Years of my Youth.
A walk with God (:Archive for Boarding
Thy Word…
Job 5:18 For He bruises, but He binds up;
He wounds, but His hands make whole.
I promise here that when i am set on high
and lifted to safety,
i will remember that i have been lowly
and mourning.
Times where i realize that i am weak,
that He is the One and Only…
who alone is more than sufficient for me.
Yes, Lord, despite the excruciating pain
and unstoppable tears,
my prayer is still the same:
Create in me a pure heart,
and renew in me a right spirit.
Cloth me in Your Presence,
and make me bear fruits in abundance.
Anna, if you happen to see this post (which is not supposed to be here), i want to thank you once again, from the bottom of my heart, for knowing God and loving Him so deeply, so that you can be such an effective channel of God’s blessing to me in my darkest hours and weakest moments. You are full of beauty and faith, to allow Christ to live and speak through you!
Also want to take this time to thank various people who have offered invaluable encouragement and support during this short but intense period: Mum, Dear Timliang, Charles, Allan, Yassy, Glenn, Ian, Gwen, Timloh, Daniel Loh, Tina, Lisa, Liu Yang, Sharon, Wilfred and Charmaine. <3
Retreat
Obtained an excuse from Parade, to acquire a timely retreat to replenish my depleted (physical, psychological, intellectual and spiritual) resources, and prepare for the challenges to come. It proved to be immensely rewarding.
As I perambulate the maltreated path of solitude and soul-searching, the scented breeze, the scorching sun, and even the hubbub of Saturday traffic carried the voices of my Best Friend, the Holy Spirit. He spoke grimly yet gently, and compelled me to think, to reflect and to meditate…
Having a strong mentality is relatively easy, carrying it through is arduous.
A glorious dream costs nothing, but making it come to pass may cost me everything.
Having conquered the mountain once doesn’t mean that it is forever under my feet.
Am i the prizefighter, who fights hesitantly and half-heartedly?
Or am i to revert to the bitchy spiteful prizefighter that disregards everything else apart from the prize money?
It is easy to flatter with words.
Think of Goneril and Regan.
It is difficult to love in silence and through actions.
Think of Cordelia and Kent.
Would you be “foolish” enough to die an early but noble death?
Like that of Cordelia.
Or would you rather be “wise”, to die later, in the midst of senseless strive?
Like Goneril, Regan and Edmund.
Sigh.
After so many years of walking with Jesus, i have yet to understand Him, others, myself and the meanings and ways of life up to even a small extent.
i have yet to find my equilibrium in God, yet to live life the way He has intended.
Lord i pray that you grant me discipline, fortitude and perseverance as i set my mind to seek You, to glorify you and honour those who love and care for me.
Please guide me by the hand in wisdom, love and power as i humble myself to be Your child.
(: and i know that i’m not alone in this.
On my mark. Get set.
i know the limitations of New Year’s Resolutions, then again, i personally find it highly helpful to set the year right. It works for me (:
So here, you shall be my witness:
Spirituality
1) Personal walk with God
* Write in a spiritual journal every day, without fail.
- Notes from FireAC sharings, chapel, devotions, BBBS and sermons
- Revelations from the Bible during QT
- Prayers
* follow church’s Bible Reading Plan
* Intercede for the school etc every Saturday morning before parade begins
* TRY to keep the Sabbath day holy
2) School ministries
* FireAC
- Step in and step up according to God’s command
- Guard Christ’s enthroned position jealously
- Love my comrades in truth and in purity
- Be a good role model to my juniors in all aspects
* Class and beyond
- Be more sensitive and caring
- Be a better testimony in all aspects
Friendships
1) Focus on significant ones, and those i’m called into
2) Cut down idle socialization
3) Remember friends’ birthdays and at least be a well-wisher
Work
1) Academic
* Now a priority, so MUCH MORE time, focus, and energy need to be poured in
* Finish all my homework before play
* Be more generous and helpful
2) BB
* Dare to take frontline responsibilities
* Stop being perfectionistic and get work over and done with asap
* Love and get to know my juniors more
Leisure
* Maximum 5min on Facebook during school days (birthday wishes & wall post reply etc)
Maximum 30min on weekends (upload photos, catch up with friends etc)
* Blog at most once every week
* Exercise at least 3 time per week (excluding PE & BB)
* Do not go out except for special cases
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(: This is it, may 2009 be a year of daring to be excellent. In Christ, by Christ and for Christ! =D
1 Timothy 4:12
Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
2 Timothy 1:7
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
1 John 5:14-15
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.
Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Now, GO!
Stardust!
Oh my goodness, this is the best Friday of the year!
The sheer magic of it!! =D
It started off with Pet and i trying to mug in BK after CF-FireAC meeting in Holland V (our attempts to mug was an epic fail with Pet solving one Maths problem and me reading 3 sides of A2 notes). Ended up exchanging soulful conversation and praying for each other and our friends a few times. Thank God for Pet and the time we had… it was such a rare opportunity to share our safely kept struggles and afflictions, and seek His counsel together.
Hou Yue came soon after, since 3 of us dated one another last night. We had dinner at Crystal Jade. It was amusing to see them transferring chilli oil from the bowl onto the plate till it was almost filled to the brim. Taught Pet the art of fusing oil droplets into a puddle on the surface of soup and scope them up at one go (a tactic i used as a kid to buy time during meals). It was really quite fun. (x
Then we made our way to Pet’s cosy abode, where we played the piano, ate ice-cream, cuddled together on the sofa, and watched half of Stardust!!! Petty’s mummy sent us back to Boarding at ten plus. On the way, she expressed the thought of sending Pet to Boarding to “toughen” her up. Part of the conversation in the car went something like this:
“So darling, stay in Boarding?”
*“Nooo… i wann my bed, food… jie jie.”
“Too bad!”
*“Awww… if you send mee here i’ll go Hou Yue or Zhuo’er’s room, and PARTY every night!”
*”You noe you’ll miss mee, soon you’ll be begging me to return home!”
xD Oh Pettypoo… why are you so amusingly and irresistibly adorable?
Hou Yue and i continued to watch Stardust in her room and on her bed. Valencia brought her little darling to us, and it DROPPED onto the laptop keyboard, in shivery traumatisation. Oh dear… haha!
Oh my, Stardust is absolutely spellbinding… utterly captivating!! Couldn’t get enough of it, honestly! Besides directing the pulsation of our hearts with all its tension and actions, satiating our senses through its marvellous sights and sounds, its fantastic plot also led me to contemplate the mystery of youth, beauty, love, and the issue of maturity and aging. Such a masterpiece!
(: A very fulfilling break in the midst of promos, and somewhat an ignited landmark.
THANK YOU SWEETHEARTS! <3
Back
The “holiday” went by like a dream- brief and fake surreal.
Oh my, can’t believe i’m back in Boarding, and Exams will take place in hours’ time.
i wonder if fellow last minute comeback kids share my sentiments. [hahs, so many of us dragged our luggage out of Taxis at the Lobby just now. Mine was the most ridiculous: one EXTRA LARGE luggage(>50kg), that BIG Nike bag, and school bag, all FULL. i was wearing a Superman stonewash shirt, so that explained(x.]
The June break was a blessing, the only pity was that i failed to treasure it as i should. Not well prepared for the coming Exams at all. By my own strength, i’ll probably flunk… BUT GOD will save the day, that i am sure!
Shall learn to have a greater measure of Faith in His grace and guidance. (:
Please, let’s keep one other in prayers and press on for the opportunity to reach out and glorify Him.
Breaking free
They want you to be like them,
they need you to be yourself.
Yet,
who are you?
Dearest Father,
Thank You. i really do.
Thank You for seeing me through all these days… days of physical strains, mental enervation, emotional turmoil, and spiritual dryness. Once again, You’ve humbled me. Ah… the futility of my fleshly strength. When will i master the art of victorious surrender?
Thank You for the brothers and sisters i have in you, especially John, Timloh (Bestie OSB!), Leb, Timlim, Dan, Karlo, Anna, Pet (Pettypoo!), Audrey, Jayne, Feli, Sam, Tina, Carren etc etc.. They are indeed Your precious vessels, people who will be there to pray, to encourage and edify. Thank You for wonderful pals too, too many to be named. May You draw those who have yet to know You to Christ Jesus!
Thank You for the privilege to serve You, to be Your voice in a sense (thank You for alleviating the soreness of my throat while on stage). Through today’s Chapel Worship, You made me realize that in order to draw closer to You and know You more, i need to cast aside all petty concerns, be obedient to Your call to serve, and just rely on Your strength through faith.
>< Formally sick now. Reckon it’s the time to take a day off to rest in the Presence of God, and clear that heap of work.
