Goodbye, My Friend

Yes, that's the song chosen by Tan Renjie for the graduating EL Y3S2 batch to sing during the graduation dinner on 15 April at Pakeeza Restaurant Ipoh. Before the dinner, we had several rehearsals to get everyone to be familiar with the song.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No. no, no, no (x2)

Listen little child
There will come one day
When you will be able
Able to say

Never mind the pain
Or the aggravation
You'll know there's a better way
for you and me to be

Look for the rainbow
In every storm
Fly like an angel
Heaven sent to me

Goodbye my friend
(I know you're gone, you said you're gone, but I can still feel you here)
It's not the end
(You gotta keep it strong before the pain turns into fear)
So glad we made it
Time will never change it
No, no, no (No, no, no, no)

Just a little girl
Big imagination
Never letting no one take it away
Went into the world (Into the world)
What a revelation
She found there's a better way
for you and me to be

Look for the rainbow
In every storm
Find out for certain
Love's gonna be there for you
You'll always be someone's baby

Goodbye my friend
(I know you're gone, you said you're gone, but I can still feel you here)
It's not the end
(You gotta keep it strong before the pain turns into fear)
So glad we made it
Time will never change it
No, no, no

No, no, no, no
You know it's time to say goodbye
No, no, no, no

The times when we would play about
The way we used to scream and shout
We'd never dreamt you'd go your own sweet way

Look for the rainbow
In every storm
Find out for certain
Love's gonna be there for you
You'll always be someone's baby

Goodbye my friend
(I know you're gone, you said you're gone, but I can still feel you here)
It's not the end
(You gotta keep it strong before the pain turns into fear)
So glad we made it
Time will never change it
No, no. no (No, no, no, no)
(repeat)

You know it's time to say goodbye
You know it's time to say goodbye
Goodbye my friend....
~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was indeed an awesome night. I arrived there at the restaurant at around 6pm that night and saw Jia Ling was outside. She was there for ushering. So I went up to meet my friends. As I got there, Hannah asked me if I've bought any gifts for exchange. Oh crap! I totally forgot abt it. She told me since I didn't bring any, I won't be involved in the gift exchange session later.

I noticed all my friends were well-dressed. Oh, I amde another blunder: I wasn't wearing formal attire for the event. not like the rest. I regretted over it but have no choice but to bear with it since I had no chance to go back to my own house to change.

Soon, all my friends and lecturers invited have arrived. And Soeh Chen and Manmeet were the MCs of the night. First, before the dinner began, Seoh Chen expressed her appreciation by dancing. Wow, very impressive indeed! Later Yin Mun at Chen's invitation performed a song. After that, all the lecturers and my friends were invited for the self-service buffet dinner. There were a lot of dishes served, from the main course to desserts and drinks.

After the makan session, it's time for everyone to sit back and enjoy the night. Eugene, as the course rep, delivered his welcoming speech and acknowledged the lecturers who have taught the class during the 3 years. Later there were 2 song presentations followed: first was a duet of Mei Yun and Yin Mun with the song Shalala and the second was by myself, singing Spice Girls' Stop.

Games followed and later the gift exchange session took place. All my friends received a gift presented by all the lecturers there. I didn't get my share as I didn't brought any. Then it's souvenir presentation to the lecturers. They each received a hand-made photo frame bearing the photo of the whole class clad in traditional constume. Those photo frames were made by NST (Nisha, Subatra and Chen) weeks before the dinner took place.

Then , the moment that everyone has been waiting for: the song presentation by EL Y3S2. As mentioned above, GG and the girls plus me presented the song entitled Goodbye by Spice Girls.The dinner offically drawn to a close with the MCs thanking everyone for attending such a memorable dinner. Later, it's time for taking photos. My classmates took the opportunity to take photos with the lecturers for the last time before everyone parts their own way after graduation.

Not A Good Day

Sigh... things don't really go smoothly for me today.

First, I couldn't sleep the whole night yesterday cos the slides for one of the two presentations are not done yet. I have been worrying about how my group is going to present if the slides are not ready. But then, in the end, my group didn't present as one of my group members didn't turn up.

When I go to school, I park my scooter at the compound in front of Block B and am going to go for class. But then, the venue for PW class is still being used as exam halls for MUET. Eugene ask me to go check for the new venue. I find it out from FAS FGO in Block A and tell him the class is in Block H. Then, I travel there by my scooter.

