Thursday, June 26, 2008 10:47 a.m.
I start work in approximately 4 working days time and honestly, I do feel like I'm a terminal illness patient, leaving out my last days here on earth. So because I feel that way, I've been packing this past week with things and activities I know I'll never be able to do when I start work. I've been meeting up with friends over long leisurely lunches that stretches to tea time, spending time with Dad and Sarah, meeting E in the evenings after he's done with work and not setting the alarm clock so that I wake up at any time I fancy. On Monday and Wednesday afternoon, Dad, Sarah and myself drove over to the country club to swim! On Monday, our friend joined us, but yesterday, it was just the three of us and I've got to say, it was terribly enjoyable spending time with my Dad. We swam (I cheated by using my green flippers), had egg tarts and coffee at the poolside, sat at the deep end of the pool watching the SAF chinook helicopter take off because there was some army exercise going on on our golf course, talked about work, the future and holidaying in Europe. It was really enjoyable because we had all the 3 pools to ourselves and honestly, I think the next time I'll be able to come to the country club during the afternoons is when I'm playing golf with a client and I'm pressured to close or secure something. We ended up getting a tan and I regretted not spending more of my holidays swimming at the country club with my Dad. Sarah and myself also spent quite a bit of time together. We visited Debbie, played online games together till 4am in the morning, went shopping in town and swiped the card too often (I got 2 new pairs of shoes!).
The boyfriend and myself went to catch 21 yesterday evening and it's a milestone for us because this is the first time we're actually catching a movie even before it's released. 21 was a good show (ranked next to SATC this summer) and it did remind me of Ocean 11,12 and 13 except that the Ocean series focussed more on how they executed their plan to walk away with Vegas's money. The lead actor in 21, Jim Sturgess, reminded both E and myself so much of Christophe (E's french friend whom we stayed with in Paris) because of the way they both talk (straight face talking etc), look (sloppy hair and all) and behave (like the way they both put their hands in their jacket's pockets and walk). Haha, if you don't believe me, watch the show and go back to my entry on Paris in January in the archives and see the resemblance. Haha. Besides watching movies, the both of us had dinner a couple of times this week and it was nice just sitting down, talking and enjoying each other's company.
Saturday, June 21, 2008 02:55 p.m.
My loot from America arrived with Mum this morning so yay yay goodness because my dresses fit! :)Saturday, June 21, 2008 01:18 a.m.
Supper with E and Yi Hao last night at Newton and this evening, I met up with Emmeline and Shu Hui for dinner at Sushi Tei. Shu Hui was my partner back in Sec 2 in SCGS and we've been friends for ages and seriously, she's seen me through most of my good and bad times. We slept together in Malacca, did all the terrible terrible things in Malacca together, stood up for each other when the teachers barked at us and she was the first person I ran to in school when I simply found that NTU (or its people) was just too weird and difficult for me to handle. Emmeline, has also been a good friend since SCGS and I used to go over to her house during the school holidays to cook and watch DVDs. I remember I used to like taking the train to her house because it'll be the only time I get to sit in the train for more than 45 minutes and travel to some where far. Haha. Turns out she's now in E's accounting class back in SMU. Well, the three of us sat and talked for a really long time, reminiscing the old days, catching up on each other's lives, talking about traveling, shopping, food and random people and events and honestly, it was a really good time :)
Thursday, June 19, 2008 11:20 a.m.
By God's grace, I finally passed the dreaded exams!! Now I truly understand how people feel when they fail their driving test. I've never felt that relieved before and I've much to give thanks to God for because I was only hoping to pass, but He far exceeded my expectations.Tuesday, June 17, 2008 12:14 p.m.
The boyfriend got me my Kate Spade wallet!!! :) It was completely unexpected because it's not anytime near my birthday or our anniversary or any special day but he said he got it because if I fail The Exam, I can look at it and be happy again and also because he just got himself a new wallet on Sunday and he didn't want me to feel left out. Haha. I know we went once to the shop to have a look at it and I did tell him I was going to get it but he beat me to it and got it for me instead! He suddenly called last night at about 10pm asking me to meet him downstairs but because I wasn't dressed and I was half way through studying for my exam, I asked him to come up instead. He came walking in with the Kate Spade paper bag and I almost fainted! Well apparently, he wanted to get me my Dior wallet, but he mistook Dior for Gucci so he walked into Gucci and tried searching for that wallet we saw at Dior but couldn't find it so he settled for Kate Spade instead! :) No complains really because this Kate Spade wallet is definitely nicer than the Dior wallet and it's in the color I absolutely love! :) Apparently he polled all the sales assistants at Kate Spade and even rung his colleagues up for advise. Thank you sweetheart!! :) You definitely made my evening and it was a terribly extravagant surprise (so says my mum) and you know I love you much! Not because you got me the wallet but because you work so hard to make this relationship work.
Monday, June 16, 2008 06:10 p.m.
