yadayadayada

2009-07-28T11:08:00.000+08:00

One unknown lighthouse along the Great Ocean Road, Melbourne

2008-12-15T23:31:00.007+08:00

Glory YF Camp '08

Anitpas

Camp 08

As much as it was another exhausting, energy sapping, sleep depraved time of the year, the camp has proven itself to be an enriching and wonderful experience. Well before I begin with the “cam-whore” pics, I shall now dispense some of what was my “last three points” of the penultimate group share with Antipas.

My expectations of what this camp was? Well, what I expected was a really shag time. Like the endless prep that had to be carried out. The rushing to get things together, the needing to get the script of the prayer and praise skit done, the need to figure out what lines to say for the JOKER role for the night game, would the clue to the urban crisis be too difficult... It was RELENTLESS. All the preparation…. I was using the time I had after night shift at work to churn out the clues, the power-point to Wu Ling Da Hui (the pugilist game) and write the poem that wasn’t eventually used. I didn’t like that I had to do a lot of the dirty work (if you’re interested we can discuss about this). I was frustrated by the situation altogether.

But as soon as the camp kicked in I was promptly reminded of the joys of serving in the youth ministry. Seeing God touch the lives of youth through this camp was really refreshing. Here are some of the highlights of the camp. (Still awaiting Alicia’s camp pics)

Wu Ling Da Hui

I arrived from work thinking about how I could be a better more psychotic character. My mind was still on the “why am I doing all the stuff? Why can’t I get some others to take on the minute responsibilities?”

I saw my sister in the log room at Pei-Hwa and thought to myself it must have been at least 11 years since Mich and I were in the same room working on a camp. Scary….
They threw on some make-up and wah-laah, the half measure and not so psychotic but still-quite-scary JOKER.

I had oodles of fun. My rendition of “why so serious” was a five upon ten at best, but it was such great fun seeing people cringe. I didn’t want to make it so easy to find me and as such I hid in a corner. I had as my “test” riddles from mindtrap (I should really be called Riddler instead). Not ONE could get why Mr and Mrs Clatter had boys for half their children. *chuckles*

Waving across the corridor and spooking them youths was super fun.
To me, this will always eb one of those games that will work. I was glad we decided not to infuse any lesson of sorts into this game. Sometimes, I feel, its ok to have a game game. Let the sermon, speaker and prayer room be what it is for (a good solid spiritual message) and let the game be the game that it is.

Its My Life

Nono, this wasn’t inspired by the Bon Jovi hitsong. This is instead one of the most mind blowing games I’ve ever come across. The jist of the game was that we were supposed to live out 30 years of our lives in 3 hours. There were elements in the game that mirrored what goes on in real life. There were wealth, health, social, and moral tokens. Our goal was to accumulate as much of these tokens and try to attain different levels. There was the professor, the celebrity, the superman, the billionaire. It was akin to some huge scale monopoly. This was an individual game and everyone were no longer tied to their groups. There wasn’t a specific goal to reach and there were no intended winners, but nonetheless, the game served its purpose of making the youths, albeit momentarily, lost in the world.

Before this game, Jonathan was asking me for the most brainless, repetitive, menial tasks possible. These were to be used as work stations. I was responsible with conjuring up “Threading the eye of the needle”, “finding the number of words in the first 5 chapters of Genesis”, “having the stop watch stop at the zero hundredth of a second”. (Gotta love this one). I was just laughing at Amanda and Michelle trying their utmost to get the stop watch to yield. The stop watch won, they could never get to the zero hundredth. It was hilarious.

2008-07-07T23:48:00.005+08:00

Youth sunday: HUMANOIDS!

Daniel "himbo-Spice" Chen as Mr Know-it-all

Silence is golden....get it?

The humanoids were well received. As members stream out of the sanctuary they stopped to find out what these gold-skinned-figurines were all about. If you didnt read the boards hastily put together, here's what they're all about...

The Emo-kid
Devoid of any confidence, the emo-kid is self-absorbed and is just happy feeling sorry for himself. No positivity could get to him and cynicism is slowly creeping in.

The try-hard
Wants to be popular but doesnt quite cut-it. Would love to be the centre of attention and tries all ways and means to be cool. Buys whatever the most popular kids buy, dresses and talks teh same way too. The belief that his identity is in having those things, wearing those clothes and using the IN lingo.

The nerd
Belives there's nothign more important in life than to get good results. Friends, games and fun are just all getting in the way of this mega mugger who spends hours after hours burying himself in books.

The over-acheiver
Gets his A's. Gets his gold medals. Gets his piano diploma. Gets the chicks. Doesnt get the idea that these things are temporal. Doesnt see a need to know about God since he thinks he IS a god.

Know-it-all

"Don’t tell me....i know" would be his pet retort. Along with that, he knows a few arguments that would stop the well-intended evangelising christian in his tracks. He prides himself on knowing what all these things about God but sees no need to accept the gospel.

2008-06-25T12:46:00.045+08:00

THAI MISSION TRIP 2008 JUNE 13th - 20th

I’ve thought of how I would like to give an account of my experience on the mission trip and I’ve decided to just describe the pictures in chronological order. I will add on to this thread as and when cause its just too tedious to write everything at one go.

