Happy New Year

Counting down to the new year? Well, just imagine me counting down with you.. altho I'm not there but the thought counts right!!!

Mel, thanks for being such a great friend this year. Through our ups and downs, I'm glad we're still friends. Big hug to you

Rebecca Marsh, my dodgy friend/neighbour/fellow cerocer.......... it's been my pleasure to get to know you this year.. love u!!

Ben, thanks for coming into my life... love u

Ekta, miss you heaps and can't wait to see you in Bangkok soon!!

Abbey, thanks for constantly praying for me..

Sam, thanks for listening for me (altho the timing is abit inconvenient for you) and give me advice when I needed them

Brendan, thanks for that block of chocolate, Bing, it really saved the King's Ball

KT, gosh... great to know you this year.. you're such an awesome person

Steve and Indra, well what can I say.. it's Steve and Indra!!

Elim Church (Dunedin).... my family

My flatmates, thanks for being such wonderful flatmate girls.. you certainly made this year awesome for me..

My classmates, congratulations all those graduating this year!! (including me!! yay!!) and all those doing honors.. good luck

My lifegroup, sorry for the bad turn up for me this year.. I still love you girls tho (Yas, you're such an amazing leader!!!!)

Cerocers (Monique, Tim, Nikki, John, Luke...etc), thanks for all the good times this year.. dancing with you all are just AWESOME!!!

To everybody who's not in here.. it doesn't mean that I'm not grateful for you or that I had forgotten you..I'm sorry if I left you out.. no hard feelings.. LOVE U ALL!!!

Happy 2006 my friends!!!! I'll be thinking of you when I do my counting down here in Bangkok, Thailand.

A day with CE Thailand mission team

Well, sorry about the delay guys. I've been busy job hunting... which, I must admit, can make your life really miserable. Note to self, next time, be more prepared.

Well, I met Dave P, Lizzy and Michelle in Bangkok about a week and a half ago. I met them at their hotel and took them out to dinner at this cool restaurant my mom recommended. My goodness, we ate so much. We ordered 6 different foods, it was amazing that we finished almost all of it. Thanks to Dave.. I really don't know how that guy stay so skinny!!! Then I took them all out to Suan Lumpini Night Bazaar for some shopping. Lizzy stopped at every shop in sight. Michelle and Lizzy are really good at bargaining. I think they're even better than me!!! Dave bought a nice shirt at a very reasonable price as well.

I was gutted that the girls only stay for one night and they have to leave in the afternoon the next day. I didn't meet up with them on that day because I was busy and they needed most of the time debriefing. However, I get to meet Dave P the next day.. with BECS!!!! yeah.. it was awesome. We met for lunch, in which I introduced them to Thai desserts, then we went to the famous Siam Square. I can't remember much what we did there. We just walked around and talk. We visited this tiny shop called Mango Tango where every food/drinks/dessert in there are made with mango. It was awesome!!! Then we went hunting for a place where Dave and Becs could taste Singha beer.. we ended up at this exquisite hotel. The atmosphere there was really nice, with a lady playing harp and all!! THEN.. we had dinner. It seems to me that we spent most of the day eating!!

It was great seeing familiar faces in my part of the world. Especially Becs, I haven't seen her for like a year!!! I can't wait till Ekta comes!!

Miss u guys!!!
La Korn

Merry Christmas to all of you, my dear friends.

All of you, in some way or another, had affected me and blessed me greatly. It's God who crosses our paths and we're friends for a reason. Friendship is one thing that I treasure and it's been a pleasure to get to know all of you. Although I don't know some of you very well, but please know that I treasure you nontheless.

So on this special, I pray that the Lord will continue to be your bright light at the end of the tunnel. That He will be your guide, your protector, your resting place and your love. I pray that He will continue to bless all of you abundantly.

Love you all...

(a post about David P and the girls in BKK will be put up soon!!!)

A Prayer in Spring

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
To which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends he will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill.

~Robert Frost~

"Don't care what others think of you. Don't care what GOD thinks of you, because He's already know you. Do your best and rejoice that you ARE completely accepted. Completely. Totally."

I've taken this from a comment from my previous post. Thanks Sam, once again you help me cope with my situation. You helped me remember something I once knew so well. Thanks again Sam. *big hug*

I seriously don't know what to write. The past two posts was, I admit, boring and depressing. But it's good to let it out. Lots lighter afterwards, eventhough that lightness only lasts 5 min.. or 10.

I've just realised that there are certain things that happened or certain things that people said about you that you need to ignore...or else, it will eat you up from inside. It's amazing that most of the time, those things are so little that it doesn't even worth thinking about or complete lies. Sometimes, those things are true, then you need to give it a thought. But how do you distinguished the truth from the lies? How do you know which one is worth thinking about and which one doesn't?

At least, God just blessed me with a purpose. A great purpose. Today, I've recieved an e-mail from administrative chairperson of Bangkok Breast Cancer Support Group about volunteer jobs. I'm so excited about it and it is just awesome to have something to look forward to. Working in this support group is no doubt a great opportunity to share my faith to other people, an opportunity to pray for other people and I wish that in the end, I will learn something from this. I'm sure that God has planned this. I'm not sure what His plan is but I can't wait to find out.

Well, I just got back from my trip to Chantaburi yesterday.. I'm so glad to be back in Bangkok again.

I now know how life can be so depressing without friends. Stay at home all day, watching movies, playing piano.. basically floating around the house. I will never take my life at NZ for granted again. Funny thing is I feel so happy and free in NZ but I feel so tie down here, in Bangkok, my home town.

I have noticed I keep on worring about what other people with think of me or feel about me if I decided to do or say certain things. Not that it is a bad thing but then I take it to the extreme that I always do things just for the sake of other people even though I myself do not want to do them. Does staying in other people's good graces worth abandoning my dreams, not speaking my mind and not being me? I think not.. but then.. how come it always happen to me? Many people said to me "Don't care about what other people think. Just care about what God would think of you" easy to say, so hard to do... but in the end, isn't it the same? Staying in God's good book? I know He understands me, he made me who I am. He knows what I desire, how I feel about certain things....but why do I feel like I still have to "not being me" if I were to stay in His good book?

Time away from my friends, from church, from my special person brings up all these questions I never thought they were there before. This holiday is going to be interesting indeed.

Bangkok

Bangkok is such a wonderful place. Eventhough I feel that NZ is home to me.. this place is still my home. Althought Bangkok is still "home".. but I don't think I could live here anymore. I'll suffocate..

I've been keeping myself busy with painting, swimming, e-mailing the Red Cross and Bangkok Breast Cancer for volunteer work and trying to apply to be a permanent residence in New Zealand.

Right now I feel that things are totally out of my hand. There are so much that I keep inside that I can't share with my family (let alone speaking it out on the internet). It's so sad that I have no one to talk to (as in face-to-face) here. Sometimes I felt like I'm not myself.. like I can't be myself. Wonder why, since I am with the people who have been with me since I was born. Maybe it's because I'm growing up, maybe NZ has changed me, maybe of our differences in our beliefs.. maybe, maybe, maybe...

My quiet time is terrible. I am still struggling with my doubts. I felt like I'm am drifting further away from God. How can I know that this is the truth? How can I find rest in Him? Questions that I keep on asking myself and I'm doing nothing to find the answer.

I don't understand myself at all.

I'm home

actually I've been back for a week now. I'm using jet lag as my excuse for not blogging sooner. Jet lag... very horrible thing.

Well, it's great to be back home. Back to normal food and away from NZ sausages.. (sorry guys.. but they are just horrible!!).

What do I usually do from day to day, you might ask. Well, I haven't done much. I bake (so far I made rosemary & sea salt foccacia, strawberry & cream pie and oreo cheesecake with bluberries.. I could feel my arteries clotting), I watch movies (cheesy hollywood movies that is.. I plan to watch Gone With The Wind and Casablanca sometime soon) and I paint. I started two paintings, one is a picture of a boat on water.. its reflection reflecting on almost-still water and another one is a picture of a single lily. Hopefully, I could finish them soon so I can start painting something else. I have very low patience threshold.

Right, it's late and I should get off the internet. Please leave some comment.. I'll try and keep this blog more "alive".. it looks a bit dead at the moment.

Chao ~

A little break from packing...

I'm in the process of packing, clearing and cleaning out my room. Right now.. it's a bomb site. Potentially fatal.. last night I almost stepped on one of the candle plate that has this rather sharp spike coming out of it. Phew ~~

The weather finally cleared up today. Yesss.. I have a lunch "date" with Tim C. later on today so at least I have something to look forward to. It makes my day seems less boring and purposeless.

This is my last week in Dunedin for this year. Boo....I'll be missing this place and the people here. I had some plans of what I want to do.. places I want to go. I'll have my one last walk in the garden, one last walk along the beach, one last Ceroc classes, last dancing nights at Robbie on Thurs and ISIS on Fri. Right now, I need to get this packing out of the way. So I'll have more free time later on during the week.

