I just have to thank my Lord for getting me out of this funk. I really have to thank God....I'm just so grateful. All the time I've been relying on my own strength, being really really stressed in the mugging, worrying about, you know, what if I screw up, and stuff. and then a thought just struck me, it's really not about my own strength, but about God's strength. I turned to God, and suddenly the pressure's been lifted: i realise there's more to life than just exams. I realised that God can do immeasurably more than you ask for.

I wrote a song about it, I was just so thankful and so happy. it was like a burden lifting over my shoulders, the cloud disappearing from the horizon. Now, I don't have to worry. I just have to trust. He never failed me, He never will. Somehow He has a plan, and I know that, and all I have to do is trust.

Now I can smile again, and have the confidence to live my life the happy way, the GOd way. The happy way. Everything becomes nice. My life is complete. I just wnat to jump for joy and shout!
He will carry you through...

The song goes something like this

FOREVER TRUSTING
Music and lyrics by Shawn Poon

When I feel so alone
Trying to make it on my own
How could I forget Your mercy?
How could I forget Your love?

(another verse)

So I turn to You
Draw me near to You
Let me find some refuge in Your love

1st chorus:
Forever trusting
In Your power
Forever trusting
In Your love
Forever trusting
In Your grace
My rock and my redeemer
I surrender

2nd chorus:
Forever trusting in You
Forever trusting in You
Forever trusting in You
My rock and my redeemer, I surrender

Bridge:
And when we reach the end of our journey
And run the race to the end
It's only You that made all things happen
Without You I can do nothing

It is good to be intellectual. I feel it every time we are in Raffles Junior College, talking to people about work, discussing, arguing. i'm fairly certain that only iN RJC can u really do that with ease, without people thinking that you're just an act-smartie pants. okay the downside is that you get competitive, but if you want to stretch your brains and actually make use of them, RJC is perfect.

come to think of it, i acutally enjoy RJC. i acutally enjoy not having to make all those moral decisions that often plague me in ACS, those dilemmas about, well, should i join in the bullying, should i join in the bitching...and all that. here there's not much of it, coz most people are pretty nice. and even if there is nothing much comes out of it, you dont' get the beating-up of people that you get elsewhere. it seems that most of the RJC people, even though some might be boring, have a good heart inside, and aren't screwed up in their lives some way or the other. in ACS you get people who have bruised egos, bloated egos, whatnot, and it's just so difficult to be normal and nice to each other coz you are always thinking, what would people think of you? what would you say? ehhh and all that jazz. but here you can be who you are. everyone respects everyone else, and that's just the way it should be.

and besides, you can stretch your brains.

i am all for the idea that religion should be kept seperate from the state/school. in ACS religion does help in fostering a common spirit, a bond, good friends, and all that, but it leaves people with no freedom to choose for themselves whether they want to believe or not, which i feel is an essential freedom of choice everyone must make, in order so that those who truly believe are true followers, rather than being compelled to follow. so you don't get people who are so disillusioned by the constant preaching that they turn their backs on Christianity totally. you have to entice them, and the way to entice them is not to bore them or to preach to them (in that kind of preaching-style way), but to live for them. and unfortunately many of us just can't live up to those lofty standards we aim for.


and anywae i'm relaly pissed at all the medics in CMPB. they're just so irritating. i hate NS. i tink i'll hate it. i just hate the regimentation and the hierarchy and all that. you go in there, you wonder, what do you call him? SIR? Doctor? what?? and you go there, and you just follow the instructions, and the medical officers there all look down on you as though you're some kinda nut coz you're from RJC and you can't breathe out, and you can't even tie your pants (it just couldnt' come into a loop) and i was just shell-shocked i couldn't talk, or be anything but stoned. just follow instructions. dumbing down. NS makes you all like robots, like muscular robots.

I am writing this slowy lovey-dovey jazz tune now, which could have been much better if my sister had not started playing Canon in D while i was just about to write the chorus, losing my entire train of thought in the mess of that stupid overhyped commercialised song. irritating. but i still got the little tune done anyway.

did much of math today. the nanyang paper is so easy man. i just wish a levels were that easy. haha, i doubt it. i doubt it. jumping on my guitar again. and after all that i mellowed to the strains of piano and chords. haha.

Good day!
I didn't go to school today. so bleagh. haha. was sleeping. and later went to the hospital for my medical.
I had been sleeping. sheesh.
Watched Fiji play Japan. simply sublime. it was a pity Waisele Serevi got injured but their running game is just phenomenal. No wonder I like Sevens rugby so much. to watch, anyway. I can't play rugby for nuts.
I FINISHED HARD TIMES SO HAPPY.

