Well now... Its 2007 and I haven't got that in me yet. Still lagging a bit, and feeling a bit groggy from the lack of sleep. As promised, a new year's post. Camp post and outing posts will come later, if I really do get my piano homework out of the way. Every single week it comes in huge piles which is seriously freaky.
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Just read Psalms 1:1.
"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers." ~Psalms 1:1
Just the right kind of verse to start the new year ain't it? A command to heed and follow no matter what you do in the new year, a reminder to walk in the path of light and not of darkness, and to not mock others. Appropriate. Something that every YE person should do and try to achieve in the new year. As simple as this little, seemingly insignificant sentence from a chapter with only 6 verses.
For this year's maiden post of the new year, I'd like to bring you guys back through the past year. Will show you guys defining moments in this blog's history from January all the way to December. Enjoy.
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Jan - Orientation ~Start of life in RJ
Day 1
Hmmm... Went to school wondering whether there would be anyone in my Pri Sch who I knew in my OG, and whether the people in my OG would be friendly and stuff like that. Honestly had lots of things running through my mind. Met AAL at the bus stop at Braddell Road and stepped into the school...
Well, in the Multi Purpose Hall, we got sorted into our OGs and sat down. Looked around at the people and realised that I knew all the RI guys in the OG some way or another. Narpal was famous in Morrison, Daniel was the serial stabber, Guoren was in my band, I knew about Wang from Hyqel, I saw Hee Xun somewhere before, and Yong Sheng played chess with me. So that left the girls and two of the guys, one from ACS and one from Cat High.
So we went down to the Z'Cove (House Area) to have ice breakers. Played partner wacko, and I got to know one of the girls, Yi Hui. Well... She lives in the East, I live in the West, she frequents the South, I frequent the North, her dad's Hokkien, my dad's Teochew, her mom's Teochew, and my mom's Hokkien. She speaks Teochew, I speak Hokkien. Seriously freaky. Haha. But thats the very first girl from my OG I got to know! =) So we played Wacko, and I called Guoren, but pointed to Hee Xun on purpose. Seriously, it was on purpose, to confuse Darren(My OGL).
Haha. K, going on... Got to know a bit about Amanda and Melissa soon after while we continued on to station games. (They're the third Amanda and third Melissa I know now. Haha.) X'PEIA had a super long losing streak, but nobody was dejected or anything. The shaving cream game was super messy. I got lots of cream in my ear. Had a tough time getting the cream out.
Hmmm... Rach came to get the RI uniform from me. Wonder what she's gonna do with that? Russell (ACS) and Laigono (CatHigh) were the next two people I got to know, and soon it was the end of day one. No major ups or downs.
Day 2
Day two was full of ups and downs. Will elaborate more...
It started on a high when X'PEIA came up with its first cheer, and an original one at that! Narpal seriously is real good at that kinda thing. So after we cheered the first time, we went on to win the next two tasks before continuing our losing streak. Haha. Soon it was lunch, and that was the part when the guys were making fun of NYGH girls. Will not elaborate. I'm not as mean as them. Haha. But it was seriously funny. Especially since Charlene (My OGL) was from NYGH before she came to RJ.
Then I remembered Karima's name, cos she was the only girl absent. Haha. So that left Kavina as the only other indian girl. So it was kinda easy to remember their names. Hmm... Got to know Ann as well! Got exposed to the Batch Dance! Hmmm... Couldn't remember it fully at first but I guess I know the first and second parts pretty well now.
Went to the Amphi to do some cheering with the house. MR cheers are seriously so easy to remember even though they're new to us. Wonder if they have a house anthem like Morrison had? Hmmm... Kinda was on a super high until the bad news came. It was during OG dinner at the Esplanade when bad news came.
Both Tim and Gerald messaged to say they couldn't lead on Sunday. Subsequently I asked Rach, Mel, Amanda and even Yan Leen but they couldn't as well! Wah. It was seriously quite exasperating. But the food was nice and it was an awesome dinner, though we didn't talk much. Hmmm... I think most of the people in our OG are the quiet kind... And we're quite good at stoning. Haha.
Then came the dreaded... Truth of Dare + Number game combo that is so common but ever so deadly. Actually I was game for anything! I didn't really mind getting embarassed or anything. I had to do a dare. Will not elaborate. If you wanna know ask anyone else from X'PEIA. But felt real awkward after that dare and real paiseh as well. Haha. It doesn't pay to be sporting... But thats not gonna stop me! Woohoo! So day 2 ended a bit low, and the fun was just starting!
Day 3
It started off on an ok note. Still a bit paiseh... But we started talking about what we wanted to go as on O' nite. Thought about cowboys, but somehow it ended up different on the day itself. But I think what we settled with was better! Haha.
Went to my class room... Saw Samuel and Shane Ai there! Not bad. Made some new friends, Kevin and Leonard. Lots of people I don't know in my class... I guess I'll get to know them better soon... The form teacher's real interesting. Actually she was so normal that she wasn't that interesting. Haha.
Well, went to the parade square, then MPH for the rest of the people in the school to learn the College Anthem and the cheers. I like the Batch Song! Although soon after learning it someone coped my booklet so now I don't have the lyrics... Dream and dare, fight on don't despair, cos I'll be there! =) Thats all I remember, but I like it! Haha.
The batch dance was pretty easy (After CCIS of course), but I had to erase the previous three dances from my memory. Haha. Oops. Couldn't fully remember the third part of the batch dance, will try to learn from my OGLs. Wanna learn the sun dance! It looks so fun.
We went to MacRitchie after that, and I'm glad Azhar brought us there before by foot. Otherwise I would have been real lost. We went there and... CHEESEBUNS! Haha. Well it rained and we went to KFC at J8 for lunch. Saw the Bishan Paedophile. FYI, its a guy who keeps looking at RI boys for some weird reason I don't know. He keeps smiling this weird smile that freaks everyone out.
Went for the O'Nite programme auditions with a comprehensive programme that was put together only 30 mins before... Seriously our skit was good, but they chose a dance instead. Hai... What can we do. But it was a high for all of us!
Well, the day was kinda normal, got to know everyone else in my OG! Yay.
Day 4
The day started off with war games, messy though it was, it was fun. Wah! All the other houses gangbang Morrison Richardson! So evil. But real champions take things in their stride! Right MR people? Haha. I sound like a house leader already. Haha. But the first game was the muddy one. And I'm proud to say, although I paired up with Ann to attack, I didn't dirty my shirt! Haha.
The next two games weren't as fun, but we played along just the same...
Soon it was time to go out! Super high, cos we were going for pool after a splendid pastamania lunch. But RI pool players are seriously very very skilled. I got beaten by Daniel and Narpal 2-0 in the 4 games I played. It was fun while it lasted. I realised that my thinking speed is too fast... will try to slow down...
Soon it was O'nite. And instead of cowboys... We decided to go as.... GEEKS! The theme is greeks so... What difference does a letter r make? Haha. So we pulled up our pants, buttoned our collar buttons, shortened our bag straps, and stuck scotchtape on our specs. And wrote some 'kick me' notes and pasted them on our backs. It was seriously real hilarious.
Seeing the Z'Kardia sign light up on flames was really awesome and cool, and I guess that was the highlight for me.
After that we went to HH's Z'Cove to write notes for each other and recieve parting gifts. Then we went to Longhouse for supper + dinner and it was an awesome end to an awesome orientation programme!
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Feb - 200th post! ~ Finally...
Today was another fun day, but I've got more homework now.
1. Maths tut
2. Bio tut
3. Chem tut
4. Econs tut
5. Econs Essay
That about sums it up. My class people are really really funny and fun loving. Just today Vivek accidentally threw my eraser out of the window from the seventh floor. Lol. Thinking about Para-Bora and Hyper-Bora jokes... (Sorry, its a inside class joke thingy, and sorry Debbie) Haha.
Today's guitar was the usual stuff. Got ready the three pieces for concert on April 19th which were Spring, Doraemon's song and How Deep is Your Love. And I may be playing a quartet piece - Tifa's theme from FF7 and FF7 AC. So now its 4 in total and I think there maybe more... We'll see!
Sunday was nice. Main worship went well, and uncle Wee Seng's message was good. Everybody worships in his or her own way. For me, I worship through outward expression (Music) as well as enjoying nature (Especially looking at the moon). Its kinda awesome to find out the reason why I have always liked looking at the moon above. Its cos through seeing it, I can feel God's awesome presence.
Awesome news for Eden-Sol! We've got a venue for practise, and whats more, its totally free! We're now practising every Tuesday at Emmanuel House, somewhere near Aljunied. The food around the area is awesome! Just the other day we went to try the noodles at the Dim Sum stall across the road. Its was so so so nice. And FYI, Emmanuel house is the venue for the Evangelistic Concert on the 14th of April. I'll be there of course, playing for the people from RJ who come.
More awesome news!!! We're meeting Daniel, a member of Electrico and ex-rafflesian tomorrow. Very very excited... He's gonna give us some tips. We're practising Broken Wings and Are You Gonna be my Girl tomorrow. Its gonna be an awesome time for us... Especially with Raffles Rock Concert Auds on Friday.
Can't believe that Blackburn beat Arsenal. Its seriously quite funny. Just a few years ago Arsenal was undefeatable. Well, good for Blackburn. Ivan's gonna be happy! Of course, Liverpool beat Man City 1-0 and Chelsea beat Portsmouth 2-0. Forgone conclusions definitely.
Had an awesome time playing pool with my bro's friends when they came on Friday. Cos I won all my matches! =) Haha. But on Saturday I didn't do that well.
Me 2 Nat 0
Me 2 Darren 4
Me 2 Daryl 1
I had a 'hit the black ball' into the wrong hole streak for three games, all against Darren. Haha. Funny. And Daryl was super on form during the game that he beat me. He pocketed all the balls even before I could hit any in. Wah! Got owned bad.
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Mar - Guitar Camp ~ RJGE rocks!
Hmmm... Wednesday and Thursday ended early, and I was pretty glad about that. At least I had time to rest and prepare for the guitar camp on Friday. Spent the time playing games on my new comp! HP games. Like Insaniquarium, Mahjong Quest, Bejeweled etc etc. Haha. Starting to get addicted. But luckily all of the games are 1 hour trial versions so they disappear in an hours time. Haha.
Friday was the day of the guitar camp, and it was really fun. My group name was Animato, which means Animated. Duh. We started off with an Icebreaker Session. Got to know more people, espeically those from my group. Song Xia, Shaun, Qing Qing, Shu Hui, Sabrina, Jon Chua, Aditi etc etc. Animato rocks!
After that we had dinner and proceeded for station games at night. We were blindfolded and led around school to various stations. After that it was bath time then bridge playing time! There wasn't any cut off time for sleep so we played till about 3am. And then I stacked a few tables together and fell straight to sleep.
Woke up in the middle of the morning feeling really really cold. So took my sleeping bag and slept on the floor instead. The next morning we had breakfast, then had bar hunt. That means doing tasks to get bars of a song, which we were supposed to perform for the end. We did lots of fun stuff like counting the number of benches in the canteen, counting the number of cubicles near the PAC etc. In the end, the song we got was... Tong Hua! The best song out of the lot. And we played it for finale, and the camp ended. I'm glad a got to know more people in guitar. Not only the guys, but the gals as well.
Saturday was pretty much ok. Went for the Genus concert, which wasn't as good as last years concert. The songs were pretty much the same genre, and wasn't as vibrant and exciting as previous years. The band involved lots of instruments, but none of the techincal power of the instruments was truly brought out. Overall it was kinda normal for me, nothing special.
Apr - Concert Season ~ Eden-Sol and RJGE alert!
Hey guys... This week was an awesome week. But well if you look at another perspective it was a crazy week. I mostly had fun this week, and I'm glad its all over. NAPFA and the two concerts. Over! Yay.
RJGE Concert
I came to this concert with one major purpose: to have fun. And of course it was really no problem with all the funny people there. Even the rehearsal before that was full of laughs. Lame jokes all over the place, 'Ben Low' puns, funny antics etc etc. I was kinda glad that everything went alright for me. I was in slacker mode I guess. Played a total of 7 ensemble songs and 1 rock band song.
A Comme Amour
Historia De Amour
Doraemon
How Deep is Your Love
Jap Song
Take Me Out
Spring
Shall We Dance
Overall it was the funnest ever... Can remember the encouragement gifts given by our section leaders. Felt really really happy and blessed with all those goodies. Its a wonder how I didn't get a sore throat haha. My friends were quite happy with the concert, everyone said it was good. Haha. And during photo taking, everyone was kinda like shouting my name. Don't tell you guys why haha. If you wanna know ask the RJGE people.
NAPFA
Haha. I'm really happy that I passed and made bronze, with 2As, 1B, 1C and 2Es. Especially after my 3 week break from the gym. Now I can play soccer while those who missed NAPFA have to take! Yay. the two As came in shuttle run and sit ups, while the 2Es came in Sit and Reach and Pull ups. Time to work on my flexibility and arm strength. Maybe a bit of stamina too.
