speech

2010-07-18T01:37:00.002+10:00

After a hectic week of work cum late night outings, i came back home this afternoon and practically embraced the bed.

In my slumber, i think a lot of things must have been running through my mind.

How did i know?

Cos when my sis woke me up, i recall thinking about those articulation worksheets that I use at work to get my kids/clients to practise their speech.

There were the 'st' cluster words...and the 'sl' cluster words floating through my mind while my sis was trying to get me to wake up.

I remember drifting in and out of sleep, and while struggling to wake up, I had this subconscious thought that I needed to practise those worksheets with my kids!

Sigh...or maybe i was just thinking about the 'sl' word 'SLEEP'! lol.

My sis says it's an occupational hazard.

***

Now that i've been working for a while...things are starting to settle.

Sometimes, I come home feeling like i've really put in a day's worth of hard work.

Other times, i think of the funny things the kids say that make me laugh.

There was this one session where the kid was trying hard to pronounce some of the words correctly.

His mother, sister and myself burst into laughter during the session, not because we were laughing at him, but because he was getting his words mixed up while trying so hard. I had to try and keep a straight face so that he wouldn't be hurt and think i was laughing at him.

Then, there are the kids who always want to win. They'll cry if they think they are going to lose.

***

You get a whole spectrum of kids and different personalities.

There are those who will throw tantrums with their parents...and whack you for no reason...gah!

There are those who know when their parents disapprove of their behaviours.

One boy kept saying 'sorry' to his mother while he continued to 'misbehave' (as defined by his mother), so saying sorry did not make sense as he was merely paying lip service to his mother!

There are those who will say thank you because they are prompted by their parents.

There are those who seem to take a liking to you one week and misbehave the next week.

***

Hmm..come to think about it, adults sometimes behave in similar ways, except that we probably misbehave in a more subtle ways!

Don't you think so?:D

2010-06-28T22:50:00.003+10:00

The month of june has come and gone in a flash.

There's been quite a few happy memories...birthday meet-ups, surprise 'skype' with the brisbane people (thanks shunz and the rest for organising!:D)

Cd launch concert which i was involved in...I have grown to appreciate and enjoy the different songs now after listening to them endless times!

It's been a month of feeling really blessed, time to think/reflect/be active and involved...having a better work-life balance.

Ok that's my short update on the month of june....till then, bye till inspiration comes again:D

2010-06-07T23:21:00.003+10:00

Random thoughts....

It's interesting how being apart makes people treasure relationships they have.

For example, as housemates, you take for granted seeing each other so frequently and may not treasure the opportunities you have to share with each other. Take Shunwei and myself....now that we're back in Singapore, meet-up sessions seem so precious because we hardly have time to meet given our busy schedules and the different groups of friends we have to catch up with. When we do meet, it seems like suddenly there's so much to talk about and there's not enough time to talk about everything! I see though, that it was because back in aust, our relationship had matured to a certain understanding, that we've come to know and accept each other....yes, after all those conflicts! lol. So anyway, i just wanted to say THANK YOU to Shunwei for being my friend. You have grown to be such a beautiful girl and I'm so glad God put us together as housemates to learn from each other. Most importantly, he gave me a friend in you.

***

Had an early birthday celebration with a group of friends at vivo...they are another group of friends whose company i enjoy as well. It's so interesting to see how our lives have changed now that we're working...as compared to young innocent us back then! This is what my witty friend wished me for my birthday:
Happy birthday to YOU
You were born in the JUNE
You BAY like a horsey
But it'll still be in TUNE

lol to Xueqi! Thanks for the comical witty poem!

***

P.S. I value all my other friends as well...just feel compelled talk about some of these relationships because....i'm in a reflective mood! haha.

2010-05-18T00:51:00.004+10:00

Kids say and do the cutest, funniest things.
Some days (especially after weekends! ->Mon blues), I drag myself to work. After all, work is not called work for nothing. Once i hit the workplace, it means...it's time to start work:(
But... there are some things that motivate me to do my work cheerfully.
->The kids i meet there
->The smiles on their faces
->Just seeing the children makes me happy
->When the kids show progress
->When parents tell me they did the homework i gave them to do with their children
->When children show progress as a result of parents doing homework with them (SIGH when parents don't do the homework i give them!)
-> ... ...
I need to start thinking of more points as to why I am motivated to work cheerfully and enjoy my work. As much as I would like to 'holiday' forever, I do understand that it is a God-given function to work and serve and bless others. It's more blessed to give than to receive. All the more in this type of job that i'm in. I'm very priviledged to be able to help others. *reminder to self!*
Mmmmmm........

2010-04-23T00:16:00.005+10:00

So this is my first post after having started work a while ago. It's been ages since i've blogged and actually, i've kinda lost the inspiration to keep up with blogging. Especially when you realise there's such a huge transition from student to working adult. Bleah.

Anyway, life in Sg has been pretty good. Not that it was all smooth-sailing. Starting work was probably one of the biggest trials i faced. I realise I don't cope very well under pressure. Still, thank God i'm getting the hang of work now...figuring out the system and getting used to the workload. One thing i realised during that period was: no man is an island. If i didn't have a supportive family and friends to talk to, i would have seriously crashed. Thank God for his promises that kept me going.

Other than that, sg is generally a pleasant place to be in...lots of things to do and see. So many different groups of people to meet up with. So many new stories to hear of...how everyone's lives have moved on. Of course, I still miss aust:P Fresh air, laidback lifestyle, the church, the beach, the familiar faces...lol! I will definitely want to visit that place again:P I never feel very far away from brissy with internet and facebook and lovely eunice to keep me updated about what's happening over at the other side.

The thought that has been on my mind these past few months has been this word: seasons. There are different seasons of life God places us in. I know i have stepped into a new season, which i'm still learning to embrace, sometimes grudgingly, yet well-aware that behind all this is a greater plan, a purpose which i may not be fully aware of. It may be likened to a butterfly that's being formed inside a cocoon...or a bud that's bidding its time before it blossoms into a flower.

The right attitude, i guess, is to enjoy every season that you're in. The human attitude, is to tell God to take me out of whatever seasons I don't enjoy. The secret, God has shown me, is to daily surrender every single day to God... and it's only when i come to the end of my own strength that God begins to do something. Joy, and a new song in my heart, is something I cannot let the world take away from me. It's too precious to be lost. It's so easy to rejoice when all is going well, but when pressures set in, and things seem to be vying for my time, that's where the challenge begins. God has been good, he has placed new songs in my heart. The next challenge is as the song says, to 'let my lifesong sing' to Him.

It has been a meaningful first few months back in Sg, and i've enjoyed all the weird random impromptu activities and hangouts and conversations that i've found myself in... and more to come:P

2010-01-08T15:37:00.005+10:00

As i embark on a new phase of my journey back home in Sg, here's a snippet of some memories i've taken back with me from Brisbane:

Kangaroo point when the flowers were in full bloom:

Kangaroo point again, this time catching the sunset view together with my family whilst having a picnic:

Grad day!

The day most students would look forward to.

Though I wasn't in the right frame of mind to celebrate as I was still suffering from a bout of flu, it was nonetheless an event to remember.

Shunwei and i certainly had heaps of fun trying to figure out how to wear our gown and hat correctly, and attempting to capture a shot of us jumping in our gowns (which we failed miserably as the none of our cameras could capture night scene moving images well-->we ended up looking like ghosts! Gahhhh).

And then, it was back to sunny, humid Sg.

The days that followed were fun....

catching up with family, relatives and friends....

exploring Sg with new eyes and a fresh perspective.

Paid a visit to Nanny, Amanda and Jeffrey:

Two beloved friends...Weiteen and Cass!

Friends from church. Looks like i'll be hanging out in Tampines quite a fair bit!

Not forgetting, my very lovable grandfather!

This was an outing to orchard road with my uncle and grandfather...orchard road has certainly changed a lot, with not just new, but high-end shopping centres with exotic themes and designs.

My bubbly cousin who never fails to make me smile:

The start of 2010 marks a period of transition for me.

There are questions i'm asking God...wondering how i can be involved in 2010, in the life of my church here, in the life of my future workplace. God in his wise counsel and infinite understanding chooses not to reveal everything to me at once, allowing me to search and ponder, and to seek him.

It is like the proverbs say:

'It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;

to search out a matter is the glory of kings.'

2010 will have to be a time of seeking Him, and I have to determine that in my heart now, knowing that this may very well be a busy year for me.

One memory i've kept with me from brisbane reassures me that God will continue to watch over me and direct my path--> below: a picture of a rainbow captured from just outside my church in brisbane. It reminds me that the God of heaven and earth is a faithful God who keeps to his promises. Thank you God for a wonderful 2009 and a new exciting faith-filled journey in the future!

2009-11-14T20:35:00.003+10:00

Counting down to Monday 16 Nov = end of exams = no more studying = freedom = start of holidays = lots of visitors coming = lots of outings = lots of food = lots of fun :)

.... and = lots of farewells = countdown to 26Dec and goodbye to Brissie.

Sobs:(((((

2009-10-22T20:04:00.002+10:00

Come to think of it, next week's my last week ever that I will get to sit in lectures with my group of friends that I've grown used in this four-year speech course.

While I don't think I'll miss lectures, I think I will miss all the chatting and joking and groaning (over assignments and exams) and fun we had:(

2009-09-26T15:27:00.003+10:00

This is sooo cute!

A two-yr old from church trying to say the Lord's prayer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLe8Li-lMRw&feature=autofb

This is a video of the children's camp which i was helping out for a day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2iIfgE9jfI&feature=autofb

2009-09-20T21:40:00.008+10:00

Thought this was interesting...so i'll share it on my blog:

We're doing journalling at church, which basically means that we read a few verses a day from the bible and try to apply it for that day when we go about our daily activities. So on Tuesday, what struck me was the part that talks about if you 'call yourself a brother'. That set me thinking: am i living up to what i profess to be in terms of being a friend to others?

We had group work that night and my friend and i stayed back to print handouts for our seminar the following day. As it was getting late, I decided to buy dinner and treat my friend whom i felt had put in a lot of effort in getting stuff organised for the seminar. I ordered two takeaways and waited to collect my food.

When the buzzer rang, i went to the counter, where there were two packs in front of me for collection. I grabbed both, hurried to my car, and drove off to meet my friend who had started printing handouts first. When I arrived, I happily took out the boxes, and realised to my complete puzzlement that the 4 boxes given to me did not quite seem like what i had ordered. I had ordered black bean chicken with rice, and beef noodles for my friend. So maybe...i box of rice, i box of chicken...hmmm....maybe soup comes with it...but wait, why did it seem like there were extra boxes??

It finally dawned upon me that I must have taken someone else's order as well. There were four meals worth of food. I couldn't quite believe it. My first reaction was, 'oh no....how am i going to finish all these food??!' Second thought was that i didn't want to drive all the way back just to return the food. There was no point returning it anyway since so much time had passed and they would have made a new one for the other customer by then. So that night, i had a feast....and enough leftovers to make a meal for the next day.

What's the moral of the story? No...it's not to grab as many bags of food as you can see when collecting takeaways...as much as I would like such things to happen more often to me:P I think God allowed it to happen to show me something... the fact that when I bless others, I am blessed myself. Come to think of it, it was because I ordered two meals that I had no qualms collecting two bags of food. What i didn't know was that the two bags of food contained four meals and not two! Talk about multiplication...

My friend didn't want to accept my treat initally, but accepted my gesture when i told her i wanted to bless her. She's the type of person that prefers gifts given during everyday occasions, rather than have people spend lavish amounts on events such as birthdays. I quite agree...it's such a refreshing viewpoint! So I knew she would understand and accept my gesture. In doing so, i was blessed myself...the extra food was a blessing since i was so busy with my seminar preparations that i didn't have time to cook.

I think God is such a humorous God. You never know what He's going to do next.

Today was the annual children's camp at church...and boy, was i glad i went! I arrived half-sleepy and not very enthusiastic, but by the end of the day: full of energy, with lots of learning points to take away with me. There's so much beauty in children. So much that we can give, so much to laugh at, so much to care for.

Photos of the children who brought a smile to my face:

2009-09-03T14:37:00.003+10:00

One of the assessment tools I am using in my honours project measures depression, anxiety and stress in patients.

Norms for this assessment tool were previously obtained from a student population, and a later study reported norms based on the general adult population.

Unsurprisingly, mean scores for depression, anxiety and stress are lower in the general adult population as compared to the student population, with previous studies suggesting there is 'evidence of elevated rates of psychological disturbance in student populations'.

Poor students! I quite agree!

Still, I wonder if my stress levels will drop when i start work?

Counting down to graduation....

2009-08-22T22:40:00.002+10:00

Ah Tan's in Brisbane!!

Seeing her brings fond memories of Sg...haha.

She's still the same Ah Tan....ever so funny.

It was a good catch-up time today:P

Thanks YL and Lyd for driving us everywhere!

Missing morning service tmr...going for CPR course. Have to kiss the dummy again. haha.

2009-08-08T00:58:00.004+10:00

I've just realised that as a speech pathologist, I feel like a detective.

An investigator trying to find out what's wrong with my client.

Like when I was scoring an assessment today, and realised that my client most likely had dyslexia. I literally had goosebumps when it dawned upon me that, there was a term for the difficulties my client was facing.

Dyslexia is not scary, it's just a formal way of saying, someone has difficulties with reading and spelling. Those difficulties, however, could be due to a number of reasons. It's just that, my client's difficulties were quite atypical, which was why i was getting more horrified as i scored the assessment. When i realised it was dyslexia, it made me feel relieved, cos i knew what therapy to do with my client!

That must be how parents feel when they are given a formal label about the difficulties their children are facing. I mean, some oppose the idea of 'labelling' children, and there's pros and cons, but it does give parents a better understanding of the difficulties and help they can get.

Yes, clinic has started again and i'm....working with young children again! How interesting. God must be preparing me for work at my future workplace with kids. One of my clients is a very active young girl, so i'm planning lots of fun games for my next session to keep her occupied. Things like....cooking and dressing up.

