What inspires me...

This man does!

http://www.blackgospel.com/interviews/israelhoughton/

I love googlepages!

It's the easiest thing to use! Plus 100MB of free uploads? Everyone can start e-classes at home!

Check out my original compositions here:
http://sonicsand.googlepages.com

Trans Fats!

Recently Minwei told me to watch out for Trans Fats which are highly dangerous. After reading this article, I realize I've been eating lots of it recently!

http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/ohe/library/fitness/10foods.htm

I find it's terribly hard to avoid Trans Fats intake if we eat out, esp when they are being used in less obvious ways like meats fried in margarine (#1 killer)... How else can we avoid/reduce its intake, unless we cook stuff ourselves with an obsessive avoidance of this substance?

Hady rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hady sang wonderfully at the Singapore Idol finals! I'll be SOOOOOOOOOOOO proud if he is Singapore Idol! He's so good that I can even envision him in the Top 10 of American Idol, comparable to those powerhouses there. I think a singer is REALLY good if I can see myself BUYING the album and playing his songs on repeat mode. I can't for Jon Leong (sorry Jon fans!) but I absolutely can for Hady. Go Hady!!!

I'm still waiting for Mandisa and Paris' albums to be out too. They're my faves from American Idol season 5!!

Of scenic routes

Today I drove to school via Mandai Road and it was a wonderful discovery!! The route was extremely scenic and there were significantly less cars than on the PIE (there were more 'big guys' though. Mr. Lorry and Mr. Trucks...). I think i'll be driving via this beautiful route everyday. And if I'm extremely stressed and need an escapade urgently, I can ever turn into the zoo, which is on the way!

After lessons in Tampines, I took daddy's advice and drove home via TPE, SLE, Mandai Rd, KJE. Lovely routes there too. Yay! Now I look forward to these long journeys where I just rest my left leg while keeping at 5th gear mostly. Plus I would be heading home at about 6:45pm, and I'm travelling westwards, where the sun is setting, so the sky is exceptionally beautiful.

If I could take a photo while driving there, I would, and I would post it up here to share with y'all the beauty. Don't worry I don't think I'll be trying that. :)

Driving with Miles Davis is really cool too. Realize that when I drive, I concentrate so hard that I can't really pay attention to lyrics, so there's no point listening to songs that are more meaningful on the words, cos they'll just fly by my ears.

Diana Krall's latest CD is really good!! Go get it!

Davis and Krall

Today, I bought a Miles Davis CD for just $14.90 at Sembawang Music! Considering most CDs are $20 odd, I think it's a steal!

Am listening to the CD now. I realize I really do quite like Miles Davis. :)

Also excited about new Diana Krall album From This Moment On.

Rejuvenating Swim

I blog mainly to tell of how nice the Lord is.

After finding out that my pulse rate is at an awfully unhealthy rate of 84 per minute (!!!! Thanks to session @ CCC today) I felt I had to go exercise.

I drove to Bukit Batok CSC and decided to swim intensively for half an hour even though there was impending rain. I told the Lord I was only gonna swim for half an hour and because I had no watch with me (and I was way too short-sighted to see the public clock) I told Him to tell me when it's about half an hour so I could get back home in time.

To my pleasant surprise, for quite a while there was bright sunlight (despite the dark clouds!) and I was having a really nice time praying for people, situations... while swimming.

Then suddenly the sky turned really dark, so I felt I had to get up just before it pours. Turned out that I had swam for about 33 minutes! I'm pleasantly surprised at the accuracy. I quickly headed to the carpark, and the moment I got to the car, it started to pour cats and dogs.

I'm just so affirmed, like a daughter who's just been sayanged by a father who really loves her very much. It's like asking daddy for ice cream and him buying it for me, something that I can do without, yet something he allows me to enjoy. That half an hour of a swim.

And I'm really rejuvenated after that too! Despite an intensive swim (didn't stop at all!) I felt a lot stronger than before I swam.

Let's see if I can hit the pool again after the NIE course tomorrow. Hrmm. :)

I finally get jazz!!

I'm so thrilled! I just sat at the piano and played 3 hours worth of jazz piano. Started my jazz lessons 2 weeks ago, and after 2 lessons, I'm FINALLY understanding what II-V-I means. You know how you surf the net and try to learn, and the lesson never really gets through because there was never anyone to demo the endless II-V-I stuff? I finally got it, and I'm so excited! Because I was actually playing stuff heard in Diana Krall's CD - my absolute fave jazz singer + pianist!


