December loves.

This can never ever go wrong really, can it? (:

Is <3.

PS: Mindy, I’m really glad that you are back. (:

Organiser.

Good stuff on the 21st of Septemeber: Long awaited team outing! (:

This time round, Jasmin and I decided to take on the role of the organisers for the September team outing because we really want to have a good gathering with everyone. I heard the July one wasn’t so good because so many people didn’t turn up. And they made poor van so angry! Those who are guilty, we don’t mean to make things difficult for you but I wonder if you guys knew how much the rest had wanted to see you.

(:

So Vanny, don’t be angry okay. This time round we tried to ensure maximum attendance already, although we had to give up poor Rara for Mindyleow. But since Rara was so gracious about it and Mindy was quite a darling, asking us if we could delay it for a week… And Leepeng will so try her best to make it even though she has a wedding dinner that she is reluctant to go for on that day. Awesome or what?

I can’t wait to see my team again! So I will feel team-ish all over. Haha. I got funny stuff to tell Xintian and Shumin! I want to laugh until my stomach hurts with Van and nonsensical Mindy. Then can finally get to see Tsin Li after all these while. Plus there is my good organising partner Jasminseow!

Some guidelines to ensure proper planning of team outings:

When asking for response and attendance,

1. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT use the tagboard. Most people check the place out once in a month.
2. Text messages could work, but still no good.
3. Facebook is the best! *beams*

Haha yay I’m so happy that everyone really made the effort to reschedule their appointments just so they can come for this team outings. Everyone of you rocks. (:

We are us(:

And you have no idea how important this is to me.

*21 Sept please come soon?*

Just cruising around..

Oh yes so the three tests came and go, and without His grace, I probably couldn’t even survive one. I embraced Friday with much anticipation, to go town with Leep and everything. A duper pleasant surprise dropped by and I am still feeling the aftermath of the whole incident.

But oh well, it is just something silly after all. (:

Saturday was great, going to church without rushing, being fully rested and focused. I had a new girl in cell and I thank God that she was able to fit in just as fine with the rest of the girls. Then I spent some time with Shing, opting to go for supper(something that I haven’t done in a real long time). We talked about all sort of stuff that I know I can talk to her about. I asked for her opinions, listened to her advice. I love Shingshing! What a great friend God has given to me.

Great and encouraging friend don’t come by so often. So I know how to appreciate them when they do.

I went to church and a long lunch on sunday. It was long because everyone was just busy catching up with everyone from everywhere. It was actually quite a nice thing really, even though we took one hour from the time service ended to walk and settle at the food place which is a maximum of 15mins walk away. -_-”

But we just had to ask of everyone, to at least know that they are coping fine.

The very nice Shingshing sent me to Van’s house for my long awaited team outing. No full team but at least the regulars were around. I miss shumin! But I knew she had to be somewhere else and I’m glad to choose to go there although we missed her at the team outing.

It was van’s house again, but the cake was different this time round. I remember we always celebrate the birthdays of the 3ofthem together. 2005 in Manhanttan. 2006 at Changi Sakae. 2007, this time round at van’s house. We watched a little of Full House(again!) and being our usual chatter.

It was always catching up for me with the people outside ntu. The nus and smu peeps that are so busy with so many things! But it was finally good to hear from MINDY LEOW! And just listening, and prehaps a little gossiping which we shouldn’t have. Some of stayed for dinner and we had 3 different kind of soups in a row! We conferred the title of “Magic kitchen” to van’s kitchen. Hahaha. Many thanks to her parents for hosting us ever so generously.

Van craved for steamboat. And so did I. I craved for all those past team outings when the full team was around(not that last night one was bad). Or rather those time when I didn’t know anything, didn’t form any thoughts or have any reservation. I don’t think it is possible to go back to there now…

In any case, it was 3 days well spent and they made me very very happy.

I was so bored last night I went to revamp mackey. I downloaded Firefox which by the way is much better than Safari. Sorry for my slowness. I got myself adium which I saw Van using and microsoft messenger for mac. I have decided to ditch aMSN! Because aMSN is too messy and uncool. Human nature isn’t it? Always ditching what was familiar and have served us well for something new.

And I got myself a couple of widgets… since they are all freeware.

