This Is Not A Drill...

Will be gone for some time.
Don't ask.

Mig.

Keep Her Trim and On Course...

Hey, back from Malaysia (again)! And boy, was Encounter Jesus III Camp a blessed and annointed one! Bonded very well with my new D.G.: R.A.D.I.C.A.L. (which stands for Rooted And Delightful In Christ's Awesome Love!)!!! The games were fun, the hotel service was shiok, and my friendship circle grew across other D.G.s, across other levels - HEY, even across other churches! Even the theme night was interesting - theme being 'Mismatched', I ended up appearing in an attire that others commented (and that I agreed that) I looked like a Suntec City Security Guard! Boy, it was splendid and beyond my expectations, just like how God is all the time!

Ooo, but I think I'll share about the camp in greater detail another time, y'know why? Well, 'cause today was - The Round Ubin Race 2007!!! This one was a treat indeed! To begin the story, I meet the ACS(I) Canoeing team, along with Mr. See, for the first time in a week or so at the Pasir Ris shore, where all the boats were alined and ready for launching. Apparently, Trident was given to an ACJC pair after a mishap in our team, so we were left to race in RedandWhite. Quite a shocker, but I've had the boat before and I trusted it enough to paddles the seas in.

Mr. Ismail came a few minutes later to assist us in fixing our wave-breakers onto our boats, and Mr. Goh came another few minutes later to brief us on an altered route - apparently the race course had to be done anti-clockwise instead of clockwise as the organizers felt it was best that racers completed Chek Jawa (the eastern coast of Pulau Ubin) first before she reaches her wildest waves in the afternoon winds. By then Mr. See and Mr. Goh were in their gear (they were participating in the open categorey).

Closing towards Race Time, Ting Wei and I gave RedandWhite a spin on the water, approving of her stabability and direction control. At the signal of ligning up between the Starting Buoys, we were positioned along with Joseph and Barnabas (New Tiger) and Victor and Winston (Old Tiger), accompanied by the K1s (Nick Ng, Ryan, etc.). Looking around, I prayed to God that all I wanted in the race was just to have a memoriable good time and fun: even if there's no medal or no glory, all I needed was just fun. At around the end of my prayer, a horn sounded, and within splitseconds every racing canoe gushed out to embrace a race one would never forget to tell his or her grandchildren.

And so begins one of my first journeys out at sea - although it revolves 75 meters on average away from Pulau Ubin, the mere fact that both Ting Wei and I did not attend Picnic Day (a training day when Mr. Goh toured the racers in the team around landmarks to take note of during the race) meant we were rather unexperienced and had a slimmer chance of being able to navigate the waters - being filled with obstacles from as minor as stilt houses and mini-islands to as major as megawaves and patrol boats - , lest being able to get a medal.

To both Ting Wei's and my surprize, the RedandWhite was making a good stand within the first 10 canoes for the first 2 kilometers or so. There was Mr. Goh, paddling alone right in front of us, so fast any non-AC racer would loose morale the momment he zooms past. And there was Mr. See, paddling at our Starboard with a constant acceleration, well enough to get ahead of us by the time we've entered Chek Jawa. The only boat that scared us, though, was the Old Tiger. Victor's a fine chap, but watching Winston paddle ahead of one's boat was concidered a disgrace, even to me.

But by then, we were conciderably within the high dangers of Chek Jawa, and within a few more strokes the RedandWhite encountered a wave as high as our armpits, maybe even higher. And yes, we capsized. Out at sea. But the good news was that we were still within boderline of Chek Jawa, so the water level was slightly less than chest level. But then again, the waves were extremely harsh, and so Ting Wei and I got hold of the boat and stumbled our way towards shore, of which was extremely rocky and extremely dangerous to board a canoe with.

Nevertheless, we quickly found the most suitable spot we could find and did our best to empty water and launch off, missing jagged rocks by hairwidths. Unfortunately, in our hastely attempt to catch up with Old Tiger, we capsized again halfway through Chek Jawa, this time in deep dark waters and with shores mostly blocked out by the 3 storey fences defending the grounds of the Outward Bound Singapore camp. Knowing that the powerful waves would eventually wash us towards land, we held on tighly to the half-sunken boat and our paddles and drifted towards the rocky shores, blinded by the saltiness of the sea and choking under the pounding waves, at one point even shoved underwater by the boat's weight.

At last we reached land, but that was just half the work done. We continuously kicked away from the rocks to avoid scratching the boat or ourselves, and after a couple of minutes or more we found a relatively less rockly place to empty our water and launch back to sea. We knew it was least likely that we'd see the Old Tiger again, so we decided to give up on the medals and take the race slowly. Along our journey, we saw other sad cases of capsized boats along the route; boats in scary positions and even one resembling the sinking of the Titanic.

Soon, we heard a familiar voice in the midths of the overturned boats: It was Barnabas! The New Tiger had capsized, and both the Goh Brothers were strugling their way to shore, trying their best to catch their wondering blades, bailer and water bottles in vain. Having pity on them, and without a momment to loose, we decided to assist them to shore. We made a sharp loop at Port and placed our right leg into their cockpits. While they proceeded to swim by themselves to shore with their belongings, we paddled both our and their boats towards the mst friendly shore we could find.

It was hard controling two rudders with the toes on both my feet, but we eventually all made it to shore. Ting Wei suggested to take a rest on shore too, so we all (struggled against the raging waves that constantly slammed our boats onto the rocky terrain, but eventually) carried our boats onto land and sat for a while to take in the scenery - scenery of what you'd see on Maroon Island, that is. Other victims of the waves of Chek Jawa came to our shore and had a chat with us: Reguardless of school, boat type or age, we were friendly towards each other and talked anthing under the sun accept accept giving the slightest concern of getting the medal(s).

After what we assumed was 5 minutes (of which we purposely tried to drag longer), we decided to launch of, that is until we saw Nick Ng's boat - along with Nick Ng, of course - drifting towards ourshore and requesting for help. We all then decided to take this opportuity to (slack off a little longer and) rescue him. His boat being a K1, which is much more vulnerable to the waves than us K2s, we had to launch him first before we could leave the shore, which gave us even more time to rest close to land.

As we watched Nick paddle off freely again, we decided it was about time we just got over the route and finished it before we continue baking under the sun. Due to the limited shore area that was favourable enough for launching, we agreed that Barnabas and Joseph left first,after which Ting Wei and I would follow closely just in case any of us capsized on our journey through the rest of Ubin. Launching through waves that kept crashing onto you was a struggle indeed, but when we could finally paddle 50 meters away from shore, we wre relieved that we were 'officially' launched and made our way to the watery nightmare ahead of us.




Our promise with each other was well and true: both the New Tiger and the RedandWhite kept trim with each other, time after time we'd be separated as far as 50m due to the waves, but we'd catch up again. Soon enough, we caught up with Nick, who was still struggling to keep steady amongst the waves. Thus understandably, he couldn't keep up with us, and eventually he became a mark floating behind us, until we came to the sudden edge of the island where we had to slam hard at port, of which he dissapeared behind the island. And so the two K2s were alone again.


Unknown minutes passed; eyes hurting from the saltwater and the sun such that our watches were practically a blur. Paddling non-stop without knowing how far you've gone or how far you've got left can make you feel as if you're at the brink of getting mad. Ting Wei suggested we paddled a final time towards shore just to empty out the water we collected from Chek Jawa, of which I originally disagreed to but then realised theat 1) it will help us get over this faster and 2) it will give my mind a rest from the endless and never-changing terrain ahead of me. Either than that momment, no matter how many strokes may pass, the scenery was constant for ages: Pulau Ubin on the left, Johor Baruh on the right, endless mass of water stretching forward, waiting for us to colapse from the confussions of speed and time...

I tell you, we had the greatest joy when we saw the cargo ships: it meant that the turn was just around the corner! And that meant we've completed over half the race!!! Hooray, the turmoil was almost over!!! It was a relieving momment of thought, until we met up with another island.

Originally, this wasn't a problem: common sense would tell you that if you rowed at port, you'd take a shorter route tothe finishing line. However, the momment we saw a couple of T2s rowing starboard and away from the islands, we started to panic. Both of us not having attended Picnic Day, and not being fully briefed on what route we're suppose to take, Ting Wei and I were questioning each other of the possibilities that the minature trench in front of us was not part of the route, of if the plot of land was not actually an island but part of a penisula, which meant that we would be paddling into a gulf or dead-end.

We turned to Joseph and Barnabas, who were both also confused by the route taken by the T2s. There was no other boat surrounding us, and we had no other person to tell us which way to go. But in the end, The New Tiger turned left, and thus we followed suite. When inside the relatively narrow strip of water, the whole scenery somehow became a lot more peaceful: whether it was because there were no longer any big waves to torment us, or that the flora and fauna of Ubin was more close to us, or that we could see yatches anchored along the Ubin coast like floating cottages, you be the judge.

But just when we thought the only tough navigational question was answered, we were proven wrong. The momment we got out of that 'cannal', we saw this:

Now we were really scared. We couldn't tell head or tail where the finishing line was: all we knew was that it was at the same shore we launched from, but finding that shore was gonna be tough. Thank God, we ended up paddling towards an official's boat, which told us which direction to turn to and that if we intended a final sprint, now would be the best time to start.

