Of Birthdays and Wishes

Today happens to be two people's birthdays.

Lemuel, Happy 17th! :D Great guy, great friend! You've been a great encouragement man :) Thanks, really, for settling me down in IP and just being there, being a friend. You're awesome.

Yo Mr. Legend!
Happy Birthday. (if you were here)
I just wanna say I'm proud of him. He's been the strongest ever, a true testament in the face of pain and adversity. I don't think any of my friends can hold a candle to that. Someone who put others that he loved above himself always. Someone who's been a great part of my life. My hero :D Just wanna really thank you for all the times you've been there for me.

--xx--

I've been so careless with my stuff today, I almost lost my file forever, but some nice people at the coffeeshop saved it for me, luckily. And a rather weird incident occured too, which was random and caught me off-guard.

Charles is in Thailand now. I wonder whether he'll see this. If you do, hello! :D

Science And Religion

400th Post

The passage we got for Language Arts today was something about religion and science. Pretty abstract passage, tough. Going to finish doing the comprehension today, then the AQ.

It seems to me and has been more apparent after certain discussions I held with a few people this afternoon that more people today need evidence to rationalise things, they don't believe in absolutes anymore. It's the "science" way of thinking. Anything that cannot be "proven" is considered non-science. They don't trust that God is real. The Bible is merely a metanarrative, an all-encompassing story to them. And the postmodern society we live in rejects the absolute/ideal truths. I can see where everyone comes from, I see the skepticism in their thoughts. I understand. But I don't see how people can stake something on things like Quantum Physics and alternative realities though.

I'm still thinking. They need to experience Jesus to know He exists. Would you believe it if evidence is presented to you? The love of a Saviour. Easter @ MegaLife. A chance, if anyone's game. I'm not giving up :) I won't.

Oh! I just realised Van Ong sent an email about Science and God, how timely. I''ll put it up somewhere and post the link here soon.

Been thinking a lot about life, family and friends again.

So It's Decided

So Silicon Valley (the wonderful States!) is out for me, Norman and I decided to go there next year instead. So much for my dreams of going to Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister to get clothes. And Gap! But I don't think they'd go there anyway.

We're staying in Singapore to represent VJ in a Geography Challenge with the rest. I still find it weird how I represented the school last year in Science competitions. Don't tell me this year will be a represent-school-in-humanities year? But it'll be a cool experience, I hope.

It's either Thailand, Australia or Dubai, I'm ruling India out. Most likely Australia though. Unless someone else can convince me that Dubai is really worth it.

Had a real good talk with Yuwei in the canteen after school! And we got our yearbooks today. My face appears thrice. I think I look like a geek in my class photo. Haha.

Bioinformatics test tomorrow.

Oh! We're The Regeneration

Went out to nydc after school today. Met You (haha). Who greeted me with a message that said: "Haha.You that blind huh?" Spastic. Then I looked around and saw someone sitting on a bench, grinning. Even more spastic. And yeah I felt blind la, normally I spot people easily. There's pretty good food at nydc, I don't mind going again. Good food, good company makes me a happy person. Had a mudpie and a pizza. Really good, it' s a lot better than stuff at Swensens! Had a good time as well. Thanks :D Today was really a welcome break after slogging my guts out the past week.

Caroline's safe in California now, and Shiwei is in the UK. Kind of miss them, but I hope they're enjoying themselves well enough.

Yuwei, congrats for getting into SC! :) I'm really very proud of you. Here's to a million more breaks and drink-sharing!

Kind of in a dilemma as to whether to head to Silicon Valley or the other countries (India, Thailand, Dubai). I just found out another bit of news today which has thrown Norman and I into a dilemma, because we want both! And there's still another offer (not from school) that I have to consider.. Everyone wants a piece of me. Haha.

No Worries

Some things to ponder about:

The most destructive habits are worry and assumption.
The greatest joy is giving.
The greatest is loss of self-respect.
The most satisfying work is helping others.
The ugliest personality trait is selfishness.
Our greatest natural resource is our youth.
The greatest problem to overcome is fear.
The most effective sleeping pill is peace of mind.
The most powerful force in life is love.
The world's most incredible computer is our brain.
The worst things to be without are hope and humor.
The deadliest weapon is the tongue.
The greatest asset is faith.
The most beautiful attire is a smile.
The most prized possession is integrity.
The most contagious spirit is enthusiasm.

--x--
I missed most part of service yesterday for I had to go help out in Easter Production video shoot. You'll see me on the big screen soon, being an extra (really, really extra). Hannah and Madelaine came for cell :) Finally! I miss you Hannah, I'm so glad you came.

