fren-types

Someone once said, "Friends break your heart, and they mend it. They will cause you to feel every emotion under the sun, good or bad. Friends are practically emotion-incarnate."
Unbelievably true.

In my life, I have had heaps of friends come and go. Some I look back on and wonder how they came into my life when I so don't deserve them. Some I wonder why I stuck with them for so long, and why I cried so hard when they left. Some I wonder how we became friends when we have nothing in common whatsoever. Some I wonder if I had done things differently, would they still be around today. Some I just decide to let go cos I felt I had to. It's a tricky thing - frenship.

I figure I should chronicle who's around these days....these are the people I thank God for.
People who have played a big part in my life this year, are those who :

a) are so similar to me.

Caroline always understands me, cos we are the same in some ways. Haha...She's always watching out for me. Here's a gal who packs me away for a short break cos she knows I need one, and takes real good care of me along the way. Plus, she is great fun to be with! :)

Rosy-posy is the fren who sits with me quietly as we apply makeup infront of the same mirror. Then when I burst into a hum of some Stephen Chow movie soundtrack, she joins in with much gusto! Haha. She is the power to counteract the opposition of Val in my life (read fren-type b)! Haha...

b) are the total opposite from me.

Who else but Val?! I lurf Coke, she lurfs Soya-bean. I detest red bean and sweet corn, and they turn out to be her favourite dessert. Every guy I think is cute, she rolls her eyes at (and vice versa, but with one major exception.) When we hit frenship problems, I want to confront and conclude, she'd rather keep quiet and draw her own conclusions. I shudder at her fave songs, she scratches her head at my song list. I walk out of a movie going "tsk tsk" and she goes "Wah!"

Haha. Unbelievable and totally enjoyable.

c) are rarely around, but totally dependable when I need them.

Jae usually never picks up when I call. He is online at the most bizarre hours when I barely have any energy left to keep up with his hyperactive chats. He never replies my letters. He replies my sms-es sporadically. He doesn't acknowledge when I send out photo-links. He reads my blog and comments once in every 6 months. And yet somehow, solely thru MSN, he's convinced me that he's totally available when I need him. And let's not forget his brutal honesty which has led to eye-opening understanding for me at least twice in this year. Oh, am I grateful for brilliant maverick Jae.

I prob get to meet Min once a year, and I mean ONCE A YEAR. Even when we are both in the same country, our schedules just never coincide. But when we finally do meet up, we go on a chat-binge for at least 6 hours.

I haven't seen Mark in ages!! He flies in when I'm out, then flies out again just before I fly in. Tsk tsk, he shouldn't make it so obvious that he's avoiding me....Haha...but I know he's always there. Lurf it that he bothers to drop the occasional msg to ask after me when he's oh-so-busy spinning around the world.

d) share fun-times with me.

My supper gang in Singapore!
Who else is always up for supper in the middle of the nite but the gang of Val, Rose, Wel, Mark, Bry?! Only because they are forced by circumstances to fellowship as nocturnal human beings... p.s. I miss the ice cream and chips at Oscar's.

And my Melb gang!
Too much time in the library have we spent mugging together....too many days when we should have been out enjoying the sun at the beach...or a Koko Black hot chocolate in the Melbourne chill.

I found Anna-babe this year, and she has become one of my fave people. Can always chat up a storm with her, and she's totally up for fun anytime. And when she gets high, she starts kicking her heels together! Haha. Woo hoo....dun even get me started on the toilet jokes. :P

My hsemate Louis who's become a great fren to me. Unbelievable ups and downs in this frenship, but in a nutshell.....a fren is born out of many timely car drives and dvd screenings, amongst other things.

e) make me laugh oh-so-hard

Jae and Bry and Louis and Howard and Darren.
No explanation required for Darren. Just read his blog.
Louis cracks me up with the corniest jokes.
Much like Bry, who makes the funniest 'auntie' remarks.
And Howard is in a league of his own when it comes to impersonation.
But Jae's wicked sense of humour only appears in full throttle in msn chats.

f) know me so well I don't even have to say a word for them to pick up on what's going on.