What's the trip gonna be like?

This is me on board a song-tiao looking all pensive and full of thought. I look like I thinking sutff like, "How is everything gonna work out?" or "What kinda accomodation would we be staying in?" Truth be told I was really just stoning. I had just slept a paltry 3 hours prior to arriving at Changi and I was knackered to say the least when we finally arrived at Chiang Mai International airport. I just saw Mich for the first time in 4 months and we hugged each other albeit her saying hi to other people first (lousy sister!) ahhaha.

Grace Fellowship @ Chiang Mai University.

Grace Fellowship at a house off Chiang Mai University. Mi and his wife graciously hosted us. They also served up some really really delicious Khaw Soy. Whilst at Grace fellowship, we saw a group of university students. There were 12-14 of them. Mostly girls though. We had a great time singing songs and playing games. Dinner was a gastronic delight with Khaw soy being served up. Khaw soy consisted of this coconut based curry sauce and flat noodles topped with a crispy deep fried unknown condiment. The coconut was not too overwhelming and everyone was raving about it after eating. We proceeded to games after dinner and Good ol’ 100-seconds-no-NG (Angie) kept everyone occupied. It was interesting to note that while these people were regulars, a lot of the girls have not come to accept Christ. My sister was saying that growth is slow amongst them. I figure that’s down to the lure of the world and whilst at university, your priorities can be really skewed. I spoke with si-er (thai for tiger) and got to know about how he came to know Christ and stuff. He came to know about Christianity and the good news because he was studying in a mission school. He's the only one in his family though. I tried to encourage him by telling him that it was the same with Mich and myself, so he shouldn't be discouraged and should continue praying. It was a short 2.5 hours we spent there but nonetheless, we had a good time of fellowship and did i mention that the khaw soy was kickass? Oh...i did...

HUH?!! So much to pack?!!

Saturday came and went in a flash. We spent most of the day in a conference room packing the gifts. I felt it was great that we could pack gifts and stuff. It was a good time of fellowship and laughter. A Saturday morning when the sun was beaming into the room, the lot of us seated on the floor. The AC made the temperature really comfortable. Just horsing around and joking while getting the gifts into the wrapper was a refreshing change to the kind of stuff I might be doing on a sat morning. Lunch was a trip down to the campus canteen where the “mixed veg” rice stall was a huge fare with a range of dishes from liver dishes to plain stir-fried cabbage. It was delicious nonetheless. I was seated with Jiahui, Sam, Emily and Nancy at a stone table. It was great to see the campus buzzing while we were all gobbling down our food. Then news came through that Emily’s uncle had passed on. She was in pieces and tears were streaming down her face. It was terrible and she seemed in consolable. I just kept handing out the tissues and prayed. The mood in the camp kinda changed and this was just one of the two events that we had to deal with. We did the only thing we could do, pray. Once we got back from lunch we rallied around Emily at the stone benches in Uniserv and prayed.

Mambo Queens

A quick trip down to Hang Dong church to carry out the Sunday school program was the order of the day. There were just a little over 12 kids at the Sunday school. My sis had already pre-empted us as to the amount of people who could be there at any one time. On good days, there were thirty. On a bad day, there could be a meager five. On rainy days, there could be none. Nancy kicked us off by teaching I’ve got Joy in my heart. Mich was doing the translation. It was to be the first of the many times we would be singing that song. We went on to do crafts and I was helping this kid named Johnny. He spoke perfect English and his pronunciation was better than the average Singaporean. He was a missionry’s son from LA. He was pretty straightforward in telling me that he preferred America to Thailand and would rather be back there. Tough huh? When you decide to go into the mission fields, Your kid might still wanna be back home. Just tough….

Johnny and me

Anyway, Jimmy (Pastor Tharawat’s wife) ended the session by teaching two songs. One was Yu Kit Sa Nit and the other was … Well I don’t know the title. The actions to the songs were so cool! There was cave-exploration (Adele’s description), shimmies, hand movements, twirls, leg movements, launching of space crafts, bobbing of heads, and shaking from side to side. Then it dawned on me, it was all Mambo-qse moves. The kids loved the songs and actions. The adults did too. So i thus conclude.... Deep down in our hearts, we all just love Mambo. HAHHAHA!

Kids playing games at the Shun Village

The craft maestros and their proteges

After a quick lunch at Hang Dong church, we made our way to the Shun Village. It was kinda amazing when I recalled that my sis said this wasn’t in the schedule till two members of the church alerted Pastor Tharawat of these Shun villagers. We were told that these Shun villagers were rather impoverish. We were told to do a children’s program at a school canteen near the village. Dark clouds were looming large but we prayed and prayed for the weather to hold up. Some of the kids were trickling shortly after we arrived. Pastor Tharawat went round the village on his pick-up to ferry the kids over. Along with that, the others were walking in on foot. We were highly aware that, the numbers would drop really drastically if the rain came down. Just as the last bunch of children came in, the rain came pouring down. Mich talked about having to exercise our “prayer muscles” and this was it. We prayed for the weather to hold up and graciously He withheld the rain till the last of the children came in. The kids warmed up really quickly and were really happy to see us. As we gave them balloons to participate in a game with, they were really elated to have these given to them. I can’t recall ever having seen a child thrilled at receiving a balloon. They were playing this game where they had to get their balloons from one end ot the other. They were required to blow the balloon and then let it loose to “gain ground”. Doing this would mean the balloon having to land on the concrete floor but they were totally oblivious to it and it wasn’t an issue to them at all. We were again remarking Singaporean kids would pick it up and wipe the balloon or refuse to participate altogether.