Shawn lost in our survey and you'll see him doing something silly soon. I can't wait.

Anyway, it's back to work for me. Going to have a long night.

City lights and the midnight train

It's a good day. Tasks done on time, save for the part about me being a bit sleepy, and having to miss prayer meeting. Last night quite a few people called/messaged/msned me to cheer up me up :) I'm perfectly fine now.

Orientation 2

I edited this blog post, for i blogged throughout the day to relieve stress.

Victorians cheer so loud that the microphone on stage is registering a signal. I'm supposed to be in class now, but since the event is such a mad rush and information is coming in at weird intervals, I have no choice but to park myself here. I'm mugging now. I miss being in my nice and comfy little class having information exchange. Especially Bio! Ah man, pity I missed my favourite class.

Orientation 2 this year is just weird because of all the last minute requests, which led to poor Victorians waiting so long to watch The Simpsons, and PA Crew running all over the place. I mean, we were only notified about the Performance Theatre today and all the patching/opening of the room/turning on of the crappy projector/mic set up had to be redone in thirty minutes. Then there was the constant pressure. I don't blame them though, they're all first-timers.

I just put a XLR-3.5 cable downstairs on the stage to let them plug their mp3s in. This means they control their own music, but I, in the control room control their volume. I can shut them off when they get too loud. Whoohoo. They're really off schedule now I think. School cheers are fun. "YO VJC!"

Evil Chee Yann has abandoned me to go buy a drink at the canteen, so I'm alone now, and when I'm alone, I get really bored. LeeCheeYann you're such a pest today ( I want to whack you a gazillion times because you're so annoying), but what could I do without you? You've been a great help! :D Sorry for being so irritating and putting my name and AHEM's name over your hard disk drive.

At about 6:00 pm:
Aha, Subra came down after SAJC orientation ended. He’s so crazily high and really makes the mood better. Despite the fact that he keeps attempting to hug us. Things are going to be better with him around as the SC liaison, and I’m glad that he got posted back to VJ.


At about 9.45 pm:

Chemistry is still in progress, I’m taking a break as Sheila and Liu Qi attempt to procure the whiteboard that Adriel’s group is using. Today was the first day I ate food at Victoria Hall. It was pretty interesting being the only local in a canteen full of scholars who were having their dinner. Some of them were still in uniform while others were already in their home clothes. Then there were I felt very out of place, save for a few who came up to me and asked me what I was doing there. I was ravenous after my long day. But the food there cannot make it, and the portion is two times less than what I usually have. Their menu is the same every week. Poor scholars, they don’t get to enjoy food. No good food = sad life in Janel’s terms.

The funny thing is that I told Sheila to help me coil my laptop wires. Goodness. She was like, "Huh? What's coil?" Man. One whole day of duty.

Tag Replies 1

I shall finally get back to the habit of replying tags. Here goes:

Audrey: Yeah I'm doing very well now, how about you? I love you muchos!
LXQ: I'm glad you like the present (: i miss you muchos and i love you too!
Renee: Haha! I'll link you when I finally get the time to update links, ok?
Tingke: I miss you too! Awwww why you say I'm cute lol. I miss your craziness sitting beside me.
Jon: Glad that made you happy, cos you have in so many ways =) Yeah definitely keep in touch. Josh: You know how spastic you are, and you take so long to reply to my msges. Be thankful for your vday gift, because I don't give gifts to everyone!
Jesslyn: I can imagine you hitting it!
Charles: Hello You! (Pun intended) Haha finally you tagged. Your tagboard is horribly dead. I shall go tag it sometime soon.

Life And Love and Why

So it is, that I've been thinking about life lately.
So it is, that I've learnt more about myself.
So it is, that I've realised I'm starting to see how imperfect and depraved the world is.
So it is, that I realise I can no longer be idealistic.

So it is, that I've discovered who true friends are.
So it is, that I've learnt to treasure those close to me.
So it is, that I'm becoming as silly and retarded, but yet, as wise as them.
So it is, that I enjoy quality time with my close friends.
So it is, that friends who matter always come first above all else.

So it is, that I need to learn the art of prioritization.
So it is, that I need to stop slacking in terms of fitness and return to my old "very very low body fat percentage" days
So it is, that I'm learning how to liase with older people on my own.
So it is, that I know I need to grow in my faith.
So it is, that I want to invest in other's lives.
So it is, that I love God, and I want to make a commitment to make my life count for Him.

And so I say
I will not conform or compromise
On my stand on what's wrong or right (Rock.)

Passion. Vision. Ambition.

