It's the final weekend before school begins! Well, not officially since it's orientation week and all I'll be doing is attend talks and briefings. But still, after a year of wandering around I'm finally somewhere stable. All the worries and nervousness about entering a new environment aside, I'm pretty stoked to be a student again. Not so excited about making friends because I'm a total turtle. This gap year has been exceedingly abundantly blessed and I can't help but feel my heart swell with thankfulness. God's plan is indeed perfect. I've been focusing so much on what God has put me through and how He has pulled me through and this week, so even though a lot of bad things kept on coming, all I feel is joy. And peace! And love. Because even as all the problems collapsed on me this weekend, I always ended up in the arms of my God-given friends and suddenly there is no room for hatred, no room for anger, just a lot of good vibes.
So the beautiful weekend consisted of this. Food and hugs from coatedpeas, running errands together with nehmi and giselle, sleeping over in the east and talking till we fell asleep, one-hour fast game of L4D2 with vanheng and rayner, and an extremely random but fruitful touristy day with ludfil. Spent the last remaining free hours with ludfil at the riverside. I think I'm done with the dungeon. I was done with clark quay, then the esplanade, and now I think I'll let go of the dungeon at fullerton. The one across the river, where we were, is so much nicer. Sitting on the wooden platform and staring aimlessly into the water, it reminded me of the time when mich, kb, and I would meet every Saturday at the riverside at vivo. That was before RWS was built. We promised we'd go visit RWS together when it was completed because it ruined our view, so we had to see what it was about. But we never did, and we hardly even talk now. So it goes.
There's a calming effect about watching the ripples in the water, especially when the river's so dark in the night that you have to watch it so carefully and you feel your breathing slow down. It is always nice to have a friend who'd remind you of what God has done and is still doing. While so many army kids have so much to complain about, this boy is always filled with thanksgiving, acknowledging God in all His ways. It was just what I needed to remember before going in to this new environment. Whatever God throws at you, you know He will be with you and give you all you need to pull through. God-given friends, God-given friends. Where else can I find a malay-chinese christian brah who doesn't eat veggies and lives in the west. The only thing we don't agree on is butterflies. Had a very very long conversation about butterflies. Want to cry.
Remember what I said about Cal? How he was filled with so much love for his father and how much he was loved by his father that he had no more room for hatred? This feels like that now. I really don't like to be sentimental and emotional but with these bunch of people I can't help but feel this way. It's nice to have friends around to grow up and grow old with you.