Have been home quite a bit and have been out of home quite a bit these few days too! Choosing to stay home mostly because my poor mum is alone. Dad has gone back to Philippines after the Christmas holiday, and my sister is holidaying in Korea and won't be back till next year! I'm trying to allow my presence to be felt more at home so that mum doesn't have to be alone all the time. Update on Cater and Pillar, both have started their cocooning, but one of the cocoons fell (I think) and the poor caterpillar is currently in three separate pieces, so I presume it dead. The other one is still in the process of metamorphosis.

And out of home because it is holidays after all! Been out a lot with friends and with the cell group especially. The year is coming to an end, and so is the cell group, and they want to meet up as many times as possible before we all get new cell groups next year. There were some shopping trips here and there, we went down to Ikea just to eat meatballs, and today we were at the airport simply to see if we can find interesting stuff to occupy the Sunday afternoon. Well they did zoom around the entire check-in area of Terminal 2 on trolleys!! It was easily one of my better days well spent for the whole year, and I am going to miss the time spent with them. I've led many many different cell groups before, so I cannot really say anything to suggest that this is the best cell group ever or the most tight-knit cell or anything remotely related to any forms of absolutes! Haha I have to be fair and impartial to my past, present and future cell groups. But still, among the best people I've ever met in life.

So Christmas came and went, and that concludes the most bittersweet season of every year-end. This year's celebrations has been pretty quiet and muted. Yes there were a couple of parties here and there, but apart from that Christmas this year kinda sneaked past my calendar. I didn't sign up to go and ring the bell for kettling, because I had reservist which took up most of my available holidays. We didn't plan to go carolling at houses too. And most of all, I think I wasn't really put in charge of anything significant this year, because past few years I was either leading worship or speaking or something like that. Haha it was a nice break.

And every year I embark on an ambitious essay writing project for all the people that matter to me in my life. Christmas card writing is one of my favourite things to do, because it allows me an opportunity to express my gratitude or thanksgiving to the person I'm writing to. Usually have about 50~70 cards to write, and then there's an essay for about about half of those people, so it does take quite a lot of effort to get it done! I figured if I'm writing a card then I might as well fill it up full with words that matter. 

Present of the year comes from Daniel and Kathryn! They bought caterpillars and gave them out to some of us, and golly it's the most ingenious present ever in my life! Well, apart from the time I received a hamster... Haha I received a pair of caterpillars, and I just need to put fresh leaves once or twice a day  for the caterpillars to eat. Most amazing thing was finding out that caterpillars can actually poop, and they do poop a lot! The eventual hope is that they pupate and then transform into butterflies so that they can be set free. Hopefully they start to cocoon themselves and turn into butterflies before the year ends, cos that will be a great start to the new year! Anyway, I named them Cater and Pillar, but it's not as if I can tell them apart.

A couple of things which I wanted to blog about.

First, I have a new hair colour now! It is the first time ever in my life I was willing to try something new and different to my hair, and first time ever in my life I actually dyed my hair. The Gatsby package says "Natural Bleach", but it looks more like light golden brown. And I'm not sure whether this is a hit or miss, because some people tell me I look ten years older, but I also have the other camp telling me I look ten years younger! Either way, this is probably the most irrationally random decision ever. Reason why I wanted to do it? I ended reservist recently and my friend said that we can all go dye cool hair colours immediately because it would have some time to fade before our next in-camp training. So... haha this is probably too weird a reason, but I figured that I should try somehow, and here I go.

Second, I decided to organize a small Pri 6 outing on Christmas Eve today. And as with every batch of new Sec 1s that come under me, they must go through the "cycling at East Coast" initiation, because I have been consistently going to East Coast every year to cycle with practically every Sec 1/2 cell that I have ever led haha. Tradition must not be forgotten! But we were caught in a sudden downpour this afternoon, and although we were drenched, I am super duper excited for these would-be new cell members! It was, and still is, my greatest privilege to be part of all these young lives, and I am constantly challenged to mould and shape them into what God intends them to be. 2013 will be my sixth consecutive year of doing this, and they are a full 12-year lunar cycle younger than me (we fiesty dragons). Nope, I am not too old for this! =)

So we had our youth camp over the past weekend, and the biggest take-home nagging feeling was that I was the oldest at the camp for large portions of it! Not that that gave me any special privileges, nor did I have to exercise any authority from it, but simply the fact that I think I am getting quite old for youth ministry! But still, camp was really great, and I count it my privilege to be part of something whereby the Spirit is so insistent on transforming lives and touching hearts. 

And leading a group lets me experience first-hand all these miracles, from people finding answers to their questions, then believing in a living God, to a whole new dimension of worship, and even an experience of Jesus taking them for a walk! I cannot quite imagine all of these, and I can only trust that what's sowed at this camp will eventually translate into something much bigger beyond me. 

Highlight of the camp include getting my group lost on a huge 40-minute detour, because I didn't heed Google Maps' instructions and the bus we were on went on the expressway! But we made an amazing comeback from finding Kar Leong at the right place at the right time literally. 

I don't have a picture of my complete group, but I'm sure they will be somewhere on Facebook, so these will do for now. 

Slightly long post ahead, but I need to put this out to encourage myself, and possibly you too. Just want to marvel and be amazed at how much people grow and change once more! I know I consistently blog about how it is a joy for me to watch people grow up over the years, and it doesn't help that I am involved with Sec 1 and 2, which means that it is practically inevitable for me to witness huge dramatic change over the course of their teenage lives. But if I do not document all these down, one day when I'm much more older and I don't have much recollection on things, I will at least be able to pull these out from 'Search' and read to catch up on my memory.

Roxanne messaged me on Saturday night and asked about our Sunday service timings. She wanted to start coming back to church again, and to be super honest and frank, I don't know why me or why our church! She was in my cell group two or three years back because Janice brought her along, but when Janice and her family changed church, Roxanne stopped coming too. So I was sitting beside her in service this morning, and it felt so weird to know that I once had this responsibility to ensure that this young lady grow up the way she is supposed to grow up in Christ. I vaguely remember praying over the phone with her friends over a phone conference and going down to her netball matches, stuff like that haha. Several years later, she's graduated from secondary school now, I've not seen her for years too, and it's just bittersweet knowing that she's back with us somehow, even if it's just one Sunday. 

And then I was at worship practice for youth camp (which is next week!!!), and was playing with Celine for some of the sessions. I can't tell you how much of this reminiscence thing played out all day for me. Celine used to be in my cell group too, the very first Sec 1 batch I took in which I had no idea where to begin and no idea what or what not to do. So I taught her guitar at the first opportunity, and I always teach 'Heart of Worship' for the first song because the chords and rhythm are relatively great for a guitar beginner. So we were midway into our worship practice, and guess what song came up through the set-lists? Haha I can't imagine how much poetic justice or irony or coincidence there are, when she went playing the same strumming pattern that I first taught her five years back, but no longer as someone who just picked up the guitar for the first time, instead as someone who have been serving in ministry for several years now. And next year she's going to be co-leading cell with me!!! 

I think I am old that way. I know I am only (just turned) 24, and it is incomparable to aunties and uncles and grandparents all around, but I always feel old in relation to the teenagers I hang out with. Just the other day, the kids in my current cell now asked me if will I still talk to them and be friends with them when they change cells next year. We are doing a massive cell group transition next year, and my cell group is currently at the "we don't want to leave each other" phase because of whatever that has been built up for the past two years, even if they vehemently deny this is the case hahaha. And I always placate them and say yes yes yes I will still talk to you, but I know pretty much that they will settle into their new cell groups and new lives and it will be THEM who won't want to talk to me! 

