#tb

HAHAHA WOW. Okay so I looked back at my previous posts and I realised it was in may? Lol. Okay quick run down of my life since may. I DID go for an interview, it was for a position in USS as a star guide. I had taken a day off from work (working at NETS...Did I mention that before?) to go for that interview. Pretty interesting, but it's like back to my old job at the wildlife parks. So I declined that one, given the long unpredictable working hours. I want my sundays.

Then there was an interview for a ride attendant at Adventure Cove. At first I was like "okay so they have divers there, I think I'll just work my way up there". So I took it up, and started working there after first getting my diving license in thailand (a lot of planing was involved, plus it wasn't a last minute decision to get my license) in the last week of may, then going for a nice trip with mom and sis to Korea in June over my birthday. Stayed at patron housing and went to see as many things as I could. Absolutely love the weather. I also liked how we never did publish to the members there that it was my birthday. I liked it nice and simple without pompous parading and wishes. Idk I'm just like that.

So I had a week of orientation before working on the grounds and learning what it's like. It took me some time to get in gear, but I feel that it's wonderful. Actually, it's my most favourite job that I've ever had. I loved my colleagues for dinner so much that I hanged out with them on certain nights, joined them for Halloween Horner Night 14 (left early though...and managed to catch the last staff bus and last train out). I came in together with the ITE internship batch and they're such fun people. I don't know of why people look down on them just because of their different learning style -.- when you work with them, you'll know.

I loved my job so much that I didn't mind waking up early in the morning at 5.30am. I didn't mind the long train rides. I didn't mind the sun nor the rain. And at my last week there (before enlisting), I baked cookies and brownies for all my managers, lifeguards, and fellow ride attendants, for 4 days total. I love them so much that I've already decided to go back there once I complete my NS service while waiting for my mission papers. The people might change, but I really hope that he culture there is the same. If possible, I'll probably upgrade to be a lifeguard, given the kind of training that I'm getting here. It would naturally be more appropriate.

SO YES. I am definitely looking forward to that time when I can have a normal civilian life and have a wonderful job with awesome people. Life is gonna be great!! :)

How to save a life?

Sooooooo it's been a while since I last posted that I don't even know what was the last thing that I posted hahahha. So I'm in the army now, it's been about 5 months now. Enlisted in Nov 14 into BMT school 3, Raven company, for 2 months. Posted to SCS school 2 to become a sergeant, Golf company, for another 2 months. And here I am now, in Nee Soon camp, training to be a medic specialist, for a length of 3 months. It's now my second week here, and I have to say that it's back to recruit life once more.

So far it's lectures everyday, and yesterday was our first practical lesson for spinal management. I'm pretty satisfied with my vocation as a medic. I figured that also I don't directly defend the country, I'm part of the support force. I actually wanted to be in Armour, but I'm here. I feel that it's not such a bad thing. After all, I'll be of good use even after I complete my 2 years. The knowledge and skills I gain here are highly practical in a daily context.

So yeah. I am satisfied with my army life so far. I've been through this and that, and it's all preparations for something big in the near future. It's gonna be tough, but oh well, if it's not tough then there's no growth.

well

HAI DER

meh meh eats grass

hahaha wow the last time i posted was about a month ago. ive been busy.
applying for jobs (kinda sucky) and going for interview (even worse).
but whats really horrible is that i dont have a job.
and it sucks big time because im just so picky about jobs after graduation.
i just really want something that i can be proud of.
but the thing is, jobs like those are hard to find. and so now im just really gonna go with whatever comes my way.
seems like thats the only way things can be after i graduate. since im going into army.

yesterday and the day before i went for this MLM company thingy. idk lah, sales never was my interest and i dont really like the idea of joining and MLM company and how it runs sometimes, though i can easily tell myself otherwise. but the idea of it just doesnt suit me. the only thing that keeps it in my list is that it can help me save up quick if im successful. or relatively successful i guess.

