Dad's 2 Samuel

Ken ken wants to use the computer already so I'll make this short.

Believe me, it's short.

Yesterday Dad spoke on 2 Sam for Youth. At one point he talked about how David organized the priests into 24 priestly courses systematically.

I remember reading that, about the gatekeepers, the musicians, and all. It was really systematic and orderly, that's all I can say. Everything was planned out properly and carefully.

At that point, I was wondering: Since there are priests to keep the temple clean and all, do they really keep it clean and spotless all the time?

Do they get tired of cleaning up or take a few seconds' worth of slacking off or leave a tiny area dusty for one day? I mean, when I mop the floor (when school's off and on Fridays for Bible Study), most of the time I make sure I cover every spot in the area upstairs. But sometimes when I'm feeling tired or just not in the mood, I miss out the sharp corners of the wall and under the portable cupboard. Just for that moment.

Then I realized I'd asked a totally illogical and irrelevant question.

Of course they cover every spot la.

No way a nation that's so cautious about writing down God's Name and preserving His laws can slack in keeping the temple clean, especially when it was still the Davidic Period. The temple was really God's house to them! Not only cuz God really dwelt between the cherubim la.

Then another thought came to my mind. Would I do that for church?

Again, I realized I'd asked a rather rhetorical question.

Of course... not...

I mean, I pick up rubbish on the floor when I see them, and try to save on electricity by turning on as little electrical components as possible, but I wouldn't go out of my way to make sure the floor is spotless or at least clean.

We always criticize the Israelites for disobeying God and all. How ironic to think that we overlook utterly simple things like keeping His house clean. How shameful it is that we even forget that the church is His house most of the time!

At least THEY had some basic cleanliness sense.

All that big talk about obeying God and praising Him and revering Him and following His will etc seems lost in light of the fact that we can't even provide a better place for Him to have His weekly Supper in.

Must buck up!

Ok. Maybe it wasn't that short.

Shorter than usual anyway.

Star Wars Saga Begins American Pie parody by Weird Al

He looks like Uncle Philip Lee (left) ^^;



I know this was in 1999 and I'm quite outdated, but I still think it's funny..

Lyrics of the parody:

A long long time ago
In a galaxy far away
Naboo was under an attack

And I thought me and Qui Gon Jinn
Could talk the federation into maybe cutting them a little Slack
But their response, it didn't thrill us
They locked the doors and tried to kill us
We escaped from that gas
And met Jar-Jar and Boss Nas
We took a bongo from the scene
And went to Theed to see the Queen
We all wound up on Tatooine
That's where we found this boy

Oh my, my this here Anakin guy
Maybe Vader someday later
Now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Saying "Soon, I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi."

Did you know this junkyard slave
Isn't even old enough to shave?
But he can use the force they say
Ah, do you see him hitting on the Queen?
Though he's just nine
And she's fourteen
Yeah, he's probably going to marry her some day

Well I know he built C-3PO
And I've heard how fast his pod can go
And we were broke, it's true
So we made a wager or two

He was a pre-pubescent flying ace
And the minute Jabba started off that race
Well, I knew who would win first place
Oh yes, it was our boy

We started singing:

My, my this here Anakin guy
Maybe Vader someday later
Now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Saying "Soon, I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi."

Now we finally got to Coruscant
The Jedi council we knew would want
To see how good the boy could be
So we took him there and we told the tale
How his midichloreans readings were off the scale
And he might fulfill that prophecy

Oh the council was impressed of course
'Could he bring balance to the force?'
They interviewed the kid
Oh training they forbid

Because Yoda sensed in him much fear
And Qui Gon said "Now listen here
Just stick it in your pointy ear
I still will teach this boy"

He was singing:

My, my this here Anakin guy
Maybe Vader someday later
Now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Saying "Soon, I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi."

We caught a ride back to Naboo
'Cause Queen Amadala wanted to
I frankly would have liked to stay
We all fought in that epic war
And it wasn't long at all before
Little hotshot flew his plane
And saved the day

And in the end some gunguns died
Some ships blew up
And some pilots fried
A lot of folks were croakin'
The battle droids were broken
And the Jedi I admire most
Met up with Darth Maul
And now he's toast
I'm still here and he's a ghost
I guess I'll train this boy

And I was singin':

My, my this here Anakin guy
Maybe Vader someday later
Now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Saying "Soon, I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi."

We were singing:

My, my this here Anakin guy
Maybe Vader someday later
Now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Saying "Soon, I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi."

RBS

Um, I'm now the MGC representative for the keeping in touch with the RBS programme. Cuz I have the green book (guestbook) plus I have internet connection. And I actually use my email. Muahaha.

Anyway, I know most of the MGC people have inactive email accounts that are most probably deactivated already, so I'll leave the RBS students' email addresses and other details here.

Brian Phuah
Email: han1089@hotmail.com
Mobile: 016 - 362 7983
Birthday: 10 September 1989
Address: 6, Lintang Besi, Off Jalan Melawis, 41000 Klang

Teh Eu Gin
Email: eugin_teh@hotmail.com
Friendster/MSN: eugin_teh@hotmail.com
Mobile: 016 - 318 2725
Birthday: 10 OCtober 1989
Address: 30, Jln Dagang 6/3, Tmn Dagang, 68000 Selangor

Woon Juen Neen
Email: bluemuffino@yahoo.com
MSN: juenneen@hotmail.com
Mobile: 012 - 242 2589
Birthday: 8 December 1989
Address: 23, Jln 19/144Am Tmn Bkt Cheras, 56000 Kuala Lumpur

Chai Tze Yuen
Email: chai_tzeyuen@yahoo.com
Mobile: 017-286 5113
Birthday: 6 July 1990
Address: 17, Jln SS22/30, Damansara Jaya, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Loh Zhe Yuen
Email: panthera.sapiens@gmail.com
Friendster: l4zyt1g3r@gmail.com
Mobile: 016-831 0187
Birthday: 20 February 1987
Address: No fixed address (I still don’t understand why)

Michael Loo Yeong Huei
Email: michael_aka_sticky@yahoo.com
Friendster: michael_aka_sticky@yahoo.com (but it’s um… go see for yourself)
Mobile: 012-269 0166
Birthday: 30 December 1987
Address: Nu 2, SS20/21, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya

Yvonne
Email: nikerocks_89@hotmail.com
MSN: nikerocks_89@hotmail.com
Mobile: 016-343 9030
Birthday: 8 December 1989
Address: No. 15, Lintang Tepi Sungai 2, Tmn Kota Jaya, 41100 Klang

Continue to pray for them eh. Sometimes people backslide even more after Bible school than if they hadn't gone.

Dreams are for rookies

If only I dared to hope.

Then maybe something could happen.

But the could in that thought keeps that hope a dream.

And dreams are for rookies

Let me end with a heart-felt aargh.

Aargh.

This Week's Friday

Mdm Chah announced that today's extra class would be cancelled.

Hooray!

I gave a mini-quiz to the CF to prepare them for the postal quiz. The results are --> ^^; and that's all I can type.

Hooray?

Anyway, I was reading my Collection of Fairytales book (after pounding it with my fists back and front to kill any bookworms in there) in the bathroom as usual, and it struck me that fairytales have three things in common:

1. Miserable self-pity
2. Selfishness
3. Eventual happiness and self-satisfaction

I used to jump up and down with joy when I read the ending of each fairytale. But today it seemed as if the authors were just using the stories and the characters to realize their own perfect little worlds that they daydreamed about so often. The stories are always about how they're so pitiful at first, and then they do all sorts of things that we would say are selfish if the bad guys were to do them, and then they live happily ever after, after all their enemies are annihilated, either by them or a fairy.

E.g.

• "Puss in Boots" Saves his master from poverty just so he wouldn't be skinned and eaten. I missed that part when I last read it and thought the cat was being nice and loyal. The cat killed an ogre (tricked 'em into turning into a mouse, then pounced on it and ate it) and lied to the king (like dunno how many times about his master's 'property')

• "Beauty and the Beast" The "evil" fairy turns the "handsome prince with a kind heart" into the Beast. The "good" fairy turns Beauty's two "bad sisters" into stone statues who would stand on her stairs and do nothing but witness her happiness. Is it surprising that the good fairy's spell is condoned?