Haha. I'm going to have lots of fun myself:P

2009-08-05T15:16:00.003+10:00

God is such an amazing, amazing God.

I can't say enough about how amazing He is. When i think about it, i'm just blown away. To know that in all things, He is able to work for the good of those who love him. That's incredible.

Been busy with uni and church, but these have been exciting times.

With Synergy conference next week, i'm really expecting great things to happen.

Mainly, that people are going to experience such freedom...from the baggage in life and things that hold them back.

After all, the bible did say: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free - Gal 5:1

2009-07-23T12:59:00.011+10:00

I've still got some time before I leave for encounter camp, so i shall blog:P

Holiday update part two.....Tas!

Estee's quite right about me disappearing somewhere every holidays, i find that i am always travelling! In two more hours, I'll be off to Sunshine coast. I'm going to enjoy every minute of it before i come back and find that uni starts again on Mon:(

After eating lots in Melb, Leo, Jon, Steph and I took our flight to Tas.

We were warned by our two hosts (Jon and Steph) to brace ourselves for the cold the moment we stepped out of the plane.

(The walkway to the airport is unsheltered for domestic flights...sadly.)

And yes, it was cold.

That however, wasn't the coldest i was going to experience in Tas!

View from Jon's house! It's framed by mountains and lakes:

Some of the places we visited:

We went to Bicheno, walked along the beach, listened to music...

...explored a nearby resort...

holidays at such places are great for unwinding, cos you just want to slow down, and it feels like you have all the time in the world. haha.

Still at Bicheno...doesn't this look like some fairytale picture...haha. You just need to picture a king and queen sitting on a horse carriage. lol.

Wine glass bay...we could hike up to the lookout or walk downward to the beach, but we decided on the former. (there are more pics but my blog post is too long!)

View of the lighthouse from a cliff....

we were facing the ocean and apparently it was possible to sight whales from there.

That day was Jon's birthday and we came back in time to eat dinner at a high-class Greek restaurant.

Thanks Jon for bringing us to wine glass bay and for all the driving you did!

Birthday boy and Leo with their seafood meals:

while the three girls had lamb/chicken:
...and Jon also got a complimentary Greek dessert fr the restaurant since it was his bdae!
Cake-cutting with Jon's housemates:

Bridge at Richmond:

There were heaps of ducks and geese by the river banks. Close-up shot:

The little boy was having heaps of fun feeding them:

Some of the quaint shops we saw....teddy bear shop! (the dog's real..haha.)

to Amanda: Jeffrey would love this shop! Lots of soft toys, carpentry....etc.

the black dolls are golliwogs:

i like how the arrange their toys:

This was at Salamanca market...a shop selling strawberries and cream:

Salamanca market:

Scottish bagpipes:

Kebabs...i had a lamb kebab which was very nice.

Australian lamb doesn't have a strong smell like those in sg.

So that was the sight-seeing.

Food is a very important component of any holiday, and oh my, did we have good food during our trip. The seafood was really fresh there.

Some food expeditions:

outdoor bbq:

While it looks nice and sunny, it was actually really cold....

our food turned cold within minutes of taking it off the bbq!

My first time eating wood-fired pizza.

It was very nicely-done...very different fr Dominos pizza..haha.

This is how they cook it...in that big metal fireplace:

Jon's silverbeet crops and me posing with the scissors...haha.

And that's how they look like harvested. They taste nice stir-fried:

Fish and chips, or rather, shark and chips:

This to me was the highlight of the trip....

Mt Wellington where we played with snow:p

The snowball looks like it's glowing in this pic.

Considering that this was Leo's first time playing with real snow (Snow city is not counted!), he did very well in making such a huge snowball!

We stayed for about half an hour in the snow before we decided it was too cold and left carrying the snowball back as a present for Steph, who was at home studying for her exams.

So that's my jumbled-up post of my trip to Tas. We did lots more stuff....like eating lots of ice-cream and cakes, and singing... and singing... and singing... I think that's what we did the most. Sing and talk. haha. Even 'Happy Birthday' was in acapella. The two siblings' voices have improved so much! Leo and i were contented to listen awe-struck. Didn't get to hear Leo sing in Korean this time! He sang in Eng/Chi though. I was the keyboardist:P

I need to make a fuss about the number of times I was mistakenly called 'Audrey' by Leo and Steph....right till the end of the trip! And the number of times they commented on how i spoke and sounded like my sis, and how our laughter was the same high-pitched laughter....except, Audrey's is higher. That's why she's in soprano. Haha!

Time to go to sunshine coast....

Thanks to my two hosts Jon and Steph for being soooo hospitable and for making the trip so enjoyable!

Ridiculous flu

2009-07-20T12:48:00.004+10:00

The number of events that were affected because I came down suddenly with flu:

I was:

Unable to play keyboard on Sun
Unable to join Lydia's parents for Sat's dinner and Sun's lunch
Unable to attend CCA meeting on Sun
Unable to go to the royal brisbane hospital today to help out in Jess' research study
Unable to go for sunrise outing tmr
Unable to meet honours deadline
In a very unsociable mood....Shunwei who's sick at home as well can prolly attest to that.

Boohoo....this is sad.

Waiting for my lunch to digest so i can sleep again! The good thing abt this is, I get to sleep heaps. Like a pig. Haha.

2009-07-13T22:16:00.008+10:00

My poor blog's quite stagnant.

I've been slightly distracted by the confusing world of facebook these past two days...haha.
Plus i have an honours draft due this Thursday.
Slowly getting into the hang of working on assignments again!

My close-to-two-week holiday trip has been fabulous.
I came back feeling so recharged for next sem: uni and church.
For now, my timetable for next sem looks quite empty, but it's probably going to get quite busy.
My last few months at church in aust? I'm expecting spectacular things:P
*
So, let me blog about my trip to Melb and Tas in parts.
*
Part 1: Melb-Great ocean road and lots of food:
*
I ended exams on thursday 9.30am and had a 1.40pm flight to catch on the exact same day. Yewlim was supposed to give me a lift to the airport but due to unforseen circumstances, i had to rush to catch the train...thank God i made it:P
All that rush so that i could meet up with my relatives before they went back to Sg the next day.
I met up with the Bay cousins and family on my first night at Melb.
It was great catching up with them and they treated me to yummy korean food:

Of all the states i've visited so far (Sydney, Perth, Bris, Melb, Tas), Melb to me would be the most modern state, with a vibrant city life. No wonder Jared said he would be distracted if he studied in Melb!

As i had some travel passes to use up, i decided to go for the great ocean road tour, reputed to be one of the most scenic drives in the world.

I met this taiwanese girl who was also alone, so we befriended each other and exchanged stories.

This is the lovely taiwanese girl who's been working and travelling in aust for about 10 months. She was nice enough to send me pictures when my camera battery died on me.

Note the doggie behind her:P

12 apostles. Highlight of the tour:

I decided to take the helicopter ride too....just to see what it was like to sit in a helicopter! haha.

that's a picture taken fr inside the helicopter:

Another aerial view:

Another famous structure called London Bridge.

Originally, there were two complete archs.

The story has it (true story) that a tourist couple walked across the bridge and one arch collapsed, leaving them stranded on the limestone structure until a fisherman spotted them.

Later when it made headlines, they were so embarrassed because the couple didn't want people to know they were together. haha.

I like how you can see the different layers of limestone compressed over time. Yay..i still remember some geography:P

The next day, i was joined by Leonard, Jon, Steph, and we then embarked on our massive food-hunting and food eating sessions.

(The day before, i was happily buying Bread Talk buns to eat cos Bread Talk had branches in Melb! If only they will open in Bris...)

We ate heaps of ice-cream, egg tarts, korean, m'sian, thai, italian food.

That was only the start....lots more delicious food in Tas!

To be continued...

2009-06-24T21:38:00.002+10:00

OMG...before I disappear for my holiday, I need to say that I am sooooo thankful to God for my future workplace in Sg.

I just got informed that I will be working with children! Yahooooo:P

Thank you God...

This must have been planned a long time ago, before I discovered my interest in working with children. All my other friends had received their posting last year, but I wasn't informed till I requested to know where I would be posted to. Was pushing off asking them till now cos I wasn't particularly keen to find out. After my placement with children this year, I was hoping i'll get to work with children in the future. How can this be anything else but the hand of God?!

Thank you God:P

2009-06-22T21:33:00.002+10:00

Things to do:

Pack luggage
Finish up groceries
Eat, sleep and study (The usual order during exam periods would be study, eat, sleep, but for my case...studying makes me hungry, so eating becomes my biggest priority. Haha)

Counting down to Thurs!

Will be off to Melb and Tassie once my exam ends this Thurs morning:P

2009-06-17T22:29:00.003+10:00

Thought i'll put up a picture of the cake that Shunwei made for me.

Thank you Shunwei!! For all the effort you put in even when you're sick.

Get well soon:P

And yes, i'm a year older now. haha.

It was nice receiving well-wishes fr around Aust and Sg. Thanks everyone!

2009-06-05T20:42:00.005+10:00

Today marked the last day of my placement.

It also marked the end of my most memorable learning experience in my four years of undergraduate study.

Even as I think back now and reflect, I'm just amazed, that God orchestrated this whole thing. From not going to Townsville, to staying at Jade's house, to meeting my supervisor and the other team members there....I am amazed.

I am even more amazed at the outcome. The feeling is so different from my last placement, where i felt like i had to prove myself, and the relationship was a mere supervisor-student one.

At this placement, I felt like part of the working team, and the clinical learning i had in this one placement is priceless. That relational aspect of working in this placement, building relationships with team members and clients, was something that differentiated this placement from the previous ones i had.

It has also uncovered my interest in working in the paediatric sector.

Some of the memories i will remember:

The little boy who spontaneously ran up to me and gave me a tight hug.

The smiles and laughter i shared with another little boy who once upon a time was oblivious to social engagement.

The insights i have received from my supervisor to be able to realise the impact i can have on these children and their families.

And yes, thank you God for the amazing results you've given me.

My supervisor placed me at above entry level (the level at which one's ready to start work) for a number of components.

What I've taken away from this placement though, is not numbers or results, but learning that cannot be quantified on paper.

The one thing I will remember from my supervisor:

It is a privilege to work with families and their children, and we never know the impact we can have on their lives.

That is so true, and i was really glad i met someone in my profession who thinks the same way and is passionate about what she does.

She has been truely inspirational.

So even though i'm sad that my placement has come to an end, I've left feeling stronger, more competent, and inspired.

God, the work you are doing in my life is.... sooooo.... amazing.

Also, Happy birthday Jade!

I'm so happy for you:P

2009-05-21T20:05:00.007+10:00

After this morning's session with one of my clients, i was thinking in my mind, I've blown it. After progressing so much these few days and feeling like I do know something, I've screwed up with this session. I came out of the session feeling flustered and gave my supervisor a wane smile. We had to prepare for the next few sessions, so there wasn't time for feedback till late afternoon.

So finally, my supervisor asked me, "What did think of today's session?"

..."Errr...ok?? I wasn't sure how to react to the child's behaviour...."

She went through the feedback with me.

At the end of it, she said, "I think it was a great session."

"The highlight of it was when put on the spot, you worked around your plan and used the materials that you had." I had planned to make a snowman with the child using playdough, but after checking with the mum, I realised he didn't like the feel of playdough. However, he liked bowling, so I changed it into a game where he had to roll the playdough into a box.

It was a brainwave really. Thank God for that.

He's been giving me wonderful brainwaves these few sessions.

I'm really grateful I've got such an encouraging supervisor.

She's given me very constructive feedback that I can benefit from.

Experienced as she is, I see that she doesn't always get instant results because the child's behaviour can be challenging.

It's really reassuring for me when I realise, it's not because I'm a bad therapist that the session doesn't turn out the way I thought it would.

After all, I am dealing with challenging children and it's up to me to rise up to that challenge....and I will:P

Other news...Queensland's just had its worse flood since the 1974 floods.

It was pouring non-stop for about two days.

For two days in a row, I had to walk in the cold, crazy rain from the train station to work, slipping and sliding in my slippers. Didn't want to wear shoes cos they would be soaked by the time I reached the office.

Fortunately, my supervisor drove me to the train station after work.

On the second day, I had planned to drive to work since I had no wish to walk in the rain. Was slowing eating my breakfast, relieved that I didn't have to rush for the train. Then Jade told me, the roads were flooded.

Heaps of people were stuck on the highway.

So then, I decided it was better to catch the next train and walk in the rain.

Very fortunately, the train was on time. Others spent 1-3 hours on the road and came to office exclaiming about their extremely long drive to work.

That night, I came home grumpy, tired from work and fed up with the cold rainy weather. The next day, I read from my work email that a riding for the disabled organisation somewhere was badly affected by the floods. All their birds and two horses had drowned in the flood. In other suburbs, people couldn't enter or leave their houses, cos their towns were like gigantic swimming pools.

So then, what am I grumbling about, when I am so blessed?

It's time to change old mindsets....and make way for new ones.

God, give me a new wineskin. Put in me a passion that cannot be quenched, because your life-giving power has the ability to sustain.

2009-05-18T21:26:00.007+10:00

It's a challenge to work with children with autism.

Here's what an author has to say about working with such children:

Some of these children are involved with the manipulation of objects to the exclusion of social interaction....

to be successful, the child's attention must shift from the object to the adult.

Becoming the object of interest will shift this attention.

The adult must be the toy: a silly, animated, playful, creative toy!

(note to myself: become the child's new toy, the child's newfound interest!)

This is her advice for therapists/parents who say:

'I've tried, but his staying power is extremely weak. I feel that he is just not interested in me! What can I do?'

Her reply....

Be outrageous. Be flamboyant.

Be bigger than life.

Become the focal point of the room.

Become so animated that he can't help but notice, stop a second and watch!

