Tuesday 24/02/09: Went for work in the morning and in the evening, went for caregroup with VJC people, where we prayed for new seeds in the school so that we can build a large and prospering caregroup.
Wednesday 25/02/09: Had a caregroup outing with my caregroup; Me, Louis Hor, Li Yin, Shi Wei, Nicole and Chloe. It was Part One of our fun session together, whereby we took turns to do stuffs that some of us like, so that we can understand each other better. So it was Li Yin's and Nicole's turn and they decided to meet at East Coast Park and cycle. It was kind of what i like too haha. We rented 2 double bikes and 2 single bikes. Louis Hor doesn't know how to cycle so i had to cycle with him. I did some tricks and he got really scared! Haha. We cycled all the way to Changi beach area and turned back, cycled a total of 2 hours. Anyway, it was a enjoyable session together, except that Nicole was sick that day and Chloe accidentally knocked into a kerba and suffered a bit of a shock. She was silent for most of the period after that. Nevertheless, it was a great bonding session.
After cycling, i decided to go back to VJC to bathe. When i opened my bag, i realised that my bag is soaked with soap, because apparently the bottle wasn't closed tightly and it leaked out. Lol. After the bathe, i coincidentally met Subra, Nick and Joel in school. Nick and Subra were there to meet Miss Chiam, for fun haha. So we decided to go to Plaza Singapura to watch Slumdog Millionaire, the movie that won 8 Oscars award. Joel drove us there with his brother's car. How i wish i can get my driving license asap too! So we watched the movie, it was great, but considering the number of Oscars awards it received, maybe it could have been better. It's about the life of an Indian man, who grew up in the slums in India and use his life stories to answer accurately the questions for Who wants to be a Millionaire and win the millions.
Thursday 26/02/09: My caregroup went to TJC to pioneer again, to look for friends who are interested in joining us, seeds that will build a caregroup themselves. We had lunch with Eileen and Tian Li.
Friday 27/02/09: Went for work.
Saturday 28/02/09: Went for church then there was a grads meeting after that to inform us that we have to move on to our next caregroup soon, in the tertiary session, because we are already expired in the youth group, according to God. And there is a greater plan by God for us elsewhere. So we should move on regardless of what.
Sunday 01/03/09: Went for a gym work-out with Han Wei in the afternoon. Then went Queensway to buy my soccer boot with Subra. We bought the same one.
Monday 02/03/09: In the morning, it was my first driving lesson as i attempt to get my driving license before i get enlisted into army. Had a great instructor, called Fahan, a thin Malay teenager. He cleared me for the first 5 modules. After noon, i had my 2nd driving lessson. The instructor was quite fierce and he constantly shaked his head in despair as my driving technique was not so good. After all, it was my first day, so i will definitely improve! In the afternoon, it was Part Two of my caregroup's fun session, organised by Chloe and Shi Wei. We went to watch a horror movie together, with Jun Wei, who was our invited guest haha. Watched the movie, My Bloody Valentine's in 3D. It wasn't scary but just full of gore and violence. Watching it 3D was quite thrilling because you can see things flying towards you and sometimes you may sub-consciously duck to avoid the axe, etc. I was sitting next to Louis Hor and so i attempted to scare him at times. Anyway, it was another great session with my caregroup. We learnt who is scared of such movie haha. Went back home after that because i was tired from waking up very early for driving.
Tuesday 03/03/09: Had double driving lessons again. In between, went for the E-trial test for my Final Theory Test, otherwise i had nothing else to do. Anyway, the food at the driving centre was bad. Thank God that i will only eat there for these 2 days. After driving, went for work.
Wednesday 04/03/09: Went for driving lesson in the morning. Then went back home to apply for all the scholarships that suit my field of study, environmental engineering. I really pray that i will get a scholarship that will send me overseas to study, so that i can get my Masters in Civil and Environmental Engineering in just 4 years. Of course, there will be 6 years of bond to whichever organisations that offer me the scholarship but at least it assures me of a steady career. My choice of universities will be Imperial College, London or University College, London or University of Edinburgh, all in UK. Because i realise that i may not like the US culture for some reasons.
Thursday 05/03/09: Went for driving in the morning. Then went for work at One of the Bun with Nick haha. Wanted to earn extra income this month so that i can spend in April before i enlist. The work was tough!
Friday 06/03/09: It's A Levels results day! Went for driving in the morning. Then went to Shi Wei's house for a prayer meet for all A levels candidates who are receiving their results too. Anyway, i was quite nervous till i received my results because i was afraid that i will not score up to my expectations. But then i realised that God has a plan for me and whichever results he gives me, i will still be blessed in the future. Thank God that he gave me AAAA for my H2 subjects, B for GP and Merit for Maths H3. It was almost what i prayed for, except for my Maths H3 (actually i shouldn't expect so much since i was so slack when i study haha). GP was really great for me and God blessed me so much! Because my GP was usually poor, getting E for the whole of JC1. It was really a breakthrough by me with God's help!
There were definitely people who were delighted with their results, as well as sad about them. So i thought that for the next few days, i must sensitive to how people feel, console people if necessary.
Anyway, after we got the results, my class went to Marina Square to have dinner together at Swensens, to celebrate haha most of us did well. We also played pool, which i won all of my singles games. Yay! :)
Saturday 07/03/09: For the first time in weeks, i had shepherding with James. But thank God that i remain committed to him even without shepherding. It showed that i grew in some ways in my spiritual life! :) Then had a JC prayer meet for church before i went ushering. After church service, i went to WWS, for their first ever night patrol, which i was in charge of. The route was crowded as expected, due to the weekend crowd in areas like Esplanade, Clarke Quay, etc.
Sunday 08/03/09: Went for work at One of the Bun again. It was quite boring.
Monday 09/03/09: Went for driving in the morning. Then went to TJC with my caregroup. Went to VJC after that to get my results/CCA records/testimony photocopied and certified. Coincidentally, i met my classmate Yi Jin at the general office, she's going to teach at VJC from term 2 onwards. In the evening, went for a gym work-out with Han Wei. He's still dissatisfied with his results. Although his grades doesn't look really good, his total ranking points is still not bad. Haha.
Tuesday 10/03/09: Went for my car driving Final Theory Test, passed it and went for work at WWS then One of the Bun.
Wednesday 11/03/09: Went for car driving lesson in the morning. Then went for work at One of the Bun. After that, Joyce and Li Ting suddenly called and asked if they can come visit my house and rented a movie to watch on the way. So Michelle Loo and Jun Wei came along too and we watched One Missed Call, a boring horror movie lol. At night, i went to play soccer at the Cage with my dad and friends. I used my new soccer boot. It was great and i scored a lot of goals, partly because my dad's friends didn't have the stamina to last the game.
Thursday 12/03/09: Went for car driving lesson in the morning. Then went to TJC again to issue invitation cards for our ESS dance concert this saturday, called the Curtain Call. Then went to work and had caregroup in the evening at Li Yin's house.
Friday 13/03/09: Went for car driving lesson in the morning again. Then went for work. It was a long day as we had the AWS meeting. In the end, we decided to reduce it to a one-day event, a pity after all the plans we had to make it a 3-day event.
Saturday 14/03/09: Went to NTU Open house in the morning with Han Wei to check out their environmental engineering. I stayed for around 45 minutes then left to head to church for the ESS. I went for both the first and second service as we had visitors for both. The dance concert was excellent and it was great to see so many people opening up and coming to know God, as their hearts are touched by his love.
Sunday 15/03/09: Went for the NUS Open house to check out their environmental engineering too. And i feel that NUS is better than NTU for me, so likely that i will apply for NUS only. Of course, if i get a scholarship, i will immediately pursue my Masters at UK, which takes only 4 years to do so, compared to Singapore whereby i have to study 4 years to get a Bachelor then another 2-3 years to convert to Masters. At the open house, i met a lot of friends, primary school and secondary school. They have really changed a lot and it was good to meet them after so long. In the evening, the pioneer caregroup went to Settler's Cafe to play board game together. Haha our caregroup is really turning into a playgroup, always calling each other out to play.
Monday 16/03/09: Went for driving in the morning. Then shepherding over lunch with James at Plaza Singapura . After that, went back home to read all the emails from Brightsparks and VJC regarding results and scholarships. Did some research on the UK universities i want to go too.
Tuesday 17/03/09: Went for work in the morning. There was an event for Siglap Secondary which i had to lead the students out for the bike patrol. After that, i held my Marina E^3 Challenge meeting, to inform my station masters what will be happening this coming sunday, when we have the trial run for VJC, SRJC and WWS. Around 3pm, the Singapore Poly students came to install the computer game they created for us. Apparently, it couldn't work even after working with it for 4 hours. Some stuff screwed up i think. In the end, they still couldn't work out the problem and they kept me at my work place because my boss already left and Shiang Nee and i had to lock up. So i left my work place at 6.45pm, when i'm supposed to meet my friend, Li Hwa at Yishun at 7pm for dinner. So we met for the first time in 2 months and chit-chat about the stuffs we have been doing for the past few months. She didn't do that well for her A levels so she was really in a dilemma whether to re-take her examinations or not. But i definitely feel that it's better not to re-take unless you have the drive to work hard 24-7 even without going to school. Better to try applying for NTU Business/Tourism Management or apply for SIM or pursue a Bachelor in Tourism Management overseas in Australia for her case. There are definitely many options better than re-taking.
Wednesday 18/03/09: Went for driving lesson in the morning. Then went for my LTA Scholarship interview at noon. With God, i found assurance and confidence and so i didn't feel nervous during the interview, just say what i want to say, why i'm interested in environmental engineering, my experience in the environmental field and where is my dream university (Imperial College). But the minus point for the interview was that the interviewer forced me to make a choice between LTA and other scholarships like NEW, BCA, etc. To be honest, it will be difficult to make a choice if they all offer me a scholarship, hopefully. But God will show me the way. After that, i went to Metamorphosis with our new believer, Eileen. She was incidently holy-spirited baptised on that day, with many other people in the church. Thank God for her for showing her committment and faith in God. We had several learning and worshipping sessions and played games with the Dunman High caregroup as a team.
Thursday 19/03/09: Went for the JTC Scholarship interview in the morning. It was another good interview session, just be honest and say what i want to say. One of the question asked was What will you do if the usual method of doing things does not work? So i took some courage and shared to the interviewer about God. Then i went home for dinner, then driving lessons at night, whereby i completed my test routes and moved on to module 3 (S/Crank courses, Slopes, Directional Change, Parking).
Friday 20/03/09: It was an incredible day. In the morning, i was getting increasingly angry because i'm still not given my army enlistment date and if i don't get it, i can't book my final car driving test date. So i prayed to God that he will help me. After my car driving lesson, i checked my phone and my mum sms me that i have been enlisted; 24th April, School 2. Excellent! Then, i went to URA for the writing test, which is part of their scholarship selection process. There were 3 choices and basically, they want us to comment on the good and bad of the conservation efforts by Singapore right now. After the writing test, i had a 3-hour break before my interview at 3.50pm, so i decided to go back to WWS to print out my enlistment date from the online NS portal, then head to the driving centre to appeal for an earlier car driving date. Then as i was leaving WWS, the sky was dark and being dressed in the formal interview clothings, i wanted to remain presentable to the interviewers later on. So i rushed to the mrt station and just when i reached, it started pouring. When i reached Eunos mrt station, it was still raining heavily, so i prayed that the rain will stop, otherwise if it continues, i will either be wet or be late for my interview later on. So i walked to the bus interchange, boarded the bus and when i alighted the bus at the driving centre 10 minutes later, there was not a single drop of rain. OH MY GOD! So i walked into the driving centre, to the customer service to book my driving test date. Thank God that the lady at the counter allowed me to book the date using the online notice and i even managed to book the one and only, final driving test date remaining before my enlistment. Thank God. So as i walked out of the driving centre, it was drizzling and so i rushed to the bus stop. When i reached the bus stop, it started raining heavily again, amazing! After that, i went for the URA Scholarship interview and it was an excellent session. Surprisely, the interviewer told me to consider other scholarships instead of forcing me to make a choice whether i will choose URA. This is because to them, URA doesn't really offer core engineering, so even if they offer me the scholarship, i can have the right to decide my engineering future. In the evening, i went for a gym work-out with Han Wei. Then i had dinner at home before we went to AMK Hub to play arcade.
Saturday 21/03/09: In the morning, i went WWS to help out in their bike patrol. Apparently, the boy brigade didn't turn up. So they didn't need so much help after all. In the afternoon, church service. Then at night, my parents bought me a new bag, from Zinc. Because my present sling bag is tearing apart, about to reach breaking point.
Sunday 22/03/09: So it was the day of the Marina E^3 Challenge, trial run, an event which i put so much effort in planning. There was 3 teams of 3, VJC, SRJC and WWS. I held a pre-challenge briefing for them before they set off for the challenge. To prevent them from getting lost, i constantly followed teams and guided them when necessary. In addition, due to the lack of game masters, i had to rush from Station 2 to 3 because the VJC team was so quick at first. They led from Station 1 to 3 before they got lost too, looking for Kim Seng Park and ended up 3rd in the end. The SRJC and WWS teams stuck together and ended up 1st and 2nd respectively as they know the WWS bike route well. Overall, the participants enjoyed themselves and i was delighted as my efforts paid off. But there are certainly room for improvement. Some of the tasks are too easy, partly because it was restricted by time. Also, it didn't do much in educating them about the environmental aspect. Regardless of what, i really believe that it can be improved and used to involve people, educate them about the environment and raise awareness. At least i'm doing my part for the environment! :) Anyway, it was a tiring challenge for me too, as i had to follow the teams and cycle to every single stations to ensure smooth flowing of the event. After that, i went for dinner with my pioneer caregroup at Plaza Singapura Pastamania, then played arcade again! Also, i realised that this coming saturday might be our final youth service before most of us move on to tertiary service. God has a great plan for us ahead and i will obey him for what he has for me. :)
Monday 23/03/09: Had driving lesson in the morning, learnt vertical parking. Then came back home and typed this long blog, having neglected my blog for one month! HAHA. To be continued..