The other day the Lord reminded me something crucially important from Richard Foster's book Celebration of Disciplines, may this bless you.

3 inner attitudes to have if you want freedom from anxiety:
(1) If all you have, you receive as a gift
(2) If all you have is to be cared for by God
(3) If all you have is available to others

This is especially true when the 'what you have' is actually another PERSON.

In Uniform

On thursday we had teachers' day celebrations and I wore the school's uniform! Borrowed it from two rather tall girls in my form class. This is Laura, also a student in my form class.

It's quite cool walking around school without being noticed as the teacher. This camouflage really works, especially when you tie up your hair. :)

Reward!

I just finished setting Q2 & Q3 of the sec 3 end of year paper - WOOHOO!!!!!!!! *applause*

There was just SO MUCH inertia getting started on setting this paper. Decided to reward myself with another quick entry here.

Now, Q4 & 5 to go...



Btw, I topped up fuel for the 2nd time on sunday, and asked the petrol uncle to pump air into the Honda City's wheels... SO FUN!!! Super exciting. And no I don't get commission but I think the Smiles rewards card at Esso Mobil is really very shiok. I save 10% every time I pump oil / buy stuff at the mart AND i earn points which I can redeem. Think I get to redeem $30 on next top up. Shiok right??



I've also just found a fellow car-crazy-colleague in AMK! Woo hoo! She lent me a car magazine today!!

Set apart

Today I learnt this:

If your aim is to enjoy this world, you can't be a friend of God.
James 4:4, NLT

Am I enjoying this world too much?

New songs!

Whenever there's fresh music in my mind, I'm always very excited! Right now my mind's filled with lots of Lincoln Brewster - All To You album (thanks Minwei!!) and Paul Baloche - Greater Song album (thanks Jogs!!), and I'm so lifted by those songs. Lovely songs.

I also think there's just something about me with these chords:

Ib IV I9
Ib IV I9

IV V Ib IV
II7 V I

They get me crazy man!!! If you know greek like me, then you'd know it's chords of 'Lord I'm Amazed'. I'm AMAZED that i can love this particular chord progression so much. Alongside with several others.

I think I just really love 1st inversion chords.




Something I'd like to share here is how I was utterly surprised to learn that my sec 3 O Music class couldn't tell chords and cadences! I was just about to teach them the 4 (to me very) simple cadences - perfect, imperfect, plagal, interrupted - only to find that they struggled with the very thought of locating the tonic!

The HARDEST thing was to be able to TEACH them. The class was quite a flop because I didn't get the learning point across at all. I tried to break it down but they still looked blankly. "Cher, are you speaking greek?"

And that also made me wonder HOWWWWWW on earth I got it - the very concept of chords, tonic, solfege, being able to hear bass line.... I think it has to be YAMAHA training. Guys, if you're gonna send your kids to music class, send them to YAMAHA. All my yamaha graduated friends can improvise and apply music much more flexibly than others. I think back to how I slogged through 2 different music classes every weekend since I was 8-14 years old... it must have been those years when my music foundation was built. Please don't envy me - at that time I faked diarrhoea every other week to avoid those lessons. They were painful to me. Plus I was ostracized because I was the tallest girl in class, and didn't dress as nicely as the rest. :)

If you can think of a good way to teach cadences, PRAY TELL ME!!!!




Something that God showed me that's blog-worthy:

God says HE DOESN'T WANT THESE:

7
"O my people, listen as I speak.
Here are my charges against you, O Israel:
I am God, your God!
8
I have no complaint about your sacrifices
or the burnt offerings you constantly bring to my altar.

9
But I want no more bulls from your barns;
I want no more goats from your pens.

10
For all the animals of the forest are mine,
and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.

11
Every bird of the mountains
and all the animals of the field belong to me.

12
If I were hungry, I would not mention it to you,
for all the world is mine and everything in it.

13
I don't need the bulls you sacrifice;
I don't need the blood of goats.




Then WHAT DOES HE WANT?



14
What I want instead is your true thanks to God;
I want you to fulfill your vows to the Most High.

15
Trust me in your times of trouble,
and I will rescue you,
and you will give me glory."


From this, I learnt: God doesn't want our sacrifice, our service, God wants a RELATIONSHIP WITH US!