Keep your eyes on the prize. Keep my eyes on the finishing line. There's treasure at the end.

Come and make, my heart your home
Come and be everything I have and all I know

Nasty E-mails

I hate it when I open my email inbox to find out that I have a multitude of tasks/ research assignments to do. It's funny how they all pile up in a few days, and yet I do not know a thing. (And it's all because my mother refused to let me use the internet the past few days).

I have to rush so many things now, including the Proteomics research paper. I wanna get selected for the attachment really badly.

On A Valentine's Day (In Advance)

Valentine's day in advance. Those who have received presents/letters/funny things (Bwahaha paddles or sweets or even a mirror), I hope you like them. I put a lot of effort into them okay, because you girls/guys are special. So yeah.

I'm going to give out more tomorrow. Anyway a shoutout to my wonderful angel (2007) Jonathan! You've been a wonderful, encouraging, concerned and edifying angel, and I just can't thank God enough for you! It's nice to see you pop by RiverLife once in awhile to visit us. I still have the stuff that you gave me last year.

Angel (2008) whom I am left clueless about your identity! Thanks for all the sweets/chocs/notebook and cute letters, they really brighten up my dreary school life. You promised to reveal who you are tomorrow, so I can't wait.

I will spend Valentine's Day with my Chem group after school (consultation with MsChia), and then a hot date with my math tuition teacher at Alijunied. Whoo! What a weird way to spend my day. At least it's better than some silly guy who is going to spend his Valentine's with an imaginary girlfriend - supposedly Jessica Alba.

(And hello Josh I think you're spastic!)

No, there is an elephant

I should do that one day. I saw this this long ago, but Ah Lee just showed it to me last night. SITE

Alrighty, it's back to work for me. Mugged a whole load of Biology during free period today. I love Biology it > all other subjects. Doing math now (the worst subject ever, worse than Chinese)

No More No Less

Today was, well, a weird day, but nevertheless really fun. I ate like a pig again, as always. I had dinner at Pizza Hut (where the food was crap but the company was good) and also back home, Macaroni, Chicken wings, tofu and soup. Saw Jamie at the gym today, the girl who used to play soccer with us 6ALers back in primary school. She hasn't changed a bit, in fact, she became more guy-like. The weights she lifts are scary :0 My favourite machines were down for maintainence today, so I was really sad.

But! I laughed a lot today because I trying to imitate a chipmunk who then did a lot of gross/unglam things.

School today was a bit zombie-like. I couldn't absorb in LA. Chem was well utilised by MsChia though, I think she's the only teacher who knows how to fully utilise her one period slot. Yuwei and I totally pigged out during break too. Yay I love you Yuwei, you rock =) We can eat more oranges tomorrow. I think my bag has 6 more? I need to give them away, quick. Math was suprisingly fun because I actually know how to do Binomial, thanks to Ms Tey's wonderful teaching.

I need more time to do all my work. Proper time management Janel, proper time management. But then again, people always matter more to me. Hmm. I just got swamped on msn with a flood of conversations.

/edit
Yikes I realise i blog about food a lot.

You Still Amaze Me

I hope you wonderful tkgs people who mean something to me received your Vday gifts and like them :) Thanks much, Eunice, for passing them to everyone. I miss you all so much. You don't know how much! I get pretty nostalgic and sentimental. I like Mel's message: "Thx for the present. I will grow vv fat". That was her birthday present btw. And I still owe LXQ hers.

Gym tomorrow.. I think. Whee. But the sad thing is that school ends at 340. 6 periods in a row. But Language Arts is okay. For now.

By the way, I realise a lot of people come to my blog on weird search queries. I've got "weijia tkgs", "sajc germaine megalife", "revoltage", "hear beyond the noise". I've also got visitors from Canada, and USA.

For those who come and don't tag, do leave your mark :)

MSN Convos

Recently I've been talking to a lot of people over MSN messenger. It's quite interesting to get to know certain people that I hardly talk to face-to-face. Then there are the kinds of people who insist on disturbing me online. You know who you are, meanie :o) The name got L and E and E one. There are also the friendships that get revived, hearts reconnected again, and they are really really heartwarming.

But the thing is, msn is kind of impersonal. Emotions, tones, facial expressions are void. So even if the person is crying on the other side, he/she could be typing "haha" still. And you wouldn't know if you hurt someone. Emoticons were invented to kind of add in some emotions, but nah, they don't work.

I still prefer good old phonecalls, anyday.

Change

“Change is a funny thing.
We never are quite sure what we are becoming or even why.
Then one day we look at ourselves and wonder who we are and how we got that way.”

