Catching Up

Note: Long post about a reunion I managed to organize in the following paragraphs, you may skip this if you're looking for photos instead, because I didn't have any to put up.....yet :D

I'll be the first to say that it's never an easy task to try to organize anything among a bunch of college kids who have totally different timetables and schedules...you can never seem to find that one golden slot in the calendar when everyone is free and can make it for the event that you're planning.

In the last two weeks I took it upon myself that there was gonna be a reunion of sorts for Shirtliff (no, not the cheerleading team) RBS mission team and it was supposed to take place at Aunty Yoke Kheng's place. Aunty Yoke Kheng was the chirpy supervisor for our mission trip and she offered her apartment as the venue. In the process of organizing, after what must've seemed like countless dead-ends and impossibilities, I finally managed to narrow it down to one date, the 26th of April (which was yesterday). And it was going to be a dinner. And after even more negotiation, it was turned into a sleepover. Now there were originally 9 members altogether in the team, and here's the breakdown:

Supervisor: Aunty Yoke Kheng
Asst. Supervisor: Kelvin Tay
Team Leader: Me!
Asst. Team Leader: Ann Sue
Members: Simon Sim, Maggie, Jon Lee and Kit Meng and Jill

Initially it all seemed pretty well and there was hope that we could make it a full-blown gathering with everyone around. At the end of it though, it became like this:

Kelvin Tay: Exam and stayed too far away
Maggie: Cousin leaving for overseas for 5 years, had to attend farewell dinner
Kit Meng: Understandable lah, since he's in NS
Jon Lee: Lazy bum too lazy to make his way to the apartment, and had LAN class on Saturday
Jill: Can come but cannot stay-over at the apartment

Some simple mathematics would suffice to tell you that less than half of the team was actually able to make it for the sleepover event in the end. Haih~

BUT, but but but, it wasn't all doom and gloom because we did manage to catch up on a lot of things, amongst the five of us who were there for the dinner and later the four of us who stayed till the wee hours of the morning chatting away....

What really amazed me though was how the whole thing turned out so so well. SO WELL!! Let me explain what I mean:

On Saturday evening, the plan was for Jill to fetch me and Simon at Lick Hung (hope it's the correct spelling) at about 6. I joined Simon for TRU and when TRU finished, Jill's message came, saying she's on her way. I had thought of walking from the church to the school, but I felt we were gonna be late so I tried to see if we could tumpang somebody's car and we SO HAPPEN managed to hitch a ride with Uncle Chooi Meng and arrived there early. Jill reached about three minutes after we did. *Phew!*

Now, me and Simon are in the car. The plan was to pick Ann Sue up at the Kelana Jaya LRT station at 7. We reached there and got her at 6.50. "Early some more, great!" I thought to myself. Next we were supposed to meet up with Aunty Yoke Kheng at One U because her apartment is nearby, but it turned out that Jill knew how to get there and we reached her apartment earlier than she did, because she went out to buy our dinner. Woohoo, first-part of the journey accomplished successfully!

We ate like crazy and we talked like crazy. Jill left early because she had another place to go to, and we were left to our own devices; me, Aunty Yoke Kheng , Simon and Ann Sue. We went out to Old Town at about 12+ and came back around 2, then slept about two hours later xD

Next morning we woke up later than expected and couldn't have breakfast together, so the three of us (me Simon Ann Sue) were dropped off at Taman Bahagia LRT station and we made our way to Sentral to have our breakfast. Again, we still had time to chit-chat and slowly chow down our Sausage Mc Muffins. Then came the time to leave, and we were kinda late because Simon had to get back to church in time for the Youth Committee meeting (since he's the President and all). The time to beat was 11.30, and we went into the Sentral KTM station at 10.44. Simon walked down the stairs and almost beyond our mortal imagination we saw the train coming BEFORE the time shown on the LED board. Unbelievable, I know ;D And as if that wasn't enough, the train pulled to a stop with one of the doors right smack in front of Simon. Awesome!!! Now that's something that I always look forward to whenever I board the KTM, to have it stop with the doors sliding open in front of you xD

The train didn't make any 'recharging battery' stops and chugged all the way to Subang. We alighted and the time was 11.10. My dad wasn't there yet, so we waited and it did feel like very long, because with every ticking second Simon's chance of being in time for the minute grew slimmer. Finally I called my dad again to check if he's arrived, and he said he had! We rushed to the car and I told Simon that he would make it back just in the nick of time. "You'll be back at 11.30 sharp, Sim". And so it was, 11.30 on his watch and we were outside the church. Like, whoa! It doesn't get much better than this, really.

Truly the LORD was with us all the way, from the time we took off from the church to the very moment we stepped foot into it again the next day. No hiccups, no "oh no" moments, nothing at all. I prayed, and God answered. What more could I have asked for ;D

Super Quick Update

Like the name implies, here's a super quick update on my work, or rather workplace :D

Taken with my webcam - one of those rare moments when everyone's out in classrooms.

Doeo!

It has been ages upon ages since I last posted a flash game, because it's hard to find something that everyone can play together and at the same time compete over some high score or something..

The last time we squabbled over the monkey ball game it was certainly hilarious to check the scores every 5 minutes to see who's at the top, and equally agonizing to see that your scores are not even in the top 5 xD Below's a really weird and funky Flash game that isn't so much about scores and how to get more of them, but about having fun playing it ;D Enjoy!

Sidetrack

If you're expecting a post about my current job as a teacher, then you have my apologies, I'm keeping that for another day xD I just thought that I should blog about what took place just now.

Yes, just now. Like, '2 hours' just now. Tanjonny and Simon_vindicated and yours truly here went out to the nearby mamak to chit-chat and gulp down some heavily-sugared drinks, and of course we engaged in our usual round of talk and discussions about this and that and everything else.

We talked about teachers, and teaching as a job; about marketing people and 'management recovery'; about Vision 2020 and flying cars and Archie comics; about smoking and coming out with health cigarettes; about Goo Goo Dolls and Randy Jackson playing bass; about Jon's new SonyE phone and how much it costs and how he can't spin it on tabletops anymore like he did with his old trusty Samsung; and even about our fellow blogger who's in Aussie now, Currynoodles :D

But the more interesting part of the night was definitely in how we branched into discussions on.. non-material subjects (not sure how to put this). We brainstormed on so many different thoughts and ideas that are not...material, so to speak. We talked about dreams, supernatural events and then delved very far into the topics related to the mind and the subconscious part of our existence. In no way can I possibly describe the discussion in detail, but it was seemingly...eerie, in the way that we were grasping at unknowns and debating without any real plausible proof or substantial evidence. All we had were arguments and we kept throwing them into the melting pot of ideas which soon bubbled and simmered under the fire of our engrossing speeches. I had really wished that we had the discussion recorded down, it certainly would've been really really interesting to recollect what we went over together in our own limited wisdom and experience, because this kind of deep intellectual and philosophical conversations tend to have a very fleeting hold in our memory, and surely enough by the time we finished we could hardly remember the meat of most of what we blabbered about.