Term break suddenly, and I’m lost, don’t know how to plan my time. Haha.

Hey God, can you please do THIS for me? Fix this mess for me! Give me a stronger heart!

What I mean is.. God, can you please give me this thing first? After that I will learn how to pray!

Or God! Can you please give me stability now, and after that I will learn what it means to trust you!

And oh about the stronger heart, give me a stronger heart so that I can face all the temptation in the World and not even blink!

No, no child. You have got the order all wrong.

Learn how to pray and seek my kingdom first, and all things will be given to you.

Learn how to trust me in times of instability and you will experience what stability is all about.

And lastly, you got to exercise and undergo training for your heart, before it can get strong; you got to put in some effort.

Huh… why don’t you just give me a strong heart first? I am weak! I can’t exercise my weak heart, I will die!

…..

I hope none of us have such a conversation with God, but I guess we do bargain with Him times and times again about how certain things should be. God welcomes our emotions, even if they are negative. But why do we argue with our Creator about the things He had said?

We all do things that we shouldn’t have.

Bummer.

Old times.

I was talking to a few of my njcanoeing teammates online just now, and can’t help but feel the love all over again. I was conversing with Rachel, Mindy, Cindy and I realised that we really haven’t been keeping up with each other’s lives. But of course, everyone is busy with so many things, school work, ministry, dating, here and there.

So I talked to my favourite Mindy and was suddenly inspired to dig out some old photos. I purposely went to the photo album and choose the oldest files, those dated way back in 2004 and man, I looked dorky(as usual~). That is definitely beside the point. The photos were taken in the 2004 chalet and I can’t help but lament, ‘darn! how things have changed‘.

For the better or for the worse, life is always a mix of these two. Mindy said we shouldn’t really look backwards, and I agree because it kind of make everything seems really BAD now. But hey, when it comes to our team, I think we can still take time to look back and smile for a while. Of course, blogging about the past is really something a student with 3 tests next week should do. But hey, I can’t really help it (:

Was talking to Mindy and Cindy… This photo has the title: The T1 Girls

While this said: Super_hy HAHAHAHHAH. Shumin, miss you la.

I was really naughty.

Happy with mich, as usual. Even till now. See hey, some things really don’t change!

Then I realised, I am not the only person who looked dorky! LEEPENG LOOKS QUITE TOOT HERE! Check out the specs and the haircut. Woohoo.

Crazy jas and me. I don’t even know what the number supposed to mean already..

And definitely not to be missed out…

MINDY LEOW FA HUA! I still remember how you tried to convince me with much failure that your chinese name is called fa hua. Like seriously?!? Meet up soon man, then we can have those real serious talk. Hahaha.

Everyone changed a lot huh. I mean now I don’t think I will be caught wearing a BAGGY T-shirt with a pair of jeans. I do realised that they don’t really go very well with each other.. And I suspect ps uploaded these photos? Because I see very little photos of the guys team and the only one photo that has Chew in it had the title: grrrr.

HAHAHAHAH.

Happy happy (:

Team outing soon can? I begbegbeg(this sentence has no grammatical element in it).

Overdue.

A date with the dear michelle.

Our lunch at NUS.

This is good stuff.

Her favourite sesame.

I have one tooth less.

It’s long overdue, but thank you for showing me around that day. Michelle brought me to her studio where she had to spend many nights rushing drawings and eventually end up sleeping there. Pretty cool place, with many drawings, models, budding architects, make-shift beds, personal stuff sprawled all over the place. It seemed that a neat studio is not a hardworking one, you got to be messy, busy and more messy. Hahaha.

Untitled.

I think Everybody loves Raymond is a really funny show.!

It has been pretty eventful these past few days as I count down to school restarting. After Ngee Ann’s friendly on friday, saturday saw me and Peishan meeting Rachel, Jasmin, Chiteng and Michelle to go back to NJ together. It was a homecoming party in some sort and Mr Yong had to give a talk regarding his death valley ultramarathon.

Saturday.