Random quote - I think it applies to certain people, but not all.

Little Kids

I don't like little kids at my house. Like the one standing behind me now who stole my phone. Yikes! Someone save me, please?

/edit
He's playing warcraft on my desktop now, making silly comments like imitating the sounds of a machine gun (when there aren't any on Warcraft). At least he isn't bugging me anymore. Sigh, kids. It's only this kind that I don't like. He keeps pulling my right arm to show me how many characters he's killed. And that hurts. Because my right tricep hurts. Shaking my arm makes it hurt, but I don't dare to scold him or tell him off. Sometimes I wonder how certain parents bring their kids up. They walk into my house and expect to play with all my things. But as a host, of course I'll let them. Okay the guy just shook my arm again. Ouch.

I like cute kids.

I Want To Wake Up Kicking And Screaming

The past two-three days have been pretty interesting.

Wednesday
Had a sleepless night talking on the phone. At 2am I was going, "Okay still not late yet". Then the next time I actually checked the time was 4 something, and I thought that there wasn't any point sleeping anymore so yeah. Got out of my comfy bed at 530, ate breakfast, washed up and headed to school.

Was kind of skippy and happy, not tired at all. THEN, the nightmare started.

[section removed - you don't get to know my nightmare! Haha!]

Dinner at night was okay, restaurant freezing, food so-so (But I had two bowls of Sharks Fin). It was at some Teochew restaurant. My grandpa's cool, he wore my cousin's jacket which made him look ten years younger. Two of my cousins brought their boyfriends to dinner. But they didn't sit at the same table as me. I came up with tactics during dinner to avoid getting disgusting food - eg. fish on my plate, by strategically placing items on my plate.

Thursday
Went on visitations again. In the bus on the way to the MRT, my sister accidentally dropped a bag of oranges and they rolled all over the bus, to the amusement of the commuters. Some gave her a hand while she picked them up. There was this man sitting behind me who was smiling. My sister made a fool out of herself but she definitely entertained a lot of people. Train rides, were spent, as usual, observing people - a thing I like to do.

Chinese New Year makes me think about kinship, family ties and such. I think my grandparents are cool, I love them. But somehow these feelings don't apply yet to some of my uncle and aunties.

--x--

I just printed "Only Hope" out, going to learn how to play it on the piano, besides the fact that I haven't touched the piano for ages and the song has four sharps.

Yesterday Is A Wrinkle On Your Forehead

Hit the gym yesterday. Had a great time. Thanks! =) I finally get a well-deserved Chinese New Year's break. Feels great.

I've been thinking a lot about life recently, about who I hold close in my heart. Valentines' is coming soon, I'm going to do something nice to those who matter to me.

I miss LXQ, Jesslyn, Nat, Leer, Mel, Ting Ke. Bring me back to 2E2. Bring me back to 6AL. I'm so sentimental, goodness.

I found a site to download free Switchfoot live recordings, or "bootlegs" : www.switchfootbootlegs.com . The recordings have probably been remixed, so the quality is not bad.

(By the way, this is a super disorganised blog post with minimal vocabulary. Shows how I am brain dead)

On Fire!

Switchfoot in Singapore

I have to get this off my chest before I forget (but I doubt I will). Switchfoot’s maiden gig here was mindblowingly awesome, all the adrenalin coursing through my veins caused me to sleep later than usual last night.

Met up with the Megalife guys before that. I went to the concert using the $55 buddy pass from Wake Me Up Music, which is just as good as the $90 ticket that I could have gotten from Sistic. Wake Me Up’s queue management was kind of lousy though. There were all kinds of people squeezing their way in front.

The turnout wasn’t big, I doubt Switchfoot made a lot of profit from this gig. The tickets were reasonably priced. But the thing is, Switchfoot isn’t the type to play just for money. From the gig last night, you could tell that they threw their hearts into each and every song that they played. Vocals, guitars, drums – everything. It’s a pity I didn’t bring my camera.

I shall skip the part about the local bands (who couldn’t make it) and jump straight to what I have been looking forward in eager anticipation for the past few weeks.

Anyway, Switchfoot played 18 songs altogether, including a cover of Beyonce’s Crazy in Love. If I remember correctly, the song order is as such. The front and the back are okay, but I might have jumbled up in the middle.

