Happy Easter!~

Happy Easter!~

Blogger is down so I have to type this out on word first then transfer it later. There’re so many thoughts in my head that I want to get them all down. And since I’m in the mood, which I’m rarely in nowadays, I should pen them down now.

Today was excellent. The morning was spent organizing my readings and lecture notes for social gerontology. Apparently I have 10 seminars to cover and I managed to cover two in the short time I had. Having only two exams really gives you a lot of flexibility in managing your time and squeezing the max out of it. I managed to meet my 2^nd Godson for dinner @swensons at CP. The last time I saw him was actually during Confirmation Day last year. Man, I enjoyed it. It was just basic catching up and though it started off cautiously, I felt him opening up as we went along. I think I learnt more about him during dinner than I had known about him all along. I’ve made a mental note to meet up with both godsons regularly, possible once a month for mass then a meal. Think that’s the least I can do. After dinner, rushed down to St Iggy’s for Ray’s baptism. To be honest, I was quite surprised to hear that Ray was getting baptized, although he had already told me that he was going for RCIA. Anyway, I managed to reach there by 820 (had to take a cab from MacRitchie) and the cab journey was interesting as well. I told the driver that I was late then he asked me why I was going to church at this time. I tried explaining to him what baptism was but my Chinese prevented me from doing a good job. Apparently, baptism in Chinese is something like diao li? Or izzit qing li? Anyway, I managed to share with him about the baptism of my friend and then asked him about his religion. He shared that he used to “bai sheng” but had also gone to his sister’s church before but he felt that there was “too much to learn”. This line kinda struck me quite a bit. I realized that for many elderly, less educated people, the bible may be a tad bit too confusing. I guess that’s why quite a few elderly people prefer to go for Novena and stuff whereby they can participate and partake in God’s presense without really having to read or decipher scripture. Anyway, he ended off with a very funny question – “ Can I drive into the church?” haha…I was quite amused but told him that he was most welcome to! I told him about Holy Cross (which was closest to his place) and asked to go there to experience mass if he wanted. I think it’s amazing! Especially since our conversation was in Mandarin! I always have interesting cab rides :)

When I entered the church hall, it was pitch black but then nat et al. spotted me and I joined them. I must say that the church is really nice. Plus, it was my first easter vigil (believe it or not). I enjoyed it although I felt that it was really too long. When it was Ray’s turn to be baptized, I just felt this sense of joy inside me. I guess it’s cos he has journeyed through in CSS without really expressing the desire to become Catholic. And things didn’t exactly go very smoothly after he graduated but God sure has His ways of calling people doesn’t He? :) I think that it was really wonderful to welcome these people into the Catholic church on, in my opinion, the most important day in the liturgical calendar – Easter! Really glad for all those who were baptized and confirmed today! Something else warrants special mention though it is of much less importance. Thanks to some good friends, one girl now thinks that I tried to hit on her or something because Ray actually asked her if I mind taking a picture with her! Heh. Oh well, too bad for her I chickened out in the end! ;)

Supper at Al-Ameen was good and I really how good the-tarik tasted once again! :) Thank you Val, Nat, Alph, Pearl, Markli for the great company & Mark for the life back home too! I hope we continue to have such things even after we graduate.

Looking back on the week, Wed also deserves mention. First, it was the last class of my NUS life as an undergraduate. It went well, with Dr Mehta showing us “Dad” by Jack Lemon. It’s a really wonderful show that left me in tears. I don’t know why but the end of this class just seemed so normal that it left me feeling a little nostalgic. I don’t know. Maybe I expected more, like saying of goodbyes or like, well I don’t know, people to stay behind and chat a little more? It ended just like that with people just leaving as if they still had the rest of their NUS lives of lessons, lectures, tutorials, seminars to attend. Of course I’m not pinning fault or find it wrong but it just felt so normal that if I had not consciously realized that it was the last lesson, I might not have even noticed the difference. I guess it is fitting that I started my social work ‘life’ with Dr Mehta and now I’m ending it with her. I will miss all the friends that I’ve made throughout these 4 years. I will miss you guys.

We went over to Magicmark’s place to bake hot cross buns after class. Did I mention that his house is a dream? It’s fantastic la! Complete with basement home entertainment center, a nice pond, basketball post, nice paintings and magic cards on walls. Heh. I really had fun with all the people there learning how to bake hotcross buns! I think the making of the dough was really very very tough but I enjoyed it. The satisfaction of seeing it transform cannot be matched I tell you. Plus it was fun la, all of us taking turns to try the different roles. Too bad I couldn’t stay cos of my presentation the next morning. Anyway, reflecting on this past semester, I guess I’ve achieved my aim of getting to know more people and spending time on people as well as work. In fact, I feel that I’ve gotten to know the year1s better, especially Moses, Magic & Ade. They’re really nice people and I like them. :) Plus, I’ve watched more movies this semester than I’ve in year 2&3 combined! I really thank God for this! And work seems to be ok also. Well, at least for now la, cos I’m quite scared of social geron, but there doesn’t seem to be any motivation to study. Oh well, we all have to fight our demons!

I will end off here....

*written 16th April, 2006, 3:02am*