I just wish we had it recorded down one way or another...

Preview

There are quite a few things that I could rant/rave about my current job at the 'the place near my house' but I'll save it for tonight I guess. But just for teasers, here's a picture :D

Frisbee

What's a public field, if you don't put it to good use and what's putting it to good use, if you don't use it to host a sports tournament of some sort, and what's a sports tournament if it doesn't involve throwing the round piece of plastic that we love to call...the frisbee!

I'm not particularly into this sport in any way, and didn't even remotely take part in the competition save for helping to tabulate some scores in the beginning but it's nice to know that there are so many people out there actually who are into this whole 'I throw you catch' phenomenon.

As in any tournament or competition, it takes a whole lot of effort and coordination to get things going smoothly and perfectly, as demonstrated by the hilarious moments that ensued when the stubborn PC microphone just refused to pipe in a live connection to the speakers. But then again, it was actually quite cool to have announcements pre-recorded and played later ;D Kudos to everyone who was involved in the tournament, all the hard work and effort would eventually pay themselves off someday, I'm sure :D

I managed to snap quite a few pics here and there with my fresh set of rechargeable AAs, but the best ones were taken by someone else who ran around with my camera, whom I have no idea who it was. Thanks anyway for the shots, Jud! (I think).

Our very own line of first-aid members on standby, how's that for being professional? :D
Okay, maybe not ours but still...

The competition under way.

But the more interesting part of the day was definitely having some Temerloh youths over for a short visit here. And of course we got the chance to meet up again with Jason and Khai Jye :)

Who doesn't miss Khai Jye's smile around here, heh xD

We managed to squeeze in some time for a short session of getting to know each other over the outdoor games and also the lunch that followed. Wielding my trusty ol' camera, I got off the hook of 'everyone must play' and stood around trying to capture the funnier moments of the charades that they played (it's always a blast to play charades).

And to top it off..
Try to guess the character they were trying to portray, hahaha xD

Khai Jye notices the camera even when everyone else couldn't and whips up his trademark smile just in time for the shutter :D

It was a great day for the most part, though it was a shame that we couldn't accompany the Temerloh people to Pyramid for their shopping trip. Oh well, it'll be our turn next to visit them in Mentakab and Temerloh. But by then, I had better get my 'half-bucket-of-water' Mandarin brushed up to an acceptable level...

Sunny? Sweaty? No problem at all ;D

One anorexic-looking kid and a temporary teacher bored out of his skull after the Temerloh group got on their way to Sunway for their shopping quest.



And the clincher...taken from the recent Beijing Olympics adverts, here's our brilliant Jonathan Tan doing his bit for the biggest sporting event of the year!

Quote: As a coach for the upcoming Olympics, I always tell my athletes that "You are what you eat". Eat garbage, and you're more likely than not heading for an early exit. Eat right however, and you would be able to bring out the very best in yourselves. Whether it is in running or jumping or any form of sport that we're competing in, I insist that my boys get only what they deserve. Real athletes need real food, and real food needs real quality. That's why I believe in McDonald's. Great nutrition, greater taste.


Oh yea, happy birthday Mr.Tan!!!

International Month Of Tagging

Ya know, the tag doesn't work half as well lah since I've already read it but I'd do it anyway xD

rules:
1. name 5 people you can think of right off the top of your head.
2. don't read the questions underneath until you write the names of all 5 people.
3. randomly list the names. no cheating!

the 5 people:

1.Justina Lee
2.Ann Sue
3.Lee Zhen Ee
4.Simon Sim
5.Christina How

The names were not exactly 'right off the top of my head' but close enough lah. And the randomizer I used was a pencil and a piece of paper (*closes eye* poke! oh, simon's number 4...)


questions:

1. how did you meet 1?
Back when Justin used to come back to Kuantan every now and then for our annual gaming sessions, I had always seen her around but only really knew her better in the last two years or so :D

2. on a scale of 1 -10 how would you rate your friendship with 1?
Unrate-able, since we're cousins ;D

3. how long have you known 4?
It's been....pretty long. Back when I was Form 4. So that makes it about 5 years now.

4. how do you know number 3?
Sat beside him on my first week in the new school after shifting here from Kuantan

5. wheres 5?
Probably online now or watching some Korean music video, at home of course.

6. a fact about number 1?
She's chun in her own special ways xD

7. who is 4 going out with?
Sim Simon Sim...I'll skip this, heheh.

8. what does 1 do for a living?
Going to college lor.

9. would you live with number 3?
We would be fighting pretty often, haha. And playing a lot of PS2 too xD

10. what do you like about number 2?
Never short on smiles..and 'smart' remarks about bears.

11. do you miss number 5?
I miss the going-outs and all lah of course, back when Justin was still around (you see Ju, you're a very important part of the friendship-chain here)

12. would you make out with number 4?
Eating out would be more preferable..

13. what's your opinion of number 2?
Not too bad lah.

14. what's your favorite memory with number 5?
Walking in the rain!! To date I've not found another person who likes that sort of thing, haha.

15. what would you do if number 1 and 2 were going out?
That would be...another blog post altogether.

16. ever had a long conversation with 5?
Yeap..

17. have you ever slept at 2's house?
I'd have to be pretty bold to do that xD

18. do you hang out with 3 a lot?
Okay-lah~

19. who have you known the longest?
It feels like I've known Simon forever, but on technical grounds it's Justina

20. how often do you talk to 1?
Normally on Sundays when I see her.

21. what about 2?
SMS more lah, calling is expensive. Besides, you're not a phone person, right Ann Sue? Or maybe I just don't know you enough..

22. have you ever thought 3 more than a friend?
Yes, a crappy friend!!

23. would you go out for a date with 5?
Huh...it would be pretty stressful to have to measure up to the likes of those Korean heartthrobs, what with the romantic songs and romantics one-liners and romantic hairdos and romantic what-have-yous....

24. do you dream about 2?
Nah, fortunately I can escape the 'brother bear' chants while in slumberland..

25. what did no 4 did to you that you can never forget?
The way he rolled on the floor laughing about the Tasek Bera incident..

