I'm gotta be crazy and flood the blog with my holiday in New Zealand pix! enjoy/

First day... (no, I'm so NOT gotta give a day by day account, but its still going to be long) started at 1830, 26 December 2005, Republic of Singapore. Thought I left my handphone at home while all along in was in my jeans pocket... What the heck. So I had to bring along extra weight for me - no point actually bringing a handphone and blowing a whole handphone bill on the beginning of 2006 - So for the whole trip I just stuffed it into any pocket of pants that I was wearing. Blew one whole hour at Changi International Airport @ McDonalds... and realised that they REALLY supported the anti-education policy rarely seen in Singapore. Well, I tagged my goodbye on before I left from the free internet service avaliable there and had some chow too... good chow. What was it? The chicken burger, me thinks. Oh yeah, I had a slight sore throat that day, and so it tortured me to see my bro and sis goofing down the frenched fries.

Food for thought:
Food that is said to be sliced are termed as 'frenched'. Thats why those whee lil' slices of fried potatos with way too much salt are called french fries. Quid?

Now, I got that info from one of the developing signboards in terminal 2, T2 for short. The management there is stuffing the place with lots more merchandise than before. They could make it become a shopping mall not only inside the check-in area but outside of it real soon enough. Bravo to that. The catch is that the distressful police are going to be permanently breathing down the necks of the visitors, and well, clothes have a low demand in an airport right? Too bad for the fashion pas there.

The aeroplane flew off on time, with me not forgeting to purchase some new books, like the Rape of Nanjing and this year's Man Booker Prize Winner, The Sea by John Banville. I would read and read and (you get the picture), etc.

BUT... Singapore Airlines got so much movie variety! OMY... the Myth, Sky High, Kung Fu Mahjong, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was on my list for a movie marathon. I usually don't like to waste time on such movies... then the flight has effectively saved me around S$40 worth of tix already. So cool.

Of course, I was jet-lagged by the time my family reached the Christchurch International, addled on by the sleep-inducing bus ride, and you get a slping Jem! The pix on the right shows sum1 dumped @ sum Christchurch Botanical Gardens...

Of course... lots of sightseeing round in New Zealand (duh!) But beware to the motion sickness... the air may be super fresh over there, but the travelling time is very (hmmph...) Well, you know.

duckies!

lamby!

self-explanatory

my beautiful mother (doesn't she look pretty beside the flower?)

an old house where they have their coffeeshop talk

electric tram bus NOT seen in Singapore

Isn't this evil?

cute pigz

de famosa Maori performance

daddy tries his hand on the hakka

open grassland~ is this true freedom?

...or is it true suffocation in a rocky path?

so where else can i look at?

to keep my family loving and together...

while staring at God's amazing workz...(how did they manage to grow a 27cm banana?)

my messy bed

now whatcha lukin' at?

A great mountain takes millions of years to build

but takes humans fifty years to cut through it

due to time constraints, this entry will be added with more pictures in due time. I apologise for any inconvienice or lack of sastifaction caused by reading this incomplete article.

Hope that all did enjoy this blog as much i try to keep it updated =)

Graduation yr2005 cum celebration of Yesus bdae

Friendship means...
Never being alone
Always knowing there is
someone with
you
Sharing your heart
And knowing it will not be hurt or
broken.

Friendship means...
Knowing when to give advice
And ...When to wait patiently in
the
background to lend a hand
Always listening with both ears
And knowing when to read
between the
lines

Friendship means...
Knowing there is something
wrong
Without words.
Being there for each other even
when
the weight of the world
Seems to be resting on your
shoulders

Friendship means ...
Accepting the person for who
they are
Loving them for themselves
Not for what they can give you

Friendships mean...
Memories
Created with love
Bonded by love
Ones that will last a life time

The friendship list is endless it
seems
For it is like a circle of friendship
It has a beginning
But never an end.

Thank God for FREINZ!!!

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
~Isaiah 40:28-31


Merry Christmass evy1 --- Come, Let Us Adore Him

Amen.

non sequitor

Sorry, guys of my class... Overslept today. So no time to go lan with u'all. So I figured that since so late already, better to read a free book than go all the way to Dhoby Ghaut and gate-crash the Battlefield lan (+ $$$ thrown in as a noob). Just hope that u guys have total orgy over there without me. lol! Yeah, and can know who haven't use the discount coupon by Seoul Garden... then can really have 1 dae to go orgy. Any takers?

Later Cat High Choir gg to sing @ SFX church. Waaa, I cannot go... My timetable sucks manx. Lets see, Raffles, Ritz, Raffles, Ritz, Raffles? Then must carol for like 30 minutes straight. I don't mind that, but the hotel management so stringent until use stopwatch to clock the duration of the whole session at tha venues that were set. If I knew better, then I won't go today @ Ritz Carlton and just enjoy myself watching Narnia later and then decide whether I want to go for my cell group bbq party or head over to SFX and watch my choir and their angelic youth choir perform. I would prefer to have this dilemmia than just gg Ritz and juz enjoy singing. Ahh, the pressures of life as well as time... 11 days till the end of the hols, partner.

On the positive side of things, I found that TBT has a "highly recommended" blog that clearly outshines his normally conservative self. Its on the list of my so "shCOOL freinz" . If one has overtime left, why not check it out (esp. the peeps of 4-6).

