Back from HK

Hi people. Sorry got back from Hong Kong some time already but too lazy to post something. Actually I've already uploaded photos to facebook already. So do check out there.. Will post when the urge comes..but right now..not really.

here's the link to album 1 http://ntu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14851&l=d27c2&id=672308195

there are a total of 8 albums! hahaha

An After(exam)thought.

Firstly,

Thank God for bringing me through this. I would never have survived it without Him. Will otherwise flunk a couple of subjects already, and die of stress overload.

Well, me and dearie went JP and she got her shoes! I've got...Hellgate! Qweee..But I have problems running in on Vista. SIGH! And it's not too OK to do a patch update if ya know what I mean. But well, I've got BioShock and, Maple!

Just now when I was a the laundry room, I saw the queerest insect ever! It looked like a huge spider with four legs and it flew around the fan. Eventually it rested on the doorway and that made me fear going out (and in). On closer inspection, there are 5 legs(2 behind, 3 in front, symmetrically spaced those at the front). It has a dragonfly looking body and small wings. Very weird indeed! Legs and wings, never seen any with these two. Sure scared the shit out of me..somewhat.

Anyway, I feel very relieved. But hey! I've got 6 more examinable semesters to go. Jia you!
Hopefully the grades will not turn out too bad this sem, that would at least give me motivation to work harder in the course. Yap.

I'm off...lots of things to do this hols. See ya after my HK trip!

(p.s. I hope to catch "I Am Legend" with my friends.)

LoL

HAHAHAHA...sorry. I just can't study.

Restless hours

Oh my! I'm feeling extremely restless and finding much difficulty in settling down to study for my last paper which is tomorrow afternoon: Physics!

Sigh! I never knew what it meant or feels to be this way. I guess the exams dragged too long, more than half a month! Very taxing on the mind, contents are heavier than I thought, yada yada yada. It seems like I'd rather do anything else other than study! Restless!

HELPPP..

Word Trap!

Are you word trapped? I think I am. I'm beginning to feel the ill effects of going through army - brain vegetation. Let's make it sound nicer, neural vegetation! Ah, that's more bio - sounding.

The thing is, it came upon me, and impressed me deeply, about the lack of any effort whatsoever to further improve my, our, standard of English. Like the lack of muscles leads to "atrophy", quite evidently the lack of use of "proper" English led to a decline in the standard. Thus, I propose that we do the:

"Vocabulary List"!

In fact, I've just started today! I'm ashamed to not keep up with a lexicon that educated people of our age demands! I am, however, not ashamed to start today! Shall we? I aim to at least cover 5 words a week. www.dictionary.com is a good place to start. Of course, it would be better when our interest is sparked of a word which we read in some article that we know not of, then that word becomes listed! And, to ensure integration into our repertoire of words, we must attempt to phrase it in a sentence ourselves, much like that Chinese exercise we used to do last time.

Cheers for good English! Hurray!

Is HE? or is he not?

Something I just read, and it echoes what I'm mentioned a couple of posts much earlier.

Among the Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time… One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sins. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic… He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offences. This make sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history.

Yet (and this is the strange, significant thing) even His enemies, when they read the gospels, do not usually get the impression of silliness and conceit. Still less do unprejudiced readers. Christ says that He is "humble and meek" and we believe Him; not noticing that, if He were merely a man, humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings.

(Lunatic, Liar Or Lord)

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of thing Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

- C.S Lewis

Something else I came across that struck a chord with what was discussed earlier about the cure for cancer and was used as a analogy to the Gospel - The Good News of God's Salvation:

Paul owed the gospel to every member of the human race. At one point in his life Paul (Saul of Tarsus) felt an obligation to persecute every Christian; but now Paul felt an obligation to preach to every creature (Paul was probably familiar with Mark 16:15). What obligation or gospel duty do you have (see 2 Cor. 5:17-21)? Those who are recipients of God’s good news feel burdened and obligated to pass it on to others! If you were a medical researcher and you discovered a cure for cancer, would you keep it a secret? Life is short; death is sure; sin the cause, CHRIST THE CURE!

Interesting..

Cliffhangers

Well, not exactly, but these exams give me that feeling. Don't know what to expect, dread for it to come, yet yearn for it to finish fast.

Nevertheless, Last Saturday was Ree Yi's birthday at Aloha Chalet #5, the same one as Clarence's. I got a clock for her birthday. I'm so sorry though if she was affected by it. But anyhow, I received clocks before and, I will never be so superstitious to such a degree. When I first saw it, I thought, "hey lovely clock!" Then Daniel said "ya.." And I was thinking "Hmm..clock..good meaning! Time is precious, use your time wisely" along those lines.

Although Russell later said it's bad omen to give a clock for a birthday, eventually we had a unanimous decision to buy it. Besides, let's not be ridiculously superstitious because of a clock!

Anyhow, pictures of the party I've uploaded on facebook..here's the link : http://ntu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11383&l=67f1e&id=672308195

Oh...guess who I saw..en teng(?sp). He kinda like pretended he didn't see me. So I did likewise. Heard from Ree Yi's he's her primary school friend. Small world eh..

The birthday cake was..well..see it yourself in the pics. The most strawberry, cheesy-cake tasting cake i've ever seen. STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE FTW!

Oh and check out the SADAKO hottie, lol.

Anyway peace. I've just gotta take a retreat from blogging and facebooking for this exam period. Cheers!

THE PERIOD!

Just finished with a makeup quiz, one on one, face to face, with the man. I think prof Vincent is a funny hongkie, should have attempted to listen to him during lectures more, he's actually pretty good!

Anyway I felt relieved. This is round 2 of the quizzes, right smack after round 1 and ends 1 week before exams. I think it's just madness. Tomorrow I have maths, testing on Laplace transformation. Next week I've got physics and bio on thursday. On the 6th I've got energy balance quiz. Exam starts on the 19th and ends on the 30th.

I'm 26 days away from exams and 38 days away from holiday. WOW. Oh and I think I might be flying to HK on the 3rd or 4th can't remember...

I just wanna SCREAAAM!! I think I'm placed in the wrong course...it's too much to handle BAAH. It's like..LIFE SCIENCES...+ engineering maths. sweet..triple science combi! And I'm not the only one groaning..ugh. I..wan ..to...slack!

I miss my games. I miss gaming all day long. I wanna play many new games that came out, like HALO 3. Hellgate sounds like fun too. Oh and yea, Bioshock! Orange Box looks nice. Always wanted to play the PS2 range of Final Fantasy..especially the newest one. Days of lying down on the couch just playing PS during those school holidays back in secondary school. AHHH where did those days go too???

To top it up School of Biological Sciences suck! I have a lecture in an hour and the lecture notes are NOT UP...bleeeeeh..what's up with this elective man..

SCREEEAAAAAAAAAAAM

Jonathan-
stressed..

Fail!

Opps..failed my driving test.

1 immediate failure ..when returning to the test centre! w00t.
i was turning right and the stupid truck opposite me looks like it was tilted and turning left w/o signal so i thought he was turning..he went straight and so did the handbrake..sigh..

think i got an easy test road though..when i exited one stupid taxi stopped and i tagged behind after exiting right. he then moved off...and stop again!!! I was..stupid taxi. Didn't overtake cuz they normally move off fast and my instructor always tell me no need overtake cuz moving off..so when the TP told me to overtake i followed..but i forgot to signal..bleh

oh and i kan choing when starting off forgot to release handbrake..baah
nvm..can take again ^^ thought it was pretty fun though..just hope can take asap and not cut in the middle of semester again..right before exams somemore!@! Bah..tmr got physical chemistry test and i really dunno anything..i'm so screwed..

