_smileyface

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:05:12 GMT

Hey guys!

Gomen >_< I wanted to update everyday (if interesting things happened) and eljay them, but it's been rather busy here in Fukuoka...

We went into the rice fields yesterday to pull out the weeds. It was altogether an interesting and fun experience. The sun wasn't at it's usual full blast. It was cloudy over so none of us got burnt out in the fields. Well, I'll give more details when I kope the pictures from my friends :D

Anyways, it's Sunday!

Last week, a couple of the people in dorm and myself attended a nearby church for Sunday service. It was altogether very different from what I'm used to at home. They're really formal and use keigo (polite and honorific Japanese ) all the way. Plus, we kept having to stand up and sit down to sing hymns and other stuff. But somehow, we managed to follow what the pastor was saying. Hopefully, today's message isn't too cheem to understand :/

Oh! Here's a peek into dorm life over here:

Doing my own laundry!

I came here with 3 other girls - MingHui, Michelle, Evon - and we've decided to do our laundry together. It probably costs about the same as if we did our laundry individually, but at least we get to separate the light and dark clothes this way :) Anyways, this place is the best for doing laundry. We hang stuff overnight, and they are completely dry in the morning. I always feel very happy bringing in my clean clothes.

Those hangars and clothes pegs are from Daiso. Daiso is really the exchange student's best friend. Everything is 105 yen (about 1.30 Sing? Waaaay cheaper than the 2.00 we pay back home), and all their things are so nice. I've also purchased a pair of personal chopsticks (under MH's persuasion), some towels to keep my room clean and many many letter sets.

This is the sunrise from my balcony.

The sun rises at like 5am over here. School starts at 9.30 for me, but I'm always awake at about 6am. I don't even need to set my alarm clock because the sun wakes me up.

I used to think - while watching PoT - that it was crazy that they had CCA before school and after school. How could the sun be out at that time!? But looking at how early the sun's risen, I guess PoT wasn't wrong when they portrayed Echizen and the rest playing tennis, before school hours, in bright daylight. I actually like it much better this way - compared to how I've always had to drag myself out of bed when morning looked exactly like night-time. I mean, if the sun rose this early in Singapore, I'm sure we won't have too much trouble waking up.

Anyways, this has been Jade and the view from the balcony.

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 06:34:54 GMT

Now to Him who is able to to do exceedingly
    abundantly above all that we ask or think....
                                                                 Ephesians 3:20a

And we know that all things work together for good
    to those who love God, to those who are the called
    according to His purpose.
                                                                 Romans 8:28

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,
    says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of
    evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me,
    and I will listen to you.
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search
    for me with all your heart.
                                                                Jeremiah 29:11-13

5 years ago, in the first peak of my love for all things Japanese and the beginning of me seriously learning the language, I had longed to go to Japan. In less than a week, I'll be going there for the third time since then.

I'm still pretty amazed.

The first time, Mom promised to bring me there on the condition that I get good grades for O'levels - but we went before my results came out! If I had gone for first three months JC, I would probably not have been able to go and experience snow (for the very first time in my life too), and witness God fulfilling a little girl's desire to experience snow. It was really funny. After she expressed a wish to experience snow, it snowed lightly just as we were exiting a kimono exhibition. I told her "Well, seems like God answered your prayer." And then she insitsts that she was hoping for the kind of snowfall that left at least a foot deep of snow on the ground. She didn't have to wait long, after we got on the bus, it started snowing like crazy, and we even got to build a snowman at the next rest stop. Two things: this was in the end of winter, and the weather was only about 5 degrees C...I dunno about snow, but they said it wasn't even cold enough for snow to fall. Well.

The second time was just a little over a year ago, when I went with astellecia <3 Fully paid with our own hard-earned money. Okay, well, I borrowed a bit from Mom. But still. And the conditions were just right. They reduced the operations of the wing I was in charge in February, which left me with less than half the work I used to do. astellecia had won a pair of tickets to the Special Nana live. brandonheato was living there and was on holidays so we managed to receive very gracious hospitality and were guided around Tokyo.

