Joshua Harris + Marilyn Wong

Was really inspired by a paragraph in Joshua Harris' book "Dug Down Deep". I don't think this is plagarism as it's not even near 2% of his book...HAHA! I'll space the whole paragraph out so that it doesn't look so scarily chunky...haha

"This part of God's plan leaves me speechless. He chooses to include us. With our flaws - with all our weaknesses, petty jealousies, blind spots and ignorance - He lets us play a part in His story.

Why are we still here? Why hasn't He brought us home? Why has He given us a mission that seems so hard? So impossible?

Because he wants to give us stories to tell around the campfires of heaven.

Stories of how He empowered us when we thought we couldn't go on.
Stories of how He enabled us to love in the face of opposition, hatred and even death.
Stories of how He used our weak and feeble voices to announce the saving message of the gospel. Stories of how He saved people we thought were beyond saving.
Stories of how He orchestrated the crashing chaos of world history so people from every nation and tribe and tongue would be represented in His family on the final day.
Stories of how our ineffective churches still managed to put His glory on display."

This nearly brought tears to my eyes as pictures of all of us in heaven flashed across my mind...And we're there sitting in eternity chatting about our not-so-distant past in the temporal world of sin. I imagined God among us laughing with us at our sheer stupidity of decisions and actions that we made on earth; listening intently as we shared our stories of doubt and faithlessness; tearing (I know we can't cry in heaven...that's why it's called "imagine" :D HAHA) as we shared our moments of utter hopelessness, loneliness, betrayal and hurt...

But that is all past...if such a word is applicable in a realm where time is not a constant by which we measure our existence by...

I must say, I've lost sight of eternity. I've been looking so far ahead and measuring success of the church & my Christian life by my own yardstick, not God's. That's what caused me so much disillusionment.

I've still not gotten over it though. I'm so badly disillusioned that I need a time of healing and spiritual LASIK eye surgery...HAHA! To correct my spiritual myopia.

It's really amazing how I can justify my views about God & church so logically that no one can correct me, provide another better perspective or provide me the answer to my heart-wrenching questions.

Oh well, I'm gonna need to go for LASIK eye surgery. The problem is, I can't find the doctor. Haha. Gonna search the directory (Bible) for Him man...

AND, if you're wondering what the latter part of my post title is...here's the story...

I logged into facebook to receive a message from Marilyn Wong (my church member)...
"Hello Jonavan!
think you may be surprised to receive a msg from me,right? haha...
Honestly, I feel nervous to write to you too...haha...well..dont worry, it's Not a confession or whatsoever..haha..

the reason why I'm writing to you is to ask if you are able to lead an evangelistic band for my advanced 21st birthday party on the 6 November 2010 (Sat night)..
God has been speaking to me bout having an evangelistic 21st birthday party since last year...and I really have no idea how to go bout it, neither do i have any experience in this area.. so can i have the honor to ask you to lead an evangelistic band,by using some secular yet meaningful songs to minister to others? i understand that you're still in army and you're also serving in Fish4men :) perhaps you could give me some advice too :)

Hope to hear from you soon! Do not hesitate to give me call at ________ or email me at ___________ :) Thanks! Let me know how i can be praying for you too! God bless:)

Pistis Elpis Agape (Faith Hope & Love),
Marilyn =)"

I felt so honoured when I read this message. Of course I'd avail myself for this. That's what I love doing...That's what I'm living for! :D Haha. So yeah, gonna go find my band soon :D Now that some of 'em are overseas, needa find others :D Whoo hoo! Thanks Marilyn for this honour! And thank You God for bringing up my name to her...Haha.

Needa sleep now...to prepare for the last day of the week in Tekong Ops Room... -.-" Sometimes, I wish I can be myself there...I must man. And I will. Go Jon! :)

Universal Studios Singapore!

Yet another expired post. I just got the expire pictures from Anna. Haha!