Just like how Roxanne and Celine are now. I don't really find out what's happening in their lives, and they don't clamour to meet me either, plainly because we all move on and our priorities change. There's only so much I can put in to care for people, and of course I have to put my current cell group on high priority. Like I reckoned, there's probably 50-odd (or 60 or 70 or 80) teenagers that I know and have met just from the length of ministry since I first took on Sec 1 and 2 five years back, and I can't know for certain where they all are now. They all bring friends, then I hang out with the friends of their friends, and it's like an exponential epidemic. I can only pray for all these young ones from my previous cells, that they are getting on fine from wherever I left them off. It's only once in a while when they sit beside me in service or play guitar with me, that it hits me like a rock where my ministry has brought me to. Somewhere somehow God deems it fit that His work and His glory is magnified through what I don't even know I'm doing. Roxanne said nobody in our church really remembers her anymore (she's proven wrong anyway because people did recognize her), but I'm more thankful that at least she remembered me enough to ask about the service timing! And I feel I can only boast about this in the Lord's strength. This commitment may have really been my sweat and blood and tears, but that's cos I am a do-er all the time. If God didn't keep reminding me to rest, I wouldn't have done much on my own efforts anyway. Likewise, seeing just a small fraction of the fruits of the labour is really the hugest encouragement for me to carry doing this. 

Today I am happily done with exams! Although I have been acting as though it ended quite a few days ago haha. Yes I was studying hard for my papers and there were many many late nights, but the truth is that it is also my final year, and there are not many ways to improve my grades by huge margins. So I have been taking it rather easy, which meant also that I have been going for cell group outings and whatever gatherings even before exams ended!

And right after exams today, I went down to support the Starbucks Open House, not as a volunteer, but as a coffee-getter! Every year they have this collaboration which involves free Starbucks drinks for a couple of hours, with all donation proceeds going to Salvation Army. For the past two or three years I have been serving as a volunteer at various locations, but this year my exams wouldn't have ended in time for the start of the kettling, so I didn't take it up. I went with Federic to Northpoint at Yishun to support the girls in my cell who were there to ring the bell, and I have to say it feels so funny to be in the queue instead of being the one in apron and ringing bell! But it's a good role reversal for once, I'm quite sure there are plenty more occasions for me to ring bells in future haha.

Joanna and Si Xuan! 

Was invited to attend a Gracehaven thanksgiving concert today, and they doubled it up with a carnival celebration too! Towards the end of the year they usually organize some special form of appreciation for all their volunteers, and for the past two years or so I think I have not attended any of it due to December's crazy schedules. Quite glad that I managed to catch this year's! 

I have to admit that every time I go down to Gracehaven, it is almost always for some form of service or ministry that I am giving. Whether it is to support them in their worship services, for tuition, for meetings... It always involves some work from my part. Haha it was quite a good experience to be able to be in the Gracehaven premise to actually enjoy and talk to the youths there without having to do anything! Over the past few years I've got to know quite a lot of people there, and of course new people come and go all the time because their length of stay in Gracehaven is usually two years. I am really motivated and encouraged by the Kingdom's work, and each Gracehaven opportunity for ministry opens my eyes to what church beyond the confines of the church is really all about. Can't quite imagine just how much some of the youths have grown in stature since I first knew them, and most of all I never knew some of them could sing or play instruments that well!

Am currently at a juncture whether to continue committing next year to the various Gracehaven ministries that I support now, and part of me is irresistibly torn to let anything go. But I do need to prioritize my time and efforts, and I am really seeking what God wants in all of these.

Yep it was my birthday yesterday, and I am super thankful to everyone who have sent my greetings one way or another. Although I think 97% of the people I know do not read this blog, because I think nobody really has the time to keep up with blogs everyday now haha. So if you're the 3% reading this, you have my sincerest gratitude! 

I am 24 now, and have gone two full cycles of with the lunar calendar dragon (I'm a dragon)! Or in other forms of lingo, I am a complete two-dozen of age, or four and a score. I think I am immensely old, but then some middle-aged uncle in church will pooh-pooh me and say I'm at the prime of my life. And then I will possibly meet some elderly auntie with very gray hair and I will just keep quiet about my age. But I only feel old in relation to my cell group, because the Sec 1s next year will be dragon babies too, and that means I am a full 12-year cycle older than them! Don't quite know how I am to deal with that hahaha. 

But birthday was great. I was going around all the restaurants and shops asking for my birthday special, if any. I think it is the only day in the whole year where I am actually allowed to ask for that, so why shy and pretend that it's not my birthday when I am possibly missing out on all these discounts! And you will be surprised at some of the birthday promotions that you are entitled to, some of it are really great, but requires you to be shameless. Other forms of celebrations include replying "happy birthday" when people greet me with "happy birthday", because well, it seems to be the same when people say "Merry Christmas" and you reply back with "Merry Christmas" too! 

A year older. 

Back from a youth leaders' training camp, and I cannot shake off the feeling that I've been doing this too frequent and too often. I think I have been staying over at William Booth Retreat Centre at least once a year for the past four or five years, each time for various retreats or camps or workshops. Which is well, quite a surreal experience, because I have no idea why I am committing myself to another two years of youth leadership when it is probably time for me to pass it on. 

This coming year will be my 6th year in a row doing the Sec 1 & 2 ministry. And possibly 9th or 10th year in total for leadership?! Haha too much for too long, but I will always remember the humbling experience at Hillsong Conference earlier this year when I met this woman who was in her 40s, and she says she has been doing youth ministry for the past 25 years. That's even longer than my life put together. And her three-word advice to me was to "keep it fun". Couldn't disagree with that haha. 

And with extreme irony, Celine will be my co-cell leader next year. She was in my first ever Sec 1 & 2 cell five years back, and I seem to be forever co-leading with people who were once in my cell when they were teeny teens (hello Jolene), but have somehow transformed from that cocoon into more-than-leaders in their own rights. I don't quite know how God does it, but if I ever need encouragement when I think my work isn't sowing the right seeds and reaping the right harvest, I talk to my co-cell leaders. Somehow, it all just adds up. 

This weekend's highlight involved engaging in a new activity/hobby! I happily signed up for a floral arrangement class about two weeks ago, when the women's ministries in my church announced that they are hiring someone in to teach a one-off session. Partly because I have always been super encouraged by the team of ladies who does our floral offering for Sunday service every week. They rotate themselves on a roster and come in every Saturday afternoon cooped up in the servery, and it can take as long as two hours!

I have to confess that I always thought floral arrangement very easy. I just have to snip the flowers and then decide what arrangement I want then poke it into the sponge, hahaha quite easy wad! But it seems like everytime I thought it looked nice, one of the aunties will walk by and "Guan You! So messy!", and then they pluck out everything I've poked in and rearrange for me. Auntie Charlotte gave me the best advice haha she attended many classes before, and she will tell me that the tallest apex flower need not be the prettiest because no one really looks that high up, so you should put the more "uglier" flowers not-yet-bloomed as the apex. And then there's symmetries and asymmetries in every shape and design! Haha completely astounded. By the way I was one of only two males there (the other was Uncle Patrick), and this is essentially part of my movement to show that floral arrangement need not always carry sexist connotations!