i dont know, i really dont know. i find that even a diploma graduate doesnt earn as much during this interim period between graduation and national service. and yes, im going in at the end of the year. and that sucks. drafted out a letter to gov and send to mom/dad for them to scan through before i send it out. hmmm. i hope i can enlist earlier. i really want to. im just kinda hopeful and anxious to serve NS. im not excited nor highly enthusiastic about it but im just hoping that somehow it will shape me to be more of the person that i should be.

the past weeks have been crazy everywhere i go. its just madness all around.

the only thing that im looking forward to is my diving trip with dad.
and maybe, just maybe, korea after that.

but nothing is confirmed except that diving thing.
but anyway. i gotta go, i have to go for another job interview.
while my other friends are already working -.-

#ldsconf

so.
#ldsconf

awesome stuff.
the saturday afternoon session and sunday morning session were the best for me.

OH AND I BROUGHT JAINA'S HOODIE ON SATURDAY TO WEAR BECAUSE ITS A NICE HOODIE. the nice yellow one from korea. from spao #aiseh. so it was during the afternoon session and i wanted to wear it. then mom randomly asked me for my hoodie. guess what?

she was cold.
so i took the hoodie out and passed it to her.
there goes..i wanted to take a picture of me wearing it and then post it up on instagram on the morrow when i smash it together with a picture of me wearing my suit on sunday so it would be an awesome picture. so yeahhhhhhhhhhh i didnt manage to get one taken. oh well. mom was cold so bopian lah huh. before she left, she folded the hoodie and put it into my bag.

talked to someone and heard some unfortunate news. im kinda affected by it since i know the person...but i'll see what i can do better. i totally dont know whats going on and why but i'll find out more. till then, my mind wont be at ease.

stayed back for priesthood session. got a call from mom but it was during the video so i ended the call. she smsed saying that she forgot to bring her keys (we rushed out in the morning, had to take a cab). and apparently, her workflow doesnt include taking her keys/phone/mrt card (when she's rushing). its either one of them or a combi of two. never is it all three of them together. so this time, she forgot to bring the keys. guess what, this poor son of hers had to leave priesthood session early and then open the door for her.

haiyoh.
but anyway. i read through as many conference talks as i could on the train while taking down notes. and i was wide awake. which was good. oh and lol pres lai was sitting beside me during conf XD felt so pressured to write down notes.

so i got home about an hour after i left church even though i walked faster than usual.
so we went back home together and then tadahhhhhhhhhhhh opened the door lol.
finished up the rest of the session that i couldnt go through while on the train.

did that then mom asked me to help her with the brownies.
totally 100% very reluctant since i was hosting a L4D2 match.
had to be afk for like 20ish minutes.
not cool.
but i still did it anyway -.-
brownies turned out okay. kinda dry though...
and mom gave a big piece to cleo on sunday because of the article/reflection thingy.
hmmm.
i'll save that for another time.

but anyway.
on sunday i woke up super early. about 6.25am to settle my food during the 1hr break between the morning and afternoon sessions. fixed it up and then got ready to go to church. took the train and gave up my seat to and old guy. felt happy doing that, great way to start the day.

was wide awake (kinda) during morning session, and totally slept through afternoon session. must be the food i ate. someone put sleeping powder in it. must be....must be....anyway. wore my (dad's) suit to church and felt nice wearing it. once in a while lah. i dont wanna wear the pants though. the material so itchy, its annoying. its uncomfortable. but the suit felt nice. lol. but i'll be getting my own before i go on my mission. perhaps i'll get bigger when im in NS or something, so getting one now is kinda dumb.

yesterday, sister proffit asked if she and sister hansen could meet me after church today to report on the updates and keeping me informed. buuuuuuut today i told them that i want them to take today and next week off (after church) to get to know the ward members. updates can come later, but i feel that this is more pressing. so yeah.

all my buddies left first since i ended up waiting for mom...dad went for yc meeting, mom went for mish discussion with a new investigator. i dont like how mom and i keep getting called for mish appointments all the time, but i think i'll talk to them about it soon...i dont think now's the right time for it.

