a fruitful life.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

feel tired and sleepy all the time. :(

eating tr. aileen's brownies now. oh my goodness. it's so nice and moist and soft! and she put macademia nuts! ah..if only there was ben & jerry's vanilla ice cream.

it's resource room day. typed my lab reports and stem cell assignment. yes..still ibook deprived.

trying to catch up with work. start studying for upcoming quizzes. trying to understand horribly difficult concepts. today came 2 hrs early to school to discuss the stem cell assignment. still very confused about some parts. argh. good thing is i still remember my JC statistics from C math! amazing... it's quite fun to do stats again.

dearest sam made new york cheesecake! haha~ i feel so ashamed. the guy is doing the baking haha~ and here i am..becoming a full-time geek. ohmy...the brownie is really nice. i must get the recipe from her and ask sam to make it! naahh...i'll make it... try.

still...i must get my As! even if it means becoming a geek. i did way too badly last semester.

eee...promenthus is drawing near. so exciting. though it burns my weekend nights...still...

yesterday was such a rainy day. it was so cold i had to wrap my shrawl around and had to turn down my room's fan speed. and slept under my blanket like a baby. :) i like my room. it's self sufficient and everything's there. except a built-in toilet. but it's quiet enough for me to study in peace.

making it a point to do quiet time everyday. trying to build up my prayer life too. pastor's book on praying is good! very useful and understandable.

Just thinking of this song.

There Is None Like You

There is none like You
No one else can touch my heart like You do
I could search for all eternity long
and find, there is none like You

Your river flows like a river wide
and healing comes from Your hand
suffering children are safe in Your arms
There is none like You

There is none like You
No one else can touch my heart like You do
I could search for all eternity long
and find, there is none like You

as i sing the song as it plays on my ipod, i was just reminded of how special God is. there is no other one like Him. no one as great, as kind, as merciful, as loving, as gracious as He is. and indeed, no one can touch my heart like He does. everyday i'm reminded of how gracious He is to me despite all my flaws and how He loves me.

and most importantly, as i live each day He is there with me.

whenever i feel alone. He's there.

and that's a real comforting thought :)

This girl posted at 4:57 PM

Sunday, August 21, 2005

yesterday was bethany's 32nd anniversary. as always it was a wonderful occasion held at swissotel the stamford.

we opened service with 3 hymns. To God be the glory, All hail the power of Jesus's name and O for a thousand tongues to sing. familiar favourites. =)

then choir came up with 5 songs. starting with the children and the youth choir singing Lighthouse. it's such a nice and catchy song. the children did actions and the youth choir backed them up in terms of volume. ahh..always such a joy to see them scramble on stage, being all excited. then some 10 children were dressed as colourful see creatures clapping along to the music. it so real cute. such a sunshine-y moment. after the chorus 10 over youth choir members came on stage to execute some rather difficult actions. very energetic. very nice. they even went into no music mode and shouted the lyrics of the chorus while doing some really fast acrobatics. a nice twist. must be kudos to queen-of-actions adelyn.

the next 4 songs were taken by the youth and senior choir. For Such a Time As This, People Need the Lord, which was accompanied by a wonderful video montage on our overseas missionary work in burma, yang gon, india, australia and africa. very touching. then was I Will Be Christ to You, then A World of Difference, where 6 dancers clad in all-black and white face paint danced. very nice! =) only could recognise mel, zhihui and justina.

then pastor spoke from Matthew 25. "Come, blessed of my father..." spoke to my heart. it's nice to think that we are all aware of the suffering and pain outside of my little comfort zone. and i sometimes feel guilty and ashamed that i'm spending like a spendthrift on clothes accessories shoes and fixing my ibook, and forgetting about people who struggle each day to make ends meet. i'm glad that bethany is giving to these people. i'm glad we're building orphanages and churches in such places to lend a helping hand to the people who need help, need us and most importanly, people who need the Lord. i'm glad that bethany collects offerings to help these people. and i'm glad that the people in bethany give so freely and with compassion.