Sarah and myself went up to Port Dickson for the whole of last week for church camp with my cousins and my mum's side of the family. We grew up in that church and my parents actually got married there but my dad moved us all over to Barker when I was 13. My mum's entire family still attends that church and it was nice going back there. The camp speaker was Dr. Richard Blackaby (the son of Henry Blackaby who wrote Experiencing God) and his son, Mike came along as well and spoke on joy and the importance of fishing for people instead of fishing for fishes. Dr. Blackaby spoke on hearing God speak and spiritual pruning and while it was a familiar topic, I thought what he said about not relying on a formula when seeking out what God wants us to do and not asking God to open and close doors so that we'll know His will really hit me. Mike, through his sermons, reminded me about being filled with the joy of the Lord despite my circumstances and his sermon on fishing for people made me more committed to not just chase career at the expanse of colleagues or family. The nice thing about the sermons was that both father and son told us stories to illustrate a point. It's a little like how Jesus used parables to illustrate that point in the past and I've to say that their stories kept us all interested and definitely did the job of driving home the points. I think the other thing that helped was that right after every theme talk, we would break into our groups for group discussion. I loved that because it allowed me to think through what was being said and to reflect and share what God has done in my life thus far and what I'll like him to do. Besides the theme talks, there were workshops during two of the afternoons. I attended one, skipped the remaining three and spent it instead talking to my group mates. I really enjoyed fellowshipping with my group! My group leader is a CFO of a listed firm, and his wife is an accounting professor and I had quite a good time talking to them. They shared with me their time in accounting school and gave me some pointers for the working world. The others in the my group that are around my age were equally good fun and Julianne, Jasmine and myself actually woke up one early morning at 6am to swim and watch the sky change colour. It was refreshing and never mind the fact we were freezing our bodies off while talking in the water. We dressed Lac up as our mascot for the Olympics 3000 special night and spent whatever group time we had after group discussion painting our flag!
There was also this one night when we had cell group time so Mike Blackaby, Sarah and myself joined my older's cousin's cell group because we were the only young adults crashing in from another church and were without a cell group. Most of my cousin's cell group mates are friends whom I grew up with so it was nice. Gabriel's sharing warmed my heart and I managed to talk to my cousin and Mike about the young adults ministry so it was good because at least I know Barker isn't the only church facing a problem and I think I got some pointers as well :)
Other than that, meal times were spent with the other young adults from the other groups and it was nice going all whacky together. I grew up with this bunch of young adults and it was just great being back again and being welcomed into their circle even though we only meet up once a year during new year's dinner when our parents meet! My younger cousins lived just next door to Sarah and myself so we spent the nights watching movies on Disney Channel. On the last night, the young adults went out for supper at a nearby tze char store and my older cousin navigated while I drove so that marks my first time driving in Malaysia!
I'm honestly glad my uncle and my cousin persuaded me to go for this church camp because it was nice feeling like one big church family (you rarely feel that in Barker because our population is just too big) and it was definitely good (and much overdue) meeting and catching up with the church mates I grew up with. I like that the camp wasn't packed with activities so besides going whacky with the young adults, taking random photos, talking to my uncle, I managed to grab some time to think about my faith and also reflect on the theme talks and decide what I want to do about certain things and how I want to continue working out my faith :)
Sunday, June 12, 2008 10:18 p.m.
June has been a pretty busy month and it's scary thinking that I'll be starting work in less than a month's time and it's half way through the year already. Besides studying for the damn exams (I surprisingly passed the more difficult module on my first attempt and now I need to conquer the seemingly easier module), E and myself went night cycling with Adrian one Friday evening. We weren't planning on doing it but after supper with Adrian and his boys at Changi Village, Adrian persuaded us because we could easily take over 2 of his boys bike and one of his fellow teachers could drive E's car. We started off at Changi Village and cycled all the way down to the start of East Coast Park. We cycled past the Tekong ferry terminal and also cycled along the 4km long runway and saw the planes taking off. It's nice hearing the planes roar and take off because very often, we just see it and hear it from a distance. I really enjoyed myself because it was my first time doing it and it helped the night was cool. We crashed out the minute we got home at 4am and spent the rest of our weekend recuperating (signs of getting old). The group of us in the older girls cell went over to Dorcas's house the friday after I went night cycling and bummed around the entire afternoon watching P.S. I love you, talking and talking. It was good fun and I hope we get to do this more often because it was really enjoyable! E and myself went to watch Sex and the City (at his suggestion - gasp!) after his work one day and I've to admit it was a pretty damn good movie. I know I was laughing quite a bit and wished every now and then that I would have a boss who'll give me a LV bag for my christmas present. E and myself also managed to try out a few new restaurants, we did some shopping, I got my results back (Thank God, because I really think he pulled me through with my terribly slack and nonchalant attitude in the last semester and so I can't complain about my grades) and I've been trying to do as much things and meet as many people as I can possibly can because I'm going to get sucked by the work monster in approximately 3 weeks time. Now, I'm praying hard I'll really pass that one module so that I can fully enjoy whatever's left of this holiday. What possessed me to agree to start work on the 1st of July? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------