Have you ever stayed up so late into the night that all you hear is the noisy crickets and the whirling of your fan? GOSH IT'S SO LATE INTO THE NIGHT NOW. Morning actually. Well for me I'm listening to all my old Hillsong CDs so at least I don't have to endure the crickets. EoM (Evaluation of Material) is relatively dumb. I mean, it's easy to do, but I just take my time and shuffle around until it took me 3 hours. Aargh.

Have you ever stayed online till this late that not one single friend is online on MSN as well?

Have you ever turned your home printer into a Guanchapati Printing Shop? I'm helping several of my friends print their EoM and sources and whatever else. I'll be benefitting 4 different friends with different needs by helping them print all their documents. Whee.

Have you ever had an Indian name? Yar I've got one. Ruth called me Guanchapati. Cool eh?

Have you ever watched darkly humourous movies and sang some nursery rhyme? Last Saturday went to watch Charlie and Willy Wonka and identical Oompa Loompas with Yurong. Bought chocolates after that to mark the occasion. "Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, the amazing chocolatier..."

Have you ever wish toothpaste can solidify on your skin and form a shield so hard that it stops all weapons?

Have you ever walked for 45 minutes just to get jelly beans? Atiqah and me got off the wrong bus-stop, ended up lost in the City Hall area and walked like nobody's business just to end up at Candy Empire at Millenia Walk. Just to buy jelly beans. Man I must love them too much. Now the individual jelly beans are representations of the 45 minutes spent on walking.

Have you ever languished in the waste of government resources? Atiqah and me (again) dropped by the new National Library at North Bridge Road. Seriously, they can cram all the reference books and cut back on 6 storeys out of 14. Worst of all, all the reference books are locked up. So very DUMB. The best thing was the free photo-taking and e-card greeting...

My haiku entry for the "Singapore Writers Festival SMS Haiku - Text In the City" is short-listed among the 100! Whee! It feels funny to have your own poem entry up for competition... I think it's my first time submitting a written work for some kind of competition. Hee hee I'm very happy now... And the most interesting thing was, this haiku that I submitted was written during one of the boring Econs tutorial!! HEE HEE HEE!! Top 10 winners get $50 Kinokuniya book vouchers, closing date is on 27th August... Click here to vote! My entry is number 46... VOTE FOR ME VOTE FOR ME!! Well actually you have your own choice to vote for other haikus which you think are better than mine... But you don't have a choice you have to vote for me... Whee... Oh here's my haiku anyway...

strong big tembusu
deeply fissured and mighty
is a chopping board

The people in charge of this SWF competition put all the entries in one single line... So it's like "strong big tembusu/deeply fissured and mighty/is a chopping board"... Blahh I think I would prefer it if they put it in a three-line form rather than one long line... More structured... Oh wells... (:

School's been good so far. Ms Irish Champagne is my new GP tutor for now... So far she's my 5th GP tutor for this year. Yup she's pretty professional in her job... And I studied for Maths test! And the basil that the Hong Kong students planted are sprouting out fine! And yoghurt is superb! WHEEEEEE!!

Woo hoo Tammy! This peas totally RAWK!! Kasugai Roasted Hot Green Peas!!

Somehow I felt rather calm and peaceful for the past few days... On a normal day all I want to do is to drag my feet around and do everything grudgingly. But on an abnormal day I do everything with passion and vigour and in constant cheerfulness. Okay I'm experiencing my abnormal days...

Last Sunday was soldiership enrolment. Went up stage smartly in uniform, signed the Articles of War at the mercy seat, took our vows... It was more than a ceremony. It meant the start of a new commitment to God... I don't know sometimes I think I still have reservations over the decisions that I make. I dislike the word "commit", but I think when it comes to matters of your own faith, there is no such thing as a lukewarm attitude... Yesh I'm going to live my life for God. To give all I have, all I am, for Him alone...

After church service I had to rush down to the other side of Singapore... Project Work meeting was all the way at Jurong East library... Garrgh of all the places, but oh wells I was horribly late. Spent some time there discussing, then went to have lunch and buy stickers and other rubbishy stuff totally unrelated to PW...

And today, students from Hong Kong came over to our school for a green exchange... About 10 of them and 2 teacher chaperones. So us Greenlink members led them on a nature trail around our school compound, exploited them by making them plant basal plants for us, then enjoyed their presentations about HK waste management and recycling programmes... I've decided I like HK student exchanges. HK immersion was great, and now HK green exchange is just as awesome!!

Whee I'm tired. Tired but happy. Okay that's really rubbish but it's true... Gardening at spice garden with Shuffle and Hui Min yesterday, and before that I was doing the nature trail with Shu Fen and Jun Ying... At night still had to accompany Cheryn home and go for dinner after that... It was "a day of many schedules" yesterday... Whee hee...