Pictures!!

Step 1: Have a good base foliage with the roses as the general triangular shape.

Step 2: Put in the centrepieces

Step 3: Touch up and tadaa!

This was the one the teacher did in 45 mins. It is a lot taller than this picture made it to be, with the torch ginger flowers really magnificent and with brassica flowers (the purple ones). But what I liked about this best was the three leaves sticking out at the back, it's quite funny but it's so suave!

I think I left with a deeper understanding of floral arrangement, more than just snip and poke! It seems like no matter how I arrange it, the teacher's own arrangement always looks nicer than mine! There is a technique here, and it does take a creative eye to visualize the patterns. I do hope this is not my last class! 

So today during service, I was asked an interesting question midway sermon. Rebecca asked "why was Jesus male and not a female". Haha truth be told, the first thing that I was sorely tempted to say was this small little joke that I always use as an icebreaker. It goes something similar, like "why is God referred to as he and not a she", and the answer is because we sing hymns (hims) and not herms hahaha. Okay I know it's not the best thing around, but it helps me to get the lightheartedness to where I need it to go, and people do generally laugh at it okay!

So yeah, I digress. Why was Jesus male. I thought for a moment and realized that in the patriarchal society that Jesus lived in, he probably wouldn't have gained much currency if he was a female! No one will listen to him (or her, for that matter), and no one will take him seriously, and persecution for a heretical female will be even more outright madness than a heretical male (which some already deemed him to be). Read somewhere too that Jesus' timing was always perfect, like he was in the right place at the right time. And even subsequent events after his resurrection, such as the gospel being written in Greek helped it to become widely circulated and read because it was the lingua franca of the Roman empire. So I kinda believe that Jesus has got to be male for some reason.

But then Rebecca being Rebecca, she asked further on why the Salvation Army song that we always sing "they shall come from the east they shall come from the west and sit down in the kingdom of God", why does it not include north and south! To which I have no idea really, and it was one of those Gowans and Larsson song, of which they probably wrote so many. So I googled, and they did give me a verse each from Luke 13:29 and Matthew 8:11. Funny thing was, the Luke reference had all four north south east west, but Matthew reference only had east and west! And being a Geography student this kind of thing annoys me when I can't find the answer, because I think directional references are very important haha.

Help please!!!

Every two months or so, I get the privilege to lead the Sec 1 and 2 Christian Education class on Sundays. I try to structure my lessons to ensure that it maximizes attention and imparts something at the same time, because they lose focus very easily! I try to do a lot of drawing or descriptive stuff or taking a walk to MacDonald's while reciting the Zacchaeus story hahaha. Anyway for today, I got my inspiration from a book title (which is yet to be published though) to fill in the blank "Jesus is _____". The whole point was to make Jesus a lot more personal to every individual, and it really is anything goes! It can be an adjective, like "Jesus is awesome", but it can also be verbs like "Jesus is carrying me". And youth being youth I was kinda hoping for crazy answers like "Jesus is not emo" or "Jesus is better than noobs" or "Jesus is rolling his eyes at what I think I should be doing instead of doing what God thinks I should be doing", you know crazy stuff like that I came up with which sounds cool! But nah, it didn't quite cut through today, haha they thought it was too kiddy. But still, it was quite fun to get some of their responses, after much cajoling!

Some of what I received:

"Jesus is like magic"

"Jesus is like Avengers" 

"Jesus is a man"

"Jesus is a name" 

Which wasn't too bad I guess, and it actually is quite biblical if I wrangle it! Because Jesus is fully man and fully God, and Jesus is name above all names, and his miracles are cooler than magic hahaha. I mean, it's a bit too weird and too contemporary to situate Jesus outside of New Testament times, but I think that if I cannot make Jesus relate to me right this time and this place now, then the whole point of a relationship in Christ is kinda meaningless isn't it? So yup, if Jesus is like the Avengers, then he is really very mighty and powerful! I love how Jesus is king, but he is also my friend. 

And, this was my favourite response from Rebecca. For some of them I don't really know what she's trying to depict though, but Jesus is her favourite animal and her favourite colour and so on..

And this is my own response!

Probably one of my craziest weeks ever since school started. It's crunch time now, group assignments are due in a couple of weeks, presentations to be made, essays to be written... Have been spending a lot of time lately meeting project groups, which is both good and bad because most of the time it is with familiar fellow geographers haha. 

And the reason why I feel like I really need a breather is because I have been handling a lot of hall rentals-related stuff this week! Towards the end of the year, it gets especially crazy because all the kindergartens are holding their graduation concerts, and I am coordinating and liaising with the rental groups to provide technicians from our side. This week alone we had three different groups coming in for rehearsals or concerts. And occasionally in the week I have to meet several of them at various times for informal discussions of how they want their setup to be like, what equipment they need, measurements, lighting. Phone keeps ringing with unknown numbers, because I don't really bother saving the many many contacts, and because they are more likely to ring me than me ringing them. Really glad for the end of this week, because it is driving me borderline crazy dealing with so many people. 

Last of all, I finally initiated a conversation with our new front desk receptionist at church! That job appointment has seen two or three changes in the past few months, and the current receptionist has been there for a month. And you know very well that church is like my second home haha, so I have been smiling and saying hi to this auntie all the time, and she recognizes me too. Her name is Jane, and she thought that I'm some part-time staff working in church! But she doesn't attend any churches herself, which led me to share about what I really do in church and how I came up through Sunday School (since I was teeny 8 years old) and blah blah. You must always have a testimony on hand, yes that is very very important. And nothing made my week more fulfilling, than to be able to share about growing up in church. 

Was at a Primary 6 camp on Thursday and Friday! Okay it wasn't really a camp, more like a stayover with many activities. The whole point was to begin the bridging journey from primary school to secondary, and last year Youth Dept decided to start an annual camp for all the P6s across all the corps after their PSLE. This year we only had six of them who were with us at the camp, but the small numbers meant that there were a lot of interaction with everyone and it was a lot more intentional! Had a really good time there, really enjoyed the time spent with them. We went fishing in Bishan Park, swimming with slides and wave pools, bowling.. Amidst all that fun there's a growing-up teenager talk hahaha, and it ended with SAY service on Fri night. Dedication is very important, and glad that it was a very good initiation for all of them!

Yes there are pictures!!! This blog post is not all words.

So I did say that I will continue my previous post of my university education, but obviously I never really got to it after more than a week haha. And then I received a surprise promo on Shihui's Twitterfeed!! So here it goes, I took that as impetus to pick up where I left off. 

I really really enjoyed my Literature course tremendously over the past three years. There were some slight dramas with my choice of minor, because I initially wanted to minor in English Studies, which is a combination of English as a language and English as a literature study.And I am so so glad that I decided to do English as a literature study fully! But I am not the best Literature student haha. Yes I read widely, and yes I enjoy reading, but the truth is that I read very slowly too! So there's 6 to 8 thick novels per module, and I barely get through 3 most of the time hahaha. Which is sometimes enough, because the exams tend to need only involve about 2 to 3 books for analysis, because you have essay choices. When I was doing A'Levels, we did about 6 texts in two years! Now we have to do it for ONE module alone, in three months only! I love it when the professor decides to put poetry as set texts, which is awesome as poetry is really my strong point and it is a lot easier to plow through. But I still love the stuff I learnt in my books Literature classes, because it really demanded from you a wide knowledge from as diverse disciplines as required. We had to dabble in psychological analyses, feminist writings, post-colonial writings, postmodernist deconstructions, modernist hallmarks, war, tragedies... Of these all, 19th century novels were the most painful, because that's when Victorian writers like Dickens and gang began exploring novels as holistic forms to encapsulate life, which means they wrote the longest novels ever with the longest plots and so many twists and characters! 

