Testing and Tempting

Happy are those who remain faithful under trials, because when they succeed in passing such a test, they will receive as their reward the life which God has promised to those who love him. If people are tempted by such trials, they must not say, “This temptation comes from God.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But people are tempted when they are drawn away and trapped by their own evil desires. Then their evil desires conceive and give birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters! Every good gift and every perfect present comes from heaven; it comes down from God, the Creator of the heavenly lights, who does not change or cause darkness by turning. By his own will he brought us into being through the word of truth, so that we should have first place among all his creatures. (James 1:12-18 GNB)

):

It's like, I don't think I can do anything right in my life. Like nothing ever goes right. Nothing really happens the way I want it to be. Today's another of those kind of days where I just feel totally defeated. Even if I wanna cry about it, I can't even do so. I just wanna slumber till the day ends and wake up feeling refreshed for a new day of challenges awaits. I just wanna be alone and emo by myself. I just don't know why I can't get this done right. I really want a time whereby I can sit back and look at what I've done and say, 'Yes Fiona, well done, you gave your 100%'. But the time is not now, so I've just got to continue to try and keep my head high and plaster a smile in my face. But today, just let me sink my head as low as possible. It's like I'm never strong enough. Never pretty enough. Never smart enough. Never frugal enough. Never tall enough. Never fast enough. I would like to say, 'Look at how far you have come', but that is not the case. Seriously, where do I stand in life? Yes, I do know that there's God's life path for me and the whole 'thy word is a lamp onto my feet and a light to my path', but sometimes I just get so sick of it. I wanna see the futureeee! I just can't understand why am I feeling so defeated today. Well shit happens

shorts shorts short shorts

Christmas presents to myself (:

say a little prayer

Because of what Jesus has done for you at the cross, all your sins — past, present and future — are forgiven. God will by no means ever remember your sins or count them against you! (Hebrews 8:12, 10:17)

My friend, because Jesus has been punished for your sins, today, God is not counting your sins against you. This means that your sins won’t stop Him from hearing and responding to your prayers. So you can always run into His presence knowing that you can boldly stand in and enjoy His presence and His love.

When you know this truth, it is going to set you free in your relationship with God. You can talk to Him without fear or any sense of condemnation. You can practice His presence and trust that He always hears you. Should something happen at home or at work, you don’t always have to call for your church leaders — you pray and God hears you!

the right way to pray

Got this from Pastor Prince's Daily Devotional e-mail, i wish I could pray the right way all the time :D

Philippians 4:6
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

You would probably have read this verse before, but would you like to know how to apply it in your everyday life? Let me give you an illustration to help you.

Let’s say that you are one of those in your company eligible for a promotion and you will know tomorrow whether you get it. You want the promotion badly because it means more income for your family. So you lie in bed at night tossing and turning. You pray, “Father, please take away all my worries about this promotion. Give me faith.” One hour later, you are more anxious than ever. It seems like God is not answering your prayer!

How come? Because you are not doing it God’s way.

Pray like this instead: “Father, I cast all my worries about the promotion into Your loving hands because You care for me and love me.” The Bible tells us to cast all our cares upon the Lord for He cares for us. (1 Peter 5:7) Then, say, “Father, I would like to have the promotion.” It is okay to ask Him for that. Now, here comes the most powerful part — thanksgiving. Finish off with thanksgiving. Thank God for His faithfulness.

Say something like, “Father, whether I get the promotion or not, I thank You that You will always provide for my family with more than enough. You who feed the birds of the air and clothe the lilies of the field will take care of us. So I am not going to worry about this promotion. You are the source of all my blessings.” (Matthew 6:30, Philippians 4:19)

When you pray like this, all of a sudden, you are no longer held hostage by the promotion. I call this the “thank You” therapy. The more you know God’s Word, the more you can thank Him. The more you thank Him, the more His peace reigns in your heart. And many a time, before you know it, it is morning! You don’t even remember falling asleep. The peace of God reigns like that.

