Pre end of year post

It's the 2nd last day of 2008.

So much to think about.. You know, I dont think I would be able to forget this year for the rest of my life. This year has been just so bizarre for me.

This time last year, I remember writing in my journal, asking God whether it was His will for us to migrate. A year later, I'm in my room in Australia, writing this out. See how much things have changed?

I actually migrated. I actually turned 17. I actually got my driver's license 3 months before I turned 17. I actually managed to make new friends and enjoying every bit of their company. I actually got a job, and regular customers and I call each other by name. (I had a regular customer driving past my house, he waved when he saw me)

See, so much to thank God for?

Honestly, it's hard for me to decide whether I accomplished or struggled more this year. I cried so much, I laughed a lot too. I was disappointed so many times, but I had pleasant surprises as well. I dont seem to have as much fun with my friends here compared to my YC friends, but I still managed to laugh till I cried with my friends here :)

My birthday started out with a pleasant call from Nic (from Malaysia) and a piece of information crushed my heart, but then as the hours passed, the company of my friends snapped me out of it, at the last hour of my birthday I received a phone call from a dear friend of mine crying over family issues which made me cry hard with her as well. See what I mean by bizarre?

I'm still dealing with issues, but I'm determined to end this year on a positive note.

Looking on the bright side, Australia has awesome clothes! In church, I'm known as the person who shops like crazy and gets the cheapest clothes :) I bought a sleeveless black dress, slightly above my knees from Cotton On for $15! Girls thought it was $40 or something.. Haha. Me and my shopping skills.... :P When I shop, I really shop. Throughout this month, I've bought dresses, skirts, and tops, about 25-30 garments all up?.. LOL!

I've learnt to toughen up and left my comfort zone and meet new people. I love meeting new people, it's just having constant relationships are what I struggle with. You can't click with everyone you meet, and that's when I learnt that friendships are based on time. A strong relationship doesn't happen overnight. It's about people opening up to one another, it's about taking a step forward and making yourself vulnerable and trusting, and they would trust you back in return.

Just how people how migrated from Malaysia helped my family settle in, we, in return are making ourselves available to help other migrants like ourselves to settle in. We know how it feels like starting everything again, so we're going to help others as much as we can. :)

I'm looking forward to a new year. I'm just going to look back at this year and say, "that wasn't the best year, more struggles than achievements, but next year is going to be a better one, in the name of Jesus!"

Yup.

Give me Your eyes..

Brandon Heath's Give Me Eyes : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OihvG607W-c

That song just made me tear up so bad. I heard it on the radio yesterday, I stopped whatever I was doing and started crying and praying at the same time. It just breaks my heart to know that the world is hurting so much. I only started to be more conscious of the brokenness in the world when a friend of mine went through rough times.

She is a friend whom I love dearly, a friend who isn't afraid to be different and got nominated as the most random person XD When she started telling me about her family, I could not help but tear up badly.

Since then, this song had been my prayer. This longing for the world to see His light increased eversince I met this friend of mine. After hearing her story, I was more than determined to share His love around.. I can't stand anyone being hurt anymore.

I was just thinking.. If I've been deeply hurt and broken by my friend's hurt, what about God? He sees the whole world.. He sees everything, and all the hurt. The more I try to imagine the more I start to tear up..


Give Me Your Eyes - Brandon Heath

Looked down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touched down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared?

Chorus:
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones who are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see again

Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what's underneath
Theres a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work
He's buying time

All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared?

Chorus

I've Been there a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just moving past me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
Well I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see the way you see the people all alone

Chorus (x2)

I dont know. This seems so different. This is the first birthday that I almost cried over. This is such a different environment. I know I sound like a little girl.. But my past birthdays, I would have calls and lots and lots of SMS-es, but here, it's only a handful of my friends who knows, and they are the ones who take the initiative to remember and bring me out..

I suddenly remembered the last Sunday that I had before I left. It doesn't pop up in my mind often, but all of a sudden it did.. And it made me really sad that I had departed from those friendships. I remembered after Leaders Meeting, James was so persistent that I would have my last mamak with him, he did that so that the girls would get the T-shirt done with everybody's signatures on it. Lol. That was the best memory ever.

Something happened in the first hour of my birthday that almost crushed me. Oh well, time to move on. As hard as it seems, I've got no choice.

I've waited a year for this!