Classic examples of why daydreaming is bad.

CF? Or Extra Class?

2 days ago, our Math Paper 2 teacher (Mdm Chah) had to attend a koperasi meeting during her 2nd period with us (last period). So she gave us some homework to do, and told us that we were to be seen busy + quietly doing the homework by everyone. Our class is super exposed to everyone cuz it's like in the tempat pertemuan yang strategik in the school and everyone who wants to go anywhere will pass by the class and see everyone and everything through the large, open windows. However, as usual the boys (5 of 'em, one K.O. already) and some of the noisier girls fooled around the class a few minutes after she went out. 5 minutes before school dismissed, Mdm Chah was seen staring straight at us (them) with a totally angry look. So they say la. I was *ahem* busy and quietly doing my homework. In her anger, she sentenced us to completion of chapters 23, 24, and 25 of the Federal (past year) textbook - due today. A lot la wei. She actually wanted us to pass up after CNY, but then...

Good thing I was busy and quietly doing my homework.

So I kinda had a little bit to finish only.

Muahaha.

However, the next bad news was that she wanted us to stay back for her extra class today: 12pm - 1pm.

Here's the thing.

CF starts at 12.10pm and ends at 1.15pm every Friday. To make things worse, I was supposed to be speaking on something today.

Between kelas tambahan and CF, of course no competition la. CF wins by a mile man.

But I still had to tell Mdm Chah cuz she was already so angry, plus my monitor would be the one to really kena if Mdm Chah found me missing from class. I didn't know how to tell her lor. Everyone was like, can meh? Must go leh. She'll scold wan lei. And other such things. I tried explaining that I had CF and I was speaking, but here're some of the stuff they said:

• Between academic and co-curric, of course academic more important la. CF only wat! Logically must choose academics la.
  
• Cannot get people to replace you meh?
  
• Chair meeting only mah.
• You don't have vice president meh?
• Got AJK wat.
• Extra class more important la.

To Ming Zhu's remark (1st one), I said that for us Christians, whatever we get in our exams and tests are all given and determined by God. So if we're about to discuss logic, I'd say putting God first is much more logical =_=

But then... talking about God with people who don't know God is like Stephen telling me about cars and getting new shoes for his car and such.

1. I don't understand a thing about cars. I know they have wheels and all la. Yeah, the basics. But only the baaasics.
2. I can't get how important a car is to him cuz it's not really important to me except to get here and there. I like the driving more than the car.
3. I can't sayang a car like he does cuz to me, there are better things to sayang. The car is the better thing to him, of course.
4. The car to me is just a thing. Nothing more.

Anyway, I found myself thinking about it the whole day yesterday. I was thinking about how I should tell her, what I should say, how I should say it etc. I was so worried that I didn't even tell anyone in the family about it. Partly cuz I was afraid they'd say I should go for the extra class cuz in F6 already or something. After what everyone said in school, I'd started to doubt the win by a mile statement. I started to think that maybe it's no that important to push everything else aside in favour of CF. I remembered what Mdm Ho said about Christians doing things with wisdom in school. I even started to think that maybe I could get someone to replace me or something. As I was doing my homework, I felt that I should just put everything aside first and just go talk to God about it. So I went and did my quiet time. As I was reading the Bible, my mind kept going back to the extra class issue, and after awhile, the lines in the Bible started to turn into "extra class Mdm Chah extra class co-curric extra class CF extra class". Cacat as it seems, that was what it felt like. Then I remembered what I wrote in my spiritual diary a few days ago. In the Changes section, I wrote that I would get on my knees and pray or at least pray real hard when other stuff start to plague me during QT. So I prayed and told God about it. At that point, I didn't feel like telling anyone else about it. And the realization just came to me - If I can't even make a stand about something so simple like choosing CF over extra class, how am I gonna make a stand about bigger things in future? I keep telling and asking God to use me, but just when He gives me a simple test to prepare me, I fail to see it as one. And then another thought came to me: What if Mdm Chah decides to have extra class every Friday?
I told myself that I couldn't skip it for CF every Friday!
But then another part of me told me that I could. I can! Jesus carried a stinky, wooden, ugly, splinter-y cross for me! What's the big deal about getting scolded by teacher for choosing CF over extra class??
Yet another thought came to me: What if this act of mine in a way smears the reputation of CF and Christians?
What kind of Christian would I be if CF is not important to me? People like Seoks would think that I'm not standing up for Christ at all. She'd probably say something like, "Har? You skip CF ar? You usually not like that wan lei." And well... people never really liked Christians anyway.

I felt so much better after that. The words of 2 Chronicles suddenly became much clearer. Reminds me of that song...

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will go strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace

Keep your eyes upon Jesus
Let nobody else take His place
And the things of heaven will go strangely clear
In the light of His glory and grace

Can't really remember the last line heheh.

I completed all my exercises yesterday, prayed really really hard, and came to school hoping to find Mdm Chah in the staff room today. She'd already gone home when I looked for her yesterday. This morning, Seoks told me that the school had made the cacat rule that no students are allowed to enter the staff room d. -_- So once the bell rang, I ran to the student's corner and stood outside the staff room's glass door and tiptoed and peeked here and there trying to find her. That verse came to me:

2Ch 14:11 And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power.

I prayed. Ben came along and said (claimed) can enter after school. I went in and found that she wasn't there. I started to pray again, and presto! Mdm Chah came strolling through the door in front of me! I greeted her and she immediately said:

Don't tell me you can't make it to class.

I was like, "um...

I can't make it to class.

At that point, I just felt really really cartoonish.

I told her that I had CF, and I was speaking today. I was expecting to hear the list of stuff listed up there. As expected, she asked,

Cannot get people to replace you meh?

I said no la. Cuz need to prepare wan mah. Next, I expected something about the vice prez or something, but she asked,

You're chairing the meeting izzit?

"Ya". Then...

What about my homework?

I happily said that I'd finished it, save for some that I couldn't do la.

Only you right?

Yes! Yes!

And she gave me the green light. YEAH!

All the while I was already thinking of saying that I'd do anything to make up for it, e.g. stay back everyday except Friday for detention or finish all the questions in the Federal text or answer every question in class or something. I was also thinking up an answer for if she said that I should follow the school rules about going for extra classes etc. I was thinking I'd say that if I weren't a law-abiding student, I wouldn't have told her in the first place. Was also thinking that I might have to give a speech about how I have a responsibility as prez of the CF etc. Thank God I didn't need to say all that.

Funny how God has a simple solution for everything. Sometimes we just think too much and forget that God's in control...

But then Ming Zhu told me this morning that Mdm Chah's gonna have extra class every Friday till CNY.

I think I'm gonna have to go look for her again on Monday.

She might blow a fuse since I'm gonna be skipping every Friday. I might have to start being the model student in class to make up for it or something. She might criticize the CF and Ms Chok might come after me.

But I don't think I'll have to hang on a cross with nails in my hands and feet like Someone did.

So it ain't gonna be that bad.

Greetings, Yen Mei

Hihi geng yi will be asking why Yen Mei's come first before his.

Anyway, here's to our brave young (but older than me muahaha) Yen Mei who played for last Sunday's morning worship and yesterday's (Saturday) youth! Hip hip hooray!

Ahem. Look at what the kids have done to me. Cough cough.

Let's be serious.

I know you made some mistakes when you played, and your transition from end of song to the chorus wasn't exactly perfect, and that sometimes you just panicked and played an unsing-along-able kind of playing, but I just want to tell you that those are the kind of things that actually make a pianist.

Not those super-pro, non-human kind of pianists la. For normal, totally human pianists like us only.

Sis used to ask me to teach some other people piano also, and Lin used to bug me to teach her some stuff on the piano. But I always gave up half-way or taught so horribly that they gave up. The only thing that drives me to not give up on both you and Celine is the fact that both of you remind me so much of how my own experience.

