moc.topsgolb.blogspotdotkom.www//:ptth

2006-06-13T15:08:00.000+08:00

Vacation Start

2006-05-28T19:01:00.000+08:00

cheers and cheers and cheers for the holidays.

i really need it!

anyway, my laptop has been acting up very regularly. whenever i do anything, something goes wrong. everything starts lagging when i open this hugeeee huge program. ok obviously this isnt the case. my laptop lagged cos i opened my internet browser. =.= oh my goodness. this is a bad BAD sign. this definately calls for an entire hard disk reformat and reinstallation of windows and all the crap in it, minus the useless programs that just sit on the platter and occupy precious disk space. since i have some free time at the start of this short break, ill do it this week.

i realized....the absence of all the stress i experienced in the last week of sch is messing with my mind. im suddenly stressed about my extended essay, geography field report, and the upcoming mid-year "promos" that constitutes 30% of the year's grade. so much for the concept of resting in holidays. oh crap...and i have stacks of HL Math work to do. going to the gym every other day is doing wonders for me. but itll be hard to keep it up when sailing training starts--wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday. hardcore. but i bet itll be fun =] praying for good winds and a clear mind.

more random things. i was chatting with my friend just now. and the subject of having 4 kids mysteriously came up. hm..having 4 kids must be a real hassle. let me "illustrate my point" with the following scenario:

Ok lets say you have 4 kids.
when you go shopping one day, you lose sight of all 4 of your children.
after minutes of frantic searching, you manage to find 2 of your 4 kids. you hold their hands and try to find the other 2. you find the other 2 and hold their hands and then you realize that you are only holding 2 children cos you let go of the other 2. then you panic. letting go of everything, you start tuging at your hair like a maniac. when you are calm, your kids are gone and possibly kidnapped and shipped off in a wooden crate to some "ulu" place where they might get chopped up and have their organs sold in the local black market.

dramatized i know...but it works =] would you want to have 4 kids now? haha. oh but if you have 4 hands...by all means..

ok. i watched the inside man with my friends yesterday on vcd. it sucked. planning such an elaborate bank robbery and not stealing a single cent? he must have been out of his mind.
alrighty, im going off for a movie now.

Cheers,
God Bless!

Work Work...

2006-05-21T23:01:00.000+08:00

There is a hell lot of crap due this week before the holidays. oh mann- the stress is crazy.
lets see wut is going through my head now.
oh!

My CAS file is due tomorrow!

Damnit! Group 4 Physics report due tomorrow!

Mdm. Thiru English LWT due Friday!

Mdm. Thiru English LWT2 due Friday! crap!

English Mock IOC summary due first week of holidays!

ARGHHH! Math Portfolio work due this week! holy coww!

Economics Portfolio work due this week! Lord, help me...!

ohmygosh.

Thank God so much
so much
for the holiday on tuesday. but then...ill still have to do all this stuff in the end. oh man- ok. i shouldnt have any of my thoughts...everything is good. God is in control...ok you might not know my 'thoughts' and why im saying this but nevermind. that isnt important. time to get back to work and stop procrastinating.

#$(%&!!

2006-05-18T21:27:00.000+08:00

ive been worrying about a lot of stuff lately...mostly out of school stuff. im not gonna disclose any of that in any post. (just a reminder to you all: its not you that is making me worry)

random thought - (it really sucks when you are kind to someone and they arent the same back to you...it really pisses me off. well, no matter wut im still gonna treat you as always. not instantly though)

anyway,

Whatever you do, always seek God first.

I must confess. ive been backsliding lately. the awesome thing is that even if ive been doing all that isnt supposed to be done, God always leads me back to him in one way or another. i was told to go for some meeting with rev. Kenneth Huang in place of chapel service every monday starting from last week (they were so good! i got so much out of it =D ). just when i least expected, he was talking about the severity of backsliding and all. yeah i was guilty but i felt that God was speaking to me through the meetings i attended. and i was almost instantly brought back to the reality that i can never live without God. i was so relieved and i still am. thank God so much for that.

but what about all the crap im in? all the problems that suddenly poped up are really stressing me out. maybe im just taking them too seriously. well, that is besides the point. anyway, on my way home from training, i read my bible.

Matthew 6:25-34 (New International Version)

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^[a]?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Yup. God is in control of everything. why should i worry? i shouldnt. you shouldnt.

