A visit FROM the zoo

today, the Saints had some visitors all the way frm Pasir Ris for a supposedly-friendly game of football. this grp of visitors were no ordinary footballers. they were not really footballers; they hail frm a zoo, one whose name i myself have never heard b4 too - Greenview Secondary Zoo. and the match turned out to be a friendly one indeed.

the animals arrived surprisingly earlier thn the Saints who were dismissed frm school latest by 3.30pm. the animal trainers had even prepared a tent at the sidelines for the animals. the Saints got themselves ready and both teams (Men vs Beasts) kicked off.

the 11 Saints on the pitch had thought that those animals were tamed and that they were in for a good friendly match, but as the match went on, they found themselves utterly wrong. they had made the wrong judgement. one by one, the Saints got tackled intentionally and the referee (i mean yellow wuss; he doesn't deserve to be called a referee) didn't even blow the whistle, but the Saints kept their cool very well, albeit only for most of the match. the wuss only started blowing his whistle for change of possession aft the animals made numerous tackles, but still he didn't issue any yellow cards.

"he must have forgotten to bring his yellow card," i tot to myself. a few mins later, he finally issued one, but it was to a Saint who had only made his 1st tackle! somehow the animals (or rather, beasts) managed to score a goal agnst the Saints and the former were one-nil up.

thk God the wuss (now i consider him a referee) awarded the Saints two penalties for fouls that two animals committed agnst two Saints in the penalty box, and the Saints were now leading 2-1 aft scoring both penalties. the penalty goals didn't relieve the Saints of their frustrations frm the beasts' assaults. if the referee a.k.a wuss had given the beasts stern warnings for their violent tackles, the Saints wudn't have to depend on 2 penalties to win the beasts!

as the match went into the last 12 mins, beasts being beasts which cudn't control themselves, became more savage and one by one, Saints were down on the pitch, groaning in immense pain. when the vice-captain of the Saints was severely tackled and brought down to the ground, that was the last straw.

as a grp of fellow Saints rushed into the pitch in an attempt to carry their injured vice-captain outta the way, somehow tensions btwn the men and the beasts escalated and reached a climax. both parties confronted each other and made a pretty huge scene. it wasn't easy to break the 2 parties up. as the antagonised Saints were finally shoved aside by their less-antagonised fellow Saints, the beasts were prompted to make their way back to the zoo. the match was abruptly called off.

it was reported that as those beasts made their way out of the Saints campus, they kicked and toppled one of the rubbish bins at the fitness corner, creating a mess on the ground. that was utter disrespect! wat's worse was that their trainer had not done anything to stop them since the match started.

the Saints were told that this bunch of reprobates had won the B Division Football Championship back in 2004. hmmm, today i got to see how they must have won it - thru despicable means, just like wat they just displayed on our home ground this afternoon.


i have this dilemma right now: shd the Saints have just smiled and walked away (wat a Saint shd have done) and giving the antagonists the impression that they're pushovers or shd they have done otherwise, standing up for wat's right and just and showing them that Saints are not meant to be stepped on?

having said that, i noe many ppl are gonna say: if the Saints retaliated, they wudn't be any different frm the beasts. but i seriously beg to differ. as a Christian, i oso face the same dilemma in my daily life. sometimes ppl tend to take advantage of Christians or even soft-hearted non-Christans, making them do things for them or teasing them, thinking that they wudn't and shdn't reject their favours or retaliate their teases.

i abhor such ppl and i tend to harden my heart agnst such 'bullies' otherwise ppl wud start having the impression that Christians and soft-hearted ones are meant to be stepped on and taken advantage of. we ought to stand up for ourselves and even more for our fellow friends who have suffered so much injustice!


"Lord, i'm alrdy struggling to love ppl arnd me, human-beings whom i find hard to love. now, please help me to love animals too!"

Time is running fast away...

wat?! it's the last week of January alrdy! shite.



Lord, could You slow the time down please? i noe a year to You is like a millisecond (or even shorter) in Your time range called Eternity, and You can't possibly turn the clock back just for me (altho all is possible w/ You), but would You please slow the time down for me?

i just wanna enjoy the time of my life to the fullest of each short 24-hr day. thks, Lord.