Wednesday 11/02/09: Slack at home for the whole day, watched tv and slept so much that i felt extremely blur during caregroup in the evening at Li Yin's house. Lol.
Thursday 12/02/09: Work then went to play soccer with my dad at St Wilfred's stadium. I was still feeling a bit sick..sick of the heat haha. I was quite tired after playing.
Friday 13/02/09: It was Black Friday haha. My pioneer caregroup is having this barbeque and interacting session with some new MJC friends we made. It will be held at Melville Park Condo in the evening. In the afternoon, we went to Kang Li's house to prepare the food and play Wii too haha. Then it was the event. We had fun playing basketball, Taboo and Uno. For me, i didn't do barbequing because i was sensitive to the smoke. Neither could i eat much because there was an ulcer on the left side of my mouth and i bit it each time i put food into my mouth, a sign of heatiness. Nevertheless, the MCG was a success because we got to know these friends better and they were definitely responsive and accepting. James turned up for the event too. He booked out of army at 2pm and we had a secret collaboration for him to pay us a surprise visit.
Saturday 14/02/09: It was Valentine's Day. Jun Wei, Louis Hor and I met up at 10am to make the roses for the girls in our caregroup. We had to rush through because we had a unit shepherd meet at 12pm. Thank god that we managed it. The roses were put in a so-called pot (actually a muffin cup haha) with leaves inside (green papers cut into tiny pieces). Then, i had to go for ushering. There was plenty of people who turned up for the church service, so packed that extra chairs had to be pulled out for them. I had to experience service outside the auditorium through the television. In the evening, went for dinner at Newton's Circle with my family. Then i had a second round of dinner cum supper with my class at Lao Pa Sat/Satay Club. After that, we walked all the way past Fullerton Hotel, Esplanade and Marina Square. Decided to stroll around while looking for place to sit down actually. Touched home at around midnight in the end.
Sunday 15/02/09: In the morning, went for patrol duty at WWS. Led a group of boy brigade through the bike route. Went to the gym again in late afternoon with Han Wei to exercise. Haha.
Monday 16/02/09: Had a karoake session at somewhere at Katong with my caregroup. My first ever karoake session, can you believe it haha. Didn't really enjoyed it because i don't actually enjoy singing, makes me feel tired.
Tuesday 17/02/09: Went for work. Then in the evening, went to Shi Wei's house for caregroup. After caregroup, we went to Mountbatten/Kallang area to have late supper. Nicole and Louis Hor shared about their lives and i realised how lucky i was to be blessed with a good family. I definitely hope that things will become better for them. By the time supper ended, it was too late for the last bus. So i had to take cab home and the cab driver shared about his experience of the tough economic situation now. Told me that there are too many cab drivers now and he had to wait hours to pick up passengers at the airport. Anyway my cab fare was $12.30.
Wednesday 18/02/09: Went for work in the afternoon. After work, i decided to borrow the bike at my work place and cycled home. It was a 45 minutes ride home.
Thursday 19/02/09: Cycled to work. Then in the evening, cycled and went to play soccer with my dad again. Every week, i've been exercising at least twice. Soccer on Thursday, gym on Sunday. So back to soccer. My form was not bad on the night, scored a goal very early in the match but then the sole of my left boot loosened when i chased after a ball and jam-break to prevent it from going out. After a while, i chased for another ball again. Another guy came from the side and suddenly i slipped because the sole apparently came apart. Had a big wound on the right side of my knee. I couldn't continue playing because my boot was gone-case. So i decided to cycle home instead. I need a new soccer boot now!
Friday 20/02/09: Went for work. Then in the evening, a short AWS meeting, which i had nothing much to do.
Saturday 21/02/09: It was the first combined church service of the year. I was the usher again, so i had to reach Suntec Convention Hall earlier at 1pm. It was a good experience being an usher in this combined service because the place was bigger and more chaotic in some sense. The busy-ness really helped me in learning more things from the teaching that day. After service, had dinner at the food court, then shopped around Suntec/Marina Square. Watched Man U beat Blackburn 2-1. Clean sheet stopped but still winning. Alright come on ah!
Sunday 22/02/09: Didn't go for patrol duty at WWS because i was too lazy. Anyway, work is getting boring nowadays, because i've absolutely nothing much to do. Which is why i decided to maybe think of a new idea in which i can help promote WWS to people. Actually Li Hwa somewhat urged me to do so. Because i was catching up on her on sms that day and she asked me whether i'm picking up new skills. So i thought why not help myself in developing my future engineering studies and career by implementing something new for WWS. So i should go read up on the Internet the next few days. Keep me busy! Late afternoon, went to gym with Han Wei again.
Monday 23/02/09: Met up with Louis Hor for lunch to catch up on my spiritual life. It was a good time learning from him and it really taught me how to grow spiritually and develop better spiritual habits. Late afternoon, went to Marina Barrage because the president was visiting. We shook the president's hands and took photos with him haha.

