My Wish List

It's my birthday next Monday and people are asking me what I want, and so they tell me to write it on my blog... Ha.. So here I am with this wish list. To prevent duplicated presents, please do communicate so that I won't end up with 2 similar presents... Haha... Well, I could have some shopping vouchers. Vouchers for clothes and shoes, cos I'll be starting work soon so I'll need some nice working clothes. Next, I would like to have a new wallet. The one I am having now is getting too old. Then, perhaps I can have a bag? Yeah, I have a weakness for bags and currently own, erm... I lost count of them... I have a new bag every birthday so this year shouldn't be an exception right? Maybe Joshua won't buy bag cos he thinks I have enough so the rest out there, perhaps you can think of it... Hehe... And how about a book or books? I like to read, any genre except romance. Fave author is Paulo Coelho, if you want to get me a book written by him, please ask me first cos I have most of his books. Ok, I guess this is the most bu2 yao1 lian1 blog I've ever written. But people ask me to write what I want on the blog mah...

Photo taking at the Esplanade

Met up with Hui Juan, Christine, Zhiyi and Sahira to take photos today. Daniel was suppose to come but he didn't turn up, must be sleeping... Anyway, we went to the Esplanade, yeah, some might squirm at that thought, but you don't have a choice right? Singapore is only so big and the Esplanade is the icon of Singapore. There were lots of people taking photos over there too... Putting that aside, it was really good to meet up with the girls, haven't met some of them for quite sometime... While taking photos, we realised that time has pass by so fast... It only seems like yesterday when we going through orientation. I remembered that we were wearing the Samsung sponsored T-shirts for flag day and the auntie in the foodcourt thought we were Samsung factory workers, we also left orientation halfway to go shopping in Orchard and we won the best OG that year! Wow... Now everything seems so surreal... And suddenly we were reminded of our age when Christine commented that by next January, she would be turning 23. Yeah, she's a January baby so it seems that it is quite fast while all I am thinking is about turning 22 in August... Haha... Time flies ah...
Oh, Hui Juan and I are behaving like twins too and maybe we just think alike. We wore the same colour combination today. And the shirt that I had on, she also has the same one in a different colour which she almost wore out today! I think the next time before we go out, we have to tell each other what we wear, just in case...

Arise and Build 2005

The weekend is over, but over the weekend, it was a special moment for all of us in City Harvest. With the grace of God, we built Him a house in Jurong West, but 3 years later, we have now outgrown the building and so a bigger dream has burst forth. For those who are clueless, Arise and Build is a fund-raising campaign that CHC has embark on to build a new building "in the marketplace, for the market place, to penetrate the marketplace". Its not just about building a building but it is about building God a house. As I sat down in the main audi on Friday night, my mind began to wander. I tried to recall how many times I have pledged, I started to recall how much I have pledge, and once again, I recalled what God has spoken to me about this pledge. How much was I going to give? Its not that I didn't plan but God has an amazing way in working through you. Sometimes you think that the amount has been decided, but when service starts, suddenly a still small voice will speak to you. That was what happen to me. As I sat there listening to Pastor, the Holy Spirit spoke to me, prompting me to increase my amount not just by tens of dollars, but my hundreds! For a moment, I was thinking if it was really the Holy Spirit but yeah, it was Him. I started to calculate but somehow I felt there wasn't a need. If He has spoken, then let it be to me according to His will. Tears began to well up my eyes even before I started writing the pledge card, by the time I was finished, my tears were just flowing. I wasn't crying because it was too much of an amount to give and it wasn't because I couldn't bear to part with my money, I was crying because I was giving my precious. Nothing is ever precious to God if it isn't precious to you. I didn't know what faith it took to write down that amount in the pledge card but if God has spoken, then He is going to bring it through me...