Choice: Is it yours to make?

I suddenly recalled something Dr.Tan said while I was showering earlier. He once said (something along these lines), "Medicine is a regression to Mankind's progression" or "Medicine is a regressive science to Mankind"

It sure was food for thought. The progress in medical frontiers translates into better health and thus people live longer - Life expectancy increases as a direct influence of medical advancements and education of course. Is this a bad thing?

Well according to Dr. Tan, whatever then happens to the 'evolution' of Mankind? Whatever happens to 'survival of the fittest'? With medicine, 'survival of the fittest' is obsolete, because people are born inferior physically or mentally will have due care and treatment that increasingly becomes better. People used to fall prey to infectious diseases such as smallpox, and all but the resilient ones or those with immunity will be subjected to 'natural selection'. As with non-human species, the weak die and are unable to reach the age of propagation and hence are selectively disadvantageous. And so according to Neo-Darwinism theory, these weaker ones will die out and the stronger ones will continue to propagate and, on top of these traits, some may hopefully 'mutate' such that these stronger ones become even more selective advantageous and get BETTER..and BETTER. Well that's how WE - Mankind, came about according to the evolutionists.

And so, because of medicine that took away the need for 'natural selection', Mankind can no longer evolve into a stronger specie(s). (Of course, Mankind has replaced 'natural selection' in another form as the wheels of society turns and turns)That's the whole gist of the argument, and I'll leave it at that for you to think.

Now something about what I was talking with Russell about.

The cure for Aids

The question posed was, what would you do if you found the cure for Aids?
Would you release it to save the whole, the millions that are infected and become one of the richest and most powerful man on earth while doing so?

Or would you not release such a potent drug or cure? Knowing full well that promiscuity, being on the rise, would scale to unprecedented heights? I just read a survey: 69% of Singapore youths have AIDS as the top sexual concern. What would happen if AIDS becomes an obsolete concern? Pause for a moment to think of the moral decay of society in the present situation and then...would you still release the cure?

If you decide to say, no, that what if, just what if, someone close to you is suffering from AIDS? Your closest family or friend perhaps? Would you still knowingly let that person die because you refuse to allow moral decay to seep into society? Or what about the poor children suffering from AIDS from reasons other than sexual promiscuity? Such as child prostitution, or perhaps a congenital infection carried down by pregnancy? Is it fair to let these people die? Who gave YOU the choice of LIFE and DEATH for these people? Would it be tantamount to be playing 'god'?
What then, if you say that these people are the exception and ought to live, who or what gave you the authority to judge over the lives of men, whether they be guilty of sexual promiscuity or otherwise? I believe that as a doctor or scientist, they very well should adhere to the Hippocratic Oath - essentially to save a life be it a criminal on death row or any citizen of the world.

It is a tough choice really...what would YOU do? The right thing? Which is? Giving to save lives regardless whether they are deserving of it or not? Or, not giving to curb the down-spiraling of society into decadence and lawlessness?

I would give. I think saving lives first is paramount. I cannot play god and judge lives, nor do I have a say to someone else's life and death. Most importantly to rid the curse of being ridden with AIDS, especially to someone innocent and unsuspecting, yet to be eternally cursed in this form, a highway , a point of no return, to a certain horrible death? Subsequently the effects of such an invention would be globe shaking. I'm certain of that outburst of immorality too. Nevertheless, the immediate problem as I see it is a life and death situation. Rather, life OR death.

So, what is your choice?

Facebook

@($*)@(%@$*@

Facebook is cool...

Add me on facebook @ angt0010@ntu.edu.sg

Ze photo album function seems good...so you guys might wanna check it out there..

need an invite tell me....and come join my slayer hee..
www.facebook.com

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Growing Up

What does growing up mean to you?

The day when you hit 21?

Freedom? Booze, RA movies, cars and babes? Sex?
Anything goes, but Whatever is cool.

Neither for me. 20 made me feel old. 21 was nothing special.
Well, at the very least i ROD from army and get to do things I love to do.

26 Sept 07 - Wednesday

Class outing:
The day spent at esplanade library was fantastic. What place to enjoy the scenery and get lost in literature and music and the arts. Simply the joy of life. Unfortunately, I was doing my lab report. Either way, the piano in the practice room was enticing..except that it costs money for rental for the hour.

Like many smart Singaporeans, me and dear went to enjoy a free performance, a string ensemble by dunno-whom. A typically chinese string orchestra, except that there were some non-chinese pieces played, which were pretty interesting. The chinese ones on the other hand though, some of them sounded pretty nostalgic, like playing Elysium or other chinese martial arts based games.

Dinner was a simple and quick affair by the bay. The esplanade open food court, or other wise known as makan-sutra foodcourt (i think) was pretty expensive, but oh well. As usual we talked cock even when we got no cock to talk...

The group later split up. Some went Zouk to Zonk themselves out, while the other few - Alex, Meilin Rende Dom Esther and me went to (supposedly settlers) starbucks to chill. Had a few good laughs really. Showed them my 'ahem' video. Spending the night travelling back to Boon Lay sucks; Needless to say we missed the last bus. We saw 2 girls looking at the 199 signboard and thought they too missed the bus, so we tried to call them to take cab. We assumed wrongly; made an ass of ourselves haha. We (actually Rende) tried to call out to the remaining girl as she was walking towards the road. Finally she turned around and we asked her if she was taking cab to NTU. She turned around and shook her head and laughed. Blab.

28 Sept 07 - Friday

Not exactly eventful for the earlier half of the day, except that Esther cannot remember, till now, the food we ate for lunch. Let me tell u la! It's nasi-briyani(sp?) and Muthabak...haha...silly you.

Anyway, friday evening at 8pm was the first time I attended Lighthouse Woodlands. My, it has a grand lobby and a huge interior. I thought it was a grand 5* hotel lobby haha. It was the once every 3 months "Holy Ghost Meeting". I get to see unusual manifestations, at least the last time I went. I shan't elaborate too much on this.

Nevertheless we ended at 10pm, met Russell (as usual he was late). His philosophy: Other people will surely be late so I(as in him) dun need to be early. Anyway we took a cab down to ECP. At 10pm? Yup.

We had an organised overnight cycling for the cell group to meet at 11pm at the previously known costa sands resort. I'll try to recall who went: Daniel, Russell, Lisa, Lie Cong, Eugene, Flannery, Zhi Wei, Esther and me.

I'll just bring up the general route we took (photos below and more to be added):
From costa sands we wrote to the other end of ECP. Near the end of ECP, Zhi Wei was taking photos on his bike, and i thought, Wow cool idea. Esther was saying "wa, so skilled" and the next thing he braked and fell. His camera broke..ouch..599bucks(he later bought the same model at Mustafa) Quite a shocking start... anyway we headed down to fort road>>
Anyway, shopping at this hour with very little people to contend with gives me a certain...thrill and excitement. Makes you feel like buying everything if you stay there for long, or so Eugene says. And so we did...stayed there for a tad too long...not too sure but it probably was an hour or so.

And thus our troubles began..
The trip back was fraught with danger. It was the road leading up all the way to Serangoon, and the road was treacherous to the inexperienced. The pavement was narrow and littered with lamp posts and dust bins that threatened to knock over the unsuspecting rider. Knocking into them is okay, but there is that danger of falling on the wrong side of the road. That person is Esther. She was so wobbly with every obstacle I got really worried, and cycling behind her initially was amusing because she kept banging to the sides of things, such as the construction fence and poles and such. But at this point of time the cars were threateningly close and fast, and danger was real.

