Been quite awhile since I updated this blog. Lotsa activites in the past 2 weeks. Met up with good old friends like Joseph, Russell, Josiah, Chris Yeoh and Lydia. I realised that it was been about a whole semester since I last saw them and to really just chill out with them. Never mind, the holidays are still quite long, we can still meet up more often.

Went for another retreat - Artz Retreat 2007. There were about 20 of us at the retreat. Though the number is small, it was a good retreat. The sharings were very personal and it was very much prompted by the Spirit. It is amazing how the Spirit actually works, and how it allows each one of us, through our brokeness, be an instrument to reach out to others. Many hearts were unlocked and more importantly, it brought people closer together. I felt very recharged from the retreat, managed to get back to where I left off after CAW, it has been quite awhile since I felt the workings of the Spirit. Of course, there were lotsa crapping and fellowship as well. Like wad Bro Sam said, 'REMEMBER' is important, remember the experience, remember the memories and remember how the Spirit was so evidently present in this retreat. And I decided to sign up for Life in the Spirit Seminar (LISS). I never been for praying over before, and I hope I can overcome that fear or the reluctance to let go during LISS. We shall see how the Spirit gonna work through me then. :)

Played badminton today with CSS peeps, it was fun just to sweat it out. Needa re-string my racket already. After the game, got one big hole in the centre of the racket. We chilled at Macs after that and we came up with a list of more activities that we can do - street soccer, cycling at ubin, nite cycling, kayaking, roller blading (damn I gotta learn this first man), dry swimming (mahjong). And for charity - Blood Donation and Milk Run. Along with movies, suppers and FOC stuff... June is gonna be quite happening.

Vocation Retreat 2007 - 11 - 13 May. The whole retreat was really a good experience and an eye opener for me. At first there was this fear of going but now that it is over, I am glad I went cos I benefitted a lot from it. Not in the sense of making new friends or enjoying yourself throughout the retreat but rather its sorting out many thoughts in my head.

Basically, the entire retreat was just sessions after sessions, followed by sharings within the group. They fed us really well with excellent food. The sessions were all about vocations, it was very informative and thought provoking. The main thing that caught my attention was that no matter which vocation we choose, we must be able to feel that sense of inner peace. And to really think about which vocation will allow us to be better persons to serve the people of God. But it came to a point where saturation actually sets in. It became too much for me, I didnt wanna think about vocation anymore. Wanted to just escape from the seminary from all the talks. There wasnt any games/sports, it was just talks. It was so bad that I even wanted to skip evening prayer. I felt disappointed with myself then and felt kinda unworthy also. Looking around, there were younger people around me, some even as young as 17 years old, trying to learn how to sing the psalms for prayers, people going to adoration room to really pray about it. I didnt feel like doing any of it, I just wanted to run away with Aaron who had to attend a wedding dinner that night. There was Recon at night but I didnt feel like going for it as well. During one of the Group sharing (I was assigned to Fr. Val's grp together with Aaron), we were suppose to share about what we felt was our call, so I shared. After that during tea, Fr. Val asked me again, and he said I was confused and needed more discernment. Haha. Though he was joking, that struck me quite a bit, I wanted to leave the retreat without such confusion.

The opportunity came during the prepration of Recon and the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, it was then that I felt God trying to speak to me. I managed to really pray and organised my thoughts, to really listen and decide wad I wanna do with my life and then offer it up. My plan may not be His plan, but I believe He will guide me through. With that, I went for Recon and I got Fr. Ambrose Vaz as my priest. He was amazing, he just spoke right through my heart and I felt that inner peace. Coupled with the Blessed Sacrament, it was the most awesome 'Down in Adoration' I have ever sung. It was amazing and I was confused no more.

On the last day of the retreat, Fr Ambrose was doing a session and he said this 'Walk with faith, not by sight', 'We see but do not look, hear but do not listen'. How true it is. I realised that the fear before the retreat, at least for me, its not wanting to pray about it and really listen to my heart, cos I am afraid of listening and to find out that maybe there is a calling. Now lookin back, it was a very foolish thinking, there is no point running or hiding, try to find out that answer and seek that peace of mind. You can run but you cant hide from Him. I believe if you ask any of us that went for the retreat, myself, Moses, Aaron, Ranneth, Netto, Ben C and Jason, we will tell you that its worth the time. I guess this will apply to gals as well. Doesnt matter what you want in life, we just need some time to really pray and listen to what God has called each one of us to do and what He wants of us- that is to serve his people in the way that is the most suitable for us.
Amen!