Pull his sock over his shoe, his shirt over his head. Toss a pillow at him, run after him, block his path, pick him up and twirl him, pop out at him and blow bubbles in his face, wear a mask and creep up slowly.

Oh wow. Therapy is actually... really, really fun!

I am so getting a taste of childhood again.

2009-05-07T19:10:00.002+10:00

So busy...but i wanted to say this:

Thank you God for this placement!

What my mum said was really true...children are bundles of joy:P

2009-05-02T09:39:00.007+10:00

Happy 21st Birthday to my sister!!

My sis is my:

=>Best friend

=> Confidante...there are no secrets between us!!

=> My advisor

=> My fashion consultant

When we're together, we can talk about anything under the sun and laugh at the most ridiculous, un-laughable things ever....simply cos we're together.

Even after all our fights and disagreements...we'll patch back eventually...and laugh over everything silly again.

So...here are some pictures for reminiscing...

My beautiful family.

My parents and my sis...they are the ones who teach me unconditional love:

This was when they came to aust to visit me...oh man we ate heaps and heaps!
They even visited my uni!
We are a very pink family....my dad looks nice in a pink shirt too:p Haha.

Ok i have to put this picture of my sis with Gen cos whenever we travel, she'll want to be part of our family portrait. This was a trip to China...which i missed out on...aww.

Finally....my sis and I!

Unfortunately, my sis is in the midst of exams now. But it'll be over soon:P

To my sis:
Thank you for being such a wonderful sister!
I love you!

2009-04-27T20:50:00.002+10:00

In order to finish my assignment yesterday, i only had 3 hours of sleep:(

Surprisingly, i was able to remain quite awake throughout the whole day....

and even now!

Still, I'm going to sleep early to get my beauty sleep.

Yesterday was a big day.

I had to move all my stuff to Jade and Ben's house (thank you guys for letting me stay at your house!), finish my assignment, and have dinner with Jessie and gang to say goodbye before she leaves for Korea.

Don't go, Jessie!

Here's pictures of our ice-skating session we had specially for Jessie.

It was the night when youth camp had ended and i was quite exhausted.

BUT for the sake of Jessie...and ice-skating (haha)...i went!

Jessie and me:

Group photo (missing wally in the picture....where's wally?):

Now, i'm happily settled in Jade and Ben's house.
They gave me a room all to myself, cook yummy meals for me....

i'm very blessed indeed:P

Also, it is so much faster for me to get to my placement from here...phew.

I had a good first day at my placement, got introduced to heaps of staff, and discovered my clinical educator is a very capable lady who's got heaps of clinical experience and knows the latest cutting-edge research on children with autism.

And i get to drive the company car tomorrow. Cool!

Ok time to sleep...zzzz

2009-04-20T10:39:00.002+10:00

Received this email from my aunty and i thought it was interesting:

RECALL NOTICE:
*
The Maker of all human beings (GOD) is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to a serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart.
*
This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units code named Adam and Eve, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect has been technically termed "Sub-sequential Internal Non-Morality," or more commonly known as S.I.N., as it is primarily expressed.
*
Some of the symptoms include:
1. Loss of direction
2. Foul vocal emissions
3. Amnesia of origin
4. Lack of peace and joy
5. Selfish or violent behavior
6. Depression or confusion in the mental component
7. Fearfulness
8. Idolatry
9. Rebellion
*
The Manufacturer, who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing factory-authorized repair and service free of charge to correct this defect.
*
The Repair Technician, JESUS, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. There is no additional fee required.
*
The number to call for repair in all areas is: P-R-A-Y-E-R.
Once connected, please upload your burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure.
Next, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, Jesus, into the heart component.
*
No matter how big or small the SIN defect is, Jesus will replace it with:
1. Love
2. Joy
3. Peace
4. Patience
5. Kindness
6. Goodness
7. Faithfulness
8. Gentleness
9. Self control
*
Please see the operating manual, the B.I.B.L.E. (Believers' Instructions Before Leaving Earth) for further details on the use of these fixes.
*
WARNING: Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction voids any manufacturer warranties, exposing the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list and will result in the human unit being permanently impounded. For free emergency service, call on Jesus.
*
DANGER: The human being units not responding to this recall action will have to be scrapped. The SIN defect will not be permitted to enter Heaven so as to prevent contamination of that facility. Thank you for your attention!
*
- GOD

2009-04-14T10:58:00.003+10:00

Hurray! Will be off for youth camp this wed to sat.

The theme is: transformation.

It promises to be fun....

with high-energy activities such as rock climbing and surfing.

Now trying to shake all the water out of my ears so it won't get blocked if i go swimming in the sea. Troublesome!

Will be driving down to the gold coast alone for abt 1hr 15mins...

God, grant me journey mercy!

Yay...exciting:P

2009-04-11T21:41:00.004+10:00

Here are some scattered pictures of the outings i've been to recently:

Grace's birthday....my first time at the uni pub. Lol. So suah ku.

Grace sure can drink! haha.

It's a nice place to chill out:p Just that, it's a bit noisy.

And then, it was Teagan's birthday next. We had Vietnamese at West End:

(my mum will so want to eat this...haha)

Our cell group with our new African friends:P
They are a nice bunch.

I love chatting with the two African girls who are so bubbly.
Korean Lyn joined our cell for the first time too!
Jessie is going off in two weeks time....back to Korea. Noooooo....

Oh in the photo...it was Alison's bdae and i made cheesecake:P
(Pic background: living room of the house which Yewlim, Lyd, Shunz and i are staying in)

Family steamboat...with the fish that YL and Lyd caught during their deep sea fishing trip in Bundaberg.

The fish is really nice. Not fishy at all. Lovely texture.

Thanks YL and Lyd for the nice treat!

These few weeks have been very exciting weeks.

I'm so excited, because i realise that the things God has been speaking to me about are in line with what God is speaking to the church at ICC.

I see that i'm catching onto what God is doing at church.
For e.g, i was led to read Jonah one day, and realised later on sun that Ps David shared abt Jonah during Fri midnight prayer. That was like....wow!

It raises a very thought-provoking question: how wide, how long, how high, and how deep is your love for people...of different nationalities, race, personalities? When i see God as my standard, i realise i fall short in terms of the extent that i can love people.

God's love is so unconditional, selfless. Always willing to forgive. Amazing.

Just yesterday, i woke up at 5.30am.

Decided to pray since it was not normal that i should wake up so early.

That was just a wonderful time of worship and hearing from God.

Was singing the song "You'll come". Part of the lyrics goes like this:

Surely as the sun will rise You'll come to us, certain as the dawn appears.

At the time i was singing this, dawn had just begun (abt 6am).

I felt God remind me that He is coming soon, revival is going to hit our church and we need to prepare ourselves.

It's already started in the hearts of some individuals.

What i've tasted is only the beginning.

Boy am i glad God woke me up to pray.

I later heard from Serene that the theme for last night's midnight prayer was related to revival.
Oh, the friday prayer meetings nowadays! The atmosphere is charged with expectancy.
Things are going to happen....

2009-03-30T13:11:00.006+10:00

Study is endless....gah....shall blog instead.

Our cell had an outing to west end market last sat.

Originally, the plan was to go to the longan farm. Unfortuately it was closed till mid April, so that didn't work out.

So...to west end it was!

It was supposed to be a breakfast outing.

Actually, most of us already had our breakfasts.

So, it was snack time at west end market....$1 cheesesticks:

In the photo: Sheldon (he's of Polish descent..hmm...maybe we can try Polish food one day), me, Eunice, Korean Lyn, Shunz

Patricia, our housemate came along too...and she bought a boxful of groceries. Wahhhh....

Beautiful dunno-called-what flowers:

We came across this lady who does face-painting...isn't the child cute!

Australian coconuts!

I think they are the hard crunchy type...

not like in sg where you get the soft creamy ones.

Impromptu lunch at our house.... jap curry!

Sheldon and Lyn engrossed in playing Wii....

It's much easier to get a strike in bowling here than in real life. Lol.

The outdoor fun begins!

We walked over to the nearby park for our kite-flying adventure.

The walk there:

Hot hot sun....out comes the shades!

Sadly, we were not very successful in keeping the kite up in the air for long.

We had to keep running and the next day Eunice and i woke up with aching muscles!

At least it was high in the sky:P Shunwei even used up the whole roll of string!

It was great fun and it was so comical to watch everyone take a turn and run as fast as they could till they were tired out. Haha. You guys are great sports:P

Later in the evening, we went for the African fund-raising concert at church, which left me in a groovy mood after that.

I love weekends:P

2009-03-25T17:04:00.003+10:00

Oh oh oh...

It seems that I'm not gg to Townsville anymore.

My clinical coordinator has just informed us that the staff at the special ed school can't take 2 girls, so one of us has to drop out.

Since the other girl has a sister at Townsville, I offered to let her stay on...

where i go in Aust doesn't make a difference to me....i don't have family here! Lol.

BUT... i did tell my clinical coordinator i would prefer a local placement if possible.

So...we shall see. Fingers crossed.

No wonder today, the word i got when doing journalling from the bible was: different direction.

Hmmmm...

2009-03-24T10:57:00.006+10:00

It's time to announce....my departure from Brisbane for 6 weeks.

I will be leaving for Townsville somewhere end April for my clinical placement.

Was a bit shocked when i heard the news.

When my clinical coordinator was reading out the names of those who were going on rural placements, i had this feeling i was going to be called.

True enough....i was one of the first few to be called cos my surname is usually right at the start of the list. Lol.

I wasn't particularly keen on a rural placement cos of all my commitments in Brisbane...

While doing journalling, i felt God was saying to focus on him, he will never change.

All the church ministries i'm involved in...he will take care of it.

So with that assurance, i can happily look forward to my trip!

Wrote this song shortly after that:

Your call

Is deep within my heart

My hope

Is secure in God alone

In the days uncertain You're there for me

In confusion i sought you Till i found peace

By Your spirit reveal, prepare me

For the wonders you have to show me

So I'll sing: The Lord is my rock

My Fortress and strength

Wonderful Counselor, King

You are my Shepherd and guide

Provider and friend

You knew it all before me

I surrender all

Was reading up a little on the special education school i am going to.

It was what i chose in my clinical planning form...i wanted to work in a special ed sch setting and see what it was like to work with children who have autism.

The school that i'm going to, all the children have an intellectual impairment.

This promises to be a challenging experience and a huge learning curve again for me.

Plus i get the added benefits of travelling while i'm there.

Townsville is just below Cairns, very near the great barrier reef area....

plenty of rainforests, waterfalls...etc etc.

It should be fun!

Now i just have to try and find accomodation:P

2009-03-21T22:10:00.009+10:00

Today has been a 'thinking and talking about food' day.

It all started when i spoke to my mum and was tantalised by her account of my dad's Orh Nee dessert, which according to her, had everyone satisfied and delighted. I imagine it could have looked something like that:

(Image credit: http://www.sgkueh.com/)

Then i decided to make a chinese dessert myself since it was tea time and i was craving for food.
So using whatever ingredients i could find, i concocted the closest version of cheng po leong i could create with my limited ingredients. Sadly, i had to go without my favourite gingko nuts as the canned ones sold at sunnybank were past their expiry date! Sigh. Chinese supermarkets in aust...things are old and dusty...and possibly beyond their expiry date. Hrumph.

At least we (Yew Lim, Lyd, Patricia and i) managed to get a durian from the supermarket! Poor Shunwei was complaining about the smell when i started eating my durian. At one end where the dining table was, it was complete bliss as i slowly savoured the creamy durian flesh. At the other end of the kitchen, it was utter dislike and (i imagine) a wrinkling of the nose (lol...just teasing you, Shunwei!). Durians...it's either a love or hate relationship.

After my dessert, i ended up surfing the net to learn more about the nutritive value of chinese desserts... and started salivating at the yummy dessert pictures i came across.

I had something like this in Hong Kong previously:

(Image credit: http://www.hongkonghustle.com/)

Hong Kong has dessert shops that specialise exclusively in mango desserts. They have durian desserts too. The variety they have is incredible. Everything's nice...the only thing i wouldn't dare to try is hasmar...what that is, i shall not disclose here. Haha.

I remember when my family and i were in HK, there was one occasion where we were eating desserts at around 10/11pm at night. Everyone chose a different dessert so that we could try a variety. One day...one day....i shall possibly want to go to HK again. Just for the food....*salivates*

These are a few of my favourite things - they can be found in the chinese bakery.

(Image credit: http://dessertfirst.typepad.com/)

Then, tonight in church, i talked to some Africans and learned about the staple food they eat. People from Zambia eat cornmeal porridge, a dish called Nshima. Sounds interesting. I'm guessing it's like the food i ate in Philippines. Maybe one day i'll get to try African food!

Anyway...today has been a food day. I had delicious honey soy chicken at church today cooked by Uncle Edward and helpers. This was followed by corn sago dessert (The Africans asked me what it was called and all i could say was...it contains coconut cream, corn, and sago). Now if only i can think of my uni work in the same way i think of food. When i think of work, i get a headache. Haha.

So why am i so into food all of a sudden? We were measuring ourselves on the Wii fitness board one day and i realised i am quite underweight. BMI too low. Faints. It's time to attempt to gain some mass. I shall give myself free rein to eat as much as i feel like eating, since gaining weight in my case is a good thing. Food time!

Shunwei, eat more too!!

2009-03-14T16:03:00.006+10:00

Happy birthday to Shunz! Bdae outing at new farm park:

The 5 girls from my cell group. Welcome back Ellie from Korea!

So...holidays are officially over.

I had 2 oral presentations in my 2nd week of uni. At least it's over:P
***

We're slowly settling into our new place.

During this short time where we've just moved in, we've housed Ellie and Daniel, our Korean friends who are now based in Sydney.

Now we have Lydia's friend Patricia as well!

Things are...always changing. Nothing is ever static.

It's just like my timetable this year.

I'm sort of in charge of making my own timetable since i'm doing honours.

