Monday, November 07, 2011

28th Birthday report 2011

I'm not sure who reads this anymore. But here goes anyway.

Birthday celebrations started early this year as my actual birthday fell on a Monday.
Thursday 27 Oct
Elena, Esther, Sam, HR and I met up at Paragon to make dinner at an Indonesian restaurant. HR gave me more cat related stuff as usual lol.

Saturday, 29 Oct.
There were about 20 of us furs hanging out at SAFRA Yishun for a bowling meet. It started out with Jeremy meeting me earlier in the morning to help pick up my suit. We then proceeded to go down to the meeting point. I was greeted by several furs and other friends. Julian and Kevin give me their presents, followed by Chong Han. He surprised me by recreating a plush version of Mik, idea co-owned by Marko from Finland. He then told me there's a v2 of it coming my way too. I happily accepted it. I played 2 games of bowling. Helped Jeremy get in suit. Pics were taken. Crashed a Halloween party that SAFRA was organising and spotted for Jeremy. Wrapped up about 8.45pm. Walked to Northpoint for dinner. Had Pastamania. Proceeded to cut cake under the void deck of the neighbouring HDB block. Crashed Kevin 's hotel room for a bit afterwards too.

Thanks to Samuel, Hanrong, Elena, Esther for gracing my birthday dinner.

Thanks to Hanrong, Thomas, Vincent and Clara for the presents.

Thanks also to Elena, Samuel, Suzanne, Jackson, Esther and Hanrong for dropping me birthday SMS-es.

Thanks also to Siti and Jemuel, my friends at work for sending birthday wishes through SMS too.

I really appreciate all of it. Thank you so very much!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

1-month-late 27th birthday report

Yeah… I’ve been rather tardy in getting this up. Let’s see…….

My birthday celebrations started early. I had been going over to Alexia’s place on a regular basis to help with his toy packing. We had almost finished up the bulk of the packing, and decided to head home as it was getting late and I didn’t sleep very well the night before. I had already asked him for one of his sharks and he agreed to let me have it, and then when I stepped out of the gate, Alexia asked me to hold on, and he passed me another box wrapped up. Whilst on my way home, I had already figured out what was inside the wrapped box. Soon, I spotted a huge smile. It contained another toy and 2 other drawings he did and printed on photographs. It wasn’t because of the toy he gave me, but it was the huge successful bluff he pulled off, and the effort he put in to make it all happen. Earlier, I offered to quickly sort through his remnants of toys in boxes, but he insisted that it was okay. The wrapped gift was supposed to be in one of the boxes. He also knew I’d get very curious if I did not see it when I expected it to be there, spoiling the surprise. So, he called my bluff and showed me another box. He managed to hide the nervousness very well too. It wasn’t very elaborate overall, but that’s one birthday surprise I will always want to remember.

I also had another awesome gift art from Silverfox. Popper and shark cake FTW.

Friday was dinner with 4 of my good friends, one of them whose birthday was just days before mine. We went to a restaurant which allowed us to doodle on the tables. It was fun.

Saturday was the day of the barbeque. Whole bunch of furs visited from neighbouring Malaysia and the event itself had even more furs. Nothing elaborate, good times were had. Signage on a 48” beach ball and barbequed eggplants were an unexpected success.
The actual birthday was on Sunday. Thank you all there for gracing the event.
I am really glad my 27th birthday is so memorable. Did I mention 27 is my favourite number too?

Shoutout to those who remembered my birthday and gave me wishes: Brother, Suzanne, Hanrong, Esther, and Elena, and Junquan

Monday, May 24, 2010

Coming back for a visit

Yeah, I know this blog's been pretty bare recently. I don't find very much to put on here anyway. I could talk a lot about my other side of life for me.... but nah~ ;)

I got out of my contract school as of 2010. I made it to NIE despite immense pressure, so it's all good. I really appreciated all the relatively more free time that I'm having in NIE. I just hate all the deadlines for assignments.

