strawberry swing*

On a gloomy wednesday night all by yourself, listening to Coldplay totally sets the mood. :) Their songs keep me company as I'm here, stuck, cooped up in my little square room, missing home-cooked food and a little of my own PJ world + friends.

How can such a group be so talented in music? Or how can one have the gift in music, to be pitch-perfect, to be able to identify the music notes played in an intricate jazz chord by just hearing? A philosophical question indeed. But no matter how hard philosophers try to think and come up with a brilliant comeback, the answer is simple: God's gift.

It is He who gave you the gift to play by ear, to capture out-of-this-world chords and play it in your own interpretation, to be able to identify who sings in pitch and who doesn't, to sing harmony on the spot, to be pitch-perfect, to spurn silly beats and one-off/syncopated timings on musical instruments...isn't that just an amazing gift?? I think it is.

But are you serving with the right heart? Is pride getting in the way? Are you imparting your musicality to the younger ones to help them grow like how you did?

Your gift and talent does not revolve around you and your world. Its main focus, is to serve God. :)

p.s. i was reminded of this today :) thought of sharing it here lah.

p.s.s. I am in love with Coldplay because they're so good good good!!!

*one of coldplay's songs. (Y)

Exercising my rights

So today, i registered myself as a voter for my country's upcoming elections :)

Let's take a moment to process this.

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hee.

I went to my uni's post office to register, and all I did was hand in my IC and he keyed in some thingamajig and handed me a pink slip :) when I got it I felt so semangat-ed and proud to be a legal voter. yay. It may not be big to you, but it is to me because it reminded me of my RIGHTS as a 21 year old to VOTE for the right political party :D

and it reminded me that I'm old -_-" oh well. Nonetheless, it was a proud moment for me!

have you guys watched this show, Coraline? Very very good and amazing. The best animated film (besides Tangled) I've watched ever. It's a one-of-a-kind film with sinister and dark meanings and you must not judge everything by the cover lah.

Rating: 9/10. The remaining 1 point is because there isn't a sequel to it. :( It'll be cool if there's Coraline 2. :) You want the movie? Ask me. I have it. Or rather I got it from nadia. But yeah technically I have it.

February's coming to a close and in comes March. I'm 21 and kind of loving it. I can't wait to register as a legal voter.

Bye. I'm going back to The Hole tonight :'(

some people...

I get busier, much busier this sem with studies, activities and church that I tend to forget to do certain things which are deemed important.

So forgive me if I do, for I did not forget on purpose.

=)

with age comes responsibility and busyness.

despite all that, i'm good and still surviving :)

on a different note, he's just so full of himself, isn't he? Just 'cause you have a diploma in music doesn't mean you can scoff and wave us altos off. Let's see *drums fingers on the chin*, with your paper qualifications, are you able to play by ear, appreciate and identify the blending of different voice parts or perhaps have a close-to-perfect pitch?

I guess......not.

Why not try singing then? I would love to hear you sing and uh, give you 'constructive' criticism. :) Have a taste of your own medicine, no?

Just my two cents, by the way. No hard feelings whatsoever. :)

have a good weekend. And come back, refreshed and energized.

with age comes responsibility.

On my 21st birthday, surprisingly I didn't feel the hype that I felt months ago. Duno la, I think I was too busy on the days before my bday to even think about it. But nonetheless on my birthday:

1) Pkv comm threw a mini surprise bday for me. It started when Tim smsed wanting to meet me at 11.50pm-ish to pass me some pastor cards. But I relented la coz I thought it was important eventhough my eyes were heavy haha :P So went down and saw the pkv peeps at my kk!:) so sweet of them. didnt expect that. :) i didnt suspect anything coz i didnt know tim could pakat wit d rest!! fail lah me

2) michelle, CW n pearly gave me a card and RM5 reload. aww. my closest pals in my course & the people whom I enjoyed hanging out with. <3 you guys.

3) yee mei made me a card. <3 her too!

