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Yoohoo, here are some grad pictures... We didn't take a lot actually because... I didn't have fancy headgear :( More like it didn't really matter - I was happy that day but I honestly couldn't wait for the curtains to drape into a close. Like a party pooper on the day of my own convocation boohaha.





















I ran one full round around the hall from the stage and back again to deliver my speech, feeling like I was going to drop dead anytime because I am generally unfit and I was very breathless.
*Scenario 2.75 seconds before embarrassing myself: ".... and Judith Yeoh Jun Hui to receive the blablabla of blablabla..."*2 second pause for me to shake Mr Toupee's hand and smile at the cameras*. "And now, we'd like to invite Judith Yeoh, Joel and Maria to come up on stage and deliver their speeches of blablablabla..." Die.

So I pretty much delivered 90% my speech amidst gasps and pants (not the kind you wear), and wanted desperately for the rostrum to eat me whole. But everyone (as you can see the Vice President's smiley face zoomed behind me in the pic) had their share of entertainment and their laughs were peculiarly relaxing although I really had wanted to slice my wrists to put an end to my breathing heavily into the microphone. So to stop myself from projecting my breathlesness into the sea of a thousand staring faces, I kept speaking nonetheless which made it even WORSE because I felt like I could've fainted right there, if not for my stubborness and refusal to sabotage forever my own convocation.


Waiting for the two other students who delivered their speeches after me (but I was the only one who sounded like a pug after a jog). Nose in the air, trying to air my lungs.





















We adjourn to the plaza/cafeteria after the ceremony; Simon meets the parents. *crack of thunder*













My favoritest Azza, as gorgeous as ever.






































My favoritest family.

















Ugliestest inanimate bird alive.

This is Jude's blog. Yes, it is hers. Make no mistake. It are belong to her. Property of Judith. This blog is owned by Jude. Jude pwned the blog.

BUT, it is i* (the better half *heh heh*), who will be performing the update this time round.
Without further ado, i present to you, the substance of which all notable and outstanding blogs are made of: peekchures. (Half retarded as i typed out this word)

Therefore, with my half opened eyes, i (TBH (The Better Half)) shall attempt to update this blog as a FEATURE BLOGGER.

Since Jude's SD card is spasticated and refused the exchange of bytes with my laptop's reader, i can only update with the following 2 pictures of our Singapore trip (Taken in Andrew's wedding by James Teo) and a very disburbing picture from Jude's graduation.


So, until Jude manages to set free the remainder of the pictures imprisoned in the SD card. I bid you adieu and goodnight!

*Simon, SMA

compassion : [Latin compassus (to sympathize); fr. co- (with) + pati (to suffer)]


For the past week, God has been revealing His compassion to me through scripture.
I think it's a wonderful thing about Him to discover over again, and daily too. I wonder what He's got in store.

Use me Lord.


Hip hip hurrah.

Thought of uploading some old pics of when I was in a museum of contemporary art, or Palais de Tokyo in Paris. We went with some LCDA contestants from other countries and had dinner there with Lancome Paris organisers. Food... was... good. I remember looking out the window and seeing that eerie blue glow although my watch read 11pm.

After my SPM three years ago, I thought it would be really nice (this nice here = 'Disney happy ending' nice) if I were to study fashion design in Limkokwing, which everyone echoed was the most prestigious design school in the country - but only if I had the financial means to of course. When people asked about my future plans, I would tell them while chewing my gums that I would love to dive into the fashion designing pit (at least to them it was like a pit because to me it was and is as down to earth as studying to become a starched employee in a cubicle - only thing I would love my job). And if they weren't pouring sympathy onto my head, people would always ask "Where? In Limkokwing ah?" And my usual reply would be one of grunts and lots of teeth: 'Huhhhh Limkokwing ah.. Cannot lah, too expensive - siao.' And to others who were a little younger than a ripe uncle or aunty, I would be a little more silly and say 'Hoho! Limkokwing! That would be like a dream come true man, expensivelah, siao.'

I wanted to do fashion design; I wanted to study in LKW. But I kept the latter a very subtle 'half truth' because I calculated the actual chances of my studying there and summed up that it would be better off as one of those things in my life that would be sweet to have but totally fine by me if I never get the chance to taste of its goodness (almost sounds like a case of sour grapes?).

But still, God gave me exactly what I wanted, and settled the 'Huhhh Expensivelah' chunk (how this came about is actually quite amusing but I shan't type it here, I'd rather relate it to you in person). He paid for my tuition fees, He made it possible for this one over here to have her wish come true.

