Good Food, Good Movie!On a day of good food, a good movie and really good company, this gives rise to a eral happy Bong ^^. Haha.. it was a real fun-filled day that while started slow, turned out good. Haha.. of course, the extra sleep that I managed to glean from a lull day (sacrificed time for studies though) helped so much. Had a rare breakfast with my parents then headed out to Vivocity to meet up with the BP gang to celebrate the birthday, albeit belated, of our big boss Janice.
Food of the day: Marche. Haha.. me and Kang Tai went through a whole course of food that started with ol' Rosti, the half a chicken and finished off with some paella. Yum! I thought the paella was a little too saltish and the chicken a little tough, but otherwise it was really nice.
After the meal, we headed for a small photo session with the Marche Cows. Haha.. I dun have that pic but maybe i'll get it and post it up. Haha.. it was really funny seeing Janice straddling the cow while Sam was rocking it. She was grabbing on for dear life la! But we took the pic anyways and it turned out pretty well.
In a flash, we had known each other for about 8 years. Wow.. time flies! I'm so glad we're still so close. Love you guys!
Unsatisfied, we headed to Marina Square: Ministry of Food. There I had what was probably the best dessert I have had for years. Japanese desserts really rock! Had this Imo Matcha, which was green tea ice cream with fried Japanese sweet potato. The hot potatoes went so very well with the cold ice cream! Not to mention it was sweet!
Bong rates it 5 stars out of 5 for the $6.50 price.
Watched "Cloverfield" with the youths after that. Despite the poor reviews, I really enjoyed the show. Leon and Audrey did too! Haha.. I agree the camera was shaky, but thats the main point of the show. Pretty much like the Blair Witch Project. It was a unique was of telling the tale, and there was never a boring time. Extremely suspenseful, yet each of the lull periods gave the more humane side of the show sink into its audience.
Bong rates it 4 stars out of 5. Not for those with motion sickness though!
Haha.. to cap off the night, headed back to Bugis to find the BP gang. Wahaha.. KT bought MH2! Lol one more party member! We'll go slay some dragons together!
Yup, really enjoyed myself a lot today. Haha.. thanks to the Jurong Youths who turned up for the show as well! Thanks for the support!
My shoe very "hiao" meh? Haha.. AgingIts a really wierd time to be blogging about this, but its a really legit reason. Haha.. was asking my parents how old they were already (I had lost count but accurately estimated). Horrors! My dad is coming to 51 and my mum is headin gon 50. Wow.. thats like half a century already. Time flies and catches up yet still manages to creep up on us when we least expect it. Haha.. pretty much reminds me of Christ's Second Coming.
Anyways, further checks reveal that a cousin that I used to play (fight) with when I was really young is now 28. Thats like 2 years to 30. And I'm gonna be 22 soon. Haha.. I'm not sure that I should be happy or not but suddenly it feels like I've been slow in doing things.
Some stupid Facebook App estimated that I would marry 10 years later. That means 32. Ouch. Not to mention I really wanted to marry at 26 actually. Haha.. 4 years really very short.. guess that ideal will go out of the window considering the state I am in now. Or maybe I'll just end up as the bachelor that I always thought I would be when I was younger. How things change.
I have 2 wishes for the year and I wouldn't mind one or the other. One is a month long siesta in some lovely beach resort, to re-assess my life and plan for the years ahead. The other is quite obvious if you know me.
Sounds like a workplan to me. Maybe I should go do up a slide and present it to LTC Bong. Who knows, I may get a promotion!
Some friends just got back their O levels and soon others will get their As. A simple piece of advice for one that has been there. and done all that. Regardless of your results, all is never lost. The main thing is that you stop and think of what you really want to do, then do it. Consider your possibilities. Talk to people (like me!) and move off again with your life and work harder. The biggest mistake is that some never really stop to really consider what is it that they want. Or at least believe that it is what they want.
Convincing and Sai-cho-ing (remembers Sai-Chosis) yourself is more important than people think. Nothing is easy in the world, so if you don't have that belief you would just fail.
So don't give up! The only time to give up is when you are dead and buried. One more breath of life means another opportunity to shape your life.
