Adventure at the Cheesecake Factory. Went there ALONE today and so I asked for "table for 1" and I think the waitress was really surprised because people usually go in 2 or more! Haha, but well, I'm adventurous and YOLO right :)

Sat at a small quiet corner and took out my map (super tourist moment x100000) and started planning where to go the next few days/week. Then my bread came (they give bread for free yes and it's AWESOME) so the typical Singaporean must take photos of food right? Snap snap snap, took a photo of myself with the bread haha! Then the man sitting next to me asked if I wanted some help taking a photo lol, so yes he helped me to take a photo with my bread! He was an sort-of old man, maybe 50+ years old? Opposite him sat this Japanese lady who looked really young and she was just amused by me lol. We then started chatting, that man and I. He's Japanese but spoke fluent English because he studied since he was 16 in Vancouver. We talked about our lives, where I came from, where they came from, about the food in the Cheesecake Factory, Singapore food (he came to Singapore before and remembers only our food haha), and so much more! Despite going in alone, I felt extremely happy and proud of myself. There was a gap between my table and the couple's table, but I considered myself their little friend. We talked and laughed so much, and even took photos with each other! Today's actually that lady's birthday, so we sang her a birthday song and I also took a polaroid with her! Felt kinda sad when they had to go, because I was really enjoying myself so much!

God really blessed my day. I travelled alone the entire day, walked around the beach, took photos and had a great time just embracing freedom hah! But what really amazed me the most today is how friendly Japanese people are. This couple, Mr Tanaka and Ms Ai, really warmed my heart. They were willing to spend time talking to me, a small 17 year old when they could actually spend time talking amongst themselves. The way we talked made me understand a little more of their culture and get a little sneak peek into someone's life, which is really cool! Mr Tanaka even gave me his email! I think I'm gonna email him haha, because he's a really sweet old man lol! They're strangers I'm gonna remember for life! :) PS, happy birthday Ms Ai you're really amazing and pretty hope you had fun at the cheesecake factory today hehe ^^

Aloha everyone! How's Singapore been like? Hehe, the weather here in Hawaii is good, it's really sunny because it's still Summer, but the season is coming to an end which means, SALES ARE EVERYWHERE! Like really, everyone there's sale! I got stuff from Aeropostale at like US$15 only, and got my Bath&Body Works loot hehehe :) Super contented with what I've bought so far, and I'm starting to fear for my luggage weight haha! Food here is really good too, it's kinda sad when I have lunch though because I sit alone (I used to always have my family overseas everywhere I go...) but it's cool because there are many people sitting alone too lol! Gonna write postcards for my friends and mail them back to Singapore, so exciting! 

Marky had his karate exam on Saturday, it was super cute because there were many other little children taking the exam and I must say, I'm extremely impressed. They are so young but yet their karate moves are solid, I think if they hit me I'll cry haha! And when they do their moves, they have to shout stuff like "EEHHH" or "HAAAIIII" and more and they are really loud! Picked Marky up at school one day and why do the little children have to be so cute? Really love the US a lot because the children and adults are really friendly, you can say hi to anyone and they'll reply back! When you go shopping, the assistants will ask you how's it going, do you need any help etc... If I ever have to relocate, I'll move here! 

Sigh pie, haven't done much of my intended-sight-seeing though, I shall go explore online how to go about places! See you around for now, I still don't know how to upload my photos and transfer them to the laptop from my phone (using a HP now, I miss my Mac so much..) so kinda confused. Mahalo guys! :)

ALOHA EVERYBODY FROM HAWAII! Hehe :) I love my foreign home so much! 

I actually left on Friday at 6am and it was a dreadful 6 hour flight to Japan. I just slept through most of the flight... Then it was a 5 hour transit in Narita and I went to eat the delicious ramen noodles! It's kinda salty but it's super yummy! Following that was a 7 hour 50 minutes flight to Hawaii. There was a plane delay because some light bulb fused then we were just waiting in the plane for about an hour.. I slept so much in the plane again haha! Flying for a long time can really be so horrible, but once we stepped down, HALLELUJAH~~~ Thank God I managed to get through immigrations and customs and that our luggage arrived safely! So proud of myself, all by myself from Singapore to Hawaii (I was bringing my grandma along and she didn't know how to go so it's considered by myself...) 

Came home with Aunt and Kala remembers me! Once the garage door opened, he ran out barking then he started jumping around me! He's really my favourite doggy ^^ Love him so much! When Marcus came home I just woke up, and he greeted me with his cute smile and gave me a hug! Went to Panda Express for dinner then Ross. Bought a t-shirt and shoes, THE START OF MY SHOPPING HAUL! Haha! It's really great being back here with family, and it's definitely great coming back to all the shopping! In the past years that I've been here it's always been Christmas. This year, I get to experience Halloween! Okay, better go get ready to head out! Marky has a karate exam later so bye! 