Both RedandWhite and New Tiger gave ech other a glance; we both knew that if the end was that close, we'd might as well break formation and start acting competitive again. And without a word, both boats made a dash for what we were to assume was the finishing line...

Finally, the Finishing Buoys were defined enough for us to see. The New Tiger was now a few meters behind us, but that didn't matter. As far as we knew, the medals were no longer in possibility our posession. Nevertheless, we just wanted to have fun in the race, so we continued the sprint. Just as we were starting to increase our power for a final burst, guess what we passed by:

That's right! The Old Tiger had apparently capsized just 200 meters away from the Finishing Line!!! As we heard Winston and Victor shouting phrases of dissapointment at us, Ting Wei and I assumed that they could still swim the remaining 200m without drowning, and so we carried on to the finish...

By 100m, we could tell who were the figures that were standing on the shore just ahead of the line: There was Joseph's/Barnabas' and Ting Wei's parents, cheering us on; there was Mr. Ismail, just about to leave to attend to Lucas and Weng Ai, who've just arrived earlier on; and there was Mr. Goh, who began making his way into the water to catch our boat: one appropriate way to signal to us to go full force.

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*this is the part where everything goes slow-motion and the only sound made is that of a heartbeat*

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craSHeeeeeeeeee!!! (Sry, dunno what sound hold-water ['breaks' in canoeing terms] makes...)

The momment we crossed the line, we quickly started to back-paddle to quickly get the boat to halt (lest we colide into the sandy shore once again. Good thing Mr. Goh was there to catch our boat (phew). We alighted from our boat and carried it onto a safe area on the beach before rushing back to help RedandWhite out.

After a few more minutes of rst, we brought our boat to a washing point and rinsed off the saltiness from the hull (and from ourselves) before carrying it onto one of the trucks that would bring it back to MacRitchie. We then helped other rowers who were finishing up and had a chat with them when there was nothing left to do. Nick Ng was complaining about how he lost so badly, and Eugene was commenting on how the 'rescue' boats were more of a hinderance than a help.

Within half an hour, most of the team was alread back on land, so we started having our lunch that was provided by the race committee. Gathered at a small plot of grass, we shared our different experiences on how many times we capsized sunk. While I was listening to the conversatin, Joseph's dad came over to me and asked if I was Raemiguel. I said yes, and he explained that Joseph told him that I rescued him and his brother, and thanked me for my help. When Ting Wei came into the scene and asked for his credit, both brothers claimed that they heard Ting Wei say that we need not help them, sending the three of them into a candid quarrel.

Wow, I thought to myself, we rescued others. I thanked the Lord for the opportunity in a short prayer before returning to the discussion at lunch. It was around that time when Mr. See, who had just finished complaining that he sacrificed the race to rescue our K1s that fell along the way, announced that he wanted 4 representaties to stay back for the prize presentation, while the rest of the team would board the trucks and goto MacRitchie to help put the boats back into their sheds.

He ended up picking Joseph, Barnabas, Ting Wei and me: The three others because they had parents already there to send them home on the spot, me because I just agreed to it. Basically, all we had to do was represent our school at the presentation and collect medals on behalf of any team member who wasn't present.

So after we finished our lunch and comfirmed that our full strength has finsihed the race, the four of us watched as the trucks proceeded inland. While waiting for the rest of the schools to settle into the area and for the stage to set up for the ceremony, we were all chatting about random stuff to pass the hot and endless time.

Finally, the presentation begain, and we all eagerly waited for which people to play as. Due to the extremely hot mid-day sun, all the participants were staying under the shelters surrounding the stage, which were at least 10 meters apart from each other. So you could imageing the humour we saw when we watched participants scrambling through this distinctly big and empty space and collecting their prize, many a times staying a few seconds longer for a photo shot just to stay in the shade the stage was also under, before running back to the shade lest they get fried.

We were happy when we heard that Mr. Goh won the 'K1 Open Mens' Categorey, and clapped wildly as we saw him skipping acroos the baked earth to recieve the medal. But once the announcer arrived at the 'K2 Senior Mens' Event, we had an interest to hear if we made it, even though we had great doubts for such.

And schocked as we were, Ting Wei and I were announced 3rd in our event!!! Apparently, we were the boat after Lucas' and Weng Ai's, of which was after an NJC pair. Ting Wei and I went up to the stage speechless but nevertheless joyful, followed later by Jo and Barney, who were acting as Weng Ai and Lucas (we were giggling when we saw this).

After the whole presentation, we all parted our own ways; except for Ting Wei 'cause his parents offerd to drop me off at the MRT station. I then called my mom to tell her the good news, of which we both praised God for, and so she told me to call a cab home.

As the kind uncle (who allowed me to board his taxi in my filthy and salty state) drove me back to Upper Bukit Timah, I started to reflect on what happened today. I mean, I paddled 22 km worth of seawater, survived a couple of capsizings, rescued a fellow pair, endured an hour of insanity and beaten Old Tiger using RedandWhite! I've definitely had an ADVENTURE, and I've surely had FUN!!! God certainly answered my prayer, and more - He gave me the bronze even whne I didn't pray for it!!!

MY GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD!!!

Well, that sums it up for now. 1 Corinthians 15:57! God bless y'all!!!

Red - Actual Route of Race
Blue - Route Taken by RedandWhite

Too much to concider...

Daddy came back on Monday!

And you know what makes dad's arrival on Monday unique? Well, since midnight of this particular Monday, flights have been coming into Terminal 3 of Changi Airport. And yes, you've guessed it: Daddy's one of the first passengers to arrive at the brand-new T3!

Well, you can say it was an honour to be one of the first. But looking on the contrary, the terminal's still not complete.

I didn't really take much pictures, but there were absolutely NO shops! Not one in opperation at the time. Fountains still dry, stalls still flooded in bubblewrap, walls still smelling of paint fumes. Burger King was also still submerged in a cement puddle.

I watched from the viewing balcony as I saw the very few passengers entering the departure hall, only to realise that there was nowhere for them to eat, shop, read or even sit down at.

But hey, the terminal's a very huge project, and it takes time to complete it - even if it's beyond the expected deadline. And besides, the Official Opening is to be mid-January next year, so I'd recommend to everyone it's best you wait for it instead. (Unless, of course, you're one of those enthusiasts who're willing to go through any boredom just to tell your children, "Hey, I've been here first!" - happy sightseeing to you.)

But dad's back, and that's all that matters now. He says that Uncle Peter's doing fine back in Melbourne, and is giving a good response to his sound and light treatment (Amen!). Auntie Alice is next in line to taking care of Uncle Pete, so dad's now got her car to look after (Yay, a Merc!).

Besides that, the past few days with Uncle Jo's suddenly deteriorating in excitement, for some reason. I guess it's because I don't see Uncle Jo that often since he's got lot's of meetings to attend to. Nevertheless, if it's the bottomline I've definitely learnt new things each day! Design elements, components of a blueprint and even housing sales techniques (hehehe, now I know a secret or two of yours, Mr. Salesman!)!

But today, as I was taking a taxi to Uncle Jo's office, JKit called me to ask if I've 'moved'. In further elaboration, he's apparently moved class from 3.13 to 3.17, and wanted to know if I've gone through the same fate.

The reason for the move, he explained, was because of the overwhelming number of scholars in 3.13, which meant that some locals had to be moved to another class with the same subject combination and the same education status (Option E and Non-GEP respectively), thus 3.17.

Hmm, I thought to myself. Aren't some others who I know going to 3.17 already? Maybe Snil'll know. Or maybe it's Snil himself?

I asked how he knew about this, and he told me his dad was informed about it by the school, and from his dad to him. Asking a few more questions before chatting a little longer, we hung up, and I proceeded out of the cab to the office, taking dear note of the incident and remembering to ask daddy if he recieved any call first thing after my time with Uncle Jo.

When I got back home, I asked the household if they recieved any calls, of which they all said no. Until my dad came back from work, that is. After changing into something coortable and resting on the living room sofa, he called for me and told me that Mr. Liang Chew Man called from the school to inform him that I've moved class to (lo and behold) 3.17.

He added that Mr. Liang conveyed the information in such a manner that daddy didn't know if he was informing him of the change or asking him if he wanted the change. After consulting clarification, daddy got back a rather lengthy explaination, but got the main idea at the end of it all.

3.17. It's an interesting move. I still don't know who're the people there that I know (besides JKit) but for some reason I feel excited to go there. True, an extra $10 to pay for the change in OEP venue (From Vietnam to China), but my dad, who feel's it's safer to go to China, is willing to pay ("Hey! You think $10 too much for my dad, ah?").

But seriously, money aside, I have a strong feeling in my heart God's planned something exciting and new for me in this new environment! And thinking back, I guess there are some things I feel I need to correct in myself, so with God's help, restarting a part of my life is actually a good step.

Then, I recall a person I met at 3.13. Joshua Goh. What'll be of him if he doesn't move out? For personal reasons, he didn't want to be in 3.13, and for some reason of me being the only Prefect in the class, he was willing to stay because of me. Now that I'm leaving, how'll his hopes be effected?

