*the love and grace of God in my life..*

Saturday, July 31, 2004

back from a long day of fyp discussion.
was in school the entire afternoon to discuss our readings, critical analysis and stuffs. huijun was so sick..she kept coughing. and guess what? im coughing now! argh. i hate being infected..by cough germs.

had LOTS to do today and tmr.
sickening.
i have got 3 readings to do, critical analysis of the readings and answering some chim questions. then fyp also must settle tonight cos i wun be at home tmr.
sickening. and it's only 1st week of school.
what rubbish man.

anyway, i decided to give myself a treat before work starts piling in.
i called the shi-zhi-lu-kou committee out yday for dinner.. and we had coffee/cakes after that.
went home rather late.. came home, tried to read some stuffs for fyp today and slept!

i should log off and do my readings. otherwise, i'll be thinking of them all day tmr.
ta-ta

//posted by ivy @ 21:42//

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

almost done with cell preparation for tonight..
but i juz had to pop by blogger and jot down how sweet my bf was on mon.

was 1/4 thru my afternoon lect when i decided to msg him and see if he wanted to meet me that night.
and guess what? he said he was on his way to carrefour, to get me my oven and mixer!
what a sweet surprise.. so i called my parents and told them to expect a delivery soon.. hehez. he brought them all the way to my place..
although sch was dreadful on mon, but my dear made it all so sweet.
thank you!

and our dear mich had to comment this "ivy, make him your husband!"
i juz smiled.. hehz.

my sat is taken. by fyp.
dreadful. horrible.
argh.. meeting from 12.30 to 6.30pm!
and im not very prepared as for now.. the article i was assigned to read wasn't really very comprehensible..

20 more days before dear enlists.
it's coming horribly fast! =/

//posted by ivy @ 14:32//

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

bintan pics are up! =)
enjoy

sun's "shi zhi lu kou" went on fine.
the facilitators were all glad that they all had fun and at the end of the day, the efforts were all worthwhile.
went cindy's house for final preparation before the game..
then we proceeded with the game under the scorchin hot sun and running along 30 lorongs in the next hour or so.
after that, they had steamboat..
while zhong, reg, cindy, tracy and myself went lau pa sat for dinner after that.
had a good time of fellowshipping.

school started yday morn at 8.30am.
these two days so-so. lecturers are rather boring.. seminars quite dry.
something different is that i changed my proj group. im not doin projs with the usual gang of ppl.. wanted to try working with diff ppl and a diff challange altogether. but of cos, i'll miss danwen's crappiness and mich's lameness!

this week is slightly more free.
but can sense the stress in class.. everyone has fyp meeting rather regularly these days.
to me, it's gonna be a very challenging sem ahead, with fyp and lects/sems which are so dry, and having to cope with church and dear's enlistment.
and im aiming for at least 2As this sem as well.
what high expectations i have right?

alright.
not in blogging mode now.
wanna rest, read my fyp article, do journal critique and print my huge chunk of notes.
ta-ta

//posted by ivy @ 21:13//

Friday, July 23, 2004

Special Entry: Bintan Trip with Dear. (19-20 Jul)

The Journey There
early mon morning, set off from jurong point. took the train down to bedok to buy our lunch, transferred bus 35 to tanah merah ferry terminal. checked in and waited patiently for boarding.

ferry was rather packed. and soon, we were on the choppy water, on our way to bintan ferry terminal. ride was around 50 mins and by the time we reached, i was a wee bit seasick cos i was hungry! went thru the immigration counters and waited for the transport to come to fetch us to resort.
20 mins later, a mini van came and after a bumpy ride, we arrived at mana mana resort. filled in some forms, took our keys and off we go to find our room. met someone along the way who greeted us with a huge smile and helped us to our room. oh, by the way, did i mention that ppl in bintan are really friendly?
settled down, had our lunch while watching some channel u show. unpacked a little, poked the place a little and rested for an hr before we went jetskiiing.

