Saturday, January 30, 2010,7:06 pm
fun week ya? ya!!!
thu (22/1) - started as a volunteer at Sunbeam Place. so like yea, i was wondering where i should go, cos there was like no one there to help me around. so i was thinking maybe i'll scoot on home and email the in-charge for more specifics so i won't be so lost the following day, when a long-time volunteer rendered assistance (see my english so good). so yayz. plus its fun helping/playing with the kids ^^ ah. the innocence of youth
fri - day 2 at Sunbeam. more tutoring and having fun, although it's supposed to be their study time. but it's a travesty to prevent kids from having fun. after all, we're not some slave society. den went to pizza hut for dinner. the curry chicken pizza rocks man. and the drumlets are always worth the price alone
sat - just what did i do? ah who cares. the past is the past; what has happened has happened, and digging up ancient history, however fascinating it might appear to be, may not always be the wisest course of action. anyway watched Man Utd thrash hull 4-0!!! take that you loons
sun - church, snoozed in the afternoon, and me Dad got back from germany! yea the hamburger sv shirt is uber cool. lucky its the away jersey, cos the home jersey looks utterly prissy. den went to gombak for the meal humans take at night. tt place is kinda pathetic...so little food options. for once i actually prefer lot 1
mon to thu - more volunteering! yea starting to get more acquainted with the kids. also met Elmira on thu...thank goodness for the fact tt girls mature faster than guys. also played plenty of bejeweled blitz...still trying to figure out whether or not the fact tt they added medals for 300k to 500k is a good thing or bad thing
fri - went to volunteer as usual, but very few ppl needed tutoring today. so left early, took 190 down to somerset to meet Xiaomei for dinner @313@somerset. initially planned to go marche, but long queue. so decided to go F.I.S.H., but super ex. so settled for yoshinoya. mmm havent had jap food for some time ald. aint half bad. also went walking ard 313. plus the layout is confousing...is the first floor the first floor, or b1? the one with epicentre and all. weird
sat - went to do maths with T and HT. like every other library in this teeny weeny country, there was either no place to study, or the study areas were all full to the brim. obviously that's an exaggeration. anyway went to mac at north bridge road. den aft tt went to bugis junction to try and find Heroes season 3 dvd, but like lot 1, they didn't have! so poor old me had to take train frm bugis to city hall, interchange from east-west to north-south line, take from city hall to somerset, and den went to HMV @313@somerset (i have to stop doing that) to nab the 6-disc dvd set. looks like i needn't bother going anywhere else except HMV when i want to buy cds or dvds in the future. aft tt took 190 back. thank goodness for the rebate system, or my dosh would have been in monetary purgatory. so now im wondering when Heroes season 4 will come to singapore
sun - waiting for the big one tmr, when Man Utd will thrash ass-enal!!! watch this space...
and i also agree wholeheartedly with Mark's and Xueyi's posts about love. to be clear, Xueyi initially posted it on her blog, Mark coped it, and i happened to chance across it. if your interest is piqued, here it is in its full glory on Xueyi's blog:
http://tyingupthlooseends.tumblr.com/ (its the post on 17 jan, btw)
Monday, January 25, 2010,8:53 pm
What does it mean to be a Christian? What does it mean to be a Catholic? These, and other similar questions, pop up inmy head from time to time. I'd like to think that I'm a long way away from where I started on this journey so long ago. And yet, I know that there is still a long way to go. My parents are about three decades older than me, and they are still continuing their own journies with the Lord.
Like many Roman Catholics, which includes my cousins on my mother's side, I was baptised shortly after birth. So I didn't have - need? Any other better word? - to go through all that conversion process, ie those who became Christians in their teens or adulthoods because they were either born free-thinkers or into another religion. So almost since I was born, I've been going to church every Sunday (or Saturday if i can't make it on Sunday), singing hymns...ok, I don't sing it out loud, but I sing thise that I like in my head...and listening to the readings, gospel and homily. Up until secondary school, I saw Christianity as just another aspect of life, on the same pedestal as education, working, marriage etc. Jesus? Mary? Church? Alleluia? Just things that I've grown up with. No big deal. I just read Mark's boomz essay on why/how he became Christian, and speaking from personal experience, I agree with him when he says that "It is difficult for a person who has been Christian all his life or for a very long time to know the feeling of being empty" (quote from his blog). Christianity was just something to be attended to, like the essay I needed to hand in for tomorrow's lesson or the project I needed to complete by next week. Get it done, get it out of the way, move on to the next assignment. That was what it was like for me until secondary school.
To elaborate, for primary school catechism, it was every Saturday evening. And honestly, any kid aged 7-12 has much better things to do on Saturday evenings than go to church and listen to that wonderful dude called Jesus. So I didn't really care much about those classes. For secondary school, the lessons were on Sunday mornings, scheduled so we could attend Sunday mass at 11am immediately after. Once again, I went because it was compulsory. Not only that, Catholics usually get confirmed at the age of 16, which meant no more lessons!!! Freedom!!!
