wat is life to you?

well, it has really been quite some time since my last post. not to say that i don’t have the time to blog, it’s just that i always feel i have something better to do than blogging. true, but i’ve made it only partially true..hehe because i’ve seldom done that ’something better.’
many to say this time; trying not to make my blog posts so formal but simultaneously using proper english just so that i can improve myself in the english language. XD
a lot has happened in this few months, my schedule seemed like it’s never-ending. but it’s 6.55 now. in other words, dinner’s in five minutes time. so, can’t blog much anyways. =)
only ONE THING TO SAY NOW...i really do hope that the relationship between the people i know around me will get better as time passes by. life seemed to be so not perfect to me suddenly, but i hope i can make it better for others. PLEASE DO LOVE YOUR LIFE AND THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU. =>

The world is shaking, undoubtedly. Only in these recent three weeks, there has been many catastrophies all around the world, particularly in Asia, where we are. The Nargis ( if that’s what you call it) cyclone in Yangon, Myanmar and the earthquake in China, mainly in Sichuan, are two major occurrences that have claimed thousands of lives.

I was deeply saddened by what I had read and seen in the reported news. You know, when the Sichuan earthquake happened, i mean when i got to know of the news, I was quite confused. That night, when i prayed to God, I asked him why he would want to cause such great devastation to mankind down here. As i prayed, I could not help but shed some tears, praying uncomprehendingly. I asked him, " Lord, why are You bringing all these griefs to us? Why are you letting these little, innocent children to be orphaned by this deadly disaster? Why are you letting them sleeping outside, huddled together in fear that there might be another earthquake that strike? Why do You, Lord vanish all the radiant smiles from their faces?"

I really could not comprehend His plan at that moment. however, I think He answered my prayers the very next day. When I woke up in the morning and read the newspapers, there were like so many news of people from all over the world getting into unision to lend a helping hand.

Organizations here and there canvassed for funds to help the victims, giving them hope that there is a future lying ahead of them. Life is not all bleak and despondency. There’s a news with a headline something like this - light behind darkness . It really touched my heart to see how all these people are working together to make world a better place.

Take Jet li for example. A great celebrity, i would say. He had decided to stop working in the entertainment industry for a year to help out in rebuilding the affected towns in China. A year duration can earn him millions, yet he is giving up wealth for these people. How i wish there are more ‘ Jet Lis’  in this world.   

I could not understand, too, why the military leaders in Myanmar would not allow other nationalities to help in their country. But, thank God, now they are beginning to open up the entry paths for them.

Hopefully, all the earthquake and cyclone victims would remain steadfast in their faith that there is still life for them. Let us all pray for them so that they could survive this ordeal.

Galatians 6:9

"So don’t get tired of doing what is good, don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time."

I’ve wanted to post a blog for the past few weeks but it seems that I can’t do that with Mozzila. I think Mozzila is encountering a problem with friendster’s blogging system. So, i used Internet explorer instead.

Many things to be written in words here, after another month had passed. I still haven’t really got out of that exhaustion and escaped from my hectic schedule. it’s still going on and on. I have only myself to be blamed. I myself was the one who agreed upon participating in so many competitions; drama, robotic, kerjaya, choir, blah blah blah. But things are getting better now that it is holiday and some of the competitions are over. will have more time for myself then. =>

I do admit that i had not put much effort in revising and studying for the past exams. Trust me, the results may not be so good, aggravated by the fact that it is really really competitive here in 4K. in spite of that, I feel that at the end, it isn’t the results that matter most. I just want to study happily, not in a stressed-out manner.

Oh yeah, and these are the results of the competition i’ve taken part in the past few weeks :

• Drama - we’ve won the district level and is about to head for state after this holidays.
• chess  - got third for high school open; second for kwang hua open; and representing school for the first time in MSSD, not in top three, but individually ranked 23rd out of approximately 200 students. i think that was a great achievement for a newbie for me since i started playing chess only this year.=D
• choir - sad to say, we’ve lost in the district level, only managed to be placed 2nd. kinda sad that we failed defending our victory last year.
• poster - haha. just wanting to gain experience when i joined this competition in lasalle.

i don’t know if there is more. but if there is, memory fails me then. for now, i’ve been preparing myself for robotic, drama and kerjaya. hopefully, my efforts will bear some fruits too.

I have a lengthy list of activities ready for my holidays. going to start working on it soon. I would want to occupy most of this free time with my family members, now that my sister and brother are back home for their holidays too, and also with sports.It’s  been long since i last played basketball, went for long jogs and swam in club.

A verse for you:

Romans 12:21

"don’t let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good."

PooH! I’ve never had a schedule as hectic as what I am going through these few weeks…

drama practice for district competition…
choir performance and practice for competition as well…
few other competitions ahead..

Having spent most of the day either for the preparation of these competitions or for the competition itself is really a tedious job.  To aggravate the currrent situation, I’ve been missing many many lessons in class … being the busy one going out and in from class every day.

