turn of a decade

ZOMG.

i could hardly believe it when Rob mentioned it was the end of a decade.

another 10 years passed.

in about 18 hours i'll be 20. well not technically, but its 2010. 1990 - 2010 is 20 years.

typing this is Barcelona completely magnifies how much has changed since the last year.

Looking back onmy life the past year,

there are many things I have to thank God for.

I began the year with no plans in mind. maybe, NUS FASS to do History or Political Science.

in March, the night before the release of A levels results.

I clearly remembered myself talking to God. I kept imagining the worst casescenarios and How I wanna give thanks to Him even if i fare terribly.

getting my results was the most unexpected pleasant surprise ever. I was in disbelief when Brother Paul read out my name. Praise God for everything. (:

everything after that happened so fast. I triedmy luck at applying for a UK university, my MOE scholarship and with God's blessing, he blessed me with king's and the scholarship.

june july august passed by so quick. meeting the MOE scholars, spending time with friends. then before i knew it, it was goodbye to singapore.

at the airport, many things i didnt manage to do. i didnt spend enough time with my cell group, i wanted to spend more time with vivien hannah and krystal, and the serangoon clubvols. in me, the reluctance to leave Singapore and my friends and family amounted to the excitement of a new life new experience awaiting me in London. I could only Praise God for his Hands of blessings.

After 3 months in London, all i can say is. Thank you Jesus. For a wonderful hall with wonderfull hallmates, for the Financial provision, for the new experiences in my travels, for challenges in school. forthe MOE friends and King´s singaporeans who never fail to give me that taste of Singapore again. for my r/ship with friends back in singapore. (:

as much as i miss life in singapore, the familiarity, the warm(literally) and snugfeeling of home and family,being driven around by friends suppers and stuff,

I praise God for everything. I know nextyear is going to be awesome. and that im gonna set a few resolutions.

1. join a cell

2. study harder, keep up with readings.

3. serve in church

in any case. PraiseGod for 2009,

bring on 2010. (:

HAPPY BURSTDAY! (:

I'm finally 19. I have to say, its not a really happy feeling. I feel my youth slowly slipping away.

No more ability to survive on 3 hours of sleep.

No more dancing for hours without feeling tired.

GAH. (: 1st December was rather memorable. Other than it being my first birthday away from home, I was given a pleasant surprise by my friends in halls. A pathetic celebration at 12 midnight to throw off all my suspicion of a surprise. then on tuesday, a party in the ping pong room with loads of candy and balloons. (:

was good. (: and ice skating was fun. other than the group of annoying teenagers who were basically making everyone around them fall. but ice skating in the open is definitely a novelty.

Lord of the Rings on Wed Night, an awesome thursday. Seriously, my tutors are very very nice. My Poetry Tutor lent me a book on poetry on her own accord. And my Lit Theory tutor is just so understanding. (: Inger and I had this awesome conversation (like the week on Gender) on Narrative and History. Dinner was interesting, and musical rehearsal was fun. (:

Met the rest at The Red Lion and then to Anna's Room for a really 'happening' party. just sat there and did our usual disturb others tease people, be a victim of insult. listen to music singing to bohemian rhapsody getting scolded for singing 'anywhere the wind blows' wrongly. and 'fat bottomed girls'.

SKYPE DATE WITH MY CELL GROUP! so funnnn. lagging but awesome. (: miss them so much. cant wait to go back and make noise with them again. sigh. Amelia and Amabel forever making so much noise.

Thank God for the wonderful trip to Paris and Brussels. For good company, and the chance meeting with James. ((:

Had a crazy weekend of sport. (:

Saturday Netball in Nottingham. Played like 7 matches.

Sunday Frisbee Winter Regionals. OH GOSH. Louis and Ian were SO SO SO good. (: its amazing.

