Come Rescue Me

Dear God,

how are you doing today? do you hear our songs like the angels' melodies? are you rejoicing or are you sad because there's still only a handful that would make it to your kingdom? Lord, why do I say I try so hard to bring people to your church but people got opinions, got questions, got emotions (they don't love you God)?
Lord, why do I say I try so hard, hoping one day you'll come rescue me?

God, i'm not perfect and I always fall short of being worthy. I say i've given my best but you know i haven't. why do people run away when your name is mentioned? is it cause the name strikes fear? or is it because you're like the friendless classmate throughout school?

Am I in your book God?

i'd write this letter, seal it and call on the postman. i see him out my window every morning when i wake to go to school God. But will he be there when all's said and done?
You're the yeast that makes a bread grow - You give the increase Lord. but i'm the baker, and the bakery's been shut for too long.
i've been trying to save this 1 soul Lord for so long now. Why do i say i try so hard - when i havent?

In your eyes we're all sinners Lord even when I say i'm trying so hard. but i'll stand for you God, and fall for anything. let me know that you understand. i'm no superstar and the spotlight's not on me.

God? When are you coming to take me home? I'm waiting to hear from you.

<3,
most unworthy

Term Break

1 week sure passed by so fast. I have barely begun to enjoy my holidays, and I'm now back to waking up early, assignments and the much terrifying exams.

Anyhow, this was how my break went.

Day 1 (Monday)
Groceries at Boxhill, and editing Lab Report 2 due on Tuesday (bleugh..)

Day 2 (Tuesay)
I HAD ROTI PRATA FOR DINNER!!!

Day 3 (Wednesday)
Trip to Brighton Beach

From left: Jas Lim, Nat, Da Jie, Angie, Me, Aput, Angeline, Alester
Note to self: Photoshop Adib's face into picture

Show them smiles

Hmph! Been to Brighton Beach, why haven't you?

God, I see your beauty

Day 4 (Thursday)
Had lunch with Tony and Michael at 'Singapore Chomp Chomp' in the city. Pei Kee 'flew our aeroplanes' the last minute. Nice catching up with you guys.

Day 5 (Friday)
Bummed around. Cooked chicken curry. yum!

Day 6 (Saturday)
Road Trip: Great Ocean Road

Bell's Bay

Split Point Lighthouse

Koalas!!!

12-4=8 Apostles

Loch Ard Gorge. This was my favourite

Thank you God for your work of art, and Thank you all who've made my week.

Thank you.

Meet Teabag

Hello,


this is my new found friend.

Animals, they wont cheat on you, though sometimes they do get a little rough. but they never hurt you where the heart is. they're your joy after a long day at school or work. they greet you, and they make you feel wanted (where food is concerned).

meet teabag.


she hasn't replaced the spot where April has taken but she's a beauty.

Friends,
if you know me well enough, you know I NEVER liked cats. but teabag is different. Very different. Its hard to express it in words, so just meet her.

Curiosity killed me. i now like you kitty cat.

loves.

The Fallen are the Virtuous

Friday night was crazy. No wait, actually it was 2am Saturday morning.
Well, you might ask what I was doing so late walking around. Ought to be in bed getting beauty sleep right?

No.

Students do not get beauty sleep. They don't get sleep. Period.

So yes, most of you might have known by now. I fell down the stairs. Backwards. Hitting my head and my precious back on the steps. Pretty much walking like an egyptian mummy now.

Excellent posture.

Thanks to auntie Carol for her koyok and counterpain. I should be up and about in no time.

Anyhow, this is one joke i really like.

At Sunday today....
Jon Chan, "Aiyah, when Jasmine falls, its a terrible thing. but when Grace falls....she falls with grace."

ok, lame eh.

and and, this one was from Jason

"Wah, you were trying to save your laptop i see. good good. see doctor need about $100. new laptop need about $2000"

and i must add.....losing laptop with your assignments in it. PRICELESS.


So much for telling ONE person i fell down the stairs.

Tour de Chambre

Last night was awesome.
Lights, costumes, parties.

And well, for everyone else, drinks.

First up was okay, I can't remember the names of the apartments. But I think this was one Boronia 1

Theme: Happy New Year 2289

Futuristic

Then we moved to Boronia 2.
Theme: 666

Bite Me

Headed next for Bottlebrush 2
Theme: Jungle

Mushy Greens

And then to Waratah
Theme: Casino Royale

let's hit jackpot tonight

Mariah's aparment at Wattle 2 with

Theme: Sex on the Beach

The girls behind the theme. Inspired by 'SEX in the City'

where the party at?

