Okay, there's two more papers to go for Prelims, Maths and A maths Paper two. Today was Geography Paper 1, quite easy. I thought of going swimming once I reached home, but the rainclouds had other ideas. Thankfully, Rainie, oops, rainy season should be over soon.

I've started learning plucking on the guitar, picked up a few tips here and there over the weekend and decided trying it out. Its different from strumming where you concentrate on the fingering and the strumming becomes habitual. Plucking requires both your hands to coordinate, and follow the rythym as well. You use the thumb for the base strings (the first three metal ones) and the middle three fingers for each of the last three strings. Desmond told me, theres no fixed rule, its all about feeling.

Challenging, but i like challenges, so I blindfolded myself and tried.

Its working out well. I also discovered I can play complete songs, even those with basic bar chords like B minor, blindfolded and it sounds exactly the same as before...it all boils down to feeling the strings.

I guess this is how Chen Weilian learned guitar despite being blind.

After prelims, I am going to try writing a GP and conduct a survey on typical Singaporean behavior. It'll be interesting to see how Singaporeans view themselves.

I wonder if next year I should come back to BB as a premier officer. After 4 years of commitment, I don't feel like putting in another 2 more. But I'll miss BB for sure. I think many of my juniors want me to come back, though I can't guess why...my heart also tells me to go back, but maybe its time to move on...

My juniors seem to like me a lot, they keep asking me about this and that, so I think that I have gained a small measure of respect. Recently I was talking to my Sec 3 junior, and he told me this (names have been changed to protect identity):

"When you was the CSM hor, I everytime follow Robert, thought you were very harsh and bossy...now that I'm in the Council and a squad leader, I realise that actually you were working in our best interests and the Company's interest.....not like Robert, who didn't really care about us..."

That sentence brightened up my day. Perhaps all that work and hardship has not been in vain.

I'm sure a certain Mr Chew whould strongly disagree. To that Mr Chew, the next few paragraphs are for you.

If you think that I'm useless as a Boy and as a CSM, and that you could have done better than me, its okay. I rest my case. All this time you kept saying I was worthless, arrogant, bossy, doing a one man show. I'm not going to argue. I don't deny that when I started as CSM, I didn't really do a good job. Nor have things improved for 48th. But is it solely my fault? All this time you kept saying negative things about me. Have I ever retaliated and slandered you? No, I even told others about your good points. I reserved my comments to myself. Thing is, you know in Matthew Chapter 7 it talks about taking the plank out of your own eye before you attempt to clear other people's eye. It also says do not judge.

I don't know about you, but my conscience is clear. I did not judge you. I tried to correct my shortcomings with quite a bit of sucess. Have you?

Anyhow, Shao Yong, I want to thank you. Thank you for making my life miserable for the past two years, because it made me realise the true meaning of "The joy of the Lord is my strength."
Thank you for making things so hard and stressful for me until I started contemplating drastic measures every other day, because I learned to rely on God and not my own human strength....as it says: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding". Thank you for looking down on me, because I realised the difference between friends and "friends".

Although I shuldn't be thanking you, I should be thanking God. Now I see why He let you into my life. It was not to make me miserable, but instead drew me closer to Him, to rely less on much-vaunted but fallible human strength and more on God. As the Scriptures say, God does all things for the good of those who love Him. I don't know where I'd be if Christ had not been there for me, to carry me when I was too weak to walk life's road.

Praise the Lord. Shao Yong, don't you think God is good? Surely He must have helped you in your life as well. Anyway, just to clarify, I'm not bitter or resentful about you. I've learned to look at the bigger picture. Oh and for your contributions to 48th, you have my thanks.

As Christian singer Don Moen likes to say:

GOD IS GOOD!!!!

ALL THE TIME!!!!