BenLow's blog

Finally gone on a trip that I really paid attention to haha. Most other overseas trips were pretty much a blur, but because I took the effort to pay attention and get involved in it, it was a lot more rewarding than previous trips. Unlike most other trips, this one was absolutely delicious every single day. Singaporeans I've asked have had mixed reactions to the food there... But my family's the more adventurous kind; as long as it looks good and smells good, eat it! Feels quite like a family motto haha. We enjoyed all the street food immensely, and didn't even end up with a single stomach ache. Thank God for strong stomachs. The place I enjoyed the most was the Geopark at Yehliu... A must go for geog students for sure. All sorts of natural wonders. Spits, bars, tombolos, cliffs, evidence of weathering, rock formations - the best place for a geog geek to do a project, or photo buffs to take nice pictures of scenery. Here are some nice ones: Besides the geopark, we went to t

The YE chalet for me was a period of many firsts... First time staying over at a chalet for one. For me its never been comfortable living in cramped quarters surrounded by other people at close proximity. Sleepovers have always been out of the question... I suppose the situation surrounding the chalet was a little special. Being the only other leader besides Paul and Aunty K was my motivation to be there. As a guardian or supervisor of sorts, to ensure the safety of everyone there (also another first). Things were made slightly more pressing due to Paul's illness, which made my presence rather more important. Arrived early on the first day, with responsibility for guiding a large group of youth to a premise that I'd never even remotely seen or looked up about (again a first) suddenly thrust into my hands, as Paul would not be present as guide. I think I was rather successful despite getting a little lost at the end heh... Mildly irritated by the lack of preparation I was able t

Alright its time to catch up with posting... But before that, NANA is finished, and I'm now moving on to History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi. Time to talk about Marina Bay Sands. Some of you guys may have already been there, but for the benefit of those who haven't, here goes! Going to Marina Bay Sands was quite an excitement, because just a week before we went was the broadcast of the very last episode of the Amazing Race Asia, which featured Singapore as the final leg, and Marina Bay Sands as the last pit stop. That certainly piqued my interest, and going there was a gigantic eye opener. In fact, once we entered the hotel, to our right stood the winners of the Amazing Race Asia with their ginormous cheque for the prize money: Richard and Richard, who were about to leave in a cab. At this moment I think Hannah would have started screaming like a zealous fan girl heh. Ethan from the Ethan and Khairie pairing was there too. Besides that, the architecture is exceptionally st

Have a whole back log of posts (MBS, chalet, Taiwan), stuff to do for church, and Christmas presents to take care of... Apologies to some, your souvenirs/presents need some repacking. Coming back from hols is always no joke, especially when its this close to a major holiday. For now, here are my grades: Psych - B+ Stats - B Jap - A Social Work - A+ History - B Cap: 4.20 Pretty alright! Quite satisfied. Next milestone: module bidding on 28th Dec. Finally, a BLESSED CHRISTMAS to all! May we continue to remember Christ's coming into this world, for without it, we would still be condemned, and would not be able to gather like so in church today. Praise be to God for the sacrifice He has made for us.

YE Chalet's over... More on that next time. Got a back log of 2 posts: MBS and Chalet, but I'll manage some how. Got back, read the new chapters for B leach, Naruto and One Piece, watched Naruto and then slept. For 8 hours. Woke up, went for dinner. Came back home... Packing's all done for now, so I'll just relax till midnight when survivor starts... Will go bed then, have to wake up at 6. On to Taiwan!

Away for 3 days to YE chalet, then for another 7 days to Taiwan! See y'all soon.

In the past when I was younger I wrote a 5 part series to help me get to know myself better. After days of careful reflection and observation of how I was living my life, I wrote those posts. If you're interested they're in the archives, from feb 2005 onwards. This today is the 6th part, something I could only have discovered after becoming more mature. My ethos: the guiding principles of how I've chosen to live my life, the things that influence my reactions, emotions and thoughts about others. Much like Naruto saying that never giving up is his way of the ninja if you get what I mean. 1. Everything I have is a bonus, the only thing I need is God. It might be something every Christian talks about, but rarely do you see it truly translated into action, and even then, most Christians don't internalize this concept in their lives until it becomes truly natural. For me... This translates into the thankfulness that I feel no matter where I am and what I have, and also the l

After yesterday, listening to my cell members react to the change to Saturdays... Can't help but worry. If there's such dissent, did we as leaders hear God right? Rationally, there were so many benefits: now we'll be able to have adult assistance, preachers will not have to rush for service and will be able to take the questions of the youth post session, the youth can contribute to main service, families can grow in Christ together when they go for service together, friends who come to YE can be followed-up on post YE, the time after YE can be used for fellowship without sacrificing going for service. I was alright with the change... Even though on the DISC personality test I'm a high stability person who doesn't like change. An Sc Specialist pattern FYI. This was because I believed all that was necessary for a youth would be a strong relationship with God, it didn't matter to me when YE was held as long as the love they have for God would never change. For my

Almost every single episode of K-On 2nd season and Nana are tugging at my heart strings... Just reminds me of the wonderful times I had with Eden-Sol/The Importance Of Being Idle and being in a band. How I miss those times performing in front of a live audience. My heart pounding in my chest, my hands playing across the vibrating strings of my bass, the smiles on my fellow performers faces, the rush of adrenaline just running through a well arranged cover and finally the roar of an appreciative crowd. My heart yearns to perform on such a stage once again. The question is where to find like minded, Christ loving people who are willing to take it up... Perhaps I'm not meant to relive an experience such as this, maybe just not yet. I hope it does come again, and not be another of my dreams broken and left on the wayside. K-On just reminds me so much of Gabriel, Guoren, Choon Wing and Sam... How everything felt so natural, so God-centered. Amidst the hard work, there were times with la

