Saturday, August 25, 2007
School's not out yet and it feels like the end of the year already, what with teachers saying it's been fun teaching us and lectures and tutorials winding down. I'm glad for that.. they were getting monotonous anyway.
Reflections:
I went around class today collecting autographs for my class photo. I'm touched by what my classmates wrote for me, thanking me for being a nice-guy, a responsible rep, and a good friend.
If there's one thing I regret, its not reaching out to more people in class. Especially the 4 girls. Sometimes when I look at them sitting together and try to think of things to say about them my mind just goes blank. And I can imagine the expression on their faces as they try to think about things to say about me. It's sad that I'm still at square 1 with them at the end of two years, same as where everyone started.
But I'm grateful to all the friends I have for what they've done for me. They're what I go to school for. Every morning I'd go to my OG table and be joined by li ying, li xing, yonghan and their friends, and I'd always feel blessed for being in their company. And today li ying did the nicest thing, giving us apples with a =) on them and wishing me luck for prelims. Seriously how many people do stuff like this? Its just awesome. Being OGL's possibly one of the best things that happened to me in RJ, and I'd give anything to be able to go back to relive orientation again. Were there things I could've done differently? Definitely. Not being so "admin-guy" and reaching out more would've helped, though some things..can't be helped. If people have their own cliques and friends to be with I'm happy for them.
And the guys too! Can't forget about them. These are the people I hang around with all the time, and I guess that we've become so used to each other that no subject's taboo among us. Eating together in RI, playing chess, ponning (occasionally), struggling to pass NAPFA, making fun of Kevin, HOTA, talking rubbish in class, more chess, DOTS, H3; man it's tough not to feel nostalgic about those times.
Can't forget the shooting people either. I went down to the range on Thursday to seek some closure. Deep in my heart, I know I'm not going back to shooting in the future. The sport's gonna be the same, but the people aren't. It's awesome to make people feel loved and be loved by others, and these are the sort of things that are only possible when you've got people like Wilson, Ruru, Eme, Leonard, Lala, Anna and all the other people whom I've had fun training and hanging out with.
And last but not least, my best friends Matt and Zack. You guys have kept me sane for the past 6 years, and I don't think there's been a period of more than two days when we don't have three-way convos with each other and talk about games and schoolwork, and all the random things under the sun. I took matt's fren test a couple of days ago and scored 90, which is amazingly enough higher than what his bro scored. Only got 30 for Zack's test though, coz beyond RI i don't know much about his (mysterious) past. Who knew he was from MENSA? Haha hopefully we'll make it through prelims and As together.
Now I think I'm going to embark on a hiatus. It's time to focus all my energies on doing well for prelims and A's. The final stretch. Once again, to all these people. Thankyou. For the love that you give. Keep in touch.
Love,
Chris
A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive.
ABUNDANT PEACE :)
1:23 AM
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Long time no post. Haven't posted for around... half a year? Things haven't been going well for me lately, with grades all screwed up and myself not feeling motivated to study. Now that prelims (which always seem to be sooooo far away) are right around the corner, I wonder if everything is too late >_<
Got myself a few private tutors who are doing their best to help me, so hopefully, God willing, I will make it.
On a somewhat unrelated note, I want to share with you all something which happened to my cousin. He was diagnosed with liver cancer (which he kept hidden from us till like 1 week ago, telling us it was a case of kidney stone), and underwent treatment to remove tumour as well as chemotherapy. One week ago, during the blood test, the doctor told him that the cancer cells have spreaded all over his body, and he only have at most 2 weeks to live, giving him the option to try for even more frequent chemotherapy and hope for the best, or just giving up (since chances are slim). He chose the latter.
His girlfriend accepted his decision, and got her church to pray for my cousin(who wasn't a Christian). The next day, my cousin unexpectedly felt better. After going through another blood test, the doctor, who was really puzzled, announced there were no traces of cancer cells in his blood. My cousin, who was supposed to have 2 weeks to live, is on his way to full recovery (and is becoming a Christian of course)
Miracle, or luck? For those of you who still insist that there is no such thing as miracles, I will have nothing more to say. If this doesn't convince you, I don't believe anything else will. Personally, I see this as the former, and this has greatly strengthened my faith in Him. All I pray is that my cousin will completely recover from his ordeal, and more people will take up this faith and share His love. If any of you are interested in taking up this faith, feel free to approach me (or any Christians you know =P)
Matthew, signing off...
ABUNDANT PEACE :)
9:33 PM
Sunday, August 12, 2007
It couldn't have gone better.
We had our dinner by the pool, which had our names carved out in styrofoam and floating on the surface. Damn nice. And originally all the j2s and j1s were divided and even the j2s were divided by gender; girls sat here, guys sat there. But luckily after much complaining and shuffling, we combined the tables together and sat there munching and reminiscing..
Then after dinner there were like performances. The girls sang SHE's Superstar, the guys and girls sang Breaking Free from High School Musical (more like lip syncing to the song but it was darn sweet), and eunice and huiru did their specially choreographed moves to a para para song (which instantly dug up fond memories of para-paraing at the Yishun arcade) I think that under any other circumstances it would be nigh-impossible to get anyone to do such things. And even though everyone was like laughing out loud, i could tell that everyone really appreciated the lengths to which the j1s had gone to entertain us.
Following that we adjourned to the living room to watch the farewell vid. Hmmm got a sense of deja vu watching this one. Close to the one we did last year (all the ghey themes) but it was hilarious nonetheless. Then ruru and yuheng performed emo songs for all of us, then after that all the shooters got a chance to go up and give a short speech, sort of a reflection on the events of the past two years. yeapyeap suitably emo with lots of teary moments and outpourings of emotion.
All in all i dun have any regrets. I didn't pick shooting as my first choice, and in fact it was sort of like a last resort. But the friends i've made, the fun i've had helping out with events, training with buddies and loving others and being loved, make me feel glad that i joined back shooting in the end, coz it was truly something unique and special. As for the j1 batch, they're as united as one could ever hope for, and i think they've really got the potential to excel and surpass what we've achieved for the club.
Thanks a lot J1s, for making this a night to remember.. <3
ABUNDANT PEACE :)
1:52 AM
