I wanted to blog about last weekend much earlier than this, but haven't really got the time and the stillness to sit down and really do this. Anyway last Friday I was at the National Museum of Singapore for the Dreams & Reality art gallery exhibition! It was sort of a mandatory visit because I am taking this module about visual culture and this is like a field trip out into the artistic-literary wilderness. The art pieces are all from the Musee D'orsay, which I've been before the last time David and Yurong and I were up in Paris! But to be entirely truthful, I don't remember much of the art that we saw there, only the really major ones haha. I think we visited too many museums and it was art saturation and millions of dollars of art zooming above my head without me really being able to appreciate it. But anyway, back to the Singapore exhibit, at least this time round I was able to understand it more cohesively, mainly because there was a guided tour and then we had some pre-readings.

And consequently got to know school friends better! I think I've always felt very two-bit in my literature classes, even though that is my minor. At least in my geog modules I've done projects with quite a fair bit of people, so we know each other and see each other all the time in common classes. But for the lit modules, a lot of it is individual essays, and I feel like all the lit majors think I'm some geographical misfit haha! Heh but I actually hung out the entire Friday afternoon with Shiyun, who is more than an acquaintance now because I know her dad and have been to her house before (not to visit her) haha which really brings the world to a small oyster.

Led worship on Sunday. One of the few and rare times I got on stage, and will get on stage this year. Thankful for each opportunity to serve and be part of it. I think I am actually doing it with a much bigger sense and a more acute awareness of God now, which is really ironic because I was definitely putting more hours in the worship team last time. Which reminds me, I have one coming up again this Friday. 

The angry rant for tonight is about eateries who serve Lipton Tea. I like coffee very much, from those kopitiam ones to espresso-based ones and all, but sometimes I want an alternative and I turn to tea instead. And most places I've been to price a cup of tea at about $2++, which is okay with me largely, until I see that ubiquitous yellow label teabag. It is a huge ripoff really!! It is one teabag in a cup of hot water that does not take anything to prepare, unlike coffee where you actually need to do some work getting the milk in or whatever. Not to mention coffee beans are probably more expensive. Do you know for $2++ you can go to NTUC Fairprice and get a box of Lipton Tea with 25 teabags in it? And in the spirit of up-selling, a box of 100 teabags is about $5++, which is even more value for money.

So you need to understand the uproar that is going on here. Assuming I am an astute businessman and I get the 100 box at $5, and I price each cup of tea at $2.50, I will be making 4900% profit! Okay that is not taking into consideration rental costs and maintenance and utilities and everything else. But I think even when these add up the profit margin will still be outrageous, which is why I think I can just sit here and sell Lipton Tea by my window and make a killing. All I need to do is throw the teabag into hot water, $2 each, you're paying for the hot water and for the cup. I will be nasty and stingy, so additional $1 if you want sugar and creamer.

I mean, cmon, you wanna sell tea, at least give me more up-market alternative brands! Actually all teabag teas are not much different in price, but at least give me Boh or Dilmah or Twinings or something else, to get rid of that Lipton banal tripe. Nothing against Lipton, I drink Lipton at home sometimes too, but I am thinking that if you are at least some cafe priding yourself with tropical coffee beans imported locally, then at least go import some out-of-this-world teabag and dump it into your hot water. Heck, if you sell it at $4 I would still pay for it if I have never heard of that brand before! It's the business psychology thingy, but not a chance when you're selling Lipton. I might as well flask my own hot water from home and then put a teabag into a small container and drink when I want to anywhere.

Actually if I were to be fastidious about this, I'm sure it will eventually apply for all other things, from fried hokkien mee to everything I eat. Or items I buy. But teabag!!! In hot water!!! No effort to prepare it. No need for a doctorate degree to learn how to make teabag tea. Furious. 

