happy girl

Isaiah 54:4 (MSG)

"Don't be afraid--you're not going to be embarrassed.

Don't hold back--you're not going to come up short."

Job 22:27 (NLT)

"You'll pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfil your vows to Him. You will succeed in whatever you choose to do, and light will shine on the road ahead of you."

I was praying about something today, and I got my confirmation for Arise and Build at the same time.

And now, I'm soooooooooooooo excited I can't stop smiling! :D

Cos I am all ready for Arise and Build!

*Boing!* That's me jumping around in my buzz. Hee.

I remember giving a most significant amount for A&B last year.

To say all my previous giving paled in comparison is an understatement.

I wondered if I was actually giving in the past years! Hahaha.

This year, God spoke to me to give a certain percentage of my salary, and the total amount kinda made my eyes bulge -- a considerable task considering the size of my eyes. :P

It was a scary percentage, a definite increase from last year. 

But I was also reminded of what I reaped in this year, which I feel sure is a harvest from my giving last year (yes ... and also a starting build up from all the giving in the past many years).

Not once in any month of 2008 has my tithe been merely based on my gross salary.

Meaning I've been paying more tithes in every month cos extra income and blessings have been pouring in. 

So, 3 John 2 is true.

"Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."

Then, I was also reminded of what happened in my family.

It's true that my dad is sick, and my whole family has had to juggle taking care of him with work etc.

BUT! 

He got saved in this year!

We got all the idols removed from my house too.

And, now my mum has not only rededicated her life back to God, she's even recently been baptized in the Holy Spirit and prays in tongues!

She prays for my dad EVERYDAY.

My mum is a faithful woman. :)

And of course, there's getting attached this year too.

As Ps. Yong and 11,720 other ppl have said to me, I'm very blessed to have JX.

I think so too!

Hahaha! :P

Sidetrack: Credit goes to KK and YL for matchmaking us. :P

(I'm saying this here, just in case anyone who is reading this blog is approached by YL with a matchmaking prospect ... trust me, go for it. Heh heh.)

Anyway .... So, Psalm 35:27 is also true!

"Let them shout for joy and be glad,

Who favor my righteous cause;

And let them say continually,

Let the Lord be magnified,

Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant."

Prosperity is not limited to finances--it includes happiness, health and peace. 

Honestly, I never thought I would come to such a place.

But I've seen it: God does reward His people.

I told my mbrs that I've never felt so blessed in all my life, as I do in this year.

And you know what, I was on the bus today feeling absolutely blissful at the thought of all these.

And then, very HUMAN-ly, I started thinking I should just get myself prepared for in case tough times and trials suddenly come man, 'cos how can life be such a blessing?!

Hahaha....You know, like be all suspicious when things go too well that kinda thing? :P

Then God reminded me of James 1:16-18 (MSG) ...

"So, my very dear friends, don't get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle."

Haha ... 

So, with a promise like that, what's a girl to do but just be merry? :)

Of course, I have more testimonies up my sleeves, but they shall be revealed in due time.

Suffice it to say that for now, I am compiling them for the time when I will stand on stage to share my ooh-la-la testimony! 

p.s. You heard it here first! :)

have fun anytime u want

Giselle Lauren Omar

Wheeeeee!

Turning into a wax figure

Me and 2 other fishes 

Star couples at Keppel Bay

John goes, "So Krystal, what would you like to order?"

Jayson goes, ".... Will you marry me?"

You can't see it but he's down on his knee and THE question is on the plate surrounding the cake. :)

Those are John's fingers forming the heart-shaped mistletoe. 

Haha. 

You can't hear it but we are all screaming and cheering our lungs off and every head in the place is turned towards our table.

My CG knows how to get attention, no worries. 

Haha.

The Screening Room

I finally got to go!

Carol and I sat in the Moo chairs, which were on the other side of the room today.

They were screening the Korean flick "Le Grand Chef" which we both really liked.

It was sensitively well done enough to draw tears and laughter from both of us.

And they way they cooked ... Wah. :P

I like shows where they zoom in on the cooking...

We were watching the trailer playing on the screen while waiting for them to start, then someone clicked on the remote and we found ourselves staring at a DVD MENU screen.

Haha.

We looked at each other ... "Pay $20 each to come here and watch DVD?"

Hahaha.... It was fun tho.

We did say however, the next time round, we should request for the white armchairs in the pic foreground.

We secretly went to test them out after most of the people had left and they were much more comfortable (sad to say) than our Moo ones, even tho I couldn't stop stroking the Moo fur. :P

We also checked out the rooftop terrace on the 5th level.

