uncle's 80th birthday!!

mum's eldest brother is 80! had a big party with friends and relatives. he's still very healthy :)

and here's my mum with her 4 brothers. they purposely arrange themselves by age. haha. so funny. they all look alike!!!

Tis the season to be jolly.....

in the past 6 months, or less... there have been 4 proposals! for titans alone!! that's a lot!!!! bren wy xq sheryl.

from nov09-jan10, 7 weddings!!!!

maybe i should change job to become a wedding planner.... heee.... :p

so happy for all of them, esp the most recent one who has always been worrying about "getting off the shelf"... now she's off! hee... congrats dory!

R.I.P.

I think I killed a monkey today :(

I was on my way, driving, to sengkang fields for the double header today. just after upper bt timah exit i think.... i saw 2 monkeys running across the road from a distance.(prob from bt timah hill?) i slowed down to about 80-90km/h and they passed as i was nearing. then out of nowhere i saw a third monkey already at the lane markings. I was about 3m away from it. i was on lane 1. I couldn't swerve anywhere. and I couldn't e-brake, car behind. so i went on, hoping it stopped at the lane marking.

but well, it didn't. I ran over it i think. it felt like going over a groove on the road. and i heard the thud. I looked at the rear view mirror but there was nothing. i'm not sure if i killed it but i think i did.

When I reached sengkang, i checked the car but there were no monkey remains. I pictured fur getting stuck on the tyres or blood splattered somewhere, but thank goodness, nothing.

sigh. traumatic. sorry monkey, i didn't mean to :(

in the midst of getaways!! :)

gold coast was fun!!! photos will be up on facebook soon! and upcoming, genting/KL/sepang!! :)
today is rest day, stay at home and don't go out. tired with jet lag. need to rest before going away again tmr. need to pack bag, plan for sunday school...

***

yay! managed to extend my ipod warranty. cos it's just lapse of a few days, and ipod's in good condition. so managed to get it exchanged for free! wanted to ask if they have white colour, but i think that's too much to ask lah... hee..... lucky ah. to change the battery is so ex. and to think it happened cos i don't use it very often??? zzzz...... i must remember to charge it every now and then even if i don't use it now..... so... i'm getting a brand new ipod nano! :)

***

holidays going to be over soon. didn't really have them ah.... lucky i planned for trips. have been going back to school for cca, camps, meetings, etc etc.... and bonus is only 0.25????????? oh well... sigh.. better than nothing i guess..... sometimes i wish i work for some private company that gets like 12 months bonus..... and their pay is higher in the first place!!!! zzz......... complains.....~

sermon from 25oct09

wow! i haven't blogged for more than a month! it's not that this period is boring. but that it has been really really busy...... so busy that every free time i have, i just want to slack, go on facebook, play bejewelled and cafe world. haha... and DS too! so no time!!! :p

***

anyway, i just thought of blogging on the notes i took of the sermon dated 25oct09 cos just got reminded of it cos me and jiayong just had a discussion on this sermon. (yah, our reaciton a bit slow... haha) It's by Dr. Bernard Low titled "Reforming the Christian Family through Family Worship". Scripture text is Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Top 10 issues facing today's families (survey done in the USA, but applicable to us too)
#10 - Materialism
#9 - Balance of work and family
#8 - negative media influence
#7 - lack of communication
#6 - financial pressures
#5 - lack of discipline
#4 - absent father figure
#3 - busyness
#2 - divorce
#1 - anti-chrisian culture

(i think that divorce is #1 in singapore. hehe... but i think all top 10 in USA are the top 10 in singapore too, maybe just in different order?)

root of all these issues: not gorunded in biblical teaching.

we should have:
- commitment and devotion to God
- commitment and devotion to God's Word
- commitment and devotion to pass on God's Word

Motivations for family worship:
1. eternal welfare of your loved ones
2. satisfaction of a good conscience
3. assistance in child-rearing -> more harmony in the family
4. shortness of time
5. love for God and His church

