Details don't matter, we both paid the price
Tears in my eyes, you know sometimes
It'd be like that, baby, yeah
Now every time I see you
I pretend I'm fine
When I wanna reach out to you
But I turn and I walk and I let it ride
Baby, I must confess
We were bigger than anything
Remember us at our best
And don't forget about
Late nights, playin' in the dark
And wakin' up inside my arms
Boy, you'll always be in my heart and
I can see it in your eyes, you still want it
So don't forget about us
I'm just speaking from experience
Nothing can compare to your first true love
So I hope this will remind you
When it's for real, it's forever
So don't forget about us
Don't Forget About Us- Mariah Carey
2012. A Year which I'll always remember. A lot of great moments. Moments that can never be
forgotten. It was also
declared a year where the world was supposed to end as well. But by God's
grace, it did not occur. However, it was also a year where I had bad
experiences too. With my family, my friends, my girlfriend, my relatives and
even my life as well.
My New Year's Resolution
is To Reach Out and Achieve Greatness. Now, some of you would think that
achieving greatness is more to success. Yes, that's very true. But must it all
be success? Why not history? Why not achievement? Or something that you have
experienced that made you feel you should succeed in life? For me, that's how I
put it. I'm not sure how all of you would interpret it. Reach out is more to
calling people and exposing them or giving them opportunities to meet people or
observe things that they've not seen or heard before.
Allow
me to share with you a list of great moments I've had this year
MOMENT 1: FIRST MEETING WITH
RACHEL RATNA PATRICK
APRIL 1ST 2012
As you know already, April 1st is known as April Fool's Day. But it was that very day where Rachel and I first met. My second entry, (Chapter 2: Kiss Me), has the history of me and my girlfrend. We started our relationship as friends. And we began our conversation through FaceBook chatline, then the exchange of handphone numbers and finally, a badminton outing. This moment began 5 days before I was baptised as a Christian.
MOMENT 2: BAPTISM
APRIL 6TH 2012
I made a choice to be
baptised this year as a Christian and that's when the name Mason came in.
Committing my life to Heart of God Church and the Ministry, but more
importantly, to God Himself.
I admit that there are times I did not show up for
services and duties for Usher ministry and that doesn't make me feel perfect at
all. As a Christian, I learn a lot and along the way as I try to make my way to
church for service and even Cell Group Meetings.
This moment fitted well
with my New Year's Resolution. I reached out to my friends who were present at
my Water Baptism and achieved greatness under God's Blessing to be a Christian.
MOMENT 3: 1 YEAR IN CHURCH & FIRST EVER CHURCH WIDE
PRAYER MEETING
MAY 29TH 2012
If you read my first
entry, you would know when I entered Heart of God Church. And after 1 year in
church, I achieved another greatness. And I also participated in HOGC's church
wide prayer meeting.I've never done that before and finally, I made it. The
church wide prayer meeting drew me closer to the presence of God. A presence
that everyone wanted. Now, I can tell people what the experience is like.
MOMENT 4: MY FIRST TITHE
JUNE 10TH 2012
I remembered my good
friend from 6 SIR, Xuxuan and my CGL, Yee Siong, talking to me about tithing.
Even when I did my follow up with Yee Siong, I told him that I wasn't ready to
give. But after motivation from Xuxuan and his sharing of his experience in
tithing, I felt inspired by it and decided to mark this date down. A date where
not only I received my pay(nothing new about it in the army), but a date where
I paid my first tithe. God has provided for me everything. Now, it's time to
give back to God.
MOMENT 5: PROFESSION OF OUR RELATIONSHIP
AUGUST 3RD 2012
We both never knew that this day would come. But we had to let the cat out of the bag. How long can we hide? In the end, we professed our love towards each other and we began our intimate relationship as we meet up, opened up and slowly, attained to physical contact. A moment which we both never will forget. We pray that this day or the day we first met be the day of our wedding. Along the way, we've been celebrating our monthly anniversary by going out to to eat or even watch movies.
It's a day where we both said, " I LOVE YOU!"
