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.

monday blues

Im hitting this post before settling down to shower and to ponder over information thats not related to school stuff- just for tonight. The last ten hours spent in school have left me severely craving for a respite from the crazy psychology lecture I had earlier.

The last week has seen some really interesting happenings. In the short span in between my posts, we (as a family) got down, listed criterias for our new house, and believe it or not, even decided on the colors of our rooms. I guess such things can still materialise regardless of the house that we end up with.

My mom and I concurred that we would not consider the second floor unit that I was rhapsodizing about in my previous post. This relevation sparked off a feverish search for a suitable apartment, of which is still ongoing until now. A few houses we shortlisted were really remote in location, not available for purchase by chinese, and more regrettably, taken right under our noses! There is a unit we're looking out for at Block 431, and we hope that the good Lord will allow us to have it. I'm secretly glad that my mom and brother are with me in this- believe me, I'm clueless about such stuff. Who wouldn't?

By the blessings of God, I was able to do well for my IPPT which was held on Saturday. In the course of the tests, my shoe soles came off, but held up till I finished my 2.4km run. I shall be sad to part with this pair of shoes of mine, which has been serving me well since 2003. I must have invited wierd stares with my severely deformed shoes while walking around IMM after that. As a bonus, I met this guy who reminds me of a pal in every aspect- age, appearance, mannerisms and almost everything. CS, I really hope you get to meet this guy!

And so today, I dragged my reluctant body out of bed at six thirty so that I could make it to the recording session for the school's radio unit, which is taken of by my class. This is the first time that I've been in a radio studio all my life, and I must say it was a very interesting experience. I want to thank all my new found friends, these bunch of massively talented people, who have made my learning journey a ver fun and exciting one.

Its not such a blue monday after all. Perhaps its just that I am looking forward to getting home and being confined within the blue walls of my room (:

Untitled

When it rains, it storms.

No puns intended. This liner just illustrates how things can go wrong and really wrong. Like what happened today.

I decided to catch a nap last night so that I could wake up later, and catch MJ's memorial service that was scheduled to air at some ungodly 1.30am. I did wake up, although at 2.30am, wondering why I had no recollection of my alarm going off earlier, or of me waking up to turn off the alarm. I realised, within a few seconds, that I had forgotten to activate that blessed one time alarm after having modified the time.

Blunder #1: I went back to sleep, not knowing that that memorial service would last until 3.30am. Had I known, I would have just turned on the telly and watched the remains of the broadcast.

And so, having installed a new cable TV point in my room, I wasted no time in having my brother's PC record the encore broadcast that took place at 5.30pm. The darling tuition teacher decided to come early today and I had to set everything in a hurry to minimise any disruption. It wasn't a surprise then, that the broadcast recorded without the audio element. It was as good as the glorious days of silent TV, albeit rendered in all the wonders of HDTV.

Blunder #2: I deleted the entire recording and emptied the recycle bin.

So that was it. I never got to catch that memorial AT ALL. The little snippets of the service I found online, and while watching the news channel. All impressions were of Paris' emotional speech, as well as Mariah's and Trey Lorenz's rendition of the song, I'll be there.

So long, MJ. I wont be getting the DVD of your memorial service (if there's any to begin with) but I have a mind about including your magical, radical influence on the music scene in my upcoming project on performing arts. Would that be okay with you?

A close brother asked me about my love life. We have this mutual understanding with each other such that when he goes "so how?" I'll know that he's referring to my love life, or rather, the lack of it.

I'm really starting to wonder if I'm some social inadequate or what- I'm finding it progressively hard to socialise, and even approach that lady. This sounds really mushy, but for now, I'm content to be able to catch her smile and even talk to her occasionally-yeah!

And that's one thing that hasn't gone wrong (:

oh seven oh seven oh nine.