Hi all... Have loads of things to post about, maybe 4 posts worth so I'll just take my time with all of that. Shall start with all the random things that I've been up to this week. Don't mind me putting all of it in point form. 1. Music Theory Have been teaching Sherman the essential portions of theory for the grade 5 level. Pretty glad I could still remember... Made me remember the heart and soul I put into my music. I excelled more in theory than practical, and I'm glad its translated into something useful I can do for others. Years of learning Augmented 5ths, Appoggiaturas, Italian terms and Compound duple time have come into use... 2. Rapunzel A wonderful movie... Typical Disney plot arrangement, but had an extremely powerful climax scene that sealed everything into a nice package. Couldn't really appreciate the songs, but I suppose it creates an element of Disney-ness. Its the kind of movie you'd take your significant other to... But then the reality hits y

Getting slightly busy in terms of church stuff... For the next couple of weeks have got quite a bit of things to complete in order of priority: 1. Prep worship 2. Prep announcements for Sunday 3. Compile results for YE survey 4. Talk to members about leaders training 5. Talk to JS and Snd about YE graduation Besides that a couple more meetings for YE next year are coming up, quite importantly on the music ministry side. The past two weeks we've been having meetings on Tuesdays to firm up the program and come up with appropriate themes, and I must say I'm excited about next year. For leisure, Dragon Ball GT is coming to an end, with 12 eps left. And for Eternal Sonata I've defeated the most difficult boss in the bonus dungeon, all that's left is to complete the game and then start on the encore mode. Besides that, have started playing a new fb game by square enix, makers of the FF series. Knights of the Crystals is its name. Any FF fan out there want to join? Let me know

As the year winds down... Saturdays are starting to free themselves up. Today's the first saturday in a long time I've got no appointments or outings to keep, and it does feel good, even empowering in a way. Well over the week got started on Dragon Ball GT, which essentially is a 64 ep filler spin off of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, and lacks the character development and drive of the previous 2 series because of a change in the author. Also another series called NANA about the tough, materialistic, painful and depressing life in Japan through the eyes of 2 20 year old girls who meet fortuitously on the train to Tokyo and again when they search for apartments to purchase, leading them to become great friends and become roommates. A classic example of looking for love and meaning in all the wrong places... And how to avoid living a life like theirs. A bit like a Korean Drama gone emo it seems, at least from my impressions of the first 4 eps. One of the highlights of the week w

Just shifted some of my uni stuff into my top cabinet, which will sort of be my archive for this uni experience. Gonna sell some of the textbooks soon... Finally at the brink of finishing off Dragon Ball Z, just 16 eps left. To commemorate that, I have up a new mix of songs in the mixpod, filled with some songs I find exceptionally outstanding musically. One to note would be Chrno Crusade's Tsubasa Wa Pleasure Line, which comes with outstanding visual animation to boot. Included are the classical pieces introduced in the previous post. Really proud of Gihon's attitude for the captain's ball tournament yesterday. I felt they really embodied everything that we'd learnt over the past year in cell. In this way, we were definitely champions in our own right. The way they behaved was sporting, encouraging, loving and most of all God centred. Well done! =D Seeing them putting all this into practice made me content as a cell leader. Looking forward to more years with them. Whic

Just finished my jap test, and I'm pretty confident of what I did today. Just around 5 hours to the last paper before I'm free... In 7 hours my very first set of uni exams would be done! Not too sure what to do whilst on break. Haven't gotten any concrete plans down, except watch anime. The break will probably start off a little rough, with the cough and sore throat that I don't know how I got yesterday. We'll just see how it goes! Planning a little bit for next sem... But with the declaration of major only available after the module pre-allocation exercise its very likely that I'll need to bid for my modules instead of getting them cheaply, but oh wells thats alright. I think I'm looking a little too forward here so I should just relax about it. For piano stuff, Raindrop is pretty much done with, except for glitches here and there. So here comes more piano stuff, with Beethoven's woO 40: a variation on a theme and duet with piano and violin, and Chopin&

Amazing stuff... Results for social work are finally back. B- for reflections, 63 for MCQ and a whopping 82 for my portfolio which comprises 25% of the marks. Given my writing style was expecting less. But I guess having the heart is what really matters. Exams start tmr, and I must say I'm not in the least bit nervous. And the great thing is that I see how what I'm learning has taken shape in my life to impact others. Social work, psych and a little bit of history are helping in my ministry, and jap is definitely helping in terms of friendships and hobbies. And I also see how the things that have happened in the past are helping me today, being a CGL has definitely helped in the approach of using social work concepts, and my past as a maths student and science student is helping immensely with psych and stats. The past was bright, and the future too is bright. What a wonderful life and ministry. =D Looks like I'm at the peak of optimism this week. Exams here I come!

