Lizzy dislikes mornings where the boyfriend is annoyed with her.

The last leg.

Last week to ASFV! Cheonging the last leg of editing, and I’m sure the committee is on the ball putting together the final toppings on this amazing cake of a journey we’ve had with WKWSCIFOC’09.

Praying, and continuing to believe God that all shall be well for the week ahead; no H1N1 can enter our camp in Jesus’ name. We are covered by the blood of Jesus, and ever protected. In this lead up, just want to encourage the rest of you to hold the camp, the freshies, the seniors, and everyone involved in camp in prayer. In this time of the devil’s attack, it becomes even more important to uphold and remember the finished work of Jesus Christ which has set us free from the afflictions of this world, and has made us to be above only and not beneath. And we are above H1N1 and not beneath, in Jesus’ name!

So seniors and freshies who happen to be reading this (or anyone else for that matter), keep the camp and your loved ones (and don’t forget yourselves!) in prayer! It shall all be well in Jesus’ name, and we shall all have the most amazing, spectacular, enjoyable, history-making, ground-breaking, earth-shattering, record-breaking WKWSCIFOC ever.

Welcome to CS, ye fresh blood. This is the beginning of what could possibly be, the wildest ride of your life. Of course, this depends on how interesting you decide you want your school life to be. You could choose to lurk, but that’s a moment wasted there – make use of your youth. These are the last 4 years of your student life. It may not seem poignant to you yet, but soon it will; so go ALL OUT AND ENJOY IT YO!

That aside, it has been an interesting FOC’09 journey for me. I didn’t start out with the rest of you, I was not there from the beginning, only watching slowly as the committee gradually took shape, the OGLs were picked, the pieces were coming together… I have only been on this ride since the summer hols began. It has been a busy two months, not just with FOC, but with everything else I’m involved in right now. The fact that the Thailand mission trip has been ‘postponed indefinitely’ is a good season for me to rest, and I know that when I finally get to go, it’s going to be 7 times more awesome.

But for now, commitments abound everywhere, FOC is but one of my many, but it is also a journey I have no regrets having started on. And am blessed to be able to complete.

And guys (and gals), we WILL see this camp to fruition, H1N1 or not!

(But we will still be responsible and accountable of course. Do listen to WL’s safety briefing, his long windedness may rival the Yangtze River, but it is neccessary.)

Walking (and sometimes running and sprinting) the FOC journey has brought me closer to certain people (apart from, obviously, Peds Shiu), certain friends, and certain aquaintances, with whom I would not have bonded with if not for this journey we have taken together. And for that, I am thankful to God that it has been, and will continue to be, amazing.

Alright. It’s 2.30am and I’m up at 7am to head down to NTU again.

Should be getting some new equipment tomorrow though. New camera toys…

In an update about the kitty – it is the cutest, most adorable, most lizzy-connection cat she has ever been blessed to meet. Unfortunately her family does not want to keep it for many practical reasons – that being the existence of our two rabbits, hamster and already other part-time cat. The fact that we are not home most of the time will induce him to wander, and we are also not prepared to allow an animal to freely roam the entire house as he wishes. AND… among other reasons.*Sad*

But he is the cutest thing really. I really do adore the little fella. Got heart to heart connection. But I agree with my Mom and Sis, we are not equipped, prepared or willing to be responsible for another furry life. Furthermore I’m moving back to hall in 5 weeks. Which means…………….school is starting in 5 weeks. Buggerit. Lol.

Okay. Sleep sounds like awesome now.

So goodnight.

Brought home a kitty.

Too lazy to upload the pictures now. But I brought home a kitten after strolling with him at East Coast. :S

Hope the owner claims it back soon…

If you happen to stay at Ocean Park condo and lost a brown, spotted, striped kitten with white paws, a colored collar and a little bell, PLEASE contact me.

In other news, we watched Transformers today!

It was awesome! So the plot was, what plot? And the dialogue was the lousiest, most predictable and cliche excuse for movie dialogue ever conceivable, but who watches Transformers for those anyway? I totally agree with how Peds expounded on the movie.

Awesome stuff. The bots are freaking awesome cool and now I want that Bumblebee toy even more. Rawrr. Tempted, oh so very tempted. But I need my camera equipment and iPhone, so no Bumblebee for me. *crosses fingers*

So, very, very awesome.

And it was an awesome day.

With an awesome person.

Kitty’s falling asleep in the living room.

Finally a bit of peace at home.

I was mistaken. Kitty’s back to manja-ing against my leg.

Boo..

Thailand mission trip has been postponed indefinitely.

H1N1 has brought about so many inconveniences.