And this time, I'm on a full blown scholarship, going the full journey with four of my classmates from the semester just past - and we all get along just great. More unexpectedly, people have been giving me money for my trip - which is completely unexpected, and making it difficult for me to calculate how much to tithe. My only regret is that I won't be able to go for the JSS camp. But, between that and Japan...やっぱり日本へ行くほうはいいんじゃない？

God is really good...I've been seeing how He fixes situations together so that things happen at just the right time. It's not just my life, but also for EJ and DJ and Kor. There are so many times to which we can look back and say "God was there with me, and it came out well." Things that I needed, but I asked no one for, came naturally, like the money I've been receiving. Things that I had hoped for, like being able to get the scholarship together with MH (one of the girls going with me) and go with her for this summer programme came to pass too. Plus, things I would never have been able to imagine - like losing my phone in February, resulting in me getting a 3G phone which I can use in Japan.

Writing this makes me think that it's really easy to seek the gift and not the Giver. A lot of I want, I hope, I wish. It's so easy to say "God, I love you" when you're just receiving blessing after blessing. And in the hard times, it's also easier to say "God, where are you? Don't You love me?" than to say "Hey, I know You're there, and that You love me, and everything is going to turn out well because of that."

Lol, okay, that's going off on a bit of a philosophical/theological track.

Well, for a bit of a heads up, I'll be flying off on Thursday morning, back on National Day.

This time, I'll do my Japan updates properly :D

Mon, 19 May 2008 16:36:28 GMT

Things I discovered/realised today:

Singapore is one of the three remaining sovereign city-states today. The other two being The Vatican City and Monaco. Well, according to Wikipedia anyways. It's still pretty amazing seeing the name 'Monaco', because only last semester was I reading about Princess Grace Kelly and her princess woes. Also not to mention that Monaco is Pierrot's country in Yakitate! Japan.
The Princess Diaries is actually really nice to read! I thought I was off chick-lit and everything, but I really enjoyed reading the book. Well, it was the third book when she finally got together with Michael. Does this even count as chick-lit?
There is a really nice foodcourt in Paradiz Center. That's the building near Cathay building in Dhoby Ghaut that's undergoing major renovation at the moment. It's way less crowded than most foodcourts, and the Ban Mian there is quite nice.
Hebrew is the only language that was devoid of native speakers which became a national language with millions of first-language speakers. I always thought that they had preserved it somehow through the Jewish traditions and everything, but apparently, that isn't the case. Well, so says Wiki. ...I really should stop relying on Wikipedia for the expansion of my general knowledge, shouldn't I?
I really detest usage of foul words (particularly the one beginning with an F) and crude sexual jokes. I mean, crude jokes are the sort of thing you find funny when you're in lower secondary and just past puberty. But by the time you hit university, shouldn't you have a more mature understanding of sex and treat the topic with respect? It's particularly disgusting hearing guys talk about it in such a crude manner, and laughing over it. I refuse to join in and laugh, and also lose my respect for whoever it is who's talking about it.

Therefore: guys reading this, please have enough sensitivity not to speak of such in front of girls. It really reflects badly on you.
Daiso has some really nice letter-writing sets.

Kor left this morning for his mission trip. He won't be back till the end of May. I'm really going to miss him. It was really sweet when he came in this morning just to say bye to a very sleepy me.

And I won't see EJ until after I get back from Japan. I hope it isn't as hot there as it has been here. The nights are so warm that it's so hard to sleep!

Wed, 14 May 2008 17:02:44 GMT

So ends my 8-year affair.

I might turn back and regret doing this.

But for now, it makes logical sense.

PS: No, I don't mean with a person.

Thu, 08 May 2008 16:11:11 GMT

So I spend the last two minutes of my first day as a non-teen recounting today.

Suanne and Grace graciously accompanied me for lunch at Anatolie's Turkish Restaurant at Far East Plaza. The food was quite okay...just that I added too much lemon to mine and made my food too savoury. We walked around FEP, window shopping then went to Borders to check out books and (finally!) sit down.

I was kinda stoned the whole day long, no thanks to re-watching the whole Gundam SEED Destiny series till 5am. Sorry Suanne and Grace!

Went out later with my family. We had dinner at Ichiban Sushi in Parkway. I really enjoyed it since we were talking more than usual...and we rarely get to sit at the table as a whole family nowadays, what with everyone having very different schedules. Now that EJ's going to be gone for three months and then another six, this may well be the last time the 6 of us sit at the same dinner table for the rest of this year...well, maybe except for this sunday.

