I must say the conference ended really well. I absolutely fancied Chris Long's message during the Sunday service, Breakthrough in the midnight hour. Shows exactly how i feel sometimes- When you seem to be doing everything right, but everything's not doing it right for you. Paul and Silus had it all going for them- ministry, prayer.. but still ended up in prison. Why? It had a purpose, just like every midnight hour. The jailer and his whole household were saved. In your midnight hour, 1. Pray and Sing 2. Be careful of your testimony 3. Be aware of natural and supernatural occurences 4. Speak the word of the Lord 5. Get ready to recieve favour from the most unlikely of sources.
Chris Long shared something else- God moment, a time when you just feel God is there, somehow. And i feel so sometimes, when certain lyrics of a song just fit so well, when i read a certain scripture, when i pray sometimes, when i.... You know what I'm talking about.
Donning the rich man city jersey, chris long for you.
Sun night saw crabs on the dining table waiting to be eaten and guests on the chairs surrounding it. My stomach wasn't treating me too well that night though, thus i had to resist another of those crabs after one not so appetising experience with my stomach crying out. Couldn't that pain come at any better a time.
Mon was spent at home relaxing and just enjoying life since the current holidays allow it. It was good but somehow on the other hand, boring as well. I wonder how some people stay at home all the time when its the holidays. Its obvious i wasn't made for jail.
A last min call before my bedtime from A sent us off to Palais Renaissance this morning to earn ourselves a little more before we head off to Bangkok. Being the efficient team we were, we finished the mall (at A's call) and headed off to Shaw for our long awaited lunch at 3. Impromptu decision to catch a movie with A, Mamma Mia. Aside from our self-speculation that we appeared gay, i must say i enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Some of the tunes are still ringing through my head right now, accompanied by images of the scenes.
Proceeded straight to E-hub to meet up with the Bangkok gang, which was quite a failure as 3 of them had to leave early. At least some main stuff like time to meet was cleared. It left bernie, rach, yannie and myself seen at pastamania grooving along to tunes while only rach ate her dinner. Great time talking about skatergal, spring onions, leave home and boss with huge belly.
In any case, life's been good.
Ben the man electrifying his life away.
Lem in action
Myself to da beat.
Till then.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
NeeD SLeeP (mr fuzzy wussy likes beer and not wine)
The lack of sleep has taken quite a toll on me recently that the moment i sit down and do nothing for 10secs, my eyes start to hide themselves to get some rest. Well, so the first day of the conference ended. Chris Long was/is the main speaker for this event. All his jokes were new this time. He's one of the best speakers in a way that he relates to youth so easily by coming down to the extent of making use of the young people's lingo when he preaches, yet still bringing the message across so subtly.
I learnt today that,
1) Playing drums for all sessions of the conference is tiring, both physically and mentally. 2) Your name means something and gives you significance. 3) Great things happen when young people say "yes" to God. 4) We were not saved by good works but much rather, saved FOR good works. 5) Being afraid to sing," I surrender all.." lest God sends you to Africa forever shows your perception of God to be an abusive Father.
6) Man u has changed its sponsor to the federal gov.
On the train ride back with the east siders, I realised just how bad fatigue can get and why it is important to have 8 hours of sleep a day.
I'd better hit the sheets soon, before i go to such an extent when I take the train tomorrow. More drumming tomorrow, my very own drumfest. Bangkok's trip happening this thurs, SO FAST. whooooopeeeeeeee.
Till then.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Drummer Drama~
I am supposed to be sleeping right now. At least considering the fact that i slept at 5 last night. I don't know why i even got up at 1030. Stayed up finishing up some paperwork for the new found job and somehow after finishing everything, i suddenly found myself unable to sleep. I vaguely remember hearing my sister's alarm before i fell straight into la la land.
$250 per mall. Sounds great but the job's not that easy. But i always fall back on the great part that its a "own time own target" kind of job. A and I are done with Century Square and we should be attempting our next mall after the weekends. Money money money, show me the money!