Yay people, i'm finally back to my blog. After so many busy days, i finally find myself at home, free!
Tuesday 20/01/09: In the morning, i went to cmpb to try to rush those people into getting my army enlistment date done. But apparently, it has to be reviewed by more doctors and personnels. So it was not ready yet. Then, my dad dropped me at Bugis at around 8.30am. Work starts at 11am, so i had so much time to walk around. But all the shops are closed unfortunately. Around 10.30am, i start walking to my work place. I was at work from morning till night, 10pm. Because there was an AWS meeting in the evening. It was such a long and tiring day! Especially because i woke up as early as 7am.
Wednesday 21/01/09: In the afternoon, i went to Bugis with Cheng Wei after his school. Together with Joel, we plan to design shirt for James, our shepherd, for his army sending off gift. The shirt design was a guitar at the back, sheep in front with our names. In the evening, my pioneering caregroup went to MJC for prayer walk. After the prayer walk, we had a 2.4km run. It was tiring but surprisingly, i managed to complete it! Alright come on ah!
Thursday 22/01/09: Went for work. Then in the evening, went to Bugis again, shop with Han Wei because he wanted to buy cny clothings. Collected the shirt i designed for James too.
Friday 23/01/09: Went for work.
Saturday 24/01/09: Went to WWS in the morning for in-line skate. We went to tour the usual patrol route, so that in the future, we may even introduce patrol duties on skates. I got a bruises on my little finger on my right hand because i wanted to avoid hitting my fellow patrol friends but slammed into the wall instead. Ouch. Then in the afternoon, it was church before we had caregroup in the evening. Gave James his army gift haha. Talked about how to plant seeds in school, taught us the ability to reach out to people and touch their hearts. We were also split into our individual caregroups, TJC and MJC.
Sunday 25/01/09: At home. Then in the evening, went for reunion dinner at a restaurant at Robertson Quay. I usually pass by the place whenever i go for patrol duties. Haha. The dinner was with my dad's friend's family. Years ago, i used to play with the son a lot. But it has been a long time since we met. Still we could get along well. He is taking his O levels this year incidentally. After dinner, we walked to Chinatown, which is so packed!
Monday 26/01/09: Went visiting. Quite boring because my cousins don't talk to one another much. So i entertained myself with my psp.
Tuesday 27/01/09: My class went visiting at Megan's house. Me, Subra, Nazri, Anil, Matt Foo and Michelle. Then we had nothing to do, so we went Suntec City. Walked about, then Matt Foo got us some Muffins from Kenny Rogers, his work place. Then we walked Nick to his work place, One Fullerton. In the evening, went visiting with my family to one of my dad's friend's house. I was playing my psp when some kids started climbing onto me. I didn't care, just continued playing because the game was at the intense part. Playing Virtual Tennis 3 haha.
Wednesday 28/01/09: I was starting to get ill, sore throat/cough/flu. In the morning, i went to send off Matt Foo at 9am at Pasir Ris for army. Then James at 12 noon, then Chen Xiao at 1pm (happened to meet him so might as well send him off too). I got 2 red parkets which i didn't expect to get, one from James' parents, the other from Chen Xiao's parents. Then, my pioneer caregroup went to play arcade and then Nebo/E!Hub to play board game. The game "Gift Exchange" was fun, tested our understanding of each other, whereby we have to try to give the right gift to people. Then, we went for caregroup at Li Yin's house in the evening. I had to leave early because i was too sick, shivering with cold. Had a good rest that night, slept from 9.30am to 9am the next day.
Thursday 29/01/09: I managed to pull myself out of bed to go for work at NTU Green Fair. Met my sister, who was having her lecture right opposite the green fair at a lecture theatre. Met Subra too, who was working there, but apparently his work place was closed that day for cny. So it was a wasted trip for him. After the fair, we went to my chairman's country club, the British Country Club to play snooker. Me, Shiang Nee and Kang Li. Then in the evening, we went for WWS CNY reunion dinner at Centrepoint, Teochew Seafood Restaurant. The food was not bad, we made a terrible mess when we mixed the Yu Sheng.
Friday 30/01/09: Went for the NTU Green Fair again. It was boring because there were very little students. My sister said that NTU students will try to push their lesson schedule to Monday to Thursday so that we will have a 3-day break every week.
Saturday 31/01/09: In the morning, there was an Outdoor Rumble meeting in school. Then there was a pioneer meet at noon at Long John Centrepoint. Then church service. In the evening, we had district dinner/steamboat at Novena, first time a church outing is so close to home. Haha normally will be in the eastern part of Singapore. The food was so-so. The performances from different people (ULs/CLs/etc) was very entertaining.
Sunday 01/02/09: At home, reading up for my BTT. Lol. In the evening, went to Marina Barrage to celebrate my sister's birthday. Early birthday celebration. We had steamboat, my second steamboat in 2 days. But this one was much nicer. Yum yum!
Monday 02/02/09: Visited DHS in the morning for work because WWS wanted to confirm the locations of different activities for the AWS. Met a lot of Hope Church friends at DHS. Cheryl, Qiya, Karen, Yi Ping, Gena, Tze Lin, Gary, Joel, Rui Xian, Jocelyn and even friends from the first service. Then went for my BTT, passed it. After that, went to TJC for pioneering. Did surveys on people to get to know them. It was difficult for me because i don't usually like to approach strangers.
Tuesday 03/02/09: Went to work.
Wednesday 04/02/09: Went for work.
Thursday 05/02/09: Went for work. But the school programme had to be postponed because it was pouring. In the evening, went for pioneer caregroup prayer meet. The TJC caregroup had to do the teaching. It was tough and i felt awkward leading people to pray.
Friday 06/02/09: Went for work. Found a chopper apparently at the beach. Shocking! At night, went to VJC mass dance at Suntec City with my church friends. A lot other J3s were there too. Apparenty, there was a robber who ran off with a bag in the middle of the mass dance. By the time the trackers realised it, the robber was gone. Otherwise they will have caught him.
Saturday 07/02/09: Went for a final Outdoor Rumble meeting in school to finalise all the details/logistics and stuffs. Then, church service in the afternoon.
Sunday 08/02/09: Read newspaper at home. It has been weeks since i last updated myself haha. Late afternoon, i went for a gym workout with Han Wei. He said that he was getting fat, so he desperately needed a workout. Another thing, my sister will be going to Canada soon, part of her school program, going overseas to study. Random stuff: I just can't figure out how people can spend so much money on keyboards/controls/etc just for gaming purposes. Waste money lol. Maybe because i don't like gaming.
Monday 09/02/09: It was VJC Outdoor Rumble for J1s. It was like an Amazing Race, for J1 classes to bond together. So fortunate man, the new J1 batch, so many fun stuffs. The race was held from Marina Crescent to Siglap to ECP to Kembangan. I was a game master near ECP macs. The weather was so terribly hot. I got some burns at the end of the day. Nevertheless, it was a great experience. All the games were well-planned and executed and i'm sure the J1s enjoyed it. After the thing, i met Joel and Cheng Wei in school. Had a peer-sheep session, shared about our life these days without our shepherd by our side. After that, i went for training, just for fun. It has been a long time since i last jumped intp the sand pit. Heheh.
Tuesday 10/02/09: Went for work at Shell Fair. God, the sun is killing me! Then in the afternoon, we were back to WWS for the school program. I was exhausted and feeling terrible for the entire day because the sun was burning. Random stuff: Terrorists communicate through gmail, save their messages for each other under drafts, so that their conversations will not be detected. From my sister.

