The sem is ending soon... :)

The semester will be ending soon! This blog seems to be dying already...

Break or not a break? That is the question

Once again, the June break is here. The 2 months of the new semester was crazily packed with group projects and individual assignments. There is a 10 people group project implementation to conduct a workshop for the seniors at Wesley Seniors Activity Centre, a research project to work on and individual work to do. But still, I'm SO thankful for this 3 weeks break. A time when I can take a breather for awhile.

Meanwhile, there is nav farewell for 2 sisters in the team. The changes have been sudden and I feel mostly sad but at the same time happy that they can help out in another ministry. I'm looking forward to the break training programme coming soon which will be on meditating God's Word; exciting! :)

Anyway, here is what happens when I'm doing an essay that I took a long time on because I wasn't sure what to write... Learning in organisations is a really broad topic. Somehow, broad topics are harder because one has to narrow down on the specifics, otherwise, you will never get done with the essay, as I've realised.

I guess, animal tabs like these make marking chapters more fun! haha :)

Holidays are here!!! :)

It's the holidays now. I've been stale at blogging. Well, a whole year has passed and it's really by God's Grace and strength that has enabled me to go through the whole of my first year at NP. Today marks the last day; finished my statistics paper. I'm quite excited for the holidays and especially looking forward to the coming Youth Expedition Trip (YEP) to Cambodia to help in the area of disability. There will be lots of preparation to do. Nav camp is also coming up. As usual, I think my holiday will be quite packed but it's a "good" kind of  busy, one that is enjoyable.:) Meanwhile, I've been listening to different violinists playing Wieniawski's Legende on You tube. It sounds beautiful, sad and full of expression but the difficulty of the piece intimidates me. Actually, the whole thought of taking violin exam next march is intimidating. Well, well, sigh... I have to practice very very hard. I just hope that Wieniawski doesn't 'flip in his grave' (as Miss T. used to mention in music class) haha. 

Chinese New Year

It doesn't seem very long ago that I've posted for Chinese New Year. A year has passed and another has come. This year's CNY was filled with food, events, cousins, relatives and laughter. There were lots of catching up and my cousins are all a year older. It was a first for me also to attend a memorial service when Mdm T. went home to the LORD. Her life testimony is inspiring. On Chinese New Year eve, we had our last lecture for lifespan psych. Our lecture was on "Death & Dying". At the end of the lecture, we were asked to think of 3 things we would like to be remembered for when we die. When I attended the memorial service, I thought to myself that I want to be remembered for the LORD just as Mdm T.'s life testimony shone brightly for HIM.

Helping

E-learning for social psych has been about helping. How altruistic can people be? I find it interesting that there are ways to increase helping as stated in my textbook such as alerting people to the bystander effect which is when people do not feel a responsibility to help in a group and that inhibits helping. Another way to increase helping is to tell the person that the smallest contribution will do, such as in asking for donations. One can simply say, "Just 10 cents can help a child" and one would be likely to donate more than that just because it seems selfish on your own part. Compared with asking for "$10", asking for 10 cents would result in a more positive response. :) Such is the nature of humans...hahaha

I wonder how far would I actually go to help someone? Or do I even dare to intentionally help someone? Also part of e-learning, I watched the movie, "Pay It Forward" which is about how a young boy comes up with a brilliant idea to "change the world" for his social studies assignment. His idea was to help 3 people and when he had successfully helped them, they were each to help another 3 people and so on. I was inspired by that movie and thought the idea was really novel; simple, yet effective. Actually, not really simple because it requires people to help when it's difficult to but still, it can really change the world, if people do make the effort to help. I think help comes from the heart.

My friend H. made this and gave one to me for Christmas. I think it's cute...:)

 

It's a New Year!

It's the 2nd day of the new year! :) I'm excited for what lies in 2011... I pray that it'll be a year when I can hang on in faith and that it'll be a year that's pleasing to God. Well, that said, next week is e-learning week and when school starts in full swing it's going to be busy again. I know that I've used the words, "busy" and "tired" quite often last year and though true, I think they're rather negative words...so I'll try not to use them so much this year. Maybe more words like, "joyful" and "glad" and "energetic" and "thankful". Hahahaha. :) Today is thanksgiving for the new year and I'm looking forward to hear from people in church later! :D

Tuesday

I love the cool weather. Singapore's "snow" for the December season... hahaha. The wind's been blowing all day and it feels like about 24 degrees celsius. The colourful windmill that Elaine gave me for Christmas has come in handy. Actually, it's meant to be stuck in the plant pots but it makes do as a nice decoration as well. :) Looking forward to the New Year. I like this year much better than last year, well... mostly. :) The experiential learning in NP has made learning new subjects interesting, applicable and fun. I remember that I didn't want to go to NP initially because of the stereotypes about poly and all but I'm SO thankful and glad that God placed me in NP, if not I wouldn't have joined the Navs also. :)

Top 10 things I'm thankful to God for...