Mildly concerned for FOC. But it shall be well! It shall go smoothly and no one will fall ill in Jesus’ name.

OH WELL.

At least I’ll get to see the boy tomorrow. Yay.

OKAY PEOPLE.

Stop reading my blog already, nothing interesting here! Thanks for sending my blog hits through the roof yesterday.

See what you did!

Poor Pedro.

In other unrelated news.

I need to learn to close tabs and clean up my spaces. This is everything that’s currently open, and it’s not less than a usual day already.

All you blog stalkers!

Post something interesting enough and suddenly your hits for one morning alone goes higher than anything you’ve seen since last year’s post-FOC high.

Never doubt the power of CS stalking culture.

Okay. Yes.

Should’ve asked earlier, you.

Rhema.

Was randomly browsing through my archives.

Sometimes when I read what I wrote when I was younger (This blog goes back to 2004, after all), I feel like my English was better then.

Now I write in bits and pieces and maybe I actually do sound younger. Regressive aging. Not bad.

I take that back, I read a few more 2005 entries and changed my mind.

I think I was more coherent in Sec 4 (2004). Even found an old entry on what I thought about love as a 16 year-old. Nice. Justifiable, back then, for my age. But still pretty much me, except that I’ve learned what it is to commit.

And even this entry which is addressed to a random person who was in my life at that point in time who I can no longer drag up from memory. (So no, I don’t remember who I was actually talking about.)

The main reason I starteted writing this entry was just, to post something nice I dug out from my archive along with the rest of Lizzyness.

Reading everything, I don’t feel like I’ve changed all that much (except for the better). Grown some, but still, very much, me.

Enjoy this poem/lyrics. I don’t even know.

Erin O’Donnell \ Hold On To Jesus

You’re a little piece of heaven
You’re a golden ray of light
Ad I wish I could protect you
From the worries of this life
But if there’s one thing I could tell you
It’s no matter what you do
Hold to Jesus -
He’s holding on to you

The world will try to tell you
That might is more than right
That beauty’s on the outside
And being good’s a losing fight
But remember what I’ve told you
Because the world will make you choose
Hold to Jesus -
He’s holding on to you

Hold on to Jesus
Cling to His love
Rest deep in His mercy
Whenever things get rough
Don’t lose sight of His goodness
And don’t ever doubt this truth
That when you hold on to Jesus
He’s holding on to you

Hear me dear Jesus
Rock this little one to sleep
Keep her close when she’s scared
And give her grace when she is weak
I know she’ll stumble
But I know she’ll make it through
If you hold to her just like
You said You’d do
Hold her Jesus -
And she’ll hold on tight to You

Reflections. MOREMOREMORE!

“Pooh, promise you won’t forget about me, ever.
Not even when I’m a hundred.”
Pooh thought a little.
“How old shall I be then?”
“Ninety-nine.”
Pooh nodded.
“I promise.” He said.

pooh and christopher robin

classic pooh (c) A.A Milne

I lubb Pooh quotes.

Busy days, these are. FOC is coming up, and the mission trip as well – hope we get to go, not sure if we can because Thailand’s currently on the list…

HM09 has ended. I’ve gone, I’ve returned, and life will never be the same again. Not exaggerating.

Designing, photog, designing, photog.

But you know, I realize how blessed I am.

I do complain about my work, but in truth I have little to complain about. Deadlines, lifelines, being overworked. Yes, I have a lot on my plate. But that means that people trust me with what is important to them, and I am honoured that they do.

Yes, I have a lot to do, but I am doing what I love, and I love what I do. What more can I ask for? How many people are blessed enough to be dutifully occupied all the time with what they actually truly enjoy and love doing?

Yes I am busy. But I’m happy. Every task that falls into my lap is a new challenge, is something new for me to tackle, another task for me to break apart, examine and piece together again.

I love being a designer.

I love. being a designer.

Amazing.

I slept for 11hours. I have no recollection of having done this in the past month. Nice.

Am no less busy than I once was. Just decided that perhaps sleeping would make me less grouchy (and boy have I been grouchy lately).

Serving for camp next week. Wasn’t going to, originally. But Jeremy’s ORDing in the same week and he didn’t manage to take leave, so I’m stepping in. A camp of over 450 people and 3 photogs officially serving. FOC has only over 150 people and there are already more photographers deployed for it than for HM09. Lol.

The directive given, as per all events, is that they want “full coverage”. But of course.

Didn’t want to serve at first because I thought it would be needful for me to just receive at this camp, given what I think to be my emotional and psychological state. However, God has better plans for me. And I believe that since He has opened this window of opportunity for me to serve as a photog at this camp, He will not shortchange me. God has his portion for me. Amen, amen and amen.