Joke of the week

adapted frm Yewliang's blog:

two days ago ah meng made us laugh so bad that we couldn't stop laughing even standing in front of ah meng. ah meng needed to pull the projector screen down but all ah meng could do was to jump in vain and in vain again in an obviously futile attempt to reach the string that assists in pulling the projector screen downwards. hence ah meng needed to make use of one of ah meng's students to reach the projector string and pull the entire thing down. that *jump jump* from the physical self of ah meng was just one thing i'll rmbr for a while.

Ashamed and disappointed in myself

The position of goalkeeper is extremely pressured – while one incredible save may make you the hero, one mistake that lets in a goal just as easily turns you into the villain of the match.

All players make mistakes which are usually quickly forgotten, but when a goalkeeper makes a mistake it can get blown out of all proportion, with television showing it time and again, even in slow motion.

The 4 main areas that contribute to mistakes are:
Poor technique
Making incorrect decisions
Lack of concentration
Adopting the wrong starting position

Goalkeepers will react in one of 3 ways when they have made an error:
1. The keeper’s confidence may become deflated. The opposition will try to benefit by taking advantage of the keeper’s nervous state of mind, and even his own teammates may lose faith in his ability.
2. The keeper may over-compensate. This could result in a keeper involving himself in situations where his judgement becomes rash – he may take risks in an attempt to redeem himself.
3. The keeper stays calm and maintains his concentration. Staying calm after a mistake will help the keeper stay focused and not let the mistake affect his game.


adapted from
Goalkeeping the specialist
by David Coles



i'm sorry that i didn't give my best.

Vocabulary

i learnt a new word today.

Northern Thailand Mission Trip 2006 reflection/report

Even after going for this mission trip for the past 2 years in 2004 and 2005, I still wanted very much to go back the 3rd time last year. Like what one regular Thai Mission tripper who has said before, every year’s trip is a new experience. I could not have agreed more.

About our team’s repertoire, I concur with my sister and Aunty Christianne that we should include fresh performances. Surprisingly, I was extremely excited when we got to learn new items like Shout to the Lord and The Lord on High, although they were not exactly dances. I actually prefer these 2 items to our usual style of fast-paced and action-packed dancing. My favourite was Shout to the Lord as I was very inspired and touched by the way one of the boys did his hand-signs in the video which we learn from. We really should get our hands on more of such videos from which we can learn new items. I’m looking forward to learning more of such songs this year, provided I am going.

Also, I have an idea of enhancing our repertoire even further. During the 2006 trip, I realised that the bulk of the village children’s performances were also repetitive, just like what my sister described when we kept presenting the same performances. Perhaps we can learn some of their songs and dances and add them to our repertoire. We have actually started doing so, as in 2005, my sister and I joined Xiangmei, Ahba and Ahtu in singing Tsa Tso La at Mehmon, and last year, Andrew, Rachael, my sister and I performed the same song at HoKa. Asholi also taught some of us the Akha version of I am amazed, which I am very eager to sing with the team to the Akha people this year.

Back to my experience of the 2006 trip. I choose to quote from my sister that the trip was a balance for me too. As we were nearing the end of our 1st week in Thailand, I was telling myself, “This is gonna be my best trip!” It was due to the spiritually-high experience I had in the 1st half of the trip. As we advanced into the 2nd week, I started to fall sick, first physically (probably due to unhealthy food at the food fair on the King’s birthday eve), then spiritually. During that period of time when I was so sick that I could only lie down and sleep, I felt that it was my worst trip. Despite that, looking back in time, I have learnt quite a lot from both my mountaintop and valley experiences.

For the 1st half of the trip, I did not have to be separated from the youth team, which was probably why I did not feel spiritually low at that point of time. When Jasper asked me after dinner at Arunothai that night if I would mind going over to Team B, I finally got my 1st test of the trip. Of course, I was pretty reluctant initially, just like how most of the others would feel if they were in my shoes that night. I am quite sure Andrew and Solomon would have felt the same when they had to be separated from Team A, especially from the youth team.

