He's Alive!

An Easter poem

On the cross, He died for us
Three days pass, He's back to life
He's alive, He's alive, He's alive!

Let me encourage you with this
If you're struggling to survive
He's alive, He's alive, He's alive!

Don't fret if you're in trouble
Don't fret if you're in strife
He's alive, He's alive, He's alive!

Get off that balcony, leave those pills
And put down that rusty knife
He's alive, He's alive, He's alive!

Tell your friends, tell your family
Tell your husband, tell your wife
He's alive, He's alive, He's alive!

The good news is for everyone
Whether you're eighty or five:
He's alive, He's alive, He's alive!

*

Have a blessed Easter!

more than just a face.

She is more than just a face

She is more than just her skin

There is so much more to her

There is so much more within

She knows she has zits

She knows her oily complexion

She knows she looks exhausted

She knows she's not an attraction

But her skin glows when she speaks

Of the people and things she loves

Her smile displays joy genuine

When she praises her God above

She knows her face used to be round

And she may have lost some weight

She knows that she's not as fit as she'd like

But who are you to rate?

Do you know she has passions?

Do you know she has a dream?

Do you know she loves to teach

And watch her students' faces beam?

Do you realise she's more than grades?

Do you know what she loves most?

Do you know she loves to write

And pour out her thoughts in prose?

She does not care that she looks like this

And she doesn't care when you mention

But what she wants is for you to know

She's worth more if you pay attention

So, she is more than just a face

She is more than just her skin

There is so much more to her

There is so much more within.

It is well.

It is well with my soul, she said
As negativity simmered in her head
Derived from conversations both cold and hot
Conclusion-less arguments more often than not

It is well, oh, it is well
She whispered as the tears fell
What could be done? How much can she take?
What difference, if any, did her attempts make?

Are you at all well, oh dear soul?
Life indeed has taken its toll
A declaration of the soul's welfare
Destroyed to its core, stripped completely bare

It is well with my soul? As if!
To have a soul at this point was a gift
Please be well, soul, please be free
What was a statement became a desperate, helpless plea.

Oh dear soul, it is well indeed.

Sleep.

Like a threat of the day's end
Darkness and shadows loom
The bed creaks, the blanket shifts
As the child lays in her room
Whimpering and trembling
Sobbing in fear
"I don't want to sleep,"
says the child, as a tear
Slips down her cheek quietly
She tries to keep her eyes closed
And eventually drifts off, oblivious
To all monsters and ghosts

Years down the road, she's not afraid
Of sleeping all alone
However a scarier thing has appeared
A teenager's pleasure: her phone
Ghosts and monsters don't exist
She's not afraid anymore
But she's enslaved by the screen in her hand
Once she closes her door
The tweets, statuses, endless loops
Of the six-second moving picture
She's sucked in and her phone has become
A deadly, permanent fixture
"I don't want to sleep,"
says the teen, as tears start to come
From her blood-shot eyes that have yet to blink
Cramped is her right thumb
Scrolling continuously on a screen
That steals her precious sleep
She's sleep-deprived and knows her mistake
But cyberspace is just too deep
A black hole, a vaccuum,
a constant distraction
A questionable force
with too strong of an attraction
"Stop, stop, stop," she thinks
"I'll sleep after this one..."
An hour later: "I'll stop right here
Just one more, and I'm done"

twenty-sixteen goals.

I was never one to set resolutions. The New Year was always a huge deal about upping in age, because, for some reason, age mattered a lot to me. As a student, New Year always brought about much excitement for starting a new school year (I love school, for real). But 2015 has been nothing but a year of changes, growing up, maturing and handling larger things. And because of that, I felt like I was ready to take on some challenges, although seemingly common and boring, for 2016.

Resolutions are strange things. They're somehow only implemented at the beginning of each new year. If people were as gungho about bettering themselves throughout the year, the world would be in a much better place. Imagine how packed gyms would be, how well health food restaurants would be doing and how much knowledge will be gained if people created resolutions all throughout the year. Better in regular intervals than only once a year, right? 

Without further ado, for the first time ever, check out my resolutions for 2016!

1. Run/jog/walk 6km a week.

Obviously it's not going to be six whole kilometers in one go (what are you, crazy?). Splitting them up into two or three sessions will make good use of the dusty treadmill that's decomposing at home. I'm implementing this in hopes of seeing my stamina improve. Just for once I'd like to climb a flight of stairs without panting, feeling dizzy or having jelly legs.

2. Read one book a month.

With a backlog of over seventy books from January 2015's Big Bad Wolf haul, I feel the bookshelf screaming at me, feeling untouched and neglected. The new and perfect book spines jeer at my busyness while the well-thumbed books from my childhood shout encouraging words to the new arrivals: "Don't worry! She'll read you soon. Just hang in there." The unread books feel skeptical. Does Jessica really have that much of a love for reading as all her childhood books claim?

3. Take my violin exam.

After three whole years of music education without exams, I suddenly missed having to prepare to play for an intimidating examiner from the land of Queen Elizabeth. I missed the horror of squeaking out a wrong note in the incredibly soundproofed hotel room. I missed the examiner's seemingly neutral face that tried its best to hide her disappointment. I missed scrabbling for notes in the sight-reading tests and singing slightly off-pitch for the aural tests. But most of all, I missed the satisfaction of knowing that my efforts in upgrading my musical abilities have been recorded momentously on a certificate with golden script. So this year, no matter what, I will take my violin exam and put the qualification to good use. Hopefully.

Signing off,

Jessica Chen

(6th January 2016)