Don't think I'll blog for a while. Going on a blog holiday. It's inevitable I think. Almost everyone I know who has a blog goes on a blog holiday when they've reached a certain point. I think I don't really have much to write about anymore. Plus I don't have my own computer so it will be a bit tricky. But yes, this girl's come to that point where a blog holiday is in order. See you all when I come back.

Hey :)

Didn't expect to be online any time soon but Wei Ren's out at the moment and I asked if I could use his computer. So here I am, on my own in a new environment. Slept pretty well last night but that was due to the fact that I was called out to a meeting at about 12.30am and returned shortly after 3am :) Had a good time sharing and all though.

First dinner in the house last night - pasta, soup and red wine :) What a nice way to kickstart another phase of life. Still not done unpacking though. Heaps of stuff to get through. Plus, I've just realised that I forgot to pack my drinking apparatus (don't know whether to call it a cup or a mug - you know Lil, the Starbucks one you got me). Need to make another trip back to my flat to get that and my food in the fridge.

Wow. Thank you, those of you who responded to my last post. It's really easy to think you're all alone when the people who care for you may not necessarily be physically present. So yes, thank you. We've all got our own baggage and that's alright. You know you can count on me to help you shoulder it when it's crunch time.

Been focusing too much on what I don't have. Finally realised (thanks to a good friend) that it was impeding me from greater works, from pouring my entire being into the lives of other people. And that is essentially what I want to do - to leave an imprint of the Lord and a breath of my life wherever I go. It doesn't matter if people don't open up in response to me or don't reciprocate my pouring out. That's not important anymore. When it boils down to it, it's about giving and not receiving. I think I might have finally understood that. Granted, sometimes I might whinge about not having someone to run the race with me but I really hope that does not cloud my vision and rob the world of what the Lord wants to do through me. That would be the ultimate act of selfishness and I really hope it never comes to that.

I see you through the glass panel, Cheryl. I know you'll be there anytime. Give me a big hug when you see me yah? :)

The old oak tree stands alone.
Amidst a waning forest and dying dreams
Of companionship and days to come
Of longevity in a single spirit,
Binding them together.

The old oak tree stands alone,
Its branches stretched to fullest height
Of possibilities and youthful wants -
The heartbeat of a verdant past.

The old oak tree stands alone
In chilling cold and stabbing rain,
Mounting efforts to keep alive.

The old oak tree stands alone,
Reduced to a distant murmur.

The old oak tree stands alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And so another leaves. No pun intended. No one, I repeat, no one, can ever fully comprehend the emotions that come with leaving and returning and setting up house and tearing it down, if they're never been through it themselves. It is an experience unique to those who've gone through it, yet in turn unique to every individual. There is nothing to describe it aptly. Nothing. That is not to say that it has been reduced to insignificance. It is completely the opposite. It is a complex maneuvering of the persistent path of life. And I say persistent because life simply goes on. No one waits for you to collect your emotions before you move on to the next station. No one will collect them for you because it is something only you can collect for yourself. And the earth spins. Revolving, rotating, rotating, revolving. How shall we embrace the two? Rotaving? Revolting?

And so the next station approaches with gaining speed. Yet it is not the station that is moving but the train. Do you get off or stay on? Will anyone be there to meet you if you get off and if you decide to stay, will anyone look after you? My personal conviction is that no one can do it alone. We all need someone to meet us at the station or be our companion if we stay. Because very simply, we were created for fellowship. With God and with each other.

So my time is approaching. To get off or to stay on. Either way, I'm not sure I'll have anyone to meet me or stay with me. And that, is the scariest thought of all.

Rain, rain, go away
Come again another day
Rain, rain, go away
Little children want to play.

Freo is calling. The rain is preventing. The parents are waiting. I am stalling.

Poor Dad, he wanted to do the laundry today. I wonder if he managed to do it. Or got caught in the rain. I think I've caught a cold. Have a half-blocked, half-runny nose, if you know what I mean. Shan't gross everyone out with the details. Am so reluctant to go out in the rain : ( This is a great day to stay home and watch movies, load up on cocoa and biscuits and let the giant beanbag swallow you up :) It's such a lazy day. Lazylazylazylazylazy. Maybe I'll update more later.

p/s: Cheryl, thank you for your concern. I'm dealing with it and shall be fine soon. Thank you so much, you're such a dear. I KNOW our paths crossed for a very special reason. You're a tremendous blessing to me. Take care now :)

Gosh, I just watched the most heart-stopping match between Ireland and Spain. I mean absolutely heart-stopping!!! Those of you who watched it will know what I mean. Those who didn't will read about it in the papers tomorrow. Still trying to calm my nerves... hahaha...