so YES. i sat alone. with edwin. the ysa. and uh. yeah. nothing really happened. we talked a bit, but thats pretty much it. i stayed on, waiting for mom. when she was done with the meeting i kept on waiting for her, and she eventually was finished with whatever she was doing and came down to meet me afterwards (but only after i gave her a call).

i was soooooooo tired.
quickly changed out of my clothes back into home clothes.
so comfy.
used com, kept dozing off -.-
sigh. sunday passing by so slowlyyyyyyyyyyyyy.







im kinda looking forward to something,
but also quite apprehensive about it too.
afraid of what people will see me as,
afraid of what i might become.
and i dont have enough control over the event for me to be comfortable enough.
sooooooo.
i think it'll have to wait.
besides.
i have my calling to think about.
havent been doing a lot lately.
i dont know what to do
i dont know how to do it
i dont know if it should be done
i dont know so many things
maybe because i havent served my mission
and maybe because it is such a big calling.
second most important calling in the ward.
why oh why.
why me.

괜찮아

왜몰라

AWESOME P-DAY PART 2

SO I RAN. i ran i ran i ran. like mad. people stared at me as i ran barefooted on the tar road. no kick for me since i train in school barefooted. no kick at all. HAHAHHAHA #showoff

so i kept running until i caught up with the missionaries (apparently not Sister Noh nor Sister Proffit). it seemed that they were in deep conversation so i just slowed down and kept my walking pace behind them. not far off, i see more missionaries sitting on the bench. about 6 of them, two of which were familiar faces. i said my greetings, and they never asked me why i was there. lol. anyway. not important. i looked around the beach. it wasnt long before i saw Sister Noh (where the heck is Sister Proffit?!) and i waved over to her when she looked my way.

idky, but she SCREAMED. like, what? she literally SCREAMED okay.

"AHHHH!!! (the scream) SAMM!! YOU MADE IT!!!" and she comes running over to me.

#erms

she runs over to me and slams this high5 with me. "yeahhhh i made it..!! sorry im late"

so anyway the day begins.
YES. the day officially begins when the fun starts, not when im eating breakfast, not when im in school, not when im eating lunch, not when im doing work, but it only begins when P-day BEGINS.

*please dont quote me on that, it only applies when i join in the missionaries on pdays*

so BAMMMM she brings me over to where the other missionaries are. i put my bag down, empty my pockets, and join in the beach volleyball court because one of the teams is short of one team player. guess who i saw? SISTER ALFREY!!!!! SHE'S ON THE COURT!!!! and oh man i CANNOT tell you how fun it is to play with the missionaries. IT IS ROCKIN FUN. EVEN BETTER THAN SOME USUAL PEOPLE *achem achem* BUT HEYYYYY ITS FUN SIAAAAAAAA.

so anyway. i played until i got tired. i got tired really fast. must be the sun. and maaaaaaaaaan i gave the game my all. i ran for the ball like mad, especially if it went out. I DONT CAREEEEEEEEEE i just wanna play to my heart's content.

stinkin good time with the missionaries (apparently the missionaries from msia were here too since they had zone conf). so there we go, we had a friendly match with these other people who wanted to play.

IT WAS FUN AGAIN!!! madness i tell you. its just more fun with the missionaries idky!!

so anyway, soon i got all tired and really cmi already. took a good break, and then played badminton with sister proffit. had a nice casual chat with her (even when the wind was really spoiling the game). so anyway some of the Elders had to go off because they had to go for a meeting of some sort i think. so someone called for pictures. one of the sisters volunteered to be the photog but im like "hey no way you're a missionary, GET IN THE PICTURE (no of course i did not say it that way)" and so i collected 5 cameras. they wanted Sister Chan's pancake camera because "its the best, look at it" lol and the rest were all digicams.

they all formed up and then im like just standing there with cameras on my wrist and in my hands. they all screamed for "ONE CAMERA" only but hey man im a photographer and i know what its like when you want to have a picture to call your own but you dont because you wanted to go off and do something else but im like NO WAY.

soon, 5 pictures were taken. i remember having Sister Proffit's camera too and so yeah thats what i remember. anyway i had the chance to serve all the missionaries in a way, albeit kinda insignificant (for now though).

