HIATUS

please smack me on the head.. scold me.. poke me.. kill me, whatever!

if you see any more posts here from now till the A levels end.

I NEED A MIRACLE FOR MY GRADES!

and hardwork and discipline.

GOODBYE i will miss my slack lifestyle. i deserved to be chopped up for being so lazy! boo. BYEEE

i know these photos are huge. im taking up unnecessary space on blogger's servers. but i dunno how to resize them. partly cos i dunno wheres the photoshop program in this com. teehee. my bro should shoot me in the head. after teaching me i just let everythg fly outta my brain. anyways.

im currently in the season of soups. my mom has been cooking for us every night since sunday i think. sunday was apple soup, monday cant remember, tuesday papaya soup, wednesday watercress soup. tonight it'll be yummy chicken soup. :)

watercress soup; can see the dates and pork bits and watercress if u observe carefully..



oops random.. the chocs wanyoong sam clarence gave me for my bday :) i really like the stars and crescent one and the flowers one!


ingredients of chicken soup before boiling.. dont really rmb the names, but the bottom right are two honey dates (Mi Zao). then theres Bai He, Bai Lian, Yin Er but im not sure which name belongs to which.. thing. haha. i only know the one on the left is "peh bok nee" in hokkien. white fungus.


i'm a very well fed and happy girl :) treasure ur homecooked food people!

i gave myself the excuse that "mom is bathing so i can use the com while waiting for the bathroom" haha so thats why im online.

anyway i just nominated jolyn for most likely to have an imaginary friend and i started giggling to myself for about 5 seconds. im NUTS!

and then i read this article on Indlish, in today's Today.

"...but employers in India complain that the standard of English is so abysmal that recruits cannot write a sentence without three grammatical mistakes. One call centre executive in Mumbai said a recruit wrote an email that began: "I am in well here and hope you are also in the same well."

LOL. i laughed out loud okay! couldn't take it. HAHAHA

when im in better mood everything can be funny and laughed at. this shows the power an exam paper has over me. or maybe, my moods. haha.

i miss abby's spongecake. :( HULLO ABBY? I MISS YOUR SPONGECAKEEEE haha.

everyone if you haven't already, for goodness sake, join facebook! i mean, so many ppl are coming on already. i used to have like 20friends there only. but now everyone's converting. u can get like a hundred friends. *sings* what are you waiting for~~

i'm high.

JOLYN: hahhaha cheem things. u can blog about the cheem-ness of ur ditzy-ness. cos it never fails to amaze us riiiight! insane crazy weird!

JULI: hey! haha ok thanks when i hv the time to read (very soon! after As yaayy.) i'll go get ravi zacharias' books. hehe. :) and yep i know where that moral framework should come from. haha. jiayou for prelims!!

MATT: haha thanks ah you sound so obliged. :(

ONGTON: wow! u no longer call me deedee or dexter or flowergal or *insert whatevER*!!

JO: ah! you found me! hahaha i haven't linked you yet!!

BEL: YOU GO GIRLLLL

DATOU: hahaha *nods

DISTANT RELATIVE: lol thanks. and haha its funny replying to someone and calling him/her Distant Relative. HAHA. who are you? identify urself lehh. our family toooo big liao. :)

KEN: woah helping them realise it's wrong is one difficult, uphill task.. if they truly feel they're "born with it" its like telling u ur born fat (or some other thing) and its wrong. haha. i won't know how to tell them its wrong.

BEN: haha its some quite difficult reading, i think. read 2 "cases" and i put that book aside to do more brainless stuff. too much to take in at one go. haha. i shall read it again soooon! :D

PRIS: woaaah u come here! i didnt know! hahaha thanks :) hows school and all?

CELINE: yea i do rmb you! haha :) u frm jiemin's small grp right? haha u hv a blog to link? :) thanks and lets revive YMOVE next year! lol. oh wait u hv o levels right. haha oops.

am taking a break from all that stressful studying! think i really am very lazy. abit only think its stressful. i have to work reallly hard lor. sigh. am gonna flop my prelims like.. floppily. =( think my stress tolerance levels have dropped by a lot ever since i stopped netball. kinda easy-going and not as disciplined anymore. uh-oh. haha. but the first step is to acknowledge i have a problem before i can deal with it. haha. quote lim hao yang: "just don't run away from it lah." yes bro. *nods.

im turning really fat. all the sitting down from morning till night. coupled with my propensity to eat anything i can lay my hands on. is making me obese. no joke. the only exercise i get is.. walking to the lift. and occasionally walking home. a ten minute brisk walk actually increases my heartbeat to about, 90bpm? GASP. sometimes i wonder. was i really a sports player?! the condition of my heart (the organ not the spiritual state) sucks. hahaha. even going out.. (ok i'm gonna sound really pampered and spoilt here) my mom or bro fetches me to a nearby MRT or to the place itself. i don't even have to walk much. woops.

