happy cny everyone!

cny's pretty dull this year. seems like it gets progressively less exciting each year. nevertheless, time spent with my cousins more than makes up for the lack of festivities. was never especially close to any of my cousins cos those with whome i spend most time with are guys and basically we don't have very much in common. but then again, there are 8 of us abt the same age and when you add in the 7 lil monkeys in primary school and below, there's never a quiet moment in the quek family. love my cousins loads!

too bad i didn't get to go back to tangkak to visit the other half of my relatives. its a whole different type of fun. cards, mahjong and alot more talking. and of course there's my baby nieces that i sadly was not able to see. to rub salt to the wound, celebrations in this little town was especially extravagant this year, with the main street lighting up like chinatown in all its authenticity, wooden shop houses and even fire crackers and fire works, so i've been told. argh. wish i could have been where all the fun was at.

anyway, SATs are finally over. what a relief. was at smu this morning and decided to pay a visit to the gymnasium. i miss gym sooo much. was watching sherry from rj, sarah, gladys, stacey and the twins train and i just felt like going down to the mats and just jump around a little. also met the twin's parents and learnt that they've gone to rgs. needless to say, my first reaction was one of indignation. but then, something occurred to me and i was overcome with guilt and to a certain extent, shame. not comfortable sharing the details here so i'll just stop here. darn i felt really bad.

my day started really horribly today. thank goodness it got progressively better. couldn't have gotten any worse anyway. still, was quite dampened. good thing i have great classmates and juniors and a really interesting angel and mortal to brighten my day. hehehz.

had a browse through Inspirations 2003 today. gotta say that i'm really impressed, and jealous too that it wasn't an annual thing when i was in SN. really creative and simply beautiful. was especially absorbed in yong hui's expository essay on education. great language and quotations. really impressed. easily puts me to shame. haha. seriously. she's one talented gal. great job!

78 has been displaced from our cosy little corner of hcjc. darn. really liked it there with all the tables and all the space. was like our own little haven away from the noise and the crowd. on the other hand, its a return to civilisation after years of isolation from the rest of the class benches. haha. oh well. the sl and cafe better be worth us giving up our he(2) shan(1). gonna miss the place and 77 and all those memories. sigh.

cny's round the corner. yay. love visiting pple and just spending time with my relatives and friends. too bad this year i won't be joining the fun at tangkak with my maternal relatives. stuck in singapore this year cos i've got SATs on chu(1) san(1). wth. was really looking forward to playing with my beautiful baby nieces. dunno when i'll get to see them again. SATs, be gone!!

one week of school has gone by and though i'm almost adjusted once again to the speed of this conveyor belt, i just can't get rid of this nagging feeling of insecurity that threatens to drag me down into sporadic bouts of depression. not that i'm specifically unhappy about something. at least, i don't think so.

thanks shung for that really meaningful worship session today. perhaps i've lost sight of the shore for a while and have been blindly travelling in the wrong direction those weeks i couldn't make it to church or for disciple. but after today's session, i'm reminded once again of the comsuming, omnipresent love the Big Guy has for me. And even though i stray from the flock ever so often towards material pursuits, He specially goes out to look for this hopelessly lost child and brings me back. And then He celebrates the return of this lost child who shouldn't have succumbed to human temptation in the first place. Amazing love, how can it be, that You my king would die for me? Amazing love, i know its true. And its my joy to honour You. In all i do, i honour You.

Its been an amazing 3 years with Agape. I'm gonna miss the company of all you guys! Eugenia, Huey-Chyi, Say Yong, Timothy, Kong Jin, Jaesson, Terri, Ben, Jenghis, Eugene, Euclid, Nat, James, Jocelyn, Bu Bin, Bu Wei, Aaron, Justin... think that's all of us. Hmm... wonder how those pple who have left us are doing. Sigh. YM's gonna be different with the reshuffling. Yep. Its definitely neccessary, but i'm really gonna miss all the crap we shared. hehz. Love you guys always! AGAPE ROX!! ;P

feels weird being J2. i never did quite fit into the shoes of being in secondary school in the first place and look at me now, a senior in junior college with only a year more before entering uni. its so adult, a word so familiar yet so vague and distant. i remember a time not so long ago, when staying up past 12 was a luxury left only for the eve of a special day. i remember vividly the last night i was 12. the elation of finally owning a disc man, and, at the same time, the nostalgia of my childhood that was ticking away. the reason for my sadness was not just the robbing of the privileges and concessions that comes with being a "child-under-12", but the symbolic loss of innocence, or rather the eligibility for feigning it. then again, i lavish upon the freedom being a teenager entitles, but stumble then and again under the heavy responsibilities and expectations. very soon i'm gonna be out of my comfort zone and the road ahead is a blur of choices. i look forward to the future with bated excitement and nervous anticipation.