And then my view of Christianity - or to be more specific, Catholicism - changed. Slightly, dramatically, drastically, I don't really care about the extent of change. But it started around Sec 2 to Sec 3. Some of my friends, mostly those in a certain CCA, kept trying to get me to join their cell groups, go for their Saturday services. My response? "Hello, I'm
Catholic, not
Protestant." These and several other small tidbits made me more interested in the divide between Catholics and Protestants, the two main branches of Christianity. Of course, there are many others, like the Methodists, the Lutherans, the Seventh-Day Adventists, the Anglicans, the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Evangelists...but we'll stick to the C & P here. In delving further into the split between Catholics and Protestants, I found myself gravitating towards the former. Of course, I was born into it, so that definitely played a big part, but how many stories have we heard of Catholics converting to Protestants, or vice versa? It struck me around this time that were it not for the Protestants, I wouldn't have bothered so much about Catholicism, and striven to understand why we have a Pope, why we proudly display Jesus's dying, broken, battered body hanging from the cross, and especially why we see Mary as benign, as an intercession for us. To put it another way, we occasionally use Mary as an alternate route to her Son, for it is her motherly love that comforts us and gives us the strength to face Jesus.
The second point is about experiencing God in my life. Many people have questioned if God exists, and challenged him to give them a sign, a miracle, some sort of proof, that he does indeed exist. I have seen it with my own eyes: during our confirmation camp in 2007, many of my friends started out with the mindset of going there to enjoy themselves. Nothing wrong with that. However, there were the prayer sessions (well duh. It's a church camp), when we were to invite the Holy Spirit into our bodies. The organisers went around to us individually to pray for us with their gift of tongues. When it got to my turn, I closed my eyes and waited to them to start praying. They did...and then, a miracle. My legs gave way, as though they had lost control of themselves. I was supported by those who had prayed for me, and gently lain on the floor. Later, I discovered that all of my friends had experienced the same thing. Proof, as if any were needed: the Holy Spirit had descended upon all of us. Also, we were asked to chant "Alleluia" repeatedly to see whether we had the gift of tongues. After chanting for about 10 seconds, my tongue suddenly started to move faster than usual. It was as though it was trying to get out of my mouth. The gift of tongues, which Jesus has bestowed upon His disciples so that they could preach to other people in different languages, was now bestowed upon us as well. It was truly amazing. That did not cause me to believe in God, simply because I have already believed in Him my whole life, and I will continue to do so. However, it did strengthen my faith, knowing that God is always there when you need Him, and He will answer your prayers in time. Not in the way you expect, not in the time window that you arrogantly set for him, but He will reveal it in His own time.
Let me continue from that last point. Like many Christians, I have asked God for many a thing. Yo, God, can I have this phone? Hey, Jesus my man, I need to ace that test tomorrow! And yadda yadda yadda. However, I have noticed, since young, that God answers my prayers, queries and requests in His own unique fashion. For example, let's say I'm browsing through a newspaper. I see a headline, and I'm like "this is going to be a bullshit article." But as I'm about to turn the page, something just tells me to read that article. So I read, and to my amazement, it reasonates with me, makes me go "yea, that's what I'm experiencing in my life right now." It's almost as if someone wanted me to read that article...also a few weeks back, on a Saturday night, I was turning in after watching football. Switch off the lights, puff my pillow, get ready to enter dreamland. And suddenly, the hymn "Praise To The Lord" popped into my head, and started playing for the next few minutes. Which left me wondering, "Why on earth did I suddenly think of this song? Could it be the opening hymn for Sunday's mass?" So I slept and didnt give it a second thought. The next day, I was up there in church, and the choirmaster - who's a good friend of me and my parents, I must say - goes, "Please turn to our opening hymn, 'Praise To The Lord'." Bullseye. God had struck again: this time, He decided to let me know the following day's opening hymn in advance. Of course, these weren' t the only times God has spoken to me. There was the time when He helped me scratch an itch on my face because I was getting my hair cut and couldn't move because the barber was busily snipping away. Or the time He answered my prayer of getting McDonald's for lunch. I'm serious. It happened like this: my mother said she was cooking dinner. So I'm down there unhappy, because I wanted my beautiful McSpicy. But then I told myself, I have food to eat. Don't complain. So fine. About half an hour later, my mother says she is too tired from cleaning the house, so she'll give me money and I'll go nab dinner. Amen! I can get my burger! Just one problem: I'm lazy to get out of bed, where i've been engrossed in a book for a good three hours. But at least I can eat my burger, so no problem. And then, another half hour later, my mother says my dad is on his way back from some workshop thingy, and he'll get dinner on the way back. WTFFFFFFFF?!?! To this day, I'm convinced that God was probably having a burger as well up in heaven, so He was sympathetic to my plight.
These days, I try to remember God when something good happens, or when I achieve something I want. Coincidences are one such opportunity. many people would put it down to luck, fate, so happened to be in the right place at the right time blah blah blah. But I like how a Catholic senior put it: "Isn't it wonderful that we have a God we can thank when things go right for us?" Couldn't agree more. After all, God has proven Himself to be a kind, merciful, loving Father. When the Romans crucified Him, He could so easily have damned them all to hell. I don't think anyone would have begrudged him. Yet, what did He say? "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Here you have a whole bunch of non-believers rejoicing in His shame and pain, and there He is forgiving them for their mistakes. Isn't that wonderful?
