Sunday, October 31, 2004 06:15 p.m.
After sunday school today, I went to Popular and I bumped into Mrs Quek, (who was mommy's BSF friend and my SS teacher back in SCGS) in the canteen and she started asking me how the exams were. When she realized that I haven't even started, she started praying for me, right there and then. it was like 'whoa' (in a good sense) and I was naturally touched by it. I think encouragment doesn't only come from words but also when you know people are praying for you. Anyway. Remember last week I mentioned that my sunday school class was growing? Today, it ballooned. I think we numbered around 25. 4 friends from Wesley joined us and I think Edward brought his classmate and there were a few other new people. it's quite good actually. 4 more days to GP! Fail GP and kiss NUS goodbye.Saturday, October 30, 2004 08:17 p.m.
Bush or Kerry? I feel the excitment just reading about the US elections and talking to my aunt in America! I feel so excited when I read that many political observers claim that on Tuesday, one winner will just dash ahead and the results wouldn't be something like 52% Bush, 48% Kerry. oh my! I wish I could be there right now, experiencing the whole process and sitting through the campaigns and speeches, listening to this 2 men tell the people why they deserve to have their butt in the White House, waving flags to support Bush, watching election advertisments (which are so filled with subliminal influence) on TV and put stickers all over my house to show my support. "They say John Kerry is the first Democratic presidential candidate in history to raise US$50 million in a threee-month period. Actually, that's nothing. He once raised US$500 million with two words : 'I do'."-The Tonight show. Haha. How true.
Saturday, October 30, 2004 07:25 p.m.
I went to my sister's school's funfair today just to give her support and have my lunch! I had $50 worth of tickets so I just kept on buying and eating, buying and eating. Bought so many different kinds of food and ended my lunch with Sarah's class dessert. I had a very good lunch :)Friday, October 29, 2004 01:07 p.m.
I got this whole big packet of Mentos sweets from my mommy which is so nice of her since she's not really a huge fan of anything sweet and salty. I think there's at least 30 small tubes of mentos in the packet! So multiply that 30 tubes by 6 (since each small tube has 6 mentos), I have a whooping 180 mentos sweets! yay! Anybody want some? Sometimes, the simple things in life can make you very happy.Wednesday, October 27, 2004 08:25 p.m.
My mom is showing me a half black face now because I asked her for her credit card number to pay for something through the internet. I mean I know her worries but it should be quite safe considering it's a reputable store right? I know nothing about online purchases and the use of credit card to pay for the purchases. How safe is it anyway? well, at least my Dad's nicer and more accomodating. haha. He doesn't know yet that it's in US dollars. Arsenal are such big time sore losers! Boo to Arsenal! Hooray to Man Utd! Even if the referee didn't award the penalty, Manchester United would still have won it 1-0. sore losers! now now, young boys and girls, if you ever lose a game, please don't act like what the entire Arsenal team did. Be graceful and accept that you've lost. I doubt I'll be saying this if Arsenal won. haha. Now, an easy question to test everyone reading this since it's the exam season and it's always good to occasionally test one another. Plus, if you can answer this question, I'm sure it'll boost your confidence! Do you know that the A levels are in excatly ONE weeks time? AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! PANIC ATTACK!!!!!Sunday, October 24, 2004 06:24 p.m.
Our sunday school teachers gave us each a bottle of M&Ms and said we could only eat 2 everday and it should last us to the end of the exams. haha. I finished half of it already. The sunday school class is growing and growing. it seems as if more and more people are coming back each sunday. There's this imaginary lump in my left eye. you can't see it but I feel it there. everytime I blink, it hurts so badly. Now, I just want to sleep and sleep till the pain goes away because when I sleep, I wouldn't have to blink. The Arsenal Man Utd match is on tonight! I hope Man Utd wins.Saturday, October 23, 2004 08:39 a.m.