God! Let me praise You By taking an active role in my corner of Your Creation, And my filling the area in which I live with Your light, warmth, love and happiness. God! Let me praise You By brightening the lives of those around me, And encouraging them with such words as "I love you," "Thanks," and "I forgive you." God! Let me praise You By sharing with others everything You've given me, And being the first in a group to offer A smile, hug, condolence, and helping hand. God! Let me praise You By fighting back gloom when it surrounds me, And not being contagious whenever I'm feeling Discouraged, upset, lonely and disappointed. God! Let me praise You By turning to You at every moment of every day, And acknowledging Your love for me with My words, actions, thoughts, and prayers. Taken from Rick Christian's Devotions for Students. =D

Today marks one year since I've ORDed, and its a reminder of the things that I've had to go through in the 12 months for me to arrive here, where I am in uni, just 2 weeks away (9 days to be exact) from exams. The journey's been pretty straight, rough at times, but still God has guided me through. SERVE was a brand new experience, becoming a BS and worship leader and uni certainly has been good. I've matured a lot since then, especially in my spiritual walk and my independence. Happy ORD anniversary! All my lessons have been wrapping up, and I feel considerably better since the irritable mood on tuesday. As the trials come they don't seem so big anymore because there's a way bigger God with me. So, next week's study break... I'll do exactly what its name says, study, then have a break, then study, then have a break. The exams aren't really whats forefront in my mind, but thats just me I guess. There are a lot more important things to think about and

Considerably irritated by the fact that I've not been getting important emails because people are still sending stuff to my old account... Its not as if I hadn't told people to switch my email address... As a result I'm not too sure what I have to do with regards to a lot of my ministry work for this month, and I'm absolutely not going to accept giving God shoddy work because of a lack of information. So SEND ME THOSE EMAILS!!! Gah. To soccermugger@gmail.com in case any of you still don't know. Besides that, the next 3 days will be pretty difficult in terms of nerves. Wednesday there's a jap essay presentation in lecture, Thursday is Jap oral test and Friday is Jap speech in tutorial. 3 occasions having to speak publicly and be judged on it, all in a row. Preparing for worship on top of that, and also coordinating cell when nothing has been firmed up yet... On the 20th is church leaders meeting, 15 or 16th is YE leaders meeting... Adding these things makes it a

And so I've collected both my essays that I've submitted, and I must say I'm pretty glad at the results I've gotten, given my not so good writing style, and being a science student by nature. My content is usually pretty good, but the writing style lets me down. Essays are just not my forte, so I've still got to improve, but I've gotten B for my psych essay, and B+ for my history essay, which I'm totally satisfied with. Feeling blessed at the moment... I've been through a couple of "final tutorials" for the semester already, most notably Social Work, Psychology and History. Must say that it ended on a good note, and I've contributed pretty well to the discussions. Overall this semester, I believe I've done my best and God knows. Final jap and stats tutorials are on friday next week. Don't know how many times I've said this, but I feel totally enveloped by God in His love and blessings. This sem has been great. Praise God! =D So

Happy birthday to my blog! Its its 6th birthday! In psych lecture now, today's topic is abnormal psychology, so we're leaning about certain medical conditions like mania, schizophrenia, depression etc etc. With Kah Kay and her friend Eileen! Hello hello! Happy birthday to Ben's blog! It feels weird to be blogging from someone else's blog. But yeah, haven't been blogging since A level. Really missed it. Lecture starting. Gtg byes! :) - Eileen 2nd time posting. xD kk here... the psych lecture is reallyyyyyyyyyyyy psychooooooooo~. im sooo tired alr. bet ben is also as tired as me... =/ the lecturer seems to be quite a fun (handsome since he is an angmoh? i cant see clearly.. )person... but im obviously not paying attention right.. xD ben is coughing badly. this post sld remind him to rest more and maybe take cough med. xD okok~ typing too much. returning back to ben. :) Haha leftover phlegm from the haze. And its been a long day. Anyways thats all for today, beginning

Well, once again, everything's going well! Assignments are all done with, and all thats left to do is let go and let God do the rest. Feeling extremely elated finishing my assignments for the first time in uni... The only thing that'll beat it now will be finishing this semester's exams. Its gonna be a major accomplishment! =D Readings are mostly done for the rest of the sem, all thats left is mugging for finals. Gonna start soon! So the new furniture is here. My bros got really nice desks, we've all got nice professional looking swivel chairs. New beds are coming tmr, quite excited about it! My old bed's been here since I first moved here to Guilin View; will miss it, but some kinds of change should be welcomed right. Other great stuff would be making a new friend through pure coincidence. Met my new friend Jiachi at one of the psych experiments... Since there were only 3 of us there we ended up talking. Turns out we're both from RJ, we're taking both psyc

Cough cough... Urgh the haze is doing loads of damage to my body. Cough started on wednesday, persisted on thursday, and irritated people during the jap test on friday. Haze haze go away! I think its affected my ability to think straight, do BS effectively and tmr for sure it'll affect worship leading. Not gonna let it stop me though, only if I fall seriously ill. Quite afraid that I'll be really disruptive during service tmr... On the brink of completing my 2nd last assignment, with only minor adjustments and the biblio left to do. After this only one stats assignment left! Scored well for stats test. Though expected 70/100, got an 85, which was amazingly great! This week was considerably bad, with the haze, assignment submissions, having to lead BS, and lead worship all rolled in one. If the haze weren't there many things would have been a lot better, and I'd be able to manage all the rest of the stuff without much more difficulty. Also, really bored of the uni routin

