On Hindsight. (Sharing)

I know, some say, looking back is harmful because, it digs up memories we seek not to remember, experiences that are best kept locked up in the back of our minds and looking back often ends up in feelings of regret. And no matter what nice term you give to 'looking back' such as on hindsight or in retrospect, looking back is simply, really to think about the past. What you did, what you should have done and what you shouldn't have.

I don't subscribe to that train of thoughts. I feel its good to look back and on hindsight, glean useful and valuable lessons from the past. Lessons in life are often learnt on hindsight. We shouldn't 'beat' ourselves up for our past. It's the past already. Just move on and get on with life and what it holds for you in the future.

I looked back today. I looked back at what I wrote in my blogs - the current and the abandoned summer exchange blog.

In the beginning, it seemed as though I was fighting against 2 inner thoughts. One, the decision to read through the posts. Two, to refrain from reading about the past and the memories.

Of course, there are lovely memories with different groups of people. Those memories bring a smile to my face and open up floodgates of uncontrollable laughter. And there are those which I know are lost forever.

It feels surreal to read about what I wrote one to two years back. I've changed. My perspectives changed. I always feel that among all my friends, I stayed the most constant. I am still the same old jo - the blur, sunshiney, optimistic and without a single care in the world, jo. But I did change to a point, I don't even sense it myself.

And yes, I am still like that. But deep in me, I've changed. Its not a change you can see for yourselves outwardly. Its more of an inward change and if you are close to me and if you bother to dvelve deeper, you can tell. I am more passionate about my faith, about living my life the way God desires for me to and my spiritual walk. I am less doubtful of my capabilities and strengths. I am more certain about my future. Yes, I admit I do not possess a crystal ball which allows me to look into my future so to speak. But this I know, my future is secure and decided in the hands of Him who holds the entire universe. Yes, I know not of the storms in life (the mental turmoil storm I was through the last few months is definitely not the last), there are definitely going to be the mountains (the highest points in life) and the valleys (the lowest points)in different seasons of my life. But this I know, all things will work out for good.

There's a line in this inspirational book and I expanded on it, "When I am in the valley of my life, the natural man in me will focus on the bad circumstances and will keep on dwelling on the lowly position in the valley. But, I should not lose heart and hope. Because, God in me will help me focus on the valuable lessons learnt after the bad circumstances and will keep my eyes focused on the high position on the mountain which I will be standing on, after climbing out of the valley."

To believe and see beforehand the reward, the good outcome after the trials.

I wrote the following lesson during March of 2007. More than one year on, and I feel this applies to me now in terms of my new chapter in life.

Matthew 14:28-31

Heard of the story where the apostle Peter walks on water? He walked out of the boat, walked on water, start to panick and find himself sinking and cries out to Jesus for help. That's the passage.

That passage seems to speak to me. Depicting this picture as to what it means to be a Christian caught midway between my faith and doubt. And, Peter represents all who dare to believe that Jesus is Saviour and dare to take their first steps into the unknown in confidence, believing that He is able to sustain them. We then forget to keep our gaze fixed on Him and instead, on the towering waves that are threatening to engulf us. In the depth of our worries, concerns and troubles, when all seems lost, we remember to call upon His name and find His grace is sufficient for all our needs.

It seems to question me, when you are out of your comfort zone, on unchartered land, do you grapple with every worry or DO YOU STEP OUT IN FAITH?

"For many of you, this year 2008, will be a year of change." - My Senior Pastor during his First Sunday of the year sermon. Something stirred in my heart when he said that. God spoke. He speaks through the words in the bible, church speakers, friends' advice and sudden relevations and thoughts that come to our minds.

It is truly been quite a year of change thus far. And I am not complaining. I thank God for the change no matter how daunting it can seem in the beginning. I learnt to look beyond the change and onto the outcome You have in mind for me. And I look forward to You continuing to mould my character and my future. You are my Potter and I am your clay.

Ads.

Looking through the ads I have saved in my computer. I found some pretty interesting ones.

Here's a few of those:

Perspective of Beauty redefined.



Ad by Ogilvy and Mather, London "Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty"


Argentine Beer ad.



Beauty without Brains

Super bimbotic ad - the weirdest and most unconventional Benz ad I have ever seen.



A more professional Benz ad for the China market.



Personally, I don't really like Zhang Ziyi (or rather, Ziyi Zhang).

Alot of cool and unconventional ads to be found.

And oh, last one, http://www.ffk-wilkinson.com/ Got this advertisement for razor blades from a schoolmate's blog.

Super hilarious in a very lame way.