It was the first Saturday of the month. Meryl suggested we go Universal Studios Singapore...not to enjoy the rides over there as the rides prices are crazy...She wanted us to go there to witness the FIREWORKS! Haha.

The ticket we bought is "Hollywood After Hours" which grants us entry within USS premises only from 7pm-10pm. Haha. We did make meaningful use of our time in there :D I shall let the pictures tell the story:

 

SFT! In my workplace it stands for SAF Ferry Terminal...right here in this world of Disney it stands for Standard Freight Terminal! :D

Posing at some fountain.

 

The only group photo we took :D Still trying to figure out what're those figures in the fountain...haha!

 

 My favourite colour! :D

OUR favourite colour! :D

 I get the last shot! :D LOLS.

Don't you just love the huge old-school CDs above the jukebox? They're spinning btw...but real slow. Haha

We were at this fast food restaurant...I think it's some Billy Bomber's express? Can't remember...haha. We bought floats, sat down and started playing my POCKET PICTUREKA!! :D Haha.

We were quite the centre of attraction there...the only 3 bimbs who'd be excitedly shreeking over their cards...HAHA!

Shortly after, the FIREWORKS commenced! :D I videoed the whole thing down!

Like Anna commented "Gosh, it really looks like war.", it did sound like war. Haha! It was as if I were in some live firing zone with all the IEDs going off and RPGs being fired. Haha! But it was quite cool...with the "Far far away land" and palace in the background, it felt like we're in the make believe landscape of far far away land where the ogres and the humans are fighting! Haha.

The place really is awesome and it does make you feel like you're in USA. The design of the streets to the details of what's displayed at the shops are all fine-tuned to look exactly like what it would look like in USA.

 

Meryl & Anna :D

Does it look like I'm holding the globe?? Haha. Thanks for the idea Anna. LOLS!

Me & Meryl :D

Yup, we had quite a fun time over there :D Chatting, snapping & pictureka-ing...LOLS! Would've been much more fun with a big group man...Haha.

I'd love to go back there again with a crazy bunch of my friends and try every ride available in there soon man! Whoo hoo! :D

My Braces Journey: The Clothing

Today was the second most painful visit. Hopefully the next one won't beat today's one! :( haha.

Today is the day the dentist clothed my teeth with pretty metal dresses :D HAHA! These dresses cost far more than the dresses the most ravishing models in the world have worn. They're branded ok? A pretty renowned local brand...the brand's NDC. Sounds familiar eh? Yeah, millions of people have bought their dresses from NDC ok?

Ok, the dresses are not exactly pretty...they're heinous, sharp-edged, waist-hugging, foreignly shiny, mettalic new dresses for my teeth.

Putting them on was the painful part. After about 30mins++ of pushing and shoving and adjusting, my teeth finally decided to wear them. They've been naked for 21 years that now trying to clothe them is kinda hard.

Here's a lil' picture of my newly clothed teeth:

Cool eh? They only dressed my bottom molars. The next visit, they'll dress my upper molars.

And yes, they haven't put the bands across it to tighten and pull my teeth together. That's also done in the next visit I guess...DUA LAO SAI!

So this metal ring will be the fulcrum for the bands that will be introduced soon. The bands will be pulling the teeth together with its pivot at those 2 dressed teeth :D

So far it doesn't hurt that much, but it does restrict a bit of my oral movement...the way I chew and the way I talk...It'd be more awkward. Because when I chew in a certain angle, the sharp metal edges will scrape the side of my mouth. OUCH! So yeah, my mouth movements'll be more cautious now...Haha.

Yup, God give me the grace & garang-ness to sail through this 3-year long ordeal!!

Coffee w/ Yining + Pizza w/ Abigail :)

It's been a long time since I met up with my prophetess...HAHA! And she did it again...Prophecise. Haha! Just 30mins before meeting her she posted this on her fb wall "The worst thing that can happen is a hardened heart!" Yup, her post addressed abit of what I was about to speak to her about.

