Sleeeepy... had a violent fit again last night, seem to remember waking up and tossing my duvet around so suddenly, and it wasn't just once but... yeah, been having a week of unrestful nights 'cept for the occasional doses of heavenly sleep. woke up with my pillow on the floor, the duvet with the head at the end, a vague memory of me fighting in my sleep, and with a really fuzzy head...
... it's uncanny that earlier this week I was talking to Rokey about conveniences and how they're a liability because we rely on them too much though they're really quite unnecessary, such as my garlic presser in the kitchen and MSN - Tito and Noumie are away this weekend so I had to walk to church with Lin, but this morning I got a text saying Lin has a shift so she's going to St Mike's in the evening instead. I was like "ee... bummer. Now I've to walk to church alone?" Was a bit groggy and grumpy at first, but God suddenly opened my eyes to that particular convo I had earlier in the week and how the car is, really, unnecessary, and I've become so reliant on friendships for good fun that I forgot what it meant to be alone and with God. Like, whoa, early-morning lesson struck me in the face; so I spent a good deal of time, 50 minutes, walking leisurely to church and singing and talking to Daddy tho I admit the tiredness was taking its toll on me. Still it was quite an experience I haven't had for ages... thanks for reminding me again, Daddy.
:)
..."我的宝贝女儿...是你的宝贝女儿."
My heart just melted at that, when my mom prayed to GOD with me over the phone just 10 minutes ago. Mom was crying partly because she's been struggling with quite a severe spiritual attack for the past few weeks, and I was tearing so much because my heart was just so broken for her, but at the very end of the convo we were just thanking God, just thanking Him so much for our special relationship with each other. We've been through just so much together and God's just blessed me with such a self-sacrificial mother and such a great relationship - of course it hasn't been that rosy all along! Still remember that before I hit 18 it was quite... distant and awful, really. Ah.. Thank you Father for my mommy. And to make mommy happy, here's a picture of the laksa I prepared:
whaha :)
Anyways. Realised that I've been pushing my degree aside for too long now, and I need to get work started. Asking for an extension for my essay and hopefully Cath is nice enough to understand I've been absolutely buried till my neck in ministry. Having lots of fun actually! Was telling Heng Chin as I was walking back yesterday that this combination at present seems so perfect - the perfect balance of friends and work (work? hardly any work!), of ministry and socialising, of busy times and QTs, perfect weight of spiritual support and the best girlfriends I've ever met... seems a bit sad now that quite a lot of my good friends will be leaving on their placements for their 3rd year - was walking home with Laura from church now and she'll be in France next year =\ oh well..... relationships in God are secured in Christ yeah, regardless of where we all are... :) Ooh, digressed. Work? Yeah work. Middle English is a pain! And so is Old English! Hopefully these labour pains will fade away and joy of the product will overwhelm me soon enough. Trying to get my grip on Old English reminds me so much of secondary school when I had to memorise Chinese essays and sentences, like how I'm desperately trying to memorise verb and noun forms (short-stem long-stem strong weak verbs masc neut fem dative illustrative genitive wha?)...
... but it's all fun. And hooray! Texts in exams will be the same as the ones we do in class! Defeats the purpose right. Makes life easier for Anglo-Saxon students tho :D
Aside from work tho I'm having really productive days in terms of sorting out administration, delegation, allocation of roles, organising of events and meetings, liaising with people and PA and getting a team, booking venues, getting forms signed, socialising, sport (?). Guess I just threw the last one in randomly 'cuz I played bball with HKers-Chinese-Msians yesterday, but before that it's been eons since I touched a bball and I know I could definitely do more sport. Miss playing it so much! Gone are the days of absolute fitness. I want a swimming pool and bright sunny sunshine..... *drooools*
And, Oh, haha! In the words of Monique, Leadership IS delegation. Guess that lifts a whole load of yourself, but it means a lot more work's gotta be put into checking up on people and making sure they're ok and making sure they reach deadlines. But anyways, it's just funny how one day after Monique said that, God spoke of the same message in Nehemiah 3 - delegation! Hm. Very practical Daddy.
... but erm ya, productive. (I'm typing a really incoherent and random post. But bear with the length 'cuz I don't think I'll be typing an entry in for eons after this) Managed to rope in my pastor to help with the houseparty seminar, woohoo! Dave and I were pretty concerned about not having a speaker for the houseparty, which could mess things up abit. Provision from Daddy once again, just in time!
