I don’t remember the previous ones, but the latest one hit a whole new level of strange.

I was part of a group of young people but I can’t remember why they got together. Maybe it was a camp or something. Whatever it was, I was hanging out with this girl (there’s ALWAYS a woman involved) and getting rather close. Next thing I know, it is discovered her father has passed away under mysterious circumstances and the police and the media suspect me.

I know, right? Strange things happen to alterna-Petes.

Well, I woke up before the story continued… but I’m now going to have to keep a notepad and pen with me. These dreams are priceless!

A journey of new discoveries…

In terms of discovering what I truly wanted to do, these past three years have epitomised it all.
In 2007, I stumbled upon the job I’d always dreamed of – technical writing. My experiences in those six months in Autodesk Asia continue to be the highlight of my working life in terms of the work I was expected to do and the skills which I picked up. It’s a pity, therefore, that I’m not exactly sure if it’s what I want to do for an extended period of time – since it seems to have limited career growth opportunities. That year was also the year I returned to CHOICE, after a chance meeting in Ngee Ann City, and I’m still getting involved in weekends when I can.
2008 saw me go back to basics – rediscovering and rediscerning my vocation to the priesthood. All my fears and inhibitions seemed to disappear that year, as I realised that I wanted to serve God and His people because I felt a deep love for them. However, that epiphany got put on hold permanently because I ended up falling hard for someone. It’s bittersweet in retrospect, because technically, she became the first person whom I dated exclusively. Although it ended almost as quickly as it had begun, I had reached a stage where I felt more confident about being with women, and just had a better sense of self-worth, which was necessary, as I ended up doing really badly in school that semester.
Which brings us to the crazy year that was 2009. I returned to my musical roots and got involved with Paul, an experience that allowed me to discover how much I truly loved performing, that I was capable of a comedic role, and that I could play a part in making the whole musical a more spiritual experience for the cast and crew. In the midst of the crazy rehearsals and frustrating schedules, I also fell in love, and spent the rest of the year learning first hand of the reality of relationships – which, naturally, were nothing like the dreamland ideals I had carried with me. Being in a relationship taught me so much, and became a point of determination for me, because though I seem to be back at the start of where I was in 2007, I know I’m definitely not the same.

I’m glad 2009 ended on the high note that was Camp Seven : Survivor.

Here’s to 2010! May God bless us all and be gracious to us!

YOUhf.wordpress.com

Click the link. Now! =)

Created by Train Horns

Thought from this morning: Never tell a girl that she’s the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen in your life, because fourteen years later, you may bump into her and realise that the claim still holds true.

The Bulgogi Beef at Canteen 13’s Korean stall “Manna” is superbly awesome, and at $4.70, is a steal for the quantity and quality it represents.

Wow. Best meal in NTU, ever.

Ironically, the Facebook group was set up in response to another group, which encouraged boycotting the bank for supporting the charity in the first place.

(On a personal level, the biggest irony, of course, is that I am a big fan of the latter group’s creator – poet, playwright and former schoolmate Ng Yi-Sheng.)

I just think it’s ironic that all this is happening over a Christmas promotion aimed at supporting children with learning disabilities. The issue seems to be that some DBS customers (the numbers seem to dwell between 10 and 1000) have taken offense to the choice of a charity with apparent fundamental Christian roots, since it “did not jibe with [their] beliefs”. Yi-Sheng’s Facebook group accuses the bank of supporting an “anti-gay cause”, almost as if the donations to the charity would go towards funding hate crimes rather than educating children.

Now, as a Catholic, I identify with the mission of Focus on the Family to “strengthen the institution of the family”. But in the Straits Times article, its purpose was overly simplified to being “anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality and pro-abstinence”. Unfortunately, I am fully aware that many have simplified the Catholic Church, and other fundamentalist Christian churches, to the same three labels.

I shudder to think if, two millenia ago, a young single mother was encouraged to abort her seemingly illegitimate baby, because her society did not value her claims of virginity and abstinence and wanted her to ’save face’.

Yes, there would be no Christmas today, because Jesus would have been yanked out of Mary’s womb unceremoniously, and left bleeding, broken and dying, thirty-three years before the Cross.

Which is why her death, and all the violence that surrounded it is so absolutely shocking to me.

I remember how I laughed it off when my friend told me about it on Thursday night, not fully appreciating the magnitude of the situation. The headlines on Friday made me change my mind, and even though the papers reported that she was fine, it prompted me to quickly send word out to mutual friends, encouraging them to pray. That was at noon.

Her body was found three hours later. She was 28.

I find myself asking the questions ‘Where is God? Why did He allow this?’ even though I know the answers. But knowing the answers doesn’t make me feel any less confused and stunned. What I do know is this – if I have ever been ignorant of the kind of evil that people are capable of, if I have ever downplayed the power the devil has over the lives of human beings, that ended with Hwei Yen’s death.

For if someone so innocent, so full of love and life could die so suddenly at the hands of others, then we, as Christians and as Catholics need to be all the more ready to fight this new face of evil, with more prayers, more hope and more love.