Philippians 4:6-7 (New International Version)

6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

i really like this verse...=] we cannot stop worrying unless we replace it with something better-prayer. Amen to that. you will experience God's wonderful peace if you pray about everything instead of worrying about them. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Him.

ohmygosh. screw it. worry doesnt accomplish anything! confide in the right people/things!

do you feel suicidal?
You are not alone in thinking about wanting to die. Several men in the Bible felt the same way, Numbers 11:14-15, RSV. Moses said, "I am not able to carry all this people alone, the burden is too heavy for me. If thou wilt deal thus with me, kill me at once, if I find favor in thy sight, that I may not see my wretchedness."

An event in the story of Elijah... Kings 19:3-4, NRSV.
"Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors."

However dark the future may appear, God will never abandon you, II Corinthians 4:8-9 TLB,
"We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don't know why things happen as they do, but we don't give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going."

You are of great value to God, Luke 12:6-7, TLB.
"What is the price of five sparrows? A couple of pennies? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. He knows the number of hairs on your head! Never fear, you are far more valuable to Him than a whole flock of sparrows."

God cares about you and is thinking of you constantly, Psalm 139:17-18, TLB. "How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can't even count how many times a day your thoughts turn towards me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me!"

You are promised a marvelous future, Jeremiah 29:11, TLB.
"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Cast your burden on the Lord, He shall sustain you;" Matthew 11:28-30, KJV says, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your soul. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."

overcome with fear? God will help you, Isaiah 41:10, NKJV "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am Your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." Joshua 1:9, TLB says, "Yes, be bold and strong! Banish fear and doubt! For remember, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

God will never forsake you even if everyone else has, Psalm 9:10, NIV. "Those who know your name will trust in You, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You.." Psalms 46:1-3, TLB says, "God is our refuge and strength, a tested help in times of trouble. And so we need not fear even if the world blows up, and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam; let the mountains tremble!"

God offers you peace of heart and mind,
John 14:27, NKJV "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Isaiah 26:3, NKJV says, "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." John 16:33 says, "I have told you all this so that you will have peace of heart and mind. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows; but cheer up, for I have overcome the world."

With God's help, keep your heart and mind focused on positive thoughts, Philippians 4:8, "And now, brothers [and sisters], as I close this letter let me say one more thing: Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about." If you are feeling totally alone, remember at this very moment, you are of great value to God, and you have friends who are willing to listen and want to help.

i cant thank God enough for all the things he has done for me. thank God for http://www.christianadvice.net too! haha. praise God praise God...

P.S. jason, mh, yun hui, liz, etc. msg me with u want to go back to our routine ;-] i neeeed it. its good for health you know! haha kidding.

"Clubbing - fun when you approach it minimalistically" -youdumbass

Its Mothers' Day ( ! )

2006-05-14T20:57:00.000+08:00

just to make sure you know wut im blogging about i shall say it again.

its mothers' day

ok.
whatever.

why the heck am i blogging like this? ahh-- must be all the food..oh well. anyway, me and my sisters made dinner tonight. we made it cos of this special occasion xP. the biggest mistake we made was to use the entire bottle of my dad's Château Montrose 2000 Bordeaux from Saint-Estèphe (what in the worldd...??...[rolleyes]) he bought when he was overseas for cooking the "chicken with red wine sauce" recipe i ripped off a chicken recipe site. he was pretty pissed...and so would i if i spent a load of cash on a bottle of wine and my son used it up on a chicken recipe..=.= i should have known better. i assumed the later the date, the worse the quality. so i picked 2000. but the charts prove otherwise (correct me if im wrong so i dont feel so lousy...haha even though i know im not wrong =[ ) we drank some while cooking the chicken but i really didn't think it tasted that good. ok maybe it was good...i dont know. i should describe it where "The nose is very closed and unyielding at present. broody, quite earthy in style with a garrison of blackberries waiting to pounce underneath. it has a very well-built palate, concentrated with pure black fruits." What a load of rubbish. i have yet to understand.
neermine lah.
this was how our dinner table looked like tonight. mothers' day dinner:

The Main Course sorta thing (including the soup)

to the left we have the utensils (the fork, spoon, knife) wrapped in a napkin thing and the soup (campbell's cream of celery...=x the easy way to make soup for an occasion) with a bit of parsley on top for presentation's sake. on the plate, starting from the top and working our way counter-clockwise, there are the mixed veges--peas, carrots, and corn; mashed potatoes (made in 5 simple steps--1) prepare a pint of water 2) add the instant "Mr. Mash" mashpotato mix to the water 3) stir 4) microwave in high heat for 5min 5) add whatever stuff u want); 4 globs of mint jelly (my little sister did this just for presentation and something else...); the legendary..ok not legendary "chicken with red wine sauce"; cherry tomato; a slice of cucumber; cherry tomato again; another slice of cucumber.

