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!!!

Paul, Timothy, and who?...

Continuing from the last post, I ate an early breakfast at 4, then fell asleep again. x_x*

Woke up again at 8.15, slightly dissapointed that I wouldn't be able to make it for the Main Service today. At least there's still Lighthouse and Believers! So I ate a second round of breakfast, then took a bath before hitching a ride with Mom to Bras Basah Road.

We left the place at around 9.30, so reaching Bugis would mean... 10ish?

As I walked to Prinsep Presbyterian Church, I prayed that God would teach me something special today in whatever that would happen in Church. Let's just say I still had a little doubt to satisfy for joining PLH.

On the way, I felt rather thirsty and remembered that the last time I drank water was about 7 or more hours ago. So checking that I still had enough cash, I droped by at a nearby 7-Eleven to buy a drink.

In my wallet, I had a 2-dollar, a 5-dollar and a couple of 10-dollar notes. Making sure I had enough for offering and lunch, I looked around to see what I could buy with the 2-dollar note. I finally found a bottle of Jasmine Green Tea ($1.70)and brought it to the counter to pay.

At the counter, the Malay lady attending the stall said that they're selling those kind of drinks at an offer of an extra bottle for another 20 cents. She adviced me to take the offer, and despite my concience about not knowing if drinks were allowed int he halls of PLH or not, I took it up.

Packing the two bottles of Green Tea into my slingbag, which was a lot more than I expected rom just $2 at a 7-Eleven stall, God then told me, "Today, I'll be teaching about My grace in prosperity and peace! Get ready!..." (As if learnt in my walk with Christ, this is suppos to be one of those momments when I get excited 'cause I know something interesting's gonna happen soon!)

Once at Prinsep Church, I went to the Library to relax and wait for the Main Service to end and for Lighthouse to begin. While waiting, I decided to do the Bible workbook which they gave out. (Man, it's been a long time since I've seen these kind of books. About as long as the last time I've been in my previous cell group...)

The topic we've last left off was about the 'Conditions of Prayer' and 'For Whom Do You Pray?'. And what other ways can you ask for prosperity and peace than through the words of prayer?! I read along and saw the questions that went by, and was impressed by the way they organized their facts.

For example, Question 7) asks, "What conditions of prayer do you find in the following verses? - Psalm 66:18, Matthew 21:22, John 15:7, John 16:24, 1 John 5:14-15" Lets look at the verses now, shall we...

Psalm 66:18

18If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;

Matthew 21:22

22If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

John 15:7

7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

John 16:24

24Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

1 John 5:4-15

14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

It was interesting how many details I saw with the book, but when I was finished with the topics covered for today, I kept my book back in my bag and got out my MP3 to listen to for the remaining time. And just as I looked back up, Tim's sister was just right infront of me!

At first, I didn't recognise her so I didn't respond when she kept staring at me. Then she said a soft, "Hi!", of which my memory was jolted back and so I said, "Hi!" back to her again. We then chatted for a while and looked around at other books and sceneries before she ended the conversation and I sat back in my chair to listen to more MP3 tunes.

Soon, I notice that the crowd was increasing outside the Library, so I assumed that the Main Servie was over. Tim's dad came into the room and attended to Tim's sis, who pointed at me and introduced the both of us again. We then had a short chat about Tim's mom and the History Project I did with Tim, before I told them I had to go for Lighthouse, of which TIm's dad pardoned me off.

And coincidentally, the momment I turned around to get to the door, Tim popped out. For a momment, I felt like those oldies' scenes when the cops confine a criminal with their cars and shout out, "Alright, Mugsy! Surrender now - We've surround'd the house! Put'cha hands up in the name of 'eh law!"

I gave the ussual short salute as he walked in and met ith his dad and sis. I then walked out of the room, keping close to Tim so I knew what was going on for now. As we went up to Lighthouse, along with other PLHers like Zeik and friends, I admitted to Tim that I woke up extremely early this morning so I might be drousy for the latter half of the day.