I met Yining to get inspired by her testimonies she received in India and to know how we both were doing :D Our meeting lasted for 4hours. Thankfully she didn't prophecy the whole time. HAHA! LOLS! And thankfully after 2 hours at Coffee Bean we shifted to Burger King if not our butts would've grown roots in the chair...HAHA!

Hearing how real God is in her life especially during her India mission trip only rakes back the familiar longings and experiences I had with God from the deep recesses of my soul. "But", I thought, "That's all the past. What about now God??"

She showed me her India mission trip journal...Whoa. I tell you...the number of alphabets on one page of her journal can match up to the number of ants in one nest man. HAHA! I'm not kidding. The font size is like size 5 with word spacing so small and paragraph spacing 0. That's how much reflections she has over the mission trip. Cool eh? She's even more wordy than me man. HAHA!

And she isn't all that fiery as she was and as I was too. Apparently the sands of time had put out a bit of the forest fire we had for Jesus. However, she still has that campfire burning there unlike mine...that's been reduced to a candle flame...haha. She says Xin Jin really mirrors her old self. I think she mirrors my zealous, passionate, soft-hearted, go-all-out-for-Jesus past too. She's awesome. I'm indirectly praising us - Yining & myself. HAHA! LOLS!

She also filled me in on what's going on in MM and in the leadership and other stuffs. Really respect Yining man...She has great insights and a really patient heart. More patient than mine that is...She sees everything I see and we actually hold very much the same views but we hold very much different reactions.

I guess God is using circumstances and people to groom me man...my patience first of all, and knowing that as much as I think I can do a lot of things, I am not in control; God is.

Well her main encouragement to me is "Jiayou!! So long you don't give God up, He won't give you up!!" I won't give up on you God. Etched deep within the soulful recesses of my heart lies that calling that God has placed inside that somehow will never die. It's not just a calling, it's a cry. A cry to see His perfect will be fulfilled in a stubborn Earth.

I realised I had talked with her for sooo long when I took a peek at my watch and realised that I was supposed to meet Jon Wee, Daryl & Yourong at Bugis @ 7pm. The time on my watch read: 6:45pm. DiaosS! & Where was I at? Burger King at Kallang Leisure Park. Haha.

So yup, went to meet them and we had lil' live firing exercise over dinner...you can read that in my previous blog post :D HAHA!

Subsequently, on a Sunday night, I had dinner with Abigail :) It's been pretty long since I've met up with her man. So a little ad-hoc dinner did us good with the catching up :D She filled me in on her school issues and church ones.

I'm really glad to hear her love for her cellies..hear the way she loves them and how they love her back...Once again that brings about that nostalgia...where I once was a cell leader myself...loving my guys and seeing them grow and all. I guess there's something within me that will take cell leadership back. Maybe ministry-based cell group.

I don't just want to grow people. I want to grow them in a specific area of our expertise. Like music or apologetics or whatever. I wanna impart what I can best impart and inspire them to do likewise and continue the kingdom. So noble eh?? HAHA! But somehow, that's the only worthy cause that I'd give my life passionately for.

So yup, I filled Abigail in about what season of my life I'm going through now...as she begin to hear about how I've lost my love for people and my frustrations and all...she almost cried. Haha! Cry because she can feel abit of what I'm going thru and cry because she knows that God can help me even though I think He doesn't want to. She was saying "If I cry now people will think that you're breaking up with me or something!! HAHA!". LOLS!

But yeah, I would've cried too. But my tears have dried up and my heart is hardening up. I've believed in the many lies that Satan have sown. Lies that say people don't care about you and won't change so you shouldn't give half a damn about them. Lies that say God doesn't care! Look at how much you've tried to seek God the whole of the past year? Nothing! No revelation, no tears, nothing! Why bother waiting upon a God who's forgotten about you?

I've lost much of my faith and hope. Somehow. To think that I know so much and am governed by all the reasons that prove God real and that He loves and hears me all the time doesn't help really frustrates me. Because intellectually you can prove it. Bible verses, philosophy, logic, etc...I can eloquently convince someone to believe what I believe in. Try me.