Which is good if i don't procrastinate. Bad if i do. There's still time...haha.
***

Haven't taken pictures of the house yet!

This house is quite nice. Big townhouse, 10 min walk to busway, quiet street.

I still haven't figured how to manage the electric stove yet.

Obviously this stove doesn't allow me to do hawker-style stir fries cos it's so hard to adjust the fire temp quickly.

Which leaves me with little incentive to want to cook.

The kitchen has become a place where i cook out of neccessity.

No more desire to bake or make pancakes or even the chi desserts i like so much!

Of course i'll come back to it one day:P

Still adjusting to all the commitments i have.

It's precisely because it's my last year in aust that i want to do so much.

It's my last year!*gasp*

Speaking of which... Lt: I'm in Brisbane not Melbourne!

3 years ago, i wouldn't have imagined that i was able to handle so many things on my plate. It's different now. God has stretched my capacity.

The good thing is, i enjoy every one of the ministries and learn something from them.

There's cell, campus club, keyboard, children's ministry...
they seem to fit into this theme from one of my speech modules called 'Communication across Lifespan'.

I'm just missing working with the elderly. Haha.

***

Yay Cor is coming to Brisbane! See you soon!

2009-02-28T19:54:00.004+10:00

We've found a place!

Thank God for a beautiful home:P

Now we're in the process of moving/unpacking/cleaning...poor aching body. haha.

***

This has really taught me to depend on God, even as we waited, and at times despaired when we thought of how we were going to compete with working adults who were applying for houses.

Finally, after what seemed like a long delay, but was actually in God's timing, we got news that our application was approved.

***

Usually, application outcomes would be out within 48 hours.

We waited two weeks for this application outcome.

I remember when the news came on Tuesday evening, I had been going about my house search and house-viewing as per normal that day, even printing more documents for future applications.

Very fortunately, I can happily throw all the remaining documents away.

YAY!

***

This also brought us as housemates closer together.

Our answer came only after the four of us were reunited back in Brissy, and prayed together as a household. There must be a reason why God put us together.

******

Not forgetting to mention, I had such an enjoyable week at Eunice's house. Her dad treated Shunwei and i like two additional daughters, and we had loads of yummy food to eat.

PLUS, the family feel they gave me is something i am very grateful for when i'm over here in aust:P

Thank you Eunice and family!!

2009-02-20T13:45:00.004+10:00

haven't been updating for a while!

i've been busy moving house the past few days...packing stuff into boxes, cleaning up, moving boxes, climbing stairs....good exercise man. and then resting my tired muscles after that.

so now i'm staying at a Eunice's place till i find a proper place. thank God for their kindness...otherwise, i'll be stranded:(

anw...here's some pics of pancakes i made during the hols.

The process:

Tada! Pancakes with maple syrup and blueberries...

plus scrambled eggs fr the extra egg mixture that did not go into making pancakes:

This is what Eunice made today...Eunice had a sudden spur of inspiration after looking at dessert cookbooks.

Blackberry poppyseed muffins:

Please pray that Lyd, Yewlim, Shunwei and i will find our house soon:P

And now i can't call home for a while...so a BIG hi to my family!!

2009-02-06T12:48:00.003+10:00

My left ear has been getting quite blocked up for the past two weeks.

It doesn't help that i have to wear 'in-ears' (earphones) when playing keyboard and all the blaring music does is compact ear wax further.

Not to mention that i have been contaminating the earphones with my ear wax too. lol!

***

I was waiting for it to get totally blocked up so that i could do syringing again and be spared of the misery of being unable to hear clearly.

This morning, i woke up with the unusal sensation that both my ears were quite clear.

I was sooo happy. Thank God for his timely help.

***

It reminds me of what God has been telling me this week, to trust in His provision.

Even though i haven't found a house yet, God says his help will be timely.

What a reassurance, to have God on my side:P

2009-01-30T16:00:00.007+10:00

Time for some blogging:P

I had some travel passes (kindly given by my dad) to use up, and decided to join the 4WD adventure tour to Fraser island, the largest sand island in the world.

Since it was an organised tour, i felt it was alright to travel alone. However, i was hoping there was someone nice i could talk to along the way as well. Guess what...i found someone...this japanese lady who reminds me very much of....Stella! She's so bubbly and cheerful, just like...Stella! haha.

It was the start of the long Australia day weekend, so during the drive i was amused to see many cars decked with australia flags, one car had about 7 flags on it!

***

While travelling, we realised that our 4-wheel drive vehicle had some minor glitches which needed to be fixed. To stall for time, our tour guide dropped us off at the ginger factory, where i happily took the japanese lady around because i had been there a few times and was keen to act as the 'tour guide'. The first thing i promoted was the $2 bottle of ginger beer, going on about how my mum loved the ginger beer here and kept buying heaps of ginger beer.

So the lady, Sakume (not sure of spelling) bought one too and she must have liked it heaps cos by the end of the trip, she had finished the entire bottle and i was only halfway through.

***

On our way to Fraser Island, we drove along Rainbow beach. As evident, i was only able to take this shot because we were driving very close/at the edge of the waters. Basically, the purpose of this tour is to allow you to experience travelling on 4-wheel drive, so i was on it for about 7 hours in total. It's enjoyable, but you wouldn't want to be bumped around in that for days:P

View from the front of the 4WD:

This is how close to the waters we were driving...we were actually in the water already:

Our driver was very skillful in manoeuvering his way around all those fallen branches as you can see. Unfortunately, due to the heavy rain the previous day, the usual routes were flooded and we had to detour quite a number of times to get to our destination.

Still at Sunshine Coast...look at how strong the wind is!

So finally we arrived at Fraser Island. The 4WD was loaded onto a ferry, and on the short crossover to Fraser island we spied upon a group of dolphins! The moment you come across one, you'ld see a few more heads bobbing... one after another in the water...aww...so pretty!

Then we started our drive through the rainforest. Here is where the bumpy ride began. Our tour guide explained how the canopy changes as you move closer to the heart of the rainforest, and listed some very interesting plant names such as foxtail fern and squiggly gum trees.

We stopped in the middle of the rainforest and embarked on our 40min trek along to our lunch destination. I was very quickly getting bitten by the mozzies, and Sakume was very nice to offer me her insect repellent. After that, it was bliss for the rest of the walk. No more bites:P Lunch was more like tea/dinner for me cos by the time we had lunch it was 4pm.

This is the lovely japanese lady...like most jap people she has very fair and beautiful complexion! Didn't get to say a proper goodbye to her...but i was glad to have enjoyed her company that day.

Here's what i did on CNY-cum-australia day:

Laze on the beach at gold coast...we had a total of 5 guys and 3 girls...

...and a beautifully sculpted turtle by our very artistic Daniel:

That's probably my most slack CNY ever....no house visitations, no massive gatherings for consecutive days...

Still, it was fun hanging out at the beach, catching up with the girls, joining the guys for soccer and kicking the ball at the wrong directions, and hearing little Jeffrey's voice all the way fr Sg.

While holidaying, i'm consciously aware that house-hunting still has to go on. With only 2 plus weeks left to the end of the lease, i really have to trust God to provide us with a house. The speed with which houses get snapped up is crazy.... prayerfully waiting for ours to come soon!

2009-01-27T00:29:00.002+10:00

Happy CNY everyone!

will update soon:P

Thank you Shuang Ning for the really pretty CNY card:P
I hope you enjoyed your CNY steamboat, especially with the cold weather over there!!

2009-01-10T12:47:00.006+10:00

Yay...new blogskin...

a BIG thanks to my sis who found the blogskin and changed it for me:P

I wouldn't have had a clue what the html meant...lol.

plus, she found one with a keyboard in it! *big smiles*

A few more pics to put up:

This was steamboat dinner on Christmas day....

we decided on this chinese-style celebration cos it was the easiest to prepare.

Apart from house-hunting, i had quite a few baking adventures this week.

The first one was with Jessie...we decided on banana muffins based on Eunice's recipe.

Poor Jessie's arms were aching after all the mashing of bananas and mixing of the flour mixture... it is actually a good muscle workout for the arms!

The muffins were DELICIOUS:P Especially when eaten straight out of the oven.

The next day, since i had leftover bananas, i made a banana cake.

The texture was more moist cos a different recipe was used.

However, because the cake was so huge (i couldn't be bothered to split it into two trays..haha),

it was very hard to get the centre cooked.

It finally did get cooked and banana cake became part of my dinner:PFinally....i made choc cake from Estee's cake mix yesterday.

You can guess that by then, i was starting to get sick of muffins, cakes and all things buttery:(

This is....Capi....the all-natural fruit soda drink.

I was promoting this yesterday for 2 hrs.

Had lots of fun, drank lots of Capi, and the boss gave me a couple of bottles to bring back for cell.

I had an enjoyable time....all thanks to Derek fr church who found me this lobang...really thankful:P

Now you peeps in aust can go try this drink! Available at Olivers and Co, South Brisbane...coming up in French Twist outlets in the future.

Embracing the new year

2009-01-01T14:14:00.004+10:00

Here's more memories of 2008 i've yet to post before i move on to 2009:

Serene and Shunwei in my car.

I hereby also want to thank God for the numerous times He has protected me from possible car accidents this year:P

The Creative Arts Team of ICC, my church in Brisbane:

Every year, the cell members that make up our cell group keeps changing.

Our current cell group (missing Jessie in this pic):

Yest's countdown was different from the usual countdowns in Sg.

We were invited for dinner at Ruth and Alden's place (the baby Shunwei is carrying in the above pic is Ruth and Alden's baby:P)

Then, the few of us (Clarence, Estee, Yongliang, Adrian and me) decided to go fishing at Teneriffe, where we got to see some fireworks at the stroke of midnight. We also saw some huge flashes of light which we have yet to decide if they came from some aliens or not. lol.

Continuing memories of 2008...pic of me catching a fish! That wasn't taken yesterday btw. It was a trip to Cleveland some time back this holidays.

Cleveland trip with Clarence, Yongliang, and Eunice:

Unfortunately, we only caught 2 breams yesterday. All that for staying up late and getting bitten by mosquitoes. haha. The next time, it's time for me to try my hand at fishing rather than watch them, or rather, fall asleep and get bitten by mozzies!

Now that i'm into the start of the new year, i'm excited by the possibilites of what God is going to do this year. I press on remembering that God is my solid foundation on which i stand, and i thank Him for the many beautiful memories He has given me with family and friends.

2008-12-24T15:29:00.004+10:00

As usual i have been lazy to blog. But, i thought i'll put these pictures up:P

Peach cheesecake that i made for Ellie's birthday-cum farewell dinner. Stayed overnight at Ellie's place the night before i drove her to the airport, and it was fun chatting with Ellie and Daniel (on the phone!). Oh....i will miss my Korean friend. Fortunately, she'll be back for two weeks next year.

I know, that one peach at the bottom right looks out of place. It was just to fill up the space haha.

I shd probably have posted the pics on yumyum food blog, but i'm lazy to give vivid descriptions like shunwei does. so shunwei, the food blog is all yours lol.

Pens! Took me a loooong time. and there's more to be made. i learnt this fr shuang ning!

Merry Christmas everyone!

2008-12-16T16:04:00.004+10:00

This card brought a smile to my face cos it's sooo big and it's all the way from.....China!

Thanks Weizhu!

You made my day:P

2008-12-13T20:47:00.009+10:00

Gah...down with the flu at the moment.

Spent the whole of today sleeping....i'm not kidding. What a waste of a day. Bleah.

Dragged myself out of bed to make lunch and went back to sleep.

Thank God for Yongliang who cooked porridge for dinner.
Wasn't really keen on going straight back to sleep so here i am blogging!

9.30pm....is a more reasonable time to get back to sleep.
After this i will be sooo recharged to....holidaY! Seeing that at the moment i've had no responses to any of my resumes. Hmm.....either i start searching somemore, or just enjoy my holiday. Which will i choose? Hmmm hmmm hmmm....

***

Yesterday was a productive day:

Went to the hospital, met my supervisor who introduced me to other staff members, was given a few hrs to read up on some material and then present to the two other therapists (who will be involved in this research project and we are trying to compile a social communication skills programme for next yr).

Got groceries for the night's Christmas party, rushed to York Street to view a house.

Yesterday was a driving adventure. I developed new skills called 'read map as you drive', 'drink water at traffic lights', and 'how to avoid parking fines-move your car every 2 hrs'....haha.

***

Food pictures of that night's party:

Appetiser: Salmon-horseradish cracker concocted by Adrian (pardon the bad lighting).

Estee's roast pork ribs:

Yongliang made nice kfc-style fried chicken but i don't have any nice close-up shots. That dish disappeared the fastest haha.

Clarence babysitting Sally for the day:

I always get excited about taking food pics and forget to take pictures of people! This is the only one i've got...Clarence and Estee playing with the dog, Jazi in the background and Adrian who's cut off in the picture. Oops. haha.

That trying to be productive came with a price though....so now...it's time to....sleep! Nite.

Carols in the city!

2008-12-08T16:55:00.006+10:00

A glimpse of what brisbane's queen street mall (equivalent of sg's orchard road) looks like during christmas....

This pic was taken with the backdrop of the casino behind...the casino's really pretty at night cos it's nicely lit up with purple lights:

Teagan, Grace's friend, Grace, and myself, with the exception of Daniel (who backed out at the last min due to the rain!), met at queen street mall.

We headed off to the Gardens Theatre near Queensland University of Technology in the initial slight drizzle to attend Carols in the City, a free concert organised for this christmas period. At the entrance, we were told umbrellas were not allowed and all of us had to buy ponchos!

This is how we look like - covered by poor flimsy ponchos but at least they helped to keep us fairly dry:P

The four of us....
The concert was of quite a high standard. I was glad i went after all...

During the waiting period before the concert started, we were all getting drenched as rivulets of water started making their way past our ponchos and soaking our bottoms while we were seated on the ground. I was very tempted to go home right there and then, as i wasn't particularly keen on sitting through the entire concert with a wet bottom. Furthermore, the concert was aired on tv and we could just have watched it from the comfort of home.

