Alena: Confession of a teenage heart

This is a good post for teenagers nowadays...
It is absolutely true in my opinion...
Trust me, I know..

Alena: Confession of a teenage heart: When a heart tells us we really like someone, we wont stop thinking about it. Love is always strong sometimes its like a magnetic force...

Open House at Puan Zainah Musa's house (My Add Maths teacher)

Hi readers,
It has been a while since I last wrote..
Well, I have my reasons ;D
Anyways, it has been exactly a week since I went to my teacher's house for her Hari Raya open house...
So it begins like this....

It was 4.30pm on a Friday afternoon....
I stopped playing my games and quickly got prepared to go to Pn.Zainah Musa's house...
And when I say quickly, I mean very quickly...
When I got prepared, it was already 4.40pm...
I rushed my father to send me there...
He asked whether I wanted to drive there myself but because I was rushing and the 'P' sticker hasn't been put on the car so I said "Nevermind."
So I arrived at my teacher's house at 4.50pm...
To my surprise, I was the first one there...
I saw some other school teachers, including my Ninjutsu sensei...
So I went in and greeted all the teachers and Puan Zainah Musa's family...
After greeting, my teacher welcomed me in to 'makan' first but I told her I wanted to wait for my classmates to arrive first...
So I sat down at the living room while waiting for the others to come...
We had all made a deal to arrive there by 5pm but I waited and no one came...
So my teacher said "Jason, eat first la. Your friends will come. Tak payah risau."
And so I ate first...
It was a simple Malay style meal but delicious....
There was nasi impit, kuah kacang, chicken curry, roti jala, some veggie in some weird yellow liquid, watermelon and my teacher's family recipe laksa...
So I ate while having a chat with some of the teachers eating there...
By around 5.20pm, Devaraja came with two others...
Once I was done eating, I made a call...
I called Sachin and Zafri to ask where they were...
They said they were on the way..
So then I called Govinash and he only said he was coming after I called him...
I decided to wait for him at the guardhouse..
When I was about to reach the guardhouse, I saw Zafri's car outside...
So he came down and waited with me...
Not long after, Govinash came along...
Then we walked back to teacher's house...

When we got back, there were some other guest as well...
Teacher asked me to show Zafri and Govinash what food there were and stuff like that...
Then, we sat down while they both ate...
So slowly my classmates come one by one...
Sachin, followed by Khoo Er Yang, Kavee, See Soon Yang, Jashen, Soong, Sharwesh, Lai Choon Kiat, Loi Chee Ming, Chew Joon Nick, and Gerard Wong...
While they were all having their 'makan' , we all chit chat as well...
Sachin was playing a Russell Peter's video on his phone...
Gerard was listening to K-pop on Lai's phone...
Everyone was doing something in short :P
After we were all done eating, we decided to go out and have a walk since it was getting stuffy inside...
So we told teacher that we were having a walk and went out...
I was taking photos the whole time as usual...
When I decided to take the photo of teacher's house she said "Ini masuk majalah apa??"
I replied "Majalah takde nama."
And so then we were on our way to the playground which I told them about...
We were all having a nice stroll and laugh towards the playground...
We almost looked like a group of gangster walking down the streets...

Not long after, we reached the playground...
We first went towards the hut and took a group photo together...
After that, mayhem began...
They played on the swings, ran around, made jokes, laugh like crazy...
Ahhh... It was like as though we were small children...
Sachin was taking a video of this....
We scared some of the people who were there I think...
They left the moment we got there...
I took photo of all their childish wonders...
It was so nice to see that we all still know how its like to enjoy ourselves...
And then I asked them all to gather at the slide set...
We took another group photo there...
It was a beautiful photo, but as usual, I was not in it :P
They played on the slide set a little and then they went on to the see-saw...
We had fun on the see saw..
Even I played on it...
After that, everyone scrambled around the playground...
Some of them played on the swings again...
After having much fun there, we eventually got tired and decided to head back to teacher's house..
We were all sweating like crazy already...
On the way back, I took some nice photos and even caught one which looked like running refugees photo...
Haha... :D