The Dessert

we had "molten chocolate cake" my older sister made. my small sister and i helped but it was her idea so yeah =]. she bought extra extra dark chocolate (8*% cocoa), mixed it with i think eggs and some other ingredients, put it in the oven for 10min or so and got the final product here to the left (the black thing). it was a success! hooray. the chocolate actually oozes out when you cut it open. GOOD JOB! it tasted awesome =]

the white stuff is icing sugar we added with a strainer/sieve to make it look more professional. This was our first attempt so u can actually see the mess we made at the foot of the cake in the picture. the others were nicer. she decided to add lemon sherbet with a mint leaf we picked from our mint plant in our back yard. Yeah. so that was our dinner. i was very very full at the end.

Thank God everything went smoothly and our house didnt burn down while we prepared all this. another 2 weeks of school is coming up.

only 2 weeks...
so much to do...so little time.

CAS file due; math portfolio work due a week after the starting date; english poem presentation tomorrow; math re-test tomorrow as well; geography test tuesday; physics test on thursday; group4 project to be done on friday; group4 project presentation in school on saturday; extended essay topic and stuff due. mann---that is a lot of stuff due.

ok time for me to stop this blogging thing for the time being.
really want to go for the cambodia trip scheduled for november. i only got 3 hours of CAS from the Taman Negara trip. the cambodia people got 30 hours. i need CAS hours. i need a break. i dont need more stress.

Bye,
God Bless!

Friday, May 12, 2006

2006-05-12T19:24:00.000+08:00

oh no...i failed my HL math test that i took earlier this week. Thank God pat thong let us have a re-test on monday. ill pass now. hmm. after reviewing my test script, i realized how careless i was. i hope i dont make those again on monday. HL Physics is making me crazy. there are so many ways of expressing something. yeaahh...uh like gravitational potential and other stuff like that. gonna study later. eric wee said itll not be easy. x[

but

nevermind, ill try my best

Letsblogabout - FOOD -

2006-05-09T20:37:00.000+08:00

Food

hmm. i went to walk around the area near my house before going home after school just now. payed yet another visit to ntuc fairprice to buy snacks. i walked to the preserved foods aisle and spotted something i used to eat when i was in primary school...we used to keep buying bags of those from aji ichiban. looks something like a mutant peanut m&m minus the color and the smooth chocolate coating. my parents always called it "asam"...not sure if that is malay for curry...hmm or is it malay for chicken? i still cant really differentiate between "asam" and "ayam". i still get them mixed up. ok enough of malay. i found out that the right name for it is "Preserved Tamarind".

wait. let me check "tamarind" on google.....

ok! there it is below =] the thing i ate just now didnt look anything like this. im sure i ate the fruit inside the pod and not the pod itself sooo...yeah..cool. i learnt something new today. the Preserved Tamarind, as labeled on the packet, contains...

Preserved Tamarind
Ingredients: Tamarind, Sugar, Salt, Chilli, Glutinous Rice.
Net Wt: 60gms
Best Before: Sept 2007

The thing tastes so good! well, now i know why it is...its cos its so unhealthy! Mann...this stuff isnt good for my sore throat either. Better stop eating anymore of these things in this week of tests.

Wow. ok. i bought "Oyster Mushroom Crisps"...yeah you might ask "what the hec is that??". well, you know Lays? yeah its like Lays but instead of potatos, its mushrooms. hahaha.

"Oyster Mushrooms are highly healthy and nutritious cultivated fingi; naturally low in calories, free of sodium, fats and cholesterol [......]
They are delicious, healthy and free of cholesterol gourmet crisps, produced using special technology under low temperature, hence retaining most of the nutrients."

Make the move! Experience our authentic , wonderfully tastely, low in calories and high in nutritional value mushroom crisps now. You will love it!"

Ooops. why am i publishing a free advertisement of this product? oh well, the cool thing about buying and eating this was that i gained first hand experience of (not that i never experienced it before...but its just that its the first time i actually made the connection between this economical concept and my food. its also because i havent been really getting anything in econs for the past month but thank God ive arrived at this level of economical enlightenment to make this connection. haha):

The Law of Deminishing Marginal Utility.

Which is:

"A law of economics stating that as a person increases consumption of a product--while keeping consumption of other products constant--there is a decline in the marginal utility that person derives from consuming each additional unit of that product."

