A Warrior's Journey

Today I went with a few schoolmates to Dragonstar restaurant in Market City which is right next to Chinatown. We went to 'yumcha' which is of course to 'drink tea' in cantonese but c'mon, you all know what it entails right? Anyway, it was a good time of fellowship with my schoolmates and some of their flatmates. There were people from Hongkong, PRC, indonesia and of course lil ol Singapore. Now I really realise the wide variety of food you can get in yumcha restaurants and that the ones we have in Singapore are really like 'limited.' Still it was a good meal. i think I will go for more yumcha in the future when I come back to Singapore. After the yumcha, we went for Karaoke and I realised that Karaokes are all the same anywhere in the world. From furniture layout even down to furniture colour! I almost thought I stepped into KBox back in Singapore! I didn't sing much of course since I don't really follow mandarin pop. But it was a learning experience, haha. Still can't get used to the smoke though cough cough.

Yesterday I tried connecting my Powerbook to the school's G5 as a target drive and run World of Warcraft from the harddisk. It could run. But it couldn't connect to the server cos the port was probably blocked. Sigh. And one more thing. Guys got bio clock wan meh?? Never mind me, I think I'm sprouting rubbish.

On Sunday, I had the most extravagant meal I've ever had in Sydney. Two of the OCFers, Vivien and John were celebrating their birthdays and so the whole bunch of the UNSW and USyd people went down to the Rocks, this historical precinct in downtown Sydney which has a lot of pubs and restaurants and stuff. We ate at this 24hr restaurant called, "Pancakes on the Rocks" which was famous for its pancakes amongst other stuff. I heard they were famous for their ribs so I ordered some and I can truly say they're one of the most authentic ribs I've ever tasted. It was real good. No as sweet as the kind you find in Singapore. You know how the pork ribs at Cartel are done? With the BBQ sauce lathered all over till the whole rack of ribs is very soft, very tender? Well, over here they aren't as generous with the BBQ sauce which is a good thing because you can then taste the flavor of the meat, you can taste the 'chao ta' BBQ flavor which adds to the taste.

Oh and the pancakes were delicious as well. I think I'll be able to find similar pancakes in Singapore but they're probably be very expensive. Now to say that this meal at the Rocks wasn't expensive. All in all, I spent $28. Still, it was good food, good company, what more can you ask for? Later in the night, we proceeded to the quay to take some photos and once Sayyong sends me the photos, I'll post em up.

Haha, by day I'm Andrew Yu, COFA student, designer and storyteller. By night I am Zuriel, Paladin of the Light. You can see me here, standing in front of IRONFORGE, last bastion of the Alliance. OR I'm Zidon, the hunter, alluring to the ways of the wild, seeking my prey-the foul Horde.

Haha, this game is great fun I tell you.

First it was Luda, now its Aizhen's mum who has passed on. Death is becoming a subject closer and closer to home these few days. AZ, if you're reading this, just know my thoughts and prayers are on you these few days. His grace is sufficient for thee.

Things have been quite crazy around me in terms of datelines and other stuff. Still there are lessons learnt and thanksgiving to be given I guess. As I write, I have another dateline due on Tuesday which is a group project of which my partner and I have to start. I should probably get down to doing it soon but ah well, my brain can't think so early in the morning. I'm an 'owl' after all, according to someone. Many things have happened since I last updated and I shall attempt to journal some of these down.

Been getting to know my church friends a little more. They're basically the OCF Sydney Uni bunch. Haha, it would seem that most of my Christian friends here come from the OCF. And I was so adamant in not joining the OCF when I first got here. Kinda like how adamant I was in not joining Campus Crusade when I went into SP. Look what happened in the end, haha. I don't know why but its always been the case since I was young. Whatever my brother did, I wanted to do something else. It really started to assert itself in secondary school. I absolutely refused to go to St Andrews Sec, no offense ZX, cos my brother was there. My parents wanted us together so we will be able to look out for each other. I could have easily gotten in to SA but I went to VS instead. Looking back, my time in VS/BB has resulted in who I am today. In poly, I didn't want to join Crusade cos my brother was there, tho he was in NYP and I was in SP. But I guess I did in the end, after getting 'dragged' by him to attend a SP/TPCCC orientation camp. And the first staff to greet me and make me feel welcome was Yiwei. To cut a long story short, I ended up being involved in the ministry of God though Singapore Campus Crusade for Christ and have decided to give my life to Him in full-time ministry with the multimedia ministry of Singapore Campus Crusade for Christ. Now its OCF. I didn't want to join OCF because my brother was president of OCF Australia. Yes, the whole OCF Australia, like how he was student president in NYPCCC as well. (well yes I was president of NPCCC too but so what?) But I guess I was inducted gradually into OCF because they have their meetings every Saturday at my flat. How convenient.

