A Crazy Fun Night

No prizes for guessing what I did last night. 

That's right, I went prawning! 

At first it was just going to be me, Shirley and two of her friends. However, we ended up having Estella and the rest of the skating crew join us later. 

By the end of three hours, we had enough prawns to feed all ten people. Know how we did it with just three rods?

Well, it was because we got really lucky and three kind strangers gave us their prawns after they were done! 

We played Never Have I Ever and Truth or Dare all night. 

In an attempt to avoid awkward Truth questions, I had to do two really idiotic dares. One of them was to scream really loudly behind some random guy. The other dare was to walk to all four corners of the prawning ponds and do jumping jacks while yelling "I LOVE PRAWNING" twice. 

So. Embarrassing. 

Let's just say, we all found out quite a bit about each other last night.

Here's Estella doing a dare- running back and forth while carrying the chair above her head!

I'm so glad now that I've found another female prawning buddy! 

By the time 7am swung around, most of us were quite ready to collapse into bed. Still, we gamely waited for the sunrise. 

Cheers to a fantastic night!

Though I reached home around 9am and didn't get to sleep more than 2 hours, I wouldn't mind doing it all over again next weekend... :P

Just Stuff

Yesterday felt strange without my camera or iPhone. 

I'd left my camera at my aunt's house and the iPhone with the boss. All the gadgets I was left with was my Blackberry Curve and an iPod Nano that's all out of battery. 

It made me remember..... just how important my camera was to me. 

I didn't really care too much about the iPhone being gone, but the camera? That's tough!

So I spent all last night rollerblading a different route from Punggol Watertown to East Coast Park without a map. Not that Apple's map is all that helpful anyway. I wrote all the directions down on a receipt. 

My skating wheels are really small now that I've been skating so frequently. They're almost worn all the way to the middle. As a result, it took a lot more energy and effort to remain at the same pace that I usually would. No wonder I woke up this morning feeling sore all over. 

That being said, when I got the iPhone back this morning, I immediately proceeded to reload all the apps that I use. Some crazy people like Shirley have a gadzillion pages filled with apps on their phones, while others like Talia just use it for really basic stuff. 

I guess I use it for some fun, but I've really cut down on my overall usage since last year. Been skating and reading more these days I guess. 

The next post will be about the kinds of apps I use. Just a personal record. I sometimes try to recall the kinds of games or websites I frequented while in secondary school but the only ones I could recall were Kazaa, Neopets, MiRC, Popcap, Hotmail, Friendster... I know there were way more, but I just can't remember. With technology moving at such a phenomenal speed, I better write these mundane things down now before life changes and I lose all these memories...






P.S. (updated next morning)



I feel as if someone's playing a joke on me.

Last night as I was praying, I felt God was asking me what the dearest things to me are right now and if I'm willing to give them all up.

One of the things I listed was my camera (LOL), and I said YES GOD I'M WILLING TO GIVE THEM ALL UP FOR YOU!

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Then, my mom texted me this morning asking if she could borrow my camera next weekend when she's holidaying in Thailand. I was kinda unhappy because even though she already has her own DSLR, she wants to bring my camera instead because it's lighter (yeah that's why I chose it instead of a heavy DSLR!) and she said there's a weight restriction on the budget airline she's flying.

-___-

Well I said yes.


But....


>___<


Argh. Well you know sometimes you don't just voice promises to God without considering that He will test you to be true!

Dear God, please help me to be true to my word. Help me to not feel bitter or grudging, but to give with a willing and happy heart, remembering that all things in this world belong to you- the Creator.

Sigh... The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak!

August Part Deux

Yay!!!

I'm finally catching up on my blog posts!

This should cover the few weeks after China.

Visiting Stamford American (18th Aug)

The boys had to go for their school's orientation and I tagged along because I wanted to see the newly built campus at Potong Pasir.

I was very impressed with all the facilities. Not even my college was this high-tech! 

Also, they have an angmoh teacher who speaks fluent Chinese. Her pronunciation is even better than most Singaporeans.

=O

Round Island Skate (18th - 19th Aug)

After checking out the new Stamford American campus, I headed over to East Coast Park where a group of skaters and I were going to start our Round Island Skate. 

This was the first time I'd attempted to skate all around Singapore at one go.

Wasn't sure what to expect. 

The only thing I was told was that it was a 123km journey. That's about 77 miles. 

Gosh Singapore's small... 

We stopped for supper along the way.

Went through some HDB areas.

Stopped for even more food.

The famous Thasevi Prata at Jalan Kayu.

It was quite surreal skating through deserted parts of the island around 3 or 4 in the morning.

Because we weren't able to keep with the schedule, we had to stop along Bukit Timah Rd. I ended up getting home around 6-6.30 in the morning. 

Prawning @ Punggol Waterway (20th Aug)

Since that day was a public holiday, I went with my family to Punggol Waterway- now one of my favourite spots in Singapore.

We went to the Hai Bin there for some prawning. Luckily, even though it was a public holiday, the ponds weren't too crowded.