The past 2 nights have been spent in church for musician practice. Tonight isn't any different. This will probably be one of the few times i'll be playing for 4 sessions in 2 days. It got to the point that i already made notes for the past 2 practices to make sure everything goes smoothly each session. Hinghwa's holding its very first youth conference, whoopee.
I guess its just me and you.
I'm off to meet the guys to settle some guit stuff to make sure their equipment settles at tip top condition.
Till then.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Tell Stella i love her.
So this morning begun with meeting A at the interchange to head off to our job briefing. Didn't take us long to get there. The briefing finished in like less than an hour and A insisted on going back and not hanging around at least for a meal. In any case, i'll be spending the next few days with him at century square. Sweeeeet.
Mum and Dad picked me up at tampines to head down to Uncle Jeffery's bartender competition which was really cool. It was held at Suntec Galleria, Ooster's Cafe i think. The winner of the competition would get to represent Singapore and participate in the competition in Belgium. PRESTIGIOUS. All the excitement was great. The food was something to talk about too. Beer was free flow, on the house. But i only took one serving of it. Just to make sure i don't have to take the risk of doing things i wouldn't know about. haha. I enjoy taking small sips of it while eating but i don't understand how people could gulp down gallons of that in such a short time. Thank God i don't, or i would start looking pregnant anytime soon.
The event.
Jeff doing his thing.
Glorious food. Mussels, Balls, Balls, Fries.
The Drinks. Great stuff.
The bartenders actually have a thermometer to make sure the beer is served at the optimal temperature. (Crazy, i know.)
So, this was what he got...
And more! Yes, first prize.
The awesome trophy.
There were jokes about banking in this huge cheque.
Went off to the airport soon after to meet Amanda for dinner. She suggested popeye's despite a cough. Managed to catch up and stuff while i peeled a drumstick for her (hahaah).
Till then.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Waiting for the moon in the afternoon
Going for a movie soon with a few church guys. Finally, I'm visiting the theaters in a long while. Not that I have always been watching online though, haven't had the time. Going for a job briefing with A tomorrow morning for a job about collecting data from malls. Hopefully it won't be too harsh.
Bangkok trip's happening on the 25th of Sept. And i just realised its really close after calling Jetstar (yes, we're taking budget) to confirm our flight. It will be the first trip for many of us together with our friends. Exciting. Pray for us as Bangkok's still in some unrest.
Ying yan told me 2 really funny jokes yesterday. My kind of jokes.
Qn: What is the tallest building in the world? Ans: The library. Because there are many stories/storeys.
Qn: What is the strongest type of criminal? Ans: The shoplifter.
Off to take my bath and head down to town. Thank God its the holidays. I have all the time in the world to watch the latest seasons of prison break, gossip girl and 90210.
Till then.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Blessed Be Your Name
What more can i say, indeed, God has been faithful despite the faithlessness i have many a times. I have so much to thank Him for. The grades, the family, the friends, etc.
Went to Church in the morning hitching a ride from uncle Marc as my parents were away, walking the kpe walk. I better start hitting the gym again before my parents outrun me. In case you didn't know, they should be part of the Guinness World Record that Singapore is pursuing, to have the biggest number of people walk through a tunnel carrying lanterns. Goodness, records these days, there should be some sort of filter to make sure only records that make sense get in. Seriously. I mean there are records like the fastest time to pluck a turkey, most cockroaches eaten, largest number of naked people in a single location, etc. Not so record-able are they.
Moving on, service was good. Pastor Jon showed the video of Team Hoyte during service again and despite watching that video so many times, my goosebumps still respond to it every time, trying ever so hard to push those drops of tears out of my eyes. Had lunch with Kang, Lem and a few girls. I'm unsure how we ever got to the topic of choking on ice, but kang, being ever so creative, gave a reason why industrial ice always had a hole in the middle..
"That's why there's a hole there, so if you ever choke on the ice, you still can breathe."