Which is nowhere near as tranquil as it looks in this pic man....

I was hoping to discover another nice place to CHILL.

But I could barely hear my own thoughts as the music was blasting so loud!

It followed us all the way as we were escaping downstairs oh-so-quickly.

Shachew the "I-lurf-finding-new-places" then goes, "Let's try walking this way okei? If I'm not wrong, it's a bridge of some sort that leads to Club Street then to Tanjong Pagar MRT station."

Cos the other day as I was going to meet Derek, Remy, Regina for a TP catch-up at Beng Hiang, I walked past this doorway-looking thing that said "Ann Siang Hill Park Entrance."

"There's a PARK here?!"

I was already running a little behind time, so I only managed to walk in a little way to catch a glimpse of it.

I told myself I'd check it out some other time and hurried on to join them for yummy kong bak. :P

So Carol and I took the route that led us past the back of shophouses, some sort of bridge down a mini-hill and eventually came out on the other side of the Ann Siang Hill Entrance!

Along the way, we walked past no lesser than 10 men, and no women at all. 

I think we also passed a nightclub entrance in the middle of nowhere.

That explains why we didn't choose to continue along this route ... 

Cos even though it was the more scenic one, it would have taken us further and who knows how many other men we'll meet along the way.

That's a feat to be repeated when we are walking with the men in our lives who can go "Haiiiiiiii- yah!" while we scream our lungs out in case anything happens. 

So .... we turned right instead and hopped down the stairs (Carol traipsing carefully in her new ostrich skin boots) ....

And before we knew it, we were at the main road heading home! :)

I'll definitely go back to Screening Room ... but must either go early to chope the good seats or reserve them.

Wanna head back to Ann Siang Hill to check out Books Actually too. :)

Yawn. 

It's back to work for me.

Something's exciting is in store for tomorrow! :)

i meet the nicest cab drivers sometimes...

I caught up with June over supper after leaders meeting tonight.

And we ended up chatting till 1am plus. 

So I caught a cab home.

And my cab driver was a rare breed!

Before I got off the cab, he noticed a guy walking past and he said, "Be careful...."

Then as I was walking halfway towards my block, I realised I could still hear the engine of the cab whirring away...

So I turned around, wondering if the cab driver was waiting to see me arrive at my block safely.

And amazingly, I was right!

When he saw me turn around, he waved at me most frenly-ly.

Naturally I waved back and gave him the thumbs up to signal that it's okei, I'm safe and he can leave.

How sweet of him! 

He's just like a caring uncle!

I regret that I didn't get his license plate number, so I could write a letter of appreciation to the cab company.

Look what I found!

In my fave color!

And only $4.82!

I really should go back and get the other titles. :P

Especially since JX already applied for the discount card and he's gonna give it to me.

Muahaha. 

I wonder if they have "The Little Princess." 

:)

Just a quirky post

So, here I am ... taking a break from doing some work to daydream about travelling.

(Cos I'm at the airport, you see, and countless ppl are strolling past with their luggages)

It's just as, I am imagining myself in my hotel room in Maldives ...

... that I realize I sorta have a mini travel routine.

Whenever I check into a hotel, the first thing I do is unpack all my stuff...

Yes, while everyone is eager to dump their luggage at one corner and get out of the room, I'm busy making myself at home!

I'll arrange my toiletries oh-so-nicely on the bathroom counter.

Then I'll hang up my clothes or pack them into the drawers.

Followed by stacking my Bible and bedtime reading books on the bedside table.

I'm a VERY neat hotel roommate.

Which I find strange but quirky. 

Because on a DISC personality scale, my level of C-ness (aka: Melancholic. Whose traits include: systematic, perfectionistic, deep thinker) is like Australia ... 

Down under. 

So it's strange that I pack to destress.

A quirk especially pronounced when I was living in Melbourne.

My housemates will hear me stacking the dishes from the whatchamaycallit into the cupboards every night.

(They also hear me sneaking a packet of cheese rings into my room, but we shall not discuss that today....)

I like going to bed knowing that things in my house are where they are supposed to be.

Eg. Nothing lying randomly on the kitchen top or living room coffee table.

Now, the strange thing is, I'm less like that when I'm back in Singapore!

Hahaha.

Maybe cos we lived with lesser stuff in Melbourne, so it's easier to get rid of clutter. 

Whereas my Singapore home just has TOO MANY THINGS. 

Or it may also be because BOTH my parents have high levels of C-ness!

