules do if he had been king. For me, I would have loved to see Hercules' reaction if the king had ever given him such an assignment.

Anyway, just a short update on what's been going on, I've finished my 2-week course at TTC (it was really good, learnt a lot of stuff and met new friends there) and have gone for YA retreat (kinda short but it was nice, though I wish they provided golf buggys/buggies for us) and church retreat, which was really awesome, since the Holiday Inn Melaka is really nice, and the bar was showing the world cup matches. Plus it was fun getting to play with the kids, and to get to know the German friend.

I am still aiming to return to Japan as soon as possible, and it seems that most things are falling in place. Most of my medical and psychological tests are clear (which simply means they haven't discovered my mental imbalances yet heh), as are the admin issues. I still don't like taking jabs though, and it didn't help that I've had to get more in the past month than in the past 5 years combined. I've got one tomorrow in fact gah.

I also have an interview with the home council on the 5th of July, so if I do get to leave, it'll definitely have to be after that.

Alright, have fun everyone. Looks like England's gonna be out, but at least for now, Japan's still in. 日本頑張れ！

Cheerio

Laketown

So just last Saturday, I traveled over to Tokiwadaira in Chiba prefecture for Yan Moku's hotpot party. It was great fun, ate lots of good food, made several new friends, got to hang out with people etc.. Anyway, the most convenient way for me to get over to his place, was to take the Musashino Line. I would have to change trains twice, but I would get one long ride in the middle on the line itself, which sort of appealed to me. The line also traveled through an area which was less densely populated, which meant nicer views.

In addition, there was also a shopping complex along the line that I heard about called the Aeon Laketown. Apparently, it was pretty big, so I wanted to go and take a look and see what it was all about.

And it was really kinda huge. I've been to several large shopping complexes before, but this one takes the cake. It consisted of two large buildings that had all manner of shops and stuff. (As an aside, I'm guessing my dad was glad that my sis did not get wind of this place while the family was here). In fact, huge probably doesn't even begin to describe it. This place was massive. How massive? I was there on a Saturday afternoon, and there were throngs of people, but it didn't feel terribly crowded. That's how big.

But as my science teachers used to tell me, you need empirical data to back up your theory (unless you're dealing with theoretical physics, whereupon you can't really find said empirical data, like cats being both dead and alive at the same time). So I have kindly compiled some evidence to show just how big the place is.

1. It needs two maps to show you the entire place. As I mentioned earlier, there were two main buildings, Kaze (wind) and Mori (forest). Both are only three stories, but they still need two maps to show you everything in side. And these aren't three panel brochures either. They're like 11 panels or something like that.
   
   
   Laketown: needs two maps
   
   
2. It has travelators. This place is so big, you need travelators to get from one side to the other. And if you notice, there are actually two travelators. Cos one's just not enough.
   

   
   I was trying to do healthy lifestyle, so I chose to walk instead. And get these pictures.
   
   
   
3. It has Krispy Kreme. Now, it's a well-known fact in Japan that only big places are allowed to have Krispy Kreme. I mean, Osaka doesn't have an outlet, and last I heard, Osaka's a pretty big place. Therefore, evidence of bigness. [UPDATE: My friend in Osaka, Joanne, just told me that Osaka now does have a Krispy Kreme.]
   
   
   Laketown: Has Krispy Kreme
   
   
4. It has FOUR Starbucks joints. Yes, that's right. It was feasible enough for Starbucks' Management to open FOUR shops in the same mall. Needs no further explanation.
   
   
   1 Starbucks! Ahahahah (Kaze, 1F)
   
   
   2 Starbu.. 2 Starbuckses? (Mori, 1F)
   
   
   3 Starbu... 3 Starbuci? (Mori, 1F, outside)
   
   
   Aha! I got it! 4 Starbucks Joints! Ahahahah (Mori, 3F)
   
   
5. It has a JR station named after it. Even Disneyland doesn't have a JR station to itself.
   
   

Laketown: has JR station.

So now you know too that Laketown is a pretty big place.

Laketown: pretty big

Ode to my coat

This morning I took a look outside
And thought "I think it'll be alright,
I'll really rather travel light"
And did not bring my coat.

The morning train was quite a squeeze
But 'cos of that I did not freeze
I really did feel quite at ease
That I didn't bring my coat.

I traveled somewhat further north,
And boldly, outside, ventured forth
And really did not think much of
The absence of my coat.