Which is why also, that I signed up for a lot of film studies modules! It is much easier to go to class and watch a movie, than to carry a book around everywhere I go every day of the week (which I still seldom read). Now film analysis is more fun. We try to understand how certain techniques unique to the camera gets rendered and portrayed as a moving image, and hence sound lighting cinematography editing all matters. Different camera angles or different panning modes or colors or editing sequences go under our literary knives. And then the really cool stuff comes in when we study auteurs, stuff like how Tim Burton movies always have macabre themes; and spectator theories with performativity, like how we react when watching a performed movie. 

For most parts I really really love my Literature exposure, and it is a shame that I couldn't take more modules from the department! Since I am only taking a minor, I really only need to take 6 modules, which is not a lot when you come to think of it. I would have been really interested in script writing for theatrical plays, or cultural studies! Yes I am hugely interested in cultural studies, you may recall from previous blog post about my affiliations with cultural geography. Which is what I sit in my Literature class and what I do! I unpick all those analyses and criticisms about the literary text with geographic underpinnings hahaha! All Literature students need huge reserves of knowledge in practically every philosophical topic possible, and  I am so thankful that my geographic discipline actually sufficiently prepared me in deconstructionist thought that I was able to throw in geographic jargon about space and place, as my only way to act smart in front of the class haha! But it is often airy-fairy mumbo-jumbo. Sometimes I can sit in class and everyone is talking English (and not even bombastic vocabulary), but for the life of me I can't understand a single concept. Ditto. About 30% of the time it flies above my head, and that's when I am secretly thankful that I am not a full-fledged Literature student.

For all the new friends I've made though, it was worth every bit of time and effort to stay alive through those Literature classes. I was basically hanging out with a lot of Year 2s (I was Year 3), and they all think that I am in their classes with an unfair advantage and that I am attempting to wreck the curve, but truth be told I am not very smart, and they are fantastic at critical thinking. Although you have to keep in mind the 30% information leak, which means either they are spouting nonsense, or I really am not equipped with the best Literature toolbox. 

More to come! Final installment on Geography next. 

This post is where I try to make sense of what I study in school. If you don't already know, or if you just need a recap, I am a Geography major and also taking a English Literature minor at undergraduate bachelor degree level now. Whenever people ask me what I'm studying, and I reply with that following identity, most often than not a lot of people tend towards a greater understanding of my literature discipline rather than my geography discipline. And I can easily see why, because literature is really quite straightforward. You read and analyze books and authors and stuff like that. But people don't really have that strong an idea when I say geography! They think rocks and volcanoes and earthquakes and tornadoes, or they think I am some explorer on a ship, or they think I know where all the countries are in the world and I know the capital city and the flag of each country. So here's an attempt to try and reason out (for you and for myself too) my interests in literature and in geography!

Literature is a better conversation starter generally, because people are excited to tell me about the books they've read! Yup the myths about all literature students are true, I do read a lot and I read very diversely too. I read anything from guidebooks, fiction novels, non-fiction topics, dramatic plays, poetry, newspapers, periodicals, magazines, online stuff, it's endless. But don't expect me to discuss about the novel plots or details of the stuff that I've read! Although I really enjoy the process of reading, I tend not to remember story plots more than a month after I've finished reading the book. Same goes for movies; I can't remember what happened in the movie after a few weeks of watching it haha. For university classes, we easily cover 6 to 8 thick books in a single literature module, and it is generally organized by themes (tragedy, psychoanalysis, etc.) or by period (17th century, 18th...). And the literature department in my school lumps Theater Studies and Cultural Studies and Film Studies under the same department too! I had a lot of interest in films, so my literature discipline is best described as half Film Studies, and half analyses of books from different periods. I've basically read everything from epic poetry like Paradise Lost, to modernist and postmodernist novels which are definitely more easily to digest haha. And I've watched quite a lot of films too!

Geography is more airy-fairy in a sense, because our sub-topics can very easily be mistaken as Sociology topics! Broadly speaking, I am 90% human geographer and 10% physical geographer. The physical aspects are very apparent; basically anything to do with rocks or climate or natural hazards or water management or earth topography things haha. Human or social geography is more difficult to quantify, we have sub-disciplines in urban planning, population analysis (ageing, health, migration), economics, geopolitics, cultural or social analyses, feminism, tourism, and a lot more! We tend to identify ourselves with a few dominant sub-disciplines! I've dabbled a bit into one of everything, but I am very interested in cultural geographies, topics like cultural hegemony, power and resistance, culture and politics, race, gender, stuff like that haha. I've taken a lot of economic geography modules too, but was never really interested in it heh. What really distinguishes the geographic thought is the idea of spatial and temporal contexts, like yes we talk about ageing, but we look into specifically why ageing in Singapore is different from that in Japan, because of culture differences, differing government policies... To put it as succinctly and as simply as possible!

More about this tomorrow night, I hope! To be continued. 

Yes yes I know I am not the most consistent blogger haha. But school's been really busy, and I do have many things to write about, but most of the time I am more compelled to writing assignments or small essays for school work! Really cannot believe that I am actually in my fourth year of university studying already. I can't imagine where all that time went in the last three years. With that too, this is possibly my final year of studying in an actual school too, considering that I am not thinking of post-grad masters or any other degrees or anything like that. Have no idea where or what will happen in future, but yeah I don't really want to study anything anymore for quite some time, because school is stressful!

It is quite a surreal experience, to put it in overtly-cliched terms. Partly because of awesome course-mates whose friendships I am finally beginning to appreciate. I've always kinda drifted through my past few years in university without really bothering to socialize much with school friends. I mean, like I do know people and I do talk to them and have occasional lunches with some of them. But now that the whole year's cohort of Geog majors are lumped into compulsory core honors modules, I see all of them practically every day in school and we hang out a lot more.

And I have never felt more inadequate too haha, because I constantly think that all of them are so much more sharper and more critical thinkers than I am! Sitting through discussions in class usually shuts me up, because I don't have much substantial stuff to add value to their incisive critiques haha! I always thought I read "widely" enough, but oh my gosh these people know stuff from philosophers and politicians and theologians and what-have-you, and I don't even remember much of what I learnt in previous semesters! But it is a good learning experience, and I really love learning and finding out new stuff and everything.

Add to the fact that I am not doing the honors thesis paper, and I really feel like I'm just taking honors programme for the sake of doing it. Almost 95% of the whole cohort are busy with the thesis papers, but here I am preferring to slog it through endless modular work instead. And I always feel inferior when people ask me what my research is on, but I sheepishly tell them I'm not doing thesis because I really can't think of anything that I want to write and research on. We kinda identify ourselves to our various geographic allegiances here, like you can be an economic geographer or a social geographer interested in feminism or urban cities geographer or cultural geographer or environmental sciences geographer. I try very hard to stick to cultural geographies because that is the sub-discipline where I think I have my strongest grasp on. But more about this in another future blog post!

