Strength

Praise God for His strength!
Overnight prayer was superb, even though i was feeling worse than a insomniac-that-had-just-recovered.

Why?
Cross-country on thurs, with 6 hours of sleep to friday and then OPM, followed by an accidental hour of sleep to 7.30am and remedials from 8 to 11am.
Plus ministry and service.

Proof of brain lag: I thought PM was service on sat.

Service was good, and although i fell asleep twice or more, i still tried to wake myself up.

Message was about fear. And i thought it was really good.

Oh before i forget, two band members from FIR coming next week!
Faye and Ah Ching.
All are invited!

I must find more depth in my blog content in future.

Back to another busy week of school, God give me strength!

Cross country today was quite a sonorous experience for Edward house.
The enthusiasm and zest from the house was non-comparable to that of the other houses.
However, the overall morale dropped apprehensively when the results were announced.

Personally, the mass run turned into a competition between the mind, spirit and body.
"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
That was quite the case today.

I failed to chase up to kwan hong in the end but managed to come in well before my expectations.
I remember last year it was narrowing to the last minute or so before coming in.
This time i was there cheering on my other friends who were still in the desperate race for time.
Leonard had one hell of a shocked face.


Just finished watching "V for Vendetta".
And i must say i'm deeply impressed.
For once, I'm giving a 5 out of 5 stars for this movie.
In short: It makes you tick.

Catch it if you haven't.
Life is short.


I smiled when i saw the film's production company.

The Past Tense

"It has been decided that it is politically unacceptable to discuss the error of grammar in public.
Apparently this concern has been raised due to the rather crude and emphatic discussion of grammar by 2 boys.

As quoted from the source at that point of time:

'Your mother die is bad english.

No lah! Its correct!

NO! Your mother die wrong lah. Should be YOUR MOTHER DIED(insert loud voice here).'

*3 blank stares from 3 other junior boys in front as they turn around in awe of the commotion.*

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA *Plenty of abs stretching during this point of time*

HAHA'

And as seen, further discussions of the acquisition of the mastery of the english language should be confined within public areas.

This is Mel, Signing Off."

DISCLAIMER: Any offense made to any characters dead or alive are coincidental and no means of slander, provocation, abuse or harm is meant.

Consequence

It appears that my results haven't been really satisfactory.
So far i have only 1 distinction.
Actually I'm disappointed over the results of my A maths.

But I thank God that i now know what i have to do to ameliorate my results.
Mistakes are stepping stones for you to move on to a higher position.
Love Philippians 3:14 "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ."


On another note, results aren't everything.
But its important to me.
That's why i dropped HCL officially, even though i managed a score of 60.
Yz will still insist that i shouldn't. lol.

Took away something real important during service on sunday.

"I can reprimand my children again and again, but they know that I'm doing it because I love them."

Love is definitely the prerogative of security.

The whole k__y___ episode is near reaching its climax.
Who'd have thought the discipline com is right into investigations over this matter.

Frankly i think its pretty much amatuer in a sense. I would've used 'immature' instead but decided to forgo this attempt.

A hate box.

A fornication of absurdities.

A place where the wildest imagination takes place.

That kind of pretty much sums up the profile on friendster.

Seriously, the internet has once again proved to be the most interesting medium on planet earth.

Oh if you're looking for links:
Friendster

Screamo

Some times i wonder about the value of mentioning things in the past.

So'kay, on Monday, there was this really comical thing that happened, in the eyes of the beholder.
YZ and me were walking back to school because he needed to go to the toilet.
Getting close to the foyer, there was 2 kids, apparently, making sharp crescendo caterwauls that was putting my mood swing into full irritation overdrive mode.
They didn't stop even as we got close to the stairs.

In fact they were having a friendly competition with one another.

On my right was this sec 3, just as he was about to shriek, i made it clear for him to keep his mouth closed.

"Shut Up Lah!" is a more exact description of how it happened.

I walked on towards the toilet, while YZ was grinning like crazy.
He explained later on that after i shouted and turned away, the poor guy got so scared he flinched.

When we were wakling out of school, they attempted to restart their round until we came into their line of sight.

Ah yes, the silence of seniority.

Optimism

Its officially the day of the release of the O' lvl results!

Certainly is a day of mixed feelings.
Let's cut to the chase.

81 people had to drop higher chinese among our sec 4 cohort.
That's a freaking huge number compared to last year.
In fact, its so significant that we've actually set a record for it.