God wants us to THANK Him

God wants us to TRUST Him

He doesn't even need our service / intercessions / offering / tithes. HE'S GOT IT ALL!

Learning this has freed me from guilt of not doing enough of the above religious acts.

Jesus, thank You for freeing me. May You minister to whomever's reading this too. Amen :)

I'm now a qualified driver!!!

Passing a driving test has SUCH a wonderfully liberating effect.

I'd like to recount how this whole driving pursuit started.

Back in 2002, I failed my 1st attempt mid-August, just before I flew to London. There was no way I could get a re-test before flying in Sept so I (foolishly) cancelled my BBDC membership. From then, I carried a great discouragement and fearful impression of driving.

It's been irritating sometimes when relatives come over and when they see me, they ask "So when are you learning driving? Go and learn ah.... Once you start work, you don't have the time!" And I absolutely abhorred the nagging.

One day (sometime April 06) I was so irritated by the nagging that I told God, "Lord, I'm perfectly happy being ferried around by people and bus uncles. But if YOU want me to learn how to drive, then You'll have to give me a push factor. THank You."

The push factor came shortly after, on 10 May 06, in the form of a letter. 'You have been posted to AMK Secondary School at AMK Street 22'. I was 1st dumbfounded, then enraged, because I also remembered telling God 'Lord please post me anywhere as long as it's near my house.' I stay at CCK! I smsed all my friends, 'Did God make a mistake?'

My mom is incredible. Upon hearing the news she basically told me she'll loan me $3k to learn driving and she's alright with the idea of getting a 3rd car for me to drive to work. I'm amazed at how she's so willing to INVEST in my life, and the amount of trust she's given me.

I re-enrolled BBDC on 13 May 06, this time with the sore goal of GETTING A LICENSE ASAP. Basically I need to, in the shortest time possible,

(1) complete the 4 theory lessons so that I can book advannced theory evaluation ASAP
(2) complete advanced theory evaluation ASAP so that can book theory test
(3) buy new PDL (which is also my 3rd!!) ASAP
(4) complete stage 3 practical so that can book for test date ASAP

Guys, if you've any questions about BBDC, PLEASE JUST ASK ME because I don't want you to make the same mistakes I made back in 2002 - I was so un-serious back then!! Never take up something you were never too serious about in the 1st place.

I look back and give God ALL THE GLORY because He graciously allowed me to do all the above AND pass my 2nd driving test, within 15 weeks, just under 3 months. I'm amazed and immensely thankful.

Glory hallelujah to the Lord who gives wonderful gifts to His children!

About how the test went:
The test on 7 August was horrendous. I was already very confident about driving by then (I whacked my driving over 30 lessons) but the pressure of having this guy sit next to you, eyeing you up and down and judging you FEELS TERRIBLE! I made so many unprecedented wrong moves, I couldn't believe I passed! Basically I

(1) stuck the curb in S course AND crank course, he even had to break for me! 10 pts
(2) swerved out of lane when returning from right turn
(3) did not check traffic ahead and turned right onto the slope to find another car up there!

I was so nervous throughout the test (and I absolutely couldn't control it), that had the test route been any longer, I really, really, really think I had failed. But God is VERY VERY VERY good because He answered my prayers to pass, to get a very nice tester (God bless Mr. Soon!!!!!!! Thank God I wasn't given killer P**!), and a relatively short test route at BUKIT BATOK and NOT TECK WHYE! I'm so thankful, so thankful.

Jesus receive all the celebration praise!!

Revamp!

Dear friends,

You must have noticed that (1) this blog has moved and (2) it hasn't been updated for quite a whole.

(1) happened because a colleague gave my personal email to the students in the school I'm teaching in now, and I was shocked to find that upon googling my ex-userid, ALL my personal stuff (photos n all) came out, hence the change, for privacy purposes.

(2) happened because for a long time I struggled with the purposes of my blog. It used to be to updated homies about my life in London but now that I'm back, I'm less convicted about that purpose.

Not till recently when, upon asking the Lord this question, He put it in my heart a new purpose for my blog:

To journal what He's been teaching me, so that I can (a) keep track and be reminded of God's faithfulness, and (b) encourage others who swing by.