But here in my spiritual life, I don't feel it, I'm not living it. It's like you know in science that when it rains real heavily, it is accompanied by lightning and thunder. But when you don't see the lightning and hear the thunder after a few thunderstorms, you'd start to doubt the theory. But you still know it's true because there are lots of other factors that could've affected the silent outcome.

Anyway, Abigail's main encouragement to me is also "Jiayou!! We still love you and will be there for you! :)" If I were a girl, we probably would've embraced. Or vice-versa. Too bad I can't really get that from my close guy friends other than a rare 1 or 2 of 'em. Haha.

So yup, we had a great pizza hut meal @ Tampines Mall that lasted for 3 hours. Haha.

Wonder who's the next person I'll have coffee with...Hmmm...I hope that person's God, personally man. I'd better go ask if He's free this week...

Resident Evil: Afterlife

This is quite an expired post but nevertheless, I'll still blog about it.

Last Saturday, my SISPEC BSLC buddy just randomly asked me out and I also just randomly said yes. Haha. So off we were to The Cathay at Dhoby Ghaut ready to catch Resident Evil: Afterlife. Seated in the theatre in order from right to left was Glenn Yong, Myself, Sebastian Ng & Gregory Lim. Armed with our 3D glasses, we delved into the heart of Japan where the first instance of the manifestation of the T-virus was seen.

The movie was ok. Zombies came out from nowhere. And a reaper came out from nowhere and attacked them -.-" And somehow, you just know the lead actor won't die so when she faces off with the mass of zombies, it doesn't really intrigue you cos' you know she'll emerge unscathed. Haha.

Anyway, after that, we ate at Popeyes' at the basement of The Cathay. We shared stories of what we're doing now and all. Learned that Greg is now signal trained and Zheng Liang is doing fine as a medic with his slack life. Haha.

Next headed to Paradiz Centre...what else can a group of guys do there? You guessed it. LAN. HAHA! We played Modern Warfare 2 and CS for like 2 hours before departing. Haha.

Yup, that was quite a cool day catching up with my BMT buddies...Hope to have more in depth convos with them man :)

Seoul Garden Live Firing

After my meeting with prophetess Yining at Coffee Bean in Kallang Leisure Park, I headed down to Bugis for dinner + shopping with Daryl, Jon Wee & Yourong. However, our dinner time took really long and by then all the shops were closed -.-" Haha. Here's what happened...

Before meeting them I told them that I couldn't really eat because I've lost 2 teeth and I've got 8 rubber separators in between my molars, making chewing excruciating. So, upon furnishing them with this information update, I thought they'd choose a dinner place more favourable to my condition. And guess where we ended up eating?? SEOUL GARDEN.

You know how much your friends love you through situations like these. HAHAHAHA! They still do la huh...

So I joined them. But since my extraction and rubber separators insertion was done on Monday, the pain from the wounds and the rubber separators have subsided by a lot. So I could EAT!! WHOO HOO!!

I could eat...but the speed at which I ate was kinda...not so whoo hoo-ish. Haha! Nevertheless, I still ate as much as, if not more than the rest man. Haha! I whacked the chicken...fried them with eggs and garlic and simply whacked. Haha.

After we're all relatively full, I revealed to them a little live firing secret that none of them knew...Haha...Atap chee MINES! :D I put one atap chee on the frying pan and told them that it will explode and fly out after like 5minutes.

They were all really, really interested. Jon Wee took out his hp and decided to video the atap chee explosion. Haha. But after 5minutes of muscle-wrenching stillness of camera aiming, he stopped. They all thought I was mistaken or the bomb was a blind. HAHAHAHA!

I went off to take one full bowl of atap chees and upon my return to the table, it happened! The atap chee EXPLODED! But it didn't fly high enough to reach the table. Haha. That was the breaking point. We were all excited and started flooding the whole pan with atap chees. HAHAHAHAHA!