Since acquiring my D90 a whole new world has been open to me. The opportunities to capture precious moments has been endless, and continue to be so. I guess sometimes people are just under the impression that just because you own a DSLR it means you can take good photos. They just expect you to be able to know what to do with it. But as this quote reads;

Buying a Nikon doesn’t make you a photographer. It makes you a Nikon owner. -Author unknown

I do not claim to be a good photographer. Or even one who knows my equipment very well. I’m learning, yes, and God has opened up to me so many opportunities to learn. Zhanyi’s borrowing Jeremy’s speedlight (SB-600) for me to use for camp. Had my first go with it during Play! and looking forward to capturing some good praise shots with that.

Still eyeing the 35mm, f1.8 lens and thinking of getting my own speedlight  but I’ll take my time… I seriously need to get a replacement for my iPod touch because life without it has been… well, incomplete. Eyeing the new iPhone 3G S and we’ll see how that goes when it’s released here in Singapore.

When July hits it’s going to get even crazier. FOC is from 6 to 10 July. Will probably be a videographer for the camp because there just won’t be enough videographers and WL already has a substantial photog crew. (I mean c’mon, he has the whole Chron photodesk down to help him!) Pity since I do prefer to be behind my D90 lens rather than lugging the P2 or Sony around. (First it is twice as heavy, secondly it is twice as tiring)

One of my biggest gripes about school is that I am more than just occasionally not treated like a girl. *insert weary sigh here* But we’ll save that complaint for another day.

Immediately after camp breaks on the 10th, I’ll only have very few hours of respite before Saturday the 11th, which is Arrow Ministry’s O&I (Orientation & Integration), aka, our orientation for all the JC and Poly folk moving up to Varsity cluster. Word has come in that yes, I will be the photog for that day, though I do hope we’ll be getting more people because I cannot possibly divide myself between all the university campuses (NTU, NUS, SMU, SIM and other PTE) and still make it to Suntec before the rest to prepare the photo slideshow before they arrive for the afternoon service. Doing some major design collateral for that day as well, thank you Jesus that those will turn out awesome as well. Amen.

And then on Sunday (12th July) after first service, I fly to Thailand for a much anticipated mission trip. Really excited about that because it will my first mission trip and I can’t wait to see God’s portion for me there. And yes I am the trip photographer as well. My D90 is living a very fulfilling life, at the rate I’m going maybe I’ll need to upgrade faster than expected.

Back to the point about being a Nikon owner, yes, just because you own a spanky DSLR people expect you to produce breathtaking photographs, which is not always the case. I’m just going to trust God to place me in the right place, at the right time, to capture the right shots and the right expressions, for all the events that are to come. Be it camp, or O&I or the mission trip. My equipment is modest; but my D90 body and my (admittably pretty good) kit lens. I don’t have a speedlight, I don’t have fast primes, I don’t even have anything to bounce light from. But I have Jesus, and I believe He will give me qara moments where I capture The good shots.

I don’t believe it’s coincidence that God has opened up so many doors since I got my camera. Have had the opportunity to learn from the rest of the photographers, and am still fresh to shooting for church. Camp is very exciting, because things change so fast and just move in the spirit that you just really have to be in the zone to capture the right things at the right time. But most importantly, it is my privilege to be able to serve. It is my privilege to serve in God’s kingdom. Because I know my God, and I know His faithfulness to His people. And when He blesses He never shortchanges. When He says thank you the gifts are never small. And what He gives is never merely enough, but always overflowing with abundance.

With that I think I finally know what to christen my D90. Some people familiar with my habit of naming all my expensive toys have been asking me what my camera’s called. I kept giving the reply that my D90 hasn’t portrayed enough quirks and characteristics for me to name him (yes its a boy). But I’ve decided to call him ‘Qara’, (In Hebrew, to encounter, whether accidentally or in a hostile manner — befall, (by) chance, (cause to) come (upon), fall out, happen, meet.), because I believe thats what his purpose is.

Okay, this is a really long entry. Which I just wanted to end off with a completely irrelevant geek/fangirl note.

I think the Leader class (the one that costs like $109 ++) Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime is SO VERYVERY cool!!!! (Here is where Peds is going to say I’m a female geek again.)

Maybe I’ll get it when the price goes down. And Lide claims the new Sideswipe is cool but first it’s silver, and secondly, okay the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray concept car is quite cool but it’s not exactly a Lamborghini. And red is sexier than silver any day. [slash end minor geek gripe]

Okay that’s all for now folks.

Back to drawing up schedules, sending out emails and designing.