Weekend fun!

OCF Flinders went to Cleland Wildlife Park!!! :)


From left: Betty's boyfriend, Tricia (yr 2 dietetics senior), Me, Betty's housemate (hope he keeps joining us for OCF activities cos he's not chrisitan!), Betty (ever optimistic person!)


Tasmanian devil, Echidna, Wallabies with OCFers acting like wallabies. LOL


Me touching the Koala's butt (cos they didn't allow us to carry it), feeding the emu and kangaroos

Next exciting thing soon is the Easter Camp during the 2 week mid-sem break. Hope i'll get to know lots of ppl!

And Sarah (the pretty aussie gal, our unit mate) cooked a feast for us! YUMMY. We had earth hour on sat too... So we all had to switch off all our lights and electrical stuff for an hour and save some energy for Mother Earth. Had fruits and chit-chat session with candle lights! Singapore should have something like that. Save the earth, and slow down the pace to relax for a little while.

Good Friday to you!

Good Friday! No need to rush to wake up early or walk (at J's lightning walking speed) to class up the steep slope to lecture halls. It's nice to sleep without perspiring at night. Autumn has arrived. Temperature at night was 15 degrees yesterday. Cold for me, but still i'm going to enjoy every moment of it simply because winter is not yet here.

Have been doing more reflecting... What if i didn't get my textbook that very night? Was i going to be paralysed with anxiousness for the next few days? And applying it in a bigger picture, what's going to happen if i let my emotions run wild every time i meet a problem? Would i become unstable as long as i meet different crisis? Such a terrifying thought. Especially when i'm studying in the sciences, where we look at extrapolating empirical data and seeing what might happen in the future. Especially when i know that it's not supposed to be this way. I know I have God, who will never leave me nor forsake me. And i have the privilege of prayer, the confidence to be in his presence, and the assurance that he listens and will answer in his beautiful time.

Listened to Ravi Zacharias's audio sermon 'Why can't i feel my Faith?' last night and this morning. And he presents the challenge when emotions meets with information. That i have emotions which are very real and cannot be ignored, yet at the same time i have the knowledge of my God, and morality, so how do i put the two together and be able to live a life that is pleasing to God?

The answer is in the upward look towards God, where we have the confidence in the word - in the bible. When we seek God everyday so that we 'won't operate impulsively but with the sanctity of a heart seasoned by his reason' and keep conditioning ourselves not to be swayed by our emotions, but to be grounded in the word, followed by obedience with dying to our own self-centeredness and living a life for God's purposes.

Oswald Chambers - "There are things we must not pray about, moods for instance. Moods never go by praying. Moods go away by kicking. A mood nearly always has its seed in the physical condition, not in the moral condition. It is a continual effort to listen to moods which arise from a physical condition never to submit to them for a second. We have to take ourselves by the scruff of the neck and shake ourselves and we will find that we can do what we said we could not. The curse with most of us is that we won't. ... Unless we train our emotions, they will lead us by the nose, and we will be captives to every passing impulse or reaction. But once faith is trained to control the emotions, and know how to lean resolutely against weakness of Character, another entry way of doubt is sealed shut forever. Much of our distress as Christians comes not because sin, but because we are ignorant of the law of our own nature."

Proverbs 4:10-13 Listen, my son, accept what i say, and the years of your life will be many. I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.

As Zacharias likes to say... "Such a fascinating thought!"
May i be able to bring a revelation into reality.

Week 3 at School - never ending work

Needa update badly. Ha. There's so many things that happened! Just wanna share... :)

Last Friday we had our first Hall Formal Dinner - 'Under The Stars'! Ha. It's named so because it was outdoors at our hall courtyard. Great food (shucks. forgot to take pictures) and a GREAT band - clearway. Check out the big family picture that we took! :)


We did the 'twist' pose cos' Tara said that we had to do our signature Asian thing in the picture with her. She's aussie, but she looks Asian! Can you spot her in the picture? (no prizes for guessing right. ha) She's cool. Plays mahjong and even brought a set over! So some of us play sometimes... Heh. Not that far from home eh?

I didn't take a picture of the band, but i did take some videos.. I'm not gonna upload cos i gotta pay for each megabyte i use. Ha. But the drummer (name's Christian) was REALLY good! I was like staring at him play almost the whole time. Check out the website. www.clearwayrocks.com They play other ppl's songs, but the lead singer's voice is kinda husky and unique as well. Many of the gals were screaming! Haha. Not cos of him, but cos of the great songs they play even with such a small band. Only 3 of them on Friday. Really inspired me to not give up on drums. Even though i haven't been practicing at all. And i don't have Doyle anymore... :( I think i shall head to the music room today.. and try to make it a habit of practicing more often.