Hey guys in the NUS central library now... As mentioned in the previous posts I've got a netbook, and its coming in real handy. Prob gonna watch anime later, after I finish blogging and studying for my next jap vocab quiz. I'm here with Kah Kay, my psych tutorial friend. HEY. benjamin went to toilet and its my turn to use his netbook. xD ive only known him for like.. a month? and benjamin is really a quiiiiiiiiiiet person. you friends out there sld make him talk more! :D we are studying for japanese vocab now.. boring life in nus~~~ ( he must be thinking why am i writing such weirdo stuff in his blog ). btw im kahkay here. :D no scandals! dont think too much! Haha yup hope you've got an insight into what my NUS friends are like from this para! =D Wells, I am quiet, no doubt about that, unless I've got important things to say. Its just how I am. =D =D So now, its gonna be a pretty long day for us, all the way till 8pm(kk: nooooo~). A couple of hours to spend... Probably

God just knows what to bring to you to give you a great day. Monday was one of the best days I've had since uni started, and its all thanks to meeting friends randomly here and there. Met Jia Yin from SERVE at the bus stop, then when she left, bumped into Hyqel from RJGE a little further down. And the most amazing of all, bumped into Lawry from S03H in the Science toilets beside LT27. A reminder of all the friends I've made from the age of 13 onwards till now, and how they've helped bring me all the way to the person I am now. Sunday was 10/10/10, and special for another reason: the solemnization of marriage for my cousin Elaine and her husband Sean. It was a pretty nice affair, I got to drive my grandma to Parc Oasis, my old house. And witnessing the first ever wedding for a cousin on the paternal side was nice. On monday when we went to our grandparents house to celebrate his 80th birthday, we found the couple sitting on the couch watching Crayon Shinchan together. So swe

History Essay's done! Footnoting and bibliography too. That was pretty fast... Thank God. =D Moving on to Social Work Reflection paper, and that'll be my 3rd last assignment for the sem. Only 2 more left: Stats Assignment and Social Work Portfolio. Everything's going well. And its moments like this you can't help but feel utterly blessed.

Got to a good headstart on my history essay... So far 390/1500 words are accounted for, the outline is all done up. And all thats left is the remainder of the essay, which will need a lot more research, and the footnoting and biblio. Quite content with the way it's started off so I'll take a break and then get on with research. Need more info on: 1. Nature of Imperialism that China and Japan faced 2. C&J's Ideological changes (1850-1900s) 3. C&J's Educational reforms (same) 4. C&J's Trade stances (same) 5. C&J's Governance models (same) 6. Evidence for Japan's dominance in Asia over China post 1900s 7. Opinions of Western countries of C&J post 1900s Sounds like quite a bit, but lets do it! =)

Alright an update on the tests so far! Psych 100MCQs - Confident of 70% of the answers. Stats 100 MCQs - Confident of 70% of the answers. Japanese Term Test - Confident of 90% of the answers. Social Work 40MCQs - Confident of 50% of the answers. Social work MCQ test was a super sneaky one. Most of the questions had 5 options instead of the conventional 4, and the options were very similar for some questions, or were so diverse I wasn't sure which one to choose. =S The rest of the tests were pretty ok I guess. Jap was the highlight, cos I practically just breezed through the 50 marks worth of questions in 15 mins and spent the rest of the time checking over and over. Leaving the results all up to God! Got a new netbook during the week, and it proved useful for the 6hrs of break in between jap test and social work test. Watched Naruto, read through my lecture readings, studied social work and downloaded itunes in the 6hrs. Looking forward to next week! Its e-learning week! Though I h

Just completed my very first test in NUS! The 100 MCQs. It went quite well IMO. Not too sure how well I'll do but I'm just leaving it all to God. It was a pretty fun paper, but a little tricky as well... Quite confident of 70% of the answers that I gave, so hoping it'll translate to a good score. =) A little bit of the stress of uni is starting to get to me, especially with my psych and stat modules, because if I don't get above a certain score (B-) I won't get to major in psych. I've still got a backup plan, but I think I won't need to rely on it, I hope. Also... My uni grades may affect my future in a lot more ways than I initially thought. But we'll see. God's plan is always for the best! Done with all 153 episodes of Dragonball, now proceeding with Dragonball Z, which has a lot more episodes... It might take me quite some time, so don't think I'll be embarking on any other animes anytime soon. Oh, also my hotmail seems like its out of com

Taken from Rick Christian's The One Year Alive Devotions For Students, dated Feb 19th. SPARK I know that some people laugh at my idealism-- At my effort to be a "light of the world" At my eager, though often meager, attempt to Shine a ray of brightness into an otherwise Dark, dank world. There are times when I understand why people laugh and ridicule. I mean, how dumb can I possibly be To think my life really matters amid Almost eight billion other people on this cinder speck of a planet In this distant corner of the spinning, reeling universe. Dear God, sometimes my light seems no brighter Than the lambent glow of a single lightning bug On a very cold, black night-- Barely a flicker, just a quick spark Amid darkness deeper than the shade of a shadow. Yet a spark, just a solitary spark is all it takes To get a bonfire flashing and flaming, burning and blazing. S

And so break week begins! Still ahead of schedule in readings, but starting to study for mid terms that will start the week after. Not sure what to expect for tests. MCQs sound like it'll be easy, but you'll never know. Any advice for psych MCQ Shu? Yup so my psych, stats, social work midterm will be MCQ... First exams in uni! =0 So here's my test schedule for the week after break, just FYI and do pray for me yeah? Monday 6-8pm - Psych 100 MCQ test Thursday 4-6pm - Stats MCQ test Friday 11-12pm - Jap Midterm test Friday by 5pm - Psych essay Friday 6-8pm - Social Work MCQ test