Right, break time is over.. back to packing *sob sob*

I.. just had my last exam for my degree on Tuesday afternoon...

and it feels really weird.. so unreal.. but meh.. it's over

still can't believe it tho~

Anyway, I'm going home on the 25th... kinda looking forward to it and kinda not at the same time. I know that I'll be with my parents all the time, which is a good thing since I have not see them since Feb. But I know that I'll get bored after a week or two. Plus, there won't be Ceroc there !! how am I going to survinve not dancing Ceroc for at least a month and a half !!?? Well, I'll just have to find another outlet. I'm thinking..... salsa !!

I went to this Firework Extravaganza last Sat with Ben and Judy (a lady we know from Ceroc).. it was so much fun. They have bon fire, live band, great coffee (I've had the best Chai latte and Mocha) and everything. The firework was awesome and the night ended perfectly with all of us stepping into a pool of cow poo. Yeah.. it was just awesome..

Life is good.. so good

November already.. and soon 2005 will be over

I already had three exams in the last 2 weeks and still, I don't feel like I am in the middle of my exam period at all. 6 and 1/2 days until my last exam for my degree.. oh well, I probably going to have panic attack on the day. Hmm, wonder what it will feel like walking out of that exam and know that that was it... it's all over now

Today, I'm in a very "meh" mood. I can't be bother doing anything. Suppose to be studying but can't be bother. My desk and bed is so messy but can't be bother tidying it up. At least I've learned a few things recently

1. Never study with your significant other.. it just does not work
2. TradeMe is very addictive.. avoid it at all costs
3. Treasure your friends and flatmates.. eventhough they might drive you crazy
4. Staying in the sun too long can make you feel sick
6. Never take clean water, easy-access to food & shelter for granted
7. Most importantly, be thankful for each day

Last night I went to meet World Vision's Philip Maher, an award-winning photojournalist from Canada, with Ben. Philip talked about the famines in wars in places like Somalia, Afghanistan, Southern Sudan, Rwanda, Bosnia and etc. It such an eye opener.. hearing stories of all these horrible things that's going on on the other parts of the world and how organisations are trying to reach out and help those sufferers... it certainly makes you things about your life and how fortunate you are..

Right, Neuropharmacology is calling me.. I should attempt to study since I've been distracted from study for the past few weeks.. MEH !!

Chao~

got this link from a friend of mine yesterday.. (thanks Tim)

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=banish

it talks about blog, bloggers... any blog-containing words.. check it out

I'm still bloggin'

Yeah, I know, my attempt to have regular updates is pathetic. But hey, I'm still bloggin' !!

Well, the demo at the Women Lifestyle Expo went really well. Ben brought a long a vdo camera and got us all on tape. I've seen most of it and damn... all the effort we put it really paid off. The Expo went on for 2 days (last Sat & Sun) and after each demo, we all made our ways down to the beach. It was great fun on Saturday but on Sunday it was just perfect. The weather was a lot better on Sunday (and on Saturday, it was already pretty good). Went for walks along the beach and got dumped into the sea and dumped Ben into the sea (ha.. revenge is great) and met this little wee kid and got into a conversation with him. Gotta love lil' kids.. they are just awesome to talk to. I think our conversation included his family dog, orange hat, flame-shaped sunglasses, stairs and ah-hem.. poo (Mel's fav topic).

This week has been pretty slow but fast at the same time. I feel that I haven't done much preparations for my exam tomorrow at all. Yeah, I know, I suppose to be studying.. but bloggin' is much more fun !! I was seriously considering going to Ceroc tonight.. but definitely a bad idea because I'm just incapable of staying only for an hour, even tho that's my intention. I usually end up staying until Monique pack up. Yeah, avoiding temptations is just way better than trying to resist them.

That's it !! I have to stop procrasinating and do some study !!! Grr.. can't wait for the exams to be O-V-E-R !!

Chao~~

Banana Pancakes...

is the name of a song by Jack Johnson which I'm particularly fond of at the moment. I'm tempted to post the lyrics on my blog.. but that might results in interesting comments on my blog. Anyway, I love that song.

Yeah, suppose to be studying but mehh.. I decided to do it after I finish this post. Tomorrow night is going to be exciting. I'm catching up with Jane Lee at Isis. Unfortunately, I have to wake up early the next day so I'll have to be really discipline and stay for a couple of hours.

Hmm, the weather today sux. Seriously, I decided to have lunch outside and it was really nice and sunny. As soon as me, rebecca and ben sat down and start eating.. it started raining. It started off really light and got heavier by the second. So there goes my quality time in the sun...

Well, this is going to be one of those blogs that talk about nothing in particular.. well, I'll just put on Jack Johnson CD now and do some work..

It just struck me today that 2005 is almost over. Amazing how time just pass us by isn't it. It's kinda sad to realise that next year many people who have become such significant people in my life.. those who have been there when I became a Christian and all.. won't be in Dunedin next year. How am I going to cope when these people won't be here? I'll be missing:

Yasmin, my life group leader who counselled me through so many things

Nic, who listens to the same thing from me over and over again and always be there during my "emergency" moments

Sam, who stayed with me for two hours one night at church and listen to all my worries and fears about the King's Ball

Dave P, who's always so nice and polite to me.. and we have the most awesome conversation and the most random moments

Heather, I will always remember our VDO night

and the list goes on and on. At the beginning of this year was pretty bad already without Abbey, Penny, Kritsy, Bing, Ingrid and Ekta. Oh well... I better stop coz this is making me depressed.

And I'm back bloggin'...

Whoa! I haven't blog for exactly a month and 9 days. What a slacker !! Well, I went through the anti-blog stage for a while... until today. Hopefully, I'll keep updating this blog and stop being so lazy.

So how am I doin'? Surprising good actually. No more stress from organising the ball or from having so many assignments due at the same time. This semester, I decided to be more organised with my time. But my turn-up to lectures is a bit disappointing.. especially friday ones.

So much is happening at the moment. Exams, dance rehearsals (4 nights a week, on top of the normal classes I go to, I mean.. really !!), assignments, reports, a presentation and a debate. I can't wait for it all to be over.. so I can wind down, relax and dance some more. The rehearsal is for the demo we're performing at the Women Expo this coming weekend. Am I excited? Nah, not really.

I'm actually in a really good mood lately (katie & mel, if you're reading this, stop grinning!!!). I've realised that I haven't spend much time with Mel at all (ah, poor Mel, deprived of my awesome company) but we've done quite a bit of catching up.. it's awesome. I finally realised that it's going to be really weird (and sad) without her as a flatmate next year. Boo..

Oh !! DW is almost on so I better stop here.. leave comments folks !!

Choa ~~

Me & Rebecca
















Me & Ben (we're trying to do the hair flicking thing... he's doing it better than me.. scaryyy)


i suppose to be working !!! still so much work to do.. but just wanna post a few photos from Saxman dance. Saxman is a one man band and yes, he plays saxophone. He'll play again on the 12th of November so if you will be in Dunedin during that time. You better be there !!

So..

The King's Ball was absolutely A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. The hard work paid off and just seeing how much people were enjoying the night.. totally worth it.

God is awesome. He provided, open doors and totally took care of everything. He even care about what I'm going to wear. I lost my top on the night.. can you believe it? Well, it bought that top the day before and Lizzie offered to alter it for me (it was too big) and she forgot it at home but she thought she took it with her to church. Anyway I was sulking away coz I have nothing to wear and I can't go home to get something nice, then Lizzie remembered that we have left over fabric from the decorations.. so we ran up to MTC room (that was where we get ready), grab the fabric and start wrapping it around me and start sewing. We made the top in 5 min or something but man, it look way better than the top that I bought. Anyway, I enjoyed the ball a lot. The food was good, the band was awesome and I get to do Ceroc..

Talking about Ceroc, last week was seriously full of Ceroc. I had a class on Tue (beginner) and Wed (beginner, intermediate and freestyle), went to Robby Burns with Mel on Thurs and did Ceroc from 8.30 pm till midnight and yesterday me and Mel went to the Woolshed for another night of dancing. My body is so sore right now. Anyway, a little drama for me last night. I was dancing with this guy, Tim, who.. ahem.. have a reputation of being a bit violent. Ok, I was dancing with him right.. (he was a lot better last night actually) and he was doing a double spin and was going to do something else when he smack his elbow straight into my lips. I ended up with split lower lips right in the middle and blood was pouring out. I freaked out a bit and Tim went to get the ice.. then I find the whole situation extremely funny. Talking about my dedication to dancing eh !!

I have so much more to write about but you guys might get bored.. so I'm going to leave it for the mean time. Chao ~

The King's Ball this year was amazing. Totally worth the effort of putting it all together. The ball will not be possible without my great team. I've leared so much from organising the Ball. God taught me a lot about so many things and He totally came through for the Ball. He even cares about what I wear !!! (serious). I still can't believe that it's all over... the whole thing felt like a dream.

