that's something quite unexplainable about it.

i'm physically back at work but i couldn't be further in every other way. been looking longingly at telunas photos on farand's flickr site and wishing a million times over that i was still there.

i honestly can't place what it is about telunas but it's probably my favourite place in the world at this point. it's tranquil. it's exactly the same a year after we'd last been there. it's beautiful. it's simple. it's where i could just sit for hours undistracted and meet with God and know i'm in His presence. it's where i see and recognise His hand in creation. it's where i know without a doubt that my God is bigger than i ever imagined Him to be. it's where i spoke heart-to-heart with people. it's where there are so many crazy memories like the water game and details that ought to be forgotten...

i suppose more than the place, the highlight of this year's telunas retreat was simply being away from the busyness of life to connect with God and people and be totally refreshed.

so now that i'm back at work...i'm still pining for telunas and to be there with people i've grown to really love over the years. it should have energised me to dive back into work and ministry but it's kinda just left me wistful. haha thankfully all the bosses are not at work today either...gives me some time to ease back into work after a week away...

there's something really beautiful about friendships...they've an amazing ability to brighten up the most mundane of days.

met mich for lunch today and claire totally surprised by showing up too! so we just caught up over thosai from ghim moh market on a wet, wet monday afternoon but it was the best lunch i had in awhile with my girls...

was suppose to go running with kel and cor at night too but it had rained all day so we opted for dinner at ikea instead...and since we didnt know whether we'd get to meet up over christmas again, we decided that since it was wet and cold, and we had great christmas music from my pod, we'd take a drive down orchard to soak up the christmas feel and some...and to top it off, we swung by starbucks for a toffee nut latte and hazelnut hot chocolate...

so that was monday : ) and it was made beautiful by fantastic company : )

thanks guys!

need these perks every now and then...esp after a long, heavy going wk like the one before...

we're 2 weeks from christmas!!! and 1 week from telunas!!!! can't wait! : )

in case i don't post for the next decade or so, merry christmas everyone!

haha i suck. it's been more than a month since i last posted anything.

just haven't found the time to do it. and i think this is the first time i've been on the computer on a weekend since i started working...heh guess coz it's also the first time i've been home on a weekend since goodness knows when.

so i finally understand what it means to have a lazy saturday...feels pretty nice for a change...rather than the full day in church playing touch then lunch and having cg and going for service then hanging around till late...

so since i've officially been on the job for 5 months and i'm gonna be confirmed next week, figured it's time to kinda take stock of it all. realised a couple of things...

1. despite how much work there is to do in the office, i feel like i'm not thinking as hard as i used to when i was studying. i miss doing research, being able to spend hours reading and synthesizing stuff and writing and thinking and yeah...work's just alot different...there's always an endless list of things to do and i guess coz the demands come from all over all the time, there's less time to really think. u've just gotta do do do. so working hard ain't the same as thinking hard.

2. and working hard without thinking hard is an easy mode to slip into. it's productive and efficient...but i'm not convinced i'm giving my best. so i've decided that i definitely wanna change that. i don't know how but i wanna be spending more time doing research and reading...haha but where the time to do that is gonna come from at work, i honestly honestly don't know.

3. and i guess then coz i've not been as analytical and critical and sharp about things as i used to be and coz there's less time to think, i've become less self-reflective.

haha so work can be degenerative!!! wanna break out of that...don't wanna just cruise on auto-pilot anymore...think that mode's encroached onto other aspects of life like ministry and keeping up relationships and all...i suppose i really miss being excited about things...about challenging and being challenged...about knowing where i'm headed (then again, i never really do know coz i mostly go with the flow...).

so i'm going back to a place where i "re-find" my passion, my direction, and my purpose...sounds like some big overhaul but no...really it's just stealing away to be with my Father so that my compass may be realigned and my feet planted in the right direction... : )