Despite being at all these disadvantages, I try looking at the brighter side; being the optimistic me =D. I gained many priceless experiences; I learned skills in managing my time systematically; and best of all, I will soon be getting certificates for my participation =D. Nah, just joking.. .

The only thing I would really treasure is how all these had brought me a step closer to God. I have always had this "theory" in my mind which states that ‘ the busier you are in the world, the further you are from God."

And certainly, it isn’t a "theory" as God had proven it wrong to me. At times when I was up to my neck in all these activites, I did feel weary and tired, very indeed. Every thing seemed to be so unorganised- my homework, my tuition, my practices and my devotion. I tend to miss doing my daily devotion.

However, it was then that there sprang up in my mind that I couldn’t go through this alone. No, but only with Him. I began to seek guidance from Him.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in Him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." - John 15:5 -

"Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."     -  Matthew 11:28 - 

I enjoyed every thing I had now. And I realised once more that God comes first before anything else. He tops my list in everything.  =D

The first two days of school have been very hectic. Each time i reach home, the very first thing i want to do is to just fall into a deep slumber, =D mainly because i’ve been doing tedious jobs in school or it may be that my body has yet to get used to the new busy schedule i am going through now.  At this moment, i appreciated my leisure time more than i used to. =D
   
    Being placed into 4K, as what i have requested, is a fresh new experience for me because for the past three years in this school, i’ve always been in  A - 1A, 2A, and 3A. Now, it’s like being in the same class with all the smarties.=D The good thing is, there will be more of what you call healthy competition amongst us academically, =D whereas the downside may probably be the existence of unnecessary stress. But, i’ve always been telling myself not to exert too much pressure on myself. A little of it is good to provoke myself to study even harder, but not more than the little of it that eustress begins to turn into distress. 

    There’re always new resolutions every new year. And i’ve vowed to myself this year to uphold all my responsibilities well and to undertake any tasks given as well as i can. I realised that in the past year, i’ve not been doing my job well. hehe =D So, I am really looking forward to what I am to go through this whole year in school. =D

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays: What Are We Celebrating Anyway?

(extracted from a website)

Christmas trees are now holiday trees at your local lot. Parents have consented to giving Santa Claus credit for their hard-earned money. In the past the “Christ” in Christmas evolved into “X-mas,” now the whole phrase has been dismissed for the politically correct “Happy Holidays.” Amidst political correctness, multiple religions, and consumer spending, what are we celebrating anyway?

It’s in the name. Even its newly abridged title of “holiday” illuminates the true reason for this season. ‘Holiday’ is derived from ‘holy day,’ which means a day that is sacred—set apart or special. December 25th is the day we celebrate the birth of a man born over 2000 years ago. This birthday is celebrated internationally and has endured a millennium over. As your and my birthdays are not celebrated in this way, what makes this man so special?

His Birth Was Predicted Thousands of Years in Advance:

The prophet Isaiah spoke of the One who would come to deliver people from bondage and oppression and establish a kingdom of peace: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6).

He Was to be a King:

God had told Israel’s greatest ruler, King David, that a descendant of his would rule the kingdom forever. This fulfillment had not come until an angel told Mary, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end’” (Luke 1:30-33).

He Was to Give the World Salvation:
As evidenced by the state of the world today, mankind is in need of salvation, which literally means healing. Jesus Christ was the promised One who would pay for our sins that we might be healed: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6).

Everything in His life was Miraculous—Beginning at His Birth and Continuing after His Death:

Jesus was born of a virgin; exhibited the power of God—healing all diseases, casting out demons, and preaching the kingdom of God; chose to die a death He did not deserve; and was raised back to life on the third day. From earth, He went up into heaven where He sits at the right hand of God. From heaven, He offers salvation to all who will call upon His name: “For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD will be saved’” (Romans 10:13).

A Gift for You?

Just as you give gifts to your loved ones, God is offering you a gift as well: the gift of complete forgiveness, freedom from sin, and eternal life with Him in heaven. Just like you must accept a Christmas gift for it to be yours, you must accept God’s gift of salvation.

I’ve never enjoyed camp as much as I did during the four days and three nights of GY ( GRACE YOUTH) camp 2007 in my entire whole life~~~!!! The camp was just too awesome too be described with words. I had not expected so much to receive from God from this camp, but God had indeed proven me wrong.

The journey to our campsite, Cameron Highlands took almost five hours, including the period of time we spent in the rest house along the way. The road heading towards our destination was really very winding that some of us couldn’t bear the nausea   and began throwing up.

Many of us did complain about our dormitories, the food and many more initially, but eventually, we found that we had fallen in love with the place. Ironically, when it was time for us too leave, most of us now complained that the four days and three nights spent were not enough.

The speakers invited (Pastor Henry, Pastor John and Pastor Mike) preached really well, and I guessed this was the first time I was penning down notes when I was listening to a sermon - thanks to my Guardian Angel for the notebook and pen too - the gifts made me more attentive during the talk. The sermons really had a deep impact on me, especially when Pastor Henry showed us the video of the abortion of foetus and babies. Well, on that day, all of us had vowed to give up on cigarettes, alcohol, and premarital sex.

