picture this

It’s been more than a week since we’ve got back from our melb trip, and ever since then I’ve been constantly on my toes, kept busy with commitments, activities, and events. Nevertheless, thru the past week I’ve felt the latent effect of withdrawal symptoms that usually come after a really awesome mind-blowing trip overseas, especially one with gd friends.




There’s so many things I miss bout the trip, but most of all, I miss the communal living, the daily night activities that would result in bouts of unstoppable laughter, the thrill of exploring new places and activities at the dawn of each morning, and even the funny, retarded things that always happen in the car.




looking back, we realized it was a really god-blessed trip, for God was truly amongst us. many things that could have gone wrong, didnt. we started each day with a prayer, be it in the car, or on the train, or just outside the door, and each meal with thanksgiving. although there were stil many things that we planned but didnt have time or energy to do/eat, we had so much fun there that it was easily one of the best trips i've ever had. (PLUS, we came back home with a pair of newly engaged because bryan proposed to sophia there)



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back in singapore, we celebrated commando sim's 21st birthday on July 26! :D
the impromptu celebration was short & sweet, on his first bookout day


HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, ERNEST! (:

in other news, i performed with reso at a gig at Laguna Country Club
twas a charity golf dinner event by Singapore Heart Foundation, organized by Josh's dad





we had a performer's table, shared with this other Filipino performing group, and enjoyed an 8-course Chinese dinner courtesy of SHF (:

im backk!!

from melbourne.
it feels so surreal to be back - perhaps i left my heart in melbourne, bless that beautiful place
we've accomplished so much in just one trip, and im missing it all already

from the activities planned to the good food each day



to the amazing scenery and my awesome travel buddies



i'll elaborate more another day
for now, my brain's fried, and tongue's tied so its time for bed, goodnight

how to

we've discovered the secret to cutting my JRT's unruly fur today - a float!
actually mac bought the float for me so i cld sit my injured popo but since it was too big for my butt we decided to put it to other gd use

Step #1 - introduce float to dog and make sure she likes it


Step #2 - cut fur on the back first


Step #3 - Flip dog over


Step #4 - Cut fur on underside


Done!

all in a day's work

being on medical leave today feels like being able to take a breath after swimming a 4x50 breaststroke without any breaths in between. each day in the past week has been a flurry of actvities and commitments, and i've been so set on completing them all that it has prolly taken yet another toll on my health, and also taken the enjoyment outta some of them cuz of all the rushing. but looking back im real glad that i've survived all that, altho i've missed out on some of the other things that i've been unable to attend/do but all in all its been a smooth journey with gd experiences and awesome friendship.

it'll prolly be an understatement to say that "its been a long week", but here are some of the stuff i've been up to:

Dragonboating event @ Kallang!

twas an event organized by my cell group for the rest of the youth groups, and it was as physically challenging as it was mentally. waking up at 7+ to go to church was one of them :p we had games, songs, and new friends for the event, and also 3 dragonboat coaches from SDBA (singapore dragon boat association) to conduct the activity.


a me-moment with ernest's hat

it was a pretty successful event, yay to its organizers (im not one of them). however, we had a gd taste of the kallang river water (literally) and its ill-contents, what with the screaming of commands and laughing and open-mouthed moments that provided adequate containments for paddle-splash residue.


unintentional artistry, i like.



Dinner + KBox

mac&i met up with melvin, victor & SY for dinner @ manhatten fish in a pre-celebration for mac's birthday, cuz melvin was flying off the next day. that was followed by a customary kbox session where songs were massacred, and old english MTVs with blonde retro women strutting around in swimsuits were goosebump-ed at. i actually tried singing "fire" for the fun of it, the deng li jun version, and gave up halfway because i was getting waves of goosebumps at both the arrangement and the image on the screen. but the guys didnt seem to have a problem with the slaughtering of guns&roses, bonjovi, switchfoot etc.



Wedding @ jizeng's

yet another wedding where the quartet got together to play, except this time it was at jizeng's place - his brother conducted his ROM at their house, which was beautiful, majestic, and homely all in one. we provided background "garden-music", my first outdoor playing experience, which was tons harder than playing in any room because we simply couldnt hear each other, plus our space was shared with a few friendly garden bugs and also mr humidity, which made our violins alil cranky. after dinner we moved indoors where it became tons better, but what saved the day was the nice big fat angpao after dinner, which i opened with a few squeals of delight during reso practice straight after the wedding.

TGIF

I’ve been finding uncanny similarities btwn me and KungFuPanda recently, esp for comparisons above the neck. The only diff is that the unlucky panda doesn’t have Loreal concealer to do some brightening magic along its dark eye circles, and i do. With the end of VOIII, i’ve imagined more rest, sleep, and possibly more at-home-time & home entertainment, but my late nights and reach-home-at-12am days continued incessantly.

Not that i’m complaining, i am thankful that my after-work schedule is always filled up with things i love doing. I’ve been having rehearsals with zhic, Kenneth and wayne @ zhic’s place for an upcoming wedding, and this time round it’s alot more fun cuz we’re doing a few contemp pieces, a departure from the usually medley of minuets & trios that are deemed the easiest to pull off. When we have time we sneak in the occasional Mario-kart and guitar-hero moments, which are alot more entertaining than i initially pictured them to be. I might just get that guitar soon, altho im still not a big fan of driving mario’s friends and firing turtle-shells at opponents.

In other news, i’ve successfully attained my American visa! It was a long, arduous, painful process that involved lots of waiting, waiting, and then, waiting. Thankfully, i took a day off from work just to sit at the embassy to do the waiting with tyler, because i found out it can be a rather draining process, the waiting, seeing as i rushed home and fell straight asleep after i was bestowed with my royal visa.



Resonance debrief on Tues was an eye-opener as well, to the shared passion and emotions of my peers and the seniors, of the sense of belonging and love for music & the family within the CCA, and how resonance has given each a sense of purpose in NUS, more than just books and grades and study. We watched our concert thru the eyes of a video recorder, albeit a rather painful process, and had pizza, icecream (daily scoop!!), and drinks before conducting our sharing session, which reminded me very much of cell grp, esp the love, care, and encouragement involved (: i’m so glad that i’ve joined this family, and my only regret was that i hadn’t joined it sooner, but then God has His ways and im just thankful i am where i am now.

lastly, a few interesting pictures from "i will survive" & "cheng li de yue guang" group :p