EW, visitors, life in general.

Last 2 weeks been particularly busy for me..Actually now also, my to-do list is way too long to even bear thinking about! Plus I've developed this cough that I secretly suspect Ed of passing to me..or was it Hsupheen? But before i go into all that:

I know this is terribly not-the-guy-thing to do...but thanks su ling!

There was, first of all, the trouble of the visitors from Dundee..which I see Aiky has written about it in greater detail... Suffice it to say then, that as befits a bunch of girls, all Liverpool (the 2008 European Capital of Culture, no less!) had to offer them was a day full of shopping at Cheshire Oaks! This sandwiched between a large dinner that took 3 cooks working overtime after classes...late night talks (well, as late night as our schedules would permit!), the sounds of Dota from my laptop as Jack struggled to return to his former skills on my laptop as the girls took over his room for 2 nights...After all was said and done, having visitors around was definitely worth the trouble..brought back the days of IMU when all we had to do to see each other was to go to library, or wander up to rooftop for a Neslo ais...

Elaine was the first to go..


Life, as is so often said, moves on...which brings me to Encounter Weekend. Bringing together student fellowships from churches in Cardiff, Leeds, york, Nottingham and Liverpool, it was a time of reflection and of checking through for anything holding us back from encountering God. Sounds a mouthful? Well, for the 15 or so of us who went from Liverpool, it was a good time of being honest(with ourselves at least!) and coming together as a student fellowship...something I pray which will remain long after EW 2005 has finished and ceased to linger in our minds.....PLUS, it was the first time in goodness knows how many years that I finally got to sing the song "I've got heaven on the inside of me...peace and joy, God has set me free!" This dates back all the way to my first MYF Camp in Camerons...man..




Breakfast with Nottingham and York.












And really, coming up with a Critical Thinking Module title was not the easiest thing in the world to do! In fact, I distinctly recall telling IMU lecturers during my interview way back in 2003 that research was definitely not my thing.. Having to trawl through different websites in a desperate bid to come up with a research question that was viable, and had not been done before, it made me think. Of how much I Dont know about medicine; it's advances and it's areas of lack. Really, its amazing how much I accept from the books and lecturers and how much I dont question the quality of what has been taught and discovered. However, it's still a pain cos there's really so much that I could have looked into, but just did not have the time. Had to get it done sometime this year(by late Nov actually) so settled on a weird sounding topic based on my last rotation:

Is Hypnosis, CognitiveBehavioural Therapy(CBT), or a structured exercise regimen more effective in treating insomnia in patients with depressive disporder?

Ok, I'll wait till you guys stop laughing...

And as if I didnt think i already had enuf on my plate, I chose this weekend to play tennis at Nottingham. Jin...any memories yet? It was really a first for me...my first time playing tennis in dockers, with a tshirt and a sweater on top of it. Getting out in the first round meant i had extra time to meander around in the city(yup i know, excuses...) BUT i got to meet up Kathleen, Jennifer, Teck Guan and the others from Southampton..Didnt mention Wai Mun COS she was too busy shopping:-) Was a long and tiring day walking around, but catching up with each other was...well....at least we all got tired together. And wouldn't you know it? Was so busy rushing around till I FORGOT to recharge my camera's batteries, leaving an inevitable download one of these days on msn..

And i would be remiss if I frgot to mention the denizens of I3 kindly left a dinner for me when i came back...very nice:-)

Well, this has been something of a long post.Hope I didnt pull any of you too far off schedule..

Well, guess this has to be written...haha

Su Ling and Jien Ni...One without the other? Not likely..cos as long as I remember they always seemed to come together. Besides my orientation group members, these were probably the first two girls I was on speaking terms with in IMU in Sem 1. Still remember going out with them and Sam, and Elaine and Kah Yeong after Summative One... Man...my first outing in KL...when a movie was a big deal...and the one and only time we ever went to a fun fair at Bukit Jalil after that.

After that was CG and ping pong...eVENTs that come back are many and varied...the burglary at their place which left them traumatized for a time, the many pingpong sessions with su ling at the old pingpong room...CG discussions where Jien Ni would join in...though she wasnt a Christian at the time.. Still remember the amount of hair on the floor of their aptmt every friday!

Later on in the year, outings with Ken and Daniel in varying cars, depending on what Daniel would drive down from Melaka..Nights out would typically involve dinner at Carrefour, or farther afield..It ranged from movies, to pool at Subang, even including CS sessions at PJ cafes with David and Julian. I particularly remember one movie marathon we had in B1-12-1...watching till some of us fell asleep on the couch...

And now, looking back....after 5 sems...lots have changed...Jien Ni is now a child of God...both of them are really growing in lots of ways, and growing others too.