Celine is like a mirror of me when I started out at 9.
You lei, is like when I was in Form 2 (yay you look young!)

I think I told you before, but I'll tell you again.

There was once Shin (zheng's sis) and I played together for sunday worship. It was horrible la. We were doing all sorts of stuff that we shouldn't be doing oso lor. I wouldn't elaborate on that. But after that Auntie Lay Hong came up to us and told us off. I know she didn't mean to hurt us in any way, but what she said hurt me anyway. She told me that because of what we did, she and another auntie couldn't worship at all that day. After that I didn't have the face to go to church anymore. I even considered attending Lin's church (super near my house, 3 minutes walk only) with the excuse of playing for their church. Thank God lots of people were concerned, especially our precious geng yi!!!! He called me and encouraged me to come back (that time I was still quite young eh). After that Auntie Lay Hong and I made up la. About how we did it, all I'll let out is the phrase "London Royal Circus" heheh.

After that incident, I really started to take playing for the church seriously. I learned a lot in the process - about how to conduct myself when I'm up there, what to do when there's a new song with 6 sharps / flats, how to know the speed of a song, how to still worship even though things can get awful out there, and other such things.
Through playing with the band, I learned many other things also. I acquired new playing styles (mainly pencurian of sin yee's and daniel's drum beats, sis' and zheng's bass tabs, and aaron's strumming styles), how to play without looking at the keys, how to shift from chorus to chorus, from key to key, and how to take note of the congregation's reaction to the playing while still focusing at the same time.

Skill is not something you get overnight. It took me 3 years, I think, to actually play a song without making it sound cacat, and until now, I'm still making mistakes. Less serious / major ones, no doubt, but they're still mistakes. You saw for yourself how I suddenly ter-changed key from A to Bb right ^^;

Don't be afraid of those mistakes. I mean, of course you don't go around being proud of the mistakes la. But just take note of those mistakes and, keeping in mind that you can get rid of them or at least decrease their number, try to do better the next time. Ask around, and curi around, it's ok wan. I do that all the time. Especially during DMSJ, when I steal bits and pieces of SAGC's David's styles =P (Mr SAGC Jun Yi, I know you're here... seng mok la hor)

Listen to more Christian music. I find that secular music don't really have good quality piano playing lor. It's like anybody oso can play wan. Scout around for good Christian music and learn from them. It's ok to spend time by the radio (or your mp3... the world's not the same anymore...) and playing and replaying the song till you get it right. Get involved in major church events. Although the experience WILL be very painful and tiring, in the end you'll find that your skill has advanced to a much higher level. It's something like naruto and dragonball la haha. I think those comic writers ciplak the idea from us wan la.

Curi my styles if you want, I don't mind. I curi most of mine from Auntie Angelina neway. I just change a little bit so it sounds like my own. Cis terbocor.

When I go off next year, you'll be the one to master the keys hor. Don't think that you'll never make it, or compare your playing to mine. When I first started out at 9, I never dreamed that I would be the one sitting up front playing from 9am to 10am every Sunday.

I hope you'll continue to play for the youth, and for church. It was (and is) through my struggles and falls in playing that I got (and still get) closer to God. For a pianist, this is the way we have to take la hor. Always make mistakes your best friend! Turn red in the face when you make them, if you must, but after that, pick yourself up and hit the keys again!

Kelas Ganti & Children's Hour

I prepared the "script" yesterday till 11 something at night. My fault la. Auntie Yu Ming gave me some books to get ideas from, but I thought I left it in Dad's car, which went to Cameron Highlands until Thursday night. Dad said the books weren't there when mum called him, but I didn't believe cuz I didn't know where else to find the books ^^; So when he came back I checked, and really not there wor...

Throughout the whole week kept thinking about where the books can possibly be and how to teach the children. Almost rammed into a car while driving. Tsk.

5.30 am - Got up
6.30 am - Left for school (kelas ganti)
6.50 am - Sesat in Ong Kim Wee; couldn't find Jaymuda -_-"
6.57 am - Found Jaymuda
7.05 am - Got into Seoks' car and headed for MHS
7.15 am - Arrived in school
7.28 am - Realized I ter-brought my handphone to school in my pocket
7.35 am - Went to Seoks' car to put my hp inside; prefect on duty shaking head at me T_T
12.20 pm - Found out school wasn't till 12 pm but 12.40 pm
12.40 pm - Left school in Seoks' car
12.56 pm - Arrived at Jaymuda, picked up car
1.40 pm - Arrived home
1.45 pm - Make bomb & mandi kerbau
2.00 pm - Lunch
2.17 pm - Left for church
2.43 pm - Arrived in church
3.05 pm - Realized didn't bring most of the props
3.10 pm - Serious practice with Li Lian commenced
4.06 pm - Children's Hour!

It was ok, I guess.. Lots of syok-sendiri-ing on my part +_= Feedback:

• Auntie Yu Ming - Teaching session was very alive cuz acted it out
• Auntie Kiat Tin - Ok. The kids were very interested.
• Little Ken - Very funny!
• Little Amy - Very nice!

^^;

I've come to appreciate the people who commit to children's work a whole lot more. They're really one talented bunch!

I actually wanted to go make bomb wan before the thing (when I'm nervous I don't get sweaty palms or panic or vomit or wat.. I have to make bomb, which is why I try as much as possible to not feel nervous), but then Shaun asked me to help Yen with Come On and Celebrate, plus needed to practice the songs with Li Lian. Was also having a headache before and after. I just thank God my head felt perfectly fine when I was "teaching".

The songs we sang today:

• This Is The Day
• I'm A Missionary After All
• I'm In The Lord's Army!
• My God Is So Big
  

We were teaching on Elijah and the Baal prophets on Mount Carmel, so I thought we should sing about God's power today. I wanted to do "How Excellent Your Name Is", but we sang it last week during the combined session with the youth already. I love that song so much! It's such a sincere and simple outburst of praise to God, without all those Christian jargons and flowery stuff in it. And also it reminds me of Auntie Shirley la.. I first heard the song from her lips, and learned the "dance" from her. It's one of the few things I can remember about her. Still remember how she used to lift her hands in worship also. Wonder what other wonderful things I could've learned from her if she were still alive today.

I think I'm still much too "organized" or scripted for children's work. Supposed to be spontaneous wan rite. The last time I did the OA Sunday School sketch oso.. Oh that reminds me. I did have some experience with kids at the OA. How could I forget? ^^;;;;;;;;;; Bad memory!

I had fun doing this with Lian today and the kids were really really cute, especially when they did the "yum yum" and "bloop bloop" stuff during unc Rod's session hehe. Struck me how spontaneous and fun-loving they all are. They didn't even hesitate to do those funny antics that youths usually find embarassing. Couldn't help noticing that Chai Ho (my young cousin!) felt a little out of place though. Wish I could do more to make him feel welcome here. He speaks mostly Hokkien, and the only Hokkien words I know are:

• Lu gong xi mi! ("I Do I Do")
  
• Jiak peng (The only thing I understand when grandma talks to me)
  
• Wa eh yia yia yia ("I Do I Do")
  
• Pang ie kek seng tu la bin (When planning to leave Mr Hoh's bday cake at grandma's place)
  
• Anekuan eh tai chi boh (Yen taught me from TV wan)
  
• Wa eh lau beh xi liao (Hokkien rendition of Star Wars)
  

As you can see, they're mostly useless ones. The only thing I can think of doing for him is to give him sandwiches when I have some.

Maybe I should go for Hokkien classes.

Hmm.

All in all, I know that I couldn't have done it today without God and without all those people backing me up and encouraging me!

Baal's Symbol

Found this while browsing around for an image of Baal for the Children's Hour.