my grown-up christmas list
do you remember me?
i sat upon your knee
i wrote to you with childhood fantasies
well i'm all grown-up now
can you still help somehow?
i'm not a child but my heart still believes
so here's my life-long wish
my grown-up christmas list
not for myself but for a world in need

no more lives torn apart
and wars will never start
and time will heal our hearts
every man will have a friend
and right will always win
and love will never end
this is my grown-up christmas list

what is this illusion called the innocence of youth?
maybe only if the blind believe can we ever find the truth

there'd be no more lives torn apart
and wars will never start
and time will heal our heart
every man will have a friend
and right will always win
and love will never end
this is my grown-up christmas list
this is my only life-long wish
this is my grown-up christmas list

	Cheer Bear You're the Care Bear cheerleader! Your spunky personality and optimisim lifts everyone's spirit. Though you want everyone to be happy, you stand your ground on issues you feel strongly about and this can bring disunity among your friends. Despite this, you are a true believer in working together.
Take the Which Care Bear Are You? Quiz!

oh yeah. i almost forgot. merry christmas everyone!!!

merry christmas to my dearest 03s78, 4Charitians, 1 and 2 faithians and 6hibees!!
merry christmas to the snpmb and sngym team esp bird, edina, cons, ps, zq, jioubu, kel and chris. love you guys.
merry christmas to the hc, sn sec and ij primary teachers.
merry christmas to fukuoka futaba high schoolers, seiai, miwa, melbourne uni and especially ISSS 2003.
merry christmas tmc ym!!
merry christmas bern, chris, joyce and andrea.
merry christmas dad, mom, rong and han.
merry christmas xiz and bean!
and last but not least merry christmas my dearest angels cel and aimei. miss you loads!

and to all, a blessed new year!

my trusty 8210 is gone forever! darn sad. it may be primitive but don't you dare underestimate its ability. its an awesome phone. well at least its alot faster than 8310. oh well. i guess this heralds a new beginning? hopefully so.

the new year is here and i'm as flustered as always. homework left undone, revision left unchecked, worksheets left unfiled, cupboards left unorganised. i'm been stuck in such deep shit for so long a time i can't remember the smell of fresh air! yeh. sorry pple, haven't been keeping this place updated. been really busy with really mundane stuff that would probably lull you all to sleep. as if you don't know what its like anyway. all hail the education system man! bleah.

home sweet home! boy am i glad to be home. still, even tho the weather in melbourne is eratic, i still miss it. sweating like nobody's buisness here. even tho melbourne's horribly overpopulated with retarded flies, i still miss it. tried swatting a mosquito in my toilet today, but to no avail. sigh. i miss melbourne so very much. miss the weather. miss the food. miss the buildings. miss my friends. i guess returning back to singapore was all in due time. 17 days away from home and my comfy bed is a tad long. still, it felt more like crashing back to reality than anything else. melbourne is so different from singapore yet i felt so at home there. maybe it helps that i have relatives there, and perhaps its because the population of asians there is considerably higher than other non-asian countries. but its something about the culture, the whole scene there, physical and spiritual, that makes me feel relaxed and enthralled. i guess i needed some time away from home, away from everthing. i needed to clear my mind. now i feel refreshed.

went to watch we will rock you yesterday. great music! punk hair, punk clothes, punk music, punk jokes. totally rocks dude! sweet. its basically a really unconventional musical based on queen's chart toppers. had the element of a rock concert in it. was really cool.

i've paid my dues
time after time
i've done my sentence
but committed no crime
and bad mistakes
i've made a few
i've had my share of sand
kicked in my face
but I've come through

we are the champions my friend
we'll keep on fighting till the end
we are the champions
we are the champions
no time for losers
cos we are the champions
of the world!!!!!!

melbourne's great. really enjoying myself. could be better if
1. the weather would just make up its mind
2. the sun weren't so darn scorching even when its so friggin cold
3. there weren't so many houseflies
4. my cranky camera could resurrect
5. the dingy dryer would stop shriking my clothes

but apart from that, like i've said, melbourne's great. the food's delicious, the people here are fun, the chocs are heavenly and you can play soccer for one whole afternoon without sweating a drop. sweet.

anyway, just visited jae's blog and saw all those pics of pple in yellow having a wonderful time at youth camp. darn. wish i could have been there. bet you guys had lots of fun. :)

at aunty lucy's place now. managed to leave the group to spend the night here with my beloved cousins. :) its a completely different experience going around with locals. went shopping with aunty lucy at victoria market, myers and target. yay. great place this is. the breeze is so cool and even tho it was 35 deg celcius yesterday afternoon, hardly sweat at all. the locals feel that its really hot tho. so last night, suelee, mike and i went down to lygon street to have ice cream and to star gaze at 11. wanted to go to st kilda's beach and cool down a little in the sea, but suelee had to get up early this morning. oh well. nvm. so in the end, mike and i stayed up till about 2, looking thru some of his very interesting photos, and catching up some on the balcony cos it was getting a little hot in the apartment. yep. well anyway, going back to trinity college soon. gonna have some time there alone before the group gets back. man. wish i could spend more time here with mike. really miss them loads.

finally flying off to melbourne tmr morning. somehow the excitement has worn off. hopefully i'll get refuelled again. anyway, if anybody needs to contact me, email me k. please don't call my phone or sms me unless its really urgent. you might not be able to get me in the first place. yep. danke!