Grad Trip Part II and last part updated

Grad trip part II updated. You can find it right after Baby Alert post. It was previously saved under drafts cause I took some time to work on it on and off.

Peace.

It's 12:16 right now as I glanced over to my lappie screen clock. Going on to 12:17. And my day starts early tomorrow at 8am.

It's gonna be a full day. 3 interviews. The first starts at 10, second at 11 and the last one at 4pm.

Wow.

But, I feel peace in my heart. The battle belongs to You, Lord. You conquered them for me already and I believe so.

Thank You in advance!

Baby Alert.

Was looking through my church friend's photos and she posted some really cute pictures of her super adorable baby girl. And I had had had to post this to show everyone how cute she is! How adorable, check it out for yourselves.




See what I mean?!








AHHHH! Her cheeks are like, oh my goodness, meatish and cute. I just can't help but become my auntie self and pinch them.

Every sunday on the way to my cell group venue in the basement, we will walk past the sunday school kids room and the kids are just so adorable. Thank God for little ones =)

Grad Trip 2008 Part II

Continued...

Lovely photo credits go to Li Ping, Julez, Joanne and Qihan. Gary and I seldom take pictures. =\

Essential pit stops while traveling on the road. First, go to the loo. Second, grab whatever chance to get an icecream. Eating icecream in colder climate is so much more fun and we can take our sweet time to enjoy it and not frantically try to lick the melted icecream so as not to let it drip everywhere. There are icecream shops everywhere, even in this ulu small town. Li Ping and I always keep a lookout for icecream signs. ha.

Stopped to take a break and a picture.

and then off we continue on the road, to be exact, the Princes Highway, the most taken route from Melbourne to Sydney....

Merimbula - a small seaside resort town with a tranquil beach to boast about. Its just a short drive down south from Bega (famous for its bega cheese)

The other part of the beach.


The rocks.

We decided to make use of it to pose (again!)

Great stuff. Chocolate and cheese.



So that's Merimbula.

Slurps.




The 1 kg gain in weight is worth it for the great breakfasts we eat every morning. Cafes should be opened selling such breakfasts. Make it more mainstream.

****

Lake Entrance - another small town enroute to Merimbula. We were told by the lady at the Visitor Information kiosk to go to this place for seafood. One thing to praise about Australia's tourism board is that they are really commited to providing accurate, prompt and warm service to tourists. We didn't worry much about finding accomodation along the way. No laptops to book accoms so everything was planned on the spot. The visitor information kiosks (which are pretty easy to spot with their blue and yellow logo with the letter "i" information) have all the resources to search for accomodation as per your budget. And they found really good and lovely service apts for us which totally exceeded NOT our budget, but our expectations. Blessed more than abundantly.




We stayed at this awesome double-storey service apartment with our own garage. =) which the lovely people at Visitor information sourced for us. Nice house number too. Number 7.



Carrying Gary's backpack.



What we do best for self-entertainment...


We pose. From the mellow to the 'high fashion model wannabes" to the ridiculous poser shots.


Be entertained. (descriptions of types of poses found below each picture)



2 rich tai-tais appreciating an art piece in a chi-chi gallery.



The 'sprained' neck pose. Our in-group jargon.



Gary's peaceful reading area turned into a "studio" for our version of ANTM (America's Next Top Model) series.




Test drive pose. We haven't get the hang of doing model poses yet. We need to perfect the kind of look where you don't smile sweetly, you instead, put on that 'come hither' look. Super hilarious.


Laugh -freaking- out loud. HAHA. Erms, Qihan (no choice) had to be our male model. You know, there's always a male model in ANTM. Yah, we totally cannot make it. Julie is the closest lah.

The mandatory -look everywhere but at the camera- pose.

I was trying very hard not to burst out in uncontrollable suck in air laughter


And then there is the ridiculous......

...

........

.........

We played with our scarves. Let's introduce the 4 interchangable characters first.

We have,

1. The Rambo -do not mess with me- babe (thats using my black, white and grey checkered scarf)

2. The Countryside Milkmaid babe (Joanne's pale yellow scarf)

3. The trendy fashionnista babe (Julie's brown and blue striped scarf)

4. The Fatimah babe (Li Ping's light brown scarf)

Ok, enjoy the randomness.. =D I crapped out all the titles. Thought it would be fun to do so. lol.

I super like this shot. Looking at Julie's Rambo turned mad and wants to kill Fatimah shot, it cracks me up. And Li ping looked so demure. Haha

Julie has the funniest ideas when it comes to doing well for her pose. Her milkmaid pose is pretty descriptive in a suggestive manner.

