Matthew 21:22

"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

See the last few lines in my post entitled "reverse psychomotonosismambojumbo" ?

Here's what I got off the fallscreek website today:

"There's a real snow storm happening here and it snowed down to Bogong Village. The village is snow-covered once again and more snow is forecast. Strong, gusty winds overnight has resulted in some storm damage to the ski area. Falls Creek Ski Lifts has announced all lifts will remain closed today due to persisting strong winds. Falls Creek Ski Lifts apologises for the inconvenience to its guests.

Falls Creek's slopes are being replenished at present by blizzard conditions, however the wild weather is bringing with it both good news and bad. High winds will prevent any lifts from operating today. But the good news is that more snow, followed by fine weather, is forecast for the next few days so we could have some great days ahead. Dated: 31st August 2005.

For further information call Falls Creek Ski Lifts 03 5758 1000. "

Cool.

Spring has arrived

Greetings and salutations!

I can feel it in the air, the winter season in Australia for 2005 is drawing to an end. Spring is upon us. The birds are chirping louder, the sun rises earlier and sets later. I don't have to turn on the central heating in my house anymore. I am actually perspiring when I do housework! I take more cold showers to keep cool in the day. My leather seats burn when I leave the car in the open.

Thats cool I guess, but it only serves to remind me how fast time is flying by. I'm already halfway through my last semester. I guess having only one subject this sem isn't helping. Just the other day during cell group meeting, sharon and the rest were praying for "all the students with assignments piling up and exams approaching" and I was like, " assignments? exams? didn't the semester JUST start?"

Anyhow, time to belt up and get the job done! Last semester and then on to LIFE!

reverse psychomotonosismambojumbo

Wow! Its been a while eh?

As with every other week, my whole cell group will all go out and have dinner together after church service. This week we found ourselves at this place call Nasi Lemak House off Lygon street. The food was alright. Still no where close to the REAL Nasi Lemak back home in Singapore. (Boon lay Market....droool, changi village.......droooooooool). The meal I ordered was supposed to come with a sweeter sambal/chilli according to the waitress. Sweeter my @$$. It was HOT. I decided it was a ploy to make me buy more drinks.

But the point is, we started talking about our weight and how we've gained/lost weight after coming to Australia. Personally, my weight has been fluctuating ever since I came here. I've always felt that I could afford to put on more, and I did initially. Those were good times, I was pretty happy. However, I seem to be losing weight again and that sucks. I think its coz I sleep too much. Maybe I've been snowboarding too much and the cold makes my body burn fats faster. Even Eunice wants me to beef up certain areas of my anatomy.

So I was thinking. I've got a really funky reversed growth algorithm in me. Since young, I've been eating a LOT, and I never ever seem to put on weight. After I entered the army and was put through hard physical training and stuff, I actually started gaining weight and I really toned up a lot. Maybe its because of the good sleeping habits and fixed balanced diet that was implented regimentally. After army, I continued regular excercise on my own time during uni in NTU ( I was in the wakeboarding club see, had to stay fit). After coming to Australia, I started becoming lazy and now I feel like I'm bulging in the wrong places and I don't feel as healthy and fit anymore.

Basically, I say reverse algorithm because:
1) Sleeping too much makes me lose weight (sleeping makes you tall though)
2) Eating a lot does not make me gain weight
3) Excercise helps me gain weight

But the bottom line still remains the same. I have to sleep regular hours, eat proper balanced meals and excercise regularly to get back into shape. Its never easy huh.

On a side note, I'm returning to falls creek for a weekend snow outing with eunice, howard, rebecca and reb's dad! Awesome! I can't wait! Dear God, please bless falls creek with an awesome cover of snow so that I can enjoy great fellowship with friends and nature when I get there. AMEN!

let it snow! blizzard!!! until Friday.

Toe snubber

Ouch, I just snubbed my little toe of my right foot. Its the 3,873rd time in my life that I've managed to do that. I dunno why but its seems to always wanna bash itself againt sharp hard corners of things. Anything. Bed posts, crates, door frames, cabinets, table legs, you name it, I've kicked it with my little toe before. I wonder if its broken. I should know right? I mean, if its broken, I'll be able to tell right? It always hurts like mad for like a minute then I can limp around for the next 10 minutes and then life goes back to normal. Ouch.

Addicted to white powder

Good evening all!

Wow time really flies doesn't it? At the blink of an eye, we're already at week 5 of the semester. The last semester of my engineering degree here in Australia's Monash University. Yikes. We're also in the middle of the snow season. I don't want the season to end. While we're at the topic of stopping time, I might as well declare that I don't want this semester to end! No, not in the negative sense like I fail or anything, I just want to slow time a bit and savour this last semester. It such an awesome semester! It so relaxed. The workload is manageable. The stress level isn't high enough to make me wanna jump through the roof. And I can go snowboarding every other week!

