a meaningful Deepavali afternoon

details of the above aren't much,
had a glimpse captured in
snapperhappysamantha =P

anyway, that day i kinda got to
be a friend to little Matthew.
he can sure test patience sometimes,
but he's still mostly adorable.

was heartening to see him
hard at work, packing the shoeboxes with us
although he could've easily chosen
spending the school holiday
plopped in front of the telly.

i think the uncle there was
pretty amused with Matt.

we had lunch together after that
and he held my hand voluntarily!
aww, sweet! =D

ANYWAY,
i know what i'm getting him this Christmas. =]

badminton yesterday, and today again. =]

after the camp the day before
i was SO exhausted.
had a jolly good rest
and woke up past 12noon.

haha, had a badminton game
with little Sarah
(my no-longer-tutee)
at the court near her block.

met some of her neighbours
and we played together.
um, somehow felt like
i was bullying them. =\
we played 2v2 so
i wasnt sure whether
to be lenient
or to let down whoever
i was partnered with.
ohwell. they're nice kids. =]


--
woke up late today.
haha, ohwell. =P
met guohua, florence & jeremy
for badminton at *gasp* toapayoh.
super far la.
'cos we played at an
open-air court somewhere
in between the blocks,
i thought i got lost!
thankfully i wasn't.
and it turned out that
i wasn't the latest to arrive. =P

we played 1v1 & 2v2
'twas fun, except
i kinda pity whoever
who got partnered with me. >.<
i haven't recovered
from camp, see. *yikes*

after quite a few hours,
we showered up
and had lunch at central!
nice yongtaufoo. =]

next up was ICECREAM.
haha, never knew there was
DARKCHOC flavour. =P
i tried that, amongst
durian (mmM-MMMmmmm),
greentea (wow, authentic!)
and what i ordered for myself:
my ultimate favourite
RUM 'N' RAISIN.

heavenly~ =D

SHS Mentorship Physically&Mentally-Draining-Out-To-Kill-You Training Camp. 6th-8thOctober

day1 [1517hrs]
the skies are grey, threatening to rain as i await the arrival of 1700hrs when the camp starts. to be honest, i do not know what to expect. when i was signed up for it, i had absolutely no clue what it entailed. 'twas only during the briefing did i realise that being enrolled for this camp automatically commits me as an OGL-to-be for next year's freshmen orientation. well, not a whoop-de-do feeling, somehow. whilst it's an honour to be appointed by my mentor to attend the camp, i'm not exactly sure of my ability to make the commitment now. looking back on last semester's results doesn't really give me a sense of satisfaction. but whilst i know i'm not exactly ready for the coming semester, i am determined that when it starts, i'm going to begin a more disciplined time schedule that balances studies, work and play.
_{dear God, please grant me wisdom to plan my time well, strength & joy to pull through}
^{this camp, and Sean guidance & protection as he makes his way to Wallaby.}

day2
WARFARIN YEAARGH!!! haha, my prayer was really answered. i found myself in a group that was really enjoyable. azmihisshiss, sherilwoofwoof, masitameowmeow, calistamehmehh, euniceroarroar, xueyibloopbloop, samanthachikchak, talminquackquack, hanliangmoomoo, weijianoinkoink, martincheepcheep, fanglongcoocoo. and not forgetting seniors joey and anuar. =]
to achieve that, we went through a whole lot of physically strenuous exercises (recall: horrible endurancechallenge) that bonded the team. but there were games as well, such as the plane flying competition, 9station relay, etc.
i just can't remember all the things we learnt, but here's a few pointers noted:
leadership - CareAdventurousRespectability/esponsibilityExcellence.
goalsetting - MeasurableAudaciousD______(ohno, i forgot. someone please remind me!).
other friends made today: vicky, tania, alex, jeremy (from PT), azrin (from NR) =]
current group position: 6th place (out of 6 teams)

day3
i slept at 0145hrs today, to wake at 0400hrs. ugh. bunk standardisation and water parade began the day, then a 3hr 7station game which had us running all over the school. we got the bonus question correct! woohoo~ =D
after all teams came back, we had verylatebreakfast and got ready to leave camp. it was really nice to have the team affirming what encouraged them over the past 2days, and it was really a pity that the camp had to come to an end when we were just starting to get along comfortably.
well, we concluded the camp triumphant with a group score of 80+points, 4th place.
achieved our goal. =]

fulfilling afternoon. =]

had lunch with Evangeline,
a dear friend made during NDP2002
as we marched together
in the Girls' Brigade contingent.

six years later
and we're still in touch!
haha, it's always so encouraging
meeting up with her
'cos i feel real comfortable
sharing with her,
even if we meet up
only once in a while.

feeling refreshed. =]

working, working, working!

i have been replying emails
and doing planning for stuff
and cleaning the house
on top of unpacking the bags
and tidying the room
and.. and..

o0oh, by the way,
the keyboard is half-squeakyclean!
while damp-dusting the desktop
i thought that
it was time the keyboard
be rid of all dustbunnies.

so i readied myself
with the cloth
and a toothbrush!
and painstakingly scrubbed
all 5 exposed surfaces of each key.

ugh. gross.
it took really long,
and the dust and stuff
that fell out of the keyboard
made me really queasy.
SO _{i only did half.} >.<


ANYWAY,
my exam results are out!
and i really wanna thank God
for blessing me with my grades. *beams*
a gpa of 3.0, can you believe that!

yes, i know it's not spectacular,
but it's not too bad
for a first attempt, i think?
will definitely be
doubling efforts for the next semester. =]

BACK!! and exhausted.

checked my work email
and *gasp*
42 new emails. >.<
and 35 of them are related
to my commsvc event. *yikes*
another 5+ odd, to opss event
and again 5+ odd to ccktjc ADC!

so much to do, now that i'm back.
but firstly, i must UNPACK.