So the main thing that became the highlight of last Friday's cell group was some of the young ones discovering for the first time what the word "sodomy" entails! I blame David fully for this hahaha! We are in the midst of a Bible study on Genesis now, and David mentioned how the city Sodom eventually contributed to formation of the word sodomy. Now of course the older ones would know what that means, but the difficult part was trying to quell the young ones' curiosity because the more you tell them not to Google it, the more their curiosity is piqued and are dying to know! And when Federic eventually found out he wouldn't let me hear the end of it. The whole night was just laughter hahaha all the time and he kept wondering (although I am wondering if he is even wondering) why Lot wanted to choose to head towards the city of Sodom! How do you handle situations like this?! Hahaha I really didn't have the heart to tell him how Lot's life will eventually get a lot more juicier after the destruction of Sodom!

Okay that aside, I am really enjoying all the Saturday mornings at Serangoon Gardens teaching guitar to a few young children. I genuinely feel as though each Saturday is like the descent into the French quarter! Getting a glimpse of what French expatriate families do in Singapore on weekends. And I officially declare that it is no longer a guitar tuition class anymore! That's because I think I am actually enjoying myself much more than the little ones that I am teaching! I've been covering songs from Michael Jackson to Bob Marley to Taylor Swift, and I feel as though me playing these songs are so cathartic for me and I can no longer pretend that I am detached from whatever music I might be teaching. Really enjoy the sessions with all my students,  in part due to the great songs/music that we play hahaha.  

Chinese New Year is coming! Dad is back from the Philippines for a week or so. But anyway CNY has never been crazy bustling and travelling for me, because we don't do much visiting and I don't think a lot of people visit us too. Have not been surviving very well on irregular sleep, some nights I sleep like 10~12 hours and other nights 3~4 are sufficient. And don't think that this is very beneficial for me, but I'm trying to impose some sense of order into my sleep patterns. 

Plunging into the deep pool-end of the second week of school now, and I can't wait for the summer holidays, which won't really begin till May, and I might as well just sit here and cry because school just barely started and already I am dreading the days I have to go to school! Haha I totally understand it now when the secondary school people start whinging and whining about how they love the holidays so much and they don't want school to start. Quite evidently, I have no idea how I even pulled through so many years of primary and secondary and JC education myself. Not much recollection of those times heh. 

And I've got my full timetable, earliest days are Tuesdays 9am, which I foresee a lot of problems trying to wake up for that class! Nope, the problem is not to be on time for it, it is to WAKE UP for it. I think I might just conveniently sleep through it and waking up much later like 10 or 11am and realising that the lesson is already half over. But I shall be optimistic and sleep early on Monday nights (which I am not doing now hahahaha) and be a good student. And apart from that, the other trivia is that I am taking my third module under Dr Gilbert Yeoh, which is even more than my Geography profs haha because Geog is so much more diverse and they have more teachers for everything else. But I am thankful that I chose Literature as my minor, because I get to read fiction books in an actual school term, and I have a legit "excuse" to read books. Although this is a huge price because finishing 5-7 novels in four months have never been possible for me and it's no wonder that I have never ever completed the full reading list for all my Lit modules. There's usually some room to skip one or two novels haha. 

Okay that said, I am trying my best to clock some mileage for the second half-marathon of my life. Registered for Sundown marathon last week and I am determined to improve my 3h11m time! 

Yes school has started, and for most parts of it I am still in my own dreamland haha I am trying to give myself a bit of buffer between holidays and the start of school. But obviously that is not theoretically possible without incurring some form of academic debt. Already I am ankle-deep in readings and assignments, and if I do not snap out of holiday mood soon enough, I will be spending the rest of the weeks sleepless again and playing catch-up while at the same time trying to complete every single assignment on time.

Have been running as many errands as I could too, for now that is. There were one or two parcels to send, and things to buy, and so many things to do and to settle before the term gets properly underway and then I will have no time to devote attention to it anymore. Time time time. This is all about time management. Perhaps one of the more alarming things I've done all week is squander away all my free time in school eating and sleeping and lazing around. Haha and this is quite substantial, considering I've had various 2-hour breaks and a 4-hour one today. But on another note, I've managed to sell away most of my old textbooks and notes! Young entrepreneur award for me. 