When we got back to teacher's house, some of my other classmates had arrived...
Daryl, Vijay, Jeyain, Philip, and Liew Mun Kent...
They were eating...
After talking with them for a while, we decided to go out and have some more fun...
This time, we decided to crash on Philip's car...
We played around his car...
Tried to lift it, make joke of it, raise the wipers up..
We did all sorts of nonsense on it...
And then, Loi accidentally did something to his car..
He lied down on the car and cause a crack on one of the mirrors...
We all laughed and when we told Philip, he did not believe us...
He only believed when he saw the picture on Facebook after going home :P
So we all had fun at teacher's house...
The clock showed 7pm and we were all suppose to leave by then...
Some of us then decided to go and catch a movie at Jusco...
We would get there by Soong's car and See's car...
After deciding who was coming with us, we thanked our teacher for the invitation and greeted farewell...

It was getting dark as we arrived at Jusco...
Me, Zafri, Sachin, Jashen, and Kavee was in Soong's car...
Gerard, Lai, and Loi was in See's car...
Loi and Gerard went home...
Vijay was at Jusco but he decided not to join us..
Sachin went to 7 eleven with Jashen and Kavee while Zafri went for his prayers at the surau..
The others was in See's car who was busy looking for a parking space..
So I was at the cinema theater checking out for what movie we could watch...
We only had two choice for the closest movie that time...
Final Destination 5 (18+) and Apollo 18 (PG13) ...
And I made phone calls and we finally decided to watch Final Destination 5...
So I went to the ticket counter along with Soong and Lai...
For your information, we are all under 18...
But we tried to sneak a ticket into the movie...
We were so close to getting our hands on it...
The man was already pressing it on his monitor until...
A woman asked, "Kamu semua atas 18 umur tak? "
I was so pissed that I almost wanted to choke her when she asked that...
So we were like "Ugghhh... Not all of us"
And then, we had no choice so we eventually decided to watch Apollo 18...
We had no idea what that movie was about....
While waiting outside as the room has not opened yet, we saw the trailer of Apollo 18 playing on one of the screen...
It looked rather scary and got us a bit hyped up to watch it...
So we bought our popcorns and drinks and went in after the room was opened...
We found room 7, entered the room and took our places...
Since we were the first one there, I took some photos before others entered the room...

We sat had a chat while waiting for the movie to start...
Then the trailers and advertisements started to play on the screen...
People were slowing coming in...
I sat between Lai and Sachin...
Soon after, the lights went off...
It was rather scary with the timing of the movie starting...
So the movie began...
The movie was made based on a footage from the time the Apollo 18 went to the moon...
It was rather boring at the start...
But things got interesting as the movie progressed...
The all so boring movie start to get more and more creepy, scary, shocking...
It got us on our seats...
Although we anticipated the first scary scene, we still got scared... Hahaha :D
Then more and more scary and disgusting scenes showed...
How many times did Sachin, Lai and I got scared...
There were even times we scared each other from jumping off our seats...
Lai even jumped and knocked on his seat...
Well, at the end, I would say this is a movie worth watching...
But it would be great if we could have watched Final Destination 5....
So we went to the restroom after the movie as usual...
Lai went back with See as soon as we went out..
Then I went down with Jashen, Soong, Zafri, Sachin, and Kavee...
We had a chat about the movie and some other stuff...
After that, Soong decided to go home so Kavee followed him...
Jashen's father came just after that...
My parents were shopping at Jusco at that time so I decided to keep Sachin and Zafri company till their parents came...
We waited outside..
Not too long and both of them had left the building...
So I went and search for my parents and the day ended like that...

That was one of the most fun I had for some time...
I really do enjoy every outing I go with my friends...
I look forward to more outings like this...
Till next time readers =D

Nicholas 21st Birthday

It was the 9th of September...
We celebrated my eldest brother's 21st birthday... (His birthday is actually 7th of September but 9th was a Saturday)
So the day went like this...

My mum was busy with the preparations for the party...
Cooking, cleaning and all... (You know what I mean :P )
Me and my brothers were playing during the morning...
After playing, we helped mum do some of the cleaning...
My brothers were cleaning while I was making the sandwiches...
And everyone was busy...

