lose

I rushed to the com this morning to check the results, eagerly expecting a comfortable win for Arsenal. In an unfortunate twist of events, Arsenal lost 2-1 to Chelski to put themselves further behind in the title race.

Well things go wrong all the time, both in soccer and in life. And at times such as this, i generally like to move on with my life.

God give me strength to live a effective and victorious life!

goodbye

Goodbye to you my trusted friend. Unfortunately i wasn't able to be there. I'm usually too macho =) to hate goodbyes. I'll definately miss the times we had together.

So long, farewell. Take good care of yourself. Let God guide you every step of the way!

Bon Voyage Joy Lan Dung!

tiong baru char siew pau

enjoy my tiong baru char siew pau and ice cream. Leave everything else to God tonight.

.

Thank god that school is no longer in the itinery for me. I love free days like today where i can simply just spend time and more time with myself.

Went to raphael's house to slack around this afternoon. He was playing his new game Call Of Duty 4 which was bought in defiance to my intelligent suggestion of getting Medal of Honour instead. As much as i hated the game, i soon found myself playing the trusty sidekick ( i was really just sitting beside him shouting SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT!!) of Officer Raphael. If not for the AI dogs disgusting attacks which halted our game abruptly, we would have had the best time of our short and innocent lives killing drone soldiers and fighting a war that never even happened in the first place. I continue to have a huge dislike for the game.

spent some time walking around tpy waiting for pete to arrive for dinner. well its at times like these that i spend more time thinking about my life and everything. so many times i wanted to be God in my life. do my own things, pursue whatever i wanted. obviously a bad idea when God is real =)

I remember how i was first astounded by the reality of God while on the car on my way home. Was returning home from a family gathering when i started to have a discussion with my dad on the realness of God and how science could prove He actually exists. I remember being dumbfounded by the sudden revelation that all along someone was watching. and it wasn't just anyone, it was Him. I was scared of my wits! There and then i knew i had to live differently. I knew i couldn't ignore the fact that God is real and there's nothing i can do about it.

Ever since, God has become a big part of my life. And i'm glad i realised it sooner than later. God knows how and why i even bothered in the first place. I guess God first came to me.

in my life

Good evening World. Tonight seems like an emo night. Thankfully i'm hardly an emo person ( i'm romantic instead =D ) so i guess it really doesn't matter much to me.

Played soccer this afternoon. Lost the match. Arsenal drew at middlesborough. Perhaps all this factors have contributed to the emo air around here.

More often than not, i HATE losing in everything i do. Male ego? I remember how i would cheat or do anything underhand just to win. I was usually willing to risk anything etc pride, integrity. Well to me winning was ALMOST everything.

One verse that i really love in the bible is found in 1 Corinthians 9:24 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." But i truely thank God that i've changed so much over the pass few years. I'm no longer the sore loser that i used to be.

I remember i used to play softball for my secondary school. Softball is pretty much like baseball and i got to play 2nd base in school. Well my position requires generally more technique and quick thinking so i guess my coach felt that i totally rocked!! anyway i recall how i used to pretend to be injured when we were losing. I just couldn't stand losing. But it was perfectly understandable for me! How could a young supple boy like me bear the shame and heartbreak of defeat?!!

More recently when i played soccer for my school, i remember intentionally trying to hack someone's legs down because he was simply running too fast. And i did it. Only to realise he wasn't fazed by my tackle, stumbled a few steps and continued running.

To summarize, i was a jerk. But thank god for showing me grace and allowing me to realise that a sport is just ultimately...just a sport. People are the things of eternity and they matter more than anything else. Thats why now i love to fellowship with the brothers during and after matches.

At my death bed i wont ask to see my bank book account or see the records of how many times i've won in life. More importantly, i will ask to see my family, my friends. Forgive the people i hate, embrace the people i loved.

I have tonnes of friends. Most are living yet some are dead. In my life, i loved them all. Goodnight.

something that matters

Woke up early this morning with my headache gone. Been killing me the past few days. Anyways i planned to take my dog out for a walk this morning. I sat on my bed considering the 2 options i ahd today. Option 1: Go out on a nice cool weather day bringing my dog for a nice long walk OR Option 2: Sit in front of my laptop and do something that REALLY matters( etc. blogging). Eventually, i settled for the latter.

Okay well i guess i'm just lazy. But it does look like its gonna rain anytime soon. So i guess i'm pushing "take dog for walk" slot all the way to at night when i'm so much more free ( I THINK ). Procastinators of the world...UNITE....TOMORROW!!!

Attending MIJ cg later. Steamboat at Novena. Sounds cool. Prayerfully it would be a great time to integrate all the new peeps into the cg. Sandy smsed me a few days ago that this event is COMPULSARY for me. Reason being: Matthias you can liven up the atmosphere!! Yay im a

tool!

But in anycase i would join them anyway, i dont usually like to miss FUN! hopefully everything goes well later, people getting touched by God and the love in the fellowship.

Meet Sassy. My Lovable Awesomely Cute yet Extremely Fierce Superdog.

She can Run, She can Fetch, she can Sit down and shake hand, she can jump over my furniture, Sleep on my bed and make a BIG mess in the house!!

In the first picture, she is in the GIVE-ME-FOOD-NOW-OR-I"LL-KILL-YOU mood.

I usually choose to give her food. Wise decision. * pats myself on the back*

Here in the next picture, shes in the COME-AND-RUB-MY-TUMMY-BECAUSE-IM-CUTE-AND-I-DEMAND-THAT-YOU-DO-IT-RIGHT-NOW mood. As you can already imagine, i usually succumb to her outrageous demands. What a cool dog i have!!

chicken

I went out earlier this morning to do a little bit of grocery shopping with Kester at Bishan. Well, plan today was to buy stuff, come over to my place, and cook. It is beyond my usual masculine self to cook. However, cooking are just one of my delights!

