Fry-day

This has got to be the hottest Friday of all the years I've lived in Singapore. As I look out of my office window- the sky is almost cloudless - something akin to the blue skies I would expect to see in Australia.


A quick glance at my phone states that the weather is expected to peak at 33 degrees today, hardly surprising considering the skies today, and in stark contrast with the comfortably cold office I am cooling off in.

I'm stealing some time off before I get down to the other things I have to settle today, including schoolwork. Our group based public relations project is due next week and that is one milestone I am looking forward to clear. I must confess that I cannot be considered a conscientious student this time round- I am still finding it rather hard to get moving as fast as I should.

This November will mark the third wedding I will attend this year, involving my friends who are of the same age. I am envious as much as I am happy for them. As much as I try to put up a nonchalent front and shrug off relationships as something that can wait, my heart is obviously saying otherwise. I've yet to event be involved romantically, let alone talk about setting up a family. I am hoping and praying to be able to embark upon the relationship of love soon.

As they say, love changes everything. Will it be a change for the better, or worse?

Have a sizzling day.

Its the thirteenth of October

Time flies, and it's been more than a year since I've made any entries here. Given my long break, I'm starting to wonder if anyone would be catching up on today's post =D

Allow me to say that the past 12 months have been eventful- a new place to call home, a new job that I started this year, my graduation as a Dip student, and now, in the final lapse of my advanced dip course.

Yes, there are certainly moments of ups and downs, the stress brought about by deadlines, the anxiety of what to expect in the future, but the Lord has been most gracious and seen me through all my apprehensions. My church friends took time off their schedules and turned out in full force to help us move- something that took my pre-believing aunt by surprise. This will be an event I will always remember fondly.

I never considered myself as an academic-let alone the ability to do well for my studies. It was with much doubt and apprehension that I embarked upon this long-overdue course of study. Over the past months, I have forged precious friendships, learnt new things, and emerged more confident of myself.

"If the Lord leads you to it, He will bring you through it." This claim I hold close to me, even as I struggle against my inadequacies and put my best foot forward for the final laps of my current course.

Every job presents its set of challenges, and my current job requires of me to deal with people, to be answerable to a committee, and to deal with matters fairly and objectively. I shall not claim that I am the most patient person ever- in contrast, I must confess that my patience has been put to the test. In retrospect, this could be an opportunity for me to grow in patience and love for others. I am immensely thankful for the support and concern shown by my colleagues and bosses.

On this note, I shall end off this post, looking forward to a rewarding shower and a good night's sleep! You can expect more in the following posts. (:

the official.

Finally, I managed to obtain a copy of the original floor plan- and as expected, I realised that my previous, self made drawing of the place was really out of scale. Well, here's a duper low res version of the plan. You can scroll down, view mine, and appreciate how out of proportion it was. Hah.



well, this just goes to show how original the house is, minus some minor additions in terms of cabinets, and the little touches that makes a house a home. At least my ID chums (you know who you are) and I have something official to work with!

I guess I'm gonna be emotional here by mentioning that I feel a slight tinge of sadness and perhaps nostalgia as I collected the floor plan today. In the past, this was always done by my dad. I would remember how he would religiously enlarge the floor plan and sketch the position of the furniture. As a child, I was fascinated. As a teenager, I would often counter-suggest the way the furniture was placed, and would even re-orientate the positioning in my room several times. As an adult, I guess I would say that this is a trait I would have inherited from both my parents- the habit of visualization and planning.

So much for the emotional segment of today's post. My project deadlines and exams are coming up faster than I think, and its time to floor the pedal!

Blessed week all of ya.

the most nerd post ever.

To start with, I must admit that I am not a fan of public libraries. The one I have visited thus far (including the one near my place and the one located one train stop away) did nothing but impress me with faint traces of cooking fumes, a couple of noisy children and the occasional mobile phone going off. It was more of an amusement park where families would visit rather than a place suited for studying.

You will now understand why I was not exactly impressed when my classmates suggested that we head down to the National Library in town to work on our group assignment. As luck would have had it, I had the dubious honor of providing the directions to the library. And after what seemed like eternity we finally entered the lift that would take us up to the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library.

I was shocked to actually know that there was a security guard stationed at the entrance of the reference library. Apparently no folders of any kind were allowed, and one of my group mates nearly got stopped. Thankfully the folder contained nothing but her netbook, so in we went.

The first thing that struck me about the library was how completely silent it was. Away with the notions that people were generally born to talk. I was, on several locations, inclined to whisper to my group mates for fear of incurring the wrath of those who were deep into their research. The only audible sound(s) were the occasional shuffling feet and the symphony of laptop keyboards.

And blessed am I, that I found a very good reference book to start with. I typed till my fingers were sore and my laptop battery went flat. And then I copied furiously.

The reference library is indeed an interesting place to go. As I delved deeper into the book, I couldn't help but wish that I had made the choice to come here much earlier. There is so much to read, and learn.

Welcome to studying life Fraser.

(:

Monday!

Its a start to a brand new week again.

I woke up several times last night, to the sounds of some stray cat mewing outside my room, my brother's alarm clock, and the flurry of activities associated with the morning rush hours. I finally woke up at nine-thirty. I hope my friends managed to catch a good rest and wake up on time today.

We had a crazy night celebrating a sister's 21st birthday. Somehow that venue is synonymous with 21st birthday parties. Yesterday's would have been the sixth or seventh I've attended. That few of us polar bears hid in a room, staying away from the crowd and heat outside and laughing our hearts out. What a nice way to spend a Sunday evening.

