The Supreme being will not give you what you pray for

After celebrating Wee Keat's 21st birthday at Settler's Cafe (Clarke Quay), I watched the movie "Evan Almighty".

In this parody version of the story of "Noah's Ark", I was empowered with a philosophical point of view from the cast that acted as the "God".

He mentioned that if you prayed for courage, you would not receive courage. But instead you would receive an opportunity for you to be courageous.

From the movie, it is only this point that I really dwelled on and ponder. It is more than just a stage talk to me.

If one prayed for more wealth, only the opportunity to create more wealth would appear. And it is up to the individual to seize these chances.

This links to the point that one should not be praying for what they want to happen, without taking any action to achieve what they prayed for.

Until one takes action, one will not have one's prayers answered.

Community Mediation 101

Early morning, some Damai teachers and ex-students (including myself) sent Mr Richard Wee off. Changi Airport has never been a place of good memory despite its first-class status, since I am always seeing people off.

At 1 pm, I arrived at Eunos Community Centre to attend Community Mediation 101 by Siti Hamidah Abdullah Bahashwan, Family Mediator and Counsellor, Owner & Founder of Emotion Works.

The instructor took Sociology and Social Work in NUS (FASS rocks!).

Anyway, initially I thought that mediation is a rather dry topic, very useful but not really interesting. I was proven wrong though.

Professional mediation course at a basic level would take 2 days, Intermediate 5 days and Advanced 10 days. The elementary course we attended lasted 4 hours.

In the course, I got to know Mr Veerasamy, a ex-RSM for 20 years. Interestingly though, is that he was an ex-RSM of my RC chairman. LOL.

Yes, and I am excited about the trip to Changi Airport Terminal 3 on 1 Sept. Yeah~

I Love my Grandmother

After meeting a prospect who wanted to recruit me as his associates in the morning, I hurried myself back to Eunos Community Centre to attend the appreciation lunch for Kampung Spirit Launch Day.

Soon after, I returned home to ballot for tutorials, something I find quite complicated until I formalised a system of my own to simplify the whole endurance process.

August 18 happened to be my maid's birthday. Ironically my maid's not staying at my place. Mother and I went to my Aunt's place to wish her a happy birthday with a cake and some gifts.

I was told that my Grandmother was unwell on the first lunar day of the 7th month. She actually lied on the bed with eyes rolled upwards. For the entire day, she lied on the bed without uttering any words. I can still remember how my maid described her. My Aunt and my maid were scared out of their lives during the period.

She forgotten my name and laughed over it. Even when I was talking to my Grandmother, her eyes were not focused at me for most of the time. When I was about to leave the room, she stared at an open space and began to talk, as if some one was listening.

When I looked at her eyes, tears filled my eyes. I Love my Grandmother. The same pair of eyes saw me through my childhood, my schooldays. They filled 90% of my life up to this date.

There are promises that have not been fulfilled. If I ever have to describe my Grandmother, I guess I would take forever to do so. If I can, I would sacrifice myself for this wonderful woman. The pain she's suffering hurts me. And I reckon that I have been dodging from this issue.

As I left the room the second time, I promised my Grandmother that I would take her out one day. I am grateful to my maid and my aunt who went through great ordeals to care for her.

I dare not think of the should-not-be-thought and I guess I would never be able to deal with that. As for now, I will go against time to deliver my promise to my Grandmother.

Completing 1st week in NUS

Successfully bidded for modules that appeal to me:

Introduction to Political Science
Introduction to Economics Analysis
History: Asia and Modern World
Singapore and India Emerging Relations
Nations and Nationalism in South Asia

Still trying to get used to the long, long, long route to school. Listening to lectures is enjoyable, at least this applies to most of them. Listening to stories and analysis by Academic Doctors.

In one of the lectures, the lecturer requested each and every student to introduce himself and share the reason of picking up the module. It's quite saddening to hear that a significant group of students either take the module for university requirements or because the module is of the lowest bid points. I sometimes wonder how can one live without a direction and purpose.

Another thing I failed to understand is why teachers are carrying chairs for students when there are insufficient chairs in the classroom. This is quite something I need to adapt to too...

After 2 years of anticipating to study Political Science and Economics, now I have the chance. It's a great feeling.

ARTS Oweek 2007

The theme for Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Orientation week is Pirates. We freshies were grouped into 4 houses - Ali Baba, Rajoo, Teh-O and Saofeng. Each house comprises of 5 OGs. My OG is Rum from Rajoo.