Was jumping up and down playing my tele and singing stupid songs and bouncing up and down to 'Over Seasons' and later on to 'By the way' coz my parents weren't home so I turned the guitar up to full volume and blasted my house away. It was really really fun. Wrote many songs. the verse/prechorus to 'Entertain yourself'. Finalised the key of 'Mambo at a disco'. Just had so much fun with the guitar. screaming my head off and crooning and singing. just having fun.

its a wonder i still got hard times finished. oh well. it was about time.

It is important to realise that there are important things, and other things that dont' really matter. playing the guitar and all that is just for fun. perhaps you would count studying as being important. but really the most important of all is loving God and loving people, and being one of the Heart, not of the Head, as Dickens would put it. i read Hard Times and really missed the warmth that we used to have. ahh. to cry again. just to cry again. i miss that.

Today has been a really cool day. It started with a stupid literature lecture, before adjouning to play bball. i was like one outta ten. haha. talk abt lousiness. at least it wasn't nil.

We went to ghim moh for lunch. quite a superb one too, if i may add. studied hard times today, with mel and adriel.

sigh i can;'t study more than a few minutes without getting distracted. i walked to e canteen, walked all the way to the music room to sightread Sarah's piece, played some music, getting drowned in by the passion of playing the piano (note the alliteration). getting drowned in to the music. letting myself be swamped by it. not merely listening, but feeling throughly for it.
and later on we went into LT4, before chorale people chased us out. haha. but never mind. at least it was just chorale. it was such a nice place to study!!!
went back to LT4 to play the piano. haha. got some new songs. i've got this new song called 'Mambo at a Disco', which is rather nice acid-funk jazz kinda stuff, with a bossa beat. was showing wen en today. wen en played marry had a little lamb, the wen en version. that one you have to ask him.

am doing USC applications now. it's a mess. the deadline was a week ago.

HEY RUNDOWN IS SUCH A FARNEE SHOW!
haha
it just kicks ass. that sean elliot guy is really kickass awesome!
oh starbucks cheated me of my money

and i should really be studying, shouldn't i? never mind, i think i was more productive today, than i was yesterday, when i didn't go out. at least i'm starting hard times.

I can do nothing without You, but with YOu I can do everything. You are the vine I am the branches.


on a side note...
so pretty. ahhh!!=)
yummm!

okay nvm!=) hies.

Friday was nice. Cell was interesting, about God providing for all your needs. Such an apt comment.

Saturday and I was bumming around listening to the strains of Van Morrison's 'Into the mystic', inexplicably charmed. England beat South Africa, and Arsenal beat Chelsea. Yeah!!! Eb is such a nice key. I was just sleeping, which I am, like, so deprived of. So, there. Happy now.+)


Sunday, and church was so so good. Sigh, message was so good. About Jesus being the vine and we being branches that bear fruit.

Everyday I'll ask myself, How am I growing in You today, O Lord? I surrender my everything, my all, to you each day. Guide me every step of the way.

I want to be a vine that bears fruit, not one that is to be thrown away. So may You lead me each day, O Lord. For I can do nothing without You, but with You I can do everything.

Today's message was really good, I have to say.

And later on Uncle Alan showed us his ministry work in the Heartlanders, and I was really touched. It's nice to see God working through us, and I just want to be part of His work.
Somewhere, somehow. Show me...

I had SUCH a nice dream. WHY did i have to wake up?

decided to wink at X. there was a pause, and then, a soft, blushing smile and a small giggle, or a laugh, turning away.

i felt good for the rest of the day.

why did i have to wake up?


and besides I'm not waving to you. yes, not you. oh well.


Prayer meeting was great. irish music. something about it. pity i'm not in ireland, though. sigh. would love to be a seamus heaney in music. trying to find your own identity and something.

Just came back from Orchard, following the football match.
WE WON 3-1! BEAT THE RI GEPS! (the ac geps beat the ri geps. no more specifically the ac geps with liang and sim)
actually it was a really scrappy match. the ball kept getting stuck in the mud, which was to our advantage coz it meant hte fast players couldn't run and run with the ball.=)

tim scored the first with a nice thumping bullet header off a jon huang cross. actually he hit the corner, and it deflected off someone, to me, i just stuck out my foot and pushed it bck to huang, he crossed (he told me he was trying to shoot) and then tim just was totally unmarked to head it in from about 10 yards out, i think.
the second goal was from sim's corner. to the nearpost tim backflicked it, and it hit goose and into the net.
i scored the third. off a throw in, just got into the box past a few tackles (Actually they weren't very good tackles lah) and chipped it over dave.
harry scored their consolation. sidefooted it to junyi's left.