Has to be Yah Lan. She's not just a leader I respect and stand in awe of, but she's also a friend who has won her way into my heart with pure love. She knows the right time to rebuke me, and the right time to listen and let me be. Above all, she reads me so well I barely have to open my mouth sometimes. :P Always feel accepted by her.

silence

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King Jr.

How true.

Silence in speech.
Silence in deeds.
Silence in thoughts.

Silence where there should have been acknowledgement.
Silence where there used to be a kind look.
Silence where there used to be laughter.

All more injurious than careless words.

" A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away."- Arabian Proverb


p.s. val, keep leaving comments....i lurf hearing fm u. :)
p.p.s. jae, thanks for sms. we skype when u free?

A tale of a giant spider and a Thai man.

HQ ULU PANDAN















You can't see them but the houseflies are there, zooming around us!
And there are our two tents behind me.
Note the absence of Nixim. :P














I washed my hair in this really cold creek.
Now the people of Horsham have water with Johnson's Baby Shampoo. :P
Louis lost a slipper to the creek, but he got it back after much wading and fighting the current. Haha.














Here's the shadow of a giant spider we saw on one of our rambles.
It's called the Arachnabaohua.














And on the other side, we spotted the sniper who's been waiting for Arachnabaohua.
He's been there so long he can't move anymore.




















Good thing for Anna there was a Louis Flintstone around, so she made a quick getaway from the danger zone on his contraption.... and left me behind to deal with Arachnabaohua.
















Sigh, that's what friends are for huh, Anna-babe.....

Just then, who should come along but Louis Flintstone's gentle giant of a twin brother, Louis Chatuchak.
"sIr, cAn I hElP yOu?", he sing-songed.

















Then, he immediately sized up the critical situation, and faster than you can say "Little Miss Muffet", he whipped out an oil spray can and a lighter and combusted Arachnabaohua!














Ah yes, peace and quiet has returned to HQ Ulu Pandan once again.

As promised!! Pictures of the YA Ball. :) 

I saw my shooting star!!
Ooh la la....I caught abt 5 of them over the weekend. :)
That's one thing I can cross off my list....but I'm adding another item..

10. I wanna see fireflies.

Have gone from GLAM to TAK-GLAM over the weekend, and it was really fun!
Friday was the Young Adults Ball, and the whole table really made an effort to dress up.
Pictures say heaps more, so will post pics once I get them from Anna, Amanda, Davina & Eunice....my camera is HOPELESS, so I didn't even bother. :P

Then, Saturday morning, it was onto to what I was more excited about - camping up in the Grampians!
Roll call for 3D/2N camp - Anna, Louis, Brian, me
Roll call for 1D fishing road trip - Darren, Amanda, Chester

Had a late start which included breakfast at Brunetti's, which was yummy, but it was very strange how I could barely pick my way through half of it....hm......
Louis' car, Nixim was packed with stuff cos I packed the whole kitchen into 3 Ikea blue bags.
The drive up was smooth and uneventful...stopped at Ararat to touch base with Darren's car.

Then we arrived at Halls Gap and contemplated booking a site there, but it was still pretty much civilization - with ice cream parlours (with the yummiest REAL ice cream), children's playground on the camping grounds, supermarket etc etc etc.
So, we decided we would really rough it and go off in search of some ulu pandan spot

- 15kms away from any mobile phone reception,
- where it's so dark that u cannot see people approaching (creeeeepy),
- where u have to fan yr food with one hand and eat with the other, because houseflies rule,
- where turning on the heat means setting up the fire,
- where u look up and the multitude of stars tell u that the earth is indeed round,
- where washing up means wading into a creek,
- where the toilets are holes in the ground,
- where the sun wakes you up by shining into your tent.

