HongKong 28 Dec 2007 - 1 Jan 2008

i truly want to thank God for this trip. prior to the trip, He helped me to clear my final exam and blessed me with this post- exam holiday with aunt jane, roys, mei and esmond. want to thank my dad as well, together with aunt jane, both of them sponsored all the expenses of this trip. i enjoyed myself to the max. :)



28 Dec
went to eat this super duper nice porridge just opposite our hotel for our first meal in HK. well, ended our first night with alot of shopping around the malls. zara, esprit, polo ralph, tommy hifger, etc....




29 Dec
started our morning with roy and esmond leading us in prayer together before we headed out to roam on HK street. ate this tasty brekkie- macaroni soup with thick toast and scrambled egg! a packed place manz! we went to HK disneyland as well. its like walking right into a storybook! what a tale we had that day! my favorite disney story has got to be little mermaid. pretty ariel! towards the night, mei fell alittle sick thus she couldnt join in the krisy kreme donuts feast!










30 Dec
its my turn and mei's turn to lead the morning prayer. come to think of it, its nice to have aunt jane with us. she led us, four notty kids. haha. ate wanton noodle for brunch. roy ate a beef bowl. both were equally good! thumbs up again. had the famous claypot rice at central for dinner. waited for our seats for around 40 mins. close to 9pm, there were still lots of people in queue for the claypot rice.





31 Dec
i have been smsing dad about our daily activities. i miss him. i hope to bring dad for a holiday trip soon. finally! got our mouths on the dim sum in HK. went to this seafood restaurant at gateway mall. went for more shopping after that. i did my hair too! 2 colors, cut and treatment. made friends with the hair stylist. she is Kim. did my countdown and welcome 2008 with aunt jane and roy at our hotel lobby while mei and esmond roamed around for their late minute shoppings. happy new year peeps!




1 Jan
cuttlefish ball noodles! triple thumbs up!!! a must try! we ate that for brunch before we flew back home. okayz, i got a little sick and manz.... i puked in plane. kind hearted cabin crews helped me after that.






all ears: Ship by umbrellas

somewhere over the christmas

had a good and fun time with shirls wacky dmm peeps on monday, celebrated dewen's birthday as well. we sang our hearts out together at ktv. yea, you guys should check out raph's canto voice! hehe! not forgetting dennis's hokkien close- to- tune too. regular singers like gi and dewen took on the likes of Jay and JJ during that session, while our sweet pastor shirls sung the famous umbrella tune (its hard to find something she will sing in ktv leh). hahah. daniel cheah improvised almost all the tunes we sung. haha! what a hilarious team! :) i enjoyed myself alot. and yes, i want to have my third citadel game with them soon.

just came back from my minops pyjamas party! hahahah! almost everyone wore their sweet cutie, ah- pek pyjamas!!!! :) way cool. more pictures coming soon. oh yah, best dressed guy and gal went to matthias and jiali.

i have a habit every christmas- to keep every of my christmas cards and read all of them on boxing day. i am so encouraged, so strengthened, inspired to go another mile for God, my caregroup and my friends.
roy, thanks for the surprise gift box! taking the extra efforts to do the sweet little thing for me.
livi, luvvv the snoopy pillow!!! thanks for being a friend in my life.
key+den+gi, your cards are encouraging. thanks for always encouraging me in my ministry. your understanding and support are priceless. more citadels okayz.
jia, thanks for doing up such a nice card for me. yes, you are very precious to me.
wyn, our friendship have been through much, i never regret knowing you. in fact, i thank God i had the chance to be close to you. its as what eelee had shared with me about you. you are gentle.
esmond, thanks for the glass necklace!
jasmine+vic, woww, its a surprise to receive your cards. thanks
mei, hahahah, i will buy you more presents. hehehehe. thanks for the make- up kit! you really know my needs. hee
gerald, gambatte on your move house soon. i wanna visit!
deb+dewen+zinc, how could i forget both of you.
aloy, thanks for the photo!!! x29 camp photo!!!
yiyou+qianjin+carmen, you are such a dear, thanks for telling me all those you wrote, it strengthened me further to inspire and impact.
lays, what to say, you did something which i really really cherish, you typed out our cg promises to one another, thanks for loving the caregroup.
jerel, i'm touched by what you said. it just make all that i did worthwhile. those long travelings to pioneer west together... thanks for your words of loyalty.
philo, i'm surprised by your gift! really, i know you dont earn much, yet you have such a loving and giving spirit. i remembered that christmas eve night, you did something sweet to a not- so- happy waitress, just to cheer her up :)
veron, love the design of the card! simplicity wins.
bernett, good to have you back with us!
matthias, i enjoy the friendship!
gwen (meiying), woops! think you are so gonna give me cold stares now. hehehe. gal, your words in the card gave me much strength in moving forward together.
steven, yayy!! i had my first sketch of portrait!!! :)
jiali, okayz, you wins. you got my tears out. you taught me about loving beyond duty too. i saw from how you love your dance team. i agreed with priscilla too, you have real armor bearer- hood.