I guess that's not what God want's me to bother with for now. I'll just have to trust that He takes care of Joshua, and that Joshua should do the same too. God bless that fella'! :D

There are some people I regret not knowing better while I still had the chance back in 2.10, but if God wants me to go another direction, I'd be willing to let go of everything and start all over with new characters (besides JKit)! Yes, the adventure awaits!...

Until then, I better turn in for the night now. Jeremiah 29:11-13!!! God bless y'all!!!

Build, Plant, Grow...

This week goes rather well, I suppose. Visited Uncle Jo's office at Architect 61, where he showed me around the life of what goes on in an architect's life. Being the Senior Vice-President (woah, I'm the son of the friend of a Senoir Vice-President of a well-known Singaporean architecture company! Rock on!), Uncle Jo has a very artistic office with a rather good view of the city! I mean, look at this view;


I'd be a happy boss if I had a view like this in my office! I could navigate my way around the city with less help from the directory! Uncle Jo also gave me some documents to look through: floorplans, brouchers, diagrams, etc. And like a typical young enthusiast, I looked through the documents with intent insight.

Hmm, it's rather interesting that this company has been responsible for many famous construction and restoration projects in Singapore, such as Capital Square, The Hereen, Caltex House, UOB Plaza, Raffles City, Hitachi Tower, The Fullerton, Cineleisure Orchard, Harbourfront MRT Station, Scotts Square, Marina Bay Front Bridge, Formula One City Circuit, Changi Airport Terminal 1 (Upgrades), People's Association Headquarters and Raffles Hotel (OHMYLORD, I held onto the blueprints of the Raffles Hotel Restoration Project!!!)

(sry, didn't dare pose with the plans in the office, so I had to take a photo of it back home while Uncle Jo lent it to me) Ah, one week of architecture down, one more week of architecture to go.

Today, I attended Family Day at Prinsep Presbytarian, since the Church apparently invited me to join since Im an ex-member. For Family Day, the whole Church (or at least the many Church members that signed up) was divided into 15-odd groups to compete with each other through mind-boggling, body-punishing, stomach-testing games! I joined the Believers' Group, which consisted surprizingly more chior kids than altoe adults.

After the main service in Church, our group gathered in one of the music rooms and got our attires ready. We've chosen to wear a black t-shirt and jeans, with stickers on the t-shirts saying 'BLAZERS'. Tim was telling me of the horror stories he had with the blades while trying to cut all the stickers the previous night, while the other girls were giggling their parts of their story on the stickers as well (yeay, there were only 3 males in the group, including Tim and me).

Topping our attire off with a mask each, we marched off to the MPHall whe the time called for the games to begin soon. Seated according to our teams, we were given a briefing on what to expect and opened with a prayer before racing against time to finish our games!

There were many games planned out ahead of us: There were wet games and dry ones, slurpy games and not-so-slurpy ones, word games and active games, games that required lots of skill, and games that required lots of patience. But overall, we had a very good game, and a very good laugh too!

I even had a chance to have a look at the main santuary!

But all things, no matter how gamey, come to a gradual end, and with a great triumphant cheer, we've achieved 2nd place! Everyone's a winner in the house of God (AMEN!), but nevertheless praise the Lord for our victory! Once the games were over, we rationed the prize items out evenly and soon parted our separate ways.

Before I left the building, Tim and his mom (who was apparently a station master) asked if I would like to have lunch with them. I accepted their offer, and so they (including Tim's sis, Stef) showed me to a recomended spot down the street. I was treated to a snack of pineapple tarts I decided to bring back home to share with my family first, and had some noodles and a bowl of herbal soup recomended by my hosts, followed by a sweet desert to loosen the chat with.

Once we were all done, I gave my thanks to them and parted my way home, attempting a new route I discovered would be somewhat faster than the 700 bus route I used to take.

Ah, well. I'm now home, and that's the best part for now: Rest. May God bless you with rest, that you may be still and for once notice the finer things in life you never noticed before, and know that He is God!

2 Samuel 6:11!!! God bless y'all!!!

I am Blessed...

Yeah, a Sunday. Finally.

Oh, hi there. Pardon me, I'm just tired after the past two days. I must admit, the Class Residential Camp was fun and even more necesary for the class. But I think it was a mistake for me to come. An extremly grave mistake.

It starts off with me and my dad being dropped off at Changi Airport by mom: dad because he's going to Melbourne with Uncle Peter to look after uncle while he goes through treamtment for his cancer tumour; me because I'm suppose to meet Mr. Tay here to help him welcome some Indonesian scholars to our country and school, along with a few other members of my class.

When daddy and I went in, he recieved a call from Aunti Alice saying that they were going to meet him at the next terminal, while I recieved sight of JKit a few pillars ahead of us. We exchanged farewells, and parted to our respective meeting points.

Jkit and I then continued aroiund the airport until we met up with Snil, followed by Tim. After some time, we decided to eat breakfast at Burger King while waiting for Mr. Tay's call. After finding a seat, we took turns to buy our stuff, and also took the opportuniy to top up our ez-link cards ahead of our traveling on the later part of the day.

After our meal and a few rounds of card games, we decided to ride the Skytrain back and forth Terminal 1 and 2, taking turns to call Mr. Tay until he responds every few stops. It ended when it got to my turn to call, when a sleepy Mr. Tay answered the phone to tell us to meet him at the Arrival Hall at the Terminal we were about leaving.

After reaching our destination, we met up with Mr. Tay and a few other members of the school, where we recieved instrutions to await for the scholars. To cut the long and eventless wait short, we helped to carry the luggages of our guests and boarded them on the bus, although this compared to the amount of translating the teachers did and the distances the scholars had to walk with their luggages without our help proves to be nothing much.

We all then rode the bus to school, where Mr. Tay told us to accomodate our classroom first while he settles the scholars into the Boarding School. We went and set up everything: the lights, airconditioning, tablets, xbox - everything.

Eventually along time, other classmates started streaming in. I also got the chance to obtain my new battery daddy bought for my tablet! Thanks dad! And JKit tried to introduce us to some anime about a boy who turns into a butler to a young girl to pay off a debt. There were many small things that happened during these few hours, but soon Mr. Tay called us up to meet him at the SpaceFrame for our departure to Plaza Singapura to watch a movie.

Changed and geared up, we proceeded as a class for the last time to the theatres to buy ourselves tickets to watch Stardust! But since the show was later in the night, we decided to go out our separate ways to entertain ourselves during the wait.

Toj wanted to go to a particular LAN centre, but in the process almost got half the class lost in the middle of the city. Not willing to go out just to get lost, I decied to turn around, but Tim suggested to go to Peace Centre instead, a centre a couple of blocks away from his Church. It proved to be useful, and so those who wanted to play LAn got their wish, while those who weren't game-tuned had a go at the arcade and billards.

When it was time to head back, we journeyed our route and collected our tickets before splitting up again to grab a quick dinner. At Subway, we took things slowly and chatted along our meal. I even tried proposing my hike to thosewho were sitting around me, and got a rather fruitful response. Once our meal was finished, we proceeded up to get ready for the movie, of which Kirby was still softly beging Mr. Tay to allow him to watch Halloween instead.

The movie was a lot better than I expected, I must say. True, it is a young fantasy, but the movie is rather suited for a wider age group. Shouldn't reveil too much, but I must admit I was stunned by one of the stunts in the show: how can swords fights be done lieing backwards?

The rest of the night outdoors was spent shopping for snacks and drinks, followed by finding the underpass to the MRT station, where we took a train back to school. People were competing on how late they can stay up playing with the xbox, while ZWei and Raam were teaching me certain drills they practice from their respective Uniform CCA Camps (NPCC[Sea] and NCC[Sea] respectively).

I also attempted to draw a scene of an island beach just to get the classroom into the holiday mood. I also wanted Peter to draw his 'Dan 'shroom' on the island so we could call it a class picture, but then I thought I better not disrupt his record of still being awake on Halo. Soon, I felt the drousiness upon me weighing down, and decided to quickly wash up and sleep.

Now, camp was suppose to continue the next day (or should I say 'that present day') with a cycle and picnic at East Coast Park through till the afternoon, when everyone was then free to go.

But unfortunately I still have Canoeing training in the morning to attend, followed by D.A.R.E. in the afternoon. And intending to gain more experience to survive in both my Ubin Race and my D.A.R.E. Group, I didn't want to sacrifice these two. Besides, Mr. See wouldn't allow me to skip for something like this, and there was to be a mini-briefing on the Encounter Jesus III Camp after D.A.R.E. service, so the more I shouldn't skip.

Wking up only 3 or 4 hours after I fell asleep, I quietly washed up and changed into my canoeing attire, packing my stuff into my bags before leaving for MacRitchie. When I arrived, I decided to drop a couple of bags behind the shed first, while bringing only one bag to the chin-up bars, just to avoid any comotion on why I look like I'm going on a water hike.

After doing a few sets of chin-ups (which I was surprized I could do despite the lack of sleep and breakfast), I went ahead of the team to place my bags into the Bags Shed before anyone saw my cargo, proceeding to prepare my boat and equipment with TWei as if I didn't bring in anything out of the ordinary.