I soon forgot about the discomfort of the rain, and started to enjoy the show.

That's James Morrison btw...he's really talented....i was busy wowing at his keyboard skills and marvelling at how he executed the trumpet notes with such precision, yet skillful in connecting the various notes using glides.

More random posts will come when i am randomly free enough to blog. haha.

These few days have been a crazy burst of going out and doing goodness knows what. I have no idea where time disappeared to....ahhhhh....

2008-11-24T15:29:00.003+10:00

Time to continue fr where i left off....
14 nov marked the day i ended clinic and the start of holidays for me!
These were the flowers Kath and i gave our supervisors....they cost a bomb:

The four of us....looking very proper....lol.

My sups were quite surprised when i requested for a picture together, they were saying no student ever asked them before...so i just said, oh, i'm sentimental!

But ya we looked too proper in the pic i think. haha.

I guess there's a limit to how close you can be to your sups...they are generally friendly within the boundaries of a supervisor-student relationship.

In retrospect, i'm quite thankful to God for this whole learning experience.

Surprisingly, working in a hopital isn't as scary as i thought it would be.

Meeting sick people everyday isn't as depressing as i had imagined.
And when you can do nothing else to help them....there is something called prayer.

It's been quite chaotic these few weeks, with outings, hanging out with friends, and visitors in our place.

Here's a pic of us at Montville with Lydia's four friends and Vene fr Sydney, Shunwei's friend Yanfen from Melbourne, and our new 'housemate' Yong Liang.

We also went to Mt Cootha Botanic Gardens...that's Carol, me and Eunice (my cell member). Eunice is an amazing girl who's doing nursing and midwifery! After my stint at the hospital, i have quite a high regard for nurses and the work they do with patients. Of course, we learn about the multidisciplinary team and how all the different professionals contribute to the care of patients.

Yong Liang who refused to take a proper pic:

Some kind of greenhouse with amazingly huge plants in there.

Ahh...so hot! No wonder desert plants like cacti can thrive. Anw, the weather here is really erratic. Hot in the daytime, sudden thunderstorms in the evening/at night.

Ellie had a wonderful testimony about how God protected her during one thunderstorm on her way home from coles supermarket. She felt she shouldn't walk too quickly on her way back (it was raining heavily and the wind was so strong, she felt she would have been blown away, had it not been for her groceries acting as weights), but be aware of the nearby electric poles as she walked home. Right in front of her eyes, she saw a pole fall slowly to the ground, with sparks flying out, just like a movie scene. She was so shocked that she had to sit on the ground to compose herself. Guess what? The moment she reached home, hail started hitting the windows and other surfaces. Doesn't that speak of God's amazingly perfect timing? Ellie said afterward that when exposed to the elements of weather and its grandeur, she felt so small in comparison, and could only keep praying for God's protection all the way back.

Finally, the view fr Mt Cootha!

It had to be made perfect with a scoop of icecream each for the 3 girls:P

2008-11-11T21:18:00.003+10:00

Ahhhh....counting down to end of placement! Cos June just loves her holidays. Lol.

But anw, I really do treasure this placement....

it's been a huge learning experience and I know I may not get another hospital placement again.

Plus you feel like you have to leave when you've just got into the hang of things.

***

Still, it has been very tiring. I'm buggered.

It doesn't help that on weekends, I'll go all out to play rather than rest because I feel like I've worked hard the whole week and weekends are for me to take a break.

***

Maybe I'll talk more abt my placement after it's over.

Right now, I just want to talk abt the 3 possums I met in one day...

I came across the first two dead ones on my way to picking Eunice up fr her house on Sunday.

The first one was right in the middle of my lane, and thankfully I drove past it with the possum nicely in between my wheels, so there was no squishy-squashy mess *phew*.

The next possum I saw from a distance. Birds were coming to peck at the carcass.

The third one was a terror, picked up by the glare of my headlights while driving home. It was in the middle of crossing the road and I practically had to swerve to avoid it. In doing so, if I had swerved any further, I would have hit the kerb. Look out for the possums man.

There you have it...3 possums in a day.

In case you don't know, possums look like....squirrels? raccoons?

***

End of my possum story, back to rehearsing for tmr's presentation at the hospital:P

2008-11-06T21:11:00.004+10:00

I just realised something today while on the train.

Remember the ganglion i had on my right hand? It's completely gone.

Praise God!

***

I remember how the healing started....

It was that night when i went for healing service in church one saturday.

I was praying and believing as hard as i could when the team prayed for me.

I remember as i was seeking God, I was touched by him when the girl who was praying for me said, "God, let her not just be healed, let her come face to face with the Healer himself".

And that was exactly what happened....i experienced the presence of God.

***

After that the team asked me to feel if the lump on my hand was still there.

It was.

***

They then asked if it was still painful.

I used to press it really hard in the past to try and break that ganglion, but all it did was cause it to be painful and sore.

So i pressed it really hard, and there was no pain! In fact, the lump felt a little smaller.

That night i went home rejoicing cos i had experienced God himself, which is better than any healing anw.

But i also believed one day, complete healing would come.

***

You know what? I just realised today that it really is gone.

God, you are sooooo amazing:P

2008-10-20T21:32:00.002+10:00

Time to post more pics! Photos taken at Yiling and Bennet's engagement party (gosh, the number of engagement parties/weddings i've attended here...is quite amazing considering that i've only been in aust for a few years.)

See the umbrella? It was raining...so ppl had to bbq the food in the rain.

Food, glorious food.
Desserts, which unfortunately i had no appetite to eat much.
Some of the girls...

After the party, i ended up with a tummy upset and an aching body for two days due to some unknown virus, which i suspect i might have caught from the hospital. hrumph!

Update on placement...it's taken a while for me to get used to the travelling. Got lost a couple of times before i finally figured out the shortest route from the train station to the hospital.
I also had to get used to waking up at 6 everyday and reaching home only at 6.
I guess it's part of working life.
Ok it's nearly 10, so i guess...time to sleep:P

2008-10-06T20:08:00.004+10:00

First day of placement...

Seeing that i was going to a new place and wasn't familiar with the streets, i decided to take the earlier train, which meant i had to wake up at 5.30am in the morning (...and caused me to almost doze off a couple of times while listening to my supervisor's presentation in the afternoon).

I reached at 7.15am, so i had plenty of time to explore and take pics, thanks to Serene's brilliant idea abt bringing my camera along:P

Surprisingly, Ipswich is not as ulu as i thought it was.

Shopping mall just outside the train station:

Ipswich does have a lot of quaint and old buildings though:

...Coles too! More old buildings...

Finally, i reached somewhere close to the hospital... but wrong section haha.

Ipswich hospital from afar:

...and yes, the main entrance at last!

I tell you, i think i got sunburned. That's how strong the sun is in aust. gah!

...safely seated in the student's room at last, after wandering around the hospital to find the right department. This is probably my most proper (in terms of colour) cream and brown attire i have...

Anyway, today was quite an unusual day.

So many things happened....the wind was so strong i was almost going to be blown over...it was actually strong enough to make me totter a few steps while waiting for the traffic light to change.

Talked to random strangers, which was half interesting, but half freaky.

In short, everything was quite new and very interesting, from the location Ipswich, to the hospital itself. The hospital staff and speechies are all rather friendly. Thankfully, i also have a very pleasant supervisor. She kinda reminds me of my cousin Gen in aust.

End of update...after this, i'll prob be too busy to update for a while:(

2008-10-03T16:36:00.004+10:00

Never have a list of to-do things when you're having a holiday.
Cos i've realised, i usually get less than half of them done. Lol.
Well, at least, i did some of the things i had originally planned to do, such as washing my car, which was really dirty (and i felt so sorry for the poor car), washing my bedsheets, settling bank stuff, and calling home!

It was really quite a feat to 1) get my hands on the phone 2) call at a time when everyone was home. I finally managed to reach Audrey aka miss elusive who was never home the mutiple times i called for the past one week. (I know, it was only 1 week and i missed talking to her already:p) Nowadays, i also never fail to be amazed when my mum tells me stuff cos she always has something new that she learnt from God:p

Unplanned things included falling sick, which was just my body's way of saying, ''you need sleep!!!", getting a free 2-week membership to fitness first from Serene, only to realise it was a long time since i last stepped into a gym and remembered how to operate the machines, and eating a buffet!
Now, the buffet was a partly planned, partly unplanned thing. Haha.
I had been craving for the sizzler buffet for a while, especially on weeks when i didn't eat particularly well (student mah, no time!). I think Serene felt the same too. Put two people with good appetites together and bingo, we went ahead with it.

Apart from the little excitements, God has been trying to get my attention this holidays too.
I was just browsing through my journal and realised, hey, God has actually been dealing with me on certain issues for about a year! Was slightly troubled at first, then somewhat reassured to find that yes, there have been improvements in the areas he was working in. For eg, serving in this year's children's camp showed me certain changes God had wrought about in my heart.
Of course, there is always another level to go to. I can't say i'm very happy with the way i dealt with certain things. Thankfully, God is a patient God who knows it takes time to deal with heart issues, and knows what is needed to get me to that next level. Ultimately, you realise it's not possible to change your own heart, or anyone else's heart for the matter of fact, only God can, and He will, if you will let him.

So with this 2 week holiday coming to a close, June pronounces herself a happy girl, who reluctantly realises that her holiday is coming to an end, and is therefore frantically trying to "prepare" for her clinical placement by borrowing books from the library and...leaving them at home in the room to collect dust/read?
We'll see!!

2008-09-22T21:16:00.017+10:00

Finally, I can safely heave a sigh of relief and say my exams and assignments are...not all, but almost over. At least, no more exams. No more mad rushing for time. Phew.

My exams had barely ended when I decided to join Yew Lim and Lydia on their trip to

Toowoomba for the yearly flower festival, even if it meant not catching up on the sleep i so badly needed. Since we hadn't had a chance to go out with Lynn's mum, it was a good opportunity to meet up and travel at the same time! Fortunately we could fit into 1 car, cos I wasn't keen on long distance driving (what's new...haha). It was an hour and a half long journey! Thank you Lydia and Yew Lim for driving!

Floral parade at the town centre: Roads were cordoned off and we were all waiting under the hot sun for the parade to start.

Float inspired from High School musical:

Fire engine with flowers??

Cool car with beauties...

Young beauties...
Onward march...DDwarfs! the whole parade had all kinds of weird costumes....people in red and purple party hats, stick-walkers, ethnic groups, even the falungong who had a huge procession. So ya, 42 floats in total, we left halfway cos it became draggy after a while.

We proceeded to visit the public parks but Lynn was distracted halfway by the see-saw. We even caught the attention of a little girl who decided to come and squeeze next to me.

This is not in sequence but at the end of the trip they got distracted by another swinging ride..haha. It's called Pedal Power!

Housemates...missing Shunwei...she had a major baking session at home with some of the church ppl.

Calvarites! Speaking of which, Ps Aileen from Harvest Force visited ICC last sun and I knew I had seen her before in Sg. Turned out that she knows Ps Daph well. Small world indeed. She attended ICC when she was studying in brisbane too!

This was at Queen's Park, which had the largest flower displays. The first garden we visited was really sad, it was called the Rose garden but there were hardly any roses! Apparently the drought had affected the flowers quite a bit.

It was positively hot under the sun. Just look at how bright the whole background is. But it makes the flowers soooo nice. The colours....ooh...ahhh.

Ok close-up shots....I have no idea what all the various flowers are called. Tulip? This one is dying slightly...poor thing. It still looks nice:p

This is again a close-up shot. Imagine if there were an entire field of these flowers.....I think I'll sit there for ages and not move. lol.

Poor flowers....all dying.

At least these ones won't die....cos they are fake!

Bumped into Esther, Jamie and Weiling...

Sakura flowers?

Today marks the start of my 2 week break before clinical placement starts, and I have to agonise over how I'm going to dress in cream and brown for 6 weeks. Faints...I don't even have enough cream and brown clothes to last me a week. How ah? I'm going to bend the rules a bit.

The other thing....everyone's been asking me if I'm going back this holiday. I'm still undecided. You know how people always say, stick with the first answer you select when doing MCQS, cos it is likely to be correct. At the moment, I'm quite inclined to do so, which is....stay here. haha.

2008-09-21T08:18:00.003+10:00

Pictures! They were such an eye feast for me after i uploaded them on the camera last night...will write abt them next time....at the moment, i still have 1 more assignment to hand in on mon....haha:P

2008-09-10T11:54:00.004+10:00

Suddenly, there's a clause included for the reimbursement of my air ticket.

So, nothing's for sure yet. We'll see how it goes. I'm fine with either way actually.

This option just shows me how fickle i am. My heart is divided in two places. GRRR.

***

Finally got a call from my clinical educator and she confirmed that our workplace attire is cream and brown. Oh wow....let's see how creative i can get with that! haha.

The placement does sound exciting.....acute and rehab.

I'll be working with adults, mainly swallowing cases.

By the time i get back to Sg, i'll probably be able to chat with the likes of medical ppl like Weiteen and Wenhui about hospital scenarios!

2008-09-08T19:47:00.005+10:00

It seems....i might be going back to sg!

I've JUST received an email saying that i can get reimbursed for airfare back home.

SO....of course i will go back right! haha. YAY. woohoo!

***

Err...but if i go back after boxing day sale (which i still want to stay for), Ben will scold me for not going back earlier and showing them around in Sg. haha! Ben! stay longer in Sg ok!

I'll prob go back after boxing day, and this means i get to stay in Sg for CNY.

Three cheers!

***

P.S. This is like the best news i've heard this week with the dreariness of assignments and up-coming exams.

Lynn's mum (who's just come over fr Sg) came by our house today and i think the word 'stress' was written all over my face. Haha.

So yeah, best news of the week, plus i'm also looking forward to Synergy conference starting this Thursday night, which is why i am cheonging like siao at the moment...

