I was just thinking this afternoon, on my way back from NTUC with my ma; that Singapore is becoming a country where the standard of living is getting higher every year. Prices of groceries, food, clothes, housing and even kopi* (coffee) are constantly on the rise.
I reckon in 2008, more items will be more pricey to afford for us Singaporeans, not just the foreign workers here.
The usual saying from every Singaporean, "Everything increase, only our salaries never increase!" I totally agree with that, even though it sounds super complacent.
What else will be up next year... oh yes, bills! Much thanks to the recent increase in 2% GST, the all-time historical 5% inflation of the Singapore currency. Now everywhere and everything is going UP UP UP!!!
Alrites, that was not what I wanted to say initially in this entry lah. I wanted to write on those more significant things i did and attempted this year =) To me, its quite a list lah =p
I finally did my driving theory tests after dragging from poly days. Basic: passed on 1st attempt, Final: failed twice, attempted 3rd time end Jan'08.
I finally went for youth camp again, after 8 long years of slacking from God.
I just returned from Batam with some buddies and friends, for that lil getaway from Singapore! (will get the pics soon!)
I joined video ministry, even though I got nursery and youth ministries already =X (its nice to learn new stuff lah...)
I just finished 1st year of university studies in early Dec'07, currently on summer vacations. Woohoo!
I finally upgraded my 4.5-years-old Twinhead laptop to an Apple Mac =D
I finally tried on contact lenses for the 1st time, at the ripe age of 21!
I left Infineon Technologies for my university studies.
I revived and revamped this 11/12-dying blog to beautiful life once again!
I attended 2 lovely ladies' weddings! Tracy and Nicole!
I was greatly challenged both emotionally and spiritually when Andrew got into a almost-fatal traffic accident in June'07. Thank God he's healed almost completely now.
I had lotsa 21st birthdays to attend and I'm quite broke this year. LOL!
Most of all, I'm glad to say that I still maintained contact with those people whom I valued most in my life =)
2008 is really approaching in fast, so hold on tight to your bed ya ;p Have a great and fulfilling year ahead, go achieve your goals and all! Cheers out ^^v
Thanks to Cher Hao for the planning, Ying Xi and Alvin for being the chauffeurs, Shi Yun and Madeline for buying my pressie, to all for your attendance and well wishes! I will write about that great evening another time!
Thank you my dear Thiam Siong and Ee Ling, for sponsoring my 1st monthly pair of contact lenses in my entire life =) It is my birthday pressie from that adorable couple ;p check out my birthday wishlist!
Today was my 1st time wearing contact lenses out to town. It feels odd especially whenever I pass by every toilet or shop mirror, I look at myself w/o specs. Weird. That's what I thought of myself. LOL!
Ironic eh, I have been waiting to try on contacts but din have the spare cash to; yet now I'm blabbering away how weird it feels with them in my pupils.
I dun like the maintenance and cleaning of the lenses. I think I would gladly prefer dailies! Wahahaha! Best suited for a lazy girl like me!
Putting them onto my pupils feels weird, and I can't help but keep blinking lah. Yes yes, all the pro contact lenses' wearers would say its very easy and all, but remember you also had your 1st time of blinking non stop and struggling to put those 2 silly lenses in. Sighs.
Maybe all I need is some getting used to ba. Haha! Anyway, I'm off to Batam later tml afternoon =) finally, a getaway with some friends.
Meanwhile, enjoy your wkend! 2008 is heading in real fast!! Wheeeeeeeeeeee~~~
Christmas is coming in 4 hours time. Time has surely flew fast this year. My 21st birthday was just over with all the celebration dinners, I have yet to get into the festive mood lor.
I have not started on my Christmas cards and thank-yous and pressie-shopping yet, even till now - Christmas Eve liao. It has been a tradition for me to give cards to those friends close and dear to me, to show my appreciation and thanks towards them each year.
It is VFC Christmas Carnival at the Tampines building, from 11am to 4pm. Got games stall and video duty to do.
Simon is leaving for East Timor for church purposes, on Christmas' afternoon. Take care man, we will miss you! Eh dun stay there too long ar =p
The living room television set is spoilt. Its the holiday season with lotsa nice shows aired on TV, looks like no chance to catch any this year. Stupid customer service is on holidays too.
The stupid prolonged cough has been stuck with me for the past month. Decided to take cough syrup last night, it did work abit ;p and I slept like a log, not pig =)
Oh yes, I think its partly bcos I played and eat too much, hence so sick till now. Gotta upload those birthday pics soon lah. Hahaha! This year's birthday celebrations lasted for about 2.5 weeks!
I need to find a part-time job once 2008 comes in. My savings are depleting rapidly!
Soon, it'll be Chinese New Year. YES! Finally I can keep the angbaos* (red packets) to myself!
I still have 70 odd days to the end of my summer vacations. Time sure zoom past so fast when you are having fun playing!
