Today I met up with a long lost Malaysian friend.
She was visiting Singapore, so I went out with her and her 2 friends.
She chose an expensive place to eat, so she paid for my breakfast/lunch.
I told them stories all morning about myself.
They wanted to go to Bugis Street and Haji Lane, but I brought them to Bras Basar complex.
I gave them all bus tickets and a toy gun as presents.
They enjoyed my company so much they paid me 1RM.
Interesting how bad I like to make myself sound.
All the above is true, but now let me tell you the context in which it happened.
Today, I met up with a friend I had not seen in 5 years. I met her at Teenstreet in 2006, a christian camp in Malaysia and have been in intermittent contact with her ever since. This is the first time she's coming to Singapore since then, and though I had tried so hard to meet up with her each time I went to Malaysia, this was to finally be the first time we met.
She chose to come on the busiest weekend of my entire holiday, with me emceeing Marianne Lee's wedding and attending their dinner, going for the Lion King musical, and conducting a Fencing Appreciation Course at a secondary school. But I had to meet up with this dear friend, and spent the day with her and her friends.
Meeting her again was extraordinary. We met at an age when we were still not independent, and knew meeting up would be impossible. When I finally saw her at the train station, I gave her a big hug.
Alright let me introduce you to my dear friend Ming Choi!
She chose Wild Honey at Mandrin Gallery for breakfast, and oh my goodness online people say it is the best breakfast in Singapore. I believe it now. If we didn't go early, we would have not gotten a seat. And the food... Wow.
So we began catching up!
Back in 2006 she was starting out law school. Since then, she has graduated, cleared her bar, and is now a corporate lawyer. (Kim, I have some idea what that is... but it probably has more significance to you? Please explain to me! Haha.) Back in 2006 I was about to go to India, and return to study medicine. Well since then... er... I didn't get into medicine, I served in the army, I didn't get into medicine again, I was posted to the guards unit and hunted for Mas Selamat (though now we know she had a higher chance of catching him, living in Malaysia), then applied for medicine a third time, and still did not get in, so went for psychology, but failed to get in as well, and am now studying Sociology, along with film and gender and some psychology.
Yeah, that's why I was talking so much. And her friends Cheryl and Emmerie were great company too.
And mom, I did fight with her over the bill okay! But she took out a card and my cash could not withstand the might of it. I even used your name, but it was in vain. I may be a debater, but she is a corporate lawyer. :P
We went up to the roof of Orchard Central after that (thank you Jeff for the intro) and upon boarding the 3-storey-high escalator on the outside of the building, I found out Ming Choi has a fear of heights. It was a traumatic ride so I spared her the next one- a 4 storey escalator, and took the lift with her instead.
They wanted to visit Bugis street and Haji lane, and we did. But in between, after Dominic (another of her friends) joined us, I took them to the most beautiful shop I've ever been to in my life.
Cat Socrates.
Ming Choi entered it first. The other girls were next door. Ming Choi came running out to drag the other girls into Cat Socrates. They wanted to scream when they entered, if not for the peaceful, tranquil silence that they did not want to disrupt in the store.
Yeah. I sometimes refer to the place as heaven.
I discovered so much in Singapore as we visited so many random places today.
And we had such wonderful random conversations today! About important things of course, like whether Superman or Batman is more of a superhero, and whether Ho-oh or Lugia is the better legendary pokemon in Gold version.
We were split over the legends though.
I sent them back to Chua Chu Kang after, and gave them each a heart folded out of a bus ticket. And I gave them cookies, a replica miniature rifle (they were amazed it could shoot okay!) and a very special piece of origami I passed to Ming Choi. Thety gave me 1RM to fold into a heart and completed it before reaching their station, where I gave each of them a hug goodbye.
It was a long journey home.
And I was thinking to myself, how did I ever end up with such a dear friend?
Back in Teenstreet, we were at the same camp for what, 5 to 7 days?
How did I ever manage to forge a friendship in 5 days that survived 5 years?
