i'm now in the basement listening to my parents singing karaoke and secretely laughing at them. okay la. actually my mom sings quite well. i love this basement. it's the next most comfortablest place in my house after my bed. i love it that the upholestry are all the same. the couch covers and the curtains. it's wonderful that the ceiling is wooden, which makes the place nice and cosy. the now rarely used mosaic floor tiling makes the basement cooler in humid sunny singapore. love the basement!

since now that i'm free, i shall do a sort of reflection about the past year, although now's already the fifth of january. okay where should i start? i think i'll just talk about my life in general. 2006 was a year of first times. for the first time i had a real job at sw. i have 3 special people to thank, namely ec, sk and hj for helping me along in all the projects i was involved in. it was the first time i got engaged by several people as a freelancer to do murals, illustration and graphic design jobs. these jobs earned me some disposable income, and of course more savings in my bank.

so with the money that i've saved, for the first time, i went on a real holiday to vietnam with two friends. just the three of us. i had a great time and did things i'd never do if i were with my parents. hehe. they're proper things okay. so dont think otherwise. hehh.

last year was the first time i didnt spend my birthday at home. i had it with my cell group when cos we had our first ever cell camp! it was a great birthday. i felt so loved and blessed by the girls and i was thoroughly touched by the talk show thing that wj organised with sk, sn, tm, gl, sc at night after i thought everything was over. i was overwhelmed. and the girls sang me birthday song 5 times. haha. it was truely an amazing day to mark the 18th year i've lived on earth. in addition, two lovely people brought me to watch sesame street-out of this world. yaye! i love.

above all these, the best thing that happened through the year is watching my sheeps grow in the Lord. it's fantastic how God works in them and through them in the things that they do, the ministries they serve in and the way they relate to others. it is truly by the grace of God. praise him :) i'm thankful for how far we've all grown together as a shepherd and sheep group, or shepherd and sheep and sheep and sheep alliance. i can safely and proudly say that we're the closest shepherd and sheep group. we have reached a level of trust and accountability that we can openly share about our lives and stuff. this takes the effort of all the members for all these to happen. i'm proud or serena chew mei jun, grace lee meiyan and tan tam mei. love you all to bits.

I’m also thankful for the new friendships that I’ve made and strengthening of relationships with others the past year. the hanging out, the money spent on eating and eating, the scoldings I got from my parents for coming back late… it was all worth it. I thank God for sending such angels in my life to teach and show me things I would have probably not known by myself, for opening my eyes to issues we’re facing or might face once we’re of age, talking rubbish and arguing about nonsensical things, current affairs, pointers on how to do stuff and how certain things function etc, erm.. and of course sharing with each other fabulous places to eat. Hahaha.

okay. so that was just a gist of last year. i'm too lazy to continue writing more things. so that's all for now. let's look forward to the year ahead. it'll be full of challenges but with the Lord, nothing is impossible and the battle is His!!!