May 2014

Hello. So I'm a bit lazy with posting.

I went to Taiwan with JM and John from 14th May to 24th May. We took Scoot which cost about $360 per person to and fro from Singapore to Taiwan. I'll post a more detailed itinerary... Probably.

After Taiwan, I had non-stop driving lessons. I completed 6 lessons in 4 days. Crazy right. I'm learning to drive manual cars, meaning I have to manually shift gears and what not. I can't coordinate so many things at the same time. Really isn't easy. @_@
Plus, I have never driven a car before in my entire life, and suddenly I'm having 2 lessons per day. My left leg was shaking by the end of the week from constantly depressing the clutch haha... I'm not an exercise person. I improved a lot though! I went from can't even start the car nor steer to driving on the road and everything. So nervous to drive on the road, especially when there're a lot of gigantic trucks. I'm really short. I can't even see beyond regular cars.

I signed up for ComfortDelGro school lessons. You have to pay ~ 100 bucks to start an account where you get a number of e-trials for your Basic Theory Test and Final Theory Test. The waiting time to book these tests is about 2 months. You can only book your FTT after you passed your BTT. Then you can only book your driving test to get your license after you pass your FTT. So in total from signing up to getting your actual license is at least 6 months, and you have to squeeze about 24 driving lessons in between (varies for each person), and each lesson costs $65 for weekday lessons and $75 for weekend lessons. Driving is not cheap.
Another option is to get a private driving instructor instead (which is arguably cheaper), but I opted for the school because of the 'free' e-trials and their pool of instructors. If you hired a completely incompatible private instructor, you are screwed.

I'm currently learning from CDC's 'common pool' of instructors. There are some good ones, some awesome ones, and of course there are some that just waste your time (and 70 bucks!!). Really depends on luck in the end.
You can also opt for 'one team' instructors so you just stick to those few instructors throughout. The good side is that they know you better and can better monitor your progress. Bad part is that it costs 'a bit' more $$$. You can assign a team, but I don't think it's useful because I don't know the instructors and with my luck, I might've ended up with a COMPLETELY incompatible team.

Ok, so right now I'm currently working at a 4-day event at Marina Bay Sands with Dog, Ger, Val and Pig.Today was the first day and we (dog, ger, me) didn't have ANYTHING to do because we are part timers and only had to deal with event stuff. Pig and Val are full timers and they had a lot of things to do haha~ 
So we just surfed the internet the entire day and get paid to do so. BEST JOB EVER.
We were so bored that we started chatting on facebook and we came up with the following story.

Presenting... Untitled.
A story of true love, betrayal, determination, extraterrestrials, coloured skin, cannibalism, metamorphosis, freedom, comedy and nonsense. Written on Facebook messages. The masterpiece of 31th May 2014, presented in its raw, unedited form. *Every line is a different author*
*the ( ) is us chatting*


Once upon, a time there was a girl called yj
and a boy named K
they were childhood sweethearts
And they lived happily ever after
or so everyone around them said
The end

(YOU SPOIL SPORT
not the end yet
-continue-)

*Sequel*

but one day, something terrible happened that tore them apart
She found a new love called L
yj was so sad tat she cried all day long
Her tears turned into a magical fountain
She felt bad for betraying K, but couldnt' tell anyone. One fine day when yj and L were frolicking in a flower field
the magical fountain flooded the areas ard it
forming an impenetrable moat

(Walao so chim)

Yj and L were stuck on the flower island!