I was kinda happy that my class was super united during NAPFA. We kept cheering people on, especially those who were weak at that station. It kinda got everyone past NAPFA in one piece. Even the girls who weren't taking 2.4km shouted words of encouragement to us guys taking the run.
RR Concert
My band's purpose coming into this performance was to:
1. Make an impression on the RJ people
2. Show the power of God in our lives
Not so much to show off and have the time of our lives. In fact, we were the only band to flash lyrics during our performance, because we wanted people to read the lyrics and get touched by what they heard in the music. I guess it sorta paid off when people sang along. It felt really awesome.
We started after Electrico, which was a plus and a minus point altogether. Being the first RJ band to perform was good, yet going behind a seasoned band was pretty daunting. Well, it didn't help that during the performance, Guoren's guit was a bit out... And my bass solo wasn't loud enough. But I guess we did an ok job. And everyone I asked said it was good.
Oh well. Had to play for Minister Yaacob Ibrahim while he sang Yesterday during the pre-concert. I'm kinda glad that MOCA was there to help me as well. I couldn't have done it alone. After that, had to pass the certificates to the minister so that he could give them out to the organisers of the concert. I stood right beside him! One in a lifetime chance. To stand beside him for a whole 10 minutes! Gasp.
Bands that played include:
LSD - RJ band
Minus Negative - Charity Band
Electrico - Professional Band
Eden-Sol - RJ band
Spanish Fly - Professional Band
EIC - Professional Band
Mr Pink - RJ Band
Zhen - Professional Band
Absolut - RJ Band
Bandage - RJ Band
Not forgetting the instrumentalists. Edmund and Hyqel, as well as MOCA! Everyone did well, although one of the professional bands disappointed...
Well, time to catch up on my stuff...
Stuff to do:
Maths Tut
Maths Ass
PW PI
Econs Tut
Chem Outline
Bio Tut
GP Test Make-up
May June Duty Roster
Junior Band Jamming
May - IMCB attachment ~ One step closer to my dreams.
IMCB! Woohoo the slackiest 3 days of my JC life... IMCB on the whole was pretty interesting. Considering we learnt somethings in the slackiest of ways ever. If only school was like that =P. We learnt about transcription factors, specifically Nuclear Factor Kappa B. Well, won't go into details, cos I'd probably bore you out haha. If you wanna know more just ask me personally.
First day. I woke up at about 7:30, took the mrt at 7:45 and reached at 8:15, which was pretty early cos the thing only started at about 8:45? Hmmms spent the time waiting for the rest of the RJC peoples... Cheryl, Michelle, Elizabeth and Xuan Hong (Who never came booo, hopefully not cos of GP CTs) so... I ended up as the only RJ guy there. Booo.
Oh well, went for safety briefing, which made me realise there are so many ways to die in IMCB haha. Which is pretty cool in my opinion. Fire, Radiation, Electrocution, EtBr, Infected needles etc etc. Everytime I remember the safety briefing I can't help thinking of people dying =P oh well.
Spent a short time in the lab, then went off for GP CTs with the other RJ people. GP CTs weren't too bad I guess. Remembering what Mrs Toh taught helped. And of course prayer and meditation on his word helped. Everything's up to him now...
Second day. Got a fuzzy idea what happened the previous day from my lab partner Bao Jia, and got to make friends with the DHS people. They were pretty nice to us =) All of the RJ people kinda hit off with the DHS people. Lame joke sessions during waiting time for the experiment to finish haha. Throughout the 2 days we were supposed to carry out 2 experiments, one involving blotting and the other on cancer cells. Pretty fun I guess!
Third day... We drew lots to do presentation... And guess what? I got paired with Michelle. I guess it was kinda good, since I think she's a pretty good science student. Hmmm we didn't really prepare much for presentation, and we expected the other groups to have already elaborated on what we were gonna say.
Gotta know the NASS people more then, cos they joined the lame joke sessions as well haha. Before lunch we went to take a group photo, and it was pretty cool cos we went to the sky bridge on the 6th floor of Proteos. The view from there was kinda amazing. And after that we had 2 hours of lunch!!! Slacked around a bit, sat under the large tree outside the foodcourt for some time.
Then the time of reckoning... Presentation! The first 3 groups kinda covered everything we could say, and the second group with the HCJC people absolutely pwnzzzed us. They knew so much more than us, and it seems they went to do research on the topic beforehand. One things for sure, they came here to learn, not to slack. But you guys know what RJC students are like right? We may be smart but we'd rather slack =P haha. So we just added some points at that was it.
I was kinda happy I went to IMCB, not only cos of the good company, but cos it gave me the chance to forget about the previous week, and gave me more time to think about school life and stuff. And I think I'm feeling lots better, and my appetite's back! Yeah. I think the IMCB experience wasn't just about academic learning for me, but finding peace as well.
S03H! RJGE! X'PEIA! I missed you guys while I was gone... Looking forward to the respective outings....
Yay... Thats all about IMCB. Alright, finally got a ball pump... So we should have a ball today at 5pm for YE's longest barbecue! Yeah! And I got the OFFICIAL 2006 WC GUIDE! Wooohoooo. Awesome. And a pretty nice poster to add to that.
Alrighty... All the best for camp, CCALs and Councillors! And all those going for UK Lit Trip, be safe, and have fun! =)
June - Church Camp, World Cup, Tim and Hui Min's wedding, GDOP, RI-RJ transition reflection ~ wow so much.
Hey guys... Didn't notify any of you out there but I've been at church camp from Thursday to Sunday, and thus I haven't replied any messages on my phone as of yet. Hmm... Gotta start getting updates from people about guitar stuff and pw stuff.
After that it was guitar, and I was even more excited... My first lesson as MD! I even prepared some notes for the guitar people. Want the notes about Scales? Ask me directly. Want to provide some feedback on the lessons? E-mail at benlck@hotmail.com or tag the board here.
Spent some time teaching at Section 2... I was pretty lax cos some of them needed more time to practice. And once Ling Ting came, I went on my rounds around to other sections.
Section 1 - Chin Heng
Probably the funniest ever. Chin Heng was using this nice sabo method to force the section 1 people to play. Chin Heng would teach first, then choose a person to play, and then once the person finishes, the person would choose another person to sabo. It was pretty fun watching that practice haha. And I got saboed twice. =( Haha.
Section 3 - Ben Tham
When I came here Ben was helping someone restring the guitar cos a string snapped. I could see that the people in that section were super serious about learning more, just like the people in section 2. And it was nice to see them wanting to learn new stuff.
Section 4 - Karthik
This section was the fastest. When I reached them they were doing the optional stuff already. I was really impressed. Karthik made the environment really condusive for learning, and he kept encouraging them and shouting guitar 4 rocks! Comical, but it spurred the section 4 people on.
Lecture-lol
Ok after that I held my very first lecture. I made it as hilarious as I could, and hopefully everyone found it enriching and entertaining. I acted like a lecturer, drawing from my past experiences with our bio lecturer Mr Ngan. In fact I tried to act and sound like him... And some of the bio students were laughing.
So well... I came out from this experience pretty much happy. And the fact that Hongyue (the previous MD) was there made me even more encouraged. Though Scales was kinda dry as a topic, I think the SLs did exceptionally well at teaching it. And I think it was a pretty good effort, cos no other guitar exco have held these kind of extensive teaching sessions before. And I'm gonna try and make this batch of RJGE people the most proded (or most in love with guitar) of all time! And I mean it. =)
Aug - Birthday Reflections, soccermugger closes down... ~ sad.
I've had some time to reflect about my birthday today, just wanna share with you guys how I feel. I've realised something about friendship that I really hold true to. And I think I've told this to my cell as well as Chin Heng before.
When I look at myself and my friends, I don't really think I can do much to help them in lots of ways. I can't give them perfect advice, I don't really know how to comfort them when they have problems, I listen more than I talk to them, sometimes I'm not on the same frequency as them. But one thing I can do is... Just be there for them no matter what. And thats what friendship to me is all about.
So as this birthday season passes, just wanna thank all my friends out there. You guys don't have to give me gifts, or talk to me often, or even meet me specially. All I need from you guys is for you to be there no matter what happens. When I'm happy, sad, bored, crazy, lonely, acting cool, stoning etc. Nothing else really matters to me. And I'll be glad, just cos you guys are there.
Announcement: This BLOG will be closed for an indeterminate amount of time.
Some of you guys probably saw this one coming...
Sorry to those people who I'm accountable to.
I'm just too busy with everything.
I've got too many commitments, and though blogging is one of them, its the least important.
Somehow I keep putting my blogging before my other stuff despite that fact.
I reach home really late usually. Its taking too much time loading pics now that I got a nice phone that can do so.
I'm not taking my piano exam seriously enough... Gotta start intense pracs.
I'm a starting to feel angsty cos of all the stress about everything nowadays. So don't wanna bother you guys with angsty stuff. (Actually I prepared a nice post, but maybe a bit angsty. Maybe you'll get to see it next time...)
Well I guess this is it... For now. Till later. If you wanna find more about how I'm doing talk to me via SMS or MSN. This BLOG will no longer be in use. For now. =(
Sep - soccermugger reopens, Promos and Suicides ~ *gulp*
Promos in 3 days time... Why am I not nervous at all? Why do I stay online? Why am I blogging at this point in time? Haha to tell the truth I don't really have the answers to those questions. But looking at everything going around and all the stress and stuff other people are facing, I sorta feel... Guilty?
While I do study, I somehow don't feel all that stressed at this point of time. Is it cos I've finished mugging? Is it cos I think that promos aren't that important? Is it cos I think I'll definitely promote? Or that God will definitely guide me through? Well I guess its a mix of everything. And when I compare how I'm feeling with how my peers are feeling... I feel guilty, for not taking the chance to help them, for not encouraging them, for not telling them that to relax and stuff.
Although its seems like no one is asking for help, I figure that there are some people who do need it. Just that I'm not receptive enough to sense it, or just too quiet to offer my help. So I'm gonna take this chance... Anyone who desperately needs help, please come to me if you want to.
Suicide. Wonder how many people regretted not telling the guy to lighten up? Wonder how many people didn't help him with his studies? Wonder how many people are feeling guilty at this point of time? Its been more than one week already. And the effects are still there. I have a friend in my OG who had to attend 3 funerals in a week, and I can imagine how much pain he feels inside.
While on the other hand I think of how selfish the guy who decided to end his life was, I think of how us as people don't stop whenever our paths cross with someone who needs help. I never want anyone around me to die just like that, just because I just sat back and let things go their natural course. I'd go into depression with such a strong sense of guilt holding me down.
*Those who strongly oppose arguments on the basis of religion you may skip to the last paragraph*
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Heres something to chew about for all Christians out there. Would you ever comtemplate suicide? I wouldn't, cos I know God's always here no matter what. He's with us THROUGH IT ALL. Also, if I died early, I'd never get to complete the will He has brought me to earth for. If any of you Christians have thought of jumping off a building, think about God, not yourself. I know this sounds a bit harsh, but I think I have to say this just in case.
Further building on this point, if God can give us Christians the strength to live on despite all difficulties, imagine the strength he can give non-believers as well. Take this chance to tell everyone about the greatness of our God, so that they can see that life is not all about studies or ambitions. So even if they fail, they can fall back on the belief that God is still the most important, and they have to stay on in order to fufill his mighty purpose.
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Next post would be after promos, most likely with pics! Look out for it... So guys... All the best for promos or whatever exams are coming. Don't let the stress get to you. Its not worth it.
P.S I know this post might generate a few opposing views. So if you have any opposing views or think my views are too strong/insensitive, please post them on the tagboard so that it is up for friendly discussion. I too will try to be as considerate as possible. Thank you.
Oct - Eden-Sol concert! ~ Our God is an awesome God.
Eden-Sol's Evangelistic Concert 2006 @ The Third Place was a resounding success. Once again, I'd like to thank all those who came down, and all those who had helped in one way or another.
1. They enjoyed the music
2. They enjoyed the food
3. They enjoyed the company
4. They enjoyed the skit
But Most Importantly
5. They enjoyed His presence
2 and a half weeks. 10+ people. 240+ dollars. Thats all we had to work with. But there was something we had that made the concert so much of a success. We had infinite stength from God. We can't deny that. For that we really praise and thank the Lord for what he has done. All things come from you and of your own do we give you.
The journey has been awesome. I've got so much to catch up on. But it was well worth it! Every single minute of it. It all started out as an idea, long before the 23rd of October. We guys had always wanted to have a concert, and an evangelistic one at that. We knew that it had to be this year, but yet after CTs. And so we set the date. 23rd October, the Monday before school hols. We knew it was a good date, cos most people would've been in the holiday mood. But we never knew what was coming. Until the attacks started to come.