But then the skies began to frown
And lo, the rain began to pound
The temperature dropped way, way down
I wish I'd brought my coat.

So now I huddle in the train
And though protected from the rain
The thought of cold still brings me pain
I should have brought my coat.

So I went up to Tsuchiura last Thursday, and I'm not kidding, I was wearing only my Puma jacket, which is useful for springtime and church services, but not really for late autumn-early winter times. So even though most of the stuff happened indoors/traveling in car with heater, I still could feel the chill, especially when it started to rain around midday.

The temperature has really dropped, and as I have observed to my friends, growing up in Singapore prepares you for the summers here, but not for the winters at all. Fortunately, I have a kotatsu (from Shu and Ten), an electric blanket (inherited from Louis and Chris), an aircon with a heater (in the house) and an ofuro (which is really useful).

Oh and speaking of Louis and Chris, this happened on a skype conversation, when they were trying to get me to use the electric blanket.

Louis: *random stuff*
Me: *random stuff*
Auntie Chris: (in background) Has Daniel found the electric blanket yet?
L: Eh, Daniel, have you found the electric blanket yet?
Me: Yeah I found it, but I'm leaving it in the living room for Justin (Louis' son, coming to visit soon)
L: Eh you should use it lah, don't you feel cold?
Me: Yeah, a bit, but I use the heater in my room.
L: Eh, you shouldn't do that you know. Heater is expensive ok...
Me: Ohhhh... I see...
C: (in background) Don't tell him that! Later he won't use the heater and then he'll freeze to death.

????

So anyway, the team from WEFC came up already, and they've already done one kids' event last Saturday. Thank God that

1. Quite a few kids came, even though it was raining
2. Two dads came, since usually only moms turn up
3. The event was stretched for an extra hour, but the team still had stuff up their sleeves to keep with it
4. The afore-mentioned rain only started after the team had reached the building, since we had to walk from the station (quite far) while carrying all the barang (quite a lot)
5. One of the dads, Kenji, drove us to the station after the event was over.

I think most of us had a good time then, playing with the kids and getting to know them. Do continue to pray for the team as they will be doing lots of things this whole week, and will have to meet the kids again on Friday.

Ok, so that's about it for now.

Cheerio!

Domum

A few months ago, when I had just been in Japan for about a month or so, my baby sister told me a dream she said she had had.

In the dream, I had returned home, and suddenly appeared in front of her, and she felt so happy that I was back, but then, she woke up, and realized it was a dream, and felt sad.

So naturally of course, I filed that story in my mind, and when I was preparing to go back for a short while, I decided to try to do it. But I didn't want to just stop at my sister. I wanted to prank my parents too. I would've thought of pranking my brother too, but it's more fun to rope him in and prank others.

I touched down on 20th November and managed to sneak my way into the house relatively undetected. My parents were suspecting I would be returning soon, but I had very cleverly avoided talking to them on Skype and not answering their questions about my flight details, so they did not know when I would really be back. Brother let me in, and I managed to get to my room without anyone realizing.

Unfortunately, while waiting for my dad to go and sleep so that I could go shower and sleep, some twit started calling my home phone. The twit would call, and when someone answered, he (or she) wouldn't say anything. Which of course, woke my dad up. And despite my brother's best efforts to keep him out of the room and in the dark, my dad found me hiding behind the door.

Oh and my grandma detected my presence the next morning because she spotted some abnormalities in the shower room. I bet she was like a counter-intelligence operative or detective when she was younger.

When I was trying to survive in Tokyo with the at-times-8-degrees-weather, I would think that I was more used to hot, humid, tropical weather. Once I got back to Singapore, I realized that being used to it didn't make me any more immune to disliking feeling sticky all the time. And now, what my brother calls 'cooling weather' is still too hot by my standards. But still better than shivering.

So anyway, I went back mainly for Josh & Aggie's wedding, which was on 28th Nov. The Tuesday before the wedding, Josh suddenly asked me to be one of the 'brothers' to help him gate-crash Aggie's place in the morning. Fortunately, most of Aggie's sisters were nice people, so the things we had to do weren't too terrible. At least, from my perspective. Probably not the same view for Jiehuai, Chai and Josh.

I guess the wedding felt somewhat different, maybe cos it was on Sentosa instead of in church, but also because it just seemed strange to see two people you have grown up with exchanging their wedding vows at the front of the hall.

I guess this means that next time I want to ask Aggie out for lunch, I'm really gonna have to ask Josh for permission first haha.