Day 1 was the learning of cheers and getting to know one another in the morning. Then we went for our first round of bidding in the Central library. I was lucky as I had Yiwei to help me bid. In the afternoon was Campus tour where OGs would play station games at different venues within the Faculty. After a long day, everyone left during dinner time and missed the night activity -- Speed Dating (sponsored by SDU) haha.

Day 2 was the making of mascot. With a pink robe, newspapers and cardboards, our OG came up with a bottle of rum as our mascot. When night came, we learnt Mambo/Mass Dance from our Faculty's Mambo King. I particularly like the segment : "Square Rooms". Lol... For dinner, we had Pratas...

Day 3's highlight was the Food Hunt and PSI. Had some nice food at the Longhouse eating place.

Day 4, we had Night Games and Night Venture (aka Fright Night). Shufen, Clarice and I formed a team and went into the "Tunnel". As we ended late, some of us stayed in. Took a bath at Eusoff Hall and then played cards till the morning with Cheok Hon, Elaine, Clarice, and 2 other members from another OGs...

Day 5 was Flag Day. Our location was at Jurong East. Tiring...

Day 6 was Beach day at Sentosa. Got sunburnt... Randomly got picked up to represent the House in talking cock. Lol... Enjoyed the mass games and of course the Mass Dance. Haha.

Day 7, we had war games at the Sports & Recreation Centre. Got muddy but it was fun. Then we had barbeque at night.

Day 8 was Rag day. Got sunburnt x2 at the Padang where the floats were displayed to the President and Ministers Khaw Boon Wan and Vivian Balakrishnan.

Q: Hey Rajoo, where are you?

A: Hey~~ Hey Baby. Ooo Ah. Do you know~~ that Rajoo's here!

Early morning late at night,
Rajoo goes out to fight.
Hearts united, all as ONE.
We will win the war this time!

Ohohohohoh, Square rooms~. Ohohohohoh Square rooms~
They don't listen, They don't care...
that a man is in despair~

Good memories... Embarking on 4 years of fun and mugging!

42nd National Day: City of Possibilities

On National Day's eve, Yong Sheng held his birthday chalet at Aranda Country Club. I believe it's my first visit to the club. The executive suite was spacious and comfortable. Spent the night and the early wee hours of National day until 5am.

At 6.45am, I was already dressed in my "Eurasian" outfit, doing rehearsals for the National Day Observance Ceremony at Petal Garden. 4 of us from Eunos YEC would be reciting the pledge to the residents of Eunos.

After the pledge, representatives from the 10 major religions in Singapore came forward to pray for harmony and prosperity for our nation.

After the ceremony, I rushed home to catch some sleep... Zzzz...

At 1pm, my family and I headed to Intercontinental Hotel near Bugis Junction. We checked in to the hotel shortly after arriving at the hotel. The room was awesome. As we would be staying there in September again, I didn't utilise the camera. So I slept all the way till the commencement of the NDP on tv.

Managed to feel some vibration through the windows when the fireworks were splashing across the Esplanade. When my brother returned from the parade, we enjoyed steamboat buffet at Tan Quee Lan Street.

Returned to Oweek the next day...

Stepping into Uni Life

After more than 10 months of waiting, finally University life is commencing.

First, it was the Qualifying English Test (QET) for those who didn't obtain B4 and above for General Paper. After months of losing contact with the language, I was in for a pleasant surprise when I achieved Grade 5 - the highest grade. Yeah!

Second, it was matriculation day. After receiving the matriculation card aka student card, I visited the CCA booths upstairs. There was a whole lot of CCAs in NUS. Some CCAs are quite interesting -- 1 club promotes corporate responsibility, then there's also the Democratic Socialist club.

Guess I would be joining one of the 3 voluntary clubs and perhaps Political Science Club.

Also met several members from Christian fellowship who did a survey with me.

Thirdly, the Dean and lecturers briefed us more on the school system and courses via the Orientation talk which took 2 days.

And then, CORS bidding - bidding for modules for the semester. Bidded for Introduction to Economic Analysis, Introduction to Political Science, Singapore and India Emerging Relations, Asia and Modern World, Introduction to World Religions. Bidding can get thrilling...

Now, I would just enjoy whatever I can from the Orientation week (Oweek).