thanks minops, two full years of being with me, sticking with me, being patient with my growth and my weaknesses... thanks for the big big card! :)

all ears: In the Morning by Gwen Stefani

a day before the youth camp

"a smile is the best way to deal with difficult situations."

do you agree? :)

all ears: a quiet saturday afternoon

officially graduated

yes! i am officially a graduate from RMIT University. i received my final semester exam results and i got a distinction and 3 credits.
truly want to give a big big thank to God, for seeing me through my three years in Uni. i could vividly remembered my first year, i was really struggling with core modules like statistics and accounting that i was even on the verge of withdrawing from the course. yet, God's promises kept me going on. in the last exam which happened a month ago, God intervened and helped me too. i was down with sickness barely a week before my exam and my revision was put to a halt. after regaining energy and health, i was pretty behind time in my revision schedule. yet, at the back of my mind, i know that God has something in store for me. i was relaxed, not feeling all stressed up, i picked up my revision and i studied with the peace that God placed in my heart. it was a miraculous feeling that i has within- that feeling of total peace and trust in God while i study for my first paper. (mind you, one of my poorer subject, prices and market) it was amazing! that peace of mind that God put inside my heart!
wanna thank a few people in my life too. daddy supported me in the school fees. he also encouraged me during my exam periods. pastor jeff for helping me with the school financial matters. shirls, roy, eugene, mei, esmond,ruiz, dewen, livi and many many others who prayed and spurred me on in my studies.
"shuz, welcome to the working world!"
all ears: silence in the night

i need fruit of the spirit

last friday's corporate prayer meeting was a home-run. it was an enjoyable time for me, just feasting on worshiping and praying. i felt that God has prepared a feast of worship for me. during the worship time, i was reminded of the verse i prayed on my birthday, Psalms 63:1. indeed, i need God so much. i was very encouraged by claudia's prophesy for me too. its about lengthening my personal time with God so that i can hear more from God about the things He want me to do for Him. i am really excited about it.

today's wfl was a great start. its ironically because i'm tested in my fruit of the spirit as i am teaching the fruit of the spirit class. God always have a way to deal with me. hehe.

**wink wink to my wfl students, blog blog! :)

all ears: silence in my room (okay, mei just opened my door with a Hello)

L

it always got my adrenaline rushed and had me all excited whenever i think and talk about leadership. i had a relaxed evening with zinc at sakae hours ago. we were buily updating each other on our lives and happenings around, time just flew past fast. something that i read just spoke the core of our hearts for that evening. it could be best summarized as from the article:

"... We cannot compel people; we must call them. One great writer about leadership says, "Most people are just waiting for someone to call them out so they can rise above their petty preoccupations."

methods vary, yet the spirit is the same. people need leaders to lead them. as for the how-to(s), there are a few ways; nudging, influencing, encouraging or simply just ask the people directly. thank God for the holy spirit who is with us, to give us wisdom to speak the word at the appropriate timing. thank God for helping us in the fruit of the spirit to exercise love and gentleness to bring forth the big ASK to the people.