Well, the whole story about the ball will be posted sometime soon (hopefully). Right now I really need to catch up on my work. I have 2 lab reports due this week and I barely started and next week, I have 2 tests.

I've posted some photos from the ball on my multiply site and will try to upload most of it asap. Right now I better go and do my report. I think I have to miss my lectures tomorrow *sigh*..

(This photo was taken on Sunday, the day after the ball, and I was in bed until 11.30 am. Yes yes, I slept in and missed church. I also stayed on the couch all day.. ahh, it was awesome)

Atmosphere from Jian's 21st

some pics from Jian's 21st BD party that take place about a week ago. It was an awesome night with good company, great food and awesome speeches. The best speech, of course, was made my me and Alana ;-) Nah, I love that poem by Mel & Tim.. especially the part with the light bulb...

The King's Ball

10 days to go, am I..

Excited? yes
Nervous? yes
Anxious? very
Freaking out? oh, don't get me started on that

This year's ball going to rock, I know it. Everything is planned are ready to go and I want to encourage everybody who's reading this... please tell people about the ball and encourage them to buy the ticket. We need more people to buy the tickets for the ball to work. So are we at the point of desperation... sadly yes. But I believe in my God... he will make it happen one way or another. Also, spread the word and pray hard guys.. we're going to need it.

14 days and counting...

The King's ball is exactly 2 weeks away from today. SCARY. Remember how I said that I'll stop being anxious. Well, it's not working. I tried not thinking about it when I'm in bed, I tried to focus on something else, I even tried to read a novel !! Well, the novel thing work for half an hour each time I pick it up. I think the only thing that actually keep me occupied right now is my lab report which is due this coming Tuesday. It's about the role of NMDA receptor in memory and learning. It is a very interesting topic but at the same time, it also is a pain in the .... !!!! I would happily type up my lab report if the results of my experiment have "*" which means there is a significant difference between the treatment groups and that my experiment worked and that it actually produce something worth writing about. But noooooooooooo... when my lab partners typed in the numbers and did statistical analysis on the results... it all came up with "ns" = not significant. Aaaaargh !!!

So what could I write? The worse part of it is... the experiment suppose to work. It'd been proven soooooooooo many times that it actually worked !! So what went wrong?? Well, probably it's because we had a pretty fat mouse to begin with and I doubt that it do a lot of exercise during its lifetime. C'mon, if I was the mouse with heated cage and constant supply of food and water, I wouldn't do much either. But I wouldn't want the be a lab mouse for all the money in the world. Considering what we did with it in the lab. We put it in a pool and let it swim around trying to find a hidden platform, then we injected a drug called CPP which supposedly stopping it from learning, move a platform to a new place and put the poor mouse in the pool again. I was sure by the end of the 2nd session, the mouse was extremely agitated and angry with us and probably want a revenge as soon as it's big enough and manage to escape the lab technicians somehow. I even thought I saw it give me an evil grin.... nah, I'm exaggerating... the lab lasts for the whole 4 hours and I was extremely tired and hungry. I see things when I'm very tired. Oh have I told you that I named it "Spunky"? Yeah.. I think it's a cool name for such a brave cute lil' mouse. I got lightly told off by the demonstrator though for naming the mouse.

Anyway, better get back to my lab report. I have to head off early tomorrow and I want to do some more typing befor I get into bed.

I am a sinner

I am a sinner.

I like to think that I am righteous while in reality, I am nasty and mean to the ones who love me. I get angry and annoyed at little things and I take it to heart. I say I "forgive" but I never forget. Somethings I know that it's my own fault things happen a certain way but I blame others anyway. I am selfish and rarely think of others first.

I am in every way the opposit of my Saviour. He gives unconditional love, He forgives and erase sin so we can be as white as snow, He came to this world to serve, not to be served, His mercy is never ending and He is forever faithful..

One more time, I shall humble myself and ask for His forgiveness and forgivemess from those around me. One more time, I shall kneel and pray that He will help me to live the right way. One more time, I shall ask for His grace to cover me and deliver me from this sin..

22 days...

till the King's Ball and I am extremely anxious. Sometimes I wonder to myself: why o why did I take this project upon myself? will things be done on time? will it turn out alright? blah blah blah. I even dreamed about it last night and it wasn't a very good one.

Yesterday, I was looking up things on the internet for the ball and I came across HireMaster website which is extremely good since it have information on the prices. So I jotted it down, ring some more people and I was in the process of writing it all up in a new piece of paper and all sort of things were running through my mind. Particularly the bit concerning how Tim still haven't get information on the archway when we was told to do so ages ago, how the tickets and posters still haven't been printed, etc and I was getting scared & annoyed by the minute. Unfortunately that's when Mel got home.. I was reading out the list of things and prices to her when she started asking me questions. Being a bad friend that I am, I started taken it out on her. I raised my voice and she raised hers back to me... fair enough cause she have every right to do so. It's not like a major row or anything.. pretty minor actually but bad enough to make me feel even worse for the rest of the day. Well, I said sorry to her afterwards and we had a brilliant dinner (Tim and Jian made it for us... they even clean up after themselves !!!) then we headed of the church then Ceroc. Man.. last night we had such an awesome time together it's unbelievable. I forgot what a great girl she is and how awesome it is to be around her. After we got home, Mel, me & Layla stayed in the kitchen having teas and milo and had a really really good talk. Well, it's not really a talk.. we were teasing Mel about her boys. Ahh good times..

I really need to wind down and not to worry so much. I have a great God and an awesome team to help me. I just need to control my temper a bit more I guess....

post GetSmart 2005

Wow, 3 and a half days of GetSmart really taken its toll on me. For those who don't know, I was the counsellor in the ministry team for GetSmart. I have to be at church from 8 in the morning for a prayer meeting before the morning sessions, stayed for the arvo sessions and from 6 in the evening and spent an hour praying for the conference before the night session. It was absolutely full-on and eventhough I was extremely tired... I've never been so refreshed. To be in the position of serving others is really satisfying.

So what did I learned from GetSmart other than serving? I learned to pray.. to pray from my heart, to pray with boldness and storm the heaven. I learned to believe that God will be performing miracles on these young souls. I learned to come to the conference (and now church) with expectations. I learned to focus on God and praise him with all my heart during worship (I know, I know.. worhsip is not about the music but you know what I mean). I learned to stop "singing the words" but focusing on blessing Him. I learned to give and sow into His kingdom despite my circumstances. I know that He will provide me with a way out. I learned to want more from Him, not for my own sake so that I can boast, but for His glory and for others.

So what's the theme of GetSmart this year? Influence. I prayed that those youths who came to GetSmart will be transformed. I prayed that they will realise that they hold the future of this nation in their hands. I prayed that they will dream and be influence.

The youth pastor, Andrew Kabala, have a dream... and from this dream, GetSmart was born. God uses this man from Gore to reach the youth of this nation and transform lives. This is what I called influence.

Matthew Barnett, determined to be a successful pastor that have a church of ten thousand but when he died to his dream of becoming successful. God uses him to rescue postitutes, ranaways and gang members from the street.. and the Dream Center was born. This is what I called influence.

These guys are just a couple of example of people of influence, I can spent ages giving you examples. But what I want to tell you who are reading this blog. YOU also can be like these guys. You have all the power, opportunities and resources you need because you have God. So instead of just sitting there and waste all these things away. I encourage you today, to become influence.. because our God is a God of Influences.

To Christchurch and back

I went to CHCH last thursday and just came back yesterday. Gosh, it was awesome !!! Sales every where.. I had such a great time. I stayed with Annisha (a friend from Aquinas) and her awesome family. I went on a retail therapy and bought myself a digital camera. So yeah, the time in CHCH was just awesome. It's great just to get away from Dunedin.. I didn't really want to come back but now I'm sort of glad I'm back.

Coming back here means responsibility.. I have to ball to plan, a test to study, a flat to clean and a conference to prepared myself for. I'm quite anxious. There are so many things to do and I feel not organised. It's a month and 2 weeks till the ball.. I'm so afraid that I won't do my job as good as Penny.. oh well, I'll cope some how.

I got my marks for PHAL 301 and 306 today.. and I'm soooooooooooooo happy. PHAL 301 is the one I thought I wouldn't do very well. I was aiming for a pass.. if I get 50, I'll be totally over the moon... and I've got 69 !!! a mark away from getting a B. I'm seriously pleased with it. For 306 (toxicology), I've got a B+. I'm a little wee bit disappointed but got no one else to blame except me. If only I handed that 20% lab report on time *sigh*...... but anyway, I'm pleased cozI know God gave me the marks I deserve and He knows how much work I put in. All those weeks of stress and being emotionally drained, I'm so glad it's all in the past.. until next time. I haven't got my PSYC mark back yet but I'm pretty sure I'll pass. I don't know how well I did tho.. coz I totally underestimate that paper. The exam is harder than I expected...