I'm back. Am relieved and tired. It's been a stressful 5 days, very difficult, very demanding, very emotionally draining. I love my parents, please don't misunderstand me. Sometimes, it's just hard to spend so much time together. I was literally sending out SOS messages the first few days. It was a desperate call. Spent some time SMSing my brother, who's in New Zealand at the moment. Felt a little better after that.
Drove all the way back from Albany today. Mom was feeling giddy and Dad didn't have his license with him so I had to do it. Stopped in Kojonup for a light lunch and we were on our way again. Interestingly, the best part of the trip was the drive back. Talked to Dad most of the way, discussing cars, relatives (!), history, the Chinese language (!!), naughty things I did in JC :) Mom even chipped in a bit. It was nice. Long and tiring, but nice.
Was gonna put my journal up for all to view but I'm not sure I want to relive it again.. haha.. ask me in person if you want to know how my trip went. Generally, I enjoyed Albany but Pemberton was BORING. Denmark is beautiful. One word to sum up the trip - RAIN. But it did stop when I prayed for it to stop so that was really good, thank God :)
Those of you with exams still, press on yah? The end is in sight. Take care all.

Talk about a bad day. I'm done whining about it though. Tomorrow is going to be better :) your perspective changes drastically when you're acutely aware of the manifest presence of God. Every single second, aware of His presence. It's amazing how everything just changes and you're filled with a renewed sense of vision and purpose. I'm reminded of the time the Lord whispered "I love you" to me. It blew me away. That the God of all creation would tell me - a tiny little insignificant being - that He loves me is something that is so hard to understand but so beautifully beautiful :) Don't take my word for it though. Go experience it for yourselves. Yearn for it, reach for it, hunger for it. You'll get it.

Will be back on Sunday. Till then, have a really great week all :)

Dad and Mom are here. Got lost coming back from the airport. Almost ended up in Joondalup.. hahaha.... sigh.. so, so tired now. If I could show you how tired I am, I would. My head's about to fall off my shoulders... *yawn*...

I'll be away for a while. Won't update then but all you people with blogs and sites, keep going. I want to read lots of stuff when I get back :) and I want heaps of emails too. Addressed to Me, thankyouverymuch. Not to me and 20 other people :)

Lil, once again, congratulations on your honours offer. You deserve it, girl. I'm glad you're going for it and I'm so so so happy for you :) I wonder if I'll miss studying though. I remember the last few minutes of my last exam, sitting there, savouring every moment (I know, I'm psycho) and wondering if I'll miss it. It really is quite scary, to leave school. I know I've been talking about that a lot but it is the stage of life I'm at. Bear with me? And um, no, I don't have any plans for the immediate future. Living each day as it comes.

Long day tomorrow. I'm expecting long days ahead. I'd really like to chill out after all these years of study. Like, max it out. But travelling with the folks is hardly relaxing. I love them, yes, but travelling with them is another thing.. haha.. it's a whole experience in itself :)

All those of you with papers still to go, hang in there ya? It'll be over soon. You're all in my thoughts. Take Phil. 4:6, 7 with you and claim that promise for yourselves. Don't forget to chill out too ya?

Right, I'm off now. See you all in a few days. Be good.

Retook the "What's your flavour" test (I love that test!) and here's what the latest results are:

Mmm ... pink grapefruit! Sweet and tart at the same time, you're bursting with sun-kissed goodness. If you were a song, you'd be "It's a Sunshine Day" by the Brady Bunch — you're just that perky and refreshing. That's not to say that you don't have an edge — quite the contrary. In fact, a little bit of sugar (aka gifts, praise, and other goodies) can always bring out your naturally sweet flavor. But when it comes down to it, you prefer folks who can match you in strength and independence. Luckily, that kind of attitude is appealing, so you always have 'em wanting more. Citrusy, tangy, and a little exotic, you're a truly tasty treat.