Will my dreams come true? I really hope so..
Friday, January 25, 2008 @ 2:57 PM
NUS Hangout
NUS HangoutJust last night, Bong headed to NUS to pay a night visit to recent birthday boy Caleb. Haha.. met Chui at town before we went for supper near the Esplanade before taking a long bus ride to NUS. Of course, this wasn't the first time I was there, but every experience seems to be different.
This time, I was introduced to Temasek Hall A haha.. and so I bundled into Chui's one-room err.. room. Haha.. you need some entertainment other than your laptop man! There's like nothing la! But I know your sorrow now haha.. indeed its quite legitimate.
Anyways Caleb finally came in after a night of selling tickets for some production by his Hall. Haha.. busy people too! Was nice to see him again haha.. catching up is always nice no?
So we headed past halls and out into Fong Seng (is that right?) and had a nice meal of maggi goreng and ice milk tea. Compared to SMU "favourite" Mr Tea, its much more tea.. but a little too much. I think they should mix them together for the perfect mix.
Happy birthday Caleb!
Remembers Ivee's Teh Cino and shivers.. haha.. more like Milk Cino..
Haha.. cut my hair again! Will be short till end of sem before I let it grow out and maybe colour it ^^. My current short hair has a meaning to me.. lol
So near.. but forever so very far..
Wednesday, January 23, 2008 @ 10:23 PM
Fantasy
Okay.. I had this beautiful picture in my mind about being at a beach resort, with a nice girl and getting a nice relaxing holiday, complete with spas and massages. Except that my horribly limited command of the English Language prevented me from putting it into words.
But that short period of fantasy, or escapism if you would rather call it that, actually helped me relax a little. No wonder people daydream. Because somewhere in your mind lies the perfect utopia, the perfect world in which to live, where there wont be any sorrow, there would be peace and relaxation.
That short retreat into the fantasies of the mind was really quite good ^^
But as I return to reality, pace picks up once again. Back to the books, and the rat-race.
Monday, January 21, 2008 @ 8:10 AM
SMU Culture
The SMU CultureAs usual, I headed to school to get an early start to my day (this somehow serves to wake me up a bit), while at the same time checking my often overloaded email. This takes me back to the days back in Squadron where i was often hit by swarms of emails coming from all the wierdest places.
Anyways, I noticed a school-published bulletin lying on the table where I was sitting. The headline read: Are We Losing the SMU Culture? It was a nice, pretty long article that arrested many issues with the school's culture. Some passage that caught my eye were "the culture has shifted towards a mugger-culture", "SMU could be a victim of her own success".
But the final word summarized the whole article: "Let's look at ourselves and see what we want. ultimately we are responsible for our own actions - not our parents, not our institution and not our friends.
Indeed, we hold the power of changing our destiny. We are what we decide to be. And so, in the flight to the top of the ladder, we have turned to mugging in order to reach that height. And at what cost? Days pass at breakneck speed (except during classes) and greetings are exchanged in a few seconds. Only a few stop to exchange that wee bit more words as we zoom off to our next destination.
What then is the SMU Culture? Is there really a culture to speak of? Or perhaps that "Happening" Label that was pasted on was just the mark of a school near Clark Quay and normal university people who club anyway? I don't really see a culture anymore.
But I do see a lot of drive in all our students. Indeed, we are groomed to be successful. We are groomed to pursue everything under the sun and are still expected to do well. We are groomed to network, to communicate, to plan, to speak and to be different. And so we are. Different. And I am proud of it.
Must a school have a culture? I'm not too sure. But I am proud of the fact that we as SMU students have the capability and drive to succeed in life. Let us not forget the true identity of the SMU Student: Someone who will thrive in an organizational and management setting. Someone who charges on despite the fatigue and workload, yet still manages to find time to engage in other meaningful activities.
I still love my school.(This post was dated 21 Jan 2008)
Friday, January 18, 2008 @ 6:38 PM
Bible College
Four Seas Bible CollegeAt the encouragement of Zelda who kindly invited me to sit in at the Four Seas Bible College classes, I went for my first day today, taking advantage of some schoolwork as well as an unexpected lull in my schedule. Despite some apprehension cos it really felt like free loading (going for classes and not the quizzes), I decided to go anyway.
