Touched down in London

Andrew reporting from London. Time now is 4.15pm and outside temperature is around 11 degree celsius.

Just touched down in London at 5am (London time) and it is already daylight at 5am!!! Took a train from the airport to Bayswater station and met my brother over there. He took us to his apartment and...it is suuuuuuuuuupppppppppeeerrrrrrrrrrrr small... but very cosy. The weather is not that good after all. Keeps raining and stopping and raining (repeat 10 times).

Well, been wondering how I can blog it? Well, I'm using my bro's comp in his school hahaha.

Anyway, gtg...will blog again if i can hahha.

Old Trafford!!! Here I come!!! :)

At settler's cafe yesterday

Went to settler's cafe yesterday with sylvia, kenny, sky, hew yenn, pamelia, xiaowen and me. What a day over there. Lost quite a number of games. Nearly won the 1st round of "Bang" but all thx to xiaowen, I lost to her. sian man...hehehe...but I will be back next time...heez...

Well, we should be there longer cuz then it will be more fun, then we can play many more new and untried games. Well, since yesterday we din manage to play "Management Material", I'm still the champion of that game!!! hehehehe... Oh, we ended our day at the cafe with "Taboo". Hmm...maybe its murphy's law that the guys always think that the gals got the easier words to describe. Well, we guys manage to catch up with the gals on "Taboo" but in the end, lost to them by 2 points. Congrats to the gals!!! :)

Went home after that and prepared myself for the Champions league final showdown between Barcelona and Arsenal. I support Barcelona!!! Well, tot Barca is going to lose the title all thx to a controversial freekick (Eboe dived to win the freekick) that Sol Campbell scores from a header.
Well, kind of pity Arsenal too cuz of the sending off of goal-keeper, Jens Lehmann, though he deserved to be sent off for bringing down Eto'o on a one-on-one situation. If Arsenal wins on the controversial free-kick then where's the justice that a game of soccer should have? Well, thx to quick goals from Eto'o and Belletti that Barca won the match. 2-1 to Barca. Period. :)

My 1st cooking lesson

Well, yesterday had my 1st cooking lesson with Sylvia, Winnie and Kenny. Cooked chicken-carrot-potato porridge (is there such porridge in the 1st place? hehehe...) and a side-dish called onion egg (opps...hope we din fart..heez...).

It was quite interesting to see Kenny cut the carrot and especially trying his very best to....crack an egg!!! hehehe....Hmmm...good effort from him even though I found a small egg shell in the cooked onion egg!!! hehhee...Well, I can say Sylvia and Winnie are really good cook eh....I shall give a 7 out of 10 for both the porridge and the egg. Is it good enough???

Hmmm...I learnt something from them. On how to marinate the chicken...hehehe...ok...next up...2nd lesson... :)

Today is such a boring day for me man. Stay at home the whole da, trying to discipline myself to sit down and study. Why study when my school is only starting in July? Cuz I will be taking up programming as part of the course in Uni and I never learn programming before!!

Going through chapter 1 of the porgramming book is ok but when I started reading chapter 2, I got a headache man...Dun even noe what is it talking about (even though I try to follow the examples written in the book). Well, I dunno why God gives me this course in Uni (It's called Computer and Mathematical Sciences). Whatever the case is, I'm sure God will provide me a way out and gives me wisdom to do well in Uni becuz He tells me to go Australia!!! And He's not going to let me suffer there in the first place since He tells me to go there. So I shall have faith in Him! Amen!! :)

Today's service at Expo

"Do not hide in the darkness. Do not keep running away from the cross and to the cross again." These were some of the words released to me by 1 of the consolidators during today's service's altar call. Today's message by Pastor Melyvn Mak is very straight forward. It's called "Living a life of faith". Today's invitation for us, christian, is simply what we want from God. Well, I went forward because I felt that the Holy Spirit is stirring my heart and that I should go forward. When the consolidator is praying for me, the image of Jesus hanging on the cross just came into my mind. Then I was running away from the cross and to the cross again, repeatedly. Well, I have to stop that and remain at the foot of the cross forever. Then I picture myself hiding behind the foot of the cross, being protected by the power of the cross from the Evil One.

Just wanna thank God that He does not give up on me. Like what the bible said, "When I take one step towards God, He will take a hundred steps towards me." Indeed, our God is a faithful God. He will cling on to us no matter what happens to us and He will bring us out from the problems we have victoriously. He has forgiven me and the blood of Jesus has washed me clean! Amen!