We started jamming right after our CTs, and we had a blast. There were times where I was so drained, so tired, so weary. But it was fun! I felt that the company was great, the music was satisfactory, the atmosphere was awesome. Then we were hit with our first blow. One night after jamming, we realised that we needed a script, we needed so much more practise, we needed helpers, we needed logs and so many things before we could successfully pull this off. But at such short notice, who would help?
It seemed impossible. 3 weeks wasn't enough, we felt. The question clouding our minds was: Should we postpone it? Cancel it even? The answer was a firm no. #1 THE LORD LET US KNOW THAT HIS GRACE WAS SUFFICIENT FOR US. And so, with a unanimous YES, we decided to push on.
"Your grace is sufficient for me, Your strength is made perfect when I am weak... All that I cling to I lay at Your feet, Your grace is sufficient for me!"
That day after jamming when I went home, I logged on to MSN. The first thing I saw when I scrolled to the bottom of my friends list was one single nick that caught my eye. Krayle. That was the first word of the nick. It was pretty obvious what the Lord had in mind at that moment in time. I'd asked her about the concert before, and I knew she might be willing to help. And it was even more amazing. The next morning our band met to pray. And Samuel asked me about Rachel. I was surprised.
He talked about the skit he'd envisioned, and he was absolutely sure that Rachel was the only one who could pull it off. I agreed. And so it was set. She would be our lead actress. Lunch that day was horrible. It was the first time in a long time I'd felt no appetite at all. And looking back, I think it was a physical attack from the devil. It was sudden and terrible, the sort of feeling you have when you know your stomach is full of acid, but you don't feel like eating. But I scraped through that day.
As a band, we met up to discuss stuff quite often. To think about our song list, our event schedule, and take note of our external liaisons. It was then those feelings of loneliness set in. Samuel, Guoren, Gabriel, Choon Wing. They all seemed so different from me. The way we bonded was by talking lots of nonsense and suanning each other. Some how it didn't seem like me to join in. But I knew it was their way of showing trust to each other. And I accepted it just as it was.
Problem was, I didn't know whether I was included or not. Until I asked Choon Wing about it. It was sort of in an indirect way, but it worked. I believe it sorta went this way.
B: Heh. Uhh sorry I didn't really contribute much today.
C: Haha its ok lah. That Emp-Ty thing was pretty funny haha.
B: But other than that I don't really have much to say about those kinds of things you know...
C: Yeah we know. But its YOU what.
B: *smiles*
"I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately All I have to do is think of me and I have peace of mind. I'm tired of looking round rooms wondering what I gotta do or who I'm supposed to be. I don't want to be anything other than me!"
Some how it made my day. Knowing that I was special and different made me accept the role I had to play in the band. And I know they accepted and respected me for who I was. That proved to be very important, cos something big was coming. Really big.
***
3 weeks soon whittled down to 2 weeks, and it was the weekend. Good news over personal matters came drifting in. I scored 123/150 for my grade 8 practical examination, giving me a nice merit, and my brother's arm was healing up just fine. CT results were expected the following week, and I was pretty upbeat about it. With just a little fatigue from the jamming sessions, I came to church a happy guy. The guys in the band were alright as well.
We were due for our very first 'exco' meeting one of the days on the following week. After spending quite some time bumming around school and stuff, we finally got to meet our student helpers and tell them what was in store. I short journey down to Marina Square got everybody settled and ready to do the Lord's work. Dinner at the food court was fine, and though the loss in appetite set in, I felt pretty ok.
Dylan
Bel
Elisa
Xian Hui
Cheryl
Andrea
I think these were the people who came for the meeting besides the members of Eden-Sol. Did I miss anyone out? Once again I wanna thank them for coming.
The first time I met the helpers I was pretty excited, cos all of them seemed really mature and capable. Soon I found out the first thing wasn't true haha. But they were definitely much more capable than us guys. Guoren chaired the first meeting, explaining what we were planning, our rationale and whatever we needed from them. For a moment after Guoren explained everything most of them sat there in what seemed like shocked silence IMO.
Then Andrea said something that really encouraged us. I can't remember what exactly it was, but it convinced us that the Lord was with us on this awesome journey, and something awesome was going to happen soon. And it gave us the determination and hope to carry on.
From that week on... We had prayer meetings in the morning. And each morning we took the chance to refresh ourselves with song and prayer. Everyone came down, and some new people like Abby and Therese appeared soon. Our number of helpers were increasing day by day, and the manpower numbers were soon enough for us to successfully plan for the concert! Remember the 5 things we lacked?
1. Manpower
2. Money
3. Music Practise
4. Script
5. Logs
With this turn of events... We finally had enough manpower to handle most of the admin stuff, as well as the logistics and food. All we had to do was supply them with the money. (Which we unfortunately did not have at that point in time.) So the only worry was money, practise, and the script. Despite that, we thanked God for the provision of so many willing and able people to help us and further His cause.
Soon midweek came, and people started getting stresssed. I could feel it really strongly. Sam and Gabriel were worried about money, as well as the practise venues for jamming sessions. YFC seemed to be getting very erratic. First, they refused to help us as Choon Wing was a Catholic. Secondly, they refused to lend us Emmanuel house for practise as they were all busy. So Sam and Gab really had lots of headaches.
Guoren had his PW and Chinese to worry about, cos he felt that his group members were letting him do all the work, and his chinese wasn't improving as much as he wanted it to be. Choon Wing was working with Cheryl and Rachel on the script. And I think he felt pretty at home with the two girls so I guess he wasn't facing that many problems. I was in charge of the evangelistic portion, and I guess that put me under lots of stress. Cos evangelism is the most important right?
Worse of all, our song list couldn't materialise cos the script wasn't done yet. We kept having to switch songs and think of new and more suitable songs to play. It was real tough. And I think we scraped through at that point in time. Guoren and Gabriel had thoughts of quitting the band, and it seemed everything was in jeopardy. But we pushed on, (regrettably) forgetting something really important along the way. I think I was second on the morale chart after Choon Wing at that point in time.
Things were about to get even worse on my side. Initially I'd felt pretty ok. I was juggling my guitar stuff, my piano stuff, my church and also my Eden-Sol commitments pretty well. And I thanked God everyday for whatever he was doing, and giving me the strength that I could use to help my band mates.
The weekend came, and after all the intense jamming I was feeling quite good considering all the stuff I had to do. The evangelistic aspect wasn't done yet, but I had quite a good idea about it so I wasn't too worried. Then came Saturday. The first half was PW day, which was pretty ok. And the second half I went to Heeren with my bros to celebrate Mel's and Shaun's (2 of my church mates) birthdays.
It was there I met a really tired out Rachel. It seemed that besides our gig, she had an additional performance right after that with the Raffles Players. In between the script planning sessions for our band, she had to go for the production rehearsals and lots of other stuff as well. It made me wonder whether we'd pushed her too hard. Although she kept up with the smiling and talking and stuff, I could see she was tired, and perhaps a bit angry at the circumstances.
She told me that I had to act. And I was amused yet horrified. I didn't expect any appearance in the skit, and I knew that acting wasn't my cup of tea. After all, I was a science student. With the evangelistic thing, it meant that I had to:
1. Play the bass
2. Play the acoustic
3. Play the keyboard
4. Deliver the Evangelistic Message
5. Act! o_O
And that made me sorta like the person who would be doing the most in terms of the performance. But that was the least of my worries.
As Rachel said on her blog, it wasn't like her at all to be so busy. It made me really guilty. After all, I was the one who roped her into this, and I felt that it was my fault. Looking at her closing her eyes or slumped on the table asleep made me really miserable through the whole thing. I cried inside even when she flashed me a tired smile. In fact, I wanted her to withdraw from the performance. After she'd left for home, I confided in Paul and Jon (my two other church friends) and they told me that it was her choice and it wasn't my fault. It didn't really help though their intentions were good.
It wasn't until I reached home that I felt better. I read through my bible. And came across Isaiah 40:30-31.
"Even youths grow tired and and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
I posted it on my blog, and sent it via text message to Rachel. And the return message made me see truly that she had decided that she would go through this cos it was her choice. In fact she counter encouraged me. And I felt much better. I could see what Paul and Jon meant by what they'd told me. And I was convinced that even though Rachel was my childhood friend and I was protective of her, I had to let her make her decisions on her own.
After that, I introduced my blog to my band-mates, and they read through it. And it was through this verse that they got encouraged, and were reminded to trust and hope in God no matter what happened. And that was the beginning of a whole new revelation for all of us, a reminder to focus on God and God alone.
But something was coming, something even more devastating and demoralising than the things listed in this post. Stay tuned to see how we overcame the greatest and largest mental attack the devil placed in our path.
***
The weekend a week before the performance was a real refresher, and some happy things happened. For one, my twin brothers finally got confirmed, and for seconds, it seemed that most things pertaining to the concert were going on pretty smoothly.
The week ahead was going to be a crazy one, cos rehearsals were going to be long and tiring, and we had to rehearse almost everyday. It seemed pretty fine to me, but something big was coming along...
Practices went on as usual, and with all of us in Eden-Sol giving our trust to God always, it seemed that nothing could stop us, not even the devil. We were tired, yes, but the trust and faith we had in the Lord kept us going. We were pretty aware of the periods of times the devil had attacked us, and we could see quite obviously that he was still trying to stop us. But we weren't giving up without a fight. And it was a fight we were winning no doubt. Our songs were getting tight, our hearts and minds were getting stronger.
The devil tried small tricks, such as striking some of Eden-Sol with sickness. That couldn't stop us, definitely not. He tried striking our helpers with grief; Rachel's great-grandmother passed away. He tried striking our loved ones; my dad got pretty bad back pains and had to stay home a few days. But none of these worked.
As a counter, we pushed forward, getting our script, our songs, and our money more or less confirmed. It seemed everything was going way too smoothly...
The week came. And most of our CT results were out. I got grades of AABCD, which was pretty good in my opinion. But I was pretty surprised when Samuel asked to meet me during my lunch break one day during the week. It didn't sound good. I, Guoren and Gabriel met Samuel at 12. Immediately I sensed something was amiss. And Samuel broke the news. Choon Wing had been retained.
I was shocked. In fact we were all shocked. We had studied as a band before the CTs, and I knew that Choon Wing did study, and he was definitely not one of those 'hopeless' cases. He was a self termed slacker, but I knew in order to be with us in the band, he would have worked hard. The fact that Choon Wing was retained shattered all of us.
We discussed whether we should continue doing this gig. There were conflicting views. On one hand, some of us thought that it wouldn't be a good testimony for someone who had been retained to help in doing God's work. Some of them thought that Choon Wing would be too hurt to continue on. Others said that it should be up to Choon Wing himself to decide.
But I knew better than that. This was obviously and attack by the devil, or a test from God to see how committed we were despite all odds. My answer to whether we should continue doing this was a firm yes. It may have seemed cold at that point, but no matter what Choon Wing faced didn't matter at all. Only God did. And as long as there was a chance to do God's work, the chance had to be taken. This was what I believed. The rest of them heard this, and remembered our focus. And it was pretty obvious what conclusion we had.
As for Choon Wing, we decided that it would be totally up to him whether he would like to continue. In my opinion, anyone who does the Lord's good work was an awesome testimony to others, no matter how he did in his academics or sports or anything else. And so the problem was pretty much solved. Although this hurt us big, we didn't stop, and I'm proud of my band for focusing on God and God alone.
After that day, we decided on having a sleepover at Gabriel's house, not only to cheer Choon Wing up, but to be united as a band and to pray and focus on God. I didn't join them for the sleepover, but I was at Gabriel's house for some time. We prayed, worshipped and had an awesome time of fellowship. The worst was over, and nothing could stop us now. Soon Saturday, the day for the final rehearsal came. With all the music, acting, and evangelism almost done, we did a couple of dry runs. Despite being a noob in acting, I felt I was doing pretty well. Yes, a portion of it ("Why did you do this? She trusted you!") was out of character, but I carried it pretty well during rehearsals. The thing I was worried about was the evangelistic part. It was pretty obvious that with the long script I couldn't memorise everything. I pretty much started panicking and self-stressing.
I told myself that part of acting and doing this thing may involve embarassment and making mistakes, so I sorta mentally prepared myself for failure, but of course, looking at the bright side, I was sure that God would make everything perfect in His own way.
The Sunday right before the concert, I played the acoustic for main service, and as a result, I got to bring Tim's awesome Taylor home to use for the concert!
***
The day of reckoning came, and I woke up bright and early. Since my dad was recovering from his back pains after taking a jab the previous day, we went to have breakfast somewhere near Aljunied MRT while waiting for the others to come by. Soon they came and my dad left. I kinda forgot what we did in the morning. Everything seemed like a rush, and soon we were loading up the van and taking an MRT down to our performance venue, The Third Place.
Once there, we did a few more dry runs. Eden-Sol was pretty worried cos we weren't getting in the mood, and there wasn't enough groove. But we soon got into a good mood to play awesome music. Time passed pretty fast, and the concert was 1 hour away. Strangely I felt really calm. It was pretty odd, but as I trusted in God, nothing else seemed to matter.