Tuesday 13/01/09: Morning went to Spring again to set up the booth for work. There wasn't much people so i was playing my psp for most of the time there. Haha slack. Then after having lunch, we went back to the WWS for the AWS meeting, an update of what we have been done so far and what has to be done in the future. We have to appoint a new head for the student secretarist head. Kenji and I can't take up the role as we will be serving army when the symposium is been held at DHS in June. As Shiang Nee and SRJC Kimberly were the heads of the overall project, they also couldn't take up the role. So it was left with Tricia and Kang Li, both just joined WWS, from VJC and MJC/my church respectively. Both were appointed joint heads. For the next few months, we will have to advertise the symposium to the rest of the JCs and Polys. We may be sent out to schools to talk to teachers or students about it. A lot of stuffs to be done so work will be getting busier soon. Haha. Then in the evening, we had a pioneers meeting at Li Yin's house. We will be going to TJC and MJC to share with people the power and the love of God next month, hoping to restore the caregroup at both schools. This group of people who i am pioneering with, are all J3s. They will be my new caregroup and it will be a chance for me to grow with them because they are much older than me in terms of their spiritual experiences. They are really enthusiastic about god and i really pray that we will succeed in what we will be doing for god.
Wednesday 14/01/09: There was a presentation in the afternoon at Senoko Powers, somewhere at Sembawang. I left home early so that i can write the farewell cards for my VJC caregroup. The caregroup will be re-structured soon, with J3s going to pioneers or grads caregroups and the dunman girls going to the DHS caregroup. The feeling of separation from this group of passionate friends will be difficult to take in but it will surely help us grow in our walk with god. Anyway, i spent like 5 hours writing 11 cards in total for the friends that will be in a different caregroups as me in the future. The presentation at Senoko Powers was for primary school students, about the stuffs we do at WWS. It was something like an excursion for these kids for them to learn more about the environment and our waters. In the evening, i went to Causeway Point to celebrate my friend's birthday. The celebration was very very belated, my friend's birthday was like slightly like than 2 weeks ago. We had dinner at Pastamania. We haven't met for a month, so we went about telling each other the stuffs we have been doing for the past month.
Thursday 15/01/09: In the morning, went for work. Then in the evening, watched the movie "Ip man" with Han Sen and Vincent, my Cat High track friend (graduated from CJC). We watched the 10pm movie and after that Han Sen sent both of us home with his mum's car. He got his car driving license like last October.
Friday 16/01/09: Morning, went for work. In the evening, had a church corporate prayer meet at Suntec City Convention Hall. Attendance was like 4000 plus, it really showed that my church has grown in strength. The influence of god in our lives is extremely great!
Saturday 17/01/09: In the morning, went to school for the VJC amazing race meeting. It will be held after orientation this year, for the new J1s classes. A lot of fun games have been put in place for them. Ah too bad we didn't have it in the past. Then, went to the BCA open house, mainly for people who want to take engineering degrees, like me. There was several booths there, BCA/URA/JTC/Keppel/etc. Most of them offered scholarships that i will certainly be interested in. Application opens middle of next month! In the afternoon, went for church service, the final one with this current VJC caregroup. After that, had dinner with my family and went back home. Slept at 9.30pm. I set my alarm clock at 11pm to watch the Man U match. Somehow i didn't hear it but managed to wake myself up at 12am. Watched the 2nd half and Berbatov scored at 89th min. Phew! Top of the table with another one nil victory haha.
Sunday 18/01/09: Met my VJC caregroup at Vivo City at 9.30am. It was our final gathering as a caregroup. We went to have a picnic at the roof top of Vivo City. Together, we recalled the experience we had together, how we helped each other grow in our spiritual life. Then we played arcade. After the gathering, i went Bishan Park to play field soccer with some random friends from Cat High. At night, went to Jun Wei's house to stay over because the next day, at 6.30am, we will have prayer walk at TJC. I wouldn't be able to make it there in time if i left from home the next day myself. We watched soocer at his house. But the match was so boring that i fell asleep.
Monday 19/01/09: My new pioneer caregroup went TJC for the prayer walk, reflected on what challenges we will face when we start our pioneering work. After that, went to S'pore Poly for work. We reviewed a game which they created for us. The game, called river rush, will help us gain interest from kids and educate them about the environment and our waters. I was quite impressed with the game, the graphics were great and the characters was quite cute. But they are still many things that have yet to be added to the game, so the final version will surely be a lot better. Lunch was at British Club. A country club that my WWS boss had a position in, he's one of the committee members there and everyone at the country club know him! Ate at a restaurant which looks quite expensive. The country club was not bad, located at Bukit Timah, it has a swimming pool, pool table, arcade, jackpot area and many other great facilities.

Thursday 08/01/09: Work. I realised how blessed i am that i've a job. God's grace! Because of the economic recession, a lot of my friends are finding it difficult to get a job. Send out their resumes but no replies. Or the pay of the job is bad. It's great that i got a job so quickly, as early as last December, so i need not worry about being jobless and having no money to spend. After work, i borrowed my work place's bike and cycled to St Wilfred's Sports Complex to play soccer with my dad and his friends. They always played together for at least once per week. Played the mini field soccer. There were a lot of people. 4 teams of 6 in total. So we had to run for the ball with all our might when we play, so that we will not be kicked out so quickly and have to wait very long for our turn again. I realised that my fitness is gone, having not trained for a month. I felt very tired after sprinting for just a few minutes. But it was quite fun playing with my dad's friends. Quite competitive sia. It wasn't the first time i joined them though.
Friday 09/01/09: Work. I recommended one of my church friend, Kang Li from MJC, to work at WWS. Because she desperately needed a job. And since she's my sister in Christ and my future caregroup friend, i thought that it's right to serve God's child. Anyway for the Asian Water Symposium WWS is organising, the student committee head quited so they will definitely need help. After work, went for caregroup at Li Yin's house, my second last caregroup meeting with my current VJC caregroup people.
Saturday 10/01/09: Church. Then went to shop with Han Wei and his friends at Plaza Singapura. Bought some small gifts for my caregroup friends as farewell gifts. :)
Sunday 11/01/09: Went to shop again, for chinese new year clothings. Went to a G2K and topshop warehouse at a place called Wing Tai at Hougang with Han Wei. The range of clothings was extremely limited but i bought 2 working long sleeve shirts for 13 dollars each. Quite a bargain, because actual price was 33 dollars and even for the discount at J8, it's still 23 dollars! Used my ATM card to pay for all my clothes as well as Han Wei's ones, because he didn't have his ATM card yet. Bought a work belt (for future interview, otherwise i will end up using my red VJC belt again) and a long pants too. Bought a long pants and long sleeve t-shirt a few weeks ago too so yay finished chinese new year shopping.
Monday 12/01/09: Midnight till 2am, watched Man Utd vs Chelsea. Man Utd totally thrashed Chelsea 3-0, Vidic/Rooney/Berbatov. Classy display of a champion! Went to Spring Singapore at Bukit Merah to set up a booth for WWS. It was mainly to get to know people there. Because they are mainly people who are eager to start their own business and getting their partnership with WWS will probably get us some extra sponsorship or something. But for most of the day, 10am-3pm, there wasn't much people, so we just sat and talked and ate. Most of the time, the boss did the talking when there's businessmen coming along, so we just had to mend the booth.

The year so far

Thursday 01/01/09: Stay at home.
Friday 02/01/09: Work.
Saturday 03/01/09: WWS patrol duty, WWS meeting, Subra's birthday celebration at Fish and Co, Mahjong at Ben Tay's house (last gathering before their army enlistment haha).
Sunday 04/01/09: Stay at home.
Monday 05/01/09: Met my long-lost friend George. It has been a long time since i met him. 6 months to be exact. For a friend i know for 6 years haha! He will be enlisting Wednesday afternoon. So we had lunch together.
Tuesday 06/01/09: Went for DSTA interview. DSTA was at Science Park, Buona Vista so MRT fare was damn expensive, $1.33 adult fare! At the DSTA building, there was a policewomen at the entrance. Security tight man haha! Before the interview, i had to do an online quiz on the DSTA account they prepared for us. Then, it was the interview. It was not bad. The location of interview was very cosy. 3 sofas, 2 for the interviewers, 1 for me. They were quite very friendly. Asked me questions like why i'm interested in civil engineering, are you afraid that civil engineering is regarded as a low-class and rough job by some people, where do you get the interest of civil engineering from, what the biggest failure in my life so far, etc. Quite okay, just be myself, answered them honestly. :) Now i'll have to wait for them to call me for the final interview, which is after the results and after they interview the people who applied with their results. Then i went for my church unit meeting at Tampines, Changi rise condo. The meeting was for re-structuring. People graduating, guys leaving to army, people joining and people re-grouping to their school's caregroup. So the groups now are VJC+TJC, DHS, TPJC, Pioneering and Grads. I'm in the pioneering group, which will be going to TJC and MJC to revive their caregroup. The number of people in their caregroups has shrunk to none because they were made up of J2s last year who have now graduated. So we will be hoping to do something to help spread God's word in the school and allow the caregroups to grow. I did testimony sharing during the unit meeting. My first time doing so. Shared about my christian life with the rest of the people. It was a good experience.
Wednesday 07/01/09: Played psp for most of the day.