In line with thanksgiving on Sunday, here are my top 10 things that I'm thankful to God for. Actually thanks also to S.M. who reminded me to think of my top 10 thanksgiving items to God. :)

I thank God for...

1. Bringing me through 1 1/2 semesters of my first year in poly.
2. Sustaining the family 
3. Navigators!
4. Refining me 
5. That I didn't fall sick often, especially during times when I felt like I was falling sick
6. His Strength and Comfort
7. a balanced and more hands-on curriculum in PCS compared to last year
8. sorrow, despair, trials and discouragement through which I've drawn closer to God and learned to run to Him.
9. Awesome parents 
10. an unchanging, unfailing, loving Father :)  

Multi-tasking

At the adolescent stage, I'm supposedly able to multi-task quite well. But, I'm quite a single-task person... hahaha. I realise that I'm unable to listen to music while I do my work. Instead of focusing on the task I need to do, I would drift off to listen to the works of the music, especially Classical music.

Right now, I think I've only ascended 1/7 of the hill of assignments. 4 group projects due in January next year and 3 more individual essays, with one due this week, one next week and another due on the Christmas break week. Well, as the Bible says, I don't want to worry over all these assignments but just care about the worries of each day.


As the 1st stanza of Lina Sandall's hymn goes, "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 to worry or for fear."

Wednesday

Right now, I'm feeling queerly tired to be nervous for tomorrow's speech and also submission of social psych essay. Perhaps, it's a blessing in disguise. LORD, please grant me the strength and energy to present tomorrow and speak, remembering all that I need to remember, for Your Glory. Amen.

Tuesday

It's raining cats and dogs right now. I love it when it pours so.:) The house is pretty quiet now, with Frans in Hong Kong...hope he enjoys himself there and is safe. Speech communications today was interesting and terrifying at the same time. No, I didn't present at all but the atmosphere was crazily flustering and nervous. But I really enjoyed listening to the speeches... especially to the MacDonald speech and how laughter is the best medicine. After the 2 hours, I feel quite informed with knowledge about different things... hahaha. It'll be my turn this coming Thursday. I hope that my audience won't be too bored and that I'll be able to connect with them. :) The past few days, I've been feeling extremely tired. Flat out. It must be that I haven't been resting well. There are 3 essays to complete. I think I'm only just embarking the hill, at the foot of the hill of assignments. Today during quiet time, I was encouraged by David's hope in God and how he turns to God before he turns to anything else. In 1 Samuel 30:6 I read that although David was in distressed, he was encouraged by God and drew strength from God. As for me, despite feeling distressed, I'm reminded that I can draw strength from God during this time. :) Phil. 4:6-7

Meanwhile, it's back to doing my Prejudice and Discrimination essay...

Rollercoaster ride

"God has not promised skies always blue,

flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;

God has not promised sun without rain,

joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

But God has promised strength for the day,

rest for the labour, light for the way,

grace for the trials, help from above,

unfailing sympathy, undying love."

- Kristone

I really love this little poem. My sunday school teacher gave me a postcard with this poem, through which I felt really encouraged. School has been a rollercoaster ride. New lessons seems to be taught at breakneck speed. I want to shout, "SLOW DOWN!" but the rollercoaster, being one, doesn't. Now, I'm learning to hang on and simply enjoy the thrills. Living by faith... day by day.

The Steadfast Love of the LORD never ceases

Sunset view from my kitchen window

Each day comes and goes. It has its challenges, its fun, joy, woe. But the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases. This week has been quite hectic but an enriching and interesting one with fun-filled and content-filled new modules. There's a lot to absorb. I've also been attending QT fellowship in the morning before classes start. I love spending time with HIM everyday and it definitely is an important start to my day! Thank you LORD for today.