Have been visiting a church called 'The Edge' this few weeks. And somehow, it seems that the stuff i read about during quiet time keeps coming up during the sermons. Ohhh... I really learn lots. It's like an word-packed sermon. I LIKES. Seem to be tearing alot during Praise and Worship and even during sermon time. Presence of God so real? Every word / lyric seems to speak to me more cos i'm 'alone' here and really have to rely on him even more? Curiosity and need of knowledge about God expanding? Think it's all of the reasons added together.

Anyway, question time. Who thinks I'm easily anxious and get stressed very easily? Tag your answer!!!

Coupled with the fact that i'm not very independent + try to be a perfectionist + always over ambitious, i was so stressed over the fact that i've got to hand in my 2 theology essays by the 20th April, and the final one on the 15th June. ARgh. I only received my material on 7th March, and found out that i needed to get my textbook, if not i couldn't start. *PRAYED* Called up the college and managed to find some info about where to get the textbook. (They don't sell it) *PRAYED somemore* Went to Unibooks (uni's text book/bookstore) and was glad to find out that they could order one for me, cos firstly it's a super old book and secondly, they don't have it in stock. Said that it'll come in by next week. This was Friday, 7 March. Was abit anxious by Tues, 11 March and went back to Unibooks and check for my book. The assistant said that there was 'No Such Book'!!! OMG. Stressed. *PRAYED MORE* Checked two online book websites. Both didn't have my book. But managed to find out from the college one bookstore in Adelaide that does. So i ordered it through post. But i was still anxious. In my material, it said that i had 20 weeks to finish my module, but i counted from the time i got my material to the last assignment date, it's only like 12 weeks? And i'm supposed to spend like 140hrs for it. So it's... abt 10+ hours per week, including doing assignments. ARGH. Anyway, i kept waiting.. but till thursday it didn't come. ARGH. STRESSED. I started praying.......... that God would let it come through the mail on Friday cos i really needed to start soon. Was so worried (cos i know how slow the system can be here) that i couldn't really concentrate on studying my other work for the night and started doing push-ups and sit-ups to get rid of my anxiousness, while praying at the same time.....

Well, that was before dinner time. And guess what? God answered my prayer on the very same day itself! I didn't even have to wait for Friday. He got some friends to help me out and turns out that there was 1 copy of the text in the library (not-main campus one)!!! It's only on a 7 day loan. But still... i could start that very night. OMG. Can't believe it. PRAISE God!

Ok. It sounds like i'm over dramatising it, but i'm not. I really was worried and afraid. And God was there to pull me out of the 'depths'. My loan's till this thursday. And my text hasn't come in through the mail. So i'm still praying that it will sooooooooooon. But i know God's gonna provide.

Even before my textbook episode, i got the material and realised that i didn't bring my study bible over, cos they recommended that i have one for reference. So i was like.. Shucks. Would i have to buy one here? *PRAYED* When i went out with Priscilla (Moses's Koh's friend, studying in Adelaide Uni now, knew her when Moses Koh and gf, Yoshi came back to Spore and i went to his place to learn how to make POWERFUL pandan chiffon cake and cheesecake from his Famous Mother), i found out she stopped leading in OCF for this year, and she was willing to lend me her study bible!!! And it was the same one which i used at home! So i was familiar with it. PRAISE God!

I'm not the only one stressed already. Today, 2 ppl in my unit were crying over different *stressed* stuff. I won't divulge, but i don't know why, i just was able to comfort them and give them abit of encouragement. Even though i know it's not much, but it was all that i could do at that very point. Shall pray more for them, (God's the only powerful help i have with me) and maybe cook for one of them during more weekends, so that she has more time for stuff. And well, i kinda learnt 2 things. First, (like what i just wrote in my MOH scholarship essay about my values and beliefs) I wanna be excellent in what i do now, and not have any regrets later! Secondly, I'm not alone in being stressed or not able to finish my work. Studying's never ending! I find myself trying so hard to be consistent now... (cos i never was last time. haha. ) but i'm reading my texts, and trying to understand all that i need. Not just the required syllabus. I know this may sound stupid to most of you. But i tend to take a different stand at uni now. Last time, it was all about PSLE, O and A levels. Now it's more of studying to understand, and to gain knowledge. So i want to do above and beyond the syllabus, cos it's what i'll need when i go out to work next time, or the information that may one day come in handy when i interact with others along the way.