There's nothing left for me to be fastidious about. :P

But here and there, I still do it with my Singapore kitchen.

I'll do stuff like pack everything into tupperwares and label them for easy access.

Especially after weekly marketing trips with Mum.

I lurf it when you can tell what something is at a glance! 

Haha. 

I remembered!

"Smile!"

"Hm.....why like that huh?"

"Cos it's at night...."

"But we are indoors.... it's artificial lighting..."

"Same thing ... You need natural daytime lighting for hp camera."

"Hm....let's try with flash instead of automatic!"

"Won't make much of a diff...."

The face of a man who is thinking, "I don't believe it'll work ... but I'll humor you..."

The faces of 2 ppl who now know how it works.

Just turn on the flash. :)

Just a reminder for myself

Always trust God to do something about things behind your back.

He totally set up a conversation that led to where I wanted it to go.

And I didn't even know from the beginning that it was gonna take on that direction.

I fell asleep the night before thinking how to work out a win-win result in something that was frustrating me.

In between pondering, I was searching the Bible for answers and muttering to God, "Please please....work Your hand in this.... Okei?" 

Haha. 

And He did! 

For once, I'm so glad I'm phlegmatic and decided to "wait and see" for a while first.

If I had listened to Frank Sinatra instead ("I did it MY WAY....."), it would have resulted in a disaster and an explosion on my end.

Cos I was already frustrated, see.

But God turned the frustration into a breakthrough.

Yay. :)

Still clapping my hands in glee.

I lurf how each day is unfolding. :)

I'm going for my poly classmate, Ah-Mich's wedding dinner tonight.

Whoo hoo....I haven't seen her in YEARS. :)

Can't wait!

The Difference Between Men And Women

Let's say a guy named Fred is attracted to a woman named Martha. He asks her out to a movie; she accepts; they have a pretty good time. A few nights later he asks her out to dinner, and again they enjoy themselves. They continue to see each other regularly, and after a while neither one of them is seeing anybody else. 

And then, one evening when they're driving home, a thought occurs to Martha, and, without really thinking, she says it aloud: "Do you realize that, as of tonight, we've been seeing each other for exactly six months?" 

And then, there is silence in the car. 

To Martha, it seems like a very loud silence. She thinks to herself: I wonder if it bothers him that I said that. Maybe he's been feeling confined by our relationship; maybe he thinks I'm trying to push him into some kind of obligation that he doesn't want, or isn't sure of. 

And Fred is thinking: Gosh. Six months. 

And Martha is thinking: But, hey, I'm not so sure I want this kind of relationship either. Sometimes I wish I had a little more space, so I'd have time to think about whether I really want us to keep going the way we are, moving steadily towards, I mean, where are we going? Are we just going to keep seeing each other at this level of intimacy? Are we heading toward marriage? Toward children? Toward a lifetime together? Am I ready for that level of commitment? Do I really even know this person? 

And Fred is thinking: ...so that means it was...let's see...February when we started going out, which was right after I had the car at the dealer's, which means...lemme check the odometer...Whoa! I am way overdue for an oil change here. 

And Martha is thinking: He's upset. I can see it on his face. Maybe I'm reading this completely wrong. Maybe he wants more from our relationship, more intimacy, more commitment; maybe he has sensed - even before I sensed it - that I was feeling some reservations. Yes, I bet that's it. That's why he's so reluctant to say anything about his own feelings. He's afraid of being rejected. 

And Fred is thinking: And I'm gonna have them look at the transmission again. I don't care what those morons say, it's still not shifting right. And they better not try to blame it on the cold weather this time. What cold weather? It's 87 degrees out, and this thing is shifting like a garbage truck, and I paid those incompetent thieves $600. 

And Martha is thinking: He's angry. And I don't blame him. I'd be angry, too. I feel so guilty, putting him through this, but I can't help the way I feel. I'm just not sure. 

And Fred is thinking: They'll probably say it's only a 90-day warranty...scumballs. 

And Martha is thinking: Maybe I'm just too idealistic, waiting for a knight to come riding up on his white horse, when I'm sitting right next to a perfectly good person, a person I enjoy being with, a person I truly do care about, a person who seems to truly care about me. A person who is in pain because of my self-centered, schoolgirl romantic fantasy.

And Fred is thinking: Warranty? They want a warranty? I'll give them a warranty. I'll take their warranty and stick it right up their... 

"Fred," Martha says aloud. 

"What?" says Fred, startled. 