Symbol of Baal - Horned Hand

Some of us do this also eh. So stop la. ^^

No title so I'll just call this "25 Jan 2007"

I was faced with 2 options when I woke up this morning:

1. Go to school, come back feeling feverish, skip PA tuition

• Pros I might get a full attendance cert at the end of the year, which can help me a great deal, since my co-curric is horrendous; I wun miss out on math paper 1; I can complete whatever hmwk I have in class and really rest when I come home; I can rest till the next day after coming back from school;
• Cons Ms Heng might teach on Section E of the non-linear text to linear text transition and I'll be so blur since my school PA teacher is as horrendous as my co-curric; I'd have to wake up at 5.40 am and only come back at 3.05 pm
  

2. Stay home from school, feel better, go for PA tuition

• Pros I might learn something new at tuition and prob not get lousy marks for PA in the upcoming test; I only have to get out of bed for 3 1/2 hours
  
• Cons I'd have to force myself to drive to Bachang in the middle of the afternoon after staying in bed the first half of that afternoon; I'll miss math paper 1 and have to catch up on two days' worth of hmwk when I'm back in school
  

I chose to go to school.

Qi would tell me to stop planning so much. Yeah. I should stop. I promised the group anyway. But it's really really hard not to. Sigh.

Must change!

We had Speaking for MUET today. Group members:

• Ming Suan (kaki tido in class, badminton pro)
• Wai Kee (sits behind me, badminton pro)
• Sinn Ting (CF treasurer, volleyball pro)

Looks like I'm the only un-athletic one -_-

Teacher let us choose which candidate we wanted to be.

Individual Tasks:

• A Women's role in sports, examples of local or international female athletes, and why their participation in sports is important
• B Women's role in politics, examples of women who have succeeded in this area, traditional precepts of women, and how they hinder women from being political successes
  
• C Women's role in business, and how women incorporate their skills into their other important roles: wife, mother, daughter, friend.
• D Women's role in education, their contributions to education and something else which I can't remember heheh

Group Task: Discuss the changing roles of women in this new millenium.

Ming Suan chose B and Sinn Ting chose C. Wai Kee let me choose first. I chose D. There was silence mostly, throughout the individual and group tasks. I tried to prompt them during the group discussion:

• "Ming Suan, what do you think? Do you agree?"
• "Wai Kee, you mentioned the achievements of women like Nicol David and Wong Mew Choo in sports, but I didn't really understand how their participation is actually important, to women, particularly. Do you have any ideas about that?"
• "Sinn Ting, I like what you said about how women can be more tolerant with their husbands because of their experience in management, but can you elaborate further with some examples? What exactly did you mean by that?"

But the result was almost always silence. Except in Wai Kee's case, where he promptly replied, "I really got no idea lor!" And laughed. We laughed also la.

I really really want to help them cuz MUET is really really important in applying for a local uni in m'sia. And I kinda understand their situation cuz I used to feel the same way when I was in chinese class. Somehow when I'm faced with a language that's not my first language, my mind becomes void of all ideas and huraian. I tried to give them some points during the discussion (teacher was busy with another group anyway), but as Ming Suan said, there's still the language & vocab problem. Hmm.

So I taught them a cheeky tactic.

The commencing of the group discussion is open to any one of the candidates. Since we probably wouldn't be in the same group in the real exam, I told them to look out for whoever had the best command of english in the group. Promptly start the discussion by restating the topic title, and repeating a few of the candidates' lines. Then turn to the English fella, and say, "What do you think?" or if they're afraid of being too obvious (we get marked down if we ask too much of the what-do-you-thinks), they can say, "Candidate X, you have a funny look on your face. Are you disagreeing with me?" Usually the English fella will try to help the others, so he'll probably play along. Then whatever he sez, the rest can just copy paste lor. And just nod nod and agree when he sez something. Then keep prompting the others to speak, and they'll get marks for leadership.

Of course it's a gamble la. Sometimes we get mean english-ed people in the group who just want to get Band 6 and ketepikan everyone else in the group by hoarding the discussion. And also sometimes we get a group that's purely chinese-ed. And sometimes we panic and get tongue-tied during the whole discussion.

But no choice la hor.

I'm glad I went to school today.

Oh ya. Today the muslim guy (always hiding somewhere.. never see him before.. only hear his voice wan) was reciting his prayers again for the whole F6 quad. I can't understand why they must mumble. It's like taboo to speak properly. Never mind that.

Anyway, he was mumbling something about "ampunilah dosa kita, dosa ibu bapa kita" and a whole bunch of other people's dosa. And very detailed wan noe. Got list out all the dosa wan. I was thinking, "These people... always asking for forgiveness... like so takut dosa liddat...", and then I realized that Christians are supposed to be like that also. Though not ask for forgiveness cuz scared kena hukum la. And I thought to myself: These non-Christians, who don't have the truth, ask for forgiveness everyday. Literally everyday. Sometimes I don't confess my sins seriously, and I just do it cuz it's been drilled into me that it's harder to actually communicate with God when there's still the barrier of unconfessed sins. These Muslims are asking forgiveness from a cold, distant god. I have a God who's so close to me that He can whisper and still be heard! It shouldn't be so difficult to confess my sins to Him.

I felt that I was put to shame by these Muslims today.

Must change!

Makan Telur? Me?

Never!

Hmmph.

Marcus said he and zheng would make me and qi makan telur during badminton.

Well, we didn't! Wahahaha.

Don't think I'm keeping a grudge.

I'm not.








I'm plotting revenge!

Muahaha!

Zheng didn't say anything so he's spared.

To Marcus: I will make you makan telur one day. Beware.

National Bible Knowledge Postal Quiz

I'm trying to get my class mates to join also, especially those who have a Bible. One of them is so interested in the quiz that he says he'll bring his Bible tomorrow (though he's not a Christian) to show me in case it's not the same version as the quiz's.

But there are Christians who refuse to take the quiz, though. And the guy with the Bible told one Christian straight-forwardly: "Dowan take the quiz? Eh you Christian anot wan?"

For those who read this, please pray that the Christians will at least have a little more courage than the non-Christians to take the quiz and to make a stand in this Muslim-dominant school.

And also that the Christians in cf will buck up on their Bible knowledge... especially simple things like "Man shall not leave on bread alone"...

I shall not elaborate.

And many thanks to Pei Ling for your encouragement today! I'll do God's best on Saturday (sounds weird but it's definitely correct)!

Church Break-in & Children's Hour

As Shaun wrote in his post, somebody (or some bodies hmm) broke into the church again. This time the police are taking it seriously la, probably cuz their evidence camera got stolen right under their noses.

Anyway, they took:

• The refrigerator
• Wine
  
• Kettles
• Thermo flask
• Drums (yeah the whole thing.. but they dropped the cymbals on the way. Butter fingers tsk tsk)
• Bass amplifier
• Mics
• Standing fan (aargh)

As I've been telling my group members and the girls during prayer meet, the judgment on the robbers would be far greater than our "losses". We could never bring the fridge to heaven with us anyway. (Why I mention the fridge? Cuz it's the most important one among the above ahem) But for those robbers, when they get to heaven for judgment, God will look straight at them and say:

You stole My fridge in 2007.

Or something like that.

It would sound quite as mild as it does here, of course. And that's only one sin. What about the many other sins they're bound to commit in future?

I don't regret that this incident happened. I mean, of course I wish the robbers hadn't robbed the church. But then I think this robbery has caused some of us to be more careful about the way we handle God's house and the things in that house. It's taught us some lessons, certainly, but as Jesus said, "Woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed" when He referred to Judas' betrayal leading to His death, so it'll be with those robbers. What they did taught us something, but it doesn't justify what they did.

Let's not be angry with them ya. They're so much more pitiful than us.

Oh ya. I'm teaching in the Children's Hour this Sat, with Li Lian. The only times I had with children in GLO, I spent playing the piano and acting as the beat-up guy in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Tsk.

I need some serious prayer.

Pray k.

Badminton of Badmintons

I played today. Uncle Ivan tricked me into playing.

I'm not impressed with how karat-ed my playing has become.

I shall begin anew.

But a bit lazy la.

Never mind.

I'll probably get tricked into playing again next week.