oh anyways, i was reading up on fruit of the spirit lesson on my way home. man, i am excited to conduct the wfl class happening in a week time. whoever is gonna be in this class, lets ride together to learn and grow more! :)

all ears: jay chou's on the run album

happy birthday, Jiali!

went for a dinner with weini. it was enjoying and relaxing. it was such events/catchup or whatever you called it, which has no agenda that make it so much relaxing and yea, relaxed! ^^ i like it.

oh ya! i cant miss out saying this: my good pal, Simun has been proposed to on her recent birthday! i am gonna be part of the "jie mei" team during her wedding! i am super happy for her man!

i cant stop thinking about my hk trip with aunt jane and a few others coming this dec. gonna spend the countdown of the year over there too. definately a super lookforward from now. gonna be a new phase of life after the hk trip, as i am going onto the working world. till then, i am going play and enjoy my self- declared break.

all ears: Cosy in the rocket by Psapp

keep laughing

Learn to laugh by Rick Warren

"If you want to have less stress in your life, learn to laugh at your circumstances. Somehow, you must find the fun in the frustrating.”

Did you know that people who laugh live longer? It’s true. Proverbs 14:30 says, “A relaxed attitude lengthens a man’s life.” (TLB)
Humor is an amazing thing. It’s a tension dissolver. It’s an antidote to anxiety. It’s just like a tranquilizer, but without any troublesome side effects. And it’s free! You don’t even need a prescription.
Laughter is life’s shock absorber. If you want to have less stress in your life, learn to laugh at your circumstances. Somehow, you must find the fun in the frustrating.
Someone once asked President Lincoln how he handled all the stresses of the Civil War. He said, “If it hadn’t been for laughter, I could not have made it.” Many famous comedians grew up in poor neighborhoods with lots of problems. They coped with their troubles by learning to laugh and making others laugh.
So learn to laugh. If you can laugh at it, you can live with it. And besides, if you learn to laugh at your troubles, you’ll never run out of anything to laugh at! Life is full of funny situations. Will Rogers once said, “I don’t know any jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.” Proverbs 17:22 says, “Being cheerful keeps you healthy.” (GNB) We all need to develop a sense of humor.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Psalm 2:4, “The One enthroned in heaven laughs.” Isn’t that a great verse? God has a sense of humor. God laughs! Have you ever seen the face of an orangutan? God thought that one up! That proves he has a sense of humor. Do you want to be more like God? Learn to laugh. A sense of humor can preserve your sanity.
Sometimes, one irritation follows another, and before you know it, our day is ruined. I read this account in the The Encyclopedia Britannica’s 1982 Yearbook, under the heading “Strange and Unusual Events.” It tells about a man named Brian Heise who had what you might call a “very irritating day”

Brian Heise had more than his share of luck in July of that year, and most of it was bad. When his apartment in Provo, Utah, became flooded from a broken pipe in the upstairs apartment, the manager told him to go out and rent a water vacuum. That’s when he discovered his car had a flat tire. He changed it, then went inside again to phone a friend for help. The electric shock he got from the phone so startled him that he
"If you can laugh at it, you can live with it. And besides, if you learn to laugh at your troubles, you’ll never run out of anything to laugh at!”

inadvertently ripped the instrument off the wall. Before he could leave the apartment a second time, a neighbor had to kick down the apartment door because water damage had jammed it tight. While all of this was going on, someone stole Heise’s car, but it was almost out of gas. He found it a few blocks away but had to push it to the gas station, where he filled up the tank. That evening Heise attended a military ceremony at Brigham Young University. He injured himself severely when he somehow sat on his bayonet, which had been tossed onto the front seat of his car. Doctors were able to stitch up the wound, but no one was able to resuscitate four of Heise’s canaries that were crushed to death by falling plaster. After Heise slipped on the wet carpet and badly injured his tailbone, he said he began to wonder if “God wanted me dead, but just kept missing.”
And you think you’ve had bad days! Sometimes, all you can do is laugh.
Take my advice: acquire a sense of humor. Learn to laugh. It’s relaxing and healing and a buffer to all the stress the world throws your way.