heh but i am really grateful for their loveee. fetching me around so i can spend more time studying. and then kor and rachel talking to me about my As trying to console me. haha. so that u know, i won't be too stressed and.. get motivated to get my ass moving. haha. and my mom's even gonna call me at 4pm later to make sure i get up from my nap so i can start studying. hahaha. IM ONE BLESSED LAYDEE AND I'M GONNA COUNT MY BLESSINGS AND THANK YOU ALL AND THANK GOD! hahaha.

okay. just now i read a tip from Mamil Gold (Dumex). this milk formula brand i think. it says, "when should a baby start drinking water?" has it ever crossed your mind? i always thought u feed a baby water AND milk. but no, according to the tip, "any water consumed should be from mother's milk or formula." u only give water when they start to teeth. cos they need the flouride. *cue: ohmy_.. revelation to me. hahaha. you can refer to this website for more details. haha.

recently its been floating around in my head.. that you know, to "grow" a kid is really not easy. even though the bible does have moral guidelines on how to raise a child.. like u know, discipline is sometimes needed, teach ur son wisdom, raise him up in the ways of the Lord.. etc etc.. but still there are many other aspects (physical, intellectual) of a child's development which i think are not explicitly stated. i think thats where we have to learn and find out for ourselves suitable ways to do that. and i believe God would wanna give us freedom in the methods we raise our children.. if not every child will grow up in the same environment and be nurtured in the same way. how DULL. haha. and there's also the fact that a one-size-fits-all approach to raising a child just will not cut it. each child is born with different temperaments, and abilities. (i'm kinda hazarding a guess from stuff i've read. cos obviously i don't know enough kids to observe this first-hand.) yeah.

if i were a parent, i would spend about 3 months reading up on every aspect of educational psychology and developmental physiology i can before i try conceiving. hahaha. talk about nerd. haha. but i don't wanna give my children anything less than the best environment and opportunities they can have just because i didn't prepare enough beforehand.. didn't put in enough effort.. etc.

and of course not forgetting God's Word on raising children. the importance of moral and ethical behaviour is ever more essential in this world now..

gotta go and stop enjoying myself on the internet. force myself to rest and sleep or sth. SEEYOU ALL!

P.S.: my bro passed me the thumbdrive containing all the bday pics but i dont know where it is now!! so i cant blog about it again. -_- SORRY!! hahaha.

"I saw not belief, but the suspension of belief, for people to take in so much of the Bible." -yawningbread.org

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." -2 Cor 10:5

i was just discussing with zara the other day about our stand on homosexuality. we had differing views - she believed that it was okay (loosely summarised) but i didn't. i realised that obviously, my paradigm was shaped by the bible and its beliefs. the book of Romans distinctly described homosexuality as a sin, a way of "giving them over to shameful lusts". one important verse that substanstiated my stand. and i also quoted the abovementioned verse about subjecting our thoughts to the authority of God's Word. it really started me thinking about having an unquestioning trust and faith in God's Word. it seems like what we christians have been trained to do, instructed to do. if God says homosexuality is wrong, then no matter what the world throws at you, and how ur faith may be shaken, just trust His word ultimately. for it is that faith that pleases God. afterall its His Word that will endure for eternity. but in this modern world where an opinion has to be rigorously evaluated and analysed before deemed accurate and true, i feel that its getting increasingly difficult to have that "childlike faith" in God's Word.

i used what the author of yawningbread.org said to represent a secularist's view. i've heard a lot about being teachable, and to obey the Word... well. to me, i realised that being teachable and readily soaking up the Word like a sponge is no excuse for being a lazy thinker. a good example would be the stance of the bible on homosexuality. some christians merely nod and extol the virtues of monogamy and heterosexuality after a few simple sermons or workshops in church. or maybe cos "it just feels right, its the natural order of things. homosexuality is just wrong!" no wonder the secular world sees "not belief, but a suspension of belief." how strong and viable is a belief that is based on a single point of view? non-analysed/evaluated? a conclusion drawn before even trying to understand homosexuals' viewpoint before writing them off?