Looking back, I felt the period of time I spent in SPCCC was the beginning of a journey in which God began to draw me unto Himself. I still feel to this day that it all started when I was in SPCCC, when I began to grow tremendously. You know the analogy but solid food? I felt I was sampling spiritual 'solid food' for the first time when I was in SP. Coming from a 2nd generation Christian family, I guess I took my faith for granted and was complacent. But through the ministry of SPCCC, God became so real to me. I learnt things about my faith, about myself, stuff I didn't even pause to consider when I was younger. The fellowship of the Brethren in SPCCC impacted me a lot as well. For the first time, I felt so accepted and loved by fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Though I've not gotten a chance to get to know some of them more after I left SP, truly they have impacted my life.

A few nights ago, it came to our attention (me and my housemates) that one of our brothers in SPCCC, while I was there, had passed away.

It was a shock initially. He was such a nice guy, an all out nice guy. He was fit, perfectly fine. How? Why? Yeah, you can almost guess our first responses. Apparently, and I'm not too sure how accurate this is, it was a heart failure as he was running on a treadmill. He had everything going for him. Health, family... He had just gotten married in February to another crusade sister. The first few thoughts that came to me over the next few days was the usual, 'life is fragile, God's will is above man's etc.' I have to say I didn't really get to know him aside from that year spent in SP. So I wasn't that close to him, as compared to my housemates. They're visibly more affected than me. A thought came to me. I realise Luda is the first contemporary/peer I know to pass away. I've had peers get married, gotten jobs etc. Now, my first peer to return home to the other side of forever. Sobering thought it was. And his newly wed wife, was from the same crusade ministry as well. I know its a bit far fetched for now, but it felt kinda similar to my situation no? We (E and I), are from the same crusade ministry too. Now, don't misunderstand, we're not together. At least not yet. Anyway it got me thinking to how I would/she would feel if this happened to us, if we ever became man and wife. Will I still accept His sovereignty, His goodness if He were to take my newly wed wife away from me in such manner? Our lives are so fragile. Even as I write this, a blood vessel could burst in my brain and I would be dead in a manner of minutes. It reminded me of the story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. Whose husband got taken away while in ministry and in obedience to His King.

Anyway, enough sobering thoughts for now. I just wanted to get it off my chest. For now, His grace abounds to me. 'Trust and obey, there's no other way.'

I've finally finished with my Maya project. Here is a picture of what I eventually ended up with. It looks real simple, in my estimation and it was a real rush job. I didn't mean to procrastinate but there were just a lot of things on my plate. Add to the fact that I could only work on this from school because I do not have a industry standard software that costs almost $7000. Plus, the school has only 27 licenses meaning people could only 27 workstations running Maya can be active at any one time. So with the number of students in the 3D course and the number of computers we could use at any one time, its a mad rush for computers really. Now I really know what the lecturers mean by asking us not to leave things to the last minute as we would have mad dash for the computers as people go about their projects. After the project was completed, we had to give a presentation in front of the class as to the techniques and difficulties encountered by us during the project. My first time getting 'bua-ed' by an ang moh lecturer. Anyway, it could have been worse. I found later that a good portion of the marks were dedicated to how we organised the project files and I'm glad I followed most of the conventions set by the lecturer.