Half an hour before the concert, the devil began to attack Choon Wing physically. He was short of breath, and we laid our hands on him and prayed. It was still pretty bad when we went out to perform, but we made it. Then the performance was soon history.
Thanks all those who came! And thanks to those who helped in one way or another!
My awesome classmates who came down! Alan, Samuel, Charissa, Christopher, Yee Ying and Si Rui! Not forgetting Carol! Sorry don't have a pic of you =P And thanks guys for the card!
The awesome people who made this a success!
Back row: Sam, Rachel, Choon Wing
Front Row: Me, Cheryl, Guoren, Gabriel
***
I made quite a few mistakes that day, and felt I'd screwed up pretty bad. I felt inadequate and inferior after the concert, and felt that someone else could've done better in my shoes than I did. But well... I recieved feedback that my friends couldn't spot any of the mistakes below, and I realised after that night that it was another attack by the devil to get me out of doing more performing. So that night the inferiority complex situation was pretty much resolved.
1. Started in wrong key for "I Don't Wanna Be"
2. Forgot my lines for convo between me and Rach
3. Got distracted by all the laughing in the audience
Despite that, it was an awesome concert, and the feedback we recieved was overwhelming. We had a few salvations, praise the Lord! That night, heaven must have shook with all the rejoicing taking place up there.
"There will be more joy in heaven over a sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance." Luke 15:7
And I was happy to do God's work that night, although I could've done without that final attack from the devil. I hope you guys have seen through these past 3 posts that we as Eden-Sol feel really strongly about our God, and you have seen enough evidence that shows that the God we believe in exists. Even through the tough odds and dry periods, our belief in him helped us through. I believe that by ourselves we couldn't have completed anything, and that is evidence enough that he exists.
Thank you for reading, and hope you have been inspired by this 3 posts! Let us continue to live and work to His praise and glory. Amen.
Nov - Randomness, Naruto, PW OP
Random K I got tagged by qq so I have to do this thing haha. Actually I really want to although the earlier sentence sounded quite reluctant. Thanks for giving me something to do besides watch anime on youtube haha.
Once tagged by this entry, the assignment is to write a blog entry of some kind with six random facts about yourself. Then, pick six of your friends and tag them; no tag backs. This explanation should be included.
1. Some people may find this weird... But I've only burped 16 times in my life before. Strange but true. And some more I take the effort to count how many times haha. My tally just increased yesterday after I burped twice. Thats random enough I guess?
2. Once at the airport some guy mistook me for a japanese. Haha couldn't really believe my ears when that guy approached me and spoke to me in jap. This happened after my trip to Korea I think. Do I look jap to you? I know a bit... And I guess I'm into the jap culture with all the gaming and anime stuff. But I don't dye my hair so outrageously like they do haha...
3. I have 3 smily faces stuck to the side of my desk. If you wanna see what the smily face looks like refer to my earlier posts haha. FYI the smily face is a mosquito patch which is supposedly able to drive mozzies away.
4. This one will probably make Kenny Lim excited. I've created my own set of moves that I use rarely while playing Chinese Chess. Its called Benlow's Ultimate defense haha. In this move I link my pieces so that the cannon on the left protects the horse on the right which protects the cannon on the right which protects the horse on the left which protects the cannon on the left and... You get the picture haha. Its pretty effective against noobs/amateurs but against pros it can get broken up way too easily. Don't tell you guys the weakness though. Go figure.
5. Not many people have seen me play whacko before... But those who have probably know I have a certain trick up my sleeve which I picked up. Its pretty useful but some people don't know. To confuse the whacker just call a name and point in another direction. Its pretty effective for me cos everyone would think "Benlow is a nice guy so he won't trick me" and then go in the direction I point and end up confused. Haha. So don't fall for it the next time I do it. Then again don't believe me. I may be using reverse psychology.
6. Wanna hear a long joke I learnt from my bros? JJJJJJJJJOOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEE. Is that long enough for you? Want a longer one?
K I won't tag anybody cos"Benlow is a nice guy so he won't trick me" haha. So I tag... Nah don't worry I wasn't going to use reverse psychology on you. Hope thats random enough for you guys.
I must say that I really like Naruto, not just cos of its plot, characters and animation, but also because of the encouragement it gives me. The values that I hold dear have all been affirmed throughout watching the first 90 episodes.
Naruto, the main character had a Nine-Tailed Fox Demon sealed into him when he was young. As a result, the 4th leader (also known as 4th Hokage), which happened to be Naruto's dad, died. Throughout his entire life, Naruto was feared and ostracized, but he didn't know why. He lived a hard life of solitude, waiting for some one to appreciate him for his ninja techniques. And finally someone did.
Frankly it sounds like my life without all the demon stuff haha. From young I was some what like an outcast, especially in Kindergarten, Nursery and some parts of my Primary education. The worse thing was that I didn't know why, and nobody bothered to correct me when I was going the wrong way. But soon awesome people who appreciated me came along and gave me strength and encouragement, and that was enough to make me become a wonderful person.
Another character from Naruto is a guy called Gaara, who's from the Hidden Village of Sand. (Naruto is from the Hidden Village of Leaf - Konoha FYI) He had the same childhood as Naruto, he had a sand raccoon demon sealed in him. The villagers all feared him, and even worse, seeing him as a threat, his very own father tried to assassinate him many many times. In the end, his father ordered the guardian he trusted and loved to try and kill him. The guardian failed, but from then on Gaara became a merciless killing machine. Freaky huh.
Its quite scary how certain things in your life can help you or just mess up your entire future. I shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn't met those awesome friends and mentors I've had throughout my life. Would I become something like Gaara and live to hate? Dunno.
Naruto soon became a Genin (low ranked ninja) and took the Chuunin (middle ranked ninja) examinations. He fought lots of hard battles and in the final exam even defeated the number one Genin rookie of the previous year. But then he soon fought Gaara when something sudden happened (which I won't spoil). It was not only a contest of ninja skills, but a contest of will and spirit. Two different, yet completely the same persons fought for what they thought was right.
Hate or Love? Gaara believed that strength came from within himself, and the only one he could live for was himself. Naruto believe that strength came from others, and he lived for others. They clashed, and Naruto was the victor. Naruto said after the fight that true strength came from a desire to protect the people that you cherish. After I saw that I wanted to cry.
It was so much like me... Everything that I've done from the beginning of my life to now was affirmed in that one second. And it felt wonderful. So many years of being different from others, so many years of being left out, so many years I've tried to be nice to everyone. It all paid off when I saw that brief scene. I remember I cried in the shower the day I saw that episode.
So now I'm at episode 90, and I'll continue watching to see how everything progresses.
***
Hope you guys enjoyed that entire section. The year 2006 has been full of angst, stress, yet has been so fufilling and wonderful. Turning points of stress into points of strength and encouragement, thats what I've learnt how to do and do well even. Though it worries me that I worry too much, I guess I've compensated for that by making it my strength and my shield.
God has been so important this past year, and I'm at the closest I can get to him at this point of time though I've degened a bit during the hols. Giving my one-tenth back to him is something I've learnt to do over and over again. Drawing on his word for encouragement, rebuke and learning, thats what I've been adept at.
In terms of friends I've learnt how to be strong - to protect them no matter what it costs. And I've learnt that no one can say that they are the way they are without the help from their wonderful friends. I've learnt to appreciate them and try my best not to offend them or ruin them. Cos its only one single thing that can screw a person's life up.
Its been an advancement in evangelism for me. With the Eden-Sol concert and all I've learnt the power of prayer, the significance of the bond of fellowship, the meaning of love, the hunger and passion for service and most importantly the trueness of God.
Last but not least. I've learnt that I'm a strong person inside. Despite being quiet, pensieve and introverted at times I can be a good, nice person. And although I'm so startlingly different from most around me I'm still appreciated and loved. I can face any obstacle head on, live to tell the tale, and teach people how to walk the same path I've trod. Most importantly this year, I've embraced myself, my unique character, despite so much peer pressure to adhere to the norms of present society.
I'm proud of myself. And proud of all my friends who survived this year with me.
2006 was wonderful. And I'm sure you'll agree.
***
2007 will be the most stressful year ever, and once it ends, everything will start crumbling and falling apart if I'm not careful. Its time to learn how to cope with all the activities I'll be having. guitar, piano, RR, RJGE, Eden-Sol, X'PEIA outings, S03H outings, As, YE. The whole lot of them are gonna make my life tough yet fruitful. And with God's grace I'll pull through.
I hope to complete some of my goals (can be found in the About Me section) next year if time permits. But if I can't, I still have till 20 to complete them. My cousin's complaining about getting old, but I'm loving it. =)
I look forward to the challenge. 2007 here I come. Nothing's gonna stop me!
***
Just read Psalms 1:1.
"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers." ~Psalms 1:1
Just the right kind of verse to start the new year ain't it? A command to heed and follow no matter what you do in the new year, a reminder to walk in the path of light and not of darkness, and to not mock others. Appropriate. Something that every YE person should do and try to achieve in the new year. As simple as this little, seemingly insignificant sentence from a chapter with only 6 verses.
For this year's maiden post of the new year, I'd like to bring you guys back through the past year. Will show you guys defining moments in this blog's history from January all the way to December. Enjoy.
***
Jan - Orientation ~Start of life in RJ
Day 1
Hmmm... Went to school wondering whether there would be anyone in my Pri Sch who I knew in my OG, and whether the people in my OG would be friendly and stuff like that. Honestly had lots of things running through my mind. Met AAL at the bus stop at Braddell Road and stepped into the school...
Well, in the Multi Purpose Hall, we got sorted into our OGs and sat down. Looked around at the people and realised that I knew all the RI guys in the OG some way or another. Narpal was famous in Morrison, Daniel was the serial stabber, Guoren was in my band, I knew about Wang from Hyqel, I saw Hee Xun somewhere before, and Yong Sheng played chess with me. So that left the girls and two of the guys, one from ACS and one from Cat High.
So we went down to the Z'Cove (House Area) to have ice breakers. Played partner wacko, and I got to know one of the girls, Yi Hui. Well... She lives in the East, I live in the West, she frequents the South, I frequent the North, her dad's Hokkien, my dad's Teochew, her mom's Teochew, and my mom's Hokkien. She speaks Teochew, I speak Hokkien. Seriously freaky. Haha. But thats the very first girl from my OG I got to know! =) So we played Wacko, and I called Guoren, but pointed to Hee Xun on purpose. Seriously, it was on purpose, to confuse Darren(My OGL).
Haha. K, going on... Got to know a bit about Amanda and Melissa soon after while we continued on to station games. (They're the third Amanda and third Melissa I know now. Haha.) X'PEIA had a super long losing streak, but nobody was dejected or anything. The shaving cream game was super messy. I got lots of cream in my ear. Had a tough time getting the cream out.
Hmmm... Rach came to get the RI uniform from me. Wonder what she's gonna do with that? Russell (ACS) and Laigono (CatHigh) were the next two people I got to know, and soon it was the end of day one. No major ups or downs.
Day 2
Day two was full of ups and downs. Will elaborate more...
It started on a high when X'PEIA came up with its first cheer, and an original one at that! Narpal seriously is real good at that kinda thing. So after we cheered the first time, we went on to win the next two tasks before continuing our losing streak. Haha. Soon it was lunch, and that was the part when the guys were making fun of NYGH girls. Will not elaborate. I'm not as mean as them. Haha. But it was seriously funny. Especially since Charlene (My OGL) was from NYGH before she came to RJ.
Then I remembered Karima's name, cos she was the only girl absent. Haha. So that left Kavina as the only other indian girl. So it was kinda easy to remember their names. Hmm... Got to know Ann as well! Got exposed to the Batch Dance! Hmmm... Couldn't remember it fully at first but I guess I know the first and second parts pretty well now.
Went to the Amphi to do some cheering with the house. MR cheers are seriously so easy to remember even though they're new to us. Wonder if they have a house anthem like Morrison had? Hmmm... Kinda was on a super high until the bad news came. It was during OG dinner at the Esplanade when bad news came.
Both Tim and Gerald messaged to say they couldn't lead on Sunday. Subsequently I asked Rach, Mel, Amanda and even Yan Leen but they couldn't as well! Wah. It was seriously quite exasperating. But the food was nice and it was an awesome dinner, though we didn't talk much. Hmmm... I think most of the people in our OG are the quiet kind... And we're quite good at stoning. Haha.
Then came the dreaded... Truth of Dare + Number game combo that is so common but ever so deadly. Actually I was game for anything! I didn't really mind getting embarassed or anything. I had to do a dare. Will not elaborate. If you wanna know ask anyone else from X'PEIA. But felt real awkward after that dare and real paiseh as well. Haha. It doesn't pay to be sporting... But thats not gonna stop me! Woohoo! So day 2 ended a bit low, and the fun was just starting!