The end of a beginning

Woohoo! I've finally graduated from NUS! After writing countless essays, attending or skipping tutorials and lectures, photocopying tons of reading and 3 years of having lunch in the Arts canteen, its finally the day I end my period of study, at least for now... Had my commencement ceremony (NUS wants to call it commencement instead of convocation) in the afternoon, it was just like a mad rush. Calling Hui Juan to check if she had arrive, rushing to change my academic gown, making sure that the mortar board won't fall off my head and running to and fro to take pictures with my friends. It certainly was hot wearing the gown... Anyway, the ceremony was very boring, just reading out names and clap, clap, clap. Nevertheless, I know my parents are proud of me. Felt like they waited for a long long time for this... Anyway, Hui Juan was very sweet, she bought a bouquet of flowers for me when Joshua didn't... Haha... And we finally took photos together, so now we complete everything that we wanted to do together... Thanks babe for the wonderful 3 years in NUS!
As I finished this phase of my life, I started to reflect and I realise that this pursue of my degree is a journey that started 6 years ago when I was just doing my 'O' levels... Yeah, it didn't start when I enter uni, it started at my 'O' levels. At that point of time, I was right down in the pits, having the worst moment of my life. I had backslidden and nothing was going well. My studies took a turn for the worse and suddenly, the dream of going to JC was so far away. Nevertheless, God didn't give up on me. He rescued me from the pits and since then, I have not looked back. He revived that dream, gave me the confidence and the vision. Through ups and downs, there were times that I wanted to throw in the towel, but somehow, I managed to hold on... I don't know how, I don't know why but its the grace of God. Now that I've graduated, my life journey is not going to end here. I believe that there will be greater things in store for my life and that's why (quoting from Sir Winston Churchill): Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

Where does my papa money go?

Yes, the question is where does my papa money go? If you have been reading the papers lately, you will surely know about the defamation suit that NKF filed against SPH, only to withdraw it on the second day of the proceedings. So what's that? Anyway, I believe that many people, not only me is very upset at NKF. Ok, before I start rattling on and on, let me get things straight. I have nothing against NKF. They've done a pretty good job in helping patients with needs to subsidise their dialysis, have prevention schemes and increase the awareness of kidney failure. These are really beneficial for society. Problem is, why can't they be transparent? So it took 3 times for the CEO to finally reveal his salary. So how how much does he earn? Gasp! $25k a month and 12 months bonus! Now that we are suffering from donation fatigue, is he willing to donate his bonus? Plus there are so many NKF charity shows a year. Now it makes you really wonder, how much of your donation really goes into helping the patients. The CEO travels first class, drives a mercedes, and they have taps that cost $900 plus! Furthermore, they have enough funds for 30 years, so why did they say that its only enough for 3 years?! Yes, I am irritated, super irritated and upset. Why? Because my father has been donating to NKF monthly for the past 10 over years. It started from $5, then $10, then $15 and now $20 a month. That means $240 a year! And my papa does't earn much ok. So where does his money go into? I am fine if the CEO earns $25k, and travels first class. Cos he is CEO mah, so these must be fitting of his status. But a 12 month bonus? It ain't fair when the public donating can't even get a 1 month bonus! And to think that he is enjoying a 12 month bonus?! And why do they need taps that cost $900 plus?! The one at my house costs only $100 plus, can you imagine? With that money can buy much more taps! I know the NKF wants to create the best environment for their patients but if much of their funds comes from public donations, then they should spend it wisely not lavishly. They can have excellence but it doesn't mean that it has to be expensive.