MOMENT 6: MY BIRTHDAY
OCTOBER 12TH 2012
My birthday falls on October 11th 2012, Thursday. And why I didn't celebrate? Simple Reason. Army. Glad that I took leave the following day and I received surprises which I never expectedy.Normally, my birthdays would not have such fantastic moments. But this time round, I never imagined I would receive such a joyous bash from people like my CG,my usher ministry, my poly friends and Rachel's parents. And this is one of the proud moments for 2012.
MOMENT 7: DEEPAVALI GATHERING
NOVEMBER 13TH 2012
Every Deepavali, I tend to invite my friends who don't celebrate Deepavali to my home for a dinner gathering. I've been doing this since 2004. And this year, it's back by popular demand. My friends kept askng me whether I'll invite them for this year's deepavali celebration or not. And after much convincing to my mother, I finally invited my best friends for dinner. But that's not all. Someone else joined in too. And that would be my dear girlfriend, Rachel. And I got her to meet my mother and my friends too. I made a huge mistake buy not introducing her to my mother first and that I admit, is indeed wrong. Nevertheless, it was a splendid moment.
MOMENT 8: IT FAIR
DECEMBER 1ST 2012
Now some of you are wondering why I chose this moment when this can't become a moment itself? Yes, I totally agree with you. But I find this in somewhat interesting as a moment. In an IT fair, I'll either go there to work or go with my friends to do some window shopping. And if I'm lucky, I'll purchase one important product. But I chose to buy a pair of Sennheiser earphones. And I wasn't alone. I was with Rachel.
MOMENT 9: ORD
DECEMBER 7TH 2012
Just like my water baptism is one of the best moments, this is another great moment I'll never forget. If you read Chapter 5: Rewind, I mentioned that my official ORD is on December 9h 2012. But that's a sunday. Hence, I ord on a Friday, December 7th 2012. And this moment was celebrated with everyone around me because I'm a Civilian at last.
MOMENT 10: JUSTIN'S LAST SUPPER WITH DLE 1
DECEMBER 14TH 2012
How does it feel to lose a friend whom you feel comfortable with? I won't know the answers you would think of. For me, I'll feel uncomfortable and uneasy. The picture you saw above is the first friend whom I befriended in DLE 1, Justin Ho. Despite the fact he flew off to Philippines to continue his humanitarian work, he'll still be loved, remembered and missed dearly by DLE 1. I felt comfortable around this guy. And through him, I grew closer to my CG mates.
One of the best photos I had with him was last year's Christmas Eve Service. And it was that very service where I invited my first friend for service, Derick Soon. And this year was the last time we all had our last supper with him. And last time to be happy for him and with him. We miss you, dear buddy. Keep in touch.
MOMENT 11: OUTING WITH LIM YU JIE
DECEMBER 22ND 2012
My army friend, Lim Yu Jie, wanted this outing with me and begged me to never cancel it. And for his sake, I did not. He was my army friend who sent me off when I collected my ORD transcript and presented me with a ORD letter and a christmas card. How lovely of him. I written about him in my previous blog post. Trouble was, there was no picture of him. Well ,now there is. And this is one moment I wouldn't wish to forget.
MOMENT 12: CHRISTMAS MOMENTS
DECEMBER 25TH 2012
December 25th 2012, the day we all wished each other a wonderful Merry Christmas to everyone and where each and every one would receive presents because it's a time of giving. And it was a great moment for me because three events occured on that very day. One was service with Rachel and her siblings at House of Prayer. Two was my lunch gathering, a game of pool and a Jack Reacher movie outing with Jie Ji, Jonathan and Tee Ang. And finally, a Christmas celebration with Rachel's family at Rachel's house. Now that's a moment no one will ever forget.
MOMENT 13: BOWLING OUTING
DECEMBER 29TH 2012
I chose this outing as a moment because of one speech that turned to reality. We( Jonathan, Jie Ji and Tee Ang ) were talking among ourselves on Christmas about going for a bowling session one day, And that day happened to be a Saturday, 28th December 2012, at Kovan area for 3 rounds of bowling. We had our fun together. And it's two days before New Year's Day.
