Many many thanks to Queenlay for your lovely postcard! Love it man! *muacks*

Boy, I didn't realise that you mailed it until my dad asked me how come there was a postcard for me from San Francisco. Haha! I was almost delirious after reading it. Man, I also wanna go there with you! Shld have packed myself into your suitcase at the airport instead of going Penang.

Qinlei: saw your photos of the places that you've been. Lovely! I wanna eat at Fisherman's Wharf too!!!! Thanks for the wonderful surprise! Wanna see your photos when you're back!

Attended some communications class yesterday as part of our training for work. Apparently, some experts say how a message is communicated across is based on this magic formula:
Chosen words - 7%
Tone of voice - 38%
Body language - 55%

Much as I know that I don't really fear speaking in front of crowds, it's also my pitfall; in that I am not very careful in choosing my words. Things that I say on the go as I speak tend not to be chosen carefully, and sometimes I wonder if I ever offend anyone with that. But I guess not yet, since I haven't heard any complaints apart from Joyce.

Think this is qutie a bad testimony being a Christian cuz I blurt words quickly. Not that I always swear, but I think words can be more carefully chosen. So this is just one of the issues that people gripe with in moulding their lives to be more godly, and mine's dealing with speech.

Application for the week: reign in and talk less

Penang was quite a bore apart from the makan sessions with the rest there. Nothing to see or do in Penang but eat. And it's quite disgusting to know how much I ate there.

Oh well, it was nice knowing a couple more people from that trip, although it would have been more of a blast if Selene was there to accompany me and Danielle. Silly lass who cheated us into applying for last batch. Thank goodness there were still the rest like Donny, Gillian, Joanne, Yun Rui and Tu Zhi who made the boring training sessions a tad more interesting.

And it's quite amazing how they can entertain themselves with the camera. Taking shots after shots. Haven't laid my hands on the photos but hahah it'll be darn fun to look at all of the photos. Truly amazing how they can keep on posing for the camera. Donny & Gillian, you guys are the best!

So it'll be back to training at Ocean Building for the next couple of weeks I guess. Oh oh, and thank God for the good news man! Just heard from my supervisor just minutes ago that my manager somehow managed to 'transfer' me back to his team! Goody! Not the best client profile, but nicer people to work with. Yipee!

Some people are just blind or they just do weird things..

For the first time in my life (apart from the time in Europe), I was quite scared of jaywalking at my place. Some weird taxi driver was going forwards and backwards repeatedly at the junction. I still thought it could be how some vehicles reverse a little upon stopping, but boy this cab was really reversing. And then he'll move foward to the white line again. Scary..

Enough to be horned at for jaywalking and almost getting hit the last time. As much as I don't really pay attention to traffic lights, what if his knee jerks and hits me?! Hahah morbid thoughts but yeah me and my vivid imagination.

Bon Voyage Steph!

Can't imagine that things can be so coincidental such that I'm due to be at airport today till 6pm and Steph's flight is at 8.40pm today too. Hahaa so I'll be perfectly on time to meet her and send her off!

Lucky lass is going Sweden's Lund University for exchange for a whole semester. Gosh, I hope she posts photos and keeps everyone updated of her exciting stories of Sweden.

It'll just be another couple of weeks before I'm sending Xiao off again for her Hong Kong exchange. Sob.. Then again, why is everyone going for exchange? I want too! Erm a bit overdue, but yeah. Secret desire since uni days. Now I can only self-sponsor travel trips. Hai.

Looking forward to send her off! Hopefully Xiao goes to accompany me. Heh heh..

Just attended the first session of FOP on Sat night. It's been a while since both me and pkg went to Indoor for any Christian band thing. The last we heard Don Moen was when we were back in lower sec, helping to usher people together with the rest of the youth group. Goodness, how time flies.

Back to this year's FOP. Actually it's just my first FOP. Didn't make it to last year's cuz I didn't want to queue for hours just to watch Delirious perform. Guess I'm just not used to the too-charismatic way of worship. Since I met lovely Eunice, so she managed to squeeze in another 2 seats for me and pkg amongst the rows they got for their cell group. Yeah so it's was kinda strange for me to be sitting amongst a group of ultra charismatic people, attending a worship event.

Those speaking in tongues (not that I've something against it, but just that I'm very wary of whether so many people can have the same gift and worship in the same church at the same time. Isn't it that God provides a church with a variety of gifts so that the diversity can help the church?) and the jumping etc. Well, I used to be the jumping sort back in secondary school, and I still believe that it's alright to do anything you want to worship Him. It should be any form that is a reflection of a person's personal manner of worshiping. But it's just that I'm not that spontaneous anymore. By the time they came to altar call, pkg and myself just sat throughout, even as everyone around were standing.