And then at Dawn's at Wattle 3

Theme: Valentine's

Don't play cupid

Just be my valentine

Jo and Andrea's Apartment at Acacia

Theme: Football

Glory, glory er..all the clubs

Lilyana's Apartment at Banksia

Theme: Indian Dance

maut na aayi, teri yaad kyon aayi

Ouh, and this was my favourite *Screams* Francis' at Bluegum 5

Theme: Land of Ice and Snow

Miracle of Beauty

And The Asian Girl's Apartment at Wattle 1

Theme: Oscar Awards

Stars in this Spring


Write on my Wall of Fame

And We'll Make it Velvet Brown

Last night, Dawn decided to dye her hair, and got the help of wonderful housemate Brit to help.

So what's leftover, is my really blackened comb (which I know I will have no use of anymore), velvet brown hair for Dawn (it was supposed to be black dye. hm..), and................. photos!

Ta-da!

Mahjulah Singapore-ah

I am still very much Singaporean. And I definitely miss home.

The food at least.

Laska, chicken rice, calbee prawn crackers (the cheapest i found so far is A$1.80!), yong tau foo, fishball noodles, fried rice (from across the road where I live), BAK KUT TEH, ice kachang, SEASONS ICE LEMON TEA, mom's cooking (although sometimes i can cook better :p), mee goreng (the one I had the other day was like noodles with curry powder. yuck), PENG KUEH, TEH PENG (the milk tea here is horrible), nasi briyani ....
Basically everything at a hawker centre. I miss seeing hawker centres.

And I miss talking to people so much in Singlish. I have to be 2-mouthed here - Speak angmohish to the angmohs, and singlish to the singaporean babes.

-

Last Thursday was National Day. So while you people back home were busy celebrating the day off, so was I. but it was belated for me, cause my celebration was on Friday.

But but...it was awesome.

Hm?!

Hah! Multi-cooker working its magic

And the people who made it a blast

You are Really Dumb

well, I am.

today i went out with the girls for marketing. again. seems to be becoming some sort of a routine for us.

Anyway, we headed for Coles-Kmart down in Vermont South, and I thought I'd pop by VideoEzy to just check out rental Dvds. It's not too bad. For weekly rentals. its $3, and there are specials if you rent more. Definitely got really good new releases. And I like the place.

So I thought I'd get myself 2 Dvds for the week.

Payment was abit of a hassle initially cause the laydee at the counter said i needed to be a member etc. and requested proof of residence, passport yadda yadda. which i didn't have.
So dear meiying signed up for membership instead.
(Okay, the good thing about OZ so far is that you. dont. have. to. pay. for. membership. fee! not like in Singapore. Everything also rip you off)

And then I wanted to make payment for the Dvds, and I asked the laydee, "Do you accept NETS?"

*blank stare*

*meiying and pauline double blank stares at me*

"What"

"OHHHHH!!!! Not NETS! What is it called here?!"

"ETFPOS"

"OHHHH!!! hahahahahha!!!!!"


kind of dumb right. but excuse me. i've been here for only 1 month. and i've never used that whatever EFTPOS service.

Experiment

Time does fly by. It's been a month since I left Singapore for Melbourne.
Things are picking up....well...at least my assignments are.
And the rest of my life, besides school, is pretty mundane.
I go to school, come home, laze about, try to do revision, play some games, cook, watch tv, go to sleep.

ANYHOW,

the girls came over last friday to be guinea pigs for my latest dessert (name unknown).
i've had pretty good reviews from them and from around the residence but i do have higher expectations of myself when it comes to my food, and don't think it was all that fantastic. oops. there's definitely much room for improvement - like texture and uhmm...appearance.

pokes

domesticated

"everything we are now, is everything we can't let go"

kudos to fiona for some of the photos. there are more here

The Convenience Store I Used to Have

Hmm...i do miss home.
I miss it especially when everything was so convenient. Like if i needed scotchtape or rubber bands, I'd just have to walk to the kitchen where there was a plenty.
Or if there was something for example printing paper that was running out, i'd just have to scream out to my mom, and she'll go get some. And when i need it the next time, ah hah, i have the whole stack to use to my heart's content.

it really is different here.
cause there's no one i can scream out too, or bug to pass me some tissue or simply, have everything at my doorstep.

just this afternoon, I realised that the marker I had used for my whiteboard was permanent. yikes! and thought I could get rid of the ink easily with water.
but not.
well, back home, I have this thinner-like liquid that can remove such permanent inks. and it was really weird. cause the moment i couldn't get rid of the ink, i thought about opening the cupboard in the kitchen to look for some alcohol stuff. Even had this feeling to borrow some beer or wine.