And at the same time, Tim handed over the notes for today's sermon in the Main Service. What shocked me the most was that the Opening Song was none other than Ancient of Days! For a little introduction, Ancient of Days had played a great role in motivating me through my first year in ACS(Independent) and as such I highly reguard and like that song.

And it was played in the service I missed! My stomach sank, along with my heart if it had wanted to join in. But I told myself God might not have wanted me to come for a reason anyway, so the guilt of not being able to attend passed off.

For Lighthouse, we sang songs (as ussual), welcomed each other (I always have a hard time in this one, but I know I'll have to go through this one time or another. Now, how many times did I tell myself, "It's just a handshake, stay cool..."?), did worship, then dismissed to cell classes.

At around this time, we also found that Kirby's now with Han Jie's Church. Well, good thing he's found a place to settle down at! As long asthe Grace of Christ is taught there, it should be fine for him...

Anyway, we had loads of fun back in class, and jokes were shared here and there at good timings. I'm apparently titled now as the Migtionary in this class with my assumably greater knowledge in vocabulary and Biblical references. Especially when I saved everyone from doing homework by answering A.J. that the word 'hallowed' means 'sanctify'.



Then sometime later, we came to the topic of a meet-the-parents session later in the year and who's parents A.J. knows already. He claimed that he has met all of our parents, of which Zeik rebutted with the two new Chinese-educated guys that have just joined us and me.

"Well," he said, after stating that he's even met the moms of the two boys, "I don't need to meet with Miguel's mom - he's already ived up to his name."

Tim turned and asked, "What does 'Miguel' mean, anyway?"

"Michael means 'Who is like God?'", I responded softly, turning back to A.J. when he continued proceeding through the book.

Soon, we had to be dismissed and Tim and I went down to check when we had to return for Believers. While Tim was asking, Zeik asked me why I keep following Tim around most of the time. Tim then told him I was also joining Believers, of which Zeik emphasized, "He can sing?!"

I was a little wobbled, since I was still stuck in my 'lower-than-what-the-piano-can-play' situation. But then we soon ended the conversation, and Tim and I went to an Ah Mei's nearby to eat fried rice, then headed back. We took the elevator, with Tim commenting that we "Dunnid to burn calories, lor."

Once upstairs, told us to go to Sim Lim Square to buy CDs to burn the music for the musical, so we had to go down again, of which I told Tim back that we "nid to burn calories after all."

After searching around a couple of storeys of Sim Lm Square in search for CDs, we found a good shop and bought the stack of disks before heading back to Church, commenting on the History Movie along the way.

For Believers, I tried singing some of the songs, but could clearly see the frame which my voice was limited to so far. Going low was no problem for me (I can go about 3-4 ctaves low, as I was to find out later...), but it's the high notes I need to practice on (Can't even hit the plain C).

After some singing, we then practiced on the dance steps. Time after time, there would be food breaks, of which Tim would go to the back to shake me up and try to teach me the names of the Believers. I had a rough idea of who's who, but most likely I'll be forgetting again. It'll take me some time before I remember them all anyway, so no rush I guess.


On one of the breaks, Tim looked at the piano score of Go Light Your World and saw how low the bass hand had to play. Qurious, he decided to play the note and see if I could swoop low enough to sing it. It was a D note about 4 octaves under the middle C, and I reached i flat on the note!

Yay! For once, I saw where I was special in singing! For now, I can reach notes very low, somewhat beyond the grasps of Tanners, and so even I have notes only people like me can touch! But then Tim played The Phantom of the Opera on the same octave, and I was scared in a split-second.

In my mind, I was like 'Hey! Tryin' to emphasize sumthin, punk?' kinda surprized. For one thing, I take it that that was the correct octave to play The Phantom of the Opera. That means that songs that I can uniquely blend in would be... opera?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

NO!!! I do NOT want to join OPERA!!! I mean, with my greatest for some of the greatest scores in the Romance Era, I'll feel and look creepy for an opera singer...