Year Review

The week started off with cleaning up of my room on Sunday. Haha. On monday, i signed up for car driving at Ubi Comfort DelGro Driving Centre. Afternoon, shopped for presents at Parkway Parade. Birthday presents and farewell presents. In the evening, went to Margaret's house. My class were planning to go for night cycling. At her house, before the rest came, Subra, Wee Leong and i played Dancing on the Wii. It was quite fun. Good exercise and warm up for night cycling. We rent the bikes at 9 plus, celebrated Ben's birthday, then started our night cycling at 11. 13 of us came. Me, Subra, Nazri, Justin, Nick, Matt Ho, Wee Leong, Anil, Megan, Michelle, Margaret, Ben and Denise. Cycled from ECP to Changi Village (took a short rest for drink) to Pasir Ris (took another rest for Macs, hungry sia!) to Tampines to Bedok back to ECP (took a photo-taking break lol). Second part of our journey, Michelle, Ben and Denise went back to Margaret's house first while the rest of us cycled from ECP through Fort Road, Indoor Stadium and Nicoll Highway to Singapore Flyer. We reached there at around 5.30am. It was beautiful! We took several photos with it because the Flyer kept changing colours haha. Red, orange, yellow, blue and green. Then we made our way back to Margaret's house, reached at 6.30am. According to Nazri's bike distance meter, we cycled around 55 km. After taking a bathe, slept for one hour, we had to return the bikes and i had to go for work at 10am. It was cycling again. Kenji and i had to cycle to Clarke Quay area to explore the rest of the routes for our Amazing EnviroRace. Cycled a total of 60km overnight and during work! After that, i constantly felt like sleeping during work. Heheh.
On new year eve, i invited my church friends to my house for caregroup meeting. For this caregroup meeting, we welcomed Althea into our caregroup because of the caregroup re-structuring process. But we have to say farewell to Melvin because he have to be transferred to NS caregroup. Before caregroup meeting started at 2pm, we had lunch and watched a Korea Channel on CableTV. Karen and Cheryl got crazy because of some Korea singers on tv. Particularly Karen, who started screaming haha. Then caregroup started. We reflected on year 2008 as well as things we will want to achieve in 2009. After that, we did a welcoming ceremony for Althea before we took turns to affirm Melvin of his walk with God and wish him all the best as he transfers to the NS caregroup. It has been great to know such a great brother in Christ. He really encouraged my spirit of giving and helped me grow spiritually by constantly sharing to me how his life has been changed to the better with God. Let me know that God is powerful and able to influence our lives. We must rely on God always. After caregroup, it was left with me, Melvin, Rochelle, Karen, Cheryl, Li Lin and Joel. We played mahjong and then had dinner at Chomp Chomp. The food was good. Then went to Clarke Quay for countdown. We took photos of ourselves in 2008 then in 2009! Great way to have my first countdown outside home with such great people around! After that, we went back to my house, took a bathe and played Indian Poker plus Truth or Truth. We found out quite interesting stuffs about one another. Haha secret within ourselves only. We played the card games Cheat, Bridge and Hearts also. Slept at 6am and woke up at 9.30am. Then had breakfast and they left. New year eve and new year day were certainly enjoyable.
As the year draws to a close and i enters a new year, there are many events this year which deserve to be reflected on. First, it was a year of exams, A levels. Had to handle all the stress. Second, track competition. It was my final year and thankfully i achieved my wish of getting into top 8 of nationals. Third, getting to know God which changed my life. He was able to change my personal life, be more patient and caring to others: family and friends. More aware that life is not just about yourself but God and his people. Serve the people, serve God. Spread the gospel. So my new year resolution will be to make full use of my remaining time before entering army to do good things. Serve the youth group in ushering and pioneering before i'm transferred to tertiary NS group in April. Besides that, i hope that i can do my best for all the scholarship interviews. DSTA scholarship interview coming up next tuesday, but i dunno why i applied for it actually, just go and get an experience of interview perhaps. Also, for my job, i hope that i will make full use of this working experience to develop my intellectual skills. Plan the Amazing EnviroRace successfully and all the other events. 2009 promises to be an exciting year! Running around in the jungles too!

Monday 22/12 to Saturday 27/12
Monday morning to afternoon, finished preparing all the christmas presents and cards for my caregroup.
Tuesday morning, i went to work at 11am. WWS is planning to organise Amazing EnviroRace, Singapore's version of Amazing Race for environment awareness. Anyone can take part. Postgraduates, corporate members and students. So Kenji and I had to cycle around to look for places where we can set up stations for our amazing race. How exciting! Detour, road block and fast forward. All these have to be thought of thoroughly. Haha just like the real Amazing Race. Also, there were visitors from Singapore Polytechnic that day, so some of us had to go on bike patrol with them. Apparently, they claimed that the visitors were a bit weird. Then, i left work early and went to Subra's house at Jurong for a so-called class gathering, actually his parents want to see us haha. We gave Anil a prank call, Robert Lau calling from SMU law faculty, asking all sorts of questions about him. Haha Ben and Justin, they came up with the script before we called Anil. So it was foolproof. Nick 's voice managed to trick Anil into believing him. We had a good time after that, talking about random stuffs like our 2 years school life and we ate the Indian food Subra's parents cooked. Left at 10.30pm.
Wednesday afternoon. It was the day of Christmas eve celebration. I met the friends i invited for my church celebration for lunch. Subra, Nazri, Justin, Zong Xing and Kenji. Nick and Han Wei came later. I was like a Santa Claus, carrying a big bag of gifts. Except that my bag looked like a bag stored with bombs. The christmas eve church celebration was not bad. Performances, testimonial sharing and service. It was my first time experiencing Christmas as a Christian. It's definitely more meaningful celebrating Christmas this time because now i know the real reason for celebrating. Not for the superficial gifts but to honour and give thanks to God and Jesus Christ for sacrificing so much for our good. It definitely will not matter how much you spend on gifts for your friends. It is the thought that counts. Writing a letter to assure people and encourage his or her spiritual life will be the best gift. However, i still think that the best way to bring joy to caregroup friends and encourage them to enjoy their spiritual life is to buy them presents. Presents like chocolates, shirts and toys. After all, who wouldn't want them? So i gave them Christmas cards and gifts. Spent around 120 dollars in total. After that, the unit, VJC TJC TPJC MJC DHS, went to Chia Ling's house at Serangoon to have our unit Christmas party. Food and drink were scarce. Lucky i ate at Subway before that. Then we went carolling at the houses nearby. It was an enjoyable experience, my first ever one. We were split into 2 groups. 30 plus of us. We asked the owners if they wanted us to carol for them. Some were quite enthusiatic about it. We were invited into the house to sing Christmas songs for them. After singing, some house owners gave us packet drinks while others gave us chocolates. One of the house owner even invited one of our group into the house to have Bee Hoon. Not my group unfortunately haha. We did carolling mainly to help spread the joy in this Christmas festive period. Some of the house owners even paid us but the money will go to church of course. After carolling, which lasted for 2 hours, we had an individual year review, running through in your mind all the things that you will give thanks to God in 2008. God has really changed my life. From a selfish and prideful person who always think about personal success to a more thoughtful one, even though not perfectly thoughful at times haha. We had some sort of a countdown to Christmas. Reached home at around 2am. Slept at 3am after opening all the presents and reading all the cards i received.
Thursday, my skin started to peel. After all the sun-burn, i can virtually tear out my skin now. Went shopping with family at Orchard. Apparently, it was not as crowded as i had expected. Bought a long pants and a long sleeve t-shirt. In the evening, went to East Coast Park. My sister rode the bike, i went on the rollar blades while my dad jogged. Dinner was also at ECP.
Friday morning, went Kallang Cage to play soccer as early as 7am. Played with my classmates and some other friends. Had fun except that it was quite tiring, having not trained for so many weeks. I wore my old soccer boots and it was causing a lot of injuries to others. Then in the afternoon, went shopping for sneakers with Matt Foo and Wee Leong. Bought a brown Everlast shoe for 50 dollars after discount. At night, went to watch soccer at Paradix with Nick and Nazri. Man U won one nil at Stoke City! After the match, it was 11pm. We decided to catch a movie and take the night rider home. Watched Bedtime Stories at 11.20pm to 1am. The movie was quite funny. About a guy, who's bedtime stories to his niece and nephew came true. Reached home at 1.30am because my dad came to fetch me, thankfully haha.
Saturday morning, went to WWS. Kenji and i rode the bikes to Marina Barrage. Wanted to check the route there so that we can make it the Fast Forward for the Amazing EnviroRace WWS is organising. After that, had a meeting for upcoming NS church guys like me. They told us that we will be transferring out of our current caregroup near our enlistment date. There will be a lot of challenges that we will be encountering for our spiritual life. Different temptations will come. So it will be hard work remaining committed but we must have faith! Then, it was church new year service. There were a few performances put up. After service, there was a meeting to tell J3s like me about pioneering, where we will be sent to TJC or MJC to try to set up a caregroup because theirs are dying. All sorts of things that we may do are to do surveys on people, crash their orientation, etc. It will be quite a learning experience. Then had dinner at a Hong Kong Restaurant at Tanjong Katong. My dad met a friend, who decided to pay for our meal before we even know. In the end, we paid 70 cents for an extra bowl of rice.

Thursday 18/12 to Sunday 21/12
Thursday morning went to Li Yin's house for caregroup meeting. Afternoon, went for work. The boss wanted 2 rafts. The first one made of PVC pipes, used as a WWS exhibit. Already completed on Tuesday. The second one is made of Newater bottles and cable ties. All scrap materials. It is to take part in the Singapore Polytechnic raft competition. We didn't have enough cable ties, so Kenji and I went out on bikes to buy them. It actually took a lot of work to tie up the bottles together. Quite painful and tiring to pull them together. At night, started making Christmas cards for my caregroup. Haha making use of my gift of craftsmanship from God.
Friday. Reported for work at noon. Then we took a boat to Singapore River to have lunch at Jumbo Seafood Restaurant. Wow cool to the max! We parked the boats by the river and then went for lunch, most of us under-dressed with our WWS t-shirts and shorts. When we were back, we did a bit of work at the jetty then continued making our Newater raft. Then i had to leave early from work because i had to meet the unit committee for the Christmas party on Christmas eve at Chia Ling's place. I'm the logistic head together with Jun Wei, with Joel Yee and Jie Zhi to help us out. We have to buy trash bags, candles, utensils, cups and sparkling juice for the unit Christmas party. At night, we had church service. Unfortunately, we didn't catch the choir performance we expected because the pastor forgot about it.
Saturday morning to afternoon, i went to Sentosa for a church unit outing. We were supposed to meet at 9am and only 6 guys turned up. Me, James, Melvin Tay, Melvin Tan, Joel Yee and Jun Wei. We took the monorail and then the bus to Tanjong Beach. Played some beach volleyball and soccer. I had a short sun-tanning session haha. Without sun block, asking for it! Then we went for a swim near the beach shore. We didn't really dare to swim far because most of us were not great swimmers. Around noon, 3 more ppl came. At 2pm, around 10 more came. Melvin and I left Sentosa early to shop at Vivo City for Christmas presents for our caregroup members. We were so tired and burnt. We walk all around Vivo City, stuck to our budget of at most 10 dollars per person and i spent around 90 dollars for 10 people during that period, 4.15-6.45pm. At night, after having dinner with my family, continued to shop and bought 2 presents for around 20 bucks. Went home and continued to write the Christmas cards for my caregroup.
Today. After brunch out with my family, i started baking cookies at home. These cookies will be Christmas presents for the rest of the unit members. For the whole day, i was in pain. The sun burn on my shoulders and back is really bad. Whenever i lie down on the sofa, i'll be in pain. My whole body is so red.
Christmas in 4 days time. So exciting!