I remembered what happened at Teenstreet. It was a most amazing camp, and it felt like what heaven would probably feel like. The company was amazing, the programme cycle was conducive for spiritual growth, and everything we did at the whole camp was a form of worship.
But I knew it could not last. We'd all part and the world outside this camp would never be like this, and soon our hope and enthusiasm will fade. So I set out to do something that lasted.
I wanted to make a true friend.
I knew long distance friendships are not easy to maintain, so these few days together were critical in forming the friendship. And though this was the longest camp I had attended, it was still far too little time. I kept my expectations down- focus on making just one friend, and pray it be a friendship that lasts long after this camp.
And pray I did. Back then my mentor Roy was at the camp as an observer and I shared with him what I hoped to do. We really did pray that I find the right person, and that God's hand would be upon this friendship.
I looked around, weighed each personality with my own, and thought my best bet was Ming Choi. She was the life of a group- She was an absolutely bubbly and extroverted girl who made a group come alive with her laughter and expressiveness.
I chose her because I knew something that most others probably didn't at the time:
It's the ones who have the most people around them who feel the most lonely.
If you're the life of the party, no one would ever think you don't have anyone to talk to. I saw that she always had groups around her, but never a close friend. So yeah, I decided to try to have a heart to heart talk with her.
But there in was the problem-
If she's always in groups, how do I ever catch her alone?
(There was also the concern with coming on too strong and scaring her away, which is not difficult for me to do. :P)
Well, there was an opening. We were both in the service team (as we were older youth) taking care of security, so we needed to guard the dorms during activities to make sure nothing went missing. Duty was done in pairs, but she was doing duty at a different block from me. If I could get us doing duty together, we'd have an hour or two to chat!
Justin the Brave then went to his team leader to ask for a possibility of being paired up with her.
Man... I was insane.
Sigh.
Anyway, I didn't get the change in schedule.
Back to more prayer. Hahaha. I kid you not.
On one of the evenings later on, I finally did get the chance to talk to her. We were at the bottom of a stairwell, where people did walk past, but were few enough for us to have a good chat.
And we spoke about life. We were young. The world was ahead of us all. We had dreams of the future. The next few months, the next few years. It was a HTHT, TTM.
There's something special about talking to someone in the Kingdom of Christ. When you're talking to someone who's greatest desire and purpose in life is the same as yours, it's easy to talk about the big things in life. We're were on the same page, and encouraging each other to press on in our different fields towards the common goal of serving the Lord.
That night was something special. I remember little of what was said exactly, but what I recall most of all was that I had shared my heart, and made a friend that night.
And so the camp came to an end.
My amazing bunk mates and I kept in touch for a while, but soon ran out of topics in common and we drifted apart. But I still kept in contact with Ming Choi. She was rarely online, but when she was I would excitedly talk to her. Her blog was amazing and was one of the few I followed constantly. When I first went to India, I continued to email her my updates and commented on her blog's cbox.
5 years went by in a blink of an eye, but much happened in those 5 years. She headed off to the UK to study, and eventually stopped blogging. She never really appeared online any more, and I slowly stopped using MSN too. We both changed email addresses. I tried sending her a parcel but it got lost in transit. We had lost contact.
Then, seeing mankind in our sad and sorry state, God gave us Facebook.
And the rest was history.
It's true.
When you meet up with an old friend, you pick up right where you left off.
Today I'm in awe at what God has done.
I tried my best to make things work, and they didn't.
I tried to get the same duty with her but didn't.
But when I prayed, God did the extraordinary.
I just found the card with her name on it in my prayer box.
Been praying for her since then, every time I had a haircut.
I don't know why. It's a habit for me to pray for her and Adora when my hair is cut.
Wow. Looking at my prayer requests...
I hardly knew how to pray for her. But still did.
And in June 2009, I prayed to hear from her again and I did.
In June 2011 I prayed for us to be able to meet again, and we just did.
Dear Lord, thank you for helping me find friends who love you the way I do.
And thank you for helping me keep them even when I can't.
I love you. Amen.
Well Ming Choi, till I see you again, FB.
