Was singing the song 'Blessed be the Name of the Lord' in church today. There was one line in the song that goes 'He gives and takes away'. A line that was deeply etched into my mind and heart on those days my mum went to heaven last year.
Today is Charissa's birthday, and it's overwhelming to see the number of friends she has who still remember her deeply, and whose life she's still very much a part of.
I received an SMS last Thursday while I was halfway through my bio lab from Matthew saying that he lost his dad to death, following with details of the wake and cremation. My heart just went out to him and his family then. It takes the experience of facing a death personally, to understand what it feels like. There is just this void gap when you lose someone that there's this vacuum in your heart, telling you the person is there no more, and you're so thrown off balance that you just need to fill it with something. With sorrow, with memories? With the assurance of God's promises that there is life after death? With the love of those around you?
I think there is no experience yet in my life parallel to losing the people I love to death. No wonder it is one of the only recorded incidence (at least directly recorded) at which Jesus wept. Yes, there is life after death, but still, death separates and it is very painful. Yet it is still very assuring and comforting to know that death is not the ultimate conquerer.
As I was sitting in the BTC bus on the way to church today, I saw how it was bright and sunny outside on the road. Again nature reminds me that although dust has returned to dust, life around you is still there, and you must somehow learn to move on.
Pastor's message today was about the second coming of Christ, which is very near, any time from now, because almost all the prophecies of his coming are fulfilled at this day and age. And the idea of Christ coming again any time of now, in a blink of an eye, when we are still unprepared, really blows away my heart and mind. It made death seem so insignificant, and that it is just but a passing moment, when suddenly all of us will be swept into eternity, entering eternal grace, or eternal judgement.
I know Christ is true, and His promises are true, because I always see them unfolding, and coming alive, in my own life and in the life of others. But I shudder yet when it comes to the question on whether I am ready or not, when He comes, or even when my own time on earth comes, should it come before the time He comes again. True, I have already accepted Him as my personal Savior. But have I lived my life in the way that it says and proclaims that I am saved by Him? What have I been focusing on?
Just a reminder to self today to focus on things that really matter now, and looking beyond temporary joys and sorrows - and to make life really count, in the Lord. He's been knocking on my heart these days and I've only to find courage to surrender, and respond.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
My Favorite Time of the Semester
My favorite time of the semester is here. Recess week! A break without having the face the pressure of impending finals (think reading week). Every time it comes when I totally need it. And it goes just as quickly as it comes.
I know I have two upcoming tests right after recess week, and I need to study hard for them during this short little one week break. But then again, a one week break is a one week break. It means a week of not needing to go for lectures, tutorials or labs; a week to catch up with piled up work, and a week NOT to have extra work that I haven't finished piled up at the end of it. :)
Convocation dinner was last Tuesday and it is long over. Just wanted to blog about it because it was my first Chamber Music Ensemble (CME) performance of the year. CME this year is really really small, and we have to do these 1-2 person performances now, instead of the 5-8 ones we used to do previously. I paired with Sharon to do Air in D, which she has never heard before at all prior to this. Sharon plays the erhu, and she's used to listening and playing Chinese songs ONLY. So Air in D is what she calls an 'ang moh' song. I say we didn't do too badly considering the times we practiced were very limited. Of course it wasn't a blast, and did pale in comparism with some performances put up by the Rugged Hallways (that's what RH Band is called now), but then it did fish in quite a number of compliments. Even I who was hidden behind the piano and was not seen at all got a personal compliment from one of the alumni :) I think she was very kind.
Separations test is over. It was 25 MCQ questions, and the duration was only 1 hour. As usual panic signals overwhelmed my brain when I saw the question to time ratio, but fortunately, I managed to recover quite a bit when the exam actually started. I guess part of the panic was due to the unusual absence of Mei, my classmate, who was usually very responsible and punctual when it comes to test. Not only was she absent, but she did not pick up all the calls I sent to her! It turned out that she was on the way to the test, but might not have heard her phone on the shuttle bus. I shall decline to comment on all things regarding this 10% test that I have not slept well for the past week for, except this: I think the lecturer was very smart when he asked for us to put our workings down. He could have just marked our answers alone (because the test was multiple choice) but he chose to look through our workings as well, so as to ensure that our results wasn't just a result of sheer luck.
Not sleeping for a whole day for test prep did take its toll for me. I totally blacked out the whole of next day (Friday) and pigged it in peacefully. I missed all my (webcasted) lectures, and my project meeting! And I didn't realize (or conveniently forgot) that there was a meeting going on until Yew Hong called to tell me the meeting was finished. Somehow I had mixed feelings about his calling me after everything was over. On one hand, I thought it would be better if I received the call when it was still ongoing so that I could at least rush over. On the other hand, I was quite happy because I got to replenish lost sleep. Hmms.