FIRING UP FOR GOD

"BEING PUNCTUAL TO SERVE GOD IS LIKE HONOURING GOD. LET'S BE PUNTUAL AND SERVE GOD TOGETHER!" WELL, THIS IS WHAT I SAW AT THE BACK DOOR OF HALL 9 WHEN I NEED TO ENTER TO THE BACK-STAGE AT HALL 10 CUZ I'M SERVING AS LOGISTIC FOR YOUTHNET SERVICE ON SUNDAY AT EXPO. WELL, I GUESS "PUNCTUALITY" IS A COMMON PROBLEM WITHIN US. MANY OF US (INCLUDING ME)ARE GUILTY OF LATE FOR CELL GROUP, NETWORK MEETING OR EVEN COMING FOR SERVICE EVERY SUN. SOME OF US (INCLUDING ME) ALWAYS LIKE TO GIVE EXCUSES AS TO WHY WE ARE LATE. WE MAY GIVE REASONS LIKE "OH, I'VE WAITED QUITE SOME TIME FOR THE CAB TO COME". WELL, IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE POINT THAT WHY WE MUST TAKE CAB TO SERVICE? THIS IMPLIES THAT WE ARE NOT PLANNING OUT TIMES WISELY. IF WE DO, WE WILL NOT HAVE TO A CAB DOWN TO EXPO FOR SERVICE BECAUSE WE WILL LEAVE OUR HOUSE EARLIER AND JUST TAKE A BUS OR MRT DOWN AND REACH EXPO ON TIME.

I STILL REMEMBER WHAT ONE OF THE PASTORS SAY WHEN WE HAVE NOT MOVED TO EXPO YET. DURING ONE OF THE YOUTH SERVICE AT TC ON SATURDAY, ME AND SOME OF MY CELL MEMBERS ARE SERVING AS CONSOLIDATORS AND WE WERE LATE FOR THE BRIEFING. THEN THE PASTOR SAID THIS, "BE PUNCTUAL IS ALSO A FORM OF SERVING GOD. YET MOST OF US ARE NOT PUNCTUAL FOR THE BRIEFING. DO YOU EXPECT TO LET GOD WAIT FOR YOU TO COME AND SERVE HIM?" WELL, IT'S TRUE. JUST LIKE WHEN U ARE GOING TO MEET THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. DO YOU EXPECT HIM TO WAIT FOR YOU IN HIS OFFICE? IT'S US WHO WAIT UPON GOD AND SERVE HIM AND NOT GOD WAIT FOR US.

WELL, LET'S PRAY TOGETHER THAT WE CAN SERVE GOD TOGETHER JOYFULLY AND ON TIME. :)

Settler's Cafe RoX!!!

YES!!! I'm offically the most slacking person in LS. Becuz...I won the "Management Material" game!!! It's a game whereby a player will recieve a "project" from a "boss" and he or she can chose to take up the project or not. The objective of the game is not to take up "projects" but to reject them. The winner is one which takes up the least number of "project points" (every project comes with a project point).

Well, we (Sky, Sylvia, Hew yenn, Joyce, Amanda, Kenny, Lijuan, Christian, Samantha and me) went to Settler's cafe along Katong road (though Samantha left quite early and Christian joined us quite late). We played games like "I'm the boss", "Snonta", "Management material" and "Taboo". It was such nice outing with them and fun! We spent like 5 hrs there. Then we went to eat at some coffee shop (the chicken cop was superb!!!) beside Settler's cafe and chill out till quite late over there.

We chit-chatted over there and oh...Sky said something which catches my attention. He said, "How we grow up spiritually is when we had gone through hard times." It is indeed true. But even when we go through hard times, trials and tribulations, we must have faith to believe that God will pull us through. One verse in the bible (I forgot its from where liao...guess I have to do more bible studies) that says "faith without deeds is dead" (correct me if I'm wrong :) ). So even if we have faith that God will bring us through, we, on our own part, do not help ourself then it's useless. For example, just like in a relationship, if we broke off with our bf or gf and we still think of them, at the same times having faith that God will help us forget them, it's still useless. God will only help us when we try not to think of them and REALLY commit our problems WHOLEHEARTEDLY to Him. :)

A new experience for me

Today, went to search for my uni book. Managed to get 1 our of 2 books. At first, went to Bras Basah centre to search for it but to no avail. Then rush down to Funan (all thx to 1 kind stuffs at one of the bookshops at Bras Basah who told me to try Funan). Well, better than nothing. Manage to get 1 java programming book and thx God I managed to get it cuz it's the last one on display! hehehe...

Well, then wanted to go home after that. Just before reaching home (to be exact, about 5 mins to reach my house door), Sylvia called and asked me to go Partyworld at Outram. Well, ok...never go singing with them before, so met up with Sylvia, Kenny, Jedrick (gosh...so long never see him), Winnie and Pamelia and off we went to Partyworld. Kind of bored for me cuz I cant sing! hehehe..well, at least they try to make me sing (thx guys for your effort! :) )...oh yes! all of them are verrrryyyyyy goooooddddddd singers man! Though I'm quite bored but really enjoyed their singing man, except for the guy outside at e lobby who kept singing Jay Chou's song...hehehe...

Well, that's sum up my day! :)

Today is the moment for Kenny...