The last thing that I'm struck with is how almost everyone of my course-mates have some inkling of what they wanna do when they graduate. A sizable portion of them will become teachers. Others are looking at civil service jobs, or NGOs, or wherever. And I really have no idea where my degree in geography is going to lead me. Maybe I should just go be a global explorer or something! But yeah I don't have a clue what I am going to do after I graduate, and right now I have a eerie thought that I will probably never step into a geographically-related field ever again.

We will see how this goes. And yes I promise to write in this blog diligently! I do have stuff to write about haha. 

Neglected this space for a while... Have since started school, into my second week now. The beginning of the fourth and final year was eventful before it even started! I almost didn't get into the honours programme, because of some miscalculation that left me one module short of fulfilling certain criteria. But that was over already, and hardly without a hitch too.

And school is a dread already. I have assignments due almost every week and it's looking crazy. But this is really the furthest I can go already, probably never going to do post-graduate studies and probably my final year of committing to studying something for a degree or diploma (I hope). 

Will try my best to post frequent updates! I do actually have a lot of thoughts that I need to document down, but am just lazy to do it here. 

Still doing up the worship leaders' training curriculum, and I honestly feel as though I am researching and writing for a term paper! There's a lot of books to read and then I will find stumble across relevant stuff in other books. Once in a while I will get some nice stuff from the internet. And on rare occasions I will chance upon very excellent and nuanced points, but it isn't necessarily related to worship, and then right there and then it gets me thinking and researching other stuff. And thanks to a few people who've passed me more books for reference too! Hahaha I think I enjoy reading generally, just that I'm quite a slow reader. 

Commissioner Lim commented before on his blog that sometimes reading many commentaries and topical books are really helpful, but nothing beats returning to the Bible for the absolute Word. Which I find totally true. I get swamped by all these thoughts and ideas from the books, and sometimes all I really need to do is turn back to what does the Bible say about this. And I have this dual parallel Bible with NIV and The Message translation side-by-side which really helps. I love The Message because some of the phrasing is quite damning at times haha, but in a good way and it challenges and convicts really strongly. 

My main distractions nowadays are the Olympics games! Streaming it live on Youtube. I will play it on one side of my laptop screen and then do the curriculum on the other side of the screen haha. Watching a lot of gymnastics and table tennis and volleyball and swimming. Actually pretty much everything, because it gets really exciting at times. Waiting for swimming to start now, haha the bad thing is the swimming event finals are usually 2 or 3am in the middle of the night. 

Am currently in the midst of drafting up some new worship leader training curriculum, because I'm trying to make my holidays worthwhile and productive. Aiming to finish the document before the end of July! And while I am doing this, I have to admit that for the longest time this is a constant dilemma to me because I have never ever felt like I am fully called into this area of ministry. Yes I lead worship sometimes and I play for the music team sometimes, but I always tell people that my worship team commitment is what I do on the sidelines. I'd like to think that I am called to do other things, that God has given me other giftings and talents which I feel I'm more adequate at.

Over the years I've attempted to reconcile the fact that I am never fully ready nor am I equipped, by telling myself to just be obedient and see where this takes me. Nothing strikes at your own ineptitude and  inadequacy as much as when you have to prepare for a training curriculum. Too much stuff you thought you knew, but you don't really; too many things you thought you did, but you never really. Currently I'm praying really hard for some form of direction with regards to my worship ministry. 

Well okay pictures! This is the amount of reading I've tried to plow through. And, my copy of "Worship Matters" is loaned to someone, but I can't remember who! If you're reading this blog (and reading that book), please return me asap, this current copy I loaned is Matthew's.

Holidays are the best, because I can sleep as late as I want, and therefore wake up as late as I want in the morning too. I'm not up to much currently, been reading a lot and online a lot. The few times that I've been out are mostly to catch up with friends or to do meaningless shopping. Downsides about these are that the more I go out, the more money I tend to spend. And this is dire because I don't have much income nowadays; all the guitar students are on summer holidays and I don't teach as much tuition as I used to.

Speaking of tuition, I do teach at Gracehaven once a week, and today finally broke the test of my resolve. I had to remind myself very firmly why I even started volunteering in the first place. Okay I admit, every week is a struggle to psych myself to make that (not so) long trip to Gracehaven and to set aside time for that tuition slot. There are so many other things that I can do on a Tuesday evening, and I needed all the persistence and perseverance in me to uphold that commitment I made.

I think volunteering and ministry work and serving people is pretty much about ensuring that everything is perfect and great for the benefiting parties, and very little about me myself benefiting as a result. I want to serve because it is a privilege for me to serve, and I don't want to have to drag my feet and coerce myself into doing things just because I have to. Maybe that's why I always believe in serving from my own overflow of abundant grace, because when it becomes difficult and dreary, it always helps to reference myself back to the first excitement.

Right now, I'm in my kitchen reading Eat Pray Love, and drinking Pepsi in an iced cup, and watching a little cockroach scurrying around my kitchen floor. Don't feel like killing it, because at 4am that's the only companion I will get. I hope eventually it will just get itself out of the window, or I will chase it before I sleep. And, can I just say, Pepsi is really diluted and just... weird. I drank Coke Zero today too, it tastes much too bland. Give me the real Coca Cola anyday. 

Back from Australia for almost five days now, and have been attempting to do more productive things like learning guitar or going out to meet people or reading vociferously. I am currently alternating between Batman comics and about to start Eat Pray Love (everyone keeps asking why read some girly book) and some magazines and some Christian teenage fiction book which I got from Aussie. Adjusting back to the hot sunny Singapore weather is a chore too, because I was so happily freezing in sub-10 Celsius degrees in Melbourne and Sydney. But I was only acclimatizing to cold weather for two weeks; have friends who are in colder parts of Europe for months on exchange, not to mention that it's mostly rainy since I got back, so I'm not really feeling the heat yet.

Our itinery for Australia was to head down first to the Victoria state for about a week. We spent a few days in Melbourne lazing around, found friends of Spencer and Meena, headed out to an out-back safari. Then began the road trips to Phillip Island to shudder with the penguins, and drove out about 8 hours to Apollo Bay via the Great Ocean Road to see the Twelve Apostles. Kinda amazing we drove so far out (and back) just to see some limestone rocks heh. Sydney we went after that, with another few days just touring the harbours and walking around. We did meet up with Melanie and Col Prema, who was there at the conference too! And more new friend(s).

Hillsong Conference was really great, it was so good to be going there as a participant without doing anything and to just soak up everything that was said and sung. To be truthful the topics and the electives were a big mishmash of information, from personal discipleship to evangelism to the various church ministries, but I think the beauty of it was discovering the many facets of a church life within the church life. Some of the stuff were really life-changing, it brought a new dimension to the way I saw things. Others were just continuous reminders of the ministries that I've committed to carry out and the awesome privilege of being able to do things in church. So fired up from all the new perspectives, and then back smack into the processes of leaderships, haha I have to remember to be humble and to be obedient, to change the things within my reach and to trust the things to God out of my control.

The smallest trivia while on holiday: I finished reading the Hunger Games trilogy within the two weeks. I prefer the Sydney Harbour Bridge to the Opera House. I took all my pictures using a film camera, it ran up to eight rolls of film (yet to be sent for developing). I think contemporary art really makes you think, but it is too subjectively controversially weird. And once I've fought off the ibises and the seagulls for my fish and chips by Darling Harbour, I will never ever find fish and chips as good as it will ever get in Aussie. 