So, the ulu pandan spot was all cool.
We set up tent and then went to explore Mackenzie Falls....climbed 1.04km down and up, AGAIN! I've been down there, but Anna and Louis hadn't, so off we all went.

Then, guess what....we realised that because there's no reception, we would not be able to call Darren....and we had our water supply in his sleek black Beemer.
So what do we do??
Brian and I set off for Halls Gap to try and reach them, and to fill up Nixim's petrol tank.
Big boo boo coming up.....we pumped DIESEL into Nixim instead!!
Uh-oh.....It sputtered abt 100m down the road and then gave up.
So, Brian pushed the car whilst I steered it back into the petrol station.
Called a mechanic who came within half an hour, like he said he would, and he said he would have to tow the car back to his workshop and we could probably get it back on Monday.
WHAaaaa.......T?!

I was pretty sure the guys were worried sick about us, so I explained our situation, and told John & Linda (the mechanic & his wife) that we needed to rent a car or something that'll get us back to HQ Ulu Pandan (real name is actually Smith Mills campsite) real soon.
John kindly offered to tow Nixim down to his workshop in Stawell, then come back to send us up there.
Oohhh....... thank God for kind people who go the extra mile!

So, Brian and I sat at Halls Gap....chewing on our fingernails....praying hard that Louis will not be too heartbroken....that the repairs won't cost too much....that we will not freeze before John gets back....that hopefully, we would be able to reach Darren and the rest soon so John wouldn't have to make a trip back.

Well, the last didn't happen....cos Darren and guys were at HQ Ulu Pandan waiting with Louis and Anna for us to turn up!
We barely managed to catch them going off when we swung into the campsite.
Said a short hi and bye, and then turned to break the news to Louis...:P
He was really gracious about it, so that stone was rolled away. Hee hee.

So we survived one whole day without a car in the wilderness.
When Nixim finally came back this morning, we practically HUGGED it.
Heh heh.....dear dear Nixim.

But boy oh boy, the bill came up to a whopping $1106!
Sigh....poor poor Brian.

So, how did we celebrate the return of Nixim?
We packed up and headed down to Halls Gap for ice cream, and Ararat for KFC!
Hahaha....always spirit-lifters.

Really, it was a great weekend.
Anna and Louis, nothing like sharing ski trips and camping trips to build on a frenship yah? :)
Brian, don't worry man, yr boo-boo meter is still nowhere compared to my daily ones. Haha.

Thanks for the memories guys.
I had such fun.....I wouldn't trade the entire trip for anything.

cool cars

 

Here are the boys in the queue!
Admission - $22.00.
















The moment we walked in, we saw this beauty!
















But really, I think the one next to it was more ooh la la....
















So here's another one of me ON it! :)
















Okei, more pictures in the collage!

how much does a mazda b-2000 minitruck 1988 cost?

I went to an Autosalon today with Louis and Chester, and we saw heaps of cool cars!
Of course, if u ask me what they did to their cars, I wouldn't be able to go into details, but they all looked sooooooo ooh la la!
















Guess what's the price to pay for a car like this?





















Haha....... More pics coming up! :)

I'm officially not a hazard

I passed my Hazard Perception Test!
I got 71% though....is 70% the passing mark?! :P
Anyway, this is the assessment....

Your test result show that you need more supervised driving experience in the following areas:
- Choosing a safe speed when driving near other road users (erm...too slow?)
- Choosing safe gaps in the traffic when overtaking.
- Choosing safe gaps in the traffic when turning or crossing a stream of traffic.
- Gaining awareness of the risks created by different driving conditions.
- Improving awareness of the potential risks of unseen road users.
- Predicting the movement of other road users you can see.

I went fishing at Freeze-ston last night!
Howard and I were in Louis' Nixim.
Chester and Amanda were in Darren's SinGapore Girl.
Haha...what a fun night.
The sky was really clear at first ... and the stars were out in full display.
But I still didn't get to see any shooting stars ... When oh when ....