anyway, i saw Elder Rasmussen and Elder Moore!! i got pictures with them, along with all my past and present missionaries :)

bam
bam
bam

most of them parted ways and so we all got on our way too. i left with the choa chu kang elders (Elder Ethington and Elder Mikovitz) and the Woodlands Sisters (Sister Noh and Sister Proffit). we all headed to the bus stop, and then some took the bus. the 5 of us were going for a dinner appointment (good thing i brought clothes and shoes) at the Lee's house.

yessssssssssssss LEE's house. aka yongbee's house #clapclap. it was 6ish-pm and the appointment was at 7pm. Sister Noh called for a cab, but she somehow couldnt understand the receiver, or maybe its the other way around. so she hands me the phone, and i talk to the person on the line. bambambam i get the directions and EVERYTHING done hahahha. the thing is that booking fee is $10 for the stupid maxicab because theres 5 of us. i asked for a rough estimation of the meter fare and the lady says $20. i ask the missionaries if they have $30 on hand with them (i only had $7) and they said yes. so i said to the operator "okay go ahead with the booking".  soon, we get an sms saying that there arent any taxis available.

#erms

okay can, so, how do we solve the problem? it was suggested that we split cabs. but that means having to spend $40, and i dont think i want my/the missionaries spending so much for transportation. so i do the next best thing i know doing, and that is, getting us OUT of the problem.

i went over to the bus guide, and look at the buses. soon i spotted buses that we can take. so here's the plan (Sister Noh was still on the phone talking to the operator, she apparently called back for i dont know what), the "plan's that we take a bus (i forgot which one it was) and then we alight at this place and get on the train. we head to jurong east and make our way to the home from there. steady?"

it was quickly agreed on and then POOF the bus that we were gonna "wait" for magically arrives. Sister Proffit goes like "this is the bus right?" and im like "yeap thats it. lets get on". we call out to Sister Noh (still on the phone) and then gets her to the bus.

I grabbed a picture of the bus' route first before boarding. I get up, tap my card, and off we go. The idea was to alight at pan pac hotel's bus stop and then take the train down to jurong east then up to bukit batok. After a few stops, and referring extensively with the picture I took, we alighted SOME WHERE. Actually one stop late. I had somehow missed pan pac. Perhaps it was at the back side of the hotel which I could not recognise, but anyway. We ended up at the esplanade LOL. Followed Sister Noh first then eventually I got my sense of direction back.

For some reason, Elder Ethington was walking slowly. Sister Proffit and I walked just fast enough for him to be in our sights, but neither too fast where he couldnt catch up. We managed to get to city hall mrt soon and then just so happened that we went to the wrong level of the station (we ended up on the lowest floor, which would take us to jurong east via woodlands). I went up quickly to the stairs (first one up) and then when I reached the top I saw people. Lots of them. From the side that we should be taking. I look behind me and said "train train train" and then they all started sprinting up the stairs. Good thing none of them tripped!!

We missed the train by a few seconds. Elder Mikovitz was the next up and started towards the train but I managed to get him in time so that he wouldn't leave his companion behind ahhahha. The rest slowly caught up with us. Then BAM the door of the train opened up!! I motioned over to them to board the train, and we did. So then, our journey to jurong east began. We had a few ideas but eventually decided on cabbing from bukit batok instead of jurog east because je would have a ton of people looking for a cab (since it was peak hour) and also because the roads would be jammed at je. I think.

So thats what we did, we alighted at bukit batok. I went up with the Sisters first on the cab, the Elders soon got one after us. I sat in the front and gave the address. The driver didnt know exactly where it was but he roughly had an idea. I struck up a conversation with him in chinese (it wasnt that difficult...!!) and managed to sustain it all the way to the destination. I was going to invite him to church but we had reached the place already. Haiyoh. The Sisters at the back spilled out cash to pay for the fare but I was faster!! Hahahha. I don't believe in missionaries paying for cabs for appointments because its so expensive. Its like ill pay, since im the ward mission leader. I have to take care of my missionaries. So. Well. Unless they arent late, or they were deliberately late, then ill let them pay.