I just received my posting for my practicum and final school. I don't really know. I might have slipped into (mild?) depression after finding out. Lots of things have been said about it, and I'm not too crazy about going there either. Anyway, that aside. I think God spoke to me today in regards to this situation.

After screwing up my microteaching big time (I don't really care about how badly I did anyway), I casually told my tutor about my posting and how unsettled I was. A fellow classmate came up to me and said the school wasn't too bad at all. She also gave me tips to cope, not that I really needed those tips, but it gave me a glimmer of hope at least.
Then I felt a little lazy taking public transport back, so I decided to hop into a cab. I told the cab driver I was posted to that school. Guess what? My cab driver was from that school too! He then went on to talk about aspects of teaching as a career, and the lifestyle (his wife is one), which I had forgotten.

All in all, it was kinda sobering and I thank God for these small insignificant events. I don't really understand it either. I thought I was more resilient than this - to be defeated by something so minor as a school's posting. But somehow, I still let it get to me. Part of me is kicking myself for being so weak, the other side of me is just sitting back and taking it all in that God chose to intervene in my weakness, putting me back on the right track. Perhaps, this is another confirmation that He really wants me in this line of work.

I should really be better than this. But I suppose no matter how hard I try with my own effort, something somewhere sometime will give, and I have to look up to call for help, and He will answer.

Thank You God.

Love,
Mattathias

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Way way overdue birthday post and life update

24/10:
Thank you to Thomas who organised a post birthday party after Sam, Clara and Sarah's baptism. Thank you to the rest of the cell group who were there to celebrate along with me and Hanrong. It was really a very nice gesture. :)

31/10:
Local fursuiting meet in the spirit of Halloween. I only arrived in the evening while the rest started earlier on the the afternoon. I helped play spotter and got spotted by my students X3. I really enjoyed myself too, and it made my day all the more special.

Some pics can be found here: http://www.anthroasia.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=1419

Thank you to Jackson, Jasper, Hanrong who SMS-ed me their birthday greetings.
Also, wanna thank Ashley, NCH, Guorong, Junquan, Viperone and Samuel for their birthday greetings over MSN.
And of course all the other furries who wished me happy birthday.

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Work:
Lessons over -> end-of-year examinations conducted -> end-of-year examination scripts marked -> student comments given -> parents met (spoke barely passable Mandarin) -> said goodbyes to both students and colleagues -> curriculum planning for next year -> supervising the school's badminton team.

Career advancement woes: First was go, then no-go, now maybe go?

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

2008 review

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Mascot-ing

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions?
Didn't make any, but did achieve all of my goals for the year.

3. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
At home, online.

4. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
More financial freedom.

5. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I think a record number of times this year. I'd have to blame myself for not drinking enough water when everyone else was sick.

6. Where did most of your money go?
Insurance and paying off university loans. :P

7. What songs did you obsess over in 2008?
Lifehouse - Everything, and Broken
Boys Like Girls - Hero/Heroine
Chris Brown - Forever
Onerepublic - Say All I Need
Nickelback - Gotta Be Somebody
Paramore - That's What You Get, and Decode
Linkin Park - Shadow of the Day, and Leave Out All the Rest
Simple Plan - Your Love Is A Lie
Flyleaf - All Around Me
Hillsong - Hosanna and Where the Love Lasts Forever (Trance remix)
Daphne Khoo - Desperate
Caramelldansen

8. What was your favorite TV program?
In Search of Perfection (Heston Blumenthal's cooking show)

9. What series did you catch from Youtube?
Digimon Savers, Gordon Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen Seasons 2, 3 and 4 and Kitchen Nightmares Season 2.

10. What was your top 3 favorite films of this year?
Bolt, Iron Man, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

11. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Quarter of a century old

12. What kept you sane?
God.

13. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
"When you get involved in something, it shouldn't be a means to an end. You're in it to do or learn something more." -Jayne Chang

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Church - I stepped down from both cell ministry and sound ministry leaderships.
- New friendship bonds built although not close.
- Audio ministry are a crazy bunch, but in a good way.
- In the presence of a potential head chef.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Birthday Shout-outs

It's been about half a month past since my birthday. But nevertheless, I want to give an acknowledgment to those who remembered it one way or another.

