Back to school

Well, it's the first day of school and it was quite ok. We changed our seating arrangements and I ended up seating exactly where I seated the during the first term. I was actually rather nervous about the bio test but it's being postponed to this Friday. Chinese oral is also this Friday. My fingers have been itching to do an LO which I've laid off for very long now. Our form teacher also gave us crackers in wrappers that made the crackers look like little traditional Japanese men and women. It's so cute. It's really nice of her to buy this for the class. :) Also, I had this lit assignment today which I think I screwed up. Besides being a tad bit pressurized by seeing fast scribbling almost after 5 min, I think my mind was reacting too slowly. Anyway, the passage was rather interesting to analyse and the 3 periods of EH flew by (surprisingly).

Ok, better go.

Poems

Went to Kinokuniya today and read a book that inspired me to write poems. Ok, language really intrigues me. Oh yes, I met my poa teacher on the bus, which reminds me it's back to school soon. It's going to be a roller coaster. By God's grace and strength, I'll be able to hold on tight.

Books

Father Brown definitely beats Sherlock Holmes although Sherlock Holmes originated first. :D I love the way G.K Chesterton writes. So detailed and animated. He paints each character and makes them vividly alive in your imagination. The first two stories have already glued my eyes to the book. I think authors are smart to be able to craft such stories. For me, it's like watching a movie through imagination. Actually, books are better than watching movies, as they're more detailed.
Words, language... beats math any day.

Guavas

I was cutting guavas for my sunday school at 11 something, close to 12 am. It sure isn't easy. First, you have to peel the skin off the guavas, next you have to deseed it and lastly you have to slice it thinly. It was difficult to slice thinly, mainly because I was afraid of slicing my fingers off. Next, was the lemon juice. I love the smell of lemon, the zesty smell is refreshing. Lastly, I had to mix the sliced guavas with lemon juice with my hands and then place it in the fridge to marinate (to soak in the juice). I've never cut guavas before, only apples and oranges usually, as my mum has recently been using this receipe to do the guavas. It tastes really good and looks easy to prepare but it actually isn't.

Poem

A friend sent me an e-mail for some competition in poetry titled,"Spring." I don't think I am qualified or what I think are poems are even considered poems but I'll give it a try.(without submitting of course.)

Spring

A pastel coloured palette
of various types of flowers.
The wind blows,
singing its cheerful melody
as the flowers nodding,
sway in harmony.

Behold, it delights.
It pleases.
It's the subject of photography.
Children run,
smiles intertwined with budding flowers,
as their backs are warmed by the yellow rays
of the spring's sun.

It's my favourite season,
although it's summer all year round here.
It remains as part of a refreshing thought,
a visualisation that I've not yet experienced.

Birds twitter and chatter incessantly,
calling out a random tune,
to welcome spring.
Spring as the great Creator has made.

Stamps

Went with my mum to shop today. Bought stamps. Yay! :) I especially like the dutch lady one. It reminds me of the wooden doll I used to play with when I was younger. The one that you open and open to reveal exact replicas in a crescendo of sizes. From the biggest to the smallest. A decrescendo rather. The weather is extremely humid today but when I stepped inside the shopping mall, it was freezing cold! ... in fact it felt like winter, the air-conditioner must have been at full blast. Also, there weren't many people as it's a week day so maybe the lack of people is part of the reason why it was so cold.

Back to Environmental Conservation...

Sunset

Finally. I've managed to upload this. I love sunsets. This is one I captured quite a long time ago. The soft muted colours orange, red and blue in a blend is really beautiful. God's art. :D

Camp

I went and I'm back from camp in just a day. Our teacher just came back from a newly classified H1N1 country (Japan) so she had to be self-quarantined for 7 days. Since there were no teachers, we could not stay over. The news was quite sudden and unexpected. I think not only the campers were disappointed but also those who planned the camp. Thank God that we were still able to carry out 1 day of camp. Personally, I felt the camp was extremely well-organised and packed to the brim with activities. My mum took one look at the planned itinery and remarked that the camp required lots of energy. :D Oh well, day 1, the only day, was already packed enough, partly also because they had to push some of the major activities forward like 'Amazing Race.'

The games we played: (let me try and recall... there were so many!)