One hour and 4 minutes time.. I'll turn 17! Forever 17? XD

Things have been really good lately. I've been working like a madwoman, 11 hours a day, 4 days a week.. Almost at the point of exhaustion. I've learnt so much since I began to work full-time. I started to learn regular customers' names, and they remembered mine. It's more than a transaction.. I love it. :) A cheeky customer (an old man) decided that he would show how much he likes me by spraying the new cologne that he bought for himself! I smelt like a man the rest of the day.. How nice.

We had Santa in our shop, giving kids stuff:) Santa was a regular customer of hours, an old, fragile man - one of the volunteers. Since we were all fond of each other, I got 2 big hugs from Santa:) Since he's not a big old man, he kept pulling his pants up so that they wouldn't fall!

I've been shopping lots, who knows how much I've spent..... A couple of hundreds, perhaps? Since I'm getting birthday money, and all those hours that I've been working, I'm going to have lots to spend :)

I got awesome presents from my employers! I got a $25 Village Cinemas gift card for my birthday and a gift box worth $40 for Christmas!! How nice of them?!?!..... :) Too bad I'm 'resigning' at the end of January :(

Okay, back to cleaning room.. oh, it's 45 minutes till I'm 17 now! :)

Hehe

Okay, I think that's about it.. the formal photos. Lol. It's been like what, 3 weeks? Hahaha..

I had a haircut so my hair is WAY shorter than it used to be. I sorta missed having my long straight hair. Now, since it's short, it curls out all the time. Great.. Lol. That haircut cost me 40 bucks! I actually wanted the hairdresser to give me a really short haircut but she advised me not to have it too short first. What in the world?

Mom banned me from going out today since I've been going out everyday and spending money. So I'm stuck at home for the entire day.. I'm supposed to be doing housework, but oh well.. XD

I got more clothes yesterday! XD Valleygirl is officially my favourite shop.. You get all those dressy tops for 10-15 dollars, when they cost like 40 dollars somewhere else. Mom's like, "Don't you have enough of those kind of clothes already? You need some casual ones!"

So I know what to shop for next.. :P

FORMAL PHOTOS! (2)

From Sarah's camera;

Yeap, Liam's sunglasses again...... XD

My Twilight buddy!

Imitating the ridiculous statue... and the wind made my dress retarded.

This is hilarious. I laugh everytime I see this. Naomie was like, "Priscilla looks like she's saluting Hitler!!!!!!!!!!" I laughed and laughed and laughed.... Hahahaha

From top, clockwise; Hannah, mine, Sarah, Naomie

I really like this one. Dont they look so gorgeous? Sarah and Naomie

Awww... cutest Gheradi siblings ever!

I watched Twilight on Sunday... Yes, AGAIN. Lol. Did I mention the first time Thalia's dad drove us 50 minutes to the cinema and had to endure 6 girls giggling over Twilight and swooning over Edward? I feel sorry for her dad.... Hahahahaha... And we made t-shirts and stuff.. Thalia's idea :) On Sunday, Amy, Naomie, Sarah and myself went to watch it after church. Lol.. Scott's like, "Pris, are you going to attend the service or talk about Edward Cullen all day?" And that's when I realised that the service was about to start.. XD

Denae: So what are you people doing this afternoon?

Me: TWILGHT!

Denae: What's Twilight?

Scott: Oh no, dont get her started!

Denae: What is it?

Me: It's about the hottest vampire....

Denae: Okay, I'm not interested already..

Me: WHATTTTTTT??!?!?!?!?!

Scott: It's a vampire, Pris. A v-a-m-p-i-r-e. How could a vampire be hot? They suck blood

Me: I dont care! *swoons over Edward Cullen* He's still the hottest vampire!

In the cinema on Sunday, I screamed when Edward Cullen appeared on the screen, with a whole bunch of Edward crazy fans. Lol!!

Any Team Edward supporters?.....

:)

Hi, are You there?

Hi God,

It's me again. You know I'm actually talking to a friend of mine and she said that she has a dream and a desire to help youths who face peer pressure, drugs, and all those high school things. We were just talking about another friend of mine got a prophecy from the pastor.

I can't help but wonder, how come I dont get those? I've been dreaming, waiting, anticipating for any of those. I've been wanting those so bad.. SOOOO BAD.

Some people who don't even desire for it just gets it, and I'm still waiting. I've been waiting for years, and I dont have any of it?

I sure hope You, didn't forget about me. Because I'll be awfully depressed if You did :(

I'm off now, heading to school tomorrow for an orientation.

