Hello, long time since the last post. I actually typed something while I was accessing my posting a couple of days back but I gave up halfway and ended up doing other stuff. HAHA.

Okay so if you don't already know, I'm off for my next 9 months in OCS, and while it's the path I wanted to take, I don't exactly look forward to it. Just can't wait for it to be over and get commissioned. Sounds like I've a bleak outlook but nah I'm just looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel. Sure I know I'll grow as a person, but 9 months go past quick! Haha.

Anyway SALT retreat was awesome. God just blessed it over and over when things looked so disorganised. I wish I had more time to elaborate but yeah. Awesome.

3 week confinement starts tomorrow. Do keep me in your prayers!

I swear each subsequent book out sucks more and more. First was best, with the Chinese new year break. And then it was 8 plus pm book in and now it's reduced to 5.40pm tomorrow. I'm wistful but oh well.

I don't know when it happened, but somewhere along the way in my NS life I realised that life would never be the same as it was before. Maybe it was during field camp on the 4th day, where after a particularly vigorous (HAHA sounds lame) tekan session we cried when our platoon sergeant sat us down and told us to reflect. And then people cried some more after we got letters from our parents, written and sent to the company and kept specially for field camp. Of course it was all in the plan, to make people cry, and I'm not afraid to admit that I did. Some people will scoff and say if you're a real man you should be in control, and I agree. No it's not soldierly to cry, but soldiers are human too, and that was just a raw moment of humanity. I cried not because I hated NS and that it was going to be my life from now, not because of all the punishment, not wholly because I missed my family and friends. I cried because after 6 years in NPCC, I came to NS jaded and lethargic faced with 2 more years of regimentation. But I guess at that moment I woke up to the fact that just trying to let life in the army pass me by wasn't going to do any good, and I resolved that I wasn't just going to have my time in BMT slide by anymore. I was going to live my life in the army, and I cried because I promised myself that nothing was going to break me no matter what, not any punishment from any officer or if circumstances dictated that I had to do something I hated.

I cried because I missed my friends, the people around me and my old life. But I cried also because it was a part of letting go,of no longer being in denial. Now don't get me wrong, Im not saying I'm not friends with people and that I'm giving everything up for army. I mean that I've come completely to terms with the way things are now, and I'm embracing life as it is, for myself and because I know God wants me to. Some people're in denial, and book outs are times for them to re-become civilians. Me? I'm a soldier now, and weekends are well-earned breaks to catch up with friends and see my parents.

Once you've got the right mindset, I guess NS can get pretty enjoyable. You meet new people, do things that you'll never get to do otherwise and hey, you get stories to tell your kids in future. I mean, it's like 2 years, why waste it by staying at the bottom trying to slack off? I don't like being dirty, as many of my friends will know, but once you get past the inertia of moving out of your comfort zone everything becomes an experience and if I look at it one way I'm being paid to train, so why not get the most out of it yes?

I thank God every day that He sees me through everything and that He allows me to draw strength from Him all the time. It's at times when I'm most uncomfortable that I ask Him for help to persevere, and hey I'm still doing great, so praise the Lord. =)

Anyway Valentine's was pretty good, went out with her and she planned a massage session for both of us! Then we were supposed to go to Sentosa but I wanted to shop and was pretty lazy so we stayed in town. Bought a flower from Mel for her and we had dinner at Wheelock. Pretty good stuff. I'm typing unusually much so I will stop here.

3 more weeks to POP!

The Chinese New Year break went by so quickly and now I'm booking in again in a couple of hours =(

I wish I had more time.

Field camp when I go in. Do pray for me =)

Hello everybody, my time is officially running out and i feel sad =( People all ask me if i'm scared of NS and my answer is always 'naaah'. I mean, I'm pretty used to regimented life after six years in Marist NPCC. If you're done with NS and you're reading this and you see the previous line don't scoff and say NPCC is nothing like NS, because everyone says it's more slack but just dirtier. Funny thing is I'd prefer it to be less slack but cleaner hahaha.