Back to rehersals, there was more dancing, more breaks, more dancing, more break, even more dancing, even more breaks, and soon we called it a day. Aunty Lisa (I hope I got this right) asked us to form into groups of 4 so we could each 'hallow' our efforts for today. For once, I managed to pray for the team(!). God bless us and our musical!

The singers were then dismissed, but TIm and I decided to stay back a little longer to watch the drama rehersals. I caught a glimpse of the script, and also of the play as it was acted out, but soon we had to leave since Tim's parents needed him back by theshold-hour.

It's interesting how everyone in the hall, whether rehearsing or just resting, was friendly enogh to wave goodbye to us as we walked out! Yeah, this place sure is friendly. Split off from Tim at the first light-junction, since I found that Douby Gouht (Is that how you spell it?) and the 700 was just the same distance from the place, but in the wrong direction.

Once at home, ate bee hoon dinner with mooncake and watermelon supper. Never had something so traditional in a long time.

Well, better do that piece of work Mr. Tay assigned me with. The cover page for the GEP 2008 booklet is at hand!... (I need help: What's the first image that comes to your mind when you hear the word 'Stereotypes'?)

Oh, and if you're interested in wathing the musical, Thief of Always, 8th & 9th September (Sat & Sun), 7.45pm & 4.30pm resectively, Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' Secondary School (PLMGSS) Concert Hall, BY ALL MEANS ask me or TIm or any of the Believers/PLHers with brouchers and invitations! I've seen it bit by bit, and I garuntee a night to remember!


Matthew 21:22! God bless y'all!

Blood and jeansley flesh...

First day as a proper member in Lighthouse. Hmm, went rather average, if you ask me. Let's start from the (end of the) beginning...

Woke up at around 7.45, and was informed by my Mom that she could give Kirby and I a lift to the church on her way to New Creation. I said I already arranged with Kirby to meet me at the bus stop down Petir Road to take a 700 to Bugis, then fell asleep again.

The second time I woke up, I went to wash-up and eat a quick breakfast before going to change/pack up for Lighthouse. My Mom then re-offered her lift proposal to Bras Basah, which is conveniently nearby Bugis. I soon gave in after realising that this would give Kirby and I an extra hour to rest first before we leave, so I tried to SMS Kirby about the new plans.

Soon, it was time to go again, and Mom and I left for the car. I informed her that I still haven't recieved any comfirmation that Kirby recieved my calls/SMSs, so we decided to drive by the bus stop just in case. When we got there, I checked the bus stop (and also the neighbouring one) with no Kirby in sight, and after calling for many contacts to find Kirb's house number, I couldn't find it at all. I knew that Tim had his nuber, but I doubt he'd respond in the middle of the Main Service.

Having done all that I could, I asked my Mom to drive past Kirby's house just to check one last time if he's out of the house, which he apparently wasn't, so we then drove ahead without him. Mom dropped me off before the National Library, and I walked the rest of the stretch to PLH (I hope I got the spelling correct).

Once int he building, I went to the library room, which Tim told me (and Kirby) to meet up with him at. While waiting, I went to look around at the variety of books they had. It was more or less Christian journals on one side of a wall, and Christian stories on the other. Another corner had cassets and CDs, and the last corner was, well, the door. Having a seat on one of the roller chairs, I scrolled sideways towards a book titled 'Pursuit for Holiness' and started reading the first few pages.

While reading, I heard the voice of what I thought was an upper-primary boy swearing a lot and saying how much 'I give up on life'. Hearing it over and over again, I decided to see who was muttering all the racket. I lowered the book I was reading, only to be surprized that it wasn't a young boy, but a girl.