Bring it on, all you tricksters!

I am frustrated..

They don't seem to understand that sometimes I need my notes to complete my exercises...
... and that I can't complete my exercises if they don't return them to me...

I keep wishing they'll give me my notes back earlier but I don't do anything about it.

That makes things more frustrating.

Aargh.

Why is MR = a - 2bQ not equal to MR = d(TR)/d(Q)? They're supposed to be the same..

Aargh. Again.

Glitch! Glitches everywhere!

Aargh. And again I say aargh.

But I kinda promised to be more positive this year.

So screw the aarghs.

Econs dateline's not till friday! I have 2 days left!

Except Derrick wants to borrow my papers tmr.

I have the whole day at school tmr to do it!

Screw the aarghs!

Just A Thought

If I were to call Shaun, Shaunny...

... Jessica, Jessie...

... Mark, Markie...

... then Adrian Mau would be...

... Mawi!

Just a thought.

Ignore me.

Shaun has a blog!

Hihi.... Hope got more words than sis' wan eh.... hehehhehehehe....

I Started A Conversation

... and kept it going.

YAY!

Today I sent Shaun to MAKSAT for badminton with the rest of the church people. Don't misunderstand eh. It's not like I'm a super good sis or wat. There were many reasons for me to send him to MAKSAT:

1. I like driving. Nah, screw that. I love driving. Nah. I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEE driving.
2. I forgot to pass around the Barnabas Aid "Right to Justice" petition form (how could I??? Aarghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...) in church, so I thought I'd do it at MAKSAT.
3. I wanted to make an effort to socialize since I'm so horrible at it.

Aaron Jr's uncle and cousins came today. No need so much info on the uncle la hor.

Name: Terrance Joseph
Racial Heritage: Mix of Portugese & Indian blood
Age: 16
School: SMK St. Francis
Interests: Religion(s)

Name: Tania Joseph
Racial Heritage: Mix of Portugese & Indian blood
Age: 13
School: SMK Seri Kota
Interests: Anime & Mexican Drama Series

Phew! Socializing isn't as bad as it used to be!

Sis was right. The tough part is always initiating the conversation. After that, things get better. Phew again. Phew!

It's good to know that I can still do something besides sitting on the bench like a pitiful person.

I think I'll start to go to MAKSAT more often.

Accident!

Yup.

I think I'll go learn about cars so that I'll know how damaged a car is, and which car is damaged less during an accident, so that I can properly evaluate the situation and at least know what to say when (ya, not if) I get into an accident.

Seoks was fetching me to dad's office in Ong Kim Wee after "house practice". We didn't actually have house practice cuz it rained. Yay!!!!

Seoks was following this white car pretty closely la (so close that dad would chew me out if I did it). The driver turned on the left signal and wanted to turn left, but he was really taking his time about it. Seoks braked, but then decided she'd overtake him from the right and zoom away. But as she was going to do it, she realized she couldn't cuz there wasn't enough space. So she braked again. Kinda sudden stop la. I mean, she was at about 10 km/hr but it still wasn't slow enough, I suppose.

CRASH! BOOM! BANG! PIANG!

No la. Not like that, but it felt like that. I thought we hit the front car, but it turned out it was the back one la. The Mercedes behind us had been going at 40 km/hr when Seoks braked the first time. I don't really understand what the fella was saying, but he said that it was her fault because she braked suddenly the second time. Seoks argued back and said that she braked the first time, and the second time she moved, it was dreadfully slow (which I agree with). He argued that he was going very slowly too at 40 km/hr. Seoks said: 40 heng kuai liao leh (which I agree with also. Of course, you do realize that I didn't voice out my agreement there and then..). Then he and his gf - I think - went on talking about how it was Seoks' fault for braking and then moving then braking again. So cuz my Mandarin is so teruk, I only managed to piece every bit of their conversation together after quite some time to learn that they were actually blaming the accident on Seoks' 2nd stop.

Frankly, I found their hujah-hujah pretty silly. If they were going at 40 km/hr, they would've knocked into her anyway the first time she braked. It was only because she moved again that they knocked into her a few seconds later. In fact, it was about 4 seconds after Seoks braked before I felt the boom crash and all that. So they were actually condemning themselves.

But as I said, my Mandarin is horrendous, so I didn't dare speak up about that in case nobody understood me and I had to repeat myself and face such an awkward moment. And also, Seoks was getting pretty garang and the guy looked like he was about to start a gaduh or something. His gf also looked like want to slap people already. Violence everywhere! Aargh!

Anyway Seoks called her uncle, and the gaduh-guy called his dunno-who. The owner of the Merz, I suppose. Wah that guy ar, lagi garang. He came with a cigarette in his hand, and a packet of cigarettes. Didn't dress up like a typical ah beng samseng la (or is it samseng ah beng? Hmm) but fuh the way he walked and talked, really like the along in Hokkien TV shows. The samseng-guy admitted that it was the Then the gaduh-guy spoke up and said he was going very slow. But then FUH the samseng-guy suddenly raised his voice and said (yelled):

Ni zhou ji man ye shi ni de chuo! Ni shi hou mian de che! Ni zhe chien mian zhe yang wo ye bu dong ni! Zi ji zao chien pei!

Doinks man. So garang. I really chuak lor. Anyway, the samseng-guy was all nice guy when he talked to Seoks' uncle, and he gave him the address of his mechanic friend, and told Seoks' uncle to go there to repair the car.

After that, Seoks apologized to the gaduh-guy for getting him into such hot soup.

And she said that maybe it was a fate for her to get into the accident cuz she never listened to her uncle's advice against following a car so closely.

So all's well that ends well.

Unfortunately it didn't end very well for the gaduh-guy.

Watchnight BBQ

I did the rain proud. Hmm. I do not wish to comment on this.

We had a bbq at Unc Ivan's place at 7pm yesterday (errr Dec 31 la) till 12 am or so. Me and my siblings went home earlier cuz cannot tahan already. Except Shaun la. Hmm.

After I played a little with the waterworks, I went to the bathroom. After I came out, Aaron was there drinking water, and he asked me whether I was ok. So touched T_T I've never really asked him about how he was feeling or whether he was alright or things like that, so I felt bad a little when he asked me.

Auntie Jen and Auntie Tina fed me with hotdogs after that to help me feel better. Haha. I am now officially retiring from hotdogs and marshmellows!

After that, El came and sit beside me, and he teman me throughout the rest of the evaluation meeting la. Thank God for El! And he thanked me for encouraging him during the family camp. I said lots of things and did lots of things to lots of people. I really didn't think that anything I did would actually have an impact (maybe dun even have effect) on anyone. To hear him say that was something very encouraging to me also la. Like what I've been doing has not been in vain, and that the group discussion in camp had really been worth it.

Uncle Ivan and Marcus got me a cup and El filled the cup with water for me.

Evaluation ended, El left, and Zheng came over and asked how I was. I told him what I kept telling myself in the bathroom:

I don't know how that happened...

He told me it was because I'd been bottling everything up inside and so today everything spilled uh splashed out. Maybe.

Ok. Not maybe. It's memang la. Haiz.

Sharma came to entertain me with one of his crazy stunts, can't really remember what it was, but it was funny anyway. And it really helped me smile again. Not that I was miserable or wat, but after playing with waterworks, one tends to find it hard to smile, ya know? Hmm.

Chen Li just smiled knowingly at me when I looked at her during the programme planning. Heh. Who knows how many times I've given her the same look when she did the same thing I did last night (technically last night k).

Geng Yi just nudged me and grinned his goofy grin. As far as I'm concerned, that was and is all I need from him ^^ I recall giving him the same nudge but a nicer grin la when he shared during camp haha.

Shaun came over while we were praying and nudged me and said he was sorry for always poking fun at my "what's your spiritual condition" trademark phrase.
Frankly, I was never frustrated at him when he did it, cuz I know he takes the grp devo seriously. So I told him it was ok.

I ended the year 2006 in a way I never expected. I found many good things in many people and saw that I'm surrounded by people who want to be good and kind. And I also saw that I haven't been tapping into my capacity to be that way.