* - medley

1. Oh! Gravity
2. Stars
3. This Is Your Life
4. We Are One Tonight*
5. The Shadow Proves The Sunshine*
6. Ammunition
7. Awakening
8. On Fire
9. Only Hope
10. Learning To Breathe
11. Chem 6A
12. Crazy In Love *
13. Gone *
14. American Dream
15. Dirty Second Hands
16. Meant To Live
17. Twenty-Four
18. Dare You To Move

Album Breakdown:

Legend Of Chin - 1 : Chem 6A
New Way To Be Human - 0
Learning To Breathe - 1 : Dare You To Move
The Beautiful Letdown - 7 : Meant To Live, This Is Your Life, Ammunition, Dare You To Move, Gone, On Fire, Twenty-Four
Nothing Is Sound - 3 : Stars, The Shadows Prove The Sunshine, We Are One Tonight
Oh! Gravity - 4 : Oh! Gravity, American Dream, Dirty Second Hands, Awakening

Switchfoot opened by playing riffs of the starting of Meant To Live. After the crowd went crazy, they started on Oh! Gravity and then Stars.

They also did great medleys: We Are One Tonight / The Shadow Proves The Sunshine and Crazy In Love / Gone. I’d always suspected that there was some link between We Are One Tonight and The Shadow Proves The Sunshine since the chord progressions are similar, and the message behind the songs are rather similar as well if you read into it. I got so excited that I forgot myself and shouted quite embarrassingly : “Yay! My favourite song!” when they started to play The Shadow Proves The Sunshine.

Throughout the entire duration of the concert , I did a lot of jumping, clapping, cheering and head banging, especially during Gone, which is a very interesting song. It gives mention to people like “Elvis and his mom”, “Al Pacino” and “Sinatra”.

I was really excited when they played Chem 6A, a song from their first album all the way back in ’94, Legend Of Chin. It was pretty evident that people hardly knew the lyrics but they caught on fast.

Twenty-four was well played, it was one of the songs where the crowd actually let Jon sing. I almost closed my eyes just to soak in the song. Awesome stuff.

The guys and I were somewhere in the middle, our placing was rather unfortunate due to two different groups of people who marred my otherwise perfect concert.
1. The two girls behind me, from TKGS. (Ah the embarrassment of it all) One of them is from Netball, the other I don’t know. They basically spoilt my day by singing terribly off-key and really loudly even though they didn’t quite know the lyrics. I kept turning to Ah Lee and giving him a face that probably went “Bleh”. He was so amused that he laughed.

2. The Caucasians who suddenly appeared in front of me, took of their shirts and started moshing. Not a pretty sight to my poor eyes. It didn’t help that they kept bumping into me either. Thank goodness the Megalife guys next to me helped to shove them away.

The merchandise at the concert was really cheap, with tees going for $15 bucks each, the result of a tie-up with a local clothing store, Revoltage. Zhengxin, Ah Lee and I got the same shirt. They were selling download cards for $10 an album too. But I don’t need any because I have all of Switchfoot albums already. My collection was complete sometime in November last year anyway. If you do want any of their albums, just drop me a message.

It was nice that Switchfoot didn’t only play their radio hits. I liked the fact that Awakening was well received. Other songs like Gone and 24 were great. During the last few lines of American Dream the whole band was locked into position, frozen on stage. They just stood there for about a minute, and the crowd went crazy, going “Switchfoot! Switchfoot!” It’s pretty cool, because you hardly see that in a rock concert. One minute of no movement has gotta be real hard.

I love the way Switchfoot is like me, champions for real change, moving to somewhere better. There were certain chord progressions which sounded similar to the stuff you would hear from Hillsong and Delirious, worship-like music. There was this point when Jon was talking about something more, and the whole atmosphere felt as if he were about to give an altar call. Their lyrics have so much depth compared to bands which sing of mediocre everyday things like breaking up and such. Switchfoot has lyrics which tug at your heartstrings and make you ponder how far you have gone.

Yeah we might be going, I love Switchfoot, but the basis of it all is still God. They don’t brand themselves as a Christian band, but if you look at it, they ask for forgiveness, they speak of redemption. They are real. They don’t seem centred on themselves at all, but rather on their salvation.

There was a whole load of crowd interaction from Jon Foreman, with the exchange of “Yeahs” and holding of hands with people in the front. Thumbs up for his antics, like stealing a cymbal, singing through the guitar and jumping off the audio equipment on stage. I didn’t realize that Jon was singing through the guitar at first until Ah Lee pointed it out to me, because the people in front of me that time were towering over my 1.66m tall frame.

The gig ended at 11pm and when the guys went to Simpang to eat, Sherman and I had to go home. Bah! In three years I won’t have school so I can go out too. I can’t wait for that day man.

All in all, I do earnestly hope that they return to our “Fine, fine city” – quoting Jon Foreman. Can’t get enough of them.