Wasn't a decision I would regret. While you could say I hit the ground running (suddenly had to last-minute memorize verses and what-not), there was much to be learnt and in a while, a few nice pages of well-typed documents capturing the day's lessons are now stored in my computer. And how much insight and knowledge was gleaned from a few hours of lessons! Indeed the quality of lessons are so much better in comparison to the normal Sunday Bible Classes. While no disrespect to the teachers for they have had to juggle the task of their own careers as well as preparing lessons for us all, you could sense that the intensity and the applicability of the lessons that were taught at the Bible College.
The teachers of the day, Bro Lawson, Bro Peter as well as Bro Chew all gave very good lessons on various topics. Of course, my favorite would have to be Bro Lawson. Somehow the aura that he gives off is extremely amiable. You could feel the passion in his teaching together with a nice fuzzy feeling of closeness. He has that talent to connect with his audience on a personal basis. A rare trait indeed.
I would so very much like to go back there again. Hopefully when the next week comes I would see free time on my mornings again. There is so much to learn. I only lament the fact that I could never enroll for the whole course anytime soon, given my university and my consequent bond of 4 year. But who knows? If God willing, I might have that chance to enroll! Even better, who knows if I could become a preacher myself? While I can't really envision that myself, I guess I'll never know till that time comes.
To the rest of the youths: If time permits, do think of spending a few mornings at the school and learn even more of the Word of God. I promise you that you will not be disappointed.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008 @ 9:57 PM
Limit
Reaching the LimitHumans have limits, whether it be physical, mental, intellectual or emotional limits. In SMU, the boundaries of these limits are being pushed to the max and beyond. Students start whining about morning lessons, not enough sleep, over-dependance on coffee and so on. The "pressure cooker" of university life is a real test site for the human body. And I think i'll soon become a failure of that test.
As of today.. I'm starting to think that I got more than I bargained for this sem. Too many committments, too many thing to think of. The result is a concoction of events that just whittles away at my resolve to keep on the race. Indeed.. I'm not tough at all.
Of course, this post is probably nothing more than a lamenting post from myself cos I'm not in the best of health today (coughing like mad, feeling tired and lots to finish), but it does accurately represent my feelings and my perspective of this semester. And I get a little worried cos this is only week 2. Help!
How hard it is to strike a balance between work and play! But as I strive towards that balance, I'm still pretty happy that I'm managing to shove all kinds of activities in my already overloaded schedule. And variety is what keeps me going. To be able to do things, to see more and of course, my very favorite activity by far: Meeting up with friends. Humans were made to interact I guess..
But as I ponder over the days ahead as well as the next sem (yes! I'm already planning for that haha..), I think I have learnt my lesson the hard way. There's only so much my body can take. Haha.. oh well..
But I'm sure I can go way further. To soar into greater heights.
Sunday, January 13, 2008 @ 10:39 PM
Welcome Back
Welcome Back!And so Hui Fen returned to sunny Singapore and of course her very nice and united JC classmates decided to welcome her with a nice dinner! Haha.. and guess what type of food she missed?
Japanese Food. I mean.. huh? Haha.. wad happened to the roti prata and the chicken rice etc etc etc? Reason being sushi was way to expensive. Ah.. ok.. And so we headed down to Cathay to some Nihon Mura restaurant, apparently the good thing there is that sushi costs 99 cents a plate! Haha.. yes! Thats true! So it was pretty worth it, though instead of sushi I got this "nabe" or hotpot which can be succintly expressed as "Japanese Fish Head Soup". The fish being salmon. It was pretty funny! But it was pretty nice overall, worth the $6.90 price tag.
It was really nice seeing the bunch of them once again. Somehow you never get sick of them. Really was sad to have missed the class gathering in December (I'm sorry!!), but catching up took little time at all. Sigh.. soon the girls will be graduating and going to work! While I'll be stuck in year 2. haha.. time does indeed fly, faster still while being in the world of National Service.