So there. I've got more to share, but i need to get back to finishing my chapter on bio. Everyone knows everything about cells already. I'm way behind cos i didn't take it at A levels.

Anyway, read a chapter of 'Winning with People' by John Maxwell during lunch just now. Just have a question for all my readers! I shall be courageous and get 'mirror' answers. Was just doing abit of reflections, esp after these few things that have happened. From what you know about me, do any of my practices / habits cause me more harm than good? Be honest! Hope many will tag for me. :)

And in terms of 'Intro to Health Professions', since we learnt about Health, not just being physically, but wholistically - spiritually, emotionally, psychologically etc.

Arthur Glenn Clark advises, "If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and tears."
(Mind wanders off and remembers him... Oh well. Still haven't talked / seen him here.)

According to John Maxwell (2004, pg 30),
"Healthy people are...
more willing to change.
more willing to admit failure.
more willing to discuss issues.
more willing to do something about the problem.
able to travel light." 1

Bibliography
1. Maxwell, John 2004, Winning with People: Discover the winning principles that work for you every time, Thomas Nelson, Inc, Nashville, Tennessee

(haha. just did Harvard Referencing Quiz. Must try to put into practice)

Victor Habour + Goolwa Beach

Vic (Hong Kong guy doing nursing) invited me and Samantha (Singaporean gal with red hair, doing archeology) on sunday! his friend had a car, so he drive us all there. it's really a long journey. about 1+ hr drive?

check out the nice scenery! very different to what we can see in spore. it was SO HOT that day. should have gone during winter time. so that everything won't be so dry and dead, and the penguins would be out. but too bad. haha. one thing that got on our nerves though. they made a poor horse drag such a big tram of ppl!!!! EVIL. we didn't catch the tram. (also due to the fact that it costs money.) walked across the long bridge instead. saw jellyfish in the water! :)



we went to Goolwa beach after that! did some cockle fishing. cockle dancing actually. haha. we just picked spots on the beach and did the dance - the twist! on the sand. haha. so that our feet will sink in and when we feel shells beneath our feet, reach in and grab the cockle! :)



was quite fun getting wet and so drained from dancing. so of cos we went back to my unit to cook them!!! haha. didnt have much ingredients. but we just boiled them so the shells would open up and removed them. couldn't resist the cockles, so after boiling them, i ate one and it was SO SWEET! just like grilling fresh fish after fishing them. YUMMY. haha. then everyone proceeded to eat a few too. washed them individually so that there's no more sand, then fried them with garlic and chili! i was the chef! *thank you thank you* hahaa.. great stuff eating cockles that we caught ourselves. such a great sense of accomplishment. there wasn't any xin1 wei4 in it too! grins.

new shiny timetable

changed my timetable! good thing i have until the 31st March to change timetable and modules. Ha. That's quite a long time isn't it? i dropped aspects of psych A cos i found 2 electives i want to take for next sem already. leaving me no more credits for aspects of psych B. so might as well just don't take it. found slots for the popular 'introduction to health professionals'! so this is my new timetable. finally managed to get hold of the ppl from divinity college too. they'll mail me my course materials soon! so hopefully it's very comprehensive. :)

this week i've only got lectures. so far it's mostly introductory stuff and basics. soon we'll go full speed! lots of quizzes up ahead. MUG! :) quite excited to learn even though i'm going to dread essays and presentations. oh well. there's no escape!

My Timetable - 05-Mar-2008 to 26-Jun-2008 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 09:00 BIOL1102 Lecture 1 of 3 (1) IST.STH3 BIOL1102 Lecture 2 of 3 (1) IST.STH3 HLTH1302 Lecture (1) STN.N335 BIOL1102 Practical (29) BIOL.112 10:00 BIOL1102 Workshop (1) SLTH.STH1 BIOL1102 Supervised Study (13) PHYS.1300 11:00 CHEM1101 Tutorial (1) SLTH.STH1 12:00 CHEM1101 Lecture (1) IST.STH3 CHEM1101 Lecture (1) IST.STH3 CHEM1101 Lecture (1) IST.STH3 13:00 HLTH1302 Workshop (3) STS.S308A BIOL1102 Lecture 3 of 3 (2) IST.STH3 14:00 CHEM1101 Practical (2) PHYS.121 15:00 16:00