Losing the battle but winning the war

After weeks of 'fighting' with my sore throat, I think my body is giving in. Now I'm sneezing way too often and my eyes are starting to get teary - signs that I'm falling sick(er).

NOOOOOO.. Not 2 days before Easter Camp.

But never mind. After I wake up, I expect all the sickness to be gone. (I don't care! It had better go away)

I miss those times..

when your hair was short;

when you were rather socially awkward;

when you would run to get help each time I hurt myself;

when you missed me and wanted to talk to me;

when you always intended to protect me, even from afar.

Overwhelmed

It's very sad when I'm so excited for my one week break just so that I can catch up with my work and readings, and of course to complete assignments that are due the week after.

But other than that, the upcoming Easter camp promises to be good. So I guess that's something to look forward to.

BLAH

Tuesday (30 March) - Criminology class test, worth 20%

Wednesday (31 March) - Psych lab proposal (1500 words), worth 15%

Thursday (1 April) - Psych online test, worth 2.5%

And I cannot focus!!! I'm more or less prepared for my test but other than that, my mind keeps wandering.. I anticipate sleepless nights (tonight and tomorrow night) if I keep getting distracted by every single thing. GAH. And it's not that it's very difficult, it's just that me and my short attention span is...

Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

And so because I found the "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" CD, I've been playing it over and over and over. I simply LOVE that musical. First one I watched and rewatched and rewatched... Ok but before I get carried away..

(Basically it's a musical based on a bible story of Joseph. Found here) It's amazing how even for a situation that so filled with hatred and so much sin, that God used it to bring so much glory to His name. A boy sold to be a slave, later thrown into prison, later rose to be in charge of Egypt, saving the same people who wanted him dead.

So today I was listening to it again, since well, my new 'hobby' seems to be spending so much time on public transport here -.-

So it came to the point where Joseph's 11 brothers were standing before him in Egypt, asking for food, and they had no idea that it was Joseph. Then Joseph's brother, Benjamin (the only one who shared the same mother as Joseph), was accused of stealing Joseph's silver cup.

So in the musical, it was this whole number where the other brothers were trying to defend their youngest brother, Benjamin.

Then it got me thinking. I really wonder what Joseph must have felt then. Like on one hand, his brothers were so eager to get rid of him/kill him. And on the other hand, they were fighting to save the youngest brother. It's kinda bittersweet don't you think? Although it probably hurt so much to be betrayed by his brothers, it's probably a very sweet scene to see them trying to protect the youngest. I mean like, if I were him, there would probably be a hint of jealousy, because no one was fighting to save him..

But ya. Nice story with a lovely ending. And if I can, I REALLY want to watch that musical again..

Prologue

Some folks dream of the wonders they'll do

Before their time on this planet is through

Some just don't have anything planned

They hide their hopes and their heads in the sand

Now I don't say who is wrong, who is right

But if by chance you are here for the night

Then all I need is an hour or two

To tell the tale of a dreamer like you

We all dream a lot - some are lucky, some are not

But if you think it, want it, dream it, then it's real

You are what you feel

But all that I say can be told another way

In the story of a boy whose dream came true

And he could be you

Homecell

Homecell was a blast!!

For the sake of those who do not attend OCF. Homecell is basically cell at someone's home, and it's usually a free and easy thing, with tons of food, fun and fellowship. And one of the nicest thing is, NO BIBLE STUDY (BS)! Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like BS, it's just that, with all the assignments pouring in and whatnot, it's nice to have one less thing to 'worry' about.

Anyway, I really love my cell. I think it's really a cell that was put together by God. The mix of characters is so interesting. Now that people are more or less comfortable with each other, time for step 2. MUAHAHA.

Phew

Brendan cleared customs.

Tonight I go to sleep, reminded that God is ALWAYS in control, that He is always listening to our prayers and that He loves us very much.

God is good(:

This is how much I love them

Sometimes it's out of boredom, or sometimes it's an exaggeration of some bad news, but I really hate it when my imagination runs wild and I imagine my family dead.

At the moment I still don't know how Brendan is. It sucks you know, because Brendan is probably scared. I mean, normal people would be, if they pulled aside by the police. And I don't want him to have to go through that. Worst thing is, I only would be able to see him after two weeks. Actually, that would be considered a good thing. It'll be bad if by some horrible twist of fate, Brendan gets into further trouble. Things could be horribly wrong or as Boon Hwee said, it's all fine. (I really thank God for friends like him and even for such reassuring calls).