yesterday! What did I do yesterday? Had the most restful night of sleep the previous night, woke up to a bright and sunny day, did a QT, played basketball (didn't expect the game to be so aggressive wor. then again...... there were only 3 girls and tonnes of guys split among 3 teams) then trudged off to the library to attempt some reading. Did a little, then got a text from Benno saying they needed a keyboardist last-minute, thought I might as well help out so I did and went for CU early to rehearse - such Spirit-empowered worship, go Andrew! Thought the meeting was really great! After that Heng Chin dearest and I went off to Yaozu's for dinner with him and Rokey;while walking to Alcuin, Heng Chin and I just stood and stared up in the sky at the stars, counting our blessings and just praising Daddy for his beautiful diamonds - so blessed!I hibernated in Yaozu's room for a while to alleviate the guilt of not studying enough, then was called to dinner@10pm and the lovely darlings prepared a simple but wonderful meal of chicken and veg and rice. Simple meal.. but I just felt so..... blessed. ;) Heee~ Had a nice random convo with them, a brief time of silly childhood games, and watched bits of 无极 from Yaozu's comp. Er. Didn't watch the whole of it so I'm in no right to make any judgement on it, but snippets of it reminded me of Hero really... all colours all ideals nothing substantial. Kind of... like, baking a cake without the flour and eggs and milk really. What's left? Sugar. >.<
Ho hum... on Fri I went to the minster ball (!!!!!!) and it was such a different experience this time! Almost didn't want to go and I actually wasn't looking forward to it that very same day, but after I was there I suddenly felt... drawn into the mood of the whole thing? Think I had so much more fun this year because I know more people - it's really fun (and funny!) dancing with the Brits 'cuz they're just so random and daring! And hilarious. Mike was doing some kinda mime dance at one point and that was amusing. It's lovely to be with all the SGers too - the freshers made the group larger this year and people are slightly more willing to dance and go crazy I guess. Ah Bugalee was fantastic as usual. And I wuv dancing. Behind all the superficial glamour and nonsense of dressing up I really had fun because it provided an opportunity for me to pray a united, silent prayer (with the rest of CU) for the talk and people involved, it provided opportunities to just let go, dance and have fun. Guess it wasn't the ball, it wasn't dressing up, it wasn't taking pictures (heck no)... it was either the combination of everything or nothing at all, perhaps just the spirit that was in the air that night, that made everything jolt out of its natural order...
... so here are some pictures la~
Lauren! One of my best mates in York - she's such such such a beautiful girl physically and inwardly! Such a blessing to me in times of difficulties and struggles, thanks so much girl
Beth who invited me to hers in Swansea for Christmas :) such a blessed girl of maturity and love as well...
My first ever prayer partner and darling Eleena! Miss meeting up with her, praying with her... and going random with her *grin*
Ok, I'll just put up the pics without commentaries now...
I just realised I hadn't posted ANYTHING about my birthday yet, because at the time I was rushing my essay and packing for europe! And it's been 22 days since my bday!! eeeeeee! No this shall not do - because my friends did so so much for me I'm so sorry guys you all are veryyyyyyyyyyyyyy very very very very much appreciated and thanks just so much for everything! Cui and Lin baked an Apple Crumble, Shortbread and brownie for the after-dinner thingy, and ahhh! I love sweet nothings and it was so so lovely of them to bake 'em! :) Thanks my dearies *muah!* We had a small cosy dinner, just the SGers present in York - Fuzz, Pepper, Louis, Lin and Cui - and we took a nice MOE shot:
Ministry of Education mah~ >.<
and erm ya, after dinner Matt and Meiyin were the first to arrive, then Yaozu Rokey Yao, and then Jon, then the HK gang, did I miss anyone out? When the HK gang came it was quite a large group already, but I'm glad they were there to be noisy as their natural bubbly selves permitted them to. Food food food! And we played mafia and random games till about 1ish, or 2? Yups. Remember it being quite -_- when it ended 'cuz I didn't want my birthday to end (the spoilt brat I am), but time did have to move on and I'm glad it did, tho I'm not going into details here - but anyway! here're some of the lovely gifts that my good friends got me -
Thought the tiny shoes were particularly cute - one of them's holding my mobile phone now haha :D I'm charmed everyday by the Penguin of Death's enigmatic smile, and Heng Chin got me just what I needed... bedroom slippers, and fuzzy pinkish ones too! Reliving my bimbo days...
but anyway, something struck me in church today. Something my friend told me about 10 years ago got jolted back to mind and when I realised how accurate it was, my heart suddenly stopped -
"en qi, this chinese horoscope thing says that when you're a child, you be like an old person, but when you grow older, you'll be like a child again."
THAT really stuck with me 'cuz I was just 9-10 and had no clue what she was saying, and it lingered in my mind because it was just... deep, in a way. It suddenly struck me how much happier,and because of that increasingly crazy and fun-loving, I've grown whereas from 9-17 I've basically been cold and unfeeling and hardened - like an old person...
wah. I'm not encouraging you to check out chinese horoscopes ok. I acknowledge that spiritual foretelling definitely happens and a lot of them are true, but if you're not sure of the source errr stay away from these things before nastier things happen. But I was just, erm, shocked.
Ah well. Sorry for such a narcissistic post. Thought I'd just whack everything into a single post before I leave this blog in stasis because I'll be incredibly busy for the next 2-3 weeks to come... so err.
Yeah! :D
OFF TO CHAUCER-LAND.