*Sorry, I don't know why I can't seem to transfer my photos to the laptop that's why I don't have any photos. I'll try to upload them soon ya!

Hello guys! Finally back from TCP Empowerment Camp 2013! I must say, this is hands-down the best camp that I've been to! Initially I thought that this camp would be like one of my past prefectorial camps where by we just play team bonding games day and night and have some lame talks at times. I must say I was also afraid that this camp would be too boring, and that it may not be very exciting. But after this camp, NO OTHER CAMP CAN REPLACE THIS CAMP.

1st day. We did a DISC profiling check, it's a behavioural profile check so that we were better able to understand ourselves. D=Dominance/Direct, I=Influencing, S=Steadiness and C=Conscientiousness. This activity may not be very accurate but it really helped me to understand my own character as well as to identify what are other's behavioural profiles so that I can know what are their motivations/fears & more. At night, we had this session titled 'Servant Leadership'. Ms Rachel Ong from ROHEI shared about her life & it was SUPER INSPIRATIONAL. She shared on how she was just an accidental businesswoman but I don't think so. She had that passion, that WANT to help people (in particular the youths) & it's as though the more time she spends investing in this passion, the more she absolutely loves it & wants to do more. She shared with us the 5 traits of servant leadership & it's so beautiful - to have integrity, a ferocious will to succeed, humility, serving others & having moral excellence. 

I think many of us were truly amazed at what she has done,& her resilience to just go out and serve & serve and serve! This also made me reflect A LOT, on what it really means to have the servant leadership attitude. Many a times, we just want the best for ourselves. We rarely humble ourselves to serve others, & even if we have to, we do it unwillingly. Personally for myself, I don't have much of this attitude. I don't mind lending a helping hand to others, but I won't really do so if there is a need to. Last week, I was at Nex with Joe & we walked past this blind man and a lady who were selling tissue  & when we walked past, the lady said: Jesus loves a cheerful giver. WHY DID SHE HAVE TO SAY THAT.... It really made me think during this camp, simple things like helping the handicap, it can be so difficult because we refuse to let go. We want to hold on to even $2. I must say, I feel ashamed now. This has really got me thinking about wanting to help the handicap/elderly more now.

"Humility is not thinking any less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves less." - Timothy Keller

2nd day. Learning about resilience was something my secondary school taught me. It was one of our GRACE values. Adversity Quotient (AQ, something like IQ/EQ): the ability to bounce back from difficult challenges each time, emerging even stronger & fulfilling your dreams eventually. The more resilient you are, the more effectively & constructively you can respond to life's difficulties & the more fulfilling life will be. For lunch, we were split into 3 groups based on a card we picked (into A/B/C group). B's got to sit at an exclusive table where they were given chicken chop with fries and orange juice. C's (me) got to sit at another area where they were given the usual camp packed lunch boxes with an apple. A's had to sit at an alley (yes they set it up to look like a beggar place with dirt & trash bags everywhere) on the floor where among 70 people, they had to share 4 loaves of plain white bread. I think many of us felt kinda guilty & sad so we started to share our food with the 'beggars'. At the end of this lunch, Sherman (camp host) took our a bag of food = our leftovers, what we didn't eat. When I saw it, I cried. We have enough, there is enough to go around but yet we always take more & in the end, this all goes to waste. I am really blessed to have enough in life. We are all provided with basic necessities & our parents give us what we want yet we aren't happy with it at times. But through this activity, I really saw that each of us do have compassion for one another. The only happiness we need are the people around us. 

In the afternoon, we went out to do a Community Adventure Challenge (CAC). We went to interview foreign workers, gave bread to single-room flats and cleaned tables at the kopitiam. When I interviewed this man living in the single-room flat, I saw that he was really contented with what he had. He lives with his friend & only sells fish for a living but yet he was already contented with what he has. I only gave bread to one house, to a really old man living with a maid. When I gave the uncle the bread, his face lit up. He seemed SUPER THANKFUL for the 1 loaf of bread and he even invited us to go into his house for a drink. At that point, my heart really ached. I thought about my own father & teared. I love my father so much (hello daddy if you ever read this someday, yes i love you a lot). 