Anyway, today is already Saturday, and despite having made up my mind to spend it mugging, the weather was so temptingly cloudy and cool and rainy that I compromised by spending another half of the day pigging it again. When weekdays come I think I'd have to drag myself to some place around school without a bed to mug. Otherwise the allure of sleeping in such a nice cold weather is too much for a tired soul like mine. Hopefully that some place would have a range of nice (affordable) food to go with it too. Won't mind putting on a little weight this week, and food does in a way keep me awake and fuel me to keep on going.
Had dinner with Wai Pheng, Tirza, Zjun and Jon today at Thai Express, which Wai Pheng insisted on treating. I forgot to took pictures though. :( Last time I had laksa, so this time I tried their green curry. It was super delicious when ate together with rice. Zhi Jun appeared to be quite fond of my curry too, and since there was a lot of it, both of us splashed generous amounts on our rice. Oh no, just blogging about it has aroused my taste buds. Tirza's tomyam soup should be nice too, but it was so unusually hot that I couldn't stand it. There was this little baby next to us, with the most expressive eyes ever. The mother pointed out that the shirt he was wearing had the words 'Big Flirt' on it. Haha. I think it was rather an apt statement because you could really describe his eyes as 'seductive'. He kept on staring at us and allowed Zjun to hold his hand.
That's for the beginning of my recess week. I wonder how it would end. Hopefully with the blog post saying that I am well rested and at the same time well prepared for my tests. =p I hope this won't be wishful thinking.
I know I have two upcoming tests right after recess week, and I need to study hard for them during this short little one week break. But then again, a one week break is a one week break. It means a week of not needing to go for lectures, tutorials or labs; a week to catch up with piled up work, and a week NOT to have extra work that I haven't finished piled up at the end of it. :)
Convocation dinner was last Tuesday and it is long over. Just wanted to blog about it because it was my first Chamber Music Ensemble (CME) performance of the year. CME this year is really really small, and we have to do these 1-2 person performances now, instead of the 5-8 ones we used to do previously. I paired with Sharon to do Air in D, which she has never heard before at all prior to this. Sharon plays the erhu, and she's used to listening and playing Chinese songs ONLY. So Air in D is what she calls an 'ang moh' song. I say we didn't do too badly considering the times we practiced were very limited. Of course it wasn't a blast, and did pale in comparism with some performances put up by the Rugged Hallways (that's what RH Band is called now), but then it did fish in quite a number of compliments. Even I who was hidden behind the piano and was not seen at all got a personal compliment from one of the alumni :) I think she was very kind.
Separations test is over. It was 25 MCQ questions, and the duration was only 1 hour. As usual panic signals overwhelmed my brain when I saw the question to time ratio, but fortunately, I managed to recover quite a bit when the exam actually started. I guess part of the panic was due to the unusual absence of Mei, my classmate, who was usually very responsible and punctual when it comes to test. Not only was she absent, but she did not pick up all the calls I sent to her! It turned out that she was on the way to the test, but might not have heard her phone on the shuttle bus. I shall decline to comment on all things regarding this 10% test that I have not slept well for the past week for, except this: I think the lecturer was very smart when he asked for us to put our workings down. He could have just marked our answers alone (because the test was multiple choice) but he chose to look through our workings as well, so as to ensure that our results wasn't just a result of sheer luck.
Not sleeping for a whole day for test prep did take its toll for me. I totally blacked out the whole of next day (Friday) and pigged it in peacefully. I missed all my (webcasted) lectures, and my project meeting! And I didn't realize (or conveniently forgot) that there was a meeting going on until Yew Hong called to tell me the meeting was finished. Somehow I had mixed feelings about his calling me after everything was over. On one hand, I thought it would be better if I received the call when it was still ongoing so that I could at least rush over. On the other hand, I was quite happy because I got to replenish lost sleep. Hmms.
Anyway, today is already Saturday, and despite having made up my mind to spend it mugging, the weather was so temptingly cloudy and cool and rainy that I compromised by spending another half of the day pigging it again. When weekdays come I think I'd have to drag myself to some place around school without a bed to mug. Otherwise the allure of sleeping in such a nice cold weather is too much for a tired soul like mine. Hopefully that some place would have a range of nice (affordable) food to go with it too. Won't mind putting on a little weight this week, and food does in a way keep me awake and fuel me to keep on going.
Had dinner with Wai Pheng, Tirza, Zjun and Jon today at Thai Express, which Wai Pheng insisted on treating. I forgot to took pictures though. :( Last time I had laksa, so this time I tried their green curry. It was super delicious when ate together with rice. Zhi Jun appeared to be quite fond of my curry too, and since there was a lot of it, both of us splashed generous amounts on our rice. Oh no, just blogging about it has aroused my taste buds. Tirza's tomyam soup should be nice too, but it was so unusually hot that I couldn't stand it. There was this little baby next to us, with the most expressive eyes ever. The mother pointed out that the shirt he was wearing had the words 'Big Flirt' on it. Haha. I think it was rather an apt statement because you could really describe his eyes as 'seductive'. He kept on staring at us and allowed Zjun to hold his hand.