But yeah, point is, I'm not really scared of NS, I know I can make it in there and I'll do everyone proud =) I can't help feeling sad though, because I really will miss everyone. I feel so loved from all the messages and emails and stuff, and I guess it's a good thing to feel sad too because it shows I've close friends who I'll dearly miss. Thank you all for being there for me all I'll see you on the other side yeah? This sounds gay but I love all of you back HAHA.

I was debating with myself whether to write dedications (I sound like a DJ) cause I didn't want to leave anyone out. But hey I'm just gonna type some short sentences, if you don't see your name here it's not cause I don't remember you, just that I didn't really think you'd read my blog. So in no order of importance:


To my dear little miss tiny, please take care of yourself ok? I won't be away for long, and I hope you really really enjoyed your birthday. I'll miss you too =)


To Phyllis, you've heard it many times before but I'll say it again before I go in - you're truly an awesome friend, period. Thanks for being there for me, and Happy Birthday in advance!


Farmer De Silva, you're an amazing guy who's always willing to be there to help no matter how inconvenient it is. I mean it when I said I'll be there if you ever need my help for anything at all.


To my two dear Godsisters, thanks for just being who you are, really. You're the sisters I never had, and you made me feel loved as part of this extra family =) Eunice I want to kope more stuff from you when I'm back HAHA. I will give you loads of stuff too! Beat, thanks for the email. Touched much okay. Haha I actually typed you a message after reading your mail but I realised I didn't send out cause my new owning colour phone with polyphonic capability and flashlight didn't have your number. Love you both!

To Henry Louis Velge, you take care too man. Thank you again for that email, I totally wasn't expecting it! You're a good friend and I want to thank you for everything. We should be in a proper band of our own when I get better HAHA.


To Kenneth and Jasper, I've watched you both grow and I thank God for you two. I've passed the baton to you two and I trust you guys. I'm there to help whenever I can but for now it's your show ok? Please take care =)


To Val, Mel and the other shooters, thank you for all your support and encouragement. A part of me will always miss the times we trained together, and I know we'll always be good friends. =)

To the bros, you guys have always been there. Even if we don't hang out every day and stuff I'm thankful for all of you. And the fact that we're all guys means we all have NS as a common topic! Haha we'll meet after BMT and talk k?


To everyone else, if you're going to miss me you're someone I'm going to miss too. Sorry if you didn't see your name up, it's cause I'm rushing off. But thank you anyway and we'll catch up soon!








Signing off,

Recruit Andrew Tay

I guess it's time I got down to blogging before my time is up and I get conscripted into National Sl*very (must censor in case some government official reads and I get screwed).

Where to start, so many things to say! Basically I'm going in on the 8th and probably the only thing I'm really looking forward to is getting a hot bod from NS HAHA. One pack ----> Six pack please.

Ok I know lotsa people make new year's resolutions but I don't really bother cause most people fail in the end anyway. Haha but I do look back and think about the year that's passed though, and reflecting, I've really a lot to be thankful to God for. For moulding me and instilling that spirit of obedience in me when I served in my first YISS, for making a way for me so many times, for the friends around me. I really will miss everybody so please do keep me in your prayers ok?

I originally wanted to type out a proper testimony for this YISS, but I got lazy and I think this copy-pasted msn convo with Val will do. Hahaha YI truly is amazing. And God makes it amazing, and you know even though the thing that happened was pretty freaky and showed that the devil is real, it only served to strengthen my faith in God that He is all-powerful, and that darkness flees at the sound of His name!

Andrew says:
oh haha you are online!
hello
=)

Jesus take the wheel says:
hi!