And so I've stayed off MSN and blogging for about a week already... So for today I'm back online! Today was a really good day. Had a 4 hour break which I did not how to deal with, but as usual God was good. I made 2 new friends during psych tutorial, Jamie and Kah Kay, and since all of us were supposed to have a long day from 8am to 8pm, we accompanied each other till our next tutorials came. Also, I managed to meet Ben my jap lecture friend right before and after my psych lecture and we decided to go back together. Having company really helps when you're feeling tired, and I'm glad God knew exactly what I needed to keep me through the day. Sherine popped up a few times as well. =D Yesterday was my first driving experience exceeding 100km/h. Went up to 120km/h on the expressways whilst driving to fetch Darren from the airport after his Korea trip. All the adrenaline went to my head and I got quite high on driving. Nevertheless we made it there and back safely despite th

And so its September. Time has been passing pretty quick. I'm a full month into studying already, yet its only felt like a couple of days? I suppose its the army time syndrome; after a whole 2 years of being in a camp a month feels like a few days. Completed my very first assignment in uni, and a little confused at how well I handled it. Friends everywhere are complaining about their assignments, and I found mine too simple. Perhaps its the courses I'm taking that are not so difficult, and perhaps like army training the courses I've taken are progressive in nature? Anyways, I thank God for this. When I see everyone else struggling (or at least claiming to struggle), I can't believe how blessed I am. Another series of fortunate events include saturday's trip to church. As everyone probably knows the train service between Jurong East and Clementi has been stopped for this weekend, and at 2:15pm I found myself making my way to the shuttle buses to Clementi from Jurong

Had the car to myself for last week cos my dad was overseas... Gained quite a bit of experience driving people around during that period. A pretty fun experience, but in some situations especially exasperating, most notably when gps is involved. Nonetheless, I really enjoy driving people back to their houses, and in a way going home from meetings is the part of the meeting I look forward to the most these days haha. My first few passengers (beside my family) include my fellow jap lecture friend Ben, churchies Rach, Marcus, Eunice and Amos! =D =D =D Anyways, once again, I'm reminded of the reasons why I've been coping so well when it comes to uni life. I wouldn't have gotten used to the lecture/tut systems if I hadn't gone for SERVE, which is similar in many ways... I wouldn't have gotten into SERVE if I didn't go into NS. I wouldn't have gotten into NS if I'd gotten a place in med school. And in all of this God has a hand, that's the evidence of His

Tutorials have started... Though I've only been to a jap one on monday. Really enjoyed myself. The dynamics at tutorials are great. Though there are quite a few loners but most other people try their best to be friendly despite the odd mix of personalities. Well... Here's my schedule. Monday Psych Tutorial 8am (Even weeks) Jap Tutorial 2pm Psych Lecture 6pm Tuesday Hist Lecture 4pm Wednesday Social Work Tutorial 10am (Even weeks) Social Work Lecture 2pm Jap Lecture 6pm Thursday Jap Tutorial 10am Hist Tutorial 1pm Stat Lecture 4pm Friday Jap Tutorial 11am Stat Tutorial 2pm (Odd weeks) Well... There's quite a bit of 2hr breaks that have to be dealt with during the week. So what do I do? Spend it at the central library studying or just relaxing at the arts canteen mostly. Have found a couple of nice spots to just chill... Like the roof of LT 27 on mondays before psych lecture. Most other days I spend at the tables closest to the edge of the canteen, listening to my music and e

And the blessings just keep coming... A new jap lecture friend, also named Ben and a chance meeting with Sherine, my RJGE friend. Clearly God's working here, helping me find new friends, and bringing back my old ones. The conditions in which I've managed to meet them were out of my own control, and to do so was extremely fortuitous. So I truly believe God's working in a really magnificent way here. Excited about the next psych lecture about the brain... In fact because its readings are based on quite a couple of medical terms and you guys know how I feel about medicine and the involvement of anatomy in any sort of syllabus. In fact the passion for the topic is so strong that I've started to describe some things I experience in terms of brain function. Rawr my inner nerd is coming out... But I guess its another good thing and a blessing. Means that I'll be studying harder cos I'm passionate about the stuff I learn. Thank you God! =D

Have thoroughly enjoyed the coverage of YOG so far, with Singapore doing pretty well. I think the anchors of the 11pm broadcast have been doing a great job! Proud of our youngsters who've done all they can to make Singapore champions. *** BPL has started once again, and watching the various replays of matches I've seen how mistakes by goalkeepers can just make or break a team. And heroics by some of them will save a club from defeat. Take Joe Hart for Man City. Loads of saves meant that Man City survived an onslaught on their goal from the imperious Tottenham offense in their 0-0 draw. Here are the results: Tottenham 0 Man City 0 Blackburn 1 Everton 0 Aston Villa 3 West Ham 0 Bolton 0 Fulham 0 Sunderland 2 Birmingham 2 Wolves 2 Stoke 1 Wigan 0 Blackpool 4 Chelsea 6 West Brom 0 Liverpool 1 Arsenal 1 Man U 3 Newcastle 0 Another point of note was Blackpool's 4-0 defeat of Wigan. Though they were expected to be one of the weaker sides in the league they've managed to win in