So I tried my hand at casting a line.
First one went far right and landed with a "kathunk" on the docking platform.
Second one reeled in Darren's fishing line on my right.
Third one went "Whee ...... Plop" right in front of me.
Haha ..... is there no end to boo-boos?!
Anyway, I reckon they make my life interesting.
Imagine my grandkids laughing at my stories and boo-boo pictures! :P

Anyway, we caught nothing but "sea maggots" man .... or whatever they are called.
Howard saw his prawn bait moving and freaked us all out.
Turns out these maggotty things latch onto and eat the bait.
Then when they are pulled out of the water, they start squirming away in all directions.
Ee-yucks!
And yet, I couldn't take my eyes away from them.
There's something fascinating about the disgusting somehow. :P

Managed to catch the sunrise, cos we were there till abt 7am.
Except, the clouds had overtaken the stars by then, so all we could see of the sunrise was some 40V lighting behind the huge, billowing clouds.
No burst of blinding rays.
No creeping of sunny-side-up.
Instead, a panoramic view of clouds rolling over each other in muted lighting, with pink streaks.
It's lovely to stand in one spot and turn 360 degrees to try and capture just how vast God created the sky to be.

Some super-duper transient stuff I wanna do in my lifetime

1. Sky-diving.
2. See a meteor shower (or at least one shooting star!).
3. Storm-chasing in Tornado Alley, Oklahoma, USA.
4. Watch a play on Broadway.
5. Visit Alaska....see whales and polar bears! Woo hoo!
6. Buy my dad a Mercedes cabriolet.
7. Teach my kids to lurf fireworks.
8. Learn to dance.
9. Visit Hawai'i again.

Saturday began on Friday.

The final day of preparation for anything is ALWAYS the longest!!
Be prepared-longest blog entry ever.
Yes, I am cheong hei sometimes, but again, I've got pics! :P

Original agenda

10:00am - Drop off tees and designs (for the drivers) at Melb Uni for printing.
01:15pm - Meet David (my driving instructor) to book driving test.
02:05pm - Catch train to Huntingdale
02:45pm - Daz to pick me up to his place to work on Cranium.
06:30pm - Leave Daz's place for the Hanafi's.
07:00pm - Praise and worship practice.
09:00pm - Leave for home, finish up last minute stuff, have a good rest for tomorrow's long day.

What really happened

10:30am - Woke up in a frenzy.

10:50am - Dropped off tees for printing.

12:00nn - XO has a sudden outburst of energy after his paper, picks me up for lunch at Vic Mkt.
01:15pm - "Erm....where's David???"
01:30pm - David turns up, "Hi Sharon, this is another of my students, Brian.....I'm booking the test for both of you at the same time." Brian speaks like YUNJIE...

01:45pm - Driving test booked for 7 Dec 2005! Hazard Perception 11 Nov 2005!

02:00pm - Nixim takes us down to Chadstone, where I got 2 tops and a Mocha Ice Blended. Muahaha...

04:00pm - *bang bang* "Daz, we're here....oh hi, Chester!!!"

05:45pm - "Louis, are u coming back here after work? Cos I've only finished ONE category for Cranium....think need to come back after p&w prac." XO - "Oh...okei lor."
06:15pm - Leave to pick Davina and equipment up....buy Subway....

07:00pm - Arrive at Hanafis....set up equipment.....start prac....I kaypoh a bit....add in my 2-cents worth....washed my hair...Haha...:P

10:00pm - Drop off stuff at Docklands....send Dav home....