Imagine the following:

It's a Wednesday night and you are at a church prayer meeting when somebody runs in from the parking lot and says,"Turn on a radio, turn on a radio."

And while the church listens to a little transistor radio with a microphone stuck up to it, the announcement is made: "Two women are lying in a Long Island hospital dying from the mystery flu."

Within hours it seems, this thing just sweeps across the country. People are working around the clock trying to find an antidote. Nothing is working. California, Oregon, Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts. It's as though it's just sweeping in from the borders.

And then, all of a sudden the news comes out. The code has been broken. A cure can be found. A vaccine can be made.

It's going to take the blood of somebody who hasn't been infected, and so, sure enough, all through the Midwest, through all those channels of emergency broadcasting, everyone is asked to do one simple thing: Go to your downtown hospital and have your blood type taken. That's all we ask of you.

When you hear the sirens go off in your neighborhood, please make your way quickly, quietly, and safely to the hospitals. Sure enough, when you and your family get down there late on that Friday night, there is a long line, and they've got nurses and doctors coming out and pricking fingers and taking blood and putting labels on it. Your wife and your kids are out there, and they take your blood type and they say,"Wait here in the parking lot and if we call your name, you can be dismissed and go home."

You stand around, scared, with your neighbors, wondering what in the world is going on and if this is the end of the world.

Suddenly a young man comes running out of the hospital screaming. He's yelling a name and waving a clipboard. What? He yells it again! And your son tugs on your jacket and says, "Daddy, that's me." Before you know it, they have grabbed your boy. Wait a minute. Hold on! And they say,"It's okay, his blood is clean. His blood is pure. We want to make sure he doesn't have the disease. We think he has got the right type."

Five tense minutes later, out come the doctors and nurses, crying and hugging one another -- some are even laughing.

It's the first time you have seen anybody laugh in a week, and an old doctor walks up to you and says, "Thank you, sir. Your son's blood type is perfect. It's clean, it is pure, and we can make the vaccine."

As the word begins to spread all across that parking lot full of folks, people are screaming and praying and laughing and crying. But then the gray-haired doctor pulls you and you wife aside and says, "May we see you for a moment? We didn't realize that the donor would be a minor and we need...we need you to sign a consent form."

You begin to sign and then you see that the number of pints of blood to be taken is empty. "H-how many pints?"

And that is when the old doctor's smile fades and he says, "We had no idea it would be a little child. We weren't prepared.

We need it all!"

"But-but...You don't understand."

"We are talking about the world here. Please sign. We-we need it all!"

"But can't you give him a transfusion?"

"If we had clean blood we would. Can you sign?"

"Would you sign?" In numb silence, you do. then they say, "Would you like to have a moment with him before we begin?"

Can you walk back? Can you walk back to that room where he sits on a table saying, "Daddy? Mommy? What's going on?"

Can you take his hands and say, "Son, your mommy and I love you, and we would never ever let anything happen to you that didn't just have to be. Do you understand that?"

And when that old doctor comes back in and says, "I'm sorry, we've--got to get started. People all over the world are dying." Can you leave?

Can you walk out while he is saying, "Dad? Mom? Dad? Why - why have you forsaken me?"

And then next week, when they have the ceremony to honor your son, and some folks sleep through it, and some folks don't even come because they go to the lake, and some folks come with a pretentious smile and just pretend to care.

Would you want to jump up and say, "MY SON DIED FOR YOU! DON'T YOU CARE?"

Is that what GOD wants to say? "MY SON DIED FOR YOU. DON'T YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I CARE?"

"Father, seeing it from your eyes breaks our hearts. Maybe now we can begin to comprehend the great Love you have for us."

This little girl, no more than 8 years. As old as her tongue, slightly older than her teeth...

So there she sat, on the bus, with her mother engaged in conversation sitting across them. I think she's Turkish, partly because of her eyelashes stemming from both eyes. Her eyelashes were those of a doll. It couldn't be real, but it was. Slightly curled naturally, and so neatly arranged that you'll think it's manufactured.

But gosh look at her eyes. Now I know what they meant by windows of the soul. They were as brown as almond, and gosh she was beautiful. Especially those stunning eyes, accentuated by her equally charming smile. They make you want to peer even deeper into her eyes, as if you can't get enough of her. It's not looking at her eyes, it's looking into her eyes.

For most of the time she looked out of the window. From time to time her head turns, gazing around until her eyes met mine. I gave her a smile. Not a very nice one... It was my "third degree smile". I think it might even be classified as a smirk. But that didn't matter, because slowly the corners of her lips turned upwards. A nice smile, played on the borders of shyness and eagerness. She looked away, but half a minute later she looked back my way. This time, I gave her my best smile that I could muster. She returned it with full passion now, abandoning all inhibitations totally.

