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31.7.07

The bao4zha4 post.

Have been digesting quite a fair bit of events recently, and so it's time for some regurgitation.
Monday, unspeakable event number 1.

Played badminton with Mel, Ling, Yeo, Beh, Kel, Kerf and Becky on Tuesday. Didn't exert much UNTIL I played 1 on 1 with Becky for a mere 15 mins. Next time I know already, want to work out - rally with Becky.
Had school from 8 in the morning on Wed, played 3.5 hrs of netball after school (damn fun! and GREAT company. must organise again!), got home to bathe and have dinner, then completed the OCF script and hopped right out to start filming the publicity video with the rest of the company. Got back at around midnight. That was a reallyreaaally tiring day.

Thursday was good with only 2 hours of school (or rather, I made it 2 hours of school by doing some ponning). Went to deliver my gratitudes to Linda Yang, ask about our stolen bin (yes some bugger stole my house's garbage bin, how unethical! we've been sneaking around depositing our garbage in other people's bins ever since!) and realised it was pretty late for SAM meeting. Had to rush down, and got dismissed for the Rod Andrew Oration (a Craig-orientated oration which, to my surprise, was pretty insightful this time), and then headed down to the badminton halls (again) to catch up with some SAM people.

I think I'm not even processing whatever I'm typing now. Had so much to blog about, but it just Disapparated the moment I clicked on 'new post'. Oh well.

Oh did I forget to mention, I'm reading Harry Potter? :)

Author's edits:

Saturday, came the unspeakable event number 2 of the week. Went out grocery shopping and then it was a girly night out with Melissa who came down from Perth! This is probably the 2nd time I'm meeting her but we somehow always chat like longlost friends. Some chemistry, that certainly is.

On Sunday, Chloe and Huwee joined us at church.

Monday!! Days could not get busier or more eventful than this. School started at 8am and ran all the way till 5pm, with me indulging in MCF during the 2-hr break I had in between. SAM had a booth selling bundung, fishballs and corn in a cup. I think we did pretty well, managing a near sellout!! (apart from some leftover bundung which the thirsty mcf committee gratefully gulped down) Got to know many new people as well, particularly those on the mcf committee :) Then it was down to the muiss lounge again to get a quick nap, but unfortunately (just this time, when I needed it most) it was really rowdy in there. Talked to some more new ppl, and went down to the lawns to play with the Hit-the-Bell machine (you know the one you have at carnivals with the huge heavy hammer and a loud sounding Bell?). Yeah, THAT one. I think I practically vented all my week's frustration while at it. But then again, I couldn't have. I only got 55 (which I thought wasn't too bad as a numeric score ;p). Headed down to the Cellar Room for Global Friendship Night, where I conducted some icebreakers for them. Then, I trudged down to Richardson Hall (ahhh, what sweet memories) to hold the Drama Rehearsal in its Meeting Room. But I emerged rather fresh though, for I was pleased at the turnup and the quality of our 1st runthrough. Got home to a nice warm splendid sumptuous dinner. The crux, and finale of the day :)

AND, I finished Harry Potter (bro! can I spoil it for you? HARRY DIED ;p)


i fluttered by;
8:08 PM
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21.7.07

Things I commit myself to.

OCF's e-night. Coming up in 1.5 months.
It's going to be a big event, I hope. Rather, I pray. For BIG in this sense is not measured by how well we execute the whole program, or how many people do turn up, but whether the Lord's presence was felt in the place. Whether hearts were moved, whether lives were changed. And I for one know that that is hardly achievable by human means. We as mere mortals can only do so much.
I concluded that I must up my spiritual life - I am determined to once again. I need to increase the time devoted to preparing myself and burdening myself for His people. He must increase, while I decrease.

i fluttered by;
12:24 AM
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11.7.07

Celebrate!

T'was Becky's birthday today and so we woke the birthday girl with a bright sunny note and melodious tones (plus a brainwrecking hangman to boot ;p) and brought the birthday girl out :) Had timsum at Dragonboat, where we surprised the girl with a Tiramisu cake made personally by Kerf, and then headed off to our prebooked Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie! Hmm, you should have seen the girl's eyes when she saw the cake and company :) One's eyes cannot get any bigger - and thats because her eyes are already very big to start with :)) All in all it was a really fun day! I guess it should have eased her homesickness, and made the Harry Potter fan very content :)

After Harry Potter, we adjourned to Trs' house for a nice homecooked meal of prawns, veggies and lotus root soup. Very very delish :) All credit goes out to Trs (and the LeeKumKee tomato and garlic sauce of course ;p). Very thankful for friends like these who make my life less monotonous and more nutritious :) But now I think (No wait, KNOW. Eh no, WAIT. KEEP GETTING REMINDED THAT ;p) I owe him 3 meals. Ahh, no matter :) After dinner we got to try our hands on the Wii, at last (after hearing Jas talk so much about it). Was really fun!