Training was bareable (Thank God!), and I managed to get ome after training with all the weight of my bags in addition to the tiredness from both training and my lack of sleep. But it hasn't ended there yet, so I plopped my stuff on the floor, had a quick shower and lunch, and armed myself for another exciting D.A.R.E. service!

Well, the D.A.R.E. service was exciting. But I was so tired to get excited, I've no idea how many times I've fallen asleep during the sermon. Even during praise and worship, I was jumping by flesh but was begging for the music to stop by mind. I was desperately thinking of ways to get myself to stay awake: eating Clorets, pinching andscratching my arms, strangling myself with my crucifix necklace. All tried, and all failed.

I can't even remember what the sermon was about, just that it had something to do with worship.

So now I've learnt a very valuable lesson: As a canoeist, I must NOT participate in activities that ensure I'm awake the previous night of a training session.

And from this, I can also conclude that the Class Residential Camp was indeed one of the WORST mistakes I could possibly paticipate myself into. (Note: I said 'I could possibly participate myself into', not 'the class could possibly participate into'. The class definitely needed this last opportunity to be together, and I'll be more than grateful for that.)

Ah, well. No point blabering about it now that its over. God allowed mistakes so we could learn from them and make sure they never happen again, and if anything He's still our forgiving Abba Daddy no matter how severe the mistakes can get! So we'll just have to move on...

2 Chronicles 15:7!!! God bless y'allzzzzzzzzzzzz..........

You're Hired....

Well, yesterday was the second of a two-day worrkshop for Peer Support Students, and I must say it was rather fun going through the different stations our future juniors would be going through on the first day of school next year! There was absailing, and teamwork games, and class-control workshops, and the sort.

Well, to be honest, I never fully volunteered to be a Peer Support Leader. For one thing, I told my Pastoral Care Teacher that I was willing to participate ONLY if it wouldn't pose a risk to my Canoeing training (especially at this season, when the Round Ubin Race is just around the corner).

How did she respond? She went to the Year 1 Level Head and quoted to her my situation, and so she in turn told Mr. See to excuse me during the workshop.

Well, at least Mr. See didn't look like he didn't believe my side of the story. But yet again, he didn't look like as if he believed it either. Nevertheless, he, as well as Mdm Goon (who was visiting yesterday's Land Training), warned me that this may take up some time during the 1st Term, and so I had to make sure it didn't effect my other commitments (Canoeing and Prefects respectively).

They both had a point. Listing down my commitments, I have;
Acedemics
Canoeing
Prefects
Peer Support
(Christianity isn't a commitment: God isn't in my world, my world's in God!)

And the fact that I also want to pursue high roles in at least one of my commitments (Maybe a Committee Member in Acedemics, maybe Treasurer in Canoeing, maybe Chairman of a Committee in Prefects, etc.), I really need to plan out my time evenly. And I know I can't do this on my own, so through Christ ALL things are possible!!! Amen!

I think I better go plan out the rest of my holidays just to ensure there are no collisions or anything of the like. (I already have 7 Camps, 3 Smart-Formal Events, 2 Part-time Pay-free Oriental Jobs and a Race to attend through the holidays! May the Lord my God be with me in the excitement!)

Well, Psalms 5:12!!! God bless y'all!!!

Picking Up The Fragments...

Nothing much today, just that now I have regulars who drop by my desk for a round of Quixo. Oh, and also that Jonathan Koh participated in a kareoke competition today! That one was a rather entertaining event as he sang 'Gotta Go My Own Way' by High School Musical; for those who don't understand the comical part here, this song was originally sung by an Altoe teenage girl! And he struct every note correctly!!! I'm not making fun of him, but I'm rather much impressed with his talent (my mouth was dangling for half of the performance). Good job, John Koh!!!

Well, since there's nothing much left to say, let's do a few quizes.

http://www.thesuperheroquiz.com/

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 80% Iron Man 65% Supergirl 60% Robin 59% Spider-Man 55% The Flash 55% Green Lantern 50% Wonder Woman 45% Hulk 40% Batman 35% Catwoman 25%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz
(That was just so coincidental... )

Your results:
You are Mystique

Mystique 44% Venom 42% Dr. Doom 41% The Joker 40% Apocalypse 40% Kingpin 38% Lex Luthor 35% Juggernaut 32% Magneto 31% Mr. Freeze 29% Green Goblin 28% Dark Phoenix 26% Poison Ivy 22% Catwoman 18% Riddler 15% Two-Face 12%

Sometimes motherly, sometimes a beautiful companion, but most of the time a deceiving vixen.

Click here to take the "Which Super Villain am I?" quiz...


http://www.blogthings.com/worldsshortestpersonalitytest/

Your Personality Profile

You are dependable, popular, and observant. Deep and thoughtful, you are prone to moodiness. In fact, your emotions tend to influence everything you do. You are unique, creative, and expressive. You don't mind waving your freak flag every once and a while. And lucky for you, most people find your weird ways charming!

The World's Shortest Personality Test

href="http://quiz.ivillage.co.uk/uk_work/tests/career.htm">http://quiz.ivillage.co.uk/uk_work/tests/career.htm

You would be very happy in a career that utilised your level-headedness, and allowed you to work mainly on your own. You want a career that allows you to be creative, without having to be involved with lots of people. Some careers that would be perfect for you are:

Artist
Historian
Banker
Novelist
University Professor
Photographer
Vet
Paralegal
Graphic Designer
Online Content Developer
Webmaster
Producer
Managing Director
Nutritionist
Advertising
Nursing

You like working and being alone. You like to avoid attention at all costs. You tend to keep to yourself, and not interact much with the people around you. You enjoy spending time with a few a close friends. You like to listen to others, but don't like sharing much about yourself. You are very quiet and private.

You are very practical, and only act after thinking things through. You don't like being forced to answer quickly. You have to evaluate the situation completely. You make decisions based on what you can verify with your senses.

You like to be deeply involved in one or two special projects. You like to be behind the scenes. You are very logical and fair. You feel you should be honest with others and protect their feelings.

You trust your gut instincts. You are easily inspired and trust that inspiration. You are very innovative. You analyse things by looking at the big picture. You are concerned about how what you do affects others. You worry about your actions and the future. You tend to use a lot of metaphors and are very descriptive and colourful in your choice of language.

You are very creative, and get bored easily if you don't get to express yourself. You like to learn new things. You don�t like the same old routine. You like to leave your options open.

Mark 16:17!!! God bless y'all!!!

Colours of the North...

Played host to Tim for once. Now that he's shown me around at Lighthouse (of which I joined, but later left, both ways compelled by the Lord) I guess it's just for me to fufil his request to visit D.A.R.E..

After half a week's worth of grade-calculating, quixo-lending, course-atending, whiteboard-drawing, holiday-planning, whiteboard-erasing, re-paddling, subject-comparing, particulars-sorting and Exodus-assisting (Ooo, Exodus! I remembered Genisis to haave had been a failure last year, but Exodus was more or less a great improvement this time round! Good job, Marcus!!!), it was finally the weekends. And what better way to begin it than to continue my catching-up training with my new partner! A good spin with the New Tiger with backman Ting Wei, and I guess we've got ourselves a good paddling.

Then after training, I changed into something comfortable and made my journey to Suntec City, of which I did some window shopping to kill of the extra hour I had to wait for Tim and Samantha with. I was having fun viewing minature models of movie characters when Tim finally called and requested a good meeting point.

I told him to describe where he was ("Is there a map of the world on the floor?" "Yeah, it looks something like it... there's a red pillar in the centre of this place." "Erm, that pillar's gonna change colour, y'know." "Oh... Erm, yeah the place with the big coloury pillar."...), of which I promised to meet him there within 10 minutes (a promise I sheepishly broke when I passed by another replica shop filled with replicas of colonial swords and ball-bearing guns :P).

When I was within the area, I spotted the two of them at the 'red pillar'. I then grinned a little and sneaked quietly behind Tim before suddenly grabbing his shoulders and exclaiming, "Okay, so where do you guys want to eat?" I leaned on the railings of the pillar fountain like what they were doing, from the corner of my eyes noticing Tim staring at me. Then realising I was too soft at the 'so where do you guys want to eat' part, I stood up again and asked properly.

They replied with the casual 'I'm fine with anything' statement, of which I gave them a rough plan of what was available. Getting the same response, I decided to bring them to Subway, which was 6 floors directly under where D.A.R.E. was held.

We ate, and we chat, and we made many laughs. But soon after, we proceeded up to the 6th Floor Overflow room, of which along the way Samantha giggled noticing that Tim and I swivel and wieve our way through the crowds while she was simply walking straight through.

Once upstairs, we met up with my D.A.R.E. group (dg), CIA. I told them I brought some visitors, of which they said they could join them during the service. Shortly, Tim and Samantha noticed the loud music in the background, of which we all creeped towards the Overflow room. After much observation, I turned around and said, "Oh, don't worry; we're not late. It's just the rehersals." They both were slightly shocked but went along with it.

Later on, the crouds were starting to build up so they began a SMS competition while waiting for the service to start. We waited through the contest for another half an hour, of which Samantha met some friends from her school while Tim and I just lazed around at the counter.

Soon enough, the doors of the Overflow room swung open, and the trademark call of "DOORS OPEN!!!" surged through the area. I rallied the other two along and stayed within the current of youths until we were flushed at a good spot near the stage.