Since my birthday is the earliest, this will also be the only time in the year where one of our birthdays is celebrated with the entire family present.

My brother was sweet enough to pay the bill ~~(sneakily!)~~, but he got found out later.

Thanks for the many smses that came in <3

It also rained today. (: Yay

<edit> THANKS FOR ALL THE FACEBOOK MESSAGES! *overjoyed!*</edit>

For the love of Pocky

Wed, 07 May 2008 06:48:49 GMT

It's finally over.

After two weeks of vacillating between books and com, the exams are finally gone, leaving behind a big puddle of regret.

*sigh* I'll study harder next sem.

On a lighter note, I'll finally be able to get down to doing all the things I've been wanting to do since the exams started.

EJ was recently in China for her module's business trip, so she brought back as many exotic pocky as she could find. Well...pocky and associates (all under Glico). There's Matcha Pocky, Mango-milk Pocky, Honey Pomelo Pretz, Mushroom (i think) Pretz, and Red Wine Pejoy which has the inscription:

"When chocolate falls in love with red wine, the sweet flavor melts my heart, and makes me forget the passing of time."

Gotta love the Japanese's artistic use of English. The grammar is fine (for once), but the concept is still hard to grasp. I mean, chocolate falling in love with red wine? They're not even the same kind of matter! Well, maybe except when chocolate is melted.

I haven't tried the Pejoy yet, but it looks like a chocolate coated pretz with red wine flavoured filling in the middle. Hmmm....

Can anyone tell me what 八珍菌菇 is?

And I never knew that Glico (which I've always thought was Qlico) had a running man until I found him on the boxes:

I thought at first that it had something to do with the Beijing Olympics...

...I guess you learn something new every day.

<edit> WOAH! Pocky is 42 years old this year!

And apparently, the president of Glico was kidnapped (for three days) in 1984 O_o This was the beginning of a huge case known was the Glico Morinaga case which involved many other confectionary companies and (according to Wiki) marked a turning point in post-war Japanese crime history. O_o </edit>

<edit2> The Pocky EJ brought back is Mousse Pocky - a new brand of Pocky introduced in 2000.

Also, 11 November has been designated as "Pocky and Pretz Day" since 1999. double O_o

...I can't believe I'm spending my first afternoon of freedom researching on Pocky...</edit2>

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:26:41 GMT

TAIHEN DESU!!!

I've got a paper in a little over 24 hours and I want to do EVERYTHING BUT STUDY >_<

It doesn't help that I missed half his lectures and fell asleep for all the rest of them....which explains why I have unintelligible scrawls on my lectures notes >_<

It really doesn't sound too soon to sigh over my cap :/ Unless I S/U this....because I can sense a C coming. Maybe two Cs. But I've only 3 S/Us in my quiver. Dare I assume I won't get worse grades in the coming semester?

I only hope my JS modules have a nice A-something on them, and my language module will be at least a B+. Fat hope, though it is.

Stupid weather isn't helping in the least >\

...why do grades have to matter so much?

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:02:10 GMT

Augh!

I've spent the past FOUR days doing nothing but reading manga....and it's not even manga that's related to my paper!

It's amazing how people's eljays suddenly come alive during the exam period.

*sigh* I guess I should go to school and find my prof and talk to him about my paper. It'll only tell him that I'm being really last minute since it's due on FRIDAY. But... I should go find him...

...and more research.

I wish EJ was in Singapore now, and not far away in Shanghai. Then we could be writing our papers together...but then again, we would be talking a lot and missing the point of attempting to study together. It's weird to think that in just a year, I would be the only person left in my family still schooling...well, until EJ goes to grad school. But even then, she wouldn't even be in the same country.

It's kinda sad to know that in a matter of years, my house won't be filled with the 6 (+1) people that have always occupied it's interior. No more hearing Kor playing the guitar and singing at eleven pm (and I can't scream "Hello!? Do you know what time it is!?" from my room); no more getting nagged at for my abhorrently messy table; no more finding Dad in the living room, strumming the guitar in his unique strumming pattern...

...if I really think about it, I haven't been doing a lot of stuff with my family.