Today...the 8th of May 2006...time between 2.30pm to 8pm...IS THE MOMENT FOR KENNY!!! :D Well, Kenny, you have to thx us (Sky, Sylvia, Xiaowen and me) cuz we change you into a guy will charm gals wherever you go (the 1st pic from the top is "old" Kenny and the 2nd pic is "new" Kenny). It's true...you have to believe us. We sacrifice our times for you today. Went to Heeren with you to shop for clothes and to change your "uncle" image into a guy full of charm (pls look at the pics above...). Even though the total cost of 2 shirts, 1 Levis jean and 1 jacket exceeded your budget but I guess it's worth it (rite, guys...).

After that, we went for dinner at Far East and to PS to buy my bass strings (Thx God! Cuz I fixed my bass...yes!!!). Well, too bad Zhenchang din manage to catch our "new-found"
Kenny at PS cuz he went movie with his friends. Well, Kenny...you will sure charm alot of gals with your new look...its true. :)

P.S. hmmm...maybe Sylvia, Xiaowen, Sky and me can host a show call "Extreme Makeover:
Singapore version. :D

Pam's bday at Magicbox

I'm supposed to blog this yesterday but I reached home quite late and was very tired so until now then I blog on it. Well, the hightlight of yesterday was some of us (Sylvia, Joyce, Lijuan, Winnie, Amanda, Flavian, Jenny, Hew Yenn, Sky, Kenny, pastor and me) went to Magicbox to celebrate Pam's birthday. Hmmm...I wonder whether it's a surprise for her. Anyway, we bought her a white dress from Zara and a Tiramisu birthday cake. Quite unique to celebrate birthday at Magicbox eh and pastor was playing dvds on e projector screen. Oh...I (or rather all of us) didn't manage to hear Pam sing...She was supposed to sing for us yesterday...and to Kenny's delight and excitement, pastor played Josh Groban's dvd and I can say Josh Groban is a really talented musician. We chilled out at Magicbox till 10pm and then we went to the nearby Mac for supper (well, at least it's a supper for me). :)

My bass is dying soon!

Ya...tt's true..its dying soon. Went to Luthermusic today (saw pam and her dad there...wat a small world eh) to collect my bass. Tot everything is fine when i tried it out over there, using their amp. When i tried it at home, it's the same old problem again. The strings are vibrating so much that they touches the metal strips on the fretboard. Well, one of the Luthermusic staffs told me that the strings are so-called too powerful for my bass to handle. He suggested getting a thinner set of bass strings. Well, i'm still an amateur bassist and i have no idea wat he's talking about. think tomolo i have to see whether there's such thing as a thinner bass string anot when i go plaza singapura to search for it. Oh God, really pray that He will revive my bass again.

To IDP again

Today went to IDP to settle my Australia education again. I cant remember how many times I've been there. To all those who don't know what's IDP...it's an Australian agency that helps Singapore students to study in Australia. I went there today to hand up the acceptance form for my hostel in UWA (University of Western Australia) and they will send it over to UWA for me. Wah...this really reminded me that thx God that I got a place over there. When I thought that I kana rejected a place in NTU and NUS, I tot my study life will stop at A level. Well, its really of God's grace and mercy that He gives me a place in UWA. Well, I gonna study real hard for God over there man and oh... at the same time, serve Him there too! :)

Wah thanks God man! Think God reminded me this morning that beside Sweelee music and Davis, there's Luthermusic. Maybe God wanted me to go to Luthermusic to svc my bass. True enough, I went there this afternoon and realised that the staffs were warm and nice. After some testing out on my bass, they decided to keep it till friday for svc-ing.

Oh then, at night, I met up with Sylvia, Kenny and Sky to watch the premiere on Mission Impossible 3. Super nice show but I think the ending can be nicer abit. Dun wanna tell u about the movie...scare it will spoilt those who have not catch the show. And it's been some times that I watch a movie in a packed cinema...hmmm..cuz its free after all!!! hehehe...Oh the only thing I can tell you about the show is that the characters used cool ideas and methods and cool gadgets to achieve their missions. :)

Seizing every opportunity to serve God

Seizing every opportunity to serve God. That's the mentality I have right now. That's why when Flavian asked me to teach guitar, I agreed. It's also good to serve God whenever opportunities arise because 1.) God will be please that we are always ready to serve Him 2.) it is to keep us busy so that the Devil (or S.A. TAN) will not attack us spiritually. Thus, I shall encourage all my spiritual family members to continue serving God and to seize every chance to make Him happy. :)

Oh, btw, my bass guitar is spoilt!!!!!!!!!!! :( call Sweelee music today and they say they only service their houshold brand guitars. So sian...luckily i call luthemusic and they told me to bring my bass down to let them see first. Haiz...dunno whether to change my bass guitar anot lor (dunno whether my mum will allow or not)...been giving me problems. Firstly, its e fretboard...and now its e pickups spoilt. But nevermind, gonna pray and God will make a way when there's no way! Amen! :)