a new chapter

so as i put 2008 officially behind me with going to school today, i feel like i need to write, as if blogging and everything else that makes it feel like a new year comes with starting school. it is already almost feb, but this year feels like it's just begun.

so school today was a killer, with temperatures reaching above 43 degrees. the teachers all thought it was funny that they were running 'wet weather' timetable when it was really 'hot weather' timetable. it was blazer free and tie & top button free all day.

i enjoyed my day, though it only was really 3 periods instead of the normal 7. it was chinese, english & methods, and i got homework (which wasnt hard stuff).

i feel like i have to report my holidays too. my explanation for it comes in two words - work & photographs. yes, work & holiday homework filled most of my days, while my new best friend - my Nikon SLR - hung out with me the rest. my mum thinks i took some good pictures that i should submit to some show or competition, but i still feel i have a LONG way to go. i am yet to master the white balance function as well as shooting manually on my digital SLR, but its all coming together, and i'm enjoying it thoroughly.

spiritually, i haven't been awesome, to be honest. i have practically ignored God and maybe even avoided him because of several different things that have happened. also, (i know this is NO excuse but still) i usually do something very spiritually stimulating and refreshing this time of year like usually i go to planetshakers or last year it was the missions trip. i guess i tend to get very tired and worn out spiritually by now usually, but this year i've had to go without and that's been hard. last night though, i knew i had to make it right. i was literally scared of praying because i knew God wouldn't be happy with me. but, as soon as i started to ask for forgiveness, God really gave me peace. it was so overwhelming. i am so happy to report that i spent a great day with Jesus today, doing the normal stuff i do.

i'll leave you with my favourite shots this summer.
you can check out more on facebook =)
enjoy starting school everybody!

at the observatory

i am so lazy, here is a note i wrote on facebook and on a myspace blog. happy new year guys, and BTW, its not actually THAT long, the font size is just big =D

happy new year!

goodbye 2008...

it started with a bang. after only spending 24 hours in melbourne in 2008, i jetted off to thailand, cambodia & laos for an experience that has changed my life forever. the mekong mission saw me reaching out to those kids you only see in world vision ads, giving away shoeboxes, feeding kids who will probably only eat a meal a day and reaching out to hug more kids than i can count! and who could forget those tales of me eating silkworms, crickets and red ants? it was truly an amazing experience!

my baby niece mikayla turned one month old! that was an ordeal which brought people to kuala lumpur from all over the world - the phillipines, australia and the far ends of malaysia. it was great to catch up with all her aunties & uncles again!

then school started. the best subject i would have to say would be photography. those days we spent inhaling chemicals in the darkroom will never be forgotten. the days of mr. lau and charnes no. 5.

methods and chinese was well.. you can't blame the teachers, they're just not subjects you would love to spend your friday afternoon doing, and yet there it was; alternating every friday were chinese & methods. thanks to the chapmans, amber & jason (and chris & KT in methods) for making the hours much more bearable. the memories of looking at the clock every 5 minutes with kathryn as we waited for those long 55 minute periods to end were excrutiating! couldn't have done it without you.

then fiddler rehearsals started. we weren't even in fiddler and we rehearsed as much as they did! but needless to say, through those saturday rehearsals, the strings bonded with the band, and with mr. hogg and it was an amazing show! and because of this, we made oxley history by putting together the first orchestra ever at the year seven show. that song would've made mr. tolkien very proud!

which leads me to the string camerata and sinfonia.. oh the .. frustrating moments we've shared this year! like that one entire rehearsal when we didn't even rehearse haha. ms yan - you are amazing.. we love you and we should so rename camerata to the ms yan clan.

the winter holidays were possibly one of the best holidays i've ever spent in melbourne. this was made possible by isaac, jerusha & adrienne. the best outing of 2008 will forever be that day we journeyed to the GLEN for hancock and then to proud peacock for their famous diced beef & red rice. those holidays also held the F.R.I.E.N.D.S marathon together with jan & ann at the twin's. eating 7 packets of mee goreng and watching singaporean movies was awesome!

as my violin exam drew closer, i got more and more anxious. me and grace practiced like crazy and it all paid off. as we both made our way to the city all by ourselves, and sat our exams, we both came out five points of distinctions.

the end-of-year exams were very stressful, none of us knew if we'd come out of our methods exam breathing. but we did, and now look what we've done to our holidays - one chapter of year 12 maths YAY!

the america trip in september with my family was one of the best holidays i've ever been on. and that fact may have a lot to do with the fact that we didn't fly jetstar, but that we actually got real service and in flight entertainment! i think i watched sex & the city four times, and the one episode of the big bang theory five times during one seventeen hour flight. disneyland was magical, universal was awesome and the family bonding time was greatly needed. after serveral exhausting flights to and from LA, we finally made it to KL yet again. it was great to catch up with family, to meet dave's girlfriend, to watch two movies, to go out for dinner with sarah, amy & melissa and to see my little baby mikayla all grown up! gosh i love travelling.

year ten chapel was awesome! our army theme was so much fun and the dance was a great success.. i didn't die flipping over gab's back! gracie did an amazing job and i'll always appreciate the great musical talent our year level has as we played at chapel.

chapel champions and lunchtime worship has been great this year. thanks to sal, jullia & jonny especially this year. i cannot wait to see what God is going to do through you guys; through us all at oxley in the years to come. it's all so exciting!

who could forget year ten art? it was a great subject. the 'do whatever you want as long as it's to do with another artist' project was so much fun. i learnt so much.

and the legendary potato party with amber, renata & sarah on the holidays. that was sickening. truly sickening, but delicious and fun!

boxing day shopping was another tradation which remains unbroken. i had so much fun gracie =D

year ten camp was the best camp ever. it felt like a giant holiday with the whole year level more than anything. i'll never forget the day sal, mia, turh, dora, susie & i bonded over opp shopping at rosebud, or the time we all held hands and jumped off rosebud pier together, or the time we snorkelled out to pope's eye together, or the time we drove down to sorrento with mr barton, ruth, wes, cam, jason & dora and ate chips & gelati, or the time half of the girls in our year level stood up and sang 'my heart will go on'. camp was great =D

formal was so much fun, i think the whole notion of getting dressed up and cam whoring for an entire night was more fun than the actual formal. dancing was hillarious, especially when everyone stopped dancing in the middle of the tango and broke into normal dance.

packing christmas shoeboxes was another fun day out especially 10.1 who weren't even my homegroup! the pure joy we all received from unpacking and packing those shoeboxes is indescribable.

going through the woship study was probably one of the most spiritual enriching things i've done this year. thanks ed for running that! i really learnt heaps about being a true worshipper in christ.

and how could i forget to mention that 2008 was truly a year of parties, especially sweet 16ths. it was a great year; from gab's 80's karaoke to steph's reality tv show; it was all awesome.

and then i started working this year. it started with teaching piano and then work experience at tonya hinde interiors and then getting a job at new zealand natural and leaving that for virgin music now.

also, i got the most amazing toy this year; actually, two. my gliga violin 1 purchased right after fiddler, and my Nikon D-40 SLR right after exams.

so goodbye to an amazing year, goodbye 2008.