Jon Wee videoed down a few explosions but deleted them -.-" Hahaha. One by one, they popped and flew around the pan...but not high enough to fly out of the pan. We were like watching a live hand-grenade session in Tekong man...haha..With our bowls of ice-cream and cups of ice-cream float. LOLS!

FINALLY, one explosion was worth it. One atap chee, who apparently had more gunpowder in it than the rest, exploded and FLEW OUT and ONTO JON WEE!! His reaction and our reaction to his reaction was EPIC. Haha! It was as if the whole Seoul Garden stood still to watch this bunch of idiots laughing hysterically at a flying atap chee. HAHAHA!

Before we left, I took another full bowl of atap chee and filled the pan with it. And we LEFT. HAHAHA!

I think if we go back again, the manager will chase us out...or remove the ice-kachang dessert spread...HAHAHAHA!

My Braces Journey: The Extraction

My faithful grinders for the past 21 years, gone! I'll always remember & love you! I'll give you a proper burial. HAHAHA!

I love starting my posts with pictures now if you didn't notice. I don't usually do that but I decided to for this one! HAHA!

If you guys didn't know, my long-term, 3 year braces operation has officially commenced.

I JUST extracted my 2 premolars at the top of my mouth!! The process of the extraction isn't painful, it's the aftermath. -__-"

The most painful part of the extraction process is....yup you guessed it...it's the injection of the anesthetic agent that hurts the most.

After that, I couldn't even feel my nose! HAHA! I tried pinching my upper lip with my fingernails and...NO FEELING! Ok, proof that it works...LOLS!

The process LOOKED scary but it didn't FEEL painful. Haha. I now concede that man's best invention is the invention of anesthesia...Haha! Previously it stood at air-con. LOLS!

It was painless, but not pressure-less. I could feel the doctor wrenching, yanking & pulling at my teeth with his DUA-LAO-SAI pair of PLIERS!! I would've sued him for murder if not for the sake of my beauty. HAHA! There was his assistant nurse holding my cheeks to control my facial convulsions from the violent blows of his vicious pliers to my face.

That ordeal lasted for a mere 15minutes and next thing I knew, I was biting two big marshmellows! :D 2 big, CRIMSON RED MARSHMELLOWS!!! DUA LAO SAI!! I felt like a vampire man with that pool of blood in my mouth! Luckily Buffy the vampire slayer didn't come and get me...Oh wait! Edward Cullen just teleported next to me & asked me to be his new best friend!! HAHAHAHA! Lame. LOLS!

Anyway, it's 4 hours after my extraction here and the bleeding hasn't fully stopped! Ok, the blood's not oozing out & all but the gauze will still be blood-stained whenever I press it against my open wound!! I've changed gauzed 3 times already...With each change lasting for an hour fifteen. I've decided not to bite the gauze liao...cos it's damn irritating controlling the saliva overflow...HAHAHA! I've never drank so much blood & saliva in my entire life MAN!

My mouth is still ACHING!! HaisS...I'm paying the price for beauty. Haha! Wonder is it worth the cost...We'll see. Haha!

Ok, enough of my drama queen account of this episode. HAHA! I'll turn in early & see if I need to activate my MC for tomorrow...Cos I'm suppposed to oversee the direct enlistment tomorrow.

Here's a last picture to end the post and keep FRAGILE ME IN PRAYER!! :D

My fresh marshmellows!! :D Keep a brittle ME in prayer!! Thanks! :)

The 15min stare

I stared at her for 15minutes straight. We didn't break eye contact. She was really cute & indisputably beautiful. She'd smile, laugh & sometimes frown but never once did she break eye contact with me.

I stroked her hair, caressed her forehead & pinched her cheeks. I crooned her name and tickled her feet.