I was transfixed.

There was nothing more I could possibly demand at that moment in time. Everything faded away. Nothing else mattered. The child-like innocence is beauty in itself... Smiles replacing the need for words. Transcending time and transforming the slab of stone into pure, melted warmth of love.

It didn't end there. The rest of the bus trip was a constant exchange of smiles, paused momentarily only by occasional shyness (it somehow returned). It stayed that way till she had to alight the bus one stop before mine. Waved, and she waved back. Lips mouthing goodbyes.

She was beautiful...

Okay time for some shuffle-ness... Here are some absolutely random/non-random thoughts over the past few days...

Festival of Praise 2005
Went with Lurong's cell and my own cell, though only Biru, Jolene and Ming Hui came along... Oh well the FOP was totally commercialised and propaganda. It's like, during offering time, the pastor just dkept emphasising on the "costs of bringing the two greatest Christian bands in the world was very high" and kept on promoting the CDs and newsletters to "defray the costs of bringing the two greatest Christian bands in the world for this FOP"... What the hell, you might as well start selling farm produce to raise the half-million dollars. My dear "pastor", have you ever read Matthew 21:13?? And to top it off, the FOP is not even befitting of its name. The entire praise'n'worship sounded more like a concert than anything else. C'mon, (especially Delirious) if you want to have your own concert, do it elsewhere...

Bird-watching Talk
Andrew Tay is damn hip! I think him and Mr Benzie Dio should sit down together and discuss tips on how to stay cool and hip... Hee hee... Oh wells the talk was quite enriching, pictures were great.

Salvation Army Fun Fair
I was there for less than half an hour only... Hung around playing marbles, popping balloons, eating fries, trying to let the Cass and Co. influence me into buying their cookies...

National Day Celebrations
NJ must have the worst theme for this year's National Day Celebrations. Whoever heard of Community Service on National Day?? Okay granted the activities for the day weren't too bad. Children and elderly came over for interaction, games and concert... My class was in charge of Jamiyah Home for the Aged. This old man that I befriended looked like Dr Tony Tan, and he was telling me about living life to the fullest... The concert was good, refreshments provided for them needs improvement. But they're really great folks...

Old A01 Class Outing
Almost all the people in NJ from old A01 went, and Jia Mein was the only one non-NJ... Bargh the rest are all mugging/busy, but it was still fun to have a class outing. Pasta-mania for lunch, I was stuffing myself full of cheese. Met Cheryn and Chek Haw and Jun Rong, then we did a line-walk across the traffic light and people had to squeeze in between us like shredded cheese. Each of us got a "clique bottle" in the shape of a panda... Took neoprints...

Shuffle Thoughts #1
I want to eat jelly! Just bought this pack of Cherry JELL-O, planning to prepare it tomorrow or Wednesday.

Shuffle Thoughts #2
Green Audit is horrendous. The records inherited from the senoirs were sometimes inconsistent or incoherent, a lot of counting work to be done... GARRGH... I think I need to sacrifice my Wednesday holiday to go down to school to count classrooms. 15th August looms...

Shuffle Thoughts #3
I want to plant myself into a pot and be a potted plant. Maybe I'll attach a trolley to the bottom so that I can wheel about and be portable. And I want to photosynthesize! I need to mutate myself with chlorophyll... (:

Whoo I'm back from Malaysia! Went up by train to Bekok on Friday afternoon and came back on Sunday evening... Bekok is a small town at Endau Rompin National Park, and we were there to help deliver clothes and food to the orang asli kids over there. All in all 6 people in total went: Grant Pereira from Green Volunteers Network, me, Shu Fen (who's the only other one in Greenlink), Hui Xian, and Shoof's classmates Jeffrey and Adrian.

So yup I skipped my last tutorial (Maths) on Friday so that I can go home early to change, oh and I skipped first tutorial (Economics) too... All of us met up at Tanjong Pagar MRT first, then hopped over to GVN office to meet Grant and get all the bags that we're supposed to bring there. Caught 2 taxis, drove down to the train station and lugged all our stuff onto the train and sat through 3 hours of Bridge and Bluff... Oh I finally learnt how to play Bridge! And through the course I realised too that Adrian was in my Japanese class in secondary one...

Uh so when we reached our station this guy who was the village headman's son drove us for a quick supper, then we went straight to Grant's house in the village... Gosh the house was absolutely FILTHY... We could only guess what Grant did to his stuff, and especially when the house was left vacant for 2 months? We spent the rest of the night Dettol-ing the entire house and sweeping and mopping... By the end of the cleaning it was relatively clean, so we stargazed for a while with our binoculars... THE SKIES ARE SIMPLY SPECTACULAR... Zillions of stars crowding together. Saw 7 shooting stars in half an hour. Okay, we bathed, slept comfortably in our sleeping bags...