She was visiting Singapore, so I went out with her and her 2 friends.
She chose an expensive place to eat, so she paid for my breakfast/lunch.
I told them stories all morning about myself.
They wanted to go to Bugis Street and Haji Lane, but I brought them to Bras Basar complex.
I gave them all bus tickets and a toy gun as presents.
They enjoyed my company so much they paid me 1RM.
Interesting how bad I like to make myself sound.
All the above is true, but now let me tell you the context in which it happened.
Today, I met up with a friend I had not seen in 5 years. I met her at Teenstreet in 2006, a christian camp in Malaysia and have been in intermittent contact with her ever since. This is the first time she's coming to Singapore since then, and though I had tried so hard to meet up with her each time I went to Malaysia, this was to finally be the first time we met.
She chose to come on the busiest weekend of my entire holiday, with me emceeing Marianne Lee's wedding and attending their dinner, going for the Lion King musical, and conducting a Fencing Appreciation Course at a secondary school. But I had to meet up with this dear friend, and spent the day with her and her friends.
Meeting her again was extraordinary. We met at an age when we were still not independent, and knew meeting up would be impossible. When I finally saw her at the train station, I gave her a big hug.
Alright let me introduce you to my dear friend Ming Choi!
She chose Wild Honey at Mandrin Gallery for breakfast, and oh my goodness online people say it is the best breakfast in Singapore. I believe it now. If we didn't go early, we would have not gotten a seat. And the food... Wow.
So we began catching up!
Back in 2006 she was starting out law school. Since then, she has graduated, cleared her bar, and is now a corporate lawyer. (Kim, I have some idea what that is... but it probably has more significance to you? Please explain to me! Haha.) Back in 2006 I was about to go to India, and return to study medicine. Well since then... er... I didn't get into medicine, I served in the army, I didn't get into medicine again, I was posted to the guards unit and hunted for Mas Selamat (though now we know she had a higher chance of catching him, living in Malaysia), then applied for medicine a third time, and still did not get in, so went for psychology, but failed to get in as well, and am now studying Sociology, along with film and gender and some psychology.
Yeah, that's why I was talking so much. And her friends Cheryl and Emmerie were great company too.
And mom, I did fight with her over the bill okay! But she took out a card and my cash could not withstand the might of it. I even used your name, but it was in vain. I may be a debater, but she is a corporate lawyer. :P
We went up to the roof of Orchard Central after that (thank you Jeff for the intro) and upon boarding the 3-storey-high escalator on the outside of the building, I found out Ming Choi has a fear of heights. It was a traumatic ride so I spared her the next one- a 4 storey escalator, and took the lift with her instead.
They wanted to visit Bugis street and Haji lane, and we did. But in between, after Dominic (another of her friends) joined us, I took them to the most beautiful shop I've ever been to in my life.
Cat Socrates.
Ming Choi entered it first. The other girls were next door. Ming Choi came running out to drag the other girls into Cat Socrates. They wanted to scream when they entered, if not for the peaceful, tranquil silence that they did not want to disrupt in the store.
Yeah. I sometimes refer to the place as heaven.
I discovered so much in Singapore as we visited so many random places today.
Wild Ho-oh appeared!
And we had such wonderful random conversations today! About important things of course, like whether Superman or Batman is more of a superhero, and whether Ho-oh or Lugia is the better legendary pokemon in Gold version.
We were split over the legends though.
I sent them back to Chua Chu Kang after, and gave them each a heart folded out of a bus ticket. And I gave them cookies, a replica miniature rifle (they were amazed it could shoot okay!) and a very special piece of origami I passed to Ming Choi. Thety gave me 1RM to fold into a heart and completed it before reaching their station, where I gave each of them a hug goodbye.
It was a long journey home.
And I was thinking to myself, how did I ever end up with such a dear friend?
Back in Teenstreet, we were at the same camp for what, 5 to 7 days?
How did I ever manage to forge a friendship in 5 days that survived 5 years?