She didn't stop me...she couldn't stop me. Her name is Keziah. She's my uncle's newborn baby :)

Babies have such a way of stealing your heart. Just looking into their eyes will make you marvel at God's innocent, sinless, utterly beautiful & carefully crafted creation. I was trying to decipher her thoughts behind her straight, innocent stare. It wasn't devious, neither was it judgemental...It was a look of pure interest, no tinge of skepticism in her eyes.

I wanna behold my wife's stare the same way I did with Keziah man. I wonder, if it's actually possible to look at someone with just pure interest in them, without summing them up or measuring their personality. A look that simply says "I'm genuinely interested in you" or "I love you unconditionally"

We finally broke our stare when our parents said "I think it's time to go" and we left their place.

It was really a precious moment where you could just behold someone's beauty without having some reactionary remark.

Anyway, the day before I had an awesome date with Daryl :) I wanted to shop in Bugis...He insisted on shopping in town...So I gave in...Haha.

NUM was having a really good promotion...50% of both of any 2 items you purchase. I wasn't all too keen to get something there as I couldn't find something I like...Just when I found the something I wanted...another customer, a girl in her late 20s approached Daryl with her group of guy friends with her and asked "Hey, is your friend buying something too? You wanna combine your purchase with mine? :D"

The sales assistant was getting me the size I wanted...So Daryl's reply was "Nah, I'll wait for my friend 1st...If his shirt no size then I'll buy with you."

If he'd straight away agreed to buy with her ar, I'll so slap him. haha! But anyway, the shirt design didn't have my slim "S" size...HAHA! So they got their offer. Haha.

The main thing about our date was...our dinner at Music Cafe opened by Swee Lee a famous electric guitar retailer. Their shop was in Scape Park, near Somerset MRT.

The shop's ambience was really, really good. I also love their interior design. It was really cool. The food's not bad too. Haha. We finished our food, but not our conversation...We then had a little chinese lesson...we started writing (on the serviettes...duh) the names of our various girl *SPACEBAR* friends.

Haha. Kinda lame right? But it was really fun & funny as we explored the many ways to write a person's name in chinese. You can only do such things with best friends. LOLS. Here's our masterpiece:

Our chinese calligraphy masterpiece...Haha! Written @ Music Cafe :D

Music Cafe! :D

Our fun was far from over man...The walk back to somerset MRT was also a really fun one too...Fun for me, not for Daryl. HAHAHA! :D

It's a piece of chocolate! No! It's a piece of cake! NO! It's SUPER-BIRD-SHIT!! HAHAHA!

We were walking through this carpark when Daryl commented "Whoa...this place a lot of bird shit one. Why we walk through here sia? Later kena one of us..."

Just as he finished that statement, a lump of bird shit landed square on his NEW, FIRST-TIME WEARING abercombie (not sure how to spell it) T-shirt that Cai Jie bought for him from USA. HAHAHA!

What a way to end the day. LOLS! But yup, SHIT happens! :D Haha! :D

Army Half Marathon 2010

Don't ask me how long I took to run 21km...I'll just tell you now that I completed it. Haha!

At first I didn't know why the run has to start so early...now I know why. To avoid the sun and the peak hour traffic. I woke up @ 3.15am to wash up, eat a bit & meet Navin & Farhan & tampines police post to cab there... -__-"

Only had a meagre 4 hours of sleep -__-"

Anyway, the run wasn't too bad...I started of really well. Striding and all. It was cool. Until the 8km mark...I started to feel the muscle aches in my calves & shin.

I was jogging with Navin throughout...until we reached this 100plus water point at the 10km mark...we both chionged into the crowd and whacked the 100 plus. Whack until we couldn't find each other... -__-" So he just went on lor...And so did I.

The end point seems to be running with me man...with each stride I take, the pain and aches increases...I can feel small blisters developing. I walked the last 4km...HAHAHA! Ok...I walked 3km and the last 1km I jogged.

I was totally pun-chet-ted by then la...Lost my fighting spirit and physique la mainly. Haha.