My friend, whatever your concern is, bring it to your Father in prayer and thank your way to peace!

one more night

OMG. Just one more night of burning the midnight oil! 1000 word essay for UGC112 stands before me and sem break! I do foresee a few more study nights because of the final exam on 3 Dec; but after that, every other night would be 'burnt' by catching up on my shows (:

*Some Indian guy just stepped so hard on my feet because he lost balance. I've been stepped on so many times in my past 21 years of taking public transport, but just now's incident totally takes the cake. & Fiona being Fiona, will always say no worries it's okay and smile while the pain is still throbbing

One more semester to go and I'll be done with university education! Fast or what! As much as I still feel that my education experience could have been better if I went to either of the local unis, I thank God for placing me here at SIM-UB. I know I still have resentment of being 'not so smart and no choice but have to study at SIM', one day, just one day, I would look back and thank God for paving the way for me to go to SIM-UB. One day I'll look back and praise God for the many things that have happened since Fall 2010. Just look, if I didn't enroll at UB, I wouldn't have met Edwin; and we wouldn't have started this wonderful relationship of 1 year and 1 month (:

do do do

Things to do after exams:

1. Create a video for DFC

2. Create Dot's 21st video

3. Work & get $$$

4. Exercise and eat healthy

all glory goes to Him

I'm thinking it's all his doing; all his help. Been doing some design/creative stuff. And they really do come like one after the other. It's great, keep em' coming! But I realized that at the same time, I procrastinate a lot or there's really no time to do it. I guess it's to prepare me for the real world? And I've to really manage my time well? So Lord, I thank you for the continuous blessing and opportunities that allow me to push myself to manage my time well.

So many things to do, so little time.

I have conquered a mountain

COM398 Project, CHECK. COM443 Project, CHECK. Even though it's just two checks, those two projects were major. Glad that it's all over for now. All that's remaining are my UGC112 essay and final exams before my actual holidays start! I feel like I've accomplished so much this semester. I've learnt a lot, made many new friends, learnt so much at work (both at Energia and Jipaban), improved my creative/design skills, fell in love a lot more deeply. However, on the physical fitness point of view, I've stopped running seriously. SIM T&F isn't my priority, my overall body is. I try to juggle between muay thai and running more consistently, but the time I have now just does not permit it. As much as I would like to represent school to run or to fight, I know that I'll never make it into the Top 3, so why bother? Yes, I can gain experience from the whole thing but it's just me being really logical and rationalizing everything. Seriously, why train soooo hard when there is no award? I like winning, but I'll participate if I know that if I can win. I know this is like some cockup mindset but seriously, who doesn't love winning? Winning a simple game of just scissors-paper-stone already brings much happiness.

Anyway, I typed this just to get it off my chest. Let's play some music!

die young

Love the artistic direction of ke$ha's new music video. Love how it's done and all the effects. Wish that someday I can produce a film like this or something. Hahaha. But way too many satanic imagery and illuminati references.

December Will Come Rolling Any Moment

October just passed and boy was it a hectic week. Relied on prayers & God a lot. Call it self-fufilling prophecy, optimism or whatever, prayers and having faith in the Lord works. There are countless number of times whereby I get through days with so little sleep. I am seriously amazed everytime that happens and when the hectic day ends. I somehow secretly enjoy the sleep that I take when I'm exhausted on Wednesdays. I collapse into my bed and completely knock out. I wish I didn't have to wake up ): I secretly enjoy the deep sleep that I get when I don't have enough sleep.

Anyway, pictures! These are the paper templates that I do for my own personal use for my iphone 5 covers. I modified an iphone psd template to fit this iphone 5 silicon case. It's basically printing it out and cutting it. Had to do a lot of trial and error and the template is still not perfect yet. Should I really turn this into a business? I really don't know whether people would pay $$$ for a piece of paper to be slotted into the case. Edwin says that I should sell the case AND the paper cover.

pimply

This pain in the ass pimple in my right nostril is giving me a lot of irritation

Tempt Me No More

I'm always tempted to procrastinate, tempted to lie, tempted to lust (over material objects, not people), tempted to gloat, tempted to glutton, tempted to anger, tempted to hate, tempted to sin. I guess I'm just human; imperfect. But made whole and pure again in God. I want to rid the thoughts that might lead me to sin. Googled "prayer to rid temptation" and the prayer from St Benedict's medal was the first on the search list. Not sure if this is right for a Christian but it is really apt:

VADE RETRO SATANA;
NUNQUAM SUADE MIHI VANA.
SUNT MALA QUAE LIBAS;
IPSE VENENA BIBAS!

Get behind me, Satan;
Never suggest vain thoughts to me. The cup you offer is evil;
Drink the poison yourself!