(Awesome)

yj and L had no choice but to eat flowers for the rest of their lives

(Whut)

At first, YJ was really happy because she could stay with L for as long as she wanted without feeling guilty over K (HAHAHA WHAT)

But yj couldn't take eating no meat
and when they drank from the water from the magical fountain, they turned into magical, neon green cows

(omg i laughing to myself now)

and lived happily ever after

(later ppl tink i siao)

eating flowers. Yj couldn't stand not eating meat so she decided her stomach was more important than love, so she ate L. One cow ate the other cow. WHAT A SIGHT! And when K came looking for her a few weeks later, she was so hungry she tried to eat him too

(and she ate him too? Hahahaha.)

but alas, he escaped after being bitten by her
and found a new love
thus started the mad Cow Disease
which spread to all parts of the world. haiz

(hahahaha
interesting story. potential story writers)

But he kissed her accidentally. By true loves kiss she turned back into human
but her skin remained neon green so she walked around, glowing green for the rest f her life. All alone, because she tried to eat her true love
like a green alien
the US government had to lock her up in Area 51 to prevent any conspiracies
But there was this one man who finds her very interesting

(ARE WE STILL CONTINUING
Ok
story so long ah haha)

So he visited her almost everyday
He was brightly coloured, just like her
but in the end he got caught too
His skin was a striking hot pink (hahaha what)

Their cell was next to each other
And they had to be locked up in very separate cells. She missed him, because he made her feel less abnormal. He made her feel like she belonged. The wall between their cells was so thick, they didn't know they were right beside each other.
But somehow she knew the man was near her. So she tried many futile ways to check where he was.
She pounded and pounded on the thick wall
and kicked and kicked
She almost broke down
when suddenly, the wall cracked
Yj:" what what happen?"
Hot pink colour shined through the crack and she knew, he was near

(i can't continue hahahaha.i will laugh out loud n madly)

Suddenly this power inside her surged up. She banged her weak fist on the wall. The wall cracked even more

(hahaha -colleague- alrd thinks im crazy)

n the whole prison collapsed (hahaha i tink the girl beside me tinks im mad too)

She thought to herself omg this building must be so old. Yucks
The two lovers ran into each other's arms while thick rubble fell on their heads, but they refused to be daunted by serious head injuries. So when they left the prison, they each had half a brain left. But they thought, it's alright, two halves make a whole.

(what hahaha) however they became stupider due to half a brain left.

-the abrupt end-


*Thank you for reading this ridiculously long story*

SMU Interview (11/04/2014)

(Note: Read the maroon words to skip all my ramblings.)

I am not doing anything with my life right now. I really just stay at home all day and do nothing.

Sooo I officially turned 19 yesterday~ Yay growing old~
After 19 birthdays the specialness of a birthday just wears off... I still enjoy the cakes though~

Alright. So now I am still in the process of choosing a university to go to. Thank God I am eligible for local uni. I really don't have the financial means to go overseas or private universities. Gonna have to take up loans just to go local u. ):
Why's education so expensive. Isn't learning new stuff beneficial to everyone? Like really, the student benefits by learning new stuff and securing a stable income, the family benefits (pride, stable income etc), society benefits (educated individuals do behave more rationally, plus literacy rates increase and who knows, the student might find a cure for cancer), the government benefits (pride, cure for cancer, improvement of standard of living of the country...)...

So why they make education so damn expensive when everyone benefits??
Like I read somewhere, "What if the cure for cancer is trapped in the mind of someone who can't afford an education?"

My mind is a mess. I don't really know what I'm thinking nor how to say it.

*SMU interview starts here* *Road to SMU interview starts here*
So I was scheduled for faculty of social sciences interview on 11th of April. I did a bit of research prior and all I read was individual interviews with a very casual setting where they asked about mundane things like what are your hobbies, what do you do in your free time etc to get to know you better. It was two interviewers to one interviewee.
So I happily went for the interview without preparing anything and it turns out, oh no, I was in a group interview of 5 interviewees to 2 interviewers. It was a very bad day for me. From the start, I was running late because I do not have a punctual bone in my body. Then Google Maps lied to me and said that it was a 7 mins walk to SMU from City Hall MRT. I made an unconscious left turn when I was supposed to turn right because of road obstruction, so I ended up walking in the opposite direction. The SMU people had to call me 3 times to direct me and they didn't know where the hell I was either. Such a bad day. And it was raining. I did not have an umbrella nor was there shelter. These kind of things only happen when it matters you know.