Andrew says:
omg yiss was super amazing ok
it's like
80 people who at the start from all walks of life
some haven't been to church in 9 months or more
from just standing ther during pnw
to jumping and raising their hands to God
whoa
haha
and outpouring was amazing too
you should've seen God at work
haha almost all rested in the Spirit and everyone was praying in tongues by the end of it

Jesus take the wheel says:
sounds cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thats good to hear (:

Andrew says:
yeah
and it's like
God really worked wonders
people being forced to come to yiss
ended up jumping and praising Him
people who were hurt, held down by sin, guilt were healed
and it was just...
haha wah

Jesus take the wheel says:
(((:

Andrew says:
hahaha omg
but you know
with such powerfully spiritual camps, it also means that spiritual attacks are also more severe
and the devil will try even harder to attack
like on the second night during one of the sessions, even i felt something was wrong la
and like, i'm not the kind who sees visions and all?
i've never seen a vision, i only have tongues
haha
but even i felt something was wrong la

Jesus take the wheel says:
omg i just read yr text abt yr fren

Andrew says:
and after that the service team shared that they felt it too, that they felt distraction and evil
haha that happened just now this afternoon
anw the intercessors
haha they're a subteam whose role during yiss is just to pray
they saw visions throughout la, which is so cool and reaffirming
but during the time that session was held they got the word distraction
but after that they prayed and all was ok again
oh then this afternoon one was scary
during ministering, people were like getting slain super quickly
even some of the facils also
and like some of the participants like immediately when the speaker said 'just receive' they fell
but anw
during end of the session suddenly my friend started shaking uncontrollably
and he couldn't talk anymore
my other friend apparently felt some demonic presence and i saw her crying
and it was kinda scary la
so the leaders brought my shaking friend to the back to pray over him
then after that we brought him to the room where he was still shaking and couldn't talk, like he saw something really really bad
and no matter what people asked him he didn't respond, except to occasionally nod a little
so anyway it was just before mass and our priest came in to say a prayer for him
and then after that one of the adults came in to pray over him

Jesus take the wheel says:
yea

Andrew says:
and cause in the room there were just a few of us by my friend's side
and he asked us to pray spontaneously
then he put his hand on my friend's head and told the devil he had no place here
that in Jesus' name he bound all spirits and cast them out
that Jesus is lord
and then my friend in a really short while started crying louder
and then he was alright!
=)
he was really thankful after that la

Jesus take the wheel says:
omg
abit creepy...
my youth camp not so xiong
but sth like tt also

Andrew says:
yeah cause
yiss is a REALLY intense spiritual camp
honestly i have never felt anything like it
i remember my yi
the moment i stepped in i felt something different
like God's power was there strongly
and participants say the same thing also


Haha I'm not so lazy after all cause I made the effort to neaten it and make it easier to read. But yeah praise God for that!



I think NS is just going to be another time for God to mould me, to sheath me and use that time away from serving to make me something better. I don't want to go for NS, but it's my cup, my cross to bear, and I'll just have to keep praying =)

Message me if you're interested! Haha. Ok lots to update about, YISS, Christmas etc. Soon soon. =)

Hello. I am sick. Woke up at 3 plus last night (technically it was just now) with a fever, and I downed two panadol before going back to sleep. Then I woke up again and voila! I'm still sick.

And now I've been transferred over to Logistics for YISS. They said they felt it was better for me and I just went "uh ok, only if you REALLY need to because I much prefer fac-ing". Oh well. Must be God's plan. I dunno if I'm ever gonna serve in YI again though, NS and all.

My dad's com isn't at home and I can't watch Avatar cause that's where I saved all the shows (don't think he knows though). =(

But hey i'm not complaining (much) because I'll be getting the Fender Strat after all zomg yay.

Ok time to go back to bed and die.

Kay so I really need a hard drive of my own, like 500GB kind to store all of the stuff from other people's hard drives. Haha OMG Ian's hard drive is like some candy palace so full of sweets that you don't know where to start, and there's so much candy that either you die eating it or a mountain of it collapses on you. I opened it and found a whole gazillion tons of stuff, and I HAVE HEROES SEASON 3 NOW HAHA.

If you ever read this, thanks Ian, if you don't I'll thank you when I return your hard drive.

Paintball tomorrow is killing me with excitement, or maybe it's more of the fact that I'm finally done with As. Physics totally sucks please.

So many things to do - getguitargetpromclothesbuyothernewclothesfinallygettosleepinaftersolongmaybegobacktoshootingplayplayplayplayplay.