And in Jesus' name, Amen to that!

every tower higher than the next

The Luminesce app for the iPhone is mind-bogglingly good. The only qualms I have with it is that I can't choose the degree that I wanna rotate ): Fo example, if took a picture that is not horizontal or parallel to the ground, I can't edit it. I'd have to edit it with the Adobe Photoshop Express app before using the Luminesce app. Oh well what to do? #firstworldpains

holding a canon 7d

Over the past two days of filming for different projects, I've seriously learnt a lot. Thank God Adrian who patiently taught me how to adjust my camera settings for shooting. If we weren't station masters at Siloso beach, I wouldn't have known he did videography. The next person to thank God for would be Edwin. With his MBP, this whole editing process would be darn much easier. Using a MBA would take friggin long.

Are we defined by what we wear or carry? Do appearances really matter?

Right now, it's a strong yes. Just by simply holding the 7D, I've been approached to shoot for people. Do I really look like a professional photographer? Do I really look like I know my stuff?

This weekend it's gonna be a longggg weekend of editing and much painful trial and error. I just hope that FCPX's auto save will not be my downfall like previously.

clothes and accessories maketh the woman

Wore my Dr Martens consecutively for two days and ended up with blisters. But I felt strong and confident AND cool in those boots.

Over the past two days, I've been carrying around the DSLR. I totally felt like a photographer; rugged grungy,...

because i'm such a vain pot

Just A Thought

Since I play so many games on my iPhone and make sure I try tons of apps, I should really do something about it. Review an app or something.

Week

Came close to a burn out/fever this week. Lack of sleep, too much work, school, trainings,...everything compounded wore me out. On wednesday and thursday night, the fatigue was sooo terrible that all I did was had dinner and then knocked out immediately. Couldn't even complete simple tasks and had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to do so.

6 October 2012
Anyway, on a brighter note, today was natnat's POP! I guess my parents were really proud of him serving the country and watching their son become a man. I do hope he gets an officer posting or somewhere nice because he'll be really depressed if he doesn't.

LTA take photo of us, we take photo of them

just some things that happened recently (:

ashleigh and pudley

3 videos of Ashleigh and Pudsey, the best dog act I've seen my entire life! 1st clip's from the audition, 2nd clip from the semi finals and last clip's their grand final performance on Britain's Got Talent.

Even Simon Cowell's impressed by them! You should take a look too!

blogging

I guess I'm not that kind of a serious blogger? I tell myself everyday to post a quick update on the day's events but social media and studying gets me carried away. For me, it is good to blog, so that I can keep track of what happened like a diary. Seriously, I think I'll lose my memory one day, and this online journal can be a good reference to jolt my memory or something. So blog blog blog here I go!

29 Sep'12
OMG! Just typed a whole day's worth of stuff and it wasn't saved and it bloody disappeared! Hmph, not gonna re-type ): I'm just gonna mention that E and I had a great bowl of XO Crab Bee Hoon which was really good and comparable to Melben's.

30 Sep'12
The last day of September before we head off into the month of October. Slept in. E & F went to Suntec to collect NCC's auditorium seat tickets and had a quick lunch before heading to Senoko to fetch older E. Due to traffic and the bloody long distance, we were late and couldn't seat in the main auditorium and went up to Level 6. Yet another inspiring message from Pastor Prince about how good God is.

After the NCC's service, E and I went back to COGS to sent natnat back to camp. It's become a routine every Sunday that after we drop natnat at White Sands mall, we'll go for dinner. Not just a dinner, but a fantastic meal! (:

Got home and am trying to do my work, but I can't, so I'll leave you with pretty pictures (better looking pictures as compared to the iPhone 3GS) from my new iPhone 5! :DD

This is where you can get the best bak chor mee in Singapore. Just google Crawford Lane's Bak Chor Mee and you'll know where it is. It's located behind the ICA building; building where you collect your passport and stuff.

Super yummy food from Choupinette! It's located right beside Coronation plaza and it's on the same row at Sogurt's Bukit Timah outlet. As usual, I had the Eggs Royal. &OMG, both eggs when cracked, are RUNNY! Usually at most brunch places, either one or none would be runny. But at Choupinette, both eggs' yolk flowed out real nicely! Hollandaise sauce was really good too because it was not too sour. The salmon wasn't too salty and the bread was nicely toasted and it wasn't difficult to use a fork and knife to cut it. As for E's Steak Sandwich, the meat was really tender. Yes it's a little thin but the portion of the sandwich was really huge in actual fact. The fries were all crunchy, not the soggy kind, and salted just right. Hahaha, the salad's just there to balance out the whole meal (& healthy eating).