There was a junction where things got really bad. There was literally no pedestrian crossings. The first we took we had to cut across the road when the lights turned red. Bear in mind that as we were cyclists we need to take turn to take off. This particular crossing Esther tried to cross and stumbled, and it turned green when she was halfway across it. The cars and buses, which were now increasing in numbers, were ever speeding. So it was a moment of panic and chaos and all of us, who were waiting on the other side of the road shouted: Off the road!! Go up! Up! As cars and some buses zoomed so close to us, I did feel my rear tires so close to being run down. The next crossing also had no pedestrian crossings, we crossed only when our side turned green and had to take turns as the ones at the back cannot cross in time. I was particularly worried about Esther as she has problems starting off, almost every time wobbling and sometimes stumbling. Somehow, we got across that huge circle junction eventually...I think it's Macpherson something?

Anyway, dawn was breaking and the number of buses and cars were speedily increasing as we made our way east towards Ubi. What a mad decision. An experienced cyclist like me know how treacherous that road was. The busy hussling of cars and buses, as well as undulating pavements, if there were any present was difficult for the less experienced cyclists. Before we reached Ubi however, the road along Serangoon was bad enough. The lamp posts made the pavement to cycle very narrow, even I had difficulty and fear of knocking into the lamp post and falling unto the roadside into on coming cars. Esther had a much worse time than I had. Everytime she stumbled she cannot catch her balance as her bike was too tall for her. That whole stretch made me worry excessively as to how to handle Ubi...ohh treacherous Ubi. We resorted to walking at certain stretches of the road due to the stupid lamp posts.

Anyway when we finally reached the Paya Lebar side of Ubi, there was a close shave for Esther. She braked at the junction and somehow lost her balance and nearly, just nearly, toppled unto an on-coming bus. It was insanely scary and I could scarcely breathe. That particular junction was excessively tricky to cross, when you keep stumbling each time you start off. The other side of the road we got to had no pavements, and the road was narrow and the buses shave pass your bike if you would cycle too close. A little while later I realised Esther was shaking involuntarily and very stressed. I would think so too...so many life threatening situations and a long way more to go back to ECP.

Eventually, we made our way to Eunos. There was some incident at yet another crossing that Esther broke down in tears from the overwhelming stress and fear...nevertheless we pressed on. Wei ling met an accident. She bumped into a lady and got the lady's leg scratched. Poor lady. Anyway, we eventually parted ways after crossing a junction as the people in front decided to head towards the main Ubi connecting to parkway and I thought...CRAZY!! No way am I going that way...so I brought Russell(he too agrees) and Esther and went our way through Tanjong Katong, through Parkway, and eventually reaching the underpass and its safety. The sight of Parkway was unprecedented in the way it gave the assurance of safety. We finally made it. Amazingly alive and unscathed safe for a few scratches from the bumps that Esther had. Amazingly she didn't fall unto any oncoming traffic which I feared so much throughout the later half of the journey I was literally praying under my breathe all the time. She broke down...but I too was very stressed... Life and Death was very real...and suddenly the human being seems very frail and vulnerable.

And so, I thank God for bringing us through safely...all 9 of us. It was, undoubtly, an enjoyable and memorable event after all. But I would, the next time round, consider very carefully safety as the top priority now.

Anyway, Russell and I, thought to be crazy, ran from costa sands (we finished everything at 8 plus in the morning) to Mac. After 9 hours of cycling we think we could be Iron pussies. It was a good run though and I felt my body was strange in that nearing Mac I was neither tired nor breathless as I normally would. But that was enough anyhow.

We rested, played sandcastle:

Yep that's Daniel..dunno what he doing.

Went subway and had a very hearty meal (and drink). Yummy. Makes me crave for some subway now..NOW!!

I taught the group how to play this ice-breaker game I played during Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) FOC. We had a good, extremely good laughing session. I swear, Daniel is extremely amusing in this game. I'll teach the game the next time we(whomever 'we' is) get to meet.

Anyway, we ended around 12 plus and simply had to head home. On the way out of ECP we did this:



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Other photos:

First pitstop at esplanade @ 12+...look at the faces!

Hmm sugar cane rox!

The hungry men!!

He's got that "WHAT U WANT?" look...3+ 4 at Chinatown Chok shop..

Blogging from the lecture hall

Zzzzzzz....Zzzzzzz...what is he talking??ZZZzzz...zzz...
*mumble mumble...*...*grumble grumble*..*and the...* *DNA..we have to...make sure..*

Sigh! Stop wasting our time listening to you mumble to yourself!!!..Ba..
Blogging now is a better utilization of time imo..
but i got nothing to blog about..life's been routinely routine..the only thing that keeps me going is my dear ;p

anyway..i'm feeling so super deprived of a piano..how i wish i can get an advanced xmas present haha..>< I feel I should volunteer to play during cell..and maybe during campus crusade's crossroads and stuff.. Hmm..grumble grumble..

Alright; Night time blogging. Something I wanna share for all believers. Was reading about fellowship and community. And these verses teach us how we should act:
1 John 3:16 - 23
16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us:and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
20 For if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then we have we confidence toward God.
22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love on another, as he gave us commandment.

Remember, we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren. Is anything too much too ask then?

John.13
[34] A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
[35] By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

The word love occurs 261 times in the NT of KJV (note love in cor13 appears as charity, apparently the greek word used for charity is different). Anyway, the main emphasis of the entire law is summed up:

Matt22
[36] Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
[37] Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
[38] This is the first and great commandment.
[39] And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
[40] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Alright...digest on it..I gotta so sleep lest I miss lecture in the morning again

Independent Living

Heey All! Long time no see..eh..blog.

Wednesday and Fridays are my only 'free' days aside from weekends.. Just ponned my genetics lecture cause it's too easy. Nah, actually I went for a Meet-the-Mentor session: what for?
The freebie!
Ooosh! No T-shirt or stupid mugs. 1GB thumbdrive: just when I wanted to buy one! Wow. And it thought it was some wulu(unknown) brand...it's SanDisk..better than nothing eh? Haha. So cheapo. They weren't strict about giving out... If you were here you probably would have gotten one too! Unless you have integrity ;x

Anyway, so I ponned lecture and went back to hall. Bought some hangers and gonna attempt to try my first laundry done by myself. MYSELF! Woo. Me. Laundry. First Time. CooL.
BRB. I'll go check on my clothes...

Check it out...the laundry room!

My Dirty Laundry! Eeee.looks like a potty hole ><

Anyway, u guys at NTU..we should meet up soon :P
Alright peace..hope to see u guys soon


I almost forgot, here's a pic of my block! The yellow one, third window from the left. hehe. Level one that is...


Jonathan

14-65-1339

Puzzled at the title? See these pictures:



That makes me the resident of Hall 14: Block 65, unit 1339. DANG. I missed 1337(LEET) by +2!
Here I am, first day, 1 lecture from 930 - 1030, then I got nothing to do, so I go coop up in my room to slack. Well actually - I just finished my first lecture revision - sorta. Caught some animes, and napped a little. So cho4 bo2 (hokkien for not-doing-anything). Can't go socializing with girls if not my dear will kill me haha.

Anyway I realised that I'm quite the loner in the lecture haha. Only know 2 people - Matthias and Steven. Should have gone to CBE school camp ...sigh. Well I managed to assess the mugger/geek level of the cohort, I must say I'm impressed. A pretty high mugger face score of 8/10, geek level of 7/10 (-1 cause I'm inside!). Well in any case I'm off for a good start. Not too good actually I didn't manage to get my lecture notes in time. Sigh now I wish Elsa or Shaun's here to photocopy for the whole CG..or any rep for that matter..heh.