Jetskiiing
the sun was good. not scorching hot but yet, sunny enough. we were briefed a little on the routes we could take and could not take. hopped on and followed the instructor to the open area and off we went, on our own! dear drove first.. and i think he had fun accelerating and watching me scream in fear. after a while, i took over. pretty scary at first but i got the hang of it and of cos, it was my turn to accelerate! the cool part came when we drove at high speed against the wave. woah..it made us feel like we would get thrown out any moment. our butt flew up for a mere second! and we went "woah..woah.. WOAH!" everytime that happened.
towards the end, the jetski in front of us travelled rather slow so we paused and waited for them to go a little further so that we can drive fast! haha.

ended quite soon.. and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing with sand, digging holes, throwing sand and soaking in the water. all the way till sunset.
took some pics of the sunset, the beach and ourselves. den hurled ourselves out of the water to the cold air and walked back to our room.
showered and went for dinner.

Kelong Dinner
we asked for directions and after walking a mere 5 mins in the rather dark roads, a bus came along, stopped and asked if we were going kelong! woah.. took the bus and saved the walking. the kelong looked quite like the one dear brought me to on my 21st bday, though this one is larger and looked more pro. took quite long to order and finally....feast!
the service was good. food was nice. pretty cooling night cos we had the seat next to the sea.
then one waitor came and told us they offered shuttle service back to my resort. how nice eh!
while we were waiting for the bus, we looked up and the sky was full of stars. so much that it looked a little gross. dear commented that it looked like it had a disease! haha.
went back resort, rested, watched tv etc etc.

slept pretty late, that's for dear. cos i din get to sleep at all. i couldn't fall asleep! i wonder why.
alarm rang at 5 plus.. cos i wanted to catch the sunrise. but i was too tired. din bother to go. tried to toss around for another two hours before we went for breakfast. dear went to book the shuttle to bring us to elephant ride before that.

Elephant Ride
a mini-van came to pick us up. we travelled thru the main roads, then to a dry mud track before we reached the elephants. it's so different from singapore zoo! in bintan, they were so close-up! and i feel so close to nature all of a sudden. bought our tics den we had to go up this tower so that we could reach the elephant's back. dear and i rode on the same elephant.
and ouch! the elephant's spine is rather sharp eh. and we felt as though we were going for a butt massage. scary initially when the elephant took the first few steps. a bit hard to balance up there..but soon, we got used to it and were on our way for a long, long ride.

it went upslope, downslope, through tiny paths and even attempted to cross the road! and throughout the ride, we saw the elephant snapped off dry twigs and leaves to munch on. and it did that so frequently! greedy elephant! it took us to the top of the slope..and we could see a nice green scenery in front of us. the whole elephant journey took around 30 mins.
after that, we bought bananas to feed them. and they are really greedy. after every banana they took with the long trunk of theirs, they poked it out again to wait for another. i wanted to feed the elephant next to the one i was feeding but there was no way. it stretched its trunk out so long..and blocked my way!
and while i was strugglin to yank the banana out of the root, cos they were unripe ones.. the trunks dripped saliva! yucks... and it was so near to my face, i feel like stuffing my fingers into the nostrils!
pretty soon, we had to leave. mini-van took us back to our resort.

The Journey Back
we rested, watched some tv, packed up and had our lunch before checking out.
and by then, i was so sleepy.
on the return ferry, we went to the upper deck. less people and i slept promptly.
reached singapore, checked out etc etc.
went for dinner at bedok and i realised, im back to singapore's life again!

back in bintan, it was a rustic feeling. the houses were made of wooden floor, atap feeling. places we had our meals had wooden chairs, ceilings and stuffs were all wooden. those you can hear the clear splatter of rain. air was much fresher cos traffic was so minimal. ppl were so friendly. all staff would give you a smile whenever you are and whatever time it was. and we din have to bother about smses and calls! haha..

a wonderful get-away! thank God for all the fun and safety! =)