At the kopitiam, we cleaned tables. I was the videographer of my group, but after 5 minutes I just decided to stop filming & got down to business. I spoke to the cleaner aunty & she shared with me about her job. If she did certain things wrongly, she had to pay fines & on top of cleaning, she had to push in chairs. Instantly, I cried & walked away. I felt so much regret, sometimes when I go out to eat, I take for granted the cleaners & I don't push my chair in after eating. Simple things like saying thank you or pushing in our chairs, we don't do it. The aunty then told me to study hard, don't do this job as a cleaner next time, make my parents happy and be a good girl. I couldn't stop crying. She has made such a huge impact in my life. For a cleaner aunty who cleans up after me, a total stranger to say such simple words, it really warms my heart. Somtimes I'm so unappreciative of my family/grandma, but I think after this CAC, I'm going away with so much more. My group came in last in this activity but even though we were the last, we were the ones that walked away with the most. I really learnt that life isn't always about yourself, it's important to remember the people around you, whether they are related to you or not. 

At night, we played this game which required us to work as a camp, as one big team. In the game, we couldn't talk, couldn't step out of the box (one small toe/heel also cannot), couldn't go out of sequence (it was stepping on numbers 1-12 in order). We kept failing and it was quite frustrating because people from other groups were making mistakes & had to restart every time we failed. After 699 attempts and after 6 hours 58 minutes, we finally succeeded as a whole camp. 93 people worked together, encouraged each other, ton-ed the night from 815pm to 3am + and the sweet feeling of success and accomplishment was just amazing! Through this activity, I learnt about resilience, what it really means to endure through hardship, & the importance of what it means for you to want your teammates to also succeed in order to succeed as a whole. If we leave an open box, go out of the box, we have to restart and no one will learn. 

3rd day. We had an induction programme to finally be part of The Christiera Programme! Proud to say I'm part of this programme in Ngee Ann :) The mentors did skits and performances for us, it was really fun! We ended the camp on a sad note lol. The mentors did a short skit, on how they had to get through the door to success. They were each carrying baggages, burdens of their own and couldn't get past a door. Burdens, lies such as I'm not good enough, I'm alone, I'm worthless, I can't fit in, I'm defined by my failures and more that weighed them down. It was not fake, they weren't just showing as these statements but it was really their true problems because all of them sobbed as they held those signs. Sherman then came up to them and gave them statements & they just cried. In fact, many of us cried including me, even the guys! It was a very touching moment, because many of us realised that we're actually so amazing in each of our individual ways. Paulo shared about the $2 note theory. He crushed a $2 note, stepped on it, but brought across the point to us that even though people step over us, people defeat us and make us feel like crap, but in the end just like the $2 note, we still have value. No matter what, we are precious. 

All in all, I think I have so much to say about this camp as you can read. It's just a life changing camp & I've gone away from this camp learning so much. I'm so encouraged by my mentors & the speakers too! In the past, I felt a little self-centered, took certain things for granted & when faced with challenges, I was tired to try and persevere on. But after this camp, I'm willing to step out to serve and make a difference in another person's life. I'm thankful for every single bit I have. I'm motivated by success & will carry on to try and remember that EVERY MEMBER MATTERS. Thank you ROHEI for this experience, it's something I'll remember for life :) 

sleeping buddy/sec1+2 classmate/otaku girl hahahaha, sally the blondy

love this girl meganmegmeg

danish~~~ sumpa, he is like ridhwan from abtm! & he's hilarious and amazing! he has 3 races too :o

hahaha Chris from the hotdog stand! Gonna go pester him from now on to give me more chips when i buy hotdog lol! He's so talented too, with his dancing and guitar playing! & he's super fun to talk to! 

bernita & priya! they are so prettyyyyyyyy ^^ 

Paymon! He wasn't a mentor but just look at him, wowwwwww lol :) 

BLAINE. DON'T YOU THINK HE LOOKS A LITTLE LIKE DANNY FROM THE SCRIPT? Like a younger version and more gentle hahah! I told him he looks like Danny and told him to go learn 'Breakeven' and he did! & he can sing and play the guitar too oh my....  ^^ 

Doelnay from South Africa, my mentor. She is truly inspirational, and her personality is just like mine CONFIRM + CHOPE. Haha! She's a friend I'm definitely going to keep in touch with even after camp & she's my favourite mentor hehe I love her so much! Thank you for the past 3 days and may God bless you in everything you do! Continue to inspire others just like how you have inspired me :) 

Hola amigos! How has your week been? We're back at Sunday again, time really passing too quickly :( Just wanna share with you guys some stuff. 

