"ZOOM and the semester is over."

"BOOMZ and the next semester will come." (Lee, 2009)

So true how time flies. It seemed like yesterday when I entered NIE, a clueless, almost helpless soul. And now, it's already the end of our first semester. It ended on a terrible note but that aside, thank God for having seen me through the exams. Many discouraging moments, but thank God for His grace and strength. Not to mention, I had a good laugh (to myself) when I saw that Ris Low's pronunciations of "hospitaleetee", "zeebrah" and "LEOPARD PREENS" came out as one entire 15-mark question in the Language paper! I was just completely boomz-ed by that. :D And and and, thank you Amantha, for this!

Tell me you're not going "SO CUTE" this instant.

Thanks dear girl, I had a hard time getting myself to eat it cos it's just toooooooo cute but did in the end! And we could copy other stuff next time. ;)

"Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt."

Psalm 123: 3

This is so apt. Cos I'm frustrated. And it's frustrating that I'm frustrated. It's like a spectator yelling at the goalkeeper during a soccer game "HEY YOU SHOULD HAVE BLOCKED THAT BALL" like he himself could have done it better. I shouldn't be feeling this way. God doesn't want me to feel this way. I shouldn't even be thinking of those things that I want to say. It's a timely reminder. That we shouldn't criticise. That we should intercede. I have to stop thinking like I'm some high-and-mighty person. I'm simply not. It's not for me to say and do and change anything. It's for Him to. Give it to Him. Give it to Him.

Your Faithfulness - Brian Doerksen

I don't know what this day will bring

Will it be disappointing, filled with long for things?

I don't know what tomorrow holds

Still I know I can trust Your faithfulness

I don't know if these clouds mean rain

If they do, will they pour down blessing or pain?

I don't know what the future holds

Still I know I can trust Your faithfulness

Certain as the rivers reach the sea

Certain as the sunrise in the east

I can rest in Your faithfulness

Surer than a mother's tender love

Surer than the stars still shine above

I can rest in Your faithfulness

I don't know how or when I'll die

Will it be a thief, or will I have a chance to say goodbye?

No, I don't know how much time is left

But in the end, I will know Your faithfulness

When darkness overwhelms my soul

When thoughts and storms of doubt

Still I trust You are always faithful, always faithful

Certain as the rivers reach the sea

Certain as the sunrise in the east

I can rest in Your faithfulness

Surer than a mother's tender love

Surer than the stars still shine above

I can rest in Your faithfulness

I can rest in Your faithfulness

I don't know what this day will bring

Will it be disappointing, filled with long for things?

I don't know what tomorrow holds

Still I know I can trust Your faithfulness

Awesome song. It'll be up here soon!

Yeah...

Roarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

My masterpiece!

:D

I think I'll have to charge Sarah a fee for copyright infringement since she's been quoting my blog posts (the whole post sometimes) but she says she puts references, which reminds me of essays.

HAHA alright this is totally random, I'm talking about this just cos I told Sarah I'd blog about her. She's apparently very happy that I'm seated super far away from her for the Language paper, which is really mean. Really mean. Hahahahaha!

MY PHONE IS GOING CRAZY and I haven't started studying. :( :( :(

The sports hall in NIE's really elusive. You can kind of see it from the bus-stop but you just can't get to it. That's what Angela and I were trying to do for a whole 15 minutes this morning. And after we thought that we'd found the entrance, the security guard said that we had to go back where we came from cos no bags were allowed beyond that point. So we had to go all the way up to the first storey, then down to B2 by another staircase. We were totally walking in circles, lol. Thank God we weren't late!

After the paper, Sarah called and said that Amantha was looking for me cos she'd got something to tell me and she asked me to go look for them. I thought it'd be something important, but... Here's what she said.

"Ruth! I haven't copied the dictionary and I'm not done with History and I haven't revised bIOgraphy! Can you help me copy the dictionary?????"

LOL!!!!!!! I totally couldn't stop laughing. At the fact that they called me so that I could hear their intentional "compilation". BUT IT MADE MY DAY hahaha. And I hope I won't burst out laughing in the middle of the Language paper.

Speaking of which, my learning log's... 2 pages filled. And no one's allowed to react to that. In front of me, that is. :D

Oh, and over-confidence is never a good thing. Perhaps it's better to realise that early.

Off to sleeeeeeeeep.

D-day, d-day.

I know there're several insane people who're extremely excited about the exams. And I'm totally not. The only thing I'm excited about is the arrival of 24th Nov, 11.30am. Hoho.

Hmmm. When we know something so well or when we're good at something, we tend to depend on ourselves and think that we can pull it off successfully on our own strength, we fail to depend on God, and we forget to give credit where it's due. I've indeed been giving myself way too much credit. I've been focusing on the wrong stuff, I've been letting comments dictate my thinking. I shouldn't be aiming to show anyone anything so that I can feel so good about it. I have to be humble. More than that, I have to be focused.

You, just You.

I'm exceedingly proud of myself for waking up bright and early this morning to study with Amantha, Calvin and Sarah. Well, we just discussed a Grammar past-year paper, but that's good for me! The consultation with Dr. Ludwig was really cool. And is he amazing. He asked me for my name, to which I simply replied, "Ruth." "Oh, Ruth Zhuo?" He'd apparently seen my name on Facebook somehow, somewhere, but he assured us that he isn't a stalker. Haha. And his academic life's really amazing. From a student who had to repeat a year in Secondary school to being offered a place in Cambridge to pursue his Masters, eventually obtaining his PhD, that's just... Wow. :)

And I still can't get over that mental image of someone attempting to copy the entire dictionary into a 40-page or so learning log since we can't bring our dictionaries for the exams. HAHAHAHAHA!