F1 SURPRISE!! :)

i've been wanting to watch F1 but not willing to spend hundreds on the tickets. i just wanted to go nearby to be able to hear the sounds of the F1 cars and maybe to catch some atmosphere. so our plan this year was to go find a nice place to go to, where we can enjoy the view for free!

a day or two before F1, a student gave jy a free grandstand ticket! so we were figuring out how we were going to watc with 1 ticket. maybe take turns going in? or should we buy another ticket?

anyhow, on saturday, we made our way to the area. parked the car at shaw towers and walked over to raffles city area. we saw the gates for entry and just looked longingly to go in. maybe we'll buy walking tickets next year? the crowd was still quite sparse at 5pm. so we decided to go into raffles city to grab a bite.

the next thing i knew, i was presented with 2 F1 entry passes!! ???? where did jy get them from? he left the car, usually empty handed. this time too. and suddenly, the 2 F1 passes, still in their boxes, were placed before me! and apparently, he already got them ready when we were discussing how to make use of the pass that the student gave! he's a good actor.... haha :p

yay! we're going for F1! :) and off we went! soaking in the great atmosphere, and staying there all the way to 11pm! we got to watch practise sessions and well as the qualifiers. and many other ongoing performances there. had a SUPER great time! :)

here are some photos! jy will upload the rest onto facebook later.


F1 map and directions
official event merchandise..... super ex....
programme booklet, entry pass, the box that contained the entry passes, survival kit with a poncho and earplugs (VERY IMPORTANT!!) and a map. (as you can see, the map is very used... haha :p
one of the performances....
at a corner... cars are too fast for my camera... think this is alonso in his renault.at the grandstand. there's a yellow blur if you can see near the spectators fence.... that's how fast they were!! and loud too!!
grandstand is good cos there's big screen tv too! :)
and that's the end of my wonderful F1 experience this year. :) thank YOU!! :) :)

mum's a great cook!

have been very busy lately. staying late in school and setting exam papers and giving remedials and marking, etc etc...

it's really nice to come home to a nice dinner with family.

Thank God that my mum's a really great cook! :)

here's our dinner today. just a simple dinner with fried fish, tomatos, longbean in egg, and normal veg..... yumyum.... :)

CHUNK fest!!

we were having dinner at marina barrage.... and chanced upon the chunk fest! what is that? it is the ben and jerry's chunk fest! they were selling ben and jerrys, and bands were playing. just nice when we went to the rooftop after dinner, it was EIC playing! reminds me how long i haven't been to wala wala....

free trip to night safari? or not??

free trip to night safari became super ex!

it was a last minute decision to go. we had planned to make use of the free pass during the school holidays. but just realised that it was expiring before school holidays start! so we decided to go on that very night. thursday. haha.... tired, after school.... for those who didn't know, teachers were allowed free entry into the 3 parks. night safari, zoo, and bird park. we just went to the bird park earlier this year, free pass again cos we were blood donors. so we decided to go to the night safari!

we thought we would just grab a bite at night safari. we knew it would be pricier than normal food. but we didn't expect it to be THAT pricey! haha... spent about $30 for dinner? and since our free pass didn't include tram tickets, we bought that too. $10 each. so before we even entered the safari, we had spent $50+ already! so much for a free trip. it's a trick! haha...


anyway, it was too dark to take pictures with our lousy phone cameras.... this is the best shot i got after the show. and unknowingly, the seats we were at, made us part of the show!! haha.. apparently there were some hidden chest below our seats... and in it laid a BIG python! and i was so calm as they were pretending to look for it. thinking it was probably some small, cute animal and that some actor would be in the crowd holding it. so our feet were on that python cage like half the show! haha... lucky seats? :p

so we were tired... but tram ride was very good. worth the $20. yup, we'll go again!... the next time we get free tickets! haha :p

roadtrip!!