(NLT) Psalms 118:24 - This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. I was just thinking how yet another week has come, and Sunday being the first day of the week, should be a joyful day! We should start the week right and be glad that we're ALIVE each day we wake up and it's thanks to Jesus for each day. We always take for granted certain things in life, and we each know what we take for granted, but I really hope that we can all try to be more grateful for things. Something that happened to me recently made me really appreciate what I have in my life more, the people who are placed in my life. I came to understand that God has to do certain things to us for us to learn and grow to become better living testimonies! (If you do wanna know what happened you can ask me personally lol) I also received my first poly examination results, the dreaded gpa. I think I did fairly well, but comparing myself to others, mine isn't fantastic. I was really afraid though, that I would have failed one of the modules but thank God that He placed different people in my life and through them, they encouraged me to not think that way, to not lose hope. I think this is where faith and trusting God really can be something I personally can work on. We all know faith is something we can't see, and sometimes I do feel like I cannot place my faith in God 100% because let's face it, it's natural to feel that way. But I think one thing I can really work on is to have FAITH in Jesus, knowing that all things work for my good :)

Met with my poly kids during the week and I'm super thankful to have FINALLY got to catch up with ALL of them at the same time! Really missed going crazy with them in school, like really really really a lot~~~ But I can tell you, we're really public nuisance, we keep laughing very loudly, standing about taking photos, doing stupid videos lol! Trust me, we are one of the few noisy groups back in pl, like my batch... Really blessed to have this group of girls who remind me it's alright to let go and go wild once in a while, especially when I'm with them! Miss you all loads can't wait for PL carnival! :)

Okay bye guys, gotta go pack for my camp and trip now! Having some leadership empowerment camp from Monday-Wednesday, hopefully I'll come back feeling empowered lol! Then flying off to paradise on Friday, I'll let you guys know where I'm going soon heh heh heh ;)

 my 兄弟 yay ^^ 

why we so goofy ah (:

Hello mah friends! Back for another short session of penning down memories~~ Not sure if many of you do write journals or blog, but I think writing can be really therapeutic! It's a time where you can just reflect about your day, and create memories that can never be created again. Guess this is where some people also improve their writing skills! :) Plus, when you journal/blog, you're actually preparing for the future because this allows future-old-and-wrinkly-you-sitting-in-the-rocking-chair to read and reminisce the good old days!

Went into JB on Tuesday, parents took leave to bring us out of town to shop so yay! Family time is always fun :) The food there is so cheap! Had some Ipoh chicken hor fun for only RM$8.90, which is about half the price when you convert or lesser! It also came with a drink, and I ordered this really good cold chocolate drink! Forgot to take pictures though :( It's ok, next time you go to City Square mall, go to the Old Town Coffee restaurant! Their food there is awesome! Plus in that mall, they have Pappa Rich, Kenny Rogers, Secret Recipe and so much more good food! Definitely worth eating there :) Didn't really shop for clothes though, not really my kind of clothes. Guess the trip was very fruitful for my parents because they bought loads of mooncakes! Lisa got a bag & shirts, & all I got for myself was hair ties lol! It's ok, had my tourist moments so I was still contented hehe ^^

they had spongebob mooncakes there and this was their booth so cute ahhhhhhhhhhh (tourist moment begins lol)

and this doraemon booth too so cuteeeeeee

lol super tourist says bye (:

Hello guys! Are you all ready to start afresh a new week?

So, Saturday was Adrian and Ros' wedding, BLESSED MARRIAGE! I must say, their wedding is the sweetest, funniest, most heartwarming wedding I've ever been too, and I dare say it can be among my top 5 favourite weddings haha! There's just something about them that really livens up the atmosphere, and their lives as a newly-wed couple will really be a rom-com haha! I was super duper honoured to have been asked by Adrian to play piano for the wedding with our other church friends, and it has been amazing just jamming with them the past Sundays after church! Really glad to have helped out in this wedding/worship team and bring glory to Christ! Sidenote, I think this wedding has kind of 'sparked' us to want to sing for church events such as Christmas/Easter, so hopefully we'll get the green light and eventually inspire others to come join and sing! (then our church choir can be revived as I always dreamt it to be yay)

Started the week well, thank God! Had lunch with Tim and Joe before our favourite army boy went back in for his field camp training or something at night. It was really good just having heart-to-heart-talks with them and listening to stories hehe ^^

I think I'm really blessed with wonderful churchies :) Recently it kinda 'hit' me that church is really a place I can call home. I find so much joy going out with my church mates and just sharing with them stuff now! It's always exciting to meet up for simple meals and chill and I really thank God x1000000 for them because I can really rely on them! Kinda sad how even though we all grew up in the same church we were never exactly close (other than YAH) and only in recent years/months we've grown so much closer! Some more since all of them are older than me, I get my bodyguards everywhere we go hehe :) Here's to many many more years of unending friendship!