MOMENT 14: MOVIE OUTINGS
I chose this moment because of the movies I've seen with people like my best friends, my CG mates and my girlfriend. Now what you saw above are not the complete collection of movie tickets. But it's the movie tickets my girlfriend and I stored for memory's sake. Allow me to give you a list of movies I veiwed and how many times I did so. And also, who I viewed with, Some ot it, my girlfriend did not view with me.
1. MOVIE: AVENEGERS
NO OF TIMES VIEWED: 3 TIMES
WHO I VIEWED WITH: JONATHAN, TEE ANG, JOHNSON AND NIGEL(1ST TIME)
DERICK, BRYAN, IZZUDIN & RACHEL(2ND TIME)
JIE JI(THIRD TIME)
HISTORY: 1ST MOVIE TO BE VIEWED THREE TIMES
1ST MOVIE I VIEWED WITH RACHEL WITH A GROUP OF FRIENDS
1ST MOVIE OUTING ORGANIZED WITH A GROUP OF FRIENDS
2. MOVIE: AMAZING SPIDERMAN
NO OF TIMES VIEWED: 1 TIME
WHO I VIEWED WITH: JONATHAN, TEE ANG, NIGEL AND JIE JI
HISTORY: 2ND MOVIE OUTING ORGANIZED WITH A GROUP OF FRIENDS
3. MOVIE: DARK KNIGHT RISES
NO OF TIMES VIEWED: 1 TIME
WHO I VIEWED WITH: RACHEL
HISTORY: 1ST MOVIE WE VIEWED TOGETHER AS FRIENDS
4. MOVIE: EXPENDABLES 2
NO OF TIMES VIEWED: 2 TIMES
WHO I VIEWED WITH: NIGEL AND TEE ANG(1ST TIME)
RACHEL(2ND TIME)
HISTORY: 3RD MOVIE OUTING ORGANIZED WITH A GROUP OF FRIENDS
1ST MOVIE WE VIEWED AS BOYFRIEND AND GIRLFRIEND
5. MOVIE: TAKEN 2
NO OF TIMES VIEWED: 1 TIME
WHO I VIEWED WITH: MY CG MATES AND RACHEL
HISTORY: 1ST MOVIE I VIEWED WITH RACHEL AND MY CG TOGETHER
6. MOVIE: PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
NO OF TIMES VIEWED: 1 TIME
WHO I VIEWED WITH: RACHEL
HISTORY: 1ST MOVIE VIEWED ON MY BIRTHDAY
7. MOVIE: 007 SKYFALL
NO OF TIMES VIEWED: 2 TIMES
WHO I VIEWED WITH: RACHEL(TWICE)
HISTORY: 1ST MOVIE VIEWED TWICE TOGETHER AS A COUPLE
1ST JAMES BOND MOVIE VIEWED
1ST MOVIE TO CELEBRATE OUR 3RD MONTH ANNIVERSARY AS A COUPLE
8. MOVIE: CHASING MAVERICKS
NO OF TIMES VIEWED: 1 TIME
WHO I VIEWED WITH: RACHEL
HISTORY: 1ST INSPIRATIONAL MOVIE VIEWED IN THEATRES
9. MOVIE: ALEX CROSS
NO OF TIMES VIEWED: 1 TIME
WHO I VIEWED WITH: RACHEL
HISTORY: 1ST MOVIE VIEWED WITH MY GIRLFRIEND AFTER VIEWING ONLINE AND READING SYNOPSIS FIRST
10. MOVIE: THE HOBBIT
NO OF TIMES VIEWED: 1 TIME
WHO I VIEWED WITH: RACHEL
HISTORY: 1ST MOVIE VIEWED AFTER I ORD FROM ARMY
11. MOVIE: JACK REACHER
NO OF TIMES VIEWED: 2 TIMES
WHO I VIEWED WITH: RACHEL(1ST TIME)
JONATHAN, JIE JI AND TEE ANG(2ND TIME)
HISTORY: 1ST MOVIE VIEWED ON CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS DAY ITSELF
4TH MOVIE OUTING ORGANIZED WITH A GROUP OF FRIENDS
MOMENT 15: MY FIRST BUILDING FUND
Besides tithing, I decided to give to HOGC's building fund as well. And it's my first building fund. And I'm proud to be part of it and pledging my first building fund to ensure that our church grows to higher lengths.