I did so many things for the first time that day...
It was the first time I ever cut a watermelon... LOL XD
The reason is because my mum does not allow us to use the knife...
But I insisted on helping and so I did...
Since it was my first time, I was not use to it...
Each time I cut there would be some excess on the skin and I would eat it..
God knows how many watermelon I ate while cutting it... Haha...
And then I also almost cut my finger but luckily the blade only hit my fingernail a little or who knows what might have happened...
And so I finally finished cutting the watermelon...

Another thing I did the first time was frying chickens >o<
So my mum told me what to do and I did as she told..
I dipped the marinated chickens into the flour till it is totally covered with it...
And then I slowly put them into the already heated oil...
And so I fried it using a small fire...
I waited for it to turn golden brown at least by a little...
But I waited so long and started to wonder whether I was doing it right or not...
So I asked my mum and she asked me to make the fire bigger and so I did...
After some time I wondered why the colour remained the same..
My mum then took it out of the frying pan and left it aside for awhile while I began to fry the next badge of chickens...
I saw the chickens that were removed earlier slowly changing to golden brown...
I was amazed for all this while I've been only eating fried chicken...
I did not know that it only changes colour once it is out of the frying pan....AMAZING!!!
And so with that first experience, I fried the remaining chickens like a professional... Haha...

Of course the drinks were prepared by no other than me...
The professional taster...
I made the punch rather well as it was complimented when everyone drank it... Hehe =D
And so the time for the party slowly reaches...
The food was prepared on the table...
Guest began to arrive...
My father's friend were the first to arrive...
Audrey was there and I took out a deck of cards to play with her along with my second brother...
I was busy doing some other things at the same time...
And of course I will never forget to take photos =D
After waiting for awhile, we decided to start eating as there was nobody coming after sometime..
My dad said the grace and prayer (for like almost the first time I've ever seen) rather well...
So we began eating...
I was playing some musics and all on the television too....
I even played some of the videos from our trip to Penang and Port Dickson...
Everyone had a great laugh...
Other guest slowly arrived one by one...
Lennin ( eldest brother's friend) , my aunt and her daughter (mother's side), my aunties and their children (father's side), and my two friends, Lai and Soong...
I was happy that Lai and Soong came despite being tired after badminton...
I was so busy moving up and down throughout the party...

Around 10pm + , we took out the cake and sang a birthday song for my brother...
Everyone was excited....
After singing the birthday song and eating the cake, I had to keep the guests occupied...

I took out my laptop to show to some photos to my parent's friends...
Lai and Soong were playing my PS2 at the back room while my parent's friend's children were playing my X-box 360 upstairs..
The mans were watching football...
Everyone was enjoying themselves while I was busy doing a lot of things...
When it was reaching midnight, Lai and Soong went home...
I was less busy when they left so I decided to start cleaning up a little...
I washed the plates while everyone was enjoying themselves...
My mother's friends praised me for doing the chores...
When I was done, I went to play along with Audrey and her friends upstairs...
Soon it was time to leave, we went down and greeted our farewells...
As usual the farewells take almost ages...
After that, we were busy cleaning up the house...
My dad knocked out as soon as the guest left....
He was tired and drunk after drinking and having so much of fun...
My two brothers slept early too...
I was the only one up helping my mum to clean the house up...
Soon I felt tired too so I decided to sleep but only after the cleaning was almost done...
My mum stayed up and continue with the chores...

And so the day ended like that...
It was a long and tiring but fun day for me...
I really had fun and look forward to having a party which will be very awesome for my 21st birthday...
Till that day comes reader...
Take care...

Youth Parish Retreat

Yesterday morning was the Youth Parish Retreat...

I did not wanted to go and was still in bed at around 7.40am....

Then, my mother woke me up from a SMS from Ezra...

He told me he was going and asked if I wanted to go...

At first I hesitated, but after SMS Ezra back and forth, I finally decided to go...

So slowly I woke up feeling tired as I slept late last night not expecting to go for the retreat....

I quickly got prepared and headed off to church...

As I was preparing, I realised something...