26. what have you done for 1 that the person never forget?
How would I know? xD

27.what's 3 hobby?
Doing crappy stuff lah!

28. tag 5 people
I follow Christina's trend. All the above mentioned...

And It Was

And so he sat there, staring blankly into the computer screen trying to come up with something to write about. "Something, anything!", he shrugged to himself. Not that he had nothing to write about, no no no. Clouds of memories were called upon in his mind, but he simply could not figure out what to put in print. Should he post about his driving today? Or maybe the working experience of the past week. Or perhaps delve into the spiritual side of things. Post a song? Copy some lyrics? He couldn't decide. He just couldn't decide..

And so he let his mind wander. It's been a while since he found himself in such a contemplative manner. Listening to a line from Juwita Suwito, "Is this all that life is meant to be, surely there's more" rang ever more familiar and heartfelt than before. In his own space of mind, he finds security in the little things that make up his perception of reality. Family, home, friends, church, studies. He is seemingly calm on both sides of the soul, spiritually at ease and physically in good health. A little up here and a small down there of course, but otherwise he has little to boast or complain about.

And that's how he is now, contented. Going about in his life like any other normal person. But in the deep recesses of his mental sanctuary, he kept tucked away piles and piles of ideas, images, speeches and thought bubbles that he had gathered over time. Some he wished he hadn't acquired, others he thought made no relevance to him, and still left over are what he considered to be 'serious issues' that he bring out onto the whiteboard to ponder upon every now and then. Ah yes, the 'serious issues'. The kind that made Kee Ken feel small. Very small, in the face of what happens in the world. Life, is...so precarious, he concludes. Oh but to look at life through the eyes of another.....that would be his one and only wish if he had a choice.

And he sat there, sifting through the slow and steady influx of thoughts as he allowed his mind to be immersed in a silent swim down the torrents of 'reality'. His reality. The questions burst into the front, and he ran them along the 'how' part of his electrical gray matter. How we all sit idly while so many people in the world have to live in desperation. How nations are putting money into killing machines, and not feeding the poor. How we can look at matters so shortsightedly and blatantly ignore the real problems gnawing away at the world, our planet.

And he thought of the answers he that he himself would give as a member of what he considered as the 'lost sheep' of the earth that we live in. "It's a dog-eat-dog world, the poor are simply the ones who are eaten; it's more important to protect national interests with military might than looking after some petty social welfare issues; there would be no incentive for excellence if everyone is equally taken care of; the planet would still be around for at least another million years; who cares if somebody dies every 3 seconds since the planet is overcrowded anyway; this is the way 'reality' operates you buffoon, you just gotta go along and LIVE WITH IT!!!"

And so he lost again, to the side of him that is.... more in tune with the 'real world'. Who was he to stop the world in its tracks and tell everyone off? Till death do the people part with this sinful broken world, he declared and his split-persona then faded into its watchful slumber once again..

Tag 3

I've taken the liberty to cut out questions that I've answered before, just so I don't have to fill in so many of them :) And some of Jon's answers remain simply because I agree (and am lazy), hehe.

4. Height: 165

5. Hair: Jet Black

6. Siblings: One bro, one sis

7. Do u like to sing in the shower? Sure.

8. Do u like to sing in the toilet? My shower is my toilet, so "Sure".

9. Sign: Virgo

11. Addresses: Private, heh.

ABOUT GUYS FOR GIRLS TO FILL OUT (for girls only)

*I'll fil it anyway!!! mauahahahah!!!

14. Boxers or briefs: briefs!

15. Long or short hair: Short

16. Tall or short: Abt 170 - 175 just nice..LOL

17. Six pack or muscular arms: A little bit of both :P

18. Good or bad guy: Good

19. Hat or No Hat: HAT???!!!

20. Ears pierced or not: No

21. Tan or fair: Fairly tanned

22. Stubble or neatly shaved: Neatly shaved.

23. Rugged or sporty: Er...

24. Hottie or cutie: Both

25. Accent or not: Irish....definitely irish.

ABOUT GIRLS FOR GUYS TO FILL OUT (for guys only)

26. Regular underwear or thong: I'll have a regular, thank you xD

27. Painted nails or not: No need colour colour wan

28. Bra or sports bra: If go sports wear lar sports bra...takan you wear that fer prom!!! DOH!

29. Cute n' mysterious or wild n' sexy : cute n'sexy!

30. Dressy or casual : Dressy when needed, casual when suitable

31. Dark or blonde hair: Black/SLIGHT Highlights

32. Long or short hair: Long, but short also can.

33. Dark or light eyes: -

34. Tall or short: Shorter or same height, but taller also...can kua xD

35. Hat or no hat: I think gurls who wear caps and let their ponytails stick out are cute...HAHAHAH!!

36. Good or bad girl: Girl of God

38. Hair up or down: Both

39. Jewelry or none: None.

41. Curly or straight hair: Straight

42. Pants or dress: Both

43. Tan or fair: Fairly tanned

44. Freckles or none: none

45. Accent or Not: Preferably no.

46. Shy or outgoing: In between.

THIS IS 4 EVERYONE 2 FILL IN!

47. Chocolate (dark, white, milk): All!

48. Root beer or Dr. Pepper: Root Beer

50. Sun shine or rain: Both!

52. Skiing or boarding: Never tried either

53. Day or night: Night coz its peace and quiet.

55. Love or lust: Love!

56. Silver or gold: Silver, cause gold looks tacky

57. Diamond or pearl: Diamonds, pearls too aunty for me :D

58. Sunset or sunrise: Sunrise (absolutely the best)

59. Have you ever gone skinny-dipping: Skinny...huh?

60. Do you sleep with stuffed animals: Nope.

61. Have you ever broke/sprained/fractured a bone: Nope.

62. Do you have any piercings: Never.

63. What's your favourite color: Yellow

64. What's your favourite bands?: No favs at the moment.

65. What colour pants/skirt are you wearing right now?: Grey Blue Toms pants

66. What song are u listening to right now?: Hmm..just only listened to Finally by Fergie

67. What are the last four digits of your phone number?: Private!

68. What was the last thing u ate?: Chicken Wing Rice with Siu Yok

69. If u were a crayon, what colour would u want to be?: I'd be a Sky Blue

70. Where would you want to go on your honeymoon?: She'd pick :D

71. Who do u want to spend the rest of your life with?: God Almighty.

72. Do u like snow, sun or rain?: I like them all, save for snow which I don't know for sure yet.

73. How is the weather right now: It just rained, very airy and breezy now.

74. What's the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?: The way they dress (I mean, you look at that first right? Don't tell me you won't notice somebody until she talks or something..)