I spent another 10 mins loitering at the entrance of School of Social Sciences because I couldn't find the visitor's gate. *Ensues third phone call* I finally reach SMU School of Social Sciences an hour late.

(Take Circle Line MRT to Bras Basar. SMU is right outside the MRT station. There are two rows of gates beside an ice cream shop near Mr Bean. Walk towards the left row of electronic gates and the very left gate is the visitor gate.)

*SMU interview starts here*

When I finally showed up, they gave me my name tag and put me in a room with 8 other girls sitting around a cramped table, each reading an article and furiously writing (I was kinda intimidated at this point. Articles?? WRITING???) and told me to take a seat. I had to interrupt the girl beside me to ask what the heck was going on and she said that we had 20 mins to read the two article that they gave us which we are going to discuss later in the interview (whhaaaaattt??). They were all furiously writing small, neat, aligned words on the foolscap paper while I just started scribbling because I haven't written in so long and my handwriting... I'm so ashamed of it.

One of the pages of my scribblings

(They gave us two articles on poverty, one for Singapore establishing a poverty line, one against. 20 mins to read the articles, not allowed to bring the articles into the interview room where we then discussed about the articles. 5 interviewees to 2 interviewers, one a professor at SMU, the other a SMU alumni.)

And then they brought us to a waiting area (without refreshments, sadly) and split us up into two groups of 5 and 4 (one girl was absent). We chatted while we waited and that really helped to ease the tension we were all feeling. :)
No surprise, the first topic that came up was "how did you get lost??"
So when it was our turn, they brought us into a conference room where we seated opposite the interviewers, facing huge wall-to-floor windows where we could see people entering and leaving the elevator, which, honestly, was kinda distracting. I really liked the room though, because I like huge windows. It made the room seem bright and much bigger than it actually is.

The professor started talking first. She had a PhD in cultural rituals and was teaching Performance Arts. She talked about herself and the school and made a few jokes to help us feel comfortable because we were really tense. The alumni, male, was now working with the government to extend help to the people (sociology work, I imagine). We put our names tags on the table in front of us.. Which to me made the whole interview seem very formal.

How it feels like after you put the name tag:

In reality:

The first question we discussed was "do you think Singapore should establish a poverty line?"
Some people said no, some people said yes. All of them had very logical reasons for their stand so there I was, thinking "how do they decide who to enroll then, if all of us are about the same standard?"
One girl in particular had a very convincing and well-thought answer. She said that she was working in close contact with family with financial needs, and that a poverty line would be unfair because they calculate income per capita of a family, not of the number of people reliant on the working individual. For example, a single mom only has two children, so income per capita is divided between 3 people which is in acceptable range. But in reality, she has to feed her children, her parents, and her in-laws (I think the husband passed or is incapable.. I forgot that part). 7 people were dependent on her one source of income, but she could not apply for financial aid.

I forgot what the other 3 people said (also very logical reasons, just not that impactful)...
I said that yes, a poverty line should be established but it should not be an ultimatum because there is no certain, 100% foolproof way to measure poverty, like the girl above mentioned pointed out. However, a lot of resources, manpower and time is needed to cater to and calculate each household's poverty standard, and even more is required to extend modified help, so a poverty line should be in place as a filter to induce faster action. With a poverty line, the government can first extend help to those below the poverty line and then slowly cater the extended help. (Blah blah... Basically having a poverty line saves time, but said in a more sophisticated way *smirks* haha.)

And then they asked a few more questions and asked if we had any questions to ask them. There were quite a number of awkward silences as we were thinking of what to say but the professor managed to fill them up. The interview was kept very casual, so don't be afraid to laugh and joke to relax. Show them who you are and make them like you.

We said our kinda awkward goodbyes and left. The end of the interview.

