Of good news, bad news and great news.

Today started at 0635 for me. The alarm rang, and as usual I turned it off and went back to bed. I struggled out of bed at about 7 and left for school. Chapel. T(art) class. Break, then results. Oh, and I found out during break that Malcomn was short listed for Commandos! He was half way between trembling in fear and bursting with pride. All the best man!

Results. Some were good; I improved in Chem. Most were bad though. I was sort of expecting it. I got a total of 30 out of 42 points, and I have to say that I’m mostly disappointed. Today I made a point to work loads harder for the prelims and all the other IAs coming my way. So yeah. Hopefully we’ll see better grades in the future.

I spent the day, which was for most part devoid of lessons trying to figure out the finishing touches on my EE. In the process, I realized that Choir/Dance FOA tickets are selling faster ACSi pratas.

Today we also had a friendly game with Hwa Chong’s Ultimate team. In all honestly, I left my class room half expecting to lose. By God’s grace, we won the game quite comfortably. 13-4 or something like that. I have to say that I’m proud of the team. I love the fact that you guys gel so well and are just a really fun bunch of people. Y’all really put in your best efforts and it showed. Through God’s strength we did an great job, (although there’s obviously lots that we have to improve on), and that was definitely the highlight of the day for me!

I went for dinner afterwards, and showed up for prep really late. Its a good thing that Madam excused me.

Tomorrow, I need to hand in my final EE draft. Get some math work done and figure out my world lit assignments.

 

Ultimate ACS(I)!

Glory to God!

 

God is great.

One of the FireAC guys shared this on Tuesday morning, I think: “The night sky is darkest just before the sun rises.” It was used in the context of a message regarding prayer. This phrase spoke to me very clearly.

Before Tuesday’s late night rehearsals for Love/Retreat, I was utterly depressed. The lights were holding us back, the acting was shoddy, we were all at a loss of what would happen on Friday night. Prayers? We said them. I said them. But there were times when no blessing seemed sufficient, that God would not answer. These doubts were proved wrong. At the rehearsal on Tuesday night, which lasted close to 11, there was so much improvement in the acting. The next day, the preview went spectacularly. 

Whether or not it is scientifically correct that the sky is darkest just before the sun rises, I do not know. What I do know is that God brought the entire production out of the darkness, and delivered us greatly. It was in God’s grace alone that Love/ Retreat turned out the way it did. Glory to God!

 

Metamorpha- what?

I have noticed that I’m changing, and it not for the better either. I’m sorry all of you who have met the stupid me. Time to change back. God please help me. 

On a another note,  the theatre arts class had a photo shoot today for the up coming production Love/Retreat. Will post photos soon. Do come for the play!

I really do have a lot on my mind, but not much heart to post it here.  

 

The first 3 days.

This week there were 3 school days, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, most of which was spent helping out in the Year 5 Orientation: ACS-ploration. On Tuesday night I moved into 119 Dover Road, the ACS Boarding House, into Hall 8- William F. Oldham. I’m living in a four person room, with Xun Liang and this Year 4 Indian scholar named Vinay, the other space is still not filled yet. Apparently, the boarding school doesn’t have internet access in the living quarters, which explains my absence from MSN and blogging. My roommates and I are thinking of sharing a router equipped with M1 wireless broadband to circumvent the authorities that prevent us from staying connected. 

Well, on wednesday morning, I woke up early and headed down to the track to start the morning with a run, before heading over to school foyer to help welcome the new batch of year 5s. The new batch of Year 5s sure are a fun bunch, they were pretty responsive and got hyped up by the end of the ACS-ploration.

Jessica and I were assigned to OG 6. Awesome bunch of people! It was my pleasure serving all of you. Hai yan. Jie Yi. Yiping. Pam. Bao Cheng. Ally. Eka. Shuan. Caleb. Joshua. Jason. Stevanus. Adriel. Daniel. Prasad. John. Wen Hao. Clifton. Marc. Zhong En. Daryl. Chote. Alistair. Amir. We had a bunch of fun I assure you . Today at lunch they gave Jess and I personalized souvenirs! I’m really appreciative of them.

There’s so much to write about, in summary: Ice Breakers. Dry games. Mass Dance. ACS-iting Race. Dirty-dirty Telematch. Cheering. Closing Dinner. Ok I could have been more descriptive, but honestly it wouldn’t do the experience justice. Will post more photos at a later date.  