I have about 6 more hours before I'm flying off to Australia in the morning! Can't quite decide whether I should sleep or what, because I have to be at the airport early too. Going there with Min Jie and wife, Spencer and wife, for Hillsong Conference in Sydney!! So excited about it, but before that we are going to take a week or so to holiday in Melbourne.

This is probably one of the rare times when I'm traveling and not caring much about the things that I am leaving behind. They will take care of themselves haha I don't need to be a busybody.

Okay I think I shall sleep after all. If I do update this space at all while on the road, see ya! 

Looking back at these past two or three years that I haven't been as active in worship leading or playing in a worship team as previously, I kinda realized that it actually freed me up in a lot more ways than I initially thought it would. Things like, the stress and the pressure is not as much now, mostly because I go about thinking that there are people who lead worship week in week out way more times than me, and their challenge to keep it fresh must be much greater than mine haha! And I'm more adventurous and more likely do things off routine, because, well, I only lead once in a while, so why not. Heh that may be good or bad depending on what or who or when, but I don't just shake things up for the sake of it. Or maybe just the fact that I get a lot more time to actually worship in congregation.

But really one thing that really freed up were the song selections and set lists. In the past I really needed at least a month heads-up to plan, but now it's all coming to me so naturally that I actually have to read and reference the Bible a lot more than I needed to, just to confirm and be certain. A lot of times it's just trusty guitar and then the chords or lyrics just flowed nicely, or the right song just appeared in that right moment in iPod, or something like that. Which is really great, because I try to think that I should lead worship and plan all those transitions blah blah just as how my quiet time is like.

And of course in these times, it helps a lot to have a new guitar!!!!! One that I'm really enjoying playing right now and it sounds very very good. Anyway, will be going Australia for two weeks on Saturday, and the guitar needs to go to someone who will utilize it within these two weeks. I don't want it sitting in my home unused haha. Let me know if you (or someone) want to borrow it!

I've always tried to go through my life without getting too attached or too sentimental over my belongings or my possessions, but truth is I am quite the hoarder. I keep useless things, I archive notes and letters, I have tonnes of things that I say I will find a use for it but never ever do. I treasure the things that I buy for myself, I am reluctant to give away the books I bought, and I usually take too long to deliberate if I am to give something away. I need a friend who will raid my apartment and not be afraid to discard or donate things that I have in excess, because I always make reasons for myself. It just never really works. 

It is with the hugest regret therefore, to announce that I have sold my Maestro guitar that I've had for four years. Got it during army as a 20th birthday self-present, it wasn't too expensive but it has the richest and most luxurious and most harmonic sound ever, to me at least. For years I will ignore all naysayers who complain about the guitar's playability, or size, or the sound (how dare they!), and I really enjoyed all the times playing with it in quiet time or worship leading. But deep down I know there are better guitars out there haha, and it's natural to aspire to get something more high-end, but I have been thinking for too long if I should even splurge to get a new one because the guitar is really great. 

And it all came to an end when I saw a forum post on Sunday requesting to buy the exact same model of my guitar! What are the odds of that, because it's not like my guitar is super-good and super-popular choice haha. I made the buyer an offer without considering too much, and by evening the same day I was meeting him for the transaction. Probably sold it at a cut-throat price because it's got several stains and scratches and knocks, but aargh it's gone and I felt like I lost a part of me at too impulsive an action. Reality only sank in when I remembered I still have to lead worship this coming Friday! 

But I'm only guitar-less for one day. Haha just got the Taylor GS Mini yesterday, too good and too nice and too melodious and an absolute joy to hear/play. Again I think it was a very impulsive decision, but haha I am very satisfied with my purchase and it's definitely a worthy replacement for the sold guitar. Still can't quite get over the fact that I sold my old guitar without as much consideration as I wanted, but oh new guitar!!! Haha the first ever guitar that I've got for myself, I considered for super super super long before deciding to give it to Celine, because all the nagging thoughts keep bugging me to keep it or sell it or just frame it up! But nah, giving it away without asking for payment really puts it to rest for me, because it severs all the baggage attached to it. Now that I sold the previous guitar, I feel like calling the person up again to buy it back hahaha. 

Okay. Good morning world. 

A while back I had a huge rant with Peggy about what constitutes art and culture. Haha she studies at Laselle and does all the arty stuff considered of an arty artist, so I figured it gets as close to the horse's mouth as I could haha. Okay I kinda believe that the notion of art is a very loose term; you can almost lump everything under the guise of "artistic expressions" and it can be considered art. So the very evident ones like oil paintings and ballet dance and sculptures and photography and theatre and stuff like that, no one will ever question their artistic worth or value or intention. But it's the more abstract and more postmodern stuff like Warhol's Brillo Boxes and Campbell Soups made into pop art, or the whole Dada movement. And they're constantly doing more ground-breaking stuff, like the lady who was rolling in black paint, which is why I tend to think that the divide between museum art and everyday life doesn't really make much sense anymore. If I am acclaimed enough, I can pour cereal in a bowl in a museum, and people will say that's art too, because culture is just everything.

Which is why I also believe that for something to be considered art, there has to be some form of agency and intention for it to be called art. So I still can pour cereal in a museum, but that's because I want to pour cereal in a museum, and this makes my art worthwhile, and possibly for some appreciation by others. It doesn't have to create value, just as long as I have the guts to do it and the foresight to do it first. 

Hence I think that the recent news about the SKL0 lady is great stuff, because she's real ballsy and she doesn't shy away from the risks involved in her street art, or graffiti, or vandalism, whichever you choose to view it. I do like her work, it captures the Singaporean life in a very succinct sticker and encapsulates the frantic spammage of the traffic light to conform to the hectic society haha. Her arrest is a shame, because the government spends millions promoting art and art development, but when art really appears, they clamp it down and shut it up. That said, I have to say that top-down imposition of art doesn't quite cut it. They always say they "gazette" spaces like Portsdown Road or Holland Village for bohemian cultural uprisings, and then they commission artists to "vandalize" postboxes as if it sprang out overnight like graffiti. But when authentic street art appears, all of a sudden it's not approved and not sanctioned and not commissioned, then persecution. However, I think that her actions are also a form of activism. She stuck the stickers with full knowledge that "anyhow stick kena fined", and it is a blatant risk she undertakes to impose her artistic messages. Which is why I find the petitions to free her as innocent artist kind of demeans her work, because then where's the highlight and emphasis of the ridiculousness of the government's double-standards on art?

Okay. It's time to sleep. I don't think I am making much sense anymore. 

Tonight was one of those nights that I had to make a choice what to watch, with the options spliced evenly between several DVDs and movies. I'm in the midst of a self-learn guitar resource, and then I just got another separate guitar resource from Min Jie earlier today, and I kinda just started the TV sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Not to mention several movies which I wanted to watch haha. But nah, after several wrestles and tussles I went with this Louie Giglio's series of talks on grace.

From my ministries at church, and with the benefit of hindsight, I've realized over the years that I tend to be too much of a do-er. My natural response to any problem is to prescribe a do-able solution, and I'm not happy if no action is done. Or I try my best to do everything myself. I still do too much sometimes, and I tend not to allocate, or to just be, instead of doing. So we have this whole thing about grace being God at work over the things we cannot do, and I have to constantly remind myself to surrender and let God take control of the gracey stuff. And then elsewhere it says also to work out your salvation, that it is an outpouring of the grace given that we aspire to be Christ-like, which again I have to remind myself that it is "work out" and not "work for". I'm working out because of grace, and not so that I can gain grace. I don't need to, but I want to.