Day 3
It started off on an ok note. Still a bit paiseh... But we started talking about what we wanted to go as on O' nite. Thought about cowboys, but somehow it ended up different on the day itself. But I think what we settled with was better! Haha.
Went to my class room... Saw Samuel and Shane Ai there! Not bad. Made some new friends, Kevin and Leonard. Lots of people I don't know in my class... I guess I'll get to know them better soon... The form teacher's real interesting. Actually she was so normal that she wasn't that interesting. Haha.
Well, went to the parade square, then MPH for the rest of the people in the school to learn the College Anthem and the cheers. I like the Batch Song! Although soon after learning it someone coped my booklet so now I don't have the lyrics... Dream and dare, fight on don't despair, cos I'll be there! =) Thats all I remember, but I like it! Haha.
The batch dance was pretty easy (After CCIS of course), but I had to erase the previous three dances from my memory. Haha. Oops. Couldn't fully remember the third part of the batch dance, will try to learn from my OGLs. Wanna learn the sun dance! It looks so fun.
We went to MacRitchie after that, and I'm glad Azhar brought us there before by foot. Otherwise I would have been real lost. We went there and... CHEESEBUNS! Haha. Well it rained and we went to KFC at J8 for lunch. Saw the Bishan Paedophile. FYI, its a guy who keeps looking at RI boys for some weird reason I don't know. He keeps smiling this weird smile that freaks everyone out.
Went for the O'Nite programme auditions with a comprehensive programme that was put together only 30 mins before... Seriously our skit was good, but they chose a dance instead. Hai... What can we do. But it was a high for all of us!
Well, the day was kinda normal, got to know everyone else in my OG! Yay.
Day 4
The day started off with war games, messy though it was, it was fun. Wah! All the other houses gangbang Morrison Richardson! So evil. But real champions take things in their stride! Right MR people? Haha. I sound like a house leader already. Haha. But the first game was the muddy one. And I'm proud to say, although I paired up with Ann to attack, I didn't dirty my shirt! Haha.
The next two games weren't as fun, but we played along just the same...
Soon it was time to go out! Super high, cos we were going for pool after a splendid pastamania lunch. But RI pool players are seriously very very skilled. I got beaten by Daniel and Narpal 2-0 in the 4 games I played. It was fun while it lasted. I realised that my thinking speed is too fast... will try to slow down...
Soon it was O'nite. And instead of cowboys... We decided to go as.... GEEKS! The theme is greeks so... What difference does a letter r make? Haha. So we pulled up our pants, buttoned our collar buttons, shortened our bag straps, and stuck scotchtape on our specs. And wrote some 'kick me' notes and pasted them on our backs. It was seriously real hilarious.
Seeing the Z'Kardia sign light up on flames was really awesome and cool, and I guess that was the highlight for me.
After that we went to HH's Z'Cove to write notes for each other and recieve parting gifts. Then we went to Longhouse for supper + dinner and it was an awesome end to an awesome orientation programme!
***
Feb - 200th post! ~ Finally...
Today was another fun day, but I've got more homework now.
1. Maths tut
2. Bio tut
3. Chem tut
4. Econs tut
5. Econs Essay
That about sums it up. My class people are really really funny and fun loving. Just today Vivek accidentally threw my eraser out of the window from the seventh floor. Lol. Thinking about Para-Bora and Hyper-Bora jokes... (Sorry, its a inside class joke thingy, and sorry Debbie) Haha.
Today's guitar was the usual stuff. Got ready the three pieces for concert on April 19th which were Spring, Doraemon's song and How Deep is Your Love. And I may be playing a quartet piece - Tifa's theme from FF7 and FF7 AC. So now its 4 in total and I think there maybe more... We'll see!
Sunday was nice. Main worship went well, and uncle Wee Seng's message was good. Everybody worships in his or her own way. For me, I worship through outward expression (Music) as well as enjoying nature (Especially looking at the moon). Its kinda awesome to find out the reason why I have always liked looking at the moon above. Its cos through seeing it, I can feel God's awesome presence.
Awesome news for Eden-Sol! We've got a venue for practise, and whats more, its totally free! We're now practising every Tuesday at Emmanuel House, somewhere near Aljunied. The food around the area is awesome! Just the other day we went to try the noodles at the Dim Sum stall across the road. Its was so so so nice. And FYI, Emmanuel house is the venue for the Evangelistic Concert on the 14th of April. I'll be there of course, playing for the people from RJ who come.
More awesome news!!! We're meeting Daniel, a member of Electrico and ex-rafflesian tomorrow. Very very excited... He's gonna give us some tips. We're practising Broken Wings and Are You Gonna be my Girl tomorrow. Its gonna be an awesome time for us... Especially with Raffles Rock Concert Auds on Friday.
Can't believe that Blackburn beat Arsenal. Its seriously quite funny. Just a few years ago Arsenal was undefeatable. Well, good for Blackburn. Ivan's gonna be happy! Of course, Liverpool beat Man City 1-0 and Chelsea beat Portsmouth 2-0. Forgone conclusions definitely.
Had an awesome time playing pool with my bro's friends when they came on Friday. Cos I won all my matches! =) Haha. But on Saturday I didn't do that well.
Me 2 Nat 0
Me 2 Darren 4
Me 2 Daryl 1
I had a 'hit the black ball' into the wrong hole streak for three games, all against Darren. Haha. Funny. And Daryl was super on form during the game that he beat me. He pocketed all the balls even before I could hit any in. Wah! Got owned bad.
***
Mar - Guitar Camp ~ RJGE rocks!
Hmmm... Wednesday and Thursday ended early, and I was pretty glad about that. At least I had time to rest and prepare for the guitar camp on Friday. Spent the time playing games on my new comp! HP games. Like Insaniquarium, Mahjong Quest, Bejeweled etc etc. Haha. Starting to get addicted. But luckily all of the games are 1 hour trial versions so they disappear in an hours time. Haha.
Friday was the day of the guitar camp, and it was really fun. My group name was Animato, which means Animated. Duh. We started off with an Icebreaker Session. Got to know more people, espeically those from my group. Song Xia, Shaun, Qing Qing, Shu Hui, Sabrina, Jon Chua, Aditi etc etc. Animato rocks!
After that we had dinner and proceeded for station games at night. We were blindfolded and led around school to various stations. After that it was bath time then bridge playing time! There wasn't any cut off time for sleep so we played till about 3am. And then I stacked a few tables together and fell straight to sleep.
Woke up in the middle of the morning feeling really really cold. So took my sleeping bag and slept on the floor instead. The next morning we had breakfast, then had bar hunt. That means doing tasks to get bars of a song, which we were supposed to perform for the end. We did lots of fun stuff like counting the number of benches in the canteen, counting the number of cubicles near the PAC etc. In the end, the song we got was... Tong Hua! The best song out of the lot. And we played it for finale, and the camp ended. I'm glad a got to know more people in guitar. Not only the guys, but the gals as well.
Saturday was pretty much ok. Went for the Genus concert, which wasn't as good as last years concert. The songs were pretty much the same genre, and wasn't as vibrant and exciting as previous years. The band involved lots of instruments, but none of the techincal power of the instruments was truly brought out. Overall it was kinda normal for me, nothing special.
Apr - Concert Season ~ Eden-Sol and RJGE alert!
Hey guys... This week was an awesome week. But well if you look at another perspective it was a crazy week. I mostly had fun this week, and I'm glad its all over. NAPFA and the two concerts. Over! Yay.
RJGE Concert
I came to this concert with one major purpose: to have fun. And of course it was really no problem with all the funny people there. Even the rehearsal before that was full of laughs. Lame jokes all over the place, 'Ben Low' puns, funny antics etc etc. I was kinda glad that everything went alright for me. I was in slacker mode I guess. Played a total of 7 ensemble songs and 1 rock band song.
A Comme Amour
Historia De Amour
Doraemon
How Deep is Your Love
Jap Song
Take Me Out
Spring
Shall We Dance
Overall it was the funnest ever... Can remember the encouragement gifts given by our section leaders. Felt really really happy and blessed with all those goodies. Its a wonder how I didn't get a sore throat haha. My friends were quite happy with the concert, everyone said it was good. Haha. And during photo taking, everyone was kinda like shouting my name. Don't tell you guys why haha. If you wanna know ask the RJGE people.
NAPFA
Haha. I'm really happy that I passed and made bronze, with 2As, 1B, 1C and 2Es. Especially after my 3 week break from the gym. Now I can play soccer while those who missed NAPFA have to take! Yay. the two As came in shuttle run and sit ups, while the 2Es came in Sit and Reach and Pull ups. Time to work on my flexibility and arm strength. Maybe a bit of stamina too.
I was kinda happy that my class was super united during NAPFA. We kept cheering people on, especially those who were weak at that station. It kinda got everyone past NAPFA in one piece. Even the girls who weren't taking 2.4km shouted words of encouragement to us guys taking the run.
RR Concert
My band's purpose coming into this performance was to:
1. Make an impression on the RJ people
2. Show the power of God in our lives
Not so much to show off and have the time of our lives. In fact, we were the only band to flash lyrics during our performance, because we wanted people to read the lyrics and get touched by what they heard in the music. I guess it sorta paid off when people sang along. It felt really awesome.
We started after Electrico, which was a plus and a minus point altogether. Being the first RJ band to perform was good, yet going behind a seasoned band was pretty daunting. Well, it didn't help that during the performance, Guoren's guit was a bit out... And my bass solo wasn't loud enough. But I guess we did an ok job. And everyone I asked said it was good.
Oh well. Had to play for Minister Yaacob Ibrahim while he sang Yesterday during the pre-concert. I'm kinda glad that MOCA was there to help me as well. I couldn't have done it alone. After that, had to pass the certificates to the minister so that he could give them out to the organisers of the concert. I stood right beside him! One in a lifetime chance. To stand beside him for a whole 10 minutes! Gasp.
Bands that played include:
LSD - RJ band
Minus Negative - Charity Band
Electrico - Professional Band
Eden-Sol - RJ band
Spanish Fly - Professional Band
EIC - Professional Band
Mr Pink - RJ Band
Zhen - Professional Band
Absolut - RJ Band
Bandage - RJ Band
Not forgetting the instrumentalists. Edmund and Hyqel, as well as MOCA! Everyone did well, although one of the professional bands disappointed...
Well, time to catch up on my stuff...
Stuff to do:
Maths Tut
Maths Ass
PW PI
Econs Tut
Chem Outline
Bio Tut
GP Test Make-up
May June Duty Roster
Junior Band Jamming
May - IMCB attachment ~ One step closer to my dreams.
IMCB! Woohoo the slackiest 3 days of my JC life... IMCB on the whole was pretty interesting. Considering we learnt somethings in the slackiest of ways ever. If only school was like that =P. We learnt about transcription factors, specifically Nuclear Factor Kappa B. Well, won't go into details, cos I'd probably bore you out haha. If you wanna know more just ask me personally.
First day. I woke up at about 7:30, took the mrt at 7:45 and reached at 8:15, which was pretty early cos the thing only started at about 8:45? Hmmms spent the time waiting for the rest of the RJC peoples... Cheryl, Michelle, Elizabeth and Xuan Hong (Who never came booo, hopefully not cos of GP CTs) so... I ended up as the only RJ guy there. Booo.
Oh well, went for safety briefing, which made me realise there are so many ways to die in IMCB haha. Which is pretty cool in my opinion. Fire, Radiation, Electrocution, EtBr, Infected needles etc etc. Everytime I remember the safety briefing I can't help thinking of people dying =P oh well.
Spent a short time in the lab, then went off for GP CTs with the other RJ people. GP CTs weren't too bad I guess. Remembering what Mrs Toh taught helped. And of course prayer and meditation on his word helped. Everything's up to him now...
Second day. Got a fuzzy idea what happened the previous day from my lab partner Bao Jia, and got to make friends with the DHS people. They were pretty nice to us =) All of the RJ people kinda hit off with the DHS people. Lame joke sessions during waiting time for the experiment to finish haha. Throughout the 2 days we were supposed to carry out 2 experiments, one involving blotting and the other on cancer cells. Pretty fun I guess!
Third day... We drew lots to do presentation... And guess what? I got paired with Michelle. I guess it was kinda good, since I think she's a pretty good science student. Hmmm we didn't really prepare much for presentation, and we expected the other groups to have already elaborated on what we were gonna say.
Gotta know the NASS people more then, cos they joined the lame joke sessions as well haha. Before lunch we went to take a group photo, and it was pretty cool cos we went to the sky bridge on the 6th floor of Proteos. The view from there was kinda amazing. And after that we had 2 hours of lunch!!! Slacked around a bit, sat under the large tree outside the foodcourt for some time.
Then the time of reckoning... Presentation! The first 3 groups kinda covered everything we could say, and the second group with the HCJC people absolutely pwnzzzed us. They knew so much more than us, and it seems they went to do research on the topic beforehand. One things for sure, they came here to learn, not to slack. But you guys know what RJC students are like right? We may be smart but we'd rather slack =P haha. So we just added some points at that was it.