Yesterday after camp, went for work. We finished building a raft out of PVC pipes, haha a new toy. Then went out for sightseeing. Took photos of Marina Barrage, Esplanade, S'pore Flyer, Merlion, etc. Played some pool. At night, had a meeting for the Asian Water Symposium to be held at Dunman High next June. There's a possibility that i'll be sent out to JCs to talk to people about the symposium in February. A new experience!
Good news. I got the EAGLES award, presented to me by school. First time man. Thank god! :)
Today did some newspaper reading and housework. Because my mum just had her operation on Saturday and can't do too vigorous work. I was the slave of the day, my sister said. I did sweeping, mopping, washing of plates and utensils after meals and hanging of clothings to dry.

A new life journey begins

Heroes Camp: Saturday 13/12 to Tuesday 16/12
Normally a camp is remembered well if the games and activities are enjoyable. But this church camp, my first ever, will be memorable for its ability to touch my heart. Not that the games were not fun, but the emphasis of the camp was more to help campers grow in their Christain life. From this camp, i got to learn several important lessons regarding life.
My camp objectives are to experience God full-time, be more to know new people and guide people to know God. Now that the camp has ended, i can say that these objectives are more or less attained. A new life journey shall begin, one which is more meaningful and fulfilling.
In this camp, we had games, activities and worship. The games involved less group-to-group competition and emphasize more on the people cooperating together to serve people and God. There was an event called Minilution. People had to dress like a kid. There was also a workshop to tell us about our spiritual gifts from God. The name of this church camp is Heroes Camp as there were altogether 5 teachings about 5 different heroes who God has chosen to serve the people. Moses (Obedience), David (Loyalty), Abrahim (Faith), Esther (Courage) and Paul (Ambition). They have really taught me a lot.
We live in an imperfect world with imperfect people. Everyday we flip through the newspaper and see reports on murder, robbery, arsenal, etc. People are not perfect. They are guilty of many sins and lack in several abilities. Nevertheless, God uses us and fulfill our dreams. We rely on God and put trust in him because he will guide us on the way to success. Even though every one of us lacks in certain ability, God continues to encourage us to serve people, in doing things that will show love to the rest. God is a great motivation in our lives because he will be the cheerleader, supporting us when we feel incapable. We must keep in mind that we cannot be as perfect as God and we are the sheep in this world, seeking to learn and improve oneself as much as possible. To do so, we need to constantly seek help from God and also ask him for advices to improve ourselves. It is very difficult for us to tell if we do something wrong or not, so we will need a shepherd to guide us along the way, someone who is also not perfect but given the honour by God to love people. I shall no longer just remain in my comfort zone but venture out of it. Do something that i am not suited of doing, so that i will learn to rely on God for aid. The fact is that no one in this world is perfectly suited for any tasks but the honour has been presented to us by our holy God. So maybe i can be a shepherd one day. And for the pioneering that Jasmine mentioned, i could try too, if my schedule allows me.
But being a shepherd will not be easy. You will have to love your sheep, give him all your best, visit him when he's ill, be sad if he commit a sin, be happy when you see him grow, etc. From the camp, i realise that i have never loved anyone before in my life. I have always failed to give my all to any person because i'm gulity of been too selfish at times. I have the tendency to care more for myself and not for others. To love someone, it really takes a lot of courage and commitment. I must give and examples how i can give are to teach a friend or to buy a gift for a friend to encourage his or her spiritual life. Sacrifice till it hurts. This camp told me that i have not been committed to love a person before. Perhaps i'm not ready yet but there is never a perfect time. So what i have to do is to improve my spiritual life, look to God. He will give me the opportunity one day and i must not reject it. I must believe that i'm capable of doing it and God will guide me along the way.
I have a simple faith in God. During obstacles and difficulties, I will definitely seek help from God because he serve people so well. God is so great as to send his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our numerous sins to redeem us. It is so hurting to see a loved one been killed or commit a sin. When i see a friend doing something wrong, i will have the urge to help him or her. We must submit to God's will. Life definitely exists plenty of room for improvement. Put faith in God to grow in our spiritual life. Even when life is simple and slack, do not forget God's love. I admit that when there's no difficulties like studies to drive me, i tend to stray away from God. So i'll promise to give him more of my time, set my daily quiet time at 10.30pm.
I learnt about the different spiritual gifts by God to people. For me, it's the gift of craftmanship, adminstation and help/serving. True, i can help people like in studies. I believe that i should commit myself to make use of these gifts to serve people, encourage people to build up their lives spiritually and open up to people to talk and explain to them about how God loves us so much. It is very difficult to love someone unless you are emotionally attached. God brings Christains together as a whole family, attaching us so that we can develop ourselves too, to be more selfless to each other.
This camp has helped me grow. I learn that sometimes i am too prideful of my own ability. For example when playing games, i will tend to chiong and neglect the rest because i think that i am more fit than the rest. I will ignore other people's contribution in the process. God taught me to slow down and give thought to others. Be willing to give them their equal share of responsibility.
Moses/Humility. God know us inside out, our sins. We must admit our wrongs, repent and do something right. God is great. He blesses us to overcome these problems. We must acknowledge this and be willing to give him all. Rely on God so that we will be somebody.
David/Loyalty. We must stay committed to care for the people, encourage people to know him and submit to God authority. We cannot be too self-centred and selfish. Be loyal in our love for people around us. Be loyal in worshipping God, offer him more time. Be loyal in sharing God's love. Be loyal in admitting our mistakes without bitterness and hatred.
Faith/Abrahim and Courage/Esther. At certain time in our lives, we will be given opportunities to lead e.g cca/church. We must be willing to take on these roles and trust that God will pull you through. There will be difficulties along the way but have faith. Believe that you have the ability to do the job. We are not perfect but God chooses us because he loves us and believes in us. So give your best and trust youself and God.
Paul/Ambition.
I will keep the promise to grow.

WWS work was slack yesterday. Morning, woke up late, play a bit of psp fifa street 2, afternoon at 1pm went for work. We did some post-camp packing up. Then we had nothing else to do because it was school holidays and there's no preparation for any other school programmes. So the leader Eugene told us to build a raft to compete for the annual raft competition. He challenged us to build it entirely out of Newater bottles, so PUB will be happy. The rest of the day, i had nothing more to do. At night, i finished my fifa street game.
Today, i was making some cookies in the morning to bring to camp for my leaders. Hopefully James won't read my blog before he goes to camp. Keep it as a surprise. Watched Seconds from Disaster, about an explosion in Puerto Rico. Played a new game on psp. Then at night, went out with friend for dinner, then arcade and then went friend's house for mahjong and bridge for an hour or so.
Genesis 22:2 Letting go of what you love. Life is full of obstacles. You will have to let go of things to build yourself up. Do not get troubled by present woes but look more to the future. For example, if a friendship will be jeopardized by a certain decision, let it go. In this way, the friendship will not only remain but will be strengthened too.
Finally, i pray for my sister and mum. I pray that my sister will recover from her rashes, she has been so irritated by it these few days. And my mum will have to undergo an operation this Saturday. I'll be at church camp from Saturday to Tuesday so i won't be there for her. Hope God's presence will bless her though. It's not a major operation but she will have to rest at home for the next whole week. Then i must do house work next week. Ah the thought of it makes me feel lazy. Haha still i've to help out more or less. :)

Farewell to a great friend

Today, around noon, i went to send off Joseph at the airport. He will be going back to Malaysia, first for a camp then back home before his school term at Australia International School starts in February. He applied through his Prelims results so he wouldn't need to come back to Singapore for his A levels results. He will be studying environmental engineering, same as me.
I was the only VJC person there sending him off. Didn't ask the rest because i thought they might be training. But it was public holiday, i forgot. The rest of the people were all his church friends. Even though i didn't know all of them, i didn't feel awkward either because they were very friendly. My fellow God believers. A sense of unity in heart! :) We took photos, prayed for Joseph before he left. It was quite emotional. Joseph shed some tears. So it's good bye..
Joseph has been a great friend to me. We know each other first through track. He took the same events as me, long and triple jump. We are both in Earthwatch too. So many similar things between us lol. And some of our track juniors mix our names up at times. Funny, they say we look alike. I'm really very grateful to him. During the track season, he will always push me on when trainings are tough and tiring. Similarly, i'll push him on. Even though we are less built compared to the rest of the athletes, both of us were able to achieve great things at the end of our track career. He has been a great motivation to me.
This good friend of mine, Joseph, is the main reason why i became a Christain and committed to God. When i'm struggling with injuries, he constantly offered to pray for me so that i will fulfill my dream to achieve something from years of track and field training. He has led me to believe in God's power because i managed to push on despite back pain on the competition day. His prayer must have worked wonders.
So i say farewell to one of my best friend ever. It may be the last time i'll get to see him. I'll wish him all the best and have an exciting life journey ahead. Hope that he will be a great environmental engineer. Maybe one day when i'm working as a fellow environmental engineer, i'll get to work with him. :)