At the risk of this blog post sounding schizophrenic, I shall stop here. There's a lot more to grace than this too. But I'm glad I picked Giglio over guitar tutorials. Maybe now I will go on to HIMYM. 

The holidays has been extremely agreeable with me, I am taking my time to do the things that I want to do and I am sleeping vast amounts of hours that I haven't been able to do so previously. Regrettably, the reading has not been as prolific as I would like it to be! I bring my novel everywhere I go, but it usually stays in my bag and seldom sees the light of day. Which I guess is a really bad habit developed from my literature modules; I bring my assigned lit novels everywhere I go during term time too, but it remains well-traveled but not well-read. 

Anyway, I've got more time to spend it with cell group too, because I've always believed that young people need to go out and you need to do stuff with them to really connect. From lunches to dinners to movies to running to guitar lessons. I've been watching a lot of movies at home too. And in the guise of self-improvement I am finally starting to "formally" take guitar lessons from a DVD, which can get a bit boring after a while because learning music is essentially tedium and loads of memory work. But I will persevere. 

If you see me idling about, please nag at me to take out my book and finish reading it. 

It's a pleasure and a privilege to serve in church really. Gave a mini-message on language last night, and then was leading a small worship session tonight. I have to stress that I don't do both very often nowadays haha. I think half the technical skills or the spiritual acumen that I need to be an effective speaker or worship leader is lost through years of lack of sufficient practice. 

Tonight kinda reinforced what they say about the worship leader is to be ready with a word or a song for all season. I know Commissioner Lim reads this haha, but when Min Jie asked me to lead worship he only said 2 to 3 songs! Well it became 5 haha, but I'm just thankful that I've got great quiet time moments that I can bring into actual worship leading, and all the times that I force myself to go onstage without chord references. 

And last night was a very strong reminder of God's grace, and how it applies in my life. I'm not a perfect man, but it is really only through grace that I get to do the stuff I am doing now. A while back during Matthew's cell group, we watched a Louie Giglio DVD series on the topic of grace, and sadly to say I can't remember most of what was said haha. Need a refresher, and I think I will do just that. 

I seldom put up songs here, but this is an exception because of the song story that went behind it. This one is called "Hati Hamba", or translated as "Heart of a Servant". I first heard it sung at Heart of God Church when I attended one of their services. Maybe a few months later, I went back again, and they sang it for worship again! And I remembered the song striking a chord in me for each time I was there, whatever my circumstances and situation. I simply had to ask one of the youths in the congregation what song that was, and he said it was written by an Indonesian church and it's one of their more familiar songs that they always sing for worship. Great lyrics. You can search it up on Youtube or something.

HATI HAMBA

Standing in awe of Your grace
Setting my feet in Your ways
Entering into Your presence
To behold You face to face

God of all heaven and earth
Holding me in Your embrace
Unfailing love that surrounds me
Oh God I stand amazed

My Jesus, my Lord
You're the love of my life
Wherever You go
Wanna be by Your side
No longer I
But Christ living in me
Serving You for all eternity

My eyes set on You
In this race that I run
No longer my ways
Let Your will be done
Make me a servant
My heart's ever true
Clinging to the cross
I'll follow You

Exams have ended, and I am now currently enjoying my holidays! For most parts of it, my exams and revision has been great, this is one of the better prepared semesters in my university life. Really enjoyed what I was studying, and it actually felt like I was learning something this time round. The saddest part is that I will not be taking anymore literature modules from now on! Maybe I will sneak in for some of the lectures from the modules that I've always wanted to try, and I will read the books assigned for the course haha. But yup, the semester is over and I have a four months break now!

There's probably too many things I want to read and learn for the holidays. I kinda like just waking up and bumming around at home reading, or just mill around. Actually it's only been a few days since I ended exams. Have been helping out with the exam revisions for the young ones yesterday, Maths is great but I have to revise my Sec 3 Chemistry stuff just to be able to be of help haha. My want-to-read list for the holidays is too long and too intimidating, but I am determined to plow through it and complete as much as I can. 

And today's another interesting day, I'm going to start tuition with one of the boys from Gracehaven! For the longest time, Augustine has reminded me time and again of their need for volunteer tutors to go in and help out academically, and for the longest time I have been procrastinating, and also because I really have too much to do. But last year I partly recommended Joe Yong and Kah Jie to give tuition there, then Auntie Kristy has been literally goading me to go in hahaha every time I meet her she's challenging me what am I doing with my life. The confirmation kinda came when Jolene told me she's looking to volunteer there too. So, in I go tonight. 

Will post my reading reviews up here, partly to keep myself accountable to the things that I've set out to do this holiday! 

These past few days were spent mostly in church studying for my exams! I only have three exams this semester but my first paper doesn't start until Saturday! Which is really really late, because my sister ENDS on Friday and I only START on Saturday. Haha the additional time to study has been really helpful though, just that I tend to procrastinate and get complacent a lot more. 

It's exams for some of the younger people in my cell too, so I have been "helping" people to study as much as I am studying myself by nagging at them hahaha. But the most challenging was Ethel asking me A Maths questions! When I was in secondary school, both A Maths and E Maths were probably my strongest subjects, apart from Geography of course heh. But I can't remember most of my A Maths theories now, although I'm still fine for E because I have been teaching tuition for that. And before I forget, I'm really happy that Ethel's getting acquainted with everyone, she's joining us for about a month now and is another addition to the Sec 1-3 kiddies that are invading my life. 

And the corps officers decided to do a quick cleaning up of the office cabinets and shelves today. There are things that are lying about for months that we probably don't need, but we still keep them around anyway. It's with pangs of guilt that I watch them clear up, because I meant really to organize a spring cleaning before Chinese New Year! Totally overdued. And they wanted to cart out huge stacks of old War Cry copies and the Words of Life devotional, which is when I realized that the hoarder in me really aches to have them thrown away. Okay at least the Salvationist in me reasons that we're supposed to be selling the War Cry as evangelical material. So I figured I can just lump like three months' worth of War Cry issues together, put our church flyer on it then distribute it door to door to my neighbours. At least there's some chance my neighbours will read it somewhere. As for the Words of Life, it's going to be my cell's new devotional for the next three months! 

Pictures, to cover up for the long wordy post. 

UPDATE

It's time to announce the winner! Congratulations to Joe Yong!! Thanks for inciting an illicit love triangle for my duck and Bulbasaur and Buttercup, I really laughed out at your tweet, and Matthew confirmed it hahaha. And, a consolation prize to Andrea too, for the literal lame-ness of it haha! To all those who participated, thank you for indulging in my silliness, really appreciate your efforts in crafting a caption, and I hope this little contest does not render the quality of your replies (and my friendship with you) diminished in any sense; they were all great and really entertaining! Hope you all had as much fun following this as I did, at least till the next contest that I can think of. You can read all the entries below. Thank you again!!!!!

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Reaching my 10,000th tweet on Twitter, and I've decided to hold a small caption-the-photo contest to celebrate the occasion! I really got my inspiration from a friend of mine from school, he has wacky contests every now and then to celebrate his birthday and Christmas, and he just wants to give away prizes for the fun of it. And since this year is the year-to-be-generous year for me, I'm doing the same and my photo that I've asked people to caption, is this!

And these are the responses I've received thus far, I will add on to it when I receive one.