The Squatter like residence of the Shun kids

The craft bit of the program was really refreshing. Most of the kids really enjoyed themselves and took ownership of what was made albeit most of the handiwork was being done by us. They were really grateful for the craft session and the mood around the whole canteen was that every single one of these kids was happy that they made their “My Family” gloved puppet.
When time was up, Sam followed the pick-up when Tharawat was sending the kids back Sam came back and reported that they were living in rather run-down conditions. Michelle said the Shun villagers were mostly odd job labourers who would commute in and out of Chiangmai to do odd jobs. Sam then quipped that it would be a viscous cycle, about how the rich will get richer and poor will get poorer. This is a classic example of that. It won’t be too much to say that most of these kids will follow in their parents’ footsteps. I really hope and pray that God has a plan for them. Upon checking into our designated Bangkok hotel (this was post mission trip), I had all these DVD peddlers and pimps (how else could I describe them) wither shoving these porn DVDs in my face or asking if I wanted some “paid love”. I can’t help but think that some of ‘em will end up doing those things. We really need to pray for them.

The eagle and the mother hen (Lao Ying Zhua Xiao Ji)

Wat Silom students eager to learn from Mich

Dong Pin

That's right, boys make nice hand puppets too

I've got a joy, joy, joy, joy.....

DANCE SUCKERS! (Maket Place Evangelism)

Pommies @a goldsmith shop in Chinatown Chiangmai

2008-01-14T22:32:00.000+08:00

SOMEBODY GET ME OUT OF THIS HAIRYTURKS GROUP!!!!!!

What's with all these people. I mean. Enough of all these approaches already. Dammit...

Just this afternoon i met my hall mate for lunch. he happened to be auditing my company. And i don't know how but the conversation was steered towards encounters. Yes. Encounters. My friend mentioned a financial controller who made advances at his colleague. This poor lad was auditing this firm and had to have this queer encounter . They had to correspond with this dude (the FC) who was like married wife and kids. He was texting him stuff like "I love you" and all that.

He was telling me a couple of his own experiences. One of which went like this....

This Mrt dude was staring at him while he was all moshed with the morning crowd. The situation was such that he couldn't look or turn elsewhere. He started his journey at jurong east and this guy was like trying to make some serious eye contact with him all the way through. GROSS. Anyway, by the time he got off, my friend was seriously outraged (and reasonably frustrated). When the ECG (eye contact guy) got off, his gaze never left my friend's and in respond to all the staring my friend just flashed the third finger. What ensued was classic. The dude continued to stare at my friend and licked his lips in the most disgusting and suggestive manner. Nuff said.

I went on to share my "lao shu ai da mi" story of course. I shall not have it here. Don't wanna bore you guys. I'm sure I've not heard the last of this hairy turks group.....

2008-01-06T00:53:00.000+08:00

I-talk vs I-walk

2008-01-03T23:01:00.000+08:00

Okay, in a bid to revive this space....

Its been months and months since I've last blogged, so its time to play catch up. This December has proven to be really packed. Relentless activities, trips, camps, events and meetups has made it impossible to sit down and write (not really...but that's my excuse anyway...)

So here it is. I'll start with my trip to Chiangmai with me family. It was just such a great time to hang out with Mich again.

List of activities include
i)Playing Dutch Blitz late through the night.
ii)going into mindless factory producing sites.
iii)Buying food and gifts in China town. This topped off with an old pink dancing tranny. Eck!
(see Pic Below)
iv)buying food from roadside stalls
v)mexican food
vi)eating khaw niao ma-muang (aha! no corrections to my pronunciation now that i'm just spelling it)

Apart from stuffing my face, we were going on these mindless touristy places of little significance. But i guess its all part of the deal. It was interesting to note that Thaksin Sinowatra started out in Chiangmai.

It was just great to hang out with Mich and Jack again. And of cos the folks. The folks will always keep themselves occupied with nuts and whisky in the hotel room. Its truly amazing when you think about it. My parents still enjoy each other's company, thoroughly might i add. It has been 30 years of a unified state. *shudders* Yeap.... That's what i wanna be doing with the old woman when i'm Fit-thy (as pronounced in 50 cents), having nuts and insert type of drink in the hotel room while your kids go horse around. We were horsing around but not this time. The days of running around and being fascinated by every little touristy thing was over. It was great. But this time around, I would say its a different kind of bliss. Just sitting at the back of the bus snoozing away was enjoyable for me. And glancing left, i saw my whole family snoozing away. It was one of the moments of my trip. It made me feel like 10 or 12 again. (is this bordering on emo? writing too tessa-ish?) Maybe its cause of work......Ah well.

And to conclude I present to you my video guide. Lonely planet's Ian Wright got nuttin' on me! And neither would Samantha Brown on channel 16.

But jack would beg to differ.

