Back from camp. Super Tired. Sadly, not many photos because somehow i think my Casio Exilim has gone kuku. I knew Casios weren't good... But got videos though, and i think they are pretty fun to watch. Tired. Going to sleep now. Had a great time. I miss camp already. Now when i wash dishes at home, i'm reminded of the very spot at the chalet kitchen where i washed dishes too. And when i shower at home, i'm thinking again of how it was like showering at the chalet's toilet. Ah... Campsick. :-( It was a sinking feeling to clean up the chalet before leaving. The huge rooms had no more people laughing, chatting and lazing around in them, complete emptiness with no more life, after the campers left. Campsick.

It's off to camp for me from sunday to wednesday. I sure hope that it'll be a "success", in that there'll be lorry loads of fun, generous helpings of laughter, superfluous jokes and an overflow of camaraderie, genuine friendships and fellowship. And of course, that the people participating will come away from the camp knowing that God has clearly deposited something into their lives as they embark or continue on their journey through varsity life.

Hope our games raawwkk mannn.... though i'm the veteran game master, it's always my partners i work with every time who truly make the games a lot more wild and haspenning (no spelling error) than i could ever make it to be. Thanks dewd. =D

Hopefully i'll be back with tons of nonsensical photos.

I must not be busy in July. I must not be doing much in July. I must date Gem in July. I must laze around in July. I must enjoy July before school begins. July is the month of my second last school holiday ever before the December hols. Please do not arrow me as much as possible in July, or i will bite you. Remember. July = Relax.

Have you ever felt God's love/touch so strongly that when it came on you, it shocked you and made you cry uncontrollably? It's not a bad kind of crying, but it comes because of an unexplainable filling of the spirit that just overwhelms you.

Last saturday, my band mates and i were praying in the room upstairs before service, and i just felt in my spirit that i had to kneel before the Lord in surrender. In just that period of worship and prayer, i have come to more clearly understand what it means to "focus on God", to "surrender", to "worship".

As i knelt behind the keyboard, i put aside everything in my mind and chose to not believe in the devil's lies about me being worthless and unloved. Instead, i chose to believe that i was a child of God, sinful, but still loved wholly, precious and thought about fondly by my Father. I chose to believe in that identity, that though i am not perfect, i can come to God knowing that i am accepted, and not condemned in his sight, that i have every right to come before God as a child would to her daddy.

Sitting still, i realized that i was actually opening my heart to God (an action i never quite understood... am still unclear but i am learning along the way), making it receptive to what he wants to deposit into my heart. I focused on the Lord, and very naturally worshipping him deep in my spirit. Sometimes words cannot express how much you want to say, that's why speaking in tongues is so important.

That's when i felt something unexplainable fill my heart and tears just spilled out. If i weren't with like, 15 other people in the room, i wouldn't have dammed up my tears. I felt like God was revealing his heart for me, to me. The intensity of it was strong enough to actually surprise me out of my worshipping and i sat there reflecting on what i just experienced... And also because i didn't want to flood the floor...

And so here i am, blogging this to remind myself of the milestones in my walk with God. I just love thinking back on the precious times when God reveals himself to me and in doing so, teaches me about how it is like to be with him. In future, what i know can also be used to plant something into someone else. I've had the privilege of being able to do this and it really edifies me to know that someone else benefits. :-)

Wielding the "Sword" (aka, The Bible), are my NTU cell mates. Red was not the color code for the day. Aren't they cute? Teehee.







Jed and his tangle of legs.











My NTU cell girlies hanging around (literally) at West Coast Park. I say, Let's do it again! :-DD







Coaching archery at the police carnival. I like teaching, except that it made my throat sore for about two days.










My free Body Shop gifts. *beam*








Animals. Don't. Read. (notice how low the sign is placed?)

Hey people. I'm still alive... Well, kinda. Had a bad headache when i left the house for work today that pretty much left me closing my eyes, with my face buried in my folded arms, not wishing to look at the computer screen and envisioning myself throwing up into a sink.... Ok, too much information. But that was so not fun. So much so that the boss was kind enough to ask a colleague to cover for me for the rest of the day.

Of late, my body has been rebelling, and some of the things i'm experiencing makes me wonder whether i unknowingly have some illness but i'm just oblivious to it since i haven't gone for any checkups.

Personally, i'm not worried about coming down with cancer, or whether i've got some other sinister disease. The only thing i dread about having a disease is the suffering bit, because my pain threshold isn't quite skyhigh. I somehow think that the people around me would worry more than i would. Basically, i just know that when i die, i'll be with God and that would be perfect bliss. I do not worry about my end destination because i know that i am already secure because of what my Jesus has done for me.

If i ever found out that i am dying, my first few concerns would be... Now, how am i going to spend the rest of my days on Earth? How can i make my life count? Finances... My family... Pain... Yeah. But i'm not worried about what happens when my heart beats its last beat.

***

Just handed in first draft of company's project. Whew! TO GEM: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I've got something for you, so ask me for it on sunday ok? ;-)

I just treated myself to two bottles of perfume oil from The Body Shop (in addition to getting my usual Vit C fix). Ok, i rarely do this but i was so enthralled by the scents of the 2 new special editions. Mmmm... Gorgeous. *sniffs self* When i thought that i had already treated myself enough with products, i was blessed with more stuff... Because apparently when you spend 60bucks, you get a few free gifts all nicely packed in a paper box-bag thing (girls, you want? ;-D)

(1) Vit E moisture cream
(2) Vit E cream cleanser
(3) Grapeseed Showergel (i love the smell of this one!)
(4) Lip Gloss (in my favourite colour in the range!)
(5) Camomile make-up remover

So much stuff! Yeay!

***

Got to go sleep now. No more headaches for me. No way.

The first draft of the document is due this thursday. What i've done so far is to come up with the outline, excluding all the content text. I've yet to design a cover page, but the coolest thing happened this morning. While i was half asleep in the wee hours, i suddenly thought of a title that actually made sense and wasn't all that cheesy! It's short, sweet, and says exactly what the booklet is about.

You know how things in your dreams always SEEM like they make sense, but they don't really, when you awake. But in my subconsciousness, i told myself to check the meanings of the words over and over again, and found that it made complete sense. I don't think i can reveal what it is over here though since it's a company thing and it hasn't been printed yet.

I miss blogging man.

***

Updated:

Oh, to add on to the topic of interesting people at the library... This time, the people i encountered were so nice.!
(1) the man who moved one seat down because he saw all my stuff that i was carrying. When i glanced up at him, he told me he was giving me space to put all of it down. Sweet!
(2) this guy who was sitting opposite me heard my sniffling and sighing that was going on for a couple of hours. He first offered to buy me sweets for my sniffling and the told me where to get snacks and hot drinks in the library. Before i left, i bid him goodbye, and in return he said: "Remember. Don't drink cold drinks and drink milo before you sleep." Aww!

"Coach" Joline to hit the Police Academy again this sunday!
(seems like the archery booth is lucrative...?)

I had better shoot some practice shots first to reinforce my basic archery knowledge before i teach someone man... *pai seh*

joline in the lee kong chian reference library...

Whoever said the library was a boring place... Let me see. I've just had the honour was sitting within the vicinity of: (1) a (rather weird) guy very into his small stack of lingerie books (NOT KIDDING) (2) a belchy old man (3) a lady who suddenly broke out into tears and sobs while reading a book.

Ok, back to projSPSandSCDF. (and scanning for more 'interesting' people)

I rediscovered the joys of playing internet reversi, but this time in the confines of the cold office. Which kinda adds to the kick of playing it since doing fun stuff at work is kept to a minimum... So anyway, man...

It felt so good trashing my opponent on my first game after almost 2 years of not playing reversi. The sweetest part? Was that i was "losing" at the beginning. It looked like i was already on the verge of being beaten, with something like 3 or 4 black pieces (me) to 20+ white pieces (opponent).
But really, what matters is:

(1) choosing to challenge the challenge
(2) believing in and seeing the end goal rather than the current problem(s)
(3) being careful, and concentrating on strategizing and securing the key "positions" that will eventually let you overcome, despite being at first overwhelmed by your seeming failure.

Sounds a lot like navigating through Life, doesn't it?

***

I had stuff on the whole of last week.

- mon (edit: had dinner at MOS, watched "Amazing Grace", and supper at Cineleisure, all with my cell group AND a new Egyptian friend! Thanks Issy! ;-DDD)
- tues (housework and getting work clothes)
- wed (work and camp games planning)
- thur (worship min and cell advance)
- fri (projectNUS dry run and camp comm meeting and gran's b'day dinner)
- sat (Habitudes seminar and church)
- sun (west coast)

Rest was something i needed super badly... But i certainly do not regret my time spent with my girlies yesterday at West Coast Park. Wah lao, i had SO MUCH fun.

I'd say that I've got more good memories to replay in my mind and heart than words to describe how the day went... So i just wanted to leave a post here to remind me of the day we spent together on a beautiful, God given and blessed Sunday afternoon (and night).

Shall go watch the videos i took. Tradeelala. :-)