Week Review

It has been a week of fun and emotions. :)
A recap of what i've done for the past week: Tuesday 02/12 to Sunday 08/12
Tuesday, played psp for the whole afternoon. Fifa Street 2. Then went to SDD. Most of the girls looked so different because of make-up. The guys looked the same. The food sucks. The MC had all his sick jokes esp during the Q&A for the prom kings and queens. Prom king was Nazri! Prom queen Isabelle. Took a lot of photos with my friends during SDD.
Wednesday. After SDD, most of my class went to Ashley's house. Played "Beijing Olympics" on the Xbox. Then, played mahjong. I didn't sleep at all and had to leave Ashley's house early to go for work at WWS. I had thought that it will only be a meeting. On the way to WWS, the bus was crowded so i had to stand on the bus. But somehow i managed to fall asleep at times, my knee knocking onto the side of the bus. Lol. When i reached the place, there were many other people too. I assumed that i had to attend the meeting with them so i sat round the table with them. When the people-in-charge came out and make a head count, she was surprised that there were more people than listed. She called out the names and didn't mention mine. Then she laughed and said, "Oh you our member, you should be inside." At the office, i had to read through the details of the camp that they will be organising over the next few days. I had to skip the word for life session at church that day because they wanted me to stay over to help clean up the place. The place was so dusty. When we swept the place, dust was blowing out as though the place was on fire! Together with the facilitators, we attended a few more briefings. I really had trouble keeping myself awake, nodding off at times. After work, i met James near church for shepherding. He gave me a pre-camp devotion guide and asked me to set myself camp objectives. They are to experience god full-time, be more open to people and ask god to teach me how to guide people to him.
Thursday morning, went to unit caregroup at Mount Faber. I had decided the previous day to skip work on Thursday morning because i was too tired. But i wanted to spring a surprise to my friends so i didn't tell them that i was going. In the end, i was late because meeting time was made earlier. We had a mini Amazing Race but the main aim of it was to bond our unit together and get to know new friends. The games involved a lot of running. Didn't feel as tired as the rest because i was the only tracker aside Li Yin. My team Anzio was Team Number One. Yay! Had a mini picnic together, ate bread with tuna/ham/cheese/etc, before it started to rain and we had to run down the mountain. Thank god i didn't fall because i was running with slippers and nearly couldn't brake. Phew! Had lunch at Vivo City then went WWS to report for work. At WWS, the camp was already on-going but some of the activities such as bike patrol had to be cancelled because of the rain.
Friday, i spent the whole day working at WWS. It was quite slack in the morning because the secondary school students were left to do their own stuffs and they didn't need much help from members like me. They were building sand castles so i took a bike to cycle around for fun. There's a pool table at the work place so free pool! Played pool and some card games with Shiang Nee. Late afternoon, it was the event of the camp. Raft building. The students had to build rafts using wooden planks, PVC pipe, containers and strings. Then, they had to race a short distance along the sea. It was quite fun. Some of the rafts worked while others shattered before they started racing. Kenji came in the evening after his internship at MOE. After the raft competition, it was back to slacking. Shiang Nee left early because she was sick. Got drenched by rain the previous day. Kenji and I played 8 games of pool before we left. I was on form for pool man! Play 2 games with Shiang Nee, won both. Played 8 games with Kenji, won the first 7 games. 9-1.
Saturday morning, went to WWS again. It was time to break camp. We had to clean up and after that, reflect on the events of the camp. It was actually quite smooth flowing except for the rain. The students were also quite obedient, something that is seldom these days. In my previous camp, Under No Roof, i had a terrible time handling the participants. The participants were JC1 students from different JCs who came from the same secondary school class, one of them Joel, my church friend now. He was the more obedient one while the rest of his friends didn't bother doing reflections on the camp. At this WWS camp, i was surprised when one of the students came to me with his diary and asked me, "In one word, how will i describe my role in WWS?" I told him member. After that, went for church service. Before service, had something like a usher interview with the rest of usher-wannabes, actually just a sharing session on why i wanted to be an usher for my church lol.
Sunday afternoon, taught Rochelle some maths. She had to take R-paper when school starts. Went to play mahjong at Ben Tay's house after that.

A new month begins

A recap of what i've done for the past week: Sun 23/11 to Sun 30/11
At the start of the week, i was bored. Dunno what to do. I was at home, playing psp for the entire day. I thought i must do something else other than just staying at home and playing psp. And be a couch potato. I must plan something to do. But at the end of the week, i wanted so much to have some time at home to rest.
Here's how the week went.
Monday morning, i continued to play psp. Afternoon, went out to celebrate Han Wei birthday, belated. Also watched the movie, "Body of lies". The movie was so-so. Didn't really get to enjoy the movie much. Because i was preoccupied with holding my bladder right from the start. Imagine holding it for 2 plus hours. OMG. Also, the movie ended somewhat abruptly, like a lack of meaning in the end. So life was still very slack.
Tuesday morning went airport to send Tifen and Li Lin (church dudes) off to Bali. Afternoon, went to WWS for a short briefing. Got my first pay, 20 bucks for 3 hours of work, mostly taken up by the briefing by leader Eugene which lasted 2 hours and did a bit of washing of containers too. After that, went Bras Basah to sell some books, totally worthless trip, got 2 bucks for 4 books. Had a bus concession card and plenty of time, so i wouldn't mind wasting the trip.
Wednesday morning, i went for my first training in 3-4 months. Did some staircase drills and then gyms. Subsequently, my calf muscles were pulling for the rest of the week. It was really horrible walking around with the pain. I was walking much slower than my usual quick speed of walking. Afternoon i went to church for Word for Life session, which taught people how to live a better life as a Christian. It was quite useful, had some fun during the session, thank god. Night, i went to buy a long pant for SDD and a birthday present for Ashley. Things were starting to get busy.
Thursday morning, went Yin Ling's house, all the way at Tampines for caregroup. We actually had to meet at 930am but i woke up at 845am. Quickly went to bathe, left home at 9am and managed to reach at the same time as some of my church friends at her house. What a wonderful comeback in this Amazing Race! Thank god. Afternoon, we went to church together for harvestor. We were then sent out onto the streets in town to do a Christmas survey on people. It was a good experience doing something meaningful for god. I had to leave early though, to be back home. Night time, i went back to town again, this time Dhoby Ghaut to meet up with my secondary 4 classmates from Catholic High. Really nice to meet up after such a long time, even though most of the people who turned up also studied in VJC. After that, went Ben Tay's house for a short while to download some games for my psp. Yay finally some new games to play, all my games are old fashion and i'm too lazy to download new ones myself. Touched home at midnight.
Friday morning, went to training again but it was kind of a waste of time. My calf muscles were pulling so i couldn't do much runs or jumps. Played some soccer though, quite lazy, didn't run much. Had late lunch with the trackers, went back home and prepared a short powerpoint presentation for YEE networking session the next day (not preparing to present to them but just in case they ask for it). Then, went Bugis to meet mum and sis for dinner before making another trip to airport to send Yin Ling off, on a trip to Australia to play basketball, represent Singapore. Touched home around midnight again. My legs were totally burned out.
Saturday morning, i went for the YEE networking session at Science Centre as early as 9am, with Shiang Nee and Tricia. Kind of slack because we spent the entire time listening to people's interesting presentations. About an online billing system (to save on papers for phone bills), electronic recycling, eating meatless meals and green buildings. Friends who are reading my blog, i encourage you to change your phone billing system to an online one, to save papers. :) Singtel and M1 offers this system but not Starhub. After the sharing session, i immediately rushed to town for church. Service was great. It taught us to try our best to forgive people even though they have done wrong to you because God has again and again forgiven our numerous sins. Excellent! After that, there was a ministry thing, something like CCA walk-about. I signed up for usher, "Hi welcome", "Thanks for coming". At night, went out with family. We went to an electronic store, bought a radio and a camera.
Finally Sunday. I was so tired but had a patrol duty at WWS with Kenji and Shiang Nee at 11am. Thank god it rained! :p We couldn't go for the boat or bike patrol in the end. I was also too exhausted to do so. Afternoon, i just slack at home, something i didn't plan to do at the start of the week, i was doing it again! At night, i went to Paradix, Singapore Pool, to watch soccer with my class. Man U versus Man City. Man U won one nil, Wayne Rooney! An entertaining match and drama at the start of the match because we had to find ways to sneak into the place. Because slippers were prohibited in the area, apparently. Touched home around midnight. Met a drunkard in the mrt and another on a bus on the way home. The first one sounded quite crazy, claiming that he was very stressed. Someone tried to talk to him, what a brave soul! The second one kept yawning so loudly.
Okay, so a new month begins. One thing for certain, i will be busy. Today, i went to church for another Word for life session. Tomorrow will be SDD. Wednesday morning WWS meeting, afternoon Word for life, night shepherding by James. And a WWS camp coming soon. Schedule packed. I definitely will not be slacking!