it was a 11 car convoy. just like the lamborghinis!! :)

just a short 2-day trip, but it was certainly fun. yep, i would want to go again. but this time, field chair and mobile fan please! haha... The trip started with a prayer and ended with one. Thank You God for keeping all of us safe!

oh yah... hotel was super good lah.... so comfy that we didn't want to check out. haha...

and of all people, met ah-beng there! didn't know he was into it too!

here's just a photo from my phone... early in the morning, waiting for the rest... with God already showing us that He is with us with His little but magnificent artwork in the skies... :)

Happy Teachers' Day! :)

It is my 3rd teachers' day. as many other teachers may look forward to receive gifts from their students, in my school, i know that the kids are not able to afford presents. sometimes they feel bad that they can't give us a present. but little do they know that there are other ways of showing appreciation. one big way is of course to behave in class, learn to be a good person, and to improve in their studies!

while some teachers from better schools like to compare their "stash". see who got the most number of presents, who got the most expensive gift, etc... , we are just glad that students tend to behave the best on this day so we don't have to scream at them. :p

well, for me i got my own share of presents this year. stuffed toys, keychains, mugs, red pens... and one parker pen with my name engraved on it. the student had bought one for each of his teachers. i think these are the kind of gifts teachers get in richer schools?

and i got tonnes of cards and notes. one student wrote a poem for me even. it's in school so i can't type it here. and i received a surprising sms from a student who transferred school at the end of sec 1. he's in sec 3 now. i taught him for only half a year in sec 1. he was an outstanding boy. outstanding in a good way. every teacher liked for him to be in their class. i never knew i touched him as a teacher. the last i spoke to him was on his last day in the school. he had come to withdraw. it was just a short conversation where i expressed that we would all be sad he was going to leave.

this is what he said in his sms.

"Hi Ms Vivien! Happy Teachers' Day. Thank you for teaching me the basics of the sciences in sec 1. May you be able to continue teaching and nurturing students for as long as you wish. You've been an awesome teacher for me. :) May God Bless you. -Michael Suryaputra. Hopefully you remembered me"

it is just a simple sms. maybe it was a good enough surprise that i even got his sms. and he even remembers my name! cos they call me "Ms Soon". It was good to know that he even remembers to sms me after 2 years. Thank you Michael. May God bless you too. :)

countdown to getaway!

countdown was added yesterday already. or was it the day before? :p

so exciting. haven't been on a real get away for a long time. haven't been on a tour since.... 1997? when i went korea with my family. that was the last holiday we went to as a family. excluding when we went to visit my dad in china lah.

i get excited just thinking about it :)

and to a place i've never been before. well, i've been to the country before, when i was 2. hehe... i still remember some stuff there :p

so exciting! :)

can't wait!! :)

my friend, the whale, made the headlines! :)

from http://redsports.sg/2009/08/19/army-half-marathon-running/

Mok Ying Ren and Elaine Lim are fastest Singaporeans at Army Half-Marathon

Aug. 19

By Les Tan/Red Sports

The Padang, Sunday, August 16, 2009 – Singaporeans Mok Ying Ren and Elaine Lim were the fastest Singaporeans at the Army Half-Marathon on Sunday.

Ying Ren finished the 21km race in 1 hour 14 minutes 27 seconds ahead of last year’s winner Lim Kien Mau who finished in 1:15:45. Ying Ren, who finished second to Kien Mau in the 2008 edition, improved on his time of 1:17:13 clocked in last year’s race.

“The route was challenging,” said Ying Ren who set a personal best of 1:12 at the Tri-Factor race two weeks ago. “I expected to be better today.”

“I ran with the Vietnamese army guys for the first 5km but they slowed down. So I had to run by myself along East Coast. At the 15km mark, I joined a Kenyan runner,” said Ying Ren.

“The overall standard of running in Singapore has improved. We have 4 or 5 runners under 1:20 this year,” added Ying Ren.

In the women’s category, Elaine Lim came back first in 1:32:46, ahead of Koh Leng Leng in 1:38:36.