76. Do u like the person that sent u this?: If not I won't be answering this :D

77. How are u today?: Not too bad, just tired from the driving class today :)

78. Your fave drink?: Teh-C Ping!

79. How do u eat an Oreo?: Normally I start with opening the packaging it's in..

80. Favourite sport you play: Badminton

81. What makes you happy and whats your favourite subject?: To know I didn't waste my day... my fav. subject is Form 4&5 Physics

82. What's da next cd u (gonna buy)? "Heard", a Christian Mandarin album. OR a Nicole Nordeman album.

86. Do u wear contacts or glasses?: Glasses

87. What's the best advice given to you? : You're still young, don't be afraid to venture out.

88. Have u ever won any special awards?: Highest in MUET!! (only award I ever won)

89. What are your future goals?: To serve the Lord.

90. Fave music?: English, Malay, Chinese, Jap

91. Fave day of the year?: Every day that I wake up to :)

92. Are u shy to ask someone out?: Yeah, which explains why I'm always the 'callee' rather than caller for yam-cha sessions :D

93. Worst sickness u ever had?: High fever, 41 Celcius (you die at 42)

94. What's the stupidest thing u have ever done?: Stupidest huh...like not having picked up something useful in my childhood days (sports/musical instrument/art)

95. Do you like Funny or Scary movies better?: Funny

96. On the phone or in person?: I talk 100x more on the phone (or indirectly) most of the time

97. Do you like summer or winter?: Irrelevant here.

97. Do u want your friends to write back?: I don't send out letters, heh.

98. Who is least likely to reply to this?: Simon Sim

99. Do you get jealous if your friend that used to like you end up liking some other person?: Yea, I suppose so.

100. Any girlfriend/boyfriend: In God's time...In God's time...

101. Any message 4 ur enemies?: Can we be friends instead?

Writing It Right

The problem with having too many friends who blog is that it eventually gets too difficult or time-consuming to keep up with every single one of them and you're forced to either rotate your choice of blogs (Monday read Crissy's blog, Tuesday read Jon's blog, etc etc) or you stick to a group of your favourite friends.

I would say that I'm too lazy to change my selection of blogs and usually check out only the same group of people (well the group changes a bit occasionally), thus leaving a lot of other blogs sitting quietly in my bookmarks folder. But every now and then I do take a good look at the blogs that I've not been to in a long while and if there was time to spare I would just pay some quick visits. That 'every now and then' happened to be 15 minutes ago and I made a quick trip to Crissy's blog to get some updates. And of course, I got more than I bargained for :D

Coming from my hometown in Kuantan, I always had it in me that my England was very powderful. I mean, I had good vocab, sharp grammar, easy flow in sentences and just about everything else that is needed to write up a 'good' piece of essay. But is only when I read, and glean upon writings such as Crissy's (sorry Crissy, but I needed a good reference point xD) that I know the real difference between what you call 'good' writing and 'excellent' writing. I believe English, like any other language, is like...the Cube in Transformers (didn't see that coming, did ya :D). When placed in the hands of ordinary folks, the Cube's power is limited. Give it to any one of the Transformers however, and you can see the endless potential that it holds.

English. Artistic Sense. I like. I have not.

Okay, so we're all made differently and wired with our own unique abilities, skills and traits. But sometimes, just sometimes, I wish I had a little bit more.....more ooomph.

Words that can come alive as you read them, sentences that speak more to your mind and imagination than to your cerebral cortex, ideas that pop out and leap around dancing and swirling with your own thoughts, messages that can come across as bright as day without even needing to show itself...

No, you don't have to be perfect to write out a simple blog post, but imbuing even minor nonsensical rantings with natural artistic creativity can make all the difference in the world :)

Tag 2

First name: -

Last name: Fong Kee Ken (is this how the first/last name thing works??)

Birthdate: 21st September 1988

Gender: Male

Favourite colour: I realize I wear a lot of red shirts. And blue jeans. I think I like yellow – especially when it says "Wonderful Writer" in front xD

Favourite animal: Penguins kua.

Favourite subject: Rehat, the only period that's available every single day.

Favourite country: Malaysia! (Because I've not stepped foot in others just yet..)

Favourite place of vacation: When I was in Kuantan - Subang. Now that I'm in Subang - Kuantan :D

Favourite ice cream flavour: Vanilla

Favourite TV series: Used to really love Crystal Maze (super old show), now is probably...nothing in particular.

Favourite sport: Badminton, since I can't play at all most of the other known sports, heh.

What...

…were you doing at this time last week?: Bumming at home.

…are you planning to do next: Get ready for work.

…is it that you wished you had: a godly close female friend :)

…is your ambition: Travel the world

…animal are you most afraid of: Centipedes, by far.

…are you most afraid of in your life: Hurting other people's feelings

…is the most embarrassing thing so far in life: Owh...definitely when I was chatting with this Mandarin-speaking Chinese girl (in my super-broken Mandarin). I was trying to ask 'what's your ambition' but managed to totally screw up my pronounciations...when she covered her mouth and laughed away I thought I was a total goner....

…is it that you've always wanted to do but didn’t have the chance: Live alone in a place far away from home, in poor countries like around the African regions or the Middle East..

If you were given the chance to do anything right now what would you do (regardless how long it takes and how expensive it is): Invent a handheld teleportation device (Here I come all you aussie people!)

I tag: You who have read until here :D

Off to Work

In about half-an-hour, I'd have to change, get ready and scoot over to my workplace.

Today I should be starting officially in my new official position doing official work with official menial tasks (read: boring) waiting for me even as we speak xD

Monday mornings are normally reserved for rantings and complaints about how your boss is lousier than you, how you are badly underpaid and overwork, how your workplace ranks at the top among 'World's Worst Workplaces' and that sort of stuff; and nobody wakes up after Sunday saying "Yes!! Work!!!!!". I'm saying this because the last two times I took on temporary working stints I found myself in such situations, and I believe the general sentiment among the working crowd shouldn't differ too much (unless you're one of the few who likes what you're doing for a living).

However, due to the nature of my current work and workplace, I have a pretty good feeling that I'm in for a lot more than I bargained for. It's gonna be tough in many ways, and I really do hope that I'd be able to do it right. It might seem like a very minor and unimportant job to some, but I see the many challenges that lie ahead of me and it would certainly take more than just determination alone to get me through. I'm curious and excited to see how things would go, but at the end of the day I just hope that I would grow in maturity, both mentally and spiritually...