2008-09-06T09:37:00.006+10:00

While praying today, i heard the sound of a mighty rushing wind and opened my eyes.

Behold me was a glorious sight.

Note: this is in the natural!

***

Overlooking the balcony, a row of bamboo shoots were bent collectively together under the mighty force of the wind. (Or at least, i think they are bamboo shoots.)

Shining under the sun's rays, they looked glorious.

I also realised, it wasn't just the sound of rushing wind i heard.

It was the sound of leaves rustling together that ampflied that sound.

***

That sight reminded me of what i read somewhere in a book before:

Imagine a row of reeds and a tall lone tree growing close to one another.

One particularly stormy season, strong winds and rain kept battering the plants.

The tree stood tall and strong, seemingly unshakable despite the force of the wind.

The reeds, on the other hand, bent low, even touching the ground, in the direction of the wind.

What do you think would happen after a long period of time?

Eventually, the tree could topple, while the reeds would remain relatively unharmed.

***

The author summarised the story nicely with a little poem:

"Thy gentleness hath made me great,

And i would gentle be.

'Tis Love that plans my lot, not fate,

Lord teach this grace to me.

When gales and storms Thy love doth send

That I with joy may meekly bend."

***

"Gentleness, sympathy, and loving understanding is developed by the daily practice of bending submissively to life's hard and difficult experiences without bitterness, resentful resistance and self-pity."

***

Yet, gentle love can seem harsh, especially because our God is a consuming fire:

"Can Love be terrible my Lord?

Can gentleness be stern?

Ah Yes! -intense is Love's desire

To purify His loved - 'tis fire,

A holy fire to burn

For He must fully perfect thee

Till in thy likeness all may see

The beauty of thy Lord."

***

"Can Holy Love be jealous Lord?

Yes, jealous as the grave;

Till every hurtful idol be

Uptorn and wrestled out of thee

Love will be stern to save;

Will spare thee not a single pain

Till thou be freed and pure again

And perfect as thy Lord."

***

All those 'thou's and thee's....haha.

It is a beautiful piece of writing however, and i respect the insights God gave this lady.

This is quite a random post.

It's just that, when the bamboo shoots are still, you don't notice them.

When they make a din, gosh you do notice them.

2008-08-28T09:49:00.006+10:00

A few weeks back i clicked on this link sent to me on msn that turned out to be a virus.

A lot of people told me afterwards that they received weird links like that too but they would ignore it cos it sounded too absurd.

***

Why did i click on that link?

Cos it said: if you want to see who's blocking you on msn, click here.

So i stupidly did so when there was no need to....who cares if people block you on msn anw.

Argh.

I really regret that impulsive click of the mouse.

***

After getting stressed up and asking everyone what to do....with Lydia advisor no l (who told me to go to David Yap) and David Yap advisor no 2 (he's the expert man) and the IT guy in uni who told me exactly the same thing as David Yap, i tinkered around with my compt till i finally found where the 'fix' button on Norton Antivirus was.

***

Initially, all Norton did was detect that 'mcshield.exe made 21198 modifications' to my computer, but i have noooo idea why it did nothing about it. After that fix, my compt really does run faster now. Phew. No more blue screens. With this scare over, i've decided to get an external hard drive to back everything up. Not taking any chances. haha. Paranoia...

***

A lot of people have been telling me my msn sent them weird links...

people like Phebe who i never ever see on msn....lol!

sorry guys!

i hope it's fixed by now:P

***

Oh ya! I've decided to stay in Brisbane this summer hols.

For many reasons....shall name a few here.

1-Cos it's my 'second last' year here.

2-My honours supervisor asked me if i wld be staying in the summer vacation...

if i were, i could help compile resources for the intervention prog. we are starting next yr Jan.

That project sounds quite interesting, i'm looking forward to it!

It's a social communication skills intervention programme for people with traumatic brain injury.

I have a feeling i will learn a lot from it myself watching the prog.

3-I wanna get involved in the church here.

4-I wanna stay for Boxing Day sale where everything is half price!

and more reasons....but those are the main ones:P

2008-08-15T16:44:00.006+10:00

We really live in a complex world.

High-technology, fast-paced lives, demanding social rules to follow, societies that are not always kind to you if you lag behind....

If ordinary people like you and i struggle through life sometimes, how much more people with disabilities?

***

We were shown a video in class today about a lady with autism.

Back in the days when people hardly knew about autism, the theory that autism was caused by your mother's behaviour towards you (that she did not want the child to exist and the child therefore feared for his life) was subbornly held onto by people.

Now research has moved to examining biological causes and identifying neurological differences in the brains of people with autism.

***

and yes indeed, these people are very different from us!

Sudden or loud noise causes them distress....

Some can't even tolerate certain clothing material that cause them to itch.

Their emotions are less complex.

They mainly experience basic emotions like feeling happy, sad, anxious.

The lady in the video said fear was a big emotion for people with autism.

After learning abt these people, my heart really goes out to them.

If this is how i feel, how much more does God feel for the helpless, the unloved, the weak?

***

The module i'm taking on swallowing and swallowing disorders (dysphagia) is interesting too!

Yesterday we had a lecture on tracheostomy tubes, which are tubes inserted into the trachea to create an artificial airway for breathing.

While i marvelled at the technology and clever use of devices to ensure breathing functions as close to normal as possible, i can't help but wonder, how would a person feel having a tube inserted into him all the time?

***

Another thing abt the dysphagia lectures, we get to try stuff!

We got to taste some of the thickened fluids that patients are given....some taste horrid.

The really thick ones don't slide nicely in your throat either.

But they did have a very interesting variety of flavours, like lemon, moccha, strawberry...

***

In that lecture, we were given little brown 'goodie' bags too, that contained some sweets, a string, a tongue depressor, and tissue paper.

For example, while learning about sensory techniques for patients, we were asked to put a fizzy vitamin c into our mouths and feel how it heightens sensation in our mouths.

The other one we tried was the sour Warhead sweet.

Just thinking about it makes me salivate already.

You must be wondering what the string in the bag was for.

It can be used for therapy by tying it to a fruit loop and manoeuvring it with your tongue.

***

So, that's a little of what i've been learning this semester.

We had one session of learning Makaton signing also, it was quite fun!

Ok enough abt uni stuff.

At the moment, June cannot wait for winter to be over. Argh and brrr...

I probably should be blogging about more interesting stuff like the Olympics but till now, i've yet to sit through an entire sports event. I've only been catching small snippets:P The cold weather has made me want to hibernate and eat and sleep. This is bad!!

2008-08-05T19:50:00.013+10:00

I went on board the world's largest floating bookstore on Saturday.

This ship - Dulos, travels around the world, stopping at various ports, holding tours, donating books, and participating in community projects.

Dulos is also recognised in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest active ocean-going passenger ship. Built in 1914, it was sailing the seas 2 years after the Titanic was built.

Picture of my car ride to Brett's Wharf - in Grace's car.

Her front seat pocket carried a whole collection of tiny 'Snoopy's. So cute!

The ship:
A closer view:
Me, Grace, and her 2 friends. We went with her church group.
The control room...i got to wear the captain's cap and pretend to steer the wheel!
Engine room:
That's the lady who gave us a tour of the ship...Our tour guide had a wonderful testimony to share.

In fact, every one of the crew (from more than 50 different nations) has a story.

I was really touched by their stories, the song and drama performance, and the pastor who preached. Coincidentally, he was a Singaporean.

***

He is one of those Christians who have an amazing story to tell.

Both he and his father were triad members, and hated each other to a point they were ready to kill each other.

From day one when he became a Christian, he saw miracles begin to happen...he was free from alcohol and smoking addictions. A few weeks later, his dad also became a Christian.

Now how drastic is that!

And this guy's actually been on the ship for 17 years!

One of the questions raised by the curious audience to the crew was, 'do you ever get seasick?', to which the reply by everyone in the panel was of course, 'yes'!

That day i felt was a real confirmation from God what He had put in my heart a long time ago.

I expect more confirmations in the future...ahh...a journey with God is never boring!!

***

Two things i vividly remember from the pastor's sermon:

as Christians, we can take two words out from our vocabulary-

1) the word 'impossible', because with God all things are possible

2) the word 'sacrifice', because everything we have comes from God, how can we say that anything we do is ever a sacrifice?

***

This is something i believe will challenge and continue to challenge me ... and yet, with God, all things are possible:P

2008-07-30T15:44:00.010+10:00

It's been ages since i've updated, poor abandoned blog!

***

To continue from where i left off, i was talking about my birthday, which happened in the midst of exams. We had a belated celebration after exams, kindly organised by my dear housemates.

I received a lot of interesting presents, such as the bath towel below (with my sis as the model:P). Believe it or not, it really does keep me warm after a shower.

Not forgetting also, the entire dress outfit from Jade, Wally, Ben....and the droll messages they left on my table when i was away for three weeks....asking me to come back quickly.

You guys are hilarious!

About my holiday...it started the day i ended exams itself, with Jon and friends' arrival in Brisbane. Since Brisbane is my 'territory', i shall not post pics here....lol. We visited Eumundi market, which is a place you can go back to many times. I think New Farm and West End markets are very nice too. That's really one of the attractions you'll find in aust....weekend markets.

Week two of my holiday saw me flying off to Hamilton Island...the first time i sat on an airplane that touched down on a place smaller than Singapore!

From there we took a boat to Hook Island. This is the second largest island in the group of the Whitsunday Islands. These islands serve as bases for Great Barrier reef explorations.

At Hook Island, it kinda felt like i was in some 'survivor' camp, far away from civilisation. There was a tv, the owners made delicious and fresh clam chowder soup, we saw heaps of fish in their natural setting from the underwater observatory, so i'm not complaining...hee.

Trying to show how 'ulu' this place is..haha.
This is where i have to rant a little. First day of my travel in the Whitsundays and i spoilt my camera already! We were scrambling on the rocky shore, and i needed to use both hands to help me hold onto rocks at times. The result of which was my poor camera was spoilt by my rough handling...by rough handling i mean the camera was being used as a 'landing pad' for my left hand whenever i had to hold onto rocks. How was i supposed to know that cameras are so fragile?! Big sigh!
Pic of us (Jon's friends) squeezing in rock crevices:
So yeah, the next couple of pics are courtesy of Jon's camera, since mine was sadly unusable.

Highlight one of the whitsunday trip was snorkelling...and diving. Highlight two would have to be food cos we ate like there was no tomorrow. Fish tasting platter:Homemade rum and rasin icecream, which almost made me wonder if i would be intoxicated, cos the rum was so strong. Haha.

View of Whitehaven beach, the third most photographed spot in Aust:

Diving trip...we were on board a cruise which brought us to a floating platoon where diving was conducted. On our way there we sighted a couple of whales!

Diving: the three of us....totally zero experience...signed up for an introductory dive. All you had to do was hold tight to the instructor and BREATHE in and out. haha. I was quite hesitant about signing up for a dive initially, cos i was thinking, "what if you met sharks??!!!" The rest of them reassured me and were all game on signing up, so i couldn't say no to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, could i? haha.

It was worth it. We saw beautiful coral, giant clams, Wally the giant sea wrasse...

Actually, you can see heaps from snorkelling alone... that's where you're practically almost touching the coral (i accidentally touched quite a bit...oops). Also, swimming among fish was quite an unforgettable experience, even till this day.
So thanks Jon for organising this trip with your friends...arranging all the accomodation and transport! They were really good company, we had some comical times there!

Week three of my holidays....sydney! We stayed at Vene's place...she's housed me twice already...really appreciate her hospitality and generosity. (photos courtesy of Lydia's camera)
Vene also drove us 1 hr plus? to the Blue Mountains.

Lydia and i also got a chance to meet up with Jared and Daniel, who joined us at a Korean restaurant for dinner. I actually forgot to contact Daniel when i was in sydney, and Ellie said Daniel was very disappointed. Oh dear....i feel sooo bad!

All i remembered was i had to meet Cass by hook or by crook, cos she had just arrived in sydney and it was such a rare opportunity for us to meet up. I'm really glad we did, it was really precious time spent together. For that i had to trouble Vene to give me a lift to the train station also.

Week 4: my family's arrival in Brisbane! We set off for the Gold Coast, and stayed there for a week. It's really really handy that i had my car by then, and i'm so thankful God blessed me with a car at the right timing.

Ours was resort-style accomodation, so we made some of the meals ourselves. Fruits were a must-have, because they were cheap and very sweet! Those are krispy kreme donuts btw.

Seaworld! On a side note, i visited all three worlds in one semester. That's quite a feat. haha.
Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary...see the koala? It must be feeling really itchy!
Another aussie icon...the Dingo.
I forgot what this was called...

Lorikeets landing on my dad's head and arms. I had about 6 lorikeets landing on me at one time? Very memorable experience....so was feeding the kangaroos.

View from Mt Cootha, where we caught the sunset and saw the moon literally rise from the horizon up into the sky. Beautiful! Apparently another couple thought so too cos they were taking wedding shots.

In conclusion, it was a really good family bonding time and i realise i love my family a lot!! i love you guys:P

2008-06-19T14:47:00.004+10:00

Awww....so sweet.

***

I totally had no mood to celebrate this year's birthday at all, but i've been very blessed by everyone's little acts of kindness!

***

From Shunwei and Lydia's late-night muffin baking session and mini-celebration at home, to the well-wishes of everyone, such as Stella's midnight message, the messages on the cards n e-cards i received, to my sister's waking up at 6am in the morning to pray for my exam, my mum waking up later but still in time to pray for me:P, my dad who also prayed, to my speech friends who bought a present for me even when we're in the midst of exams....

***

So now, i'm just taking a breather before tomorrow's last exam to enjoy the many blessings God's given me, and then it's back to study i guess.

***

It's such a blessing to have family and friends! This inspires me to be a friend to others too:P

2008-06-12T15:34:00.005+10:00

Once in a while when i'm studying about the various disorders, i'll look at the list of characteristics and wonder if i have any of those characteristics.