-out-

unavailable!

hello dear peeps,
all work/planning/emails
will be put on hold
for the next week or so.
will be contactable once again
on the 23rd of september
but that is NO excuse to
flood me, okayyyy!
do still keep me updated
for important stuff, ya?
it's just that i'll check
inboxes&mailboxes
when i'm back.
thankyousoverymuch!

things on my plate at the moment.

- planning for holiday trip
- planning for saotsc opss event
- planning for saotsc commsvc event
- planning for ccktjc ADC

haha. i think i'm biased. =P

snapsnapsnap-- woohoo!

compilation of an online photosite
with shutterfly is in the works now!
(contemplated multiply but
it seems hard to use! >.<)

got LOADSA photos in my harddisk
and i've really gotta share it.

the site'll hold raw photos, mainly.
if i happen to do any editing
it'd be shared too, though. =]

in the meantime,
whatever's up is up here! =]

http://stoicallife.shutterfly.com/

have been MIA for a while, and will be again in a week's time.. =O

the second week of the holidays
came and went so fast,
it's now the third! >.<
how did i spend the time?


well, i went to school on tues!
haha, can you believe it?
'twas to study, actually.
and play sports, definitely.
however things weren't exactly as planned.

ended up planning for a trip to Aus!
(which explains why i'm gonna be
very uncontactable next week)
haha, while that sounds like
something to rejoice over,
i have yet to be excited about it. =\

--i mean, getting me to plan routes
and use maps for directions is one thing
(which i think i did well,
when my family took our last holiday.
the sisters did the planning,
i helped the driver with the roads.)

but to PLAN THE ENTIRE TRIP?!!
you've got to be kidding me. =X
i think i know my strengths,
and it's not exactly planning where to go.
goodness, i can barely decide
what to have for meals,
let alone what mummy&i
will do for a whole week.

YIKES.
well, turns out that my mum's serious.
she's totally giving me the liberty
to decide where to go, how to get there,
what to eat, (where to shop?)
and stuff.

but thankfullyandverygratefully,
with the help of daddy
(thankYOUsomuch),
the basic stuff such as
where to stay is settled.
first 3days at a hotel,
rest of the trip at a friend's place.

all i have to do now is to
plan what to do each day.
so i think i have no excuse
not to do a good job. yups!

still, this is something i'd
never've thought that i'd do.
still uncertain about lotsa stuff.
oh, well.
thankGod for my assets (OTterminology)
in map-reading. haha. =D


--

o0okayy. how did i get there again?
anyway, this post was mainly supposed
to be about what i did, not what i'm gonna do. =P

well, the latter part of the week
that i was MIA,
i was attending a WorshipRetreat.
it was a stay-over event
from thursday-saturday,
and i had a really great time.

the guestspeaker flew in
TWENTYTHREE HOURS
from USA to come share with us.
Dr Pat McKinstry is an inspiring
God-honouring woman.
Her personal prayer/worship life
really manifests in her public life.
it's kinda hard to explain how
but when you meet her,
you'll know how sensitive she is
to the HolySpirit. =]

"praise - it's not something i do. it's my life."
how true that should be!

on the first night of session,
we learnt what it takes to be
a true worshipper.
timeliness, rightattitude,
respectingleadership, faithfulness,
expectancy&anticipation,
preparation, layingasideone'splans..
just some of the key things to note.

she also shared with us
instances in her life
which exemplified
the power of prayer
that comes with
holy boldness.
all i can say is that
she really inspires me to
learn to use my tongue
for God's purposes.

and then she prayed for
most of those at that session.
before she came round to me,
i was praying and thinking about
certain things in my heart.
then when she laid hands on me,
i just felt the presence of
the Holy Spirit rest upon me.

she prayed in tongues
and God used her to really
encourage me and uplift my spirit.
she told me to
get my pen and paper ready.
and that God would give me
a new song that very night.

when i heard that, i was really edified.
praising&thanking the Lord,
i claimed His promise
and held Him to His word.

you see,
songwriting was the issue
that i was pondering over
in my heart before she prayed for me!
God's amazing, aye? =]

that night i literally held onto
my pen and notebook
and kept praying for the new song.
but God did not allow the song to come
the same way the first two did.

you see, the two songs God gave me
prior to this night, came this way:
He'd give me the passage from the Bible
where the lyrics'd come from
then after with somequite a bit of
help from thomas, the music'd flow.
but this time,
the tune to the first two lines came first.
and slowly but surely,
the whole song was birthed.
it was an amazing experience.


to be able to tangibly know
that i am on God's mind,
not just a number (possibly?)
on a growing/diminishing list,
--and that He honours His word--
is simply awesome.


and also, even at a time
where changes in my life
are about to take place
i can take comfort in the fact that
God is faithful. =]


hope the lyrics from Psalms40
inspires some and touches others.
as it has done for me.