Roy*brimming from finishing the clip*

Roy: Can't stand me right? *chuckles*

Jack *sian from filming my self indulgent video clip*

Jack:(in the most nonchalant tone) Well...I live with you... *cheeky smile*

granny tranny

Some random temple. Yes....tell me about it we don't look alike

That's right....cuties!!

Gorgeous family, gorgeous backdrop

2007-09-17T15:58:00.000+08:00

Hey boys and girls,

I know this has taken forever but its finally here. The photos from our outing in march! Or was it April. Yes. It has taken forever but its here.

West Coast Park April 1st

Okay, let me just say my bit about my Sunday School class. (If you're from my class and you're reading this just take note yeah?) Since January I've joined Uncle Ben's class to sit in and stuff. I'm supposed to be the advocate for the youths joining our church's youth fellowship. That is to say I'm supposed to sell ko yo and try to get these Sec 2 students to join YF. I did my share of "advertising" but I think I've gotten more out of this class than i would have imagined. Its a real humbling experience and I am still learning how best to teach them. Well, fact is I'd be as stoned out as you guys in class if I was your age sitting in. I think I've had 6 to 7 lessons with this class and I have tried ways and means to try my best in getting the class to be as interactive and as engaging as I possibly can. I've pulled up all my tricks and all my qian bian wen da ti in a bid to make the class less dowry.

For example:

1) The Lion's path (disclaimer: Just a logic puzzle. No implication on where you go when you die what-so-ever k)

On the day you die, you go up to this smokey place. As wander beyond the smoke, you see these two stone lions. Each mystical lion guards the path behind him. These two lions look and sound identical, just that one lion always tells a lie and one lion always tells the truth. Behind each of the lion is a path. One path leads to heaven, one path leads to hell. You can only ask one question to each of the two lions and it must be the exact same question. So what will the question be?

2)Qn: If Bruce Lee were still alive and happened to be having a vacation in Singapore, where would he be staying

Ans: The Grand Ha-eyyyyy-yat

Hurhur

Ah well, when the novelty of these GEMS (yes, I absolutely adore 'em qian bians and logic questions) fade off, what are you gonna be teaching? What are you gonna say to 14 pairs of eyes just waiting on you to tell them something. Gee.... You would think I have an answer, well actually I'm still finding that out for myself.

Ever since I dropped Sunday soccer with my mates and started sitting in uncle Ben's class, I have begun to know what it is like to serve in a ministry. It is really a very very very humbling experiencing and the few times I've taught the class I have learnt to rely on God's strength and guidance as oppose to mine

I try my best to teach them the truth about God, as limited as my knowledge of the bible goes, and I try my best to empathize with them (you guys) and think about what its like growing up. How it was like studying, schooling, getting teased, being bullied, bullying, being emo, being very emo, hating the way you look, being so conscious about everything (hair, how you wear you uniform, how to have a decent looking bag). I am trying my utmost to bring that in. I always try to tell me class that the chief purpose of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, but I guess and know you've got to learn this the hard way.

I'm not gonna be in this class for long, next year I'll have my own group of secondary ones to contend with. I know there are those of you in class who don't think its cool to come to class and that they Sunday School teacher yaks and yaks away. I would have done what you some of you guys did to be honest when I was your age. I don't know if it was your utmost gripe or reason for being disgruntled, but the thing I was struggling most with when I was a teenager was that no one understood me. I was always wallowing in self pity and I didn't like myself. Looking back, I didn't want to be understood, i wanted to implode. But please do remember that its not that nobody cares, its just that you'll have to give everything a chance. Your parents, your friends, you life, your God....

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty John 6:35

My prayer for each and everyone of you peeps in my class is that you learn to walk close to Him. Love you guys. Cheers.

P.S. if you want more of those pics, email me at roygohjl@gmail.com

2007-08-07T00:20:00.000+08:00

In camp training no. 5

Venue: Hendon camp, Tekong, Wild Wild Wet
Duration: July 16 - July 27th

Ict has indeed been fun. Carrying that wonderful 12 kg machine gun (that's right...the real McCoy...the one you think its all so cool to carry in Counterstrike you video-gaming pariahs) for mission really saps you of all your resolve. Ugh. All those moments of walking through the semmingly endless trails of jungle came flooding back, with the "yoke of slavery" strapped around my back.

Its kinda surreal to see that everyone's kinda move on with their careers at this point in each of our lives. We've (most of us) progressed from waiting for A' results to trying to carve out a career. Lots of my mates driving their spanking new rides into camp.

Anyhows, its great horsing around with the usual suspects. Heaps of fun and also heaps of "army-ish" moments when you feel like yourself running the clock down. It all ended with a rather "gay" outprocessing. We were told to finish our reservist training with a compulsory outprocessing procedure at (wait for it.....) WILD WILD WET. Nonetheless it was great fun though a bit too school boyish at times. Never again will i "wild wild wet " with a group of guys again... ahhaha

Detachment 6

2007-07-22T19:37:00.000+08:00

Me in my sunday best (terrence looking blur like sotong)

Baptism Sunday

I woke up this morning feeling like its any other morning. But somehow in the back of my head I knew it was gonna be different. I went to the kitchen to have breakfast with my parents and my dad would be doing his typical "ding ding ding" stir of coffee, my mom would be be toasting or preparing some food. I ate and didnt say much and just savoured the moment at the breakfast table. I had a quick look into the papers and went back into my room. Then it just dawned on me what was about to happen today. The magnitude of the moment had hit me there and then. I was gonna go to church with my parents and attend a full service with my family. *GASP* I paused, took a moment and thought about it all. It had been my prayer since I attended Glory. I always look at my peers, how their parents would drive them to chruch and they'd be worshipping together. Since then, it had always been sort of like a dream to have that happen. But today it sort of did.