went to have lunch, before adjourning for pool with kevin. Lost to him real badly, but nice talking to him. it's been a really long time. just talking about life, you know, everything and anything. went to buy some cds, he got Ok computer from radiohead and another which i can't remember what its name was. radiohead should pay me haha for sales commissions. went to coffee bean to eatttttt. caesar salad was lovely, and of course the coffee. haha i was teaching him econs, don't know why also. kinda outta pt. haha.

actually, yesterday i couldn't sleep, too excited. haha. and i really thought it was going to rain, and it did, and in the morning i woke up, thinking, oh crap we can't play, if we play it'll be so wet. but then we did play, in e mud with boots and all, and it was actually quite fun. thank God i didn't get my asthma rubbish again, and i actually could run a bit, up and down. haha.

okay been a good day so far.

Hello everyone! In school now, on this damn library computer of RJC's. it's a pain studying, I've been doing the CJC paper for almost 3 hours and I haven't even got past the 2/3 mark yet! Talk about the 'A' levels!

Sida says I'm rambling
Okay i probably am
But who cares

Shall I write you a poem?
How bout some haikus...haha

Prom night is coming
Shawn is going there topless
I did not say that

-okay never mindd.....

how bout a proper poem...
alliteration!!! wow.

THE SCHOOL

Boys from Raffles Institution
Bury their heads in books
Boring!

Boys from ACS
Bum around buayaing babes
Bastards!

Boys from Chinese High
Breakdance to break their necks (from Sida: hear hear Dalg)
Bad taste. tsk tsk.

okay this sums it up nicely. haha.

bye bye!

SATS yesterday, shoudl be alright. math not too good, lit not too good, writing shaky. jhaha. what else is left? i don't know.

bought some shoes.

Church was really fantastic. Sitting/standing in the pews, lifting hands, praising God, just letting go and letting your spirit sing and praise Him, not thinking (it's a bad habit), just proclaiming how great He is, that was just wonderful. haven't had that experience in such a long long time. it just seemed as though i was His good child again, no more stupidness and craziness, but just love. He wants the best for me, I give my best to Him. And you know, if you give your best to Him, He will grant you the desires of your heart, the richness and fullness of joy, as He gave me. So i'm just really thankful and grateful for all that, and I really hope it lasts. Everything was great just now. I was talking to people really well, just communicating with them, not being afraid, but just having fun, and being happy. None of that self-conscious reflecting, oh what would he think about me, and so on, but being natural about myself. That's really wonderful, and it's so rare Sigh why did it take so long to come back?

Ah, it was really something special. Full, whole-hearted, joyful, worship, all to Him. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you."

It's complimentary, not substitutional.

You know, maybe my sickness was a blessing in disguise after all. Before that sickness I was rather grumpy, far away from Him, and all that, but after that sickness really set in i began to trust more and more in Him and His grace and i think that's really great, just to be able to call on Him more often and allow Him to be in my life more. I mean, now I'm much more happy with God.

I mean if we'd only let God take control, we would slowly lose our propensity to sin, and only by putting away everything else and coming to God will we find that we can conquer sin more decisively. There is no use trying to put sin away if you don't come to God; come to God and everything else will be fine.

I really believe. Please use me. thank you.

haha its nice to be happy.

Today was a jolly good day, I'd say. It seems like my 'talking' me has returned, finally, amidst lots of prayer and asking God for being 'able to relate to people', and guess what, He really answers prayers, as usual. Finally I could talk instead of feeling self-conscious about myself, finally I could be myself again, rather than being afraid. Who cares? I have just as much right to decide about my life and my destiny than others, huh.

Friendster's really fun. It's my new hobby after Kings of Chaos died. And it's really nice to surf around, looking at friends, viewing testimonials, seeing friend's friends and their links and all that. Really cool. The guy who invented it was a genius. I got really nice testimonials from lorraine, from gillian, dalg. it's really nice. ahhh.

I have no idea whether (she) notices me or not, or (she) reciprocrates, or it just happens that she looks in my direction, or maybe she's not looking at me, she's just glancing, you have to look somewhere, right?
Really nice cloudy dreams keep appearing, leaving me in delirium. Why do dreams have to end? It's a very very good question. I should ponder over it.
Why do dreams have to end?