Heh. Pink grapefruit... who would've thought :)

New name!!

Hey Alvin, nice to see you wandering about my blog :)
As Cheryl nicely put it, I SURVIVED UNI!!!! Although it's not really over yet.. heh..
So anyway, the exam part is and that's the biggest thing off my chest now :) I'm gonna be online a lot now (not like I wasn't before) and the folks are coming down for a visit from the 10th to the 19th of June. It'll be good fun. I hope Momsies doesn't stress out like she normally does and irritate Pops and stress moi. Hahaha.... good ol' Mom. We're planning a trip down south. Again. Cheryl, I do wish you'd pop down for a visit : ( I don't think you need to stress about accommodation. You can always stay with me. Then there's Mike as well so you see, no worries mate ;)

How's it going, Lil? Are you going to Japan soon/in Japan/back from Japan?

Hungry now.. I forsee a lot of this. Hunger, that is...

Thank you Fred for your belated card :)
You know what? It's so strange but everyone I know from my generation has suddenly decided to wake up and actually put some effort into their studies. So much for parents worrying about us not doing homework and all eh.. I figure once you get to a certain point in your life, you realise that you don't want to screw it up anymore. Never to late to make amends. It's just that it's such a strange phenomenon. Either that or I don't have enough friends to make a good sample size.

Hmm...

More thank yous today :)
Thanks to my cell who so brilliantly abdcuted Mei En and myself and totally surprised us!! Thanks to the study group in church who also very brilliantly showered us with confetti and other sticky things :) Thanks to Lilian, Paul, Leonard, Eazy, Lou, Mervyn, Adrian, Vinny, Aileen, Sabrina, Shuen, Elizabeth, Queenie. If I forgot anyone, you'll have to forgive me, you know I don't mean it :)
Ok, have a good day people, I'm still on a birthday high... haha.. pity about the exams though..

p/s: Lil, your future plans sound exciting and so within reach! I'm really glad that you've got some sort of purpose and direction. All the best dear. Missing you lots and lots...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME-EE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! =)

What? I'm entitled to :)

Thanks to Cheryl, Ivan, Clarence, Ian, Victor, Shawn, Eileen, Julia, Mei En and Andrew for their kind wishes, blessings and gifts =)

It's been a crazy year so far. Let's hope it gets better eh? :)

Finally, to the most important people in my life (this is fun.. like some acceptance speech..):

My dearest Father Who told me that I was fearfully and wonderfully made, Who knew me before I was formed, Who crafted me into being with such love and care and purpose. I love You and am forever grateful.

My parents for being the people the Lord used to bring me into the world. For your love, care and support, I thank you. For giving me the incredible opportunity to study overseas and for financing this part of my journey, I will always be grateful. Thank you for accepting me for who I am and never asking me to be anyone else. Thank you for your love.

Those of you reading this blog today, welcome to my birthday and thanks for sharing it with me :) Let me know you've dropped in - leave a msg in my guestbook.

That's it then. More updates when the day gets rolling. Have a great sunshiney day :)

Find your emotion!

There you have it. I took another quiz, thanks to Lil :) So much for not blogging....

Ok, I don't propose to know a lot about football or futebol... haha.. but I do think that the Senegal keeper did a fantastic job last night! I would have voted him Man of the Match. Was he? I don't know, didn't wait for that. Once again, just my own opinion - I thought France played a sloppy game. Don't come after me, French fans or fans of France. I would have liked them to equalise as well but for a stupid reason though. Haha.. I usually like the team with the nicer jersey to win :) And I LOVE the french outfit!! I really really dig those red socks!! Haha.. trust a girl to turn the opening match of the World Cup into a fashion column! French fashion is the way to go man! But really, I enjoyed watching the match and thinking that everywhere around the world, at that very moment, people were watching the same things I was! I was especially thinking of Dad and Bro back home going crazy over the way France was playing :)
Tonight will be really exciting though, with Cameroon and Ireland. If I remember right, Cameroon was the Olympic champion no? Unfortunately, I won't be at home to watch the game. Will be in church for more exciting stuff!! Whoo hoo!!
So anyway, I may or may not blog so often cos exams are coming up (not that I blog often anyway).. take care all and have a good June!