I was pleasantly surprised that M came up to me and spoke to me on Sunday morning. On a very frank note, I had made efforts to minimize interaction with him over the past one month. Predictably, M is always the gentleman that makes the first move, and he's proven it once again by coming up to speak to me. I'm glad we were able to share some pleasant moments and genuine smiles (:

M we should talk heart to heart soon. I guess we need to clear the air?

We ended off the day by heading down to the airport to receive our mission team. The ten days of hard labor showed on their faces (some of them were sick for a couple of days) but it seemed that nothing would dampen their cheerful spirit. I believe that God has used them mightily for His works.

We were on the way to the airport and we started chatting about ministry stuff, and one of the brothers casually mentioned on the topic of the PA ministry once more. I genuinely believe that his intent was to motivate us to be Christlike and loving towards one another.

All that I can say is that I felt misunderstood, and it certainly felt like a slap in the face. That was despite my knowledge of his good intentions. Internally, I was wondering if I was a complete communication failure or what.

I don't even know how to continue writing anymore, but in a nutshell I felt grossly condemned and misunderstood. I hope I will be able to express again that my concerns always revolved around the attitudes, and certainly not by the mistakes they made.

Right. It doesn't really matter now. I just had to express myself. And this wraps up my Monday post!

its a happy day.

This is a fabulous day indeed.

I had a great time learning how to use ProTools at the school's radio unit, got to know my chums better, discovered that I loved the kway chap at the market near my new place...and...

Bro CS is coming back to Singapore in Feb next year! That's the ultimate cheer bringer man.

Even the three ulcers in my mouth aint gonna rob me of this joy right now. (:

So thank you Lord, for even using these seemingly "little" things to bring cheer when I was otherwise so emo over my studies and projects.

(:

thank you Lord for the house!

It could be the fastest collective decision we could ever have made.

My previous entry stands testament to our positive sentiments on this lovely house we viewed on Thursday evening. Some twenty four hours later since we first stepped into the house, we were back in the same house again for the same reason, to issue our first cheque and make clear our intention of purchasing the house.

Thank you Lord then, for even making that 10K reduction off the sale price possible, and for even seeing to it that the financial considerations fits nicely to a tee. On the flip side, it was SO accurate that we've left with nothing to renovate the place, since my mom intends to have the entire affair possible without loans.

Both my mom and the agent we had engaged remarked that I must have prayed really hard- and without a doubt, I did pray that the house would be ours if He was willing. Last night, I prayed that the Lord would provide for us, and I received and invitation for a part time job (: I'm actually posting this to warm up my engine before I begin work on the document proper.

Ok, and here's the essential renovation works I would consider necessary for our new beloved house:

1. Kitchen
- Isolation from the house. There is a bar top counter and full height entrance to the kitchen. All these means that the cooking fumes will traverse to the rest of the house, so I will need to seal up the original entrance, demolish the bar counter, and place a glass wall cum glass door to allow sunlight from the balcony into the otherwise dark kitchen.

2. Electrical works
- Since the new glass wall will replace the original concrete wall that holds the existing light switches and power points, I will have to relocate them along the toilet wall. This will allow me to place my washing machine and clothes dryer outside the toilet, too.

3. Cabinetry works
- The kitchen cabinet and worktop could be reconfigured for better utilisation of space and storage. The fridge can be located nearer the entrance of the kitchen to allow for easy access.

4- Flooring works
-I've destroyed the kitchen tiles by removing the concrete wall and by re-doing the kitchen cabinet. I will need to have the wall and floor tiles redone. And these works affect a portion of the hall tiles, too.

5- Painting works. When all these is said and done, Id need painters (:

My desired reno list is actually longer than this but I feel that several others (air conditioning, replacement of flooring for living areas etc) could be done bit by bit later. The kitchen remains very much an important part of the home, and i feel that it'll be super inconvenient to hack the wall tiles and tear down walls the moment we move in! And so, the kitchen will have to be fixed.

And to help you appreciate my thoughts, here's a home made visual (:




God help us all.

its thursday already?

Good grief. Time flies, and its already a Thursday before I know it.

We've just came back after a viewing another house that was up for sale today. This time round, Leon (my brother) was with us and almost instantly, I fell in love with the house. It has a north-south facing, with the windows opening to the North East direction (read: lots of wind), lovely laminate floorings for the bedrooms, a kitchen with a service counter- and lots of other elements that were rather appealing. I could see the smile on our faces as we left, and I hope and pray that the price will be in our favour so that it will be ours! And since its pretty nicely done up, there's less to renovate, which translates into less cost and time needed.

God I ask and pray that You would help us with this if its in Your will for us to have this lovely home.

We had a class debate on Tuesday, and as per the lecturer's direction, had representatives from two sections of the class- the newer ones like me, and others. I had the dubious honor of having my name on the roll, and trust me, I was super unprepared. I was jittery about losing all my points for class participation- the penalty IF we lost, but we had a great time which ended up in a draw. As a result, everyone was awarded the maximum points for class participation. And I am both encouraged to know that I am in the midst of very passionate and capable classmates. (:

I shall try to sleep soon cos I feel all out of place. My head's throbbing, and I have an ulcer attack. I'm not sure if this is because of the duper delicious Indon food I had the night before, but I was feeling wierd to begin with. There's a 6 hour intensive lecture tomorrow and I really need the strength and stamina to pay attention in class.

So there I go, anticipating a good night of rest. I'm so darn tired now, so please forgive the spelling errors- those that I've noticed, and those I've not.

Cheers.