Ever the integral part of any guy's life, where NSFs snigger at regulars who sold their soul while yet complaining about the obscene amount of bonuses we get. The part where guys either come out stronger and wiser or just plain wusses. The part where everlasting friendships are made in the trenches.. for our case the breakfast table ^^ , and where role models and not-so-role models are easily spotted.
It was a short gathering indeed, but every minute treasured. Hope to see everyone again soon! And as discussed, I'll be planning a nice island resort getaway sometime next summer! Hopefully will be able to set out plans by the end of this year so you can punch the dates into your calendars!
Back to readings.. Sigh..
@ 3:45 PM
Announcement
Announcement!To the youth who happen to be reading my blog, as part of the Youth Fellowship's plan in 2008, we will be focusing on Fellowship in a bid to bring everyone closer together! I hope everyone will do their utmost to be present for EVERY SINGLE EVENT! Haha.. There will be announcements done during service and notices and sign up papers will be put up on the YF Board, but till then, here is an advance notice!
26 January 2008There will be a Movie Date for all youths that are interested. we will be watching a movie as well as have a nice dinner together! Stay tuned and put this date down on your calendars! You have been notified!
10 Feb 2008There will be CNY visitations to some of the brethren's houses after service all the way till night time where we will have a nice dinner (probably pizza) and games and singspiration! Houses are being chosen so give your suggestions or even volunteer your houses!
So come on down and join the rest of the youth on these two days! Hope to see you there!
Saturday, January 12, 2008 @ 8:30 PM
Aftermath
AftermathAnd so the school week came to an end. The result is one tired Ah Bong. Totally didnt help that I had a real boring lesson on a saturday afternoon with a boring prof. As I look at my current to-do list at the end of the week, I saw that it had a good 7 or 8 different items, some of which were pending not too far down the horizon.
That brought attention to the bulging calendar that was filled with entries. Heh.. my life is never short of things to do eh? I shudder to think of the many nights of lost sleep ahead. Then again, many of them will be in the company of friends. Haha.. means I have to sleep even less to get my work done! Wahaha.. so gonna die!
A particularly low point this week was the meeting on thursday. Haha.. stayed all the way till 2315. Super late la! But it was quite a fun meeting though.. got a real chatterbug around haha.. So it was as funny as it was tiring, so it evened it out somewhat.
Tried to revamp my wardrobe too, but failed miserably. In the end, I bought a black T-shirt and a black shirt. Yes.. both are black. So it just served the purpose of increasing my every black wardrobe. Somehow.. only black coloured clothing look nice.. Oh well..
Hot or cold?
Tuesday, January 08, 2008 @ 11:13 PM
One Word
One WordIts the second day of school and boy, did it feel like a few weeks have already passed. Indeed, life in SMU really feel like I'm running on compressed time. After 2 days of school I have 2 assignments due, 1 CIP project, a presentation in 2 weeks, and a load of meetings and stuff to do. Ugh.. And my TWC lesson today was so boring! Yes I know I'm kinda whining, but the prof made one hour feel like 3. No offense, he is a really nice looking and talking prof though ^^.
Anyways, the impetus of this post was from Comms Management class today. Our Prof Aileen Bong (yes thats really her surname ^^) asked us all to describe ourselves in one word. And the word I chose was climbing. Indeed, it wasn't a noun, but it did kinda describe myself at this point of time pretty well. Climbing in every sense and in every case. Currently, I'm climbing along life's journey, heading upwards hopefully. I'm climbing out of the pitholes of life, trying to get back on my feet. I'm climbing out of the muck which is a whole load of work and projects (SMU life in general) and also climbing up in knowledge and wisdom.
Think she was pretty impressed haha.. *Ding! Participation marks! Haha.. dumb SMU evil..
Yups.. and so I have a short breather again for the week, except that I have econs on sat.. Sigh.. not a good week! Time to bia all my work! And also finish some in advance while I can! Haha..
Climbing climbing!