//posted by ivy @ 12:52//

Thursday, July 15, 2004

back from cell leaders' training at adelphi
today's lesson is one which i'll never regret going (not that i regretted any so far). pretty much close to my heart. and what i really wanna know and learn.
and thru-out the lesson, God gave me a new perspective to seeing the tertiary cell and its members.

one very impt lesson i learnt was that i must start seeing each individual as a cell member, and not classify them as 'youth leaders' and 'non-leaders'. whatever their status may be in the eyes of other youths, when they come into cell, they each have an unique need.
tertiary cell is diff from other cells, in the sense it's made up of very big range of people, with varying needs. some i can't possibly comprehend, some i can. but all of which, God can. and my role is to usher them, ultimately to have a life transformation experience.
and as i sat in the car while uncle kevin was singing away to the cd, i realised there's so much more i haven done and so much more to go.
and if i were to go thru the pointers pastor gave juz now titled 'role of a cell leader', i conclude that i fail miserably as one, as for now.
so much more things to learn.. i'm taking small steps. one at a time. =)

alright. back-tracked.
was at bugis area roaming by myself for an hour or so, looking for something.
and i found it after a long search. and funny things happened during the process. (funny huh arlene? hehz)
met arlene for dinner at raffles city foodcourt.
ate beef noodles. tasted pretty good!

watched 'super size me' few days back and boy, it got me to look at macdonalds rather negatively! but.. i'll still eat them once in a while.
nv able to resist their egg mcmuffin, big brkfast and ice-cream!

next week's pretty happening.
mon-tues: off to bintan for a short get-away. im praying hard it doesn't rain but not too hot as well. perfect weather to loiter at the beach if so.
wed-fri: needa plan event. very tight timing
sun: tertiary/youth event!

and after which, sch re-opens.
uh-oh. im still quite ill-prepared.
books?
course outlines?
packed my tables and such?
oh-oh.. =/

but well, im still gonna enjoy myself in bintan~
no doubt abt that. and thinking abt it gets me all jumpy and excited! ~

//posted by ivy @ 22:23//

Monday, July 12, 2004

i conclude something.
blogger likes to change its layout from time to time.
but as long as it's ivy-friendly, it doesn't bother me much

another sleepy day today. rain rain and more rain.
and im yawning like mad while attempting to proof-read my report and improve on it. but nothing concrete has been done.

had a very long day yday and i din know how i had the energy to sustain me till 5am this morn!
drumming was not really fantastic. i still prefer sat's one.
twice, i forgot to lock my snare back! terrible. the first sound that came out was argh! disgusting. and furiously trying to lock back using my fingertips while keeping the beat. must always remind myself to check the snare..
and for the first time, i found it hard to catch the flow of worship. in fact, i din play at all for worship songs. tried but decided not to.
last song was alright. tried to do something new for 'everyday'. haha. zhong heard it thou!
alright. all in all, it still went fine.

youth was good. i simply love the praise & worship.
and God revealed a simple promise..that when two or three are gathered, He is in the midst.
someone commented to me before youth starts "huh! that's all we have today ah?"
i looked around. nodded and proceeded to start
but God has a better plan for all those who stayed back. im sure they experienced God's presence powerfully!
sharing was okie. no one asked any qns, so i hope they understood.

the gals, as usual drummed (is there such a word?) after youth.
tracy caught on fine. she used my metronome for practice and could play according to it for a few mins.
i kept the drums after that. comes with practice?
i dunno man. but it definitely seems much easier to keep yday than the week when zhong went for church camp.
celine and the rest were helpful. they brought all the things to the store for me before they left. =)

went with tim, ed, denny, weiq, tracy, jh for ice-cream and fries at je mac.
did some shopping with tracy (we always do that nowsdays)
came home for dinner. online for a while before i went out to meet dear.
had a long talk, a long sharing, a long night.
and i thank God for dear =)

i hope it wun rain as much next week.
otherwise i can't do lotsa things in bintan, next week this time.

