earth day, and then much more

Last saturday marked Earth Hour in Singapore. 

And as any law abiding citizen would have done, my entire family decided to participate in this global activity by turning off the lights for an hour. 

It was unfortunate, though, that I decided to have my shower at 8.35pm. Not wanting to spoil this occasion, I fulfilled my daily activity  without the lights on. And this was the only thing that was illuminated in the shower. I couldn't have turned it off, even if I wanted to.

It feels disorienting not being able to hear the clatter of my otherwise noisy keyboard as I pen this entry. Having taken the day off, I wasted no time in hitting the pool in the morning (believe me, that was my first quiet time spent by the pool), and later on, with Adrian and Samuel in the evening. The garang me decided to go really deep into the pool. Yes, I managed to sink to the bottom of the pool, but not before the pool water entered both my ears in rapid succession. Blame it on the buildup of the yucky stuff or what, I don't know. It will lead to an ear infection for sure, but I pray that it heals in time for Saturday!

I should try the tea that CH bought for me on Sunday-it was a pleasant surprise-that kind Godly brother had seen it fit to suggest that I try Green Tea with apple extracts to cure my recent bout of headache attacks. I'm really touched and surprised! CH, I owe you one. (:

This morning, Ben Oh shared some interesting insights about an educational path as offered by private institutions, and for that I am grateful. Most people, in my opinion, would be quick to shun private schools. But Ben advised otherwise, and I must admit that I never considered things from that perspective before. In my quiet time, I sincerely committed the whole plan to God, asking for strength and obedience to make the right, Godly choice. Co-incidental or not, I received an email from MDIS inviting me for their open day. I had a similar conversation with a concerned auntie today- and I am glad that I am not in this journey on my own.

This week's unbelievably crazy with the upcoming worship practice, reccee sessions, and the YA BBQ coming up. But boy, I am excited. And there's every reason to!

oh beloved mixwizard

Oh mixwizard,

I could come up with, in a spur of the moment, ten reasons why you'd be the perfect addition to our humble gatherings at Level Three.

1. First and foremost, you belong here. You fit right into the space allocated for your kind. And you leave us space to place my monitoring headphones by the side.

2. Next up, you meet all our needs. I didnt have to hook up another mixer to accomoate the rest of the inputs. Sweet.

3. You take your job seriously, and your elder sibling has proven its prowress- limitless bandwidth, clear mixes, which translates into great sound! I can't imagine how much better you will sound.

4. Try as I may, I could never coax you into producing any form of feedback at all. 

5. Your sweepable midrange allows me to boost as low as 35hz. That means I can now boost 45hz (for bass and the kick drums) and 50hz for the piano. Did I ever mention that you were always able to do them so well?

6. Despite your dimunitive dimensions, you're about the only lean machine that allows us to do grouping- a rarity in mixers of your class. Thanks to you, we can ride the band and vocal sections seperately.

7. You've a wealth of outputs- perfect for our setup that needs to cater for the needs of the cry room, the adjoining halls, and even the basement.

8. You've individual phantom powers for every channel- perfect because we dont have the luxury of many active DI boxes. Now, we're sending current to the right stuff, and sparing the vocalists from a shock should their lips decide to kiss the mic. Ewww...

9. You're simple - I'm sure the rest of the folks warmed up to you pretty quickly. 

10. You're sorely missed by us all! We were all waiting for you to come back- but alas, you were already in the loving hands of someone else. Never had I had so many questions about you, in the likes of "Can we trade in our existing system for the loan set we have now? It sounds so much better!" 

Unfortunately, you're elusive. You don't come cheap. At $2,500 thats just part of the equation, we'd need another sum of investment for a proper, healthy mate (power amplifier) that will bring out only the best, and keep you singing in the right tune.

So, pray tell, can you drop from heaven into our loving hands?

good riddance

and so I received a very frantic call from my mom this evening, claiming that someone from my uniform group had called her and informed her about my non attendance at the recent recall. Having got the name and the number from her, I wasted no time in getting in touch with the division.

It appeared that I was "uncontactable". This is close to impossible, especially when I had updated them of my new number the moment it was changed, and confirmed the new number at the recent reporting excercise. One would wonder how they could find me uncontactable. I've been receiving calls and messages from others but them. Good riddance.

In any case I am SO paying them a visit on Friday to have this matter settled once and for all, and to present the medical certificate for, co-icidentally enough, the day the recall took place. As Adrian puts it, its certainly a blessing in disguise. I won't have wanted to return there when it is raining, not when Im having a hellofa headache.

Im gonna meet a client tomorrow to wrap up a project that's been dragging for months. I won't take delight in elaborating here, but I'm really praying and hoping that God will see this project through (aka no more nonsense or whatsoever) from the client anymore. It could be totally worse if not for the understanding , and loads of help from my boss and those I'm working with in this project.

In the meantime I'm so in need of help for scores- will some kind soul who has scoresheet for Don Moen's songs please stand up?

Till then,

noed resarf

the return of the prodigal writer

for those of you who thought that this blog was deserted for good, I forgive you. Who's gonna think otherwise when the latest entry was in Jan 2009? Its really been some time.

Perhaps I should stick to the winning formula of writing short and sweet posts consistently as opposed to the oh-so-long entries that I never fail to pen. (especially the comeback posts) But then again there is so much to share here...

and I shall start off with the recent night cycling trip I had! We started about 9pm and ended at 6.30am the next day. I came down with flu on the very same day, but miraculously that wasn't enough to stop me from having fun.

Here's me taken along the route to Fengshan for bak chor mee! And the green in my bag pocket isnt a water bottle.

Next up, here's all of us at the Changi boardwalk, on our way to Changi village for our second supper stop!As you can see all of us look quite fresh. This wasnt certainly what we were looking at after the end of it...but the time of fellowship was priceless. Then again I'm greatly blessed to have these bunch of buddies, and many more not captured here!



If there was anything personal I gained from this trip, it had to be the stress relief that the immense amount of cycling provided. It wouldnt take a genius to figure that I'm mentally, physcially and emotionally stretched as we speak.

The past few months have firmed my decision to further my studies and I've set my eyes on a mass communications course, through the polytechnics. Fact is, I applied way too late- only in end Feb when the closing date was on Jan 16th! So it would mean that I will have to try again next year, or pursue a faster route through MDIS.

MDIS, being a private school evokes waves of concern within me, and for one, the recognition of the certifications. I would be hesitant to embark myself on a course of study that won't bring me anywhere, especially when Civil Service is concerned. However, this seems like the only open door now, and I'm praying hard and seeking a confirmation if this should be the direction I should be taking.

I'll be joining the ranks of the unemployed in end May 2009. Having decided to pursue my education, I tendered my resignation yesterday. It wasnt an easy process though- and I was contemplating tearing the letter on a couple of occasions. Its not easy to do such a thing when your boss is a dear friend of yours, and what needs to be done has to be done. These weren't exactly easy to bear...emotions isnt something I deal with very well, and I was already feeling sore from all the rejections that I had faced earlier though.

If anything, Im grateful for all the concern, timely advice, support and encouragement offered to me from all around- they contain useful perspective and opinions that helped in making better decisions. Worth of special mention is my dear mom, who pledged her full (financial and emotional support) for me. She's been a great listener and advisor in these few months...way to go, mom!

And this ends my super long post for now! Finally.