11:00pm - Start on Cranium again! Eunice and Chester work on the decor outside.
11:30pm - Anna and Howard arrive. Lifesaver Anna bought me 10-pc nuggets!!
12:00mn - Cranium... (as the rest are oh-so-secretly practising for my surprise item outside)
01:00am - Cranium... "Louis, can I borrow yr Cross CD?"
02:00am - Cranium... "Take me to the place...where the Spirit of God is..."
03:00am - Cranium... Howie and Anna - "Hey, we zao first....sending Chester home."
04:00am - Cranium... "I believe in the risen Saviour..."
04:30am - "Yay!! It's done! Let's burn it into a DVD!"
04:45am - Shar is looped in to play a game of soccer on PS..... realise that my "no-ball-sense" extends to on-screen efforts!! I get the ball and run in the opposite direction....Almost scored an own-goal! :P
05:10am - Daz checks on burning, "Hm...how come it's an error? Let's try again."
05:15am - Shar teams up with XO against Daz....Shar's legendary dribbling kills XO's team....Daz gloats over his 3-1 victory. Sorry, XO. :P
05:30am - Shar, XO and Daz pulling out hair in frustration...."Why error again?!" Shar is about to wring Apple's neck...but the gargantuan screen has no neck.
05:45am - Daz says, "Hey, think u guys go back first lah...I'll try and get this done." (looks of massive gratitude....I heard he only slept at 7:30am)
06:10am - Trying to maximize brain juices to cover everything on "Things-to-do" list.

06:30am - "I'll just take a 1-hr nap...wake up at 07:30am to finish it..."

Yes, those in bold are what I originally planned to do...
Look at the whole chunk of other stuff that sneaked in!

Saturday
09:40am - "Oh no, sorry Adeline!! I overslept!! You go ahead first okei?"
11:00am - XO drives me, Bri, Grace J down to Hanafis...pick up Jen on the way.
12:30pm - Start final cgm!
04:00pm - Final CGM ends.
04:30pm - All leave for church.
05:00pm - Service starts.
06:30pm - Hang around after church.
07:45pm - At Romanza - "Hi, there's a reservation under Sharon Chew for 25 people?" Meanwhile, Darren and Howard felt the need to dress up for dinner...








































09:00pm -Dinner finally arrives! Everyone puts away their cameras and dig in. Most of us are wolfing down our food, fast and furious...whereas others are engaged in *ahem* more amorous activities...











Heh heh...


10:00pm - Back to the Hanafi's to tear down (no, not the hse!) decor and props etc.
11:00pm - "Let's go! Home is calling my name!"
11:30pm - Steps into Kuai Le Zhan....2nd wind! Walk around the house donno doing what....haha...watched a bit of Bruce Lee "The Chinese Connection"....Eventually go to sleep...zzzz......

And so, what's this all about?
We had our final cell group meeting of the year on Saturday. The theme was MTV Retro and it was a blast to see everyone come all dressed up! :) The whole afternoon was one of guffaws and tears.

We started off with a game of Big Fish, Small Fish, led by our emcees for the day - Louis and Darren. A good game is one thing, having the right people playing it is another. With this bunch, it's never a dull moment. It's either always someone messing up for real, or someone else sabo-ing another, or someone pretending to mess up and then messing up for real...haha...


Davina then led praise and worship with her band - Howie and Daz on the guitars, Anna on the keyboard, me on the drums (yah right! haha!). Rock on, you guys! It was fab. :)

Following that was Cranium...which didn't actually turn out as I expected, but was still heaps of fun anyway....Amanda's zooma-ed eye and Anna's disgruntled face got lots of coverage....Haha...

Then we had the awards. More on that later. :)

I shared a really short word on living an adventure in your life, cos God's plans are never dull! :) Personally, I can't wait for the day when I can look back and say "It all began in Melbourne". Every year, it feels like a new adventure is about to begin.

As far as I was concerned, that was the end of the final cgm....but no no, both cgs prepared surprises for me!

First one up, a tribute DVD - with heaps of msgs and photos ...my ski progress...even bloopers! It made me tear one second and laugh oh-so-hard the next. I can't even imagine the effort that went into recording and editing the whole thing. It will be very cherished. :)

Then M1 gave me a leather jewellery case and a big hand card...which, true to form, no one had written on yet! Haha..




