Also got the chance to meet up with several other important friends (there were lots of other important friends I didn't get to meet up with, so sorry), and settle some other important matters (saving the world vicariously through CoH, submitting PR documents).

Was rushing around quite a bit, doing stuff, meeting people, playing games, and it felt so packed. I wasn't even able to have like proper QT most days, and at the back of my mind, I kept on thinking how I wasn't getting rest.

But when I read Sul's message "...hope you had a good rest...", I realized that actually, I was feeling quite refreshed and all. Even though I was trying to reconcile having to re-adjust to being back in Japan after sort of adjusting to being in Singapore.

And well, hopefully this will help last till I finish off my term in April-ish.

Cheerio!

P.S. New official couple in church. And looks like they may not be the only ones.... haha...

P.P.S. Some people still think 31st Nov is real.

Astrum

Two things to write about now.

First, I must tell the story of the stargazing incident at Telunas, as promised. It all happened when I was walking about near the conference room at the so-named place, and bumped into A and E, who were hanging about there. Thanks to some general knowledge on astronomy, and the fact that I had taken Understanding the Universe just last sem, I could talk a bit about it with E, who knows basic astronomy as well, and A, who doesn't know much about it.

E: Do you see that? That's Orion's belt.
A: Where? Where?
E: There, can't you see. There are these 3 stars in a row. That's Orion's belt.
A: Oh. Ok.
Me: Yeah, and you see four points around it?
A: Where?
E: It's there. Just surrounding the belt.
Me: Yeah. Like a trapezium sort of shape thingy.
A: Oh ok. Yeah.
Me: That's the constellation of Orion. And you see the belt, if you align it, you can see it points to a bright star. That star is Sirius. It's the brightest in the sky.
A: Ah...
E: Isn't it Polaris that's the brightest?
Me: Nah, don't think so. Polaris just stays in one place. But you can also use Orion to help find Polaris. I think. I mean, I know you can use the Big Dipper.
E: Yeah. Oh, and you see that?
A: What?
E: That one hanging there in the sky that's a bit reddish, and doesn't blink. That's Mars. You know it's a planet cos it doesn't blink.
A: Oh...
Me: Yeah. Sometimes in the morning, also can see Venus. Very bright, doesn't blink too. That's why it's called the Morning Star.
E: Yeah.
A: OK.
E: Eh, then how you know if there are black holes?
Me: They can see it cos got radiation.
E: *quibble over astronomy*
Me: *quibble over astronomy*
A: *Just continues looking at stars*
Me: Oh, wait, you see that one over there?
A: Where where?
Me: That one, blinking, moving quite fast?
A: Where... oh yeah.
Me: That's a plane.
A: Oei! *hits me*
E: Hahaha.

Here's a photo of the three astronomer-wannabes. Our amateurish nature can be seen in that we are looking for stars in the middle of the day under a roof.



Second thing is to give thanks to God, who has, despite my ineptitude and physical disability, has chosen to be merciful, and help to make sure that most of the things that are crucial for the MOE camp are being settled. Like really fast. So though it is rather rushed, God has decided to help us rush faster. And has blessed me with friends at IFG who are helping to make it happen.

Ok. That's it. I've got this nagging feeling at the back of my head that I have more stuff to write about, whether it's about Telunas, or Christmas Day, or other events in December, but the headache's in the way. Bother.

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

Recessus

Have finally managed to cast off the shackles of laziness, apathy, and too much work, and now am able to add another post, which has some pictures, and promises to be a tad long.

So anyway, I was embroiled in the church retreat planning committee for quite a while prior to June. It wasn't overly difficult. Or at least, it wasn't quite as bad as what I thought it would be like. Then again, maybe it's because PS and A did a heck of a lot of work on it. (Though admittedly, sometimes PS does too much work on it, esp cos me and F have already done a sufficiently acceptable job). A few last minute changes nearly sent PS through the roof, but he didn't get a stroke or anything, so that's ok.

Handled the transport side, which wasn't too hard, except that it's a whole lot harder to control church people than like army guys. Had to be a little flexible, esp with regard to the buses on the return trip.