That's for the beginning of my recess week. I wonder how it would end. Hopefully with the blog post saying that I am well rested and at the same time well prepared for my tests. =p I hope this won't be wishful thinking.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Canada Blog
Behold, Swee Yee's blog link! She finally started blogging in Canada!
http://sycanada.blogspot.com/
Will enjoy reading this. But first, I'd better finish up my help sheet for tomorrow's test.
http://sycanada.blogspot.com/
Will enjoy reading this. But first, I'd better finish up my help sheet for tomorrow's test.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Weekend of Week 5
Week 5 is over and I'm now in week 6. By the time this week is over, half my semester is gone. Can't really believe that... and it seems that I still have so much to learn!
The industrial attachment company list is out. There are so many choices I don't know which to choose! Will settle that this Thursday after my Separation Process Engineering test. Thursday is going to be super packed. Test 8.30 am to 9.30 am. After that rush to lab to analyze batch fermentation results. Immediately after that 3 hours of HYSYS computer lab. An hour after that Numerical Methods tutorial. 1 hour break for lunch (or for me to flop down in exhaustion). Finally I have my Separation tutorial at 5-6 pm.
I must really set my alarm not to faint on that night because I still have to select my IA options!
As mentioned, Separations test is on Thursday, and I'm not really that prepared yet. I've gone through all the notes but haven't done the help sheet nor read the text book. Almost done in tutorials. The most noteworthy thing that I've learnt in this module is separations is not spelled as 'seperations'. =.= Imagine going to school and learning English for this many years, and only to rectify the mistake now. I suppose I'm not going to get it wrong again after this because that word always appears when I make my notes.
I moved into my new room on Friday night. Moved from 10 pm till 4 am, with breaks in between. I was really tired and felt so dirty after that. But I like my new room! All the furniture smells new, and it's clean. I won't say it's tidy because I haven't fully unpacked yet. And being me, it's hopeless to think that the room would even be really tidy. But then my shelves are quite neat, only my table top is rather messy, as usual. I changed my bed sheet and washed my blanket to fit the occassion. Now everything smells nice.
I like the view outside my window. It's a patch of green trees, and the paved steps leading to Block 2. It's not as 'kepo' as my previous room in Block 5 (meaning I can see what everyone is doing), but a lot of people go up and down the steps and I get to observe them. Of course that means they see me from my room too.
Moving was quite fun especially the fact that I have 5 cute new neighbours now apart from Zhi Jun and Wen Qiao. I wanted to call them the 'Bond Girls' because I couldn't recall 'Charlie's Angels'. But Zhi Jun said 'Kero's Angels' is cuter and since they are Chin Wee's girls we called them that. Haha. Zhi Jun doesn't mind rooming with them beause the space they take up are quite negligible. :)
Okies that's all my updates for today. Back to the books again. I wonder why my blogs always end this way.
The industrial attachment company list is out. There are so many choices I don't know which to choose! Will settle that this Thursday after my Separation Process Engineering test. Thursday is going to be super packed. Test 8.30 am to 9.30 am. After that rush to lab to analyze batch fermentation results. Immediately after that 3 hours of HYSYS computer lab. An hour after that Numerical Methods tutorial. 1 hour break for lunch (or for me to flop down in exhaustion). Finally I have my Separation tutorial at 5-6 pm.
I must really set my alarm not to faint on that night because I still have to select my IA options!
As mentioned, Separations test is on Thursday, and I'm not really that prepared yet. I've gone through all the notes but haven't done the help sheet nor read the text book. Almost done in tutorials. The most noteworthy thing that I've learnt in this module is separations is not spelled as 'seperations'. =.= Imagine going to school and learning English for this many years, and only to rectify the mistake now. I suppose I'm not going to get it wrong again after this because that word always appears when I make my notes.
I moved into my new room on Friday night. Moved from 10 pm till 4 am, with breaks in between. I was really tired and felt so dirty after that. But I like my new room! All the furniture smells new, and it's clean. I won't say it's tidy because I haven't fully unpacked yet. And being me, it's hopeless to think that the room would even be really tidy. But then my shelves are quite neat, only my table top is rather messy, as usual. I changed my bed sheet and washed my blanket to fit the occassion. Now everything smells nice.
I like the view outside my window. It's a patch of green trees, and the paved steps leading to Block 2. It's not as 'kepo' as my previous room in Block 5 (meaning I can see what everyone is doing), but a lot of people go up and down the steps and I get to observe them. Of course that means they see me from my room too.
Moving was quite fun especially the fact that I have 5 cute new neighbours now apart from Zhi Jun and Wen Qiao. I wanted to call them the 'Bond Girls' because I couldn't recall 'Charlie's Angels'. But Zhi Jun said 'Kero's Angels' is cuter and since they are Chin Wee's girls we called them that. Haha. Zhi Jun doesn't mind rooming with them beause the space they take up are quite negligible. :)
Okies that's all my updates for today. Back to the books again. I wonder why my blogs always end this way.
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