Random updates:
*Failed English!! T_T
*Went out with mummy yesterday (after like 4 months)! She bought me 4 shirts, 1 mobile, a pair of shoes, a bag, and treated me to dinner and dessert… Justin said it’s like Daughter’s Day. xD
*Miss the spectacular Rugby Match against SAJC (bleah x.X). Spent some time with Y4 Vice Head Prefect Timlim to prepare for the Chinese Speech Competition.
*Met Jingying(after being a Victorian, a Rafflesian, she’s now a Hwachongian) on the bus on the way to find my new phone (left it in a sports shop)! She prayed in the morning for familiar faces to show up, and it was answered!
*Hou Yue made me laugh till i almost choke on my Udon during dinner. xD Her sense of humour is stupendous!
End of Term One.
Wow, Term One has just ended. There are basically 3 main things to update:
1) Roommate!
2) Life Science Symposium!! (highlight of the week)
3) Term 1 Report!!
1. In my opinion, a great roommate embodies the following traits:
a) Considerate. (the basic requirement for peace)
b) Cheerful. (you don’t want to live with an emotional burden)
c) Caring. (like a bowl of steaming soup on a cold day)
d) Generous. (shares good stuffs like strawberries!)
e) Shares a common faith. (a source of comfort & encouragement)
f) A heavy sleeper. (she’s living with an insane owl)
Praise God! Nancy has all of the mentioned attributes and more! She finds joy in helping me do things such as going for roll call, taking supper etc. God has truly blessed me tremendously with such an ideal roommate!!!!!!! Thank You once again Father <3
2. Life Science Symposium on Monday was awesome! It was such a wonderful time for class bonding!! How extremely fun it was to take more hotdog buns than supposed to, to measure the percentage of our body fat (1/4 of my body are fats?!?!), to get my heart rate measured (a friend actually held my hand with both of his and proposed to me, in the hope of raising my heart beat. He failed HAHA), to get my blood pressure drawn on a map (i moved, so it looked like i had a heart attack. Mr Kishor saw the map and thought that i “saw a hot guy”.), and to play card games with the Year 3s.
3. i find the Term Report interesting. We’re graded under the categories of Understanding of Content, Behaviour During Lessons, Effort Shown, Completion of Assignment on Time, Responsiveness, Politeness and Practical Skills. Various points are given: 1 point is Very Good, 2 is Good, 3 is Satisfactory and 4 is Poor.
The subjects in which i attained all 1s are HL Econs, SL Chinese A2, SL Maths and PE. i need to be more responsive in HL Bio, hone my writing skills and show more effort in HL English and focus on SL Hist (currently my weakest subject). The marvelous comments give by Mr Kishor and Mdm Runima are extremely encouraging and constructive. Thank God for all my teachers!
A lot of academic work has to be done during the March break:
1) Complete Huck Finn (this is taking far too long…).
2) IOC on Robert Frost’s poem.
3) Transfer English notes.
4) Write more poem and prose commentaries.
5) Complete the Chinese novel.
6) Complete the reflection on the novel etc.
7) Complete SL Maths Holiday homework (do some more in advance).
8. File all Maths homework properly after corrections.
9) Read through some notes & textbook for Bio.
10) Start to do some questions in the Bio SSG.
11) Send Class name list to Mr. Kishor.
12) Complete History Essay 1.
13) Complete History Essay 2.
14) Read readings (like seriously!).
15) Search for History IA topic.
16) Send points of presentation to Torsten.
17) Read Econs notes & textbook (like seriously).
18) Complete the tutorial worksheet.
19) Summarized Unit 1 for the class.
[Didn't know it was so tedious a task!]
20) Prepare close book Econs essay for Term 2.
21) File all documents properly.
22) Complete the video for Econs competition.
[2 hrs for 3 min w/o prepared script and all. Cool! Jing Yan is such a fantastic actor! Barathi is very resourceful! <3]
BB commitments:
23) Send email to Primers’ Yahoo group for Spiritual Blueprint meeting details.
24) NYAA logging on Tuesday.
25) NYAA logging on Saturday. (dissolved)
26) Send Leadership Development Camp Proposal to Caleb.
27) Attend Leadership & Management Programme on Wednesday, 9am-6pm.
28) Attend LAMP on Thursday, 9am-6:45pm.
29) Send various Chairpersons and some Officers the final LDC proposal.
30) Spiritual Blueprint meeting on Saturday.