To be honest, all I had was faith that i could get a distinction.
I guess this is really an example of "Faith without works is DEAD."
So anyway, i did manage to secure the next best grade: B3

You can say that the atmosphere in the auditorium was pretty tense.
When i walked around, it was quite evident who were the ones who had to drop HCL.
That was what i supposed.
With almost 1/3 of the cohort having to drop, its rather common tendency to spot several grieving faces.

Well of course there were those that shed tears over their A2s.
Disappointment, desolation and despair.

The last period became a major counseling session as people went about trying to encourage others who were feeling down.
I was trying to encourage a few people as well, talking mainly to Jun Liang and Wei Rong, especially to Wei Rong.

Ok BIG QUESTION MARKS on your head now.
Why am I not sad/depressed/angry/disappointed/grieved/pessimistic
/melancholic/miserable/anguished etc..

Frankly, me securing a B3 is already an unimaginable feat.
Actually, it was an accurate guess that I would get a B3 because I felt my paper 2 was really quite poor.

One thing to note apart from results is your attitude in life.
I must make this comment(no offence meant) that the one of the most fragile things to a student is his/her's results.
Literally, it will either break them or shape them.

You see, many times, we look upon success as a deserving reward but failure as an intolerable torment.
I look upon failure as an opportunity to improve and success as a goal well planned.

I must admit that i can be overly optimistic and that its hard to share an attitude like mine.
However i can say that it isn't half bad if you perceived things the way I do.


We must get up and go from where we left off, to continue the pace we once had.
If you lived a life always struggling with stumbling blocks, you'll never see sunlight.
Its time to get up and go.
Right now.

Thanks to those that have encouraged me and expressed their concerns for me, especially those closest to me.(You know who you are:D )
I'd like to reassure everyone that i am perfectly sane save for maybe a dry sense of humour.

Then again, I would like to congratulate all my friends who are satisfied with their results, especially those that have attained distinctions.
At the same time, my deepest empathy goes to those that have not been able to score the grades they wanted.

DON'T WORRY.

Life is 10% "what happened" and 90% "how we reacted to it."

A series of unfortunate events

1 week left to prelim 1.
Actually its just common test with a brand new marketing idea.

To further elaborate the madcap antics on saturday, this was what happened:

It all started with the predestined event of having a donation can filled with lotsa' coins dropping on mx's foot. That was his explanation for the new-found hatred for a certain school.

After that was a wild goose walk to the back of J8, behind ding tai fung, which was literally in the middle of nowhere. I was looking for the toilet and didn't want to cut through swensens.

Next, the pole-like handle struck an attraction with mx's face. Friction jammed the door as he pushed it, real hard and it resulted in several curses as well as a painful face.

At subway, the least to expect was when the cup of F&N orange went down-under and found residence in my pants, socks and shoes. The whole cup was split and i was drenched from waist-down. Believe me, that was one sticky situation.

We got out to the pavement beside the library to eat when my attempt to save one tomato resulted in the loss of 2 meatballs.

And at staircase beside the cinema, mx had an over-tendency to allow gravity to control significant portions of his cookie. It went all over the floor.

Pretty much the ends the unfortunate streak we had. It was somewhat enjoyable, but it should never be repeated again.

As one thinks, so is he.


I've discovered a new description for sin: obdurate.

Tired is the word for the past week.
Staying up to do homework somehow eats my energy faster than i can eat a foot-long sub.

Speaking of subway, many thanks to ming xuan for the treat today, or rather, yesterday.

I realise now why i've been so low the last few weeks.
I've haven't been living in faith, sad to say.
Pastor's message today really opened up my eyes once again.
Its time to rediscover that secret place.

Oh, before i forget to mention, one random musing.
Sometimes i don't know why people don't take pride in the things they love.
Its very hypocritical in my opinion.

Song of the Day: In Pieces - Linkin Park

Never play soccer in the primary school plaza was the lesson we learnt yesterday.
A beautiful goal scored by D resulted in a deflection against the wall that none of us expected.
The ball levitated in the air a few seconds before hitting the wall and deflected it to the worst possible place ever: The fragile metal railings above it.
A loud bang, followed by the grandeur fall of a quarter of the whole metal strip was evident enough to send 9 soccer-die hards scurrying.

Oh yes sh!t happens when you least expect it.

I'm just trying to make my blog seem alive although its just 1 more week to prelims.
Well according to Mr F, its 2 weeks, "Don't scare me okay." :D

And now i'm currently feeling the superiority of Rock music.