//posted by ivy @ 13:56//

Saturday, July 10, 2004

today's songs have a combi.
praise songs are challenges.
worship songs are slightly more manageable.
shall see how they go.

had a crazy nite yday.
went changi safra chalet for jo's 21st bday
lots of food man. cos some din make it last min so we cooked and we ate and we cooked and we ate.. yeah, u get it.
some of them came slightly later with the cake.. and that's where the fun starts.

super jialat man.
the cake was so creamy.. and we juz ate the cake and held the cream in our hands, waiting for chance.
haha. poor jo. she was so helpless and of cos, dirty at the end of it all.
ran ard outside chalet to avoid her and after that, we managed to get back to the chalet and locked it up, leaving her all alone outside.
at least we were safe! haha.

left at around 11. shared cab with boon keng and weiling.
so exhausted when i reached home.
realised i haven ran for quite long. haha!

one more hour before i leave house.
long afternoon ahead.

//posted by ivy @ 12:41//

Thursday, July 08, 2004

read denny's blog before i started on my entry.
well, bro. sorry if u felt a waste of your afternoon eh.

anyway, i had a nice time juz talking to cindy yday.
we spent the entire afternoon at suntec. and chatted on some funny topics.
and im so glad for those little talks. cos these are the ones which usually indicate the start of a deep friendship.
she's really not as quiet as she seems! haha.

cell was ...
started pretty late and i had the sudden urge to dismiss everyone after praise & worship.
juz a short general prayer for cambodia team and off you can go.
but yet, i can't let this feeling compromise the prayer session which is much much more impt.
so i struggled, real badly to pull it thru.

it's the first time i felt so drained simply cos of a cell.
and to think, this is the first cell after a month of break.
i din dare to think how cell would be like if say, denny and zhong weren't ard yday.

enough said.
im sick and tired of whining and complaining abt cell in my blog.
next time, i will mention it in cell perhaps.
this is totally pulling me down. disgusting.

going to finish up my report today. latest tmr afternoon.
so that i can enjoy the bbq tmr night. safra chalet.
music prac on sat. service on sun.
this week passes quite fast.

//posted by ivy @ 12:35//

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

caught spiderman 2 yday evening.
quite alright but i still prefer episode 1.
had dinner..
and spent some time with dear after that.

wanna con't on my attachment report but nothing constructive so far.
i feel like sleepin.
tuition at 7pm tonight.
yawnz.

//posted by ivy @ 14:44//

Monday, July 05, 2004

[fri evening]
farewell at IE was a bit sad.
i went around and said bye to everyone in my dept
and one senior officer said "study hard, do well and come back next year". i simply smiled at her.

went to meet dear.
bought his shoes at city hall which he took a long time to decide cos both pairs looked juz fine.
dinner at suntec's kuali asian kitchen.
ex-congress. food was much better than congress.
and we really ate a lot i think!

[sat]
woke up rather late cos i slept late on fri night. real late. had a chat with dear.
was talking to denny halfway when i had to stop cos i had to leave for music prac.
equipment oredi set-up. thanks to zhong.
started rather late cos of the new mixer and stuffs.

went clementi for 'ban zhi ji' with tracy, celine, peixuan and wanling.
den headed for ice-cream at mac.
came home quite late so din prac for drumming anymore.
juz a three mins run-thru of the songs and i slept with my sticks on my bed!
and stupidly, forgot to turn my phone to audible mode.