I was overcame with nostalgia as I stepped right back into NJ. My heart sank a little because the bao stall wasn’t open and I didn’t get to eat my pandan bao. But I remember the times when I was still in NJ, how michelle will secretly buy pandao baos for me and give it to me when we were on our way back to class because she knew I loved them. That thought alone brought warmth and I was okay that I didn’t get to eat what I wanted. Peishan’s craving for bubble tea was satisfied as we went on to the drink stall.

I love NJ canteen despite not having much of a choice of food back then because of the order Mr Yong set.

Peishan and me went ahead to meet up with the rest before settling down for Mr Yong’s talk. The talk was easily an hour or more, but as much as I am sleepy, I didn’t have a problem staying awake. I guess it’s because I kind of miss hearing Mr Yong talk about training and stuff. It was like days back in NJ when his debrief was long and we were all tired, but we listened anyway.

And after the many talks(NJC is going to build hostels!), we went over to chat a little with Mr Yong. It was definitely awkward but he was friendly and he told us interesting thing about the death valley run. We hang around for a while before proceeding to Serene Centre for lunch.

Somehow… good to see him again.

Us.

NUS peeps. (:

NTU peeps.

We dined at a certain Japanese restaurant that Mich recommended. The food did not disappoint and everyone was happy with what we ordered. We could go back there as a full team the next time!

How cool is the camera you tell me. Oh, that’s the salad by the way.

The nice corn-mushroom soup.

Peishan’s teriyaki salmon.

My chicken with the veryyy tasty sauce.

Jas and Rach’s raw food. Haha.

That’s chit’s teriyaki chicken.

We are missing Mich’s dish, I don’t know where is the photo..

Happily eating.

Chit’s unglam shot #1.

Chit’s unglam shot #2.

Chit’s unglam shot #3. HAHAH!

The food and service are really not bad to start with~

Eating…and eating…

3ofus.

We were given complimentary desserts.

6ofus.

We trotted over to Island Creamery for ice cream and boy, the nutella flavour one tasted impressive! We chatted for a while more before everyone had to leave for our respective appointments. It was a good day, being able to spend time with them.

Monday.

It was baking at Chiteng’s house! My first baking experience and a pretty interesting one. (: It was me, peishan and chiteng again. I think I may have a little talent for baking, horr chiteng? Haha, I shall let the photos do the talking.

Chit and Peishan, busy with preparing the ingredients.

We mixed the cookie dough from scratch.

Into the oven….

Tadaa! Oops.. the second batch got burnt and gave chiteng a fright because she thought her house was on fire!

There, these are much better and they really taste good by the way! (:

We wanted to do a heart-shaped cookie..

And it came out looking real good!

So after baking and lunching, chiteng and me went over to Vivo for a shopping trip. And I liked that we had time to talk to each other because she has been so busy the past week that we didn’t even had much chance to talk. So we talked about many issues, shopped through many labels and laughed at many things. We went Daiso to play again and had gone to Pet Safari to gawk at the impossibly adorable dogs. I wish that even as school starts, we will still be able to spend time like this.

My dear roomie with her enormous hat. (:

Random

This is totally off but I really think Bryan Wong is cute. Not the don’t-know-what Star Idol winner but the host Bryan Wong. Especially his role in the new 9pm show, where he plays a sleek and nice engineer, really motivates me to watch the local drama.

Bryan Wong on the left, tell me I am not the only one who finds him very good looking… -_-

Talking about good looking, I’ve been watching TVB’s Police Academy, a successful drama in I think 2003. And Joanne and me absolutely love our LAO SHUAI! I can’t believe Michael Miu is over 50 already, he still looks so charming. Some people are really blessed with good looks…

Lao shuai.!

Alright, that’s all for now. I hope everyone is doing good. Bye! (:

Sentosa.

Today is a darn good day!

I woke up, got dressed, travelled down to harbourfront and hopped on to Peishan’s car. We drove into Sentosa and started our little adventure. I was glad to see Michelle and Peishan, a kind of unexplained type of joy. Prehaps it’s due to the fact that I had enough sleep and that I am sure the day was going to be a fun one.

It has been some time since I stepped into Sentosa and even the place has been changing much. We took a tram down to Siloso Beach to do what the two of them love best – SUN TAN. I couldn’t believe I joined them in this activity because I am naturally attracted to shade. Haha. But it would have seemed weird if I should sit in the shade when the both of them are grinning silly-ly under the sun. So after slapping plenty of sunblock(sun tanning oil for Peishan) on ourselves, we braved the heat and sat under the sun for an hour plus.