Oh yes, I'll be away to Batam this weekend! Wheeeeeeeeee~!
Here's me wishing all of you reading this entry, a marvellous Christmas and a great 2008 ahead.
Doubt I'll be blogging much for the rest of this December 2007. After all, only left 1 more week.
Watchnight service this year will be at Sembawang again, after that no plans. Doubt I'll join the youth activity: overnight movie marathon. Anyone wanna jio me out after 1am on New Year's Day =D ? LOL!
Yes yes, I know that this blog has grown cobwebs this month. Blogger was down for the past few days, so I couldn't write. Okok, I was busy watching 阿旺, playing with my Mac, still in the midst of my 21st birthday celebrations, youth camp and all lah.
Let's start by me writing about the recent youth camp I went last week with the VFC youths, as promised. It was at Rompin (45mins bus ride from Mersing), Malaysia.
This year's theme was My Generation, speaking about us individuals learning to reach out to the lost out there, especially to people of our age range.
Our session hall in the resort!
Pastor Jude Fouquier was a great anointed preacher and his stories and sermons are well illustrated with the relevant bible scriptures and pointers. Loves the stuff he preached over the past 6 sessions!
Ah, he loves Caleb and is often seen playing with him most. He is a tall and good-looking dude, despite his age. Of course, with age comes with a lil big belly ;p
It was raining when we arrived at Summerset Resort, it was drizzling when we were playing games for 3 days straight, the road just outside the resort was flooded 5 inches deep when we left on Friday. Stupid spiritual attacks.
Flood waters 5 inches deep!
I was made assistant leader of our group, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Jabie was our super garang* (fierce) group leader. I must say, he did a great job motivating the entire group of 18 of us play hard in the crazy games.
We ended up coming in 3rd! ^^v We were the black horses -neighs loudly- The games committee people couldn't believe it themselves. Just bcos we got the ultimate lousiest group name, that doesn't stop us from excelling! Woohoo~
Coffee Bean group pic!
By the way, we created a lame group cheer for ourselves, with a mixture of Hokkien, Cantonese and English. Here it goes:
"1, 2, 3!
Kopi Dou*! (Coffee bean in Hokkien)
1, 2, 3!
Cha Yip*! (Tea leaf in Cantonese)
Kopi! O!
Kopi! O!
Kopi! Sub Sub Sway~!"
I must say that, I have indeed learn alot more stuff while playing in this group. All of us have a fun and wacky side in us, that we seldom show in church. LOL!
Paul won the Best Dressed Camper award (watch the video at the bottom of the entry), Jabie won the wrestling match during games, we played Wet Dog and Bone like barbarians and more!
Oh yes, the games committee really did a great great great job in this year's games! Many fresh ideas =) Really enjoyed them =p Darren Trump was a classic, with that awful green wig! LOL! Donald Trump!
Back to our room =) psst, that's Joan in the pic ;p -sexy back-
Rooming with Karina, Dawn and Michelle was an interesting affair too. Discovered we all have funny bedtime habits. Michelle caught my unglam moments personally and she throughly enjoys teasing me now =\ Boooo!
Karina is a considerate roomie, she knows I take up lotsa space in bed hence she tries to sleep close to the bed's edge. I always fear that she might fall off the bed while dreaming away in lalaland lah!
Dawn sleeps with her lil star pillow, very cute. She look so child-like when she sleeps. Dawn sleeping and leaning on my knee...
Michelle is one talkative lil girl, sometimes whining when asked to do stuff, screeching away when she sees lil bugs in the room, likes to laugh at the way I drool in my sleep, talks alot just b4 bedtime, loves to snatch my soft pillow and sharing 1 lil bowl of cup noodles together!
Our room was rather 'happening'. Our water heater din really work fine, at least for me and Michelle. Open the hot water tap, cold water flows out; despite us switching on the heater for hours b4 bathing. Our main door had problem opening bcos that silly ledge behind the door kept locking us out.
Our back door, facing the sea, could not be locked and we had feared for our safety but we trusted God for His protection. Hence the unlocked back door had saved us from being locked out many times, thank God! Karina attempting to open the back door with room key, but failed bcos of different key combination.
Our super-single beds combined, always moved when we sleep at night. Karina and I almost either had our butts stuck in between or close to falling in between the beds, while sleeping of course. We concluded our butts should not be resting along the beds where they meet. Stupid logic.
Such silly and funny memories we had shared. Forgot to take pic with them tho :(
Sook Yi was not my roomie, but she was always popping by our room with Samantha. She is one crazy lil girl lah! Absolutely love this girl :D
We girls went to throw mudballs at each other at the (polluted) beach, buried our feet and ankles in the sand, walking in polluted brown seawater =\ and making retarded shapes outta sand. Took lotsa pics together with some of the youth girls too.
Ash grey leaves? Weird....