It wasn't my Ezra who is asking me to go for this retreat...

Instead, it was actually a call from God...

A call to join my friends to learn more about our faith and him....

I was awed by this...

I got there at around 8.25am, it was almost beginning...

I entered the hall and I saw my teachers and friends...

I looked for a place but there wasn't any where I could sit with my friends....

So I helped the teachers to arrange more chairs at the back...

Soon after, Ezra came and we sat together at one corner of the hall....

Father John first gave a speech and all, welcoming us for the retreat...

After that, we started with the praise and worship done by the CSS and the Y2Y...

I did not particularly like the first song but I did like the second one...

After the praise and worship, we had Father Raymond Michael facilitating this retreat...

He was gonna run the sessions in the morning...

He was a nice and funny priest... (Not as funny as Father Danny though)

He was a Franciscan Capuchin priest...

He began by telling us about the World Youth Day at Madrid which just recently ended...

Then, he elaborated on it...

About the Popes message to Youths and stuff like that...

A video about the history of World Youth Day was shown to us...

After the video, he mentioned the three key words that the Pope used:

• Planted
• Built up
• Firm

Those words represent the foundation of our faith, building it up and making it strong and firm...

So for the first session, he elaborated on this three words and finally he broke us into groups....

We were to do a sharing among our own group about,

"How am I rooted in my Catholic faith?"

The question went something like that (I've forgotten)

I was chosen as the leader....

So each member of the team discussed about this question...

I asked them to share and we moved in an anticlockwise rotation...

Everyone gave some answers and Luke was writing them down as I tell him what to write...

Once the sharing session had ended, each team was to present about it to the others...

Most people had almost the same answers but with a few add-on here and there...

Once the presenting ended, we went for a short tea break at the cafeteria...

We had wade and tea/coffee for breakfast...

I sat with my some of my friends around the three while everyone else was sitting on the tables...

After the break, we re-entered the hall and took our place...

Father Raymond Michael mentioned about the new Eucharist...

He said that the words that we use during Mass will be changed to the new translation from the original text....

He explained briefly about it as Father Alvin Ho(one of our new priest in the Parish) was going to explain more detailed later in the afternoon...

Father Raymond Michael explained about the history of the Eucharist and what it is...

He also mentioned about the difference between hearing and listening...

While explaining the history of the Eucharist, he told us when the first Mass ever was held...

It was the Last Supper, that was the first ever Mass in history of the Catholic Church...

He also told us about offertory during the Middle Ages...

Back then, people would bring livestocks as and offering during Mass...

These livestocks will be used to feed the poor...

But in the present day, we would instead give money for the priest to buy food for the poor...

Another thing was when the priest wipes his hand, it symbolises wiping the dirty hands after accepting the offering in those days...

The history of the Eucharist and what it symbolises in those day was truly amazing...

Somewhere during one of the sessions, Father had also shown us some videos of people talking about how they are rooted in their faith as Catholics...

After explaining about the Eucharist and all, we again went back to our group to answer these questions:

1. What is the Eucharist?
2. What part does the Eucharist play in my life?

They were rather difficult questions to answer...

Not many people could give us answers for this so Luke and me crapped up some answers by ourselves and after hearing some comments from a few of them...

Then again, the groups were called out to present our answers but this time starting with group 6, my group...

So I went up and told our answers...

Once everyone was finished, Father Raymond Michael said this to us:

"I've been to many churches in KL but this is one of the best sharing and answers I have ever heard. The depth and meaning is there."

And everyone started clapping and cheering....

We were proud of our youths...

After that session, it was time for lunch...

But before we went for lunch, Father Alvin Ho gave us some instructions before we left the hall...

So it was lunch time, I sat with Ezra, Darell, Esther, Judy and Luke...

Darell was showing Ezra the video from their media camp on his notebook...

The rest was watching...

I've already watched it so I just ate my food but peeked here and there...

After watching that, we watched some other videos on Darell's notebook...

It was all funny...

Joan came by later and watched the videos with us...

While watching the videos, we were all having a chat as well...

After that, we played ANGRY BIRDS!!! for a little while...