Sometimes I think it would be great if I had my own room, live in my house with my friends away from family. But, really, I'm a bit scared of leaving them. I guess that's one of the reasons I never wanted to live in the hostels. I still want to be able to nag at my older brother, watch him play his games, attempt (not very hard) to pack my stuff so my sisters won't complain so, watch Korean dramas and hear my dad make disparaging remarks about how all that never happens in real (yet he gets hook on it XD) and bug Yani while she's cooking/cleaning/ironing.

We don't talk about it, but I wonder if the very same thoughts are running at the back of their minds as well...

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:33:20 GMT

Yukiru Sugisaki is finally making a comeback for DNAngel!!!

Kyaa~~ \(^o^)/ I'm so excited!!! I can't wait to see the resolution to all the mess that's been going on in the manga. >_< Hopefully, I'll get my Satoshi/Risa ending that I've been predicting since the beach scene (see userpic). Wooh~

Of course, I know that only maybe three people reading this will know what on earth I'm talking about, but I'm really happy anyway.

Okay, time to stop slacking and finish writing my paper.

On other news, I'm going to Kyuushu University for my Summer Programme :D It's been confirmed!! *excited* Me and the other scholars (all 5 of us from the class) have been so excited about it that we can hardly concentrate on studying aproper for the exams.

Praise God :D I would never have gotten this opportunity otherwise.

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:59:47 GMT

Why I love Japanese classes...

We had to come up with our own interviews for this semester's project, so I'm going as Haruhi to advertise an invented Ouran Host Club event. It's alliteration :D 「５月の５、午後にGO!」　gogatsu no go, gogo ni GO. Literally, "on the afternoon of the 5th of May, GO!"

The Japanese Children's Day is held on the 5th of May. (: Gab and Gail's birthday (: So basically, the idea behind this event is for every one to return to their carefree childhood days and play games from our nostalgic past.

"On the 5th of May, from 1 to 5pm, let's have fun in the Peach Garden of Ouran's High School Division!
Bring along your favourite teddy or bunny! (...why does everything in Japanese sound so lame in English?)
If you call at 4678-8628, we will come immediately in a limousine to pick you up."

I'm sure there's a mistake or two in there somewhere...

I wish there was such an event. I would so go.

Kyaa~ Chibi Tamaki is so cute!

Btw, 4678-8628 is, of course, HOSU-TOBU > hosuto bu > ホスト部 > Host Club

On the road marked with sufferings...

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:03:01 GMT

...by the names of essays, papers, exams, grades and everything else that purportedly shapes your future.

I feel bad about handing in badly done work, which is exactly what I've been doing this entire semester. Badly done reports, badly done essays (in a rush and on the day of submission, no less), badly written papers, poor presentations...augh.

I don't know why...this is such a bad semester for me. My hope for an A grade somewhere on my report card is all but non-existent...or by some miracle.

I'm glad I got the scholarship this time around...because the likelihood of me getting one after this semester is over, is really really small.

Oh well.

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:23:54 GMT

Short entries...

...make the world go round and my head spin less.

Week 7 of 2 sem with 5 weeks left to prove myself capable of forming nice, smooth-flowing sentences in Japanese class, and coming up with rock solid arguments for every other arts modules there is.

It always feels like there's too much to do, too little time; too many expectations, too hard to meet.

....

I think I know who's my eyecandy in school.

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:43:24 GMT

Today, for the first time since I ended my jc days, I visited the gym.

Kyaa~ The feeling of having gotten a workout is so good :D:D Although since the gym was really small (the neighbourhood gym, sorta), there weren't many machines, so I ended up running for the most bit. It was kinda awkward although there was no one else there...but people who passed by (since it's in the void deck) would look in. I mean, I do that too whenever I come back around this time and find people in the gym. Guess they feel awkward too.

Athletic people, if there's a gym routine that you find particularly effective, please let me in the know :D
*hint yes mandy, this is you...and grace...and shuuuy*

Too bad Yani (my house-helper) couldn't come with me. Yani is really great :D You guys should come over to my place and meet her...and practise your chinese! Yani worked in Taiwan for years, so while her english isn't that great, her chinese is pretty good. Plus, she's a great cook! She's always talking about losing weight, and then cooks so much for dinner while not eating any herself. It's definitely some secret plan to have us gain weight while she loses some! I mean, she loves pisang goreng (goreng pisang...I'm not sure which it's supposed to be) and bought TWELVE pieces from the pasar malam, ate only one and insisted that we eat the rest. >_>

Anyway, here's the fourth opening for Prince of Tennis:

The series of tennis play from 0.40 seconds onwards never fails to make me gush at the awesome tennis. Especially Kikumaru's serve near the end. Throw. Stretch. Whack.