Afterwards I talked a bit to the current student in charge of the interviews and I found out that we are graded upon 20 marks for our interview.. Nobody knows what they were looking out for to grade us. If you get above 16, you are guaranteed a spot in SMU. Of course, you won't ever know your score.

They sent me my admission email 4 days later on the 15th. (YAY~) I must've done something right that day. xD

(I still don't know where to go. NUS accepted me into Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences too. I have not heard anything from NTU. I have to accept an offer by 2 June, but that's a long time later... Supposedly. ;D )

My Weird Obsession

I just love this so much it doesn't even make any sense.

I'm a weeks away from 19 and I'm listening to this. Oh well.

Enjoy fellow young-at-heart-ers!

Batam Trip

I don't think I can make it in time for the university application deadline. I am so dead. I just mailed my application today and the earliest they'll get it is Monday and Tuesday is the deadline so I don't think I'll have time to send any more data if there was anything missing. Fingers crossed.

Anyway. I went on a 5-day mission trip to Batam, Indonesia with 12 other people from 19 Mar to 23 Mar. There were the heck a lot of problems, but it was still overall very enriching.

Let me rant first.
There was a major communication issue right from the start. COGS Batam was supposed to host us and provide us with details and help us arrange our program, but my group's Pastor (let's call him LB for Little Brother since he seems like our little brother even though he's 10 years older... I gave him some Nips [cheap M&M] and he looked so happy I just had to give him the rest...) kept trying and trying to contact COGS Batam Pastor (let's call him PC) but he didn't reply until super late. There were two groups going on mission trip, one to Batam (my group) and one to Changmai, Thailand. The Changmai people got their details and programme very early and had ample time to prepare dance, songs etc while us Batam people only got our info A WEEK BEFORE THE ACTUAL TRIP. Luckily there wasn't as much for us to do, or else we wouldn't have made it in time. Irresponsible much, PC? He didn't even contact LB to explain why he was so late with the info.

My group prepared one Noah skit, 3 Bahasa songs, 2 Mandarin songs, a couple of action English songs and a handful of games. It's a good thing we prepared very flexible programmes too (the games and songs don't require many props), because NOTHING in our mission trip schedule went according to what PC told us. We had to improvise throughout the trip. I'm just thankful that we didn't fail miserably.
We contacted mostly kids, and they really enjoyed the Noah skit (we made cardboard animal masks) and the action songs~ They were so cute.
We went to a day activity place in one of the slums, 2 orphanages, visited two homes, went to St. Andrew's school in Batam (kindergarten and primary) and attended 2 Bahasa services and one Mandarin service.

I think this is the slum (can't remember :/)

Inside the activity room in the slum, singing! So cute.

Noah's ark and the animals

Most of the people we visited are Christians, so we could be straightforward with our Christian programmes and our interaction was two-way. The children in the orphanages sang and prayed for us and it was just one of the most powerful experiences of my life, really. Having children pray is very different from having adults pray, because children are pure souls that are especially welcomed by God. (':

Singing with actions at the orphanage~
"I love you Jesus, deep down in my heart~
Talk about deep, deep, down, down,
deep down in my heart~"

Performing for us!
Them children freestylin'

The teens beatboxing

We watching

That magical moment when they sang and prayed for us!

Building a "swimming pool" at St. Andrew's School!

Sorting a couple of hundred goodie bags for the children

St. Andrew's kindergarten kids performing for us! So freaking cute I can't-

Gaming: Untangle (aka Spider Web)

We actually had a lot of free time (we spend at least 4 hours everyday just loitering around) due to bad scheduling so I just felt like we could have done much more. I mean, if we were going to travel all the way to Batam already (1 hour ferry ride from Singapore, 2 hours waiting time), might as well do as much as you can. I'm the all-or-nothing type.

How we spend our free time: writing out the lyrics for the next day's programme and jamming

Mostly jamming.