Samantha was looking through the instruments from where she was seated, and according to her there was apparently no synthesizer on the stage. Tim was also viewing the instruments, but with a different response. Being a very sensitive listener, he became concerned about the possible noise levels we'd be encountering during the praise and worship segment. So looking around, he asked where the speakers were.

There was one portable speaker a couple or more meters away from us, but that was facing towards the stage. What he needed to be more concerned about were the imbeded speakers on the ceiling. (Hey, these overflow rooms were built to ensure sermons reached every corner of the area: Can't blame them.)

But then again, these kind of ceiling speakers were definitely weaker than those you see in concert, and I doubt they'd be mad enough to raise the volumes up till nosebleed-sonic, so the matter was laughed off.

Within minutes, the service began and we started with singing of songs. Tim noticed that some of the songs weren't usual songs you'd find in worship sessions. I explained to him that the worship ministry in this Church had recently released their latest album, I See Grace, and so some of the songs would be from the album.

After lots of singing and jumping and 'saywhat, saywhat, saywhat-saywhat-saywhat!'s and 'who-OAH-oah's, Pastor Dan came to the stage and gave his little chat before he began his sermon. For today, he was telling us his stories of him at a Hillsong Australia conference which he accompanied Pastor Prince to recently and had just arrived back from.

After that, he was telling us of how he missed us all and that he loves to preach to his homeland. He stated here and there of how proud he was to be in such a Church and that he knew it was God's assigned blessings for us to be here. But soon after, we began on our sermon. The sermon was about the definitions of prase and worship, and also how it differs from definitions modern society creates.

A number of people believe that worship is just to surrender to the Lord any items that you may 'worship' more than you would to Him (time, money, addictions, etc.). But that's actually half of the story. God also gives us back something when we give Him our trust and praises, and these include blessings that are abundant beyond measure! But above all, He gave the very vessel that permit us these blessings: His one and only Son!

It was extremely funny, with the usual dosages of Greek and Hebrew words, hilarious explainations for certain definitions and even some participation from the audience!

After the sermon, there was a final song, followed by a final prayer, followe by the offerings, followed by the announcements, and then we were officially dismissed. The three of us went down to the main floor, where I broke off with them since we had our different routes.

On my way to the bus stop, I was thanking God that everyhting went smoothly and that things went rather well. The fact that I was respectively new to the youth service, although having joined the main service for three years or so, could only mean that it was truely by the grace of God I made it through to help guide Tim and Samantha along the way! Praise the Lord!!!

Well, I'd better rest today now. Just came back from main service, now I feel somewhat tired (Sunday's seems so beautiful for rest!).

Malachi 4:17!!! God bless y'all!!!

She Shatters Chandeliers...

Wow, recieved my results for EOY Common Test. And I must say, the results were AMAZING!!! I truely praise the Lord for them!!!

Just to get straight to the point, I recieved a well and sturdy amount of points to get me promoted to pre-IB, and I guess that's all I need at the momment! Praise God for His blessings!!!

So just as much as I'd be celebrating with my family later on, I'd just post a music video I found recently. Yes, I'm aware it's the same song as those shampoo cemercials, but hey. The video's quite nice, or at least it's interesting for an artistic person like me. And the song itself? Hmm, I'd say it's worth listening to in my opinion. Good job, whoever the artist was (yes, I don't know who sung the song: how ironic :P)! Enjoy;



I am unwritten
Can't read my mind
I'm undefined
I'm just beginning
The pen's in my hand
Ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Oh, oh

I break tradition
Sometimes my tries
Are outside the lines
We've been conditioned
To not make mistakes
But I can't live that way

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten (continuous repeat, fade out)

Now to remember to bring the Quixo set I promised to play with Zeng Rong... (I told him I'd bring it when it was all over, and told him that 'it ain't over till the fat lady sings'. But now that the scores are released, I guess bringign the game has to follow...)

Luke 17:6!!! God bless y'all!!!

Mourning into Dancing...

Well, I'm all tired and worn outafter today's training. Some can say I deserved it. So I'll just try to keep this post short.

Let's start with Sunday! Yeah, at least that gives a very happy beginning. It was both the outing day for AJ's group back in Lighthouse promised since the group was really fast in their study, and the party day for the Believers to celebrate the success of their (I take it I no longer have the rights to say 'our') latest musical, 'Thief of Always'.

It starts with me beign dropped of at Middle Road by my mom while she, Uncle Alex and both my sisters were on their way to New Creation Church. Journeyed my way to Prinsep Street, where I found the same ol' Prinsep Presbyterian Church standing like she used to.

Walking through (or more like 'stumbling through', with so much nervousness in my heart), and seeing that I was rather early, I decided to head to the Library to wait till the Main Service started. But finding out that the Library was still locked, I decided to tuck myself in the side alley of the Church where there was a bench swing.

Rocking myself to and fro, I tried my best to sing my nervousness away. I sang as much as I could remember of the songs from the Ron Kenoly tracks I recently bought, and soon enough after snging an average of 4 rounds per song, I calmed down well enough to get me walking properly again.

When I walked back into the main building, I saw that the Library was finally unlocked, and so decided to take refuge in there while I still could. I rested for a while and watched my watch closely to make sure I didn't miss my timing. And in a while's time, it was reaching to 9, so I went out and met Tim along the way.

We went up the building and sat along side Thedyus (is that how you spell it?) during the session. The sermon was about the disciplines required within worshiping God and was using the story of Moses' journey up and down Mount Sinai. I didnt really hear much about grace this time, so I must admit I wasn't able to catch much.

Once the main service was over, Tim went to the back to train a new techie while I stayed where I was for Lighthouse. Hmm, to think Eric would have trained me too if I stayed on. But I still know where God wants me to be, and so I shall follow.

After the worship session, the different groupswere dismissed for their lessons while AJ's group met downstairs before leaving for our outing. I heard many proposals through Tim, many about bowling or TCC or beaches, but this day was a different plan altogether.

This day, we were going to eat out at McDonalds! Heh, it was a good plan for many of us, but Zeik didn't like it since he had just eaten breakfast there. While AJ was taking down our orders, Zeik was bending his head away in preparation to puke at Thed.

During our meals, we socialised a bit and in the midths of the chat Zeik wanted to ask if we could go play billards at the billard station nearby. AJ soon agreed, and I agreed to chalendge Zeik. After finishing my apple pie and french fries, we went down and rented a table for half an hour or less.


Through the game, we (Zeik, spectators and me) had a great time and we soon tied in our winnings. But at around that time, it was time for us all to head back to Prinsep and call it a day, and so we journeyed back. Along the way, ___ talked with me about how I was doing and which Church I've moved on to, and so I told her about New Creation and D.A.R.E. and how God prepared it just right for me to come in.

Once we arrived at the Church, Tim and I went to search for the room where the Believers' party was suppose to be held. After much deduction, we found the room and so I tried to sit around while Tim searched for the remainder of Lighthouse members who were also Believers.

While being alone, I found myself leaning against a pillar in the room totally isolated from the pack. It felt torturous just to walk forward, and everytime I tried I ended up falling back on the pillar. In the end, I finally found grace with another table of Believers and sat with them as we all ate the buffet lined up for us.

Once finished with the main meal, I went on to the desserts and soon found myself stuck on the same pillar. By now, a fair number of the Lighthouse boys who were believers were present, and after awhile they called me to sit with them. I slumped myself on a chair and ate the remainder of my partially-crushed egg tart.

Soon, it was time to review the filmed version of the musical 'Thief of Always',and we all proceeded up to the hall to witness what we all looked like from the audience's perspective. After viewing what it looked like altogether, we proceeded with a little worship time with a few familiar songs.

Once done, Auntie Lisa gave us a short presentation on the aims and objectives of the Believers, and what was concidered achieved through this year. We then started our games session, of which was truely ripping fun and I must say I lost most of my nervousness through!

Before the games started, we were first divided into two groups, and then asked to give each group a name. The group I was in decided to call ourselves Milo, based on a regular catchphrase in the play, while the other group called themselves Soon Hock, based on what the nurse in the play tried to pronounce Boon Hock's name as.

It was also agreed within our group that whenever someone shouted, "Milo!", we'd all respond with a loud, "Marvelous!" (which was also blended in the catchphrase). And gradually in response to that, Team Soon Hock always responded with a "Fresh!" whenever their name was called. :P

Games included attempted re-enactments of certain scenes in the musical (which were fun to make fun of, since the actors we were using weren't the originals and more of dancers or backstae people!), quizes about the musical (which Milo ["Marvelous!"] had a great advantage in because most of the actors/actresses invovled in the question were in our group! :P) and even a 'pass the message'-cum-'sherades' game (which was extremely hilarious when you see people messing up while passing on the actions! My group even ended up composing our very own bhangra!)!

But after a couple or so hours of family entertainment (Which, I must say, was worth the effort! Good job, Shaun!), we closed in prayer and proceeded downstairs to finish off the buffet and feast on Uncle Collin's cake celebrating his child's 1st month! After much conversation and lollipops (hehe, we had candy for the winning prize, which both teams tied and both won!), we went our separate ways and went home.

