The Great Escape!

I'm back from the land of "Truly Asia"! The best 5 days anyone could ever have! Not that we did the most fantastic things (we only went to Cameron Highlands and KL), cuz it's the company that really made the difference :D Honestly, whenever we're together, we could be doing the most boring thing on earth, and still be entertained. The past 5 days will surely keep me motivated and afloat for the rest of the semester, through whatever shit I might be going through.

1. Each of us had a role during the trip. Simin was the 队长/Programmes Head/Slave Driver, Jamie was the Welfare Head, Pei was the 2nd Welfare Head/Food IC, Nina was Navigator/Miscellaneous, and I was the 副队长/Logistics/Sai Kang Warrior/Slave.

2. Long bus rides. I think we spent like 21 hours in buses. Firstly, we had to take a 11-hour coach ride to Cameron Highlands on Fri night. Walao, the coach had to drop off some other passengers at Genting Highlands first. So we climbed up the mountain on the bus with the rest of them, before realizing we were going up the wrong highlands. Then near the top of Genting, we switched to a van which brought us down Genting, and brought us up Cameron. So basically, we climbed 2 mountains in one night. Nice. It was also 5 hours from Cameron to KL on the third day, and another 5 hours from KL to Singapore on the last day. Plus I was mostly sitting at the back, so I absorbed most of the impact from the bumps on the roads ahha. So basically I was bouncing up and down on my seat, and getting a bruise from bumping my head against the headrest repeatedly. Oh well, at least the bus(es) didn't break down.

3. Going up Cameron is a nightmare. The place is just a long, winding maze of ascending roads. So it's like this endless rollercoaster of twists and turns. The roads are kinda narrow at some parts too, so you really need skill to navigate them. And sometimes, when cars meet along a narrow turn, it turns into a "who can fit the most cars into the tightest space" thing which can be quite scary. I bet if I were the one driving, we would've have gone off the mountain at the first turn haha. So yeah, I really respect the drivers there.

4. Cameron Highlands is all about strawberries, oranges, honey and tea. We joined this countryside tour conducted by our hotel where we went to farms and a tea plantation. It was quite boring, though the view was really great and the air was fresh and clean. I think we didn't really enjoy it also cuz we were quite seh from the bus ride the night before, so we KO-ed whenever we were in the van.

5. KL isn't really as cheap as it's made out to be. The malls are just bigger versions of those in Singapore, and the brands there are about the same price. So it made shopping pretty pointless haha. We watched a movie the first day we were there though, cuz tickets are cheaper :D 'Australia' (the movie) was quite good. Cheesy, but entertaining and quite touching haha. And I realize we have this habit of talking during movies and laughing at the most inappropriate times. Someone could be dying on screen and we will still be able to find something funny in that. This was probably why the man sitting next to Pei changed his seat before the movie even started haha. We must have terrified him.

6. Being in KL really makes you appreciate the public transport system we have in Singapore. We had to change train systems (and lines), so we had to buy tickets everytime we had to go onto another line, instead of just buying a full-day pass. But ok la, at least there was public transport.

7. I've never eaten so much in just a few days. Like seriously. I think my stomach expanded to twice its normal size after this trip hahah. The first night at Cameron, we went to eat steamboat, where they had free refills of vegetables. And we asked for like 3 refills, and an additional refill of beehoon. So our soup was basically swimming with vegetables and beehoon. In fact, the soup actually turned green haha. And I didn't know beehoon expanded in soup, cuz suddenly we had lots and lots to eat. Plus we refilled our soup like I think about 10 times? It's a surprise we didn't scare the waitresses ('Wah 5 个小妹可以吃这样多!!'). We ate so much we could barely walk, and I looked like I had a pregnant belly hoho. Ya and after that, we went for dessert, and later that night, we ate the strawberries and oranges (that I horribly mutilated while peeling) that we had bought. Shiok.

This was basically the pattern throughout the trip haha. Eat a big meal, then go for more. Otherwise known as 去到哪里, 吃到哪里 muahah.