Anyway, I better stop blogging and.. do something productive..

Yay !!

I... finished... my... exam yesterday...

oh the joy !!! the relief !!! yessss.... I think I did alright in PSYC 111... pretty well in PHAL 306 and meh in PHAL 301. Well, it's all in the past.. totally beyond my control and out of my hand (at least it's in God's hands) so I'll stop thinking/worrying about it. I had a terrible night before 301 exam.. struggling to fall asleep due to anxiety and keep on waking up several times during the night.. for some reason when I woke up, I tried to remember stuff that I've studied and I was trying to remember stuff I've learned a zillion years ago (and was totally irrelevant) and I tried to stay awake coz my stupid brain keep telling me that if I fall asleep I will forget everything. Weird huh? but anyway I had a brief decent sleep with pretty good dream involving buying the Lions vs All Blacks ticket in the toilet...... and I shall say no more.

Good news today... God is awesome.. he blessed me with much needed money. I've just recieved a letter from Southern Cross Insurance saying that they've reduced to cost in the beginning of the year and some customers (ie me) paid the original price.. so they're giving me refund !! God is good and He cares... I love you God !!

Anyway, I better go back to cleaning my room. For the past two months I've been in the assignment/exam mode and have no time to tidy up or clean my room. So I'm doing it all today. Took me all morning just to fold up my clothes, organise my desk and vacuum the carpet. I'm so happy that I can see my floor again !!!

Chao ~~

ps have u checked the comments on my last blog !!! it's awesome.. I even got comments from people I don't know !!! but we sure have one thing in common.. our Almighty God !!

pps Star War was alright.. not that great in my opinion

Where is my passion?

Where is it? Where is my burning passion for God? I keep looking, praying, praising..... I still have no idea where it is...

oh well, pray harder I guess !!!

I'm in the ministry team for Get Smart 2005.... I'm scared that I won't be able to do the job properly...... Can only pray that God will prepare me for it..

Star Wars tonight with Mel and my classmate (and her friends) gonna be awesome... plus Ceroc @ Carnegie Center... Ben & Nikki is having dress rehearsal tonight (they're going to Auckland for Ceroc National Comp.)... and SAM... where were you for the past two classes.. hope to see you at Carnegie center tonight.

Good luck to Jack on his Tekapo race... if you win... you better split that $500 with me !!!

Chao ~~~

Burnt Out..

that's what I'm feeling right now. Basically, my assignments are almost all over since last Tuesday. So Wednesday and today is suppose to be smooth and relax for me. But I keep on freaking out, I keep on thinking that I still have some sort of work and assignments to do (which I do.. but they are small ones that doesn't even worth worrying about).

When is it that all the fun disappear from my life? No-Man Camp was good but it felt like a dream. What suppose to be a time for me to relax and recharge, turned out to be short-lived. As soon as I'm back in Dunedin, it felt like something zapped all my energy away again. When was the last time that I had a good sleep and wake up feeling refreshed and can't wait for the day to start? When did I start dreading the day? I kept on smiling, but am I fooling other people or am I fooling myself? Am I pretending that everything is fine and okay and I'm all together? All these questions running through my head.... and I have no answers for any of it.

One day at a time, I will walk this road I've traveled so far
One day at a time, I know I'll carry on
One day at a time ,I can see you took my life this far
One day at a time, I will take this faith along

All this hope I breathe is given by the hand that carries me
Until I'm complete and I'll take all I will to understand this plan you have for me

And I've been shut up, shut down, held out, held down in ways I never knew I would,
but I can feel Your fullness in my life
I've been burnt out, broken, torn out, torn down in ways I never knew I would,
but I can feel You fullness in my life
One day at a time

One day at a time, I will take these words You've given me
One day at a time, I will rest in knowing You
One day at a time, I will share this gift You've given me
One day at a time, I will walk these valleys through

All I know is that I see, how much my heart is longing to be cradled by your side
and I'll give all I can,
to one day soon be held by your hand

~Jeremy Camp, Stay~

I should be working on my essay but....

I'm bloggin instead.... MEHH !!!!

I don't really have anything to write except that I'm extremely busy. I have all these reports, summary, lab catch-ups, essays and an oral presentation to do. I have no idea when I will have enough time to actually start studying for my exams, which by the way, is less than a month away. OH.. God will get me through.. some how.

Went to the bagel place with Mel yesterday. It was totally awesome. We had olives and rosemary bagels with chicken, camenbert and cranberries sauce. Maaaaaaaaaan, I so stay there all day !!!!

Right, better get back to my essay. Sorry this is a boring short blog... but I really need to go. The stupid essay is due tomorrow.

when the past come knocking...

suddenly, life just seem meaningless.. when old feelings start to resurface:

The feelings for particular person that I used to love.. God only knows, maybe I still do.. even though I know in my heart that he might not be the one God had in mind for me. Trying so hard to let go.. almost succeeded when I started to fall back again. I crossed the boundary I had set to guard my heart, thinking "just a little bit.. for a little while.. it wouldn't hurt"..... I compromise too much.

The guilt for the things that I did. Wishing that there might be a way to turn back time and erase it. Although I had asked God for forgiveness and He had set me free. The condemnation resurface every now and then. But, forever faithful, God took my hand and lead me through it.

The feeling of uncertainty for my future.

All these things brought me to my knees and cry out to Him. When the desires and the feelings start to consume me.. He become even more real. Praise be to my God, my Rock, my Fortress, my Protector... His love sets me free.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I also want to use this opportunity to thank Nicola, who always been there for me. Nic, you are such a blessing to me. I can never thank God enough for you. Thank you for all your advice, sincerity and your genuine love for me. I love you heaps...

Wow

exciting !!! 2 comments on yesterday's post already !!! I thought people had stop checking my blog since it has been inactive for soooooooooooooooooo long. Thanks to Sam and Jared for having faith in me.. and my blog.

I handed in my essay today. Phew ~~~ such a relief.. just to inform you about my essay topic. It's : "2-Methoxyestradiol as a treatment for breast cancer".. sounds cool and complicated huh? yeah.. i don't know what it is about either.

This arvo, I learned the most disturbing news... I have an assignment that was due yesterday, and all these time, I thought it will be due on Thursday. I have been so absorbed in my essay that I totally forget about it. Booo !!!! No wonder all these people handed all these stuff in yesterday, i thought it's the essay they were handing in and they are just being smart and finished it early. Oh well.....There's no point in doing now either coz I have a lab summary due on fri, another 20% essay due next tue and PSYC lab report due next thurs. I really need to get all these other ones going. Aaaaaah.. life...

Ceroc tonight !!! it'll be so awesome.. even though I know what the moves will be for the 1st night.. but I'll just show up anyway. Brrrrrrrrrr... so cold in my room.. I better stop blogging and find some articles for my essay. I hate articles.. they are evil.. but they make my essay (therefore me) look intelligent.

Aaah... blogging

Wow, i haven't blog for such a long long loooooooong time !!! and I haven't read any blog for weeks !!! sorry for that guys.

Hmm, so what have been happening in my life lately? Errm, I turned 20 two weeks ago. Somehow Claire keep on thinking that that was my 21st birthday. Mel arranged a surprise party for me (I so knew about it) at Tokyo garden. It was awesome !! Thank you so much for that guys (esp. miss Mel) !! After the party we went out dancing at The Rose & Crown (Josh, Jian, Jane, Mel, Me, Kirsten & Annisha... Dan broke my heart by refusing to turn up and dance with me.. sob sob.... and no, Sam, I do not think of Dan that way.. I'm just exaggerating). Ceroc rocks !!! I can't believe that classes are starting again tomorrow. I can't wait for it.. and Sam is going to be there. Now, how cool is that !!!! Sam the mannnnnnn....

Right !!! I better stop procrasinating and finish off my essay (it's due tomorrow). Ah, I miss blogging.....

Marmite, cheese and lettuce sandwich

is what I'm eating right now.. I know I know.. I'm weird but I actually got this from our very own pro-elite cyclist, Jack. He said it's good so why not give it a try eh? and guess what, it's actually surprisingly good. mmmm.. I might have another

Anyway, before I forget.. I need make a public announcement:

• "Happy 21st Birthday Lydia !!!!"
• "Happy 18th Birthday, Tim!!" (which was yesterday) and
• "Happy 20th Birthday Jack !!!" (which was a week ago on Thursday)

(honestly, look at all these birthdays !! and there's more coming up.. I'll be completely broke by the end of this month)

Ah, after a long time.. I am back blogging. It feels really weird. Mel has been asking me to post a new entry coz she don't want people reading her quote again and again.. I don't know what else to write about right now.. unless I get a cool new quote from Mel. I'll try to keep this blog up-to-date.

Quotes

Two new quotes:

During School of Leaders & I was laughing...

