All about me

cheriechongkeqing!

cherie ; french for darling, is nearly what everyone calls me besides cherieberrie which is apparently quite lengthy for a nickname. My chinese name, 可晴 (ke qing) was given to me by one of my mother’s old friend, who was a master in the language. Well, to many, keqing! (said with the exclamation mark!) in a non-hanyupinyin manner, seems like the rather familiar sound of a cash register. Actually, as much as the fact that i am no auto transferring machine (atm), the character ‘晴’ means sunny,bright. So, although i still struggle with speaking the language despite having spent half my education in so-called ‘chinese’ schools, i think what my parents meant was for me to be a cheerful and bright child.

and yes, my parents treat me like a darling. Born as the eldest and first child of my family, i was blessed with billion trillion gazillion mini ‘excursions’ to the zoo, got to ride on dumbo-lookalikes, got to feed ah meng; birdpark, imitated the penguins in their waddling etc etc. and oh! how could i forget the many times my dad and i spent with my all time favourite sport during then-swimming. Incidently, that was how i got the now seemingly invisible scar on my right forehead when i fell by the poolside one fine day.

All that aside, my younger brother comes next. Joshua a.k.a Joshyquashy (what a long nickname too) is the person i spent half my childhood playing with. oh we fight, (still do! oops.) play tea party, power rangers, lego, watch bugs bunny shows, watch Mary poppins! (oh i bet you can tell which were the ones he/i chose to play for the day.) yes, i’ve got a happy family, blessed with wonderful parents! Besides the fact that they think i’m putting on weight, i’ve got a father who secretly aspires to be a Private Investigator, and a mum who wishes to retire and reside in her dream house; one side facing beautiful lit urban skyscrapers, another facing the deep blue sea, and she will be sipping wine! happy family!

OK. so i am still schooling, i’m turning 18 this year! (which means i can drink and i can drive legally!) grew up from Yangzheng Primary, which i spent half my time in playing skip rope, hopscotch, freeze and milk etc. Left and headed for a convent school. CHIJ St Nicholas was the school which i met so many of my best friends whom i spent mahjonging, ‘cam-whoring’, shopping, laughing and crying with. Then again, left to junior college (jc), which i affectionately call ‘Happy Chocolate’, just to tie me over the difficult times. Still, JC has been a very humbling experience and sometimes i have to admit that i’m learning a great deal here. Right now, i’m in my second and final year in Hwachong, making the best out of it.

Besides school, i spent the other half of my time in choir. I adore singing, so much that this is my sixth year in a choir. Not only singing itself, but it’s the joy of creating music with like-minded people, singing in perfect or even not-so-perfect harmony that makes me happy. i’m serious. even random bursting into song makes me happy! now i sing in hwachong choir, rioHC- my family in hwachong. i love this choir so much because it has taught me responsibility, humility, resilience and love- how to be a better person and to look at things differently. and yes, this family includes my self-sacrificing and tremendously encouraging teachers and my conductor whom we all call ‘laoniang’ because she’s really like a mother to the choir.

yup, no prizes for guessing, i love music. although i play average piano and easy chords on the guitar, i love listening and playing music all the same. not really pop or rock though, but maybe classical, jazz, blues. oh and i love watching plays,musicals and going for concerts especially choral concerts, simply cause they teach so much. yup, i’m the kind who secretly walks into hotels to listen to lounge music. and when i’m alone, i find myself wandering to the Esplanade just to enjoy and bask in the arty-farty ambience. To me, the Esplanade and Victoria Concert Hall (when they permit) are my havens. Well, the greatest thing i learn about music- every note matters. As a musician or chorister, knowing the fact that whenever you play or sing a note badly, the next note determines whether a piece is a good or bad one, comforts me a lot. There’s just this sense of hope.

There’s definitely so much that the world can teach, but i think God is my greatest teacher. More than that, He’s my Heavenly Father, Friend and Saviour, He is God. I thank God because it’s only Him who truly loves me for who i am and has redeemed me as a sinner. Paid a huge price by dying at the cross, called me His own even when i am resentful, forgives me when i falter. and so because He loves me, i desire to be in this relationship with Him. i desire to know him more and more every day. And to be a woman after His own heart. I go to a church in Serangoon, Singapore. (yes that’s where i live too!) I’ve been at Bethesda Bukit Arang Church since nursery, it is here where i fellowship and grow together with my friends in sunday sch (SS); the BAY (Bukit Arang Youths). Thank god for blessing me with another family.

on a sidenote,
I have weird tendencies such as bursting into laughter for no reasons.

I have a stone face. (people thk i am stressed all the time)

I love bright colours and floating balloons because they make me happy.

yup, for who i am, and who i’m going to be, i thank God for His grace. and so i wait upon Him to reveal His plans for me and i trust in all circumstances, that He knows best.