I had always been apprehensive about baptism. I would always look at people with a mix sort of envy and disdain. I would think to myself, "hey, shouldnt you get baptised and join in?" and at the same time think "ah whatever, not important". I remember 6 years ago when i was seated next to my mom whilst my sister was going through her baptism ceremony. My mom was silent throughout the service and had a really long face. And as if it wasnt dire enough, she had added the coup de grace that was to scar me and haunt me for a real long time. She stared at me and said in the most sardonic, sacarstic and cynical tone possible. "Very good lah....Now your sister is baptised".
My heart still sinks a little whenever i thought about it.

It took all of 10 years for my family to move from my home to their first christmas service. It took all of 11 years for my family to attend their first service, albeit it being my baptism (i'll gladly take that, thank you). It took 6 years (since mich got baptised), for me to muster enough courage to go for baptism (that includes inviting my parents to the service). But most importantly, it took me all of eternity (10 years as well) to realise the importance of a close relationship with God. (or it'd be all a futile attempt) I drove us to the back of the church and I lead my family into the church. I greeted everyone i knew along the way with a smile. But really, I was breeming in my heart. Was so so so elated.

Upon entering the chapel I promptly looked for a row of seats for my family. I was abruptly ushered to the front row as all baptism candidates were supposed to be. I began recalling all those early days of going to youth camp in defiance. And all the events that ensued that brought so much tears. I was thinking about all that and at the same time looking back at my family sitting there.When i snapped out of it, I remember singing the song He is worthy. And how apt. He is indeed worthy of all praise. All those years of hurt and pain. All those days and days and days of prayer by my bedside just crying out, asking that my parents would just turn up even if it is for that one time. He answered my prayer (and the prayers of all those who prayed for me) with a "YES! There you go"

(ok getting too emo + gonna have to book in an hour....yes...book in! will have to add details + testimony at another time)

The ceremony

The Goh family at Glory Prebyterian Church

My testimony

I grew up in a family where worshiping idols and ancestors was the norm. As a child, I just followed my parents' orders in obedience and often feared offending the “spirits and deities”. There were occasions when I recalled asking for an explanation as to why we had to do so but was never given a proper one.

I have an elder sister and a younger brother and always thought that there was something wrong with being a middle child. Growing up, I didn't have many friends and was always trying to join my brother and sister. But I was often rejected and didn't quite fit in. I remember an instance when my sister and her friends would lock themselves in the room and I would be crying and banging the door begging for them to let me in.

The theme of low self-esteem was to plague me throughout school. In primary school, I was often rejected when project groups were being formed. In secondary school, I was always tried to be popular and fit in but to no avail. My peers didn't like me and neither did I.
It was during my early teenage years that I sought the meaning of life and existence. I told my parents that I was going to find out for myself what life meant and they told me to consider Buddhism and Taoism. I didn't find out much about the two religions and often found the rituals empty. But deep down inside I wanted to find out about God. Even before deciding on choosing Christ as my Lord and saviour, God had already left the good news in my heart. I had already heard the gospel then through the sharing of my vice-principal in primary school. That left an impression of who Jesus Christ was.

It was from the thing that I dreaded most that God called for me. I was poor in Chinese and needed tuition classes to improve my results. I dreaded going for Chinese lessons as I didn't like the subject and was not good at it. But it was through my tutor's sharing that I came to know who Jesus was. Through her sharing, I understood that we were all sinners and God had died on the cross to save us from sin. And the analogy put across to me was that life was like a candle, God lights your candle, you burn for Him and continue to light others. I was really touched by that and accepted Christ as my personal saviour in my life during one of a Good Friday service at that period of time.
Then, my sister was already attending Glory church and asked me along with her. It was in those years while attending youth fellowship at the church that I found out more about Christ and His teachings. I faced some resistance from my parents when I first came to know the Lord. It was through having a relationship with Christ that my confidence grew. “I can do everything through God who gives me strength.” (Philipians 4:13 )

After a few years, I wasn't really very serious about my faith and grew lukewarm in my walk with God during my army days. I would go through the motion of coming to church, having lunch and then return home. I would join several programs that the church organized but that didn't change anything. I received God as my saviour but not as my Lord. I was the master of my own domain and struggled in school as well. This went on for years.

It was only upon joining bible study fellowship and a discipleship course that I began to study God's word with more intent. Through those two events, I found out what it was like to have a personal relationship with God. Even though I had accepted Christ as my saviour earlier in my life, it was only then that I began to acknowledge Him as the Lord of my life.

I finally saw the importance of centering your life about God and allowed Him to be the Lord of my life. Since then, it has become much clearer to me what being a follower of Christ is like. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matt 6:33

I am no longer struggling as the master of my domain but have instead, found real purpose in seeking God. Be it at work, at play, in relationship with others or at serving in God's ministries, God has been a source of inspiration and strength.