The focus of FOP was a bit unusual to me. It's both worship and a segment on a series of messages for the entire 3-day event. And the message was kind of very pro-youth; talking about how misunderstood youths are by the older people in the church, and that we should not keep thinking of how we are weak but that we are worthy in God's eyes etc. Nothing wrong with that lah, but I couldn't catch a chunk of what the Argentinian paster was talking about. Overall the message seemed a bit too skewed towards supporting the young people, and challenged the adults to understand youths. Oh well, not for me to judge the sermon topic.

So I think I can only listen to contemporary Christian music on cd, but not in a live environment cause it becomes too commercialised and concert-like for me. I can only listen to them on the cd in my own little personal space. Live band is good, but not a real worship session for me.

Wonder how I'll take this coming Saturday's Planetshakers event at Max Pavillion. We'll see. God must work His way in me then.

PISSED PISSED PISSED!!!!!!

Oh my gawd, I took 2 hours plus to pick and choose those photos to develop from the trip. And my stupid computer has to say that I wasn't supposed to open other programs while its burning the disc. Argh... It took so long to sift through which ones I wanted to develop! Alamak, and I wanted to bring it for developing at granny's place later on. Crap. Gggrrrr.... Stupid program didn't even save a copy of the hundreds of photos that I picked. Shit! Have to do it again and I'm rushing to go out. Damn it.

Random thought #87:

If you had the choice of a mutant power or character out of X-Men, what would your choice be?

With full assurance of my destiny
O Lord, nothing gives me more joy than
To honour You, the Risen One

The Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Shall stretch over all mountain and waters
Over every heart and soul
Come reign and transform all mankind
To praise and glorify You

Praising and declaring our desires
Our thanksgiving could go on and on
Even time on earth ain't enough for me
Lord, let me praise You for all eternity in heaven

I will lift my hands to the King
To love You with all I have
I belong to You

Jesus, miraculous deeds You do
That no man can comprehend
We turned against You, yet You love and exhibit much more grace
Wash us clean; as clean as pure lambs
Thank You Lord for Your everbounding grace

Now take all that I have
My sould, mind and might
Direct me Lord to ways that please You
You and You alone are the object of my worship
My Lord and King - the Great Redeemer!

Worshipping You gives me joy
To dwell in Your house of love forever

This should be amazing. Check out how Kit Chan can look so dreadful with this supposed Empress Dowager outfit. That apart, this musical should be a must-see. Argh. Preview show tickets are sold out.

Yeah man! Finally met up with the girls to share our photos. Landed my hands on the cd that Steph burned for us. Another round of screening photos and laughing at how crazy we were to take so many pictures. Yipee! I can finally develop them and start pasting it in the album. Cool!

Sometimes life is so unfair

I was working at the River Boat thing with 2 other guys at Esplanade yesterday and I just thought that it's so hard for people of a harder family background to jump out of their pit and achieve something for themselves. The boys were from ITE - one recent school dropout another in NS. And here they are trying to earn money to feed themselves and get some pocket money, but all they can do is simple jobs like this that don't pay much. Hardly learn any skills that can be applied to another job, but a job nonetheless just to get them by. They're nice kids, loud and rough, but harmless and fun loving anyhow. Much as they try to find jobs that earn them more, being able to hit $1,000 a month is wonderful for them. And there I was sitting there wondering how is this even enough.

One of them was funny enough to say that after he ORDs and works as a technician, will I ask my company to employ him as a technician. And it struck me how simple they can be, to be content with a job and not strive for something more.

What made the day even more strange was how I met my friends later on that day. Our conversation topics are so different from what I had with the boys. With the boys, I felt so bad for being a graduate sitting there and having to be cautious of what I say because I don't wanna make them feel lousy about themselves. We speak about gambling, smoking and those ah-beng stuff like illegal car racing. And with my friends, we're talking about travelling, shopping and finer things of life while eating at cafes and stuff. There I was feeling quite happy and excited that I watched my first and only play in London, to only realise that they've watched a million plays in Singapore and abroad. This 180deg change of conversation topics kinda made me feel quite strange. How life is so unfair for the ITE kids.

Much as some don't have good attitude and don't wanna do better in life, but just to pass each day as it comes, there are also others who are just stuck. Even if they wanna try something more, they can only do as such. It takes so much more effort for them to move and get out of their quit-school-and-what-can-i-do cycle, to so call equalise with others; while other more fortunate people are already moving on so much faster.

