The Dude whom we're celebrating

Thursday

Met SK and Gie for lunch at the noodle place at HV, afterwhich Gie drove us to Vivo City to get pressies for Noe Noe and Chris. After much searching, we finally settled on a pink Esprit t-shirt for Chris and a Fox denim mini-skirt for Noe Noe (my idea). =)

Then Uncle KC drove us to church for the Christmas Leadership Summit from Holiday Inn. We had games, pizza, thanksgiving for 2006 and prayers for 2007, worship, birthday cake for the December babies (namely the abovementioned...) as well as mini cornettos after.

Oh! Got Christmas present from the organizing team, Vic, Amaria and Eve-Jie, too! =) Even Greater by Reinhard Bonnke.

Pastor Joshua also shared about how we'll be so uncomfortable if we were to squeeze ourselves in tiny atoms. If likes how uncomfortable Jesus would have felt when an infinite God came down to a finite earth. It's mind-blowing! Okie, I might not have explained it as clearly as he did (like Gayle said, i'm really bad at explaining things. =P). But you get the picture, right? =)

Friday

Met Moo at Sunshine Plaza. Had wanton mee at my favourite stall, Parklane Zha Yun Tun Mee House! Yummy! Got free extra friend wanton and soup too! Was nice talking to Big bro's parents. =)

We then headed off to Tanjong Pagar to meet his mum to watch Serene's band concert at Singapore Conference Hall. The concert was pretty good! Mayflower Secondary Concert Band! They played my favourite piece, The Phantom of the Opera Medley. But the version they played was from the movie and the arrangement sounded a bit disjointed.

It was my first band concert in a long time. Really missed playing in a band! Like how Evelyn and I were watching the Christmas ensemble today and reminiscing about our secondary school days.

Think I'll be pretty busy these next few days. So here's wishing everyone a

!

Melancholic Thots...

I've been thinking about Grand-dad a lot these 2 days. I don't know why. Friday will mark a full six months since his.....departure.

I'm still not over how quickly it was, from a healthy old man with a loud voice, to a frail comatose body on a bed, to a corpse in a wooden box, to ashes sitting in an urn at the Garden of Remembrance. It was only a matter of days.

I miss him immensely. We miss him. Chinese New Year is in exactly 2 months, 8 months from Father's Day 2006, when they pulled the plug from the machine. It wouldn't be the same without our patriarch.

I've been guilt-ridden for the longest time. So many things that I should have done not didn't do. Now it's far too late.

I love my Grand-dad and I know he loves me too. He told me so. Am holding on to the hope of seeing him in heaven, where he'll be getting to know God more.

I miss your Ah Yeh. Will see you soon.

Blessed to be a Blessing

FRIDAY

Friday was the first time I returned to the NUS cell after MIA-ing for a really long time, because of worship practices and camp preparation.

I really missed being in a community of believers, peers around my age and at the same stage in life. Sharing the same struggles, debating about issues we care about, edifying, encouraging and praying for one another.

Worship was done by Youya and Thammy did the cell word. Having been away from cell for so long, I kinda forgot what receiving from God feels like. Cell word was from the Sermon on the Mount series and it was, coincidentally or not, about the value of money and storing up treasures in heaven, Matthew 6:19-34.
It's a passage I read when I first started Tribute, after I rejected the fat pay check from the Straits Times. Serving only one Master.

I'm still struggling with not storing up treasures on earth but storing up treasures in heaven. Not worrying about when I'll get a job, when my next pay check will come, when I can pay my Dad what i owed him for my university tuition fees. Money gives me immense security. Knowing that I have money and the economic power to consume what I want makes me feel good. Money gives me the ability to buy luxury brands, nice clothes, the latest handphone model, shoes. It gives me satisfaction to know that I'm carrying the latest bag of the season, to know I don't look frumpy despite my un-Asian size, to know that I can dress well because I can afford to. Coming from a middle-income background makes me want to earn more, achieve more, provide more for my parents, and drop the HDB image. Not that I have anything against HDB dwellers, I live in one myself, I just don't want to portray an image that says "middle-income". It's all about the image for me. I think it stems from being big and untypically Singaporean-looking. That's why I vowed not to dress the part. I try not to slouch and keep my posture straight, dress in "normal" clothes , only in a bigger size (thank God for Miss Selfridge and Topshop!), carry pretty bags, and try to look confident. To dress "right", look "right", be seen in the "right" places.

Ok, now I'm just ranting. The point is, I am too absorbed in trying to create an image and looking for security in the wrong places, when I'm suppose to find my security in my Heavenly Father. Friday's cell word was a reminder of that. Why should I worry when GOD Himself takes care and provides for the little sparrows and lilies? I am His daughter. Will he care less about me? Of course not!
Neither can I serve two Masters. It's just not possible. How can one give one's full attention to one Master when the other one demands his/her attention as well? Unlike Thammy, who's a multi-tasker (haha! Sorry! Bringing you up again.. =P), I don't have a problem understanding this because, like SK (Heh..), I'm not good at multi-tasking, at all. I understood that I cannot serve Money and God at the same time.

Thank God for the timely reminder.

SATURDAY

Saturday was Dover Celebrates Christmas day! It's basically a carnival organized by Dover RC for the residents and they invited SJSM to be a part of it. We had set up games stalls, food stalls, flea markets, and performances.

Gayle, Rachel, Rebecca and their parents set up a flea market. They were so tired that they overslept yesterday. =) Heard from Gayle that they managed to sell most of their stuff. It's great! So entrepreneurial!
That's my youth cell for you!

NUS cell set up a chocolate fountain stall next to the flea market.

We skewered pieces of honeydew, banana and marshmallow on satay sticks and dunked them in a chocolate fountain. It was really messy and most of us have got chocolate on our orange SJSM t-shirts! I, for one, am swearing off chocolate for a while. Looking and smelling chocolate for 4 hours straight is not as heavenly as I thought. Maybe I should apply to work at Godiva or something, and lose weight!
We've got people who are sweet enough to pop by to help us - boon, Abi-boy, Johanna (she helped us cleared some honeydew too, from the tray to her mouth.. =P), Vic, Noelle, Sue, even SK, after he finished dancing. =)

Peishan and gang did the Joyful Joyful dance as well. It was great! They re-choreographed some of the steps and updated their costumes as well. Lydia, Del, Hui Yi and I were screaming our heads off for them. Heh.

All in all, it was fun time of bonding with my NUS cell and Chee Lip, Thammy's friend who's relatively new in the cell. Apparently, he found me familiar and suddenly remembered that he first saw he at the premiere of Thammy's short film at Starlight Cinema, the one with free Stella Artois. Haha!

SUNDAY

Was blessed during Heartbeat service by a special guest, Ritchell Lim. SHe's visually impaired and only 11 years old. But she's got such a heart for God! And gifted with such a beautiful voice and gift of music! She shared with us some songs that she has written. Personally, I was just so touched by them because they're so real and they're just her prayers to Him. She sang 1 song which is her cry to God to heal her blindness. That was especially moving.

Christmas dance prac after cell with some unenthusiastic and unmotivated dancer. I almost lost my temper at them. But I love them all the same. They're really good dancers, if only they don't let their emotions get the better of them.

After that was a mad rush, in the heavy downpour, to Kranji to meet Moo to go to our second home. Haha!

This week's going to be busy too as we work towards Christmas.
Tues - Camp Evaluation Meeting
Wed - Christmas full-dress rehearsal
Thur - Christmas Leadership Summit
Fri - Serene's band concert with Moo
Sat - Christmas rehearsal
Sun - Christmas eve! =)

Boy, is this a long post!