A Bummer No More

"Yes, I have been bumming a lot. Yes, I have been going out a lot. Yes, I have been spending a lot. No, I don't want to bum anymore.." - K.Ken, modern day post-STPM student -

The last two months had been wonderfully squandered away doing things that I can't quite remember..For the most part there were the RBS reunions at various places. Then there was Chinese New Year. Then there was SPICES..and collecting my STPM results, which was followed by the short period of mourning that I wrote about but was later overcome and put behind me. Hmm, what else took place in the last two months anyway....

It's ironic how when you're studying you would wish upon the stars (the moon and every other constellation objects for that matter) for the holidays to come as quickly as possible, then when you've finally hit the end of the road and have nothing on your hands for the next few months, you begin to feel the rot and boredom creeping in. I suppose this is why some retirees choose to go back into the working field instead of enjoying the fruits of their labor in the comfort of their home, sitting on a massage chair or something like that.

I myself had had my fair share of bumming over the past two months and honestly it was all getting a little too mind-numbing for me. And with the start of college intakes for March, many of my fellow bummers have landed themselves a spot in a college or uni somewhere, and are now happily studying again, which left me even more desperate for something to fill my time with. Thus I jumped on a job opportunity and should officially be starting next week (started already yesterday but unofficially lah). What it is and where it is would all be revealed when I have enough blogging materials to put out a proper post, so stay tuned ;D

To all the new college students who have found their way into Sunway, Taylor's and other places, happy studying and remember to keep in touch with one another (and don't go clubbing so often, haha).

Oops

Okay okay, so I made a mistake earlier about the whole recording thing and needless to say it was quite embarassing (oops!) but many thanks to our cK for the prompt (frantic) alert. Thankfully, the situation was contained within one or two hours with minimal casualties (frontline victim: Simon Sim). I had almost wanted to ask all the other RBS-ers to come and get our recording of Stubborn Love..which I didn't, fortunately.

But that aside, I still liked the song very much, and it's not too hard to imagine that we were the ones singing in the recording (use lots of imagination lor). In fact, I got down to drawing a little something just to express how I feel about it. Before we go any further though, here are some quick facts:

-I started drawing in manga art-style when I was in Form..2 or 3
-I was influenced by Justin Lee Ju Wei
-I only practiced drawing girls, so until today I can ONLY draw girls (now now, don't jump to conclusions..), which isn't so bad since Justin only draws GUYS and there's always a chance that we could collaborate in the future, hahaha.
-I've improved by leaps and bounds since I first started, but I'm still lousy and my improvement/year ratio is horrible (meaning that I should have gone pro as a manga artist by now)
-I absolutely don't know how to colour with any medium whatsoever (poster paint, colour pencil, pastel crayons and all other known types of colouring materials)
-I so adore/detest Simon's natural talent of pencil-work (voted 'Most Valuable Artist' in Shirtliff's team, haha). More interestingly, I remember clearly until today the first day we met in church because he showed off his skills on a whiteboard :D
-I consider my artistic sense (or creativity, or spark, or inspiration or anything else that you'd label it as) to be pretty near to zero or sifar. Not that I have LSE (low self-esteem) or anything, but I can see that some people just have that..that 'oopmh' factor in them, that makes all the difference in any kind of 'arty' activities (no need to say who ler).

I'm still very bad at visualising emotions and feelings though, and often end up with something that doesn't convey much, if not the wrong things. I'd picture it in my head, then work hard to draw it out, only to end up with 'what the heck is this drawing about' a few hours later..but I decided to post one here anyway. Not because it's perfect, but because I spent so much time on this that I thought it should at least get some screen time on my blog :)

*ta-da!* I had something else in mind actually, but no matter ;D

Over Easter

Easter's over, and I suppose many of you in Klang Valley would've had gone for the Jamie Kidd event hosted by IBA and its affiliated churches. I don't know exactly how well the whole thing went, since I was about 400 kilometers away in Kuantan for the last 3 days but from what I heard the LORD had been making waves in many of the places that the Tony Anthony team had visited.

Everyone knows the Easter story in one way or another. Jesus came, suffered, died and rose again. To the ears of skeptical non-believers, this is all just a load of hot air and nonsensical 'no need to tell me that story again' religious publicity, but thank God for the people who saw things in a different light and made that bold step to walk out in faith.

I have been challenged again and again in terms of my faith, and where I'm placing it. I still find myself struggling with the fact that I'm not giving the Lord the honor, attention and respect that He deserves as Saviour, Redeemer and King. I fall, and as much as I feel like wanting to give up, the Lord reminds me that I am but human.

"What I want to do I do not do, what I hate I do", so laments Paul in Romans and yes, he was speaking absolute sense when he topped it off with "Oh! What a miserable person I am" (NLT). But the more I try to pull away into despair, the more I realise the awesome saving grace that the Lord had extended to me. So wretched, so lost. But saved nevertheless, and clothed in a flowing robe of undying love that covers all the guilt of sin and shame that I have wallowed myself in.

Spiritual struggles aside, here's something that most of you probably do not have in possession. When I posted K.T.'s version of Stubborn Love here a while back, many of you had managed to find the song elsewhere *ahem*download*ahem*. But THIS should grab your attention a little. Colin had generously sent to me the recording of our version of Stubborn Love after seeing that I didn't find a liking for the original singer's composition. But don't get me wrong here, I said our version, not our recording like it was previously understood xD (sorry Simon!!) It was converted into digital format from an old cassete though, so it doesn't sound much like a full-blown concert but it's pretty cool to hear 'us' (well, not us lah but doesn't hurt to imagine that it's us right, haha) singing again :D I even used my free time to come up with the cover for the imaginary 'RBS o8 Graduation' box-set DVD :P


Me being me, I took the song and tried to 'digitally remaster' it with whatever little audio knowledge I have and it didn't quite make any difference, save for less static and nicer bass tones xD Go, grab a copy of it now and relive the practice sessions that we had, haha.

Version A (scratchy, but smaller file size) - Grab It!

Version B (not so scratchy and nicer bass, but bigger file size and the quality is a bit poorer) - Grab It!!

Okie, finally doing the Tag thing..