I want to care more about people, and to be able to show them that care... I've always seemed so indifferent because I was afraid my effort would look superficial or something. God taught me how to care yesterday. He gave me so many examples. I'm going to try and follow those examples.

Mum always says:

Don't say you'll try; say you will.

So I suppose I'll change that last sentence a little bit.

I WILL follow those examples!

Christmas Musical

Events: Christmas Evangelistic Event; Christmas Meeting
Venue: MGC
Time: 23 Dec 2006, Saturday, 7.30 pm; 25 Dec 2006, Monday, 10.00 am

So Christmas is over. And the play is over. Hmm.

I was grumbling about it so much before the thing but now I feel like I actually miss doing it. Hmm hmm. It was quite fun la. With all the interesting remixes Mark came up with, especially the Elvis one heheh. Anyway, I really learned some stuff throughout the process of the thing, and I think my piano skills have enhanced a little bit. At least now I know that I can play something other than simple arpeggios and those *bom-cha-cha things on the piano.

I'll try to put up the script when I have the time... and mood. Time is not a factor haha. Then it'll be easier to understand what we did that day. It's also a good way to remind myself that MGC is not made up of people who are totally tone-deaf and talentless.

When Mark told me Uncle Ivan approached him to help out with the play and that he needed the choir to do some singing thing in between, I went:

Huh? What choir? We don't have a choir!

Total doinkness, in short.

Anyhoo, it turned out well, and it helped me see that I really should change my negative melancholic attitude and just believe that the people of God can do something for Him just because He wants us to. I should stop limiting the church's ablilities because in doing so, I'm actually limiting His power.

23 December 2006, Morning of the Event - 11.00 am

Mark changed the script.

The singing (we had 18 songs; not the full song la, just part of it for some) was still the same, meaning no changes in songs, and the sketch was unchanged, but Mark added some other stuff in the narration. He initially adapted the idea of the script from Sin Lan's Christmas book, but then decided that it was too Christian, plus the transition from one scene to another was just too abrupt and awkward. So he adapted some stuff from his NOC script (sis said so wahaha) and adjusted here and there. He also added the narrating part from "A Child is Born" by Johnny Mathis.

So Shaun and sis went to church with the other actors to practice cuz they hadn't even finished the scenes yet. It was then that sis messaged me with some urgent messages about the play and called me to tell me to inform the choir members that we wouldn't have time to go back and bathe etc (practice at 4pm) and to bring their clothes and other essentials since there were major changes to the script.

I called Livia and Qi to tell them. Ah Zheng picked up the phone when I called the house, and he went to wake Qi up (alw seems to be sleeping... like a cat! Wow maybe that's why she always meows! ...What's with the woofs then?). Of course Qi couldn't wake up and so I heard him scolding her wahaha (wanted to laugh but I thought someone might hear me ahem), and when she finally came to the phone, her replies consisted of virtually only "uh". I think that's how it's spelled anyway. Basically, she sounded like she would go back to sleep and forget everything I told her. And since sis emphasized that the 4pm practice was crucial, with a capital C etc., a terrifying thought passed through my mind for an instant. No, not a thought. More of knowledge.

Sis would kill me if Qi forgot.

As any sensible scared-out-of-her-mind person would do, I messaged Zheng and told him what I told Qi. His reply was:

Oh. Ok. Do you want me to tell Ah Qi ar?

Doink. Did Qi really go back to sleep and not tell him about it? It's not like anything really bad would happen if they didn't bring their baju there right? It's just that they'd have to go home and they'd be late for the event and sis would freak out only mah. Err. Ya. Hmm. Anyway, I told him that I'd told her, so that was the end of it.

Marcus also called and told me that he was the songleader. And then he told me the songs some time later. Some last-minute-ness on the delegating by the coordinator, according to Marc.

23 December 2006, 3.00 pm

I had a look at the new script sis brought back. Lots of narration in between, and there were some parts that the choir was supposed to recite. They'd really need to practice. There was simply no time to memorize the thing. I was thinking: Wah so they hold the book and sing? So ugly...

Next, I had the inkling that Mark would want me to play some background music during the narrations. He'd already asked me to think of some Christmas songs to play. Jeez... I only play. I don't think of what to play. That's always been my problem. What I did for the last play was the same also. I just played what Mark and sis told me to play. I didn't have to think of what to play cuz they'd decide for me. I got worried about this. Sis comforted me with:

Just ignore him la.

Oh ok. That's easy.

Sis asked if I wanted to go practice with Marc at 3.30 pm for the singspiration. I said:

That means I'll have to go...

We glanced at the clock. 3pm. Our house is 30-45 min away from church. Sis:

Err... now.

Hmm. So tak jadi la.

23 December 2006, 4.00 pm - Pre-Practice

Mark assigned the readings pretty quickly, and soon everyone had their parts marked out on the booklet he'd printed out for everyone. Very nice booklet.

Some things happened on the way to church and in church la. Stuff like:

• Thought of the mics on the way to church. Thought they might be with Unc Anthony cuz he brought lots of stuff back from the Children's Hour Christmas Party the night before. WRONG! What about Unc Rod? Party was at his place anyway. WRONG! Finally found out that they were with Unc Tony. But he lives so far away... so had to ask him to come before 7.30pm with the mics. In the meantime, sis asked Mark to drop by Unc Rod's house to pick up the 2 mics that belonged to him first.
• Lin (Alto) had to go back to SUFES to give her supervisor the key
• Geng Yi & Kevin (Bass, Bass) messaged and said they'd be late cuz cleaning up Ju's place
  
• Zheng & Derk (Lights) suddenly disappeared when practice was about to start. Yik How had to take over temporarily. Switched back to Derk when he came back.
  
• Ju & Unc Anthony (Alto, Tenor) didn't appear until 3/5 thru practice cuz of the flood at his house
  
• Auntie Tina (Alto) quit the choir cuz of the flood at her house
  
• Mark (Director) was late for practice cuz of the booklets weren't done yet
  
• The projector was missing cuz Unc Tony took it home with him after using it at Unc Rod's place
  
• There weren't enough sockets to plug the church mics in
  
• No tinsel (vitally needed for the play) - Zheng had to go buy
  
• Lights for the choir weren't working out, so had to take out the 2 pendaflour lights so that we could turn on the set and have only 1 light on the choir
  
• Had to write chords for the musicians at the last minute cuz didn't know Marc wanted the full band
  

...and all sorts of other things. As sis put it: Everything and anything that could go wrong, went wrong.

We had a group prayer before practice, and sis cried while praying. It all seems so mild now, but at that point, I really felt that everything was just so messed up, and I didn't really believe that we could pull it off. I really hate doing things like this. I mean, it's not that I'm not a last-minute person la, but this was kinda too last-minute. And I knew that every single one of the people gathered at the piano to pray, including me, had done something last-minute. I couldn't help but wonder which person's last-minute job would cost the success of the play. If it was me, then I'd feel horrible. That's when it became really obvious that it really wasn't the time to point fingers at other people's mistakes, and that the only way the event would work out was if God Himself made it work out. Would God choose to bless us with a smooth, non-cacat event? Or with a lesson that leaving Him out of His own work will never work out?

I don't know what the rest were thinking, but I think Mark and sis and I were thinking the same thing: We can only do our best now. The rest is up to Him.

23 December 2006, 4.00 pm - Practice

As expected (and as feared), Mark wanted me to play something during the narration. He planned the thing with me until Scene 2. Then we had to start practice, so he told me to hentam. I couldn't really hentam cuz of what I said above la. And also cuz of the complications that materialized because of the piano's muffler system.

Piano Clinic! (Copy Eyeshield haha)
A typical piano would usually have 3 pedals:

1. Left Never really used it, and no one really told me about it, so from what I observe, I think it's just to produce a staccato effect on the keys. In short, it's the opposite of the sustain pedal. Rarely used.
   