It's been that talking mood, with the musical hearing mood, along with a tinge of those drowsy dreamy feelings that I absolutely adore. it's a slow comforting embrace that leads you to sweet slumber. It allows you to lie on your pillow, gazing into wonderful thoughts, forgetting the stress of life, and simply smile to yourself on how wonderful life is. I was


Yesterday was fun because we went off to Holland V NYDC to talk and bitch and have a really chummy class lunch that we hadn't had for such a long time. laughed the whole place down, which was really rather rare. i shan't discuss what we discussed, but it was fun nevertheless.

Everyone was taking photos, since farewell assembly had just finished, and posed for pictures, since it was the last day of school, of our 'organised school'; From now on, we're on our own. Can't actually recall all those that took fotos with me, though I wished there were more girls. damn. haha. but well I guess it was mainly the humans people and the AC people, and a couple of assorted friends. And in the end of the assembly we sang 'If we hold on together'. Rather sappy, I'd imagine, but we are sentimental anyway, and very soon I will miss RJC, even though I vowed never to sing the school song, being an AC boy. Perhaps we would only remember the happy memories, of which there were numerous, and really it was a rather enjoyable stretch of time after all. I wouldn't mind living my whole life in this bliss of teenagehood. And if only the happy memories linger on, it'll still be wonderful.


I have SATII tomorrow. hope and pray i can get above 750 for all.

Had a really nice dream yesterday, but I just forgot all about it. sigh. am so pissed off, really so pissed off. ahhh. and I went to school today trying to find that girl again. haha.
Sigh. she probably doesn't care.


I have realised that life isn't that bed of roses people sometimes say it is. Oh, Raffles, you're a family, you're a tree. what hypocrisy. it is war. survival of the fittest. animals struggling for that same piece of meat, presumably the As. Getting a 'U' for S paper, and getting scolded for turning around to talk, without even opening my mouth, yet. Isn't it enough to make me cry in the lecture theater at the unfairness of it all? For the record, I've never gotten a 'U' before. and just when it's the time to do well, and start getting a Merit like i always do, i get this. the irony of it. the slap-in-the-face the disgrace. well i realised you gotta work for it, but this is really pushing the limits of madness.
I swear (well not really actually) that I would have been much worse off and still powerfully bitter, if I couldn't actually start jotting down some angsty tunes to rid myself of the madness. thank God i still have that gift man. pump up the power chords, scream in my mind, get the drum beats rolling, man...i'm gonna be a rock star. i mean when you see me making it big dont' cry for yourself, coz i don't cry for myself when everyone gets Ds and i'm languishing in, oblivion.
Bitterness is such a powerful emotion: it might make me start doing really damn well for SATS II to prove people wrong again. I always need to do that, it seems like that fire needs to be directed at something in order to burn. So if that's the case, so be it. maybe it will spur me on to get a Distinction in the final exam, though I realised that's a distant possibility. still. i mean what the hell.

there might still be something good coming out of this ah. i have to wear my heart on my sleeve again. fight for my right to live. enough of that langour. because no one really cares. it's a zero-sum-game. a many-horse race. fight.
so why don't we.

i'm no pacifist but here lies madness.

no wonder raffles is such a mess. it's all coz of this. if you were in AC you'd be laughing and laughing it off. but here, you have to be the best or die. it's the teachers' mad philosophy of life i guess. 'survival of the fittest'.

because i believe in my feelings. and when they say it's pleasurable to compete then i would, but most of the time it's not. it's nicer to cooperate. but then again no one wants to cooperate with you.

Went back to school today, simply exhausted.
Really have to thank God for my results. I managed a AABC, a for econs and hist, b for lit and c for math. because i really only expected A for econs and B for the rest. oh well so it was an okay performance i guess. but i have to practise math. but considering the effort i put it, it's really through Gods' grace i can do what I did...many pple did much better but it's okay, they deserve it more than I do.

am applying for US unis now...sigh. a chore. a pain.

read below.

It's wonderful actually. my week got better. I just realised something so important: It's stupid to build the wall between what is yours, and what is God's, because rightfully everything that is yours should be His. Give it up. Share it. Because He loves you, He'll take what you have and make it even better, coz He knows what's best anyway. so it's really stupid to keep anything but just live by faith every step of the way and you'll be happier. I'm probably a little happier now.

Pray for everything. I prayed that somehow I could go to mel's bdae party and like somehow right at the end my dad started changing his mind and allowed me to go, and it was really fun. i mean it wasn't as fun as dalg's dinner party long time ago, but it's not about the fun rite, it's about the fact that your good friend's having a birthday and u're there just to witness the occassion and to be there for your good friend. that in itself counts, doesn't it.
okay this is sooooo sappy ehhh. So i just ended up chatting with the humans pple and the ac pple and just being stupid . okay. nvm.