6th-9th June: Church Retreat. The retreat itself wasn't too bad. The place was ok lah, here's a photo of the place:



Here's a picture of the place from the room on the other side:



Of course, some of the peeps thought that the food wasn't that great. I mean, it was edible, but nothing really fantastic. Rev G was pretty good, both at the pulpit and on the guitar. Almost every thign went by without a hitch, kudos to the hotel staff, F and PS who was almost permanently on the verge of a stroke. Maybe only the final night event was not quite as interesting as we hoped it would've been. But thank God that it went well, and that most people had a good time, got to relax, and found a bit of time to connect with Him again. Without Him, it would've probably collapsed a long time ago.

Sub-point to note: I managed to crack my phone cover a second time. So now it has almost symmetrical markings on the face.

As mentioned before, the return trip to church was a bit of a hassle, cos we returned a bit late, and I had to scrap the nice arrangements I had made wrt bus seating and just stuff as many people as I could onto the buses as they came. It worked out, in that no one got left behind; additionally, the last bus was half empty cos I think I stuffed too many people up the first few... haha...

Service on Sunday was ok. Had more or less recovered by then, and it was good to be able to just attend service and know that I did not have to do anything after it. Supposed to have CG outing to Queenstown, but had to stay back to help the floorball comp, since I had already agreed to it before that. After that, I had to quickly rush down to City Hall to pick up T's birthday present, since she was gonna be leaving the next morning for Thailand. Was a little zoned after that, but well.

Monday was a fun day. I met lots of people. Started with me going out early in the morning to see J's Thai team off. J actually got caught in a traffic jam, so good thing he planned ahead. After that, lefft with JH westwards, though JH got off at Eunos to repair his graphics card (found out later that he couldn't), and then proceeded on to Gombak. Paid a short visit to Su cos she was sick from the retreat or something, then wanted to update my account at BBDC, since I had changed my citizenship, but forgot to bring my passport and student pass card. Bummer. Followed that by finding Su and C and E around Gombak for lunch, then left with C bound towards Bishan.

Bought some stuff at Bishan, and tried to burn a bit more time, but couldn't really do it very well, then headed over to AMK hub to explore a little. Ended up sitting in the basement stoning, as is my wont when I've got nothing to do, and saw P walk past. Later, after I linked up with Sh, we ran into her again, and said hi. Finished off that trip with ice cream, and then gave Sh her birthday present, then went off to find Mum and Dad.

Oh, and got me new phone. The afore-mentioned phone which I cracked was getting wonky again, and my parents told me might as well pick up a new one. So I went down to Compass Point, and ran into my good friend KW from army at the M1 shop there. Anyway, this is my new phone:



It's got like almost as many functions as a computer. And it's pretty chim. Pretty big intelligence requirement jump from my previous phone. But the great thing about it is that I can use it in Japan! haha woot.

So next day, I went down to the airport again, cos this time, Ji's family was going to Thailand. After saying bye and all, went with JH (who came again), Jo and V for lunch in T2. It wasn't very great, and suffice to say that on that particular day, this slogan:



Was not very true. Especially the second half. うまいじゃないよ。。ちょっとまずいと思う。

Wednesday was when I did this:



No, 'tis not an egg tart. 'Tis me first attempt at cheesecake. And so far, no one has gotten any stomachaches yet, so methinks it's ok.

Yeah, that about summed up my week. Went down to the airport (yet again!) this time to send Ad's team off. Kinda zoned now cos not 'nuff sleep, maybe I'll go rectify that problem...

Cheerio

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

Tranquillius

Some stuff went on the past couple of weeks, so I've got a bit to ramble on about. Plus I was trying to wait for photos from F, and I was lazy (as usual).

So let's start from the most recent happnening. Which was that today, some of the peeps from VCF CG came over to do baking, and play a bit of Xbox. Or at least, that was the idea. It kinda ended up more like playing Xbox with a bit of baking. And being sick as I was, I fell asleep again in the mid afternoon, just after I had finished with the cookie stuff and the other 3 were screaming about how Darth Vader was coming to kill them. At any rate, the oatmeal raisin cookies came out surprisingly edible, despite my mom not being around, and yours truly not having had any prior experience with oatmeal raisin cookies. Maybe a bit too clove-ish, but well, still edible.

Yesterday was when we were supposed to do our church C@tB thingy at the CCIS thingy at Orchard Road. And we were all prepared for it, and I was coughing (as I am wont to do when I have a bad cough) as if I had TB. Anyway, it was raining when we got there, and the rain sort of seeped into the bus, so my left shoe got wet, and my bass case got wet, but thankfully, the bass stayed dry. Then we heard that it was cancelled due to a short circuit in the system.