Song of the Day: America - Razorlight

If there's one thing i've learnt since the start of school, its prioritizing homework.

Every teacher is bound to bomb you with work to do, if everything was important, you'd probably spend endless sleepless night trying to finish every assignment.


Section outing yesterday was the bomb! Its a nice gathering outside of the time that we usually spend as a ministry serving.
Thought everyone was not there but we still had a good time nevertheless.
Game IC for the day, bwahahaha.
Great food, tasty, even though it was left untouched for about 2 hours.
Hmm Hmm, got a nominee award - most initiative. =)

Sleep. Catch Up. Must. Panda Eyes. Contacts. Oxygen level low. Manfred: "WTF?"

New Year, New Changes.

The First day of school:

I laughed at the sec 1s' gathering at the plaza.

A change of CO-Form Teacher.

Walked past the long hair 'class'.

The PA/mic was screwed during morning assembly.

The teachers' that have classes today all postponed the deadlines for holiday assignments.

Had a change in CCA teacher.

Helped Jit Hin to cut his hair.

Witnessed a horrible prophetic scene(The Killer Queues) during recess.



Song of the Day: I'm Gonna Soak Up The Sun - Sheryl Crow

Note: I still can't believe i'm sec 4. I walk past others thinking they are sec 4.

SCHOOL REOPENS

The Greatest Gift of All

Once there was a young little boy by the age of 8.
He was a happy child, leading a life with many friends by his side.
His family members never cease to showcase their love for him, indeed it was a blessed life.
Until one event changed everything.

The tragedy had occurred, his great grandmother had laid recumbent for a very, very prolonged amount of time.
He was confused.
All the adults seemed rather sad.
Some of them were weeping tears, tears of deep sorrow.
Everyone seemed to be caught in some sort of hysteria.

Before he knew it, his great grandmother was being moved to someplace downstairs and laid in a large wooden box.
Her lips were unnaturally pale.
Her eyes shut, and her body was still.
That was the first time he came face to face with Death itself.

One solemn night, the memories came back to him again and again.
He wondered, "What would happen if I died?"
His heart cried for an answer.
While his family members were fast asleep, he got off the bed and went on his knees.
That was the first time he did it, not before anyone.
He clasped his hands, closed his eyes, and made a plea.
"I don't want to die O' God. I want to live."

At that point of time, he had no real idea of who God really was.
All he had was that little faith in his heart, the motivation of having to live a life even after he died was all but too overwhelming.
After all, Death had sapped what little courage he had left.

Unknowingly, these thoughts would continue to linger in his sub conscious mind.

Life itself had become seemingly meaningless, as he discovered at the age of 11.
Study, Work, Earn Money and eventually die.
There was hardly any meaning in it.
He sought hard to find the truth in life.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much use searching for it online.

He continued to live life, but with a much brighter appeal to it.
Always looking on the bright side.
But sometimes it was hard when disaster strikes time and again.
At the age of 12, he lost his grandmother.

Several times, he would continue to ponder of thoughts of the afterlife as well as the purpose of living.
There were numerous texts and examples on how one should live their live to the fullest, but none were able to help him find the way to complete his chapter.
None provided satisfying answers.
He wanted to pen his own life.

November 2006, after an invite from a classmate to come to church, he was somehow finding his long-sought for answers from the sermons of the pastor.
However, he was opinionated about one thing, all these things were connected to some entity called "God" and at the same time, took on differing names including "Jesus" and the "Holy Spirit".
All that was unknown to him.
But somewhere in his heart, he felt and desired to know this "God" that the church members knew so well.

One saturday evening, midweek in November, the pastor opened up the door for him.
He spoke, with much divine authority, that it was possible to know this "God', this "Jesus" of whom he did not know.
His heart was suddenly moved, when the pastor said that it was possible to have life, and life more abundantly, even after he died.
There was once again, the little faith that he kept in his heart.
He reached into and proclaimed in his heart, "Yes, I want to know this Jesus, who could provide an answer to my long fear of death."

On that night, he gave his heart to Jesus.
On that night, he felt transformed.
On that night, he felt renewed, as if there were new life breathed into him.

On that night, he received the Greatest Gift of All - The Love of Christ.


Almost immediately, he had a renewed passion for life.
It was unthinkable that he once had thoughts of suicide, for there was truly no meaning in living life.
But now, with new confidence, he presses on with fiery determination for his goals.
To be a high achiever, for the glory of his God.

