the•truth•shall•set•you•free

Ok, before the NZ photos come in, I shall give a brief update of what I've been doing since 21st Nov (a continuation of the '我很忙' post).

21 - 22/11: photoshop course - full day. learnt quite abit abt photoshop, layers and stuff, considering how the little i know abt photoshop all came fr my own trial-and-error and some crash cses fr friends over the msn. also learnt how to add shadows to an object dat is photoshopped into a pic. the teacher waz an italian guy who is rather interesting. he has this online forum dat allows pple to ask and answer qns pertaining to probs faced during photoshopping. also has some rather gd recommendations on where to get nice brushes or how to attain certain special effects. check it out.

21/11: cousin got married. i waz duely impressed by the flash and video montages shown. quite well done. recently into all these photoshop/flash stuff, since i waz in the midst of a photoshop cse. hah. my bro waz duely excited, since he said it waz his first time attending a wedding dinner of someone he actually knows. for me, i waz quite sure i wasnt excited as dat muz have been like the nth wedding ive attended over the years (where n>25) and considering how i waz gonna attend another wedding really soon.

23/11: open house rehearsal. dept move. prayer for a friend's wedding. [this entire week spent doing budget and all the instructor stuff]

24/11: open house. wedding. outreach waz cancelled in the end and we had a time of thanksgiving instead.

25/11: friend's bday dinner.

26 - 30/11: 'I HOPE I GET TO REST THIS WEEK. (READ: NUAH, WAKE UP LATE, DO WHAT I WANT, NO TIMINGS TO FIT INTO)' well, i din really got wat i had hoped for. had class chalet fr 27 - 30/11. however, as many of my students were working, none stayed over the first night. i went down to check-in, students hadnt appeared. went out to get some groceries for them. students hadnt appeared. finally when they appeared, i needed to go. so they hung ard and then went home. 2nd night waz the bbq. went down with another teacher. stayed for awhile. went off, only to realize i waz holding onto the belongings of a student. went back to return and also to chat with another student i had not seen in a while. 3rd night none stayed over as well, so i had to grab the keys fr a student at night and went down to check out the following morn. i felt much like a butler, checking in and out and doing stuff but not staying for the chalet. i wish my 5a2 students all the best.

1/12: friend's wedding in jb. gosh, this waz like 跋山涉水 juz to attend a wedding. like wat my other friend who went with me said, 我们真的是给足了面子. hahah. we met at woodlands to take a bus into jb. i waz late. the buses were crowded. when we reached jb, we took a cab to the restaurant, thinking it waz juz a short journey. we even bargained with the taxi driver for 12 ringgits instead of the 15 he wanted. however, we were to find out dat it waz indeed a rather long journey, much further than the tebrau market i usu only travel to when i go to jb. it waz an arduous journey to the country club - the journey waz so long we thought the driver waz taking us via a roundabout way. even when we reached the country club, there waz still quite a long way in till we reached the restaurant lor. and when we arrived, we realized we were one of the earliest and most punctual ones. the dinner started ard 1.5 hrs later. interestingly, tho, i met one of my crusade friends and we cld catch up a little. and thankfully, there waz a chartered bus to bring us back to the causeway, if not i dinno how we were gonna hail a cab in dat ulu place.

2/12: 21km standard chartered run. status: completed. timing: 2:20:02. it waz a (very) slow but gd run for me. i enjoyed the whole process and actually felt quite gd thru'out the run - at least i wasnt like dying as i reached the finish line. in fact, it waz one of the betta runs, compared to all the practices i had been having with my friend at ecp the past couple of mths. altho the longest we trained up to waz only 16km, physically i actually felt betta during the 21km run itself. i waz able to enjoy the sights and sounds along the way (i liked the route this yr) - the beautiful sunrise, the pumping muscles of the marathon runners, their grit and will, the guy who ran with a tyre (yes, the real bulky clumsy tyre), my friend whom i waz pleasantly surprised to see..

3 - 7/12: 'I HOPE I GET TO REST AGAIN THIS WEEK. (ditto)' well, i din get to rest. again. instead, i think i did alot alot of things. co chalet fr 4 - 6/12. stayed overnight on both nights, tho i did go back to sch the 2nd morn to do work and then home for a little rest before heading back at night. the bbq food waz gd and we actually finished all the food. in fact, we even bbq-ed on the 2nd night and the food tasted as gd. it waz gd fun with the students and seeing all the alumni coming back. oh, and i went to shashlik on 3/12 to have dinner and thereafter to black angus for desserts with my gd friends. yummy! and i accompanied my student for his check-up on 6/12. it waz a rather gd time to catch up and talk. praying dat his leg heals well and fast. and i went for reachlight on 7/12.

8/12: emcee and translator for colleague's wedding. thank God everything went on smoothly. really thank God, for w/o Him, i wldnt have been able to do it well - i wasnt gan jiong, i din trip on my words and i got my script out (of my mouth) properly, even the throat irritation which i had been having dat kept causing me to cough wasnt apparent at all during the translation, i waz able to speak clearly and loudly, and i waz very sure all these were not by my own efforts. so all glory to Him!

9 - 18/12: OFF TO NEW ZEALAND! (photos will be up soon! watch this space!)

19 - 24/12: x'mas shopping! i had wanted to get x'mas gifts for dear ones this year! but but but the sheer crowd and squeeziness waz too daunting for me. so no x'mas gifts. hahah. i did go down to the book fair at suntec tho. however, cldnt find any gd buys. waz actually looking out for gd chinese books. so instead of shopping for x'mas gifts, i spent the time packing my room and trying to get the old stuff out and create space for new stuff. it waz quite a fulfilling experience, and i took the chance to take stock of my life as i pored thru the things ive been receiving and keeping over the years - cards, gifts, books, photos, cds etc etc.. then one of my army friend's mum passed away. i pray he will be strong in the Lord, coz the Lord is faithful and He works in miraculous ways. ooh ooh ooh, and the latest update fr the iama42scout family (had lunch with a few of them on 21/12): danny is the proud father of a new baby boy, lucas! praise the Lord!

[gosh, i did so many things within the span of juz 1 mth]

[future]

25/12: CHRISTMAS!

26/12 onwards: SCHOOL STARTING REAL SOON! ARGH!