The whole lunch break we were busy with Darell's notebook...

By the time we knew it, time had passed and it was time to return to the hall...

Father Alvin started the session by breaking us into our groups...

He used the name list that we wrote and gave him before the break to make the group...

Who would have thought a name list can affect the grouping... Haha XP

But luckily I got my bunch of friends from confirmation as my group...

Who would have thought writing names together would be so good ... Hehe :D

So we broke into our groups....
Each one of us were already given a paper that shows the new translation of the words used in Mass..
Our work was to identify in a group how many changes has been made....

And so in my group consisting of Ezra, Luke, Jude, Steffi, Lisha and me...

We did the task on the hall stage, behind the curtains with the fan and air-cond on :D

It was so hot that day so we took advantage of that...Haha..

Ezra and the girls did the most work while Luke, Judy and me were having fun...

We did help a little though...

Ezra as usual did great...

Once we were done, we were all joking around and laughing our hearts out...

It was fun and soon after, Father Alvin called us all to gather back and take our seats...

He asked the groups one bye one how many differences we spotted...

After that, he went through with us what changed...

Once he was done with that, he explained to us part by part about the celebration of the Mass..

The introductory rite, the liturgy of the word, the liturgy of the Eucharist, and the concluding rite....

He used videos that explained about them and stopped it here and there to explain it to us more detailed...

Father Alvin is a very knowledgeable and serious person..

He does not like people taking lightly on what he talks about..

Russell go it badly from him, and so did Bradley....

After two hours of talking about the history of the Eucharist and explaining it all, we had a tea break...

There only was tea and coffee as the curry puffs have not arrived yet...

But it was refreshing after such a long serious talk...

After the break, we went back to the hall again...

When we were all back in the hall, Father Alvin continued a little more about the Mass celebration...

There was some Q&A session (Question and Answer) and then he gave us instructions again...

We were to move to the Adoration Room three by three...

There was going to be an adoration session there...

The Blessed Sacrament was placed on the table...
Behind that table was the three priests of our Parish (or currently known as the Trinity.. Haha )

The Tamil speaking youths were already kneeling down inside when we got there...

So the rest of us quietly entered the room and knelt down...

Father John was going on with some talking and prayers...

After some time, my knees started to hurt so I knelt in a lower position...

But eventually it got too painful so I sat on the chair as I saw others doing so too...

As everyone was there, we joined Father John with all the chant he was chanting...

One of it, "Be still and know I am God" ...

It was a wonderful chant...

Everyone followed after he chanted it for a few times...

Then, he did it, girls only and boys only...

It was melodious and spiritually relaxing...

Then, I heard some people crying from the chant already...

As usual, in the silent presence of God, singing his praises, people do feel his presence..

I saw the girl kneeling beside me crying so sadly...

I do not cry easily (except in confirmation camp or when I'm very angry/sad)....

But looking at her crying so sadly really makes one's heart feel the same...

I could just feel the strong presence in the room...

Then, we were instructed to go three by three...

To touch the Blessed Sacrament on the bottom part of it while the three priests holds on to our hands and pray for us...

The Blessed Sacrament

Everyone was listening to what Father John was saying and follow whatever chant he was chanting...

The chants were all so beautiful....
While people go in front three by three, chants were chanted and after every chant, Father John says a prayer...
I waited long for my turn to finally come...
People seem rather selfish rushing from the back to get the blessings despite some at the front haven't..
It was rude but there was nothing we can say about it...
Once it was all over, we were blessed and forgiven of our sins...
Father John then talked to us for awhile and finally he said "Now let everyone meet everyone"....
So everyone went around to greet one another with the sign of peace...
Even the three priests join and greeted everyone...
After all that, we had the closing prayer and final word...
After that, we headed to the cafeteria to have the curry puffs that we did not get to eat earlier...
I stayed there with Darell and Ezra for awhile, chit chatting while eating curry puff along with air bandung...
Once I was finish, I headed for the hall and then I went back with teacher Gerald...

Retreats like this is really worth the time and should be done more often...
I found it rather satisfying and look forward to more of it...
Till next time readers ^^