To think the little plea he had made 7 years ago, which he had nearly forgotten over the years, had come to pass just as he was at his lowest depths.
The plea for everlasting life.
He confessed with his mouth, and received it by confession of not only the mouth, but the heart also.


If God can remember the smallest plea in your heart, one that you've forgotten with time,how much more so would He know what your really desire in life.
See if you had one chance, to renew your passion, seek the depths of your heart or find a complete understanding to your existence, would seize the moment, or let it all fade away?

Breakaway Camp

Broke away from camp today!
Awesome time there, although it was only 2 days 1 night.
Highlights: War-Games, Campfire and Confidence walk.

Disclaimer: Very little supporting details for events because certain levels of gesticulation needed.

War-Games was fun, but it was a little overplayed, in a sense, it was too competitive.
Lots of green team people sliding around.
High-action gameplay of bombs and the such haha.
Close to the last few minutes everyone was playing snatching cloths and not bombs anymore cos they were all gone.
In the end, our kim chio team lost but we had loads of fun.

After that, washed up a lil and went on to indoor cames 'cos it was raining.

The table soccer was fun, but it ended up in timo and me with back aches and muscle cramps haha.


Campfire was due to start at 8pm due to rain.
Thank God the rain stopped at 7pm.
The whole campfire atmosphere was super good.
Everyone was having fun(i guess), shouting, screaming and cheering haha.
And Davin managed to get to be Ms PSP Finalist 2007 HAHA
Rolland was super sporting, and that's how he got to be Miss PSP 2007! Congrats! haha.
Ian performed twice during the campfire and i thought "Wow."
His first song was like crowd interaction type. I forgot the song title already but it was familiar.
The second one was really anointed, as in totally.
His presence was so strong with the song.

And for the finale of the campfire was really the ne plus ultra.
Everyone forms a huge circle, and twirls around to the song to meet new people haha!
Really fun time yeah.

After that was a little free time and manhood talk by Ian to the remaining guys in the camp.

Then came the night walk.
It was pretty much, urm, well planned and not.
The timing where each person was to enter should be extended sia, but there was really alot of people so i guess they cut short the time for that.
The route was ok, hiding places were plentiful for the "ghosts".
But the scare would only come to those campers who were in dishabille.

I went alone(all guys had to go alone) and managed to catch up a 3-girl team.
Then i had to slow down because they wanted to go together, and another 2 more guys eventually caught up with us.
Kind of spoils the whole night walk atmosphere -.-

Took several pictures at the meeting place and went back to camp.

One thing to note: the shower was freezing cold.
I was shivering like a PS2 controller set on permanent vibration mode.
The chilling night atmosphere didn't help either.

After that, the camp was really idle in the sense that there weren't any more activities.
Well but had a fun time though.
Knew several new people in my zone too.
Especially the Kim Chio people haha!


Word of the Day:

perspicacity \pur-spuh-KAS-uh-tee\, noun:

Clearness of understanding or insight; penetration, discernment.

He whose vocabulary is wide is one whose perception is wide.

Open Up Your Mind

TO peckhui: Thanks haha, haven't seen you in a long time too.
TO wc: You have camp too? Haha ok. I'm going to try to finish my homework before Christmas haha. TRY.

Today was a rather tiring day, as of now of course, since i woke up at 7 today.

Service in the morning.
Rev. Dr. John Avanzini ok don't play play.
Message see bei zai.
Hear o'lredi' chua sai siao ting tong.
Never come really buay ho say!

Well, God was really challenging me during offering time.
I find myself under the fig tree, without guile.

So after the service, went for a seminar that i really, Really, REALLY didn't feel like going.
Because i could've gone Strike Force practice with Kang Wei, which he invited me to go.
(To the uninformed: Strike Force is basically a performance group that primarily focuses on percussion only, that is to say, drums.)
And so, i felt rather a little restive at the point of time after service.

Thank God i've learnt to trust God instead of my feelings.

So in the end, i went anyway, because there wasn't any way i could go for the Strike Force practice.(Actually i was just concerned the seminar might have cost something.)

Making my way down, aside from the jokes with Timo and Ivan, the rest of the journey was rather, smooth.
At least i could find my way to the place.

Settled for a foot-long sub before the seminar started.
Actually wanted a 6-inch but i got confused with the ordering part.
Subway's the bomb i tell you.
It costs a bomb as well though.