“I’m happy with my performance at the SAFRA Singapore Bay Run & Army Half Marathon 2009. I did better than last year. I felt ecstatic when I crossed the finishing line. I did it!” said Elaine.

Sumiko Tan, who was third in 1:39:06, almost passed out around the 15km mark from dehydration.

“I had to throw water on myself to keep going,” she said.

The event also saw the Singapore Armed Forces service chiefs hit the race. Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Desmond Quek finished the race in 2:03.

“It gets tougher each year as you get older!” he said after the race.

“I thought it was a very good run. The route is very interesting,” said Chief of Army Major-General Neo Kian Hong. “The highlight of the race was looking into the bay area.”

The fastest runner on Sunday was Agus Prayogo, 24, of Indonesia. The Indonesian army runner clocked 1:07:05, just edging out Deep Chand of India who did 1:07:08.

“I was leading from the beginning and we were together until 19km,” said Deep, 32.

Agus, whose previous best time for the 21km was 1:07:24 set in South Korea, then broke away.

Deep, who won the race in 2007 and has a personal best of 1:04:53 for the distance, kept pace with Agus but could not overhaul the younger Indonesian in the sprint to the finish line.

The Indian Army teams placed first and second while Indonesia were third.

Results
21KM MEN’S CLOSED NAME BIB NO. TIMING
1ST MOK YING REN 10002 01:14:27
2ND LIM KIEN MAU 10001 01:15:45
3RD ANG CHEE YONG 10112 01:18:22

21KM WOMEN’S CLOSED NAME BIB NO. TIMING
1ST ELAINE LIM SULIN 40002 01:32:46
2ND KOH LENG LENG 40385 01:38:36
3RD TANSOK HUE SUMIKO 40115 01:39:06

21KM MEN’S OPEN NAME BIB NO. TIMING
1ST AGUS PRAYOGO 5023 01:07:05
2ND DEEP CHAND 5073 01:07:08
3RD YADAV RAM SINGH 5081 01:07:59

21KM WOMEN’S OPEN NAME BIB NO. TIMING
1ST CATHERINE KWAMBOKA 31308 01:18:33
2ND LYDIA JEROTICH RUTTO 31283 01:22:04
3RD CECILIA WARUTUMO 31310 01:25:57

21KM MEN’S VET NAME BIB NO. TIMING
1ST JIRATTIGARN BOONMA 22010 01:16:56
2ND STEPHEN LAIDLER 22006 01:18:47
3RD JAY JOHANNESEN 21587 01:27:38

21KM WOMEN’S VET NAME BIB NO. TIMING
1ST SUPRIATI 50275 01:26:35
2ND SUE SHARP 50410 01:33:54
3RD ITSUKO LEWNES 50003 01:37:48

FOREIGN ARMY COUNTRY TOTAL TOP 5 TIMINGS
1ST INDIA ARMY TM 1 05:42:24
2ND INDIA ARMY TM 2 05:56:40
3RD INDONESIA NATIONAL ARMY 05:56:54

ARMY FORMATION TM FORMATION TOTAL TOP 14 TIMINGS
1ST COMMANDO 20:34:28
2ND 6DIV 20:45:58
3RD 2PDF TM 1 21:05:39

INTER-NS UNIT NS UNIT TOTAL TOP 3 TIMINGS
1ST HQ 9DIV 02:05:10
2ND HQ 6DIV 02:05:34
3RD HQ GUARDS 02:28:43

LOCAL INVITED TEAM TEAM TOTAL TOP 10 TIMINGS
1ST JOINT-OCS 16:09:39
2ND JOINT-HQMC 17:33:44
3RD DSO 20:45:05

from ps wesley's blog

he prob quoted this from somewhere too.. as stated at the bottom... but it came just at the right time... or i read it at the right time.... :p

***

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me."John 14:1

So the disciples were upset; they were nervous and they were baffled. Jesus looked at them and saw them sitting around him with a hung down head. However, it was Jesus who was on the way to Calvary. There were nails waiting for Jesus' hand. There was a spike waiting for Jesus' side. There was a crown of thorns waiting for the head of Jesus. He was the one that was going to be tortured and beaten and whipped until blood gushed from his back. It looked like somebody should have been encouraging him. But he turned around to his disciples and said, "Let not your heart be troubled."