Praise and worship was really awesome, and the camp song this year - Everyday - was a really good song. I could feel the spirit of God while praising and worshiping
Him. It was like God filling me with a steadfast spirit and renewing my faith. On the third day of the camp, tears were welling in my eyes during praise and worship and I broke into a deep cry for three times. It was just so sudden and I believe that it was the spirit of God at work.

I’d learned many things through this one experience of GY camp and being selected as an assistant group leader this year, I had also picked up some leadership skills and I know that God will slowly mold me into a great leader one day. By the way, my group name is Kampung Bikini Donuts. You wouldn’t believe it, would you? =)

With a number of 300 campers this year, I had also made many new friends either from Klang, PJ or USJ.

I am now looking forward GY camp 2008 and hopefully with God’s grace, I’ll be able to attend it.

This piece is specially dedicated to Vivianne. She’s one of my closest friends since primary and we have always been keeping in touch since then. Vivianne’s going for a boarding school in Negeri Sembilan soon beginning next year. She’s from Kwang Hua.

I still remember how we met in Mrs. Kaw’s tuition ages ago when we were in standard 5. When I first acquainted her, my first assumption was that she was really a quiet girl.  But as time passed by and I got to know her better eventually,  I realized that we had common interests that somehow formed this bond of friendship between us. Interests like ‘Jay Chow" =) and ‘Chinese Songs’.

Despite the fact that we had never been studying in the same school before, we still keep in touch through tuitions. I do admit that there are ups and downs in our friendship, though they are not so obvious. At times, I do not treat her as a good friend should…vivianne, i guess you know what i meant. Frankly, I do feel bad inside the core of my heart but I guess that all these moments are the ones that had actually taught me the value of true friendship.

Now that we may not be seeing each other as frequent as we used to, I hope that we  could still keep in touch. My prayers will always be with you, vian. I know that I may be over-reacting, but I really meant all those words up there.  God bless you and see you soon.

There’s just too many things that had taken place in this period of one whole month - too many that I just couldn’t typed everything out. To summarize all of them and make the whole thing brief, i’ll just put it in point form:

• ENJOYABLE BERJAYA TIMES SQUARE and SG WANG TRIP

Traveling to KL by train, or to be more precise, it should be ‘traveling to Times Square and Sg Wang by train’  on a Saturday few weeks back was really something to be treasured as it being my first time.  It was also then that i first learnt how to transit from a KTM to Monorail (hey, i’m certainly no country bumpkin, ok).  And oh yeah, I now know that clothes in those two places are sold at quite a reasonable price, thanks to Veevien.

• Three days and two nights in GENTING with FRIENDS

Now, this was the best part of all. Special appreciation to Alvina’s parents - Uncle Andrew and Auntie Sherryn, I love u both ! haha =)  If it wasn’t because of them, Veevien, Alvina and I couldn’t have such memorable moments in the OUTDOOR  & INDOOR THEME PARK, ARCHERY, FIRST WORLD PLAZA and KARAOKE BOX.

• LOST of HANDPHONE in GENTING 

Well, I guess this should be the only not-so-memorable thing in this month. In spite of that, this ordeal of mine had certainly taught me some real life lessons - no more being negligent with my belongings, and obeying my parents.

• WEARING CONTACT LENSES for a month

I really wanted to try out something new so I decided wearing contact lenses. I tried it our for a month, it was a total new experience for me. But at the end of my trial period, my mum decided that it was best for me not to wear contact lenses at this age. So, i got a new pair of spectacles.

I guess it isn’t that brief after all. =)

9.30 am. 5 oktober 2007. Tarikh bersejarah yang tidak dicatat dalam buku teks, bagi semua penduduk ting. 3, bendera penjajahan pmr akan diturunkan bermakna kami telah berjaya memperoleh kebebasan. Darurat ‘duduk rumah and study’ akan dibubarkan. Perjuangan bermati-matian Dato ‘guna nama sendiri’ akan sentiasa dihargai’.

haha. The above text is extracted from one of the messages that i   had received before pmr. i  believe that many pmr students out there received it too. when i read it, i wonder when the day mentioned- 5th october- would arrive. it seemed so near…yet so far.

But finally, the ‘historic day for all PMR students of the 2007 batch’ arrived. Goegraphy was our last and final exam today and when the clock struck right at 9.30, all of us shouted and screamed at the top of our voice. ( execptional for my class - we shouted a minute earlier) Haha.. and even before that, we had started counting down to the time remaining for us to be freed from the pressures of exams. The school authorities were a bit lenient this year as compared to last year as they allowed us to scream as we wish.

Personally, I would say that PMR this year is quite tough, especially for certain papers. I would rate BM 1 as the hardest, followed by Science 2 and Sejarah. English was ok.. but i made the mistake of getting panicked when i was writing my essay.. and at the end of the day, i felt that i could have done much better than what i’ve penned down on the answer sheet. Whatever the results may be, i still thank God for being with me throughout the 5-days-long examination.