Anyway I hate the job now cuz it's so darn boring. There's nothing to do in the morning except to talk to the boys and breathe their second hand smoke. And there's another job paying slightly better or the trail job thing as I'm waiting for Lance to get back to me. Hmm wonder if it's not nice to tell Xionghai that I'm not working at the River Boat thing.

Had a pleasant surprise today when I spotted Terrence on the same bus as me on the way home from church. Haha so strange that in one day, you'll actually meet 2 old friends - Gabe & Terrence. Ops, and there's Caleb. Haha Gabe, your brothers now look like twins. So different from the kiddy photos in my childhood photo album.

Why would anyone wanna travel all the way from Toh Yi drive to Jurong for a haircut? Dunno what Terrence was thinking of. But quite a nice way to catch up. A bit miserable to catch up on the bus though. Haha and our dear friend is still attending his gf's catholic church. Wonder if he's a catholic now.

It's so random, but I'm excited that Xiao is coming to church on Saturday! Erm a bit strange to invite her for a talk on a Christian's response to evil and suffering, but just ask first. God will decide how to speak to her. Maybe it'll spur something in her after we've visited a thousand and one churches, cathedrals, basilicas etc. Keeping my fingers crossed and praying hard. Maybe Ted will come too. Haha goody, two at a go. Even better. =)

For the first time in my 20 odd years in Singapore, I took the River Boat ride for the first time yesterday evening. How interesting! Felt like I was a tourist in my own country. Looking at the skyline of Singapore from the boat is quite different. Haha neither have I viewed UOB plaza from the river. Cool. The nice thing was that I took the ride for free! Haha cheapo-nana.

It's actually part of some job training. Thanks to Mister Xionghai, he convinced the people at Clarke Quay River Boat to take on another pair of hands to sell the ride tickets. So hopefully, this will occupy me for a month before official work starts. Not earning much, but at least to feed the ever-expensive transport costs now that it's adult fare. Yucks.

This ride also came at quite an interesting time after looking at how river or canal rides are done in Europe. We saw quite a few, but only took one at Cambridge. It's called punting, and all the rides are done by Cambridge students. The boat companies hire them to run the rides and introduce Cambridge to tourists. Very different from Singapore's rides cuz the commentaries are done in person and you get to strike conversations with the punter; unlike Singapore's super-unfriendly tape recordings.

There were also rides at Versailles (France) and Venice, but we didn't take them. Versailles was a silly reason to create opportunities for Xiao's Ted to give her a ride. Stupid him didn't get the idea of a romantic ride. What the heck. And Venice was just too expensive. Oh man, but the boats are so classic! So poor us, just took pictures and sat by the canal looking at people in the boats.

Yup, so Clark Quay might just be the new hangout for me if they call me back.

YOU ARE GOD ALONE - Phillips, Craig & Dean

You are not a God
Created by human hands
You are not a god
Dependant on any mortal man
You are not a god
In need of anything we can give
By Your plan, that's just the way it is

You are God alone
From before time began
You were on Your throne
Your are God alone
And right now
In the good times and bad
You are on Your throne
You are God alone

You're the only God
Whose power none can contend
You're the only God
Whose name and praise will never end
You're the only God
Who's worthy of everything we can give
You are God
And that's just the way it is

Unchangeable
Unshakable
Unstoppable
That's what You are

:::

Xiao asked me why do priests and nuns give up their whole lives to make the vow of chasity and serve God, I guess this is what they might be singing in reply.

EUROPE WAS FABULOUS!

Touched down this evening in one piece, so thank God for His protection for all of us on the trip. Can't even imagine that I've been away from home for a month. It seemed just a while ago that we left Changi.

But all said, it's still nice to enjoy your little comforts of life like my bed and a clean toilet. You won't want to know how we bathed in some yucky shared toilet in Rome, and how I slept beside a darn urinal in Tours, France. Sick.

Ooo, we got to catch some real soccer fever while in Europe. Starting from the 2-matches a day routine in Derby, England with the Riisnaes to the climatic finals with the Italians in Rome. Good! I'm slowly getting the hang of what all the soccer craze is about. Still learning more about the rules of soccer like off-site and penalties etc. Trying to learn more names of the various players. Lemme try rattling some names to trigger my memory: Meterazzi (irritating Italian player who got head-butted by Zidane), Cannavora (cute Italian captain frm Jevuntus, what the heck I can't spell), C. Ronaldo (tricky one frm Portugal), Jens Lehman (brilliant goalie frm Germany) blah blah blah...