So thats that. We got in to the comppund and then headed up to the house. First person we see is yongwoo!! He was at the gate on the left, but we entered the house by the one right in front of us. He put on his shoes, walked over to the house, and took off his shoes and walked in.

LOL.

Anyway. We said our greetings to Sister Julia and the Sisters went on to change (they were still in their pday clothes). I went in last when they were both done. The Elders arrived later and greeted.

Apparently, Sister Julia knows me...? Hmmm. Idk how that happened. I saw her and talked to her for the first time on that night. Anyway, she was really nice. Yongwoo ran up to Sister Noh and she grabbed him hahahaa what a cute sight.

Well, we had japanese food for dinner. Sushi, salad, fried chicken, and some dumplings. An awesome spread!! Sorry no picture because I dont do that at people's house!! Anyway we all had our good share of dinner. We talked and shared a lot of stories all around the table. Ezcwpt me. Lol. The missionaries had so much more to say than I can offer.

Sister Julia was kept busy by yongwoo, so we didnt see her that much around. Nearing the end I turned to Sister Noh

-the Sisters were sitting on my right, Elders on my left, and yes, I was sitting at the head of the table. Weird because I wasnt the most senior in the house. However, Sister Noh said that I should be sitting there because im not a missionary and because I'm the ward mission leader. And I didnt know any better...so I went ahead...-

and asked her if we (the missionaries) have a message to share with the family. It is "customary" to this because missionaries DONT go to a house for dinner just for dinner. She asked the Elders and they said no. I was like.....uhhhh how can this happen you shouldnt be freeloading off an invitation to dinner like that. But anyway. Heres what we DID do. We gave a message, as we should. Sister Noh shared on courage, on doing the right thing even though it would be really tough. Seeing that the others werent gonna share anything, I chimed in to save the day (idk whats going on in their minds lol).

I shared on how it took me so much courage to stand firm by my decision that I will keep the sabbath day holy, no matter what. Even though I have been asked to participate in so many competitions, I declined every time. People have tried to persuade me to join in, but every time I said no. I did give it thought. A lot. But my decision still stood, that I will not participate in any compeition on Sundays. And so how have I been blessed for keeping this commandment (even though it is tough to)? Well, I have been able to rise up as one of the most experienced and skilled fighter in the dojo currently. I can take hits (considering my size) and still stand. I can deal blows, I am fast and nimble.

And ultimately, I am not a pushover.

I have been requested for to have a spar against the others in the dojo because I can teach them how to be better, because they can learn something from sparring with me.

Thats just a few ways that I have been blessed by being courageous in all situations to keep the sabbath day holy.

So I shared that with the family.
And you could just feel the sweet spirit.

----------------

We soon left. We said our greetings and thanks. We headed out to the bus stop. The Elders were travelling in a different direction so they had to cross the road. We decided on taking the bus all the way back home, it would take us back to my old house and I can walk home from there, and the Sisters can take the train back home. We had to wait for a good long while before the bus arrived, by which time the Elders had already boarded their bus. We had a fun time going back home!! Well I did at least. Sister Noh asked if she could look through my pictures and I was like "uh yeah I guess so, I dont have any private pictures or anything". So I passed her my phone and she went looking through them. Good thing she did anyway. There were a few pictures that shouldn't be in the phone and she asked if she could delete them, and I was like yeah sure go ahead please. I explained how those pictures were from whatsapp and sent from people in my class, and how I never scrolled through them.

And she understood!! She said that "its not that im judging you. Im just looking out for you, youre like my 동생" (or something like that). She and Sister Proffit had a good laugh at some of my pictures hahahhaha. But anyway, it was all in good spirit.

Soon it was my stop and I alighted. Seeing the time, it was WAAAAAAAAY too late for them to be out so I sent them a text telling them to let me know when they reached back home.

50 minutes later, I get a text from them saying theyre home. And yeahhhh it was way late. Im sure they were tired, but definitely, a wonderful day.

And I could sleep peacefully knowing theyre safe.