I knew it was normal for an older girl to sound like a younger boy, but what shocked me was how she was blunting out all those comments about giving up her life and all, and I almost had the mind to stand up and tell her that "This is a house of God, and I would very much appreciate it if you gave the life God gave you a little more respect."

I mean, by all means share about your problems in life with fellow brothers and sisters of Christ in a Church, but don't so candidly talk about suicide or cursing until it becomes too much a habit that about every conversation involves a sadistic thought. But I saw a bit of the book in my hands that told me not to get too caught up on the situation, so I stayed with the book.

Later, a few people from the same Bible Stuby Class as me came in and was fetching someone from the room, when they saw me and said that Lighthouse was about to start, so I followed behind them and went out of the room. But then I remembered that Tim still wants to meet us here anyway, so I went back inside again.

Preparing myself for the Bible Study, I dug out a pen from my bag and placed it into my pocket, which was around the same time Tim, Zeik and another tall ang-moh ('Western-looking') guy walked in to see if I (originally 'we') were present. I explained to Tim I tried to find Kirby, but he was apparently MIA. He called Kirby's house (finally) and found out that he overslept.

Well, at least that answers a question or two. After being omfirmed that he was going to come next Sunday, we al went up the stairs to the hall up in the roof. On the way up, Tim was explaining to me that the new character was Hudson, and that he wasn't exactly a new character - just that he migrated to the States about 4 years ago and now the only things he remember of this Church was Zeik and Tim.

Well, I guess I wasn't gonna be the only one nervous this morning.

During Worship, we sang a few songs (and half-way through, we sang the welcome song, which was starting to creep me out in the sense that I - being a new kid in the block - was partially in a state of panic after not knowing which hands to shake) and then singing a few more songs and giving the offering. It was followed bya few announcements on Church affairs around the country and then a few verses to remember for the week.

We were then dismissed to our classes, of which I went alone since Tim had to go for a Youth Committee meeting first. When I got to the room, Zeik was beggin me to sit between him and the girls, of which the girls were requesting me not to do in response. I didn't know which was better - sitting beside Zeik with the satisfaction that I saved a life, or watching him suffer from being attacked by smacks and jokes by the girls - but I just decided to stay my ground since I was already comfortable where I was seated.

Soon enough, everyone who needed to be present was present, and we began lessons on how the Bible will help us in life. This went rather well, and time after time we all had a chance to answer the questions. One thing, though, was that I wasn't sure if we were being thought the Book of Laws, or the Gospel of Grace. There's a difference, but they're both in the Bible, and one acts as an introduction to the other, the other being the perfect redemption from the first.

We finished early, and after a closing prayer we were dismissed early as well. Tim and I went out to eat lunch before we would come back for Believers. Tim told me a list of eat-outs around the area we were in and asked what I'd like to eat. So noticing that my legs were still slightly shaking from the fact that I was still shy back there in Believers, I span around and tried to see where I'd end up pointing towards.

"Subway."

We walked down a few junctions and prayed that Tim remembered the way, which was ironically answered with a large sign above our heads reading 'SUBWAY'. We went to the shop and bought our stuff, which I did first because Tim needed to go to the toilet first. I bought an Italian B.M.T. without the meal (opps...), said Grace and ate.

I then had a chat with Tim about the music scores and thigs related tot he sort (Note: When I say 'chat' during a one-to-one situation, always expect large chunks of silences inbetween the conversation.) and he showed me a few scores to look through. Once we were done with our sandwitches, we headed back to PLH, along the way meeting lots of people also from PLH.

Once at the 'music room', we saw it was bare, and so we played around with the piano and practiced a few scores. Time after time, we'd display our best pieces; his being The Phantom of the Opera, and mine being He's a Pirate. He also tried to teach me how to read notes, but it was more or less the same thing everyone tells me. The only problem with me reading notes isthat I'd have to read every secific note from the 'C' or 'Doh', and that's a lot more pain-staking than just playing out of memory or by ear.