2007-06-19T18:38:00.000+08:00

Do Not Just Simply Add Someone To Your MSN!

Yes yes. Laugh it up all you peeps want, I guess the only reason I'm putting this up (alebit at my expense) is for you guys to gasp/laugh/chuckle over. Hai..... Why must these nonsense happen to me?

Oh man just chceck out the pic. I wanna puke everytime i think of it. I'm a victim loh.

Michaelarkangyal says:
heelo dear baby

murphy says:
who;s this ah?

Michaelarkangyal says:
i am from budaőest hungary

Michaelarkangyal says:
and where are u from?

murphy says:
ok..this is weird

murphy says:
if u 're not telling me who u are i'm gonna block u k

Michaelarkangyal says:
hi i am lee bear

Michaelarkangyal says:
and u?

murphy says:
seriously...u're not someone i know right?

Michaelarkangyal says:
i thik we are from hairy turks?

murphy says:
last chance ...

Michaelarkangyal says:
wicch is ur nik on hairyturks?

murphy says:
are u from church or ntu or work

Murphy says:
if not

murphy says:
i'm gonna blcok u

Michaelarkangyal says:
CHURCH WICH CHURCH?

murphy says:
ok...tt's it...this is getting too weird\

Michaelarkangyal says:
HEY I AM A BEAR U ARE BEARLÉOVER?

murphy says:
NO!

murphy says:
i'm not

murphy says:
u got the work person

Michaelarkangyal says:
OKAY BYE

murphy says:
i aint no heairy bear

Michaelarkangyal says:
U LIKE BEARS?

murphy says:
NO!

Michaelarkangyal says:
HOW DO U KNOW MY MSN?

murphy says:
someone pulled a fast one on me

murphy says:
i'm sorry

murphy says:
bye

Michaelarkangyal says:
WHY SHOUL DO THAT ANYOANE TO U?

murphy says:
i dunno

Michaelarkangyal says:
I AM A RE4ALETATE AGENT IN HUNGARY U WANNA BUY HOUSEES?

murphy says:
i'm an analyst in singapore

murphy says:
so ...i guess not

Michaelarkangyal says:
I WORKE WITH HOUSE SELLING

Michaelarkangyal says:
STRANGE HMMMMM

Michaelarkangyal says:
EXCUSE THAN I WHISE U A NIE DAY BYE BYE

Michaelarkangyal says:
NICE DAY BYE BYE

murphy says:
okok...nice day

murphy says:
bye

Michaelarkangyal says:
HAVE A GOOD WORKE AND ALL THE BEST TO U

2007-03-20T01:12:00.000+08:00

Its been so immensely long since i last wrote an entry. A combination of procrastination and seeing a lack of need to had gotten the better of this space dying. But hey! here it is again. Quick post lah. Just put up some nice photos over teh past.....erm...half a year or so?

In no particular order....

The face that was to be the launchpad of many interview appointments. pssst....whisper it ...some say look like Alan Wu...ahahha!!

Christmas 2006

Again, too lazy, will write again soon. Laters

2006-10-27T14:17:00.000+08:00

Chew on it

That's a pic of me eating chng tng at a psuedo roadside dessert stall. The government has contrived to get rid of all authenticity when it comes to roadside stalls. Victims include Newton, Tiong Bharu market. Just moments ago I was reminded by the cleaner uncle at Margaret Drive's Chicken Rice stall that they are moving too. What's wrong with some run down eaterires dammit. Gahmen always has to do this. I reckon some bereaucratic punk in a suite, who's a nominated MP or whatever you call it, thought it would show great endeavour if he presented them with the idea that all these old foodcentres had to be renovated for the sake of hygiene. Its not as if there was any chronic case of food poisoning and or the breakout of an epidemic.

Enough of that rant. Let's talk about my nice humble piece of artwork there. Half an hour on a photoshop tutorial and wahlah.... a picture of me looking like i have marbles in my mouth. Check out those nice, thick, manly eyebrows. Eheheh.

2006-10-16T21:17:00.000+08:00

That's right. Riding out in our new Honda Civic. Coming up in January.

2006-10-15T23:34:00.000+08:00

Match report
Day: 7 october
Final - Rainbow Valley (formerly known as Police Academy)
Attendance: 20 (including a dog)

GYFC 2 - 2 GSA FC (Gay Sailors Athletic)

ROYnaldo (17th min) Gay Sailor no.11 (5th min)

Adebayor TOH (40th min) Gay sailor no. 9 (75th min)

Adebayor showing phantom where STD anonymous normally meets

Gay sailors

GYFC shook off last weekend's catastrophic performance to gain a point against a stubborn GAY SAILORS, preserving their wonderful 7 match unbeaten run at the Rainbow Valley.

Gay sailors started the match brightly and troubled the new defensive pair of KOKnovaro and Daniel HENGer. A woeful mix-up in the centre almost saw the sailors take the lead right from kick off.

But it didnt take the Visitors long to take the lead. In the fifth minute, No.11 breached the offside trap and beared down on goal. A smart finish gave CuduSEEni no chance. One Nil to the sailors

The GY clicked into gear shortly with RoVINho, Adebayor TOH and EdmilXIANG pulling the strings in midfield. ZI RUIberto and ROYnaldo providing plenty of width.