GO STEPH GO!

Holy moley. This is the mother of all cute dogs.

XO Crab Bee Hoon. E&F are fat now. We are a couple that can really eat A WHOLE LOT. 

Genius idea by E. Since the bicycle handles were sticky due to the hot sun melting the rubber, he used a plastic bag as a cover. Previously, we used tissue paper and it got stuck on the handlebars. Tissue paper or plastic bag, it's still quite unsightly when you're riding real nice bikes. Anyone knows of a good shop to get good and nice handlebars (is this the correct term?)?

ABOUT ME

Hello there.

I guess the 'about me' section on my blog is not informative at all so carry on reading if you want to know more about me. However, at the same time, I have to try to protect my privacy on the Internet at the same time.

My name is Fiona Ghui. I think the first two things that pop into people's minds is Shrek and "what a unique surname". Yes, my name is Fiona and I've gotten numerous nicknames linking me to the green ogre character and many others too; and am really used it nicknames having being teased my entire life. I really don't mind it. As for my surname, Ghui, it originates from China, from some royal dynasty or something. So, my grandmother (maternal) IS from China. But, because my other grandmother (paternal) is a peranakan from Malaysia, I'm half-peranakan!

Before I bore you with my family tree and all that, I'm just glad to have been in such a family, caring and all that. I love my father, mother and two siblings. Being the eldest kid, I've always found that I'm the one paving the way for my siblings. I don't like it, because they get the better treatment and easier life, but I know it'd kinda like my duty.

I studied in at Fairfield Methodist Secondary, moved on to Pioneer JC and then am currently at University at Buffalo at SIM. I wouldn't say that I'm the brightest kid or the most hardworking, but I'm really not the academic sort. I like learning and more importantly, creating stuff (drawing, sewing, taking photos,...).

I'm not a dreamer or a slacker, but I really have not found out what I want to do or be in the future yet. I took up communication here in SIM-UB because it was like the most general degree (apart from marketing or business) and something that I might be interested in. I'm on my second last semester and I really do not know what I want to do in the future ): All I know is that when I graduate in April, I'll probably work on a farm somewhere in Australia, New Zealand or even Greece and Paris. This can be made possible through wwoof.org. It's an organization that kind of helps farm owners find volunteers to work the farm, and in return, they provide us volunteers with food and lodging.

I guess I just like being out there doing stuff, making my body and hands work. I know that I'm really not interested in administration, finance and all that, so God bless me in my future job hunt.

Anyway, apart from all those academic and job stuff, I like green tea, good food, taking good photos, having a good body and basically having a good time... and I hate durians, bad days, not having money to spend,...

To Prof Ray, if you are reading this, I look forward to a great 15 weeks of lessons with you. Do show more videos as it always helps the class like it all the more!

EXAMS R OVER! TIME TO LET LOOOOOSE!

party songs, dance songs, chill songs, happy songs; songs you'll truly feel for when you're done with exams

BONUS:

pause play repeat

a little last update

Happy Birthday Kochi! Abriel took this shot when E and I were dropping by.

Shawn Ching's get-together shot at his place without him.

Ghui cousins get-together

Made this for E for our 9th month-versary (:

COM441 Public Relations group. Hahaha, our group name's Gustavo and our slogan is You Gusta. & our professor has two of that meme's faces stuck on his shirt and macbook (Y)

God bless my brother in army. Wonder how is he gonna wake up everyday. 

DIY ombre shirts. Dip-dyed them. Might be selling these in more sizes and colors. Would you be interested? (:

a post before i sleep

p.r.o.c.r.a.s.t.i.n.a.t.e.

that should be my middle name.

Anyway, as Summer II comes to a close, tons of stuff packed into the remaining days before I leave for Penang. First and foremost, COM441 Public Relations FINAL EXAM. Such a bore studying...