Soon, more and more Believers came to the room, and the different ranges were forming their groups; the Sopranos giggling away in their lady-chat manners (something you wouldn't mind watching/listening to at all) and the Basses making active jokes here and there with their flexible heavy voices.

Tim asked Shaun (or is it Shawn? Oh, for those who don't know, this guy is the, well, recognised Embassador of the Basses? Yeah, I'll put it that way) to comfirm that I'm a Bass as well, and after saying, "Hi." he was truely certain, later singing to the tune of Drunken Sailor as Tim was playing it on the piano.

Soon enough, practice started, and we sat in our ranges. Shaun was sharing his scores with me, so that he could help me pitch with them. But after singing a few rounds, he noticed that I always sung one octave lower than the required notes. Asking me to sing a few notes higher, I ended up having nothing coming out literally. I was declared out of range, which isn't a bad thing 'cause I can just try to expand my range day by day, but being a Bass 4 means I'm just as good as an opera singer.

Looking through the score, I saw that there was no note within my reach until two songs from then, so I patiently waited during the other two songs. And even on that particular song, the part of it within my range is at the back fo the score, so I'm more or less useless at this point.

So this is why I never sing along to the music I play. The reason why I don't speak that confidently when at casual with new people. The reason why no one actually finds me singing at randomly appropriate timings like Hao Qing or Kenneth or Marcus Chua. I'm just too low to sing a modern pop song. WHat scares me now is that if my octave really is that low, I'm right now only useful for Opera, Honkeytonk and 50's Souls. Which creeps me out imagining how I'd look like performing them respectively.

Soon, it was time for dancing lessons. Was told not to share too much, so I'll try to keep it simple. I didn't have a role in the upcoming musical the Believers were setting up, so I went to the back of the class to watch, which for a few seconds made me feel like Mumble from the movie Happy Feet. I then watched as the rest of the guys were figuring out ways to blend the dance steps together wit the music, which in the end they found out how.

We then had a little 'derief' on what would be covered next week and the events to come for the group. We closed in player, and were dismissed, shortly told to come back to celebrate the birthday of one of the seniors. Ice-cream cake never felt so hard, but the cookies-and-cream flavour worked well enough.

I went off with Tim to Bugis MRT Station and had a small conversation about PLH/Believers/School affairs before leaving our separate ways (of the Green East-West Line). I took a train to Somerset and was about to get a 700 home when my parents called to say that the family was going to eat out at Orchard for dinner, so I took a bus to Borders and went to Isetan's Food Republic to help get a table for them.

When we all met up, we bought some stuff to eat (ghah! Their Fried Kway Teow is spicy!) and had supper at the Toast Box, later dropping by some digital product shops to look atround. (I thought I heard my Dad saying he intends to buy a Play Station 3. Oh no - I don't know how to play...)The ladies then went down to buy a watch, and we all left for the car in Dad's office to go home.

On the drive back, while Morriel was playing some of Choppy's Japanese Pop songs, I was telling the rest of the car about my day with the Believers. They then each also shared their encounters with their own choir lives - Mom had traumatising momments with the nuns at her old school and their methods in ensureing the right pitch, while Choppy had faint memories of Mr. Chew back in Nanyang and also of her solo which she performed live on a National Day about a decade ago.

After the drive, we went back home to empty out and relax for the week ahead. Well, to sumarise what I felt about PLH today, I was slightly alarmed on how much we touched on the Laws in the Bible. We now live in the New Testament, and as such we should be following the Grace, not the Law, of Christ. Wasn't that the reason why he died on the cross in the first place? To pay the price we all owed the Law so we could all be worthy to enter God's precense, and through so we could recieve His eternal love?

But that was just one day. I'll come again next week and see if the same thing happens. But for now, I'm still satisfied that I've not only found brothers and sisters to worship God with, but also that I've found another method of praising His name and spreading the Good News!

Well, that's about it. God bless y'all, and g'dnite!!!