Well, good luck to all starting school..and erm. You're all welcomed to visit us ;p As in, Ren De and me are roomies if ya didn't know.

Cheers

Guns & Nuts

The Guns.

29th Jul:

JON:Sunday! It's a special day. Why?? I woke up at 7.30am!! Ain't that amazing? Attended church service at 9am for the first time in years with my dear. It was a special Sunday treat to a skit performed by Dramalight titled: Probably Heaven, Maybe Hell. More on that next time.

We then went to whitesands to meet up with Daniel and gang to have lunch. Had a funny encounter with the counter-guy who couldn't speak English and thought that the discount card Hsiu Huan presented to him was a credit card and he was mumbling something that it was ok for me to pay for her lunch. "first time ah? nvm la..pay for her la! ish ok!" Then I said "eeh no..discount card..did u count the discount?" He said "nvm la! u pay la..no credit card". Me and dear just stared blankly at each other and sighed. Oh well. Good lunch anyway.

HH: Next, its the highlight of the day - we headed down to the Discovery Center for the Crossfire PAINTBALL!!! its our first time paintballing. mentally prepared to get all bruised and dirty since chinlin said it'll hurt. so i brought my most garang long sleeve and pants, ready to get dirty!

so we went in to report and were brought to the area for briefing - my dear's turn:

JON: Well, we were divided into 2 groups: 5 V 5! To be honest, when the instructor first pulled the trigger on the M4 Carbine I was startled- cuz I thought it was blank. (Hey, dun think I was the only one...) In any case, we're all hyped up and ready to go - with only the stupid indemnity form in our way to play. After going through the motion, we had ourselves dressed up in a stinky and wet helmet and a vest. 4 M4 Carbines that shoots 10metres and 1 T85? that shoots 20metres - and hurts MORE. My team consists Hsiu Huan, Daniel, Alex, Zhi Rong, and...ME. The other team had Darren, Rende, Chin Lin, Mei Lin and Shaun.
Oh. It was an urban assault layout - FIBUA! The two homebases were the castle on one end and the fortress on the other: the middle being a little maze with low walls and the referee's homeground.
The first game was silly: shooting at each other's balloons placed at the homebase. The terrain was obviously more strategic and advantageous to the team from the castle! Hmmp. And it was a waste of bullets too! 20 rounds of 2 magazines ;(
The second game was a dash and grab the flag game. CTF ftw! Then run back to the homebase without getting shot.
Needless to say, the 3rd game was THE GAME. Elimination round, A.K.A, kill all you can kill buffet. Oh, I forgot to mention that every game has 2 turns, each time swapping the team's base.
The first round of elimination was really fun; I managed to run to the back whereas my team went forward. The opponents (the other team) didn't see me from behind and I was taking potshots at Darren and Rende - knocking Rende out early in the game! Wee - Backstab successful. Little did I know that my team was getting trashed on the frontlines - sad. I managed to hit Darren and that left me with 3 V 1..ooo..I felt like I was Rambo..prowling and squatting and running here and there to siam the paintballs. Alas, all heroes die. Me? I got shot in the chest by Mei Lin.
The second round was a little sad; I realised I expended all my ammunition and had to sit out for this round. Nevertheless, let my dear continue abt round 2...

HH: So...i was left with quite alot of ammunition in the rifle and passed the extra magazine for Zhi Rong. Round 2 was like I'm finally playing the game! haha. ready to go try give some good shots... usually i was hiding but this time i stood up more to shoot. But sadly, somehow while trying to aim at Shaun, I got shot in the face...the purple paint covered the entire of the left eye region on my visor. The impact was rather great and I felt my head flung backwards a little. haha. Great shot Meilin! ;p and so I died...reluctantly leaving the game and leaving my rifle with Daniel...who won the game!!!
And looking at the time, we didnt really have the full 2hrs to play...sadly, but its fun and pretty memorable (and very tiring - my and dear's legs are still aching till today)
Next, after showering (some pple didnt shower...haha), we got in the car to head down for some Hagen Daz ice cream somewhere. Part of our plan was to go for Jon's sister penthouse house-warming, but on the way, his sister called and said the family was leaving already, and so we joined the class for the chocolate fondue! :) - dear! your turn!!


JON: Dinner was suggested by ME! Pepperlunch- or..PepperDINNER. Only Alex, Daniel and Meilin were surviving. Rende and the rest all pang-sehed us. Well, Alex and Daniel and Meilin were virgins to pepperlunch: first time! It was great though: check out the pics:

Before:

After:

Anyone feels hungry??

Well, what happened after that was that we had the virgins tried Yummi Yogurt too! First time! Hehehe. Great stuff. Miss.Sweet Tooth Esther had to get herself some soft ice cream from PepperDINNER; caramel flavoured was the way to go. Green Tea, and Sesame? EEww.
We then proceeded to the rooftop terrace at Esplanade where many couples go to to do kinky stuff - at least that's what we saw near the bushes in the dark! Anyway, what happened there was exclusive to 1803 people who were there. Kekeke.
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The Nuts

31st Jul Tues:

HH: My first time queueing for donuts! I arrived at Raffles City before dear, and thankfully at this early hour (arounf 11am), the donuts queue was still considered short; only abt 10 people before me. I bought some Subway cookies and started queueing, and dear came shortly.
He brought the rest of the chocolates which I got for him on his baptism (Sat, 28 Jul). We finished off the remaining few pieces...YUMMY!!! then we ate the cookies too while waiting...
Soon the donut shop opened. We didnt know which flavours to get...until when we reached the counter and looked at the menu. They look cute and mouth-watering. We got a dozen of assorted flavours - 2 spicy cheese, 2 double chocolate, 2 apple cinemon, 2 hazelnut chocolate, 1 Mocha lotus, 1 almond chocolate, 1 strawberry white chocolate and 1 orange white chocolate.


Excited and feeling a sense of achievement from getting the donuts, we were eager to try one of them there - the spicy cheese. Tastes like pizza. Not bad.
So off we went to take a bus down to Harbour Front Vivocity. We are ready for a donuts picnic at Sentosa beach ;p

(dear is still resting as I type now... Mr. Piggy. haha)

We took the monorail from Vivo in to Sentosa Beach. The weather was fantastic. A little sunny but not hot, most importantly, it was quite windy...
We found a nice spot under one of the mushroom-looking pavilion. The sand, sea and everything feels so Hawaii; totally not like its part of Singapore. I felt like I'm actually on a honeymoon... haha...



We spent the whole afternoon at the beach, just lazing under the shade and enjoying the nature. They was a group of youths, like our age, playing some games like FOC camp. Some of them look familiar to us, but couldn't recall who were they...

And we ate more donuts... Hehe

that was the hazelnut chocolate one. yummy ;p

Somehow the day passed by rather fast... I had a chance to sun-tan a little, while dear played his psp. We forgot to buy some drinks to bring over, so dear was kind of thirsty the whole day... Thankfully I had a small bottle of water so it was like water rationing on Sentosa island. Those of you who wants to spend an afternoon on the beach, do remember to bring along more water and food, unless you want to spend extra to buy there.
By evening, we decided to leave and head back Vivo for dinner. Last few nice shots of the beach...

Beautiful ending...


(and Mr. Piggy woke up)

JON: Oink!

to be continued.....

No Holding Back: are you curious?

Academic year 07 is starting soon; busy busy busy. Yet one thing I feel so happy about: The joy of the Lord is abundant! Somehow I can't keep that all to myself.