I was kinda happy I went to IMCB, not only cos of the good company, but cos it gave me the chance to forget about the previous week, and gave me more time to think about school life and stuff. And I think I'm feeling lots better, and my appetite's back! Yeah. I think the IMCB experience wasn't just about academic learning for me, but finding peace as well.
S03H! RJGE! X'PEIA! I missed you guys while I was gone... Looking forward to the respective outings....
Yay... Thats all about IMCB. Alright, finally got a ball pump... So we should have a ball today at 5pm for YE's longest barbecue! Yeah! And I got the OFFICIAL 2006 WC GUIDE! Wooohoooo. Awesome. And a pretty nice poster to add to that.
Alrighty... All the best for camp, CCALs and Councillors! And all those going for UK Lit Trip, be safe, and have fun! =)
June - Church Camp, World Cup, Tim and Hui Min's wedding, GDOP, RI-RJ transition reflection ~ wow so much.
Hey guys... Didn't notify any of you out there but I've been at church camp from Thursday to Sunday, and thus I haven't replied any messages on my phone as of yet. Hmm... Gotta start getting updates from people about guitar stuff and pw stuff.
Day 1
Our family drove all the way to Kulai, following uncle Benson's car. We had quite a great time with Clement joining us in our car after the Malaysian checkpoint. We were like teaching him to say stuff I what not. Got there considerably early... Met Jon and Martin, who were there a day before and proceeded to the Rider's Lounge for some pool...
Me 1 Jon 0 Me 0 Daryl 1
Headed back for camp briefing and lunch, which I felt was kinda good. Sat with all the YE guys as well as the pri sch boys. Well, after that once we got our bunk we had 2 hours and 30 mins of free time, which we spent playing cards, in the girl's bunk and at... The Rider's Lounge. For you know what. Went with Paul and Martin.
Me 0 Paul 1 Me 1 Martin 0
Then it was time for games. Joined my group mates Sarah, Charissa, JS, Felice, Joanna and Andrew for captain's ball. I was the blocker for my group and JS (being the tallest guy in YE) was the catcher. Managed a few great blocks, but couldn't seem to block any of Rong Chang's or Jun Hao's shots. Cos they always did basketball fakes to trick me. Final score ended up 8-13 in the adult's favour, although we put up a good fight. But I think we did well, cos some groups of youth lost to the adults by a larger margin haha.
Stayed back to play soccer! Wasn't really fun though cos of the number of people playing. Way too much (cos of the little kiddies). But was kinda ok. Defended with Charissa, made a few good clearances once I got the ball. Her slippers broke! Oops.
After that was wash up, and I must say that the toilets are soooo nice. I didn't really mind the yellowish water. The fact that there was a jacuzzi, hair dryers, powder, etc etc outlined the fact that it was an awesome resort. Found the secret passage to the Male VIP toilet. (Not the girl's room, which was another Male VIP toilet)
After dinner and an awesome sermon, we split up into groups to discuss what we've learnt. Joined with Yan Leen's group for a great time of interpreting and understanding what we've learnt. Then it was light's off, though I went exploring.
Went first to the adult's quarters, where all their rooms were situated, and went to find my parents, who offered me a good cuppa milo. Then when I came back to the bunk with Max, nobody except En Yao was there. And I was told everyone was at the girls bunk... Went there and everyone was playing pig haha. I played awhile and decided to sit out after that. Then the adults came in and chased the guys out haha.
Day 2
Morning... Was one of the few to wake up early, and went for breakfast first. After that it was another sermon, and then leisure time. Spent the time playing volleyball (50 mana!!!) and pool with the YE guys. And then got my cool pool injury. Now I have a Y shaped scar on my right middle knuckle for accidentally hitting the side of the table.
Me & Darren 0 JS & Marcus 1
The rest of the games were played by the sec2s that day I think. Went for a great lunch... Me Paul and Martin joined the gals at their table. And Martin found a fly stick (to catch flies) which a few of the girls were pretty scared of. Sarah and Esther weren't that scared, so they put it near their side of the table. And Sarah got stuck to it haha. Oh well.
After that we joined the little kiddies for games. Couldn't remember the games really, cos I just decided to sit back a little though we did have fun. The tree and squirrel alliance! I think the only thing I could remember was that. And I partnered Max for the blanket game. (which I was really lousy at)
After that, we played floor ball, and my group was really really good I think! I played a midfield role, sometimes defensive. I knew the correct strategy to defend, to put the stick low (No pun intended lol) just like in hockey. And as a result I was able to block balls and snatch balls really easily to win back possession for my team. Shu, Mel, En Yao, Sarah, Andrew and Fiona! We were quite good. Me, Mel and fiona scored a goal each? And the final result was 3-1 in our favour. Shu made a few great stops too yay.
After that most of them played wacko, while I went to play soccer, and help the YA (Young Adults) people try and beat the adults. Jun Hao, John, Gerald, Nat, Rong Chang were some of the people in our team. Unfortunately me and Gerald scored own goals in fantastic style lol. But I did hit the woodwork, and I was the only one who did that. =) The score ended 2-1 to the adults, with Nat? scoring the consolation goal for us. I guess their midfield was too strong for us.
After wash up and dinner... We went to hear the sermon... And then I dunno exactly what happened, but I must say I'm disappointed and appalled at the fact that gossip, bad-mouthing, rumour spreading, talking about relationships and all that kinds of nonsense could crop up in a CHURCH camp. For the sake of friendship I will not bring this up again. But God warned us NOT to do these kinds of things. And I suggest that if anyone tries that again, he/she should tie a millstone to his/her neck and jump into the sea. Full stop. I hope that thats clear enough a warning.
Aunty K wanted to meet the whole of YE to talk about the guys entering the girls bunk event. And she made a whole lot of sense. But she ended up opening up a nice room for all of us to use! Went back to the room to get the guitar... And saw that flies were all over the entrance to our room. And not the houseflies only, but the flying ants. Got the guitar and left in a hurry...
Went back there... I must say it was a pretty nice two storey room with carrom boards, pillows and nice tables. We ended up having another Tai-Ti tournament again! And I got kicked out of the first round again haha.
After that was feeling a bit lonerish so I went to watch the world cup!
Germany 4 Costa Rica 2 Poland 0 Ecuador 2
Went back to the room where everyone was watching a Hong Fei Hong movie haha. Met Max on the way and decided to bring him back to the guys bunk since his dad allowed him to camp over again. He ended up taking my bed and I took the floor, but its ok I guess!
Day 3
Was still a bit disappointed at yesterday's turn of events... Decided to be a bit lonerish still. Went for breakfast late, and during the fellowship and learning I didn't contribute much although it was the last session we were having. After that we had leisure! And most of us were at the room, but I decided to spend some time with my parents. We played table soccer and I scored a few times against my dad but of course he won. Spent the remainder of the time playing pool with Paul Martin and Jon again.
Me & Jon 0 Paul and Martin 1 Me & Martin 1 Paul and Jon 0
Then it was lunch. Went to sit at the table with Rev. Soon and his wife. The guys were relatively more well behaved, and Paul finished up everything on the table. Jon passed me the book meant for Rachel after lunch while we were still sitting around waiting for dessert? Started writing a bit but decided to leave it for later...
Around leisure time, instead of joining everyone in the room I decided to loner again, and went back to the bunk to sleep and write in Rachel's book. Didn't write much interesting stuff though, and after writing I put the book down and went to sleep.
Woke up just nice at 3:30pm and left the room with the key in hand. Gave the key to Paul who was in the two storey room and went for sports. Turned out that all the youth were missing, and most of the adults were out shopping, so I went to the gym with uncle Joen Yen, Fiona, Steph and Joanna. Worked till my arms ached... But it was worth it. Kinda got my mind away from stuff.
After that went to look for everyone in YE, and it turned out that everyone was at aunty Elma's room watching Powerpuff Girls haha. After that everyone decided to go for a swim. After the swim, went to bathe alone in the Male VIP changing room. After that it was BBQ! And then "Talent Surprise".
Hmm... Uncle Chong Keat performed first, then Joshua and his dad, the Paul, Jon and Martin. Then... The people in YE voted me to go up! Arghh... Wasn't prepared, but couldn't refuse either... So was kinda stressed. Asked Marcus to come sing for me, and I played One Day. I must admit I was a bit embarassed and shy. Didn't wanna play especially since I was in loner mode, but I guess I needed the oppotunity to snap out of it. After that Uncle Allan sang, and that was it.
Went to watch the disappointing England vs Paraguay match, and the exciting Sweden vs Trinidad and Tobago match!
England 1 Paraguay 0 Sweden 0 Trinidad & Tobago 0 Argentina 2 Ivory Coast 1
Went back to the room during intervals to play buddy whacko, and be the judge for the newspaper game. The last time I went back everyone was really really freaked out by the bugs on the ceiling and most of them were tired cos it was already 3am? Nonetheless I still played passing with En Yao, Andrew, Nat, Max and Char. And then we went back to sleep.
Day 4
It was the last day, and nothing much to say except for pretty nice memories and pretty nice experiences though there were some rough patches. Kudos to the organising committee, you guys were awesome. And I didn't know uncle Peng Guan read my blog? Haha wow I'm starting to get adult audience. I think other teens would mind but I guess I won't. Adults are welcome here! =) And please tag if you've got advice for me, or want to scold me or want to say nice stuff haha. =P
I believe those on the bus, my family and Uncle Weng Sun's family were the only people that went back home first... The rest of them went shopping! Haha.
Serbia & Montenegro 0 Netherlands 1 Mexico 3 Iran 1 Angola 0 Portugal 1 Australia 3 Japan 1 USA 0 Czech Republic 3 Italy 2 Ghana 0
July - Birthday, CT ends, RJGE pracs begin ~ first stint as MD yay.After that it was guitar, and I was even more excited... My first lesson as MD! I even prepared some notes for the guitar people. Want the notes about Scales? Ask me directly. Want to provide some feedback on the lessons? E-mail at benlck@hotmail.com or tag the board here.
Spent some time teaching at Section 2... I was pretty lax cos some of them needed more time to practice. And once Ling Ting came, I went on my rounds around to other sections.
Section 1 - Chin Heng
Probably the funniest ever. Chin Heng was using this nice sabo method to force the section 1 people to play. Chin Heng would teach first, then choose a person to play, and then once the person finishes, the person would choose another person to sabo. It was pretty fun watching that practice haha. And I got saboed twice. =( Haha.
Section 3 - Ben Tham
When I came here Ben was helping someone restring the guitar cos a string snapped. I could see that the people in that section were super serious about learning more, just like the people in section 2. And it was nice to see them wanting to learn new stuff.
Section 4 - Karthik
This section was the fastest. When I reached them they were doing the optional stuff already. I was really impressed. Karthik made the environment really condusive for learning, and he kept encouraging them and shouting guitar 4 rocks! Comical, but it spurred the section 4 people on.
Lecture-lol
Ok after that I held my very first lecture. I made it as hilarious as I could, and hopefully everyone found it enriching and entertaining. I acted like a lecturer, drawing from my past experiences with our bio lecturer Mr Ngan. In fact I tried to act and sound like him... And some of the bio students were laughing.
So well... I came out from this experience pretty much happy. And the fact that Hongyue (the previous MD) was there made me even more encouraged. Though Scales was kinda dry as a topic, I think the SLs did exceptionally well at teaching it. And I think it was a pretty good effort, cos no other guitar exco have held these kind of extensive teaching sessions before. And I'm gonna try and make this batch of RJGE people the most proded (or most in love with guitar) of all time! And I mean it. =)
Aug - Birthday Reflections, soccermugger closes down... ~ sad.
I've had some time to reflect about my birthday today, just wanna share with you guys how I feel. I've realised something about friendship that I really hold true to. And I think I've told this to my cell as well as Chin Heng before.
When I look at myself and my friends, I don't really think I can do much to help them in lots of ways. I can't give them perfect advice, I don't really know how to comfort them when they have problems, I listen more than I talk to them, sometimes I'm not on the same frequency as them. But one thing I can do is... Just be there for them no matter what. And thats what friendship to me is all about.
So as this birthday season passes, just wanna thank all my friends out there. You guys don't have to give me gifts, or talk to me often, or even meet me specially. All I need from you guys is for you to be there no matter what happens. When I'm happy, sad, bored, crazy, lonely, acting cool, stoning etc. Nothing else really matters to me. And I'll be glad, just cos you guys are there.
Announcement: This BLOG will be closed for an indeterminate amount of time.
Some of you guys probably saw this one coming...
Sorry to those people who I'm accountable to.
I'm just too busy with everything.
I've got too many commitments, and though blogging is one of them, its the least important.
Somehow I keep putting my blogging before my other stuff despite that fact.
I reach home really late usually. Its taking too much time loading pics now that I got a nice phone that can do so.