***

For example, i'm reading about Central Auditory Processing Disorders now.
Children with this disorder present with normal hearing, but they have difficulty processing auditory information in the brain.

They may therefore exhibit symptoms such as difficulty understanding speech in the presence of background noise, inappropriate or inconsistent response in communication situations, difficulty determining the direction a sound is coming from, distractability and hyperactivity, poor musical and singing skills (interesting!)...etc.

***

So i'll start thinking....hmmm, i can identify with this...i can identify with that....do i have a problem??! haha. Plus the lecturer said with such conviction, 'If i were to assess all of you in this room, there'ld be at least one person in this room who has CAPD.'
...cos superior global functions such as memory and cognition can actually compensate for CAPD problems, so people with CAPD may not necessarily present with language and learning difficulties. They might even have made their way to uni! Which is good for them i guess...and a lot of hard work involved i'll bet.

***

But nah, i don't think i have CAPD. Some of the tasks do sound quite challenging though.
Imagine having a series of numbers played to you into one ear, and another set into the other ear simultaneously, and you're supposed to say back all the numbers. I think that's difficult!
What about this: you listen to a list of numbers being read, then recite the numbers back in reversed order.

***

So there...a little post before i go back to study mania. Sigh.

Mountains of notes waiting for me. Really mountains.

I was looking at my elearning blackboard and next sem's module on swallowing is actually up on the website already, complete with lecture notes available for download.

Madness. Who wants to think of next sem's modules?!

3 more exams and countdown to next fri's final paper!

***

OMG...our household has set up a food blog. Look under my links....Yum Yum food blog.

I forsee a food craze starting soon in the house.

It has already started actually:P

2008-06-04T00:22:00.006+10:00

Erratum:

Jade just pointed out to me that study break is called swotvac (study vacation), so i had better make the correction here.

The speechie would say i need to work on my proof-reading skills. LOL.

***

Awww Jade, you are really starting to sound like Wally....haha.

Thanks for helping me manoeuvre my car out of that parking lot just now!

It's really all about angles....and it doesn't help that i abhor math and physics.

One word: experience.

It will all come with experience.

My aim is to be a really pro driver by the time i leave brisbane.

Or at the least, show significant improvement over this period of one and a half years.

***

We had Korean bbq at on Monday to celebrate Jade's birthday and Shunz and Lydia made these:

Chocolate-mocha and peanut butter-jelly cupcakes

Ricotta-strawberry and white chocolate-cheese cupcakes

2008-05-30T17:34:00.006+10:00

Finally, the ordeal of going through the assignment is over. It's been my longest, most arduous assignment ever! And i have no wish to re-live it again.

Even now i'm still feeling woolly-headed. Argh.

***

Enough abt my assignment....

Xueqi was telling me abt how their caravan (was it a caravan?) flipped three times on the road in tasmania... (so scary!). Thank God they escaped with bruises only. Sounds like a whale of an adventure to me. And i sound like Enid Blyton...

***

At last, I took a picture of my car...the colour wasn't very appealing to me at first, but after a while, i think it's quite ok. psycho-ing myself...

anw, the hilarious conversation at the queensland transport wasn't about our names being the same, it was something else which i can't disclose here. lol.

***

Since qi asked, let me recite the story of how i got my name...

Actually, it's a very simple story.

My mum was in the ward and the nurse serving her had a name tag on, and you guessed it!...

her name was June.

So my mum thought it was a nice name...

plus i was born in June, which, traditionally, used to be the month of holidays for me.

Now it's the month of exams.

As you can imagine, i am already visualising the days after exams.

I can't wait!!

2008-05-26T21:40:00.003+10:00

A little update before i get back to my assignment (or rather, start on my assignment...lol)...

***

I bought a second-hand car last Wednesday.

Finally! After a long wait...

i almost thought i would have to wait even longer till i stumbled across this car ad online last Monday.

So yeah, really thank God that i have a car.

Access to freedom....and a whole new learning experience for me.

I'm very very thankful to Wally and Yew Lim for advising/helping me...driving me ard, accompanying me to settle admin stuff, being patient with my lack of driving skill when it comes to parking...haha! Thanks sooooo much guys!

And of course to all the 'passengers' in my car who have been very supportive...

Serene and Ben for getting me a street directory and being in the car with me even though i got lost heaps of times:P

***

I wanted to blog about the lady who served me at the Queensland Transport counter today.

She was recording my personal details and came across my date of birth.

Guess what? She has the exact first name and date of birth.

This is probably the only person i'll meet who has the same name and d.o.b. as me! So cool!

She said her mum didn't have much imagination when naming her.

I had a more interesting story to tell.

Whatever it is, i still like my name. haha.

Anw...we had a hilarious conversation over the counter. Super hilarious.

I wonder what her impression of me is.

I don't think we can be 'kindred spirits', only someone whom i will remember as having the same name and d.o.b. as me. I really should stop harping on this i know. haha.

***

Only thing is, i have an exam on my bdae. boo.

...plus assignments and swotback (study break) coming up.

counting down to holidays!

2008-05-19T21:48:00.008+10:00

If someone saw my lunch today, they would think i were a little kid.

***

I had a muesli bar, dried fruits, a biscuit, and freddo's chocolate packed ready to go for lunch in uni....and that's the keyword: ready to go.

***

It reminds me of all those packed lunches that preschoolers bring to kindy! With bright, attractive packaging, this is a foolproof method of getting the child to eat. When i first visited a kindy in aust for my clinical fieldwork, i was quite amazed at the things parents pack for their children. One lunch box could contain sandwiches...maybe peanut butter, maybe vegemite (yikes!), biscuits, a drink, cut fruits, nuts, some yoghurt/custard...

***

You won't believe the things uni students bring for meals/snacks also. They'ld bring a mandarin and peel it in class...or dried fruit and nuts (which are very healthy...something i picked up while studying here). Thick sandwiches...cakes...pies...sausage rolls...baked biscuits (or chips!) are very common as well. Not forgetting the all-time favourite of uni students: merlo's coffee - you see people coming in with cups of coffee during lecture breaks (i don't drink coffee though).

***

So anyway, i enjoyed my lunch. Haha. I rarely do this btw. Cos i don't think it's that nutritious lol. It's just the lack of time and the need to bring food on the go.

4 hours later i was hungry and ended up munching chips. Yum yum.

*** ***

The week before i looked at my mid-semester results for one module and was shocked to see that i scored the second lowest in class. It looked so bad that i was quite horrified. I knew i did one question wrongly....but i did study....how did i end up with such a mark?

Of course, i was upset. I really thank God for the 'angels' he sent along my way....in the form of friends who lent a listening ear, and who prayed with me to encourage me. I have been blessed. Also for my supportive parents...their cell group prayed for me as well, and that very night they prayed was the night something happened.

***

Last Thursday, i met my lecturer to review my paper. The first thing she said was, "do you want to hear the good news or the bad news?". I just said "anything", cos i was quite numb over the whole thing by then. She said that the markers discovered they had given me 10 marks less. They only realised it on Wednesday night, the night my parent's cell group prayed! Talk about timing...

***

After that, i was asking God, why did he allow that to happen....what was He trying to teach me? It's so unlikely that the examiners would mark incorrectly, and furthermore by a gap of 10 marks, that i was ready to believe i really did score that poorly. 10 marks out of 50...that's like 20% of the paper.

So yes, i learnt heaps from that experience. Humbled by the fact that i cannot control my circumstances, but that God is in control. That i am not to depend on my own abilities, but on my God who supplies my every need, on Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that i can ever ask or imagine.

***

Even now, i look at my mental list of what i need to do and realise, the list will always be there.

One thing never changes though...that God is always waiting for us to speak to Him, and that has to come first over everything else.

So God, help me, as i complete assignments and edit clinic reports for the second time...let my clinical educator be satisfied with the reports!

2008-05-17T17:46:00.004+10:00

My blog's been pretty stagnant for a while....but life certainly hasn't!

Which explains my lack of blogging:P

The highlight of which was Xueqi's arrival in Brisbane.

This is her grad trip and she's exploring quite a few places in Aust. *wish i could too*

First day in Brisbane... lunch at the Uni of Queensland.

Thin-crust pizza, which is so famous, that graduates and the public come all the way to UQ to have a taste of it! I've always wanted to let my family try it but it's not available during semester breaks:(

The three musketeers:

(I've got to add that they are three daring musketeers who planned their own itinery for the entire trip)

This is the giant turtle which the dhs gals bought for me.

THANKS heaps gals! I love it. Haha.

I was just telling Xueqi i wasn't sure if large soft toys could pass through customs, that's why i didn't bring that 2kg monkey over.

I still love the monkey though...shall admire/hug it when i'm back in sg. haha. So yeah, Monkey shall not be forgotten.

In the meantime, i absolutely love my new soft toy. He's called Cuddles cos he's cuddly. Oh dear. Shelly is actually quite a nice name too, suggested by Xueqi. Maybe he'll have lots of names:P

That's Xueqi and her make-shift bed. She's been such good company! You made me laugh heaps!

Awww...i am missing you already...

Dinner at this Viet place...yummy crispy chicken, recommended by Yew Lim.

Hmm....i don't have many pictures! Xueqi, blog abt your trip when you get back! Have fun travelling around Aust!!

2008-05-09T17:29:00.006+10:00

It's been ages since i've found time to blog. And actually, i'm still very busy...but then, i wanna post some pics!

Presenting...our trip to logan farm close to sunshine coast:

(Pics fr my camera and Lydia's)

This was during the long weekend due to Labour Day:

In the car!
At the entrance of the logan farm (see the blue 'tent'...that's where we collect our pliers and plastic bags):Stretches and stretches of logan bushes (Are they bushes? or shrubs?)
The farmer demonstrating how to cut the stalks:PPosing with the pliers:
Apparently Lydia's mum commented that Lydia looked quite violent:

Ellie the Logan Beauty!

After all the effort in choosing quality logans to bring home, we hunted for more to eat, and sat down for our impromptu 'picnic':

Why are our mouths this shape? Cos we were having a competition to see who could spit the logan seed the furthest. Thanks Yew Lim for the fabulous shot!
Yew Lim demonstrating how to eat a logan:

Lunch at Bribie island after plucking logans. Fish and chips...it wasn't that nice though:

We stopped by the hilltop to take a photo:

Night view at the Kangaroo Point...Jon this is one of the places we want to bring u too!

It has a very good view of the Brisbane city:P

And finally, rice cakes made by Ellie....they were delicious! Thanks Ellie for cooking! And thanks to Yew Lim for driving:P

the long weekend

2008-04-28T20:18:00.008+10:00

...and so i had 10 hours of sleep yesterday.

Ooh....feels good to catch up on the much-needed sleep:P

I'm already missing the weekend...and it's only mon!

The church camp was good though.

***

I learnt heaps, ached heaps from basketball, and got a chance to make stones skip over the water at the beach again.

(Something i learnt in Sydney fr Jake, during the time i stayed with Vene.)

My highest score was 5 times.

Ok Ben, you win. Lol.

***

Now it's back to more clinic reports, assignments, and some hopefully-not-too-feeble attempts to catch up on my studies. Boo.

2008-04-24T15:28:00.004+10:00

Yay...it's a long weekend this week.

We've got ANZAC day tomorrow...ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. It's to commemorate the death of soldiers who were in Gallipoli, Turkey, during the first world war. The only thing i know about ANZAC day is the ANZAC cookies though....haha.

So, we'll be off to the Gold Coast tmr to crash the cell leaders'/assistants retreat! Just for the day sessions...cos i am not registered at all...and i'm not a cell leader either. lol.

***

For all keyboardists...including my sis! check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHhG8fxV-5s&feature=related

My friend sent me this link...the guy's not bad. Can learn a few tricks from him.

***

My car is nowhere to be found! Seriously difficult to find one. Shall pray and wait.

2008-04-19T12:50:00.009+10:00

Finally got down to uploading some pics....photos from Lydia's 21st birthday:

Surprise breakfast prepared for her...Shunwei woke up the earliest to prepare as usual!

What is Lydia doing?! Poor Wally...haha.

Bdae cake no 1...it was some peach custard thingy:

I couldn't resist putting this up...even though the lighting isn't very good. Beard papa! yummmm
Playing Wii at Jade, Ben and Daniel's house. So basically we had breakfast and a small lunch party at our place, followed by Wii at their house:
The majority of them went off to church for a newcomer's dinner, while Ben, Shunwei and i went back to our house to decorate the place for Lydia's surprise night party. Since we had to have dinner, I got Ben to whip up an omelette:
Ben in action!

So ambitious, Ben. Look at the amount of ingredients in there! Lol.
Preparing for the party... Lydia's very pink present from Ben, who's decked in pink as well.
See that pink screen? It's the powerpoint presentation prepared by Shunzie, and hurriedly touched up in Shunz's room while Lydia was in the adjoining toilet. Now you know what we were doing in there, Lydia!
Night party...attendance was very good. Cherry-choc icecream cake:
Jules preparing to sing his version of the birthday song for Lydia:
Stuck at Wii again...it is soooo addictive!
What are u doing, Serene!
Filling up the pink bean bag....it took 2 and a half bags of styrofoam balls to fill that up!
Massage therapy at the end, cos we were all so tired:
Tired but happy:P

2008-04-19T00:43:00.006+10:00

Time flies. Time really flies. I mean, time really really flies.

My friend and i were just chatting a couple of days ago..we can't believe we're in year 3 already. Passed our halfway mark to graduation.

Stuck at the moment on complicated, medical-type neuropsychological models of spoken word production.

***

However, it's all been good. More than just language, which, in itself, holds so much depth that there are so many areas for intervention and fine tuning. This course has been a discovery journey about myself, people, and of course, communication.

In year one, i figured that language can be adjusted, adapted, or 'manipulated' according to the speaker's intentions and the audience's needs. (Btw, the lecturers didn't put it across to me that way.) Pragmatics is a very important skill indeed.