Yeah, I must admit that Lighthouse and Believers were very nice groups to join and be with! I admire their hospitality and am willing to be called upon if I could possibly be of any help in the future! But as much as I'm grateful for them, God's prompting for me is to goto D.A.R.E., and please don't take me the wrong way but I'm excited to know what better gifts God has in store for me as I move on! Indeed, God will always love me and will never leave me!

Now for the sad part.

Monday. Well, I'll keep it shorter by just getting to the point. Monday was supposedly the extended deadline for the traning cards in Canoeing. You see, before Canoeing made a shutdown to give more time for us to study, Mr. Goh gave us cards listing simple drills we can do at home to prevent our fitness from dropping as much as possible. These included push-ups, sit-ups, running, back extentions and so on.

Beside each item, there was a quantity of how many of the item we were suppose to excecute. And beside these terms was a calendar of the entire period of time we'd shutdown for, excluding the exams itself. For every item we did each day of the shutdown, we had to mark it out on the calendar. And by the time we came back from exams, what should be expected was cards colourful with pen markings of mostly, if not fully, completed programmes.

And now the exams are over. So, what about my card? Well. My card. Let's put it this way: It's as good as white.

Well, as much as I did push ups and sit ups and running 2.4km once a week, the card still looked rather white with the many other items I missed out, and the number of days I missed them out by. That's as good as white.

And after secretly handing my card up after training to Eugine, who helped gave me a slower sentence by sliding it somehwere in the middle of the well-coloured stack (Thanks, bro), I quickly but calmly rushed back home and retired to my desk in great prayer that whatever Mr. Goh does or says to punish me for what I've done (or for this matter, what I've not done), I desperately wanted to cling on to the faith that God would still be there with me.

And that leads us to Tuesday. But before Tuesday's training is firstly school. Didn't recieve results today, but had a couple or so of briefings or so about what we'd expect next year as students. One of the things discussed was an Edusave test which promised that if passed, would garuntee my parents a smaller pay for school fees.

That made me look at the test more seriously. Normal secondary schools in Singapore pay roughly about $7 per month or so, as much as I've heard, and unfortunately for this case I'm not in a 'normal' secondary school. The school fees are as much as $300/+, and the priveledged lot are able to get through the fees well enough.

'Priveledged' is defined here as those who are rich or under programes that help to pay a portion of the fees. And as much as I'm in the Intergrated Programme, I'm still not a Gifted Education Programme student, nor a Music or Art Elective Programme student, and my PSLE score was still 260, 2 points away from an automatic application to the Edusave Scholarship.

And thus as far as the committee in charge of these payment priveledges are concerned, I am not woth the expense.

But PRAISE be to GOD, I have another chance! This scholarship will help my parents out a little more, and I am confident that God has lined it up perfectly as another one of His many gifts for me! And this means that by His name, His stripes and His blood, I can get through this test and claim my blessings!

But this excitement that relief was soon enough slowly died off when school ended and I proceeded to the MPH1 for Land Training. There as I was changing into my tangtop, Mr. Goh called for my name while looking down at the stack of cards in his hand. I said a short prayer, placed my clothes aside and made my way in front of him.

He looked up, and slit out my card from the deck, asking me if the crosses I marked meant that I did the excersize or that I didn't dot he excersize. I checked the tensions in my face to make sure I didn't give the wrong face, and I slowly admitted that it was the former. He then looked down and gave a short chuckle.

(Mr. Goh scolds somewhat like dad: both of them appear happy even when they're shouting and giving sharp comments. And also that they both don't scold that often, but that's not the point.)

He then commented on the lines of me givning him an empty piece of paper and chuckled again before sliding my card back into the deck and turning his attention to Mr. Ismail, who just entered the area at around the same momment. I took it that I was dismissed, and joined the queue of the chin-up bars.

When training started, Mr. Goh announced right after our Warm-up that he was greatly dissapointed that we did not do our programmes during the shutdown, pointing out a few particular dissapointments that included me and my 'empty piece of paper'. I bowed my head down while he was mentioning these dissapointments, but raised my head a little when I heard what he was going to do for running today.

He said he wanted us to run 10 laps on the track (that's 4km, for those who don't know) to see how fit we were in running. Good, I thought to myself. A chance to redeem myself. On Mr. Goh's mark, we jogged to the starting line, where we lined up with the C Division. And at Mr. Ismail's famous whistle, we dashed off for our longest dash since a month or two.

I ran at a good speed; although I didn't time myself,I was beating a good number of seniors and so I took it as a good sign. By the time we were done, it was starting to drizzle, so Mr. See asked us to proceed back into the MPH1. Inside, Mr. Goh was saying that our running was not up to expected and reveiled that today's programme was going to be the same programme as in the cards.

Again, although rather exhausted this time, I thought to myself that I could somehow make up for my 'empty' reputation by giving a good performance today. And so I did everything to my best, not that it differs from what I ussually do but that this time I had my cauntience of my killed reputation in my mind.

Once we all completed the programme, which Mr. Goh made us do twice each, everyone could point out thir own weankeses and strengths. For me, I was weaker in my abdominal power but stronger in my arms and legs. Nevertheless, I was well-relieved during warm-down that it was all over.

After training, I changed back into my dry uniform and bought a hotdog bun to nibble on before leaving for the bus stop. At the bus stop, I met up with Cliff and Abraham, who first greeted by quoting Mr. Goh's 'empty card' statement on me, but later commented that I was pretty fast during running, somewhat too fast for a blank card.

I smiled back, not saying much just in case that they were being sarcastic. At the same time, I praised the Lord that He gave me enough strength to go through today's training and out of it in one piece. It was around this time when I realised what the slow music in my MP3 were meant for. It was more or less a sense of comfort after a tough day of training: I even found myself skipping the fast-paced songs on my way home.

Ah, well. I'm just relieved it's more or less over. May the Lord be with me if there is more judgement to come next training (which is now Saturday this wekk, since Mr. See has to go for a meeting in school to decide a few grades here and there this Thursday). Now to look forward to the good things God's gonna bless me with: Tomorrow's Results' Day, so I'm claiming by faith that I'd get what I requested for!

Isaiah 43:2!!! God bless y'all!!!

Going Down East...

Went cycling with Tim today. Never expected myself to be lagging behind that badly. :S But I guess it's because I've never cycled in a long, long time.

The day begins with me waking up at around 7.15 to quickly change into something light and packing my slingbag with snacks, an extra shirt and a towel. While packing my stiuff, my parents were suggesting that I organise an event of my own to respond to the many events of friends I've been going to.

I then explained to them that as a matter of fact, I was also thinking around the same lines. I have two proposals in my head to give to them, but can't seem to see which is more suitable, let alone which is more likely to be successful.

In Bid A, I plan to invite friends over to my place for a day to help me redo my room! This would involve the moving of furniture, 'part-by-part' re-assembling of my desk and even the painting of my remaining white walls with a shade of blue! The capacity has to be limited, though, since I wouldn't want too many people in my room. The only problem with this plan is that Cashew Heights is still under probation for En-Bloc sales, so it wouldn't be worth it if all the fixing and assembling and painting to not last even half a year.

And in Bid B, I plan to invite more friends to meet up at Bukit Timah Hill, where we'd spend the whole morning (and maybe a part of the afternoon if more rest is required) hiking on Singapore's highest peak! I could guide them to special areas on the hill which are extremely beautiful and which you'd never expect to find on this island, and the fresh natural morning air would do everyone good! The flaw in this plan now is that Some of my friends aren't really that keen in hard activities such as hiking, and wouldn't want to come. Then friends who would only go if these friends went would also back out.

Hmm, anyone has any advice?

Discovering that we didn't have anymore bottles of Ice Mountain water in the kitchen, I asked dad if we could drop off at a petrol station on the way to Tim's house to 'fetch some resources', of which he agreed to, and we were off.

Along the way, dad was teaching me about the market and how pricing of high-ticket items were judged by. Yeah, that's the good thing about dad: He teaches more than what you asked to learn, so you actually become more knowledgeable on the subject then you actually requested to! This is very useful as you never know when those extra details come in handy, and trust me I've already been proven that dad's abundance is always useful!

Say, this actually reminds me of our Heavenly Dad in heaven. He is always willing to bless you, and when you finally turn to Him for his gifts He'll pour out an abundance of it! Not just the measure of it, but an ABUNDANCE of it!!! Amen!!!

Anyway, back to today, dad soon arrives at Siglap, of which dad made a circle or two before we avoided missing the entrance. By now, Tim was calling me since I was 15 minutes late. By the 20th minute, I paced at Villa Marina's entrance and called him to tell him I was finally present.

He went out to greet me with a smile, one which I later realised my face never returned back, and we both went to his house so I could leave my bag there. Taking along with me a bottle of H-two-O and a munchy bar, I followed Tim down to the carpark to check out the available bikes for use (I don't own a bike, mind you, so I had to borrow one from his family).

Tim unlocked both his parents' bikes to see which were fitting for me, during which I was praying to God that I wouldn't mind embarassing myself, but as long as we could enjoy ourselves I'd be thankfully happy. After giving his dad's bike a spin, I chose it for my mode of movement, while Tim choosing, most sensibly, his own bike. We then took the lift up and cycled our way through to East Coast Park.