So sat through to seminar, which i tried to keep an open mind to.
Just for the curious, it was held at MindChamps.

Presumably i was thinking it was another one of those "Succeed in Life" kind of seminars. (Which i told timo, I'll sleep through if it was.)
I'll just say, Thank God that i kept an open mind.


For some reason, "Breakthrough", "Come to pass" and even "If I can believe it, i can have it." seemed to inclusive in the seminar.
"Breakthrough" came quite a few times.
Well i guess i can't blame the speaker, he's a christian(or catholic for that matter), and such words are commonplace language.

Hmm...


That got me slightly intrigued, because i suddenly felt it made some sense.
Past cannot be changed.
Past does not equate future.
Future can be changed.
And i think they're were pushing that message rather strongly.
Heavy emphasis on teaching the child to appreciate their parents.
For some reason, i believe the founder built the centre's structure based on the values of God.

Well after that, they got this whole list of 30 words things and 2 volunteers to try and memorize, then recite it out.
Of course, they couldn't do it with a 100% accuracy.
So they got some peeps to go have some secret training in their classrooms and prove that their technique actually works.
And one of those test subjects include yours truly.

Well i must the technique is effective to a certain extent.
Its mainly a easier method of loading up heaps of info from your text books compared to si ji si bei.
I don't think it'll work if you tried it on the vocab section during a compre test.
What an experience that was.
Interesting to note.
Oh and 2 or 3 eye-candies in my group haha.
Including the volunteer from the first round. MGS.

What a more fruitful way to spend a Sunday afternoon instead of gaming the whole day away.

Ok so no time to waste right after this weekend, there be souls to save.


Random note:
CD rama at Toa Payoh surprises me much.
There be an ol' Led Zepplin album there.
Also be aye Green Day International SuperHits! album.
I have at least 5 albums i want to buy from there now.

Song of the Day: Rollover DJ - Jet

TICKS SOLD ALREADY!!

Ok It's been a week since i've updated.
I think i'm just pretty lazy.
About 80%. The other 20% screams in anguish as I enter one bnet game after another.

I wanted to blog about the outreach last sat, but its a little late now haha.
Hmm, for alternative references, visit Darryn's, Daphanie's or Desireey's blog.

Oh yes, been not signing in to msn because i'm gaming much haha.
Gotta stop that habit of over-gaming.
Being offline's better than ignoring everyone else who's trying to talk to you.
Besides, there is an invention called the mobile phone.

I forgot the main thought for this post today.

So the rest of the post real be rather random.

I gave tuition yesterday and tuesday, to 2 batches of primary school kids.
Thanks to my mum who managed to find people for me(:
I must say, its quite a simple job.
However, there's alot of ground work to do.
Knowing your students are important eh?
So far, earned $40 alr.
Oh yea, building fund accomplished.
Well for november anyway.
Praise God.


Zone PM on tues was absolutely awesome.
Though the guys at the back were pretty much cramped up but we could feel His presence.
So tangible was it.
Well, hope the camp will be a REAL SUCCESS!
Still trying to get people to come.

Anyone free on the 11-12 Dec?
Next tues to wed.
Lotsa activites!
War-Games, i'm thinking its going to involve water haha.

Camp at Seranbun i think. Chua Chu Kang.
Excited for it, i am.

So if you ain't doing nothing you SHOULD be here.
Please feel free to contact me for further details.

OH yes, a last bit of advertising:
MCR Front Row MOSH PIT Tickets for sale at $95!
Book fast, while stocks last.


Here's another word to describe a whole bunch of nonsense: tarradiddle.
Ok i feel this is this such malapropos.
Time to sleep.

Song of the Day: How Long - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

I meant to post this yesterday but i forgot about until just about a while ago.


The Power of the Dollar

3 men stroll past a Ralph Lauren Polo shop.
One looked at the jacket on display and said,

"If I had enough money, I'd walk into the store and buy everything I want."

Upon hearing this, another man said,

"If I had enough money, I'd buy the whole store."

Guess what did the third man say?

"If I had enough money, I'll get Ralph Lauren himself to design for me a whole wardrobe of clothes."

Word of the Day for Thursday, November 29, 2007

hirsute \HUR-soot; HIR-soot; hur-SOOT; hir-SOOT\, adjective:

Covered with hair; set with bristles; shaggy; hairy.

Another interesting word that reminded me of someone real hairy.