Sunday, January 06, 2008 @ 8:48 PM
Dreams
My DreamsHeh.. It was a really good day today somehow.. For once I really felt that I was controlling things. Usually I'd be the one meeting situations, not the one creating them.. but somehow today.. it felt that control was in my hands.. Its truly a joy to influencing people. How words can shape thoughts, shake ideals and even change people.. Indeed, it is this field that I do find some form of achievement. As they say, its easy enough to bend to the wind, but whats hard is to instead change that role and bend the wind instead.
Which is why I've decided to major in HR. Or Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource. No I haven declared my major yet, but it feels like this will be the track that I will head down. I can't say what this will bring me, but I trust that it is here where my calling is, woefully in sync with the SAF. Haha.. oh well.. it will help me I guess ^^
Anyways.. thats not the main reason to why I'm putting up this post. Instead, I'm listing what my dreams are as the Youth Fellowship IC (nope I'm not stepping down yet!) this year.
1. For all the youth to be united
2. For all the youth to realise their potential within the Church
3. For the youth to be bold to ask questions and raise issues
4. To follow in the footsteps of Jesus and inspire others to do the same
5. To always keep the welfare of everyone in my mind at all times
Its tough.. I think I failed in some areas last year.. regrettably.. But I shall continue to do my best this coming year.. But with God all things are possible.
Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.. 1 Tim 4:12
Friday, January 04, 2008 @ 3:01 PM
Back to School
SchoolAnd so, the holidays draw to a close. And school approaches. I got this bad premonition.. the type that I always get.. and things usually happen when I get this feeling. Oh well.. enough pessimism from me.. 2008 will be better!
I hope I can accomplish all my duties well this year.. there are so many things to be done!
And I really dunno wad to blog about haha.. got back from camp in the afternoon (my last day!) and so now just trying to find something to do before I go our for a meeting at night.. Haha.. so many meetings.. Just had a nice one yesterday too!
So maybe I'll just list my resolutions that I just thought of for 2008. Here goes:
1. Give glory to God all the time.2. Exercise more and put more muscle on my body.3. Lead by example.4. 101% in everything I do.Hope I can keep them la.. Sigh.. morale is really quite low at the moment so I think I'm gonna have to work on it.. All the best for me!
Its all questions in my head right now..
Tuesday, January 01, 2008 @ 8:41 PM
Brothers and Sisters
Brother (and Sister) MattersHaha.. so JR requested for this, so be satisfied with this!
I've really been blessed all my life with a whole bunk of great friends. Though sadly, I really can't label any of you as my best friend, I must say that every one of you are extremely important to me.
Even more so during this period. With all the encouragements pouring in each day, and I've said this many many times, its indeed very amazing. And I thank all of you for the upteenth time. The only regret may be that due to committments and various events, I've been unable to catch up with many of you. However,I've also reconnected with others, and formed more friendships around in school. Indeed, what is life without your friends?
To the Brothers and Sisters in Christ, the Gunners, the Regulars, the BP Gang, the PJ Gang, the NP People, Sandy, Lynette, and the friends in SMU that I can't really classify you guys properly yet (save for the TriTouch people), thank you for your friendship and here's to a great year ahead! If I have ever offended you guys, forgive me ya?
Love you guys and girls to bits! (without sounding too gay)
profile
Reach my prismic soul.
Benjamin Chen
Born 24 Jun 1986
Reborn 24 Aug 2003
Perpetually in a zombified state. Liverpool fan.
Keming Pri > BPGHS > PJC > SMU
WSO(ADA)
Cancer
wishlist
Unconditional Desires.
Nice formal wear
A Road Bike
Sunglasses
Massimo Dutti Coat
Fresh Colours
To demolish his room
Strength
The Beach
New Desktop
links
Links
Tagboard
Mix the words up.
Archives
It took time to see.
Flickr
credits
You have my thanks.
Blogskin created by
Eclair-x, yours truly.
Image courtesy of
mixologies.
Texture from
swimchick.
Best viewed in 1152 x 864 pixels screen resolution, Mozilla Firefox.
Some Pictures of my beloved group!
Someone obviously having fun in his role
The VIP of the day: the big boss, our glorious food, and the Godzilla small boss ^^