Europe is really so amazingly rich in terms of culture and architecture. Every city and town is unique in terms of the people and sights. And it's so hard to compare and decide which are the favourites. England is cool for the traditional English stuff and countryside, with amazingly lovely weather apart from the dullness of London. France itself has many different sides with the different regions. Germany's old town Dresden is very much untouched by the war. Prague is a reflection of Eastern Europe. Italy offers amazingly lovely landscapes.

The whole backpack experience has been wonderful and enriching. To explore new places beyond our little island, to expose ourselves to the many different cultures, and just to throw ourselves to the larger unknown. No regrets for making the trip to Europe. Everyone ought to save up for their own pilgrimage to anywhere in the world for their little backpack.

Lotsa great moments travelling with the girls. Can't wait to look at the tons of pictures again. Quite inspired to save up for a future trip to Spain/Greece/Scandinavia. But that will be a long way more to go. Must get back to normal life and ready myself for official work.

Last call... Last call to board...

Sheesh, we're leaving tonight. Can't imagine this is it man. 3 girls going on our own trip to the big wide Europe. Going with lots of different emotions - excitement, anxiousness, joy, fear, longing... Pure estacy. Kind of like my first taste of independence. Travelling alone w/o the family or guides. Being responsible for our own well-being in the unknown. So this is kind of it. I'm praying real hard that nothing goes wrong and all will be smooth and all so nice.

But people who know me will know what a worry-wart and a paranoid I can be. Thought that I was the one who worried the most during the whole planning stage, so kinda psychoed myself to not think so much and just go and whack it. Until we met up with the ruggers on Friday. Goodness, more scary stories of trouble and danger in Europe. Grr.. Made me even more paranoid. But I'm absolutely glad that I went for the session in church on Saturday. Reminded that we shall not fear for the Lord goes before us and is with us. So do not fear for everything is under His hands. Shall carry this with me throughout. As my dear Ah Lian said, "keep prayin each step of the way".

Thanks to everyone who will be praying for the bunch of us. If you wanna know who's going together - Wensi, Stephanie, myself and Xinyi (who's studying in UK now). I'm sure God will answer all our prayers.

Keep you guys posted of what's going on if possible. Ciao!

Our dear princess with a balloon band around her.

Finally learnt how to post photos. So not tech-savvy.. Just dug some old photos to test out. Random ones I guess.

This is it man! We're all set to go (cept for all the packing lah - haven't started) but yeah, everyone's psyched up to go and all. And I've finally got the camera...

Thanks to everyone who loaned me your precious things: Qinlei for her wonderful backpack, Amy for her money pouch, Chock & Yee Lin for your memory cards!

Thanks also to Shiwei for taking the girls for BS for the month. The girls are thrilled to have you back as the BS leader too!

As we edge closer to departure day, it's more and more busy. Changing of more currencies, packing of bags, finalizing the presentation.. Thank goodness Steph is collecting all our important train documents. Can't trust me to do this. I may lose all the passes.

So it's countdown to meeting the ruggers on Friday for our annual dinner first!

Thanks soo much for everyone's prayers! I'm feeling a whole lot better after the awful fever, chills, runny nose and flu over the wkend. Still struggling with a bit of sore throat and stuffed nose. But hey, it's so much better than the wreck I was over the wkend. Even sent my bro for his Chinese Os this morning (explains why I'm up so early).

Received some travel insurance certificate this morning and boy oh boy did I realise what a muddlehead I am. I put the dates of the insurance coverage totally wrong. The correct dates should be across a month, but I put in the wrong month. So the policy only covers 2 days for 3 of us clueless travellers. Humph, and I still wondered why NTUC Travel Policies are so cheap. I'm praying real hard that they'll amend the policy for me and then I'll just pay the difference rather than going through the online application again. This is also what I dislike about online payments cuz blur people like me tend to make a whole lot of mistakes with online forms.

But all's said and I cross my fingers that they'll be nice people who'll change em for me. Should be meeting the girls later on to purchase some more train tickets and get the gifts for Dave and family. Heard they're nice folks who'll house us even though they're all geared up for World Cup fever.

Even though I don't follow soccer all that much, but I do hope we'll catch some of the kinda massive craze they have in Europe! Who should I support? Hmm we'll see. But anyhow it's gonna be darn crowded everywhere in Europe with this season going on right smack during our 1 month stay. So it's both a gain and could be a real pain in the ass.