Mel: Nam, your face is so red now !! you look like a capsicum !!
Nam: Yay !! I'm a morron (spanish for capsicum)

After the morning service:

Nam: I am proud of my facial expressions

Goodness me !! I never know that I'm quite capable of coming up with such remarks. This is what you get when you're flatting with Mel. Oh well, at least I'm making fun of myself so Mel wouldn't get a chance to do it. Heheheheeee

I am loving my quote board.. there are quite a few stupid quotes on it now it's awesome.. Tim even featured in it quite a few time. My one fav. quotes from Tim is this:

"If you can't write good essay.... use big words"

and my all time fav. quote from Mel is.... umm.. nah, I don't think I'll put it up here. She might kill me...

Mehh...

I'm blogging... mehh..

• did two hours at the gym today.. it was great !!! so tomorrow, I will either be in a lot of pain, a little pain .. or not pain at all...
• head off the meet Tim @ starbucks today.. walked around a bit and saw Dan in town !!! walked around town some more since Dan is looking for a nice shirt
• Dan went back home without buying anything
• talking to my mom in MSN.. gosh I miss her
• feeling really "mehh" at the moment
• suppose to be doing my report but it's not going anyway
• boo !! I'm going to watch The Fast and The Furious now... or maybe Bridget Jone's Diary: The Edge of Reason

MEHH

Thursday.. a day before Easter Camp. After making last minute decision to join the camp last night, I am still unsure about it all. Well, mel already texted Bib and I already made a public announcement about it.. I guess there's no way out of it now. The good news is Ingrid will be joining us as well !! Yay !!

Today is rather average. Had a lab that went for the full 4 hours, insane I tell you. Me and my lab partner spent a good 10 min arguing about decimal point. We were at the brink of killing each other, but the great thing is... we parted with good feelings, coz we blamed everything on it being a 4 hour lab and PMS. That's what labs do to you, they make you go crazy.

I realized today that the Easter break is actually mid-semester break. That sucks big time. If we don't count the weekend then we only have 3 days off !!! I don't know how I'm gonna do my lab report in time to hand it in next Thursday. I'll be back from camp on Sat and I'm spending Sunday and Monday at Indra's. I could spend the entire Tues and Wed to do it but I have very short attention span when it comes to work. This report is for PHAL 301 and the marker is really though, I got my last week's report back today..... spent a good hour staring off into space and trying not to get all depressed about it. The mark is way lower than I expected.. but oh well, you learn from your mistakes eh.

God is good. He knows how much I need entertainment after my lab. So on my way home, I met Mel & Tim strolling down the street. They are such good entertainers since they both always make stupid remarks. Anyway, we went to Spice Traders for dinner... aaah, chicken vidaloo & tikka masala. Then we went to McCafe for some much needed dose of caffeine/chocolate. Dave Lim joined us for a while coz he's tutoring stat for Tim. I just found out today that Dave goes the gym quite regulary. Thumbs up for determination !!! I've been so slack when it comes the gymmin' lately. Must pick it up next week...

Right, camp tomorrow and I have no idea what to bring... oh well... HAPPY EASTER !!!

Quote for today

"I'm actually quite shy around normal people" - Melanie Tan

Do I need to say more?

p.s. we decided join CE's Easter Camp... we believe that the camp will be more interesting with us in it.

Finally...

I'm back to Him. Finally, I have enough courage to confess that I have backed out and denied my God. Finally, I have strength to do something about it. After many months of self-condemnation, self-loath and confusion.. last night, I managed to do a right thing. I finally went up and asked God for forgiveness.

It's amazing how I can relate very well to Peter. I claim to love God and will never deny Him, but when I have to choose to accept Him or deny Him, I ended up choosing the latter. My relationship with my parents got better in the end because I chose to deny God. I just realized last night that the very thing the devil is using to attack me is my love for my family...especially my mother. Back then, it's either my family OR God. People keep telling me that I can continue loving them both, but it's not as easy as it sounds. I was drowning with guilt. I felt so dirty.. so dirty that I wouldn't let my own mother touch me. My self-loath got to the point that I did things to myself that I can never believe I could. I even felt justified and satisfied.. because I believe that I deserve to be punished. Even now, looking back at the things I did, it felt like a dream.

My God is big. I believe that whatever I'm going through, He'll see to it that I will make it to the other side.. safe & sound. He promise. All I have to do is give Him my hardened heart and believe...

My God is big
So strong, so mighty
My God is good
He's so good to me

THERE'S NOTHING MY GOD CANNOT DO

Oooooooooo BROADBAND

Currently, I am blogging in the comfort of my own room. *sigh*. I have been waiting for this, I must admit that I will miss the warmth, stuffiness and the smell of bad BO in North CAL... but on second thought, NAH... I probably won't !!!

So what had happened since the last time I blogged? Hmmm, first Ceroc classes for both beginner and intermediate happened on Tuesday. It feels great to be dancing again. Mel signed up for beginner classes and she loves it. So hint hint.. all you guys in Dunners, you should sign up for it. Highly recommended.

Umm, beginner class was a little bit boring since I know all the steps and half the guys in our class can't move, let alone leading. There were scary old men as well, so I had to put on a brave face and smile. Oooh, Josh was there. I was really surprised to find someone from church. Anyway, intermediate class was great. Fantastic. But there's a lot to learn since we're doing 6 moves per class instead of 4 and there were a dip and fall which is pretty hard to do. I'm doing intermediate class with Jian Wei, my ex-flatmate. He bought me 2 pieces of lollies cake that he made.. cool eh? Andrew was there as well, so that was a second surprise for that night.Well, just to sum it up, I can't wait till next Tuesday !!!!

Last night me, Jane, Mel & Rebecca headed off to town for Jazz. We made a little stop over at Bentleys hotel to check out this meetings for Ceroc dancers. It was soooo cool. These people meet up once a week just to dance. I had so much fun but since it was St.Patrick's Day, the music was a bit..umm, bad. I danced with Thida's friend, Ben. He did beginner class with me last year & we had such a great time catching up. Mel also learned some new moves as well, from this guy she remember from our class. I thought he's quite freaky but actually he's nice. We stayed for a little wee while and we headed off to Robert Burns (finally). We had a great time just sitting there, listening to jazz and sipping cocktail. Aaaaargh !!! can't wait till next Thursday either !!!

Tonight, me and I get up to some crazy stuff that involve: 1) walking in the rain to 24 shop by Regent St. just because I want a pack of chips and she wants ice cream 2) lemons. And I shall say no more.....

I have posted lots of photos so be sure to check it out !!! especially if you want to know more about these lemons.. hehehe.....

I am very very annoyed. I have to re-write everything coz when I clicked "publish post", my post disappear. Grrrr...

Can't be bother typing everything out again.. I'll do it tomorrow...

THE NEXT DAY

Well, once again, sitting infront of a computer @ North CAL... blogging. Aaah, can things get better than this? (a little voice inside my head says: Yes, Nam, yes..)

Anyway, today is such a good day. Nice weather and I only have 2 lectures and no lab. This morning in PSYC, I texted Tim asking him whether he'll be free to go up to Indra and Steve's place on Sunday (Yes, people, I'm going to Indra's for lunch after church. YAY !!!!) and we ended up going out for a catch up session @ Starbucks. Such an impulsive thing.. it's great!!! I felt like I haven't talk to him for ages. We talked about all sort of things from bikes to cockcoaches (eeew). He told me that he saw me and Mel at Caper's on friday and he was trying to get our attention by doing this little dance outside on the street. Too bad it didn't work, he got everybody else's attention instead. How embarassing...

Right, I was going to retype my yesterday's blog but I couldn't remember what I wanted to say. Hmm, oh The Lads !!! On Sat I helped Yas and Heather with cooking dinner for The Lads and I also did the ticketing afterwards. I don't know much about them but apparently, they're pretty famous (duh, Nam, DUH). So yeah, heaps of people turned up. Jane was also there, helping me with ticketing and Mel came around afterwards to keep us company.

Umm what else, oh new friend.. 2nd year Med student, Andrew from Knox. I think I met him like.. 4 times before but he never remember my name. Funny guy, that one. He appeared like a nice guy but actually, he's quite mean. Tsk tsk... what's wrong with people these days !!! Anyway, it was really embarassing how we (me and Mel) met him yesterday. After church, Me, Jane and I went to town and bum around for a long time. So we (me, Mel minus Jane) were in a pretty happy/hyper mood when we got home around 6 pm and still very hyper when we started walking to church. I really can't remember what we talked about but it involved singing. I think the songs were: beauty and the beast, songs from cinderella, sleeping beauty etc etc and "All By Myself". I thought no one was behind us, but I turned around just to make sure and there was Andrew. Haaaaaaaaaaa... embarassing moment

Right, umm, there's nothing to talk about now. Oh, good news, Mel went to the gym with me today. Another great news, we are going to Robert Burns for some jazz this coming Thursday night, and we are looking for more people to accompany us. Text me or leave a comment if your keen. But if you're not keen, leave a comment anyway. :P

Before and After

Today, I suppose to start at 12 (for PSYC 111) but being a good girl that I am, I went to the 10 o'clock one instead. Fortunately, Mel didn't sleep in so we walked to Castle 2 together. It was nice that Mel decided that she'll turn up to PSYC lecture, finally. After our lecture, we met up with Mel's friend from Auckland, Fey, and..... ah-hem, we went to Capers. GOSH it was so gooood ~~~ I had a blueberry pancake and Mel had the chocolate one. At first Fey didn't ordered anything except a smoothie but when she saw our pancakes, she changed her mind. For those who lives in Dunners, you probably understand why Fey changed her mind and for those who don't live in Dunners.. this is why:

"Blueberry pancake - before"

We had such a great time *sigh* wish we can do it more often. Oh before I forget, this is what happened to the pancake after it landed infront of me...