Kang's my give out flyers buddy at raffles place. It's a job we really enjoy not just because of the $11 per hour pay (ahahha). Every thurs and fri, kang and i will be seen at the mrt station shouting and giving out flyers. We are working for "headhunt", a company that headhunts executives. What's giving out flyers when you're keeping quiet. That's why we somehow got to the point of shouting which i did with Brandon the other time, saying things like, " Don't let your boss fire you, fire him! Get a new job", " Get that Merc you always wanted, quit your job for a higher paying job today!", " Get a real Gucci today!" and " Great jobs for everyone, WHY NOT??" Some ang moh walked past me and responded to the last question though. "How about getting one yourself."
Before rushing off to the soccer match with Riverlife that was just 3 min walk from my house (yes. really.), had some fun with rach tan at 3rd level with guitar and voices. Futile efforts, at least from myself. hahaha. Don't worry rach, we'll get it right soon.
Took vincent's new car down to my house which followed with soccer. The weather was a little fussy, release a bit, then later a little more, then stop, then start. But whatever, the match had to go on. We caught up from a 3 goal deficit to a draw. Great job JG. And i am proud to say that finally, i had a part to play in the climb. haha.
Took a 3 min walk home for a sumptous dinner of pork ribs. mmm. Didn't get a chance for a picture though, its better than Cartel's. Haven't had a family dinner in awhile and it was good.
In any case, praise God for everything. The good times, and even in the bad times.
Blessed Be Your Name In the land that is plentiful Where Your streams of abundance flow Blessed be Your name
Blessed Be Your Name When I'm found in the desert place Though I walk through the wilderness Blessed Be Your Name
Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise When the darkness closes in, Lord Still I will say
Blessed be the Name of the Lord Blessed be Your Name Blessed be the Name of the Lord Blessed be Your glorious Name
Blessed be Your Name When the sun's shining down on me When the world's 'all as it should be' Blessed be Your Name
Blessed be Your Name On the road marked with suffering Though there's pain in the offering Blessed be Your name
You give and take away You give and take away But my heart will choose to say Lord, blessed be Your Name
Till then.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Saturday the 13th
First things first, all glory to God for the grades i got this semester. Amenn.
Cycling happened this morning with dad and a few others, at unearthly 7 am. I was so close to going back home to sleep when i saw the dark clouds in the sky. If i hadn't already changed, my head would plop right back on to the pillow. Sure enough, down came the rain (and washed the spider out) which ruined all plans to east coast and back. We stopped over at Changi village for prata in the cold weather with teh tarik. Piling on the calories even before losing it, goodness. But i guess it was the weather's fault (Ha!).
Headed down to church right after cycling as i had to play today. Managed to grab some home-cooked lunch before leaving with the family, which brought me to the realisation that dinner with the family has been something so uncommon already. Thus, the financial difficulties experienced.
Worship was great. Its always nice to play the drums and experience God's presence at the same time. After worship was cell, which led to the discussion about honouring our parents. I'm glad that my cell (including myself), understands that no matter what our parents do, they do it out of love. Yes, even the nagging. We talked about unnecessary questions that parents ask sometimes, which warren forcefully claimed, got on his nerves.
Example: When you just arrive home, your mum goes, "Come home already ah?"
And you realise that despite these questions sounding so stupid, we do ask them sometimes. It's supposed to be a tool used to strike up a conversation. I do ask my neighbour sometimes when i see her going out, "going out ah". Or when my mum's eating, "eating ah". hahaha. I think its fine to ask such questions though, unless you call someone's home number and conveniently ask, "eh? you at home ah??"
Had some fun with tunes after cell which then followed with leaders' meeting that totally coincided with the big match. Had dinner after the meeting and caught a glimpse of the match before heading home. 2-1 Liverpool. Hoorah to own goals.
YES. And now comes the fun part, undry, with pictures and not words (wait, but pictures are worth a thousand words, isn't that supposed to be worse?).
I stole from warren's computer many old photos from "long before your time". And they do make me just smile to myself and sometimes even let out a little laugh when i look at them. It is simply amazing what time can do to you. In the meantime, ENJOY!!!