Then NS. #@$!#%.

Ok so today (just like many other days at Bishan) after finishing some work, Ky and I decided that we would go have a game or two of Fifa Street up at the Xbox 360 at the computer shop at J8. Yes I know it's no life, seeing I have my own console, but it's times like this that are needed to destress. So anyway we've been getting alot of 'bao tou's from people like Hao Feng and Bai Rong to my tuition teacher saying that we were gaming and not studying, but today was top-class lah.

A couple days ago we were playing and suddenly my tutor JAY CALLED.

Jay: 'Andrew, playing game ah?'

Me: (omgwtfLOL) 'huh no la don't believe the stupid Haofeng, he's cooking up stories again!'

Jay: 'Aiyoo..tell Ker Yu to study ah...'

Me: 'No la not playingg. Going home already don't listen to them!"


HAHAHA.

Guess what happened today?

When we decided to have one game and were playing halfway...all of a sudden,


Jay: (places his arms around our shoulders and laughing) "Hello..."

Me and Ky turned around, I thought it was just Bairong and then OMGWTFBBQJAY?! HAHAHAHA.

Bairong went to tell him that we were playing and JAY CAME OUT OF HIS HOUSE AND WALKED TO J8 TO SEE US.

CHEEE. Ok freaking funny la. I have bastard friends.

Is anyone enlisting on 8 Jan? =(

I am trapped in a cycle of sin, shame, sadness and fear.
Is there a way out? I want my life to be happy and meaningful.
What should I do?
If God is perfect, can He love a mess like me?

Amplify Ministry invites all youths and young adults to the 20th Youth in the Spirit Seminar. This unique encounter has been a defining moment in the lives of many. The YISS is a 4-day stay-in retreat where, through reverent worship, insightful talks and introspective sharings, many young people have revived their relationship with God and refreshed their lives in Him.

Come.
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, There is freedom." - 2 Corinthians 3:17

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." - John 8:36

The YISS is for youths aged between 16 to 30,
held from 11-14 December 2008,
at Catholic Spirituality Centre (CSC),
1261 Upper Serangoon Road S534769

For more details, please contact either:
Eunice: 96672382
Keith: 9320 2850
or email us at youthinthespiritseminar@gmail.com

IF YOU WANNA SIGN UP.. LEAVE ME A TEXT, COMMENT OR WHATSOEVER.. JUST LET ME KNOW! :D

copied directly from Phyllis's blog. But you can let me know too. Haha.

Ok so A levels are 40 days away zomg, and my prelim grades are EEEEE. HAHA no as in seriously 5Es, which is like 'Eeeee' please. Ok lame, I'm rather disappointed with GP because I failed my essay with 22/50 which shouldn't be the case, and Chem and Maths were horrible screwups. All the same I think it's pretty cool to get the same grade for everything, unless it's 5 Us. Haha. Now to bring everything up a few notches and make it cooler by having all As.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

V is for victory. Though it's not a sharp V, almost a U even. Shit getting a U is not good. Hahaha. Didn't want to have a sharp one cause I wanna leave it long, and if I left it any longer there'd have been a tail.

I'm talking about my hair. HAHA.

ZOMG THE NEW NANO IS DAMN COOL SIA I WANT. AND ZOMG THIS IS LIKE THE FIRST PICTURE I'VE UPLOADED IN 24324592384 YEARS.

HAHA. Ok I've decided I want this and not anything else. It's cheaper, smaller and almost the same price as the previous Nano. With more cool faeatures that I'm lazy to talk about here. And besides, no money for iPod Touch please. If you back up your suggestions to get the Touch with cold hard cash I don't mind though =D Haha but I so want this, I'd scrimp on money to buy food to buy it. Haha can lose weight also.

Tomorrow's Chem MCQ, Physics MCQ the day after. Tried a few Chem questions just now and I'm panicking because I've seen them before and I forgot how to do them. Ha. But I'm tired and am going to sleep soon, so leave the worrying till tomorrow because it's an afternoon paper.

I NEED AN IPOD NANO.

$313. Saving starts now!