Gary, finally joined in the poser fun (if you can spot him). He is acting as Ju-on, the scene where the ghost kid stares out of nowhere and climbs freakishly down the stairs.

Joanne at the open concept kitchen with the marble top counter and the high stools. Nice.


Oh well, it was fun!

Wining again....

We rented and watched a classic romantic comedy, When Harry Met Sally. And I totally understood why its an all time fave classic. When two people are meant to be together, nothing can ever separate them. Not even time and distance.

Honestly, Lake's Entrance can be skipped. The only highlight was the apartment.

****

Blue Mountains, New South Wales. (1 hr drive away from Sydney)

This is a must if you want to experience the splendor of the natural beauty of the great outdoors with its geological wonders. Blue Mountains which was named because of the blue haze that surrounds them, is a hugely popular tourist destination for city dwellers (like us and the people living in Sydney) to escape to the great outdoors to experience the mountains’ grandeur, mist-covered valleys and the rich Aboriginal heritage and culture. Why the mountains are called Blue Mountains? It is so because, the entire Blue Mountains region is heavily covered with this plant called the eucalypts plants (girls, this is the typical active ingredient used in our body lotions) which disperse droplets of oil into the surrounding air and this causes the blue rays from the sun to be scattered more effectively. And this makes distant objects seem blueish.

Along with the Blue Mountains, are the famous Three Sisters landforms which are basically 3 rock structures formed by wind erosion. Again, there’s a story or rather legend behind the name. I read this story while browsing through the visitor information kiosk. Legend has it that there were 3 beautiful sisters living in the Katoomba tribe (the largest tribe in Blue Mountains). They were so beautiful that every man in the village wanted them as their wives. (faints, men are superficial). Anyway, afraid that his daughters were coveted just for their beauty, the father decided to ‘hire’ a witch doctor to turn them into rock structures to ‘protect’ them until they become of age to marry. Call it bad luck or whatever, the witch doctor died a sudden death and there’s no one to undo the transformation. So, the Three Sisters stayed in their rock forms.

The things people made up to lure tourists to see 3 rock forms.

Three Sisters

****

Last stop before driving to Sydney, Newcastle.


Sand Dunes at Port Stephens

Where we tried sandboarding for 20 AUD per pax.




ok, after 2 to 3 times sliding down the dune, we pretty much got sian of it because sliding down was easy, but climbing back up was tiring. We had to use our boards to dig into the sand in order not to lose our foothold in the sand. We kinda looked half-dead. And if you look closely, Qihan looked like he's on a mission to lead us out of a deserted and forsaken barren land. LOL. As expected, I was the one trailing behind.



Qh in action. He's still v enthusiastic about it.

Mandatory poser shots while waiting for the 4WD to pick us up. You should know us by now, we don't waste time waiting, we use it for taking self-entertaining shots.

Doing the jump. The jump is mandatory.




Also mandatory, the all shoes together shot.




And the heads. (and also the double chins =\)



Good pose.

Ultimate pose. The dying from thirst and exhaustion pose.





Bye dunes...



And to the beach nearby...







Let's do a hollywood hand print thing...





The most extravagant dinner we had in Australia. Fresh oysters, lobster, clam chowder soup, prawns, wine and champagne. So good that we went back there a second time. That's where the shopping budget went to. =\







Best clam chowder soup.

And with the 2 nights stopover at Newcastle, we are off to our very last stop of our grad trip, Sydney.

Queen Victoria Building (QVB). Pure victorian.



If only shopping malls in Sg are like these,



Not to be missed, Sydney Opera House.






Have you guys heard of the movie, Edward ScissorHands directed by Tim Burton and one of Johnny Depp's most prolific films? When we were there at the opera house, they were showcasing posters of the musical. =O Missed it. I would have watched it if we stayed in Sydney longer.

Darling Harbour with Star City casino in the backdrop.






Harbour Bridge.


NDP trio.





Royal Botanical Gardens. Soaking in the autumn sun.



Baskin Robbins' super shiok strawberry cheesecake icecream. Li Ping's my ice-cream kaki in Aussie :)

Australia. Where Gloria Jean's hail from. Eh. I still prefer Starbucks. I like this picture. Perhaps its how good and enticing the cake looks.

Lindt cafe at Cockle Bay Wharf, Darling Harbour. The Lindt cafe in Sydney is apparently the first concept store by swiss chocolate maker, Lindt in the world. It is the exclusive Lindt cafe concept.



Seriously indulgent. Chocolate. I think I will die without you.

