A night out alone.

Yesterday was remarkable.



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After meeting Sylvia for coffee and donuts, I went to the Esplanade Library. Love the place as it has a nice corner overlooking the city skyline plus it has a wonderful collection of CDs,VCDs and DVDs,music scores and a little cafe. I am seriouly considering to upgrade my membership to a premium account. I love the National Libraries. I think it has the highest hits on the list of places i had visited since I am back in Singapore. Central, Bukit Panjang, Choa Chu Kang, Jurong...I think libraries are cool...


Walking back,I saw this exhibit that featured interviews with the nuns about why they chose to be nuns. It made me thought about God, Christianity and other religions. Human beings are constantly looking out for peace, joy and happiness but which is the way to attain all these. Different religions have their own beliefs of attaining these, i believe the only way is through my daily relationship and walk with HIM.



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And I went to visit Singapore Art Musuem. Thank god, it was a Friday and there was free admission after 6pm. I wouldn't have pay for it to go a second time. Not very impressed by the way the pieces are curated or presented.Seriously, I think there is a lot of room for improvement. In fact, I felt the layout was confusing and I felt a little disoriented. Thankfully,what saves the day was the "Ubroken Line by the Wu GuanZhong collection". I love his art work as they really communicate his feelings about the people,community and scenaries in his life.

To Wu, the feelings of the individual were supreme. Equally important, however, was the individual's emotional link with the community

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Then i took a slow stroll towards Bugis. I am curious about the new ILLUMA mall and was greatly disappointed by it. The place looked extravagant on the outside and inside. I thought it was too spacious that I felt it was too empty. Shops featured were mainly for youngsters and a lot of them were not opened. And I couldn't believe my own impatience of not waiting another 15 minutes to see Aaron Kwok who would be there for his publicity event! I used to be his fan! Digressing, I am more impressed with the new Tampinese Central Mall ( yes the one with Uniqlo and the new Mananpu Foodcourt). I think they feature a different range of stores which are not typical in the usual malls. I love it.

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Ended off taking a train to Novena, sat there at the station for 20 minutes quietly, reflecting and thinking while waiting for BB. We met and took a train back. XJ came over to our place and we talked till 3am.

Cupcake making

 

Pictures from a few months ago in a cupcake decorating class.

Sister Island

BB had always been on a mailing list for outdoor activities and that's how we got to know about this Sister's Island trip.It was an overnight trip which we would camp one night on Sister Island and returned on the Sunday afternoon. It had been a while since we last camped ( more than 2 years!).In fact, the relationship sparked off from a hiking trip in Ophir( which I believed many had already heard me ranting the story for many times:)

Anyway, I realised that I did not enjoy camping as much as I had in my younger days. (gosh, is that a sign that indicates that i will prefer much luxurious travel instead of backpacking and roughing it out in the tents and hostels?)This trip, i ensured that we packed more stuff to make sure that my ONE night stay was a comfortable one. Moisturiser, powder,foam boards to have a softer touch on the grounds and lots lots food so that i have enough to eat. On top of that, I am also a bit more resistant to swimming in the ocean ,mainly because i am wondering how many crawlies feelies were on the seabed ( Eeks, another sign of aging because i am not such a scardy cat in the past)I also couldn't believe i kept wining that we should have brought a 4 man tent instead of a 2 man tent so that we had more space to sleep ( duh?)

Well,even though i had concluded that I am indeed not as outdoorsy as the past, I still love nature alot. I enjoyed the breeze,hanging around on the hammock, looking at the clouds and the trees for a long period of time,predicting where the rainshowers are in Singapore...bascially just veg out.Also, I would also put myself to good use by helping BB plucked his white hairs which he enjoyed tremendously and told me that he felt very love!!!:) ( weird?) We both agreed that Sister Island is a very nice and quiet place to camp again and we would definitely come back again. We were impressed by the clear water which it provides in some of the islands in Malaysia.

 

 

 

Starry Night

Me time. Reading, reflecting ,letting my emotions run wild as I listen to this soundtrack from Boys Before Flowers. I love silence of the night.

Love Singapore 2009

Just finished my 30 minute prayer for lovesingapore. Love the song in the site. Love this whole idea of corporate prayer as all churches come together and united as one to pray for our nation and pre-believers. Decide that I will continue to make it a point to include the prayerbuzz points stated in the site in my prayer life.

Quarter 2009 reflection

I could not believe time has passed so quickly. A quarter of 2009 has passed.
My first quarter of 2009 has been pretty swarmed up in adjusting to a new role in a new organisation.A very steep learning curve with many challenging and interesting experiences to learn. One good thing about choosing a role beyond the classroom allows me to see how education itself can be a profit enterprise at a managment level.Fundementally, there must be some bottom line figures to drive all those operational costs in the school. It widens my perspective at how school operations can operate like any other commercial enterprise, hones my skills in managing people and balancing interests and expectations of bosses and peers.Something you will not get when you are just a teacher in the classroom.

I guess life has just been too much in comfort zone for the past few years. This role bears much accountability and responsibility that I need to take a change in my gears and face the true reality of life. Or probably all this while, I am just in my own little idealistic world, waiting to grow up.

Being a leader isn't easy. More so when you are in the middle management,taking orders from levels above and communicate to those that are in the ground. I take it as an opportunity which god has provided me to mould my character. Over the past few months, I saw myself constantly facing many dilemas and stumbling blocks when changes needed to be executed.Each breakdown pushes me to turn to the lord and draw upon his strength.While devil tries to put much negative thoughts in me , I realise the more i resist and rely on my strength to overcome, the more I am sucked in to this whole wave of worry and anxiety.People Politics.Man.Messy. Looking back, is pretty scary how you can be wallow in your own troubles and that your whole life centers around work and nothing else. Day and night,nothing but work. No workout, no socialisation,no grooming, no meals.Terrible.

Balancing life and work truely is not easy. But I realise how you can achieve that when you focus on the lord. Peace and joy flows through him. The holy spririt reveals to you bigger things and bigger perspectives. The holy spirit tells you to cast all your burdens on him and that the battle is of the lord and not yours. You learn to let go ,slowly and increasingly. Painful,not easy.However at the end of the day, when you triumphant over eveything, you know your lord has been with you all this while and that you would not have walk through it without HIM.

Things to be thankful despite the terrible working conditions.My in-laws who have been ever so supportive with all their good meals ,listening ears to my rantings, bearing with my sulky faces everyday. My beloved husband who has his own share of worries and burdens but trying his best to make me happy, his daily chauffering to and fro the work place.Finally, my own realization of how hard and harsh BB's work can be in the finance sector and reminder for myself to be more patient and gentle with him. In terms of work, i am thankful for lessons learnt to be a better leader. I think one needs to be able to clearly define the mission and vision of the organisation and communicate to his people. A leader needs to be confident, level headed, organised, have integrity, ready to take blame and shield whatever went wrong, caring and respecful to his people.

Well I am glad is all over and ready to move on to greener pastures.The rest of 2009 will continue to be challenging in this economic downturn but I know I have a god who is bigger than all these. Staying faithful and trusting his providence in my life.Somethings I want to get it going in other areas of my life in the next quarter.

1. Start serving in a ministry /find a cellgroup to join for married couples
2. Sign up for yoga lesson once a week
3. Start some teaching lessons in RC with my cousin.