Haha.... Also a peony which, I realised today, keeps changing colour! It was red, then orange yesterday and now, it's a lovely yellow!













M2 prepared a song for me...they changed the lyrics of James Blunt "You're Beautiful". Howie and Daz played the guitars, Louis sang lead, Anna, Eunice and Adeline were back-up vocalists. Here are the lyrics....I lurf what they did with it. :) And the singing? Charmed the socks off everyone there, and got me all sentimental. Snort.....














Here's what they did...

Louis : Our lives are brilliant
Your love is pure
God sent an angel
Of that I’m sure
You smiled at me on the tramway
You were with another friend
Thank God you’ve been sent here
Cause He’s got a plan

All : You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
I saw your face in a crowded place
And I don’t know what to do
Cause you’re graduating soon.

Louis : You caught our eyes
As you walked on by
We could see from your face that
You were spiritual high
And we wonder when, we’ll see you again
But we’ve shared a moment that will last till the end

All : You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
I saw your face in a crowded place
And I don’t know what to do
Cause you’re graduating soon.

La la la la, la la la la, la la la la, la

All : You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
It’s been such fun, just to be with you
But it’s time to face the truth
You are flying home soon

Back to the awards.
For the record, here are the winners! :)

CG Awards 2005
Most Serving Member of the Year - Brian and Chester
Comic Relief of the Year - Louis and Howard
Most Dependable Member of the Year - Wilfred and Anna
Timothy Award - Brian and Darren
Driver of the Year - Chester
Most Approachable Member of the Year - Eunice
Most Inspirational Member of the Year -Davina
Courage Award - Eunice and Joy

But really,
How do you put a price on courage or servanthood?
How do you reward countless extra miles?
Or sacrifices made for the team?
Can u photograph every smile that belies a hurting heart?
Can u remember the exact moment someone stepped up to the next level?
Can u measure the stress relieved with a joke or impersonation?
Can u note down every act of faithfulness and kindness?
Can u point yr finger at when humility started?

No awards can fully appreciate the efforts sown into this cell group and its members.
We can only bestow a symbol of recognition on you and hope it conveys everything we want to say. I salute you, our winners. Without you, there would be no team.

not a real post, but there are pics!

Yo yo!
It's been eventful this week...but more on that the next time!
I'm too busy relaxing today...hahaha....
For now, here are a few pictures from the final cgm we had yesterday.
It was a blast! :)














These guys really live to drive...haha.














AC a.c. - Anna Choi acting cute! Heh heh....Ain't she such a lovable babe? :)





















Brian and Chester getting in on the cool Jamaican vibe!

You would never have guessed that we waited about 1.5hrs for our dinner to arrive! Haha.

muahahaha.....

To my very encouraging frens...thanks for yr comments.

The Laughter that belongs to Shachew is back in all its rambunctious glory. :P

XO, why didn't I share? I..........donno. Not that there was much to share anyway. Haha.... Actually, I didn't need to. You helped, in yr own way....You swung it out of me with the last 'donut'! Haha...

Daz, thanks for the offer. Was just worried that the 2-way door will hit me as I approach it. Haha. Oops, the corniness kicks in again! :P I know u've got exam stress on yr mind too (starting to pile on yah?). Appreciate it tho.

Anna, grannies are da best! You da bomb too! Haha....you know what, come to think of it, kinda miss our Friday and Sunday dates at the library, but we'll move on to *ahem* hot chocolate and movie dates after yr exams okei! Heh heh.

Also, am I wrong or was last week a particularly down week for a few other people too?
"Be strong and of good courage", says He who will not fail you.
For all those on Swot Vac this week...hang in there for your distinctions.
Just when yr last finger is about to slip from the parapet, the Prince will come.