2. Centre Muffles the sound of the piano. Rarely used.
   
3. Right Sustains the sound of the keys. Always used.
   

Problem is, the church piano's muffle pedal is an odd one. It wouldn't muffle the sound even if you step on it with a 1 ton shoe. The only way to muffle is to put down the muffler bar inside the piano (on top of the hammer butts). The bar has 2 pieces of cloth hanging below it that will rest on the hb and muffle the sound by being a barrier between the hb and the strings that they hit. (The piano works based on the hitting of hb against the strings; therefore it's considered both a percussion and string instrument)

Mark said the music was too loud during the sketch (they weren't using mics). I tried touching the keys lightly, but it was still too loud. So I had to use the muffler bar. But during the singing and narration, I had to lift it up again. And since I have short arms -_-|||, I had to stand up every time I wanted to lift the bar. If it were only that, it would still be fine. But in between, I also had to flip the pages of the booklet. And since every section needed a different background song, I needed time to scan through the next section before playing so that I wouldn't play the wrong stuff. All different keys somemore! At that point, I also hadn't decided what song to play yet, so I had to think and play and flip and lift at the same time. It was really a sit-stand-flip-play-think time for me. I kept making mistakes like playing the wrong song, playing in the wrong key, and not playing when I was supposed to play.

Aargh.

A pianist is useless when she can't play.

23 December 2006, 7.15 - 7.40 pm

Nobody was really there yet, so I took this time hastily down less than half of my dinner and change. I also went scouting for someone to help me with the piano. Criteria:

1. Long arms
2. Alert, sensible, and with at least a little bit of music sense... if don't have then nvm la...
   
3. Been to most of the practices, especially the last one
   

Sin Lan would usually be my first choice, but she was one of the actors. Yen Mei was singing. Shaun and Sharma were acting. Marcus was singing. Besides, he can be pretty blur at times. Haha. Not saying that I'm not blur kkkkk. Sis was the conducter. Derk was with the lights. Adrian was the powerpoint person. Lin was also singing (She has short arms anyway muahaha)! I can't ask Seok Ling!!!!

I scouted and hunted, and finally I decided that the only person left was Ah Zheng. But wasn't he supposed to do the lights or something? Eh? Turned out he was totally free. So he ended up as my crucial assistant.

23 December 2006, 8.00 pm - Jeng Jeng Jeng!

I took the games time to outline and highlight what I was supposed to play. I thanked God for the games time when I could finally cool my head and do some planning. To my horror, Jess only planned one game, and so one game it was. And that game was a pretty short one. Thankfully, I finished the thing. Well, sort of. It was so cakar ayam I was afraid I wouldn't be able to read it during the play.

After the games, it was immediately our turn. And we were all, wut... so fast... cannot...
Something like that la. I was like that anyway. But it didn't feel as awful as before la. Zheng came over and said:

Time for some page-flipping action.

Dot dot dot.

After Scene 1, Zheng relaxed and said: Good, good. It's very good.

Really? I felt I'd started too fast for the first 2 songs. No time to dwell on that though. I only had a brief 15 seconds a capella narration part to prepare myself for the next scene.

Anyway, things went as planned, and maybe better than planned.

The choir sang in tune! And so berperasaan! Marcus usually looks so distracted when he sings, but when it was time for his solo, he was so ber-feel. Sis said so la. I was too busy looking at the next section to look at the choir. One of the only times I really looked at what the choir was doing was when Unc Anthony sang his solo. Cuz I needed to follow his timing and it was a pretty slow and out-of-time kind of rendition, so I had to read his lips. Wahhhhhh so emo man! Esp the "a baby born one blessed nightttttttttttttttttttt" part wahahahahhahahahahaha.

Oh ya. When Mark assigned some sentences to Qi, she said it so mati-ly and so tak-emo-ly. But sis told him to give it to her anyway cuz she was doing it on purpose.

Wah. She actually said it properly. Except for some parts where she was nervous la.

Computer stuff will be old even before you get it out of the box

Wahahahahha! And she smiled! She smiled!!!! I saw her million-dollar smile when they were singing "My Christmas Gift" on the "stage". I was playing, but I turned and told Zheng: Qi's smiling! Qi's smiling!
He looked startled, then immediately took out his handphone and snapped that very rare picture of Qi with the ends of her mouth curved up haha. Oh, and she swayed properly too.

Yen Mei also did very well with her solo, and the Geng Yi-Yen Mei-Kevin part went well. Actually only Yen Mei and Geng Yi doing the duet, but Geng Yi can't sing in tune without someone there to guide him (Yen was doing the 2nd voice), so Kevin (standing beside him mah) had to sing the song into his ear while GY sang his part. Hence the trio.

The sketch was really hilarious. Jeremy was especially expressive. He always practices sambil-lewa-ly, but when the real thing comes, he pours his heart and soul into it. Shaun played the dumb one at first, always asking what this was for and what that was for. But he developed into a more intelligent being haha. After that he was the one who found this and found that in the ornament box. Sharma and Sin Lan did their parts very well, and everyone's voice rang loud and clear! The audience laughed most of the time during the sketch ^^ I laughed pretty much too la haha.

23 December 2006, 8.00 pm - Post-Musical

What made me really happy that day was the fact that Seok Ling (best friend) kept her promise and came for the event. At 7.40 pm somemore! Late la, but not technically cuz everyone else came around that time also. In fact, she was one of the earliest. Hmm.

Kathy (former classmate) and Yong Qiang (fencing club prez) also came. Was really surprised to see those two. Adrian invited them both. I felt a little ashamed that I didn't invite Kathy myself. After all, we were from the same kindergarten, the same secondary school class, and for 1 month, from the same F6 bio class. I guess it was cuz I'd invited her before in the past, and she'd always not turn up, except for once in F1/F2, when she came for Sports Day or something. I shouldn't have given up like that. That day, I realized that I'd given up on virtually all my friends, except Seok Ling, and that mum was right when she said I'm always sticking to my old friends. I should be going out into the field to be a fisher of men, but what am I doing picking on the same fish-man (hmm) all the time?

I'm glad Adrian invited them, cuz I really got closer to them that night. I've never really said anything important to Kathy, except a few polite remarks and expressions. Although I worked with Yong Qiang for Hari Ko-ku (our clubs merged), I didn't talk to him after that, and I could barely bring myself to give him a polite smile or wave when I saw him. He's a very nice person, and I wonder how I could've thought of him as a scary (he's the fencing club prez! Tikam people wan noe) and unapproachable person. He's actually quite funny haha.

I always thought that I can't mix with people and the only close friends I'll ever have is Seok Ling, and some of MGC people. But sitting around the table together like that helped me see that I can make friends, and I can make close friends, if I just overcome my shyness and negative perception of people.

In Conclusion (Finally, right? Haha)

All in all, I'd say that God chose to bless us with both a smooth event, and a well-needed lesson about how we are supposed to live for God as His chosen people.

We are citizens of heaven and ambassadors for Christ. Live with that dignity.

Amen.

*Bom-cha-cha is mostly MGC pianists' playing style which I think no other church's pianist use cuz I've never seen anyone use it. Are we simply using a unique style or we just outdated? Hmm.
*Staccato is a jumpy effect

Look at Ken

He's sleeping so soundly. Not a care in the world on the little face.

Isn't it odd how we, grown people can go to sleep and still look like we're burdened with a great load of care?
Isn't it odd how we've lost the ability to really fall asleep?

Why is it that the little ones seem to be so much happier, and so much more free?
Why is it that we look at their "troubles" and "cares" and say: "What do they know?"
Why is it that we seem to have bigger "troubles" and "cares"?

Is it a rule that as we grow bigger, our problems do the same?
Is it real? Or is it just psychological?
We think that children were never made to shoulder cares and problems.
It is when we look at children who are pushed by their parents to excel that we say "That shouldn't be"
It is when we look at standard 1 kids who go for tuitions that we say "They're too young for tuition la"

Back to the matter at hand... Is it the result of a chain reaction?