thank you, Lord.

after benediction and postlude went outside to the reception to mingle and talk to people and find out my table number. people at my table were tr. aileen, louisa, glenda, amanda, kathy, lori, lori's friends huiting and phoebe, jaiqi and ruth. dinner was yummy! and it was great fun sitting with tr. aileen, glen, lou and amanda. funny bunch these girls. ah..best to mention the dessert buffet! we were all already quite full from the 8 course meal, but we still wanted to indulge in dessert! there was yummy or ni, or yam paste, cheese cake, chocolate mousse, mango pudding and fruits. =)

after many pictures-taking, saying bye to alvin, who is now on a plane to US... saying byes to the others... we finally headed home at 10.30pm. gave justina jerm and louisa lifts back. not before getting our books written by pastor. on the Lord's prayer.

happy. =)

Lighthouse

if i am salt of the earth
i'll make sure my salt shaker works
and if i am a light on a hill
i will not run when i need to be still
'cos salt can lose its flavour
and a light can grow dim
if i wanna be salt of the earth
and a light to the world and my friends

i'll be a lighthouse shining above
i'll be a lighthouse sharing His love
and if my flame flickers and my well runs dry
i know Jesus lives inside
my lighthouse
my lighthouse

i can't hide oh no
like a seed my roots need to grow
i've gotta share it oh yes
i'm telling others just how i've been blessed
they can come to the harbour of light
if they're shipwrecked again
oh i wanna be salt of the earth
and i alight to the world and my friends

i'll be a lighthouse shining above
i'll be a lighthouse sharing His love
and if my flame flickers and my well runs dry
i know Jesus lives inside
my lighthouse
my lighthouse
question: if you had $1000, and you give $300 away to the poor, how much would you have left?

answer: is not $700. is $300, found in Heaven. if we look at eternity, the $700 you supposedly have left would not mean anything. it'll be spent, or saved, but you cannot bring it with you when you die. but as you give $300 away, it's something you inherit when you enter the kingdom of Heaven. we actually have inheritance.

nice to know. lessons from pastor.

This girl posted at 3:08 PM

Friday, August 19, 2005

i'm so upset.

my ibook's hard disk crashed on me after one year of faithfulness. this sucks. i wonder if i have lost all my precious photos. the lab reports, clay media and all...nah...doesn't matter. my music's backed-up up in my ipod thankfully. but...

my pictures... most of which are not backed-up at home. when i tried to back up using sam's external HDD, i couldn't!!!

so upset. just pray that i can retrieve my photos from the wreckage. pray.

one thing to thank God for is that i'm still under warranty! =) and HD damage is covered. yay.

sigh.

hall production sounds exciting! i'm working with slides and lights. being part of the crew is quite cool. hey it rhymes. i'm so excited. my first time being in a play.

yesterday night we celebrated 2 of my block-mates' birthdays. it was a good thing lin hui and i missed most of the dirty part due to hall production technical crew meeting. by the time we got back they ran out of cake and flour to throw. but still plenty of water, detergent and kiwi. and it was such a cold night! shivering nonstop at first. quickly went to bathe so that i could at least read my lab protocol. but got distracted by everyone else gathered in sam's room to watch the latest blk 36 video production. it's really funny and really quite good! shot it in 1 hr 10 mins, followed by 2 hrs of editing. and post production. that boyfriend of mine is mad. can sacrifice sleep for editing. =

time passes so fast nowadays. i wonder why. 4 weeks of school have passed. we have 10 weeks more till exams start.

scary.

so many things to do. i need better time management skills and abstaining from distractions and getting myself down to study mode. starting with study groups on weekday afternoons with the gang.

craving for new york cheese cake....