Lynn - Bubbles: "We shall not discriminate against the duck, just because he isn't green".
Yurong - in deep discussion on how to cure their owner from boredom.
Priscilla - Ducky to bulbasaur: Stop bulling buttercup. Buttercup (smugly): Yeah! Bulbasaur (grouchily): Okaaayyyy...
Joe Yong - Duck: Wat u looking at? This hot babe is mine. Green monster: I think I like u*pointing to duck* buttercup: this is awkward-.-
Tammy - duck: "hmm is that edible?" buttercup: "only one way to find out!"
Shi Hui - "now, Duckie, we'll just have to sit back and wait," said buttercup as she set down the watering can, "maybe he'll bloom."
Si Xuan - duckie and buttercup fighting against bulbasaur to save the world of twitter HAHAHA
Andrea - Duck: Ouch buttercup, ouch! you're stepping on my feet! Buttercup: oh yeah baby! Duck: bulbasaur, don't just stand there! Bulbausaur: bulbasaaaur~ Duck: bulbadsaur.
Eunice - THINGS IN LIFE THAT CAN'T BE STOPPED!

Some of it really cracked me up, haha the competition is only on Twitter or Instagram so you've gotta create one if you don't have one. And it's till 12 midnight tonight, the winner (chosen by me) will receive a $20 voucher. I don't know, maybe you can vote for your favourite so far and hopefully influence my choice. Have fun, cos I am having fun!

Been caught up with the frenzied writings of all my essays for the past two weeks. I am a literary machine churning out words by the thousands and sentences by the hundreds. So far it's been great, except that the grades I'll get are probably mediocre most of the time. The most frequent comments I usually get from my profs are "this is beautifully written, but ..." or "great expressions of language, but ..." haha! That's it, I just write well, but my arguments are usually lukewarm and my academic critiques half-hearted.

Anyway, I have to say the most interesting ones I had to write this sem include a 2,500 on Andy Warhol in the style of a museum review, and a 3,000 on three political cartoons. I'm quite sure my Warhol essay does not really fit as a review, but it was great fun to write because I'm learning about Pop Art at the same time. And I deliberately chose more obscure and complicated cartoons for the political cartoons one, so that I actually have the scope to write that much. But Tim was a great help for that paper, with his popular references and current affairs knowledge. I have one last paper to write, which is arguably the most difficult because it's the 20th century literature, I love studying it but I hate writing stuff on it.

Anyway, I took the night off writing tonight. Partly organized a small dinner and dessert, with some of the little ones from the cell. It involves dropping by Upp Thomson Road and checking out the new Udders ice cream shop that everyone is talking about. Photos below.

Managed to find time on Tuesday to go down to the Andy Warhol exhibition that's showing at ArtScience Museum now. Actually I don't really have a choice, because I have to do an essay on visual culture, and the requirements were to visit an exhibition of some sort. The module is great, just that I am not an art historian! While I do understand impressionism and modernism and abstract expressionism and some of the other art movements to some extent, I don't really have as much appreciation for the formal representations of art haha.

But Warhol is brilliant. There's no excuse to be mystified or bewildered by Mr. Pop Art himself, because it is really the dumbed-down version of high art into a celebration of the everyday. Really enjoyed the exhibition, just that towards the end I kinda realized that everything is silkscreen and repetitive (which is probably what Warhol wanted heh). So I went to watch his films. Which is even more repetitively deadening. Hahaha.

It was raining when I was done, and the Museum is a standalone building with no shelter to the Marina Bay Sands Shoppes. They have staff standing at the entrances of both buildings, lending out umbrellas for everyone. Pleasantly surprised, kinda made my visit even better.

Some of the shots I managed to sneak, until the museum staff came to tell me no photography. Love the Marilyn Monroe and Liz Taylor ones. Just classic.

Good Friday and Easter came and went, I was involved in the worship on Friday evening, and again on Sunday sunrise service. Believe it or not it is only my second or third sunrise service ever in all the years at church, which is really incredulous because I stay so near church and logically I should make the effort to wake up and hop over! This year is "mandatory" in a sense because I am playing guitar haha, but I'm glad it gave me impetus to drag myself out of bed at 6am just to come down. 

Good Friday evening was, needless to say, phenomenal and astounding. I don't know how to deal with emotions onstage heh it always always always overshadows the things that I want to say or do. Think I will probably need to devote time into this practice, especially at appeals and reflections where the Holy Spirit just decides to bless me with the greatest visions ever, but I can't articulate it without being breaking down. 

Probably the most meaningful Easter for the years to come. 

This needs to be written, because I cannot believe the amount of guitar/ukulele troubles that I am getting in the past two weeks! Last week I discovered that the nut on my ukulele snapped just where the E-string is supposed to be grooved at, and I was so devastated! One of my young guitar students wanted to learn how to play Train's "Hey Soul Sister", and of course you need to play that song on the ukulele because it just doesn't quite cut it on the guitar. Actually the ukulele is not so bad, the nut breakage just means that my first fret is effectively a dead spot. I can still get decent chords out of it as long as I compensate by playing one fret higher on the E-string. But nah, too much trouble and the guitar student just have to stick with her guitar and not the ukulele.

Then just now, because I will be doing the Good Friday service tomorrow night, I decided to give my guitar fresh strings cos the previous set of strings didn't last as long as Matthew and I thought it would last. But trouble always comes right after the other, I discovered that one of the bridge pins was semi-broken and just about hanging there for its dear life. Obviously I cannot just steal bridge pins from the other guitars, although I was very very tempted to just steal the pins from Tyrus' guitar hahaha. He will never let me hear the end of it if I do! But anyway I decided I will take the risk and reused my semi-broken. Then while tightening and tuning the new strings up, the lowest E-string snapped! You have to understand that I have never ever snapped any guitar strings before. Not when I am stringing guitars. Not when I am playing too. Can't believe my misfortune! Have no choice but to reuse the old string.

And in the midst of all of these, Joanna and Tyrus put me in a fix with one of the most difficult questions I have to answer. So they started nonchalantly asking if I ever contemplated leaving Salvation Army for another church, and of course I cannot wriggle my way out of that one. Heh the last serious decision for this matter was in the beginning of 2010, where I was really very close to just dropping it all and move on elsewhere, but I stayed on. So when your cell members ask you these sort of questions and then they ask why, the most horrifying thing you can tell them is because THEY are the reason I want to leave hahaha. Then they started talking about how they will get to my age one day and then bemoan their old age, or when I'm 50 and they're around 40s and we all have children and we are normal friends. Hahaha cannot imagine, cos I still think they are so itty bitty! Okay this will come back to bite me. I don't think they will read this. 

This is sort of a continuation from the two posts previously, with regards to the Good Friday and Easter activities for this year! It's probably the biggest and most exciting one that I've had all these years. The corps officers, and with the help of several groups of people, they've transformed the auditorium into an exhibition of different displays related to Good Friday and Easter. Major Paul nailed a huge cross himself, and there's an actual empty "tomb", and various artworks, and the weapons used in the torture of Christ etc etc.

Probably the most intriguing display that really ignited my thoughts was the Holy Communion practice. I remember a while back I was questioning quite a few Salvation Army officers about that subject, largely because it was triggered by Sarah haha. I've been to other churches and on the occasional services they partake Communion, I merely just sit or kneel without taking the wafer/bread or juice/alcohol. But I have tasted the wafer out of curiosity before heh, growing up in SA without really knowing much about Communion until I'm much older haha.

Do take the time to walk through the displays this week!