Su Ling and Jien Ni....thanks for talking to me way back in Sem 1, and thanks for the lessons, both conscious and unconscious.

Sorry for the misunderstandings and the barbs.

"Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies."

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

Romans 8:33,37

Have a blessed birthday!

Jane, beside Jimmy...with me, Ne Jia, Jien Ni, Jia Han and Julian behind....the J gang before leaving KL..

ok lame, i know.

Jane...another persona which I will never live up to...seeing as how she could thrash me in tennis with her little finger! Sarawak state tennis player, having seen the sights of Asia all the way to Japan...her tennis feats are the stuff of IMU legend.

As she's turning 22 tonite, she's probably tucking into her favourite food ever...

Not to mention her dream of secretly marrying into, and taking over the empire of the pictured franchise...

Then there's the guy I secretly admire cos of his sense of style....his moves on the dance floor....his level of culturedness....all of which seem unattainable to me:-)


Jeng is immortalized here for his pasta making skills...which are really being put to use in London at the moment! Also, in a squint-with-both-eyes way, his apron, with a slight stretch of the imagination brings to mind the 3-trench-coats shopping spree so widely quoted among IMU immigrants overseas.

Both easygoing enough that I can write this post without fear of red-hot retribution...

Am praying Proverbs 3:5-6, as old and as familiar as it sounds, for you guys.

Happy bday Jeng and Jane!

one year later...

How long does it take to know someone? Especially someone from the opposite sex?
Weeks? Months?

How would I know anyway? It's not as if I know it all anyway, right shubs? haha.

Actually don't really recall what bump on the head caused me to engage this indian female in conversation...Actually to call shubs indian..hmm..requires a slight stretch of credibility...firstly, her Indian-speak is less than all there...meaning its close to non-existent! Secondly...she prefers chinese and malay food to indian food...it's wierd when we go out and half of the group wants to go banana leaf rice but she, wanting to stand out, opts for boring old chinese instead.

Still remember her birthday last year...which I was the only person NOT TO ATTEND! haha.. But just as well...some fiasco with a chocolate cake which no one had the decency to finish and i actually managed to taste it the very next day...when shubs, being as polite and as no-wanting-to-offend-others as usual, bought it to uni to be shared around..actually, it's amazing the whole thing went off as well as it did...

Her faults? Well, wanting to go waffling doesn't really count in all honesty i guess, since I don't really mind waffles myself.. more of an obsession i think. Teasing the kampung boy is, however, tantamount to poking a one-eyed elephant in the eye! Then again, she's not alone in this one, cos its more or less unfortunate that almost everyone thinks Sitiawan is a one road affair.. Her constant posingphilia (you may notice the first and last photos smilarities in terms of the main character) is, however something she's trying to rectify at the moment...

See?

Seems she is also a pretty good tennis player..though at the rate things are going, I'll only probably get to play tennis with her after we graduate. Also, since she's picking up cooking, it's also conceivable that somewhere in the near future, I'll be able to eat a shubs-cooked-meal and go "ahhhh".

Come to think of it, shubs is quite good at keeping herself to herself. Talks with shubs don't really come often..as i'm sure others can testify.

Come to think of it, think its been one year isnt it shubs?

Thanks for allowing me to drive around in your proton, for ball and the stress which went along with it( david and bern will particularly recall this haha!), for the waffles and movies with the gang and calls and talks that always seemed to end with me not knowing what to say..

Sorry for all the unintended jabs and the 'away' on msn times.

Here's to a good 2006.

Keep searching shubs. He'll meet you before you've finished looking for Him.

The IMU representatives to the YuLympics.

Happy birthday shubs.

a cold wet thursday evening

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness." Rom 1:18

Ok skip...move on. Been there, heard that. God's angry with wicked people...nothing new la. What? Nothing else to say? Think you know it all? Er... ok...weird voice inside my head...romans 1 is always not that interesting anyway...but don't feel like starting a new chapter...ok backtrack then...let's try taking it a phrase at a time...(thank you 2:7!!)

"wrath of God"...nothing new there. "Revealed from heaven"...sure..that's where God is, right? "Against all the godlessness and wickedness of men"..well, thats how we are described in the bible most times, sigh.. "who suppress the truth" ..WAIT hold on!

"who suppress the truth by their wickedness"

hmmm*thinks* so we're inherently wicked, that's established. But we suppress the truth by our wickedness? So our wickedness has effects on others not being able to see the truth? So my sins can draw others away as well, not only condemning me to the eternal Separation from God, but making it THAT much harder for others to come to Him?

Suppression of the truth..

My 'wickedness'..

Looks our Adversary wasn't just born yesterday...