Real name: Fong Kee Ken
Nickname: Erm..the first one that rings to mind is "Fei Chai" which was pretty frequently used when I was much younger..Kuantan friends call me "Fong" while in Subang I'm "Kee Ken". At home it's just "Ken", but so far no one has called me "Kee" yet xD
Married: n/a
Male/Female: Owh? I like female of course if that's what it means, haha :D
Short or long hair: Short is the way to go~
Are u a healthy freak: Now this is tricky. If 'health freak' then I know lah. But 'healthy freak' means that I'm a freak and I'm healthy? Freak in some sense, healthy in some sense, so it's a 'Yes' I suppose.
Height: 5ft 6/7 like that.
Do u have a crush on someone?: Jon's got the best answer lor. MAYBE xD
Do u like yourself: I'm good.
Piercings: No no, mostly for the reason that you're denying others a chance of taking your blood for transfusion..
Righty of lefty: Right!

First....

surgery: Don't remember having had one.
Piercing: Fell on top of some wire-fencing and pierced my arm.
Person u see in the morning: Mom :D
Award: Highest in MUET!
Sport u join: Never played much of anything, other than badminton and ping pong, and even then very slightly.
Pet: Had doggies and fishes before.
Vacation: Genting Highlands kua.
Concert: Hillsong or Planetshaker, at Sunway there I think. Brilliant in many ways..
First crush: Delicate question...someone in my old secondary school?

Currently...

Eating: Nothing at all.
Drinking: Water.
Im about to: Call up my friend to see if I can leec..I mean ask for a ride tomorrow :D

Your future...

Want kids: To cut it short, yea.
Want to get married: Well yea, since I'd like kids. Sperm donation and anonymous mothers won't cut it, heh :D
Careers in mind: Environmental saiyantist

Which is better?

Lips or eyes?: Cannot discriminate between body parts, since they have their specific functions
Hugs or kisses: Hugs, since you can't kiss your guy friends but can hug them (unless you're into the other end of the spectrum lah)
Shorter or taller?: Well, I know I would like to be taller.
Romantic or spontaneous: Both, I think.
Sensitive or loud: I really can't say for sure.
Troublemaker or hesitant?: Again, no idea.

Have u ever....

Kissed a stranger?: No wor.
Drank bubbles: No wor, Dettol got try lah but not bubbles.
lost glasses/contacts: Unfortunately, YES!!!!!!!!!!! Stupid spectacle thief took my favourite blue Levi's half-frame during my STPM..
Ran away frm home: I'm a homely person lah, can't help it.
liked someone younger: Yea...yeap.
liked someone older: Cannot ler, they just seem very different.
Broke someone's heart: Well yea, of course. But not the BGR kind la.
Been arrested: Nope!
Cried when someone died: I've not really had so many people whom I know pass away but the answer is no.
Liked a friend: How to like a stranger leh? Unless crush lah, which is different.

Do u believe in...

Yourself?: I know I can only do so much.
Miracles: Yes, yes and yes.
Heaven: Enough to say that it wouldn't cease to exist even if nobody believed in it.
Santa Claus: Not enough to say I do.
Magic: I do, but I mostly associate it with darker elements (like sorcery, because 'magic' is an overused term)
Angels: Yeah, but not in the 'guardian angel' sense lah.

Answer truthfully..

Is there someone u want to be with right now?: In a way, our Lord, because I want to 'sit' with him (like uncle steven says), and ask Him about all the things that I have in my mind, like the secrets of the universe and that kind of thing :) Don't get me wrong though, I'm in opinion of wanting to leave this plane of existence just yet.

Do u believe in God?: So many things that happened have made me wonder why God would ever bother with me, somebody so wretched and broken and eternally condemned if not for the work and grace of Christ Jesus. So...yes?

Okay, let's see...I'm gonna tag:

Jethro
Joanne
Elena
Ann Sue
Simon Sim! (update lah monkey xD)

And Now

Time for an update I suppose :D

So I finally got over the whole fiasco about my results. Many thanks to all of you who have either said something or did something at some point in time :)

Now I'm moving on to that troublesome phase of scholarship-hunting again. I did it for SPM and didn't quite like the fact that I had to photostat so many copies of seemingly unimportant documents (koku certs especially). This time around however, I found it pretty distressing that I no longer qualify for a good portion of the scholarships out there like I did previously. The standard requirement is 3.5 CGPA for STPM. Okay lah, so maybe they want quality. But it's kinda ridiculous that things are the other way round with SPM requirements. Credits and passes would suffice for many of them. So I found myself mostly overqualified in SPM but under qualified in my STPM.....nuts. I scratched my head asking why they would demand super-achievements in STPM whilst only wanting mediocre results in SPM, but in the end I that's the way things work I guess.

I've managed to narrow down my choice of courses and have even submitted my online application already, though I still have the chance to make amendments before the 24th. To be exact I only have 3 real choices that I seriously considered, but I filled in the extra 5 places with secondary options anyway to make full use of the 8 slots that they gave me. Initially I did have trouble trying to place my first 3 courses in order (they go by order you see, if they can't allocate the first choice for you then they'll have to look at your second one and so on so forth), because I had to choose between USM (penang), UPM and UKM (here). I wasn't sure actually which uni offered the better course, since I applied for environmental studies in all three. But the way I see it, it's kinda like how Uncle Kong Beng had put it during our CG meeting last week: of the many aspects that we weigh and consider when deciding on our career (satisfaction, money, practicality, making a difference in the world), what's more important is that we ask God where He would call us to be.

I decided to make that my guiding line, and so I am trusting Him to decide the fate of my uni application. I put the first 3 choices in the order I listed above, since Penang sounded like a good idea but ultimately God would decide which part of Malaysia would be the hunting ground for pursuing my degree. Of course, there's also the possibility that I don't get any of my first 3 choices, or any of them for that matter (hope and pray not ler) but I don't think I would be doing myself any good to worry and fret about that now :D

"So do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own." - Matthew 6:31-34

To Think About It

The dust has finally settled, and by this time every single SPM and STPM soul would have retrieved their respective result slips. Some would be rejoicing in 'surprise', some would be satisfied and still some would be gripping their fists and wallowing in silent bitterness..

When I tore open the punch-holed sides of my piece of gray paper yesterday, I had very clear expectations in mind. 1A and 3Bs, I told myself. I was with my friend, and as he opened his one, he soon became ecstatic and people swooned to congratulate him for his achievement, a straight set of As. I was there, holding my results slip half-opened. It was kinda anti-climatic I suppose, since I was secretly hoping for the impossible, that I might get something closer to the top. Alas, I was greeted by my own expectations. Calculate calculate, my CGPA was 3.085. Just barely enough, for the course that I was eyeing. "Okay, that's great", I said to myself. "Now it's much easier for me to decide what I should be pursuing."