To all teachers out there, blessed teachers' day! :) Guess it's because I'm in poly now thus teachers' day doesn't 'hit' me as much as it did the past 10 years of my life. Looking back, I am so grateful for all the teachers that have taught me before. For me, the teachers that really made a difference in my life were the ones who taught me in my final year in secondary school. It could be because it was the most crucial year of our entire secondary school journey, hence they kept encouraging us and never gave up on us. But I think it's because it was OUR FINAL YEAR. The year when we could proudly call ourselves, the SENIORS of the school, proud 16/17 year kids lol! I think the teachers really treated us like adults, not like baby girls who required spoon-feeding all the time. 

I thank God for my teachers who were extremely dedicated, to the point where they willingly come to school at 6.30am just to help us with work we needed help/clarification with. They sacrificed their time after school and continued to guide us. I can be rather slow when it comes to understanding certain things, things that I especially hate understanding e.g. science or geography lol, but my teachers were so willing to explain concepts to me over and over again until I understood them! As hardworking students, we did extra work, loads of extra work, and they marked papers on and on and on... Being in a mission school, my teachers often prayed for us and it really helped us because it gave us the reassurance that whatever happens, God already had it planned out and if we did our best, God would do the rest. When we broke down because of our accumulated stress, my teachers were there for us, they watched us cry and gave us words of encouragement. They never gave up on their hope of us achieving our successes.

I was able to get through that horrendous period of disgusting books and papers, and it's really thanks to them. Think about it. Without your teachers, where do you get your knowledge from? (You may say the internet fine, but it just isn't enough.) Without teachers, who can correct your mistakes and allow you to grow smarter and wiser each day? With teachers, your life will never be the same. They create an impact in your life, they leave a mark in your heart, and they change you for the better. Thank you to all the teachers who have taught me, because I have learnt so much not just from the subjects you taught me, but I have learnt valuable life lessons! May God bless each teacher and equip every teacher to have that never-ending passion of teaching! (PS, ty to Mrs Selina Lum, Ms Lim Shu Ping, Mrs Reena Dhaliwal, Ms Oh Hwee Hwee & Ms Jay especially ^^)

A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning - Brad Henry

Hey guys! I have so much to share today! :) Last Thursday, Geena and I went to Eighteen Chefs, it's located at Cineleisure and let me tell you, GO AND TRY IT! Initially I was a little scared that it would be slightly pricey (because I'm trying to save my money) but I'm really amazed with the prices! It's super reasonable and the portions are rather ok! They have student meals and it's like only $6.40, worth it x10000! I shall conclude and make that my favourite restaurant now hehe! And I finally conformed to society and got myself a fisheye lens! It's super cute and I love how my photos turn out now! Gee bought one too lol, and we went to H&M to take hipster photos haha! Really enjoyed spending a relaxing Thursday afternoon with her, just catching up and goofing around :)

Headed over to Farah's house for Jalan Raya and it was my first time! Played dance central hehe I'm so tempted to ask my parents to get it for us now, because it really helps you to exercise and when friends come over, we all get to play and laugh at each other's dance haha! Had a really fun night playing monopoly and getting to know new friends! I got home VERY late that night so if you want to know story you can come ask me haha!

Really glad to have spent the weekends at church, I've been looking forward to church more now! Not that last time I don't, but now I feel like I want to know more and more! Had YF anniversary and I really thank God for His goodness to YF the past 33 years. To all you people out there, I know 33 years as a youth/church may seem short to you, but I am proud of my youth hor! :) Had rehearsal again and now, I'm super excited for the wedding!! It's gonna be so fun~~

photos all in fisheye now so cute! hehe

Just wanna share some thoughts at this point. In youth, we had this short time of open sharing, when anyone can give thanks/share a song/prayers/encouragements for YF and my leader shared this song, it's called 'Spirit touch Your church'. A few lines in this song go:

Spirit touch Your church

Stir the hearts of men

Revive us Lord

With Your passion once again

Ever since then, I've just been really struck by the lyrics. I feel that this generation is kinda 'dead'. There are people who are so hyped up for God but really, how do we feel about going to church/youth service each week? Is it just a routine, do we go for our friends or is it simply for attendance? I wanted to cry while singing this song because I realised how I really want the Spirit to touch me, I want to be revived and in a sense, inspire others. However, it is a little difficult because I myself don't know where or how to start. Nonetheless, I know that God is already starting a revival in me and I will be doing something awesome in time to come! Sidetrack, for those of you who are going through any difficulty, let me leave you with these verses from James 1:2-4. Go and read it, I URGE you to read it because it really spoke to me about how the testing of our faith produces perseverance and how it will lead to us being matured and complete :)