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Wednesday, December 29, 2004

The death toll's now up to 28,000. It feels so surreal and weird..here we are in Singapore, just next door to all the affected countries, and we're still celebrating christmas and preparing to swing into the new year.

I can't even imagine how the people there must be feeling right now. The scary thing is, I've been to some of the places, hotels and beaches before..My dad was telling us how this hotel in thailand we went to a couple of years ago is now halfway submerged in water. My mom said her colleague's family was holidaying and they're now missing and probably dead. Its sad to think of the beautiful places I once enjoyed now ruined, desolate, and littered with human bodies. Its even more upsetting to think of what the people are experiencing..loss of family and homes. And here we are having new year's eve parties...Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that its wrong to have parties or to be doing anything fun, it just feels so surreal..I myself have been meeting up with old friends and laughing and enjoying myself immensely this week. But its now when I'm alone in my room, with the tv outside screaming news updates that I feel sad for all those poor souls..

I guess its times like these that we learn to appreciate more what we have in life.

Thank you, O God, for all the people whose work and whose love give me the things I need, the food I eat, the clothes I wear, the comfort I enjoy;
Thank you for those who have taught me the things which I must know, if I am to do a person's job in the world when I grow up;
Thank you for those who are fine examples to me of how I ought to live;
Thank you for friends without whom life could never be the same;
Thank you most of all for you, my Master, my Example, my Friend.
Help me to sleep well tonight and to live well tomorrow.
This I ask for your love's sake. Amen.

God our Father, source of all health, be near those who suffer in the time of weakness and pain; relieve them of their burden and heal them, if it be Your will.
Give peaceful sleep to those who need rest for soul and body, and be with them in their hours of silence. Bless those who know not what another day might bring.
Inspire with Your love those who bring healing and care to the suffering. May they bestow Your gifts of health and strength wherever they may go.
Help me to pray for my brothers and sisters who have departed from this world. May they be quickly guided into that holy light promised by our Lord. I offer you sacrifice and prayers of praise. Accept them for all the souls of the faithful departed and admit them all to heavenly joy. Grant this prayer, through Christ our Lord.

I'm thinking about what phin peng told me yesterday..we finally got the chance to meet up yesterday and had a good, long, heart-to-heart talk about thoughts and dreams and wants. It felt nice catching up with him again..he was telling me how RJ is now stripped, abandoned, littered and desolate. (haha Liana climbed into RJ after they moved out to sneak a peek at everything) Apparantly, they've even stripped the lecture theatres of seats and wallpaper. The canteen's now empty (as in NO tables, chairs) but littered. The field must be a jungle of grass and weeds now. Thats just so depressing..I had many good times at RJ, and although old and small, it was a very homey, cosy place to me. Don't know why I'm suddenly feeling so nostalgic. Oh well, I hope the new facility at Bishan will feel just as nice. But I doubt it.

~me~ at 12:17 AM