Now Jesus is concerned with the heart; he deals with the emotions of man. And when your emotions get out of whack, nothing else works right. If your heart starts messing up, your head doesn't think right, your feet don't move right. Your ears don't hear right; hands won't work right. You can have a troubled heart and lie down and sleep won't come. You can have a Rolls Royce in your garage and not feel like driving. You can get on your knees and it seems like you can't get a prayer through. Your friends want to talk to you, but you don't want to talk to anybody. There's no need in anybody trying to say, "Baby, I understand." If they haven't been where you are, they don't understand. If they haven't worn your shoes, they need to stop talking because they don't know what you are going through and the anxiety you feel.

You can go to the doctor and he can't find anything wrong with you. He'll send you back home, but you know you're hurting somewhere. The drug store has remedies for lots of other ailments, but not heart trouble. Only Jesus can cure heart trouble. Only Jesus can bring peace to troubled emotions and an afflicted heart.

—365 Days in the Presence of God

dry spell

i'm on a dry spell. and it does happen sometimes. had a few dry spells since i had my blog about 7 years ago. hmm. just no motivation to write... mind's a blank. and i don't feel like forcing things out. i'd rather it happen naturally. as it usually does. so it will happen again :)

so well, until i have the inspiration to write.. hehe... this blog is going on a break! short one, i hope :)

I am SOOOOOO WEAK!!

yah.. MC again... sigh. migraine this time. got it last night. thought i could sleep it off. woke up still with it. i thought it'll get better. but when i reached the bus stop, i decided to call office to say i couldn't make it cos i was nauseous and having cold sweat. figured i couldn't teach. i wanted to go school today cos they need help in the afternoon. we're having the games carnival. sigh. i always choose the busiest time to get sick.... seems like many people are sick too. had to wait super long at the clinic. other clinics were packed as well. finally managed to see the doctor at the 5th clinic i went to.

***

on another note, happy national day! best view of the fireworks in a few years! :) and we said the pledge and sang the national anthem together at 8:22pm. some people around us were sitting down when everyone was singing the national anthem. this lady called out to ask them to stand up if they are singaporeans. and they heeded to her. good brave lady! :)

***

managed to get away for a couple of days this long weekend. cruise is not so boring after all if u have people with u to participate in the various activities on board! :) more photos would be up on facebook soon!

i am sick

felt feverish on thursday, but my temperature was only like 36+. and towards the night, suddenly it shot up to 38.1. decided i had to go to the doctor. when i reached there, it was 38.2. doctor gave me 4 days MC, friday to monday. said it's prob not H1N1 as i only had fever and cough at the moment, even though i had running nose and sore throat a few days ago. so it's a good thing. i was praying i don't get that 7 days MC.... i had so much to do in school.

I guess it's a good break for me now though. to rest at home. think i really need the rest. temperature is up and down. last night, it went up to 38.7. i was quite scared as i felt that my brains were almost no functioning properly! thank God that temp went down today. it's 37.6 the last i measured.

hope i'll be able to function 100% by tuesday. MC is until tmr only. i need to recover fast!

hmm... since when did i become a workaholic? :p while waiting to see the doctor....

catching up...

it's been a long time since i posted... so here's just a mixture of some stuff...

***

SHAPE RUN. hmm... my timing's about 35min. so lousy lah. i didn't even run all the way. i walked! haha. so cannot make it! last year i was having food poisoning the day before. and in the midst of the run, i felt like i needed to go toilet lah. the diarrhoea feeling. but still i ran all the way. and came in about 35 mins too! haha.. one year further away from my NIE days.... one year less fit... sigh... anyway, it's not bad considering so far this year in total i've clocked 7.4km in running. the other 2.4km being running with a student and nagging at him all the way until he passed with a timing of about 15min. haha...