"Blueberry pancake - after"

Mmmmmmmmmm... anyway, I had a toxicology lab at 2 today. It wasn't too bad, I actually had a lot of fun. It's not a serious lab at all, eventhough if we screw up this experiment, we're probably screw for the whole semester (it's all this technical stuff involving in preparation of microsomes.. delicate stuff). Still, after this cool guy (hehe, my new friend, he knows my name but I don't know his, but we get along very well) passed the chocolate biscuits around (in a lab.. i know !!) we started to relax and there was more joking around than serious discussion about microsomes. Aaah, good times ~

"Me & my prayer box"

My boring blog

I have realized that I don't blog very often any more. I bet people just get tired of checking my blog and see that there's nothing new about it. I think the time I spend bloggin will increase as soon as there's internet in my flat. I hate it when I have to get out of my warm and confortable flat everytime I want to use the internet.

Today is pretty average. I only have two lectures today, started at 10 and finished at 12. I met up with Andrea for coffee at the fix. This was my first time inside the fix, I usually grab takeaway coffee before my lecture start, I never know that it's so cosy inside. Anyway, catching up with Andrea was great. We never really talked before and I'm glad that I finally get a chance to know more about this amazing chick. We talk about everything, from ceroc to future plans. Thida joined us for about half an hour then I have to leave. I walked back home and suddenly, I felt the urge to blog... which is quite bad coz it started pouring down and I can't be bother to get out of my flat. But I got over my laziness and here I am, sitting in North CAL blogging.

Gosh, I've been here for an hour now and I'm still writing this blog. I wish I have interesting things to write about. Ummm, well there's a 1st year health sci student sitting next to me. How do I know? because she's pouring over her BIOL 111 notes and writting some extra notes in it. How do I know it's BIOL 111? coz I have a complete set of those notes too !!!

Okay, that wasn't very interesting (or funny). I shouldn't be talking about this poor girl. Actually, she is giving me this guilty feeling that I should be studying instead of blogging. Well, I give up, I'm going to log off and go study now. Good bye and hopefully next timeI'll have something interesting and worth reading to write about.

Cutting Edge's "flat warming"

Yay !! we are getting an internet. I've been waiting for this, even though I could just walk to central library and plug in my computer and save money, I rather have internet at home in my room anyway. Haah, I can finally chat to my parents on MSN. It's really depressing to keep in touch with them only by e-mails and once in a blue moon phone calls.

Last Thursday night was sooooooooooo much fun. All those games !!! pretty extreme in my opinion but was cool nevertheless. The pancake flipping can be very dangerous if you put too much butter in it and extreme trolley racing is harder than it looks. I think there were several casualties on that night, me being one of them, but Kate got the award for the "worst graze" category. Also, out of my team, I'm the strongest one since I'm the last member remaining in that "washing" game. Mua ha ha ha haaaaaa.... but I got beaten by the opposing team (with 2 guys and 1 girl) in the end. My team did everything but we missed out on the "commercial".. BOO !! but at least we did the singing. Mel and I left around 11.35 so I think we missed out a bit of the activities at the end. All in all, I give our combine life groups night 8/10. Can't give 10/10 coz there was this creepy factor which I'm not going writing about.

First week of lectures was pretty good. I enjoyed all but one of them. Nutrition lab was interesting but must keep on reminding myself through out the year to have lunch before the lab. Toxicology and psychology lectures are great !! I find that lecturers teaching 300 level papers really treating us differently. It sort of like.. they're treating us like equals. They also can be extremely mean, they already bombarded us with assignments, reports and essays. Aaaah, this year is going to be hard.

Today my life group have a pancake breakfast. It's such a good way to start your day. Yasmin managed to spilled some batter down her gorgeous red skirt and we had a good catch up session with Thida. It's quite sad that Claire, Nic, Lucia and Salvin can't make it. Claire was working, Nic's flat is having pancake breakfast with their neighbours (good way of reaching out), Lucia is in Gore and Salvin is recovering of the previous night... Fiji-Indian cultural thing (well, that's our theory anyway).

Right now I'm in Burns with Mel and Yas.. and what's this ??!! Yas has decided to join our little blogger community !!! Yay !!! So guys, don't forget to chech out Yas's blog ok?? Amazing how this little community is growing eh.

Ok !! I better stop blogging and start studying. I really should focus on my big goal, which is getting into Physio school. I shall see you guys tomorrow at church. Hugs and kisses !!!!




and here is a random picture of me and Sam.

Rainy Sunday

Today is extremely boring and I'm very sleepy.I'm in CAL lab at the mo, don't really want to go back to the flat coz I probably end up being antisocial again. For the past few days, I've been pretty busy. I'm helping Mel doing THE MAP, writing my CV, and trying to buy stuff off "trade me" but somehow other bidder always outbid me.. Grrrr

This moring I woke up around 8 am, feeling very tired, so I tossed and I turned..trying to get back to sleep, and ended feeling annoyed with myself. When I finally get out of bed, it was around 9.30. I have to pick up people from Unicol and take them to church by myself coz Tim didn't reply my text and Dave P can't make it (he have to go to Carrington). Well, it's not too bad except that there was no one there. I waited for 5 min and decided to leave, what else can I do eh? I hope there will be people next Sunday. When I got to church, I was surprised to find so many new faces there. Quite exciting actually, and the first person that I met was, haha, Tim. He came up to me saying "Welcome to church, welcome welcome, you should become a Christian". He is such weird boy.. honestly.

After the service, there was a student lunch, it was cool for a while (except I got hit by a hacky sac.. grrrrr TIM !!) and the sky decided to pour down on us. Typical for Dunedin, I shouldn't be surprised. Then me and mel went to town and grab some lunch... and that's basically what I did today. Pretty boring ha?

Tomorrow should be exciting tho. First day of lecture.. woo hoo.. umm I mean, BOO !!! Well, at least there will be no lab for me this week. At 1 pm, I'm meeting up with Jian (my flatmate from last year) and we're going to sign up for Intermediate Ceroc class. This is something I'm definitely looking forward to. Somehow I manage to convince Mel to do Ceroc for beginners, yay !! and I probably signing up for Hip Hop class as well.

So far, flatting with Mel has been great. She's such a sweet flatmate not to mention very funny as well. Mel and her crazy questions and comments always make me laugh. For the past week, we've been eating out every day, pretty bad huh. I got her addicted to Caper's pancakes, which is extra bad coz I can't say "no" to those pancakes. If this eating out thing continues, I'm pretty sure I'll be broke by the middle of March, and I'll probably gain a few kilos.. nooooooooo..

Yesterday morning I went to the gym. After 4 months of no exercise at all, I'm surprised that I survived the class. More than once during class, I considered packing up and leave. Hmm, wonder how I managed to do two classes every saturday last year, no including other classes during the week. Oh well, I'm glad I went to the gym. Maybe I should start running as well, I'm not good at it but I consider it as a life saving skill. It'll come in handy when I get into trouble.. like being chased by a big, bad, and hungry dog.

Okay, I've been infront of this computer way too long. About 3 hours at least, and I still haven't finish this blog. Well, it's probably because I keep on looking at stuff on "trade me", reading & replying e-mails, and cleaning out my inbox at the same time. My eyes are tired so I take it as a sign that I should get outta here... so laters, my vriendin (dutch = friend)

This is going to be short..

1. I don't want lectures to start

2. I hope that when I pick those first years from Unicol to church this Sunday..they won't be too mean to me.

3. I hope Tim will get back to me about the Unicol thing by tonight

4. I miss Bing

5. I miss Ekta

6. I miss Kristy

7. I miss Ingrid

8. I miss Abbey

9. I hope that I will be able to find a part-time job

10. I hope Paul will be able to set up a life group at Unicol

11. I hope that heaps of people at Unicol will want to go to church

12. Last night at the tent was cool. Get to meet lots of new people (more than half are from Unicol) and see funny things people do when they're drunk. Oh, this reminds me of this guy waiting for the sausages last night, our pretty Mel was there and that guy keep on shouting "I love you" to her. I was trying so hard not to laugh...