"Please don't torture yourself like this," she says, her eyes beginning to brim with tears. "Maybe I should never have...oh dear, I feel so..."(She breaks down, sobbing.) 

"What?" says Fred. 

"I'm such a fool," Martha sobs. "I mean, I know there's no knight. I really know that. It's silly. There's no knight, and there's no horse." 

"There's no horse?" says Fred. 

"You think I'm a fool, don't you?" Martha says. 

"No!" says Fred, glad to finally know the correct answer. 

"It's just that...it's that I...I need some time," Martha says. 

(There is a 15-second pause while Fred, thinking as fast as he can, tries to come up with a safe response. Finally he comes up with one that he thinks might work.) 

"Yes," he says. (Martha, deeply moved, touches his hand.) 

"Oh, Fred, do you really feel that way?" she says. 

"What way?" says Fred. 

"That way about time," says Martha. 

"Oh," says Fred. "Yes." (Martha turns to face him and gazes deeply into his eyes, causing him to become very nervous about what she might say next, especially if it involves a horse. At last she speaks.) 

"Thank you, Fred," she says. 

"Thank you," says Fred. 

Then he takes her home, and she lies on her bed, a conflicted, tortured soul, and weeps until dawn, whereas when Fred gets back to his place, he opens a bag of Doritos, turns on the TV, and immediately becomes deeply involved in a rerun of a college basketball game between two South Dakota junior colleges that he has never heard of. A tiny voice in the far recesses of his mind tells him that something major was going on back there in the car, but he is pretty sure there is no way he would ever understand what, and so he figures it's better if he doesn't think about it. 

The next day Martha will call her closest friend, or perhaps two of them, and they will talk about this situation for six straight hours. In painstaking detail, they will analyze everything she said and everything he said, going over it time and time again, exploring every word, expression, and gesture for nuances of meaning, considering every possible ramification. 

They will continue to discuss this subject, off and on, for weeks, maybe months, never reaching any definite conclusions, but never getting bored with it either. 

Meanwhile, Fred, while playing racquetball one day with a mutual friend of his and Martha's, will pause just before serving, frown, and say: "Norm, did Martha ever own a horse?" 

And that's the difference between men and women.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH!

Okei guys, speak up and defend yourselves! :P

This is so hilarious...especially the last question about the horse.

things are heating up in the last quarter of 2008

My mum just rededicated her life back to God!

Pst. Ming came to pray over the house, and led her in the prayer.

Tomorrow he'll come back to pray for her to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

An extract of my happy sms conversation with BL.

BL: Praise d Lord! :) God is so so good...

SC: Yah! Sometimes it's still quite unbelievable that it's happening in my home... But praise the Lord! :)

BL: I totally know wat u mean... Look @ my dad, he's now a Christian n my whole house is also now a house of God! :)

SC: Yah! Just a few months ago, I was totally envying u and yr family, and before I know it, it's happened for mine. No fireworks and all, but surely, God is wkg.

BL: Amen Amen Amen! Itz so true, when 1 is saved, d whole household shall b saved!

SC: Am so glad I got to see it in action! :)

Note the number of smiley emoticons.... haha.

It's been a most eventful year, without doubt. 

On a sidetrack: My mum gave me Taka vouchers the other day...

Today I realise the last piece was a $50 and not another $10!

Hee hee. 

Hm.... wat should I get with $110? :P

And I've yet to spend the Capita-vouchers Pheebs and KS gave me for my berfdae this year.

It expires on 27 october...

So that means I have no choice but to go shopping soon right?!

Hahahahaha....

Clapping my hands in glee. 

it's been 6 years!

We finally got to meet up again!
This is a come-together of the old and new gang in Melb, and some other halves (and one 1/4? Haha.)
Some of us didn't even know each other initially ... but it was great to come together and realize we find humor at the same kind of jokes anyhow!
Check out the rest of the pics here.
This is one of the funnest gang I know in my life.
Friends born out of trials and tribulation and quirkiness and the occasional accident. :P

I was freaked out cos it turns out they were all wanting to meet JX!
Haha....
He only managed to make it much later cos of his basketball game.
So only the 5 happy peeps who were able to stay later got to see him in Taboo action.
He and Sherl tied for first place, while Elaine and me couldn't stop laughing cos we had such a hilarious time!

idol no more

My house is rid of all the idols!

Thanks to Vincent!

The house feels great, and I can tell Mum's a lot happier already. 

Pst. Ming is coming over tomorrow to pray over the house too! :)

I'll post the Melb gathering pics tomorrow, but for now, I'm off to enjoy a great night's sleep. :)