Hello wet and steamy char siew bao face. (That was my favourite shirt back then. You like it hmmm, don't you?)
Lemuel is da coolest rocker143. Yes ben. Be happy, you looked ok. Love the 7/8 shorts alaster. When you can't decide between long pants and 3/4s.
My my my, you've lost weight joel.
We love you lester. Justus, i'm for sueing that barber of yours. Wait, or was it a grasscutter?
Hawaiann flowers always stand out.
We do not know anyone except leanne and pris. (psst, leanne look here, wrong cam)
THE HOTTEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. (Ivan, that's just wrong.)
Guess who?
Just realised i had a picture taken with him. Well, we still love you. No one's perfect.
Till then.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Jobs at Forbes!
Work is finally over! Yes, i was earning some cash over the past few days, not too much, but good enough to fatten up your wallet for awhile and cause a little grin. The company was good. They provided us shirts for the 3 day job, allowed us to cab down in the morning (we had to reach at what, 630am?!?!?!) and provided meals that go beyond any I've been provided while working.
And as the title mentioned, i was working for the recent Forbes conference, if any of you have heard of it. Not until after the work briefing a few days before did i realise that this event was supposed to be something really huge! I mean, Lee Kuan Yew actually graced the event as well, how much bigger can it get. hahha.
And i am proud to say that i rubbed shoulders with the top few CEOs in the world. I realised that wealth, as much as it cannot satisfy and provide true happiness, would be really nice to have! I mean, the place was so full of $, that the net worth of the people there was a 160 billion US dollars. Thus, there were bomb sweeps, high security checks implemented, bla bla bla.
I was supposed to be a mic handler. Which was quite a fun job as you could listen in on the speech, and when someone from the floor had a question, all you had to do was walk to them with your mic and raise your peddle so the PA could turn it on. And i did. It was a common sense job. I was lucky number one, to have to handle the very first question that was asked. A million cameras zoomed in on me and i was on the screen but there wasn't any space around me, so i stood beside the CEO while he asked his question while enjoying the paparazzi and seeing my face on the screen. You cannot imagine how much i tried to control my laughter when i saw my face. It's the times when you can't laugh that things seem really funny.
Example: When singing the national anthem or school song. (I ALWAYS suffer from that)
A really blur picture of the conference as i wasn't supposed to be taking any!
What the CEOs had for dessert
What they get when they ask for water
It's just juice (not justjuice but fresh juice) in a really huge block of ice. Very common laaaa.
One of their many rides, that's all.
I WANT TO BE A CEO ALSO.
Went over to warren's to overnight after the first day of work so we could share cab the next day (Shangri-la is one of the most hard to get to hotels). Thank God i slept earlier than the both of them (kenneth was there too). Work started at 7 the following day.
This really caught my eye on the way back. They have all the ideas. MARKETING.
The next day began with a marvelous breakfast of croissants that were actually not meant for us. But what does it matter, we ate our fill anyway. haha. After the first session of mic-handling, one of the heads barged in as we were taking our breaks (which happened so very often, lovely). I sort of expected it. Ta-dah, they stopped me from being a mic handler cause of my hair. Great. Literally. Because of that, i was on my way to Sentosa Cove to help out with the Gala dinner. I had to follow the DHL delivery man there though, how cool. Lucky i didn't get fired. And i got to work extra hours as well, which meant "ka-ching"!
When i got off the mighty DHL van, i realised sentosa cove was a place with some sort of a rich vibe to it, really. Everything there was prestigious. Good thing i was posted there, i could finally see what sentosa cove was like for myself.
However, because i was in some hot suit (formal wear as i was supposed to be working in air-con-ed shangri la), the job sucked almost throughout the afternoon. They had this "glasshouse" which they stubbornly didn't want to on the air-con because of cost (It was a CEO conference, when does the word cost ever come in) . We had to place standing name cards on each table during the hot afternoon. I finally knew what the greenhouse effect really is about. The "house" was so hot, that under the scorching 2pm sun, when you exited the "house", you would feel a gush of air-con, which was actually just the open environment. Imagine the contrast.