13. I got my ear pierced 3 times today. OUCH !!! The first 2 (done by Helen Gwyn) didn't went through the cartilage and according to Mel, my ear turned into a fountain of blood. Aaaargh, the images !! Anyway, luckily, the last time (at Trendz) it finally went through. Yay !!

Last but not least

14. God bless you all, MUAAAH !!!

Nam's Series of Unfortunate Events

Back from putting away my luggage and freshened up.. I walked around trying to find a compuer again. The free ones are all gone and there's a few people waiting so I ended up on the ones that you have to pay. Why? coz I really want to post a new entry and check out other blogs.. that's how much I love reading your blog, guys *wink*. Unfortunately, the stupid computer won't work.. and took my 3 Australian dollars along with it.

Aah, I couldn't believe that Uni will be starting in less than a month. This year will be my last year of my degree and what I am going to do after I graduate is still a blank. I want to continue studying, either getting a graduate degree in Pharmacology or study Physiotherapy. Physiotherapy is cool, but I'm not too sure about it. Yeah, my future is still cloudy/foggy/schmoggy.. whatever. Is "schmoggy" even a word?

Right, back to Earth. There is still nothing to do here, so I walked around



and walked around



and around



around



..round



At last ! time to get my luggage and prepare to go to CHC !!! Yayyyyy...

..and then the annoucment came : "Attention all passengers flying toward Christchurch on Pacific Blue. The flight have been delayed for at least 3 hours. Any queries please contact the Pacific Blue staff at counter G."


*shrug* oh well, I've been waiting for a good 8 hours, I can wait for another 3 hours.


Then.. the another announcement came: "Attention all passengers flying toward Christchurch on Pacific Blue. The flight have been cancelled due to the bad weather. Please contact the ground staff immediately at counter G"


Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.... does this means that I have to spend at night here? at Sydney?I'm tired.. I want to get to CHCH and find a nice warm bed with fluffy pillows to sleep on... blah blah blah.. and the complains went on and on in my head as I walked to Counter G. It turned out that we don't actually have to spend the night in Sydney. They send us to Brisbane instead and we're going to take another flight there to Christchurch.. so off we go to Brisbane !!! (we = me + other passengers) A massive group of us get a subway to domestic terminal. It was quite a challange dragging a massive luggage down and up escalators, but I got to the terminal in one piece and so was my luggage.

A few hours later.. at Brisbane

The airline people arranged a bus to picked us up from the domestic to the international terminal.. how nice !! Took all of us a while to find the departure lounge and we have to waited a little while before we're allowed to board. And blah blah blah (I'm cutting out the boring details and filling up space) Finally, I am on board the plane to Christchurch !!

And there I stayed..

The thunder storm decided to stay over Brisbane so we can't take off. Grrr.. so we sit in the plane for a good 4-5 hours and the plane ran out of fuel.. so they have to refuel. They won't even let us back into the terminal.. what's the deal with that?Anyway, after that we finally took off and I arrived Christchurch around 5 am.. I was supposed to be here at 11 pm the night before. Hmmmm...

Well, I should look on the bright side. I think I rather be in a plane on the ground for hours than in a plane flying in the middle of thunder storm. At least I arrived CHCH save and sound and in one piece. After I got to my friend's place and saw her off to London, I came back to her house and slept 14 hours. Quite impressive eh?

This is a very long blog. I should get off and have a shower and get to bed. Can't wait to be back in Dunedin.. and back to Elim. Miss you guys heaps and see ya soon.

Running around Sydney airport

9.50 AM Australian time, I am having a Rhumba frappucino with whipped cream at Sydney airport. The plane from Bangkok landed here at 6 and it literally took me an hour walking around (with my luggages)trying to find something to do and a computer that works. I managed to landed myself at an e-lounge and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the sign that says "Free Internet", God bless these kind people. Unfortunately, only one of them works and there's a girl waiting for me to finished up. I feel really bad using it for a long time so I left as soon as I finished an e-mail to my parents... which makes me wonder: Why I don't feel like this when I am using an e-stop at Uni? oh well...*shrug*

I was going to re-read "A Lineage of Grace" when I decided I just can't be bothered. So I sit and looked around for a while, which wasn't so bad since there are a few cute guys with surfer body walking around. But eventually, I got bored. After I decided against ordering the new Neapolitan Cream Frappucino, I took out my free notepad I got from the movie Alexander, I started writing. Yes, you guessed it, I've written this whole blog in my notepad before I typed it up here. That's how bored I am.

I think I'm addicted to this blogging thing. I like putting up new entries, I do it whenever I can !! I don't know who to blame for this.. it's either Sam or Mel. Hmm, since Mel is my flatmate and I have to live with her for a year... I'll blame Sam.. Haaa, just kidding.

Delta Goodrem's "Out of the blue" is playing softly and the whole place is buzzing with activities: coffees being made, Japanese tourists trying to figure out where they suppose to be and me struggling to stay awake. I'm feeling very lonely at the moment, I hate travelling alone and the idea of sitting here for another 6 hours is not good at all. Stupid Pacific Blue.. they only have one flight from Sydney to Christchurch per day.

Lots of things happened in the past 15 hours and if they didn't turned out the way they did, I'll probably cry... nah, not really.. but I will be very upset. I arrived at Bangkok International Airport and was shocked to see a very loooooooong line of passengers waiting to be checked in. I had a lil' chat with a couple from London (who will be cerebrating 40 yrs of marriage in two weeks and they are heading to NZ) and it kept me occupied for a while. Okay, this is my initial flight plan: Bangkok - Melbourne - Sydney - Christchurch. BUT (don't you just love this word)I found out at the check-in counter that the BKK to MEL flight have to transit at SYDNEY !!! So I cancelled the sector from SYD to MEL (luckily, this ticket is free) and it was all good.

After the good byes (no, I did not cry), long flight, unconfortable seat, always-occupied loos and bad movies.. here I am, at Sydney. Suddenly, I realized that there are more things to sorted out. My luggage will not be automatically transferred to my next flight and I need to sort things out with Pacific Blue for my MEL - CHC via Sydney flight. At first they wouldn't let me change my plan !! and they told me that they couldn't let me boared the plane from SYD to CHC since I won't be boarding the flight from MEL to SYD (hope you didn't get confused). I was 1/2 scared and 1/2 worried, so I asked to speak to the supervisor. The lady put me on hold.. and I waited & waited, finally she came back.. saying that everything is fine and i will be able to get on the plane to CHC !! YAY !! (apparently she misunderstood the manual or something) Haaa !! I can't believe how things turned out totally in my favor. For a while there, I thought I have to drag myself to MEL or buy another ticket to CHC. Phew ~~~

I really think I need to improve my blog writing skill. This entry is boring !! Can you believe it? I get bored reading my own blog, how weird is that? I think the most important thing is for me to stop whining.. it's rather hard to do though.

Right, I am very sleepy and my big luggage is being a pain coz I have to keep an eye on it all the time. I'll go and find out where I can put it away so I can freshen up and take a nap... hopefully. Who knows.. I might come back and continue whining..

Good bye Bangkok

Finally, my last day in Bangkok *sob sob*.. 6 hours left and counting. It's getting harder and harder to leave each time I came back. I don't like saying goodbye (who does?), always bring me close to tears.. which I usually hide by looking away and take a deep breath.

Lots of things to tell you guys about. First of all, I had my wisdom tooth taken out the a week and two days ago. I've heard that it will be painful and you can't eat for days. That is not true !! Everything went fine-ish. Except when the dentist gave me injections (3 of 'em) of anesthetic and when he was pulling the tooth out, my body went really rigid.. oh, also I found out that I'm allergic to paracetamol (how lucky is that !!?) so when the guy gave me some afterwards, about an hour later.. in a sky train full of people, on my way back to Siam Center also full of people, tons of huge/massive/gigantic mosquito-bite-like things appeared on my face and neck. It was bright red and extremely itchy. So yeah, the whole experience was fun. Well, at least I can still eat, my sister thought that we'll be eating only soft food for days. Haha, nothing comes between me and my food.

It's amazing how things worked out for me here. The day that I went to the NZ embassy (for visa stuff) I found out that if I decided to hand in my application a day later, I wouldn't get my visa in time. The lady told me to come back and pick up my passport on the 1st of Feb and guess when my plane leaves? on the 1st of Feb !! So that was close. But.. yes, there's a but.. they need a receipt from the university to confirm that I did paid my tuition fees. The receipt didn't arrived until yesterday !! 31st of Jan. I was soooooo worried coz the lady also told me: "no receipt, no visa". Ahhhhhhhh, so now everything is taken care of, I finally can relax.

One last thing (I think), this is really cool. My plane will land in Christchurch and I will be staying at a friend's place for 2 nights before getting a bus back down to dear o' Dunedin. My friend told me that it was fine, but she will be going to London on the same day !! therefore, I have to find my way there. Bummer !!! but (right, there's a few buts) I recieved her e-mail today, saying that her plane is delayed and she will be able to pick me up and spend some time with me. YES !!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok ok, I can't think of anything else to write about now. I better head off and make sure that I don't leave anything behind. It will probably do me good to pray that my luggage will not exceed the weight limit... hmm, maybe 5 pair of shoes is a little bit too heavy. Hahahaha.. see you guys soon !!!