Our bags under the shade.

I really had fun talking to the both of them. We talked about many many things. Me and Michelle telling each other about our ‘potentials’ , hahah. Talked a little about school, about work, about people, about our team, about the past. I reminded Michelle about the first time we met, how she was so friendly and sincere. It was a lazy afternoon, our conversations had no direction, but the heart is happy.

I commented, ” This is good life man! “

We wanted to rent blades, but they don’t have it here in Sentosa. So I wanted to drink Coke, badly. We looked near Underwater World, they don’t serve Coke with ice. And because I insist on having the ice, poor Michelle and Peishan decided to go to another beach where there is a food court. We took a tram again, this time to Palawan Beach.

The tram.

The beach.

Captain and Vice-cap shopping for sun tanning oil. Hahah!

I am quite surprised to find a food court here at Palawan. Last year when we had our Behold! Leaders Camp, I don’t recall seeing a food court. I got excited upon seeing the air-conditioned food court, thinking I am finally able to have my coke with ice. Yet to my dismay, I discovered after all the trouble that the food court do not sell coke(only pepsi! Eee). But we sat down and had beverages anyway. We took a walk down to the beach and made our way to the Southern point of Asia continent.

The place changed much since Behold! Camp.

Peishan is tired.

Our shadows on the shaky bridge. (:

After that we went back to Palawan and the sun came out again. Peishan and Michelle wanted a second round of tanning and so we picked a spot to lie down again.

This time maybe because we were tired, we actually fell asleep while lying under the sun! And by the time we woke up, it was six o’clock already and the sun is already setting. We made our way to the toilet to bathe before going back on to the car. We drove for an hour before finally reaching marina square to try out Ministry of Food.

The Bento didn’t disappoint but Michelle’s cold ramen had room for improvement. The dessert came soon after and I think they quite liked the place like I did. As I sat at the back of the car on our way back, I commented again, ” Today is a good day! ” and it was met with acknowledgements from two of my favourite people in this world.

God I thank you for blessing us with such a wonderful time spent together. (:

We should have more days like this.

Photos.

 

This is where we happily plopped ourselves down the whole sunday afternoon, eating and watching. Many thanks to Van who by the way is a fantastic host and her patient mum who clean up quietly after us. A shift of HQ from ps place to van place sounds great anyway!

 

I miss shumin! It was real fun teasing her about her being the vice-captain of nus canoeing. That poor girl, I heard she get teased(aka bullied) very often even though she is an authority figure in the team! Must be she is too kind and easy going..

This is the cake that mich got for the birthday girls. I think van took this photo because I don’t think anyone of us is artistically inclined enough to be able to take such a photo. Should be either vanny or rachie. But artistic photo aside, the ice cream tasted awfully good! We definitely couldn’t get enough of it.

 

The 3 birthday girls(minus cindy) coincidentally wore purple to the team outing! From the look on chiteng’s face you would know what she is wishing for already. Or rather who she is wishing for… Hehehe!

Look at us. All armed with forks, ready to attack!

Don’t know who came up with the crazy idea to pose with the mangoesteens(is this how you spell it?). I think it is xintian because look at how photogenic she is in this picture. Almost like she was literally posing with GLEE. Haha. But I think we look great anyway. (:

Oh talking about looking great. Look at what van is doing here. That crazy girl can join xintian and her pose-weirdly-for-photos gang(which I secretly think has no member except for the founder herself!). Yet don’t you think van looks cute?

We found some hats in the house and conveniently took them to pose! I love the hat I am wearing and is sad to hear from van that she found it in York. And yet again, Xintian never fails to crack me up.~

My neighbour that I wouldn’t trade anything for.

My roomie that I wouldn’t trade anything for too.

!!! It has been ages since we took a ‘family’ portrait! The last one will be at Changi Airport Swensens which was years ago. I am happy. Hehe.