And snow..... Man, I'm addicted to the snow! I wish the season would never end. The mountain and the ski resorts should have snow all year round. That'll be awesome man. Maybe I should migrate to the arctic or antarctic regions. Are there any mountains there? I was toying with the idea of working in the states from December to March but it doesn't look very promising since the organization in charge of the exchange program is only offering it to students who will be enrolled in a full load of studies after their return. Bastards. Maybe I can find some other avenue to go work in the American ski resorts. Anyone got any ideas?

Are there polar bears in antarctica or the arctic or both? hmmmmm.

Option: Redline 163

Remember a couple of posts ago, I was complaining about my new board? Well here's a story about how things have changed since then.

After that trip to Buller that made me realise that I had to learn how to control my new snowboard, I decided that I was gonna ski at the falls creek trip. Why? Coz I thought that my group of friends were all gonna be skiing, plus I had promised to teach William to ski as well. So, I didn't bring my board to falls creek and would rent skis instead. Bummer.

Fast forward to the day we go to falls creek. At the pickup point, some major problems with the bus capacity resulted in a one hour delay and 20 people being left behind. Among those left behind was William, and they had to take an alternative transport plan to get to falls creek. They only arrived at falls creek at around 4pm that day. Therefore, I didn't get to ski with William on Friday (the first day) and thus didn't have the opportunity to teach him. Furthermore, Kelvin and Davina had decided to snowboard and I ended up spending time on the beginner slope teaching them the basics of boarding..... on my skis! After a while, I felt like I had no reason to be on skis and my board-sense was calling out to me from within. During this time, Ying and Alvin appeared out of no where and asked, "hey, can you teach us or give us some tips on snowboarding?"

That was it, I switched the rental skis for a rental board instead. I was muttering to myself, "Damn, I should have brought my own board." But you know what? I'm glad I didn't. The rental board that day, it helped me build up my confidence and understand the dynamics of snowboarding. It was like the board was re-educating me and then suddenly something in me clicked. I could snowboard before, but this experience with the rental board helped me move on to the next level. It was forgiving and helped me nail my toeing and edging. It didn't throw me over like my redline, yet it was teaching me how to use my own board. Bizarre. Anyhow, to cut the story short, after returning from falls creek, the guys wanted more so we headed up to Mt Buller the very next day and I'm proud to say, I rode my own board with confidence and ease. Yes, I am able to move fluidly and dynamically with the board and its an awesome feeling. The fear and uncertainty has been replaced with confidence and tonnes of FUN.

I wonder if God played a part in it. He must have been thinking, "He's not enjoying my mountain properly, better teach him how to snowboard". And thus the chain of events that lead to me renting a snowboard evolved. Anyhow, whatever it is, I'm glad things happened the way it did. Ride on!

Here's a mini video of me stacking at falls creek for your enjoyment. Credits go to Eunice.






note: stacking is an aussie slang for crashing......

Temperature: -1 degree celsius

Greetings and salutations! Been missing for a while but worry not, I'm back! I'm back refreshed and re-energised from all the fun I had up at falls creek over the weekend. In fact, I had so much fun that I went to Mt Buller for a day trip immediately after I returned from Falls! Hardcore!

The weekend went by so fast though. I remember waiting 3 whole months for this trip to Falls Creek. I remember paying Randy for the trip and psyching William up over learning how to ski. I remember telling Sharon and Davina how excited I was about the trip and how much I was looking forward to it. Swoooosh, at the blink of an eye, its over. Buts its all good. It was a great experience, tonnes of fun and totally unforgetable. Made some new friends in the process too!

First off, I picked Ronny, Esther and Kelvin up from the airport, met Eunice, hung around, met Sharon and Anna, played Conga at my place, met Davina. There! my group of 8 was assembled. So after every one got acquainted, we made our way to Monash Clayton Campus where the bus would pick everyone up to go to Falls Creek. Here's a picture of everyone in full snow gear.

Everyone was skiing except Kelvin, Davina and I. Well, I was supposed to ski too but its a long story which I'll dwell into another time. Anyhow, I taught Kelvin and Dav how to board and MAN! I was impressed at how fast they were learning! Kudos especially to Kelvin who had the guts to attempt the intermediate blue runs with us. As a firm believer that green runs are crap and will not help boarders learn at all, I was constantly hounding people to hit the blue runs. I'm sure thats the reason Kelvin picked it up so quickly. He even did the black runs with us when we went up to Buller! Now, not forgetting Esther and Ronny. The couple deserve some respect too, its only their second time out on skis and we're flying down the black runs together. Wicked!

Here's another couple I met on the trip whom I helped out. I gave them some tips on the first day on the basics of boarding and then we met them on the blue runs on the last day! Haha, I was so proud of myself. I really love the sport. And I'm glad I invested on my own gear. The feeling you get when you're gliding down the mountain is amazing. The rushing wind, the sound of the snow spray, the rush you get when you pop a jump, its indescribable. I love it I love it I love it!!!! God is really a happening fella man. His creations are way cool and totally fun. And who can miss the amazing scenery? I'll end here with some pictures. Later!