That's one inspirational anime clip.

I'm all psyched to do my work now.

On other notes, I went to watch L: Change the World with the JSS people yesterday. L is awesome coolness! <3

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:12:50 GMT

DEAR GOD,

THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU

^_______^

If things go smoothly, I'll be off to Japan yet again with four classmates. ^_^

YEY~

The quality of love

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:48:57 GMT

4Love is patient,
      love is kind.
   It does not envy,
      it does not boast,
      it is not proud.
5It is not rude,
      it is not self-seeking,
      it is not easily angered,
      it keeps no record of wrongs.
6Love does not delight in evil
     but rejoices with the truth.
7It always protects,
     always trusts,
     always hopes,
     always perseveres.
                                              1 Corinthians 13:4-8
                                                  The Bible (NIV)

Fifteen characteristics of love.

Recently, my sisters and I have really been challenged to love someone...and it's difficult.

It's always difficult to love when those whom you show kindness to don't respond with kindness, or just don't respond the way you want them to. It's difficult to not complain, to not get upset, to keep silent in fear of blowing up and just letting anger and frustration get the upper hand. It's also difficult to bite down that pride and that judgemental attitude.

The promise of love is this:
                           Love never fails
                         1 Corinthians 13:8

Never fails to make the world go round. Never fails put a smile on somebody's face. Never fails to fix a broken person. Never fails to comfort. Never fails to meet a need. Never fails to make complete.

Okay, before I go off on a philosophical track.

But really, it's always easier to love friends whom are affectionate back and give gifts and offer smiles and have shared months or years with you than it is to love a total stranger who seems constantly grouchy and unhappy. Sometimes it's also very hard to love your parents, in whom you see all flaws despite the fact that they've provided for your upbringing, given you money to buy things you want and never thrown you out of the house for all the trouble you've been to them.
I guess families are a test of the quality of love. Parents are proof of the quality of love...especially mothers who have to tolerate indifferent, insolent brats (of which I confess I sometimes am), and fathers who punish and admonish their kids.

The test of the quality of love lies in when a person is being as unlovely as unlovely gets (rude, proud, spiteful, rebellious etc etc), and that you never stop trying to help, reaching out and just persevering until the day comes when that person finally gets up and responds gratefully for the things you've done...or sometimes they may not even respond gratefully.

Sacrifice. Perseverance. Hope.

Love's been represented by the valiant one coming to save his beloved, gaining some bruises and scars in a fight perhaps...or sometimes it's portrayed as inseparable from romance and the physical acts that ensures thereafter...

      But maybe love lies in that figure washing the dishes and ironing out the clothes, or that figure sending the kids to school, or that figure holding up the cane, wondering when the last stroke will save the child from doing something more terrible in the future, or that figure crying tears in desperate prayer for another.

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:43:26 GMT

I'm not a good conversationalist.

I've been observing my conversations for the past few months, and I've drawn that conclusion. For some reason, I've become too high an I personality or something, because that's where I keep turning the conversation to...trying to relate whatever people are telling me to myself. And in the end, I'm just talking a lot about myself - which probably turns people off.

Just like this journal entry...just that I'm entitled to do this on eljay because it's a journal, right?

Well, I'll get down to fixing that.

This really reminds me of what S-sensei is doing. S-sensei is the best lecturer I've come across so far in NUS, and he's really like ngoei (: in the sense that he really puts effort into what he's doing. Anyways, S-sensei decided to record himself speaking during our seminar this week to see/hear exactly how he was teaching so that he can review it and straighten out any kinks in the way he teaches. He also takes effort to make sure we know what we're learning and brings us into the topic to make things look clearer to us.

Self-betterment. Way to go!

Another thing: apart from sending conversations awry, I'm finding it difficult to include boyfriends somehow.

A good number of my friends now have boyfriends, so when I meet them, I actually end up meeting their other halves as well. This is all fine and dandy since it's interesting to see who these people are...but at the same time, it seems hard to include them into the picture. It's really 爱屋及乌 to expect your friends' other halves to become an acquaintance of yours as well, and possibly a friend. But still.