A wonderful move saw GY equalize in emphatic fashion. Sailors were undone by a smart one-two with RoVINho smuggling the ball to Del HAOno. His cross was connected by an eccentric effort by POHdolski. The ball came off the cross bar and ROYnaldo was on hand to smash the ball into the net. One all. Game on.

Euphoria of the equaliser swung GY into more good work. Del HAOno hitting the crossbar from a ROYnaldo corner. The five man midfield had a stranglehold in the middle. The sailors were looking lacklustre.

It was inevitable that GY took the lead and deservedly so. A half cleared corner was met with a sweet volley by Adebayor TOH. The left-footed strike nestled in the back of the net to give the GYs 2-1 lead.

Several switches made at half-time seemed to have disrupted the GY's rythme. And a sailors equaliser was forthcoming.

A mix-up outside the penalty box ceded possesion to no.5 who squared to no.11 who finished with aplomb. 2-2.

GY made more changes and sent on PHANTOM GY to have stab at winning the game.

GY PHANTOM lacked match fitness and had just recovered from spells of Gonorhea and Syphilis which saw him sidelined for a lengthy period. The rest of GYFC were given clear instructions not to come into contact with Phantom's groin area amidst fears that STD was airborne.

At the final whistle sailors were elated at having stole a point while GY players were glad they did not come into contact with Phantom.

2006-07-30T23:03:00.000+08:00

Match report 1

GYFC 3 -Team Fluke Goals 3

Here's how the match went
(from my point of view that is...)

Our team was graced by the presence of Elder Teo and Junior Teo
a)vincent rifles home after good work down the right Team GY1- Team not so flukey yet 0
b)Near break through one of 'em....weixiang was running like a madman to get back...comes to naught
c)Half time
d)starts to get hot
e)Its the seventh month and so Paul Konchesky's spirit descends upon the left mid and WALLAH! a "fluke as hell" goal Team GY1- Team Fluke Goals 1
f)neatest move we put together all match. Brilliant build up play sees ROYnaldino feed MAXi from the right. Ball rolls on to CostinHO who goes on to play ZI RUIberto. GOAL! Team GY2-Team Fluke Goals 1
g)Paul Konchesky's spirit is apparently still present. His corner flies straight into goal with van der KOK helpless Team GY2-Team Fluke Goals 2
h)Van der KOK does a tim flowers Team GY2-Team Fluke Goals 3
i)is it the olympics yet? why do i see some diving? CostinHO goes down (7.5/10 for the dive Vin) and elder Teo dispatches the penalty. Team GY3-Team Fluke Goals 3

ok....i've got some questions of my own....

What are we called? GYFC?
Can i have the link to theme song?

2006-07-24T12:04:00.000+08:00

Newcastle Jersey Shirt Sale

The tag

The Shirt @ $55.50

2006-04-22T15:29:00.000+08:00

This time last year...

22/04/05 at O bar

The 3 Birthday boys

Just crawled outta bed moments ago and control and dynamics beckons. Its another one of those "clueless subjects" that i'm taking. By clueless, i mean i'm clueless about the subject. The worst thing is the double whammy that awaits. Back-to-back papers. Gah!

12 hours ago, Prakash, Bala, Norman(tall), and me were having a beer at Kampung (the coffeeshop across NTU hall 4). We got to know this bunch of exchange students made up of 2 German, 1 aussie and 1 mexican. The Mexican girl and one of the German fellas left at about 5am. Stefan is from Germany and Tyronne is from Sydney.

Here are some of the excerpts from our conversations...

Prakash: How do you say "I wanna **** you in German"
Stefan: *flabbergasted* *long pause*No way...It'll never work that way....
Prakash: Com'on Com'on...just say it!
Bala: Where's the fruits? (in German)
*Group breaks out in laughter*
Stefan: *incdredulous look* What??!! You can't say that either!

Tyronne: How do you approach a girl at a club?
Norman: Well....i find out what drink she's having first....
Tyronne: No man, you don't do that....You just walk right up to a girla nd put your arm around her shoulders and go "How' ya doing?"
Me: No way man....We can't do that....we'll come off as sleazy...No way a local boy can get away with doing that
Norman: Yeah man ...that's right
Tyronne: Really?!!

The crux of our conversation is that Singaporean girls are "easy" when being approached by a foriegner.

2006-04-19T14:30:00.000+08:00

Be Careful What You Wish For

Just finished my paper not long ago. I've been dying to come up with this one. Chris you dirty piece of ..... Damn stylo making all those cool comments on my blog huh? HEre you go buddy. Enjoy sucking on 'em udders yeah?!

"30 years and many heartbreaks ago, Lee Kuan Yew had a dream. And in that dream..Chinese people, Indian people(those that put on deodorants), and even Malay people, sit together as one big happy family, smelling dasies and milking cows together. Today, the very existence of this single webpage threatens to shatter that dream forever. Therefore, I, on behalf of all Chinese, hereby extend out my hand to all my fellow Indian friends out there as a symbol of friendship, respect and acceptance. Only together, we can build a country we can be proud of."

