Okay, so I just had to put Mary in so that the title made some sense.

I just had another reality check last night, the first huge one in a long, long time. The NTU CAC Choir was having it’s annual concert and because I knew practically one quarter of the choir since a good number of them were Catholics while one of them was my junior in the ACJC choir.

Anyway, to put it simply, it was one of the best concerts by a student organisation I’ve ever attended, and I’d like to think that my association with the ACJC Choir allows me to be a worthy connoisseur in the field. Though I felt they kept to “safe songs” most of the time (a phrase popularised by the judges in the American Idol semi-finals), and their initial rendition of Negro Spiritual “Dry Bones” was a bit too choral, it was plainly obvious that all involved were just having fun and making music.

Their rendition of familiar Asian favourite Dahil Sa Iyo, a Tagalog love song was strangely poignant, especially when you know a Filipino student in the choir itself. When they used it as their first encore, I believe I saw her tearing. And although I will always believe that only the ACJC Choir could pull off Leong Yoon Pin’s “Dragon Dance”, they weren’t too bad either.

I was initially disturbed by the idea of ending the concert with a “mini-musical”. Having attended the Raffles Chorale concert a couple of years back, I have my reservations of choirs “cutting loose”. There are limits to the methods you use to have fun, and well, the RJC choir just crossed all of them. The NTU CAC Choir, on the other hand, pulled off a rather simple love story using popular songs such as An American Tail’s “Somewhere Out There”, West Side Story’s “America” and Broadway hit “Big Spender”. They were cheesy without being corny, and they proved it was possible to ham up their act without losing the quality of their sound.

Which really depressed me, I guess.

On hindsight, one thing that really cost me in the ACJC choir was being instruments of the conductors and pawns of their agenda. While it’s possible that I might be biased as I say this, I always felt that discipline in the ACJC choir stifled us in many ways. We were so focused on producing a top-notch performance each time that we adopted the conventions of professional choirs. Though we smiled and we had fun each time, there was still this unspoken line that we couldn’t cross. Pop songs were, for the most part, taboo. As a member of the JC choir, especially, we forged ahead with contemporary songs that defied traditional harmony. And though we were proud to accomplish such a feat, the bored faces on many of those in the audience spoke volumes.

I guess what I’m saying is that my experiences in the ACJC choir seem vastly different from that in the NTU CAC Choir. Perhaps this is just a case of the “grass being greener on the other side”. But I couldn’t help but feel envious of the freedom last night’s concert seemed to have.

I was also depressed by the fact that everyone around me seemed attached somehow. Yes, I know this is an issue I have brought up often before, but I didn’t realise how acutely it would affect me in University. When I felt lonely several years ago, I could take comfort in the fact that couples were still a relative minority among my group of friends. As a 21-year-old, however, that’s just not the case anymore. I ended up sitting next to one of my CSA committee members (who’s attached, but who’s girlfriend is back in Indonesia).

Needless to say, I went home scrutinizing my predicament. And despite all my best efforts, I’m still convinced that I’ll never be attached because I’m just not ready for it. How sucky is that?

Oh yeah, I also had this crazy dream too, in the same vein. Was holding hands with some girl (can’t recall who on hindsight, I just remember she was shorter than my usual girl-in-dream) and having a relatively decent conversation about astrology (and Orion’s Belt in particular) when suddenly, her hand became a rotting paw and I realised I wasn’t holding hands with her at all. Then when I confronted her about it she didn’t answer, so we stopped talking and moments later I woke up.

I can’t believe reality happens even in my dreams.

Funny how there’s always a season of the year in the Christian calendar that just depresses the hell out of you. For some it’s Christmas. For most, it would be Lent.

Lent began yesterday with the celebration of Ash Wednesday, hot on the heels of Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) and Carnival. Here in NTU, a record 140 people turned up during Mass at LT3, a huge jump from the regular 60 we’re used to expecting. From the looks of it, it seems I’m going to be missing Ash Wednesdays for the next three years.

I think what made this year’s Ash Wednesday surprisingly poignant was the Stations of the Cross done before Mass. Traditionally, it’s done every Friday, but because Wednesday Mass in NTU generally adopts the practices of every Mass in the week, the Stations are also done every Wednesday of Lent here.

This week, I took the part of Christ, as he “reflected” on his journey up towards Golgotha, where he was crucified. The Way of the Cross, as we know it today, is a set of fourteen stations that begins with the Jewish governor Pilate sentencing Jesus to death and ends with the body being taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb. It is a rather emotional time of meditation that normally takes about half an hour (I overshot and took 45 minutes–hopefully the others don’t hold it against me).

The Way of the Cross is undoubtedly the precedent to Mel Gibson’s upcoming work, The Passion of the Christ. However, despite a relatively complete knowledge of the brutality that Christ went through prior to death, I wonder if anything is ever going to prepare me for the images I will see the movie.

Taken off dys‘ blog.

korgath Plecostomus Agility 6 | Strength 7 | Stamina 8 Battle Rating 21 Origins korgath was bought at Walmart Can your fishy beat korgath ?

Needless to say, I thrashed direcow’s fish.

Having just watched Dragonheart for the umpteenth time on Sunday, I can’t help but be mortified that here is an oath that I wished I followed, and yet has no basis in history, but only the mind of novellist Charles Edward Pogue.

A knight is sworn to valor.
His heart knows only virtue.
His blade defends the helpless.
His might upholds the weak.
His word speaks only truth.
His wrath undoes the wicked.

Today’s modern Knights have little to none of the romantic nature of the Middle Ages. Yet, one simply cannot doubt the truth behind their order, and the love they have for both God and Man.

For more information about the Knights of Malta, click here.

