Merry Christmas to all! 23 December Went to school for what? 15 minutes of practical briefing? Then met my brother, Adeline and Madeleine at YCK Mrt. Then we went back to my house. Kellina came in the afternoon. We had to search for her because she alighted at the wrong stop. She stopped one stop ahead of the supposed stop. So they were cooking for that night's spiritual gathering at their church. Baked potatoes were excellent, but the chocolate cookies were horrible, thanks to my brother's great cooking strategy. So at night we went down to their church. Blessed Sacrament Church in bloody Commonwealth!? Soooooo far!!!! But it was quite fun lah. Went for my grand-aunt's funeral wake in Bedok. Reached home at 12 something. Wrote Christmas cards, and did my tutorial. Slept at 4 am. 24 December Supposed to go to school at 8 am, but I overslept. So I skipped biochemistry lecture and continued to sleep. Went to school at 10 am. Finished damn early. At 11 something or twelve. Went to Bras Brasah to look for handbinding services. Damn it, whole bloody complex don't even one shop doing it. I ask the guy at ArtFriend how to do it myself, then he come and talk cock with me. Nuts. Went to meet two friends later. I was supposed to follow them to some Christmas play or what, but it turned out to be a Christian service?! But I went in with an open mind anyway. They started the service with some breakdancers. Hmm. Then there was some play about Jesus and God. Hmm, maybe I can get some ideas for our CL skits. Then they sung some P&W songs. There was this guy too, the top scorer for normal tech. He was giving his testimony on how his life was so f***ed up and how much better it became when he started coming to church. Fantastic for this fellow, but not a good enough reason for me to join this church. Then the service ended with altar call. My dear friend tried to rope me in, but I wasn't buying it. He kept talking about the need for a personal relationship with God and the futileness of Catholic 'ceremonies'. I may have misunderstood, but I think he was trying to say we Catholics have no personal relationship with God and that we only go through the motions of so called 'ceremonies'. My dear friend, if I had no personal relationship with God, would I try to be such a nice guy? (I said try ah, because I'm not perfect.) Would I pray to him in my most urgent time of need if I didn't have any relationship with him? Are you going to let out your troubles to an outsider? Well, God is no outsider to me. And what about Catholic 'ceremonies'? Are you referring to the Holy Mass as merely a ceremony? Sorry, but what do you know about the Holy Mass? Do you know what is going on? Do you know what is happening during the Holy Mass? It is not merely a ceremony! It is the central and highest form of worship anyone can ever take part in!! Friend, I know that you have much faith in God, and I can see that. But you cannot say that I have no relationship with God and no faith in him! After that episode I felt rather sorrowful, yet even angry. Why is there division amongst God's people when his church should have been one? How often have sinned against our brothers and caused them to turn away from the church? Why are the people outside the Catholic Church so close to God, yet so far away from him? Why can't our separated brothers accept us for what we are? What? Because we are not born again? Because we are not saved? Hogwash! You then, how can you be so sure of your own salvation? Can you prove that we are not Christians? Do your pastors teach you that the Catholic Church is the devil and the mother of all harlots? What others lies did they put into your head, huh? If not for the Catholic Church, which Jesus Christ himself founded, where would you be today? Can your church claim to be founded by Jesus Christ himself? I am very sorry if my words have been too harsh, if I have hurt anybody's feelings. Please feel free to let me know your opinion. And do think about what I have said. Went to my father's friend's place for dinner. Went for midnight mass after that. Then went to another house for visiting. Came home at 3.40 am. Went to sleep at 4 am. 25 December There was no Christmas morning, only a Christmas afternoon! So we went to my Grandma's house for lunch. A lot of food. My brother and I tried out the new Metal Gear Solid 3 : Snake Eater. Not bad. But no radar! Damn hard to play!! Hmm games are getting more and more realistic nowadays. Today was very quiet. In fact, this Christmas seems to be very quiet. I have no idea why. 26 December Went for CL in the morning. Then went to heartland mall with brother, Kenneth and Darren Ho. Tried that new chicken thingy at Mackers. Not too bad. Went home after that. For some reason I'm very tired. So I practically spent the whole day sleeping. Sad.... Oh yeah, today is boxing day. I had some nice presents. Went for dinner with parents and brother. Ah, and I got my PS2 back already. Yeah! Now I can play Snake Eater!! So, did I find out what the meaning of Christmas is? Not fricking santa claus thats for sure. Don't believe what the media says, shopping is not the meaning of Christmas, Jesus is the meaning of Christmas. It's his birthday for crying out loud. But if Christmas shopping will somehow bring people close to God (super ironic), I don't see anything wrong with that. They say God works in strange ways. That is all.