Some people say that getting attached is the beginning of narrowing your world down to just the two of you + family (maybe). That somehow doesn't settle very well with me. On the contrary, I think it should be the beginning of an expansion of two worlds that have joined together. Or, at least, I don't think the other attached half should be generally detached from his attached half's acquaintances.
Well, it;s kinda easier talking to a girl friend's boyfriend, than trying to talk to a guy friend's girlfriend. Which is really strange since I ought to be more comfortable with girls as a girl.

Ah, the complexities of relations.

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 03:59:14 GMT

I just realised...

I'm absolutely terrible at replying to eljay responses and stuff like that.

Minna-san, yurushitekudasai >_< Everyone, forgive me.

We just ended our Japanese Cultural Festival in school. I'm just so relieved it's over, after having spent a good part of December hols planning and worrying over everything, and frantically sending out letters to whomever they needed to be sent to. God has just been so gracious and letting everything pan out. Our Water Yo-yo stall turned out to be a bit of a success and I just had so much fun with the JSS people. They're such a fun bunch! They even brought a steamboat pot and all the ingredients to school, and so we had ~~illegal~~ steamboat in the school hallways >D That was such a great and fun experience.

I'm really just learning how to appreciate my Exco and all the members. They're such a great bunch of people. What with KH and all his" テﾒ"s and Ivan with all his very qian4bian3 jokes and statements. It's so hilarious how many inside jokes there are among us. They're just such a crazy bunch of people.

Well, I didn't sleep the whole of Wednesday night, saw the teachers come in in the morning and wave hello to them. Was very high all throughout Thursday thanks to the Water Yo-yo stall having more customers. Went home really braindead and lost my handphone while I was at it. Which leads to a very impt announcement:

EVERYONE, PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR HDP NUMBERS AGAIN! Thanks (: I'll screen all the comments. Or you can just email me your phone numbers (:

I'm really glad I got into the exco. Being thrust into a leadership position had just shaped me in a really leader-ey way. I've such a sense of responsibility for the club, always have to be on the get-go...and the strange thing is, I'm really enjoying having to do all this stuff. At the same time, I think it's bringing out my mother in me. >_< The more dominating side. AUGH.

I'm enjoying uni like crazy. Got all the modules I wanted this sem for 1 bid point. Got my GEK lecturer from last sem for one of my js modules this sem. Everything looks pretty good right now.

~~And all I need to do is find a nice guy.~~

K-chan! Whatever happened to the resolution to bump into me more often in school, hurh!?

'Tis the season to be jolly~

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 09:59:32 GMT

My favourite season of the year cometh!

I love wrapping presents, writing cards, playing the christmas music both soothing and cheerful. I love the parties. I love the warmth and the joy of meeting my extended family and my ex-neighbours. I love this one time in the whole year where it's about gift-giving and exchanging small tokens of love. I enjoy finding things that I think my friends will like...and then dread the thought that I'm completely broke and can't buy more than just a few gifts.

If I was rich and had lotsa money...it wouldn't remain in my hands for long.

Well, spent the day wrapping present after present...I always wanted to wrap the presents when i was a kid, and when I was old enough, I started helping mom to wrap the presents. And now, I'm the one who's wrapping all the presents >_>....Not that I'm complaining...I just feel a twinge of guilt towards the people who get presents wrapped by me. >_<

Nuff rambling.

Because I know that I won't be home to post the greeting:

Everyone,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Cheers!
<3 Jade

Don't forget the reason for the season :D

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:46:28 GMT

Two down, three to go.

My favourite exam just ended today :'( I didn't study for anything as much I studied for japanese this whole semester long. Iro iro na kotoba wo naraitai! (いろいろな　ことば　を　習いたい！) I wanna learn a lot of languages >_< but they don't offer it at undergraduate level...maybe they don't offer it at post-graduate level either...will go check.

Japanese studies was yesterday. I like being able to walk out of the exam hall early. Well, if I had had an eraser on me, maybe I would have stayed longer to double-check my answers on the OAS sheet, but I didn't. So it was a 'yay' if I knew the answer, 'just whack lah' if I didn't.