(http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Law+of+diminishing+marginal+utility)

So the story goes...I open the packet of crispy mushrooms (!?!) and taste one. "not bad!! let me try another!!" i think to myself. the 2nd produces a similar reaction, and so does the third. As i eat away at the contents of the packet, i slowly lose my so-called interest in the mushrooms. so yup. law deminishing marginal utility happening. The End

Ok.
thats enough of blogging for the day.
so many people are getting sick! ><>

More Rain ...

2006-05-09T20:36:00.000+08:00

oh no. rain. i really dont like rainy days since it makes everything seem so dull...and the temperature of the pool to drop like crazy. swimming in okish-cold water isnt fun. scientists have proven that you can die doing that! ok. that is nonsense. i made it up in order to make this post look more...chunky. hooray! math test and econs test is over. i dont think i did too well for either of the two =[ but nevermind, ill hopefully learn from what i did wrong.

Sports

2006-05-06T19:55:00.000+08:00

Congratulations softballers for getting the Gold for the season! i wonder why schools in Singapore dont play baseball...softball is a girl's sport!

oh mann- i miss playing baseball...i remember all the good ol' times back in middle school. The field with the fence boundary marked by our vulnerable classroom windows...homeruns accompanied with the occasional sound of shattering of glass; that particularly soft bit of earth between second and third that always made you trip and fall and taste some of the china dirt...playing around with the speed dial on the school's ball feeder...hahaa-

anyway, i was on msn today and Christianne and I were talking about sports and curling. yeah curling is like a sport for "training roadsweepers" - they'll shine your grimy kitchen floor within seconds! haha watch for yourself. i searched "curling" on youtube.com and the first hit was this short video below. enjoy =] (2006 Torino Winter Games)

and one of Cyril's magic tricks i stumbled upon while searching for curling:

A Video of my drunk Grandpa =s

hmmph

2006-05-06T15:26:00.000+08:00

Oh mann- sailing camp is postponed to some time in September.
Common tests are coming up and the midyears are gonna start after our summerbreak. argh. stressed. got sick. still sick.

going back to work now.
bye-

Back from OEP [22-27 APR]

2006-05-01T21:03:00.000+08:00

Taman Negara Pictures above (still compiling)^
[the pictures are from nurul and wan xian's camera. more to come from nat and the others.]

Ahhem. sorry for creating aa..an.nother blog =s its just that i forgot all my blogs and their usernames and passwords of which ive failed trying to recover. ill try to update this more often as well (:
anyway, OEP to the renowned national park of Malaysia, Taman Negara, was ok. well, only just o-k. it was fun traveling 9hours by over air-conditioned train from Singapore to Jelantut, our destination, i confess =.- but i must say, the scenery there is just so beautiful--the clear rivers, green trees, realcoolbirdswithrealcoolcries...the list goes on =] the best thing is that we had resonable accomodation! dont get me wrong, im not complaining at all!! yeah...ok.

Our CAS for the trip was to make furniture for the aboriginal folk of Taman Negara, also known as the Orang Asli. After hours of chopping, sawing, and nailing, we managed to construct a sturdy and movable chair. MOVABLE! yes...movable!! well its unique cos all the other pieces of furniture made, and those already made were not movable. Although one of its legs broke under the weight of a tourguide....we managed to build and fix it under the 3hour time limit.

Some sang to the people there. We gave out stuffed toys people donated, and sweets.
Mr. Lee Hao Yi performed his awesome yo-yo tricks(thumbsup sign). im sure, since these people are pretty isolated from the world partially cos they live in straw houses in the forest (!?!) the "yo-yo" must have been very alien to them. i still wonder if they were watching and enjoying it or just staring and wondering what on earth was going on

But all that really doesnt matter.

Good Job Hao Yi =] bet he yo-yos like 15-7...super pro he is.

In return, the Orang Asli demonstrated how fire can be started without the use of matches or lighters. It was quite interesting since ive never really seen fire being started without the help of matches or a lighter in real life. Oh..and they showed us their blowdarts and stuff. It was cool =)

Thank God for the trip to Taman Negara and that everyone came back from their trips safely =]
Im sad that Teddy didnt make it back though =[ Nurul...u PRO.

Midyears are coming. i must get back out of my holiday mode. i cant wait until they are over and when sailing resumes :D im crewing a 420 with my helm Daniel Loke. hooray! sailing camp after as well =] looking forward to that, the ChangiSAFYC's secludedness, and all my sailing buddies' company =] i wont miss you then (: hooray!

All the best in the upcoming midyears everyone =D
God bless!
-Cheers