Phantom of the Opera - somehow I am hooked on the songs. After watching it at Esplanade, I watched again twice on DVD. The whole stage effects at the Esplanade was splendid and awesome. Actually, I didnt feel that the love story behind it was that fantastic and I didnt feel much for phantom. But the songs were good. Its the kind that makes you wanna hear it again and again till you are sick of it. Now I understand why Marc and Lyanna can sing it over and over again.

My first hands on experience in getting a pizza out of the oven. Back in SJI, we didnt take Home Econs so no chance to learn how to cook. And when I am at home, I am just too lazy sometimes to really bother to learn. Nonetheless, it was great fun trying to make pizzas with Jem Pang, Gomes, Carmie and Rachel. We met up damn early. Before the gals joined us, only Jem and I were shopping for the groceries. Seems kinda weird but we didnt care. Went to Gomes house and started making a big mess in her place. We made a total of about 6 pizza and considering we are newbies in this business, I think the outcome was not bad. Though some parts of the crust was burnt and the kinda hard, but overall was edible. These pizzas were for Magic's birthday party. Some 30 over people came for the party, mass gathering of people in his house coupled with lotsa home-made food...

Posing with our first pizza, freshly out of the oven

Random shot

The 'before' look of our pizza

And I started relief teaching yesterday at SJI Junior, but its a day to day assignment. Hopefully I will be able to get a long term one. Somehow, I miss teaching a lot. The interaction with the students (though cannot smile - which is the hardest part) and other teachers make the whole working experience enjoyable. Of course, this is without all the other sai kang that full time teachers have to do.

This is the kinda holiday life man. Work as and when you want, relax and busk in the company of good friends and good food. But of cos after all the eating must go exercise also. Finally, going for Vocation Retreat tmr, somehow think quite a few people I know from both CSS and my parish are going. I think it will be a good experience and more importantly I hope that I can gain new insights over this coming weekend.

Just got back from Kuala Lumpur two days ago with Daryl, Mag, Marc and Elaine. I must say it was really a good break from studying and exams. Being able to leave Singapore and just step onto the soil of Malaysia felt really good. Leaving everything behind and just rest and relax.

Day 1 - We came to realise that the 5 of us going on a trip together was really random. But somehow over the course of the day, we kinda enjoyed each other company with all the suaning and the nonsense. Mag and Daryl needed to leave on the following day so we cramped lotsa activities together. Checked in, shop - i actually bought the most from the trip man, planet hollywood, night market and finally Zouk. Communication with the locals was easy cos Daryl and Marc could speak in Malay while Elaine and myself in Cantonese. It made bargaining at the night market much easier.

Day 2 - We went for 8am mass at st John Cathedral. I had never attended mass out of Singapore before, it was a good experience. Though mass was very much the same, I just felt that the whole experience was wonderful and refreshing. I had A&W for breakfast.. it was good shit man, cant remember when was the last time I had their root beer float and coney dog. After Daryl and Mag left us, it was just Elaine, Marc and myself. We caught a damn crappy movie - Tornado (if it ever gets screened in Singapore, please do not watch it). We saw the indoor theme park at Times Square and both my seniors and myself decided to try the roller coaster, bumper cars and a 360 degrees ride. Cant help but to admit that I am getting old, when I was on the 360 degrees ride that rotated 16 times in all and hanging in mid air, I asked myself why did I actually put myself through this. But it was great fun. Visited Hard Rock- their band was quite good and finally we just chill off through the nite crapping till 4am.

Day 3 - Slept till it was time for breakfast. After breakfast, we slept till it was almost time to check out. I guess we really utilise the hotel room quite a bit. And when we was on the coach bus, we slept our way back to Singapore again. Hmm, we were really pigging out on the last day, just eat and sleep. Well, to catch up on the lost sleep over the course of studying for exams I suppose.

It was great company I must say. Got to know one another better and more importantly, this trip marks the start of the long holiday ahead.