Month: December 2002

In the spirit of Thanksgiving,

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like to give thanks to everyone who has a part in my life over the year of 2002, on this New Year’s Eve. The list begins…

Firstly, I would like to thank God for blessing the following:

  • All my tests, exams, CAs, SAs, and my studies which I have achieved flying colours
  • My NAPFA Physical Fitness test in which I passed without a hitch
  • Inter-Primary School Web Design Competition 2002, in which all ran smoothly and it was another successful event organised
  • Project NPole 2002, for this wonderful opportunity to create a website and the smooth running of the closing ceremony
  • IT Club Camp a few weeks ago, administration and smooth running of the club throughout the year
  • Opportunity to be part of the Victoriana publication team
  • Allowing me to win V-Camp 2002 (Champion)
  • Allowing me to win Inter-School eGames Competition (Champion)
  • Blessing me with a "new" iPAQ and all other Pocket PC-related purchases and transactions
  • Blessing me with Edusave Scholarship, and also in that I may get a Digital IXUS
  • With me through this wonderful year, enhancing my relationship with Jesus, in church
  • Opportunities to participate and organise church activites, such as Christmas Under the Stars, and opportunities to come to play piano during worship sessions
  • Opportunities to share the Gospel with my friends, mum, and cousin
  • My great health throughout the whole year, and healing my sore throats and such
  • All my other prayers answered and blessed
  • Above all, every single little time, Thank you heavenly Father, in Jesus name, for being with me through all struggles and trials and when I’m down, and forgiving my sins.

I would like to thank the following people:

  • Christopher Devan, for being such a wonderful companion, both in church and in school, and introducing me into the world of gadgets
  • Jeremiah, for helping and guiding me with my relationship with God

  • Alex, Jonathan Chua, Louis and other church friends for being with me
  • Jolynn for giving me a crash course on the piano
  • Pastor Eddy for being such a wonderful youth pastor
  • Victor Loh, for being with me through IT Club ups and downs, being such a excellent vice-chairman.
  • Kaihong, Renfu, Shafeeq, Abdulqadir, and other IT Club members for being supportive, especially during the camp
  • Zhanhui, Wee Suan, Samuel, Hong Kin, Hubert, Kenneth Fong, Matthew Lau, Benjamin Lim, Santosh, Venkat, and other classmates of 3D and schoolmates for being such good friends and helpers
  • Shawn Tan, Joel Low, Jonathan Yeo, Joshua, Samuel, Hong Xuan, and other Christians in VS, for sharing our beliefs in and out of school
  • Tein Jun Gang, my best friend in primary school, for keeping in touch and giving me NDP tickets (I’ll never forget you!)
  • Cheewee and PPCSG team, for such a great PPC community in Singapore, and thanks Cheewee for forgiving me
  • Mr. Alvin You, for being so supportive with us in IT Club, helping us with everything, being such an excellent teacher-in-charge, and also a friend, and forgiving me for my wrongdoings
  • Mr. Edmund Goh, for helping in the IT Club, and teaching us new things about web design, and helping out in Project NPole 2002 and other IT Club events
  • Mr. Khoo Kay Yong, for giving me the opportunity to join Victoriana and being part of such a wonderful publication team, along with Cedric Yu, Edgar Xie, and Mr. James Koh, and thanks Mr. Khoo for being a great friend too
  • Thanks to Simon Tan for introducing me to Mr. Khoo, or else me in Victoriana might not be possible
  • Mr. Anuar Ikhwan, and Hozefa Aziz, for being great advisors to IT Club
  • Ms. Ernie, Ms. Loo (you are the best A Maths teacher), Mrs. Foo, Mr. Harzin, Mdm Nabilah, Mrs Lee Hwa Phaik, and other teachers for being such excellent teachers in my Secondary 3 year
  • Mdm Kwok, for giving me the opportunity to improve and develop my Flash skills
  • My parents and family for providing me my needs

I would also like to thank the following things:

  • My iPAQ for being my personal assistant, reminding me in everything, and a great companion in school, and my entertainment device
  • My computer, for being my favourite pastime, and still in the same state you are 2 years ago, up and running
  • My Digital IXUS bought recently, to start keeping those precious memories
  • My home, for being so comfortable

And of course, again, The LORD Jesus Christ, for being my Best Friend, for all the above would not be possible if not for You.