This girl posted at 11:59 PM

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

so many things to do. hence a lack of updated posts.

my darling ibook has been giving me some software problems. =( and my warranty expired.

finished with one year of wsc as we see the welcome tea and recruitment interviews. super tiring interviewing people. over 100 peeps came for my rsp youth interview. after the interview still have to meet to QC and discuss potential volunteers. tiring... but saw many friends and bummed around when i took breaks. =)

volunteer management has been a success. 4 wonderful events. many friends made. many scandals. many stories. many happy and sad times. had our last dinner at NYDC. yummy....

co-opting for BS management comm. just giving it a shot. if i get it - yay. if not, there're so many other things to join. most importantly i hope renchun and andrea gets president and vice-president respectively.

starting my very slack work on promethus, hall 7's production. just watched them rehearse till late yesterday night. so interesting! the characters have so much depth and issues and when they come together, it's really quite intriguing. and i nver knew my hall-mates were such gd actors!

got tons of school work to catch up with. and a major scientific paper to analyse, critique and comment on. on what else but stem cells. but the good thing is i'm learning a lot. and sometimes it's really quite amazing. how everything works.

now i know why everyone wants a single room. especially my room which is the corner one. you get total privacy. no one walks by your door. it's quiet unless your neighbours make noise. you get your own cosy little private space to do whatever you want. just one afternoon in my little room. alone. i vacuumed and mopped my floor, boiled water, settled down to surf the net, do tutorial, start on my scientific paper assignment, then felt sleepy so took a 1-hr nap, woke up slack ard, eat biscuits, continued with assignment, got fed up with all the foreign terms, so came to blog. nice lazy afternoon.

went to watch fireworks! so nice. the one by france is so french! at one part the music and the dancing spiral fireworks really reminds me of it. there were sooooo many people at marina south. so many.

before that went to church to help rachael with her chem. i think the acjc prelims are just as bad as tj's.

as i read the questions and answered her queries, memories of those mugging periods came back. ohman. then i wondered how i managed to survive all of that. how i remembered all my facts and memorised all my equations and chemistry. and since i didn't know the Lord then, i think He did help me along. i just didn't realise. He was there all the time.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you."
Jeremiah 1:5

bethany's anniversary is this sat. =)

love this song.

I look to the shepherd
He meets all my needs
beside the still waters
He faithfully leads

bringing peace to my soul
as His love makes me whole

surely goodness and mercy shall follow me, follow me
all the days of my life
surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all my life

This girl posted at 6:02 PM

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

national day fireworks so pretty. so sad i couldn't go see. but from the tv at home, they look so nice! i love the star-in-a-circle ones. with the simultaneously firing of fireworks at 5 places, it's quite jaw-dropping. nice to think our skies were momentarily lit up with pretty fireworks. =)

didn't see my SHSS friend samuel, who was holding one of the flags standing behind the 4 GOH contingents. he's holding his unit's flag if i'm not wrong. proud of him. =)

nice ndp parade. i like the heartlands concept. makes me feel the whole of singapore was not left out in the celebration. not tix at padang? catch it near your house! got fireworks can already.

dad was at the yishun one. brought back the fun pack! haha~ not bad lah. fave thing is of course the nokia phone torchlight. at first i thought it was a real phone! nokia also sponsored last year and sis was saying some people actually called nokia up and ask why it couldn't be used! ohman...how thick can they get? then i told her nokia could do what willy wonker did! put 5 real nokia phones among the funpacks. haha~

just watched charlie and the chocolate factory. it's so nice! again as i said. it's tim burton+johnny depp. depp was really hilarious. i love him in this and pirates of the carribean. love the story, love the songs, love the lyrics, love the sets, love the squirrels!, love the chocolate...ohman..., love the shots and cinematography.

ok..here goes part 2.

40 things i love about singapore - part two.