When I arrive there, I receive message from him, telling me that the venue has changed to DDk3. I was like huh? But without asking further, I proceed to Block D for PW lecture. Oh, we're supposed to do our presentation on the proposal assignment. And lots have been drawn: my group is the first. But, my group has to give way to other groups first cos Monica is not there yet. Only 2 groups manage to present their proposal during the lecture.

Later, my classmates and I have to take the trouble to go back to Block H again for OJ tutorial. As I mention earlier, I'm supposed to present twice today, one for OJ and another for PW. But Eugene informs me that Careena could not make it. So we have no choice but to postpone our presentation to Wednesday. And Ann's group presents its news website The Buzz. Although we didn't get to present, it is a blessing in disguise that we have more time to prepare for our presentation.

Alright, right after Mr Teh's tutorial, all of us have to go back to Block B for Ms Joginder's tutorial. And my group is the first to present while the last presentation is from Ann's group again (they presented twice in a day). Then, after the class, Tan Renjie summons all of us to stay back for a while to practise singing Spice Girls' Goodbye (the song we're going to sing in the graduation dinner in Pakeeza Restaurant Ipoh this Friday). We have a few rounds of rehearsals, singing the song over and over again until Renjie is satisfied with it. She asks if we need a final rehearsal before the dinner and we all agree. So she arranges for the final song practice to be held right after the OJ lecture and dismisses everyone.

And before we enter into the classroom, something bad happens. It's my shoe! The sole to one of my leather shoes worn out (above). Actually, I've been sensing something's wrong with my shoes today. And when I check, I had a shock to find that the shoe is not in good condition. I am like daunted cos I wore the same pair of shoes for my previous presentation and they are still in good condition. What really struck me is how the base of the left shoe (the top one) can become koyak within a few weeks. Seriously, I need a brand new pair of leather shoes.

Farewell, Yu Shia!

Yu Shia, it is my pleasure to get to know u. I've forgotten how we met for the first time but I'm pretty sure I met u in Campus Connect. I remembered all the fun time we had together with other Connectors.

Remember this photo? I know that u mentioned that u are very short compared to me. But to me, your height is quite okay and almost equal to the normal heights of other girls.

I'm sure u would remember this cupcake as well. I paired up with u to design this cupcake during a competition in Campus Connect's Celebration for Love. Though we didn't win, I enjoyed working together to produce such a wonderful cupcake.

And the two photos (above and below) were taken during your farewell dinner at Face to Face Noodle Shop. There, we had a great fellowship together with the rest. Pei Lee even bought u a lovely farewell gift and asked us to write our wishes to u in a card. I hope that u've read the card by now. And u even enlarged Pei Lee's face in the above photo in recognition for her willingness to snap the photo below.

But now, u're leaving Campus Connect to pursue your dream. I know today's the day where u're supposed to report yourself at the institution where u're going to do nursing. I sincerely wish u all the best during the duration of 9 years including working years. May God be with u all the time in anything u do and anywhere u go.

Though I will not be seeing u for a long time, I hope that u'll still remember me and the rest. I hope that we'll be able to meet again one day. May our friendship lasts forever! Take care!

Common People for Extraordinary Things

"God uses common people to do uncommon things."

This above sentence really struck me as yesterday was the final discussion session for Outlive Your Life in Campus Connect CG. It is true that God uses common people to achieve extraordinary things. From the video shown last night, God uses two commoners to change the lives of the other. One is Patricia who donated one of kidneys to another woman named Marla. Another is Brian, a basketball coach who helps and inspire his players to play well.

One very fine example from the Bible is David. He was just a small shepherd boy. He volunteered himself to fight the 9-foot tall giant Goliath when no one dared to approach the giant. And he defeated the giant with just a sling and a stone. He even used Goliath's sword and cut his head off.

Another example that I can think of is Firestar from Warriors novel series by Erin Hunter. From an ordinary cat, Rusty was transformed into Firestar, a leader of ThunderClan. He has been serving his Clan well as a warrior and then took over the leadership from Bluestar.

"Rusty was originally a kittypet (house cat) who has been wondered what's beyond his garden. So one fine day, he had the boldness to step into the woods. He got into a fight with another cat Graypaw who was an apprentice.

Soon, a few more cats appeared and it turned out to be ThunderClan leader Bluestar and Graypaw's mentor Lionheart. Bluestar was amazed by Rusty's skills and praised Rusty for his brave deeds. She even invited him to join her Clan as ThunderClan was desperate of needing more warriors to fend the Clan from other Clans - RiverClan, ShadowClan and WindClan.