Early next morning all of us went for a nature walk just as all the magpies are waking up. Got out of our village and walked past plantations, bird-watched, nature-appreciating... We walked all the way to the next nearest village, smelt all the flowers and saw all kinds of fruit trees... On the way back we stopped by the village's school compound. It was just this small house which our Greenlink seniors helped painted the last time that they were there. Was absolutely surprised to see a NJC Greenlink logo painted on one of the walls... Somehow I felt immensely proud that Greenlink has spread all the way to Bekok... Hee hee!

When we got back to our house the kids started arriving. Gave them breakfast, distributed out the new clothes to them... Oh we saw Xinmin Secondary School's shirt on one of the kids... Hee it did look a bit out of place there... The kids were awesome! Immediately they warmed up to all of us, and even though Jeff and Grant were the only ones who knew how to converse to them in Malay, the kids still played with us... We drew itik and ikan and ancing and kucing with them, and yes I do know some simple nouns in Malay... Hee! Grant and Shu Fen went to town later to get batteries and food, while the rest of us stayed in the house swatting houseflies and talking to the kids. Gosh there sure are swarms of flies over there! I think I killed more flies than I ever did in my lifetime. Anyway, Jeff got into this "neat-freak" frenzy and got around to cleaning the whole house. We flooded the floors to clean out all the grime and lizard-droppings, then Jeff cleaned up the entire kitchen while we did the rooms. By the time Grant and Shu Fen came back the house was so clean that Grant was complaining that he couldn't find his rearranged stuff. Blooiee...

And for lunch we did noodles for them. Sliced up all the carrots, mushrooms and everything and boiled noodles for the kids. Did some gardening afterwards, while Jeff and Adrian decided to try and go sleep. Meanwhile, Hui Xian, Shu Fen and me went to the steep sandy slope behind the house and just went nuts with the kids! The three of us sat down at the top of the slope (steep slope means hard rock), and the kids just kept rolling down the slope then climbing up again. They sure don't mind getting all sandy, and boy do they love takig photos! All sorts of funny poses were duly snapped... And all the while the kids just kept rolling down the slope and climbing again with the three of us pulling them up, only to let them slid down again...

Nah I don't know their names, but I do remember their faces, especially the "con-man kid" who just keep trying to get more food and I think the most bossy/cheeky of the kids... And there was this boy who was mute, but he was very inventive and could really dance well... Yups, Shu Fen slid down the slope with them at least twice I think because the kids just kept trying to get up by holding on to her... The dancing boy pulled me down once... Barrgh... Then the con-man started plucking daffodils and soon all the rest of the kids were plucking leaves and flowers and sticking it to their ears!! Tried to stop them from plucking the flowers but my Malay is limited to whatever that my mum and Atiqah has taught me, so all I managed was a feeble tak boleh...

When evening came we brought all the kids to the waterfall. And along the way we were making a whole ruckus with the kids, poking Shu Fen the most because none of us are afraid of pokes except her... They took ferns and tied them round their heads so they looked like army soldiers... Singing, apejer-ing... All the way until we reached the waterfall. It's not a very big waterfall, probably more like a rapid than waterfall... But it was big enough for all of us to play in. The kids back-flipped into the water, while we tried to balance on the slippery rock...

Spent half an hour in the freezing waters, then along the way back we were uprooting Singapore rhododendrons so that we could transplant them back at the house. Did some more gardening, planted the rhododendrons then it was dinner time. Afer that all of us were so tired from all that activity... Oh three of the kids stayed overnight with us, the con-man was one of them and another was this Chinese boy who was brought up in the village...

The next morning we left Adrian and Jeff sleeping in the house while the rest of us went for another morning walk. This time round we managed to hear the dawn chorus in much more detail... The kids were still trying to poke Shu Fen, and at one point they were swinging like Tarzans on lianas hanging on trees. When we got back we had breakfast, cleaned the house for one final time and said our goodbyes to the kids... Had chicken rice for lunch at the town, then went to the train station for our trip back to Singapore. More Bluff and Bridge on the train, and Grant grilled me for a while because he was sitting beside me. Saw a few Chinese internationals get detained because they don't have permits, then at the checkpoint this Chinese international had trouble with her passport and delayed everyone in the queue...

Shu Fen, me and Grant decided to go back to GVN office to help them seal and address letters, while the rest went back home early. So for the next 2~3 hours or so, me and Shu Fen just kept folding letters into envelopes and sealing them... By the time I reached home it was 8pm...

Whee hee today was school as normal. Student Council's feedback session was such a failure. I stayed back in school to do some homework, shuffled around with Shuffles, then went down to Jericho to cap off a long day... Reached home at 8.30pm...

Okay I need sleep.