Firstly, Jackson, who organised the dinner. The place was was very good. Good ol' Chinese food, food as even made more delicious with the company I had. Also thank you for the new back pack. Oh~ and also the treat :D.

Xinyi, Esther, Elena, Chiman, Christina, Amber, Samuel, Vincent, Hanrong, Suzanne, Gabriel, Wenzheng, Marcus. Thank you all for coming to my birthday dinner. Hope you enjoyed the food and fellowship too.

Also want to acknowledge Ashley and Linfeng for the brithday greetings too.

Until now, I don't know what to think of the turn out that night. It was quite a nice feeling.

Take care everyone and thanks once again :)

-Matt

Oh, and one more thing. Shout-out also goes out to Benjamin (my bro from WDL) who still remembers my birthday after so long (and making me feel rather guilty for not reciprocating) and Junquan, another 'stubborn' friend from SAJC. Thanks for dinner too.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

1st post for 2008

It's Wednesday, 28th May 2008 and here I am making this post at 11.50pm when I should really be asleep by now.

But I should really post this so as to get this off my chest and just maybe, ease the fears from some of the ppl in M'kk.

Here's the situation right now:
Next week from the 2nd-7th of June, I'll be back in ICT. I mean... no big deal right? It's only a week. But these are a list of things I need to complete before I head off (convenient note to self).
1) Haircut;
2) Receive package on behalf of a friend from Japan;
3) Go back on NIE on Friday to pick up correct data;
4) Finish the work before I go back for reservist on Monday;
5) Job interview at TTSH (again... lol);
6) Bowling on Saturday;
7) Sound duty over the weekend;
8) Meet with another online acquaintance from Indonesia after church;
9) Come home and pack my army gear.

Lol... busy eh? Well, there's more.

In the midst of all this busyness, some of you might have noticed I did throw a silent fit over the past weekend. Datelines aren't the only concern.
I recently came out of a situation that caused me to have this huge emotional baggage. This was concerning the local furs (or initial online acquaintances, however you want to call it.) And ironically, when I thought it was over, there is another impending emotional baggage coming from the inflatable side of the community. It is tough playing middleman/counsellor/friend/grapevine (from the information perspective)/who knows what else in these 2 communities. What I can say is that it definitely taking a lot of energy out of me, and another irony is that I don't even hold a full time job yet! ;) But, if you know me, duty is duty. I'd prob work myself dead before I give up... :3

All in all, I'm daily seeking God's strength to carry me through each day, lifting all these situations into His hands and asking for wisdom, time management and strength.

There's this song that has been stuck in my head after last Sunday that I just simply love and find encouraging in the midst of all these hectic-ness:

Find me here
And speak to me
I want to feel You
I need to hear You
You are the light
That's leading me
To the place
Where I'll find peace
Again

You are the strength
That keeps me walking
You are the hope
That keeps me trusting
You are the light
To my soul
You are my purpose
You're everything

And how can I stand here with You and not be moved by You
Would You tell me how could it be any better than this

You calm the storms
And You give me rest
You hold me in Your hands
You won't let me fold
You still my heart
And You take my breath away
Would You take me in
Take me deeper now

Coz You're all I want
You're all I need
You're everything, everything

-Everything by Lifehouse *nudge nudge wink wink at Wenzheng* :3
(Interestingly enough, before Lifehouse was born, they were known as Blyss, a Christian rock band. A record company took note of them and decided their music was good and gave them a chance to break into mainstream. They changed their band lineup since then too. Info taken from Wikipedia)

This has been your update from your retreat commandant '08, who is feeling very feline now and wants to curl up in someone's lap and wants to be petted, releasing all his stresses. :3 *purr*

(x-post to M'kk blog)