Playing the Wii. Tsktsk. That girl is violent. Perpetrators, beware!

i fluttered by;
10:48 PM
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9.7.07

Britain's got talent-ed kids!!

Some people claim that I have a thing for younger guys (much younger in this case), but this time I won't deny it. You've got to admit this one does have the charms though.

This pair of salsa dancers are soooo good, despite their young age! I just want to be as good as the lil' girl.

On another note, I caught part of the Wimbledon finals. Federer won, again :) And that's fine with me because I was rooting for him. Another gold medal to add to his repertoire, making that a total of 5 consecutive wins in a row. I must say that's pretty damn good.

i fluttered by;
12:34 AM
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7.7.07

The quaint old.

Check out this really funny clip! I think it's from an old comedy called 'A Bit of Fry and Laurie'.


i fluttered by;
11:53 PM
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6.7.07

Unfathomable kindness.

I did something really stupid today. I locked myself out.

Intended to go out for a short while to get some essential groceries, hence I picked up my bag and left the house in a jiffy, not realising that my keys AND my handphone wasn't in the bag (my keys usually are, which is why I usually don't check). Came back all happy, ready to cook some herbal chicken for dinner when (horror of all horrors) I. Realised. The. Keys. Weren't. In. My. Bag.

Pure panic. Brain working in overdrive.

I don't purposefully remember numbers. Especially not melbourne phonelines because they have even more numbers than Singapore lines. Which is bad when you don't have your handphone and need to make a call to get help. It was 530pm when I left the supermarket. Raywhite (the real estate agent whom I rented the house from) was closed when I passed it. No wait, I remembered that their lights were still turned on, even though it was after hours. I threw down my groceries and decided (impulsively) to run there, hoping to catch someone. I had to get to civilization/Clayton town anyway, in order to make calls.

Through the blinds, I saw a lady in one of the backrooms still working at the computer. I tried knocking on the door - no response. Went to the side windows to try to get her attention. Thankfully, she did look up after awhile. She came to the door, refusing to open up at 1st. Her command of English wasn't that good; she preferred for me to converse with her in Chinese. I explained to her my situation, and she said she'd try to get one of the agents while I waited outside. Unfortunately, none of them picked up. They probably want to leave work behind once it's after hours anyway. She finally let me in, seeing how dire my situation was. I later got to know her as Linda Yang.

We sat down at the desk and continued punching in numbers. She explained that she was in the sales department (and even then new at that) and thus didn't have the key to the safe which held all the spare keys for the houses they rented out. We finally got through to one of the agents (the one in charge of my house, no less) who brusquely told us she couldn't help us and that I had to get a locksmith. Okay, so now. Down that path to contact the locksmith. No answer. Shop was also closed for the night. She lamented that I may have to find somewhere to stay for the night (and here I dreaded barging in on Jas and Kerf again), and return in the morning to get my hands on one of the agents.

Then a brilliant idea clicked. What about the landlord? Surely he would have a spare key. She went to find my files for the landlord's number (I had this uneasiness that if they found out she did that, her job might be at stake - hence you cannot imagine how grateful I was). We tracked the landlord down and called him up. He said he did indeed have a spare key and that I could go retrieve it from him. Thank goodness. I got his address, and was all eager to make my way there.

Then Linda pulled another unexplicably kind gesture. She offered to send me there because she was worried for my safety, since it was already dark. I was lost for words, having already taken up so much of her time and all. But she gently willed me along, ushering me to her car.

We ended up having a really nice chat as we journeyed. I queried about her background, and found out that she was from Vietnam while her parents from China. They migrated to Australia to escape the harsh communist rule that demanded they give up all that they had to the government. She had been raising her 2 kids singlehandedly for the past 20 years (yes, we were still conversing in Chinese). She also mentioned random things like how my birthday was 1 day after her son's (she glimpsed the rent record while searching for the landlord's number) and that I was about the same age as her daughter. As much as she displayed her admiration for me for studying medicine so far away from home, I knew that there was so much more admirable qualities (undeniably, her kindness) about her, and told her so. As we collected the keys and bid farewell, I was immensely grateful to tears, and I could see she was welling up as well. Maybe it was the familiarity because we had the same roots, maybe it was my similarity to her kids, maybe it was the joy of helping another, or maybe a mixture of all three - it doesn't really matter. I knew her heart was touched as well.