Rusty agreed and the next day Lionheart and Runningwind came to escort him back to the Clan. But as soon as the other cats discovered that Rusty was of kittypet origin, some of them tormented him. Longtail was one of them who fought with Rusty but the kittypet managed to give him a good fight.

And Rusty's collar broke during the fight, signalling approval from StarClan that Rusty can join ThunderClan. Bluestar gave him his apprentice name Firepaw in honour of his glowing pelt when sunlight shone on him.

Firepaw became close friends with Graypaw and they were always together. But two other apprentices, Dustpaw and Sandpaw, disliked Firepaw because of his origin. And Firepaw was involved in romance when he fell in love with the Clan medicine cat Spottedleaf, a slender tortoiseshell she-cat.

And before Firepaw's arrival, Spottedleaf has received a message from StarClan: "Fire will save the Clan". But Bluestar doubted the prophecy by saying that all the Clans were afraid of fire and how fire can save ThunderClan. Spottedleaf was unsure but she said that it was the message StarClan chose to share with her.

But unfortunately, Spottedleaf encountered an untimely death. She was killed by ShadowClan warrior Clawface while defending the apprentice den. And Frostfur's kits and Yellowfang went missing at the same time. Firepaw and Graypaw went and managed to find Yellowfang who went to find the kits once she noticed they were missing and didn't know Spottedleaf was slain.

Soon, Firepaw, Graypaw and Yellowfang returned and Yellowfang replaced Spottedleaf as the medicine cat. Firepaw and Graypaw fought well in a battle and received their warrior names, Fireheart and Graystripe, at the end of Into the Wild.

The duo was assigned their first mission as warriors--to find WindClan and bring the Clan back into the forest. They succeeded in their mission and Fireheart became friends with Onewhisker. Fireheart was appointed as ThunderClan deputy after the death of Lionheart and Redtail. Fireheart himself was surprised by Bluestar's choice of her deputy and pledged to serve her and the Clan well. He was of great assistance to her, carrying out his duties as the deputy.

Fireheart didn't realise that Sandstorm (previously Sandpaw) fell in love with her until his former apprentice Cinderpelt told him. Sandstorm was thankful that Fireheart has saved her from falling off a cliff and developed a romantic interest on the former kittypet.

When Bluestar discovered that WindClan has been stealing prey from ThunderClan territories, she lost faith in her own Clan and treated them as traitors. And she only trusted her deputy. Furthermore, she even declared war with StarClan which she claimed that StarClan has abandoned her Clan. She even prepared to launch an attack on WindClan. But Fireheart realised that this was a fight which was not supposed to happen. Without her knowledge, he went to see WindClan leader Tallstar, asking him to persuade Bluestar. Tallstar did what he requested and the fight was called off.

Bluestar was furious that her deputy intervened with her plans. And she's further livid that Tigerclaw has been plotting to kill her so that he could take over. Tigerclaw sent a dog pack to destroy ThunderClan, but Fireheart was aware about his plans when he noticed a trail of killed rabbits lying in the way leading to ThunderClan. Fireheart brought along a few warriors to divert the dog pack. And out of the sudden, Bluestar appeared and led the pack into a gorge. She sacrificed herself in the process. Bluestar managed to see the truth that Fireheart was the fire that will save ThunderClan and has confidence that Fireheart will lead the Clan well.

Soon after Bluestar's death, Fireheart made a trip to the Moonstone to receive his nine lives and leader's name. He was accompanied by ThunderClan medicine cat during the journey. His old life was stripped away and nine chosen cats came to give him his nine lives, namely Lionheart, Redtail, Sliverstream, Runningwind, Brindleface, Swiftpaw, Yellowfang, Spottedleaf and Bluestar. And Bluestar gave him his new name, Firestar. He was officially a leader.

After he became leader, Firestar has been leading the Clan well and not only that, he even brought all the four Clans to another new place as the forest was being destroyed. They moved to the area surrounding a large lake. And it was Leafpool whom spotted the lake, indicating that the Clans would be residing in the area around the lake."

Impressive, eh? But that's the truth: God can use any commoners to fulfill/achieve extraordinary things. Nick Vujicic was born without limbs and yet he has been inspiring others. I am just an ordinary person too. I'm not sure whether God would use me to achieve greater things in life, but I believe He will.