Kinda realized just that I have been travelling quite a fair bit all over Singapore in the past week, rather tired of going out of house all the time almost everyday but holidays are ending! Quite glad for the chance to get out and do something for the remnants of the holidays, wished that it was longer but of course it will not be. And I have gotten all the modules that I want for this semester, it is going to be crazy and mad hectic. Whoever I meet, please nag at me to study and finish all my readings and assignments on time! Am doing two modules with no exams, which means that the continual assessments are my only shot at the two modules. And I do aim to score well this semester! Have no idea how it will be done, what with my constant distractions from studying (which I gladly indulge in haha). 

But anyway, I'm happy for the many rests and breaks that I have, or at least I think I've had. Like SAY service last night I was vaguely scheduled to play/sing, but I was helping out with sound only and it is refreshing, because I'm usually on the stage for such occasions. It's a reminder to myself that I'm old and I need to let it go and give it to others. Heh probably the greatest satisfaction I get is people claiming how good the guitar/vocalist/whoever/whatever sounds, because I am indirectly part of the final sound output and I channel the compliment indirectly to myself. Hahaha but yeah I think I wanna go for courses on sound, have been doing rentals for a while now, but never was formally trained, and even though it kinda sounds good to me, I want to at least be doing the right professional things. 

And I'm continuing the meet-up with friends thingy, was out with a large group of people just now because Amelia is flying off to Sweden for studies exchange, and in the process Tammy is going back too. It's a proper catch-up with Tammy because she vaporized from my life and then distance and absence means kaput, so I seriously have no idea what is going on in her life now and she doesn't with mine too. 

Last thing before I call it a night. I am finished with the entire Twilight series, book 1 to book 4! Very big thank you to Si Xuan for lending me all the books and for motivating me to finish reading it. For the literature student in me I think the writing is soooo tween and I cannot handle such laconic simplicity in diction and practically no stylistic features at all, especially after I did Charles Dickens and Emily Bronte and many others last year. It's like huge declining drop haha. But okay the story is very exciting! AND AND AND. Given that I am not some hot-blooded girl into romance genre, I think I did pretty well heh the book is totally for teenage girls. To be honest I'm reading it so that it gives me a fragment of something tangible in that aspect to connect with girls that age, but not that Si Xuan is that kind she is weirded out that the characters have *** hahaha. But I think I need this exposure, mightily glad that I made it through even though I really rolled my eyes so many times in the process. 

So far the new year has not been heralded with much fanfare, there were no fireworks and no wheezing sparklers and no confetti. Rather, it's been rather lazy and laid-back, I am trying to read a lot of articles on the internet and read some books here and there and a lot of magazines. And I did have the opportunity to meet up with friends that I have not seen in a while! And in the process exploring new cafes that are quaint and homely and great places to chill. Yesterday was with Khairul, because he is flying to Paris next week for about 4 months and I had to pass him some of the guide books that I inherited from my last trip there. And he suggested Loysel's somewhere in Kallang, have never been there before but the coffee is great! Today was with Linus, whom I have to be dreadfully honest and declare that this is the first time I am meeting him in like 5 years I think, and prior to the meeting I thought he was going to try and sell me insurance or some MLM scheme, because he asked me out first! But nope, great catch-up at Group Therapy (on Dora's recommendation because she works there but wasn't in today), we couldn't run out of topics to talk about, and I am really glad that I took the efforts to travel out to meet him. Usually I would kinda just decline or claim that I'm busy, because I am not the best catch-up conversationalist, but I shall endeavour to try more and ask more long-time-no-see friends out. And yup it's been quite a while since my blog posts are only one paragraph long, although it is a rather long paragraph. So it ends right here. 

In the vein of thought for the annual end-of-year writing as I reflect for the past year! Usually I try to churn this out before the year ends, but kinda left it a wee bit late this year and I am writing this on the first day of  the new year 2012! Okay second day, because it is past midnight now and I have to observe the temporal technicalities. In any case, this year-end weekend has been the busiest by far of all the years, because I took on Friday service and Saturday watchnite service concurrently, and then somewhere in between there was a wedding rental, and the traditional stayover in church culminated with the tallest order possible: to stay awake throughout Sunday service the next day! The calendar for this year-end and year-beginning is not really in favour of church services haha because New Year is on Sunday and that means watchnite is curtailed. But youth watchnite went ahead!