No matter how much fats you add to my tummy, I still love you and will still eat you without hesitation. =)

With its decadent array of handmade chocolates, gourmet icecream, mouthwatering cakes and pastries (macaroons etc.), any chocoholic will be guaranteed to go gaga just looking at the display. I just stood there and wanted so much to order everything I see but, my pockets are not deep enough to afford. Finally after much contemplating, I decided to go for the dark chocolate cheesecake and it was heavenly. No words can describe it. The chocolate milkshake was alright. I am not going to order another glass of milkshake in Aust again. I drank like, 3 or 4 huge glasses of milkshakes while I was there and not one is fantastically good. Because, they love too much (too much) milk in their milkshake and the flavour overrides the chocolate. American milkshakes are the best. The last time I went to US, I was 11, but till now, I can still remember how good the american milkshakes. I'm crazy over full cream milk (my opinion, skimmed milk is not the real thing) and dark chocolate.

After writing this line, I went straight to the fridge to grab whatever's left of the Lindt chocolates we bought from Woolsworth which was much cheaper than buying from the cafe. Heh.


Highlight of Sydney trip: Hang gliding at BaldHill, Stanwell Park.




A hang glider gliding through the sky like a bird. This is the closest you can get to flying light like a bird. Blue Skies ahead, wind gushing beside your ears, the cliff side just distance away from your side and the sea water below. It was breathtaking. We just glide as the wind takes us.


If you think you cannot take the adrenaline rush of skydiving, hang gliding is worth considering. I preferred the rush of adrenaline which comes with skydiving but the serenity and tranquilty of hang gliding peacefully in the air comes close.




Geared up. All ready to go! Qihan said I look like the mushroom Super Mario jumped on to earn points. T_T
HAHAHA


The expert glider: You ready? When I say, Run, you start running along with me? Got it?
Newbie (Me): Yeap got it. Let's go.

He started running super quickly. And being way shorter than him which means my shorter legs cannot match his bigger strides, my feet kinda dragged the ground while running off the cliff. Within seconds, the windfront just lifted us up easily into the air.

Thats me. The aussie glider was a super friendly guy and we talked for a full 30 min straight from skydiving to scuba diving plus looking for a job. Haha. Interesting guy who loves his job and is getting paid for it. How cool. I am a person who cannot take awkward silence when hanging out with a stranger. I need to talk non-stop and thankfully, he can talk non-stop or else the ride would have been boring just gliding along for half an hour.

Cool license plate.I nearly had a chance to drive this 4wd down the hill to pick up the gliders since they took turns to bring the newbies down. They were pretty shorthanded. However, this aussie girl drove it instead. =\

Qihan's turn.

*****

BONDI BEACH!

The famous beach in Sydney. Decided to trade off Manly beach for this. It was so raved about in travel mags and shows so had to pay a visit to see what's so great about Bondi.

It was filled with joggers, lazy suntanners (read: hot babes and hunks), people walking their dogs and people like us, who well, take pictures like typical tourists.

hah, but it was great to walk barefoot in the sand and bask in the warm sunlight. It is warm but NOT humid, unlike SG.

Our fave meal of the day. A lovely start to a great day ahead.

Breakfast at this beach side cafe, Sobo. It was a nice comfy little cafe filled with good looking customers and waitstaff! And I had one of the best hot chocs ever.

Poached eggs on salmon.


Drools.

The three of us woke up early just to head to the beach.

Waking up early for me is actually very easy whenever I am overseas. Its just the natural thrill of seeing and experiencing the new stuff, I guess.

While Qihan was busy walking over to another part of the beach, The lazy girls went back to Sobo again to get drinks and slack.


The bill which came along with a tiny cup of Smarties, which we happily munched every single one. We seriously didn't let go any type of chocolates that came into our sight.

The reality of going back home set in with our last meal in Sydney. Decided to eat at this vietnamese restaurant and I had beef pho. The beef broth was delicious and I like the fact the raw beansprouts and veg came along in a separate plate because I hate bean sprouts esp those soaked in soup. =X

Well, what I can say? It was a smashing great trip. Everything went on splendidly and it was worth the 4.1k SGD for 18 days, great food and drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholid), activities, car rental, and the awesome accoms (except for the hostels, which are actually fine but in relative terms with the service apts, well. ok nvm.)

And the company/the group of friends, more than I can hope for. Great laughs, lame jokes cracked during the car ride (I forgot like, half of them already, but some were really crash wall kinda funny) and spontaneous to pose silly for the camera.

Thanks Grad Trippers, Thank you dad and mum and above all, Thank you God for making it happen!

Truly Blessed trip.