So what does it mean to be Christian? What does it mean to be Catholic? We will probably only truly know when God decides to reveal the truth to mankind. Until then, we should continue to strive to know God better, pick up our crosses as He did and follow Him, despite the many temptations that nice Satan flings in our way. And as for me, I'm proud of my faith, my religion, and I'm in this for the long haul. Nothing can ever change that, just like nothing can ever change God's love, devotion and mercy to us, His children.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010,9:29 pm
pernicious week
thu - went back to pjc to do chem with Chris. intended to help her with her work, ended up doing it for her -.-
fri - went gym with mr Heng. abit sian tho. and life is boring
sat - another boring day, before watching Man Utd win at night
sun - church, lunch, nap, dinner, tv, ho-hum
mon - did nth much in daytime. den at night went for 4/8 buffet dinner at sakura at clementi! the food much better than seoul garden. secondary school mates ROCK man. unlike...
tue - went to watch Daybreakers at east mall i mean west mall with Marky. so-so movie. ive seen worse, ive seen better. plus the cheap scare tactics were a turn off. although its still probably much better than tt pussy vampire flick which has the fairer sex swooning
wed - returned to the gym! heehee i still paying student price. cheers
also managed to get a "job"! although its more of an occupation, since im doing it to pass time instead of earning money. so at least i can do something useful and help other ppl at the same time, instead of rotting at home
cant wait for 5th-9th march! or maybe i can...
Wednesday, January 13, 2010,10:59 pm
pugnacious week
thu - went down to kino to nab two books: No Time for Goodbye and The Clone Wars. took both the train and bus to see which one cheaper. And heres the hypothesis testing: train from cck station to orchard station: $1.60. 190 from outside taka back to cck bus int: $1.40. so bus is cheaper!!! stupid train cheat me of twenty bloody cents!!! also finished The Clone Wars tt day. Star Wars ROCKS. star trek - who are ya???
fri - gymming in the morning. me muscles were all relaxed, so have to increase the reps yet again for next week. den had football. good workout...also managed to score a deflected goal. also started on No Time for Goodbye. super intriguing
sat - wth did i do? forgot. finished two-thirds of NTFG before watching football
sun - church, lunch, afternoon nap, yadda yadda, finished NTFG. one of the most gripping thrillers ive read. far outshadowed The Lovely Bones
mon - pei-ed Leen for her first day back at MI in the morning. screw the rebate system man. 188 there and back were both 91 cents. wtf?! den didnt feel like going gym, so went back home to continue sleeping. aft tt went for football. kinda sian, with only 4 ppl
tue - super slack day. and will my job applications ever be replied?!?!
wed - gymmed in the morning with JN. yea increased all me reps. although didnt feel like working on me legs, so did only frm the torso upwards. as a result of the increased intensity, my upper body muscles are now all sore, esp the abs. tts wat happens when u do 4 x 25 crunches, 3 x 15 leg lifts and 5 x 10 sit ups. nice. which means i wont be able to sit up in bed without using my arms for the next few days. also planning to run on fri
thu - gonna do chem with Christella tmr! yay
fri - wat am i, some sort of clairvoyant?
finally, although this seems random, i would like - no, love - to thank the girls who put up with my crap, esp about her, and for assuring me tt maybe ... nah. dont want it to be too obvious. but i love you all anyways. you know who you are. and if you don't, drop me a msg ;)
Wednesday, January 06, 2010,3:27 pm
mmhmm week
last wed - after blogging the previous post, me went to read The Lovely Bones. very intriguing...they were right when they say tt the story stays with u after u read it
thu morning - yea watched Man Utd thrash wigan 5-0 from 4-6am. nice
thu - restarted my game. nice to play it after so long. couldnt be bothered to watch the countdown. they do that every year anyway. the only reason to look forward to 2010 is the World Cup in june
fri - did maths with T and HT at north bridge road's maccy Ds. the heart-shaped earstuds damn cute heehee. although i prefer metal behinds to plastic ones...much more durable
sat - yadda yadda. watched football frm 9pm-1am
sun - some new year party at me house, organised by me parents. boring. parties are so lame. den watched football...absolutely pissed. you call that a performance? if i was the gaffer, id terminate their contracts immediately and tell them to get the fuck out
mon - gym in the morning! increased my reps. then football in the afternoon! yea Fabregas and Ronaldo scored again woots. plus it was the first time yours truly scored the winning goal. delicious
tue - my muscles slightly cramped and sore, so i know ive been doing something right in the gym. also got me hair cut. now waiting for the next time, when it'll prob be to cut botak
wed - gym! usual workout, plus did treadmill for the first time. the author of this blog completed 2.4km! twice!! not bad. the first one was otot, the second was done at a (relatively) constant pace of 5 minutes/kilometre, which translates to completing the 2.4km in 12 mins. yay. then went "swimming" before lunch before coming home before showering before turning on the com before clicking on "Blogger" before clicking on "New Post" before typing "mmhmm week/last wed..."