21. fireworks during ndp parades.
22. sentosa! the island of our island.
23. wireless networks keep us connected with each other and the rest of the world.
24. my wonderful friends of all ages, from all walks of life, from all sorts of religions, races and nationalities.
25. singlish. our very own language. lah~
26. the straits times. channel news asia. from being quite unbiased.
27. 4% economic growth in the first half of 2005. not bad.
28. started from small fishing village to what we are now. vibrant cosmopolitan city.
29. flea markets.
30. the CBD/fullerton/singapore river/VCH/esplanade skyline. beautiful.
31. esplanade aka the 2 durians. overheard 2 europeans during a WASBE concert. "you have to admit this is one magnificent hall (pointing to esplanade concert hall)."
32. surviving the economic downturn/high unemployment rates in 1997 onwards.
33. our sole olympic medallist - tan howe liang, and our neverending, never-say-die attitude towards our 2nd medal at the olympics.
34. corrinne may. wonderful musician, lyricist and singer. ndp should get her to pen next year's theme song and sing it. tanya chua comes a close 2nd.
35. statue of sir stamford raffles. our founding father. thank you.
36. endless government-induced policies and "propaganda". quite hilarious. romancing singapore? make more babies? hurhur.
37. shopping paradise! from the cheapest to the most expensive. we have it all. 24/7.
38. petrol stations discount wars.
39. government finally losing up and getting more hip. eunice oslen/former beauty queen in parliament, sex and the city on cable, cosmopolitan mag on sale and safe sex drive.
40. opportunity to worship the Lord freely.

my favourite national day theme song so far is still home. it's beautiful. let me try and recall the lyrics. (ETA: forgot 2nd stanza.)

Home
music by dick lee

whenever i am feeling low
i look around me and i know
there's a place that would stay within
wherever i may choose to go
i will always recall the city
know every street and shore
sail down the river which brings us life
winding through my singapore

this is home, truly
where i know i must
where my dreams wait for me
where that river always flows
this is home, surely
as my senses tell me
this is where i won't be alone
for this is where i know it's home

happy birthday.

This girl posted at 11:27 PM

Monday, August 08, 2005

yay...there's clack now! with the jukebox tour happening. so many new songs clay's singing. more covers plus 2 originals. wishing the download could be faster... long time no watch clay videos!

been taking candid shots in school using camera phones. haha~ bunch of camera-crazed people. for some pictures go to http://www.maeshajo.blogspot.com carlene's blog.

can't the download go any faster?

i like my new room!! =) it's so cluttered because i haven't unpack my stuff out of the bags and louisa's things are around. but i'll pack them! then it'll be nice. single room actually quite shiok. i feel free to do whatever i want and i enjoy the serenity i get sometimes.

today was a long day in school, but filled with much laughter. really. first i have my crazy tutorial mates to thank. then was irritated with my microbio tutor/graduate student 'cos he refused to answer our questions. but more laughs followed. then i have my hall mates to thank. laughed non stop the way home in wayne's uncle's car. nice prelude to national day.

watching charlie and the chocolate factory. so exciting. tim burton+johnny depp never ever fails to impress. oh must check movie times....

an institute in south korea just cloned a dog. quite amazing. and it is really cute with an extremely cute name. snuppy. =) it's the kind of names that i'd grin upon hearing it, and involuntarily gush...awww...so cuteee.... which reminded me of our microbio lecture today. someone told peter preiser if he could upload the lecture notes sooner to prevent a pandemonium at the copier machine. he said to forgive me, 'cos he has a 5 week old baby at home! come to think of it shouldn't the baby still be at the hospital? anyway we all went aawwww upon hearing it and he grinned and assumed we forgave him. haha~ quite funny moment in lecture.

anyway i think snuppy was created amidst much controversy over stem cell research and the use of embryos and whatnots. aside from the amazing feat the scientists have achieved after dolly the sheep, how many dog embryos have they wasted and destroyed? ohman...dogs are like my favourite animals.

and i was really surprised at our first microbio tutorial, where one of the questions got us thinking about when life begins. and the surprising thing is that many of my tutorial mates said it begins at fertilisation! if they truly believe it, how are they gonna work on stem cells in future? haha~ ironic. of course i said fertilisation.

anyway have been thinking about singapore's big 4-0. getting middle aged huh. wonder if singapore would get through a bout of mid-life crisis. hurhur. how long have we come to beat all the odds. when the issue of migration comes into conversations, i always say i'd most probably not migrate.

because this is my home.

let's see...