Leaves in the pocket

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes referees in England should take a leaf out of Roberto Rosetti's book as the ref did not hesitate to hand out a red card to Joan Capdevila for a high challenge on Ronaldo seven minutes from time.

My plan for the next 4 months before NS

December, January, February and March. These are months before i get enlisted for army. I still do not know exactly when is my enlistment date yet but it will most probably be April i guess because "An enlistment notice will be sent to you two months before your enlistment date." So, what's my plans dude. Can't possibly slack around and count down to the days of army. And wait for money to drop from the sky.
I found a job today, at Waterways Watch Society, the external environment organisation i joined in July. Working days: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Working hours: 11am-6pm. 8 Dollars per hour. Working colleagues: Shiang Nee, Kenji and many other volunteers all around Singapore. What will i be doing: Adminstrative work, cleaning up, etc for the society. Not bad, at least i'm doing something meaningful for the next few months. There will be a WWS camp next week for students from Thursday to Saturday. So expect stuffs to do. Besides that, the group of people will be planning a 2 day conference held at Dunman High next June. Also have to re-organise the adminstrative work at WWS. It's a bit chaotic at the moment, according to the head Eugene.
Okay, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday covered. Saturday is church. Sunday is break. As for Monday and Wednesday, either slack around or look for a part time job which only require me to work once per week (maybe work at hotel as banquet but will be tiring, working hours mostly at night from 530pm to midnight).
Haha must start working very soon. This year, it will be my first Christmas as a Christian, so i'll expect to spend more money than before. Looking forward to all the Christmas presents i'll be getting too. Cheers.

List of things i'll buy if i'm rich

Once i start working and earn money:
1) Camera
2) Bicycle
3) New shoes
4) Soccer shoes
5) New ipod

A Levels is over, game on!

After months of sufferings, studying day to night, A levels is finally over!
First, a summary of the A level examinations. GP was weird, the essay did not have an environment question and the comprehension had a strange AQ. Mathes was great! Chemistry and Physics was okay, except that i was sick when i took both the paper 2. I really have to thank god for helping me out. Even though i was sick at the start of the 2nd week of A levels, i managed to pull myself through Physics P2, Chemistry P2, Economics P1&2. Couldn't think as sharply as usual during these exams but still, i've to thank god. Economics was so-so. Paper 2 was quite unusual because most of the questions involve more of thinking than sheer/brute force mugging. Paper 1, i mis-read the final part of the 2nd question. Maths H3 was do-able but i supposed the bell-curve for distinction will be damn high because of other imba people. The unfortunate thing is that i forgot the method for the integrating factor which costed me 5 marks in one of the question. Overall, quite ambitious but i wish for a perfect score for my A levels results, except for PW and Chinese, which are already over and there's no way back! But whatever results i get, i will gladly accept them because my future is in god's good hands. If he grants my wish, then yay. If he decides to give me something else, i promise not to get too worried because god will always be there to guide me to success in other means.
Next, post-exam celebrations. There were the last day and the last last day of A levels. The last day was on 14th nov, friday. It was after my Maths H3 paper and Chemistry P1. My class could afford to celebrate for a while because Physics P1 was on the following tuesday. We went Marina Square to have lunch at a noodles house and played Indian Poker. Subra and Foo Foo lost haha. Then, we ended up in Leisure Park, played bowling there because Marina Square was packed. Got a total score of around 100, not bad :) We also celebrated Nick's birthday on that day, bought him a cake. The last last day was really the last day. It was after Physics P1. Liberation! Mugging is over! We celebrated like dogs. Went to Bugis because we wanted to go to a cafe to play board games and have lunch at the same time. But the place was close when we reach so we went Pastamania to eat instead. Then we changed our mind and went Nazri's house. Watched Prestige, an excellent movie of magicians. Watched it before but still worth the time. Then we went out to have bubble tea and played in the playground, like kids.
Third, hospital check up and packing of room. On 19th november, i had to go to SGH in the morning to take a breathing test. Missed out on playing soccer at the Cage, so sad :( There were 4 tests in total. The first 2 tests were held in a cabin. I had to breathe in and out, sometimes breathe in hard and breathe out fast and long. It was quite tiring lol. For the 2nd test, the doctor had the cabin's door closed. The cabin was quite special. It could produce echos from outside the cabin. Another doctor was arranging papers and i can hear her hitting the papers onto the table. Wow haha. After that, i was back home arranging my room. It was a tiring task. I took the whole afternoon packing but still i'm not done with it yet. I'll continue to pack tomorrow. The last time i packed my stuffs, i was at the end of O levels. As i was packing, i realise i've too many stuffs in my cardboard. Secondary school books and notes, i thought they were of some use in JC but NO, so recycle or sell at Bras Basah. Toys, time to part with them, i'm too old for them, can't possibly keep them all. I'm just like a rubbish collector. But now, at least my study table is empty. Quite ironic, i only used my study table for putting notes, not for studying. Usually study on my bed or in the living room coffee table or outside home. Also, i'm planning to paint my room, make it as cosy as possible, anyway i've all the time in the world to do so right now before army, re-decorate it to my liking. Cheers!
Lastly, it's my class chalet. Class chalet was from Thursday to today. Track chalet was also on Thursday. On Thursday, i woke up late, around 1030am, packed my bag for chalet and by the time i reached Pasir Ris, it was 1245pm but still, i'm the 2nd to arrive, Wee Leong the 1st, everyone else very late. Then, around 3pm, me, Wee Leong, Subra, Marg, Michelle, Ben and Nick went to check in. Apparently, the person at the counter told us that we had to pay 260 dollars more if we are not NEBO members. So i had to join the NEBO membership for 20 dollars. But there's quite a few benefits and privileges from the membership e.g. discount for car-driving test at Ubi ComfortDelGro Driving Centre, discount prices for movie tickets and rental of skates from SkateSports ECP. After that, we went into the chalet. Living conditions were so-so. Upstairs bed and aircon. Downstairs television, toilet and fridge. Played a few hours of mahjong then went to track chalet. The farewell gift was a box with socks and a few photos of the track-and-field memories. Went back to class chalet at around 1130 with Ashley. Played FIFA, then the word "sial" came out from Justin and the guys keep saying sial. Played a car racing game, where the guys tried to smash cars out of the map. Other games: Bridge, Cheat, Homo, Tyti. Quote of the day was when we were playing Homo, at 530am, Subra was quite tired and when he lost one round, he suddenly shouted "Come come come" to Michelle in the Indian style and she went to him like a submissive wife, quoted from Justin. Then, we had nothing to do so i decided to spend some time telling people's fortune in marriage. Not bad sial, i was quite professional. We slept from 7-9am. Second day was FIFA then bowling at E!hub. I was flaccid. I got the 2 lowest scores of my life. 50 and 58, not my day. We played arcade after that. Funny moment of the day, a Malay on the motorcycle with his friend, saying that his motorbike is fast like a car sial. I laugh like a dog sial. Cannot maintain sial. Also, when Zhao Chen played the car racing game with me, Nazri and Justin, Nazri and Justin lapped Zhao Chen and kept "smashing him out of the map". Just when he thought he crossed the finishing line and that he finished 2nd, we reminded him that he had one more lap. Haha. Then, i had an early night, slept earliest at 11pm, woke up latest at 9am. Left with me, Ben, Subra, Nazri, Michelle and Megan. We went brunch and i went to send my church friend off at the airport.
In the afternoon, i had another fun time. James and I decided to play a trick on Melvin. We told the rest to trick him into believing that it's Rochelle's birthday, so that he can buy his own cake. To add salt onto wound, he even went to buy a present, thinking it's really Rochelle's birthday. Rochelle played her role really well, accepting birthday wishes from us like it's really her birthday. After church service, we went to the food court and even made Melvin set up his own cake. Then, we started to sing the birthday song and suddenly shouted his name. He was surprised and tricked. He chose his own cake and bought himself a birthday present. Funny sial. A trick masterminded by James and well-executed by me and Li Yin who accompanied him to purchase the cake.
More fun and enjoyment to come definitely. But i must look for a job soon. So that i will have money to spend. Good news, the WWS thing i'm doing with Kenji and Shiang Nee, is offering us something like an internship thing and we will be paid at a good rate. Alright! We will have to plan a conference which will be held in Dunman High next June.

So check up at sgh was done yesterday. The check up wasn't any normal check-up. I had to see a specialist to see what happened to me. Apparently, i didn't know the doctor was a specialist until i was told by the specialist herself lol. I was told that i've a scar on the right side of my lungs. 2 reasons: Either i'm one of the special people who is born with it or some serious illness happened to me when i'm young. Because the specialist said, by the looks of the scar, it's quite old and has been there for a long time. Anyway, nothing serious will happen to me. Thank god! But i've to take another CT scan, one that is clearer than normal x-rays and more radioactive. It will be on the friday before A levels starts. Then after A levels, i've to see the specialist again to review the cause of the scar/etc. So most likely i'll be posted into army in April. Because they will not have enough time to post me in January.