I remembered what happened at Teenstreet. It was a most amazing camp, and it felt like what heaven would probably feel like. The company was amazing, the programme cycle was conducive for spiritual growth, and everything we did at the whole camp was a form of worship.
But I knew it could not last. We'd all part and the world outside this camp would never be like this, and soon our hope and enthusiasm will fade. So I set out to do something that lasted.
I wanted to make a true friend.
I knew long distance friendships are not easy to maintain, so these few days together were critical in forming the friendship. And though this was the longest camp I had attended, it was still far too little time. I kept my expectations down- focus on making just one friend, and pray it be a friendship that lasts long after this camp.
And pray I did. Back then my mentor Roy was at the camp as an observer and I shared with him what I hoped to do. We really did pray that I find the right person, and that God's hand would be upon this friendship.
I looked around, weighed each personality with my own, and thought my best bet was Ming Choi. She was the life of a group- She was an absolutely bubbly and extroverted girl who made a group come alive with her laughter and expressiveness.
I chose her because I knew something that most others probably didn't at the time:
It's the ones who have the most people around them who feel the most lonely.
If you're the life of the party, no one would ever think you don't have anyone to talk to. I saw that she always had groups around her, but never a close friend. So yeah, I decided to try to have a heart to heart talk with her.
But there in was the problem-
If she's always in groups, how do I ever catch her alone?
(There was also the concern with coming on too strong and scaring her away, which is not difficult for me to do. :P)
Well, there was an opening. We were both in the service team (as we were older youth) taking care of security, so we needed to guard the dorms during activities to make sure nothing went missing. Duty was done in pairs, but she was doing duty at a different block from me. If I could get us doing duty together, we'd have an hour or two to chat!
Justin the Brave then went to his team leader to ask for a possibility of being paired up with her.
Man... I was insane.
Sigh.
Anyway, I didn't get the change in schedule.
Back to more prayer. Hahaha. I kid you not.
On one of the evenings later on, I finally did get the chance to talk to her. We were at the bottom of a stairwell, where people did walk past, but were few enough for us to have a good chat.
And we spoke about life. We were young. The world was ahead of us all. We had dreams of the future. The next few months, the next few years. It was a HTHT, TTM.
There's something special about talking to someone in the Kingdom of Christ. When you're talking to someone who's greatest desire and purpose in life is the same as yours, it's easy to talk about the big things in life. We're were on the same page, and encouraging each other to press on in our different fields towards the common goal of serving the Lord.
That night was something special. I remember little of what was said exactly, but what I recall most of all was that I had shared my heart, and made a friend that night.
And so the camp came to an end.
My amazing bunk mates and I kept in touch for a while, but soon ran out of topics in common and we drifted apart. But I still kept in contact with Ming Choi. She was rarely online, but when she was I would excitedly talk to her. Her blog was amazing and was one of the few I followed constantly. When I first went to India, I continued to email her my updates and commented on her blog's cbox.
5 years went by in a blink of an eye, but much happened in those 5 years. She headed off to the UK to study, and eventually stopped blogging. She never really appeared online any more, and I slowly stopped using MSN too. We both changed email addresses. I tried sending her a parcel but it got lost in transit. We had lost contact.
Then, seeing mankind in our sad and sorry state, God gave us Facebook.
And the rest was history.
It's true.
When you meet up with an old friend, you pick up right where you left off.
Today I'm in awe at what God has done.
I tried my best to make things work, and they didn't.
I tried to get the same duty with her but didn't.
But when I prayed, God did the extraordinary.
I just found the card with her name on it in my prayer box.
Been praying for her since then, every time I had a haircut.
I don't know why. It's a habit for me to pray for her and Adora when my hair is cut.
Wow. Looking at my prayer requests...
I hardly knew how to pray for her. But still did.
And in June 2009, I prayed to hear from her again and I did.
In June 2011 I prayed for us to be able to meet again, and we just did.
Dear Lord, thank you for helping me find friends who love you the way I do.
And thank you for helping me keep them even when I can't.
I love you. Amen.
Well Ming Choi, till I see you again, FB.
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