School has been ok so far cept due to my procrastination, I've some stuff I need to catch up to. Its not that I meant to procrastinate, its just that well WoW really is very time consuming. And add to the fact that they only have Maya at the labs in school so we're forced to work on them there and there only. Project datelines snapping at my heels. Ah, such a nostalgic feeling. Like I can't even remember the last time back in Singapore when I had school project datelines nagging on the back of my mind. You guyz can be praying for me ok, I've got 2 projects due the week after next, a Multimedia project as well as a video one. Suffice to say, I've got like little progress on the Multimedia one and I'm almost done on my video one. And both are group projects at that. However, due to my affinity and previous experience with video, I was able to work on it at home and did most of the work. I guess on hindsight, it wasn't that wise for then my project mates have got like nothing to do and they wouldn't learn much. Ok, I shall resolve to let them work on the edits more and just guide from the background.

On another note,
I have a 3D project due tomorrow and I'm nowhere near done!!
Wah, then still got time to blog ah? Hmmm... ok I'm rushing off to school now~!

如果有一天

现在也只能欣赏
唯一的合照一张

淡忘了的是那个街角
想念的是当时的微笑
生活中交错失望
越想念就越孤单
若再被寂寞迎头赶上
多感伤原来只是正常

你是不是也在品尝
一个人的咖啡和天光
是不是也忽然察觉到
多出时间看天色的变换

如果有一天我们再见面
时间会不会倒退一点
也许我们都忽略
互相伤害之外的感觉

如果哪一天我们都发现
好聚好散不过是种遮掩
如果我们没发现
就给彼此多一点时间

我在试着Blogger的华语support...

WoW stands for World of Warcraft... its the game that has gotten my attention for the past week or two. Its an immensely addictive MMORPG which stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. The longest I've played at one setting is... 6 hours I believe... haha. Here's a pic of my character, Zuriel, atop a hill near Ironforge which is the principal city of the Alliance~

I'm frustrated. I don't seem to be progressing as much as I like to in my current studies. Especially in 3D Modeling and Animation. I get lost trying to follow what the lecturers are trying to teach and stuff and when they demonstrate with the software, they blitz through them due to time constrains. On the one hand, you can't fault them cos its a result of circumstance and yet you kinda wish you could have done more with what you're given. I guess its also my pride at work in this. I use to major in 3D CG (Computer Graphics) while I was in Ngee Ann... I've done stuff as advanced as what he's teaching and possibly more... Yet I can't even follow his explanations now. Has 2 years of National Service done this to me? Have I regressed so far in my skill and talents?

I guess I've never felt this inadequate about my talent before. All my life people around me have been saying I've a talent in the creative arts and drawing and video and what have you. I'm not boasting in acknowledging that I've a talent in the creative arts. I've known in for some time now. Its how I've been created. How I'm wired. I'm created to do this. This is what drives me. Do not ask me to be an engineer, that I am not. Do not ask me to be a doctor, I've no interest in these things. Do not ask me to be an accountant, I hate maths. I'm an artist. For that is what I was created to be.

I've always said that I didn't think that one year I spent in Singapore Poly was a waste of my time. If anything, it taught me this. I won't be happy doing anything other than art. And besides, I probably won't be in Campus Crusade otherwise, haha. Its just so frustrating that something I could understand and work well with in the past, is suddenly so foreign to me. Ultimately I know any talent I have is God-given. He giveth and He taketh away i suppose. Lord help me submit to Your sovereign will.

Things are going fine for my other subjects though. At least progressing on schedule...

Simplicity. The design theme for my blog from herein will be 'less is more.' Hehe.

There is never point at which you are any less saved than you were at the first moment he saved you. Just because you were grumpy at breakfast doesn't mean you were condemned at breakfast. When you lost your temper yesterday, you didn't lose your salvation. Your name doesn't disappear and reappear in the book of life according to your mood and actions. Such is the message of grace. "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Rom 8:1 NIV)

You are saved, not because of what you do, but because of what Christ did. And you are special, not because of what you do, but because of whose you are. You are His.

-Max Lucado, In the Grip of Grace

Finally, Anduril (my Powerbook) can fulfill its 'destiny.' For it was bought partly to fulfill this purpose, that of being a video editing workstation. Add a 17" LCD monitor and the workstation's complete!! Everything's in matching colour combi as well... I'm such a sucker for details. Hehe.

Yes! I've finally gotten my LCD monitor at the computer fair so my workstation now looks like this... See how neat it is? See the Gundam Astray posing in front of the monitor? The Stickfas hanging for dear life from the lamp? Hehe... I'm a sucker for details.