I'm not taking my piano exam seriously enough... Gotta start intense pracs.
I'm a starting to feel angsty cos of all the stress about everything nowadays. So don't wanna bother you guys with angsty stuff. (Actually I prepared a nice post, but maybe a bit angsty. Maybe you'll get to see it next time...)
Well I guess this is it... For now. Till later. If you wanna find more about how I'm doing talk to me via SMS or MSN. This BLOG will no longer be in use. For now. =(
Sep - soccermugger reopens, Promos and Suicides ~ *gulp*
Promos in 3 days time... Why am I not nervous at all? Why do I stay online? Why am I blogging at this point in time? Haha to tell the truth I don't really have the answers to those questions. But looking at everything going around and all the stress and stuff other people are facing, I sorta feel... Guilty?
While I do study, I somehow don't feel all that stressed at this point of time. Is it cos I've finished mugging? Is it cos I think that promos aren't that important? Is it cos I think I'll definitely promote? Or that God will definitely guide me through? Well I guess its a mix of everything. And when I compare how I'm feeling with how my peers are feeling... I feel guilty, for not taking the chance to help them, for not encouraging them, for not telling them that to relax and stuff.
Although its seems like no one is asking for help, I figure that there are some people who do need it. Just that I'm not receptive enough to sense it, or just too quiet to offer my help. So I'm gonna take this chance... Anyone who desperately needs help, please come to me if you want to.
Suicide. Wonder how many people regretted not telling the guy to lighten up? Wonder how many people didn't help him with his studies? Wonder how many people are feeling guilty at this point of time? Its been more than one week already. And the effects are still there. I have a friend in my OG who had to attend 3 funerals in a week, and I can imagine how much pain he feels inside.
While on the other hand I think of how selfish the guy who decided to end his life was, I think of how us as people don't stop whenever our paths cross with someone who needs help. I never want anyone around me to die just like that, just because I just sat back and let things go their natural course. I'd go into depression with such a strong sense of guilt holding me down.
*Those who strongly oppose arguments on the basis of religion you may skip to the last paragraph*
***
Heres something to chew about for all Christians out there. Would you ever comtemplate suicide? I wouldn't, cos I know God's always here no matter what. He's with us THROUGH IT ALL. Also, if I died early, I'd never get to complete the will He has brought me to earth for. If any of you Christians have thought of jumping off a building, think about God, not yourself. I know this sounds a bit harsh, but I think I have to say this just in case.
Further building on this point, if God can give us Christians the strength to live on despite all difficulties, imagine the strength he can give non-believers as well. Take this chance to tell everyone about the greatness of our God, so that they can see that life is not all about studies or ambitions. So even if they fail, they can fall back on the belief that God is still the most important, and they have to stay on in order to fufill his mighty purpose.
***
Next post would be after promos, most likely with pics! Look out for it... So guys... All the best for promos or whatever exams are coming. Don't let the stress get to you. Its not worth it.
P.S I know this post might generate a few opposing views. So if you have any opposing views or think my views are too strong/insensitive, please post them on the tagboard so that it is up for friendly discussion. I too will try to be as considerate as possible. Thank you.
Oct - Eden-Sol concert! ~ Our God is an awesome God.
Eden-Sol's Evangelistic Concert 2006 @ The Third Place was a resounding success. Once again, I'd like to thank all those who came down, and all those who had helped in one way or another.
1. They enjoyed the music
2. They enjoyed the food
3. They enjoyed the company
4. They enjoyed the skit
But Most Importantly
5. They enjoyed His presence
2 and a half weeks. 10+ people. 240+ dollars. Thats all we had to work with. But there was something we had that made the concert so much of a success. We had infinite stength from God. We can't deny that. For that we really praise and thank the Lord for what he has done. All things come from you and of your own do we give you.
The journey has been awesome. I've got so much to catch up on. But it was well worth it! Every single minute of it. It all started out as an idea, long before the 23rd of October. We guys had always wanted to have a concert, and an evangelistic one at that. We knew that it had to be this year, but yet after CTs. And so we set the date. 23rd October, the Monday before school hols. We knew it was a good date, cos most people would've been in the holiday mood. But we never knew what was coming. Until the attacks started to come.
We started jamming right after our CTs, and we had a blast. There were times where I was so drained, so tired, so weary. But it was fun! I felt that the company was great, the music was satisfactory, the atmosphere was awesome. Then we were hit with our first blow. One night after jamming, we realised that we needed a script, we needed so much more practise, we needed helpers, we needed logs and so many things before we could successfully pull this off. But at such short notice, who would help?
It seemed impossible. 3 weeks wasn't enough, we felt. The question clouding our minds was: Should we postpone it? Cancel it even? The answer was a firm no. #1 THE LORD LET US KNOW THAT HIS GRACE WAS SUFFICIENT FOR US. And so, with a unanimous YES, we decided to push on.
"Your grace is sufficient for me, Your strength is made perfect when I am weak... All that I cling to I lay at Your feet, Your grace is sufficient for me!"
That day after jamming when I went home, I logged on to MSN. The first thing I saw when I scrolled to the bottom of my friends list was one single nick that caught my eye. Krayle. That was the first word of the nick. It was pretty obvious what the Lord had in mind at that moment in time. I'd asked her about the concert before, and I knew she might be willing to help. And it was even more amazing. The next morning our band met to pray. And Samuel asked me about Rachel. I was surprised.
He talked about the skit he'd envisioned, and he was absolutely sure that Rachel was the only one who could pull it off. I agreed. And so it was set. She would be our lead actress. Lunch that day was horrible. It was the first time in a long time I'd felt no appetite at all. And looking back, I think it was a physical attack from the devil. It was sudden and terrible, the sort of feeling you have when you know your stomach is full of acid, but you don't feel like eating. But I scraped through that day.
As a band, we met up to discuss stuff quite often. To think about our song list, our event schedule, and take note of our external liaisons. It was then those feelings of loneliness set in. Samuel, Guoren, Gabriel, Choon Wing. They all seemed so different from me. The way we bonded was by talking lots of nonsense and suanning each other. Some how it didn't seem like me to join in. But I knew it was their way of showing trust to each other. And I accepted it just as it was.
Problem was, I didn't know whether I was included or not. Until I asked Choon Wing about it. It was sort of in an indirect way, but it worked. I believe it sorta went this way.
B: Heh. Uhh sorry I didn't really contribute much today.
C: Haha its ok lah. That Emp-Ty thing was pretty funny haha.
B: But other than that I don't really have much to say about those kinds of things you know...
C: Yeah we know. But its YOU what.
B: *smiles*
"I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately All I have to do is think of me and I have peace of mind. I'm tired of looking round rooms wondering what I gotta do or who I'm supposed to be. I don't want to be anything other than me!"
Some how it made my day. Knowing that I was special and different made me accept the role I had to play in the band. And I know they accepted and respected me for who I was. That proved to be very important, cos something big was coming. Really big.
***
3 weeks soon whittled down to 2 weeks, and it was the weekend. Good news over personal matters came drifting in. I scored 123/150 for my grade 8 practical examination, giving me a nice merit, and my brother's arm was healing up just fine. CT results were expected the following week, and I was pretty upbeat about it. With just a little fatigue from the jamming sessions, I came to church a happy guy. The guys in the band were alright as well.
We were due for our very first 'exco' meeting one of the days on the following week. After spending quite some time bumming around school and stuff, we finally got to meet our student helpers and tell them what was in store. I short journey down to Marina Square got everybody settled and ready to do the Lord's work. Dinner at the food court was fine, and though the loss in appetite set in, I felt pretty ok.
Dylan
Bel
Elisa
Xian Hui
Cheryl
Andrea
I think these were the people who came for the meeting besides the members of Eden-Sol. Did I miss anyone out? Once again I wanna thank them for coming.
The first time I met the helpers I was pretty excited, cos all of them seemed really mature and capable. Soon I found out the first thing wasn't true haha. But they were definitely much more capable than us guys. Guoren chaired the first meeting, explaining what we were planning, our rationale and whatever we needed from them. For a moment after Guoren explained everything most of them sat there in what seemed like shocked silence IMO.
Then Andrea said something that really encouraged us. I can't remember what exactly it was, but it convinced us that the Lord was with us on this awesome journey, and something awesome was going to happen soon. And it gave us the determination and hope to carry on.
From that week on... We had prayer meetings in the morning. And each morning we took the chance to refresh ourselves with song and prayer. Everyone came down, and some new people like Abby and Therese appeared soon. Our number of helpers were increasing day by day, and the manpower numbers were soon enough for us to successfully plan for the concert! Remember the 5 things we lacked?
1. Manpower
2. Money
3. Music Practise
4. Script
5. Logs
With this turn of events... We finally had enough manpower to handle most of the admin stuff, as well as the logistics and food. All we had to do was supply them with the money. (Which we unfortunately did not have at that point in time.) So the only worry was money, practise, and the script. Despite that, we thanked God for the provision of so many willing and able people to help us and further His cause.
Soon midweek came, and people started getting stresssed. I could feel it really strongly. Sam and Gabriel were worried about money, as well as the practise venues for jamming sessions. YFC seemed to be getting very erratic. First, they refused to help us as Choon Wing was a Catholic. Secondly, they refused to lend us Emmanuel house for practise as they were all busy. So Sam and Gab really had lots of headaches.
Guoren had his PW and Chinese to worry about, cos he felt that his group members were letting him do all the work, and his chinese wasn't improving as much as he wanted it to be. Choon Wing was working with Cheryl and Rachel on the script. And I think he felt pretty at home with the two girls so I guess he wasn't facing that many problems. I was in charge of the evangelistic portion, and I guess that put me under lots of stress. Cos evangelism is the most important right?
Worse of all, our song list couldn't materialise cos the script wasn't done yet. We kept having to switch songs and think of new and more suitable songs to play. It was real tough. And I think we scraped through at that point in time. Guoren and Gabriel had thoughts of quitting the band, and it seemed everything was in jeopardy. But we pushed on, (regrettably) forgetting something really important along the way. I think I was second on the morale chart after Choon Wing at that point in time.
Things were about to get even worse on my side. Initially I'd felt pretty ok. I was juggling my guitar stuff, my piano stuff, my church and also my Eden-Sol commitments pretty well. And I thanked God everyday for whatever he was doing, and giving me the strength that I could use to help my band mates.
The weekend came, and after all the intense jamming I was feeling quite good considering all the stuff I had to do. The evangelistic aspect wasn't done yet, but I had quite a good idea about it so I wasn't too worried. Then came Saturday. The first half was PW day, which was pretty ok. And the second half I went to Heeren with my bros to celebrate Mel's and Shaun's (2 of my church mates) birthdays.
It was there I met a really tired out Rachel. It seemed that besides our gig, she had an additional performance right after that with the Raffles Players. In between the script planning sessions for our band, she had to go for the production rehearsals and lots of other stuff as well. It made me wonder whether we'd pushed her too hard. Although she kept up with the smiling and talking and stuff, I could see she was tired, and perhaps a bit angry at the circumstances.
She told me that I had to act. And I was amused yet horrified. I didn't expect any appearance in the skit, and I knew that acting wasn't my cup of tea. After all, I was a science student. With the evangelistic thing, it meant that I had to:
1. Play the bass
2. Play the acoustic
3. Play the keyboard
4. Deliver the Evangelistic Message
5. Act! o_O
And that made me sorta like the person who would be doing the most in terms of the performance. But that was the least of my worries.
As Rachel said on her blog, it wasn't like her at all to be so busy. It made me really guilty. After all, I was the one who roped her into this, and I felt that it was my fault. Looking at her closing her eyes or slumped on the table asleep made me really miserable through the whole thing. I cried inside even when she flashed me a tired smile. In fact, I wanted her to withdraw from the performance. After she'd left for home, I confided in Paul and Jon (my two other church friends) and they told me that it was her choice and it wasn't my fault. It didn't really help though their intentions were good.
It wasn't until I reached home that I felt better. I read through my bible. And came across Isaiah 40:30-31.
"Even youths grow tired and and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
I posted it on my blog, and sent it via text message to Rachel. And the return message made me see truly that she had decided that she would go through this cos it was her choice. In fact she counter encouraged me. And I felt much better. I could see what Paul and Jon meant by what they'd told me. And I was convinced that even though Rachel was my childhood friend and I was protective of her, I had to let her make her decisions on her own.
After that, I introduced my blog to my band-mates, and they read through it. And it was through this verse that they got encouraged, and were reminded to trust and hope in God no matter what happened. And that was the beginning of a whole new revelation for all of us, a reminder to focus on God and God alone.
But something was coming, something even more devastating and demoralising than the things listed in this post. Stay tuned to see how we overcame the greatest and largest mental attack the devil placed in our path.
***
The weekend a week before the performance was a real refresher, and some happy things happened. For one, my twin brothers finally got confirmed, and for seconds, it seemed that most things pertaining to the concert were going on pretty smoothly.