And I am so mightily glad that everything went well this weekend and that I am really really sane and energetic in the times that I need to be energetic! In debt to the worship teams and to the leaders who assisted me. And somehow I think we should just do our own youth watchnites from now on haha, or just convert one Friday into watchnite testimonies, because the amount of thanksgiving and praises is really staggering. Really uplifting and encouraging to hear of all the good things and how God is always in the business of transforming people's lives and growing them for his sake.

And I've already compartmentalized it nicely into home and church, and rewriting it here even though I've already shared my testimony haha, this is for future years' references and also to reflect somemore! First category is home, which I have to say is a complete upheaval this year because of all the changes and activity. Most immediate and most recent is the house renovation! We decided to renovate the kitchen and toilets and then repaint the whole house and get new furniture about three months ago, and after spending time in a rented apartment and then having to endure all the shifting and packing and repacking, I am really glad that it is all dust-free now and I shifted my bed into the study room. And unpacking was the most annoying because they kinda just threw all my stuff into many boxes and I didn't know what was where and I never knew I had this many unnecessary things lying around. I'm going to be as zen as I can from now on and not hoard unnecessary things!

Biggest change to the family is that dad decided to quit his Sentosa job of many years and relocate to the Philippines to work there permanently. I can't quite imagine the amount of thought and deliberation that he probably went through to come to this decision, but just want to thank God that everything worked fine. It really forces me to appreciate my family even more, and with all the floods and storms and typhoons to the Philippines past few months, it really is a blessing my dad is safe and generally not so affected. My dad is officially now a trans-migrant worker, haha which is really weird because I study about it in geography in school and I never thought now that my family will one day fall trap into the migration patterns due to my dad's work and all. We sometimes do migration topics in our geog modules, and I sort of better understand now the strains of maintaining a long-distance relationship. The funniest was when my sister and my mum went overseas too, which meant I was home alone and four of us were in three different locations in the world and we were Facetiming each other at different times. Truly transnational haha.

On the church front, I am still doing what I am doing with the Sec 1 and 2s, which to me is still as much a rewarding process as it was when I first started. Cannot really believe that it is my fourth year now, and quite literally watching some of the first few people whom I first took on now graduated from secondary school and no longer quite the same as when I first knew them. Haha and this year is significant, because it was the start of new cell groups! Previously it really felt like it was just adding on and on, each year bringing more people and then they all burgeon and nobody ever really leaves. This year was one where I could start everything fresh, and with Tim and Meng Ren coming along, with Jolene, all of whom have been beyond wonderful and beyond amazing. Owe it all to them, and I really would not have achieved anything without their help. Cell group is always something that I treasure above my other ministries in church, and I am really glad for all the opportunities to minister to them and be their friend. Amazed at how God has placed me headlong into this, and really thankful that it is making a difference! I can quite literally go at length for each cell member and how it is such a honour and a privilege to be a part of their lives, and it is a different story for each one of them and mere words can't quite do it justice.

Once again grateful for the many other opportunities to serve in other areas too, like sharing short messages or mini-sermons, Gracehaven, worship leading, camps, logistics... List can go on quite endlessly but I believe the work is never completed, and that is why there is always work and more work, too many things to do before Christ comes again haha. In particular, for my Malaysian trips this year, which is not my first time but is still just as strong a conviction that Salvation Army is really doing something right. The children homes in Malaysia is really very different from Gracehaven in Singapore, and each time I meet those friends that I've made over the years, I am astounded by their faith and their unwavering passion. I've got more people I know from different parts of Malaysia now, haha can't wait for the next opportunity to go up and catch up with them again. Thank God for the anointing too each time I take to the stage for worship leading, or to preach, and am eternally grateful for the chance to lead each time. And thank God too for new gifts, for developing me so suddenly in the aspect of mercy seat ministering, and also for my first forays into Sunday School and children's ministry!

All in all 2011 has been a really blessed year, and I think this post has been long enough, and I am sleepy enough too. Need to get enough rest to recuperate from the after-effects of staying over at church. Okay this is as abrupt as it can be, but I need sleep and I need it now.