I was aiming to hit around 2 hour 40mins. Which is a decent, realistic time cap, citing the fact that my CSB 10km took me 50mins & my 16km in Tekong took me 1hr 40mins. Little did I know that walking 3km can kill my whole aim. Haha! I clocked my 21km in 3hours -__-" Pathetic.

But anyway, the medals given out for the 21km non-competitive run was all the same...So for those who ran 1.5hrs & all, we still get the same medal...bleh. HAHA!

Anyway, here's the remaining pictures I snapped :D

Me, Navin & Farhan :D

The 2 most important things in the race. Haha!

My medal! The important words are "21KM FINISHER" :D HAHA!

Yup, had a great run. And I bumped into a lot of friends along the way man...Let me try to recall a few...

1) Shu Yu (ME4 / Captain) when we alighted our cab

2) Zheng Liang who was manning the stretcher at one of the water points

3) Chee Eng who was manning the water point

4) Ivan who was manning some comms set

5) Teck Yong & Kirby. They were running in my fav. colour PT shirt. Haha. Yellow arti PT!

6) Yaser...my BMT mate who is now a SISPEC coyline spec

7) MSG Ahmad...my BSLC PWO

8) Alfin...my SISPEC instructor

9) Ahmad Jumadi...my BMT & SISPEC mate

My legs are still aching...I needa leg massage man. Any to recommend? haha.

1st driving practical lesson :D

My post is self-explanatory eh? This is how my whole driving experience went...

Was chatting with one of my ops room spec Mark Leong. "Why you going off @ 5pm today?" he asked me. "Driving la" was my reply.
"CDC Ubi ar?" he replied in his standard melayu tone.
"Ya. @ 6.50pm. You?"
"Same la sial." again incorporating his 3rd mother tongue.
"Together la" was my invitation. 

So off we went to the driving centre. I realised that he had a fixed driving instructor from the school. Me? I'm under the 'pool' category. Every lesson - different car, different instructor.

Upon reaching the driving centre, Mark went to meet his instructor and I went to meet mine...So I met my instructor, uncle Aziz...who refused to tell me his name until we're through with half the lesson. Upon meeting him, I asked him twice "Hi, so you're my instructor today right? You are?"...He replied by giving me his palm top and asking me to key in my user name & password. -__-"

After that, I spoke to him again "Today's my first lesson...so not much driving eh?"
"Today mostly theory la..." came his short reply
"I see, so you are?"
His reply..."Pass me your small handbook"

-___-"

After lesson started for like 15mins then he started warming up and became more talkative and friendly. Finally, he asked my name..."Eh so what's your name ar?"
I wanted to reply "Look who asked who first." HAHA!

Anyway, today he thought me how to change gear and all...accelerating and reversing and all...Child's play la :D HAHAHA!

My instructor was like "Whoa, not bad, you learn very fast." indicating that I didn't "die car" in my first 6 tries of changing gear & moving forward and reversing. :D

So immediately after that, he allowed me to drive round the circuit like 10 rounds telling me to accelerate, decelerate, change lane and all. Like I said, child's play. HAHA!

He was like "very good...some of my students don't have the feel la. Not bad, not bad. When you BTT?"
"27th Oct"
"Whoa. You can cancel your next lesson until you pass your BTT la."

Upon ending, I met Mark & his instructor...His instructor's first question to me was "How many times your car died?"
My matter-of-fact reply "None?"
Mark's instructor "So good ar? Cancel your next lesson...until you get your PDL" :D

What can I say? I'm good eh? :D HAHAHA! Ok, whatever...Must see my future progress...haha.

But yup, today was fun :D I'm glad to have a nice, patient & detailed instructor Uncle Aziz today :D He told me "next time you get other instructors no good, must tell me you know. I can help you."

Haha. So I got down his number and NAME in my handphone...HAHA!

Yup, hope I get my license in my first try la :D Haha. Off to bed now...12am liao! -_-"

Ever The Same

Read this passage in EDWJ (Every Day with Jesus) today (it's dated 5th March...HAHA!) and thought it to be rather interesting and heartwarming...