Dear Cheryl and Debbie. Thank you for breaking it to me and sharing in my pain. you know what scares me the most? it might just be a prelude to everything next year. everything, especially my failures. I don't know. I really don't know what I am supposed to do now or how I am supposed to go about doing things now. it just seems as if I've been thrown off the rack and I don't know how to find my way back now. it seems as if everything is falling apart and my dreams are moving further away from me. But Deb, I guess you're right. I don't know what plans God has installed for me and He doesn't give us all we want but what is best for us. I hope I learn that quick enough. It is difficult to trust God and Praise Him when the circumstances somehow doesn't seem to warrant any praise. Maybe I've been too complacent and have relied too much on my own strength. I don't know. For once, I really don't know. all of a sudden, there are so many questions. Why Lord? Where Lord? How Lord? What lessons do you want me to draw from this? What is it Lord? What are you saying? Despite all the I-Don't-knows, this I know : I am going to put my trust in Him. I know now how weak and small I am and I cannot do anything without his spirit. Thank you girls! thank you! I will bounce back with God as my help, my guide and my strength. Where He leads, I'll follow. I'll do my best and He'll do the rest. Right?Friday, October 22, 2004 11:59 p.m.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEBBIE! (yes, again) I just wanted to be the first and the last person to wish you happy birthday! haha. Be joyful! Goodnight Cheryl and Debbie! It's either I hear from you tonight or I'll call you guys tomorrow morning!Friday, October 22, 2004 11:42 p.m.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEBBIE!! Daughter of Mr&Mrs Wong, fellow descendant from the Wong dynasty and Hannah's pet cat, whining partner and above everything else, Hannah's goody good good tall friend! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! remember the note I wrote to you just now! I really meant it! :) I LOVE YOU DEBBIE! As you grow older, please be nicer to your cell leader :)Thursday, October 21, 2004 04:51 p.m.
My friend's father passed away suddenly. I didn't know of it until my mother saw her today and wondered what she was doing home from New York. The family's thai and they live on the 22nd floor of my block. I don't know how she or the family is taking it but I guess it's never easy when someone in the family dies, especially if it is so unexpected. 3 things came into my mind as I thought about it. Firstly, death can just come and take your loved one away without warning. death don't usually knock and wait for you to open the door. I know now of 2 people, whom I have had contact with, who died suddenly in less than 3 months. Secondly, I must treasure my parents and Sarah and take effort to spend time with them. I never know when they might be taken away. Thirdly, there are many people out there in our own circles, workplaces, neighbourhoods who have never heard the good news of salvation and eternal life. I don't think it's only the people in India that needs to be reached out to. Right at our doorsteps, there are people that needs to know about this gift.Thursday, October 21, 2004 12:43 p.m.
I just came back from brunch at Macdonalds. it's getting frustrating staying at home. yesterday, the noise from the construction site wasn't that continuous and loud. today they stopped the piling and drilling at the construction site but my neighbour had to start drilling. they stay above me, so it's almost like someone's drilling something into my ceiling. IRRITATING. Why does it all seem as if everyone in my neighbourhood suddenly has to repair their houses or build new condos just when I am preparing for my exams? Anyway, I got a new mattress last night! it's slightly higher so I feel as if I am going to fall when I turn. but no complains! I'm adjusting to it. I feel like the princess and the pea in the mattress just that now, there is no pea and I am no princess. Nic came over yesterday to study and I should think she's coming over again today to study. 2 more weeks!Wednesday, October 20, 2004 12:16 p.m.
REJOICE! After 2 hours and 22 unsuccessful attempts to login, I've finally remembered my password! phew. Thank you Lord! P/S: Terence, you're super lousy! you can't even remember the password! haha. it is "Rub my hello, it's a slang!" not "Erase my hello!" Can you don't be so americanized and use erase? HAHA. by the way, that password isn't the password I was trying to recall for the last 2 hours. you say "rub my hello, it's a slang!" if you want free burger king coupons from Terence during lectures. haha.Wednesday, October 20, 2004 10:02 a.m.