If I’ve missed anyone, please forgive me. I would like to thank anyone else who has a part in my life in one way or another. Thank you!

And so, 2002 came and went, and we are moving on to 2003……

Went to school yesterday to

Went to school yesterday to meet up for IT Club Recruitment, Cyberfair, competition and stuff…came home and did some E Math homework (wonder if I can finish…so many questions), and then spent some time creating posters for recruitment. Stayed up quite late so didn’t have time to post.

During the meeting, Mr. You dropped by and said there’s no show-and-tell (a good and bad), and also from now on, the new batch has to have at least 2 CCAs…that’s mad, especially if you are in CCAs like band, I wonder how can they cope. The reason was that 1 CCA is not enough to get A1,..crazy, I’ve too many points that I can “donate”…

Mr. You also made a comment about being leaders – the Bible version of a leader is the servant of all.
Jesus Chris† is the Servant of all….indeed true, very true.

By the way, that day (Friday I think), Straits Times published a Top 10 News Stories in the World section, and the blurp says, “terrorism spread to…” South-east Asia “…serpent-like”…well indeed true, it was the works of the serpent. Well, as one of the pastors said before, when there’s terror, Praise the Lord! Because revival is going on there, and the devil is trying to stop it, that’s why there’s violence.

Well, that’s about it, need to go to school again to decorate the IT Club Notice Board…

Today after church, the youth

Today after church, the youth went to help out at some fun fair at Paya Lebar Town Day, but I went off because tonight supposed to go out with samuel and hozefa, but apparently, hozefa isn’t free, so it’s postponed to next week.

So, instead, I went cycling around here and there, took many pictures with my Ixus,..very fun…but too bad stupid 4gigs isn’t providing any space anymore, so gonna find another server to host my blog and pictures. And my dad insisted that I keep the Ixus in the moisture-absorbing silica gel box…don’t really feel the need for it.

Off to sleep now, tomorrow still have a meeting for IT Club….and it’s 2 more days to the new year and I’ve tonnes of stuff to do…

…oh man, that zhaolu is

…oh man, that zhaolu is irritating me….had to go to his house yesterday to repair his com…installed WinXP, all the stuff, but dunno why the games didn’t work. Probably a graphic card or DirectX problem….hmm….that irritating guy asked me to go to Sim Lim with him today to repair his com…lolz, he doesn’t even know how to go to Sim Lim!!! Call me so many times just because of his computer, and I have to go to his house to no avail, and he’s as irritating as before in primary school :p And I didn’t get anything in return…haha

Well in the midst of that, tested my new IXUS here and there, taking pictures of the LRT and night scene…hmm night is a little difficult to take, must play with the settings.

And that stupid 4gigs server is down…ad-free stuff don’t come easily….very tempted to get my own web host and domain…but no money. Now I can’t upload my pictures taken with the IXUS.

Well, off to go YM now.

What I did with my iPAQ today:
Installed PictPocket…trying it later.

update: Bought my Canon IXUS

update: Bought my Canon IXUS V2 (finally) at Alan Photo for $580 with original leather case worth $20 and 64MB CF worth $50…good deal eh? Playing with it now….very cool, very small, very cute! It’s as small as a credit card…! Can take pictures instantly, record short videos…(very short, wish I could get a V3 then can record 3 min), hope I’ve made the right choice over others like Nikon and Pentax.

Before that, went to have lunch at a chinese restaurant with my mum and aunt and Dave…hmm pretty good food. After that go orchard with them and KLKK…in the end didnt really walk that much…nothing much to see…I just kept reading my new gadget’s manual (new to digital photography…so must read manual, although I usually don’t). Well, went home in the evening to have dinner with dad.