Alright, this is a really random post. I'm just so bored waiting for the Amazing Race to start. Heheh.

My PBL journey…

Has officially come to an end! While I was waiting fervently for the arrival of this day, I can’t deny it was a bittersweet moment when we departed from the classroom. PBL was a torture in itself, all that generation of ideas, research, frustration, frequent sleepless nights, intense preparations for D-Day, not to mention the endless waiting, but it was PBL that brought five different people together! I will definitely miss the time spent together being crazy, being stressed, and being BOOMZ.

I thank God, really, for this entire experience. It’s the one project that I really soaked myself in. Knowing my character… I really thank God for my awesome group mates who pushed me to give my best and do stuff that I wouldn’t have taken the initiative to in the past. Wow, looks like I’ve learnt the art of motivation from the project! Haha. But yep, thank God for the fun and laughter, all the nonsensical stuff we said and did that would really brighten my days, the last two weeks of PBL where a few of us met up almost every day to rush our incomplete work like mad, the chilling and eating sessions, even for the trying, stressful and exasperating moments cos those were the times I got the most out of this! And how could I forget, THANK GOD FOR MY GROUP MATES!!!!!

As I’d mentioned, I felt a tinge of sadness when EdPsych class officially ended on Friday. It’s the course that I enjoyed the most, next to Grammar, and I’m really gonna miss my classmates, several of whom I might never see again if we don’t bother to keep in contact! Alright, that sounds exaggeratingly depressing but looking at how I refuse to spend an extra moment in school, it’s possible. On top of that, I’m gonna miss our random lunching and chit-chatting days at the Engineering block’s food court! Hee, that point when we said our goodbyes, I really felt rather gloomy.

The last of PBL and EdPsych. Awww.

My fabulous group!

With our fabulous tutor, Ms Lim, whom I'm gonna miss loads as well.

Since we didn't take a picture together, here's the other half of our lunching group. Their presentation slides were WOW!

BOOMZ-ERS!!!!!

Lastly, just a random picture

of negative externalities that were laughing away when the people around were trying to study. Heehee.

Thank God for the week that has passed, it's been exhausting, but it's all over. For now... Exams! And discussion of Grammar answers with the hilarious people tomorrow. So sweet of them to wait for me just cos I don't wanna go to school so early. Awww. :)

I thought I could handle it, but I can't. I need Your wisdom and guidance.

I could feel the coldness and nonchalance setting in. To an extent, I still felt a little hurt, a little angry. I didn’t think that the party deserved my time. I thought about it in the wee hours of the night, the steady rhythm of raindrops against my window, and it occurred to me. Hadn’t I just been doing 5 days of “I am set apart”? I prayed. I really have to stop taking the things and people around me for granted. I was all of a sudden so thankful for the friends God has blessed me with. Lord, grant me the patience, help me to love as You loved.

I’m extremely tired, having dragged myself out of bed this morning after an hour’s sleep to go for the Language lecture which I haven’t attended since the first week of the semester. Yeah, that was essentially my second time going for the lecture. I felt that it wasn’t worth my time, but I did resolve to go for all my lectures this week, seeing that it’s the last week of school. Well kinda. The good that came out of it was breakfast with the Boomz-ers, Angela and Amantha. All that nonsensical talk about flies and whatnots. And of course, PBL with the usual rad stuff. My group just refuses to take my suggestion on our group name being Leopard Preens. Heh.

I totally can’t wait for Friday to come and declare that PBL is over. Meanwhile, it’s PBL, essay, Math quiz….. Oh well, I’ll make my long break tomorrow a productive one. PBL, followed by studying with cool people! :D

What Faith Can Do - Kutless

Everybody falls sometimes

Gotta find the strength to rise

From the ashes and make a new beginning

Anyone can feel the ache

You think it's more than you can take

But you're stronger, stronger than you know

Don't you give up now

The sun will soon be shining

You gotta face the clouds

To find the silver lining

I've seen dreams that move the mountains

Hope that doesn't ever end

Even when the sky is falling

And I've seen miracles just happen

Silent prayers get answered

Broken hearts become brand new

That's what faith can do

It doesn't matter what you've heard

Impossible is not a word

It's just a reason for someone not to try

Everybody's scared to death

When they decide to take that step out on the water

It'll be alright

Life is so much more

Than what your eyes are seeing

You will find your way

If you keep believing

I've seen dreams that move the mountains

Hope that doesn't ever end

Even when the sky is falling

And I've seen miracles just happen

Silent prayers get answered

Broken hearts become brand new

That's what faith can do

Overcome the odds

You do have a chance

(That's what faith can do)

When the world says you can't

It'll tell you that you can

I've seen dreams that move the mountains

Hope that doesn't ever end

Even when the sky is falling

And I've seen miracles just happen

Silent prayers get answered

Broken hearts become brand new

That's what faith can do

That's what faith can do

Even if you fall sometimes

You will have the strength to rise

It's time to concuss.

I can never afford to get complacent.

I just love it when it's raining at an unearthly hour. :)