Well, now that the linkies list is up, would anyone that i 4got to put up dunk their blog's url into the tagboard... I will do it asap. If I 4got ur url, my sincere apologies.

Adeiu from Identity Undermined-my life is not mine.

not ez but still VERY bz

I wanna complain!!! Time is too short. I keep feeling short-changed. Have to keep changing schedule. Schedule not very organized. Organization I have NOT done for a long time. Time is a vicious cycle. Therefore, I WANNA COMPLAIN!!!

Complain to who, leh?

I dunno. Do you know?

I thought that it was supposed to be a bit like heaven after the donut O's. Well, I thought wrong. First, there was my church's Childrens Enrichment Camp (CEC). That took up quite a bit of time, then the trip to Tanjung Pinang (see previous entry). Then a borrowing spree at the community libraries around Singapore. Then, choir carolling... Haiz, it will never stop...

Anyway, I really think that I missed out of alot of other stuff, I can't remember that much (ave prom nite, chalet?). Did I say I wanted to complain? I must be going crazy.

A boy can't do much now... the two months of relaxing have whizzed by, and so does my youth life. I do wish that secondary school life would be relived, but that chapter has been completed and don touche. Sometimes things like this makes one hate change, but we all have to embrace it - change is universal. Blazt it.

Tanjung Pinang Dec05

On the 5th to 7th December, I went on an overseas trip. It was special in the sense that I wasn't there purely for holiday. It was a mission of evangelizing to the people to Tanjung Pinang in Pulau Bintan, Indonesia.

Now some people have asked me, "Why are you doing this?" I find these people undereducated. Yes, go read the Bible. Jesus commanded that all who follows him "go and spread the good news to the ends of the Earth." Indonesia is on this Earth, isn't it? I still insist that everyone goes and read the Bible, then silly questions such as above.

Yeah, yeah, not to be too bossy: talk about myself from this point, okay?

The trip. I went there once, last year 2004 and the place realy has changed quite a fair bit (Doesn't everywhere?). The rocket sidewalk stall has been removed and replaced by a furniture store. I think they're scared of terrorists or something.

Speaking of terrorists, Pulau Bintan has a dangerous racial and religion segregation. While I was there, I was told of the 3"C's". No, not Cash, Condo, Country Club membership or whatever, but --- Church, Christian and Chinese.

I unfortunately fit all of the three danger requirements: a GOD-luving, church-going Chinese. Uh-oh. Do I really care?

Whatever.

Hey, I'm still alive, but I would like all brothers and sisters of any church to pray for the numerous people being persecuted and oppressed in keeping their God-loving and fearing faith alive and kicking.

Below is an extract of my church testimony:

Reflections

My trip to Tanjung Pinang can be summarized in this sentence, “GOD is good, but he lets the Indonesians have their smoke everywhere.”

An observation is that most Indonesians here at Pulau Bintan have been intoxicated by all kinds of smoke: motor smoke, cigarette smoke, even the local pasir malam has smoke from frequent hawkering. Likewise, I could see God’s presence everywhere with his wonder by his unceasing guidance in our visitations, his compensation of the irritating pollution in the town to the amazing sights and sounds of nature in the plantations we visited on the second day.

Of the three days, two nights spent experiencing God’s mighty hand in helping this relatively inexperienced group to evangelize to the people of Tanjung Pinang, He has certainly surprised me in more ways than one. For example, he brought raining cats and dogs on the last day of visitation. My group had to bear the discomfort of wet shoes we had foolishly left outside while visiting a house. But mostly because of that incident, many houses nearby also opened their houses as temporary shelter, thus allowing my group to visit more houses in such an ‘unlucky’ situation. Previously, when we were around, some families would shut themselves within their homes and refuse to see visitors.

Having visited this place before in December 2004, I was mildly surprised that the area around the staying quarters had changed. Some empty plots of land now had shop houses and eating centers. Similarly, my perspective towards the residents in Tanjung Pinang has changed. I used to view them as unchanging Buddhist or cult-like followers, devoted to the majority and ancestral faith. However, although the impression is still present, this time there was discovery of some of the fruits of hard labor by which previous missionaries had sown seed. This proved to me that the power of the Lord and his Holy Spirit does wonders even to a partially desolate area in Indonesia through his boundless love for everyone.

Hopefully the Lord our God would wean them of their smoking addiction too.

See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my father in heaven. (The son of Man came to save what was lost) What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety nine on the hills and look for the one that has wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety nine that did not wander off. In the same way your father in heaven is not willing for any of these little ones should be lost.
~ Matthew 8:10-14

Jeremy Tiong ------group5

God teachs me to love, and I cannot give up on anyone unless I have nothing to give.Amen.

Despite my complaints, the trip there was eventful. Here's a summarized list:

Dayz 1: Visited 4 Homes after check-in. Held a mini-service at a person's small house after dinner.
Dayz 2: Went to a fruit plantation. Climbed a coconut tree. Whacked at coconuts and drank juice. Then went to a Buddhist temple area. 1 sister accepted Christ (pray for the people, their temple is a banyan tree). Played basketball and purposely lost.
Dayz 3: Walked around and played with the kids there. Gave out out all the sweets. Got shoes wet. Go home!!!

PS. thats all from me, Jorina. What about you?