Along the way, we passed by a mosque which was celebrating Hari Raya. The atmosphere was very strong, and you could definitely tell how united the muslims were (on my way with dad, we both spotted an entire strech of road double-parked with cars!).

Once at ECP, Tim laid out options for our route: Left or right? I looked both ways blakly, then gave a mumbled yes before riding off behind him. Ah, yes, I tought to myself. A very fine day to cycle once again. Let's see what we've still got.

To my shock, however, whatever was still left was nothing much compared to what Tim already had. While I was struggling to keep up, he could easily dash ahead of me at will without realising he actually dashed ahead of me at will. And within a few minutes, my legs were starting to hurt.

I then remembered that I had just ran 5 laps on the Dam Wall at MacRitchie yesterday and so I'm still at recovery stage if my stretching wasn't done properly enough. Which apparently, it partially wasn't. Nevertheless, I gave all I could to keep up, sweating my paddles forward to as close as I could get the boat to Tim's.

Time after time, he had to circle back for me and then crawl foward, before realising he's overtaken again and cycling another loop around me, just so that I won't get left behind. Half of me was comforted with the fact that I was actually helping Tim with his routine by entending the trail everytime he loops around me. The other half is rather obvious.

When we finally came to the edge of the park, which wasn't exactly the edge but we stopped anyway since we were blocked by a costruction site, we rested for awhile so my legs and I could calm down.

"Man, it's definitely been a long time since I've cycled," I mumbled before taking a big gulp og H-two-O. Tim then comforted me with the notification that the other route mentioned earlier on would have been longer, so I was thankful to God for allowing me to take a better choice. We then cycled back down east and parked/locked our bikes up at McDonalds, where I bought myself a breakfast a couple of times much bigger than Tim's McSausage.

Tim stayed at our table to help chope (reserve) it, while I went throughthe queues to tackle my way for the most important meal of the day. When the food came, Tim asked how much he owed me, of which I accidentally tolm the truth of a bit over a couple of bucks. The thought of having the burger on my bill never crossed my mind, and I only realised it when I tucked the cash into my pocket, of which I concluded was a sign to show it was too late to insist. During the meal, we chatted a little here and there about current affairs and movies and cBoxes and so on and so forth.

Once done, we both got to our bikes to unlock them, of which Tim recieved message from Zeik that there was rain coming and that the event had to be cancelled all along. But from where we were, the sky was still a beautiful shade of blue and not a raincloud could be spotted. Until we stood up from the locks, that is, when a tree did not block our view of a rather big and dark one. But even that cloud was obviously very far away, and Tim and I agreed that it'll only rain by the time we finish.

We carried on our journey further east to see how far we could go till we needed to turn back home to arrive at what we arranged to be 10.30 am. Everytime Tim sped up ahead of me, I'd look down at my legs, of which a muscle would twitch from, a sign I've gradually learnt to mean, "Don't you even dare try."

When we estimated it was time to turn around, we could see an entire fleet of stormclouds heading towards us from North-West. But the sky still consisted mostly of the light blue of a beautiful morning at the beach, and so we still rode comfortably back to his house to end of the journey. Locking up the bikes back where they came from, we went to the appartment to tone back down.

"Announcing the arrival of two cyclists!" exclaimed a softly enthusiastic (Tim's) mom as we walked through the door, and after a few seconds the rain began to fall. The three of us were praising God in our own ways; one saying it aloud, one mummuring the agreement tones and one standing silent but with a thankful heart.

Tim's mom then invited me to use their bathroom to wash up in, of which I accepted. She brought me a guest towel, showed me to the toilet and gave me a mini-'guest tour' around the area. She was pointing out the different shampoos available. Once privately on my own, I locked myself in and did all I needed to (let's just spare the details, shall we?).

While bathing, when it was time for me to shampoo my hair, I tried to remember the characteristics of each bottle and brand. The most distinct of the bottles was a blue bottle that was supposedly pH-neutralised so as to suit many, if not any, forms of skin irritation. I was rather aware that Tim had a certain condition after hearing he needed medication during the OEP trip this year, but I never knew what condition it actually was, let alone what exact measures he took against it.

Neverhteless, I chose what I saw the most familiar: Heads and Shoulders. Once done with the soaping as well, which was made easier with only one bar of soap, I gave a final rinse and quickly went out of the shower to change into a new shirt and stuff. I tried to get out of the toilet when I was done, but accidentally forgot that it used a double lock. WHen I finally figured how to get out, I caught a slight glimpse of the family present giggling, something worth the disgraceful misguidance of unlocking a toilet door I guess.

I then observed around Tim's room while he had his turn of bathing. After a few more minutes, everyone was all changed up and ready to leave the house, Tim's family because they had to attend something of family affairs. We then proceeded down to the carpark as a bunch and drove off in their car.

They dropped me off at Kembangan MRT Station, where I stumbled my way to a west-bound train with pre-exausted legs. Instead of taking a simplified route of dropping off at Dover and taking buses back home, I decided I might as well get a haircut while I still had the time. Afterall, my hair was rather in a mess, and I had to clear it up before I returned back to school this coming Tuesday.

After trimming up at the $10 barber at Bukit Panjang Plaza, I bought myself a peanut butter pankake before walking back home for a nice and relaxing final bath and a good rest in bed. The afternoon was more or less topped off with a round of Rise of Nations for the first time in almost a year!

Highlights of the night was just me asking my mom of the possible opportunity prices that we'll have to pay if I wanted to learn an instrument, of which she said that both she and dad were willing to support me in these matters (music passion). How touching! But still, after she laid down the things I'd have to concider, which mostly consist of time management issues, I've limited my options to either the Guitar, the Saxaphone or my Voice. Gotta make a good choice, 'cause I'm willing for all three, but I want the one that'll have the best worth.

Anyone has suggestions in this area too?

Ah, well. Need to attend to other stuff now. Will leave you with this song titled 'Sing Out' by Ron Kenoly. (Yay for Soul Gospel!!! Man, after buying an approved collection of his hits, the songs are still paying in my head. Wonder how long this would last...)



Sing out
The Lord is near
Build Him a temple here
A palace of praise
A throne of thanksgiving
Made for the king of kings

Sing out
A joyful song
He’s love goes on and on
When praises abound
He’s glory surrounds us
Building His temple here
Sing out
The Lord is near

The Lord inhabits the
Song of His saints
And lives in their praises
The Lord inhabits the
Song of his saints
And lives in their praises

Sing out
The Lord is near
Build Him a temple here
A palace of praise
A throne of thanksgiving
Made for the king of kings

Sing out
A joyful song
He’s love goes on and on
When praises abound
He’s glory surrounds us
Building His temple here
Sing out
The Lord is near

We come to worship
Together as one
With Music and singing
Rejoice in all that the
Father has done
Let's lift up an offering

Sing out
The Lord is near
Build Him a temple here
A palace of praise
A throne of thanksgiving
Made for the king of kings

Sing out
A joyful song
He’s love goes on and on
When praises abound
He’s glory surrounds us
Building His temple here
Sing out
The Lord is near

Ezekiel 34:14-15!!! God bless y'all!!!

New Mate Onboard, C'ptain...

Ah, finally (haha) my first Canoeing training in a month! And rather splendid, indeed!

Starts off with me arriving rather early at the Chin-up Bars near the Paddle Lodge. Mr. See was sitting comfortably at the mouth of the pathway, and when I walked closed enough he quickly asked what the 'meeting' yesterday was all about. I explained to him the 'messed-up' Boardroom story from the way I heard it, and his mouth slowly dropped as I went on about the messy details mentioned. Apparently the jaw-dropping was more because he thought I was reffering to Dr. Ong's Boardroom, of which people would obviously get the slaughter if it was meesed up with 'tables overturned' and 'football marks on the walls'.

I then asked him when the Round Ubin Race was taking place, of which he said 2nd of December. I then asked about what the schedule would be like, and he depicted a full-day event, which he added is only 'full-day' because the judges would have to wait for the very last boat to cross the Finishing Line before they could actually start distributing the awards.

Seeing how intense the day may be, I admitted my situation: that is, as much as I was definitely free on 2nd December and was upmost willing to give the tides of the Straits of Johor a good tackle, I would be indeed arriving back to Singapore from KL, Malaysia on 1st December after a 5-day Encounter Jesus Camp.

Understanding clearly what this would lead to, Mr. See explained to me that there was certainly no worries on getting a place and a boat in the registration and at the venue respectively, and so the only concern I should be having would be if I was physically and mentally prepared for a sudden island-span current-tackling harshful-navigating race once my body get's intuned to a relaxing-hotel mood for 5 trainingless days in KL.

I suggested I did more push-ups and sit-ups, but he rebutted saying that it'll take as much as running to keep as much fitness as possible, something dependably hard to find applicable in an outskirts-of-KL hotel. He then said he'll ask Mr. Goh for advice to see if I'd be in good condition to race, at which I nodded in agreement and proceeded to do my chin-ups.

Ghah, just like many others I've lost a bit of strength after not training for a month. My chin-up max. number has drastically dropped, and I'm not in a determined state to believe in God that I can work my way back up to tiptop shape within a month or so! Fellow Christians, please pray for me! :)

At the usual timing the lot of us were given the order to launch, of which I along with a small group had to stay with Mr. See and Mr. Goh to see which boats we'd be using today. At the end o the line, I was permitted any K2 Tiger. Partnering Ting Wei.