It took some time to learn that patience was a virtue.

We brought home a total of 5 prawns at the end of three hours. The first 5 prawns were lost when Max dropped the basket into the water and all the lucky critters escaped.

Oh the satisfaction of catching something with your bare hands!

Nanyang Tech University (21st - 24th Aug)

I was at NTU for that entire week for work. Got to meet Mandapanda =)

Hangout With Talia (25th Aug)

That Saturday, we had a date to go get our violins cleaned and maintained.

This is the store where we bought both of our violins. 

It's been about 11 years since. 

Being here felt like we were being transported back in a time machine. 

Just like secondary school days.

Like we're still wearing our school uniforms and talking about random stuff.

A road filled with memories...

So it turns out that Gramercy has now moved their workshop from Katong to their headquarters near MacPherson. 

We decided to walk there.

The map they gave us stank and we ended up walking much longer than we should. 

We were so relieved when we finally got to our destination!

New Hair (31st Aug)

This is probably old news, but I got my hair cut, styled and dyed. 

It's a big change for me, considering that I haven't coloured my hair in the last four years. 

That's about all for now. 

I hope to be back shortly with a post about this past weekend. 

New Things

Busy busy busy... I've been busy, but in a fulfilling and even kind of way.

This has been a weekend of adventures and new discoveries for me. I love that there are still so many hidden treasures in Singapore left to discover! Some people complain that this island is too small, and that's true to some extent. But the beauty of it being small is that you can get from one place to another relatively quickly. 

Friday night, I went skating with a group of skating buddies as usual. Instead of going to Chinese Garden like we originally planned, we went to Clarke Quay & Marina Bay Sands instead. This time, Uncle Chuan brought us upstairs to a spot I'd never been to before. From the roof of The Shoppes at MBS, we were able to see a whole new perspective of the waterfront area and the hotel.

It was really fun looking down at the people strolling by the water and singing stupid songs like "对面的 女孩看过来“ ("The girl over there is looking at us"- it's a popular and stupid song from the mid 90s). 

Sadly, only the ah peks (old men) looked up at us. 

Saturday morning, I made my way all the way to the west side of the island- Jurong West. I went there to help Annie move in her apartment. 

Jurong West is a really ulu (backyard) part of the country. Hardly any people used to live here when I was little. I remember streets void of cars and people. There was no MRT line coming here back then and Jurong Point was half its current size. 

Today, Jurong is still less crowded than other parts of Singapore. However, it has turned into a PRC (People's Republic of China) town. I'd say out of 10 people walking on the street, 6 would be PRCs and 4 would be Singaporeans. It's like being in another country. 

I really love HDB estates that are quiet. 

That Saturday night, I finally did what I've been wanting to do for the longest time: skate from Punggol to East Coast Park. The whole trip of 16 miles (25.6km) took me slightly under 2 hours. I was skating with a lady I had met off of Gumtree.sg. She accompanied me for three-quarters of the journey before heading home near Kallang. 

That was my first time skating at the Punggol Waterway area. 

I really really wish I'd taken pictures or something. The place is gorgeous and I think the government did quite a good job upgrading the paths and canals there. One thing is for sure- that won't be my last time skating there! Next time I'll bring my camera though... 

This Sunday's HOB was the first Sunday without the Hanes around. They've gone back to the US for the summer to visit friends and family. The whole house felt so quiet and empty without them. I never realised how much Kim's laughter usually filled the house until she's gone!

This week we watched a video sermon on the Israelite's forty years sojourn in the desert. We talked about what "being in the wilderness" means to us Christians as a place of testing. 

Three ideas that spoke right to me this Sunday:

"Unshakeable faith is faith that has been shaken."

"Tests are not simply for failing or passing, but rather a mark of where we are and where we need to go from there."

"As long as we learn from each test, whether we fail or pass."

I guess these ideas resound with me right now because I've been feeling like I keep failing the tests God gives me. It's so reassuring to know that God brings us to the wilderness to mould us, not to have us fail. Even if we fall, He will lift us up as long as we keep leaning on Him and Him alone for strength, direction and renewal!

The difficult thing is really going to the feet of Christ each time we fail. That's when I feel the most inadequate. But no matter how inadequate and low I feel, I cannot stop returning to God's throne of grace and mercy. The moment I stop asking for forgiveness, I stop struggling with sin. The moment I stop struggling, I start becoming numb. With time, this numbness turns into hardening of my heart. 

I never want that to happen.

Anyway, moving on... 

After House of Bread, Annie and I went to Jurong Point where she introduced me to one of the best places I've ever eaten at since I've come back to Singapore. 

The above foods are from a food court stall called 西北人家 and you can tell from the long line of PRCs that their authentic flavours are gold. 

The best part? I can't believe I'm only paying $5 for a bowl of noodles that's bigger and way better than the $15 dishes at Crystal Jade. 

I'm already planning to go back there for dinner sometime this week. 

Simply amazing!