Young Change Maker Conference! :)

The Young Change Maker Conference just ended today after two days. It was an enriching and interesting experience where we got to be involved in project-planning for the organisation we were attached to. Our group was attached to the Silver Ribbon, which seeks to stamp out the stigma of mental illnesses and also help in treating patients suffering from mental illnesses. It was cool to hear from a man who is a recovered patient of Schizophrenia first-hand. Currently, he has written poems which have been published, is an ambassador of IMH and also a tuition teacher. I think that stigma against people suffering from mental illnesses is very real and can be a great hindrance to the person's recovery and ability to function in society. So, it is important to stamp out the stigma. :)

What I like about the conference is initiating a community project. Although, we didn't get to really do one in the short span of 2 days, we brainstormed for different ideas and made plans for the project. Before, I didn't know that planning a community project required a lot of effort, checks, different kinds of people to contribute to the planning and make it work, budgeting etc. The money part is what I haven't thought of before and I learned that it is important to stretch the dollar (if possible) to make adequate use of the grant and also to check for any ethical issues, licences, etc. Most importantly, the beneficiary must be foremost in the planning and I learned that it is good to have an objective. We were asked by Silver Ribbon to think of ways to raise awareness and our group brainstormed on the idea of using slogans such as the MSN lingos to form catchy short-forms relating to mental health. One such lingo we thought of is, ASAP "As Sane as Possible". The slogans can be used for a variety of things such as, being printed on t-shirts etc. It was fun thinking of meaningful slogans from well-known short-forms. :)

The other groups from different schools who were also in silver ribbon were a nice group to be with. There were lots of funny brain teasers we played like, "Fuzzy Wuzzy likes this... and not that...", "Going to Afghanistan", "Black magic", "Mrt stations", " 'Bang,bang,bang...who died?' " ( I don't get this still...haha). On the whole, we were quite bonded and everyone was enthusiastic in contributing to the ideas and giving feedback etc.  

School starts tomorrow... the beginning of semester 2. It looks set to be quite hectic.

In Christ alone, I place my trust,

 He is my Light, my Strength, my Song.



 

Little children

The innocence of their little faces,

staring wide-eyed at you.

That little beam

or gleam of mischievous fun

shining from their eyes.

They bounce and jump,

and walk about,

not afraid to speak their minds.

"Concentrate!" they remind themselves,

if they drift off in a daze.

"Four more and then I'm done!"

One yawns sleepily and requests to wash

his face,

while another in all adult seriousness

is absorbed in her own work.

Active little ones, bursting with fun.

Full of energy...

Amusement abounds, coupled with 

several exasperated chidings.

Little children are just

themselves.

Wednesday

I haven't been posting recently because too many things have happened... yes, I know, I'm lazy. :) Yesterday, I went to a wholesale shop selling flowers with S.M to choose complimenting side flowers for the main flowers she has chosen to decorate the wedding aisle. It was super cold there and I was glad that I heeded her advice to bring a jacket. It felt like walking in a gigantic fridge! Actually, it wasn't really that big, maybe just around 3 rooms wide. hahaha. Well, anyway, when I first stepped into the room, the cold hit me and soaked me through my skin because I didn't wear my jacket prior to going in, so it took some time for me to acclimatise. My teeth were almost chattering and my jacket didn't seem to be warm enough, so for the first few minutes, I wasn't helpful to S.M. I think because I was suppose to help her go around and search for suitable side flowers. I was feeling too cold to move. :D The flowers in that mini winterland are really pretty though. In the end, we decided on some yellow side flowers (I forgot what they were called). We also purchased some other things like florist wire and paper. When S.M. requested for some of the flowers she had ordered and the yellow ones we had chosen to do a sample, the boss was so kind to give her a generous few stalks of each for free! She was really happy because she had been worried the night before about how she was going to do a sample for us to see and help in the decorating. Thank God! It was my first time being in a wholesaler place that sells flowers. I like the place and apparently they sell the cheapest flowers among the row of wholesalers along Thomson road. Currently, my favourite of what I saw there would be the baby's breath. :) It's really nice to see God's creation, even in such a sterile environment. I'm looking forward to be involved in helping out with the decorations this Friday, it'll be my first time being part of the process of a wedding! Usually, when I'm invited to a wedding, I'm only there at the end, after all the decorations have been completed. I think it'll be an interesting and fun experience. :)

The hols so far has been full of events and lessons learnt. School will be reopening in 2 weeks :( It'll be a whole new set of modules and 'foreign' subjects. A math related subject will be included called "Intro to Statistics & Research". Not a big fan of numbers, I hope my lessons will be enjoyable and that I won't have war with this module.