Grey's Anatomy

yups, apart from the recent hit series Heroes, i've got another new craze- Grey's Anatomy. oh well, it is actually a long time season since 2005 which roy downloaded during our exams period and we are enjoying it now in our post uni life. season one began with a group of interns at seattle grace hospital doing their intern program and day to day life of a surgical intern. my fave gotta be Dr. izzie stevens, who is the kind hearted doctor.

enough of grey's, the past two weeks have been fruitful. catching up with a few friends. sugar and spice with livi, makan with simun and some other meetups.

okayz been abit lazy to blog now. i'll come by soon.

all ears: Somewhere only we know

o tan joh be ometedo!

happy birthday puay puay! she has come to the twenty years old club! welcome! *winkz* we were at mind cafe last tuesday. its a ladies night!

the 1982 boys- daniel and roy.
yayy! plus the girls! we were at cartel last saturday. it was a good time of catch up and chilling.

all ears: Into your presence by Vineyard

goodbye school

2 Nov 2007 marked the day that i had my final examination paper. it was my last exam of my uni education. the feeling was.... SHIOK! to celebrate it, i headed down to the youth camp committee meeting with eevoon, sinking our teeth into BK burgers for our dinner. since school's over, it is shifted to gear 6 in camp programming planning for the next two months. in preparation for our youth 10th anniversary celebration in camp, i've been receiving phonecalls to ask about how long have i been in Hope. i am bad at maths.

**A Very Short Ad**

calling out to all ex- yhope, you are invited to the youth 10th anniversary celebration in our upcoming camp in dec. the celebration night will be on 11 dec 2007.

**End of A Very Short Ad**

last weekend had been fun. we managed to date pastor jeff and claudia for a date on sunday evening. gang included were shirls, raph, wen, gi, den, cheah and shar. o yeah, raph's kid sister was there too, mariam with us. lots of laughter from dennis and daniel (quite a din, thank God we had a room to ourselves, phew!), lots of "wow-ing" as our bento and udon came and sharings from pastor jeff and claudia on their tokyo trip. gave pastor jeff a card at the end. it was strange as we looked eyeball to eyeball. he is someone i respect alot (yes, alot). i have always listened to his preachings and teachings in dmm since young. when i was told by my ex- shepherd, nicole that i got into pastor jeff dmm, i was sooo happy. i raced out of my school to dmm once the bell rang off. yes, i really ran. to ang mo kio mrt and from tanjong pagar mrt to the ex- church office at stanley street. i ran because i really think that it is a privilege to be able to serve in a leadership meeting.

i just returned from celebrating puay's birthday at mind cafe. she had an interesting forfeit where she responded so wittyly!

forfeit:

take a piece of paper and write a haiku about your armpits. recite the haiku to your opponents.

puay's reply:

armpits, much hair there

shaving cream, razor or wax?

why so troublesome?

we all burst out laughing as she coupled the poem with a tune! hilarious! :)

all ears: yi qian nian yi hou by JJ

she's back!

yayy!!! my best friend is back from Melb for about two weeks. welcome home, min! :)

all ears: crunching my strawberry pocky

november chopin guy

yay! all thanks to livi san. she helped me to purchase tickets to jay chou's concert! yes, i am going! with gang dewen, debster, ruth and jesline.

all ears: buzzing sounds from cpu

Sugar & Spice

Sugar and Spice

Rating: PG
Language: Japanese (Chinese and English subtitles)
Genre: Coming-of-age, Drama, Romance
Cast: Yuya Yagira (Nobody Knows), Erika Sawajiri, Mari Natsuki, Chen Bo-lin
Director: Isamu Nakae
Running time: 124 mins

Release date: 8 November 2007

Based on an award-winning novel by Amy Yamada (Trash, Bedroom Eyes, Animal Logic) comes SUGAR & SPICE, a coming-of-age story of Shiro (Yuya Yagira).