I wanna go back there soon~
Everything there is cheap because we stayed in COGS (Church of Good Shepard) and most some hotel. The clothes are super cheap, the food is cheap and good, and the chilli there is so awesome I can't even-

Group photo after a home visitation! (Yes I'm inside)

Post A's Results

Hello people so sorry I haven't posted in a long while. I've been really busy.

So. I did quite well for my A's considering that I really thought I was going to fail half the papers. Well enough that I definitely can go to a local university~ (But cannot enter law and medicine school, of course.) I got 82._/90 rank points~ Thank God. I don't have the financial means to study overseas if I couldn't enroll in local U.

Honestly, I'm really happy with my results. My Dad brainwashed me into thinking that being a doctor was my goal in life. He had very good arguments.
Being a certified doctor means that
1. You are financially assured.
2. You get worldwide recognition by ANY race, religion, or tribe,
3. meaning that you can travel to even the most closed-off places in the world
4. so that you can spread the gospel anywhere.

Honestly, I really didn't like JC biology even though I liked sec bio a lot. I'm good at understanding things from a macro point of view. I cannot stand micro stuff, like cells. I can't believe it took me 14 years of education to realise that. So I'm glad that I didn't get >85 rank points, or else I might've tried for med school and died there.

I'm still in the midst of sending Uni applications (deadline 1st April) and maybe try to apply for scholarships. I really don't think my results can get me scholarships, but hey, the worst they can do is reject me.

So I've spent the last month or so volunteering at St. Andrew's Autism Centre for two weeks from 24/02 to 07/03. It's part of the SERVE program. It was a very, very enriching and purposeful time. I'm seriously considering going back to volunteer instead of working in April. I'll go into more details about SAAC next time! :)

The rest of the time was spent preparing for my mission trip to Batam that is happening this Wed to next Sun! 5 days mission trip. My first mission trip anywhere, and I am the leader. Hahaha. I haven't been doing a very good job. There are a lot of complications and a huge lack of enthusiasm on my group's part. It is not going to be an easy trip. But, it is a challenge presented to me and I willingly accepted it. It's also a great way to test my leadership skills (if I have any). At the rate my group is going, we are currently very, very vulnerable to spiritual attacks. Please pray for us.
I have one day left to try and correct my group's mindset and attitude towards this mission trip. I want to succeed.
So this is just an update and I'll post more details if I have the time!

P.S. We'll be going to St. Andrew's School area in Batam (I don't know where that is) so maybe I'll see -you- there... If you live in Batam~

Homosexuality

I know it's a touchy subject and everything, but I got to thinking of it because of something damn stupid that happened tonight, and I just got this bursting inspiration that I wanted to share with you guys! :)

It started because some guy at the church event couldn't take a super mildly homo joke that I made in the whatsapp group. Let's call him Purple because he was purple in the WA group.

-Cameras rolling-
Green is a girl who is currently in Australia and we are shamelessly asking for souvenirs:

Me: I want souvenirs! The best of Australia can le haha.
Purple: Please bring back some hot hunks and babes? :P
Not attached to you (Green) of course. I'm speaking on behalf of those who want the best stuff from Australia
Me: Hahaha I want hunks. Purple can have my leftovers.
Purple: It's okay I like mine from Singapore ;)
Me: -_- Eh, your loss
Purple: Hey why would I take your leftovers... im a guy...
Me: Hahaha did you just get it ;P
Purple: Oh gosh
Dont do this
Red Blue Orange
Please reply to confirm that you've read
Red: Noted.
Blue: Yeah I've read.
Purple: Thanks guys. Orange?
Orange keeps quiet