(: Missing people from home! (:

I was thinking about stuff last night. Circumstances dictates who we are. We are all brought up in such different situations. Found out more about people's lives last night, and i thought, its events in our lives that shape who we really are. Some have good family background, well brought up with morals, as such fit into the social norm. Some learn to treasure things in their lives.

everyone is so drastically different. though I know I dont get along with some, I'm gonna try to empathize. To see where everyone is coming from.

Glad to know that family is treasured. pleasant surprise. (:

Last few days have been crazy.

Hanging out till late,

Waking up early to do work.

(: Wednesday I was completely knackered after training and tiger tiger. So, I slept at 8.30pm.

Then I woke up at 5am to do my work. (: Was a nice day. had a good sleep and I was energised for school.

I was crazy enough to stay up till like 1am. thats 20 hrs i was awake. how coool.

slept and woke up late on friday morning. Watched Slumdog Millionaire in Anna's room till 11. then Dirty Dancing till 12 plus. We then went to The Rocket with Rob, Gez, Tim, Mared, Sabina. (: some got completely smashed. but rob was smashed before he even started.

went back around 2ish. then went to rob's room to play guitar and watch monty python. fun.

Woke up at 10, was too lazy to go for training. stayed in hall to study. (: I really enjoyed reading and studying in the conservatory. then at night, we went to cittie of york. Met Ida's brother! (: HE LOOKS LIKE NICKHUN! omg. hahaha. Was fun! ((: talked quite a bit.

then went to O'neils. was quite funny with the penny in the guinness. went back, played pranks on Tim, sat at the staircase got chased off, went to Joe's room to watch tv. (:

Slept 3. with daylight savings.

Liverpool won. its cool. Rob is so happy. after 4 games of misfortune its about time so, I'm whatever. (:

Today I went to church. I felt so happy. I started the day reading my bible. then to service. (: at the end, I really felt God's presence. Really really felt Him. Has been a long time since I came here. Praise God. ((: I like HTB.

<3>

Life's been alright. Thank God for His blessings really. For the awesome group in hall, though we dont always hang out, they are good fun! (:

Plymouth was FUN! I really love playing frisbee. Really must thank God. My knee was hurting quite badly but each time i start a new match, it stops hurting till after the game.

the second night, it was just so bad i couldnt walk properly.

The party at Lemon's house was awesome. We had a Barbeque on his rooftop. had the view of the sea, nice awesome burgers and stuff. was just cool. later at night we then went to the Frisbee party near his place. At first it was alright. there was this drink called kryptonite and it tastes awesome. Then my team mates started getting drunk. That was horrible. I totally didnt know what to do, so i just sat outside the club waiting for them. Its in this situation that I finally realised, what kind of life I totally wouldnt want to lead. Its just so decadent. And i sat outside, just thinking about thing. and I really was so disturbed by what I was seeing. Call me conservative or whatever.

I remembered saying thank God for my hall mates. Though they get drunk, they dont lose themselves and make others be responsible for them. so. Thank God for them.

In any case, I love the sport. We lost terribly but considering how often we trained and how many people we had on the team, we were disadvantaged. (:

Oh well. school has been alright. starting to get into the swing of things. Reading, Looking up stuff at the library, buying books to start reading. Its all Good.

All I need to do now, is to find a church, settle down, find a cell. I just feel so strange now without cell, or FCBC. Im missing it incredibly. Family Friends Cell. My life used to almost rotate around church only. and Now, without it, I feel a little strange.

But all's good. (: Praise God

Turn Your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in His wonderful face

and the things of earth will grow strangely dim

in the light of His Glory and Grace. (:

The full swing of school just started.

Gone are the days, where I just sit around, Facebooking, reading useless information online,

chilling at Starbucks, Shopping and just planning the next day to fill up time.

8 hours a week.

not alot i would say.

but Im expected to do alot of self reading.

Modules : Writing in London, Language in Time, Reading Poetry, Introducing Literary Theory.

Introducing Theory encompasses the writing of an essay every week.

thats not too bad. considering in JC we wrote like 3- 4 essays a week for different subjects.

yeah, but I'm still not used studying yet.