They say we find love and selflessness in the most dire of situations, and I add, at the most dire times too. But for that to happen, we've to 1st be in that dire situation (in this case, self inflicted deep shit). Today, though I curse and swear at myself for forgetting my housekeys, I'm thankful for the reminder - of what it feels like when things spin out of control, of what it feels like to be dependent and in desperate need of help, of what it feels like when only a single soul is willing to help, and of what it feels like to be truly thankful and grateful.

i fluttered by;
7:59 PM
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4.7.07

My days in Singapore.

Some things I don't want to forget:
My dad and brother at the airport to receive me, despite it being a sudden arrival.
My brother instantaneously offering to carry my luggage (where did the uncouth argumentative brother go to?!)
Splendid jap cuisine the night I touchdown.
Being singled out by Tjow at church camp - him claiming that I came down specially to be makeup artist for talent night.
Mending the score board at church camp (urgh, so Vanna White-ish).
Salsa 2A the night I came back from church camp.
Aimless car rides in the middle of the night.
Playing silly boardgames at Settler's Cafe Clark Quay.
Playing silly boardgames with ever so entertaining John the blonde.
Famous meesiam and nasipadang with Sheryl who treated! :)
Teaching rollerblading down at ECP.
Not providing much support at that, what with my intermittent yells of 'Don't grab me, now's not a good time!' ;p
Getting 5 rows of blisters on my right ankle.
Yongtaofu, kwaychap and taohueyzhui.
Cosying up with rentals with the ECG.
Meeting the ECG 5 times in 3 days.
Geylang taoheuy, youchakuey and some cool floss egg bun.
Nights up planning future holiday trips with friends.
Latenight salsa-ing.
Latenight chats.
Latenight majong sessions.
Latenight everything, practically.
Amusing drum er..lesson?
Nightsafari-ing.
Wanting to throw stones at the flying squirrel so that it would show us some action.
The bat enclosure.
Chaitaokuay, bbqstingray, satay and coconut.

Nasilemak breakfast with the bestie from London.
Shopping frenzies (or rather, frenzy).
Taro milk tea, takopachi and mangguobing.
Meeting so3b!
Ending up at Swensen's again, no thanks to the halal and vegetarian *coughs.
Ending up playing silly games at the area amicably known as 'thebluelightsplace'.
Charkwayteow, chickenrice, fishballnoodle, rojak and sugarcane.
The special visitor who brought me supplements to continue my latenights.
The rain drenching my latenight cycling plan, resulting in me getting pangseh-ed right outside the bike shop, resulting in my high spirits getting drenched too.
Andrew calling to tell me that his gang were jogging all the way from Bedok to ECP to meet me still, thus immediately lifting my spirits.
Durian-ing with the lucky quadruple.
Bidding the church peeps farewell at the MRT (it sure did feel like we were at the airport for a split second).
My lil' scandal's long&hugebearhug.
Pulau Ubin cycling with the family.
Getting all muddied in the earth trail.
Changi village nasi lemak, otah, bakchormee, wantonmee and limejuice.
Seeing Steff in her hot corporate work clothes.
At Cafe Cartel having food anonymously delivered to our table because of Ms Yenghong :)
Having the adrenaline rush at the arcade with Rebec, Steff and Yenghong!
Li Gui (Ah Hoi) Restaurant-ing with Popo (which implies savouring Mum's favourite yam basket and my favourite orhnee).
Chancing upon Eunice there (of all places)!
The Roti Prata House with the dad.
Scheming with the brother.
Hanging out with the brother.
Combing Esprit with the brother ;p
Swimming with the mother.
Talking 'bout recipes with the mother.
Lying on the bed talking with the dad.
Witnessing a different side of that father figure.

Wow, I just realised that's a sizeable list. No doubt I'm very satisfied with my 3 week break in Singapore. Feels like I've made full use of my holiday - done all that I've wanted to do, and even read a bk and experienced a few surprises in between! Looks like planning in advance has reaped its benefits!! Whee.
Now it's back to Melbourne to do some studying before the midsem. I haven't touched my books at all the past 3 wks (woe to me for that), but I'm all determined to study like mad when I arrive at Melbourne! I think I've gotten enough lovin' to spur me on! :)

i fluttered by;
8:56 PM
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FOREWORD

You can't stop me from having a love affair with the written word.

ME

Xin Yi
5/10/1986
50 Recreation Road
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