But ya. Back to my point. I get all upset at my silly imaginations and always end up bawling my eyes out, begging God to not take them away from me any time soon.

And now I'm just going to wait by the phone until I hear some form of good news before I go to sleep. But I trust that God has this whole situation under control and that Brendan will come out fine.

It's that time

It's that time of the semester again when all the assignments and mid-sems (tests) start pouring in. Not forgetting the endless amount of readings. Plus this year, there's cell. Also the fact that travelling takes up a lot of time, whether it's to the city or to uni, and also the fact that I have to consider my family in my decisions.

So in one word: STRESS!

Because of that, I'm so thankful for homecell (no need to prepare much) and an awesome core group that is SUPER helpful. Really helps to take my mind off a lot of things.

So once I clear my mind, it's time to conquer my assignments. I shall set my goal to finish everything by this weekend so that all the revision and proofreading can be done during the week. I anticipate sleeping really late tonight. Thank God for no classes on Friday.

Hmm

I guess it's true:

As time passes, it's not that you lose friends, it's that you start to realise who your true (good) friends are.

Further elaboration shall not be provided.

Random (doggy) thoughts

Haha, please don't ask me why I was suddenly thinking of all these. It's really random.

Like I really wonder what goes through my dog's mind, or really any dog's mind in general. Like at home, my dog has been trained to sit before getting food from us. Well basically that's the only few commands she can do and so ya.. But so anyway, I totally imagined this just now..

Me: Joey, sit!

Joey (thinking): wow these humans are so easy to please. All I need to do is sit and I get fed. Life is really good and these humans are suckers.

Hahahaha. I think it's funny. Hahaha. Like how just by performing such simple tasks, we get amused and feed our pets, and the dog is happy as well. Haha. On another note, my dog is really strange. Every time my mum leaves the house (yes it probably applies to my mum only), she'll sit by the window and watch the world go by until she sees my mum home.

Such a cute/strange dog..

Many Parts, One Body

God could have made us all Sanguines.
We could have lots of fun but accomplish little.
He could have made us all Melancholies.
We would have been organized and charted but not very cheerful.
He could have made us all Cholerics.
We would have been set to lead, but impatient that no one would follow!
He could have made us all Phlegmatics.
We would have had a peaceful world but not much enthusiasm for life.
We need each temperament for the total function of the body.
Each part should do its work to unify the action and produce harmonious results.

-Florence Littauer in The Gift of Encouraging Words

The right place, at the right time

Kids, I’ve been telling you the story of how I met your mother. And while there’s many things to learn from this story, this may be the biggest: The great moments of your life won’t necessarily be the things you do; they’ll also be the things that happen to you. Now I’m not saying you can’t take action to affect the outcome of your life; you have to take action and you will. But never forget that on any day, you can step out the front door and your whole life can change forever.

You see the universe has a plan, kids. And that plan is always in motion. A butterfly flaps its wings and it starts to rain. It’s a scary thought but it’s also kind of wonderful. All these little parts of the machine constantly working; making sure that you end up exactly where you’re supposed to be, exactly when you’re supposed to be there.

The right place, at the right time.

Ted Mobsy, How I Met Your Mother

Think outside that box

Actually, what R said is true. After we get to know our personality types and even the personality types of others, we tend to stereotype people. Not only that, but we start to think within that 'personality box'. We allow ourselves to have certain characteristics only because we've been classified into a certain group.

We don't make the extra effort to get to know others after we learn their personality type, because we think: what else is there to know? We start to not look past that __ personality and get to know the person for who he/she really is.

Like people who are classified extrovert can have their quiet moments. People who are said to be happy all the time, do feel sad too. And you start to know what I mean..

Random thoughts

An overly sensitive person studying psychology isn't a very good combination. Especially once you start to read into every behaviour and then you assume that everything just seems against you.

This burden on my heart

"How can they not intervene when they witness such atrocities?"

"I think if people see this footage, they'll say 'oh my God that's horrible' and they go on eating their dinners."

It's sad because that's the truth.

When we witness all these social injustice, when we see news clips of countries that just had a natural disaster, what do we do about them? Feel sorry, maybe pray, or maybe even donate some money. But then what? We just totally forget about it and move on. But have we considered the long term effects that these may have on those people's lives? Do we realise that even though they may not be headline news anymore, that they are still suffering?

I acknowledge that it's not easy to help; sometimes we have obstacles preventing us from helping, sometimes we just don't know where or how to start.

We need to stop finding excuses for ourselves and take that first step..

Now.