C@tB on Saturday was really fun. Even though I made quite a few mistakes while playing, the whole Christmas message and stuff was put across, and it was good that we as a church could reach out to the community. Must say that the group of youths from the CC who put up a hip-hop dance were really good. And our church dance group also was quite nice. It was rather warm though, since there was lots of plastic tarps used as shelters, and it got kinda humid. But also, really thank God for the good timing and weather. It didn't really rain during the time we were having the event, so people were able to come down and play at the game stalls and stuff. And near the end, when we were playing our finale piece, the floats from Orchard Road came by. As in there was an arrangement for them to come up, but it came just as we were playing Feliz Navidad, and I thought that it was certainly rather timely. So thanks God, for arranging it like that.

Thursday and Friday were the practices for the C@tB. Nothing much else happened then. Just that I was coughing with me TB-like cough. And after Friday, my fingers hurt, cos playing bass causes some minor damage to fingertips.



Monday to Wednesday was really fun stuff. We went to this place near Batam called Telunas Beach for the senior youth camp. It's a really cool resort place. It's like built on stilts over the water, a bit like a kelong. And it does have white sandy beaches and clear waters, open skies etc etc. And the dude who was like the manager in charge, this American guy called Eric, he was really hospitable and friendly. And it was a really cool camp, because unlike last year, P.J. took it easy this time. It was more a relaxed camp with some teaching and much fellowship, as opposed to last year's training camp. Here are some pictures:



I wasn't lying when I talked about the white beaches and clear waters etc. This is the view from the back of the older guys' room. (We were kinda segregationist, and the lot of us took this room. All the rooms have the same sort of view though).



This is the view from the dining hall to the rooms. Our room is the first one directly in front.



This is the Guyros guys looking on in trepidation from the top of the high jetty jump. Just so that you know, one of the fun things we did there was to jump off the jetty into the sea. The jetty itself is about 2 meters above the sea, and just about everyone jumped off it. But the high one, is probably about 4 meters up? It's really high. And I think only half of us jumped off that one.



This is the shot immediately after the one above it. As you can see, only my eyes and nose are visible from the edge of the deck. This is because I had looked down, and realized that the water is a lot further down when you look at it.



This is the view you can get from the top of that 4 meter high deck that we were talking about, albeit with a little bit of altering by me in the form of length of exposure. But yes, notice the wide expanse of sea, and the skies, and the island in the distance. I tell you the view is great.



And finally, this is the boat ride back. Yeap, that's Eric at the right hand side. He's a really cool dude.

So anyway, this camp was really great. but the best part was being able to sense God with us when we were singing songs on the deck on the second night. The first night was kinda cloudy, but we had quite a fun time on the deck just hanging out there. The second night was a really clear night, and there were thousands of stars in the sky. And even though we didn't really pray it out, I think God knew we wanted to be able to take a look, and He answered our prayers. And I must say that standing there, and being able to see the awesome wonder of the heavens, is something that really does help you draw a little closer to God.

Oh and the other great thing about how God answers prayers? We had no rain for the time we were at Telunas. Dark clouds started gathering on the trip back to Batam, but it only really started raining when the ferry left Sekupang port for Singapore.

Oh and one more thing. God also helped A get into Batam, cos his passport had just under 6 months left. But God was gracious, and the dude at the immigrations didn't make a fuss out of it.

Please go to Farand's photo link to see more photos, if you're interested.

The Saturday before that, which is 9th of Dec methinks, P gave me a belated brithday present. It was really sweet. Like, literally. Haha. OK. It was a nice edible apple thingy, but it kinda leaked, so I had to quickly eat it and could not bring it home. And in my haste, I forgot to take a picture of it before consuming it. Oh well. Thanks P! And on the subject of birthday wishes, some of the CF people in school swamped my phone with SMSes, wishing me a happy birthday along with a happy exam, since I had a Japanese paper on that day, and D sent me a birthday sms from Aussieland again this year, though from Melbourne instead of Perth. And I think she forgot the time zone diff, so I got it at like 9pm the previous evening. But well. Haha.

Thanks God, for all that You've done in my life.

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

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

Instituo

Long time since I wrote. So I will be lorsor and talk abit on some of the stuff I've been doing.