Hey, cool!, I thought to myself. Another new partner to try! Let's see what he's got.

We both got our stuff and went to the Upper Sheds, where we took down the Old Tiger and re-configured her to suit our needs before heading out to the pontoon to launch for a rather easy programme to start us back to the training mood. On the water, I was thankful to God that all I could remember about paddling racing-style came back rather smoothly after 250 meters or so out at bay. Steering was more or less auomatic, and my feet knew what to do if I encountered obstacle-situations in the water, especially rescuing capsized boats!

After doing a few laps and beating a few K1s along the way (not much glory for a K2 to beat K1s, but it was nevertheless a good cheap-thrill to start the season :P), I was rather impressed with how syncronized Ting Wei and I were in strokes! Well, Ting Wei would need to work a bit more on timing, and I'd need to work a little more on direction-keeping, but I must say we were rather well-opperated!

After training, Mr. Goh also told me in person that he felt we were very good on the water. Ah, another possible new chapter in my Canoeing life, eh God? Let's see how this one goes...

Once the boats were packed up, we got our shoes on and went running. Ooo, running! A long time since I ran! (a week and a half, but hey!) And where else to run but at the Dam Wall! Haha, the puns were ringing along as we jogged our way to the venue. You could hear phrases like;

"Hey, where're we running today?"
"At the Dam Wall!"
"Dam it! Dam the Dam Wall!"

And we'll all be laughing at the puns we could make up. Once at the Dam Wall, we ran a few laps on the Dam. I came in 4th place! Just behind Neil, Sheng Yi, Ray and Lucas, and just a head of Ting Wei. Once done, we went down the Wall to do a Warmdown and Debrief before eing dismissed.

Decided to rinse before leaving MacRitchie, since I was really stenched with sweat. Rather cooling, but wasn't really worth the towel. Once at home, I rested in bed with satisfaction on how training went today for an hour or more before getting up to eat lunch, after which dad called home to tell me he has left a little assignment beside the computer.

I checked and found a new Samsung printer box ready for unpacking and assembling! Hey, there's more stuff to do! Yay, activities! Haha, at least I wouldn't be bored for the next half an hour or so. Reading the manuals and diagrams, I fixed the cords and wires and cartridges respectively and downloaded the software into the main house computer.

Once everything was assembled, I congradulated myself by not wasting the activation of the house computer, simply by watching a bit of Rowan Atkinson on YouTube. (Come to think of it, a better reward would have been to play Rise of Nations. Darn...)

Ah well, nothing much left to report, just that after dinner when my parents came home, my dad gave a good inspection of the printer and approved of it's standards (Yay, dad!) and also had a chat with mom over what I'd want to do when I reach pre-/post-/University. Apparently, my parents want me to take the Air Force course when I go for National Service, but I still want to go to the Navy. Hmm, wonder how this'll turn out. :S

Well, before I sign off, might as well be faithful of a friend's request, 'ay? Enjoy;

1. Time of starting This?
10.17 pm

2. Were you named after anyone?
Both parents, really. Rae came from the first half of my dad's name, and Miguel came from the fact that it started with an 'M' like my mom's name.

3. Do you wish on stars?
Absoultely not! I trust in the Lord my Heavenly Dad for whatever a want and need and get! Let me hear an 'Amen', p'ple!

4. When did you last cry?
About a couple of months ago, when I was told by my parents that if I couldn't manage my time properly I would be stopped from joining Believers. Apparently, though, I was soon prompted by the Spirit to move on to D.A.R.E., so it doesn't make much difference anyway. But as much as I'm enjoying D.A.R.E., I really miss the people back at Prinsep. I tell you, I have never met such friendly people since the time I visited Japan! But I know very well that if God wants me to move on, it's because He has something better in store! I just pray that I won't miss Prinsep too badly in the proccess...

5. What is your favourite meat?
FISH!!! Yay, fillets!!! Horah, sashimi!!! Bravo, broth-steameds!!!

6. What is your most embarrassing CD on your shelf?
I'm not sure about CDs. But for casset tapes, there's one with a recording of what I sounded like as a young kid. The unthinkable will happen if it fellinto the wrong hands... :O

7. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you?
Hmm, Mig seems like a nice person. I'm not sure, but he's always a kind person to others, and many a times talking about God's grace. Yeah, I guess we are sort of friends.

8. Are you a daredevil?
Depends, actually. I'd take my chances if it is really important to me that I do something particularly daring.

9. How do you release anger?
Complain to God. I'd just tell Him what's bothering me, ask for better alternatives and then end of saying that no matter what happens, I'm still aware that He's still got my back and is still protecting me. Usually works for me, ;)

10.Where is your second home?
I'm at the state where I'm more or less at the same level with all the societies I'm involved in, so I'm not certain of it now.

11. Do you trust others easily?
First impressions do count, but it's rather easy to raise my respect for a person, along with raising my trust.

12. What was your favourite toy as a child?
My security blanket was a bolster I named Finchy (which still sleeps with me to this day, come to think of it), but the toys I played with most were my building blocks. Loved to build things, then get the mega fan to blow it down and see which structures could resist the winds the best! Yeah, good childhood memories...

13. What class in school do you think is totally useless?
I have absolutely no idea.

14. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
Time after time, I guess. Just to keep a slightly funnier athmosphere, supposedly.

15. Have you ever been in a mosh pit?
Wazzat?

16. What do you look for in a guy/girl?
Christ-centered, bubbly, supportive, very active and whom the love of God has favour with everytime I see her! Ooo, and if she's also genre-flexible and can sing, that'll be beautiful!

17. Would you bungee jump?
I made a vow that if I ever returned to Queenstown, New Zeland during summer, I'd give the jump a try. Wonder if I'll ever fufill the promise in my lifetime at all :p

18. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
Nah, too troublesome.

19. What's your favourite ice cream flavour?
Chocolate Chip/Vanila Cream/Caramel

20. What is your favourite colour?
Navy Blue! All hands on deck!

21. What is your least favourite thing?
In my possesion? A particular book that is kept high up in my shelf. I plan to throw it away soon. Maybe rip it apart first. It contains something I'd recomend no one saw or remembered.

But hey, PRAISE be to God that he's set me free to this day, so I can spread the joy of God to those I meet!!!

22. What is your favourite number?
8, the number of new beginnings!

23. What do you miss most right now?
The friends I can really use for company right now. :D

24. What are you listening to right now?
Give to the Lord by Ron Kenoly. Yay, Soul Gospel!!! (Y'know, one thing I'd want to experience in my lifetime is to see an African-American Church chior perform some joyful gospel music! That'll just be so cool!)

25. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
Navy Blue! All crayons on deck!

26. Whats the weather like now?
Dark and cloudy, but cooling nough for a comfortable good night's sleep! That's a good reason why I praise the Lord for this apartment: it's positioned in such a way that natural elements make living so comfortable!

27. Last person you talked to on the phone?
Tim, about meeting him tomorrow for a good mornin' round of cycling.

28. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
Gentleness. :)

29. Do you like the person who sent you this?
Yeah, I respect him as a good friend greatly. :D My face is just too cold to show it. :(

30. How are you today?
Blessed and loved by God!!!

31. Favourite drink?
Ice Lemon Tea! It's such a favourite, I usually reserve it for special ocasions.

32. Favourite alcoholic drink?
White wine. Sweet-tasting, yet doesn't loose the warm effect wine should have. Cheers.

33. Natural hair colour?
Asian black.

34.Favourite colour?
Navy Blue. It's the second/third time already.

35. Wear contacts?
Nope. Never intend to.

36. Siblings?
An elder and a younger sis!

37.Favourite month?
May! My birthmonth!

38. Favourite food?
Char Kway Teow!!!

39. Last movie you watched?
Can't remember, but the next movie I'd be watching would be Balls of Fury! :P

40. Favourite day of the year?
My birthday!

41. Have you ever been too shy to ask someone out?
I had difficulties trying to invite classmates to my birthday. Comprehendo's?

42. Scary movies or happy endings?
Don't they both usually go together? I'd prefer happy endings, though. :)

43. Summer or winter?
Depends on which country. Some are suited for summer, some for winter, and some so special they're still lively through both!

44. Hugs or kisses?
Hugs for now. I'll reserve the kisses for my love-to-come...

45. Do you want your friends to write back?
Their choice.

46. Who is most likely to respond?
Dunno.

47. Who is least likely to respond?
Dunno.

48. What book/magazine are you reading?
The last book I read? The Bible.

49. What's on your mouse pad?
I don't use a mousepad.

50. What did you watch on TV last night?
Last night, nuthin'. The night before, Boston Legal. (Haha)

51. What's your favourite smell?
Smell of good food! Haha, the typical Singaporean answer...

52. Do you regret ever breaking up with someone?
At this stage, it can only apply to best friends, so yeah I miss a couple of friends I've left behind in my past.

53. Time of finishing?
11.17 pm (Cool, one full hour just to finish a quiz! But hey, I was chatting with my mom inbetween, so that's just cheat.)

Isiah 54:10!!! God bless y'all!!!