Haven't been sleeping well for the past few days... Cos of the excitement of uni, and thinking about how lectures and school life will go. Some nights I'd just lie in bed running through the things I'd do in school like buying texts, walking from place to place and things like that. (Good thing my lectures are in the afternoon...) It reminds me of how much I've chosen not to rely on God enough, instead taking a lot of the freedom I have into my own hands. Regrettably, uni's not doing a ton of good to my relationship with Him... A little upset that before I read through my notes, and run through my to-do-list I've stopped asking Him for guidance. Starting to understand how people can lose their way spiritually in uni. A place where you have to grasp everything yourself, from your social life, to your learning, to the way you plan your schedule. Its way too easy to neglect God and lead your life the way you plan it. I've got to be more aware of the devil creep

And so the term starts with tomorrows History Lecture... Just looked through the slides, and it looks as though there will not be much learning done, instead most of it is information on the lecturer, syllabus, course and etc. Oh wells it will still be good to familiarize myself with the surroundings and get some of the textbooks I need. Quite looking forward to it! Comm Shield yesterday was pretty good compared to previous ones... Score ended 3-1, with Man U beating Chelsea to show their ability as title contenders in this years BPL. No prizes for the winners, just bragging rights. The highlight of it was Javier Hernandez and his fortuitous goal. Looking forward to seeing more of him in the future, and its great that he's started off the season with a goal. The new BPL season, here we come!

Its been a week to remember. My mom's birthday, driving around after dinner doing errands, new specs, finishing off Gintama, preparing worship, getting a hair cut, changing to a new book for QT, bidding for modules, going down to NUS to submit my GIRO form, coming to terms with having to study hard once again. With that, the general feeling of life feels different from just a week ago. It feels like a whole new chapter is unfolding, one full of responsibilities, new freedom and big challenges. Looking forward to meeting new friends and trying new things. The entire dynamics of my life are about to change, for better or worse I still don't know... Of course trepidation is starting to set in. This period of life may make or break everything. But now that I'm older I know better... God's always been here, and He will be no matter what. Well here's my schedule for the next couple of weeks as of now FYI, and with the addition of tutorials it will change in 2 weeks time s

Well... Its my birthday, thank you all for the texts and the fb msgs. My 21st doesn't feel any much more special. But one thing that I'm aware of is how much stronger I'm getting, in faith, in controlling my emotions, in relationships and most importantly, living this life for God. So here's one of my favourite Delirious songs, because it means a lot to me, and is real to me especially at this very moment. At this moment when I can really say I truly love Him from the depths of my heart. Browse through my mixpod and you'll find it. Stronger - Delirious? We're getting stronger everyday, We're getting braver in every way, Hallelujah here we come. We're getting stronger everyday, Push through the rains that fall our way, Hallelujah here we come. We're much stronger when we're one, Hallelujah here we come. Oh, I love You from the depths of my heart, And nothing here will tear us apart. Everything's beautiful with You, Everything's beautiful,

Phew bidding is done! If the cards play right these are the modules I'll be doing: Intro to Psychology Research and Statistical Methods Japanese 1 Asia and the Modern World Intro to Social Work Here we go!

Well, its now amazingly close to the start of school. Its been about 8 months of inactivity in terms of something compulsory for my future, and its almost difficult to break out of this because I've really enjoyed not studying or doing any form of official work too much. But really excited about what I'm gonna learn and experience in uni. Loads of decisions to make, starting on thursday with the bidding of modules. Thinking of joining VCF (Varsity Christian Fellowship) for their bidding party on that day, and getting church people to go with me. And further on, probably have to choose which clubs and societies I'll be joining. I think I'll probably join something music related to improve my skills, and its something I really love, or perhaps something Japanese related, but definitely I'll be in one of the Christian societies. Decisions decisions. Despicable Me! Watched it last Sunday with my cousins and Darren late at night. Enjoyed it thoroughly... To tell the trut

Looks like loads of people have already moved to tumblr... Aww feeling a little lonely here in the blogger blogosphere. Well, this platform of blogger has been around for ages, and its the first one I've started out with... Somehow losing all those archives is making me not switch to another permanent blog elsewhere. Then again... Reminds me of all the changes that I've never made. Facebook profile pics , msn address, email account, gaming nick, old notes and cards from friends, old piano and guitar books etc have been kept for such a long time. Just shows how much I treasure my memories... For fear of them fading away I've kept these things close to me. Its strange how bad memories stay much longer than good ones... But to remind myself of the good things I've got this habit of keeping the old stuff. Each time I reread those old notes, letters, blog posts and what not, its a reminder of how far I've come. Feeling pretty old right now. Mentally mostly, as if I'm

Something amazing happened during SYC today that I really thank God for... I've gotten the gift of wisdom on a few occasions from the Holy Spirit before, but I've never used it for someone with other people around before. The conditions were just so amazing, and though I didn't feel anything supernatural like a rush of electricity down my spine or anything like that, but I knew what I said was definitely from God... Nothing like that could have come off the top of my head like that. It was simply awesome. Really thankful to God for that experience, despite me being a sinner and not being perfectly holy, it just goes to show that as long as you're willing God will be able to work through you in wondeful ways. Another thing I've realised from SYC today is how detached I've become from this world... It feels as if I'm so different from everyone else that I've become rather... Inhuman. If I needed to give up anything in my life right now besides my family I

Right now finishing off preparation for cell on saturday, and for the talk on wisdom on sunday. It's going pretty smoothly, except that I've forgotten some of the details that I've excluded from the current slides. Trying my best to recall... But my memory isn't helping me. Oh well just have to wait and pray for it to come back. Pretty much ready though. Its been awhile since I've been this excited to teach something... The previous time was at ID retreat which is already sometime ago. A little jittery but I'm sure everything will be fine, because He'll be the one speaking and not me.

