just 5 more days to the start of term 1 '06 and i'm kind of stressed already...
i have exactly that amount of time to catch up with what my contemporaries covered in a year...

a wonderful day in wonderful company...
woke up at 10plus to the ringing of my phone: rachh called to confirm its sentosa...
fell asleep, only to wake up when jane called... shock shock horror horror, they were all at harbourfront while i was still sleeping...
quick change and i was in a train on the way there, and as the doors closed, i realised at the same as she did that i was standing opposite sher!
*xia4si3ren2*
met the rest at palawan beach for a few hours of pushing ppl into the water and talking about b-support...
walked to siloso to jump off the jetty in sync with photos taken by a kind passerby, alvin... =)
left the island for another quick change at home before meeting javier and rey at the crown prince's swensens for dinner...
outings with them keep me up to date on the latest entertainment happenings, absolutely necessary...

thanks sher for the mood ring!
(your cd hung my apple, not sure what's wrong...)
thanks rey for the star wars episode III poster, its going up next to confessions... x)
thanks javier for the OC mix 1, will be sure to tell u if its any good...
oh and for one tree hill season 2 dvd set too... can't wait to watch it all...

just finished episode 10 of the OC season 3 - the chrismukkah bar mitz-vahkah...
i'm such a tv addict...

remixes,
john.

i watched the proverbial sunrise coming up over the pacific...
- who i am hates who i've been

listened to all my christmas gifts in the course of the last 24 hours...
the one tree hill soundtrack can only be played on a cd player lah, not on a comp, super annoying... new copyright rules can be so sticky...
listened to "switch" by inxs while reading next year's lit text, "things fall apart"... its a really nice cd, though most of the songs sound somewhat similar in the album's totality...
destiny's #1s deserves to be called exactly that - the selection of songs is amazing, all billboard chart toppers, with 2 excellent new singles, "stand up for love" and "brown eyes", along with beyonce's new hit, "check on it"... fav in the album has got to be "bootylicious"...
confessions on a dancefloor showcases the reasons why madonna's the queen of pop and reinvention... a distinct new flavour from "music", special mention must go to tracks like "get together" and "push", along with my fav attitudinistic "i love new york"...
dp, daniel powter's self-titled debut album is the most surprising of the lot, with half the songs being good and the rest only so-so (typical for any normal album)...

supposed jyc comm outing later today, though when jake/adriel/rachh and i discussed it just now, prospects did not look too hopeful... x)
and jane's clubbing...

B in the mix,
john.

contrary to what many of us anticipated, lindsay's new single "confessions of a broken heart", is actually rather nice... below my Flikr photo mosaic is a music code with it, so enjoy! just listen to the audio lah, the video is tokenistic coz i couldn't find the audio code alone... x)

i wait for the postman to bring me a letter,
john.

its christmas day!
'03-'05 christmases have been spent mostly in the same fashion, church, then lunch with the musks, then to one of our places... this year it was sam's...

leaving sam's place after staying over on christmas eve, i had to go to orchard at nite for some last minute buys... the place was packed like i've never seen it before! but it adds to the fun lah...
spent the night writing cards and wrapping gifts, slept at 3, so so early compared to ppl like josh/deblam who practically stayed up the entire night...
churched at 1030 service with the musks and pet...
jane was (the dancing) mary! x)
took loads of photos which i must get my hands (computer cursor) on...

to them i thank:
jasmine/rupen: i LOVE the poster!!!!! thanks for the CD, it was totally unexpected...
JYC comm: yay one tree hill! :)
pet: Thanks for averting the CD duplicate and getting destiny's child!!!
jake: leaving price tags on is so last year please... x) thanks for dp!
josh: rockstar inxs!!
sam: hahas thanks for another "why-questioned" book after tiff's (thanks tiff!!)
adriel: perfect novel of choice!
abby/daniel/amanda/audrey/joanna/joanne/veen/caryn/charmaine: thanks for the gifts!

pass that dutch,
john.

Jane's party on the 20th, an event which we all looked forward to with varying degrees of enthusiasm, is finally over...
needless to say, it was more of a gathering of friends than a party-party, but it was fun...
besides the murder mystery and jane's 3-course menu, most of the night was spent playing poker/mahjong bridge... and when everyone else but the five of us left, sobre discussions took place, a signal that it was high time we left and hit the sack... x)
intending to track back to the hiew residence, we were fortunate enough to flag a cab that was willing to ferry all five of us...

sam's ac christmas party the following day was pretty fun too, albeit small...
gave paul his christmas surprise (glad you like it!)
josh hoe/auggie/paul/sam/i stayed up till 4plus doing the posters and video for sec 1 orientation...

after the craze of the last few days, we still wanted to try having a star wars 6-movie marathon last nite, and expectedly failed half way through...
joshhoe/sam/i made it past episode 3++...