(from left) Samantha, Michelle, Sook Yi, me
Nice seaview (excluding pollution)
b&w pic of beach, my fave!
That yellow girl can walk on water???!?!!
Since when is seawater copper brown? Bloody industrial pollution!
Oil streaks on shore o.O
Foamy waves =\ -pukes-
Yeah, we were trying to bury our ankles deep in the sand. It was very fun~
We girls having fun making mudballs....
With the girls =)
We saw lotsa shooting stars on the last night; especially that super pretty long one that caused us all to scream in awe, literally. All of us ended up forgetting to make wishes with every shooting star. Zhi Ni and I make very good star-grazing partners ^^ LOL!
Climbing up to the platform to star-gaze
Ultimately, we were so in awe of the Lord up above for creating this beautiful universe. The feeling was indescribable and we just couldn't fathom nor comprehend God. All we did as children of His, was just singing praises to our Heavenly Father, while grazing at the beautiful star constellations. Awesome God!
The food was good, the menu improved with every meal each day. The fellowship was good. The queue lines tell you everything ;p
Oh yes, the youths attempted to give me a lil birthday surprise in my room on the 1st night of camp too. I received a halfway-crumbled chocolate muffin as my cake, with lotsa girls singing the birthday song to me =D (Joan took a video, shall grab from her once she uploads it!)
Sarah was quite funny. She approached me the following day and here's our lil conversation .
Sarah: You din look surprised when we surprised you last night. Why ar?
Me: Is it? What makes you think so leh?
S: Eh, can see leh. You mean, you know we were going to surprise you already meh?
Me: No ar... but I could guess it lor. It was almost midnight, and I reckon you guys would be surprising me at the eleventh hour (literally). (it was 11.21pm when my intutition told me I was gonna get a lil birthday surprise anyway.)
S: Oh.... no wonder lah. Bcos I noticed that you din look surprised.
Me: Hahaha! So how did I look like, last night?
S: Eh, more of delighted than surprised.
Me: Hahahaha! Well, that was how I felt!
S: Oh....... -speechless-
But still, thanks for the effort Joan and Karina!
On the fourth day, 13th Dec, it was Joan's birthday. Surprised her after lunch, she was quite shy though. Wahahaha! Our entire region, which took up about 6-7 tables in the restaurant, attempted a Yum-Seng cheer to Joan, it was super funny!
Happy Birthday to you, Joan! God bless you richly as you continue to grow in Him and nurture His youths especially in Region 5/6! 你永远是我们的Ah Boo!
Overall, this youth camp have been an awesome experience for all of us, including myself. Just love being in His presence =)
For more pics, check out Simon or Joan's Multiply sites =)
The Finale: Check out the compiled video done by Amos and Zhi Lin, for the youth camp! Great job done!
3 more days to my 21st Birthday~ and go for Youth Camp!
1 more day to my birthday dinner celebration with my beloved buddies! -surprise me!-
I can't wait~!
Oh yes, thanks Ying Xi for accompanying me to go shopping for that dress. LOL! Yeah, now you know how auntie I look when changing clothes eh. My figure really not as good as seen with clothes on hor ;p LOL!
Anyway, I sure had a great time with my lil clique of Starhub ex-colleagues last night!
Thank you to Siu Mei, Selena, Kae Shuan and Darren, for the Salvatore Ferragamo Incanto Dream perfume! The scent is lovely, the bottle is pretty, even Kae Shuan (the metrosexual dude) love it! LOL! I like~!
"Introduced in the year 2005, by the design house of Salvatore Ferragamo, Incanto Dreams (Eau de Toilette Spray) has a blend of Pineapple, black currant, mango, peony, freesia, sandalwood, musk and pink lady apple. It is recommended for special occasions."
-another item off my wishlist-
I'll definitely spritz that perfume for tml's dinner! -grins widely- Thanks yo!
Not forgetting the hand-made birthday card, the lil mango moose cake from Sun Moulin and the wonderful dinner treat at Crystal Jade Restaurant! Love you all loads!
Mei, send me the pics soon! Wheeeeeeeee~~
Oh yes, thank you Samuel for your lil birthday treat at Ichiban Sushi last Tuesday. Totally enjoyed the lunch and your company at IMM. Heehee! Paiseh to make you come all the way down to Jurong East.
I had intended to use Safari (Mac's version of IE) to do some stuff here and there, especially pics transfer via devices and input style. Only problem now is that I dunno how to bcos I'm so used to when using Windows. Sighs. Will edit this post again soon, using my old laptop. Sad.
I must remember to bring my Mac on Sunday and get a quick tutorial with Amos. Hahaha!
Now, its back to watching my 阿旺!
Ah, 13 days to my lunar calendar birthday（十一月初九）, which falls on Hari Raya Haji this year. Finally managed to figure out how to use Chinese input on Mac. Phew.
Donald Trump!