Well for the weekend I was given pretty much a lot of reponsibility. With my mom and grandma in Vietnam and my dad taking care of my grandpa, I've been tasked to take care of the twins, although they don't actually need a lot of my guidance when it comes to eating, bathing, sleeping and such. Just buying the meals, driving them around, and looking after the car. Reluctant to go for outings because of that... Sorry Jon. Haha and then now its my turn to take care of my grandpa, so I'm with him at my grandparents place, just chilling, using my aunt's laptop (she's in Vietnam too), and just pretty much keeping him company. My dad has flown off for work for 2 days, and the twins are alone at home, but they'll manage haha. I know it seems simple and stuff, but this is pretty much the first time this much reponsibility has been thrust in my hands. I enjoy it, but at the same time its pretty daunting. After all, after God family is my main priority, and to be given such

Today was my first ever ever solo driving experience! And it feels just great to be free without anybody giving me directions... And first time I've driven without my dad or mom in the car... I prefer them to be there. At least they can control when my bros start singing all those random korean songs and when they start spouting random nonsense. Its funny yes, but it gets irritating. I never thought I'd say this, but I wouldn't mind spending an entire day in a car... Not driving around but just being inside resting on the soft cushions, listening to my music and just observing people as they pass by... I suppose part of me is just longing for a peaceful, simple life. No need for all that awful paper chasing... Just chill and peace yo. But definitely not in a military vehicle, that's for sure.

Gah its the second day in a row I've been waking up at wee hours in the morning and not being able to get back to sleep. I suppose its a side effect of thinking too much about stuff... Well the theme for youth sunday yesterday for me was Succession. It was pretty apt that the QT I did for the day, as well as pastor Jo's message was along the same lines. It got me thinking real real hard about Gihon, and the things I'd love to do for them. I've given myself around 3-4 years more in YE, and to make the best use of it would be good stewardship! =) My all time fave anime would be Naruto, and its because one of the themes I relate to and find very real would be the one of succession. In the same way Naruto and his friends have learnt various skills, jutsus and life lessons, we've sort of done the same ever since we've been in YE. Looking at how far Naruto's come: From a wilful kid only able to do simple jutsu to becoming a pillar of strength for his village, able

Watching Gintama now... Its designed for anime buffs like me, with allusions to many other anime series. Enjoying it thoroughly, and highly recommended for other like minded anime supporters! The story's about the japanese feudal era with a twist... Aliens called Amanto have invaded it and changed it into a futuristic sort of place, whilst still letting humans live and run free. Its a mix of loads of random comedy mashed into one nice anime! Thumbs up! Here's a pic. Well, my birthday will be here soon, and truth be told I'm wasn't really very psyched about it. To me it'd have been like just any other day... At least that was until I was talking to Regina online. She says some really mature things for her age. About how it was the day 21 years ago that God brought me safely to this earth, to become the person who I am right now. That thought just blew my mind, and I guess I'm looking forward to my birthday now. And now I see others birthdays in a whole new light

Post 500... Well to commemorate this, here's a segment on the past 100 posts and how its been throughout the duration... Post 401 - Still in driving course in NS Post 404 - Happy New Year! Post 407 - Passed the military vehicle class 4 test! Post 412 - First time at BB Westwood Post 414 - OUV familiarisation, fell sick... Post 418 - Bro's birthdays, passed BTT, sick again... Post 422 - Passed FTT, Dad's birthday, first combat shoot, first worship leading experience! Post 426 - Knee ligament injury, Playmax! Post 429 - Held in quarantine, then duty in camp for 16 days in a row.... Phew. Erps how come I missed out a post on my birthday? Must've been emoing in camp haha. Post 434 - First driving lesson! Mom's birthday. Post 437 - Did double duties... Spent 18 days a row in camp! Urgh. Post 438 - Final weekend burnt! Post 440 - Trip to Thailand. Post 445 - 1 month to ORD!!! Post 448 - Preparing to become a YE Leader and CGL! Post 452 - ORD YAY! Post 454 - Starting to le

Post 499! Next one's gonna be big... Woohoo... Finally on the roads driving more than 50km/h. Its been a long time since driving in such a relaxed manner when I was in NS as a military driver. That exhilarating feel is back... Have been thinking of the next half of the year, the plans that God has for my ministry and for Gihon. And for Gihon I've decided to continue focusing on the word, and starting to drive important habits into them like QT and prayer, I know its difficult to maintain these habits, but it has helped me, and I want it to help them as well. For myself, its time to up the level of involvement in my relationship with my cell members in terms of closeness and intimacy, to know them on a very personal level, and also to pray for them even if nothing of much concern is going on for them. Praying God's blessings and guidance into their lives instead of only when urgent prayer needs arise. This is what I'll be working on for the next half of the year! And of

I have officially passed driving! Loads of things I have to thank God for. Prayers from others, giving me prior experience through military driving course, a great instructor, great road conditions, a flawless road run, calmness during the entire duration, good weather, a nice and reassuring tester... The list goes on. Really looking forward to driving syc and gihon around. I can't wait!