Therefore, no holding back! Give glory(rightful credit) to whom it deserves. I suppose there are misconceptions about Christians - Christianity, but our understanding does not shape who God is, but what we THINK God is; right? I guess most of my friends know Christians aren't stuck-up closet Christians who's part of this elite exclusive community (although there are people who perceive that misconception). Some may have encountered persistent friends, or people tracting on the streets following you around. In short, bad experience. I beg your pardon, because I'm convinced that they are not doing it out of any ill-will, but rather with less-than-desired tact. Nonetheless, consider their hearts; why do they even bother? It's the unspeakable joy, the abundant blessings, the purposeful life, the truth that sets your heart free. They want to share all that goodness with you; and someday I hope to do the same too.

Life is meaningless without God. Life may be successful for some of us, as success that is defined by man, namely, in material possessions and corporate achievements. But in all that struggle to slog and achieve something for ourselves, all that money and wealth to amass, have we forgotten, that we all live to die? At our age, I'm sure we have the maturity to understand, that all our bodies will frail with age. Have you honestly NOT thought about death? How shall we take all the earthly possessions with us when we die? For they are things that will rust and rot; earthly material possessions. Life is fleeting and short in the light of eternity. You may not believe in life after death; but nevertheless the Bible teaches us that there are two eternal destinations (I'm sure we all hear this way too much, but:) Heaven, and Hell. If you do not believe in the "afterlife", consider this: Don't you think that life is unfair if we are just made to live and die and then POOF! Our existence and memories just disappear into nothingness; you wouldn't even remember existing; you become nothing. Somehow we are all hired-wired in our souls that we think that would be unfair: life had to be more than just dying and poof!, because that is exactly what it is. There is more to life that this one on earth. Stop and think. Isn't it wise to stop for a minute to consider the possibilities - what is a minute compared to eternity: in the wrong place?

I know of people that I have talked to about religion; aside from those of a certain faith already, that fall under the category of agnosticism. It basically means that they believe in the existence of a supernatural power or being; something greater than we are, yet cannot or refuse to pinpoint which God is it, out of the many different religions. I believe that many people fall under this category, especially those that profess to be "free-thinkers". Again, our beings are hardwired to acknowledge a supreme being or power greater than ours. There are many religions, and in the rage now are new-age theology, that teaches that we ourselves are god or can become god. Or that god is some unseen force impersonal force driving the universe that all of us can be part of. It is derived from human pride. Does anyone honestly think that man can become god, ie, greater than god?

I know of a friend who claims of such a stand as an agnostic: don't want to point a finger on which god is true or which is false.He said Christians are arrogant and absurd to claim that theirs is the only true God. At that time I didn't really answer his question. But now I'd like to pose a challenge. The Bible is the final authority of what Christians say and do, and claim. Why we claim that Christ is the only God, it's because the Bible says so. The Bible is known as one of Mankind's greatest literary works(if not the greatest) of archaic times. There are far superior evidences in numbers, the manuscripts(copies) of the Bible; 5500++, the earliest completed ones dating around AD 325/AD 350: 250years from the time of composition. Seems very long, but as compared to other literary works of that time: The earliest copy of Caesar's The Gallic Wars dates 1000yrs after it was written. First complete copy of Odyssey by Homer; 2200 years after it was written. The point being; apart from the great numbers of manuscripts of literary works as compared to the other works of that time( 5500 as compared to say; 3 of Catullus - earliest being 1600 after he wrote, 8 of Herodotus- earliest copy 1300yrs); The Bible is far more reliable based on archaeological records. Yet, the other classical works people hardly ever dare question it's authenticity; why so the Bible?

Hope that didn't throw you off. Now consider the next thing. Try an experiment: bring 10 people from the same locale, having similar backgrounds, speaking the same language, same culture. Separate them, then ask them to write their opinion on just one controversial subject such as the meaning of life. The results, conclusions are more than likely different, or if some, contrary to each other. Right?
The Bible has about 40 different authors, written over 1500 years, of different background, culture, education, languages, and many hundreds of subjects not just one. Yet, the Bible is united. 66 books in ONE book. Yet the books do not contradict each other in the subject matters. This speaks volumes to me; I'm not sure about you. It necessitates a divine author; a hidden hand behind the entire book. - Taken from a book titled Answers&Reasons(Esther's). It nonetheless strikes a chord in me, and makes absolute sense, so why not?

In short, dare to try validate or disprove the Bible. I assure you, there's no going back if you try. In fact, I hoped you skipped reading the above 2 chunky paragraphs but rather decide by your own will to desire to know the truth; then listen and try to validate. Some people say religion is for the weak; on the contrary, to be a Christian takes much courage and faith to declare we are indeed unworthy and are sinners. People don't even try to refute the fact that Jesus Christ existed (and He exists) 2000years ago. It is an irrevocable historical fact that even non-believers did not try, even Islam acknowledged that Jesus existed 2000 years ago (it's in the Quran). History resounds of His existance; take a look at the calender: BC, AD.
And Jesus said:"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6. Man is naturally skeptical as anyone can claim to be god. But Jesus, in all the miraculous works He did substantiated all His words by His actions.
So if today you are feeling lost, hopeless, and that life is meaningless, why don't you consider Jesus and the words He spoke?

You all know what Heaven and Hell is. If death is inevitable, so are the two places. Surely it is wise to stop and reflect; "What if this Man, Jesus, was speaking the truth?" Why don't you consider the truth? Christianity is not about foolishness, it's neither absurdly forgoing logical thinking. God wants us to rationalize with Him; which means; to believe and to have faith -not blindly- but out of understanding and out of truth. So if one fine day you feel so tired of life and have not known Christ, why don't you try drawing closer to Him to know the truth? Try Him out and you will not be disappointed. I can assure you that. Ask a friend to bring you to church; try it out for a few weeks. Ask more. I'm certain that you will come to understand the simple Truth. Yup. God shows Himself to earnestly seek Him.

Yep. That's for updates. I can't hide it, can I?

Update! Or..Not?

Well as request..UPDATE!
but this is what I updated..used the classic layout:
http://crazyblue.freehostia.com

Can't blame me right..I'm an anime freak.

Anime Listing FTW!

Alright. I have a site of my own! It's my anime listing and...(drum roll@#@#@#@#..)
http://crazyblue.freehostia.com/

Do check it out..it's in the midst of building as most of my animes are not with me. Tell me what you think! hehe.

Upcoming Baptism

Starting this year I've had the conviction that I should go back to God. My mind and soul is weary from turning away, running away - I felt undeserving of God's grace and forgiveness. Yet I did, starting with going back to church. Spending time to go for worship lessons, and making an effort to study the Word - need more discipline on this though. Anyhow, it has been a blessed year thus far, with good things coming my way. Unknowingly, this verse came so true:

Matt 6:33
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Anyhow, out of obedience and of readiness to live my life for Christ, I decided that I would get baptized this year. Also, having gone through (am going through) the new believers class in Lighthouse, I have been enlightened in certain areas, such as the Holy Spirit, QT n stuff. Even though I am not exactly a new Christian, I wanted to be as a child, to be humble to start afresh and learn vital, important things new Christians ought to know and do that I might have missed.

It will be on the 28th Jul, at Lighthouse Tamp. Not sure the time though, around afternoon I think. All's invited even if I didn't ask you. yups..details to be confirmed later.

How well do you know me?

Click on the following link to find out!

CLICK HERE

Have fun and do tag my blog when you've done it!

Life is Short

Today, I received depressing news that Andrew Tham had an accident. I've got bits and pieces of information: He had a road accident while driving bike. The other vehicle is a taxi supposedly. He is in Changi General Hospital, Ward 33 - ICU. He had just undergone emergency trauma surgery and currently in coma, told to be stable by friends, I'm not sure. Will be visiting him tomorrow evening, hopefully he gets well. Daniel painted the usual description, "head swollen, full of tubes." Do pray for him guys.