40 things i love about singapore - part one.

1. my home.
2. safe and safe. safer. safest.
3. low crime rate
4. no major natural disasters.
5. mr. lee kuan yew.
6. my friends. each and everyone of them.
7. the education i received.
8. the food! this is endless. the types of food and places to eat. endless. everyday i'm discovering new places to eat good food.
9. stable political environment. no riots. no strikes.
10. because we are small, we have efficiency in many aspects. which includes
11. getting info to the masses.
12. transport.
13. education.
14. nabbing hit-and-run drivers.
15. nabbing body parts murders.
16. nabbing terrorists with a plan to destroy our home.
17. isolating SARs victims and getting the virus contained.
18. hosting major events wonderfully. IOC session. WASBE conference.
19. help pours in from singaporeans whenever our neighbours need help. indonesia. banda aceh. sri lanka.
20. SAF for not only being prepared always for defence, also extending relief help to disaster-striken countries.

to be concluded....

loving this song now.

Angel in Disguise
Corrinne May

i woke up this morning feeling kind of blue
and i stumbled out of bed and
dragged my feet across the room
right outside my front door was a rose
and a note that said "somebdy loves you"

but out on the street it starts to pour
and before i get soaking wet
a total stranger runs to give me
the jacket off his back
i turn around to thank him
but he waves me with a smile
i can hardly believe my eyes
he puts on a halo and starts to fly

take a look at the ordinary
don't need to look at Paradise
you could be next to
an angel in disguise

i met a good friend for lunch
and we had a delicious meal
but i forgot to bring my wallet
i felt like an imbecile
but she was sweet, she gave me a treat and
bought me a chicken sandwich
to take home for tea

but out on the street with nothing to eat
a man and his shopping cart go
traveling to places
collecting social graces
i give him my sandwich
and we chatter for a while
i see a rainbow wash over his eyes
he gives me his halo and
i start to fly

take a look at the ordinary
don't need to look at Paradise
you could be next to
an angel in disguise
don't try to hide away from me
i know you're by my side

take a look at the ordinary
don't need to look at Paradise
you could be next to
an angel in disguise
everyday can be legendary
every minute, an endless surprise
you could be next to an angel in disguise

i woke up this morning
feeling kind of new.

she always writes good lyrics and music. :)

This girl posted at 11:34 PM

Saturday, August 06, 2005

tomorrow is the Move! i'll definitely miss my lovely room where many memories are forged. i had so much fun with louisa, talking into the night, eating, watching tv, and more talking and saying good night and good morning almost everyday. and of course, seeing her everyday and being able to unload all my grouses and problems onto her. =) thanks a lot babe.

then of course, there're instances where my crazy friends from the blk will come into my room, share food, chocolates, cakes, nice biscuits, cereal and watching DVDs and tv together. or just talking and crapping around. late into the night.

then there's sam, where many beautiful memories were forged. of conversations aplenty.

hmmm. gonna miss it.

i think my new room is gonna be really cluttered. but hopefully it's just neatly cluttered. so it becomes cosy! =)

had my first lab session yesterday. quite nice to be doing practicals again, with carlene. =) it was a microbiology lab. so we basically prepared microscope slides of various types of bacteria, stain them and observe them under microscope. the techniques we used were cool. and the first part we actually used sterile swabs (CSI fans, it's the cotton bud swab that they always use to pick up blood evidence) and swabbed our hands to pick up microorganisms and place them on an agar plate so that they'll multiply and grow. then we washed our hands and repeated the procedure. so we're gonna see what kind of horrid microorganisms and bacteria are on your hands, right now! haha~ so fun.