8. This trip was also the first time where I actually went on a Viking ship ride. We were at Sunway Lagoon and I didn't know what possessed me to agree to go on it (I think it was peer pressure). I used to be really terrified of them cuz they look puke-inducing. After the ride, I think I became more terrified hahah. Just thinking about the ride gives me the chills. The thing goes 360 degrees man! And not only that, it HANGS in mid-air for a few seconds!! I think I saw my life flash pass my eyes when I was hanging horizontally to the ground, with my fate depending entirely on the harnesses holding me to my seat. And of course I was screaming my lungs out ("FreakfreakfreakfreakFREEEEEEAKKKKK!!!"). Beside me, Pei was going, "Freak!! This was worse than I thought!!", while Jamie was laughing and having a great time. Hail the queen of rollercoasters. She laughs in the face of danger.

9. Sunway Lagoon wasn't as entertaining as the advertisements make it out to be. We bought the pass for the Water Park (which we didn't manage to go to), the Adventure Park (where all the rollercoasters are), and the Scream Park (which was a complete waste of 20 minutes of my life). We tried almost all the rides though, which were quite fun, the most exciting moment being the one where Pei fell off her seat at the relatively mild "Grand Canyon River Rapids" (it's just a round boat going down a 'river') hahaha. I think the Scream Park was supposed to be scary, cuz it's like this haunted house thing, but we failed to be scared. Mostly cuz the ghosts were lame (they blew air at us, and we could see them before they came at us), and cuz us being us, we mostly laughed at them (especially Jamie).

10. I was 'raped' by my friends. Or rather, they taupok-ed me. Omg I had like 3 girls piled on top of me, while the other one was happily taking pictures. FUN. But the next day we taupok-ed our 队长 haha. It was crazy, and I shall be traumatised forever. But I still love them :D

Round 1 - at first there were 2..
...then the pile became 3. I think I was starting to have trouble breathing haha.
Round 2 - at least I looked happy hahah
Round 3 - Simin's turn. You can't really see her though hahaha.

11. Our accommodation was ok. Though we found black stuff on our sheets at our hotel at Cameron. Our hotel at KL was the best la. I think there was this prostitution ring going on at our level, especially next door. Simin said she heard loud sounds of the wrong type of business coming from next door early in the morning. And there were several women in scantily clad clothing coming in and out of the room throughout the night. Gross shit. But oh well, what to do, we were on a budget and that's what you get for staying at cheap places haha.

12. I now have a few more names to add to my repertoire of pig-related nicknames, them being "babi girl" (a variation of Barbie), and "ba kwa". Sigh, the abuse I go through in the name of friendship haha.

In short, our trip was GREAT :D I think I'm gonna suffer from withdrawal symptoms once the semester starts. Without our endless crapping, name-calling, random bursts of songs (and nonsensical substituting of lyrics), inside jokes, spontaneity, auntie-ness, and the general willingness to be stupid wherever we are, life is gonna be super boring. I think to us, age is only a number hahha. Examples to illustrate my point:

Titanic at the Petronas Towers.

Spider pig!

We look like a pair of robbers. Actually we just put our jackets on back-to-front, and covered our faces with the hoods ahaha. That's what you do to entertain yourself on a 5-hour bus ride.

PS. I only have a few photos here cuz it's a pain to upload on blogger. And on a sidenote: the perdan Janice is back! One more person to bully, yay :D

Yeah, I know we long for something fine

When we pine for higher ceilings

And bourgeois happy feelings

blessed :)

At the risk of jinxing myself, I hereby declare that I'm very happy :)) In fact, the happiest that I've been in a veryyy long time. No I did not just get a bf, nor did I win the lottery. It's just that recent events in my life have made me realize how blessed and fortunate I am.

I very narrowly got myself killed in an accident just now. 100% raw excitement man. My heart is still racing now. It's only by the grace of God (and other drivers) that I'm still alive here. OMG I swear I'm never gonna drive like that again. Like Hazel said, "Your mum probably still lets you drive cuz she doesn't sit in your car very often." Which is true, cuz if she ever saw what happened tonight, she'd ban me from driving forever. So yes, thank God I'm still here.

My results were ok, in that I guess it reflected the amount of effort I put in, though I wished my CAP could've improved by more haha. But still. And thank God I didn't fail my E-Commerce wahaha. But I'm still gonna S/U it.