And of course, where I feel like it, to let y'all know what I've been doing and stuff. :)

Here's to a new blogging season!

cute guys + pretty girls @ ubin cycling trip

Me + lovelies @ practicum

wacky family photos

All these and more @ my resurrected photo page:
http://sonicsand.multiply.com/photos

My first Korean movie.

Believe it or not, I watched my 1st Korean movie today. A Season for Love. Combination of 4 stories, very different from Love Actually. A very good movie, albeit with sad endings, and that means you'd better bring that packet of tissue. I love the way certain scenes were filmed from a rather witty point of view, and the background music was effective for the mood, albeit they could do with a few more songs than playing the same old ones. I give it 5 popcons, go watch!!





I also think one girl (don't know her name, but she acts as the news reporter) really looks like Abrie!!! (She's the one on the top right)

Me, God, and tissue paper.

10:32pm

This evening, I did not go to CG. At about 9:20pm I decided to take the chair to the front porch area, and sat there with God and begin defragmenting like I did the other day, which was shiok. Today's session was super shiok too. Today, I was so real with God. I spoke out loud to Him, and in singlish, in chinese, in utter honesty, of which at many points I was disgusted with mysefl and couldn't accept myself. What irony. Because God accepts me, and I can't accept myself!

It was just me, God, and tissue paper. Awesome.

Honestly, I enjoy this dark night of the soul. This whole season of discouragement. It's so wonderful just being human. And being with a God who understands I'm only human. I didn't want to go CG, and I'm at peace about it now, because I know the Lord accepts it, and I know it's actually better for me. I think it's acceptable for me to react to discouragement this way, and to manifest my inability, my inconsistency, my instability this way, and I love it when God knows and understands it. I just love my God.

........

The song 'Times of Refreshing' has never carried more weight.

Times of refreshing
Here in Your presence
No greater blessing
Than being with You

My soul is restored
My mind is renewed
There's no greater blessing
Than being with You

I don't know how I'm going to fully enjoy the song if I'm in a room, encaved in 4 walls... I truly loved singing that song when I was out in the open, directly under the sky, with grasshopper-noises around me, and a gentle (for once not artificial) night breeze passing by me.

I have yet to do my Critical Review.

Rachel visited Singapore!! We had a glorious time, albeit initially it was very weird fellowshipping with her without 3 layers of wool, not forgetting gloves, cap and thick socks.

Rachel and my grandma outside our house!

Close-up of the yummies we had

Rachel about to feast on pigs organ soup, char kway teow and 'or char ger' (or black carrot cake) !!!!! There's no where else you can get them besides in Singapore and Malaysia!!!!!!!!

Rachel, me and dad at our living room

My mom decided to dig out photos of old. That's me on the left, playing the drums while crying non-stop on stage.

Here's just a few more miscellaneous photos. Me and wheelsies when we were young. We're so cute!!!!!

Me and Beining

My hilarious daddy. Love his serious expression when he takes photos. Hide says he's the HUMAN TRIPOD!

Glorious stuff!

Here are some freshest photos of recent happenings for your enjoyment!



We had a mini Malacca tour during our CNY!

This place has the most glorious chendol. I'll never ever ever ever forget how BLACK the gula malacca is

Me and my cousins in Jipeh's place at Muar, Johor. Amazed at how fast children grow.

Reunion Dinner @ McNair Road. Had the loveliest coffee-powered pork ribs!

Glorious roti chanai breakfast @ muar with uncle and pretty cousin Beining!

This is what I'd call a REALLY good harvest. A tree that bears MUCH fruit! Look at all the jambu! Lord I wanna bear fruits a hundred fold too!

Family photo - think we were celebrating my baptism cum mommy's birthday!

Very bizarre. Me talking to Ostrich, Mom smiling at camera. Zoo at Desaru Fruit Farm.

Crazy kisses on mommy!!!

Me and pastor Kok Fai in pool, very sheepish looking! (mind you, the water was cold)

This was way back last Nov when we were on a laugh-non-stop family trip to Desaru. We took this in a CAKE SHOP!!!! :)

Photo taken after my baptism in my church level 1

Gan Ann, Gan Heng, Kuan Meng, Edwin, Chun Choon. Ervin, Raymond and moi! It was a really wonderful time of fellowship. :)

Ervin's 23rd Birthday @ Crystal Jade HV

I am overcome with joy because of Your unfailing love,
for You have seen my troubles,
and You care about the anguish of my soul.
You have not handed me over to my enemy but have set me in a safe place.