Chris | 04.17.06 - 2:27 pm |

Mooooo!!!!!!!!

2006-04-15T14:44:00.000+08:00

Happy Belated Birthday Gops!

Its another long week going into another series of preparation for exam papers. I guess i'll never see a canteen so full during a Good Friday evening. Anyway, Hall 9 food is terrible. This Thai fried rice from Chinese Cuisine had so much msg and salt. It would be hard to maintain a full head of hair eating this week in and week out. So Gops and Norm (1.5), watch out man. But be don't unduly worried. My uncle's got vouchers to Yun Nam.

We celebrated Gop's 25th birthday on the 12th. Here's a pic of Gops and Norm hamming it up with a hot tall brunette.

Gops and Norm partying with a hot tall brunette at Club ~~Midget~~ Little People

Wah Lau! Bo Jio! Eh Norman, why you grabbing the red head's hand all. Don't scare people like that. But then again, looks like you guys had a blast. What's the club again?~~Midget~~ Little People at Kiong Siak St? Okay, okay, will try to check it out next time. Anyway, we only joined the two fellas for prata later that night after they were done partying with the hottie. We had prata at hall two. The prata's not bad i must say. Anyway, here's the pic from that night. Awh well, time to get back to books. Laters!

Happy 25th Birthday Gops!!

2006-04-11T14:03:00.000+08:00

Midnight Football

Time for a quick post. Its all kinda surreal the whole winding down of 18 years of formal learning. At this unearthly hour i'm alone in my single room, editing my final report, knowing that i'm one of the last few people in NTU who have yet to submit their final draft. But this is not what its about. Dammit, i'm gonna miss school and one of the reasons i started this blog was so i could cram as many memories of this place inside here as I possibly can. I'll always always remember the great times playing footie with me mates.

Just 2 hours ago, Prakash, Beng and myself were enjoying a nice game of footie. A very subdued affair considering we had to ....

a)shift whenever a car came along

b)keep the noise level down lest some groggy looking, grouchy, sleep deprieved, foreign student comes pleading for us to stop playing footie and laughing at the top of our lungs

c)be conscious of tripping and falling facedown onto the tarmac/road surface we were playing on, failing which we would require extensive plastic sugery

Other than that it was a full blooded event. All the tricks flicks and rainbow kicks. Inspired by the GINGA VCD that's being passed around. Robinho and Falcao are just unreal. Even after watching the 2 minute clip for like the 100th time I am still well inspired.

Yeap that's a full blooded tackle. Crazy Bengasamy sliding at my feet on the road surface

Thunder thighs skinny ankles. A true "neh"

That's Beng with lightning quick feet

Check out the nice effect on this one

Rubbish Robin in action with Beng

Okok, its not the same people who played today, these were photos taken from last week. It was great fun still. Tenacious stuff. There were at least a dozen "oles" (nutmegs) done in the span of half an hour. I gladly announce that i executed my first proper rainbow flick. HAHA!

Alright, its gonna be a while till we next do a midnight footie session. Gonna be the last few though. Sigh...

God i'm gonna miss midnight football in Hall 4 carpark.

2006-04-07T03:47:00.003+08:00

WrestleMania!!!!

The preparations for the exams are slowly but surely gnawing into my soul. Its hard to keep sanity during this ultra stress period. The odd beer and game of footie in between to delude ourselves (actually, maybe its just myself) is the only thing worth looking forward to at the end of the day.

DIE LAH.....just 5 days left before the bi-annual, hair tearing, balls jamming, stomach crunching, sleep depriving event of the year. Bollocks to exams! Boo.

Walking into the hustle and bustle that is canteen A. Prakash and i headed straight for the library terminals. I could feel the stress and tension the minute we started printing our project. SMSes came in regarding another assignment that's due. Gah. Twas terrible.

Mintues later he returns from the prof's office looking extremely distraught. He said he was screamed at by his professor.

The Hairdryer treatment went something like this.....

Prof:Yes? (while typing away)
Prak: Sir I don't understand this this this (points to his report)
Prof: *irate* Hurh?!!!
Prak: Sir, I don't know what you want?
Prof: You can find out yourself!!! (escalating to shouting volume)
Prak:i really don't know what you want sir....
*Prof flies into a rage*
*Prak sobs*
prak:you dont have to shout at me what....

Well my friend was rather upset by all that table banging, bloodcurdling screaming and shouting in his tutor's office. If it was any other fella he would have beaten him to a pulp.

wait a minute....why not i say....why not....

What an explosive match up!!!

That's right. There you go Praky, Keith "Mr I pluck my eye-brows when no one's looking" Prakash, now you can go on to beat your Prof up!

I was told not to reveal the name of the prof several times by the mr macho wrestler in the pic.....basket.....the panzy praky don't wanna get into trouble...so there you go buddy. Cheer up man. We've got more studying to do tomorrow. HaHa!

2006-04-06T05:30:00.000+08:00

First post

14:40 hrs

Just wanna get my first post out of the way. This blog shall be the tool to keeping my sanity while i go on an exile in freaking NTU. T minus five days till my first paper in a whole series of exams. In the mean time, here's some pics to show you the sty i live in.

Check out Paris Hilton shivering

Polaroids on the softboard

Blogging

Looking like crap after waking at 130 pm