Saturday, May 20, 2006

the four-fold obstacle course beckons

I am in another of my will-do-anything-but-what-i-am-actually-supposed-to-do moods today, the what-i-am-actually-supposed-to-do in question being exchange stuff of which i hope to complete as much of as possible before flying for Thailand on wednesday (full trip details appearing on this blog by the time i leave so watch this space!) or else possibly run the risk of being deported back here upon arrival to the states because of visa complications or some thing like that...

Went for arts comm retreat at the floorball place on thursday. Realised that the week that had gone by so far had been full of other people staying over at my place for various reasons - a total of four over the three weeknights - some kind of record methinks... In fact the whole week, and more accurately, the last few days before leaving for MEET was and is going to be very packed - squeezing as much as possible in before being gone for a month...

The retreat was no exception. Though i was only there for the first day, and expected to be merely extra, it nonetheless was a good time of reflection and encouragement and fun. I am seriously very heartened to see how the Lord has been continually guiding us along in the right direction, and to see how He has been working in the lives of everyone, especially the soon-to-be-year-twos - they in particular have been encouragements to me during the retreat. Floorball as usual was great - and for the first time since i dunno when i actually was on the winning team, and not only once but twice [i normally always end up in the team opposing some powerhouse player(s) who inevitably easily win the day for the opponents by thrashing whatever team i am in] haha, and on top of that i just weighed myself on my home scale (which hopefully ain't koyak) and found out that i have lost 2kg since the last time i had to take weight, which is always a good thing heh... So all in all, methinks that next year will be a very exciting year for at least arts CF, and i believe that the Lord will indeed do wonderful things in the ministry if we earnestly seek Him in all we do... Pity i (hopefully) won't be around next sem to see it, but it's exciting nevertheless =)

Am really glad and thankful to see the MEET team and everything related to us all coming together bit by bit by God's grace - there's still much to be done, but am feeling less and less uneasy about leaving as the day draws nearer and nearer... =)

Was good to meet up with the other UNC-bound peeps to discuss our (lack of) progress with regards to prep, and also to brainstorm and formulate any possible corporate travel plans. I did feel a bit paiseh cos it turns out that quite a few of the places they want to go to both in the West Coast as well as in FL are places that i've been to fairly recently and hence have no wish of revisiting this summer - but anyway there's a very tentative plan that i have to faster consider cos there's a lot to do yet not a lot of time to do it... All in all, before i leave for exchange, i'd have to clear a four-fold set of bureaucratic obstacles - that of nus, unc, the folks who mould the future of our nation and the us embassy, a process that i am not looking forward to - though it does make finally going there feel that much sweeter...

Yay tonight is my lola's (lola = grandmother in tagalog) birthday dinner, whereby honestly the biggest draw for me is the food, which includes ayam buah keluak, beef rendang and filipino pork satay, among other stuff... That also means that i'd better squeeze in at least one more run before i leave, or else the 2kg that i lost during retreat will make an unwelcome return after tonight...

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