The zoo

I've been quite lazy to post lately. Many things have happened during the holidays so far. I'm kind of suffering from fatigue from the onslaught of activities which have nevertheless been fun. One of the recent places I went to was, the zoo! My aunt had her company's corporate pass to the zoo so she invited my mum, younger bro and I to go along with her. We had free admission and didn't have to queue for tickets so it was quick entry. :) My last visit to the zoo was 2 years ago, also, with my aunt. haha, anyway, the zoo hasn't changed much. We visited almost every animal and show stated on the zoo map. I think the monkeys were the funniest and most in variety of species there, well, maybe, aside from the variety of snakes.(not that snakes are funny, they're scary) There's a new show featuring domestic animals such as dogs and cats performing, its target audience is children, I think the show just started a year ago. It's not too bad for a new show, just that I think there was more entertainment than the animals performance. The trainers of the animals even performed break dance moves. Here are some pictures I took at the zoo:

  {An elephant placing a hat on the trainer by using suction to grip the hat by its trunk}

                      

{I love the beauty of this butterfly, it's a pity that I couldn't capture it clearly}

                            

                                                    

{a bat eating from a bunch of fruits}

                                                     

           {A monkey we saw sitting randomly on a sign ( I forgot what the sign was, I think it was something to do with reptiles. haha) I wonder how it got there. It looks bored.}

{Giraffes! My favourite animals}

                                                     

{I think this is an ostrich? I had some trouble capturing its picture because it kept moving its neck up and down.}

{Two cuties we saw near the entrance of the zoo}

{Mutualism in action}

{Rhino}

{Close-up of a dragonfly I saw}

{A monkey we saw hanging there... it was facing us initially just staring into space, then after some time, it swung its arms and faced backwards and stayed like that for quite a long while... it was quite funny... :) }

{I think this is an iguana but I forgot, it looks really comfortable on its perch}

Ok, that's all. :)

19th International Coastal cleanup

I went for the coastal cleanup last saturday. It was quite an eye-opening experience for me. :) We were assigned to Chek Jawa to do the coastal cleanup. Woke up at 5.45am and took a train to Eunos station, then a bus to the jetty and then took a ride in a boat pulau ubin and then a van directly to the area where our school was assigned to do the coastal cleanup. Armed with gloves, trashbags and cutters, we cleaned up the length of beach. There was seriously a lot of rubbish and the variety of rubbish found was quite shocking. There were plastic bags, fishing nets, ropes, those big plastic drums, tyres etc. and things like an intact wooden folding chair! There was a list we had to mark against, using the statistical method where you put 4 horizontal lines and the 5th vertical line across for each item we picked and threw into the trash bag. Picking rubbish may seem easy but there were some things like having to bend low to untangle ropes entangled on the mangrove branches and picking up sacks filled with sand that required a lot of strength and effort. We only cleaned up for an hour or so because of the incoming tide but we collected quite a lot of things... filling 23 trash bags! I still find it quite unbelievable that people can throw things like a chair into the sea! Why do these people treat the sea like a rubbish bin. We cleared rubbish on only a 50m stretch of beach on Chek Jawa and already found so much rubbish... imagine the amount of rubbish dumped around the entire island! Through this coastal cleanup, I've seen the extent of human damage done to the environment of non-biodegradable waste. You should have seen the "decorations" of rubbish and ropes etc. on the mangrove branches... Yup, so I realised that it is very important to dispose of waste appropriately and how important it is to look after the environment. 

Here are the statistics of our cleanup.

Teachers' Day

I went back to St Marg's today. It was fun meeting Joanne, Marion, and Marisa as well as others like Ji Yin, Xin Xuan and Xuan Rong, even though I do see 4 of them in school occasionally. :D We met Mrs. Seet, Mr Ang, Ms Lee, Ms Lum and Mdm Wang Li. Teachers' day seems to be quite a quiet day. After the chaotic 'rush hour' in the staff room, students clad in their colourful house shirts thronged home. Anyway, it was still great talking with the teachers and Ms Lee treated us all to ice-cream at the Student hub! We repeatedly refused but she insisted in the end... aiyo, I didn't give her anything for teachers' day. The ice-cream tasted good. :) Oh, and something interesting (or scary) happened, somehow, the principal approached us when we were waiting for Ms Lee who was having a consultation with a student and found out that we were all from poly. She asked us about our courses and whether we enjoyed it and suddenly she asked us if we could talk to the sec 5s about our courses. I don't know about the others, but I was stunned and my body froze for a second. Her statement caught me completely by surprise... followed by a slight dread and the 'oh no' groan. (I have stage fright...) In the end, she took down our names and phone numbers. I'm really scared if she calls. But I do wonder though, not to be judgemental, if she knew that we were express students (not to be 'high and mighty' either, we're all students).

Anyway, 4 of us went for lunch at an interesting place in Bras Basah complex. I didn't know that there was a block of flats above the complex. haha... nice windy place though. We ate our packed lunch from the food court there.

 I didn't see many other ex-students today. There's the new sports complex... but I miss the green field in that spot.

Whoopie Pies! :)

I had fun making whoopie pies! :)))