as i walked out one evening.

in gotham penthouse. along clarke quay.me.jin.may.denyse.kunies.

it's been such an eventful week... so many people to see, so much conversation made, so many things said, so much joy shared and yet so little of it retained in the mind's memory... how much of all we're experiencing in the fleeting moment do we truly retain? i wonder if we'll have the memory of our eternities in heaven? (see poem)

God is so good, You've driven me to tears so many times this week, and this is just the beginning. Sometimes i just want to stop and worship you for an eternity, for a forever, to stand in your awesome presence and to forget myself, to let You be me... God is good, all the time, all the time, God is good. Amen!

Been watching lots of foreign films these past few days, thanks to william's generous loan of what must have been more than 23, 351, 231, 724 dvds... when i go to china this weekend, i'm gonna get me my own collection! 80c i piece, i heard! foreign films are ace. a breath of fresh air amidst the usual hackneyed hollywood productions that we usually get. this foreign film frenzy has also led to the discovery of yet another film that is ranked as one of 'carol's favourite films of all time'... *standing ovation* also watched 'napola' in the cinema, which was one heck of a good film... hail foreign films!

went for sarah's american lit class on thursday, and it was soo very interesting! ooh, i love literature.. after which i started on a bit of medicine revision in the nus med library! i absolutely looove that library. it's got like EVERYTHING.... how very unlike the glasgow med library where there's such a limited range of medical books, where you can't get titles such as 'vertigo' or 'eye movements in sleep', but you can find like 20 copies of the 5th edition of kumar and clark... plus it's got this old rustic charm to it, which is soo very conducive for studying! (ok, so i'm a nerd, but i'm sure you already knew that...)

also managed to have 'semi-lunch' with jin jin and tony for a wee while! hee. jin jin, if you're reading this, you guys look really compatible, i just realised! ;)

also went for the nus sports bash, aka 'spash' at gotham penthouse to support chia!! woo hoo.. took tons of photos as usual! heh. but honestly, clubbing is sooo not my thing anymore...or maybe it's just cos the music sucked soo bad. think i'm getting to be quite a fuddy-duddy.. crap.. where's all that energy gone?

what else have i been up to? oh yes, hsbc treetop walk with mommy and daddy! which was something out of the ordinary. took about 2 hours to trek there and back and got caught in the tropical rain the in the tropical rain forest on the way back. arghs. bet you guys didn't know that singapore's home to the largest ant species.. those things are like 1.5-2cm long... only managed to see one of those little buggers..and i managed to hold back the urge to step on it. and the first monkey we saw was the one strolling on the zinc roof of the ranger's station..ironic eh?

played tennis again with lester and cj on saturday! yay!!! i lurrrvvveee tennis! was absolutely knackered after that cos it was right after the 2 hour trek.. and i'm all ache-y now.

and then on sunday, it was church, church and then dinner at ivanna's place with the goh family, minus ivanna + sarah! yay!!!

going out for charlie and the chocolate factory with jun later, but not before dinner with the girlies (minus priscilla)!!

dear dear johnny, it's been too too long...

meanwhile, i shall leave you with this poem that captures some of my thoughts on time...which to me, is such an elusive thing. it exists and yet it is immutable, amoral, forever forward and yet perfectly constant...we live by it and are ruled by it, in a way. i dunno... i guess in heaven with God, we will all be standing outside time, since we'll be there for an eternity and since God exists in more than 4 dimensions...

but in the meanwhile, man-to-man, this is all we have:

As I Walked Out One Evening by W. H. Auden

As I walked out one evening,
Walking down Bristol Street,
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat.

And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
“Love has no ending.

“I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,

“I’ll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.

“The years shall run like rabbits,
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world.”

But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
“O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time.

“In the burrows of the Nightmare
Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss.

“In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
To-morrow or to-day.

“Into many a green valley
Drifts the appalling snow;
Time breaks the threaded dances
And the diver’s brilliant bow.

“O plunge your hands in water,
Plunge them in up to the wrist;
Stare, stare in the basin
And wonder what you’ve missed.

“The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.

“Where the beggars raffle the banknotes
And the Giant is enchanting to Jack,
And the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer,
And Jill goes down on her back.

“O look, look in the mirror?
O look in your distress:
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless.

“O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.”

It was late, late in the evening,
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on.