My friends are the biggest, and most important, reason for my joy :D I'm very thankful God put this wonderful bunch of people in my life. People who understand me, whom I can happily crap around (and be 'auntie') with, and who can reduce me into tears of laughter. For example, during our WWF-finally-get-to-go-to-Teo-Heng session today, we were happily doing the actions to all those cheesy boyband songs and laughing at all those videos featuring random angmoh women who have absolutely no relation to the song (especially for English songs). I love it that we become this extremely siao and crazy bunch of people whenever we get together. WWF stands for "Wild Women Foundation" by the way :D

Also, I love the Backstreet Boys, but seriously I think they're too drama and 'act emo' already, especially that Nick Carter. Go check out the video for "Drowning" if you don't believe me. And I can't believe I actually listened to S Club 7 when I was younger. Their lyrics are downright cheesy ("Loving you is not just luck or illusion/It's in the make-up of our DNA", like omg). And Aqua is unhealthy for kids, cuz their lyrics are really quite porno ("Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky panky", hahaha!). Luckily my parents never listened closely to my music when I was younger, if not confirm kena ban. In fact, I think I actually own an Aqua cd wahaha!

Anyway, Christmas is here! The season for giving (and receiving :D)! But we shouldn't forget the true meaning of this day, which is that God became man in order to die for our sins so that we might be saved. I never fail to marvel at this. You might think a god as mighty as our Lord would've just easily used His powers to save us, but instead He went the opposite way and reduced Himself to the status of a human, even putting Himself through the shame of dying on a cross to save His people, who still continue to sin against Him over and over again.

"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."
- 1 John 5:11

Indeed, I believe that if not for His continual blessings, I wouldn't be where I am today. So therefore, this season is the perfect time to reflect upon what He has given to us, and hopefully from there, our blessings will overflow and touch the lives of others :)

Hey, love, we'll get away with it
We'll run like we're awesome, totally genius

"No man, proclaimed Donne, is an Island, and he was wrong. If we were not islands, we would be lost, drowned in each other’s tragedies. We are insulated (a word that means, literally, remember, made into an island) from the tragedy of others, by our island nature, and by the repetitive shape and form of the stories. The shape does not change: there was a human being who was born, lived, and then, by some means or another, died. There. You may fill in the details from your own experience. As unoriginal as any other tale, as unique as any other life. Lives are snowflakes—forming patterns we have seen before, as like one another as peas in a pod (and have you ever looked at peas in a pod? I mean, really looked at them? There’s not a chance you’d mistake one for another, after a minute’s close inspection), but still unique."

"Fiction allows us to slide into these other heads, these other places, and look out through other eyes. And then in the tale we stop before we die, or we die vicariously and unharmed, and in the world beyond the tale we turn the page or close the book, and we resume our lives. A life that is, like any other, unlike any other."

"I believe that anyone who claims to know what's going on will lie about the little things too. I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies. I believe in a woman's right to choose, a baby's right to live, that while all human life is sacred there's nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal system. I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you're alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it."

"We do not always remember the things that do no credit to us. We justify them, cover them in bright lies or with the thick dust of forgetfulness."

- Neil Gaiman, "American Gods"

church camp

So I'm back from church camp! It was great. I had a lot of fun, and learnt quite a bit too. It was different from other camps too, maybe cuz we were all older haha.

In the past camps, we used to hang out till 1 or 2am before going to bed, but this time, everyone (or at least I did) went to bed around 12 midnight cuz we had to get up early every morning. Well, except for the last night when we stayed up till 4am.

Speaking of age, I think the aunties and uncles had more fun than us. It was really funny to see a bunch of 50-something year-old ladies letting their hair down, and playing 'Blow Wind Blow', albeit with lots of screaming and slower reactions. And they really knew how to enjoy life lor. Like my aunt skipped the telematch to go for a massage and foot reflexology. Shiok hor. And the youths only knew how to sleep haha. Ok well, a few of us drove out to explore the surrounding area (our camp was in JB). It was really exciting cuz we had no idea where we were going, and only started panicking when we got on the main highway and saw signs like "To Singapore/JB", and "To Kuala Lumpur". I think we made like 5 or 6 U-turns in our bid to find our way back haha. Adventurous right.