I am DEAD. D E A D. I can't remember my password for something and I am so dead. I need to access it urgently but I can't! They refuse to send me my password unless I can tell them my secret codeword! But I don't know what that secret codeword is! I don't know! It pisses me off that they lock my account for 30mins after I've tried to login unsuccessfully for 5 times! WHAT IS MY PASSWORD?!!Tuesday, October 19, 2004 06:39 p.m.
I found this brillant way to block out all the noise that's coming from the construction site. Switch on the radio, put on the earphones and tune in to Gold 90FM. they play classic songs so it's soothing and it doesn't make you want to sing along! plus they don't have irritating DJs that talk for 5 mins after every 3 songs. puurrfect. My A-levels start in 2 weeks! HOORAY! You can't imagine how scared I am. I think my scared level is at its maximum. the scary part is that I'm not mugging. I'm just studying which really really scares the cats out of me. I am supposed to be mugging till my eyeballs drop out, till I dream of complex numbers, granite landscapes and money flowing in the economy when I sleep, till my whole room is filled with notes and I have no time even to take a shower and my meals are all eaten at the study table! All these are not happening! I'm going to have a really nice dinner tonight! it's the pork in vingear-ginger black sauce which I absolutely love! Pregnant women eat it to get rid of the wind in their body I think. my mom told me that it takes them like a month to cook it because they soak the pork and ginger in the black sauce to soften the pork and to allow the ginger to all escape so that at the end of the month, the ginger loses all its "meat" and you can eat the ginger whole. To preserve it, they add lots of vinger. so in the end, you get soft pork in vinger black sauce. I don't know how to really explain it but it's very good!Friday, October 15, 2004 05:48 p.m.
So today, I conclude my 12 years of formal education. another chapter has closed. It still seems like yesterday when I just got out of secondary school and stepped into a JC. We had a prayer service in the morning, followed by the NYAA award ceremony and lastly the graduation ceremony. I think the most memorable and touching scene would probably be Miss Lim pinning the graduation pin on our collars. this 2 years are probably one of the bestest times in my entire life, I found good friends in many people, learnt alot of valuable lessons, saw many things and did many, many silly things. I've made plently of friends, some of whom, I count as my good friends. Aveline taught me what it means to give your time generously without expecting anything back in return. she helped me with my geography without expecting that I help her back. Celestine reminded me countless times that when the going gets tough and things seem impossible, God is still around and with Him, everything is possible. Sarah gave me lots of lessons on love. She taught me how to love without expecting to be loved, how to love, without looking at the faults. Sophie showed me what gentlesness meant. Terence, you didn't find your friend for me so that I could take a picture with him. haha. But everyone else, in many ways, taught me so many things I wouldn't have learnt elsewhere. I've learnt what it means to be sidelined, to be misunderstood, to be hurt. things that I would never have known and experienced. These 2 years made me step out of my comfort zone. It opened my eyes to so many things I haven't seen in my life. I saw that not everyone had the same privileges, not everyone was that fortunate and not everyone must agree with my idea or get driven to school. I think I caught a glimpse of the real world, the world I only heard about, but never saw back in SCGS when the school and my parents sheltered me so fiercely. I know some, or rather, many people have a very bad impression of CJC. I went in there with the same bad impression, thinking I was doomed. But as the old saying goes, you can never judge a book by its cover. I could never had made so many close friends, taken a few steps out of my comfort zone, learnt so many lessons (i'm repeating myself) if I've gone somewhere else. I am grateful for the lessons. Being in the school taught me humility and the acknowledgment of God as Lord over our lives. it was in these 2 years, I found myself coming back to the Lord and learning to rely on Him. Even as I graduate today, I take away with me many fond memories. the teachers who never failed to liven up the boring school day. Mr Ang with his Ah-Beng accent and looks and how he never fails to embarass or call me during lectures. Mrs Loke and how she showered her motherly care and love on us and gently pushed us to strive for greater heights. I realized too, today, how much I've misunderstood Miss Lim. I guess it was abit of peer pressure and part of going with the flow in making fun of her but as I read the note she wrote, I couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness that I didn't give her the full respect she deserved and despite all she nagged about and her complains about my low socks and short skirts, she thought so highly of me. I'll never forget my class. This is the class that created waves (and noise) and did the best in whatever we participated in and whereever we went. We won 2003's cheerleading competition, won the best home class last year, took part in so many different competitions and won many of them, drank and yum seng sparkling grape juice together during chinese new year and even sit togther during lectures. This is the class that went out for big lunches, the class that showed unity and co-operated in many things. This is the class that decorated the notice board together, made every member feel accepted, welcomed and loved and brought much fun and laughter temporarily to the boring and dead science classes that were on the 5th floor. This is the best class I've ever had in my education so far. This is 2T09 of 2004. Next year, this time, everyone else will be doing something else. the boys would be marching under the hot sun. the girls would be in universities all over the world. I don't know where I am going but I'll remember these 2 years. I do hope that everyone stays in contact and we can have the occasional class lunch. It's no wonder people say that the 2 years you spend in JC will probably be one of the best times of your life. Farewell my friends. We're moving on.Wednesday, October 13, 2004 05:51 p.m.