Love, Priscilla

FORMAL PHOTOS! (1)

Sarah and myself with our killer heels!!!! Lol my heels are practically 3 and a half inches high, I was half a head taller than my normal height when I wore those heels, and I still ended up shorter than Sarah =.=

Sarah, Amy and myself :)

Amy!

Sarah said Amy looked like a fish HAHAHAHA....

LONG story.... I had a couple of shots with a pose simliar to that.. I'll explain when I get the other photos from friends :)

little Miriam

Denae and Sarah!

Gorgeous people.. Again :)

Liam, my youth leader. Who decided to krump behind this old man in a Zorro suit.. Haha. Hilarious. Love you, Liam!

Sarah and I gooding around with Liam's glasses :)

Naomie and Amy! :)

Denae and myself

Beth!! And I stole Naomie's scarf :)

All of us, minus John and Denae, they were the photographers

The boys

The girls

Lol it was so much fun.. It was the time to show the world that dancing with disco music is can be good clean fun. We had old farts from another group doing dirty dancing that disgusted us so bad. My feet are aching so bad from all the dancing and I'm all dizzy and my brain is about to burst if I dont head to bed now. Tonight was awesome and too bad it's the last youth night of the year :(

I'll get the photos from the rest soon and post it up!

I actually updated!

I haven't been updating much either. I've been actually sooo busy :) Exams ended on Wednesday afternoon and I started enjoying myself since then:)

Wed - Hung out with Stina, walked 30minutes when we could've just caught a busXD Idiots... :)

Thurs - Naomie and I found my dress for youth formal this Sat!

Fri - Headed to Knox with Stina. 45 minutes bus ride at the back of the bus. The ground felt wobbly when we got out of the bus. We're heading back when I have money! I was so poor and only had $1,50 with me and Stina had to loan me some money for lunch :)

Sat - worked 9-5.30 and headed to an awesome youth night!

Sun - church, then went to the Wormseley's place for fellowship :)

Today - worked 8.30-6.30. I almost died. Do you have ANY idea how busy Australia Post gets near Christmas time??!?! I'm practically building muscles from carrying newspapers and parcels. No kidding. And you have to have super legs to stand up for 10 hours, serving customers with a smile on your face though you're so tired you're just about to flop to the ground.

Tmr - off to the mall to get some stuff, going to work straight after that

I'm planning to work my butt off and earn all the money I can get so that I can spend it! Lol. I can't imagine not working and being a housewife. No money = no spending. My employer has been saying that I'm too independent for a girl my age, I should rely on my parents more. Gah, I love moving around on my own, makes me feel like I'm responsible enough to take care of myself. Well, sorta. I really dont like Dad picking me up or sending me around unless it's really necessary. I would prefer just hitching a bus, or public transport. Weird, I know.

I am so tired now I can just fall asleep with the laptop on my lap. My legs are hurting and they feel numb.

My weekend was really good, I have to say :) Just spending time with friends, even if it's for church events.. It's just beyond fun:) I had lots to think about over the weekend, and one of my friend's genuine passion for God just ignited something in me. A thought struck me, "If your friend could do it, why can't you? You were once like that, before you slacked off." Now, I'm back to who I was.

Enough of slacking, enough of making excuses, time to get serious in God and be all He had called me to be. Enough of going according to routines, enough of sitting at the sidelines and watch all the leaders do the work, time to get my hands dirty and join/support them. I know how it's like praying so hard for the members and events but not seeing any fruit, I know how disheartening it can be. I've been slacking too much, time to pick up my cross again.

I wish I was where I was, I dont have to experience awkwardness when starting to serve in church. But oh well, I can't turn back, can I? I would rather feel awkward and move forward, rather than to sit back and be a lukewarm Christian.

Oh yeah :)

I'm just going to send an e-mail and I'm going to hit the sack. I can't stand being awake any longer..

Love, Pris

This has GOT to stop!

Warning : Pris worked from 9AM-6.30PM today. She's tired, grumpy with multiple papercuts on her hands from work. This isn't the liveliest post ever. She feels pretty horrid herself, and she wants someone to wrap her up in a big hug to take away her frustrations :(

I have to stop envying my friends here. They have a time of their lives going out and having free slurpees while I sit at home studying.

Pris, you're new at this. All these friendship-business takes time.. You, of all people, would know that starting over is tough.

You can't compare to the life you used to have, hanging out with your fellow YC leaders and having the time of your life. You chose to take this path, you chose to start afresh, it was YOUR choice to move from one continent to the other. You made that choice, bear the consequences.. Good days will come.

Take one step at a time, Pris

It's so much easier telling myself to do it instead of doing it, really.