Well, first would be the Youth Day worship stuff. Cos this time round I was playing bass guitar, and it did take up quite a bit of time... ok well, definitely more than a Yachad practice, since we had like 3 big practices. And I found out the new best way of getting bass riffs. Used to be I would plug in my iPod to my dad's speaker system in the study room, since that one has a sub-woofer. But it takes quite a bit of straining to listed to the bass lines, since the speakers are really good quality ones. But the new best way, is to disconnect the two speakers, so there's only the sub-woofer to listen to. So although it sounds kinda muffled, it is alot better, cos I don't have to try to cut through the rest of the music.

So anyway, I managed to get most of Let Creation Sing, and Evermore. And I had to go and modify a couple other songs a bit. As in like modify it so that I can play the songs with my lower order skills. But the worship services were really good. And I'm glad that I put in all that effort, cos it's not right to give God sub-standard work. And the Open Sunday after that was really good too. As in like it was well-planned, and the games were fun. And we had refreshments. Heh.

Next major event was the prep for the VCF FOC and the IFG vid. Which was on Monday. So I headed down to school, and we had a short briefing, and I met my OGL I, before PP had to grab me and JS to go and do the vid. While there, we had lotsa fun laughing at each other, esp since JS looked like a psycho in her video, where she was acting as a student from India. They wanted me to do the Japanese bit, since I can speak a little Japanese, tho JS thought I could have sounded like an Irishman if I wanted to. However, since I definitely look more like a Japanese than Irish, it was pretty much vetoed.

Then there was FOC proper. To be frightfully honest, I wasn't that keen when I woke up at like 0545 in the morning. I really wished I hadn't signed up for the camp. But well. Went down and met I at Clementi macs, where we picked up A. Then we went to school and met the rest of the group. Who were really fun. There were ice-breakers, and then the faculty orientation, where I met JS sister who looks like N. Haha. Anyway, we showed them green tables, and then wandered around campus. Me and D. With GS and LJ. Yeah. D and LJ were in my group anyway.

After that was the exodus to SU campsite at Sentosa. We went on a shopping spree in the co-op before we left. Oh and the weather was really hot. Like burning kinda hot. Like I-will-sweat-even-though-I'm-standing-still-in-the-shade sort of hot. yeap. But we made it there without any casualties, and then had theme talks by E from Covenant.

Oh must tell of the good news. Cos WEFC youth leaders' retreat was there, and well, the SU building is still the same lah, but the Palawan Beach has been renovated. Yeah, I know. A renovated beach, such a novel concept. But the toilets there are like really nice now. It's open (not flashing kinda open lah. You get what I mean), and it's clean, and the showers are like mist-sprayers, so you get water coming out in a big mist cloud. If you don't know what I'm talking about, one day you just go there lah. And the restaurants and 7-11 building has been landscaped into something really good. But ok.

So yeah. The games, esp Lost? was really well-planned. And we had fun running all over the place, even though as I have said over and over again, the primary objective of Group Solomon was to get to Ben & Jerry's and eat ice cream. Which we managed to do. I was so happy to be able to get Chunky Monkey... But anyway.

The theme talks were really good. E is a really engaging speaker, cos I managed to stay awake even when I was sleepy. And he was talking about being witnesses on campus, and about how we need to walk our talk, and how to stay away from evil, and about how we need to have initiative to reach out. And I felt it was applicable, even though I'm pretty certain it'll be a challenge for most people (inc me).

Then we had finale night where we had to do an act based on the movie The Matrix and the concept of humility. So we had quite a lot of characters. Like...



Bunny girl and the Dean of arts! (I'm pretty sure you can tell which one is which)



And Trinity! (The one in the center at the back) And fyi, this is half of Group Solomon. The other half is sitting on the floor, taking the picture, or had to go home.

Well, that's about it. We broke camp earlier today, and we left for Harbourfront to eat lunch, and ice cream (a pity we couldn't get B&Js, but NZ natural isn't too shoddy), before heading home, where I got to speak to Db cos she's one of the quieter members of the group.

Oh and what's this? I have to really wonder...



What in blazes is the Power of Bun?! Can someone please explain to me?

Yup. Now I think I need to go and sleep. I took a nap at about 4 and woke at 1940 so I didn't go for the JPM, though I did have a small spot of P&W and QT just now.

I'm just glad everything is in God's hands. And that He's sovereign. And I'm also grateful for the blessings He provided for the camp, and for the friends I've made. I kinda miss them already, as in like the fellowship that is everywhere, cos at home, there aren't quite that many people. Though I don't miss the lack of air-con in the un-ventilated bunk at SU.

OK bye.

Cheerio