-The End-

I got so pissed at him. It was a super mildly homo joke, why can he not just accept the joke with grace? If he didn't like that I joked like that, he could have just went "hahaha no thanks" or made another joke out of it. Why did he have to gather all his brothers like they are going to officially rage war against me? It seemed like he was looking for witnesses to tell me off.
My situation is a very sticky one. See, I'm the daughter of a pastor who is also the chaplain of a hospital. He has problems of his own and now has a very rocky relationship with his co-workers. And like all people in power, there will always be those sly little (can I say worthless) wannabes near you that will not rest until they have shamed you and turned the world against you just so they can feel a little bit powerful. If purple and his gang told on me to just any pastor, word will spread, no doubt about it. I'll be labelled as the girl who is insensitive to homosexuality or is the girl who is pro-homosexuality. Concerned members and pastors will approach my Dad because of this. I'm not afraid of him reprimanding me because honestly, it was a stupid joke. But as word spreads, some people will no doubt start to shun him. The wannabes will take this juicy opportunity and wreck my Dad's hard-earned reputation. Homosexuality is a very touchy subject in the Christian faith, especially in today's media influence.

While I can convince my Dad to believe that it was just a stupid joke, I do not have the power to change the opinion of the public. Christians are not as holy as some would like to think. I know many surface Christians who were only there to reap some sort of personal gain from the church, and some people are just that narrow-minded to make it their goal in life to make other good people miserable. Not to mention the gossip. The gossip is the worst thing ever. One little tiny detail leaks out, and the next day everyone knows about the exaggerated version and is judging you for it.

I have to work with purple and his gang for the next two weeks in close proximity. God, help me.


Alright now let me be clear about the Christian view of homosexuality. As it is very clearly stated in the Bible, homosexuality is a sin.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 - "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

(Leviticus 18 makes the rules regarding sexuality very clear, such as condemning incest and bestiality)

Leviticus 18:22 "Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin." (NLT)

Leviticus 20:13 "If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense."

There are a lot of verses regarding homosexuality, you can look them up yourself if you're interested. On the other hand, the Bible says that we cannot judge or show favouritism and that we must love our enemies (those we dislike and continually conflict with) more.

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.…" Matthew 5:44-45

"My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism." James 2:9

While we know that homosexuality is a sin, we have no right to judge or discriminate others, because we ourselves are sinners. I'd like to compare this to Jean Valjean's situation in Les Miserables. He was sentenced to an insane amount of time in prison for stealing a loaf of bread. Was stealing wrong? Yes, yes it was. However, we don't really feel that Jean Valjean is a criminal even though he stole something, because he did it with a reason. He stole the bread to feed his sister's children because they were starving. Was it a good cause? Yes. But is it still a crime? Yes, stealing is always a crime. But the morally right motive lightens the severity of the crime. Was the sentence fair? Heck, no. Suppose he is a rich man who stole some poor man's bread just for the fun of it. Is the crime the same? Yes, pretty much. But the severity is vastly different because of current circumstances and motive.

And that's how I think the Christian faith should approach homosexuality. Yes it is a sin, but it is also very unfair to form a stereotype and judge everyone based on it. Stereotyping them is like sentencing them to tens of years in prison. Like how some people say that it is just a lust thing. Maybe it's not. Maybe it was an escape or maybe it was the only tenderness somebody have ever known. We also do not have the right to judge others because we ourselves are sinners. We have lied and cheated others, at the very least. In fact, like how we are now trying to approach criminals held in jails, we have to treat them all with genuine concern and care. We have no right to discriminate, because we ourselves are not without flaws.

Well, that's just my two cents. I honestly have not made up my mind about this issue, mainly because of the heavy influence of the media today that is all of a sudden very pro-homo. I mean no disrespect to anyone, I just wanted to get my thoughts out there. Also, the words of the Bible are very easily misread. Us humans have the amazing ability of contorting things into whatever that fits us. Really though, who out there knows all the best answers to everything? Sometimes it's not a matter of right or wrong, but a matter of priorities of right and wrong.

It's 12.30am I should sleep. Have a full day tomorrow and I have to confront Purple. I just had to get it off my chest. Goodnight~ :)

The Science of Love

THIS IS AWESOMEEE!!