Second Week of Easter

It was really a long week.. especially in school…

All my fricking cells died, because of some stupid yeast contamination!

The other group in my lab (Siti and Fana – Don’t say I never mention you gals ah…..), also had yeast contamination. The funny thing was, we were infected by different kinds of yeast! Hohoho! Ms Adeline remarked that my yeast looked rather pretty. That sarcastic lady…

I thought it looked like rice grains. CT and Fana’s yeast looked like, raindrops.

We had lots of newcomers in band this week, and some of them are highly skilled. The pressure is on me to become a better player fast, if I want to retain some respect. Then again, I never cared much for the respect of others. But still…it wouldn’t hurt to impress some girls right? ^_^ Heheheh…

My presidium’s 30th anniversary was on Saturday. It was a small affair, really. The adults Stephen and an Uncle Henry came to visit. Also present was Glen, and two new probationary members. I must make some effort to indoctrinate them properly. I cannot afford to lose any more men. Ian, have faith. They will be fine legion gentlemen.

We had KFC and Pizza hut for lunch, sponsored by St Stephen’s Chinese legion. Oh, in case you didn’t know, Maris Stella’s presidium is under the care of St Stephen’s adult presidium. Phew! The bill was so high that the money I withdrew from the treasury wasn’t enough. But never mind la, once in a while.

Where will Maris Stella Legion be 10 years from now? Will we be able to revive the Catholic spirit in Maris Stella? Will we be able to inspire Catholic and non-Catholic students alike? I pray that we can. I wish that I done more during my time. Now I have no choice but to depend on my boys.

God help us.. I went down to St Anne’s for Legion recruitment. Nativity’s presidium shifted to St Anne’s because all the Chinese catechism classes were shifted there. Goodness, Chinese catechism!! Anyway, we managed to get a few names. I hope that we can get some of them down, but there is a clash between the recruitment camp and the diocesan Chinese catechism camp. Argh! Oh well.

A few weeks ago it was mentioned that St Vincent’s may have Chinese Mass. I shall volunteer my services if need be.

I met Joshua on Saturday night. His field camp ended after two weeks. We had beer and finger food at the usual place. We ran into Julius and Agnes. She’s giving birth next week! I will pray for her and their child’s safety.

St Anne, patron of women in labour, please help Agnes and their child in their need. Grant that mother and child will be safe. Amen.

God help us..

First Week of Easter

Monday, 17 April

Woke up late and started panicking. Then I remembered I had an excuse letter. So I went in late. Shakeila and I did some work. I left at 12 pm to deal with Geo Council. We set up the booth, did up the banners. We were done at around 5 pm. I had rehearsal for the Percussion Ensemble afterwards. It was kind of tiring, especially since I kept making mistakes. It’s kind of embarrassing delaying everyone’s progress. I shall have to work harder.

Tuesday, 17 April

The day finally arrived! We didn’t do too badly I guess, though it could have been better. I spent the rest of my day manning the Geo Council booth. The numbers are really fantastic.

Wednesday, 18 April

We did much better this time. Here's some pictures, which can be found at Christopher's blog.

http://burninic3.blogspot.com/

As for Geo Council, we have a grand total of 72 names!! Smashing!!

I went to St Vincent's for evening Mass. I was wondering if they needed servers. Asked the secretary, but she said there were already two. I had some mixed feelings to that; though I did not get the chance to help out, at least the Mass would not go unserved. It's kind of sad to see a priest say Mass by himself with no helpers.

Thursday, 19 April

I went back to the lab since club crawl was over. Nothing much to do today. I went to library to read some books. Went for band. We had two new members today. At last, we have more girls. Haha.