Anyway, I hope you guys can view this link: http://www.agnesmaurice.com/users/612/listings
It's basically and online marketplace. Selling stuff there (:

Smitten

Omg, I can't believe how well this video is made! I wanna create videos like this! Holymoly, my colleague is simply talented.

timekiller

I had no idea this song was by them!

summer 2

Let's just get this done and over with. Holidays here I come. This hiccup, this bump in the road, this obstacle; just leaving it to God. 

laze

I like how this music video was filmed. The video effects making it look all lomo-fied and vintage.

tick tock tick tock

I hate ticks. I've pretty had enough of them the last time when I worked as a pet groomer. I've always taken care of Choko but I'm not so sure about the 'other-side'. I'm getting tired of checking Choko everyday for ticks and I'm living constantly in a paranoia of ticks. Man, sooner or later, if this goes on, I'm gonna develop a phobia for ticks. So much so that I wouldn't be able to pluck and kill the tick myself. Just came back from work. Worked the entire day from 10.30am to 10.30pm. Thought that I could relax at home and focus on editing the video for project but holy crap, came home to find out that there were friggin' four ticks on my bed and so I had to check Choko for ticks. Found one dead tick. Went up to my room, put my bag down, took a casual glance at meimei's blanket. Alas, one live tick crawling about. Grabbed it, put it in a tissue and killed that monster-of-a-creation.

Currently, googling about ticks and wth, this is what I've found out so far:

"Egg-laying begins about three days after the engorged adult female drops from the dog. She may deposit as many as 5,000 eggs in places such as between boards, under plaster or carpeting, or in other cracks and crevices. The eggs usually hatch in about two - three weeks, although up to several months may be required under extremely cool or dry conditions."


FIVE THOUSAND EGGS? 5000 EGGS FROM A BUG THAT IS LIKE THE SIZE OF A MOLE? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?


This whole tick situation has been bugging my family for about a week or so, and considering that Singapore is a pretty warm country, the eggs could probably be hatching now?? I'm am seriously going bonkers. Another thing, 'engorged' - means or in other words is 'full with blood'. So when the female tick is FULL, it FRIGGIN' LAYS EGGS.


And then, another article pops up:


"Ticks cannot reproduce in your house.
First of all, a complete life-cycle of a tick takes two years.
Second, they are very susceptible to temperature, requiring highs and lows to trigger life-cycle changes. Hypothetically, a tick might be able to take it's first blood-meal in the larval stage, but is unlikely, as they are not very mobile, and prefer rodents.
The nymph stage requires hibernation.
Advantix should be a repellant. If you are finding engorged ticks with heads, then they have already spent days taking a blood meal, and have fallen off.
Hypothetically, your dog could have brought it in, "repelled" it into the house (the downside of Advantix) and it was picked up by your cat. Advantage does not have tick-repellant properties, and Advantix isn't marketed for cats.
I would HIGHLY doubt your ticks would reproduce within the house - the environment is just too unfavorable. Of course, you should be treating all the pets in the house. I would stick with Frontline Plus, as it can be used with dogs & cats, and does not repel. That just means you'll have to keep an eye out, and may have to pull out the occasional deady."


Is this a good thing? Is this true? Is it true that ticks can't reproduce in a house?


On a last note, guess what? Males die immediately after mating. Well, I guess that's one good thing to this whole horror tick drama.


I pray for a miracle. For God to rid what is not pleasant in this house. He has control over everything and over the ticks too. 

A post before I sleep

I think I'm gonna be so screweddd for my public relations mid terms ): I hate studying. 2 more semesters to go and I'm done! I'm a pretty average student and am just aiming to hit a 3.0 GPA before conferral. Please please pretty please? May the good Lord slam dunk me into a tub of common sense for my exams tomorrow...

Random Ramblings:
Pretty addicted to Pinterest. I love online shopping. There's so much that I want to do but the present reality of studying does not permit this. So many photos to edit that, especially those trips to Penang and outings with E. I just took off my keyboard protector and the Mac keys feel soooo good. Clickety clack~~ Like ever since I got this lovely MBA, I had the keyboard protector by Capcase on for as long as I can remember. It also muffles the clickety clack sound of the keyboard's keys, which is good, especially during class times.

HAHA

TEA TIME

Super belated post, shall let the pictures do the talking (: Met may and sihui for 'tea' after class at Prive. Wanted to take photos along the docks, and a nice uncle let us into the area whereby only yacht owners can enter (:

I really can't take pictures of food so I'm only posting this.

A lot of color editing was done to this photo. I tried my best to salvage this. This is what happens when the photographer is in the picture. Hahaha.

Rare solo shot.

Some OOTD shots below:

Happy jumping shot (: