I shall systematically begin to 'back-blog' significant events...
CSS Student Mass
I was in charge of music, as usual. This time I desperately wanted to have drums and guitars and everything, to make a "Bham!" that our usual meetings rather sadly lack. One thing I learnt from past mistakes is I'd better be early if I wanted to get things done. Two weeks before the mass, I booked my musicians: Carmen-drums, Daymien-guitar. Actually wanted to ask Kelvin to play drums so Carmen can play keyboarrd
so I can relax and goyang kaki but he said his skills were rusty =( Anyway I booked the musical instruments. And booked the time for practice. And chose the hymns for the mass late Thursday night. And booked the music room for practice the Friday before the mass. Also had to borrow drums from ICB. Very lucky that I'm in ICB and I know the ICB boss. Thanks to Seow Wen for lending the drums!
Bla bla bla. We were also busy planning to make gifts our members who'll be leaving next sem. Went to Clare & Nicole's room in Block E to help decorate the mugs for Fr.Michael, Ms.Clara, Sherman and Emmy, and Gerard. Clare cont. making the gifts when i went back to room 12++pm zzz.
Fast foward. Pictures please!
Austen was our commentator. He's great! And look at the full house =D. Many never-seen-before faces, INTI staff (i spotted some ppl from SAO), the regular members, old members, non-members... Jia Min, our jpa senior/Gerard's friend who is a Protestant also came, haha!
The Band! temporarily set up for the objective of this mass. Daymien brought his friend to sing the Responsarial Psalm. Very good ^^
Thanks a lot to Carmen too =)
Fr. Michael Chua!!! And makeshift altar using INTI tables LOL. I enjoy his sermons, coz they can easily get into (and remain) my head. I remember him talking about the tiny drop of water that can wear away the hardest things for our mass.
ERIC~~~~~~~~!!!!!!! First Reading =D
I really do like this photo. Candid capture of smiles and goodwill going around in the room. That smiling tall girl in brown is Michelle. And you can see Eric, Norman's back, and part of Alvin =P.
The Student Mass was a test of my skill, patience and flexibility as a keyboardist T.T First, that was my fiiiiirst time playing that keyboard (SAO's old keyboard. so guys when you book the keyboard do take note whether its old or new one). Dunno how to fix the controls. The left hand keys couldn't produce any sound, at most some weird sounding bass. So ended up playing on the upper keys only. =A=
Another is the discrepancy with the powerpoint/projection. My fault also, coz when I edited the powerpoint for the mass (to put in lyrics) I didn't rename/save over the file, so we used the unedited powerpoint. Also I didn't check through the slides before the mass, which I would usually do.
*** deja vu during Microecons presentation =.=" opened the wrong ppt which contained wrong statements x.x
So 'Kau Yang Terindah' our communion hymn went missing from the slide (when i've already started playing T.T i have to gain the habit of looking at the projection before playing orz). Also, we had practiced the Final Hymn, The Power of Your Love in G key, and the chords i printed was also in G-- but but the slides were in F. So I was like -A- i have no choice. DRAMATIC CHANGE OF MINDSET TO F KEY. 死就死. And thank God thank God that I started on the correct notes!!! I have to thank God for the times I played The Power of Your Love in F key (for fun) back home. -A-
For more pics, please go to mah Facebook. Not forgetting to thank Frank for being the cameraman.
After the Mass, FOOOOOOD~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beribu-ribu terima kasih kepada Ms.Clara kerana membekalkan kami makanan bertaraf 5-star dari caterer utk MAS (yesh MALAYSIA AIRLINES OMG!!!) Spaghetti, sandwiches, nicely-cut-fruits!! This is not what you commonly get for free club dinners yaknow!! (common food= mee hoon, curry chicken, nuggets, fishballs...yayaya what our poor club could only afford for the Gathering Night T.T) Thank you Ms.Clara~!!! ^O^
***Ms. Clara is married but it's easier to address her like this :P She's Uncle Stanley's wife, and both of them are actively serving in St.Theresa's Chapel.
So I was quite happy that the mass turned out pretty fine, and the hiccups here and there are considered normal and to be expected. Must give my appreciation to Austen, Terrence (who helped ALOT), Clare (tabik Chairperson baru kita! She's really good at handling misc stuff)! ^_^
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX我们是快乐的牧羊人XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
CSS Trip to Seremban
You can say it's my dream come true. I've always wanted, really wanted to organize something for charity. The intial process was messy, stressful, and unpromising. At first we wanted to organize a trip to Melaka. Everyone was yay-yay about it. But somehow we couldn't get started. Couldn't get everyone to meet, because everyone was plagued with tests/quizes/assignments/other commitments. Setting the date was a headache because we had to book an INTI bus. And INTI bus drivers are available on a first-come-first-serve basis. INTI requires us to submit the bus booking form at least 2 weeks before the event; but we have to book a bus before all the drivers are taken. AND the minimum number of passengers for booking a bus is 25 passengers (which i think is rather MURI (an impossible feat) for CSS =.=)
Hence the most crucial character was Austen, because he's the one with the contact numbers and knowledge of Melaka, but he was really busy. Anyway, we finally caught hold of him after his debate competition, Austen contacted his old friends, but they were not in Melaka. It would be rather difficult to make the trip to Melaka. It would also be troublesome to find a venue to stay overnight, and transportation if the bus could not stay with us throughout the trip.