The week ahead was going to be a crazy one, cos rehearsals were going to be long and tiring, and we had to rehearse almost everyday. It seemed pretty fine to me, but something big was coming along...
Practices went on as usual, and with all of us in Eden-Sol giving our trust to God always, it seemed that nothing could stop us, not even the devil. We were tired, yes, but the trust and faith we had in the Lord kept us going. We were pretty aware of the periods of times the devil had attacked us, and we could see quite obviously that he was still trying to stop us. But we weren't giving up without a fight. And it was a fight we were winning no doubt. Our songs were getting tight, our hearts and minds were getting stronger.
The devil tried small tricks, such as striking some of Eden-Sol with sickness. That couldn't stop us, definitely not. He tried striking our helpers with grief; Rachel's great-grandmother passed away. He tried striking our loved ones; my dad got pretty bad back pains and had to stay home a few days. But none of these worked.
As a counter, we pushed forward, getting our script, our songs, and our money more or less confirmed. It seemed everything was going way too smoothly...
The week came. And most of our CT results were out. I got grades of AABCD, which was pretty good in my opinion. But I was pretty surprised when Samuel asked to meet me during my lunch break one day during the week. It didn't sound good. I, Guoren and Gabriel met Samuel at 12. Immediately I sensed something was amiss. And Samuel broke the news. Choon Wing had been retained.
I was shocked. In fact we were all shocked. We had studied as a band before the CTs, and I knew that Choon Wing did study, and he was definitely not one of those 'hopeless' cases. He was a self termed slacker, but I knew in order to be with us in the band, he would have worked hard. The fact that Choon Wing was retained shattered all of us.
We discussed whether we should continue doing this gig. There were conflicting views. On one hand, some of us thought that it wouldn't be a good testimony for someone who had been retained to help in doing God's work. Some of them thought that Choon Wing would be too hurt to continue on. Others said that it should be up to Choon Wing himself to decide.
But I knew better than that. This was obviously and attack by the devil, or a test from God to see how committed we were despite all odds. My answer to whether we should continue doing this was a firm yes. It may have seemed cold at that point, but no matter what Choon Wing faced didn't matter at all. Only God did. And as long as there was a chance to do God's work, the chance had to be taken. This was what I believed. The rest of them heard this, and remembered our focus. And it was pretty obvious what conclusion we had.
As for Choon Wing, we decided that it would be totally up to him whether he would like to continue. In my opinion, anyone who does the Lord's good work was an awesome testimony to others, no matter how he did in his academics or sports or anything else. And so the problem was pretty much solved. Although this hurt us big, we didn't stop, and I'm proud of my band for focusing on God and God alone.
After that day, we decided on having a sleepover at Gabriel's house, not only to cheer Choon Wing up, but to be united as a band and to pray and focus on God. I didn't join them for the sleepover, but I was at Gabriel's house for some time. We prayed, worshipped and had an awesome time of fellowship. The worst was over, and nothing could stop us now. Soon Saturday, the day for the final rehearsal came. With all the music, acting, and evangelism almost done, we did a couple of dry runs. Despite being a noob in acting, I felt I was doing pretty well. Yes, a portion of it ("Why did you do this? She trusted you!") was out of character, but I carried it pretty well during rehearsals. The thing I was worried about was the evangelistic part. It was pretty obvious that with the long script I couldn't memorise everything. I pretty much started panicking and self-stressing.
I told myself that part of acting and doing this thing may involve embarassment and making mistakes, so I sorta mentally prepared myself for failure, but of course, looking at the bright side, I was sure that God would make everything perfect in His own way.
The Sunday right before the concert, I played the acoustic for main service, and as a result, I got to bring Tim's awesome Taylor home to use for the concert!
***
The day of reckoning came, and I woke up bright and early. Since my dad was recovering from his back pains after taking a jab the previous day, we went to have breakfast somewhere near Aljunied MRT while waiting for the others to come by. Soon they came and my dad left. I kinda forgot what we did in the morning. Everything seemed like a rush, and soon we were loading up the van and taking an MRT down to our performance venue, The Third Place.
Once there, we did a few more dry runs. Eden-Sol was pretty worried cos we weren't getting in the mood, and there wasn't enough groove. But we soon got into a good mood to play awesome music. Time passed pretty fast, and the concert was 1 hour away. Strangely I felt really calm. It was pretty odd, but as I trusted in God, nothing else seemed to matter.
Half an hour before the concert, the devil began to attack Choon Wing physically. He was short of breath, and we laid our hands on him and prayed. It was still pretty bad when we went out to perform, but we made it. Then the performance was soon history.
Thanks all those who came! And thanks to those who helped in one way or another!
My awesome classmates who came down! Alan, Samuel, Charissa, Christopher, Yee Ying and Si Rui! Not forgetting Carol! Sorry don't have a pic of you =P And thanks guys for the card!
The awesome people who made this a success!
Back row: Sam, Rachel, Choon Wing
Front Row: Me, Cheryl, Guoren, Gabriel
***
I made quite a few mistakes that day, and felt I'd screwed up pretty bad. I felt inadequate and inferior after the concert, and felt that someone else could've done better in my shoes than I did. But well... I recieved feedback that my friends couldn't spot any of the mistakes below, and I realised after that night that it was another attack by the devil to get me out of doing more performing. So that night the inferiority complex situation was pretty much resolved.
1. Started in wrong key for "I Don't Wanna Be"
2. Forgot my lines for convo between me and Rach
3. Got distracted by all the laughing in the audience
Despite that, it was an awesome concert, and the feedback we recieved was overwhelming. We had a few salvations, praise the Lord! That night, heaven must have shook with all the rejoicing taking place up there.
"There will be more joy in heaven over a sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance." Luke 15:7
And I was happy to do God's work that night, although I could've done without that final attack from the devil. I hope you guys have seen through these past 3 posts that we as Eden-Sol feel really strongly about our God, and you have seen enough evidence that shows that the God we believe in exists. Even through the tough odds and dry periods, our belief in him helped us through. I believe that by ourselves we couldn't have completed anything, and that is evidence enough that he exists.
Thank you for reading, and hope you have been inspired by this 3 posts! Let us continue to live and work to His praise and glory. Amen.
Nov - Randomness, Naruto, PW OP
Random K I got tagged by qq so I have to do this thing haha. Actually I really want to although the earlier sentence sounded quite reluctant. Thanks for giving me something to do besides watch anime on youtube haha.
Once tagged by this entry, the assignment is to write a blog entry of some kind with six random facts about yourself. Then, pick six of your friends and tag them; no tag backs. This explanation should be included.
1. Some people may find this weird... But I've only burped 16 times in my life before. Strange but true. And some more I take the effort to count how many times haha. My tally just increased yesterday after I burped twice. Thats random enough I guess?
2. Once at the airport some guy mistook me for a japanese. Haha couldn't really believe my ears when that guy approached me and spoke to me in jap. This happened after my trip to Korea I think. Do I look jap to you? I know a bit... And I guess I'm into the jap culture with all the gaming and anime stuff. But I don't dye my hair so outrageously like they do haha...
3. I have 3 smily faces stuck to the side of my desk. If you wanna see what the smily face looks like refer to my earlier posts haha. FYI the smily face is a mosquito patch which is supposedly able to drive mozzies away.
4. This one will probably make Kenny Lim excited. I've created my own set of moves that I use rarely while playing Chinese Chess. Its called Benlow's Ultimate defense haha. In this move I link my pieces so that the cannon on the left protects the horse on the right which protects the cannon on the right which protects the horse on the left which protects the cannon on the left and... You get the picture haha. Its pretty effective against noobs/amateurs but against pros it can get broken up way too easily. Don't tell you guys the weakness though. Go figure.
5. Not many people have seen me play whacko before... But those who have probably know I have a certain trick up my sleeve which I picked up. Its pretty useful but some people don't know. To confuse the whacker just call a name and point in another direction. Its pretty effective for me cos everyone would think "Benlow is a nice guy so he won't trick me" and then go in the direction I point and end up confused. Haha. So don't fall for it the next time I do it. Then again don't believe me. I may be using reverse psychology.
6. Wanna hear a long joke I learnt from my bros? JJJJJJJJJOOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEE. Is that long enough for you? Want a longer one?
K I won't tag anybody cos"Benlow is a nice guy so he won't trick me" haha. So I tag... Nah don't worry I wasn't going to use reverse psychology on you. Hope thats random enough for you guys.
I must say that I really like Naruto, not just cos of its plot, characters and animation, but also because of the encouragement it gives me. The values that I hold dear have all been affirmed throughout watching the first 90 episodes.
Naruto, the main character had a Nine-Tailed Fox Demon sealed into him when he was young. As a result, the 4th leader (also known as 4th Hokage), which happened to be Naruto's dad, died. Throughout his entire life, Naruto was feared and ostracized, but he didn't know why. He lived a hard life of solitude, waiting for some one to appreciate him for his ninja techniques. And finally someone did.
Frankly it sounds like my life without all the demon stuff haha. From young I was some what like an outcast, especially in Kindergarten, Nursery and some parts of my Primary education. The worse thing was that I didn't know why, and nobody bothered to correct me when I was going the wrong way. But soon awesome people who appreciated me came along and gave me strength and encouragement, and that was enough to make me become a wonderful person.
Another character from Naruto is a guy called Gaara, who's from the Hidden Village of Sand. (Naruto is from the Hidden Village of Leaf - Konoha FYI) He had the same childhood as Naruto, he had a sand raccoon demon sealed in him. The villagers all feared him, and even worse, seeing him as a threat, his very own father tried to assassinate him many many times. In the end, his father ordered the guardian he trusted and loved to try and kill him. The guardian failed, but from then on Gaara became a merciless killing machine. Freaky huh.
Its quite scary how certain things in your life can help you or just mess up your entire future. I shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn't met those awesome friends and mentors I've had throughout my life. Would I become something like Gaara and live to hate? Dunno.
Naruto soon became a Genin (low ranked ninja) and took the Chuunin (middle ranked ninja) examinations. He fought lots of hard battles and in the final exam even defeated the number one Genin rookie of the previous year. But then he soon fought Gaara when something sudden happened (which I won't spoil). It was not only a contest of ninja skills, but a contest of will and spirit. Two different, yet completely the same persons fought for what they thought was right.
Hate or Love? Gaara believed that strength came from within himself, and the only one he could live for was himself. Naruto believe that strength came from others, and he lived for others. They clashed, and Naruto was the victor. Naruto said after the fight that true strength came from a desire to protect the people that you cherish. After I saw that I wanted to cry.
It was so much like me... Everything that I've done from the beginning of my life to now was affirmed in that one second. And it felt wonderful. So many years of being different from others, so many years of being left out, so many years I've tried to be nice to everyone. It all paid off when I saw that brief scene. I remember I cried in the shower the day I saw that episode.
So now I'm at episode 90, and I'll continue watching to see how everything progresses.
***
Hope you guys enjoyed that entire section. The year 2006 has been full of angst, stress, yet has been so fufilling and wonderful. Turning points of stress into points of strength and encouragement, thats what I've learnt how to do and do well even. Though it worries me that I worry too much, I guess I've compensated for that by making it my strength and my shield.
God has been so important this past year, and I'm at the closest I can get to him at this point of time though I've degened a bit during the hols. Giving my one-tenth back to him is something I've learnt to do over and over again. Drawing on his word for encouragement, rebuke and learning, thats what I've been adept at.
In terms of friends I've learnt how to be strong - to protect them no matter what it costs. And I've learnt that no one can say that they are the way they are without the help from their wonderful friends. I've learnt to appreciate them and try my best not to offend them or ruin them. Cos its only one single thing that can screw a person's life up.
Its been an advancement in evangelism for me. With the Eden-Sol concert and all I've learnt the power of prayer, the significance of the bond of fellowship, the meaning of love, the hunger and passion for service and most importantly the trueness of God.
Last but not least. I've learnt that I'm a strong person inside. Despite being quiet, pensieve and introverted at times I can be a good, nice person. And although I'm so startlingly different from most around me I'm still appreciated and loved. I can face any obstacle head on, live to tell the tale, and teach people how to walk the same path I've trod. Most importantly this year, I've embraced myself, my unique character, despite so much peer pressure to adhere to the norms of present society.
I'm proud of myself. And proud of all my friends who survived this year with me.
2006 was wonderful. And I'm sure you'll agree.
***
2007 will be the most stressful year ever, and once it ends, everything will start crumbling and falling apart if I'm not careful. Its time to learn how to cope with all the activities I'll be having. guitar, piano, RR, RJGE, Eden-Sol, X'PEIA outings, S03H outings, As, YE. The whole lot of them are gonna make my life tough yet fruitful. And with God's grace I'll pull through.
I hope to complete some of my goals (can be found in the About Me section) next year if time permits. But if I can't, I still have till 20 to complete them. My cousin's complaining about getting old, but I'm loving it. =)
I look forward to the challenge. 2007 here I come. Nothing's gonna stop me!
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