Bit regretful that I hadn't studied harder, though.

>_< will work harder next sem and STOP WATCHING SO MUCH DBSK.

Right, so next is my most hated module. Followed by the one I was good at when term started, and just pleahed altogether when we got to syntax. Following these two is my most interesting module of the sem, but also what seems to me a killer paper to start uni with (2 essay questions in 2 hours, open book, with me having not written an essay exam paper in a year = somebody save me pls).

Ahh, in the end it's, dunno, just whack.

...as long as there isn't negative marking...

CLAIRE <3 I MISS YOU LOTS!
I think I've said this already, but saying out it doesn't make me miss you less ;_;

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 13:39:30 GMT

Mandy's complained recently that my livejournal's more or less dead. Eh, I think I'm just too lazy to journal stuff down.

Well, since my last update, I guess the most exciting thing that has happened was my trip to Israel during term break. That was one amazing trip. To see God's beloved nation all the places the bible talks about. All throughout the trip it was a bit 'woah' thinking about how David fled to this desert, Elijah stood on this mountain, Jesus preached here, Jesus was hung here, the demoniac had come from here, or that Mount Gilboa didn't have rain after David cursed it thousand of years ago. We also met Messianic Jews who explained to us biblical symbolism - they knew better because it's from their own tradition.

But probably, what touched me the most were the Israelites themselves. Israelis? Israelites? Eh, I don't know which it is anymore... but they're really living in such an environment where there's so much tension. It makes me a little mad sometimes to see how this land they fought so hard for is being snatched out of their hands yet again. This land they did not forget for more than a century. This land which was desert when they returned to it, but now fruitful that they've come back. And it was really sad to see them at the Western Wall, with prayers stuck into the cracks of the wall...and the thought that they think this is the closest they can get to the temple, to God.

Israel really is an amazing country.

On a completely different topic, we had cell cookout yesterday! There was sushi, xiao long bao (小笼包), chilli mussels and lots of other good stuff.

Fun fact: 小笼包 in China is not the same as the 小笼包 in Singapore. Theirs doesn't really have soup inside. The 小笼包 as we know it in Singapore is known as Guan Tang Bao in China.

We watched Facing the Giants while we were there. Such an encouraging movie. It made me think about what it means to honour God in everything you do, and I figure that I haven't been doing that. But of course, it's easier on the screen than in real life...but that's no excuse not to honour Him.

I've also been thinking about my parents, and how I don't really honour them. I don't know how different my parents are from the usual...they're the sort to try and shelter and protect their kids, I think. If there's any trouble they're facing, they won't tell us anything. Sometimes I get annoyed and think that they don't trust us, but I think they just don't want us to worry. As much as they can, my parents try to give us what we want, like my trip to Japan post-O's (mom brought me to Japan on the condition that my O-level grades were good, but we went before my grades even came out), or sparing time in their busy schedules to fetch us somewhere.

Anyway, I don't see why they should even trust us with their problems if they can't trust us to take responsibility for cleaning up our own rooms or getting to school on our own.

There was a point in Facing the Giants where a particularly rebellious kid went up to his dad and said, 'I'm going to honour you. From now on, whatever you say goes.' It's hard to swallow that, really. But if I can't even practice perfect obedience to my parents, what makes me think I could practice perfect obedience unto the Lord?

It's time to stop being a kid and grow up to become a daughter.

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:23:21 GMT

Dear God,

Please give me a patience for people who grossly misquote Your Word, grinding it into a whole lot of rubbish sentences tacked together by their own knowledge...or lack thereof. Help me not to pick verbal/typed arguments, and a grace to understand where in the world (or not in the world) they're coming from, and wisdom to respond in the way that is right.

Love,
Jade

PS: Thanks for the nice A+ on my paper.

----

...would explain further for those who care to read, but it's 3 am and I have to be in school in 5 hours time, catching some sleep while I'm at it. Not the easiest thing to do, yes?

Recent spate of debates about homosexuality and, for some strange reason, a whole load of criticism (drawn from a lot of places including complete rubbish misunderstanding of biblical verses) and random statements. Upset, of course...but I'm really sad too.

You know, Jesus suffered a lot more defamation than anyone ever did. I don't think He's as surprised about this. I don't even think He's insulted by it. . How could you love something that hates you so much so deeply that you wouldn't care what they do to you, but care about what they do to themselves and whether they're getting the best they could out of life?