At 17 and fresh from high school graduation, Shiro finds himself standing in that ambivalent “no man's land” between adolescence and adulthood. He shirks off college, much to the dismay of his conventional parents and takes a job at a gas station for no other reason than a vague ambition to do something with cars.

Shiro witnesses a public breakup between a man and a college girl, Noriko (Eriko Sawajiri). Days later, he is surprised to see the same girl arrive at the gas station as the newly-hired help, and even more alarmed at his loss of composure in front of her. He is love-struck, and his bittersweet initiation into adult life begins.

all ears: love & longing featured in my sassy girl OST

Beautiful Word

my sister has gotten her new The Message version bible as her birthday gift this year and i took it out for a read this breezing morning.

Psalms 19: 6
"That's how God's Word vaults across the skies from sunrise to sunset,
melting ice, scorching deserts,
warming hearts to faith."
it reminded me that the Word is the only instrument that can transform the heart. each response/ application step should come from a conviction of the Word.

Psalms 22: 22
"Here's the story i'll tell my friends when they come to worship,
and punctuate it with Hallelujahs:"
there were more than often times where i would be caught murmuring within my spirit or harboring negative thoughts whenever unhappy situations arise. yet, the verse spoke it full well, that i should learn to punctuate my life with Hallelujahs wherever i go, whatever i do. Hallelujahs should be spoken not just because of a certain answered prayer, rather based on who my Maker is. His pure character i should say Hallelujahs. Hallelujah meant Praise the Lord.

all ears: Singing "You are my love and my light. You are my purpose for living. You are my hope in the night, my reason for living..." ("my Love & my Light by Don Moen)

my new email address is

jasminwangsz@gmail.com

all ears: Smooth operator by Sade

19 January 2008

all ears: lan se feng bao by Jay Chou

egg prata... i want to eat you

hoho peeps! am back. yups, been a whole week of sickness and giddyness and puking. wanna thank my Heavenly father for healing me. its interesting, this time when i was ill, i kept telling myself i must pray even more, i cannot be just subjected to lying down on bed at most times, groaning and moaning. wanna thank es and mei for cooking oat meal for me, though i only managed to eat a few mouthful of it. thanks roys gerald flor for visiting me. thanks my sheeps and shepherd for smsing me and asking how i was doing.

okay now, i'll learn to relax more and de- stress and definately looking forward to 2 Nov. Lord, see me through :)

all ears: Sentimental by Kenny G

aww... its pricky

gerald sent this cutsie picture to me and i thought wow, its really cute to post it up. sidenote, i know of two ladies who love kitties- wyn and jia. hehe. *meows*

all ears: silence of the room

priceless

first of all, i want to say that God is so good. HE IS REALLY SO GOOD TO ME!!! :)

He gave me a chance to serve my daddy. i taught my dad some pc skills earlier on. its been a few months that i responded during pastor christie's sermon in the youth service about serving and loving our family. due to some situations at home, i've been praying that i will be an encourager at home and to love my family more. i struggled initially, yet i thanked God that i didnt give up. i look forward to see my household and i serving the Lord together.

it has been three weeks of leadership sermons by pastor jeff, pastor jasmine and pastor shirls. yesterday's sermon reminded me that i have two "mordecai" in my life too. they are nicole and shirls. nicole is the one who took care of me when i was a younger believer. she received all my nonsenses and insecurities, yet love me all the way and of course taught me the Word that transformed my attitude and character. shirls is the one that trains me in skills and knowledge to take lead. i was so amazed at how much she believe in me. i guess at that time when i responded to be a leader was because i was amazed at her faith and belief in me. i love these women of God so much.

today's ulm lesson was powerful. such simple and familiar points, yet shirls taught with fresh insights. a few things caught my attention and kept me thinking for the whole of today. discipleship is all about creating moments and moments need closeness and proximity to begin with. things like sms, msn, emails are good tools to enhance the process, yet they cant be the main dish, they can only complement along. the main dish is one- on- one meet ups. food for thought okayz...

all ears: slience that filled my room

so many pictures!

all ears: L.O.V.E