"He (God) did not pick us up with a pair of celestial tongs and hold us before His gaze in order to study and understand our struggles and sufferings - He wrapped Himself in our flesh and experienced our pains in the same way we experience them."

The many times I thought Him to be distant, His love remains...
The many times I thought Him to be hiding, His presence reaffirms...
The many times I thought Him to be nonchalant, His cross reminds...

These truths are but convictions deep within my soul...But I need a fresh, explosive, heart-breaking, face-to-face, life-transfusion encounter with God again man. He's still silent and all...Maybe I've just lost too much faith to bother seeking Him. I'm becoming a deist man - One who believes that God created the world but left it to rot and die.

I needa include this rhythm of spending time with God regularly man...To transform my deistic self to become an evangelical theist all over again. Help me God. I really need you cos I've reached a point where no one else can help me. No one, but You. Amen.

Where 9DIV meets 4SIR

One of my SISPEC buddies dropped by my unit today...He was posted to 4SIR after getting the rank...and today he came back to where he dreamt of being posted to...He is none other than Han Hui! HAHA! LOLS!

He dropped by today with his superiors with a really good excuse/reason...haha! I almost couldn't meet him today as I was "attached out" to ensure the smooth entry & exit of our visitors today. However, I managed to have a late lunch with him @ the CCO Tekong cookhouse.

After airing his grievances with one of his office mates, we went to the specialist mess for a game of pool...or rather for 2 games of pool :D Haha! And guess what? I won BOTH ROUNDS!! :D MUAHAHAHA! :D

Yup, today was kinda cool having to meet a friend that's not from my office for lunch...hear stories from outside and away from the politics and facades of office mates.

And when we went 'shopping' at the E-mart, I found the new model of the sandals issued to recruits...It's sooo much nicer than the green one! It's now full black and much nicer :D

Anyway, have to be back in camp tomorrow -__-" Cos some big shots visiting Tekong again and we'll have to be there to ensure smooth entry & exit...anyway, I'll be getting a half day off for that :D haha.

And I got duty on SUNDAY!! -__-" I put my duty on Sunday because on Monday, I'd have the day off cos I got medical appointment @ SDC...BUT, last minute, they changed my appointment date due to my doctors' availability or rather un-availability...So next week will be my longest week in camp man -__-"

O well, it's my last duty anyway :D Unless I sign extras...Which, I prayerfully and confidently hope won't happen :D Haha!

Yup, I hope I'll have a relaxing weekend :D Buais :D

16km run!!

Today was the most devastating PT experience...the previous 14km run ain't that bad. Today I was totally shagged out.

PT started @ 7.30am but I started running @ 7.45am...haha. At around 4km, the fatigue started to kick in. So I began to walk. I was so ready to give up and walk back and just tell them I ran 16km when I realised there was another guy running behind me.

He was about to overtake me when I started running again and prevented his "overtake" HAHA! I didn't realise that pride could improve your stamina man...HAHA!

However, I realised both our jogging speeds were constant so I decided to break the ice and talk with him and make him my jogging partner.

Jogging with someone really gives me the motivation to complete the 16km. Because, running alone is super boring and you'd be concentrating on clocking the distance and fatigue and all...But when you have a jogging partner, you can chat and distract yourselves from the full fatigue. In a sense la huh...

That guy was Kerrick, a spec from Eagle company.

Thanks to him, I clocked my 16km...Haha. And the one thing I didn't know is that at the 8km turning point, there's an FS there to give you a chip! Whoa...And I thought I could've smoked out and walk back slowly for an hour and tell them I ran 16km. Haha!

But the process was really tiring, I walked at least 4 intervals man...Haha. But guess what's our timing?? :D 1hr40mins! :D Not bad eh? :D Haha!

Anyway, I got duty tml -_-" So please pray that my DOO & CDSO are nice people :D Haha.