I started off my marinating this chicken pieces we got from NTUC. Well i did not have a single idea what i had to do with it. Eventually, i got down to adding salt. And then pepper. Followed by a peppercorn medley. A few tablespoons of Honey. Before i knew it, i was off like a Pro. Dumping tonnes and tonnes of stuff into the little mixing bowl. I felt like a thorough bred champion chef!!

Anyhows, the chicken ended up a little too salty ( i put in like 3 huge tablespoons of salt ) but overall it was quite a success. I actually ended off cooking by serving generous amounts of mushroom sauce over the chicken. Nice eh?

Had a great time chatting with Kes-man. Learnt a great deal about myself and how i used to cope with different struggles in my life. Its weird that your sheeps tend to go through things you have already gone through yourself. I guess that is why God chooses and man appoints.

Met darren at around 5.30pm to go to queensway. Have been itching to purchase a new boot to add to my already huge collection. Darren's heart was hardened and he wasnt very keen on getting anything else other than AdiPure. So that made selection much less complicated. I on the other hand had my eyes on Lotto Zhero.

Its slick and skinny just nice to my feet.

Happy day today =)

The Cage

I went to The Cage today to play soccer ( AGAIN?!!) with my ex-caregroup members, some of which i have not seen in AEONS!

Anyways its a little ex-cg reunion jontay arranged for all of us and being the authoritarian-by-nature-CL that he was, most of us obeyed and went. But i was thankful that i did because i had a great time catching up with people like Junliang and Jansen and also getting to know ppl like Darren and Peter more.( i seriously think i overused AND in this sentence)

I simply love such times when u can just dribble and laugh all at the same time because its such awesome company.

Got home in time for dinner with my family. Sassy is uber manja today.

After dinner i went to check out my new 18 wheels of steel game which i bought last week or so. Its some truck driving game and the whole objective is to deliver stuff to places and get money. The previous times i played the game, i always ran out of fuel halfway and had to quit playing after 5 mins.

So i started out by delivering Waste Material. Low and behold, i ran out of fuel on the highway with no gas stations anywhere in sight ( just when i thought i had learnt my lesson). I ditched the truck and eventually game shortly after. This always happens to me. In my enthusiasm to reach my destination faster, i always overlook the need to refuel every once in a while. Well, thankgod that i bailed out on Waste Material. Imagine if it was Explosives instead...

soccer!

played soccer for northeast today in HPL.

we were up against Pikachu Utd of the tertiary grp. we won by a clear margine of 5-0. It was entertaining both for myself and for the team. ultimately its all about having fun when playing together with brothers. It doesnt really matter if you totally rock or you cant seem to find your feet. What matters most was the fellowship with each other, and also other ppl from diff districts. i've come to know more of them better!

Weilun joined us today. His fernando torres hairstyle + cute diving moves couldnt escape the referee's eyes. we need more gelek kings like him in the squad!!

In any case, it was a good match for us. I got a knock near my ankle at half time. rested for awhile and i was up and running again midway through the 2nd half. Almost scored a fluke! Hopefully we perform as well next week. Afterall, this IS called HOPE league. i guess we could then wait in hope that the adults wont thrash us again!

bartley!

Woke up this morning and it was a beautiful day. Called up cartel only to find that i have absolutely no work this whole week! Praise the Lord! IT IS A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

Later in the afternoon, i got a call from Bartley Secondary School to relief teach tomorrow. I imagine myself as a rescue squad member to provide relief to the people in Bartley. Isn't that cool? Anyway English/Science would be my job tomorrow. I was so filled with excitement when i first got the news that i kept punching the air! It was as though i had just scored the goal that would keep derby county( this is very unlikely to happen) in the premier league! Perhaps it was the subconcious knowledge that my cartel job would soon be no more than a long forgotten memory. But then if it was a memory, i guess i would not be able to forget it right? Because then it would just be...forgotten...

Went out to get a haircut because i figured teachers dont exactly look like me. Or in a more humbling manner, i dont really look like a teacher. Now i'm back home sitting in front of the laptop and i still dont think i look like a teacher! I tried arming myself with a set of teacher's costume( i mean teaching clothes) and a brief case. Simon Cowell would have probably booted me out of my own room if he had seen me. The Fashion Swat Team (mind you not just the fashion police) would have put be behind bars for violating national dressing laws. Thank God for giving me my own room! I figured teaching in school is really gonna be different than teaching in caregroup. I get to scold people and punish people! Its gonna be so much fun!

But on a serious note, i have been really wondering about teaching as a career. Personally i love teaching in caregroup because i talk about something so close to my heart. I'm not exactly sure if Verbs, Nouns or Adjectives are close to my heart yet so i guess its time to find out. I'm really hopeful and excited to experience teaching and also discover what God has made me out to be.

Discovering God's purpose for my life is both enriching and exciting!

not enough sleep

Got up this morning and first thing i had to do was to prepare for meeting at 12.30pm. Ended up reading a whole bunch of diaglouges between different people and a christian. Very interesting. They range from Catholics to Mormons to Agnostics to Aethists to everything. It is somewhat appalling to see certain weird responses from them!! In anycase, i had been preparing for this meeting until 4am the night before( i didnt have a choice. it was last minute schedule). Nonetheless my heart was still very joyful throughout the preparation because i know it is blessed to be a blessing.

My meeting is called All Star meet. These terrific bunch of people have been personally handpicked by Zixin and I because they are potential " care group carriers". And i'm very glad that most of them made it to the meeting with an open heart. Even people who were late ( because of school) rushed down for it. It really touched my heart to see people wanting to give their lives unto the Potter's hands.

Thank God for all of you. You guys made my day =)