Ramblings.......

Yayy...It's a holiday tomoro; and that means I can take things easy tonite!

*wide grin*

And I'm meeting my sister for some shopping tomoro!

*wider grin still*

I've restricted, bound and kept myself locked up this past one month without shopping. Coz I burst my credit last month. Sigh...Well, it's the end of the month! Means the beginning of a new month! Curfew to end! I hope I wouldn't splash my money away tomoro though...*cross fingers*

Anyways, holidays tomoro doesn't mean I can "nuah" my time away. No no...I still have stuff to do, just that I can afford to take things abit slower. Let's see, firstly, I have to clear some work from office. Not having to work tomoro (May Day Rally remember? Boss & Eve will be covering that =D) doesn't mean I can shake-leg-sing-song. On the contrary.

Next, I've got to prepare some exercises for my student...the Sec 4 one, not the Sec 1 kid. I'm beginning to feel the sweat, that time is running out. I need to go back to basics and get him revised on simple stuff like synthesis. Yeah. His vocab is weak, he is poor where para-phrasing is concerned...amongst many others. Technically, he has another 4 to 5 months to go before his big 'O's; but really, there isn't much time to slack now. Of coz he still has mid-year and prelims exams coming up, with the former happening next week, but who cares about mid year exams when the 'O's will pretty much determine where you go next. With the way time flies, I don't want to wake up tomoro realising that the exams which will play a huge part of his life are here.

That younger boy has got me really worried though. Since last year when he was in Pri 6, he was already hooked on the computer and games (both online & offline)...big-time! Basically, his non-sch hours are taken over by PC time. And the way I see it, he's gotten to a level of what I call, an obession. His mom doesn't know what to do. Sure, she scolds and screams at him, turned off the broadband, his bro (the Sec 4 kid) tries to blacklist that website, hide the game disk, etc...but all to no avail. Coz his mom is soft-hearted (according to the older boy lah). She gives in everytime to his tears. *rolls eyes* Just now when I was there giving the older boy his lesson, she actually told me to scold the younger one, and make him stop playing. I was really...speechless. I didn't know what to say, really.

I mean, I blame myself when he doesn't do well; knowing full well that it was the kid who didn't put in the effort in his books. His efforts, his heart and mind were all concentrated on the PC. For starters, the mom should harden her heart and resolve not to give in to his tantrums...and then confiscate the laptop. I know, this will settle the surface issue only. Underlying issue is, they need to be stricter with him. THen again, who am I to criticise their disciplinary methods?

ANYWAYS...I gave him a little pep talk when it was his turn. Hmm...I think that pep talk probably did help a little. I didn't scold or rant or trash him or anything. Amongst the many things I preached, I told him I was treating him as a friend, as an adult. The reason why I wasn't scolding him was because I believed him being a smart person, would know what I'm driving at. Then I laid out some possible consequences of likely scenerios if he didn't snap out of this phase soon...coupled with some very real examples (about my friends..heh). Then I introduced the notion of "cherished sins" to him (thanks to one of the BS sessions I had...Ha!); about how he knows something is wrong, and being the smart boy that he is, he knew what wrongs he needed to right. I proceeded to empathise with him (I do, really!), about how I'm not without fault too, about how I'm trying to improve myself too. By the end of the pep talk, I had him nearing tears, eyes red and watery. It wasn't that sort of tears that resulted from being yelled at. This is the carrot approach. Lastly, I closed the pep session by telling him I understand how he needed to relax and play too, and I don't need him to stop playing, but I want him to cut down on his gaming time, and give a little more attention to his books, given that THIS is the exam period. And through the rest of the class, he paid a little more attention than he normally does...=D Man, I think I do have the art of persuasion sometimes...hahaha! Yeah, especially after the near-burst up my bro and I had with mom last nite. But I managed to placate her...muahahaha! There's technique involved alrite!

***

Something "hit" me today. Not the sort of objects hitting you...as in, something intangible...ideas, thoughts, that sorta. It seemed like a message for me, though I'm still not sure if this is really so. You see, I went for service today, and at service, we would get a little thin booklet we call the "bulletin". The bulletin basically is like a notice board (except that it's "mobile" in this case...it comes to you instead of you going to it). So each week, the bulleting will consist of upcoming events, training sessions, seminars, etc. Normally the pastor will run through it with us, but coz this week, we had guest performances and stuff like that, there wasn't sufficient time. I hadn't barely looked through it myself too. Then Cindy, who was sitting on my right, nudged me and showed me this events page on the bulletin. It was a mission group looking for 3-4 more volunteers, on a building expedition to Mongolia.

Now so far, most (not all though) of the mission trips announcements I've seen are primarily to reach out to the people there. Not that this one isn't, but this one seemed to be primarily a building expedition, amongst the usual tasks. Now, I told Cindy way back that when I was in NUS, I've always wanted to go on such building expeditions. Back then, there were two I nearly went on, one to China with a NUS society that was cancelled eventually, the other one being organised by the Spore Prisons. But I couldn't make it coz it was to take place durin my academic time. Bleah. Anyways, I was beginning to take an interest to this one. I told myself that I would go home n think about it. THen the service began...and today's sermon was on Faith and Acts - Acting on your faith. About how faith and deeds work hand-in-hand together, that it was not possible to have either/or. And it also touched on service, on putting into action our faith what we should be doing. Now, isn't that uncanny? Food for thought huh...As the sermon went on, it felt like the words were spoken for me. Cindy told me to pray about it. Sure I would, coz I do have doubts about it myself. For one thing, I'm not sure if I'm ready. I hope to get an answer on this one. I would really love to go actually. If the outcome was that I wasn't ready to go, well...so be it. But I think I would be disappointed. Oh yes, and I was thinking of finding some ways to contact the Spore Prisons guy again, for any of such expeditions. In fact, I had clean forgotten about him, until the sermon today. Of coz, I had lost his email (the only contact)...I only remembered his name as "Mark"..not bad already ok, coz that was some 4 years ago..and I don't usually remember names of people I had one-off contact with. This probably says something again. Hmmm....

Anyways, I told that Sec 1 kid about this expedition, and he got excited too! Not bad...heh. I even told him mabbe he would be keen to go on one himself, to see the world. Of coz, it depends on whether his parents would be agreeable or not. But that's another point. The fact that he was agreeable and keen is good enuff *smiles* He was telling me how a simple act of balancing an old lady's groceries and umbrella while sloshing and battling the rain made him drenched, but one very happy boy. See what I mean?

I'm also considering to give my time help out with the charity affiliated to church. Primarily, they reach out and help the young, the youths and teenages, be it in sch work or outside activities. To me, I think it was rather similar to what I did in student council back when I was in JC, and for awhile in NUS. Somehow it seemed like a sort of continuation for me. Makes sense doesn't it? =D Well, if that doesn't work out...then mabbe I'll go join the Youth ministry (if I'm not too old) or....be a Sunday School teacher...wahahaha!

Ok, I think this has been a pretty long entry. *oops* I'm off to watch National Geographic on cable now...a pretty interesting programme coming up at 9pm in awhile - "Secret Bible Week". The discussion today is "Gospel of Judas". I managed to catch the last half hour of that yesterday. Be back to blog more if I'm up to it later *yawnz*

In the meantime, pray that I get an answer, and pray that I can get the contact of that Mark guy somehow. I know imagining and thinking doesn't get me anywhere, but I hope I can enrich my life reaching out to youth & teenagers, and going for expeditions & missions ...and really, to make a difference in their lives. Ha!