Friday, 20 April

I spent most of the day watching Memoirs of a Geisha and playing Solitaire on one of the girl's laptop. We did some subculturing and maintainence at the end of the day. Next week will be a busy week. Saturday, 21 April I went for Legion in the morning. Glen, the president before Dominic, came to visit. I decided against having a Mass for our aniversary, seeing that there are plenty of legionaries who have no like for a certain priest. How disappointing. Nicholas returned after a long hiatus. I pray that the two boys will be able to work together. We had lunch nearby, as usual. I went down to the army market and walked around. I bought a book from this man who was making such a hard sell. He looked like he didn't sell any books in a hundred years. I shall review the book when I'm done.. Oh, there was a shop adjacent to the bookshop that sold airsoft stuff. It was run by this lady who happened to know Anthony Koo. It's like, I saw some photographs of IPSC Singapore (International Practical Shooting Confederation), and Anthony was shown aiming a pistol at some target paper. The lady said that he would be coming down, but I didn't wait for him. I bought some iron on patches for my messenger bag. I walked around the area to take a look. I like to explore obscure places, hee. I took a very long walk to Wellsprings Catholic Books. What an odd shop. The shopkeeper always keeps the door locked, adn you have to ring the bell to get in. They have lots of books there, and I even managed to spot a Roman Missal. I procured a brown scapular medal to replace my lost one. Damn, I should really take care of my medals. Walked towards Boon Keng after that to take a bus to Nativity. I visited the Archdiocesan Perpetual Adoration Chapel at the Catholic Spirituality Center. The monstrance was enclosed by some weird glass and plastic flowers. There was a tabernacle on the left and it had super gigantic altar candles. It's a nice place, but too noisy because of the traffic. Went next door to Nativity for evening Mass. Monfort School was also having their 90th aniversary. Bishop celebrated Mass. Met Jill for dinner at Kovan. I have not seen her in a long time. We went to this cafe at the CC. It was called the White Tangerine Cafe (http://www.whitetangerine.com.sg/). The food was relatively all right. It was really great catching up on old times, discussing all kinds of topics. We parted at around 11 pm. I went home after that. Sunday, 22 April Woke up in the afternoon. Slacked around the house. Ok, I'm going out now to buy some running shoes. Oh, this too. http://thresholdofhope.blogspot.com/2006/04/liturgy-of-hours-in-latin.html

Easter Triduum

Maundy Thursday, 13 April I went for the Chrism Mass at Christ the King at 1030. Wow, there were so many priests there. The procession in and out of the church took really long. They had the blessing of the holy oils, used for: baptism, confirmation, anointing and holy orders. It was a grand affair. There were 3 deacons, ten plus altar servers and hundreds of priests. It was so crowded that I had no place to sit. Oh, I met Norman there for the first time since seeing him online. I ran into Randall too, Brother Randall, to be precise. He’s at the friary at St Mary’s now. I will pray that he will be a good friar. I went for the 1815 Mass of the Last Supper at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. Alvin Mok came along. The choir was excellent. The Cathedral Choir must have practised like mad. Alvin remarked that the age gap is quite big. Yeah, I can see young girls and old aunties in that group. Basically to end the Mass, there was a procession of the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose. The choir sang "Pange Lingua". Had dinner with the 0406 people. It was Josephine's birthday. I gave her a Mandarin prayer book from the Daughters of St Paul and a Green Scapular. Though she does not seem to be very open to coming back to the Church, I will continue to pray. On another note, my lab partner Elicia has suddenly become open to the idea of conversion. Apparently her boyfriend is Catholic. Praise God! Fiat voluntas tua.. fiat voluntas tua.. Went down to St Mary's with Joshua. They had the Office of Tenebrae at 2330. It was hauntingly memorable. I manage to see Norman and his gang chant in Latin. Terribly haunting. My parents were there too. We reached home at 0130. Good Friday, 14 April Why does it always rain on Good Friday?

I was running a fever plus I had a bad headache, so I went back to sleep. I was supposed to meet the Legion guys to discuss the recruitment, but then… =) I went for the Stations of the Cross and the Service at SVDP, with my parents.

My people, my people, what have I done to you? In what have I afflicted you? Answer me.

Holy Saturday, 15 April

I went to school in the morning to help out with the Band. I thought we were there to practise our songs but I ended up sewing some tshirts together. They wanted to string some tshirts together to make a walking banner. Interesting idea. I took quite some time to finish it, because I kept sewing the wrong side of the shirt. Ah, I’m not very good at this. We practised our ensemble piece later in the day.

I rushed down to St Mary’s for the Easter Vigil. I made it in time, and I even had a seat. It was really a good experience, though somewhat marred by the malfunctioning sound system. They actually lit this bonfire in the outside of the church and the priest blessed the fire before lighting the Easter candle.

It was really amazing witnessing to three sacraments in one night. I was surprised that they let the friars confer Confirmation on the newly baptized. Oh, they let the laity drink the consecrated wine! I never drank from the cup before. I thank God for letting me drink from the cup. They used glasses though, not chalices.

I met two online acquaintances there, this couple. I’ve only conversed with the wife via email and I’ve never spoken to the husband before. Anyway, the wife was received into the Mother Church while her husband was baptized. The joy I felt was really.. indescribable..

My parents were waiting for me while I was talking to this couple. I was so happy that I kissed my parents. I haven’t done that in ages.

We went to Adam Road hawker center for supper. We reached home at two something in the morning.

Easter Sunday, 16 April

I woke up at 1600 in the afternoon. Yes… that late.. I was trying to rush my assignments.. Managed to finish some, didn’t manage to finish some. Ah well.

Oh, Happy Easter folks!

Rejoice, He is truly risen, Alleuia!

Good riddance!

Brown vindicated in "Da Vinci Code" court case - Reuters

Let us watch the liars and charlatans destroy themselves in endless lawsuits. Good riddance!

“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and no town or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself; how, then, will his kingdom stand?” - Matthew 12:25