So-> change of plans! Make a shorter, simpler trip to somewhere closer: Seremban! So nagged Gerard to get the list of homes/orphanages in Seremban from STACT-Club-Big-Boss-Zi Sen-who-happens-to-be-his-gf (Zi Sen is a very niceee guy) Instead Gerard stalked Sherman who gave us Virashini Home's phone number. That was around 5 March, when me, Michelle, Clare and Gerard had dinner together at Loke Yuan, during which Gerard kept diverting our attention by carrying out his evil open-secret propaganda of getting Clare to accept the position of Chairperson for next semester XD~ (the bak kut teh vege at Loke Yuan is pretty nice, btw + healthy too! y m i talking abt this blek ="=)
The next day, the impatient anxious O.C. for the event couldn't wait much longer, so after Calculus class she and Michelle went to Sidewalk Cafe, then Michelle called Virashini Home and arranged our trip with Angela (the caretaker of Virashini Home). Ahh~ what could I do without you Michelle...our precious Public Relations Officer with her wonderful social skills T.T Angela said 28 March (Saturday) was fine. We also asked her questions about the home, what activities can we do and misc stuff.
With the date set, I continued the bus booking headache. Headache headache when they had no bus available for that day because it was a working saturday. I consulted Gerard (who had become Secretary for the event) and Clare (Treasurer for the event lol), and settled on 29 March, Sunday. (if postpone to the following week, scared it's too close to final exams & ppl wanna study) Ok, Sunday it is. Then we can go for Mass at Church of Visitation. Asked Gerard to help me find out the time for mass.
Sidenote*:I think that I donated blood (1st time) that Friday lol. And became pening after donating 2 bags of blood that I had to lie down there and ponteng Chemistry class =P.
Finally got some peace of mind after FINALLY successfully booking the bus on the following Monday, with the itinerary and all. Then it was peace tests and assignments and submitting the Activity Proposal to INTIMA (at least 2 weeks before the event; but Gerard says they dun mind if it's one week before :P) Thanks to Clare for helping me with the budget proposal, coz i really have no experience with budgets and estimating the cost of stuff.
Coincidentally, the student mass and the trip fell in the same week. If you have read my previous post, you could imagine how freaking busy I was. = = And the trip happened to be the last activity of CSS for the semester. And I managed to get a number of people to sign up for the trip during the mass (i mean during dinner after the mass). We got 18 people!
23 March: Monday evening, day before our student mass. Meeting at bakery to discuss about the mass AND THE TRIP (<- stressed OC over here) Gerard, Eric (came even though he had a quiz the next day), Steffi, Joan, Michelle (came a while even though she had a physics test the next day) and me discussed the gift for Virashini Home, our breakfast & lunch for the trip, and activities to do at the home. Certainly more minds make for better discussion! This is what you call a meeting...not the pitiful satu dua tiga+empat orang yang langsung没有头绪. Or maybe it's because we now have definite dates, times, plans and items, and a stupid desperate OC who must worry and must have some proper plans for the trip. Anyway that evening we decided that:
a) we shall buy the gift for Virashini Home at Mydin after WOTC on Fri, and Joan/Mich will see the price of Lactogen when they go to Giant/Sunway;
b) Steffi will buy Gardenia buns (our breakfast) at TIMES
c) we shall ask Sherman whether he can find catering for our lunch after mass at Church of Visitation.
Ah...I'm relieved sikit.
27 March: Friday night. Michelle and I led the Way of the Cross at chapel. Hehe. Many people dun know this, but I actually like oration. I enjoy reading aloud in class, emceeing with a script, mendeklamasi sajak (Malay, English, Chinese), elocution (with a script)...really makes me feel "ooh" and terasa nikmat mendramatisasikan teks... Ok, enough of saya.
After the WOTC, Michelle, saya, Eric and his twin Daniel went to Mydin to buy stuff for Virashini Home. Daniel came to INTI for a visit. He's also a JPA scholar from INTEC. I seriously dunno what we would've done without them! We bought around RM130 worth of daily essentials. Like cooking oil, condensed milk (Mich wanted more tins but i said NO~!! DIABETES!! lol), toilet bowl cleaner, detergent, soap, baby lotion etc... We went back to INTI by bus, and Eric & Daniel carried the stuff up A Block and dumped them in Gerard's room muahahahahahaha!!! [yaya i was a little mad at Gerard coz he cannot go for WOTC because he has a group meeting for World Religion assignment which i fully understand cannot be helped and so isn't this a wonderful way of exacting revenge cooperating? Bwahahaha. ]
And I must say twins are so fascinating!
Eric & Twin, Daniel.
They really look like each other and their voices really sound exactly the same!!!
The post is getting too long now, so continue next post~!
I like the fact that a Catholic Church, a Sikh Gurdwara, a Hindu Temple and a Parkson Grand can sit comfortably within walking distance of each other =D There's a Methodist Church further down the road too if I'm not mistaken ^^
Michelle and her 2 friends. Michelle is really good. She listened patiently to two of the folks there telling her their stories, sympathized and empathized with them.
A young boy helping out at the home, and Adit. Adit himself also has a mentally handicapped younger brother, who knows how to play Counter Strike lol.