- whacko
- To be or 'knot' to be
- Forming words with our bodies
- Shoe game ( We were supposed to throw all our shoes in a pile in the middle of the room and
find for our shoes in the fastest possible time)
- 2 truths and 1 lie ( more for getting to know about everyone...Lynn's idea)
- musical chairs ( this was really amusing as even though the music was playing, everyone was moving as if it were a funeral.)
- pass the polo sweet
-pass the parcel
- Amazing Race: our team didn't manage to complete all the stations, so I can only recount 6.

1. Filling up two cups with salt water with just straws at a distance. So we had to run here and there. In the end, everyone resorted to desperate measures... drinking the salt water! Urghh (it was so salty!)

2. Drinking a big bottle of water in the fastest possible time. ( Actually, I quite enjoyed this station as I could quench my thirst after all the salt and running. )

3. Cracking raw eggs with our chins. ( I did this and my chin still feels a little sore. It was definitely a first for me. I cracked 5 eggs. Real messy. :) )

4. Melting a block of ice with our bare hands.

5. Naming all the countries you can think of from A-Z.

6. Whoops, can't remember...

Anyway, the game was made all the more exciting by the balloons we were given at each station. Sausage shaped and colourful they were. We were supposed to protect our balloons from any team who threatened to burst our balloons. This caused quite a few contentions and everyone ended up striking deals like, "You don't burst our balloons, we won't burst yours." :D As you can see, it was rather desperate. :)

I feel that even though the camp was only held for a day, it was enough to get to know the sec 1s better and for everyone to bond. Yup, it was good and fun.

Peace chapel

During the message on Sunday, I learnt more about how one should honour one's parents. Actually, I felt that the message was directed towards the younger people as it was supposed to be a message for the elderly. The speaker talked about how more and more children neglected their parents and sent them to nursing homes. In a recent survey, 33% of the young said that they would not look after their parents. I feel that that's quite shocking. In SS, we learnt about the tribunal for the maintenance of parents where they can take legal action against their children by bringing the case to court if their children are not giving them financial aid. Apparently, there is a revision to this law as many aged parents do not wish to report it to the court so now, a third party is allowed to help them. The sad thing is that, now, even a law has to be made to ensure that children take care of their parents. Shouldn't that be the natural responsibility of the children and not one enforced by the law?

Oh, yes, today I witnessed something on the mrt which was horrendously unhygenic. I saw a person using his standard ticket card to pick the dirt from his nails, previously pressed against his nose. After that, he proceeded to dig his nose. I was HORRIFIED. It makes me think twice about whether I would use a standard ticket next time. Who knows what it has been used for?
Urghh!!!

There's cca camp tommorrow. I'm excited but yet a little apprehensive as I 'm not sure what's the programme lined up like. Oh well, I'll know tommorrow. I hope there are no pranks or what not. Although I highly suspect there will be. Nevermind, it'll still be a great time to bond with the rest of the cca.

Gathering

It was nice meeting up with the extended family today at the chalet. The view was excellent there. Sea view. The sky was rather gloomy and the wind was lovely. Anyway, I saw lightning that flashed horizontally across the sky. That was cool as I usually see it flash vertically, in a zig-zag formation.

I smell of smoke now. Barbecuing is actually quite a new experience for me. It requires lots of patience and experience in knowing how long it takes to cook like seafood and the like. Had a good time chatting and laughing. It's the first time I saw my cousins during the year and not just during Chinese New Year. Yup, gatherings should be held at least once during the year. It doesn't feel so distant that way as I hardly seem to know my cousins at all, hardly talk to them in fact.

CCA camp is coming up this Tuesday. I wonder what J has in store for the camp? Well, as long as it bonds the CCA better, that will be the best.

Right, better knock off now.

Music

Today is the end of the 2 weeks of school... with 2 more weeks left of holiday or (studying and homework). It was rather long today. Time passed really, really slowly. It crawled...
I almost couldn't stay awake during bio. Thankfully, we were dismissed half an hour earlier, otherwise it would have been 2 hrs of bio straight.

I'm so frustrated that I'm having problems with hearing chords because I'm not perfect pitch. Sigh. It's so important, yet I don't have it. Well, God will provide a way. Joo Ye told me that she just received a free violin and God answered her prayers. I was really happy for her as well as her faith in God as she put her trust in Him and He answered her. Cool right? Even a simple request like that, God knows. He hears.

Did a recording of the duet with my brother yesterday. It was hilarious, especially with my burst of laughter half way through. Oh well, there's still room for improvement. My teacher's been telling me that my touch on the keys is too gentle. Ha ha, I guess I must not worry too much about the notes otherwise I would not get the mood and texture right. Not too heavy, not too light, take note of slurs... Mozart is sure meticulous. I like the power in Beethoven's music but I doubt I have the ability to play his music though I have never played his music before. I would like to try though.