As I struggled with my own feelings, I told Jasper that I did not have a choice since we were on a mission field. I felt that I had to obey whatever instructions given to me. Jasper was kind enough to offer me a choice but my heart was telling me that others may choose to not be separated; I could not afford to be the one to do so because I was one of the oldest and ought to set an example. So, I thought I would be able to withstand the separation from the youth team, and thank God that Solomon was there to cheer me up whenever I felt low.

However, it was sooner than I expected when I felt it (the feeling of being separated from the youth team). The next day, Team A was to eat lunch first, followed by Team B. When Team B, Solomon and I were eating lunch after Team A had theirs, I learned something. The youth team (excluding Solomon and me) was still hanging around outside the lunch venue, waiting to leave for another place while Solomon and I had to stay at Arunothai with Team B. I remembered that Solomon and I were eating silently with the rest of Team B inside, when we heard laughter coming from outside. The adults may think, “How lively is the youth team that their laughter livens the atmosphere!” But for Solomon and me, all we felt was, “We’re missing and we’re gonna miss all the fun with the youth team.” It was then when I learned about being sensitive. I had finally tasted how Andrew and Solomon might have felt in the initial part of the trip. This worsened when I saw the pictures they took together while Solomon and I were away at Team B.

In my perspective, I still do not understand why some of the youth members had to be separated from the youth team and join the other adults. I know that Team B needed some manpower, but I remember when Solomon and I fell sick, we were out of action and yet Team B could still function as normal. Perhaps, that the youth team should not be split and Team B did not need any help from the youth team is far easier said than done, and Uncle James must have his reasons for having 2 youths in Team B and the rest in Team A, but I sincerely seek the answer(s) to these.

One last lesson that I learned from this trip was from the story of Job. I was reminded of Job when I started to fall sick, and experienced spiritual dryness, etc. I felt that I was like Job, except that he lived a righteous life and seemed like he did not deserve the afflictions at all, whereas I do not deserve a blessed life as much as he did. As things went downhill for me in most of the 2nd half of the trip, I held on to my faith in God and did my best to trust in God to bring me through the valley. I felt that it was during the lowest moments when I actually felt the need for God’s anointing of His Holy Spirit the most.

I hereby thank God for people like Jasper, my sister, Rachael and Solomon who were there to listen to me as well as others who have taught me in one way or another during the trip. I’m very glad that I was able to know Solomon, Andrew, Elaine, Emma and the adults from another church better through this trip and I look forward to this year’s trip. I pray that my Prom Night and other year-end activities will not clash with the mission trip because it will be my last trip before I take a long break (NS & university if I enter one).


those in bold were the 3 main lessons I learnt from the 2006 trip
for some pics, pls click the title of this entry

My 2nd PE lesson of the year

thanks for bellowing at us, asking us to knock it down, n humiliating us in the process.
you've just made me miss my previous PE teacher alot.

perhaps like wat Leonard said, it was ur painful braces tt made you skip your breakfast, thus you had a bad mood n flared it up on us. i hope it's only once in a Ban Ki-moon tt you have a bad mood, otherwise the most stress-free lesson in school will soon become one of the most hated lessons in the history of 06S23.

My 1st Physics (tutorial) lesson of the year

you obviously picked on me. a few others were oso dozing off but you didn't catch them. probably you didn't see them. or perhaps you deliberately closed one eye when you saw them. i was awake when they were almost asleep, n when i cud no longer stay awake listening to the monotony (which i really did my best n struggled to), you uttered the most beautiful words only the privileged get to hear, "Glen, go stand in that corner."

was it due to prejudice bcos i suck at Physics n i have a lousy attitude? i can't tell; i can only speculate. btw, i don't only suck at Physics; i suck at almost everything else. so maybe i shd just live w/ the prejudice most teachers have agnst me.

anyway, thanks. you have made my day. :)

My 1st History lesson of the year

u really spoilt my day.
perhaps i spoilt yours too, but come on, your skin is so much thicker.

New Year's revolutions