Last night, i went to the study room with Dara from like 7.30 till 11.

only managed to finish 2 readings and the essay.

Oh well, i have to start waking up early for breakfast and get work done in the morning too.

Spend my free days doing readings and starting early on the essay so I dont have to worry about it so much the day before.

Nice to see the group of us in hall starting to study. (: starting from them drinking less. no more Rob-Style drinking till weekends.

I have yet to find a cell group, or properly settle down in a church.

Im beginning to feel a little detached from the community of God.

I need to quickly settle down in one.

FOR THE TWINS.

MY FOOD POST FOR YOU! check out the cheese thing. the melt the top layer of cheese, and scrape it unto hot potatoes and pickles. ( hate pickles) but its. AWESOME. (: and my library looks cool. ((:

to sum up the last few days,

Eating, Walking, Drinking.

honestly.

Thank God I know my limits. (:

today was the start of UNIVERSITY LIFE.

so exciting right?

it was. till i saw the reading list, the course packs, sat through 2 lectures barely understanding my professors, keeping quiet during seminar.

and my corridor is now filled with 300 million girls.

noisy.

Dear God,

Abba Father have your way.

how many times have i broken your heart

Still you forgive, if only I ask

Forgive me Lord. and i sing,

Everything i need, is you.

is only you God.

PHOTO SPAM! (:

finally uploaded photos from 3 days ago. BICNIC with singaporeans. (: at Regent's Park. my 2nd time there! love it so so much. ((: we played Freeze and Melt, and What time is it Mr wolf. Im truly a child at heart lah.

ytd, me Iming Alyssa and Pamelia went to HARE AND TORTOISE. good good food mannn. a litle pricey (ard 6 quid) but rly good. (: the prawn mee was... yum yum. and the LAKSA. FINALLY SOMETHING SPICY. i like. (: going there with derek later again. after my Induction, i went to Regent's Park with some of my hall peeps. quite fun. hahahahahaha. (: took some cool photos. hahaha.

then at night, after hall dinner, met the singaporeans to go for ice creamm. (: nice nice nice...

ytd was a little strange. I felt sian like i've never before. I just have been so overwhelmed by the whole idea of re-socialising and getting to know people again. I dont know. Im just really feeling quite tired of having to get to know people, hang out, drinking. I really miss having familiar people around, people i can eat Naan with, laugh and talk about practically everything in the world. Not having to be conscious of the topics you talk about, constantly searching your mind to find common topics to talk about. Just super sian.

But God is good! Thank God for some of the singaporeans. esp. Derek. could talk to him about some stuff. and even people like I Ming, Alyssa, Faizxzxz, Jonkong, Desmond. (:

" though the fig tree does not bud

& there are no grapes on the vine

though the olive crop fails

&the fields produce no food

though there are no sheep in the pen

& no cattle in the stalls(or no friends to hang out with)

YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD

I WILL BE JOYFUL IN GOD MY SAVIOUR"

ON THE RIVER THAMES! (:

today was FUN. again. ((: Praise God for the AWESOME weather. was rly nice today. ((: not gloomy AT ALL. anw, the few of us met for lunch at GBK(: nice burgers.

then we chiong-ed down to Waterloo station to get to the Waterloo Millenium Pier. got on to the free boat(thanks to school) and had a free ride along the river thames. was rly nice. (: the view of the area ard was good. (: the London Eye was rly rly pretty. wins our singapore EYE. for one, the view ard it is better. (: anw. yes then after the 2 hr boat ride, we were kinda lazy. so we just chilled at one of the open spaces underneath the eye, watching and listening to people bask. (: this is the life.

today reminded me of something. i was listening to Israel Houghton, and the song said " where would i be, if not for Your Grace" and i just thought. all these amazing things happening ard me, is awesome only because God had grace on me. He gave me all these. and i rly thank Him for it. not by what we do can we have grace, but because of His unconditional Love.

Thank You Jesus.