In year two, i found out what it was like to be a clinician, and got a better idea of the kind of patients i might meet in the future.

In year three, i discovered the importance of good communication, and realised that it was time to 'make the transition from student to clinician', to put it in the words of my clinical educator. I am still in 'transition' though.

***

The next thing is the sudden realisation that i'm going back to Sg soon. Oh oh, i wouldn't be surprised at how fast this is gonna happen. Just like that. In the twinkle of an eye. Click, twang, crash, bang. I need some sound effects. *Drumrolls and cymbals*

Time flies time flies time flies.

In the meantime....ear holes are so bothersome! I've got a swollen one now and i can't stick the earring into it. Ahhhh...hope the hole doesn't close! After all the trouble i took to maintain it. Photos will be up soon...when i get down to doing it:P

2008-04-13T23:01:00.012+10:00

Finally....my 10 page long assignment has been completed and submitted.

I only wrote 8 pages though... Hope there is enough 'substance':P

On mon, i was chatting to an aussie friend during lecture.

Her parents are farmers, and rear cows.

June: Your parents are farmers! Cool...so you must have milked a cow before!

What is it like? I heard that the type of milk you get depends on the way you milk a cow...whether you are skilful or not.

***

Tegan: That's a myth! Where did you hear that from?

***

June: I read it from an Enid Blyton book.
Are you sure that's a myth?
I read that if you're skilful, you'll get milk that has a lot of froth, which is good quality milk.

***

Teagan: That's not true. Having froth doesn't depend on the person milking the cow. You'll get froth when you milk a cow.

That's hilarious! I should tell that to my parents!

***

This is what happens when city mouse met country mouse... her ignorance is revealed. lol.

You guys must be laughing at me. I really did read that from an Enid Blyton book though.

Seriously, it means Enid Blyton books can't exactly be trusted. They might just be the author's imagnations and perspectives about whatever she's writing about. Maybe when she was writing those farm stories, she wrote them as she envisioned farming to be. Argh, i feel cheated.

***

This has been a busy week, with Lydia's 21st party the highlight of the week. Pictures will be up another time!

***

Today's worship during service was about Jesus the Beautiful One, and that was the theme that was impressed upon me the whole time. God was wanting to catch my attention again, reminding me that He is the lover of my soul.

Walking with God is a love relationship...God is the ever-attentive lover, whose eyes are always upon us. When you know about the beauty of his love, holiness, kindness...you will realise, He is beautiful. No one compares to Him. Not even friends and loved ones.

A passage from Hinds Feet on High Places sums it up well:

"Right down in the depths of her own heart, she really had but one passionate desire, not for the things which the Shepherd had promised, but for Himself. All she wanted was to be allowed to follow Him for ever. Other desires might clamour strongly and fiercely nearer the surface of her nature, but she knew now that down in the core of her own being she was so shaped that nothing could fit, fill, or satisfy her heart but He Himself. 'Nothing else really matters,' she said to herself, 'only to love Him and to do what He tells me'.'

***

You may ask, is that blind trust? 'To do what He tells me...'

Not when you know Him.

2008-04-04T17:26:00.002+10:00

Happy Birthday Stella!!

2008-03-31T00:16:00.005+10:00

I've been procrastinating blogging. Lol.

Considering that this week was my mid-semester break.
So here goes...Springbrook national park, on our very first day of mid-sem break:

Housemates unite:P

Imagine scrambling down the rocks! Instead, 'On Christ the solid rock i stand'...

Highlight of the day - the Twin waterfall!

We could actually walk behind the waterfalls! You can definitely feel the refreshing spray from the waterfall:P

'As the deer panteth for the waters, so my soul longeth after You'

-Ps42:1

If you look closely, you'll see a boy sitting at the top of the cliff on the left-hand side. I think i'ld tremble for him. But he's got the guts man. Plus he was happily throwing rocks into the water and enjoying the explosive splashes they were making.
Picture of the sky, taken from behind the waterfall, framed by the overlooking cliff:
Put the waterfall in and tada! Looks like rain from heaven:
This was my speech halfway dinner...so-called because we're 'halfway' through our course.

I had more pics but i'll just put one up....just for a feel of how Asians are such a minority in my course...lol.

Most of them are quite nice people actually.

Now that this is my third year, i've gotten to know more people through different clinical attachments. Many of them are amiable and generous, especially when i don't have a car and need lifts from people! It's not everyone though. I'm glad God blessed me with a bunch of warm-hearted friends who make going to lectures very much easier *phew*This cake celebrates our halfway mark toward graduatioN! can't wait. Dun wanna study liao.

But i realise even though i may feel like that, the drive to acquire knowledge is still strong.

After all, God blessed us with minds to think and use!

Of which, my fav is still bible knowledge:P

While listening to the pastor go through scripture after scripture today, i remembered that period of time when i attended bible school and learnt similar stuff...today my memory was refreshed again. It's time for me to delve deep into the word again.

'Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls...'
-Ps 42:7

Hmm...the bible does have a lot of verses pertaining to nature, and how it relates to God!

May these not just be head knowledge, but reality experienced in my life:P

2008-03-13T19:45:00.008+10:00

Yay...pictures uploaded:)

Stopover at Yatala for pies before reaching the gold coast:

Cell leaders (right) Daniel and Ellie:

Shunwei (housemate) and me:

Initial stages of building a sandcastle:

Final outcome (we had no spades, so we could only use our bare hands):

Lunch at gold coast- teriyaki beef from a jap restaurant:

This was korean steamboat for shunwei's birthday:

More birthday celebrations:

Shunwei's birthday with church frens at an italian restaurant. Turned out the chef is Singaporean. Anw, the owner is a soccer fanatic. See all those flags n soccer jerseys:

I am always intrigued by the 1 m long pizzas:

Finally, my new room. It's more than double the size of my previous bedroom.
So Xueqi, you guys can definitely stay here! I've got a double bed this time, it's so huge that i haven't any proper bedsheets for it...haha.

Full-length mirror and a huge wadrobe:P

At the Gold Coast

2008-03-10T17:15:00.005+10:00

In the end, we didn't go to wet n wild:(

But it's ok, cos we went for a 3-course mini golf, each uniquely themed, with different obstacles along the way!

***

There was the Jungle course, Water course, and the Fun course, which i like best cos it's so unconventional. haha. For eg, one of the obstacles was a rotating wheel, in which timing mattered when striking the ball pass the moving wheel.

I think i only got like 3 hole-in-ones? Boohoo. There's 18 holes per course.

Nvm, it was still fun:P Plus, it's just not that possible to get a hole-in-one for the Fun course, which was the hardest....but the nicest.

***

Can you believe it...we spent 4 hours on golf! And it was only mini golf. haha. Unfortunately, i didn't take pictures cos i didn't want to carry my camera ard. haha.

Hmm....blogger isn't working for now....will upload the gold coast pics another time!

***

Tonight, it's off to the pizza place at Milton to celebrate my housemate's bdae.

I'm just thinking of my line-up of events: tue- music prac, thurs- rocking-climbing, fri- speech halfway dinner.

Argh...why did i end up having so many things in one week??

Hopefully, i still have time to sleep:P

2008-03-06T17:37:00.005+10:00

Facts about Stuttering:

about 320,000 Australians stutter (it's the 5th most common communication disorder).
the ratio of males to females affected by stuttering is 3:1
the age of 8 years old is the critical age for a child to grow out of stuttering. After 8, people who stutter are said to have an advanced stutter, as compared to having a developmental stutter.
stuttering can be caused by deep seated anxiety, but that accounts for only 1% of people who stutter. The other 99% have some kind of organic basis.
it is not always possible to cure stuttering, but it can be controlled.

Ok that's enough...else i'll bore you guys. haha.

I think i'm going to like this module! We had our first lecture today, and the lecturer is really an animated lecturer. She was telling us about some celebrities who stutter...apparently Prince Charles does! Britney Spears (in the past) used way too much fillers/interjections (eg 'sort of', 'like', 'erm', 'actually') when interviewed by reporters. Of course, all of us use fillers at one point or another...but she just overused them i guess. So ppl, dun overuse fillers! Cos they do decrease communication effectiveness:P

If you realise, guys are somehow more likely to get some communication disorder than girls. Our lecturer was telling us some theory where the the X chromosome is said to be more adaptable, so if one X chromosome has some kind of defect, the other X chromosome can adapt to help overcome the defect. So i guess if it's genetically-linked, guys have a higher risk!

***

Uni's into full swing....busy busy! But i am enjoying my clinics... things are quite ok at the moment for me, except that our group's been swopping clients around, so it seems that i meet new clients each week!

Group therapy's been going fine, and i quite enjoy teaching those high-school kids now. There was this activity where i had to time the students on how fast they took to finish reading my vowel flashcards. Guess what...they turned the tables on me and challenged me to it as well. So i did it and...finished faster than them. haha. Now maybe they'll be motivated to improve:P

Apart from the fun bits, there's the slightly more challenging case of getting one girl with elective mutism to talk. I've gotta do some research on that, cos i have no idea what it is. Apparently, it's important to let the teachers understand that it's not that she doesn't want to talk, there could also be some physiological difficulty involved...something triggering her vocal system to tighten up and prevent her fr speaking. The good news is, she did talk a bit to me. So yeah, hope that goes well:P

Ok, that's abt it for now. Our cell's going off to Wet and Wild this sat, yay! It's the 4th theme park in gold coast apart fr Dreamworld, Movieworld, and Seaworld. Shd be fun!

2008-02-28T10:05:00.005+10:00

This week feels like a dream. An unbelievably frenzied, floating dream.

***

Haha. Our carpet was finally cleaned up this monday, after a week-long delay.

So basically i was slacking the week before, and 'camping' at my friend's house, which was really quite incovenient for them (i know they were quite relieved when the 3 of us moved out!)

Moving in was fun though.

We shifted little by little, and hired a ute on wed to move the bulky stuff.

It was fun climbing up the ute and passing stuff to people to carry!

***

Apart from that, it was clinic that gave me a rude shock from my holiday mood.

Clinic meeting was scheduled on mon, and i very carelessly failed to read the words in bold in my clinic roster, which informed us about the meeting. Imagine my horror when a staff actually called me at 11.30am to say i was supposed to be in a meeting fr 9-12noon!

Thank God for Yew Lim who drove me to uni straightaway:P

(He's my housemate btw...i've got 3 other housemates: Yew Lim, Lydia, Shunwei)

***

When my clinical educator told me 'saying sorry is not enough', i was thinking, darn, that is so not a good start! After all, it makes things so much easier if you have favour with them:P

Fortunately, everything turned out alright...

preparations for clinic completed on mon, clinic sessions at a public high school on tues, session plans completed this morn...

and another meeting to attend later today. haha.

All in my first week. Holiday over:(

Last sem, i was worried because i had too few clients.

This sem, i have 8! wow.

***

The kids are interesting though...such varied personalities.

I suddenly feel like a teacher who has to followed a structured programme designed by uq researchers.

The programme is well-designed though, and boy, do i feel like a student learning those stuff myself!

No one ever taught me english this way! Implicit rules made explicit to students who might have missed out somehow in their primary school years.

***

So tonight, i shall attempt to unpack all my stuff in my new room:P

Staying in a big house is exciting, with my housemates already envisioning plans to invite our cell groups over for gatherings.

And not forgetting to mention, you get good cooks who have been enthusiastically whipping up good food for us to eat! Such a blessing since i would have eaten out everyday given my workload.

***

Happy holidays to my uni friends who are having sem break in sg!

Will take pics of my house when everything's unpacked:P

2008-02-19T08:45:00.004+10:00

Am back in aust!

***

I had such a long holiday in sg... think it was one of the few holidays where i could really give myself a break and pursue my interests.

***

I still remember hunting for my jc stats notes a week before i left for aust, hoping to refresh my stats knowledge for my research module, and giving up after reading 2 chapters. Haha. How in the world did i go through math in jc last time? Still remember getting a low 40/100 for one of the common tests... both joanne and i were groaning at that time!

Well, it's over:P Whatever stats comes out in my next module, i shall juz have to learn fr scratch again. Cos i've forgotten everything...

***

So apart fr christian books, chinese bible and online newspapers, i haven exactly had to deal with anything academic...a much-needed break from studying:P

Bumped into Wenhui and Muifong at marine parade library on sat, they were so suprised to see me at a library. Was reading the papers. I guess it's precisely because i am not within the constraints of having to study for a purpose that i enjoy the library atmosphere. Oh my.

Which reminds me...everyone loves to be free. Like what my uncle says, who wouldn't want freedom? Maybe that's why, God gave us the freedom to choose:P Since a heart forced to love him wouldn't be love at all.

***

Driving was my greatest trial...i figure it will come with time. Can't really do much but practise more.

Of course there were the many gatherings. Of which, i consider my time spent with my grandfather very memorable. Who would have thought that poring over old photographs could inspire such a range of topics to talk about. I realise we aren't very much different from the older generation. They had their share of fun too.

***

Anw, i'm supposed to be busy with house issues now, but because the property agent was fully booked yest, we couldn't sign our lease and get the keys to our house.

Which is why i am so free to blog now. Haha.

Will be getting the keys later today though, after that, it's cheong ah! No la...we'll probably take our time to move n clean, since we've got 1 week before uni starts.

***

I've got 3 other housemates, 2 girls and a guy. All of them either love to cook or bake. June is the only one who doesn't always show interest in cooking. Lol. Let's just put it this way...my interest in cooking isn't as consistent as my interest in music. Haha.

And to my utter delight, a guitar is avaible in my house. Kindly given by my ex-cell group member who's left for melbourne. So now i can always borrow the guitar fr my housemate!

***

Will update again next time...i did get a bit of culture shock again yest. As always. I'm not angmoh-fied yet. haha. Dun exactly want to be. I do want to learn to appreciate cultures though. ha. We'll see how things go...shd be intesting:P