The camp speaker was really good too. Basically the theme for camp was "Freed to Serve" from the Book of Galatians. I learnt that it's important not to accept perversions of the gospel, for example those preaching a "vending machine" God, where what you get from God depends on the amount you put in, which is really not how God works. The gospel is about God's grace, and nothing we do can change or add anything to it, and that's something really wonderful. I also learnt that because Christ died for us on the cross, He became the curse so that we can be blessed. Therefore we are freed from the Law, because we can never gain righteousness from our deeds alone because we would ultimately fail. So because of His death, we can attain righteousness by faith, and this makes us all members of the same family in Christ, which means that we are not to judge others just cuz they're different. Freedom from the Law doesn't mean we can go around sinning and be ok, because indulging in the sinful nature is just being bonded to sin, and it's not true freedom. True freedom is the freedom to realise what God intends us to be, and that is to love one another. By living in the Spirit, it transforms us and brings about the Fruit of the Spirit. From there, we should share the gifts of God. Therefore we are "Freed to Serve". I'm writing all this down not to bore anyone, but so that I can remember it better myself haha.

So yeah, camp was meaningful :)

Yesterday was also the WWF-failed-KTV-session cuz there weren't any available rooms at Teo Heng haha. But we managed to turn it into another WWF-watches-another-funnyfunny-movie session. Ok la, "The Orphanage" (it's a Spanish horror movie) was quite good. And I can truly say that my friends are the only people who will actually bother to hide behind a shower curtain to scare me haha. If not for the fact that I could see their shapes behind the curtain, I think I would have been scared to death. So great job guys hahha. I'm really looking forward to our Great Escape next week!! Hopefully we'd be able to meet Janice in KL too :))

I can't explain a thing
I want everything
To change and stay the same

growing old

Taken from Jamie's blog:

"Age has caught up with us when...

1. We feel sleepy just 3 hours after waking up.

2. We desperately need coffee to keep us on our feet.

3. When we people-watch at orchard road, we find that 90% of the crowd is made up of teenagers and 5% is made up of the occasional office worker or 20- or 30- something. We feel old.

4. We have conversations like this:

A: (referring to a group of school girls debating in loud voices about which pair of sport shoes to buy) Were we like that last time?
J: (without hesitation) NO.
J: (5 seconds later) We were worse.

5. "Eat, sleep, daydream, watch dramas" seems ideal.

6. We start to lament about the past and dread joining the rat race. We talk about working life and job prospects.

7. We're sick of shopping and bored of everything."

I've got some additions of my own too:

8. We prefer to go home for dinner cuz eating out is expensive. Or simply cuz we're just tired (refer to (1) and (2), above).

9. Cheap is always good. Always. No matter what they say.

Hahaha, sad hor. I hate having the digit "2" in front of my age. It means I have to start working and contributing to the household soon. It also means I should start thinking seriously about what I really want in life, and not just some overarching goal like "being happy".

Anyway I'm off to church camp tomorrow! I really hope it'll give me a chance to sit back and re-examine my life, and from there I'll have a clearer view of everything that has been happening. And of course, to re-connect with God. I realize the reason why I haven't been able to hear God's prompting recently is cuz I haven't been spending enough time praying. I've been too caught up in life's trivialities that I guess I've sort of drifted away from Him. And I'm hoping church camp will be a good time for me to get away from life, and grow closer to God.

Cause if I am the joke
Then you're the punchline

used to this

A random thought: I wish I could go back to the US. You know, one day I just might migrate there haha. Just for the sake of experiencing different stuff, like a different weather, different people, a different way of life. It's ironic, cuz instead of being contented that I've seen so much in just 6 months during exchange, I've become greedy for more. There's something to be said about wandering around a foreign city all by yourself, not caring much about getting lost cuz there's too much to see to worry about directions. Yeah, that's what I felt like in New York haha. It was exhilirating.

Singapore is boring. And I'm restless, and itching for something more. There has to be more than this.

But I don't have the means to keep flying everywhere. No point being envious of others. But I think I'm probably gonna fly off to somewhere different every chance I've got, after I start working haha.

Another thought. I realize I like to build my hopes on people, only to end up getting disappointed. Is it because my expectations were too high, or is it because people just disappoint in general? I mean ok, I do disappoint others as well, and unknowingly sometimes. Argh I've never been able to figure this out.

So I guess what I can do is to just move past it, and learn. It's a pity that things have to turn out this way, but I can't let this go, so I can't see any other way. But it's ok, I'll get used to this.

It's the nature of the experiment
It's the patterns of my temperament

I am TIRED.

So tired of all this.

I can't even remember how it all came to this.

What do I, what do I, what do I need
To do to get myself in a better mood