After hell (literally) was over, the night proceeded to be really fun though. It saw faces like Jet Li and Lee Hsien Loong gracing the event. I didn't get the chance for pictures though. haha. Taking a normal picture would be a crime too if any of my bosses saw, thus, i only got a few.
How tight security was.
The walkway which was stepped on by Jet Li.
I like the little lights on the floor, they look like fallen stars.
Went with Rachel to send Avonne off after that.
The 3rd and final day. I took a cab down with my new found neighbours that lived on the same block as me. I have never seen coincidence in such a way, i mean, in the same block, what are the chances?!!? haha. I had to do registration since i was fired from mic-handling. And i did nothing at all that day. Awesome-ness.
I use Darlie.
Cheryl, Lisa, Me. Cheryl's really funny. She didn't know knives were made of metal.
She blew me.
Warren and Kenneth
Me as goldfish
rachel and (i forgot her name, one of the staff from hongkong. her office consists of her and her boss only)
Ok i promised to blog this, a conversation between rachel and i.
Me: David's wedding is next year, i think April. Rachel: You realise we are all getting older cause we are starting to attend our friends' weddings. Soon it'll be the other older people and then it's time for us to get married. Me: Ya. (pause) You don't mean it in that way right. Rachel: Whatever!
(After awhile. We were sitting with a table in front of us)
Rachel: I'm tired, i want to sleep. Me: I'm tired also, let's sleep together. On the table.
hahaha.
Well, so overall, the job has been really great. Hopefully the pay comes in quick. Last but not least, the food we had. It was a buffet style each meal. I think the job would have been worth it even if there was no pay! ahaha.
Mom said that breakfast has to be the most nutritious meal of the day.
CAKE
WARNING,
KEEP AWAY FROM SCREEN.
THATS ABOUT IT. I'm tired. Cycling tomorrow at an insane time of 7am with Dad and i think a few church uncles. Goodnight, marcus lee jing hao is off to bed.
Till then.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Xiao Jie!!
Today was fasting Saturday! That meant no food, zero calories, zilch, up till dinner time. But it was worth it, because i did pray. And also the gathering of a number of us at 330 to pray together.
In any case, woke up quite early in the morning (considering it's the holidays) to go to church for a recording tryout session with Ben and Philip. It was fun while it lasted, trying out the stuff we could do. And i realised i can't handle the recording pressure. When i'm aware that its recording and when its not. Maybe i was really made to just sit on the throne, and smash away on a set like always.
The end-product wasn't spectacular, but there'll be other chances for us to work something out. And i believe it will.
Waiting in silence
Phil doing his thing
Ben unplugged
Which was followed by prayer meeting and jg. Aunty Lydia spoke today, about the 5th commandment, honouring your father and your mother. Hearing stories about how some kids abandon their parents when they grow up (and they are financially capable mind you) tugs at your heartstrings quite a bit. But what can i say, i'm blessed with a great pair of parents, and what more could one ask for? I believe they had their reasons, but afterall, parents still deserve the care when they reach that certain age, i mean where would we be, if our parents did not........
The commandment stated, "Honour your father and your mother..."
And the reason why God did not use words like obey, was because some people are bound to be asked by their parents to do not-so-good things. But we are to honour them, and that is different from obeying. God's really good with wordplay, so all you people going against the bible, prepare to lose.
After JG was the mid autumn event in church where mum and dad were acting in. As Joy would put it, I did my first act to honour them by buying them "popiah" when they didn't ask for it. hahha. It's funny sitting down watching your parents act, really.
Only managed to get my hands on pictures of mum
Helped out with a few guys at the end of the event to give out an awesome spread of polar cakes and pastry to the kids.
Really awesome
The night was supposed to end very well, till a very unforgettable incident took place while i was giving out the leftover chicken pies. Forgive and forget, forgive and forget, forgive and forget......
It is high time to consider cutting your hair, when an old lady approaches you for a chicken pie, and addresses you as "Xiao jie".