4) my adik angkat, nadia made d class sing H.Bday for me. We had a trip to her dad's ofc and he was so hilarious. I like eccentric people (only certain types, not all ah). nads was my 1st friend in this course lol.<3 u adik angkat!

5) people smsing me bday wishes. One was all the way from Aus, my ex vice prez, Daryl. :') thoughts that count k

6) well-wishers from people in uni - course mates, kk peeps, two of my lecturers. :)

7) many many sweet bday wishes on fb and twitter.

8) to top the day up, I had a wonderful dinner with my family at a western restaurant with good ambience. The food was yummy and the fellowship was awesome.

So actually, I'm very blessed with the people around me :) It was a simple but memorable 21st. I thank God for creating me! :)

"we live in a beautiful world"

To trust him, to know that it's not my strength to rely on when I serve him, to know that he can change and mould me into how he wants me to be despite my weaknesses, if I allow Him to. Uncomfortable in the beginning, life-changing in the end. As I look back these past 20 years, I can roughly see how he wants me to grow.

Thank you for the reminder.

when you start wilting...

sem2 started and I've not been thinking much about my turning 21 that often (Which is a good thing dont ask why). I've been pretty caught up in the whirlwind of sem2 and cf activities. no time to think about my birthday whoopdidoo. can't imagine im turning 21 next week.

Mr K***, my philosophy lecturer said this today: "in the eyes of the law, you're an adult when you reach 21."

well said.

feb 15. 5 more days to my birthday arghhhh. 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21. old old old old old.

the difference between my church choir and my college choir:

98% of the time church choir sings in pitch. Somehow we just can (exposed more to music? God's grace then), because we have auditions and people who can sing in pitch are welcomed to join. However, my college choir also have auditions. The thing is, those who can't sing/can't hear themselves when they sing/tone deaf etc surprisingly passed the auditions. Hence, when the four parts of voice group come together, instead of sounding melodious, it sounded more like.........yeah you get my drift.

A simple solution that does not require any sweat, blood or tears:

filter your people when you have auditions the next round. (duh) no point having practices every weekday night available when the results are still the same - no blending in harmony. It's not that we're lacking practice. It's because....some people are meant to sing, some are not.

but I would say it'll be mean & demeaning to oust these (yes; not one, not two, but several) 'melodious' people now so next year lah.

I am on the verge of quitting my college choir. It takes up my time and life (yes, life). Why on earth did I want to join in the first place?!?!?!

I guess I don't really bother much about college points in order to remain staying in college. I already stopped bothering after sem 1 because there're much more interesting things than this.

:)

i just need to say this...

My results are out for sem1. When I first saw it, I quickly scanned it for any C's. But thankfully tada. Let me sum it up; the 4 out of 6 subjects that I thought I would do badly (failing is included) turned out surprisingly okay (not the best, but all right). the other one subject pulled my cgpa down (I don't quite like the lecturer. Biased!) whereas the last subject (which is writing about lit) I am very satisfied. :)

Funny thing was, I remembered I was so busy in Dec with almost every night of a weekday I had something to do; cf carolling, xmas choir prac, collge choir prac (regretted joining this -_-), bible study...until I thought I could never catch up with my studies. I only had the last week of Dec, which was the study break to really catch up on my studies. And also because christmas was over so zero practices equals more free time. But once again God pulled me through like how He did for form6.

I remembered what w.yan told me aftr I told her how I did for F6: "He'll definitely pull you through if you put Him first, no matter how busy you are for Him". But of course must study la rite.. but still. Phew.

I'm so grateful & thankful.

If you wana know my results you can ask me personally.

:-) Not the best, but it's all right.

when you think you're old.

I'm turning 21 in eleven days. :) People say it's just a number. And yes I agree. But think of it; 21, the age to vote, to do anything you want. In other words: to be a qualified adult. With adulthood comes more responsibilities, decisions to make, using more brain fluid to think what's right and wrong... Uh huh. Ready or not, life thrusts the number 21 to me. It's how I take it and use it to its max. To be honest most of my close peers are 2 or 3 years younger than me; one is even 8 years younger! But somehow I can click with them and I'm thankful that I don't act that old. haha!