***

sometimes i wonder why some people are in such a hurry to get married. a while back, it might have been bitterness that i felt, jealousy or such. but nowadays, it's more like wanting to shake the person to wake them up, asking if they really know what they are doing, what they are in for. i wonder if they know it's not going to be easy. cos at their age, i wanted to get married too, and have children too. but i was glad i haven't done so with my then partner. it's not as simple as 2 pple just living together. it's much much much more than that. i wonder if they know.... hmm... ijust hope that it's not simply just following the trend. that since their friends are doing it, they think it's fun and do it too. cos my friends who did that the last time to someone whom they thought they were really in love with, are regretting it now. sure there are successes. but at that age, there have been more failures. so hope that they pray hard and think hard first before they jump into it. there's alot of time. no rush.... if you 2 are going to be together for the next 50 years, why not spend a few more years making sure that person is the one you want to spend the next 50 years with? (this excludes those who are older of course... i do understand that the biological clock may be ticking... i'm referring to those who are still young...)

i, for one, am glad i'm still single. i'm glad to be relying on my mum. and i'm going to treasure this while it last.... ie while i'm still legally under my mum's care... until i get married.... then i'll have to be an adult. meanwhile, i'm happy being my mum's daughter :)

***

think sec 1 is teething problems. somehow when everyone reaches sec 2, maturity and knowing each other better helps in the cohesiveness of the class. still, meanwhile, things have to be dealt with. it's not easy for the kids...

***

i miss floorball!! i want to train with my kids. but cos of the H1N1 thing, no CCA is allowed! sigh.... i'll play more ultimate frisbee meanwhile. it's time to get back to it since floorball season is over. i'll start the sunday after titans chalet! :)

***

13 students from a particular class was absent today, mostly due to fever! caused the whole class to have a different recess time from the rest of the school. actually not really of use since when the final bell rang, all the students were mixed again. :p oh well, they are trying... hopefully the students are ok.

Em's Farewell

so fun last night! :)

thanks dory for planning!

... and we found out that settlers at HV is closed! HDB undergoing reno or something like that. haha.... if not, plan was to go settlers then walawalas after that! :p so... we ended up at settlers@SMU. they open until 1am! but it was too ex to play games all the way till then.... so we ended up just with 2 hours of gaming. after dinner at somewhere cheaper... haha...

2 hours of gaming... 1 and a half was cranium!!! and about 20 minutes for jungle speed! haha... we wanted to play taboo and pictionary but got scolded by malibu cos we can play those games are home for free!! :p good also lah.. if not quite waste of money. hehe..... oh... and we proved that oldies are smarter than youngies!!! hahaha :p

it was fun chatting, laughing, playing, taking pictures...

this is em, the star of the night..... see the evil look in her eyes........ hahaha....:p i can see them saying "i'm going to win this game..." hahaha :p

and i must add.... sheryl's NZ itinerary is WOW! haha... weiyang is so detailed lah... amazing.... hehe.. have fun there! :) take more pictures!! :)

Titans is SECOND!! :) :)

League ended last sunday. this is the first weekend without game, without training.... hmm... what should i do? it's 10 am... usually i'll alreayd be in NUS... maybe collecting $2 late fee? haha... or getting geared up for game..... or waiting for afternoon training....

every year for many years, league is the yearly thing i look forward to. this year's league came later than usual. and before we know it, it's over already! so fast! :( how i wish it'll last longer. maybe we can play each team twice? :p

I have not decided whether i'm going to retire from Titans after this season. still going through a long process of thinking. but like others born in my year... it's time to move on soon :) to another stage of life. they have moved on so long ago... i'm like the only one still dwelling here... hee... but i like it....:)

whatever my decision is, i don't have to make it as yet... i have until next league to decide....:)

whatever it may be, i'll always love titans!!! :)