MOMENT 16: STRAIGHTEDGE LIFESTYLE
Straight edge is a subculture and subgenre of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs.
For my personal lifestyle, I decided to start a straight edge lifestyle. I've been drug free for lifelong, smoke free for 2 years and alcohol free for a year.
The reason I'm two years smoke free is that I picked up smoking in the late 2008. And that was when I started my depression. Through depression, I also hung out with bad company and was influenced in going to night clubs and consuming alcohol. Even when I made new friends who are still with me and still smoke. Few of them are still my good friends, despite the fact that I quit smoking at the end of 2009 and began to be smoke free from 2010 onwards.
As for alcohol, I quit at the start of 2012. Because I realize that alcohol gets me nowhere and it makes me so high that a few people may change their impression of me. In addition, my health would get ruined. For that, I decided to quit drinking alcohol. I want to live a clean state.
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION
After praying and planning for what I should prepare and what I've observed this year, I'm going to apply it next year, in 2013.
Let me share with you my New Year's Resolution for the past two years.
2011- To Seize The Right Opportunity
2012- To Reach Out & Achieve Greatness
I'm proud that God has blessed me with such amazing resolutions for the past two years. And I'm proud to say that my new year's resolution for 2013 is.........
2013- To Put God First & To Exercise Patience In Every Situation
Like what my girlfriend Rachel said to me once. And I Quote,(Rachel Feels Irritated whenever I say those three words. LOL), "God is always with you and you should always remember that. You should never fear anyone else but the Lord." It's similar to the verse I mentioned to Rachel once. Proverbs 29:25.
The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.(KJV)
It ain't easy to follow this new year's resolution. And since I started with God, praying to Him more will bring me closer to Him, but He'll show me a way out of everything. He knows way before hand of what I want and what I wish to fulfill.
PERSONAL RULES
In my own life for this year, I created this acronym called PHT. It stands for Preferably Have To. This personal rule is to challenge and discipline myself to do things properly and correct my mistakes along the way. Every month, I prepared my PHTs and I self analysed myself on where I went wrong and how I should improve on it. When I start my rules, my PHT acronym would come first then my rules. If you don't get it, well allow me to elaborate.
PHT 1: Preferable Have To Read Papers
PHT 2: Preferable Have To Work Out
PHT 3: Preferable Have To Save Money
PHT 4: Preferable Have To Be on Time
PHT 5: Preferable Have To Attend Service
PHT 6: Preferable Have To Lower my Expectations for Others Except Myself
PHT 7: Preferable Have To Spend Time for Myself
I called this the 7 PHTs. In 2013, it won't be called PHTs. Instead, it will be known as my 5 Go and Be(s). And here they are.
1. GO AND BE INTELLIGENT
2. GO AND BE HEALTHY
3. GO AND BE THRIFTY
4. GO AND BE PUNCTUAL
5. GO AND BE A DAY, TIME AND LIFE PLANNER
AND OVERALL, GO AND BE YOURSELF.
I chose this because I was inspired by what Pastor How preached once on service about Human Beings. He mentioned the 5 needs for Human Beings. The first I remembered was to Be. Followed by Belong, Become, Beget and finally, Believe. And with God inside me and blessing me like He's blessing the world, I'll be able to continue and begin my new journey for 2013.
And that's the end of my blog post for this one. Thank you everyone for being part of my life in 2012 and may we continue to live a great life from 2013 onwards.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!!
GOODBYE 2012!!
HELLO 2013!!
“I am the LORD, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea. “But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” Isaiah 43:16, 18-19 NLT