So we went for minum and laughed about it all. Upon getting home however, I just sat there with a somewhat blank mind. After a while, I realised that deep inside I was feeling really horrible, and another friend of mine felt the same way. I didn't do anything, save for printing the list of offered courses for local universities. Other than that, I just didn't know how to deal with that gut-wrenching feeling and the mind-numbing experience. So I plonked myself down on a chair and played some games to while away the time.

Only at night when the effects had worn off a little could I reflect a little bit more on the real issue. While I'm 'happy' in many ways of how things turned out (just like I asked for), the soul-sucking factor came from how I seem to have been wired into the straight-As mould. I passed UPSR, PMR and SPM with more or less the best results that I could've obtained and with that I carried along the notion of just succeeding all the way. I suppose you can say that I don't know what it feels like to not obtain perfect or near-perfect results for major examinations. Sorta like not having 'lost' a battle before. I've never thought of it this way, that the deepest part of my conscience cannot live with not having aced my STPM. It was mentally-draining, but on the good side I believe that this was a serious issue which I had never noticed all along and if I had taken it further (imagine failing at uni) it would've been too overwhelming for my fragile inner-self to bear.

At least, this is roughly what I gleaned from probing my own thoughts from since yesterday. And I just wanna say thanks to NeoHusky and Simmy who took the time to come out for yamcha at night. Really helped to cheer me up. Especially since today is a normal working day..thanks guys!

Now to go through that long list of courses...

The Result

I don't feel like writing about it now..see how lah later :/

To Encourage

An excerpt from Philippians:

I thank God everytime I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (v3-6)
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness, that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God. (v9-11)

Ever so often I find myself in need of some encouragement to get me going in the right path and to remind me of the more important things in life. I've always considered myself more a listener than a talker, so I hardly know how to dispense words of encouragement to myself even, much less to other people. But God never fails to show me that He is always there to look after my needs, and it always amazes me how little things that brighten up my day could all be part of God's bigger purpose in trying to get a point across to me. If anyone knows how to say something without actually saying it, it's got to be God ;D

I vaguely remember that we were asked to write letters to ourselves while in HCC. I can't quite recall what I wrote, and in fact I had actually forgotten about the whole matter if not for a letter that turned up in my mailbox this morning. I wasn't very eager to read it so I left it aside until late in the evening when I finally decided to see just what I had wanted myself to read one month down the road.

But surprise surprise :D


I for one do not own any sort of purple-colour ink pen, and my handwriting was certainly much bigger. And I wouldn't have addressed myself as...the..way I was addressed in the letter *ahem* :) The contents really amused me, but more than that I was deeply encouraged by what the author penned down on a simple piece of foolscap paper. Even the opening was taken from Paul, fuh :D Thank you to 'you' out there who had finally decided to get off your lazy bum, haha. I'm sure that all the others who received it would be equally as delighted and grateful as well, if not overjoyed and grinning from ear to ear. And oh, right-handed people open their letters from the right hand side, if you didn't realize.

In the letter, the topic of STPM was brought up, and the timing was impeccable, seeing that the results would be out in a little less than 4 hours. Gosh. Sure is nice to know that someone who's facing the same thing (albeit a day later) can take the trouble to comfort others instead. Interestingly, about an hour later my ex-youth advisor (aunty collene) called me up to let me know that she would be remembering me in her prayer. These are gestures that really tug at my heart, and indeed I cannot thank God enough for placing such kind and caring souls in my midst..

Speaking of which, I would try my best to post my results out as early as possible. Of course, that depends on whether I would faint and need to be admitted to the General Hospital or not... xD

Saturday

With about an hour left until the election results are fully out, I figured that now's the time to do some updating..

On thursday, I woke up super-early to attend my second class on driving theory at Damansara. My instructor picked me up and he drove pretty fast that day. Just when we were roughly 100 meters away from the driving school, he suddenly realised that the brakes weren't really working. Now I don't know about you guys but I think malfunctioning brakes ought to warrant some degree of panicking..we weren't going very fast thankfully but it wasn't long before even the acceleration pedal seemed to have joined the brakes. *floors the pedal, engine vrooms but car can't move* When we got down to see what was wrong, the left wheel in the front was kinda popped aside, which explained why the car suddenly stopped moving. My morning exercise that day was car-pushing and it was excruciatingly difficult because of the mis-aligned wheel. But the interesting bit was that the car broke down right after we came out of the busy highway into the smaller roads around the housing area with much fewer cars, which meant that we were really really lucky. I take it that it was a blessing, because to have a car break down in the middle of a highway would've been suicide. So yeah, thank you LORD!

Even more surprising was who turned up there also. I was expecting a very boring day (3 hours lecture + 3 hours practical lessons) but when a white van loaded with other students pulled over in front of me, I could immediately recognise the two familiar faces in it:

Don't ask me why they came together xD

Well, at least we had the chance to do a little catching up over a cup of tea at the mamak there. Rachel's doing Mechatronics (to my surprise) at UTAR I think, while Jon's gonna move to Nottingham and pursue Finance. Kinda wish I could tell them where I was planning to go but alas, I could only come up with a vague answer about considering Environmental Science..

You can clearly see that the three hours of 'car talk' had taken its toll on us..

But moving on to the next day, I took up Simon's offer for real this time (I was genuinely interested the last time, Simon :D) to take a trip all the way to the ends of the earth to help out for an afternoon in SPICES. In case you don't already know what it's all about, just check out the quote from Simon Sim below:

"No, it's not a restaurant as I initially thought. It's a centre run by some really great, commited people of Emmanuel EFC, down in the heart of Wangsa Maju, I do believe it stands for Support Parents, Infants and Children through Early Services (right, Sue Ann?). It's a centre that teaches children with learning disabilities, like autism and Down syndrome. It sort of helps these kids with all sorts of basic skills, like reading, writing, coordination and morals. Something truly very admirable."

And in case you don't know what autism really means too, here's a quote from Wikipedia:

"Autism is a brain development disorder that impairs social interaction and communication, and causes restricted and repetitive behavior, all starting before a child is three years old."

I went over to Simon's house at 10.45 and we left at about 11.30 from the KTM in Subang.

We took a train to Sentral, and then hopped to LRT and stopped at Wangsa Maju, and clutching a map that Ann Sue gave us we walked for some distance.

Apparently Ann Sue's face was plastered outside as 'Dilarang benarkan pelajar ini masuk'. Hmm, wonder what she did here...haha.

SPICES is pretty well tinted (for privacy) and you could easily mistake it for an illegal arcade centre of some sort when they have the locks on outside..

Much to my chagrin, we DIDN'T get lost or anything, and even arrived half an hour earlier. So we bummed at a nearby mamak instead, which is really near Ann Sue's church like she always says.