Wrote a song called 'entertain yourself'. because you know, as the earlier post goes, that's so essential.

Thanking God is so essential. everything in your life, thank God for it. i mean, whatever prelim results i'm going to get tomroow, i don't care, but I'll just thank God anyway, for everything. it's just living by faith, the simple steps. there is no need for the idea of 'You', or what is 'yours', but everything is 'His'.

Okay.
just came back from CG today. it's been really tiring. the cough still won't end, and i can't talk properly, which means blogging becomes a very attractive alternative. church was okay. playing pool was just rubbish. playing simcitty even worse. just trying to do anything to you know, enjoy myself. i realised i just dont' want to go back to school, into the mugging phase again. i mean. it's going to be a never-end, you know, like 2 months of 'never-end' till it all really ends and i stumble into NS. and tomroow the prelim results will be out. would i cry? would i die?
nvm i don't care......i'll still thank God for everything. i mean. it's up to Him. there was this interesting passage today that struck me, that God is the 'God who sees' (talking about Hagar) and that everything is in His plan and everything is for good of the people who love Him and like nothing happens without Him allowing it to happen. That's so comforting.

So I shall trust. simply trust.

Amuse yourself. Entertan yourself. There is nothing else left to do.

I have found new meaning for these words. when I can't get out of the house, paralysed by this raging cough that infuses my lungs with only an irritable itch, I have to find some thing to do, right. it's only natural. and besides, the great thing about this philosophy is that you can create/do anything you like. Absolutely anything. You don't need people to control you, you don't need to respond to anybody. You just have to entertain yourself.

So what have i done so far? Well, i've been watching lots of TV. MTV, rugby union and the like. secondly, i've been writing music. but it's just sporadic tunes that are unlikely to be developed into full songs anyway, just for fun lah. i've been playing my electric (tele) , just playing my 'dance of the chieftains' and all its fast intricate fingerings on the guitar, and later on playing this groovey Em F#m Bm chord prog with added twang, and later on other songs, and trging to imitate carlos santana and later playing 'sweet child of mine' the stupid solo with my neck pickup, that i realised, is very smooooooootthhhhhhhhhhhh. yeaps.

I thank God that I'm getting better and I thanK God for everything He's given to me. my talents my friends, oh, aand, ME! haha. of course of course.=)
i so want to go to mel's bdae party. i missed dalg's party today and that's y i'm resorting to entertaining myself, but i hope tomorow it'll be better. please God. sigh. such a waste. and monday we're getting back results so back to reality agian.
sigh.
reality bites.

Please pray for me. beign sick is horrible. it means i can't do so many things. i'm just at home. lying down. coughing sporadically. God have mercy, please. sigh. i hate being sick
come on. wake me up/
Wrote a poem.

SICK

Superstitious serpents love wringing
themselves round walls
i lie in my bed, a huff, alas, a puff.
To raise high heavens from their peaceful slumber,
To purge the phoenix from its fiery temple.
no, just to breathe another breath
ah, it'll be fine.

pasty-white ceilings and clobbering fans
and friends calling to ask me if everything were fine.
The bed entices the body for a-nesting
till you wake up
and feel the pain.
ah, dreams still bring shelter from rain.

looking out
upon the sunny skies
and people laughing and talking on buses, and in streets,
they call it, 'feeling fine'.
wish i could go. if i could just leave here.

but fate never stays
but tempts the palate.

back here, still lingers echoes of calm and peace
amidst the waves of ache.
the trees have shed their old fruit, waiting for new flowers;
and i am visibly anticipating change
to better understandings. to better meanings.

when the torture of your mind has waned
with the appearance of new, immediate realities
all you hope for is to get out of this
and once you breath the air and find
the chirpings of the crows delectable
then, ah, how wonderful it is to be alive.

-shawn poon 3/10/03

Had a topsy-turvy time. am officially sick now. had chest pains yesterday esp when trying to play footie. couldn't run after half an hour, so just walked around, see a doctor, pump some oxygen, get some muscular chest cream or something, coz it wasn't wheezing, but then i don't know what it might be. it's painful to stand up or exercise, sigh been sleeping alot. i must get down-graded for army man, if not i'll just die.

sun yanzi's voice is so nice. arghh.

=)

went to darren's house yesterday to help him write a song. seems like i could only write a little tune for the chorus in 6/8 before running out of ideas. haha.

well i'm so tired. sigh. means all my activities are probably going to waste. haizz.