All of a sudden, I feel so inadequate. It is as if I am standing here, on my toes, trying to grab something that is hanging from the ceiling, but I just can't reach it. I just can't get it. the distance from my hand to that object is just so great.Tuesday, October 12, 2004 08:03 p.m.
I am so fed up with the lizard in my toilet! I saw it on the wall while I was going to shower so I turned on the shower, chose the highest pressure and turn it to the hottest and sprayed the lizard! But it didn't die. It didn't die! it just ran out of the window. Maybe I should have gone to the science faculty so that I could, in university, research and invent an insecticide to kill lizards and perhaps win a nobel prize award for coming up with an "instant spray" lizard-cide.Monday, October 11, 2004 07:35 p.m.
I spent 3 hours organising all my notes, cleaning up my desk which had started to collect dust, arranging the books on my table and throwing away all those nonsense and rough paper that have been piling up on my table since the september holidays! I feel so good! My desk feels clean and fresh too! I would love to show you pictures of my desk, but really, that would be too much boasting. haha.Sunday, October 10, 2004 10:29 p.m.
Tomorrow will be the begining of my last week in school! I slept so much today, my mom asked me if my A levels were over. But I slept so much, rested, attended Shine Forth, lunched with deb and didn't care much about my work, I felt recharged. the problems are still there, the A levels haven't disappeared, my room's still in a mess but I feel more realigned. I feel ready to go to school tomorrow, ready to face the challenges ahead with God as my helper and my confidence. (MOM, do you hear this?) I am ready for my last week in school! Let me remind you again, why we watch english soccer :)Saturday, October 9, 2004 09:27 p.m.
It was one heck of a busy day going places and running errands before finally meeting up with Lydia at sixth avenue for coffee. I always enjoy talking to her. there's always so much truth in her words, so much that she says that my brain works doubly hard to store and process the information. she taught me something about learning to be still. I'm going to try it one day. Went to my little cousin's house for her birthday party last night. it was so noisy because all the 8 year olds were running around and playing pin the donkey's tail and musical chairs. haha. Cell was warming :) we celebrated Claire's birthday and I got caked with cake, with compliments from Gilly. haha. the girls are an inspiration, really. I listen to them share and encourage one another and my heart just overflows with joy. (thank you Debb and Cheryl for your little "talk" while we were walking down to the carpark :) I'll remember what you guys said.) I'm very drained so I declared tonight and tomorrow my rest days. going to watch the England vs Wales match with my dad at ten!Thursday, October 7, 2004 07:37 p.m.