I foresee myself doing a lot of things this year-mostly stepping away from my Zone of Comfort. I can't believe I agreed to do it because sometimes fear gets to me. But k lah i share with you; one of my new year's resolution is to step out from comfortable zones to 1) make myself a better person 2)learn more stuff from older peers 3) build up my character and personality. And whenever the fear comes, I remind myself of these reasons I'm stepping out, and it'll help me in the future. (must be far-sighted edi, cannot see things only as it is). Scared, but I'll make it through with The Lord's help.

Don't say "I can't". Instead, say "I can".

*cracks knuckles*

My semester break ends this sunday and I'm back to lectures on monday. I'll admit I'm not looking forward to the drone of lectures, assignments and the normal routines. I guess the sem break has done more damage than good to me in terms of discipline and obedience haha. But I know I'll fit in like usual. Just give me 3 weeks and I think I'll be in the zone for uni.

Ah, I just remembered I have a new set of responsibilities now in cf.*cue star wars music* I'm kinda excited and nervous about it. Haha talk about maturity. However, amidst all that 1 Tim 4:12 says 'Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.'

Uh huh. That'll be my motto throughout serving in cf, church, uni etc. I think in 2013 I'll serve more in church than in cf. I dunno, was just thinking of doing a switch. We'll see. 2012 hasn't even reached its end and here I am making plans for '13 already. Does this mean I'm not looking forward to '12? Fearful, perhaps..Doubt? Gona journal it instead :)

On a entirely different matter, I realized who are my real friends now. 'nuff said.

Cheers. Here's to the remaining days of my break and may I look forward to sem 2 and the many unpredictable things that'll come.

#trusting Him here is the key to all.

You Act Like You Are 20 Years Old

You are a twenty-something at heart. You feel like an adult, and you're optimistic about life. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. You're still figuring out your place in the world and how you want your life to shape up. The world is full of possibilities, and you can't wait to explore many of them.

What Age Do You Act?

Aha, so I do act my age. (but reality is i want to be 20 forever haha)

danny's song*

"Don't let the negative impression of older people on you proved to be true. Don't be blinded by it." Uncle Joel on today's sermon.

had a 'date' with xian jing & matthew today and we watched War Horse. It was good!! I learned that; 1) war was never good. it does no good to anyone. 2) horses are smart. i have a new-found respect for them now. 3) steven spielberg is a brilliant director.

was good catching up with them. yes we do meet weekly in church but on outings like these we get to know one another more, thus bonding a stronger friendship.

my sem break is unfortunately ending! :( Time to pack, time to reload leads in mechanic pencils, time to be ready for whatever comes in sem2.

Lead me, God in 2012. :)

*this song is one of my favourites, sang by anne murray. Her voice is so mesmerizing, especially if you listen to it at night.

C'mon, tell me you have watched this show. Tear-jerker for real.

hi there feb

And so february has made its way to the road of 2012. Well aren't you prompt to arrive, february, when all of us were relaxing by the January pool. you have to come and give us a jolt, an awakening to remind us that time stops for no one.

With that said, my holidays are coming to an end :'( ah well, I'm truly thankful for them hols and it was real good while it lasted. time to buckle up for reality!

turning the big 21 in 20 days. =/ all i can say is, I ain't ready for 21!!! blek. i want to remain forever 20.

i have a whole life in front of me...man, think of all the things i'm gona achieve and do. it's ... a long stretch.. will i get married? or not. will i continue to be a teacher? what car am i gona get? will i continue my studies to masters etc? =)

meeting a super senior (a graduate of tesl too) tmr, introduced by church mate joseph like..last year?? lol never too late to meet up. we gona have a chat about my course, to clear (hopefully) any doubts and fears about it :) whee.

tata.