FireAC commitments:
31) Mass invitation for FireAC meeting by tonight.
32) Update data base.
33) Send report to Kenneth, Karlo and CC Mr. Ng.
34) Attend meeting on Tuesday.
35) Send feedback email to brothers.
36) Mass email invitation with Feli.
37) Organize meeting with comrades for Friday.
38) Attend meeting on Friday.
39) Morning prayer with John, Tim, Dan, and Sam on Saturday.
Others:
40) Housework. (Sunday)
41) Get belated birthday present for Evelyn.
42) Get belated birthday present for Feli.
43) Get birthday present for Jieyi.
44) Get birthday present for Elliott.
45) Attend Elliott’s birthday party (“Ides of March” in his “humble abode”)!
[Awesome! The guys fed us well... i mean Caleb, Elliott and Shaun, they are such wonderful cooks! Watched White Chicks in his high class home theater.]
46) Housework.
47) Settle accounts with mum.
Oh my son… what do the number of tasks stated above imply? i have “sold my soul” to IBDP, BB and FireAC. Well it’s not that i’m getting elitist -spending time only in school and with ACSians. It’s just that my soul has been sold to ACS for these 2 years (maybe even more), and that i cannot afford a life elsewhere anymore.
Sign, with so much work to do, i can’t even attend Justin Ng’s 16 people strong campaign committee (i’m the Head of External Relations. Woohoo!) meeting tomorrow at Marina Square’s Swensen’s (goodness he’s treating all of us). :/
GOD! i NEED YOU!!!!!!!
A light week.
YES! i’m a part of the NUS High wireless network along with my milky MacBook! Oh my, Mac TOTALLY ROCKS!! You have to get one to experience the immense impact it brings, for that impact can never be encapsulated by words. (: i’m extremely blessed to have such an amazing study companion for the next 7/8 of IB life.
(: i feel that life in Boarding School is cool. There are intelligent friends from all around the region, affable staff, laundry services, 3 meals a day including supper (which i really should start to save for breakfast) etc. This is even better than home where i got to do stuffs like laundry and dishes! For the past few days (and hopeful more days to come), i have been staying without a roommate. The bliss of solitude is mine. However, bliss will not endure. i hope it will be replaced with the happiness of companionship. Anyway, i give thanks to God for being the solicitous Father who takes care of my every need and want. <3
This week has been somewhat turbulent in the emotional and physical sense. i’m saddened by the fact that among the league of 2nd intakers, Nicole Poh instead of Nicole Phoon was found. The former is a charismatic old girl of SCGS who spent her first 2 months in RJ, and is now my classmate, the later is one of my closest friends back in SNGS. Why can’t the both of them be in ACS together? Why are they mutually exclusive? Physically, i fell sick for a very short period of time this week and i’m now well again. (; Thanks to Felicia, Christina and Emily who prayed for me before and during FireAC, as well as mum’s vitamin pills and all.
The highlight of the week was the visit to the Parliament House the day before yesterday. Almost all the Ministers and MPs were there for the Budget Debate. MM and Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan were not there! #@$%#$ It was pretty lousy of me to fall into a nap towards the end of our visit. The jokers of 5.7 teased me. They said it was a good rehearsal for my future role as an MP/ Minister, and reminded me to turn off the microphone in front of my seat in case i snore out loud. @#$%$# Met my SNG juniors outside the Strangers’ Gallery, Zhuang laoshi was the teacher-in-charge. All of us got quite high during that brief reunion. Zhang laoshi held my hands and asked me to patronize her store during Fiesta. ~(: i do miss my teachers and Meimeimen.
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Tomorrow is ACS Founder’s Day!!!!!
Hahas, Kenneth’s sharing during today’s FireAC morning meeting was quite a revelation: Red. Blue. Gold. All other colours are shades of them. (;
To God Be The Glory for all that we have accomplished, is striving to attain, and will achieve, as with Him who is awesome beyond measure, whose magnificence transcends all dimensions, the Best Is Yet To Be.
Let all ACSians boast in the LORD!
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Term 1 is drawing to an end; we have been through nearly 1/8 of the time in ACS, how unbelievable! It is just a matter of weeks before the Year 6s Primers leave BB, a matter of 3 terms before they leave the school, and a matter of a year and more before we become alumnae of ACS. Time is fleeting… Please God, be close to us, realize the potential you have put within us, and use us like never before, for Your Cause and Glory!!
