of madness and gladness

so many things happened over the weekend... so much work (job and church) to keep me busy. but i truly believe that the joy of the Lord is my strength. it is so heartwarming to know that God's work is done and His name is glorified. when we work for Him, we know our reward is in Heaven. (oh no... that's kenny's favourite line to get free labour!)

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friday
went to TaFf for a meeting-discussion-demonstration with doreen and vernon. had the opportunity to meet vernon for the first time. heard so much about him from sharon and doreen. how he is such a talent with apparel design and garment fitting. he is so easy to get along. a truly nice guy. my eyes almost popped out and i am sure i was caught with my jaws dropped when he told me he was 50+. to me, he definitely didn't look a day more than 40. he kept me so interested in our conversations because he exuded this love for life, his passion for work and his enthusiasm about learning new things. among the accreditions he has received, this is a guy who did his ACCA (that's an accounting recognition for the clueless), worked with van houten chocolates, did theatre management, worked in italy for a tour agency, wanted to do language studies in italy but ended up in fashion design, used to pick up pins for designers in his first fashion-related job, had his own line of clothing in the past, and got a certificate in massage and spa therapy. talking about it makes me see him in a different light. if strangers are to see him, they would probably diss him off as a slightly-feminine designer guy, but after talking to him, he is someone we can learn from. stepping out of the box and having the passion to learn new things. to me, it's about discovering the wonders that God has created and through them, learning to love Him more.

after that, i went to meet shan at bugis. had a quickie walk around bugis junction and we headed to bras besah to buy body paint and print a poster. realised the prices of printing is outrageous ($20-20 per A2 sheet), so we cabbed down to the all-reliable peace centre. found the shop with the cheapest rate closed for the day, we went to our next best alternatives. at least the prices were less gasp-able at $15 per A2 (which i negotiated to $10). popped over the macs for a bite and went back 40 minutes later to be introduced to shan's classmate. apparently he is the best artist in the class, so we convinced him to help us draw a picture for the ministry fair. we zipped to the nearest office supplies shop, grabbed two pieces of mahjong paper and a pencil (didn't know he carried his pencil case everywhere he went!). we stuck it up on a wall and he starting drawing. people who walked past started to stare and lingered, but he was obviously oblivious to his surroundings. many thanks to him for being so willing to help us out in such short notice.



rushed back to church to find a bunch of hungry people (namely jon, denice, sophia, lynn, vic, wenhao, marcus, cy, josh, est koh and debz) playing dog-and-bone and samson-delilah-lion. they must have been really bored waiting for the kfc guy to deliver our dinner. so i took the chance to sharpen my negotiation skills with the "don't you value customer service" argument for making us wait almost 1 hr 20min for our dinner (instead of the promised 30-45min). spent the rest of the night preparing all the stuff for ministry fair, while most of the others trooped off to denice's place for a night of "thoning". (oooh... haven't used that word in ages.) they had so much fun.



more photos can be viewed here.


saturday
ice-sating day! i was so bummed out earlier in the week thinking i won't be able to go since i was scheduled for a training session the whole day. but i was only needed at 1pm. so jon and i trotted down to jurong east at 9am in the morning. reached at 10am. the others were late! (although they were all WESTerners!) started skating around 10.50... i had to grab my butt out of the place around 12.30 to make it down to my client's office. it was a wonderful time of skating. brought back memories of the past and i figured: ice-skating is like cycling - you don't actually lose it despite the absence of practice.



sunday
started early in the morning, preparing for the ministry fair. everyone had so much fun despite all the madness of doing things. so many things were happening. there was the jigsaw puzzle we had to get people to participate, father's day cookies, ministry fair, people walking all around, chatterings.... but haiz.... it was eventful and satisfying seeing all the fellowship going around.

launched our ZGMights logo as well.


afternoon was just meeting and recce to tpbc for the celebration sunday, while the others had dance practice. after that was back in church playing more mindless games like circuit and name-game wacko! we were trying to past time till dinner, when we are due at suntec to celebrate shan's birthday. photos are shown in previous entry.

just a special mention, after dinner at crystal jade, the guys were so sweet to dedicate a message to shan at the suntec fountain laser show. the message was captured on our digicam video and these are the screen shots.



awww.... went home bummed out. filled to the brim with the "la mian" and desserts at coffee club. tired over the weekend. still in recuperating mode now. but all geared up for another week of events....