NAME ANALYSIS FOR: Peter Junling Lin
——————————————————————————–

Peter:

You don’t fair well under inharmonious conditions. You are very peace loving. You can get very upset when you are frustrated. You can be quite inventive and quite curious. Your privacy is important to you. You have a rich inner life. You need to learn to be expressive. You are a person who cannot tolerate being misunderstood. You enjoy a challenge. You can take thought-directed actions.

Junling:

You have a love of travel and adventure, and you enjoy sports. You also have a very strong sense of fair play and want justice. You are soft-hearted with a charitable nature. You can handle details well. You have a methodical mind. You have a diplomatic flair to your nature. Equality and fairness are important to you. You are relatively demonstrative in your affections. You enjoy being stroked verbally and physically. You must learn to give ‘wise’ service and not be a martyr. You are a hard worker when you make up your mind to do a job.

Lin:

You have a diplomatic flair to your nature. Equality and fairness are important to you. You need to learn to give and receive love for love’s sake. You have a need to be assured of affection. You must learn to give ‘wise’ service and not be a martyr.

I am amused.

Your pirate name is:

Mad Roger Read

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Even through many pirates have a reputation for not being the brightest souls on earth, you defy the sterotypes. You’ve got taste and education. Arr!

direcow’s name is borrowed from two literary pirates, Treasure Island’s Flint and Davy of Davy Jones’ Locker fame. Me? I’m a common alliteration. Bah!

Name analysis test: Click here. Pirate name test: Click here.

I am so very tired. So very tired.

Saturday began bright and early as the Hari Raya holiday caught up to me and I had to attend a make-up lab session. Pretty cool stuff though, one of the perks of being an engineering student is actually dealing with fascinating stuff like the microstructure of polymers, metals and ceramics. And no, I’m not being sarcastic as I type this. Really. I really wonder, though, how much of this will I remember and even if I do, why?

(It’s at times like these that make me wonder why there are more female students in Materials Engineering too. Do women who study engineering actually prefer dealing with microstructure and materials testing and corrosion and stuff? Boggling thought.)

Anyway, the second I was done in the lab I hurried down to ACJC for the biannual Fun-O-Rama. A thought hit me as I was walking along North Buona Vista Road from the MRT station (a 5 minute walk that never fails to get me praying), I had never missed a single Fun-O-Rama for a decade. Ironically enough, I don’t recall what happened during my time in ACS(I), but I do remember attending the Fun-O-Rama when I was a Primary 6 kid, because I had to write about it in my “zhou ji” (journal). This year I spent my time going around with Jason, David and Bernie. Sarah played host and we had lots of fun. Met tons of choir people from several batches, which was amusing, because I’d lost contact with most of them by then. Greg and Mel were, as I expected at the SCone Café, which as I recall was the meeting point of most of the GEPs two years ago. As always I skipped the haunted houses, which is a tradition I don’t mind keeping up.

The thought of actually paying to enter LT2 scares me more than anything could.

Called astronaut while waiting outside the muah chee stall (wasn’t interested in any of the “cute” people that Sarah was showing us). Made me realise how much I’ve actually missed her voice. She seemed geniunely happy to hear from me and when I ended the call, I imagined there was a mutual reluctance. Of course, this could be total proof of my delusional state. I’m still intending to meet up with you one day, by the way. That’s probably once you’ve graduated and before you start working, from the looks of it.

Left ACJC after 1p.m. so that we could get back to Marine Parade. The bus-ride was interesting to say the least, and Bernie mentioned something that made me (ironically) rather contemplative for a while. She said, “I don’t want to bring you in the conversation, because you always add something philosophical to it.” or something like that. This, of course, was after I’d been guilty as charged. So that made me wonder, of course. Am I really myself when I infuse philosophy into otherwise mundane conversation? Is that really the kind of person I am? And if not, then why am I doing it among people that I trust and have no qualms of being with? Questions, questions.

Anyway, so we were heading back to church, but not before dropping by Popular at Marine Parade to pick up journal books for the teens we’re teaching. That’s right, I’m preparing 13-year-olds to be Confirmed in four years time. It’s a ministry I’ve never thought of joining before, because I wasn’t sure if I could deal with people younger than myself. It’s been a challenge these past two weeks, but already I think I’m getting the hang of it.

We were assigned groups in class, and I got to know my group of 4 guys and 2 girls a little better. I like that they’re all quiet and initially shy people who don’t act rowdy. That way, at least, I can control myself better too. I react faster than I think - something I’ve known for a long time but only discovered yesterday that it can affect the people around me. Anyway, I wonder if these 6 will ever get to know the existence of this blog. Maybe one day.

Saturday ended with the youth community getting together for our regular prayer meets. We sang several Taizé songs and prepared for Lent. Not much I can say about that in words, though. It’s just something between me and the community, and me and the Big Guy.

And that was just Saturday. Oooof.

2004 got off to a really good start in terms of my entertainment with both the WWE and Marvel Comics producing some of their best work in recent memory.

The 2004 Royal Rumble is arguably one of the best produced matches following the demise of global competitor World Championship Wrestling in 2001. The production level and direction were superb and the audience was treated to an amazing array of diverse talent. We had arguably some of today’s best wrestling all-rounders investing everything into the match. Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit and Rob Van Dam pulled out all the stops and took the battle to a whole new level. It was a great way to start off the year and it really built up interest in Wrestlemania XX, this March.

On the Marvel front, 1602 has taken pole position in gunning for some of the best concepts in comic book history. Written by highly acclaimed scribe Neil Gaiman, this retelling of the history of the Marvel Universe is rife with amazing twists and subtle turns. Truly, a gem to behold and one that I am proud to own.

If this trend of highly-entertaining comics and shows continues, I might be forced to find a part-time job to finance my addiction.