This is by far the most retarded photo of myself I ever own. If you are wondering what the 3 of us are doing, we are opening our eyes bigbig because I was told I have small eyes(though ps still win me). I didn’t know trying to make my eyes visible in a photo is equivalent to looking this stupid! Now I know why ps give up trying to open her eyes…

 

This is us(missing mindy). Team NJC. Batch of 2004-2005(did I get this right?). And today is the Year 2007. Yet we are still standing strong. Call it a feat or not, I thank God for every single one of them. (:

Stay together.

Blank.

Its been a while since I last wrote. But not to worry, life has been kind, it’s just the tiredness that gets into me.

There was team outing on sunday which is great by any standard. I mean, when you put a few lazy people together in a house stacked full of great food, a dvd player and Full House vcds, how bad can it get? I know this team outing is the least prepared and not as well-planned out of the many we have, but I am amazed that it was still as good as time allowed it to be.

When we reached van’s house, we decided to just watch Full House out of the blue because shumin(vice-cap!) didn’t watch it before. But due to the show being too addictive, we actually watched from 1pm-8pm. It was fun, seating with my team, gushing about how handsome that actor was, how high her heels are and ultimately, how life has been for the different ones of us. It was laid-back, very simple but very lovely. It was a pity mindy was not there, I really miss her laughters and insights.

Even though each one of us was supposed to bring one food item each, there are people like me who forgot totally about that aspect that went empty-handed(sorry!). But because van’s house is van’s house, there was no shortage of food AT ALL. But we did feel bad for emptying out some of the food. Van’s mum made beehoon and SUPER NICE chicken wings for us. The chicken wings are as addictive as Full House, we just couldn’t stop popping it! Then Jasmin brought tasty chocolate from Germany for us and a cute strawberry wine to go along with it. Shumin came armed w Loackers that she didn’t have a chance to eat because she left early. Peishan brought bopiahs, Rach shared her gigantic german sausages. Michelle generously sponsored Swensen Cookies N Cream Ice Cream cake. Yay! (:

Although not everyone turned up, I really enjoyed myself a lot. Maybe I didn’t show it but I was really thankful to be able to be in that house, with everyone. They listening to me and me listening to them. Some things never do really change do they? The feeling gets more and more family-ish each time round. Probably it’s because we cherish the time spent together more as we get less available.

Anyway, I’ve got a new nickname, no thanks to my ex-nj captain who call me a purple monster because of my purple scrub suit. -_-” But it has been good seeing sofia around in cgh. Calling each other names and teasing and talking, it’s a pity that I’m ending my work this friday. Yet, I know the end of something will be the start of another new thing!

Happy birthday Sam Yuan! (: I maintained what I told you early: I am glad that we are friends. Although you always make me roll my eyes excessively. Haha. Enjoy your day!

Thursday.

I got very angry just now. I am always very angry when people take my things without asking. I am even more angry when they take my things and do not take care of it. I am most angry when the new book that I haven’t even touch came back torn and tattered. But of course, despite how angry I am, I am inclined to recap about how wonderful last night was, because that seems to be the only redeeming factor in this place, right now.

I was thankful for last night, because I finally got a chance to hang out with my beloved roommate. It was a little wasted that Leepeng couldn’t come, but I was quite looking forward to spending time with just chit alone. Not just because chit wouldn’t take my things without asking, but also for the fact that she is a great bestie to have. We shopped and dined to Food Republic. I am glad that we weren’t in a rush to go off, hence had the chance to talk for quite sometime there.

We talked about many stuff. Shared some thoughts, exchanged a few discussions. It seemed to be like old times again, when during njcanoeing days, we would chat till late on the phone. Or like when we stayed in hall last semester, me refusing to let her sleep and we talked until she couldn’t take it anymore. Plus talking with her is always fun, very enjoyable, very engaging. You cant really blame me for wanting to keep the way things are within us, it is good for me. And I hope it has been good for her too. (:

Wah chit, you must be honoured that you have been post-worthy these few days. Hahaha. Anyway, team outing this sunday and I really, really cant wait! It has been ages since I last saw many of them! Peishan, michelle, chit, leep, jasmin, rach, shumin, heartless xt, cindy, mindy and our darling VAN! Just mere mention of the team makes me all hyped up over already. I do hope the rest are as excited as I am to meet up, if not, very sad leh. Hahaha.

rah.