Andrew was one of my best friends in primary school, but gradually distanced over the years. I think he was in 4C in St.Hildas? Oh, that makes him 21 this year...what an unfortunate thing to happen. Life is full of the unexpected, and this incident reminded me that us humans are not superman, and definitely not invincible, it's so easy to lose one's life. Touch wood on that though.

I bet his loved ones, especially his parents are worried sick for him. He's the only child, if I recall that right. So guys if you know him you might wanna pop by to see him, and erm, even if you don't do say a quiet, even if quiet - prayer for him.

Alright Peace-
Jonathan

PLAY! A Video Game Symphony.

PLAY! A Video Game Symphony. Here from 15 - 16 Jun 2007, my and my friends got lucky at got 3 ticket for box seats, seating directly above the orchestra - Singapore Festival Orchestra, and the choir - NUS choir, on the 2nd level. For fear of copyright laws I shall not link any pictures, but i will give the webbies. (PLAY! website as linked above) Singapore Arts Festival 2007. (Ignore that, it's all over youtube! Check out the links below for links to youtube, i'll try my best)

I enjoyed the following programme thoroughly, very very nostalgic for a 2nd generation gamer such as I:

Play! A Video Game Symphony! (Prelude)
Super Mario Bros(Suite)
Shenmue and Shenmue II (Sedge Tree)
Lost Odyssey (Main Theme)
Sonic the Hedgehog (Suite)
Metal Gear Solid(Main Theme)
Blue Dragon (Main Theme)
Kingdom Hearts (Suite)
Final Fantasy VI (Dancing Mad)
------------------------------
Daytona USA (Piano, Takenobu Mistuyoshi* Guest Appearance)

Elder Scrolls IV:Oblivion (Suite)
Chrono Trigger and Cross (Suite)
World of Warcraft (Suite)
HALO (Suite)
Castlevania (Suite)
The Legend of Zelda (Suite)
Final Fantasy VII (One-Winged Angel)@

*ENCORE
SHINOBI!!!!! (Suite)

*Suite means a combination of pieces, much like a medley.
*ENCORE means...check the dictionary.

A couple of Youtube vid's I'd like to highlight:

This one cause the music simply rocks:


This one cause it's MARIO! Like Amos said, every one MUST have at least tried Mario!


This one cause it's so simply CLASSIC! ZELDA!:


*These links are NOT the ones heard today, but are somewhat representative. Nothing beats being there of course. Do check these out, they ROCK!*


Well to sum it up, WORTH EVERY PENNY! Tickets were snapped up pretty fast in May, we got lucky! Like as mentioned, it is very nostalgic for older generation gamers, while the newer gamers were not left out either. Notwithstanding, non-gamers I'm positive enjoyed the experience thoroughly - it's energetic and dramatic and quite unlike classical symphonies which probably would drive ME to sleep. The big difference? They play CGs and gameplay videos while the orchestra plays, in-tune and matching to the scene. The opening Mario Brothers is sure classic! I saw Mario throwing turtle shells at the enemy and the flower eating fire spitting Mario! As well as 3D N64 new-generation Mario. What a thrill!

And there's SONIC! That was one of my childhood games around 4,5 onwards when I got my SEGA~ HOW VERY NOSTALGIC!! AHHHH PULLS HAIR!! and ZELDA! AHHH!! They screened the OLDEST ZELDA I EVER(actually, never!) seen in my LIFE! Way before "Link from the Past - SNES" The later generation games were equally stunning. MSG was full of suspense, Lost Odyssey was new to me but the music was fabulous, as with the rest. W.O.W was just so reflective of what I have played from 2005-2007, except that I have totally ignored the music. And HALO! Of all things HALO 2! I mean, I just started the game and they were showing animations/CGs about the ending. Thank Goodness I caught on quick and shielded my eyes from the spoilers - but twas great anyway!

Then comes the finale. One-Winged Angel from FF7 by Nobuo Uematsu. I'm certain many of us have heard it before. But guess what? It is ABSOLUTELY STUNNING when you hear a live performance from an orchestra. There's so much energy, so much anticipation and suspense, and so climatic, just from hearing and FEELING the music. YES! FEELING the music! Totally different from hearing from an mp3. And *APPLAUSE*!!*APPLAUSE*!!*APPLAUSE*!!*APPLAUSE*!!*APPLAUSE*!!*APPLAUSE*!!*APPLAUSE*!!

Alright. ENCORE! WEEE.

And Mr Arnie Roth - Music Director and Conductor, came back stage and mumbled something i yet cannot catch, again. And, they actually played SHINOBI!
Anyone who owns a SEGA around 1990s and has played SHINOBI will tell you it is absolutely classic. A great game. And was another one of my favourite childhood games then got stuck in my memory and got fuzzy until I recently tried it again on PSP. NOSTALGIA TO THE MAX! What a great day. Honest. Worth every penny, and I'm sorry to those who did not manage to get a ticket - so far, Matthew - , and also to everyone else who regretted not going, hope to see them come by again for their World Tour 2008! I'm definitely going again.

Final Fantasy Alert!

For those who's played or heard about Final Fantasy, or of Zelda, or are just plain interested in a very hilarious RPG parody, check this out! This is the 1st of four parts be sure to check the rest out!




Anyway, went to the Blood Bank at HSA for........blood donation, duh.
Right after doing the blood test (for iron density), a lady approached me and asked if i would like to donate my platelets and if I have the time (Pheresis donation). The whole process takes about 7 cycles which is a total of about 70-75mins on average. I was like, sure, why not? Oh I went with someone, and it's up to you to guess who was it! That someone was under 51, so, I was the only one suitable for pheresis donation. And they need good veins due to the long process - the veins might collapse. And so, I went, and the other person to the regular blood donation.

Oh, have you seen the pheresis room? It's so posh! Every bed has a TV with pretty up to date movies to watch, cool. (free movies if u wish, lol.) Anyway, every cycle consists blood draw and blood return, each cycle about 10mins. It is quite painless really, like regular blood donation, and you can opt in if you are >51kg and have suitable veins and have 1hr+ free time! Bet you didn't know. There is a dire need of platelets due to cancer and the recent high cases of dengue. Above all, you can donate every month as opposed to every 3 months for regular blood donation. Anyway, it is painless, except then when the blood returns, it is the strangest feeling yet. Just imagine feeling something flowing back into your veins. Yup. And after a few cycles I started to shiver every time the blood returns, it's probably due to loss of heat, I just start shivering uncontrollably, throughout my whole body. And the last few cycles were taxing on my veins, nonetheless I am MAN ENOUGH to finish it! AND I WILL BE BACK!

Anyway, that someone felt faint during my 4th or 5th cycle, and had the nurses attend to that someone. Lips having turned totally pale so suddenly it was scary. To think the doctor diagnosed someone with low blood pressure around 90+ and allowed someone to donate. Sigh. Anyway, someone collapsed on the MRT home. My goodness it was so sudden it was really scary. One moment someone looks alright, the next moment the lips turned pale, the eyes closed and someone just slid into unconsciousness for a few seconds. Really scary. Anyway, can someone please take care of someone?

Right right.

OK! Yesterday I went down with Hsiu Huan to Paya Lebar Airbase for the NATIONAL RUNWAY CYCLING 2007. (We skated actually). The night before, Jude, and then Ren De messaged me and said they were feeling not so well, so, only we two ended up going. Actually, I was slightly flu-ey too, but decided to go ahead anyway, since I've never NEVER seen the insides of an airbase before.