i'm so doggone pissed off! argh! dunno what is wrong with me. i dun have the right to be pissed off at anything or anybody cos nome has explicitly pissed me off. but i am. and i hate it.

i'm back! feel like i've been disconnected from the whole world while cooped up for 5 days at ulu ulu ntu. anyway, had quite abit of fun. have this urge to do some more of those mensa quizzes, that is if i manage to find those books my mom bought a long long time ago. haha. think i'm going nuts. met a whole bunch of really interesting people at ntu. heheh. very interesting indeed.

i'm at a library at ntu right now. just had a really yummy lunch of spaghetti courtesy of cjs catering. contrary to what jae told me bout the programme, its actually quite fun. MENSA activities are gonna commence in about half an hour. not exactly looking forward to that cos its gonna last till 10:30 tonight, which means less time to play bridge and daidee tonight. yep. tmr's the last day of the camp, so i'm planning to play cards and not sleep the whole night, that is if i can hold up with my sanity still functioning.

met up with zhiqi, bird and edina at ms chua's wedding today. needless to say, she was utterly gorgeous. stunning to be exact. her grace, her elegence, her poise, her smile... able's one lucky guy. :)

the wedding was beautiful. simple yet blissful. of course, there was the conventional march down the isle, flower girl and all. reminds of a time, some 12 years ago, when i was itching, literally, to get out of the nasty, fluffy white dress that looked to me somewhat like layers of mosquito nets, but ironically felt otherwise. had me considering not getting married at all if i had to endure all that discomfort again. then horrors of horrors, i found myself in the same dress a year later, promenading down the same aisle and cringing under the stares and "aw-so-cute" whispers amidst pachebel's canon in d. but that's besides the point. the sn choir did us proud (or rather made me feel proud) with their song dedication to the newly-weds. but what really stole the show was the groom's spontaneous surprise serenade to the bride. it was so sweet it almost gave me a toothache. (it also made the lady behind me cry. ;S)

see guys, it doesn't matter if you aren't rich or you aren't the best looking guy around. (although, i must admit, that wouldn't hurt) it's how you go about winning the girl's respect and ultimately her heart. naturally it may seem that the 2 most important factors are appearance and material wealth, but be careful that these 2 things might be the curse in a relationship. no. what's most important is that you treat her right, with dignity and utmost respect. patience, my friend. one day you will succeed.

sometimes i wonder: if somebody was talking about me, what would that person say? today, i went to the wedding, harbouring the premonition that i would meet someone. lo and behold, i met miss foo, my sec 1 form teacher. it was a pleasant surprise. couldn't quite recognise her at first. maybe its the glasses, or rather, the lack of them. it was great seeing her again. i owe so much to her, more than she could ever imagine. turns out that i used to be really close to the daughter of one of her colleagues at the current school she's teaching in. apparently miss foo's aware, to a certain extent, of my past escapades in my younger days. :S better be weary of my actions now. who knows who i might bump into next. singapore's so freakin small, its scary.

anyway, cheers to able and cheleen. may you guys be happy forever and ever.

crap. there's no pic to the quiz i just did. oh well. seems blogger and i dun get along very well. been having abit of problems with opening updated pages on blogger. geez. seems like the weather hates me too. its so darn humid. can hear the shower beckoning me for the 4th time today. can't turn on the friggin air-condition cos the workers busted a water pipe. sheesh. just my luck.

You are Trinity, from "The Matrix."
Strong, beautiful- you epitomize the ultimate
heroine.


What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

yay. got my tagboard up and running yesterday. feel accomplished. :)

was reading ronglin's blog bout the purple amulet from dazaifu. brought back lots and lots of memory bout my exchange to fukuoka last year. remember very vividly visiting the dazaifu shrine with the mystical plum tree, which was believed to have marked the place out for the building of this historical monument. i remember the three bridges we had to cross to get to the shrine. the first represents the past, the second the present and the thrid the future. we were gravely warned not to stumble or trip as we crossed the bridges, as it would anticipate any failures in our lives. also we could not look back on the path we had walked. something about not dwelling on what has passed, but focusing on what is to come. the first and last bridges were archs, while the middle one was level. its supposed to signify that there have been bumps in our past, and although the present may be smooth sailing, it doesn't mean that there will not be any difficulties in the future. then when we reached the shrine, we were greeted with tall slabs of granite with chinese inscriptions on them, and hundreds of plum trees in full bloom all around the park. legend has it that a famous scholar was buried there in the 9th century. he was very intelligent and wrote great poems and other literary works. he was actually born in kyoto, but was exiled to kyushu. it is believed that the plum tree beside the alter flew with him from kyoto to kyushu, hence the park full of plum trees. after his death, he was revered as the god of education and thousands of people from all over japan pay visits to the shrine before a major examination and hang amulets outside the alter for luck. so being kiasu singaporeans as we were, some of us bought some wooden amulets with nice verses on them, wrote our name and hung them around the pagoda. after that, we had a really nice tea near the shrine, sitting on tatami mats, sipping on traditional japanese tea and nibbling on rice cakes filled with plum paste. all this under the canopy of the plum trees. it was just heavenly.

oh man. feels like i've been to fukuoka and back again, reliving all those memories. *sighs wistfully*