I don't know if I am doing too much extra "work" like applying for universities, sourcing out universities to go to, stuyding for SATs and writing numerous, at times absurd, essays. All that on top of trying to study for the A levels. I might never end up in a university overseas but yet I am applying to all over the world. I don't know if this is the right approach. maybe I should just be passive. sit back, just do the A levels and apply for NUS and be happy there. don't even think of an overseas education because it's just too much trouble and money. I don't know. I doubt I'll be happy if I remain passive. On one hand, I would love to go overseas but yet it sure is taking up alot of my time just preparing for everything and getting it all ready by 1 Jan 2005. I don't even know where my source of funding is coming from. I don't know. I know I'll be glad to at least know I was granted admission into my dream university even though I might not be able to study there. maybe that's what pushing me to continue with this university search and applications. Whatever it is, I'm leaving the universities application, admissions, funding and everything up to God. I'm applying so that I have more choices. I am applying so that I take my chance of furthering my education overseas. sounds silly when I should be fully concentrating on the A levels and that I might eventually never go after all this hassle. but nonetheless, be it to the USA, UK or even Bouna Vista, where God leads, I'll follow. On a totally different note, prelims results are all out already. I am disappointed but I guess it didn't turn out to be a fiasco afterall. And after everything else, I am filled with great thanksgiving and remember that through it all, it was God's grace that carried me through, it was his strength that was made perfect when I was weak and it was Him who blessed so richly. it doesn't matter that I didn't my get 3As.Monday, October 4, 2004 07:24 p.m.
I had a really funny and weird conversation with my father last night while we were watching the Man-Utd match. Dad : Ronaldo is quite a good player. He runs fast and he is only 19.After a while.
Dad : Wait, Ronaldo is 19, Wayne Rooney is 18, Alan Smith is less than 21. Hannah, what are you doing at home? Do you know how much Ronaldo earns per week?
Me : about 300 pounds?
Dad : So why are you studying? These are your fellow friends who were born in the same year as you! They are out there, earning a living and here you are watching them earn a living!
Shortly later.
Me : Dad, Ronaldo earns about 300 pounds per week. I only get around 20 pounds. Can I have an increase in allowance? My dad changed the topic after that. haha.
Dad : Do you know if you go to the UK and study you'll meet Wayne Rooney if he attended school? you guys are the same age!
Me : Wayne Rooney is ugly. I don't want him as my school mate. I'd rather Alan Smith or someone else.
Dad : When you go to the UK to study, you cannot watch live soccer matches on saturday afternoons. After Middlesbourgh scored a goal.
Dad : Look! that guy is so young and he's playing! what are you doing here! Later again.
Dad : I don't think you should go to the UK and study. you might meet your future husband there. the Englishmen just drink beer all day and every wednesday and saturday afternoon, they watch soccer and get all rowdy. What kind of man would you want to marry?
Me : An indian?
Dad : What skin colour would your kids have? HAHA. I really thought my father went mad. He kept on asking me what I was doing at home and I should be out there doing something. I think he forgotten that Wayne Rooney dropped out at school at 14. I bet you tonight, everything is going to change and he is going to scold me for not studying and lazing around and that I must stick with the system and not do silly things like thinking lazing around will get me a 400pound per week job. Come to think of it, I think the reason why he would want me to go to the UK and study is so that he can come and visit me and watch live soccer matches on saturdays. haha.
Saturday, October 2, 2004 05:16 p.m.
I just met someone who has to raise 3 young kids and study for the A levels at the same time. I thought I was dying because I have 3 subjects to babysit. Imagine, trying to cope with 3 young kids and 3 A level subjects. I think I might just go crazy. I think I should be really grateful that I've got no kids to take care of, I got wonderful parents who send me around and make sure I have my meals and I even can write and go to school. I don't even have to work to support my family or pay my school fees. Though I know I'll still be complaining about the A levels, I think I should cut back on those complains. leader's prayer meeting tonight!Saturday, October 2, 2004 01:32 p.m.
I had GP mocks in the morning. 8AM. what happened to the five day work week for civil servants? the teachers deserve a break! I'm going to tell everyone not to vote for PAP during the next general elections. so much for a five day work week! All my dreams and hopes seem to be running quickly down the drain. I'm so scared I'll be left with nothing. Don't go. Stay. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------