after lab we went to JP for lunch in edward's car. had mos burger! niccee...then we realised body shop has a BIG sale! i bought over $30 worth of products all on sale. stuff for sam, my room and tolietries.

today was RSP day, where we showcased all the regular service projects of WSC. there was the elders, hearing impaired, intellectually disabled, youth and visually handicapped. picked up more sign language from my HI friends. must pick up and try and remember more! =) the day went by quite smoothly. at times where i'm not involved we were there playing volleyball, monkey or bridge. 's been a long time since i played bridge. contract or floating bridge.

was sitting in during the WSC welcome tea session on thurs night. and as i looked at the super-packed lecture theatre, where us seniors had to stand/sit along the aisle 'cos there's absolutely no seats left... there are people who actually care. the spirit of volunteerism is actually alive in ntu. and i was very heartened. after the whole NKF fiasco i was worried people who have lost their faith in volunteering. and as i see the seniors talk about their different RSPs and what they do with their beneficeries, it's just so uplifting. haha~ people who actually give their time and effort to make a difference in these people's lives. today i saw how the RSP ID volunteers handled their intellectually disabled trainees, it was quite nice to see.

feeling inspired. =)

This girl posted at 10:46 PM

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

ok. school has started for real.

i sit in lectures and sometimes i wonder what in the world my prof is talking about. tutorials have been surprisingly very nice. lots of interactive discussions of microbiology, the media's attention on certain diseases and whether it was valid, and also the never-ending debate of when does life begin.

just not enough time to debate enough.

hopefully these sort of tutorials last thru' out my years in NTU.

must get motivation to start studying.

wsc has been keeping me very busy. we just finished one day of the wsc fair at can B. yesterday night was up till 10 plus setting up my rsp youth and vm booths. today was there for 3 hrs plus, bumming around the 2 booths and going around the other booths disturbing my friends. was quite fun. oh and catching up on gossip ha~ sometimes don't know which booth to help out. so i go take pictures for my pnp obligations.

so tmr another day of wsc fair, then dinner with vm people, followed by the welcome tea session. then saturday is rsp day for the entire day. miss church. =( then next thurs and fri night is the recruitment interviews.

busy busy.

another happening thing is that i got a single room in hall 7! same block same floor. living alone is gonna be a whole new thing. different. i still miss louisa.

just watched the notebook the movie in my rm. it's quite nice! much to my surprise. pretty lovely love story. the 2 leads are really attractive! the guy ryan gosling is so handsome. rachel mcadams very pretty. i think some issues in the film really spoke to my heart. so it was a gd movie. =)

found this super cool site from xiaxue's blog...strictly for harry potter fans and strictly for those who have already read the 6th book, harry potter and the HBP. it explores many theories surrounding the death of the D person.
dumbledoreisnotdead.com

argh...still got problems with adding my general elective. i wanna take forensic science!! and there's a vacancy! but they don't allow me to take it...whywhywhy....... even though i know quite a few things from CSI and books and my own bio knowledge, i still wanna take it! so i can be like grissom! haha...minus the insect-ology part. it's disgusting.
ETA after 2 mins of posting this post: the vacancy is gone!!! argh. someone who could add the subject added it and i couldn't add because stupid STARS wouldn't allow me to add! how unfair is that? i could have gotten the place. going to office of academic services tmr to settle this.

and i realised people in wsc are really nice people! not i'm trying to toot my own horn here. but it's so easy to make friends in wsc 'cos everyone is so friendly. even just working on wsc fair or rsp day, i got to know many people within such a short time! and they're all so willing to help out even though you barely know each other. of course, those that you've worked with before for a long time, the bond is there and we have tons of fun even just doing boring booth duties together. that's why i probably will join back vm. of course irene the new head must agree. think quite a number of us are staying, 'cos we just have so much fun! =) so yeah~ conclusion - people in wsc are nice. so join wsc!

This girl posted at 8:16 PM