AND THEN I USED THE MAGIC OF PERFUME.

kind of a lifesaver. haha

so now the whiteboard smells uhmm....nice.

The Weather Reports

Its getting slightly warmer here in Melbourne. Doesn't get so freezing cold anymore. And there haven't been showers of late (not like i'm hoping for anyway).
But yup, its something like 12-15 deg now. And the flowers are starting to bloom in the backyard!
No need for layers and layers and layers of clothes, and now I seldom turn on the heater unless it gets very cold.

YAY!

Where It is Always Warm

I have a place of worship here, and i've been doing great so far.

The brethren at Eastside Church of Christ are very welcoming, and I want to extend my gratitude to Uncle Han and family especially, for their hospitality and kindness.

The numbers that meet at Livingstone Primary School in Vermont South are small, but they are scriptually sound, and give you the same kind of warmth wherever you are, in the Lord's Church.

Here are some photos i took today. There are more here.

From left: Reuben, Wenliang, Steven, Daniel, Jon, Me, Raymond, Grace
(Youth mostly maid up of Msians and 1 proud Singaporean)

Olivia and I. Heee.....

ATM

I find it really amusing how the ATM deposit service works here in Aus.
Well, the same random stuff you click and enter to enable the 'deposit' service.

But what's really interesting is how the ATM will spit out an envelope for you to put in your notes of any denomination. And then this 'hole' will open in the machine, and you drop the envelope in.

You might then ask how the money gets into your account. Heh, it takes 1 working day to process it, when at the end of the day after the bank closes, people from the bank will come and collect the envelopes, bring it back to the main branch, count the money, and then you'll get your money credited to your account.

So if you deposit your money today, you'll only get it on Monday.

See, I do miss Singapore okay. Just drop your cash into the cash deposit machine, and it gets credited immediately.

Not like some dubious-looking ATM here.

Because its easier to use a card

Praise You

I was sure by now,
that You would have reached down
and wiped our tears away.
Stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say "Amen!", and it's still raining.

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
and takes away.

I'll praise You in this storm,
and I will lift my hands.
For You are who You are
no matter where I am.
Every tear I've cried,
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn,
I will praise You in this storm.

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind,
You heard my cry,

You raised me up again.
My strength is almost gone
how can I carry on -
If I can't find You.

I lift my eyes unto the hills.
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord -
The Maker of Heaven and Earth

And I rest my head,
say my pray'r,

and go to sleep.

Cause I know You're with me.

I Can't Feel...

It's so cold. I can't feel my feet, my fingers, and right now....I can't feel my ears. Temperature now is 6 degrees! And it was hailing just awhile ago. The feeling is like you're under a HUGE ice kachang machine and then the ice is just shaved all over you. Yikes.

School bag is wet. Shoes and socks are soaked. Clothing is all damp. And the umbrella....WASTED. Now i'm not totally surprised why the people here don't use brollies, instead walk through the rain with their hooded jackets.

Ayee...school has started, and I've got a lot to catch up.

Laters!

Five, Six, Seven...

When I left Singapore last Saturday, there was abit of excitement, more of apprehension. I mean i've never lived apart from mom and dad, ben and just, and all my friends. Never been to Australia, and could never imagine what having to do everything by myself felt like.

So when I had to give up the days of sleeping in, and just bumming around during my short 3 month post-graduation break, I somehow felt kind of disheartened. Back to books, back to research, projects, assignments, and just more use-your-brain work.

The 2 days before I left for Australia, I was busy throwing clothes at my mom, shoving toothpaste, hair conditioner, facial foam and the what-nots into zip lock bags, and wandering around my bedroom.
I wasn't exactly completely ready to go. Well, not emotionally. Though I had practically brought along 9/10th of my room with me, what I really needed the most were the people.
The people who really meant the most.

So to ALL you people back home. HELLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

G'Day

Hey everyone! I'm here in Melbourne, and things have been going just fine. School starts next week, and i'm basically just settling in for the moment. Been to the city for quite abit. And its nothing like Singapore. Well, I miss Singapore actually. Cause if you want shopping and good food, you can go to MANY places (like orchard road, then to bugis, then to the heartlands like toa payoh, and then back home where the heart is). But here, everything's just in once place - The City.

Anyhow, these are just some pics I have taken the past week. There's more here.

Platforms at Flinders Street Station

St. Paul's Cathedral

Outside the State Library

Inside Train; terminating at Belgrave