in 2 Cor 10:5, it says to demolish (NIV) or cast down (KJV) arguments and pretensions that are set up against the knowledge of God. the greek root word is kathaireō; "with the use of force: to throw down, cast down the subtle reasonings (of opponents) likened to a fortress, i.e. to refute/destroy." it doesn't mean in any way to ignore or write off opposing views to the bible. how strong is ur offense when u merely turn ur head away from an argument against the principles of God's Word? i think as mature christians and a responsible, clear-minded individual in today's world, we ought to consider other viewpoints - liberal, hedonistic, cynical, whatever, and be appropriately convinced that those views can be "shot down, refuted", before arriving at a meaningful conclusion. dissect the views. understand why people think that way. then can you point out to them why its just an argument and pretension against the Truth. then can you take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. not blindly follow ur religion and allow it to make choices for you, to choose for you your paradigms. actively take part in forming your own views! its your life! afterall, if christianity is that great as you make it out to be, it can surely withstand the challenges, the scrutiny and all the cross-fire. and your faith will be strengthened because you know you have very many valid reasons for this hope that you have. :)

of course, as with all journeys in life, we shouldn't neglect asking God for that strength, mercy and grace for the walk into all truth. as man we are not gonna make it through alone. not supposed to. well actually you might, on your own resources, and with that great mind of yours. but that would breed pride and complacency. but He is the one who will "open our eyes and make us see wonderful things in His law". and keep us sane; when emotionally the tug of the world seems too great to resist, it is Him who will keep us firmly on the ground, not chasing after worldly pleasures and ways of life.

revival-themed sermons sometimes touch on the principle of "no compromise". its not just about not compromising in the things you do. what about in the ways you think? stretch yourself further. take "loving God with all your mind" to a whole new dimension.

as for the issue of homosexuality - have i myself arrived at a fair, justified conclusion? i'll have to admit, not yet. i think this is where humility comes in. admitting that i have a stand without proof. (lol. how distasteful.) then work on it. and this is also where God's grace comes in, i think. even though in my heart i do believe that what God says is right, i pray for mercy as i work everything out. God knows its not that i purposely dont trust what He says, i just don't want to have a blind belief. and then depend on His grace to get me through this. hehe. being teachable doesn't mean taking everything at face value and believing the Word so readily without consideration for its implications. i think that word calls for a redefinition. it means allowing your mind to be moulded, reshaped.. it doesn't have to take place overnight. just have that attitude of openness to God's principles.

hope my thoughts will not stumble anyone, i've tried my best to blog responsibly and exclude the questions in my mind that have no answers and have the potential to shake someone's faith. heh. happy studying people. and happy thinking. :)

yes i know, who blogs abt her birthday like 2 weeks after? haha. better late than never. decided to stop procrastinating! haha.

anyway firstly, a BIG THANK YOU to bel and gladwin! haha. bel arranged with shaun to trick me! and they came all the way down to vj on monday juz to surprise me and present me with an array of gifts. hahaha. this story goes like this - after chem lect shaun was like "i've got sth impt to tell u.. personal.. blablabla". i thought he was depressed and started to "hu si luan xiang", thought he considering suicide. lol. what to do, he looked so serious. haha but anyways i spotted annabel's green RJ skirt! haha woots. then they gave me gifts, each representing a characteristic. and i ate donut factory for the 1st time in my life. YUM! thank you deariesss. =)


glad and bel with the presents :)

to bel: haha you know its really kinda freaky how this "telepathy thing" works. u cld read my mind in that card! haha. i really treasure this friendship! ah, i know we both know this already right. haha. and im also sure u alr know how much i appreciate everything :) but nevertheless i will say this again, i love you to bitttss!!!! i cant wait for after As WOOHOO hahahaha :D jiayouuu for ur prelims dearie! u can do it! =)

to glad: hahaha THANKS for Q-ing for those donuts!! yup and even tho we dont talk as much now i want to remind you that you realy had a great positive impact in my life! haha thanks for showing that "shi jie shang hai you hao nan ren" haha! and for pampering me like a princess! truly grateful! =)

well then bel and glad came over to my place to chill. and take photos. haha. then at night went to sushi tei raffles city to meet glad shashi jean and jolyn for dinner! it was quite yum :)


the 5 of us at sushi tei!

to my "grandparents": haha thanks for the book! and yes, grandpa shashi, thanks for all the humour and light-hearted moments! :) uve really brought joy into my life! haha and grandma, thanks for always supporting me in almost everything.. coming to watch my netball match.. praying for me, looking out for me.. hehe i'm one very blessed "grandchild". thank you jean :)



haha yup, then jolyn gave me this HUGE green (!) bday card! which she stayed up all night just to complete! talk about SACRIFICE man! omg jolyn haha THANK YOU SO MUCH and i really love the card cos its greeen! haha and the green GLITTER! and the photos inside :) and the uber sweet and touching message too! hahah jolyn that was REALLY really amazing of you thank you :) thanks for being such a lovely friend! someone i can listen to, talk to, pray with, fool around with, bimbo around with, shop with, study with, eat with (YES!), walk with, celebrate special events with.. u special woman :) i love you!

haha yep then it was nearing midnight.. the real day! and the real surprise awaits! haha i'll edit again soon.. need to get the pics frm my bro as well as go to sleep. haha. gdnight world :)