My goodness it is really huge! (I have to watch what i post here lest i be dragged out of my house and court martialled). Cycling, skating on the runway is perhaps the biggest, longest piece of smooth flat land you can find in Singapore. It makes me wonder how can someone fall twice on that! Hehe. I took some photos but I better not post it up (apparently it is ok to take photos since everyone was doing that), so if you wanna see some, let me know :P. Hmm just realised it's nothing big really, photos are available on safra webby anyway. Anyway, we kinda like completed the 6km family route and someone decided it was too tiring, while I was just getting warmed up, hehe. Nonetheless, it was a memorable event, being able to view the insides of the airbase, and actually skating on them. And ohh, my fingers don't hurt anymore- yes, I fell - , someone must be feeling guilty right now. HAHA.

Oh yes, don't be a hypocrite, a liar, or a backstabber, I wouldn't want to be your friend.
Alright peace.

Got my K800I, BROWN!

My goodness! BROWN! Was brown ever my in my favourite colour list? NO!
But the more I look at it the nicer it looks. Too many people has black anyway.
Anyway, time to go mess around with my new phone. Laters.

A little update on my life.
Still slacking, looking forward to school now. Hoping to be doing something more meaningful than just slacking around. I'm available if you want to go out for a meeting or anything, or even if you need my help, feel free to ask. Life's great when there's a direction, a purpose. Now I have TWO! Thank God for showing me some light. Life is great when you know Christ is in control.

Cheers!

I told you, boring Blog!

Due to popular demand, I'm back to make an update to a boring blog!

Past few weeks were really enjoyable, a lot of stuff, a lot of events, but none of blog material. These were things to keep within my own heart - fond memories, so I'm sorry people! Not all things are meant to be shared after all!

I finally decided on a phone to get...the K800I. And no, I'm not getting that horrid bronze coloured one that Dominic has (I have decent tastes). I wished they had white and orange though, I thought those phones look nice on the eye. Hope to get it soon!

Well than, 20th May just passed. Guess who's 21st? Hsiu Huan's! We're invited to her church at Costa Sands - Ren De, Jene? Jeen? Jean? Geen? Gene?, and me of course. My goodness. Waking up at 8.45am is a torture, but well, it's for someone's 21st, even Ren De could wake up, why not me? Hah. Went to capitol building to eat some at some Taiwanese Chicken Rice stall...'famous' for it's pork rice? How strange. Wasn't used to the pork though, too thin and crispy, felt like eating into crispy fats to me. Ugh. Exotic taste.

After that we headed down to Marina Square, and decided to do some bowling. Mind you, it was a long time since I last bowled. Funny, place was unusually empty for a Sunday. Anyway, there we were, Jean/Gean/Gene/GEE, Ren De, Esther(Ester!), me, 4 noobs playing. Guess who got 3 strikes in the first game? Esther! Who said she doesn't know how to bowl. Ya right. The highlight of the bowling? On the last game on Ren De's turn (we both decided to swing high, and use FORCE!), he swung his arms back. Ohh, the moment of truth! The ball SLIPPED RIGHT OUT of his fingers - yeah, they were wet he said ...i would have guessed so anyway - and flew back. I was anticipating that to happen just when he swung his arms and kind of withdrew myself even before the ball flew. It kind of like...fly a little, landed, and landed and rolled to the group of people playing on our left. I bet they were equally stunned as Ren De, rolling and laughing there and he commented he couldn't feel his fingers touching anything and dared not look back lol.

Went for pool after that. Great pool really. Me was on form~ And the girls did great, learning really fast, especially for Jean/Jeen/Gean...Gene? So much for physics student hah? Ren De had fun teaching her I bet? Anyway, rushed off for church after that. We're kind of late, but better than nothing. Good sermon, was about hope. Hope in Christ. I'll touch on that next time. Anyway, Esther came with me - my sister and friend was there. Hmm, Esther did something ewww in church...see if u can guess what it is! Hah.

Lost My Phone

I think I'm losing things more and more these days. First I dropped my sister's giro-enabled EZ-Link card, which caused some problems for my sister cause she had to cancel all her cards cause we/they/she had no idea which one. Then i recently heard there were more problems regarding that cause there was some deduction made. No idea what's going on really.

Today, went blading with Daniel's friend and his friend's friends. And Alex told me he was dragged along to make up for the numbers, haha. Took 854 from my house down to Bedok. Very absent-minded, cause I left my house without my socks and my cones, how to skate?! Hai. Stupid me had to walk back and because of that was kind of late. Ya..so..854..and sleepy me sleep all the way till somewhere near Kambangan(sp?), then I msg'ed Daniel that I will be there in 5. Then sleepy me actually dozed off. When I actually got off the seat, I dropped my wallet cause I realised I wasn't holding it nor was it kept. Very naturally, I picked it, and alighted. When I tried to call Daniel (I was kind of late), AHA! I realised my phone was missing.

I jay-walked (ya gaywalk..cause we aren't supposed to cross the bus interchange right?) and went to look for the bus. Surprisingly the backdoor was open (it was one of those ultra-long TIBS buses) and went to search the area, but to no avail. Thought the driver picked it up. Went to the information counter. I found it very strange that the SBS guy had to direct me to a TIBS counter which HAD NO ONE! Very disturbing because I assumed they had a flow control somewhere for sure, someone that could help me proper. In the end I asked for the phone to call my HP....it rings! But no one picked up. This time I decided to leave it ringing while I go look for the bus. AHA! CRAP! Bus left! Time seems to work against me. I went back and he suggested I call a certain number, and dialed and passed the phone to me. Now this irks me, because the guy on the line can neither speak clearly or audibly. This particular TIBS guy directed me to YET another number! (I heard something about servicing center and what not) And I couldn't remember what was the model number, and that the bus just left the interchange how could it be at some 'service-center'? Yup. So I kind of brushed it aside *thankfully*

And because I was late, I thought I couldn't meet Daniel at the supposed place. And, I had no means to contact him as I didn't remember his number offhand. Thankfully, I called Esther and she got his number, and helped me arranged things. She was also worried for me and ya, I'm thankful for all you've done, and Daniel too.

But I felt strangely peaceful through it all, I think when the spirit is right with God, I felt peace. I knew he was in control and I decided to trust in him. And I learnt that we should always give thanks in any and every circumstances. God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good. How true. I was actually singing and feeling good about the incident which led me to realise these things. Though I must admit that the numbers that were lost were a little troublesome, especially having lost some of my doctor friends' numbers I met in NS, and the other guys, and all my messages. Yet I realised another truth in the event. I was much more willing to lose something so material, and keep things more precious such as love, friends, family, my soul, and above all, God.

Mark.8

[36] For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

And when I reached home I had to wake up my sister from her sleep to cancel the line. Sigh. I'm such a trouble.

-Update-
While in the midst of writing the blog, I decided to give the number that the TIBS guy gave me a try. Though in my mind I thought it would be futile, as having called my phone repeatedly no one answered, and I was pretty sure someone found it in the bus, unless it dropped into a drain while I stepped out - which would be really suay, according to Daniel. So I explained my predicament to them, tried to describe my phone (and I couldn't tell them the model number cause I can't remember). The guy went and asked around, and in the background I heard about some blue coloured phone..thought it was predominately silver?! (Honestly, I can't even remember what colour my phone looks like!) When he asked me what is my home number, I repeated it to him. (At this juncture I really thought they found my phone already.) He told me...ah I don't think this one. (Then my heart sank...it just went through a corkscrew roller coaster) He asked me, "got any message?" And I fumbled and tried to say that I left a contact number and he asked "got name?" and I thought and replied, "ya, Daniel Wong".
Then he said, "ya, we found your phone".
Edit: I just realised something. If I called earlier when the guy gave me the number, it would have been fruitless because the bus had just left Bedok Interchange, and I would definitely not call the number again, which means I WILL NOT find the phone. Ya. Time wasn't working against me, it was working FOR me.