497th post. Its been a rather pleasant weekend, filled with Gihon and worship stuff. Really enjoyed myself baking with Gihon. Wished we could've taken a vid of everyone for Youth Day... Probably will have to meet them one day to film them haha. Probably will organise a homework doing session for them to complete everything before the hols end. Well Father's Day celebrations today went quite well... Only had a couple of hours to practise for the hoedown, and practise for the worship went comparatively better than the prac during camp. It was my first time playing piano/organ/keys/trumpets/vox for worship, and I'm glad it went ok, and I did it with God. Driving test is on friday... Not too worried about it, and also have no prob with failing it actually. Taking it easy, but hoping for good news. I guess its the peace that transcends all understanding thats taking over. And the most important thing for me for this test is not whether I pass or fail, but whether God was with me

Well, combined church camp 2010 has ended on a pretty good note. It went a lot better than I thought it would. I'm sure it was good by human standards, and great by God's standards, because He was glorified through this camp, and I believe everyone came back at least either learning something, or being reminded of the basics of Christian living and how it ties to true unity in Christ. The journey through this camp has been far from perfect for me... In fact, its been dismal by my standards, to be truthful. From minor administrative blunders to a realization of how superficial my definition of unity was, and from being upset for not being informed of unfortunate situations that arisen to a distinct awareness of the awkward nature of some of my social interactions... Its been painful for me. Most of all, my lack of prayer and seeking God throughout the whole affair disappointed me the most. On the last afternoon, at the worship prac for father's day... It went horribly for me

Camp, here I come!

Post 494... Well, I've got a new skin of sorts... And it is really nice and easy to manage. Also, have gotten new songs for the mixpod and edited the sidebars so that it fits nicely. Looking good! The song collection in the mixpod consist of the anime songs I find really good, as well as the Christian songs I've been listening to. Enjoy!

Its been a horrible day, one that trumped even that sense of helplessness I felt when I was sick before SERVE mission trip, and could nearly compare to the weekend in camp feeling so disappointed at the results of my med apps. Well, a simple call spoiled a perfectly normal, good day. It made me think so much about the church camp and how I've been planning for everything. Various negative emotions have made their way into my heart, and I think now's the perfect time to let it all out. Its a long story, but in a nutshell I'm really angry at myself for being angry at others involved in the church camp. I've been a person who prides himself in good self-control, but I've acted out of line... Each of the people I'm angry at have a legitimate reason for acting the way they did, and blaming them isn't justified in anyway. But most of all, as part of the camp comm I should be a champion of the theme: Be One, Be Blessed. And my actions and emotions aren't up to

Its been busy busy busy... And apologies for not updating for so long. Its post 492, just 8 short of 500. I'm currently a little upset about how I've gone about preparing some of the church camp things. Mostly because I've let some negative emotions come into play, which aren't really beneficial. Blaming myself a little for losing my self control, even though its a rare occurrence. Well, I'm really thankful for a lot of things that have been going on pretty smoothly... Specifically the just concluded BB/GB Junior camp, ID Retreat and Church Camp preparations. Still have a bit to do, but I guess its ok. I really hope the team building high elements course isn't canceled due to bad weather, cos I still haven't come up with wet weather games haha! And I need one more pair for the performance on fellowship night! Phew just 2 days to the world cup, and 4 days to camp... After that still have to play organ for svc, lead worship in YE, go for my driving test, teach

Well... ID Retreat ended on a good note. Insanely tired on that day (actually the previous day too), slept immediately without taking a bath once I reached home. Here are the results for my own spiritual gifts test: Strongest Gifts: Music Leadership Strong Gifts: Wisdom Knowledge Administration Good Gifts: Teaching Faith Encouragement Discernment Just compiled an excel sheet of all the gifts of the YE people in a easy to browse and well classified format. Quite proud of accomplishing that! =) Well if any of you have questions on your spiritual gifts: like what they are, and what to do with them, do ask! I've put in a new formspring question and answer thingy on the right side of the blog so do use it to your advantage. 9 posts to 500!

I've been re-listening to some of the old albums that people have given me... And here's a song that I've got courtesy of Mel, who gave me one of Avalon's albums. Some of my favourites from the album include Everything To Me, I Don't Want To Go and New Day. And I love Avalon because I can feel their sincerity and the realness of God in the lyrics that they sing. Here's the album: And here's one of their songs I've been putting on replay: Adonai by Avalon Verse 1: One single drop of rain Your salty tear became blue ocean One tiny grain of sand turning in your hand A world in motion You're out beyond the furthest Morning Star Close enough to hold me in Your arms Chorus: Adonai, I lift up my heart and I cry My Adonai You're Maker of each moment Father of my hope and freedom Oh, my Adonai Verse 2: One timid faithful knock Resounds upon the Rock of Ages One trembling heart and soul Becomes a servant bold and courageous You call across the mountains an

Have been in emo mode since yesterday, but I've cheered up thanks to the tabulating I've been doing for the spiritual gifts inventory, and seeing how everyone fits in to create this wonderful youth group that we call YE. Well, as usual it was internal turmoil that did the damage. And yes, once again it had something to do with my perfectionist self. Just can't reconcile the fact that I can treat others so nicely yet at the same time be so harsh on myself. When I'm with others the common sentences I'd use would be: "Its ok." or "No prob." or "Don't worry about it." or "Yeah sure." I'd say I'm an extremely laid back person, to the point of leniency towards others. But the problem is when this side of me tries to assure myself that although I make mistakes its fine, I feel that its just excuses I make for myself. I want to push myself higher, become more serious about certain things and become stronger for God. And my