Initial D

Ok ok... I am finally writing about Initial D. I promised Hui Juan that I would write about Initial D so I am writing it now. I went to watch Initial D with Hui Juan, and you can imagine? I booked tickets to watch Initial D! Its my first for a Chinese movie. Come to think of it, Initial D is the second Chinese movie I watched this year... Normally dun watch one... Anyway, talk about booking tickets, I was quite, no, it should be very irritated with Shaw's booking system. First of all, you have to set up an user account to book tix. When you finally log in, you dunno where the screen is, there is no indication, to play safe, I booked seats in the middle row. Anyway, I was quite sceptical before I watched Initial D and Joshua thought that I was watching it because of all the handsome leads. But no, it isn't. Before (notice: its "before") I watched it, I didn't like Shawn Yue's moustache, I didn't like Edison's attitude, I didn't like Jay Chou's "zhuai-ness" and I didn't like Anthony Wong's critical attitude. Anyway, that was before the show. Everything changed after I watched it. Yes, women are fickle... Haha... Only Shawn Yue could pull off a moustache like this, you can't imagine it on Edison or Jay. And yes, Edison is really good looking with that dimpled smile, and Jay Chou is really stylo. Imagine lah, driving only with one hand without a care of what is really going on... Oh man! Super cool! Ok... Enough about the leads. You have Chapman To, Kenny B and Anthony Wong, put them together and they provide all the laughter in the movie. It isn't a comedy but having them in the show provide all the jest. And its one the few shows that had me laughing from beginning to end... Anyway, I started liking Jay Chou again after the movie... Hehe...

Batman Begins... War of the Worlds...

Arrgh... It seems that I can't keep a updated blog... I can't believe that I writing what I have seen in 2 weeks in one entry. Unbelievable... Anyway, let's start from Batman Begins. Well so far, I think this is one of the best Batman movies. Ok, I only saw the ones starring Val Kilmer and George Clooney but this is the best among all 3. The whole movie has a very dark feel... Everything is black and on the dark side... But at least its more human, and this Batman is the only superhero who has no super powers so it seems to be more humanized... Haha... I can't remember the rest liao...
War of the Worlds... Ok, so it is starring Tom Cruise... Actually, I was more interested in watching Dakota Fanning. She's a very young actress but she can act very well. I loved her role in Man on Fire with Denzel Washington. She is simply dazzling as an actress. But this movie kinda downplayed her acting skills. Throughout the show, she was screaming most of the time and her screams are really shrieking! Anyway, this show was more family focused. Tom Cruise was essentially acting as super dad saving his children, so everyone disappears and they survive. Still a little bit unrealistic lah cos he was acting as a dockyard worker in the show. But I take my hat off the author (can't remember his name) of War of the Worlds. He wrote the book in 1892 and his imagination is just amazing! Its more than a 100 years since the book was written and we only see it on the big screen now! So you can imagine what kind of imagination he has at the 19th century when technology was still not so advanced yet... Amazing...

The Zahir

Wow... Its almost two weeks since I last wrote a blog, that's pretty long for me. Anyway, there are a few things that I want to write, but I'll start with "The Zahir" first. So if you are reading my blog, you can keep a lookout for my next few blogs. Well, "The Zahir" is Paulo Coelho's latest book. Paulo Coelho is my all time favourite author. Among all his books, my favourite is "The Alchemist". If you've not yet read this book, go and read it! I promise you won't be disappointed. Anyway, back to "The Zahir"... When I first saw it, I marvelled at the thickness, it isn't those hundreds of pages kind of book, its just that I realise his books are getting thicker and this is the thickest ever since I started reading the books by Paulo Coelho. Actually, this book is dedicated to his wife but I feel its also a little bit of Paulo Coelho's autobiography, there are just some reflections of his life. Anyway, this book tells of a man whose wife disappeared all of a sudden without leaving any trace. She simply disappeared, but the thing is... She didn't die, she was waiting for him somewhere else. As she was waiting, the man started looking for her. The man went through a lot, disappointment, disillusionment but at the end of it, he came to realise and understand what true love was. Because of his search for her, he came to realise the power of destiny and also what it means to really follow your heart. I know this sounds like a love story but for me, it is not about the romantic part, I mean, it never was romantic. More importantly, it was the journey and it just reflects life itself. There are many things that we will go through in life, but each trial is a stepping stone, through every problem that we face, we learn to solve them, when we fall, we learn to pick ourselves up. Sometimes, the most important thing isn't the destination, it is the journey because the destination can be a source of motivation but the journey itself teaches us lessons that we will remember for life...