After all that calling of my phone, and no one picking up. Messaging, and no one replying, and yet if someone had no intention of returning the phone (as in keeping for themselves) I would think they would have turned the phone off already. And ya, after all that, I actually managed to trace my phone. Miraculous. I'm thankful I maintained my trust and faith in God, for I know He is in control. I felt I actually gained from this incident than lose. The importance of giving thanks in ALL circumstances. Yup.

Oh, I actually started looking for new phones when I reached home. I thought it was high time to get a new phone anyway. Now that I got my phone back (tomorrow rather), I would like some suggestions so I can make an informed decision. I'm looking at SE...any recommendations?

Close Brush With DEATH

Today I had a close encounter with death. Only armed with my wrist guards, I went downstairs to blade supposedly leisurely - slowly and safely.

At the first bus-stop at Buangkok Green, I took a left turn and headed down a slope. By the time i went 10metres, I realised that the slope was pretty steep and I was fast gaining speed. I was a little afraid now, as I continued to gain speed at an alarming rate while noticing 3 things. Firstly, the speed that I was going was so fast now, that it felt my heart was about to jump out of my mouth. I could not slow down with T-stops and heel drags, I only went faster and faster and faster. I contemplated a grass-stop, but realised that I was going too fast, and the sudden change in momentum will throw me flying into the air, possibly into the road. Next, at the end of the 400m(I think.) it was a pretty sharp left turn, 10metres of pretty uneven pavement, and then a rectangular S shaped(extremely tight) turn.

I continued to gain so much speed, a tiny gap, unevenness in the ground, even the covered drain platform might just throw me flying if my wheels get jammed in the slightest wrong angle. You could imagine how close i felt to being critically injured, not having worn any guards (I even thoughts the guards would have been insufficient cause I didn't have a helmet), or worse still, death. As I approached the end of the slope I DIDN'T manage to slow down! But I managed to maneuver the left turn, almost lost my balance but didn't. Somehow by the grace of God I managed to slow down enough to tackle the very difficult S (the path was narrow and uneven) and didn't fly into either the longkan or the road. But I was so shaken after that I couldn't stand straight. Gee.

Next, I went around the blocks towards Hougang Point and back towards my home. Having decided prior to leaving my house that I ought to check out the multi-storey carpark at it's top level, I did. (I hope you have a visual impression of the new multi-storey carparks for purpose of explanation) Going up the slopes each level was a chore, because of the very uneven surface made by the 'circle patterns'. When I finally reached the end, I was panting. Real tired. And I could see into my house! It's the same level as the last open air level of the car park. I went close, and realised that the edge was dangerously low, way below my thighs near my knees and I instinctively stepped back (rolled back actually). When I had to return, I contemplated going down the slopes. I knew I just had to try one. I knew also it was rather steep but I thought it was manageable. I guess I was wrong! I underestimated the slope and when I went down I gained speed at an alarming rate. I had to do a sharp turn by the time the slope ended in order to avoid falling 6 storeys down. It could have been a nice parallel slide but sadly I wasn't proficient in that *nor was the speed and angle I was going anywhere near safe*. I'm thankful I got away with just an abrasion on my left elbow and my knee. I could have been flat on the ground..ground zero. Well after that when I saw the slope down to the bottom level, I was like "OH NO WAY!", not only because I just fell, but because the end of that particular slope is a drainage that had it's covers removed*probably stolen and that gap is just waiting to devour me and fling me into the air.

That's my elbow if you actually thought it was my knee. HAHA.
Not that it's anywhere near funny though. Skating downhill is REALLY SCARY.

Migrate?

Just went to look at the mp3 player code at MySpace. It's pretty nice overall. Like a friendster+music/video/normal blog all squeezed into one. Should I...we migrate? Seems to have more functionality. Opps. I wonder if this post is actually allowed. Later get banned from blogspot haha.

New Addition

Forget about the angst post below. I decided to put some mp3 in my blog (think you'll need apple quicktime if you don't), say - updated weekly or every few days or so. Got requests? Let me know..now playing..last week 2 weeks lesson...Title's at the bottom if you're curious. Yup yup..

Oh I'm sorry.. 56kb users I hope I don't kill your connection ><

Christ Forgives

Everything that used to be in this post - deleted. If Christ can forgive so willingly, then I as a Christian should also strive to be Christ-like, yet not perfect, but made perfect in his graciousness. Therefore as our sins have been blotted out so completely by the Blood of Jesus Christ, then also this issue blotted out completely - yet remembering the lessons learnt. Over the past few days I have read, seen and heard rather miraculous things, and I know divine intervention was in play, is, and will be to come.

It's such a privilege to be able to receive God's love with grace, and indeed it is very true that the human heart is made such that it needs God and his gracious love. Devoid of it, life has always something -empty-, knowing that death creeps closer every second and not knowing the fate that lies thereafter. Everytime I turn away from Jesus and slide away I begin to suffer like those without Christ. Life begins to feel so meaningless and I question the meaning of it - when I look at the suffering of myself and others, of war and chaos- the homeless, the oppressed, the fatherless and the widowed. Yet thankfully I do know Christ, and by his love will always somehow draw me back to Him. And I am more grateful for that someone who always reminds me and draws me back to Him. But I feel for those who refused God's love, and with it, the meaning of life and the promise of salvation for the life after. God is real. I'm thankful that while many Christians have seen miracles that some people may attribute it to 'coincidence', I have seen and heard many that are tangible and irrefutable, (some of which I can't share yet.). I have also felt God's presence being very real and tangible in the form of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It was during a song worship...and I was really cold, close to the point of shivering, but not. And suddenly I felt this wave-like force wrapping my whole body and it felt like electricity rising through my body towards the head - and it was very warm - and no, I wasn't shivering..I wasn't cold anymore. I was quite afraid, yet excited, but was somehow fixed in place somewhat.

Anyhow, that incident tells that while faith in God is of paramount importance, when I started to want to feel God tangibly and felt that, it was a reminder to me that, through physical experience, God is real. The other extreme though, I have seen dozens of people (like south with of indoor standium?) - the city harvest choir being slained all at once, they all fell back at the same time. And so did the other sections. And I saw pastor Kong(sp?)- CHC's pastor being pushed backwards, off the ground, together with 2 people supporting him. I reasoned and knew that the angle and force, the height of how he was 'flying' backwards, with even 2 people supporting him, is physically impossible. Unless perhaps you challenge my knowledge in Physics (Though I believe even an observant secondary school student could tell..), or that the whole thing was staged (which is even more far-fetched, but I will not say why), then there was an unseen force..something very spiritual. However, I was overwhelmed then, but now, decided that I should not attribute everything spiritual in nature to be of God. The devil knows the spirituality of human and makes use of human superstitious behavior to deceive them away from knowing the true God. Thus it is indeed very dangerous to take everything at face value (speaking to Christians), that we should have our foundations fixed on the Word of God- The Bible, that we should put on the full armour of God, and judge the person's teachings (but not the person) and discern if his teachings are of God or not.

In closing this episode...

2Tim.3
[16] All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
[17] That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

that I would rather face the problem and correct the wrong things, wrong attitude from any side then run away from it. And Jeremy you did that somewhat. That's good. Daniel, you have much to learn my young padawan.