I make a decision today..

to not let school dictate my life.
I don't care if its Week 9.

I'm still going to start my exercise regime tmr morning.

I'm still going to for cg and church on the week before exam.

I'm not going to let studies affect my relationship with people and with God. There are things important in life than getting that GPA.
As my Creative Thinking Prof says, "so what if your exam is tmr, life still goes on, you know." lol.

Not saying that we should slack off in studies, but I believe that excellence and hard work coupled with balance in our life is more important than grades. I have always frowned on last minute work, or last minute mugging. I think it's a reflection of a lack of planning and organization in our lives; there must be a consistency when it comes to this.

It's surprising how much weightage of our lives on things affecting our GPA ( 80%?) when the truth is after our first job, its importance drops to o.01% or something.

I'm still trying to figure how much importance should I place on studying. In the end there must be a balance in everything. I will not take this to an extreme.

While the Bible believes in hard work ( Proverbs: In all labor there is profit) but in studying really hard? the Bible says: Much study is wearisome to the flesh." Haha. Conclusion. Work hard, but don't study too hard.
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I have begun to read slower. I used to rush through books, one after another.

I have realized that I should take extra focus when it comes to reading. Because after all, the words that we read reflect the experience and character of the author. By reading any sentence carefully and studying it, we can actually ascertain the person's driving philosophies in life and value system.

"What kinda person would say such a thing as this? What has he/she gone through to be able to make a statement like that?". If we are sharp enough, we can actually catch more from in between the lines than the lines itself.

And then I realized...

That's how they asked us to study the Bible. Ha..

Every verse in the Bible reflects a partial face of an omnipotent God; His character, his value system, his principles.

Which is why we can't just scan through the Bible. There's much more to God when we begin to search beyond what He says, to why He says it. Every sentence is like a window into His heart.

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Today I just had an interesting conversation with a pri school boy in church.

He was looking at the chains and necklaces in the bookstore and I sounded him out. It went something like this:

"Oh, you buying for someone you like ah. This one is nice.."

"No lah.."

"Yes right, aiya, must be someone you like lah.. "

"Don't suan me leh.." He smiles.

Haa... got him.

"So yah, this one is nice. It's a heart."

"No lah, a heart is too obvious. She'll know that I like her."

"It's okay one, see this one can change shape."( There's a necklace in the bookstore that you can twist to change it from a heart to a cylindrical shape.)" so you just give her like that ( cylinderical shape) and then she will twist it and realize its a heart!"

So I leave him for a while.

He comes over and tells me a short story about how the girl he likes fancies his friend but his friend don't want, because the friend says he will whack him, but the friend got together anyway but he has no interest in the girl .. blah blah blah...

"If I want to buy the necklace, with the Membership card, how much can I get it for?"

"You can get it at $11.70."

"Okay I'll ask one of my cell group members to lend me their card"

"But if it's the person's birthday month, you can actually get it at $10.80 because there's 20% off"

"So if I save $0.50 a day, how many days will it take to buy"

"About 4 weeks."

"But I get more on the weekends, about $2."

"Then you can get it in about 2 week plus."

"Never mind. I can just ask my dad for money. 5 dollars. 2 dollars. Then I can get it in no time."

"Noooo.. Cannot like that. You remember how God appreciates our offering no matter how little it is? What God is more interested is in your heart when you give the offering right?? So you cannot just ask money from your dad. It's not sincere. You got to slowly save, then it really means something, correct or not?"

"Hmm okay. So I will save 50 cents a day and then get 2 dollars on the weekend then can get in 2 weeks plus. Or maybe I will save extra 55 cents a day by walking to school. Then I can save $1 a day. How many days will that be?"

AWWWWWW... talk about sacrifice!

"You can get it in a week plus then.."

"Actually I already have 4 dollars in my pocket. I can buy in one week. But means I cannot eat today."

awwwwwww...more sacrifice!

"You can actually walk home from Expo. then you can do it faster. " HAHA. Evil me.

So he walks back to the necklace section and browses around."

" I know what, for the chain I want for myself, I'll ask my dad for money, and then the OTHER necklace I'll save up."

"Correct."

I'm impressed. TEACHABLE! Hahaha...