Ok, that's about all for now.

Mutterings

Today I ended early, went off at recess as there was FAPD for the next 3 hrs. The weather has been so humid recently and I've retired to artificial cool air from the air conditioner. We did lots of Math today and I was really frustrated as I was rather slow in doing the assignment. I think for math, the gears in my brain need to be well oiled with the basics and understanding so that I can move faster.

The June hols is going to be really busy for me. Still, I prefer the "holiday" environment, it's more relaxed than usual school days. I've to try and figure out the chords to my composition. The melody is more or less fine but it's tone is so different from all the other ones that I've tried composing that I find it difficult. Well, with God, nothing is impossible!

I love Lina Sandall's hymn taken from the book, "Great hymn writers." I think it's just one stanza of it though.

Day by day
and with each passing moment
strength I find
to meet my trials here
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
I've nothing for worry or for fear.

Lit Workshop

The Lit workshop was a blast. :) TKAB was really brought ALIVE. We did many activities and acted out certain scenes and play rolled the humorous scenes of Jem and Scout. It was cool and the drama was so funny. :D Everyone acted so well. 2 of the drama girls acted out a scene and put on a southern American accent suited to the "ain't" etc.etc. It was hilarious. I also learnt much more about the characters in detail, especially about Aunt Alexandra. She went from being "cold and there," to become a completely changed person who cared more and thought less about status. I wish every lit lesson could come as alive as through this workshop. The speaker, a lady from England, Julia Goldsworthy was really good. It seems like she practically memorised the whole book as she was quoting off hand for almost the entire thing. It's like a lit essay in person. The 6hrs was spent well and it was fruitful.

Service

Right now, I think my oxygen debt has been fully repaid and the lactic acid has gone. I can play the piano without feeling so much strain in the muscles of my right hand. The graze on my palm is healing too. Thank God for that. The skin is so amazing, its self-healing properties are awesome. Well, God programmed our bodies this way and He's so smart. My skin is now in the midst of repairing itself. Ha ha, before that, I think clotting took place to prevent bacteria, excessive loss of blood etc. etc. from happening. So cool. Ok, the fact that I can see clotting is interesting but not the gross part.

Last Sunday, I helped out in the Chinese worship service with Val. Their worship is so heart-felt and sincere, you can feel it in the atmosphere. I love the songs too. It's great helping and trains me in my improvisation as well so I'm not so "note-dependent."

"Everyone stop!!!," my godsister Leah yelled to make herself clear. It was the first time in my life that I had been a referee in a "freeze & melt" game. Everyone came. With all the authority she could muster she chided a person for "pausing" the game just to escape being tapped ("frozen.") She called on a ban to pause the game and then dismissed them to continue the game.
Well, now, I think having referees in simple games like this are good and furthermore, it was intitiated by Leah. Haha, I wasn't one of the players as I was too lazy to run. I tagged along as her assistant referree. :D

Tommorrow there's a whole day of literature. I wonder what we would be doing, I hope that it'll be fun. TKAB, here I come.

Professional Guidance Day

Everyone dressed formally today, so formal that it scared me. Working people attending school. Ha ha...Well, it was definitely interesting to see the various dressing styles. Rather amusing and quite fun actually. :) I went to hear the talk on counselling and psychology. I realised that counseling requires a lot of patience and one must have the passion to serve the community. Listening to the teacher relating her day's work was and eye-opener for me. Some cases seemed difficult to handle. Not only do you have to sacrifice your time but you need to have lots of care and of course, keep yourself healthy in body and spirit as well. After all, counseling is about helping people but I think it can be draining if you fully immerse yourself into the mood of the patients. Just like the teacher said, "of course sometimes when the person cries, you can empathise by crying along with them but don't cry until you feel absolutely down."

Psychology was quite interesting too but I think I won't venture into educational psychology. The lady professional did a write-up on "Multiple Intelligence" by some Garnard person. (don't know if I spelt it correctly) In his theory, everyone has different strengths: kinesthetic, spatial, etc. (there are 8 in total but I can't remember.)

We also did a reflection and watched a video capturing the pictures of the past activities. It was nice to reminiscence. The people are what makes the school such an enjoyable environment to be in.

Time flies. Soon it will be time to bid adieu.