Oh and along the ACS-iting Race (Thursday), I had somehow or other sprained my left ankle, the injury got aggravated during training that evening. So on the next day, during the tele-match, I had to play the part of the OGL waiting at the end point, my duty was to hug every group mate that over came the nauseating tasks of tele-match. These tasks included spinning in circles, duck walking, and hopping while incorporating buckets of ice, soapy water, milk, flour, macaroni into the race. After all of OG 6 had completed the course, they had to run across the field to carry me back to the finish line. Not long after that, they decided to honor me by dunking me in the soap/mud sliding thing. Thanks, I was mostly clean before that. Haha. Fun.  

Also, God was very real to me this week, mmm, again the incident is too long to write about. But he had impressed upon me the verse Matthew 6:33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” . Indeed, He blessed me greatly, taught me to have faith. I shall trust Him, now and forever more. 

 

JP likes talking in 3rd person.

He wakes up in the early morning, realizing thats its far too early for a Saturday like this. A glance at the bedside clock confirms this, and as much he consciously want to sleep in, the chronobiological settings ingrained into him prevents him from doing do. Lying on his back, his thoughts go back to last night; a party, much laughter, good music, good company, one crazy stand up comic, some sleight of hand and magic. He thanked God that it had all went well.

But even after the night of festivities, he feels strangely empty. Looking back he remembers his unease 12 hours ago. When the sun went down at the foyer, and the soft orange lights gently illuminated the the grounds; the mellow music played on into the deep blue night sky and general warmth of the people permeated the atmosphere. It was a flawless way to end the school term, save for one thing. Setting his drink on the table, and politely excusing himself from the conversation, he moves to a more secluded spot at the party, his eyes slowly searching the crowd for the missing element. Where is it? Who is it?

 

Psalm 23

Friday was the day we got back our results, only by God’s grace did I achieve them. He has blessed greatly, and I am much satisfied.

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

 

The End.

At long last the period of testing and revision drew to a close this morning, hopefully there’ll be no more revision for a long while, although I’m pretty sure that the work will kick in before the Year 5 cohort can say: “Freedom!”. By the grace of God, the exams have gone well, and the revision and absence of fun distracting stuff hasn’t been all that bad either. None the less, I enjoy the change from trying to study to slacking.

As per the after exam tradition, I went out with the KKK (which is not the Ku Klux Klan, but the Kyle Koh Klub), and watched a movie. Unfortunately, we picked a Russian fantasy action movie called Daywatch, which was preceded by the prequel Nightwatch, which none of us had watched before. The result was that we spent most of the movie trying to make sense of the plot and the rules of the fantastical world of the film; it did not help that a single piece of chalk had the power to alter reality and that all the dialog was in Russian. It wasn’t all that bad though, having figured out the gist of the story, it was pretty satisfying.

Oh, and the over due Charity Bike’n'Blade post? Well, just take a look at the photos. There are like 400 more photos on the web if you’re interested, I just took those relevant to me.

 

A blessed week.

This week was very much blessed and eventful.

On Sunday evening, long after many of you die hard Harry Potter fans finished the latest book in the series, and unabashedly spoiled the ending for me, I read the first few chapters of Deathly Hallows. And what an extreme roller coaster it turned out to be. When the ride got to the big twist and turns, it struck me how J.K Rowling had managed to sneak the clues into all the books from the very start of the series- many of which I never fully understood, and in one pensive chapter enlighten all who followed the series. Going through the final moments of the epic series, I found her writing emotionally gripping and nothing short of brilliant.

The ending? I’m not going to spoil it.

Expelliarmus!

Along with that passing obsession, this week was pretty enjoyable. In Theater Arts class, we learned the basics of Kathakali dance, which was surprisingly more interesting to learn than to watch in video form. For those of you that don’t know, Kathakali dance productions go on for an average of 8 hours, and that’s loads of time to try and figure out what the codified hand signs mean.

Ultimate training on Monday was fun, the one on Thursday was fun as well but somehow also functioned as breeding ground for injuries. A couple had discs chucked in their faces, and I while playing barefoot, got my right big toe twisted to angle that it wasn’t made for, and had to shift it back to it proper place by hand. And yes, it did hurt.

Please pray for me to heal up quickly, I still want to be able to do the Charity BikenBlade.

Tomorrow, I’m probably going with the Theater Art people to watch the Greek play, Agamemnon.

That’s all for now, I’m too tired, need more sleep.

 

Haven

I was going to do this on the 4th, but eventually I didn’t. So excuse the lateness, Van has already beaten me to the punch.

This weekend, more specifically, the 4th and 5th of August, marks the 1st anniversary of Haven the musical. As far as I know this was the 2nd musical ACS (Independent) had ever staged, the first being Godspell. Haven, like its predecessor, was a musical about God and his ever abundant grace.

This is one of those experiences that I really thank God for and one that I will try my best to never ever forget.