I hope they know Jesus soon.

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 01:58:42 GMT

In America/Canada/any other normal country, a mugger is someone who attacks you on the streets and robs you of something.

In Singapore, a mugger is someone who suddenly whips out notes/textbooks/laptop and starts studying.

We live in one strange society, man...

Anyways, for a heads up for what's been happening, I've been handing out with some Japanese homestay students from Kyuushu University (Kyuudai) for the past week. Accompanied them around Singapore to all the good makan places :D Speaking more Japanese in a week than I've ever done in my entire life, and realising that I suck bad. Exchanged a few things about our cultures and societies. One of the girls wants to be a librarian! That's one of the low-paying dream jobs I have too! But Singapore....*sigh*

Well, the above-mentioned is just one of the things that the Japanese Studies Society of nus does. So all you interested people, join!

Need to start studying aproper sia...

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:32:10 GMT

It's been only two days into university and I've been stressed out like mad.

Suddenly there are one billion-gillion gazillion things demanding my time....and then I'm lost when there's no one around with me :( At least I got all the modules I want, and none of them are posing a problem to my planned two weeks of absence from Singapore in general.

Well...at least we're back to meals that cost something like two dollars with drinks at a price of 50 cents.

I think I think uni expects too much out of me.

And I also need a wardrobe revamp.

Mrrnh.

from the fangirl heart that doesn't die:
(CLAIRE!! IF YOU'RE READING THIS, I've been struck - finally - by the Suju bug. Kibum <3! KangIn <3! Eunhyuk <3! HanKyung <3!)

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:43:17 GMT

I don't see why people have to take the issue of the South Koreans and blow it up into a big religious tension thing.

I mean, look, obviously the Taliban is just using them to meet their demands to have more prisoners released so they can go plan for more havoc to wreak in the world ot try and run a coup against the current Afghan government and regain their control. I dunno, I'm not a political science person or anything. But what's obvious to me is that this is primarily and issue about human rights and international relations.

They probably chose to broadcast this whole 'hey, we've got South Koreans' thing because, well, it's South Korea. It's a country that a) stands among the ranks of those who choose freedom, equality, etc - associated with the 'infidels' and just everything that's contrary to the repressive Taliban rule, not to mention that South Korea has troops stationed in Afghanistan - and b) it happens to be a country that doesn't have a religious tie to Afghanistan - i.e. non-Muslim (I'll admit that there might be something to do with South Korea being known as a largely Christian country). Well, I can't see the Taliban kidnapping Malaysians or Indonesians or Egyptians anytime in the future - no offence, of course.

I mean, if you wanna talk about the religious side, I'd think they're always killing and persecuting Christians even from their own country anyways. Why a foreign country's - and, yes, Christian - people? To escalate the issue to a global scale. If they win, yay terrorism, let's try it another day. Otherwise, oh pah, let's try again with some other people anyways...like a more influential country, per se.

...well, I'm not sure what having US Navy Seals rained upon the Taliban would be like. I doubt there'll be such a measure anyways.

Creating religious tensions might be a secondary agenda, of course. Terrorism from Islamic countries, especially in recent years, has been aimed at what seem to be Christian nations. Israel aside, because there's always been Arab-Israeli tensions...and also from the Iran front, which by the way isn't Arab but Persian and yes of course Muslim. Anyways, I'm thinking that if anything, it probably satisfies them to slay some Christians, but more importantly, encouraging other terrorist organisations of a similar nature - i.e. Islamic terrorist organisations.

I mean, if they're going to criticise Christianity in this and go on and on about preaching and stuff and point out that we once had a bloody past (not one we're proud of, obviously, nor one that we condone), I could probably also criticise Islam about some inherent bloodthirstiness about it as shown from history and certain interpretations of the Islamic text. That, however, isn't the point.

Dude, don't sidetrack: the problem isn't Christian evangelism, it's terrorism.

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 16:16:23 GMT

Hey all you jewellery-loving people!

Click here to find some nice stuff :D

(Discount available since I'm a friend :D) Contact me if interested.

Aish...it seems harder and harder to keep up with friends. Why's everyone flying off to other countries? ~~On scholarship summore!~~

I miss a lot of people loads.