If you had not had the chance to see autistic or Down Syndrome kids up close and interact with them before, you could forgiven for thinking that they either bite people's ears or poop and pee all over the place, not unlike old people who had gone senile. The media hardly shows these kids for who they really are, and I think they often wrongly paint a picture of suffering parents and dirty houses. But having spent the whole afternoon observing them (and occasionally helping out), I found them to be pretty much who and what they are: kids. Okay, so one of them was cock-eyed. One was hyperactive. One kept crying for no reason. One seemed to live in Dreamland and hummed all the time. Not 'normal' in most sense of the word, but they were kids just the same. It's not something that you can easily describe but I think if you were there that day with me and Simon you would definitely be amused by these chirpy kids and their funny antics.

Because autism can manifest in degrees and various forms of disorder, teaching them requires special one-on-one attention in most cases and this means that it is more difficult to teach three autistic children than it is teaching an entire class of blind or deaf or mute kids. Special schools like SPICES are quite rare, and few would do it for money. It's a labour of love for the most part, and it's sad that there's obviously not enough love going around, if what the supervisor at SPICES said were to be taken seriously: "We've got a long waiting list actually..."

While we didn't really do much there, we tried our best to learn whatever we could about dealing with autistic children from observing how the teachers taught the lessons. We didn't become teachers overnight but I believe the experience alone was worth the long journey there, which isn't really that long when you have someone to accompany you. Right, Simon?

On the way back we stopped at Sentral because Simon was busted from his hunger and we decided to grab something at Sentral's McD. Some pretty funny moments ensued (which I feel should just be left between ourselves) but in the end we managed to get our hands on Fish Fillets.

It's great that they had just only reduced the price to RM4.

After wolfing it down we got our buttocks back to Subang Jaya's KTM station and my dad picked us up. In his cab. And unfortunately for Simon my dad had to ferry four or five of his regular customers around before he could Simon back home. Simon ended up going straight to caregroup/cellgroup and had to forego his dinner. Sorry Sim! :(

Meanwhile, I treated myself to a nice supper to celebrate the wonderful day that went by:

What's better than wantan mee? Fried-wantan mee with kari ayam, that's what (^.^)

Thank you LORD for the journey mercies and the great fun that we had that day, and not to mention the chance to spend time with the kids at SPICES, who touched and blessed each of us in their unique ways.

Robot Chicken

They say too much of a good thing is not quite a good thing. Or..something along those lines I suppose.

Today I had wanted to type out my resume/curriculum vitae/whatever it's called so that I could get it verified at school a few days later, and not to mention get some 'serious' work done. Not that any of that took place of course..

Behold: ROBOT CHICKEN!

If you're ever into the whole claymation/stop-animation/weird-moving-talking-toys kind of show, you're bound to love this American series called Robot Chicken.

RIGHT.....

I was brave enough to give Season 2 a try and having watched a total of 10+ episodes in one go (they're not too long), I must say that Robot Chicken is only good in teeny-bitty-eensy-weensy fun-size (sorry Elena xD) portions and nothing more. It was a lot of crass humor, and involves mostly nonsensical jokes like (WARNING, RETARDED HUMOR BELOW):

Son Goku describing the terror of the Nutcracker..

Scissors, paper, ROCK *auff*

The sorting hat is used to see who is still a.. go figure.

"Oh my *****! Why would anyone do this to my *****!!" Bah...

I'm sure today would've been much better spent volunteering at SPICES or something..still, I hope I get to go there this Friday, and stay off the mind-mushing stuff like Robot Chicken. I believe you can find some videos on YouTube, but you'd be better off doing just about anything else xD

Beginning of March

As usual, I'm caught by surprise as to how quickly time passes me by just when I least expect it. The period of Dec 26 till Jan 31 was unbelievably long for me for more reasons than one (the cold air was probably one of them) but looking at the date now more or less the same amount of days had come and gone and I could really imagine that it was only yesterday that I came back home from graduation night at PJGH...(don't mind me if I had said it before ya). I just don't feel like the past month had been the best of times..

But that said, I know that it's gonna be a rough ride for me this year. So many things to accomplish, but so little motivation to get me going. I suppose it could be a side effect of having studied in kebangsaan schools: I can't really seem to handle stress all that well. Admittedly I have a pretty low level of tolerance for work of any kind and always need to 'relax' in one way or another. Of course, it doesn't take a sage to tell that I'd either make a successful Internet billioinaire or an utterly horrible 9 to 5 office boy..and the odds favor the latter unfortunately xD

The results are gonna be out soon, and then there would be the mad scramble for scholarships and that kind of thing. I'm not so intrigued however by whether I'd make it into uni, but rather what it would feel like to take some time off to go into mission or church work full-time..the Footstool Players needed more help the last time I heard and Simon and I would jump at the chance to be on the team actually, if not for the long commitment needed and the timing: September. If Simon had his way, he would've postponed his tertiary education till October I'm sure (right sim? ;D). Sabrina's more or less the youngest full-time church worker that I know of right now so I'm pretty interested honestly to know what it's like to forgo the conventional 'school-diploma-degree-job- model so early in life and work for God instead.

Earlier during RBS, I had lamented in my journal that I should be 'living out my faith to the fullest'. I had this impression, you see, that we should all take the likes of missionary giants like Jim Elliot and George Mueller as a yardstick in the way we live. Which more or less means the 'selling everything and give to the poor' kind of reckless abandon that puts everything at stake. I was troubled the whole day, to say the least and I wrote close to 4 pages of ranting and self-reasoning in my journal. Thankfully, I had to submit it to Eu Bing that day for comments and I picked up a lot from the two sticky-notes that he wrote on. In one part he wrote:-

"...if all of us were to then live this 'full faith' by becoming like Jim Elliot, then who would become senders? We all have our roles to play due to God's calling to us, based on our circumstances and where He has placed us. Just as the jungles and dangerous tribes pose their threats and troubles, so does the mission in other places where God has placed you to be : schools, work, places, friends and yes, even the little things like shopping complexes etc. All these places require you to still live out your faith to the fullest, regardless of where you are."

It is moments like these that make me realise how much God had been trying to reach out to me through the people around me and also the circumstances that cropped up (me mission team leader? oh my goodness...) along the way. The journal proved to be a valuable treasure trove of memories, experience and also sound advice from someone a lil' older than me who has gone through much more both in life and in faith.


Ah, so much for an update. I've got more stuff to write on actually but don't have the materials yet. Maybe in a day or two lah :)