People think that as we grow bigger, we should do bigger things, take on heavier responsibilities and produce greater results. Consequently, we strive to do better, to produce the desired results. What happens is we take on those burdens just because people expect us to.

Is the question really whether children should be carrying burdens?
Or is it whether we should be carrying so much at all?

Is the size of our problems really what differentiates us from children?

Is that why Jesus said in Matthew 18:3 ~

Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

We usually take it to mean that we must be humble and teachable, devoid of our own selfish interests, but couldn't Jesus have meant something else as well?

Remember what He said in Matthew 6:34 ~

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

How strange... Most of what I remember now, as a student and as a Christian and as a person, stems from what I learned as a child.
Can it be that we actually learn much more as children than as "big people"?

How is it that I could quote the Little Mermaid's lines perfectly before she even spoke them, whereas I can't even properly quote a single line from the tv ads that I see everyday?

And so strange how sometimes we get the feeling that we learn more from children than they do from us.

Is that why we're born again as spiritual babies instead of shooting straight to "mature" Christians?
After all, most of us are already grown people. We've got lots of experiences under our belt, haven't we?

Is it because God knows that we learn more as children than we ever will as adults?

"The One" Tag

This is Eugin's tag. I refuse to use the original title of the tag, My Perfect Lover. Firstly, as Eugin rightly said, there is no such thing as the perfect lover. Secondly, the word "lover" in Middle English means someone you have illicit love with. Thirdly, I'm not looking. The word "my" makes me sound a little desperate and romantic. I am not a romantic. I'm just a sentimental person with a soft heart *cough*. And I am most definitely not desperate. So there!

Anyway, I'm supposed to list down 8 points about "The One". Oh, I'm supposed to state the gender first. Of course male la.

1. Someone who can properly be the head of the family and guide me whenever I'm confused in my spiritual walk. A devoted Christian, to be precise.
   
2. Someone who is not a hopeless romantic (because then he'll expect me to do something hopelessly romantic for him, which I can't, because I'm not a hopeless romantic).
   
3. Someone who can correct me without sounding condescending or insulting me.
4. Someone who can tame my argumentative nature by simply being so peaceful that I don't want to be so argumentative, NOT someone who gives in to my every complaint and argument just because he doesn't want to upset me.
   
5. Someone who lets me know when he's hurt by the things I say and do without being pitiful.
6. Someone who knows that he doesn't need to do big things to make me happy because he knows that little things like computer mouse boxes make my day.
7. Someone who lets me know what he likes and dislikes simply because he knows it means a lot to me.
   
8. Someone who replies my sms-es and at least gives me a miss call when it's his turn to end an sms exchange in which the need to sms just to say "ok" or "yes" is unnecessary.
   

"The Fours" Tag

Pei Ling's tag.

Four things not many people know about me...

• I'm a sentimental person. Really la. What's with that skeptical look?? Contrary to popular belief, I'm the one who keeps all your birthday cards and sis is the one who chucks them all away as rubbish.
  
• I get drunk easily. And I mean easily. My cheeks get really red and if I'm playing the piano, I play nonsense. I get drunk after 10pm when I'm out of the house or doing an assignment in the house. For the record, I don't take alcohol. This drunken phenomenon is usually triggered by a bite of cheese-cake or a sip of plain water. Geez... I wonder what'll happen if I actually drink more than a sip of wine on Sunday...
• I can't tell the difference between sweet and sour stuff.
  
• I EAT SAMBAL! I do! I do!
  

Four movies I could watch over and over...

• The Little Mermaid
• Beauty and the Beast
• Lion King
• Swan Princess. I love Disney movies. Does anyone else have the desire to state the obvious?
  

Four places I've lived...

• Old house in Taman Asean
  
• Current house in Bukit Katil
• In the toilet, probably. Once I was in there so long sis thought I'd died in there.
  
• I dunno... how do you define "lived"? All living organisms need to eat, breathe, and sleep right? I eat, breathe and sleep in the car. Does that count?
  

Four TV shows I love(d) to watch...

• Whose Line Is It Anyway?
• B...ar...ney...
• Sesa...me... St...ree...t
• He-Man. Haha. Seriously. I loved He-Man. He looks silly now, though. Hence the (d) after love, I suppose.
  

Four places I've been on vacation...

• Kevin and Mel's house in Johor! Loved it!
  
• Ah Mah's house! Loved the time we rolled the mattress up and crawled through it pretending to be explorers trapped in a cave. We turned off the lights and it was veryyy dark. Wonder if hell's like that...
• China. Didn't understand what the tour guide was saying. Loved the hotel bathrooms though.
• See Kheng and See Han's house in Singapore. Wish I could remember more about the house than the computer though.
  

Four of my favourite foods...

• SANDWICHES!!!
  
• Taman Asean wan tan mee
  
• Fried rice
  
• Chicken cooked in black gravy
  

Four places I would rather be...

• Heaven
  
• I love Malaysia. I love Malacca. There's no place I'd rather be. Other than the one above.
  

Four favourite songs (this hour)...

• I Don't Know About Tomorrow
  
• Not That Far From Bethlehem - Point of Grace
  
• Days of Elijah
• Part of Your World - The Little Mermaid

Four people I tag...

• I refuse to tag anyone. Because I'm a nice person. Muahaha.
  

Briefly, I Speak

Yen Mei has the photos on her blog, so I'll wait till later to write about it. So many surprises these days. So tired haha. But fun la. Especially since I get to drive!

Anyway, I finally understand what a tag is, or more precisely, what it means to be tagged. Dumb dumb hor. I really didn't get it when Pei Ling said she tagged me and so I must do the tag. I was like, har? What's a tag? Do what?

Then ~ a few days ago, Eugin tagged me. THEN I realized what a tag is. Hmm. Now that I know, I see that it's actually not a very good thing to be tagged ^^; Anyhoo, I'll do Pei Ling's first, for the sake of fairness (too odd to use the word "justice").

Before that, I went through Ling's old blog site, and I clicked on the people links there. I clicked "Andrew", and I read his funny blog.

I'm gonna quit blogging. I'm not made, correction not trained to be a blogger nor do I have the vast experience to spice up this space. Pro blogging is just so, out of my league. Looking at a different perspective, blogging, for normal people, may give reasons like "to update my friends". What "friends"? Why not just call them out and catch up? Friends who read and just shrug it off. Haha. Other lala-fied bloggers, most people have no idea what they're yapping about. Posting "fill in questionaires 2000", such lame-ness I see in them.

Who actually reads them anyway?

However, blogs with rich content and stuff. I stress on rich content. By all means, continue your wonderful work. It's interesting. Might get to learn a thing or two. Might I add blogs with passion and interest, great photo(graph/shop) skills. People who love what they do. Those are good stuff. Not blogs who complain about things. That's like what I'm doing now, cursing you average bloggers. Haha. No offense intended (or do I)

Good night people. Gun me down. I'm living in a hut near you. Rawr. You'll never hear from me anymore.












or I could start posting really good materials. heh, just a thought

The quote link on my browser is gone cuz of the stuff Blogspot did the other day, and I'm too lazy to clear my browser cache again, so I'll just do some lazy stuff with the quote up there. But the point is, both sis and I thought it was really an amusing post. And we noticed he had many months' archives already, so we went, wut... now only decide not to blog sumore?? Haha.

It's 12.09 am already. I'm supposed to go swimming with sis at 8am tomorrow and then go to SUFES to practice the christmas songs with Lin at 3pm. Haiz. Long day. Not much time to do my math. Not that I was overly eager to do math la.

So I promise I'll do the tags sometime soon, and also post about Ju's birthday surprise. Kinda going through writer's block nowadays. Maybe I'm using too much brainpower on playing the piano for the choir. Haiz. Stressful la.

Talk later. Buhbye ~

Ju's Birthday Surprise

Yesterday, um, today, we went to Ju's house to surprise her. I'll update later cuz now I've got to learn up a new song in time to teach Marcus later. But all I've got to say about yesterday's, um, today's, experience is...

I LOVE SANDWICHES!!!!!!!!

Updates later.