And now, after actually being a part of the college, I'm dying to escape the institution (and it has been this way for a good year, maybe longer). When people ask about LKW, I've very little great things to say about it, but it's always an 'OK' for the college after trying to be as friendly as I can about the matter.

I've always wondered about the irony of the gift of studying in LKW - maybe I totally missed the point of studying in the college, blew my chances of initiating changes in the lives of others whether stigmatized junkies or timid friends, dismissed the sunny side of being in a black colored building for three years. I have felt more often than once as though cursed. It's like being given that ultimate ticket to having your ambitions fulfilled but not wanting to have anything to do with it once they've come to past.

And I know my case isn't one of wishing for the wrong thing, or receiving something I shouldn't have wanted in the first place - because my acceptance into the college was a miracle on its own and I have had several others down the journey of completing my studies in LKW, however gruesome and unhappy I was and am to be associated with the college. I continuously saw and experienced the grace and generosity of God's hand semester through semester, and He still gave even though I was foolish enough to limit the works of His hands, and in all my disbelief.

I don't regret studying in Limkokwing, I'm trying to remind myself I don't. I wouldn't have learnt as many valuable life lessons if not for the struggles I went through, not because the college taught me to be strong, independent or yada, but because Jesus was ready to back me up when I fell, ready to rescue when I've almost 'died' the 100th time and ever ready to surprise when I was in dire need for hope or something better to believe in. And in the concluding pages of 'To Live and Die in This Limkokwing',He gave me the best I could ever have hoped for as a fashion design student.

When God gives, He provides for as long as it takes to make you realize that what He promises and fulfills for you is the very thing that will make you love Him more and more, if not lose yourself entirely at the end of day.

I was chosen to represent the graduating students of 2006 during the convocation this Saturday - I'm supposed to write a speech about Limkokwing and how the college has benefitted us all. God You're good. Of all people in the entire LKW community. I hope I don't froth while trying to boast of the college in front of about 1000 guests.

Lasagna last night - though it looks like sai, it is rich and represents all things cheesy and Italian.

While waiting for cake to bake last night, this small book wedged between giants got me reading it over again.

Here is chapter 3:19-33

19The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words.^[a] 20 I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. 21Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:

22The unfailing love of the LORD never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. 23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. 24I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!"

25The LORD is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him. 26So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD. 27And it is good for the young to submit to the yoke of his discipline.

28Let them sit alone in silence beneath the LORD's demands. 29Let them lie face down in the dust; then at last there is hope for them. 30Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them. Let them accept the insults of their enemies.

31For the Lord does not abandon anyone forever. 32Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion according to the greatness of his unfailing love. 33For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.

Footnote: [a] v19 - Hebrew is wormwood and gall.


Hope in the Lord's faithfulness : Lamentations 3

His hands are spinning fast.
Time dictates how we spend our afternoons,
the evenings consume daylight as if mocking our sunlit smiles,
and little by little he has us watching him -
wishing for the death of his progress so we could at least escape his growing older for awhile;
nibble the bits off his crumbling kindness.

No Time.
He knows no shame,
he troubles us as he reminds the Days that they should leave soon
and pokes at our bravery with thoughts that travel towards the pool of wishing we could be now, forever,
if it weren't for him.
Where is he?


Time will finally defeat us and all our fragility
only if we fail to know as nightfall robs our smiles,
that we in fact have many other chances outwitting clockwork, and for days to come.
Because it feels to me like we're already ahead of time.

Random pictures here:

No wait.

I went for an interview last Wednesday in college that turned out to be more of a job-offer-for-you plan than an interactive interview. Quick!Imustescapefrombeingmylongwindingwindedself! So they want me to start work for Limkokwing's marketing team effective 17th July, two days after my convocation. The pay's atrractive for my humble level but.. hmm. Or I might work with them for 3 months (probationary) and leave happily afterwards with my half-boxful of paperwork, desk deco, freebies and earned salary. HmMMmM. Deep inside I don't want to.

Pictures.

James 1:1-12
I, James, am a slave of God and the Master Jesus, writing to the twelve tribes scattered to Kingdom Come: Hello! Faith Under Pressure

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

When down-and-outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don't ever count on it. You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that's a picture of the "prosperous life." At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.

Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.

He doesn't stop looking out for you.
Count on Him, k.
For everything else in between, I'll put a pillow to your heart : soft landing.