Im remembering 7th July plainly because it happens to be the birthday of my two secondary school mates. At age 13, it's kinda amazing to learn that two people in the same class share the same birthday. At age 17, I stumbled upon that fact once more- that two of my classmates share the same birthday. What's more, I found a "twin sister" who was born in the same hospital, but a couple of hours earlier. (

Im taking some time off this somewhat cloudy Tuesday morning to pen this entry before I get some errands done and head off to school later. Its been an amazing six days spent in school thus far, with more blessings coming in the form of friends. Yet another two new friends were discovered yesterday, all thanks to the assignment of a three thousand word project. So with the four of us, I am sure that we could manage seven hundred and fifty words per person. Hah.

I find myself constantly praying for wisdom and discipline to handle the rigors of school life, and of course, in exhibiting Christlike behavior. Contrary to what some may think, I am not an exceptionally hardworking person, nor one that possesses great intelligence. Interestingly I find myself lost, to a certain extent, in the midst of  lectures (read: Psychology) that demands a great amount of concentration, and prior reading. I am glad I'm realizing all these now than much later.

Of late, we've also been looking around for houses. I've got my eyes set on a 5room apartment thats not too far away from my current house. That makes moving a breeze, and with the fact that this owner is actually leaving all his furniture behind gives me that added advantage of having to move even less things. I love the inviting ambience and the fact that there's a big bedroom for Leon to have all his musical instruments in. For me, Id be content with the smaller room- it cools down way faster and is easier to co-ordinate given its squarish shape. HOWEVER its on the second floor, and I hope the study corner downstairs wont result in too much noise coming into the house at night. (:

Credit goes to iproperty.com for providing some visuals of this house...

:

its back to skool!

Once again, I've fallen into the almost predictable sin of not updating this post regularly- so much that I had problems signing into Blogger.com and even loading the page that would have allowed me to pen this entry. I seriously hope my account hasn't fallen into the category of dormant. heh.

It seems only like yesterday that I experienced the sheer joy of knowing that I've been accepted into school and given the opportunity to read mass communications. It seems like hours ago when I checked out of the apartment room, ready to head back to Singapore after our church retreat- my last holiday before school begins. Now, I am typing this entry with a brand new identity- a 5 day old student in MDIS- still very much lost in transition and of course, excited at all that's gonna happen.

I must admit that I find it almost difficult to settle down in a brand new environment. The sight of many new faces and the unfamiliar environment certainly didnt help in easing my nervousness. I had a huge shock when I first stepped into class. I swear that there were more than fifty students- and it would seem that most of them were pretty well acquainted. I spent my maiden three hours wondering if I had entered the wrong class at all. Worse, I couldnt (and still cannot) make any sense out of that first lecture.

God works in mysterious ways indeed. He must have saw it important to attend to my social needs. On the second day, we were tasked with a short presentation of our cultures and religions. In that eventful day, I got acquainted with a group of nice Christian classmates, and we had tons of fun and laughs sharing all about the Christian Protestant faith the following day. It was a relief hearing others laugh, and being able to laugh along with the jokes, occasional blunders, and learn of other cultures. I have had the privilage of getting to know the class better on the third, fourth, and fifth day of lessons as well.

A big thank you to all of you who have shared my anxieties and nervousness. I appreciate your ears, prayers and concern for me. Its an ultimate blessing to have each and every of you journey with me, and I couldn't ask for anything more. (:

I must applaud my lecturers and some of my classmates for having the courage to share and present in front of a massive class. To date, I have yet to summon that amount of courage to be able to do anything like that. Our graduation project requires a presentation no shorter than three hundred seconds, and I am feeling the heat even as I work on it- since ideas are fresh and I could use the spare time to make changes along the way!

Of course, there are other areas in my life in which the good Lord has been dealing with me- and I am glad He is surfacing these issues one by one, and a little at a time. The past few weeks were chaotic and certainly painful, but the Lord has granted me immesurable grace and strengthened my faith even as I learn not to rely on my own will and strengths, but that of His to couragously battle the conflicts and pressures around me.

And this wraps up my long overdue post for today. There's a class outing planned on next thursday- and I can't wait! I'm sure it will be a great time.

Peace out.