A random post :)

I sorta like this song.. Just ignore the images. I only listen songs from YouTube, I couldn't be bothered to look at the images.. XD

Okay, it's exams next week. *gasps*

Today was the last schooling day. You know what that means? No more History classes! [I don't mind History, it's just that I dont do very well, so I'm dropping it next year] And this is the best part, NO MORE MATHS METHODS CLASSES FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!!! How exciting is that?!?!?!?!........... *starts running around in circles*

Next 2 photos are just to entertain you. I was a little bored.. Hehe. Have I mentioned how friggin small my room is?! I brought back all my books and notes to study and since I didn't have anywhere to put them, I had to dump them [neatly!] on the floor. After exams, I dont have to touch those folders again until next year.. :)

With my Methods and Accounting calculators. Yeah, I have different calculators.. XD

I seem to have things weighing at the back of my mind. I've been reflecting on life lately.. Sometimes I wonder why I did I make the choices that I made. How could something so exciting and pleasant turn into a worrying matter?.. well, we all go through those phases in life at one point or another.. All I can do is just push those questions at the back of my mind and keep living life :)

p.s: I'm going to miss sitting with Hannah and Brianna during Methods. We dont do any work. We end up writing notes to each other with sticky notepads and sticking it on each other's school diaries, or draw faces in each others books.. We were THAT bored. Lol.. We act like 7 year old kids in Methods XD I'm REALLY going to miss laughing with Hannah till I start crying. I'm going to miss laughing so hard when she gets all red from laughing :( Good times, good times :)

I l-o-v-e school.

Yeah, I love school :)

A not-so-long post.. Well, sort of

Okay, I promise this wouldn't be a long post. Plus, I dont think anyone reads this anyway XD

Exams are coming up real soon. Yeah, I know, I'm Year 11 and it's not the important year. It feels so weird not graduating this year.. All my Malaysian friends my age are officially done with school in a couple of weeks time while the loser me still has another year to go. Hahaha..

I got 2 days off school so I'm going to use it to the max for my studies. (Shut up, I'm lazy but I'm not THAT lazy!)

Last weekend was just the best. I found where I belong. I'm happy with my life now, and things can only get better.

Somehow I can't wait to graduate from school and start uni!.. I mean like, you're starting all over again! It sounds so exciting.. As hard as this move was (and still is, ocassionally), it is still exciting! I really can't wait for uni! That's when everybody (well, almost everybody) would be pushed out of their comfort zone, looking for new friends to start off. There would be lots of trial and error moments before you find people that you are able to click with. I mean, I wouldn't be the only new kid looking for friends. I would be just part of the crowd. Now, that's a nice change for a start.. :)

I might be going back for a holiday next year. I MIGHT.. I dont know. Airfare tickets are so friggin expensive nowadays. And the cheapest flights are during school days and I can't afford missing classes for a couple of days, let alone a week! I've learnt my lesson. At the beginning of this semester, I had an excursion every week for 4 weeks and I did really badly on my tests. I'm not going to let that happen since it's Year 12 and the last year of high school. (before uni, WHOO HOO!)

Mom : You're face is still sort of long, but then your face grew sideways

Argh, thanks Mom for pointing out that I gained weight. Hahahaha... Lol I take my revenge by calling her fat sometimes. It's give and take.. Sort of XD

Okay, heading off to type out my Literature now

Love, Pris

I'm really going to do my work after this!

Thalia and myself trying to get a tan. We didn't know Christina snapped this shot!

Thalia, myself and Christina

Me attempting to lean on Edward Cullen's shoulder (DROOLS!). I was on my toes but clearly I wasn't tall enough. Hehe

Christina and myself

Again

Year 12s last day. Hamraz, my awesome Persian literature buddy!

Scott, myself and Scott's tape-man

Cause we're awesome:)

Thalia and Christina!

Christina and myself

Sarah and myself during youth dinner

Youth girls. Beth, Amy, myself and Miriam. Sarah and Naomie missing!!

I am such a lazy bum! I didn't do any school work throughout the entire weekend!!..

Friday - school, a short nap, computer the rest of the night

Sat - was out from 9 to 9. Lol. Work & watched The Duchess with Stina (Stupid ending!!!)

Sun - church, went shopping with family but didn't get much except for a pink hoodie, cleaned house and lazed around.

I've got homework due tomorrow and I haven't touched it at all. And it's 11.43PM and I'm falling asleep now. Goodness.. What is wrong with me???.. LOL