What I did with my iPAQ today:
The pictures taken with the IXUS displayed perfectly using Resco Picture Viewer….very cool…can have slideshow and other stuff…That’s what I call convenience…, that’s why I wanted a CF camera all along 😉

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today is “Boxing Day” eh? Well, going to buy digital camera hehe finally 🙂

Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad Prospero

Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad Prospero año y Felicidad! (Happy Nativity and a Prosperous and Happy New Year!

Today is Christmas Day, went to church at 10.30am for service. Wow, it gets really crowded when there’s a combined english and chinese service…the sanctuary was full and they had to open the Hall of Love. Interesting to listen to the chinese/teochew translations by the chinese pastor(s), funny at times, especially the teochew one, in which “skin and bones” said by Pastor William Lee was translated by Pastor Rachel Lee as “teeth and bones”…lolz. After service, Jonathan, Jeremiah and Chris gave me presents, while Alex gave me card….didn’t expect those, and also didn’t prepare anything for anyone…next year 😉

After service, had a buffet lunch in church…nice food. But “For the kingdom of God is not eat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy…” :p hehe…Then, me, louis, chris, youde and gang went KLKK at Great World City. Just anyhow walk around and came back in the evening, while the rest continued at orchard. Realised that wasted some time doing nothing. Actually they wanted to watch LOTR, me dun really like it, but luckily they didn’t, cos they realised that the cinemas would be full.

Well, had a different christmas this year….spent with church instead of gathering with relatives (in which we usually do, but not this year). Merry Christmas again and may God Bless You!

What I did with my iPAQ today:
Nothing much. Just poke here and there :p

tonight is “Peace Night” or

tonight is “Peace Night” or Chris†mas eve, and I’m at home doing nothing much. Actually the YM went caroling over to Pastor Eddie’s, Pastor William Lee’s, Elder Richard Toh’s and Youde’s place. Wanted to go, but in the end didn’t…lazying around for the next hour then.

hmm..maybe I should buy the Ixus 😀

What I did with my iPAQ today:
Nothing much.

spent the last two hours

spent the last two hours doing the Social Studies homework about “Decontextualised Source-based Questions”, kinda difficult, but managed to finish it. 5 more pieces of homework to go…

now which digital camera should I buy? Canon Ixus V2 or V3 or S330? Or Nikon Coolpix 2000 or 2500? Or Pentax Optio 230? Or others? Having a dilemma here, but still prefer Ixus :p

my parents bought a new

my parents bought a new cupboard and bookshelf…spent the whole morning packing everything into the new furniture. Also had a new computer table which I thought was too small, at least smaller than the last one, but just moved everything to the new one and the bass from the sound system felt stronger 😉

Don’t understand why my parents didn’t buy this furniture when we first moved into this new apartment. Waste money buying the old ones which were used only for 2 years…they weren’t that good anyway

Went cycling just now…saw Jeremiah and Prameeta, found out that they are going to Pastor Eddie’s house for a gathering with the other youth leaders. Didn’t know Past Eddie lives at Hougang Avenue 9, so near to my cousin’s. Cycled to Jalan Kayu and the future Fernvale of Sengkang…wow 25-storey flats there very nice. Hmm…what the! Xinmin Secondary in the middle of nowhere…amazing. And it’s open, seems that they have already moved in…cool. And those SBS Transit LRT trains just keep moving and moving, nice and ready to open next month.

What I did with my iPAQ today:
Used it to listen to MP3s while cycling.

Guess my blogs are a

Guess my blogs are a little short, so this gonna be a longer one. So today is the “big day”…Christmas Under The Stars. Went to church at 11am, and Prameeta isn’t there yet. Luckily Jeannette called and told me to come one hour later, or else I’d be already be there at 10am. Well, first we decorated the sanctuary with balloons and such. Found out that I “forgot” how to blow a balloon (never really blowed much balloons in my life…still remembered when I was a kid in a game, and I didn’t know how to blow a balloon and I cried)…well managed to blow 2 when Jeannette and Roiling already blowed more than 5 each. :p Had some “practice” on the piano (bascially having fun play We Wanna See Jesus Lifted High and others just for thrill of it). After that went with Jeremiah to have lunch.