2 days till christmas,
john.

first: the incessant need for artiste to make pseudo-closure albums can be somewhat annoying, especially when they never really close their career after that, or they are far too young to be releasing such albums...
britney: her "my prerogative: greatest hits" album, as the title suggests, was an album of her greatest hits, signalling that, at least for a while, she would probably be on a break... but no, right after, she releases the single "someday (i will understand)" and ANOTHER compilation album, "B in the mix"...
hilary: after one and a half years doing "metamorphosis" and her self-titled sophomore album, greatest hits is released... early, much?

spar with ij yesterday set us thinking about how we would want approach different types of opponents in future debates... much needs to be done before next year's competitions...
lunched with paul/sam/miche at ikea's burger king...
cabbed to sam's new place, a work in progress with constructors milling around the whole time we were there...
there are more bathrooms than there are ppl to use them! x)
shopped for instruments/equipment...
josh/jake/adriel/i stayed over...
went to meet paul for lunch and christmas shopping in town today...
jeremy tan/bryan zhao joined us...
headed home for a quick change before going for worship prac...
all carols minus one, so its pretty interesting...


one tree hill's cast of season 3: gorgeous!

and then we...
john.

the airport has strangely been a frequent haunt for me this month...
apart from syc and receiving the hiews from nz,
darius and i went today to welcome cherry from timor-leste after her mission trip and to send jo/elaine/rayshio/jamie/weeteng/benlee/johnsoong/gimlim off to korea for their ski trip...
had dinner at ajisen ramen (personally found it far below par), then ice cream at swensens when everyone had left...
bbq's postponed to tomorrow, so can't go shopping with adriel/jake/sam (sorry!)

the holidays get shorter as we age, a sentiment i'm sure's not felt just by me...
what to do?
just increase the pace at which we do things...
rushing through life's not a good thing?
beg to differ...
that's the only way to get through...
john.

God He Reigns,
Forever more

today ended the three BMC church camps for '05...
i'm just thankful for the opportunity to serve in all of them,
each with their own wonderful experiences and lessons...
just as paul/darius/meltee wrote on their blogs about the amazing way camps can touch you, i can only agree with them...
jyc was, in many ways, an annual routine, but going back to SU at sentosa did bring back memories... new friendships were formed too...
vbc, for my year at least, was our first time dealing with the primary school kids instead of the preschoolers, and it was really fun, albeit the numerous times when all of us had to think twice before acting on our desire to pull our hair out at the kids' antics...
then it was syc for the past three days, not the first time helping, but definitely the one which included the most hands-on participation... we were mainly facilitating the games, and on the campers' part, it was refreshing to witness such gusto in the way they played... not to mention the liberty that we had to make things interesting, a freedom sorely lacking in the jyc games...
had lots of time to chat as well, given that we had no duties as comm members...
first night went for dinner with adriel/josh...
second night was spent with sher/rachh/huiting/jake/josh/adriel/jane at the latter's house playing mahjong/cards... ate at simpang...
stayed over at the hiew residence on both nights...
after the beach games today, we went there to play mahjong etc... left with joshhoe/sam...

met javier at raffles hotel for dinner...
the comedy was part of the Chestnuts series, and its in its 9th year...
jonathan lim and hossam leong were hilarious...
parodies of everything that happened in the arts/media scence in '05...
had drinks at starbucks before returning home...

The enemy has been defeated,
death couldn't hold You down,
We're gonna lift our voices in victory
We're gonna make Your praises loud!
Shout unto God...
john.

Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote: You cannot run away from weakness, you must fight it out, or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?
the way episode 8 of one tree hill season 3 ended just confirmed my love for the storyline, actors and everything else...
its amazing... =)

went on my own little shopping trip in orchard today...
bought loads of mags from kino and stationary for next year from popular...
oh and i've decided i'm sticking to Carte Blanche for my christmas cards this year...
bought 4 more of their "me to you" grey bear cards...
tomorrow marks the beginning of 6 days of not being at home...
lunch with rachh/sher, syc games briefing, meeting the hiews at the airport tomorrow..
friday to monday syc...
sunday night's hossan leong comedy with javier...
monday night going to the airport to meet cherry coming back from east timor...
tuesday's bbq...

the worst day since yesterday,
john.

this is my grown up (15 years of age please) christmas list:


nicholas sparks: "nights in rodanthe" - not his latest (coz i have his latest), but something i've been wanting since christmas 2003 when it was launched...


dan brown: "deception point" - after reading "digital fortress", i'm a fan...


one tree hill: original soundtrack - probably found only in HMV, needless to say its all in a loyal fans duty...


panasonic RP-HS101 retractable earphones - portable and affordable!


apple-compatible wireless mouse - this is a generic picture, but any wireless mouse that can be used with macs is welcome...


for the more economical: the ipod earphone winding thingy - the small one, coz they come in two sizes...

so yeah, this is my scaled down, practical wishlist for the season...
please??
thanks!!! *big smiles*

went for lunch with jane and shermaine at carl's jr on sunday...
the 72 hours after that were spent at home completing the OC season 2...
love love love it... x)
went out to look for some presents today...
have some ideas...

fall on your knees
and hear the angels voices
oh night divine
the night when Christ was born
john.

really tired after the last two days, though i have little reason to feel as such...
went to watch aeon flux with javier and rey at marina yesterday...
good acting, but not worth paying for...
had dinner at swensens before heading home...
was supposed to start prep for today's debates, but reasoned that
one episode of the OC season 2 would not hurt...
in the end, only after 2 episodes and loads of chatting online,
i got down to writing out my rebuttals...
slept at 2...

we won the semifinal, unexpected in our opinions...
went to lunch with little care for preparing for the finals...
when we realised we were in, we were rushing like mad...
but glad to say that that was our best debate out of the 5...
congrats to RI for their eventual win,
to sam for being the best speaker of the finals,
and to bryan for being the best speaker of the tournament (you really deserve it!)

since half the ppl present were dep-ers, we all cabbed to rjc for the DA camp briefing...
spent an hour there before going to j8 for dinner at (of all places) the food court (partly coz i couldn't find sakae)
we were totally exhausted, so went home after that...
spent the last few hours watching another 3 episodes of the OC season 2...

so i'm dancin' alone
dreamin' solo
'coz your love's the one worth waiting for
its just like heaven

john.