My first time in an Internet cafe..

This is my first time in an internet cafe.. seriously, I kid you not. This is all weird, they charge about 75 cent for the first 10 minutes and 5 cent/min afterwards. I guess it's not too bad, right?

Anyway, right now I'm at Siam Square, one of the best shopping place in Bangkok. The shops here open at noon and the parking lot is packed around 30 min later. Amazing. It's now 12.27 pm and I have absolutely nothing to do until 2, which is when I'm meeting up with my sister. I walked around a bit but then I get bored, it's really tiring to keep stopping yourself from buying clothes. So here I am, in an internet cafe.

I can not believe that I have only 12 days left in Bangkok, then I have to fly back to NZ and face the stressful time of moving my stuff from my old flat to the new one (which I'm sharing with Mel). I will arrive chch on the 2nd of Feb and will stay at a friend's place for a couple of days, then I'm catching a bus down to dunners. Hmmm.. talking about taking care of business, I wonder what my phone bill will be like when I get back..oooooo scary thought. I think I will have to cancel my Vodafone contact and change to telecom with their wonderful $10 texting. Haha.. yes.. I am a traitor.

Oh guess what I did yesterday, I went to the hospital to have my medical and x-ray certificate filled out. Therefore, I need to go through a medical check-up. It was soo much fun having my hight and weight measured (I found out that I'm actually 2 kg heavier than I thought..hmmm), I also had my blood pressure measured..aaaaah good times. Yeah, I know, I'm weird, but get your health checked is much more enjoyable than staying at home alone watching TV. Oh, then I have to see this doctor as well. It's funny coz it took less than 5 min to fill the medical form (if you never see one of these forms, they are usually several pages long) This guy, he didn't really checked me thoroughly, he mostly assumed that there's nothing wrong with me. He asked me all those questions on the form but he already ticked the "no" box. It's like this: "You don't have diabetes, heart diseases, lung diseases (and the list goes on and on.. and as he speaks he already ticked the "no" box)............right?". The "right?" part came in the end when he looked up and saw my stunned/smiling face. I find it really amusing at first, but not when I found out that I have to pay 700 baht (or about $26) just to see the guy. What a waste, I could have brought 2 pairs of nice shoes with that money.

Right, it's almost 1 pm now and I have an hour left to bum around. I guess it's the best time to have lunch.. I hope it's not gonna rain. Last night.. well this morning actually, it was 3 am when it rained... hard out. It woke me up, took me ages to fall back asleep, but it's alright coz it's not the bloody neighbour's dogs that woke me up this time. Aargh.. it's 1:03 pm, I better go. Hasta la vista.. my dear dear friends.

After I had updated on all the mission news (both from Sam's blog and CE Missions blog.. Carmi, when are you going to update yours ??), I came to this conclusion: I'm so going on a mission trip next year. C'mon, all the experiences!! being abroad with your friends, close encounters with cockroaches, eating "interesting looking" food, and most of all, experiencing God and do His will.. aah BLISS. It's so encouraging to see what these amazing Cutting Edgers are doing.

I just came back from a small annual trip to Petchaburi with my parents. By the way, for those who don't know where that is, it is south-ish of Bangkok. The first day we arrived, the weather was really hot. We stayed at this country club and believe it or not, we always eat at the same restaurant. The owner loves us so much (as we are a bunch of loyal customers for over 10 years now) she always give us discount, free food (honest !!) and many many things. We didn't do much, just eating and sleeping.. surprise surprise. We bought a couple of things back home with us: a kg of chilli paste (made by that restaurant) and 6 kg of rose apples. I think I ate about 2 kg. The weather cool down on the second day and on the third day, it was quite cold. Amazing isn't it !! it's cold in Thailand !! And on the third day, we set out on our journey home. We made a little wee stop at some place I can't remember to look at some historic place to belongs to some king (I think he was the 2nd king of Thailand.. my Thai history sucks) then we ended the day with a dinner with my uncle and aunt in Bangkok.

Hmm, I can't get this off my mind. I've read this thing on free will and predestination, and it made me remember God's moves in my life and how He had been so patience with me. As I've read some comments on how there are the "selected few" that are chosen to be saved, I got this feeling in my heart and somehow I sort of feel that this is not the way. God loves us all and He wants all of us to be saved. There are no "selected few". Many times I feel like I don't deserve to be saved. I'm not worthy of this gift God has given me.. but hey, here I am, a Christian. God could have given up on me any time, but He didn't.. because He loves me.

It took me 19 years to finally notice God and He never give up on me. He constantly trying to get my attention through out those 19 years. For me, waiting for someone for 15 mins is bad enough already but 19 years !?!? it's inconceivable. Once again, God has reminded me how amazing His love is. Sometimes, to be reminded of the simplest truth and yet the most important one, gave us strength to go on.

I'm bored.. I'm bored!!! and I am freaking out. There are so many things that I have to do before I leave Bangkok. I just found out two days ago that I need a "transit visa" when I make my connecting flight in Australia. I mean.. this is annoying, now they need visa for everything.. and their visa department only opens from 8 - 12 am !! you know when I have to get up this morning ?? 7 !! I'm tired, I'm 20% frustrated and I need my beauty sleep. I'm going to leave in 19 days and I still haven't receive this year tuition fee invoice. How am I going to apply for student visa ?!?! Grrr.. it sucks being an international student. Okay,I better stop complaining or you guys probably won't come back and visit my blog again.

Rightoo...good news, I finally manage to put up links on the page today. I'm so dumb when it comes to web-stuff..took me ages !! I think I will have to upgrade my brain.

Last Sunday, instead of going to church like a good girl (that I usually am). I went shopping with my sister and her friends (and boyfriend) instead. I know, I know, some of you are giving me an evil look right now, but I still find it uncomfortable to ask my parents permission to go to church. My mom and I are on speaking term now, but it's different from before, less teasing and making jokes. Well, at least things are looking better.

Oh, I almost forgot, a big massive YAY to Ruth for getting into Med school. You go girl !! I'll give you a big hug when I see you (note to self: give Ruth a big hug)If I forget, please do remind me. Man, I'm surrounded with brainy people.

Right, I better finish this and see what more can I put on my page. Aaah, life is fun, God is great and you guys rock !! Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuah (my good bye kiss)

Hi, my name is Chelsea

All thanks to Mel and her wonderful blog (which I just spent a very long time reading), I've got myself a very british name, and it is.... (drum roll please)... Chelsea Chamberlain. I think that name is so not me. Honestly,... Chelsea.. CHELSEA ?!?!!?? (no offense to all the Chelseas out there)

Today is pretty average (ie boring) spent all day watching TV and not much else. Currently I am addicted to this sci-fi series called "The 4400", man it's a good program, I recommended it to ya. I think ever since I came back home, I spent more time infront of the TV than ever. My sister got out the first season of 24, I never watched it before and I ended up spending two days watching it. I think I'll rent out season 2.

Right, I better go and have some breakkie...

Me 

Dear dear dear

I have no idea that I will have my own blog.. absolutely no idea !!! I used to have an online diary once, ages ago.. but I got too lazy to update it. Hopefully this one will last longer than that diary. Well, the reason I sign up is actually pretty stupid... it's because I just want to post a message on CE Mission Blog, but since I will have my own blog anyway, so why not put something on it.

Hmmm.. Bangkok is great !! after recovering from jet lag, I still have to adapt to the weather, it's so hot here it's crazy. Then I went up north with my parents and my sister for a week, aaaaaaaaah.. I ate so much, all those good food. Umm, I also did a lot of shopping.. a lot. I can't help it, the clothes are so cheap here !!! (I know that is such a bad excuse... but come on !!) Then I get to know my sister's boyfriend, play computer games with my brother (that's the only time we ever get along, oh except when we did something wrong and mom decided not to talk to us) and meet up with my friend who studies in London.. we only meet once a year, so that was pretty neat meeting up with him. We catched up over lunch and then we head off to buy some computer games.. aah good times.

Well, as some of you might know, my life is not always happy and dandy (whose is?!?) and things are pretty rough at the moment. About two weeks ago, I told my parents that I am a Christian. They didn't take it very well. My dad seems to accept it but it took my mom a while. But anyway, I know God is in control even though right now I am fighting with my own doubts about God's existance and there are times that I consider taking the easy way out. It seriously made me realized that I am so weak compare to Him. You guys who've been sending e-mails to me, you guys are awesome !!!! You e-mails mean so much to me.. love ya heaps !!!

Right right, enough of the gloomy stuff. But there ain't any interesting stuff to write about either. Sorry guys, maybe tomorrow then... chao !!

Oh.. for all the mission teams.. I'll be praying for ya !! Byeeeeeeeee ~~~