December Once More

it's hard to type when my fingers are rusty.

hee.

first of all, merry christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nope, no snow for me this year. my family and mel's went to bandung yesterday and it made me realise that i have not realised the beauty of my own home country.

if i understood correctly, we went there with at least two tasks at hand. one was to shop- that was done quite effortlessly as there're countless factory outlets besides our hotel. another was to watch the night scene of Bandung in an uphill restaurant called the "Valley"- that too, was quite easy with friendly locals giving us the right directions throughout our journey. the view we saw was enjoyable except for the slight rain which hindered us a little.

in accomplishing the two, we had to complete a third task during the two-day trip: driving between jakarta and bandung (if you are asking, no, i wasnt the one driving.)

this particular task, to my very delight, involved an unexpected scenic drive of terraced rice fields, coned straw hats, miniature creeks, tall lean trees with round almost balding crowns, harvested tea fields, short fat mountains with much taller but still fat mountains at the background. plus, blue blue sky on the first day; big big clouds on the second.

isnt it wonderful? all of them displaying and declaring His name aloud. i thought for that moment that what i was seeing is as good as snow. butttt...... i take that thought back. with all its novelty, snow is still on top on my favourite-things-list.

so that's my christmas. =)

in one psalm, david says, i love You O LORD, my strength.

i think i love God too.

just the other day, there was a star that came so close to earth, i stole it. because i knew that God knew, i reasoned that the star must have been there for me to take.

stars, by their very nature, are not meant to be kept. they are meant to be gifts. so i considered carefully and eagerly of whom i shall present the star to. but no matter how hard i thought, i could not find anyone suitable.

quite forlorn, i decided very reluctantly to put the star back into the heavens. i think i must have missed its position because it looked a little lopsided today. that made me feel worse.

i said sorry to God, and asked if i could present the star as a gift to God himself, but how could i? when the star belonged to God in the first place.

Meanwhile higher up, a sister of that star glowed and glowed, and glowed so much that it looked like it was about to burst. i couldnt help noticing her even while i was feeling so pitiful. without any warning, it did burst! i was so shocked to see it fall so gracefully afterwards, and God picked it up midair and presented it to a girl whom i do not know at this time but am sure to know and love in the New Land.

then it dawned upon me that stars are gifts because God first present it to their rightful owners to give it to another, in His time. If one day you ever watch a funny looking lopsided star falling, i hope you'll also get to see me receiving it with grace this time.

it's december once more!

there are many things to tell as usual, but time passes so quickly, and i'm slumbering my words. i went for a HongKong trip with partner, choon, ger, andy and darren early this month, and i cant wait to see all the photos! it was so fun, i'll have to show you the photos the next time round.

oh, and if you're wondering why i havent been online, my IBM laptop died on me during the sem. i was quoted almost $1400 for it so i delayed the repair and finally decided to get a new HP instead. it's still brand new considering i've only used it for a week before exams and it's now resting in singapore while i'm here.

and, i have moved. i'm now staying with three cousins, and telling you what kind of adjustment it means to have three adolescents at home will take another long long merry and not so merry post. when my aunt first decided to come and look for a place in sgp, one of the first things that cross my mind was the need to change for a blog address since i'm not going to stay on the eighth floor anymore. but as it is, my new home coincidentally turned out to be on the eight floor, so i'm still an eighthfloorgirl. ;)

good night, sleep tight, and chocolate dreams...