Updates

Just had a badminton workout with Marisa just now. My right arm is starting to ache, what more, I have piano lesson tomorrow, hope that I can play properly. Well, it was just 1 hour of badminton and I was so tired. Ha ha... that shows my stamina isn't very good. The badminton session was good though but Marisa's shots are really high and her backhand is really strong. Considering that I haven't been playing badminton in a few months, I glad that I still have the stamina to last for an h0ur. I think I should exercise more often. Does my lazy bones good.

Today we had school as usual and an extended MT intensive. Now its 口 试 and 听力 practice. Everyone is trying to speak in Chinese now and it's really funny and amusing. It's hard to express what you want to say in Chinese though, as my vocabulary is quite limited.

Yesterday, my poa teacher made an interesting remark at the end of the lesson, she told us," I want to see more M.O.S burgers." That stunned us for a moment as we had no inkling as to what she meant. Then she said I want to see more Moments Of Success. I thought that was a cool acronym.

I've just finished reading this book which I can classify as an unputdownable. ( a term I saw in a comment from another book) The language is absolutely descriptive and I wish I could write like the author. Impressive. It captures you into the world of the story, sustaining the tension and suspense throughout such that you keep wanting to find out and wanting to know what will happen.

Language
so mysterious
so vast
to be used
to be crafted
by the writer.

To be mastered
it really can be
a needed tool.

So many ways
to express it's various words
So complex
yet simple
Simply awesome.

Part 1 - Ended.

我真的不知道我要笑还是哭。My Chinese paper today was ok. I chose the 建议类 公函 and 报章报道。But, I made such a silly silly mistake. For paper 2, our answer sheet was folded like a magazine booklet and I wrote my answers on the wrong questions!!! At that moment, my heart dropped because I had already answered 3 whole questions and I had no space to redo it properly. I still had time though and I decided to just cancel the written questions to the correct questions in order to save time. I'm worried that I'll be marked down though. Ahhh!!! But I thank God for helping me keep a clear mind and for providing lovely friends like Marisa, Xin Xuan and Joo Ye who comforted me and also that I was able to finish the paper.

Now, I have to work on Part 2- 多说多听。

Oh yes, I love this hymn, not just the music but its meaning.

All to Jesus I surrender
All to Him I freely give
I will ever love and trust Him
In His presence daily live

Ｃｈｏｒｕｓ：
Ｉ　ｓｕｒｒｅｎｄｅｒ　ａｌｌ，　Ｉ　ｓｕｒｒｅｎｄｅｒ　ａｌｌ
Ａｌｌ　ｔｏ　Ｔｈｅｅ，　ｍｙ　ｂｌｅｓｓｅｄ　Ｓａｖｉｏｕｒ
Ｉ　ｓｕｒｒｅｎｄｅｒ　ａｌｌ

Ａｌｌ　ｔｏ　Ｊｅｓｕｓ　Ｉ　ｓｕｒｒｅｎｄｅｒ
Ｍａｋｅ　ｍｅ，　Ｓａｖｉｏｕｒ，ｗｈｏｌｌｙ　Ｔｈｉｎｅ
Ｌｅｔ　ｍｅ　ｆｅｅｌ　ｔｈｅ　Ｈｏｌｙ　Ｓｐｉｒｉｔ
Ｔｒｕｌｙ　ｋｎｏｗ　ｔｈａｔ　Ｔｈｏｕ　ａｒｔ　ｍｉｎｅ

Ａｌｌ　ｔｏ　Ｊｅｓｕｓ　Ｉ　ｓｕｒｒｅｎｄｅｒ
Ｌｏｒｄ　Ｉ　ｇｉｖｅ　ｍｙｓｅｌｆ　ｔｏ　Ｔｈｅｅ
Ｆｉｌｌ　ｍｅ　ｗｉｔｈ　Ｔｈｙ　ｌｏｖｅ　ａｎｄ　ｐｏｗｅｒ
Ｌｅｔ　Ｔｈｙ　ｂｌｅｓｓｉｎｇ　ｆａｌｌ　ｏｎ　ｍｅ

Ｍｏｓｔｌｙ，　ｈｙｍｎｓ　ａｒｅ　ｉｎ　ｔｈｅ　ｓｔｒｏｐｈｉｃ　ｆｏｒｍ　ｂｕｔ　Ｉ　ｌｏｖｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｍｅａｎｉｎｇ　ｉｎ　ｈｙｍｎｓ．