At about 2pm, we started our first practice for the play. Everything went well, just that my sounds in my PowerPoint didn’t work out. Stupid PowerPoint 2000, it doesn’t support MP3s! argh! Well in the end, just had to link them up to the files. Just a few tweaks here and there, and then I increased the font size of Jeremiah’s lyrics and off we’re ready.

Realised that my cousin Alvin is already at the bus stop, so I went down and brought him in. Later, brought him up to the sanctuary and he sat at a corner. Some guys like Louis and Jeremiah just said hi to him. Well since Louis and him are from the same school, so they had a bit of a chat. At 5.15pm, we started with games such as Christmas Bingo…going around asking people stuff, and passing the parcel. There were 10 plus guests from Nepal…they looked and sounded rowdy, really like those “punksters” as Jinny would say. Didn’t really have a good impression of them.

After that, there were some carolling by Jeremiah, such as We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad etc. Then the play began. I left my cousin and proceed to the sound room. Everything went fine, from the bedtime story to the car scene, then to 2000 over years ago, and Mary and Joseph, and the angels, and Bethlehem and the three wise men. It sort of ended quite early at 6.20pm.

Then the cast danced along “My Best Friend” as a finale. And a short part of the live concert from Hillsong Music Australia was shown, before Jeremiah coming in and singing it with his live band. It was fun of praise and worship. After that, we sang their (actually it’s our YM’s) favourite song – King of Majesty. Had fun…it’s like a deja vu of EOYC (End of Year Concert).

Then it was sharing time. Well, shared we my cousin lots of stuff, along with Jeremiah, Louis, and Gerald and Leonard chipped in. He didn’t make any decision. Pray that he’ll. Then we went down for dinner. Nice one, except that not much things. But the curry and roti prata (!) were great. Realised that Weiyi’s home-made ice cream finished, but in the end, had a chance to taste it….not bad, just that a lot of milk.

Then Sarah had fun playing with the Helium-filled balloons. She threw a little tantrum, and she was brave enough to burst the balloons with a needle. Well, we let go one up into the stars, while the others were burst by Pauline due to the request of Sarah 😉 Went home at about 8.30 PM.

Wow, that’s a long one.

What I did with my iPAQ today:
Watched the “My Best Friend” video during lunch. Stephanie found out that it’s a great machine that can login to MSN. Used it to play “God So Loved” during the sharing time. Also, Daniel “harrassed” it for a while.

[ Friday, December 20, 2002 ]

This morning went to church and fond out that I was not needed there. But anyway, I just joined them in practicing the “My Best Friend” dance for Christmas Under The Stars tomorrow. It was fun, playing along on the piano with the CD audio in the Joy room. Come to think of it, twins are marvellous creation of God…just look at Prameta and Sujeeta (oops they are not twins), sometimes I confuse which is which, other examples are Derek and Drew from the Amazing Race,…hmm can’t think of any more…but they just look SO ALIKE! Just another wonderful creation of God…

At about 8+pm, suddenly I received a call from my old (good?) friend Zhaolu…hmm suddenly call me after more than 3 years of separation…wah still remember me of my computer expertise, asked me about buying new computer at Sim Lim, and I told him everything I knew and helped him calculate prices and such. Well we had a long hour plus chat about current stuff and games and what we’re doing…didn’t expect him to call. He’s so much mature now, compared to the talkative childish Zhaolu of Primary Six. Still remember seeing him at Sengkang Rivervale Plaza a few months back…he’s so much taller and mature…People do change eh?

What I did with my iPAQ today:
Okay, this is a new section, so it will be just basically about what I did on my iPAQ Pocket PC today. Played a game of AOE 1 deathmatch…quite fun, just like on the desktop…with the elephants and ships…interesting. It’s fantastic what a Pocket PC can do.