[sun]
celine was supposed to give me wake-up call at 7am, which she did.
but i din hear anything. simply cos...the phone was in silent mode!
argh.. and i woke up at 8am!
i practically shot out of bed and did everything in double speed.
ready at 8.25am. took a cab..
travelling happily along boon lay way when i saw a collision of a can and truck right in front of me.
the cab i took e-braked and took a detour.
when i reached, all the musicians were there oredi.
prac went better than sat's. i think.

during worship, it was fine (at least to me). i din make any mistakes for my praise songs. and that is really really rare.
zhong's first try at worship leading.
and you did well dear! i couldn't even trace a slight tinge of nervousness in you.
i have a new toy too - my bass mic.
it looked quite cool eh. but it made me drumming sound horrible cos my mistakes are amplified!

youth was okie too.
discussed abt tertiary cell outreach programme.
packed up. and that took a LONG time!
cos of the new mixer and stuffs. tracy took the chance to play drums. i passed her my metronome and she entertained herself with it for an hour or so.
after that, tracy and i went to meet celine, peixuan, wanling at jp.
they had dinner. i din. wanling din too.
talked rubbish. went a little grocery shopping with tracy. walked home after that.

my weekend.
over.
today is a brand new week and a week nearer to bintan!

//posted by ivy @ 11:14//

Friday, July 02, 2004

dear juz made me feel a wee bit guilty.
cos he has to take 'leave' from si'er for op tonight.
he forgot he has op tonight and msged me in the morning that he could meet me
and i think he figured that i will scream if he decides not to.
hehz.

but it was a sweet surprise in the morning when he said we were meeting tonight.
i really thought otherwise cos he din sound like he was gonna meet me today
but anyway, it's gonna be a nice nice night. =)

pastor sorta gave a suggestion for cell sharing.
i thought of doin that when i first read the book as well but the only thing that stopped me was to get everyone to buy the book. and that wasn't an easy task if the rest of the church wasn't doing so
but now since pastor gave the green light and says everyone should get one..
im quite glad.
the book of 1 peter will have to be on hold till we'll-see-when-and-how.

time seems to drag on and on..
i wanna knock off!
argh.

//posted by ivy @ 14:28//

last day. im glad.
no more waking up at 7.15am and wanting to go back to sleep every single morn.
no more in the crowded train with the morning rush
no more in the crowded train with the evening rush
yippie~

wayne is doin a hip-hop version of the song 'home' on national day.
hmm? haha.
all local artiste get to sing some stuffs on national day i realised
kit chan, steph sun, wayne..

im quite stony now. nothing much to do.
i wonder whether im meeting dear tonight.
he sounds sick and tired still. and with helping uncle jimmy today..
juz gotta sit here and wait. =/

//posted by ivy @ 09:56//

Thursday, July 01, 2004

*burps..
excuse me. =)

my stomach is round. yeah, round like the surface of any balls.
inside it is filled up food from sakae sushi.
buffet and ala-carte you see.
two hours lunch is really long and i have managed to stuff quite a large amt of food in the round tummy of mine now.

*burps..
oopsie.. =X

this entire week pretty relaxing.
everyday juz finalising my stuff. own time, no target. =)
supervisor is having a briefing at mti (ministry of trade and industry).
im left alone again with nothing to do.
looking at the clock tickin slowly away.
sound of the photo copier churning out documents around the corner.
and my burps occassionally. im really full, you see.

wonder how the training tonight is gonna be. but whatever it is, im kinda looking forward cos pastor has never delivered real boring stuffs and tonight's session will prob equip me better for cell coming quarter.
speaking of which, i've decided what to share on.

and speaking of which, i shldn't waste my time blogging now.
i shld plan tertiary cell's games day!
tsk tsk.

*burps..
oh no. third time in last few mins oredi.

tmr's dinner..hmmm?
where shld we go? (we = zhong and ivy)
newton circus? the make-shift hawker stalls outside somerset?
or mayb i shld ask him to cook!
haha.
that's due to the icq conversation we had last night.
it went something like..
zhong: back from lesson.
ivy: lesson?
zhong: yup. diploma in kitchen studies!

hahaha! i burst into laughter right in front of my comp!
how can i forget that my darling bf has decided to learn cooking from his mum huh?

must make a trip to his place soon.
cos i asked his brother to record the last episode of 'be somebody' on tues night when we were having prayer meeting at cathedral.

and i think i better stop.
before the blog juz get longer and longer.

//posted by ivy @ 14:24//